The Princess of the Night could hear the familiar hoofsteps approaching from a dozen feet away, however muffled they should have been in the snow. She didn’t need to turn her head to know that it was her sister approaching, after all, they’ve known each other for millennia. Instead, she kept her gaze focused on the pink dome before her, enshrouding the city of the Crystal Empire.
“It is not like you to be up this late.” The Princess of the Day took her place alongside her sister, the very air slowly warming with her mere presence. “What’s bothering you?”
“Many things bother me, Tia. The fact that we are walled off from the Crystal Empire with no explanation or communication. The fact that Princess Twilight isn’t answering our letters about Flurry or the Elements.” Luna gave a small sigh before looking up at her sister. “Although I believe I made a breakthrough for one of them.”
“Oh? Did you see something in your dream walking?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Luna’s strange magic.
“Something like that. Please, let’s return to my tent for some privacy.” Luna and Celestia turned from the pink wall and headed into what would under any other circumstance be a war camp.
Roughly four dozen orderly tents were arranged in a defensive position around three larger tents, along with some rough fortifications arranged around the camp. As the two alicorns passed through the camp the various Lunar and Solar guards bowed to their monarchs as they went about their duties. The former was primarily made up of Thestrals on their way to rest for the day, while the latter was made of illusionary white and blue stallions of various pony tribes.
In the centre of the camp were the three main tents that the whole camp was made to protect. One was a golden piece of art with the sun at the top, while the second was its Lunar twin. The third was where the various officers gathered to discuss strategies and plans, at the moment mostly patrols considering they couldn’t enter the city.
With a simple spell, Luna opened her tent, holding it open for her sister before entering it herself. The interior was as functional as it was fancy: a large bed occupied most of the space, with a small desk in one corner and a large board with various papers and pictures pinned to it on one wall. Noticeably on the desk was a magic box for her various informants to send messages to, one appearing with a green *poof* as they entered. Luna cast another spell once the two monarchs were safely inside to activate a silence spell so they could have true privacy from prying ears.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Luna gave an awkward smile as she stepped over to the board.
Celestia raised an eyebrow and took a seat on one of the scattered pillows on the tent floor. “Good news. I’ve had a long morning already, I could use some good news to brighten my mood.”
“Well, the good news is that I was able to reach Flurry Heart’s dream last night. Was one of her sleeping with a cat curled next to her, of all things.” Luna smiled briefly at the warmness of the dream compared to the usual nightmares she had to deal with.
Celestia gave a sigh of relief before smiling herself. “That is good to hear. With all the conflicting reports coming from Ponyville, I am happy to hear that she is safe.”
Luna couldn’t hide her grimace from Celestia as she turned towards her, the elder sister’s experience in reading ponies’ expressions more fine-tuned than the younger’s skill at hiding them. The smile dropped off Celestia’s face at the grimace, her face softening as grief began to take hold.
“The bad news is that it wasn’t Flurry Heart. Or at least the mind wasn’t Flurry’s, just the body.” Luna sighed before rubbing her brow with a hoof. “Somehow a ‘human’ named Storm is inside Flurry Heart instead of her own mind. I looked at the memory of Storm’s death at the hooves of some unknown weapon with her, and it would seem that her being pulled into this world was an instant process as she was as shocked at her own death as I was. Whatever pulled the human’s mind into our world also had traces of Twilight’s magic.”
“So the reports are true. The changeling that attacked Twilight’s castle did manage to critically injure the poor foal.” Celestia sighed, forcing the bubbling grief down. “This doesn’t explain why Flurry Heart now appears to be about 10 years old when she was just a baby a few weeks ago. Healing spell gone wrong?”
“Perhaps, it wouldn't be impossible for a healing spell to take years of a pony’s life to heal a mortal injury. But the closest I’ve ever seen was when Starswirl lost about 5 years after having every bone broken by Tirek.” Luna rubbed her chin in contemplation. “A changeling couldn’t do nearly enough damage to an alicorn, even an alicorn baby.”
“He most likely had help. After all, there was a report from the local guard of an attempted foalnapping. This ‘Storm’ and the CMC were captured by a unicorn and pegasus, although I believe it was more of a targeted attack than a crime of opportunity.” Celestia frowned slightly, not wanting to speak the next words. “You should interrogate the pegasus when you make your trip to Ponyville. Unfortunately, the unicorn was reportedly....slain by Twilight in her drive to save Flurry.”
Luna couldn’t help but gasp in slight shock at the thought of Twilight killing another pony. She coughed and regained her composure before tapping the board with one silver-shoed hoof.
“I will make sure that the pegasus and I have a talk, don’t worry sister. But first I think we should focus on the fact that there is a good chance that Flurry Heart is now dead, with Storm replacing our dear niece. I could not feel a trace of Flurry’s mind or memories, only Storm’s. We lost communication with the Crystal Empire at about the same time as Flurry reportedly appeared in the hospital with Twilight.
“My theory is that Flurry Heart did not simply get injured and get her mind replaced. She instead somehow died during the confrontation with the changeling, and Twilight attempted to bring her back from the dead.” Luna continued, her speech in full swing before Celestia cleared her throat to interrupt the Lunar Princess.
“Such a spell is forbidden and impossible, even Twilight knows this.” Celestia shook her head, her eyes narrowing at her sister. “All that would result is a shambling corpse with no will of its own, an abomination.”
“In most circumstances, yes.” Luna tapped a hoof against her chin. “That is the strange part. Somehow Twilight was able to do the impossible and actually bring a pony back from the dead. But obviously, something went wrong, otherwise, we wouldn’t have such a conundrum.”
Celestia sighed, her noble visage slipping in the company of her sister. “If this is true then Twilight would have committed one of the greatest crimes against life and death.” She looked up at her sister, head tilted. “Are you sure about this? That it is another creature residing in our dear niece’s body?”
“Of course. I could sense her like any other pony, but since her mind wasn’t a pony’s I couldn’t enter without her own permission.” Luna picked up several papers in her magic to pass it over. “On top of that, it is obvious that she has knowledge beyond that of Flurry’s, even with an ‘active imagination’. Storm took a test at the school, excelling in math beyond that of a normal filly her age. She managed to almost escape from being foalnapped, something that one would need to be trained in not just winging it.”
“That is somehow more concerning than a scrambling of memories.” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister. “We should deal with this as soon as possible. Such an unknown with the power of an alicorn is a danger, and needs to be at the very least contained.”
“I do not think so, Tia.” Luna stepped forward, shaking her head. “I think that she deserves to live a normal life. After all, it does not seem to be Storm’s fault that she ended up here, and it is our responsibility to make sure that she can be as happy as any of our subjects.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed briefly before chuckling. “I would argue against you, Luna, but I can tell when you have made up your mind. What do you plan to do with this ‘Storm’, then?”
“Well, first of all, she needs to be stripped of her titles as a princess, obviously.” Luna rubbed the back of her head before sighing. “We can’t rid her of her alicorn powers but it is a good step in case Storm turns dangerous. I doubt that she should remain in the care of Twilight, and I have a feeling that neither Cadance nor Shining would be willing to watch somepony pretend to be their foal. I will watch over her until we find a new family or send her back home, whichever she decides to follow.”
Celestia nodded before embracing Luna. “I will leave you with this, then. If Twilight really did commit such a crime...we will need to figure out where the blame lies, and punishments. Go, sister, I wish you the best of luck.”