Gilda said "Most of us griffins expect nothing but treachery and other bad things from changelings, and many see your kind as cowards too, but actually you're really not that bad, now that I'm getting to know you. But we need to take it slow, allright? I could see myself falling in love with you if you just give me time to find out what I am really like."
Queen Chrysalis replied "We don't have to marry already, what we should do is have a romantic relationship first. I am perfectly willing to do that. If you don't love me, and I can literally taste it when you do, then there is no point in having you for a wife."
"Why do you need a wife or a husband for anyway? You no doubt rule a whole hive of changelings and can feed yourself on whatever love they bring in, and have as much of it as you want. As long as they still have enough left over to feed themselves and their children, they're unlikely to revolt," Gilda pointed out.
"But love that is stolen either from a cocooned victim or tricked out of some far away target in some foreign land is not fresh love, but more like...tinned love. Meat can be packed into tins and be perfectly safe to eat, but that doesn't mean it'll taste as good as fresh love. Fresh love has to be given willingly, and the best and rarest fresh love of all...changeling caviar, you might say, is love gained from one who truly loves a changeling despite knowing their loved one is a changeling. As the Queen of my Hive, I surely deserve the finest food?"
Gilda glared at Chrysalis and flexed her eagle claws. "I am not your prey! We are griffins, we are the predators of this world. If you think of me as fast food, you will never gain my respect and my love. Yes, there are a few bad griffins, but generally we give what we get. Treat us well, and we can be your best friends, or at the least we won't hurt you. Treat us badly, and we lash out. Sadly, being of the griffin royal family has a few downsides, and one is that we griffin princesses are supposed to be virgins until we are married. I will marry you, but only because I don't want to greatly upset my father."
She turned to him. "Father, I will willingly take Queen Chrysalis as my bride."
"Excellent. Go to your room so the servants can get you ready and dressed properly for the royal wedding."
*****
Soon enough Gilda was being fussed over, primped, prodded and generally made to look beautiful-and she hated it. Her hair on her head was curled, her claws given a manicure, she was washed and brushed and dried and a pink silken dress, a Rarity Original no less, was with difficulty placed upon her body. She hissed in pain when a wing was briefly caught in it. How she hated this frou-frou girly-girly stuff. It just didn't feel right for her.
Wearing her royal jewellery was one thing, as it had a purpose and showed that she was a royal griffin who was to be obeyed. But wearing all this made her look really pretty and prissy and so not the real her.
In another room Queen Chrysalis's closest royal attendants were making her look good as well. Her chitin was washed with warm water and dried and polished so it shone. Her mane was combed and put in a plait tied with a ribbon of fine green silk. Silkworm silk, not changeling silk. Changelings generally found the idea of wearing their own silk pretty disgusting. Her hooves were cleaned. Her crown was of chitin and had grown naturally from her own head on the day her mother died, but it too was washed, polished and had a necklace of fine pearls placed around it. She too wore a dress as this was such a special occasion, a fine green Rarity Original to go with the colour of her chitin. She wanted to look good for her bride to be.
Soon enough the two stood together in the Royal Temple of the First Griffin, the First being a mythological or semi-mythological griffin who was believed by devout believers of the Griffin Way, the main religion in Griffin controlled lands, to have started the Griffin race. It was surprisingly plain for such a building, with a wooden altar with three jewel-encrusted candlesticks set upon it. Gilda's mother, father, brother and sisters were all present in their rarely worn royal robes. The Archpriest Marken asked Gilda,
"Do you, Princess Gilda Heartmark of Griffonia, swear to take Queen Chrysalis Nemesiidae of the Changeling Hive Chrysalis as your wife, and to love, cherish, and remain faithful to her as long as you do live?"
She looked into Chrysalis's eyes and said "I do."
"And do you, Queen Chrysalis Nemesiidae of the Changeling Hive Chrysalis, swear to take Princess Gilda Heartmark of Griffonia as your wife, and to love, cherish, and remain faithful to her as long as you do live?"
Queen Chrysalis looked lovingly into her eyes and said "I do."
"Then I pronounce you wife and wife in the eyes of the First Griffin. You may kiss the bride." Chrysalis gently planted a kiss upon Gilda's beak. After much cheering from the guests, the Griffin wedding feast begun, with roast beef, roast pork, and even roast manticore being cooked on spits and served up to the guests. There was also fruit, and a wedding cake that was even bigger then the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, with chocolate models of Gilda and Chrysalis on top of it. There was a small amount of vegetable food for a couple of pony ambassadors form Equestria who had been invited along to the wedding to be polite. As for the Changeling guards who had come with Queen Chrysalis, they were able to enjoy the meat, but there was no special food for them, that would have to wait until they got back to the Hive.
A griffin band struck up with drums, tubas, trumpets and trombones and Princess Gilda took Queen Chrysalis by the hooves and spun her around in a wild griffin dance, both on the floor and up in the air as well. All the other griffins danced along with them, yet gave them their space in the centre of the room.