Love is Forever, so is Blubber

by MetalBrony20

Ballooning and Retaliation

A few days had passed since her unfortunate magical discharge and the issues for the Queen had continued to mount. Pacing around in her throne room, the place was a far cry from the once well maintained chamber it had once been. Her magical spikes had been enormous, leading to the destruction of more and more property, and the hive walls. Where there had once been gaping holes, new fresh material plugged them up roughly, the colours clashing with each other.

By her order, all personnel in the room had to be clad in the heaviest armour to protect them from wayward shots. With one drone, however, she’d only just escaped with her life. The intense heat caused her armour to neatly fuse with their carapace. It was by sheer dumb luck that she’d survived. Fortunately, the amount of love had made it so her recovery was swift, so much so that she was back on duty only two days later.

But by far the most interesting change had to be with the Queen’s body herself. Inspecting every angle of her body in a massive set of mirrors, she could only goggle at her form, wide-eyed as she drank in her change. Her body had ballooned up and out with fat. For a creature normally associated with a supremely thin, lithe figure, she was the polar opposite. Her flanks, once rather bony with a very miniscule amount of padding, had turned into cushiony orbs, strapped to her ass, creases marring them. These were connected to legs which had turned from sticks to logs, large creases of flab forming around her joints, swaddling them in plush adipose.

Her blue glowing gut dangled below her like a sack of flour, reaching her knees with little trouble. Pressing a hoof into it, she watched as it sank in slightly, meeting heavy doughy flesh. She could see that it had divided into two rolls, squishing together side by side, forming squeezable love handles. Her neck and face too hadn’t been spared one bit, widening out and sagging onto her back into a tire-like ring. Cheeks puffed up like they were holding marshmallows in them, and a wobbling chin dangled below, jostling with every movement.

“How! How did this happen!” She screamed at her reflection. “How did my beautiful figure become buried under so much of this heavy fat! I must be the fattest Changeling to ever exist!” Still, her mirror image refused to answer, it’s muzzle pulled up into a venomous scowl. A sudden pulse of light from her middle drew her eyes down, the semi-opaque skin betraying its contents. “Bah… If I’d known all this energy was going to make me this podgy, I wouldn’t have swallowed the thing.”

From the great doorway a slight knock rang out, the doors opening moments later. Cautiously trotting inside was a drone wearing an orange hard hat. “Yes, what is it you want?”

“Well, your majesty, the storage room has reached maximum capacity.” He spoke calmly, his voice holding an air of professionalism as he bowed.

“Already, is this true?”

“It is. From floor to roof, a storage pod either occupies or is squeezed into any available space.”

“Fine… see to it you start excavation on a secondary storage room. Try to keep using every inch of space in those old pods until you've finished. I will not have a single drop of love wasted.”

“Very good your majesty” With a slight spring in his step, he closed the door, leaving the Queen to her inspection.

“So… we’ve filled our entire love store? That is excellent news, just for us and us alone, and not for those selfish ponies.” Her forehead creased, fangs bearing. “Or even that traitor that fled the hive, he will not bask in our bounty.” Her eyes drifted across the room, catching the gaze of her guards, one of whom was staring straight at the Queen’s ass.

With dark purple eyes and a crimson neck fin, the offending ‘ling was certainly unique. “You! Pharynx! I saw that, whatever was the meaning of that?” Within an instant, the offending Changeling stood bolt upright, his spear fumbling in his grip. Before he could properly fix his posture, his leader was standing over him, snorting and sending bursts of steam from her nostrils.

“I… erm… umm… thought your flanks looked nice…” He gulped, sweat trickling across his ashen skin and dark violet carapace.

“My flanks look nice!?” She glanced back, inspecting the basketball-sized lumps. “I suppose they do have some charm to them… but still! The way you gazed upon me was out of line. Just be thankful that I don’t send you on a practice infiltration mission to Yakyakistan. Is that clear?”

He didn’t respond, his eyes suddenly flicking back to her body, as his eyes widened in surprise. “My… my Queen… are you… growing?”

“Growing, whatever are you prattling on about?” Raising her leg, she jabbed at his chest with every word she spoke. “I swear if I hear one more word out of you, i’ll…” She stopped, glancing back at her leg. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched on in shock as the limb seemed to be thickening, millimeter by millimeter. Staggering back, she stared aghast at the mirrors. “You… you weren’t lying…” she stuttered out, her usual bravado suddenly taken out of her. Before her very eyes, she could feel pound after pound of extra mass suddenly materialise upon herself.

The weight bearing down was growing by the second, her guards watching on in a mixture of shock and amazement. Like molasses, her onyx skin blimped outwards with doughy blubber. Her stomach pressed her legs apart with the sheer amount of flesh accumulating there. “What on Equus is going on!” she shouted, feeling an additional chin swaying about, slapping into her tire like neck. Barely able to turn her head, she watched as creases of flab ringed her back, starting to trap her wings between the accordion like slabs.

Her butt, now starting to rival exercise balls in terms of size, began to rapidly envelope her tail, leaving bare strands of it poking out between the crevasse of buttock cleavage. This was further compounded by her legs continuing to thicken, the heavier rolls sagging below her knees in great, ovoid clumps. She could hardly move. Each step she took was an exaggerated slosh, sweat beading across her forehead as she tried to keep on her hooves. But, as the weight stacked on, she could no longer stand. With a last cry of frustration, she fell onto her gut, the blob of adipose acting as a mattress. “Someling please do something!” she screeched, though much deeper in pitch than before with a hint of muffling.

“A… at once my Queen, I’ll fetch a healer and an artificer…” a female guard stammered, before bolting through the door. The rest snapped out of their trance, approaching the static mound of Changeling. They shared looks, unable to do anything. Still, the swelling didn’t slow. Already, her forelegs had been forced to rest upon her belly, which was spreading across the floor, inch by inch.

“What would you have us do?” Pharynx asked, seeing as he was the closest to her head. From between wobbling cheeks, a chill ran down his spine as he looked into his leader's eyes, eyes that were tinted with frustration and bitter sadness.

“I… I don’t know…” she answered, her legs twitching ever so slightly. The door suddenly flew open, the same orange helmeted drone running in, wheezing as he skid to an uneasy halt.

“My Queen, the love storage! It’s beyond max capacity, the tanks cannot take the pressure!” He cried out, only just noticing that his Queen had more than trebled her size since he’d seen her last. Before she could think of anything to respond with, a massive tremor shook the foundations, the distant thud of an explosion reaching her ears. Then, the chamber was full of cloying love energy, tinging the air a thick, cloudy pink.

A low rumbling gurgle filled the throne room, emanating out from the mass of flesh her gut had devolved into. As soon as it had finished, the light emanating from her stomach intensified, blue light cutting through the pink haze. Then her growth suddenly escalated. Each second that passed, her body spread further and further out, even raising herself up higher and higher. Every drone emitted cries of distress, literally forcing them to back away as her expansion continued. The energy she possessed was amplifying, the room swamping with love energy.

As they tried to make head or hooves of the situation, they noticed that they too were undergoing the same process their Queen was undergoing. The sheer excess of love was permeating their bodies. Soon, their lean bodies gurgled and blorped as fresh fat was appearing, rapidly turning them from the ideal warriors into little more than obese caricatures. Armour exploded off their bodies, unable to conform to the abundant mass ballooning from within, sending metal fragments everywhere. The pieces that hit Chrysalis didn’t leave so much as a scratch, instead rebounding back with a ‘slosh’.

As helpless as grubs, they lost their footing, slumping to the ground. A mixture of shouts and yelps echoing through the chamber as they lay there. Continuing to balloon, the Queen’s body pushed into them, shunting their fattened forms along as they began to squash into the hive walls. Pharynxs’ head was almost submerged as the fatty folds of his ruler pressed into him. In vain, he tried to push Chrysalis away with his stump like hooves, encased in thick sleeves of adipose. “GGGUURRPPPPBBBBLLLUURRPPP!!!” Her immense stomach vocalised, the hive itself shaking from the intense growling from that house-sized blob, which was soon exceeded beyond that definition, as she swamped over the throne. The ancient black stone, enchanted against all magic other than Changeling, cracked and crumbled. With a final heave, it toppled over, rapidly covered by the tide of flesh.

The growth continued to accelerate, the room becoming increasingly cramped as the literal mound of Changeling dominated everything. Somewhere within the confused mind of Chrysalis, she was aware of how massive she was growing. She could sense the change in pheromones in the air as she flooded into passageways, pressing against the walls, causing the entire structure to make increasingly unsetting sounds. It terrified her subjects, the very ceiling beginning to fragment with each grumble, groan and vibration. Her guards turned into blobs themselves, like miniature versions of their ruler as their hooves were sucked into their wobbling cannons, leaving them immobile as their growth continued.

A crack of the resinous material echoed through the magnificent building, followed by many smaller ones, each one sounding like pure dread. The explosion moments ago had set them on edge, the air permeating with love being the next strike. The collapsing roof was the final straw. Like a raging river, the Changelings ran or flew as fast as they could, desperate to escape whatever was happening as the once organised hive fell into pandemonium. Another splintering bang. A strong tremor rippled through the ground, the shock tangible to the changelings running on the ground as it traveled through their legs. But they didn’t care, their instincts told them to run. Diving through halls and passages, evading falling architecture, they were oblivious to the rounding of their own guts and thickening of their hindquarters. Another crunch and a group of Changelings were cut off as the spiral staircase ahead of them was filled with a gelatinous mass, oozing and squeezing its way through, blocking off passage after passage.

As another quake rocked the hive, the first Changelings dived out into the afternoon sun, not caring where they went, unaware they were being watched from not so far away.

---

Surrounding the Changeling Hive, a great cliff rose into the air at the basin’s edge. The great slabs of stone were dotted with scraggly bushes and twisted, splintered trees. From these points, the once lifeless areas were teeming with life. Crowded across the slopes, unable to be spotted from the structure, were a considerable contingent of armour-clad ponies.

With both a mixture of Solar and Lunar guards among a scattering of Crystal guards, the force was considerable. All were armed with a scattering of swords, spears, and other specialised melee weapons. Alongside them, various pieces of artillery were positioned, the most prevalent being the Ballista, the immense bolts stacked beside them. The bulk of the weapons were dug into the ground, the freshly dug soil piled up around it.

Standing in a hastily erected tent, gathered around a map, the Royal Sisters glared down at the cartography. Like their troops, they had elected to bedeck themselves in plate armour, the crafting of which was nothing short of masterful. Engraved with runes, studded with enchanted gems, medallions and pendants, their bodies were protected in a latticework of the embedded magics. Beside them, the Elements of Harmony and Starlight Glimmer stood, the seven of them displaying a mixture of emotions.

“Are the troops in position, sister?” Celestia huffed, pointing to various miniatures across the map.

“Verily, sister. All forces are prepared to act upon a moment's notice.” Luna nodded back, her armoured hooves leaving a dent in the table.

“Excellent, we shall act as we planned. The assault will begin in ten minutes’ time, when the sun is behind us, blinding the defenders.” She snorted, lowering her helmet’s visor over her eyes, the near indestructible inset glass glinting an angry red. “Though we didn’t follow up against the Changelings’ first invasion, they have crossed the line this time. If not for Cadence and Shining Armor's shield, the Crystal Empire would have frozen over by now.”

“Which is why we must show force in response! Other nations have been making moves against us, this perceived weakness besmirches our kingdom's name!” Luna venomously spat, pulling her helm down. “When we are through with Chrysalis, she will rue the day when she dared to endanger our subjects.”

“Princesses! The Changelings have emerged!” A guard suddenly burst into the tent.

“Have they spotted us?” Celestia answered instantly.

“No… not at all… it’s… you’ll have to look for yourself.” He motioned with a hoof, the assembled mares darting outside. From their hidden position, they watched as what they could only describe as a cloud of black pouring out of every hole and gap in the structure. A cloud made up completely of the insectoid race.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get ‘em!” Rainbow shouted, flaring her wings as she prepared to take flight.

“No, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia stopped her, raising a hoof. “This isn’t an attack, this… this is something else.” As they continued to watch, the cloud, instead of heading straight for their position, flew off in many directions. “They’re running, but from what?” Just as she spoke, the ground rumbled, clods of earth crumbling and rocks rattling. Glancing back from the cloud, they watched as the hive itself shook. The tall spires listed and fractured as one by one they fell, each impacting the basin with an earth-shattering boom. From the gaps, something was emerging. Like a balloon being inflated from inside a box, it rose up and out of the ruined hive.

“GGGRRRUUUMMMPPHHHHBBRRR!!!!” An organic groaning washed across the land.
A few seconds more of destruction, and with one final wrenching crunch, the last remnants of the structure fell away like the shards from an immense egg, finally exposing the object within. Partially obscured by a vast cloud of dust and debris, a great mass of black lay.

“What in the name of Equestria is that?” Twilight started, nearly unable to rationalise the thing before her. Nopony responded, all too enraptured by whatever it was. Across the bulk of it, smaller onyx blobs were positioned, sunk slightly into the greater mass.

“I’m afraid I haven’t got the slightest idea, Twi” Starlight breathed. The swarm slowed, looking back at what had replaced their home.

A sudden, great thrum of energy filled the air, a green-blue orb coalescing around a great slab. Like the prelude to a thunderstorm, the air became charged with incredible power. Swirling, roiling, then with a great pop it rocketed outwards, slamming into the Equestrian position. Within a moment, almost everypony was knocked down or at the very least staggered by the pulse. “Sister… did that magic feel familiar to you?” Luna spoke, adjusting an armour plate.

“Yes, it did. Like that of the Heart, but corrupted, twisted nearly beyond recognition, by Chrysalis herself.” She glowered, looking back towards the blob, which she noted was expanding outwards. Above, she watched as the fleeing Changelings were falling back to earth, their bodies rounded out. With dull, fleshy slabs, they collided with the basin floor, not a single creature escaping. “If I had to make a guess Twilight, that mountain of fat is Chrysalis herself.”

“So… how do we stop her?” Twilight stated, a small glimpse of hope on her muzzle, only to be quashed as her mentor frowned.

“I don’t know, but we must try. Cadence and the Empire are relying on us to help them. Whatever Chrysalis has become, we will stop her with all our might!” Spreading her wings, she rose into the air, easily visible to her troops, Luna joining her side.

“You see what has become of our enemy? They have encumbered themselves by some folly of their own. Her forces are scattered and unable to fight back. Unsheathe your swords, load your bows and ready your magic, for on this day, Equestria will triumph!” Luna shouted, raising her hoof into the air.

A roar of “For Equestria!” filled the air, just before another groaning gurgle echoed across the land. With a last shout, they charged, ready to meet their quarry head on.