//------------------------------//
// The Hidden Gamble 
// Story: The Fractured Unity 
// by Time Reaper 
//------------------------------//

As the radio station went back to its regular program, with the promise of explaining what just happened in the latest meeting in the High Chamber, Twilight was trying to understand what she just heard but the other ponies were making so much noise that it was impossible for her to even listen to her own thoughts.

"How is that possible!?" - Shouted a Cheerilee - "How can a queen eliminate some laws just like that!?"

"What kind of queen says on public that she plans to annihilate others from her own especies!?" - Shouted a troubled Lyra.

"How can the other queens abide to her rule!?" - Shouted Octavia. - "She behaves more like a tyrant than a monarch like Celestia!"

"Please, one at a time" -. Said a nervous Diamantis as she tried to calm down her soon to be subjects. - "I can't solve your doubts if you shout all at once."

"It's really hard when we just heard a queen using her power over others to force her will!" - Shouted Thunderlane. - "It would be far better if Celestia doesn't agree to anything with her! I don't want to live under the rule of such queen, I already have a hard time accepting you!"

"Silence..." - Tried to ask Twilight to no avail.

"Excuse me!" - Shouted Rarity. - "Don't dare to tell what Princess Celestia should do or not, we're not dealing with a queen like Chrysalis which you can beat easily!"

"Oh, what do you know Rarity!" - Shouted back Thunderlane. - "You can barely do physical effort, you wouldn't be able to even beat a rabbit on hoofwrestling!"

"Hey, don't talk at my friends like that Thunderlane!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash. - "I've personally seen that queen and Rarity is right, she isn't someone you could beat!"

"Maybe you wouldn't but Celestia probably would!" - Shouted Cheerilee. - "She, with Princess Luna, are strong enough to fight her!"

"Silence." - Said Twilight on a higher tone, but to no avail.

"Valeris isn't that weak of a Queen, she can very well fight and she wouldn't be alone, she has the other members of The Great Coalition siding with her."

"Hum" -, added Fluttershy in a weak tone of voice, - "I have to agree with Diamantis here, sorry, but I saw both Queen Valeris and some of the other queens back in Castleen and they looked to be very strong."

"Fluttershy" -, said Lyra in an annoyed tone of voice, - "you're not helping. Especially when you sound like you're siding with them."

Fluttershy hid her face under her mane as she felt scared on the current situation. The shouting would've escalated even more if it weren't for Twilight, who got more than enough from the shouting and let her anger ablaze her semi pony form as she made everyone calm down in front of her.

"Silence!"

As everyone was silenced by Twilight, the scholarly pony decided then to take the situation on her hands before it could get out of control once more.

"Shouting won't help getting answers, if you want to have an explanation, you must first let others explain, got it?"

The ponies looked around each other before nodding and letting Twilight carry over the situation. She then turned towards Diamantis and started to clarify.

"Now" -, started Twilight, - "I think this is a good time to clarify some of the things we heard in there, and the first one I would like to have clarified is: was Anidis the queen that invaded your mother's hive and forced you out?"

Diamantis flinched as she heard the question and, for some brief moments, she tried to find a way to avoid answering but, now that the other queens made it so obvious, she found no other way but to answer.

"Yes" -, Diamantis responded dejectedly, - "I ran away from my mom's hive when Anidis invaded. She asked me to go to the other queens and bring them her letter, hoping that they would help me get my mom back, but in reality, that letter asked them to train me to be a Queen and that there was no hope to save her."

All the ponies gasped at this, now realizing how dire was Diamantis' situation, making Rarity hug her while making a dramatic scene.

"Oh, you poor thing, to be separated from your mother and having to deal with a grown up world, oh you...!"

"Fluttershy" -, responded a calmed down Octavia, - "please do remember that this little... nymph... transformed us all into a bunch of... changelings. Don't let this drive you away from what we have to deal with right now."

"I have to agree with Octavia" -, Twilight added, - "We have to focus on this" -. She then looked at Diamantis and asked for more information about Anidis. - "Diamantis, what can you tell us about Queen Anidis? Is she dangerous for us?"

Diamantis froze as she heard the question and Fluttershy, still hugging her, felt how Diamantis' body chilled as her mouth started to shake and her eyes were looking desperate. Fluttershy quickly started to tight the hug.

"Hum, Twilight" -, responded Fluttershy, - "I think this question may be too much from her, it looks like she hasn't recovered from this."

"No" -, interrupted Diamantis as she started to split apart from Flutteshy's embrace, while her hoof was still shaking, even if slightly less than before - "I can do this, just, give me some time to prepare."

All the ponies stood there as Diamantis prepared herself and started to talk.

"Alright, I suppose I should start from the beginning, I come from the hive  and my mother, Queen Charbonis, was the sole ruler of that place. I was her only daughter and successor, not even the elites had a problem with that but, sadly, we were a very small hive, adding the fact that we weren't in a place of great importance, except being a stop before  Queen Zirconis' hive, so we really weren't interested, nor could, have a big army. Naturally, once Anidis invaded Queen Zirconis' hive and removed her from power, we were just an easy picking."

As she looked at her future subjects, they were all invested in her talk, she kept talking hoping this would help her gain more trust in them.

"When it comes to Queen Anidis, I rarely heard about her from my mother and I wasn't too interested in reading history books, but her mother's tale was mostly a taboo subject. No one liked to talk about the invasion of her hive for reasons I didn't understand until very recently, but what I've managed to gather from her is that she isn't a queen to take lightly."

"How so?" - Asked a curious Lyra. - "What makes her so different? That she managed to resist an invasion from the other queens?"

"It's not only that, the rumors say that she managed to kill both Queen Castis and her daughter, Princess Manticoris, leaving only Fortis to become the new Queen of Castleen; she managed to crush the Great Coalition's forces and even that she managed to harm Queen Valeris."

All the ponies gasped at this, now wondering how a fight between Celestia and Luna against this dangerous queen would end like.

Twilight quickly remembered, on her first encounter with the queen, how she was limping on one of her legs, was that Queen Anidis' fault? Could the princesses defeat a foe like that?

"Girls" -, said Diamantis as she referred to her future administrators, - "do you remember Valeris' daughter, Princess Prisis?" - It took a moment but all the elements remembered the princess and what made her unforgettable, the large scar on her face. It didn't take long for them to connect the dots as Diamantis confirmed it. - "Yes, that large scar on her face was made by Queen Anidis."

And as the realization of how dangerous Anidis was settled on the ponies, each of them started to shake in fear, with Thunderlane gathering enough strength to ask.

"And, that queen, Anidis, would she try to conquer Equestria?"

Twilight's eyes bulged as she started to ponder on it, could Equestria really take her on if five armies couldn't stop her? 

"I-I think so."

All the ponies were too afraid to even gasp.

"What do you mean with 'I think so'?" - Asked Rainbow Dash. - "Are you sure? How come?"

"W-well" -, tried to answer a scared Diamantis, - "there's plenty of changeling history depicting queens trying to take Equestria for themselves and Anidis is rumored to want more than just revenge. If she wants to rule over the changelings, so why stop there and not go after Equestria?"

In that moment, all the ponies understood that maybe, just maybe, siding with Valeris, and the other queens, wasn't as bad of an idea as they originally thought. 

That's just a rumor, though" -, said Diamantis as she tried to dissuade the fear in the future changelings, - "we don't have many reasons to believe she would-"

"We're back" -. Sounded the radio, with Caex as the host, with his soothing voice that brought a much needed feeling of calmness to the ponies. - "Our apologies for taking so long, we just received a confirmation to interview one of the queens from the high chamber and we were waiting until we could properly begin."

The ponies quickly decided to pay attention to the radio as they wondered who would be in the interview.

"And, I have to say, this was a nice surprise, it's rare to have you here as our guest, Queen Luxis. Are you tired from using that teleportation spell?"

"Not at all, my dear" -, sounded the voice of Queen Luxis, with the inflexions Twilight and the girls remembered from their meeting at Castleen, - "it wasn't that long of a journey and, I have to say, coming here is an honor to me. I love your programs, with the air of dignity and respect you always bring, and this was an opportunity to come I couldn't resist."

"Well, thank you" -, responded the journalist with satisfaction, - "it's also an honor for me to have you here as our guest, Queen Luxis, and I think we should start by asking the most important question: What'd just happened?"

"That's a fair question, Caex" -, answered Luxis with no worries on her voice, - "I suppose I should begin by explaining that, in the simplest of terms, we've begun a transitional period for the Changeling Union."

"A transitional period?" - Ask a dumbfounded Caex. - "But hasn't been the last 10 years a transitional period already?"

"Well, it has been, but it was just one step" -. Respond Luxis. - "The last 10 years has been a transition from the old system of all queens on their own, with a small handful of powerful ones controlling everything, to the new system, where all the queens have a voice of their own and help the nation to move forward. Now it's time to make a transition into an era where we can open ourselves to other nations."

"But this is quite abrupt" -. retorts Caex with a slight hint of worry on his voice. - "The system we now know was accepted by all the changelings because they were all tired of the wars, why do you think this would be accepted now?"

"Well, it's true, the changelings aren't quite ready for this step but we've been forced to make this choice. Hadn't we been discovered by Equestria, is far more likely we wouldn't have needed to change our legislation."

There's a short silence in the radio as the listeners were wondering why nobody was talking, leaving them some time to think on what Luxis just said, before Caex spoke back.

"If you mean the invasion of Canterlot by Chrysalis, yes, it can be understood, but I don't think she was the only factor behind our discovery, there's also the issue with the changeling queen that foalnapped the elements of Harmony."

"Yes, it's true, but hadn't Chrysalis made her attempt on Canterlot, it's far more likely we wouldn't have faced such scenario with the Elements of Harmony."

"How come?"

"You see, after Anidis managed to resist our attack, Valeris was informed of Chrysalis' plan to invade Canterlot. So she had to choose between trying to keep on fighting Anidis or go back to Canterlot, now, I understand if some see her choice as wrong, but I consider as correct her decision to go after Chrysalis. Ironically enough, she was thwarted by the ponies before we could actually mobilize our armies."

"I see" -, responded Caex with no worry, fear or anger on his voice, - "and, from what I can guess, by allowing Anidis to reign free, she invaded the hive of the princess, now queen, which lead to the abduction of the Elements of Harmony, is that correct?"

"Yes, you are correct" -, Luxis then clarified, - "if it weren't for Chrysalis, we would've kept our focus on Anidis, which would've meant that poor queen would be now be passing her days with her mother."

"And what would you say to those who think you just used Chrysalis as an excuse to justify your mistake?"

The ponies who heard that gasped, no pony journalist has ever been that daring to Princess Celestia, these changeling was either stepping out of line or the queens were far looser with journalist than they were expecting. Hearing Luxis', seemingly, joyful laugh probably meant the latter.

"Well, to them, I say I would love to see you trying to choose between an invader queen with more power you could ever fathom and taking out a pretender queen, trying to seize the power needed to rule over all queens. It wasn't an easy choice, but I preferred to take my chances fighting Chrysalis than fighting the invader into an attrition battle that would've left us weakened to fight Chrysalis anyways."

"I suppose that's a reasonable way of thinking" -, responded Caex as he went for the next question, - "but that still leaves other questions just as important, like about the newest queen, the one who foalnapped the Elements of Harmony, she broke changeling law by forcefully taking a group of ponies, isn't there any kind of retribution to her? After all, one of Valeris' narratives when she started the purge of the middle queens was 'everyling is equal before the rule of law' or was that just a political convinience?"

Yet another pregnant silence, lasting two seconds, was in the interview before Luxis anwered once again.

"Well, that's a good question. Your queen is very loose if she allows you to do this kind of questions to other queens."

"Yes, she allows us to be very critical of other queens, including herself" -. Responded Caex, still in a professional voice. - "which is why we must ask if this new queen will get some kind of trial or punishment for what she did."

Since Luxis was Valeris' secretary in the Collective's High Chamber, her responses could be considered as the response from Valeris. Many of the ponies, while accepting the rule of Diamantis, were hoping something could be done to the one guilty of their punishment. Even if she sounded nice, they weren't going to forget that easily what she did to them.

"Well" -, Luxis finally answered, - "that would have to be discussed either in the Collective's Palace or the queen in charge of her has to decide what kind of punishment to give her."

Diamantis released her breath as she heard this, while some of the ponies (such as Thunderlane) got a bit frustrated, hoping that Twilight and her friends, since they met the queen in charge of Diamantis, Fortis, they could talk about what Diamantis would have to face for breaking the law.

"I suppose that's how things work" -, answered Caex, no sign of resentment, anger or indignation in his voice, - "but that process usually takes a while, aren't you afraid of citizens losing faith in the system for this kind of procedures?"

"I understand the concerns but, sorry, no system is perfect."

"The Equestrian may not be prefect" -. Mumbled Cheriless. - "But at least it didn't give de-facto immunity to those in power."

"I suppose no system is" -. Answered Caex, again, in a calm manner, no emotion betraying him. - "Now, other questions that has been arised after this session are other important details in the deal, such as allowing Princess Celestia's protegé to investigate the transformation wax. Isn't it dangerous to allow a pony to reverse the wax that allows us to get more citizens during harsh times? Or what if the Equestrians decide to weaponize the process against us?"

"Valid concerns, some of which I share with you" -. As she said this, Twilight paid more attention, hopinng to learn something of importance on the part of the deal involving her. - "This is something I talked with Queen Valeris about and she has made some concessions about it."

Twilight's ears perked up as she hoped to hear anything that would allow her to see what was Valeris to allow on her investigations, but Luxis quickly dashed her hopes.

"While what was agreed on the deal will remain, including Celestia's protegé being able to share with any results she could find, Valeris has said that anything beyond giving the protegé a sample of the transformation wax used on her, as well some tools to work with it, is off the table; and, regarding how much freedom she'll have, while the initial deal struck allows her to investigate the sample freely, The Collective's Palace can debate and determine how far can she investigate as well how much of our changeling investigators will allow to be public. Anything beyond that, I'm not allowed to say except that the queens will have to legislate on that."

Thankfully for Twilight, who was feeling very dissheartened from hearing that, Celestia was hearing the radio interview and only Luna will ever witness how much anger was pouring from her sister's mouth after hearing that.

"So she plans to apply redtape to Twilight's investigations? That's so close to break the deal we made."

Luna, just as angered as Celestia, decided to add.

"Alright then, the Diet will have a fun time debating on what must Twilight investigate or else the Changeling queens will face equestrian investigations into their affairs."

For a brief moment, Luna worried about what Celestia was saying but she would regretfully adimt she was already planning on doing just that after hearing Luxis.

"Granted" -. Added Queen Luxis. - "This isn't taking into account that the Equestrian Parliament will have to review said deal and determine what do they agree with and what not

"I suppose that will ease part of our audience. That leads to the next topic" -. Said Caex, with a hint of optimism on his voice, although still professional. - "What are your plans on the two queens that has been the main topic of discussion lately? Queen Chrysalis may now be isolated but she can still be a danger and Queen Anidis may be remaining in the hive she invaded, but that doesn't change she invaded two hives, killed at least two queens and one princess, and planning to invade two nations. Those two have broken changeling laws as well but not much has been done about it."

Luxis' response was, to say the least, swift.

"If Chrysalis knows what is good for her she will remain in her new home, she had a chance when she was given Canterlot to handle and wasted that opportunity with her egomaniac ambitions."

"Tsk" -. Chasted Chrysalis in her new throne as she picked the signals from  a radio she stole from some equestrians not too far from her new hive. - "Of course, I'm the ambitious queen because I tried to conquer Equestria, but Valeris and her lot are the heroes because they managed to conquer us all under the disguise of 'unity'."

She then moved slightly away as she heard the interview, hearing how Luxis was mocking her attempt and labeling her as a traitor, despite Luxis being allied with a princess that tried to force all the queens to stop their fights through dialogues and coercitives 'compromises' for the betterment of the collective. Quite interesting that Valeris' Great Coalition was the one benefitting the most during this 9 years of alleged peace.

It wasn't too different from how Princess Celestia made three pony species to unite, expanded pony territory through the continent, made all the ponies believe that false doctrine of so-called friendship and, instead of punishing her own sister for that coup attempt, she forgave her and compromised to share the throne with her. Meanwhile, the unicorns would be the ones with more nobles, the species were sent to work on specific areas of society and, fittingly enough, those with more magic, or wealth for that matter, ended up being the most benefitted from this new system designed by this two alicorns with massive amounts of power and practically untouchable by law.

"In the end, Valeris is no different from Celestia and her lies about 'Harmony' and 'friendship'" -. She said with complete disgust in her voice, still grudgemental over the fact she was extremely close of removing two of the figures she disliked the most due to how similar they were. 

And, as she remembered the equestrian's values of trust and forgiveness, along how Anidis was interested in getting the queens that killed her mother, with one in particular too close to Valeris for her to allow to be sacrificed; she decided to make a plan that, hopefully, would manage to destabilize both Valeris and Celestia. At best, it would bring chaos and allow her to get back to power, at worst it would only sow dissent through both species and, even if they bring peace, neither would trust in one another.

She then looked at her guard and made her order. One that, hopefully, would work even if it backfired on her.

"Call Thorax and Phalynx, I have the right job for those two."

As the guard left, she decided keep on listening to the interview.

"Regarding Anidis, well, we first must summarize the damage done by her army and, after determining the price she must pay for he crimes, we then would have to see if she can enter into the Council of the Queens."

"You really are planning to let her in? After invading two hives?"

"Well, it's not as we want her in the Collective's Palace, but we cannot let her be, gathering her forces on the territories she conquered while we remain as sitting ducks, shouting about how to fight her. We must first organize the Changeling Union so we can be better prepared to face her and, hopefully, we'll have the leverage to keep her in line, should she decide to keep on breaking changeling rules."

"Heh" -, chuckled Queen Anidis as she heard Luxis speaking, - "they really think they have a chance against me" -. She then levitated her personal radio to her as she sat on what used to be Zirconis' throne, trying to guess the full scale of Valeris' plan. - "Or, maybe, Valeris is trying to feign superiority while also trying to get the Equestrians on her side, hoping that, by the time I'm on the Collective's, she'll be able to have me under control with the help of the equestrians and the other queens."

She gave it a thought, it was sound enough. Valeris didn't have the military power to defeat her, so the next step would be to gain allies that could give Valeris more power, while delaying any conflict with her by adding her to the council and, hopefully, increase Valeris' military power in the meantime. That way, regardless of what route Anidis chose to control the changelings and ponies, Valeris would have the means to stop her.

"It looks like you have stepped up your game, old friend" -. Said Anidis in respect of the changeling princess that used to think, back when they were nymphs, the best strategy to beat her on board games was by sending the drones to the end of the board and turn them into elites, instead of using all of her agents for other, more effective, changeling tactics. - "But, that won't be enough, I came prepared for such scenarios. I will be among the Great Queens and, no matter how much you try to increase your military, they'll never be match to the weaponry I got from the place I was hiding from."

She then gave it a thought about Valeris uniting forces with Celestia but that was quickly dismissed.

"Even if Celestia conceded to unite in order to fight me, there's no way for Valeris to inform her without breaking Changeling rules, if anything, the Equestrians will be divided and the nobles will try to stop any possibility of working together until it's too late."

She then heard a knock on the door, once she allowed the interruption, a multicolored guard, wearing a golden armor with a violet cross surrounded by a great, blooming violet emblazzoned on his chest, opened the door of the throne room.

"My queen" -. Said the guard with green grapey eyes, sky blue head and purple legs. - "Your sister would like to have a talk with you. She has concerns about you and the equestrian host you brought with us."

Anidis nodded as she heard this, no evil on her face and no sign of being bothered by the news.

"Do bring her in, I would like to talk to her of recent developments I have heard from our contacts in Equestria and the changelings."

The guard nodded before closing the door. He tried to avoid looking at Anidis, but the queen could see the worries on his eyes as Anidis muttered to herself.

"My dear sister, your worries may be on the right place, but we must not stop until all the queens that destroyed our life face their proper judgement." 

Her features then turned grim as she remembered the day her mother's hive was invaded and she saw herself to run away from the invaders, unable to defend her hive and only capable of figthing those who were on her immediate way of escape. She could barely escape with her sister, some dozens of servants and a few guards, with only a tenth of the royal treasuries in toe, as they hid from all the other queens and tried to repopulate their hive.

Something extremely hard to do when you live under conditions where being a changeling isn't possible. She survived and thrived under such circumstances, but she would never forget, nor forgive, all the queens involved in that invasion, especially the ones Valeris tried to protect from her justified vengueance.

And, as she looked at her sisters' silluetter opening the door, all her grim thoughts were vanished, as one of the few things that brought her happiness entered into the room. Anidis, remembering how Princess Celestia forgave her own sister for her coup attempt, as anyone who loved deeply her sister would, always trusted in how she could always rely on the last family member she had. At the same time, thinking on possible scenarios to plan against, she tried to figure out if the Equestrian princesses would be willing to reject Valeris if they knew of her plans to invade them.

Unbeknown to her, they were discussing something close to that.

"I don't know Lulu" -, responded Celestia, - "I understand your concerns, but I think we must first organize our priorities."

Celestia and Luna were already trying to dissect Valeris' tactic based on what they heard on the interview with Queen Luxis but they were having a hard time prioritizing their moves.

"I understand, sister" -. Responded Luna, while she was trying really hard to not make a scene. - "But we cannot sit idly while she is clearly stating that she doesn't plan to follow the deal we made while there's another queen besides Chrysalis trying to invade us."

"I agree with you" -. Responded Celestia, anger shown in her face but still more collected. - "But we always agreed that said deal was temporary while we worked together to make a better one, especially one that could open the Changelings to us."

She remembered the day she made the deal with Valeris and Fortis, along all the concessions she had to make in order to avoid a huge conflict between Equestria and who knew how many more hives, and all the grievances she had to deal with from Valeris.

"If anything" -, Celestia added, - "I think this is a good chance for us to make a better deal, no, a pact that will allow us to help not only the ponies that were foalnapped by Diamantis, but even the ponies that has been part of the changelings since before we knew of them."

Luna calmed down as she gave it a bit more thought and relaxed enough to properly think.

"You are right but we must find a way for the Diet to properly determine how to handle this deal with the changelings while we plan on how to handle this invader queen."

"But how?" - Asked Celestia. - "If we even hint at it we could have a big scandal both between the Equestrians and the Changelings, since we aren't supposed to know about it."

Celestia tried think a solution to their conundrum. She knew Valeris and the other queens would be paying attention to anything she said, and whatever decision The Diet did, regarding the Deal she had with Valeris. It was quite clear the radio was given to them to indirectly provide information of what was going on among the changelings.

"Luna" -, Celestia responded, - "when Twilight reported us about changeling nobility, she said that they weren't too different from pony nobles, right?"

Luna quickly summuned Twilight's report as she gave it another read.

"Yeah, she didn't specified but I have a guess at what she meant."

Celestia nodded.

"So do I" -, she then looked at the radio as she was starting to get an idea, - " if anything, they'll vote and approve based on what is the most convenient to them."

"In other words" -, Luna conceived with her sister, - "all we have to do is to lead the debates so the nobles think that they are voting for their best interest."

The two sisters started to smile as the plan started to take form in their heads.

"That won't be too hard" -, Celestia said, - "after all, they already like to masquerade their positions as is they were interested in the common pony."

"So" -, Luna asked, - "when do we call on The Diet to start debating?"

Celestia gave it a thought as she considered on how the Equestrian media was already portraying everything.

"Soon, after all, our little ponies has been worried for enough time about what is going on here."

Meanwhile, as the interview was on its final segment, Caex decided to make some of the final questions he had for Queen Luxis.

"Now" -, he said, - "I suppose that leave us with one final doubt regarding the next Great Council of the Queens."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, as the next Great Council is coming, what many were originally expecting was Queen Valeris to pass down the mantle of 'Lady of the High Chamber' to Queen Castis but, after her passing as well as her daughter, Princess Manticoris, many are wondering if Valeris will keep her promise by giving the mantle to Queen Fortis or if she will pass the mantle to someone else."

"Oh!" - Luxis said as she started to giggle at the implications of the question. - "Please! Don't be silly, there is no reason for Valeris to change her opinion on Fortis since there is no other queen avaiable for the job."

"Really? Because Queen Amaryllis has shown intent on being the next Lady of the High Chamber, will Valeris allow this?"

"Probably" -, said Luxis with Glee, - "She allowed competition against her twice, both against Zirconis, and there is no reason for her to not allow Fortis to be challenged, if anything, it would show that we have the right to determine who will be the Queen leading us."

"Well" -, added Caex with a hint of doubt, - "suppose that's true but that also leads to another question, what about you?"

There was no silence for this question, but Luxis felt as if the world stopped as she was asked this.

"Apologies?"

"I'm sorry, Queen Luxis, it's just that there has been rumors going around about you wanting to be the next Lady of the High Chamber and there are some changelings openly supporting you from taking the mantle."

Luxis took her time before answering with a slight giggle.

"Oh, I thank the support but that is out of the question."

"For Valeris?"

"Oh no, it's not for that. You see, when we, Valeris, Fortis, Cerebelis, Lixis and myself, formed the alliance to end with the wars, we promised that we wouldn't interfere with each other. It was that unity what allowed us to gain so many important victories at the start of the war and, while our Great Coalition is now more diplomatic than an actual oath, we still follow it because it's thanks to that unity that we've been here and managed to achieve so much.

Besides, my hive is in the Frozen North. We barely get any love to survive, and our forcepower could barely hold during the Unification War, how can I even think of challenging Fortis when I have so little resources to even hold my own hive? Sure, I may have the support of some, but I doubt any queen, especially queens like Amaryllis or Cerebelis would allow me to go for the mantle of 'Lady of the High Council' when, in practice, I don't have that much power or influence."

"Thanks for informing us" -. Said Caex with no hint of joy, dissapointment or boringness on his voice. - "And, with that, we are done. Thanks Queen Luxis, for this interview, it helped a lot to clarify what happened today and what we must expect on the future days."

"Same, Caex" -, responded Queen Luxis with joy, - "it was a pleasure to speak to you today, I hope we get a similar chance in the near future."

And, as the transmission ended, in the far north, in the frozen lands, a small spark of magic shone for a brief second. 

Nothing big happened, but the area surrounding the spark started to rise in temperature at a very slow rate.