Another month had passed since I woke up. I spent almost every moment with the girls or the kids. I was so proud when the kids all could take down Leon and Luna at the same time in battle, although they were all together. Pretty sure if it was one of them against the two of them it would have been very different. THe girls seemed to have enjoyed the family time too, and when Luna rose the moon… I got real used to seeing them all naked…
The day of the wedding finally came. I wondered if I should have invited Devin, but figured he’s probably got his own major problems with all those new wielders the Graveyard made toss out like candy. Quite literally the whole Empire was outside, sitting or standing for the wedding to start. Man I hope they don’t make today some excuse for a holiday.
I heard the door open slowly. “Hello handsome.” I turned to see Twilight there.
“Isn’t it bad for the groom to see the bride before a wedding.”
She walked up to me. The closer she got, the more her eyes kept throwing me off. “There’s seven brides today Zeke, I think seeing one before anything happens is alright.”
“... Sure.” X, you seeing anything I might be missing? Twilight’s eyes look… off.
Her heart seems off to.
“So, how are the others?” I don’t think this is Twilight. When I look at her eyes I see a child like curiousity, but those eyes look like someone suffering.
“Oh, fine. Rainbow’s trying to make her dress look ‘twenty percent cooler’ as she puts it.”
“Why aren't you in your wedding dress then?”
“They… needed to fix some loose stitching.” She leaned in close. “How’s about a pre-wedding kiss?”
“Only after one more question… what’s 5(2x + 3y -4) - x + 2y + 6?”
She stared at me. “Uh…”
Not Twilight. I summoned X and pointed it at the imposters neck. “Alright, Twilight would have solved that easy. Who are you, and who sent you?”
She glared at me. She went up in green fire and revealed her true form and, OH MY GOD SHE”S NAKED! “I am Chrysalis, former queen of the changelings.”
“First, why don’t you have any clothes, second, former?”
“When those silver beings, the Nobodies, as you all have been calling them, appeared, they stormed our hives and slaughtered us. Nothing we did was able to even touch them. I only survived because my hive was loyal and protected me til the end.”
“So you’re the last changeling?”
“Seems that way. When they first appeared I expected them to kidnap some of us like they did the ponies, dragons, and others, but they slaughtered my entire hive. Not even a single egg survived.”
“And let me guess, you tried to feed of my love, right?”
“Yes. How did you see through my disguise though? Was I not acting like Twilight has been in the last few weeks?”
“Stalker much? And no, it wasn’t your acting, it was your eyes. They just felt wrong when I looked at them.”
“So I disgust you then?”
“No, they just look like the eyes of a person without hope.”
“Maybe we can have a compromise.” We both looked at the door, and the girls and Cadence were there. Cadence was the one speaking. “Truthfully Chrysalis, your hive is really gone?”
“I wouldn’t be so desperate as to come into an Empire filled with magic sword wielding warriors if I wasn’t desperate.”
“Well, while I am sorry you lost… everything… I fell we call can relate. You must still be punished for your past actions at my wedding, and this attempt at repeat of past events here.”
“What shall be done then Cadence?” Celestia asked. “Do we even have new laws set in place for this?”
“No, but an old law in in the Empire back before all of this might be appropriate.” Cadence went up to Chrysalis and whispered something in her ear. “And it’s either that or the dungeons where you will starve to death.”
Chrysalis looked very shocked and hesitant to speak. “If it means I’ll survive then you give me no other option.” She said, blushing… blushing?
“Then it’s settled. Aunties, sister-in-law, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rune, Hearts Care, Zeke… This is going to sound cruel, but in order for Chrysalis to pay for her past crimes and rebuild her species… she has opted to become a slave wife to you all.”
“Hold up!” I said. “Slave wife? You can’t be serious. I get she’s now the last of her kind but… slave wife?!”
“I’m with Zeke.” Fluttershy said. “Slavery is wrong.”\
“It’s not like she’ll be a ‘slave slave’ Fluttershy. She will just have to act like a wife done… in every department.”
“Sounds hot.” Rune said.
I hit my head against the wall. “Why can’t she go with another bunch of people?”
“Cause,” Cadence spoke. “You’re all getting married today, and this will let old wounds heal… plus I am… kinda the reason she invaded.”
“What?!” Every one said.
“It’s true.” Chrysalis said. “When my kind found out about a Princess of Love it was like the gods above answered our prayers. We sent letters to her for ten years and she never sent a reply, and as far as our spies could tell, she didn’t even care. A week before her wedding I went to Canterlot in disguise and confronted her personally on the matter.”
“Cadence, this is true?” Luna asked.
“Yes…” Cadence said. “In my defence, changeling writing is hard to translate and by that I mean there was no other writings matching it that I could find so I just… tossed them into the fireplace…”
“When I arrived and confronted her, she thought I was some fan imitating her and asked if I could make a mover with her as a stunt double. When I showed my true form she screamed and I… reacted by hitting her over the head with a lamp…” Chrysalis said…
“Wow,” I said. “Just… so that’s how all that started?”
“What about you acting so mean all the time?” Twilight asked. “You were being so rude to everyone.”
“Honestly…” Chrysalis said. “I knew nothing about Cadence or how she acted, so I just played they typical stuck up Canterlot Nobal… by that I mean I saw how Blue Blood acted and mimicked it. When I found out Cadence actually was nice I… tried to put it on, but between pretending to be someone else and going through all that wedding crap… I just said ‘screw it’ and stayed mean since it worked at a surprising stress reliever.”
Things were silent for a time. “... Well… I guess we can make this work?” Care said, breaking the ice. “If anything maybe this will be good for our image.”
“Image?” I asked.
“Well, we have two alicorns, two earth ponies, two pegasus, a unicorn, and now a changeling. I think this will work out well in terms of how Daybreak Empire shows the acceptance of off-worlders and the different races that exist.”
“I… I don’t have a real say in this, do I?”
“Happy wife happy life, and now you’ve got eight.” Care walked over to Chrysalis. “Come on, we gotta get you a dress, wedding starts in four hours!” Care practically carried Chrysalis out the room. The others followed all bearing the same confused look I had as I was soon alone in my dressing room… X… what just happened?
You gained a new wife on your wedding day.
… “I think I’m gonna find Cid and have a quick drink.”
“You don’t drink?”
“I think I do now.”