"It is so nice to see you again after all these millennia."
"I wish I could say the same, mother."
Solaria circled them. "Interesting manner of ruling you have devised here. I still can't believe you pay your slaves..."
"They're called servants."
"... And you seem quite content to let ponies run free doing whatever it is they like. It's almost as if you weren't ruling at all."
Luna rolled her eyes. "And yet, somehow, it has worked for over twenty centuries. Imagine that."
Solaria snorted and turned back to Celestia.
"Are you seriously considering releasing an entity that nearly destroyed your country in the hopes that he would make friends with somepony?"
"It's called mercy, mother. Something you seem to lack."
"It's called weakness, and it always has been."
She closed her eyes and marched around them again, stopping next to a filing box.
"I wish you treated your own kin half as well as you treat everypony not related to you. Really? Banishing your own sister?"
"We are right here. Perhaps thou should also remember that we nearly destroyed the kingdom."
"You were merely seeking vengeance for a wrong you suffered from the common ponies. They deserved the punishment."
"And we most vehemently disagree."
Solaria looked at her younger daughter for a moment, then turned back to the elder.
"Either way, I doubt you have an excuse for your treatment of your progeny."
"My what?!?!?"
Solaria picked up a paper from out of the filing box.
"I looked through your archives and records to catch up on recent events."
She held the paper aloft in a levitation field.
SON REJECTED BY THE SUN
"A fire escape? Really? And you call me heartless."
"Mother, I don't have a foal. The press was making that up to sell more papers."
"Ah, I see, so you drove out Luna's..."
"No, I don't have a foal either. My sister and we have even met the colt's parents. They're good ponies."
"So these papers lie about you two, and you allow it. As if I wasn't disappointed in you enough..."
"Oh, ponies made up things about you when we were younger. They were just a lot better at hiding it then."
Solaria's expression soured considerably.
"Nonetheless, since it seems neither of you are inclined to speak politely with your mother, perhaps we should get down to business."
She clapped her hooves twice. Immediately, the doors opened, and six ponies stepped in, escorted by day guards.
"Welcome, princesses of the day and night." The leader of the group grinned. "Welcome to your dethroning."
"Who even are you?"
"You don't remember? It's only been a couple thousand years. Surely your memory hasn't deteriorated that badly over the centuries, right, my queen?"
Celestia looked at him more closely. He was certainly familiar, but he couldn't be serious. A couple thousand years?
Queen... he called me queen...
Luna searched her own memory. It was before her banishment, so it should be easy to...
Her eyes went wide.
"Cutthroat?"
The ancient pony nodded. "Lord Cutthroat. My title was never legally removed."
Luna snorted. "We shall rectify that posthaste."
Celestia stepped closer. "How did you remain alive so long in the first place?"
Lord Cutthroat grinned. "I used the ritual of Ortiv, as did the others."
Celestia's jaw fell to the floor.
From behind, a voice spoke up. "What's that ritual? I've never heard of that one before."
"Twilight?" Celestia turned around. Behind her was her pupil, strapped to a metal table with a suppression ring on her horn.
She gave a sad smile. "Hi Celestia..."
Solaria called from behind. "Come daughters. We have much to discuss."
"Wouldst thou employ such cheap tomfoolery as a hostage for an advantage?"
Solaria smiled at Luna. "Of course, especially seeing how much you and your sister love her. Besides, I'm sure you already know what I want. Considering the miserable job you two at doing ruling this kingdom, I'm taking it back." She turned her attention to Celestia with a slight smirk.
"Go ahead, answer your pupil."
The instruction broke Celestia's shock. She answered slowly.
"Starswirl's successor, Master Ortiv. He was obsessed with living longer. We allowed him to continue after Solaria left because we thought his research might prove good for our ponies, but..."
She stopped and closed her eyes, as the memory returned of finding his laboratory and seeing everything within. The words that came next came slowly.
"Master Ortiv's one spell, the only one he ever competed... it... it grants life to one... by stealing it from another. The theft may be random or chosen... but the pony on the other side always dies."
She turned to Lord Cutthroat. " How did you even learn that?"
"My Queen taught me. We kept in touch by mail all the way up until the Farseein Revolution that eventually claimed her life. It was her last letter that detailed the modified ritual that would bring her back."
Celestia looked to Solaria again, then turned back to Cutthroat.
"How many did you kill?"
He shrugged. "Does it matter? Most of them were were going to die anyway or weren't really alive yet. We're not complete monsters."
Celestia stared at the creature before her. Slowly, she became unnaturally serene. Those who know her instinctively took a step back.
Those who knew her well took two.
Celestia lowered her horn and fired, but the bolt of magic reflected off a shield Solaria had constructed and hit her, leaving her stunned.
Luna tried to attack more directly with a charge to the side, but was brought down by a bolt of magic from Solaria.
"You really should learn to respect your mother. I'd suggest we talk this out, but I can't help the feeling you two need proper motivation." She turned to Cutthroat and his troops. The rest of you are dismissed. Go find the others."
Meanwhile, Twilight tried to free herself, but the iron ring on her horn siphoned away the magic. Physically escaping the bonds was out of the question; they were far too tight for that.
Solaria called out to the door on the other end of the room, near Twilight's table.
"Sparkle, you said you wanted to know how the Elements worked. Why don't you start with magic?"
Twilight's doppelgänger appeared out of the shadows and grinned. "An excellent idea." She turned to the real one on the table and used her magic to pull up a cart loaded with surgical instruments.
"Now please, hold still."
The two princesses couldn't take any more.
"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!"
Solaria merely smirked. "Do you concede the kingdom then?"
"Not yet."
Celestia's eyes narrowed, and flames erupted across her body, slowly spreading until she was completely engulfed. Luna, meanwhile, was similarly engulfed in shadows and mists that crawled in from the corners of the room.
Twilight's eyes went wide, as the flames diminished and the mists dissipated. In front of her, the princesses had changed. Celestia's eyes had become a flaming red, while Luna's eyes had turned teal. Both now had dragon-like slitted pupils, and both had fangs protruding from their mouths.
Before Twilight could finish processing her shock, their mother chuckled.
"Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, I'm so glad you could join us."
She grinned, exposing fangs of her own. "This will most certainly be interesting."