Marks of Harmony

by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch


On the Edge

Gdocs Version

Marks of Harmony

Part 12

“I’m really getting sick of this ‘having to split up all the time’ deal,” Rainbow Dash complained as she, Chrysalis (disguised again as the pink, green-maned mare), and Spike circled around the edges of town, hoping to catch a glimpse of either Princess.

“How do mean?” Chrysalis asked.

“Ever since Aurora got here, we’ve been having to meet, then split up,” Dash elaborated, still miffed. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Twilight can organize us all and that we can all trust each other to do what we gotta do, but I just wish we could work together: be a team like normal.”

“I hear ya,” Spike replied. “Aurora sure knows how to mess things up.”

“There is a saying amongst Changelings,” Chrysalis reprimanded them both. “It goes, ‘True harmony is in cohesion among the separated’.”

“That sounds like something Changelings would say,” Rainbow said flatly. Chrysalis’s mouth contorted into a frown, unsure if she meant it as an insult or not.

The three walked—Rainbow Dash actually flying low to the ground while the other two strode—past rows and rows of ponies, unable to find even the smallest area of space at the field’s edge. Rainbow made several attempts to fly ahead and scout a good location, but whenever Chrysalis and Spike arrived, it had been taken. And all the while, the army continued to pile around Ponyville, becoming a perfect circle of pony bodies, weapon caches, tents, and clear training grounds. “This is never gonna work,” Spike said, exasperated, when they arrived at a location Rainbow had only moments before sworn was nearly deserted. “And even if we were able to get ourselves at spot, who’s to say we wouldn’t miss the Princesses entirely.”

“The dragon makes a fair point,” Chrysalis said to Dash. “We would have a greater chance of catching one of them if we wait at their usual points of arrival.”

“You know that massive crowd of ponies that you guys found Fluttershy and me at?” Rainbow asked sarcastically. “That’s as close as we can get to the road Princess Celestia’s chariot comes down. You wanna try to fight them to get to the front? No thanks.”

“It would take only a fraction of my magic to force them all aside,” Chrysalis replied, her horn sending off green sparks. “I will not waste it on a few ponies blocking a view I could have from the air, but if a large group needs to be moved...”

“Hold it, both of you!” Spike inserted commandingly, though he withered when both Chrysalis and Rainbow eyed him critically. “Heh... I mean, can I offer a suggestion?”

“Spit it out,” Rainbow said.

“Princess Luna!” Spike hissed, as if there were other ponies listening.

“That tells me nothing,” Chrysalis replied, dryly unimpressed. “When I was Mi Amore Cadenza, I learned that the Night Princess had only ever visited Ponyville once. She has no regular route to anticipate.”

“No! That’s the point!” Spike insisted. “Everypony’s busy looking to catch a glimpse of Princess Celestia. We should watch for Princess Luna at the spot where she came to visit us on Nightmare Night!”

“It is out of the way,” Rainbow said, a hoof on her chin in thought. “And if I remember right from my flyovers, the army isn’t actually near the place. They’ve had to detour into a different clearing in the Everfree Forest, even though the Nightmare Moon statue is on the edge of the field.”

“You two honestly believe it likely that Luna will try to gain access from such a place?” Chrysalis asked skeptically. “Based on only on one previous time?”

“Yeah, we’ve got nothing better,” Rainbow said, almost defiantly. “Sure beats hangin’ around trying to find some random spot anyway.” As an afterthought, she mumbled, “You’d think some of them would’ve gotten bored by now.”

The trip to the statue of Nightmare Moon was rather uneventful for the trio. There were countless parties being thrown for those ponies still not occupied with watching for the Princesses, but their spirit seemed dampened partially by the fact that nothing had yet happened. Rainbow reflected that it might also just be her: that Chrysalis’s presence made everything less joyous and innocent than it truly was. “Are you feeding?” Rainbow asked accusingly, her thoughts having sparked the question.

“Uh, what’re you talking abou... oh, never mind,” Spike said, embarrassed.

“What makes you say that?” Chrysalis asked, flashing a knowing grin at her.

“There are a ton of parties going on everywhere, and they all just seem, I don’t know, cold,” Rainbow replied, glancing at a house wherein participants could be heard in merry-making.

“To answer your question, no, I am not,” Chrysalis said, surprising Dash. “I fed on the ponies around the edges of the field,” she continued shamelessly. “But I think I feel what you do as well. I subsisted on Aurora’s heatless love of her constructs for the weeks it took to arrive in Equestria, and I can tell you this: the joy and love these ponies put on is not honest. It is a hollow celebration. They are merely trying to raise their own spirits. Aurora’s shadow still hangs over them.”

“I think it’s pretty lively to be honest,” Spike said innocently. “I don’t think it’s the ponies who’re feeling down. I think it’s you two.”

“You question my ability as Queen of the Changelings to feel the potency of emotions, dragon?” Chrysalis hissed, offended.

“No, no!” Spike waved his claws to ward off a leering Chrysalis. “But don’t you think maybe your powers are influenced by your own emotions. I know Twilight has trouble with spells when she’s tired or upset, and when she’s angry, the weirdest magic can happen.”

“Living under the bubble hasn’t exactly helped my mood,” Rainbow Dash admitted, purposefully avoiding the subject that nagged at her was the real cause.

“And you’ve lost your... um—do you call it a swarm, horde...?” Spike asked Chrysalis.

“They are my children, and I am their mother, not literally, but if you wish to refer to them as mine, you may call them my brood,” Chrysalis answered tonelessly.

“Okay, so, you’ve lost your brood,” Spike amended, “and I can’t imagine how that feels. It’s got to be affecting something in you.”

“It affects my determination to run Aurora through the skull with the Device she used to steal them,” Chrysalis said, dangerously calm.

“C’mon Chrysalis,” Rainbow said, seeing that while the queen meant every word, she was holding back. Inwardly, Dash hoped she could not be read so easily. “What else’s going on?”

“Why should I impart any confidence into the murderer of one of my own?” Chrysalis hissed angrily.

“Then talk to me,” Spike said. “I’m a good listener. For crying out loud, I was raised by the living pony dictionary.” Chrysalis’s glare at Rainbow turned to incredulity as her gaze shifted down to Spike. When the dragon did not back away or retract what he said, green eyes lit with genuine concern, Chrysalis felt the small barrier of denial fall away. A small sigh escaped her lips as her head fell.

“Everything is muted,” she said. “Nothing seems as vibrant as it should. Without my children to share my findings, they seem to have lost much of their meaning. It is worse than being suppressed by the anti-magic field, but I will not let my diminished ability bring me down. I can still feel some level of the emotions, and that shows me that Aurora is not as powerful as she believes herself to be.”

“That’s the attitude to take!” Spike agreed, offering a hoof-bump only to grin nervously as Chrysalis’s steely eyes reminded him exactly who he was talking to.

“Aurora’s got a big head, that’s for sure,” Rainbow agreed, not a little disturbed by the queen’s small revelation. In those few words of Chrysalis, Rainbow saw herself and the way she felt about her friends. She knew by experience that so many of her recent competitive victories had been sweetened by her companions. So wrong seemed the idea of such a similarity between herself and Chrysalis that Rainbow Dash actively rejected it.

Caught up in struggling to find a countering difference between herself and the Changeling, Rainbow barely noticed the danger directly before them in time. Her eyes shrank to pricks when she happened to look up to see the statue of Nightmare Moon with a solitary Inky Jay drawing aimlessly in the dirt in front of the stone. “Get down!” Rainbow breathed through her teeth, unceremoniously shoving Chrysalis and Spike behind a bush.

“In the name of Faust, if you touch me again, I will—” Chrysalis began to swear only to be silenced when Rainbow Dash pointedly motioned with a hoof for her to be quiet. With a tender pull, Rainbow peeked through the dense branches of the bush, watching Inky.

All those years of finding the best hiding places for pranks on Nightmare Night is really paying off, she thought.

“Let me see,” Chrysalis demanded with as much force as a whisper would allow. “Why are you acting so jittery?” Rainbow ducked down, allowing Chrysalis’s eyes to peer between the leaves. “Him,” she growled. “He is waiting for the same thing we are.”

“That would be the dumbest thing for Aurora to do,” Rainbow replied, voice still low. “I’d trust his negotiating skills about as far as I could throw Canterlot.”

“I agree,” Chrysalis said, “but there can be no coincidence for his being here. And he is clearly waiting for something.”

“What’s going on?” Spike asked, bemused.

“Inky Jay,” Rainbow explained. “He’s just sitting over there by the statue, probably waiting for Princess Luna.”

“Ookaay,” Spike replied, still confused. “Why are we hiding?” Rainbow could only face-hoof and throw her other hoof out, pointing to Chrysalis. “But she’s disguised,” Spike said.

“Inky Jay is an annoyingly perceptive pony,” Chrysalis replied. “We cannot take the chance of him knowing that I have aligned myself with you. If it is hard for me to reclaim my children now, that knowledge in Aurora’s hooves would make it impossible.”

“Then just let me and Rainbow Dash go over there,” Spike said, a mild note of cynicism that he was the only one that seemed to have seen this obvious solution. “Wouldn’t be bad to have somepony watching our backs either.”

“Okay fine, that makes sense,” Rainbow said grudgingly. “I just hope he doesn’t talk. I swear, I may just buck him if he can’t keep his boorish comments to himself.”

“You’re one to talk,” Spike said as the two made their way out from behind the bushes.

“Hey, when I criticize somepony, I’m trying to help them out,” Rainbow Dash said defensively. “He’s just malicious about it.”

Anything Spike may have said in reply was halted when both he and Rainbow Dash drew Inky’s full attention. Whatever he had been scratching out in the dirt he destroyed with a single swipe of his hoof, smirking in an amused sort of way as he walked toward them. “Which of you actually had a stroke of ingenuity for once and realized the moon Princess would be more likely to arrive here if at all?” he asked.

“Shut your trap,” Rainbow said venomously. “I’m not talking to you. End of story.”

“Well, that’s not really true, since you spoke to me just now,” Inky replied, unaffected.

“Urgh!” Rainbow could only growl, though she stayed true to her word and refrained from speaking to him.

“Since she’s being primitive in her lack of cooperation with a simple question,” Inky directed his attention to Spike, “I’ll ask you, dragon.”

“The name’s Spike,” he said coldly. “And what makes you think I’ll give you an answer? Why do you care anyway?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow jumped in aggressively, “why do you care? And why would Aurora send you to meet Princess Luna and not Princess Celestia?”

“I care because Lady Aurora has taught me to pay attention to the details: a valuable skill in any profession,” Inky retorted. “And as to why Aurora would seek out Luna over Celestia, bear in mind it was not the Night Princess that banished her to the desert. And now that I have offered up my explanations, return the favor with your far more petty answers.”

“It was me,” Spike acknowledged. “It was going to be too hard to find Princess Celestia with all the ponies around the field, so I suggested we come here.”

“Mm,” Inky replied, “I was wondering how long it would take for any ponies to figure out as much, what with the simpleton minds most of you seem to have.” Rainbow Dash had been expecting some insult along those lines, but holding back a retort meant that anger could only go into and shake her body. “But as a dragon was responsible first, I guess I am still waiting.” Rainbow Dash could not take it any longer. Eyes narrowed, she leapt with a fierce holler and tackled Inky to the ground. Both pegasi rolled over in the dirt, Inky flailing to get out from beneath Rainbow while she did everything in her power to keep him down. Their struggle was brief, Dash’s athleticism winning out.

“Who’s to say you aren’t any better than the rest of us?!” she screamed into his face, pinning his forelegs down with her own. “You’re from a bucking desert I’ve never knew even had a name!”

“Do you believe you have a purpose in life?” he growled at her. “I didn’t used to believe it, and Lady Aurora still doesn’t. But there are things that changed my view.” He tried jerking out from beneath her, but Rainbow held firm.

“What stuff?” she asked.

“You’ve never experienced anything close to it, so I’ll not waste my breath trying to justify myself to you,” Inky spat. “I ask for nopony to explain themselves, and expect the same.”

“You’re a piece of work,” Rainbow Dash glowered at him, letting him up. “Princess Luna is going to see right through you.”

“That is the point,” Inky said deridingly. “Lady Aurora is who I represent, and it is she that the Night Princess should see.”

“Won’t that be difficult with your big superiority complex blocking the view?” Rainbow retorted.

“Hardly,” Inky waved her away. “Everything Aurora has accomplished far outweighs any perception anypony may or may not have of me.”

“Oh by Celestia! Would you two just shut up?! I can’t take it anymore!” Spike very nearly shouted, exasperated. “We’re all here to meet with the Princess, but both of you’ll miss her if you keep at it.” As if to corroborate his words, a gruff voice sounded in the lull. It was heavily muted, as if behind a pane of thick glass. Rainbow’s eyes darted around the edges of the sphere, looking for the source as the initial stallion’s voice was answered by the unmistakable tone of the Princess of the Night. As a pegasus who had worked for years as a weather pony, keen eyesight came quite naturally to her. It became clear to her within the span of only a few seconds that the Princess was not coming from any place directly outside the field, but was instead moving through the Everfree Forest until she reached the half-sphere of energy. After listening intently to the approaching pair of voices for a few moments more—and shooting Inky Jay scowls of disapproval for making far too much noise with his hooves when turning around in his own search—Rainbow abruptly grabbed Spike in one foreleg and zipped fast and low toward the forest. A quick glance behind nearly made Rainbow’s heart stop and her wings lose their pace. Chrysalis was charging out from behind the bushes, and for the briefest of moments, Rainbow Dash thought the queen was taking advantage of her absence to attack Inky.

But just as quickly as the feeling came, it faded; a brief and minimal flash of green giving the disguised Chrysalis wings and taking away her horn. She took a running leap, quickly accelerating to catch Dash and Spike. “The next time you feel the pressing urge to rush away like that, would it hurt to let me know somehow?” she seethed.

“Sorry,” Rainbow apologized automatically, then remembering again that she was not talking to a fellow pegasus, she added more brusquely, “but I wasn’t going to miss Princess Luna just to come back to get you.”

“Wouldn’t Inky have thought it was strange too?” Spike managed to ask, doing his best to avoid dragging his head spines in the dirt.

“Yeah, that,” Rainbow agreed, dropping Spike onto the ground as she and Chrysalis settled down and came up to the edge of the field in a light trot.

“Princess Luna!” Spike shouted out at the pink energy before either pegasus or Changeling could even open their mouths. “It’s Spike! Twilight’s assistant! Can you hear me?!”

“Do not come any closer wherever you may be!” Chrysalis added perceptively. “The field around Ponyville affects Cutie Mark magic in a... negative way.” There was no response. Not even the rustling of branches or leaves could be seen or heard.

“Princess?” Rainbow asked.

“Are you sure your ears were not playing hopeful tricks on you?” Chrysalis turned her head to Rainbow critically. Her answer came not in a sharp retort from Dash, but in a sharp, bellowing crack as wood was snapped and broken. Even the magic field could not mute the sound. All three involuntarily took a few steps backward, Spike even hiding behind Rainbow Dash’s leg.

“Timberwolves?” he asked anxiously.

“Hush,” Chrysalis replied sharply as the groaning and shattering of trees drew ever closer and were joined by the hiss of earth being flung aside and dropped back to the ground. Rainbow Dash could feel her apprehension rising the more intense the cacophony became and her wings were beginning to fan in preparation for a quick exit when an aura of deep navy magic grasped a tree just at the edge of the field. Her foreboding was wiped away at the sight of the tree being ripped up and tossed to the side, the final sounds of the forest destruction fading into silence as Princess Luna strode up as close to the field as she imagined was safe.

“Well, that’s one way to get through a forest I guess,” a stallion’s voice muttered, though not disapproving. Said stallion soon strode up beside the Princess: a strongly built but certainly fighting age; a forest green mane matching like seaweed against a deep ocean blue and combed in a style bespeaking a pony of many disciplines.

“Princess Luna!” Rainbow Dash and Spike both said at the same time. Spike would have run over to her, but he stopped himself just short of touching the pink energy with his claws. “Heh, not sure I want to know what it would do to dragons,” he said, looking melancholy for being unable to greet her as he would have liked to.

“We art glad to see thee well and unharmed,” Luna addressed them and striking Rainbow at how similar her voice was to Aurora’s. She had known that the soft quality of each of their voices was alike, but the level of that similarity had not truly struck her until hearing Luna. “Who hath joined thee to meeteth us here?” Luna continued, motioning with a nod of her head to Chrysalis, who had yet to come back to the field’s border.

“That’s... uh... that’s,” Rainbow struggled to come up with a passable name, “that’s Morning Dew. She’s a friend from Cloudsdale who was visiting me when all this crap started happening.”

“Doth she still hold a grudge against us for being Nightmare Moon?” Luna asked, perplexed by a seemingly normal pony avoiding her.

“Nah, it’s nothin’ like that,” Rainbow desperately tried to change the subject. “She’s just not the most social pony in the world.”

“Since thou hath mentioned ponies desiring little interaction of the social kind,” Luna said, “where is Twilight Sparkle? Our sister wisheth us to learn how her student fares.”

“Oh, yeah, Twilight’s up talkin’ with the Aurora alicorn lady. Been trying to get on her good side since she got here,” Rainbow said a little too fast.

“Doth thou speaketh the truth?” Luna asked perceptively, much to Dash’s discomfort.

“Well, that’s what I think’s goin’ on,” Rainbow replied. “That’s where she said she would be.”

“Be that as it may,” Luna said. “Doth thou have a way to let us inside?”

“Another pegasus followed ya here kid,” the stallion said flatly to Rainbow. To Luna he said, “You Majesty, it would be a good idea for you to get under cover. Princess Celestia is already confined to her tent to avoid causing an uproar. If the negotiation is even going to happen, you can’t be seen this close to town.”

“We taketh your meaning perfectly Spearhead,” Luna nodded to him before her entire body slipped into an ethereal mist which vaguely resembled her mane and tail. In this form, Luna vanished into the small crevices within the foliage just as Rainbow felt the light bursts of wind from a pegasus’s landing wing beats.

“Here we go,” Rainbow said frustrated under her breath. She knew without even turning around who the pegasus was, and her assumption was proven correct as Inky Jay stepped up beside her.

“Where is the Princess?” he asked the stallion called Spearhead without so much as a greeting. “I know I saw her here, so there’s no use in lying.”

“Watch the tone you take with me colt,” Spearhead said forcefully, taking offense at Inky’s relaxed self-importance. “I’ll not say anything of Her Majesty’s whereabouts to anypony I don’t know. Least of all a rich snob like yourself who will just go gallivanting off, blabbing your bucking mouth about how you’ve seen Princess Luna.”

“This one deals with royalty on a regular basis,” Chrysalis whispered with a snicker, causing Rainbow and Spike to jump at her silent approach.

Overcoming this, Rainbow replied, “It’s great. Inky’s in for a rude awakening.”

“You misread me,” Inky replied evenly, though Rainbow could gleefully tell he was struggling to maintain a calm demeanor. “I am a servant like yourself. As such, I have been sent to explain to the Princess of the Night the terms of surrender Lady Aurora is willing to accept.”

“I don’t know any ‘servants’ who wear hoof rings,” Spearhead replied, completely ignoring the bulk of what Inky had said.

“Oh, so you, like every other pony from Equestria, take a pony at what he appears to be on the surface,” Inky spat. “These,” he continued, lifting up a hoof to display a jagged silver ankle bracelets with a sapphire stone embedded in its center, “are enchanted objects to help ponies pass through this field.”

“That method has served me well through my whole career,” Spearhead said, “and I’m not about to change it based on some bucking colt who’s gotten his feelings hurt.”

“My personal offense means nothing,” Inky replied, not as convincing as he normally would be. “And your defense of your error is only further proof that Celestia’s reign promotes ‘harmony’ at the expense of equality and careful perception.”

“You may not be a citizen of Equestria colt,” Spearhead said fiercely but cooly, “but if you insult any of the Princesses again, I’ll show you a special place I—”

“Spearhead, the young one’s words art against principle, not our sister personally,” Luna’s voice seemed to float from everywhere at once. Like water flowing beautifully through pipes, the mist of Luna’s ethereal body coalesced into her physical shape, looking kindly at her assistant. “He hath been raised and taught by Aurora Streak, and it doth not surprise nor offend us that he speaketh this way. Lay thy mind at ease.”

“Your Majesty,” Spearhead bowed in reverent obedience.

“So thou hath taken upon the mantle of Aurora’s apprentice,” Luna said, intrigued, to Inky Jay.

“No,” Inky answered flatly. “I am her scribe.”

“And assassin, scout, and preacher,” Chrysalis hissed just loud enough for Rainbow to hear.

“Hold up,” Dash said, becoming gradually more confused. “How do you know so much about Aurora, Princess? No offense.”

“We taketh none,” Luna answered, understanding. “We gaveth Aurora much support in her research before her banishment. We knoweth her well.” To Inky, she continued, “We—what doth the ponies sayeth now—beg to differ. Thou hath been sent to receive me. We wouldest never hath suspected Aurora to entrust anypony with something of such importance.”

“I am not her apprentice,” Inky repeated. “I am her scribe.”

“Then we shalt agree to disagree,” Luna said pointedly. “Now, we art interested in hearing these terms of surrender she hath laid out.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow added. “I wanna hear these too. I’d love to see what she thinks she can do against Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and an army that big.”

“She said you would all want to hear them first,” Inky said not a little proudly. “Therefore, Lady Aurora Streak declares that the Princesses of Equestria are to withdraw themselves and the Armies of the Sun and Moon away from Ponyville. If they do not, Lady Aurora will be forced to match her army against the Armies of the Sun and Moon, and her powers against those of the Princesses.” Chrysalis tensed and a low growl reverberated in the air directly around her: the audacity of Aurora to have claimed the Changelings as her own having sent her mood into a downward spiral.

Rainbow nudged her brusquely with a hind leg as a warning, but could not contain her own burst of guffawing at Inky’s final words. “She—!” was all Rainbow managed to say before succumbing to a fit of laughter.

“Don’t laugh filly,” Spearhead admonished Rainbow, though his eyes were focused intently upon Inky. “He means it.”

“Yes Rainbow Dash,” Luna added concernedly, “Aurora is not a pony to make idle threats. What perplexes us is that she hath made the threat at all. It hath become even of greater pertinence that we speaketh with her.”

“Are you offering a state of negotiation?” Inky asked, much hinging on Luna’s answer.

“We art,” Luna said shortly, then, in a voice of an even higher regal flare than that Aurora put on before the ponies of Ponyville, she said, “We, Luna, Princess of the Moon and Night, offereth to negotiate with Lady Aurora Streak the terms of a peaceful resolution.”

“There are conditions for being allowed inside,” Inky said tonelessly, as if this was the answer he had expected.

“Speaketh them,” Luna commanded.

“Your contact with any ponies outside the Elements of Harmony is strictly forbidden,” Inky replied. “Attempts of sabotage on Celestia’s behalf will be crushed and the participants executed without mercy. And finally, you will have no contact outside this sphere until the negotiations conclude for better or worse.”

“Doth Aurora hath anything against us bringing with us an assistant,” Luna asked, motioning to Spearhead.

Inky scrutinized the stallion before replying, not without some hesitation, “I suppose not. Only, he will not be allowed anywhere near the ship unless either myself or Aurora are in accompaniment.”

“Then we agreeth to Aurora’s terms, saveth the withdrawal of our Armies. We canst, however guarantee that they shalt remain motionless in their aggression,” Luna said.

Inky did not reply at first, which seemed odd to Rainbow Dash, as he was usually the first to bite back with some sort of comment. His eyes were not focused, staring off past Spearhead and Luna: as if he were seeing something only his mind could reveal. “How can you guarantee their docility?” Inky finally asked, his tone measured.

“Our sister hath given us the right to negotiate first,” Luna explained. “Unless we declareth it, the armies shall do nothing.” When Inky once again took some time to answer, Luna continued, “The situation at hoof is not as delicate as it couldst be. Letteth us both inside, and we canst keepeth it from becoming as such.”

“The situation is more delicate than you seem to believe,” Inky replied, his voice regaining its normal qualities, “but you make a fair point in avoiding escalation."

His gaze once again focusing intently on Spearhead who would not be the first to break their eye-contact, Inky walked straight through the barrier with no inhibition. However, it was clear that protection was needed, for the moment his nose touched the energy, the four sapphires flared in their color while an identical hue of power flashed over Inky’s Cutie Mark. He strategically never left the field entirely, instead extending a hoof once his front half was through the pink energy. Luna slid inside first, and when she was able to let go of Inky’s hoof and not feel the weight of the field’s magic, her whole body shivered like in a winter storm. Spearhead was more gruff, doing his best to ignore the tingling sensation the magic brought against him: only releasing a passing shudder.

“You okay Princess?” Rainbow asked, the reality of Princess Luna now with them to help gradually sinking in.

“We art just fine Rainbow Dash,” Luna replied, her voice wavering slightly with a second small shiver of her body. “It hath been many years since we hath felt magic of such a potent and invasive nature.”

“I thought you were protected,” Rainbow said, looking maliciously to Inky—who was presently occupied with removing the hoof rings without magical assistance.

“That we were safeguarded from the ill effects is true,” Luna said in a calming tone, “but as an alicorn, we hath a finer sense of the magical. The field is powerful, and we couldst it feel it in something close to its entirety.”

“How easily do you believe unprotected ponies could pass through?” Spearhead asked, coming up to his sovereign’s side.

“From what we felt, we ordereth that it not be attempted,” Luna said firmly. “They wouldst suffer a fate worse than death.”

“So do you have any idea of how you’re going to convince Aurora to let us all out of here?” Spike asked eagerly. “You sound pretty confident.”

“We knoweth what we wouldst like to do,” Luna said, “but the Aurora we knoweth is likely not the same Aurora here with us all now. We will have to improvise.”

“Oh, how encouraging,” Chrysalis said, her rolling eyes matching the sarcasm in her voice perfectly.

“Surely thou understandeth the need to improvise, Morning Dew,” Luna said to her, mildly affronted. “Hath thou not been forced to improvise because of Aurora’s very presence?”

“I had just been hoping for something more definitive from you of all ponies,” Chrysalis replied, clearly disappointed. “A monarch should always have a plan in place, and a secondary one if the first should fail—”

Chrysalis would have continued speaking, but Rainbow interrupted her with a small chuckle, “Morning Dew’s really into political theory.” Luna arched an eyebrow, intrigued, as Dash pressed on, “She reads tons of books about it; thinks she knows everything there is to know.”

“Then you’d know why the army was brought out in the first place, right kid?” Spearhead quizzed Chrysalis.

“It’s an intimidation tactic,” the disguised Changeling replied without hesitation. “The army cannot do anything with the field in place, but its presence is a kind of... unspoken speech about the Princess’s power.” Only Rainbow caught the tone of animosity tainting the last words.

“That’s your mare Your Majesty,” Spearhead spoke to Luna, impressed. “She’s got a sharper political mind than I do.”

“Thou art my assistant in this matter, Spearhead,” Luna said with a note of finality, as if they had had some form of this conversation before. “Though thou art correct, I knoweth thee better. Do not bringeth the topic up again.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Spearhead said, not a little disgruntled.

“Do you expect me to take you to Lady Aurora immediately, Princess Luna?” Inky asked the group, his scratchy voice grating on Rainbow’s ears more than usual as he came up to them.

“We were under that impression, yes,” Luna replied.

“Well, that’s not the case as of this moment,” he said flatly, trotting between the group. “Lady Aurora will not be seeing you until tomorrow. She has work.”

“What a pathetic excuse!” Chrysalis burst out. “I’ve—!” Her voice was cut off with a pained yelp when Spike poked one of his talons against her side.

“Treat it as you will,” Inky said, unaffected, “but that is the message she sent me with.”

“We understandeth completely,” Luna replied, surprising Rainbow with her complacency. “We wouldst much like to learn what hath transpired thus far from Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

“Feel free to go then,” Inky said rather brusquely. “I’ll come with her summons sometime tomorrow.”

“We art not just some pony to be summoned about,” Luna said with regal authority. “We wilt come to her because we wisheth to. Thou wouldst do well to remindeth Aurora of our status. Perhaps thou wilt also remembereth it as well.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Inky said casually, taking to the skies shortly thereafter. There was a moment of silence in which Luna watched him disappear over Ponyville proper, her eyes studying the ship over Town Hall when he was no longer visible.

“Aurora hath truly outdone herself,” the Night Princess sighed after a time, the weight of countless memories in her voice. “We only wish she had shown greater discretion with her passion.”

“Speaking from a soldier’s point of view Your Majesty,” Spearhead began only to be interrupted by Chrysalis.

“You’re a soldier?!” she asked, sounding both alarmed and angry.

“Yes, filly, that’s what I am,” Spearhead said smoothly. “You have a problem with our breed?”

“Yes,” Chrysalis replied, short and sharp.

“Calmeth thyself, Morning Dew,” Luna said. “A soldier Spearhead mayeth be, but here and now, he resideth as my counselor, nothing more. Thou wast saying Spearhead?”

“Your Majesty, in my experience, passion doesn’t understand discretion. It is full speed ahead, all the time,” the general replied, disgruntled by Chrysalis.

“What thou speaketh maketh much sense, and more knowledge is needed shouldst we be able to succeed in these negotiations,” Luna said purposefully. “Rainbow Dash, leadeth us to the dwelling of Twilight Sparkle.”

“You seriously want to go through all of town?!” Rainbow Dash asked, shocked. “You’ll be mobbed for sure!”

“That doesn’t even begin to measure the amount of awkward questions there’ll be,” Spike added.

“I would hope you weren’t thinking about it,” Chrysalis said.

“No, we were of the mind to float about as the Mist of Night,” Luna answered with a playful smile.

“That’ll work,” Rainbow shrugged, jumping into a hover. “Hope you can keep up.”

“We’re the ones you should be worried about,” Spearhead said, motioning to himself and Spike.

“Nah, it’s alright,” Spike said to the general, unconcerned. “I can get you there. I mean, I do live there an’ all.”

“We wilt be just fine, Spearhead,” Luna reassured him, morphing into smoke. “Lead the way,” her now watery voice said to Rainbow and Chrysalis. Pegasus and disguised Changeling darted into the sky, the Mist of the Night following close behind.

“I sure hope Her Majesty knows what she’s doing, exposing herself so willing to the enemy,” Spearhead muttered as he followed Spike back to the town.

“But that’s not really the point you know,” Spike said sincerely to him. “Maybe you haven’t felt it because you haven’t been trapped here, but just having one of the Princesses around is a real boost.”

“I could feel that there was a change in morale,” Spearhead admitted, “even if that Morning Dew filly didn’t particularly like the idea of having to rely on Her Majesty. The only thing nagging my old, bucking brain, is whether boosted morale alone can withstand a whirlwind?”
______________________________________________________________________________

Luna had never personally been inside the Ponyville Library. She had seen pictures of Twilight and her friends taken inside the place as well blueprints from the royal archives, but none of these truly captured the warm, welcoming feel of the building. The organic shapes, the surroundings all of unprocessed, uncut wood, and the volume of books on shelves all around breathed a sense of comforting nostalgia into her senses. It was very like the old library of the Castle of the Sun and Moon in the early ages.

And yet its chief resident, the one pony Luna wished to speak with the most, was absent. She had been content to wait for her return from Aurora’s vessel, politely refusing the information the others wished to offer up. As her chief advisor for this venture, Luna wanted Spearhead to hear everything she heard at the same time she heard it. Her demand was born of centuries of watching informants mangle their messages as they were forced to tell them again and again. In a situation so delicate, she would not have this happen for the sake of brevity. So when Rarity, the bearer of Generosity, approached to try to speak with her for the fifth time, Luna, said sharply and very near the Royal Canterlot Voice, “Miss Rarity! We hath heard thy attempts to giveth out the information thou deemeth pertinent the four previous times! Our stance remaineth the same!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Your Highness,” Rarity back-stepped, apologizing profusely. “I didn’t know you would take it that way. Please forgive me. That’s not what I wanted to speak with you about.”

“Then the apology is due thee, not us,” Luna inclined her head to Rarity from where she rested on the reading sofa. “What didst thou wisheth to ask of us?”

“Would you like some tea?” Rarity said in an embarrassed hush. “I know where Twilight keeps it, and I thought...”

“We wouldst very much enjoy tea,” Luna replied, doing her best to alleviate Rarity’s discomfiture. “They do not serveth such things when on the march with an army.”

“Where did you get that many ponies to kick Aurora’s flank by the way?” Rainbow Dash asked enthusiastically.

“That interests me as well,” Morning Dew added, only to be greeted by the briefest of scowls and glares from the other mares in the room. It was one of many signs Luna had observed since her arrival; that despite Rainbow Dash referring to Morning as a friend, none of them seemed to treat her as one would expect a friend to be treated. She was instead treated like an unwelcome outsider that the bearers wished to see gone. Why Morning Dew did not mention this, or why the bearers even acted in such a way in the first place, was quite beyond Luna.

Nevertheless, she was eager to ease the near visible tension between her and all the bearers save Rainbow Dash, and conversation would be as good a cure for it as any other social pleasure. “It was a great task, to be sure,” Luna said. “Equestria hath not had a standing army for countless generations. The system in place now is rather uninteresting, but suffice it to say, we and our sister were surprised we received as many competent ponies as we didst. We wouldst have arrived sooner, hath not other nations reacted most foalishly to the assembling.”

“They thought you were going to attack them,” Fluttershy filled in Luna’s unspoken words. “That must have a real mess to deal with. I can’t imagine...”

“Nor couldst any pony born in this age,” Luna affirmed, her tone becoming irritated at just the thought. “Instead of consulting us and our sister, the ambassadors rushed to inform their heads of state of the call and assembly. The Zebra Chancellor in particular wast quite offensive in his response.”

“Ah, shucks, Princess,” Applejack replied. “Sorry ya had ta go through all tha’ nonsense fer us.”

“We wouldst have done the same for any of our cities,” Luna said, reassured her. “After all, if a ruler is not willing to go to any and all lengths for the safety of her ponies, what kind of ruler is she really?”

“How good do you think the army is?” Rainbow asked.

“We hopeth that such a measure needeth not to be taken,” Luna replied, slightly admonishing. “It is our highest hope that our negotiations succeedeth.”

“You should know, Princess,” Morning said, her stress on Luna’s title just shy of contempt, “that Aurora Streak is an impassioned pony. She will steal, murder, and backstab anypony to see her will accomplished.”

“We wouldst ask how thou thinketh thou knoweth more than us about a pony banished from Equestria nearly one thousand ago?” Luna asked testily. “It is impossible, especially as we kneweth her before her banishment.”

“Is there a problem Your Majesty?” the older voice of Spearhead sounded into the room at the click of the door. He and Spike strode into the circle of ponies, the dragon heading off into the kitchen after asking Fluttershy for where Rarity was.

“This pony here hath only had the unfortunate experience of Aurora as an invader,” Luna said, gesturing to Morning.

“Permission to speak freely Your Majesty?” Spearhead said, clearly unsure of his monarch’s reaction of his initial thoughts.

“Thou hath always had it,” Luna nodded.

“That pony is an invader Your Majesty,” Spearhead replied quickly. “I cannot ignore that fact. Everything she’s done clearly points to an occupation, and occupation always precedes invasion. I’d take that into account during your negotiations Your Majesty.”

“But Aurora hath never been the militaristic type,” Luna protested. “She couldst not command two guards let alone an invasion force.”

“Maybe not in words,” Morning said darkly. “But intent is in the mind, and that she has.”

“But ponies doth not have easily accessible minds for telepathy,” Luna said. “And—”

“She wouldn’t be commanding ponies Princess,” the voice of one Twilight Sparkle sounded stalwartly from the doorway. Everypony in the room turned to see her, Luna noticing the eager—more accurately, desperate—shine in Morning’s eyes at her presence.

“Twilight dear!” Rarity was the first to speak, her joy-filled tone expressing everypony’s feeling at seeing her. “You’re just in time. I have tea for everypony while we fill Princess Luna in.” Twilight nodded to each of the ponies in turn (a bow for Luna), but her face remained grim as she took a seat. Anypony could see something of an unforeseen magnitude had been dropped atop her mind by Aurora, but also visible was a more subtle concentration as she tried to sort out a less complicated issue. “Chrysalis, I hope you—!” Rarity stopped with a sharp intake of breath and a hoof over her mouth. The entire room was deathly silent.

“Didst thou just calleth Morning Dew Chrysalis?” Luna asked, not sure whether to be stunned, angry, confused, or all three. Spearhead’s response was measured by his militaristic training as Luna’s chief protector. His horn glowed a muddy amber, a spell blasting from it directly at Morning Dew. But as well-trained and experienced-honed as Spearhead was, his raw-power was little against a Changeling ruler. Chrysalis conjured an opaque magical shield with a flash of her acid green magic, her eyes flashing to their original hue at the increased magical exertion. Whatever the spell’s intended effect, it accomplished only revealing Chrysalis to Luna.

“STAYETH BACK!” the Princess of the Night roared to the Changeling who maintained her disguise.

“No! Princess Luna! She’s on our side!” Twilight insisted, placing herself between Luna and Chrysalis.

“Get out of the way filly,” Spearhead grunted, a second spell building on his horn. “I don’t want to do it, but I will blast you out of the way to reach the scum.”

“THOU VILE CREATURE!” Luna still ranted at Chrysalis. “WE KNEWETH THY KIND WERE OF THE LOWEST FILTH, BUT THOU HATH STOOPED TO A NEW LEVEL OF CRIMINALITY! RELEASETH THE BEARERS NOW, AND WE MIGHTETH YET CONSIDER NOT BURNING THEE INTO ASHES!”

“Oh please, I wish you could hear yourself,” Chrysalis said, unintimidated as her eyes moved from Luna to Spearhead and back to Luna. “Fooling a love struck stallion near his wedding day was no challenge. But even the most skilled of my ancestors would never attempt something so foolish as to try to control six mares without any love to manipulate.” Before continuing to speak, a flash of green magic surrounded Chrysalis, transforming back into her true, ash-black form. She shook her head, settling her turquoise hair, and said, “Step away Twilight Sparkle. Prove you are right to Princess Luna.” Cautiously—almost warily—Twilight sidled out from between the two monarchs whose eyes had yet to leave the other’s.

“Stay thy horn Spearhead,” Luna said, curious. “Turneth thy powers to the bearers. We wilt not even be partially convinced ‘til they be checked.”

“Your Highness,” Spearhead acknowledged, assured that Luna would be able hold Chrysalis at bay should the queen make any move of aggression. “C’mere kids,” he said to Twilight’s friends. “You too young filly,” he nodded to Twilight when she refused to move from where she watched Luna and Chrysalis bore their pupils into one another. “The spell I’m going to do on you is gonna make a tingling in your gut,” Spearhead explained briefly. “Don’t try to resist trembling, it’s impossible. If you don’t shiver, that means the Changeling’s got your mind.”

“Wait, hold on a sec! I feel fine and I know Chrysalis hasn’t shot me with spells!” Rainbow Dash protested; only to sputter and shake when Spearhead unconcernedly did exactly that. Twilight and the rest were more complacent, allowing Spearhead to touch each of them on the forehead with his glowing horn and shivering like in a winter storm shortly thereafter.

“She has no hold on them Your Majesty,” he concluded.

“Then explaineth thyselves bearers,” Luna said stoutly, she and Chrysalis continuing to stare resolutely at each other. It was not a request.

“Aurora was just horrible to her,” Fluttershy said swiftly before asking her friends, “You... um don’t mind if I say... tell the Princess, do you?”

“Go ahead Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity said, nodding. “I think you would do a better job explaining this particular part of our experience than the rest of us.”

“Thanks Rarity,” Fluttershy smiled at her before saying to Luna, “So Aurora has been just horrible to her. She had Inky try to... to... to kill her, then took away her connection to all her Changelings. And, well... um... that’s all...” For Luna, Fluttershy ended rather abruptly, but the earnestness of her voice alone spoke volumes.

“Surely thou kneweth our sister and us wouldst be in disapproval,” Luna said, her comment directed unquestionably to Twilight. “This villain canst not be trusted.”

“We didn’t have much of a choice Your Majesty,” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash tried to help me when I first went to see Aurora and—”

“She murdered one of my children,” Chrysalis finished coldly, reminding everypony present that her desire for vengeance had not vanished from her mind. Rainbow Dash was affected more than the others at her sharpness, visibly flinching away. “But Aurora Streak committed a greater crime by stealing my children away from me, and these mares were the only ones I could place any form of confidence in.”

“To be totally honest, Queen,” Applejack said matter-of-factly, “I thank I can say for us alls tha’ we woulda helped ya anywho. It ain’t right for families ta be separated, even figurtively speakin’.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking!” Rainbow burst out. “That we should stick together instead of splitting up all the time!”

“Tha’s mighty kind a’ ya Rainbow,” Applejack smiled to her friend. “But tha point is Princess, even if not everypony likes it, we’re all in tha same leaky boat.”

“It’s totally weird,” Rainbow Dash agreed, “and awkward to the max, but AJ’s right. She’s on our side.”

“Be that as it mayeth be,” Luna conceded, though her tone was still reluctant. She took to lying upon the sofa once again, Chrysalis lying on the floor where she was. Everypony else followed her lead, forming a ring while Rarity passed around the tea that had had just enough time to cool during the confrontation. “But thou shouldst know Queen Chrysalis,” Luna warned, “we hath been alive since before thy birth and the birth of thy great-grandmothers. We shalt see any trickery thou mayeth hath planned for our ponies.”

“I don’t care about you or any of the Equestrians, except Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis said dangerously. “Aurora will reap what she has sown. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Never thought I’d see that saying, ‘I’d rather work with a bucking Changeling’ come true,” Spearhead said to no one in particular as he scrutinized Chrysalis. His military training dictated he keep his eyes on his enemies whenever possible, and there was no doubt in the minds of anypony that some of his attention would always be upon Chrysalis.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna addressed her formally, “now that we hath resolved the immediate problems, relate to us all that thou knoweth. Everypony else, feeleth free to addeth anything Twilight canst not recall or canst not know for lack of being present.”

Twilight immediately deferred to Chrysalis, citing the fact that aside from Inky Jay, she was the first to have contact with Aurora as she traveled toward Equestria. Chrysalis recounted in slightly more detail how Aurora had enlisted her services, though she still left out the specifics of some of the methods by which Aurora had convinced her of the venture. Thereafter, Twillight took over, supplemented occasionally by her friends’ experiences and eventually completely leaving the telling to Rainbow Dash as she did her best to emotionlessly describe her fight with the Changeling. She never shed a tear nor did her voice ever crack, but her words were rendered passive, weighted, and methodical. Twilight was glad Rainbow could relate the story calmly and that she did not let those shocking events change who she was or stop her from doing things; but Twilight felt pained that Dash was still possessed of lingering guilt. And judging by Princess Luna’s face, she was easily empathizing with Rainbow.

Thankfully, Rainbow Dash became her usual, aggressive self a few minutes after Twilight had begun to narrate their experiences once again. Chrysalis and Twilight shared the spotlight for most of the remaining accounting, jumping between one another quite readily when relating the fight in the bagel shop. Through it all, Luna remained as steadily impassive as Twilight had ever seen in a mare. Certain things like Rainbow’s fight with the Changeling and the exploding of the bagel shop evoked a subtle response in her face, but nothing more. Spearhead was even grimmer, his features never once wavering. Only when Twilight paused longer than she had previously, preparing to open up Aurora’s newest revelations, did Luna speak.

“The situation hath taken on a graver tone than we had first assumed,” Luna lamented. “By her very recruitment of Changelings, she hath stated her lack of inhibition to open war.”

“There’s more, Princess,” Twilight said her voice hard.

“You will answer my question first,” Chrysalis interrupted. “I care nothing for the troubles Aurora may bring upon Equestria with her inventions, but I must know if she will release my children.”

“I... I can’t be sure,” Twilight decided to answer truthfully. “That’s not what I asked her to do.”

“Why?!” Chrysalis burst out. “That was our agreement! You help me free them and I do not take a life for a life!”

“Don’t!” Spearhead growled, his horn surrounded by his magic, much the same as Chrysalis’s twisted spike. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie closed ranks around Rainbow Dash, forming barrier of ponies between their friend and the Changeling queen.

“Thou hath made Chrysalis a promise Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. “Why hath thou not honored it?”

“It wasn’t like I didn’t try to get us somewhere with the Changelings,” Twilight snapped to Chrysalis. “But if I had asked her to free them, she would’ve known that you were helping us. And if Aurora found that out, everything we’ve been trying to do would be useless. I asked her to reveal that she has Changelings on board.”

“And how will that help?” Chrysalis sneered.

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted defiantly. “But I think it’s a step in the right direction. If we’re working to get the Changelings back to you, everypony needs to know that she has them in the first place.”

“After thy failed invasion,” Luna said to Chrysalis, not malicious or hateful, “we and our sister thoughteth it good to comissioneth a magical autopsy on some of the fallen Changelings to calmeth fears that they were still amongst us. The autopsy revealed that Changelings have a telepathic network unique to themselves. This result was published to Equestria at large. By having Aurora revealeth that she hath Changelings on her side, Twilight Sparkle wilt have shown the ponies of Ponyville that her control of them is artificial.”

“And who is to say they won’t welcome the idea that Changelings can be subdued so easily?” Chrysalis hissed. “Your kind’s fear of me and mine borders on paranoia.”

“Thanks for the compliment Princess, but I wasn’t thinking about it like that. I was just trying to keep Chrysalis’s allegiances away from Aurora for as long as possible,” Twilight said sheepishly with a slight blush.

“Well what did Aurora say?” Rarity asked. “Surely she resisted the idea.”

“She didn’t say whether she was against it or not,” Twilight replied, hindsight causing her to be just as puzzled as Rarity. “I asked her to lower the field around Ponyville, and she didn’t budge on not doing that, but she never told me whether she was against or for revealing the Changelings.”

“Coward,” Rainbow spat. “I mean really. What kind of pony has a secret of army of Changelings and might tell the defenseless town about them, and traps them inside a magic bubble?!”

“There’s a fine line between smart and cowardly, filly,” Spearhead said. “This Aurora mare is leanin’ more towards smart in my book.”

“You’ve got no idea,” Twilight said. “Princess, she told me about Latency.” Every face in the room was distorted into shapes of utter cluelessness except for Luna, and oddly, Chrysalis.

“Well, it is a real word...” Rarity trailed off in confusion.

“It sounds like some word from some noble’s fancy-smanshy speech, no offense Princess,” Applejack said.

“Oooh! Oooh!” Pinkie waved a hoof from where she sat. “I know what that word means!”

“Did she mention it in context?” both Luna and Chrysalis said at the same time, though Luna’s voice was saddened while Chrysalis’s tone was demandingly curious.

“It has to do with magic,” Twilight said to her friends, only to have Pinkie Pie reply,

“But that doesn’t make any sense!”

To Princess Luna, Twilight said solemnly, “Yes, she covered all of that. It was the most emotional I’ve ever seen her. Even though she said she didn’t, I think she blames herself for Nightmare Moon.”

“Wait, Aurora’s responsible for turning Luna into Nightmare Moon?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, exasperated. “Okay! That’s it! I’m done. How can we still negotiate with a pony like that?!” Twilight’s other friends nodded, more shocked than angry, and less impassioned than Rainbow, but still sharing her view.

“She’s right,” Chrysalis agreed grudgingly. “I remember growing up when the Nightmare was in the middle of her crusade for Eternal Night. Even Changelings feared her long leg of power.”

“Ceaseth, all of you!” Luna ordered. “We wilt not speaketh falsely to tryeth to absolve Aurora of all guilt in the matter, but we must also bear much of the weight. We manipulated our best friend for power’s sake, and we hath been forced to live with the consequences of betrayed friendship ever since. We art, in fact, pleased to hear that those terrible events hath not dissuaded her from work in Latency.”

“But what is it?” Chrysalis asked, again still intrigued and eager.

“Well, if it’s about magic,” Pinkie Pie proposed quite seriously, “than it must have something do with being a pegasus, Earth pony, or unicorn.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s what a normal pony would think,” Twilight corrected. “She calls it Latency because she thinks it’s a more apt description, but she’s actually just talking about Cutie Mark Magic.”

“But what does it mean for Changelings?” Chrysalis pressed. “She tried to usurp my authority to decide what the horde should or should not do on the grounds that she created us through Latency. I reasserted that it was my decision in the end, but I cannot get her words out of my head. She explained Latency to you, so is it even possible that she created Changelings with it?”

“It’s more than possible Chrysalis,” Twilight replied, sounding more gentle than she thought possible of herself when speaking to the queen. “I actually think it’s true.”

“No,” Chrysalis denied the statement forcefully. “I refuse to believe that I fall beneath some Celestia-spawn that has no value on life.”

“Thou hath not properly taken the measure of her,” Luna chastised. “Aurora Streak valueth life, but only that life which seeth her vision. All others she believeth to be beneath her. She may hath brought forth thy ancestors, but the Changelings of the present art far removed from the ancient Changelings. Thou art as different from them as thou art from ponies. Taketh peace in the knowledge that thou art as high as us and our sister.”

“This making-everypony-feel-better-about-themselves is great and all,” Rainbow said dryly, “but, Twilight, you still haven’t really explained what Lateny, or whatever the hay it’s called, is.”

“I said it was Cutie Mark magic,” Twilight said. “According to Aurora, it’s the organic form of the same magic she uses to build her Devices. Because of the similarity, she can manipulate it through her understanding of the inorganic form.”

“That jus’ don’ sound right,” Applejack said plainly.

“It’s more than that,” Rarity said, severely offended. “It is, quite simply, vulgar and perverted.”

“Now I wouldn’ go tha’ far,” Applejack amended. “It may not be right, but I know four fillies tha’ would jump at a chance to get their Cutie Marks.”

“I thought she could give them out at first too,” Twilight elaborated, hoping to forestall implications. “But apparently trying to do that is what resulted in Changelings.” She glanced in Chrysalis’s direction, trying to gauge her reaction, before continuing. Thankfully, the queen was content to listen for the moment. “What she can do is take some of the magic—it’s not all used up when a pony gets their Cutie Mark—and, for lack of a better term, give a pony a second talent.”

“How’s that helpful to anypony?” Rainbow Dash asked, skeptical.

“The way thou speaketh, Twilight Sparkle, we taketh it that thou wast given the same information we were all those years ago,” Luna answered. “Rainbow Dash, Aurora Streak’s research couldst give skill to a pony in any area in which it wast needed: to Guardsponies for battle or survival skills for ponies seeking to trekketh into the wilderness.”

“She wants me to tell everypony about it,” Twilight said heavily. “I don’t agree with what she’s trying to do; I think everypony should gain that extra power naturally like me and my friends.” Fluttershy and Rarity were eyed one another at this revelation, more surprised than the others. “But at the same time, I can’t refuse in good conscious. I can’t make everypony’s decision for them.”

“The technology works,” Luna said. “I canst not telleth thou which way thou oughteth to turn. Our own disastrous results with Aurora’s experiment wast our fault and ours alone. We canst see a world of good it mighteth bring to other ponies.”

“How would you like to go about arranging to make the speech dear?” Rarity asked Twilight. “I think a good time would be while Princess Luna talks with Aurora.”

“Wait, there’s more,” Twilight said darkly. “She only wants my friends to know what I’m about to tell all of you, but Princess, there’s no way she wouldn’t mention it during negotiations, and Chrysalis, how we proceed in getting the Changelings released hinges on this; so I think I can tell both of you.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Fluttershy trembled pre-emptively. Twilight’s lack of a refutation only solidified the mood in the library. An unnatural hush settled upon the group, each pony’s thoughts flying to the worst possible scenario (and coming up with counter-strategies for Spearhead’s part). The feeling of a looming, imminent threat was echoed outside: a flash of lightning and roll of thunder calling, dulled, from somewhere outside the pink prison.

“She’s made copies of the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight decided to say as simply as possible. Chrysalis did not find this information at all pertinent or even fear invoking, but Twilight had assumed as much. Spearhead swore vehemently with language only a soldier would know while Luna’s eyes pupils dilated so far that the whites of her eyes were almost completely hidden. This too, Twilight had expected. But her friends—her friends only laughed. Well, Rainbow Dash outright guffawed, Pinkie giggled, and Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack snickered. “It’s true!” Twilight turned angrily to them. “She doesn’t think the Elements should be allowed to be borne by anypony, so she’s built a machine to harness their power artificially.”

“Oh, don’ think wer laughin’ at ya sugarcube,” Applejack regained her senses quickest. “If we’re all laughin’ fer tha same reason, it’s ‘cause it sounds like completely hooey.”

“Seriously Twilight,” Rainbow Dash stifled her laughs, “you actually believe her?! I mean, her other stuff’s weird, but it still seems like it could work. Did you actually see them working?”

“No,” Twilight admitted, “but that’s when I asked her to lower the field and reveal the Changelings. She needs us. All six of us. Her Elements won’t work without our brainwaves to activate them.”

“So thou denied her until she hath fulfilled thy demands,” Luna concluded.

“Yes,” Twilight replied, “but she point-blank refused to lower the field.”

“I would do the same thing if I were in her position,” Spearhead said. “That shield is the only thing between her and the Armies of the Sun and Moon, and she knows it. As far as military demands go, your request was way out of line filly.”

“We agree with Spearhead,” Luna said. “However noble thy intentions Twilight Sparkle, you asked of her that which she couldst not perform for her own security.”

“Even she does decide to tell everypony about Changelings,” Rainbow interjected, “there’s no way in Tartarus that I’m letting that crazy mare do experiments on me.”

“Wouldst thou reconsider if we sanctioned it and were present?” Luna asked her deftly.

“You couldn’t do much, even if you were there,” Rainbow countered. “She steals pegasus wings and unicorn horns when a pony gets close to or on board the ship.”

“She’s right Princess,” Twilight said. “For us, the bearers, it’s more intense, but ponies all over Ponyville try to avoid the ship so they don’t feel their powers... subdued I think is a good word.”

“The only magic the Changelings could keep was our ability to shape-shift,” Chrysalis supported Twilight and Rainbow. “My offensive magic was made worse than a foal’s first attempts.”

“We art more than our wings and horn,” Luna chuckled. “Aurora hath never had true combat training. Our very own Spearhead hath been kind enough to instruct us.”

“She’s been doing very well foals,” Spearhead said to Luna’s doubters. “Now, Her Highness isn’t any Shining Armor, but against an untrained pony with not a lot of magic to defend herself with, Her Highness would have her beaten in only a few blows.”

“Okay, that’s great, and really awesome Princess,” Rainbow said, still leery, “but magic’s weird. What if the process can’t be stopped once it’s been started?”

“If thou wast speaking of natural magic, then thy argument wouldst be valid,” Luna replied. “Since Aurora is accomplishing her ends by artificial magic, simple removal of the device in question wilt cease the progression.” When everypony around her still looked unconvinced, Luna continued, mildly irritated, “Considereth it an aid in the negotiations. If thee all wilt cooperate, we thinketh she wilt open up. The completion of an experiment always putteth Aurora into higher, more agreeable spirits. Everything might yet be settled by this one thing, even thy predicament Chrysalis.”

“Okay foals,” Spearhead said, sounding somewhat impatient, “here’s the rub: it might sound like a good idea to resist this Aurora mare whenever you can, but small acts of defiance here and there will just drag this occupation out indefinitely. At least until Princess Celestia and the Magic Engineering Corps find a way to break in. But by then, every pony in this town could be dead from starvation or worse.”

“Princess Luna, if you think this path of action is the swiftest to my children’s liberation, I will take your side,” Chrysalis said.

“It is the swiftest course for us all,” Luna concluded.

“Alright, fine,” Rainbow threw her hooves in the air as she spoke to Spearhead. “I see your point, Oldie, and I won’t let Ponyville down by thinking I can do it all by myself.”

“It’ll be scary,” Fluttershy conceded, “but it’ll be okay with Princess Luna around.”

“STARVING WOULD BE HORRIBLE!” Pinkie shouted. “NO CUPCAKES!? I’m in.”

“My family knows a thang er two ‘bout bein’ hungry,” Applejack said. “I wouldn’ want everypony ta go through tha’ an’ worse. We gotta do it.”

“I will not be the one pony to have blood on her hooves,” Rarity said pointedly.

“Then we are all agreed,” Twilight nodded, much of her apprehension fading away now that they had come to a firm conclusion. “Princess Luna and Spearhead will begin negotiations whenever Inky Jay comes for them. In the meantime, I’ll work something out with the Mayor to tell everypony about Latency. If everything goes according to plan, the idea will warm ponies to Aurora and she’ll be willing to reveal the Changelings. After that, all we can do is hope that the Princess has succeeded in her negotiations and we can all see the rest of Equestria again.”