A week after they had left the Crystal Empire, Cadance and Shining Armor had left Twilight's castle, since it was perhaps the most obvious place in the world for Amaryllis' agents to look for them. Hiding an alicorn and a unicorn of impressive height and stature wasn't easy, but with magical help it was achieved, the two settling down into an isolated cloud-home that hovered in the air six miles from Cloudsdale. Everything they needed would be brought to them by Twilight Sparkle herself via teleportation, and only the three of them plus Cheval and Flurry Heart would know where they were. Amaryllis finding them was as impossible as they could make it.
A week after they had left the Crystal Empire, Flurry Heart and Cheval had reached the Badlands Changeling Hive. One of the words in its name was now a throwback and had been for years, for with the Protean Throne gone and no longer draining magic from the land, the lands surrounding the Hive had transformed into lush savanna, and the Hive itself was overgrown with moss and flowers and vines that turned it into a riot of colors. As the two sisters stepped from the sky-chariot that had brought them, they were met by King Thorax, Prince Pharynx, and Chrysalis. Flurry Heart was welcomed with open arms and embraces from all three. Cheval was looked at with and could taste something she hadn't expected and couldn't understand: pity.
A week after Cadance and her family had left the land now known as the Crystal March, a dozen crystal ponies in the capital, members of the Society for Equestrian Harmony, had been rounded up by Robust Core and the Crystal Guard by the authority of Queen Amaryllis, suspected of having robbed or aided in the robbing of the land of the Crystal Heart and aiding in the flight of its renegade former rulers. They were marched to the empty dias where the Crystal Heart had been on display and, in full view of the city, executed for treason. The intent was to show the crystal ponies cost of treachery to the Northern Changeling Hive. But some of them, hearing their fellows’ protestations of innocence and ignorance, wondered instead if it was the cost of allegiance.