A Queen's Redemption

by IronStories

Chapter 3: Past Scars

"RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight angerly shouted.

"What?!" Dash said in confusion. "What did I do?! It's not my fault the Queen has a berserk button."

"My mom has severe trauma from the Storm King." Skystar explained. "I thought you would know better than to do something like that!"

"How was I suppose to know? I mean, she did throw us out when we tried to get along with you all."

"That's besides the point!" Celestia said. "You shouldn't have done that. Novo has been through a lot, and pranking her like that was not a way to earn her trust."

"I learned that the hard way." Twilight added. "You need to apologize to her. There's no telling what she might do now. She could cancel the festival!"

Meanwhile, the Queen, stricken with grief and regret, was crying at the Waverider statue. In the past, when she was upset, she and Waverider would usually have a heartfelt conversation, and he would help her get through an issue. But ever since his death, she never found a proper way to vent or grief her issues, often bottling up her feelings until it was too late. This wasn't the first time her emotions overcame her decisions.

---

The alarm in the throne was blaring as loud as ever. It could only mean one thing; someone was trying to steal the Pearl. Novo and the others swam to the throne, and there they saw Twilight trying to take the Pearl, only for her to be caught by the anemone tentacles. Everypony was shocked, but none more so than Novo. That shock would later turn into pure, unbridled anger. She was starting to warm up to these outsiders, but they broker her trust. They betrayed that. And she was not happy about it. In fact, she was extremely furious.

"All this so you could sneak in and take the Pearl?!" She snapped, taking the Pearl, then grabbing Skystar. "This is why we don't bring strangers into our home!" She told her daughter. Her attention then turned towards the Mane 6. Her mind has been made up.

"You don't deserve to be one of us..." And with that, using the magic of the Pearl, the outsiders were reverted back to their original pony forms, and expelled from Seaquestria.

"Wait, NOOOOOOO!" Skystar cried. The only friends she had made in all her life had been banished.

"Maybe now you will know not to put your trust in outsiders." Novo remarked.

"How could you do such a thing, Mom?!" Skystar shouted. "Those were my friends you banished!"

"Your 'friends' were planning to take our Pearl! I have no doubts that they were working for the Storm King..."

"But they showed me friendship! They showed all of us friendship!" Skystar cried. "It's not fair! They could have helped us reclaim our home!"

"THIS is our home now!" Novo barked. "You do not go into someone else's kingdom just to steal what doesn't belong to you."

"Why don't you trust others? What has anyone ever done to you? You trusted Miss Celestia all those years ago, and you trusted Dad too! How would he feel about this?!"

"YOUR FATHER IS DEAD!!!" Novo shouted. "He was murdered in cold blood by outsiders! You think I can't let that go?! For once, Skystar, stop living in a fantasy! Stop being so naïve! We can never go back to our old way of life, no matter how much help we have!!!"

Skystar was hurt. Extremely hurt. Even if she and her mother got into arguments, they were never this heated. Novo realized too late to use her husband's name in vain like that.

"When we did this, you said we were doing it for Dad..." Skystar said, trying not to cry. "You think this is what he would have wanted?!" And as quickly as she said it, she swam off as fast as she can.

"Skystar! Come back here!" Novo shouted. Novo too was hurt. Her trust may have been broken with the outsiders, but now her own daughter seems to no longer trust her. She look a look at the Pearl before putting it back in the anemone. Already, she felt extreme regret. She looked around the palace, the biolights seeming to dim. Too late she realized she may have jumped to conclusions. Too late she may have realized she possibly made the wrong decision.

"Maybe she needs time to vent." Novo sighed. She swam to her daughter's room to check up on her, wanting to apologize for everything. She took a peek only to find out that Skystar was nowhere to be found.

"Skystar? Skystar?! Where are you?!" Novo was in full panic mode. She issued a kingdom-wide emergency. The Princess was missing, and they needed to find her as soon as possible. Little did she know that Skystar was following the path to her friends, and helping them not only on their quest, but to possibly get her old home back.

---

"I'm so sorry." the Queen lamented. "I wish I could let go, but I can't. Any memory of that day, to be reminded of that monster, it's too much to handle. I'm not strong enough. I wish you were here..."

Back at the festival, the ponies were extremely concerned about the well being of Novo, as well as the fate of the festival itself. Rainbow Dash's little prank really affected the Queen big time, and everypony was still mad at her for pulling off such a thing without realizing Novo's past trauma.

"I said I was sorry, jeez!" The blue Pegasus sneered. "How was I suppose to know that the Queen doesn't have a sense of humor?"

"Actually, my mom has a great sense of humor." Skystar said. "She's just not very open about it."

"You don't need to apologize to us, Rainbow Dash." Twilight told Dash. "Queen Novo is the one you really need to apologize to."

"Honestly, I don't see the big deal with her being afraid of the Storm King. I mean, he's in a bunch of itty bitty pieces now."

"Well given her reaction towards him, I bet she had a very nasty encounter with that brute before." Rarity added.

"She did." Celestia gathered the ponies together. "I wasn't there that day, but Novo told me all about it. She saw the invasion take place, and the Storm King killed her husband right in front of her, and was about to do the same to her, had she not managed to escape him. The whole experience was traumatizing for Novo. It was both mentally and emotionally damaging to her. That was why she was a little hostile when you first met her. It wasn't out of malice, just extreme concern for herself and her subjects."

"Wait, you were there too, right Skystar?" Spike asked the young hippogriff Princess.

"Well, not really." Skystar replied. "I was still a really young filly when the whole thing happened. It wasn't until my mom told me what happened to my dad that I knew something was wrong. But my dad always told me that even in the darkest of times, you should always shine your brightest. I just wish he told that to my mom."

"Don't worry, dear." Celestia comforted Skystar. "We'll make things right with your mother. Won't we, my little ponies?"

"Yeah, we will!" Twilight said with confidence. "Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, you all stay here and make sure the festival continues as planned. Rainbow Dash, you're coming with me and the Princesses."

"What for?" Rainbow Dash wondered.

"You're going to give the Queen a proper apology."

"Ugggghh! Fine! As long as you all will stop making me feel guilty!"

And so it was settled. While the remaining ponies try to get the festival back up and running, Celestia, Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash tagged along with Skystar to find Novo and make her feel better.

"You know Rainbow Dash, my mom's not so bad once you get to know her" Skystar tried to lighten the mood. "in fact, she could probably teach you some really cool hippogriff flying tricks!"

"Yeah, sure..." Dash was clearly not amused. She still thinks the Queen overreacted to her prank, but at the same time, she didn't want everypony to be mad at her. Either way, she wanted to get the whole ordeal over with so that way she can get back to the festival. But it would take a lot of passion to apologize to a regal Queen, especially one who had to go through so much in the past.