Celestia’s sun dawned bright and early on the city of Canterlot, casting its rays over the beautiful capital city of Equestria. The still-sleepy inhabitants were roused one by one, some by alarm clocks and others by servants or family. Many still refused to get up, still sore from the day before, wanting nothing more than to lie in bed and let the day pass them by.
However, in the northern quadrant of Canterlot, two ponies stood outside a large, dome-shaped building with buckets of soapy water, sponges, and mops. One was a pink pegasus mare with a red mane, the other a snow-white unicorn stallion sporting a silver mane. Their names were, respectively, Ruby Gleam and Aeon, and they were employees of the Metamorphosis Spa and Massage Parlour.
Aeon looked up at the top of the Metamorphosis. It was one of Canterlot’s older structures, built about three hundred years ago as an auditorium for speeches and public events, when the population had been smaller. Eventually it had been bought by one of Canterlot’s wealthier aristocrats, only to lose it later when his son gambled away most of the family fortune. It had since then been converted into a center of relaxation, and was reputed to be one of the most luxurious spas in the city.
Not that it looked like it now. In the changeling invasion during the royal wedding, the Metamorphosis had been, like many other buildings in the city, subject to the attacks of the invaders. Sticky green slime was splattered across the top of the dome, and scorch marks from spellcraft dotted the eggshell-white surface of the massage parlour. There had even been a spear lodged through one of the windows, but that was the first thing the two ponies had got to removing.
“What a way to start the day…” Ruby Gleam peeled away a now slime-coated cloth from the window and frowned at it. “Why? Just why are we even in this mess right now?”
Aeon levitated a mop up to the roof and began to wipe off some of the soot and goo. “Because if we don’t clean up the building, ponies won’t come for our services,” He said as neutrally as he could, though he too did not relish the idea of getting up at the crack of dawn just to clean.
“Everything would’ve been just fine.” Ruby Gleam sighed and tossed the cloth away and got out a brush. “Business would’ve been as per usual, but no, Chrysalis had to show up and had to try to take over Canterlot and fail. This sludge wouldn’t be here if not for her.”
“That’s true, what you said,” Aeon noted as he rinsed the mop in a bucket and went back to swabbing. A mail delivery pony trotted past and the unicorn paused to nod good morning at her. “Obviously something went wrong with Chrysalis’ plan.”
Ruby grumbled something and continued cleaning. The pair said very little else for the next few hours as they worked to restore their building to pristine cleanliness, only stopping to get more soapy water from within. By the time they had finished, Canterlot was fully awake and ready to start the day. Aeon spotted other ponies hard at work cleaning many of the other structures that had been dirtied by the changeling invasion. Feeling glad that he and Ruby Gleam had gotten it all done ahead of time, Aeon used his magic to gather up the cleaning implements and headed inside to rinse them all off.
“You go ahead and get some breakfast, Ruby,” Aeon instructed as he left her. “I’ll come join you once I’m done putting things away.”
Ruby Gleam nodded and trotted on after Aeon, eager to get some food into her belly and start the day proper.
Meanwhile, inside the spa, another pair of ponies were hard at work sweeping up the remains of a glass display that had been shattered during the invasion. Or, more accurately, when Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had defeated Chrysalis. There were smears of blood mixed in with the glass fragments, but not red pony blood. This blood was green. The blood of a changeling.
Silent Moon was getting the frame of the display ready to be taken out to the trash. She was a light blue pegasus with a wavy blue and white striped mane done up in a loose braid, and was careful to avoid the jagged bits of glass that still clung to the frame as she pushed it toward the back door of the Metamorphosis. Contrary to her name, Silent Moon was actually quite the sociable pony, though she did not often get the chance to show it. Customers at the spa were interested in rest and relaxation, not a conversation with their masseuses. Placing the metal frame against the spa’s trash cans, Silent Moon trotted back indoors to help her coworker with the glass on the floor.
The other pony, a silver unicorn with a curly, daisy yellow mane, had just finished sweeping away the last of the glass, leaving only the green bloodstains on the tiles.
“Heheh… Did you know if we stick our hooves in this, we can probably climb on the ceiling?” Golden Lily, the unicorn, giggled and pressed a hoof against the green blood.
“As much as I would like to walk on the ceiling, we have to clean it up,” Silent Moon sighed. “Do you think our customers would like to see changeling blood all over the spa?”
Lily tried to pull her hoof up, but it was stuck fast. “Oh. I can’t move.”
Moon picked up a spray bottle of cleaning solvent and squirted it onto Lily’s hoof. The unicorn pulled and her hoof came loose, sending her crashing back into a pile of neatly stacked towels by the side, toppling all of them.
“Ah, I just folded those…” Moon facehoofed and went over to help Lily up. “Come on, we have no time to play about. The spa opens in less than two hours, and we have to get everything all fixed up for our customers.”
Golden Lily pulled a towel off her head. “You think we could get the day off… I mean, the city was just almost taken over yesterday.”
“No dice,” Silent Moon deftly folded up the towels and replaced them on the rack. “After what happened yesterday, there are bound to be ponies who will be in need of a little R&R.”
Moon then picked up the spray bottle and set herself on scrubbing off the green stains. Golden Lily sat there watching for a little while, then stood up.
“I’m going to start getting breakfast ready. Want me to bring you anything?”
“Just some toast,” Moon replied around the bottle in her mouth. “Not sure how much I can stomach right about now.”
“Gotcha. Toast coming right up.”
Golden Lily wound her way through the corridors of the staff-only area of the Metamorphosis and into the kitchen, already putting together a meal in her head. Ruby Gleam was already seated inside, a half-eaten daffodil and daisy sandwich on the table in front of her. The pink pegasus glanced up at Lily and half-heartedly waved a hoof in greeting.
“Morning.”
“Good morning,” Golden Lily said as she pulled some bread out of the fridge. Using her magic, Lily untied the bag and slipped two slices into the toaster. “How was the cleaning?”
Ruby snorted. “You wouldn’t believe the mess that changeling drones can leave, even if it’s just half an hour. Aeon and me were out there at sunrise, scrubbing slime off the roof.”
“They don’t know any better,” Golden Lily retrieved a jar of peanut butter and some marmalade, floating them both over in her green magical aura. “It’s not like a changeling hive is the best place to learn about manners.”
“You got that right,” Ruby took a bite of her sandwich and grimaced. “Ah, my back still hurts from yesterday. Can’t believe we have to work today.”
Lily shrugged. “I don’t think we’ll get any customers today either, but the important thing is that we’re here for them in case there are.”
“Psssh, this is all Chrysalis’ fault. She just had to go and try it. We were doing great till now.” Ruby grumbled sourly. “She had a perfect invasion plan and screwed it up. What even happened to her anyway? The news hasn’t exactly been consistent.”
Lily shrugged and flipped the marmalade jar. “They say she got flung to the badlands. She’s probably still out there, skulking about and plotting revenge or something.”
Ruby Gleam rolled her eyes and wolfed down the rest of her sandwich, stuffing it into her mouth. “I’m going to go tidy up the lobby. Do you know if the mistress is up yet?”
“She’s been up before us,” Lily said as the toast popped up with a ding. She levitated a butterknife over and began to spread marmalade on the slices. “I think she’s composing a letter.”
“Oh, good. Maybe we’ll finally learn what happened up there in the castle.”
“If only…” Lily placed the jars back on the shelves. “What do you think happened, Ruby?”
The pink pegasus rasped and snorted. “If you ask me, something terribly egotistical and stupid.”
“Probably.” Golden Lily finished with her stack of toast and placed it on the dining table, grabbing two slices with her magic. “I’ll get these to Moon. I’ll see you later.”
“Right. Well, back to spa work.”
Ruby Gleam put her plate in the sink and made her way to the lobby. This room, at least, had not been too badly damaged in the invasion. There was a reception desk where Aeon was supposed to sit and greet the customers as they came in, along with several rows of seats that those waiting could sit on, a couple of aromatic potted plants and a shallow pond with some koi fish in it.
Ruby went over to a shelf where some pamphlets were stacked, straightening them. Then she tossed some fish food into the pond for the koi, watching as the fish swarmed toward the edge of the pool.
The glass double doors that served as the spa’s main entrance swung open, allowing a white pegasus to enter, brushing her windswept blue mane out of her eyes as she wheeled a wooden crate into the building.
“Heya, Snowy,” Ruby said as she poured some water on a pot plant. “Is that the new set of cocktail glasses you’ve got in there?”
“Yes,” Snowy Skies replied, parking the crate in the corner of the lobby. “The display case will be delivered the day after tomorrow.” She shook her head and winced. “Of all the things Dahlia could have been thrown into, it had to be a glass stand with crystal glasses on it. Ouch.”
“At least the cocktail lounge survived unscathed,” Ruby mused. “Imagine having to replace our entire stock of liquor. That would cut into our profits for months.”
Snowy Skies picked up a crowbar to open the crate with. “Good for us, I don’t think the love wave affects inanimate objects. I'm just glad we were all inside when it happened.”
“I dunno. Outside might’ve been better. Especially for Dahlia.”
“Maybe. You have breakfast already?”
Ruby Gleam nodded. “There’s some salad in the fridge if you’re interested. I ate the last of the daffodils though. Not that it’ll do me much good.”
“Pass,” Snowy Skies grunted. “I’ll just have some of Aeon’s coffee. Don’t feel like eating anything right now.”
“Mhm,” Ruby agreed. “Oh, by the way, did you deliver Dahlia’s sick slip to the castle?”
“Of course I did. We can’t have ponies wondering why she’s not at work. Though admittedly, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of ponies skipped work today.”
“Not us, though,” Ruby pointed out.
Snowy sighed and went back to unpacking the cocktail glasses. “Yeah. Not us.”
When the building that would eventually become the Metamorphosis had been built, construction laws had been different. Due to strictures about the northern quadrant’s skyline and keeping it clear for flying chariots and the like, the height of any structures could not exceed three stories. As such, the architect had been forced to incorporate a series of underground tunnels and rooms in the building’s design, some of which ran very close to the now-defunct gemstone mines that riddled the mountain that Canterlot was built on.
And inside one of these underground rooms, a powder-white unicorn in a sleeping kimono paced back and forth. A sumptuous four-poster bed was the centerpiece of the space, with three wardrobes lining the walls. There was no natural light down here, but the room was well illuminated by a handful of flameless lanterns that hung from the ceiling and were slotted into the walls.
“Insufferable… Insufferable!” she grumbled to herself, wondering what to do about the entire situation, lost in her thoughts as she stomped around her room.
The unicorn tossed her light blue and green mane angrily, casting a glare at a stack of discarded black armor that was piled up in the corner. Another thing to add to her ever-growing list of troubles: armor repairs. At least it had done its job well enough.
Snorting air, the unicorn continued to tramp in circles, pausing only to glance at an antique clock in the corner. An hour and a half until opening time. That would be plenty.
Eventually she got tired of grinding her teeth and pacing, and she lit up her horn to take hold of a quill, inkpot, and a scroll of paper. Then she put the quill and ink back and picked up a pen instead.
“Dear esteemed sister…” The unicorn dictated as the pen scratched away at the paper, held in the grip of her green magical aura. “No, no. I can’t start it like that.”
The sheet was crumpled up and tossed into the general direction of the wastepaper basket, which was overflowing with balled up paper already.
The unicorn muttered something best left unwritten to herself and snatched up another sheet of paper. Chewing on the end of the pen, she scratched out a message, crossed it out, then wrote another one before scrunching up the paper and throwing it away.
Finally she put a hoof to her chest and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. The white unicorn repeated this motion until she felt her heart rate go back down to a semi-normal count. Only then did she put pen to paper and scrawled down a single line.
“What happened to the plan?”
Satisfied, the unicorn folded up the letter and stuffed it into an envelope. Then she touched her horn to it and the entire message vanished in a surge of green fire, finally disappearing with a small pop.
“Now let’s see what you have to say for yourself, Queen Chrysalis,” The unicorn sniffed.
With the letter written, there was nothing else to do but to prepare for the day’s work. The unicorn stepped into her bathroom and turned on the water. Failed changeling invasion or not, she refused to open the spa without having a proper wash first.