Twilight stayed focused on the center of the tapestry in their sitting room, but without really seeing it. She was vaguely aware of the others around her: Celestia and Starwirl's voices, demanding an explanation for what has happened to Chrysalis, after seeing her transformation at court the next day; the brooding presence of Chamberlain, too lost in his own despair to add to the conversation, though his expression was beyond contrite. Whatever explanations were given, Twilight's mind only heard it as if it was down a long tunnel, or maybe underwater. We failed. I failed.
“So why are we still here, sugarcube?” Applejack asked her after the others had departed. When she didn't get a response, she stepped right in front of Twilight's nose, their eyes locking. “Twi! Don't check out on us now.”
“Maybe there's still more for us to fail at,” she said bitterly, lowering her gaze to avoid Applejack's eyes. “More damage to be done.”
“That's quite enough,” Rarity added. “You simply cannot bear the weight of this all yourself. We were all in this together.”
“Right,” Rainbow Dash added. “Maybe we can still help with the Element of Loyalty?”
“Or... maybe we can still find a cure?” Fluttershy said. “I'd been focusing on the other, but I can start asking the animals about local healing plants.”
“That's right, there's all sorts of ingredients here we never would have run across in Equestria!” Pinkie Pie said.
They all looked at Twilight, smiling reassuringly, but expectantly at the same time. “Everypony, thanks.” She returned their smile. “Listen, maybe we can still fix this, but we have to hurry, and I don't have any idea where to start. So, if you have an idea, just act on it. We'll see where it takes us.”
Their optimism floated them through the first week before the exhaustion began to catch up to them. Rarity reported a change in the mood at court had already begun.
“They still adore their dear princess, but they are confused that she has no time or direction for them,” Rarity yawned. “The few cases presented to her went all but ignored while she and the prince exchanged sweet talk.”
“There's no point to us being in the kitchen anymore, sugarcube,” Applejack added. “He's with her at court all day, and doesn't come in to eat. Neither of us have a handle on anything that goes through the kitchen that sounds like it'll help.”
“If he doesn't show up at the kitchen, when does he eat?” Twilight asked. “Does he sleep at night if he's up with her all day?” They all shrugged.
Of course, as Prince Cocoon grew noticeably thinner and the dark circles under his eyes answered the other question. He was consumed by his new obsession. By the end of another week, Firebane officially canceled the court sessions, using his perceived illness as excuse.
“No court is likely to be less harmful that the ineffectual one the nobility was witnessing,” Rarity said approvingly, “but it seems like she was overstepping her bounds. Maybe Chamberlain could have done it...”
“Say, has anypony seen him lately?” Iris Dash said.
“I think he blames himself,” Twilight said, sighing. “If he hadn't let his feelings get in the way of his judgment....”
“Or he's using those spells again to hide from the blame. Maybe I should track him again...”
It turned out there was no need. “He hasn't left the library, except to check in on the Princess from time to time,” Starswirl explained quietly, looking across the library at the unicorn and shaking his head. “Not that she had the presence of mind to request anything from him.”
“We could help him look,” Twilight suggested.
“I've tried. He insists he can fix it himself. And maybe he can. He recognized the nature of the enchantment on the poison, though not the full strength of it, I think.”
“It must be torture,” Rarity sighed. The interest the nobles had in her was dispelled with the court's confused state, which left her with more free time, so she accompanied Twilight and Iris. When Twilight gave her a a questioning look, she continued. “He wished to take the prince's place because he loves Chrysalis, and was willing to risk even the enchantment of a known villain to get her to see him the same way. Now, even the closeness he had to her before was gone. He's lost even that.”
“I... didn't think of that,” Twilight admitted. He glanced to Iris, who was nodding, staring at Chamberlain less than discreetly as he pushed yet another book aside, pulled his pocket watch from his outfit, horn glowing as he prepared to smash it on the floor. He stopped it mid-motion, took a deep breath, and stood tall, walking past them, his eyes closed so nopony could see them. What was that about? Twilight exchanged glances with the others, who shrugged, except Iris, whose gaze followed the departing stallion, oblivious to the exchange.
Another week passed, with no luck finding either a cure or the element. Twilight woke early, before dawn, and started towards the library, but she could feel a palpable tension in the air as she walked down the hall. The guards barely seemed to notice her, as if they were absorbed in thought. Silence hung so heavy that every hoofbeat against the stone floor echoed so much that, more than once, she stopped to make sure it was indeed only her. She arrived to find the library door closed for the first time since she had arrived, and she pushed it open just a crack, just enough to see Chamberlain in the center of the room, illuminated by the lit sconces. Before him on the table was a single book, propped open, and Twilight didn't need to see the title to guess what it was.
“Stop!” she cried out, teleporting between him and the book. “Nopony should ever use this again.”
“I can still fix it,” Chamberlain growled at her, his horn alight, his stance defensive.
“Hasn't thou done enough damage already?” Twilight regretted the words even as she spoke them.
“But I cannot leave her suffering!” Chamberlain retorted. “I broke my promise, and I will not break it again!”
“What does thou mean?” Twilight asked, taking half a step back.
“The prince has died, and her heart is broken. And it's my fault.”
Twilight dropped her guard completely, her horn's light fading. She closed her mouth and swallowed hard. “How?” Her mouth formed the word, and she felt the course texture of it stick in her throat more than she heard it.
“He... just became too weak. Then, they were apart, only for a moment. He couldn't stand their separation, and when he ran after her, he collapsed coming down the stairs...” Chamberlain's bloodshot eyes were wide as he spoke, darting back and forth an expression of horror on his face as if he was watching the scene play out before him. “I tried to take his place once, I can do it again!” He gathered the magic around him again.
“Would thou do that to her?” Starswirl said, pushing the door open and entering, Celestia, Fluttershy, and the Dashes following behind. “Taunt a heart so recently broken?”
“She won't know...” he sounded less certain, but Chamberlain didn't release the magic he had called up around him. It hovered and pulsed like water tainted a sickly green hue was trapped in a fishbowl with him, sloshing aimlessly around his ankles.
“Art thou so certain?” Celestia asked. “The heart sees with better eyes than thou give it credit for, I think.”
“And even if thou art right,” Twilight added, “to break the poison's enchantment, you must look at her with the prince's eyes after an hour apart, an hour that will be agony to her, and those eyes must hold no love. Can thou manage that?”
“She is in agony already,” Chamberlain spat, and the magic flared up around him, the intensity of his horn nearly blinding. Twilight stepped forward, sensing Starswirl and Celestia both a half-step behind her, but another force darted over their head faster.
“NO!” Iris Dash snapped, darting hoof first at Chamberlain through the air with all the speed she could muster in the short distance. The hoof hit the rising green bubble, and ripples spread out from it as she pressed against it. Finally, cracks spread across across the surface, and the unicorns stopped their charge, sensing the raw power of the spell turning on itself. When it shattered, a wave of blinding light swept across the library.
When her site returned, Twilight saw Chamberlain, his hoof raised defensively, had come hoof-to-hoof with the charging pegasus. The two wide-eyed ponies seemed locked in that position, and for a moment of panic, Twilight was afraid they had somehow turned to stone. Suddenly, both blinked and gasped simultaneously, like the deep gasp of a pony that had had nearly drowned. Iris suddenly fell from her frozen mid-air position, clutching her hoof, a look of pain on her face.
“Woah, you okay, Iris?” Rainbow said, landing next to her and reaching out to steady her double.
“I'm... cool. It's just...” she reached out to wave dismissively at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow grabbed the offered hoof and held it. “Will this be all right?” She said, smiling reassuringly.
“I don't know,” Iris said flatly.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, unable to see from her angle.
Iris turned to Chamberlain and stared at him, and it seemed to Twilight like she was trying to look right into him, somehow. She thrust the hoof out at him, and Twilight had to muffle her own gasp, but heard the Celestia and Starswirl follow through where she had halted. The black hoof and leg that Iris dash leveled at Chamberlain had several large, gaping holes. The rest of her was still in every way a twin to Rainbow Dash, but the backlash from the spell had revealed her leg's true appearance.
“This is what you will become!” Iris Dash intoned one word at a time at Chamberlain. She grabbed the book, 'On Metamorphosis,' and took it to the only still-lit sconce, the rest of them extinguished by the magic wave, and dropped the book in before anypony could move to stop her. “Stop heading down this path before it's too late!” Every fiber in Twilight's body told her to rescue the book, but her mind calmly replied. No. Let it happen. Some knowledge should be lost.
“I still remember how to cast it,” Chamberlain said. His casting had drained him, and he looked pale and exhausted, but he stood tall. “I will find a way to change the outcome, or die trying.” He once again removed the pocket watch from its place on his uniform, hovering it in front of his nose, winding it carefully. Though his outfit was singed from the magical feedback, the watch looked as if had just been polished to a shine. “When Lord Sombra gave this to me, he knew how he felt about his daughter. He asked me, 'can you be always close to her, always her protector, knowing that she can never return your affection?' I promised him, swore to him, that I would always be loyal to her, no matter what.”
He sighed, continuing, “but I broke my promise, both to remain content, and to protect her. So I no longer deserve this.” He lifted the watch and floated over into Iris Dash's changeling hoof. Her eyes went wide as she held it.
“Hey Rainbow Dash,” Iris said, “does it feel familiar to you?” Almost before Rainbow could look puzzled, Iris tossed the watch at her, and the very instant it touched Rainbow Dash's hoof, it became a golden pendant with a gem in the shape of a lightning bolt.
“He had it?” Rainbow Dash marveled, taking the pendant in both front hooves as she hovered, cradling it like a lost baby. “The whole time?”
“Oh!” Fluttershy said, “That's what the Butterflies were saying. Not look, watch!” She smiled sheepishly.
“Indeed,” Chamberlain sighed. “But I have betrayed it. I will make what amends I can by the side of my dearest Princess.” He turned and ran from them through the side door. Twilight opened her mouth to call to him, but then closed it again. Nopony else had the heart to stop him, either.
“Catch!” Rainbow Dash said, tossing the pendant back to Iris Dash, where it returned to its watch form. “Huh, weird, it didn't used to do that. Maybe it's because your not one-hundred percent Rainbow Dash?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy admonished. “Iris is probably scared enough right now.”
“No, it's okay,” Iris said. “And... that's probably it. Anyway, here.” She turned and offered it to Celestia. “You need this.”
Celestia reached a hoof out shakily, physically taking it rather than lifting it magically. As she took it, it became a gray orb with an etched symbol in the side, a form Twilight hadn't seen it in in over two years. Or 1,346 years from now, Twilight reminded herself.
Suddenly, Twilight felt the tingling in her side again. She turned, expecting to see the hourglass finally empty, but a few stray grains of sand remained. She frowned, then turned to face the open-mouthed expressions of Celestia and Starswirl, both of whom had also clearly witnessed the change.
Celestia closed her mouth, considering the stone in her hooves, and finally she sighed. “I was on my way to offer what comfort I could to my cousin when we heard the commotion. “I am glad that we thought to aid a friend in need. Thou hast remained my friend, Twily, even though I knew thou chose to keep some truths hidden from me.” Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but Celestia continued. “Nay, Starswirl never betrayed thy trust, but I was Princess Celestia de Canterlot once not too long ago, and perhaps now shall be again. We were required to be observant.” She arched her eyebrows, taking a formal posture, her nose high as she used the royal plural with Twilight for the first time in nearly a month.
“Tia, I...” Twilight stammered. “I'm so sorry.” How do I tell her I'm just following her own orders, trying to change as little as possible?
Celestia's expression softened again quickly. “Yet thou remain my friend.” She almost shrugged. “But please, Twily, canst thou tell me the meaning of this?” She nodded to Twilight's flank. “Of all this?” Her hoof swept the rest of them, but her eyes settled chiefly on Iris Dash's black leg.
“I can explain,” a voice said sternly from the shadow of the doorway. Into the dimly lit library strode the Captain of the Aurelian guard, Firebane. “They were sent here to poison the prince.” She stepped forward, squaring herself steady in the doorway, lowering her horn in a defensive posture. “And she and all her friends are under arrest. Please step aside, Princess.”