Celestia rolls her eyes. “Still the same cold, unloving snake, Mother. Still the same cold–hearted snake, bI /bbsee/bb. /bBut that’s fine. You’re my mother whether you like it or not. Your ne proves it.”

    bShe /blifts the ne high again, triumphant.The Queen stares at Her for a second before stepping forward without hesitation, she takes the ne from Celestia’s outstretched hands.

    The moment it touches her skin-

    A violent spark shes.

    She jerks slightly, wincing but she doesn’t let go. Smoke curls from her fingers, the scent of burned flesh filling the air.

    Gasps erupt throughout the hall.

    “She’s… the Queen…” someone whispers.

    “Then how did it burn her too?”

    “It doesn’t make sense.”

    “She’s the rightful owner… why would it hurt her?”

    The Alpha Queen raises her hand, still smoldering, and lifts her head with the icy poise of a goddess.

    “Can you all see?” she says, her bvoice /bcalm, yet piercing. b“/bI just got burnt by my own ne. Does that mean I’m a fake Queen too?”

    Just like that, the entire hall falls into stunned silence, as if something sacred has just been broken. Some stumble back in disbelief, others lower their heads instinctively in submission, as if their bodies know better than their minds how to respond to her presence.

    “This ne you’re all so eager to believe in,” she says, her gaze cutting through the crowd like ice, “is not real. It’s an illusion. Forged from the darkest kind of ck magic… rare, forbidden, and powerful.”

    Her bvoice /bbis /bcalm butced with steel. Not a tremble in it. Just certainty. Authority.

    Lady Celestia’s face twists into something unhinged. bravado.

    can

    you prove that?” she demands, her voice cracking despite the

    The Alpha Queen cocks her head slowly to the side and looks at her like she’s a fly buzzing too close to her ear. “It’s my neb,/b” she says, lifting her scorched hand to disy the angry red mark. “And it just burned me. What more proof do you need? Or are you too dense to grasp simple logic?”

    A few people in the crowd stifleughter, some more openly sneer and Celestia’s mouth snaps shut like she’s been pped. Then, the Queen shifts her gaze to the Alpha King, who stands motionless, regal andposed. Her voice softens slightly as their eyes meet.

    Your de,” she says, “the most powerful in the kingdom, should be able to prove my im. My true ne cannot be destroyed. If this one breaksb…… /bit was never mine to begin with.‘

    The Alpha King says nothing nor ask questions. He simply descends the stairsb, /bhis long coat trailing behind him.

    The Queen lets the ne fall to the marble floor. Itnds with a soft clink–a delicate sound that carries a weight far greater than its size. bI /bcan feel the tension in the room coil tight, everyone holding their breath as if the world itself might bstop/b.

    The King unsheathes his sword–the same de that once pierced my heart–its surface shimmering with power. He raises it high, and with one clean, effortless strike-

    CRACK.

    The ne shatters like ss.

    A swirl of dark smoke spirals upward before vanishingpletely into thin air.

    Gone.

    The silence bis /bthunderous.

    b“/bbYou /bbsee/bb?/b” the Queen saysb, /bturning to bface /bthe stunned faces of the crowd. “It was an illusion. Crafted to fool your eyesb… /bbto /bmake you feel it was real… when it was nothing but a lie.”

    She doesn’t yell because doesn’t need to. Her words fall like stones in a stillke, sending ripples of doubt through everything we just thought we knew.

    And as I stand there, still reeling from the burn that has now faded from my skin, my bgaze /bflickers to Lady Celestia. Her face has gone pale, her mouth trembling. The triumphant fire in her eyes is gone–snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

    And I know this is far from over but at least now… the truth has started to burn through the lies. And I have my mother to thank for that.