Royal Consort

Two weeks had passed since Chrysalis’ induction into the staff at Canterlot Castle, and she was starting to notice things that didn’t quite seem like they should be happening in the seat of Gaia’s greatest empire. Not just that the ruling Princess seemed to be a sex addict, although that was strange enough, but that same sentiment had impressed itself upon almost every aspect of life in the castle, and Canterlot in general. She had heard that the world was a little more free with its sexuality than it had been in the past, but this was beyond what she had expected. Sure, it was fine for the serving mares to wear Prench maid outfits, but it was hard the first few times to not stop and stare when she spotted a stallion in the same outfit, lace panties and all. Maybe spending centuries at a time plotting hadn’t done wonders for Chryssi’s exposure to the current culture after all.

True to her word, Celestia had set her up with a room of her own in the same tower Celestia’s suite was in, and it was honestly the nicest place the queenling had ever had the chance to stay in for any reasonable length of time. Even Cadance’s home wasn’t as nice as the bedroom arranged for her to stay in, to say nothing of the almost absurdly large closet stocked with clothes that felt like they were custom-tailored to her. Not that she ever really had a chance to appreciate them, though; she had a job, and Celestia was hardly ever satisfied for more than an hour, if that. Chrysalis spent most of her time in her underwear, tangled in the sheets, cushions, or whatever else was at hand when the princess jumped her. Even rooms that had no legitimate need for such things had a couch or other reasonably comfortable surface tucked away somewhere, seemingly specifically for impromptu lovemaking with a bored royal.

For the moment, though, none of that would be happening. Rather, Canterlot was hosting a summit of the leaders of the most powerful nations on Gaia, and Chrysalis had been invited along as Celestia’s second now that Cadance was attending in her own right as ruler of the Crystal Empire. The pair were dressed for the conference in their full finery, including Chryssi’s little onyx crown that she had assumed was lost when she had been captured. Apparently, Celestia had kept it in her storage locker in the prison and had been waiting for the right moment to return it, and now the Queen was back in business. Instead of her usual strategically-tattered gown, though, Celestia had decided to get her a new dress, this one made of beautiful black satin with dark green accents running the length of the dress, which led along the curves of her body to her sleeves and the holes on the back that her wings fit through nicely. The material was only slightly darker than her skin rather than being pure black, and looked as if it had been weathered specifically for that effect. There were perfectly-round holes along the sleeves, maintaining her classic look, and her feet were shod in heels of what looked to be carefully carved and smoothed obsidian. All in all, it was an excellent garment, aside from the fact that it had apparently been made for someone about six inches shorter than her. As it was, it barely reached her knees if she pulled on it, and she was going to have to be careful to not flash everyone in attendance when she sat down.

Celestia’s gown was no more modest than her escort’s, and if anything amplified her already impressive cleavage as well as show off her thighs. It was completely sleeveless, and only reached around her neck with as little material as necessary, forming a loose racerback that exposed most of her shoulders and upper back. Instead of her usual huge necklace the same pattern had been worked into the collar, with a large violet gem nestled between her breasts. Her cutie mark was emblazoned on her hip, right about where Chrysalis knew it was on her skin. The trim was, of course, gold, and instead of weaving around her entire body like Chrysalis’ gown hers remained at the edges of the garment, accenting the borders and drawing even more eyes towards her legs and chest, if by some chance they weren’t already there. She wore a pair of dainty golden sandals on her feet, and her legs were completely bare up until they were covered by what supposedly passed for a skirt. Her crown completed the outfit, large and imposing on top of her head. Chrysalis figured it was a minor miracle in itself that the thing hadn’t given her any neck issues in all her years of wearing it.

The pair of royals cut quite the imposing figure together, two beings of beauty and power and grace as the guard parted before them. A few still weren’t used to Chrysalis’ presence in the castle, let alone a seeming position of power, but they all trusted Celestia to know what she was doing and give them orders to match. The pair walked into the conference room that had been appointed for the summit and the doors closed behind them as the elite guards around the circumference of the round room stood at attention. This was the traditional meeting place of the summit ever since it had been established over a thousand years before for when it was held in Canterlot, and the rest of the time it stood empty save for the small, specifically-chosen crew of maids that kept it clean. The hallway that led into it was the only connection to the rest of the castle, and around the door was the only solid wall in the room. The rest of the perimeter was a single huge pane of curved glass, one that had taken dozens of smiths to make and dozens of mages to keep from breaking in the years that followed. It had been a pain to come up with the first time, and Celestia was invested in not having to ever replace it even if a rogue deity attacked the castle. The high, arched ceiling glowed under its own power and was held up by marble pillars spaced evenly around the room.

There was no furniture in the room, save for a table and chairs. The table was centered exactly in the middle of the room, and was large enough to seat a hundred or more ponies. The surface was scarred by wear from previous summits stretching back into antiquity, and yet it still shone with the luster it had when it was first polished by the carpenter that made it. In the center a circular map of Gaia was carved into the wood, accurate down to the last detail. All in all, it put any of the banquet tables in the great hall to shame, and could’ve supported the entire castle staff by itself. However, only twenty-four chairs sat around it, all made of polished mahogany and upholstered in the finest velvet. Each sat in the shadow of one of the great pillars that supported the room, and all were carved exactly the same so that no delegate would have reason to complain about their seat at the table being inferior to any other. Even Celestia and Luna, hosts of the summit, sat upon seats identical to all the rest.

By the time the pair arrived, only four seats were occupied, and even then only by the two sets of delegates that had already been at the castle ahead of time. Nearest the door, Princess Luna reclined with her legs thrown over one arm and her head nestled into the velvet, trying to catch up on the sleep she was going to miss by staying awake all day for the meeting. Next to her was her second, Twilight Sparkle, eager and upright to attend the summit for the first time. Celestia had never brought her along when she was her student, but now Celestia and Luna felt she had enough experience to deserve a seat at the table, even if she was only a second to the elder princess. A third of the way around the table from them Princess Cadance and Shining Armor relaxed, the one having sat as Celestia’s second for decades and the other having stood at the door for quite a few summits himself. Both were used to the way things worked at the table and knew better than to get worked up over it, but both thought it was much more entertaining to watch Twilight get herself worked up over it than to tell her to relax. Celestia and Chrysalis took their seats halfway between the other two pairs, splitting the available seats into thirds and waiting for them to be filled.

They didn’t have to wait long before things started happening. A few minutes after she was settled, Chrysalis was treated to the sight of something gigantic flying over the castle, completely blocking out the sun for several seconds, and a minute after that the doors opened to admit Ishtakhriot, Queen of the Dragons. She had helpfully condensed her shining-white body into something more appropriately-sized for the venue, but even at her smallest she still stood head and shoulders over Celestia, the tallest of everyone else in the room. She was one of the oldest delegates at the conference, having been born at the creation of Gaia along with the Sisters, and the entire dragon race could trace their lineage directly back to her. A second drake, this one jet black, walked in behind her, and the pair took their seats halfway between Chrysalis and Luna. Takh was considered one of the heavy hitters at the conference, having the economic reach as well as the military might to make everyone else at the table wary of fighting her unnecessarily. She wasn’t the greatest among them at either, and the Badlands depended on a steady flow of materials from other lands, but everyone thought it was a much better idea to trade with her than to provoke her into invading instead.

Next through the door were four more beings, the delgates from the Griffons and the Caribou. Lord Cuthbeak and King Blitzen had both only recently been granted seats at the table, and between them they held much of the mountain range around northern Equestria. Cuthbeak’s position was already under scrutiny due to the condition of several of his territories, Griffonstone primary among them, but between his alliance with the Caribou and his support of the Crystal Empire his position hadn’t been revoked yet. Instead of a second of his own race, Blitzen had brought Frændi, queen of the Ice Ponies. Like all of her race she was dark gray, and her horn curved slightly as it tapered to a point. Her race had long been in a treaty with Blitzen’s, and they felt it was only fair that she would accompany him to the talks. She settled in between the Caribou and Princess Cadance, who raised her eyebrows when she saw who she was sitting next to. Frændi smiled when she saw the princess, who could only chuckle ruefully.

“You again, eh? It is good to see you still live and are happy.” Cadance nodded and shook the queen’s hoof with a smile.

“Indeed. Still hoping your warnings were wrong, nice as you are.” Frændi shook her head sadly, a faraway look appearing in her eye for a moment.

“I cannot imagine they could be, my dear princess. Sombra, my dear, sweet son, he must return someday soon. If the land he ruled has returned, so must he.” The pair sat in silence, both hoping against hope that she was wrong. Even if he was her son, the queen still knew he would be more at peace locked away than he ever had been as a ruler, and the world was better without him. That still didn’t make saying it any easier.

The pair of them went back to silence, just in time for Duke Crunch of the Diamond Dogs to make his entrance, along with the second whose name none of them could ever remember. For that matter, none of them could even remember why they were even allowed at the table, but in any case they took their seats between Chrysalis and Ishtakhriot.

Pyralis was the next through the door, and his second with him. His kind, the Kirins, were something of an anomaly in the structure of Gaia. Halfbreeds of dragons and ponies, they had been rejected by both for as long as anyone could remember, although Celestia and Equestria would’ve been willing to bury the hatchet if everyone could get past the last few thousand years of bad blood on all sides. Ishtakhriot had no such grace in her for her estranged son, though, and the only thing anyone could remember them agreeing on was the seating at the table. Specifically, that they would be opposite each other, but not so opposite that they would have to look at each other. Not a happy family.

Neighpon’s economy was only as powerful as the geography could support, but they did have two things going for them. They were one of the top producers of high-quality gemstones for use in complex rituals, and they had the single most powerful military on Gaia. As it turns out, when everyone and their mother is trying to destroy your entire race for as long as anyone can remember, you get really good at fighting back. Of course, now that everyone knew it the wars had quieted down from everyone except the dragons, and what had been outright hostility had simmered and turned into a nicely calm era of trade and peaceful negotiation.

Their leader didn’t have time to say anything before the next set of delegates were wheeled in, namely the Seapony Queen and prince. No one was really sure why they had chairs when they were physically unable to use them, but their tanks were wheeled in behind their seats nonetheless.

The last six delegates arrived at once, all of them in a bit of a rush as none of them wanted to be the reason for holding up the proceedings and making Pyralis and Ishtakhriot stay in the room any longer than necessary. As usual, the Goat Emperor Clive accompanied the Minotaur king on their journey, and they both took their seats along with their seconds while two elderly zebra shamans completed the circle. Celestia leaned forward in her seat, a slight smile on her face as she cocked an eyebrow at the pair of them.

“Zalika, it’s a pleasure to have you rejoin us after your absence at the last meeting. I see that Ra himself isn’t here, and you’re in his seat. Care to fill the rest of us in?” The elder zebra pursed her lips, meeting Celestia’s gaze and holding it.

“The emperor is unwell today, next year he shall surely come this way.” Celestia’s eyebrows both went up at that; she had known Ra for centuries, and the old sphinx wasn’t the sort to be more than inconvenienced by anything short of a national cataclysm.

“Apep attacked the royal halls, and it was all Ra could do to drive him past their walls.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed, and a quick search of the Changeling hivemind gave Chrysalis a good idea of what was going on. She wasn’t particularly well versed on the politics of Pudani beyond knowing that Ra was the emperor of a dozen-odd tribes across the land, but her changelings were there and she could see things through their eyes well enough. Ra, sphinx god of light, versus a giant serpent of darkness. None of them had been stupid enough to stay in that warzone, but just from what she could see of the start of the fight she was a little surprised the city was still standing at all.

“A shame, but since he’s still alive I assume he prevailed?” The zebra nodded grimly, but everyone could see what was going on. If Ra couldn’t make it to the summit, chances are he and his nation had been badly damaged enough to remove them from the roster entirely, which generally led to a huge power struggle over the open seats. Still, that was a debate for another year, and no one wanted to consider it until then. There was enough to worry about already.

“Well, the table is filled, so to business.” Pyralis leaned forward and his second passed him several papers. Everyone else did the same, and Chrysalis quickly found herself as little more than part of the scenery as everyone went about their trade negotiations and border disputes and a dozen other things. A few questions were raised as to her attendance, but Celestia firmly insisted that the Changelings had joined into an alliance and Chrysalis would be attending as their representative now that Cadance had vacated that particular seat for one on the other side of the table. That was enough to settle most of the disputes, but Chrysalis was all too aware of the skeptical glares she was getting from a few seats. The grandeur of the whole situation was enough to momentarily make her forget that she was a being of power on her own, but once she realized that she settled in and started working alongside Celestia to further Equestria’s interests as well as keep open bloodshed from breaking out between the delegates.

Things continued on for several hours, with a few momentary bathroom breaks between rounds of cutthroat negotiation. It was pretty clear that everyone had their own goals at the meeting, but for the life of her Chrysalis couldn’t figure out more than a few of them. Everyone was buying favors and deals from one side and then selling them to another as fast as they could, and only occasionally would anyone look particularly satisfied with anything they had accomplished. Celestia herself had managed to sell and regain the territories around Appleoosa no less than three times already, and everyone else was working at the same pace with their own assets. She was pretty sure Pyralis meant to gain control of the Badland diamond fields from Ishtakhriot and Takh was willing to let them go, but rather than hash things out directly they both seemed to be working around the table. It seemed to be working out pretty well, with both sides collecting quite a few trade deals from their neighbors, but neither seemed to be making any headway toward their actual goals.

Out of everyone, The goat leader Clive had attracted Chrysalis’s attention the most. He had worked out a few token trade deals with his neighbors, but he had kept the lion’s share of his power back for some reason. He wasn’t particularly wealthy as a leader, certainly not one of the heavyweights at the table, but yet he wasn’t moving any of the few extraneous territories he seemed to have little use for. More disturbingly, and something Chrysalis was sure everyone else had noticed as well, when he did make a major play it was for a military alliance. He had already convinced Blitzen to keep the caribou from interfering in anything he did for a year and a day, and had been roundly shut down by Ishtakhriot when he tried the same thing with her. Of course, that meant Pyralis was more than happy to annoy his sweet mother dearest and all-but signed his entire nation into service should the goats need it. This went on for a while, until finally the regent that had attracted everyone’s attention leaned forward on the table, smiling smugly at Princess Celestia.

“Well then, my dear, here we are. Everyone else has made a deal, and now it’s time for you.” Celestia nodded and glanced over at Twilight, who checked the rather copious pile of notes she had been taking and nodded a little enthusiastically.

“It seems I still have plenty to bargain with, even beyond the usual. Let me guess, you’d like to move the rest of your territories for an alliance?” Clive chuckled and shook his head, gesturing around the table at everyone else, who had mostly fallen silent to see where this was going.

“No no, my dear, I have plenty of those. Rather, I’d like to take it the other way.” Celestia quirked an eyebrow, and the other joined it a moment later.

“I want you to hand over every major and minor territory you control to me, including Equestria and this very palace.” Chrysalis shot a glance around the table, and now everyone was wondering what on Gaia this guy thought he had to trade for the full power of what was the overall most powerful nation on the planet.

“And we will receive in return for the most generous offer...?”

“A simple consideration.” The goat smiled and looked her directly in the eye, his gaze sharp and free of anything but pure hatred.

“I won’t kill everyone living in this wretched little nation.”