//------------------------------// // Sins of the Mother // Story: A Queen's Perspective - Friendship Games // by gerandakis //------------------------------// After a quick message from the Queen, all seven girls returned to reality. Some of them were still chatting amongst themselves, but Sunset was quick to notice that both Twilights as well as Fluttershy held expressions ranging from sad to concerned. The queen masked it well, bringing up her regal bearing, but Sunset had been the personal student of Princess Celestia for years and knew to see though a regal mask. Seeing how both Twilight and Fluttershy kept giving the queen concerned glances, Sunset turned to her. "Everything alright? Did something happen?" The queen gave her a subdued smile. "Don't worry. I've just decided it's time you all learned the full story of why I arrived here so late." Sunset thought back to that moment. "You said something about a foalnapping and not being there for a week, right? What was that about?" "Well, let me explain it to you. You recall the whole incident with the circlet, right?" "How could we forget that? The effects weren't exactly subtle, even back here." Rainbow was gesturing towards her still very much purple face. "Yes. Well about a day afterwards we received packages with enchanted necklaces the Princess had commissioned for us. Rainbow got a little paranoid about them so I did a thorough scan of the enchantments. That was when I realized there was another enchantment hidden within the normal one. A wearer's charm connected to a locator beacon." Bit by bit the queen explained everything that had happened at the monastery. Their ruse and preparations for the trap, her conversation with Archmage Aged Page, Rainbow's experience with the two doctors and their 'cure ray', and their subsequent escape. When her explanation came to certain points, the girls showed appropriately strong responses. Rainbow was outraged, seeing what Velvet had done. Sunset and Aria suppressed giggles at the descriptions of the Phoenix' chemical bombardment and the mercenary that mistook it for a smokescreen. Fluttershy, Twilight and Pinkie breathed sighs of relief after hearing of Velvet's defeat and Night Light's rescue. After she finished her account of the events, she went on to recount her visiting Velvet in Prison. "She was sitting there, in the cell, looking out at the city. When I came in I could feel the hate coming off her. It wasn't pleasant. I can't remember all the details, but she mostly just bombarded me with more of her paranoid self deceptions. Over the few minutes I was there, it was almost as if she was going from being family to being just another stranger. Her words and her emotions just lost more and more of their impact."The queen looked downtrodden, her regal mask cast aside. "The next time I'll see her, she'll be standing before the Court of the Sun and Moon." Sunset gasped but the others seemed confused. The queen gave a quiet sigh. "Sunset, do you want to explain it?" Sunset looked at her for a short moment. "Sure. Basically, Equestria has long ago adopted the rules of due process. In every court. Except for one. In the Court of the Sun and Moon there is no hearing and no defense. Being the defendant in that court means that one has already been tried and found guilty. It really isn't a court hearing, it's just announcing the sentence." At that moment Queen Twilight took over again. "In Velvet's case, she stands accused of raising an unsanctioned mercenary army on Equestrian soil, foalnapping, attempted regicide and a laundry list of other offenses. I've discussed the matter with Celestia and Luna. There are a few options that could be a fitting punishment for her actions." Sunset jumped back in. "While I suppose it's never technically been made illegal, capital punishment has gone out of fashion centuries ago, imprisonment in stone would probably the most likely option." While the others tried to wrap their heads around that idea, the Queen nodded. "That was the princesses' original idea, but I asked to have her placed in an insane asylum instead. I don't know what they'll end up going with, but Celestia always did trust my judgement." Despite the gravity of the topic, the Queen allowed herself a subdued smile. "So they didn't decide yet?" Rainbow seemed dissatisfied. "Don't worry, I'll tell you as soon as I know. For now, there is someone else who wants to meet you." Unbeknownst to the others, Queen Twilight had made use of the time it took her to recount the events at the monastery to update Queen Cadista on the situation and the elder queen was eager to meet them. The others looked sceptical but did nothing to stop her. She entered the linkscape Cadista had formed and pulled the seven in behind her. The elder matriarch turned around and stepped back from the railing of the great shield tower that once more served as the backdrop for their conversation. "So you are the humans I've heard so much about. I am Queen Cadista of Stripped Gear, a pleasure to meet you." The girls were dumbstruck, for a moment the mere understanding that they were in the presence of a centuries old monarch and mother to tens if not hundreds of thousands combined with said monarchs regal bearing, was enough to paralyze them where they stood. Rarity, always a friend of high society and familiar with regal figures all over her own world, thus less affected by Cadista's regal mask, was the first to recover. Nodding her head politely. "Quite the same, your majesty. Twilight told us a few things about you, but it is an honor to meet you personally." Dropping her imperious mask and most of her regal bearing, Cadista lightly chuckled. "Now, now. No need to be so formal. Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine. She gave a sly smile to the human Twilight. "That goes double for dimensional counterparts." Obviously relieved, the others stepped up to introduce themselves to the elder queen while Rarity looked only slightly disappointed. One by one, Cadista got to know the girls who had become close friends to her heir after that incident all those years ago. Speaking of which. "Sunset Shimmer. So you're the one who stole my daughter's crown and then tried to attack her and five others while under the influence of runaway magic?" The girl in question visibly flinched, while Queen Twilight behind her had noticed the mischievous glint in her mother's eyes and the complete absence of malice or anger in her emotions. Thus she sat back to see where Cadista was going with this. "I, uh, well, yes, but ..." Sunset was cut off by Cadista's soft chuckle. "It was her you wronged, not me. If she forgives you, then so do I." Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped back to let the others have their turns at greeting the elder matriarch. Turning, she saw Cadista's sly smile reflected on her daughter's face.  "You knew where she was going with this, didn't you?" "Sunset, I've shared a mental connection with her for over four years now, I do believe I know her quite well. That aside, what much could she do? She's several days travel away from the portal that leads to the world we're in, that's more than enough time to talk sense into her." "Yeah I know. But I still get antsy when people talk about it." "You don't need to, any damage you might have caused, has long since been fixed. And the experience gives you a unique perspective that, I think, might come in handy rather soon." "What do you mean by that?" The queen gave her a sly smirk. The smirk of someone who knew something. "Oh, you'll find out." Over the next few minutes, the girls gave a quick recount of all the things that had happened in the human world during the younger queen's previous two visits. Both Cadista and the human Twilight were listening carefully. Cadista had technically heard the story before, but there were some details the younger Queen had left out of her summary. After the retelling was over, it was ultimately Twilight who had a question, but not about the tale she had just heard. She turned to the two Queens who had sat down side by side. "Say, how do you two find time for all of this? I thought you needed to, y'know, run your hives, right?" Both queens simultaneously broke into chuckles. Unbeknownst to the others they had a mental conversation at the same time. After they had settled down, the younger queen spoke up. "We are managing our hives. Changeling queens are unparalleled at multitasking. When we were running our tests earlier I sometimes was in three of your mindscapes at once. It's relatively easy for us to hold multiple conversations at the same time, both in real life and over the link. For example, I'm currently chatting with the sirens as we speak. That reminds me, I think we'll have to cut this short. It's getting close to sundown and all of you still need to get home." There were various murmurs of agreement before the girls, one by one, said their goodbyes to Cadista and departed the linkscape. Queen Twilight nodded to her mother and disappeared as well. Back in the waking world, the barn was caught somewhere between the soft orange of the setting sun and the brilliant magenta of the portal. Everyone made to pack their things. The sirens had already done so their things and with a few goodbyes, a few more ‘Thank You’s to Queen Twilight, their hands on their restored pendants, and an uncomfortably tight hug from Pinkie Pie, they were on their way. Queen Twilight cleared her throat, once more catching everyone's attention. "Before I go, there is one more thing about the link I need to teach you. How to send pings." Rainbow looked confused. "Pings?" "Yes, pings. Basically if sending a message over the hivemind is like sitting down next to someone and starting to talk to them, sending a ping is like gently tapping their arm to get their attention." "So it's basically a 'hey I'd like to talk to you' signal?" Once again it was Rainbow who spoke, but her expression of understanding was mirrored on the others' faces. "Yeah, pretty much. Now this," She sent each of them a basic ping, "is what receiving a ping feels like." The others felt her presence on their minds and got the immediate feeling that they she wanted to talk to them. "Woah, that feels a mite weird." "Mhm. Now, pings come in a bit of a spectrum, but there are four main types. What I just sent you was a standard ping, then there are low priority pings, high priority pings and formal pings. "The trick about pings is that if you are distracted, the ping will only come to your attention after you are no longer distracted that much. Different priorities simply change that threshold. Now a formal ping is one that formally addresses the target by their full name and title, it's generally used to address those of a higher rank, though it’s gone a bit out of fashion by now. "I maybe should also note that, given our multitasking ability and control over the link, when pinging a queen, priority matters very little. If you ping a queen, she will know, regardless of priority." "So, let me guess darling, you want us to try sending such a 'ping', correct?" The queen nodded at Rarity's question and sat down with an expectant smile. After a short moment seven pings of varying priority had reached her. "My, my. You truly are naturals at this. Well then, it looks like my work here is complete for now." Once more, the girls enclosed her in a crushing hug before letting go of her. She turned around, waved a hoof at them and stepped towards the portal. With a final smile, she lit up her horn and placed its tip right in the center of the spiraling vortex. It erupted in a bright magenta glow that quickly spread across her entire form. With a flash of light, she once more exploded into motes of magic that floated in the air for a short moment, glowing with magenta light and occasionally releasing a few sparks of orange, then they seemed to be sucked into the swirling portal within the journal's pages. After they were all gone, there was quiet for a moment, then the swirling vortex flashed again. Once the girls had blinked the afterimages from their eyes, they could see that the portal had once more become a drawing of ink. After a moment, Sunset stepped up and took the journal from it's lectern, closing it. Once the others had recovered, the girls once more erupted in chatter and, one by one, departed on their ways home.