In a slowly recovering savannah, under the burning sun, a distant black speck was flying, rushing to the only structure in that wilderness, the changeling hive. The flier was a drone called Appendix who finally arrived home after being cast far, far away into another world by Cadance and Shining Armor's wave of love at the Canterlot wedding invasion.
He was just a few dozen yards from the hive when a strange being walked out of it and flew away. This odd colorful thing had nothing to do with drones that he knew.
A scary thought occured to him, 'some intruders of a rival changeling swarm must have taken over the hive! Hopefully, the Queen is all right.' Appendix assumed the weird drone's form and went in.
The place that had been his home, he was now hardly recognizing. Instead of mighty armored sentries, he saw couples of the weird beings hopping around, holding each other, shining with love and wearing silly smiles on their faces.
"I love you, brother," one of them addressed Appendix.
"I--I love you too," the confused changeling muttered, and with all his efforts created a wide smile on his face, inconspicuously making his way to an old armory.
Three happy couples later, he reached the room he was heading for. The drone took a look around to make sure that he was alone, grabbed four of the scarab beatles resembling stones from a shelf and put them down on the floor. Appendix transformed into his normal shape and tapped the stones. A picture of Queen Chrysalis appeared.
"Oh, I am so glad to see that you are all right, Your Majesty," he said.
"What kind of trick are you trying to play on me, traitor?!" she retorted.
"I am not playing tricks on you, Your Majesty. I am Appendix, the Commander of the Western Wing and your faithful subject."
"All of you betrayed me and metamorphosed into a pile of disgusting powerless worms! Why do you think that I would believe your lies?!"
"I have always been loyal to you, Your Majesty," Appendix said.
"What took you so long to contact me then?! Did the miserable king of traitors, Thorax train you against me?!"
"No. When you were about to seize Equestria, the force coming from the two ponies threw me into a kingdom of three-headed lions. Only my form-changing ability kept me alive," Appendix said.
"Well, you can prove your loyalty to your Queen by carrying out some tasks that I have for you," an evil smile shone on Chrysalis's face.
"Anything, Your Majesty."
"I like your attitude. I and you will make changelings great again. Now listen what to do..."
Two days later, in the Crystal Palace, a smooth stallion brought a cup of tea to Princess Cadance who was sitting alone in her personal dining room.
"This is what I need," she said, "Flurry has been misbehaving all day long. Shining Armor is trying to tame her." Cadance took a sip of the tea. "I am so tire..." the Princess of Love dropped the cup on the floor and fell asleep.
The stallion dragged her into her bedroom, laid her on the bed, turned back into Appendix, stretched his legs and assumed Cadance's form. The false Princess of Love returned to the dining room to clean up the broken cup.
Suddenly, Appendix heard Lotus Blossom, who had brought a pack of spa services hoofbills into a salon, softly humming a song behind the door. He laughed madly with Cadance's voice.
Lotus stopped humming and quietly came close to the door. 'No, I shouldn't,' she thought. Another laughter struck her sensitive ears.
Lotus peeked through the keyhole and saw 'Cadance' with an insane expression on her face, holding a small parchment and telling herself aloud, "with this spell I can make all crystal ponies slaves again; my slaves forever!"
Shocked Lotus stepped back from the door and headed for the day spa.
In the evening, upset Lotus visited her favourite restaurant. She took a seat at an empty table and ordered, "two shots of your strongest cider!"
"Yes, madam," a sad looking waitress uttered. It took her a while to bring the cider to the spa-mare. With her forelegs shaking the waitress set the two glasses on the table, sobbed, "here you are, madam," and a tear ran down her cheek.
"What's the matter with you?" Lotus asked her with concern.
"I don't want to bother you."
"Sit down next to me and tell me what made you crying."
The waitress slowly took a seat and said, "Princess Cadance was here this afternoon. She pushed me and I spilled a glass of wine on her gown. Though it wasn't my fault, I apologized her, and passed her a napkin, so that she could dry the stain.
"Shooting daggers out of her eyes she grabbed the napkin and yelled at me, 'oh, you stupid jade, go and bring me your boss!'
"I told her, 'I am my boss; the restaurant is mine.'
"'Of course,' she said, 'no well-mannered waitress would ever cross the threshold of this dirty, repulsive barrel house!'
"'Well, you did!' said I in anger.
"She looked at me with such an expression of wrath that I had never seen upon her face before and told me, 'you are exactly the sort of subversive that we don't need here! From this moment on, you are officially expelled from the Crystal Empire!! You have 24 hours to pack up your things and leave our country!!'
"'You can't do this to me!' I cried, 'I am going to complain to Princess Celestia about you!'
"She just smirked, 'you can if you want to waste your time.' Before she left, she added, 'remember, if my guards find you here tomorrow in the afternoon, you'll end up in a coal mine!!'
"I still can't believe that it really happened."
Lotus pushed one of the drinks to her, "have one on me."
"Thank you," the restaurateur said in tears and gulped the cider.
"Yep, our Princess's gone crazy!" A sailor stallion sitting at a table by a window stood up and joined them. "Many ponies say that she treats them like slaves! I heard it straight from the horse's mouth!"
"But why?" Lotus wondered, "she was so nice when she came here."
"She planned to seize the power from the start," the sailor said, "first, she needed our support against her rivals Sombra and Chrysalis, but now that she's sure of her position, she can afford to release the mask of a nice princess and show us the true face of a usurpress!"
"A usurpress?" Lotus asked.
"Remember, having no right of succession, unelected, she and her husband simply mounted the throne!" the sailor replied.
"Yes, you are right!" Angry Lotus drank the cider up, rose from her chair and punched the table, "down with the usurpress!"
The 'sailor' paid, left the restaurant, looked around, jumped in shrubs and turned into a plump, glasses wearing officer, who caught a midnight train to a southern part of Equestria that night.
The next morning Appendix arrived in Sunnyfields, the largest town of the Southern Equestria region. In the square, the undercover drone nailed a parchment high upon a wooden post.
"What's this?!" a sturdy earth stallion with a stetson hat asked.
"New taxes, sir. This is an ordinance of Princess Celestia."
"I can read! Why should we pay so much?!"
"Well, sir, I am just a simple officer only doing my job," Appendix said.
The sturdy pony took the parchment off the post, and brought it to Mayor Barley Plant who immediately called a meeting at the town hall. Soon the hall was full of ponies.
"The thing is that Princess Celestia has decided to levy these new 32 taxes on apples, hay, carrots, grapes, timber, and many other things," Mayor Plant opened the meeting.
"And what will remain for us?!" a blue-coated mare asked.
"What do pampered ponies of Canterlot know about hard work?!" another pony called.
Mayor Plant said, "this must be a mistake. Why would our good Princess do this to us?"
"I can answer that," Appendix in the disguise of the officer took the floor, "the whole Southern Equestria's crop was above average last year, and Her Majesty needs money to built new golden representative halls in the castle. I really comprehend your just indignation; and if you make a list of your objections, I'll give it to her."
In the afternoon, Mayor Plant passed a scroll to the 'officer'. Ponies of Sunnyfields saw him to the railway station. Appendix got on a train to Canterlot, waving to them until the train pulled out.
At the very next station, he got off, threw the scroll away, and headed for a near forest where he resumed his true form. 'This is going to be hard. Especially, the mane is difficult!' he thought. Appendix took a deep breath, concentrated his mind and tried to turn into Princess Celestia. He felt that something was wrong. The drone looked at his reflection in a small water pool. "Of course, the stupid hair!" he told himself when he saw that the mane was pink. Appendix tried again and perfectly imitated the Princess of the Sun.
In a while, the false Celestia landed right in front of the Sunnyfields' town hall. All present ponies including Barley Plant bowed down before her.
The 'Princess' threw a contemptuous look at them, "I have heard that you do not like my ordinance. Well, either you will pay, or my guards will come here to arrest you!!" The white alicorn spread her snowy wings and flew away.
Plant was standing there with his mouth agape for a while. Then he turned to his fellow ponies and said decisively, "we're not gonna take this!!"
Late in the afternoon, the changeling flew into a cave and contacted Chrysalis again.
"Well done, Appendix," the satisfied Queen smiled, "there is one more thing for you to do..."
~~~
Several days later, in the Castle of Friendship, Spike was lying on a sofa in his room, resting after his hearty breakfast.
Suddenly, the gate flew open, Twilight rushed into the castle and called, "Spike! Spike!"
The sleepy dragon shuffled to the entrance hall, "what has...?"
"This is a disaster! A complete disaster! Starswirl Bearded, the greatest magician of all time has disappeared! He was to meet up with the pillars last week, but they haven't seen him since their gathering nine full moons ago!! Call the mane six to the map!"
"I would like to, but they are all away."
"What?" Sparkle barked.
"Rainbow Dash has been summoned to Canterlot to guard the castle from rebels. Rarity and Fluttershy are on their mission in Manehattan, and Applejack helps Pinkie to move the Pies to a safe place."
"Rebels? A safe place?" the lavender alicorn wondered.
"Well, a few letters have accumulated here over the past week that you were gone. Maybe they will answer your questions," Spike pointed to a pile of scrolls with the royal seal.
"And Starlight? Where is she?" the Princess of Friendship asked while she was reading her mail.
"In the kitchen. Did you know that she is good at baking muffins? They taste like rotten tomatoes, ripe cheese and mud," the little dragon licked his lips.
"No!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yes, they are delicious," Spike said.
"No, Equestria is in the worst crisis ever! Celestia writes me that Cadance had to run away from the Crystal Empire and the whole family is in Canterlot now."
Twilight went to the throne room to see the magic map. "This is weird. Despite the crisis the map is not indicating any problem."
"I think that it's broken," Starlight Glimmer standing in the doorway said.
"Did anyone of you play with it?!" Twilight asked her strictly.
"I didn't even touch it and Spike was mostly with me in the kitchen," Starlight answered.
"I'll have to use more traditional methods to find Starswirl then," she said and galloped to the library followed by Starlight and Spike. Twilight burst into the room and immediately started searching 'M' bookshelf, "M,M,Mysterious Disappearances--Do we really have no book about mysterious disappearances?!"
"So, Starswirl Bearded is missing?" Starlight asked Twilight, who was attentively searching another bookshelf. Glimmer rubbed her mane, "once when I was a little filly, an old mare told me a scary tale about a demoness of love, who lures stallions into her castle from which there is no escape. She told me this when a fifth stallion disappeared from a nearby village without a trace."
After checking all the books to no avail, Twilight catching at a straw asked her, "can you lead me there?"
"Sure," Starlight replied.
Spike packed their bags. "We can go," he smiled.
"You are not going with us," Twilight told him.
"Do you still take me for a little baby dragon?!" he huffed.
"On the contrary, Spike. You must stay and guard the Castle of Friendship when we're gone. Can I depend on you?" Twilight said.
"Yes, but I would rather go with you," Spike objected.
"I left a whole pannier of the muffins right next to the oven," Starlight winked.
"Well, I'll sacrifice myself this time," Spike said and headed for the kitchen.
Twilight and Starlight set out.
In the afternoon, they came to Point Peaceful, a long-desolate village. There were a few mostly ruined houses covered by ivy and moss standing there. All the streets and roads were overgrown by weeds. Only one house looked inhabited. Its door opened and an old mare carrying a bucket in her mouth stepped out of it. She walked towards a water pump in her garden.
"Good afternoon," Twilight said, "let me help you with that."
The old mare put the bucket on the ground. Without entering the garden Twilight pushed it to the pump with her telekinesis, filled it with water and teleported it into the house.
"Hm, I haven't seen a pony with magic power here for many years," the old mare uttered.
Starlight shocked by the plaintive state in which the village was asked her, "what happened here?"
The old mare said, "this used to be a very good place to live, until a day that Sheriff Smokin Firehorn's brother, deputy Flash Firehorn disappeared. Several stallions had vanished from here in the past. Some ponies saw dark forces behind it. Most of us believed that Flash, like the other missing stallions had simply found a marefriend living in a far place and had moved in with her. But the Sheriff insisted that his brother had been kidnapped. He became obsessed by the case, neglecting his other duties. After several unsolved thefts, Mayor Rubber Stamp threatened him with the sack. The angry Sheriff told him that he was just one day from solving the biggest case of his life. The next day the Sheriff himself disappeared. It was believed that he had been taken away by a demoness of love. After that, ponies didn't feel safe here, and soon first of them began leaving the village. I am the only one who stayed, for I felt that I was too old to make a new start elsewhere."
"Is the Sheriff's house still standing?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, it's the one with a tree growing out of its chimney."
Starlight and Twilight thanked her, made their way through a small jungle that once had been the village green and entered the Sheriff's house.
Twilight searched a bookcase, all closets and drawers of a large writing table standing in the middle of the room. "I can't believe that such a thoroughgoing investigator didn't leave a file or just a note of the biggest case of his life here!" she said in an angry voice.
Starlight engrossed in watching old pictures of the two unicorns on the wall took a few steps back, stumbled over a tree root and fell down on the floor.
"Are you all right, Starlight?"
"Better than that!" Glimmer stood up, with her telekinesis took a big yellow envelope glued underneath the table and passed it to the Princess of Friendship.
"This is it!" Twilight rejoiced. She pulled a thick file out of the envelope, put it on the table and started to study it. After reading a few pages she said, "the Sheriff discovered many astonishing facts! Just over the two past centuries, more than two hundred stallions disappeared from various places of Equestria. There are maybe up to one thousand lost stallions throughout our history! Each of them was a unicorn and very talented magician. Some of them wrote goodbye notes before they left, from which we know that the perpetrator always comes in a dream of her victim who falls in love with her. Several days later she arrives in the place where the stallion lives and takes him into her castle. Once she is a ginger earth mare, another time she appears as a tall golden-maned unicorn or a dark pegasus, but she always calls herself Dorothea."
"Dorothea? What a strange name. What does it mean?" Starlight wondered.
Twilight turned another page of the file, rubbed her head and said, "Smokin had a theory that the one who calls herself Dorothea deprives unicorns of their magic. He thought that she is able to sense magic and always chooses the best magicians." Twilight got to the last page of the file, "this is interesting. He used an amulet amplifying his magic to lure Dorothea to him.--Look what his last entry was," the Princess of Friendship pointed to the bottom of the last page where was written, 'no matter what she did. She is so amazing. I can't wait till she's here!' and a drawing of a heart with Dorothea's name within adorned the right corner of the page.
"It's so nice and terrifying at the same time," Starlight said.
The mares left the house.
"So, what do we do now?" Glimmer asked.
"Well, the demoness of love is able to change her forms," Twilight thought for a while, "it's time to visit our old friend."
"Do you mean...?" Starlight sighed, "oh no, it's so far. It'll take a whole day of galloping to get there!"
Twilight closed the eyes, lit up her horn and conjured a light weight single-seater flying chariot. She put her harness on and smiled, "we don't need a whole day to get there."
Starlight got in, Twilight spread her wings, took off and pulled the chariot into the sky.
An hour later, they landed at the changeling hive. Starlight got out of the chariot, stretched her legs and yawned, "oh, traveling exhausts me so, Twi."
Sweated and out of breath Twilight growled, "oh, really?!"
In the throne room of the hive, Twilight asked Thorax, "have you ever heard of someone called Dorothea?"
The King of Changelings rose from his new wooden throne, "what?--Did you really say--Dorothea?"
"Well, it seems that he has," Starlight whispered in Twilight's ear.
Thorax came closer to the mares and said, "when I was young, a forbidden legend spread among drones. If Chrysalis had heard anyone of us just say the name, she would have punished him hard.
"It is said that once in ancient times, an egg was found in front of the hive. Even though drones didn't understand how it had gotten there, and despite a strange drawing on its surface, they took it inside.
"From this egg a female changeling hatched. She was to become a new Queen of the swarm; a new Queen to replace Chrysalis. The changeling lady was growing up unrevealed. No one noticed she was different, not even herself, for she was subconsciously imitating drones around her. Until one day that the young queen defied her combat instructor. She felt ready to be deployed in action, but the instructor asserted that she was not good enough yet.
"'I am ready!' the angry young queen called and spread some pheromones from glands under her wings.
"As if hypnotized the instructor said, 'you are ready.'
"But Chrysalis smelled the pheromones and quickly found their source. 'Catch the intruder!!' she shouted pointing to the young queen.
"Four drones caught legs of the Chrysalis's competitor, who cried out, 'let me go!' spreading another cloud of her pheromones, which made the drones obey the young queen.
"Enraged Chrysalis attacked her with magic and drove her away. Convinced that the young queen wouldn't survive out of the hive, she didn't pursue her.
"The defeated queen did not only survive, but somehow gained impressive magic skills and began calling herself Dor O Thea, which in an ancient changeling dialect means Collector Of Hearts."
"So the demoness of love is a changeling queen?" Twilight wondered.
"She is more than that now," Thorax explained, "imagine a love-hungry female with an immense magic power."
"In other words, a monster capable of anything," Starlight remarked.
"She is really dangerous," Thorax said, "I can give you up to fifty drones to help you fight her."
"No, this is really not necessary," Twilight shook her head.
Starlight threw an uncomprehending look at her, but didn't tell her a word.
The mares thanked, said goodbye and left the hive.
Two hours later, Twilight landed in the Canterlot castle courtyard.
Fresh Starlight jumped out of the chariot. "C'mon, Twi, hurry up," she smiled and entered the castle.
'Just wait when we're back home!' the lavender alicorn thought to herself.
In one of numerous hallways, the two mares met Princess Celestia on her way from the throne room.
Although obviously tired and worried, she smiled, "can I help you Twilight?"
"Actually, we are looking for Luna and Cadance," Sparkle grinned.
"My sister gets up late in the afternoon, but she doesn't perceive her surroundings, until she enjoys her hot chocolate at five o'clock. And Princess Cadance is in guest room number 309. Be gentle to her. She is..."
Celestia's aide came running, "your chariot is ready, Princess Celestia. We have to go if we want to be there on time."
"Excuse me, Twilight; I must go," the exhausted white alicorn sighed.
"Yes, I know; the crisis. I'll come to help you when I am done with my mission," Twilight called out to Celestia walking away.
It took a while for the two mares to find the guest room 309. Twilight knocked at the door.
"Go away! There is no one here!" sounded from the inside.
"It's me, your sister-in-law, Twilight Sparkle," said the lavender alicorn.
The door opened. Twilight and Starlight cautiously entered the gloomy room. There were dark curtains on the windows, many used hoofkerchiefs in a wastebasket and one pink alicorn lying upon a sofa.
"Come on, don't keep me waiting," Twilight encouraged her.
The Princess of Love slowly got up and together with Twilight started their foal-garten rhyme.
Starlight rolled her eyes, "oh, my goodness."
As Twilight and Cadance finished their jig, the Princess of Love returned to the sofa and lay on it with her back to them.
"Stand up and join our team!" Twilight said.
"No, I am going to stay here until the end of my life!" Cadance replied.
Twilight told her, "I know that the past days were hard for you, but..."
"Hard?!" Cadance turned her head, "you have no idea how hard it was! You weren't there! Ponies yelled at me that they didn't want me in the Crystal Empire, calling me 'usurpress'!" she shouted with tears in her eyes. "Fortunately, Shining Armor had taken Flurry to a safe place before she could hear it."
"How is she?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know. Shining Armor has been caring for her since then. I can't."
Annoyed Starlight said, "let's go, Twilight. She's good for nothing!"
Cadance rose from the sofa and uttered in a sad voice, "give my kisses to Flurry, please."
Starlight slapped her face hard.
"Ouch, what are you doing?!" shocked Cadance exclaimed.
"Sorry, but I had to do it in order to stop your hysteria!" Starlight explained.
"I am depressed, not hysteric!" Cadance holding her cheek replied.
Starlight rejoiced, "it works! She's only depressed now."
The Princess of Love stepped back, "stay away from me, nuts!"
"Pull yourself together, Cadance!" Twilight said, "Equestria is in danger! We need you!"
The violet-maned mare turned her back to the Princess of Love, "maybe a little butt-kick will heal even the depression."
Twilight glared at her, "No!"
"C'mon, Twi, let doctor Starlight's magic touch heal this chicken," Glimmer grinned.
Angry Cadance sprang towards the cheeky mare, knocked her down upon the floor, stood above her and shouted, "how dare you?! No one calls me 'chicken'! No one brings me down! And I'll let nobody call me 'usurpress'!!"
"This is the Cadance that I know," Twilight said, "so if you two are through with playing, we can go to Luna."
The Princess of the Night took a sip of her hot chocolate, "mmm, dark and sweet just as I like it."
At that moment, the three mares rushed into her dining room.
Luna slowly raised her eyes from the cup, "what a surprise, Twilight. Princess Cadance, I am glad to see that you feel better. And you are Starlight Glimmer, correct?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Starlight bowed down.
Princess Luna smiled, "come and sit down next to me, please. Would you like a hot chocolate? Our cook made enough for all of us. You must definitely try these honey mini-cakes."
"We have no time for cakes, Princess Luna," Starlight uttered.
"Let me guess," the Princess of the Night said, "I presume that you need me to enter someone's dream and it is urgent of course."
"Yes," Twilight said, "we need you as a fourth member of our team set up to fight a demoness of love, a changeling queen called Dorothea, who has very probably abducted Starswirl Bearded!"
"A demoness of love? I see, this is the reason why your team is purely female," Luna winked.
"I get it now," Starlight rubbed her head, "that's why Spike had to stay at home and why you refused Thorax's forces to help us; if they fell in love with her, we would have to fight even against them!"
"Yes, and it's not my team but ours." Twilight looked around to make sure that no one watched them and added softly, "I also suspect Dorothea of provoking the rebellion. She did it to draw our attention from the abduction of the most famous magician of all time!"
Starlight shook her head, "I don't think so."
"Why? My theory makes perfect sense!" Twilight stated.
"It's not her style," Starlight answered.
"How do you know what her style is?" Twilight argued.
"My instinct tells me so," Starlight put a front hoof on her chest.
"Well, maybe you should use your reason more!" Sparkle said.
"And maybe you should use yours less!" Glimmer replied.
Twilight waved her hoof and turned to the blue alicorn, "hurry, Luna, we must save our mentor!"
"Yes, Princess Luna, we must do something!" Starlight joined her.
"Patience, my friends," the blue alicorn lady smiled, "ponies and other creatures have to fall asleep before I can enter their dreams."
"That's true," Starlight conceded, and lounged on a wide chair by the blue alicorn's left side.
Even Twilight and Cadance took seats around the table.
"Luna, I saw your sister today," Twilight said, "she was looking tired. I think that she needs your help."
"Yes," Princess Luna sighed, "but she will never let me help her. She ruled the kingdom alone for so long time. My sister thinks that I am not experienced enough. At this difficult time, only a little wrong gesture might ruin all the negotiations with the rebels, and my sister is convinced that my faux pas would destroy all her efforts. Sometimes, I feel like I live with Miss Know-it-all."
Starlight glanced at Twilight, "I know exactly what you mean."
After Luna's late breakfast, Cadance went to see her family, while Twilight put up in guest room 310 to have a little rest after the long day, Starlight took a nap in a day spa deckchair, and Princess Luna meditated to get ready for her task.
That night, the team regrouped in Luna's bedroom. The blue alicorn sat down on her yoga-mat in the middle of the room. The other mares gathered around her.
Luna closed her eyes and lit up the horn. Her spirit quickly entered the world of dreams. The ruler of the night focused on unusual vibrations spreading through the ether. "This must be her," she said. Luna's horn shone brighter and the Princess transmitted into a dream. She appeared in a glade amid a night forest.
"What do you see?" Twilight asked her.
Luna whose body was sitting in the bedroom with her eyes closed said, "there is no one here."
Suddenly, a pleasant female voice sounded in the dreamy landscape, "are you looking for me?"
Luna took a look around, but she saw nopony in that dark place. "I would like to talk with someone called Dorothea," the Princess said.
"You are looking for me then," the voice replied in a tone that a stallion would describe as seductive. A light shone among trees in a distance. In a few moments, a small glowing orb came flying. It descended upon the ground several yards in front of the blue alicorn. The orb turned into a red rose bud that grew larger and larger until it was seven feet tall. Then the bud opened and a beautiful tall white unicorn lady with a golden mane elegantly stepped out of it. Her eyes were light violet, a crimson heart cutie mark adorned her flank and she smelled like fresh strawberries.
"Nice trick," Princess Luna said.
"This is not a trick," the white unicorn smiled, "can I help you?"
"Yes, surrender and release all your captives!" Luna frowned.
The golden-maned mare laughed, "I am afraid that I cannot comply with your request, my dear."
"This is not a request; this is an order, dear!" angry Luna said.
"Let me disabuse you, Princess; I am not your subject and I accept no orders from you! I accept no orders from anyone! I am Dorothea!!" The white unicorn called out and her horn shone.
Some green tendrils grew fast out of the ground and wrapped around Luna's legs. The Princess of the Night tried to get rid of them with her magic, but her efforts had no effect.
"You know, Princess Luna, this is my dream, my world with my rules. And my recently gained power enabled me to safeguard it from intruders like you, princess of ponies. Your magic means nothing here."
Luna concentrated her mind.
Dorothea swaggering around her said, "you neglected your preparation. If you had known how much powerful I am, I guess that you wouldn't..." The golden-maned mare scowled, "what are you doing?!"
In Luna's bedroom, the body of the blue alicorn grasped Twilight's foreleg, said, "Thunder Mountains!" and fell down upon the yoga-mat unconscious.
"Luna! Luna, wake up!" Twilight shook her.
Starlight found a hoof-mirror in the room and held it to Princess Luna's muzzle. The mirror misted over. "Fortunately, she is alive, but it seems she's stuck in the dreamworld."
"The demoness of love must have overpowered her!" Cadance got appalled.
In the dream, Dorothea put a black collar with violet crystals around Luna's neck, "this thing will definitively prevent you from using your power!"
"Too late, Dorothea! My friends know where to find you!"
"You have no idea what you have done!" the golden-maned mare said, "now you are responsible for what will happen to them!!"
Dorothea's horn shone bright white, the black sky flashed, a strong shock wave shook needles off all trees around and the earth slightly quaked. "From now, it is your dream." The white unicorn smirked, "what a pity that you cannot use your power to gain control of it and free yourself. So, sweet dreams, Princess Luna." She waved her foreleg, a dazzling shine shrouded her and when it went out, she was gone.
In Luna's bedroom, Twilight laid the blue alicorn's helpless body on her bed with telekinesis and covered her with a blanket.
"Do you know where those Thunder Mountains are?" Cadance asked Twilight.
"Yes, it's an area on the western border of Equestria," the Princess of Friendship answered.
"Ok, fly me there, Twi," Starlight said.
"This time we will have to hoof it there," Twilight replied.
"Why? Is the chariot broken?"
"No," the lavender alicorn uttered.
"What is it then?" Glimmer tried to elicit.
"It's three times farther than from the changeling hive here," Twilight answered evasively.
"And?" Starlight raised her eyebrow.
Twilight hung her head down, "I am not strong enough to pull you all the way there. You are too heavy."
"What?! You say that I am fat?!" Starlight exclaimed.
"No, I just..." Twilight defended herself.
"You should learn to respect other ponies' feelings!" Glimmer huffed, "and how you, the chubbiest pony of us dare criticize somepony else's weight?!"
"Chubby? Where?" Twilight wondered.
"Here, there and over there," Starlight pointed to Twilight's cheeks, belly and butt.
The Princess of Friendship was taking funny poses just to have a perfect view at her 'problematic parts.'
"A little wings exercise can only do you good," Glimmer added.
Cadance watching her sister-in-law couldn't help it any longer and laughed.
"If you feel too weak, Twi, she can help you," Starlight grinned and pointed her hoof at Cadance who immediately stopped laughing.
A fast shadow dashed under the motionless moon.
Starlight comfortably sitting in her showy means of transport smiled, "I feel so special when two Princesses are pulling me in my own flying chariot. Not even Celestia herself travels better."
"Is she always so annoying?" Cadance asked Twilight.
"As I know her, she has just started," Twilight replied.
Three hours later, they got to a dark, but beautiful and richly decorated castle. There were bars on each window. A heavy steel main gate was behind a massive drawbridge over a large moat that was raised, so that nobody could not get into the castle. The Princesses landed in front of it. Starlight got out of the chariot while the alicorns were taking their harnesses off.
"How do we...?" Cadance asked.
"No problem," Twilight said and teleported them inside.
There was pitch dark in there. Twilight lit the room with her horn. The mares found that they were standing in a large entrance hall with tall black marble walls engraved with golden and silver ornaments. Twilight raised her head and saw a star map on the ceiling. Each star was represented by a diamond. She almost yelled with awe. Starlight took a step forward. At that moment, all torches on the walls flamed up.
"She knows that we are here!" Cadance said.
A sinister female laughter echoed in the castle.
Starlight glimpsed a move in a doorway, "there she is!"
Glimmer shot ahead. Twilight galloped right behind her followed by the Princess of Love.
The three mares ran into a long passage with ten mirrors on either side. Twilight and Starlight were rushing through it fast.
Suddenly, Cadance called behind them, "what is this?!"
Sparkle and Glimmer stopped and turned back.
"Oh, what is it again?" Starlight sighed.
"What is this doing here?!" Cadance pointed to one of the mirrors.
"What do you mean?" Twilight coming to her asked.
"Why does she have this painting of my Shining Armor on the wall?!" Cadance replied.
"There is no painting here," Twilight said to her, "Dorothea is trying to trick your mind."
"No, she is after my husband!" Cadance called out, "leave my Shining Armor alone, you evil monster!"
The pink alicorn tried to take the painting off the wall. As she neared the mirror, a trapdoor opened under her legs, she fell down through the floor and the trapdoor closed again.
"Teleport us down there!" Starlight said.
"Into a trap?!" Twilight raised her eyebrow, "think, Starlight."
"Fine."
The mares galloped through the mirror passage, went down a spiral staircase, and came into a round room with six columns situated in a wide circle around the middle. As the two got to the center, from behind each column, a unicorn lady stepped out. They were looking all the same; tall, white, golden-maned with red heart cutie marks.
One of the six Dorotheas said, "just say that you surrender and I will let you go home."
Another added, "this is your last chance."
"We are not leaving without Cadance and all your captives!" Twilight shouted.
The third Dorothea said, "the Princess of Love is too precious catch."
"She is part of my collection now," the fourth uttered.
"And because you have just wasted your chance..." the fifth told them.
"...You will follow her," the sixth finished the sentence.
Starlight standing butt to butt with the lavender alicorn, choosing her target whispered, "which of them is the real one?"
All six Dorotheas aimed their horns at Sparkle and Glimmer.
Twilight's eyes and horn shone white. She stamped her right front hoof and sent a magic wave all over the room. All the six golden-maned mares disappeared.
"None was real," Twilight said, "she is playing with us!"
Sparkle and Glimmer set off towards a tall white door.
Twilight opened it, and they cautiously entered a large room with several hundred big crystals aligned in rows. In each of them, a unicorn stallion stood with his eyes closed, looking like sleeping. Then the mares passed by two crystals in which were two moustached unicorns with silver stars on their jackets.
"The Firehorn brothers," Starlight remarked.
"There must be even Starswirl Bearded around!" Twilight cried out, and began eagerly searching Dorothea's collection for her mentor.
"Stop it, Twilight! There are too many of them. We have to find Dorothea first!" Starlight said.
"Help, Twilight!" Cadance's voice echoed in the room.
"Let's go!" Starlight shouted, but Twilight stopped her with a front leg and whispered in her ear. Glimmer nodded her head. The lavender alicorn started galloping towards the place where Cadance's calling came from, while Starlight ran among the crystals in a different direction.
The Princess of Friendship spotted Cadance, who was standing in a corner with shackles on her legs, and headed towards her.
When she was just ten steps away from her, a voice called from the opposite side, "it's a trap, Twilight!"
The Princess of Friendship halted, turned her head, and saw another Cadance in chains and a black collar on her neck who had managed to get rid of a rag gag.
The shackles on legs of the first 'Cadance' vanished. In a second, she turned back into the golden-maned mare. Twilight immediately shot a series of three magic beams against her. A spherical shield of red aura surrounded Dorothea, reflected the beams back and disappeared again. Two of them missed the Princess of Friendship. The third one struck her chest hard, Twilight backflipped in the air, and landed flat on her belly on the floor. The golden-maned unicorn aimed the horn at her. Twilight teleported away.
"No!" Dorothea lit up her horn, and teleported Sparkle back to the same place where she had been lying before. "You cannot escape me!"
"Now, Starlight!" Twilight called out just a second before Dorothea's magic beam imprisoned her in a crystal.
"I can't," sounded from behind the white unicorn.
Dorothea turned around and saw Starlight in a combat stance aiming the horn at her.
"I just can't hurt you," Glimmer hung her head down.
Surprised Dorothea wondered, "well, you are the first mare who has ever fallen in love with me. On the other hoof, my golden mane, snowy coat and long slim legs are simply irresistible."
"Your mane is violet, your coat dark and your legs have holes," 'Starlight' said, green flames ran over her body and she turned back into Appendix.
"What? A changeling drone?!" Dorothea exclaimed. Even she resumed her natural form. A pink cloud of pheromones came out of her glands. She flapped her wings to spread the substance in the air and commanded, "on your knees!"
"I love you, but I am not your dog!" Appendix said.
She emitted another cloud of her pheromones, "on your knees!"
"No."
"Why is it not working?" Dorothea wondered.
"You really don't know much about love," enchained Cadance said, "it is his pure love for you what makes him immune to your brainwashing love-spell, for true love always defeats any love-spell; and to love somebody doesn't mean following blindly everything they say."
Dorothea tuned her voice into the most seductive tone she was able to make, "oh, dear drone, would you please kneel down for me?" she said and winked.
"No."
The angry changeling lady yelled at him, "you cheeky little meaningless insect!" Her horn shone and four chains bound his legs to the floor. "Who are you?! What are you doing in my castle?! Talk!!"
"My name is Appendix. Queen Chrysalis sent me here to ascertain how much dangerous you are to her and to find out your weak points."
"Why? She knows well that my ambitions are different than to rule the swarm of always-hungry drones and that I don't pretend the title of Queen anymore."
"She fears you, though," Appendix said, "for she knows that you do so well and master huge magic power." His eyes shone with joy, "I have always wanted to see you. Since the first time that I heard the legend of Dor O Thea, I've wanted to know you."
"So kneel before your idol and maybe I'll give you a sweet kiss," Dorothea replied.
"No."
Dorothea turned around, slowly came to Cadance and told her, "sooner or later he'll beg for my kiss, and it will be the ultimate proof for you that love is weakness and a means to manipulate fools."
"Do you like stallions begging you?" Cadance asked her.
"I despise them. I hate seeing them crawling. It is so annoying. They are like some kind of worms to me. I would never touch them, let alone give them a kiss! But I am a changeling and I need their love to feed on."
"But true love..." Cadance started a new sentence.
"True love this, true love that," Dorothea uttered. She looked out of a window, "why is the moon hanging motionlessly in the sky?"
"Because you imprisoned Princess Luna in a dream!" Cadance rejoined.
"Oh, of course," Dorothea said, pointed the right front hoof at the moon, the magic aura enveloped her horn, and as if by pulling the moon across the sky with her leg she made it set.
"How...?" shocked Cadance exclaimed.
"Love of stallions that I bring here fades away in the course of time."
"Sure, unrequited love dies young," Cadance replied.
"Before their love for me weakens too much, I ask them to transfer their power on me. So far, each of them voluntarily did. This is why I am so powerful."
"You act as if you were proud of it. Can't you see what you do is bad?" Cadance asked her.
"How could you, a pampered princess understand me, an outcast! You have never stood in my horseshoes!" Dorothea said and walked away to her bedroom.
The next day the changeling lady came to see her prisoners. Appendix lying on the floor stood up.
She put her hoof on his cheek, "will you kneel for me now?"
"No."
"Well, I have time enough," she said.
A weird sound echoed in the room.
Dorothea pricked her ears up and looked at Cadance. "Oh, poor princess, it seems that your stomach is rumbling. You told me what I do is bad and you also called me 'evil monster'! Now tell me what would you do to satisfy your hunger?!"
"I would never hurt anyone!" Cadance answered.
"This is what you are saying now, but if you spent many years by suffering from hunger, believe me, honey, that you would literally do anything to stop it! By the way, I don't hurt anyone."
"I guess that your victims captured in the crystals would disagree."
"They only sleep. Without their magic unicorns wither. These crystals protect them from that. I need their power to find a magic that would rid me of the love-hunger forever. When I succeed, I'll let them go. They will feel like nothing happened to them."
Dorothea's horn shone. She manifested a carrot hovering right in front of Cadance's nose. As the Princess of Love tried to grab at it with her mouth, Dorothea moved it away from her. "I should let you starve for much longer time, so that you know what the real hunger feels like,--but nobody suffers hardship in my castle," she said, put the carrot in Cadance's mouth, and conjured a whole plate of carrots and a big bowl of apple cider at the pink alicorn's forelegs.
Cadance ate the carrot and said, "if you give love instead of only taking it, you will satisfy your love-hunger for good."
"Didn't they tell you that my heart is made of stone? I am not able to love," Dorothea replied.
Cadance pointed to the plate of carrots, "this is a proof that your heart is not made of stone."
"I only did it to stop your belly making that unpleasant noise. Only fools love and I am not a fool!"
Dorothea turned back to Appendix, "why are you still defying me? Don't you long for my tender kiss?"
"There is nothing in this world that I want more," he said.
"It only takes to obey and get down on your knees to get your sweet reward," the changeling lady told him.
"No. I am not your toy."
"You both are boring me !" Dorothea said and left the room.
That night she couldn't fall asleep. 'Why does this drone differ so much from my other admirers?' she thought. Dorothea got out of her bed, and walked across the castle to the collection room. Through the half-open door she was quietly watching Appendix sleeping for a while. "There is nothing special about him. He is just a small cheeky changeling drone," she told herself and returned to her bedroom.
One hour before dawn, Dorothea burst into the collection room, gripped Appendix's neck with her telekinesis, and lifted him up as high as the chains on his legs allowed. "What kind of spell did Chrysalis tell you to cast on me?!" she thundered at him.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he wheezed.
"Oh, really?! I was fine before you came and suddenly I can't sleep, I can't think straight, my heart is racing, my wings are oddly shining and I tremble--" her eyes widened, "when I am close to you." Shocked Dorothea let his neck go.
"Yes," Cadance smiled, "you are..."
"Quiet!" Dorothea shouted at her. "This can't be true! This can't happen to me!"
"On the contrary, you are in love," Cadance said.
Dorothea gagged the pink alicorn's mouth with a green sticky matter, "I told you to be quiet!"
Then the enraged changeling lady turned to Appendix, "you!" she yelled, "it's all your fault!!" Dorothea aimed her horn at him. The horn shone and a red magic beam cut through the air. The changeling lady sank to her knees, "what have you done to me?!" A tear ran down her cheek.
Appendix freed from the chains that Dorothea had shot in pieces came to her, wiped the tear away with his hoof and said softly, "have no fear. I won't be in your way. I'll go if that's what you need, but believe me that I am leaving my heart here with you." He turned around and walked away.
Dorothea lying on the floor whispered, "no, you are taking mine away with you."
Cadance finally got rid of the sticky gag and called out to Dorothea, "don't let him go, you fool!"
"No, I have to forget him and live as before."
"You will never be as before," Cadance objected, "you'll be hurting, thinking of him every day and night! Go and bring him back!"
"Then I have to destroy this love before it destroys me!" the changeling lady scowled, stood up and set off to cach up with Appendix.
"Don't do anything that you'll be sorry!" Cadance called to her, "this love is the magic you've been looking for!"
But Dorothea had already left the room.
Appendix slowly opened the heavy main gate. At that moment, an invisible force slammed it shut right in front of him. Stamping hooves and a deep growl sounded behind the drone. He turned around and saw Dorothea coming. Her eyes and horn were glowing red. Flames of torches on the walls as if fed by her wrath grew taller when she passed them by.
"So you think that you can come into my castle, turn my life upside down and simply walk away as if nothing happened?!" she shouted.
Appendix was clear that she could easily tear him to pieces. He saw the look of a goddess of revenge on her face, and realized that with every step she took towards him, he was a step closer to his doom. But it was her, the changeling lady that he loved, adored, and had always dreamed of; the legend herself elegantly swinging her flanks.
Appendix was completely confused. His head was crying, 'run!' but his heart was calling, 'stay!'
Dorothea stopped before him. Terrified and amazed at the same time he wasn't able to move or just breathe a word. She grabbed his cheeks with her front hooves and lifted the smaller drone up a bit.
He was shivering from both, fear and excitement. The heart in his chest was pounding like trying to make its way out. Suddenly, the fear subsided and he only perceived the softness of her touch. 'If these are the last moments of my life, I don't want to spend them anywhere else than in her hooves,' flashed through his mind.
She took a look at him, closed her eyes and gave him her very first kiss.
A firework of the sweetest emotions exploded in their hearts. Electric impulses flooded their bodies, titillatingly sparkling from the tips of their ears to back hooves. Vibrating waves of irresistible ardor pervading their souls were carrying them away across blooming meadows of pleasure; through rivers of bliss; into the starry skies of paradise where all the stars were spinning, swinging, and swirling to the symphony of love.
Struck by the intense heady sensation the changeling lady became a little bit dizzy.
Dorothea opened her eyes and found that she was kissing a beautiful black unicorn with a dark blue mane, and that they were really hovering six feet above the floor.
"Appendix?"
"Yes, it's me," the black stallion said.
"How do we get down?" she asked.
"Well, I'll get down if you let my cheeks go, and you just stop flapping your wings."
"My wings have never enabled me to fly. They are only to disperse my pheromones," she said.
"You know, you have changed either."
"Dorothea looked at her sides and saw a pair of her new large black feathered wings carrying her in the air. As soon as she managed to land, she headed for the nearest mirror followed by Appendix.
Huge was surprise of the former changeling queen when she saw her reflection. A beautiful black alicorn with a thick magenta mane was looking back at her from the mirror. All the holes in her legs were gone. The only thing about her that stayed the same was the color of her blue eyes.
"It seems that it's permanent; I can't change forms anymore," Appendix remarked.
Dorothea spread her wings to see how large and beautiful they were.
"I just don't understand why we became ponies," Appendix wondered.
"I guess that it's my fault," Dorothea folded the wings and flattened her ears back, "all the unicorns' magic that I possess is what transformed us into this shape."
"Or it's just about the kiss. Maybe we did something wrong. We should try again," Appendix grinned.
She smiled and gently stroked his head, "I liked the kiss too, but there are things that I must do first."
Princess Luna imprisoned in the dream finally chewed through the tendril holding her right foreleg, but before she managed to move, another two tendrils had wrapped around it. "Curses!"
All of a sudden, she heard steps in fallen leaves around. She raised her head and saw the black-coated alicorn coming to her.
"Who are you?" Luna asked.
Dorothea set her free from the tendrils and the magic-blocking collar.
"Thank you, but who...?" the Princess of the Night asked her again.
"Go home," Dorothea said. Her horn shone bright blue.
Princess Luna woke up in her bed, "oh, what a nightmare!"
Dorothea and Appendix returned to the collection room.
"So you let your heart win?" Cadance smiled.
Dorothea removing the black collar and shackles from the Princess said, "I was about to avenge on him, but when I looked in his eyes, I just couldn't resist kissing him."
"How did you recognize us," Appendix asked.
"Your bodies changed, but the aura of love around you is the same," Cadance said.
Dorothea lit up her horn again and set Twilight free from the crystal.
The Princess of Friendship hugged her sister-in-law, "I am so glad to see you again." Twilight looked around, "where is Starlight? What did the monster do to her?!"
"Starlight," Appendix said, "the real Starlight is sleeping in a cocoon stuck to the ceiling of her bedroom in the Castle of Friendship."
"And I am the monster!" Dorothea glared at the lavender pony lady.
"You?" Twilight frowned, "yes, I recognize that evil look in your eyes!" She crouched, set her teeth and aimed the horn against the black alicorn.
Dorothea turned to Cadance, "she is pretty unfriendly for the Princess of Friendship."
"Calm down, Twilight. It's all right," Cadance said.
"I am going to wake up all the stallions here, but I need your help," Dorothea said. "When I get them out of the crystals, they will suffer from short-time amnesia. The absence of their magic will make them panic. I need you to keep them all in this room until I transfer their magic back to them."
"Why don't you give it back to them one by one?" Twilight asked.
"I am not able to pick a particular part of the power and give it to its right owner. Would you like a Sheriff possessing partly Starswirl's and partly a manedresser's magic? I have to transfer it all at once," Dorothea explained.
"But it is magic of several hundred unicorns," Twilight said.
"315 exactly," Dorothea specified the number.
"If you give so much magic away from you all at once..." Twilight rubbed her head.
"I know. It is possible that I won't survive it," the black alicorn replied.
"What?!" Appendix exclaimed.
Dorothea's horn shone, a square-shaped hole opened in the floor and a big blue crystal came up out of it. "Ready, Twilight?" she asked.
The Princess of Friendship nodded her head.
"You don't have to do it!" Appendix stood in front of Dorothea, "I don't want to lose you!"
The black alicorn lady looked in his eyes, "your love freed me from the eternal hunger. You made me live after centuries of mere surviving. For the first time in my life I am really happy. Now it's time to release all these ponies and give them a chance of finding their own happiness. I feel that I must do it even though it means risking my own life."
"Don't do it," Appendix gently stroked her cheek.
"I promised," Dorothea said.
Appendix hugged her, "I won't let you do it!"
Dorothea moved Appendix with her telekinesis to a distant corner, and chained his legs to the floor again. "Forgive me, honey, but you gave me no choice."
She turned back to Twilight, "let's start!" Her horn shone bright, and all the crystals in which the unicorns were captured melted away. All the 315 stallions woke up. Twilight immobilized them with her magic.
"Now the harder part." Dorothea placed her hooves on the blue crystal and concentrated. The crystal began pulling the power out of her body, sent a mighty flow of magic high up to the ceiling, where it split in 315 streams that headed downwards. Like a rain of shooting stars they returned to the unicorns. The blue crystal cracked. Exhausted Dorothea sank down on the floor. Because she was no longer possessing the power, the chains on Appendix's legs vanished. He immediately galloped to the lady of his heart.
Twilight ceased the immobilization spell. "Listen up, Everypony," she called, "follow the pink alicorn. She'll lead you out of the castle."
"Let's go!" Cadance shouted and set off.
As the large herd of the unicorns was passing Twilight by, she spotted a familiar face, the great Starswirl Bearded. She called at him, but he took no notice of it, for he didn't remember his name. Twilight took her mentor aside to tell him, "you are the greatest wizard of all time, Starswirl Bearded. Just remember."
"No, I feel rather like a poet," replied he.
The Princess of Friendship thought for a moment and said, "of course, the clear mind spell." She touched his horn with hers and lit it up, "remember!"
Meanwhile, Appendix came running to Dorothea who was lying on the floor with her eyes closed and wings unfurled like a dark angel of beauty.
He sat down next to her, softly drew a lock of the magenta mane off her face and said, "wake up."
To his grief, she kept lying there motionless.
"Come on, Dory, open your eyes," he shook her. To no avail. Appendix put his ear on her chest. Where her heart had been beating strongly, he now only heard silence. Appendix took her head in his forelegs and uttered in a sorrowful voice, "don't leave me, Dory."
Twilight led Starswirl to the black alicorn, "bring her back to life, please."
"I master mighty magic, Twilight Sparkle," the experienced wizard said, "but I don't know a spell so powerful to bring anypony back to life. This is beyond my prowess."
Twilight placed a hoof on Appendix's shoulder, "I--am sorry..."
He didn't even look her way and said tersely, "just go."
When all the other ponies left and Appendix remained with Dorothea alone, he gently stroked her mane, "oh, Dory, what have you done? You have laid down your life for just a stupid promise. Now I swear that I'll stay here with you until the end of my days. Without you the world is an empty worthless space." Then Appendix gave a goodbye kiss to the black beauty.
He stroked her mane again, "never will I forget your smile, the sound of your voice and the way you wrinkled your nose when you tried not to burst into laughter. By these things I would have recognized you even if you had changed a thousand times. And by your eyes; the incredible hypnotizing blue like an ocean deep; the blue that sapphires envied you; the blue that contained all my universe within."
"Mmm, tell me more about my eyes," Dorothea whispered, slowly opened the eyes and looked at him.
"Dory, you are..." the happy unicorn exclaimed.
"How could I leave you now that I found you," she smiled, "such an amazing kisser."
* * *
When Appendix gave Dorothea the goodbye kiss, a magic spark jumped from his lips to hers. It was residual energy of the magic kiss that had turned them into ponies. While the blue-maned unicorn was talking about her smile, the spark was traveling through her veins until it reached the heart. It was just an infinitesimal particle of energy, but strong enough to make her heart start beating again.
* * *
"You are shivering," Appendix said.
"I am still a little bit frightened," she replied.
"Frightened?"
"I am lying here in your forelegs so weak and defenseless; my heart is in your hooves; and I am afraid of the power that this magic called love has over me."
"Even for me these feelings are new, but instead of fearing them, we should learn about their power."
"I agree," she smiled, pulled him closer and they kissed again.
For three days Twilight and Cadance were leading the stallions across Equestria. Meantime, some of them remembered where they lived and like Starswirl Bearded they returned home. The Princesses brought the rest to a place with a fertile soil at the foot of a hill where the stallions soon built a settlement next to a village inhabited mostly by young and pretty mares. (As time passed, both places joined together in one.)
Five days later, all four Princesses met up with leaders of the rebels at a large negotiation table in the Canterlot castle.
"We require official abdication of the usurpress, Princess Cadance and her husband, and autonomy of the Crystal Empire!" Lotus Blossom with a war paint on her face said uncompromisingly.
"Who does she call 'usurpress'?!" Cadance growled.
Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder to calm her down.
Barley Plant, the leader of the South-Equestrian rebels announced, "we want you to acknowledge the Southern Equestria as an independent kingdom with no Canterlot's influence! We are ready to achieve this even by force!"
Cadance glared at Lotus, "what have I done to you to deserve this?!"
"You plan to reduct us to slaves, just like Sombra did! That's unacceptable for us!" Lotus bristled up.
"This is a lie!" Cadance defended herself.
"With my own eyes I saw you making the plan and laughing upon it!!" Lotus shouted.
Princess Celestia said, "I am convinced that this all is only a big misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?!" Plant said, "do you deny that you came to Sunnyfields and threatened ponies with sending your guards against us for your new madly high taxes?!"
"I can explain this," Twilight broke into the conversation, "a changeling disguised as Cadance and Celestia provoked you to cause chaos in Equestria."
"Changelings are harmless now. Everypony knows that!" Lotus argued.
"With this nonsense you are only trying to buy time to regroup your forces!" Plant blamed the Princesses, "our ponies saw the army of several hundred unicorns that Princesses Twilight and Cadance brought from the west!"
While Twilight was trying to explain that the unicorns were no army, an earth mare called Penny Share brought a cup of tea to Celestia. Just when she was about to pass it to the Princess of the Sun, a window shattered into pieces and Dorothea pulling a small chariot flew into the room. Two unicorn guards standing near were driven by the falling shards to the left side of the room. The black alicorn landed next to the table, in a second took her harness off, kicked the tea cup out of Penny's hooves and cast her hard against a wall with her telekinesis. The two unicorn guards headed to Dorothea.
Appendix jumped out of the chariot and knocked them down with his horn-shot. "Stay down!"
"It's a trap!" Lotus called.
Four pegasi guards standing by the door set off towards the black ponies couple. At that moment, a small group of rebels who had heard Lotus's calling smashed the door down, and burst into the room in order to defend their leader. The four pegasi returned to stop them.
Dorothea grasped Penny Share by her neck with the magic and pressed her against the wall.
"Enough!" Celestia rose from her chair.
"You should be more grateful, Princess Celestia," Appendix pointed at a carpet in which Penny's tea had burned a hole.
"What? A poison?!" shocked Celestia exclaimed.
Dorothea looked straight in Penny's eyes, "first, you attacked me in the hive. Then you sent a spy into my castle, which turned out more than good for me, but I warn you, one more action against me and I'll punish you hard! Even as a pony I am able to sense magic. There is no place in this world where I couldn't find you!" The black alicorn released her magic grip.
'Penny Share' fell down on the floor, green flames ran over her body and she resumed her true form.
"Chrysalis!" Lotus shouted.
All the guards and rebels stopped fighting.
Seeing the ponies' numerical superiority, the Changeling Queen angrily hissed, spread her wings and fled through the broken window.
"So--it seems that you were right," Lotus hung her head down, "can you forgive me, Princess Cadance?"
The Princess of Love slowly came to her and frowned. Then she smiled and hugged her, "I cannot keep being angry with you when I see your puppy dog eyes."
"I apologize that I didn't believe you," Barley Plant said.
Celestia told him, "you don't need to worry. I promise you that there shall be no new taxes."
All the former rebels left the castle in peace.
Dorothea put the harness on and Appendix got in the chariot.
"I am glad to see that you are all right, Dorothea," Twilight said. She noticed a silver star on a flank of the black alicorn, "and I congratulate you on your cutie mark."
"After the magic transfer, I had to rediscover, explore and develop my own magic, but I am a quick learner," the black alicorn lady said.
"Dorothea?!" Princess Luna scowled, "is it you who...?!"
"Yes, I am the monster," Dorothea retorted.
"Do you feel no shame for all the crimes that you committed?!" the Princess of the Night asked.
Dorothea turned around with the chariot to prepare for flying away and looked in Luna's eyes, "I have never felt sorry for anything, because I had had no choice, unlike you, Nightmare Moon!"
"This is so unjust!" Luna said, "I know many good mares who deserve to become an alicorn better than you!"
"Yes, it is unfair, but I have already reconciled myself to this curse," Dorothea rejoined.
Luna huffed, "You...!"
"You are always welcome here," Princess Celestia smiled to ease the tension between her sister and the magenta-maned alicorn.
"We could organize a wedding for you two," Cadance proposed.
"We only want to be alone!" Dorothea said.
Before she spread her wings and carried him away, Appendix called out of the chariot's window, "hey, Twi, the control crystal of the magic map is in the violet vase."
"I knew that someone had touched it!" Sparkle growled.
When the two black ponies were gone, Twilight used her magic to mend the broken window.
"Never have I seen anyone as arrogant as this Dorothea," Princess Luna uttered.
"You should be more lenient towards her, sister," Celestia said, "she has been being a pony only for a few days and do not forget that she saved me from the poison. By the way, something tells me that we will meet these two ponies again.
🐎THE END🐎