EDIT: Added a new, better intro, complete with a new, more fitting song.

This chapter's idea was proposed by J-90, so, hope you like it, dude!

It's a fair bit shorter than I would like, but I honestly can't think of how to make it any longer without ruining the quality. Hopefully this is still good enough for you and everyone else.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

-Timeless Celestial

Queen Novo looked out the window of the throne room, seeing the vast sea stretching out before her sight. The sea that she and her people owned. The sky above was theirs, as well. She grit her teeth. Until the Storm King came along, her and her people were free.

For years the Hippogriffs and Seaponies were hunted, forced into the shadows. For years Queen Novo had to sit idly by as the other nations, her allies did nothing to help her.

And now, after four whole years, the Storm King's reign was over, his grasp on her people and her lands gone, just like that. And now the new regent of the Storm Kingdom expected her to forget the years of fear and pain.

Queen Novo's claws clenched the fabric of her throne's arms, squeezing hard, as if they were the hearts of her most hated enemies. 'Even the Sisters expect me to forget the past!' She sighed, took a deep breath, and looked back to the Skili messenger in front of her throne.

As said messenger continued to read the scroll in her claws, Queen Novo recalled the many times she'd seen her subjects leave the safety of Seaquestria, and never return. She recalled the times her daughter, Skystar, would beg to go out into the world to explore, and the times the girl would run and lock herself in her room when she refused. The memory of Mount Aris burning, the hellish gleam of the flames lighting up the dim night sky, all of it was still fresh in her mind.

Queen Novo glared at the messenger, as if trying to burn them alive with just her gaze. A nudge to her shoulder brought her out of her hateful thoughts however, and she looked to her daughter, who was seated at the throne next to her. Skystar gave her mother a pleading gaze, eyes large and watery. Queen Novo grit her teeth again, but after staring into her daughters arctic eyes, she ever so slowly calmed.

Novo looked back to the messenger and waited for them to finish the now 68th proposal of friendship. "Tell your Queen I will...consider, the idea."

Silence filled the room at her words, the Hippgriff guards staring at their ruler with wide eyes. The Skili simply bowed deeply, her strange, golden mask covering her features. Queen Novo idly wondered if she was smiling, like she'd seen the Storm Queen do so very often.

"I will relay your message, Your Majesty," the messenger said, before standing up straight.

Queen Novo nodded, then waved them off. "Then go already, and make it snappy."

The Skili nodded, and exited the room soon thereafter. Skystar placed a claw on her mother's own, squeezing it affectionately.

"You made the right decision, Mom," she said softly.

Novo simply looked away and back out of the window. "...We'll see about that," was all she said.

Later that night, Queen Novo was on her balcony, watching the nightlife below unfold. The air was filled with the chirps of insects and a few frogs over by the Harmonizing Heights, but they were of little concern to the monarch. Instead, her focus was on that of her subjects, some of whom were stumbling in their gaits, likely on their way home after having too much to drink at one of the taverns. Some were soldiers, patrolling the streets for any criminal or illegal activity. Some were in pairs, walking down the streets whilst staring into each other's eyes, warmth obvious in their gazes.

Queen Novo felt a sharp pang of cold in her heart at that. Her frown was deep, and full of sorrowful weight that she couldn't hold back. And as one tear escaped her eyes unbidden, soon more tears did join. She tried to stifle her sobs, to hold back the pain, but the more she tried, the more the pain pushed back, until she slumped over on the rails of her balcony, sobbing.

Luna's moon was of little comfort to Novo as she sobbed into the night, venting her sorrows and pain to the world, despite knowing she would receive little to comfort her.

All she had left was her daughter.

She hadn't told Skystar even once what had happened. How could she? Skystar was young, and innocent. The young Hippogriff did not need that sort of pain on her shoulders. Each time the young princess asked, Novo would change the subject.

When her tears finally started to dry up, she wiped at her eyes with the back of her foreleg to further dry them. Soon after, she pulled herself off the railing and looked to the solitary statue in the town square, just a few hundred feet below her balcony. The heroic pose, majestic wings and crown all served only to give her another lance of cold pain to the heart. Despite being so far from it, she could easily recall the words on it's plaque.

"Here lies the late King Terminus, who fought valiantly against the Storm King and his tyranny. May his sacrifice never be forgotten, remembered always by our people, and may he rest forever in peace."

Queen Novo grit her teeth as she recalled the words so easily. She recalled the siege once more. The roar of the fires, the screams of the innocent, and the one who stood with and for his people against the tyrant. With pain in her heart and tears brimming once more in her eyes, she looked to the starry sky above and uttered...

"...I won't forget, dear. I'll keep our promise..." With that, she strode off the balcony and back into her room, the balcony doors closing with a silent finality.