Playing Nice
Princess Celestia was not one for being tardy all too often. She enjoyed punctuality, even if it meant she had to ready herself sooner than others. For somepony who had single-hoofedly ruled a kingdom peacefully for nearly one thousand years, such a point of view was nothing if not standard.
However, today, she hadn’t counted on one thing, and this one thing was looking back at her with a severe look of displeasure, both of them shadowed by the large overhang of the stone castle before them, the great structure carved into the very side of a mountain.
“Chrysalis,” the alicorn said, her tone even with a hint of frost as she knocked on the castle’s massive door. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here this early in summer. Surely it’s a bit early for you to emerge from your hibernation?”
“A warm spring helped me to emerge early, Celestia, no thanks to your sunshine making sleep difficult as it was,” the changeling queen replied, with a slight hiss in her voice. “Here I thought I must have gotten my calendar dates mixed up, seeing you here. You weren’t supposed to be due for some time after my first visit in two months.”
“I am simply here to fulfill my end of a bargain, queen, nothing more. I need a small vacation after the troubles I’ve had these past few days, and I have much to discuss with the mountain’s keeper.”
The changeling harrumphed. “As am I, and we both know I’ve had the same problems. Or have you forgotten how those came to be in the first place? A drunken wager between monarchs at a party not of our choosing, but as a means of strengthening the bonds between our kind?”
“Of course not, how in the world could I forget that, of all things? My head still aches from the amount of alcohol we consumed. However, that being said, he does not like it when we argue, especially in front of the young ones, so can we try to be civil this time? He made that specifically clear when the contracts were signed.”
“Fine, I guess, but don’t tell me about contracts, the finest lawyers in several countries poured over them for weeks before they were signed,” Chrysalis replied. “As per the rules, all clauses were clear and concise. I have yet to find any piece of writing that has not been solidly worded, nor any legal loophole I can readily take advantage of.”
“He had excellent help in writing them up,” the princess countered. “You of all ponies should know that when it comes to paperwork, Twilight Sparkle is no slouch.” She silently both praised and cursed her most faithful student for her due diligence in the matter. She had taken to the task like a fish to water, as they said in the rural areas of Equestria, and had written a contract so detailed and clause-riddled that it weighed over fifty pounds total.
“Don’t remind me. Now then, who is it this time? Who did you bring today?”
The princess looked down at her saddlebags, the large pouches moving slightly as she shifted on her hooves. “Come out you two.” Getting others to carry them around was troublesome, seeing as they only behaved to some extent when she was the one looking after them.
“You brought them both?”
“Yep!” a voice said, as a small white filly with a mane of all shades of purple poked her head out of the satchel. “Hiya Chryssie!”
“I am Queen Chrysalis,” the changeling replied, with annoyance filling her tone. “I would prefer to be referred to as such, Nebulana.”
“Sure thing Chryssie, whatever you say,” another voice said. Out of the other saddlebag popped a slightly older filly, her white coat offset by a mane filled with shades of green. “Long time, no see, buggy.”
“Hello to you as well, Polarina,” the queen replied, ignoring the fairly benign racial slur. At least she wasn’t on that “love-sucking scumbug” binge the edgy foals these days used.
“That’s Princess Polarina to you, Queen Grumpypants,” she replied with a slight huff, puffing out her fluffy chest and attempting to look impressive and regal. Needless to say, she looked more as if she was inflating like a balloon.
Celestia looked up from the two fillies, exasperated by their lack of manners. “Who did you bring, might I ask?”
“Seeing as you just did, I see no reason not to tell you,” the queen replied, looking back at her own saddlebags. “Come out now, we’re here, and don’t tell me you’re tired, you didn’t do any of the flying.”
“If I could fly for longer than fifteen minutes at a time, I would have,” a voice replied, and out from the saddlebag crawled a small colt, his glittering little wings a purple hue in the right light, and his little fangs far less pronounced than the queen’s. “I need more practice building my endurance when it comes to aerial movement.”
“Well, that’ll never happen if you just sit on your butt all day and read books like your aunt.”
“Hiya there, Molty!” little Nebulana said, waving from her saddlebag.
“Hey Molty, long time no see,” Polarina added, sounding a little bored.
“I’ve told you both before, my name is Moltdred,” he replied, shying away slightly from the attention. “Mom, you didn’t say they’d both be here!”
“Now son, I did not know visitation days were going to fall at the same time,” Chrysalis said, her tone softening slightly. “You’ll just have to get along with them for the rest of the day as it is. I may be as happy about this as you are, but the contracts must be filled, and besides… you father and I need to have a talk. And don’t worry, I’ll bring Wingston or Morphana next time, if you’re so scared of the others.” At that, the small colt groaned slightly, as if embarrassed by the assumption he was afraid of two fillies.
“As do I, with him as well,” Celestia said as she knocked on the door again. “Come on girls, hop out.”
The two fillies jumped out of the saddlebags, though Nebulana did more of a tumble onto her hooves than a graceful dismount like her older sister.
The large door creaked open, and a taller figure emerged, several heads taller than the two mares. Spiked dorsal spines crested up to a fairly large head, enormous teeth poking out in a toothy smile. Green eyes contrasted a purple hue of scales, connected to a powerful slithering body and a long, ridged tail. He emanated pride and power, yet there was a subtle softness to him that only a trained eye, such as somepony who knew him well, would have seen.
“Hello!” he said, looking down as little Moltdred hovered out of his own saddlebag, his little wings buzzing like a bee’s.
“Hi daddy,” the three said with varying degrees of enthusiasm, entirely genuine, ranging from somewhat bored in the case of Polarina, to completely overjoyed with Nebulana. Moltdred fell somewhere in the middle.
“Come here, give your dad a hug,” he said, bending down.
The three ponies moving in to embrace their father, the tall dragon looked up at the two mares waiting outside. “Celestia, Chrysalis, so good you could both come.”
“I’m not sure why we both were needed for this, Spike,” Celestia said.
“As much as I am loathe to agree with the princess, she does have a point,” Queen Chrysalis said. “Why are we here on the same day?”
“I set it to be that way,” Spike said with a shrug. “You both need to hear what I have to say.”
“Well, we have things of our own to say,” the two mares replied, throwing sideways glances at one another.
“Come in, come in, make yourselves at home,” Spike said, the three foals rushing past his legs into the interior. Chrysalis and Celestia attempted to brush past the other, but instead managed to both stumble in at the same time. The interior of the large stone castle was very much like a cross between a massive cave and an intricate throne room, with a large fireplace, many stairs leading up to elsewhere, a complete set of tables and chairs, and even a fairly large and well-stocked bookshelf near a far wall. Gemstones, crystals of all shapes and sizes, and even a few piles of golden coins littered the area in somehow well-kept sections.
“I see you are doing well,” Chrysalis said. “Where is the newer gold from? I did not remember that being in here last week.”
“Some of this I’ve been getting for favors from outlying towns, mostly,” Spike said. “Most of it’s just… showing up when visitors pass by, I guess. Maybe they think it’ll bring them luck to toss a bit here or there, like a wishing fountain? I have no idea why they do it.”
“What did you wish to tell us?” Celestia said. “We’re both fairly busy mares, Spike, and whilst I do appreciate coming out here to drop off our little ones for the weekend, I would very much like to know why both of us are here.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Chrysalis added. “Why are we both here?”
As his errant offspring ran off, diving in and out of piles of gold, or in the case of Moltdred, quietly reading a book by the roaring fireplace, Spike lay down near a large statue, one dedicated in his honor many years before by a distant and grateful kingdom. “As you both know, I’m a fairly busy dragon,” he said. “However, it is drawing near the time that I should be taking a nap. Not a century-long one, you know, but one that should last at least a few months. They seem to get longer and longer after each one, so I’m guessing this one could be… seven months, maybe even eight.”
“Who are we supposed to drop off the foals with?” Chrysalis asked. “My children are banned from every summer school from Los Pegasus to Canterlot, even Moltdred, and he causes about as many problems as a house plant. Bad luck, or should I say, his older siblings, follow him everywhere like a rain cloud.”
“Mine aren’t even allowed in the vicinity of a professional babysitter, I’ve had so many complaints,” Celestia added. “The number of times I’ve had to relieve some poor upstart tutor who thought they could handle my foals during the summer have cost me a small fortune in time and money.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is,” Spike said with a shrug. “I can’t control my biology any more than I can control the weather. Why not leave them with Twilight? She adores them, and she has plenty of friends and relatives to help take care of them, some of whom are the same age as our foals.”
“I didn’t think my foals liked being in Ponyville,” Chrysalis said. “They always talked about how little there was to do there, and how some of the older ponies don’t like them all that much, even when they’re actually polite. Moltdred has read pretty much every book in Ponyville outside of the castle library, and both Wingston and Morphana have been known to cause mischief in search for something to do.”
“My own said much of the same, though I’m not sure they meant it,” Celestia said with a small frown. “I just don’t think it’s safe for my sanity, or anypony’s for that matter, for Nebulana to help with any sort of baking. We all know how she gets when she’s had too much sugar.”
The other two solemnly nodded, the memory of over fifty acres of forest burned to the ground still fresh in their minds. Who would have thought friction burns from a hyper filly moving at subsonic speeds could have caused so much destruction? “Well, for the immediate future, they’ll stay with their aunt Twilight when she has the time, and barring that, her friends or other family,” Spike said. “Changes will be made as needed. Now then, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Spike, I’m pregnant,” Chrysalis said without much preamble.
“Spike, I’m pregnant,” Celestia said, glaring daggers at the other mare, as if she just had to say it first, just to spite the princess.
The dragon blinked for a few moments, a touch of shock on his features, before a big smile lit up his face. “Oh, so good news!” he said. “Here I was worried we’d been invaded or something. I’m kind of out of the loop up here for long periods of time.”
“You aren’t shocked?”
“Well, a little, but I’m more glad than anything,” he said. “How far along?”
“A bit more than two months,” Chrysalis said. “I’m not upset, just thought I should let you know another one of your progeny is going to enter the world late this year.”
“As am I,” Celestia added, turning to the other mare. “Turns out our little “party” just happened to coincide with our annual cycles. I am not upset either, I just didn’t think those magic spells we used would fail.”
“Me neither, we worked so hard on those,” Chrysalis added.
“Tell me about it. So, since we’re here, and have some time before we’re supposed to leave, how are the others? I don’t see Morphana and Wingston all too often.”
“Oh, they’re good, if a little troublesome. They just go out of school…”
Spike folded his fingers together, his smile growing ever wider as he watched the two mares finally get along. “Just as planned,” he whispered.
Author's Note
Just a silly little idea I had floating around in my head.
