> A Queen's Perspective - Friendship Games
>  by gerandakis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Midnight Queen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning: This story will spoil major plot points of For the Hive up to and including chapter 9. If you haven't read For the Hive yet, I strongly recommend to do so before reading this.





"Unleash the magic, free the magic~

"NOW"

As the last word of the sinister song faded, Twilight dropped the device in her hands. The magic that had come from it expanded into a white orb floating in mid-air before her. The orb pulsed and sent out a wave of pressure, knocking back everyone it touched, save Twilight, and sending a static tingle through everyone's nerves.

Everyone around watched in terrified fascination, unable to do anything to help, as the CPA student began floating upwards alongside the orb of magic which was now slowly growing, having already engulfed part of her right hand, and slowly pulling her in. She continued to float upwards as the orb continued to grow. Her terrified shout of "Help me!" shook audience and competitors alike out of their collective trance as the magic swallowed up the rest of her arm, then her torso and legs until only her left arm remained free. As her left arm was slowly pulled in, stretching and grasping at the air in a desperate attempt to escape, her scream of terror and pain was accompanied only by the slight hissing noises created by the magic's growing power burning away the fine hairs on her arm and hand.

Soon the crowd beneath only beheld the floating orb of white with spiraling wisps of color, before it exploded outwards and dispersed, revealing the girl coiled up, her skin now a darker shade of purple, wearing a short dress of rich magenta, with matching gloves and boots. As she stretched out, still floating in midair, two large, sickle-shaped, insectoid wings, midnight blue and opaque at their base and flowing over rich purple into a transparent, deep crimson at their edges. She craned her head backwards as, with a sound not unlike unsheathing a sword a long horn of pure energy grew from her forehead. Finally she opened her eyes, revealing them to be reptilian slits of a deep purple and causing two oval rings with sickle shaped outcroppings on their outer edges to appear, their sickly, blueish-green color matching that of her horn.

Looking at the crowd gathered beneath her she gave a sinister laugh, revealing her long fangs before speaking up, looking down at Sunset.

"You were right! I didn't understand magic before. But I do now!"

She whipped around, a tongue of light blue flames licking up her horn while an orb of white light formed in her left hand with an ominous hum. Stretching her left arm out towards the statue in front of the school, she fired the energy as a beam of blueish-white. With a sound of cracking stone the statue exploded into dust that flew outwards and drifted slowly towards the floor.

As their line of sight cleared the students gasped. Where the statue had been before, there was now a deep purple crack, seemingly in reality itself, quickly widening into a tear. Soon the purple gave way to an image Sunset recognized from one of her trips with Princess Celestia. Ponyville Town Hall!

They could only watch as further cracks spread from the rift, Twilight shooting beams at them in various places to open further rifts. Places Sunset recognized mixed with places she didn't. A barn she had never seen, but that was strangely familiar regardless. Canterlot, a gigantic airship floating near the city. A plateau surrounded by jungle and covered in ruins, housing a single large, black spire. All of them Sunset could, if not recognize, so at least guess what and where they were.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Turning, Sunset saw Sunny Flare staring at Principal Cinch who seemed to be trying to sneak away.

"Anywhere to avoid that ... monster! And I suggest you do the same."

Sunset shook her head. Cinch clearly wasn't comprehending the extent of what Twilight was doing. Every new portal she opened would destabilize the barrier between worlds further. If it collapsed completely, there would be no place to hide. No place to run. The others might not be able to sense it, but they hadn't spent nearly two decades attuning to equestrian magic. In all her confusion Sunset knew one thing. We need to stop this now, before it gets out of hand.

She turned back around. "Twilight, you can't do this!"

For the first time since starting her rampage Twilight turned to look at her. "Why not?! There's a whole other world right there, and it's just filled with magic!"

"But you're destroying this world to get it!"

"So what? There's more magic there, and I want to understand it all!"

Sunset shook her head in exasperation. There is no reasoning with her. She's completely addled with magic. Was I like that?! As she looked back up at Twilight she saw three orbs of light right above her. Startled she realized that Twilight was about to fire another beam, more powerful than all that had come before it. And pointed exactly where she stood.

In a moment of clarity, Sunset managed to jump out of the way, barely avoiding the beam as the very ground where she had stood cracked and exploded outwards, a spiderweb of cracks spreading outwards from it, like a hole in a window. She landed hard on the pavement, scuffing her arms in the process.

Behind her, the cracks spread further, more of the ground falling away. She had stood relatively alone, but the rift was quickly growing and others hadn't had the presence of mind to jump aside. Applejack found Tennis Match, the student that had stood between her and the point of impact suddenly falling downwards. Instinctively, she grabbed the falling girl's arm in hers, halting her descent. All around, similar things were playing out, Rainbow and Pinkie were both lying on the ground, each holding a student by one arm trying to pull them upwards. Fluttershy and the local Spike were inching backwards, away from the rift. Rarity had two Crystal Prep students holding onto one arm as the piece of ground she had been lying on fell away. Applejacks eyes widened as the three fell downwards. She breathed a short sigh of relief as their descent stopped, one of Rarity's hands barely holding onto the edge of the crack. With a burst of strength Applejack pulled Tennis up and back, depositing her on stable ground before turning to Rarity. "Don't let go!"

Rarity only rolled her eyes as Rainbow followed that up with a strained "Hang on."

"Obviously!"

Suddenly Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest reached out and grabbed onto her arm.

"We've got you." They yelled in unison as they pulled the three girls to safety.

Sunset, meanwhile, found Twilight's tracking device, dropped and forgotten, on the floor before her. As she picked it up, one of the tracking lights lit up, pointing straight towards Twilight. An idea struck her. She got to her feet. but before she could act, the light on the device was replaced by one pointing roughly behind her, she turned to see Applejack emitting a soft orange glow. Looking around she saw her other friends lighting up as well. A soft yellow for Fluttershy, a rich purple for Rarity, a bright pink for Pinkie and a bright azure for Rainbow Dash, flashes of purple and orange coursing through it. With renewed resolve and changed plans, Sunset turned back to Twilight.

"This isn't the way! I know you feel powerful right now, like you can have everything you want! I've been where you are, I've made the same mistake you're making! I put on a crown and, just like you, I was overwhelmed by the magic it contained! I thought it could get me everything I wanted!"

Twilight turned around, her sinister smirk highlighting her prominent fangs. "Oh, you're wrong. Unlike you, I can have everything I want!"

"No, you can't. Even with all that magic and power, you'll still be alone!" She glanced over her shoulder to her still glowing friends. "True magic comes from honesty!" At the word, a beam of orange light rose up from Applejack, her hair floating upwards and curling around it. "Loyalty!" Rainbow matched Applejack "Laughter! Generosity! Kindness!" As she counted off each element, their bearers became beacons of pure magic. She held up the containment device and opened it. The pillars of magic changed directions to flow into it. "I understand you, Twilight, and I want to show you the most important magic of all..." She snapped the device shut, then threw it on the ground beneath her.

Upon impact the device sprung back open. Once more a sphere of magic rose up from it. But, unlike Twilight, Sunset was ready for it. She calmly watched as the magic lifted her off her feet and carried her upwards, engulfing first her legs, then her arms and torso. Finally she calmly closed her eyes as it grew to absorb her entirely.

After her torturous transformation at the Fall Formal, Sunset had been prepared for pain, but none came. All she felt was a warm tingle washing over her and a feeling of power. As a unicorn back in Equestria, she had often pictured her reservoir of magic as a great lake, but compared to that, what she felt now was an ocean. And, like her emotions, the surface of that ocean was perfectly calm.

As the energy dispersed around her, Sunset was revealed to be wearing a flowing dress of pale blue, with deep orange boots. Like Twilight before she grew a horn of energy, but hers was smooth and of a pale, golden yellow. Once more the sound of an unsheathing sword was the only indication of the raw power hidden behind those calm features. Wings of golden light burst from her back and she opened her eyes, gazing solemnly at Twilight.

"...the Magic of Friendship!"

With her new, heightened magical senses Sunset rapidly analyzed the portals and formulated a spell to close them. Within moments the power was at her fingertips and surged outwards in an array of golden beams, firing in all directions. All at once the rifts were sealed until only the great fracture in the floor remained.

Twilight's eyes widened, she drew her hands together and summoned her own magic. Armed with an orb of pure magical force she surged forwards, at Sunset.

Sunset countered effortlessly, putting up a simple, if powerful, shield and surged forward to meet her.

As the two of them clashed, there was a brief moment where only their silhouettes were visible, cast as stark shadows in the light of the spells colliding. In that moment Sunset felt something. Determination, worry, confidence, fear, desperation. A flood of emotions that weren't her own.

Unbeknownst to her, her friends had felt the same, stuck part way between their eyes widening in surprise and squeezing them shut to shield them from the light.

Both of them were thrown back. A single gaze at Twilight's widened, confused eyes told her she had felt it as well. Twilight quickly recovered and fired a focused beam at Sunset. She matched with a beam of her own. She would have to figure out these foreign emotions later. For now she couldn't afford to be distracted.

The beams collided in mid-air between them. For a moment their power seemed balanced, then Sunset focused and her beam started to push back Twilight's. Twilight herself grunted in effort, pushing her hands outward, then gave off a manic cackle as her beam, in turn, started pushing back Sunset's. Sunset saw the beam approaching and found herself powerless to stop it.

"Twilight"

The shout had come from below, with some part of her mind Sunset recognized the voice as Spike's. Twilight however seemed more distracted by it, Sunset could feel her confusion through whatever connection they seemed to share, could sense her focus weakening as her magical assault let up slightly. Twilight looked down upon the dog and found herself paralized by his large, pleading eyes.

"Spike?"

As the magical assault further weakened, and the eerie glow momentarily faded from Twilight's eyes, Sunset decided to press her luck. She focused and pushed Twilight's beam back. Further and further. By the time Twilight realized what was happening, she was too late to stop it.

A drawn out shout of "Noooo!" was all that could be heard before everything went white around her. Sunset cut her beam and surged forward into the bright Pillar of light.

In the white void Twilight's eyes lost their eerie glow and, as before her some of the white tinted a golden yellow and coalesced into the form of Sunset, she saw that her eyes had lost their otherworldly shine as well. For a moment they simply stared at one another. Round pupils into slitted ones, blue in purple. Then Sunset started floating closer.

She could feel Twilight's fear. Before her mental eye it was suddenly her that was there, beaten and fallen after the Fall Formal, lonely and afraid, the white void replaced by a deep crater before the school. The hand she stretched out before her a soft purple. She blinked and the image vanished. Once more it was Twilight, floating there in the void. Sunset's mind was made up.

"Take my hand, Twilight. Let me show you there's another way... just like someone once did for me."

Slowly at first, Twilight reached out her hand, hesitating for but a moment before grabbing onto Sunset's. The moment they came into contact, both felt the surge of magic coursing through them. A golden flame erupted from their hands, and licked up Twilight's arm, as it washed over her eyes, the glowing frames around them burned away in a golden light. Finally it reached her horn and quickly flowed up along it until even the very tip of it had burned away.

Both could sense themselves starting to descend. Suddenly they both broke through the edge of the pillar of light they had found themselves in. As they softly landed on the floor where the hole had once been, the thin stream of light between them fell apart into sparks, their forms returning to normal.

Instinctually, Sunset stepped closer to Twilight and took her into a calming hug. It only took Twilight a moment to reciprocate.

"I am so sorry... I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."

Sunset couldn't help but smile. "I know. And going by my own experiences, they'll forgive you."

At a sudden bark from their side they split apart and looked over, there, Spike ran towards Twilight, carrying the glasses she had dropped. He jumped up at her and she caught him in her arms, only giggling as she fell backwards and landed on the floor, cradling her loyal companion for a moment before taking her glasses off of him and putting them back on.
> The Phoenix Queen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing the danger was over, Principal Cinch peered out from the stands she'd been hiding behind. Not seeing any immediate threats, she stood tall and straightened out her jacket before walking up to Principal Celestia.

"Principal Celestia, on behalf of Crystal Prep, I demand that you forfeit the Friendship Games! Clearly, CHS has had unfair advantage for quite some time! And it's certainly obvious that your students have been using magic for their own benefit!"

Vice Principal Luna and Dean Cadence turned to see where the commotion was coming from, while Celestia gave a sly smile. "I'd like to think that saving the world benefits us all."

More students from both schools where now approaching, eager to see what was going on, now that the danger had passed. Sugarcoat was the first to speak up, her voice deadpan as usual. "At least they didn't manipulate Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic and turning into a power-crazed magical creature that tried to rip the world apart just to win a game."

Pinkie gave her a flat stare. "Wow! That's a lot to take in when you say it all at once."

Impressively, it only took Cinch a short moment to regain her voice. "That's ridiculous!"

"Nope," Spike interjected in a deadpan that rivaled Sugarcoat's, "that's pretty much what happened."

"Actually, we're all to blame." Sour Sweet fell in saccharinely, before falling into a deep grumble. "Mostly it was her."

Principal Cinch could see that she was losing ground, but she still had one ace up her sleeve. "Obviously my students have been infected with your magic, but I plan on taking all of this up with the school board!"

"Good." Celestia fell in with a sweet smile. "I'm sure they would be very interested in hearing all about the magical students with wings."

"Oh," Luna continued, immediately understanding where her elder sister was going with this. "and the portals to different dimensions."

Cadence equally picked up on Celestia's meaning. "And don't forget to tell them about the talking dog," she managed before having to suppress a giggle.

Said talking dog simply had to get in on the fun as well. "Because that would never ruin your reputation."

Principal Cinch tensed up as she looked to the gathered students and faculty, her one trump card thoroughly rebuffed, then simply stood up straight, unnecessarily smoothed out her clothes again, turned around and walked off, the circle of students parting to let her go between sly smiles and barely suppressed giggles.

As soon as she was out of sight Celestia spoke up again. "Well, I know these Friendship Games haven't been what any of us expected, but given what we've all just been through, I think it's fair to declare us all winners."

The gathered students erupted in cheers.





Twilight sat alone on the steps up to the entrance to CHS. After a few moments she looked up as she heard footsteps approaching her. She turned just in time to see Dean Cadance sit down beside her.

"I guess that was one way to finish up your time at Crystal Prep. Pretty sure Cinch will be fast-tracking your application after all of that."

Twilight gave her a sheepish smile. "I've been thinking about it and ... I'm not so sure now is the time for me to apply to Everton."

"Really?"

"I may know about a lot of things, but friendship isn't really one of  them. And I'm definitely not gonna learn more about it by being alone all the time."

"So, you're staying at Crystal Prep?"

"Well, it seems the students here at CHS know an awful lot about the subject. I don't suppose ..."

"You could transfer to this school instead."

"Really?"

"You'd certainly be missed at Crystal Prep. But I think that's a great idea! I'll be sure to speak to Principal Celestia about it right away." As she spoke, Cadence, for the first time, took a closer look at the girl before her. "Say Twilight, did you dye your hair?"

Twilight gave her a confused look. "No, why?" She picked up a strand of hair from beside her face and gazed upon. "I don't see anything wrong, but I can't see much of anything at this distance."

Cadence quickly reached into a pocket and pulled out a small mirror. "Here, have a look."

Twilight took it and looked upon her reflection, then stopped. For a good few seconds she simply sat there, not believing what she saw, the dual strands of pink and purple that ran through her hair had been replaced by brilliant orange and soft vanilla. But that was only the beginning.

Both of them took a closer look and found other things out of the ordinary. The first thing they noticed elicited a small gasp from both of them. Twilight's eyes retained their rich purple color, but they had reshaped into reptilian slits. Cadence was growing worried rather quickly, while Twilight was caught between fear and curiosity. As her mouth fell open in surprise, she noticed another detail. while she didn't have fangs per-se, her upper canines had grown noticeably longer and more pointy. Worriedly she looked herself over in more detail but couldn't find any further changes.

"Huh," she finally managed, "seems like turning into a rampaging magical monster has some side effects." She looked at Cadence. Seeing her frantic worry, she placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Cadence, breathe."

Snapped out of her panic, Cadence looked up at her. Then took a deep breath placing her right hand on her own chest, mimicking the motions she herself had taught Twilight all those years ago.

Once she had recovered from her onsetting panic, she spoke up again. "Okay, all of ... that actually looks kinda nice. We just need to make sure there aren't any side effects."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "It'd probably be best to ask Sunset Shimmer and the others about that. It sounded like they encountered magic before."

"That's probably a good idea. I'll go talk to Celestia and see about getting things underway."





Sunset stood surrounded by her friends near the spot where half an hour earlier there had been a hole in the ground. They had by now fetched their bags from inside the building and some of the other CHS Students were already departing, while the students from CPA were filing back into the busses that would take them home. Sunset had taken the magical journal out of her bag and was quickly flicking through her correspondence with Queen Twilight, looking for the latest messages.

Looking over her shoulder Fluttershy scanned the pages. "Still no word from Queen Twilight?"

"Not yet. But I think I may have figured out how magic works in this world. We pony up when we're showing the truest part of ourselves. I was so busy waiting for someone else to give me the answers that I gave up looking for them myself. I'm sure there will be more magical problems that pop up in this world, but like Applejack said, Queen Twilight  has her own problems to worry about in Equestria. We can't expect her to always be around to help us."

"But maybe I can be?" Unnoticed by all of them Twilight had approached the group.

Principal Celestia was trailing behind her. "It seems we have a new Wondercolt here at Canterlot High!"

Twilight timidly looked at the gathered girls. "I'm not sure how much help I could be. But I'd like to try. If you would all give me a chance."

Celestia looked over Twilight's shoulder at Sunset "I'm sure I can count on you girls to help her feel at home."

Sunset put an arm around Twilight's shoulder and smirked at the Principal. "You sure can." Pinkie quickly gathered up the others in her arms and enclosed Twilight and Sunset in a large group hug. Satisfied, Celestia turned and walked back towards the school.

After the group hug had dissolved, Twilight turned to Sunset. "Sunset?"

"Yes?"

"I had question."

"You're one of us now, Twilight. Ask away."

"Well, after we turned back, thanks for that by the way, I noticed some ... residual effects."

Sunset gave her a confused look. "Residual ... What do you -" She cut off as she noticed Twilight's slitted pupils. "Whoa. That's new."

"Exactly, I don't really mind it, but I want to make sure there aren't any side-effects." She twirled a lock of hair around her finger, drawing attention to the vanilla and orange strands running through it.

Sunset was silent for a moment. "Hmm, I don't think there would be ..." She finally ventured. Then she visibly perked up. "In fact, I think I know what's going on here. Oh, but explaining it might take a while, and it's getting late."

Twilight, looked around, confused. "Huh? Oh right, improved night vision, still getting used to that. So when would you say?"

Sunset thought on that for a moment. "Well tomorrow is a Saturday. How about noon at the statue?" She suggested pointing over her shoulder at the marble pedestal and the noticeable absence of a statue.

"Uh, Sunset?" Applejack piped in. "There really ain't much of a statue anymore."

Twilight visibly winced as Sunset looked over her shoulder. "Oh right, That'll take some getting used to. Oh well, at least the facáde is still in place this time."

Twilight was pulled out of her self-deprecating considerations by those words. "Huh, what would the facáde have to do with anything?"

Now it was Sunset's turn to give a sheepish smile. "It's a long story. I'll tell you with the rest of the story."





The next morning, some few minutes before noon, The seven girls and one dog sat on and around a quilt laid out before the now statue-free plinth that served as this world's terminus to the trans-dimensional gateway connection. Sunset and Applejack were leaning against the smooth marble, enjoying the food and drink they had brought along. Twilight and Fluttershy were busying themselves with Spike. Rarity was occupied dealing with Rainbow's hair, a fact the chromatic girl with the currently purple face was wholeheartedly disapproving of. That she could feel everyone's silent amusement didn't help either. Pinkie was lounging atop the plinth, a drink standing beside her watching the spectacle, none of the other's needed their newfound empathy for each others' emotions to know that she was enjoying their antics.

Suddenly the portal between them lit up and a second Twilight stepped out, stumbling like all the times before, but prepared for the inertia this time. They had never quite gotten around to finding out just why the portal seemed to expel travelers at such speeds. Not that she cared about that for the moment.

"I'm sorry I didn't come here sooner. I didn't get your messages until just now because between the foalnapping and the trial I needed some time with my family and I didn't get back to my room on the Phoenix the entire week." Her hasty explanation that was opening up more questions than it was answering cut short as she found herself opposite a copy of herself. "Huh, I guess if I wasn't used to others looking just like me this would be really weird. So I take it the usual happened then?" She gave a questioning look to Sunset who had gotten up from her seated position and was now standing beside her.

"A magical demon transformation?" Twilight gave her a nod prompting Sunset to continue. "Yup, an unintentional one this time." 

"Huh, unintentional, how novel ..." Queen Twilight gave her a sly grin before turning to her counterpart, still staring wide-eyed at the apparition before her. "Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" At the mute nod her counterpart gave her she continued. "Yeah, me too, Queen Twilight Sparkle of - Well of nowhere quite yet, my hive is still confined to an airship for the time being, we're working on that. A pleasure to meet you."

Twilight stared at the mirror image standing before her, then took the offered hand. Slowly she turned to Sunset. "Is she part of the 'long story' you promised to tell me?"

Sunset and the others giggled at that. "Yeah, kinda is."

The next few minutes where spent giving Queen Twilight a summed up version of the events the day prior had brought, ending on Sunset saying: "And since then we've found out that we could suddenly feel each other's emotions, kinda like your empathy."

Queen Twilight looked a bit surprised by that. "Huh, that's interesting. Hold on." She closed her eyes and focused on her psychic senses. "Oh my, that is interesting. It's like a weaker version of a Hive Mind that only transmits emotions. I guess that accounts for it only working between you."

The others seemed surprised by that revelation, especially her own counterpart. "Wait, Hive Mind? What?"

"Okay ... we'll really need to bring her up to speed on this, won't we? Now I might be able to work with that, provided I ... Yeah, that'll do. Sunset?" At the girl's questioning look she continued. "Can you set it up like last time? The Barn's still free, isn't it?"

"Course it is, Twi," AJ piped in. "But why're you askin’?"

The others had similar looks of confusion, though Sunset quickly gained one of understanding. "You improved the spell, didn't you?"

"And the gatekeeper, that way the portal won't be wide open but will keep the link going. Could you see if the sirens have time too? I still have something for them."

Sunset quickly nodded. "Yeah, they should have time, we'll let them know."

"Okay then, I'll go set things up on my end, could you at least give her the general run-down of Equestria in the meantime?" At a sole nod from Sunset she turned around. "Okay then, see you soon girls." And without another word, she turned to the gateway and was gone in seconds.

While Sunset was still looking at the portal, the others turned to one another. Finally it was Fluttershy who asked what they were all thinking. "Uhh, what just happened?"

Sunset turned around with a smile. "I'm not quite sure. But if it's anything like what I think it is, you'll like it. AJ can you get the barn set-up like last time?" A nod from the farm girl. "Okay, then I'll get the journal. Rainbow, can you fetch the Dazzlings?"

"Sure thing."

"Okay, Rarity, Fluttershy, can you show Twilight the way to Sweet Apple Acres and give her the general idea of Equestria, I don't want Queen Twilight to scare her too much."

"Of course, darling."

"Good, Pinkie can you get us snacks?"

"As if you even need to ask."

"Good, we'll meet there in half an hour. Sound good?"

There was a round of nods before the group quickly split apart, leaving Rarity and Fluttershy behind with Twilight.

Twilight herself was baffled by the quick change in plans. "Not meaning to be repetitive here but ... What just happened?"

Rarity just smiled at that. "You'll find that out soon enough. For now, come along dear, we have quite a few things to tell you."

Merily talking, the three set off to follow Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres, Spike trailing behind them.
> Stories beyond the Pages
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emerging from the swirling vortex of the portal, Queen Twilight took a short moment to get her bearings.

She stood on the small pedestal of the crystal mirror. The chamber where the mirror was situated was located deep within the heart of the Phoenix, sitting in line with the main engine room further to the back and the bridge all the way at the front. The room itself had a tall ceiling since it spanned over two decks of the ship. There were doors to her left and right leading to the lower of the two decks and stairs on the opposite side of the room lead up onto a raised platform.

The two flights of stairs curved around in a manner that reminded her of an old manor house. On the platform itself, overlooking the lower level and the portal and before a door leading to the upper of the two decks, sat the Gatekeeper, the machine she had designed together with Ratchet. The crystal cluster at it's back still shot a bright beam of magenta into the horseshoe shaped structure above the mirror itself.

Stepping down from the pedestal, Twilight looked up to the engineer that stood watch at the Gatekeeper's control console. <Mirrored, shut it down for now, I'll go fetch the Journal. It's time we gave our little project a proper test.>  Mirrored Veil was the head of the small team of engineers that knew how to operate the Gatekeeper. All of them had been personally picked and instructed for the job by Ratchet himself.

<As you wish, my Queen.> Mirrored lit up his horn and pulled a large lever on the far left of the console. The beam hitting the portal dimmed and thinned until it faded entirely and the portal itself went from being a swirling vortex back to being a simple mirror, if a rather impressive one.

Trotting up one of the staircases leading up to the platform, Twilight made to leave. She gave a glance at the gleaming gemstone embedded into the front of the Gatekeeper. The machine was spooling down at this point, the small wisps of steam that constantly came of it grew ever fewer in number. Twilight walked past Mirrored Veil and though the door behind him, leaving via the upper one of the two decks that held the portal chamber.

A few minutes of leisurely walking through the numerous hallways and rooms of her hive ship brought Twilight to her personal chambers. She took several moments to look out of the window, gazing upon the city that was once her home. Canterlot lay there, gleaming in the midday sun, a masterpiece of art and craftsponyship, to rival the masterwork of technology and engineering that now floated above it in lazy circles. She smiled nostalgically as she remembered her foalhood in this city, but those thoughts lead to thoughts of her mother which shattered her tranquil mood. Shaking her head, she banished the thoughts for the time being and refocused on the task at hoof.

Stepping up to the expansive shelf, she took out one book in particular. Leatherbound yet light the magical tome floated to her in the glow of her magic. She then turned to another, smaller, shelf that wasn't meant for books. The journal before her was joined by three small, flat boxes of polished wood from trees native to the Cresnox Jungle. She looked them over, the brass clasps and hinges, the polished wooden surfaces, the inlays in the shape of three symbols. A brilliant cut gemstone overtop a treble clef, a five pointed star overlaying a quarter pause and a single, elaborate note overlaying a heart. Finally she let her gaze wander over the three names engraved beneath the symbols, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk.

She chuckled lightly, thinking back at some of her more artistic children getting a little carried away with these. Then she grabbed a pair of saddlebags from a third shelf, packed the journal and the boxes in one and filled various odds and ends into the other. Finally she was satisfied and placed them on her back before making her way back to the portal chamber.





As she arrived Mirrored Veil, who had sat himself down near the Gatekeeper, quickly got up. <Do you have everything, my Queen?>

<I do. Let's test this thing, shall we?>

<As you wish.> Mirrored walked up to the console and tweaked a few levers and dials before, once more, moving the large lever on the left upwards. Wisps if steam and soft hissing noises came from the machine before a thin beam of magenta, much finer and dimmer than the one that had kept open the portal earlier, shot out from the crystal cluster. Just like before the beam hit the upper part of the mirror frame. Unlike the last time however there was no large swirling vortex. For a moment it looked like nothing would happen, then a small point of glowing magenta formed in the center of the mirror, wisps of light spiraling and spinning around it.

Twilight trotted up to the portal and lit her horn, using both her eyes and her magic to scan the portal. After a few moments of silent observation, she turned away from the portal, satisfied it would do its job. The conduit mode was one of her new modifications to the Gatekeeper. It should serve to keep the portal open just far enough to let the hive mind through, but not so far that anything else could traverse it. In retrospect, leaving the portal wide open the last time she'd visited had been terribly careless.

Twilight then walked back towards the platform, but rather than walk up one of the stairs to get there, she walked between both of them, to a small alcove directly beneath the Gatekeeper. There sat a brass ring, runes carved along it's inside, mounted to the sides of the small alcove. In it's center sat a brass lectern attached to the wall behind it. She smiled as she gazed upon the result of her research into improving upon the spellwork of an ancient unicorn. Combining an arcane portal with her interdimensional adaption of Haycartes' bookwalking technique was one of her most complicated feats of magic to date. She turned to a control console to her right and moved a few levers. Crystal arrays surrounding the ring whirred to life and began softly glowing. Pulses of light came from the runes engraved in the ring as the machine was idling. Smiling as her creation sprung to life, Twilight reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the journal. She then grabbed a nearby quill, opened the journal to its newest page and wrote a single line.

'We're ready here, what about you?'





Sunset shimmer had just arrived at the barn as the book in her bag began vibrating. It just so happened that her flat was on the opposite side of town from the apple farm, hence she arrived last. She took the book out of her bag and looked over the message.

With a smile she walked over to a crate, greeting her friends in the process. She pulled the same collapsible lectern out of her bag she had used last time.

"Everyone ready?"

The others looked among each other at that. Finally Applejack spoke up.

"Uhh ... ready fer what exactly?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure myself, but if my guess is correct, we may want to step back a little." The others were slightly taken aback by that, especially Twilight, but nodded nonetheless.

Smiling, Sunset opened the journal again and, just like last time wrote a single word.

'Ready.'

She then placed the book in the lectern and stepped back to join her friends.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then, four points of ink appeared in a magenta glow. each only a short distance away from the corner of the free page next to the one Queen Twilight and Sunset had been writing on. Lines flowed from them, connecting them into the four corners of a rectangular frame. Another four lines then flowed inwards  from the corners, spiraling towards the center. The moment they reached it and touched together, there was a flash of light.

When the girls could see again, there was a shimmering vortex of magenta light sitting in the ink-drawn frame.

For a moment it simply sat there, swirling, then it began glowing, brighter and brighter, until wisps of magenta began flowing out of it, very few at first but then more and more until a veritable stream of magenta was flowing out of the small portal. As they came flowing out of the portal, the lights began assembling before it into a vaguely equine shape.

After about ten seconds, the portal stopped spewing out more wisps, and the ones that were still floating about joined into the shape before the portal. The glowing equine shape then gave off a gleaming flash of light, before the glow faded.

Before them stood Queen Twilight Sparkle. In her natural shape. She looked around, looked herself over and finally turned back to the portal, still swirling in the book behind her. Her smooth, curved horn lit up with a gentle magenta glow with occasional flashes of orange, and she stared intently at the portal. After a few seconds, she gave a pleased smile. "Looks like everything went to plan. Wonderful. Hi girls."

That finally snapped the others out of their awe-induced stupor. Sunset, having seen portal magic before, was the first to recover. She ran up to Twilight and hugged her tightly. It was a rather awkward hug given that the changeling queen was about the size of a fully grown horse of this world, if with somewhat different proportions.

The others soon managed to recover as well and managed to enclose Queen Twilight in a massive group hug. The only one who was still staring incredulously, was the Twilight of this world.

Queen Twilight, noticing that, gave her a warm, almost motherly, smile. "Don't worry, I don't bite." She turned to Sunset. "What about the sirens? Can they come?"

It was Rainbow that answered. "I managed to catch Aria. She'll find the others and get them here, but they'll be a while." She looked Twilight over and smirked. "So this is how you look back in horse land, huh? Neat."

Queen Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dash, this is my natural form."

Once the group hug dissolved, Applejack rushed off, saying something about being right back and Apple Family hospitality. The others settled on various cushions save for Fluttershy who had now gone from hugging the sole changeling queen in the room to petting her, and said queen herself, who was hence a bit distracted and too big for the cushions anyway.

Letting the animal lover do her thing – she had to admit that it was quite pleasant – Queen Twilight turned to her counterpart. "So Twilight, it would seem some explanations are in order. But first let me ask, how much did they already tell you?"

The prospect of learning about things she never even knew existed, pushed away what little fear Twilight still had. "Well, Rarity and Fluttershy told me about Equestria, that it's a land inhabited by ponies and abundant with magic, that the sun and the moon are moved magically instead of moving on their own, that there are three tribes of ponies with different abilities, that both you and Sunset come from there and that almost everyone here has a counterpart over there, which is what I assume the two of us are."

The queen gave a gentle smile and an approving nod. "Good, it seems you got the basic rundown of the Ponies and Equestria, I guess that leaves it to me to explain changelings."

They were interrupted by Applejack returning, holding a large blanket under one arm. "Here, now you can sit down like everyone else, can't just have ya keep standin' an' I don't want you liyin' on the floor."

Queen Twilight gratefully sat down on the blanket as Applejack laid it down on the floor. "Thank you. It's good to know you share your counterpart's sense for the Apple Family's hospitality."

She settled on the blanket, comfortably lying down so she was no longer towering over everyone else in the barn. Once she was comfortable, she turned to Twilight. "Now, where was I? Ah right, changelings."

"Well I was once a pony, a unicorn to be exact, personal student to Princess Celestia. -"

"You mean Principal Celestia."

"No, Twilight, I mean Princess Celestia, beyond the mirror, the counterpart of Principal Celestia here is the ruler of Equestria, a being of practically unmatched power, several thousand years old and with control over the sun."

"Uhh, ..."

"Yeah, I know. Now to get back to the point. At some point I found an old legend, the legend of Nightmare Moon, of another pony that once ruled alongside Celestia, nearly matched her in age and power and controlled the Moon before she was corrupted by her jealousy of Celestia and tried to take over, forcing Celestia to banish her to the Moon, using a set of six ancient artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. Unfortunately, it seemed like the thousand years of her banishment were running out and she would soon return."

The changeling Queen kept explaining. The discovery of the Elements, the purification of Nightmare Moon, the second Rise and Fall of Discord. Then finally she came to the wedding. Explaining ponykind's first official introduction to changelings, the defeat of Chrysalis and her invading force, the offer made by Queen Cadista and Twilight's choice to visit her hive.

Twilight was listening in rapt attention and the other six, though knowing the tales, took careful note of everything she said regardless, as she kept mentioning details to the stories that they were unfamiliar with.

"Unfortunately, on our way through the Jungle, our caravan was attacked. That was the first time someone made an attempt on my life."

Twilight looked at her in horror. "Okay, I don't know what I find the most worrying, the fact that someone made an attempt on your life to begin with, the words 'the first time' or the fact that you're so casual about it."

"The Jungles are a hostile place, you get used to it. Anyways, the attackers killed the changelings guarding and guiding the caravan and the royal guard elite defending me. They left me mortally wounded and with the venom of a ghast spider in my veins. The venom on it's own is not too dangerous, painful, but not lethal on it's own. The problematic thing is that it suppresses any form of magical healing. Save one.

"Once a team from Queen Cadista's hive reached me, they brought me back there and the queen made me an offer. You see, there is a form of magic that is exclusive to changelings, especially queens, something called Alchemy. It basically amounts to a magical form of genetic engineering. The pinnacle of alchemy is a process called rebirth, and it was the only way to get around the venom and save my life. The only catch was that I would be turned into a changeling in the process.

"Well, the decision was easy really. I wasn't planning on dying anytime soon. And I had come there to learn about changelings. What better way to do that than to become one. So I agreed."

The others, even those who had heard the story before, looked rather mortified at that pragmatic statement.

"When I woke up I had retrograde amnesia. I still had the memories of my old life, I just couldn't access them for the time being. It took me a few weeks to regain them, that gave me enough time to rebuild my life from the ground up, as a changeling.

"Now after some time to get my bearings and get properly introduced into the hivemind, Mother and I had to visit the Summit of the Queens to discuss how to punish Chrysalis for her transgressions. The other queens weren't exactly happy with her showing changelings off to the world. After the summit was over, I came along with the next trade caravan, to Equestria.

"In Ponyville I was reintroduced first to my friends, then to the population at large. That was when we found out that the Element of Magic still recognized me as it's bearer."

She let out a weary sigh. "Then came Canterlot. That was the second time someone made an attempt on my life. Let's just say, the princess was not amused. I believe her exact words were 'Twilight, would you be so kind as to show me who here isn't going to be executed for treason?'."

Many of the others looked a bit scared after hearing of that reaction, but Sunset interjected, "Well they did just try to kill someone who was not only a personal friend of the Princess but also technically a foreign diplomat. That alone qualifies as high treason."

"Well anyway, there are some more things that happened, but Sunset can get you caught up on those."

The girl in question nodded. "I'll make sure of that, but I suppose it's time to explain my theory to you. In short I think the reason for the physical changes you're experiencing is that, when you opened that little device of yours, you were touched by Equestrian magic, that caused you to more closely mirror what happened to your counterpart in Equestria."

Queen Twilight thought about the matter, "Yes, that makes sense, it could explain some of the discrepancies we found."

Sunset was about to answer, launching into a discussion about magic on the spot, but was interrupted as in that moment, there was a knock on the door.
> Sirenic Rebirth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sole changeling queen in the barn immediately cast her magic to scan beyond the large gates, then smiled. The gates were enveloped in a magenta glow and swung open. "I was wondering when you three would arrive."

There, momentarily surprised by the doors opening on their own, stood the Dazzlings. Sonata and Aria were flanking Adagio whose look of surprise quickly gave way to a rather smug grin. "We'll isn't that just precious?"

Queen Twilight was surprised to hear that, but only for a moment, then she realized the positions the other girls had taken around her over the course of her retellings. Fluttershy and Spike were images of utter relaxation, curled up at her right side and softly snoring, Sunset, Rarity and Applejack were leaned against her other side and had been calmly listening, Rainbow was lying there, her head propped up on her hands, her lower legs idly flopping through the air, having made herself comfortable on the vacant pillows, and the Twilight of this world was leaning against the long neck of her counterpart, relaxed, but still attentive enough to listen to her story and take notes on any interesting details.

"Huh. You're right, that is precious. When did that happen? Usually I notice things like that."

The others were slowly realizing what exactly they were doing and Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight slowly turned towards the queen, brightly blushing.

Said queen gave them a pleasant smile and they simply leaned back into her surprisingly comfortable and soft coat, reassured that she didn't mind. Rainbow however felt she had an image to maintain and got up to greet the sirens.

After they had gotten settled and managed to bring their giggling under control, the sirens looked expectantly at the queen. Ultimately it was once again Adagio who spoke up.

"So I take it there is a reason why you are here in your natural form? Did something happen at CHS again?"

Aria turned to her. "Right, I forgot to mention, apparently the Twilight from this world showed up for the Friendship games and got the latest demon form."

"I'm here, you know?" Twilight pointed out. "And I don't think we've been introduced yet, I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Aria groaned. "Oh goodness, now there's two of them, and they both have the same name, I can already tell this will give me headaches."

Adagio rolled her eyes at her sister's behaviour, then looked at Twilight with a pleasant smile. "Hi Twilight, I'm Adagio Dazzle, and those are my sisters, the grump is my younger sister Aria Blaze and the taco-obsessed goofball over there is our youngest, Sonata Dusk. We were the last ones before you to try taking over the world, we'll tell you the story some time, welcome to the club."

"Tacooooos."

Everyone, safe for Fluttershy and Spike, who were still asleep, turned at that, seeing Sonata and Pinkie, who had appeared at her side from somewhere, standing next to each other, staring dreamily into the middle distance and slightly drooling.

Rainbow and Aria both rolled their eyes, walking over to their friends and waving their hands before their faces to snap them out of their daydreams.

Once they had managed to bring them back to the waking world, Rainbow shared her pile of cushions with Aria and Adagio while Pinkie and Sonata found Queen Twilight made a much better pillow. Unbeknownst to everyone, she had used a subtle bit of magic to make her coat even softer after she realized what was going on.

Finally it was Adagio who spoke up.

"So, as cute as all of this is, I assume that's not why you wanted to meet us, is it Twilight?"

Both Twilights looked at her, the human with barely concealed confusion, the Changeling with much better concealed amusement. Adagio saw through the mask, she had centuries of experience reading people, but that did little to alleviate her frustration. "Argh, you were right, Ari, this will give me headaches."

"Told you."

Adagio turned to Twilight. "Not you, the other one, guess I should start calling her Queen Twilight to keep you two apart."

"I can take a different form and assume a made up identity, if that helps you." The Queen gave the lead siren a sly smirk. "But yes, there is indeed another reason for that. Remember what I told you when we last spoke?"

Adagio cast her memory back to that day, when they had spoken to a drawing of Queen Twilight in the very barn they were now in. "You said you'd have a surprise for us when you next visited. Is that what this is about?"

Sonata had instantly perked up at the mention of the word Surprise and even Aria seemed vaguely intrigued.

The changeling smirked. "Indeed it is. I have a few things that belong to you. You have proven that you can work the interests of others, rather than just your own. That you can unite, not just divide. As such, I believe it is high time these are returned to you."

She lit her horn and one of the flaps of her saddlebags, set aside on the floor a few meters away, unclasped and opened. Three boxes of dark, polished wood floated over. It was the same three boxes she had packed an hour earlier. She left each of the boxes to float before their respective sirens, it only took a moment for their stunned expressions to turn to intrigue at these mysterious objects.

The others curiously looked over to whichever box was the closest, equally intrigued what was in them. As the three unclasped the boxes and opened them, they saw three jewels on long bands of a silver fabric. The fabric was new, that much was clear. The gems however, were familiar, yet different to how they knew them. Their shape was familiar, but unlike the pendants that were once the source of their power, they were not red, but a deep navy blue. The same could be said about their magic, for they were magical, it had the same shape, but it was of a different nature.

The three sirens stared at them in stunned silence, then exchanged glances. From centuries of being together they could tell what the others were thinking, that they were all thinking the same thing. Finally they turned to Queen Twilight and it was Aria who spoke what they all thought. "How?"

"Well, fixing the gems was easy enough, just a matter of picking up the fragments, foal’s play when you have telekinesis, bringing them back home and using a simple charm to put them back together. The enchantment was more tricky. Naturally forming enchantments are rare and complicated. Innate magic usually doesn't form such a solid matrix, but no rules without exceptions, I suppose. Retooling the enchantments to do the same, general thing using a different form of magic as a power source was unquestionably the most complicated part."

"Wait, you mean?"

"Yes, they no longer use dark magic. Instead they now use the same harmonic magic we do. I had no way to test this, but I assume their ... shall we say 'side-effects' should also change accordingly."

The sirens kept staring from the pendants to the queen, back to the pendants, to each other and back to the pendants. After a few moments Sunset began to quietly giggle and after a few more seconds Rainbow couldn't take it any longer. "So? Are you gonna try them out or what?"

That snapped them out of their collective trance. One by one they carefully removed the pendants from the exquisite cushions of white velvet they sat on – more than one of Twilight's kids had been inspired by Rarity's visits – and carefully put them on.

The moment the pendants settled in their correct places, they each emitted a pulse of blue light, mirrored in the sirens' eyes. For the first time in two months, they felt whole. They looked to each other and, through a combination of the magic of their restored pendants and the centuries of experience they shared, they understood what each of them had in mind.

They chose to start simple. Unlike melodies, lyrics were something the magic could never help them with, so, having no time to come up with any and having no experience writing lyrics on the topic of uniting people, they chose to forgo them for the time being. They simply vocalized, went through various melodies, just like they used to. But unlike before, the magic of their music caused no arguments, no strife, simply understanding. Beyond that, what they had dubbed their 'Siren Sight' returned to them, as they looked to the seven girls clustered around the changeling queen before them, the power of their friendship, of the bonds they shared, became visible as lines of light running between them and a general, soft mist that seemed to change color depending on how the light hit it, turning it into a swirling, ever changing mix of different colors. The girls before them practically glowed with magically amplified friendship. And as the power flowed towards them it didn't flow into their pendants, instead it formed a glowing aura around the sirens and as the song ended it exploded outwards in a shockwave only the sirens could see, though the finely tuned magical senses of Sunset and Queen Twilight's empathic abilities easily picked up on it.

As the wave washed over the girls they felt at peace, and they understood their friends on a deeper level, even after the effect wore off, none of them would have been able to explain exactly how they knew that or how that was even possible, but regardless it was true.

As the sirens' song ended, there was a content silence in the barn, finally broken by Fluttershy.

"That was beautiful."

"Indeed," the queen easily agreed.

"The Dazzlings are back!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Sunset gave her a sly smirk. "Better than ever, eh?"

Everyone erupted in giggles at that, save Twilight, who seemed confused.

"Don’t worry, Twi." Rainbow managed though her giggles. "We'll explain later."

Once everyone had calmed down, Adagio turned to Queen Twilight. "All joking aside, thank you. These really are better than they ever were. Having power was fun, sure, but this is something far better than that. And I couldn't even explain why if I tried."

Aria nodded during that and after Adagio was done, Sonata spoke up herself. "I only know that I could see the friendship between you. It's beautiful."

Queen Twilight smiled at that. "Glad to hear. It was my pleasure." I guess this is why Rarity likes satisfied customers so much.

Rarity had by now taken the box Sonata's pendant had been in and examined it more closely. "These are quite exquisite as well, did you make them yourself?"

Queen Twilight looked over to her and had to suppress a giggle before she could answer. "No, I'm afraid artistic talent was never really my forté. Some of my more artistic children made these from the wood of trees that grow in the Cresnox Jungle. I doubt you'll find anything like it in this world."

Rarity seemed satisfied, but Twilight turned to her counterpart, her face a mask of confusion. "Wait, what do you mean 'children'?"

The queen simply giggled. "Oh did I forget to mention that? Well, I'm a changeling queen, practically every changeling in my hive is my child, that's why they call me their Queen Mother."

Twilight looked absolutely stunned. "You have kids."

"I do."

"How many?" 

"Including nymphs and eggs, around 2800 at this point. And my hive is still very small, mother's hive numbers around 4000 and others have tens or hundreds of thousands, but since mother and I are the only ones with intelligent drones, they really don't compare too well."

"My dimensional counterpart has thousands of children." Twilight stated quietly.

"Yup, that was pretty much my reaction as well." Sunset pointed out.

Everyone broke into giggles at that, even Twilight.

After the queen had calmed down enough she turned to her counterpart once more. "If you like, I can introduce you to some of them later. I suspect we might have a way to do that soon that doesn't even involve them coming over here."

It took a moment for the others to realize the cryptic statement she had just made.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Sunset finally managed.

Queen Twilight smiled coyly"Well, I suppose this is as good a time as any to get to the main event."
> The waking Link
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At her rather ominous statement, Queen Twilight made to sit up. The others, who had been arrayed around her also got up to allow her more room to move.

"I guess it's time I explained why I came here in this form. Like I mentioned when I first came over, you seven seem to have formed something akin to a limited hivemind. I hope to understand this connection in more detail, and for that it helps to have my full repertoire of magical and psychic abilities at my disposal."

Sunset seemed intrigued. "So you want to learn more about this connection we have formed? I guess that makes sense. Go ahead." She moved to stand before the Queen who now fully got up, standing before her in a regal stance that reminded her quite a lot of Princess Celestia.

Queen Twilight lit up her long, curved horn and gently laid its tip on Sunset's forehead. Reaching out with her senses, both magical and psychic, she scanned through her friend's mind looking for the link with her other friends. It didn't take her long to find it.

The others watched the two in silence, illuminated by the magenta light from the queen's horn. Suddenly they saw Sunset wince. At the same time Queen Twilight gained a look of surprise, but it only lasted for a short moment, then she let her horn go out, lifted it from Sunset's forehead and closed her eyes. Almost immediately Sunset relaxed.

After catching her breath Sunset looked at the changeling before her. "What was that?"

The queen, her surprise fading, gave her a gentle smile. "That, Sunset, was the Link."

"Pardon?"

"The Link. The Hivemind. The connection I share with my kids. It just took me a moment to realize what had happened and throttle your connection. The only one who can now use it to speak to you, is me."

"You brought me into your Link?" In that moment the queen felt the full effect of Sunset's skeptically raised eyebrow. It was nearly as potent as Fluttershy's stare.

"Not technically. I only opened it so I could scan the link you already had with them. Your mind just latched onto it, like that of a hiveless changeling would."

"Okay, assuming that's true, why couldn't I understand anything?"

"Well, because the hivemind speaks Vespid. I can teach it to you if you want."

"Teach me an entire new language?"

"Yeah, it'll take half a minute, tops."

"How would you do that?"

"Through the link ... ?"

"Oh. Right."

The others kept watching this exchange like the spectators in a tennis match. After a moment they both closed their eyes and sat there for several seconds. When they reopened them they both started speaking to each other in an exotic sounding language none of the others had ever heard.

"Huh. We just sang a magical song, enabling us to see the magic of friendship. How are we not the weird ones here?" Aria pointed out dryly to her sisters.

Ignoring them, Queen Twilight once more focused on Sunset. Now that they were linked it was much easier to scan the link she shared with the others. What she found was interesting and worrying at the same time.

"Allright, this may be a bit of a problem."

The others looked worried. Though none of them really wanted to ask, Rarity finally spoke up. "What's the matter, darling? Is something wrong?"

"Well you see: for a changeling, drones especially so, but queens as well, it's very uncomfortable to spend any significant time outside the hivemind. Whatever exactly happened yesterday seems to have altered your minds to be more changeling-like. Now none of you have ever been part of a hivemind so you probably don't realize you're missing something, but after a few weeks tops it would probably become very unpleasant regardless."

"Oh my, is there nothing you can do?" A wide-eyed Fluttershy asked worriedly. The others seemed to share the sentiment.

With a glance to the queen, Sunset spoke up. "There is, but it would involve doing the same thing to you she just did to me, bringing you into her link. That would probably also widen the links between us into more of a network."

The others looked at each other for a few moments, they could feel the apprehension shared between them, but they also knew that there really was little choice. Eventually Applejack was the one to stand up and walk over to the Queen.

"Well, ain’t really much of a choice, is there? Go ahead."

The queen gave her a proud smile. "As you wish."

One by one the girls stepped up to her and Twilight did what she had done with Sunset. Knowing what to expect she was ready to throttle the connections immediately so that their only connection to her Link was to the Queen herself, not to the link at large. Beyond that she observed them connecting to one another. Each time she added one of them, this widened the links with each of them she had linked before. Finally, after adding her own counterpart to the link, she gifted all six of them the knowledge of Vespid and began speaking to them over the link.

<So, how do you like it?>

Sunset was the first to answer. <It's really cool to be honest. Does this have some kind of range limit?>

<None that I know of. I've seen it work over hundreds of kilometers.>

This time it was Twilight who answered. <Really? How very interesting.>

The Queen smiled. <Give me a moment. I want to test something. I'll need to prepare. You should probably sit back down.>

The others seemed confused but did as she said. After a moment the world around them disappeared and they found themselves on a platform atop a tall brass tower with a floating orange crystal in its center.

Rainbow was the first to recover from the sudden shift. "Uhh, where are we?"

Queen Twilight smiled mysteriously. "I suppose that would depend on how philosophical you want to get."

Rainbow gave her a flat look. "What?"

"Wait, you told me about this place." Sunset piped in, looking out on the steaming and smoking city below and the faint orange dome above. "This is the central shield tower of Stripped Gear. But ... How are we here?"

The Queen smiled once more. "We're not. This is an artificial environment simulated within the hivemind. We call it a linkscape. Technically we're still in the barn. And the Dazzlings are rather confused."

And indeed they were it was only due to the Queen using her substantial capacity for multitasking to explain the situation to them, that they weren't trying to wake the others, instead choosing to keep themselves busy thinking about how to write lyrics that better fit their new style of music and occasionally chatting with Twilight.

Within the linkscape the seven girls were exploring the tower and gazing at the city below.

"My dear, this city is most impressive." Rarity was enamoured by the technopolis below. "But say, darling, this is a changeling hive?"

"Yes."

"Ruled by a Queen?"

"Yes ..."

"So ...  shouldn't there be a palace somewhere?"

Finally Queen Twilight understood and smiled. "There is. It's just a bit hard to see from here. The tower was built atop it. Here, I'll show you."

Once more the scene shifted and the girls found themselves in a large hall, one side of which was left without a wall. The floor and walls, made from black stone, were decorated with various patterns of stylized blueprints and designs. None of them actually meant anything, but the girls were too busy gazing around the hall to realize that.

Twilight turned to her counterpart. "Is this what you meant by 'a way to meet your children'?"

"It is. Just hold on a second." She took a moment to ping Aegis, meanwhile still keeping up conversation with her friends in the linkscape and the Dazzlings outside of it. Aegis only took a few seconds to answer her.

<Hi Momma, what's up?>

The queen couldn't help but smile, both in the linkscape and in her real body. The eldest among my children have always been the most casual around me. <Do you have a few minutes? I have a few people in a linkscape you might like to see again.>

Aegis was confused. <Huh, who?>

<I think it'll be easier to just show you. Let me know when you're ready.> It only took Aegis a few seconds to reach the mess hall of the Phoenix and find a seat overlooking the panorama of Canterlot visible through the window. Once she was safely seated, she gave her mother a quick ping and found herself in the meeting hall of Stripped Gear a second later. What she saw, if anything, only managed to confuse her further.

"Wha- Hu- How?!"

"Let's just say magic beyond the mirror is really weird." Aegis spun around to see her mother standing beside her. Once more her confusion only increased as she looked from the Queen standing beside her to the human standing before her, taking in the uncanny resemblance between them.

"I did mention that many ponies I knew from Ponyville had counterparts over in that world, didn't I? Yeah, she seems to be mine."

"Huh, strange, I would have thought I'd notice seven adults entering into the link."

"Well, that's easy to explain. They're not part of the link, I've only connected them to myself and among each other."

At that point the other six noticed the conversation going on, they were initially taken aback by the drone standing beside her queen, but soon Sunset noticed her very familiar hairstyle. "Hold on. Aegis?"

At the drone's nod, all six of them went to tackle hug her. Being in a linkscape, their will to reach Aegis alone was enough to catapult them towards her at speeds that wouldn't be normally possible and stop next to her so suddenly that, had they been in the real world, the whiplash would likely have killed them. In the linkscape, all it caused was short-lived confusion. They soon chose to ignore the quirks of the metaphysical realm in favor of chatting with their old friend.

Both Twilights meanwhile had a deep conversation about its implications which the Queen used as a convenient jump off point for the reason she had brought them into the linkscape in the first place. As the conversation around Aegis wound down, she cleared her throat, more to get their attention than out of any physical need to do so.

"Let me explain why I brought you here. I would like to test to what degree you can manipulate the mindscape."

"May I ask why, darling."

"To better judge your position in the link. Drones only have very limited control in a linkscape while queens can do pretty much whatever they want."

Rainbow seemed intrigued. "So you want to see what we can do here, hmm?" The Queen nodded. "Okay, how do we do that?"

"Well first let's establish whether you have the level of drones, try to create something, from memory or imagination, and manifest it in the linkscape."

Without training, the seven took a few tries but soon they all managed to summon an object into the linkscape. An apple for Applejack, a plain but stylish pearl necklace for Rarity, a book for Twilight, a plushie of her pet Angel for Fluttershy, a football for Rainbow, a handheld gaming console for Sunset and a weird, logic defying amalgamation of a balloon and a cupcake that was apparently somehow edible for Pinkie. Somehow no one questioned Pinkie’s ability to create such a thing outside the linkscape.

"Allright, so you can reach the level of the common drone, now some drones, with a bit of practice can change how they appear in the linkscape. Allow me to demonstrate."  A moment later a human, looking almost exactly like Twilight, stood in her place, only her hair was untied and fell behind her unhindered.

This time it only took the others a few seconds, Twilight mimicked her counterpart by turning into a version of her natural form only keeping her hair tied up. Both of them looked at each other and the Queen simply swapped their positions, then they both turned towards Aegis and giggled at her confused expression.

The other six quickly assumed their ponied-up shapes with Sunset assuming the form she had taken in her battle against Twilight. Even in this metaphysical realm the power she radiated was almost tangible.

"Okay, well, definitely above drone level. Even drones with a talent for these things take at least a little practice to do that. Now this last part will be the most interesting, but first try leaving this mindscape."

Again it took a moment, but soon the seven disappeared one by one. Aegis waved her mother goodbye and vanished as well. Finally, Queen Twilight left the linkscape, the simulated reality quickly collapsing behind her.
> Imaginary Worlds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Queen Twilight watched as all seven of her friends stirred and returned to reality one by one. Within a few seconds they were all awake and chatting amongst each other like before, discussing their experiences in the linkscape. After only a few moments Sunset turned to the queen, who was once again lying on the blanket and calmly smiling.

"So, what's this final test you have in mind?"

That got everyone's attention again and soon everyone was looking to the queen expecting an answer. She was all too happy to provide one.

"As the final test, I want all of you to try and create a linkscape of your own. If you manage to create one, I'll know and come visit you there."

The seven were slightly taken aback by the apparent jump in the challenge of their tests, but nonetheless focused. Soon enough the queen felt the formation of a linkscape. She quickly jumped in to it to see what it was.





As the world materialized around her, Queen Twilight found herself in a nearly perfect recreation of Princess Celestia's throne room. And standing in the middle of the room on the carpet, was Sunset Shimmer, in her pony form.

"Good job Sunset, I guess you have that much control after all."

Sunset turned to look at her with a wistful smile. "Does it still look like this?"

The queen was confused for a moment, then she understood. "This is how it looked before you left, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"Well, it's pretty much the same, really, a few more stained glass windows, but that aside, pretty similar. A bit empty, but mindscapes tend to be rather devoid of life. Well, save for the info hubs but that's a special case."

"Info hubs?"

"Mindscapes used to share information among drones. A side effect of intelligent drones is that, with them acting on their own, the Queens don't need to micromanage every detail. So the drones need a way to share information on a larger scale."

"I see. You know, it's quite interesting to learn how your hivemind works."

The queen suddenly turned her head to the side, as if she heard something.

"What's the matter?"

"It seems another one of the girls managed to form a linkscape. I better go see who it is."

"You do that, have fun."

With a smile and a nod the queen closed her eyes and vanished from sight.





Once she reopened her eyes, she found herself standing on something that reminded her of pink snow. Looking around she saw giant, red pillars with flames at their tops, and strange curved hills of a deep blue all around her. Using her control of the mindscape she phased upwards. From her new vantage point she realized that the pink snow had in fact been the frosting of a giant cake. Suddenly it became very clear to her who formed this mindscape.

"Pinkie?"

"Yes?"

The queen recoiled as the confectionary connoisseur was suddenly floating at her side. The fact that such a thing was normal in a mindscape, didn't serve to make Pinkie's sudden appearance any less surprising.

"Why am I not surprised that your mindscape is a giant cake?"

"Because I like cakes, duh."

"Pinkie, that was a rhetorical – nevermind. It seems you have everything under control here."

"Yup. Want some?"

"Oh why not, it looks like none of the other five managed to form a mindscape yet."

"Five?"

"Yeah, I just came from Sunset's."

"Cool. Well, dig in."

With that, both of them phased back down to the gigantic confection and began eating.





Supremely enjoying her multitasking ability and utilizing it to manifest in two linkscapes at the same time, Queen Twilight appeared in what could be described as a stormy sky. There was no ground in sight and strong winds, rain, hail and lightning were coming from all directions. A few hundred meters before her, a rainbow blur was racing through the storm, dodging all obstacles with ease.

With a sly smile the queen made use of the linkscape's properties to rapidly accelerate and catch up to her friend without much effort. Close up she saw that Rainbow had once more assumed her 'ponied-up' form and was having her fun flying through the stormy sky.

"Hi Dash."

Rainbow would have nearly fallen to the ground, had there been any, as it was, she simply fell about fifty meters before catching herself and flying back up to the snickering queen.

"Not. A word. To anyone."

"Don't worry Dash, it's no big deal. I just happen to be good at sneaking up on people, especially in a mindscape. Having fun?"

"Yeah, flying is awesome. And being able to create a challenge for myself makes it even better."

"Oh you want a challenge? That I can give you."

As they were floating in midair, the changeling swept her hoof across the infinite skies before them and quickly replaced them with a recreation of the Cresnox Jungle. A bright blue sky above and large clouds all around them.

"How's this supposed to be a challenge again?"

"Oh, maybe you want to ask the fire hornets that."

"Who?"

The queen simply pointed behind them at a swarm of giant burning insects that was fast approaching. "Them."

"Oh. It. Is. On. Come hornets, catch me if you can!"

The queen watched for a few more moments. Rainbow was faster than the hornets. But they had the numerical advantage by far. With a sly smile she conjured more swarms all around them so her prismatic friend would have her fun. Then she sensed another mindscape forming and quickly disappeared.





She immediately reformed and found herself in a room that she found to look very comfortable. Despite being a bit tight for a changeling queen – it was clearly designed for a human – it fit her tastes very well. The room seemed to be a laboratory of sorts, with various pieces of equipment and electronics the queen couldn't really place and others of which she would have sworn she knew magical equivalents back at the hive. In a chair next to a relatively clear workspace sat her counterpart, staring at the wall opposite her with the face of someone in deep thought. Looking to the wall, the queen found a board with various pictures, notes and what appeared to be readouts from various measuring instruments, attached to the board with numerous pins which where in turn connected by strings of red yarn into a complex web of connections. Interestingly, all of them seemed to be connected to CHS in some way.

As she calmly walked up to the girl in the comfortable chair, her counterpart turned and gave her a somewhat sad smile. "This is where it all started." With a questioning, yet calm, glance the queen prompted her to continue. "About half a year ago. I was here, working late on a research project when my instruments picked up a spike in electromagnetic emissions. For months I didn't pick up another spike of that magnitude. Only smaller emissions. But I was able to find out that most of them were coming from CHS. I aligned my instruments towards the school and I got better readings. And then, two months ago, almost to the day, I picked up another spike. I even managed to create a portable device to track and contain the energies, and still, when the Games came around, I had no idea what I was getting into. I suppose expecting magic of all things might be a bit much to ask."

"I'd think so."

Twilight gave her royal counterpart a pained smile. "Still, it's no excuse for what I did."

The queen closed her eyes for a moment and a wave of changes came over her. After only a second, she had once more taken human shape. Beyond that she had manifested in another linkscape she had felt come into being, she knew she was still busy here, but she was a changeling queen. She could be in two places at once. At the same time, Twilight's chair widened into a comfortable couch and the queen calmly sat down next to her and held her gaze. "You didn't do anything Twilight, I wasn't there when it happened to you, but I was there when the same thing happened to Sunset, even she didn't do what she did because she wanted to. Once the magic overcame her she completely lost control over her own actions. I can only assume it was the same for you."

As the queen put a gentle arm around her shoulders, Twilight seemed to relax just a little. "It was scary, you know? The moment I touched that magic and it started pulling me in, I was terrified. And there was nothing I could do."

"I know, Sunset felt the same thing. The fear I felt from her in that moment still sometimes gives me nightmares. Dreams in which I couldn't save her, or couldn't protect my friends from what she became. And it's been a long time for me since then. You see, our worlds have a temporal differential. It fluctuates to a degree, but the one constant seems to be that time runs faster in Equestria. It may have been half a year over here, but for me it's been five years since then. And to this day it still sometimes haunts me. I don't know how it is for her or how it will be for you. But I think you should talk to her about it." Finished with her business in the other mindscape, the queen was about to switch back to focusing solely on Twilight, but another linkscape formed and kept her from it.

Twilight had at this point once again taken a comfortable position next to her counterpart. Even in her human form she was exceptionally comfortable. "I think I will, thank you."

The queen gave a light chuckle. "Hey, you're my dimensional counterpart, you're practically family. And family should be there for one another." Twilight couldn't help but notice the touch of bitterness that crept into her voice at those last words.

"Your family didn't take your rebirth to well?" It was a shot in the dark, but with everything she had learned today, Twilight was fairly certain she had a decent read on her counterpart.

"Well, no. Most of them got over it though. But mom ... Well since she doesn't love me any longer, I really feel I shouldn't call Velvet my mother any longer."

Twilight was incredulous. "What? Come on, Mom would never do that! I'm sure she still loves you."

"I wish that was true, but she doesn't. She only loves her idealized, imagined version of me. She thinks I'm some kind of demon that possessed her real daughter. She utterly hates me. And trust me, for an empath, losing a mother's love ... and have it replaced by that ... It's extremely painful."

"Oh wow. How could that happen? Why would she do such a thing?" Twilight, in her concern enclosed the queen in a caring hug. She was honestly terrified at the idea of her mother doing such a thing. In any reality. And from how vague the queen had been thus far, she concluded that she didn't even know half of what the other world's Twilight Velvet had truly done.

Queen Twilight gladly reciprocated the hug and the two held each other for a moment. As she made to answer, she saw, with her real body, that there were tears running down Twilight's cheeks in the real world. "I can only guess, maybe she was around the wrong kind of ponies for too long, when people tell you something for long enough, you'll start to believe it at some point, regardless of how crazy it may be."

At this point she excused herself from Pinkie and the giant cake and manifested in yet another linkscape, the final one by her count.

The two Twilights held onto each other for a while longer, sharing in their mutual comfort.





Meanwhile, Queen Twilight found herself in what appeared to be a boutique of sorts. A smile came over her lips as she saw Rarity flitting about the place changing designs left and right with mere thoughts. As the fashionista turned and spotted her, she lifted a hoof to wave.

"Twilight darling, you wouldn't believe how wonderful this is. This makes creating and altering designs so much easier!"

The queen smiled as Rarity closed her into a grateful hug. "I guess it would, wouldn't it?"

"It most certainly does. I can even have models for any kind of style without any trouble at all." Almost as if to prove her point she conjured a recreation of Rainbow Dash in a fashionable yet sporty dress that fit her marvelously. "I guess you know how hard it can be to get her to hold still for any period of time."

"Yeah, I guess that is a constant between worlds. I'll leave you to your fun."

"Thank you, dear. Do let me know when you have need of me."

"I will, thanks."

Just as she was about to leave to focus on her conversation with her counterpart, Queen Twilight felt another mindscape forming and jumped to that one instead. Guess I'll have to split my attention a little while longer.





When she manifested, what she found was thoroughly strange. It seemed to be a room with strange, curved walls, or rather a single, circular wall running all around the room, almost like a salad bowl. The floor and ceiling were completely smooth however. Stranger still was the fact that the walls, floor and ceiling seemed to have the same color and surface texture, a homogenous, slightly glistening, pale yellow. Around a thick column in the center of the room ran a spiral staircase to a second floor.

The room seemed to be living room, dining hall, kitchen and entrance hall in one. Out of the windows she saw a beautiful, sunny day and a clear blue sky. The structure she was in, whatever it was, seemed to be situated on a small hill, gentle slopes leading downward in all directions into a forest of some kind. No, she realized, not a forest, but a sheer endless orchard of fruit trees. Suddenly it became very clear whose linkscape this was. Phasing out of the house, she found her suspicions confirmed as the 'house' was, in truth, a gigantic, hollowed out apple.

Phasing back inside she walked up the spiral staircase around the column which she now realized to be the apple's core. On the top floor she found a smaller room, cylindrical with outcroppings on either side, leading to the edge of the giant fruit where two more windows were situated. In the cylindrical parts of the walls, there was a total of four doors of well crafted, and beautifully painted wood.

One of them stood open.

Moving inside she found Applejack lying on the bed, her eyes closed, a picture of utter relaxation. Almost too sweet to interrupt.

Almost.

"And here I thought Pinkie's linkscape would be the strangest one."

Applejack sat up so quickly that she likely would have torn something, had they been in the real world. In fact, the queen cracked open an eye on her real body, just to make sure Applejack was still sitting calmly on her cushion. Unaffected by biological constraints, Applejack looked at the queen, utterly mortified. Her cheeks had taken on an unnaturally dark  shade of red, one more side effect of being in a metaphysical reality.

"Twilight! What're you doin' here?"

The queen gave her a confused glance. "I told you I'd come by and check up on your progress, didn't I?"

"Huh. Guess ya did. Well alright, fair enough. Wait, this is stranger than Pinkie's?"

The queen grew a sly grin. "Well, at least her giant cake didn't have a house in it."

"A giant cake, huh? Ah swear, Ah've never seen no one so predictable and so unpredictable at the same time."

"Pinkie truly is a walking paradox, isn't she? In any reality."

"Sure is."

"Well, it seems like everyone managed to make a linkscape at this point safe for-" She cut herself off as she felt another linkscape forming. "Fluttershy. Nevermind. Well, I'll leave you to your fruit-house daydreams. Have fun."

Before Applejack could do more than give an indignant pout, The queen had vanished into thin air once more."





Fluttershy's linkscape seemed to be the most mundane one yet. Nothing more than a room with nondescript white walls and ceiling, lit despite a notable absence of any light sources, but with a soft, carpeted floor and filled with cushions of all shapes and sizes, numerous small, and not so small, animals and, of course, Fluttershy herself.

The girl was lying in a veritable nest of cushions, surrounded by a number of small animals. Suddenly the queen understood why it had taken Fluttershy so long to form a linkscape, getting any simulated lifeform to behave in an even remotely realistic manner was notoriously difficult in a linkscape, even for a queen with a lot of experience.

"Well, you sure seem comfortable."

"Oh, Twilight, welcome. Do you like my little nest?"

The queen watched in amusement as one of the simulated birds landed on the tip of her horn. "It has its charms."

She calmly trotted over to Fluttershy, quickly realigning some of the cushions into a second nest, large enough for her. As she laid down next to the animal lover, her conversation with this world's Twilight had turned towards her mother. With the new insight into the queen's emotions, the hivemind granted her, Fluttershy picked up on the queen's worsening mood quickly.

"Twilight? Is something the matter?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I'll explain it to all of you, but I'd rather only do it once. Everyone has managed to form a linkscape now, so we can go back to the waking world and discuss it there."

Fluttershy gave her a concerned smile. "Allright, I guess I can recreate this linkscape whenever I want to, right?"

The queen smiled at seeing her pick up on the concept so fast. "That you can. So long as you remember it, you can reform it at any time."

Fluttershy gave her a final smile and vanished. The queen did the same only a moment later.





Back in Twilight's linkscape, the queen now had her full focus on her human manifestation, still in a mutually comforting hug with her dimensional counterpart. As she lifted her head from Twilight's shoulder, where it had rested for the last minute, she spoke up. "Well, it's probably time I explained why I took so long to come here. Come on, let's return to our normal bodies. I think this is enough linkwalking for the moment."

Twilight nodded silently and a moment later both of them had vanished and the room disappeared.
> Sins of the Mother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

<So, do you wanna explain it to her, or shall I?>

<Hey, she's your dimensional counterpart, not mine.>

<Fair enough.>

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.
> Epilogue - Scars of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset had just finished dinner when she felt a ping. It was the first time she had received one without prior warning and the sensation was still rather weird to her. It only took her a split second to find out whom it was from.

<Hey Twilight, you sure are taking this whole Hivemind deal in stride.>

<Well, I've always been a fan of Science Fiction. And Hiveminds are a concept that genre likes to explore. How're you doing?>

<Fairly well I'd say. Still getting used to the whole psychic powers idea but other than that I can't complain. I'm having dinner right now.>

<Well you have to admit, being able to talk like this without having to hold onto a phone is pretty cool.>

<I guess it is. Anyway what's up?>

There was a short moment of silence as Twilight hesitated with her answer.

<Well, I'm still trying to get over the whole 'I nearly destroyed two realities' thing. Queen Twilight – man that sounds weird – Anyways she suggested you could help.>

Sunset took a moment to realize what she meant. When she did, she sent a message to the Queen immediately. <I think I just found out what you meant when you said my perspective would come in handy.>

<Told you, you would.> Sunset could almost see the queen's smug grin.

Rolling her eyes Sunset went back to her prior conversation.

<Maybe this is better discussed in private. I'm almost done doing the dishes, do you want to craft a linkscape or should I?>

<I'll take care of it. I'll tell you when it's ready.>

<Alright.> Sunset finished drying her dishes and put them away, before heading to her bedroom and lying down on her bed.

After only a few more seconds she once more heard Twilight's voice in her mind. <Ready.>

Nodding to herself, Sunset focused her mind and closed her eyes looking upon the little hivemind she was part of. It only took her a second to find the linkscape Twilight had created and dive into it.





She materialized in what was clearly another bedroom, the general purple theme gave her a good idea whose bedroom it was. Twilight was standing next to the large bed in the center of the room, looking through the circular window behind it into the late evening sky.

Looking around, Sunset saw a desk with a rather impressive computer setup, an aquarium that didn't seem to have any fish in it for some reason and a trophy shelf above it that held first prize trophies from various academic contests as well as one of the winners medals from the previous day’s Friendship Games.

Opposite the desk stood a closet next to an ornate mirror while a few other furnishings were spread around the room, most of them bookshelves.

At her entrance Twilight turned around and smiled softly. "Thanks for coming."

Sunset smiled back. "Sure thing, Twi. I know this time was pretty hard for me, I'll gladly do what I can to make it easier on you."

"I'm still trying to get over what I nearly did, what I would have done if you hadn't stopped me." She sat down on the bed, idly tracing her hand trough the air before her like a painter would a brush. A slightly smaller than life version of her demonic form appeared in midair before her and she looked upon it closely."

Sunset looked upon it. "Wow, that's pretty accurate, didn't think you got that close a look at yourself while you were transformed."

Twilight looked over to her. "I didn't, I just recreated what I remembered, the link filled in the rest, I think it draws upon the memories of all those in it. You probably got a much better look at me. Thinking about it, that's probably how you could take your empowered form while we were in the queen's linkscape."

"Huh, I guess so. I hadn't even thought about that. But anyway, I get how you're feeling. When the same thing happened to me I tried to kill the others. Not my proudest moment." She gave the girl beside her a crooked smile. "At least you didn't try to do that on purpose."

"Well, that's only part of it. Yesterday evening, before I went to bed, I found something." With a wave of her hand the demonic image before her vanished and she got up. She walked halfway to the dek before stopping, her back turned towards the desk. "This was what I found."

With a snap of her fingers, her shirt vanished and Sunset had unrestricted view upon her back. There, sitting on her shoulder blades, were two obvious, slightly red scars.

Looking upon them, Sunset fell very quiet for a moment. When finally she did speak, her voice was quiet and monotone. "Your wings. I should have expected that."

Twilight was about to turn around and ask why that was, when a furious blush erupted on her cheeks. Snapping her fingers again she put her shirt back in place, before turning around, still blushing.

Sunset barely managed to suppress her laughter. Once she had calmed down. And once Twilight had stopped pouting she put her serious expression back in place, though the serious atmosphere was thoroughly gone. "'Why?' you ask? Simple, Sunset stood up and took few steps away. With a sad smile she snapped her fingers and, like Twilight's before, her shirt vanished. "Because I have them too. Guess we're even more similar than we thought, huh?"

With another snap of her fingers she put her shirt back in place before phasing back to the bed and placing a hand on Twilight's back. Twilight flinched, still unused to others being able to simply teleport in the metaphysical realm, but visibly relaxed in Sunset's calming presence.

"Twilight, we may have once been demons, we may have once been lonely. But that's behind us. We've moved past that. There may have been some dark times in our pasts, but in the end, we'll be stronger for it."

A wave of fire golden fire washed over Sunset, and when it passed, she had once more assumed her angelic shape from the Friendship Games. The warmth and calmth that radiated off her was infectious and Twilight found herself relaxing.

For a while the two of them lay on their respective beds, half a city apart, yet immersed in the linkscape. And the morning after, remembering the evening, neither one of them could tell for sure where the linkscape ended and their dreams began.