//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 Part 1 
// Story: And Now For Something Exactly the Same 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

The plans were all coming together. Lyra sat at a table with Shining and Cadance—the last of the plans in her saddlebag. "Is something wrong?" She looked at Shining first, then at Cadance. "You both seem a little on-edge."

"It's the wedding," Chrysalis was quick to say, keeping her tone as even as she could. "I just want it to go perfect."

Lyra snorted and took a sip from the juice on the table. Relaxing in Cadance's private rooms was always a treat, but Lyra could sense something off about her friend. "I mean, of course you do. You seem a little off is all, maybe a spa day would be a good idea? You could both spend—"

Chrysalis had seen this problem coming. She knew there would be those around the princess who would know her too well to let slide any significant slips in character. Lyra Heartstrings, she'd quickly realized, was one such. But this was something she had a solution to.

Feeling her thoughts scatter, Lyra struggled to keep her mind afloat in the sea of green that invaded it. Green that poured into her from Cadance's eyes. "Wh—"

"Dammit, you're strong. Had a little experience with this before? No matter. With Shining Armor's love fueling me, I could take over a dozen ponies with this much willpower. You'll go get my other two bridesmaids and bring them here. You will not mention anything you suspect about me. You will do what you need to, to convince anyone you meet that you are just acting normally." It felt good to have her will focused and imposed. Chrysalis loved watching a delicious pony's head go empty as they became her minion. "Go."

Turning around, Lyra started for the door but was frozen by the voice again.

"And find some ponies to organize this thing. It doesn't matter who." Turning her attention back to Shining, Chrysalis inhaled the sweet love in the air around him.

Out in the morning air, Lyra blinked a few times in surprise and looked around as if she'd been in a daze. In her head, the little voice of reason railed against a sea of green that wanted to stop it, but there was a very small out she had against the encroaching magic. "Find somepony to organize the wedding."

Even with the very plans for the wedding on her back, Lyra was able to edge around the green and find the solution she hoped would be the best. "Of course—Twilight!" With both the green glow in her head and her own mind made up, Lyra trotted to the ramp leading down from the castle. "Hi!" she called to the Royal Guardponies. "I am acting normally!"

She kept up her trot, working through Canterlot and calling out to anypony she recognized just to tell them she was acting normally. In her head, her reason was fighting a war with the green that choked it. A war waged in malicious compliance.

Her first target was Minuette. Her school-friend had a home in Canterlot and Ponyville, though she mostly lived in her Canterlot one now. Lifting a hoof, Lyra knocked on the door. "Hey, Minuette! Cadance said she needs to talk to you and Twinkleshine. I am acting normally."

Minuette had seen Lyra act strange on many occasions—in fact, seeing her not acting strange would have been strange. "You want me to collect Twinkleshine and go see what's up?"

"Yes! Yes that! I need to write a letter!" Walking into Minuette's home, Lyra looked around and spotted a writing desk. "Can I use your stationary?"

"S-Sure. Look, I'll leave you to it. Just lock the door when you leave." Using her magic to levitate her scarf over, Minuette wrapped it around her neck, shook her head at the strangeness of her friends, and left.

Loyalty and honor was the part of Lyra that the green was choking. Those attributes had to be sacrificed in order for Lyra to be able to pull off the save she knew she needed. Twilight and her friends had handled Nightmare Moon, had dealt with Discord, and she was sure that there were no ponies better suited to stopping—And that's where her train of thought stopped. Lyra didn't even know who she was getting help with except that it was not Cadance.



Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot. I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion.



It was so out of character for Celestia that Lyra was sure Twilight would know something was up. They hadn't even made public that the wedding would be in a week, let alone that it was happening at all. But she needed more. She needed an excuse for Twilight to bring her friends, too.



Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music. Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception. Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception. Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their "I do"'s. Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids. And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all



Lyra screwed her eyes closed for a moment and managed to whisper, "Saving us all."



making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon.

Yours, Princess Celestia.



The sweat beading on Lyra's forehead dripped down over her eyes. She had more to write. Grabbing a second piece of paper, she started to write a wedding invitation—a very bad one given the dozens she'd already printed and mailed.



Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of



Lyra's grin turned manic. There was one thing that would tip Twilight off.



Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor



Finishing up with the invitation, Lyra dotted it with clues that would tip her friend off that this was not what it seemed. Folding both letter and invitation together, she located a stack of envelopes on the writing table and stuffed the invitation and letter inside.

With the flood of green in her head, it was hard for Lyra to put together the right spell she needed to teleport the envelope. The targeting was tricky, but she had time to work out where to send it so that it would trigger Celestia's send to Spike spell. 

She just hoped Spike wouldn't have too much trouble with it.





Chrysalis was relieved with her decision to mind-control all three of her bridesmaids. The first one in particular had been extremely helpful—the only issue she'd had was when Shining's sister and her friends had arrived. "How am I meant to deal with this? I don't even like apples, and that—that beast is making literally every meal out of apple." 

Lyra watched "Cadance" stomp around her room and shred a bouquet of flowers with green magic. Green magic that still bubbled in Lyra's head. She kept quiet, not volunteering any information and not putting her friends forward either. 

"Just, just go. Do whatever you want for the day, but be here on time for tomorrow." It was literally too much for Chrysalis to worry about now. She gave each of her three minions another little jolt of her mind-control—enjoying the pained expression each wore as it sank in—and turned back to the empty bed.

Outside, Lyra let out a little whimper.

"You've been taking the brunt of it." Minuette leaned close to shore up Lyra's wobbly stride.

Twinkleshine nodded and moved in from the other side to support Lyra between them—not exactly easy given the physical mass Lyra possessed. "Yeah. We still can't reveal what's going on, but we can do whatever we want for the day."

"We can do whatever we want?" Lyra shook her head to try to clear the green flood that was settling into a sharp migraine in her head. "L-Like look for the real Cadance?"

"With all this you still want to save the day?" Twinkleshine asked.

"Yeah, it's what Guardponies do. We take care of all the stupid background stuff so Twilight Sparkle can be a hero." Feeling more sure of herself, Lyra walked to the entrance of the underground caves where she knew Chrysalis had put Cadance. "Down here—somewhere."

As they all walked down the stairs together, they reached a point where there was just nothing. Far below was shrouded in darkness. "You're not going to try teleporting again." Minuette grabbed Lyra's tail with her teeth and jerked her back from the edge.

"What about if we try to convince one of Twilight's friends that something really wrong is going on?" Twinkleshine asked. Action wasn't her normal thing, and so far she'd not been enjoying being a mind-controlled slave of Chrysalis.

"They didn't believe her. What makes you think they'd believe us when we can't just tell them?" Lyra asked. "No. We need to find somepony else. Somepony who's used to finding tiny threads of information and teasing them apart to reveal a web of impending disaster."

All three of them looked at each other and managed a halfhearted giggle. "Moon Dancer," they said together.

The walk wasn't far. Moon Dancer lived in the student area still, though she was in her own home now, and that was near to the castle. After assuring the doubled Royal Guards that they were all "Acting normally", the three made their way through the buzzing streets toward their friend's home.

Moon Dancer had learned the ways of the bat pony—she had mastered them. When a knock came at her front door, during the day, she pulled her pillow up and over her head. "I work nights! Go away!"

"Mooooon!" Lyra crooned the name from the front. "Moooon! I've got something you'll want to investigate!" It still wasn't giving Chrysalis away, so Lyra was still safe in the green muck filling her head.

"Mooooon!" Twinkleshine giggled. "Mooooooo—n!"

For Moon Dancer, hearing her friends' mangling of her name made her smile for a moment, until she realized they wouldn't stop until she answered the door. By the time she found her glasses and walked to the door, their calls had devolved into them mooing. She flung open the door and growled at them. "Just get inside and tell me what you want investigated."

Following Moon into her almost pitch black home, Lyra immediately tripped over a pile of books and landed on the floor.

Moon's first target was the kitchen and her coffee machine. If there was one singular thing working for Luna made her thankful for, it was the bits to buy a good coffee machine. "So what's with the visit?"

"We've got a secret!" Minuette danced on her hooves.

"But we can't tell you." Twinkleshine followed Minuette into the kitchen and they each stood flanking Moon.

Lyra followed along and shoved into the kitchen too, taking up what little room was left. "It's a huge secret. If you can guess it, you'll save Equestria!" 

Twisting the knobs and adjusting her coffee machine, Moon yawned and didn't bother hiding it. "Since I'm not going to get any rest until I find out this secret—just tell me."

"Can't," all three of Moon's home-invaders said together.

"We can't even tell you that it's about not Cadance," Minuette said.

Moon Dancer, being quite the grammarian, was about to correct Minuette's wording when she remembered that her friend was not just as bloody-minded when it came to grammar, but she was far more blunt about it than Moon herself. 

That's when the wheels started turning and Moon's mind engaged with the problem. "So, if I have this right, you have a big secret and it's all about not Cadance?"

"Getting there," Twinkleshine said.

"I really need coffee for this, so can you all just take five steps back?" Moon didn't exactly need the space, not from her friends, but she couldn't think straight when somepony was breathing down her neck. While they stood back in silence, she focused most of her attention on getting four cups of great coffee made, then turned around and floated one to each her friends.

Moon dancer sipped at her coffee and instantly felt better equipped to tackle the problem. "Okay, since this involves you three in particular, together, it must have something to do with the wedding." 

Sipping her coffee, Lyra felt relief flooding her at putting the problem in competent hooves. 

"Why can't you tell me?" Moon asked.

"We can't tell you why we can't tell you. It's annoying," Twinkleshine scrunched her snout up a little, but a sip of her coffee corrected that. "This is really good!"

"Something about the wedding, not Cadance, and it's a secret you can't talk about because it's annoying, but you want me to know anyway." As she said the last bit, Moon's eyes locked on Lyra's. She knew that Lyra might joke, but she always kept professional when things were vitally important—which meant she was acting out of character.

It didn't take a huge leap for Moon to connect the dots and realize that meant something was affecting Lyra's ability to be upfront. Wandering into her living room, which was not just wall-to-wall with bookshelves, but had a row of them down the middle of it, Moon found the right shelf and then the right book. "So, if my guess is correct, I win a prize?"

"If you guess this, all of Equestria gets a prize," Lyra said.

Floating the book out with her magic, Moon Dancer flicked through it idly. "Come over here please, Lyra." She waited for her friend to come over to her. "You remember the topic Princess Celestia was teaching when you first joined our class?"

Almost giddy, since she realized Moon was getting it, Lyra nodded. "It was on geographic distribution of magic and destiny, though we didn't know that at the time. It wasn't until third year that we realized why she'd been focusing on that."

Moon didn't consider herself a snap-caster, like Twilight and Lyra. She didn't memorize a great expanse of spells to be fired off at a moment's notice. What Moon did was always keep close to a huge store of spellbooks. Looking down at the page, she assembled the spell pattern quickly and effortlessly. She'd cast so many spells directly from books that she could do it with practically no hesitation. Her horn cast the brightest light in the room and then her soft pink glow spread out over Lyra—and turned green. "Well, that's one secret. You're being mind-controlled, right?"

Giggling, dancing from hoof to hoof in delight, Lyra shook her head. "I am acting normally!"

"Lots of it too, if I don't miss my guess. Mustn't be easy to even act how you are with that load in your head. I figure I can't remove it without setting off alarm bells for somepony—somecreature?" Moon changed her guess at the last moment when Lyra nodded. With the last word, however, Lyra shook her head and looked excited again. "Okay. Well, I'm definitely not going to tell anyone your secret that you totally didn't tell me and I don't know anyway."

The green wave of magic subsided back from Lyra's free will—only a little, but it was enough to make her relax. "Phew! That's a relief, isn't it girls? It would have been horrible if you'd found out this secret."

"Sure would be a problem for not Cadance." Minuette nodded and sipped more of her coffee. "We need to meet up more often—this coffee is really good."

"But we have to go now! There's places to be and secrets to not tell anyone!" Lyra floated her mug of coffee up to her lips and drank the rest of the mug of hot drink down. "Come on, girls!"

Moon noticed that Twinkleshine, of the three, seemed most withdrawn. When she walked over to make herself another mug of coffee for the long walk down to the E.U.P. Guard, she noticed there was a piece of paper on the table with dirty stains on it.

Of all her friends, Twinkleshine was the most into the graphical arts. Lyra played music, Minuette danced, and Lemon baked. Twinkleshine did stone sculpting with her magic, and in support of that she sketched her designs. The picture she'd drawn on the white paper with coffee terrified Moon.

Tall and monstrous, the insectile shape of the wings combined with the holes in the legs to hit Moon right in the uncanny valley. What had caused her to jerk back, though was the four letters underneath.



Help







Moon Dancer had given up on her second cup of coffee. With the piece of paper pressed carefully into a book, and the book in her saddlebags, she trotted through the streets of Canterlot. The image on the paper was burned into Moon's memory, and so when she reached the front gate of the Guard grounds, she breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the two armored ponies there. "I need to speak to whomever is Lyra Heartstrings' commander."

"And who might you be?" Sparklebright was not one to be ordered around for no reason, but she also knew better than to ignore somepony who looked like they'd been chased by Nightmare Moon herself.

Turning and opening her saddlebag, Moon reached into it with her magic and pulled out a little black coin. "Moon Dancer, advisor to Princess Luna and graduate of Princess Celestia's school."

Flicking her horn to life with magic, Sparklebright let a single spark jump into the coin and felt a wave of power pour back. Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Right this way."

Relief flooded Moon. She followed the mare to an office building and inside. "Uh, who are we—?"

"Lieutenant Stiff Peaks will be here shortly. You'll excuse me." It was standard procedure with the lieutenant. Leave the pony in his office and then go and fetch him from his office.

Moon didn't have to wait long before a handsome stallion smelling of bread stepped in. "L-Lieutenant Stiff Peaks?"

"Yes, at your service, ma'am." Stiff didn't bother trying to figure out the full form of address for one of the princess' advisers, instead ushering her into his inner office. Once the door closed, he marched around the desk and took a seat. "What can I help you with?"

"I just talked to Lyra, and she was under a class one mind-control spell."

There wasn't a lot of words that would cause Stiff to completely forget the buns he'd just literally put in the oven, but that sentence contained a good portion of them. "Go on."

"She managed to let me know that if I'd removed it, the creature that'd cast it would know. It's on her and the other two bridesmaids, Twinkleshine and Minuette. It was cast on them by somecreature—she was careful to make sure I knew it wasn't a pony—she called not Cadance. And Twinkleshine managed to draw them." Pulling out the piece of paper, Moon floated it to Stiff.

Stiff took one look at the picture and winced. "Scouts have been reporting creatures like this to the south—on the border with the Badlands. This looks a little different to their descriptions and—Is that Saddle Arabian coffee?"

"Y-Yeah." It surprised Moon that a Guardpony would recognize imported, fine coffee, but here she was. "That was drawn by my friend, Twinkleshine, under the same level of mind-control as Lyra."

Nodding and pulling out a slip of paper, Stiff started writing down a recipe for bunt cake on it. "Congratulations on being drafted into the E.U.P. Guard's Messenger Service. Can you take this note to Princess Celestia—and only Princess Celestia—and show her this token, please?" He lifted out a silver token from his desk drawer, tapped it once to authenticate it with his own personal presence, then held it and the letter out to Moon.

Moon had been easily able to read the letter, and raised one eyebrow at Stiff. "That was a recipe for cake."

"Yes it was, and yet I'm giving you a token that will let the princess know that it was myself who sent it. What does that tell you about that recipe?" Stiff couldn't help himself. He could see Moon Dancer was a smart pony, and judging by her references that corporal Sparklebright had passed on, his estimation was backed not only by both reining princesses, but also Lyra Heartstrings. He was convinced she wasn't stupid.

"That either there's a hidden message in the cake recipe, or that the recipe itself is significant only in what recipe it is, and the fact that I'm taking it there means you want me to relate my facts again." Moon Dancer picked up the recipe and slipped it inside the book she'd used to conceal the drawing. When Stiff passed her the coffee-drawing, she slipped that in too. "So I go and talk to Princess Celestia. Should I show anypony that tag?"

"Royal Guard, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia only. And then, only if you trust they're who they look like." As he closed his eyes, Stiff saw that picture again and heard the report a scout had brought in of creatures with holes in their legs, insect wings, and curved horns atop their black bodies.

"And of course you're not sending anypony with me, because that would give everything away, right?" Moon asked.

"Smart, beautiful, and sarcastic? Miss Moon Dancer, if Canterlot is still standing in a week, would you like to have lunch somewhere?" It stunned Stiff to ask, but it wasn't every day he met a pony that could follow his logic without any history of knowing him.

Not seeing the invitation coming, all Moon could do was nod. "Y-Yes. Okay." Turning, she started walking for the door with a certain level of interpersonal shell-shock. Outside, her brain finally started working again and she asked, "Did I just agree to a date?"

Moon Dance could feel the weight of the token, however, and shook her head. "Get yourself together. A pretty smile from a smart and handsome stallion shouldn't distract you. And now I'm monologuing like Twilight probably does when she has to save Equestria." As she walked out of the offices, Moon looked up at Canterlot castle and realized how great a distance it was to cross the city.

"Did I call him handsome?" Hanging her shoulders at the realization that she'd been upgraded from quiet nerd to protagonist, Moon walked out the front gates and made her way toward the castle.

The city was bustling, and though she'd had coffee, Moon found herself craving something to eat. Stopping at a cart selling fruit, she pointed to a banana and looked up hopefully at the stallion running the cart. "How much for a banana and… a pear?"

"Two copper bits each."

Reaching into her purse, Moon saw the token in there and carefully used her magic to pluck out four copper bits. The token was a reminder that she was on a mission. "Here you go!"

"Thank you!" Moon said when she got the two pieces from him. Moving along at a trot now, she ate her way through the pear and was starting on the banana when she reached the bottom of the entrance to Canterlot castle.

"Halt! What is—?"

"Cool it, newbie," Citron said. "This is Moon Dancer. She's one of Princess Celestia's personal students. You're here to see the princess?"

Recognizing the stallion as one she'd met before, Moon nodded to him. "Security's pretty tight because of the wedding, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. Commander has us on double-guards and has pushed up some recruits to assist. The Guard are buzzing around everywhere like wasps, and—here I am spilling everything to the first sympathetic ear I find." Citron was stepping aside to let Moon pass when he noticed her drop something. "Excuse me," he said, picking up the silver token, "you dropped—this."

Moon was relieved he'd spotted it. She wasn't good at this stuff, and literally tossing the token to his feet was all she'd thought to do. "So I did. Thank you."

Citron didn't need to see the token twice to know what it was. Moon Dancer carrying it meant he needed to verify the token and, if it was legitimate, escort her directly to the princess. "Bartlett, keep an eye on the new blood. You know those new orders that everypony on castle grounds needs to be escorted?"

"Really?" Moon asked. "And here I wanted to cut all the heads of the topiary without anypony else seeing me."

Laughing, Bartlett nodded to Citron. "Better keep this miscreant from causing too much trouble—though if you want to swing by the east garden, there's a new shrub shaped like Prince Blue Blood you could have some fun with."

Escorting Moon toward the castle, Citron cleared his throat when they were far enough from the guardhouse. "Can you show me that token again?"

Digging it out with her magic, Moon floated it over to him. She felt Citron use magic on it. "Stiff said it would verify—"

"It does. Right this way."

Moon had to speed up to keep pace with Citron. They passed two guard checkpoints on the way into the castle, and walked through each time without a word. With her mouth clamped shut, she soon found herself in the throne room with her former teacher—with Citron, several Royal Guard, and Shining Armor.

"Citron?" Moon Dancer asked quietly.

"What's wrong? You're safe in here, you can—"

"I don't think Shining Armor should be here."

"He's the commander of—"

"Trust me?"

Looking into Moon Dancer's eyes, Citron recognized honesty and more than a little worry. Turning, he walked up to Shining. "Commander, I need to make a report."

Feeling more than a little woozy, Shining had to shake his head to clear it. "Uh, outside. We should leave the princess to her business."

The moment Shining was out of the room, Moon breathed again. She turned from where she'd watched him leave and realized Celestia was right in front of her. Relief and caffeine fueled her (with the help of her fruit snack), as she pulled out the recipe from her bag and showed it to Celestia. "Y-Y-Your Highness, I—"

Celestia didn't need more than a glance at the recipe. It would have been a fond reminder of the times she'd cooked with Stiff Peaks if she didn't know what the recipe represented. "Bunt cake? Stiff Peaks never struck me as the kind of pony to go overboard. What's the information, Moon Dancer?"

"Well, my day started with Lyra Heartstrings, Twinkleshine, and Minuette knocking on my door…" Moon didn't leave anything out. She stumbled and stuttered her way through the information, but at last she finished with everything up until she met Stiff Peaks. "And that's why I asked, uh—"

"Senior Sergeant Citron," Celestia said.

"Right, that's why I asked Citron to get Shining Armor out of the room. If this thing can mimic a pony, and can control three of the sharpest minds I know with that kind of magic, it could have its claws in his head too."

Lifting her head and looking around the room, Celestia cast the lightest magic-detection spell she could. The usual glaring brightness of her Guards' armor and weapons abounded. Moon Dancer had several small enchantments around her: the token Celestia knew she carried would be one such, but her saddlebags and hair-clasp were two more. No hint of mental magic residue, however. "Alright, you just got promoted, Moon Dancer."

"P-Promoted? What do you mean?"

"Royal messenger, problem-solver, whatever else you think is good. Did you see the spell I just cast?" Celestia waited for Moon to nod. "Good. I want you to cast that and try to get a look at the three bridesmaids. I'll arrange for—"

Clearing her throat, Luna walked into the throne room and made her way over to her sister. "Might I inquire as to what is transpiring?" Her eyes flicked between Moon and Celestia.

"Of course!" Celestia felt a moment of jubilation at seeing her sister. "This creature will be keeping an eye on what I do, but you, Luna, can act without her knowing. Please, escort Moon Dancer to somewhere secure and start seeing about testing out ways to disrupt the mind-control magic."

Luna blinked in surprise at the topic. "Am I to take it we're going with the Discord Maneuver?"

"Yes. You and Moon Dancer play the part we both played all those years ago, and I'll be Princess Platinum and her court. Find us some weapons, Luna." Celestia took a deep breath. "And, please, try to help Twilight Sparkle. She saw this coming when none of us did."

Nodding her head, Moon Dancer ignored that Luna leaned in to whisper something to Celestia, and instead stepped back from the royal sisters and waited for Luna to join her. Together they walked from the room through a side door—where Moon almost collapsed.

"I didn't think this was your thing, Moon?" Luna asked.

"It's not! You know what I enjoy doing, Luna, and running all over Canterlot to warn princesses when there's a mind-controlling monster masquerading as a princess is not among those things. They even woke me up to—" Memory of the struggle Minuette, Lyra, and Twinkleshine had undergone halted Moon in her self-pitying tracks. "I need all the coffee."

"You can have the half I don't drink," Luna said, only now yawning once she was out of view of the Royal Guard.

Luna's study wasn't far, and it was there the pair headed. Once inside the walls of the modest room, Luna braced her hooves, closed her eyes, and threw up a wall of protection around them that would require a moderate army to break through. "Alright. Tell me everything going on."

Moon had been through this twice now. She gave as concise and careful a rundown for Luna as she did for Celestia, and while she spoke she performed the sacred ritual of coffee production. Just as she was coming to mentioning Shining Armor in the throne room, the kettle had boiled and she poured it into the Prench press.

"And then I came in, I gather?" Luna asked.

Moon filled the coffee mugs with boiling water and let them heat up while the coffee brewed. "Yeah. She did say something about problem-solvers or something. I have a feeling it's going to cut into my reading time."

"Ugh!" Luna slumped onto a chair. "Tell me about it. She read me in on all the things her little gang get up to, and now I can't stop getting reports from them. You too now, I bet."

"Well, you just got my first. That was technically Lyra's. She's in the gang too, right? That's what everypony calls her—the princess' problem-solver. Well, she might solve problems, but she's barely keeping her figurative head above water with all that magic in her head." Staring a hole through the glass pot, Moon said, "You know, if could get any power I want, it would be to make coffee brew instantly."

"You and me both. Okay, so if this monster can sense when its mind-control is broken, we need to be careful not to free anypony until the right time. This isn't common knowledge, but we have information that there is an army on its way. Perhaps this is—" Luna jumped back to her hooves so fast she almost planted her horn in the ceiling. "Shining Armor! The shield!"

Moon blanched. "C-Can you make a shield strong enough to—?"

"Not that big. Well, I could, but it wouldn't stop a filly determined to get through it. My magic's more confrontational. Also, it works best at night." Reaching out with her magic, Luna took the offered coffee mug from Moon. The first sip told her she was in for a double-strength Moon-special. "Thank you so much."

"Sometimes I wonder if I could get a duchy just by making you coffee."

"You want one? You got it. Dukedoms are a copper bit a dozen. Celestia would only be upset if I made you a baroness or a princess." Luna took a long gulp of coffee and felt it melt away the cobwebs in her head. "So, firstly, investigate the shield."

Summoning some paper and a pencil, Moon started taking notes. "Contact Stiff Peaks to coordinate with the E.U.P. Guard?" Moon tried to tell herself it wasn't just to get to see him again. It didn't work—mostly because she was a bad liar.

"Lower priority, but yes. My sister wants weapons, and what better weapons are there than the elements of harmony?" Luna had been defeated by the stones twice now and knew their potency. "And we need to assist Twilight Sparkle. When is the wedding?"

"Uh, tomorrow." Imbibing more coffee, Moon already started preparing another pot. "Right, so we need to move fast. Secure the elements, try to find Twilight Sparkle and fill her in, and then see about the shield and the Guard. Am I missing anything?"

"You're brewing more coffee?" Luna asked, and when she got a nod smiled. "Maybe I could talk my sister into a barony. You find the elements, I'll locate Twilight Sparkle."

"The shield?" Moon asked.

"The shield can be Twilight's problem. Or nopony's problem if we can deal with the main threat right now." Luna emptied her mug and held it out to Moon.

"Wait, we're missing something here. If the monster looks like Pr—Cadance, where is Cadance?" Still messing up sometimes, Moon tried her best to follow Luna's command not to use titles in her presence.

Luna pondered time travel. It was the best way to get a coffee when you wanted it rather than when it was available—but her sister had told her not to use temporal spells for caffeine drinks. "That's another good question. We need more information about this thing."

Moon sighed. "Which means one of us needs to visit her and get some questions answered."

Looking at Moon, Luna knew that Moon knew that she knew that couldn't be Luna. "I can give you the strongest anti-mind-control shield possible, if that—"

"No. If she zaps me, and finds me warded, that's the whole game given away." Slumping and wishing the pot would boil faster, Moon already planned how she would get answers from the impostor. "I have my doubts as to whether it can manipulate any further ponies, so I'll pose as a rule-bound and officious bureaucrat and probe her with dozens of inconsequential questions and some important ones."

"And if it does control you? If it makes you unable to relay what you learn?"

"Then I"—Moon paused talking as she focused on preparing another serve of coffee each—"use a spell in advance to take dictation, and pretend I'm controlling the quill with my horn."

Luna gave Moon a lop-sided grin. "Remind me never to make you angry with me."

"Every morning, or just once every now and again?" Moon inhaled the smell of brewing coffee, her senses waking up further.

"Every day, just to be on the safe side." Looking into the dark brew forming, Moon used her physical desire for coffee to overwhelm her disgust at what she'd be putting herself in the way of. "Why am I doing this?" When Luna kept quiet, she continued. "I'm not a hero."

"And yet you're acting heroic." Shrugging off the dour look Moon sent her way, Luna chuckled. "But no, neither of us are heroes. Heroes are ponies like my sister, like Twilight, and like Lyra. They will rush into danger head-first, jump between another pony and harm—but the key to it is they will do it without thinking it is odd. You and I, Moon Dancer, will plot and plan and work out when is the best time to be heroic."

Giving up on waiting and actuating the plunger, Moon poured off another two mugs of coffee and floated them over to the table. "Lyra doesn't strike me as heroic, then. She does a lot of thinking."

"She thinks fast, yes, but she acts faster. Plus, she tends to plan in advance and just be ready for any situation." Luna took her first sip of her second mug of coffee for the day and sighed. Looking to the clock (now feeling stable enough to do so), she noticed that it was almost six P.M.

"She wouldn't say she's a hero, either, but that might actually be a prerequisite. We should get a better coffee machine so we don't have to wait as long between cups." The idle thought had Moon trying to imagine systems for boiling water and preparing coffee without delay. "Wait, if that was a prerequisite, it means we both fit that criteria."

"Not me." Sipping repeatedly at her coffee, Luna judged it cool enough to drink—and did so. "I've been a monster. That means I technically cannot be a hero."

"Anti-hero. You'd be an anti-hero."

"What's an anti-hero?"

"It's when somepony with questionable methods takes the role of hero. So, let's say there was a villain that drew their power from the sun and used it to capture your sister. If you flicked things to eternal night for a few days, that would be the act of an anti-hero." Sipping her coffee, Moon started figuring out what spells she'd need to memorize to pull her mission off. Then she paused. "I just thought of this as a mission. What's that even mean?"

"It means you might be overthinking things."

"Well duh." Moon had spent long enough as Luna's advisor that her mouth often said things she would have never said to a princess normally. It still frightened her a little, sometimes, when she did such things. "Overthinking things is why you keep me around. It's my superpower."