Letters to the Queen

by AlaskaIsCold

First Letter - ( Between Chapter 19 and 20 of A Different Perspective )

Twilight and Iridia walked down the hallway of the House Path mansion, the alicorn smiling pleasantly at her changeling guest the entire time.

“I'm so glad that you consented to help Free with his hive matters. I mean, I suppose I could have eventually whipped Free into shape, but it's so much easier and he learns much faster when you two are working in the network. There's only so much I can do without intimate knowledge of changeling matters. One of these nights I should give being connected a shot.” Twilight motioned to a door. “Here we go! We had our staff set this room up for you. I imagine that it might not be like what you're used to since it was decorated in a very griffon-centric way, but it's yours now! You can decorate it any way you like since you might be here with us for a while until the first stage of Free’s hive is ready.” Twilight levitated the key to her

Iridia slowly looked to the door and then to the key in her hoof. “Thank you, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. “No royal titles while we're working together. Just Twilight will do fine. And you're very welcome. Rest well!” The alicorn then trotted off, happy to have completed her task of being a good host.

Iridia opened the door and looked at the room with a small smile. It was larger than she had been expecting, and while all of the pelts seemed to be overkill in her opinion, they were quite soft and warm when she walked over them toward the bed. She padded around in circles on the large mattress before she lay down and made herself comfortable. She aimed her horn back toward Equestria and her distant home.

She tensed up as she tried to increase her sensitivity to her home hive, drowning out the commotion of the Chrome hive-mind to which she had been given a side connection as she visualized the Green network. Within a few moments she frowned. Her mother, the Queen of the Green Hive, normally shined high in the virtual sky much like the sun, but now she was surrounded by muted cool colors. The faint twinkle of the hive hub was so far toward the horizon, it looked much like the last seconds of an ocean sunset. With all of her strength, she would not be able to communicate at distances this great; she just did not have the capability.

“Damn it! Of course I couldn’t expect to be able to talk to them, from this distance. I can barely tell they exist, much less get thoughts or ideas that far out to them. I’m also apparently talking to myself now.”

She laughed a bit and shook her head before getting up and going to the desk on the other side of the room. She opened one of the drawers, seeking out writing materials, and found some parchment along with a quill and ink set. She started to write out a letter which she would send out her next opportunity.

Dear Mother,

Things are going about as well as we were expecting. The network design and infrastructure was in shambles. In her rush to build up forces for the siege, Chrysalis neglected almost everything else. It took Gossamer and I about a day and a half with all of the remaining breeders and drones to get them fully connected to the new Chrome network. Then we had to organize the network itself. Twilight was trying to get involved but she doesn't understand that changeling organization doesn't work the same way. We have Queen Gossamer as the main hub of the network, but Elusive Clue and myself are acting as the two buffers to keep the flow of information in and out manageable for Gossamer until she is used to the load.

However, an interesting phenomenon that I have noticed is that when Path and Gossamer are next to each other, her capacity increases, and when they are both focusing on each other, the amount of traffic Elusive and I have to buffer gets reduced virtually to zero. I can't figure out why this is happening. If Path was connected to the network, I would be able to sense him easily, and the capacity would not drop nearly as sharply due to distance. We both know that the Blue Hive specialized in secrets and research, and I am thinking that maybe the Mad Queen had a few untapped ideas that she did not think to use in the siege. Gossamer has said many times that she and Path share a bond that goes beyond that of a pony, a griffon, or a changeling. This might be something worth looking into.

Now – onto other matters. The heads of House Path were urging me to join as a student, but I told them under no circumstances will I join them in their House pursuits, My goal is to set up the hive network and teach Gossamer how to handle the demands of her hive and that is all. I don't wish to be seen as a snob, but I am still a princess, not a first-grade nymph. Nevertheless it is enjoyable to talk to the herd when we are not busy with work. Roseclaw enjoys talking about history, and we have started a historical exchange of sorts: griffon history for changeling history. Gossamer is usually too tired and worn out to talk anything high level; she's still not used to exerting herself over the entire network. Path just smiles most of the time, and when we do talk, he asks me how I am doing and if I need anything. Something about him is different. I never took the time to look into his memories that he left when he was in our network for those few hours. Next time I am in Ponyville or Canterlot, I will need to access that.

I think that’s all I am going to write for this letter. Honestly, I need to figure out how to mail this to you because I don’t know of any mail service that goes between nations. I might give it to the Equestrian ambassador who could forward it to you. Until the next letter, Mother.

Love, Iridia

She wrapped the parchment up with a green ribbon and tapped her horn against it for a few moments, infusing it with her special signature so that the queen would know for a fact who really sent it.

“Hmm…. Now I need to track down that ambassador, but that can wait until tomorrow.”

The princess put the writing supplies away and stashed the rolled-up scroll in the drawer as well. Then she went back to the bed and settled in, pulling the pelts over her. It had been a busy day, and sleep quickly claimed her.

Comments

[ARTL]

More, O Great One.

[Emtu]

More different perspectives! I like it!

[pahnazd]

I'm always up for reading more from this universe. So for me, yay!

[PinkDragonJr]

aaaaand tracked....

[Boulder]

This is interesting, a changeling (princess no less) take on House Path. As per the original title 'A Different Perspective', hope this includes her views on the children too.