Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited in Canterlot's interrogation room for Ginger Ale and Lemon Lime to arrive, Lemon Lime was soon carried into the room by the royal guards,
"What is the meaning of this?" Lemon Lime inquired,
"We found you to be our culprit after seeing how you treat changelings and the fact you use swords, so you're suspected because of that." Twilight Sparkle answered,
"We also got word that two changelings were killed shortly after we finished our interrogation." Applejack added,
"I don't know anything about that!" Lemon Lime fumed,
"Liar!" Pinkie Pie retorted,
"I'm sorry, Lemon Lime, but your use of swords, treatment of changelings, and knowing how to turn creatures into stone and turn them back has convinced us you're Chrysalis' killer." Twilight Sparkle explained,
"Good, the less changelings in this world, the better!" Lemon Lime declared,
"Yer not helpin' yer own case, Lemon Lime." Applejack said, Lemon Lime looked at her in stunned silence,
"Cuff him to the chair, we have a few questions to ask him." Twilight Sparkle instructed and the royal guards did,
"We got some things to ask you, Lemon Lime, what do you know about those changelings killed to the north of Canterlot?" Twilight Sparkle asked,
"I don't know anything about that!" Lemon Lime answered,
"Liar! They were reported killed shortly after you left!" Pinkie Pie retorted,
"Killed by what?" Lemon Lime asked,
"Sword wounds with dark green magic in the cuts." Twilight Sparkle replied, Lemon Lime looked at her with stunned silence,
"We also saw you have two swords at home and can enchant them with your magic, which is also dark green, that's another reason why you're suspected." Twilight Sparkle added,
"What? You watched me and the others at home with your magic? That's invading our privacy!" Lemon Lime snapped,
"I'm sorry, Lemon Lime, I really am, I didn't want to do it, either, but in order to catch our culprit, I had to watch you and the others unsupervised so I could get an idea on what your day-to-day routines are like." Twilight Sparkle explained,
"What were the other three like?" Lemon Lime asked,
"Green Magician had no problems, but Absinthe and Ginger Ale had problems with changelings, too, but unlike you, their changelings were rude and violent, the ones you had weren't." Twilight Sparkle stated,
"Problems as in what?" Lemon Lime questioned,
"Absinthe had changelings trying to flirt with her and take drinks from the bar without paying, and Ginger Ale had to deal with a violent changeling that beat up other people in the store, but you didn't have that, your changelings were friendly and just trying to buy something." Twilight Sparkle explained,
"They have my thanks for getting them put in jail." Lemon Lime commented,
"Dude, not cool." Rainbow Dash replied, Lemon Lime glared at her,
"Since we have no witnesses of who killed Chrysalis, we're not certain you're the culprit, that's where Ginger Ale will come in, we're going to see if he can show us who killed her with his magic." Twilight Sparkle said,
"If that person appears, it's not going to be me." Lemon Lime replied,
"We'll see about that." Twilight Sparkle remarked, and they waited for Ginger Ale to arrive.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched Ocellus while she walked around Ponyville with her friends, they walked together and stayed around her in case they ran into trouble. They watched them as they surrounded Ocellus and went to go see Tulip and her family to buy flowers,
"What do you guys want?" Tulip asked,
"We'd like to buy some flowers, please." Sandbar answered,
"Wait, is that changeling there with you guys?" Rose questioned,
"She's our friend." Smolder replied,
"Our stuff are not for sale to changeling sympathizers." Vine stated, the six students began complaining,
"It's for Princess Twilight and her school." Gallus said,
"The answer's still no." Tulip replied,
"Yona demand flowers! Yona traveled far to get here!" Yona fumed,
"The School of Friendship isn't far from here." Vine reminded,
"But we still need flowers for Princess Twilight's next activity." Silverstream spoke,
"Oh, great, even Princess Twilight is a changeling sympathizer." Tulip remarked,
"Of course she is, she wants to lay all of our changeling problems to rest and spread peace throughout the land, she wants us to have a new beginning with them now that Thorax is the ruler." Sandbar explained,
"Start over? You really think what they did would be undone so easily?" Rose asked,
"Please, give me time, I can show you we really have reformed." Ocellus pleaded,
"It won't undo the damages and deaths your kind has caused, we're not giving you our flowers, if you six want some, get it from someone else." Rose stated, and six students walked away while looking down. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched them leave and go elsewhere,
"It's no use, guys, they're going to hate you five for being friends with me." Ocellus spoke,
"Come on, Ocellus, you're our friend, if they're going to discriminate against you, we'll stand by you." Sandbar replied,
"Yeah, ain't no one gonna mess with our friend, come on, let's try and see if those new blacksmiths are willing to lend us some costumes." Silverstream added, and they went. They arrived at Ornamental Jewelry's and Anvil Striker's home,
"What brings you six here?" Anvil Striker asked,
"We need suits of armor made as costumes for an upcoming play at the School of Friendship." Silverstream explained,
"No way." Anvil Striker answered,
"What? Yona demand reason!" Yona fumed as she stomped her front feet on the ground,
"Well, first of all, our armor is for battle, not decoration or costumes for a play, and secondly, we don't accept requests from changeling sympathizers." Ornamental Jewelry explained,
"Oh, come on now, you can't refuse a request from your princess." Smolder said,
"Actually, we can, it's only Princess Celestia and Princess Luna we can't disobey, but we can refuse Princess Twilight's request since she desires to be seen as a regular pony than a princess." Ornamental Jewelry replied,
"She's still your ruler." Smolder brought up,
"But she doesn't have much power or authority when compared to the princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence." Anvil Striker responded,
"Can you please make an exception this one time?" Ocellus asked,
"Nope." Ornamental Jewelry replied,
"Come on, guys, let's go elsewhere, it's no use." Sandbar spoke, and they walked away.
Ocellus and her friends walked while looking down and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran to them,
"You six okay?" Scootaloo asked,
"Wait, you guys were there?" Silverstream questioned,
"Yeah, we saw and heard everything." Sweetie Belle said,
"We're fine, but it's unfortunate to meet ponies who hate changelings this much." Sandbar stated,
"Well, if y'all want, we can try to buy 'em." Apple Bloom offered,
"I think you three are too young to buy suits of armor." Gallus remarked,
"But maybe we can buy them flowers and stuff from Blueberry and Strawberry." Apple Bloom stated,
"It's fine, we can buy confectioneries from Sugarcube Corner." Ocellus responded,
"Is there anything else y'all need?" Apple Bloom asked,
"No, just the flowers and armor." Smolder replied,
"Hmm, why don't y'all just buy or make some costumes and props out of cardboard or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked,
"Because Princess Twilight got criticized for her costumes in our last play, she wants them to look high quality this time." Ocellus explained,
"Do you all have any idea how heavy real armor is when wearing it?" Scootaloo asked,
"Don't worry, Princess Twilight has a spell to make them light." Sandbar answered,
"Well, do you want us to try to get the items you guys need?" Sweetie Belle offered,
"We already got everything else, but we appreciate the offer." Gallus answered,
"Come on then, let's wait for our sisters and their friends to get back and tell 'em what happened." Apple Bloom said, and they walked to the train station.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited for Ginger Ale to arrive while Lemon Lime watched angrily, he soon teleported into the room,
"Sorry I'm late, busy at the store today." Ginger Ale said,
"It's alright, sugar cube, better late than never." Applejack commented,
"Ginger Ale, we need that spell of yours again that showed us what you were doing at the time of Queen Chrysalis' death, we need you to go back a little bit so we can see whether or not Lemon Lime really did kill her." Twilight Sparkle explained,
"I didn't kill her!" Lemon Lime protested,
"We'll see when the spell is cast." Rarity replied, and Ginger Ale cast the spell. They watched as Ginger Ale used his magic to rewind time to when he was sleeping, he moved the image to Chrysalis and rewound time until Chrysalis was in her prison of stone. They watched and saw Chrysalis get freed from her prison even though there was no magic aura in the projection,
"Okay, there's the depetrification spell." Twilight Sparkle commented, Lemon Lime began to sweat a bit, they continued to watch and saw a dark green energy blast hit Chrysalis from behind to paralyze her,
"Wait, pause it there." Twilight Sparkle said, and Ginger Ale did. They looked at the dark green energy blast,
"My energy blasts aren't that big." Lemon Lime said,
"Show us." Twilight Sparkle ordered, and he shot a dark green blast out of his horn, it was smaller than the one in the picture,
"What emotions were you feeling at that time?" Rainbow Dash asked,
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lemon Lime inquired,
"We learned through Starlight Glimmer that one's emotions can determine the raw power in one's spell." Twilight Sparkle answered,
"Oh, well, it was just a normal night for me at that time, so I wasn't feeling any anger or irritation." Lemon Lime spoke,
"Fast forward it, Ginger Ale, maybe we can see Chrysalis' killer." Twilight Sparkle stated, Ginger Ale nodded and he did. They watched and saw Queen Chrysalis on the ground, they soon saw hoofprints in the ground,
"Hey, wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash blurted as the Queen Chrysalis' killer did not appear in the screen,
"The culprit's not appearing, your spell is broken!" Pinkie Pie said,
"No, it's likely the culprit cast some kind of spell so we can't see him." Ginger Ale explained,
"It most likely is, Pinkie, Ginger Ale's spell isn't going to show us who the culprit is." Twilight Sparkle added,
"Argh, we were this close to finding out who the killer is!" Rainbow Dash fumed,
"Lemon Lime, do you know that spell?" Fluttershy questioned,
"No." Lemon Lime replied,
"Let's see if you're telling the truth, I'll set up a lie detector." Twilight Sparkle stated, and she cast a spell to set it up. Lemon Lime cast a spell and the lie detector did not go off. Ginger Ale fast forwarded time in his projected screen to now and moved it into the room, Lemon Lime was still present on the screen,
"Nope, he's still present, he doesn't know the spell after all." Ginger Ale stated,
"Okay, do you have any friends that know the spell, Lemon Lime?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,
"No." Lemon Lime responded,
"Hmm, okay, we have our first clue that Lemon Lime may not be the killer, but we're not solid yet." Twilight Sparkle spoke,
"Wait, Twilight, darling, let's try one more time just to be sure." Rarity requested,
"Good idea." Twilight Sparkle responded, and Lemon Lime cast the spell again and the lie detector did not go off,
"Nope, he's still on the screen." Ginger Ale said,
"We'll continue tomorrow, Lemon Lime. Guards, escort him to his holding cell, and thank you, Ginger Ale, you may leave." Twilight Sparkle stated, and Lemon Lime was escorted while Ginger Ale left, Twilight Sparkle and her friends boarded the train and headed to Ponyville.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrived in Ponyville when the sun was about to set, they heard their names get called and saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Silverstream running to them,
"The new flower shop and armor shop in town wouldn't sell their things to 'em because they're friends with Ocellus." Apple Bloom explained,
"Say what now?" Applejack asked,
"It's true, they called us and you six changeling sympathizers and said they won't sell their stuff to us." Sandbar added,
"Oh, of all the reasons, that is why they refuse." Rarity vented,
"Ornamental Jewelry also said that the armor she and her father make are not for fashion or decoration, but for battle only." Ocellus spoke,
"See, we'd offered to buy the stuff for them, but they don't need anythin' else." Apple Bloom remarked,
"It's alright, guys, I'll go ahead and buy stuff from Roseluck and her friends, as for armor, maybe someone in the Dragon Lands is willing to make some for us." Twilight Sparkle stated,
"There's nopony to make armor in Equestria." Scootaloo asked,
"Well, there is, but there's not many, the closest one is far away, too." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Farther than the Dragon Lands?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"Well, I think just a little closer, but its quality isn't as good as the armor in the Dragon Lands." Twilight Sparkle responded,
"Can we get it?" Sandbar asked,
"No, the Dragon Lands is dangerous to non-dragons, I'll have Spike get it for you guys." Twilight Sparkle stated,
"Oh, thanks." Sandbar said,
"Go on, guys, we'll try to buy them for our upcoming play tomorrow, we're also going to wait and see if anything happens to the changelings, if so, then that would mean we made a mistake and Lemon Lime is innocent." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they all parted ways.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked together but stopped when they saw Starburn on a roof and watching the six students, he focused on Ocellus as she walked with her friends, he jumped onto another roof and soon jumped down. He began sneaking to Ocellus and picked up a rock, he aimed it at the back of Ocellus' head and got ready to throw it,
"Starburn!" Apple Bloom hollered, he got startled while Ocellus and her friends looked back,
"What are ya doin'?" Apple Bloom questioned,
"Nothing." Starburn replied,
"Then why are you holding a rock?" Sweetie Belle asked,
"I was going to practice my throwing skill." Starburn answered,
"By throwing it at Ocellus' head?" Scootaloo questioned,
"I wasn't aiming at her." Starburn replied,
"It looked like you were to us." Sweetie Belle spoke,
"I wasn't." Starburn repeated,
"What were you aiming at then?" Scootaloo inquired, Starburn pointed his hoof forward and at a big rock in front of Ocellus and her friends,
"That's still too close to Ocellus." Sweetie Belle stated,
"Watch." Starburn said, and he threw the small rock. It flew past Ocellus' cheek and a gust of wind blew her mane and tail back, the small rock hit the big rock and put a crater and cracks in it. Ocellus whimpered while everybody looked on in awe at Starburn's strength,
"Wha? How are ya so strong, Starburn?" Apple Bloom asked,
"What do you mean?" Starburn questioned,
"Yer as strong as an adult earth pony." Apple Bloom replied,
"Well, I exercise a lot." Starburn stated,
"What kind of exercise?" Scootaloo questioned,
"Cardio and weight lifting, some practice fighting with my uncle, too." Starburn responded,
"Well, I guess that explains that." Sweetie Belle commented,
"I have to go now, uncle's waiting for me at home." Starburn stated,
"Alright, bye, Starburn." Scootaloo replied, and he walked home,
"Somethin' ain't right about him." Apple Bloom said,
"Yeah, I'm sensing something off about him, too." Scootaloo added,
'Let's just go home and rest, guys, it's been a busy day." Sandbar spoke, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders headed home while Sandbar and his friends went back to the School of Friendship.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were watching Equestria with their magic to see if anymore dead changelings showed up,
"Hmm, I'm not seeing anymore." Princess Celestia stated.
"Neither am I." Princess Luna added, and they stopped watching Equestria,
"What do you think about Lemon Lime being Chrysalis' killer, Tia?" Princess Luna asked,
"Well, it does seem reasonable on Twilight's part, but something seems a bit off." Princess Celestia responded,
"I'm seeing something off as well." Princess Luna said,
"Cadence will be going tomorrow to see if she can sense any hatred in Lemon Lime's magic, the love in her magic will be able to sense any hatred." Princess Celestia stated,
"Ah, that is smart, since they are opposites, Cadence should be able to sense them the most easily, and if it's a small amount, she should be able to destroy it." Princess Luna spoke,
"Still, I'm getting the feeling Lemon Lime is not the culprit, my gut is telling me we're missing something." Princess Celestia stated,
"So is mine, but we'll see whether if we're missing something more or less tomorrow when Cadence senses for any hatred in his magic." Princess Luna responded,
"True, let's hope our gut feelings are right, I'll go ahead and let Twilight know, I'll be heading to bed afterwards." Princess Celestia said,
"Alright, goodnight, Tia." Princess Luna replied, and Princess Celestia walked to her bedroom, wrote and sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle, and then laid in her bed and slept.
Twilight Sparkle was getting ready for bed and Spike burped out a letter, he opened it and read it,
"It's from Princess Celestia, she said Princess Cadence will be with Lemon Lime tomorrow to detect any hatred in his magic." Spike stated,
"Good, her love should be able to react or cancel out any hate in his magic if there is any." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"I'm still not completely familiar with hatred being used for magic." Starlight Glimmer spoke,
"It's possible, Starlight, I have a book on it if you want to read." Twilight Sparkle replied,
"Sure." Starlight Glimmer said, and Twilight Sparkle went through her books and found it,
"Thanks." Starlight Glimmer stated,
"You're welcome, I'll be going to bed now, goodnight, Starlight." Twilight Sparkle stated,
"Goodnight." Starlight Glimmer responded, and Twilight Sparkle went to sleep. Starlight Glimmer sat at a table and flipped through the book's pages, she read about how love and friendship were opposites of hatred, and hatred was as equally powerful as the two, she also read that the Windigos that come to Equestria are powered by hatred, so was dark magic, she also read about how there was love and hatred in everybody, and both emotions can empower or depower artifacts, along with affect a unicorn's raw potential in magic. She browsed through the pages and stopped when she saw something that caught her interest, she read that while Pegasi and earth ponies cannot use or learn magic like how unicorns do, they can learn how to through meditation, and magic powered by hatred was no exception. She put the book down and headed to bed,
"Goodnight, Starlight Glimmer." Spike spoke,
"Night, Spike." Starlight Glimmer responded, and she laid in her bed and slept.
Princess Luna was in the dream realm and watching the foals' dreams,
"Ah, yes, another lovely night." Princess Luna said to herself, she watched but stopped smiling when she watched Tulip's, Ornamental Jewelry's, Blueberry's, Monochrome's, Banker's, and Starburn's dreams,
"What is this?" Princess Luna asked, she saw Tulip selling flowers with Rose and Vine until the changelings ran into their shop and started destroying everything while Queen Chrysalis' laugh echoed. Ornamental Jewelry was making armor with Anvil Striker and her mother until the changelings entered their house and began destroying everything and take her mother away,
"Mommy!" Ornamental Jewelry called out while the changelings carried her away and beat her up, Queen Chrysalis' laughter echoed in her dream as well. She watched Blueberry's dream next and saw her selling baked goods with Strawberry and the rest of her family, they sold their stuff happily until changelings came into the store and began trashing everything, they also stole all of their things and Blueberry and her family were now in poverty while Chrysalis' laughter echoed. She then watched Monochrome's dream next, he was running with his father while Haute Cuisine smiled and watched, it was all happy until the changelings attacked them and Monochrome's father screamed as a green blast hit him from behind,
"Father! No!" Monochrome called out as he fell over and died, the image changed to him and Haute Cuisine crying at his grave while Chrysalis' laughter echoed again. Luna sighed as she watched Banker's dream, she watched him worked at the bank with Bit Counter and his parents, they sorted everypony's money until the changelings broke into their home and began trashing the place and stealing all of the bits, the vision changed to Banker and his family apologizing to the ponies while they complained and insulted them. She then watched Starburn and saw him standing with Daylight Dimmer as they watched the changelings attack other ponies, invade the country, steal valuables, and destroy property,
"Oh, my, this is going to require some hooves-on fixing." Princess Luna said, and she cast a spell to undo the changelings in their dreams. The changelings disappeared and the six foals were now in a new dream with Chrysalis' corpse being hung by a noose and on fire. Princess Luna gasped with her hoof over her agape mouth when they began cheering, she flew into the dream,
"No, no, no, my little foals, celebrating one's death is never right." Princess Luna explained,
"But she caused so much pain and destruction to us." Ornamental Jewelry responded,
"I understand you six are mad about what the changelings did, but hatred is not the answer, it will only make the changelings revert back to their old ways and we'll be forced to fight them once again." Princess Luna spoke,
"So what? I'd be happy if they all went extinct." Banker fumed,
"Everypony, you need to stop being blinded by your hatred and angers, there are some changelings that are actually trying to reform, Ocellus at the School of Friendship is one of them, so is King Thorax, he sent her there in hopes that pony and changeling relations can improve and to put the past when Chrysalis was the ruler behind." Princess Luna explained,
"I doubt that will ever happen." Tulip stated,
"Now, Tulip, we're still new to this, but we and the changelings are trying our very best to leave the past behind." Princess Luna replied,
"I doubt our kind ever will." Monochrome stated,
"About that, look." Princess Luna instructed, and she cast a spell to show Twilight Sparkle in the School of Friendship, she fidgeted a bit while teaching about changelings and had a hard time concealing her anger,
"See, even Twilight is struggling to get over her anger of their past actions, my sister and I are still struggling, too, you six and your families should try to do the same." Princess Luna instructed,
"Considering that the changelings are still unfriendly and violent, and some are still loyal to Chrysalis, it's almost impossible to." Starburn said, the other five foals nodded in agreement,
"I've kept watch, and my sister and I are trying our very best to deport them out of the country, and those still loyal to Chrysalis are hiding in the wilderness, so they're a bit hard for us to find." Princess Luna replied,
"So you want us to forgive them after everything they did?" Blueberry asked,
"Well, Equestria's beliefs on friendship says yes, but you don't have to, I just ask for you six and your families to cooperate with the changelings that are not mean or violent." Princess Luna responded,
"Okay, that sounds better." Banker stated,
"I like that better, too." Ornamental Jewelry added,
"Okay, don't be mean if they're all nice and friendly, those mean no harm, and try to cooperate with Ocellus, okay?" Princess Luna requested, the six foals nodded,
"Good, I know it's hard, and it's hard for me, too, but you have to so we don't end up having another war with them." Princess Luna stated,
"Oh, so that's why you want us to let go." Tulip spoke,
"Yes, and also, holding onto the hatred and anger will lead to health problems, especially heart problems, that's another reason why Equestria teaches friendship and forgiveness." Princess Luna explained,
"Well, let's try." Ornamental Jewelry said,
"Good luck, and you six are still young, so it's okay if you mess up somewhere, I'll be guiding you six onto the right path should you stray." Princess Luna stated, the six foals smiled,
"Good, have a good dream now, and no dreams of Chrysalis being dead." Princess Luna instructed, and she returned them to their dreams and watched the dream realm for the rest of the night.