"What do you mean they're not in the palace? Where are my fillies?" Galaxia shouted as she attempted to force her way out of bed.
"Dear, please remember your injuries," Cloud Bolt said worriedly as used his good leg to keep her from getting up.
"Let go of me!" she demanded. "They could be in danger!"
"They've already got plenty of ponies out looking for them," he replied in a steady voice. "You need to just stay in bed."
"I'm faster than they are," she argued as she continued to struggle to get loose.
"Please, you must calm down, Your Highness," her chief advisor added nervously as he circled around to the other side of her bed. "We're doing everything we can to find them."
"What can you do? You couldn't even keep an eye on them!" she hissed.
"Yes, Your Highness." The elderly unicorn lowered his head at the sharp rebuke. "However I promise you that we bring them back safely."
Galaxia scowled but ceased her efforts to get loose. "Please, find them quickly," she murmured as she sank back down into her pillow. "They're my whole world."
"I just don't know where they could have gone," Cloud Bolt said as he sat back down next to the bed. "They've never ran away before." He bit his lip as he stared out the window. "If only my wing wasn't busted...."
"Perhaps all this was just too much for them," Silver Gild suggested hopefully. "I'm sure they just went back to your village."
Galaxia shut her eyes, trying to stop the renewed pounding in her head. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate at times like this. "Last night, Celestia was going on about something," she muttered loudly. "An old story of Grandfather's."
"She has been in the library a lot lately," Cloud Bolt noted.
"There was something about a rainbow," she continued muttering. "Of course! It was the legend about the Rainbow of Light."
"I remember seeing a scroll about that once," the advisor replied uneasily. "Do you think they might have gone looking for it?"
"I'm almost sure of it," Galaxia replied, her voice once again turning cold. "I think Celestia said it was somewhere around the Black Mountains."
"That's far too large of an area to search without more details. I'll see if I can find that scroll," her advisor promised as he rushed from the room.
"Well, the Black Mountains are a long way from here. Even if that's where they were headed, I’m sure they'll get tired and come back soon," Cloud Bolt tried to assure his wife.
"You know that Celestia's a good flyer," Galaxia retorted, her eyes still shut tightly. "But even if she was stupid enough to try something like that, I don't know why she would take little Luna with her."
"I don't know," he agreed quietly as he carefully pulled the disturbed covers over his wife. "I don't think she would do anything that would put Luna in danger though."
"Luna's in danger just being out there," Galaxia bit out. "In case you forgot, that monster's still alive, and he's probably gobbling up ponies left and right while I'm stuck in this stupid palace surrounded by complete nitwits!"
Cloud Bolt drew back at his wife's sudden outburst. "Now, Starlight, everypony's doing their best," he replied in as soothing a voice as he could manage.
"Starlight," she repeated, her bitterness fading. "Starlight. I never should have left Everfree, should I? In the end, I'm just as useless as everypony else."
"You did what you had to," he responded as he placed a hoof on her forehead. "And you've bought everypony some valuable time, if nothing else."
"I've only delayed the inevitable," she muttered.
"This is terrible," Silver Gild murmured as he paced back and forth in front of the library. "Just terrible. They must have taken the scroll with them. There's no other explanation. We've been tearing up the library for hours now, and there's not a hair nor hide of it to be found."
Cloud Bolt sank down against the wall and placed a hoof on his forehead. "That sounds like something Celestia would do," he replied. "What's our chances of finding where they went without it?'
"Not good," the advisor replied. "Not good at all. The Black Mountains run half the length of Equestria. We could search for months and not find them." He sighed. "Not to mention we really can't spare that many ponies right now."
"Is there anypony else who might remember the legend better?"
"That is extremely unlikely. It's a very old story, and that scroll's the only place I've ever seen it." The elder pony hung his head dejectedly. "I consider myself amongst Equestria's greatest scholars, but much of Equestria's past was lost during the Calamity."
"Then what do we do now?"
"Well...," the advisor hesitated for a long moment. "First off, I don't believe we should let Her Highness know about this setback."
"I'm not going to lie to my wife," Cloud Bolt retorted. "She deserves to be kept informed."
"Surely you agree that the Queen is in a delicate state," Silver Gild continued nervously. "I worry that receiving even more bad news right now could have serious consequences for her health. I think that the best thing for everyone would be to keep her in as high of spirits as possible."
Cloud Bolt shook his head. "The longer you keep something like this from her, the worse it's going to be when she finds out," he argued. "You've seen what kind of mood she's been in lately."
"I am hopeful that the princesses will have either been found or returned on their own by then. I've already dispatched a few ponies both to Everfree and towards the Black Mountains in hopes that they will turn up."
"For all our sakes, I hope you're right," Cloud Bolt replied. "Honestly, I'm worried about her. Starl- I mean Galaxia really hasn't been herself lately."
"The Queen has indeed changed from how she was before," Silver Gild admitted. "She was never this... emotional in the past. Before she left us, she was a paragon of royal grace and poise. Now..., I fear that her absence from the capitol has not been beneficial."
Cloud Bolt shot the elder unicorn an irritable glare. "Pick your words more carefully," he snorted as he stood up and limped off. "It's ponies like you that drove her away in the first place."
"Two days!" Galaxia ranted. "It's been two whole days and you nitwits still haven't found them? Do you realize what could have happened to them in that much time? They're just fillies!"
The elderly advisor shrank back as Galaxia stepped in close. "You are utterly and completely useless," she hissed. "You know, I never did really care for you. You never would have risen to such a high rank if I hadn't liked your great-great-grandmare."
Silver Gild’s mouth flapped wordlessly as he nearly stumbled. "I- I'm very sorry," he finally stammered. "But we are doing everything we can."
"Are you?" she demanded, her eyes blazing with a dark light She stepped lightly to the side and lowered her horn menacingly, her prior infirmity gone without a trace. "I don't see your ragged hide out there looking for them, now do I?"
"No, Your Highness," he nearly blubbered. "But I assure you-"
"Silence!" she shrieked. "I assure you this, I promise that. You're nothing but a simpering dolt full of empty words. Be gone from my presence!"
"You really should lay down," the advisor pleaded with tears in his eyes. "I'm sure that you'll feel better if you just get some rest."
"Rest?" she spat out. "I have done nothing but rest for far too long now." She glanced dourly back at the luxurious bed that had been her prison for well over a week. "It is high time that somepony actually do something." Her cold gaze fell upon Silver Gild once more. "Now. Get. Out."
"As you wish, Your Highness," he gasped as he scrambled to leave.
Galaxia smirked with a feeling of bitter satisfaction as the door swung shut behind him. "That measly worm," she muttered as she started pacing back and forth across the room. "If he dares show his face in here one more time, I swear that I'll run him through."
Her eyes grew wide as her smile abruptly transformed into a shameful grimace. The elderly unicorn was certainly irksome, but that was no excuse for such horrid thoughts.
"Killing him would be too good," a seductive voice whispered in her ear. "He deserves to suffer. Suffer alongside every other incompetent foal that let this happen. And it's well within your power to make that happen."
"No," Galaxia murmured as she pressed her ears down tight against her head. "That's not right."
"You decide what's right," the voice insisted. "How many years of service have you given these ungrateful ponies? How many more will you sacrifice?"
"It is my duty to protect Equestria," Galaxia whimpered.
"Is it? Who decided such a thing?"
"I did!"
"And such a sage decision that turned out to be," the voice purred. "You'll just keep on serving this pitiful land forever, won't you? Long after that foalish husband and those fillies of yours have turned to dust and been forgotten, you'll still just keep on drudging away. Never aging, never loving, and never being loved."
"Stop it," Galaxia choked out as she sunk to her knees. "Please, just stop."
Her ears perked up as the door swung open. "Darling, what are you doing out of bed?" Cloud Bolt demanded as he strode in. "Who are you talking to?"
Galaxia struggled to regain her composure but failed. "I can't take this anymore," she whimpered helplessly as her legs started to tremble. "I just want to go back home."
Cloud Bolt rushed over to steady her. "Calm down, dearest" he murmured as Galaxia continued to mumble incoherently. "Everything is going to be alright. You'll see."
"No it's not," she practically whispered. "Everything's gone wrong, and I can't even do anything about it."
"Then just rest until you can," he replied as he led her back towards the bed. "That's all you need to worry about right now."
"Has there been any news about the fillies?" she asked without any hope.
The white pegasus looked away. "No, not yet," he answered reluctantly.
Galaxia nodded and reluctantly climbed back into her bed. "Please let them be ok," she murmured as her eyelids began to close on their own accord.
"He's hiding something from you," the incessant voice whispered just before Galaxia fell asleep. "He's just like the rest. You can't trust even him anymore."
"What's going on?" Cloud Bolt demanded as he raced towards Galaxia's room. His wife's furious screams rang out clearly throughout the long hallway.
The Queen's elderly advisor lay trembling in the hallway near her door. "She's gone mad!" the terrified unicorn exclaimed as he clutched his hooves tightly over his head. "Absolutely stark raving mad!"
The pegasus quickly pushed past to his wife's chamber and thrust the door open. "Starlight!" he gasped as he rushed into the room. He skidded to a stop as he took in the sight of the bright flames beginning to engulf her lavish bed.
The indigo unicorn paused in her systematic destruction of the rest of the room and silently cast a baleful glance in his direction. Her eyes, usually a light violet, now seemed to glow with an eerie blue-green light. As she stared at him her pupils shrank until they were mere slits.
"What's happening to you?" Cloud Bolt asked fearfully as he took a cautious step towards her.
"You should be more worried about yourself," Galaxia hissed. "Tell me, husband, where are my fillies?" She didn't give him time to reply before she started ranting. "Do not say a word! I know that you've been lying to me. It is such a shame. I honestly thought you were better than that. That you cared about me. That you cared about our daughters. But it has become clear that I was wrong."
She advanced slowly on her shocked husband. "What are you not telling me? Why have my daughters not been found yet?"
Cloud Bolt swallowed heavily. "The Dream Valley scroll is gone," he admitted. "They weren't able to narrow down the search area very well."
"And why did you keep this from me?" she asked in a dangerous tone as she halted right in front of him.
"We were afraid that it would upset you," he admitted, forcing himself not to pull away.
"Upset me?" she replied. "Do you really understand who I am? Do you?" She tossed her head, only barely missing his muzzle with her sharp horn. "I am Galaxia, oldest of the ponies, most skillful of the unicorns, and oh yes, the last time I checked, the Queen of Equestria! I. Do. Not. Get. Upset."
"You could have fooled me," he retorted. "Starlight, I know you. You're not yourself right now. Please, just try to calm down."
"Oh, I am calm," she replied frigidly. "You say that you know me? You know only what little I have permitted you to know! You are still calling me Starlight, but she was nothing but a facade. A temporary guise put on purely for my amusement." She smirked as she drew even closer, her voice falling to a mere whisper. "Everything, every single moment that we were together was nothing but a lie."
Cloud Bolt shook his head. "That's a load of horse apples!" he snarled. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I know that my Starlight would never say such things. Don't tell me that I don't know my own wife!"
For the briefest moment Galaxia seemed to falter, but she quickly recovered. "Give it a rest," she snapped as she pulled away from him. "Starlight is dead. Deal with it."
The white pegasus scowled as he stepped towards her. "I don't believe that," he stated firmly. "The mare I married is still in there somewhere."
"Enough!"
Cloud Bolt raised a hoof to shield his eyes from the brilliant light that was beginning to pour forth from his wife's entire body.
"I do not have time for this nonsense!" Galaxia announced angrily. " I have already tarried for far too long in this foul place. My fillies are gone, and there is a beastly monster on the loose who believes he can do whatever he likes in my land. It is high time that I disabuse him of that notion!"
"Starlight, wait!" Cloud Bolt yelled as he dove towards her shimmering form.
With a blinding flash the two ponies disappeared.
A few moments after the room went silent Silver Gild ventured to peek around the edge of the doorframe. "They're gone!" he exclaimed. His attention was quickly drawn to the side of the room where the fire was steadily spreading up the wall. "Oh my goodness, the tapestries are burning!" He flew down the hall as fast as his aged legs could carry him. "Fire!" he shrieked. "There's a fire! Get some water up here! Hurry, hurry!"