//------------------------------// // Guards and a Proposal // Story: Hive Diplomacy // by Kinni //------------------------------// A few minutes later, Chrysalis managed to recover control of herself. "Thank you. I needed that." She said, while wiping her tears. "You're welcome. And I think it would be better to discuss further tomorrow." Cadance offered, seeing that Chrysalis was still not completely back to herself. "I-I think you're right." Chrysalis agreed readily. Still, Cadance thought that there should be something else she could do for the Changeling. It took only a moment to decide. The Alicorn of Bonds put her hoof over her heart and focused on her feelings for Chrysalis. Thinking about what she had seen on the previous day, she sent those feelings out, and was rewarded with the sight of the same kind of burst of light, that was absorbed by Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen was speechless, Cadance said bye to her and left. As she followed the guard back to her room, the Princess felt light. She had followed her heart and even managed to express her feelings to Chrysalis. She was satisfied with the way the day had gone. There was still a surprise waiting for her back at the room. Apparently, Mask had sent her a book that was a collection of all her stories. Other than that, the rest was routine, Cadance ate, read, did more puzzles in the book, wrote a few letters to Celestia that she then destroyed, having had no intent of sending them in the first place... Time went by quickly, and soon Cadance was sleeping. The next day, she was scheduled to meet the High Chief of the Guards. Light Keeper talked a little about her: "She's called White Sword, and her title is Great Defender. She's the oldest current High Chief and quite possibly the strongest Changeling alive, after Chrysalis." "Seems like an interesting one." Cadance replied. The Changeling took her to a small building inside a distant tunnel. Inside was a desk with three Changelings working and another Changeling with a big sword strapped to her back, who was obviously White Sword. "Welcome, your highness." She said, straightening up "I am called White Sword, and I will show to you the job of the guards today" "Good day to you." Cadance answered. White pointed to the table "Here is one of the offices where reports are given and collected." Then she took Cadance out of the building and through a series of tunnels. "Since our existence is a secret, our most common job is dealing with monsters that wander into our territory." She said, then stopped. "The Quarray Eels are the worst we have to deal with, and I got my title by fighting off a hundred of them by myself." Then she pointed to the wall "We are in one of the border tunnels. There are no more tunnels beyond this wall, and the only Changelings who use this tunnel and others like it are guards doing patrol." She nodded and continued speaking "This way, if something tries to invade the Hive from beneath the earth, it won't be able to attack the more important parts by surprise." Cadance thought that made sense. She talked about what she knew of the organization and training of the royal guards, and White Sword did the same for the Changeling guards. After that, they passed through various patrol routes and saw many guards and fortifications, as well as the warehouse where the Changeling guard weapons were stocked. Still, although it was interesting, the Princess started losing focus on all the explanations and stories due to the proximity of her next discussion with Queen Chrysalis. It was easy to say that she was following her heart and would simply keep doing it, but she was getting anxious. However, if the Changeling High Chief could see that Cadance wasn't paying complete attention to the proceedings, she did not mention anything. And then the princess went to meet with Chrysalis. The Queen had completely recovered her poise, which made Cadance glad. The two of them sat down before starting the discussion. "So, I asked for volunteers to become the 'Mysterious Changeling', and I think I have someone who would be a good candidate." Chrysalis said. "That's good, but it would be best if we could discuss the exact workings of the plan with Princess Celestia. But I actually have another matter I would like to discuss with you." Cadance said seriously, deciding to go for broke. Chrysalis looked intrigued "What kind of matter?" The Princess adopted her most formal voice "In my position as ambassador, I would like to propose a marriage between the Queen of the Changelings and one of the Princesses of Equestria." Silence reigned for a long moment before Chrysalis said: "You, you really don't hold back on anything, do you?" "I just follow my heart. And thank you for not asking if I'm serious." The Princess nodded and smiled slightly. "I knew that would only insult you, it's just... really sudden, but I guess the heart works that way sometimes." She stopped for a moment and then moved closer to Cadance "So I should give an appropriate answer." She adopted a formal voice "As the ruler of the Changelings, I, Chrysalis, declare that I am amenable to that kind of union, as long as it is not with Princess Celestia, since we have had previous conflicts." She smiled. Cadance smiled back at her. The Princess moved first, but Chrysalis was only late by an instant, and then they were kissing. Chrysalis' kiss was hungry, fitting for the queen of a love-eater race. But Cadance was perfectly happy giving her everything she had, and as the kiss prolonged itself, the two bodies pressed ever closer to each other, and their legs (and in Cadance's case, her wings) wrapped around their partner as if afraid they would disappear were they released. But after a while, the kiss stopped, the two mares breathing deeply, and Cadance nuzzled her partner with obvious affection. "Now I'm a little sad there are no special marriage rites for Changeling royalty. I always liked those kinds of things." Chrysalis said, a bit wistfully. "Oh, you are being silly, you are the first Changeling Queen in recorded history. You can define your own marriage rites." Cadance touched Chrysalis' neck. "I guess you're right." Chrysalis said with a laugh "What kind of thing should we do?" She squatted to look at Cadance face to face. "Oh, I can think of a few things." The Princess said with a wink. The two shared a laugh and then started kissing again.