Chapter 11: The Perfect Day
Twilight threw open the heavy double doors with enough force to make it dramatic, but not quite enough to send anypony into a sudden panic.
"No!" Chrysalis screeched. "Not again!" The former queen stood by Cadance and Celestia, wearing an elaborate dress of soft pinks and whites, along with a stunned expression of utter disbelief that such a thing could happen to the same changeling twice.
Twilight had to pause for a moment to take advantage of the stunned silence that she had caused by her sudden arrival to admire Chrysalis' bridal outfit. Given the short notice it must have been one hay of a rush job for Rarity, but the fashionista had absolutely excelled herself. There had to be some magic in the dress given how it transformed Chrysalis' harsh angular form into something far softer, and even gave an impression of vulnerability. While suitably pale for bridal attire, Rarity had apparently permitted herself some fun with more vibrant details amongst the pinks and whites which very much reminded Twilight of her former foalsitter’s mane.
Cadance's outfit was just as impressive. It wasn't quite a suit, and it wasn't quite a dress, yet it suited the princess perfectly. The predominant black was offset by sea greens and dark reds while the cut of the fitting had clearly been inspired to provoke comparisons to the sharper more aggressive changeling form.
Her friends were all in their dresses from the first attempt at the wedding ceremony. Rarity had even somehow found the time to create an appropriate outfit for Trixie along with a new floppy hat. The only thing out of place was that there were two Lyra's, and that one of them was wearing a mauve dress so hideous that even Twilight with her regrettable lack of fashion knowledge thought that it was the most impressive eyesore that she had ever seen. It was almost an achievement in how offensive it was.
Celestia stepped past the two brides-to-be, and asked, "Twilight, what is the meaning of this?"
"I'm sorry I'm late, everypony," Twilight called out, while smiling widely. "I just had to make sure that the other guests got their invitation."
Rather than a bedraggled looking Cadance this time another Twilight Sparkle stood in the doorway. This Twilight however had been born a stallion, and was wearing the polished ornate armour of a changeling swarm lord. Dusk bowed deeply in respect to the hall and moved to stand sentry by the open door.
Velvet followed next. She quickly spotted the real Twilight Velvet in the crowd and gave her a friendly wave. Twilight Velvet spluttered in disbelief, and then nudged her husband in the ribs when she noticed him drooling. As more and more changelings—some in the guises of ponies, while others as drones in plain sight—filed into the hall to stand along the walls, Chrysalis raised a hoof to her mouth to stifle a sob.
"I don't know why you would ever do such a thing for me, but thank you, Twilight Sparkle," Chrysalis said, her voice heavy with barely repressed emotion. "Thank you."
"You should thank your former hive's broodmother," Twilight said, gesturing to Velvet who managed to pull off an impressively fluid curtsey. "She..." Twilight paused, and considered how to best word having a nightmare forced into your head in the name of inter-species relations. "She talked me round to seeing that given the alternatives it is far better to let things go rather than allowing them to fester."
"The broodmother?" Chrysalis asked, and raising an eye ridge. "But she just deals with the breeding, and lecturing me constantly to finally get round to having a princess of my own."
"And you did," Velvet called out. "Well done!"
Chrysalis glanced at Cadance, and then laughed. "I suppose so," she said. "Then I thank you too."
"Then there truly is a first time for everything," Velvet replied cheerfully.
"As I was saying," Celestia announced loudly, after the new guests had finished taking their places. "Mares and gentlecolts, drones, swarm lord, broodmother, and our other honoured guests, we are gathered here to witness the joining together in marriage of Princess Cadance and the changeling Chrysalis."
There was a smattering of cheers for the crowd, followed by an impressive burst of fireworks across the ceiling of the great hall, which doubled the cheers and applause. Trixie allowed herself a small satisfied smile.
"While their love is perhaps unconventional to some," Celestia said, continuing her speech. "And the way of their meeting and the following courtship even more so, there is no denying that the love they share is very much real. The strength of their commitment formed so strongly in such a short time is clear to all." She turned to Spike who was close by in attendance. "May I have the rings please."
"Wait," Spike said, searching his tux frantically. "Was I supposed to have those?"
"Generally the dragon, or pony as the case may be, in charge of the festivities looks after them for the wedding," she kindly explained, her voice full of infinite patience. "Pinkie Pie, do you have them?"
Pinkie made an elaborate show of checking every inch of her bouncy body. "Nuh huh," she said. "Then this dress doesn't actually come with any pocketses," Pinkie confessed in a put on squeaky voice.
"Uhh," Chrysalis said worriedly, clearly not trying to let the fact that Cadance had her face buried in her forehooves cause her to panic even further. "What's this about rings?"
"I didn't even think about that," Cadance groaned, with her face still buried in her hooves. "I don't even know what happened to the one that I was going to give myself after I was imprisoned down in the caves."
"I'm sure that there's a fast pegasus present who would be willing to pick up two rings from Canterlot," Celestia said, causing Rainbow Dash to flex expectantly. "I believe Bands and Beds come highly recommended, and they do throw in a pair of feather pillows for free."
"But they'd have to be fitted," Cadance wailed, and stomped a hoof down. "And how are we going to get a ring on that thing!"
Chrysalis gazed up at her jagged horn self-consciously. "Maybe they could make one custom?"
"That could take weeks!" Cadance said petulantly, fully giving into histrionics as only a mare who has found that something has gone wrong at the altar can. "I just want to get married! How can that be so flapping hard!?"
"Ahem."
All eyes turned to Shining Armour, and the two gleaming golden rings he was holding with his magic.
"Thought that I'd look after these after one of my stallions found them after the last go round," he said. "Here you go, princess." He floated over the ring, that had things been different, Cadance would have given to him. "I believe that was the one you were looking for."
"Shining?" Cadance said uncertainly, as she took the ring she'd selected with her own magic.
He didn't answer her, as he turned to Chrysalis, triggering the magic of his enchanted sash as he did so. There were a few gasps from both stallions and mares in the audience who had yet to experience the full Gleaming Shield effect. "Chrysalis, I'm giving this ring to you," she said, sending the ring slowly spinning towards the former queen.
"I..." Chrysalis was entirely lost for words.
"You tried to take me from her, at least that’s from what I understand and remember," Gleaming explained sweetly. "But you never took me from her, but you know what? I can give that to you."
"Thank you," Chrysalis said simply, as she took the ring.
"Now you take care of her," Gleaming said, her tone silken smooth. "Or by the time I'm done with you, well you'll think that Tartaurus is a day spa in comparison. She may have ripped all the love I once held for her out of my head but that really doesn't mean that I won't take it personally anyway."
Chrysalis gulped. "...Understood."
"But it was made for Shining Armour, not you," Cadance said, staring at the wedding band in front of her.
"It will fit," Chrysalis insisted, through gritted teeth.
"Chrysalis, no!" Cadance protested, as she caught the meaning of her lover's words.
"Cadance, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you," she said, and passed her ring to Celestia. "Now, can we get on with this?"
"Of course," Celestia replied regally, as she took the other ring from Cadance. "I now pronounce you mare and changeling, joined eternally one." With that she placed the rings upon their horns. For several seconds as the wedding band was slid down instead of Chrysalis by Cadance there stood Shining Armour in that same pink dress, visibly pained, but holding himself completely still, and even managed a triumphant smile as the ring fit upon his horn perfectly.
Gleaming Shield just watched without any emotion showing on her face, but she didn't complain when Twilight seized her into a fierce sisterly hug. He triggered the sash and Shining Armour hugged his sister back.
Chrysalis let out a shaky breath and released the form of the stallion that she had once ensnared. The golden wedding band was now now locked firmly in place at the base of her horn. "Not doing that again," she whispered, only loud enough for Celestia and Cadance to hear.
"Couldn't you have turned into anypony with a smaller horn if you were going to do that?" Celestia asked conversationally.
"No," Cadance said softly, her eyes shining. "She couldn't."
Celestia went back to using her addressing the crowd voice. "Chrysalis," she announced. "I name you princess-consort of Equestria. You may now kiss the bride."
Cadance raised a forehoof. "Excuse me, but she's the bride."
Princess-consort Chrysalis opened her mouth to protest, and then turned it into a rueful grin. "I really don't mind being the bride," she said meekly, and fluttered her eyelids at Cadance.
Celestia threw her hooves up in the air. "Will you two just kiss already?" she asked, her voice alive with amusement. "Also, Rainbow Dash. That was your cue by the way."
As the massive sonic rainboom shattered the air above Canterlot, the lips of Cadance and Chrysalis met for the first time as wife and wife. It was, rather like friendship, absolutely magical.
~~~
Moondancer had her tongue in a drone's ear and nopony or changeling present seemed to mind. It was turning into that kind of night. The drone did not currently look like Prince Blueblood but apparently that too had ceased to be a problem after the second glass of champagne.
"I still don't get any of this," Rainbow Dash groused. Her mood had been decidedly grumpier since she'd discovered that there wasn't a drop of cider to be found and was now reluctantly getting acquainted with a red wine.
"It's really not all that complicated," Gleaming said confidently. "Mare meets stallion. Mare gets abducted by changeling. Changeling conquers Canterlot with unwitting help of stallion. Mare conquers changeling with love. Meanwhile two mares find other mare to turn as yet to be determined mare into what the stallion would look like if he was a mare. Then mares accidentally turn stallion into a mare in the process. Changeling and mare get married, other three mares get together, and stallion, or mare, depending on which is currently more entertaining, figures that all things considered things could have turned out a lot worse."
Dash looked at her blankly.
"I can get my flip-chart if it would help," Gleaming offered. "Really it'd be no trouble."
"Uh..." Applejack said, who was just as stunned that Gleaming hadn't needed to breathe during all that. "Nah, I think we're good. You have a flip-chart?"
"Of course," Gleaming replied. "Can't be an effective captain without a flip-chart."
"Mare who looks like a stallion, what?" Dash mumbled to herself, and then shook her head. "Anyway, I totally follow everything that happened... Well, kinda," she admitted. "But it's all this soppiness going about," Dash said, and glanced over to the side of the party where Fluttershy and Trixie were sitting together quietly. "Always thought that she was way cooler than that."
"So you're not one for soppiness, Dash?" Gleaming asked, raising an eyebrow of such delicate perfection that three nearby stallions choked on their drinks.
"Nah," Dash said, and brushed some non-existent dust out of her coat. "Never seen the point, and it'd just be a distraction anyway."
"Our Dash here has her eyes set on becoming a Wonderbolt," Applejack explained. "Least that's when she's not nappin' in my orchard anyway."
Gleaming nodded. "You sound just like the old Wonderbolts captain," she said. "Only met Icy Showers the once, but I've never met anypony so dedicated. Heard she almost had an apoplexy when Spitfire got the nod after she retired." She studied Dash, and then downed the champagne glass that she'd been carrying. "I take that you've read her biography then?"
"Of course!" Dash replied, her voice brimming over with her inner fanfilly. "Read it cover to cover seven times. Did you know that she was the first mare to do the castle relay run in under seven minutes?"
"I'm really sure that he doesn't need the lecture, Rainbow," Applejack interjected. "Land-snakes, I swear that some days you can be worse than Twilight when she's got a bee in her bonnet."
"You know." Gleaming said, as she did something with her hips that caused the owner of Bands and Beds behind her—who was already on quite the elated high after the recognition from the Princess herself—to faint clean away from pure happiness at the sight of it. "I bet that I could change your mind."
"That sounds like a challenge," Rainbow said, her lips splitting into a cocky grin. "I love challenges."
"You ready?" Gleaming asked. "I wouldn't want to claim that you weren’t prepared," she said, drawing the last word out into a low purr.
"Bring it," Dash said smugly. "Better ponies and griffons than you have tried."
In response Gleaming shot her a sultry come hither look so intense that Applejack gasped, and she wasn't even the primary target.
"Oh... So that's you do it," Apple noted weakly.
Fleur-de-Lys was standing close enough to take note, and without interrupting her own conversation, raised a glass in salute to a fellow pro.
"I was just thinking," Gleaming said shyly, and then leaned in close to whisper something in Dash's ear.
Rainbow Dash let out an audible helpless moan, flushed absolute scarlet, and took to the air with a frantic flap of her extended wings. "Uh, I need to be somewhere else. Somewhere else that is very much not here," she said, her eyes darting wildly. "You totally win, okay... So, umm bye!" Gleaming Shield and Applejack barely heard the last few words as they had been shouted from a rainbow streak rapidly disappearing into the night sky.
Applejack gawped at the transformed stallion. "Woah, what the nelly did you say to her?" she asked. "I've never seen her cave in that quickly in the face of a challenge."
Gleaming studied the sky with a puzzled expression on her face, and then turned back to Applejack. "All I said was that I'd tickle her hooves," she said, her voice somewhat awed by getting such a rise so swiftly. "I thought I'd start small and then work my way up."
Applejack snorted with barely repressed laughter. "I'm gonna have to remember that one." She grinned. "Could come up in all sortsa situations."
Gleaming frowned. "You don't think I upset her, do you?"
"Nah, she'll be fine," Applejack said. "Dash is a big mare, and she gives as good as she gets. Believe me, I'll be riding her on this one for weeks."
"Oh good," Gleaming said, readjusted the refashioned sash around her neck. "Right, mind holding onto my helmet, Applejack?" I'm going to go and seduce Discord."
Applejack looked at her blankly. "Uh, sugarcube," she said. "Discord's a stone cold statue."
Gleaming grinned. "So?" she said lightly, and sauntered away a few steps before looking back. "Think it will make a difference?"
"Nah, probably not," admitted Applejack, before giving in and cracking up into guffaws of laughter entirely.
Gleaming strutted away, stepped lightly over the stallion who was still out of it with a blissful grin on his face, and past where Dusk and Twilight were making an effort at dancing together. The attempt so far was not exactly successful.
"How are you finding it?" Twilight asked, as she made a real effort not to step on her partner's hooves.
Dusk tripped over her tail and clattered right into another dancing couple. After several profuse apologies to them, he said in halting Equestrian, "It's a lot easier than dancing, I'll say that," Dusk said, shaking his head. "Must still be feeling the after-effects of the cocoon."
"Probably," agreed Twilight, trying not to notice the dirty looks from the two ponies that were still picking themselves up. "Can I ask you something?"
"If it's about anything that I may have dreamt about in the last few days..." Dusk said warily.
"Not that," Twilight said quickly, a touch of colour on her cheeks. "I keep going over and over what Velvet did to me, and I just have to know If you did lie to me."
"Twilight," Dusk said hesitantly. "I know I swore that forming a connection with me would not harm you. I'm sorry." He looked away towards where Velvet was deep in conversation with Twilight's real mother. "I really had no idea such a thing was even possible." He let out a bitter laugh. "And I wasn't exactly in a position to complain at the time."
"I know," Twilight said, a slight smile touching her lips. "Our link might be fading, but I still know that you aren't lying to me."
"I'm almost glad that hive Chrysalis is over with," Dusk admitted. "I don't think I was a very good swarm lord."
"Don't beat yourself up about it," Twilight said, placing a forehoof on the changeling's shoulder. "What will you do now?"
"I'd like to come visit you," Dusk said, as they made an almost passable attempt at moving in time with the music.
"Really?" Twilight blurted out, her eyes darting.
Dusk nodded. "But for now I can't," he said. "I may be able to talk to ponies now from my longer exposure due to carrying so much of Princess Cadance's love, but who knows how long it will take the rest of the changelings, if it ever happens at all."
"But I heard that Cadance could fix that with her magic anyway?"
"Velvet was the last," Dusk said. "Apparently it just takes too much out of her, and that she needs all her energy now for something else," he explained. "She was smirking when she said that. Not entirely sure what that was about."
"I'm sure that I have no idea either," Twilight said, with an entirely straight face. "So you're staying in Canterlot then?"
"Yes," agreed Dusk. "Queen... Sorry, Princess Celestia asked if I would be willing to earlier. Doomie is heading to Ponyville to apprentice in baking, Firebrand now goes whether Princess Cadance goes, and I don't think she entirely trusts Velvet," he explained. "Would it be okay if I wrote to you though?"
Twilight smiled. "Letters from the first changeling liaison of Canterlot?" she said wryly. "Of course that would be fine. I might even write back."
Dusk laughed, and then his expression darkened. "Please be careful when you get back to Ponyville."
Twilight raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"The princesses don't want make it public knowledge for fear of causing panic and destroying the very integration that they're hoping to achieve, but not every changeling was willing to listen when Velvet shared Princess Celestia's proposal with the hive," Dusk said. "Most will flee for the badlands to try and become part of one of the other hives, some though may well strike out on their own, and then they'll begin to feed."
"How many drones are we talking about here?" Twilight asked.
"Not counting the speaker," Dusk said, as he leaned in closer. "Forty seven."
"Oh," Twilight said quietly. "I'll be careful."
'Please do be,' came the thought that wasn't even as loud as a whisper in her head.
Trixie watched as Twilight Sparkle and the changeling tried to dance together as they talked. She didn't think Twilight would be interested in a changeling, even if they did seem to be getting along well. Not that it mattered either way Trixie reminded herself sharply. She'd found something here that she could barely even of imagined as ever happening to her, if not anypony, and here she was considering again what might have been.
"You don't have to stay here," Fluttershy said. "Not if you don't want to." The two of them were sitting well off to the side of the main part of the after wedding party. She'd turned down Trixie's offer to dance a few times on the basis that everypony, or indeed, anypony might look at them. "I'm sure that I'm awfully boring company..."
"Believe me," Trixie said, deliberately looking away from Twilight Sparkle. "There's nowhere I'd rather be right now."
Fluttershy blushed prettily, and retreated somewhat behind her mane. She looked around for a something else to talk about. "I never knew that Lyra was so persistent."
"That would be the mare that Rarity has in a headlock?" Trixie asked, and Fluttershy nodded. She'd been avoiding looking in that direction as seeing that wild grin and the sheer fervour that Rarity had been putting towards winning the bouquet was frankly somewhat unnerving. It was also kind of stirring down low, Trixie had to admit, when Lyra managed to wiggle out of the lock and Rarity had followed up with a right hook that looked like it could have felled a minotaur.
Lyra threw herself backward to avoid the blow, and Rarity leaped on top of her to continue the scuffle over the now very battered bouquet. They rolled around in the heavy rain, their manes slicked down from the downpour, as they wrestled for the prize. It was the only area of the outdoor party that was currently experiencing inclement weather. After setting up in an impromptu betting pool, Princess Luna had ordered Fleetfoot to go find a suitable cloud, and now the Wonderbolt was bouncing up and down upon it with gusto.
"She looks a lot like you" Fluttershy said, noting Fleetfoot's similar coat and mane.
"I suppose she does," Trixie admitted, after studying the Wonderbolt for a few seconds. "Can't imagine we're related though. As far as I know the Lulamoon line, such as it is, is mostly unicorn with the occasional earth pony."
"Oh, but that wasn't what I meant," Fluttershy said quickly. "I was just wondering, maybe if you wouldn't mind, and Rarity was willing to make one..."
Trixie smiled, and placed a hoof around the other mare's neck. "Just ask me; whatever it is."
"Would you mind wearing a Wonderbolt trainee uniform on occasion?" Fluttershy asked, in one unbroken breath. "If you don't want to that's entirely okay," she added a lot more quietly.
Trixie pressed her hooves against her cheeks in mock horror, and took a suitably scandalized tone. "You can't mean the tight fitting ones that leave your flank and rear entirely bare, can you?"
"Yes." It was barely above an inaudible squeak. "Please don't tell Rainbow Dash that I asked you! She'd be ever so put out."
"So not only would Trixie get to wear something that her new marefriend would enjoy seeing her in, and she would also get to wind up Rainbow Dash without her knowing about it," Trixie said, breaking out into a wide grin. "Really not seeing a downside there."
Fluttershy seized her into a fierce hug. "Oh thank you," she whispered in Trixie's ear.
Trixie let herself relax into the hug, as she watched Rarity approach holding what remained of the bouquet aloft in triumph. Really this was never going to work out in the long term, Trixie considered. She found her eyes drifting back to Twilight Sparkle. Then again just because you think something is destined, or right, that doesn't mean that things can't work out anyway, and Trixie knew that whatever happened or could have happened she couldn't find a single fault with it. Sure, Rarity and Fluttershy would probably realise that they truly loved each other, and Trixie would be left out in the cold. It might not work out, but then again however long it lasted, Trixie knew that it couldn't get better than this.
"Eighty seven bits, eighty eight bits, oh hello Cadance." Luna looked up from the not insubstantial pile of gold in front of her. "We have been greatly enjoying supplementing the royal treasury," she said wickedly.
"I see," Cadance said, not showing a great deal of enthusiasm. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, my fellow princess," Luna said, throwing her mane back extravagantly. "Anything that you require of us we will be more than happy to provide!"
Cadance winced. "A little less volume would be nice for a start."
"We can do that," Luna said at a far more reasonable conversational level. "Now, what exactly is bothering you?"
Cadance breathed in deeply, and glanced over where Chrysalis was catching up with Applejack. "I did something unforgivable."
"And so you come to me," Luna said, and her eyes were hard.
"I'm sorry," Cadance said quickly, having caught Luna's expression. "Please, I just need to know how you cope with knowing that you were capable of doing something like that."
Luna examined the other princess for a while. "By living with it," she said simply. "There were reasons for what I did, but I will never accept them as excuses. My actions were my own, and so are any that I take now and in what may come. All I can do is to learn from the past and use that knowledge to do the right thing."
Cadance looked down at her hooves. "But what if I don't want to stop," she said under her breath.
Luna sighed. "Then you have to decide what is more important to you," she said sternly. "Your own desires or those that you love and care for."
"It sounds so simple when you put like that," Cadance said, and stamped her hoof in frustration. She looked down at the errant body part. "Sorry."
"No," Luna said softly. "It is never simple."
"Oh," Cadance said, and absent-mindedly stroked the mark on her cheek. "Thank you, I think."
"Just know that myself and my sister will always be there for you," Luna said, and nodded her head. “Whatever you do.”
"I appreciate that," Cadance said, and looked around. "I really should find out what's happening with our carriage."
"Can't wait to get the honeymoon started?" Luna asked teasingly.
Cadance looked over to where Chrysalis was now somehow managing to carry out a conversation with Celestia right by the DJ's pounding speakers. "You could say that," Cadance replied, with easy understatement. "This may not be the wedding night that I dreamt of when I was small, but now that it's here, I wouldn't rather spend it instead with any pony in all of Equestria."
Chrysalis swayed in place and downed another flute of the delicious bubbly liquid as the bass rolled over her."Do you recognise that mare In the shades playing the music?" she asked. "I am sure that I have seen her before, but I'm not sure where." She had found making small talk profoundly awkward, given that this was the alicorn that only a few days ago she had tried to overthrow, but she was slowly getting the hang of it.
Celestia sipped on her water while imperceptibly nodding her head to the beat. "I believe that she was playing in one of the clubs last night," she said. "I admit I cannot recall exactly which one."
"Right," Chrysalis said, and rubbed at the side of her head. "That would explain it."
"I am sorry by the way," Celestia said. "For missing so much of your hen party. It has been far too long since I have had a chance to enjoy myself in such a fashion."
"Surely I should be apologizing to you," Chrysalis said quickly.
Celestia waved a hoof regally. "As everything seems to have worked themselves out to an acceptably conclusion I don't think that you need to be concerned about that now."
Chrysalis nodded. "Thank you," she said. "I hope last night wasn't too shocking. I had no idea what Pinkie had planned."
"You should have seen the old pegasi empire in their glory days," Celestia said, her tone a little wistful. "My little ponies have a long way to go before they get even half as depraved as that society."
Chrysalis grinned some very pointy teeth. "Speaking of depraved may I ask why ponies keep nudging and winking at me every-time they ask about my honeymoon," she said. "I'm not entirely certain I even know what they are talking about. Do bees and your sister get involved?"
Celestia coughed. "In a manner of speaking," she said, remembering exactly which alicorn had given that empire so much of its reputation towards the end. "It simply refers to the days after the wedding and what the married couple get up to during that time."
"That sounds simple enough," Chrysalis said. "Does it also have something to do with the white lacy things Rarity insisted I wear under my dress?'
Celestia studied the changeling for some sign that Chrysalis was having fun with her, but if she was, she was managing to keep an impressively straight face.
"Excuse me," Firebrand interjected. She'd manage to somewhere lose the abomination against good taste in dress form and was back in her Lyra-guise. "Heartbutt wants you to know that the carriage is ready."
Celestia did not react. Immortal rulers of nations do not snigger. It's just not done.
"Do you mind?" Chrysalis said, as she focused her best glare at Cadance's new aide. "I may not be your queen any-more, but that is my wife."
"But it's such a nice butt," Firebrand protested. "Even with the pony that it's attached too, and It does have a heart on it," she added with impeccable logic. "A crystal one."
Celestia again did not snigger. She did however allow herself a small grin as it was so nice not being the one having to be on the receiving end for once.
"How long are you going to keep this up?" Chrysalis asked wearily.
Firebrand checked the non-existent time piece that she wasn't wearing. "Let's see," she said, taking on a calculating tone. "Say no more than two or three years."
Chrysalis rubbed a hoof against her face. "Look," she said, and pointed for emphasis. "Just go tell Cadance that I'll be with her shortly."
Firebrand made a pretty spot on imitation of a whip crack with her lips and sauntered off in the direction of the royal carriage with deliberate slowness.
"She really is flawlessly polite when Cadance is around," Chrysalis said, as she turned back to face Celestia. "It's funny..."
"What is?"
"I don't know how I'll cope without all the responsibility," Chrysalis mused. "I really don't."
"You’re not regretting saying yes are you?" Celestia asked, examining the changeling carefully. "You did change your mind very quickly given the way you initially reacted."
Chrysalis opened her mouth as if she was about to say something and then quickly shut it again. "It's not that," she said, while not quite meeting Celestia's eyes. "I'm certain that you'll be a better queen for the hive than I could ever be."
Celestia pursed her lips. "Princess, please."
Chrysalis shrugged causing the her wings under her carapace to rustle. "You know what I mean," she said. "All I'm saying is that it will be an adjustment is all."
An odd light appeared in Celestia's eyes for just a moment. "How would you feel about an empire?"
"What?" Chrysalis asked, clearly not at all sure she had heard what she thought she had just heard.
Celestia smiled reassuringly. "Just a passing thought," she said lightly. "Go, be with Cadance. There will be plenty of time for talk after your honeymoon."
She watched Chrysalis hurrying away to the rest of her life, and sipped daintily from her water. "This just might work out," she said to herself. "It might even be perfect."
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Uh wait did i miss few chapters because im confused. When those r63 come and all that stuff uhh?
5334621
Are you talking about Shining Armor changing back and forth between a mare? There was a subplot where Trixie created a magic Belt of Opposite Gender, and he decided to keep it.
Sneaky sneaky Tia. Sneaky sneaky.
Looks like Twilight learned some habits from her older sibling.
Cue Discord running in ten minutes later screaming, "I need an adult! I need an adult!"
Well, the Crystal Heart amplifies feelings like love, so all the Changelings who came there would get super charged. I can just see an army coming in from the north, only to get chased off by the new Crystal Changeling Hive.
Gleaming Shield gets two theme songs from me this chapter:
and
I really hope the Rarity/Trixie/Fluttershy romance works out, it's cute!
Celestia sure turned around on things, it's a little disconcerting how total it was. Nice foreshadowing at the end, though.
Apropos of nothing, I was just struck by the thought that Twilight's mother probably doesn't have a night themed name. If you look at her name (Twilight Sparkle), her brother's name (Shining Armor), and her only canonical love interest's name (Flash Sentry), apparently her family name theme is light based, the same way all the apples have apple themed names but don't all have the word 'apple' at the end. I wonder if Sunset Shimmer is a distant relative?
... ... ...
Oky, again, quite sorry I wasn't able to help with this. A really, really great chapter that looks to be wrapping everything up here in a very satisfactory manner. I legit applaud you on this. And great, sneaky reference to best Twixie fic, too. :D
5337018 Kudos for the NC reference
Yay, Chryssie the Buggybutt and Cadence the Heartbutt are happily together and might even get to rule the Crystal Empire! Also, the changeling army the Crystal Heart could create would be nigh-undefeatable.
Hahah, looks like all that released something in Shining.
Welp, Discord is about to get molested.
I hope Trixie stays with the two for good.