Chapters Ambassador Clavipes turned to his staff, many of which were clearly worried at the prospect of entering the Kingdom of Griffona as themselves, unprotected by any disguise. "Listen to me, as long as you don't do or say anything really stupid then you have nothing to fear from the griffins. We are not spies today but a formal diplomatic mission, and the griffins have a strong sense of honour and respect diplomats. If one attacked one of you, he or she would get into deep trouble. That being said, do as you would be done by. Remember, you are formally representing the Hive and her Majesty, and her Majesty will be very angry with us if we end up persona non grata and our mission is ruined because of bad behaviour from any of you." With a buzz of wings, they left the Hive through the main gate and after a couple of hours flew over the border of the Kingdom. Eagle eyes saw them quickly from down below and a squadron was scrambled to intercept them, but they soon calmed down when they saw who it was as this had been arranged in advance, and merely escorted them to Three Circles, the Griffin capital city.
First was a city wall tall enough and thick enough to keep any creatures that could not fly out unless the gate guards kept them in. At every few paces there was a large crossbow more then capable of shooting anything less then a dragon out of the sky, manned by a griffin guard. The first circle was little better then a shanty town of the teeming poor, a warren of twisted streets and alleys barely wide enough for two griffins to pass side by side, filled with badly made housing with roofs of corrugated iron. This part of the city was well known for it's violence and high crime rate, a place where law enforcement was weak. However, given that most griffins were pretty good at defending themselves with beak and talon, that in itself kept crime to some sort of manageable level. After that was a second city wall much like the first, to protect the griffins of the middle class from what they thought of as the lower orders. Lower-class griffins were only allowed to fly over with proof of employment or enough money to go on a spending spree, except in a time of dire emergency that threatened the entire griffin nation.
Here the houses and shops were well made and law enforcement was far stricter. In the slums violence was more or less winked at unless it escalated to riots or political opposition; here there were enough guards to crack down hard on it. Duels were allowed but they had to be organized in advance, and the changeling noticed at least one empty gallows as a warning that serious offences would not be tolerated. The griffins here took much better care of themselves and it showed.
"Your Majesty, we have been sent here by our Queen to ask for an alliance with your Kingdom, and as part of the alliance we want Princess Gilda to be given away in marriage, so that her love may strengthen our Hive. In exchange; we offer information. We have changelings who have infiltrated the Equestrian armed forces and the Royal Court itself, changelings that have spent decades rising through the ranks and know almost all of Equestria's secrets, and we're willing to share everything with you."
Princess Gilda was standing by her father, a royal ring on one talon, a necklace of fine gold around her throat, and as it was a formal occasion, her royal coronet of silver with it's one ruby and two sapphires upon her neck. She had been staring in disgust at the Changelings with disgust from the start, and when she heard their plans to have her marry their Queen, she let out a deep hiss of rage, flexed her lion claws and hackles rose up on her furry back.
"It's tempting, but what do you want to do with my daughter? You imprison other races in cocoons, and drain them of their love, or so it is rumoured. I won't have that happen to her. I love her, she is part of my family."
"She will be given guards, royal servants, as much griffin food as she can eat, and will be treated as Changeling royalty. And will reside in the royal quarters within our Hive."
When he said this Gilda could no longer restrain her anger. "Father, you are not going to agree to this, and give me to an overgrown insect, are you?"
"Be quiet, daughter. I have the interests of the Kingdom to think of. Yes, yes, you may have her and I will personally schedule a State Visit to your Hive to see her married off."
With a soft flutter of feathers Gilda's wings came out in a wingboner, but not one of arousal but of pure rage. But she gave a deep sigh. "Yes, Father, I will do what you say, although I'm not happy about it. When is the wedding to be?"
"In a week's time, it'll take that long to get it organized."
How could he do this to me, his own daughter? Gilda wondered, and stared at the mosaic floor in deep despair. An arranged marridge is one thing, but to marry me off to a love sucking bug is another. What can I and a Changeling Queen possibly have in common? And anyway, I'm straight. Most griffins are.
Chapter Two- Wedding Jitters
Gilda paced up and down in her luxurious bedroom as if it was a prison cell. Yes, I know that when it comes to Griffin royalty, the father can still choose who his daughter can marry, but my parents and I are on really good terms. I would expect to be given at least some say in who I was to marry. She walked out onto her balcony. All I need to do is jump off, spread my wings and soar on the summer thermals. If I can make it to Equestria and ask for political asylum, I really don't think that they would hand me over. And there are plenty of jobs in Equestria for griffins, from bouncers in clubs and pubs to Royal Guard positions to construction work. Still, do I want to do that? I have not gone soft, very few griffins have, but I have to admit that I really like being a princess. The way I'm obeyed, the royal allowance that I get every month, the love of my parents-can I really just throw all of that away? Below her she noticed several changelings, traveling en clair instead of in disguise, the sun reflecting off their black chitin carapaces. And with them was another changeling, a large one the size of Princess Celestia, a crown upon her head.
Well, I should at least meet her Majesty since she has taken the trouble of a formal diplomatic meeting to see me. Changelings are not much more popular amongst griffins then amongst ponies, so they only show themselves openly on official visits. If she turns out to be highly unpleasant and I hate the idea of becoming her wife, then I'll flee my country as soon as I get the chance rather then let myself be taken to her Hive. But I should at least give her a chance. She temporarily put aside her plans for flying away and hiding somewhere in Equestria and placed her own formal coronet upon her head, a golden one glittering with rubies and light enough to wear with comfort for hours. Except for weddings and funerals, even royal griffins rarely dressed formally. She went down to the Main Hall of the palace where she knew her parents were and got her first clear look at the Changeling Queen .
Not quite as bad as I feared. Tall, clearly strong, and that chitin looks like gleaming black armour. But what is her personality like? The most handsome griffin, pony or changeling in the world would be worthless as a mate if he or she were deeply unpleasant. She dipped her head in what was the griffin equivalent of a bow to the Changeling Queen. Griffins kowtowed to nobody, not even their own royalty. The Queen returned the bow. "I am Queen Chrysalis of the Chrysalis Hive, and as you no doubt know already, I am here to ask for your claw in marriage. Please could we talk in private, you and I?"
"Allright then." The two walked into a nearby empty stateroom and Chrysalis said "I can see by the look in your eyes and sense by the feelings you are giving off that you don't like the idea very much. We changelings cannot read minds but we can sense the feelings that are being given off, otherwise we would be unable to feed ourselves properly. We would not want to get a mouthful of foul haste instead of sweet love after all. Who did you hope would one day walk into your life and earn your love?"
"He would be a griffin, a griffin general with a clever mind, a good personality, somebody strong in paw and claw and wing, who loved me for who I am without trying to change me, and was faithful to me as well."
"Like this?" Chrysalis asked, and in a burst of green flame transformed into a strong, muscular, male griffin with large wings, a gleaming beak, and the epaulettes of a Griffin General on his shoulders. "I can cross-dress for you if it makes me more attractive. And with a Changeling, it's a lot more then cross-dressing, I can change gender at will and change into most species, other then adult dragons. If you tell me what your ideal love interest looks like, within reason, I can take his shape for you. Of course, you can't expect me to hold that shape all the time, my hive needs governing and they like their Queen when ruling to stay in Changeling form for the sake of what you might call national pride. I know you don't love me yet, how can you? You don't know me. But you will get to know me in time, and hopefully get to love me some day. I wish that we did not have to marry first and then hopefully get to love each other, but such is the way of royalty." Her voice in that shape was that of a male griffin.
Gilda smiled and lightly touched Chrysalis's wing with the tip of a claw, half expecting the change to just be an illusion, and was very pleased to feel feathers. "Hey, you're not so bad. You know what I find attractive. I too wish we could have a long period of courting to find out if we were truly right for each other, but...I think there is at least a chance of it working out well for both of us."
"Have you ever fantasised about some famous Griffin warrior of the past? I could take on his shape for you. I can be griffin, pony, alicorn, buffalo, strange creature if that's what floats your boat, and of course, changeling. We are the most romantic race in Equestria, we need to be. Whilst all hives have a welfare system, one can get far more love if one goes out and finds it for oneself, and it makes other Changelings respect you more too."
"Well, yes, what griffin does not? What is it like living in a Changeling Hive? I've heard all kinds of rumours about them, none of them very nice."
"Well, it's dark down there but we light it with glowing web to light our way from place to place. And our eyes are more adapted to the light then yours are. But don't worry, at this moment my drones are busy adding a new suite to the Hive with a link to the open air and sunlight for your use, modelled on the dwelling of a Griffin princess." At this Chrysalis felt-not love emanating from Gilda but good feelings.
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."
*****
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.
