Mael woke up the next morning, he was surprised to see that Ludociel hadn’t already ended up personally dragging him out of bed yet. Ironically, the one who everyone herald as the sun grace was not a morning person. Infact, Mael would’ve slept till noon if he could. But he decided against waiting for his brother to come wake him up and got out of bed anyway.
When Mael stood up to stretch, he suddenly felt very unbalanced as he fell down on all fours with a familiar sounding thud. Looking around, Mael was trying to figure out what had happened. After a moment he realized he was in his childhood room from equestria.
While his bed and a few other things were larger to accommodate his now grown up size, everything else was almost exactly like he’d left it. Even his old childhood toy chest was still around, or it had been replaced by an identical one. Whether or not it was the original didn’t really matter that much to Mael, but what did was all those memories he had of this place. Looking around the room, Mael noticed that somepony had already moved his clothes into their correct drawers for him, he’d have to thank the maids later.
While most ponies didn’t normally wear clothes, Mael was honestly debating whether or not to wear them because he and his original race normally did wear clothes. Mael eventually decided on wearing his usual white button down robe before heading out of his room. As he headed to the dining room, Mael noticed that some of the guards were eyeing him curiously, like they had never seen him before, which they hadn't. The familiar aroma of pancakes wafted around in the air as it guided him to the dining room.
“Good morning mom,” Mael said before he noticed his aunt resting her head on the table, “And good morning to you too aunty Luna.”
“Good morning to you too.” Celestia said as she finished making breakfast and placed a plate of pancakes in front of him, “Say, where are the other three?”
“I think they’re still asleep, which is weird because Ludociel usually ends up dragging me out of bed.” Mael remarked with a small chuckle, “My brother really likes to stick to a strict schedule of intense training that usually starts about an hour before sunrise. So he isn’t happy when something gets in the way of that.”
“I see,” Celestia commented, feeling worried over Mael’s description of his brother, “your brother, he isn’t mean, is he?”
“That’s not quite how I would describe him.” Mael replied, understanding Celestia’s concern after his previous comment, “While Ludociel can be short tempered at times, he would never intentionally hurt me or any of his comrades. In fact, most of comrades didn’t believe me when I said that my brother can be really clingy.”
“That’s nice to hear.” Celestia said, “If I allowed you to go into an abusive environment, I don’t think I could’ve forgiven myself.”
“Mom. You worry too much, Ludociel wouldn’t have let anything bad happen to me.” Mael replied, assuring his mother that she had nothing to worry about, “While there were a few bad apples, I also made many friends while I was away.”
“Could you two please keep it down?” Luna groaned, “You’re going to make my headache worse.”
“Sorry Luna,” Celestia said, “I forgot you were there.”
“Why exactly does she have a headache?” Mael inquired
“She had too much hard cider to drink last night.” Celestia explained with a sad sigh, “It’s just a hangover, but the headaches that come with it hurt like Tartarus.”
“I see.” Mael said, “Hey Auntie Luna, would you mind if I tried something to help you feel better?”
Luna groaned in approval, she would do just about anything to get rid of this headache. Reaching over the table, Mael’s hoof gently pressed against the side of Luna’s head. At first she thought it was going to be a massage, but a relaxing sensation began to wash all throughout her body. Through her closed eyelids, she saw a pink light gently glowing from the direction of Mael’s hoof. When the light had faded, Luna fully expected the searing pain of her headache to return, but it was completely gone along with all the other symptoms of a hangover.
“How did you do that?” Luna questioned, now having the most energy she has had since she had returned from the moon.
“I learned a few, or rather a lot of things while I was gone.” Mael said, “And one of those things was healing magic.”
“You are my new favorite nephew!” Luna announced,
Mael was taken aback by that statement, “Do I have another cousin that I don’t know about?”
“Yes, there is.” Celestia said, “His name is Blueblood. He can be obnoxious but he means well, most of the time.”
“Are there any other cousins I need to be made aware of?”
“Nope,” Celestia replied, “just those two.”
“I guess I should meet them some time soon.” Mael said, “They seem like nice ponies that I wouldn’t mind getting to know.”
Celestia smiled, “Well you won’t have to wait very long. Cadence and her husband are visiting as part of a guard training program, because he is currently the captain of the Crystal Empire’s guard and the former captain of mine.”
They all continued eating their breakfast as they enjoyed each other's company. After a while, hoof steps could be heard down the hall as Ludociel made his way into view with the other two archangels right behind him.
“Good morning Ludociel,” Mael greeted his elder brother, “and same for you as well Sariel and Tarmiel.”
“Good morning to you to Mael,” Ludociel said, “I can see breakfast has already been made. Would you mind if I had some?”
“No, not at all.” Celestia said, “I even made extra because I knew we had company.”
The six of them all sat around the table and shared breakfast, making jokes and enjoying each other’s company. It had been many millennia since Celestia and Luna last had company that they could honestly consider their friends.
After some time had passed, Mael headed for the doors of the castle as he grabbed a cloak to hide his wings from the world. After all, he didn’t want to draw the other pony’s attention to him with his four snow white wings. Right before he pushed the doors open, Ludociel stopped him.
“Brother, where are you going?”
“I’m just going to explore Equestria and see just how much has changed in my absence.” Mael said, “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to go alone.”
Ludociel knew there was something the Mael wasn’t telling him, but he decided not to press any further and grant Mael his wish. Making his way down the stairs, Mael started making his journey to the badlands, home of the changelings.
Mael only had one thing in mind, he had to go see Chrysalis. If what Celestia had said was true, then Chrysalis had become very much like her mother, who she despised since she was little. If there was even a sliver of her childhood self left in her, then Mael would be able to save her from this torment she had set herself in.