The shining, and heavily shielded, city of Canterlot came into view as the three alicorn princesses of Equestria flew through the open and changeling free skies. The ruins of Ponyville dotted the landscape not far away, scarred lands and collapsed buildings obscuring the likely heavy number of corpses within. The town was completely abandoned, not a single pony or changeling soul could be seen for miles around its perimeter. Smoke was still rising up from Sweet Apple Acres, a fire having burnt away much of the orchard while leaving but a scant few blackened trees behind with nary an apple on their branches.
It was a disheartening sight to say the least, but one they tried not to dwell too much on. A burst of speed hastened their final journey, the pink shield around Canterlot getting closer and closer every passing moment.
The past couple of days had been a difficult trip, two of the three princesses being in a far less prime condition than when they had initially set out for the hive. But they couldn’t delay, nor could they take any significant amount of time to rest during the trip. Every second they spent out there, the more likely there wouldn’t be a Canterlot to return to. That, and they were certain the changelings were keeping an eye out for them the whole time. They had no desire to face the swarm again before they were better prepared and well rested.
Celestia lit her horn as she flew, lifting the sun gently into the sky a little bit further. She commanded it to rise gradually into the sky, manipulating the orbits so that she would not have to tend to it again until midday.
At least the uninterrupted cycle of day and night would have given Prince Shining Armor some piece of mind, for as long as there was no discrepancy he could safely say the alicorns were safe and sound.
If their situation could in any way be considered ‘safe’ or ‘sound’.
The shield was extremely close now, and the three knew their journey home to be at an end. They began their descent, the pink magical surface transitioning from a mere object in the distance to covering their entire field of vision. Canterlot could be seen through the pink, still safe and showing no sign of changeling activity during their absence. With this small peace of mind, the alicorn plunged directly into the shield and passed straight through as if it was but an illusion and not a shield at all.
“At least we’re all ponies,” Cadance joked. “I was worried one of you had been replaced for a moment.”
“Says the mare who only appeared at the last moment,” Luna dryly retorted, examining the capital from their bird’s eye view. “Everything appears to be in order. You husband managed to maintain things well enough it would seem.”
“And yet it seems so quiet,” Celestia said, speaking up for the first time that morning. “And our little ponies have every right to be afraid. They shouldn’t have to know war like this, I kept them free of it for almost a thousand years. And yet here we are.”
“Do not blame yourself, sister,” Luna stated. “It’s not your fault old ghosts of the past are refusing stay old ghosts. And I say that as one of those old ghosts.”
“Lulu, I do not need a pep talk,” Celestia rebutted. “I need sleep. And food. Maybe both at the same time.”
Luna snorted. “Very well sister, whatever the Princess of the Sun commands.”
Celestia could only roll her eyes in response.
Skirting around the edges of the city, the three swiftly made their way up the three main platforms that made of Canterlot until they reached the castle at the peak. Several of the guards by the main entrance saw them coming, and all stood to attention as their hooves hit the ground and their wings were furled up by their sides.
All eyes were upon them, likely wondering exactly what the three princesses were doing, and what it was they had already done.
“Excuse me,” Cadance called out to one of the closest guards. “Would you be so kind as to collect my husband and have him come to the throne room?”
The guard saluted, running off to fulfil his task without a moment to waste. Meanwhile, the other two princesses just looked at the Princess of Love quizzically.
“It’s probably best we tell him what’s going on,” Cadance explained. “He can tell Broad Sword and Vladimir. I’d imagine they could be doing some things while you’re both resting up.”
Celestia and Luna gave their nods of approval, and the three alicorns made their way into the castle proper. As usual, the various staff moving around the castle all bowed when they saw the three royals move on by. All those who saw them, however, could not help but notice their slightly dishevelled state. Their regalia wasn’t as polished as they usually were, neither were their coats as well-groomed and presented as they normally would be. And that was not to mention the general air of exhaustion that was on display by the princesses, the elder two alicorns in particular.
They made swift progress to the throne room, Celestia was eager not to waste any time. She needed rest, but only as much as she could afford.
Once the massive doors swung open, they found the throne room empty. The princesses cantered inside and simply waited for the arrival of Shining Armor, the Princess of the Sun didn’t even bother taking a seat in her throne.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait too long before the doors to the throne room once again opened up and revealed an extremely relieved looking unicorn stallion.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” Shining Armor greeted. “Cadance! You’re all back!”
“Clearly,” Luna deadpan snarked. “We have had a most trying experience.”
The doors closed securely behind him, the Prince cantered up to the group and looked at them expectantly. “And? Did you… do it?”
“If you want to know whether we succeeded in killing the Empress, the answer would be a strong yes,” the Princess of the Night replied, though her tone indicated that any celebration would be short lived. “Destroying the Empress, however, is another matter entirely.”
“What? What do you mean?” Shining Armor asked, looking towards his wife. “What happened?”
“Our plan worked, even if the Empress was aware of our arrival,” Celestia explained. “But our success was always doomed to be mitigated, and our victory a pyrrhic one at best.”
Celestia couldn’t supress a sigh, regret clear as she continued to speak.
“We were unable to save Twilight or any of the other changelings. The Empress has the ability to transcend the destruction of her body through the hive mind itself. To truly defeat her, you would have to kill her both in the waking world and within the constraints of the Empress’ own hive mind.”
Shining Armor frowned. “But… only a changeling can access the hive mind.”
“You see our problem,” Luna stated. “And now the fiend almost certainly sets her sight back onto Canterlot. We do not know how long we have. What is the status of the EUP around Equestria?”
“Recovering and reorganising,” Shining Armor reported. “But it’s been slow. The changeling swarm left a large mess in its wake, and the drones have continued to hound us wherever they can. It should take a few more days for everything to be considered all clear again.”
“Then the Empress will strike in the next few days,” Celestia announced. “Ensure our local forces are at their highest alert. And work with the generals to hasten the organisation of other EUP forces, see if you cannot improve the response time for any serious reinforcements.”
“I’ll try,” Shining promised, grimacing, “The whole thing is a logistical nightmare.”
“Everything about this is a nightmare,” Celestia darkly stated, beginning to walk towards the door. “Tell me when I can wake up from it.”
With that, the Princess of the Sun departed and headed in the direction of her personal chambers.
Princess Luna sighed. “Prince Armor, we require rest. We shall endeavour not to remain so for too long, I know we’re needed. Wake us if anything happens.”
Shining Armor nodded, and Princess Luna also departed the throne room. This just left the royal husband and wife alone, and Shining Armor was looking at his wife with uncertainty.
“Things were bad, Shining,” Cadance half-whispered. “The Empress’ voice… it just came from Twilight’s mouth like it was her own. And then from the other Changeling Queens’ too.”
“Other queens?”
“They were all there,” Cadance informed him. “And now they’re coming here. I don’t know what we can do.”
“Well, Twilight’s friends are still here,” Shining pointed out. “They’re usually some help.”
“Twilight attacked Celestia with no hesitation,” Cadance muttered. “I doubt they will be any different. Immortalis’ control over the swarm is absolute.”
“Don’t say that, she’s still in there,” Shining Armor stated. “And there must be someway we can use the Element Bearers. I don’t know… There just has to be something.”
“I’m surprised those mares haven’t run off already,” Cadance noted. “Trying to save the world all by themselves.”
“After all the death they’ve seen recently, they know it’s suicidal to run off blindly,” Shining responded. “They desperately want to help, but not everything can be solved by a small group of friends alone.”
“Maybe,” Cadance said with a hum. “What if family is added into the mix? And a couple extra friends here and there.”
Shining shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll have to wait and see.”
“On a different note,” Cadance veered away, changing topic. “Release the shield. I’ll take over.”
“Aren’t you tired as well?”
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep,” Cadance replied. “Besides, my aunts need it more than I do.”
Shining Armor considered a moment, and then nodded. His horn glowed a bright pink while Cadance’s glowed a beautiful cyan. As the pink shield outside began to lose power, a bolt of cyan magic shot up from the castle and impacted the shield at its upper most point. Swiftly, the colouration of the shield morphed from the pink to the cyan magic of the Princess of Love, signalling the changeover.
Celestia barely afforded the guards outside her chambers a nod before she briskly walked on in and dumped herself onto her comfortable mattress, her regalia being levitated away and onto the mannequin in the corner.
She wasn’t actually there all that long before her younger sister entered the room with no small amount of worry.
“You know, we could have any amount of talking we wanted after some sleep,” Celestia deadpanned without even looking up at Luna.
“Some things cannot wait,” Luna replied. “Not even for the realm of dreams.”
“You could have talked to me in that realm.”
“And some things are more personal than that,” was the retort. “I can tell you’re still hurting, and feeling the guilt of Daybreaker’s emergence.”
“Shouldn’t I be?”
Luna didn’t respond, instead inviting her sister to keep on talking.
Celestia sighed, sitting up. “I don’t even feel angry anymore, there’s no more flame for Daybreaker to take advantage of. It’s just dread and helplessness. I had believed that with the Empress’ defeat this war would end, never had I imagined she had turned herself into such an abomination. And now…”
Celestia arose, slowly trotting up to a large mirror and studying herself upon its surface. She could see her sister standing a short distance behind her, just listening patiently.
“I have no idea how we’re going to reach Immortalis within the hive mind,” Celestia admitted. “We can’t have Carduus or another changeling go in and assassinate her, for they’d be consumed into her thrall. Only the Elements of Harmony could reach her in such a place. And they’ve been out of play since the start.”
“It is true that the Empress is all but unreachable. However…” Luna hummed in thought, considering her next words. “I have been thinking… I can’t say for sure, but I may be of assistance in that regard.”
Celestia turned to her sister. “Help? How so?”
“I am the guardian of the dream realm. And I have some experience connecting the minds of various ponies within,” Luna explained. “I am left wondering… how compatible are these techniques? I have been able to communicate with changelings via dreams, albeit not with the Empress’ influence over them. However, I’ve never been able to hear the voices within the hive as they do that way.”
“But… your power could be modified to make such a connection?” Celestia finished with a glint of hope. “Theoretically, you could send yourself inside?”
“Or send another,” Luna confirmed. “But I don’t truly know if such a modification is possible, in truth I’ve never truly considered it before. And then I don’t know if it will be anything more than a temporary connection, and how the Empress’ manipulation will affect those ponies who enter.”
“It’s a start,” Celestia stated. “Follow through with it. If it can work…”
“I’ll try,” Luna assured her sister. “But I cannot make any kind of promise. This is very much uncharted territory. It could go very, very wrong.”
“I understand. I trust you, Lulu.”
Luna nodded, giving her sister a light nuzzle. “Then I shall leave you to your rest. See you soon, Tia.”
Then without another word, Luna departed Celestia’s chambers with her intent clear. Neither knew if Luna’s idea held any actual merit to it, but they wouldn’t know until she tried.
A little more encouraged by this development, Celestia turned back to the mirror and observed herself once more. However, she didn’t fail to notice the glowing lavender eyes behind her.
"Celestia?" a familiar voice echoed as if on the breeze.
"Huh? Who's there?" Celestia called out, spinning around to confront the intruder.
But there was nopony to see.