The highest-ranking members of the royal court were in the midst of a tense strategy meeting when they were startled by a brilliant flash of light followed instantly by a loud bang. In the middle of the great hall a dark blue unicorn and a seemingly lifeless white pegasus suddenly appeared. The eyes of every pony present widened as they realized that their Queen was amongst them once more.
"I need a healer!" Galaxia yelled as she knelt over her unconscious husband. "Hurry!"
A pair of well-trained palace guards rushed from the room upon her command.
"My Queen!" her oldest advisor exclaimed as he reached the two. He looked in shock at Galaxia's extensive injuries. "Your Highness, whatever in the world happened to you?"
Galaxia didn't even hear him; her full attention was still focused upon Cloud Bolt's prone form. "You idiot," she murmured tearfully as she nuzzled the side of his neck. "Darling, why did you have to do something stupid like that?"
"Your Highness," the advisor tried again as the other ponies gathered around the pair. He laid a cautious hoof on her shoulder. "You look awful. Please, won't you lie down?"
"That does not matter right now," she snapped back. "I am fine."
"But your wounds," the advisor insisted. "Could it be that you have been fighting that dreadful beast, Tirek?"
Galaxia nodded curtly. "Yes, I fought him," she admitted, not taking her eyes off her husband. "He is much stronger than I had hoped."
A worried murmur went through the assembled ponies. Though they had been forced to assume the Queen would not return to stop the monster, the possibility had still been there. It was unthinkable that she had fought yet not emerged victorious.
After several minutes of tense waiting the doors slammed open to admit the royal healer into the room. The white unicorn trotted swiftly over to the injured pair and wordlessly began her examination of the Queen.
"Worry not about me," Galaxia ordered. "Please, just help my husband."
The healer's eyes widened, but she did as she was told. Her horn glowed brightly as she passed it back and forth over the motionless pegasus. "This one has three broken ribs, a broken wing, and his right front leg has a slight fracture." After a few more passes she gave the frantic Queen a reassuring smile. "However he does not appear to have any internal injuries. I can repair the breaks, but it will take several weeks for them to fully heal."
"Please do so," Galaxia said quietly as the rush of adrenaline began to fade.
The healer nodded and began to concentrate. Cloud Bolt's body glowed faintly as she worked carefully to knit together each broken bone. The pegasus whimpered a time or two as she worked, but mercifully he remained unconscious throughout the painful procedure.
In less than five minutes the process was complete. "He will be a bit sore when he wakes up, but he should be able to walk almost immediately," the healer announced as she turned back to the Queen. "Please do not allow him to try to fly for at least a month or two."
"Thank you so much," Galaxia replied in a weak voice. "I don't know what I would do if anything happened to him."
"Please hold still, Your Highness," the healer ordered briskly as she began to scan the Queen's body. "You are in urgent need of healing as well."
Galaxia tried to nod, but her head felt so very heavy. In her weary state she didn't notice the trembling in her legs or the thick lather of sweat beginning to cover her body. The concerned voices around her began to fade as the last of her strength failed. The last thing the Queen saw was the healer's worried frown as she collapsed to the floor.
Galaxia opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the bright sunlight streaming in through the large window beside her bed. She idly wondered how late in the day it was and why the fillies hadn't woken her up already with their usual noise. Perhaps her husband had taken them out for a flying lesson, as he often did.
In her still drowsy state it was a moment before she realized that she was not in her cozy little cottage back in Everfree. A flood of memories hit her all at once, sending her into a panic. "Darling?" she called out anxiously as she tried to rise. To her alarm her legs would not cooperate, and her hooves slid uselessly out from under her, sending her tumbling back down.
"Calm down, Dearest," a soothing voice spoke up. "I'm right here." Cloud Bolt gave his wife a gentle smile as he limped around the foot of the bed. "Don't try to move so much."
"You're ok?" Galaxia asked with a sigh of relief. "I was so worried."
"Yeah, I'm just fine," he assured her with a sad smile. "How do you feel?"
"A bit weak," she admitted. "My head hurts too." She shook her head. "That's enough about me. What in Equestria were you thinking? You could have been killed! And come to think of it, where are our fillies? You didn't leave them all alone, did you?"
"I asked an old friend to watch over them for a couple days, but they're here now," Cloud Bolt explained as he sat down carefully by his wife's bedside. "They've both been under strict orders not to bother you."
"They're here?" She tried to mentally calculate how far it would have taken them to fly to the capitol. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Six days," he answered after a moment. "The royal healers were monitoring you nonstop for most of that. We weren't sure at first if you were ever going to wake up."
"There's no need to worry about me. I'm a tough mare," Galaxia joked. "Something like this is nothing."
"They said you came close to dying several times," he retorted. "Don't be so flippant about it."
Her smile faded. "Sorry. I must have really worried you."
"Of course you did!" he scolded. "Facing that monster alone was really stupid of you."
"I know," she replied. "But it might have been for the best. You saw how strong he was. Any other pony would have been struck down just as easily as you were."
"If I hadn't been there, Tirek would have finished you off," Cloud Bolt reminded her.
Galaxia nodded. "Did I even slow him down?"
"There haven't been any sightings of him since your battle," Cloud Bolt replied. "Do you think you might have driven him away for good?"
Galaxia frowned. "No. I do not believe that his wounds were that serious. I'm sure he'll show up again soon."
"You're certain of that?"
"Yes." She shut her eyes for a long moment before continuing. "Setting that aside for the moment, I want to see my fillies. Have they been told what's going on?"
"Only a little bit," Cloud Bolt replied. "This has all been very confusing for them. Especially for little Luna."
Galaxia's body shimmered for a second as she attempted to change her appearance back to Starlight. "I can't do even use magic right now," she sighed. "Great. They probably won't recognize me like this."
"They already saw you while you were still asleep," Cloud Bolt said with a reassuring smile as he limped over to the door. "They know it's you." He winced as he gingerly opened the door with his sore leg. "I'll go see if I can round them up."
Galaxia used the time to herself to try to smooth her rumpled hair down. Finally giving up on it as a lost cause, she gave a heavy sigh. "This is quite the joke," she muttered bitterly. "I go all these centuries without anything happening, and now all this happens right when I finally have something to live for. Perhaps this is my punishment for being so selfish."
She gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut as she felt a particularly sharp pain in her head. A dull feeling of rage began building up inside of her, but to her astonishment it wasn't solely directed at Tirek. After all, this was all as much Equestria's fault as his. If everypony hadn't always relied on her so heavily, things wouldn't have gotten to this point. The ponies of the royal court were the worst. They were all probably just as snobbish and uncaring towards the common pony as the old kingdom's nobility had been. She was beginning to wonder why she had even bothered to try saving them.
"Mama?" a soft voice asked tentatively.
Galaxia's eyes snapped open at the sound of Luna's voice. Her overwhelming anger instantly disappeared as she stared at the timid filly.
"Are you all better now, Mama?" Luna asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Galaxia smiled. "Come over here, honey."
Luna trotted obediently over and smiled as her mother gently nestled her head on top of hers. "I was really scared," she murmured.
"There's no reason to be scared," Galaxia reassured her, wishing with all her might that it was true. "Everything's going to be ok."
"I miss Everfree," Luna said softly. "This place is too big, and I don't know anyone."
"Hopefully we can all go back there soon," her mother replied. "But I need you to be a brave girl for me until then."
"Ok, Mama," Luna promised. "When will that be?"
"I don't know," Galaxia admitted.
"Mama, are you really a queen?"
"That's right."
Luna frowned. "Does that mean I'm a princess?"
"I suppose it does," her mother mused.
"Big Sister too?"
"Yes, her too."
Luna frowned. "How many other princesses are there?"
Galaxia chuckled. "Just you two." She cast a worried glance at the door. "Where is your sister?"
"I don't know. Celest's been acting funny," Luna pouted. "She's all moody and she doesn't ever want to play with me."
"Well, I'm sure she just has a lot on her mind."
"Papa's been sad too. Is it because you got hurt?"
Galaxia nodded. "Yes honey."
"Papa got hurt too," Celestia pointed out as she barged into the room. "But he won't even tell me what happened."
"It's a long story," her mother replied with a pointed glance at the younger filly. "How are you doing, Celestia?"
"Fine, I guess," the elder daughter sighed. "This is all just a lot to take in all at once." She crossed swiftly to her mother's side. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm ok," Galaxia replied. "Don't worry about me."
Celestia's brow furrowed. "Hey, Luna, could you go play outside for a bit?"
"But I want to stay with Mama!" Luna protested.
"It'll just be for a little while," Celestia insisted, gently pushing her sister towards the door. "I promise I'll read you a story later if you do."
"It's fine, honey. I'm not going anywhere," Galaxia promised.
Luna looked unsure, but finally nodded. "Ok..." she said as she headed out.
Celestia firmly shut the door and turned her attention back to her mother. "Alright, Mother, what's really going on? No one in this stupid castle will tell me anything."
Galaxia sighed. "It's not really something that you need to be worrying about," she replied.
"That's not true! Both you and Papa got all banged up, and everyone else around here is acting like tomorrow's the end of the world," Celestia pointed out in an annoyed tone. "You know, I've been reading some history books down in the library."
"Have you?" Galaxia asked nervously.
"Did you really end the Great Calamity all by yourself?"
"Well, no, not by myself," Galaxia answered. "I had some good friends that fought by my side."
"Were you fighting something really bad again this time?"
Galaxia nodded. "Yes, I was." There wasn't any point in lying to the intelligent filly.
"That's why you both got injured so badly, right?"
"Yes," her mother admitted. "I'm sorry I worried you girls."
"No, don't apologize…" Celestia protested. She hung her head low. "I think it's great that you're so strong, Mama. It seems like everyone really looks up to you." She tried unsuccessfully to hold back a sniffle. "I just wish you had told me what was going on. What if you hadn't come back? We wouldn't have even known what happened to you."
"I just wanted to keep everything the way it was," Galaxia replied. "Truth be told, I hate this whole queen business. I always have. That's why I ran away from here in the first place."
Celestia glanced back up. "I know you don't want to scare Luna, but can you at least tell me what's going on?"
"Well, I don't suppose there's any point in trying to hide it anymore," her mother agreed. She patted the edge of the bed. "Come on, sit down and I'll fill you in on everything."