The Festival of Lights

by Dusk Melody

Chapter 7 - The Festival of Lights

Having descended, very carefully, on the silken threads from the ceiling of the cavern, Sparkler, Stonecutter, Blackbeak and Cloudy Skies found themselves stood for the first time in twenty hours on the outskirts of Umberfoal.

For Princess Sable, it was her first time seeing the pony city. What she saw horrified her. Webs hung from building to building, and from them, captive ponies of all ages hung whimpering and moaning, like grotesque leaves in the wind.

Webs on the ground covered the bodies of the dead, and worker spiders dragged them off to be food for the egg laying females. Sparkler wanted to throw up at the scene she witnessed as she and the others ducked down for cover behind a large upturned food wagon. “I don't see the Queen so she may still be in the Tomevault,” the unicorn said as she pulled out the Reverse Arcast, “We stick this in the Crucible and suck her into it.”

Princess Sable eyed the strange crystal with a sense of unease, “Will that kill her?”

“No,” Sparkler replied quickly while Stonecutter examined the fallen food from the wagon to see if any of it was still good. Sadly, it was all spoiled. “It works like a prison, but you can access it through the Crucible. Maybe you can change her mind and free her in the future.”

“Maybe, Pony Sparkler, maybe,” Sable didn’t sound too optimistic at that though. She knew her mother. She knew Insidira had been bitterly plotting and planning her takeover of Umberfoal and by extension the surface world for over a thousand years. She knew her mind wouldn’t be swayed from her current path.

Most of all, Sable knew her mother well enough not to mourn whatever was about to happen to her.

“Knowledge into Arcast can the Crucible turn, but matter into words you may also learn.” Blackbeak recited what he had learned from the Guardian in the Sunken Temple when he had received the glowing ball of light that had become the Reverse Arcast. “Yeah, I remember what the Guardian said.”

“So,” Stonecutter said, crouching for cover behind the overturned wagon after abandoning her examination of the food on the floor, “”How do we get from here to the Tomevault without alerting every spider to our presence?”

Peeking over the side of the wagon, Cloudy Skies and her sharp eyes saw hundreds upon hundreds of soldier spiders patrolling the streets of the city. Hundreds! And they were just the ones they could see, not to mention ones holed up in buildings or in the Burrows. She was at a complete loss, until she had an idea, “We have the cloaks! We can use them to do city sneaking!”

While city sneaking did have an appealing sound to it, Sparkler didn’t want to think what might happen should they be caught. “Sable,” she addressed the Princess, “Are all the spiders here willingly?”

“No,” Sable shook her head, “Most are, but many were forced to join mother’s invasion.”

That piece of information made Sparkler smile. Perhaps it was something they could use against the Queen. “If we do get spotted, can you run interference and divert them somewhere else. Maybe to return and guard your father?”

“I don't have much standing,” Sable replied, not since she had publicly voiced her opposition to her mother’s plans and had been emphatically discredited, “But I can try.”

Casting a quick look at the confused looks on the others’ faces, Sparkler was acutely aware that the exchange between herself and the Princess had all been in Old Ponish. “City sneaking sounds good, Sable said she’ll try to help if we’re spotted, but the cloaks should keep us hidden as long as we are careful.”

Blackbeak didn’t like the sounds of that though. Too many things could go wrong, and he had learned from this trip that the best laid plans of mice and ponies could and would go wrong. “I have an idea, how we can just walk straight into the Tomevault. Sparks, can you ask Sable to 'capture' us? Y'know? Like the fake prisoners routine on TV?”

“That's a great idea Blackie!” Sparkler exclaimed, running the possibilities through her head, “We need some loose webbing to 'bind' us and the disguise will work!” Before they did any of that though, the unicorn set her pet Mimic down on the floor inside the food wagon where he would be safe. “Chester,” she patted the top of the chest, getting a pleasured whine, “Stay here okay? You need to stay safe, Chesty, please?”

The Mimic, who understood what his Mistress had said, hobbled on his short legs into the recesses of the upturned wagon and nestled down, looking for all the world just like a chest. “Good boy, Chesty, good boy.” Sparkler smiled sadly.

“They did call us the saviours,” Cloudy Skies added, “And Princess Sable can tell any spiders that interfere that she is taking us to her mother to regain her standing in the cluster!”

After Sparkler had explained the plan to Sable in Old Ponish, the spider didn’t know if to be impressed or terrified for her new friends. In the end she chose to be both. “I'm not sure which you are, brave or stupid, Pony Sparkler, but I like your plan.”

“Adventure!” Sparkler realised, as Sable was binding their hands behind their backs with her webbing, making sure to place a flaw that could be broken when the time came, that word was quickly becoming her buzzword.

“Hey Sky,” Stonecutter smiled over at her friend as she was tied up, “It’s a good thing we have safe words, right?”

Cloudy Skies returned the smile with one of her own, “I know, but I don’t think I’ll be adding this to my roleplay list.” To Sparkler, she had an idea and said, “Sparks, maybe Sable should cut us, just superficially, to make it look like we've been in a fight?”

“Um, no,” Sparkler quickly shot down that idea. Blackbeak might like his scar, but she would rather not have one at all. “But I can mess up our manes and feathers, and I have some cosmetics to fake some bruising.”

“Do it,” Cloudy Skies said, agreeing with the less drastic solution as Sparkler got to work roughing up their manes and tails with her magic, “The more convincing we look, the easier it'll be to get in.”

Though Sparkler tried her best with the makeup kit, she admittedly wasn't the best artist. Stonecutter took sympathy on her marefriend and she broke her bonds. “Let me, I sculpt, and I can do this.” Gladly, Sparkler gave up her kit.

“Alright,” Blackbeak said after Stonecutter had done a good job of ‘beating’ them all up, she had even messed the feathers on Cloudy Skies and himself, before the earth pony had been rebound by Sable, “Let's do this. Remember, heads down, and for Stormclaw’s sake look defeated.”

“Taking up acting?” Sparkler giggled, “Yeah, let's do this.”

“Defeated?” asked Stonecutter.

“Yeah. Stone, defeated,” Blackbeak rolled his eyes and grunted in frustration. He wanted to get moving and moving quickly. The near constant moans of those poor captured ponies in the webs was driving him insane! “Sparks, pretend somepony broke in and destroyed all your books. Stone, all your carvings were ground to dust. Sky, you must live the rest of your life as a stallion. That kind of mind set.”

Sparkler shot the griffon a look that could burn through a lead lined bank vault. “Those would be fighting words, Blackie. I would rather think all my books are written in Webdings, which I can’t read.”

If Sparkler’s look could destroy a bank vault, then the one Stonecutter gave him threatened to reduce him to ashes where he stood. At least he hadn’t mentioned the orphanage or her charities. “I will think all I have to carve is sand. Makes for really little and pointless statues.”

Of all of them, it was Cloudy Skies who’s face bore the result Blackbeak was going for. Her shoulders sagged, her wings drooped, she looked a foot smaller. “I can't believe you brought that up…” she muttered under her breath.

“I’m sorry,” Blackbeak didn’t sound sorry, “It's no good if we look like Tartarus spat us out and we have huge smirks on our faces. Sky, I'm really sorry, my love. I know I'll pay for that later. As for me, I-I'm...I'm destitute, my family name disgraced and dishonoured…”

Cloudy Skies’ eyes widened in shock. She knew full well that her lover didn’t have to pretend on that. “Fine,” Sparkler sighed, the unicorn more than ready to have this over and done with. “Let’s go.”

Following the plan, Princess Sable escorted them from behind the overturned wagon and into the middle of the city, her destination the Plaza. On the way, they passed ruined and destroyed buildings, some of which had been turned to mass morgues, some of which had been turned to breeding nests.

Sable created leashes for them, and she pulled them along. By some miracle, she was only stopped twice by the patrolling soldier spiders. Both times, she was able to use her native silkspeech and she was able, both times, to convince them to let her and her prisoners continue on their way. “There,” whispered Sparkler to her ‘captor’, “That way to the stairs to the Tomevault…”

Stonecutter couldn’t help but glance left and right as they passed through the occupied streets at the hundreds of spiders watching their every move. She tried her best to put the hanging prisoners out of her mind, especially the ones that weren’t making a sound, “I'm glad we aren't fighting through all these,” she muttered softly.

“There's so many...” Cloudy Skies breathed in awe.

Walking with her eyes planted firmly on the ground, Sparkler was murmuring under her breath, “Just cute bunnies, just cute bunnies...” By her side, Stonecutter joined her in her bunny mutterings as they started on down the spiraling staircase to the Tomevault.

All of the houses in the Burrows had been converted to spider style dwellings, the smooth rocky walls completely covered in webbing. “I don't see Evenlight,” Blackbeak stated once they were a few paces from the bottom outside the stained glass doors of the Tomevault, “But I do see a couple of guards outside.”

“Once we’re inside, we have to be quick,” Sparkler whispered, “I will teleport myself and the Reverse Arcast to the Crucible, but then I have to touch the queen...” the very thought of that almost made her throw up. “I have to touch a spider...” she shook her head, “Sable will walk in boldly with us. Once I do the teleport, she will know the jig is up, and you all need to distract her long enough so I can touch her.”

Stonecutter immediately saw in her head all the ways that could end with Sparkler dead in seconds, if not quicker. “I know your telekinesis is powerful, Sparks, can you hold the Queen in place with it?”

Straightaway, Sparkler shook her head, “She has too much inherent resistance. All I need is a touch.”

“You can still try,” offered Cloudy Skies, to which the unicorn nodded grimly.

“Alright then,” Blackbeak nodded, the feathers on the back of his head rising in anticipation now the final battle was at hand. “Let's do this, guys. We know our jobs. We run distraction, Sparks, get you and the Reverse Arcast to the Crucible.”

As soon as Sable dragged the prisoners closer to the doors, the two soldier spiders who were standing guard moved to block the way. “Stand aside,” Sable spoke in the silkspeech tongue of the spiders, “I bring the ones my mother wants, and you will not interfere!”

Under the authority of their Princess, the two guards quickly moved aside to allow her entry. The very moment they entered the Tomevault, Insidira caught them. “Daughter,” she hissed, the mammoth giant spider sat on three fallen pillars as a makeshift throne, “What are you doing here?”

Without a moment’s pause, Sable stepped further into the Tomevault, leading the four prisoners roughly on the web leash connected to collars she had fashioned for them. “These pathetic fools tried to enter the nest,” she gestured with her foreleg to her captives, “Father and I subdued them. I think you want to see them?”

“I want them dead!” Insidira screeched at the top of her voice, causing the whole library to shake, vast as it was.

Faced with the gigantic spider’s wrath, Cloudy Skies began trembling so hard she could barely stand. Although their capture was an 'act', this particular part was amazingly real, and the gravity of the situation hit her and the pegasus was crying genuine tears.

“My Queen!” Alethea, who had been circling the Crucible, spoke up, “Might I suggest these saviours would be valuable prisoners once you ascend to the surface? They can join your collection!” the red earth pony mare waved a hand, gesturing to Captain Flash Hoof and Evenlight who were bound to the wall in thick webs.

Insidira watched her daughter, one she had considered weak and unworthy, drag the four pests before her and force them to kneel. It would be of no moment to her to kill them where they knelt, but perhaps the librarian had a point. “Maybe, maybe…Sable, did you search them?”

“Yes mother,” Sable replied with a reverential bow, “They hold nothing of value. Potions, weapons, and a white crystal.”

That was all Insidira needed to hear. “The Arcast! I need that crystal now! Give it to me, Sable, and earn your place at my side!”

“Okay, your highness,” Sparkler, who thanks to Sable, was now in a position where she could clearly see the space around the Crucible, lit her horn and in a bright flash of green magic and a smell of ozone, she teleported.

As Sparkler reappeared underneath the titanic spider in a second flash of green, she placed the Reverse Arcast to the Crucible. At the same time, Blackbeak moved. “Now!” he ordered, breaking Sable’s bonds and drawing his sword.

Pulling herself together, Cloudy Skies broke free of the webbing and dropped the dog collar, “Get Alethea!” she ordered of her faithful dog before taking to the air and using her water jets against the Queen’s eyes. Stonecutter followed suit with her war cry and her hammer held high.

All of that happened in the space of a heartbeat.

Seeing the attack, Insidira reared up on her back legs and she stabbed four of her front legs at the ponies, in particular the unicorn in front of and below her. Sparkler quickly dodged the Queen’s clumsy blinded attack and shouted to Cloudy Skies. “Fire breath now!”

Running forwards, Stonecutter threw her hammer at Insidira as Blackbeak charged towards her with his sword and shield raised and ready. While the griffon drew the spider’s attention, Cloudy Skies flew upward and, after downing the potion, she let loose a fearsome gout of flame from above.

That was enough of a surprise to make Insidira freeze in place as the fire splashed over her face. Unfortunately, the water jets did little to hinder the Queen, and the hammer bounced harmlessly off her chitin. The fire though, that burned her face, giving Blackbeak the opportunity to hack at her legs, making nothing but a small cut.

Now in position underneath the Queen, Sparkler placed her hand on the receptacle, and she reached up with her other hand to touch Insidira’s leg. At the same time, Alethea ran from the barking magical dog to cower in fear among the bookshelves.

With Sparkler touching the Queen's leg, and the Crucible with her other hand, everything was in place. She was struggling though with the spider’s innate magical resistance. Fortunately, Sable was on hand to help her. The Princess placed her leg on the receptacle, adding her not inconsiderable willpower to that of the unicorns.

In a blinding flash of bright amber light, Insidira vanished and the Reverse Arcast took on a different, white glow. Just like that, the Queen was gone, trapped in the glowing crystal.

Watching from her position amongst the bookshelves, Alethea saw her plans beginning to unravel before her very eyes. All her planning, all her scheming, it was all being undone by these meddling fools!

“I cannot let it end this way!” the aged Chief Librarian reached for one of the books. She had one more trick up her sleeve. “It will not end this way! I shall not be denied!” A burst of magic shot forth from the open book and, once the smoke had cleared, there was a giant bookwyrm appeared, a serpentine creature made up of hundreds of pages of paper.

A heartbeat later, once the flash of light resided, Stonecutter, Blackbeak and Cloudy Skies were suddenly fighting nothing. “Is...” the earth pony mare panted, “Is it over?”

Just when she dared to think it might be over, Cloudy Skies turned in mid-air and she saw the massive creature that Alethea had summoned from the pages of the magical tome. “Um...nope!” she screamed.

Sparkler, fatigued from the vast expenditure of magic that the Reverse Arcast had sapped from her body, stumbled and fell to her knees, leaving Sable to guard her and the Crucible. Letting out a devastating war cry, Blackbeak charged at the new threat.

The only thing Alethea had for a weapon was literally a letter opener, but it was enough. She was right. Standing next to the bound Evenlight, the small blade was enough to threaten the exhausted unicorn’s throat. “Stop! Submit to me, or I will kill her!”

What Alethea had not reckoned on, while she had been threatening Evenlight and while the others were standing off against her bookwyrm, was Sable. With her attention elsewhere, Alethea didn’t notice the spider moving across the ceiling of the Tomevault until she dropped down on top of the earth pony mare and knocked her to the ground.

“Fools!” Alethea forced herself up to her hooves as her knife skittered away from her grasp. “Wyrm, stop the Festival at all costs!” she decided it was a good time to flee and to let her creature do its job.

Given the order at last, the summoned bookwyrm attacked the weary trio. Stonecutter’s sheer bulk stopped a swing of the creature’s tail and she retaliated with her hammer. Unfortunately, the earth pony’s strong swing was like a strong wind; it scatters some of the pages, but the wyrm quickly reformed itself.

The savage slices from Blackbeak’s sword, well-aimed though they were, did nothing but make the paper pages that made up the bookwyrm’s body smaller. But rather than inconvenience the creature, it grew bigger with more pages.

With a bestial howl, the bookwyrm’s claws seized Blackbeak, holding the griffon in place as it opened its maw wide, intent on taking his head clean off. It would have succeeded too, had Cloudy Skies not fired her water jets directly at its face.

Water dripped from the bookwyrm’s body, and now it was wet, absolutely sodden through, its movements were slow and sluggish, allowing Blackbeak to break free of its grasp. Fortunately, some of the water splashed onto Evenlight’s face, waking her from her fatigue. “S-St-Start the F-Festival! It’s the only way!”

Stonecutter retreated to the Crucible, where she helped Sparkler up to her hooves. “Did you hear that, Sparks?” she asked as Sable gave chase to Alethea, intent on catching her prey.

Blackbeak, seeing that only his mare’s water attacks were of any effectiveness against the bookwyrm, retreated to the mechanism that raised the Crucible. Moments later, just after Sparkler had replaced the Reverse Arcast with the one for the Festival of Lights, Cloudy Skies at last exhausted herself.

As Cloudy Skies fell from the air from exhaustion, the Crucible, with Sparkler, Stonecutter and Blackbeak on it, began to rise. The griffon caught the falling pegasus in his arms and they shot upwards towards the Plaza, with the bookwyrm still in pursuit.

The bookwyrm though did get a parting slap on Blackbeak’s thigh before the Crucible rose up out of its reach. It stung like the worst paper cut imaginable, but the griffon pushed through the pain.

The waterlogged wyrm, too heavy to hold on, fell from the Crucible and it was scattered to nothing as it impacted the floor of the Tomevault.

Once the Crucible was in position in the middle of the Plaza, they were greeted by Sable, who was waiting at the top with Alethea trussed up in a wed besides her, thrashing impotently on the floor like a captured flounder.

They were also met by the majority of Insidira’s army, poised with pincers ready to strike at any moment. “Do not interfere with this!” Princess Sable reared up to her full height, which while not as big as her mother, was still bigger than the soldier spiders, who cowered before her commanding presence.

As the spiders bowed before Sable, recognising her at last as their ruler, Sparkler called out, “Sable, we need you with us to touch the Crucible!” Dragging the still struggling Alethea with her, Sable joined them in touching the glowing construct.

One by one, they closed their eyes and cleared their minds. Tiredness and fatigue left their bodies as the magic took over. Pure magical energy channeled through their bodies and activated the Arcast as they silently recited as one the phrases they had learnt on their journey.

Home.

Sparkler and Stonecutter filled the Arcast with the safety and security of the home they shared with each other.

Home.

Blackbeak and Cloudy Skies filled the Arcast with the love and the sense of belonging they found in their adopted home in Ponyville.

Home.

Sable filled the Arcast with her desire for a better home for her kind in which they could be safe, happy and prosperous, a home in which they could co-existence with the ponies.

Home.

That one word resonated through Sparkler, Stonecutter, Blackbeak, Cloudy Skies and through Sable. It filled them, consumed them, fed them and shone from them. It sent a bright blue light from their hearts into the Arcast until it was filled to overflowing.

Then, the Arcast glowed and the light from the crystal shone out in all directions at once, radiating throughout the whole cavern until it touched every surface, and illuminated every living thing. Everything it touched was bathed in the light of the Arcast.

The light didn’t just touch their bodies. It touched their spirits, their hearts and their souls. The spiders felt the true power of the Festival of Lights and they were humbled before it. They were filled with a sense of belonging and of a better future for them all.

As the light from the Arcast filled the cavern, everycreature was treated to a wondrous sight. One by one, the hundreds of thousands of blue crystals shed the dark red of their corruption and they shone bright blue once more, like a hundred thousand stars being turned on in the night sky, bathing the whole cavern in a cool blue light. Another flash of magic heralded the return of the Spectral Stair, and a loud rumbling noise that could be heard throughout Umberfoal told them all that the outer doors were open once more.

In spite of all that, as the intense glow faded to a blue light, it was clear that while the invasion was over, the city and its inhabitants would feel the effects of it for some time to come. “Cut them down!” Sable ordered her soldiers, “Care for those who are injured, see to it they get medical attention!”

As the spiders dispersed from the Plaza to carry out their new Queen’s orders, those that weren’t freeing the trapped ponies were busying themselves removing the layers of webbing that covered the city. Sable turned to address Sparkler, “The two that my mother captured are still down below. We need them up here. Much has to be discussed and restitution needs to be made. Then there is this traitor to deal with.”

Sable was certainly right about that. There was much to discuss. While it was true that a lot of ponies had died – mostly when the magic had failed - it was also the case that many spiders had died in the fighting, the pony guard were trained and equipped for the task. Both sides had suffered losses, and as a mark of respect, the web shrouds covering the bodies of spider and pony alike were left as they were.

A team of two spiders were sent below to help Evenlight and Flash Hoof up the stairs and, content that the threat was over, Sparkler, Stonecutter, Blackbeak and Cloudy Skies collapsed in four exhausted heaps on the floor where they stood. They sat in a heap, glad for once to be able to take a breath and to be able to take stock of everything that had happened.

Sparkler, as she had done before, celebrated the win by burying her head in Stonecutter’s chest. Cloudy Skies openly cried in Blackbeak’s arms. Now it was all over, the stress had to come out somehow. Barking happily, Chester came scampering along from the overturned food wagon and licked at Sparkler’s hand.

From the Tomevault, Flash Hoof and Evenlight were bought up to the Plaza along with Dog, who had been trapped by some bookshelves. Dog rushed over to Cloudy Skies and he nuzzled his owner. The Captain was taken straight to be given medical aid, while Evenlight instead chose to stay. She approached Sable with a pleasant smile on her aged lined face. “It is to you I owe my life,” she inclined her head respectfully to the new Queen, making sure to speak in Old Ponish, “You have my thanks, and my friendship.”

“One life saved among many lost,” responded Sable in sadness and regret. “While Umberfoal was in stasis, the Queen grew her army in hopes of conquest one day. We were terribly overcrowded and trapped in the nest. We can help rebuild the city, but we can’t restore the lives lost to each of our peoples.”

“The true blame lies with your mother, now trapped in the Reverse Arcast, and with this one.” Evenlight pointed to Alethea on the ground.

Sparkler looked at the bound earth pony with pity. So unrepentant she was, even in defeat. So many deaths for no real reason other than personal glory. She could see no friendship lesson in that one.

“What of her?” asked Sable.

“She will be turned over to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for judgement,” stated Evenlight. “From there, she will be sent to Tartarus for her crimes. There is no amount of restitution she could do to cover all that was lost.”

Alethea slumped in the webbing that bound her, knowing she had cast the die and it had sealed her fate.

An angry pony shouted from the crowd, “What of the spiders?” A general murmur began amongst the ponies, but also among the more numerous spiders as well.

“How can you be so short sighted?” demanded Evenlight, for once a trace of anger in her serene voice as she admonished the speaker and addressed the crowd, “You witnessed the Festival of Lights and know that it is about home. For us and the spiders so that harmony can be restored. The Queen has been captured, and soon this one will also be sent to captivity. Now is the time to rebuild our home for all of us to live together in peace and friendship.”

Sparkler was happy that at least one friendship lesson was achieved in this sordid affair. She hugged Stonecutter, “Friendship and harmony.” Stonecutter hugged her back.

The crowd quieted as they reflected on what they had seen, both during the invasion and during the Festival of Lights. One of the ponies, a pegasus filly, bravely walked over to a spider and held out a hand, “Friendship.” The spider had no understanding of the pony language but could recognize the gesture and said something in silkspeech before it touched the pony’s hand with the end of a leg.

“And so, it begins,” said Sable, the sadness in her voice now tinged with hope.

Evenlight nodded and pulled out four blue gems from her dirty white robes. “I will leave it to you to bestow these.” She handed the four gems, the Lights of Umberfoal, over to Sable.

The newly coronated spider Queen turned to the four saviours. “You were the ones that risked all to bring peace between our peoples. These are for you to keep as a memento of what your ideal of friendship can achieve. To take us from our worst to our best.” She handed a gem to each of the ponies.

Blackbeak lifted up the crystal and he appraised the blue gem with a careful eye, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to go home.” Cloudy Skies clung to the griffon and nodded in agreement. She was more than ready to see the sun and the sky again.

“That will take a few days, once we get transportation arranged,” said Stonecutter.

“I believe I can help with that,” said Evenlight. “I have dragon fire, and Princess Twilight said to send her a note when you were ready to return. She will summon a portal, but you will still have to leave Umberfoal to enter it.”

“Please forgive us if we’d like to leave right away then,” stated Sparkler. “I do look forward to returning next year to celebrate the anniversary of the festival.”

Stonecutter furrowed her eyebrows, “Really?”

Sparkler kissed her marefriend on the cheek, “Adventure,” she said with a giggle.

True to her word, Evenlight sent the note, and both her and Sable accompanied the four to the portal entrance. Stonecutter held tight to Sparkler’s hand and she was able to navigate the Spectral Stair. A couple of guards followed in their wake, bringing Alethea with them.

At the portal, Princess Twilight Sparkle waited for the party, with a couple of the royal guard with her. They took Alethea through the portal back to Ponyville, where the Royal Sisters awaited her arrival in her Crystal Castle. Twilight did not spare the mare a second glance. “Greetings, Evenlight. I was expecting your note for the return of my students, but I was not expecting the additional information.” She looked over the four students and saw they had been through some difficult times, “Are you four okay to travel?”

“I’m still breathing,” said Blackbeak proudly, “So, I’m ready to go home.”

“I’d rather rest and recuperate at home,” added Stonecutter, “And then we can tell you about our…” a giggle escaped the mare, “Adventure.” Sparkler rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement, while Cloudy Skies added a thumbs up.

“I understand,” said Twilight. She turned to Evenlight, “I’m sorry to cut this visit short, but I do hope to spend some more time with you on my next visit.”

“That is okay, Princess,” responded Evenlight politely, “We are not really ready to receive visitors at the moment.”

Twilight nodded, “Send me a list of your needs and the crown will see to it that they are procured. Fare thee well, Evenlight.” She motioned for the four students to proceed her through the portal and followed after them.