Prologue

Amethyst eyes watched the scene before her as the rehearsal began. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza strutted through the ornate double doors lined with wood and etched with gold, and made her way up the red carpet towards the awaiting bridal party. To the pink mare’s left stood her closest friends, the five of them watching with huge smiles on their faces as the apparent princess made her way to her groom. She stood beside him as Celestia began the rehearsal. A searing pain gripped at her heart as she watched the scene play out, hardly able to stop it as her friends doted on the pink mare, hopping to attention whenever she asked. It made her stomach twist as her friends scrambled over one another to please this superficial princess. They were ecstatic to learn of their upgrade from vendors to bridesmaids and began to chatter adamantly as she watched from afar, barely able to contain the feeling that was rolling in the pit of her stomach.

This wasn’t right.

Twilight Sparkle was not sure what originally set her paranoia off, but she could tell that her intuition was determined to bother her as she watched Cadenza and her older brother, Shining Armor, make their way towards the balcony. It was becoming an incessant feeling that her stomach would make every time her eyes fell upon the bride and groom. She knew that her nerves were rattled that her own brother did not tell her himself of his upcoming marriage and even as she tried to push those feelings away, she found herself jealous and afraid. Something was wrong with this wedding and everything within Twilight screamed that it was the pink mare who stood beside her brother, glancing around without a care in the world. As the rehearsal ended, her friends made their way out of the room, following the couple out. Even her beloved mentor, Princess Celestia, departed with barely a glance at her faithful student who had simply been sitting in the back of the room, unsure as to what she could possibly do to prevent the wedding from beginning. It was not until she knew she was completely alone that Twilight laid upon the throne room floor and covered her face with her hooves and simply cried.

The next day was the wedding and she had nothing to show for it. She could not put her worries at ease and even felt as if she were seeing things that no one else did. Wiping at her face, she departed from the room, making her way down the corridors to exit the palace and enter into Canterlot. As she made her way there, the sound of humming caught her attention. Her ears twitched and Twilight Sparkle turned, meandering down another hall and following the sounds of humming until she reached the room where the pink princess was staying. Reviewing her time spent in Canterlot, she sighed, hoping to make amends and attempt to see past her internal instincts as they roared at her in warning. No guards were posted outside of the room and Twilight hesitated for a moment before reaching out, knocking on the door to the room where the sounds were coming from. The humming stopped and she bowed her head, kicking her hoof out as the door swung open.

“Oh…hello.” came the disinterested princess’ voice, “What do you want?”

She had to admit that Cadenza was civil enough to not yell at her after she blatantly made it clear that she was suspicious of her actions. Deciding that her paranoia was probably for naught, and her mind reminding her that she had done nothing wrong, Twilight figured that it’d be best to apologize. Clearing her throat, the lavender mare managed to look up at the princess, “I wanted to apologize…”

“Apologize?” the pink mare deadpanned.

Twilight felt like shrinking into herself at that moment, “I wanted to apologize for acting like I did yesterday…I shouldn’t have called you evil…”

A scoff was her reply.

“Well,” came a more chipper tone, “I wouldn’t say that dear.”

As she emerged from the darkness, Twilight groaned and covered her face with her hoof. It was too bright; the lights caused her eyes to burn with the onslaught of brilliance they created even as she shook her head to relieve herself of the dizziness that slammed into her upon moving. Nausea twisted in her gut, forcing her to be gentle with her movements as she blinked, finding herself on her back and staring up at the ceiling. She flipped, pushing herself to her hooves before she regained her bearings, looking around. She was in Cadenza’s room, the princess nowhere to be found, but there was something about it that was amiss. The corners of her vision were blurred, her sight fading into darkness such that it seemed like she were looking through binoculars. She shook her head to relieve herself of the blur only to realize that every time she closed her eyes, the black blurs grew and stretched, attempting to take her vision from her. Panic slammed into the lavender mare and she darted to the vanity the princess had in her room. A gasp escaped her. Upon first glance, her eyes did not look any different but when inspected further, the faint tint of green on the edges of her sclera caught her attention. She thought back to her confrontation with the princess and her ears flattened against her head. Her suspicions, her accusations and paranoia; they were all right. She remembered the cackle the princess gave before striking her with magic that was not its usual sky blue, but rather a menacing neon green that strangely matched the faded green encroaching upon her eyes.

Realization struck Twilight as her memory recalled merely nights ago when she went to speak to Shining Armor about her suspicions of Cadenza, only to witness her brother succumb to her with the same tint of green in his eyes. Her heart hammered against her chest as her mind raced with possibilities. Was Cadenza attempting to put her under a spell similar to the one she had placed on Shining Armor, or worse? Fear enveloped her as she thought about it, turning and galloping from the room towards the Royal Archives. Access was always permitted to the personal student of Celestia and as she galloped towards the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, her eyes scanned the shelves for something-; anything that would tell her what was going on. Her magenta magic shot from her horn as a title caught her attention. She pulled the book from its spot upon the shelf and began to leaf through it. Magenta magic flipped the pages in a hurry as her eyes scanned the pages, looking for a hint of what was going on. When her search yielded no results, she placed the book back in its spot before searching the shelves once more.

She continued in this fashion until her eyes fell upon a leather bound book that seemed to be older than the book on the history of Equestria. Magenta magic encased it, bringing it down to sift through. Carefully she opened the book, pages flipping methodically as she scanned it. Her eyes burned with each second that passed, refusing to blink as long as she could. She was desperately attempting to find the spell and counter it before it took away her sight for good. In all of her trials, Twilight Sparkle never believed that fighting off a blinding spell would be one she had to deal with. As she scanned the book, her eyes caught sight of a drawing. It showed a pair of eyes with green in the sclera and she stopped, reading the passage beside it. Her mouth moved as she silently read the passage to herself, only a gasp escaping her as she reached the end. She felt her chest constrict with this new information, quickly scanning for the counter spell. It was simple enough, so she placed the book down and began to use it. She closed her eyes in concentration, and cast the spell onto herself. She opened her eyes, the world blurry for a few moments as she blinked to clear her sight. The dark edges were gone and as she rejoiced in her freedom, a realization struck her. Her brother, Shining Armor, had a green tinge to his eyes when she saw that spell hit him. His apparent headache wasn’t from an actual headache but a spell that would, in time, take control of his mind. A feeling crept into her chest and she glared, flipping the page to find what kind of creature could create such a spell, only to find another spell. She had no idea who her enemy was, but she knew that it must be the apparent attack on Canterlot. It was in that moment that her mind made the connections. Her brother was being used because he controlled the barrier keeping out whatever this Cadenza wanted to unleash on the city. This also meant that she was right.

A pain shot through her at the realization that her friends and family turned away from her because of the princess’ lies. Her anger bubbled, frothing beneath the surface of her coat as tears made her eyes glassy. No one would listen to her now, especially since there was no proof to her claims. Regardless, the fact still remained that the threat to Canterlot was within its famous castle walls. With this knowledge, she closed the book and returned it to its spot before turning from the shelves and darting from the archives. Her anger propelled her forward as she galloped through the castle towards the throne room.

The crowd looked on with wide smiles. Everypony was excited for the matrimony that Celestia was going to bestow upon her niece and the Captain of the Royal Guard. However, Celestia glanced around the room for her student who had gone missing after yesterday’s rehearsal, but the purple unicorn was nowhere to be found and she inwardly sighed. Twilight was like a daughter to her and Princess Celestia could not fathom why the unicorn would refuse to come, despite the issues that arose with the planning and rehearsals. She returned her attention to the couple before her, though, and smiled. Although Cadence seemed disinterested, from her nerves no doubt, Shining Armor and Cadence looked perfect together. She pushed the thought of her student from her mind and cleared her throat as she began, starting the ceremony. It was mere moments until the two would be wed and as she went through the lines, she could not help but to smile.

“It is with great honor that I pronounce you—”

Her words were cut short as the ornate double doors crashed open. Dust and smoke billowed into the throne room, bits of the wood catching fire under the force used to open them, and as ash seemed to rise into the air, patrons began to panic, shrinking away from the doors in fear. As the smoke began to clear near the center, Celestia saw a sight that made her chest constrict. Among the wreckage stood her most faithful student, panting heavily as though she had just run a long way. Cadence turned and stared at Twilight with wide eyes, her mouth agape in shock. Celestia’s veins turned to ice as Twilight caught sight of them and glared, her face contorting into a menacing snarl as she growled.

“Cadenza!” she bellowed, “Step away from my brother!”

The crowd of ponies began to mutter, stepping away from the aisle as the lavender mare jumped from the embers and debris and stalked forward.

“Twilight…” Celestia gasped, words finally finding her, “What is the meaning of this?”

When her student looked up and caught her eye, Celestia could feel a dark emotion pulsating from the mare, rolling off of her in waves. She was angry and for a moment, Celestia could almost picture the same nightmare that had manipulated her younger sister Luna seizing hold of Twilight and her heart thrummed in her chest like a caged bird. Twilight continued to glare, her violet eyes smoldering with anger.

“You wouldn’t listen to me.” She growled, digging her hooves into the carpet below, “All you had to do was believe me.”

As she tried to find the words to explain to Celestia what she was feeling, Twilight noticed that Cadenza had turned, watching her with a smug look gracing her features. She smirked: a dare to attack her outright with all these witnesses, including the sun monarch. A rainbow mane caught her eye before familiar fuchsia eyes filled her sight.

“What’s your PROBLEM?!”

Her voice echoed in the room, but instead of an answer, she was tossed aside. Magenta magic had gripped her, encasing her body and tossing her towards the group Twilight had originally believed to be her friends. Her rainbow maned friend landed in the group beside the princesses.

“Rainbow!”

Her friends called out to the pegasus she had tossed aside, rushing to help her up, checking her over for any sort of injury or wounds. For a moment, Twilight was saddened. She regretted doing that to Rainbow Dash, but the feeling did not linger as her anger brought forth the betrayal she felt. Rainbow Dash was supposed to represent the Element of Loyalty, yet the whole time they were here, she was anything but loyal. All of them, she recalled, turned their backs on her, writing her off as “paranoid” and “overprotective” of Shining Armor before rushing off to Cadenza’s side to tend and dote on her some more. Her chest ached again, but she ripped her gaze from her friends and returned it to Cadenza who stood by a stock still Shining Armor. From where she stood, Twilight could barely see the green clouding his vision and she bared her teeth in a growl.

“Get away from my brother you imposter!”

Gasps surrounded her as Cadenza’s eyes widened in alarm. She did not show it but Twilight was also surprised at herself. She had no idea as to why the words had left her lips, but the moment she said it, it felt right. She felt like the truth had finally been spoken. Something sparked beneath the anger and it balled in her stomach, giving her a sense that her accusation had been absolutely correct.

“Twilight!” came a voice from the crowd.

A familiar mare gaped at her. From where she had been standing, watching her son’s wedding in the crowd before her daughter had come in destroying it, Twilight Velvet stood there, staring at her daughter, completely mortified. The lavender mare recognized the voice but did not tear her eyes away from Cadenza.

“Move.” She growled, seething at the imposter, “Now.”

Cadenza’s smirk fell away. All eyes were upon her and Twilight now and as a Princess of Equestria, she knew that everyone would expect her to defend herself should she need it. However, her magic would give her away if she used it and instead she began sniffling. Twilight exhaled sharply, her violet eyes narrowing at the crocodile tears the princess tried to pass off, and she dipped her front low, ready to gallop towards Cadenza.

“I said…”

Her horn began to light with her magic.

“Move away from…”

She reared back and slammed her hooves down.

“My brother!”

Her magic shot forth from her horn, shooting towards Cadenza. Knowing that the shot would be deflected, Twilight sprang forth and galloped towards her. It was as Celestia interfered and blocked the shot that Twilight ducked, sliding under the sun princess. She slammed into Cadenza, knocking her backwards and they both collided with the ground. She growled, glaring down at her, but was bucked off. She hit the ground with an unpleasant thud and groaned. An emotionless Shining Armor turned towards her as she tried to get up, seething with rage at the circumstances.

“That is enough!”

Celestia’s voice rang out through the room and made her subjects cringe. Cadenza stood with no help from anyone, hiding behind the stoic Guard Captain as Twilight whipped around to glare at her mentor. She opened her mouth to retort, but her mind blanked. This mare before her was like a second mother to her. She idolized the alabaster princess like one would a singer, placing her high upon a pedestal. She did not want to believe that even Celestia was blinded to the truth, but she knew. Somewhere in the back of her mind, past the denial she still held to, Twilight knew that Cadenza had even fooled Celestia into believing her lies. Twilight knew that she was becoming desperate. Having such a huge crowd staring at her in disbelief, she was finding it hard to spit the truth out repeatedly.

“She’s not the real Cadence, but no one wants to see past her attitude because she carries the title of ‘Princess’.” she said, her voice low.

The change in Twilight’s tone caught Celestia off guard for a moment. The alicorn took a step, ready to comfort the emotionally distraught mare, but she was surprised when Twilight turned away from her, horn lit. Magic shot from her horn and hit the couple, sending Shining Armor back and onto his bride. Twilight watched with a sob caught in her throat. No one would believe her, no matter what she did. She was alone in this knowledge and with everything she had inside of her, she leapt over Shining Armor and bucked Cadenza away from him. The pink mare hit the ground, tumbling down the few steps that lined their altar, and stumbled to get on her feet. Although physically she was perfectly fine, Cadenza feigned injury, crying. She was going to play the victim and make everyone believe her.

“I won’t let you use him anymore.” Twilight said, voice thick as she tried to keep the sob contained, “You have to get rid of me first.”

Celestia could bare it no longer. Her horn glowed, a bright lemon and she lifted her student off of the ground as she called forth the guards. They galloped forward, spears trained on her student as she released her hold on her and turning to the patrons, Celestia apologized.

“We shall hold the ceremony tomorrow. For now, please return home safely.”

They were too eager to leave. The crowd shuffled from the room, some pushing their way to the doors, and as the room was left with everypony she was quite familiar with, Celestia turned towards the bride and her groom who stood behind the Royal Guard.

“Please, enjoy the rest of your day.” She said to them, turning to address her apprentice’s parents and friends, “I would like to speak to Twilight. Alone.”

Her tone was grave and low. No pony would argue with her and they all left without a second glance.

“Please guard the…”

Celestia trailed off, unsure of what to say. She was going to tell her guards to guard the door while she spoke to her student, but there were no doors to guard. She cleared her throat.

“Please guard the entrance.”

Their spears lowered and the guards moved, leaving the room and standing guard outside of it.

“Twilight Sparkle what in Equestria did you think you were doing?”

Twilight turned from her mentor, “Telling the truth.”

Celestia was taken aback by her answer. She knew that Twilight’s claims were unfounded, especially after the spectacle she had made herself out to be and for a moment, she wondered if her student had become insane. She had burst through the doors, determined to stop Cadence from doing whatever it was she thought she was going to do. Celestia felt tears in her eyes as she watched Twilight turn, attempting to make a dash for the door. Using her magic, Celestia stopped the unicorn from going much further, cutting her exit off with her magic.

“Twilight, please. Stop this—”

“Stop what? Trying to get you to see the truth?”

“Twilight,” Celestia pleaded, “please.”

“No…” she said, before turning and looking up at Celestia, “No, I won’t stop. I will make you see the truth, no matter what it—”

“You want me to see the truth about Cadence being evil when you’re attacking innocent ponies yourself?”

Twilight stopped. Her expression changed and Celestia almost apologized for saying it.

“Twilight, you’re going down a road that I cannot support.”

“What will you do? Banish me?”

Celestia gasped. The words stung deep, the jab about her mistake with her sister obvious, and even Twilight cringed when she realized what she said, but it was there, lingering in the air like a ghost.

“She needs to be stopped. Since no one else will do it, I will.” Twilight said, turning from her mentor once more and charging up her horn.

A flash of magenta and her student was gone.

Twilight appeared in her old room, surrounded by the books she once held dear. She knew that Celestia was probably sending her guards out to find her and she had to act fast. If she did not, then she had no hopes in saving her brother from Cadenza’s mind control. She was on her own and she hurried over to the large window, looking out. Across the way, a few floors down, she saw Cadenza on the balcony. Shining Armor was out in the gardens, strengthening his barrier once more and Twilight charged her horn again. This was it.

This was her only chance.

She used her teleportation spell and appeared behind Cadenza, startling the pink pony. Cadenza whipped around and gasped, trying to figure out where the unicorn had come from.

“Why are you here?” she hissed.

“To stop you.” Twilight said, pawing at the ground.

She was prepared to stop this evil before it consumed her brother and she lost him forever, but she needed to ask.

“What’s your angle? Why my brother?” she finally asked.

Cadenza laughed, “It was the role I fell into.”

Her laughter echoed around the room, mocking Twilight. A growl came forth, rumbling in her throat as magic began to wrap around her horn with every intent to stop Cadenza’s influence. With a stomp of her hoof, Twilight fired. The laughter stopped, cut off by a scream as the princess was thrown back into the railings of the balcony.

“Why?” Twilight demanded, “Why are you using my brother?”

A cough came from the pink mare as she stood on shaky legs.

“Shining Armor loves you and all you’re doing is using him!” Twilight cried, tears blurring her vision. “He’s not a tool!”

Turning to face Twilight, Cadenza seemed virtually unharmed. For a moment Twilight was baffled. She should at least have looked injured, yet she seemed perfectly fine. Staring at the princess, Twilight lit her horn once more with magic. She readied herself when Cadenza began to laugh.

“Boy, you’re stubborn.” The pink mare chortled, “You would think that after your loving mentor turned away from you that you’d finally relent, but no. You are foolish and above all else, foalish.”

Twilight grit her teeth.

“I mean, what kind of sister are you? Ruining your brother’s wedding with no proof of your claims?”

She pawed at the ground, wanting to charge.

“And you escape from Celestia’s hold just to come and attack a princess yet again?”

Cadenza cackled.

“Shut up!”

Twilight went to hit Cadenza again but she found herself hesitant. Did she hate herself for ruining a wedding that her brother looked forward to? Of course. Was it unnecessary? Not at all.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” She pressed on, “My brother would thank me if he knew about your spells. You’re not Cadence, Miss Cadenza. I don’t know who you are but you are not welcomed here.”

“Oh, I am very much welcomed here.” Cadenza shot back.

“Where…where is the real Cadence?”

Cadenza fell silent. She was not going to divulge that sort of information, but Twilight figured she might as well try. She grit her teeth, standing her ground when she heard Celestia’s voice. Two things happened at the sound of Celestia’s voice; Cadenza smirked and began to cry out begging her auntie to come save her, and her body began to change before Twilight’s eyes. Her pink coat across her left flank and chest began to grown dark and red, burns and cuts from an attack that never happened. Twilight was stunned. This thing was able to change its form at will and she was unable to make anyone see that. Something inside of her popped.

Defeat. For the first time, Twilight felt utterly defeated.

She sat back on her haunches and just stared at Cadenza as Twilight’s eyes watered. The fake princess fell to the floor screaming and the doors to the room burst open as guards flooded in along with Shining Armor and Princess Celestia. The rest was a blur as Twilight hung her head in defeat and was taken from the room as doctors were called in to check on the princess. Held by the guards, Twilight could only watch as Cadenza sobbed, spreading more lies about how she was in so much pain. Celestia had her removed from ear shot and to the throne room once more. Twilight did not struggle. She willingly made her way to the throne room and once inside, she sat back onto her haunches, staring at the made up altar. She thought about how Celestia had refused to look at her as she ordered her away to the throne room, tending to Cadenza like a child. She knew that Celestia would not be able to continue teaching her, but if Celestia was able to turn her back on Twilight so easily, then was she really losing anything? The pang in her chest reminded her that yes, she was losing something. She was losing her mentor who acted like a surrogate mother to her for years. She was losing her brother to something that was not a pony. Her friends would not look at her the same when the word gets out that Cadenza was attacked by her soon-to-be sister in law, Twilight Sparkle, the personal protégé of Celestia. She blinked, pushing the tears away as Celestia walked through the doorway with a grave look upon her face. She wanted to say something to her, but Celestia walked right past her to stare up at the same altar that she had looked upon. She knew that she would be punished for harming the fake princess, but she was not prepared for it. Not in the least.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Her name had come out of Celestia’s mouth with a strangely reserved tone that was normally used with the nobles she did not care to hold court with, like Blueblood and the likes of him. Twilight felt the tears burn at her eyes, but she held them back. Instead of a sob, she managed to look at the back of her mentor’s head, at the familiar mane that flowed like water and resembled the aurora borealis at night.

“Princess.” She replied, tone soft.

“You have committed a great offense today,” Celestia said, turning towards her student, “You have attacked a member of the Royal family in front of many ponies. You not only attacked Princess Cadence once, but continued to attack her until finally apprehended a second time. Twilight, explain yourself.”

She shook her head at Celestia. At this point, it was useless. Celestia did not seem to want to believe her. To listen.

“There’s nothing to explain to someone unwilling to listen.”

Celestia’s stern scowl softened, “I have run into that problem a few times, myself. However, I am not here to fight with you, but to give you the news that I must.”

“That you refuse to be my teacher anymore?”

Celestia cringed. The sound of Twilight’s voice made her frown and nearly broke her heart.

“No, Twilight. I am afraid that your actions have warranted a greater punishment. One that I believe will stop these actions from happening ever again.”

Celestia spread her wings, looking down upon her student with a mixture of disappointment and sadness.

“Twilight Sparkle, it is with great pain that I banish you from Equestria.”

She heard a gasp and realized that it had come from her.

“W-what?” she managed.

“I cannot, in good faith, let you continue to act this way. Especially under my care as my student. What you have done today has only destroyed the harmony that you have represented through your friendships. It has only begun to cause chaos.”

Her words stung Twilight like a slap in the face.

“I am sorry, my student, but it must be done.”

“No…no…”

Twilight began to mutter to herself in denial as she got to her hooves, stepping back and away from Celestia as the sun monarch’s horn began to glow. Her eyes watered, blurring her vision as she stepped back and away from Celestia. Banish? She truly was being banished for trying to help? She went to plead with her mentor once more when a light blinded her. She gasped, covering her eyes with her hooves. The light burned and she felt as though she were also being lifted. It took seconds, but it felt like hours when Twilight was finally able to open her eyes to the light of Celestia’s sun only to see a land of only dirt and rocks before her. She gasped at the sight. She was in a barren wasteland. Her thoughts were cut short as she was unceremoniously dropped onto the rough terrain. A groan escaped her as she forced herself to her haunches, rubbing at her sore limbs before looking up. The flicker of hope she had that it was a dream died as she examined the lands before her and she dipped her chin, ear flattening against her head, as tears streaming down her face.

Twilight Sparkle, once a faithful student of Celestia and citizen of Equestria.

Exiled.

One

View Online

Despite the sweltering heat from the merciless sun, the valley of rock and dirt was alive with activity. Stalls and tents littered the dirt pathways filled with creatures only seen in this part of Equis. Vendors bartered for goods they needed, giving up items they could easily acquire near their homes. This valley was the epicenter of trade within the barren wasteland and it would flourish every thirty moons. Trading was an essential component in the Dusklands for the survival of many and though it seemed peaceful enough, there was always someone watching.

Above the valley, high enough to see across the enormous gap, was a ledge that had been carved out of the crag overlooking the vale and on top of it laid a cloaked figure, hood shrouding her face in shadow. The cloth opened near the neck, revealing a black vest beneath it as well as a lavender coat on their forelegs. The mysterious being turned her head, surveying the large expanse. Ever since settling on the crag at dawn, they have watched over the transactions from above ensuring that there were no complications, but as the sun rose high into the sky, signaling the middle of the day, the ache of hunger began pulling at her. The scent of food wafted up to her from below and deciding that a meal was in order, they stood and began to make her way down the slope and into the valley.

Finding the district where food was being sold had been simple enough, but the wait in line had taken quite a while. With a tray of food finally within the grasp of her teeth, the cloaked being made their way toward a group wearing vests identical to their own beneath the cloak. Placing the tray down, they shook the hood off to reveal herself. She was a unicorn mare with a dark sapphire mane streaked with rose and violet and cut short in a layered bob that framed her face. Her bangs were swept to the left to cover her eye and, her coat was a pale lavender. As the mare took a seat, she was met with the laughter of the group. Her right ear twitched at the sound as she picked up her eggplant kabob with a hoof and nibbled on it, finally tuning into the group. Idle chatter continued amongst the group as the mare studied them.

To her right was a rather large boar that stood a foot taller than her with mahogany fur and beady red eyes. Ivory tusks jutted from the sides of his mouth, dangerously curving upwards and his thin tail swished back and forth as he scoffed. His beady eyes narrowed as he glared at the elk to the mare’s left.

When standing, the elk would tower over the other members of the group. He stood at five and a half feet with his antlers adding another foot to his height. His fur was the color of sand, light and soft, and his eyes matched the clear sky, shimmering with tears as he continued to chortle at the boar’s reaction.

Directly across from the mare were two young drakes, a pair of twins that were as mischievous as they were diligent. They watched the elk and boar’s interaction with an impish glint in their eyes. They matched one another in height; both of them stood at an even five feet, yet their scales were different. A snort came from the dragon on the left, his laughter giving away his gender, and he turned to whisper in his twin’s ear who gave a giggle as she covered her snout. His scales glistened in the sunlight, the deep viridian practically shining like the gemstone he shared his name with. His slit eyes were a light teal, matching his sister’s, and upon his back were wings and spikes that ran down the length of his spine.

His sister’s scales were a deep azure and as the light from the burning star above hit her scales, it was as if the rock turned to water. The reflection off of her scales with each movement resembled that of a babbling brook, casting an illusion of waves shimmering on the rocky surface. She also had wings and spikes that lined her spine, but hers matched the deep green of her brother’s just as his spikes reflected the dark blue of hers. The mare quirked a brow, eyes scanning the twins before clearing her throat. Silence befell the group as they turned towards the mare, giving her their full attention.

“Report.”

“Cloth and gem trades have been made,” the elk replied, “We just need to do the food trades.”

The young drake began, “Silk trade was—”

“Uneventful.” His sister finished with a shrug.

“And I’ve gathered plenty of metals for the brothers.” The boar grunted.

With a nod, the mare returned to nibbling at her kabob. She looked up, her amethyst eyes meeting the bright, clear sky. The heat was intense, but bearable, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Her memory was impeccable at times. She knew that in another land, the sky was bleak and grey with snow blanketing the soil beneath their hooves as the ponies enjoyed their winter. In that place, the land was green in the summer and snowy in the winter, but it caused the Dusklands to have weather that was opposite of the season. The winters in the Dusklands were lived in almost unbearable heat with cool crisp nights and the summer brought forth freezing temperatures with even colder nights. The mare was pulled from her thoughts when the boar’s boisterous laugh echoed around her.

“Hey!” cried the dragoness, “That isn’t nice, Forge!”

Returning her attention to the group, the mare saw that the boar held a ruby in the grip of his thin tail while the dragoness gave him a pout.

“Neither is taking Cedar’s bag.” The boar replied, giving her brother a pointed look.

“Emerald,” the mare said, her voice almost foreign to her, “give Cedar his bag back.”

The dragon gave her an impish smile, flashing his fangs as he gave the elk his satchel. The moment the elk had the sack in his possession, the boar returned the ruby to Emerald’s sister.

“Next time you wanna prank us, make sure it ain’t something obvious.”

The boar laughed. Although many called him Forge, his first name was Steel. He was a weapons expert, forging knives from metal and fire; a trait that many of his kind possessed. Emerald and Sapphire Flare were the newest addition to the squad, but not to the mare. Originally, the twins had been insufferable nuisances that followed her around like a lost puppy and she could hardly stand it. They reminded her too much of the young dragon she had raised like a son before she had been sent away and the memory of him that was conjured by the mere sight of the twins hurt her immensely.

It had been a rough start with them but despite her efforts, the mare had warmed up to them. It was not until their tenth birthday that they had requested to join the Den and assist with everything they do. At first, the Den’s leader, Nereus, had sent them on simple errands across the city to occupy them. It was not until they reached the ripe age of fourteen that they began to venture outside the Den and tag along with the groups heading for the trade posts. Eventually, they worked their way up and were placed in her squad a few months ago. Now, her team was almost inseparable.

Almost.

It was glaringly obvious to her that there was someone missing. In the years she spent working for the Den, she had yet to go to the biggest trade of the year without a specific member tagging along. She was no stranger to being left behind when it came to a mission however-; the fact that he had yet to return was bothering her.

“Has anyone heard from Astral, recently?”

Her voice was hardly noticeable, like a gentle breeze blowing on a bright spring day. Her companions gave her their attention, some with quirked brows, as they considered her question.

“He hasn’t sent word to you?” Sapphire asked, frowning.

The mare shook her head in response.

“Wow. It’s been a few weeks since he left. Even Nereus hasn’t heard from him.” The elk replied, voice as smooth as silk, “You would think that we would have heard something.”

The mare went to reply but the words died on her lips as a scream echoed over the clamor if the crowd and her companions went rigid. Getting to her hooves and throwing her hood back on, she jerked her chin up, signaling the twins. The duo hopped off of the rock they had been sitting on and got a running start before leaping into the air and unfurling their wings, taking flight to lead their associates to the commotion. The mare galloped beneath the twins, following their lead as another scream reached her ears. The crowd broke and she leapt through the opening, landing on her hooves crouched like a manticore ready to strike. An elder drake hovered over his prey, a young boar tending to the stall who was screaming, and the mare snorted. She pawed at the ground and lunged at the drake, knocking him back and away from the young boar. The drake yelled, a curse hissing through his fangs as he scrambled to his feet and growled.

“Enough.” She said, standing between the young boar and the drake.

The drake growled, “Give me…it!”

“Greed!” she called up to the twins, “Grab him!”

The drake gave a menacing roar before leaping at the mare. Lurching forward, she met him halfway and they collided. The mare hit the ground and rolled to her hooves, barely catching the sight of the twins grabbing the drake and yanking him up into the sky. The twins struggled as they flew him away, each almost losing their grip on him as the mare turned her attention to the young boar upon the ground.

“Are you all right?” she asked, helping him up.

A nod was her response as the shoat stared at the upturned stall he had been using. Quietly, he began to tidy it up, righting the wooden stand as the mare scanned his wares for anything that could have potentially provoked the drake.

“What was he after?” she asked.

He froze for a second before turning and pulling out something from one of his bags. A golden ring hung from his small ivory tusk and the mare scoffed. Greed was a terrible thing with dragons. It was one of the reasons that they grew into the ferocious, fire breathing monstrosities that would terrorize foreign lands. Once greed hooked a dragon, it was hard for them to return to their original state and they would have to remove themselves from the society they were once a part of. Her two other companions assisted her in righting the stall and dispersing the crowd until the twins arrived, both subdued.

It was clear as day what was on their minds. Being dragons, the twins were walking a fine line between living normal lives with their friends or succumbing to the very same greed that started the skirmish. The sun was beginning to lower, heading for the horizon, which signaled the end of the day for the vendors. Stalls began closing up and heading out, carts being pulled by the trade participants and once they recounted their belongings and made sure everything was in order, the group began their trek home.

Outside of the valley were hills and plains of wasteland that seemed endless. The mare lead the pack onward as she navigated her way home, the gang falling in step behind her. The sun blazed on even as it lowered further towards the horizon and she glanced over her shoulder at her team. The twins hovered along, picking fun at each other as well as Steel Forge and Cedar, who were engaged in conversation about the upcoming festival. Each one of them wore a black vest that matched her own and although they were seemingly oblivious to the area around them, she saw their attention stray to the rock and dirt surrounding them, keeping their eyes peeled for any indication of others in the area. Ambushes have become frequent in the past year and they had to be observant.

They arrived in the city, vendors greeting them as they passed through with their newly acquired goods. The mare let her companions distribute the wares, opting out of visiting each and every being in the Den, and ventured towards the building in the center of the city. She entered and turned right, heading for a doorway. She stepped through and ventured down the slope until she came across a rather large underground area. The air was crisp and cool, caressing her soft coat. The laughter of children could be heard and she smiled as she turned towards the living quarters belonging to those in the building she had come from. She meandered through the halls until a familiar door came into view. She entered, letting the door close behind her as she removed her cloak with her magenta magic.

Her room was small but comfortable. The walls were rock and stone, entrapping the cool air while keeping the unbearable heat out. Her bed stood upon a metal frame, holding a mattress made from silk and sand with a matching pillow. A blanket was folded neatly atop of the mattress and was a deep crimson. A smile graced her features as she thought of the blanket, eyes trailing to the end of the bed where a doll laid. It mimicked the shape of a pony with a tousled mane and tail of string. The cloth used to make it was mismatched, various colors patched together until it formed the desired shape. Her mind brought forth a memory of a doll she had long ago named “Smarty Pants”. It was an old doll passed down to her with button eyes, a stitched mouth, and blue pants with white polka dots. She pushed the memory away as it spiraled away from the doll towards a more painful thing.

Draping her cloak across a chair, the mare glanced at the full length mirror by the door. At one time, her reflection had startled her. Her soft features had hardened with every glimpse she took until it was a stranger that was staring back at her. Her short, layered bob was a far cry from the long flowing mane she had upon entering the Dusklands and her baby face was thinned with the soft edges gone, replaced with a rougher edge. A small scar adorned her cheek right beneath her left eye, but it was hardly noticeable anymore to one who did not know of its existence. She reached a hoof up and touched the small scar, chest aching as she remembered when it had been made.

“Sparkle! Down!”

She turned, ducking as a claw swiped at her, slicing bits of her mane off before she bucked the gryphon away. A scream came from her left and she gasped as her squad leader who had warned her seconds ago hit the ground. She shrieked; a dark menacing shrill that escaped her control as she galloped towards his offender, horn lit. With a leap, she pushed her magic sending a bright magenta beam of magic towards the assailant, hitting him head on with all of the force she could muster. He flew back into the mountain side with a sickening sound and it wasn’t until the smoke from her attack cleared that she could see the mangled body of her leader’s attacker on the floor in a heap of broken bones, blood and feathers. Her eyes widened as her stomach churned.

“O-Oh…m-my—”

“SPARKLE!”

A body flew into her from behind, sending her face first into the rocky floor below as a weight laid on her. She felt liquid coat her fur and as she turned her head, cold eyes stared at her. A scream ripped from her mouth as she squirmed beneath his dead weight, blood coating her lavender fur as she pushed against him in an attempt to get away from his now lifeless form. Tears blurred her vision. Never had she dealt with death before and this was frightening. She managed to crawl out from under him, her coat indigo from the blood, as the killer gave a dark laugh and stalked forward.

“An eye for an eye, beakin’ bitch.”

A gryphon. Her mind began to make the connections quickly through his vocabulary. They had been ambushed by a group of gryphons and they had been separated in the fight from her other companions. His voice was filled with an emotion she was new to in the Dusklands: hate. She cringed and stepped back, horn lighting for a second about to defend herself before the mass of blood and feathers flashed before her eyes. For a moment, she felt sick. Her stomach churned once more with disgust at the reminder, but she never got to empty the contents of her stomach. Instead, a swift slap of his wing sent her sprawling to the ground. He laughed.

An eye for an eye…

His voice taunted her. The dark laughter echoed around her as she struggled to get to her hooves. Her heart was hammering at the possibility of death, but her mind seemed to conjure a way to survive and clung to it desperately. She could live. She could get out of this alive and avenge her leader. Her heart thrummed at the realization.

She could live.

Something within her sparked and she grasped the idea with the full weight of the situation bearing down upon her. The gryphon came at her with his claws out and swiped. In that moment, it was as if time stood still as the mare stood her ground and rationalized her actions. Her horn lit and she was gone.

She appeared behind him and charged, shooting a spell in his direction as the gryphon turned towards her, his yellow eyes widening. Her magic barely missed as he dove out of the beams path and he lunged at her, letting out a feral shriek. She jumped back and away from his claws, cringing as her cheek stung. Blood oozed from the wound, but the mare ignored it. Another push of her magic sent the bird flying backwards and into the ground. The force of her magic created a small crater beneath him. Dust and dirt drifted down as smoke billowed from the mini crater and she hesitated at the edge. She did not want to see the damage she had done, but she steeled herself and took a few shaky steps forward.

The smoke was beginning to clear. Her eyes found the gryphon at the center, lying at the bottom, and she watched as he coughed up blood, staining his beak and claws. She knew that he was in pain and the sensible part of her mind screamed at her to either help him or run away. She went to take that step back and flee when he whimpered and pushed himself up. There was another thought lingering beneath her rational ones, whispering at her.

An eye for an eye…

Suddenly, she was angry. Her mind drifted to her birth lands and how she had been easily disposed of, only to be taken in by the Den and given a position by Fang. Silver Fang was a drake with scales that glistened in the moonlight and he was ruthless as he was kind. When she had been brought into the fold, he immediately questioned her on her weaknesses and strengths, placing her in his squad. He had stepped into the role of ‘big bro’ and shown her the ropes. They were on what he had called ‘a quick and easy run’ to deliver some of their wares to a neighboring city when they had been ambushed.

The anger doubled as she recalled the frightening sight of his cold dead eyes after he had courageously saved her from certain death. Her own eyes watered with the deadly combination of anger and sorrow until her chest ached. The gryphon found her watching him and glared at her. She stepped forward and stalked forth into the crater, getting close enough to the injured gryphon to hear his breath hiss out through his beak. She knew that this feeling should not have felt so good, but the more he glared at her, the more she embraced it.

The gryphon sensed the change in the mare as his hatred shifted to fear. She was letting her anger override reason as he attempted to scramble back and away from her. She summoned her magic once more and stared the gryphon down with her horn lit dangerously. He opened his beak, whether to beg for his life or insult her, she could not tell as he simply spluttered incoherent garbage at her. With her magic, the mare reached out and yanked the dagger from the ground to her. Blood coated the blade as she held it between them before letting it fly.

Unable to dodge the blade quick enough, he cried out as it dug into his side and squawked as she jerked it out. A phrase bubbled in her throat and pressed the dagger to his feathered neck as she glared at him with a dark emotion smoldering in her eyes.

“A life for a life…”

“Diadem?”

The lavender mare jumped. Turning from her reflection, she exhaled sharply as she recognized the creature at her door, staring at her with concern.

“F-father.” She breathed, “You scared me half to death! You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”

Stepping into the room, careful to avoid hitting his horn, was a creature with the body of an elk with scales instead of fur. They glimmered like the ocean’s wave and his elongated tail mimicked that of a dragon’s. His mane was turquoise and his cloven hooves clicked against the rock floor as he ventured to her side.

“I knocked three times.” He replied, golden yellow eyes scanning her. “Are you all right?”

“Yes I…I was thinking about Fang is all.”

“Ahh and here I thought you were thinking of Astral.”

Her cheeks flared.

“Seems I wasn’t far off…”

“How did you..?”

The creature gave her a smile, “I may be old, but it’s not something unrecognizable to even an old coot like myself, dear. Besides, you know that we Ki’rin can practically feel emotions.”

She frowned, glancing over to her bed once more.

“You miss him.”

She only nodded. Her throat closed with a lump of emotion that she seemed to be feeling frequently as of late.

“He’s never been gone this long without word…” she muttered.

The Ki’rin smiled at her sadly, reaching out and hugging her to him with his foreleg. He nuzzled the top of her head and she buried her face against him, attempting to hide the tears she wanted to release from the dam.

“He will return home to us soon enough, Dia. Have faith in Astral’s abilities.”

The mare pushed back from him, looking up at the Ki’rin with a frown, “I do not doubt his capabilities, father. I worry about him being ambushed. He’s on his own out there…It’s…It’s not safe.”

He chortled at his daughter as she fretted over the absent male, “You care deeply about him, my child.”

She nodded. Astral Mace was her lifeline. Being the only other pony she’s come across in the Dusklands, their connection had been obvious. The friendship she did not want to have blossomed and they were practically inseparable. The only exception had been their missions and although she was used to being left behind while he went on solos, she could not help but to worry about him. He was one of the most important things in her world.

“Do not worry about him.” Her adoptive father said, resting his tail upon her back, leading her towards the door, “The Viridian Harvest is nearing. You have crops to tend to above ground.”

The reminder made the mare gasp, “I almost forgot the harvest! I’m sorry father, but I have to go!”

She turned and galloped out of the room, panting as she ran through the corridors. She arrived to the main area, finding the high ceiling of rock above and a makeshift playground for the children to play. Laughter resonated in the large area as parents engaged in idle chatter, some with excitement as talk of the harvest was brought up. Face flushed in chagrin, she turned and made her way towards the entrance she had come from originally and galloped up to the building above. She shook herself as she made it to the surface world and cringed as sunlight burned at her eyes. She rubbed at her eyes as she trotted out of the building to where the market was alive with vendors and traders.

The city was almost self-sufficient, needing only a few items from the trading event every thirty days in order to thrive continuously. She made her way through the crowd until she found the gardens. No weeds yet, she noticed, and the plants seemed to be growing despite the heat. She was proud of her green hoof and worked on tending to them as the sun finally disappeared from the horizon, welcoming sleep while its sister breached the sky. Thankful for the cool night, the mare worked on her crops while using her horn as a light source in order to see. The world around her was quiet as she finished up and wiped sweat from her forehead before beginning to make her way back to her room below ground.

*~*~*

She sat alone on the balcony of her highest tower, watching her sister’s moon rise up into the starry night sky and she felt the feeling creep up into her chest like a phantom, gripping at her heart. She was alone, something she was able to handle, but the feeling that was encasing her heart was something she could not stand.

Loneliness.

When she had been forced to banish her sister from Equis over a thousand years ago, Celestia never felt loneliness because she knew that by raising her sister’s moon that Luna was still nearby. To her, Luna was still with her. This time, there was no physical manifestation to cling to and believe that she was still near. The closest thing she had nearly killed her this afternoon, disappearing moments after rejecting her. She was sporting fresh bandages from the recent change her doctor made, assisting her in healing as quickly as possible. Her injuries were mostly near the neck and torso, her left wing singed a bit near the end of her feathers. She had no one to correspond with to express her feelings and those she would have love to talk to were gone to the borders, searching for the friend that they had lost to her judgment.

“Tia?”

The sun princess was brought back from her thoughts as a regal voice called out from the darkness behind her. Hoofsteps echoed in the quiet as the snow white coated princess turned, eyes finding her sister standing in the doorway to the balcony. The younger alicorn wore a stern expression as she approached her elder sister, eyeing and assessing her condition.

“Luna,” Celestia replied with a forced smile, “is everything all right?”

“Shouldn’t thou be in thy bed?”

Celestia had known that her sister would remind her that she should be in bed and returned her attention to the stars.

“Your night is as beautiful as ever, sister.”

Luna scoffed, “Do not think that thou can pacify our concerns with mere compliments.”

“I know, Luna.”

“Then why are thee from thy bed? Thou needest thy rest.”

A ghost of a smile graced her lips as Luna spoke. Despite returning from banishment nearly five years ago, the moon princess’ dialect still reverted back to the old ways whenever she did not concentrate on it, to the days before her descent into the darkness. She knew that her sister was concerned about her health, but Celestia could not bring herself to stay in bed. Tomorrow marked exactly five years since she had wrongfully sentenced her student and she could only feel anxious as she waited for a report of some kind to reach her.

“I am unable to sleep.” She answered. “I hope to hear news soon.”

Luna frowned, “Which news? The news from the front lines near the frozen north or news from the girls searching for Twilight Sparkle?”

Celestia cringed as her sister spoke her student’s name. It did not go unnoticed by the moon princess.

“Thy concerns are not alone. We, too, still wonder about young Twilight and how she is fairing. We wish to see our friend once more.”

Friend. Luna’s first friend upon returning to her place as a princess of Equestria had been Twilight. She had taught Luna some of the basics of making friends and modern diction. Luna frequently asked about Twilight, visiting the friendly unicorn whenever she had the chance in order to learn more about friendship and society. It pained her to know that her actions may have hurt her younger sister, but she did not have the chance to dwell on it as Luna continued.

“However, ‘tis not wise to disregard thy doctor’s orders.”

Celestia sighed, “Just a little while longer, sister. Your night brings me peace.”

“I suppose,” Luna said with a small smile, “a little bit longer cannot do thee much harm.”

*~*~*

As dawn drew near, the Den became active as families woke and made their way topside to bask in the sun’s morning light before the crisp night air gave way to the sweltering heat of winter. Children played in the dirt streets while parents browsed for items they needed for the next few days.

The lavender mare awoke to the dim light of the lantern she had left on that night and with a yawn and a curse at herself for forgetting to turn it off, she rolled out of bed. She rubbed a hoof against her eyes, waking herself as she ventured to her mirror and found her mane an absolute mess. She pawed at her hair, subconsciously reminding herself that she needed a new brush from the market place today, and began folding the crimson blanket with her magic. She glanced at her door and found nothing near the floor, meaning that there was not a mission for her that day and she had the day to herself. She donned her cloak and trotted out of the room, making her way to the surface.

She emerged from the building and took a glance around. The buildings on the surface were made from rock slabs that had been carved out of the few mountains that were in the Dusklands, rocks welded together and stabilized with metal beams inside. Friendly faces greeted the mare as she walked through the market until a familiar laughter found her. Turning, she found her father standing before a stall, laughing along with the vendor. The male Ki’rin could have been identical to her father if not for the color of his scales, which were a deep crimson color versus her father’s sea blue, and his horn which resembled an elk’s antler more. The vendor took notice of her and waved her over.

“Dia! How have you been?”

She dipped her chin a bit, bowing her head in greeting, “I have been good, Pyrros. How are you today?”

“The sun is scorching my back but otherwise pretty good.” He replied.

“Ah,” her father interrupted, struck by realization, “I almost forgot. Do you have that thing I commissioned you for, Pyr?”

A sly, fanged grin found its way to his lips, “Actually, yes. Why my dear Nereus! You don’t think that I’d forget something so important do you?”

He did not let the elder Ki’rin answer before he ducked back into the cove where his stall was attached, trifling through items until he finally emerged with three boxes. Nereus arched a brow in curiosity.

“Pyr, I only asked one thing of you.”

“Ahh, but of course I had some other things I wanted to complete for that same occasion and they are all ready, with help from the brothers of course.”

The mare eyed the three boxes curiously as her father seemed to open his mouth to argue, but found himself unable to.

“Well, then what do I owe?”

“Not a single sickle.”

“Pyr, come now. Surely these cost quite a bit of—”

“Not a sickle.” The crimson scaled Ki’rin replied, “I won’t hear of it and neither will the others. Think of it as a combined gift.”

“Father?” the mare interrupted, “What are they?”

Nereus glanced at his daughter and gave a small smile, “I am not sure. I know of the thing I commissioned, nothing more.”

“Open it!” Pyrros said, holding the biggest box out to the mare, “You’re going to love it!”

The mare did not hesitate. Using her magic, she pried the box open and gently pulled out the contents. They hovered in the air in front of her, gripped in her magic as she examined them. It was a longbow made from metal with Ki’rin scales creating swirling designs on the smooth cold metal, swirling around a star. Along with it came a quiver made from durable cloth with the same emblem, a star in the middle of mist swirls embroidered on it. The mare could barely form a thought, spluttering in surprise.

“The others and I wanted to let you know how much you meant to us.” Pyrros said with a fanged grin, “The arrows were crafted by each one of us. The fletchings are from our own hair and the arrowhead from our scales.”

The mare nodded. She knew that the colors of the fletching of the arrows had seemed familiar and they were. The colors came from some she knew very well and others whom she just barely knew. The only one missing was her father’s, but it seemed like he knew nothing of it.

“Its…beautiful.” she admired, “Thank you.”

“No,” Pyrros replied, “Thank you for everything you’ve done since you arrived.”

Her cheeks burned, “I haven’t done much…”

“Nonsense!”

Her ears flattened as she hooved the dirt reserved. Being praised and thanked was not something she was used to even after all of the years she had been with the Den. Pyrros laughed as she blushed and motioned a clawed hand at the other box.

“That one, too.”

She gently placed the bow and arrows back into their box before opening the smaller one. A gasp escaped her lips as she raised the instrument and examined it. The dagger was small enough to fit beneath her cloak unseen, yet sharp enough to slice into one’s coat like a hot knife through butter. Engraved on the blade was her cutie mark, a large six pointed star surrounded by smaller stars, and the handle was made from leather; a rarity among the Dusklands. Her name was engraved on the opposite side of the blade in elegant script and she bit her lip as tears welled in her eyes.

“It was something the brothers came up with.” Pyrros informed, smiling at her, “They were determined to make you something original.”

“I love it!” she breathed, sheathing the blade and tucking it beneath her cloak with a smile, “Such wonderful gifts, Pyr. Thank you very much.”

“Well, since gifts are already being exchanged,” Nereus chuckled, “I guess this is as good a time as any…”

The Ki’rin opened the smallest box, smiling. Reaching in, he withdrew a circlet made of pure silver. The slender V-shaped front widens to the sides to transition into stunning sweeping curves. Multiple crystals and silver-lined seed beads weaved through the designs, adding a magical, diamond-like sparkle in the bright sunlight. In the center was a crescent moon facing upwards with a sapphire above it. Her jaw dropped as she stared at it and gulped down the lump in her throat as she tore her eyes away from the headpiece and looked up at her father completely speechless. The Ki’rin gave her a proud, relieved smile at her reaction. She could not wrap her mind around the expensive gift he held out to her, but she reached out a hoof and gently grasped it. Her eyes examined the fine metalwork over and over again as her eyes watered. She leaned towards Nereus and hugged him before she pulled back and thanked Pyrros a few more times before the duo ventured on their way.

Two

View Online

“Ahm tellin’ y’all. Ah don’t think she’s out here.”

Her southern drawl echoed in the silence surrounding the five ponies as they made their way through the wastelands. Celestia’s sun bore down upon them mercilessly without a single speck of shade before them. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hoof before fixing her trademark Stetson on her head, tucking her blond hair beneath the hat as she frowned.

“There ain’t nothin’ out here but rock an’ dirt.”

“We probably haven’t gone far enough, Applejack.” replied the sole unicorn of the group, “We’ve looked everywhere else and I highly doubt that she would have gone to the north where she would have frozen to death.”

“Ah know, Rarity,” Applejack replied, “but it don’t look like anythin’ can live out here.”

“Applejack is right.” A pale yellow pegasus interjected timidly, hiding her face behind her unkempt, pink matted mane, “There’s no signs of plants or animals…”

“Or water…” the other pegasus replied, pushing her rainbow bangs from her face.

“Here, darling,” Rarity said, giving the cyan pegasus a canteen, “I have plenty of water left.”

“Ah still say we should go home. Ah gotta take care of mah farm since Big Mac’s hurt again. Ah hafta buck apples mahself.”

“And what about Twilight?” Rarity sneered, “It’s our fault she’s been out there alone all this time!”

“Yeah. We can’t just give up.”

Rarity nodded at the cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane as she took the canteen back and took a swig, “Thank you Rainbow Dash. At least someone understands.”

“Ahm not givin’ up!” Applejack growled, stomping her hoof, “But we’ve been out here for months searchin’ and I gotta take care of mah family for the upcoming spring. And what about Sweetie Belle? Or Scootaloo? Y’all can’t tell me ya’ ain’t worried about them!”

“My parents are looking after Sweetie Belle and Spike while we’re looking for Twilight. I simply cannot return without news again. I nearly broke Spike’s heart last time.”

“I’m with Rarity.” Rainbow Dash spoke up, flapping her wings and hovering above her friends, “We walked out on Twilight twice and she was right the whole time! And Scoot keeps asking if we found her and….and…”

Rainbow Dash faltered, squeezing her eyes shut. The tears she had held back since the day they learned of the truth threatened to fall once more. She shook her head and recomposed herself.

“…I can’t keep telling her we didn’t.”

“Ah don’t know about y’all but Ah think she went back to Equestria. Twilight wouldn’t have stayed out here.”

“And if she didn’t?” Rarity pressed with a scowl, “What if she’s merely another day away?”

“Oh! Oh! I LOVE GUESSING GAMES!” the pink pony chirped, bouncing around her four friends.

“It’s not a guessing game, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her magenta eyes.

“Still…uh…” The farmer stammered.

“Exactly.” The fashionista said, trotting forward. “I won’t go back, yet. We’re close. I can feel it!”

“But Rarity…” the yellow pegasus said, “I have to check in with the animals soon. Spring is coming and I have to make sure all of my critters are taken care of since Discord left to help the war front.”

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t trust that brute a mile away. He only broke free because the elements no longer held him in place. I doubt that he’d be roaming around free if that weren’t the case, Fluttershy.”

“Now, Rarity, I know you don’t like Discord, but—”

“ARG!”

The scream came from behind a large crag. The ponies stopped, giving each other a glance before galloping around the pike. The five came across a grey coated stallion who was sprawled out on the ground, blood pooling under him from various wounds. He groaned, struggling to stand when a shadow fell upon the group. Looking up, Applejack paled. The orange mare grabbed the stallion and with Rainbow Dash’s assistance, they pulled the dazed stallion up as the large dark mass came towards them. Turning, the apple farmer gave her friends a panicked glance.

“We gotta get outta here! C’mon everypony! This way!”

*~*~*

“-and then she ran around screaming about a checklist or somethin’.” Cedar chortled, giving Diadem a grin.

Her cheeks flared in chagrin, “It was the first time I participated in anything like that since I came here. Of course I wanted to do everything right.”

Her companions laughed. Cedar Evergreen shook his head at the mare as Steel Forge grinned.

“Over do it, eh?” Steel Forge asked her, nudging her with a tusk, “Seems like yer over that, though.”

“Still…It is embarrassing to talk about.”

They laughed again. They had the day off and were on the surface, soaking in the intense heat and bright sun rays as the city bustled with life. The peaceful city was preparing for the harvest which would begin tomorrow and Diadem smiled. Her crops were going to be great this year. She had put all of the care she could in raising the perfect harvest for her and the others that the crops should last them a good while. Emerald’s laughter cut short as his ear twitched and he looked up and around. Turning, he tensed as he watched something. In seconds, the dragon was tumbling on the ground, landing on his back with his sister in his arms. The blue dragoness panted heavily, trying to scramble to her feet.

“Whoa there, Saph. What’s wrong?”

Sapphire looked up at her brother, gasping for breath as she found herself in the company of her squad, “Dia! Nereus….Infirmary!”

“What?”

The others tensed at Diadem’s inquiry, her voice a dark growl.

“Nereus is in the infirmary.” Sapphire replied, getting to her feet, “And—Hey! Wait! Dia!”

Diadem was galloping away as Cedar, Steel and Emerald got to their feet. Sapphire went to give chase when her brother grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Sapphire, what happened?”

“There was an ambush!” she cried, pulling herself from his grip, “We need to stop her! I have to explain!”

Diadem galloped through the streets of the surface until she reached the top quarters of the infirmary. She was met with some confused faces before trotting towards the tunnels to the heart of the city beneath ground. Her hooves beat on the path as she threw herself into another gallop through the dimly lit corridors. She ran as fast as her hooves could take her until a set of double doors came before her. She threw herself at them, forcing them to swing open as she skidded to a halt in the lobby. Her eyes widened.

“Father..?” she huffed, trying to catch her breath.

“Diadem,” Nereus greeted, solemn, “it seems that there has been another ambush.”

Her ears flattened against her head and she gasped, “Oh no! Are there a lot of injuries?”

He shook his head, “Not many were injured, but they are being cared for now. It seems we are not the only target of these attacks.”

A shiver ran through her body and the pony frowned, making her way to the Ki’rin leader. She leaned into him as he reached out to her, dwarfing her. She felt safe when he held her, like a child with their parent, and she sighed.

“Who was hurt?” she asked.

“That, we will see. Come. Dr. Fennel is tending to some of the foreigners who were caught in the attack, so he told me where Lavender was tending to one of our own.”

Diadem nodded as they made their way through the corridors of the underground infirmary. There were many rooms where patients were held, depending on their situation and it took a few minutes before they entered one. Before them sat a lilac scaled ki’rin who wore a sash of white silk indicating she was a nurse, tending to a patient in the cot in front of her.

“Tartarus! That hurts, Lav!”

The growl did not deter the Ki’rin from continuing, “You’re a piece of work. You nearly die out there and still find time to complain about medical treatment?”

“Not –OW!– complaining. It just –gah!– hurts!”

“Astral?”

Her voice was like a gentle breeze as she forced his name from her lips, her breath caught in her throat. The Ki’rin stepped aside, revealing her brash patient to both Diadem and Nereus. She bowed to them.

“Forgive me, Lord Nereus and Lady Diadem.” She greeted, “I apologize. I did not notice you behind me over his rampant complaints.”

“Hey! I’m not—”

“Please be at ease, Lavender. We know better than anyone how much his ‘rampant complaints’ distract those around him.” Nereus replied with a fanged grin. “It is good to see you again, my son. You’ve worried us.”

“Heh, yeah. I wasn’t planning on being gone for so long. You look good old man.”

The pony upon the cot was a light charcoal grey pegasus. His bright lemon yellow eyes sparkled as he grinned at the elder ki’rin, rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. His mane was matted and dirty, but the crimson hue streaked, black mane was signature to him in the city. His tail matched his mane and although he was bandaged up pretty well, there were still some cuts and bruises that he still sported that have yet to be handled. Lavender smiled at the two, enjoying their outburst of name calling, but frowned as her eyes fell upon the unicorn. She stood stock still beside her father, eyes as wide as saucers. Her mouth was slightly parted in shock as she stared at the stallion upon the cot.

“Where have you been?”

“Well, I went to check in with the other cities, each visit taking longer than normal because of the apprehension.” Astral replied.

“Apprehension of us?”

“No,” he answered, “Of everyone. It seems that we’re not the only ones being targeted in these ambushes. Both Elkisa and Burrow have had some casualties as well as Saccryli Hive. I went to discuss possible ambushes with the other Hives in the Wastes.”

“And the results?”

“Not good. It seems the ambushes are plaguing everyone.”

Nereus frowned, “And yet there has been no communication to us?”

“There was.” Astral replied, “But they haven’t been making it. It seems the territories are not safe. Queen Atynis welcomed me with open hooves and discussed her concerns with me. I hope she’s okay.”

“What do you mean? What happened to the Queen?” Nereus asked, alarmed.

“I was starting to return home when I was ambushed myself. I fought the best I could, but eight flyers against one, each with talons as sharp as knives? I was outmatched. I fell and they left me for dead. I went to get up and screamed, which attracted some foreigners who tried to help me…”

“But?”

“But the ones who ambushed me attacked Atynis’ Hive. The swarm practically trampled us in an attempt to escape.”

Her gasp broke the duo from their talk. Diadem covered her mouth with her hooves. Despite harboring a bias against the Hives in general, she could not help but to balk at the news.

“A hive doesn’t scatter,” she said, shaking her head, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Atynis came to help me but the foreigners flipped out. One of them carrying me bucked her.”

“Someone bucked Queen Atynis?” Nereus asked, eyes wide.

Diadem shook herself from her disbelief and quickly trotted to Astral’s cot, reaching a hoof over to hug him. Nereus mulled over the information as Lavender returned to tending to Astral’s wounds.

“You say foreigners.” Nereus quiried, “What kind?”

“Ponies. All of ‘em.”

~*~*~*~

The harsh winds of the frozen north whipped through the mountains like a cobra’s strike, lashing at everything in its path. The long abandoned train station was buried beneath years of snow and ice, long forgotten in the frozen wastes. The snow danced in the angry gale, a dark cold waltz of a warmth destroyed eons ago, each flake adding another drop of ice to the cold. A single light flickered in the bleak gray of the icy wind, beckoning anyone in the blizzard forth. The glinting light was a deep crimson tinged with dark hues of violet and green and behind it was a black dome of swirling magic, crackling with raw power and pulsing with crimson. Within the dome was a once beautiful land now tainted with dark magic, reducing the once lush green fields to a barren waste of wilted foliage and rock leading to the kingdom inside. The black crystal castle stood high and proud, towering over the city like a giant.

The King stood tall upon the castle balcony overlooking the city with a triumphant smirk. His long awaited return was met with a small, weak resistance and the sisters’ failure made him virtually untouchable. The crystal empire was now his again; a protected land of crystal slaves governed with a power perfected over a thousand years. He chucked wickedly as the green and purple aura swirling around his horn summoned the source of his amplified powers. The once brilliant heart of crystal was now chipped and darkened with his magic and it harbored the most malicious thoughts and feelings of his slaves.

He smirked as he began to drain the dark emotions from the black heart. The magic he drained pulsed within him as he looked out at his kingdom again. With the amount of fear he consumed on a daily basis, he was slowly becoming the most powerful being in all of Equestria. He would bide his time until he could easily dispose of the Royal sisters and take his place upon their throne.

But first, he had to find her.

From the darkness in his dreams one night, a small, fragile voice called out to him. The voice was undoubtedly female and raw, but belied great, undiluted power. He had sensed untapped potential on the precipice of their connection since the first night she had called out to him and soon, he would find her and use her powers to defeat the Sisters once and for all. He grinned, placing the black heart back in its prison to collect more of his slaves’ dark feelings as he returned to his quarters, preparing for the evening, hoping to hear from the voice once more.

*~*~*

“Are you sure about this?”

Astral nuzzled Diadem with concern. After his briefing, Nereus had gone off to discuss the situation with Dr. Fennel about the foreigners and the duo had finally caught up to him. They stood outside of the room they were contained in and Diadem watched the covered doorway warily. Faint sounds of an argument could be heard and she hesitated. Since her arrival, there had only ever been two ponies in all of the Den. Ponies were rare out here, Astral and her, as the only ones, proved that. The mere thought of seeing another pony, let alone a group of them, after all these years terrified her. With a shaky hoof, she pushed the curtain aside, cringing at the shouting within.

“No…” she whispered, “But they saved you. They…can’t be all bad, right?”

“But they’re looking for someone.” Astral replied, “What if they’re–”

Diadem stepped away from him. This was not the time for memory lane, “They didn’t come for me before. Why would they show up now?”

“I…don’t know.”

She frowned. Her words felt hollow, but the same question arose every time they spoke of foreigners. She had begun to harbor distain for her once closest allies ever since she arrived at the Den a year after her exile.

“Look,” she said, “we’re the only ponies in the Den. I doubt they will be cooperative with Father and the others. They probably don’t even know what a Ki’rin is. We have to keep them from attacking our family.”

Family. Her only family it seemed.

“Yeah.” Astral agreed, stepping through the doorway, “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Diadem frowned, “Pain is part of my job, isn’t it?”

Her companion did not reply. Instead, he frowned and continued in the infirmary room, catching sight of some of the patients still in bed. Diadem pushed past him towards the beds where one of the ponies lay unconscious and she gasped. Memories assaulted her in painful waves and she turned away from the bed as another string of screams and shouts echoed off the stone walls behind another curtain. She gulped as Astral placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Just who the buck do you think you are?!”

A flash of cyan in her vision made her blood run cold as the screaming voices began to muddle together incoherently. Her stomach churned as her memories slammed into her. Smiling faces, boisterous laughter, and activities that she cursed for so long crashing into her like a tidal wave, attempting to drown her. Her breaths came in short gasps as she tried to contain herself, eyes flickering towards the exit. She went to take a step when a small, strained voice made her freeze in her retreat.

“T-Twilight?”

Author's Notes:

Hmm, This is shorter than I had originally anticipated, but I was having a difficult time with the scene as well as issues with school and some personal issues. So with that, I have great news and meh news.

Meh news: Next semester (starting January) I will probably be writing less and less because my school scedule will be a bit more loaded. I've been dropping classes and switching majors while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life and now, I have a major and am needing to catch up. So, my chapters might get longer, but with more time between them.

Great News: My Uncle got his double lung transplant about two weeks ago (hence the long delay in posting this chapter) and he is recovering extremely well! At first it was rocky and we weren't sure if he was going to be okay, but now, he's walking around and talking and his stitches came out yesterday! I am so excited! I am also going to start Chapter three when I get home tonight to see if I can put this energy to some good use!

And...who do you think called out to her at the end? I'm curious to know!

Three

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“T-Twilight?”

Her heart shuddered at the sound of that name, blood pounding in her ears while her mouth went dry. She swallowed, trying to quench her suddenly parched throat as she turned towards the patient. It was that unicorn with the marshmallow white coat and deep indigo mane, watching her with wide, disbelieving blue eyes. It was one of them.

Memories from a lifetime ago flashed before her. She saw the inside of a building with various banners hanging from the ceiling in brilliant and vibrant colors. Before her was the mare gasping about her mane. The image shifted as the mare spoke her name again and she was standing in front of a river where a sea serpent was wailing. Her name eluding Diadem in the memory, the mare cut off her own tail and with a radiant smile, gave it to the serpent. The image changed once more to a familiar, nightmarish scene. She stood in the back of an ivory white room watching the unicorn fiddle with her gown, frowning as she spoke to her. Her name surfaced as her voice practically whispered in her ear like a snake.

Told you she was an absolute gem!

The passing nurse gasped, snapping Diadem from the vexing remembrance and the elk healer immediately trotted to her side. She didn’t want to be here, hoof already raised to leave, but Diadem couldn’t move.

“I knew it!” the mare gasped, “Oh, I knew that we’d find you, darling!”

Diadem visibly cringed at the endearment, finding it difficult to breathe. It was if a hoof had been thrown at her stomach, knocking the wind out of her, and then proceeded to step on her chest. She regained her senses and stepped back, preparing to flee the room, but the unicorn pushed herself up and smiled at Diadem. That smile sent a shiver through Diadem’s body and she felt a spark in her chest as it constricted painfully.

She’s….happy? What right does she have to be happy?!

“I can hardly believe it! Girls! Girls, we found her!”

Her heart sunk as the commotion behind the curtain went silent for a moment before she heard shuffling and the sound of hooves echoing in the room. The curtain was ripped to the side as the foreigners ran in, each of them scanning the room with wide, expectant eyes. Diadem found it harder to breathe as she took in their faces, each one bringing forth a pang of something dark to the surface of her mind, and she turned away from them to look at the unicorn again as her name finally escaped the haze of Diadem’s memory.

Rarity.

Her hooves shook as she trembled, taking a step back as gasps and murmurs came from the four standing mares. Her eyes fell upon the one on the left and she gulped. Breaking hold of her restraints, her memories flooded her. The soft pink pony’s mouth was hanging open, the edges of her mouth twitching up into a smile. The burning she felt intensified as another memory came up to the front. She opened a door and had confetti thrown in her face. The pink pony bounced up to her, talking a mile a minute as the scene changed. The pony was now laughing in a dark forest, bouncing around until she flipped into a gown. Her laughter had died and instead she wore a worried frown. Her eyes showed her apprehension as she watched Diadem and biting her tongue, her anger bubbled more. Her name was a namesake for the color of her mane and coat.

I think this reception is gonna be perfect! Don't you?

Pinkie Pie.

Beside her was the pale yellow pegasus that watched her with astonished excitement. Her soft, cotton candy pink mane was not covering her light teal eyes which welled up with tears as she smiled. The image of the pegasus in her memory’s eye was different. The pegasus was cowering from her, whispering her name in greeting before she was picked up and licked by a manticore. She fluttered away from his paws and landed, giving Diadem a disapproving glance as she trotted away, leaving her alone.

Can you believe it? We're gonna be Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's new bridesmaids!

Fluttershy.

Next to her was the cyan coated pegasus with a brilliant rainbow mane, staring at her with her mouth agape. Diadem tried to shake off the memory, not wanting to see anymore, but it still played. She watched the pegasus in her past clear the clouds in the sky in ten seconds, back flipping as the scene changed and the self-proclaimed stunt pony emerged from a dense fog with the rope for a bridge in her teeth. She grinned, dancing as she adamantly spoke of her special ability, excited to recreate it for the royal wedding coming up and it was as she trotted away that she saw the cyan pony roll her eyes at her.

You sure this is what I should wear? Doesn't seem all that aerodynamic.

Rainbow Dash.

Diadem gritted her teeth, digging her right hoof into the rocky floor as she tried to regain control of her mind, but the images refused to relent. A bright red barn filled her vision as the scent of apples, a fragrance she had long forgotten, reached her nostrils and she inhaled the sweet aroma as the scene unfurled. The orange pony bucked a thick trunked tree, forcing the apples to fall from their branches and into baskets lined around the foot of the tree. A small sound was caught in her throat as the apple farmer ran towards her, throwing herself to the ground and skidding towards her and reaching a hoof out to save her from falling off a cliff side. Diadem refused to grab the hoof, knowing full well what would happen later, but that did not stop the scene from changing. Now, she stood in that abysmal room with the white marble columns and walls, watching as the orange pony glared at her, tossing her mane back over her shoulder as she fixed her trademark Stetson on her head.

C'mon, y'all. Let's go check on the princess.

Applejack.

Their names were expletives to her as she stumbled back and away from the five, breathing heavily. Astral Mace practically materialized beside her, reaching a hoof out to steady her as she blinked back the memories, forcing them back into that tiny box in the darkest part of her mind. It had been years since she had remembered any of those events against her own will and the vivid recollections caused her insides to constrict and burn with an inferno she had become a bit too familiar with while in the Den’s care. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked around, leaning into Astral Mace as Nereus stepped in front of his two children, scowling at the group of ponies before him. Astral held Diadem up, refusing to take his eyes off of her while his father guarded them.

Dia…

His thoughts flitted to a time where he saw the timid unicorn crying in her sleep, reaching out for comfort. He remembered her tears and how she had not let him in, knowing that it would only bring her more pain. He had accepted that truth and dropped the subject, but he was always there for her when she needed him like she did right now. He tightened his grasp around her as she shook her head.

“Ah…Ah don’t believe it—” Applejack breathed, “Is…is that really you, Twilight?”

Her trembling was too much for her. She ground her teeth together, trying to get a handle on the emotions that were swirling around in her body like a furious typhoon. Her attempts lingered with her analytical thoughts. Was she shaking from fear? Anger? Or was she going into shock? Either way, these foreigners needed to stop calling her that godforsaken name.

“Not a step further.” Nereus cut in as he bent forward in a slight crouch, preparing to defend his children if necessary from this group of mares as he watched them with narrowed golden yellow eyes.

“Look, dude! We’ve been lookin’ for Twilight forever!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flaring her wings. “Get out of the way or I’ll make you!”

“No,” Nereus denied, baring his fangs at the aggressive pony. “You five have complicated our situation and refuse to be cooperative. I cannot allow you to further jepordize the situat—”

The pegasus flared her wings and took flight. Diadem heard Astral call out to their adoptive father with a warning. But as the stallion flared his own wings, he cringed from the pain. His injuries were no longer forgotten and he cursed his messed up wing. The cyan pegasus flew towards the creature, ready to get in his face and—

BAM!

The hotheaded pony flew back as a body collided into her, sending her onto the hard, rocky ground back-first. She opened her eyes with a groan only to find her long lost friend standing over her. She wanted to smile and hug the egghead, but the cool metal against her throat gave her pause.

Diadem pressed her virgin blade against the pony’s throat with a heated glare. Years of fighting for her life kicked in and she had thrown herself at the pegasus without hesitation. Pinning the mare down, Diadem’s hooves ceased their trembling as her emotions shifted. Now, she was not as vulnerable to her feelings. Instead, her heart thrummed with adrenaline as her thoughts focused on one thing:

Eliminate the threat.

Although the pegasus had yet to move, Diadem refused to take a chance. She pressed her hoof down onto the bright Cyan wing, eliciting a cry of pain from her target. With each second that passed with her hoof on that wing, the risk was minimized. The threat was contained.

“W-Whoa, Twi,” the target cringed. “C’mon. You’re hurting me.”

Diadem gritted her teeth at the sound of that name again. The urge to shed the pony’s blood grew even as she added pressure to the dagger. Nothing would stop the unicorn from ripping the mare’s throat out if her father was in danger. Her memory, the infernal thing, brought up remnants of what she recalled about the pegasus and her brash attitude was blatant in the past.

Idiot. Diadem thought with a glare. Threatening a leader while within his base? Tch.

“T-Twilight?” Rainbow Dash spoke up again. “Could you put the knife away? Please?”

Instead of pulling back, Diadem pushed the blade down with just enough pressure to draw blood. Rainbow’s face paled.

Leave the enemy no quarter. Her instincts growled. Send the message: No tolerance will be given.

“Diadem.” Nereus warned.

She exhaled, releasing the breath she had been holding, as she sneered at her prey, “Try it again and I will give you more than a paper cut,” she whispered.

Diadem stepped away and sheathed her dagger. Rainbow Dash rolled over with a small cough, testing the wing that she had pinned down for signs of serious damage. The three standing mares rushed to their friend’s side, each one calling out her name. Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her neck, smearing the miniscule amount of blood as she glanced at Diadem. Not sure of what she did to warrant such a reaction, she watched Diadem with wary eyes. She was afraid to ask.

Diadem scoffed. Rainbow Dash was fawned over until she got to her hooves. Diadem was immediately reminded of that day and how easily she had been tossed aside because no one had bothered to be there for her or try to give her a helping hoof. No one believed her, tossing her aside for royalty. Her fur stood on edge from the recollection. Sensing her distress, Nereus wrapped his tail around his daughter’s in comfort. The gesture soothed Diadem for a brief moment before Applejack whipped around, fixing a glare upon her with angry green eyes.

“What in tarnation is wrong with you? Ya’ could have hurt Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed, stomping a hoof.

A retort came to her mind, but Diadem did not have the chance to respond because Astral Mace stepped in front of her and dipped his front low as if he were ready to strike.

“Your friend attacked first.” He shot back.

“No I—”

Rainbow Dash’s dispute faltered as Diadem glared at her. With a huff, Applejack averted her gaze from the stallion as he stood back up, content with the earth pony’s reaction. He took a few steps back and nuzzled Diadem, embracing her with a foreleg.

“C’mon, D. We should go.” He whispered.

Diadem returned the gesture. Astral Mace was attempting to give her a way out of this, but she knew that since they found her, she might not ever escape from them again. She shook her head. She knew that he had suspected this and she wanted to kick herself for not listening, but it was too late. All he wanted to do was protect her. All she wanted to do was protect her family.

“But Twilight, we’re your friends,” Fluttershy piped up. “There wasn’t any reason to do that to Dash.”

“Friends?” Diadem spat the word like poison. “What a hollow word.” She snarled.

“D.” Astral whispered again, “Let’s go.”

Despite his urging, Astral Mace could not get her to budge.

“What’s wrong with ya’ Twi?” Applejack asked. “You sure are actin’ strange.”

She gritted her teeth. “Don’t—”

“Don’t what?” quipped the apple farmer. “Don’t talk to mah friend?”

“Stop—” she growled.

“New flash, sugar cube. You’re still mah ol’ friend Twilight and no amount of time could change that.”

“Stop.”

“Do you know how long we’ve been—?”

“Enough!” Nereus bellowed, slamming his front hooves down. “This spectacle has gone on for far too long!”

Astral and Diadem cringed. Nereus’ anger was a rare sight and neither of them were willing to test it. Stepping back, Diadem’s gaze fell to the floor as she frowned.

“Yes, father.” She said.

Rarity frowned, still upon the cot. “Father? Why, dear, your father is in Canterlot.”

“I have no family in that place!” hissed Diadem.

“Oh but Twilight—!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Your parents have been so worried!”

Diadem shook her head in denial. There was no way. No way in Tartarus!

Nope. Nope. Nope. Came the thought. This is not going to happen!

She wanted to turn and flee from the room, but her legs were like lead weights chaining her there. The silence was thick with tension but the pink pony across the room didn’t care. She gave Diadem a broad smile that stretched from ear to ear and bounced around her friends.

“We found Twilight! We found Twilight!” Pinkie Pie sang, happily.

Her teeth ground against each other as she sneered at that name. Applejack stomped her hoof again. “Oh, c’mon! Quit actin’ like a filly!”

“Please, Twilight.” Fluttershy tried. “We’re your friends.”

“Friends?” Diadem snarled. “I don’t think so. I have no pony friends.”

“I don’t see what’s gotten into you, Twilight. Why are you actin’ like this?”

“You don’t…know?” Diadem’s whisper came, the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. “You have absolutely no idea why I am acting like this?!”

The sound that came from her throat after that was a strange mixture between a scream, a laugh, and a sob. Five years she spent away from her birth land, left alone to die and rot. Years of pain, loneliness, hunger and despair. Years of fighting, of blood, sweat and tears. Five long years of suffering for a crime that she had committed, trying to make her closest allies see the truth. Five very long and tiring years of danger. Of heartache. Of betrayal.

And they don’t know the reason that she was so hostile?

Nereus watched his daughter. Although her face seemed neutral, her eyes flashed with various emotions. As she became silent, he noticed the glassy gleam to her eyes coated with unshed tears. It was all too much for her to handle.

“No!” shouted Applejack.

Diadem closed her eyes and pushed away the tears that threatened to fall. The ignorant confession set her insides aflame and she stumbled back as if hit. Through the blazing torrent of her insides, her heart was feeling quite the opposite. Her heart was cold, as if encased in a Windigo’s ice filled with hatred, splitting and cracking as the frigid outer layer caused the splintered pieces to stab into the organ. She glared at the mares.

“Then I have no reason to be here.” She finally said. Her voice was low, taking a chilling tone.

“Twilight, dear,” Rarity attempted, “we—”

“If I hear you say that name one more time, I’ll cut your tongue out.” Hissed Diadem.

“D—”

“What’s the big deal?” Rainbow Dash butt in, cutting off Astral Mace. “It’s your name!”

A cold laugh escaped her. “My name is Diadem.”

“Don’t ya’ think yer bein’ a little dramatic, sugar cube?”

Diadem froze. A quick turn on her hooves and she snarled at the group.

“Dramatic?!” she roared. “You think that I’m being—”

The conversation was derailing once again and Nereus’ patience was quite thin. He knew that his youngest was on the verge of an emotional episode. He ambled over and pulled her to him, embracing her.

“Diadem.” He said. “That’s enough, daughter of mine.”

Her hateful glare faltered as her father hugged her and she turned her attention to the floor. With a nod and an aching throb in her chest, Diadem leaned into her father while the tidal wave of emotions slammed into her. A piece of her wanted to cry, but she did not want to give the five mares the satisfaction of seeing her cry like a filly.

The five mares looked on as they watched the rather large creature squeeze their old friend tight. None of them could think of anything to say, but they finally took in Twilight’s appearance, each noticing something different about their friend.

Known as a fashionista, Rarity was the first to scan the unicorn’s appearance with a critical gaze and she cringed at the sight. The state of Twilight’s mane was horrifying. The once long mane was now cut short with atrocious split ends that framed her face from the lack of trimming and care, while her tail seemed like it had tufts yanked from the roots. Her mane looked as if it were cut into a makeshift bob that had been butchered severely. An absolute travesty!

Fluttershy’s eyes fell to Diadem’s body, taking in the unicorn’s thin frame. Before her banishment, Twilight had been a healthy mare. Now, it looked like she had suffered hard times where food was scarce like she had given up food. She was a lot thinner than Fluttershy remembered, but her features that were once soft were now rigid from years of living in the wastelands.

The cold hard look in Twilight’s eyes told Applejack that she had gone through her fair share of trials while away from Equestria, but still held a semblance of respect for those around her. Her glares were what truly gave the apple farmer a fright and her sharp tongue was giving them a good lashing. Applejack remembered how Twilight was always a sweet gal with the best intentions in mind, always putting others before herself and leading them against their enemies with confidence. This Twilight before her was…childish. They had gone all this way to find her and she just screams at them like they had wronged her in some unfathomable way!

Little white lines on Twilight’s hind legs caught Rainbow Dash’s attention and she squinted her eyes to try and see them better from a distance. The small, white blemishes dotted Twilight’s legs and trailed towards her stomach where they disappeared from sight. The dark slash on her cheek was the most prominent despite its small size and she wondered what the egghead had done to gain such mars.

As a party pony, Pinkie Pie had an instinctive handle on what could make people smile, but with the new Twilight standing in front of her, she could only see the dull coloration of her once vibrant and fun-loving friend which gave her an almost lifeless appearance. Her mulberry coat, as well as her sapphire mane with the rose and straw streaks were now faded and the colors were muddled with dirt, giving her hair and fur a greyish tint. A frown finally graced her muzzle as she looked at the pony who was once her best friend, finding her reaction unnerving. This Twilight refused to smile no matter what they said or did and Pinkie Pie was dejected at the thought.

“Enough of this.” Nereus rumbled. “The damage has been done. We must find the Queen.”

Diadem nodded as Applejack scoffed. “Ah don’t see what the problem is. They’re just bugs.”

“Those bugs,” Nereus quoted, a hint of disdain in his voice, “Are our allies. They are one of the clans that have been trading with us to keep this city stocked with supplies. Without the trading system in place, none of the cities would survive out here.”

It took the mares a moment to digest that bit of information and Rarity gasped. “And our actions may have caused those trades to stop?”

“With the only two ponies in the Dusklands being from the Den, the changelings could easily blame us and cease dealing with us.” Astral Mace agreed.

“Well, we can’t let that happen.” Rarity replied. “Is there anything that we can do to help?”

“I’m afraid not.” Nereus answered. “This is a dilemma for the Den to solve.”

“I agree.” Astral Mace nodded.

“Same.” Diadem muttered to her father before pulling away. “Outsiders would only get in the way. It’s a liability that I’m not willing to risk.”

Silence befell the room and Nereus stood proud and tall. “Come, my children. We have a hive to find.”

As he turned to depart, the Ki’rin dipped his head low and nuzzled Diadem, silently comforting her before he strode from the room. Diadem forced herself up onto her hooves and followed him with Astral Mace at her side. She walked out without a single glance back.

Their departure left the room in an awkward silence. None of the mares moved. Each one took in the situation, each coming to their own conclusion and as the last nurse left them all alone in the room, Fluttershy broke the silence.

“What happened to Twilight?”

“I…I don’t know, darling.” Rarity sighed. “But she seems to have changed.”

“Looks like that thing she nearly killed Dash over is the cause.” Applejack spat, eyes still narrowed at the doorway.

“B-But Applejack. Twilight said—”

“Ah know what she said ‘Shy, but we all know that her parents are in Canterlot. We spoke to ‘em before we came out here!” Applejack shouted.

“Hang on a sec! Maybe Flutters is onto something!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Maybe she thinks of him like a dad ‘cause she’s been here this whole time!”

“That would explain the reasons behind her calling him her father. If she’s been here this entire time and he is the leader of this place, then he’s probably been watching over her for the past five years.” Rarity surmised.

“Either way, we need to tell Twilight what’s happening in Equestria!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, slamming her right hoof into her left. “The egghead will jump into action like she always does!”

“Ya’ think so, Dash?”

“Well, duh!” Rainbow Dash replied as she rolled her eyes at Applejack. “This is Twilight we’re talking about!”

Pinkie Pie sat back on her haunches and put a hoof to her chin. Her thoughts travelled to her bestest friend Twilight as she thought of a way, any possible way, to change the frown and awfully mean looks she was giving them into smiles!

“Rainbow’s right.” Fluttershy said with a small smile. “Twilight wouldn’t let someone destroy Equestria.”

“Then it’s settled.” Rarity stated with finality. “We will get Twilight to listen to us.”

“Now, how do ya’ reckon we do that?” Applejack said, reigning her friends in. “Ah mean, she’s made it clear she don’t want nothin’ to do with us.”

Rarity hummed as she tried to think of a solution to their dilemma. Princess Celestia had entrusted them to find Twilight since she was preoccupied with the war, knowing full well that the Elements of Harmony were unusable without her and somepony had to keep Equestria calm in the time of war. Despite her best efforts, even Princess Celestia had been unable to locate Twilight’s magical signature and Princess Luna could not sense her dreams. They feared the worse, as did Twilight’s family, but here they were. Twilight was alive and well, living in a city out in the Badlands. But what could they do to get Twilight to listen to them?

What indeed. the unicorn thought with a sigh.

“Why don’t we get her new friends to help!” chirped Pinkie Pie, bouncing around her friends. “She’ll listen to them for sure!”

“Pinkie, that’s brilliant!” Rarity exclaimed with a smile. “She’s obviously protective of her new friends here, so why don’t we ask for help?”

“Girls, we don’t know anythin’ about this place. How are we supposed to do that?”

Before anyone could respond, a different nurse came in. “How are you all doing? Is anyone in pain?”

Rarity gave her best smile. “Not at all Miss…?”

“Lavender.” The nurse replied, ambling toward the group of ponies.

The mares watched the nurse with the sash carefully. It was one of those creatures, like the leader of this place, with a body like an elk with scales along the sides of her torso with an elongated tail with a tuft of hair at the end. Her mane was a deep violet, almost black, and her eyes were a soft amber. None of them knew what to say or how to react. Rarity stretched and shook off the twinges of pain she received.

“Miss Lavender.” Rarity affirmed with a nod. “If I may, we have a few questions.”

The lilac scaled ki’rin hummed softly as she examined each of her patients. They seemed to be fine, each one standing on their hooves without any sort of open wounds and she nodded.

“What questions do you have, little ones?”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack narrowed their eyes. Neither of them liked the idea of being spoken to as if they were fillies again, but Rarity still smiled.

“Well, I am curious. I mean no offense, dear, but what are you?”

Lavender laughed. The melodic sound filled the room. “It is no offense at all. I am a Ki’rin. I assume Lord Nereus said nothing about our kind?”

“To be fair, I don’t think my friends gave him the chance. They were being uncooperative.” Rarity answered. She gave Applejack and Rainbow Dash a disapproving glare.

“I heard there was a ruckus. I had no idea it was coming from in here. I was tending to the other patients.” Lavender said. “What else did you have questions about?”

“Well, I wanted to know where our friend Twilight might have gone off to.”

A beat of silence passed as Lavender’s carefree expression changed. Her smile fell into a frown as she watched the five apprehensively.

“You speak of Lady Diadem.” She stated. “She has not used that name in years.”

“Well why not?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That is not my story to tell. If Lady Diadem refused to explain it, then I will respect her wishes.” Lavender stated.

“You say ‘Lady Diadem’?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, because she is Lord Nereus’ daughter. Nereus is head of the Ki’rin clan which resides here amongst the others who have ventured out to make this place their home.” Lavender explained, careful with her words. “She is our Lady. Although she prefers informalities, the title is still there. I suppose you might call her a princess where you are from.”

Rainbow Dash’s laughter made the rest of them jump. She fell to the ground, kicking her hind legs as she rolled around giggling hysterically. “Twilight a princess?! Ahahaha!”

Lavender tilted her head a bit confused. “I see nothing funny, little one. Since her arrival, Lady Diadem had been under Nereus’ protection. It was not long before he claimed her as his own daughter, thus making her our clan’s princess. They’re inseparable, those two. Sometimes, I wonder how they could stand one another.”

“Why is that?” Rarity asked.

“Let’s just say that Lord Nereus does not act his age.” Lavender disclosed. “And Lady Diadem tends to act more mature than he does at times. She’s had to act like the parent in times where he wished to act like a child. It makes you wonder.”

Her musical laughter filled the room once more.

“Any other questions?”

“U-um…I have one…if that’s okay.” Fluttershy spoke, her small voice barely audible. “Y-Your lord mentioned a festival to that stallion we saved…I was wondering what it was?”

Lavender smiled. “That is one of our annual festivals. The Viridian Harvest is our celebration for the crops we have grown through the year and distribute it all to the members of the Den. There is music, dancing, food and more.”

“Oh! Oh! Like a party?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Yes. Quite like a party.” Lavender smiled.

“I love, love, love, LOVE parties!” the pink pony shouted while she bounded around the room.

With a light chuckle, Lavender nodded. “Fantastic. All those in the Den’s walls are expected to be there, including the injured and weak. As it nears sunset, my assistants and I will bring up all the patients here in the infirmary. You five are no exception.”

Pinkie Pie stopped in front of Lavender and grabbed a cloven hoof, shaking it eagerly. “Hurray!” she cried, bouncing around again.

“That would be marvelous.” Rarity said.

“The festivities start at sunset. We will come get you girls a little bit before that so we can get you all up there.” Lavender informed them as she turned to the door. “I will see you all then.”

The five watched the ki’rin nurse exit their room, moving onto the next patient. Rarity smiled. “Do you know what this means, girls?”

“That we got a long time to do nothin’?” Applejack deadpanned.

“No! We can figure out a way to get Twilight to talk to us! This festival is the perfect place!” Rarity replied with a giddy expression.

“That’s perfect!” Rainbow gasped. “We can totally talk to somepony and figure out what happened to her, too!”

“Um…girls?” Fluttershy tried.

“Oh! Oh! And we can show her how to smile again!” Pinkie chirped.

“Uh…girls—”

“Maybe we can talk some sense into her.” Applejack agreed. “It ain’t right. She shouldn’t be treatin’ her best friends like that.”

“Girls—”

“Then its settled. We can—”

“Girls!” Fluttershy whisper-yelled. “I don’t think that Twilight would appreciate us doing that. If she wanted us to know, then she would talk to us. We’re her friends.”

“Ya’ heard ‘er ‘Shy.” Applejack said. “She ain’t got no pony friends, remember?”

“Don’t be so spiteful, Applejack.” Rarity admonished. “We don’t know what she’s been through. All we can do is show her that we care and are still her friends like we always have.”

“If yer sure.” The apple farmer muttered.

“Then its decided. We’ll talk to these…ki’rins at the festival and then try to talk to Twilight.” Rarity finished with a nod.

“Yeah. Sure. But shouldn’t we talk to like…that Nereus dude or somethin’?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I don’t think he’d want to talk to me, either.”

“Or me.” Applejack admitted. “He seemed awfully mad ‘bout the whole changeling thing.”

“Well, I think Fluttershy and I can talk to him.” Rarity answered. “Maybe you and Pinkie can talk to the townsponies?”

“Yes!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “That way we can make tons of friends, too!”

“Sure.” Applejack agreed.

“I’ll try to talk to that stallion, too.” Rainbow Dash added. “Strudal or whatever.”

Applejack facehoofed. “A strudel is somethin’ ya’ eat, Rainbow.”

“Whatever! I’ll talk to the stallion, ‘kay?” the cyan flyer huffed.

“Alright. We’ll all talk to them then meet back up before talking to Twilight. Let’s get our friend back!” Rarity yelled.

The others cheered. “Yeah!”

Four

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Diadem followed her father and Astral through the tunnels, forcing herself to forget about the five mares in the infirmary. Astral had warned her yet she had deliberately gone in there, expecting a group of travelers from a land far away, but instead it was them. Those five pests that had left her to face her worst fears alone. Nothing could have prepared her for seeing them again, but she knew that a part of her, the angry part, was still dormant. She had been able to keep her killer instincts contained despite holding a knife to Rainbow Dash’s throat and she was glad for that little miracle. Had she completely lost it, she knew that Nereus would have been furious.

“Diadem.”

Nereus called to his daughter, coming to a stop. She had been too quiet since they left the infirmary and he knew that she was losing herself in her mind. He could not have that occurring when they had an entire changeling hive to find. Lives were at stake and he was determined to save as many as possible.

“Yes, father."

“I am sorry. You must have conflicted feelings,” he said with a sigh.

“I …Yes.”

She pushed herself forward, passing her father and Astral. She did not want to remember any more of the painful memories that those five brought forth, but some images lingered. She could hear laughter and see smiles, bright colors and cottages. She shook her head to relieve herself of the memories.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let her go in,” Astral said.

“No. You warned me and I went in anyway. There was no stopping it, I guess,” Diadem replied.

Nereus sighed. “It will be dark in about eight hours. I am sorry to ask, but would you be willing to—”

“DIA!”

Diadem flew back as two bodies collided into her and the three of them tumbled to the ground. The twin drakes were holding her tight, each one hugging her as if they had not seen her in a long time. She squirmed in their hold in an attempt to escape as the rest of her team trotted forward, calling out to her.

“Emerald…Sapphire…” she gasped. “I can’t... breathe.”

“D! You should have waited! I could have explained!” Sapphire cried out, hopping into the air. “You worried the heck out of me!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t,” Diadem replied, getting to her hooves after Emerald removed himself from her.

“Just in time,” Astral commented. “We were just about to go looking for you guys.”

Dia looked down the hallway and smiled as the the other two members of her team came towards them. Steel Forge, the mighty boar, and Cedar Evergreen, the proud elk. Both turned their attention from their squad leader to their clan head, each one waiting for their leader to speak, but Nereus was preoccupied with the smaller pony beside him. Nereus watched Diadem get to her hooves with a sigh and she brushed herself off before Nereus return his attention to the squad.

“Time is short in this matter, my friends. You are to locate Queen Atynis and her hive, and bring them back. I will be sectioning off a part of the tunnels that we do not use for them the moment you depart,” Nereus informed them.

“Why are we looking for a changeling hive?” Forge grunted.

“The hive fled from an attack. They nearly scattered from what Astral saw during the horde’s hasty retreat.” Diadem sighed. “It seems that the ones who ambushed him went for the Hive next.”

Her words silenced her companions. They all were well accustomed to the changeling horde, especially their Queen, and the news disturbed each of them.

“Who is behind this?” Cedar inquired, sliding his curious blue gaze to Astral. “Who was it that attacked you?”

Astral Mace’s expression clouded over. Nereus watched him glance to Diadem before he spat out the answer.

“Hippogriffs.”

Diadem tensed. Her fur stood up on end and she closed her eyes as she began to count backwards, forcing herself to take even breaths. The word sent her senses into overdrive as she recalled the events that had lead her to the Den and into Nereus’ care. A cold, dark cave with the sound of grunting and the drip of water that would never reach her parched throat. Chains that had once held her in place rattled and the once cold metal that had wrapped up her legs were like lead weights. They pinned her to the cold stone floor, her magic gone with lack of nutrition and energy. With magic, she could have easily escaped, but starved and weak left her hopeful of another toss of bread.

Diadem stepped back as she recoiled from the vision of the past. Her stomach churned in disgust and she tasted bile in the back of her throat. Cedar and Forge snarled at the mention of it while the twins regarded their friends with caution. Neither of them had ever seen a hippogriff out in the wastes before and they had no idea where the hostility had come from.

“They aren’t the only ones,” Astral growled. “It seems that the gryphons are helping them.”

“Makes sense,” Cedar grunted. “They’re cousins, after all.”

“Then proceed with caution,” Nereus commanded, his golden eyes glittering dangerously. “Find Queen Atynis and her hive, and bring them back safely.”

Diadem opened her eyes. “Yes, Father.”

“We’ll get them back,” Astral said.

“Oh no you don’t,” Diadem replied with a glare. “You’re injured. You’re staying here.”

“Oh c’mon, Dia,” Astral replied. “They’re small!”

Diadem gave a heated glare as she trotted over to him and pressed a hoof to the base of his left wing. He cringed and shouted as he crumbled to the floor, whimpering.

“Small, eh?” she asked him. “Those injuries are serious. If you’re not careful, you won’t be able to fly again.”

The pegasus frowned and turned his head away to pout.

“I could walk.”

“And if we run into an ambush?” Forge asked, stepping over and helping the stallion up.

“What if it's the hippogriffs?” Cedar added. “Then they’ll seek out the weakest link first. An injured member would be their primary target.”

“And you’d be dead for sure!” The twins chirped in unison.

“I get it!” Astral snapped.

“Good,” Diadem replied with a smile as she hugged him. “Then stay and help father.”

Astral’s moody demeanor melted as he hugged her back with a defeated sigh. “I will.”

Diadem pulled back and turned, her visage becoming serious as she spoke to her team. “C’mon, guys. We’ve got a couple of hours and a hive to find.”

“Do you see anything, Saph?”

The blue dragonette shook her head as the two flew ahead of their friends, scanning the wastes for any signs of the changeling hive. She glanced at the sun which was already beginning to set its sights towards the horizon and she frowned. They had been looking for three hours with no sight of them at all.

“D’s determined.” Her brother said again, flying a bit closer to her. “She wants to find the Queen for Lord Nereus.”

Sapphire giggled. “Well, you know what they’re saying about him.”

Emerald grinned. “Yup.”

“Em! Saph!” called their squad leader. “You see anything yet?”

“Nope!” The twins chorused.

With a sigh the clan princess trotted along, her eyes scanning the area around her for any signs of movement. They had searched the caves near their original hive, but there was no changeling in sight. Diadem thought about questioning the other hives, but some of them were days away. A quick refuge for an entire Hive would not be days away. Instead, she had directed her team to search the known caves nearby. The first three cave systems had been full of snakes and desert creatures with copious amounts of poisons, but no changeling in sight. Diadem was becoming discouraged quickly.

“Hey! We found something!” Sapphire chirped, swooping down to the group.

Diadem jumped. She had been scanning the area and lost in her thoughts. Sapphire’s dive and shout had surprised her and she watched the dragonette expectantly once she had regained her composure.

“Report.” Diadem stated.

“Emerald went ahead but it looks like there are some mountains in the south western area. We can see the peaks from here.”

“Mountains usually have caves.” Cedar surmised.

Diadem nodded. “Then let’s go.”

It took another hour for them to reach the mountain range. Emerald had arrived first and began to scout for any caves. As Sapphire arrived with the rest of their companions, the green dragon took flight, landing in front of the pack.

“There are a lot of cave entrances here,” He reported.

“Then, there is a high probability that the hive could be in the cave system. The more entrances, the deeper the tunnels go. At least out here.” Diadem replied. “We’ll split up and search. Stay alert. We’ve only got four hours of daylight and we need at least an hour and a half to return in time for the festival.”

“Right,” her squad chorused.

“Everyone have your emergency gems?”

The group affirmed their answers with a chorus of ‘yes’ and they split. The twins stayed together, taking a cave entrance near the top of one of the mountains while Cedar hopped up a level or two before entering a cave. Diadem took an entrance on the right side of the range while Steel Forge took an entrance on the left side of the range.

Diadem trotted quickly, her ears swiveling around at any sound she heard. She was short on time and as she mentally kept time, she eagerly searched the cave for a single changeling. The path had many twists and turns, taking Diadem deeper into the depths of the cavern until the sound of hooves caught her ears. She stopped to listen, eyes scanning the dark cave as she pressed herself against the wall.

The hoofsteps grew louder. With each second, she found herself crouching down and unsheathed her dagger without the use of her magic. She waited until a small light illuminated the cave before her. Blinded, she turned her face away, dagger between her teeth, and hissed. She blinked and returned her gaze down the cavern path where she found—

“Cedar?” she asked through her teeth.

She reached up and rubbed at her eyes to clear them. Blinking away the burning sensation from the sudden light, she found her elk companion staring back at her with a torch in his hoof. She narrowed her eyes, taking in the elk before sheathing her blade.

“You’re not Cedar.” she stated.

The elk shook his head. “Are you from the Den?”

With a nod, Diadem stepped forward. “Yes. I am Diadem, Nereus’ daughter. We’ve come to assist Queen Atynis and her hive.”

The doppelganger fell silent for a few moments as she analyzed him. His eyes were not the light, sky blue she was used to, but rather an apple green. His fur was dark, like wet sand, and his antlers were sort. She almost smiled at how silly it was for her to think that he was Cedar, but the doppelganger began to speak.

“The Queen wishes to see you. Come.”

Diadem trotted behind the changeling as he turned and walked away, leading her deeper into the cavern. She followed behind him until the slim path opened into a large chamber. She scanned the area, finding the inhabitants of the hive scattered about. Some were wounded while others were silently brooding. Her escort led her through the throng of changelings to the Queen who sat near the center, tending to some of the injured. When her eyes fell upon the Queen’s side, however, she saw the injury. Her pale straw, translucent wings had a tear in the membrane and it was caked with a silver liquid. Diadem recognized it as blood and she swore.

“Welcome, daughter of Nereus.” Atynis greeted. “What can I do for you?”

Diadem stepped forward and bowed deeply. “I am here to apologize for what has transpired with your home and with those foreigners.”

“Apologize? It was not your doing, youngling. You have no need to make amends with us,” the Queen replied.

“Even so,” Diadem continued as she straightened up. “We are here to extend a helping hoof.”

Atynis stood and turned towards the pony. Curious, she nodded for her to continue.

“My father is sectioning off a part of the Den’s tunnel system for you and your hive. He’s inviting you all to come stay with us.”

The moment the words left her lips, the changelings buzzed with replies. Diadem waited as the Queen carefully listened to her underlings, analyzing each response as she strode towards the pony with gentle steps.

“My children are concerned,” Atynis replied. “We are not welcomed amongst many. How can we be sure that there will be no ill harm for us in your home?”

Diadem gave a low chuckle. “Do you honestly believe that my father would allow any ill will towards you? Many of our people ask about you and your hive. Your defenders’ deeds have not been forgotten.”

“Deeds from over a year ago,” Queen Atynis countered.

“Deeds that we have not forgotten.” Diadem repeated.

Atynis fell silent. If she were to believe in Nereus and his clan, her children would have a home once again. They did not have to start from scratch, and they could cocoon their larvae in warm bundles quickly. Her decision fortified as she thought about how much they had lost in a span of seconds. The attackers entered through the larvae chamber and practically incinerated half of the chamber before her defenders were at the scene to fend them off. Unfortunately, they had not been ready for the split push they had given on the opposite side of the hive and she called for them to flee. Queen Atynis could feel the panic and pain set in as her children recalled the loss of their home and she looked to the pony with a nod.

“We shall accept this offer on the grounds that my children are protected from harm within your walls.”

“We will protect them,” Diadem replied with confidence. “No one shall harm your children under our care.”

“Then we accept,” the Queen replied with a smile.

Turning from the princess, Queen Atynis turned to her hive and spoke in the buzz and click of the changeling language. Soon, her children were moving about. The few larvae that were saved were bundled in copious amounts of silk and the injured were patched up the best that they could be. With a head count, the Queen nodded for Diadem to lead the way.

The unicorn began to retrace her steps through the cavern trail, taking the caravan of changelings through the winding twist and turns. With each step, Diadem pulled out a gem from her vest pocket, a bright and shiny quartz, and with a whispered word, it began to glow. The signal was sent and she trotted faster through the stone pathways until she reached daylight. Emerging from the dark cave, she hissed as sunlight scorched her eyes. She blinked and rubbed at them to remove the blinding pain until she was able to see once more.

“Dia!”

Looking up, Diadem found her team waiting for her. She smiled and nodded behind her. “We’ve found them, team. Emerald, Sapphire, take the rear. Forge, Cedar, hang near the center of the group.”

“Ma’am!” the four chorused before dispersing amongst the emerging changelings.

“You are truly Nereus’ daughter.” Queen Atynis observed as she ambled to the pony’s side. “You take command rather quick.”

“I’m doing what I think is best. If we are attacked on the way back, I want one of my team to be able to react and protect in time.”

The Queen watched Diadem with curiosity. Ponies were some of the kinds that loathed changelings, and her willingness to protect her hive startled the changeling Queen. As Diadem hurried forth, the Queen followed behind with her hive at her heels. They would arrive just before sunset, Diadem noticed with a satisfied smile. That would give them some time to get the assistance they needed in order to attend the festival.

As per assumption, the large group arrived at the city with plenty of time to spare. Nereus emerged from the tunnels’ depths to greet the arrivals, graciously bringing with him his best nurses to assist with anyone who was injured. Formalities were put aside as he helped the elk doctor Fennel and the nurses.

“Queen Atynis.” Nereus greeted as he made his way to his daughter and the Queen. “I’m delighted to see you and your children safe.”

“We are not unscathed.” Atynis replied. “But we are here. I thank you, Nereus. No other being on the face of Equis would have offered what you have to us.”

Nereus frowned. “Be that as it may, you and yours are always welcomed here. Consider the Den your home.”

The queen gave a grateful smile. “Thank you, Nereus.”

Diadem’s team followed Nereus and the changeling horde down into the actual tunnels of the Den until they reached an empty area. There was a huge chamber in the middle breaking off into various tunnels that lead to both bedrooms and makeshift stalls and homes on the surface. The injured were immediately patched up, with Queen Atynis being the first, and as Diadem and her team assisted with the changeling’s move in, the transition was very smooth.

“It will take a few days to make this all feel like home,” Queen Atynis began with a grateful smile, “but we are indebted to you and your children, Nereus.”

“As long as you all find this place a safe home, there is no debt to pay. All I ask is that you all join us, as yourselves, for our festival.”

“Father,” Diadem interrupted with a bow of her head. “If my calculations are correct, the festival should be starting in an hour.”

The ki’rin nodded. “Then we must hurry and finish the embellishments.”

Queen Atynis gave a fanged smile. “My children and I will not miss it.”

Nereus bowed to the Queen. “I look forward to seeing you all there.”

Five

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“A little more to the left. A little bit back to the right. Just a step more…There!”

Diadem smiled up at the dragon twins hanging the banner. She had brought her team to the surface to help with the last bit of decorations for the Viridian Harvest. Diadem smiled as Sapphire flittered down and swooped over to the group of Den members beading necklaces and jewelry for the ceremony while Emerald darted off to light some torches. Diadem examined the grounds of the square with pride as she smiled, knowing that the evening would bring them peace for the next few months until the autumn winds bring the cold harsh weather of winter. The confrontation from earlier with the foreigners was nearly forgotten as she immersed herself into the therapy of the final touches for the festival.

“Diadem, are you not ready for the festival?”

Turning, the Princess of the Den found Pyrros, a friend of Nereus, watching her with a knowing smile. He wore a crimson silk ceremonial robe with gems woven around the neck. The robe tied off at the stomach with a thick sash of blazing orange. The robes matched up almost perfectly with Pyrros’ deep red scales and bronze hair. The Den’s emblem held the ensemble together, made from silver found in the city’s caves. Diadem gave her father’s friend a bow.

“Just finishing up the last bit of the decorating, Pyrros,” replied Diadem.

“It’s almost time and you should be getting ready, young one. Your father is going to want to see you wear your new headdress. I’ll take over any last minute details,” said Pyrros as he glanced over his shoulder at her with a wink.

“Thank you,” she replied with another short bow before racing off into the Den’s tunnels. Twisting and turning, Diadem made her way through the underground labyrinth until she got close to her chambers.

As she approached her room, she slowed to a trot when she heard a couple of female voices nearby. Rounding the corner, she found a few of the elk and ki’rin females awaiting her return. A small groan escaped her, but it caught their attention.

“Princess Dia!” they chorused.

“Ladies, is there a reason why you are all standing outside of my bedroom?” she asked with a sigh.

“Oh, please, my Lady. You know exactly why we are here,” replied Sable, one of the elk maids, as she stepped forward.

“This…is completely unnecessary?” Diadem tried with a false grin.

“That it isn’t,” sang Sable as she snatched up the pony and entered the bedroom with her entourage.

“Ack! Sable, please!” Diadem tried a bit panicked as she watched the group begin to pull out various articles of clothing and jewelry.

Two other maids smiled as they pushed the princess into a basin full of warm water. A surprised scream escaped her as she tumbled in, spluttering out water as she surfaced for air.

“Girls! I can bathe myself!” she protested.

“But not with enough time to fix your mane, dress and get up there. Your father specifically asked us to help you get ready,” Sable declared with a pointed glanced.

“But—”

“He said something like, ‘She will require assistance to get ready. She has a tendency to forget the time when preparing for celebrations.’ And I couldn’t tell him no, since we all know how you get come festival time.”

The group murmured their agreement as herbal concoctions of shampoo were applied to her mane and tail.

“B-But I could have made it—”

“You would have had a fit if you were late, wouldn’t you?” Sable asked as a ki’rin maid used her magic to massage the concoction into Diadem’s hair. “Remember the time with the checklist?”

With a defeated groan, Diadem pressed her hooves to her cheek. “Okay, okay! I get it. Just...nothing crazy please?”

“Oh Princess, we aren’t following your orders tonight, but your Father’s.” The maid giggled while her companions began to scrub the pony down, “You can thank him when we’re done.”

It felt like an eternity before Diadem was released from the clutches of her father’s hoofmaids. Sable, the head maid, pushed a mirror in front of the princess and she gasped at the pony in her reflection. Her mane had been trimmed and combed after the thorough washing, and it now curled inward at her chin. The ringlets framed her face and her tail was combed straight until the tip where it curved upwards. Her coat shined brilliantly and the streaks in her mane practically glistened in the torch light. The hoofmaids put her in a brilliant garb of gold with deep eggplant colored wraps for her hind legs with a golden trim at the hooves. A brilliant scarlet layered skirt with round, gold bells at the trim, wrapped around her midsection. The vest was a dark indigo with lighter circle designs with a golden yellow wrap at the stomach with two small, round pouches. A golden orange sheer cloth with citrine woven into the fabric was wrapped around her combed and curled mane, and the maids adorned her horn and ears with golden jewelry. The same indigo fabric was at the end of the scarlet skirt with the golden fabric swooping down from it pass her tail dotted with the citrine gems with a deep gold border of half circles.

Diadem stared at her reflection with an open mouth, her pupils nearly dilating to pinpricks at the transformation. She had dressed up in her usual field attire to attend the festivals in the past because she never wanted to draw a lot of attention to herself. Now, she looked like a proper princess. Her cheeks burned in chagrin and she stumbled backwards.

“Oh dear! Are you alright?” Sable asked, dipping her head to catch the princess and push her back onto her hooves.

“Y-Yeah… I… I just…”

A few giggles escaped the remaining girls.

“Surprised?” Sable laughed as she moved to stand beside Diadem. “It suits you, Princess.”

“Please Sable. You know I don’t—”

Sable tsked at the Princess and nudged her towards the door. “I know you dislike the title, dear. It’ll be fine.”

She was being nudged towards the door and dug her hooves into the floor. “Sable. Please. I really don’t think that—”

The argument died on her tongue as her eyes fell upon the ornament her father had especially made for her sitting upon its makeshift shelf. Her hooves dug harder into the stone.

“W-Wait!” she yelped.

Diadem ducked away from her appointed hoofmaid and trotted over to the silver headpiece with its slender V-shaped front that widened to the sides and transitioned into sweeping curves, encrusted with multiple crystals that gave a dull twinkle compared to the sapphire which was hovering over the upturned crescent moon at the center.

“I… I’ll go up in this and I won’t argue,” she promised. “Not that you’d take no for an answer, but I want to wear this headpiece instead.”

“The silver?” a younger elk piped. “But you’re in gold.”

“Father had it made for the festival and—"

Before she could finish her statement, the head hoofmaid began to undo the jewelry upon her horn and forehead, and discarded it on the cot. She picked up the tiara and began to effortlessly set it beneath the golden wrap on the pony’s head and wrapped some of her neat mane around the ends with her hoof. When she stepped back, the gold jewelry was gone replaced by the silver crown.

“There.” Sable nodded. “Your father should have said he was making something silver. I would have had the attire match.”

Diadem chuckled. “It’s almost time. We should get to the surface.”

Sable bowed her head. “After you, princess.”

Diadem was choked by a sigh of annoyance.

As she emerged from the tunnels with the hoofmaids at her side, it was dusk. The torches in the center were all lit, brightening the area with a flickering orange glow. The entourage dispersed into the crowd, finding their loved ones as Sable stepped to her side with a smile. The hoofmaid had jumped her in the corridor too fast that Diadem failed to register the beautiful deep earth green gown she wore with gold trimmings and embroidery. The two smiled at one another as they broke through the crowd to the tables where Diadem’s team clowned around. As the two approached, Cedar Evergreen turned and a bright smile broke out on his face.

“Dia,” he greeted her with a small chortle before he turned to her companion. “Sable, my love. I was wondering where you had run off to.”

The hoofmaid smiled. “Well our dear old friend asked me to assist the Princess.”

Diadem’s face heated up.

“The Princess is late.” Steel Forge grinned. “Yer pops is lookin’ fer ya’.”

Diadem gave him a stern glare. “I’ve told you guys. It’s not Princess.”

“Aw, c’mon Dia!” Sapphire whined with a pout. “At least embrace it for the festival!”

“Saph’s right.” Emerald spoke through a mouth full of gems. “Ya’ know that everyone else is gonna call you that.”

Diadem groaned. “I know.”

Sable giggled and kissed her husband. “Where is Fir?”

“Delilah was watching him and Rosemary,” Cedar replied leaning over and nuzzling his wife. “Should we go get him?”

“Yes. Before Nereus starts.” Sable replied before bowing to Diadem once more. “Enjoy the festival, Princess.”

Diadem huffed and rolled her eyes with a smile. “I will.”

As the couple left, Diadem turned to see the rest of her team eyeing her as if seeing her for the first time. Again, her face burned.

She was beginning to hate that feeling.

“What?” she finally spit out.

“You look great!” Sapphire chirped while Emerald hummed his agreement through his full mouth.

“Ya’ clean up well, kid.” Forge added.

“Thank you.” Diadem said.

“And who might this be?” came a chortle from behind Diadem chortle.

Diadem turned a bit surprised. Behind her stood Nereus in a robe of deep midnight blue with a silver sash and beside him was the changeling queen. Atynis’ wing was wrapped, signs of the nurses fixing up the injury she had sustained from the orange pony’s kick. Diadem pushed the name of the apple farmer out of her mind as she bowed to the Queen.

“I see Sable has gotten to you,” he said with a fanged smile. “You look beautiful, Dia.”

“Thank you,” blushed the Princess. “Greetings, Queen Atynis.”

“Atynis is fine.” The changeling queen interrupted. “Titles mean nothing inside of a… family… now is it?”

The hesitant tone told her that the Queen was uneasy about the statement and the changelings that Diadem could see in the throng of creatures looked shy and… apprehensive about where they were. She gave them a warm smile.

“Atynis. I’m glad to see your wound was taken care of.”

“Enough talk of the events of today. We’re here to celebrate and I must begin the festivities,” Nereus said with a smile. “I trust that you both will enjoy yourselves.”

“Of course father,” Diadem replied with a smile filled with love for her beloved father.

“I shall await your return,” Atynis stated.

As the ki’rin left them, he ambled to the raised platform in the middle of the center. He stood tall and proud upon the wooden stage with a stoic expression as the laughter and chatter calmed into silence. He scanned the crowd. Astral was with Lavender, the two standing near the injured and weak, which was only a few feet from the group of ponies that were brought in that morning. He could see the changelings immerse in the crowd as if they had belonged there and he almost broke out into a proud grin, but the Den’s Lord cleared his throat instead.

“Everyone! Welcome to this year’s Viridian Harvest,” he stated. His voice boomed in the silence and echoed against the stone walls that made up the homes on the surface. He had captured the attention of his subjects. “We are here to celebrate another successful harvest.”

A few cheers and whoops escaped some of the onlookers. “I am delighted to celebrate this evening with you all, but there are a few announcements that must be made. As most of you are well aware, I sent our best team out on a rescue mission and they returned successful. As of today, we welcome a new group into our city.”

Diadem smiled and motioned for Atynis to step forward as Nereus continued. “Today marks the day that the Den opens its tunnels to the Anistera Hive. Welcome the hive with open hooves and with open hearts.”

The crowd roared. Elated cheers rang in the clearing and Diadem felt a lump in her throat as Nereus motioned Atynis up to the makeshift stage. The queen gracefully made her way up the scaffold and bowed to the crowd.

“I thank you all for everything you have done for my children today. We are now in your debt, and shall care for you as we do each other,” Atynis stated as she turned to Nereus.

“I also wish to welcome back one of our own,” The Ki’rin continued. “My son, Astral Mace, has returned.”

The stallion gave a sheepish grin as he stepped through the mass. He did not jump up onto the podium, but found his way to Diadem and nuzzled her as some of the citizen’s cheered for him as well.

“And I would also like to congratulate a dear friend of mine.” He pressed on. “My dear friend Cedar and his wife Sable are expecting once again.”

Diadem could not contain herself at the sudden news as Sable and Cedar emerged from the throng with their son Fir. Diadem practically bounced over to them and slammed into Sable with a shout, laughing as she hugged her tightly. Astral Mace followed with the rest of the team and they congratulated the couple as Nereus concluded the announcements.

“With this, I leave the festival in your claws and hooves. Enjoy this evening! To another great and successful harvest!”

As Nereus concluded his small speech, the crowd roared with excitement. He stepped down from the platform with the Changeling Queen at his heels and as he made his way to his daughter’s team, he could only grin.

“Congratulations, Cedar, Sable,” he said with a knowing smirk. “I am happy for you, my dear friends.”

“B-but, my Lord!” Sable exclaimed with a deep blush. “We hadn’t said a word!”

Nereus chuckled. “It’s not unnoticeable to the Lord of this Den. You both have glowed these past few days with an excitement that only comes with that of a coming calf.”

Diadem smiled and stepped away, the twin drakes following her. “Go. Enjoy yourselves,” she said. “We’ve all earned some relaxation.”

The dragon twins gave her wide, fanged grins before hoping in the air and flying off. The pony mingled in the crowd, introducing herself to some of the changeling additions to the Den and indulged in idle chatter among other members of the clan. She was not unaware of the five mares off to the side, but she intentionally passed them by as she held conversations. She had told Nereus that she would enjoy herself and she was intending to do just that.

“What’s with leaders and speeches?”

Rainbow Dash’s inquiry went undetected by the surrounding population as the group erupted into cheers. They had yet to see Twilight in the throng of creatures and each one of them were hesitant to immerse themselves into the mass with changelings freely roaming about. Applejack growled at the queen as she stepped up beside the Ki’rin leader and huffed.

“I bet she’s got her nasty hooves into him,” she spat.

“Applejack!” Rarity admonished. “That is quite enough. If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.”

The apple farmer growled, but kept silent. Fluttershy flittered up and gasped. “Look girls! There’s Twilight!”

The five mares turned to see the pony engaged in conversation with a group of changelings. She bowed her head as she spoke with them and Applejack’s stomach knotted almost painfully. She did not like the bugs, but they looked harmless. Even Twilight was talking to them and she was the one who was wronged worse by them. Rarity cleared her throat, breaking Applejack out of her thoughts.

“Well, we see that she’s talking to some of the citizens and with such a lovely outfit on, I can understand why everyone is vying for her attention. We should start mingling.”

“Mingling?” Applejack deadpanned.

“Yes. We should go mingle with the crowd. We can start asking questions and find a way to talk to Twilight,” Rarity replied, scanning the crowd. “Does everypony remember the plan?”

“Yeah.” They chorused.

“Good. Then let’s get moving girls.”

The five mares separated and blended into the crowd, avoiding the changelings at every turn. Rarity and Fluttershy tiptoed towards the booming laughter that was the Den’s leader until they were in the small circle. Rarity gulped as Fluttershy hid behind her, both nervous as they watched the changeling queen interact with the group of creatures. It was not until Atynis turned that she saw the two ponies watching her. Rarity seized the opportunity to speak.

“Your majesty,” she said with a small nod, “I wanted to apologize for my friend’s boorish behavior. I assure you that she is not normally so… ill tempered.”

Nereus turned to the two ponies as the group began to break, citizens and friends moving on to other conversations and discussions. He eyed the white unicorn and yellow pegasus with curiosity in his goldenrod yellow eyes, interested in seeing just what exactly would unfold with the three. However, he could not quite hide the tension in his jaw, for the Queen was still injured.

“I must have startled you and your friends.” Atynis said with a smile. “I understand that our reputation with your kind is not favorable.”

“Yes, well. Especially recently,” Rarity admitted. “Our home was attacked by changelings a few years ago…the cities were almost left in ruins.”

Atynis’ seafoam green eyes widened. An attack on ponykind? She opened her mouth to reply when Nereus stepped in.

“Be that as it may, you all judged a large group based on the actions of one.” The ki’rin retorted.

“Oh, but, it wasn’t just one…It was like an army,” Fluttershy replied, twiddling her hooves as she hid behind her friend and mane. “T-They…”

“Hush now, darling.” Rarity replied as she hugged her friend. “It’s quite all right. We understand that what we’ve done nearly cost you all your way of life and we’re relieved that it didn’t. I am being completely sincere when I say that we will make sure our Princesses know that there are more hives out there then Chrysalis’.”

Atynis snorted ad frowned. “Chrysalis? That manipulative wretch managed to organize a full scale invasion? If what you say is true...”

The ponies stared at the Changeling Queen with surprise. “Is she not liked amongst your hive?” Rarity asked.

“She’s a tyrant,” growled the queen. “A Queen whose vision and appetite are far above her station in life. Is this the kind of image you have of the changelings? This one of Chrysalis?”

“Well…yes.” Rarity replied with a bit of hesitation.

“Then you know nothing of us,” Atynis huffed. “Changelings are a noble race, industrious and diverse.”

“I-I am indeed sorry, but you must realize that we were attacked, we were jaded to any other truth that might have been present,” Rarity replied. “Chrysalis’ horde was the first time many ponies in Equestria had seen a changeling.”

“Rarity…” Fluttershy whispered.

“I understand,” Said Atynis with a small frown. “It is shameful for our culture to first be represented as such. But anyone should be able to tell Chrysalis from those she impersonates. Her transformations are very well down, but she does not study their personalities, making her easy to detect by a keen eye, and a wise heart.”

Rarity opened her mouth, ready to give a haughty reply, when the queen’s words registered. She took offense, but closed her mouth. There was something that she had forgotten about in the past few years that slammed into her at that very moment. Somepony had seen through the disguise. Somepony had tried to save them all.

And they ignored her.

Fluttershy gave a whimpered cry as she saw Rarity’s mortified expression. It seemed that the unicorn had finally caught up to what Fluttershy had figured out earlier. There was a reason Twilight resented their mere existence, but Fluttershy did not have the courage to open her mouth and tell her friends.

Tell them that it was all their fault.

Rainbow Dash refused to brush against a single changeling. They were nothing but trouble in her book, so she flitted above the crowd and scanned it for the stallion that had come into the infirmary with Twilight. It should not have been hard to find him since he was one of the only two ponies she has seen so far. Her magenta eyes scanned the crowd until she found the crimson and black mane that belonged to the pony. She flew down and landed beside the stallion and cleared her throat.

Astral Mace turned. The cyan pegasus stood there and acted cool as she brushed her hoof off. He scoffed and turned to walk away. Rainbow Dash gaped at his snuff and cleared her throat a bit louder. She flittered in front of him and dropped to the ground.

“AH-HEM!” she practically screeched in his face.

“What do you want?” Astral snapped.

Rainbow Dash pulled back a bit and gave him a cool smile. “I just wanted to talk. Not often that I find a pegasus not a part of a weather team, let alone outside of Equestria. I just wanted to strike up some talk, wondering a bit where you came from to end up out here.”

Astral Mace stopped, hoof poised to take a step when the question reached his ears. He glanced at the pegasus over his shoulder and sighed as he turned to her. “The name’s Astral Mace,” he said, sticking his hoof back out to her.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said as she bumped the hoof.

“I’ve been here as long as I could remember, Rainbow Dash,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world, either.”

Inside, Rainbow Dash was cheering. It was a long shot to think that the stallion would even give her the time of day, but he answered her. That was enough.

“So, like, you don’t even know if you’re from here?” she asked him.

Astral took a seat at one of the less occupied tables with a sigh. “Nope. Apparently my birth family came from the North. From a place that ponies live and they call this land the Badlands.”

“You’re talking about Equestria!” Rainbow Dash told him. “That’s where we’re from. Twilight, too.”

Astral’s demeanor clouded at the sound of that name. “Her name is Diadem.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rainbow said as she waved a hoof and hovered over him. “Why did your folks come all the way out here?”

Astral went silent and Rainbow Dash thought that he didn’t hear her, but before she could repeat herself, the stallion gave a sigh. “They didn’t.”

“Huh?” Rainbow looked at him confused. “But, then, how did you end up here?”

Astral ground his teeth as he turned to the pony. “My sister. I… never knew my parents.”

The admission halted Rainbow in mid hover and she landed beside the stallion with a frown. “You…didn’t?”

A curt laugh escaped him. “I don’t even know about this…Equestria, but if its anything like Dia’s said, I’m glad I ended up here.”

“What’d she—” Rainbow tried.

“My sister said that our parents died when a riot broke out in our city. Some place called Dodge City or somethin’,” He continued with an unfocused gaze, as if he were seeing something far off.

“Dodge Junction?” Rainbow Dash said with wide eyes.

“That’s it.” The stallion nodded. “Apparently there was some civil conflict going on and our house was one of the first to be broken into. She said that she saw the rioters grab our parents, yelling about how they’d make some mayor listen and...”

The words had been burned into his mind since he was a young colt. The wounds that his sister had suffered, the times that he asked about them, and all of the crying she did every time he tried to call her ‘mom’ while growing up. He faltered, but the cyan pegasus leaned towards him with a small frown, waiting. He pressed on.

“She said that she grabbed me from the nursery when she heard our father scream. Took me right out of the back, into the swamp behind the house, but…she saw our parents being dragged out of the house and she said that the rioters killed them.”

The sounds of the festival returned to him as he pushed the image of his sister’s crying face out of his mind.

“Wh-what happened to your sister?” Rainbow Dash finally asked. “I mean…I’ve only seen two ponies in the crowd you and—”

“She died,” he stated as he got to his hooves. “Seven years ago.”

Rainbow went quiet. She knew she needed to ask about Twilight, but it felt wrong. He just told her that his sister, who saved his life, died. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

Astral nodded. “So am I. But death is something that you get accustomed to out here. You miss those that you lose, both in life and death. The best we can do, is live up to something they’d be proud of.”

“So…you’re alone?” she asked.

Astral shook his head. “Nah. This place, the Den, is home. We’re all family here. We may not all look alike, certainly don’t share the same blood, but family is more than blood, its trust and love.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, but, T-Diadem’s family is in Equestria. They miss her. We miss her.”

“You should have held onto her then,” replied Astral. “She’s something special, and this is her home now, too. Just like mine.”

“Whatever!” Rainbow sighed. “Look, I get it. You think this place is home, but her home is Equestria and we need her to listen to us!”

Astral Mace felt a sudden heat rush through him. An anger pulsed through him for a moment before he turned away from the mare with a glare. “Then you’re shit out of luck.” He said as he walked off.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth fell open. No one ever spoke to the awesome Rainbow Dash like that! She jumped into the air and landed in front of the stallion again.

“No way! You and Twilight—”

Astral snorted and shoved Rainbow aside. “There is no one here by that name. I suggest you quit it and get lost.”

Rainbow growled as Astral brushed by her. “HEY!”

He paused for just a moment to look over his shoulder. “I said get lost.”

Rainbow Dash went to follow, but the stallion moved into the company of a group of changelings. She grimaced and flew off to sulk and wait for another chance to talk to the stallion.

Applejack groaned.

She and Pinkie Pie had started to talk to the towns…creatures, but they were getting no answers. Most of them did not know of a Twilight Sparkle and the few who did walked away with a deep glare. She was getting tired of dodging the changeling bugs and getting no answers. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, continued to bounce around and try to make friends with the creatures that inhabited the city as they laughed and danced. It was irksome how they were not a single step closer to figuring out what was wrong with Twilight so that they could talk to her.

Ugh! Applejack inwardly groaned as Pinkie Pie began more of her antics, this time with a couple of kids.

Applejack moved to a different group, one without a changeling, and was about to open her mouth to say something when their conversation caught her attention.

“You have to make sure that the soil is saturated.” An elk said, laughing at a boar.

“No shit?” grumbling the boar.

“I’m sorry,” said the elk, letting out another laugh. “But you know that you have to ask Nereus or the Princess for water.”

Ask for water? Applejack thought, stepping into the group. Now why wouldja need to ask for water?

“Remind me to do that later.” The boar huffed.

“Ya’ll tryin’ to plant something?”

Her sudden appearance gave the group pause. They gave the pony a weary glance before the boar nodded.

“Been tryin’ my hand at farmin’.” He said. “But it ain’t easy out here.”

“Farming’s easy anywhere.” Applejack corrected with a smile. “The name’s Applejack. Ah’m an apple farmer, mahself.”

The creatures in the group turned to look at one another, unsure of what an apple was. Applejack gave them all an incredulous stare.

“Yer kiddin’! Ya’ll ain’t ever had an apple?” she asked.

“Never heard of it,” the same boar replied with a shrug.

“An apple is a delicious piece of fruit that grows from trees! It looks like this!” Applejack said, pointing to her apple cutiemark.

“We ain’t got those,” Another clan member said. “You’d hafta be blind to not see that trees ain’t normal out here.”

Applejack’s ears flattened. “How do ya’ll get food?”

“We trade,” an elk replied as if it were the simplest statement.

Applejack scowled. “Uhh, Ah don’t understand.”

“We trade food here. Those of us that are good with crops handle them, distributing them around when trades or the festivals take place, but the main place for trading lies deeper into the wastes, but that’s only once in a while.”

Applejack went to comment, but the buzzing that came from behind her gave her pause. With a quick goodbye, she removed herself from the group and glared at the changeling that had come up behind her. She met up with Pinkie Pie before making her way back through the crowd. Thoughts swirled in her mind about the lack of food this place surely had, yet they seemed to be happy and even invited a whole changeling hive to live with them! How were they managing it?

The pink party pony bounced around a few more partygoers as Applejack was lost in thought. Applejack followed her friend and continued to dodge the bugs that littered the crowd. Even Pinkie Pie made sure to stay away from the changelings even with her naturally perky personality. No one could have ever thought that Pinkie Pie would ever become apprehensive of any pony, but the changelings were understandably the ones that would even freak out a friendly pony like Pinkie. She danced through the crowd, avoiding the insect like creatures until she came to a small group talking. Applejack pushed through the crowd and stepped into the circle with her bouncing friend. One of them, a ki’rin, turned and smiled at them. The two recognized her as the nurse who had patched them up and beside her was the doctor. Applejack felt relief rush through her. She knew that these two were definitely going to have something that they could tell her.

“Miss Lavender!” Applejack called with a smile. “Woo-wee, am Ah glad to see you!”

“Well hello again, little ones.” Lavender giggled. “What can I do for you?”

“Well we’d really, really, really, really, really like it if you could help us with something!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced around the ki’rin nurse.

“What did you need help with?” she chortled at the pink pony.

“Well, ya’ see, we have a problem.” Applejack said as she took a seat. “We really need ta’ know what is up with Twilight.”

Lavender blinked at the orange pony. She knew that they were referring to Lady Diadem, but she was not the only one. Fennel, the elk head doctor who had helped with the foreigners, turned his attention to the ponies with a worried expression.

“Did you just use…that name?” Fennel asked. His fur was a russet color and his eyes like freshly upturned earth. He wore a frown as he eyed the two ponies. “I do not recommend that.”

Applejack huffed. “Yea, Ah got the same shtick from Twi. Look, Ah need ta’ know what happened ta’ her. We came all this way to get her help, but she won’t talk to us.”

Lavender and Fennel exchanged a quick, troubled glance.

“Little ones, I highly doubt that the Princess will want to talk.” Lavender told the two mares. “She does not take kindly to outsiders.”

“That’s impossible!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she backflipped from Fennel’s back to her spot beside Applejack. “We’re her bestest friends! The Elements of Harmony! She can’t help but be friends and talk with all of us!”

“Hold it, Pinkie. Let ‘er talk.” Applejack butted in, stuffing her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth with an exasperated sigh.

“Lavender is right.” Fennel sighed. “You did not see the Princess upon her arrival. She may be much calmer now, but even Lady Diadem will lose her composure if pushed too far.”

Applejack stomped her foot. “Ya’ don’t understand! Our home, our families, are at stake here! If we can’t get her to at least listen to us, then all of Equestria will be doomed!”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “Why wouldn’t Twilight want to be friends with us?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that your friend is the same mare you girls remember. She is a different pony now.” Lavender said as she shook her head. “She came to us a broken mare and had to rebuild herself. But what happened to her is her own story. Not even we know everything, and we patched her up.”

Applejack snorted. She was angry. Did they not understand how serious the situation was?

“But even her family is in danger,” Applejack hissed. “Her brother is out fighting while we search for her! Why can’t ya’ll understand?”

Lavender and Fennel stepped back. The ki’rin and elk gave the ponies sympathetic frowns and a small grimace. Behind the ponies, Diadem walked up with a glare. She reached earshot at the end of the apple farmer’s outburst and snorted.

“Understand what?”

The growl that came from behind them made Applejack and Pinkie Pie turn. Diadem stood there with an aggressive glare as if she were a goddess of war. Her neat mane swayed with each step as she stalked forward, eyeing the two ponies with a snarl before she returned her attention to the medics.

“Are they bothering you?” she asked as she caught Lavender’s eyes.

“Not at all. You look lovely, my Lady,” Lavender replied with a genuine smile.

“Actually, they were looking for you,” Fennel spoke up.

“That’s no surprise.” Diadem growled. She composed herself enough to turn a small smile to the head doctor. “Sable and Cedar wanted to talk to you, Fennel, if you aren’t busy.”

“Of course. They must be wanting to discuss plans for their calf. I should go see what they need.”

Lavender bid the elk farewell as he left. The ki’rin turned to examine the princess and the two ponies. It wasn’t until the pink one jumped up and started to chatter excitedly that Diadem snarled. As Pinkie Pie bounced around her, Diadem reached a hoof out to catch her off guard and the pink pony tumbled to the floor face first.

“Enough of your antics,” Diadem hissed.

“What the hay is wrong with ya’?!” Applejack snapped.

“What’s wrong with me?” asked Dia, her eye twitching. “If you can’t even figure that out yourself, you’ve wasted your time here. Get out.”

“Twilight Sp—”

Diadem immediately appeared before Applejack, completely filling in her view with her face, and there was no way the farm pony could mistake the anger in her eyes. “Don’t call me that again,” said Diadem in a calm, unsettling voice. “She’s dead, buried and forgotten. I am Diadem. Call me that sun forsaken name again, and not even the winds will find your ashes.”

Diadem broke her hold over the other pony and walked away. Slowly counting and taking in a deep breath, just like how Nereus had taught her. She looked back just in time to see the apple farmer stomp her hoof and turned away to return to the crowd. Only Pinkie Pie remained, looking back at Diadem with a longing in her eyes, before turning around and following the other mare back into the crowd.

Diadem continued her wrathful march. Outside, she seemed stoic. Inside, she was burning.

Diadem had wanted to just pass them by, but the moment that Applejack started to get agitated, Diadem became defensive of her clan members. She stalked through the mass until she was able to calm down. She glanced up at the moon that was reaching its peak soon and sighed. The festival would last all night if she truly wanted to stick around for it, but with the ponies meddling in her affairs, she wanted to call it quits.

“Dia!”

The voice came from her right. With a slight tilt of her chin, Diadem could see Astral Mace making his way to her. She gave him a relieved smile and met him halfway. The two shared a quick embrace.

Diadem chuckled, some of her anger fading away. “I was wondering what you were up to.”

“Yeah, well, the foreigners wanted to talk.” He snorted.

“I’ve noticed.”

The two laughed at each other. Despite their irritations, the two felt at ease with one another and were able to relax enough to smile.

“Hey, so, I get a dance this time, right?” Astral Mace asked, holding out a hoof to the unicorn.

Diadem smiled. “Just this once.”

Six

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Rainbow’s wings flapped as she scoured the crowd from above. She dodged some drakes who had been dancing while hovering above the crowd below and she groaned. If she had to worry about changelings and dragons in the air, then she was better off on hoof. She landed with ease and strode through the multitude of beings with caution as she eyed the throng of creatures with a critical gaze as she searched for the stallion who had stormed off earlier. Her gaze travelled, but there was no sign of him and she groaned again.

“Where did he go?”

The cyan pegasus shoved through another group as she continued her search. After the stallion had finished with the group of changelings, he ventured off into the crowd and Rainbow Dash lost him. Now, as she pushed through the throng of creatures, Rainbow could only growl in annoyance at her slip up. In her search, a familiar shade of indigo caught her attention and she turned to make her way that direction. As she emerged from the mass of beings, Rainbow Dash greeted her companions with a scoff.

“Hey Rares. Hey Flutters,” she said, stepping up to Rarity. “What’s up?”

She was greeted with silence and she turned. Immediately, her coat stood on end at the look on Rarity’s face. Her friend’s mouth was slightly agape and her eyes were the size of pinpricks which was standard for the fashionista when she was horrified. Rainbow spun around and found the changeling queen Atynis as she stood beside Nereus; both stared at her friends with furrowed brows and frowns. Rainbow’s chest flared as she leapt between the four, her lips curling over her teeth as she snarled at the changeling queen.

“What did you do to them?” she hissed.

Normally, Rarity would have been mortified by Rainbow’s actions, but as the shock began to wear down, the unicorn found herself incompetent. She opened her mouth, but words failed her repeatedly. She ran the revelation through her mind again and again until she could finally put her thoughts into words. She reached out and placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, pulling her back a bit.

“Rainbow Dash, dear, don’t be so hasty.” Rarity finally managed. She cleared her throat and stepped beside the cyan flyer. “They did nothing wrong.”

Rainbow stared at her companion with wide eyes. Her mouth opened and closed in a vain attempt to work through her own thoughts.

“But…” Rainbow Dash stuttered in disbelief. “You guys looked so freaked out!”

“Shocked,” Rarity corrected, taking a deep breath. “We’re in shock, darling.”

“Huh?” Rainbow articulated with an arched brow.

“Shocked,” Rarity repeated. “It seems that there is something we have foolishly neglected to ask about all of this.”

“I don’t get it.” Rainbow said. “What do you mean?”

“Dash, darling, please. Go find Applejack and Pinkie. This will be much easier to talk about if we’re all together,” Rarity pleaded. “I fear that something dreadful happened on our part to make Twilight….make Diadem act like this.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll go get them.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I’ll be right back. I think I saw them near the shop looking thing.”

With a flare of her wings, Rainbow Dash took flight. Rarity watched her friend glide away to gather the rest of their entourage and sighed as she turned her attention back to Nereus and Atynis. A frown graced her features as she sighed again.

“You said with a keen eye and a wise heart,” Rarity said as she turned her full attention to Atynis. “So, if Chrysalis had encountered some pony who knew the pony she was impersonating, but she never studied that relationship…that the friend would have seen through it?”

Atynis nodded. “Absolutely.”

“I see,” Rarity said as she turned her gaze to her hooves. “I might know what had happened…If I may, Nereus, how did Diadem come under your care?”

The elder Ki’rin gave the unicorn a sad smile. “She was rescued by one of my best teams. It was a surprise to find a pony out in the wastes.”

“Please,” Rarity pleaded as she hugged Fluttershy. “What happened to our friend, Nereus?”

“She was cast out,” Nereus said with a shiver as he closed his eyes. His memory of the day his daughter had come into his clan – his family – was vivid in his mind’s eye. The day that Diadem had been brought to him was a memory he would not – could not —forget. It was forever burned into his mind; the churn of his stomach at the sight of her form, the pain on her face, the wounds that she had, her fearful eyes and her silence. He could remember the first thing he had ever heard her say, but he knew that she had been delirious. Yet, that one sentence told him everything he needed to know.

Nereus sighed as he finished up with a few more clan members to discuss the shortage of water and supplies to make a list for the year’s trades. He had barely made it to the surface when he saw a glint of silver in the bright sunlight. Silver Fang, a drake with silver scales, flew at him with something in his arms and the rest of his team at his heels. Nereus watched him land, the bundle in Silver Fang’s arms was a being he had only seen once in his life and his eyes widened. Silver Fang was holding a pony.

“Nereus,” Silver Fang looked up at his clan leader. “We checked out the caves and…”

Fang’s voice trailed off as the bundle in his arms moaned. The drake held the pony as delicately as he could as she whimpered and winced, her body trembling from the pain as her wounds cracked and bled with each movement. The pony’s voice told Nereus that it was a female, but the wounds that littered her body would make a hardened warrior cringe. Her mulberry coat was tinged a dark indigo, mixed with dirt and blood. The lacerations littered her body and while only some were bleeding, others were blackened and yellowed with infection that was sure to cause a high fever. He had no connection to this tiny creature, but Nereus could not stop his anger from rising, nor the twist of his stomach, at the weakened state his team had found her in. The poor thing was weak. The pony’s body shuddered with each intake of breath and she was so malnourished that he could nearly see her ribs beneath her skin.

“Don’t…” came the tiny whisper. “Don’t throw me away…”

“Get her to the infirmary. Now.” Nereus commanded. “She needs a doctor.”

To this day, he knew that there were things she held quiet in her heart, unable to say them aloud without being forced to relive the moments, and it caused him pain to know that his daughter suffered still. “She was brought to me, wounded in both body and spirit.”

Beside him, Atynis stepped closer. The Queen had picked up on his emotions early, but the surge of anger and sorrow had surprised her. She had open trades with the Ki’rin Lord decades ago, but these raw emotions of anger, sadness and hatred radiating from him were new. The sensations slammed into her as his emotions swirled about, the rolling waves of pain and fear sliced through the anger and bitterness like a blade and she steeled herself against them as she brushed a gentle wing against his side.

“Cast out?” she prompted him, softly.

Nereus nodded. “Yes. That’s all she wished to explain to me, and I did not find it right to press further. She once lived in the land of Equestria—the pony lands—as Twilight Sparkle, and she was cast out.”

“You mean….she was banished?” Rarity moaned in horror as her thoughts began to meld together, affirming her original idea that there was more to this than they had originally thought.

Fluttershy whimpered. She did not want to believe it. She couldn’t, but it was the only thing that made sense. “B-but she wasn’t banished…w-was she? Th-that would mean…that…”

Rarity hugged Fluttershy once more as she nodded, helplessly. “That would mean that Princess Celestia had to do it.”

“The Princess had to do what?”

Rarity and Fluttershy turned. Rainbow Dash had successfully retrieved the rest of their group and as Fluttershy hiccupped, she buried her face into Rarity’s coat. Rainbow Dash stilled. Fluttershy was not in tears when she left, and Rarity was not yelling, which meant that something said had to have hurt the timid pegasus’ feelings. In a swift movement, she landed beside Rarity and hugged Fluttershy who turned and hugged her back as she stifled her cries. Rarity looked at her three friends with a sad frown. Each one held a guarded look on their face and she opened her mouth to explain, but could not find the words. They were surely curious of what could have possibly brought the mention of their Princess up, but Rarity had no words to state her accusation. Instead, she made her decision and steeled herself for the oncoming backlash.

“Girls, I believe that some key information was withheld from us. I fear we must return to Equestria…without Twilight.”

“What?!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash screeched.

“Ya’ll are crazy if you think that Ahm just gonna leave without her!” Applejack shouted.

“Applejack, please—”

“No!” the apple farmer shouted, interrupting Rarity as her voice cracked. “Ahm not going back a failure! What am Ah supposed to tell mah family? That we just left her out here?”

“Applejack!” Rarity snapped, stomping her hoof in frustration. “How do you think I will feel having to return and tell Spike that I didn’t bring her home? You know that he’s been out searching for her, too!”

Applejack closed her mouth and held back the tears that threatened to fall. She feared failure and she wanted to bring her friend home, but she knew that Spike had been hurt the most after she disappeared and that he was yearning to see Twilight again. Rarity mentioned the nightmares he would wake up with, shouting for Twilight not to abandon him, and she remembered how tired her two friends looked in the weeks following the news of Twilight’s disappearance. Now, they found her, so what was going home without her going to accomplish?

“If I may,” Atynis interected. “I am curious to know. Why it is so imperative to bring Princess Diadem back to this Equestria?”

The tension in the air did not deter the pink party pony from jumping up with a Cheshire grin and throwing her hooves in the air. “Because we need her silly! Without Twilight we can’t use the Elements! So we can’t go all glowy and throw magic rainbows at the bad guys! Or guy! Or…well…whatever he is!”

“Elements?” Atynis asked. The corners of her mouth dipped down in her confusion. “As in the water, the earth, fire and air?”

“No, no.” Rarity answered. “Not those types of elements, Your Majesty. We are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, including Twilight. Without her, we cannot wield them to protect our home.”

“A weapon,” Nereus affirmed. “Ancient magical artifacts that commune with individuals that hold specific traits that match accordingly with that Element.”

“Precisely,” Rarity said. “But I fear the worse of this situation. There is something that I feel we are missing and I think I may have an idea about it. However, I also fear for her response if she knew that we came here under a different understanding.”

Nereus mulled over the unicorn’s words as he thought of his daughter. Mention of her past put him on edge, yet it was difficult to ignore the curiosity of what had exactly transpired before she had arrived to his clan and became a member of his family. He loved Diadem very much and he wanted to shoot the ideas down, but he knew better. His feelings should not affect the outcome of his daughter’s future, but just the thought of her past made the hairs on his neck rise in concern, despite the curiosity. Before Nereus could reply, the crowd roared. The Ki’rin turned his head, his golden-yellow eyes finding the members of his clan, both new and old, crowding around the designated dance area. With a sneaking suspicion, Nereus ventured away from the conversation and made his way toward the crowd. His clan members parted as he ambled through. Members of the clan hardly took their eyes from whatever had captured their attention and with the ponies following behind him in curiosity, along with Atynis, Nereus made his way to the edge of the throng of creatures he called family to see a rare sight.

A melody drifted from the band as his eyes found Diadem and Astral Mace stepping out onto the dance floor. The song that had been playing had died down as the crowd began to cheer, excited for the pair who stood in the center of the floor. It was when the next group of notes signaled a new song that Diadem and Astral Mace began to move. Together, they pushed themselves onto their hind legs and began to glide across the stone, eyes closed as they began to dance. Astral Mace held the Princess by the waist with his left hoof as they spun around and Diadem held his other hoof tight in her own grasp as she rested her free hoof on his shoulder. With their eyes closed, the two leaned their foreheads against one another, careful of Diadem’s horn, before losing themselves to the music.

The pair twirled across the floor with ease, careful to not bump into the crowd that they both knew surrounded them, even with their eyes closed. Diadem kept her composure, despite the cheers of her people echoing in her ears as she gracefully followed Astral’s lead. If the stallion was nervous of all the eyes staring at him, he showed no signs of it, and it comforted her to know that he held her protectively as they slid across the floor with each other. It was not until the music began to die down once more that she opened her eyes to meet with Astral’s pleased grin.

“Fraidy-cat,” he said as they return to their four hooves.

Diadem’s cheeks flared in chagrin. “Shut up.” She said, punching his shoulder.

His cheeky grin only widened as he gave her a bow. He adored seeing her blush in embarrassment and he chuckled. “Thank you for the dance, Princess.”

The heat in her cheeks intensified, but Diadem did not back down. Straightening her back, she bowed in return with a mischievous smile gracing her lips. “It was my pleasure, Prince Astral.”

The moment of silence between them dissolved into laughter as they straightened back up. Diadem tilted her head back, her laughter filling the air above them as she giggled like a child and Astral Mace fell back onto his haunches, bent forward, as he guffawed. Around them, the crowd roared with approval, but the two could only hear their own laughter as they got to their hooves and trotted off just as the next song began. Nereus chuckled at his children, a wide smile upon his face as he watched them run off together. It was a familiar feeling that he had been missing since he had sent Astral Mace out to check on the other territories within the wastes and he was delighted to see it return. Beside him, the five ponies stared with mouths agape. Not a single one of them had seen Twilight dance in all the time they had been friend with her, which not only caused them to be surprised, but with the realization that Twilight had indeed changed, and not just in a rude way, Rarity and her companions were beginning to find that there was more to this new Twilight then just anger and bitterness.

“I…didn’t know she could dance.” Rarity said.

Atynis smiled as she watched the clan prince and princess disappear into the crowd. The two ponies had welcomed her hive with open hooves just as Nereus had, but the emotions that were in the air of the celebration made her insides hum with pleasure. She was nourished enough to heal and she stretched her wings a bit as she twittered lightly.

“They dance well.” She said.

“Rarity, why can’t we just go to Twi’ and talk to her? Ah don’t understand?” Applejack huffed.

“That is what I’ve been trying to explain to you all, but you two are being so stubborn.” Rarity sighed. “I believe we have been misinformed of the events that happened five years ago. Twilight, she…she didn’t go missing as we believed. Some things happened an—”

Rainbow Dash scoffed, getting impatient with it all. “Yeah, well why don’t we just ask her? Twi can just tell us exactly what’s up, we’ll figure it out, and get out of here. AJ’s right. We aren’t going to get anywhere without talking to her.”

Rarity groaned as she sat back on her haunches. “And I agree. We need to talk to her but just what do you think we—”

“Um…Rarity?” Fluttershy said. “They’re gone.”

Rarity turned to see her two prideful friends darting away. She jumped to her hooves, alarmed. This situation had become severe and it needed to he handled delicately, something neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash did well. Rarity spluttered in annoyance after them, but Pinkie Pie’s silence stopped the unicorn and she turned to look at her. Pinkie Pie was wearing a frown and rarity cleared her throat to capture the party pony’s attention.

“Are you alright, Pinkie?”

The earth pony shook her head, her mane deflating a small bit in her sadness. “I don’t think this is a good idea. I got a doozy of a feeling coming.”

“Well that is what I have been trying to stress to our friends.” Rarity sighed. She turned to the two leaders and gave a quick bow. “I’m sorry to have to ask, but could you help us? I’m afraid that my hot headed friends are going to cause a scene and it would been unbearable if they disrupted such a wonderful celebration.”

Nereus nodded. The Viridian Harvest was an all-night celebration and for it to be ruined would be catastrophic. “I will accompany you.”

“I shall as well.” Atynis said as she stepped forward.

Rarity wanted to suggest for the Queen to stay behind because of what had transpired earlier when they had run into the horde, but she bit back the words and turned to trot away. Stopping their friends took first priority. She needed to stop them before it was too late. If her assumption was correct, if this Nereus was telling them the truth, then they had to return to Equestria for some answers before Twilight resented them forever.

If she didn’t already.

Rarity threw herself into a gallop as she took off after her hot-headed friends and was surprised by how quickly she had caught up with them. Sweat lined her brow as she concentrated, her horn flashing brilliantly as her magic flew out and gripped her two friends mid charge. She really did not want to resort to using their emergency magic, but it seemed like they were not going to listen to her. Rarity caught up to the two hovering ponies and the others were soon to follow. Nereus watched the magical aura with a small fascination as Rarity fixed the two with a glare and stomped over to them.

“Can you two not be so brash?!” she nearly screeched around the breath that was sawing in and out of her lungs through her gritted teeth.

“Wha—?” Applejack spluttered as she scrambled in the pale blue aura. When she realized who had used their magic, she spun around and glared. “Rarity! Put me down! Ya’ know I hate it when you do that!”

The fashionista huffed as she trotted forward and released her magic. The apple farmer and her flyer friend were unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie cringed.

“OW!” the prideful duo chorused in pain.

Rarity stalked forward, her blue eyes sparkling in fury as she glared at them. “You know what I hate, Applejack? I hate it when you refuse to listen to reason! If you two would stop and listen to me instead of ignoring what I’m trying to say, then I wouldn’t have had to chase you!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash got to their hooves as Applejack bristled at Rarity’s comment. “Ah ain’t ignorin’ you!”

Diadem had just finished explaining part of the protection system to a few defenders in the hive when she heard the shouting. An exasperated sigh escaped her as she turned and pushed through the crowd. She was already tired from the emotional rollercoaster from earlier mixed with the search for the Anistera hive, but her exhaustion made every small thing ten times more irritating then normal. She had just about had it with the ponies who believed her to be their friend, a sentiment she had not seen before her banishment, and it was not something she craved any longer. She stepped around a few changelings who had come to check on their Queen who was present during the quarreling and saw the five mares bickering with one another. Nereus caught sight of his daughter and motioned her over. With a sigh, she straightened her back and trotted over to him as the mares continued to growl at one another.

“Of course you aren’t ignoring me!” Rarity nearly spat, voice full of sarcasm. “You just want to run off and create problems for the rest of us!”

“Oh c’mon, Rares! Who else is going to talk to Twilight?” Rainbow Dash argued, throwing her hooves in the air.

“That’s not even my—”

“Ah ain’t creatin’ problems, neither! I’m tryin’ to talk to Twilight!” Applejack interrupted, nearly physically butting heads with Rarity.

The sound of that name made Diadem angrier. Her father wrapped his tail tightly around her own as she gritted her teeth, but the anger boiled away and left a chilling annoyance in her stomach. She knew that she was being bitter, and she had every right to be, but talking to these mares just made her want to disappear and never see them again. The emotions they brought forth were not the problem for Diadem. It was the memories. Many faces of others she had forced herself to forget were at the edge of her conscious every time she faced the five mares and Diadem wanted nothing more than to make all of it disappear; the feelings, the memories, the pain, all of it.

“And she can’t talk to you.” Diadem spoke up before the two could continue their debacle. “Twilight Sparkle,” she spat the name out as if it were poison. “is dead. She died five years ago.”

Applejack and Rarity turned to look at the clan Princess. Rarity groaned. This confrontation as exactly what she had feared while Applejack stomped her hoof angrily. “Well, Ah don’t believe that. You’re right there in front of me!”

Diadem snorted and gave the apple farmer a glare. She refused to be called that sun forsaken name all these years to leave the past behind. She had no right, they had no right to call her like they were her friends. Like they knew her. Like she was being a petulant child. She knew what would really shake them, their weaknesses all too clear to the hardened, calculated fighter she was, and she hoped that it would deter them from continuing the frivolous attempt to act as if they had nothing to do with her being exiled. She released herself from her father’s comforting hold on her tail as she leveled the five mares with a dark glare.

“Then you’re done here.” She simply stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Leave. This city has no place for a lying, backstabbing, selfish, cruel and miserable group like you.”

The five mares recoiled at Diadem’s words as if struck by them and as they tried to respond, Diadem turned to her father with a bow as she left to head back to her room. She was done for the evening. Her emotions and exhaustion felt like lead weights chaining her down even as her anger cooled. She just wanted to lay down and forget that this day ever happened.

As she left, Applejack spluttered after her in shock. Words failed her even as Diadem disappeared from her sight. Never had she been spoken to like that, not even by Flim and Flam, but to hear it from Twilight had nearly broke her heart. Applejack sat back on her haunches, her Stetson falling from her head to the ground behind her as she stared at the ground.

“She…Ah don’t….she—”

Rainbow Dash whipped around to glare at Rarity. “You said she won’t talk to us. Why?”

Rarity frowned. “That’s why I wanted to return home first. There are some things not adding up and I believe our presence has only made things a lot worse. But, I know just the pony to ask.”

Applejack stuttered again. Rainbow Dash reached over and hugged her friend with on hoof as the apple farmer muttered a weak denial. Rarity stood up straight and tall, as though she were preparing for a fight. She gave her friends a stern glance with her lips pressed into a thin line. She would not let their inaction or ignorance feed Twilight’s bitterness towards them any longer. They would get to the bottom of this.

“Who?” Pinkie Pie asked, frowning at Applejack.

“Princess Celestia.” Rarity replied as she turned to bow to Nereus. “Please forgive us, but I believe we shall be leaving now.”

Nereus nodded. He eyed the five mares with apprehension, but knew that the damage had already been done long before this encounter. “I wish you and your companions a safe journey, despite all that has occurred.”

“Thank you.” Rarity said just as Applejack hopped to her hooves.

“AH AIN’T A LIAR!”

Rarity cringed at her friend’s outburst and sighed as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hugged the orange earth pony back from tearing off after the clan princess.

“I thank you for your hospitality, despite the trouble we’ve caused. I’m sorry that we have to leave so soon, but we have little time to spare.” Rarity said as she turned her attention to the changeling queen. “And I hope that there are no hard feelings, Your Majesty.”

Atynis nodded with a smile. “There are none. May safe travels be with you all.”

With Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy dragging Applejack behind them, the group retrieved their saddle bags from the infirmary with assistance from the elk doctor Fennel. Pinkie Pie carried Applejack’s Stetson as they left the city, the apple farmer stomping angrily behind as she recomposed herself and followed her friends into the darkness of the waste lands with only Rarity’s horn lighting their path. They walked until the lights of the city were out of sight and with her friends crowded around her, Rarity concentrated. Her pale blue magic wrapped around them as she withdrew a scroll from her saddle bag. She poured her magic into the enchanted scroll and, in seconds, they were surrounded by a warm glow. With a flash of light, they were gone.

The winding corridors of the city below the surface were calming entities for Diadem as she made her way into the city’s depths. She had no knowledge of the departing mares, but it would not have made her mood any lighter.

They had found her. After five long years of torture, carving a name for herself out in the toughest parts of the wastelands, they had found her. Her home and everything within its walls were subjected to the unruly antics of the five even as the apple farmer had shouted after her. She knew that she had hurt them, it was her intent when she said it, and she felt no remorse in having to do so. Her life was here in the Den with her squad and her father. She needed nothing else, especially from her past, and she wanted to be left alone to continue her life here without having to subject her new family to the false pretense of a happy life that Equestria—that sun forsaken place—had instilled in her since fillyhood.

Diadem gritted her teeth as she relocked the memories that threatened to tear her apart from the inside again, and she entered her room with a shaky breath. Despite the anger that burned inside of her chest, Diadem carefully peeled the elegant gown from her body with her hooves and draped it across the edge of the chair in the corner of the room before she let herself collapse onto her cot. The crown upon her head tumbled, but her magic wrapped around the metal and caught it right above the rocky ground. Lazily, she hovered the silver crown to where it truly belonged and closed her eyes. The day had been painstakingly long and as she concentrated on her breathing, she felt the tension leave her body as she relaxed on the cot, nuzzling her face against her rough pillow as she felt herself slip from reality into a realm of peaceful darkness.

As she entered into the realm of dreams, a feeling tugged at the clan princess. A splash of color in her dream alerted her that something was wrong and she tensed. Dreams were one of her worse enemies, even after years of dealing with them, and she prepared herself for a fight when the strange, foreign feeling slammed into her again. She squirmed, nearly suffocating at the feeling that rippled through her and she would have cried out if she felt like she was alone, but the colors and the feeling vanished, leaving her in a cold darkness. A moment passed before she felt the presence of another and she turned with a glare. Someone had invaded her mind.

Seven

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Author's Notes:

For starters: I love you all who are still hanging on.

After the whole debacle with my brother, my fiance and I finally were able to move into our apartment. For the last few months we've been setting this up, packing (computers first to make sure we had everything) and we've just finally gotten around to having a form of internet to fall back on. Needless to say, it has been a long, tiring adventure. We're almost unpacked. Almost, so I will be unpacking more than writing, but being closer to campus, I can now walk to school and back and still be home hours before night.

NO MORE TWO HOUR COMMUTE! YEAH!

Ahem. So, with this, I was finally able to edit the chapter and get it posted. I really want to thank Lord Commander for checking in on me while I was internet-less and making sure I wasn't dead or anything! Best editor ever!

Onto Chapter Seven!

Canterlot looked grim during the cold night. The high towers of Canterlot Castle were nothing more than rubble, crumbled to the base from the battle for the city that had started five years ago. The sisters took refuge in the servant quarters beneath the throne room, humbled; their once glorious throne room decimated. Scorch marks littered the floor, marring the marble with dark splotches that would never be washed out. The thrones were smashed, the ceiling still held above the heads of the two guards standing at attention, but the canopy had three rather large holes in it. The doors were gone, the wood discarded to the side and forgotten; never replaced after Twilight had broken them down. Five years the castle took the beatings of the creatures that it housed and each brought a glimmering of hope into the heart of the citizens of Canterlot. Five years without repairs as the sisters waged a war against their foes, both new and old. Five long years, the castle stood upon the edge of Canterlot like a corpse, greyed and heavy.

Two guards, a Solar Guard and a Lunar Guard, shifted uneasily in the eerie glow of the throne room as they awaited the return of the Elements of Harmony. It would be another silent night, should they not return, but the guards stood proud and tall as they waited patiently. The rest of the Royal Guard were holding off the invasion from the north while the mares searched relentlessly for the missing prodigy that had been the student of the sun princess they worshipped, but with each passing day, Equestria’s defeat became more and more a pending reality.

A flash of light broke them of their thoughts. The guards covered their eyes as the magical illuminance brightened the room until it vanished, leaving behind five figures in its wake. The Solar Guard stepped forward with a bow of his head as the mares readjusted themselves. Moans of discomfort reached the guards and they moved forward to assist the party. The Solar Guard eyed the group, noting that only five mares had returned, and with a mournful frown, he bowed to the unicorn in the group.

“Welcome back, Lady Rarity. We shall make the appropriate accommodations for you all to rest.”

Rarity shook her head. The teleport had disoriented her and she closed her eyes to stop the world around her from spinning as she forced her thoughts to return to the proper track. Once upon a time, she would have swooned over the idea of a stallion calling her ‘Lady Rarity’, but given the circumstances, she found the title to be a curse. The destruction of the castle, the surrounding parts of the city, and the loss of a dear friend had gained her such a title in a time of war.

“I appreciate the thought, Swift Charge, but it is urgent that we speak to the Princess.”

The mare beside Swift Charge, a batpony guard, cleared her throat. “Princess Celestia is resting. I can let Princess Luna know of the urgent audience.”

Rarity shook her head. “No. We must speak to Princess Celestia specifically. We have found Twilight Sparkle.”

Swift Charge glanced at the mare beside him with wide eyes. The Princesses had both awaited the news of Twilight Sparkle and it had come in the form of an audience. The mare nodded and took flight.

“I will summon the Princess, then.”

Swift Charge nodded at the thestral. “We await your return, Dusk Star.”

Dusk Star flew from the room with all the speed her bat wings could muster. Rarity stood still, scared to move an inch, but her friends were not as immobile. Rainbow Dash paced in circles above them, hovering as she worked through her own thoughts while Applejack took back her Stetson from Pinkie to lay down and cover her face in anger. Fluttershy sat beside the still unicorn, her eyes half closed from exhaustion as she tried not to cry once more. It was hard enough for them to leave their old friend behind in the Badlands, but to leave with those malicious last words still in their minds brought their spirits down further. Even Pinkie Pie was silent, her normal puffed up hair was straight and fell around her face like a dark curtain as she watched the crumbled debris across the room with mild interest.

Dusk’s wings flapped with urgency as she sped through the dark corridors. Princess Luna would be in the garden calming the nightmares of her subjects as she did every night since the invasion, and that would mean that Princess Celestia would be recovering from her injuries in her room down near the servant’s quarters. Dusk Star veered towards the accommodations near the foyer of the castle until she made her way into the servant wing and she landed before a familiar door. She cleared her throat before she raised her hoof and knocked on the door as hard as she could.

“Please forgive the interruption, Princess,” Dusk called through the door. “But the Elements have returned! They are requesting an immediate audience!”

At first, Dusk thought that Princess Celestia had been dead asleep with how silent it was within the chambers, but the notion was hastily discarded as the door glowed with a lemon yellow aura before swinging open. Despite it being the middle of the night, Princess Celestia strode forward with little trouble from her fading wounds. Dusk Star bowed before the Princess of the Sun and Celestia gave her nod of acknowledgement.

“It is quite late, Dusk Star. The Elements have returned in the middle of the night many times. What is the reason for such a late audience?”

Celestia has had many years to practice her façade and as she gave the thestral mare a somber glance, she forced her hopes aside. There was little hope that her student had survived a year in exile, let alone five, but as she watched the Lunar Guard shift, she felt that maybe an emergency audience had significant information for the Elements of Harmony to return and demand such a meeting so late.

“Lady Rarity said that they had to meet with you, Princess. She said that they’ve found her,” Dusk Star stated with a bow. “They said they found Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia’s lungs felt as though they had stopped working. For a moment, the Princess of Equestria could hardly fathom the idea, but the words were lingering in her mind like a phantom and she wanted nothing more than to beg the thestral for the absolute truth. Her insides burned with a mixture of emotions as she remembered to breathe and with a shake of her head, Celestia stepped into the corridor and with ease, a lemon light surrounded both Princess and Guard.

“With haste, Dusk Star!”

The thestral had no time to respond. A flicker of the lemon yellow aura sent them to the throne room where the five mares waited for the answers they were desperate to achieve. The first thing that Celestia noticed was that there were only five mares in the room, not six. A painful jolt struck her chest as she watched the pained and angry expressions across the faces of the mares, each one only bringing forth the one thing Celestia had feared the most.

Was her student gone?

With a small smile forced upon her muzzle, the princess stepped forward. “Welcome back, my little ponies. What news have you brought this evening?”

Rarity’s ears perked up. She had noticed the princess’ arrival, of course she had, but her mind had wandered to Ponyville and Sweetie Belle. Her thoughts had traveled to Spike, as well, the poor thing that was wandering all of Equestria looking for the mother that he thought abandoned him so long ago. However, if Twilight was right, it seemed that his pain was not caused by the Changelings, nor by Twilight herself, but the celestial being that stood before her now. The realization lit a fire within Rarity’s stomach that made her more upset than it did sick. That distress blossomed into a furious wildfire and the fashionista turned towards her princess with her head high and a glint of anger in her blue eyes.

“Princess, we have found Twilight.” she declared.

Celestia’s chest was stabbed with another shot of pain as she looked at the five. She could only fathom the reasons behind Twilight not being with them, but the most dominant thought was the notion of losing her student permanently. It took Celestia a moment before she could respond, keeping the fear and oncoming despair from her voice.

“Where is she?” Celestia asked. “What has become of my student?”

Rarity wanted to snap at the ruler. She wanted to ask Celestia how she could have possibly done such a thing to her student, their friend, but she mulled the harsh remarks over in her head. What if Twilight was wrong? What if it hadn’t been Celestia, but Chrysalis? Hope glimmered in the unicorn and she bit her lip with uncertainty as her ears twitched.

What was the truth?

As her friends came to her side, Rarity looked up at Celestia once more as a dark figure flew in from the window. Princess Luna glided in with regal purpose, a curiosity in her dark eyes as she landed beside her sister and she gazed at the solar diarch quizzically. For a moment, the throne room was silent. Every pony were like statues. Not a pony would move, each waiting for one of others to break the silence.

Rarity put on her bravest face as she took a deep breath. “Twilight Sparkle is no longer Twilight Sparkle.”

The fashionista hesitated. The pregnant pause only served the Royal Sisters as they glanced to one another with confusion. Rarity forced herself to continue.

“She’s alive.” She blurted. “She’s just not…Arg!”

Rarity stomped her hoof in frustration. “She’s not the same. She’s…different. Her mane’s an absolute mess—”

“She’s too thin.” Fluttershy hiccupped around Rarity’s retort.

“She’s just plain ol’ mean.” Applejack spat.

“She won’t smile…” Pinkie Pie sniffled.

“She won’t talk to us.” Rainbow Dash added.

“She’s just changed.” Rarity finally said, her eyes tearing up as those hateful words echoed in her head again.

Celestia could hardly take it. Thousands of years she had watched the lives of ponies play out, the sense of loss never truly affecting her past Luna’s banishment, but the pain of her student being lost to whatever monsters she had encountered while alone caused Celestia’s heart to ache in a whole new pain. Twilight Sparkle was always at the forefront of her mind, but not even love seemed to be able to win the battle for Canterlot. The city was still in ruins. Equestria was still in a panic. Twilight, her Twilight, was still missing.

What had she done?

“Changed? What dost it matter? Where is our friend?”

Luna’s inquiry yanked Celestia from her inner turmoil and the sun princess caught her tears before they broke through the dam of her restraint. Luna gazed at the five with a mixture of confusion and betrayal. She had hoped that searching for Twilight would have yielded better results, but simply a changed mare being the response made her upset. She had yearned for her friend to return, yet they came back without her.

“She’s not coming back.” Rarity replied. “She refuses to be called Twilight Sparkle, and instead is known as Diadem, and lives out in the Dusklands. She refused to come back with us. It’s obvious that she is angry with all of us, Princess. But I…we need to know why.”

“Then return to where you found her and ask. I shall accompany—”

“No, you misunderstand me.” Rarity intervened, holding a hoof out to halt Luna. “I wanted us to come back because we needed to ask why she was angry with us. We needed to ask you, Princess Celestia.”

Rarity turned, her bright blue eyes falling to the alabaster princess. With a tied tongue, she opened her mouth, the desire to accuse the princess of the act high, but she stopped. Again, she felt the questions swirling around in her mind. What if it wasn’t true? What if it wasn’t Celestia? What if she was wrong? Her hooves began to shake with the idea, but she pushed forward. She had to know. For Twilight.

“Princess Celestia…What happened to Twilight at the wedding?”

Rarity cringed. It was not the question she had wanted to ask, but it was almost void of any accusation. The diarchy glanced to one another and Luna arched a brow at the question.

“You know just as we do,” said Luna, taking a step forward. “Our friend disappeared after making a spectacle of herself.”

Rarity’s sky blue eyes locked onto the alabaster princess who had remained silent. Her hopes fading as she saw Celestia, mighty and benevolent Celestia, avert her gaze. Rarity felt her inner commotion building like a tsunami as she began to shake. Celestia was hiding something from them, but what was it? Could it truly be possible for the Solar Monarch to have had a hoof in Twilight’s disappearance? Rarity lifted her chin, her resolve setting as she heard her friends surrounding her. Rainbow Dash hovered with a groan of impatience while Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat back on their haunches to sulk quietly. Neither of them would say anything out of turn, but Applejack stepped up to stand beside her with a perplexed frown. The apple farmer could not fathom the reason to leave, but as Rarity exhaled, she received her answer.

“I believe Princess Celestia understands what I am implying,” The fashionista quipped.

Celesta, tall and powerful Celestia, cringed. All eyes turned to her at her blunder and she felt the tears in her eyes. How could she tell them? How could she stand before some of her most loyal subjects and admit her mistake? She had yet to tell Velvet and Light just what had transpired, but the five mares who made up Equestria’s defense was a whole different matter. She had to articulate it carefully. If she failed, she could condemn her kingdom to ruin. Celestia straightened her back, sweat coating her ivory fur as she shifted. Her throat seemed parched and she swallowed a few more times, thankful for the task as she mulled the thoughts over. What could she say to make them understand? Could they ever understand? Did she?

“I might.”

The words tumbled out before she could stop them, but her gentle smile held her façade in place. There was no skirting the truth, unless she wanted to destroy Equestria. It had been so long without her faithful student that she loved like her own daughter, and she had all but mentally and emotionally punished herself over the last five years. She has dreamt of losing Twilight to every horrible situation she could think of, to the point that she has nearly lived off of the twenty minute naps she takes in between breakfast and conferences. Her student’s paranoia had plagued her and Celestia had wondered if she had misread other situations where Twilight had gone stir crazy, but as she remembered the look of her student the day she came barging into the celebration, Celestia’s fur stood on end.

Never before had she experienced such a shiver down her spine than the curled lip snarl that Twilight had released after demolishing the throne room doors. The harsh magic and brute strength she had used to get to the couple at the altar had made Celestia flinch. There was no way she had mistaken the amount of darkness coming off of her pupil, but denial frothed in her belly. Twilight was not a creature of darkness like Luna. She did not command the dark arts which would twist her vision until she could no longer distinguish hate from love, loathing all things until she was but a shell of her former self for the foulest of magics to take root and flourish. She was not her dearest sister who she lost to the dreaded nightmare that was the very same darkness that Twilight radiated. It was impossible. Twilight was but a unicorn she had deemed destined for greatness and she should have trusted her.

But she didn’t.

Celestia’s smile faltered and, for a moment, the graceful and benevolent princess her subjects had known so well simply stared at the five mares before her as though she were trying to see beyond them. Her guilt forced the mask to break, but Celestia recovered quickly and smiled at Rarity.

“What have you been told?” Celestia inquired, feigning innocence.

The barrier was repaired instantly as she stood before her prodigy’s friends and smiled like the princess she was known to be, but her stomach flipped wildly with “what ifs”. Celestia closed her eyes and pushed the rampant thought aside as she opened them to smile at Rarity and her companions once more. Rarity huffed.

“There is no easy way to say this, Princess, but while we were out there we learned that Twilight didn’t just vanish. Princess… Twilight wouldn’t have just run away from home during her brother’s wedding…would she?”

The accusation was there. Celestia picked it up swiftly. “No. Twilight was never a mare to back down from a gut feeling.”

Her nonchalant tone was deplorable to her own ears. Luna turned towards her sister with wide eyes. “Hath thou known the circumstances behind thy student’s disappearance?”

Accusation number two. Celestia noted that she should have spoken to Luna after Canterlot was won from the Changelings. She should have sat down to talk with her, but the city and the nation needed them mobile. They needed them to calm their fears and protect them during a vulnerable time. Unfortunately, a war was immediately waged against them when he returned. Her ivory coat stood on end as she shivered. If there was a time she needed to have confidence in everything working out, it would be this very moment. She did not banish her student because she wanted her gone. She did it because she was afraid of what she saw that day and with the threat against Canterlot, she could not chance her student becoming the very beast she fought should the darkness finally take hold. Celestia straightened.

Rarity took the admission with a grimace. “She doesn’t run, does she Princess?” Her tone melted from caution and held a hint of anger. “She would have tried again, wouldn’t she?”

Celestia held herself together, but nodded. “Correct.”

Rarity was angry. “She would have gone to you, right? She would have undoubtedly gone to her mentor to quell her fears, wouldn’t she?”

Celestia nodded. Rarity could hardly breathe. Her face felt heated under her oncoming anger and she stomped her foot as she glared at the Princess. She had to ask. She needed to find out for Twilight.

For Spike.

“I was hoping to be wrong.” Rarity said, a hiccup of a sob in her throat. “But it seems that I’m not. Am I?” A curt, humorless laugh. “You did it, didn’t you?” Rarity shook her head. “Princess, did you banish Twilight?”

Celestia’s heart thrummed in her chest as she opened her mouth, poised to answer.

“WHOA! RARES!” Rainbow Dash finally spoke up, flying in front of her friend. “Are you for reals?”

“That’s a ridiculous question. Ah never pegged ya’ to be that dramatic, Rarity. What in tarnation would make ya’ think that the Princess would have anything to do with Twilight leaving us?” Applejack agreed.

“Oh but...She didn’t leave.” Fluttershy spoke up, wiping her reddened eyes. “Why else would she be so…so…”

“Angry?” Pinkie Pie finished.

“Ah can’t believe that ya’ll are even considering this!” Applejack huffed.

“Yeah. Where did you get that from, anyway?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity glared at her two stubborn friends as if they were squabbling foals. “If you must know, while you two were creating a scene, I was talking to the Lord of the clan and the Queen you two nearly killed.”

“Queen?” Celestia asked.

“Celestia?…Sister?” Luna began, turning wide eyes toward Celestia, “The accusation holds no legitimacy, yes?”

Celestia did not answer, but Rainbow Dash’s voice drowned out the Lunar Princess’ thoughts.

“You’re believing a Changeling Queen and some lizard-dragon-dude you’ve never seen before?!” Rainbow snarled.

Rarity glared. “Yes, actually. It makes sense. And that would be Queen Atynis, Rainbow.”

“Ah don’t believe ya’ Rarity!” Applejack snorted.

“I don’t care what her name is! She’s a changeling queen! Or didja forget what those monsters did to us?!” Rainbow Dash growled. “How can you believe the lies those things spread?!”

Rarity glowered at her companions as she stood up. Almost methodically, Rarity took a few steps forward until she was in the cyan pegasus’ face. Her hooves clacked loudly as she stomped forward. “I’m not so hotheaded to believe that all changelings are monsters when clearly shown otherwise. In fact, I had a wonderful discussion about the changelings as a whole. Did you know that Chrysalis was an extremist who broke the laws of her people to get what she wanted like a spoiled brat? No, you didn’t, because you two don’t even bother to talk to anypony before deciding that they’re evil. That Queen you kicked, Applejack? She’s actually a well-spoken and kind Queen who happened to mention Chrysalis’ one weakness in infiltrating a group. Do you know what that is?”

Applejack clicked her tongue. “No.”

“Knowledge.” Rarity breathed. “She can replicate a pony’s looks, but not the personality. She said that she could be detected by someone with a keen eye and a wise heart. Who was the only person who figured out who Chrysalis actually was, hmm? Who was it that told us she was evil in the first place?”

Applejack cringed, the memory had returned full force. “H-How were we supposed to know—”

“Because we were her friends!” Tears finally spilled as they cascaded down the unicorn’s cheeks. “And we were awful friends! We didn’t believe her. We ridiculed her and she just vanished! We believed that she would actually run away!”

Rarity rounded on the Princess. “And you let us believe it! How could you?!”

Princess Luna stepped forward and to the side, knees bent as she readied herself to protect Celestia. “Thy lies are slanderous!”

“No, Luna.” Celestia finally said, placing a gentle hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “She does not lie.”

The room filled with silence as Luna turned, eyes wide. “Sister?”

Celestia stood tall and proud. The perfect ruler she had always presented herself as, and with a firm nod, she turned her gaze to Rarity. “You are not wrong. Twilight would not have run away, as you’ve all believed. In fact, she didn’t. After her…display at the wedding, which had destroyed the castle doors, I spoke with Twilight. She had said that Cadence was evil, and with my experience dealing with a paranoid Twilight, I tried to use reason to calm her fears. She refused to listen—the very offence I committed in return—and fled with a promise to stop Cadence. By the time I reached her, she had already harmed Cadence.”

Celestia squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered. The pink alicorn sobbed as she pointed at her sister-to-be and threw the accusations at her with no remorse. In hindsight, she could see Twilight’s form crumple until she no longer felt anything as she was escorted from the room.

“I had Twilight escorted out and called the doctors to help heal Cadence. I left her in their care and went to talk to Twilight.” Celestia opened her eyes to look upon her student’s friends. “By the time I reached her, she had shut down. However, it was evident that she was not going to stop. She fully believed that Cadence was evil and that she was using her brother.”

Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack listened, each remembering the day of the wedding, but for a much different reason. They remembered the day after the initial wedding day. Pinkie Pie stared at the ground, her poofy hair falling straight as she remembered prancing out of the room without ever looking back. Applejack cringed at the memory as she hurled her own passive-aggressive jab at Twilight before walking out on her, too. Even Rainbow Dash began to remember the encounter as well as the harsh lesson of getting in the way of an angry Twilight and the sharp pain in her back made her grimace.

Rarity and Fluttershy watched the expressions on their friends’ faces as the pieces and memories began to click into place. The two had already relieved the memories of that day at the festival. But the pain was still fresh for them as they both knew, as everypony in the room began to know, just how much pain they had caused Twilight.

“I regret to say that I could not believe that my niece was the same monster Twilight believed her to be. I was fooled by the disguise and my own pride. I believed that I knew Princess Cadence better than my student who had grown up with her. When Chrysalis revealed herself, I knew that I had made a terrible mistake.”

“Mistake?” Rarity hissed. “You banished her!”

Celestia bowed her head in shame. “I did, yes.”

Luna turned towards her sister in disbelief. “Sister...Where did you send her?”

Celestia flinched. “I believe the destination was south of Dodge Junction.”

Luna backpedaled in alarm. “You…were you wishing for her death?!”

“No!” Celestia nearly shouted. Her head snapped up in alarm. “I would never do such a thing! I thought that if I kept her near Equestria that we could find her once she had calmed down. Twilight is resourceful, smart and talented. I knew that I could reach her if she were close by after the wedding. I never intended to keep her away forever, but you must realize that she attacked someone presumed to be a member of the Royal Family! Do you know what would have happened if word had gotten out?” Celestia’s pristine image crumbled as she sat back on her flank, tears in her eyes. “I didn’t think that I’d be in a cocoon for nearly a year! Or that Twilight was right!”

The room was silent for a brief moment until Celestia, mighty and benevolent Celestia, began to sob. “I was a damned fool once again. I couldn’t protect you from yourself and then I couldn’t tell our niece apart from an impersonator. I…I…”

Luna shook her head. “No…No! Thy actions were not warranted. You said it thyself that she became detached from the situation. Why would you even consider such a punishment?”

“Because I was frightened,” Celestia said. She screwed her eyes shut at the admission.

“Let me get this straight. You banished Twilight and didn’t tell us because you were afraid?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes,” Celestia replied with a nod. “I didn’t inform anyone because Equestria needed a strong front in order to survive the damage caused by the invasion. I had to do what was right for Equestria.”

“That’s hardly a proper answer.” Rarity huffed. “If you had not banished Twilight, she’d still be with us. We could have used the Elements a long time ago and prevented these wars. Everything would be different.”

Celestia nodded, but refused to speak.

“How could you do that to us? To her parents? To Spike!” Rarity continued. “He’s been searching for Twilight all this time!”

“It was wrong.” Celestia admitted, her voice low. “And I cannot give a reason that would pacify any resentment or anger. I have not only failed as Twilight’s mentor, but I have failed as a ruler. I should have known Twilight better than that. She wouldn’t attack some pony, much less a Princess of Equestria, without provocation.”

“Of course she wouldn’t. Thy prodigy is far from an imbecile!” Luna snapped. “You claimed this on thy fears! What was it thy feared?”

“Of a nightmare returning…” Celestia whimpered.

Luna stopped short and she recoiled as if she had been struck. “Pardon?”

Celestia grimaced. “When Twilight came barreling into the throne room to the wedding and began to yell, I could see it was if it were happening all over again; the tendrils of nightmare reaching around her. I could almost hear the laughter from over a thousand years ago. I stepped in when she attacked, but she dove right past me. I could almost see the transformation I never saw with you, Luna. I was afraid…afraid that I would have to witness another turn into a nightmare. I…I couldn’t bear it.”

With silence as her answer, Celestia bowed her head. Then, with the building guilt and heartache she had accumulated over the course of five years, the mask finally broke and Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and caretaker of the sun, wept.

The brilliant, blinding light faded behind her closed lids and before she opened them, Diadem could tell that she had been placed in a new environment. Her hooves were suddenly cold. The frigid fluff was snow—she saw it as she looked down—and with furrowed brows she tried to figure out why she was standing in a blizzard that reached her ankles. The hard wind whipped her short mane from its fallen curls, and the sapphire locks billowed around her thin face with a ferocity she had long forgotten about. The bleak, grey sky offered no comfort especially with the clouds, but as she squinted to see through the blizzard, she saw a vibrant crimson illuminance glow in the haze of the storm. With a cautious curiosity, she braced herself against the gale and made her way towards the light.

The snow crunched beneath her hooves with each step she took against the storm, and Diadem could only wonder what she was seeing. Her short locks began to freeze over, her fur frozen in patches as she pushed forward through the tundra, and as she drew near the red spotlight she felt the alien presence strengthen. She knew that she was in a dream—she had to be—but the frigid windstorm felt so real that it sent a wave of shivers through her. Diadem quickened her steps until she was trotting toward the light which grew larger and brighter as she drew closer until the blizzard picked up, blinding her momentarily as a wave of heat enveloped her. She closed her eyes and stepped through the light.

Diadem opened her eyes startled at the impossible warmth she had walked into, but before her laid a vast field, bright green and warm under the sun that had nearly been nonexistent on the treacherous walk towards the light. She shivered again, her body warming up, and proceeded further. Whoever had invaded her mind must have projected this image into her dream for a reason and she wanted to know why. The only one she knew who could traverse the realm of dreams was the dark coated princess she had long ago forced herself to forget and she would be damned if she let that pony gain further access into her mind. Her past would stay in the past; she would make sure of that.

The rolling fields of green blended into a bright sparkle of what seemed to be…crystal? Diadem ambled down the worn path and approached the glimmering city as she scanned the buildings with interest. Never before had she seen actual buildings carved out of crystals and gems of various sizes and shapes. She was swept away in the beauty, her lungs seizing with awe. Her journey led her deeper into the city until she reached the center, where it seemed a fair of some sorts had been taking place. In slow motion, ponies with coats of what appeared to be crystal, danced and laughed, each turned away from the epicenter. At the middle was a statue of a heart carved from crystal and Diadem stepped forward, confused. What was she being shown?

She lifted a forehoof and reached out to the heart, her senses compelling her forward until her hoof tapped the gem and the world around her spun to life. The time caught back up and the ponies of crystal danced about, the square filling with the music and laughter of the citizens. All but one, Diadem noticed, as a rather young stallion barreled through the crowd and ducked into the castle. Curiosity propelled her further and she ducked through the crowd, following the stallion. The interior of the castle stunned Diadem just as the city had, but the shriek of a mare snapped her from her amusement. She broke into a gallop, darting through corridors and rooms to find the source when she stumbled into the throne room. Chills went down her spine, memories trying to surface, but she pushed them aside as she stared ahead.

Before her stood the stallion, howling in grief as he hugged a bloodied corpse on the ground. Heart thrumming in her chest, Diadem felt only pain from the stallion and she collapsed in the doorway. A sigh pervaded the haze of grief and she glanced up to find an alicorn watching the stallion with bitterness. She had a crystal coat of imperial topaz with wings extended, her sapphire mane, lighter than Diadem’s, was tied high with curls falling down in waves, weaved with various hues of tourmaline, quartz, and andalusites gemstones. The crown upon her head was gold, shimmering with rubies and diamonds as she stepped forward, towering over the fallen mare and the weeping stallion by a full two feet as she stared down at them with her jade green eyes.

“You will thank me in the end, Onyx,” The alicorn said with a forced smile. “You have forsaken me and went off with this harlot. Disregarded your duties as a Lieutenant of the Crystal Army and even thought that I might wave you off with a smile? Absolutely not!”

The alicorn snarled at the stallion. “You have taken everything I’ve given you, taught you, and have thrown it in my face these past few years. Should I remind you just where you came from?!”

Diadem gasped as the scene before her slightly shifted. She could see a mare and stallion off to the side, their smiles beamed out, almost blindingly as she looked at them, a young filly between them. Their smiles and faces contorted and soon were horrified shadows of what might have been. The stallion cried out, his black coat losing its shimmer as he crumpled beneath the alicorn’s magic. Ghostly moans echoed in the room, a shrill cry and a choked sob reached Diadem’s ears as she watched the stallion collapse, his crimson eyes wide with panic and tears at the ethereal image.

“You forgot that day, didn’t you? Ah, yes. I let you forget. Took the painful memories and hid them deep within your subconscious, but I find that you should bear your burden. Alone, this time, hmm?”

The alicorn’s scowl was replaced with a thin smile as she gently approached him. “Restore my faith in you, Onyxus. Devote yourself to me once more and I shall seal away these awful memories. I’ll let you forget that you killed your parents, your sister, and now your wife. I’ll take the pain away for you, my precious gem. Just say the magic word.”

Diadem felt it before it manifested, but the stallion stood, tears streaming down his cheeks as his horn lit, throwing back the alicorn. Stunned, the citrine beauty stared with wide eyes as the stallion glared at her. He snarled and stomped his hoof, the crystal beneath him cracking with the pressure of his magic. Diadem cringed. What had she gotten into? What was this vision?

She shook the haze of the spectral image from her head as she stood. She stepped forward, cautious, until she could see his face and she recoiled. His ruby red eyes glowed with power, the magic around him pulsing dangerously and she studied him. A dark charcoal coat, darker than Astral’s, with a jet black mane and ruby red eyes. He seemed built for his position, undoubtedly from years of training in combat and he snarled at the alicorn.

“No more lies!” he roared.

Diadem’s coat stood on end as she back pedaled away from him, the white of his eyes turning spring green with eggplant violet smoke billowing from the corners of his eyes. His rounded pupil became like a diamond, slitted and draconic as he glared.

“You murdered Crystal Thread for nothing!” he screeched as though he were a banshee. “You—”

“No more!”

Her veins froze to ice and Diadem felt the sudden chill as the visions disappeared. She was left alone in the sudden darkness with no idea what happened. The darkness ripped before her, and out stepped the stallion, except his horn had become warped. The curve of the appendage was like a blade and crimson, as if it had seen battle and bathed in the blood of victims impaled by it. She gasped and backed away, the green in his eyes reminding her of that day she was just desperate to forget.

“Who dares to enter my dreamscape?” he sneered. “Who are you?”

Diadem almost stepped back in fright. “Your dreamscape?” she scoffed. “You entered my dreams… I think.”

He blinked at her, his sneer dissipating. His eyes widened as he looked her over with narrowed eyes in scrutiny. Diadem swore she could feel his thoughts, his emotions of curiosity and wonder. Even amazement. Just by focusing on him, two questions seemed to emerge from his mind. Could it be? Was she the one?

“A connection,” he said as he stood straight. “I have been feeling the call of one with great magical potential.”

Albeit confused, Diadem studied him and her eyes widened with a gasp. Upon his back was a plush red cape with black and white fur at the hem. It was held in place by part of his armor, the silver mantle wrapped around his shoulders and covered up to his throat. Upon his head was a crown of silver with two small red spikes curving toward his deranged horn. His dark coat nearly blended into the darkness and his mane gently flowed in a faux breeze. Despite the neon green and violet anomalies with his eyes, Diadem almost took him as a King.

“I…I was a student of magic…a long time ago.” Diadem confessed. “But I haven’t tried to call out to anyone.”

The royal stallion stepped around her, examining her like a vulture with its prey. Diadem was ready to fight, her muscles tensing and her fur standing up on edge. The King took notice and chuckled as he stepped away. His senses told him that it was indeed the same magical signature that had reached out to him in the darkest of hours. He gave her a lopsided grin, a devilish fang protruding from his lips, as he stood straight.

“What is your name?” he asked.

Diadem arched a brow as she slightly relaxed. “Uhh…The name’s Diadem.”

“Diadem,” he repeated, the name a purr on his tongue. “Well, Diadem. I am King Sombra. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Eight

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“King Sombra?” balked Diadem.

A dark chuckle escaped the stallion. “Yes, well. Given my indisposed of state for the last thousand years or so, it’s no surprise that you do not know my name.”

The hair on the nape of her neck stood on end. She’d heard of this story before, and it was like a terrible nightmare was beginning to occur all over again. “A-A thousand…years?”

He nodded, amusement clearly written in his features as he began to circle Diadem. His eyes drifted from her hooves up as he examined her; studied her. “Of course to a regular unicorn, that amount of time would seem too long. However, when you’re forced into the coldest ice of the north by magic, well, the body does well to persevere. Not to mention my own magic protecting and guarding me in my prison.”

Diadem stepped back with a hiss. The story was too similar, too familiar, and she felt her body quake as the hiss escaped her. “You were banished?”

She could taste his curiosity; see it in his eyes. This was not the reaction he had expected of her, and it greatly fascinated him. His thoughts brought forth the image of the sun in the dreamscape, but it was more of a symbol than the actual sun. It was a yellow circle, flat, with rays poking out from it in sways; a representation of a cutie mark she was all too familiar with. Diadem’s stomach churned in disgust as it knotted painfully. She slammed her hooves down upon the transparent floor of the dreamscape with enough force to crack it. The floor splintered beneath their hooves as she trembled with a fierce growl.

“Put it away!” she howled.

The strength of her will in the ethereal scape took hold and the image shattered like glass. Sombra grimaced at the unexpected turn, but easily side stepped the pieces as they rained down around them.

“Such hatred. Such anger,” The dying light from the shards of the sun veiled his face in shadows as he continued to walk. “If I wasn’t the personification of them myself, I think you’d make a lovely addition to the Elegies.”

Diadem began to count backwards. She needed to control her anger before it got out of hand. Her mind reached out and latched onto his words as she forced the memories away. She did not want to remember that face; remember that voice, and she returned her attention to the King with the strange green and red eyes with the purple mist.

“E-Elegies?” she rasped.

The King nodded. “It’s an exquisite set of dark magics. Something the Royal Sisters wanted to keep hidden away.”

“Just like everything else in history?” Diadem scoffed. The only thing that was in any sort of book about Nightmare Moon was a folktale. Her former mentor—Diadem cringed at the remembrance—tended to leave out the evils from the past. She shielded the nation in a blanket of false security and lies in order to keep the “peace”.

King Sombra gave her a chilling grin.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I don’t know whose dreamscape this is, and I don’t really care. Stop dodging my question.”

“Ah, yes. How rude of me. To be blunt, yes. Though, being sentenced beneath the ice isn’t what I’d technically call a banishment.”

Diadem watched him. His curiosity seemed partially sated and she knew that if this was his dreamland and she could sense his curiosity, then he could obviously sense her hostility. Perhaps even her pain. She was uneasy, but she found solace in that fact and in his admission. “Then what would you call it?”

Sombra let out a sigh, his eyes took on a slightly distant look. “Pain. Being ripped away from all you hold dear and tossed away like filth. And then forgotten by all those that knew your name. Betrayal. Hatred.”

Diadem gulped and reactively deflected the memories that tried to creep up on her. She forced up more mental barriers in her mind, partly to keep Sombra from seeing just how bad he had hit a nerve, and mostly to shove her own memories and feelings away. “That scene…That Princess…who was she?”

Diadem cringed. Sombra’s curiosity melted into bitterness and she tasted something acrid and tart in the back of her throat. He did not lash out at her. Instead, he returned his gaze to her and he gave her that lopsided, fanged grin once more. She felt a sense of giddiness, like a child with a wonderful secret, and she could hear the dark rumblings of a chuckle.

“Not a Princess, Diadem. That was a Queen. She was the Queen of the Crystal Empire.”

“The…Crystal Empire?”

Although Sombra gazed at her in amusement, Diadem could sense his confusion with the way his brows knitted together. “A student of magic doesn’t know about the pinnacle of magic itself?”

She shook her head. “I never finished my studies. I—I was…”

Her voice faded as her chest flared in irritation. Again the memories slipped through her barrier and she could see bright colors of a decorated throne room with streamers, cake and ponies. Her insides burned as her thoughts instinctively switched to the festival. The whole thing had gone downhill for her since she had to deal with those five ponies and all it did was hurt her. She had wanted to enjoy the festival more, she wanted to laugh and have more fun, but their mere presence had been enough to tilt her from being able to enjoy herself. She didn’t want to think about it, but her walls fell and her emotions were clear as day to the King.

“You were thrown away,” whispered Sombra. Diadem caught the gleam of understanding in his eyes.

Diadem flinched. Of all the pain she had endured over the last few years, she thought that the idea could bounce off the walls surrounding her heart. No pony she had ever met put it that way, that she was thrown away. But it was true, and it struck her hard and deep. She didn’t want to be left alone. She didn’t want to be tossed away.

“Y-yeah. That.”

“I am sorry.” said Sombra with a respectful bow.

Diadem stared at him. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly as her mind raced to understand the words that had come from his mouth. “W-What?”

“You’ve experienced a unique pain, a betrayal like no other,” he answered. “We’re not that different from each other.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” she replied. The scene she witnessed played again in her head. “Wait, if you’re the King now, what happened to…?”

As her voice trailed off, the King’s demeanor changed. His stoic yet mischievous attitude shifted to that of a predator. His smirk was malicious and his eyes glimmered with nauseating amusement.

“Queen Ametrine Crystal is rotting beneath the snow, where she belongs.”

Twilight Sparkle would have recoiled at the statement, sickened at the mere insinuation, but the mare she was now only nodded in understanding. Diadem could appreciate giving the killers what they deserved when murdering innocents and that alicorn, that queen, was no different. From the vision, she had manipulated Sombra for most of his life, a feeling Diadem knew all too well. She sat back and scanned him over, the green in his eyes still causing her to shiver. He told her that she was this voice and she eyed him.

“So, what is this call you’ve been hearing?” she asked. “And why do you think that it’s me?”

“Intelligent,” appraised Sombra. “I must commend you for piecing it together. Most ponies find me to be a figment of their imagination.”

“I’ve dealt with dream walkers before,” she huffed.

The King eyed her with an odd glance of understanding. “There is only one other dream walker I am aware of, and she is one of the two Princesses who encased me in the ice,” he supplied.

The moon came to the forefront of her mind and Diadem shook her head. Her analytical mind grasped each piece of the puzzle and kicked into action as it shoved the pieces together. There were only two beings she knew of that had the ability to banish, or encase, a highly magical being in the glaciers of the north. They were the very last thing she had wanted to think about.

“As for how I know it is you,” Sombra continued. “I have little doubt it is you. Not only does your magical signature match what I had sensed, your biggest fear is precisely what drew you to me. You do not wish to be thrown away, or hurt, like that ever again.”

“Pretty words,” she scoffed. “And generic fears.”

His dark chuckle echoed around them. “Isn’t that what starts it all? Pretty words and devious lies?”

“I suppose so,” she admitted.

The darkness echoed with her voice, the tone reverberating in the dreamscape as it took a lower octave and became warped. The shadows began to bleed away and King Sombra stopped to glance around the darkness.

“It seems that you are beginning to awaken. Such a pity. I have waited a long time to meet you. Unfortunately, dreams are limited in time. What do you think about meeting in person, Diadem?”

Their voices sounded foreign as the surrounding blackness began to lighten. King’s visage was beginning to melt into the darkness as it started to vanish. “If you’re in the north, it would be difficult. I am in the bitterly hot south and the lands between my home and your kingdom are inaccessible to me.”

Sombra chuckled. It was a strange sound since everything was becoming distorted, but he glanced to her with a smirk. “Fret not. I shall send you an invitation and a mode of transportation. Should you accept, there can be much discussed. However, should you choose to refuse the invitation, then I shall let it go. I won’t pursue this farther than you wish. I am not here to fight with you, but to learn about you.”

The light was beginning to blind her as he spoke. She focused on the King’s face, desperate to etch every line, every detail, into her memory. A part of him, be it his memories or his attitude, called out to her. She had felt a tug the moment she had entered the dream, but as he slowly began to fade from view, she blinked. Her ears twitched as she heard his last words, lingering in the air like a ghost, whispering to her.

“Not all rulers are monsters, after all.”

When she opened her eyes again, Diadem saw the comfortingly familiar stone ceiling above her. She blinked away the haze of sleep as she forced herself to sit up and she rubbed at her eyes as if the light had actually blinded her. Her horn glowed with magic as she lit the candles in her room, giving her light as she shook her head. The dream link was broken. She could no longer feel the King or his magic, but she felt herself curious. There was more to that stallion than he let on, but as she thought about this apparent invitation, she only grew more and more interested in learning about this King and his Empire. Questions sprang forth in her head and she wondered why he was trapped in the ice for a thousand years? Why was he, a King, calling out to an exiled student of magic?

Her stomach eloquently ended the tirade of thoughts as it grumbled loudly. She flattened her ears as she sighed. “Breakfast first. Then ponder about the weird King thing.” She muttered as she climbed out of bed.

Luna frowned. She could not recall the last time she had seen her sister cry, nor ever seeing her do so. Surely she had at some point in time, but the memories that were her own refused to surface.

Her memories as Nightmare Moon gave themselves up all too easily. The Princess of the Night could remember Celestia as she begged her to stop and pleaded for her to end her madness. Despite her best efforts, Luna could only recall her sister’s strained voice as it cracked. Celestia screamed at her to stop. To lower her moon and that she had loved Luna more than anything else. Luna could remember the words, the broken and hollow tones, but not her face and definitely not her tears. It was fuzzy behind the veil that had been Nightmare’s eyes, but as Celestia tried to quell her sobbing, Luna found herself stock still. She was unable to move, her muscles seizing in shock as she thought of the pain that could have caused Tia, her big sister Tia, to crumble.

“T-Tia…?” Luna tried, but her voice was too low.

“Y-You realize that you could have killed her, yes?” Rarity said, her own voice cracking with a sob.

“Yes, but it was a risk I had to take.” Celestia whimpered. “I didn’t expect any of this. None of this was supposed to happen.”

“And what was supposed ta’ happen?” Applejack finally asked, sullen.

Celestia wiped away her tears as she lifted her head to see the five mares before her. Every one of them were quaking with their own emotions and thoughts. She took a deep breath and eyed each one of the mares, knowing full well that they felt betrayed, it was clear in their eyes. Had she made a mistake? Yes, and only continued to make more after, despite her best efforts. For everything that they had sacrificed, everything they had done for Equestria as the Elements of Harmony, Celestia knew that they deserved to know everything. She was tired of holding it in. After all, only truth could set you free.

Celestia composed herself and took her usual regal pose before them. “Once the wedding was over, I had intended to go to Twilight and see what fate would befall her. I had expected to find her either giving into the nightmare… or upset and regretful of her actions. I believed that only two options should have been possible.”

“The invasion changed everything,” Pinkie Pie guessed. Her once curly hair had fallen straight and hung limp, concealing her tear stained cheeks from her friends, but not the Princesses.

The sun raiser nodded. “Yes. If I had an inkling of the threat to Canterlot already being in the city, I would have never sent her so far away. I would have never done it.”

Regret.

Celestia had held onto it for so many years, using it to motivate herself. To do what was right. After all, it was the only choice she had been given. Equestria, and all of her ponies within, was worth more to her than anything. Even if that meant the life of her faithful student had to be forfeited. She knew that should have been the end of it, but her heart stung. She had regretted her decision despite all of the reasoning she had memorized like a mantra. It was an action Celestia had believed would benefit Equestria one of two ways, and neither of those outcomes had come to pass. Instead, she was left hollow and empty inside as she grieved for her lost student. She would have always wondered about Twilight’s fate.

“B-But why…?” Fluttershy stuttered. “W-Why would you let us think she ran away?”

Applejack’s ears flattened against her head at the timid pegasus’ question. She had fully believed that Twilight had gone out and thrown a fit like Apple Bloom tended to do and had said it carelessly. “Well, uh…I might have said that, ‘Shy.” She said as she rubbed the back of her head. “I mentioned it when her folks were lookin’ for her. I said she probably ran away ‘cause she was mad at ‘er brother for marrying Princess Cadence.”

Celestia exhaled slowly as she tried to mend the broken barrier between her emotions and her face, “I never corrected your assumption because Luna and I had to defend Equestria. I believed that it was easier for you girls to believe that than the alternative, and I couldn’t let the harmony you girls represent dwindle in the face of danger. Despite my own selfishness of wanting to look for Twilight, my prison being broken only gave Chrysalis more incentive to either recapture me or destroy Canterlot. You girls all know what transpired after.”

“Still!” Luna finally barked as she slammed her hoof down. She had restrained herself enough for Celestia to talk, but her anger had finally stretched its limit. “Thy actions have caused Equestria great harm! Had thou not sent Twilight Sparkle away, the changeling queen would have been defeated long before we were captured!”

“I know, Luna. Believe me, I want nothing more than to go after Twilight. I want to fix this,” said Celestia.

“So…wh-what do we do now?” Rainbow Dash said. She had finally pulled herself from her shock and stood beside her friends. It was difficult to believe that Princess Celestia had done something so uncool like banishing Twilight like that, but if Twilight really was going to become something like Nightmare Moon…Rainbow shivered. “I-I mean, if you banished her…then…then she’s—”

Celestia brought forth an ivory feather to wipe away her remaining tears. She had finally told the truth, but there was much more she was feeling than regret. “I apologize for never correcting you girls.”

“I will not accept such an apology,” Rarity seethed. “You let us go out searching for Twilight without any sort of inclination as to what we might find or be told! Had you told us any of this sooner, we could have handled the situation better. We nearly killed an innocent queen, Princess! We almost destroyed an entire city’s way of life!”

Celestia’s eyes widened and Luna snapped her head towards the raging unicorn in disbelief. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both glanced at one another with guilty grimaces. Fluttershy whimpered and hugged Pinkie Pie who stared at the floor. Rarity stomped her hoof once more. “So, forgive me Princess, but no. I cannot and will not accept such a feeble, and dare I say, stupid excuse!”

“A whole city, you say?” Luna asked, caution clear within her voice.

Rarity gave a curt nod.

“I never expected cities to actually flourish out there.” Celestia finally said. “The Badlands are a barren wasteland. Nothing grows out there.”

“It seems you were wrong, yet again, Celestia. It seems to be a trend, dear sister.” Luna said. Her sarcastic tone took a chilling clip at the endearment and Celestia knew that Luna was furious.

Celestia heaved a heavy sigh. “That it does.”

Luna wanted to bark at her sister, to demand to know what madness had taken over her to use fear as a reason for banishment, but she halted her harsh tongue with a fierce bite. “A city will have a governing group, correct?”

Rainbow Dash cringed, “Yeah…about that.”

“Speak, Rainbow Dash.” Luna insisted.

“Er, well, funny story,” the cyan flyer commented quite lamely. “I might have, kinda, sorta maybe threatened him?”

Luna’s eyes widened.

“In our defense, Princess,” Applejack interjected, hopping up to her friend’s side. “We didn’t know what was goin’ on and he wasn’t helpin’ none! When we finally saw Twi, we wanted to hug ‘er and he got in the way!”

“Yeah! I told him to move or I’d make him, but uhh…” Rainbow Dash gave an uneasy chuckle. “Uh, Twi attacked me. I don’t think he likes me after that.”

The Royal Sisters stared at the five mares with wide eyes, and Luna’s mouth dropped.

“Hmph, yes. And don’t forget about the little detail of accusing him and Queen Atynis of hurting me and Fluttershy,” Rarity snapped.

Luna shook her head. “Thy tale is vexingly deplorable. Does this leader still have ill will towards thee?”

“I don’t believe so,” Rarity replied.

“Satisfactory at best, then,” Luna muttered. “If there is a city, then we must correct the errors caused by ignorance.”

Before the Princess of the Night could continue, a feeling tugged at the corner of her consciousness. The gentle pull of her celestial body forced her to reign in her thoughts before they spiraled into a rage. She sighed and glanced at her sister before returning her gaze to the Elements.

“Thy concerns are mine, I swear to thee, but my moon must rest and the sun must rise. After all of your traveling, you must be fatigued. The guards shall make the proper accommodations for your stay. Please rest.”

At the mention of sleep and the thought of a warm bed to sleep in, Rarity nodded. Her eye lids were beginning to feel heavy the more she thought about it, and it would soon dull her senses enough to sleep. She turned her attention back to Celestia.

“Very well, but we are far from finished discussing this,” she said with a small glare.

“Of course.” Celestia affirmed.

As Rarity turned from the Princesses, her friends each muttered their own goodbyes. Some were obviously full of despair and others with disdain. Celestia watched her little ponies exit the room followed by the guards and she gave a heavy sigh, refusing to meet her sister’s gaze.

Luna gave her sister a perturbed frown. She was not ready to give her sister a break in the matter, but the day’s cycle needed to begin. With a sigh of her own, she closed her eyes and reached out to her celestial body. Her horn glowed a navy aura and she began to ease the moon from its place in the night sky. Celestia followed suit and her lemon yellow magic wrapped around her horn as she reached out for her sun. Together, they began the cycle. Luna’s night began to bleed into light as Celestia’s sun rose up on the horizon. As Celestia watched the sun rise, she knew that she would have to return to the front lines soon, especially since her wounds were healed, but first words had to be said.

“You wish to question me,” Celestia stated once her sun had risen high and she released her magic’s hold on the star. “I can see it in your eyes, Luna.”

The Princess of the Night gazed at her sister, “Why didst thou not confide in me? After all this time, am I still untrustworthy?”

Celestia recoiled. Her heart ached as if Luna’s words were a knife delving into the organ with serrated teeth and twisting violently. “That was never it, Luna! Please, believe me. I did not want to divide our allegiances when we still had to fight.”

“And after?” Luna pressed. “Thou had purposely let us believe that our friend had all but fled. You sent her away, Celestia. How could thou not disclose such delicate and serious information to me? Of young Twilight’s banishment? Of a possible nightmare returning?!”

“I didn’t want you to feel responsible,” Celestia said. “You were guilt ridden upon returning to me. I did not want you to suffer should a nightmare return once more.”

Luna halted her tirade and stared. She could not detect a lie in her sister’s words and she felt strange. She wanted to be angry at Celestia, but her sister spoke the truth. What if she had witnessed Twilight’s change? Would she have been able to fight without feeling that nightmare was her fault?

Her own creation afflicting a close friend?

Luna released the breath she had been holding. “I do not agree with your actions, but the damage is done. Thy protégé is rightfully livid with thee and thy actions have hurt me, as well. Thou knew where Twilight Sparkle had gone…and thou didst tell me.”

Celestia grimaced at her sister’s tone. Her shame knew no bounds and she felt her sister’s pain slice through her. She lowered her head in her guilt.

“I know Luna. I’ve made many mistakes, thinking I was doing the right thing, assuming it was the right thing,” she said as she got to her hooves. She stretched out her wings and turned to stare out at the morning sun. “I’m tired, Luna. Not in body, but in spirit. I have lived millenniums, trying my best and making many more mistakes than ponies know.”

Luna sensed Celestia’s change of mind. “Sister?”

“Luna,” Celestia began, “I wish to leave for the Badlands. I must go to Twilight. I must correct this…my awful mistake.”

“Nay, sister.” Luna replied as she stepped in front of the older alicorn. “While I doth agree, correction is needed, we can’t allow it. Not now. We’re at war, and while recovering the Element of Magic, and our friend, is important, I cannot hold the lines should we be attacked again.”

“But Lun—”

The dark alicorn shook her head and gave Celestia a glare. “No. There are other… diplomatic ways to go about this. Allow me to see what can be done. Besides, I doubt she would appreciate thy presence.”

Celestia’s chest constricted. Her sister’s obvious jab made her cringe and she knew that Luna was right. The implications were not unfounded and she had damaged her chances to reconcile with Twilight the moment she sent her away. The moment she thought she could rid one to save many.

“Very well, Luna. If you would keep me informed, then I shall resume my position at the northern post with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence,” Celestia replied.

“And tell Shining Armor the truth of his sister?” Luna inquired with a growl.

Celestia hung her head. “Yes.”

Luna nodded in satisfaction. “Do try to refrain from frivolous ideas, sister. The Element of Magic nearly killed you for trying to use it in place of its bearer.” Luna reprimanded her. “I may not care for thee at this very moment, but we are sisters and as a Princess of Equestria, we need you.”

Celestia glanced down. Her injuries were nearly gone. In less than a day they would be fragments of her memory, thanks to her healers left in the castle. She had not believed that the Elements of Harmony would lash out at her so violently. Testing the loyalty of the Element of Magic nearly killed her. The gem had stolen as much magic as it could, screaming at her the moment she tried to wield it, and it left her incapacitated. Celestia was at a loss. The Element of Magic was the last connection she had to Twilight and it rejected her, vehemently. Outside, she was injured, but on the inside she felt broken. She had returned to Canterlot to recover, but she had returned to face her biggest mistake. Her most painful mistake.

“Of course.” Celestia answered as she turned away from her sister. “I will head for the front lines this afternoon.”

“Mother’s speed, Celestia.” Luna said.

The porcelain alicorn only nodded before she stepped from the ruined chamber.

Echoing Silence

by Aelthya

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight