The few individuals who knew Queen Chrysalis even a little bit knew that soulmates were a topic one didn't bring up around her if they valued not having broken bones. Her soulmates' words had appeared on her neck some three thousand years ago, and it only took a hundred years or two before she realized her soulmate was in all likelihood dead. It had been a sore topic ever since that realization, so much so that when she spotted a pair of soulmates having fun together she'd usually walk in another direction. It wasn't fleeing, she told herself, them being all mushy just makes me sick.
In retrospect it was kind of obvious from the words printed on her carapace that, just like herself, her soulmate may very well have been immortal.
I've waited so long for this moment.
In fact it wasn't just kind of obvious it was blatantly spelled out for her. Of course, if she'd known this earlier she likely never would have met her soulmate in the first place.
It had to be her, because of course it did. Princess Celestia, avatar of the sun, and someone she'd... she'd hurt. Chrysalis had done the one thing that you never ever do. Even back when she was born in less... civilized times, it was common knowledge.
You never turn your magic on your soulmate.
She'd done that at the wedding, took down Celestia in front of dozens of witnesses. What kind of monster hurts their own soulmate?
The clack of Celestia's hooves on the stone floor as she took a step forwards brought Chrysalis out of her thoughts, and it took everything she had to look away from her soulmate instead of flinch backwards. If her soulmate desired to yell at her she would hold her ground. No one could ever say that Queen Chrysalis was a coward.
That resolve lasted all of about twenty seconds, so about how long it took Celestia to take another step in her direction. The sound of the second step made Chrysalis flinch back violently, being unable to repress the urge this time. Another step followed shortly after that, and another after that. Chrysalis tried to put more distance between them but she could only move backwards so far before she found herself backed into a wall.
It didn't take more than a few more seconds for Celestia to close that distance, and Chrysalis ducked her head in anticipation of... well she wasn't sure what would happen but she very much suspected that she wasn't going to like it.
Celestia didn't yell or strike her or do any of the things Chrysalis had been preparing for, however. Instead, Celestia pulled Chrysalis towards her chest and wrapped her up in soft wings. Chrysalis instinctively attempted to break free, not used to being touched in such a way, but Celestia tightened her hold before she could get anywhere.
"Shhh... It's okay. Just let it out. It's okay." Celestia whispered in her ear.
"I-" Chrysalis was cut off almost immediately.
"It's okay. You didn't know."
"But-"
"No. You couldn't have known. Okay?" Chrysalis shuddered and drew in a deep breath, but eventually submitted to her mate's wishes.
"Okay."
~~~
Celestia couldn't tell anypony how wonderful it felt to finally gaze upon her soulmate. She'd been waiting for as long as she'd known what soulmates were and here they stood in front of her. At first she'd thought It was a bit of a mystery why the words on her body were not the words Chrysalis had first said in her presence, but it had been a matter of a moment to remember that the words of your soulmate were not the first words they said that you heard, but instead were the first words they said to you. It was for this reason that Celestia had made it a point to talk to everypony she met at least once for her entire life.
Celestia, how kind of you to join us.
She'd treasured those words for as long as she'd lived, and to finally hear them from the lips of another was simply divine.
She was so overjoyed that she had to forcefully press her eyes close upon feeling the well of emotions coming from her other half to prevent the shock from showing on her face. The soul bond was a curious thing, allowing both bonded to feel the emotions of their mates so long as the emotion was especially powerful.
It didn't take long for Celestia to figure out why her mate was so upset. It was a well known but unwritten rule that you never harm your soulmate, and Chrysalis' first interaction with her had been knocking her unconscious and trying to take over her nation. She would have to nip these feelings in the bud before they became problematic as she refused to allow her mate to be so upset over something like that. Celestia had waited for almost three thousand years for her soulmate to show themselves, and there wasn't a chance in Tartarus that now that they'd appeared before her she would allow them to be unhappy.
A smile graced her lips as she rested her chin on Chrysalis' neck and breathed in her scent. It had taken surprisingly little time to calm her mate down, just wrapping the changeling up in her embrace and being a little forceful had done the job.
It was only now that Chrysalis seemed content that Celestia chanced a glance towards the rest of the room, and she found herself pleasantly surprised to see that everypony had left. Good, it was nice to see that her little ponies knew when she required a moment of privacy.
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah..."
~~~
That moment, much as Celestia wished it had been, was not the end of Chrysalis being upset over what she had done. It had taken several months and their wedding for Chrysalis to accept that Celestia didn't care about what had happened and only cared about making her happy.
That wasn't the last of their problems either. Chrysalis had somehow gotten it into her head that she wasn't pretty enough for Celestia, and it wasn't until they'd come back from their honeymoon, during which she had to be constantly reassured "Just because you aren't conventionally pretty by pony standards does not mean I don't find you attractive.", that Chrysalis accepted Celestia really did like the way she looked and wasn't just trying to make her feel better. Not to mention Chrysalis' territorial phase. No seriously, she didn't want to mention it.
After that mess however, things had gone quite swell. A few months passed until Chrysalis' nervousness and uncertainty disappeared for good, and when they did Chrysalis became willing to leave Celestia's room in her normal form. She also became a bit clingy.
That was an understatement. Chrysalis, having nothing better to do and no responsibilities, wanted to go everywhere her soulmate did, and that included spending time with her during Day Court just like she was doing right now. She insisted on spending those hours cuddling up with Celestia on her throne and catching up on the sleep she was being forced to miss since Celestia always got up so early. She refused to take no for an answer of course.
Celestia had eventually been forced to commission a larger throne so that Chrysalis could cuddle up in her original form, not that she was complaining. It was about time for her to take a break though, which meant they'd need to postpone any further cuddling until later.
"It's time to wake up my little soulmate. I'm taking a break and I'd like to get some food." Celestia nuzzled her queen softly.
Chrysalis took a moment to grumble about not wanting to before accepting her fate and looking up at Celestia with a small grin. "I'd like to soulmate with you."
Celestia repressed a snort but her eyes still shone with amusement. "Maybe later."
"Tia!" Chrysalis' voice rang through the throne room as she slammed open one of the various side doors and skipped towards Celestia. The guards had quickly become accustomed to Chrysalis doing this on the rare occasion that she didn't arrive with Celestia early in the morning before Day Court started.
They barely even flinched anymore!
Celestia was thankful that there was a lull in her meetings with ponies right now. It was always kind of awkward when her Chrysalis barged in and made herself the center of attention when Celestia was in the middle of a conversation.
It didn't take long for Chrysalis to reach her and when she did she jumped up onto their throne and pulled Celestia into a hug, shoving her face into Celestia's mane and taking a deep breath. A brief second was all it took for Chrysalis to smell what Celestia had desperately tried to cover up with perfume this morning, and when she did her entire body tensed. Celestia had no doubt Chrysalis' pupils would be slits if she could see them.
"Blood."
"It's just a scratch." Celestia didn't even try to deny it, knowing that doing so would only make Chrysalis angrier.
When they had first gotten back from their honeymoon Chrysalis had become quite territorial, not even allowing Luna to touch Celestia. She'd been told Chrysalis had ranted something along the lines of "How dare you try to tarnish my soulmate with your disgusting filth!" when Luna had tried but she'd been too busy trying to calm Chrysalis down and hold her back to really listen to what she was saying. A day or two later and Celestia had gotten Chrysalis to agree to allow others to touch her but she still flew into that kind of rage if Celestia had even a tiny scratch on her.
Celestia surmised that her soulmate did this because she still felt guilty for having hurt her and so she endeavored to never let Celestia be hurt ever again, and should she ever be hurt it was a personal failing on her part. She was tempted to ask if she was correct but thought if she did Chrysalis might become self-conscious and stop, and her soulmate was hot when she was angry.
She also ended up never doing it because being "nursed back to health" over even the tiniest scrape was quite enjoyable.
"What happened."
It wasn't a question but a demand, and Celestia knew she'd have to respond. "One of the chandeliers fell on me on my way here this morning."
"Show me." Tilting her head to the side Celestia obediently revealed a scratch on the right side of neck.
"I thought you said it was small!" Chrysalis snarled after a few seconds of examining the wound. "This is at least three inches long!"
"It is-" Celestia started to argue but the look on Chrysalis' face had her mouth snapping shut before she could finish.
"I will be the judge of that." Chrysalis said with finality. "Now stay still."
Chrysalis promptly began her tradition of cleaning any wound her soulmate got... with her tongue. Celestia assumed this to be some kind of Changeling instinct because as far as she knew no type of pony, not even her sister's bat ponies, would do this.
It didn't take very long until Chrysalis was satisfied with her work enough to take her attention off of Celestia. "You there!" She snapped at the nearest Celestia's guards. "Get rid of all the chandeliers on our half of the castle!"
Okay while she hadn't been opposed to doing what Chrysalis wanted before this was a bit too far. She quite liked her chandeliers when they weren't falling on top of her. "That won't be necessary my love."
"They hurt you I want them gone." Chrysalis bit back while tightening her hold.
Celestia contently sighed and rubbed her cheek under Chrysalis' chin. "I can understand that, but it was just a freak accident. It will not going to happen again."
"But-"
"I'll give you a kiss~"
Celestia could almost feel the emotions warring beneath the surface of her mate. She had quickly learned that Chrysalis absolutely adored kissing her at every opportunity that presented itself. Whether they were alone in their room or during the middle of Day Court while she was in the midst of talking, Chrysalis didn't care. If she wanted a kiss she'd take one. Celestia was fairly confident that it was too good of an offer for the changeling to resist.
Chrysalis leaned down. "Fine, but it had better not happen ever again."
Chrysalis wasn't usually nervous, anymore at least. When they'd first found each other she was nothing but a ball of nervousness and anxiety but as time had gone on she's slowly shed that away and the Chrysalis Celestia had first encountered came back. Usually wasn't never but Celestia still found herself surprised each time this happened.
"What's the matter love?"
"I..." Chrysalis fidgeted for a brief second before placing the tip of her right hoof over the center of her chest and taking a deep breath.
"Yes?" Celestia took a sip of her tea.
Having finished steeling herself, Chrysalis lifted her her face to stare at her mate. "I want to have a foal."
Celestia's cheeks puffed to prevent herself from spitting her tea out. That was certainly not what she'd been expecting. "Umm... Okay. We can got to the adoption center tomorrow if you'd like." Chrysalis frowned after she'd finished speaking so she must have missed something.
"No, you misunderstood me. I don't want a foal, I want to have a foal."
Ohhhh. Oh no. How was she supposed to respond to this? This wasn't bad per se but this was certainly not something she really wanted to deal with at the moment. "Chryssy..."
Chrysalis stomped hard enough to crack the floor. "No don't you Chryssy me I want to have a foal!"
"It's not possible." There was no way her mate wasn't aware of this, but she was quite the stubborn one. If she wanted something she'd try even though it was impossible.
"We have magic." Chrysalis replied snootily. That, that was a fair point. One little problem though.
"No such spell exists."
"Then make one." Ah, classic Chrysalis. If something isn't going your way, brute force it until it is. Celestia couldn't say such a way of doing things didn't often work, but that didn't mean it was always the correct answer.
"I wish I could but that would take a lot of time that I simply don't have, nor do I have the expertise to create such a complicated spell."
"Have Twilight create one then, she is the Element of Magic you know." Celestia fought the urge to roll her eyes at the last remark since Chrysalis did have a point. If there was anypony who would be able to create such a spell Twilight would be the one to do it.
"Lets say Twilight can create the spell, which one of us would it be used on?"
"You of course, I want to have the foal."
Celestia blushed heavily as she mulled it over. "I would not be opposed to that."
"Of course you wouldn't." Chrysalis' grin told Celestia that her mate knew exactly what she was thinking when she said that. "And besides," Chrysalis continued before she could respond. "I'm sure that Twilight and Rarity would be happy to use such a spell for themselves. They won't live forever you know and Twilight will need an heir."
This line of thought was something they had debated back and forth over for at least a good few months now. Celestia was of the opinion that if Twilight and Rarity wanted a foal they'd get one, but they didn't need to if they didn't want one. Chrysalis on the other hoof, was very insistent on the need for family, especially when royalty was concerned. Celestia suspected that Chrysalis was so insistent on Twilight having an heir because changelings (as Chrysalis had told her once or twice) were hive oriented. The idea of a family was very important to them (well it was important to Chrysalis since she's the only one). Celestia hadn't confirmed this theory of hers, but Chrysalis' stubbornness on the issue really did tell her everything she needed to know.
"I'm not going to try and pressure them into this Chrysalis."
"I'll stop bothering you about it if you ask Twilight to make the spell."
Celestia visibly reeled back at that statement. Was it possible that Chrysalis had begun to bother her about Twilight's need for an heir just so she could say she'd stop to get her way? She could honestly believe it. Chrysalis had proven how well she planned things out in the past when she'd single-hoofedly taken over Equestria. She hadn't taken over for very long, mind you, but it was still an impressive feat that deserved to be recognized.
"You planned this all out didn't you."
"But of course." And there it was. Her mate was a devious little thing all right. Celestia was sick of hearing about it though, so best to give her what she wanted.
"Very well I'll send her a letter in the morning."
"No do it tonight!"
"Chryssy I'm exhausted." Celestia whined.
Her mate was steadfast however, and would not be denied. "No, do it tonight. If I let you get away with not doing it tonight you'll forget."
"No I won't!"
"That's what you said last time, and low and behold the next morning you had completely forgotten."
"When was this?"
"Last week, you refused to give me kisses before bed, saying you'd wake me up with some tomorrow morning. The next day I woke up alone." Celestia's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. How could she have forgotten that? Chrysalis had near refused to speak with her for the rest of the day afterwards.
