Principal Celestia washed the shampoo out of her hair as she stood under a warm shower, thoroughly cleaning the bubbles out of her hair, at the same time, using the warmth to wash her worries away. She had seen the news on TV a few days ago, about how Canterlot High’s gym had been damaged in some gas leak.
Celestia knew it wasn’t just some gas leak.
Worry had clouded her mind all night, keeping her from falling asleep, but the shower had managed to calm her down a little. Whatever had happened, she held on to the hope that her staff had kept the students safe.
She knew her doppelganger would’ve had some part in whatever happened. She had waited day and night for her to come visit and say something, but she had been missing for the last few days. Thankfully, there had been a few leftovers for Celestia to sustain herself with.
At some point, as the water from the showerhead fell down around her, Celestia thought she heard the door outside slam shut. Blinking water out of her eyes, Celestia looked to the bathroom door and tried to hear what was going on outside, wondering if she had heard the door or not.
Drying herself and getting dressed quickly, Celestia opened the bathroom door and peeked out into the dining room. At last, her other self was seated at the table, her head on the surface and collapsed in the very picture of defeat.
Celestia edged out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around her head to dry it.
“Hey…” Celestia ventured, tiptoeing into the dining area. “Where have you been? Are you okay?”
“No,” was all the other Celestia said, keeping her head down.
“What happened?” Celestia sat across from her. “I heard about the gas leak on the news. Is-Is everyone safe?”
“Huh? Oh, I don’t know,” Celestia’s double mumbled. “Probably. I think.”
“What? What’s wrong? You’re upset. I don’t need to eat your emotions to know that.”
“It’s all over,” the other Celestia moaned into the table, shaking her fist at nothing in particular. “It’s over, and I was so, so close.”
“Are you going to elaborate on what happened? I mean, I’d like to help, if I can, that is.”
The other Celestia raised her head a smidgen.
“I could feel the queen there, at the dance… sense her, smell her. And then that thrice damned Pierce Network summoned some kind of avatar of hatred to scare her away. Ended up wrecking the gym too… ugh…”
“He-he what? Summoned an… avatar of h-hatred?” Celestia reeled back for a second. “I… I don’t even know what to think now. What do you mean by avatar of hatred? Some kind of monster?”
“I don’t know. It looked human enough, but gave off such a strong aura of hate…” the other Celestia shivered. “Of course the queen would make a run for it. It’s in our blood to avoid hate.”
“I’m… I’m not sure we humans can conjure up such creatures…” Celestia looked at her doppelganger. “Are you sure it’s his fault?”
“Who else’s fault could it be?” the other Celestia demanded. “He’s the only suspect who would even think to disturb the dance and drive the queen away…”
“I don’t know… But what about my sister and the students? Was anyone hurt?”
“Don’t think so. Everyone made a run for it when the fighting started. It’s over, Celestia. My life is over…”
Celestia watched her double collapse on the table again, her face completely pressed against the wooden surface.
The principal hesitantly reached over and patted the other Celestia on the shoulder. “There’s still a chance, I’m sure. You attracted her to you once, you can do it again.”
Celestia’s double looked up at her with damp eyes. “It’s too late, Celestia. My evolution is almost upon me… I don’t have time to try again.”
“No, no, you know she’s out there now. There’s still hope. Don’t give up yet. Pierce. You can get him to… to scan the area or something. Now you know she’s in one of the cities you advertised.”
“It’s too late,” Celestia’s doppelganger groaned. “I can feel it; I have only days left now. Not enough time to come up with and enact another plan. I’m doomed, I tell you.”
“Days are all you need.” Celestia knocked a hand on the table to get her attention. “The longer you spend wailing here, the less time you’ll have. Get Pierce on the line. I’ll speak to him if I have to, but you’re not giving up now.”
“I’ll not have another word to that odious man. He’s responsible for my predicament in the first place!”
“I doubt it’s his fault. I mean really, summoning a hate avatar? He’s a hacker, not a summoner. Call him. He can help you.”
“The only time when I would want to see him again is to kill him,” the other Celestia snarled. “He’s had it coming for a long time… and as for you, I don’t see any point in impersonating you any longer.”
“What are you going to do?” Celestia asked, taking an instinctive step back.
“Now it comes time to make ensure that all that I’ve told you remains a secret.” The other Celestia stood up and walked into the kitchen, coming back with a syringe filled with a swirling blue-black liquid. “This amnesiac will blur your memories of the past three weeks or so… I’ll leave you at your home and we’ll never meet again. How does that sound?”
Celestia was tempted. Sorely tempted by this offer. But then she thought back to her entire time trapped here. She had been treated fairly, without any malice. Did she really want to forget it all?
“I’ll forget it all, huh…?” Celestia looked at her double, her eyes still damp from crying. “But what if I don’t want to? I don’t want to forget about you. You’re a very unique person.”
“Well I can’t have you telling everyone about what happened here,” the other Celestia sighed. “Come on, I’ll make it quick.”
“I won’t tell anyone!” Celestia backed away from the needle.
“Your word isn’t going to cut it, Celestia. Come on, make this easy for yourself.”
“B-But I can do you a favor! That’s how you make friends, right? Favors?”
The other Celestia looked mildly amused.
“What can you do for me, Celestia. Can you bring me to my queen? Can you halt my evolution?”
“No…”
“Then you have nothing. Come on. I promise it won’t hurt.”
“What about the sirens?” Celestia raised her palms up. “I can help you with that.”
“Th-The sirens?” the other Celestia lowered the needle and tilted her head. “What do you know of the sirens?”
“They came to my school a few months back, before the winter break,” Celestia began her explanation. “They tried to take over, but a group of my students stopped them. I decided to keep tabs on them, just in case, so I happen to know where they are.”
“You… you knew this whole time…” The other Celestia looked confused, then angry, then puzzled and hurt. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Knowing you enough, I decided to hold on to that information, just in case I could have a moment to bargain with you, just like this.”
“Where are they?” Celestia’s doppelganger demanded. “I need to see them!”
“They bought a place in the city. A small apartment. They haven’t gotten any jobs, so I don’t know how they’ve been paying the bills.”
“They’re probably using their singing,” Celestia’s double exclaimed. “You know their address, right? Let’s go see them now!”
“So you won’t wipe my memory?” Celestia checked with her other self.
“If what you’re telling me is true, not only will I not wipe your memory, but I’ll let you go. No fuss, no muss. However, if what you’re telling me is false…” the other Celestia left the threat hanging in the air, unfinished.
“You know me, right? You’ve spied on me for weeks. I won’t lie to you.” Celestia lifted her leg with chain attached. “So will you get this off me? And what about your disguise? We can’t have two of me walking about.”
“That just means you’ll have to stay hidden. Get in the back of the car and lie down. Don’t try to run for it, because if you do, expect to feel a sharp and fatal pain between your shoulder blades.”
“Got it.” Celestia shook her chain. “So are you going to free me?”
The other Celestia reached into her pocket and withdrew a small silver key which she inserted into the shackle around Celestia’s leg. With a click, the chain fell away.
Celestia rubbed at her ankle, glad to finally be out of that cuff.
“Now come on, let’s go! What’s their address?”
Pierce watched from his home computer as Principal Celestia’s car stopped outside a row of buildings, just west of the city center, along a secluded line of apartments and small stores.
“Morning Blade, I have her last known position,” he said into his earpiece. “Tide Avenue, west of Canterlot City. She’s been stopped for more than ten minutes. Likely visiting a captive Principal Celestia. See what you can find. I don’t know what she’s planning to do now, but it can’t be good. I sent the location to your phone.”
“Right, right,” Morning replied. “I’ll check this place out. If Principal Celestia is there, I’ll get her home safe and sound.”
“Good,” Pierce nodded, then swapped comms. “Keila, we’ve got a hit on a possible location of Principal Celestia. Morning Blade’s on her way there as we speak. Hopefully this is the one. Mirror Match shouldn’t have known about the bug under her car, not this time at least. How are the traps on your end?”
Pierce had sent Keila to an old quarry, just outside the city. It had used to be an old mine many years ago, but has since been closed down after a fatal accident. From what he gathered, people rarely went there. Unless he had to use his more serious traps, they should be able to evade the authorities there.
“I’ve found a few good spots to hide some of them,” Keila reported. “I’ll show you later. I’ve marked them all down on a drawn map. As for the explosives, are we really using these? They look really dangerous.”
“For Mirror Match’s case, it might not even kill her.” Pierce shook his head. He still remembered everything he had thrown at Mirror Match. At most, she was severely wounded, but he doubted that. The explosives back then hadn’t even slowed her and they had lost a good Assassin that day.
“Then looks like we have no choice. We’ll have to risk it. I’ll set them up.”
“Yeah, the more traps the better…” Pierce grunted. “No doubt she’s planning to kill me after what happened at the dance. Now she thinks it’s all my fault, but it doesn’t matter. I think she’s wanted to kill me from the start. I only helped her to buy time to plan out all this.”
“I’ll be around when that time comes, I hope. I want to be there to put a knife in Mirror Match’s heart.”
“Let’s hope so, Keila,” Pierce sighed, flipping his phone in his hand. “Whatever happens here, only one of us will be walking away from this. Us Assassins or Mirror Match.”
The car ride to the sirens’ residence was harrowing, to say the least. Lying down in the back of her car, Celestia prayed that her information was correct. As the vehicle sped along the dimly lit roads of Canterlot, Celestia relished in finally being able to see the sky.
A part of her wanted to throw the door open and make a run for it into the dark streets, but she had told her double that she wouldn’t. Normally, anyone would lie to get away from their kidnappers, but this one was different. Celestia couldn’t quite place it, but she still knew she saw good in her double.
“Make a left here,” Celestia instructed. “Then another left at the next road.”
The real principal ducked back down after speaking, looking out through a window at the sky above. It was a nice night. Not too cloudy, allowing her a glimpse of the stars. Her sister would’ve liked this night sky. Celestia hoped she was doing alright.
“Where to now?” The other Celestia signaled with the second left turn.
Principal Celestia ducked her head up and looked at her surroundings. “Straight ahead. You see that row of apartments? It’s the third block.”
“I see it.”
The apartments on the left weren’t exactly kept in good condition, but at the same time, they weren’t rundown apartments you could find in certain areas of Manehattan. The one the sirens were staying in was a tall grey building with white painted windows and ledges. From some of the windows, you could tell no one’s been cleaning them in a while.
The other Celestia stopped the car, buzzed down the window and stuck her head outside. She sniffed.
“I don’t smell anything…” Celestia’s double said slowly.
“Well, what were you expecting to smell?” Celestia asked, still lying prone in the back.
“Sirens are meant to smell like the ocean.”
“C-Come again?” The principal lifted an eyebrow.
“Is this some kind of joke, Celestia? Because I’m not laughing.”
“What? H-How do I know if they smell like the ocean? My senses aren’t as acute as yours!”
“Well I’m telling you now, the sirens smell like the ocean. And there’s no ocean smell here. This better not be a trick, Celestia…” she ended with a growl.
“No no, they’re here!” Celestia waved her hands frantically. “I’m sure of it! I’ve visited them here!”
The other Celestia looked at her skeptically before bringing the car to a halt and stepping out.
“The things I do for you, Celestia…”
The other Celestia marched up to the front door of the apartment, then promptly turned a hundred and eighty degrees and marched back to the car.
“Which floor did you say they lived on?”
Celestia poked her head up.
“The fifth. Honestly, it would be easier if I came with you, as I know exactly which door to knock on.”
The other Celestia bristled, then put a hand on her chest, breathing in and out to calm herself down.
“Fine. But no running, you hear me?”
“Yes, of course,” Celestia sighed.
Together, both Celestia’s made their way into the first floor of apartments. The real principal hung back behind the false one, hoping none of the tenants would exit their homes to see them. It would be hard explaining why there were two Principal Celestia’s.
Thankfully, no one had appeared around any of the floors as Celestia quietly followed behind her doppelganger. Never once did she turn around, but Celestia figured she could move quick enough if she attempted to escape.
The stairways were filthy, with trash, beer bottles and dark stains all over. Whoever owned the entire building was likely not doing their job.
Finally arriving at the fifth floor, Celestia lifted her pale hand and pointed to the door just around the bend of the staircase support. “That one. Five-o-two.”
The other Celestia raised one hand to knock, her right hand, the one which still had the blackened index finger with the talon attached. She hesitated. Could this be the gold at the end of the metaphorical rainbow? Could Celestia actually be telling the truth? She sniffed at the air. There was no ocean scent, but rather the faint signature smells of people stewing in discontent. And yet, there was no smell or taste of deceit from Celestia. She was telling the truth, or, at least she thought she was.
“Well, not as if I have anything to lose,” the false Celestia muttered, then brought her hand up and rapped three times on the door.
At first, there was nothing, but then she picked up the sound of scuffling feet on the other side of the door.
“Get the door, Aria,” someone’s muffled voice came. It sounded vaguely familiar.
“You get it. I’m not getting up just yet.” Another familiar voice came. Could it be?
“Well fine then! But it’s your turn next time!”
As the door swung open, the other Celestia was greeted by the sight of a yellow-skinned girl with puffy orange hair, a sight she knew very well.
“Principal Celestia?” she frowned. “I told you, I didn’t want to see you here ever again! We won’t go back!”
“Adagio…” the other Celestia breathed.
“Yeah, go away!” Adagio Dazzle balled her fists. “Don’t act like you care about us! If you did, you’d have let us take over, just like that. Why are you still standing there? Go on, get lost!”
“Adagio, it’s me,” the other Celestia whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
“I know it’s you, Celestia, and I said to go… away…” Adagio’s eyes traveled down to the other Celestia’s right hand, whose index finger still sported the black coloration and the long talon. Then to the real Principal Celestia, who was standing at the staircase. “Wait. You can’t be…” Adagio stepped back and shouted into the apartment, “Aria! Sonata! You need to come see this!”
“Really, do I have to?” Both Celestia’s heard the other siren groan from inside the room.
There were footsteps, followed by a bouncy Sonata Dusk as she stood by the doorway with her sister. She looked at both Celestia’s back and forth, her eyes almost as wide as an owl’s.
The false Celestia’s smile widened and her tears started falling.
“No way, there are two of you?” Sonata pointed at them.
Then she was swiftly picked up in a hug by the other Celestia, who was very clearly happy to see the blue haired siren.
“I-It’s really you, Sonata… It’s been so long… I-I’ve missed you all...”
“Umm… what’s going on, Dagi?” Sonata looked at the other siren. “Why are there two Celestia’s?”
“Sonata… it’s me. I finally found you girls again…” the false Celestia whispered.
“It’s you? What do you… mean…” Sonata’s face changed to one of confusion, then shock as she beheld the other Celestia’s index finger. “Psithyra…?”
“Yes… I’m so sorry.” The other Celestia’s voice wavered, sounding like two women speaking at once. “So very sorry for leaving all those years ago.”
Principal Celestia watched from the staircase at the teary reunion. She couldn’t help but smile at them. Her captor might’ve impersonated her and kept her away from her friends and sister, but Celestia was glad she finally found part of her family again.
“Is… Is she with you as well?” Celestia’s double looked at the sirens hopefully. “Is my sister here?”
“Chrysalis?” Adagio looked at the false Celestia. “No… She’s not. We split up not too long after you left, Psithyra. We don’t know where she is. I’m sorry.”
“Y-You don’t? But I left you in her care! What do you mean, you split up?”
Aria came to the door next, her normally cynical face melting into one of shock when she realized who was really at the door.
“Is it really you?” She hesitantly approached the door, hands coming up to her mouth.
“Yeah…” The false Celestia, or Psithyra, as the real Celestia had heard, reached out her hand and brought both Aria and Adagio into the hug. “I’ve missed you all so much… But what happened between you three and the queen?”
“It wasn’t the same without you,” Adagio said. “We parted ways two years after you left us.”
“I shouldn’t have left all those years ago… I was upset. I shouldn’t have let my feelings control me.” Psithyra leaned into the three girls. “Can you forgive me for my actions…?”
Adagio looked pensive. “Well, I-”
“Of course we forgive you!” Sonata gushed, squeezing the changeling close.
There were a few more minutes of hugging and sweet nothings, then Psithyra drew back, a look of puzzlement on her face.
“I almost didn’t come because I couldn’t smell you. Why don’t you smell like the ocean any more?”
Then Psithyra noticed something. The red gems that normally adorned their necks were nowhere to be seen. “What happened to your gems?”
All three sirens winced. “Yeah. About that…”
“Our gems kind of… broke. Now we can’t sing.”
Psithyra’s eye twitched, then she turned to Celestia menacingly. “I don’t suppose you know anything about this?”
Celestia looked at her captor, slightly defensively. “I do. They came to my school and hypnotized all of us, trying to take over, but a group of my students put a stop to it.”
“Why is it that when I lose one problem, I seem to gain two more?” Psithyra groaned, but quickly turned it into a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, you three. I’m going to make it all better, just you wait and see.”
“You’re not mad we decided to follow in your sister’s footsteps of world domination?” Adagio put her hands on her hips.
“We’re sorry, Thyra.” Sonata kicked a foot out, ashamed. “We should’ve stuck to what you’ve taught us and stayed away from the spotlight. There was just… magic.”
“Real magic,” Aria added. “We haven’t seen that since we left Equestria. So you know, we decided to try and get it.”
“I’m not disappointed that you tried to get the magic,” Psithyra said gently. “I’m disappointed you tried it without me. I could have come up with a plan for you. I’m- or I was, good at those.”
Celestia didn’t like what she heard, but there wasn’t really anything she could do about it.
“Sorry to interrupt this reunion, um, Psithyra.” Celestia coughed, getting her attention. “I’m glad you found your family again. But-”
“Did I say you could use my real name?” Psithyra snarled, the caught herself. “Sorry. What’s that?”
Celestia had taken a step back, but came back when her double calmed down. “I hope you know, like you said, laying low is a better tactic. You really don’t need to kill anymore. Times are different. People, especially the students in my school, don’t find things like magic and non-humans weird anymore. You don’t need to live with so much violence anymore.”
“Psithyra looked at the sirens, then at her hands. “But your students took their powers from them! They didn’t deserve that! Their immortality… it’s gone…they smell… normal now,” she finished with a growl.
“I’m sorry, Psithyra.” Celestia hesitantly walked forward. “But girls, it’s not right what you did.”
“No one asked you, Celestia!” Adagio yelled at her.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Psithyra cooed. “I’m here now, and I’m going to make it all better. Do you still have the gem fragments?”
“I’ve got mine,” Adagio said, holding up a small pouch. “I think the Rainbooms have Sonata’s and Aria’s.”
“Who?” Psithyra said before waving her hand dismissively. “Nevermind. I’ll get updated on things later. Right now, I have business to take care of.”
The changeling turned to Celestia.
“I misjudged you, Celestia. You truly are a woman of your word, and I’d be glad to count you among my friends. As promised, you are free to go, and so long as you keep the details behind your detainment a secret, I give you my word I won’t come back to haunt you.”
“May I tell my sister?” Celestia asked. She couldn’t hide things from Luna, not like that.
Psithyra considered it. “Mmmh, okay. But if word of this gets out, I will be back, you hear me? Just our secret.”
“I swear,” Celestia said, placing a hand over her heart. “It’ll be just our secret.”
“Then you may go now, Celestia,” Psithrya took out the car keys and handed them over. “And… thank you. You’ve done for me what few have done. I’ll… think about what you said. Maybe I can work it into my new persona.”
“Then I wish you all the best, Psithyra,” Celestia nodded. “I won’t forget you and who you are, good or bad.”
She waited until Celestia had departed, then turned back to the sirens.
“Girls, I think it’s fair to let you know, I’m not well either. All this time without the queen has taken its toll on me. Not to mention falling off a skyscraper.”
“You fell off a skyscraper?” Sonata goggled at Psithyra.
“I was pushed.”
“You-you’re not going to die, are you?” Sonata clung to the doppelganger. “You just found us again!”
“No, I’m not going to die… not while I still have you three. But I am evolving into a queen. In a few days, I suspect I’ll be a vastly different person. And I can’t stand that.”
“Man, we’re all kind of boned, aren’t we?” Aria said drily.
“You’re evolving?” Adagio demanded. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, I’m going to turn into a queen, like my sister. Our time apart has changed me, Adagio. I… I’m afraid. But don’t worry. I’ll watch over you three like a hawk. Now that we’re together again, I don’t matter anymore. It’s all about you.”
Sonata sniffled. “But I don’t want you to be the queen. The queen is a big meany-pants.”
“You’re lucky she’s not here to hear that, Sonata.” Aria flicked her sister’s blue ponytail. “For me, I dunno. I kinda prefer the queen. Maybe you’re changing for the better?”
“If I become the queen, who’s going to come up with all the plans?” Psithyra demanded. “You?”
Aria took a step back. “Geez, sorry. I was just trying to find a silver lining.”
“I’m sure we can figure something out, Psithyra.” Adagio rested her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “But for now, it’s good to see you again.”
“Yeah…” Psithyra smiled and pulled them all in for another group hug. “It is…”
The four of them embraced for a long while, until the sound of a phone ringing broke the atmosphere. Psithyra looked down and retrieved Celestia’s smartphone. She’d forgotten to give it back.
“Hello?” She answered, switching back to Celestia’s voice.
“Hello, Principal Celestia?” It was Pierce Network. “I might have some news on your queen. I was wondering if you want to meet up. I feel like you probably want to kill me after what happened at the dance. Now, I’m not the kind of man who just wants to die simply, so I went ahead and did some searching. I think I might have found some traces of something at an old quarry, just a little bit outside the city. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to track her any further than this. Maybe you’ll have a better nose at this. One thing, though. I want to know that this information gets me something out of it.”
“How in the world did you manage to get any reading on the queen when I haven’t?” Psithrya demanded. “You’re lying to me.”
“That’s because you never bothered looking,” Pierce answered. “I tracked the car by feature recognition technology. There are somethings you can do if you know how to hack your way into cameras. But I want to know that you’ll leave me alone after I help you find her again.”
“We’ll see just how good your information is before I make any decisions about your life,” Psithyra hissed.
“Fair enough. I’ll send you the address.” Then the line clicked off.
“Who was that?” Sonata asked as the changeling put the phone away.
“Someone who’s outlived his usefulness. He claims to have a lead on where the queen is, and if he does, I’ll have to meet him. However…” Psithyra reached into her jacket and pulled out a compact black pistol, screwing a suppressor onto the muzzle. “One way or another, I’m not going to let him walk. He ruined my first chances to meet the queen again, and for that he must pay.”
“Are you sure you’re strong enough?” Adagio asked, taking one of the changeling’s hands. “You look pretty worn out.”
“What, you don’t think I can gun down one annoying man in cold blood? Think a little more highly of me, Adagio.” She straightened up and checked the address the computer teacher had sent her.
“Fitting. One final mission for the queen before I ascend to the throne. You’re not getting away from this one, Pierce Network.”