“Hey! Who goes there?”
Grogar jolted and looked around, eyes wide. His surroundings had changed, and the crumbling city of Tambelon was gone. He was back in the chamber, standing before a plain black door.
Of course, he thought, taking a deep breath. Not every puzzle will have the same answer. Reckless of me. Sombra was foolish, but not as foolish as I thought.
“Who goes there?” the voice repeated.
Grogar turned, scowling, to behold a white unicorn with an electric blue mane. “Ah.” He chuckled, running a hoof through his beard. “The mortal prince.”
The prince frowned. “My name is Shining Armor. So who are you?”
“Hm?” Grogar looked up at the endless expanse of stairs leading up, pretending he was thinking. “Oh, my name may be known to you, prince. It's just that...” He kicked the door shut. “...I am somewhat offended you do not recognize me.”
He started pacing in a circle around the unicorn. “Even a mortal such as yourself should be somewhat schooled.”
“Hm.” The prince blinked, having to turn to keep his eyes on Grogar. “You're that sheep, Grogar.”
Grogar froze. “What did you just call me?”
“Uh...” The unicorn pony coughed. “The ram, right? The owner of Tambelon?”
“Correct.” Grogar grimaced. “To a point.” He began circling again. He was close to where he'd started walking now. “Tambelon is not mine. But there are several who would know how I can get it back, Rhyming Farmer.”
“Huh.” The mortal prince cocked his head. “Is that right?”
“Yes.” Grogar passed the door and kept walking. “There is your wife, of course.”
“Hm.” Grimy Armoire's eyes narrowed—though he seemed to be getting a bit dizzy. “Is that so.”
“It is. There are also your two aunts-in-law, the Princesses. They would know, I expect.”
“Right. But you can't ask them, can you?”
“Ha. They would never tell me how to find the gate key.” Grogar tried to conceal his bitterness. “They will not yield to me my city.”
“Real big surprise.” The unicorn shook his head, continuing to turn. Grogar was approaching the door again. “So what, then? Why're you here?”
“There are two others who still...” Grogar tilted his head from side to side. “...'live'. They were around at the time, and were involved in my first defeat. They would know. One is not an option, for to free him would be to invite unending irritation upon my horned head. But the other...”
“Sombra.”
“It seems he, too, will evade me.” Grogar's bell swung, creating a single shrill note.
Behind Grogar, the door swung open, as his surroundings shimmered. He found himself standing behind the unicorn.
The unicorn blinked. He was now staring at the dark stone behind the door.“Wha—like I'm gonna fall for this. I know...perfectly well...” He didn't stop staring. “It's not real. It's not...” His eyes started to glow green. “Canterlot! What? No!”
At that moment, Grogar felt just a tiny twinge of pity. This unicorn would watch his city fall, just as Grogar had.
But he had little sympathy for ponies. His bell softly rang, as the world began to shimmer again. “I will have to find an alternate route. I wish you luck in the world of your invention.”
As he teleported away, a single thought struck him.
I do not like doors, he thought.
Luna staggered over to Fluttershy's bedroom door, now wearing a purple bathrobe. Since it was clear no sleep was to be had, she'd decided to get some breakfast. Or, from her perspective, a midnight snack. She knew Fluttershy had asked to eat in her own room for the duration of her stay, wishing to avoid the crowded banquet hall. It seemed the best course of action for Luna was to join her friend.
In particular, Luna reflected, coffee would be enjoyable. She raised her hoof and knocked twice.
There was no response. Frowning, Luna opened the door. Fluttershy's room was dark, but Luna had never had any trouble seeing in such conditions. She immediately made out a shape on the bed. Her eyes widened.
“Ms. Fluttershy, are you...sleeping?”
The little pegasus let out a yelp, her eyes opening wide. “What? I wasn't—oh. Hi, Luna.” She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Um, what is it?”
Luna blinked. “Well. I thought to...breakfast.” She realized she was blushing slightly, and looked away. “I was not aware that you would be in bed. I will leave you be.” She turned to go.
“No, it's okay.” She heard Fluttershy getting out of bed. “I, um, just...well, I'm okay.” Fluttershy trotted over to stand beside Luna. “You need all the help you can get. Let's go get some food from the chefs.”
Luna frowned down at Fluttershy. “Are you certain? You look somewhat tired.”
Fluttershy gave a little shrug. “Oh, I'm okay. I was just, um, resting my eyelids. This is only my first night without sleep. I've seen Twilight do this all the time, and she does...” Her eyes darted from side to side. “...um, just fine.”
“Ah, of course she must.” Luna nodded, trotting back into the hallway with Fluttershy at her side. “Just for those missions and assignments of massive import, I presume?”
“Uh...right.”
Celestia liked trolling.
It was childish, borderline illegal, and it wasn't as if she ever gained anything from it, anyways. But she liked it. It was a simple and pleasant pastime to take her mind off things. Besides, she was the Princess of the Day. The ponies could tolerate the occasional royal indulgence.
Her horn shone golden, and the fishing line pulled out of the water. There was no fish, but the lure was gone.
She sighed. Not again.
Admittedly, the fish of the Silent Lake weren't exactly in a position to take the bait trailing her boat. The lake was perpetually frozen solid, along with its denizens—most of which prehistoric. Celestia had melted a ring around the lake for her purposes (temporarily, of course) but most of the fish were still too groggy from their three-thousand-year nap to have any interest in food. And those few that were hungry weren't ideal trolling fish.
Honestly, the Silent Lake was a rather terrible place to go fishing. Celestia was just bored.
She set the line down on the floor of her magically-propelled dinghy and climbed onto the frozen part of the lake. The ice she walked on felt like frigid stone, utterly unaffected by her heavy hoof-falls.
Nopony had ever been certain why the Silent Lake was so cold. While some suspected the answer lay at the very bottom of the lake, none had succeeded in making it down there—enchanted drills would malfunction, mundane picks would break, and the center would refreeze instantly should anypony seek to melt it. It was just one of the great secrets of the mountain Canterlot was balanced on, along with the diamond mines and the roc egg frozen to the peak far above.
Celestia made her way to the center and sat down. The ice wasn't very comfortable. But it would do.
She closed her eyes and let out a deep, shuddering breath. She wasn't sure how long she'd been holding it—not needing to inhale too often was just one of the many perks of being an alicorn. Perhaps it had been to avoid taking in too much of the lake's cold, dry air.
Perhaps she'd started after waking from the previous night's dream. She winced at the thought.
She sank onto her belly and stared down into the silvery-blue ice. A hagfish-like creature with eighteen eyestalks stared back up at her.
“Don't look at me like that,” she growled. “If I let you out of that ice, you wouldn't be any better off. At least you're safe from all this lunacy.”
Hearing the word luna made her wince again. How awful she'd been to her sister, who was only trying to keep peace. “Well,” she said to the fish, “you don't have to make mistakes, either. Just free to sleep down there while we stumble around making fools of ourselves.” She reached up and took her crown off her head, setting down it beside her. “I just wish we'd never had to deal with Tartarus. They're all completely insane.”
“Are you really talking to a fish?”
Celestia spun to face the speaker. Or, more accurately, flipped over on her back.
Queen Chrysalis was rolling her eyes. “You've gone utterly insane, haven't you?”
Celestia stared blankly.
“Oh, please.” Chrysalis shook her head. “This is all the welcome I get? I should have targeted the other one first.”
Celestia blinked. Her head tilted.
Chrysalis waved a holey hoof dismissively. “No, not the blue one. No, not the pink one—feh, as if. The purple one. Twilight Sparkle.” Her bright green eyes glinted in the crisp light. “Now, I'm certain she would have a fitting welcome for me. Such a...delectable little alicorn.”
For the second time that week, Celestia felt enraged. This time, though, she had something she could take her anger out on, and she did not hesitate. Her eyes and horn began to burn with power as she lay the groundwork for her spell.
The world turned golden. She rose into the air, channeling the power of the sun into the ice around her. She couldn't see, nor could she think. She was no longer Celestia. She was the Sun.
For a split-second, all of Equestria went dark. In the far-off dragon and griffon lands, the Sun saw that the same had taken place. In that instant, all light the sun gave had been taken and reformed to aim for a single point on the planet.
In the darkness, two glowing green eyes blinked at Celestia.
A line of pure brightness containing all the light the sun had shed for a single second shot down from the sky, reflected off of the surface of the lake, and fired straight at the changeling queen. The green eyes widened.
There was a moment of silence. Light returned to the world. Celestia stopped being the Sun and became herself again.
And she was tired. She rested her head on the ice for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She let out a feeble giggle. Nopony messes with the Princess of the Sun. And they said I was getting old.
She rolled over again and got—slowly—to her feet. She turned, groaning. There was nothing left of Chrysalis but a...
...actually, there wasn't anything.
Celestia frowned. The light should have entrapped its target in the sun, leaving only a scorch mark (or melted mark, in this case) shaped like Celestia's cutie mark. It was her most powerful spell. Nothing could escape it.
Well, except a few things. The sun had been an unfit prison for Nightmare Moon, and Discord had too much control over the sun and moon for the imprisonment to stick.
But Chrysalis can't be a god, she thought. And she didn't dodge or deflect it. I saw it hit her.
She cocked her head. After a moment's thought, she leaned down and inspected the clean ice Chrysalis had stood upon.
It was then that something in her head clicked. Her jaw dropped. Horn already glowing, she spun to face—
She looked around. The lake was gone.
Everything was gone.
She was surrounded by roiling pink mists, and the only thing she could see now was... “Fancypants?” she whispered.
“I'm afraid so.” The noble looked a bit battered, and his monocle had a crack in it, but it was definitely him.
“What are you...what am I...”
“The witch of all ages is an expert at illusion, and not just of the magical variety. I most unfortunately forgot that, to my detriment. It would appear you were tricked as well.”
Celestia groaned, rubbing her forehead. “What?”
“She's attained a device.” Fancypants's horn glowed, and a little scroll depicting a strange wand appeared. “It allows her to make her living batteries transportable, if you understand me. All she needs is a foe fool enough to exhaust his magic on what isn't there so they'll not be able to resist the entrapment.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And she found two.”
“Hm.” Fancypants looked off into the mists, eyes narrowed. “Three, actually. But he doesn't often make himself known.” He sat down and sighed. “Well, that's my plan down the drain. I don't suppose you brought a spare monocle?”