"So it's true then? You finally found Eclipse sulking around in Manehatten?"
Shortly after the discovery that Eclipse, the very being Wisdom had been hunting for the last three years of his life, had been hiding in Manehatten he called a meeting with the four Princesses. He and his friends, now missing the ever mysterious Pinkie, were assembled in a large room that Cadence had not used since Sombra had been defeated. In front of Wisdom were three large crystal containers, special communication devices crafted by Copper Sprocket that allowed the princesses to speak without using letters all the time.
The middle crystal was colored as a bright yellow, as if it had been made in the sun's likeness, and served as Celestia's device. To it's right sat a bright blue colored crystal, reserved for Princess Luna when she was able to attend the conversation, and to it's left sat a lavender crystal, left for Twilight and her friends, those who choose to attend the meetings. Each had a fourth crystal amongst their set, a pink crystal that served as Cadence's.
At the moment Cadence was listening to Wisdom tell her fellow Princesses what he had discovered, though her aunt had spoken before he could have said anything.
"We did," Wisdom replied, "He is currently wandering the streets of Manehatten with a group of four Changelings, who could very well be the beginnings of a new Hive. He may not have seen us, but we do know that he is likely still armed and incredibly dangerous. Fighting him in a heavily populated area, with as many civilians around as there are, is not a good idea."
"Then how do you propose to get close to him?" Luna asked, having returned with a can in her magic, "We cannot be of assistance, for he knows our magic and will sense our arrival before we get close to him. We cannot ask Queen Viscarias for aid; she might reveal our plans to him and we might never see him again after this."
"It would have to be somepony personal to him for us to get close," Wisdom argued, shaking his hoof in annoyance before calming down, "Queen Viscarias is the only pony that he would dare lower his guard around, the only pony he would truly trust enough and let her get close to him. Like it or not we have to ask her for aid. If you don't want her to know the plan then we simply wont tell her what we plan on doing to him once his guard is lowered.
True, things would be much simpler if he had a child that longed to see their father again. We could help them get close to him and in turn we would be able to get as close as we needed to subdue him. But the possibly of him and Viscarias having a child, let alone her allowing said child to be involved in something like this, is slim to none. Besides, I don't think any of us are truly comfortable using a young filly to get what we want from Eclipse."
"Do what you can to get close to that...to Eclipse," Celestia said, saying one thing instead of something else, "Luna and I are needed in a court meeting, something about dealing with a restriction on somepony. We'll be waiting for news when you have any more to tell us."
"The girls and I have our hooves full with Discord and his 'humor'," Twilight spoke up, "So we'll get back to you guys as soon as possible."
"I still don't know how you are going to take down Eclipse without engaging him," Cadence remarked, watching the three crystals dim to their original grey toned colors, "It's not like he's going to come quietly and do as you say."
"Princess Cadence," a guard loudly said, the door bursting open not seconds later, "There is a changeling outside the palace doors requesting aid in finding her lost father."
"Did she give a name?" Cadence asked, barely looking away from Wisdom and his silent friends.
"Yes," the guard answered, "She said her name was Northern Sky."
"Tell her I'll be right with her," Cadence replied, allowing the guard to leave them in peace, "So Wisdom, care to help me with this lost changeling?"
~The Crystal Throne Room~
Northern stared at the walls, the crystal pillars, the finely crafted royal carpet that was the walkway, and the light blue crystal throne. The designs, the elegant patterns, were more than she had ever seen during her tours of the changeling nation and made her envious. Sure, there were guards everywhere and she couldn't go anywhere without them staring at her, but just the room she was in alone was more than enough.
She could learn a lot about the Crystal Empire and the ponies that inhabited it if she could only get to the archives, where she could easily find a mention of her father's whereabouts.
"Presenting Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and Inner Wisdom of Canterlot," a guard announced, three ponies walking into the throne room not a few seconds later.
Northern's eyes widened as she bowed her head to the white coated unicorn stallion with a light blue mixed with a dark blue colored mane, an alicorn mare with a pink coat and a triple colored mane, and a pegasus stallion with a red coat and a light green mane. She knew who the royal ponies were from her mother's stories, but the third pony caught her by complete surprise. She silently wondered what one of her father's friends were doing in the Crystal Empire.
"So, you told the guards that your name was Northern Sky and that you were looking for your father?" Princess Cadence asked, eying the changeling that looked like she was as tall as her.
"That is correct," Northern answered, looking up to the princess.
"You gave our guards very little on who it is your looking for," Cadence said, sighing slightly as she spoke, "Can you tell me exactly who you are and who your searching for?"
"I doubt you would believe me if I told you who I truly was," Northern replied, turning her gaze to Wisdom and seeing him stare back at her, "but I will try to convince you anyway. My name is Princess Northern Sky of the Changeling Hive, daughter of Queen Viscarias and the missing King Eclipse. I'm searching for my father."
"I was not aware that the Queen and the King had had a daughter," Cadence said, surprise written all over her face, "If you'll excuse us for a few minutes."
Northern sighed and nodded, allowing the guards to take her back out of the throne room so she had to wait some more before getting any clear answers.
"So what are we going to tell her?" Shining asked, tilting his head to look at his wife and their guest, "If she's telling the truth that she is Eclipse's daughter then she's come to find him and bring him back to the Hive. If she's not telling the truth, that she's just trying to get close enough to do our dirty work, then we'll lose an ally if we mess up. So, what's our plan?"
"We could simply tell her the truth," Cadence answered, "Tell her that we know where her father is and offer to take her to his location. She can spend time with him and do what she came to do, but it would give Wisdom the chance to do what he has waited to do. Then they'll all return to Canterlot and talk with aunt Celestia like we planned. Though it makes me wonder if Eclipse even knows that he has a child."
"Peachy, Tick, and I will take her to Manehatten then," Wisdom said, taking a step forward, "We'll deliver her to Eclipse and see how he reacts to seeing her. Then we'll bring him to Canterlot. Simple as that."
Outside the throne room Northern shivered, feeling that the three ponies in the room she had left had just made plans to use her. How could she feel something like that? It was the same strange feeling that had given her the edge of knowing that her mother was hiding something from her earlier. It was a extremely strange power that she had, the ability to feel things from those that she focused on at any given time. She had known her mother was withholding information about her father from her, just as she knew the three ponies were plotting to use her against her own father.
But in order for her to find her father and restore him to his throne she was going to have to brush aside the feeling and let them take her to him. She only hoped that something bad didn't happen when the reached her father, wherever he was.