Hey everycreature! What's up!?
So this has been an idea I had since reading the Reflections comic arc and while not my most favorite story, it was alright and the romance between Celestia and Sombra was touching. Although I, myself, am a Radiant Hope and Sombra shipper and find that ship more believable.
Either way, I hope you enjoy this little one shot!
Celestia trotted down underground of the Canterlot palace, coming to a wooden door as she quietly opened it with a soft creak as it swung open. Coming inside, without a sound, she made her way through the large cave like room, with many artifacts and large bookshelves as she came to what she was looking for. Looking around one more time to check to make sure no pony else was here, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hope Starswirl is still busy outside the palace…" Celestia hoped as with her magic she activated what she was looking for, a portal which led to different alternate realities, and there was one she has been visiting for quite some time now… "Here I go…" Celestia said as the portal opened up and she trotted through the magical barrier as she stepped into the other world…
"Well…" A voice greeted Celestia as she appeared through the other side. "Took a little longer today." The voice continued as Celestia simply came completely through and hugged the one who greeted her.
"I'm sorry, I had to make sure no one was behind me…" Celestia apologized. "Sombra." Celestia finished, revealing the pony who met her on the other side.
Yes, ever since she and Starswirl accidentally stumbled into this alternate world, where the villains are actually the heroes and the heroes are actually the villains, Celestia kept coming back even thought she really shouldn't… Just to see the ruler of Equestria in this alternate world, King Sombra. She felt something with him that she never felt before, something that really touched her heart, she was actually falling in love with him and well… Sombra was pretty much the same towards Celestia.
"It is great to see you Tia." Sombra smiled. "Come, we have a trip to make today."
"A trip?" Celestia asked, curious.
"Yes, to a good friend of mine, I think you will like her a lot and she has been wanting to meet you." Sombra cleared things up as Celestia was quite curious when Sombra mentioned, "she".
"Oh really…" Celestia narrowed her eyes.
"Don't worry, she really is just a friend." Sombra taking the hint as the two trotted to this world's train station in Canterlot, where they were of course greeted by everypony else with bows as Sombra returned them.
Patiently waiting for the next train set for their destination, it soon enough came as the car doors opened.
"After you, my lady." Sombra standing by the car door.
"Such a gentlecolt." Celestia commented as she entered on in first, taking a seat by the window as Sombra joined her after, Celestia keeping her view to the outside as the train got under way a few minutes later.
As the train rolled down the tracks, Celestia admired the beauty of this alternate Equestria, even thought it was very similar to her own Equestria. The train passed through mountain valleys, thick forests, and rushing rivers, as the two eventually arrived at their destination, which was up north, close by a whole range of snow capped mountains. To Celestia, the whole scene was very similar to the Crystal Empire, although this world's Crystal Empire did look very different to Celestia's surprise…
"Where are we?" Celestia asked.
"That's a surprise, trust me, it's alright." Sombra replied as the car doors of the train doors and Sombra got off his seat and held out his hoof for Celestia to take.
Celestia, for some reason, didn't have a good feeling about this, but she trusted Sombra and if anything bad were to happen… Well, the two could easily defend themselves being very powerful ponies. As the two got off the train and walked down a dirt path with fields on either side filled with various colored flowers, they arrived at the edge of this world's Crystal Empire, which wasn't actually crystal…
"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Celestia asked, still afraid.
"Yes and oh look, here's our welcoming committee." Sombra turning his gaze upward as Celestia joined him to see… Changelings!
Celestia was now scared, but she seemed rooted to the ground as the group which came to them landed down as Sombra greeted the leader.
"Hello Pharynx, nice to see you." Sombra told the lead Changeling.
"You as well Sombra, it has been some time." Pharynx greeted back with a nice smile. "I know my queen will love to see you, come." Pharynx turning to lead the way inside the Changeling Hive…
"Sombra…" Was all Celestia could say as she couldn't take a step.
"It's okay Tia, yes, I know, they're Changelings, but you'll see they're quite different than you imagine them to be." Sombra promised Celestia.
And yeah Sombra did have a point, these Changelings were different on the outside from the Changelings Celestia knew back in her world. While these Changelings still possessed a black body color, they didn't have the scarred look to their bodies, as they didn't have holes in their legs or jagged wing edges. As Celestia and Sombra followed Pharynx inside, the two could see a flurry of activity going on as everyone was socializing, eating, or doing important work. Celestia could see such things like families together enjoying their fun as Phraynx led the two to the main area of the hive, where Pharynx spotted a rather taller Changelings, who's back was turned to him.
"This one looks familiar…" Celestia seeing the Changeling Pharynx pointed out as the three came and Pharynx politely addressed the taller Changeling.
"My queen, you have a couple of special visitors." Pharynx announced as the Changeling began to turn, excusing herself from the group of Changelings she was speaking to.
As the Changeling Pharynx spoke to turned herself fully around, Celestia saw she was like all the other Changelings here, except she had a dark purple cape over her body, held by a heart shaped pin, along with similar colored hoof shoes. She also had crystal like wings and a dark blue-greenish mane and tail, along with wearing a pair of glasses. Celestia knew her right away as she had her muzzle wide open as Sombra started speaking…
"Tia, this is my good friend, Queen…" Sombra started, but Celestia cut him off.
"Chrysalis!" Celestia shouted as she began to power up her horn as Chrysalis, rather than defend herself as expected, was simply surprised, not seeing this reaction, luckily before Celestia could do anything else, Sombra calmed her down.
"Tia, it's okay…" Sombra said softly as he stepped in between the two females, facing Celestia. "Remember, we're not in your world." Sombra reminded Celestia as she did tone it down, forgetting that fact.
"I'm sorry… I'm still getting used to how different things are in this world…" Celestia apologized as Chrysalis understood.
"It's okay, Sombra has told me what you told him about your world, nasty this other version of me sounds." Chrysalis spoke in a rather kindly and sweet tone that wasn't at all evil sounding. "And it is great to see you as always Sombra."
"You too Chrysalis and might I say you look lovely today." Sombra commented as Chrysalis blushed.
"Oh Sombra you flatter me too much, this is how I look every day." Chrysalis giggled.
"Doesn't make it untrue." Sombra chuckled as Celestia cleared her throat to remind Sombra she was right in front of the two.
"Oh sorry Tia…" Sombra having been caught. "Say Chrysalis, where's…" Sombra began, but a new voice joined in as a male Changeling, similar in shape to Chrysalis landed down next to the three.
"Sombra, it has been too long." The male Changeling greeted as he turned his view to Celestia…
"Thorax?" Celestia asked as indeed it was him, the one Changeling back in Celestia's Equestria who instead of forcibly taking love, learned to share it and well this Thorax was pretty much the same, except for how big he was here and of course he didn't have any deformities like the rest of these Changelings.
"And you must be Celestia who Sombra talked about, it's a pleasure to meet you." Thorax holding out his hoof to shake.
"Same here." Celestia accepted the shake as Thorax returned his view back to Sombra.
"You're not trying to steal my wife again, are you Sombra?" Thorax joked as Celestia went, "Wife?" in her head.
"Now honey, you know you're the only one who I gave my heart to." Chrysalis spoke up as she moved her head to Thorax as Thorax did the same, the two meeting each other in a kiss, which confirmed Celestia's question.
"I know, I'm just kidding." Thorax rolled his eyes after he shared the kiss with his wife.
"Well, I'm anxious to see how things are doing in the hive." Sombra speaking up. "Why don't you ladies talk with each other while Thorax and I move on." Sombra suggested as Celestia felt like rejecting this idea, not wanting to be left alone with… Well Chrysalis of all creatures.
"I think that's a good idea, I would love to chat and share some tea with Celestia." Chrysalis agreed as Thorax had no problem with this too, Celestia now feeling like she has no choice and sighed, finally accepting this.
"Great, than I'll see you later my lady." Sombra giving Celestia a passionate kiss on the cheek before joining Thorax as the two went off together, leaving the two females alone with each other, Celestia not sure what to say, but luckily Chrysalis did so.
"Please, take a seat, make yourself comfortable." Chrysalis pointing out a small table with two chairs on either side as Celestia slowly took her seat as Chrysalis followed after before politely calling over one of her servants. "May we have some tea please?" Chrysalis asked.
"Of course, your majesty, right away." The servant Changeling bowed before going to get what the queen wanted, returning after a few tense minutes for Celestia to bring a couple of teacups with a nice, warm steaming pot of tea.
"Thank you." Chrysalis told the servant as he took another bow before leaving the two royals to their privacy, Chrysalis pouring both their cups, Celestia's first as Celestia looked at the dark liquid in her cup, wondering if she should drink it… "Don't worry, it's not poison." Chrysalis then taking a sip herself to prove it as Celestia slowly took her own sip, which it was good, the tea very sweet as it helped relax Celestia a bit.
"I'm sorry I'm not comfortable…" Celestia apologized. "I'm just not used to these kinds of surroundings and the change in this world."
"Yes, Sombra has told me quite a lot about your world, how our villains are your heroes in your world, trust me I understand, I would feel the same way if I visited your world." Chrysalis admitted. "But as you saw, we're a very benevolent society, we don't feed on the love of others, we share it and we're so much better because of that." Chrysalis turning as she looked at the hive. "And thanks to Sombra's help and alliance with Equestria, we have more than enough protection from our own threat."
"What kind of threat?" Celestia curious to know.
"I don't know if Sombra told you this, but a power mad evil princess by the name of Mi Amore Cadenza, she and her husband, the leader of her nasty guards, Shining Armor, has been threatening us ever since we began our hive." Chrysalis spoke. "She wants to use our power of love for her own gains to take over us and then all of Equestria, but thankfully, she will never have enough strength to attack us directly."
Celestia was taken aback to hear of this version of her niece in such a light, but then again… The heroes were the villains in this world… Chrysalis saw the look in Celestia's eyes and decided to change the subject to something more enjoyable, well at least nicer.
"Again, no need to worry about that." Chrysalis spoke. "I see Sombra has taken a liking to you."
"Me!?" Celestia almost spitting out her tea she was currently drinking, her mind right away denying it. "No! We're just… Really good friends…" Celestia tried to think of an excuse.
"I can tell you're hiding it…" Chrysalis seeing right through Celestia. "I specialize in love and feelings and I can tell Sombra really has taken a shine to you and so do you."
There was no hiding it, Celestia really did like Sombra as more than just a friend… She did have romantic feelings for him.
"Okay… Yes, I do…" Celestia admitted, lowering her head.
"It's no shame at all, it's normal for a special mare to feel this way about a great stallion like Sombra." Chrysalis saying in an uplifting tone. "May I give you some advice?"
"Sure…" Celestia lifting her head back up.
"The sooner you tell him, the better, the longer you wait the worse the struggle to say how you feel becomes." Chrysalis advised. "Trust me, I know, I went through the same thing with my own special one Thorax."
"I guess that's as good of advice as I'll get." Celestia replied. "Thank you."
You're welcome." Chrysalis smiled as she took another tea sip.
"You know… I never thought I would be getting romantic advice from the queen of the Changelings." Celestia chuckled at that fact as Chrysalis agreed.
"Same here, shall we toast to your first time doing so?" Chrysalis suggested.
"Indeed." Celestia agreed as she touched teacups with Chrysalis.
After their toast, the two female royals continued their chat, getting used to it as Celestia found she rather enjoyed Chrysalis in this world, much different from the Changeling queen who she knew already before coming here, the one who she first met when she attacked Canterlot some years back. As hours passed, Sombra and Thorax returned to find their ladies having a good time.
"Well I can see you two are liking each other now." Sombra noted.
"I hope you ladies didn't have too much fun without us." Thorax added.
"Very funny honey." Chrysalis rolled her eyes at her husband.
"Shall we get going Tia?" Sombra asked. "We should catch the last train back to Canterlot and I'm sure you must be heading back to your world."
"Of course." Celestia agreed, but before leaving, said her goodbyes to her new friend, Chrysalis. "Thank you for the tea and chat, I loved both of them."
"Anytime, come back whenever you feel like it." Chrysalis replied before lowering her voice so only Celestia could hear. "And remember what I told you." Chrysalis reminding Celestia as she nodded her head slightly.
As the two couples said their final goodbyes for the day, Celestia and Sombra trotted back to the train station to head on back to this world's Canterlot.
"So, what did you and Chrysalis talk about?" Sombra asked.
"Oh, just about our two kingdoms, nothing more." Celestia half telling the truth, obviously not speaking anything about revealing her feelings to him.
"That's good, she and you really looked like you enjoyed each other's company." Sombra noted. "I have to make sure to schedule another trip here when you visit." Sombra thought.
"I think that's an excellent idea." Celestia agreed as the two continued trotting to the train station as the sun began to go down over the horizon, creating a sunset and making the sky a bright orange. "My dear Sombra." Celestia said in her head happily.
And that's a wrap!
This turned out much longer than I thought it would! But I hope you enjoyed it and a couple of things…
Not sure where the Reflections arc lines up with the show's events so I just did whatever there and used my imagination.
Also, yeah I know… Having Chrysalis and Thorax together is weird… Couldn't think of anything else however, except for Chrysalis and Pharynx, but I decided to go with the former!
Anyway… That's it, so…
See everycreature later!