Iridia sighed as she looked over to her desk. It had been far too long since she wrote to her mother, but she was now back in Ponyville, and when she looked inward to the network, she was able to focus on hers better than before. However, the closest drone on the network was still rather far away. She could take a day-train to Hollow Shades, but there was something novel about writing a letter and getting it sent off.
She rolled out of her cloud bed and walked over to the desk, yawning a bit. Her horn glowed, and in a few moments the quill was put to the parchment.
A lot has happened since the last time I wrote you. I have been busy brokering a treaty with the Queen of the Western Hive. She seems very cautious. I believe that this is because after centuries, if not millennia, of hiding among the griffons, she knows the cost of being exposed. She does want to send an envoy of three harvesters to Equestria in the coming months. One to talk and meet with you and the other queens, one to talk and meet with the princesses, and one to investigate the Crystal Heart. I believe that Azon’s report has aroused her curiosity and overridden her normal cautiousness.
You might have heard of the lockdown that happened in Ponyville a few weeks ago. This was the first time I have ever experienced Twilight and Gossamer going into a paranoid rage about anything, however if anything would have caused it, this would be it. As you know Gossamer and Long Path mated to produce Epiphany. She was in her crib after her normal feeding time. For some reason Path insists on going into the nursery and feeding her himself. He thinks that if the love is directed from a person that loves them, it will be stronger. And while this is true and love freely given tastes sweeter, we have no real information on if that improves a queen during their formative years. However, he is the first pony to ever attempt such a thing. But I digress. When the herd went into see Epiphany that evening, they found a box from Chrysalis of all ’lings. And while the doll encased in it was benign, the second ‘gift’ that was under a false bottom of the box was something completely different. They found a dagger with a note attached which said, “I was this close.” Path made Twilight teleport everyone out before the negative emotions affected Epiphany, which was most likely for the best. As you know, negative emotions can be like poison. Path ordered the nursery staff to not let the rest of the herd in until they were devoid of negative emotion. This is not a move that I was expecting. For nearly four days, he was held up in the most secure area of the nursery, feeding Epiphany.
I did not know that Twilight could cast shields on par with her brother, but apparently the overt threat to her daughter was enough to push her over the edge. She managed to make one that encompassed all of Ponyville while Gossamer lit up his entire network, pinging practically everyone on it including me to make sure they were not compromised. When I asked him later, he said that he could “Feel the taint of the Mad Queen on a ’ling from a mile away”. I am not sure if that was his paranoid rambling or if it’s founded on any truth. Roseclaw was interrogating the other hive ’lings that happened to be in the town at the time. Most of the residents were worried at first, until it was leaked out that all of this was a response to what can be considered a death threat against their daughter. I imagine that if Path did not come out of the nursery with Epiphany, it would have continued for far longer.
Both he and Epiphany were visibly upset. He made Twilight disable the shield, had Roseclaw stop her interrogations, and made Gossamer finally relax his network. I’m not trying to be speciesist but I don’t know how a mere earth pony can have such a commanding presence. I watched him to go the Sugarcube Corner and order “A party to end all parties”. It took a few days, but eventually they were able to recover from the negative P.R., all while increasing security around the nursery. After analyzing the doll, they decided to destroy it to play it safe. Twilight recreated a replica of “Mister Click-Click” to appease Epiphany, and I don’t believe that the child knows the difference.
On to the subject of the new Chrome Hive. While getting Path and Gossamer to breed and create a new queen was relatively easy, all things considered, it really was just a waiting game until his hormones took over, and once that happened Twilight and Roseclaw just had to point him at Path. Breeding regular members of the hive proved to be more daunting. While I know that queens tend to be monogamous, and I know that we usually outlive our partners, meaning that we can have at least three mates over our life time. Gossamer is in the unique position that his current mate, Twilight, will greatly outlive him. He is also fiercely loyal to Twilight, to a fault I would say. We had the breeders shapeshift into Twilight, but that didn’t work. Then we had Twilight herself come in to encourage and reassure him and that didn’t work. He kept rambling about how it was cheating. Eventually Twilight became fed-up with the situation and surreptitiously cast something on Gossamer. I don’t know exactly what, but he was finally willing to fertilize his breeders. I hope that the next round isn’t going to be this painful.
I think I have wrapped up everything nicely for this letter. I can’t wait to see you soon!
--Love, Iridia
The changeling princess rolled up the scroll and smiled as she heard a knock on the door. The tip of a deep orange muzzle peeked past the door.
“Hey! You ready to go? We should have started our date half an hour ago,” the owner of the muzzle asked.
Green fire flashed around the princess as she adjusted her mane in her pegasus form. “Yeah, yeah!” She laughed. “You are always so impatient, Pyro Cumulus.” She trotted toward the door and opened it, revealing a deep orange and red pegasus. He was lean and looked to be designed for speed.
“I can’t help it! I goofed and our reservation is across town in only ten minutes.” He started to trot nervously in place.
“Ten minutes?! Let’s go!” Both of them ran out of the room, and as they did so, Iridia passed the scroll off to a messenger changeling before they left the castle for the night.