Holiday's end
"So, you really think you can take me back with you?!?" Patch asked hopefully. "I can really go, and see Equestria?!?"
"I don't see why not!" Celeste replied, shaking her mane. "Simply return to your home and begin packing your things, and I shall send word to my courtiers to make arrangements with your government and parents. You shal visit us, under the guise of you traveling abroad as a foreign exchange student!"
"Yeah! Like Bright Eyes did at Tropical island!" Patch nodded. "And it is kinda the truth! "I am going to study another culture!"
The two were still sitting at the table, discussing the details of their upcoming departure, when Lunette came barreling through the door in a panic.
"Sister!" Celeste called out, as she and Patch stared at the filly desperately gasping for breath. "What on earth are you doing back from the hospital so early?"
"Pony hospital! Mutilated foals! republic conspiracy!" Lunette blurted out. "Sister, we have to get out of here, NOW!"
"Slow down, Lunette! We can't understand what you're saying!" Patch told her, as the two other fillies walked over to Lunette. "What do you mean a 'conspiracy'?"
"When I was at the hospital, I saw a Pegasus foal born!" Lunette told them, her eyes wild. "The doctors called for a 'code P', and they sheared the poor foal's wings off!"
"So that's how the republic eliminates unicorns and Pegasus!" Celeste's eyes went wide. "That was the missing piece of the puzzle!"
"What?!? Thant can't be right!" Patch snorted in disbelief, looking back and forth between the two sisters. "Melody's mother is involved in the medical industry! She would never-"
"Patch, let me see your back." Lunette trotted over, and began to examine along the lines of the filly's side.
"Wait, what are you-?" Patch started, looking back at where Celeste was staring.
"Here." The white filly noted, running her hoof along a small scar line running just below Patch's spine. The teenage filly saw it, then noticed a matching one on the other side of her back.
"The love of flying, the desire for adventure. Typical traits associated with Pegasus." Celeste shook her mane. "Why am I not surprised?"
"No... it can’t be true..." Patch backed up slowly, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't be a- NO!!"
The terrified filly galloped out the door, running down the road. Lunette started after her, but Celeste quickly blocked her way.
"Let her go, sister!" The white filly told her. "She'll be back, when she comes to accept the truth!"
"Thou- thou knew about this, didn't thou, sister?" Lunette realized, the truth suddenly dawning on her. "That's why you came here, to see if the stories and rumors were true!"
"One of the ambassadors I sent to the republic- a Pegasus- had a pregnant wife when they arrived in the capital." Celeste explained to her sister. "When they were returning home through Coltonville, she gave birth at the local hospital. The doctors told her and her husband that there had been a miscarriage, and they came home believing their daughter had died."
"Ambassador Needle and his wife, Thread. Yes, I doth remember them both." Lunette nodded. "But thou didst not believe it, didst thou?"
"No more than I believe you cannot talk in a modern dialect, and you only started talking like this again after the harmony bearers died." Lunette winced at that, as Celeste continued. "In the sixteen years since that incident, my intelligence agents discovered there was no record of the child's death and burial. I did uncover that there was an earth pony sent to the orphanage out of the hospital the very next week... one who fit the physical description of the ambassador and his wife."
"Only it was an earth pony, so you didn't make the connection." Lunette finished, staring off into space. "And given that the republic only produces earth ponies, you began to have your suspicions."
"After hearing enough rumors floating around, and my intelligence agents unable to gather any information, I decided to investigate." Celeste finished. "And our little vacation gave me the perfect cover!"
"Sister, why didst thou not simply tell me?" The blue filly asked, dumbfounded. "I could have offered aid on your endeavor, instead of constantly bickering with you!"
"Because, I wasn't just here to investigate my suspicions." Celeste trotted over to the window, and stared out into the town. "You were right sister, I was trying to relive my fillyhood. And I have enjoyed it far too much!"
"But why, sister?" Lunette asked, trotting over to the window. "We are the rulers of an entire nation! Why should thou wishest to act like a youthful hoodlum?"
"It started with Twilight Sparkle's death. My best and brightest pupil... and, in later years, a very dear friend. I've seen generations of ponies come and go, but her death made me face the concept of mortality~" She closed her eyes. "We are not goddesses, Luna... nor are we immortal. Our deaths will come eventually, wither it's tomorrow, or a thousand years from now!"
"And you wanted to cram as much living in, before something happens to us!" Luna whinnied sympathetically. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"I thought you would just think I was being foolish!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "A foolish old nag, trying to be a filly again!"
Luna trotted up to her sister, and wrapped her hooves around her in a big hug.
"I'm so sorry, Celestia. I never should have come down on you as hard as I have been!" She closed her eyes. "We may not see everything eye to eye, but we will always be sisters!"
The two pulled apart after several minutes, both smiling at each other. It was Lunette, who finally spoke up;
"So telleth me, sister!" The blue filly asked. "How do we get out of this barbaric land?"
...
"Mrs. Tyme!" Patch banged her hoof on the door to Melody's home. "Mrs. Tyme, please open up!"
"Just a minute! I'll be right there!" Melody's mother called out. Making some tea in the kitchen, she turned off the burner the tea kettle was on, and trotted to the door and opened it.
"Why, Patch! What are you doing here at this hour?" The mare asked, surprised. "I'm sorry, but Melody's not here right now!"
"Miss Tyme, do nurses and doctors cut the wings and horns off of young colts and fillies?" The terrified filly asked. "Please, tell me it isn't true!"
"WHAT?!? How did you kno-..." The mare's eyes went wide for a second, then she quickly regained her composure. "Of course not dear! Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that?"
But the look on the mare's face, tells Patch all she needs to know.
"....horsemaster, it's all true...." The filly stumbled backward, falling off the step as the truth sank in. "I-I've been mutilated... I-I don't belong here..."
"Patch, wait!" The nurse yelled after her, as the sobbing pony galloped away swiftly. "PATCH!"
"How could they do this to me?!?" She wept to herself, galloping away even faster. "How dare they do this to everybody!?!"
...
"As you know, Princess Rose will be visiting Coltonville during the dance tomorrow night!" Celeste told her sister. "This will give us the perfect opportunity to mix in with her entourage, and slip away!"
"Once we get back to Equestria, we can expose this twisted secret to the public, and begin putting pressure on the republic to change it's ways!" Lunette agreed. "But sister, if we were to be caught before our escape, our weakened magic would leave us at the mercy of republic scientists!"
"Put under microscopes... dissected and vivisected..." Celeste shuddered at the thought. "We need to make sure we get out of here, as soon as possible!"
"Whenever you girls are ready to go, I'm coming with you!" At that moment, patch opened the door, and came trotting back in. "And I'm never coming back here!"
"Patch, glad you came back, but..." Lunette looked at her with concern. "What about your friends, and your family?"
"Everything I've ever known here is a lie!" The filly snorted, trotting up the stairs to spend the night there. "I just want to get as far away from this stupid town as possible!"
After she had gone, Celeste simply shook her head. "She's very angry right now. I hope she does not make a mistake she will come to regret!"
"Verily sister, I doth agree with you." Lunette looked up the stairs. "Verily, I doth agree."
...
On the far side of town, five of the girls were meeting at their clubhouse. They were preparing for the dance tomorrow night, gossiping and talking of the good times to come.
"Well, girls, this is it!" Melody smiled, putting her makeup on. "Tomorrow night, we are so totally gonna shine!"
"Yep, the boys are gonna pick us up in their new cars, and everything!" Bon Bon giggled. "And my mum and dad even got me a new dress in my size!"
"I really wish Patch and Clover could've joined us tonight!" Starlight sighed. "I wanted to do some tuff with thier manes before tomorrow night!"
"Oh, don't worry so much, Starlight!" Bright Eyes rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you'll get your chance before the evening comes!"
"I really want to thank you for finding a date for me, Sweetheart!" Melody sighed. "Though I must say I was hoping to get a more romantic partner at the dance than a farmer!"
"Hey! Teddy's cousin Corny is a really nice guy!" Sweetheart snorted. "You should be glad to have a date half as nice as he is, Melody!"
"I'm just grateful that Slipknot asked me to the dance!" Starlight sighed. "It's really nice that such a good friend cares enough to ask me to the party!"
"Is that all he is?" Bright Eyes asked, looking over at her friend. "Really, Starlight... are you the only one who can't see it?"
"He likes you, girl! You really need to see that!" Bon Bon agreed. "You gotta stop pining for a colt who doesn't love you!"
"Girls, Slipknot is just a friend!" Starlight snorted. "Sure, Ace may only have eyes for that foreign filly, but sooner or later, she'll be going home!"
"Yeah, until he moves on to the next flavor of the week!" Sweetheart told her. "Face it, Starlight, that guy is waaaay too shallow for you!"
"Yeah, he needs a girl as superficial as he is!" Bright eyes snorted. "Though who know where you'll find a filly like that!"
"Ah-CHOO! Excuse me!" Melody sneezed. "Say girls, why don't we all go over, and Starlight can get us some milkshakes?"
"All right!" The other four replied in unison, as they all giggled, and trotted out the clubhouse door together.
...
"Miss Hackney! Miss Hackney!" Clover came galloping into the classroom, where her teacher was still there this late, grading papers. "I've got something important to tell you!"
"Clover? What in the world?" She looked up from her work, adjusting her glasses. "What are you doing here at this late hour?"
"Miss Hackney, I just found out! Celeste and Lunette aren't who they seem to be!" The filly told her excitedly. "They're spies from Equestria! They're really the alicorn princesses!"
"Now, Clover!" Miss Hackney admonished her, angrily stamping her hoof. "This is no time to be telling one of your wild and crazy stories! Those two are just sweet earth fillies, who don't really understand our customs and culture!"
"It's true, Miss Hackney! I swear! I overheard them talking about it, and everything!" Clover replied excitedly. "And they're mind controlling Patch, with their evil unicorn magic somehow! Who knows what sinister plans they have in store for her!"
"Child, you had better not be joking about this!" Miss Hackney stared at Clover for a moment, before replying solemnly. "You could ruin those young fillies lives with such slander!"
"I wouldn't lie about something like this, Miss Hackney!" The teen filly shook her mane. "Honest!"
With a sigh, Miss Hackney pulled out a chair. "Now sit down, and tell me everything you know...."