> Babel
>  by BaeroRemedy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Way Things Are
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part One:
The Tower






“Mmmnn...uuggggh…” Heavy lids attempted to flutter open but stubbornly remained in placed. Sunlight attempted to force its way through, but it only solidified the resolve of the eyelids to stay in place. If the sun’s insistence wasn’t enough, then the constant ache that plagued the prone form was doing it’s best to wear down the endless resiliency of the closed eyes.

“She’s waking up. She’s waking up! We need to alert the Lord Commander right now!” A panicked voice broke the stillness of the moment and finally pried those stubborn eyes open. It took a few moments to bring everything into focus from abstract blurriness to a fidelity that could actually be deciphered.

Stone walls illuminated by natural sunlight that streamed into the room through several holes in the structure. Patches of moss dotted outcroppings spaced around the interior of the room. Some sickly green bulbs hung from the ceiling and emanated soft light that was useless in the midday sun. It all looked so familiar and yet so wrong at the same time. Everything was just a little off.

A heavy weight on her chest drew her still focusing gaze to an orb resting on top of her. A green and black maelstrom raged inside of it, constantly swirling and surging inside of the glass-like container. 

“A heart…?” She regarded the object curiously, her thoughts still fighting through her fog-laden mind. “Where am I…?”

“Home, Elytra.” A voice as deep as a chasm filled with gravel responded. 

A Changeling almost double Elytra’s height now stood at the exit to the room. His coat was a dark cyan, almost green, and he had two red horns sprouting from his head like antlers. A pair of narrowed violet eyes remained fixed on her, cautious and wary. This was someone she recognized but she couldn’t place a hoof on it.

“I hurt…” Elytra groaned as she finally took stock of her situation. One of her hind legs was still half-missing, but the cracks and chips that once criss-crossed her chitin like rivers and streams seemed to be repaired now. She wasn’t sure about her wing, as she was lying on her back.

“Yeah, I bet.” The changeling grumbled as he stepped closer. “You probably don’t recognize me. I looked a lot different the last time we spoke—” The male changeling sounded about as interested in pleasantries as she was, which is to say they both just wanted to get to the important stuff.

“—Pharynx?” She asked as the voice finally rang a few bells in her slowly acclimating mind. It sure sounded like the grumpy guard, but the last time she saw him he was still the old kind of changeling. One of the only holdouts who downright refused the Metamorphosis. “Finally came around?” Elytra grinned weakly at the King’s brother.

“Yeah well, some ponies came around and did what they do best.” Pharynx rolled his eyes and sat at the end of the bed. “It’s Lord Commander Pharynx now, by the way. I’m in charge of keeping the hive safe, which has been a little more difficult than I thought it would be lately.” A sigh escaped his lips and he slumped a bit, his eyes closing for just a second.

The Pharynx that Elytra had once known was a gruff no-nonsense belligerent who listened to no one, not even his own brother. The bug she saw before her was a sullen shadow, skinny and frail but resilient all the same. If things around the hive had been even a fraction of what they were in Ponyville, then it was Pharynx who had borne the brunt of it.

“How did I even get back here?” That was the question that now weighed on Elytra’s mind and she had to ask it. “The last thing I remember…” She trailed off, the image of a massive bloodthirsty alicorn towering over her flashing through her head quieting her. “I should be dead.” She concluded.

“Maybe.” Pharynx nodded along. “The Equestrians didn’t tell us what exactly happened to you, just that they couldn’t seem to help you. Those ponies don’t know a thing about us, no matter how much they say they do.” The Lord Commander sneered and grumbled under his breath before shaking his head. “We’ve had you here for about six months now, Elytra. We patched up your leg the best we could, fixed up your wing and made sure to clean up your chitin. We’ve just been waiting for you to wake up and tell us what happened.” 

“What happened…” Elytra mumbled as she dragged herself into a sitting position. Even the small movements took herculean effort due to months of inactivity, but eventually she was propped against the hard stone wall of the room. “I was in Ponyville when everything went wrong. I took shelter in Princess Twilight’s castle with a bunch of other survivors...and we waited.” A shaky breath escaped her lips as more of it all came rushing back to her. “O-one of the ponies figured out how to turn Twilight back to normal...and we did it. We lost good ponies. Nice ponies.” Their names were all on the tip of her tongue still, and those that she saw die...well she would never forget their death masks as they lay lifeless. “Twilight figured out how to fix all of this, how to turn everypony back to normal. She needed someone to cleanse the central mana pool while she and her friends used their Element things to purge the air. I cleansed the pool.” Elytra held herself as the sound of Cadance’s roar rolled around her skull, as the sizzling heat of magic scorched her body and claimed one of her wings. “I was chased by an alicorn, but I did it.”

“Makes sense why the ponies didn’t tell us.” Pharynx spoke to himself, his eyes fixed on some point on the wall in front of him. “Maybe they thought you wouldn’t recover and would never tell us anything.” He turned back to face Elytra. “So you saw all of the alicorns and you learned how this thing spread?”

“You don’t know?”

“No.” Pharynx shook his head. “The ponies have been quiet since day one on exactly what happened. The reports from Manehattan have all said it was an unexplained magical phenomenon that Twilight Sparkle and her friends reversed.” That little revelation narrowed Elytra’s eyes and plunged her deep in thought as to why Equestria would do such a thing. “We’re not idiots, though. Every single creature on the planet knows they’re responsible.”

“I never really understood what they were talking about.” Elytra opted to lie, as a changeling was wont to do. If the princesses of Equestria weren’t telling the truth, it had to be for a good reason. “What happened here? Were you guys okay?”

A bitter chuckle made slick from blood and cynicism slipped past Pharynx’s lips, and it was all that Elytra needed to hear to know the answer. The Lord Commander tapped his rear hooves against the floor, the sound like porcelain tinkling against stone. “No, not really. We had some ponies visiting when everything happened. All unicorns, scholars learning more about us and our kind. When the sun stopped moving we offered them shelter here, like good friends should…” Pharynx trailed off and let out a deep sigh. “They turned ten days later...killed almost three dozen before we could put them down.” The changeling nodded at nothing in particular, just the memory. “That was the worst of it. We had a few unicorns get close but we dealt with them and only lost a couple more.”

“How’s Equestria doing…? Did you get any word about other survivors from Ponyville?” Elytra gripped the blanket that covered her lower half as tight as she could, the wings on her back buzzing lightly in anticipation as she waited for the answer.

“No, and who knows if even Equestria knows about other survivors.” Pharynx stood and straightened his posture, returning to that proud and stubborn bug every changeling knew. “It’s a mess over there, Elytra. Riots, food shortages, and no one has seen hide nor hair of the princesses since the Event. Even our spies can’t confirm if they’re alive or dead at the moment.” The Lord Commander of the hive started off towards the door. “If you made any friends over there, I wouldn’t hold out hope for them.”

“Oh Cheerilee…please be okay…” Elytra mumbled to herself.

------

“Miss...Cheerilee is it?” A portly stallion looked over a pair of comically small spectacles situated on his wide snout with dead gray eyes. He held a clipboard in his hoof and sat in a heavily abused office chair that was creaking from strain. A greasy brown mane was combed over a mostly snow white bald head.

“Yes sir.” Cheerilee smiled sheepishly and squirmed in her chair. It was kind of odd being on this side of the desk and being judged. Once upon a time she was in the stallion’s position, usually telling a parent how naughty their foal had been at school or how their grades were slipping. 

“Thirty-five. Single. Do you have any foals? Have you had any foals?”  The stallion spoke slow and steady, his eyes moving sluggishly between the clipboard and the mare across from him. 

“Well yes!” Cheerilee replied enthusiastically, eager to get even a hint of approval from this pony. “I-I was a teacher for most of my life back in P-back home.” She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying ‘Ponyville’. That was not a word she was supposed to utter anymore. “I also have a daughter—adopted—her name is Scootaloo. She lives with me here.”

“Mhm.” The stallion responded nonchalantly. “You know you might be the oldest mare that has signed up for this program. Are you sure you’re physically capable of—”

“—yes!” Cheerilee cut him off before shrinking back into her seat. “I-I mean, yes. I am absolutely sure. Things were a little rough after we re-settled here, but I’m in the best shape of my life now, sir.” Even Scootaloo had noted how the mare’s once chubby and matronly curves had given into a more solid and toned physique. Helping the other earth ponies grow stuff in the fields had helped with that of course. “I assure you, I’m capable and healthy and ready.”

“Well Miss Cheerilee…” The fat bureaucrat put the clipboard down and leaned back in his chair, drawing a cry of pain from the seat. “...we’ve got your physical done already. We’ll send all of this off back to Manehattan and in a couple of weeks we’ll have your answer.” The script he had been going through in his head continued in the same monotonous tone. “The Equestrian Repopulation Bureau thanks you for your patriotism and cooperation.” He sighed. “Please keep an eye on your mail for any further questions or confirmation.”

Without another word, Cheerilee rose from her seat and gave a curt nod to the stallion before turning to leave. Even as she left her heart wouldn’t stop pounding in her chest. Even as she walked through the door and into the cool late fall air she couldn’t stop from sweating. There was the overwhelming sense that she had failed a test she couldn’t possibly prepare for.

She just wanted to help, really. Well, maybe her intentions weren’t entirely altruistic. Cheerilee had spent so much time around the foals of others that a visceral need had built up in the depths of her being for one of her own. Yes, Scootaloo was a wonderful filly who she loved very much...but there was still something missing there.

Cheerilee closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying herself and letting the sound of rushing blood drain from her ears. Once that sound left, a few more entered all at once. A distant roar of a crowd, not a happy one, and much closer whimpers and sobs. The teacher opened her eyes to locate the former and found it sitting in the middle of town by the fountain, curled up in a ball.

“Sweet Pepper? Is that you, dear?” The curled up pony was a washed out maroon pegasus, her orange mane and tail unkempt and wild. She could see the poor mare shaking and crying even from her position across the street. Hurriedly, she rushed over to the sobbing ball and placed a gentle hoof on the other mare’s back. “Sweet Pepper, honey, what’s wrong?”

Now interacting with the pegasus on a good day was already like walking through a minefield laden with eggshells. Cheerilee had to make sure she was slow and careful and her voice was soft and calming. There would be no use in exacerbating this any further.

There was no response given by the shivering terrified mare on the ground, only more shaking and whimpering as a soft ‘pop’ came from somewhere else in town. Cheerilee could only treat the poor pegasus like she would any scared filly or colt and began to rub up and down her back and shush her softly.

“Cheerilee, what the hay is going on here?” A pink mare with her purple mane done up in two massive buns appeared beside the two ponies on the ground, her words heavily accented by Whinnyapolis heritage. “Is she okay?”

“I think so, Mayor Petals. Just frightened.” Cheerilee kept her voice level and calm, not wanting to set the curled up pony off any more than she already was. “I think it has something to do with that commotion across town.” It was her only guess, but it was a good one. It sounded like a crowd was gathered and the other noises almost sounded like magic.

“I’ll handle Sweet Pepper, dear. Can you go see what that’s all about?” The mayor, her full name was Petunia Petals, was one of the original inhabitants of this little town. The month of hell had seemingly aged the mare, who was ten or so years Cheerilee’s younger, decades. She had streaks of gray through her vibrant purple mane already and omnipresent dark bags underneath shining blue eyes. “If it’s bad, just come and get me. I’ll be with this poor sweetie in her home.” 

Cheerilee nodded and stood, looking off across the town. Yet again a couple more ‘pop’ sounds echoed through the circular village, sending a chill up the mare’s spine and drawing yet another cry from Sweet Pepper.

A brisk trot carried her from the central fountain to just over a small rise where the commotion was coming from. Every single citizen of Hope Hollow, all either pegasi or earth ponies now, were gathered in a tight crowd around an ornately decorated purple wagon and jeering at whoever owned it.

The earth pony pushed her way through the crowd with some difficulty, squeezing between ponies when she could and using her natural strength to muscle past others. It took a minute or so, but she eventually made her way to the front of the crowd.


	The unicorn’s twisted body easily pushed the earth pony down, pinning her to the ground. The dripping snarling maw hung over her face, letting thick globs of viscous black saliva fall on Cheerilee’s face.


 The heart in Cheerilee’s chest returned to its attempts to break out through her ribcage, pounding furiously against its organic cage. Those deep-seated instincts telling her to run flared up and raced around her head like Wonderbolts at top speed. She had to fight as her every neuron fired off the starting pistol to signal the start of a  primeval game of cat and mouse it still knew.

“Please! The Friendly and Non-Threatening Trixie only wants to entertain the ponies of Hope Hollow!” A pale blue mare was in the wagon, her head poking out of one of the windows. A ragged platinum mane hung from her head, a sharp and needlelike horn poking through. As she spoke, even from a distance, fangs were visible poking from her mouth. 

The same fangs that had once found purchase in Cheerilee’s leg.

The scar on that leg, the one that Rarity had haphazardly stitched up, started to ache and burn from just seeing Trixie. The smell of a dusty and dank schoolhouse filled her nostrils as the sounds of bells echoed through her mind. She stood still in her place, but her mind wandered a hundred miles away and countless months in the past.

Cheerilee’s breath caught in her throat and she couldn’t even push herself to move. It was like all of the strength she had cultivated over the past half year meant nothing in the face of just one pony. It all melted away...like Ponyville did beneath the alicorns.

“Excuse me, miss. It might not be the best idea to hang around here, don’tcha know?” Where Cheerilee had faltered, the local fashionista stepped up. A baby blue pegasus mare with a barely contained pink mane held together by bands and a pin cushion, her mechanical back leg tapping against the pavement as she trotted up to Trixie. “The ponies around here aren’t too keen on your kind, they’re a very sensitive bunch.” To punctuate the point, a rock impacted inches away from Trixie’s head. “Please everypony, I’m handling this!” The mare, who Cheerilee knew as Kerfuffle, called back to the crowd. That seemed to be enough to calm them, for now.

“Trixie is a travelling entertainer.” Trixie protested to both Kerfuffle and the crowd. “She simply came here to show you all that we are not dangerous anymore!” That sentiment was met with more jeers and shouts from the crowd. “Trixie is only trying to be an amba—” The unicorn trailed off as her eyes met with Cheerilee’s.

The two mares stared at each other, and for a brief moment they were both back in Ponyville’s schoolhouse. One could still taste blood in her mouth and the other could still feel the panic of facing a monster. Both wanted to leave that moment where it belonged: on the glass fields of that small hamlet in the shadow of Canterlot.

“—yes, Trixie will leave.” The magician lowered her head and mumbled to Kerfuffle. “Please just give Trixie until morning. She won’t even leave her wagon, she just needs some rest. Trixie promises.”

“Okay, that sounds like a deal.” Kerfuffle nodded with a smile before turning to address the crowd. “Okay everypony, go back to what you were doing! Our guest is going to leave first thing in the morning and none of ya are going to bother her! She won’t bother us, no magic and we won’t even see her.”

There were grumbles of frustrated approval from the townsponies, who started to slowly disperse. Everypony but Cheerilee. She sat there, staring at the wagon and waiting. For what, she wasn’t sure. Maybe she wanted to make sure that Trixie wouldn’t attack anypony, maybe she wanted to try to talk to her attacker. Maybe she was just scared.

“Cheerilee, hun.” Kerfuffle placed a hoof on her shoulder, which thankfully shook the older mare out of her stupor. “C’mon it’s time to leave her alone. I think Scootaloo should be home from her deliveries, right? I bet some time with her sounds nice right about now, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry Kerfuffle.” Cheerilee shot a weak smile at the pegasus and turned her back to Trixie’s wagon. “You’re right, some time with Scootaloo sounds wonderful. Thank you.”

The two mares began to trot towards Cheerilee’s house, Kerfuffle staying with her long enough to make sure she wouldn’t go back to the visitor’s wagon. When they were about a dozen feet away from the door, an old but trusty scooter propped up beside it, the two mares finally split with a shared but strained smile. 

The home was nothing special, it looked like one you would find in any small town across Equestria. Beige exterior, steep roof and just rather plain. Before she and Scootaloo moved in it had belonged to a unicorn couple, the Hoofingtons, that had not survived the Event. It could be odd living in the house of dead ponies, but it was better than Twilight’s castle or the manehattan train station.

Cheerilee had to take a deep breath before pushing the front door open just to collect herself. Inside Scootaloo was sitting on the couch, the radio on the mantle turned on and blasting the news into the empty house. The mare staggered over to the recliner opposite the couch and flopped into it.

“Another demonstration outside of the temporary headquarters of the princesses, the Royale Hotel, in Manehattan erupted into violence today” The newspony on the radio started. “Members of the pro-unicorn ‘Harmonists’ and the anti-unicorn ‘Exclusionists’ devolved into a vicious brawl after an earth pony attacked a unicorn and snapped its horn off. The princesses declined to comment.”

“Can we...turn that off...please?” Cheerilee sighed and closed her eyes. It wasn’t like the news was exactly new. You could replay a broadcast from three months ago and be none the wiser if you left the date out. The last thing anypony needed was more of that negativity.

“Are you okay?” Scootaloo asked as stood to deal with the bearer of bad news above the fireplace. “You don’t look so good.” The little pegasus opted not to turn it off, but instead turn it down to a near inaudible level. Then the filly trotted over to the chair, hobbling a little on a once-broken leg that had been treated improperly for too long.

Cheerilee picked up the filly, her filly, and brought her in for a tight hug. She buried her muzzle in Scootaloo’s wild magenta mane, the scent of dirt and lavender filling her nose. Just as she had done the first time she had faced down Trixie, she filled her mind with the reason she was still here. The sole reason why she had survived and kept going this long.

“Trixie is in town…” She mumbled into the mane. At the name alone, Scootaloo gave her teacher and adoptive parent the best hug she could right back. “I saw her...and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything.” Tears fell from Cheerilee’s eyes and onto the filly she clung to. “I was right back in Ponyville all over again.”

“We’re not there anymore, Cheerilee.” Scootaloo managed to get out as the mare’s grip tightened on her. “We’re here and we’re safe. Everything is better now.”

Sweet Celestia, why was that so hard for Cheerilee to believe right now?
> The Way Things Should Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How is Flurry Heart doing, Captain? We have not heard from Cadenza in quite some time.” Princess Luna raised a hoof to move some of her star-laden mane from her face as she looked up at the armored stallion across from her. The regent of the moon did her best to smile at the guard and motioned to a seat across from her. “Please, Shining Armor. We could use a little break as could you.”

Twilight Sparkle’s brother had escaped the Event relatively unscathed compared to other unicorns. He had no obvious deformities such as fangs or lengthened legs, nor was his horn as sharp as a spear. He still just looked like Shining Armor, one of the rare and lucky few.

“They’re doing okay.” Shining Armor took a moment to adjust his armor before sitting down in the seat on the other side of the alicorn’s desk. “I wish I could’ve gone with them, but you need me here.” The stallion’s voice quieted the longer the sentence went on, but it was juxtaposed by his back straightening and his chest puffing out a bit more. “She’s the princess of the Crystal Empire, that was always her destiny. I’m meant to be here—” He pointed a hoof to the floor. “—nowhere else.” The sadness in his eyes, the loneliness, betrayed his words wholeheartedly. “They’ll be okay.”

“And you?” Luna asked as she pushed the parchment she had been studying to the side. “It cannot be easy being away from your family so long in this environment. You must worry.”  It was becoming easier to do this, talk to ponies so candidly. It was nice to just engage with another living being, who was fully awake, on this level.

“Yeah, of course I do.” Shining grumbled as he brought a hoof up to adjust his armor again. 

In days gone by the purple and gold armor that was a family heirloom fit snugly on the unicorn’s body, now it hung loosely on his smaller frame. It didn’t quite matter if he was the captain of the royal guard or not, he only took his rations. His fair share. Luna admired his stubborn patriotism in that regard.

“Will you visit them?” The princess queried, trying her best to smile while hiding her fangs. “We assure you, We can arrange some time off for you to do so. Nopony should be away from their family for so long.” Being the only functional and involved princess in Equestria meant a couple of things; stress, not enough sleep, and much needed pony skills. Luna was still working on that last one and was trying to be as kind and accommodating as she possibly could be to anypony around her.

“Not while we’re having riots on the street outside, Your Majesty.” The prince rejected the offer with a shake of his head. “If things stabilize here, then maybe.” Neither pony could ignore that he said ‘if’ instead of ‘when’, but neither could address it. She would consider it a slip of the tongue for now. “Anyway…” Shining cleared his throat and slowly rose from his seat. “...the ambassador from Dragon Lord Ember is waiting outside. I should let you deal with that.”

“Is Spike with them?” Luna stood as he did. “If not, please make sure he is before I speak with this ambassador. I want someone who has history with these creatures on my side.” The last thing she wanted was to face a diplomat alone, that was more Tia’s specialty.

“No, I’m afraid he’s with Princess Celestia for the day.” He let the name hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “He’s helping her with that...project she’s been focused on. Do you want me to get him anyways?” 

“No…” Luna slumped back in her chair with a sigh. “Let them waste time. We will handle this.” She rolled her eyes with a fraction of a sneer as Shining Armor turned his back. “Send this ambassador in and let Us get this over with.” The door closed and left her alone, for how long was anypony’s guess. 

The long-absent princess brought a hoof to her face and let out another long sigh. She gave her tired and overworked eyes a rub and kept them closed for a minute. Being the only one in this room, this makeshift office, was not easy. A few months ago they had even moved Tia’s desk out because the elder alicorn refused to enter the room and use it. Now it was just Luna...and in that regard she understood her older sister a little bit more.

She hated it.

There was a knock on the door and it kicked a century’s worth of etiquette training into effect. Where before she had been slumped and limp in her chair, in an instant she was sitting upright with her back straight, chin high and chest out. The long protrusion on her head lit up in a soft blue light for a moment as it fixed the field of stars she called a mane around it.

“Enter.” She commanded, any hint of the small and frustrated pony that had just been occupying the same space as the mighty Princess Luna vanishing with that last flourish. She put a hoof onto her desk, her silver ornamentation eliciting a thud from the contact, as she idly gazed over the papers before her.

When the door cracked open, the princess flicked her eyes up briefly to catch sight of the creature coming to talk to her. It was a lanky reptile with scales the same shade as dirt, its underbelly a deep red. A pair of emerald eyes were narrowed and brimming with the same fire the creature held in its belly.

“Your Majesty.” The dragon’s voice was like sandpaper scraped against stone, but at the same time unmistakably feminine. It gave a small bow before taking the seat Shining Armor had occupied just a few minutes ago without prompting. “We need to talk about th—”

“—You forget yourself.” Luna raised a hoof and finally lifted her head to look upon the dragon fully. “You asked for Our time, you do not get to dictate what needs to be talked about. We will get to your issues once the prerequisites have been met.” Luna’s eyes narrowed, matching the dragon’s own. “Tell Us your name.”

“Caldera, and I’m here on behalf of Dragon Lord Ember.”  The dragon did not stop and in fact the tempo of her speech picked up to prevent any cutoff from the alicorn across the desk. “The Dragon Lord has heard that you are meeting with the Changelings for a conference of some sort and she wants the dragons to be involved as well.”

“What business does the Dragon Lord have to insist on such a thing?” Luna huffed and shifted her weight a little, her nostrils flaring. “This is not a summit of some sort, this is a conversation between Us and King Thorax. The Dragon Lord was not invited because it does not involve her.”

“We know it’s some sort of reparations deal, pony!” Caldera raised from her seat, smoke billowing from her nostrils as she pointed a claw at Luna. “We are your neighbors too! We were affected by the Event just as much as they were and cutting us out won’t do anything to help you here.” The alicorn of the night had to turn her head so she could hide her face behind her mane for a moment. Frustration nearly bubbled over to anger in an instant, but she quelled it as soon as it appeared.  “Like it or not, we’re on the same continent and we should be on the same team here. We get a spot at the table or else.”

Luna stood, her chair pushed backwards with enough force to hit the wall and shake one of the light fixtures overhead. She trotted around her desk slowly, her eyes never leaving the reptile who dared speak to her like that. Caldera was about half of her height, but Luna used every extra inch she had on the creature as she loomed over her. 

“Are you threatening Us, Ambassador?” Luna practically growled out, her leathery wings twitching on her back as she glared down at Caldera. “We have business with the Changelings, business that we wish to conduct one on one. If the Dragon Lord would like to have a meeting as well, she can request one through proper diplomatic channels like civilized creatures do.”

“Oh.” That one word let Luna know she misspoke. She inwardly flinched at the faux pas and cursed silently as she took a step back from the dragon. “If that’s how it’s going to be, then I guess I might just stumble on down to the Zebrican embassy down the street and tell them about your little meeting. After all, how am I supposed to know whose embassy is whose? I’m just an uncivilized creature.” The dragon put a claw on her chest and feigned an offended look, knowing well that she had gained the advantage in this moment.

Luna could not grovel nor apologize. She could not show weakness even though both she and Caldera knew that the dragons now had the upper hand. Both creatures studied each other over a pregnant pause. Luna had said something she should not have, she should have deescalated the situation and worked something out with Caldera. This was foal’s play, to get tricked into losing your temper and saying something haphazardly.

This was Celestia’s’s specialty, not hers.

“We will send a correspondence to King Thorax. If he approves such an arrangement, then it will be done.” Luna bravely ran away from the confrontation, not eager at all to prolong it and stumble again. She nodded at Caldera then to the door. “You are dismissed.”

Caldera smirked and headed towards the ornate door that separated Luna from the rest of the world. The portal to the outside opened and the dragon left with a mocking wave to the alicorn. Then the door closed with a click.

“Luna, you are smarter than that.” She chided herself as the horn on her head came to life. Pure darkness poured forth from the spear poking through her mane, filling the room quickly and submerging the princess in silence and the comforting black of night. “You cannot keep giving into your emotions like that. You know that. What would Starswirl say?” She pondered her old mentor’s less-than-sunny disposition and the myriad of lessons he had passed on. “Be stronger than the beast known as instinct. Conquer emotion and topple want.” She repeated the words said so often to her by the old sorcerer. “Become a creature of necessity and logic.” She could repeat it all she wanted, try to absorb those words over and over again, but they would never sink in.

She was never a good student.

After a few deep breaths and some calming thoughts, the darkness in her mind and in the room receded gently. The alicorn looked around and sighed, taking in just how alone she was again. If Celestia had been here they could have handled that situation perfectly, with Celestia placating Caldera and Luna putting on the pressure. ‘Good Princess/Bad Princess’ didn’t work when only the bad princess was available.

Along with her temperament, that was something else she had been neglecting lately. Celestia. The elder alicorn had been held up in a room she had annexed on the top floor of the hotel-turned-castle for days now, working on some project she had deemed more important than running Equestria with her sister.

Perhaps it was time to check on her.

Princess Luna disappeared in a flash of blue light and reappeared a few floors higher, right outside a massive set of double doors. It was the entrance to an executive suite that spanned the entire top floor, it even had its own pool and hot tub. In better times, it was the crown jewel of almost all of Manehattan. Now, it was where one of the princesses of Equestria spent all of her time.

Luna pushed open the door without knocking, confident that if anypony was allowed such a privilege it would be her. However that confidence evaporated as she finally laid eyes on what exactly her sister’s project was. The room by itself was beautiful, heavily inspired by Canterlot aesthetics: white marble decorated in purple and gold...but the new decorations added by Celestia decidedly clashed with the native decor.

Canvases lay about the space, each adorned with the face of a different pony painted by an unpracticed hoof. The colors on the ponies’ faces ran like the paintings themselves were crying. The haze around their bodies were of rough hoofmarks and manic scrapes as the dark, almost black, backgrounds encroached on the faces of the ponies depicted. There were possibly one hundred of these paintings taking up every available space in the vast room and none of them were unicorns

Luna recognized a few, attendants from Canterlot castle and shopkeepers or nobles from Canterlot proper. Then there were some of the guards, including Celestia’s personal guard who was one of the diarch’s closest friends before Luna’s return.

“Portraits of the damned.” Luna muttered to herself as she touched one of the paintings lightly.

“Kind of.” Luna’s head turned to face the new voice, one of Twilight Sparkle’s assistant and adopted little brother. Spike sighed as he put a new portrait against a free space on the wall, one that Luna immediately recognized as Soarin, the second-in-command of the Wonderbolts. She immediately frowned at the portrait and furrowed her brow.

Luna remembered flying through the streets of Canterlot, chasing two pegasi clad in blue and gold and racing across the city. Luna remembered shooting a lance of magic at the two ponies and hitting one, the pale blue one...Soarin. He fell to the ground and Celestia chased after while Luna kept on the trail of the other. Luna remembered his scream as Celestia caught him. 

“Portraits of the ponies she killed.” Luna mumbled and corrected herself.

“Yeah.” Spike confirmed with a sigh. “She’s eating and sleeping at least...but she’s usually painting. She doesn’t stop. I don’t even know if it’s helping.” The little dragon waddled over to Luna’s side and crossed his arms. “What do you think?”

“We think it is unhealthy to dwell on such things.” Luna scanned the paintings, identifying the ponies she could and internalizing just how much this was to do. “We would not be here if all We did was dwell on all of the ponies We hurt in the past. We would’ve never come down from the moon all of those years ago.”

“Because you would be too busy being sad?” Spike asked hopefully.

“Because We would be dead.” Luna answered with a frown. “We wish to speak with Our sister, can you direct Us to her and give us some time alone?” She rested a hoof on the dragon’s head and patted the ridge of spikes that gave the little beast his name. 

“Yeah, of course Princess Luna.” Spike shot a weary smile towards the princess of the night then jerked his thumb towards the door he had come out of. “She’s in there, the bedroom. She never really leaves either...Twi or I have to bring her food.”

“Take some time to yourself, friend.” Luna smiled softly at Spike and gave him a pat on the back. “You have done well and deserve a little respite while We spend some time with her.” Spike nodded and slumped a little at the praise and temporary dismissal. “We saw some fresh gems being carted in downstairs. Please, go enjoy yourself.” That was all it took for Spike to jog briskly off towards his reward.

Luna steadied herself and walked towards her sister’s chambers. The door wasn’t closed, it was wide open and a light hum emanated from inside. The interior, much like the rest of the suite, was covered in paintings. The one big difference was the massive portrait, twice the height of Luna herself and much different than the rest of them.

The massive canvas featured what seemed to be a self-portrait of Celestia, but it wasn’t right. The entity that stared down at Luna was faceless and loomed over her like a hawk. Its ivory-white fur blotched with the splattering of red frantic strokes around the hooves and face. It drained into the black world behind it, its mane wisping away into the darkness like paint spilled in water. It looked at Luna and almost smiled with the blood dashed across its muzzle.

It looked nothing like the pony that sat before it and diligently worked on a brand new canvas. Celestia now had lost her mane that mirrored the morning sky and it was replaced with the colors of summer’s dusk: fierce oranges and vibrant purple and pinks. It was a mix of the fiery mane Celestia had while changed and the natural colors of the sky of her original form. The alicorn’s legs were longer than they had once been, longer and skinnier. If one were to listen closely they could hear a mouth full of sharp teeth clacking together in concentration.

“We see you are taking your new hobby quite seriously, sister.” Luna’s tone was soft and small as she trotted up to her elder sibling and sat beside her. “We did not know you had a talent for art.”

“Twilight told me I should try to express myself through art.” Celestia stated plainly as she sat her brush down and took a deep breath before she cast a critical gaze around the room at the paintings. “Do you think they remember me, Luna? Wherever they are, do you think they remember what I did?” 

Luna remained silent, worried that she would once again say the wrong thing.

“I remember them.” Celestia continued. “I remember every single one of my little ponies...I’ll never forget them or what I did to them.”

Luna was going to ask if Celestia was okay, but that answer was as plain as day.
> The Way Things Will Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The remnants of Ponyville were a nightmare frozen in time, a moment that everypony who had been a part of wished to leave behind. So here it was left, perfectly preserved. The rolling slopes of the countryside ground into a uniform flatness and stripped of all color and features. Now it was just a sheet of glass that dazzled and gleamed in the dim moonlight overhead.

In the center of this desolate place rose a crystal spire, shattered and left broken. A temple soaked with the blood of innocents and heroes alike. Pieces of the structure, expelled from the center with great force, lay embedded in the ground like crystalline fingers reaching up from Tartarus itself to lay claim to the wasteland.

A pair of violet eyes studied the landscape critically, tracing the glossy terrain and remembering her time spent among the buildings that once stood there. If she were to close her eyes she could imagine the little town that once was, all the inhabitants filling the streets as they went about their lives. She could still see Sugarcube Corner and smell the sweet sugary scents that filled streets around it. She could still hear the Apples hocking their fresh-picked produce in the market.

Only in her memories, though. It was only in her memories that she could see all these things, and her friends, again.

“I still don’t think we should be here, Twilight.” The mare beside her protested as a gust of wind caught the cloak draped over her head and back. “Princess Luna has this place marked as an exclusion zone for a reason.” Apprehension clung tightly to the words that fell from Twilight’s companion’s mouth into the chilly night air.

“It’s my castle, Starlight.” Twilight spoke quietly as she kept her eyes fixed on the ruins of her home. She only received a nod from the hooded mare beside her in response. “Did you get what we need?”

“Yeah.” Starlight’s horn lit up and a vial of electric blue liquid came from below her cloak. As it was brought closer, the little vial caused the fur on Twilight’s neck to stand on end and sent a buzz down her horn. “Do you really think this will work?”

“It should, but there’s only one way to find out for sure.” Twilight took the vial from her student in her own magical grasp and gave it a once over before tucking it in her saddlebag. “You got it safely, right?”

“The Everfree is dead, just like you said.” Starlight’s head turned towards it, now just a normal non-magical forest. “I thought the magic coming back would reconstitute the monsters, but no.” The mare shook her head. “I can’t figure it out.”

“They can’t reconstitute if the spell that created them doesn’t exist anymore.” Twilight clarified as she readjusted her saddlebag and began to walk towards the castle in the distance. “The Event acted like one massive magic dispel, and whatever spell or ancient magic made those monsters just doesn’t exist anymore.” The alicorn rattled off the fact of nature easily, something she had figured out in the first week of being back to normal. “Not that anypony really minds right now.”

The pair or sorceresses trotted off towards their destination, the only sound in the night being hooves crunching against the glassy ground below. Both mares were too lost in their memories at the moment, this being the first time either had been back to Ponyville since leaving months ago.

Despite having physically left the town within a day of the Event ending, she had never mentally left this place. She still came back here every night, every time she closed her eyes. It was still home, whether she liked it or not, and this is where her heart would forever come to rest no matter how tortured a respite it might be.

Twilight’s life had practically started in Ponyville. Yes, she had been born in Canterlot and spent her formative years in the capital city, but Ponyville was where she started to live. It was where she met her friends, where she discovered her destiny and earned her wings, it’s where she had learned so much and loved so many. It was also where she lost almost all of those things in the span of a month. It was where her story had started and certainly where it had ended, now here she was again trying to salvage some sort of epilogue for herself and more chapters for the country and the ponies in it she loved so much.

She was determined to keep going on for however long it took to ensure Equestria’s safety. It was the entire reason she was back here. If she didn’t need to come back to Ponyville, she never would.

A gust of wind swept across the still and shattered plains, catching Starlight’s hood and lifting it off of her head. Twilight caught the motion and instinctively turned her head and instantly regretted the act.  The elongated muzzle still stuck around, as did the mouthful of sharp teeth from the time as a monster. To many that had survived through the terror of the Event, she still looked like one of those beasts just shrunk down to normal proportions. To Starlight herself, well it didn’t exactly help that the outside now matched what she thought lay on the inside. Twilight lit up her horn and pulled the hood back up over her pupil’s head, which earned her a thankful nod and a toothy smile from the unicorn.

It was a long silent walk to the steps of the castle, one where both of the mares kept their gaze on the shattered spire. They both knew if they looked around the only thing they would see would be the deeds they had done and the destruction and death they had wrought. They reached their destination, though...and they waited.

“Twilight, are you sure you want to go in there?” 

“I have to.”

A hoof of the alicorn connected with the first step, disturbing a thick layer of dust that had settled on the golden staircase. She looked up to the similarly colored double doors which still hung open and gently swayed in the wind and the confidence and determination that once filled her heart drained into a sea of doubt and fear. 

Starlight rested a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s back, and that was the little push she needed. In the past Starlight had faced her failures and gone back to the town she had wronged and ruined, and now Twilight had to do the same. She had to push through and face it all for the greater good. 

The stairs were ascended and the door entered and that left Twilight face to face with the interior of her home. Only about twenty to thirty feet of the structure remained standing, the once cavernous interior cut off at the proverbial legs and left exposed to the star-filled sky overhead. The staircase that led to the extra bedrooms was crumbled now, completely gone save for the few steps that remained at the bottom. Chunks of the castle lay all around the floor, massive spears of bluish-purple that obstructed any true view of the floor.

The screams and cries of her friends and the other survivors as they were teleported inside still echoed in this place, a splash of green blood from a Changeling could still be seen staining the floor in the center, and the stench of death and decay hung heavy in the air. All of that was disturbing, but not as much as the lack of magic was. 

In it’s short-lived prime, the castle was one of the most unique structures in the world. It hummed with pure magic that anypony with a horn and a good head on their shoulders could tell was different. If you understood what was happening and just concentrated on the mana that reverberated through the structure, you could enter a magical euphoria with just how pure it all was.

Now it was dead.

Twilight lit up her horn, partially just to check if there was any magic at all in this place but mainly to light their way. The two mares stepped over the rubble carefully as they made their way to the room in the back that housed what they were looking for.

The door to the room at the back of the entrance hall was forced open with the combined magic of the mares, the hinges giving way and causing it to fall to the floor with a heavy thud. The princess and her apprentice stepped into the room and waved away the dust that their actions had kicked up before looking upon Twilight’s throne room.

A hole sat in the dead center of the room. It was wide enough for a pony to go down, maybe even a fully grown alicorn, and went down into an inky abyss. A circular table two times the circumference of that hole and made of roughly the same material as the rest of the castle, had been visibly pushed to the side to uncover the entrance to the void below, leaving heavy and deep scratch marks on the floor. Seven chairs lay scattered around the room, each with a symbol on their backs and dust covering them.

Twilight ignored everything but the table and strode over to it, making sure her eyes never strayed towards the hole in the middle of the room. She stood on her hind legs and placed her front hooves on the surface, her magic already withdrawing things from her saddlebag as she approached. A journal and the vial that Starlight had retrieved were sat on the flat and featureless tabletop. The other mare in the room stood beside the alicorn and watched on.

The vial of neon blue liquid was lifted in a purple aura and held aloft as violet eyes studied it. She already knew what it was and she had theories about what it was about to do, but there was hesitation building in her heart. Needing to act before the hesitation overcame her, she pulled the cork out of the vial and poured the contents onto the table before her.

There was a moment of dead silence and nothing happened, then the table began to glow. Slowly the glow spread across the entire surface and a projection map of Equestria formed over it, shaky and a few spots not appearing at all, but it was still there.

“I don’t know if you can hear me.” Twilight whispered to the table. “I don’t even know how this thing really works...but we need your help. Equestria needs your help.” She could feel tears that she thought had been all but exhausted start to form in the corners of her eyes. “Just...show me. Show me where I can find them.” She tapped her journal with a hoof and then held it up to the table. 

The table, the map, flickered and flashed a few times as it seemingly processed the requests. Features on the map itself moved and flashed in and out of existence as the limited power the alicorn had presented to it worked through its system.

Six copies of Twilight’s cutiemark appeared all over the map, slowly circling various points. Both mares looked at each other before both of them withdrew quills and inkwells and began to scribble notes on where the locations were.

“Dragon Lands, Hayseed Swamp…” Twilight muttered to herself as her eyes flitted about the unstable map before her. There was also an island in the Crescent Bay, one over some old abandoned village in the middle of nowhere, and one in Manehattan itself.  “Okay...I think that’s all of them.” She gave a small smile to the table like one might give to an old friend. “Thank you, truly.” 

Then the light of the table died as the last of the magic it had been provided was spent. The map flickered and disappeared, likely for the last time. Here it would sit for the rest of time without the life it had used to guide her and her friends in the past. She gave it a small pat and a sigh escaped her lips.

“Okay...time to get started on gathering these up.” Twilight shook the errant sad thoughts from her mind and nodded towards Starlight. “No time to lose.”

“Are you sure, Twilight? We’ve been on the move for months now. Are you sure you don’t want to go back to Manehattan for a bit and just, y’know, relax?” Starlight offered, a hoof rubbing the back of her neck. “You’ve barely slept lately, you’ve been working yourself to the bone.”

“We need to do this, Starlight. It’s the only way to make sure Equestria is safe.” Twilight responded, her voice an iron grip of confidence that gave no quarter to doubt or apprehension. “If you want to go back to Manehattan for a bit, I understand.” Her voice mellowed a bit as the image of Celestia popped into her mind. “But I can’t...not until I get this done.”

“Before we leave do you want to...go down there?” Starlight asked, nodding towards the hole in the floor. 

Twilight followed her student’s gaze to the hole and her eyes locked onto it automatically. She knew that the five piles of ashes that spilled into the empty lakebed were still there, only the jewelry they once used to fight off the great evils of the world were removed from the area. Everything else was as it was left on that day.

“Not today…” Twilight mumbled. “When I’m done...when I’m done, I’ll let them know.”
> A New Dawn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a ridge overlooking the remnants of Ponyville, a lone fire crackled and kept two mares around it warm. The moon was beginning to dip below the horizon, bringing the dawn from the other side of the world with it. It was the early hours of dawn, when most ponies except the farmers were supposed to be awake and getting ready for the day.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Twilight almost didn’t hear Starlight approach over the crackling fire. She had been tending to it all through the night, not because the fields outside of Ponyville were cold but just because it was something to do. The saddlebags she had brought along were filled with books and reading material, but she rarely had the same appetite for them she did before all of this.

“I think I dozed off a few times.” Twilight mumbled as she prodded the fire with a particularly long stick. “I was thinking a lot.” Starlight sat beside her and joined her in staring into the flames before them. “We know this will be dangerous and an added precaution is necessary. Zecora had a trinket in her hut, the Alicorn Amulet; it amplifies the magic of any unicorn who wears it but also makes them lose control.”

“So just in case the stories are true, you want more firepower.” Twilight looked to her counterpart and nodded.The monstrous visage of Starlight looked back at her, free of the hooded cloak she usually wore to hide her magical disfigurement. “What about the whole ‘lose control’ thing?”

“You know the ‘Want It, Need It’ spell, right?”

“That could work.” Starlight’s sharpened teeth clicked together in thought. “I’ll tinker with it, change it around.” She could already see that brilliant mind at work behind the bright blue eyes of her pupil.

“If there’s one pony in this entire world that could get it to work on me, even more powerful than I am now, it’s you.” Twilight extended a wing and laid it across Starlight’s back. “I trust you.”

“That…means a lot, thank you.” 

The two mares sat for a moment in silent contemplation. Twilight’s eyes moved from the fire to the forest in the distance, the one where once many beasts dwelled. Nopony had seen hide nor hair of Zecora since The Event, the last report she heard was that the hut was abandoned. Either Zecora had been gotten by one of the monsters early on, or she had fled. Twilight would put her money on the latter, the wise shaman always had a way of knowing when bad things were on their way.

“We should get going.” Twilight resolved, standing up and lifting her pack onto her back with her magic. “It’s going to be another long day, a lot of road to cover. To the Everfree and then Hayseed Swamp.”

A magical barrier from Starlight encased the fire pit entirely. The bubble rapidly filled with smoke and the flames died without a struggle. When the bubble was dissipated, a cloud of smoke rose into the air and the two mares left their makeshift camp behind.

The walk to the edge of the Everfree Forest was quick and silent. Not even the birds sang to accompany their walk, not that many birds were around now. It was only the changing of the color of the sky and a few errant clouds drifting through the sky that joined them.

The forest itself was as dead as everything around it. The trees were nothing but corpses, their branches like twisted and gnarled hands reaching up to the sky in distress, hands that had failed to block out the ceaseless month-long summer of The Event. The usual shadows that hid monsters of every variety were gone, and the monsters themselves had suffered the same fate.

As the hooves of the two sorceresses walked the well-worn path, they crunched dried and brittle twigs beneath them. They passed the carcasses of several timberwolves, all hollow now with no spark left in them. The haunting atmosphere that had once oppressed this place had relented and only left a ghost in its place. It was as creepy as before, but for a vastly different reason.

Zecora’s hut stood as it always had, except now without the light inside. A few of the masks and trinkets from the exterior had been taken away, either by looters or the zebra herself, there was no way to be sure. All that could be said about it for certain was that it was abandoned long ago.

“Keep an eye out, I’ll go get it.” Twilight ordered, receiving a short nod in reply from her student. With that, she headed inside of the shaman’s hut to look for the thing she thought would help them.

The interior of the hut looked like a tornado had rampaged through it. Shelves that had once held tinctures and remedies were loose and free of their contents. A chest on the far side was open and its contents were strewn about the room. Her bed had been stripped of its sheets and the mattress itself overturned on the frame.

“I really hope she didn’t take it with her.” Twilight mumbled to herself as she moved around the one-room abode and searched. She looked under masks that had fallen from the walls, and in any containers that had somehow remained unopened. Through all of it, she found nothing.

Anything of value had been picked up and taken away, leaving only little baubles one would find interesting only if they were studious of Zebra culture. While it was fascinating, it wasn’t why she was here.

With her frustration close to boiling over, she grunted and kicked a squared rock that had been sitting by the door. She only succeeded in hurting her own hoof and not moving the makeshift doorstop at all.  It wasn’t even that big or heavy, so why hadn’t it moved?

She picked the thing up in her magic, no small feat considering just how heavy it was, and brought it close to her. It was gray, yes. It was heavy, yes. It wasn’t a rock though, just painted to look like one. She turned it over in her magic, end over end, until she found a seam. It was small, almost imperceptibly so, but her magic seeped into it when she gave the cube a squeeze. Her magic was forced into that seam and she pried the not-rock open.

Inside was the Alicorn Amulet, as sinister looking as the last time she had seen it.

“A doorstop for a doorstop, huh?” She chuckled to herself at the irony as she pried the artifact from the box and put it in her saddlebag. “Now did she forget it or did she know we’d need it…?” A question for another day, or maybe for when Zecora showed up again.

Twilight gave one last longing look to the hut as she left. Hopefully there would be another occupant again someday. She shut the door behind her as she left, leaving only the dust to keep the place safe for now.

“I got it, let’s-”

“Do you hear birds?” Starlight interrupted her and pointed to the sky. “I can’t remember the last time I heard…” Her words trailed off and a small smile came across her face, her fangs poking out from behind her lips. Indeed there were the tweets and chirps of birds, somewhere far off but not far enough away to be inaudible. “Can we go find them? Please?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. This was going to be a long journey, and probably demoralizing as well. Any trek across Equestria this day was demoralizing, but they were going to be seeing a large swath of it. She nodded, seeing some wildlife would be good for the spirits if nothing else.

The birdsong was gentle and sweet and strong enough to lead them to the source. It was outside of the Everfree, right on the edge where the trees thinned out and opened into a little grove. A house was there, sat on a little hill with a babbling brook in front of it. It was a simple two-story cottage, its roof covered in moss and leaves. This whole area was the patch of living anything within miles.

It wasn’t just birds, either. Bunnies, weasels, even a bear wandered around the little area. They had risen with the morning sun, much like the two unicorns who had just entered their midst. The sight brought a tear to Twilight’s eye for more reasons than one.

“Fluttershy’s house? I can’t believe it’s still standing.” Starlight chuckled in wonder and stepped further into the grove. “You said it didn’t reappear late in The Event, right? Discord must’ve taken the surrounding area with him when he pocketed Fluttershy.” More and more critters came out of their burrows and homes and wearily eyed the newcomers intruding on their property. “Twilight, there might be enough animals here to repopulate a small area. With the right spells…Twilight…?”

A million little memories were worming their way deep into Twilight Sparkle’s head. All of the times she trotted up this path, across that little bridge and up to the door. All of the times she visited with her introverted friend and they had tea and talked about animals. All of the lessons she had learned in the company of that mare. She nearly collapsed at the weight of it all.

“I know I’ve taken good care of it but I don’t think it’s worth crying over, Princess.” Twilight’s ears perked up at the new voice that came to her ears. To say that this voice was music to her ears would be vastly overestimating just how much she valued the creature it belonged to. “Hmm…poor choice of words. I’m sorry, Twilight Sparkle.”

“DISCORD!” Starlight Glimmer raced past the prone princess and leapt at the creature. Twilight eventually stood and turned around to face the creature behind her. She was greeted with the sight of Starlight hugging the patchwork god and he was returning the gesture.

“My my, what lovely teeth you have, my dear.” Discord lightly gripped Starlight’s face and studied it. “All the better to smile with, hmm?”

“What are you doing here, Discord?” Twilight was weighed down with mistrust of the trickster before her. It wasn’t her fault that he had wrought so much misfortune and was inherently untrustworthy.

“Twilight Sparkle…” Discord’s voice wasn’t angry or annoyed, it was…sad. “Of all of the ponies in the world, I thought you would understand me the most.” He finally let Starlight go and slithered to Twilight’s side. “After I returned from my dimension fully powered, I came back here. I went nowhere else, sought out nopony. Fluttershy-” He nearly choked on the name as he spoke it. “-one of the last things she said to me was to help make ponies smile. Seeing Starlight’s face as she saw this place, now I’m sure this is what she meant.” 

“You did all of this?” Twilight asked, looking around at Fluttershy’s land, now resplendent with the wildlife she so loved. “All of it?”

“Admittedly I’m not as good at it as she was.” Discord rubbed his chin and looked around, two beady yellow and red eyes surveying everything around. “It’s much harder to keep things in order rather than disorder. I do keep everything watered and fed…and maybe one day I can get to working on the forest.” He looked back towards the Everfree. “Seeing as how its natural state for over one thousand years was death and chaos, I figure turning it into something more lively might be chaotic enough.”

“Wait-” Twilight dumped what was actually just said and focused on what he had just said in his previous ramblings. “-you said you’re fully powered now?”

“Oh yes, quite so.” Discord grinned that awful toothy grin. “Would you like to see a demonstration?” He raised his big lion’s paw and snapped his fingers. Nothing immediately apparent had changed, so she raised an eyebrow. Discord simply pointed one of the same fingers that had snapped at the mare that was now behind him.

Starlight Glimmer, whose face had still resembled that of the monsters who devastated the world up until a moment ago, now looked like her old self. The elongated muzzle, the sharp teeth, they were all gone now and replaced with just plain old Starlight Glimmer.

The student’s hooves went to her face as she felt her features again. She couldn’t speak as her mouth worked wordlessly and tears fell from her eyes in streams. She blubbered out ‘thank you’ over and over again as she fell to her knees.

“So you can help us, then.” Twilight was more focused on her mission than Discord’s magic tricks. It was a nice gesture for a pony he would call his friend, but she wanted more.

“With what? What are you planning, Twilight Sparkle?”

—-

Shining Armor wasn’t above working with the rank and file. In fact, it was how he spent his mornings most days. He would wake up at three or four in the morning and go down to the lobby of the Royale, take in the deliveries that kept the place running and then help distribute food rations to the populace of Manehattan. It wasn’t the easiest work, seeing all of those sad and hungry faces, but it was something that needed to be done.

“Thank you so much, Captain.” A gangly unicorn mare with jutting fangs said with a sad smile. Shining returned the smile with a nod and deposited a parcel of foodstuffs into the basket on her back. 

“Of course.” Shining Armor suppressed a sigh. “Try to have a good day.”

With the way this was sorted, there was always work to do. The city was split into neighborhoods and each neighborhood had a day when it was their turn to go to one of the numerous distribution sites around the city and get their rations until their next day. Somepony was always here wanting their share, and so there was always good work to be done. 

When the stallion turned around to grab the next ration, he found that his box was empty. He looked to the guard next to him and found much of the same, and so on down the line of guards that occupied the front desks of the former hotel.  He looked around until he spotted his second in command ushering some unicorns out of the building. 

“Sentry! Over here, now!” 

The orange pegasus strode over towards Shining as quick as he could, two metal hooves clinking against tile in a syncopated rhythm. He could see dark bags under the stallion’s eyes and smudges across his golden armor. The pegasus gave as crisp of a salute as he could with one of his prosthetic legs. Before Shining could even ask him a question, the other stallion’s one good wing ruffled and twitched a bit in anticipation, signaling to the Captain that he knew what was wrong.

“Go into the back and tell those ponies to hurry up and get more food out here, the last thing we want is angry and hungry civilians.” The sneaking suspicion that Shining had that something was wrong spiked when Flash Sentry rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. Also the fact the other stallion wasn’t meeting his gaze only served to exacerbate that suspicion.

“What is it? Out with it.”

“Sir, we’ve run through all of our rations for the day.” Flash never stopped looking Shining Armor in the eye as he spoke even if every word shook as they came out of his mouth. “Yes, already. Other garrisons around the city are reporting the same. The last round of…gathering supplies from the towns around Equestria didn’t bring in as much.”

“Does Princess Luna know?” Shining Armor lowered his voice and kept as straight of a face as he could. The last thing he needed was to let everypony in the lobby know how bad things were. A shake of the pegasus’ head was all the answer he needed to know. “Okay, stay here. Start digging into the stores we have, tell the other outposts to do the same. Just keep the rations smaller than usual and keep things under control and I’ll see what she wants to do about this.”

The captain of the guard marched off before his subordinate could utter a word in affirmation. He marched with purpose through the lobby, past the angry and hungry ponies that filled the room and up the stairs. Through the halls he went and up more and more stairs, probably a solid ten to fifteen minutes of walking up stairs and using what elevators weren’t locked down for security reasons, until he was at the door to Princess Luna’s chambers. He knocked only once.

“Enter, Shining Armor.”

So he did. The grand doors of the suite were pushed open with his magic and he stepped into the alicorns’ shared room. Princess Luna was at her desk, as she always was, now however she was enjoying a breakfast before her day of work started.

“Your Highness.” Shining Armor bowed as much as his armor allowed and stepped closer to the desk. “We have a problem downstairs…” He removed his helmet and set it on one corner of Luna’s massive desk. There was the expectation that Luna would ask for more details but instead she looked at him with those cold calculating cyan eyes. “I’m afraid the recent acquisitions weren’t enough to fairly ration out to everypony in the city. We’ve already run out of what we prepared and we’re digging into the stores.”

“Why?” The question was simple enough but oh so complicated.

“A mix of more and more refugees pouring into the city and not as much coming from the towns around Equestria if I had to guess.”  He shook his head and let out a little sigh. “I’ll look into it more, figure out how we weren’t prepared but those are the facts right now.”

“Starting today, We want everypony in this city to be tracked.” Luna began, looking down at her desk. She picked up a quill with her magic and began writing down notes. “We want to know how many ponies are here and We want the other towns and cities to do the same. Seal off buildings with magic if you have to so ponies won’t hide. Just give Us the most accurate count you can.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” His mind began to race with how exactly he would accomplish that with his numbers, but he would try to make it work. “The food problem?”

“Have Spike send a letter to the guards in charge of collecting the food across Equestria, telling them to increase their take for the time being.”

“Princess Luna-” Shining Armor objected and shook his head. “-the last thing we want are the ponies outside of the cities getting angry over us taking their food. Trust me, you don’t want to know what hungry farmers will do.”

“What of the ponies here?” Luna put down her quill and looked at the captain of her guard with an expression that said nothing. “What will we do when the ponies in the city start going hungry and they realize all of the food is in here? Can you hold off a siege of angry and hungry ponies?”

“Your Highness-”

“Somepony will be left at a disadvantage here, Shining Armor.” Princess Luna stood, her chest puffed out and her feathers thoroughly ruffled. “We learned long ago it is best to have enemies outside of Our walls rather than in them. You will see it this way in time.” 

“I trust your judgment, Your Highness.” Whether or not he agreed with it was another point altogether.

—-

The morning sun rose, and so did Cheerilee. It was her day off from teaching the foals in the village and her turn to help out in the fields instead. Scootaloo, because school wasn’t in session for the day, would be up soon enough to start her delivery job.

In her previous life, she would’ve enjoyed a hot cup of coffee to enjoy her day and help get her juices flowing. This was her current life, where a luxury such as coffee wasn’t a thing a normal pony could enjoy. So instead she started it with a refreshing glass of water and a small breakfast of eggs and toast. She had also already prepared Scootaloo’s customary bowl of oatmeal, made with milk and sprinkled with just a little sugar. 

The day ahead would be long and leave her sore, but it would be best for the ponies of both Hope Hollow and Equestria as a whole. She had never worked in the fields before this, not a day in her life. Before she had gotten her cutie mark she had contemplated trying her hooves in some of the orchards outside of Ponyville, but thankfully fate had spared her that particular fate.

Once she was done with her meal, she disposed of her plate into the sink and retrieved the wide-brimmed hat she used for her work in the sun. Cheerliee placed the hat on her head and started towards the door, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. She sincerely hoped it was Cedar Mulch come to make sure she was awake and ready to work; she had thought they had passed the need for that a month ago.

As soon as she opened the door, she regretted it. Amidst the small noises of Scootaloo rousing from her sleep in the background, Cheerliee’s heartbeat began to rise into her ears and drown out those sweet domestic sounds. Before her was the pony who was supposed to be gone much sooner than later, the pale blue unicorn with the platinum mane, sharp horn and fangs.

“Trixie…” The unicorn opened her mouth and immediately choked on the words. She cleared her throat, her eyes never leaving the doorstep. “You don’t need to say anything if you don’t have to…but I apologize for intruding, Miss Cheerilee. I’m probably the last pony you ever wanted to see…and I feel the same way. I…feel the need to apologize for what I did. I am sorry. The dreams of it still…” She took a deep breath. “I’m sure they follow you the same way. I don’t have a lot to give, but I wanted to give you this.” The unicorn produced a necklace on a small silver chain, a wooden carving of a bear hanging off of it. “It is a ward of protection Starlight Glimmer made for me. It will protect you from any physical harm for as long as it has magic left in it.” She set the little charm down on the doorstep. “Have a good day, Miss Cheerilee. Be safe.”

Cheerilee herself didn’t intend to say a single word to Trixie even if she had the ability to. The unicorn simply turned and left without the earth pony saying anything, leaving behind only the gift. It wasn’t until Trixie was out of sight that Cheerilee finally shook her head free of the fog that had suddenly invaded it that she reached down and scooped the little thing up.

The bear charm attached to the chain was very well made, obviously carved with care and by a talented magician. Little stars were carved into its skin, connected by faint lines painted in blue. She could feel the magic entombed in the little figure just by how the fur on her hoof stood on end from contact with it.

“Cheerilee?” A little tired voice came from behind her. “Who was that?”

“I don’t really know, Scootaloo. Somepony who I met once…and who I wished I never had.”
> A New Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A bell broke the silence of the fields around Hope Hollow, the tone denoting that the work day was over and the ponies toiling amongst the soil and seeds could go home. Everything was tilled and watered, now it was up to the ponies who had the special talent for accelerating the growth of the plants to do their share and use the elixirs that the alchemists in Manehattan had provided. All of the ponies that had spent their day in the hot sun were to go home and relax until their next day of work.

A line of ponies formed, all of them covered in sweat and dirt, to the little shed where they kept all of the supplies for the work. Altogether there were about three dozen ponies out here working, ranging from lanky teens to hardened adults. They were all earth ponies of course, the pegasi were above and helping move clouds around that had come from Las Pegasus.

Cheerilee was towards the front of the line, her group had been working on the field closest to the supply shed and that left her lucky today. She put her saddlebags on the sill of the return window that was managed by an older mare and the two traded smiles before moving on.

Her back ached, so did her legs and every other part of her body. Cheerilee had been a teacher for all of her life, not some laborer. She wasn’t fit for this kind of work. In her old life she had always been a bit of a pudgy mare, not fat, but ‘comfy’ she would say. Time without food and hard work had fixed that and left her now in better shape than she had ever been. That came at the price of sore joints and a bad back, though. She wasn’t sure if the tradeoff was worth it, really.

The way back home was short, but she took her time. The energy to run places had left her sometime earlier in the day, so now she would wander back that way. That was the plan until a commotion caught her ears, more rabble similar to the events from yesterday. She had hoped that Trixie had the sense to leave, but it didn’t sound like it.

With a hefty sigh Cheerilee made her way towards the racket, this time situated near the entrance of the town where the massive wooden rainbow stood. A crowd had gathered around said rainbow, blocking the way of a cart that looked like it was trying to get into the town rather than out of it. 

Scootaloo was at the back of the crowd, on her scooter with a saddlebag on her back marked with a letter bearing wings. Cheerilee approached the filly and tapped her on the shoulder. 

“What’s going on, Scootaloo?” Cheerilee craned her neck to get a better look over the crowd of two dozen ponies before her and all she could see was a hint of golden armor. “Is the guard here? Did somepony call them on Trixie?”

“No, they came to get more food from us. That’s what I heard from somepony up there.” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed as the little filly attempted to fly to get a better look. 

“More food? They were just here the other day.” Cheerilee squinted and tried to get a better view of the guards coming into town. They were only supposed to collect twice a month when the growers and the elixirs had the time to work. This was too soon, the crop wasn’t ready. If they were taking more food it was going to come out of their stores. Which was the reason the rabble was blocking their way.

“I said GET BACK!” A voice boomed from the carriage whose path was being blocked. A wall of shimmering blue magic burst into existence in front of the crowd and started to push them back. Cheerilee grabbed Scootaloo and dragged both the filly and her scooter to the side and out of the way of the retreating mob. 

“Hey HEY!” Mayor Petals galloped into the fray and began pulling her citizens out of the pit of ponies being pushed backwards. “Everypony back up! Back up!” The crowd listened to their mayor and pulled away from the barrier, but stayed close enough in a loose crowd that they could back up their leader if something happened. “What’s goin’ on here?” The thickly accented mare asked the guards behind their shield. 

“Ma’am.” The unicorn guard that had erected the wall spoke. “Under orders from Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor we’re to pick up your contribution to the national stockpile.” 

Cheerilee had a clear view of the guards now. There were six of them, four unicorns and an earth pony and pegasus each. The commander was a unicorn, an old steel gray stallion with cold blue eyes. Seeing that many horns in one group froze Cheerilee’s hooves and left her heart in her throat.

“We’ve already given this week, surely this is a mistake Mister…?”

“Lieutenant Rhine.” The unicorn answered in a gruff voice. “We know you’ve already given, but these are orders. Double contributions this week.” 

“You can’t do that.” Mayor Petals protested and stamped her hoof onto the ground. “That will take food from the stores we use to feed our ponies.”

“That’s not our problem, ma’am.” Lieutenant Rhine stepped forward, the other guards doing the same. “This is a small town, you can ration it out until the new crop comes in. The cities need more food now or else ponies will starve.”

“Then maybe those unicorns should work in their own fields, then!” A pony from the crowd shouted angrily. 

It was true, everypony knew what exactly Rhine meant by ‘the cities’. Most earth ponies and pegasi had been relocated to smaller towns to work the fields or help with weather. The cities were mainly unicorns and those that couldn’t do the hard labor required due to injury or age. The fear of unicorns in the towns where the food was grown, the trauma that still pervaded every field across Equestria would prevent any unicorn from joining in the work in a mixed town.

The crowd seemed to agree with the one who spoke up against the guards and the ponies began to coalesce again into something more solid and angry. Cheerilee held Scootaloo back as the townsponies of Hope Hollow began to encircle the guards who had come to take their food. In response, Lieutenant Rhine fired up his horn. That little gesture did little to calm the crowd, who now only saw a unicorn prepared to use magic against them. 

“Everypony calm down!” Mayor Petals raised her voice to drown out the crowd who were loudly agreeing with the sentiment that had been raised. The tired looking pink mare turned from her own ponies back to Lieutenant Rhine. “Listen, you can have what you need from our stores.” She turned back to the crowd once again. “We’ll get through this as we have time and time again. Together. It will be hard, but what hasn’t been? We’ve tightened our belts a lot over these months, what’s another inch? It’s all for the good of Equestria, for the other ponies no matter what race they may be.”

“She’s right!” Scootaloo hopped off of her scooter and strode forward. “We need to do whatever we can to help! This is what Equestria was built on, right? The story of Hearth's Warming is about this stuff exactly” The filly had the rapt attention of all the ponies in the crowd now, including the guards, as she spoke. “We can’t hate ponies because of what they are! We have to help them when they’re most in need when we can! Not everypony can work like we can…not everypony is okay.”

“Nopony really is.” Rhine sighed and stepped forward. “We’re just doing our job, and I’m sorry our job is this.” The old stallion’s face softened and he stepped forward into the town proper. “I’m not here to starve you or hurt you. I’m here to do my sworn duty and protect the ponies of Equestria, and right now that means making sure the ponies in the cities don’t starve.”

“We understand.” Mayor Petals responded with a smile. “I don’t know if we can manage half and still be okay for the next couple of weeks. Can we work something out?”

“Aye, I think we can.” Rhine turned to the guards surrounding the carriage they had brought along. “Stay here while I figure this out.”

—--

“How we lookin’, Bloom?”

Apple Bloom trudged across the dry street of Appleloosa, her muscles aching and eyes stinging from the hot sun overhead. The filly, not so little anymore after a growth spurt she had over the last few months, had spent her entire day out in the orchards of the desert town. She was one of the only ponies left who knew how to properly maintain and plan an orchard and could still physically do the tasks required.

“East Orchard is dry.” Apple Bloom stepped up onto the porch of the town hall where her cousin was waiting. “Got Strawberry to go get some more clouds to water ‘em. Should be done tomorrow.”

“Good, good. Your potions coming along too?” Braeburn was standing in the doorway, a cheery smile on his face as always despite his circumstances. He had lost his ability to walk during The Event, some sort of fall. He didn’t like to talk about it much. Now his hind legs were suspended off of the ground with a type of harness connected to two metal legs that ended in wheels to supplant his two dead legs.

“If Ah could get the right ingredients for ‘em.” She grumbled. “Foal’s Breath and Dimerticulum ain’t exactly easy to get, y’know.”

“Ah’ll take your word for it, cousin.” Braeburn grinned sheepishly and moved to look down the street. “Got another complaint that Chief Strongheart is creepin’ north again. Demandin’ more of the southern orchard from us.”

“It is their land, Braeburn.” Apple Bloom sat on an old wooden bench and it creaked under her weight. “They let y’all have it a few years back, but it’s still theirs.”

“Yeah…well we have a deal that half of our first harvest goes to them. They need to let us actually make it that far before they go and start demandin’ things from us.” Braeburn’s demeanor turned sour and he let out a sigh. “They got the north bank of the river from us already, bad enough they control our irrigation now…”

“Ah don’t understand why ya don’t just invite ‘em in.” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Integrate or whatever. They know how to grow here better’n we do.”

“Well, we were sittin’ around campfires and singin’ kumbaya every night there for awhile. Then, y’know, the world ended.” Braeburn clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Ponies turnin’ into monsters and killin’ some of ‘em didn’t exactly engender the spirit of camaraderie. Now they don’t wanna come to the table anymore. Can ya blame ‘em?”

“‘Spose not.”

Apple Bloom sat on the porch of the town hall and looked over her new home. It wasn’t Ponyville, it never could be, but it was better than Manehatten ever could be. She had family here, probably her only family left in the entire world, and that was good enough. Sure she had to do enough work for three ponies, but she was raised to do that. She was just following in the hoofsteps of her older sister.

“How’re you doin’, Bloom?” Braeburn wheeled up beside her and asked quietly. “Like actually doin’, not how work is goin’ or nothin’.”

“I’m tired, Braeburn.” She mumbled. “Ah miss my friends. Ah miss Ponyville…Ah miss my family. Other’n that, Ah guess Ah’m okay. Just tired and frustrated.”

“It’ll get easier. It has to.” Braeburn didn’t sound sure of that statement, but they both knew it was something they had to believe. “Lotsa ponies are frustrated. Quotas from the cities ain’t helpin’ neither…”

“Just one big powderkeg, feels like.” She turned to look down the road and squinted as the sun caught the surface of something bright and reflective. She brought a hoof up and focused, a column of figures soon coming into clear view. “Hey Braeburn, y’all didn’t happen to call the guard for our buffalo problem, didja?”

“No? Why?” Braeburn asked as his gaze followed her own. “Oh what now…” He made his way down the steps, the wheels of his back half clunking against the wooden stairs as he did. He was already making his way to the edge of town to cut them off, and Apple Bloom followed right behind him. “This is the last thing we need. Better hope it’s just a checkup or somethin’.”

The last two Apples stood at the entrance to Appleloosa and waited for the column of approaching guards, all unicorns from the look of it, to come to them. Their position didn’t go unnoticed, as soon they had a crowd of townsponies forming behind them. They did their best to sate the curiosity of the crowd, but they had precious few answers to go around. Talk spread through the group of dusty overworked ponies that the guards were here to help them reclaim the land the buffalo had taken back and to help them enforce their borders, or that they were bringing more ponies to work.

It was hope, and that was dangerous.

“Howdy.” Braeburn tipped his hat to the guards as they approached. “What can Ah do ya for today?” He gave his best Braeburn smile and beamed at the head guard, an older unicorn stallion with a faded blue coat and steely gray eyes. 

“My name is Lieutenant Rubicon.” The stallion started in a gruff voice. “I’m here under direction from Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, to receive an additional contribution to Equestria’s national food stockpile from the municipality of Appleloosa.”

“Ah’m sorry?” Braeburn blurted out. The gears in his head were visibly turning as he took that sentence apart and put it back together again. “N-no this is a mistake. Y’see we just gave not even a couple weeks back. Ah think y’might’ve got turned around there, friend.”

“No. I haven’t.” Lieutenant Rubicon stated. “There’s a food shortage in the cities right now and we need extra food to support the rising populations. This a direct order from the office of the Captain of the Royal Guard himself. Will you comply?”

“NO!” A resounding roar came from the crowd behind the two Apples. The singular word was then followed by an angry slurry of others, all in the negative to the Lieutenant’s question. It took both Apple Bloom and Braeburn considerable effort to quiet the crowd, which now consisted of almost the entire town.

“Now-now listen, Mister Rubicon.” Apple Bloom swallowed the lump in her throat and addressed the stallion. “We ain’t got the food to give ya. The buffalo have been takin’ some of our land and until the apple harvest comes in proper, we’re runnin’ on fumes here. We can’t give ya nothin’ without starvin’.”

“Who are you?” Rubicon asked.

“That there’s Apple Bloom, my little cousin, she’s runnin’ all of the orchard operations.” Braeburn’s explanation was met with a look from the Lieutenant that was a mix of skepticism and disgust. “But she’s right! We can’t give y’all what we don’t have.”

“If you won’t give it, we’ll take it.” Rubicon nodded to the guards behind him, about a dozen armored ponies, who all marched towards the crowd. “These are orders.” The guards were met with a wall of now-angry ponies who blocked and otherwise impeded their progress into town. “Tell your ponies to let my guards through.”

“No!” Braeburn took off his hat and threw it on the ground. “In fact, Ah’m gonna have to ask y’all to leave Appleloosa right now. Ya can come back when it’s time to get what’s owed, and not a moment sooner.” The crippled stallion pushed forward until his chest was pressed against Rubicon’s plate-covered chest.

“Do not cross me, boy.” Rubicon growled. 

“Ah ain’t crossin’ nothin’. Yer the one who seems bent on doin’ somethin’ stupid here today.” Braeburn shot right back.

“Is that a threat?”

“Nah, it’s a fact.”

“Stop it, the both of ya!” Apple Bloom forced her way between the two stallions and pushed them apart. “Yer both bein’ stupid! We can work somethin’ out! Ah know we can! That’s what Equestria is about, right? We can negotiate on this! It ain’t gotta be one or the other!”

“Very well-” Rubicon started, but was interrupted when his eyes were drawn up over Braeburn’s head. Apple Bloom looked up just in time to see a rock fly over her cousin’s head and hit the Lieutenant square in the face, specifically one of his eyes. He immediately clutched his face with a hoof and let out a scream.

One of his guards reacted and a bolt of magic caught Braeburn in the side, toppling the stallion over. Apple Bloom jumped in front of her cousin, but she was pushed aside and a field of magic materialized over her cousin’s prone form to keep him down.

The crowd erupted and surged forward.

The guards were being pushed back, so they let loose a volley of magic was let loose from the horns of the guard in response and numerous Appleloosians fell in the dusty street.

“Y-you gotta stop this!” Apple Bloom rushed up to Lieutenant Rubicon with tears in her eyes. “This ain’t right! Yer killin’ ‘em!”

The Lieutenant looked down at her, one eye shut with blood trailing from it an a look of rage on his face. He raised a hoof and brought it down on the filly, sending her careening back towards her fallen cousin. Her vision swam as she stared up at the sky, the sound of screaming and magic once again plaguing her waking moments.
> Stability
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t think they were happy to see me.” Discord said as he appeared in a flash of light in Fluttershy’s living room. Little critters scurried away from the avatar of chaos as he raised his long draconian tail whose tip had a little flame eating away at the white fur springing from it. He used two of the fingers on his lion’s paw to smother the flame. “But I got your…thing.” He tossed an old rusted piece of metal onto the floor. “Are we almost done, Twilight Sparkle? While your little scavenger hunt that has put me in peril at every turn is fascinating, I do need to get back to tending to these animals.”

“Discord, you have no idea how much this means to us.” Twilight picked up the rusted metal slab with her magic and studied it. “Only one more for you to get, and then the real work begins.”

“Then we still have to get the one in Manehatten.” Starlight chimed in as she took the hunk of metal from her mentor and took it away to stash with the other relics Discord had acquired for them.

“Yeah…” That was the one Twilight was looking forward to the least, but she knew it had to be done. “We’ll save that one for last, I think.” She turned back to Discord, who was now lounging on the couch. “The last one is in an ancient village on an island off the coast, it was almost destroyed by a volcano and was said to be saved by-” 

A wispy trail of smoke coming in from the window interrupted Twilight’s train of thought. It made its way over to Twilight and erupted in a plume of green fire, which when it faded left a letter in its place. Twilight quickly snatched the letter out of the air and read through it.

“Oh no…” She re-read it, then she re-read it again and again and again just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating the contents of the letter. “Celestia, how did this happen…?” She mumbled as her heart sank into her stomach.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Starlight approached from behind her and placed a hoof on her back. “Is everything okay?”

“No…no, something terrible has happened.” She closed her eyes and handed the letter back to her pupil. “I-I need to go back to Manehattan, just for a bit. At least I’ll be able to get the last artifact while I’m there.” She did her best to look on the bright side as a horrified look swept across Starlight’s face.

Twilight summoned all of the magic she could muster and focused on the elevator that led to the sequestered floor where the royal sisters resided. The floor itself was shrouded with charms and spells to keep ponies from just popping in, so she had to enter like anypony else would. She focused all of her magic into her horn, then let it envelop her and disappeared in a flash of light.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was face to face with two guards standing in front of an elevator. The two of them, both unicorns, shot up straight and gave her a surprised salute. One opened their mouth to speak, but Twilight strode by them both and hit the button to open the doors. Once they parted, she stepped in and hit the only button on the panel and the doors slid closed in front of her.

The entire interior of the elevator was covered in mirrors. Before she had left on her mission she had lobbied repeatedly to have them removed or covered, insisting that the unicorns who regularly took it to attend to the princesses didn’t want to be surrounded by mirrors if they were still deformed from The Event. That had only been a half truth. Twilight hated looking at herself just as much as the unicorns who still remain half-changed.

Even now, the mare who looked back at her hardly fit the name ‘Twilight Sparkle’. Her mane was unkempt and longer than it had ever been before, dark bags hung under her eyes like so much ballast, and she wore a permanent grimace that she doubted even Pinkie could remove with a military grade party cannon. 

Twilight closed her eyes and centered herself. Judging by Spike’s handwriting in the letter, things weren’t okay. She was here for him more than anything. After everything he had done for her, she had abandoned him and left him here with Celestia and Luna. It broke her heart every day that she didn’t see him, but every time she did see him she was just reminded of how much she hurt him. 

He needed her now, though. It was her responsibility to make sure he was okay. 

The elevator doors opened and Twilight was greeted with a small antechamber, a massive pair of double doors just on the other side. She made her way across the floor to them and pushed them open with no hesitation. 

The white marble room beyond was how she had left it months ago, just with more paintings. A lot more paintings. They lined every available space they could lean against, each one an amateurly done portrait of a pony.  Beyond that, angry mumbles were coming from the room that belonged to the painter of those grim things. Twilight let loose a sigh and moved towards the sounds. 

Celestia’s room was a mess. A massive painting, one that looked like a ghoulish blood-stained caricature of Twilight’s teacher, dominated almost an entire wall and looked down on the impromptu proceedings in front of it with a demented grin. Celestia sat on her bed, staring out into space as Princess Luna and Shining Armor glowered angrily at one another with Spike between them both. Nopony had noticed her arrival.

“How did this happen?” She cut through the tension in the room with the best authoritative voice she could manage. Every eye in the room, even Celestia’s, turned to look at her. There was a beat, then Spike sprinted over to her and jumped up to hug her. Twilight fell onto her haunches and caught the little dragon in a tight and warm embrace. She closed her eyes and rested her head on him for a few moments, the feeling of his rough scales against her coat like so much therapy she knew she needed. They could only afford those few moments of warm intimacy before she released him and stood again.

“We’re glad you could join us, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna spoke first. “The situation has deteriorated significantly. Some ponies in the press have already caught wind and the story is spreading.”

“Okay, but what exactly happened?” Twilight reiterated. “What caused this?”

“Well?” Luna looked to Shining Armor as she asked the question.

“It was…it was a misunderstanding.” The captain muttered in response. Shining wasn’t even wearing his armor right now, instead he only wore red and tired eyes and a scowl. “We’ve been getting more and more refugees, it’s been impossible to keep track. Our rations have been getting stretched thinner and thinner and…and we hit a wall.” His voice was devoid of every emotion except guilt as he explained. “We ran out in less than an hour of serving ponies…so did most stations in the city. Princess Luna told me to have my guards collect more from the farming communities on their next round of collections. I misunderstood.” Shining’s head fell and he took a deep breath. “I had Spike send a letter out to the posts, it said to have them collect more food. I…didn’t say on their next rounds. A few of them interpreted it to mean ‘now’ and not later.”

“I-it’s my fault too.” Spike’s clawed hand balled into a fist as tears fell from his eyes. “I should’ve clarified. I should’ve asked. You always told me to make sure that what I’m writing is clear and not just write down everything word for word.”

“How many?” Twilight murmured as she pulled Spike close to her body with a wing. “The letter said Appleloosa, but how many ponies? Were any other towns affected?” 

“Initial report says two dozen in Appleloosa.” Shining Armor’s voice became an even wider chasm of guilt as he spoke. “Some other towns were visited, but there was no violence. Just in Appleloosa.”

Silence filled the room atop the Royale Hotel as the royals marinated in the information. Twilight wasn’t even sure where to go from here. They obviously needed to issue a statement, which meant she needed to issue a statement. The very few times since The Event that any of the alicorns had spoken to the public, it had been her since she looked the most normal of the bunch. What would she even say?

“They were all unicorns.” Celestia spoke, her voice flat and emotionless. “The guards, they were all unicorns.”

“No…” Twilight put a hoof to her head and sucked in a deep breath before letting it out in a long sigh. “Okay.” Twilight closed her eyes for a brief moment to collect her thoughts before speaking again. “We can handle this.”

“We cannot take responsibility.” Luna stated adamantly. “The fault must be put on the guards who carried it out, not us.” Shining Armor and Twilight both looked at the princess of the night with varying levels of disgust.

“They were faulty orders. They were doing as they were told!” Shining Armor’s vast guilt seemed to evaporate as a ball of fire welled up inside of him. “They just killed innocent ponies and you don’t think they’re suffering enough? The last thing they need is all of Equestria blaming them.”

“We can’t have ponies lose any more faith in us.” Celestia spoke again, this time in agreement with her sister. “They must believe that we are doing our best, that we are right. Faith in the crown can’t waiver, especially now.”

“Well that might be easier if any of you ever showed yourself.” Shining Armor fired right back at the two, dropping all decorum he might’ve once had. “Celestia locks herself up here, Luna curates who sees her and Twilight is off doing who knows what. How can anypony out there have any faith in ponies they can’t even see?”

“Captain, you forget yourself.” Luna’s leathery wings flared as she advanced on the stallion, her head held high. “I’ll remind you to whom you are speaking.”

“I know who I’m talking to. My little sister and my two in-laws.” Shining Armor glared back at Luna. “I’m not throwing my ponies under the bus when it was our fault. We didn’t keep track of ponies. We didn’t properly monitor rations. We haven’t even tried to relocate any of the unicorns here to help with the food shortage. The buck stops here, Luna.”

“Well We cannot do it alone!” Luna shouted back at him as tears started to run down her own face. “We spend all day trying Our best while they—” she pointed an accusatory hoof at the other alicorns in the room. “—do not help Us at all!” Luna sat down and a low rumble started in her throat as fangs peeked out from her lips. “I need help.” She finally said.

“Give me a week.” Twilight sighed as she spoke. “That’s all I need, a week. I’ll be finished with what I’m doing and I’ll be back here to help.” She prayed it would  only take a week. Everything was about ready, she just had to get a few more things and then set it all up.

“We don’t have a week.” Shining Armor pointed out. “In a week the food shortages will be worse. Then in two weeks, Princess Luna has that summit with the Changelings and Dragons in the Changeling Hive. We need to get something sorted out by then.”

“I can be here by then.” Twilight reasserted.

“What if we’re not enough anymore?” The sad, quiet question came from the dusk-maned alicorn on the bed. Perhaps it had been on everypony’s minds, but none had dared to ask it.

A heavy silence descended on the room as they all pondered that question. Alicorns had ruled over Equestria’s body politic for well over a thousand years at this point and it had been only them. First the sisters, then Celesita alone, and now all four of them ruled as a group and chipped in where they could. What if that wasn’t viable anymore? What would an Equestria without full power in the hooves of the alicorns look like? Would that even be Equestria anymore?

“All of Equestria hurts right now.” Spike was the next one to speak as he gently put Twilight’s wing back against her body. “Everypony is like you guys. They’re scared and hurt…and…and broken. Just like you.” The ponies in the room flinched at the words and looked away from the little dragon’s words. “Everypony is hurting. They don’t know what’s supposed to happen either…so maybe-maybe you should ask them what they think should happen.”

“The Stables.” Luna murmured after another bout of oppressive silence. “We could convene The Stables.”

“The what?” Shining Armor asked.

“I haven’t thought of them in…a very long time.” Celestia muttered as she looked up at the ceiling. “Could we even track those bloodlines?”

“If some of them even survived The Event.” Luna retorted. “We could make new rules for it, I think. We have that power.”

“What are The Stables?” Shining Armor asked as he stamped a hoof against the floor. “I’m a little lost here.” 

“Post-Unification but Pre-Alicorn form of government.” Twilight rattled off the information effortlessly. “It consisted of the heads of ‘great families’ from the three tribes that met in Fillydelphia to decide matters of policy.”

“We used them early in our reign as well.” Luna added. “They were useful during the transition to the diarchy. We would certainly need to alter the qualifications for members, but we could do it.” She looked to Celestia on the bed. “Sister, will you help Us? You are the only other pony who knows so much about The Stables.” She then looked to Spike. “The Manehatten Library has a copy of the original charter, or it should, can you retrieve it for us so that we may have it to go off of?” 

“This is all well and good.” Twilight stepped into the conversation again. “But what about Appleloosa? What about the ponies that…” She swallowed the word that would’ve finished the sentence. Yet again, a heavy silence pressed down on the room.

“I’ll take responsibility.” Shining Armor said with a sigh. As he spoke those words, one could see his frame visibly sag. “Maybe you’re right that the crown can’t take the hit, but I can. They were bad orders. I issued them. I’ll say I tried to take matters into my own hooves and didn’t make sure the orders I sent out were clear enough.” He closed his eyes and hung his head. “I-I’ll call a press conference and handle it.”

Twilight ran over and embraced her brother, as did Spike. It took a moment, but he reciprocated and then squeezed them both tight. The three Sparkle siblings stood there for a moment and relished in the closeness of family.

“Visit more often, Twily. I miss you.”

“I will…I’m almost done. Soon I can rest.” She mumbled in response as she pulled away from the hug. Speaking of her mission, she had one more piece of business here. She turned to Luna, who was talking with Celestia about their plan. “You have something I need, Princess Luna. An artifact.”

—-

The office of the Equestrian Repopulation Bureau in Vanhoover was nothing but a converted townhouse, sandwiched between numerous other converted homes. The northwest of Equestria was sparsely populated, but it was far enough away from Manehattan that a regional capital of sorts was needed to properly exercise the will of the crown across the region. Vanhoover was equidistant to Whinnyapolis, the remnants of Cloudsdale, and the border of the Crystal Empire. It also had jurisdiction over the various villages that dotted the surrounding wilderness. So large swaths of its residential areas, now conveniently empty, had been converted into government buildings. 

Inside, on the first level, two stallions sat on either side of a desk. A fire crackled not too far away from them in a red brick hearth. The stallion behind the desk was a once-pudgy bureaucrat who had to tighten his proverbial belts like the rest of the country, but even now the loose skin around his face and legs showed how nice and full he had once been. The other stallion was a hulking specimen, pure muscle from years of hard work in the outdoors. His coat was light brown with long streaks of a darker shade of brown running through it. A long shaggy chestnut mane hung around his brilliant blue eyes.

“You got another one for me?” The bigger stallion asked, his voice nowhere near as booming as one might imagine it. Instead it was soft and gentle. 

“Yep.” The bureaucrat pushed a file across the oak desk. “This one’s in Hope Hollow, Cheerilee. She’s a bit of an older mare, but we think she can still have foals. How soon do you think you can be out there, Muddy?”

“Gotta pack up the boys again.” The stallion, Muddy, muttered. “Give me a day to get everything here sorted, then I can head out. Shouldn’t take me more than a couple of days to get out there.”

“I know all of this moving around can’t be easy with your colts, Muddy.” The bureaucrat leaned back in his chair, which creaked in protest. “I’m trying to keep you close to home so you don’t have to drag them all over Equestria and back again.”

“And I appreciate that, I truly do.” Muddy responded with a smile and a nod. “Rock and Roll, they’re at that age where they think they can do everything. They think they’re invincible, y’know?”

“Well they survived The Event.” The other pony said with a shrug. “Ponies that young surviving those terrible terrible monsters, they have every right to feel like that.”

“Wish the same could be said for us, huh?” Muddy chuckled. “All it did for me was open my eyes to how dangerous everything is. Made me feel a whole lot more scared than invincible.”

“That’s the gift of youth, I guess.”

There was a beat of silence between the two.

“This town, it doesn’t have any unicorns, right?” Muddy asked as he picked up the file finally and flipped through it. Inside was a picture of the mare to whom he was now assigned. She was pretty enough, a mulberry coat with a very light pink mane. She already had a very motherly look to her as well. The file said she was a teacher, so at least she would be good with his kids. 

“No no.” The other pony waved a hoof. “A few pegasi, but mostly earth ponies.”

Muddy rolled his eyes at the mention of the pegasi and grumbled under his breath. Not everything could be perfect, he guessed. It would be good enough for now. Plus, they were about to add three more earth ponies to the town with a fourth soon to be on the way.

The perfect town didn’t exist yet, but he knew it was within reach.
> The Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hello everypony.” Shining Armor spoke coldly as he approached the podium set up in one of the Royale Hotel’s ballrooms. Before him sprawled dozens of reporters from outlets all across Equestria. The evening sun streamed through the high windows, bathing the rather plain room in shades of warm orange. It wasn’t quite the press room back in Canterlot, but it served its purpose. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” His blood ran ice cold and a knot formed in his stomach as he took a deep breath. The flashbulbs of the cameras aimed at him, ready for his public self-execution. “I’m sure everypony has heard the rumblings of what happened in Appleloosa earlier today. I’m here to clarify the events.” He looked down at the paper on the podium, the one he and Twilight had spent a few hours crafting before she had to leave again.

The press murmured and roiled with anticipation and theories as he paused. He had to take this all in, because there was a good chance this was going to be it for him. There would be calls for him to resign, and they would be right to make those calls. Would the princesses defend him? He hoped so, but he knew that might make them look bad.

“This morning in Manehattan we experienced severe ration shortages across the city. We were not prepared for the amount of refugees pouring in not just from the countryside but from other cities as well.” He swallowed his pride and let the first lie fall out of his mouth. “I took matters into my own hooves. The Princesses are busy enough with so many other problems and they left the Royal Guard in charge of dispensing and collecting rations, so I took initiative. I instructed outposts to collect an extra round of rations from certain towns and settlements that have exceeded their production quotas to help shore up our own reserves. One of these towns was Appleloosa. Lieutenant Rubicon was dispatched with a contingent of guards to ensure the safe transfer of goods. According to the report issued by Lieutenant Rubicon, which you’ve all been provided with abridged copies of, the citizens of Appleloosa refused the order, a pony in the crowd threw a rock at the guards and an altercation followed.”

“You mean they killed ponies!” A reporter from the crowd shouted.

“Regrettably, yes.” Shining Armor let out a deep sigh, one that wasn’t for show and he felt deep in his soul. “We’re still gathering the names of all of those that were…mortally wounded in the altercation. They will be available to you all as soon as we have them. I want to extend my apologies to not just those hurt or worse in this situation, but to their families and Equestria as a whole. The Royal Guard was never meant for anything more than operation inside of Canterlot and wherever the Princesses went. These new expanded responsibilities all across Equestria have stretched not just our numbers, but our nerves thin as well. These are not excuses, as what happened in Appleloosa is inexcusable, but they are the facts. We will be launching an internal investigation into what happened so we can develop a comprehensive retooling of our protocols in the field so this doesn’t happen again.” He took another deep breath. “Questions?”

—-

“Will you be stepping down as the Captain of the Royal Guard?” One of the reporters’ voices came through the crackling speaker of the radio following Shining Armor’s call for questions.

Sweetie Belle sat on the couch right next to the radio, her eyes studying the beat up little machine as the voices dribbled from the speaker. Apple Bloom was in Appleloosa, so she was hoping to hear a little assurance that one of her best friends was alive and okay, but not even Shining Armor knew it seemed. 

“If the Princesses ask me to, absolutely.” Shining Armor responded to the question stolidly. “Stepping down in Equestria’s current situation without a replacement immediately available or without direct orders from the Princesses themselves would only lead to more chaos in the ranks of the Royal Guard. I aim to help bring stability back to Equestria, and walking away would only serve the opposite goal.”

“Oh Sweetie Belle, turn that depressing racket off.” The heavily accented words of Cookie Crumbles came from the kitchen. “I don’t need to hear about more death. Nopony does.” Her mother barked annoyedly.

Sweetie Belle didn’t resist or argue, she reached out with a hoof and switched the radio off. The device sputtered in appreciation as it was mercifully shut off. The filly then let out a little sigh and hopped down from the couch and wandered over to one of the windows.

Beyond the window, the streets of Baltimare sprawled out to the horizon. They were put up in an apartment near the city’s historic harbor. In fact, if she went to one of the other windows, she could look out into the Horseshoe Bay where even this late in the evening, fishing boats would still be coming in and out of the harbor. That was one of the things she was still getting used to about living here: eating fish. Back in Ponvyille her dad fished for a job, but all of his catches went elsewhere because there was no market for them in Ponyville. They ate the waterbound creatures rarely then. Here in Batlimare the warm waters of the southern Celestial Sea made them a staple.

The reliance on the sea also left them mostly independent from the rest of Equestria. They still had grains and other crops come in, but it wasn’t as much as cities like Fillydelphia and Manehattan needed. Fishing here was an industry, one that bounced back quickly after The Event. 

Even now her mother was frying up some kind of fish in oil on a pan. She could smell the thick acrid smoke coming off of it, a sign that dinner was probably being burned again. No one had ever accused the mares in the family of being good cooks. 

That used to be her dad’s thing.

“Sweetie Belle, dear.” Her mother’s plaintive voice pierced the smoke that was now pouring out of the kitchen in thick black waves. “Use some of my bits and go get some fresh fish and take it to Canola down on the third floor.” That was code for ‘I messed up dinner again. Go make somepony else do it.’ It was more common than not and only made Sweetie roll her eyes.

“Okay mom!” Sweetie Belle stood on her hind legs and pried open the window. A rush of cool fall air pushed into the apartment as the smoke her mom’s cooking produced exited. The filly then went about gathering the bits her mother had mentioned and an old saddlebag she could tote the fish around in. Then she left the apartment.

Their home was on the tenth floor of the building, the only lifeline to the bottom floor besides way too many stairs to count was a rickety old elevator that always felt like it was one bad day from being out of service forever. Lucky for her the creaky thing was already on her floor, no doubt from a neighbor recently getting home, so once the door opened she stepped in and hit the button for the ground floor.

The interior of the elevator car was about what one would expect for the machine that was teetering on unreliable. Deep pockmarks from magic discharge littered the metal walls and on the inner doors she could still see teeth marks where the doors met. Then there was the blood stain on the floor that somepony had tried and failed to fully clean. It had become easier and easier to ignore over time, but it still made her stomach churn. None of that made the stairs the more appealing alternative, though. She would stick with the murder-box over ten flights in an unlit stairwell.

As the slow contraption made its way down the shaft, her mind wandered. Mainly they wandered to the bits she now held in her bag. Bits were a commodity these days. Everypony mostly used bartering or they used ration coupons as currency. Most ponies had been separated from their wealth during and after The Event and it’s not like Equestria’s financial institutions were back up and running. The Royal Mint had been in Canterlot, so no new bits would be in circulation until they could build a new one. So the question stood in the filly’s mind, where did her mother get bits? Had she traded some of their ration coupons for them? That was probably it, but she wondered how much one coupon went for these days.

The elevator dinged and the damaged doors slid open. Sweetie Belle trotted out of them and through the little lobby of the building and into the wider city beyond. The sun was still over the horizon, barely, and bathed the city in shades of purple and orange. Street lights flickered on as the seconds passed, getting ready to light the streets for the ponies who might be around at night.

Several unicorns trotted by the filly on the sidewalk, and every one of them shot her a worried glance and gave her a wide berth as they passed by. They didn’t see the broken stump of a horn hidden beneath her curly mane and they thought she was an earth pony, and they were scared to even look at her because of it. 

They didn’t know. They didn’t know the weeks she spent tied up in the clubhouse deep in Sweet Apple Acres, her mind filled with the same hate-filled commands the rest of them had. They couldn’t know. They didn’t see a horn or any deformities that now accompanied one, so they thought she was one of the ponies they had collectively wronged. Maybe they thought she hated them like earth ponies and pegasi seemed to hate unicorns these days.

The assumption that she wasn’t what she actually was kept her safe enough to walk a few blocks to the market. Ponies kept out of her way or shot her wary glances at every small encounter, even the ponies hocking their freshly caught fish would try to keep their conversations to a minimum with her, and they usually reduced their prices too.

Sweetie Belle wandered towards the little market, but along the way something caught her ear. It was a voice intoned with passion and zeal that she hadn’t heard since well before The Event. It instantly drew her towards it, down a street she usually wouldn’t take to a park filled with close to one-hundred ponies. Not just ponies, unicorns. Lengthened legs and muzzles, sharp teeth and sharper horns dotted every single attendee in the crowd as they all stared towards a hastily erected stage in the middle.

A unicorn paced back and forth on the stage on long light gray legs. A dark gray, almost black, mane was slicked back on top of his head but the hairline didn’t quite reach the long spear-like horn that sprouted from his head. The mane was accompanied by a similarly colored full beard that had white streaks through it. A pair of fiery green eyes looked out over the crowd as his booming voice enveloped the park.

“Where is our help?!” He asked ruefully as he slammed a hoof on the wooden stage beneath it. “The earth ponies are given whole towns with enough land to farm and live on! The pegasi are given free reign of the sky, they are even given Canterlot, or what’s left of it, to do with what they please!” A wave of angry mumbles swept through the crowd at that. “Where does that leave us? In the cities! Starving! Reliant on them, the ponies who hate us for something we could not even control, to feed us! They would rather we starve!”

Sweetie Belle looked around to gauge the reaction to that. Ponies all over were nodding their heads in agreement or passionately yelling that they felt the same way. She knew it wasn’t like that, not really. The ponies out there didn’t hate unicorns, they were just scared, right? Who wouldn’t be after The Event. They just all needed time to heal.

“Who is this guy?” Sweetie Belle tugged on the leg of a mare next to her and asked. The mare gave her a curious look, but evidently shrugged it away.

“He used to work for the government, I think.” The mare responded. “His name’s Neighsay. He’s been giving these speeches in all of the big cities.”

Well Sweetie Belle had never heard of him, and she was by the radio most days while her mother was doing whatever work she could find. There were rabble rousers, of course, unicorns all over who felt they were getting a raw deal and sometimes that led to riots. Was this the pony that was causing them? She looked around to make sure she had an exit just in case. More ponies coalesced behind her by the minute and had made sure that she couldn’t just back away. 

The best she could do now is hope this didn’t get out of control.

“I’ve heard stories from all across Equestria!” The stallion, Neighsay, continued. “Unicorns who went out into the world, who dared venture from the cities where we’ve been imprisoned and tried to help the earth ponies in the fields! They were scorned! They were turned away! They were attacked! Numerous tales of good, kind-hearted unicorns who only wanted to help not just their own kind, but all of Equestria, being struck down for having dared enter a town where our kind wasn’t welcome!” The crowd erupted yet again at the anecdotes he provided. Neighsay raised a hoof to quiet them and eventually the crowd acquiesced to the request. “I know, I know! It’s appalling!” He took a deep breath before continuing. “That’s why we must create our own towns away from these wretched cities where they want to keep us! The princesses don’t care for you, they don’t care for me! They put us here! They keep us here with no plans or vision! We must reclaim towns now long-since abandoned and build farms that feed unicorns. Where we are not only welcome, but we are the masters of the fields and the weather because it is beyond obvious that now our so-called ‘friends’ of the other races are not able to look past what we are or what we may have done! If they will not allow us to integrate, then we! Must! Separate!”

Shivers shot up Sweetie Belle’s spine as the rhetoric received yet another roar of approval from the crowd. How could so many ponies believe this? Just as the unicorns were consumed with guilt over what happened, the others were consumed with fear. She was sure that with time and understanding, this could be fixed! They had come together as Equestrians too many times to be split apart by this.

This wasn’t what her sister saved the world so many times for. 

This wasn’t what Rarity died for.

“Do we have any earth ponies or pegasi in the crowd tonight?” Nieghsay asked. There was a rumble in the crowd as the ponies looked around. “I know, probably not. If we do, please send them up here! We must understand their point of view!” 

“I got one here!”  A pony, the mare who had told Sweetie who the stallion was, shouted. An aura of magic surrounded Sweetie Belle and lifted into the air above the throng of unicorns. All eyes turned to her as she was moved forward. When one aura faded around her, another gripped her and propelled her forward.

The filly struggled and protested, but the ponies didn’t listen. She focused, willing the magic she no longer had to work and break her out, but all it got her were barely visible sparks pouring from her mane. The eyes of the unicorns, which usually were filled with guilt and worry when they looked at her, were now filled with a mix of vitriol and resentment. A few of those magical grasps squeezed her tight enough to force the air from her lungs. It took her less than a minute to be placed on the stage right beside Neighsay.

“Tell me—” Neighsay gave her no chance to adjust as he rested a hoof on her back and spoke to the crowd more than herself. “—why do you hate us? Why do you fear us? We’re not those monsters anymore, we’re just ponies. Just like you.”

Sweetie’s heart raced and she could feel the sweat dripping down her face. She didn’t talk much, not anymore. Usually it was just short answers to her mom or telling some vendor at the market what she wanted to buy. She hadn’t said anything more complicated than a few words to another pony since she last spoke to her sister. The thought of talking not just to Neighsay, but to everypony here, was terrifying.

‘What would Rarity do?’ a little voice in her head asked. She wouldn’t be frozen up here, no. She would stand up for the ponies who needed help. Rarity and her friends would defend harmony, just like they always had.

“I-I don’t hate you.” She finally stammered out as she planted her hooves firmly on the stage and steadied herself. “I’m not an earth pony either!” She yelled out to the crowd, her voice quavering with every syllable. She reached up and parted her mane, showing the broken stump of her horn hidden beneath.

“A tragedy.” Neighsay recovered from this revelation in an instant and changed gears just as fast. “This is what they do to us! To foals! They break our horns either with their hooves or they make us break them with their words and actions!”

Sweetie Belle started to shake a little more. Not from fright anymore, no, from anger. Every single thing he was saying was sick and wrong! He was just saying this to make ponies angry and for what? She didn’t even know but it just made her more angry. She opened her mouth to speak, to berate him and the crowd and extol the virtues she had learned about so intimately from her life in Ponyville.

Nothing came out.

Hot tears streamed down her face as words failed her. She tried a few more times to say something, anything. Something that would make the Elements of Harmony proud, that would unite the races and bring Equestria back together again. All the crowd got was a pained sob instead.

Sweetie Belle fled from the stage, angry with not just herself but everypony in the park as well. She had needed to say something in defense of the earth ponies and pegasi of the world, and they had needed to hear it. Neighsay had needed to hear it too, but who was she to tell them? She was just a broken and displaced filly, just another unicorn in a sea of them.

A deep inexorable sadness returned to her heart just as an overwhelming anger bubbled in the heart of Baltimare.
> Reinforcements
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What a mess…” Twilight muttered as she materialized in Fluttershy’s cottage. The light outside had died some time ago, only the pale moonlight illuminated the interior of the humble home. Starlight was asleep on the couch, snoring as she went through another dreamless sleep enforced by spells Twilight had taught her.

The once-princess sat down in the middle of the room and let out a deep sigh. She had been on edge all day since getting that letter and this was the first time since then that she could do something that resembled relaxing. It was at that moment that she realized just how tired she was. Months of traveling by hoof, months of little sleep and excess worry felt like it finally caught up with her. Her muscles ached, her eyes felt like they were being dragged down by weights, and she had a headache that was just strong enough to make thinking difficult.

It was easier to do this stuff when you were tense, when you were excited. It was when you came down, when the moment of action was over, that you really began to regret it all. She was at that stage now.

“Twilight Sparkle, do you know what time it is?” Discord’s sarcastic tone broke the stillness of the night as he appeared in front of her. “I expected you home hours ago, missy.”

“Discord, can we not?” Twilight whispered at him to keep from waking Starlight up. “It’s been a long day, alright?”

“I can tell.” Discord floated towards her in midair on his back, his arms behind his head. “You look like a timberwolf’s plaything.” He flashed a toothy grin at her. “No offense, of course.”

“Of course.” Twilight grumbled in response.

“Oh, Starlight and I got your final piece by the way.” Discord jerked a thumb towards an old beat up shovel resting against the couch that Twilight hadn’t noticed yet. “No dragons to burn us this time, but it was a lot of digging.”

“Thank you, Discord. Really. It means a lot to me.” Twilight pulled a strip of off-white cloth out. It was old and dirty, but it was in one piece. The threads were starting to come loose, but they were holding together for now. “I got the last one from Manehattan.”

“Do you really think this will work?” Discord asked, all mirth removed from his voice. He sounded sad, worried even. 

“It has to,” Twilight muttered. “Somepony needs to save Equestria…”

“You already did, Twilight.” Discord set himself on the ground, rested a claw on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. “You and your friends, you saved Equestria. It just needs to be rebuilt now.”

“It doesn’t feel saved,” Twilight countered as she looked out of the window. “It feels like all we did was delay the inevitable. It feels like all we did was delay the end.” It was a bitter taste in her mouth that coated each of those words. The more of the world she saw, the more she heard of what ponies were doing to one another; the more bitter she became.

“Please don’t say that,” Discord pleaded in a small voice. “Don’t…ever say that.” He shook his head and she could see tears forming in his mismatched red and yellow eyes. “You make it sound like they wasted their lives. Like she wasted her life.” 

“What if she did?” Twilight asked. “What if they did? What if, after all of this, it turns out not to have mattered?” she asked the question that had been on her mind every minute since she woke up covered in the ashes of her friends. 

“Then maybe we should’ve all died in your castle,” Discord answered bitterly. “If none of that mattered, then what’s the point of going on? Why are you doing all of this?”

“Because it needs to have mattered,” Twilight whispered and wrapped her wings around herself. “Their lives, their deaths, need to mean something. Even if I have to make them mean something.”

Discord sat for a moment, thinking that over, then he nodded. The two poles of the world, harmony and chaos, sat in silence for a few more minutes before bidding each other goodnight. Neither would sleep well, and they both knew it.

—-

Starlight Glimmer woke up slowly. Before The Event she relied on coffee to get her mornings started for most of her life, partially a failure of parenting and her fault for not cutting off her obvious addiction earlier in life, but nowadays coffee wasn’t exactly something she could get her hooves on. So now here she was left, cranky and tired with no way to get her brain going except the old fashioned way of just waking up. That was one of the many many inconveniences about the current state of Equestria, and honestly it was the one that Starlight hated the most on a deeply personal level.

She groaned a bit as she stared up at the ceiling. The couch she had been sleeping on the last few nights was uncomfortable, as most couches were, and the arm dug into her neck at the worst possible angle. After a few minutes of silently cursing the furniture, she sat up and blinked the sleep from her eyes. 

It was early in the morning, right as the sun began to come over the horizon. The interior of the cottage wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t bright enough to distinguish every little thing quite yet. She could see Twilight, though. Her mentor was propped against the nearby coffee table, her head resting on it and a puddle of drool forming beneath her mouth.

“Oh Twilight…” She said with a sigh. The drive that her mentor had harnessed for this mission was nothing short of astonishing. It was enough to kill any other pony. Then again, she wasn’t sure how ‘alive’ Twilight was anymore. Sure, she was alive in the most literal sense, but she wasn’t living anymore. She was just doing things, using every last drop of energy to accomplish this task. 

What would happen when they were done? What would Twilight do then?

“Nnnn.” Twilight groaned as she stirred and sat up. A wing came up and wiped her face free of her own saliva. She blearily blinked at Starlight, the frown she permanently wore already present this early in the morning. “Morning, Starlight.”

“Morning,” she responded in kind. They never said ‘good morning’ anymore. No such thing existed anymore.

“Got the last one in Manehattan.” Twilight went straight to business as she rose to her hooves and stretched out. “Today’s the day,” she stated simply. “We leave as soon as we can.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to give it a day?” Starlight prodded. “Just take a day to go over what we need to do and prepare fully?” She just wanted Twilight to slow down and not completely burn out, even if it was a hopeless task.

“We’ve gone over the plan a thousand times,” Twilight stated resolutely as she went over to their packs and fished out some of their food. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a bunch of dried fruit and canned goods they had gathered and scavenged over their travels. “Eat up, it’s going to be a busy day.”

They both sat on the couch and ate in silence, as they usually did. Twilight had Starswirl’s journal out, long since translated with the help of Starlight’s unique talent of deciphering chicken scratch, and made some notes in it.

“I still can’t believe that Sunburst brought that with him from the Crystal Empire when he fled.” As Starlight said the name of her foalhood friend, a severe and deep pain shot through her heart. 

“Then he managed to leave it on the train,” Twilight shot back. “We’re lucky it wasn’t destroyed in The Event and that the guards found it and confiscated it before somepony else got their hooves on it.” Her mentor added. “Without this, I don’t know what I’d be doing.”

‘Being miserable in Manehattan with Celestia’ would be the safe bet. Without this mission, this quest, Twilight would be just as miserable as the perturbed portrait painter at the top of the tower.

“Goooood morning, you two,” Discord chirped cheerfully as he came from one of the rooms in the cottage. “Up early are we?” The draconequus left the ground and floated over to them. “Don’t mind if I do!” he said as he took a piece of dried apple from Starlight and popped it into his mouth.

“Morning, Discord!” Starlight gave her best smile to her friend and leaned in to give him a small hug. “Yeah, today’s the day. So it’s going to be long and stressful, y’know?” She had flipped the switch from melancholic to something resembling happy in an instant. Twilight wouldn’t respond to this kind of enthusiasm anymore, Starlight knew that well, but Discord thrived on it.

“Do you want me to tag along? I can take the day off from all of this.” He gestured to the house and the animals who were now beginning to wake up as the sun spilled in through the windows. “I’m sure I could help. After all this is some old magic, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“We got it,” Twilight stated bluntly.“ Starlight and I have this plan down and we’ve had it down. The last thing we need is another variable. There are too many already, I don’t want another.”

Discord visibly wilted as the words spilled from Twilight’s mouth with no small amount of venom coating them. Starlight patted his side and gave him a little smile and a shrug. He only frowned and sighed in response.

“Well alright…” He conceded and then turned to Starlight. “If anything goes wrong, just yell for me. I’ll be keeping an ear out for you.” To make a point he pulled one of his ears off and slipped it into Starlight’s saddlebags with a wink. Starlight rolled her eyes playfully and gave him a nod. “Well at least let me see you two off. Do you need a teleport to wherever you’re going? I can do that too!” 

“It’s probably a good idea.” Starlight put her weight behind Discord’s suggestion. “You need to save up all of the energy you can, Twilight.” They both looked at the alicorn as she mulled over the suggestion. She sighed and nodded her head in agreement. 

The odd trio of two villains turned do-gooders and one hero turned world destroyer went about collecting all of the things they would need. Starlight was in charge of the various artifacts that Discord had recovered for them, and as such they were tied to and in her saddlebags to the point where she was weighed down. The rusty metal shield rested on her back with a shovel and a potted flower sticking out of her bags, then an intricate blue and yellow bird-looking mask was placed on top of her head. Then finally Twilight told Discord exactly where to drop them.

Twilight had Starswirl’s journal with the Alicorn Amulet on top of it stuffed in her saddlebag along with their supplies and the weight of what she’d done on her back. As far as Starlight was concerned, the division of labor was good enough.

“Like I said, just yell if you need me,” Discord whispered to Starlight as his ear poked itself out of her saddlebag and wiggled a bit. Twilight was in the lead as they all left the cottage to stand in the early morning sunlight. “Okay, let’s get you two on your way!” He clapped his mismatched hands together with a grin and sped to the front of the group. “Keep your hooves, horns and wings inside the ride at all times and please enjoy your ride on Discord Air!” he proclaimed as he raised his talons and snapped them.

The two mares disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared somewhere else instantly. Normal teleportation was disorienting enough, but Discord’s was a special kind of Tartarus. Starlight wasn’t sure how it worked, but it felt like her entire body had been sucked through a very long straw very very fast and she was spat out here.

When they both finally regained their senses, they found they were exactly where they needed to be. At the base of Foal Mountain, nestled amongst now dead trees, were ancient ruins left undisturbed save for the vines and trees that had attempted to reclaim it before being thwarted by the harsh sunlight of The Event. 

A large stone circle encompassed the area with six pillars covered in runes and markings rising from it near the edges. In the middle was what looked to be a large stone bowl or some kind of dais. The vines that had once wrapped around every piece of stonework were now rotten and brown and littered the ground. When they had come here the first time they had cleared most of it, but so many little pieces still remained.

She still remembered the scene that had once played out here. On their first trip Twilight had placed Starswirl’s journal down in exasperation and activated some kind of magical projection that replayed the battle that the mythical Pillars of Equestria had with the Pony of Shadows. They had successfully banished the creature and took themselves with it.

She still remembered when Twilight had the realization that bringing back the Pillars would mean bringing back the Pony of Shadows as well. They had been going from library to library all across Equestria, or at least where libraries still stood, and Starlight had come across a first edition copy of Magical Mishaps and Accidents that had some ancient unicorn hero accidentally banishing himself along with the monster he was supposed to dispatch. Then they finally put two and two together and realized the threat that would join the Pillars.

So here they were, after months of reading and preparation, ready to right a wrong and bring heroes back to Equestria.

Starlight went around placing all of the artifacts on their proper pedestals before the stone pillars. Her heart raced as she went around the circle, it sped up and thundered in her ears as she placed Rockhoof’s shovel, the final one before the journal, in its place. When it was done, she trotted over to Twilight and nodded.

“Remember, Want It, Need It spell,” Twilight spoke with a grim determination. “It should be able to break through the Amulet’s charms with the modifications we’ve made to it. Persuade me to take it off and then we can deal with the Pillars. The Pony of Shadows comes first, though.”

“And you’re sure you’re comfortable…doing this?” Dealing with the Pony of Shadows meant a lot more than talking with it and using the power of understanding, friendship and magic rainbows to make it friendly. Dealing with it meant using the Alicorn Amulet and disposing of the monster permanently. 

“What’s one more body on the pile?” Twilight asked coldly, clearly not seeking an actual response. “Here, take the book. Place it whenever you’re ready.” She pushed Starswirl’s journal into Starlight’s chest and took position facing the giant bowl in the center. The Alicorn Amulet hovered around Twilight’s neck, not yet clasped but waiting.

Starlight held the journal close to her chest as she trotted over to the pedestal where it would rest and then Starlight would have to use her magic to activate the return spell, that is if they were right and this is how it all worked. She took it in her magic and held it above its spot. “Okay Twilight, putting it down now!” 

“Let’s do this,” Twilight muttered almost inaudibly, a subtle click accompanying her words.

Starlight put the journal down and then stepped back and focused energy into her horn. There was no great secret or old spell to do this, she just had to pour energy into the book to kickstart the process from what they had learned. So she aimed her horn at the little blue book and fired a stream of pure magic at it. 

The strain she felt was intense and instantaneous. She hadn’t used magic like this since before The Event. In fact, the last spell she had used that caused her to put any kind of effort in was the teleportation spell that caused her to turn in the first place. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead and her legs began to shake as she opened up her magic for maximum output. This felt like a job for three unicorns, not one.

As soon as the book began to shine with an overwhelming white light, she killed her stream of magic and immediately collapsed onto the ground. She watched on as a beam of light shot from the book to the next artifact and onto the next until the circle was completed and the beam returned to the book. All of the Pillar’s symbols began to rise into the air while still connected by that white stream of energy, then they began to spin. Faster and faster they went around until they couldn’t be distinguished from one another. Then in the blink of an eye they converged right above the giant stone bowl in the middle of the clearing and collided in a flash of blinding light. 

When the light faded, six ponies were hovering in the air with giant stones above them. They began to fall. Adrenaline surged through Starlight’s system as she leapt to her hooves and fired up her horn again. Those stones were big enough to kill a pony, so she needed to act as fast as she could. She focused on the six ponies and reached out to them with her magic and gave them all one tug towards the center of the clearing.

Where originally they might have landed on the stone pedestals that once held their artifacts, now the Pillars landed about a foot in front of them while the massive boulders crashed harmlessly into where they might’ve been if Starlight hadn’t interceded. Starlight took short panicky breaths and looked around wild eyed for a moment, alert for anything else that might appear. Then her eyes fell on the elderly stallion now at her hooves.

“What…what has happened?” he asked as he looked up at the unicorn mare who had saved him with deep blue eyes. His coat was gray with little streaks of white here and there, but the white had fully overtaken the long mane that flowed from beneath the ornate blue wizard hat adorned with bells, and it had certainly overtaken the long flowing beard that drooped from his chin.

“W-we brought you back.” Starlight managed to sputter out.

“Back where?” Starswirl asked groggily as he got to his hooves and looked around.

“Equestria. You’ve been trapped in limbo for the last thousand years, but we brought you back.” She was doing her best to stay on her own hooves as he rose to his. As she spoke she saw his eyes shrink to the size of pinpricks and looked around in a mix of horror and panic.

“WHAT?!” He bellowed. “No no no no!” He pushed a hoof into Starlight’s chest. “You must undo what you have done! You cannot bring only the Pillars back!” He looked around at the other ancient ponies who had joined him back in the land of the living, and they all stared at the giant bowl in the center.

“We know!” Twilight growled out. “We have a plan for that.”

Starlight spun on her hooves to face her mentor. Twilight’s wings were spread out wide and she was in a wide powerful stance like she was bracing for something. Her eyes, now tinged red along with the original purple, were narrowed. The long alicorn horn that sprouted from her head was crackling with energy as she prepared some spell for the coming threat.

As if on cue, a crack of lighting erupted from the clear sky above. Then a mass of black clouds coalesced in the center of the clearing right above the stone dais. The mass spun for a moment before forming into an uneven sphere of pitch black. While all of this happened, clouds came from seemingly nowhere to blot out the sun above. Then the sphere melted into the bowl below into a pile of writhing black tendrils that eventually formed into something looking like an alicorn made of pure darkness. 

The Pony of Shadows reminded Starlight far too much of the monstrous alicorns that had terrorized Equestria during the Event. Its proportions were correct, but it was about the same height and had the same imposing presence about it. The long curved horn and short splindly wings only added to the similarities.

The monster opened its mouth to speak, to say something to the heroes that had vanquished it so long ago, but it didn’t get a single word out. A massive pillar of purple magic slammed into it with the force of a locomotive. Just like a locomotive, the magic didn’t stop. It was a single stream that kept coming. Starlight could see layers of darkness be stripped away as The Pony of Shadows wailed out in pain as the amplified magic of an alicorn was being used against it.

Starlight looked at Twilight again. Her eyes had changed. Before there was a look of determination on them, now there was nothing but pure unadulterated hate. Twilight’s mouth opened up with a roar that was drowned out beneath the thunderous sound of the blast she was leveling at the monster before her. 

At that moment, Starlight was transported right back to Ponyville. She could see Twilight, twelve feet tall and malformed, letting out a blood curdling howl as she chased Cheerilee and Scootaloo through the streets. She could see and hear the rage, the hate in Twilight and she was reminded that it was still in both of them.

Starlight was snapped back to reality by one of the Pillars calling out a name. She was back here, but she could still see Twilight as that monster. The urge to look away from her mentor, her friend, overcame her and so she did and instead looked back at where the Pony of Shadows was. She corrected herself almost immediately, where the Pony of Shadows had been.

Twilight’s blast finally stopped and now there was nothing where the monster had once been. Even the solid stone that it had once stood on was as smooth as glass. There was nothing left of the creature, not anymore.

“Stygian!” One of the Pillars called out as they all rushed to where the Pony of Shadows had been.

Starlight, meanwhile, rushed to Twilight. She quickly cast the modified Want It, Need It spell over herself and stepped right in front of the alicorn. Her mentor’s lips were still curled into a snarl and Starlight could’ve sworn she saw sharpened teeth in that sneer. After a few moments the spell wormed its way into Twilight’s brain and the rage in her eyes died, only to be replaced with a dazed blank look.

“H-hey Starlight.” Twilight sounded out of breath as she spoke. The alicorn stepped a little closer, close enough that Starlight could smell her breath. Why did it still smell like death?

“Twilight…” Starlight swallowed her fear and put on the sweetest voice she could manage. “...honey.” The pet name rolled off her tongue like cyanide laced molasses. “You’d do anything for me, right?”

“Yeah, of course Starlight!” Twilight answered hopefully as she stepped forward and nuzzled the unicorn’s cheek with her own. That sent a shiver up Starlight’s spine. “What do you need?”

“W-well I need you to take off that necklace.” Starlight was doing her best not to back away from Twilight and put some distance between them. She needed the Want It Need It spell to overpower the charms of the Amulet and she wasn’t sure what effect distance would have on it.

“Mmm anything for you, Starlight,” Twilight answered dreamily as she nipped at one of her pupil’s ears. That made Starlight pin her ears back and nod a bit. “I think it would look great on you, but honestly I prefer you with nothing on.” The thought of Twilight imagining them doing that was enough to make Starlight’s stomach roil.

There was a soft click as the clasp of the necklace was undone and then the Amulet floated towards Starlight. The unicorn grabbed it in her magic quickly and stuffed it in her saddlebag. Wasting no time at all, her horn immediately flared as she cast the counter to dispel the foul charm she had put on herself.

Almost immediately Twilight blinked and stared at Starlight with a look of abject horror. The alicorn stepped away from her pupil and swallowed something she wanted to say. The two mares gave each other a little nod, a silent agreement to never talk about that interaction again.

“What…did you do?” The masculine voice interrupted their little aside. Starswirl, his presence announced by the jingling of bells on his cape and hat, trotted over to the two mares. “What did you do?” He glared at Twilight.

Some part of Twilight, the old pre-Event Twilight, still remained there deep down. Being that close to the pony who she admired more than Celestia made her hooves tap against the ground in excitement. It was tempered, however little, by the stern tone the ancient mage took with her.

“I-I’m sorry, Starswirl.” Twilight finally managed to get out after blurting out how big of a fan she was. “We just didn’t have the time to handle that the long way. I know violence is never the answer but we need the Pillars to-”

“Not that.” Starswirl interrupted her with a wave of his hoof. “You did something I should’ve done…a long time ago.” There was a twinge of sadness in his voice as he said that, but it was quickly smothered by annoyance and frustration. “The magic. What has happened to the magic. It’s wrong.”

“Oh.” Both Twilight and Starlight answered in unison as the realization hit them both at the same time. The magic of the world had changed after The Event, not functionally but in the way it felt. It was a bit sturdier now and took a bit more effort to use. The ponies of Equestria now were the proverbial frogs that had been boiled in that change, Starswirl was a fresh amphibian dropped into the roiling pot. Of course he had noticed.

“That’s…a long story,” Twilight answered somberly. “You see, I was in the Frozen North on a mission and these two archaeologists approached me claiming to have found King Bullion’s Vault-”

“No.” Starswirl interrupted her again. “You unleashed it.” He started harshly and leveled an even harsher glare at her. “You let it out, that fool’s plague, didn’t you?” The old stallion growled and looked up at the sky. “Gods, I should’ve banished that whole vault to limbo when I had the chance.”

“Wait, how do you know about it?” Starlight pondered aloud. “I thought it was some sort of big secret last resort.”

“Who do you think made it?” Starswirl asked, no small amount of bitterness in his words. Both Starlight and Twilight recoiled in horror as they looked at the stallion. “Some of my best work that should’ve never been, but we’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all done things we regret.”

Starlight wanted to fire back about how not everypony makes plagues that are made to destroy the planet and commit genocide, but considering her own track record she couldn’t really play that card. Her meddling in the timeline, with Starswirl’s own spell by the way, had caused wars and numerous deaths in those alternate Equestrias she had created and left to damnation.

“But…but…why?” Twilight asked. “Why would you, of all ponies, help make something so horrible?”

“I was young,” Starswirl answered plainly. Slowly the other Pillars gathered around them and listened to the little discussion intently. “I was a young foalish boy who believed too much in the superiority of the unicorn race. Back then we were all prone to believe such things, and we were prone to believe that the other two races had it out for us.” Starswirl’s sadness faded in an instant under the boiling heat of his anger. “I stamped out every record of that forsaken vault, I buried it beneath a mountain myself and I thought the Frozen North itself would be enough to keep fools like you out, but I was wrong!”

“When I finally fail, all my good deeds will be like dust. They will be replaced by ash in the mouths of those who once revered me,” Twilight murmured the ominous line from Starswirl’s autobiography that had been hotly debated by historians for as long as it had been in print. “That’s what you meant, wasn’t it?”

“I knew one day my involvement would be known, I didn’t think anypony would be stupid enough to unleash it!” Starswirl exclaimed in exasperation. “I thought it would be left alone, or after all of this time somepony would’ve found a way to destroy it! I left all of my notes in there! Everything I had on it because I thought it would be helpful to the ponies of now to understand it!” Starswirl pushed a hoof into Twilight’s chest. “I didn’t think a foal would find it and bring ruin.”

“You don’t think I regret that?” Twilight asked, tears streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks. “I-I did so much damage because of that one stupid mistake. I killed so many ponies. I lost my best friends in the entire world, The Elements of Harmony, the ponies that replaced you.” She pointed at the Pillars. “Equestria is ruined because of me, so please…please don’t act like I don’t know that. Because I do.” Twilight glared right back at her hero with bleary eyes. “I can’t save Equestria. I thought maybe you could.” She shook her head bitterly. “Turns out you’re just as guilty as me.”

Twilight’s magic reached into Starlight’s saddlebag and pulled out the Alicorn Amulet. Before Starlight could even react to the theft, Twilight slammed it onto the ground and brought a hoof down on it. A small crack and a spark of magic signified that the gem itself was broken now.

Twilight sat down and began to cry as she looked down at the broken remnants.
> Catching Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the base of Foal Mountain, hidden amongst the trees, were stone ruins long since forgotten. Eight ponies of all different shapes, ages, and sizes all milled around the decrepit stone structures in the afternoon air. The early fall air swept over the trees and provided an early chill, one that was being held at bay by a small campfire set in the ruins.

“How bad was it?” The loaded question fired from Starswirl’s lips to shatter the silence that had fallen over the makeshift camp. The Pillars had resisted Twilight’s attempt to move out and head towards Manehattan, instead opting to rest for the night where they had reappeared. They had a small vigil going where the Pony of Shadows had appeared and been immediately vanquished. They wanted to spend the day and night here to remember their friend.

“Initial estimates say close to three hundred thousand dead or missing. Mostly earth ponies and pegasi.” Twilight prodded the small crackling fire with a stick, sending embers into the air. “A third of the population of Equestria…wiped out in thirty-six days.”

“Cities were traps.” Starlight joined in. “Ponies were told to stay inside, so when unicorns started to change you just had massive apartment blocks filled with ponies who couldn’t escape their loved ones and neighbors.” That brought a renewed silence over the area and drew the other Pillars closer. “Canterlot itself was the biggest trap of them all. Only way off of the mountain was by train or flying…any non-unicorn was dead even before the princesses glassed it.”

“Glassed it?” Starswirl raised an eyebrow.

“Using raw magic to burn down a place until the ground is flat and melted. It makes it look like glass.” Twilight explained as the glassing of Ponyville replayed in her head at the mere mention of the act. “It was done to Canterlot and Ponyville.”

“Why didn’t the pegasi leave the cities?” Flash Magnus, the ancient pegasus commander, joined the group. “Fly away, go to Cloudsdale or some far away mountaintop? Set up fortifications, patrols.”

“They didn’t want to leave their friends, their family.” Twilight answered as she stared into the crackling fire. “Imagine your wife, or one of your kids, turning and you can’t bring yourself to kill them. You can’t even attack them. You freeze. Then you’re dead instead of them.” She had heard that exact story so many times in the paper or over the radio. Love prevented survival.

“One-thousand years of change. One thousand years of building a better world, and all it did was aid Bullion’s plan.” Starswirl snarled. “How foalish I was not to just destroy it.”

“Why didn’t you?” Twilight asked. “You could’ve tossed it into limbo. Cast it into the void. Anything else but just leave it there.” She looked her hero right in his steely blue eyes. “Why didn’t you do something when you had the chance?”

“There was always a treacherous little thought that we might need it someday.” The mage removed his hat and ran a hoof through his white mane. “This was before I met my compatriots here. Before I trusted non-unicorns. Bullion was gone and we had a new shared homeland, but I always thought there was a chance for them to betray us. If we gave the other two races too much power, what would happen if they saw the unicorns as useless?” The stallion shook his head. “It was my trump card until I just gradually forgot about it over the years.”

“Well I can’t blame you.” Flash Magnus nodded as he sat down next to the other Pillar. “We pegasi always preached being on guard about you guys, even after unification. We never knew what the unicorns were capable of, especially if we did or said the wrong thing. There was always a fear you would just stop moving the sun and moon…”

“Yes, but you didn’t have a doomsday weapon in your back pocket.” Somnambula, the peach colored pegasus with adornments from her homeland added. She tacked on something in a language Twilight didn’t understand but that was undoubtedly an expletive. 

Flash only grunted in response.

“Can we stop talking about this for a moment?” Mistmane, the eldest of the Pillars, hobbled over to the small cadre of conversationalists. While she was old and looked about as sturdy as a cardboard box after a thunderstorm, she still had a certain vibrancy to her. The Pillar of beauty had not wilted at all over her many long years. Her gray mane billowed behind her like an early morning fog as she grabbed Starswirl and pulled him to his hooves. “Come, say something about Stygian. Honor our friend.”

“He was no friend of mine.” Flash Magnus grumbled and shook his head. He then turned to Starlight and Twilight. “He got his feelings hurt once and turned to the darkness. Betrayed us all and we wasted our lives to trap him…”

“Yeah, that’s not relatable at all.” Starlight let out a sigh and shook her head. “I’m going to go…secure the area…or something.”

“I’ll come with you.” Flash offered as both ponies stood and trotted off into the trees around the clearing.

So, being left alone, Twilight stood up and joined the other Pillars around the giant stone bowl in the center. The once rough edges were now as smooth as glass where Twilight’s fury had touched it. The bottom of the bowl was scorched completely black from the beam she had let loose at the Pony of Shadows.

“He was a confused colt.” Starswirl said with a sigh as he put his belled hat back on. “Beset on all sides by the darkness within.” For the first time since properly meeting him, Starswirl had actual pain in his voice. There was no malice, just pity and hurt. “Foalish to think he could control such power like that. If we had done what needed to be done back then instead of leaving it to an interloper…”

“We shoulda seen the signs a long time before the need to do anythin’ like this.” Meadowbrook, a mare whose strawberry beehive of a mane swayed when she walked, interjected. “This is partly on us, Starswirl. We failed him just as much as he turned on us.”

“He deserved another chance.” Starswirl admitted as he hid his eyes behind the brim of his hat. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to him.” The alicorn reached out a hoof to touch the rim of the bowl made smooth by her power. “Another time, another world maybe I could’ve. Maybe we could’ve saved him…”

“If only.” Somnambula lamented.

“I’m deeply sorry, my boy.” Starswirl gathered up some stones in his magic and stacked them from largest to smallest in front of the bowl, a small cairn in memorial. “You foal…” Just like that he switched from remorseful to angry in the blink of an eye. “I’ve said what I need to.” He declared suddenly. “Do what you wish, I need to speak with Twilight Sparkle some more.”

“We’ll be here if you need us, Starswirl.” Mistmane put a hoof on his shoulder and offered the old mage a smile, both of which he shrugged off with a grunt. 

“Now, you said it changed alicorns as well. Or, at least, you alluded to that.” He launched right back into the conversation they were having before being interrupted. “Celestia and Luna, they were…?”

“Yeah.” Twilight and Starswirl walked away from the main group and back over to the rapidly dying fire. “They were infected too. I wasn’t…around…for it, but I know they destroyed Cloudsdale. Then Cadance joined them and destroyed Canterlot.” Twilight sat down, picked up her stick, and began to coax a little more life out of the embers. “Luna is handling it better than Celestia, but that’s not saying much.”

“Mmm.” Starswirl stroked his beard and looked off in thought. “Luna was always a bit more emotionally sturdy than her sister.”

“Well I don’t know about that.” The looks Twilight got in return made realize just who she was talking to. “Right, maybe I should give you all a history lesson…”
> Promises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The wastes around the Changeling Hive were always inhospitable and The Event did little to change that. Outside of the carefully curated hanging gardens of the Hive itself, nothing grew. Out there, among the rock outcroppings, you would only find things that wished to do you harm. For a long time, that included any ponies that you would encounter.

For a brief period of history, Changelings weren’t hated by their Equestrian neighbors. They were even welcomed to a degree. Then The Event happened and the neighbors became not-so-friendly once more.

Elytra stood by Lord Commander Pharynx’s side overlooking a valley near the Hive. Several changelings were in the heart of the valley, digging. Pharynx was here to supervise and protect the hardworking bugs, while Elytra was told to tag along.

“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing out here yet?” She prodded the King’s brother once again. “Looking for buried treasure?”

“Dead Equestrians.” Pharynx responded with a grunt, his violet eyes scanning the horizon. “Some ventured too close to the Hive, so we put them down and buried them out here.” Now that he mentioned it, there were little mounds that dotted the floor of the duty valley below them. Shallow graves. “The King wants us to give them back to the Equestrians as a show of good faith.”

“And what do you think of that…?” Pharynx had always been a hard read. The Lord Commander kept everything that wasn’t anger or disgust close to the vest. 

“Every creature deserves to be buried in their homeland.” Was the solemn response she received. “I’m sure the Princess will appreciate it.” While that was true, it wasn’t much to go on. This was the most she’d gotten out of anyone about the upcoming summit other than the fact that dragons would be joining them as well. “Did you ever fight any of them?” He asked after a small pause.

“I tried not to.” Elytra cast her eyes down and spoke to the dirt and rocks beneath her hooves. “There were moments when I had no choice…but I always tried to delay or scare them and not hurt them.” She recalled summoning a wall of fire while they dragged a stunned Twilight Sparkle back to the castle. “They didn’t know what they were doing. It’s not like they wanted to hurt us…they weren’t in control.”

“How do you know that?” Pharynx fired back and turned towards her. “Who is to say that they didn’t enjoy all of the killing, the slaughter? Being at peace for so long…it can’t be healthy. Something has to build up deep down, a need for violence.”

“No.” Elytra responded simply. “I was there, in the middle of it all. I…” Should she reveal what she knew? “...where I was, we changed two ponies back to normal. We cured them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two creatures more broken, not even any of us after Canterlot could compare. They’re not violent, Pharynx. They’re not evil.”

“They weren’t.” He corrected. “Things change. They can’t stay like that forever, especially after what happened. Once you’re forced to fight, once that switch is flipped, you can’t just turn it off again. It’s not that easy.” His eyes returned to the drones diligently digging up the corpses of turned unicorns, but he looked past them as if lost in some vision. “When flight fails you even once and the fight is all you have, you start to go looking for it.”

“I know the Equestrians, I’ve seen the best of them.” A desiccated corpse was lifted from the earth and placed on top of a pile of about a half dozen similar looking bodies. “They’ll do anything for peace, for their friends.”

“Yeah, you saw the best of them. You saw what happened to them, too.” She had gathered from reports she had been allowed to read that the Elements of Harmony, save Twilight Sparkle, were killed. There was no indication of how, but it was a safe bet that using the mana pool below the castle had burnt them out. “So now that the best of them are all dead, what’s left?”

“Everypony has the capacity to be like them.”

“But do they have the conviction?” The question fell on Elytra like a weight. “We know better than any creature that being good is hard. When your back is against the wall, when you’re starving and scared…is doing the right thing worth it?”

“It’s always worth it.” Elytra was sure of that. No matter the cost, it was always worth it to be in the right. To help. Even if it cost you everything. She had been willing to die to save the world, it took a lot less to be friendly and try to be nice despite hardship. “If we have to remind the Equestrians of what they taught us, then we will.”

“You sound like my brother.” A small smile escaped the Lord Commander’s hardened exterior. “Which is something we need, I’m told.” She was going to say something, but was cut off before the thought could materialize into words. “I think I got this from here, Elytra. Head back to the Hive and get some rest.”

Elytra wouldn’t argue with Pharynx right now. Being in a coma for half of a year had left her low on energy more often than not. While she didn’t have traditional muscles like a pony would to atrophy, she still felt fatigue from even moderate exertion. Her legs were yelling at her to sit or lay down and rest.

While the Hive wasn’t absurdly far to get back to, it would be a lot easier to fly. If she could. While Changeling healing magic could repair her chitin, even help her regrow the hoof she had lost to the jaws of a unicorn, it couldn’t repair the delicate gossamer of wings. That would take something more than simple magic. So she started her tiring trek back.

The guards at the entrance to the Hive gave her nods as she crossed the threshold. The interior of the Hive was bathed in soft light that spilled through the plant laden holes that served as windows. The air inside was heavy with moisture that collected on the plants in the morning and dripped back down to pools in the floor. It was a much needed change of pace from the dry desolation outside and the cold dreariness of the Hive before the metamorphosis.

No matter how nice it was, how comfortable and soft it all felt. It still didn’t feel like home to Elytra. She yearned to go back to Equestria, to find her friends and let them know she was okay. Moreso than anything else, she wanted to go find Cheerilee again. Nopony had believed in her more than the teacher from Ponyville and she still needed to make good on a promise she had made.

The first step in fulfilling that promise would be getting back to Equestria, and that meant somehow being partial to the meeting between whichever Princess or Princesses showed up here and King Thorax. So how to do that?

Well…she had information that might prove valuable in negotiations with the Equestrians. She was at the heart of it all, she saw and knew things that the ponies obviously didn’t want getting out. Was she really willing to betray the trust of the creatures who had given her a second chance?

To a degree, yes.

—-

“Scootaloo, come in here please! Dinner’s ready!” Cheerilee called out from the kitchen as she tended a boiling pot of stew. She had started it in the early hours of the morning and let it go throughout the day and her patience was finally rewarded. The savory smell of well seasoned vegetables wafted through the home. She grabbed the ladle with her mouth and scooped some of the rich broth into two bowls until they were near full.

Filled with potatoes, green beans, carrots and whatever else Cheerilee could get her hooves on meant that it would be a filling meal and the leftovers would last them a few days. That was more important than anything considering the guards had taken away some of their food stores for the needy ponies in the cities. They would need to stretch what they had out a little more than usual.

Scootaloo came into the kitchen with a stack of papers on her back, which she hoisted onto the table before coming over to her teacher/adoptive mother and taking a bowl from the counter. Cheerilee followed behind the filly quietly, her eyes focused on the papers Scootaloo had brought along with her.

“What’s all this about?” Cheerilee motioned towards the papers with her spoon after she had sat down across from her charge. “I know you don’t have that much homework and I don’t think mail ponies are supposed to take their work home with them.”

“They’re letters to me!” Scootaloo answered proudly. “I talked to Mayor Petals and got the address of every government place she could think of and wrote letters asking if they knew where Sweetie Belle and AB are! Almost every one wrote back to me! One of them has to know something, then I can write them and we can get the Cutie Mark Crusaders back together!”

“Scootaloo…” Cheerilee sighed. She had so much to say, but the little voice in her head kept her from letting any of it slip out. “...I hope so. For now let’s put those down so we can eat, okay?” Kindness won out over needless cruelty in her head and she gave Scootaloo a smile. “I’ll help you sort through them after dinner.”

So the two former Ponyvillians sat and ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the hearty broth that Cheerilee had cobbled together from what she had. There was a simple pleasure in sharing a meal with the filly in her care. In these moments, where they could just focus on each other and eat while forgetting the world outside. It almost felt like they were a real family.

“Do you think we’ll get snow for Hearth’s Warming this year?” Scootaloo finally spoke up between spoonfuls of dinner. “I know the radio keeps saying we’re not getting any snow…but surely they’ll let us have a little for the holidays, right?”

“We can hope.” Cheerilee replied with a slight smile. “I think ponies could use a little snow day and some holiday cheer.” Cheerilee thought for a second and gave a little shrug. “As long as it’s not too cold the crops could survive a day with a little dusting, right?”

Scootaloo just shrugged and went about eating while reading one of the papers she had brought with her despite Cheerilee’s chiding. There was no use in harping on the subject, as Cheerliee didn’t want to upset Scootaloo. This, finding her friends, was important. Their reunion, if it would ever come, would be a sign for all three of the fillies that everything would be alright again.

Scootaloo’s spoon dropped unceremoniously into her bowl as she stared at one of the papers. The little wings on her back started to buzz as a smile spread across her face and a light Cheerliee hadn’t seen in a while sprung forth in the filly’s eyes. The little pegasus jumped out of her seat and hovered for a brief second.

“Appleloosa!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Applebloom is in Appleloosa!” 

Cheerliee joined in the smiling and she wanted to get up and jump and cheer with Scootaloo, then the dread set in like a heavy fog. Scootaloo had been out when the report had come over the radio the other day, and Cheerilee hadn’t told her about it because it seemed inconsequential. It had been an act of brutality by the Royal Guard and it had taken lives, but it hadn’t been important. 

Now it was.

Now the decision whether to tell Scootaloo or not was on the table, and needed to be addressed and decided immediately. Could she snatch defeat from the jaws of victory so readily? Could she really snuff the flame of hope?

No.

It was decided right then and there. She couldn’t be the one to break this to Scootaloo, at least not yet. Maybe if it came up again she could feign ignorance and act just as shocked and disappointed as Scootaloo would be. This wouldn’t be easy. The idea of her former student who had already lost so much, losing even her life, settled on her heart and dragged her spirit to dark places. She would have to put up the act though, for Scootaloo’s immediate happiness. 

“I’m going to write a letter back right now!” Scootaloo yelled and started to run away, only to be halted by Cheerilee grabbing her tail. The mare put on the kindest smile she could possibly fake and shook her head. “Oh come on! Do I really have to finish dinner? This is important!” 

“Eating is more important.” Cheerilee picked Scootaloo up and put her back in the chair at the table. “We don’t waste food, you know that. So finish, then you can write your letter. Okay?”

“Uuuuuuuugh fine!” Scootaloo grumbled under her breath, but acquiesced and returned to eating her stew while flipping through more of her letters for a trace on her other lost friend. Cheerilee was about to join her in finishing the meal, but was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door. “Are we expecting somepony?” Scootaloo cocked her head to the side and asked. 

“Not that I know of…” Cheerilee tapped her hoof against the wooden floor in thought for a moment. “Stay here and finish your dinner, I’ll see who it is. I’m sure it’s just the Mayor or a neighbor. Maybe Sweet Pepper.” She trotted off towards the living room and the front door, venturing off of her path slightly to look out the front window. The sun was setting slowly and shining right through, blinding her as she tried to catch a glimpse of their visitor. With no luck there, she went to the door and opened it.

Outside was a stallion, at least two full heads taller than her. He was built almost like Big Macintosh but a bit smaller, not much smaller though. He had a light brown coat with darker brown streaks running down his sides and a shaggy chestnut mane that parted down the middle framed a pair of brilliant blue eyes perfectly. 

Behind him was a pair of wagons, one hooked up to the other in a mini-caravan, with a harness to pull them sitting in the dirt in front of them. The sun was still beaming right in her face, but Cheerilee could swear she recognized one of the wagons. It was definitely one she had seen before.

“Cheerilee?” The stallion asked in a pleasantly bass-y tone.

“Y-yes. Hello.” Cheerilee shook herself from the surprise of seeing a complete stranger for the first time since they got to Hope Hollow and addressed him. “I’m sorry, you are?”

“Muddy Rivers, Ma’am.” He said with a nod. “From the-uh-” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “-Equestrian Repopulation Bureau.”

“Oh. OH!” Cheerilee felt her cheeks turn red hot as the realization hit her. She looked at the stallion again and cleared her throat before finding her words. “Right! I-I’m so sorry. I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

“Mmm, my apologies.” Muddy said with a slight smile. “It’s been a chaotic few months for us and sometimes those fat cats at the Bureau don’t get the letters out on time. So I suppose they didn’t tell you about my special circumstance either?” Cheerilee shook her head. “Right…” Muddy sighed and cursed those ‘fat cats at the Bureau’ again under his breath. “BOYS!”

Two colts, one about the same age as Scootaloo and the other visibly a few years older and in the throes of adolescence, bolted out from the first of the wagons and raced over to Muddy’s side.

The younger colt was a pale blue with dark brown streaks running down his side just like Muddy. His smile was missing a few teeth and wild blue eyes shone through his shaggy brown mane. The older one was slate gray with a black mane and eyes the color of steel. A vicious scar wound its way from his cheek all the way down to his flank on one side. 

“These are my sons: Rock-” Muddy pointed at the older gray colt. “-and Roll.” He then pointed to the younger one. “I know that it’s a lot to take in on a moment’s notice and I like to have them confirm with the mares that it’s okay. I don’t wanna impose, if this is a dealbreaker for however long I’m here then-”

“-this…this isn’t just a…y’know…” Cheerilee felt dirty talking about this, even if there was nopony around to hear her and even if she was practically whispering. “...this isn’t a one night deal?”

The response she received was a bellowing laugh from Muddy and a few snickers from his sons. “They are doing an awful job of explaining all of this, aren’t they? Every time it just gets less and less detailed. This is what we get when they have pegasi in the office, a bunch of featherbrains.” Muddy cleared his throat. “We have to make sure it…sticks. If you catch my meaning.”

“Ah.” It would certainly be a lot more awkward than just a one night fling, but it made sense that they had to make sure the repopulation part actually happened. “Well please, come in. I just cooked dinner and we have a spare room if you don’t mind sharing!” It was better to just rip the band-aid off and be hospitable towards their short term guests than stand out here awkwardly.

“Well thank you, we do appreciate it. Right boys?”

“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee.” The colts said in unison, Roll’s words a bit more sincere than Rock’s.

“Scootaloo! We have guests!” Cheerilee called into the kitchen as she entered the house with the newcomers in tow. She at least hoped the Bureau had told Muddy about her family situation and not left him in the dark like they had her. 

“Scootaloo?” Muddy tapped Cheerilee on the shoulder. “You already have a foal?”

“No…” Cheerilee swallowed and licked her lips nervously as her mouth was getting increasingly dry. “...I was a teacher, y’know, before. Scootaloo was one of my students and after everything, I took her in. Her parents…” Cheerilee trailed off.

“Ah, okay.” Muddy nodded. “You’re a good pony for doing that, Cheerilee.”

“Uh, hi?” Scootaloo trotted into the doorway that led to the kitchen and looked up at the hulking stallion then to the two colts beside him.  “Who are they?”

“Oh…a pegasus.” Muddy muttered behind Cheerliee.

“This is Muddy, and his sons Rock and Roll. They’re…staying with us for a little while.” Cheerliee really didn’t want to explain this to Scootaloo, at least not right now. She would get into it later with the filly and try to discuss this in a mature manner. She was a teacher, she had the talk with plenty of fillies before. Surely this would be no different.

“O…kay.” Scootaloo looked at Cheerilee with a raised eyebrow and words dripping with suspicion, but she accepted it. “Hi, I guess?” The three males behind Cheerilee simply nodded in response. “I finished eating, by the way. Can I go and write my letter?” 

“Yes, dear. You may.” Cheerilee smiled and reached out to pat Scootaloo on the head. “No going outside to post it tonight, though! You can take it into work tomorrow and send it then.” There was a vocalization in the affirmative, but it went as quickly as Scootaloo did. In no time flat, the filly was off towards her room with her stack of letters. 

“Boys, go on ahead and get something to eat while I talk with Cheerilee.” Like dutiful little soldiers, Rock and Roll nodded and marched into the kitchen. Once they were in there, Muddy sat on the couch with a grunt and patted the spot next to him. “Come on, I won’t bite. Just wanna talk, get to know you a bit without the kiddos around.” His eyes flashed with a certain spark that Cheerilee couldn’t deny was magnetic. It brought the blush back to her cheeks as she went over to the couch and sat beside the stallion. 

“That’s a good idea.” Cheerilee nodded and brought her tail into her lap. She brushed the pale pink hair with her hoof and looked up at Muddy. “So where are you from, Muddy?”

“Beat me to the first question.” Muddy chuckled and leaned back, the old periwinkle couch groaning a bit as he did. “Here I was, had a one-liner all lined up and everything. Does a ‘do you come here often’ work? Or is it bad form these days?”

“It’s just as corny as it always has been.” Cheerilee giggled and rolled her eyes playfully.

“Oh good, so it still works.” Muddy winked. “To answer your question, I’m from a little bit of everywhere. My parents ran a barge that went up and down the Maresouri River, shipping things, trading others. I grew up on it. You?”

“Well-” Princess Luna had told her never to mention that she was in Ponyville during The Event, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t say she was from there. She just had to come up with an alternative to where she had been before Hope Hollow. When others had asked she had avoided the question, but that seemed like bad form here. “-I was born and raised in Ponyville, but I moved away a few years ago. I lived in Dodge City before…everything.”

“Ponyville?” Muddy asked, a hint of disbelief creeping into his voice. “I heard about what happened there, I’m so sorry. You must’ve lost…” The lighthearted tone was sucked out of the room in an instant and the omnipresent gloom of the present situation settled back on top of everything once more.

“...a lot of ponies, yeah.” Cheerilee whispered. “Did you?”

“Almost did.” Muddy nodded and looked through Cheerilee and into the dim past. “Me and the boys stayed safe on my boat through almost all of it. Almost made it all the way to the end. We were drifting near Cloudsdale when some of those things attacked us. They just…lined the banks and shot at the boat, sank it real fast. We got to shore and I fought them off…but they got Rock.” Cheerilee saw his jaw tighten and one of his eyes twitch. “That scar he’s got down his side…I was pinned by a few of them when one of ‘em tried to gut my boy like a fish with its horn.” Muddy closed his eyes and took a very deep breath before exhaling deeply. “Then it ended. Suddenly they changed, went from snarling and attacking to sniveling messes just like that.”

“Thank Celestia they didn’t…” Cheerilee couldn’t finish the sentence. 

“The only pony I thank for that is me.” Muddy stated, flatly rejecting any praise for the alicorn. “I patched him up. The doctors we found eventually did more, but I’m the pony who saved him. I remember making a promise to him on that river bank that I would never let another unicorn hurt him ever again. They would never get close enough.” He looked Cheerilee dead in the eyes as he spoke the next words.

“That’s a promise I intend to keep.”
> Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Cannae believe it…” Rockhoof mumbled as they entered Manehattan for the first time. The sight of emaciated and destitute ponies brought gasps and murmurs from the Pillars, but the Pillar of Strength was the first one to vocalize his horror. “I haven’t seen this since…”

“The war.” Flash Magnus finished with grim certainty. “This is exactly how it was when the Windigos came.” His eyes then trailed up and followed the tall buildings of metal and glass that seemed to stretch on forever upwards as if he expected the ghostly apparitions to suddenly appear. No clouds darkened the skies though, and no unnatural chill permeated the city. The only thing here was desperation, and that never looked different.

What caught them more off guard than the gaunt visages of the ponies around them were the deformities, the remnants of the sickness that had ravaged their bodies. It was the first time that the Pillars had truly seen the vile consequences of transformation. The elongated limbs and visible fangs left all of the ancient heroes aghast. 

“Oh no…” The pony most affected by the unicorns’ affliction was Mistmane. The Pillar of Beauty had a hoof to her mouth and tears rolled down her cheeks. “To have your body stolen from you and changed like that…” The eldest of the Pillars took a deep breath and steadied herself with a nod. “I must help them…I must.”

“I’ll help anyway I can, Misty.” Mage Meadowbrook offered a smile. “There’s gotta be somethin’ we can cook up together to get these ponies right.”

“I will see what I can remember about the curse.” Starswirl spoke up as he stroked his long beard thoughtfully. “Perhaps, if I can recall some of the intricacies, I can find a way to reverse the physical changes.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t a big smile nor particularly noticeable, but it was still a smile. It was a satisfied little grin. This is why she had been so resolute in her mission to bring the Pillars back from their exile: they were the heroes that Equestria needed right now. They could help stitch the world back together.

Twilight knew if her friends were here that they would be having an almost identical conversation.

Her friends weren’t here though.

They were still dead.

Twilight stopped smiling.

“We should get you all to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before we start planning too much. After all, we seem to be drawing a crowd…” Starlight said with a nervous chuckle. The group had been noticed and now flocks of ponies were gathering around them and murmuring in surprise. “Twilight, maybe…sooner than later?”

The crowd was not staring at the heroes of old that were accompanying the two sorceresses, no. They were all staring right at Twilight. Those stares became glares and the little murmurs became angry rumblings. Twilight’s ears became pinned to her head as the rumbling became a roar.

“Where’s our food?!”

“Where have you been hiding?!”

“When are you actually going to do something?!”

The heart in her chest seized and the world suddenly became no bigger than the space immediately around her body. Even her wings felt like they were too tight against her sides. Everything became dark and all of the voices overpowered even the thoughts in her head. The princess of friendship began to shake as she was suddenly surrounded by enemies.

All of a sudden she was back in Ponyville. Her friends were dragging her across the sun baked dirt in a desperate bid to get her inside of the castle. She could hear the monstrous unicorns closing in to take her back, to drag her back into the darkness where her thoughts were not her own and her actions were dictated by someone else. She could still see her friends around her, their bodies and spirits broken from the onslaught that had been unleashed upon them for daring to attempt to save her.

A hoof touched Twilight’s side.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!” She couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of her mouth with primal fury. She could not stop the magic from surging into her horn, and she could not stop the teleportation spell from being formed and encompassing her and the ponies she had been traveling with. They all disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

Where they reappeared was the lobby of the Royale Hotel. In her panic, Twilight had not gotten the spell completely right and the group had appeared a few feet above the floor. Somnambula and Flash Magnus responded quickly enough to hover in the air while the rest of the ponies fell to the floor in a pile.

Twilight was at the bottom of the pile. The bodies on top of her pushed down and compressed her chest, but they were not the reason it was hard to breathe. She had been so close to that place again, to Ponyville. Not the physical space, no. She had been there not too long ago and just been filled with sadness and a grim determination. This had been much different. The mob had catapulted her back to the Ponyville that existed in her mind, the one that she could still see in her nightmares. 

The clawing darkness scratched at her mind and she could hear the haunting chant of ‘them or us’ ring through her soul all over again. It gripped her heart and squeezed. Twilight felt like she was dying all over again. Even as the weight on top of her abated the ability to breathe and think did not return.

The sun was blinding. She could feel it’s interminable heat on her back.

She could taste blood. It ran through her teeth and pooled in her throat. It poured throughout her body and stained her coat. It kept her wings bound to her body and settled around her hooves. Were her legs getting longer? Her jaw hurt, was it changing again? It felt like her body was cracking and breaking with each passing moment and at any moment the beast that she had been was set to burst forth.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Two powerful hooves grabbed her and sat her upright. “Hey!” Twilight’s vision slowly returned from the demons that had captured it and she was met with the stolid face of Flash Magnus. His bright blue eyes looked right into hers with raw intensity. “Wherever you are, it is not real.” The pegasus spoke like her brother, even with the same cadence. He was not speaking to her, but ordering her to listen. “You are right here. If you are in a memory, then I am here to tell you that it has ended.”

“It never ended…” Twilight choked out the words. Tears had been falling from her eyes for some time now, this was just the first moment she noticed them. They rolled down her cheeks and stained her purple fur. “I-it’s still going on, don’t you see? It never ended!” Those words rang throughout the now silent lobby of the hotel. “It’s still happening every day! I-it didn’t end with Ponyville! Or Canterlot! Or Cloudsdale!” Twilight wrapped her wings around herself and hugged herself tight. “Celestia, it’s still happening…”

“My poor son did not come home from the war, but a soldier did. The colt is dead, but the shell remains.” Flash Magnus spoke the words knowingly, but then shook his head. “Poor mare…” The pegasus reached up and removed his helmet. The red mane that had been contained to a neat plume by the piece of armor fell around his head in waves. He sat the helmet by his side and then squeezed the alicorn in a hug.

Twilight sobbed openly and loudly for the first time in months. For so long she had been convinced that she had no more tears to shed, that something deep down had broken and she was now incapable of this kind of sadness. She had not expected whatever dam had been holding everything back to break like this. She wrapped her hooves around the armored stallion who embraced her and clung to him for dear life.

—-

“Very well, we will send the orders out tomorrow then.” Princess Luna looked over their plans for the Stables and nodded. It was a start, but an important one. “We suppose later today that We will call the press for a conference to announce the plan to them.” She moved the final plans over to her sister, who looked them over and then gave them a nod.

“I’ll get my guards prepared to oversee elections where they can.” Shining Armor gathered up a piece of parchment in his pink aura and put it in his purple breastplate. “I’ll…try to not use unicorns where I can.”

A knock came at the door and drew the attention of both alicorns and their captain. They all three exchanged questioning looks to see if any of them was expecting anypony. When they all responded with shrugs or a shake of their head, Luna spoke.

“Enter!”

Flash Sentry, one of Shining Armor’s underlings, pushed the door opened and hurriedly stepped into the suite. The pegasus had more limbs made of metal than flesh and they all creaked as he gave a deep bow. 

“Apologies, Your Majesties.” He sounded out of breath and he was visibly shaking as he rose from his bow. “There’s a situation down in the lobby that requires your attention…all of you.” His mouth opened a few times as he searched for words, but each time those words seemed to fail him. “It’s Princess Twilight.” Shining Armor and Celestia immediately got to their hooves.

“Is she alright?” Shining was already moving towards his subordinate and Celestia was not far behind.

“As far as we can tell, yes. Well, physically.” There was a beat. “She brought visitors with her. I-I think it’s best if you saw for yourselves.”

“Very well.” Luna was the last to stand. The leathery wings on her back flexed and stretched out as she joined the other two members of the royal family. “Go down there and evacuate everypony but Twilight Sparkle and her visitors. Do not waste any time. In fact, let Us help you.” Princess Luna lit up her horn, encompassed the stallion in her magic and made him disappear in a flash of light. Both Shining Armor and Celestia looked at her. “What? Are you not worried? I assumed this was urgent.”

“Yeah but…” Shining stopped and sighed. “Well, probably better if we just get down there now.”

Shining Armor and herself trotted through the door that led out of the suite, but Celestia did not follow them immediately. The other alicorn hesitated at the doorway and big eyes full of worry and pain looked at the elevator doors just beyond. It did not occur to Luna that her sister had not been out of the room for some time, perhaps not since they moved into the space.

“Sister…” Luna extended a hoof towards Celestia. “Your student needs you. Surely that must triumph over your fear.” Celestia gave a small nod and took Luna’s hoof in her own. When the sisters stood side by side, the elder one extended one of her wings and wrapped it around the younger one. It may be undignified for princesses to do such a thing, but sisters needed to be there for one another.

The ride down to the lobby in the elevator was thankfully short. It was quiet though, the only sound that permeated the little metal box was their breathing. It gave them too much time to think and wonder what was waiting for them.

Luna was expecting, somehow, for Twilight to be joined by her dead friends. She was not sure how such a feat could be accomplished but she was sure if any pony in existence could figure out how to bring the dead back, then it would be Twilight Sparkle. That would be the only logical explanation as to why the guard that had fetched them was so hesitant to say what he had seen. She was mildly excited to see the fruits of this months long process that Twilight Sparkle had undertaken.

When the doors opened, Luna’s magic reached out into the lobby. The shadows themselves rose up from the floor and clung to the windows that lined the walls. They even reached up to cover the skylight to block out her sister’s light. When she was through, only the lights on the walls illuminated the vast space of the lobby. It left the area dim, but they could still see what they needed to.

The diarchs were out of the elevators and they froze in place. Their eyes were locked on a form all too familiar, the hat and cape too iconic to be mistaken for somepony else. A chill ran up Luna’s spine as she spotted the spector amid a mass of ponies. 

The shock fell away and anger rose in its place, at least for the Princess of the Night. She reached out with her magic and grabbed that stallion and dragged him over to her at a blinding speed. Her brow furrowed and her nostrils flared as she glared down at him. She searched this pony’s face for the imperfections it had to have. Luna bared her fangs and growled at this pony.

“Who are you, fiend?” Luna brought all of her ferocity to bear, even letting her leathery bat wings flare out as she drew herself up to her full height. “We know what happened to Starswirl the Bearded, and you are not him. That is impossible.”

“Hallen Celuleunelnen.” 

The words from the stallion hit Luna like a freight train. Her concentration broke and she dropped him to the ground. How long had it been since she’d heard that language? How long had it been since she heard that name? 

“No…” Luna finally spoke and shook her head as she looked down at Starswirl. “This…no. How?” The usually fiery princess was left treading water in her own mind as she tried to comprehend what was in front of her. “Starswirl?” The ferocity fell away and Luna felt as though she was a filly again, lost on the rolling slopes of the eastern coast of the continent.

He said something again in that very dead language, but her ears refused to hear it through the blood rushing through them. Even if she did pick up on them, she doubted she could translate or understand them. She had not spoken a word of that language since Starswirl disappeared well over one thousand years ago. There was no doubt Celestia was in the same boat as she was in that regard. The only three ponies who spoke the language or even knew of it were in this room right now, and they had not been around each other for a very long time.

Celestia lurched forward and pulled the bearded mage of old into a tight hug. Starswirl did not resist the embrace, instead he leaned into it and wrapped his hooves around the other alicorn’s body. He removed his hat and set it to the side as he hugged one of his students.

“You both look so different…” Starswirl muttered just loud enough so the two alicorns could hear him. “Celestia…” He pulled away from the hug slightly so he could get a good look at her. “...where has the dawn gone? How much of your beautiful day has passed to leave you with only the dusk in your mane?” Tears streamed from Celestia’s eyes and she looked down at the floor in abject shame. “And Luna…your gentle night has given way to a realm of nightmares. Fangs and bat wings…these are not the things of dreams.”

“This is not the first time I have worn these features.” Luna muttered and sat beside her sister. “The last time I embraced them voluntarily…this time I’m afraid I had no choice in the matter.”

“Twilight Sparkle informed me of some things I missed.” Starswirl sighed and wiped traces of tears from his eyes as well. “None of them were good.” Those words hurt, as Luna knew one of those things had to be about her stint as Nightmare Moon.  It was a point of deep shame, one that now burned a little more now that Starswirl knew of it. There was a sense that a serious chiding was coming her way from her old mentor, one that was a thousand years in the making. “There is no time to waste moping, though. She brought us back to get this sorted out, not to lay about and think about old mistakes.”

“What if we can’t fix this?” Celestia spoke now between sobs.

“We must.” Starswirl nodded resolutely.

—-

“She has a soldier’s sickness.” Twilight heard Flash Magnus speaking to Shining Armor with unabashed loudness. “It’s a disease of the soul, one that fills you with nightmares and claims your heart between its hooves. How she managed to get so much done with this weighing on her is a miracle.”

“She’s not a soldier.” Shining Armor pushed back on that front. “Her and her friends were heroes but…they weren’t soldiers. They did a lot for Equestria but-”

“But what…?” Twilight finally sat up and wiped her face with one of her wings. “Are you saying we didn’t fight enough? When your brain was leaking from your ears during your wedding and we fought across Canterlot through an army of Changelings. I was thrown through a mountain by Tirek! We were kidnapped and being used as Changeling food! We saved Equestra! THEY DIED FOR EQUESTRIA!” Twilight was screaming at the top of her lungs at her brother now, something she had never done before. "Is that not enough?! Just because we didn’t wear armor or march in time doesn’t mean we weren’t soldiers for Equestria! We were the last line of defense! It always came down on us!”

“Yeah and look where that got us.” Shining Armor winced as soon as he was done speaking. “I-I didn’t mean that Twilight.”

“No…obviously you did or else you wouldn’t have said it…” Twilight’s heart cracked a little more in her chest. She felt nauseous and like she was about to collapse. “You’re dismissed, Captain Armor…go take care of other business.” She effortlessly slipped into the cold professional demeanor of a princess and nodded at her brother and subordinate. 

“What? Twilight, c’mon.” Shining tried to protest.

“She said you’re dismissed, Captain.” Flash Magnus stepped between the two royals, his helmet back on his head. “I recommend you follow that order.” Both stallions sized each other up and glared at one another, but it was Shining that buckled first. He wilted from the pegasus and retreated with a nod. 

“I’ll be up in my room if anypony needs me…” Twilight let out the breath she had been holding in and let her wings and shoulders slump. “Not that anypony will anymore…” She looked towards Celestia and Luna, who were now surrounded by the rest of the pillars except for Flash. “That’s why I brought you guys back, right?”

“If that’s what you need of us, then yes.” Flash answered with a curt nod. “I don’t know how much help I will be, though. I’m not like them. I’m a soldier, not a healer or builder or mage. I’m sure I’ll find something but I won’t be part of the grand plan forming over there.”

“Flash, we need bravery now more than ever. You are just as valuable as the other pillars.”

“Are you saying we don’t need magic, Twilight?”

“Not mine. I caused all of this.” Twilight shook her head and sighed. “My final contribution was bringing you all back to help fix my mistake…” Something caught in her chest, words she wanted to say but couldn’t bring herself to force out. Instead she opted to just part ways for now. “I’ll be in my room if anypony needs me.” Then she disappeared in a flash of light.
> The Crusader
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Day Two Hundred and Fifty-One


North of Equestria, far beyond the borders of the once great nation and at the end of the it’s northern rail line, was a land once covered in snow. The vast fields had, once upon a time, been coated in thick blankets of white powder that were sustained and added to by raging natural storms that swept down from the mountains. There was no snow on the ground now, it had all been melted by The Event. Now only vast rocky fields sprawled out in every direction.

Once upon a time ponykind had roamed these vast swathes of nothing. Towns and castles and whole kingdoms occupied the region. The ground had once been fertile and green. But the wars had come. The strife had taken ponykind’s birthright away and caused an eternal winter to take hold of it. Equines had stopped ruling over it and windigos had taken reign for so very long.

Until now.

If Equestria was not in the middle of rebuilding, this would be a treasure trove for researchers and historians. Old ruins were now visible and on one of the distant mountain tops the crumbling edifice of an old castle was visible even from a distance. Unicornia. The secrets such places must hold were untold and so tempting.

That temptation was the reason an airship hovered above the desolate place. Its sleek wooden hull was marred by sharp metal protrusions that jutted from the bow and keel. It was held aloft by a massive purple balloon that had black metal running along its ridge. Two glowing blue lightning bolts decorated the front, made to look like the eyes of the angry metal slug that laid atop the balloon.

Exotic creatures of all kinds flitted about the deck doing various menial tasks. They all wore the black armor of the Storm King, his dual blue lightning bolt insignia decorated the garments. Some wore the traditional armor while others had ramshackle fits thrown together with nontraditional materials.

There was one creature that stood out though. The sole equine aboard the ship had on the black armor but she kept it hidden by a cloak of white and gold, a sun emblazoned on the back and pointed towards the sky. Her blood red coat and golden mane only made her stand out more amongst the muted colors of the griffons, yetis, and bipedal felines that hurried about the place.

“How’s the sun shining today, Sergeant Rose?” A male griffon whose vibrancy matched her own, not that you could see it right now beneath the black uniform her wore, came up beside her. His feathers and fur were bright blue, only split by the cream color stripe that went from the bottom of his beak all the way down his stomach and the yellow tips of the feathers atop his head. One of his claws had been replaced by a metal facsimile.

“Brighter by the day, Gallus.” Rose responded with a pleased sigh as she looked up at the sky and the burning ball of gas and smiled. “I’m sure we’re near something good. I can feel it in my bones. Unicornia has to hold something good.”

“It better.” Gallus responded with a furrowed brow as he reared up onto his paws and rested his claws on the railing. “I overheard your talk with His Majesty last night. Seems like he’s getting more and more antsy about this ‘wonder weapon’ you promised him.”

None of this had gone to plan. After Rose’s escape from Canterlot she had expected to be launched to the top of the Storm King’s hierarchy, right by his side just like his previous right hand mare. That wasn’t how it went though. She was an outsider and she was not trusted. It had taken her months of laboring aboard a ‘recruitment vessel’ to even have an opportunity to speak to the Storm King. Then she learned about the big problem: the staff that he had, the one that was the crux of this whole plan, was now defunct. The Event had robbed it of whatever magical properties it had before and left the Storm King and his armies high and dry.

Rose had pleaded with the tyrant for a chance to find him something new. He relented thankfully and sent her off with the absolute dregs of his forces and one singular airship into the great blue yonder. He had given her a year to find a replacement, something to steal the power of the alicorns so he could use it for his own goals.

“He will have the heads of the princesses.” Rose stood up straight and her only wing twitched beneath her cape. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure of it…”

“I still can’t believe how much you hate them.” Gallus grinned slyly and nudged Rose’s side. “I thought you ponies were supposed to be all love and friendship.” He was just like this. The young griffon liked to needle her about everything, but not in a mean way. Not like the ponies back home. He never prodded her religious tendencies or talked down to her about him, in fact Gallus was the only creature who ever seemed genuinely interested in her faith.

He was a good friend.

“Yeah, well…I thought that too.”

The two stood in silence for a few minutes as they stared out across the barren landscape as it slowly passed beneath them. Rose looked up at the sun again. Its warmth beat down on her back and she could feel it even through her cloak. It wasn’t as pure as it once had been. It wasn’t as warm or holy as it had been even a year ago. The alicorns had allowed the taint of The Event to reach it, to infect the firmament above. That was the whole reason Rose was here, so she could get rid of the alicorns and allow the sky to heal. The corrupted tethers that existed here on the ground, those royals who now resided in Manehattan, needed to be dispatched.

That was what Rose was here to do: cut those tethers.

“This place kinda reminds me of home.” Gallus’ metal claw clicked against the rail idly. “Bunch of rocks, tall mountains, nothing to see and a bunch of sad sacks rushing about doing nothing.” He nodded back at the crowds of crew that scurried around behind them.

“Do you ever miss Griffonstone?” Rose asked. It was something that Gallus never talked about. Not since the Storm King forces came across what could only charitably be called a town had she even seen the young griffon show an ounce of sadness about his old home.

“What’s to miss?” Gallus asked nonchalantly. “I didn’t have family there. The only thing I left behind was my claw.” He flexed his mechanical appendage and stared at it. “Cold, miserable and dark…”

That was something they connected on: their love of the sun. It had been innate for Rose, but for Gallus it had been learned. Equestria had been bathed in the light of the harsh sun while the griffon lands had been covered in darkness with only the moon to give them light. With the darkness came the cold and with the cold came the dying of crops. Gallus had been skin and bones when they arrived as had been most of the inhabitants of Griffonstone. The chaos and depravity was worse than what Rose had seen in Canterlot, but that was because there were no monsters. The griffons had done that all to themselves with no help from the disease that plagued the unicorns in Equestria. 

Gallus hated the night and he now despised the cold. He sought solace in the warm embrace of the sun and Rose was more than willing to help with that. Both of them could be found on the deck at most times throughout the day and that meant they were often talking, and that meant Rose had a lot of time to impart her wisdom upon the young griffon. He was very receptive of it too. A fine protege. 

“Well then we’ll try not to spend too much time here.” The last thing she wanted was to make her favorite crew member uncomfortable. “Do you have my spyglass?” Gallus retrieved the object from beneath his wing and handed it over. Rose took it in her hoof and extended the little device and looked through it.

“Wouldn’t it make sense to start at the castle?” Gallus asked.

“No…when the ponies packed up and left they most likely emptied it of everything important and lugged it to Equestria.” Rose muttered as she looked through her little telescope. She looked at the decrepit ruins of Princess Platinum’s old castle for a few moments but then moved on from it and scanned the other mountains. She had hoped to see other towers or little outposts but time and the elements had done enough to hide those. “We’re looking for something away from the castle, somewhere they would’ve stored dangerous things. Things they wanted to leave behind and forgotten…”

“Why would they leave behind their strongest weapons? Seems pretty stupid to leave a big stick behind.” Rose heard Gallus lean against the rail and begin to tap his metal claws against it again. “I mean they were traveling with their enemies at the time, right?”

“No, the story goes that they all reached Equestria independently of one another. The decision to evacuate the homeland was agreed upon, though.” The history of Hearth’s Warming had been something taught to her much later than most other ponies, but her time in Canterlot had solidified the tale in her mind. “The tribes were at peace, though. They didn’t want to bring the Windigos to their new home, so leaving the big dangerous weapons and plans of last resort behind makes sense.”

‘Makes sense’ didn’t mean it was true. This was still a longshot and Rose was well aware of that fact. This wasn’t the first site she had searched, no that had been on the other side of the continent where Starlight Glimmer’s old village stood. The stories said she had the power to steal cutie marks with a staff of some kind, but they only found a completely dead town and no secrets. This one she had a good feeling about, though. She had followed the sun here from Starlight’s village, east to west. Every day she stayed right under it until they ended up here. 

It was meant to be.

Rose swept the spyglass across the barren fields that led up the mountain range in the distance. Only one thing stood out, a very large hill in the midst of the field. It stood about six hundred feet high and was far far away from the base of any other mountain. She lowered the instrument and pointed at the hill with a hoof.

“There.” She collapsed the spyglass and tucked it under her own wing beneath her cloak. “Gallus, head down there and see if you can find anything unusual. Report back, we’ll head that way.” 

“You got it, boss.” Gallus gave a crisp salute and threw himself over the edge of the ship. His large blue wings erupted from his sides and carried him towards the hill. 

Rose hurried to the helm and relayed her instructions. Soon the bulky and slow airship was turning towards the hill and trudging towards it at a sluggish pace. Her lone wing twitched and fluttered beneath her cloak. She wanted to follow Gallus and fly out to the spot but her crippled body would not allow her to do even that. She would have to wait here with everyone else until they landed. 

As the airship began its approach to settle on top of the hill, Gallus landed back on the deck. Rose hurried over to the griffon as fast as she could. Her front left shoulder clicked and yelled at her to slow down as she trotted over to him, but she ignored it and pushed herself a bit more than usual.

“There’s something in there…” Gallus reported breathlessly when Rose finally got close enough. A crowd gathered around him as the words carried in the air. “There’s a crack on the south side, barely big enough for me to get into. There are these big stone doors that are already open and some old looking stuff inside. I didn’t look around, I came right back here.”

“Good job, Gallus.” Rose beamed and patted her young friend on the back. “When we land, you’re with me. Grab a weapon and go get my spear, please. Just to be safe.” He nodded in response and bolted off with youthful energy. When he returned he had a sword strapped to his side, a spear on his back and a lantern in one wing.

“It’s really dark in there and I know you ponies can’t see very well like I can.” He held up the lantern to punctuate the sentiment. “So yeah, whenever we land.” Rose could see his feathers and fur bristle and his hind legs twitched nervously. Gallus was just as excited as she was to get in there. Good.

“Excellent. Thank you.” Rose shrugged off her cloak to reveal the black armor underneath. She then grabbed her spear from Gallus’ back with her wing  and pulled it close to her body. 

Without her cloak and the sun emblem on her back, she felt so vulnerable. The black body armor that the Storm King provided was sturdy, no doubt. It could stop a few swipes of a sword or a graze from a bladed weapon, but it did not offer any protection for her soul. That was what she truly needed, especially venturing where the sun itself could not reach her. She swallowed that fear and steadied herself though. Back in Canterlot she had spent a lot of time underground, this would be no different. 

“I can do this…” She whispered to herself as she made her way below deck and to the spot in the hull that would open up when they landed. Gallus was beside her, as were a few others. “Okay.” She addressed everyone now. “Make camp here for the night. Make sure the ship is anchored properly and unload some supplies. If this is something big, then we might be here for a while.” A big yeti grunted and nodded affirmatively and gave a shout to some of his other kin in a language Rose would never learn.

Finally the airship settled on the ground with a thud and groan. The door in front of her opened and swung down, making a ramp. Some dust was kicked up from their landing but it quickly dissipated. Rose was the first one out and her hooves were the first ones to touch the plain rocky ground of the hill beneath them. They were probably the first hooves to touch the actual ground and not snow in over a thousand years.

If this was indeed Unicornia, then to have a pegasus be the first pony to trod upon their homeland after all that time felt poetic. It was not a unicorn scholar to finally see their place of origin again, but a pegasus soldier. Rose was following in the hoofsteps of her ancestors: plundering unicorn lands for their valuables. She was sure the ancient pegasi were looking down on her approvingly in these moments.

Rose and Gallus immediately set off with the latter taking the lead. He stayed on the ground and kept to a brisk walk to let the battered and gimped pegasus keep pace. Every step made Rose’s shoulder twinge in pain and click over and over again, but she ignored it as always. It was annoying, but at least it was not as crippling as it had once been. She could even fight now if she absolutely needed to, unlike when it was fresh.

Those days of vulnerability were behind her now.

The unlikely duo made their way to the entrance Gallus had mentioned. It did look like a tight fit and it was unlikely that any of the yetis or fully grown griffons could get in. Rose and Gallus could though, they were about the right size.

The pegasus squeezed into the crack in the mountain. The armor made it tighter than previously thought and she could hear the rock scrape against the black metal on her sides. More than that she could feel her feathers catch on pointed stones as she pushed into the darkness. It was like she was back in Canterlot in the early days of The Event, squeezing through those old smuggler tunnels to get around the overrun city. Her chest tightened as she remembered those days, but the flame in her heart eased that tension and fought off the darkness that closed in around her. It was only a few feet until the space opened up, but it felt like miles. Once she was on the other side she took a few deep breaths and solidified her resolve.

Gallus wasn’t far behind her but the young bird came out of the tight crack much worse for wear. He was hyperventilating and he fell to the ground almost instantly, holding the lantern close to his chest. He was not sobbing, but he was close to doing so.

Rose frowned and her eye twitched.

“He’s just a kid…” Rose had to remind herself quietly. 

That was a lot easier to say than accept though. Gallus was young but he had all the makings of a scion of the sun just like herself. The weakness inside of him was holding him back though, and it was a weakness that was letting the darkness in. If he let it consume him, taint him, then he would be of no use to Rose. He would just be another thing, another soulless husk that let the evils of the world triumph over his spirit. 

Just like Tempest.

Just like Parade.

Just like Picket.

Just like them, it would then be up to her to deal with him. Invariably when her so-called friends failed and succumbed to the evil forces that were omnipresent in the world, it fell on her to deal with them. Rose didn’t want to hurt Gallus, but she would if he left her no other choice.

“Get up.” Rose demanded of the young soldier before her. He complied and stood up. In the dim light put out by the lantern in his claw she could see tears running down his cheeks and the slight tremble that ran through his body. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you crying?”

“S-sorry Sarge…” Gallus sniffled and wiped his eyes with a wing. “Just…coming through here…” His beak clicked a few times, a nervous habit she had seen before. “...reminds me a lot of Griffonstone. Tight spaces. Cold and dark. Rocky. It just…got to me.”

“You’re better than that, Gallus.” She chided him. “The darkness can be scary, but remember that you are not bound by that anymore. You have a light inside of you, a fire that will only go out if you let it. As long as you believe, as long as you have faith in the light even when you can’t see it, you will never be in the dark.” She placed a hoof on his covered chest, right on the breastplate that featured the Storm King’s insignia. “It’s in here, always. Do not forget it. In your darkest moments when you feel those memories creeping in, find the fire in your heart and stoke it. Feed it whatever it needs to thrive, because if you let it go out then you’ll be in the dark forever.” She looked at him with her piercing golden eyes and let her gaze burrow into his soul. “Is that what you want?”

“N-no!” Gallus blurted out in a panic. He then caught himself and answered again a bit more calmly. “No. No ma’am.”

“Good.” Rose nodded and looked him over. “Come on, let’s see what’s in here. Get your sword out and be ready.”

The pair walked through the dark tunnel, which was about twenty feet wide and eight feet high. How long it was remained a mystery as the dim light of Gallus’ lantern did not penetrate deep enough into the cave to reveal the doors he had seen. As they walked the path became narrower and seemed to slope as it carried them downwards, as if into the pits of Tartarus itself. It was around five minutes before they finally came to the end of the road: a pair of ten foot high stone doors. 

The doors were opened already, just as Gallus had said. Several sconces had old enchanted crystals in them that gave off enough light to illuminate the space but not quite enough to look around without straining one’s eyes. Beyond the doors was what looked to be a bedroom one might’ve found in Canterlot. It had the trademark white marble floors, massive bed, and rows upon rows bookshelves. She thought she spotted some kind of desk or workbench against one of the walls too. Though there were a few things that stood out far more than the decor. 

Two bodies lay on the floor, far too decomposed to tell any specific features but intact enough to see that they were two ponies. One had wings, or at least one wing, that was for certain. That one also had a metal leg and a metal wing. Their dried blood was strewn around the room, decorating the nearby massive bed and covering a few bookshelves. There was also, curiously, an extra equine skull just laying on the ground. Rose reached down and picked it up, but saw nothing of note beyond the fact that it was a unicorn. The question of where the rest of the skeleton was intrigued her, but it wasn’t important for now.

The pair swept through the space, on the lookout for whatever killed the two ponies by the bed. They found no monsters here, though. They both guessed that the two dead ponies had a third, a unicorn unrelated to the errant skull on the floor, that slaughtered them and then fled when it turned. It made the most sense.

“Look around for anything that might be important or powerful, okay? Yell if you find something.” Rose rested her spear against a bookshelf and began to look around herself. She wandered over to the desk she had seen. 

The desk was not of the same quality as the rest of the room. It was where work was done, it was not built for comfort. Its edges were rough and Rose could imagine many splinters were received from rubbing a hoof against it at the wrong angle. Quills and ink pots, the contents of which had long ago dried up, littered the space as did several pieces of paper with what looked to be incantations or spells. Tucked against the wall was a book,  a little green journal from the look of it. Rose grabbed the journal whose cover simply said ‘Observations’ in intricate cursive and flipped it open to its first page.

‘Foreword:

If you have found this book, then I urge you to return it to where you have found it.

When I began writing this journal I thought this information valuable and even as I progressed I thought it necessary for the survival of my tribe. It wasn't until much later that I understood that what I have learned is priceless. 

These secrets are not mine to share and they are not yours to learn.

Inside of these pages you will find the musings of a young fool and the language and history of two truly unique ponies. It is not history that I wish to be forgotten, but it must be hidden. 

Again, I urge you, return this to its place. 

-Starswirl The Bearded’

Rose’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates and she flipped through the pages as the words sank in. This was something written by Starswirl the Bearded that he didn’t want anypony to find! This book had to have something in it, some powerful secret that could doom Equestria.

It was perfect.

If this was Starswirl’s book, then this might have been a study or personal library of his at some point. Everything in here was valuable and there was no doubt there had to be something in one of these books to help their quest. There had to be something that would be capable of taking down Celesti and Luna.

“Gallus!” Rose called out. “We’re taking everything in here!”
> Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle’s hooves touched down on the steps to her old castle. The devastated crystalline tomb loomed above her, a monument to all of her sins bathed in the shining light of the sun. The light bounced off of it and reflected onto the flat wasteland around it, which only redirected that light right back into the sky due to the glassed earth. This was not just a monument, but also a beacon for all of her wrongs. The heavens themself illuminated the place so everypony for miles around would be reminded of where everything ended.

For very few ponies it also reminded them of where this all started.

The lone pony ascended the stairs. She took deep breaths with each step and filled her lungs with the desolate and still air that hung around the ruins. Despite what she was here to do, there was no panic in any of her actions. In fact, there was tranquility. For the first time in so long, Twilight Sparkle felt at peace with what she was about to do.

The mare did not walk through the castle as much as she did glide through its interior. Past the ruined stairway and down the hall with all of its congesting rubble. None of them were of concern to her, they weren’t even obstacles. They were appropriate set dressing if anything.

Into the map room and down the stairs that had been hidden beneath the heavy, and now dead, table that had once held a mystical map of the realm. The long spiraling staircase that disappeared into darkness was descended in what felt like a record time for her. Twilight was not even moving very fast as she did not want to rush this, no she just felt no resistance from her body nor the strain she had put it through.

Eventually she found herself at the bottom and was met with the open door and the cavern beyond. The empty crater that had once been full of sparkling blue mana was still there, as was the spire that used to kiss the tip of that placid pool. Now only silence and memories ruled this place.

This was the first time she’d been down here since they had gathered the ashes of her friends. That was, what, a few days after The Event ‘ended’? It seemed like a lifetime ago. Then again, most things felt so far away right now. Their funerals, the paltry things that were not worthy of the sacrifices that they had made, still felt like a vision conjured by Sombra. None of this felt real.

“I told you I’d be back when I was done…” Twilight muttered to the empty space. Her words bounced off of the crystalline structures and into the hole in the cavern on the other side. She didn’t think it would be so soon, but here she was. 

“I did it.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. It was the first time since she left Manehattan that reality hit her. “I got the Pillars back.” Twilight nodded and chewed on her lip. Her throat tightened and she could feel that devastatingly familiar ‘about to cry’ sensation build up in her cheeks. “I told you I’d come back…” 

Twilight Sparkle pulled something out of her saddlebag. It was a knife, not anything fancy or ceremonial. It was just one she had swiped from the kitchen in the hotel turned castle. It was about six inches long with a simple wooden handle and an incredibly sharp blade. Its purpose had been to slice vegetables. It was not worthy to spill the blood of a princess, but then again she was not worthy of the title. Not anymore. 

The simple kitchen knife would do. It would be painful, slow and agonizing. That was part of the point, though. Somepony like Twilight Sparkle deserved to suffer for her crimes. It would be a bloody and undignified death in a hole, just what she wanted for herself.

“I didn’t tell Starlight, but there was a chance the Alicorn Amulet would’ve killed me.” Twilight held the knife in her magical grasp and studied it. Her violet eyes stared back at her in the reflection of the stainless steel blade. “It wasn’t a big chance, or even really one to bet on at all, that didn’t stop me from hoping.” 

These thoughts, these hopes, didn’t hurt anymore. It no longer pained the princess to think of her own death, or even wish for it. Her end would be a mercy for all of Equestria. It was one more problem dealt with. One more monster put in the ground. It would be the end to one very big mistake.

“What’s one more body on the pile…?” Twilight asked the mare that stared back at her in the knife. She didn’t receive a response. At least it would be the last one contributed by her hooves, at least actively. She knew The Event and its repercussions would continue to claim lives for the rest of time. A boulder had been dropped into the pond that was the world and the ripples did nothing but claim bodies as they spilled out from the center of the impact. 

“I suppose it’s time.” She stated bluntly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. I’m sorry I failed you all.” The knife turned in her grasp and she pressed the blade against her neck. “I won’t see you, not where I’m going. I hope that wherever I end up, you can come visit. If even for a moment.” The tears finally broke through and spilled down her cheeks as she thought of her friends and how she would never embrace them again. At least she would join them in the ranks of the dead, even if she would not be as sanctified as them.

Twilight Sparkle dragged the knife across her throat.

Nothing happened.

The alicorn looked down, expecting to see crimson lifeblood spilling down her body. She saw nothing. In fact, the knife was gone. There was no trace of it, as if it had never existed. Twilight looked on the ground around her to make sure she had not faltered and dropped the weapon.

“We are disappointed, Twilight Sparkle.” The voice came from across the vacant pool. A pair of luminescent turquoise eyes stared at her from the darkness of the tunnel on the other side. She had seen those eyes before in that exact same place. “This is not even a nightmare. This is a dream.”

Princess Luna stepped out of the shadows. This was not the twisted form from the past, nor was it the funhouse mirror version of the princess of the night that currently existed in the real world. This was Luna as she had been before The Event, untainted. She even wore her silver accouterments that had been lost in those heady sun soaked days of the apocalypse. 

“And?” Twilight asked, lowering her head to stare at the ground.

“And this is unacceptable.” Luna answered as she walked around the edge of the crater towards her fellow alicorn. “To dream of taking your own life…” She shook her head.

“Please, don’t lecture me.” Twilight didn’t have the energy, even while sleeping, to deal with this. She had hoped this had been real. Sweet Celestia, how badly she wanted her release. How far behind was her waking self from following in this dream’s hoofsteps. “I don’t…I just want it to be over.”

“We have been there…” Luna responded quietly as she sat next to the smaller alicorn. “Gods, have We been there.” Pain laced those words, very real and visceral pain. “The thought of death has been a companion for Us before as well, far more than We would like to admit.” Luna’s expression hardened as her brow furrowed and jaw tightened. “It can be…enticing to think of one’s death as a tool. It can be used deliberately to hurt somepony else, or as a balm for the pains that will not go away…or even as penance.” Twilight felt the older mare’s eyes burrow into her skull as she spoke those last words. “We know very well the allure of all of those reasons.”

“How do you do it?” Twilight was crying still. The sadness did not choke her airways or capture her words, but it filled her head. It made thinking about anything else difficult. “How do you…” She couldn’t even phrase the question in her mind. “I’m a monster, Luna. I did this. I caused all of this.” She gestured at the cavern around them. “I got my friends killed. I ruined Equestria.”

“We-” Luna took a deep breath and spoke again. “-I have learned that the only way to get through it is to find forgiveness. Not just the forgiveness of other ponies, but also your own.” Luna extended a wing and draped it over Twilight. “You will never get through this until you can find out how to forgive yourself. Then you must seek the forgiveness of others. You are the most important part, though. Nopony will ever forgive you until you first do it yourself.”

“How?” Twilight could not help but lean against the regent of the dream realm. She was not Celestia, she was nowhere near as comforting, but in this moment she felt like the mentor that Twilight needed. “I can’t ask everypony in Equestria…they don’t even know that I caused this.”

“Hmm.” Luna stared straight ahead and took a deep breath. “Well, there are some that do know. I would start there.” Luna gazed wistfully into the distance. “If I could ask forgiveness from the ponies I hurt from one thousand years ago, I would. If I had the chance…”

“I…okay.” Twilight nodded. She wasn’t sure how she would ever forgive herself. It seemed like a monumental task. Especially since that’s what she thought she had done. Getting the Pillars back and giving Equestria the protection it needed seemed like her redemption. It should’ve been, at least. So why wasn’t it as filling as it should have been? Why did she still feel like this. “How have you already forgiven yourself, Luna?”

“I haven’t.” The answer was short and simple.

“What?” Twilight shook her head. “But you seem so…normal.”

“I cannot allow myself to get bogged down with sadness, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna explained softly. “Celestia, Cadenza, and yourself have been so weighed down with heavy hearts. If I were to join you in those pits, then Equestria would suffer.” The next words came out quietly and bitterly as they left Luna’s lips. “I have been a monster for one thousand years, what is a little more?”

“I’m sorry.” Twilight shrunk away from Luna and the dream began to come apart at the edges. The sides of the cave slowly became soft and obscured as if they had been coated in oil. The feeling of hard stone beneath her changed to become almost spongy. 

“No, do not be.” Luna said with a shake of her head and a sigh. “I apologize. I am not used to being the…emotionally sound one. This is new territory for all of us. I am just doing what I must, even though it hurts.” 

There was a beat of silence.

“You are not all of your yesterdays, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna’s wing squeezed Twilight. “You are more than your mistakes and your faults. They may add up and seem to make a mountain you cannot bear to summit, but they are not all of you.” Luna searched for her next words before speaking them slowly. “You may not feel like it right now, but you are a hero Twilight Sparkle. You have saved Equestria more times than anypony else. Your good deeds will not turn to ash, they are too numerous to burn.”

—-

Twilight woke the next morning and found herself looking towards the window of her suite. The call of Ponyville was strong. Her heart ached for an end that she knew she did not yet deserve. It would still call to her, though. It would keep calling until she could forgive herself.

How she was to accomplish that task was a mystery.

After a brief shower and some spells to get her mane and tail in order, Twilight opened the door to her suite. She was not met with the usual sight of the two non-descript guards she was accustomed to standing on either side of her door. Instead Flash Magnus stood against the wall opposite her door. He wore his armor still with its bright red plume and scant protection.

“Oh. Hello Flash.” It felt weird to call him that considering the other Flash who was also a pegasus and a guard that was in the building. “How can I help you this morning?” It was easy to shrug off her malaise and put on her practiced princess face and accompanying smile.

“Well I was looking for something to do.” Flash responded as he pushed off from the wall and stood up straight. “Starswirl is preparing to go to some…vault or something. Rockhoof and Somnambula are going with him. Mistmane is staying back and working on some spell to reverse the physical defects of the unicorns. Princess Luna said that you could use a personal guard.”

“Oh did she?” Twilight tried to hide her annoyance and failed. “I assure you, I don’t need a personal guard. I can handle myself.” She began to walk away towards the elevators.

“I never said you couldn’t, Twilight.” Flash responded and followed her close behind. “I saw what happened yesterday when we were cornered by that crowd, though. I’m sure that sometimes a guard on your side could be of some use.”

Twilight didn’t really like that being used against her. The real reason was hopefully only known by herself and Luna, though. The lone functioning princess wanted to make sure that Twilight didn’t do something to hurt herself and she was sure that Flash was not going to leave no matter what excuse she made up. 

“Alright well, I need to go up and see Princess Celestia.” Normally guards wouldn’t be allowed up there, but then again Flash Magnus wasn’t a guard. He was a Pillar, so that little trick would not work with him.

“Oh good, Starswirl’s up there right now. We can say goodbye.” There was no smarm in that response either, no knowing smirk accompanied the response. It was earnest and blunt. 

The elevator opened as it had already been called by two guards stationed by the doors. The Pillar of Bravery and Element of Magic piled in. She was the one to reach over and press the button for the very top floor.

The usual bland music that crackled from the tinny speakers of the elevator was supplanted by the whistling of her pegasus counterpart. With nothing else to focus on, she settled on listening to him chirp out the tune. It wasn’t idle whistling either, it was a proper song he had in his head.

“What is that?” She had to ask as the tune looped back in on itself and seemed to start over.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s an old flying song.” He nodded. “Something to sing while you’re going to battle.” He looked at her with his inscrutable blue eyes. “I can stop if you want, Twilight.”

“It has lyrics?”

“Of course. Otherwise we would be a bunch of pegasi whistling as we flew. We’re warriors, not a flock of jays.” She waited for him to catch on. “Ah, you want to hear it.” She nodded. “Maybe some other time, after all we’re almost to the top. Would hate to keep everypony waiting.” He nodded at the little dial above the door whose needle was rapidly moving to the right.

“Alright, but you owe me that song.” Twilight pointed at him with a hoof. “I mean it. Not a lot of ancient pegasus songs survived throughout the years. You’re whistling a historical relic.” Flash gave a little bow and nod in response as the elevator dinged and the doors opened up again.

The two made their way into Celestia and Luna’s suite, still stacked high with paintings of ponies now long gone. Part of Twilight regretted introducing this idea to Celestia. While it was surely a good outlet in moderation, this did not seem healthy. Twilight did her best to steer clear of memories about the ponies she harmed during her time as a monster. To embrace it like this, to be surrounded by it on all sides, it would break her. 

“We will return as soon as we are able. Two weeks at most.” Starswirl’s voice came from Celestia’s room and the old mage as well as Somnambula and Rockhoof emerged from it. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Fantastic. I was going to come see you next.”

“What about?” Twilight’s mind was wandering today, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t focus on the legend before her. “Is everything okay?”

“Debatable.” Starswirl answered with a huff as one of his hooves went to his beard and stroked it. “King Bullion’s Vault, do you remember if you shut it once you left for the train station to come back home?”

“Um…” Twilight blinked. “I…I don’t remember.” That was very odd. She could remember being infected with that gunk, and she could remember being on the train back home and feeling like death. “I…don’t remember how I got onto the train…” She tapped her hoof on the ground. “I was with two other ponies! An earth pony and a pegasus: Strata and Intrepid! They have to know something and there’s no way they left that big of a discovery up there. They probably stayed behind and studied everything in there.”

“I certainly hope not.” Starswirl mumbled. “Well, I will still be on my way there. Hopefully those two have not absconded with anything. There are very dangerous things in that vault, more dangerous than that plague even.” He gave another huff and narrowed his eyes. “See if anypony knows where they are in case they are not at the Vault, please. They might have things of mine I wish to see returned.”

“Dangerous things.” Twilight clarified.

“Cataclysmically so, Twilight Sparkle.”

She wanted to point out to the aged mage that then perhaps he should destroy them this time rather than let them sit where they don’t belong, but she didn’t want to argue. She was sure that the other Pillars had already admonished him for it multiple times since they were freed and learned the truth. Hopefully he would see reason and do what he should’ve done long ago.

“I’ll work on it.” Twilight said with a little nod. 

The trio of Pillars moved past her and stopped to converse with Flash as the alicorn went into her mentor’s room. Inside Celestia, a very tired Luna, and Mistmane were waiting and conversing in front of the ‘self-portrait’ painted by Celestia’s hoof.

“I just think this is a good exercise.” Mistmane spoke slowly, but confidently. “To let ponies get their grief out through art is a good way to heal.” Twilight could tell the old mare had a lot more to say, probably the same things that she had to say about the clutter, but was holding back. “Imagine if we make this something everypony can do: they paint the ponies they hurt or lost during The Event and we display them somewhere that ponies can visit and see them all. A memorial made by the ponies, for the ponies. It would let ponies connect their grief with others’ and bond through art and trauma.”

“We quite like the idea, sister.” Luna spoke up but had to quickly cover her mouth with a hoof as she yawned. “Oh, apologies…it is late for Us. As We were saying, We like the idea. You already have much to add to a potential collection.”

“But…these are mine…” Celestia looked around at her paintings, especially the ones that were half-finished: a red mare with golden eyes and mane, a light blue mare with a slicked back white mane, and numerous guards whom Twilight could recognize from her time in Canterlot.

“Yes and it would help you connect with your subjects.” Mistmane spoke like the gentle grandmare she was as she guided Celestia down the path she was laying down. “If they see that even Princess Celestia is grieving, that even you are working through this…then maybe it could help others come to terms with iot, or even begin to work through their trauma themselves.”

“I also like the idea.” Twilight finally spoke up. “I mean, the portraits thing was something I suggested to Celestia anyway, but I think this could work. The Museum of Modern Art is empty, right? Everything in there was destroyed. We could use that as a memorial.”

“I’ll think about it…” Celestia relented.

“That’s all I ask.” Mistmane said with a smile and a nod. “Now I see that there are matters of state to attend to, so I’ll take my leave.” The Pillar of Beauty gave a very slight bow, as much of one as her arthritic joints would allow, and departed.

“We leave for the Changeling Hive in a few hours.” Luna said after a yawn once they were sure that Mistmane was gone. “We have been over our bargaining chips multiple times, but is there anything else you wish to say before we go and deal with this?”

“Well I would say ‘don’t get intimidated by Dragon Lord Ember’, but I don’t think that’s a worry.” Celestia tapped her chin as the thousand years of diplomatic experience overcame her melancholy. “Remember: we’re not giving up any food. We can open up volunteer forces for ponies to go help them, but we cannot promise them a specific number. I will not be ‘recruiting’ ponies to go work in a foreign country. Try to get the changelings on our side, I think we could live without the aid of the dragons. The changelings are crucial, though. Do whatever you can to broker a deal with them.”

“Very well.” Luna nodded at her sister and then turned to the other alicorn in the room. “Twilight Sparkle, do you have anything to say on this matter?”

“Yeah, it’s not Thorax you have to watch out for. He’s not much of a trickster like you would think. It’s his brother you need to keep an eye on, he’s definitely more…classic changeling. Even after the metamorphosis.” That was the vibe she got from Pharynx at least, and from what she had been told by Starlight and Trixie it was right on the money. “I’m sure Spike can give you some more insight, he knows Ember and Thorax way better than I do.”

“Time to make some friends, then.” Luna said with a tired grunt. “We will have Spike send updates on negotiations when able.” Luna gave a little wave as she trotted out of the room.

“They get to save the world while we’re busy trying to save ourselves…” Celestia trailed off as she turned around and sat in front of one of her unfinished paintings. “I’m not sure which is harder.”


End of Part One

> Politicking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part Two:
The Moon






Cheerilee woke up in a painfully empty bed.

Of course, there was no one to blame but herself. She had a quite willing stallion that slept in her front room, one that was here specifically to solve that problem. The problem was not him, it was Cheerilee. 

How long had it been since Cheerilee had been with a stallion like that? Years. Even she lost track of the exact amount of time. She had become very adept at dealing with her more primal urges and hadn’t really felt the need to seek the help of a stallion in a long time. The closest she had come in recent times was that little incident with Big Mac instigated by Scootaloo and her friends. 

She was just very nervous about all of it. That kept her from taking the next very necessary step and Muddy was far too polite to push her. He just kept saying that they would do this at her speed, not his. It was incredibly understanding and wonderful and it made Cheerilee feel less than worthless. 

She had been so eager for this opportunity, for this chance to start a family. Where was her zeal now? She should be getting plowed like a field, not in bed alone! This wouldn’t be her first time, so why was she as anxious as she was back then? It was so stupid. She was a grown mare, this shouldn’t be this big of a problem!

“Cheerilee?” Scootaloo’s voice came from beyond her door and a knock accompanied it.

“Yeah, I’m awake.” Cheerilee grumbled back and got out of bed. Sleep had not come, too many worries and far too much self-loathing had filled her night. It had been like this since Muddy had shown up and it was getting worse by the day.

“Some more royal guards delivered something to the mayor and she wants everypony outside!” 

That made Cheerilee move a bit faster. She stepped into the bathroom attached to her room and made sure she looked semi-presentable and then hurried herself out into the hall. Scootaloo was there waiting for her, a groggy frown on her face. 

“Are you okay, Scootaloo? You look tired.” She gave the young pegasus a soft smile and rested a hoof on her back. Scootaloo pushed against the contact and Cheerilee lightly rubbed right between the filly’s wings. 

“No…” Scootaloo answered with a heavy sigh. “Rock and Roll were up all night doing something outside of my window…a lot of banging with hammers or something.” Scootaloo’s little wings bristled and she glared towards the back of the house. “I tried to see what they were doing out there but they told me I wasn’t allowed to! What’s up with that?”

“I’ll talk to Muddy about it.” Cheerilee said with a smile and nod. “I’m sure they’ll let you join in whatever it is they’re doing.”

“I don’t even want to join them!” Scootaloo protested and stomped her hoof against the floorboards. “I just want to know what’s so important that they have to be out there all night and keeping me up! Some of us have jobs even if they don’t!” 

“You’re sounding more and more grown up by the day, Scootaloo.” Cheerilee said with a chuckle and patted her charge on the head. “I’ll talk to them and get them to keep their construction to more reasonable hours, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Now come on, let’s go see what the mayor wants.” Cheerilee started off down the hall. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get back and I can make us all some breakfast.”

“Muddy already made us breakfast.” Scootaloo followed closely behind the mare. “Scrambled eggs!” 

“Where in the world did he get eggs from?” Cheerilee hadn’t even seen eggs since…since before The Event? When was the last time she had even seen a chicken? It seemed like forever ago.

“I don’t know but it was so good…” Scootaloo trailed off, lost in the memory of a hearty breakfast. “It would’ve been even better if we had ketchup...”

“Ugh.” Cheerilee’s face twisted in disgust and she stuck her tongue out. She could abide wistfully reminiscing about past luxuries, but there was a line. The least Scootaloo could do was wish for something a bit…less weird. “Really? Ketchup on scrambled eggs? Gross, Scootaloo.”

“It’s good!” Scootaloo jumped in the air, her little wings buzzing furiously as she defended her taste in food. “You put ketchup on ‘em, then mix it all together until it’s all orange! It’s the best way to eat scrambled eggs!”

“If you say so…” Kids were weird. Cheerilee knew this. She also knew the best way to get out of a potential spat was to bow out before you got them too riled up. If Scootaloo wanted to fantasize about horrid food combinations, then Cheerilee would let her for now.

The pair made their way out of the house and into the streets beyond. The same placid weather greeted them, the same government mandated limbo between summer and fall that greeted them every day. In the south Cheerilee could see the teams of pegasi taking away the clouds that had been used to water the fields overnight. The sun greeted them in the east, barely over the horizon now. 

Despite the early hour everypony was outside, even the ponies who didn’t have to be up yet. The whole town was built in one big circle with a fountain at the center. A small stage often used for assemblies had been pulled out of storage and set up by the fountain. The townsponies gathered around that and looked up to Mayor Petals who was reading over a piece of parchment in her hooves.

“Cheerilee.” Muddy seemingly appeared out of thin air and at Cheerliee’s side. The mare jumped, but a strong hoof on her back settled her down. “Did you know we have unicorn guards in charge of this sector?”

“Yeah, Rhine is his name I think.” Cheerilee blinked and shrugged. “We had a little problem with him recently but we got it sorted out thanks to Scootaloo. He’s a good pony, I think. A little intense, maybe.” The same could be said for almost every guard, though. 

Cheerilee could understand Muddy’s, as well as most ponies, hesitancy when it came to unicorns. They made Cheerilee’s skin crawl too, but she also knew that it wasn’t their fault. She had seen how what happened tore up those poor ponies, she had heard from them during The Event what it was like for them. So she did her best to push through that pervasive nervousness and at least try to be friendly to any unicorn she happened to come across. 

Not everypony was Cheerilee.

“I don’t like it.” Muddy grumbled. “They come into a nice town like this and scare ponies, that’s all they do.” He added something else under his breath, something that sounded like ‘that’s all they’re good for’, but Cheerilee wasn’t sure.

“Well we see them when they come to get the food and that’s it, really.” She gave the stallion a smile and patted his side with a hoof. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to deal with them at all. That’s Mayor Petals’ job.”

“She seems alright, I guess.” Muddy conceded.

“She is.” Cheerilee then looked around. Scootaloo was still by her side but she didn’t see Muddy’s colts anywhere. “Where are Rock and Roll?”

“They’re working on their project in the backyard. I told them they didn’t have to come since this is grown up business.” He turned to look at Cheerilee. “Why?”

“Well…” Cheerilee wilted as he looked at her. She really didn’t want to upset him or do anything to drive him off. “...I was hoping that maybe you could talk to them about keeping their activities to business hours.” Muddy raised an eyebrow. “Just, y’know, we have a lot of ponies around here that have to get up early to work and-”

“I understand.” Muddy’s features brightened with a smile. “They’re just excited to get it finished. I’ll make sure they don’t keep the neighbors up all night.”

“What are they working on anyways?” Scootaloo chimed in as she hopped up and down in a bid to get a better view of Mayor Petals. Cheerilee crouched and allowed the little pegasus to climb onto her back. “It’s a lot of banging…” The former teacher rose to her full height and felt Scootaloo’s hooves rest on her head between her ears.

“They’re making a clubhouse out of our extra wagon.” Muddy answered curtly.

“Won’t you need it?” Scootaloo asked, cocking her head to the side. 

“No, not really. It was a spare we found on the way, abandoned on the side of the road.” Muddy turned his gaze to the stage. “I don’t really care what they do with it.” He nodded. “Looks like it’s time to quiet down and listen up.”

“Alright everypony!” Petunia Petals bellowed out in her thick Whinnyapolis accent. “We got a big’n here, straight from the princesses themselves.” A curious murmur shot through the crowd. “I’ll just read the whole thing, because it’s…a lot.”

“Ponies of Equestria,” The Mayor started after clearing her throat. “Our great nation has prospered under one thousand years of peace. Yes, we’ve seen our share of troubles and strife, but nothing like this. The Event has left the capacity of the state crippled and has caused chaos and confusion across Equestria. It is not easy to reckon with, but for the first time in over a millennia the crown is not enough.”

A ripple of shock went through the crowd. Cheerilee felt her blood run cold. What did that mean? Abdication? What would Equestria do without a princess? Or would Twilight take over? The thought of a world without Celestia or Luna in charge of Equestria was a bleak one, certainly.

“We have asked much of our ponies since The Event.” Petunia continued. “Food has been rationed, lives uprooted, and we have asked you to fight through feelings that no pony should have to ignore. You have done this with the faith that we, your rulers, could figure out this dire situation and set Equestria on a path towards recovery. That is not the case. Despite our best efforts, the situation has not improved. The task is far too daunting and expansive for even us to handle properly.” Petunia took a deep shaky breath and shook her head before continuing. “We must ask of you, our loyal ponies of Equestria, for more. When we were asked to administer the government of the united tribes, the government that would become Equestria, we did it because it would provide stability and unifying figureheads during trying times. Now, for the first time since Equestria’s founding, the normal citizens of Equestria are asked to return to the halls of power.”

“What?” Cheerilee was in shock. She was not the only one either, as confused and scared mumbles went through the congregation. “We’re…we’re not alicorns. We can’t possibly help run Equestria.” Ponies could run towns, but a whole country? That was the job of alicons, of princesses. There were four of them now, surely that was enough.

“Your town has been tasked with selecting one pony to send to Manehattan to represent its interests. This delegate will participate in a gathering known as The Stables, where they will vote with others from across the country on issues facing the ponies of Equestria. We know this is a lot, but we ask that you join us in this endeavor to get Equestria back on the right track. It will be difficult and there may be disagreements, but we have faith that the magic of friendship will guide us through. Eternally in your service, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

There was only a stunned silence.

“We need to have this figured out by next week. So for the next four days we will be accepting nominations for our delegate.” Petunia spoke to the crowd as she fought through her own deadening shock. “On the fifth day we will have a primary to select the final two candidates, then on the sixth day we will have a final vote.” She waited for a moment. “I’ll have a box set up in front of town hall for nominations by midday. Feel free to stop by if you have an idea…” The mare looked around for a moment, her voluminous purple curls bouncing as she did. “Uh…dismissed.”

“It should probably be her.” Muddy nodded at the mayor as she descended from the stage. “She knows what’s what. Good strong pony too.” He nodded a little more. “We need somepony who represents our interests.”

“I think this is supposed to be for all of Equestria, Muddy.” Cheerilee stood by the stallion even as the rest of the crowd began to dissipate. “I agree that Petunia is probably the right choice, but because she’s kind and compassionate. She knows that ponies are hurting and she’ll make the right choices when it comes down to it.”

“Hmm.” Was the only response she received. 

“Okay, well I have to get ready for work!” Scootaloo hopped off of Cheerilee’s back, careful not to put too much weight on her bad leg as she landed. “The mail won’t deliver itself!”

“Bye Scootaloo!” Cheerilee waved to the filly as she trotted off. “Good luck and stay safe!” She couldn’t help but smile as the little pegasus went, a swell of pride filled her chest. It felt good that Scootaloo wasn’t a layabout and was eager to go work. It meant a lot that she was willing and able to contribute to the town.

Equestria would need that spirit going forward.

“Hey.” Cheerilee turned to Muddy and felt something else swell in her chest: embarrassment. Her heart fluttered and a blush crept up her cheeks. “I have an hour before I need to go out to the fields…do you want to…” She trailed off, sure that Muddy could pick up the trail she was laying in front of him.

“Are you sure?”

Cheerilee nodded. This was not only for her, but for Equestria. It was a patriotic effort, and they would need that going forward.

—-

Scootaloo’s day of work was short that day. With everypony gathered in the center of town, scores of ponies stopped by the post office to pick up their mail rather than wait for it to be delivered. That meant the former Ponvyvillian was able to get through her pile of work quickly and head home to enjoy some time off.

The scooter stopped in front of the house and Scootaloo hopped off and tied it to a metal pipe she used as a hitch. Just as the filly started off towards the front door, she heard a familiar banging. Her ears twitched and swiveled until she located the direction it was coming from. It was in the backyard, which meant that Rock and Roll were working on whatever their project was. Instead of heading inside and getting some lunch, she decided to investigate what the colts were exactly up to. Heading around the side of the house, she opened the gate of the fence and trotted into their sparingly used backyard.

What had once been a wagon had been thoroughly disassembled into its constituent parts. Planks of wood, all a variety of purple, gold or blue, laid around the yard. Some had faded stars on the purple field, while some had telltale scorch marks of magic on the non-painted sides. 

In the middle of space Rock and Roll were taking the wood and building what looked to be a fort. Right now it was nothing but a floor, the same floor that had once been in the wagon with some additions, and the beginnings of a wall around it. Haphazardly written on one of the half-built walls was ‘No Boneheads! No Featherbrains!’ 

Rock was busy hammering away while Roll was looking at a piece of paper. They didn’t see Scootaloo as she approached and didn’t hear her over the hammering of nails even as she called out. It wasn’t until she knocked on the wall vigorously did they even look in her direction. Rock dropped the hammer and stood up, leveling his cold gray eyes right at the younger pony.

“Can’t you read the sign?” He asked in a monotone drone.

“Yeah, no featherbrains!” Roll chimed in and stuck his tongue out at her.

“Hey, this is my backyard!” Scootaloo puffed her chest out. “I can be back here if I want! I just won’t be in your dumb little fort!” She huffed  and glared right back at the brothers. “I was just coming back here to see why you two are being so loud all of the time!”

“Because we’re busy building a cool fort for earth ponies!” Roll spoke up again. “We’re going to put spikes on it to keep out the unicorns!” 

“Whatever…” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Not all unicorns are bad, y’know. Some of them didn’t even turn into monsters.” If there was one thing Scootaloo hated, it was a pony with a closed heart. The Event was hard and awful, but it was like that for everypony, not just earth ponies or pegasi. The unicorns had it just as bad, if not worse, than the other tribes. It was easy to be scared of them given what happened, but they were just as scared of themselves. They needed kindness and friendship now more than anything.

“Nu-uh.” Rock shook his head and grimaced. The scar that ran from one corner of his mouth seemed to make the frown extend down the length of his body. “My dad said every unicorn turned. None of them were safe.”

“Well your dad’s wrong!” Scootaloo bristled and her wings flared out. “I was with some during The Event and they never turned!” She had to mentally count just how many had been in Cheerilee’s castle. Did Princess Flurry Heart count as a unicorn? “Three! There were three that never turned with us!”

“You’re lying!” Both of the colts said in unison.

“Am not!” Scootaloo defended herself. “One broke his horn before he could get turned and then we had one of those ring things that stops unicorns from using magic! It stopped them from turning into monsters!”

“You’re just making that up.” Roll insisted with his chest puffed out. “We never saw any unicorns who weren’t monsters!”

“Well I was-” Scootaloo stopped herself. She wasn’t supposed to tell anypony she was in Ponyville. She had made that promise to Princess Luna and it wasn’t one she was going to break. “-I was somewhere a lot different than you!” The little pegasus was steaming mad, mad enough that she could feel her face turn hot. “Whatever. Have fun building your dumb fort.” Just as Scootaloo turned to leave, she heard the brothers whisper to one another briefly.

“Wait!” It was Roll who called out. “I guess we could use some help building it.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you can fly. So you’re like…an honorary earth pony if anything.” Roll added.

Scootaloo was wounded by the words as they were ones she had heard before, too many times to count really. It always stung to hear it, though. It was a direct stab at her heart. However it didn’t come off as an insult this time around, instead it almost sounded like the two colts meant it as a compliment. 

The words ‘I’m still a pegasus’ were on her lips and a familiar stubbornness raised in her throat. It died there, though. She didn’t have the energy to argue with them about this as well. It was like that one barb drained all of her emotional fight. She just shrugged instead. 

“You can join us, but you have to promise to help us keep the boneheads away.” Rock waved her in. “C’mon.”

They might be a little weird, but they were potential friends. Maybe Scootaloo could convince them that the other tribes weren’t so bad. She could be just like Twilight Sparkle with Starlight or Fluttershy with Discord. This was a chance to spread the magic of friendship.

—-

Chitinous hooves struck stone repeatedly as Elytra paced about her room. Her wings buzzed beneath her shell and her eyes flitted about the spartan accommodations. Every fiber of her body was telling her not to do what she was about to do. It was yelling at her not to betray the trust of the Equestrians she had been through Tartarus with. 

It was not something she could afford to listen to, not now. Princess Luna was on her way to the Hive now. Elytra had wasted enough time worrying and fretting over this decision. It was time to do it or shelve it and hope for the best. 

Thorax was about to be neck deep in negotiations with Princess Luna and Dragon Lord Ember. It was an open secret that the Changelings had something the Equestrians wanted and needed, more bodies to throw at their problems, but it was also known that the Changelings weren’t going to get much out of the deal. The talk around the hive is they might get a little territory off of Equestria but a bulk of their leverage would be used to help the dragons get what they wanted.

They needed something more, something to really benefit the Hive. They had the right carrot, they just needed a bigger stick. That was something that Elytra could ensure they had. While she didn’t know the exact specifics as she had been too busy almost dying from having her leg ripped off, she knew some of the generalities.

Twilight Sparkle had caused The Event. A princess of Equestria. An alicorn. Everyone knew an Equestrian was responsible for it of course, but not who. Thorax could use this during negotiations as something to push Princess Luna in the right direction. Then for this information Elytra could have a meeting set up between her and the Equestrian princess. From there…well, Elytra would have to rely on her own abilities to convince Luna to take the changeling back to Equestria and to tell her if Cheerilee was okay, and if so where she was.

It needed to be done.

It had been a long time since The Event for Cheerilee, but for Elytra it seemed like it was still just a few weeks in the past. She had been knocked out far below the ground and woke up back here, not so much as a few moments passing. The promise she made to Cheerilee was still fresh in her mind and it needed to be fulfilled. 

With a decision reached, Elytra’s shell opened and her gossamer wings unfurled. She took off through the window in her room and into the arid air of the wastes. The hot sun overhead was not something she relished, in fact it was something she despised. It reminded her too much of her time in Ponyville. It was quicker than hobbling through the labyrinthine interior, though. 

The aquamarine changeling buzzed through the air and spiraled around the massive stone monolith that was the Hive. Other changelings were doing the same and said hi to Elytra as she passed. It wasn’t until she got near the top where she encountered something other than friendly greetings. She landed on the balcony to King Thorax’s chambers and was stopped by the dual guards who stood outside.

“Halt!” One of them called. “What business do you have with King Thorax? He’s busy preparing for the upcoming negotiations.” It was a more diplomatic way of saying ‘buzz off’, but Elytra wasn’t keen on taking that.

“I have something he should probably know.” Elytra wasn’t keen on telling these two what it was. ‘The walls have ears’ took on a completely different meaning when every creature in the hive could transform into a wall. She needed to be selective with who and where she shared this information.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” One of the guards replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Can you please tell him that Elytra needs to talk to him.” She asked with a frustrated sigh. “Tell him it’s about Ponyville and that it’s important.” That was all she was willing to say, and it seemed like just enough. One of the guards gave a shocked little nod and disappeared into the opening behind him. It was less than a minute before the guard re-emerged from the darkened interior with a short nod. “Thank you.”

Elytra trotted past the two very diligent bugs and into an antechamber. There was one of these on either side of Thorax’s office so you didn’t have to only approach it from the crowded interior. She went straight for the door on the other side of the room and knocked on it firmly. The double doors swung open in response.

King Thorax was sitting at his desk, something that had been pilfered from some travelers who knew how long ago, with Lord Commander Pharynx by his side. The top of the desk was littered with papers and charts and things that made less than zero sense to Elytra. Light streamed into the room through windows set high up on the walls at angles to make sure that the desk was always illuminated throughout the day. Besides those two features, this was as unremarkable as any other room in the hive.

“Yes, hello Elytra.” Thorax looked up. While his visage portrayed only the same kind leader he always appeared to be, the taste in the air told a different story. It was the bitter and curdled taste of panic and it filled the space. Then there was also the lower undercurrent of frustration that only spoiled the broth of emotions further. “What can we do for you?”

“I have information.” Elytra spoke slowly as the heart in her chest picked up in pace. She could feel it beating against her shell and threaten to crack it open from the inside. The two brothers, the rulers of all of Changeling kind, stared at her expectantly. “A-about…Ponyville.” Words were beginning to fail her.

“You told me you didn’t know anything.” Pharynx stepped out from behind the desk and looked down at Elytra. He narrowed his eyes. “You said you didn’t understand what they were talking about.” He began to advance on the much smaller changeling.

“I-I don’t know everything.” Elytra clarified with a nervous chuckle. It was beginning to feel like she was back in Ponyville right after being revealed by Applejack. That was not a feeling or moment she wanted to relive or relitigate. “I know some stuff, but I was…” She looked down at her missing leg. “I wasn’t around from some of the specifics.” Elytra took a deep breath and steadied herself. “I don’t know if you can use it, but…Twilight Sparkle started The Event. I don’t know how or…that’s all I know about that. She caused it.”

“What?” Pharynx turned to look back at his brother. “A princess of Equestria caused it?” Thorax could only groan and let his head hit the table, his dual horns pushing some papers off of the desk. “Are you absolutely sure, Elytra?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Princess Twilight went somewhere up north, and when she came back she was sick. Ponyville was ground zero and all of the unicorns turned. It spread from there.” Elytra took a shaky breath in and let it out. A mix of excitement, anxiety and relief flooded her words and she knew that her two superiors could taste it just as she had their panic. “Wh-when Twilight was explaining how it happened I was…I had just lost my leg from saving her. Then everything happened all at once and I just…never heard how.”

“That’s fine.” Pharynx waved a hoof at her. “The fact that we know Twilight caused it is enough we can-”

“We’re not using this against them.” Thorax set up straight and leveled a very annoyed glare at his brother and Elytra. “What you just said, Elytra, stays in this room. I mean it.” 

“What?” Pharynx gawked at his brother. “Are you crazy? If this got out-”

“It would be very bad for Equestria, I know.” Thorax cut off his brother and held up a hoof to silence him. “The old changelings would use this against them, but we’re not them anymore. We don’t blackmail our friends, Pharynx. We’re going to get the deal done the right way or it’s not going to get done at all.”

“Fine.” Elytra said with a nod. “But if you want me to stay quiet, then I want an audience with Princess Luna when she’s here.”

“What did I just say about blackmail?!”

“I think this is bribery.” Pharynx said with a smile. “Or extortion. One of them.”

“I could have you thrown in the dungeon, you know that right?” Thorax finally stood from his desk and rose to his full height as he glowered down at Elytra. She wanted to shrink at first, but something deep down in her shell solidified. She had faced down things much scarier than the king of her people. She had gone toe to toe with a monster alicorn! She had held off an entire army of feral unicorns with her magic!

“You won’t, though.” It was a gamble to say this, but Elytra had to take it. She stared right back at King Thorax, her eyes locked with his. There was no malice in her look, but there was an obvious challenge.

“Yeah, I won’t.” Thorax blinked first. “I’ll…I’ll do what I can to get you a meeting with Luna, okay?” The king sighed and sat back down with a hefty sigh. He finally let his grip on his appearance slip and it revealed just how tired he looked. His shoulders slumped and his thin wings hung at his sides. His colorful chitin was scuffed in numerous places and it was clear he hadn’t been taking care of himself. “Just…don’t let this get out. Princess Luna has a temper and the last thing we need is her having a temper tantrum.” He then grumbled. “Why couldn’t we get Celestia or Twilight…why did it have to be Luna…”

“Ignore him.” Pharynx began to usher Elytra out of the room. “That’s not a suggestion, either. That’s an order. Ignore what he said, it was never said in your presence.”

“Understood.” Elytra confirmed with a nod. 

No sooner than she was out of the door was it slammed behind her. She was not deposited back on the exterior side of King Thorax’s office, but instead the interior. The sprawling hive lay before her, bugs flitting to and fro. Despite the hustle and bustle, Elytra stayed focused on herself more than anything.

She was one step closer to getting back to Equestria.
> The Summit: Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A lone train chugged through the southwestern reaches of Equestria at a breakneck pace. It passed all of the dead trees, abandoned homes and now dead rail stations without worry or stopping. It was the only train on the tracks and the chugging of its engine was the only sound in the early morning air.

On a normal day, Equestria’s railways would be bustling with activity. That was not the case anymore, though. Trains were only used for official government business and the commuter rail lines had been consumed by the state and were now used to transport guards and food to where they needed to go. If you were a normal pony and needed to get across the country, you either needed to walk or you didn’t need to get there at all. 

Now Princess Luna was taking the fastest train they had into the wastes where she would meet with King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember to hash out some kind of alliance or treaty between the nations. She wished it was anypony but herself, but she knew she was the only alicorn that was in any kind of shape to handle diplomatic talks. In the land of the emotionally devastated, the eternally depressed were rulers.

“Ember is nice when you get to know her.” Spike said assuringly. The young dragon had not awoken that long ago and had decided now was the time to give Luna her briefing on his friends. “She’s a bit…hot headed though.”

“She is a dragon.” Luna offered. “Besides yourself, We have never met a dragon that could be described as ‘cool’ in temperament.” She had to think back to the dragon ‘diplomat’ who had been used to force the dragons into these talks. Fire-breathing barbarians with no culture and no true civilization. “We will try not to provoke her.”

“No, you want to provoke her! At least a little.” Spike flipped through some of his papers, all written in his expert penmanship, and pulled one out. “Dragons respond to challenge! You need to push her a little to show that you actually mean business, that you’re worthy to be in the same room. Just don’t go overboard and you should be fine. As long as she’s not breathing fire, then you haven’t gone too far.” He handed the piece of paper to the alicorn, who took it and studied it. It was a simple report from Twilight Sparkle about her limited experience in the dragon lands that confirmed what Spike had said.

“So be forceful but not combative?” Luna asked and received a quick nod in response. “A fine line, but one that Our hooves should be able to walk.”  She handed the piece of paper back to Spike. “Are there any topics We should avoid?”

“Just…try not to bring up the previous Dragon Lord.” Ah yes, her father. Wise not to insinuate some kind of nepotism. Even Luna knew that dragons were more of a meritocracy and to say otherwise would go poorly. “And when I told you to challenge her, don’t challenge her honor. Don’t call her names or try to say she doesn’t belong. You want to…um…” He was having a hard time putting words to what he wanted to say.

“I assume you mean to challenge her physically.” Princess Luna offered and received another nod. “Without it devolving into a fight, of course. So I can lean into threat displays when need be: spread out my wings, light up my horn. She will appreciate intimidation.”

“Yes!” Spike snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “Sorry, Princess. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night…trains aren’t great for it.”

“Fear not, Spike. We are in the same situation.” Well, not the exact same. Luna had not been able to sleep because she was used to being up all night and what little rest she had achieved while the moon was in the sky was fitful. “It is very difficult to get on the right schedule for these sorts of things.”

“Right, probably a lot harder for you.” Spike rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. “Um…anyway, there’s a problem with the threats and stuff Ember responds to. Thorax is pretty much the complete opposite. They can get along fine and even have some fun, but what works on her won’t work on him.”

“Changelings are something We have very little experience with.” Luna frowned. There was that time they kidnapped her and put her into one of their pods. Besides that, she was not present for Cadenza and Shining Armor’s wedding. Nor had she done any diplomatic work with King Thorax when he ascended. “What can we expect of them?”

“Well Thorax just wants to be nice and he wants to be helpful. He’s not really all that complicated.” Spike put down his stack of papers and rested his tail on them. “Just be sincere. Be yourself. Don’t try to hide anything because they can feel it. They’re like super empaths and can taste feelings.”

“Oh wonderful.” Luna sighed. Thankfully she was a pony that wore her heart on her proverbial sleeve, so that would not be a problem. She was honest, bluntly so. For this, that would either be the usual detriment it always presented itself as or perhaps it might be a boon for the first time in her long life. 

“You’ll be fine! I have-” Spike suddenly stopped and his cheeks puffed out. He let out a belch and a burst of green flame followed. As the fire dissipated, a scroll appeared in the middle of the air. The little dragon reached out and snagged it. “Uh…it’s for you.” He offered the princess the scroll.

“You may read it to Us, Spike.”

“Alright.” Spike cracked the wax seal and unfurled the scroll. “Dear Sister, I have received correspondence from Princess Cadance that she will be joining you for these talks with King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember.” Both Spike and Luna’s eyes went wide as he read. “While this is not something we planned for, it is something we can work with. Princess Cadance has strong ties to King Thorax and the Crystal Empire has something we can use to bargain with the dragons: gems. I implore you to please work with Cadance. I know this is frustrating. She sprung this on me as well. I wish you well on this mission. Celestia.”

“She could have at least told us before.” Luna grumbled and crossed her front hooves in front of her chest. “We could have traveled there together and strategized.” She took a deep breath and tried to center herself. “At least We will not be the only princess representing Equestria. That is a comfort.” 

It was a cold comfort if anything. How long had it been since anypony had even seen Cadenza? Shortly after The Event ended, and even then ‘seen’ was a very strong word. Luna never saw her adoptive niece after what happened in Ponyville, the only ponies to do so had been limited to Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor. The stories she had heard of Cadenza’s appearance did worry Luna, though. She had heard troubling things and worried just how that would affect the younger alicorn’s abilities. 

“Cadance wouldn’t do this if she didn’t think she could help.” Spike didn’t sound confident in that, but he was sincere at the least. “And it’ll be good to see her again.”

“Hmm.” Luna looked out the window and watched the dead foliage pass as the train sped along the tracks. The pain of seeing her country in such a state was deep and widespread. They had not done enough, not yet. Even stretching every available resource to their limits, the most they had been able to do is sustain a level of misery that was at the very least livable. There had been very few improvements in living conditions, if any at all, since the government had regained control. This summit was a shred of hope they could make things better. If they could get changelings, even just a few hundred, to come to Equestria then that would alleviate some stresses on their overworked and stressed populace.

“Shining Armor talks about her sometimes.” Spike continued as he twiddled his claws. “Not a lot, though. Any time he’s requested to go see her, she’s turned him down. Apparently she doesn’t want to be seen by anypony, not even her staff in the Empire.”

“Then Shining Armor has lied to Us.” Luna turned back to her traveling companion. “He has said that he belongs here and that Equestria needs him, that is why he has not ventured back to the Empire.”

“Well of course he would tell you that. You’re a princess, his boss. He doesn’t want you worrying about him or Cadance with everything else going on.” Spike spoke with such simple wisdom that it often made Luna feel inadequate. He was much better at figuring out things in a social context than she was, which was not a ringing endorsement of the princess as a diplomat. 

“Still, we are family. We should know each others’ troubles.” Luna turned her eyes back to the window and looked to her sister’s sun which hung low in the sky. “We learned the hard way that it is better to say something than to let it dwell in darkness.”

“Well then consider this an opportunity, then!” Spike sat up straight in his seat and smiled wide. “You can talk with Cadance and ask how she is, just you and her! It’ll be a good chance to just have some good family time!”

“Hmm. You are right, Spike.” Luna nodded and returned the smile, albeit not as enthusiastically. “You are wise beyond your years and a worthy companion to have on this quest.” Before he could respond, Luna stood up and suppressed a yawn. “If you’ll excuse Us, I believe a nap is in order. Come and wake Us should we reach the last stop.” The railroad would terminate far before the hive and they would have to take chariots the rest of the way. It would be much easier to sleep now on a slightly bumpy train than on a tight and turbulent chariot.

—-

By the time the Equestrians were in sight of the Changeling hive, the sun was just beginning to set. The arid wind of the wastes washed over Luna and Spike as they sat in the back of a chariot that was diligently pulled by a team of pegasi guards. They had spoken a little more after she had woken up from her nap, but it had been much of the same. He had finished detailing things he knew about Thorax and Ember and she had made sure she intuited it all correctly. Now it was almost time to put it into action.

The massive craggy stone pillar that was the hive of the reformed bugs stood out in the desolate land. The sun was behind it now, silhouetting it in a way that let Luna see all of the little specks that flitted about around the outside of it. There had to be thousands of changelings just moving outside of the structure. There was no telling how many were inside. It conjured images of the sky above Canterlot the day of the royal wedding. They had saturated the sky, practically blocked out the sun, that had only been a fraction of their numbers it seemed. If these creatures truly wanted to then, with the right leader, they could’ve taken Canterlot if not all of Equestria. Well, as long as they got to the alicorns first. 

Now here an alicorn was to strike a deal and extend an olive branch to the would-be conquerors. Well, what was diplomacy other than conquering by other means? The pen was mightier than the sword, but often was much heavier for the wielder. It also shed much less blood. Luna would take this path rather than a violent one any day of the week. She had seen enough violence in her life.

Before they reached the base of the hive, Luna had to bid the chariot to stop so she could raise the moon. As she did so she could feel thousands of eyes on her, all of them in awe at seeing an alicorn move one of the heavenly bodies. When her duty had been done, they continued on their way.

Once the chariot touched down at the base of the towering structure, Luna and Spike disembarked and were met with a small gathering. King Thorax was at the lead, of course, with his brother Pharynx by his side. Their height matched Luna’s own and almost made them feel like equals in the alicorn’s eyes. There were a few armored changeling guards around them. Thankfully there was no big fanfare or announcement of her arrival. She could be grateful for that.

“Your Majesty.” Luna gave a short bow to King Thorax and offered him a slight smile, one she didn’t force. “Thank you for hosting this summit at your hive. We’re sorry to inconvenience you with this visit, but We are afraid that Equestria is not quite ready to host such things yet.”

“It’s our pleasure, Princess Luna.” Thorax bowed only his head and beamed. “I know that our simple home may not be what you’re used to, but we’re determined to make this stay and summit as comfortable as possible for all involved!”

“I’m sure your efforts will be more than enough, King Thorax.” Luna was never good at this dance of pleasantries. She had four left hooves when it came to social interactions and went off of a predetermined script in her head. Thankfully Thorax had been following the script as well.

“Good!” He motioned towards the hive and an entrance that looked to be hastily dug out from the rock rather recently. “Shall we?” Luna nodded and began to walk towards that entrance with Thorax by her side. “Oh and of course hello to you too, Spike! Great to see you again!”

“You too, Thorax!” Spike chimed in. “I’m happy everybug here is safe! Hopefully it wasn’t too bad for you during…all of that.”

“It was certainly easier than it was in Equestria.” Thorax said with a sigh and a shake of his head. Luna had to take a short step to the side to avoid his antlers as they swung with his head. “I’ve heard bits and pieces of what it was like there and I’ll gladly take our hardships over yours.” He stammered and looked at Luna. “W-which of course was a tragedy. Forgive me, I didn’t mean to make light of it, Princess.”

“You’re fine, King Thorax.” Luna waved him off with a hoof. “If I had the choice I would’ve taken your situation as well. Do not feel bad about wanting the better of the two for your subjects. It is what we are meant to do as rulers.”

“Right.” 

The interior of the hive was much more vibrant than the exterior. While the latter was bare craggy stone, the interior felt and looked like something you would find in a cave deep in the forest. Water seemingly poured from the walls and fed into streams that crisscrossed the bottom floor. Moss and other greenery clung to the walls and natural vines flowered with bioluminescent flowers that kept everything visible. There were walkways above that stretched from one side of the hive to the other and there were holes that dotted the walls, some accessible by hoof and some not, all of them had a changeling either exiting or entering it constantly. 

“This is magnificent.” Luna stood in awe as she looked up. It seemed to go on forever, getting narrower as it went up. This central chamber probably went all the way up. It was unlike anything she had seen before in her life. It was also noticeably humid in the building, like a rainforest. It felt as though she would begin to sweat at a moment’s notice.

“Well thank you.” Thorax smiled and puffed his lime green chest out. “We did our best to make it more visually exciting after Starlight beat Chrysalis. I think we did pretty okay!”

“It looks great, Thorax!” Spike came alongside his friend and tapped a claw on his chitin. “Now, do we have a room or…?” The dragon let out a long yawn. “Sorry, it’s just been a long day and we’re going to be busy tomorrow…”

“Ah, yeah. Of course!” Thorax smiled and put a hoof on Spike’s head. “You two have been traveling all day and here I am talking your ears off! Silly me! Sorry!” He turned to Lord Commander Pharynx. “Can you show Spike to his room, please? I need to have a few words with Princess Luna and then I’ll show her to her room.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Pharynx answered in a gravelly tone and began to trot away from the group. “Grubs, leave the king alone. He has business to attend to.” That was all it took for the rest of the guards to disperse into the greater ether of the hive. Luna lost track of them as transformation spells took hold of their forms and made the armor melt away in an instant.

“This way.” Thorax never dropped his smile as he led the alicorn to a side room. It didn’t look to be anything in particular, at least not to Luna. It has a small pool of water in it and some rocks covered in moss, but that was it. “Now, it’s no problem at all and I welcome the inclusion, but why is Princess Cadance here?”

“She’s already here?” Luna blurted out in surprise. She put her hoof to her face and took a deep breath. “Apologies. We were just made aware of this arrangement on Our way here and were under the assumption that she would not be here until after We arrived. If this is a problem then she will sit out of the talks.”

“No no, it’s no problem!” Thorax shook his head and gave a sympathetic smile. “Like I said, I welcome her inclusion.” The king sat down on one of the rocks and wiped his head with a hoof. “My brother was convinced this was some sort of intimidation tactic by you.” He sat up a bit straighter and tried to mimic his brother’s much more textured voice. “‘They know how much she scares the living daylights out of us. It’s why they sent her first, to soften us up.’”

“What?” Luna’s jaw dropped and she shook her head. “No, of course not. We did not even know you felt such a way towards Cadenza. If We had, then she would not be here right now. We assure you of that.” Luna was fuming on the inside. This little stunt made her and Equestria look like bullies, like common brutes. She had half a mind to go find Cadance and tell her to leave right now. Intimidation tactics were unbecoming of them.

“Princess Luna, it’s okay. Really. Princess Cadance will be fine here, we just weren’t expecting her.” Thorax was calm and his voice was level in an attempt to soothe her. “It caused a minor…panic around the hive but we handled it.” He paused for a moment. “Can I ask what’s with the mask, though?”

“The mask?”

“Princess Cadance. She’s wearing a mask.”

“She is?” Luna had heard nothing of that. Not from Spike or Shining Armor or even Celestia. “We are not sure. We will definitely have to figure it out, but We have a suspicion…” Luna gestured to herself, most notably her now-leathery wings and the fangs that protruded from her mouth. “Some of us have not fully accepted the realities of our current situations and Cadenza is most likely one of them.”

“Mmm.” The king of the changelings nodded and looked into the nearby pool. “If I was the princess of love and became monstrous then I guess I could see how that would impact my mood.” Luna could only nod. “Well I’ll leave you to it, then. I’m sure you have princess duties to attend to, afterall.”

“One more thing, is Dragon Lord Ember here?” Luna had to ask. She needed to try to soften up the dragon before negotiations, or try to get Spike to do it.Either way, things needed to get moving sooner rather than later.

“No. She’ll be here in the morning.” Thorax got to his hooves and followed Luna towards the door. “While I’m grateful to see her again, the less time she’s around the better. She doesn’t…do well in crowds.”

“Ah worried about toasted bugs, hmm?” That earned a full-throated laugh from the changeling king. “Oh, it is good to know that Our wit has not left us yet. Well We will take Our leave now, King Thorax. We thank you once more for your hospitality.”

Luna left the room and got some directions from a nearby undisguised guard towards Cadenza’s room. It was up a couple of ‘floors’ and actually had a door, unlike most of the other entrances in the place. There was also a haphazard depiction of Cadenza’s cutie mark on the door. Luna nodded at the two crystal unicorn guards that stood by the door. One of them lit their horns and cast a detection spell on her, which detected nothing of course. They then opened the door for her.

“Cadenza, it is Luna.” She announced firmly as she entered the dwelling. While the walls were made of stone, the decorations looked far more Equestrian than anything. There were carpets of white and gold, expensive looking wardrobes, and even a sofa that looked straight out of Canterlot. Obviously the changelings had done their research and went through a lot of trouble to make their guests comfortable.There was an opening in one of the walls with a curtain in it, Luna assumed that was the bedroom.

“Oh, Auntie Luna!” Cadenza’s voice came from behind the curtain. It sounded just as chipper and light as always. It wasn’t until the other alicorn emerged did Luna note the disconnect between the tone and the mare’s appearance. “Hello!”

The first thing anypony would notice about Cadenza’s appearance now would be the white porcelain mask that covered her face. Her eyes, lower jaw and nostrils were visible behind the covering but nothing else. Her coat looked normal though, there was no trace of the viscera colored coat she had sported while turned. Nor could Luna see fangs lurking in her mouth even as her fellow princess smiled. So why the mask?

“Yes, hello Cadenza.” The two mares embraced and Luna made sure to give her younger counterpart a firm squeeze. It felt like she was eating well. Her wings seemed intact. There was a scar along her left side, but it was mostly hidden by regrown fur. When the hug finally broke, Luna gave Cadenza a quizzical and worried look. “May I ask about the mask?”

“Oh, this.” Cadance gave a laugh and touched the new adornment with a hoof. “It’s just…well, it makes me feel comfortable.” The smile Cadenza put on was false. Luna did not need a changeling’s powers to see that.

“Please, take it off.” Luna spoke plainly but with authority. “We wish to look upon your face, dear niece.”

“Luna, I don’t-”

“We are family, are we not?” Luna cut Cadenza off and raised a hoof to stop a counter-interruption. “I am standing here before you with my flaws on display. I do not see why you cannot do the same for me.”

Cadenza looked down at her hooves and Luna could see tears begin to form in her eyes. Luna was not moved by the display, though. She now wanted to know what it was that Cadance was hiding and why she was so keen on keeping it from everypony.

“I don’t want anypony to see me like this.” Was the small and terrified answer Luna received.

“Do you think We wish for anypony to see us like this?” Luna asked, her tone matching Cadenza’s. “We look like a monster, Cadenza. When We look in the mirror, it is Nightmare Moon staring back. Do you not think that hurts?” Luna bit her tongue to stop more venomous words from falling from her mouth. “We-I can be trusted. More than anypony else. I know your pain and you can trust me with it, Cadenza.”

“Okay.” Cadenza spoke softly and nodded. “Just…I’m trusting you.” 

Luna did not feel good about the way she had accomplished that. She was sure that if she was a more patient and understanding pony, if she was more like Celestia, she would’ve been able to coax Cadenza from her shell. This was the brute force approach, a sledgehammer to an emotionally fragile mare and it had of course worked.

Cadenza’s horn lit up and took the mask in its grasp. Luna saw the telltale flash of enchantments give way as the mask became disconnected from the alicorn’s face. Most likely it was some sort of ward to keep anypony but Cadenza from removing it. There was also an enchantment that had disguised parts of the mare’s appearance that had been through the holes of the mask.

It was immediately made clear why she preferred to wear the mask. Almost the entire right side of Cadenza’s face was deeply scarred with what looked like a burn. Even her right eye was almost completely shut from the injuries. Her top lip on that side was mostly gone and her teeth were on full display, at least the ones still around. Yes, Luna could see why Cadenza chose the mask.

“Have the doctors in the Crystal Empire not been able to help?” It was the first thing that came to Luna’s mind and she practically blurted it out. “We have recovered many of the top surgeons in Equestria and you know that they are at your service should you need them.” Cadance only nodded and returned the mask to her face.

“They’re doing their best, Auntie Luna.” Cadenza whispered and trotted over to the sofa, where she sat down and let out a sigh. “It’s why I have this-” she motioned to the featureless porcelain thing that was once again covering her scarred features. “-it’s enchanted to help me heal and get me back to something that's normal. It’s just going to take…a long time.”

“Well if you would like a second opinion, Equestria is always at your disposal.” Luna wanted to be there for her niece in her time of trouble. Emotionally, she never felt quite good enough for that sort of thing. When it came to resources, she was more than able to help.

There was silence between the two regents. Luna joined Cadenza on the sofa and rested a hoof on her flank. In lieu of any of the right words, she assumed that physical contact and understanding would be enough. 

“It’s part of the reason I’m here.” Cadenza broke the silence. “I want to talk to Thorax about their magic. I’ve heard that they have some ways to heal changelings and I’m hoping we might be able to adapt it to ponies.” That was admirable. Maybe they could even use such things to help regular Equestrians get back to normal. “Also…the changeling that did this to me is here.”

“Have you come here for revenge?”

“No.” Cadenza shook her head. “At least, that wasn’t the plan. I just…I want to talk to them.” She brought her hoof, free of adornments, up to her face. “I want to apologize to them…and I guess I’m hoping I can get one back.”

“A noble pursuit…” Luna stopped herself from grinding her teeth as she began to think. “I will work with King Thorax to see if we can locate this changeling. Then we can have a meeting with them. There are some things that need to be discussed…” When she received a look from Cadance she decided that clarification was needed. “They are the one living soul from Ponyvill that We were not able to speak with after the fact. We need to make sure that certain things remain secret.”

“Ah, of course.”

The two alicorns chatted for a bit longer. They started on the status of the two kingdoms, both quite dismal but the Crystal Empire was in much better shape than Equestria in terms of viable population. Naturally things shifted towards the royals who resided inside of the Royale Hotel in Manehattan, and it was shortly into that conversation when both mares clammed up. Cadenza did not want to talk much about Shining Armor and Luna did not want to mention anything about Twilight Sparkle’s current mental state. So they reached a natural stalemate of talking about Celestia, which quickly went nowhere.

“I suppose I should retire.” Luna said as she stood. “The dream realm needs to be tended to and then I need some rest before tomorrow.”

“Of course, Auntie Luna.” Cadenza stood with her and the two alicorns embraced once more. Both made sure to give the other a firm squeeze and they let the hug linger for a bit. The contact felt nice. It wasn’t something either of them had experienced since before The Event at that point. It was a small oasis in the desert of misery they were currently lost in.

They separated and Luna rested a hoof on Cadenza’s mask, right where her cheek would be. They exchanged sad smiles and parted ways. Luna left the room and took a deep breath then let it out in a long protracted sigh.

“Everything hurts…” Luna lamented to herself quietly.

“Your majesty.” The rough voice of King Thorax’s brother made Luna jump. She had expected the two guards in front of the door, but not the rather tall imposing changeling. “Ah, sorry to startle you.”

“No, it is fine.” Luna ruffled her wings and flattened them against her sides. The tiara on her head was also straightened by her magic and she drew herself up to her full height. “What is it, Lord Commander?”

“I was just going to show you to your room personally, Princess.” Pharynx bowed his head and then stepped to the side. “The Hive can be confusing for outsiders.”

“Ah, well then We thank you for your assistance.” Princess Luna nodded. “Lead the way.” It took her by surprise when Pharynx’s shell split and his thin translucent wings spread out. She followed his lead and spread her own wings out and took off once he did. 

Luna’s room was several ‘levels’ above Cadenza’s and had a similar looking door with her cutie mark on it. Two members of her night guard were on duty, spears in their hooves and stalwart looks on their faces. Luna gave them a nod and one of them opened the door for her.

“May I join you for a moment, Your Majesty?” Lord Commander Pharynx asked. It was yet another thing the ascended changeling did that caught her off guard. From his unusual color, to his voice, and now this. It seemed like he was the most surprising bug in the hive.

“For what, if I may ask?”

“It is about security tomorrow. Simple stuff.” Pharynx waved off her obvious concern. “I just want to make sure everyone is on the same hoof for tomorrow. We have three very different cultures gathering here and I want to avoid anything sour developing.”

“Ah, of course.” Luna nodded and headed inside, beckoning Pharynx to follow.

Her room was very similar to Cadenza’s, except it was decorated in blues and silvers as opposed to white and gold. It reminded her a bit of her tower back in Canterlot where she would spend her nights studying the stars. The stone walls added to that familiar feeling, as did the high window that let her beautiful moonlight flow into the room. Luna took up residence on the couch, while Pharynx stood opposite of it.

Changelings were inscrutable things. Their thick shell made reading their faces an art more than a science and their mastery of others emotions always gave them the upper hoof. Luna could tell nothing from his face. It was as if it was chiseled from oddly colored stone with two violet gems for eyes that stared at her unfeelingly.

“You may begin.” Luna instructed.

“First, let me apologize.” Pharynx began, still staring right at her as he spoke. “This isn’t about security, this is about the Changeling position on negotiations.” Luna sat up straighter and her wings bristled once more. “The deception…well, old habits die hard, Your Majesty. You of all ponies must understand.”

“Did King Thorax send you?” The last thing that Luna wanted to do was have some under the table deal. While she was not keen on involving the dragons or Cadenza in the proceedings, they were well past the point of not including them at all. 

“No, I’m acting independently of my brother.”

“Then We suggest you leave.” Luna stood up and puffed out her chest. She glared at the changeling as if she expected his stony facade to wilt beneath her gaze. It did not, though. What she wanted to avoid more than going around the dragons was going around King Thorax himself. “We will enter formal negotiations with King Thorax and the Changeling Hive tomorrow, not a moment sooner and not with someone who is not an official negotiator.”

“This isn’t a negotiation, Luna.” His voice fell, somehow getting deeper and more serious. 

“If you think you can intimidate a princess of Equestria, then you will be sorely disappointed.” Luna took a step forward, her powerful hoof striking the ground hard enough to leave a crack in the stone beneath it. Her horn flared to life with a powerful blue aura and she leveled it right at the changeling. “We do not take threats lightly.”

“My brother will ask something of you tomorrow. It will be something you will want to decline and haggle over.” Pharynx continued as if he did not have an alicorn threatening him with deadly force. He was just as calm and cool as ever. “You won’t. You will accept the terms as they are laid out initially and you will not push back on one single facet of them.”

“Why would We do that?”

“If you don’t, then the world will know that it was Twilight Sparkle who caused The Event.”

Luna froze. Her magic faltered and she looked at him with a mix of shock and horror. How did he figure that out? The changeling from Ponyville, surely they had not revealed that information. Were there spies in the Royale Hotel? Or perhaps a changeling had replaced one of her guards or even Spike himself. It filled her in an unquenchable rage. The feeling of getting duped, of getting the wool pulled so thoroughly over her eyes, it left her with a mix of anger, disappointment, and boiling frustration in her gut.

“Calm down.” Pharynx instructed. “As long as you accept our terms, which I assure you are completely fair and reasonable, I won’t tell a soul.”

“If King Thorax were to find out what you have done here, would he approve?” That was her other avenue, go tell his boss on him. It was either that or squash him like the bug he was right here and now, leave him as but a stain on the stone for someone else to scrub out. Accepting this blackmail was not one of her options.

“Most certainly, not.” Pharynx said with a shrug. “He would apologize and do his best to amend the deal to be more favorable to Equestria and reprimand me in some ineffectual way, I’m sure.” Then, for the first time, Pharynx grinned. “It would be too late, though. The story would already be out there. The masses would know that it was a princess of Equestria who caused all of that death, all of that destruction and mayhem. They would know that Twilight Sparkle was responsible and the whole world would be calling for her head.” He took a step closer to Luna. “You could go tell him. You could kill me right now. You could do anything but accept this deal and it wouldn’t matter. It would be out there. So you have two options. Take the deal, or prepare to sacrifice your sister’s protege to the mob that will inevitably end up on your doorstep. Your choice, Luna.”

Luna could not tell if he was bluffing, but could she take the chance? If he wasn’t, then this would be everywhere. Sure, the government would deny it but how long would Twilight be able to deny it? How long would her weighty and guilty conscience be able to hold up under scrutiny from the ponies of Equestria and the world at large? Eventually something would give.

Princess Luna gritted her teeth and nodded silently. She had no other choice. The pen of diplomacy was pressed firmly against her neck and anything more than complete acceptance would leave her blood mixed with the ink as it spilled across the land.
> The Summit: Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna had not slept at all last night, no matter how much she knew she needed to. Not even her duties to the realm of dreams had been able to coax her away from pacing a rut in the floor of her room. At first she had been set on trying to figure a way out of this. She thought about getting Spike to send a letter back to Celestia, but the last thing her sister needed was one more catastrophe on her plate. Worse, if this news and threat got back to Twilight Sparkle then it was likely that she would try to get ahead of it by revealing the truth herself. Equestria did not need that.

Instead Luna would shoulder this burden by herself. She would handle whatever deal Thorax presented her with and try to make the best of it. She would have to come up with some reason why she accepted it and did not haggle when she got back, but that was doable. There was a slim chance that she could meet with Thorax in private afterwards and get him to roll back some of the deal if it proved to be too hard to swallow. That would take some doing, but if there was one bug in this whole rotten hive that could be bent to her will, it was most likely King Thorax.

The big question was if she should tell Cadenza or not. The younger alicorn had trusted Luna with the secret of her appearance, so perhaps Luna could trust her with this. But there was the possibility of her leaking it to Shining Armor, who would then leak it to either Celestia or Twilight Sparkle. There was no easy way out of this, not without taking the arrow to her own chest and dealing with the fallout later.

Whatever they wanted had to be better than a princess’ head on a pike, right?

If it was some territory along the border, then fine. Equestria wasn’t using all of its land at the moment and the dense forest that composed the borderlands between Equestria and the wastes of the hives were not used anyway. If it was some sort of resource such as money, then they could manage that as well. Currently Equestria did not have new bits being printed but they could figure something out on that front. Now, the big worry was what if they wanted ponies in exchange for the changelings they needed? Could Luna give them ponies to drain of love? 

Luna groaned and her stomach did yet another flip. A queasiness had pervaded her body since Lord Commander Pharynx had left her chambers. It was still there and growing by the minute. If she had eaten anything in the last…how long had it been since she had eaten? Weeks at this point, surely. Good thing it wasn’t something she needed to do, but still. If she had eaten anything at a recent point in time, then it would have come up by now. 

She had lowered the moon at the appropriate time, at which point the sun had been brought to the horizon. She wished that she had the serenity and grace of her sister’s sun instead of the cold indifference of the moon. Maybe then she could illuminate some path forward unseen by her. As of now, much like with most of her life, Luna was lost in the dark with only the fire of frustration and determination to guide her way.  

If only she could be more like Celestia…

“Auntie Luna?” The soft voice was accompanied by a knock at the door. Luna did not respond, instead she reached out with her magic and opened the door for her niece. “Good morning!” The younger alicorn called out cheerfully as she trotted into the room with two mugs held aloft in her magical grasp. “Now, this was not easy to get a hold of, it cost me a leg or two, but I figured you would need it.”

“Hmm?” Luna took one of the mugs for herself and was immediately enraptured by the thick aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Her muzzle became buried in the mug and she took deep breaths of the scent. That alone was enough to get her brain firing on a different level. She didn’t even need to take a drink. “Where in the world did you get this?”

“Well the crystal ponies are, understandably, a little paranoid.” Cadenza strode across the room and took up residence on Luna’s sofa. She lifted her mask enough so that she could put the mug to her lips and took a long drink of the steaming hot liquid inside. “So a lot of them have taken to stockpiling things in case Sombra returns or the crystal heart fails. All it took was a little haggling with one of them to get their coffee reserves. It was worth it, though.”

“Thank you, Cadenza. We appreciate the effort.” Luna sat beside the other mare and took a long and slow drink from her own mug. A shiver went through her body as the liquid trickled down her throat. She let out a long sigh after it had all gone down. “Oh that was sorely needed…”

“I assumed that would be the case.” Cadenza responded with a chuckle. “Between your duties at night and the nerves that I’m sure are affecting us all, I figured that you wouldn’t have slept last night.” She paused for a moment to take another sip of her coffee. “Will you be alright to handle the negotiations today? I’m sure that we can talk with King Thorax about delaying them until this evening to let you get some rest.”

“No no.” Luna waved off Cadenza’s suggestion with a hoof and took another quick pull from her mug. “Sleep will not grace Us with its presence until this is done with.” Even then, Luna was worried she would not be able to rest. It all depended on what exactly she was going to have to accept. “Let us just get it over with. Lack of sleep will not prevent Us from doing Our duty to Equestria. You can rest assured of that, Cadenza.” After all, how much energy would it take to say yes to the changelings? As for the dragons, well tired and grumpy might play into what they respond to. 

“Are you sure? It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“We will be fine, Cadenza.” Luna closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and threw back the rest of the coffee in her mug all at once. “I assume there will be some sort of breakfast this morning.”

“Yes, King Thorax did say something about that.” Cadenza followed her elder’s lead and guzzled the rest of the drink down. “Which is good, because I am starving. Aren’t you?”

“No.” Luna got to her hooves and set her mug on the arm of the sofa. “I do not have the time or energy to be hungry. There is much to do.” She retrieved her vestments from a table in the corner of the room and put them on. Then brought her horseshoes over and slipped them on. “Now come along, Cadenza. We must go and be good guests for our host.”

The two princesses did not say a word as they left Luna’s room. They stayed by each other's side but elected not to speak. Luna was too consumed with her own thoughts and the haze of worry around the upcoming ordeal to even engage in idle chit chat. Even if, by some miracle, she was able to push all of that away then she would be too worried about all of the possible eyes and ears around them at any given time. The image of the two guards disappearing into the greater swarm resurfaced in her mind. 

They were directed by undisguised guards towards something that approximated a dining area. It was most likely another room of some sort, a communal room for the hive, that had been co-opted and turned into a dining area for this event. The table was more of an amalgamation of other tables that had been molded into a large circle. A tablecloth that looked to be several similar looking ones stitched together laid atop it. All in all, it looked like a poor imitation of a proper dining room. 

Some of the chairs around the table were filled. King Thorax and Lord Commander Pharynx were there, at what could ostensibly be called the ‘head’ of the table, and Dragon Lord Ember sat across from them with Spike by her side. Luna directed Cadance to a spot equidistant between the two groups, and that’s where the two princesses sat.

“Finally!” Ember threw up her claws and let out a groan. “I was beginning to think you two were going to keep us waiting all day.”

Luna had never seen the Dragon Lord before. She had, of course, heard reports from Spike and Twilight Sparkle of what she looked like. However, first appearances had left the princess of the night thoroughly unimpressed. Ember was short, at least a full head shorter than either of the alicorns. The horns that came off of her head framed her long face and reminded Luna of an old helmet worn by earth pony warriors. Her blue scales were rough and unpolished and traces of soot stained her soft underbelly. She looked diminutive, frail, and filthy.

“Apologies.” Luna started with a nod towards Ember and Thorax. “We were not made aware that breakfast was being prepared nor that it was ready.” She gave her best apologetic smile and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It had not been designed for a pony or size or with her wingspan in mind.

“No, I’m pretty sure we told Princess Cadance about it.” Pharynx interjected with narrowed eyes. “I know I did.”

“Ah, right.” Luna placed her hoof on the bridge of her nose and admonished herself silently. “I apologize. My speech is still stuck in a time long past and in a language not spoken. When I say ‘We’, what I usually mean is ‘me’. It can be rather confusing, so I will do my best to drop it in present company.”

“Just say you talk funny.” Ember grumbled and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Now where’s the food? My stomach is killing me.”

“Right!” King Thorax stood up and stamped a hoof on the table. “Now let me apologize in advance, but we tried our best to duplicate some dishes from your homelands. Changelings aren’t used to actually…cooking, so we did our best. Just…sorry in case we got things a little too wrong. Bring it out!”

The meal itself was nothing special. Spike had some gems, Ember some roasted meat that earned disgusted looks from the Equestrians, while Cadenza and Luna had plates that she supposed were meant to be salads but were truthfully just bowls full of vegetables. It was an effort at least. She had been hoping for something a bit more filling. Thorax and Pharynx had something that looked like slime to everyone else in the room, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Luna found Cadenza mildly fascinating. Beside the fact that she managed to eat around the mask that was magically attached to her face, there was the fact that she was an alicorn that felt the need to eat. She wondered how that must feel, what must the gnawing sensation of hunger do to a pony with that amount of power. That, of course, led her train of thought to the progeny of Cadenza and Shining Armor. Flurry Heart was born an alicorn, so was she like Celestia and herself or would she be more akin to her mother and Twilight Sparkle? Would she even be immortal? Were Cadenza and Twilight Sparkle immortal?

“Princess Luna?” A hoof poked the princess in the ribs and jostled her from her thoughts.

“Hmm?” Luna blinked and looked around. King Thorax was looking right at her expectantly. This happened more often than she would like to admit during meals. She would just zone out and become lost in the sea of idle nonsense her brain brought to the surface. 

“He asked how you liked the food.” Cadenza whispered.

“Ah, thank you.” Luna whispered back and then gave a polite smile to the changeling monarch. “It was delicious, Your Majesty. Thank you. You can never go wrong with the classics.” Luna had been expecting something fancier, but then again what did the Changelings know of Equestrian cuisine? What did Equestrians know of it at the moment?

“Yeah, pretty good.” Ember sat back in her chair with her feet up on the table. She used one of her claws to pick bits of charred meat from her sharp teeth and flick them away. “So are we going to get to the deal making now?”

“Well not here-” 

“Why not?” Ember cut off Thorax and sat up in her chair. “There’s a big table and we’re all here. What else do we need?” The dragon lord looked around the room and gestured at the table and then everyone else. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all go home and deal with our own disasters.”

“Well, I had my office moved around to accommodate this.” Thorax lamented with a little sigh. “I figured it’s more private and away from potential prying eyes. But if you want to do it here and the princesses agree, I guess we can.” Then all eyes fell on the two alicorns.

“I am not opposed.” Luna said with a shrug. “Cadenza?”

“While I am sure your office would be very cozy, King Thorax, I have to agree with Dragon Lord Ember. We all have crises at home to attend to and we’ve definitely dallied enough already.” Even though it was not visible beneath the mask, the smile was easily heard in Cadenza’s voice. Luna was grateful to have the younger and more personable princess by her side in these moments. “Your hospitality is noted and very appreciated, but we must remember what world we’re currently living in.”

“Perhaps in another time or another world-” Luna picked up on the trail Cadenza had blazed and followed. “-this could’ve been a grander affair with much more pomp and circumstance, sadly this is not that time or world.” She straightened up in her chair and pushed her half-empty plate away. “The citizens of our realms are suffering, to sit here and have idle talks and enjoy peace and full bellies would be a disservice to what they are going through. We must honor their struggles by resolving these talks swiftly and with respect for one another and the creatures we are responsible for.”

“Alright.” Thorax nodded, but frowned slightly. Luna felt bad for helping torpedo his plans, but Ember and Cadenza raised valid points. “I guess...I guess we should start with detailing the status of our nations?” That received nods from everyone. “Who wants to go first?” Naturally, all of the eyes fell on Luna as Equestria was without a doubt going to be the longest.

“I am afraid that I did not bring my notes with me.” Luna responded with a sigh. She had not expected to be holding the meeting now, or else she would have brought them down. “They are with my luggage, which-”

“I have copies, Princess!” Spike spoke up and waved a ream of papers above his head. “I didn’t know when we would be doing this, so…” The little dragon hopped down from his seat and hurried over to Luna’s spot at the table. A satchel was attached to him and filled with more papers, all looked categorized nicely and separated with color coded tabs that surely only he knew. Spike deposited the papers and took a seat beside her.

“Ah, thank you dear Spike.” Luna smiled and patted the young dragon on the head. “You make a wonderful assistant. I appreciate you immensely.”

“You’re welcome!” Spike beamed with pride at the praise and puffed out his chest a little.

Luna’s gaze fell back on the ream of papers in front of her. It held everything about Equestria’s post-Event situation. Everything. All of the statistics and problems. Every crisis typed out in perfect mechanical font. They had decided to present the whole and unpleasant truth to their allies, even if it made their position weaker. They were friends, and friends were supposed to be honest. 

Luna hoped it made her fellow negotiators take pity on Equestria.

“As you all know, Equestria was the epicenter of The Event.” She took a deep breath and read off of the page. Even as she did, she could feel the eyes of the others on her. Their gazes burrowed into her and a nervous sweat began to manifest on her brow. Public speaking was not her forte, nor were meetings with other ponies generally. She was a mare of action, not of words.

“One-third of Equestria’s population has been declared missing or dead since the conclusion of The Event.” Luna continued nonetheless. “Those are preliminary and optimistic numbers. We are hoping to do a proper census within the next year, but the capability to do that remains in question. Two of Equestria’s top three most populous cities were wiped off of the map: Canterlot and Cloudsdale.” Saying the names of the cities made Luna’s stomach turn and tie itself into knots. They had been destroyed by her and Celestia. So many ponies had died because they had turned. They had inflicted more pain on Equestria than they had ever prevented. More than one thousand years of goodwill on Celestia’s part had been soured in just one month. “Canterlot’s population was a majority unicorn, so they are alive but displaced. Cloudsdale was entirely a pegasus city and…” Luna licked her lips and tried to swallow, but the tightness in her throat wouldn’t allow her. “...and we estimate less than twenty percent of its population survived.” 

Luna shook her head and put down the paper. A hoof rested on her back and rubbed between her wings in soft slow circles. Cadenza had the touch of a mother, one who knew how to properly comfort somepony in pain. It took everything Luna had not to break down. With every ounce of emotional strength she thought she had built over her time back, she pressed on. 

“The pegasus population is considered critically endangered. Pre-Event population numbered around two-hundred and fifty thousand, Post-Event is estimated to be around one-hundred thousand. The earth pony population is similarly in danger of collapse, with Pre-Event numbers known to be four-hundred and seventy-five thousand at the last census and now…” Luna had to stop herself again as she felt her voice crack. “...and now it is estimated to be two-hundred thousand or less…the unicorn population remains largely unchanged. Three-hundred and fifty-thousand Pre-Event and three-hundred thousand now.”

“Queens above…” Thorax had a look of disgust on his face, like some curdled morsel had laid itself on his tongue. “I…I didn’t realize it was that bad. I thought…well, I don’t know what I thought.”

“Yeah you ponies did a number on yourselves.” Even Ember had a sympathetic look, even if a mild scowl never left her scaly features.

“Do you want me to take over, Auntie Luna?” Cadenza whispered into her ear while continuing to pat and rub her back.

“No.” Luna shook her head. “I have to do this.”

“While the unicorns are the bulk of our population, there are numerous problems with implementing their labor in sectors where it is most needed.” Luna continued, her eyes scanning the black and white page. She simply picked the words up off of it and set them down with all effort put towards not understanding what they meant in the interim. “Understandably, a large portion of the surviving earth pony and pegasus populations do not wish to work with the unicorns. Animosity is high and violence between the three tribes is at an all-time high. There are large portions of the unicorn population that are also not fit to return to organized labor. The transformation process has left some unicorns….impaired, either physically or mentally.”

“That explains the wings and fangs, then.” Ember kicked back in her chair again and put her feet on the table. “Don’t get me wrong, they look great on you. I’m just not used to ponies actually looking scary.”

“Mmm.” Luna did her best to ignore Ember and provided only a non-commital noise before returning her gaze to the paper. “These problems with labor have culminated in dangerous famine conditions in Equestria’s cities where the bulk of the unicorn population have been moved to. With earth ponies largely unwilling to cooperate with unicorns and farming being a talent not natural to unicorns, Equestria is reaching a tipping point. Food, violence, and a population on the verge of complete collapse will culminate in our destruction without help.” Luna put down the papers and looked around to the other creatures that surrounded the table. “We are not accustomed to asking for help from others. For a very long time Equestria has been a proud and self-sufficient country. Now, in our hour of greatest need, we are turning to you and asking for your cooperation.” 

When she was done, Luna slumped back in her chair. Every word had hurt as it came out. They had stung her throat and scraped against her tongue. Now her mouth was dry, her eyes watering, and her throat raw. She wanted to cry, needed to cry, yet she could not. Not yet. There was still more pain to come, and she knew that thanks to Pharynx’s threats last night.

“We will of course help you, Princess Luna.” Thorax forced himself to smile, even through the grimace that wanted to take over his face. “How, is something we can discuss once Princess Cadance, Ember, and myself have done our sharing.” He then nodded at the regent of the Crystal Empire. “Princess Cadance, you can go next.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Cadaenza responded with a nod and a smile in her voice. “The Crystal Empire of course had casualties. While unicorns aren’t native to the Empire, we had a significant number of transplants from Equestria. Most of them were scholars, and of course…myself and my husband.” Luna heard a deep sigh reverberate through Cadenza’s chest. “We lost about ten percent of our population, around five thousand ponies. We were lucky that the homes in the Empire were not easily destroyed, and I was lured away from the Empire before I could do too much damage.”

Luna blinked. Were there no crystal unicorns? Were they all earth ponies? How had she never noticed that before. Now that she thought back on it, when she had gone there with Celestia to see the newborn Flurry Heart, there had indeed only been earth ponies that were actual crystal ponies. Only transplants from Equestria had featured either wings or a horn, or both. Odd.

“Our food production is largely the same from pre-Event levels, but not enough to help support Equestria.” Cadenza went on, the same chipper tone in her words as she spoke. “And of course a growing number of ponies want us to be isolated from Equestria. They are small, but the idea is gaining steam. Rest assured, I will not let this happen.” Cadenza’s hoof pressed reassuringly against Luna’s back.

“Right guess I’m up next.” Ember picked up less than a second after Cadenza finished speaking. She reached beneath the table and produced a large purple staff with a magnificent ruby at its center. It was placed on the table with a hefty thunk. “I don’t know numbers. Dragons don’t like being counted. What I do know is that none of those unicorns got into the dragon lands, but that didn’t stop a lot of dumb dragons from going into Equestria looking for a challenge. Not a lot of them came back. I don’t know, maybe a hundred.” There was a sadness in Ember’s voice as much as she tried to disguise it with aloof carelessness. Pride was still there, so was the care of a leader. It was different from what Luna was used to, but it was present.

“Uh…there’s not a lot of dragons.” Ember’s tone softened a little. “We like to fight and it takes a long time for us to mature and it takes even longer for our eggs to incubate. It keeps our numbers small, which is probably a good thing for the rest of the world…” Ember reached out and gripped the staff in her claws. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed it as tight as she could. Luna saw sadness creep into the edges of the Dragon Lord’s features, but it was quickly subsumed by anger. “Our eggs need magic to grow and to hatch. The magic of the world, the leyline that runs right under the dragon lands, they need it. It takes decades for dragon eggs to hatch and ‘The Event’-” Ember used her claws to make air quotes as she spoke the term. “-killed a whole generation of dragons off.” Smoke began to pour from Ember’s nostrils as she spoke. “We tried everything to salvage them, to keep them alive, and none of it worked. Mothers had to watch as their healthy eggs, some close to hatching, became useless.”

There was silence in the room. Every death was horrible, all of them were senseless, but something about this struck a nerve. Children in Equestria had perished as well, as had pregnant mares, but those were all to vicious attacks. They had been violent and loud and sudden. What Ember had described was slow and quiet. A trainwreck that none of them were able to stop or look away from. It was not their fault and they could not fight back. There were no enemies to fight and nothing action could solve. To a dragon that might as well have been a death sentence.

“What do you need?” Luna was ready to help. Whatever the dragons needed, it was most likely not material in nature. Ember had mentioned nothing about food or the material conditions of her subjects.

“Magic.” Ember answered simply. “We lost an entire generation. We need, I don’t know, spells or something to help us make up for that lost time.” Ember pinched the bridge of her nose between two claws and closed her eyes. “And…I hate to say this, but we need to stop being dragons for a while.”

“What do you mean?” Cadenza asked as she leaned forward in her chair.

“All we do is hurt each other, kill each other.” Ember grabbed her staff and hoisted in the air. “This only has so much power, they’ll listen to whoever has it without question but I can’t overrule nature.” She set the heavy staff back down on the table. “I need someone who knows dragons and who can help knock-put some sense into them.” Her eyes fell on the dragon sitting next to Luna. “I need Spike.”

“What?” All three of the Equestrian delegates asked in unison.

“He’s a dragon and he’s spent his whole life in Equestria learning about your harmony or whatever.” Ember explained with a dissatisfied scowl on her face. “I can’t ask to have ponies come to the dragon lands and give us lectures. They wouldn’t listen to you. I need someone who knows dragons, who’s at least earned a little respect, and who can help spread your values.”

“Well I cannot promise you that.” While Luna could see the value in Spike’s experience and knowledge, she could not make anyone do something they did not want to. They did not deal in slavery in Equestria. “When I am back home I will gather our scholars and mages to put together a package of spells or potions to help with your breeding problem. I will promise you that. But if Spike wishes to aid you in your efforts, then that will be his decision to make alone and not something that can be brokered between states.”

“I’ll…think about it.” Spike answered sheepishly. Luna looked to the young dragon and found him wringing his claws and his head down. There was genuine pain on his face as the two sides of his beings wrestled for his compassion and his kindness. Luna took a page out of Cadenza’s book and placed a hoof on his back.

“Everypony back home will support you no matter what you choose, Spike.” She tried to reassure him, but doubted it had much effect. Spike gave her a half-hearted smile and a nod in response.

“And of course, if the dragon lands need any food such as gems then the Crystal Empire will be happy to help with that.” Cadenza added on with a smile and a nod. “I’m sure a little extra food might help motivate some of the dragons to get along.”

All in all, Ember had been a lot easier to deal with than Spike had implied. Desperation had softened her temperament and dampened the fire of the mighty Dragon Lord. Luna could be happy with that. It made her job easier. Though the burden it placed on Spike might not make the ease worth it. Part of Luna had been hoping for a fight, for a chance to let loose and yell at Ember.

“Now I believe we have something to offer you, Princess Luna.” Thorax interjected with a smile and tap of his hoof on the table. That made the knot in Luna’s stomach return and for her blood to run cold. Pharynx’s threat now loomed over her head like a terrible sword, ready to drop unless she agreed to whatever it was the Changeling king was about to propose. 

“I am listening.” Luna attempted to distance herself from the situation. Maintaining her composure and not giving the game away was now paramount. She leaned forward and leveled a cool and calm gaze at her Changeling counterpart.

“Equestria needs bodies.” Thorax began with a nervous smile. His wings buzzed beneath his shell and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “You said it yourself, you don’t have enough ponies who can work to feed your cities. We can give that to you.”

“What’s the catch?” It was thankfully Ember who voiced her skepticism first. “They need a lot of ‘bodies’ to fix their problems. I don’t doubt that there are enough changelings to pick up some of the slack, but you wouldn’t give that away.” She narrowed her eyes. “So what’s the price?”

“I am suggesting a union between our two kingdoms.” Thorax offered. “We share a border, so why not just do away with it and become one kingdom instead?” There was silence in the room for a few seconds as Thorax looked around at the slightly confused diplomats. “Of course the changelings would need one of their own to follow…”

“...no…” Luna whispered under her breath as the reality of what exactly Thorax was suggesting landed on her shoulders. Surely he could not be serious. That would be ludicrous…and she had to decide whether could reject it or not.

“Will you just spit it out!” Ember groaned and threw her head back. “No one likes you dancing around whatever it is you want. Just be honest.”

“A marriage.” Thorax blurted out. “Purely political, of course! It will join Equestria and the Changelings, make my subjects your subjects. But it’s not…” He stammered and searched for words. “I…uh…it’s not something that would be…” Whatever it was Thorax wanted to say, he couldn’t find the right words no matter how hard he tried.

Luna closed her eyes. This was what Pharynx had demanded she not haggle with. Yes, she could see how in a world where she was not subjected to blackmail how she would get out of this. Most likely she could talk Thorax down to simply being a vassal of Equestria and allowing his citizens to move freely between the two nations just like the Crystal Empire. In fact, Luna was confident that she could do that. Especially with Cadenza by her side, it would be a walk in the park.

This was a clear power grab. Certainly not by Thorax, as Luna was not sure he had enough of a spine for those kind of aspirations. No doubt these were the dreams and ideas of Pharynx. The conniving Lord Commander of the changelings had played his hoof perfectly and had played Luna just as well.

“What?” Cadenza asked. “You…want to become…king of Equestria? That’s absurd.”

“No no, of course not!” Thorax stood from his chair and shook his head vehemently. “I would never dream of usurping any of the power that the princesses have over Equestria! This is simply to…pursue closer ties between our nations. I’d still have say over what happens to my changelings, but Equestria would still be yours. Not mine.”

“Then why do it at all?” Ember was the one to continue the interrogation. “What do you get out of this if you’re giving Equestria all of your bugs and get none of the power?”

“Think about it-” Pharynx pushed his brother back into his seat. “-every other country on the planet is decimated and Equestria is suffering greatly, yet they’ll still be at the top of the food chain.” The upstart second-in-command raised his chin proudly and glared at Ember as he spoke. “Why? They control the sun and moon. As long as they have that power, they’ll always be the center of the political universe.”

“And we want to be part of it.” Thorax stepped up and finished the sentiment. He wasn’t as fiery, though. His voice was quiet, contemplative, and there was a longing in his voice. “No one has ever taken us seriously, even before we changed. We’ve only been seen as a threat or an infestation, even now. The only way we’ll be seen as anything else is if somepony else helps uplift us. Now is the perfect time to change what creatures think of when they hear the word ‘changeling.’”

“Yes, you want them to think ‘powerful’. For the first time in the entire meeting, a dose of something other than cheerfulness entered Cadenza’s words. It was either disappointment or anger, or perhaps a mix. If Luna could see beneath the mask, she imagined there would be a sneer on the pink princess’ face. “You want them to think of you and the ponies by your side.”

“No, I want them to think ‘important’!” Thorax pleaded with the two mares as he extended a hoof towards them. “I want them to see a changeling and go ‘There are those important creatures who deserve respect and admiration!’”

“And love?” The words fell like acid from Cadenza’s mouth. Thorax visibly flinched as the two little words stabbed him in whatever changelings had in place of a heart. He wilted from the two ponies and shrank into his chair.

“It’s…it’s not like that.” Thorax retorted quietly. He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Look at this hive…just…compare the outside with the inside.” Luna did as she was asked and thought about the arid wasteland beyond the walls and compared that with the lush and humid interior. “We don’t belong out here. This isn’t where we’re supposed to be. For the longest time, we were here because this is the only place where someone wasn’t. This is the one place we wouldn’t be chased from.”

“To be fair, you were love-draining parasites before this big…change.” Ember had picked up her staff at some point and had the tip pointed right at Thorax. “I don’t think you can blame anyone for chasing you guys out when you were kidnapping them and draining them of their love. You were monsters.”

“We’re not that anymore.” Thorax pleaded. “We just need a chance to prove it! We just need our time in the sun to show everyone what we can be!”

“Well, not all  of you are like that anymore…” Luna muttered under her breath as she shot daggers at Pharynx.

“We need a chance, as equals!” Thorax continued as he stood up once more and began to walk around the table towards the alicorn. “We’re useful and strong and kind and…and we can be just as good as Equestrians. I know it.” He shook his head as he approached the two princesses. “But we’ll never get a fair shake, not as long as we’re still seen as monsters.”

“Fine.” Luna didn’t want to hear the sob story anymore. If he kept going, then there was a good chance her will and common sense would fail and she would reject his proposal outright. There was no need to drag this on any longer. “We accept your deal, Thorax.”

“Auntie Luna!” Cadenza sat aghast and stared at the elder alicorn. “You…you should at least consult Princess Celestia before-”

“-I will worry about my sister, Cadenza.” Luna silenced her subordinate royal with a raised hoof. “I have been given full authority to negotiate on Equestria’s behalf without having my decisions second guessed or approved.” She leaned over and lowered her voice. “You will have to trust Us, this is for the best.”

“Okay…but we’re going to talk about this later.”

“This is…unexpected.” Thorax stopped in place about three-quarters of the way towards Luna and Cadenza, maybe three feet or so away, and blinked in surprise. “I was…well, I don’t know what I was expecting. Not this?” He shook his head and replaced his quizzical expression with a much too enthusiastic smile “Excellent! We can talk about which princess it will be at a later-”

“It will be me, Thorax.” Luna cut him off as well. She would not subject Celestia or Twilight Sparkle to this indignity, she could not. They were not capable of handling such a thing at the moment and there was doubt they ever would be. Luna would bear the brunt of this terrible and narcissistic deal. 

For the good of Equestria.
> The Descent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Luna, forgive me for what I’m about to say, but are you crazy?” Cadenza hissed as the door to Luna’s ‘suite’ shut behind them. It was impressive that the younger alicorn had been able to hold that in throughout the rest of their meeting, which had mostly been small talk compared to the things that had come before. They had even set up a meeting with that changeling that had been in Ponyville.

“We are perfectly sane, Cadenza.” Luna replied calmly. “You will have to trust Us on this, no matter how it seems.” It was a tall ask, especially considering they did not have the same relationship as Cadenza and Celestia. This would have to be trust based on mostly faith, faith that Luna was not sure she had earned. “We know this seems odd, but please.”

“This is…” Cadenza shook her head and scoffed. “You’re bringing in another creature to be part of the royal family! You’re making the changelings an equal! All unilaterally!” Even though the featureless white mask was still on, even Luna could see the scowl on the face of her ‘niece’. “I think we should get Spike and send a letter to Celestia to see what they have to say about this.”

“We do not have another option, Cadenza!” Luna growled out through clenched teeth. “You are not privy to the things that We know! This is not your decision, nor is it your concern! If it involved the Crystal Empire, then We would have consulted you but it does not!” She resorted to the thing she was best at, pushing ponies away. With fangs bared and wings flared, she glared at her subordinate and looked down her nose at the pink princess. In these trying times it was important to have ponies close to you that you could rely on, but Luna could not afford to let Cadenza in.

“Okay, then let me know!” Cadance matched Luna’s stance almost exactly, a mirror awash in pastels. “You’re not alone in this! If I knew what you know, then maybe I can help or we can make this a better deal for Equestria!” She reached a gilded hoof out and poked Luna right in the chest. “Let me in! Let me help!”

“We did not even want you here, Cadenza!” Real emotions mixed in with her facade. “It was supposed to be just Us and nopony else! We were not even aware that you were going to join Us until the train ride!” There was a beat of silence and Cadenza’s eyes went wide behind her mask.

“Did you…did you set this up with him…?”

The accusation struck something very sensitive and very deep inside of Luna’s heart. It caused her breath to catch in her throat and her chest tightened. Cadenza thought this was a power grab, she thought that Luna had orchestrated this to take the throne. It was a horrid thought. It did not sadden the princess of the night, no, it angered her.

“Do you think so little of Us, Cadenza?” Luna growled and advanced on the younger mare until their chests were pressed together. “Do you think We would engage in common deception and politics to claim the throne of Equestria?” Cadenza was the first one to blink and she took a step back, which only caused Luna to push. “You have not seen Our sister, nor her state. If We were so inclined, we could dispatch her with ease. This would be no challenge, nor would it require a grand game.” Her nostrils flared and she snapped her teeth at Cadenza, causing her to flinch. “If We wanted to be the sole ruler of Equestria, then We would be. Nothing would or could stand in Our way right now.”

Cadenza only nodded.

“Now, you are going to trust Us when We say that this is not a plot.” Luna continued, her face still mere inches away from the other mare’s. “This is a circumstance that We cannot control and deal We were forced into accepting. You will have to put all of your faith into believing that, because it is the truth.”

“Okay.” Cadenza whispered and nodded again. “I trust you.”

“Good.”

Luna stepped away and once more adopted her placid persona. Her wings readjusted and flattened against her sides and she silently retreated to the couch. Internally she wanted to scream and rage and destroy this room, but she could not afford to. Temper tantrums were not something she could indulge anymore. 

Intimidating Cadenza was an unfortunate necessity of the situation. There was no chance she could trust Cadenza with that blackmail, and letting it get back to Equestria and into the ears of the other alicorns was unthinkable. There was no other option available. Luna could not take the chance, she could not endanger Celestia or Twilight Sparkle.

“Is…it alright if I wait in here with you for the changeling?” Cadenza did not sit on the sofa next to Luna, instead she stayed back near the door.

“Of course.” Luna nodded. “We both need to speak with them.”

There was not much more to say or do until that time came. 

—-

Elytra paced back and forth in the antechamber of King Thorax’s office. She had been retrieved by a guard and told to wait here until given further instructions. She had pressed her ear against the door and heard some muttering, but nothing else. It was interminable that she was still just waiting.

Both Princess Luna and Princess Cadance had been through the hive and Elytra had seen both of them. Both sent chills through her chitin and made her freeze in place. They were the ghosts of monsters, both of which had tried to kill her. Luna still looked frightfully like her nightmarish past selves, just smaller. Meanwhile Cadance looked nothing like the thing that had cornered Elytra down in the Central Pool, but the white mask she now wore over her face made Elytra terrified. She knew what was underneath, or at least she could make a highly educated guess, and she knew that the princess of love would want revenge for her ruined beauty. It only made sense.

The negotiations had gone quick. She knew that and so did every bug in the hive. It seemed like they were in the makeshift dining hall for all but two hours before they emerged. That meant things had gone either exceedingly well or astonishingly poor. Elytra would hope for the former, but with so many firebrands in one room she wasn’t sure. 

“Elytra!” The voice of Pharynx hollered from King Thorax’s office. “Get in here!”

There was not an ounce of hesitation. Elytra pushed the door open and came face to face with a positively beaming King Thorax and a predictably dour Pharynx. They both looked at her and Thorax motioned her in. 

“We got you a meeting with Princess Luna and Princess Cadance.” Thorax said with his bright smile. “It turns out they both wanted to talk with you anyways! Funny how that works, huh?”

Elytra felt her body freeze and her mind grind to a halt. They wanted to talk to her? That couldn’t mean anything good. Did they know she had told Pharynx and Thorax the truth? Were they going to take her away? Was Cadance going to take her revenge? She would end up rotting in some Equestrian jail now, she was sure of it.

“Oh…good.” She managed to force out with a strained smile. “Uh…any idea what they want with me?”

“If Cadance’s mask is anything to go by, I would guess they want to have some choice words with you.” Pharynx replied with a wicked grin and a chuckle. “Who could blame her? She told the King that it was you who did that to her.”

“It was self defense.”

“I’m sure it was. Do you think that matters to her?”

“Pharynx!” Thorax groaned and put his head in his hooves “Stop egging Elytra on, please.” He received a little nod from his brother, who returned to his usually stoic stance. “Elytra-” he looked up and gave a reassuring smile. “-you’ll be fine. Cadance doesn’t want to hurt you, and Luna wants to probably just debrief you on everything that happened.” The monarch stood and walked around his desk and came face to face with his subject. He placed a hoof on her shoulder and smiled. “Just remember: you will not tell them what you told us. As far as I’m concerned, you never said anything about what happened in Equestria. You don’t know what happened. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty.” Elytra swallowed hard and nodded. “I never told you anything. I don’t…I don’t remember much from that.” It seemed like she was caught between two massive tectonic plates and the slightest shift would squish her. She had to do as she was told to avoid becoming a casualty of the moment. As with her time in Equestria, Elytra would do what she must to survive.

“Good.” His smile became more genuine and less threatening for a moment. “I trust you to do the right thing, Elytra.” He then nodded at Pharynx. “Escort her to the princesses, please. I have some things I need to do up here.”

“Of course.” Pharynx advanced and moved right by Elytra, who quickly fell in line behind him. As soon as they were through the doors, Pharynx closed them and turned to the smaller changeling. “He meant what he said, and I will enforce it.” He growled out. “If I hear that you’ve told them anything about what you said to us, and believe me I’ll know, then I will deal with you personally. Am I clear?”

Pharynx was imposing as a drone before the metamorphosis. He always had a wild and feral energy about him, but this was different. He used to be an angry dog at the end of a very long leash. As long as you stayed far enough away, you would not be in any danger. The bark was scary, but the bite would only hurt someone dumb enough to wander to close. Now, though? Now he held the leash and no one was out of his reach.

Elytra had been one of the dumb bugs that wandered too close in the past. The bite was just as ferocious as the bark. That would not be a mistake she would make again, especially with the power he now held. She was not a young and dumb grub anymore, she had survived and would continue to do so.

“Yes, sir.” Elytra answered quietly. “I understand, sir.”

There was nothing else to say. Elytra was not going to ask any questions or push back against the orders and she knew that Pharynx was not going to repeat himself. So the two changelings went on their way. Once they were in the central chamber of the hive, they opened their wings and flew down to the appropriate level in tense silence. 

Princess Luna’s cutie mark was a sigil of death. She still saw it in her nightmares on the flank of a beast as it destroyed Ponyville from above. It was not as bad as the mere thought of Cadance though. The princess of love was a monster twice over for Elytra. The Event had only made the nightmares immeasurably worse. She wasn’t supposed to be here and now her mere presence made Elytra reconsider her entire plan. 

Pharynx knocked on the door. There were a few seconds of silence, then the door opened and Elytra’s mind grinded to a screeching halt. Princess Cadance’s face wasn’t staring back at her, but a featureless white mask was. What was beneath it was a known quantity to few living creatures and Elytra was cursed to be one of them. The Ponyville survivor forced down all of her feelings and fought off the urge to light her horn and call forth the acidic magic that had done that to the princess.

“Ah, wonderful!” Princess Cadance chirped and stepped aside.

Elytra did not move until Pharynx gave her a push, then her legs carried her into the faux-Equestrian suite. Princess Cadance and Pharynx talked for a little while, but Elytra’s brain refused to process whatever it was that had been said. Her eyes were now focused on the thing that sat on the sofa and its leathery wings and gleaming fangs.

Of course Elytra had seen Princess Luna from a distance in the hive, but seeing it up close was something else entirely. She was a spitting image of the monster from The Event, just not as big. The dark fur, the fangs, the wings…they conjured dark thoughts. There was one thought above all else, though. One that escaped the confines of her brain and wiggled its way past her lips.

“It didn’t work…”

Elytra didn’t understand. It worked with Twilight Sparkle and Sweetie Belle! They had turned back to normal with no outward signs of their previous derangement. So why did Princess Luna still look like this? Why didn’t fixing the Central Pool work? She must’ve done something wrong when dumping the pure mana in. That had to be it. This was her fault. 

That’s why she was here.

“Please, come stand before Us.” Princess Luna motioned towards herself and pointed at a spot in front of the sofa. “We wish to speak to you and We will not crane Our neck the whole time.”

Elytra did as she was told and took up position in front of the couch. She stood there on her three good legs and did her best to keep her eyes focused on the ground rather than on the alicorns. She heard Princess Cadance’s hooves as the pink pony trotted towards the sofa but she dared not look.

“What’s your name, dear?” It was Princess Cadance’s sweet voice to break the stifling silence.

“E-Elytra, Your Highness.”

“Elytra. That’s a wonderful name.” The worst part of all of this was that Elytra knew the sweetness, the care, that tender mercy that pervaded the alicorn’s words were all natural. It was genuine. The changeling could taste the sincerity and it was nauseating. “You can look at us, we promise that we won’t bite you…anymore.” Princess Cadance tried to suppress a chuckle but failed. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Elytra didn’t laugh, and neither did Princess Luna. The changeling did look up, though. She found both alicorns looking at her, the older one with a deep penetrating gaze and the younger one with smiling eyes behind that porcelain mask. Elytra had been at their mercy before and this time felt a lot more dangerous than when they were bloodthirsty monsters.

“I guess I’ll start.” Princess Cadance clapped her hooves together once. “First, and I say this on behalf of the entire world, thank you for your heroic actions during The Event. We know that what you did took extreme courage and the kind of strength that most can only dream of, so we want to say thank you. I know that’s not something you’ve heard yet and I doubt you’ll ever hear it again regarding The Event. But thank you.”

“But…” Changelings were supposed to be good at controlling their emotions. They were supposed to be masters of that specific task, but here all of Elytra’s training kept failing her. Emotions swirled in her head, all conflicting and contradictory. “But…what I did to you…I…”

“You did what you had to.” Princess Cadance responded quietly. “Do you remember it all?”

“No…” Elytra shook her head and closed her eyes. “I…I remember flashes of it. My wing. Falling. I dumped the mana in and you landed and…I put all of the energy I had into my horn and I shot it at you. Then I don’t remember anything.” That was the truth, too. Elytra remembered charging up a spell and then it all got fuzzy really quick.

“Well, I remember.” Cadance responded with a light sigh. “You shot me with some of your magic and it hit me…” She then motioned to her face, which only made Elytra wince. “I shot back and missed, I grazed your side and that sent you right into the Central Pool. That’s when I turned back and I got you out of the Pool and brought you back up.”

Elytra didn’t remember falling in the Central Pool. Then she realized that she certainly shouldn’t be alive. It should’ve turned her into ash. It should’ve cooked her in her shell. How did she survive? 

“No, we do not know how you survived that.” Princess Luna chimed in now. “Twilight Sparkle’s best guess is that because you do not use mana like ponies, it could not react with your body in the same way that it does with regular magic users. We believe it tried and only succeeded in putting you into a coma.”

“Ah…”

“For the longest time, I was angry at you.” Cadance picked up the main point of the conversation again. “I was-I am ashamed of my looks now.” The words were daggers that lodged firmly in Elytra’s heart. That was the last thing she wanted from all of this. “But it’s not because of you anymore. Like many unicorns and alicorns, my scars are badges of the terrible things I did. They’re reminders. Awful reminders, but reminders nonetheless.” Cadance then stood up. Elytra wasn’t sure why but she expected to see tears, but saw none through the eye holes of the mask. “There was no telling what I could’ve done had you not shot at me. I don’t know if I was capable of stopping what you did to the mana pool, but you did what you had to.”

Princess Cadance crossed the distance between them in a few seconds and pulled Elytra into a hug. The pure love that radiated from her was like warm honey and it sent shivers throughout the changeling’s shell. It was so intoxicating and filling and reminded Elytra of the pink ‘heart’ that she had feasted upon from Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Despite that, she could not force her body to react. It was impossible. The shock had gripped her limbs and kept her from reciprocating.

“Thank you for saving Equestria, even if it cost us both.”

“Of course.” Elytra’s brain finally started to work again and she forced the words out. “I would’ve done anything to save everypony there…” That was the truth.

“Which brings us to our next topic.” Luna cut in with a raised voice. 

Cadance pulled away and trotted across the room and back to the couch. The alicorn then turned enough so that her mane was blocking her face and Elytra could see the white mask be lifted briefly. She was wiping the tears away.

“We assume you know what caused The Event.” Luna’s stare was more wounding than Cadance’s words, but for more recent reasons. Elytra could not tell Princess Luna the whole truth, that was not an option. 

“No, not really.” Elytra lied through her teeth. “When we rescued Twilight Sparkle and cured her, I lost my leg. I was busy bleeding out so if she told them something, I didn’t hear it.” Lying was a much more comfortable existence than being hugged by a pony you viewed as the angel of death and it was one Elytra slipped into easily. What she had said was the truth, just not the whole truth. 

“Mmm.” Luna nodded. “Well, We will assume you have theories then. Theories that may or may not be true.” It felt like the princess was calling her bluff without explicitly doing so, and that made Elytra nervous. “We will advise you to keep those theories to yourself. Do this, and We will do what We can to make your life easier during the transition period.”

“Transition period?” Elytra tilted her head to the side. This had something to do with the big political summit, she was sure. However no one had been briefed on whatever this transition would entail. Elytra shook off the question and rolled with the punches. “Well…actually, there is something. One of the survivors I was with in Ponyville, Cheerilee, I promised to meet her again. Is there any way you can help?”

“Yes, there is.” Luna said with a slight smile.
> Prometheus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Day Two Hundred and Sixty


Rose Wreath closed the little green book and jotted down a few more notes in her personal journal with a quill made from one of her own feathers. The nearby bonfire provided plenty of light for her to read and write and allowed her to keep pretty detailed notes. She had spent the last day or so translating the final page and was left thoroughly whelmed. It didn’t seem like anything important. That was annoying.

The rest of the journal was anything but annoying, though. It was enlightening to a rapturous degree. It had proven everything Rose had known to be true and steeled her resolved more than she thought possible. It also provided greater clarity for her mission and a new destination. There was now a vague roadmap to Equestria and ponykind’s liberation.

There was something that even Celestia and Luna were afraid of, something their parents had hidden them from. It was something that could kill alicorns and it was trapped. If it was trapped, then it could be freed. Rose was sure with the knowledge in this journal she could convince this ‘Upalas Rakinti’ character to join her cause. Especially if it wanted Celestia and Luna dead.

“You know, I’m glad you can understand this.” Gallus was, of course, sitting right by her. He had been pouring over her notes as fast as she could write them but she wasn’t sure he could comprehend them. “Seems like nonsense. Are you sure this Starswirl pony wasn’t insane?”

Rose wasn’t having an easy time with this language, but she still believed in Starswirl’s sanity. It had taken her days to grasp the language even on a simple level and the basic sentences she had written up as questions for her destined meeting with Upalas were most likely clumsy and wrong. They would suit her purposes, though. They would have to.

“Starswirl was a lot of things, but insane wasn’t one of them.” Rose muttered as she stacked the papers neatly and placed them in her personal satchel. “I hadn’t heard of him until I moved to Canterlot, but I learned pretty quickly that he’s a genius in pretty much every field. Ponies hold him in high regard for a reason.”

“Okay…” Gallus tapped his claws against the dirt. “...so we just take his word on this ‘Upalas’ thing and then what? Call the Storm King to get it out?”

“We can do this ourselves.” 

The Storm King was nothing without his little staff and Rose didn’t need a big powerless ape. The only thing he had was numbers, and even those wouldn’t last long. He was the very definition of ‘any port in a storm’ and as soon as all of his new followers realized how shoddy that port was, they would leave in droves. His time as a power on the southern continent was dwindling, and that was why he had teams everywhere searching for a new weapon to bring to bear against Equestria. 

“Yeah, of course we can.” Gallus puffed out his chest and displayed that rare yet appropriately cocky grin. “We’ll get this Upalas thing ourselves and be heroes!” That’s why she kept the young bird around, he understood their mission and what they were.

“Yes we are, and we will be.” Rose was certain of that. The ponies of Equestria would thank them for their actions when all was said and done. Judging by the news coming out of Equestria, they might be welcomed before they even dethroned the princesses. “So here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to head east until we hit the coast and then look for where Celestia and Luna stayed as kids-”

“-but that was like a thousand years ago. Won’t everything be different?”

“Maybe.” Rose answered through clenched teeth. “But we can figure it out, I know it.” She tapped the journal with a wing and gave a smile to her subordinate. “There’s something more valuable than gold there: dead alicorns. Even better, Celestia and Luna’s parents.” Rose’s mind had lit on fire the first time she read that they were buried out there. “If we can see how they died, then maybe we can get some information on how to get rid of the princesses.”

“Yeah, plus imagine what seeing their parents' bodies would do to them?” Gallus’ voice dropped. “I remember after a week in the dark, others started digging up bodies to…y’know…uh…they needed food so…” Gallus clenched his fists and punched the ground. “Sorry. Anyway, a lot of fights happened over families. I don’t think anyone likes seeing the dead disturbed like that.”

Now that was an idea. Not one that Rose had even entertained. She had been interested in studying the bodies of the long dead alicorns, but she had never thought about using them as a psychological tool against Celestia and Luna. After all, who wouldn’t want to see the bodies of alicorns. Rose could already imagine that Equestria’s newspapers would love that and that Celestia and Luna would hate it.

“Now that is an idea.” Rose’s mind was racing. If there was one way to throw the leadership of Equestria into more disarray, then that was it. If they were going to bait the alicorns into doing something stupid, then that was a good idea how to do it. It would be one big sucker punch. “I like the way you think, Gallus. Good job.”

“Oh. Thank you.” He rubbed the back of his neck with a claw and that smile turned from cocky to nervous. “I mean, yeah. It would really mess them up.”

“It might make them do something stupid.” Rose added to help him catch on to her train of thought. “All we need to do is keep them on their back hooves, keep them distracted and make them irrational. They’ll slip up, and then we strike with whoever or whatever this Upalas is.”

“You know, you would’ve made a good griffon in another life.” Gallus said with a wry smile. “You have the brains for it, Sarge.”

Rose didn’t like that. Griffons were cutthroat creatures with poor manners and extremely self-centered. Ponies weren’t that and they weren’t supposed to be either, they weren’t wired like that. To be compared to one aspirationally was a slap in the face. She always thought that Gallus had the heart of a pony deep down and that the griffon-ness had been beaten out of him during The Event.

There was still hope for that.

“No, this isn’t for me.” Rose pushed Gallus away from her with a hoof on his chest. “This isn’t selfish, this isn’t a griffish plot. This is for the good of Equestria.” She made sure to level a stern, almost maternal, glare at the young bird. “This is for the good of Equestria and the wider world, got it?”

“I wasn’t calling you selfish.” Gallus looked genuinely hurt and he rested a claw on her leg. “I was just saying you’re clever, y’know? What you said, it’s smart and just cruel enough to work. I just said that you would’ve made a good griffon.”

There was a tense and awkward silence that hung in the air for a few minutes. Rose was still sure he meant it as an insult because that’s exactly how she interpreted it. It was hard to take it any other way. The birds across the sea had been completely self-destructive, but Rose wasn’t like that. She wasn’t so selfish or stupid, not like them. She thought about the greater good, about her fellow equines and their well being and she was focused on the future and not her own immediate needs. That’s what set her apart.

It was unthinkable that she should be compared to a creature like that.

“Are we almost all packed?” That’s all she wanted to hear from her subordinate now, a status report. They needed to have everything from this cave crated up and on the ship soon. She wanted to get moving towards her destiny and Equestria’s liberation.

“It should be done by morning, yeah.” Gallus nodded and grabbed a stick that had been sitting half in the fire and pulled it free. On one end was a field mouse or rat, she didn’t know the difference, that was now thoroughly charred. The rancid smell of cooked meat was heavy in the air, something she thought she had learned to ignore, but when it was brought so close to her she wanted to vomit. “Don’t worry, we should be ready to leave by midday at the latest. “ He added right as he took a bite out of the poor fried critter.

“I want you to do a double check in the morning when you wake up. I don’t want a single book left in there.” Rose turned her head away from the vulgar display of eating another living creature. “The only things that should be in there are those bodies and that creepy skull, understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Gallus gave a half-hearted salute as he continued his grotesque meal. “You don’t want us to-”

“YOU WILL BE GONE FROM THIS PLACE, FOUL FIENDS!” 

A booming voice ripped through the night and silenced even the roaring bonfire. Every head around the fire and those that were moving from the cave up to the anchored airship.  Silhouetted by the full moon on the horizon, three ponies stood on top of a nearby hill. One of them had a horn that was surrounded in pale gray light.

Rose was on her hooves in an instant with her wing flared out and bright gold eyes focused on the hill. She could spot a pegasus and a colossal earth pony along with the unicorn, whom she now saw was wearing a hat of some kind. She was not keen on visitors, and especially from her own kind at the moment. The last thing she wanted or needed was news of her arrival getting back to civilization, so these intruding ponies were going to need to be dissuaded from coming any closer or detained entirely.

“You just go on and get out of here!” Rose shouted at the trio of creatures at the top of her lungs. “Gallus, go get my spear.” She whispered to the young one next to her, at which point he took to the skies towards the airship.

“YOU WILL RETURN WHATEVER YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM THIS PLACE AND LEAVE!” The unicorn roared once more and fired a beam of magic into the midst of the group, striking the dirt right in front of the bonfire. Chunks of earth were sent into the air and rained down on the congregation of creatures.

Rose was suddenly transported back to the sun soaked days of The Event. The sound of gnashing teeth and rabid howls filled her air and the old wounds across her body began to burn under the nonexistent sunlight. Her muscles tensed and her heart seized in her chest. It was a primal panic she thought she had left behind in the damned city on the mountain. Here it was once again, though.

“NO!” Rose screamed right back at the interlopers. The fire in her chest melted the ice in her veins and brought her blood to a rapid and ferocious boil. She was not going to be intimidated by three little ponies while she had a crew of dozens on her side. “YOU’LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU!” She couldn’t quite reach the riotous volume of this unicorn stallion on the hill, but she could match the intensity.

The unicorn talked to the hulking pony next to him and said something that for once did not carry across the thawed tundra. Rose stayed on edge as she saw that pony pull a shovel from its back and stick it in the ground. In that moment Gallus rejoined her and put a custom spear in her wing. The shovel was stuck into the ground and a chunk of the earth twice as big as Rose herself was lifted free of the soil.

“What the…” Gallus whispered in shock.

Somehow the tiny shovel hefted the boulder in the air and heaved it like a catapult. It sailed into the air and became lost in the backdrop of the inky night sky. Rose shouted for everyone to scatter, and they did so. Her crew all dissipated from around the bonfire, which proved to be a good idea because the boulder landed right on top of it. Flaming pieces of wood rained down on the fleeing crowd.

If one of them could fling pieces of the earth itself, there was no telling what the other once could do. Rose didn’t want to stick around to find out. She would like to have all of the things from the cave onboard the ship, but that was no longer viable. She had the journal and that was the most important thing that she knew of. It was more important to get away and follow this lead than get crushed or left behind. Before they revealed they had a pony with apparent super powers on their side, she was happy to take them on. Now she wanted to get out of the way. Even if they told somepony about what they saw, there was no way they would know who or what they saw for certain.

“EVERYONE ON THE SHIP! WE’RE LEAVING!” Rose shouted to her crew. “LEAVE THE CRATES, GET ON THE SHIP NOW!” With discipline she had drilled into them, the crew listened. The various bipeds she had at her disposal and a few griffons surged by her and up the small mountain towards the airship. Gallus took off once again and began directing others up the hill while telling them to leave things behind. All the while Rose stayed right where she was with her eyes on the ponies. 

How long had it been since she had seen her own kind? There were those she saw on her way down the river while leaving Equestria and the hollow faces in Las Pegasus as she sailed into the ocean. Before that the last pony she saw up close was…No, that wasn’t a pony. That was another monster. A thing overtaken by the corruption it had willingly let in. A creature whose heart had been closed off to the light and who had been ready to kill her. Perhaps the last true and untainted pony she had seen was Bulwark. 

Either way, her own kind meant conflict for now. Their ignorance and willing blindness made them untrustworthy and prone to acts of violence. Until she had a carrot or a big enough stick, they would remain in conflict with her. Reason would come later when she could make them see the light, when she got what she was after.

“YOU WILL HALT!” The unicorn shouted again and fired a beam of magic right at the airship. It glanced off of the armor plating that covered the front of the balloon and shot into the night sky. That’s what got Rose to finally head up the hill. Putting herself in harm’s way was one thing, but the ship was not something they could go without.

Rose’s bad shoulder flared up and she could feel an all too familiar tingling sensation run down her legs as she tried to run up the hill. It seemed completely random. Sometimes if she stayed still for too long that static would fill her limbs, then sometimes it happened if she was too active. No matter when it happened, it was always annoying and it was debilitating. She lost feeling in her extremities and the muscles in her legs became loose and didn’t want to absorb her weight with each step. Her front left leg, that old troublemaker, was the first one to fully give out. At first she attempted to use the spear held in her wing as a walking stick but she stumbled and fell face first on the slope of the hill with a loud curse. 

“C’mon Sarge, get up!” Gallus was practically on top of her in a few seconds after she hit the ground. His claws grabbed around her front two legs, his claws like needles to the tingling limbs that made her wince. Her subordinate picked her up and started to drag her up the incline of the small mountain towards their ship.

After a few seconds, her rear legs regained feeling again and her front legs came soon after. She shrugged Gallus off and resumed her fast trot up the hill while the young griffon hovered over her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the three ponies were barreling towards their camp and would soon be on their way up the hill. She wasn’t fast enough to outrun them, not anymore.

“Gallus, can you carry me?” It was undignified, but she could not be captured or worse. She had a glorious purpose ahead of her that could not be denied. A little indignity would have to be suffered to ensure she could remain free and execute Equestria’s liberation from tyranny. 

“What?” Gallus asked with wide and surprised eyes. “I mean, yeah. You’re a pegasus. You’re super light.” She nodded at him as a sign to do so. He reached down, wrapped his arms around her barrel and lifted her up. He grunted and strained for a minute, but he seemed to adjust and his powerful wings carried them both up and towards the deck of the ship. It was a much quicker flight than walk and they reached the top of the little mountain in a few minutes.

“Raise the boarding ramp!” She yelled down at the creatures that were stampeding into the interior of the ship. “Raise the anchor and prepare to make way!” She was let go with her hooves about six inches above the deck and she landed with a thud. Gallus landed beside her, covered in sweat and huffing. “Go below, make sure everything is secured.”

“Ramp is up! Everyone’s in!” One of the yetis, the pilot whose name she had not bothered to learn, yelled as he came from below deck. “Anchor is raising, Sergeant.”

“Good, get us underway as soon as you can.” She nodded at him, at least she assumed it was a male, and moved to the side of the ship while the pilot bolted towards the ship’s wheel. She looked over the side and saw the three ponies surging up the hill towards them. “Get us up, now! I don’t care if the anchor isn’t fully raised!”

“Taking off!” The call came from somewhere behind her and was soon echoed across several stations. Various machines and mechanisms roared to life under her hooves and the hulking metal vessel slowly began to lift into the air.

Rose smiled at the other ponies and gave them a little wave.

Then the airship stopped moving.

“What did I say?!” Rose spun around and saw that the balloon of the ship was completely encased in the pale gray aura of the unicorn’s horn. There was no way that a single unicorn was stopping all of this steel and fire from moving. That was impossible. “Full power!” The engines were just cold from being off for so long, that had to be it. They just needed to be pushed a little. 

“Full power!” The order echoed around the deck.

The engines roared and the entire ship surged upwards but stopped again. The glow around the reinforced balloon got brighter and somehow the ship began to move back towards the earth instead of higher into the sky. There was no way…

Then, to make things worse, one of the ponies landed on her deck. It was a pegasus mare, her coat was a darker peach and her mane and tail were greenish-blue with green stripes through them. She wore a sheer white dress and a white headdress with golden ornaments. She struck Rose as vaguely familiar but she couldn’t place it.

“We told you to halt.” The pegasus spoke in accented Ponish, and it wasn’t an accent that Rose recognized. “Please, we do not wish to hurt you. We only request that you return what you have stolen from this place. That vault you found, It is dangerous and we-” She was talking down to Rose and they both knew it. Rose furrowed her brow and she felt one of her eyes twitch the more the mare spoke. Soon the words were drowned out by the sound of rushing blood in the former guard’s ears.

Rose rushed the other mare, lowering her good shoulder and putting it right into the interloper’s chest. Rose could hear the air leave her lungs in a rush. The intruder’s back hit the railing of the ship and she let out a sharp cry of pain. Rose made sure to put everything she had into pinning the other pony there.

A deep and bubbling rage pushed up from the depths and claimed Rose’s mind. It was not something she had indulged in a very long time, but there was something about being talked down to like that. It reminded her of all the times she had been disrespected in her life, of all the times she had been talked down to. It made her put a knee right into the other mare’s stomach.

Whoever this pony was, she wasn’t a fighter. Nor had she ever been. Rose could tell that much. If her plan had been to come up here and talk about this, to use diplomacy to get them to give up peacefully, then it had been a very stupid plan. This world wasn’t for the silver tongued, not anymore. Heroic speeches and heartfelt monologues had saved nopony during The Event. Only force had.

Force that Rose had a monopoly on in this situation. She tossed the other pegasus to the deck and pressed the tip of her spear right against the soft neck of the mare. There was an urge, a dark and nasty thing that told her to just push her spear forward and be done with her problem. She fought it, though. That was a darkness and it would not claim her heart. This mare had not attacked her and there was no reason to kill her. 

The airship jolted and began to move back towards the ground a little faster. That made Rose realize the situation she was in. Once they were free of this mare’s friends, then she could think about what to do with this intruder. 

“Someone come tie her up!” Rose shouted and in an instant two slavering yetis, their faces hidden behind featureless metal masks, were on top of the mare with a length of rope. The mare, of course, struggled and cursed at them all in a language Rose didn’t understand. That was one problem taken care of, now what about the other?

“Wait…” She looked over the side and saw that they were maybe fifty feet from the ground now. The other two ponies, the hulking earth pony and the unicorn with the hat, were right off the port side below the anchor. If this unicorn was as strong as he seemed to be, he could stop it. But it would keep him occupied. “RELEASE THE ANCHOR! CUT IT LOOSE!” There were confused murmurs from her crew. “DID I STUTTER? DO IT!” Several yetis disappeared below deck to comply with the order. 

The anchor, a massive metal spike with serrated edges, shuddered as its chain gave a little slack. Then it came loose all at once. It plunged to the earth and was aimed right between the two ponies. Sure enough, the unicorn diverted all of his attention to the falling anchor and his grip on the ship faltered. The strained engines took over and the entire structure rocketed upwards once all of its halted momentum had been given back. Every creature on deck, and probably all of those below it, stumbled and fell as the ship surged into the night sky.

“NO!” The ponies on the ground screamed in unison.

“We’re heading east.” Rose got to her hooves and relayed to an older griffon with gray and black feathers. “Right to the coast, tell the pilot. We’re not stopping until we get there.” The bird nodded and gave a salute before walking towards the ship’s wheel. Rose then tapped the mare on the ground with her hoof and spoke to the two yetis who had tied her up. “Take her to my quarters for questioning.”

“I will tell you nothing!” The pegasus spat furiously as she was picked up. “You will let me go and let me return to my friends!”

“No I won’t.” Rose glared at her fellow equine. “Maybe next time you’ll think before you come on somepony’s ship without permission. Take her away.” The last thing she needed was another headache, but this also presented an opportunity. Whoever those ponies below were, they were exceptionally strong. That meant they posed a threat and Rose would like to know who these threats were and what they were doing here.
> Pieces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna was ecstatic to be back on her train. It was far more comfortable than anything the Changelings had provided and had the added benefit that she didn’t need to worry about the walls listening in on her. The royal carriage had a charm on it to prevent shapeshifting spells, so she could be sure of that fact. Though it did not prevent Changelings from entering, as proven by King Thorax sitting across from her.

“Really, thank you for letting me come along.” The monarch of the Changelings said with a nervous smile. “I haven’t been to Equestria in so long and it’ll be good to finally meet Princess Celestia, and to see Twilight again.” His eagerness was endearing, but at the same time very disheartening. Nopony should be excited to be around the alicorns, least of all an empath.

“Our sister does not really accept visitors.” Luna figured now was the time to put those cards on the table. Honesty would be the best policy with her future…’spouse’. “She has experienced a deep sadness unlike no other. Her heart is as broken as the country and she is just as lost. Perhaps you can see her, but she will not be the Celestia you are expecting.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Thorax offered in a soft voice. “I’ll do all I can to help, or as much as I’m allowed to help.” He reached out and gently touched her hoof with his own for a brief moment before pulling it back. “Of course, my first worry will be getting all of my subjects settled in Equestria.”

“Of course.” Luna tried to return his smile, but they both knew it was a facade.

“Just so we’re both on the same page-” Thorax leaned across the little table that separated them and lowered his voice to a whisper. “-I’m not expecting anything…you know, physical out of this. So if you have a…a consort or something like that, it’s fine.”

“What?” Luna snorted and struggled to hold back a laugh. “Oh, We apologize.” She turned her head for a moment so she could compose herself. When she turned back to face the Changeling king, she found a smile plastered across her face that she could not shake. “That is not something you have to worry about, dear Thorax. Those…carnal desires have never bothered Us.”

“What? Really?” Thorax cocked his head to the side and his eyes went a little wide. When Luna nodded in affirmation he scoffed. “But you’re the Princess of the Night.”

“And…?”

“Night is when ponies…you know…” Thorax’s green shell began to turn red with a furious blush. He cleared his throat and motioned generally with his hoof.

“It is when they dream.” Luna deadpanned. “If We were susceptible to such a common vice as lust, it would make Our job of patrolling the dream realm much more of a hassle.” Luna dismissed the thought with a wave of her hoof. “We may be occasionally disgusted by a perverse dream, but We have never indulged in things of that nature when awake or while asleep. So it is not something you need to concern yourself with.”

“Well alright…” Thorax half muttered and half sighed. “That makes things a little easier, I suppose.”

“What do you mean by that?” Luna raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. “Were you worried about an attraction developing?” There was a little dollop of frustration bubbling in her stomach that was threatening to develop into something a lot more volatile if he did not answer her correctly. “We know Our appearance has changed, but We have been told that We still retain our striking beauty.” Just because she wasn’t for the more physical parts of love and adoration didn’t mean she liked being thought of as ugly or unattractive. To insinuate she was such a thing, even though she now represented a bat pony more than a traditional one, hurt.

“Y-yes, of course you’re beautiful!” Thorax stammered and his wings buzzed beneath his shell. “Especially now with the fangs and the…you remind me of my mother a bit.” Luna could only glare at him. “Not in a weird way!” Luna had to wonder if there was any way for that not to be weird. Thorax took a deep breath, closed his eyes and waited for a moment before he spoke again. “You’re an attractive pony, Luna. You’re just not…my type.”

“Hmm.” There was a silent standoff between the two rulers for a few moments as Luna digested that. She had a feeling about what he meant by that, but she also didn’t want to pry. “I suppose it doesn’t matter, does it. This will be a professional relationship, after all.”

“Yes, of course.” Thorax said with a relieved sigh.

Luna leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a moment. Exhaustion was going to claim her and send her to sleep if she sat there and talked idly any longer. Since they were now on her train, that made her the hostess and it would be rude to fall asleep on her guest. She needed something else to occupy her mind. 

“Do you play chess, Thorax?” She asked with her eyes still closed.

“Um, no. Should I?” The sound of his hooves tapping against the table nervously. “Is it something Equestrian royalty does a lot? I can learn it if I need to.” His voice was jumpy and she could hear a nervous chuckle percolate in his throat

“Not anymore.” Luna grumbled as she opened her eyes and righted herself. “Celestia was never a fan of it, so it does not have the place of honor it should.” Luna felt teeth begin to grind against one another and she had to make a concerted effort to stop it. “I am afraid that long term planning and strategic thinking are not popular anymore. Too many prefer the thrill of instant pleasures and easy fixes.” Luna was well aware she sounded like an old mare, and she had earned the right to act like one. “Not even the nobility play it anymore and it is hardly a game played in schools either!”

“So you like games?”

“We like certain games.” Luna said with a frustrated sigh. “Not card games and not games of chance. There needs to be skill and thought. It needs to be something that can be pondered and studied. Like chess, or perhaps that wargame Twilight Sparkle got Us into when We first came back…” The name escaped her at the moment, but it was one that offended her. It was a fictional scenario involving an Equestrian civil war and the gameboard was an enlarged map of the country. Nightmare Moon was one of the leaders, of course. “...We always won that game so she stopped playing with Us.”

“Well I’d love to learn one of them so I can play with you.” Thorax smiled and looked around the train car. “You’ll have to teach me.”

“Oh trust me, you don’t want to play against Auntie Luna.” Cadenza walked through the door that was just behind Luna and patted her adopted aunt on the shoulder. “She won’t go easy on you at all. I’ve had my flank handed to me numerous times.” It was all taken in stride and the younger alicorn giggled as she joined the two rulers.

“Cadenza, We were not expecting you.” Luna got up from her chair and Thorax followed her lead. “Have you forgotten something? Or is this just a last minute goodbye?” From the view outside of the window, they were still stationary and were not underway quite yet. The guards were no doubt still loading the bodies of unicorns that had wandered too close to the hive and getting Thorax’s retinue situated in a car. 

“No no, nothing so informal.” Cadenza’s eyes smiled behind her mask. “I was thinking I would accompany you both back to Manehattan to catch up with everypony.” Luna couldn’t help but smile. That would brighten the days of everypony in the royal suites. 

“Yes, of course. We would be delighted for you to join us.” Luna offered Cadenza her seat and the pink pony graciously accepted it. “We are certain that Shining Armor will be ecstatic to see you again. Celestia will also appreciate your company, no doubt.”

“I’m going to go and make sure that everything is getting situated correctly.” Thorax excused himself and exited the cabin through the opposite door. That left the two alicorns alone once more. Luna took up residence in Thorax’s old spot.

“I’ve been thinking about Elytra.” Cadenza said once she was sure that they were fully alone. “I’m pretty sure she was lying about a few things.”

“We are quite sure of it.” Luna concurred. “For a Changeling, she is a very poor liar.” There was very little doubt in Luna’s mind that it had been Cadenza who had helped put Elytra off balance. Elytra knew what caused The Event and Luna was confident she had told Pharynx. That was one theory, the other being that Pharynx did have spies in The Royale Hotel. In either case, Luna could now see all of the pieces on the board. “It is the only reason that We have agreed to assist her in her quest to reunite with Cheerilee.”

“Hmm?” Cadenza tilted her head to the side.

“We have a trusted associate keeping an eye on Cheerilee.” Luna chewed on her lip briefly as she thought of the possible reports that might be piling up on her desk back at The Royale. “Seeing as she was the only surviving adult from Ponyville besides Twilight Sparkle, We thought it prudent. She gave Us her word that she would tell nopony of what happened there, but the added security helps Us sleep. Now that We know that Elytra has most likely told someone already, it will be easier to just keep her under surveillance along with Cheerilee. Two birds, one stone as the saying goes.”

“I think you’re a little paranoid, Auntie Luna.” The slight smirk was audible in Cadenza’s voice as she spoke. “She was in a coma for six months and she was back home. You shouldn’t be surprised she told her King. I’m sure there was no malice behind it.”

“Malicious or not-” Luna said with a frown. “-I would rather make sure she does not slip up again.” There was one more idea she had, but it would be much more difficult to pull off. “Then there is Pharynx. We will need to do something about him…We would prefer to keep him as far away from the levers of power as possible.” She needed to take the King Thorax’s brother and remove him entirely from the equation. If possible she wanted to stick him somewhere very far away, like putting him in charge of watching over the doors to Tartarus. An old reliable backwater where troublemakers went to die of boredom.

“His brother?” Cadenza asked. “Auntie Luna, I don’t think he’ll appreciate that. After all, he’ll need all the help he can get keeping track of his changelings and making sure they’re settled down and safe in Equestria.”

“It will be handled.” Luna responded firmly, making sure to offer no room for argument. “You must understand that We have seen Pharynx’s type before. Numerous times. He is a snake: keen to lurk in the grass thinking nopony can see him and waiting to strike when it is most opportune. We will not allow him residence in the same place as Celestia and Twilight Sparkle. Not now, and possibly not ever.” Luna also knew the value of separating a King from his more powerful pieces. She would rather keep Thorax within striking distance of checkmate whenever possible rather than allow any stray rooks to stand in her way. 

“You’ll have to trust him eventually, Auntie.” Cadenza chided with a few ‘tsk tsk’ sounds added on. “After all, you’ll have to spend a lot of time with him. He will be your hus-”

“-We know.” Luna hissed. “If he is worthy of Our trust, then he will earn it. Until that time comes, he will be treated with suspicion.”

“I don’t think that’s a healthy way to live, Auntie Luna.” Cadenza leaned back in her chair and stifled a yawn. “You have to give trust to get it back. I’m sure he already trusts you.”

“It is a way to live that has worked for Us.”

“Has it?”

“If you’ll excuse Us-” Luna stood from her chair and sneered at Cadenza. The jab at her past transgressions were not welcome and did nothing to improve her mood, nor did it dissuade her from her current course of action. “-the bed is calling Our name. Wake Us if needed.”

—-

Cheerilee poked her head out into the hallway. Scootaloo was not home, or at least she didn’t hear her anywhere inside and she knew that Rock and Roll were outside in their little clubhouse.  These were both good things because she desperately needed a shower and she didn’t need the little ponies to see her in her current state. While being a teacher had more than prepared her for very awkward talks with little ponies, she wasn’t keen on having that conversation in a very disheveled state while she smelled of sex.

The mare scuttled across the hallway to the bathroom and cursed the fact there wasn’t one attached to her room. Once she was safely inside, she locked the door and let out a sigh of relief. 

She had to admit, it was nice to be physically intimate with another pony again. Muddy was gentle and loving and very understanding and she truly could not ask for a better pony to experience it with again. For a traveling stud such as himself it seemed like common sense that he would fall into a routine or become a little bored with it, but he showed nothing but enthusiasm. Thank goodness. The only thing worse than a long dry spell was ending it with a very boring partner.

Cheerilee got onto her rear hooves and stretched as much as she could until her front hooves could reach the top of the bathroom mirror. Her hooves touched a key hidden up there and she knocked it down onto the sink, then used it to unlock one of the drawers beneath the sink. Inside was a little box with big block letters that read “EBR”. Inside of that little box were various potions sent by the Equestrian Bureau of Repopulation to aid them in their endeavor. It had gotten in just the other day after she and Muddy had gotten physical for the first time.

The little piece of paper inside of the box instructed the prospective parent to drink one of the pink potions in a tube after the deed had been done. She had already taken one of the purple potions before they had done anything just as instructed. So Cheerilee pried the cork out of one of the little tubes and downed the concoction in a single go. Like most potions, it tasted rancid. This one was as if someone had seasoned soap with a dash of cumin. 

After fighting off the urge to gag, Cheerilee put the box back in the drawer and locked it. The key was returned to its hiding place and the entire process was completed. Now all she needed to do was take a shower.

As Cheerilee got the shower ready, she mused on the situation. It was a little risky to do it in the middle of the day when all of the foals were home and could come in at any time, but it was necessary. She was actually off for the day and she had been certain all of the foals were out of the house. It was either do it then or wait until the night, but her bed had a loose headboard and she didn’t want to traumatize anypony.

Now all she had to do was keep at this, at least once a day for the next week or so, and then use the pregnancy detection spell in a few weeks after that. According to the little slip of paper in the box, this regiment had a success rate of about ninety-five percent. So the odds were definitely in her favor.

“What if you’re too old?” That annoying and damning question rang through her head. It had been a constant companion ever since she first signed up for the program. Even the pony at the local office had asked her that same question.

“I’m thirty-five.” Cheerilee grumbled to herself. “I’m not some old maid. I still have some time left to have a foal.” Now it wasn’t a lot of time, even she would admit that. It’s why she was doing this, sleeping with somepony she barely knew, because she desperately wanted a family she could call her own. Also for the good of Equestria, of course.

The shower was quick. She didn’t shampoo her entire body, just the parts that had been marred with stray bodily fluids. Drying everything off to make it look like she didn’t take a shower was the usual hassle but it was done in a reasonable time. The brush was taken to her mane to tame it and forge it into the usual curls.

Something caught her eye in the mirror. Something that Cheerilee had not noticed until right that moment. It was her mane. It had not been cut since before The Event and now those pink curls reached down to her shoulders. Normally they would be ‘high and tight’ as her mother called it. Now it was all very loose and flowing. She had to admit, it wasn’t a bad look. 

“Could use a trim, though…”

Cheerilee put down the brush and left the bathroom, only for her face to hit Muddy right in the chest. She gave a squeak of surprise and rubbed her now sore nose as she looked up at the stallion. Here he was standing in the middle of the hall, looking like he had just finished plowing a field and smelling like a brothel.

“Did you take your potion?” He asked in that gentle but concerned tone he often adopted around her.

“Yes, Muddy.” She said with a smile before she gave his chest a pat. “Now get in there before somepony sees you just standing here like that.” 

“What? Worried that the colts will see?” He chuckled and looked down the hall. “They know what I do, Cheerilee. They know all about the birds and the bees, don’t worry about them.” That was a little surprising but it was something they could interrogate at a later time. “Does Scootaloo know why I’m here?”

“...no.” Cheerilee heard a frustrated sigh leave Muddy’s lips and he shook his head. “I just…I don’t know how she would take it and…” And she wasn’t sure if she could have ‘the talk’ with Scootaloo. Obviously, if this worked she would need to at some point. Cheerilee being visibly pregnant was a long way off though. For now she could assume Scootaloo was ignorant of the realities of reproduction and not worry about being proven right or wrong. It was better that way. 

Cheerilee was more than a little worried about Scootaloo’s development. The Event had been horrible and traumatic for the adults. There was no telling how it would affect the foals that had survived. Cheerilee supposed that Scootaloo was lucky in that she had only seen true gore on their way from the shelter to the castle and then back again and had never seen anypony die in front of her. She was not like Rock and Roll, who had seen some horrific things.

All Cheerilee had to do was keep a close eye on Scootaloo and make sure she didn’t act out. It would be imperative to keep her responsible and active while keeping the lessons of harmony and friendship that had been instilled in the filly intact. It was a tall order, but that’s what being a parent was about.

“Well, I’ll leave that to you.” Muddy said with a wry grin. “Talking to little fillies about their first cycle sounds like the least fun thing in the world. “ Oh sweet Celestia, that was right. Scootaloo would be coming up on that in a year or so. “Oh you hadn’t thought about that. Well good luck with that.” Muddy chuckled and pushed right by her into the bathroom.

Cheerilee’s hooves carried her into the front room, where she rested on the couch and thought more about her former student/current adopted foal. At the end of the day, Cheerilee just hoped that she was enough. She was a lone mare who had no experience in raising foals, only in teaching them. A mother and a teacher shared many of the same qualities, but there was a chasm between the two roles.

Cheerilee could only hope that she could make the leap.
> Sunset Chat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There is nothing here.” Luna observed as she looked over the vast tundra laid before her. The skies were dark with heavy clouds that poured their contents of fresh snow onto the landscape, suffocating any hint of color with a blanket of white powder. “We thought you said there was a whole kingdom here, Starswirl.”

“There is-there was.” Starswirl spoke above the roar of the wind. The vicious and bitter air whipped at his face and threatened to take the hat from off of his head but several charms prevented that. “Look-” The older stallion said as he pointed to a distant mountain. “-King Bullion’s castle should be right there.” There was nothing, just the cold face of a mountain and layers upon layers of snow.

“Let us fly up there-” Celestia removed the hood from her head and the wings on her back pushed the cloak up, but they were pushed right back down by Starswirl’s hoof.

“Do not be a foal!” The old mage hissed at the young pony. “If somepony were to see you, what would they think?” The horn that poked out from under his wide brimmed hat became encased in a pale gray aura and a bubble appeared around the trio of ponies. “I trust Princess Platinum about as far as I can throw her. I will need to speak with her before your true nature is revealed.”

“If they are still alive…” Luna grumbled and brushed strands of blue mane from in front of her eyes. That, she decided, was a pretty big ‘if’. According to Starswirl, this place was supposed to be a verdant valley with little homes dotting it with an impressive castle dominating a mountainside. There was nothing of the sort, just a winter wasteland.

“You will keep thoughts such as that to yourself, Luna.” Starswirl glared at the younger of the two alicorns. “This storm has not claimed their lives, that is unthinkable.” Starswirl closed his eyes and put a hoof to the bridge of his nose. “Allow me to think…”

While Starswirl pondered about the fate of his civilization, the young alicorn pondered something else. There was something to be said about getting used to a new name. The name ‘Luna’ was, in Starswirl’s words, a ponification of her native name. She didn’t personally like ditching the ‘Celu’ part of her name and letting Celestia have that honor. They both could have had it, but Starswirl had rejected every protest LUna had lodged with the process.

“It has been over a year since Clover’s letter.” Celestia chimed in with a light hum. Her golden magic grabbed a bundle of her pastel mane and twirled it around in circles as she thought. “She did say something about leaving in that letter if things got any worse, yes?”

Every time that her older sister spoke, Luna had to giggle. They both still had accents, but Celestia’s was the thicker of the two. Especially in certain sounds it was very noticeable. To somepony unaccustomed to their native tongue, she might be nearly unintelligible. It was as if the older filly was speaking with a mouth full of sand, especially with the ‘th-’ sounds.

“Yes, she did.” Starswirl stroked his beard and his eyes scanned the featureless plains in front of them. “There is only one place she would leave something where I would find it.” He turned back to the two fillies in his charge. “You two will stay here. Celestia, put up a barrier to protect from the snow.”

“Where are you going?” Luna asked quickly, not even leaving a second between Starswirl’s words and her own. A sense of dread weighed down her heart at the thought of the stallion leaving. After all, what if he never came back? What if he left them there? The mere idea of that made her want to cry.

“There is a place not far from here, not many ponies know of it.” Starswirl stroked his beard. “If my protege were to leave me a message that only I could find, it would be there.”

“Can’t we come with you?” Luna wanted to cling to his leg or climb up on his back so that he couldn’t leave them. He had not been more than a few hundred feet away from them for almost two years now.

“No.” Was the simple response she received. “You will stay here. I will be back, you have my word.”

—-

Luna woke up with a start. There was no gentle lifting from the dream realm that she craved, only a bucket of cold reality dumped on her head. She sat up straight on the rather compact bed in her personal train car and looked around. There were no blankets of snow or distant mountains and Starswirl was not, nor was Celestia. It was just Luna, alone.

The landscape outside of her window sped by. It was nothing but dead trees and brown grass for the most part with little abandoned homes dotting once lively fields. It reminded her of the dream and the snow covered valley. 

Dreams were always full of meaning, whether the dreamer understood them or not. Her mind had obviously pulled up something from her past and relayed it to her for a reason. Was it just the fact that in the grand poem of life this current stanza rhymed with that one long since past? Or was there something else? It gave her something else to think about.

“The Tantabus is more preferable…” Luna grumbled as she dragged herself out of bed. At least she could be sure of what the dreams orchestrated by the fiendish construct meant. Granted, it was always the same message: she was a bad pony and needed to repent. It was a useful message and one she thought best not to forget. “It is just more nonsense…” Luna huffed and made her way to the other side of her train car.

In the main royal train carriage, the one not containing her bed but instead looked like a study straight out of Canterlot, Thorax and Cadenza were sitting down and chatting in a pair of chairs that sat on either side of a table that was bolted to the floor. There was a replica of Cadenza’s mask, or perhaps a spare, sat on the table while they spoke.

Before addressing them, Luna had to get over the feeling of sadness that washed over her. Waking up from a dream filled with nostalgia only to be thrust into a room that looked like something from her destroyed home was enough to make her heart ache. It was more dreamlike than the memory she had been subjected to.

The carpeting of the car was the royal purple of the now destroyed castle with threads of gold that swirled around it in ethereal patterns. The walls were painted white to look like marble and the furniture were all deep shades of blue or purple themselves. There was a portrait of herself and Celestia hanging on the far wall near the entrance. It was like she was back home, and that hurt.

“Oh Auntie Luna!” Cadenza beamed and waved over the elder alicorn. “King Thorax was just helping me with my little mask problem.” Luna joined the two and stood between their seats and looked down at the mask. Thorax had it encased in the sickly green glow of changeling magic and was manipulating the strands of Cadenza’s magic that already flowed through it. 

“Well, change not fix.” Thorax responded with a grunt. “I’m no expert on magic, but I know a thing or two. The most I can do is attach an illusion charm to it to make it not be just a blank mask anymore.” Luna could see the strands of green magic pluck at Cadenza’s own charms, latch on and merge seamlessly with them. It was the magic of parasites through and through. Luna had to grind her teeth to stop herself from voicing those thoughts aloud. “Well, time to give it a shot!” Thorax exclaimed gleefully as he gently pushed the mask towards Cadenza.

The young alicorn turned away from her fellow royals and pulled the mask on her face free from its magical bond and placed it on the table. She then picked up the improved mask that was sitting in front of Thorax and placed it on her face. There was a flash of green light and Cadenza then turned around to face the soon to be newlyweds again. 

Where once there would be a featureless white mask, now it was just Cadenza’s old face again. There were no blemishes or any sign that this was an illusion. It just looked like the Princess of Love as she had always looked. The face then changed expressions a few times, going from a smile, to a frown, to a scowl, and its tongue even stuck out. 

“Did it change?” Cadenza asked, her eyes wide and hopeful. Her breath was light and airy, almost like she was holding her breath in while she spoke. “Does it look right?”

“It…” Luna’s words caught in her throat and she could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes. It was as close to a miracle as one could conjure in this world, even if it was a cheap parlor trick. “It looks perfect, Cadenza.” She forced the words out through her tightened throat and made a smile cross her face. “You look…like you.”

“Good emotive response.” Thorax chimed in with a light hum. “No visible glitches or seams.” The bug stood up and trotted around Cadenza as she sat and moved her new face some more to test it. “Yeah, looks good!” His wings audibly buzzed beneath his shell and he smiled at his work. “Not too bad, if I do say so myself.”

He didn’t have to say it himself as Cadenza leaped up and embraced him in a tight and deep hug. There was almost an immediate response from the King as his legs began to shake and Luna could see his mouth begin to water. Whatever emotion Cadenza was putting out into the world was evidently as sweet as honey and as intoxicating as any liquor. 

“Cadenza.” Luna tapped her niece on the shoulder and gave it a gentle tug. “We think you might be overwhelming him.” Cadenza gave a sound of surprise and embarrassment as she pulled away and a blush worked its way across her faux face.

“Right. Sorry.” Cadenza sat back down and let Thorax get his bearings again. “But yes…thank you, Thorax. Truly. There is no way I can repay you.”

“No.” Thorax responded with a shake of his head and a slight smile once he got control of himself. “This is my repayment to you, Cadance. You gave me a chance when nopony else would. You were the gate to redemption not only to me, but to my changelings as well.” The monarch made a strange clicking noise with his mouth. “It was the least I could do for you and it’s still not enough.”

“This is more than enough.” Cadance said quietly.

“It will never be enough.” Thorax responded in kind.

It was a sweet moment, one that was simultaneously only made by this world and one far too good for it. Luna looked upon it with pity. Maybe one day she could appreciate these moments again. She hoped that day would come sooner rather than later.

“Princess Luna!” Spike’s voice interrupted the calm in a hurried panic. The little dragon burst through the far door with a scroll gripped in a claw. He scurried across the carriage until he was standing by the Equestrian princess and placed the scroll on the table. “I-it’s from Princess Celestia and it’s marked urgent!” Luna picked up the scroll in her magic and opened it without delay.

Luna,

Turn on the radio.

-Celestia

Luna looked around the carriage and realized quite suddenly that there was no radio present. So she looked towards the chain that hung from the ceiling near the end of the car nearest to her sleeping cabin and gave it a tug with her magic. The sound of a bell echoed throughout the cabin and in the one ahead. In just a few seconds a guard was at the door and gave a sharp salute.

“Bring Us a radio. It is urgent.” Luna gave the command and the guard disappeared without a word.

“What’s going on?” Thorax was the first to ask the question. A worried expression played across both of their faces. Waves of nervous energy radiated throughout the carriage and they only increased as Luna began to pace back and forth.

“We do not know.” Luna mumbled out. 

In less than a minute the guard returned with a radio set under his wing. He hurried across the carriage and set up the little box on the table. Then a switch was flipped on the back and the little thing lit up. There was a burst of static at first, but the guard quickly turned the dial until he found a station. On it played a gentle tune that was soon interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Hello my little ponies.”

Celestia’s voice flowed through the carriage, soft and sweet with a hint of sadness underlying it all. By the first word, all eyes were on the radio as if transfixed by the longtime monarch’s voice. Her presence, even through sound alone, was more powerful and comforting than any force on the planet. The guard who had brought in the radio was staring at the little box with bated breath.

“It’s been a while since I last spoke with you, and I apologize for that. Truly.” Celestia let out a light sigh. “It has been difficult for us all as of late, and you should know that it includes me. Like much of Equestria, I have been laid low by The Event. I was not safe from its ravages nor am I immune to the lingering malaise.” 

It was Celestia’s formal way of speaking, but it wasn’t detached. For a princess to say such things, to state her vulnerability, was unheard of. It was candid and personal and her soft tone gave a sense of intimacy that many save for the two alicorns in the train carriage were not familiar with. The effect of such a personal message was immediately apparent on the guard who stood stock still near the radio. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and Luna could see the breath catch in his chest.

“In my…depression I have forgotten about you, my little ponies. I have been so obsessed in wallowing in my own sadness that I have not thought of yours, nor of your suffering.” There was a pause, long and heavy to let those words sink in. “An old friend made me realize that I am not alone in this, and I want you all to know that neither are you. While things are hard, we still have each other. Friendship, love, and unity. We still have those and they will guide us through these difficult times.”

“Well We are glad she is not just moping in her room.” Luna mumbled to herself. She did wish that Celestia had waited until she was back from her trip to address the nation at least. Maybe then they could’ve offered more tangible hope to the ponies and not just nice words. Celestia’s nice words seemed to be effective in the small sample size before the other diarch, so maybe this would do for now. 

“Equestria is mourning.” Celestia continued. “I mourn with you. Every pony lost during The Event was a tragedy. Earth pony, unicorn, pegasus. It doesn’t matter. Every death was needless and awful and they all weigh on my heart. That’s why I want to start a national campaign for grieving and healing those that we lost.” The sound of shuffling came from the radio as if Celestia was moving something to show to the audience who could not see it. “I’ve been painting the portraits of the ponies who perished in Canterlot. All of their faces…I can’t forget them…” The words were as heavy as Celestia’s heart and the detached and distant side of the alicorn began to creep into them. “I don’t want anypony to forget those that they lost. So what I implore the ponies of Equestria to do is paint or draw a pony in your life who you lost during The Event. Remember their faces, their smiles, how they were at their best, and send them here to Manehattan. We’re going to display them all in the Manehattan Museum of Art as a memorial to the fallen.” There was another pause, this one just as pregnant as the last. “Don’t let anypony forget them. I love you all, my little ponies. Please never forget that. I’ll be back again next week to speak with you and I plan on doing this every week for a while. Let’s call them our Sunset Chats. Be well.”

—-

Cheerilee sat on the sofa right by the radio, enraptured by the little box that now spat out the Equestrian national anthem through its speakers. Princess Celestia’s speech ran through her head again and again. It was something she never thought she would hear, especially from the matriarch of the country. She was always a figure of warmth and comfort. To hear her be so…vulnerable. It was shocking to say the least.

“Good to know she’s not dead, I guess.” Muddy grumbled beside the teacher. “About time we heard something from her. I wish it was more than just a sob story, though. Would’ve been nice to hear about a plan or any kind of insight into how this mess is supposed to be fixed.”

“Hey, it’s important to talk about feelings too!” Scootaloo bristled at Muddy’s complaints and her wings buzzed angrily. “Princess Celestia is just trying to show she’s just as sad as all of us! She’s trying to make us not feel so alone!”

“Well that’s not her job!” Muddy yelled right back at the filly as he rose from his seated position and towered over the everypony else in the room. “Her job is to be a leader and she needs to do a little less crying and a lot more leading! Maybe instead of crying about her feelings she should look out a window and find something real to cry about!” 

“Yeah!” Both Rock and Roll answered in unison as they got up and stood by their father. 

“Ponies are hungry!” Rock said.

“And those boneheads are mooching off all of our hard work still!” Roll added.

“All of you, stop!” Cheerilee reached deep and pulled out her teacher's voice as she shouted at both sides. “I won’t have fights like this in my house.” All four of the bickering ponies around her grumbled in response. “No! No grumbling either!” She took a deep breath and centered herself before continuing. “I think we can all acknowledge that what Celestia said was a nice gesture. It’s good to know that we’re not alone with our feelings and there’s a certain freedom in knowing that even Princess Celestia is capable of feeling just as bad as we do when it comes to losing ponies close to us. Right?” Cheerilee made sure to prod that last word a little extra to elicit the response she wanted from the group.

“Right…” Muddy and his progeny all responded.

“And we can all agree that the government should probably give us a little more insight into how this is going to get fixed. While the message is nice, we need something a little more solid to hold onto. Right?” She looked at Scootaloo now.

“Right…” The filly mumbled.

“Both things can be true.” Cheerilee reiterated. “Since we can’t change what was said, there’s no use arguing over it. That’s the whole reason we’re sending somepony for this Stables thing, right?” Muddy gave a begrudging shrug. “Right.”

“Well…can we at least do the painting thing?” Scootaloo looked down at her hooves as she spoke, her voice now quieter. “I..I like the idea. I think, y’know, I’d like to draw my aunts and…and maybe…” There was a moment of hesitation. Cheerilee immediately knew who Scootaloo meant. Rainbow Dash. That couldn’t be allowed, though. They couldn’t let anypony know where they were really from and that would be a pretty big giveaway. “...maybe somepony else.”

“I’ll see if I can get some supplies.” Cheerilee said with a smile. She made her way over to her old student and placed a hoof on the filly’s back. “Princess Celestia is right, it sounds like a good exercise. I think it will be good for all of us.”

“Alright. Fine.” Muddy conceded with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to go see if I can help make sure everypony is ready to vote.” He grumbled and stomped out of the house, his boys right behind him as he went.

“Who are you going to draw, Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked when they were finally alone.

“I…hmm.” Cheerilee hadn’t given it much thought in the few minutes since the end of the address, but now she realized that she hadn’t lost anypony during The Event. Maybe she could draw some of her students, but then again if their parents were still alive they would surely be the ones to honor them. Her own parents had died before The Event. 

“Elytra?” Scootaloo offered.

“I don’t think she’s dead.” Cheerilee shook that thought right out of her head. “At least I hope not. Maybe things have changed since Princess Luna told us what happened with her, but she’s a tough bug.” That didn’t give her a better answer. She had seen plenty of death during her time in Ponyville, but none that she could pin down as truly hers. “I’m not sure…” She mumbled. “I’m sure something will come to me…”

A pit opened in Cheerilee’s stomach, one that she had not come across before. Again, she had seen death during The Event, perhaps too much of it, but all of a sudden she realized that most of it had meant nothing to her. It had all been tragic and awful and every single one had shaken her emotional core, but none of them had been personal. They had been ponies she had known, but there were no lovers or family members or best friends. They were all acquaintances. 

All of her losses were communal.

“Are you okay?” Scootaloo tugged at one of her legs, bringing the mare back into the moment. Cheerilee gave a quick nod and put on a brave face with a faux smile. “I know I’m not looking forward to being sad about it again either…but Princess Celestia said it will help.”

“I know.” Cheerilee sat down and pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug. She buried her face in the fillies mane and closed her eyes. While her losses were hard to quantify in a meaningful way, the thing that she had gained was right in front of her. That was tangible. It was something she would continue to cling to, no matter what. 

—-

Twilight Sparkle tapped her hoof impatiently against the tiles. Normally she wouldn’t b e one to rush Princess Celestia, especially when the former sole monarch finally came out of her shell, but the amount of time this was taking was bordering on ridiculous. They had arrived via Twilight teleport almost three hours ago and Celestia had only just finished with her message and now she was chatting with the radio technicians.

“Somepony’s frustrated.” Flash Magnus was leaning against the wall beside Twilight. He had traded in his old pegasi armor, a genuine relic that Twilight had made sure to squirrel away for future study, for Royal Guard armor. “Let Celestia talk. She needed to get out.”

“I know.” Twilight sighed but couldn’t stop her hoof from tapping. “I just want to get back. I don’t like being out here…around ponies.” A nervous knot had formed in her stomach as soon as she left the Royale and it hadn’t subsided since. She wished nothing more than to retreat back to her safe haven high above the Manehattan streets.

“Weren’t you just on a months long odyssey across the whole country?” Flash asked with a raised eyebrow. Twilight now regretted spending so much time with the Pillar and telling him of her journeys. Maybe she should’ve kept that to herself. 

“That was different.” Twilight huffed and wrinkled her nose at the stallion. “That was just Starlight and I. We didn’t really come across many ponies. We did our best to avoid cities and towns unless we absolutely needed something.” She now would beg for those days back, when she had purpose and reason. It was easy to focus on her mission and not get lost in the poisonous thoughts that swirled through her mind.

Back then she had been so sure that once she had brought Starswirl and the Pillars back that she would be done. She had planned to go back to her castle and put an end to the pony known as Twilight Sparkle. Now she was still here in a world that hated her despite her best laid plans.

“Maybe that did more harm than good.” Flash offered. “Maybe if you had taken some detours and made an effort to see how bad things-”

“You think I don’t know how bad things are?” Twilight hissed at her ‘personal guard’. He had tried to make this same assertion a few times since he took up the responsibility of keeping an eye on her. She had done her best to sidestep it to keep in good standing with him, but her patience was now gone. “That’s all I think about!” She rounded on him, her wings flared out and every hair on her body bristled with anger. “I did this! I caused this! All of this misery is my fault and that fact is always on my mind!” She jabbed a hoof in Flash’s armored chest. “I don’t need to see how bad things are because I know. I know what a month of straight sunlight did to everything. I know how many ponies died. I know what’s going on.” Twilight could feel the angry tears welling up in her eyes and she couldn’t stop them from falling. “Do you know what happens if I go out there? They’ll ask me what we’re doing to help. They’ll accuse me of being useless. Worst of all, they’ll be right about it all.”

“Then do something about it.” Flash swatted Twilight’s wing away with a hoof and shot a glare right back at her. “Do you know what we tell pegasi who come home from battle and have this sickness? We would send them back out into the fray. At home they would become sad and overwhelmed with the quiet.” He gave the princess of friendship a light shove. “If you were better off finding a problem to solve, then do so again. Do not sit here and wallow. You are a warrior, go find a fight.” He stepped up and pressed his chest right against hers and the two ponies glared at one another. “If you know things are so bad, then do something. Luna is negotiating with other rulers to make things better, Celestia wants to help the ponies heal emotionally. You are sitting here and crying.” He leaned in so close that Twilight could feel his breath wash over her face. “So if ponies think you’re useless, maybe they’re right.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. She had been calling herself useless in her head for a long time now, but hearing somepony else say it made the words hit differently. A switch in her head flipped and she turned the anger right on the stallion.

“I brought your sorry flank back from limbo!” She pushed back against him and gave him a light shove. “I’ve saved Equestria more times than you can count on your hooves!” She advanced on him with every word until he was pressed against the wall. Despite the fact that he was retreating, a bemused smirk never left his face. “Don’t you ever call me useless!”

“If you’re not, then prove it.” Those were the only words that left his smirking lips.

“Fine. I will.” Twilight didn’t even wait, she simply disappeared in a flash of light.
> Royalties
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lobby of the Royale Hotel was abuzz with activity. Not only had Princess Luna returned, but she had brought two unexpected guests along with her. Nopony had been expecting Cadenza nor King Thorax to come back to Equestria with her and that small fact had sent the makeshift palace into a tizzy. A cadre of changeling guards were discussing arrangements for the monarch with a few senior Royal Guards while the trio of royals waited for the arrival of Celestia and others.

“It is usually not this chaotic.” Luna whispered to Thorax. “Perhaps We should’ve sent a letter ahead to inform them of your arrival. This is a mistake on Our part and you have Our deepest apologies.” She was embarrassed for her staff as they weren’t really equipped to respond to an ‘emergency’ such as this one in their current state.

“Probably a good idea.” Thorax responded with a slight smile. “I won’t hold it against you, though. You had a lot on your plate and you were tired. If anything, I should’ve reminded you.” Luna could appreciate somepony else shouldering the burden of failure around her for once. She let out a sigh and nodded. She would not push back, even if it should’ve all been on her.

“Auntie Luna, I think the elevator is coming down.” Cadenza tugged at Luna’s side as she spoke. “I believe you should darken the windows, yes?”

With a nod, Luna summoned her magic and commanded the shadows to adhere to the windows. While Celestia was now content with speaking to the public over the airwaves, Luna doubted she was ready to be seen. Cadenza went about and hurried non-essential ponies out of the lobby to limit Celestia’s exposure to others as well. It took less than a minute for the spacious and bright lobby that had once been bustling with activity to become dark and quiet, with only a smattering of guards left in their places. 

The elevator dinged and the doors opened and a gentle light flooded the darkened lobby. Celestia was not the first one to exit the elevator, no that was Shining Armor. The senior guard bolted from the metal box and made a beeline for his wife. Right before he could scoop her up in a tight embrace, he stopped. His eyes were focused on hers with such raw intensity that even Luna could feel it.

“Cadance…” Shining Armor’s hoof raised slowly and started to make its way towards the younger alicorn’s face. “What…how…?” Cadenza intercepted his hoof and prevented it from touching her cheek. She gave a sad smile and let out a small sigh.

“It’s an illusion, Shining.” Cadenza explained as she lowered her husband’s hoof. “A very good one, but an illusion nonetheless. King Thorax helped enchant my masks so they will project my face as it’s supposed to be.” Luna could see the disappointment in Shining’s eyes and she was sure that Cadenza could as well. “It’s a lot better than the plain white mask.”

“I know…” Shining Armor nodded and he swallowed some more critical words. “I…I just missed your kiss. I was hoping…” He shrugged and shook his head. “I’m sorry, that’s selfish. I don’t mean it, I just-I missed you Cadance.” What he meant, and everypony knew it, was that he missed her face. Her old face. Not the one hidden behind the mask.

“I missed you too, Shiny.” The couple embraced and Shining buried his muzzle in his wife’s mane. Cadance squeezed the stallion and her hooves went to his barrel. “You’re skinny. Have you been eating?”

“King Thorax.” Celestia finally entered the conversation as the spouses continued their own little aside. She dipped her head in a slight bow to the changeling monarch. “A pleasure to see you again. Please forgive my appearance, there’s not much I can do about it.” The subdued oranges and purples of Celestia’s glowing mane illuminated the faces of the three royals now huddled in a circle. Heavy shadows were cast about their faces, lending the monstrous appearances of the two alicorns more weight.

“Only if you’ll forgive me for mine, Princess Celestia.” Thorax responded with a slight smile and a deeper bow in return. “I know my arrival is unscheduled, but we thought it best to discuss the deal we reached face to face.”

A hint of the old Celestia shone through after she absorbed the words. She arched an eyebrow and looked at Luna, who gave her sister a shrug in return. The story that Luna would tell Celestia would be the official story, just not the real one. That would stay between her and Pharynx for now.

“We can do that later, for now I want to welcome you to our home.” Celestia tried to smile, but as soon as her fangs poked out from behind her lips she killed the smile as quick as it appeared. Instead she opted for a small nod. “It’s not as nice as our old one, but it’s serviceable.” 

“Yes, We would like Twilight Sparkle to be present for this discussion anyway.” Luna tapped a hoof anxiously against the tiled floor and scanned the darkened room for any sign of the youngest princess. “Where is your pupil, sister?”

“Busy with a personal project.” A hint of frustration entered Celestia’s words as they dribbled out. “I don’t know what it is, but she seems rather impassioned about it.”

“It’s better than the alternative.” Luna mumbled to herself. She had not divulged Twilight Sparkles dreams to her sister as she was sure that would do nothing for Celestia’s mood. If Twilight was working on something, it meant she wouldn’t be as focused on her own misery. Luna could live with that and she was sure that Celestia could as well. “Well we can fill her in later, We suppose.”

“Well I know you wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t good news.”Celestia looked between Luna and Thorax, who both nodded affirmatively. “Good. What did we get worked out?” There was a hesitation as both sides of the negotiations froze up, unsure of who should speak first.

“The Changelings will assist us.” Luna spat out the words hurriedly. She just wanted to get this over with and let the berating commence. She would take her lumps, as she always had, and get on with her day. “In fact, the entire population will be mobilized to shore up deficiencies in our supply lines. King Thorax will oversee everything relating to their deployments and arrangements.”

“Oh.” Celestia blinked. Genuine surprise crossed her features and Luna saw her sister’s jaw hang open for just a second too long before her usual composure reasserted itself. “What do we owe you for this gracious offer, King Thorax?”

“Our hoof in marriage.” Luna answered quietly, just loud enough so Celestia and Thorax could hear it and nopony else. 

“I’m sorry?” Celestia blurted out without thought. She looked between the changeling and her sister, her magenta eyes wide in disbelief. “Luna? You?” Nopony knew of Luna’s distaste for physical intimacy quite like her sister and that showed in the way she gawked. “I-...perhaps we should have discussed this first?”

“Perhaps, but We thought it prudent.” Luna lied through her teeth, something she was sure that Celestia would pick up on. “We could not take all of Thorax’s subjects into Equestrian society without accepting his place in it as well. This will help integration and it will provide Equestria with the help it needs.”

“This is purely political!” Thorax chimed in. “I’m not…well…your sister is, of course, very beautiful for a pony-” both alicorns rolled their eyes. They knew their current physical state and how unattractive they were, flattery would quite literally get him nowhere. “-but this isn’t about romance or becoming the main ruler of Equestria. This is about my changelings having a real home and a purpose. Equestria can provide both.” He stepped forward and put a hoof to his chest, right over where his heart should be. “I know how many ponies you lost and there’s no way we can replace all of them, but we can bolster your numbers. There’s one hundred thousand Changelings in the hive all itching to help, to be needed and appreciated.”

“We apologize, but how many?” Luna had assumed they had a couple of thousand Changelings, maybe twenty thousand at most. The Hive was big, but it didn’t look like it held that many bugs. “Is that number right?”

“Well yeah.” Thorax blinked and looked between the two surprised alicorns. “The Hive isn’t just above ground. A lot of it is below ground, didn’t you know that?” Luna shook her head. “Oh yeah, our tunnels go for miles underground. There’s nurseries and living chambers that go everywhere under the wastes. Anybug who lives up in the actual spire usually is either a guard or has an important job in the Hive.”

“That is…good to know.” Luna thought she was getting the short end of the stick with this deal. How she had not asked how many Changelings would be at Equestria’s disposal was beyond her. It was an oversight that she was now grossly ashamed of. If all she had to do was pretend to be married for Thorax for the rest of his life for the aid of one hundred thousand Changelings, then that was something she could easily live with. As far as she was now concerned, she had gotten a deal.

“That will be wonderful!” For the first time in what felt like forever, Celestia beamed. The subdued and dim light from her mane seemed to intensify and for a brief glorious moment Luna thought she saw some of the blue and green return to her sister’s ethereal appearance. “Oh the ponies of Equestria will not forget your generosity, nor that of your people.”

“What about the ponies?” Shining Armor interjected as he and Cadenza joined the circle of royals. He had a hoof around his wife and held her tight to his side. “I appreciate the help, but right now the ponies of Equestria aren’t exactly…friendly. We can’t even get them to cooperate with other ponies, how are we supposed to tell them to let Changelings into their towns? Who says they’ll listen?”

“He is right…” Luna would admit that. The ponies of Equestria were indeed not as friendly as they used to be, and even in those halcyon days from before The Event they weren’t particularly fond of outsiders. Equestria was not a land of immigrants, nor was it particularly welcoming to them. “We can only hope that when they have more food in their bellies and less work they will see how good this is for Equestria.”

“We can always try to use the guard to keep the peace.” Shining Armor offered. “We’re spread thin, but with an infusion from the Changelings we might be able to nip some problems in the bud before they get out of hoof.”

“That’s a good idea!” Thorax nodded approvingly and smiled. “My Changelings can even disguise themselves to look like normal Royal Guards. It’ll help them integrate a little more and they’ll be able to keep an eye on things for me.”

“Hmm.” Luna was not fond of a security force whose identities were occluded. If the secret got out, well that seemed like a fast track to disaster. “We believe we will start small with that. Maybe one Changeling per unit and then expand it.” A lightbulb sprung to life above Luna’s head and she had to hold back a cheer as the revelations struck her. “We can embed your brother with one so he can see how they operate and get used to Equestrian society. Then he can teach your guards everything he learned.” Two birds, one stone. Luna liked that idea.

“If he stays in line.” Shining chewed on his lip as he spoke. “We’ve had enough problems with overzealous guards. Last thing we need is for one that’s not even a pony to mess up and get exposed. That would start riots.” There was no two ways about it, Shining was right. Everypony who knew anything about Equestria at the moment was aware of it too. “Can he behave?”

“He’s not a loose cannon.” Thorax said with a light laugh. “He’s got a loud bark, but he’s not much of a biter anymore.”

If Luna was able to voice her disagreement with that statement, she would. She would do it loudly too. Sadly she was constrained by the promise she had made to herself. She could not expose her sister to the harsh truth of how this deal came about. She would know the truth, and she knew what Pharynx was capable of.

“Put him under your best and most level headed lieutenant.” Luna stated flatly to Shining Armor and offered no room for argument. “It is not that We do not trust you, Thorax. We just want to be absolutely certain that nothing will go wrong.”

“No no, I understand.” Thorax continued with a smile. “After all, he seems rather serious and intense from an outsider’s perspective. I get it.”

The elevator, to the surprise of everyone, let out another sharp ‘ding’ and the doors slid open. All heads in the darkened lobby turned in that direction, expecting to see Twilight Sparkle emerge from whatever project was occupying her time. Instead it was Twilight’s own protege, Starlight Glimmer. 

The pale pink mare had saddlebags slung across her back that were packed to the brim. She stepped out of the elevator and realized that everyone was staring right at her. The mare froze in place and a sheepish smile slowly crept across her features. A nervous chuckle escaped her lips and she raised a hoof to wave at the assembled royalty.

“Sorry!” She said with a little wave. “Ignore me! Go about with whatever you were doing, I was just leaving.” She shuffled across the lobby as fast as she could and without causing too much of a ruckus. “Oh and hi Thorax!”

“Starlight!” Thorax beamed as he dragged the unicorn over to him with his magic. He pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight to his shell. “Where are you going? I hoped we could spend some time together and catch up!”

“My dad.” Starlight returned the hug for a moment but quickly pulled away. “I…haven’t heard anything from him and I haven’t seen his name in any of the…” Starlight paused and tried to find the right word, but failed. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and shook her head. “I need to find out if he’s okay.”

“I hope he’s okay, Starlight.” Thorax gave the mare’s shoulder a squeeze and gave her a shorter and much more gentle hug. “And I’ll probably still be here when you get back so we can talk then, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Starlight nodded and put a smile back on her face. She then turned to the other assembled royals and gave a little bow of her head. “Your Majesties. Once again, I apologize for the interruption. Forgive me.”

“You are forgiven, Starlight Glimmer.” Luna nodded back at the unicorn and shooed her away with a hoof. “Go see your father. We pray that he is well and that your trip will be uneventful.”

“That makes both of us.” Starlight muttered as she finished her trek across the lobby and left through the darkened double doors. Thorax frowned as he watched her leave and his wings audibly buzzed beneath his shell. It was not the hyperactive buzz Luna had heard before, but instead a low hum. It was a worried noise.

“What are the odds her father is alive?” Thorax finally asked after a few moments of silence. The alicorns all looked between each other and silently communicated what answer they deemed appropriate.

“If he’s a unicorn, then the chances are good.” Celestia was the one to deliver the good news. That was the truth. Thorax had heard the numbers and he knew approximately how many unicorns had died in comparison to the other races. “I hope he’s alive and the news is nothing but good…”

There was a lingering word in her throat. It stayed there and everyone could feel it ready to burst forth. That horrible, no good word. ‘But’. Yes the chances were good and everyone hoped that this story would have a happy ending but this was modern Equestria. It felt like happy endings were in short supply. There would always be a treacherous ‘but’ lingering midway through the story, ready to plunge the dagger of tragedy into your back when you were sure everything was okay.

Luna was about to speak, to steer the conversation back towards the diplomatic direction it had started. The universe would not let her, though. As soon as she opened her mouth, the air was sucked out of her lungs. This was not an isolated occurrence either, it was the same with everyone in the room. Their mouths were open and their all of the air was being pulled out.

A vicious wind whipped around the lobby and Luna lost her focus. The shadows fell away from the windows and sunlight streamed in. Papers that had been on tables and counters flew around the room and the few guards that had been allowed to stay hurried to their princesses. 

Lightning crackled in the center of the room for a few seconds, arcing out and connecting with the metal being worn by the guards and the royals alike. Then a ball of light appeared in the middle of the space. At first it was as small as the tip of a horn, but it soon grew to be approximately the size of a pony. Finally it exploded and launched everyone in the room away from it with enough force to take even Celestia and Luna off of their hooves.

The light died, the lightning stopped and the wind abated. The chaos left in its wake a pony, Starswirl the Bearded, in a heap on the floor. The elder alicorns were the first to recognize the shape and they rushed to his side and pulled him to his hooves. Besides being a little disheveled, he looked to be intact. He was not injured, at least not visibly.

“Starswirl!” Celestia cried out as the two picked him up. “What’s happened? H-how did you get here?” Black pupils dominated his usually blue eyes and a distant confusion overtook his countenance. “Starswirl?”

“S-Somnambula.” He eventually muttered out. The old stallion shook his head and put a hoof to his face. “It’s Somnambula!” With some sort of sense restored, the seasoned mage soldiered on through his words. “She’s gone. She’s been taken.”

“What?! By whom?!” Both Luna and Shining asked the question simultaneously. 

“I am not certain.” Starswirl shook his old pupils off and he stood on his own. “They were…creatures I have not seen before. Apes of some description with some griffons too.” Luna closed her eyes and focused on the words of her mentor, then sent her brain to work trying to match the words to what she knew. “They were led by a pony, though.”

“What did this pony look like?” Luna needed to know. 

“It was a mare judging by the voice. Tall. Skinny.” Starswirl sighed. “I did not see what tribe she belonged to. It was too dark. However, she did not fly nor did she teleport. So I must assume that she is not a pegasus and if she is a unicorn, she is not an extremely skilled one.” He began to pace, the bells on his hat and cloak jingling softly as he trotted back and forth. “They were in some kind of…airship of some sort. Held aloft by a balloon. It, and the creatures, all wore the same insignia. Two blue lightning bolts that looked like eyes.”

“No…” Luna opened her eyes, the image of a mare fresh in her mind. It was not one she had thought about in what seemed like a lifetime. She turned to Celestia. “The night we turned in Canterlot-” Luna began and endured the sharp flinch that came from her sister once the words hit her ears. “-our guards caught a spy, yes?”

“Well yes.” Celestia was about to say something else, but the same revelation that struck Luna impacted her thought process as well. “No…she was in Canterlot. Surely she could not have survived. We…” They leveled the city and anypony that was not a unicorn, they most certainly slaughtered. 

“The spy we caught-” Luna turned to the others in the room to explain what she knew. “-she was a mare. Tall. A unicorn with a broken horn. She was wearing a black skin tight suit of armor that had the same insignia Starswirl described.” Luna turned back to Starswirl. “You said it was dark, but did you see what color this mare’s coat and mane were?”

“Red, maybe.” Starswirl shrugged and shook his head. “I might have caught a glimpse of her around a fire for a brief moment. It was a shade of red, I think.”

“She was maroon, I think?” Celestia offered. 

“With a pink mane?” Cadenza stepped forward and forced her way into the conversation. “A reddish-purple unicorn with a pink mane and a broken horn?” Celestia and Luna stared at the younger princess, astounded that she apparently knew the mare they were all talking about.

“Yes…” Luna responded.

“Wait…” Shining rubbed his chin. “She was on the mountain!” His eyes went wide and his wife nodded enthusiastically. “We…I mean, you-” He pointed at Cadenza. “-I thought you killed her and the pony she was with.”

“I thought so too.” Cadenza said with a bitter chuckle. “I should’ve. I buried them beneath a ton of rocks. But if she survived…”

“She has Somnambula.” Starswirl reiterated. “Whoever this pony is, they have my friend.The last I saw, they were headed east in that airship. We must find them.”

“I’ll put out an alert.” Shining narrowed his eyes and shifted into a more serious mode. “I’ll use Spike to get the description of this mare out to every outpost we have. I’ll also have them on the lookout for this airship. If they move into Equestria, we’ll know.”

“Starswirl-” Luna looked her mentor in the eyes. Her own eyes burned with ferocious intent and fiery intensity. “-we will find this mare and we will find Somnambula. You have Our word.”
> A Horse With No Name
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The forests of northern Equestria were dense. To anypony unfamiliar with them, they were an inscrutable maze of fragrant pines. The Event had not been as harsh on them as it had been on other forests of the country. Most of the trees still stood, their needles still intact and their underbrush just as lush. It was a haven for a pony who wanted to get lost, or perhaps one who wanted to stay hidden.

Deep in the forests, shrouded by the wall of thick trunked trees, was a small single room cabin. The home had been crafted from the trees surrounding it, hewn from the trunks of the massive pines and paced where they fell. It had a singular window on the backside and a simple stone chimney that poked up from the pointed roof. The interior was as simple as the exterior: it held just a single bed, a chest, a cooking pot over the stove, and a bookshelf packed to the gills with dusty tomes.

Inside, a mare went about her simple routine. She deposited a now empty bowl beside the fireplace. After a cursory glance at the food supplies piled near the chest in the corner of the room, the mare decided it was time to head back into town to get more of it. She rationed it well and didn’t eat much, but she was still running low. 

The mare retrieved a saddlebag; it wasn’t hers either but without its original owner it was now. Her eyes scanned the cabin as she made her way to the door. Part of her brain told her to stop and enjoy the view as it might be the last time she would see it. It was the same impulse that tickled her brain every time she left this place. It was the curse of knowing that nothing was permanent, that everything you loved would leave or be taken from you.

The mare sneered at the cozy cabin’s interior. An all too familiar anger rose up in her chest and she lobbed a silent curse at everything inside. She needed to hate it. She could live here, but she could not form an attachment. This was a place she slept and ate, it was just a place. There was nothing special about it. The walls held no feelings, and this place harbored no memories. She did not build this place. It was nothing to her. 

It couldn’t be something to her. She wouldn’t allow it.  It had to be nothing.

The door was closed firmly as she left. There was no lock, not that the mare thought one was needed. The little cabin was out of the way and to find it would require luck or intimate knowledge of the area. If she came back to find somepony else in the house, then she would just let them have it. After all, it was just a place. It meant nothing.

It had to mean nothing.

The mare closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The fresh air filled her lungs, as did the heavy scent of the trees. Unlike most places in Equestria, there was still wildlife here. Not a lot, but the forest had preserved little patches. Birds chirped and something nearby skittered through the brush. It made the mare want to smile, but something stopped her from doing so. Some deep mental block prevented her lips from curling up and stopped her heart from fluttering. Not even the sun filtering through the mass of trees could crack the seal on the cap placed over her joy. 

There was a patch of ground near the front of the cabin that had been cleared and prepared for gardening. The mare had spent a lot of time tilling the soil with tools she had made herself and she had planted some seeds the local townsponies had given her. That had been months ago and they hadn’t sprouted even a little. It was a big hit to her ability to sustain herself and it meant she would have to keep relying on the ponies in the nearby town to keep her fed and alive.

The mare used a relatively well worn path to make her way through the forest. There were small landmarks she knew well to find her way out, ones that when she had first made camp she had needed a map to keep track of. Now she knew the path well and she could make her way through the dense wood in under an hour.

Outside of the dense forest were the usual rolling plains of the Equestrian landscape. To the north, past the nondescript skyline of the small town, were the mountains that dominated the far northern reaches of the continent. It provided an awe inspiring backdrop to the landscape. The mare ignored it, as she had done for her entire stay.

The trek across the stretch of nothing between the forest and the little town was more arduous than that out of the woods. The flat terrain of the forest was easy to maneuver, even through all of the twists and turns. The gentle rolling hills provided more of a challenge, one that aggravated the old wounds of the mare. Her hips ached with every step upwards, deep bite marks radiated pain out from her flanks and all throughout her back half. It made every step up the incline hurt and tested the mare’s resolve.

There were moments where the pain got the better of her. Sometimes when she woke up she couldn’t move for what felt like hours and it took immense willpower to get up and start her day. It took a singular thought each time to drag herself out of bed, and it was the same thought that she often found herself going back to when she faced a challenge or a setback.

The only way out is through.

She had to keep going. She had to persevere. There was no other choice. She couldn’t make her way through this world by waiting, by wallowing in the misery that seemed so omnipresent in her existence. The turned unicorns had not killed her, nor had the interminable heat or even…

Many things had tried to kill her over her life. None had succeeded. She was not going to allow her own inaction to do her in. If the world wanted this mare dead, then it would have to stop being a coward and finish the job. She wasn’t going to do it herself, no matter how tempting the thought of finally having peace was.

The town, a small walled village that went by the name of ‘Sire’s Hollow’, was a fully unicorn settlement. She was thankful for that. From the news the mare had heard while she was in the town, unicorns weren’t exactly a well liked tribe. It seemed like they were mostly on their own in the world and were shunned from towns that had a majority earth pony or pegasus population. 

On the outskirts of the little town, just outside the stone walls that enclosed the town itself, fields of varying types of crops filled the mostly flat land. Ponies tended the fields dutifully, all unicorns who were surely not farmers by trade or talent. It was pretty obvious to anypony who had seen farms tended by earth ponies that the unicorns weren’t cultivating prime crops. It seemed like every other field was stunted or littered with half-dead crops. Despite that, the little town was still thriving and it was still able to contribute to the national stockpile as well and help the mare.

The mare received smiles and waves from the ponies working the fields. She gave them little nods in return, but nothing else. She made her way up to the gate, where she was let in by a pair of town guards in makeshift armor. It wasn’t even made of metal, but wood from the nearby forest overlaid with blue cloth that had a horn insignia on it.

The town inside of the walls was laid out in concentric rings with a town square complete with a fountain at the center. Tents littered the free space in the town. Any available real estate was occupied save for small lanes that were kept clear for ponies to travel through the town. It seemed like every unicorn who had escaped the confines of a city had ended up here, whether or not they had the space to accommodate them.

The mare made her way to the center of town, where she knew she would find the mayor and the food stockpile. There was a strange air about the town, one that the mare had come to respect. The unicorns who had congregated here were always in high spirits. It seemed like smiles were more prevalent than anywhere else in the country, broadly due to the fact that this was one of the fewest places where they weren’t controlled. Where they weren’t cooped up and told what they could and couldn’t do. 

Sire’s Hollow was a town of free unicorns. 

The mare stopped in the middle of the path as her eyes caught something she had not seen in an eternity. In front of one of the tents stood a full length mirror, fully uncovered and reflecting the packed street opposite it. The mare caught her own eyes in the glass and froze. The mare that looked back at her was not one she recognized at first.

The mare’s mane had once been a sharp mohawk, now the pink hair filled the space between her ears and it was kept in a ponytail with a blue hair tie. A broken and jagged horn sprouted from that mane, one that had been functionally useless for as long as the mare could remember. A scar ran down her right eye, wider than it had once been. It was now joined by a scar on her left temple, an angry thing that looked like a star with jagged edges. A single point of that scar reached the corner of her left eye. 

She did not know who this mare was in more ways than one. She had a few names in her life, but none of them were right anymore. The ponies she had been had died horrible deaths, both of the same kind. Being somepony, being known, was a fate worse than death. She would not die another death, not until her final one.

The mare glared at her own reflection. She wanted to hate the mare in the mirror, but something deep in her heart prevented the feeling from taking root. She couldn’t hate the pitiful pony she saw. The pony who had been dumb enough to fall for the same trick a second time. There could not be any hate in her heart for herself, for there was only the sting of disappointment.

“Ah, our favorite visitor!” 

Another mare appeared in the mirror. This one had a burnt orange coat with cream colored hooves and a reddish brown mane. She had a bright smile that never seemed to reach her eyes and the tone of somepony trying to sell you something. Little fangs poked out from behind her lips and a slightly curved horn was visible beneath her perfectly coiffed mane. She was the mayor of Sire’s Hollow, or at least the one in charge of this glorified refugee camp. Stellar Flare was her name and she would let you know that the first time you met her and she would not let you forget it.

“How are you today?” Stellar placed a hoof on the mare’s back, but quickly pulled the hoof away when the nameless mare moved away from the touch. “Ah yes, of course. My apologies.”

The mare had a habit of not being personable, it was just who she was really. When she didn’t know someone, she wasn’t keen on talking unless she saw a way for it to benefit herself. There was another problem with responding, though. She couldn’t. Whether it was from the blow to the head she had suffered at the tail end of The Event or something else, she wasn’t sure. Even in her private moments she couldn’t bring herself to speak. She could make noise, she just could not talk.

“Mmm, still nothing.” Stellar wrinkled her nose and studied the mare for a few seconds. Then she gave a small shrug and a little ‘hmmph’. “I suppose you need some more food, then?

The mare nodded.

“Well good thing I already planned for that!” Stellar responded with her fake smile and singsong voice. “You’re lucky I’m such a nice mare and worked this into our plans.” She levitated a clipboard in front of her face and wrote a few things down. “Always be prepared, you know!”

The mare just nodded again.

“You are a terrible conversation partner, you know that?” Stellar began to walk away and motioned for the mare to follow her. “I know you can’t, or won’t, speak but do you at least know your own name?”

The mare thought about that for a moment. She could surely tell Stellar through some mechanism, probably writing, what her name used to be. The problem was that she didn’t feel like she was either of her old names anymore. Fizzlepop Berrytwist was her first name, and that pony had not survived fillyhood. She had died in a dark forest at the claws of an Ursa Minor. Tempest Shadow was her second name and she had died at the base of Canterlot Mountain at the hooves of somepony she had thought was her friend. 

She contained both of those ponies, but she was neither of them anymore. She was somepony new, somepony who was still trying to find her voice and place in this new world. All she knew about the pony that she was now is that she didn’t want or need friends. She couldn’t afford to be hurt again. She just wanted to be alone.

The mare wanted her past to stay there and her future to be isolated. Was that too much to ask?