> The Secret Cult of Nightmare Moon
>  by SunnyCharm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Once Upon A Dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The Victors are the ones who tell the tale. History shall be kind to me - I intend to write it."

- Commander Hurricane



* * *


"Since the beginning of Equestria, there was the Sun Princess. Celestia rose the sun every morning, and set it in the evening. She presided over court, and fairly judged her subject's requests and petitions, and life was good, for most. The Princess looked out upon her kingdom, peaceful and bright, and thought to herself that she was truly the most brilliant leader the world had ever seen."

As Twilight Velvet recited the story, her young filly sat quietly on a suitcase, and looked out the window at the snow-covered hills. She had heard this story before, many times, but tonight was a special occasion. It was Twilight Sparkle's tenth birthday, and they were leaving Canterlot in a private train carriage.

"For everything light in the world, there is also a darkness, and this is how the world should be. But some ponies feared the darkness, and hated the night, which was a shame, because no one paid attention to the second great princess: Luna, who raised the moon."

"But a few ponies liked nighttime, right Mom?" Twilight asked, turning away from the window to meet her mother's gaze.

"That's right, darling. Astronomers-"

"Like dad!" Twilight interrupted. Technically, Night Light was a stellar cartographer, but to a young foal, there wasn't much difference, so Velvet didn't correct her.

"- And artists, and peasants, and others, as well." The older Twilight finished, before she returned to the story.

"The Moon Princess once had a great power, because she was Celestia's shield and sword. But in a peaceful nation, the ponies of Equestria only saw Luna in one of three ways. She was an annoyance to the nobles, because she fought for the working class. Those same working ponies saw her as the lesser Princess, because she accepted cases Celestia turned down. There were only a few ponies who loved Luna as much as most loved her sister."

The Elder Twilight paused for theatrical effect, and her filly leaned forward in anticipation, even though she already knew what happened.

"One day, frustrated by her sister's never ending popularity, Luna insisted that Celestia give her a throne of her own, and a true role in Equestria. Distrustful and greedy, the elder sister refused, and it was the last straw. A great fight erupted, destroying the great castle that the two sisters had built. When she saw that she was losing the battle-"

"Because Luna was the better of the two, in battle." Shining Armor interjected from his bed. He said he was going to nap, but it seemed he'd stayed up to listen.

"Right." Velvet agreed, and continued the tale before any more comment could be made. "When she saw she was losing the battle, Celestia used a set of rare artifacts to capture her sister, and banish her to the moon, for a thousand years."

Silently, Twilight Sparkle swore she would never banish her sibling for a thousand years, no matter how annoying and smelly he could sometimes be.

"But that's not the end of the story." Velvet smirked, reciting the rest of the tale. "Even though Luna was gone, her followers never lost faith, and it soon paid off. Even in her banishment, the Princess could still dreamwalk. She spoke to her followers, and they began to make plans. When the Moon Princess returns, she will have respect she deserves."

"And we'll be the generation that gets to see it!" Night Light exclaimed cheerfully, returning from the dining car with a tray of food suspended in his magic. He passed it off to his wife, who helped distribute hayburgers to the family.

"So what does that old story have to do with my question?" Twilight asked, around a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear." Velvet chided, before answering. "You asked why we had to leave Canterlot. You know that we believe that old story is true, don't you? Princess Luna will return, and she told us in a dream that it was important to keep you foals safe. The capital city of the Sun Princess is not a safe place for Lunar Cultists, Twilight."

"But what about our friends back in Canterlot?" Twilight asked, and her parents gave her a look.

"You mean my friends, and your books?" Shining teased, and the filly blushed.

"Books are friends too." She added quietly.

"Don't worry, honey. There will be books where we're going. There will also be other foals like you two, since this community is made up of Lunar Cultists creating a farmstead in the back country. I know a good Astronomer friend of mine has already moved out there. He's written me, and told me how nice it is." Night Light explained.

Twilight was still unsure, but she was glad her parents trusted her enough to tell her about it. Even as a young filly, she knew how dangerous it was to support the banished Princess, when Celestia herself had decreed that her true name was never to be spoken again. When her only state-sanctioned holiday portrayed her as a foal-eating monster.

"Where is this Lunar Village at, Dad?" Shining asked as he finished his meal.

"Well, first we have a little stop to make along the way." Velvet admitted, answering for her husband. "First, we're going to a town called Ponyville to pick up some friends. Then, we'll all travel to the Castle Of The Two Sisters, deep inside the Everfree forest."

"Whoa! The Everfree!? That's dangerous, isn't it?" Shining exclaimed, glancing protectively at Twilight.

"Yes, but our Ponyville contact knows her way around that area, and we should be safe until we reach the castle." Night Light explained.

"You said that they were making a farmstead there. How will they grow the food in the heavy underbrush? It's too dark to grow crops!" Twilight announced, having read about the magical forest in her studies.

"Actually, we aren't growing crops in the forest at all." Velvet smirked, giving her daughter that Figure It Out smile. "Remember Nightmare Moon's last promise?"

"That she would keep the moon up forever, and never raise the sun again?" Twilight said tentatively as the gears in her brain started turning. Given that information, what conclusions could she draw? Her mother was a scientist, and her father studied the stars. They were all going into the Everfree forest for what? To grow crops in the dark?

Oh. To grow crops in the dark.

"You... You won't need sunlight at all, will you?" Twilight grinned, excited at the prospects.

"Hopefully not!" Velvet smiled right back. "We have enough provisions to last for a while, but we're excited for all of us to try out our theories, from hydroponics to artificial sunlight!"

"And just imagine all the Pre-Monarchial manuscripts, Twilight! I bet there are a wealth of secrets hidden in there!" Night Light dreamily noted. While her mother infected Twilight with her love for science and research, her love of books and the arts came from her father.

"Not to mention," Velvet nuzzled her daughter. "You can work on your magical experiments here. We forbade you from using your skills in Canterlot, because it was too risky to let Celestia catch you."

"But once you got your cutie mark, we knew it was time to leave, even before the Princess confirmed it. We couldn't deny you your special talent." Night Light added. He looked toward his son with a smile.

"Your brother's special talent is protecting ponies, and it's high time he got to practice his special talent too." The stallion grinned, because he was about to make Shining as happy as Twilight was now. "In the settlement, there's a member of the Night Guard. He can teach you things they don't learn in the Royal Guard anymore."

Shining's ears perked up at that. He'd been rather moody the whole ride at the idea of having to give up his dream.

"The job of the Royal Guard these days is largely symbolic." Velvet added with a shrug. "The Night Guard on the other hand, has real work to do once the Princess returns."

"Really?" The colt asked excitedly. "I talked with Princess Luna about it after I got my cutie mark, but I didn't know I'd be able to get started so soon!"

"The Princess is returning soon. We need all the loyal guards we can get." Night Light added, ruffling his son's hair.

"Wait!" Twilight exclaimed. "Shiny got to talk to the Princess when he got his cutiemark!? Will I get to see her tonight!?" The little unicorn filly bounced up and down in excitement, and luggage began to levitate in her excitement.

"Who can say?" Velvet teased. "You won't know until you go to sleep."

"Oh stars, you're right! I'll go to sleep right away tonight, no late-night reading!" Twilight insisted, hopping into her bunk. It was thanks to Luna's funds that they could afford a sleeper car, and the whole family planned to make good use of the luxury.

When Twilight Sparkle next opened her eyes, it was inside a massive throne room. Before her, was a huge raised dais, and upon it sat the mistress of the moon herself, Princess Luna. Twilight was scared, despite all the good stories her parents told her about the princess of the moon, but she soon realized why. Luna had strange dragon-like eyes that were a bit unnerving. A little less afraid now, Twilight dipped into a bow. No one told her to, but it felt like the right thing to do when facing a diarch.

"Rise, Twilight Sparkle." The voice that gave the order was kind, and laced with amusement.

"I see you have earned your cutie mark, my little pony. What is your special talent?" Luna asked, and Twilight shuffled on her hooves.

"Um, I'm not really sure. I got this cutie mark when I helped my brother fix his shield matrix. The spell he learned in school was too..." The little filly frowned, trying to find a vocabulary word that fit how she'd perceived the spell.

"Too brittle, I guess? It wasn't flexible enough to withstand much damage, and the magic efficiency ratio was horrible. My brother thought I was just imagining things, so I tried to fix it for him." The filly happily (if a bit bashfully) related her tale, and the princess nodded.

"Then, I saw this huge rainbow outside my window, and I heard a sound like the crack of thunder! All of a sudden, I knew what to do!"

It seemed young Twilight had seen a sonic rainboom. Those were assumed by many to be just a legend, and Luna had gotten reports of the event on the night it happened.

"Ah, we have a great magical engineer among us! Such a talent only comes along once every century or so. Those with a cutie mark in magic are the ones who create spells and enchantments. Do you know of the last great Equestrian example?"

"Starswirl The Bearded...!" Twilight whispered in a sort of awe.

"Indeed. He designed many of the spells which are still used to this very day. Perhaps someday, you shall surpass his renown with your own, Miss Sparkle."

"But... But everyone I know took an apprenticeship to learn their special talent!" The filly felt tears and magical energy building up, and even though she didn't want to cry in front of a moon goddess, it seemed inevitable. Who would teach her, if the last great spellsmith had been dead for over a millennium?

"Fear not, my little pony." Luna smiled down with her sharp teeth, and stroked Twilight's mane. The filly was surprised she could feel it in her dreamscape.

"If my sister can have a faithful student, what is stopping me from taking my own?" The princess mused aloud, and even the foal caught the bitterness in her tone of voice.

"Banishment..." She replied sullenly, then blushed. "Or, was that a rhetorical question?" Twilight had never been very good at picking up social cues, and she worried she might have offended the Princess.

"Even through dreams, I will surely guide you well, dear Twilight. You will be of great use to me when I return to Equestria." The black alicorn announced proudly, reaching down to nuzzle the little filly in comfort.

"Really?" Twilight asked, excited at the prospects of knowledge and study.

"Yes, really. The time is approaching for my return. You are only one of my students, but you will have a large part to play in my new world." The alicorn smiled again, showing those fearsome teeth once more.

"A very large part indeed..."
> In Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Twilight awoke, she took in a deep breath of air, and let out an excited squeal that awoke every member of the family.

"Omigosh Omigosh Omigosh!" The filly bounced up and hit her head on the bunk above her with a painful thud.

"What is it-" Velvet paused to deeply yawn. "Mmm, Twilight?"

"Listen to this, Mom! Luna said that my special talent was magic! Like all of it! All magic!" The filly could barely contain her excitement, and it came out through her horn. "She said I was a magical engineer! Like Starswirl the Bearded!"

"Wow! That's wonderful, honey!" Night Light grinned, and dodged a stray telekinetic bolt as he wrapped his daughter in a warm hug.

"She's going to teach me, Dad! She said I'll be in the history books just like Starswirl, and I can invent new spells, all on my own!"

The two proud parents finally got their daughter to calm down, and they all ate a quick and simple breakfast before the train reached the station. They didn't want to make any unnecessary stops to avoid suspicion, so that meant putting off a good meal until they got to their destination. Ponyville was a quaint little town, and the most noticeable feature was a bizarre house built into a tree. To Twilight's surprise, they headed right for it, as soon as they stepped off the platform.

When they got close enough to read the sign, the filly was delighted to see that it was a library! Inside, the place was dusty, as if it rarely saw use. The lights were off, and while the door was unlocked, the place gave off a terribly foreboding feeling that Twilight had never felt in a library before.

"Harvest Moon? Are you here?" Night Light called out, and there was nothing but silence. After a moment of quiet, an earth pony mare emerged from the shelves.

"Ah, Mr. Light and Mrs. Velvet. Nice to finally meet you." The mare proudly introduced herself, and Twilight took a moment to look her over. She had a fluffy orange mane, and light-grey fur. Her cutie mark was a yellow-orange full moon. This mare turned out to be their liaison with the rest of the Everfree Colony, and she told Twilight to fill her saddlebag with books, if she wanted them.

"My cousin Golden Harvest owns this library, and no one ever comes anyway. Who'll miss a few books? I already got the ones I came for, anyhow." Harvest shrugged, not knowing the monster she'd unleashed. Twilight raced through the stacks, finding a copy of Advanced and Intermediate Unicorn Magic. She shoved them into her bag, along with a book of historical biographies and a guide to gryphon culture. She found a book of Zebra alchemy, and grabbed it too. Soon, she'd stuffed her saddlebags full, and all together, the group trotted off to the edge of town.

The outskirts of the the Everfree weren't so scary, really. The group kept up a tense silence while they listened and watched for danger, but they didn't see any wild animals as they followed the trail through the underbrush. Soon, they reached a small hut that was built in the roots of a tree. Outside the cozy little home hung bottles and foreign-looking masks. Shining readied a shield in defense, but Twilight examined the curios with interest.

"Zecora?" Their guide announced, knocking on the door. "It's Harvest. I have guests!"

The door creaked open to reveal a pretty zebra, who ushered them inside.

"My humblest greetings, I give to you. Welcome, Luna's faithful few." The zebra rhymed, and the party smiled and gave introductions. Shining allowed his shield to fizzle out when he saw the adults relaxing.

"Your travel must have tired thee. Come in, and I will offer tea." Zecora invited the travelers inside, and Twilight looked around the hut with awe. There were all manner of charms and potions along the wall, and the filly examined them with interest. She focused on an interesting torque that was engraved with mythical creatures. When she looked up close like this, she could see some of the enchantments, and it was nothing like anything she'd seen in Equestria. Then again, she'd only recently gotten her cutie mark, so she hadn't had much time to explore the inner depths of magic.

Soon, tea was served, and conversation carried on fairly well, given that sometimes the visitors had to stop and figure out what their host meant in her rhymes. Soon, Night Light asked a question.

"Zecora, how did you come to be allied with our princess?" The stallion asked, and the zebra sighed sadly.

"I have not left my home, of late. For outside, I find only hate." She paused to let that sink in, before she continued. "I thought that soon, I might defect. For here, I can never gain respect."

The group of ponies nodded solemnly. Luna taught acceptance and equality. Celestia allowed fear and bigotry to continue, especially toward immigrants, and bat ponies. She never outright said that she distrusted them, but she never directly spoke out against their persecution. Under Celestia's reign, there was even an unspoken rule of tribalism. The majority of noble seats were held by unicorns, and only unicorns were allowed in Celestia's famous school. The subjects of the Sun Princess' regime had grown so used to the intolerance, even as they prided themselves on friendship and charity.

"I'm sure you'd be welcome at the settlement." Velvet ventured.

"While I know I am not alone, I cannot bear to leave my home. If something happens, and my life may suffer, only then shall I accept your kind offer." The zebra smiled, no harm meant.

"Let's be pen pals then!" Twilight exclaimed. "We can keep in touch!"

"Some might say that thought is silly..." Zecora giggled. "But I think it sounds fun, you exuberant filly."

After tea, the group left on their way again, and thankfully, didn't encounter any wild creatures along their way to the castle. And what a castle it was! Twilight could feel the residual magic, even as she saw the towers rise into the treeline. Magically preserved tapestries still remained, fluttering gently with the sigil of two sisters. Within, the castle looked exactly as if no one had lived here in a thousand years, and Twilight began to wonder where their guide was taking them. Harvest led down a steep passageway, and finally, to a door that lay far below ground level.

"Well, here you go, Light family. Home Sweet Home!" Through the door, Twilight saw a hewn tunnel. It must have been created using a rock shaping spell, because the floor and walls (and probably the ceiling too) were perfectly flat and stable. Inside the tunnel system was a wide open square, with a well in the middle. The walls were lined with bright lightbulbs, and Twilight noted that they were powered by Equestria's ambient magic. It was strong enough that the underground village was shrouded in warm light.

"Welcome to Midnight Square!" Harvest announced, and many ponies rushed from out of other tunnels at the sound of their arrival. One was a unicorn stallion with a white coat and a royal purple mane. His cutie mark was a constellation.

"Starbright!" Night Light exclaimed, rushing out to meet his astronomer friend who'd left Canterlot seasons ago.

"Good to see you, Light! Meet my daughter, Twinkleshine!" The stallion indicated a young filly behind him who had a fluffy pink mane, and white fur like his. "I see you've already met my lovely wife, Harvest Moon."

"Guilty as charged!" The earth pony mare grinned as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek.

"Um, hello. I notice you also have stars on your flank." Twinkleshine said to Twilight, hiding behind her father a bit. The purple filly noted that her cutie mark was, in fact, three silver stars. "Are you an astronomer too?"

"I'm a magical engineer!" Twilight announced matter-of-factly, and then, when seeing the confusion on the other filly's face, decided to explain. "I can create and edit spells. I bet I could reverse engineer an enchantment too, if I ever found one to examine..."

"The great and powerful Trixie is not impressed!" A little blue filly (whom Twilight assumed was the aforementioned Trixie) announced with flair. She wore a fancy pointed hat with stars on it, and apparently spoke in the third person.

"Trixie! Be nice, honey!" An adult blue mare exclaimed, as she made her way over, and used a tendril of her magic to flick her daughter on the forehead. She turned to Velvet and introduced herself.

"Hello darling. I'm Nova Lulamoon. You must be tired after your journey. Would you like to come get a bite to eat?" The mare's azure mane fell aside as she tilted her head, waiting for an answer.

"That would be lovely, Ms. Lulamoon." Velvet replied, and the whole family began to move to the cafeteria, through another tunnel. On their way, they passed a wide open room with soil and crops, and a lot of various magical implements Twilight didn't recognize. She looked forward to examining everything in greater detail.

In the cafeteria, which was a wide-open room, with a few wooden tables scattered about. One table was occupied by a bat pony and a bat pony colt, who was probably his son. The stallion had a black coat, and a silver-charcoal mane that curled behind him like a nimbus cloud. At another table was a young bat pony stallion, much younger than Night Light, but several years older than Shining. He had a charcoal coat, with a light blue mane, like cool starlight.

"Alright, Everypony! Breakfast is served!" A female bat pony announced, placing a big pot of oatmeal onto a stone counter. Next to it were bowls of dried berries and apples, and a jar of spoons.

"Mmm, smells great, Nebula!" The older bat pony stallion announced with a wave.

Everyone got in line to eat, with the new arrivals from Canterlot in back. Twilight gave her mother a little nudge.

"Mom? We got here around evening. Shouldn't it be dinner time?" The filly asked, confused about how life worked for these strangers.

"One of the things we agreed upon for this settlement was that we would sleep in the daytime, so that we could enjoy Luna's night. It was too conspicuous to do so in Canterlot, but here we can stargaze all we want!" Velvet explained as they moved forward in line.

"It's really great! My dad is teaching me the constellations! We're mapping the Princess' artwork in the sky!" Twinkleshine added with excitement.

The fact that Luna created the constellations was a pretty important fact to be conveniently left out of history, Twilight thought.

When they'd gotten their meals, the four sat down across from the bat pony family and introduced themselves.

"Greetings! Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor. It's a pleasure to meet you." The stallion smiled particularly fondly at the foals. "I am Moonshadow, and this is my lovely wife Nebula."

"Hello! Welcome to the Everfree Colony!" The mare who made breakfast waved with a smile.

"And this is my son, Nightblade."

The colt's eyes widened when he saw Shining Armor, or more accurately, Shining's cutie mark.

"Whoa! You have a shield!? I have a sword!" Nightblade exclaimed, and sure enough, his cutie mark was a crescent moon, crossed with a sword.

"Are you joining the Night Guard too?" Shining asked eagerly, and Nightblade nodded.

"Yeah! My dad is the captain!" The colt proudly exclaimed, and Shining gave a salute like he'd seen the Royal Guard perform in Canterlot.

"Wow, sir!" The unicorn colt announced excitedly. "I'm at your beck and call!"

"At ease, private." Moonshadow grinned teasingly. He wouldn't bother with teaching Shining real protocol until he was sworn in by Luna. He was still a colt after all!

After breakfast, the family was shown to their rooms. There was a living area, with a couch and bookshelves, and a coffee table. There was one bedroom for the adults, and one with bunk beds for the foals. Back in Canterlot, Twilight had always had her own room, but she liked Shining well enough, so she didn't think there would be a problem. After they got unpacked, Velvet gave her permission for Shining to go play with his new friend. Twilight opted to stay with her parents, because she was madly curious about what they actually did here. Nebula offered to give them the tour, since she was primarily the cook, and didn't have any more duties until dinnertime.
> New Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Ponies require only three things to live: Food, water, and air. Unicorns possess a great advantage, as magic can summon or create all three."

- Clover The Clever, 67 AD


The first stop on the grand tour was the incubator, a fancy name for the room where crops were grown. Each row of sprouting plants were labeled, and Twilight read them off silently. Hemp, Oats, Wheat, Grass, and Pumpkins. Harvest Moon was busy at work, measuring growth and taking notes.

"The most of the crops over there are being grown by a uv lamp." Nebula explained. "It's enchanted to have roughly the same make-up as sunlight, and we're hoping to get a bunch more made before The Princess returns, so none of the farmers suffer for her sister's stubbornness."

"Um, excuse me, Mrs. Nebula," Twilight interjected. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Well, when Celestia banished her sister to the moon, she ripped from her the ability to raise and set it every day. When Princess Luna returns, she swore not to do the same thing to her sister, because it hurts to have your special talent torn away like that. She plans to give Celestia the option to relinquish her sun willingly, but if she refuses, we'll just have to make do until she gives in."

"Twilight!" Twinkleshine shouted as she emerged from what seemed to be a storage closet.

"Um, hello? Twinkleshine, was it?" The purple filly cringed a bit. Was this other foal actually glad to see her? Why?

"I was just helping out here, but I'm sure I could come with you if I asked." The pink-maned filly announced excitedly, before turning to Harvest Moon. "Hey mom, can I play with Twilight? She's my new friend!"

"Sure, hon. Just be sure to stay out of the way if the grownups are busy, okay?" The earth pony mare absently answered as she kept working. Twinkleshine trotted over to the other filly, whose mind was still reeling about the idea that Twinkleshine thought of her as a friend.

Next stop was the infirmary, where a young unicorn mare was flitting around with a selection of small crystals held aloft in her magic. She had a light yellow coat and raspberry-pink curls.

"Nurse Sweets?" Nebula called, shaking the unicorn from her thoughts.

"Oh! Oh, hello dears. I'm rather in the middle of something at the moment, but it's nice to meet you! I'm Sweet Dreams, but everyone calls me Nurse Sweets." The mare introduced herself. Her cutie mark was a red cross over a pink heart.

"What are you working on?" Twilight asked, drawn by the enchantments on the object in front of the unicorn nurse.

"Oh, um, it's a triage device." The mare explained. "See, in Equestria, only unicorns are allowed to be doctors, because only they can learn the spells necessary to assess and heal patients. With this device, anyone who can hold it can get the blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature of a patient." She sighed with frustration. "But even though I enchanted it with the right spells, it doesn't seem to be working..."

"May I take a look?" Twilight asked, and even though the mare doubted a filly could fix her work, she hoofed it over.

Twilight examined the enchanted magnifying glass, and immediately noticed the problem. She saw the blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature spells, but there was nothing linking them together, no trigger to start it, and no power source. Twilight began to link the spells together, and put a pressure sensor spell on the glass, so that when a pony put a hoof on it, it would begin working. Next, she made all these spells powered by Equus' ambient magic, and cast an illusion spell to display the results on the glass.

"Okay, nurse. Place a hoof on the glass panel and test it on me." Twilight announced after explaining her changes.

"My stars! It's working!" Nurse Sweets announced, amazed as she held the glass in her magic and took Twilight's temperature.

"You're a genius, Twilight!" Twinkleshine announced, amazed.

"Not really," Twilight blushed. "I just read about how to do all that in Advanced Unicorn Magic..."

"That book is a college-level read, honey." Nurse Sweets cast a sidelong look at the filly, suddenly suspicious. Then, she took a deep breath, and recalled Luna's teachings. Just because she was powerful and smart, Twilight Sparkle was just a little filly. Nothing to fear. The group left Nurse Sweets to make more Triage Devices by copying Twilight's spellwork as they made their way to the workshop.

"Um, did you really mean what you said back there?" Twilight stuttered. "Do you really want to be my friend?"

"Of course!" Twinkleshine announced cheerfully. "Before you came along, the only other filly here was Trixie, and she can be kind of mean sometimes. I'd love to be your friend!"

"Oh, okay. Cool!" Twilight nodded. Friends. She hoped she wouldn't mess this up somehow.

"This is where you two will be working." Nebula said to the two adult unicorns as they entered the workshop. The young bat pony was there, using a wing to scribble away at a notebook.

"Over in that back room is a library-" Nebula was interrupted by a filly's excited squeal. "- with a printing press." The mare concluded.

"The stallion over there, Bright Idea, invented it." Nebula indicated the other bat pony, who simply nodded. "It isn't quite as magic-efficient as a modern printing press, but it works for our purposes. We need another unicorn to power it so that we can copy down the Pre-Monarchial transcripts, lest they be lost to history."

"Ooh, I can do that!" Night Light announced, and trotted to the back room. Sounds of machinery moving could be heard from the library, and the party was surprised by the arrival of another unicorn mare.

"Sorry I'm late, everypony! I had to get Trixie to do her assignments before I left." It was Nova, the mare who'd introduced herself earlier.

"Excellent timing, actually. Velvet, you'll be helping Nova in her work on the Equestria-wide Broadcast System." Nebula announced, indicating a table covered with scattered parts and devices on it.

Despite the fact that Twilight was quite certain she could help with the advanced spell work, both fillies were shuffled out the door and out of the way. Not, however, before they had gotten a new copy of the Lunar Manifesto from Night Light, fresh off the presses, no less. Eager for new knowledge, they set out to read it, taking turns by chapter. Twilight knew that it would be faster to just read silently, but there was something soothing about having a friend to share it with.

"Introduction: The Need For Change." Twilight read, imagining for a moment, that she was the Lunar Princess, with authority to right all wrongs.

"Modern Equestria lives in a golden age of prosperity. Crime (officially, at least), has gone down drastically. Starvation and war are things of the past, only encountered in history books."

"And trashy romance novels" Twinkleshine added.

"Starvation?" Twilight asked, aghast.

"No, the war thing." Twinkleshine blushed pink, just a bit. "I've never read any, but a lot of the romance novels I've seen have geared-up stallions in war armor on the covers."

Twilight let out a little "ah" of understanding, and continued reading.

"But despite the success of Celestia's reign, many creatures do not experience the full benefits that ponies, and especially unicorns, take for granted. Bat ponies are in hiding, and their race is nearly extinct, thanks to persecution. Zebras are mistrusted and feared by many. Unicorns are the only tribe that hold sway in government, education, and the medical industry."

"It's kind of unfair about bat ponies." Twilight noted. "Nightblade seems really cool."

Twinkleshine nodded in agreement, before taking the book for her turn reading.

"There are many inventors in Equestria, whose life-changing advancements are repeatedly turned away by the government, because of fear that they might horn in on the unicorn-dominated industries. The last great spellcaster lived over a thousand years ago. The only education young foals receive is diluted history and basic literacy and math. Then, once they get their cutie marks, it's friendship lessons until graduation.

"The time has come for a scientific, artistic, and cultural revolution. Too long has Equestria stagnated under Celestia's rule. I call upon the innovators, the downtrodden, the creators and the gifted. I call upon those who love the night. Come and rally behind me, my children. We will rewrite history, those of us who were written out of it."

Twinkleshine stopped her reading and glanced at Twilight. The manifesto was powerful and encouraging. Just having read it, they felt as though they could take on the world.

Later that night, at dinnertime, the community's foals ate together, and talked about their days.

"Today, the princess had me looking at the statistics of various stars through my telescope!" Twinkleshine announced.

"We practiced sparring with Dad!" Nightblade announced, bumping hooves with Shining Armor.

"Yeah! And I worked on my stamina for shield-casting!" The unicorn colt added cheerfully.

"While you foals were working on your silly pursuits, The Great and Powerful Trixie was working on her illusion and puppetry spells!" The blue unicorn filly announced as she munched her supper. No one bothered to argue that their own pursuits were less than silly, because they knew better. While Celestia's 'gifted' unicorns were working on teleportation and learning simple spells, the foals under Luna's guidance were becoming prodigies. They were being groomed to be Luna's first line of defense against Celestia on her return.

Twinkleshine was becoming an astronomer AND astrologer. Luna had created the stars with certain properties, and the ability to read them was a lost art. Trixie was currently a below-average illusionist, but under Luna's teaching, she was to become an above-average trickster, with the ability to fool anything short of an alicorn. Shining Armor was learning new techniques that revolutionized his use of magic.

As the six-pointed star on his flank confessed, Shining Armor possessed massive amounts of magic, and instead of learning brute-force spell techniques like they taught in the Royal Guard, he was going to maximize the use of his magic, and become the greatest shield-mage of his generation. Nightblade was a fine warrior, with exceptional speed and agility. If Shining Armor was Luna's shield, then Nightblade was her sword, and together, they would lead her Army and Guard.

But it would not be enough, not while Celestia held the elements of harmony. From her prison, Luna couldn't cast magic, but she could still sense it, and so far as she could tell, all those currents of magic, all the machinations of fate and destiny were converging on one region. One town. One pony.

It was time to initiate phase two.

In her dreams that night, Twilight cuddled up to her teacher. She had only known the mare for a few months, but it felt natural. Right. They lay side by side in the cozy study that had become their default dreamscape, and Luna began to talk, her voice measured, as if reciting a story.

"That event you saw on the day you got your cutie mark was a sonic rainboom. You were not the only young filly who got her cutiemark that day."

"Wow!" Twilight exclaimed. "That makes us kind of like sisters, doesn't it? We got our cutiemarks on the same day!"

Nightmare Moon sighed in relief. She had hoped that exposure to real friends would open Twilight up to new experiences, and that would be important for what was to come.

"Would you like to meet them?" Luna asked, and was rewarded by a squeal of glee. "It just so happens that they're all coming to Ponyville soon, and I need you to welcome them."

"Me? All- all by myself?" Twilight shrank back a bit, blushing. "I'm not very good at this whole 'friends' thing yet. Why me, Princess?"

"I'm telling you this because I trust you, Twily. Those fillies are something special. Just like you, and just like all the other foals I've gathered here. We need to get to them, before my sister does." Luna admitted, and Twilight nodded briskly. She gave off the sense that she was proud to be treated like an adult for once, and glad to have been told the whole story.

"Can Twinkleshine come with me?" Twilight asked. The other filly was kind and had made her feel welcome. Even as a filly, Twilight knew the advantage to having an ally who was versed in areas she wasn't.

"Yes of course, my student." Luna smiled at the filly with pride. "Was there anything else you wanted to say?"

"Um, I have a question, I guess." Twilight bit her lip, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "I know you don't want to wrest control of the sun from Celestia, but... the ponies on Equus need the sunlight. Even if we can grow crops without the sun, what's to stop Equestria from just freezing? And what about the dragons and the griffins, and the zebras, etc?"

"I have been brainstorming many possible solutions, Twilight, but I'm curious as to what ideas you have." Luna confessed, eager to hear.

"Well... You can move stars right? Like you moved your constellations? Just not THE star. Why don't you just... snatch a similar star from a nearby galaxy? Something that has a similar size and heat to our sun?"

"Good thinking, my student." Luna smiled. "I have had Twinkleshine and Starbright working on that problem for a few months now, and they have given me several good ideas."

"Oh! So that's why they were
working on the statistics of neighboring stars!" Twilight announced proudly.

"Indeed, my student. Now that all has been said," She paused and threw a glance at Twilight, who nodded. She had said her peace. "We shall thusly begin tonight's lesson."

. . .

Twilight and Twinkleshine set out for Ponyville the next day, after waking up later than usual (they'd both been briefed in dreams) and packing until sunrise. It was safer to traverse the forest in daylight, and they wanted a better chance to find the fillies Luna had told her to look out for. According to the Princess, there were probably about five other foals affected by the event. Two from each tribe, except for unicorn, of which there was only one. That was good, Twilight thought, because she already had a heck of a lot of unicorn friends.

"What's the best way to make new friends?" Twilight asked her companion as they walked the trail back to Ponyville. One might think that it would be risky for two foals to traverse the forest alone, even in the daytime, but Luna taught Twilight how to mark them, with dark magic. Now all the creatures of the forest would know who their mistress was, and even the manticores and cockatrice were smart enough to stay away from Nightmare Moon.

"A party, definitely." Twinkleshine announced, with a little skip in her step.

"Do we have party supplies at the colony?" Twilight asked, and the other filly shook her head.

"No... I wonder if we have enough bits to buy some in town?" The pink-maned foal mused aloud as the two trotted out of the forest.

"You can't have a party without party supplies." Twilight agreed, and puzzled out what to do. She had only been given enough allowance money to buy herself some lunch in town, and she assumed Twinkleshine had the same. Bits were tight, since all their funds were going to support the cause.

Suddenly, both fillies noticed a pink pony bouncing their way. She seemed to be about their age, and her cottony mane was bouncing along with her as she traveled towards the two friends.

"Did I hear someone say they needed a party!?" The pink pony practically shouted in excitement, and the two other fillies shared a knowing glance.

"How did you hear that from way over there?" Twilight asked.

"Didn't need to hear! I sensed it with my Pinkie Party Sense!" the filly grinned, and extended a hoof, which the other two cautiously bumped.

"The name's Pinkie Pie! Ever since I got my cutie mark after the big ol' rainbow in the sky, I've been traveling all Equestria to find ponies who need parties!"

Twilight gasped in understanding. This was one of the foals who had been touched by the sonic rainboom! If they got her on board, it would solve two problems at once.

"Actually..." Twinkleshine grinned mischievously. "We do need a party."

"You weren't the only pony who got their cutie mark that day!" Twilight announced proudly, showing off her star. "I got mine too!"

"Oh wow!" Pinkie vibrated with happiness. "We could throw a Got-Our-Cutie-Marks-On-The-Same-Day Party!"

"Right!" Twinkleshine confirmed. "But there are other ponies who also got their cutie marks on the rainboom day, and we need to invite them too."

"There are more?" Pinkie's eyes grew even wider.

"Right. All we have to do now, is find them, so we can invite them." Twilight grinned. "Is there any way you can sense them, like you sensed us?"

"I dunno." The party pony replied. "The only thing my Pinkie Sense is telling me now, is that juuuust over that ridge, a pony needs a party and is too shy to ask for it!"

Twilight shot Twinkleshine a concerned look, as if to say 'Can we really trust this mare?' The astronomer shrugged in return. They didn't really have a choice.

"Okay then, lead on, Pinkie Pie." Twilight sighed, and they followed the party pony over the hill.

There was a clearing on the edge of the forest, and in that clearing sat two pegasi. One was lying on her back, staring up into the clouds, as her rainbow mane blew in the gentle breeze. The other was smiling serenely, surrounded on all sides by a flock of multicolored butterflies. When the party of three crested the hill, that serene pegasus squealed in fear, and hid behind a bush. Her blue coated friend stood protectively in front of her.

"Who the hay are you?" She demanded, and Pinkie Pie shouted her own name in answer.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend, Twinkleshine." The filly announced.

"Twi and Pinkie got their cutie marks on the same day, and we were hoping to find others who did too." Twinkleshine kindly explained, and Twilight was again thankful for bringing her.

"Why...?" the blue pegasus asked suspiciously.

"We wanna throw them a party!" Pinkie exclaimed, and the mare inside the bush squeaked in surprise.

"Oh, well that's cool." The other pegasus relaxed a bit. "My name's Rainbow Dash. What day are you guys talkin' about? Maybe I can help."

"We got our cutie marks during a sonic rainboom." Twilight explained, and Rainbow's eyes widened, a huge grin creeping across her face.

"No. Way! I'm the one who created that sweet rainboom!" Dash exclaimed. "Me and Flutters both got our marks that day too!" She announced, indicating the friend hidden in the bush.

"Come on out now, we won't bite!" Twinkleshine coaxed to the bush, and the butter yellow pegasus poked her head out cautiously.

"Are, are you sure?" She asked quietly. Twinkleshine nodded.

"We just want to invite you to a party, silly." The astronomer spoke softly and sweetly, and the pegasus eventually emerged from her leafy abode.

"I, I've never been to um, a party before." She whispered.

"Fluttershy wasn't super popular in flight school." Dash admitted. "That's actually the reason we're here instead of in Cloudsdale."

"I prefer animals over ponies..." Fluttershy said quietly.

"And her parents totally didn't even care that she was leaving! They were like 'Whatever makes you happy, Flutters!'" Dash whined, in what Twilight could only assume was a scathing imitation of Fluttershy's parents. What ponies would allow a ten year old filly to just leave home unaccompanied? Then again, it seemed Pinkie was in the same boat.

"So Rainbow Dash promised to um, come with me, and help me find a place to live." Fluttershy finished, and Twilight shook her head in confusion.

"Rainbow, you completed a sonicrainboom." Twilight exclaimed. "You could have had a fast-track scholarship to the Wonderbolts academy!"

"The Wonderbolts can wait a few years. Flutters is way more important than that." Dash explained, and the other ponies were impressed by the show of loyalty. After the situation was fully explained, and singing party invitations delivered by Pinkie, the group of five made their way to the heart of town. Twilight was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of throwing away scholarships and a future, because of a friend. Could she sacrifice that for Twinkleshine?

Morning in Ponyville was rather lovely, Twilight thought, as she trotted down main street. Pinkie Pie said she could sense a party-needing pony nearby, so the others followed her lead. In the middle of the town square, a young unicorn filly was sitting despondently on a wooden bench in front of a fountain. Her coat was a splendid white, and her hair was royal violet. Thanks to the coloring, she almost resembled Starbright. That unicorn looked up for a moment, when she saw the small herd coming her way.

"I'm sorry, darlings, but I'm not much in the mood for playing games right now." She spoke in a cultivated Canterlot accent, but neither of the other unicorns recognized her from their neighborhood.

"Why the long face?" Pinkie asked, plopping down beside the filly, and offering a shoulder to cry on.

"It's just dreadful. I've always wanted to be a fashion designer. It's been my dream since I was small." The unicorn sniffled a bit. "But that blasted rainboom happened, and now my cutie mark is just, just hideous!" She wailed into Pinkie's mane, and Twinkleshine examined the mark.

"That's not so bad. Three diamonds?" She commented, as Twilight still reeled over the fact that this was the fifth rainboom filly.

"They're rocks!" The unicorn wailed, and Pinkie Pie frowned.

"Hey, my sister loves rocks!" The pink pony exclaimed.

"No- no offense meant..." The fashionista sniffed again. "I just meant that gems are beautiful and all, but I don't want gems! I want fashion!"

"The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know." Twilight commented, earning a surprised stare from the filly crying her eyes out.

"Whatever do you mean, dear?" She asked, shakily.

"Gems hold enchantments well, and enchanted accessories are all the rage these days. You could become successful in that area, then use your fame to promote clothing lines."

"Oh, oh my... You're right..." The diamond flanked pony whispered in a daze. "And then, oh yes... That could work..."

Slowly, ever so slowly, she smiled again. Pinkie Pie gave a loud whoop that caused Fluttershy to jump a foot in the air.

"Yay! A smile!" The party pony exclaimed.

"Thank you all for comforting me." Rarity beamed happily.

"No prob." Dash grinned. "I have no idea how that frou-frou fashion stuff works, but I'd go nuts if my special talent wasn't what I expected it to be."

"My name is Rarity Belle, but most ponies just call me Rarity." The new friend announced sweetly, for a moment, losing a bit of that affected high-class accent.

Introductions were made, rejoicing was had, invitations were sung, and the party gained a new member. All together now, the six followed Pinkie's party sense to the next target, as the sun rose higher in the sky. They made their way to the outskirts of town, where a huge orchard stood, off in the distance. An orange filly with a yellow mane was walking the road back to the farm, wearing a stetson hat that was two sizes too big. She hummed a happy song under her breath, and didn't even notice when six other ponies caught up with her.

"What in tarnation!?" She exclaimed when she finally turned around and saw her entourage.
"What the hay are y'all doin' out here?" The orange mare insisted, face full of confusion.

"We wanna throw you a party!" Pinkie Pie announced, and the other mare frowned.

"Listen, I don't got time to play games. I'm just now comin' home from a long trip after-"

"Getting your cutie mark from a sonic rainboom?" Twilight interrupted, smirking.

"How did you know?" The farmer asked, aghast, and all of the assembled mares shouted:

"We did too!"

Minus Twinkleshine, who waved bashfully.
"I'm only here to help Ms. Booksalot make friends." She giggled, bopping Twilight on the nose.

"You all saw the sonic rainboom!?" The earth pony mare seemed shocked.

"Saw it? Filly, I made the sonic rainboom." Dash bragged proudly, and the mare seemed torn, looking off to the orchard, then to the fillies in front of her, then back to the farm. Finally, she sighed.

"Well, I've been away from home for months. I guess a few more hours couldn't hurt. The name's Applejack."

Introductions were made, again, and Pinkie Pie gave her musical invitation.

"Alright, alright. So where's this party gonna be held, Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked, a bit tiredly.

"I have no idea!" She exclaimed. "TwiTwi? Any thoughts?"

"We could have it at my house." Twilight mused, meaning the underground colony, which had been the first choice all along. But how was she going to get them there without arousing suspicion?

"Um, but Twilight," Twinkleshine paused, and the other unicorn coughed, the signal to use the fib that Luna had told them.

"Oh right." Twilight nodded. "Girls, I know why you guys all moved to Ponyville, but now it's time to tell why we moved here." She explained, indicating herself and Twinkleshine.

"Our families are currently working here, on an experimental colony sponsored by the Crown." It wasn't technically a lie, since Luna was still a diarch after all. "As such, you can see inside of the colony, but the path to get there is a bit of a state secret."

"Sweet! Are you guys like secret agents?" Rainbow exclaimed. Twilight frowned.

"Dash, we're ten." The purple unicorn rolled her eyes.

"Um, do you guys trust us?" Twinkleshine asked, putting on her very best smile.

"For ponies I've just met?" Applejack deadpanned, then took them off-guard with her answer. "Surprisingly, I do."

"Come on Flutters, it's not like we have anything better to do!" Dash nudged her friend forward.

"I ask, because in order to keep the secret, Twilight and I will have to blindfold you." Twinkleshine admitted.

The other fillies decided to go along with it, because after all, what ten year old foal would lead them into a trap? Twilight promised herself she'd take them through the real trail once they'd been vetted for trustworthiness. For now, she and Twinkleshine led them to the edge of the forest, and set off two teleports that brought them right to the colony passage way.
> Gifts Bestowed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something that Twilight had discovered in the few weeks she'd been around the Everfree Colony, was the existence of Changelings. Not even recorded as myths in the Canterlot Library, it was possible that Luna's faction were the only Equestrian ponies who knew changelings existed. This came up directly when the new colony member (who arrived not long after the Twilight Family) came with a missive from Princess Luna herself, explaining the situation.

Apparently, the earth pony stallion named Noteworthy was a changeling, and requested permission to join the colony, in the hopes to find someone to fall in love with. He hadn't met the right mare yet, but he was going to be useful when it came to tonight's little show, for the six foals who got their cutie marks on the same day.

Twilight was the only one among them who knew the plan, and even though her parents taught her to always be honest, she and Trixie were going to make sure that Princess Luna (Noteworthy in disguise), would make a fantastic entrance. Luna insisted that it wasn't really fibbing, since she'd given Noteworthy the script beforehand. They were Luna's words, only told with a little extra shock and awe.

When she and Twinkleshine took the blindfolds off of the six, after leading them into the cafeteria, all the assembled colony members called out 'welcome'! And 'surprise!', even the bat ponies, who hadn't been seen by regular Equestrians in over a thousand years.

"Wow! What a welcome party! Can't get started without decorations, though!" Pinkie exclaimed, and pulled a cannon from her mane. Everyone ducked and covered, but were pleasantly surprised when the cannon shot out confetti and streamers, decorating the place in an instant. Twilight's father pulled out the family phonograph, and started to play some music, officially getting the mass-cuteciñeara started. The purple filly made it her job to move through the party and make sure her new friends were having fun.

In one corner, she found Fluttershy talking quietly with Nightblade. Twilight thought that Fluttershy would be afraid of the thestrals, but she revealed to the other filly that she was actually part bat pony herself, and showed her slightly pointed fangs to prove it. Apparently, one of her uncles even had the membrane wings!

Next, Twilight was interrupted as she made the rounds, by the approaching figure of her brother.

"Great job, Twilight!" Shining Armor said, as he cantered up and embraced his LSBFF. "I never doubted you for a second."

"Thanks, Shiny." Twilight grinned, and paused when she felt a nudge on her flank.

"Twi-light~!" Rarity called out in a sing-song voice. "Be a dear, and introduce me to your brother!"

"Shiny, this is my new friend, Rarity." She rolled her eyes. "Rarity, meet my Big Brother Best Friend: Shining Armor."

"The pleasure is all mine!" Rarity giggled, as Twilight rolled her eyes and continued her walk. Could her BBBFF be any MORE dorky?

Next, Twilight encountered Pinkie Pie and Trixie. the former was apparently daring the latter to turn her horn different colors like a strobe light.

"Hah!" Trixie exclaimed, after her successful rainbow display. "How's that for great and impressive party tricks!?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Do another!" Pinkie squealed, and Trixie transformed herself into a breezie. Technically it was a type of polymorph spell, not illusion, but it was one of the simplest transformation spells out there, and you could bet your last bit, she'd learned it from Luna.

"I am the great, and powerful Trixie!" The powder-blue breezie exclaimed in a tiny voice, and Twilight giggled before moving on.

Rainbow Dash was dancing with Applejack, who seemed to be letting go of the tension she'd had since leaving home. Satisfied that all her new guests were enjoying themselves, Twilight sat down at one of the tables (which had been moved aside to create a dance floor). Who knew making friends could be so exhausting?

"Enjoying the party?" Twinkleshine asked, grinning, as she nudged Twilight in the shoulder.

"As much as I can be, I guess." The purple unicorn replied, a little tiredly. Some of the adults had gone back to work, some had stayed to relax and chat, and Nebula was baking some of Harvest's pumpkins into pies for the party goers.

"I know it's exhausting." Twinkleshine nuzzled her friend. "I can do the teleport trick on Noteworthy tonight, if you don't feel up to it."

"I can't ask you to do that, Shine." Twilight replied, and cast a small caffeine spell to hold her over through the end of the party.

"This is the other fillies' first introduction to the Princess. It has to be perfect." Twilight explained, and Pinkie Pie appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"The Princess is coming!?" She exclaimed, loudly, and the other four fillies gasped in surprise. Trixie, who was now a normal pony again, rolled her eyes.

"Twinkleshine, Twilight... Do y'all really mean the Princess is coming here? Tonight?" Applejack questioned, and somehow, Twilight didn't feel comfortable lying too much about it.

"Well, um, not the Princess..." She rubbed her hooves together awkwardly, before clearing her throat, and taking charge.

"Ahem. I told you all that this operation was funded by the crown. But there's more to it than that." Twilight explained, and displayed an illusion-portrait of Luna. Not in her Nightmare Moon form, but just in her regular Princess form. They'd agreed beforehand that tonight, 'she' would appear in that form, to alleviate the fear among the ponies who hadn't been raised to know the lost Princess.

"This, is Princess Luna, the lost Diarch of Equestria, and Sister to the Solar Regent Celestia." Twilight explained. "She's the one who funded this whole colony, and even though she hasn't been around for the last thousand years, she's returning to meet the public very soon."

"So we get to um, meet her tonight?" Fluttershy ventured, and Twilight nodded vigorously, dispelling the illusion.

"Right. That's the real reason I invited you girls here." Twilight admitted. "Even though I didn't lie about getting my cutie mark on the same day."

"Aw, that's no big deal, Twi." Rainbow Dash declared, diving from the cavern ceiling to ruffle Twilight's mane.

"A surprise-party lie isn't really a lie, silly. And getting to meet a Princess is a huge surprise!" Pinkie announced.

"Thanks for understanding, girls." Twilight sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"So wait a second, sugarcube," Applejack brought up an important point: "Why does a Princess, the Sun Regent's sister, no less, want to visit six little fillies?"

"Easy, darling!" Rarity announced, flipping her mane. "We all got our cutie marks at the same time, on the same day!"

"That must be unusual, don't you think?" Fluttershy ventured to add, to various levels of agreement.

"Well the Great and Powerful Trixie can only say... It's almost time to find out." The blue unicorn broke into the conversation, and Twinkleshine herded the five new fillies into a semicircle on the floor, with Twilight and Trixie on either side. Twinkleshine sat beside Twilight, and Shining Armor and Nightblade sat behind them. Out of the new fillies' line of sight, Shining cast an illusion spell centered around Twilight and Trixie's horns, so that the others wouldn't notice them use spells. Back behind the kitchen curtains, Noteworthy had already taken the likeness of Luna, and Trixie dimmed the lights.

Suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the dancefloor, and Twilight teleported Noteworthy/Luna to the very spot. The blast of magic coincided perfectly with the smoke, and no one noticed it was actually Twilight's magical aura doing the teleporting.

"Greetings, my little ponies." 'Luna' gazed down at the fillies with a smile. "My student Twilight Sparkle has gathered you all here at my request. It was my understanding that aside from dear Twinkleshine, she had no friends in Ponyville. And who better to make friends with, then those who share her cuteciñera?

Pinkie Pie let out a cheer at that, and the rest of the group shouted and stamped their hooves joyfully. Even though the special day wasn't just for her, it somehow seemed MORE special because she shared it with her new friends.

"Now, I want to bestow upon you fillies some gifts, as a measure of my gratitude. I give each of my students an opportunity to grow, and you five deserve this chance, just as much as they do." 'Luna' smiled, and extended a hoof to Rarity.

"You, dear unicorn. What is your name, and talent?" The alicorn asked.

"Oh, your highness! I'm Rarity Belle, and my talent is gem-finding, but I aspire to be a clothing designer." Rarity replied eagerly, with stars in her eyes.

"Well then, Rarity: I offer you a position of great prestige in my court. For now, you are to design accessories, which can be enchanted by Twilight. When I return, I shall appoint thee royal dressmaker." 'Luna' paused with a bashful smile, and Twilight knew it must be part of the script. "If you wish it, that is."

"Oh! Your Majesty! Thank you!" Rarity exclaimed, bouncing with glee. Next, Luna pointed at Pinkie Pie.

"My name's Pinkamena Diane Pie, Princess! I used to be a rock farmer, but now I'm a party planner/baker extraordinaire!" The pink pony exclaimed, and Twilight was left wondering what exactly a 'rock farm' might mean.

"Excellent. For now, Pinkie, there is a job available at Sugar Cube Corner in town. When I return, you shall be the official baker and event planner of my court."

"Sounds like oodles of fun!" Pinkie winked, actually winked, and for a second, Noteworthy almost let his disguise falter from surprise, but luckily no one noticed, and he passed it off with a graceful smile.

"And thou?" Princess Luna pointed to the butter yellow pegasus, who flinched. Twilight might have taken offense on Luna's behalf, but she knew Fluttershy, and probably even Celestia would scare that filly.

"Um, I'm um, Fluttershy, and uh..." The pegasus trailed off, and Dash elbowed her. "My special talent is animal care!" She finally said, in a quick and nervous burst of words.

"Good to know, Fluttershy. I hear you were seeking a home, yes?" Luna smiled, despite the filly's surprised stare. "You may remain here in the colony if you wish, until I take my place at court. At that time, you may be my keeper of the menagerie!"

"Hey, what about me!?" Rainbow Dash cut in, interrupting someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a princess.

"I was getting there." 'Luna' smiled calmly again, diffusing the tension.

"I understand that you came to Ponyville to watch over your friend, and you aspire to the Wonderbolts, but you have also created a sonic rainboom, haven't you?" Luna replied casually, leaving Dash's mouth wide-open at the thought that this princess knew so much about them!

"Back in the old days, just as there was a day-guard and night-guard, there were bright, showy Wonderbolts, and powerful, stealthy Shadowbolts." Luna grinned, a smirk, really. "Rainbow Dash, you may stay here with Fluttershy for the duration of my mission abroad, and follow the training assigned to you. When I return, you will be the first member of the newly reformed Shadowbolts!"

"Whoa! Sweet! That's awesome, Princess!" Dash whooped in excitement, and did a little flip in the air.

Finally, Luna turned to Applejack, the only filly who still wore a frown. The princess tilted her head in the manner of a question, and the earth pony sighed.

"Listen Princess, this is real neat and all. I see how you're grantin' wishes and makin' dreams for these girls, but I got some questions that need answering."

Twilight began to sweat a bit at that. Did Luna predict that someone would question her? Was Noteworthy ready for this? It seemed he was, because 'Luna' only raised an eyebrow and waited for Applejack to continue.

"I'm just a farmer, and my only wish is to go home to my family." Applejack said warily. "I don't want no fancy promises, besides, I ain't certain you can keep 'em."

A little gasp went out at that announcement, but AJ powered on, before anypony could dissuade her.

"It seems mighty fishy to me. I mean, a new Princess we've never heard of? Plus, you don't seem to act like a royal, if'n you catch my drift." Applejack glared a bit at that. "If there's one thing I learned from my family in Manehatten, it's that bits don't mean much if you don't have a horn. Unicorns are nobles, unicorns have Princess Celestia's favor. Wealthy earth ponies who made their own fortunes don't last too long in Canterlot, so why are ya' makin' promises to earth ponies and pegasus?"

"Oh dear Applejack..." Luna sighed, with a sorrowful frown on her face. "This problem is one of many that my sister refuses to address. Fear not, little pony. When I return to Equestria, things will change for the better, I swear it to you, upon my honor as a Princess. If I had better proof than myself, I would provide it."

"Can I... can I just get a hug, maybe?" Applejack asked, teary eyed. It was a good plan, actually. This way, she could feel the princess up close, and know that this whole thing was more than just an illusion. Noteworthy got that too, so he wrapped the alicorn wings around the little foal, reminding her that they were real too. Or you know. As real as possible, for a banished alicorn who hadn't been in the physical realm for over a thousand years.

Satisfied, Applejack gave one last sniffle, and stepped back with a smile on her face, a smile that Luna gladly returned.

"Now, I made this special trip because I needed to meet you all in pony. From here on out, it will be easier for me to contact you in dreams. Don't doubt your importance though." 'Luna' grinned at all the assembled foals. "And not just the six of you whose cutie marks we are here to celebrate. All of you assembled foals are the future of this nation, and I couldn't be prouder."

That night, after the ruckus had died down, the fillies all received a sleeping bag to lay in, and they had a little sleep over in the cafeteria. The colts went back to Twilight's house for the night, and once all the other fillies were asleep, the purple unicorn let herself drift off too, ready to share the good news with her Princess.

"It went off without a hitch, Luna!" Twilight announced proudly.

"Good job Twilight! Currently I'm speaking with the new fillies via dream, and the only one with hesitations seems to be Applejack. I think I can convince her, though."

"You must be one hay of a multi-tasker..." Twilight mused

"You have no idea." Luna giggled. "Anyway, I'm sure you have some questions about those five, so ask away."

"First off, are they really all alone?"

"For the most part, yes. The only one with strong family ties is Applejack. Rarity has a younger sister whom she adores, but I don't suspect it will be hard to get her family on board." The Princess mused. Twilight had only meant to ask if the fillies were ALL runaways, but Luna had added detail about affiliations, almost like the ponies involved were picking sides.

"I get that you and Celestia disagree, Princess, but once you defeat her, it won't matter what the friends of my friends think. You'll be the new ruler, and that's that, right?" Twilight asked the leading question, trying to weed out answers.

"It's never that simple, dear Twilight." Luna sighed. "I have a plan: defeat my sister, and banish her sun, replacing it with my own. There are many problems with this plan, and the biggest is collateral damage. The Everfree you know today, is a result of the last time my sister and I battled.

"The second plan, is to get my sister alone, long enough to have a civil conversation. This is only possible if she does not control the elements of harmony."

"Why, Luna? And what are these elements? Some kind of artifact?" Twilight asked, her curious mind already took hold of the thought and turned it around in her brain.

"The Elements of Harmony are a set of immensely powerful artifacts, meant to be wielded by ponies who exemplify the traits they represent: Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Friendship. They only respond to the bearer if they maintain those positive traits. Celestia used them to banish me before, and she shall use them again, no doubt, if she finds she disagrees with me." Luna snarled, the old betrayal stinging just as much as the night it happened.

"Wait wait wait- Is that why she banished you, Luna? Because you DISAGREED with her!? I thought it was because you wouldn't lower the moon!"

"Pfft. History has been kind to Celestia." Luna growled. "That night, I refused to lower the moon, because it was the only way to get Tia to listen to me. She kept brushing me off, and finally, I'd had enough! I would FORCE her to listen to me, and that was that."

"Using the elements to banish your sister... seems kind of like the opposite of what those things represent. Sunbutt wasn't kind enough to hear your honest concerns, after all. Why did the elements let her do that?" Twilight asked, scowling, and Luna had to stifle a snicker at 'Sunbutt'.

"I don't know, Twilight. I really don't know. All I can say is that I hope the elements abandoned her for that." Luna frowned, and shook her head. "I hope they left her all alone in the knowledge of how she hurt me."

"So providing Celestia can't use the elements of harmony against you, what will your plan be?" Twilight asked, cuddling up to the Alicorn in her dreams.

"In a best-case scenario, Celestia will talk with me, and accept that I am still the same sister she once knew, only less likely to listen to her excuses. Then hopefully, I will take my rightful place beside her, and enact the reforms I desire. Worst case scenario, she will insist that I am a monster who possessed her dear Lulu, and will refuse to speak with me at all, or try to 'purge' the monster from my mind." Luna snorted at that, and Twilight wondered how likely either eventuality would be.

"That said, there is another possibility. It's possible that Celestia will not accept that I am fully her sister, but will still offer me a stalemate to prevent war. In the event that my sister and I must fight, I will ask to simply take my ponies, and leave."

That was new, and would explain why Luna's followers were either whole families or orphans. If Luna left Equestria, her followers might not be able to return for visits, or even write letters! That in itself brought a new question.

"Where would we go, Princess?" Twilight asked, tilting her head in question. They couldn't go to any territory which was hostile to ponies, like Diamond Dog, or Dragon lands. The Griffins were overpopulated as it was, and Saddle Arabia and Zebrica had their own issues that made them a poor choice for religious or philosophical immigrants.

"The moon, of course." Luna responded off-hoof.

"T-the moon!?" Twilight exclaimed, surprised to say the least. "I, how, how??" The filly stuttered out, and Luna smiled in amusement.

"Well, part of that is why I need you, Twilight. The moon has much more ambient magic than Equus, because it reflects and channels the light of the sun. If we are to colonize the moon, we shall need a powerful engineer to design enchantments that are powered by the moon itself, and provide fresh air and gravity support for the citizens."

The Princess paused, to let all that sink in. Then, while she contemplated it, Luna dropped the next bombshell casually, as if she were talking about the weather schedule.

"Not to mention, we'll also need enchantments to keep the Everfree Castle intact while I teleport it to the moon as well..."

"You're moving the castle too? I would have thought that there were too many bad memories for you, there." The filly noted, once again leading the Princess to believe she was possessed of a wisdom beyond her years.

"While that may be the case, dear Twilight, I shan't build a new one, when the perfectly respectable foundations are still there for our use." Luna paused for a moment, as if she was thinking of something that piqued her interest.
"I know that Rarity's passion is clothing design, but I wonder if she would be opposed to designing some new tapestries to replace the old ones? That would be an excellent first step towards making the castle my home again."

Teacher and Student talked then, for what seemed like hours, as they lay side-by-side near the fireplace in the dream realm. No matter which eventuality came to pass, Twilight and her Princess would be ready.
> The Plan Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


- Five Years Later -


Twilight Sparkle was on a train, headed for the frozen north, and Trixie Lulamoon sat beside her. The blue unicorn had used an illusion spell to make herself look about five years older than she was, to produce the illusion that the young fillies weren't traveling unattended. Even though fifteen was around the age most foals left to start their apprenticeship, it would attract less attention for a filly to be riding with her responsible big sister.

Also, Trixie liked to pretend she was older, so she could lord it over the other filly.

Luna had contacted them both in a shared dream just a week before. Apparently, a powerful unicorn the same age as the other fillies was about to make a terrible mistake.

"Trixie still does not understand why the Princess wants us to help some unicorn with her nervous breakdown." While the blue filly had become less whiny over the years, she never lost the habit of referring to herself in the third person.

"I'm not really certain myself." Twilight replied, reaching into her saddle bags for something. "I think she's meant to be a powerful asset, and the Princess would rather her be on our side, over Celestia's."

Twilight continued to dig in her bags, not mentioning the second part that Luna had told her to keep secret: Without their intervention, ponies would get hurt, and Celestia was either too lazy, or too blind to see it. Not finding what she was looking for, Twilight turned to her companion with a glare.

"Trixie, have you seen my newspaper?" The purple filly asked, as if she didn't already know the answer.

"Trixie is certain she hasn't." The blue unicorn smirked, about as innocent as a fox. With a puff of magic, Twilight dispelled the illusion enchantment, and her newspaper reappeared, sticking out of the other mare's saddle bag.

Trixie had also become quite the prankster.

Once she discovered (thanks to Pinkie Pie) that her magic was especially given to making people laugh, she kept up, if only because it got her the attention she so craved. Twilight snatched back her paper, and the two shared a giggle.

"You can't treat Big Sister Trixie like that!" The blue unicorn's eyes widened in false outrage.

"If you aren't careful, I'll dispel your age illusion too." Twilight flippantly responded, before glancing down at her newspaper. Apparently Sunset Shimmer, Celestia's famous student had up and disappeared. For as long as Twilight could remember, Sunset Shimmer had been Celestia's guard dog, and nearly everyone in Equestria feared her, because when the Princess sent her somewhere, she left a huge trail of destruction in her wake. Honestly, Twilight didn't know how this boded for her Princess' plans. Was Sunset merely running away, or was she on an undercover mission somewhere? Was she dead? Would Celestia try to replace her?

Luna suspected that Celestia had been trying to groom Sunset to wield the elements of harmony. To utilize the mysterious sixth element of magic was tricky, and required the bearer to be well versed in magic, AND friends with the other elements. Now, thanks to Sunset's intimidating nature, it seemed like that may never happen. Or, instead of running away, perhaps Celestia merely sent her student off to make some friends.

Twilight sighed. She'd tell Luna tonight, but it wasn't her job to be data-collection. Today she and Trixie were to disguise themselves as older unicorns, and convince Starlight Glimmer to come with them to the Lunar Colony. It was easier said than done, if only because they knew nothing about the young unicorn. Only that she was very powerful, and about to make a terrible mistake.

Things had been going well since the other five fillies arrived at the Lunar colony. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash lived full time in the compound, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie lived in town. Shining Armor and Nightblade had both become the first full lieutenants of Luna's Night Guard, and the first of two distinct new branches: Shield Corps and Sword Corps.

Twinkleshine had discovered the nearby star that most closely matched the sun, and was now working on the logistics of supply lines from Equus to the moon, should they need to follow through on Luna's backup plan and make an escape colony there. The pink-maned filly was having a field day, thinking about how much magical energy it would take to fling a craft from Equus to the lunar body, without harming anypony inside. Not to mention, she was also astrologically tracking the stars that would aid in Luna's escape. Twinkleshine had become a multitasker after Twilight's own heart.

Sweet Dreams and Bright Idea had finally given in, and stopped dancing around their feelings for each other last Hearts and Hooves day. For weeks afterwards, Bright's notebook was filled with ideas for medical machinery, all of which, like the triage machine, he'd made into realities. The two were a very efficient team, when they got down to it, but Twilight tended not to concern herself with young mares and stallions, and the silly things they did when they were in love.

There was still no news on what to do about the elements of harmony. Luna suggested that after their trip, Twilight try to isolate their power from the crystal tree beneath the old castle, to see if she could locate them like a magical radar. Whatever they decided to do, whether to destroy the elements, hide them, or use them against Celestia herself, it had to be done before the Summer Sun Celebration.

When the two unicorns arrived in the northern town, Trixie applied the age illusion to both of them, as they both planned to pose as teachers from the Everfree Academy Of Magic. Once they got back to the train station, the two would explain the real situation. This show was mostly for the benefit of young Starlight's parents, who would feel better if she left home in the hooves of two teachers, instead of fillies their own daughter's age. As she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror of a storefront, Twilight rather liked her older appearance. She seemed strong and reliable.

The town's architecture was even more old-fashioned than Ponyville. Between that, and the near-abandoned rail station, Twilight got the impression that this town received few visitors. Which was a shame, because the nearby slopes looked great for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. The town could probably make a decent revenue in tourism if they wished. However, the cold wind only served to make the two unicorns shiver a bit, as they made their way to the town square.

Like Ponyville, this town was mostly made up of earth ponies, so finding Starlight Glimmer's house (two unicorn parents, small singe marks in the yard where she likely practiced magic as a filly), wasn't too difficult a task. Besides, if they were wrong, Trixie could always bluff and say they'd gotten lost and needed directions. The two fillies-turned-mares approached the house they'd chosen, and knocked on the door.

"Hello, is the the home of Starlight Glimmer?" Twilight asked politely, and the stallion who answered the door went pale.

"Erm, yes... Who are you? Is this about... the incident?"

The tone of the stallion's voice spoke volumes, so Twilight smiled gently, and tried to put him at ease. Clearly, something had happened with his daughter, and it was something that scared him. Whether he was scared for Starlight, or because of her, the purple unicorn couldn't say.

"We're from the Everfree Academy of Magic." Twilight smiled. "We're here to talk about Starlight, but not in a bad way. May we come in?"

"Yes, yes, you'd better come in..." The stallion finally replied, exhaling in relief, and invited the two mares to follow him.

The house was rather cheap, and sparsely furnished for a unicorn abode. Even Twilight's old home in the Canterlot suburbs had four bedrooms. As far as she could tell with a subtle scrying spell, this one only had two. On the wall above the fireplace was a picture of the happy family: the stallion who'd led them inside, a pretty mare, and a little pink filly. Once Twilight and Trixie were settled on the couch, the stallion left to make some tea, and sent his wife to talk with the visitors.

"Ah, Hello." The mare smiled, and sat in an armchair across from the other unicorns. "I'm Sunlight Gleam. Who did you say you were again?" She asked more shrewdly than her husband, and Twilight made a note to be careful around her.

"I am Twilight Sparkle, professor of Matrix Theory at the Everfree Academy of Magic." She nodded towards her blue companion. "This is my colleague, Trixie Lulamoon. We came to talk about your little filly, Starlight."

"She's not ours." The mare's face hardened, and even Twilight was taken aback.

"P-pardon?"

"She's adopted. My husband and I adopted her from a service in Stalliongrad." The mare relaxed a bit, and her prior flash of coldness seemed forgotten.

"Why don't you tell T-Twilight, about the incident?" Trixie asked, almost referring to herself in the third person again.

"I'd like to hear the story from your own words." Twilight bluffed as if she knew anything whatsoever about this 'incident'.

"It all started when her best friend Sunburst was accepted to Celestia's school. She was always a late bloomer, you see, and she just didn't have the same raw magic that he did."

Twilight nodded in understanding. It must have been hard for the filly to feel like she wasn't good enough. It was only thanks to her friends that Twilight kept those kinds of thoughts at bay.

"Well after Sunburst left, she kept studying and practicing, and slowly improved a bit. We never expected much from her, but at least she seemed happier... Then the flare-ups started. The first time was at home, thank the sun. Starlight... She was trying to levitate a pencil, and burst into flames."

Wellthatwould explain the scorch marks, Twilight thought, as the other mare's facade fell, and she looked older, weary beyond her years.

"After that, it was like a dam broke. She went from being the least talented unicorn we'd ever seen, to becoming the most powerful filly I've ever known. The incident happened not long after that. I don't know all the details, but she got into a fight with a pegasus foal at school."

"And?" Trixie prompted. The mother went pale.

"She stole the other child's magic."

"I'm sorry, she what!?" Twilight exclaimed, right as the father returned with a tray of tea for all the assembled adults (and fillies posing as adults).

"We aren't sure if she did it on purpose," The stallion clarified. "And the other filly got her magic back eventually."

"But for a period of time, Starlight actually ripped out another filly's magic. Then, when she absorbed it, she started another flare-up, and turned her teacher into a potted plant!" Sunlight exclaimed, a deep frown marring her pretty features.

It was clear that as much as the father loved his adopted daughter, the mother was tired of dealing with the disasters that their child was causing. It seemed more and more similar to the kind of shenanigans Twilight got into as a child, but without the wise mentor to help her through them, and without friends to remind her of her worth.

"Has anyone been able to reverse the effects?" Trixie asked, right as Twilight opened her mouth to ask the same question.

"No. We only have normal unicorns in this town. Sunburst's parents were earth ponies, for Celestia's sake!" Sunlight exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air. Unbidden, Twilight felt her anger seethe.

"Pardon my bluntness, Mrs. Gleam, but Starlight sounds like a brilliant unicorn, a prodigy who just needs a mentor to help her control her gifts!" The purple unicorn exclaimed, and Trixie gently nudged her, to get her back on track.

"We would like to speak with Starlight. With your permission, we could take her back to the Academy with us, and teach her to use her talents in a productive way."

"Go ahead." Sunlight nodded to the doorway. "Her room is the second door on the left."

The two mares approached the door, and knocked carefully.

"Come in!" A quiet voice called from inside, and the two unicorns walked inside. The filly that looked up at them was not a scared teenager. She was a calculating prodigy. Calmly, she cast a soundproofing spell on her room. Then, in an instant, she brute-force overpowered Trixie's magic, and dispelled their age illusion.

"Wha- You two are my age!" The pink filly . "I knew you had an illusion, but I thought..."

"You thought...?" exclaimed Twilight prompted, despite the fact that she and Starlight were now eye-to-eye.

"I thought you were the royal guard. I thought you were going to take me away because I turned my teacher into a plant." The filly admitted, bashfully, before glaring again. "But hey! You're too young to be teachers! Who are you!?"

"Trixie must admit, she is... Mildly impressed by your magical prowess." The blue unicorn confessed with a slight blush. Such was as close to praise as one could expect from Trixie.

"We might not be teachers, but we do want to help you, Starlight." Twilight explained as she lay down on the floor to rest. This seemed like it might take a while.

"If it's alright with you, Twilight, Trixie shall go and restore that potted plant to its rightful form." The blue unicorn announced, before recasting her illusion and leaving the room.

"So, did you know there's a name for that type of magic, Starlight?" The purple filly asked, with a tilted head.

"Really!?" Starlight bounced eagerly, before she got control of herself and glared again. "I- I mean, of course there is."

"Transmuting others' magic into your own, changing a pony's genetic makeup: these spells are all under the school of alchemy." Twilight smiled, remembering her own brief lessons with Luna. She hadn't taken to alchemy quite like Trixie had, but she could do basic polymorphs and other simple transformations. Given that her special talent was all magic, she could learn more if she wished, but that was a subject for a future study, someday when there were less pressing matters at hand.

"I see... After Sunburst left, I studied so hard. I thought that if I learned enough, I could overcome my limits. It was like there was something blocking me from reaching my full potential." The pink filly admitted, glaring down at her hooves.

"That's actually not uncommon for young unicorns." Twilight spoke, recalling a study she'd read on the subject. "If a unicorn has particularly powerful parents, often, their magic will seal itself off, until they develop enough stamina to control it. It's a defense mechanism, and one that I find very likely, given that you don't know your birth parents."

"So you're saying that until I had my first flare-up, I was a nearly-adult mare with a newborn's level of magic?"

"Correct. Personally, I was the opposite way. Neither of my parents were strong unicorns, but my brother and I both have immense magical reserves. Even as a baby, I had a huge amount of magic at my disposal to throw tantrums with." Twilight giggled a little, and Starlight even managed chuckle as the other unicorn reveled in her little burst of nostalgia.

"Well, knowing that still doesn't change anything. Sunburst is still gone, and I have no friends." Starlight frowned, turning away from Twilight Sparkle as she glanced out her bedroom window.

"Sometimes, I wish everyone were the same. If I had the same magical talent as Sunburst, I wouldn't be alone right now. If my parents had the same magic as me, they wouldn't be so scared I'd turn them into plants..."

"Don't say that, Starlight." The purple unicorn chided. "The things that make you different are the same things that make you special. It's something I've noticed about all of my friends. I can't make my friends laugh, like Trixie or Pinkie Pie can, and I can't buck trees like Applejack and her brother."

"But I can create and modify spells. I can enchant objects and design spell matrices like no one else I know." Twilight stood, and walked over to the other filly, lying down right beside her. "There's no one like you in the whole world, Starlight, and that's a good thing."
* * *



"Hah! Is that all you can do, bat boy?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed teasingly, as she and Nightblade flew at breakneck speeds through the old castle of the two sisters. Currently, the ponies who weren't below ground in the workshop or incubator, were putting in the elbow grease for a grand spring-cleaning.

Rainbow had insisted that she and Nightblade could use their gale force winds to knock down cobwebs and sweep up dead leaves, but anyone who knew them, knew that it was just an excuse to race. With a gust of wind, she blew past Rarity, who was hanging one of her new tapestries on the wall.

"RAINBOW DAAAASH!" She shouted, but the unicorn's protests were already far behind the racing pegasus, as she overtook Nightblade, and blew a raspberry at him as he spun in her tailwinds. Unfortunately, trash-talking the competition required looking over her shoulder too long, which Rainbow painfully discovered when she flew head-first into a pillar.

The whole castle was abuzz with activity. For a long time, the colonists had put off the restoration of the castle, for fear that it would attract undue attention from Celestia. Now, however, they were just a few years away from Luna's return, and they decided that the risk was worth it, if they could get the castle ready for her arrival. Besides, even the cultists who distrusted Celestia had a hard time believing she would attack a communal group of artisans and organic farmers, which is what they were pretending to be.

The running story was that they were a group of mostly unicorn scholars from Canterlot, who escaped to the Everfree to live as a herd. Rarity's moon tapestries were inspired by the full-moon motifs around the castle, and none of them knew anything about Nightmare Moon. The bat ponies came to live here because the commune was more accepting and open-minded than the rest of Equestria.

It actually helped their lie hold water if they worked on fixing up the castle, because that way, they could seal all the magical technology and pre-Monarchical books, and incriminating Nightmare Moon stuff down in the underground passage. They would seem, for all intents and purposes, like a group of dissatisfied yuppies who wanted to get back to nature.

"Um, Rarity, I made all of the rat colonies leave from the cellar like you asked me to." Fluttershy announced in her normal, quiet voice as she walked up to the white unicorn, who was going through the hall with a telekinetic sweeping broom. Rarity turned to face her friend, and froze in fear when she saw the beady eyes poking out from her mane.

"Er, all the rats except for Sniffles and Daisy. They wouldn't mind to be pets." Fluttershy bashfully added, as Rarity hid her shudder of disgust. Even if she didn't like rats, she wouldn't take it out on her friend, who had a soft spot for all living creatures.

"Darling, they will be staying in cages, right, Fluttershy?" She asked with a weak smile.

"Oh, of course. I repurposed one of the old songbird cages from the atrium for them. If you don't mind, Rarity, I came to ask if I could take a break, to go put them in it."

"Of course, darling. I'm just an organizer, not a supervisor. You don't need my permission." Rarity waved her friend off with a smile, and watched the pegasus walk away before resuming her sweep of the room.

"It's nice to see you taking charge, Rarity." Shining Armor noted quietly as he trotted up, and Rarity cursed her fair coat for not hiding her blush.

"Really, Shining, it's something any pony can do, if they put their minds to it." Rarity went over the mental list with a faint sigh, and recalled another mare who would be so much better at this. "I wish Twilight were here though."

"Yeah..." The stallion let out a little chuckle. "If there's one thing my sister loves more than studying, it's organizing."

"Is that why you stopped in, hmm? To get your marching orders?" Rarity laughed, sweeping the last of the dust into a dustpan, which she dumped into a trash bag.

"Do I need an excuse to just say hello?"

"On a cleaning day, yes." Rarity replied with a smirk, tied up the bag of leaves and dust and dirt with her magic. "You know how I feel about being tidy."

"I know you've been jumping at the chance to clean this place since you were ten." Shining laughed, but then coughed a bit as he inhaled some leftover dust.

"Anyway, Dad and I have finished restoring the old beams in the chambers, so I came to see if you needed any help with something else." The stallion announced with a salute. "I am at your service, milady."

As much as it gave her a pleasant shiver to hear that, Rarity didn't let it show on her face, as she moved to the next room.

"Well, Captain Armor, it seems the room I've just finished is in bad need of a floor scrubbing. Would you do the honors?" Rarity giggled a bit, and the other unicorn gave a sharp nod.

"Your wish is my command!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Fluttershy carefully placed her new rat friends in the cage she'd prepared. She had a few years worth of shredded newspaper to use as bedding, and the two rodents sniffed at it curiously before burrowing in.

"I'm sorry there's no hideout or toys for you," Fluttershy crooned. "I wasn't really expecting visitors so soon. I promise I'll bring some as soon as I can. For now, just have some food and water, and relax."

The rat sisters seemed to like their new home. Through her empathy, Fluttershy could tell, and she knew that after she made them some wooden toys, and a house to hide in, they would be loving life. She checked the songbirds' water as she left the room, and closed the bedroom door on their chirps.

The yellow pegasus wasn't the type of pony you would suspect of being a Lunar Cultist. She was soft-spoken, and thoughtful, and scared of her own shadow. Despite all that, she felt most at peace here, as if it was where she was meant to be. Surprisingly, out of all the recruits, she was the one who liked Luna's Nightmare Moon appearance the most. She liked it because she knew that the pony underneath was kind, and wise, but the outside was fearsome. It was hard to be scared anymore, when the scariest thing out there was protecting you.

Unlike the aloof and kind Celestia, who probably had too much faith in ponykind, Luna was like an angry mother bear who would kill to protect her cubs. Of course, Fluttershy didn't really want any pony to be killed, but it was nice to know that Luna was able and willing to do so.

On her way back to the main hall, she almost ran into Twinkleshine, who was levitating six stone orbs in her telekinesis.

"Oh my!" The pegasus exclaimed quietly. "What are those?"

"No clue. I found 'em in the throne room. Maybe they were ornamental?" The unicorn shrugged. "I bet Twilight will know, so I should probably just put them up until she gets back."

"Oh, I think there's room in the library." Fluttershy offered, and Twinkleshine patted her on the shoulder in gratitude.

"Thanks, Flutters. I'll just head down there now." Twinkleshine grinned as she trotted down the hall.

"W-wait!" The pegasus called out. "Do you need any help?"

"Actually, these are pretty heavy..." the unicorn admitted, and levitated two of the stone orbs down on Fluttershy's back. "Thanks for the help."

Steadying the stones with her wings, Fluttershy followed her friend down the hall to the library. They placed the spheres in a corner, and Twinkleshine used the rock-shaping spell to box them in.

"So um," Fluttershy whispered out, trying to start the conversation. "Is there anypony here that you like?"

Part of the reason Fluttershy and Rarity were such good friends, is the fact that they both loved a good bit of gossip. With all the fillies and colts who had just come into their hormones running about, foalhood crushes seemed like just the topic.

"Not here. The pony I like is far away." Twinkleshine grinned, and looked back to Fluttershy with a wink, while the pegasus mulled it over. Unless she was talking about an old friend from Canterlot, Twinkleshine must have meant one of the unicorns who'd left on Luna's secret mission, and Fluttershy would bet good money that it wasn't Trixie.

"For what it's worth, I think Twilight likes you too." Fluttershy noted with a soft smile.

"You think so? Sometimes I feel like her only true love is books." Twinkleshine joked, even though she knew that wasn't true.

"Maybe you should tell her." Fluttershy offered, and the unicorn shook her head.

"I plan to after the Princess returns. I don't think she's ready for a relationship right now."

"But that's three years from now." Fluttershy noted. "You must be very patient."

"Patience is the least I can do. She's under a lot of stress right now, so it's more important to be a good friend first, and a filly friend second."

While the two fillies bared their hearts and gossiped, something happened in the library. Three doors down, and to the left, a single stone orb bumped into its neighbor.
> Down to Business
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It really is good to be home, Twilight thought as she took in the newly cleaned halls of the Everfree Castle.

"Wait, you mean to tell me we're living in a castle!?" Starlight exclaimed as she came upon the sight of the tall stone walls and marble floors.

"Technically, we live in a series of tunnels under the castle right now," Trixie quipped, bumping into Starlight teasingly. "But one day soon, Trixie would like to have a room above ground..."

On the train ride home, Starlight eagerly soaked in all possible knowledge about Nightmare Moon. It didn't hurt of course, that she already had a potent dislike for Celestia, since her friend's move to Canterlot had been the start of all her troubles. Twilight had told her all she wanted to know, and specified what she'd be doing at the colony, namely developing spells to convert base materials like soil and rubble into needed supplies like steel, glass, and if necessary: water.

"Come and follow Trixie, Starlight!" The blue unicorn announced, and trotted along towards the tunnels. "Let me show you around the colony!"

As Twilight watched the other two depart, she was surprised by a tackle-hug from an unknown source.

"You're back!" Said unknown pony announced with joy, and Twilight recognized the voice as belonging to Twinkleshine.

"I take it you missed me?" The purple filly giggled.

"More than you know." The other unicorn admitted, before pulling on Twilight's tail with her magic. "Come on, I've got something to show you!"

"It isn't some inane friendship problem is it?" Twilight whined. "I've reached my month's sociable limit."

"Nope. It's a good surprise." Twinkleshine insisted, practically dragging Twilight along to the library.

"Mm, is it a new book?" Twilight guessed.

"Nope, guess again!"

"What could be better than a book? I give up." Twilight announced as they came to the library, and approached Twinkleshine's impromptu display case.

"A mystery, that's what!" The pink maned unicorn exclaimed, and nodded to the stone spheres. "At first I thought they were decorative, but certain clues tipped me off. See for yourself."

"Hmm. Lots of harmonic energy..." Twilight muttered, levitating each orb in turn as she studied them in her magic. "Too spherical to properly stand on their own. Hmm. One two three..."

"It has to be a coincidence, right?" Twinkleshine nudged the other mare. "There are six of them, one for each element of harmony."

"I want to say that's exactly what it is." Twilight muttered with a frown. "Because Luna insisted the elements were jewels, right? But then I think, what are the odds that six relics of harmony magic could be anything but the elements?"

"So unless these are a fluke," Twinkleshine theorized, "Something must have happened since Luna's banishment. How do we find out what happened?"

"The first choice is to ask the mare herself. Wake me up in about five minutes." Twilight announced, before lying on the floor and casting a sleep spell on herself.
* * *

"What is the trouble, my little pony?" Luna asked as soon as Twilight entered the dreamscape.

"I think we found the Elements of Harmony." Twilight blurted out, beginning to feel the excitement of her discovery.

"You think you have? But how? Why so uncertain?"

"Well they don't look like you suspected they would. You expected they would be jewels, but the six harmonious artifacts we found were nothing more than rocks." Twilight admitted. "Even though I could sense their power, that power seemed to lay dormant."

"I think I see the problem, dear Twilight." Luna admitted. "The elements must have rejected Celestia when she used them against me."

"Serves her right..." Twilight muttered.

"If that is the case, Celestia must be searching for a new element bearer to wield them against me. I have no doubt that her prized student will be able to take charge of the element of magic..." Luna mused.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Twilight exclaimed. "Sunset Shimmer disappeared, or so the papers say?"

"She has? Hmm..." The Nightbringer glanced at Twilight with a bit of a frown. "That could either be good news, or bad news. Good news if she's run away..."

"... But bad news if she's setting a trap for us." Twilight finished.

"In the old days, my sister and I each wielded three elements, and she somehow used all six to banish me. I suspect that a single pony who exemplifies one of the virtues of the elements might be able to wield that one."

"So anypony can be a bearer?" Twilight asked, brimming with ideas. "Should we try to find ponies who can exemplify the five virtues?"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, dear student. It is enough that Celestia cannot use them against me." Luna sighed in relief. "See it as an extra-credit assignment, if you will. Look into the elements if you have the time, but your main focus is to work on your spells."

"Time to moon-proof the castle: got it." Twilight announced, even as she felt Twinkleshine stirring her awake from the other side of consciousness.

* * *

Equestria saw their beloved Sun Princess as a beacon of hope, and a wise ruler. Many Lunar Cultists saw her as a tyrant who suppressed the media, and the arts and sciences. In truth, Celestia was neither.

Celestia, Solar Regent, was simply a unicorn, who (with the help of some magical artifacts) became an Alicorn, and everything she did, was done for the good of her little ponies. Today, Day Court was cancelled early, and although Celestia was glad for the break from sniveling nobles, she had a much more important meeting to attend to: a meeting with a young foreign dignitary who was something of a last hope.

Becoming an Alicorn was both deceptively simple, and painfully difficult. It required only two conditions: a pony who had mastered their special talent, and an artifact powerful enough to charge their ascension. This was the case for the diplomat Celestia was meeting today, a former pegasus whose special talent was compassionate mediation, and who became an Alicorn due to an accident with an ancient relic.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was a royal in her own right, as a Princess of Roam, a neighboring nation to Equestria, created by the last of the ancient pegasus legions. She hailed from Maredrid, and was adopted into the Equestian royal family when she became the Alicorn of Love. As the third child of the King and Queen of Roam, Cadenza (known as Cadence, to her friends), had little chance of actually taking the throne while a mortal pegasus. Now as a nigh-immortal Alicorn, she was often visited by Celestia, who taught her what she knew of their shared species.

Unfortunately, the purpose behind today's meeting was anything but casual.

"Good afternoon, Aunt Celestia." Cadence announced with a calm smile as she levitated her teacup with her magic. "I assume by the nature of your message that this wasn't a social summons."

"I wish I could say it wasn't so." Celestia replied, and the servants dutifully left the room. The Sun Princess cast a noise-cancelling bubble, just in case.

"You recall my student, Sunset Shimmer, correct?" Celestia continued, after the spell was cast.

"Allow me to offer my condolences." Cadence replied, and her eyes conveyed her true sympathy, a refreshing break from the waves of two-faced ponies that were so often met with in politics.

"Allow me to enlighten you to the full story." Celestia explained, taking a measured sip of tea. "There is much about my student's life that was kept from the media, and knowledge of those facts might help us find her."

"I know that for a time, she was deeply in love." Cadence replied, carefully gauging her mentor's reaction.

"I know. Were you also aware that she was pregnant?"

"When she left?" Cadence asked, a little shocked.

"No, no, back when she fell madly in love with that guard stallion." Celestia sighed. "She wanted to settle down and start a family, and I think I made the biggest mistake of my life when I refused to give her my blessing."

Cadence gasped, and shook her head.

"Aunty! How could you?" She cried, practically holding back tears for a mare she barely knew. "I felt her love! How could you deny her happiness?"

"At the time, I thought it was more important for the best interests of Equestria that she remain my student." Celestia admitted, and she wasn't lying when she said that she considered it her biggest mistake. That meant a lot coming from a mare who'd been around for over two thousand years, but it was the truth. Ruling Equestria all alone was disheartening, and some part of her had hoped that her student could help bear the burden.

"Why, Celestia? So that you could send her to do battle with all of the nation's enemies?" Cadence noted with a grim frown. "What happened to her foal?"

"It was given up for adoption, and Sunset made it very clear that I was not allowed to go anywhere near it. I don't even know the child's gender."

"I'm not sure I blame her, Aunt Tia... Your relationship has been strained, as of late." Cadence noted in her most sympathetic voice. She was still seething over Celestia's refusal to give Sunset her blessing.

"This applies to the given situation, because about a year and a half ago, I accepted a new student to my Canterlot school. His name is Sunburst, Cadence, and he looks so much like my Sunset, so much that it nearly hurts."

"You don't think..."

"He might be her son." Celestia allowed herself a small smile, and it almost immediately fell as she spoke her next words. "And as soon as the new semester began, Sunset vanished."

"Oh, Aunty..." Cadence whispered, reaching out across the table with her magic. "You didn't say anything to her?"

"I couldn't. I was told to leave Sunset's foal alone - how could I tell her I had taken him under my wing against her wishes?" Celestia pleaded, hoping that Cadence would tell her she hadn't just made another huge mistake.

"Where do you think she's gone?" Cadence asked, instead of pointing out the fact that all this mess could have been avoided if Celestia just communicated for once, instead of moving everyone from behind the scenes like pieces on a chessboard. That argument was always wasted on Celestia.

"I'd say she went to Zebrica. She knows enough illusion magic to change her appearance, and she has enough pension saved up to live among the cities there for a long time."

"A unicorn mare wouldn't stand out too much either. You do plan to leave her alone, Aunty? I believe you've meddled quite enough." Cadence said in a firm voice. This was one point she wouldn't concede to the older Alicorn.

"Because of extenuating circumstances, Cadence, I can only agree to that if you help me." Celestia replied with just as much conviction, and Cadence already knew her answer. She could lose a little bargaining power, if it meant that Sunset Shimmer would be left alone.

"What do you need me to do?"
* * *

When Fluttershy wasn't working in the compound, her favorite past-time was to take the half-mile walk down to Sweet Apple Acres, and watch the Apple Siblings at work in the fields. She wasn't an earth pony, so she couldn't buck the trees, or carry cart loads of apples, but she could fly a basket at a time back to the barn, and bring cool water to the mare and stallion as they worked.

Fluttershy related to the two older Apples in a way that she didn't connect with other ponies. Rarity was a dear friend, but she was so excitable (and loud!) sometimes. Pinkie Pie and Trixie were just... Too much to handle when they were together, and even her childhood friend Rainbow Dash fell into that category. When she had to get out from her bedroom and be among other ponies, Fluttershy chose Sweet Apple Acres.

"Howdy, Fluttershy." Big Macintosh called out as the young pegasus approached, and was met with an "eep!" in reply.

"Um, I mean, hello." The pegasus quickly recovered, and fluttered along behind the stallion as he worked on plowing the wheat field.

"Y'all figured out which system works best for growin' wheat?" Mac asked. 'Y'all' in this case, meaning rest of the colonists.

"Oh yes! The uv-enchanted glow lamps are working quite well for all the crops!" Fluttershy announced, proud of their progress, even if she wasn't actually one of the scientists in that division. She helped water the plants with Rainbow though, so she felt like she'd had a helping hoof in their little wheat field.

"Have you been doing well with stocking the non-perishable supplies?" The pegasus asked in return, with her kind smile.

"Eeyup." Mac replied with a simple nod.

"We got canned apples, and dried apples, and oats, all stored so they'll last for the next five years!" Applejack announced as she trotted up to meet Fluttershy.

"Oh good! That's more than enough to last us until we get the first harvest!" The pegasus announced as she fluttered a celebratory dance in the air.

"Last night, Luna told me as much, too." Applejack admitted. "Apparently, the moon colony is about to become our plan A. If the Princess can't reason with her sister, we'll need that space to regroup."

"Eeyup." Big Mac noted.

"I hope everything turns out okay, and no one has to get hurt." Fluttershy whispered, her mood dropped just a bit.

"Sometimes, a pony's gotta fight for what's important." Applejack said, patting the other mare across her shoulders.

"Eeyup." The stallion concurred.
* * *

"All of these tomes are available for your use, Starlight Glimmer." Trixie announced, as she indicated the colony's extensive library.

"Wow! All of this!?" Starlight took in the view with an open mouth. At home, there were precious few books about magic, and all of it basic spells. Starlight hadn't even gotten her cutie mark until she'd flared and turned an apple into an orange, so she had precious little experience in her special talent.

"The alchemy section is that way, if you were wondering." Trixie pointed, smirking, to the last group of bookshelves.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Starlight blurted, wrapping the other mare in a quick hug, before she trotted off into the library, not noticing the Great and Powerful blush that Trixie was sporting.

On a soft couch at the back of the library, Twilight Sparkle was reading a book on the limits of teleportation magic. She glanced up from her reading when she saw Starlight come around the corner.

"How was the tour?" She asked with a knowing smile, recalling the first time she'd seen the colony.

"It was amazing! I can't believe all of this is going on right under Celestia's nose!"

"I'm glad you like it," Twilight replied, "Since we'll need your help a lot in the coming days..."

She paused for dramatic effect. Twilight had always wanted to do this to somepony.

"My help? For what?"

"For when we go to the moon, of course." Twilight finished, smiling inside at the shock on her new friend's face.

"The- the moon??" The pink mare stuttered out, and Twilight nodded with amusement.

"Of course. But first, you need to help build the greenhouse." The purple unicorn said.

"Right! I'll get right on it!" Starlight announced, and Twilight levitated over a list.

"Here are some books to get you started."

An hour later, Starlight Glimmer trotted into what used to be the Castle Conservatory, a rather large octagonal room designed for tea parties. It was the room designated to become the greenhouse, and Starlight levitated the book in front of her, checking to make sure her spell was correct. Focusing intently, the young unicorn set the book down and lit her horn, focusing on the composition of the stone walls, and the holes where tall windows used to stand.

The stone bricks were hoof hewn, and composed of mostly sedimentary rock, if Pinkie Pie's report was to be believed. That was important to know, because it affected how Starlight's spell would work.

With a flash of magic, Starlight broke down the walls into their component sediments, superheating them until they were a red, molten goo. She shaped the glowing hot glass into five panes, one for each wall that faced away from the castle, and slowly cooled it, swirling in doses of her magic, to keep it clear and not too brittle. When the process was complete, Starlight looked out onto the Everfree forest from picture windows of clear, strong glass.

* * *

Twilight put down her notebook, and pulled a piece of chalk out of her saddle bags. She was out of the library now, and in one of the first-floor servant's quarters. The furniture had mostly been removed, and it had been designated as the castle's magical 'core', so to speak. It was big enough to hold several runes and magic circles, and easily hidden from Celestia, both visibly and magically.

At the center of the room was a large crystal, found by Rarity, and brought home via Pinkie Pie. The runes and sigils on the surface were designed to store and amplify unicorn magic, and many colony unicorns magically charged it on a daily basis. The crystal was the main generator for many of the spells Twilight planned to implement to moon-proof the castle. A fresh-air spell, a gravity spell, and more, were all powered by the crystal generator. Once they arrived, Twilight planned to make the crystal draw on the moon's inherent magic, but for now it was all powered by horn.

The tricky part was getting the massive power that was necessary to teleport an entire castle to the moon. The spell needed to account for terrain and adjust accordingly, as it wouldn't do to teleport inside of a mountain or something. On top of that, the Everfree Castle was huge, and Twilight would need the help of every unicorn in the colony to power the jump.

Some of these hurdles might not even come up, as Luna insisted that when she returned, she would designate a safe space to land the castle, and power the teleport herself. Twilight wanted to trust the Princess, but all plans need to be flexible. At a moment's notice, she wasn't sure if Luna could be there to help. What if she was held up in her talks with Celestia? What if the Sun Princess sent guards to destroy their hard work?

With that in mind, Twilight decided to lace a proximity ward and shield spell into the matrix as well. If all else failed, she could just use her brother's awesome shield abilities to protect the castle.

When Twilight finally emerged from her workshop around dinner time, she was exhausted. Her BBBFF met her on her way to the dining hall.

"No offense, Twily, but you look like a zombie." Shining commented offhand.

"I feel like a zombie. There's so much work to do!" Twilight groaned in reply, not unlike an actual zombie.

"You know, there is such a thing as taking breaks." Shining commented in a teasing tone of voice.

"No time. I have to get everything ready for the Princess to return." Twilight announced with a yawn.

"We're still a couple years out, Twily. You should take tomorrow off." Shining Armor smiled at his little sister. "Besides, I have it on good authority that Twinkleshine has been itching to get some time with you."

"T-Twinkleshine? She does?" Twilight exclaimed, feeling more happy, light, and stress-free by the second.

* * *

Meanwhile, across Equestria, a gifted little pony sat in a tower library, looking at a book which held a prophecy about the imminent return of Nightmare Moon.

"Spike, take a letter." Moondancer asked quietly, her dragon nodding as he pulled out paper and quill.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."
> Interlude I: Dear Princess Celestia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dear Princess Cadence,
I hope this letter finds you well. I promised at our last meeting, that I would tell you more about our situation, so I have written this missive to summarize the details.

"As you know, my sister rebelled against me one thousand years ago, and in a last-ditch effort to save my life, I used the elements of harmony to banish her to the moon. Because I stole control of Luna's elements and used them against her, they rejected me as a bearer, and I am left with no defense against my corrupted sister.

"I had long since hoped that Sunset could be a bearer of the element of magic, but you now know why that is not the case. Only an Alicorn can wield more than one element at a time, and I hope that you, dear Cadence, can become the bearer of kindness, generosity, and magic.

"That sixth element is the most powerful and tricky. It requires both an abundance of magical reserve (which you have, since your ascension), and friendship toward others. Normally, I would suggest that you were more suited to have honesty as a third element, but the artifacts are unlikely to work, if magic is not activated first.

"While it is possible that you might be a suitable bearer for all six, it isn't advised. I last used all the elements at once, when Lulu was banished, and it nearly killed me. I believe that when Nightmare Moon returns, control of three elements by a new Alicorn will be enough to coerce her into a stalemate.

"While it is not the ideal outcome, we may still be forced into battle. If that comes to pass, you will need to lend me your power. The magic-sharing spell is attached below. The Everfree forest was the result of our last fight, and the primary reason I wish to avoid combat this time around. What used to be a normal forest around our castle, grew into a dense jungle, whose magic worked on its own and attracted many dangerous creatures within its boundaries.

"I am truly sorry for dragging you into this, my lovely niece, for ever since you appeared, you have been my steadfast student and the heir I always wanted. But at last, I have no choice but to rely on your support. My student is gone, my connection to the elements is gone, and we are a scarce three years from the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.

"With much love and trust, Princess Celestia."

* * *

Moondancer was not a patient mare, as was evidenced by the rut she was wearing into the floor as she paced in circles.

"Um, Moondancer? Are you okay?" Spike asked, following her route with his little claws.

"No Spike, I'm not okay!" The unicorn all but growled at her little assistant, and he flinched away from her. That made the mare a little guilty, and she wrapped Spike in a hug.

"Think about it this way, Spike. I have definitive proof that Nightmare Moon is returning, and the Princess won't trust me enough to send help!" Moondancer groaned and bit her lip.

"I get it." Spike nodded. "It's not just about you, you feel like you're hurting all the people you could save if they only knew."

"Right. But what can I do, if the Princess just won't listen?" She frowned, and plopped down on the floor.

"Maybe, just... listen to her?" Spike suggested. "I mean, if Princess Celestia doesn't think it's a problem, why should you?"

"Because it isn't the first time she's been wrong about something." The cream-coated unicorn noted, sniffling a bit.

"Is this about your grant project?" Spike asked, and received a nod in return.

"We can use magic and science together, to do so much good for the nation!" Moondancer practically spat, anger coloring her very posture. "If it weren't for those nobles, and their refusal to pay for things that don't make money, I could make leaps and bounds of progress in all sorts of industries!"

"Well why don't you just prove it?" Spike asked, receiving a gasp from his older-sister figure. "Equestria may be behind in technology, and a bit tribalist, but we're in an unprecedented era of peace."

"That's brilliant, Spike! I'll just prove that Nightmare Moon is returning, and then the Princess will have to believe me!" Moondancer bounced in happiness.

"Er, aren't you getting a little carried away?" The drake asked his unicorn, who blatantly ignored him as she flurried through books and scrolls. When he said 'prove it' he didn't really mean 'go hunting for Nightmare Moon'. Also, his fact about unprecedented peace was totally ignored by his older companion.

"According to Clover The Clever's Laws of Banishment, the banished pony can typically only return from the very point where they were magically exiled, which in this case is..." The unicorn prodigy muttered to herself, as she pulled out a map. "Let's see... castle of the two sisters... formerly housed in the Everfree forest... closest settlement..."

Finally, Moondancer grinned.

"Pack your bags, Spike. We're going to Ponyville."

* * *

"Dear Princess Celestia,
You're always telling me to make new friends, and take chances, and learn to relax a little. Now, after the most recent failure of my Magitech proposal, I have finally taken your advice to heart.

"I kindly ask your permission to take a vacation to Ponyville, the most friendly town in Equestria, so that I can put your lessons to good use, and try to make some friends.

"Your most faithful student,
Moondancer."

* * *

Ponyville was a friendly town, to be sure, and it was largely thanks to Princess Celestia's behind-the-scenes chess games that had made it such a good place to be. From the very first settlers, Celestia had made sure the town was populated with all kinds of ponies, a veritable cross-section of the kind of world she envisioned. The first settlers in that town were the Apples. They were a sprawling and talented earth-pony clan, who seemed to sow apple trees and friendliness wherever they went. Attracted by marketable produce, the Rich family came along, one of Equestria's first new-money earth pony families.

The town wasn't far from Cloudsdale, so when enough citizens lived on the ground to pay the weather ponies, Ponyville got a quaint little weather team. The Belle family was a former noble house of Canterlot, and when they asked Celestia where to go, after being evicted from their family manor, she gave them a pouch of bits, and pointed them to Ponyville.

From the very beginning, the Sun Princess had done everything in her power to make that town her hope for the future. For one reason, she wanted ponies of all three tribes to live and work together, with no job segregation, or cruelty. For another reason, the fact remained that friendship was the catalyst for the elements, and so Ponyville was established, publicly as a picture of diversity, and privately, as Celestia's draft pool to find bearers for the elements of harmony. As an added bonus, the town was right up against the Everfree, in perfect position to prepare for the arrival of Luna.

If there's anything left of her inside that monster... Celestia added in her own mind.

While the Princess had the power to make sure there were proper bearers at the right time in the right place, it would be an abuse of her power as a monarch, and there was no guarantee that the elements could be tricked like that. All she could do was make sure the conditions were best, and prepare for the worst. To this day, Celestia was not the strategist her sister was. She could only hope that even the nightmare had a soul, and could be convinced not to come to arms against her good ponies.

With a puff of smoke, a letter materialized through dragon-fire. Celestia looked at it with a smile, once she saw her student's familiar stationary. Moondancer had the knowledge, and an incredible memory, but she didn't have any more magical reserve than a typical unicorn. If unicorns were to be ranked on a scale from one to five, where one represented a foal with barely-realized magical power and five was Starswirl The Bearded, then Moondancer would probably rank as a two. She could levitate objects and cast all kinds of spells, but her magical strength and stamina left much to be desired.

Celestia looked on Moondancer like a mother takes pride in her foal. Orphaned from an early age, she became the Princess' personal student after passing the entrance exam with flying colors. Her only fault, Celestia thought, was that she needed to make some friends.

So the princess took out her quill, and wrote a reply.

"Dearest Moondancer,
I'm so glad that you're taking my advice to heart, and going off to make new friends. I can personally attest to the fact that Ponyville is a wonderful town, and I hope you enjoy your time there. Speaking of time, take as much as you need. There is a vacancy open for a librarian in Ponyville, so if you'd like, you can stop by Mayor Mare's office and ask about it."

"Wishing you only the best of luck,
Princess Celestia."

Was it wrong of her to think that maybe, now that Moondancer was leaving, she could spend more time with Sunburst? Yes, Celestia concluded, the guilty feeling of excitement was most certainly wrong, even if it was simply born from the misguided hope that she could keep some part of Sunset Shimmer near her.

With these feelings of guilt settling on her chest, Celestia hoped that with any luck, Moondancer would find some worthy element bearers in Ponyville.

Little did she know, six ideal bearers, connected by magic and driven by fate, were already half-aware of their status, and working for the other side.

* * *

"Dear Princess Celestia,

"Since your last letter, I've done some reading about the elements of harmony, and I feel compelled to raise some concerns. Firstly, from the few instances in which we've seen the elements in action, how can we draw any conclusions about what might happen to Auntie Luna, should we turn the elements on her in fear?

"These artifacts cannot strictly kill, but think of the handful of times they were used. Your theory is that the elements will not obliterate Nightmare Moon, but purge the chaos and darkness from her very mind. Despite the fact that they are powerful harmonious artifacts, they have never once treated chaotic energy in so merciful a manner. When used on Discord, they turned him to stone. When used on King Sombra, they locked an entire empire of ponies into a shadow prison. Whether this has anything to do with Sombra's own spell work or not, is irrelevant.

"Innocent ponies were hurt, because they got caught in the elements' line of fire. And you want to turn it on an enemy who might still, deep down, be your sister? In the most likely scenario, she'll just be banished again, and a thousand years from now, she'll still be angry with you, Aunt Celestia.

"That said, if your plan is to bluff Nightmare Moon into thinking we'll use the relics against her, I can support you. If you plan to actually use them against her, I must solemnly beg you to reconsider and go over the evidence, such as we have. In regards to your previous instructions, I have learned the power-sharing spell, as you requested.

"Business aside, this part of the letter is directed, not as a subject and princess, but as a niece to her mentor, aunt, and friend. I really, really wish you two would just talk to each other when Luna gets back. You know how good I am with mediation between warring parties. I'm Equestria's premiere diplomat, after all. I know you'll scoff at this, but I want to know the details about your fight, so that I can better advise you in the future.

"Your Niece, Student, Friend,
Princess Mi Amore (Cadance) Cadenza."

* * *

Their next discussion was held, not over the cruel delays of parchment and ink, but face-to-face at tea. The pleasantries were exchanged, and the servants quietly dismissed, but even under her radiant smile, Cadence could tell the princess was gloomy.

"I got your letter, Cadence, and I thought it warranted an in-pony discussion." Celestia began, curtly, and the younger alicorn got the sense her mentor was irritated.

"What can you tell me about the fight that started all this?" Cadence asked, and Celestia's mouth became a firm line.

"Nothing, really. I noticed a few minor changes in Luna's behavior, she was more short-tempered and argumentative than usual. She went out of her way to anger the nobles."

Cadence nodded calmly, but inside, she was reeling. How did the sun princess not know her sister was changing? She didn't even know what the catalyst to her anger was.

"When I started to confront her about it (after all, the nobles were a huge monetary force back in those days) she just snapped at me and we argued."

"She just snapped at you? With no provocation?" Cadence repeated, forcing the dead-pan sarcasm out of her voice.

"One day, Luna simply refused to set the moon. It was a thousand years ago, but I still remember the gist of her arguments. A major point was that she felt under appreciated, for all the work she did, which was probably a fair argument. Secondly, she hated the fear with which our subjects treated her bat ponies, and others who appreciated her night. Lastly, she told me that I was an incompetent fool who gave in to the every whim of the nobles, and she no longer trusted me to run the nation."

"Ouch." The pink alicorn muttered quietly.

"'Ouch' indeed." Celestia sighed.

"About the incompetent part, was there anything you did, anything at all, that might have given Luna that impression?"

Celestia's eyebrow rose in silent question.

"Usually, these kind of complaints don't come from nowhere, Celestia."

"I know that, Cadence." Celestia sighed. "I just don't have any idea where it began. What did I do wrong? How do I fix things?"

"Well..." Cadence suggested, in the most calm and collected way possible. "You may want to approach her with humility."

"What?" Celestia asked, genuinely confused, and a little angry. "I am in the right of things! I am not the one who caused a war!"

"I know, Auntie, but sometimes you have a tendency not to admit your mistakes." Cadence sighed, as she sighed every time the topic arose. It was very difficult to argue with a sun goddess.

"The point is relevant. She started this, and I did not. We disagree on so many things, it would be hard to let that go." Celestia sighed dramatically, and slumped onto her desk. "I just want my sister back."

"What if she doesn't want to return home?" Cadance asked, and was met with a glare.

"Nonsense. Once the Nightmare is gone, she'll be sweet and loving again. You'll see."

Celestia was so certain, but Cadance wasn't that sure. It seemed like the sisters' problems ran much deeper than just possession or dark magic.

She hated to admit it, but Celestia might be too stubborn for her own good.
> The Elements (Part One)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm so glad you wanted to spend some time with me, Twilight!" Twinkleshine exclaimed cheerfully.

"To be honest, Shiny sort of strong-armed me into asking you." Twilight admitted bashfully. "He said I needed a break."

"Well he wasn't wrong..." Twinkleshine noted, silently reminding herself to thank Twilight's brother.

"So... I don't want to talk about work related stuff," Twilight blushed. "But now that I'm trying, I can't think of any other topics..."

"Harry Trotter or Daring Do?" Twinkleshine asked.

"Er, what?"

"Do you prefer the Harry Trotter series, or the Daring Do books?" Twinkleshine clarified, knowing that a book-related question would be just the thing to pull Twilight out of her shell.

"Well... I like the books where Daring Do solves puzzles and sneaks under the radar to save the day, but the later books are a bit too action-packed for my tastes." Twilight noted, before letting out a short hum of consideration.

"Then again, I really like how Harry Trotter builds up to a huge climax and takes care of all the loose ends... Is there a third option?" The purple unicorn giggled.

"The third option is the Archmage of Oz series." Twinkleshine giggled.

"Oh right!" Twilight exclaimed cheerfully. "With Windy Gale and her dog, Toto!"

"I loved those books when I was a foal." The pink maned unicorn mused, lost in the nostalgia.

"Funny thing is, those stories gave me my first idea of rebellion." Twilight added, in a quiet voice. "The Travelling Archmage took over the throne from the old Queen, and exiled the true heir. But later, when Princess Ozma returned, she ruled to the best of her ability, even as a foal, so that everyone in her land was happy."

The two mares were talking as they made their way through the corridors of the castle. When Twilight asked for some quality time, Twinkleshine jumped at the chance, because she already had an idea in mind. They were headed to the top of the east tower, which was roofless. There, they could lie on their backs and stargaze.

"Did you know Rainbow Dash likes to read?" Twilight asked, as they turned the corner to the stairwell.

"Really?" Twinkleshine commented. She had never pegged Dash as the reading type, but she wasn't the sort of mare to judge a friend by the cover.

"Yep. She's a Daring Do fanatic, but she reads other things too, mostly biographies and historical essays. She's always coming out of the library with a Wonderbolts memoir, or a pegasus war story."

"Sounds like she's taking her position as Shadowbolts Captain seriously." The astronomer noted as they reached the rooftop.

"Mmhmm." Twilight nodded, before turning to Twinkleshine. "So... why did you bring me here?"

"I wanted to show you something." The other unicorn nudged her purple friend, and indicated the sky. "It's Spring, and some of my favorite constellations are out."

Twilight sat down on one of the blankets offered, and looked up into the night sky.

"That one there is the sea-pony, isn't it?" She asked the resident astronomer.

"Right. You can tell because of the three stars that make up her fins."

"So which is your favorite?" Twilight asked, looking up into the stars.

Twinkleshine didn't respond, because she was too busy watching her friend, and the stars reflected in her eyes.

"See if you can find it." Twinkleshine murmured, wrapping her fluffy pink tail around Twilight's own violet one. "It's a bright star..."

"There are a lot of bright stars. I need more detail." Twilight responded, still searching the night sky.

"Okay, um, there are five smaller stars right around it."

There was silence for a moment, and Twinkleshine could practically see the gears turning in her friend's mind.

"Hey!" Twilight finally exclaimed. "You meant my cutie mark, didn't you!?"

"Um, maybe, hehe!" The other unicorn giggled as she was tackled by her oblivious friend.

* * *

Rainbow Dash lived (a majority of the time) in the castle compound, in a room right across from Fluttershy. The colonists were currently in the process of moving all their furniture from the underground caverns, into the rooms they had prepared in the Castle. Each pair of married ponies got their own room, and the young adult ponies got the adjacent hallway. The castle-wide renovations were almost complete, and it was Rainbow's job to fly over to Sweet Apple Acres, and pick up the wood they'd purchased through the earth pony family.

As the blue pegasus touched down in the south orchard, she heard he sound of ponies talking, which was rare on a workday. Peering through a grove of trees, Rainbow saw Applejack talking to an unknown mare. At first, Dash was nervous, especially because no one outside their commune ever visited the farm. Then, she saw that the unicorn's cutie mark had a crescent moon, a symbol of Luna if there ever was one.

"Hiya there. I'm Rainbow Dash" the pegasus offered as she emerged from the trees. The stranger accepted her hoof bump.

"Moondancer. Nice to meet you." The unicorn replied, and from her new angle of vision, Rainbow could see a little dragon standing beside her.

"I'm Spike." The dragon declared, and leaned closer to Moondancer.

"What brings you to these parts?" The unicorn asked, and Dash was so caught up in the idea that this was a baby dragon, and that Fluttershy loved rare baby animals, that she didn't notice Applejack furiously miming that she should shut her mouth.

"Jus' pickin' up some wood and supplies for the colony, wanna come along?" The pegasus replied.

"Oh no, you don't wanna do that." Applejack frantically burst into the conversation. "No siree, that place is dangerous. Filled with, with manticores, and renegade scientists!"

It wasn't exactly a lie. There was a dangerous manticore... Before Fluttershy befriended it and sent it away. The scientists were renegades, from a certain solar viewpoint... But they were renegades who stuffed you full of homemade cookies.

"Scientists?" Moondancer asked, one eyebrow curiously raised.

"Oh yeah, mean ones." Applejack said, visibly cringing at her pitiful lie. It had the opposite effect of what the mare had intended. Instead of making Moondancer fear the mysterious colony, she only made the unicorn more curious.

"It's no place for the personal student of Princess Celestia to be going!" Applejack bit out, glaring at Dash, who only just now realized her mistake.

Princess... Student... Oh ponyfeathers...

Rainbow thought, and as she and Applejack mimed at each other over Moondancer's back, the concept wasn't lost that the young mare was painfully oblivious. If there was any solar agent they could fool, it would be this one.

"Hey AJ!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Why don't you go on ahead and clear the path for us?"

"Uh, right!" Applejack replied. "I'll be sure to let those colonists know you're comin', lest they plan any funny business!"

With that, the orange earth pony took off running, heading for the castle at a break-neck speed to warn them who was coming. Meanwhile, Rainbow took off to the barn in a slow canter, taking her time, on her way to pick up the supplies.

"So what's your relationship to these renegade scientists?" Moondancer asked, as the dappled sunlight fell across her face. They were walking through the main orchard now, and Rainbow tried to focus on the spots of sunlight rather than her own nerves.

"Well they aren't really as scary as Applejack makes them out to be." Dash admitted, deciding to go with the 'harmless hippies' cover story. "They're mostly a bunch of scientists from Canterlot, trying to get back to nature, and work on experiments on their own funding."

Moondancer nodded. She could definitely relate to that feeling. What she wouldn't give to have enough money to invent on her own, not tethered down by Royal Grants and donations, so often swayed by the upper crust!

"They aren't like, dangerous, are they?" Spike asked, from atop Moondancer's back.

"Nah." Dash replied, and the unicorn was surprisingly quick to defend her.

"Ponies always fear what they don't understand, Spike. I know that from firsthand experience." The mare explained, and it was honestly like hearing a solar version of Twilight Sparkle.

Is that how Twilight would be, if trained by the opposite sister? Lonely and frustrated? Throughout their walk, Moondancer had told Rainbow a little bit about her life in Canterlot, and why she'd moved to Ponyville. It didn't sound like a very fun existence, fighting with nobles, feeling abandoned by the princess, no friends to soften the blow. Rainbow shuddered a bit, at this Twilight-apparition from the other side.

The egghead really dodged a bullet there... She thought.

* * *

When Applejack collapsed onto the floor, drenched in sweat, and gasping for air, Starlight and Trixie were the ones who found her.

"Oh stars... Trixie, get Nurse Sweets!" Starlight commanded, and while the blue unicorn might normally object to being ordered around, even she saw the gravity of the situation. She took off at a gallop, back down to the tunnels.

"What happened, Applejack?" The pink unicorn asked gently as she ran a diagnostics scan on the earth pony. So far, the only results were mild stress and exhaustion, likely from running all the way here.

"Celestia... Personal student... coming here..." The mare gasped out between breaths, and Starlight's blood ran cold. This was, by all estimations, the worst possible scenario. She had to find Twilight.

"Listen, AJ, I've got to go warn the others. Will you be alright until Trixie gets back?" The unicorn asked, bouncing on her hooves impatiently.

"Don' worry about me, sugarcube." Applejack replied, waving a hoof in weak dismissal. "Just gotta catch my breath."

Starlight darted off as soon as she got the ok, and galloped up the stairs. Her younger self of just a few months ago might have ignored Applejack and gone anyway, but her new friends (and Trixie especially) were teaching her a lot about friendship.

When Starlight burst onto the second floor, she headed for the room where she knew Twilight and Twinkleshine were engaged in the process of spacecraft design. It would be necessary for a small team (probably Shining, Twi, and Twinkleshine), to go up to the moon first, in order to map out the huge teleport circle they would use to move the old castle. When Luna returned, she was going to power the teleport, but since she wasn't here yet, the unicorns would have to get to the moon on their own power, hence the need for a ship.

"We should call it the Crescent." Twinkleshine said, as Twilight pored over some blueprints.

"For its shape, or for the lunar connotations?" The purple unicorn asked absentmindedly.

"Both." The other replied, and looked up from her work as Starlight slammed open the door.

"A solar agent is coming!" The pink mare announced, and Twilight was so shocked, she dropped her papers.

"Can we take her out? Is she bringing reinforcements?" Twilight grilled her poor friend, who shrank under the weight of her bad news.

"Applejack said she was Celestia's personal student..." Starlight admitted. "To kill her, would bring down the entire army onto our heads."

"I never said we would kill her. I'm not inequine." Twilight rolled her eyes. "I was just going to teleport her back to town under a sleep spell, and wipe her mind of the last few hours. If any memories slip through, she'll think it was just a wacky dream."

"Twi-light..." Twinkleshine chided, drawing out the syllables of her friend's name. "It's not right to use memory spells on other ponies without their permission."

"Well it wouldn't be the first option, anyway." Twilight conceded, but thought to herself that tampering with one solar agent's mind was a preferable outcome if it kept her from alerting Celestia.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what is the first option, Twilight?" Glimmer asked, anxiously flicking her tail.

"We stick with the cover story. I'll go with a welcoming party to meet the agent, and try to ascertain her knowledge and intentions." Twilight explained.

"I know the rock-moving spell." Starlight added. "I'll gather up everyone who might still be underground, and close off the passageways."

"We can't let her know about our connection with the Princess." Twilight noted, as she gathered up all their blueprints and teleported them to her underground study.

"We should give her a tour of the above-ground workshop though. Nurse Sweets' triage devices and the long-range communication devices are harmless." Twinkleshine added, knowing that while it was a risk, it would be a bit difficult to call themselves hippy scientists when all their science was locked up underground.

"Starlight, do what has to be done to hide the tunnels." Twilight ordered, fully in her element as leader. "Twinkleshine, make sure everyone is aware of the plan."

"Aye-aye, captain!" The pink-maned unicorn saluted.

"As for me..." Twilight grimaced, knowing that the hardest part of this plan was also the most essential. As much as it pained her to downplay their achievements and breakthroughs, it was twice as vital to appear harmless and silly. The prodigious unicorn sighed deeply.

"I have to play dumb."

* * *

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Shining Armor asked the seamstress who was currently adjusting his sash.

"Never, darling. I think you look sophisticated, yet down-to-earth." Rarity replied with another of her famous teasing smiles.

"Mature, yet approachable?" Shining suggested.

"Precisely, darling." Rarity grinned,she had planned to dress Shining Armor up for the little show they were to arrange tonight, but she was a little blown away by how stunning he actually looked in his outfit. His blue and indigo mane had been trimmed, keeping his shaggy look, but making it a bit more professional. He wore a red sash, pinned with many old family medals from the royal guard. To use an overused expression... Rarity thought he looked like a knight in Shining Armor. Her own meager necklace of tear-drop diamonds was pale in comparison.

"Uh, Rares? You're kind of staring a little." Shining noted, snapping the unicorn out of her trance with a deep blush.

"Well, I- I need to make sure all the details are in order!"

"You're as red as my sash, Rarity." Shining added gently, and the other unicorn gave a very Fluttershy-like 'eep!' in reply.

"It's quite rude to point out a lady's blush, you know!" Rarity huffed, and left Shining Armor with a vague empty feeling, as if he'd said something wrong, and was now regretting it. All of a sudden, he remembered something. Last spring, he'd asked Bright Idea how he worked up the courage to ask his longtime crush out for Hearts and Hooves. The advice came rushing back to him, and he swallowed hard.

Rarity was the prettiest mare he'd ever seen, and she was kind, generous, and playful to boot. He'd seen her as more than a friend for a long time now, and rehearsed exactly what he meant to say. Here, now, was an obvious clue that Rarity felt the same way about him, too. It was now or never, before he lost his nerve.

"Er, Rarity, could I ask you something?" He offered, and the unicorn mare felt her heart skip a beat.

"O-of course, Shining." She replied tentatively.

"Would you like to go out with me this weekend?" He asked, before jokingly adding: "Given that we survive this Solar agent and all."

Rarity felt the squeal building up in her chest. Her grin practically jumped off her face. She did what any beautiful, cultured lady does when her dreams come true.

She fainted.

* * *

Twilight finished mussing up her hair, and watched as Rainbow Dash arrived, trailed closely by a unicorn who looked a bit like a color-swapped Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh, like, hi Rainbow!" She exclaimed in a falsely happy voice she'd heard in Canterlot once.

"Hey, uh.. Twilight." Dash replied, continuing her poor acting record. "Where do you want this lumber?"

"Oh, um, I think like, Big Macintosh needed it?" Twilight replied, putting on her best ditzy expression.

"Hello there. I'm Moondancer." The new pony stepped forward. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Oh, like, not at all!" Twilight giggled. "But I may not be able to answer them."

"Firstly, I notice there are a lot of full-moon motifs around here." The cream-colored mare explained.

"Oh, our seamstress was like, so inspired by the sun and moon symbols throughout the castle, she just had to make them into tapestries." Twilight explained. "See, like, she hasn't finished the sun tapestries yet, so they aren't displayed."

"Would you mind giving me a little tour?" Moondancer asked, and shifted Spike onto her back.

"Oh, like, sure!" Twilight replied airily. "Um, we have a great foalsitter who can watch your dragon if you want?"

Moondancer politely declined, because she didn't quite trust these ponies yet. She had always been taught that strange scientists with lunar symbology were likely Lunatics, dangerous rebels who were working for Nightmare Moon. Frankly, it was only her own sympathetic stance from Equestria's own science program that gave her pause.

The two ponies (and one dragon) made their way up into the bedrooms, and paused when they heard elusive singing, coming from an open door. Peering through the crack, they saw a butter-yellow pegasus, singing to a family of rodents, who emerged from the woodworks. Slowly, she gathered them all into her mane.

"Excuse me?" Twilight spoke as quietly as possible. "Fluttershy? I'd like to introduce you to our guest, Moondancer."

"Oh, it's a pleasure!" Fluttershy replied, and came closer, noticing with dismay that Moondancer took a step back.

"No o-offense to you, Fluttershy, but rats really c-creep me out." Moondancer stuttered. "How can you stand to be around them?"

"Oh, they aren't so bad! You just need the kindness to get to know them!" Fluttershy smiled cheerfully. "Besides, Princess L- Celestia, would want us to be kind to all living things!"

Moondancer was struck by the empathy that let this kind mare see past the creepy exteriors of feral rats in an abandoned castle. She thought about that, as they left for the next spot on their tour.

"Wait a second, Moondancer thought. "What was Fluttershy going to say before she said Celestia?"

"Now, welcome to our, like, greenhouse!" Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie Pie was spronking around, dusting fertilizer onto the soil they'd carted into the atrium. Trixie was levitating water from a bucket she carried, and misting it down onto the soil below with her magic.

"Wow! Is that a mist-scatter spell? I thought only pegasi could do that!" Moondancer exclaimed, and her shout caused Trixie to drop her current load of water all over her head.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Moondancer said, stifling a giggle. Pinkie had no such qualms, and laughed until she hiccupped.

In a single motion, Trixie cast a dehumidifier spell on her mane, and the water disappeared into steam. "No harm done. The Great and Powerful Trixie is unscathed!"

"How can you be so calm after I embarrassed you like that?! I even made your friend laugh at you!" Moondancer exclaimed, and Trixie merely laughed.

"Silly filly. Laughter is the heart of confidence! Once I realized Trixie's friends were laughing with Trixie, and not at her, The Great and Powerful magician became even greater! And even more powerful!"

"Um, does she always talk in the third pony?" Spike muttered quietly to Twilight. Not quiet enough, however, because the blue unicorn merely smirked, and added:

"It is part of Trixie's showmare gimmick."

Next stop on the tour was the mess hall, but the mares never made it. At that moment, a white unicorn with a blue mane came barrelling down the hallway.

"Twilight! Come quick!" He shouted. "It's Rarity!"

* * *

After dropping off her supplies, Rainbow Dash flew outside to join Nightblade on patrol.

"So, what's the status on that Manticore we've been hunting?" The prismatic maned mare asked, with that ever-present smirk.

"Unknown. We lost track of him last night, after he left the boundary markers." Nightblade answered. Together, the bat pony and the pegasus flew around the perimeter of the castle grounds.

"As much as I hate it, in the Everfree it's 'outta sight, outta mind.' Out of our jurisdiction, he isn't our problem any more." Rainbow commented.

"Well, if worst comes to worst, we'll just sic Flutters on him. She took care of the last Manticore well enough."

As much as Rainbow hated putting her oldest friend at risk, she knew Fluttershy would rather convince the monster to leave, rather than force her friends to fight it. She was far too compassionate for that.

"So how are things going with that Solar agent?" Nightblade wondered, prompting Rainbow to shrug.

"Seems a little ditzy. Everything should be fine." Rainbow noted, but suddenly stopped talking and shushed her nocturnal friend, as she stopped cold and listened, flapping her wings silently.

"Didja hear that?" Dash asked, and Nightblade titled his sensitive ears.

"Oh no." The bat pony frowned deeply. "Rainbow, go get Twilight."

Rainbow Dash darted off like a bullet, because she knew what she heard, and she knew what it meant. The manticore was back.

* * *

Rarity's breathing was shallow when the unicorn posse arrived, and Moondancer was so focused on the emergency that she didn't see Spike's eyes turn into massive hearts as he looked at the stricken unicorn mare.

"So... beautiful..." Spike muttered blissfully.

"Twilight! You've got to help her!" Starlight exclaimed. She was the nearest when Shining Armor called for help, and offered to stay with Rarity while he went to get his sister. Starlight recalled how kind Rarity had been when she first arrived to the compound. Her generosity had inspired Starlight to trust again, and she couldn't stand to see her hurt like this.

"What happened here, Shiny!?" Twilight exclaimed, transforming before Moondancer's eyes as she lapsed back into her natural nerdy state.

"I- I jus asked her on a date! And she passed out!" Shining explained, and Twilight giggled, despite herself.

"You have a crush on Rarity, BBBFF?"

"I won't have a crush on anypony if she dies!" He frantically cried out.

"She's not going to die." Twilight explained, running her diagnostic spell. "She just had a magical-surge-induced fainting spell. It's common in unicorns and easy to fix."

"How do you intend to fix it!?" Moondancer asked, a bit hysterical.

"Like this." Twilight muttered. "Clear!" She shouted, and sent a burst of magic into her friend's body. Rarity's eyelids fluttered, and she slowly woke.

"Oh my... What happened?" She muttered, looking around with a faint frown.

"I was just about to ask the same thing!" Moondancer interjected. "Your animal tamer had to correct herself! Your farm supplier seemed afraid of you! This whole castle is covered with moon symbols,"

The mare turned to Twilight.

"And you!" She pointed at Sparkle. "You are most certainly not a hippie herdist! You just revived a magical surge patient! Most unicorns can't do that, and certainly not outside of a hospital setting!"

"Speaking of hospitals," Pinkie Pie interjected, appearing in the door way. "Fluttershy got dust in her eyes and can't see. What do I do?"

"Twilight!" Another voice came from the opposite doorway, as Rainbow Dash skidded in. "The manticore's back! What do I do!?"

"What is going on in this place!?" Moondancer exclaimed, earning her a glare from Twilight, even as she resisted the urge to add her own 'what do I do!?'

"This is literally the worst possible time for this. I know you have questions, but I'm only answering them once everypony is safe." Twilight said, before swiveling to Pinkie Pie. "Flush the eyes with clean water."

"As for the rest of us... We're gonna have to get ready to fight."
> The Elements (Part Two)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where are the others?" Twilight asked, as she, Shining, and Nightblade raced down the tunnel. The thestral had followed, not long after Rainbow Dash, apparently wanting the faster flier to get there first.

"Dad stayed behind to protect the tunnels, and Harvest Moon is in town today. Those are the only two who could help us in combat." Nightblade explained.

"Right, so it's just the three of us, not counting Rainbow." The purple unicorn muttered.

"Hey! I can still fight!" The blue pegasus shouted. "I can't let my friends down!"

Twilight thought for a moment about who else could help. Then, she closed her eyes and focused. In a burst of magic, Trixie appeared, looking thoroughly ticked.

"We have need of your pyrotechnics." Twilight explained quickly, as they headed down the halls. "What about Noteworthy? Aren't most changelings useful in combat?"

"Not this one. Note's a hive communications expert." Shining explained. Moondancer, who had tagged along, found herself gasping at the mention of changelings, a creature which, until now, had only existed in mythology for her.

"Pony feathers!" Twilight cursed, and they sped through the halls of the castle, picking up friends as they went.

"Don't count me out, Twilight! I'm coming too!" Starlight exclaimed.

"And I, darling! It's the least I could do!" Rarity added.

"I'm rested and recovered now, so don't forget me, y'all!" Applejack exclaimed, as they passed her in the foyer, and she joined the band of friends.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Twilight!" Twinkleshine exclaimed, and gave her friend an affectionate nuzzle.

The group of ponies skidded outside, just in time to see their enemy come crashing through the trees. The monster approached, viciously roaring, as the friends prepared to attack. Moondancer kept herself and Spike under a protective shield spell.

"Here, Starlight!" Rarity exclaimed, and tossed the other unicorn her diamond necklace.

"Really, Rarity? With this?" Starlight asked, appearing to know what the fashionista was asking of her. With a nod from the ivory mare, Starlight split the necklace into four parts with her magic, and sharpened each large diamond into a real blade. She melted down the gold into small handles, and tossed two of the new knives to Rarity, who dove into the fray.

"Hey, doofus! Over here!" Twinkleshine shouted, using her telekinesis to hurl a rock at the invading monster, to distract it, while Starlight and Rarity tried to get close enough to throw their diamond knives.

Nightblade and Rainbow Dash used their pegasus magic to gather storm clouds, and summon down lightning onto their foe, while Shining Armor cast shields to protect his teammates from the vicious attacks. Meanwhile, Applejack darted beneath the monster, and bucked one of it's hind legs with a crack.

"Wow! They all make a great team, like the Power Ponies!" Spike exclaimed from atop Moondancer's back. The young mage couldn't deny the fact...

"Take that, invader!" Trixie shouted, hurling a smoke bomb at the manticore's eyes. Blinded, the beast turned to stampede in a random direction - right towards Moondancer!

"Oh no! My shield isn't strong enough to withstand that kind of force!" The unicorn thought with despair. "I'm sorry Spike!"

The killing blow never came, however, because Shining Armor threw himself in front of the stranger, shielding her with his aura, even though his horn sparked with the force of impact.

"W-why!?" Moondancer stuttered, and the older unicorn turned to grimace in her direction.

"You might be a no-good solar agent, but I can't just let you get squished." The guard pony explained. "I'd never forgive myself."

Up until now, Twilight had been running damage control, corralling the monster away from the castle - but everyone was starting to run low on steam. Starlight and Rarity had used their knives (now stuck in the monster's coarse hide), and were fighting with magical beams. Even for such a powerful mage as Starlight though, they barely did any damage.

"Twilight!" Nightblade called out, still flying circles around the manticore, trying to avoid it's stinging tail. "We need your combat magic! Without Fluttershy, we can't drive it away!"

"No!" Twilight called in reply, more to herself than the bat pony. Fluttershy would be heartbroken if they maimed or killed this monster, and that's what would happen if she used her combat magic now.

"C'mon, Twi! Ya' know he's telling the truth!" Applejack added. While everyone knew her as the honest apple, Nightblade had gotten a reputation around the colony as being a pony who always sought out the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.

Trixie started gearing up for an aura blast, and Twilight begrudgingly did the same. She aimed for the monster's forehead, while her friends held him off.

3... 2... 1...

"Wait!" Fluttershy called out, right before Twilight fired off her beam.

"We're back!" Pinkie exclaimed, right behind her. She was dragging along a cart. "Lookie what I brought!"

Just in the nick of time, Fluttershy flew up into the air, and locked eyes with the beast, putting it into her stare. Twilight teleported over to Pinkie, and glanced inside the cart. It was...

"The elements of harmony!" Twilight exclaimed, and as she spoke, the stone orbs broke apart, and in a flash of magic, six ponies rose off the ground, surrounded by white light.

"Honesty!" Applejack announced, instinctively knowing the name of the necklace that settled around her throat. She had lied so terribly about the true nature of the colony, because lying simply wasn't in her nature.

"Kindness!" Fluttershy smiled, but in the magic, her stare was broken, and the manticore began to stir from its hypnosis. She couldn't stand to see even the scariest creature come to harm.

"Loyalty!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She was too loyal to let her friends fight alone, even though she was battered and exhausted from her breakneck warning flight, and all the supply-runs she'd made today.

"Laughter!" Pinkie added, recalling all the parties, and smiles brought to the faces of her friends.

"Generosity!" Rarity finished the chain, right as the manticore finally awoke, and turned back to the ponies, fully enraged. She was always willing to give of her time and resources, including the lovely necklace she'd wanted to wear for her date with Shining Armor.

"It's not enough!" Twilight cried out, knowing she was missing something. Suddenly, when she thought about her friends, vulnerable and discouraged, she felt a spark within her.

"Friendship!" Twilight cried out, and a sixth necklace materialized around her purple throat. That magical event set off a shockwave, and five more ponies flew into the air. Twilight knew what was happening, as it happened, even though she had never read about it, or heard about it before. Harmony itself was speaking through her.

"Temperance, known by ponies now, as Patience!" Twilight called out, as Twinkleshine glowed, and a horn-guard made of gold formed around her horn.

"Candor! A thirst for the Truth, even when Honesty is hard to bear!" The unicorn explained, as Nightblade gained two gilded wing-blades,
And like Twinkleshine's horn-guard each were set with his cutie mark.

"Through Generosity, grows Faith, belief in the goodness of ponies!" Sparkle announced, as Starlight Glimmer gained a horn-guard like Twinkleshine had, with her own bejeweled cutie mark.

"Through Laughter, grows Confidence!" Was Trixie's explanation, and for some reason unknown to them all, Trixie didn't get new armor or jewelry. Instead, she got a golden circlet that fit around her wizard hat, with a wand-shaped charm on the side.

"Honor! The loyalty to one's moral code!" Twilight finished, as her own brother floated into the air, and received a helmet, with his cutie mark embossed on either side.

With the last element given, Twilight gained a second piece, this time, a gold tiara. It was the element of magic. Together, the eleven ponies shot a beam of light at the manticore, who disappeared without a trace, as the friends slowly hovered back to the ground.

"W-we, um, we didn't kill him, did we?" Fluttershy asked in a wavering voice, as Moondancer simply watched in awe.

"No. We only sent him to the other side of the forest, far away from here." Twilight replied. "I can still see the teleport residue..."

"Moondancer!" Spike exclaimed. "Aren't those the artifacts you're looking for!? The elements of harmony?"

"Spike, you're right!" The scholar exclaimed, then paused as she realized the implications. "The elements of harmony... The one set of relics that can banish Nightmare Moon..."

"Are in the grasp of Nightmare Moon's minions..." Spike finished with a gulp, and promptly plopped to the ground, as the unicorn he was riding on, had fainted.
* * *

Moondancer awoke in a strange place, and instantly knew she was dreaming, because her surroundings were pitch black, but she could clearly see in front of her. And the creature in front of Moondancer was an alicorn, black as night, with a mane like blue stardust.

"N-nightmare Moon?" The unicorn stuttered, praying this was just a dream, and not a magical nightmare from the queen of bad dreams.

"So help me, Solar Agent. If you have harmed my student and my followers, I will make this a dream from which you never awake..." The dark alicorn spoke, eerily calm.

"U-um, no, your N-nightly-ness." Moondancer stuttered. "T-they actually saved my life, just a moment ago."

"Oh?" The nightmare asked, seemingly unfazed.

"W-with the elements of harmony. All.." The scholar paused to count in her head. "All twelve of them."

At this, the strange alicorn whipped her head around, facing the newcomer with those dangerous-looking slitted eyes.

"What do you know about the elements? Last I heard, there were only six." The alicorn haughtily asked, convinced that the unicorn was lying.

"There were twice that number, honestly!" Moondancer whimpered, covering her head with her hooves. When she looked up again, after the alicorn went silent, Nightmare Moon was gone.

"H-hello...?" The unicorn called out, quietly.

"I have just checked with my apprentice, and it appears you speak the truth, Celestial spy." Nightmare noted, reappearing behind the terrified mare.

"Tell me, Moondancer - are you grateful to my subjects for saving you?" The alicorn asked, surprisingly kind, as compared to before.

"Yes! They saved me, and my little brother, Spike! If not for them, we would have been squashed by a manticore!" Moondancer exclaimed. "They're the kindest, smartest, most helpful ponies I've ever met, and it's hard to reconcile that with the thought that they're working for... well..."

"Me?" Nightmare Moon asked, in a voice devoid of emotion. "Do you know whyI chose this form, little pony?"

"B-because you w-were jealous?" Moondancer offered.

"... It still amazes me to this day, that my sister has not told the true story." The dark alicorn shook her head, before turning to Moondancer, who was still reeling over the fact that this was Celestia's sister! "Celestia once supported broad and cruel laws restricting citizenship to ponies, and she never spoke up when my thestrals were martyred, or when the ponies who loved my night (scientists and innovators, all of them) were driven into hiding. She told me then, that she didn't want to upset our subjects by finally granting equal rights to the 'scary' bat ponies or 'Lunatics' who 'went mad' from being out at night."

"So, I told Celestia that if she wanted to reject the creatures of the night, she would have to reject me, as well. And I took the form I wear to this day. With fangs like changelings and dragons, with eyes that see in the dark, like bat ponies. I am not possessed by darkness, for I am the darkness." Luna finished her story. "So tell me, Solar Agent... are you truly afraid of me? Of... us?"

* * *

Moondancer awoke, and immediately looked around for Spike. She soon found him, on his back, looking sick.

"Oh no! Spike! What did they do to you!?" She exclaimed, rushing over to her surrogate brother.

"Nothing-" Spike paused, to let out a belch. "I just ate too much."

"Oh! Oh, thank goodness..." Moondancer sank to the floor in relief.

"Dude, there's a unicorn here who can make gems out of base elements." Spike mused dreamily. "I had so many rubies, I think I'm gonna hurl!"

While her dragon waxed poetic about the gems he ate and the 'gorgeous Angel Rarity' he'd seen, Moondancer contemplated what to think about Nightmare Moon. She and Spike were in a comfortable bedroom, not a prison cell, and that said something. Her baby dragon had been fed (too much, probably), and instead of torturing her in an endless Nightmare, the black alicorn and the scholarly mare had a calm discussion. It seemed like everything she'd ever been told about Nightmare Moon and Lunatic Cults were wrong...

Rising from the bed, Moondancer trotted to the door, and pulled it open with her magic. It was unlocked. Outside, in the hallway, was the orange earth pony from the farm.

"Howdy there. Good to see you're awake." Applejack grinned.

"Um... hello?" Moondancer offered trying to look innocent, as if she hadn't just been caught trying to escape.

"I reckon you got questions." Applejack deduced. "And I reckon I got answers."

* * *

With Moondancer and Spike taken care of, everyone mostly went back to what they were doing before the scare. Fluttershy went back to the farm to help Big Macintosh, and Rarity returned to her workshop, to continue working on her enchanted accessories.

These hoof-bands were meant to be worn by the colony members as long distance communication devices. They would also have built-in gravity localizers and location spells for travel across the moon's surface. At the touch of a gem, the hoof-band would also use the moon's ambient magic, to create a bubble of air around the pony. Of course, it was only Rarity's job to make the things fashionable. Twilight would have to make the enchantments - the white unicorn just had to take two similarly sized gems, and incorporate them into a hoofband. Easier said than done.

Rarity sighed, having reached a roadblock, and turned to Shining Armor. He had been keeping her company as he read a book about military strategy.

"Darling, can we talk for a moment?" Rarity asked, sitting on the cushion beside him.

"Of course. What's on your mind?" Shining Armor replied, setting down his book.

"Does it feel like we're putting too much stock in this... Moon idea? After all, we have the elements of harmony, plus... A few, and Celestia doesn't even have her apprentice. Shouldn't we have the upper-hoof?"

"Well, I guess the simple answer is that the Princess can't predict everything. If Celestia tries to send soldiers here while Luna is still in negotiations, we'll need to either prepare for siege, or use the teleport circle to move the castle moon-side." The stallion explained his thoughts.

"Secondly, Princess Luna is counting on the hope that Celestia wants to avoid an all-out war. Even though our princess has the elements, Celestia has the numbers. If any of us soldiers make a mistake on the battlefield, we might simply be overwhelmed by her soldiers. From what Twilight's told me, we aren't even sure the elements work like that, as weapons of war. There's no precedent for it."

"I see..." Rarity murmured to herself, thinking it over. "And if we could use the elements for war, it would mean killing a lot of ponies who happened to fight for the other side."

"Right. Although war is awful, I like to think it's permissible for righteous causes. For example, Rarity, I don't think you had any friends who were persecuted in the last Lunar Purge, but mom and Dad ended up right in the middle of it."

"Really? I didn't think those happened any more in modern society!" The mare exclaimed, both curious and horrified.

"Well it was on the heels of a really bad fire, so everypony wanted something to blame." Shining explained. "My parents have night-time cutie marks and names, which aren't very uncommon among certain groups of unicorns. That said, my mother was a magical researcher, and dad was an astronomer, both distrusted jobs, and one of which required being out at night."

"Whatever did they do? I know your parents must have lived, because I've met them - but how did they escape?" Rarity asked, eyes wide in curiosity.

"Well, as it turns out, my parents had lots of friends in Canterlot, trusted friends, who helped dispel the rumors and who stood up for them in their time of need. It also didn't hurt that mom was once in Celestia's school, and knew the Princess personally." Shining Armor explained. "The ironic thing was, mom and dad weren't Luna's followers yet. It turns out, the ponies who stood up for my parents were Harvest Moon and Starbright. The very same ponies who live here in the colony."

"Oh my! How whimsical!" Rarity mused. "Saved from imminent death by friends with secret affiliations... It's just like a suspense novel!"

"But, say..." The ivory mare paused. "Isn't Starbright also an astronomer? And Harvest Moon is hardly free of suspicion."

"That's the irony of it," Shining chuckled. "At the time, she was still called Autumn Harvest, her birth name. Starbright may be an astronomer, but he has a white coat and purple mane, with two yellow diamonds as a cutie mark. He's basically looks exactly like a member of the Canterlot elite."

"And in their frenzy for revenge, the crowd blew right past the actual Lunar devotees..." Rarity giggled.

"After that, dad was sceptical. Even thought he and Starbright were old pals, he sort of half-suspected them of being the culprits for a little while, at least until the true cause of the fire was discovered: faulty wiring. Mom, on the other hand, jumped right in. She became a Lunar Cultist out of spite."

"Your mother is truly a character..." Rarity laughed with abandon, and Shining knew she meant it in the best way possible. She only laughed like that when something had warmed her heart.

"So anyway, what I'm saying is this: I would hate for it to go to war, but I know ponies died that night, and my parents barely escaped the violence. I would go to war, if it kept innocent ponies from suffering the same fate."

"Right. And if Celestia won't let Luna retake her throne as an equal, we'll have to regroup until we have the supplies, technology, and soldiers to go to war. That'swhy we really need the moon!" Rarity grinned, having figured out the puzzle.

"Exactly." Shining smirked. "Under the pretense of creating her own nation, we'll be able to easily take down Celestia's armies. She won't know what hit her."

* * *

"You don't strike me as a Lunar cultist." Moondancer explained. "You didn't back at the farm, and you don't now."

"In the beginning, I wasn't actually on board with all this." Applejack explained. "When this other princess showed up, promising me things Celestia couldn't give, I didn't trust her."

"See," Applejack continued, "All my life, my family's fought tooth and hoof for what we got, because the fools up in Canterlot who buy our produce think they don't need to pay earth ponies a good price for their goods."

"I reckon Princess Luna was the first pony to ever pay a fair price for our apples and grain instead of just takin' it, or haggling so much we didn't get a fair bargain. See, Celestia takes a real laissez faire attitude towards the market. There ain't no laws sayin' that a pony deserves a fair price. The only thing fair about this system is the fact that it's fair game."

Applejack noticed Moondancer staring with an exasperated deadpan.

"What? You don't believe it?" The farmpony asked.

"Oh no, I know all about Canterlot politics," Moondancer replied. "I'm just surprised you know what laissez faire means."

"See! This right here is what I'm talkin' about!" Applejack threw her hooves up in frustration. "I'm from a different geological region, I ain't an idiot! When I was searching for my cutie mark, I got a degree from business school!"

"Okay, okay, I apologize for thinking less of you." Moondancer admitted. "I have to confess, I'm sort of surprised. In common mythology, we were often told that Lunatics were all unicorns, and that they were crazy scientists and mad inventors. All of you break the mold in some way."

"Oh no, we got plenty of crazy scientists here. They're just crazy in the right ways. They dream up things ya' might say could never exist, and then they make it happen."

"Make it happen..." Moondancer murmured to herself. Then her eyes lit up. Then she pounced on Applejack with a crazed smile.

"I wanna be a double agent!"
> Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Three Years Later *

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm delighted that you want me to be in charge of planning the thousandth summer sun celebration in Ponyville. I've made a lot of great friends since I moved here, three years ago, and I know just the ponies for the job! You were right that I needed to get out of the books and be around ponies more often. Thanks again, for introducing me to the magic of friendship!

"Your student, Moondancer."

The cream-colored unicorn finished her letter with a flourish, and sealed it with a ribbon, before handing it off to Spike.

"All sent!" The dragon saluted.

"Good work. Now, we just get everything ready as usual, and wait for Celestia to arrive!" Moondancer grinned. It had been three years now, since she last joined the secret colony, and they had been the best years of her life. No one ever looked down at her because she had less magic than other unicorns. No one refused her projects funding for reasons that were petty or political. If it helped the colony, and they had the budget, she could consider it done.

She often worked with Bright Idea the batpony in the laboratory. He and his wife Sweet Dreams had become something of a surrogate family for her over the past few years. A typical day for Moondancer involved eating breakfast with her friends, and breakfast included Trixie's shenanigans, designed to make ponies laugh, sometimes joined by Pinkie Pie. After breakfast was working in the laboratory with Starlight, the resident alchemist, or in the library working on plans with Bright Idea. Throughout the day (night), Moondancer might also be found in the workshop with Twilight, or stargazing with Twinkleshine.

She knew what it was like to have friends now. And because she knew how much better life could be with friends by your side, she downright refused to let Celestia take that away from her.

That's why their plan had to work. Moondancer sighed deeply, as she examined the artifact that had been recovered weeks ago, and was kept in the library for safe keeping. It would be readily available for Twilight to summon from anywhere in Ponyville. They were ready.
* * *

"Is that all the apple fritters for the party, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked, having flown over the last plate of treats to their cart.

"Sure thing, sugarcube. Was there something you wanted?" Applejack asked, recognizing the look on the pegasus' face.

"AJ, what's... What's the worst that could happen today?" Fluttershy asked, bashfully hiding behind her mane.

"There's no need to feel bad about being scared. I'm scared too, hun." Applejack confessed. "The way I reckon, worst case scenario? We have to beat a hasty retreat to the moon and get defenses up before Celestia can invent the spaceship. I don't think she'll fly up there and shoot at civilians on her own."

"R-right. Celestia may be a terrible ruler, but surely she wouldn't d-do that... right??" Fluttershy eeped.

"Even if she does, we'll have Luna to protect us by then. Not to mention, while the elements can't be used as weapons, I doubt they'd let us get zapped by a jealous alicorn." Applejack added with a grin.

"So, so even the worst case is planned for?" Fluttershy asked, with a small smile.

"Yep!" Applejack gave the pegasus a warm nuzzle. "We're all kinds 'a prepared sugarcube."

"Okay then. But I'm still a little nervous." Fluttershy added quietly.

"How 'bout this? As soon as all this craziness is over, you and me can go out together, as marefriends?" Applejack offered, blushing a little beneath her orange coat.

"O-oh! Oh no, I couldn't!" Fluttershy whimpered. "I don't want you to ask me out just because I'm scared, AJ!"

"That don't matter one bit," Applejack explained. "I was gonna ask you afterward, regardless. Your bein' scared didn't have a thing to do with it."

"O-oh! Well, in that case, yes! I'd love to!" Fluttershy exclaimed, before leaping into the air with a smile and a small, quiet, 'woo-hoo'!

"Now go an' work on that bird choir, sugarcube! We'll meet up later tonight!"

* * *

After the day of preparations was over, the friends all gathered for a little party at the colony. It was the last night before the big showdown, and everyone felt the pressure. This might very well be the last night they spent on Equus. They celebrated as they usually did, except that in past years, the Summer Sun Celebration had been a reminder that Luna was one year closer to returning. Now, the festivities were ridiculous and raucous, since Luna was merely hours away.

She and Twilight had been debating how to go about it, and finally decided that Luna would take back control of her moon, and when Celestia found that she couldn't raise the sun, Twilight would step out of the crowd, and deliver the ultimatum: come peacefully to a meeting with Nightmare Moon, or face eternal night. Celestia's decisions after that would decide how she was received for the inevitable showdown. Luna might be feeling lenient if her sister had learned and matured over the past thousand years. If not, Luna would make her terms, and force her sister to comply. After all, what could Celestia do with no elements and no forces, save for herself, and an army that hadn't seen war in hundreds of years?

Finally, the moment came. Ponies filtered out of their houses, and out of the restaurants, clubs, and taverns of Ponyville, all eager to see their demi-goddess ruler raise the summer sun, heralding another year of peace. The Lunar agents shared an amused smile, as Celestia walked up to the stage, flapped her magnificent wings, and...

Nothing happened.

A murmur began to erupt from among the crowd, as ponies looked from one to the other, confused and disturbed. One pony stepped out from the crowd.

"Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. "I was aware your parents decided to leave Canterlot, but I didn't know you came to Ponyville."

Twilight was vaguely disturbed that her whereabouts were so known by Celestia, as after she graduated from college, Twilight Velvet had never really seen her old teacher much, and certainly not since Twilight the Younger was born. Said Twilight was more than a little disconcerted.

"I bring a message." Twilight said finally, forcing Celestia's meddling from her mind. "From your sister, Luna."

A murmur erupted from the crowd. Celestia's sister was not common knowledge to the common pony.

"Ah, so the rumours were true, hmm?" Celestia mused, maintaining a perfect expression of neutrality.

"What rumours...?" Twilight thought to herself, schooling her face to show no fear or confusion.

"I heard that your family was targeted as potential Lunar rebels before you were. I'm ashamed to discover the hearsay was true." Celestia frowned, and her horn lit up faintly, just barely, but Twilight recognized the spell.

"At least me tell you the message before you teleport away, Princess!" Twilight shouted, startling Celestia enough to give her pause. Twilight had prepared for the possibility, and quickly called forth the amulet Trixie had tracked down weeks ago. It shimmered into being around her neck, summoned by a teleportation spell, and Celestia gasped when she saw it.

"The Alicorn Amulet-!" The Princess murmured, and Twilight allowed herself a small smirk.

"I assure you, Princess, only so that you will remain here long enough for me to convey my message." Twilight explained, before surrounding the Alicorn in an anti-teleportation ward.

"Using dark artifacts, refusing to lower her moon? Luna has clearly remained the same for all her years of imprisonment." Celestia noted bitterly.
"Luna might say the same of you," Twilight muttered, before relaying her missive. "Princess Luna wishes to invite you to a meeting, held in the old Palace of the Two Sisters. You will not be harmed, given that you do not harm her subjects, or their home. You may bring a second, or witness, to these proceedings, but we would prefer if you came alone."

"Of course you would..." Celestia muttered, though she kept a neutral façade.

"That's it." Twilight finished. "For what it's worth, Luna really just wants to talk." On those parting words, Twilight smirked wickedly, and canceled the wards around Celestia, before teleporting away.

Miles into the Everfree, she ripped the amulet from her throat, and tossed it into a magically prepared trunk, one that would keep it's corruptive influence at bay.

"How did it go?" Nightmare Moon asked, draconic eyes wide with expectation.

"I think I got a little snippy at the end, but our point was made clear." Twilight answered, quickly activating a spell that cleansed her of mind-altering magics.

"The amulet will do that to a mare," Luna muttered. "I'm glad you were able to resist. And my sister?"

"As cool and calm as ever. I was slightly disturbed that she had so much information on me, but we've come to expect that sort of manipulation, haven't we?" Twilight sighed.

"If only she spent less time stalking potential element bearers and more time pulling strings among the common ponies..." Luna mused. "But then, she wouldn't be my sister, would she?"

Wait, Twilight had been on a shortlist for potential elements of harmony before she even knew about it? She'd have to ask Luna more about that later. In the meantime, the only thing left to do was wait. Moondancer and the bearers would be along soon.

* * *

"Moondancer!" Celestia announced, and the studious, bespectacled mare stepped forward.

"Um, here!" She offered. She knew Celestia would call upon her, but after their only contact was letters for the past three years, Moondancer was more than afraid to see her mentor in the flesh.

She doesn't know, she won't hurt you. This is Celestia, she won't hurt you- The cream unicorn chanted mentally, like a mantra.

"You told me in your letters that you knew of some ponies with special gifts that correspond with the Elements of Harmony. Can you bring them?" Celestia asked. She was slightly perturbed that Luna had Twilight Sparkle working with her, as House Twilight was a direct bloodline of Starswirl the Bearded. She had once been considered as a potential bearer of the element of magic, and as such, must surely be a powerful unicorn.

No matter, Celestia thought. Despite my sister's surprise follower, the plan remains the same.

Over the three years she'd been in Ponyville, Celestia had been subtly grooming Moondancer to locate and befriend the most likely Elements of Harmony. Such obvious fountains of Harmonic magic should be easily detectable at any time, but having Moondancer scout out the area beforehand was surprisingly helpful.

"U-uh, of course, Princess." The young mare stuttered before calling forth each of her friends, as agreed upon earlier, back at the colony. It had been decided that they stick with the five original bearers, not knowing the extent of Celestia's knowledge or mage-sight.

As it turned out, Celestia saw the overflow of harmonic magic around the five mares, and knew they were the true bearers of the elements. All the pieces of her plan were coming together.

Moondancer led her friends into the forest, and they were followed by Celestia, and another princess that none of them had ever seen. She had been introduced as Celestia's protégé and niece, Cadence. Moondancer inwardly stressed about this new arrival, because it was another Alicorn fighting against them, if push came to shove. Where did another Alicorn come from, anyway? As long as Moondancer had been living in Canterlot castle, she'd never so much as seen a glimpse of this mare. Then again, Moondancer had never done much socializing before moving to Ponyville.

"The path is free of obstacles, it seems." The Sun Princess noted, as they trotted through the Everfree, having not seen a single hostile creature.

"Well, Aunty Luna did invite us for a peaceful meeting." Cadance chimed in. She seemed eager to see the best in ponies, Moondancer noted. Maybe she'd be willing to see both sides of the argument.

"Cadance, her follower used the Alicorn Amulet, a known dark artifact. Do you seriously think we're dealing with anything less than black magic here?" Celestia sighed, and Moondancer could hear the condescension in her tone. She recognized it well enough, from all the times she'd jumped to conclusions during lessons, or failed to cast a simple spell. Her ears went down reflexively, and her new friends noticed the uncomfortable moment between mentor and student.

They trotted on in bitter silence, going down the familiar path that all of the secret lunar agents had traveled for years now. Soon, once they'd crossed the bridge over the gorge, the castle reared up before them, a bastion of civilisation in an unforgiving environment. Celestia gasped at the sight of it, completely whole, and gorgeous in it's renovation.

"How is this possible?" The Princess murmured to herself as she glanced over the repaired façade of the old castle, which had been abandoned for a thousand years now, and looked no more than a decade old.

"I can tell that a lot of love went into the repairs here, Aunty Celestia." Cadance noted. "The love is everywhere, strong and kind, like red strings that tie the building to the inhabitants."

So Cadenza was talented in empathy magic? Moondancer wondered what else she could tell, with her "Alicorn Sense". One's loyalties, perhaps.

Once they stepped into the castle, someone was waiting to bring the party to the conference room. It was Nebula, Nightblade's mother.

"Follow me, your highnesses. I'm sorry, but the others must remain here." The mare insisted.

"They are of no consequence against Alicorns, let them follow." Celestia soothed, as they knew she would. Celestia wasn't going to be caught alone without her element bearers. Moondancer stayed behind, as the plan agreed upon by both princesses had her retrieving the original elements, and bringing them back.

"If you insist, my lady." Nebula replied coolly, before leading the ponies into a large meeting chamber, with enough room for everyone. There was a round stone table in the center of the room, with four chairs around it. Twilight and Nightmare Moon were seated in two, while the other two were left open for Celestia and Cadance.

"Greetings, sister." Luna spoke politely, if a little stiffly.

"You are not my sister, Nightmare." Celestia replied in turn, ignoring Twilight, who bristled at the obvious and flippant disrespect.

"Greetings, Aunty Luna." Cadance added cordially, hoping to salvage a good first impression.

"And you. Pardon, but I don't believe we've met." Luna spoke to Cadance, looking her over with a critical eye."

"I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, first ascended Alicorn since you, Luna." Cadance replied, and Luna silently nodded. She and her sister had indeed ascended, and had not been born in their current forms, and as Cadence hadn't gained an ethereal mane yet, she was young enough to have ascended after Luna's banishment.

"Let us get down to business." Celestia interjected. "State your purpose, Nightmare."

"All we ask is for you to agree to a list of terms. If it is acceptable, we may begin the long road towards peace." Twilight explained, sliding a letter of requests across the table. It was mostly things that Celestia should have done long ago, like raising Luna to an equal partner in the diarchy, as she had never been, since Celestia could override her authority on a whim. Other terms included the addition of laws to protect commoners and bat ponies, and to allow nonviolent changelings a position in society.

"There's no way I'm agreeing to this." Celestia shook her head venomously. "Changelings, Nightmare? Do you want to drive the citizens into a panic?"

"Aunty-" Cadance tried to interject, but was quickly shut down by Celestia.

"Hush, Cadance. You might know about diplomacy, but you know nothing of ruling a kingdom!" The sun Princess hissed. "If I enact these laws without the common ponies' approval, there will be riots!"

"Perhaps it is high time for a riot." Luna replied calmly.

"If I force ponies to pay a higher price on farmed produce, and other goods provided by commoners, I'll lose the funding of the nobles!"

"Dost thou not have a royal tax fund, Celestia? Art thou still relying on the rich to fund thy schemes?" Luna retorted, briefly lapsing back into Old Equestrian, as she'd done a few times since her return. Apparently knowing modern Equestrian in dreams was different than speaking it on a daily basis.

"I cannot agree to these terms, Nightmare. What will you do now?" Celestia asked, keeping a neutral tone.

"Now, I will make you one last offer. You think I have no claim to the throne? Let's see, shall we? You give me a week. A week with no war, and no interferences, a week to recruit anyone among the common pony who would want to join me."

"I have a better idea, pretender." Celestia retorted, having sensed the return of her protege.

"Face the Elements of Harmony, and give back my sister!" Celestia shouted out, as Moondancer entered the room, and levitated each element to the appropriate bearers. They did, of course, nothing, firstly because the set was incomplete, and secondly, because the bearers hadn't activated them.

"Nice try, sister, but I have my own little surprise in store." Moon explained, and the doors on the other side of the room opened. Out stepped Twinkleshine, Trixie, Shining, Nightblade, and Starlight Glimmer, all wearing their elements.

"I call them the Knights of Harmony. Mine are also a complete set, unlike yours, sister." Luna smirked, as the crown and necklace latched onto Twilight, seemingly of their own accord.

"What!? But- but- how!?" Celestia stammered out, glaring at the black Alicorn.

"I hold both the element of Magic and the element of Friendship." Twilight explained. "You can't just banish Luna to the moon again, or 'purge' her of any ideas you may disagree with. I believe in chess, we call this a 'check'." The purple unicorn laughed amusedly. The plan was coming together nicely.

"I may not be able to purge you, but I can still fight you." Celestia growled, and Luna was taken aback by the viciousness.

"Sister, do you remember how many innocents died in our last war? I seriously do not wish for a repeat of that time, but I will fight for the ponies I love, Celestia."

"The ponies you love? You love nothing but power, abomination!" The sun Princess retorted, and Cadance, being able to see love and love's attachments, visibly cringed.

"She's telling the truth, Auntie." Cadance noted. "I can see her connections. She loves her Knights and her apprentice. She also loves..." The Alicorn's eyebrows furrowed.

"Aunty, she even loves the elements of harmony, the ponies who could well hold the power to kill her! What could be more noble?"

Celestia went stock still at this admission, and slowly turned to face her niece, whose horn was softly glowing from the use of her mage-sight.

"Don't be an idiot, Cadance." The made spat out in clipped tones. "She doesn't love them despite their being enemies. She loves them because they've already been corrupted to her side!"

"Checkmate." Twilight noted, as the elements of harmony trotted over to stand in front of their counterparts.

"You are damned lucky that I cannot use the elements for war, Celestia." Luna snarled. "If I could, I would obliterate you, as you planned to obliterate me."

"A-Aunty, is that true? You told me you only wanted the elements to help intimidate Luna into being cooperative to avoid all out war! Were you really going to- to kill her!?" Cadance cried, watching her adoptive aunt with horror.

"If that crown had gone onto your head, instead of Twilight's, it would all be over." Celestia explained. "Just the elements together in one place, with willing bearers, would have purged my sister of the Nightmare, and Luna would return to us."

"I do not need to be purged!" Luna shouted. To Starlight's magical credit, the new windows didn't even shudder.

"Luna isn't crazy, she's just angry!" Twilight added. "You stole her special talent and banished her to the moon because you didn't agree!"

"This is getting nowhere," Cadance interjected. "No one is purging anyone, and we're here because we're trying to prevent war!"

"I concur." Twilight noted, starting to like Cadance just the smallest bit. "Without civilian casualties, preferably."

"Fine. What do you want from me?" Celestia snarled.

"I already told you." Luna replied, surprisingly soft. "If you refuse to give me my initial terms, I want a week of recruitment, during which you leave me alone, and leave my followers alone, and refrain from preventing anypony from coming to me."

"After which...?" Celestia asked cautiously.

"After which I take my followers and abscond to the moon, where I expect you will treat us as a sovereign nation and leave us alone."

"The moon!" Celestia murmured in surprise.

"This is reasonable, Aunty. We should concede." Cadance noted in a quiet voice. Celestia cast a sound-proof bubble around their half of the table, to avoid having their discussion overheard.

"That's ridiculous, Cadance! The moon is-"

"Not your property!" The pink Alicorn interrupted. "No one's gone up there and staked a claim yet!"

"Because it's worthless! There's no arable land, no water or anything more than scant sunshine, and definitely no atmosphere! She'll be sending those misguided ponies to their deaths!" Celestia added, realizing the weight of what she'd just said.

"Aunty, Luna clearly loves her followers. As the Alicorn of love, I can attest to that fact. She wouldn't take them to the moon if she didn't have a plan." Cadance rolled her eyes.

"I can't allow my citizens to go with that- that- Nightmare!" Celestia shouted so loud that the bubble of sound almost popped.

"You don't have a choice, Celestia!" Cadance shouted, for the first time, referring to her mentor as something other than her beloved aunt. "Would you rather they be dead from an avoidable civil war, with an unknown outcome?"

"... Fine..." Celestia nodded reluctantly, and dispelled her soundproof bubble.

"We agree to your terms." Cadance answered, before Celestia had the chance to react. "You will have your recruitment week, and you will have no interference from me."

"... Or from me." Celestia reluctantly conceded.

"Thank you, Cadance." Luna nodded to the new Alicorn. "I shall extend you the privilege of becoming our first foreign ambassador. If you so desire, you may be the first Equestrian on the moon."

"Thank you... I... I actually don't know what you'd like to be called." Cadance admitted, blushing a little.

"Princess Luna, ruler of the Lunar Republic." The black alicorn explained.

"Long may the republic stand!" The assembled followers exclaimed as one. They'd practiced this, to be used in the future when announcing their Princess for trials and meetings. It was the perfect slogan for this brave new world, and it's innovative inhabitants. Finally, it was time to come out of the shadows.
> Relationships and Rebellions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The news went out soon afterwards, and all the papers were printing Luna's open letter to Equestria, calling for all innovators, dreamers, farmers, the oppressed, and those who just didn't fit in. She also put out an invitation for bat ponies and changelings in Equestria, to offer a safe place where they could live without scorn.

"Do you think anypony will be put off by living alongside changelings?" Rarity asked Shining Armor one day, as she increased production on her new project: designing foal-sized necklaces that worked as emergency commlinks and breather spells for the foals that would soon be joining them.

"I'm sure they will." Shining answered. "If it's really a problem, they'll just leave. But if it's merely fear, or misinformation, we've prepared for that. There are several required seminars that new citizens have to take before we accept them into the group. Changeling and Thestral biology is one of them."

"Ah, I see! So those who are too bigoted to even try are weeded out, and those who are merely misinformed will get the facts straight." Rarity smirked. "This sounds like a wise vetting process."

"How are things going with Sweetie Belle?" Shining asked, recalling Rarity's recent obsession with foal-proofing everything on the colony.

"As well as can be expected." Rarity sighed. "My parents are so air headed, I sometimes think I do a better job raising Sweetie than her actual parents do. You know what they told me?"

"What?" Shining asked, always ready to help his marefriend vent.

"I literally walked up and told them that I was moving to the moon and taking Sweetie Bell with me. They said 'Fine honey, great! Have fun!'" Rarity scoffed, after a scathing impression of her father.

"Ouch." Shining shook his head wistfully. "I guess I'm lucky my whole family's here. We won't get too many trips down to the surface after we've left."

"I won't miss them much." Rarity admitted. "And Sweetie's just overjoyed that her best friends are coming along too."

Last year, Rainbow Dash had discovered that Scootaloo was an orphan, living alone in Ponyville. She'd taken her in as an apprentice, and the orange foal was now living comfortably in the colony. Applejack and Big Macintosh had also moved their family into the colony. Granny Smith was not adjusting well to life on the moon, but she was with her family, at least. Applebloom was having the time of her life.

The colony had been shifted up to the moon via a magical teleport circle. The enchantments had been adjusted with the moon's ambient magic, and now the colony was airtight and breathable, not to mention magically warmed, to counteract the cold winds of space. Next, a teleport circle had been linked to a twin in the Crescent, Twilight and Twinkleshine's magically powered spaceship, and it was used to teleport ponies from Hollow Shades to the colony.

Hollow Shades, of course, was the abandoned bat pony town that Luna had decided to use as a base of operations on Equus. A fleet of private trains were going to the town from all over Equestria, and Cadance had paid the fare for anypony wanting to go, as a sign of goodwill. Once there, ponies had the chance to take the citizenship classes that would vet out any undesirables like tribalists or violent criminals, foal fiddlers, etc. They simply didn't have the room or the infrastructure to deal with criminals yet, so the safest option would be to keep them out.

Once the week was up, the Lunar citizens would pack up their things and disappear from Hollow Shades, as if they had never been.

* * *

"Look, mama! We're going so fast!" Dinky Doo exclaimed, pointing at the window. She'd never been on a train before.

"You're right, muffin. We're going really fast!" Ditzy replied with a smile.

"Do you think there'll be other foals, mama?" Dinky asked, titling her head in question.

"Absolutely!" Derpy replied. "At the very least, there'll be foals from Ponyville there. I saw Berry Punch and Colgate with their fillies on another train car."

"That's good. I'm already friends with Piña Colada and Ruby Pinch, so at least I know they'll be there too." The foal exclaimed happily.

The train was just pulling into town, a deserted-looking place where no one seemed to live. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be usable out here, was a giant, shiny object, shaped like a crescent moon.

"What's that, mama?" Dinky asked, and her mother didn't have an answer.

"I don't know, muffin..."

Once at the train station, the ponies stepped out into the creepy town, and were greeted by two cheerful ponies carrying baggage trolleys.

"First off, let me just say that anyone here who has a prejudice against unicorns, earth ponies, or pegasi is not welcome." The powder-blue unicorn exclaimed. A tan earth pony stallion stepped out of the queue with a bitter scowl.

"Next, we want anypony with a grudge against bat ponies or changelings with no hope of changing their minds, to please remain here at the station. We don't want anyone with hatred or bigotry to live in our colony." The earth pony stallion explained. Ditzy recognized him as Caramel Apple, the part-time worker at Sweet Apple Acres. When did he get here?

A few of the other ponies stepped away with firm grimaces, but the remaining visitors were invited to put their luggage on the trolleys, and follow their tour guides.

"Trixie would like to be the first to welcome you to the Crescent. This is a fully functioning spacecraft, which will be your home for the day, while you complete our vetting process." Trixie explained.

"If you'd just take a seat at one of these desks here, and fill out some paperwork." Caramel added, pointing out a set of desks that held a small sheaf of forms and paperwork. "The foals can come play over here, while you work."

Ditzy watched as her filly went to play with the other foals on a brightly colored mat, easily visible by the adults, if anything should happen. Piña Colada bounced around cheerfully (the only earth pony among the two unicorns of Dinky and Pinch), and passed Derpy's filly a set of blocks, before building a castle together. Content that her filly was alright, Ditzy turned her attention to the papers. After filling out her name and relevant information, the questions got interesting.

"What is your special talent?" The page asked, and Ditzy wrote 'mail mare/courier'.

"Have you ever been found guilty of a crime? If so, explain."

Ditzy checked no, and moved on.

"What do you know about bat ponies and changelings?" The next question read.

"Not much." Ditzy wrote, answering honestly. "I know that bat ponies are also called thestrals, and are sort of like nocturnal pegasi? I didn't know changelings really existed before recently!"

"What is your reason for applying for citizenship in the Lunar Republic?" The next question asked, and Ditzy Doo found it harder to answer, more painful, certainly.

"I don't have many options left." She finally wrote. "I'm a little clumsy and airheaded sometimes, but I'm a very good mother to my foal! Many people look down on me because of my eyes, which are a little crooked and weird looking. Because of that, I'm always being laughed at, and my daughter gets bullied by other foals for who her mother is. I want a fresh start, and the ad I read in the papers made it seem like this place was nice and accepting."

Finally, the papers were finished, and Ditzy dropped them off on the desk at the front of the room. Once all the forms were handed in, the blue unicorn introduced as 'Trixie' stood up and cleared her throat.

"Would the ponies known as Sugarcane and Swift Winds please stand?" She asked, as a mare and a stallion rose to their feet. "Sugarcane, I won't divulge your crime, but we cannot accept you as a citizen. Trixie apologizes profusely!"

The stallion left, with a disgruntled expression, and the unicorn turned to the pegasus mare.

"Swift Winds, how long have you been out of prison?" Trixie asked.

"Two years, ma'am. I haven't had any citations since then." The mare explained.

"You may stay." Trixie nodded, and Swift Winds sat back down. She noted the name to be background checked later, by Luna. The forms said Swift Winds had committed an armed robbery, motivated by drugs, as she'd been an addict. No one was killed in her robbery, but one stallion ended up in the hospital for a bit.

"Now, for the next portion, Trixie would like to introduce her friend, Noteworthy!" Trixie announced gallantly, as the blue stallion took a bow. 

"Noteworthy is a changeling," Trixie explained. "That means that he's a special tribe of pony, a type that can change their form at will."

The blue pony shimmered green for a moment, before reappearing in his changeling state. He'd worked hard to find a less-threatening form that still held true to the changeling ideals. He had slightly smaller fangs, and no holes in his legs. His wings shimmered like that of a dragonfly, and his eyes were more pony-like, while still maintaining the slitted pupils.

"This is more or less what a changeling looks like in their basic form. Some may look different, and some may look more intimidating." The unicorn explained. "Trixie can assure you though, any changeling living in the Republic is a friend, and you're safe around them."

"Colgate," Noteworthy called on the blue unicorn mare whom Ditzy recognized from Ponyville. "Would you mind ssshowing thessse ponies what you look like?" He asked, with a slight hiss in his voice, that sounded like it was simply part of his speech.

Derpy gasped as her dentist friend shimmered away, revealing a changeling with a similar appearance to the one at the front of the room. She had a translucent green mane, and her wings shimmered as she worked them into a similar form of dragonfly wings, making her horn less jagged, and more smooth, like a unicorn's.

"Changelings are actually very useful in pony society." Trixie explained. "They do necessary work, but require no extra food."

A collective gasp went through the room, and Noteworthy explained.

"Changelings eat love, and since poniesss never run out of love, the process doesn't hurt in the least." The stallion explained. "There isss a way to sssteal love, draining it from ponies, but the few changelingsss who resort to such tactics are in the minority."

"You've known me for years, Ponyville neighbors!" Colgate exclaimed. "I'm a good dentist, and I live from the love of my best friend, Berry."

"It's true." Berryshine attested. "I've known Cole since the day she moved to Ponyville, and she never once hurt me, or Pinch."

"She's the best aunty Colgate any pony could want!" Ruby exclaimed, and Colada fluttered happily with her little wings.

Wait, fluttered!? Derpy thought. A minute ago, she could gave sworn Piña Colada was an earth pony...

"And Colada is the best changeling sister!" Ruby added, wrapping the other filly in a tight hug.

For the first time, Derpy noticed Colada's bright green eyes, rather uncommon in ponies, but not among changelings. All the Ponyville applicants were muttering amongst themselves, shocked that not one, but two changelings had been under their noses the whole time. Derpy felt suddenly brave, as she was compelled to stand up for her neighbor.

"I- I don't know about you ponies, but Colgate is a great dentist, and Piña Colada is my daughter's friend. I don't care if they're changelings." Ditzy exclaimed, and Dinky stood up too.

"Yeah! I think it's cool! With those wings and shiny bodies, they look like pretty bugs!" The little foal noted. "Like... Bug ponies!"

Bug ponies, like bat ponies. Different, but at the end of he day, just another type of pony. Derpy was afraid the changelings might have been offended, but Noteworthy and Colgate burst into laughter.

"Right, little one. Ponies, just like you." Colgate smiled warmly, before shifting back into her pony form.

"Noteworthy here, is a teacher. His shape changing abilities can easily demonstrate many different things, and he has magic that is different than what unicorns can do. Because he specializes in changeling communications, he can easily project things onto a screen, or contact help should an emergency arise."

"How does he eat?" An applicant asked, and Trixie left it to the stallion to answer for himself.

"I already have some ssstudents, and they give me love as ssstudents give their friends and mentors. I get lots of friendship-love from my pony friendsss in the colony, but I'm hoping to find a special sssomepony one day." Noteworthy explained. "For a more technical answer, all I can sssay is that I draw in love, the same way unicornsss draw in ambient magic. I digest that love, and it's turned into energy. I don't have wassste, since changelings have evolved to absorb all love, leaving nothing behind that'sss undigesssted."

"Changelings won't replace us and fool our families, right? I think that's just a myth, right?" One applicant asked.

"Right." Noteworthy confirmed. "In the past, changelingsss sssometimes did that in time of need, but the poniesss were always cared for at the hive. Here in the colony, we want to move into the future, and leave our passst behind."

"Any more questions?" Trixie asked. When no one answered, she moved on, and summoned a male bat pony from another room. "This is Trixie's thestral or 'bat pony' friend. His name is Bright Idea."

"Greetings." The stallion nodded.

"Bright Idea is a nocturnal pegasus. His eyes are slitted, because they help him see in the dark. He has larger ears than the average pony, because he can use echolocation, and those help him to have more sensitive hearing."

"What are the fangs for?" One daring applicant asked.

"We thestrals eat fruit, and the fangs help us get under the skin of tough fruits and absorb all the juice we can get from it. It's an adaptation from the fruit bats we're most similar to." Idea explained calmly.

"Any questions?" Trixie asked.

"You seem pretty normal, Mr. Idea, less strange than the changelings at least, no offense to Mr. Noteworthy." One pony offered.

"None taken." Note grinned.

"So my question is this: where do all the awful stories about bat ponies come from? Given what Mr. Noteworthy has told us about the handful of bad changelings, I can see where the bad reputation comes from. But from what you've said, there's not a single thestral who drinks blood or kidnaps foals. Where did the rumors come from?"

"Frankly, in the last Equestrian Civil War, we fought on the losing side." Bright Idea explained. "You are all aware that the Lunar Republic is headed by Celestia's sister, Luna, correct?"

Everyone nodded and made little sounds of affirmation. They'd all read about that in the papers.

"Well, the last time our Princess tried to leave Equestria, we followed her. She is nocturnal, like us, and understands what it's like to be persecuted and misunderstood."

Many of the applicants nodded and agreed with Bright Idea's statement. Many of them were here for just such a reason.

"Well, our Princess lost, and was banished to the moon. Before the war, everyone feared bat ponies, because we were different. After the war, after the civilian casualties and collateral damage, we were downright demonized, and hailed as Nightmare Moon's nightmare army. With Luna gone, ponies wanted somepony to blame." Bright explained sadly. "We had to go into hiding, and bat ponies were forever immortalized in common mythology as instruments of evil."

"The real evil is that we let it happen!" Somepony called out, and was answered by a loud cheer.

"This happened a thousand years ago, there's nothing you could have done." Bright Idea explained, still touched by the outpouring of support.

"But thestrals still don't have equal rights. I'd never even seen one before today!" One mare added. "We could have helped, had we only known."

"All we ask, is to be treated equally." Bright Idea explained with a smile. The vetting classes were shaping up nicely.