Raven sipped her morning coffee as she read through the morning paper. She idly flipped through the pages as she magically did her mane up in a bun. Across from her, Javelin worked the stove, the sound of sizzling hay bacon and eggs making Raven's stomach growl in desire. She instantly blushed as Javelin turned slightly, giving her a side-eyed glance.

"It'll be done in a minute, hang on now. No need to start barking orders." He teased, a playful grin on his face.

Raven rolled her eyes, "My stomach does not have a voice, thank you very much. It just likes to growl like a feral timberwolf from time to time." She replied, shaking her head in amusement.

Javelin checked the eggs and bacon, finding that both were satisfactorily cooked and turned the stove off. He levitated both pans off of the stove and over to the breakfast table where Raven's mouth quickly began to water. He expertly poured out about half of the eggs and a few pieces of hay bacon just as the toaster popped out two crispy pieces of bread. With practiced ease, he levitated the pans back to the stove to cool and plucked the pieces of toast out and over to both of their plates.

Before sitting down, Javelin quickly leaned in and planted a loving kiss on Raven's lips, a gesture to which she gladly reciprocated, even going so far as to grab him by the neck with her hoof and pull him closer to deepen the kiss. Once she was satisfied, she allowed the stallion to sit at his own seat while she dug into her breakfast.

"You must've really missed me over the weekend. You've been all over me ever since you got back." Javelin chuckled, spreading some jam over his toast.

Raven nodded as she ate, "I remembered after about five minutes the reason why I moved out." She explained between bites.

"Aww, it couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Javelin asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yes. Yes it was. You want to know what my dad did within five minutes?" Raven rebutted.

"He asked when you were going to give him grandfoals?" Javelin guessed.

"He asked me when I'm going to give him grandfoals." Raven confirmed with a nod.

"Oh, that's not so bad." Javelin dismissed, taking a bite of his haybacon.

"Jav. Honey. Love of my life. What have we discussed over a dozen times now?" Raven deadpanned.

"That you don't want foals until you're finished working for Celestia, I know, I know." Javelin replied, nodding along as if he'd said the words a hundred times.

"Exactly. I've explained this to him at least a hundred and sixty seven times, but he kept on it the entire weekend. 'Oh, you just have to have a foal!' 'Look at Princess Celestia! She's so gorgeous and she'll even be a mother soon. How can you work next to her all day and not want to have a foal just like her?'." Raven parroted in a mocking voice.

Javelin shrugged ever so slightly, "Well, I mean... you gotta admit, pregnancy looks good on her. On both of them." He offered.

Raven facehoofed and groaned, "Ugh, not you too... Hun, please don't tell me you're getting foal fever now too... first my parents... then my siblings... now my fiancé."

Javelin chuckled as he finished his breakfast and hopped out of his seat. He quickly trotted over to Raven's side and kissed her cheek, "You know that I'm in no rush. I'll admit, being around the princess all day does make me wish we had that just a bit... but I love you and I want you to be happy. There's no rush to start a family and have little ones running around... even if they'd be cute as Tartarus." He supportively offered.

Raven gave him a sidelong glance, the small trace off a smile forming on her lips, "What'd I do to get a stallion like you?" She asked, lovingly.

Javelin smirked as he took her empty plate in his magic, "You stole my heart. Been trying to get it back for months now, but you've got it locked up tight. At this point I'm starting to think it'll be yours forever." He playfully winked as he took the dishes over to the sink.

Raven smiled after her fiancé. It was a loving, doting smile that she found herself wearing more and more often in the recent months, even despite the stresses of her life. With a soft, grateful sigh for the stallion that won her heart, she levitated her coffee back to her lips and took a sip while she levitated the newspaper up once more.

Raven immediately spit out all of her coffee upon reading the headline of the paper the brownish liquid quickly covering nearly the entirety of the page. Javelin glanced back over his wither, an eyebrow raised at Raven's sudden spit-take.

"Javelin." Raven said, her tone making the stallion's brow furrow in concern.

"Y-yeah?" He asked, turning from the sink and walking over to her.

Raven slowly turned the paper in her magic so that he could see the picture, along with the headline.

Below the headline, sat a picture of Queen Chrysalis with her forelegs curled up over her chest, her sock-covered hind legs spread wide and only the thin fabric of her panties covering her nethers from view. She wore a pouty look on her face that only served to highlight just how downright sexy she looked.

Javelin nodded his head in an approving manner, "You know... she really can model."

"Pharynx, what do you mean you're not getting enough love? The feeding schedule is in place to ensure everyling gets enough love until we can warm the ponies up to us." Chrysalis replied, looking down to her general with concern.

"That's just it, my Queen... maybe it's enough love to survive, but it certainly isn't enough to restore our strength." Pharynx countered.

"I'm aware that we're short on love, but if this arrangement is to work, we have to live off of what we can take from the air without directly stealing it from the ponies. It's only for a short time until they trust us enough to let the hive out into the city. I'm doing everything I can to convince Celestia, Luna, and Anon that the hive is ready but the issue is the ponies in Canterlot." Chrysalis explained, letting out a tired sigh.

"My Queen, surely you know that they'll never let us out into Canterlot after the invasion... hasn't it occurred to you that them keeping us down here, barely surviving on the meager scraps of love we can feed from the air, is in their best interest? Surely they're just going to keep us weak and easy to control for who knows how long." Pharynx asserted, a pleading tone in his voice.

"What of Luna? Your brother has told me that his nightmares are all but eradicated since she started seeing him. Dozens of changelings have spoken of more restful sleep the past few days. Why would she go to that effort if the goal was just to keep us locked down here forever?" Chrysalis rebutted.

Pharynx frowned, "My Queen, surely you don't think a few nightmares abated means that we're growing stronger. It's a nice gesture, but if anything, it only serves to make us more comfortable living under them, as nothing more than slaves, barely getting enough love to survive." He asserted.

Chrysalis pursed her lips as she thought over her highest general's point. She idly considered the events of the past weekend, along with the week leading up to it and the most recent few days. Despite herself, she felt the faintest pang of concern bleed into her mind like a festering wound, poisoning her thoughts with fear and worst-case scenarios.

However, just as she began to wonder just how legitimate Celestia and Luna's word was, another memory filled her head. Anon. She recalled his emotions and how honest he was with her. She quickly reasoned that the human stallion would know exactly what his wives were planning with her and her hive. The past week with him, reading his emotions and learning about him, only served to solidify her belief that both princesses were genuine in their expressed desire to help.

With a resolute nod, Chrysalis spoke again, "I understand your concerns, Pharynx, but I know that this is the right call. Give my word to any changelings that hold doubts or fears like yours. The ponies are our allies now. We need to earn their trust but once we have it, they will give us the love we need to be strong again. It's difficult- downright embarrassing if you'd have asked me a year ago- but necessary. Even if I wanted to betray them and leave, we have nowhere else to go that can feed us. Equestria's detection measures are growing too advanced and within a generation, we'd all starve to death."

Pharynx opened his mouth to protest, but after a stern look from his queen, slowly closed it with a huff, "I... understand. I shall... relay your message to the rest of the hive... but, my Queen... please, is there any way you could get them to give us more love? Grubs are barely growing and at this rate, we'll never be strong again." He pleaded.

Chrysalis slowly nodded, "I... very well. I will go and speak with Celestia, Luna, and Anon. I'll see what we can do." She acquiesced.

"Thank you, my Queen." Pharynx replied with a bow.

Without another word, Chrysalis turned on her hooves and made way for the exit. She quickly found her way out of Pharynx's abode and into the massive crystal cavern. The many crystals illuminating the walls shown a variety of colors, but most present was a soft orange color, indicating that the sun was rising and morning was upon them.

Chrysalis made her way over to the lift and after a quick words to the guards, found herself quickly reaching the bottom entrance of the castle. With a single word of thanks, she continued on up the spiral staircase and into the structure.

Chrysalis strolled through the castle with a small frown on her face as she approached what was quickly becoming her routine destination every day: the throne room. The guards standing beside the doors quickly opened them after a quick nod from the changeling Queen, giving her a view of Celestia and Anon as the couple sat on their respective thrones.

Just as Chrysalis moved to enter the throne room, she saw Luna enter from the balcony, a tired look on her face as she sluggishly made her way over to her husband and sister. Both Anon and Celestia perked up from whatever conversation they were having to greet the changeling Queen as Luna let out a yawn.

"What's up, Chryssi?" Anon asked, smiling at her arrival.

Chrysalis pursed her lips as she approached the throne, "I have received some... less than stellar news." She explained, receiving three looks of concern in response.

"I don't like the sound of that. What happened?" Celestia questioned.

"My changelings aren't getting enough love." Chrysalis responded.

All three parties before her tilted their heads to the side in confusion, "I... don't understand. None of them are starving anymore, are they?" Luna asked.

"No, no changelings are starving to death anymore, but they aren't getting stronger either." Chrysalis replied.

"What do you mean?" Celestia pressed.

Chrysalis sighed, "It's... as if they were on death's door, but then were given a morsel of food. Enough to stave off death for a while, but not enough to recover their strength and energy. They aren't dying anymore, but they need more love." She explained.

Celestia took in the news with a concerned sigh while both Anon and Luna shared looks of confusion.

"How is that possible? That photo shoot was exactly what we needed to boost your popularity. Ponies all over Canterlot are thirsting for you now, Chryssi. Have you seen the paper today?" Anon asked, grabbing said morning paper and rushing down the steps of his throne to show her.

Anon held out the paper for Chrysalis to read, and after a few moments of skimming through the page, her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I... I see. Still, it will take weeks for this to show any real positive effects for my changelings." She rebutted.

Anon folded up the paper, a worried frown on his face as Celestia and Luna shared looks of deep thought.

"What would you have us do? We can only do so much when it comes to how ponies view changelings. This was always going to be a process that would take time. Rushing things like this is exactly what will send ponies into a panic and set back all the progress we've already made." Luna reasoned.

"I have to concur with my sister, Chrysalis. At the moment, your changelings aren't starving. Just based off of this newspaper alone, we were going to start the process of introducing individual changelings into Canterlot to get the populace used to seeing them. It's... regrettably, not a very swift process." Celestia offered.

Chrysalis dipped her head in thought once more, her brow deeply furrowed in concentrated thought, until an idea popped into her head.

"What about a brothel?" Chrysalis suggested.

Celestia, Luna, and Anon all did a double take at the changeling Queen's suggestion, and the chamber fell completely silent for nearly a whole minute. Chrysalis held their gaze the entire time, a nervous blush forming on her face as she dared not look to their emotions. Their faces said it all clearly enough.

Celestia wore a look of abject shock and disgust, while Luna looked horrified. Anon simply stared at her as if she'd just turned into a lizard. The combined and judgmental stares of the royals were enough to make Chrysalis wish she hadn't even made a suggestion. However, it was too late, and while the long silence quickly became a comfort, it unfortunately came to an untimely end.

"Excuse me?" Celestia replied.

"I beg your pardon?" Luna added.

"A what, now?" Anon finished.

Chrysalis held their gaze for a few more moments of painful silence before clearing her throat and proceeding.

"I said, a brothel." She repeated, the conviction in her words sounding aloud in stark contrast to the burning embarrassment she felt in her chest.

"Chrysalis... we are not opening a changeling brothel." Celestia deadpanned, while facehoofing.

"But just think about it! It would serve all parties. Ponies get to have fun with whomever they wish, even celebrities and whatnot, and changelings are well fed as payment. Ponies don't have to pay and it keeps changelings fed. It's a complete win-win." Chrysalis defended, quickly finding steam as she listed off her reasons.

"Chrysalis, there are several reasons that we won't allow a changeling brothel in Canterlot, first and foremost being that brothels were banned hundreds of years ago." Luna replied.

"Well can't you make an exception? It's not like money is changing hooves." Chrysalis argued.

"As Luna said, there are several issues with that idea, Chrysalis. The least of which being how taxable it is... for Faust's sake, ponies could just request famous ponies to rut without that pony's consent. Maybe you don't see an issue there, but I know hundreds of mares and stallions that would be absolutely horrified if they found out a changeling was impersonating them to sate some random pony's fetishes that involve them." Celestia shot back.

"Not to mention the hundreds or thousands of ponies that would want to buck us at that brothel." Luna added, a shiver of disgust worming its way down her spine.

Chrysalis pursed her lips for a moment, "Well... we could get consent from certain ponies. Maybe offer them some form of compensation for their likeness being used. Besides, that would be the whole appeal. Ponies could go and buck whomever they wish and not have to worry about the fact that the pony they want is leagues above their own. Common ponies that never had a chance with a supermodel could finally have that, if just for a few minutes." She reasoned.

Celestia and Luna both shook their heads, "Chrysalis, I am sorry. We cannot condone or allow a brothel in Canterlot, especially one who's entire appeal is ponies having sex with changelings disguised as other famous or lusted after ponies. There has to be another way." Celestia declared, the finality of her tone indicating that there was no further room for debate.

Chrysalis bit her lip in frustration at the denial of her suggestion. Brief visages of rage and betrayal flashed through her mind, but before she could let her anger take control of her, Anon spoke up.

"I have an idea." He stated, turning all heads to face him.

"You do?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, uh... don't... don't laugh, but what about changelings as therapists?" Anon offered, bracing himself for the inevitable questions he was about to receive.

"Therapists? But none of them are licensed." Celestia tilted her head to the side.

"Well, maybe not like a normal therapist. I mean, changelings can change into something super cute and fluffy, right? So you could have ponies-mainly foals and the like- go and spend some time with them and the drones could eat up some of the love just pouring off of the little guys." Anon explained.

"You want to have my changelings essentially become the animals in a glorified petting zoo?" Chrysalis questioned.

Anon held a flat look on his face for several moments, "N-no..." He lamely replied.

"You want ponies to trust their foals with changelings when they don't even trust themselves with them yet?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

Anon shrugged, "It's just a thought. I'm not sure what the best call here is, but this way at least it's not a brothel."

After a few moments of silence between them, Chrysalis suddenly spoke up once more, "You know... now that I think on it... that might actually not be a terrible idea after all." She acknowledged.

Anon immediately perked up, "It isn't?"

"I would prefer my changelings be allowed to present themselves as ponies or something sapient, but being allowed to offer affection and comfort in exchange for love would be extraordinarily beneficial for my hive." Chrysalis nodded.

Celestia tapped her chin in thought, "And you're certain that changelings will be well behaved if they are allowed to turn into ponies just for these little 'therapy sessions'?" She asked, curiously.

"I can personally promise you that they will cause absolutely no trouble. Hay, you might even see the benefit in your own ponies sooner than we will." Chrysalis replied.

While Celestia seemed somewhat convinced, Luna still wore a look of concern on her muzzle, "I... suppose it would be a good way to help introduce ponies and changelings in a way that is mutually beneficial... but I think we would still need to have at least some guards present at all times to ensure the safety of both the ponies and changelings involved." Luna stated, after some time.

Chrysalis nodded, "That's perfectly acceptable. Although I imagine it would make it awkward for both of them if the guards are just sitting in the same room while they work."

"We can work with that. Perhaps have the guard in the next room over," Celestia offered, "This could actually be a very good way to introduce changelings into society in a calm, relaxed setting that will benefit all parties." She acknowledged, excitement finding its way into her voice.

Celestia's energy was infectious, and Chrysalis quickly felt a wave of excitement rush through her at the prospect of the royals sisters listening to her.

"Thank you. I shall go inform my hive of the good news." Chrysalis said with a nod, before turning to head back down to her hive.

"Wait, Chryssi!" Anon called out, stopping her in her tracks.

Chrysalis quickly turned around and gave Anon a curious look, "Yes?"

"Before you go, we wanted to talk to you about this weekend. We needed to tell you about this trip to the Crystal Empire-" Anon began, only for Chrysalis to do a double take and cut him off.

"Crystal Empire?" She questioned.

"Yes. We have to hold a meeting with the Duke an Duchess of Maretonia." Celestia answered.

"It's gonna involve all of us and Cadence." Anon added.

Mentally gagging at the mere mention of the frilly pink alicorn, Chrysalis found a new question forming in her mind, "When you say 'all of us'..." She trailed off.

"We need you to come along as well." Luna finished.

Before Chrysalis could begin to open her mouth, Anon jumped in front of her, "Hey! Listen, I know that's probably gonna piss you off, but listen to me. Okay, listen. We've been talking all week and we've kinda sorta come to a decision that you will definitely want to stay calm for, alright?" Anon hastily explained.

Biting her tongue to stay all the horrible things she wanted to say, Chrysalis nodded for Anon to proceed. He quickly looked back to his wives for approval, finding them both nodding for him to continue.

"Alright, so we decided that if you can go with us to the Crystal Empire, maybe help the negotiations a bit, and most importantly, not piss off Cadence or say anything to Shining Armor, then we will take that mana ring off of your horn." Anon finished, an expectant smile on his face.

Chrysalis's eyes went wide at the notion of having her magical abilities returned to her. She quickly glanced up to the ring in question, before looking at Anon with renewed purpose, "And the rest of my subjects?" She asked.

"That depends on how well behaved they are while we're gone. We've just started receiving intelligence from those few drones you have outside of Equestria and if their intelligence is good as well, then we would consider removing the rings from the grubs and such. Our plan was to start having supervised changelings getting ponies used to seeing them while we were away in the Empire, and then grubs once we return. We hoped to have the entire hive assimilated in Canterlot before the end of the year." Luna explained.

Chrysalis slowly nodded, "I... see. That's... not quite as bad as I was expecting." She acknowledged.

"Chrysalis, we don't want your hive to stay underground forever. We just need to ensure we introduce them into Equestria properly. You've been remarkably cooperative with us so far, and I'd like to think that that's gone both ways. Just two weeks ago ponies would have been rioting and panicking in the streets if there was an entire changeling hive under the castle." Celestia replied.

Chrysalis weighed her options for a few moments. It quickly became apparent that she really had no choice, "Very well. I will go to the Crystal Empire with you."

Celestia smiled, "Thank you. I know you don't want to, but your willingness to listen speaks volumes. You really have changed, haven't you?" She asked, softly.

Chrysalis felt her cheeks heating up as she stared back at the heavily pregnant solar alicorn, "I... suppose so. For better or for worse. The things I do for my hive..." She muttered.

Celestia chuckled, "Well I look forward to the trip. We should be heading out on Friday. Twilight will meet us on Saturday with her friends, so you can say hello to all of them if you wish." She offered.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes while Celestia giggled behind her hoof, "Har har." She deadpanned.

Celestia took a moment to control her amusement while Chrysalis shook her head.

"Well, regardless of the Crystal Empire trip," Luna spoke up, "If we've satisfied this conversation for now, I do need to retire to my chambers. It's been a rather long night."

As the lunar alicorn made way for the exit, Chrysalis suddenly held up a hoof, "Wait!" She called after her.

Luna froze mid-step, turning her head and giving the changeling Queen a quizzical look, "Yes?"

"Um... I just..." Chrysalis began, yet another blush forming on her cheeks, "Thorax and several other changelings have come to me, speaking of much more restful sleep and a lack of nightmares... I wanted to thank you for that."

Luna smiled, "I'm happy to do it. Have a good rest of your morning, Chrysalis."

With that, the lunar alicorn walked off, leaving only Anon, Celestia, and Chrysalis in the throne room. After watching the lunar sister go, Chrysalis's ears flicked back to the sound of magic from her right, and she glanced over to see Celestia holding the newest J'adore magazine in her magic. The sight of herself on the front cover, seductively posing with socks and panties on, made her pause.

"You know, I have to give it to you. I didn't think a changeling could be this sexy and yet... here you are." Celestia acknowledged, staring at the picture of her.

Chrysalis suddenly felt a spike of lust that she was completely unprepared for.

I had to give Jav and Raven some love in this story. Unfortunately, there's just too much going on to properly flesh their relationship out like in the first story, but know that I didn't forget about them. Less is more, and all that.

As for Chrysalis, quite and interesting turn of events there, huh? Maybe Sunbutt is a bit more interested than she's let on...

Oh! For anyone interested, I have finally made a discord server! If you want to chat with me, hang out and play games or watch me stream art and such, feel free to join :D

https://discord.gg/kVfKVH4f