Twilight Sparkle was currently in her bedroom, several large volumes stacked neatly on the desk in front of her. The only sound in the room was the occasional rustle of a page turning, with the steady ticking of a clock to mark the passage of time. As the clock struck eleven, Twilight put down the book, stifling a weary yawn. Getting up from her seat, the walked over to her four-poster bed, pulling back the covers before sliding her body under them. As she turned over trying to get comfortable, she thought she noticed movement in the corner of her eye. By the time she'd blinked and turned her head though, there was nothing there. Shrugging it off as her imagination, Twilight closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
No sooner had she done so, that a figure stepped silently out from under the shadow of her wardrobe, green eyes gleaming maliciously in the darkness. In absolute silence, Queen Chrysalis advanced on the sleeping Twilight, an evil grin twisting her already frightening expression into something out of a nightmare.
Soon enough, Twilight Sparkle and her friends would be her prisoners, and the Hive's hunger would finally be sated. And this time, there would be no escape. Chrysalis would make sure of that.
.....
The next morning, many miles away in her home in the White Tail Woods, Kyra Blade, former bounty hunter to Princess Luna, lay quiet under her bedcovers. Curled up next to her, head resting on the cushion of Kyra's silky indigo chest fur, was Starlight Glimmer. Having been reunited by chance during last year's Hearth Warming's Eve, the pair had since begun living together. In the months that followed, their bond had waxed and strengthened, bringing them closer together than ever before. This was fortunate, for the time would soon come where their relationship would be sorely tested. For now though they slept, happy and carefree in the comfort of each other's arms.
However, as Celestia's sun gradually climbed higher on the horizon, the peace was broken by the loud bangs of frantic hooves on the front door. Instantly Kyra and Starlight were both wide awake, sitting up with expressions of alarms on their faces. Glancing at each other, it was clear they were both thinking the same thing.
What the Hell was going on?
Getting up from the bed, Kyra motioned for Starlight to follow. Cautiously the pair made their way to the top of the stairs, which led down to the ground floor of the home. Here Kyra held up a hoof, silently signaling for Starlight to stay at the top of the stairs. So she did, nervously biting her lip as Kyra crept towards the front door.
Pausing momentarily with her hoof on the door handle, Kyra took a deep breath. The next moment she'd flung the door wide - only to step back in surprise as she recognized the alicorn standing before her.
"Princess Luna!"
"Hello Kyra," Luna answered. Her expression was grim, making Kyra's heart sink. "Forgive our intrusion, but we are in urgent need of your help."
"Why?" Kyra asked. At the top of the stairs, Starlight leaned over the wooden railing, straining to hear the conversation. "What's going on?"
"We'd rather not say in the open," Luna replied. "May we come inside?"
At this point Kyra hesitated, unsure what to do. She couldn't very well deny the Princess of the Night her request, but more than that, Kyra was anxious what may happen if Luna discovered Starlight was in fact not dead, but in fact very much alive and living here with her. All this crossed Kyra's mind in a split second, before she came to a decision.
"Of course, Luna," she said, absently flicking her long tail as she stepped aside. "You're more than welcome in my home."
As Luna's hoof crossed the threshold, Starlight had seen Kyra's signal and ducked out of view on the second floor, hiding in the empty room directly beside the top floor landing. Luna never noticed a thing. She walked into the kitchen - and Kyra's stomach dropped beneath her hooves as she realized she'd left out the framed picture she and Starlight had taken of their time together during last year's Hearth Warming's Eve - and on the living room coffee table of all places!
And then her heart almost stopped as she realized Luna had spotted the picture.
Kyra froze, feeling the blood rush into her legs the way it always did when she was preparing to fight. She stood rigidly at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes trained on Luna, who stood silently staring at the photograph. Kyra thought she knew what was happening in the alicorn's mind, even though her back was turned and Kyra couldn't see her face. Nervous sweat began to drip from Kyra's brow as her mind raced at the possibilities, terror threatening to make her physically sick on the spot. Either Luna was about to start shouting, or she was preparing to banish Kyra to the moon for her betrayal. Kyra desperately hoped it was neither.
"Your Majesty..." she ventured timidly, with the air of one handling live explosives. "I... I promise there's a perfect explanation for this. If you'll let me explain?"
Luna didn't answer. Kyra, now sweating bullets and unsure if Luna had heard her at all, was starting to feel weak at the knees. As her body began to shake, she instinctively locked her joints in place to stop the tremors. Hardly able to breath at this point, she shut her eyes, praying to whatever gods existed that Luna wouldn't banish her - or worse, banish Starlight.
For an insurmountable amount of time the pair stood motionless. The Luna's horn glowed, and moments later the picture frame had become encased in her magic as Luna brought it closer to her muzzle, seemingly scrutinizing it from different angles to see if it was real or not. Kyra held her breath.
After several long, agonizing seconds that felt like hours, Luna carefully set the picture frame down again before turning to face Kyra again.
There was a faint hint of surprise in her voice as she spoke.
"Kyra. You didn't tell me you had a marefriend."
Kyra fainted.