Nyx slowly woke up, feeling safe and comfortable within the embrace of her lover as the sunlight shined upon them both. “Wait,” thought Nyx, “Sunlight!” She looked up, then screamed and dived under the bed, waking Fluttershy.

“Nyx?” she asked, looking under the bed and spotting Nyx under there, shivering in fear as she gazed at the light touching the ground.

“S…sorry, I’m not used to being awake during the day…I used to have this disease that made it so that I couldn’t stand being in the sunlight. I still get scared sometimes.”

Nyx gave what she hoped would be a convincing smile, and she saw Fluttershy smile back, then she climbed back out from under the bed.

“So,” said Fluttershy, “would you mind coming into town with me, I have to go in to by some apples and I thought it would be nice to introduce you to all my friends.”

Nyx nodded, going over spell calculations in her head as she got up and followed the young mare out of her cottage. “K, we know The Fell Shadow can sense us when we leave her and manifest, but there have been moments when she could not see us, mostly when we are near the elements of harmony. And Twilight did theorize that what her sister has been doing upsets the natural order of things, and thus we are able to hide our presence due to being in close proximity to such harmonic entities. I just hope she is right.”

She turned toward Fluttershy, giving her a nip as they made their way through the streets of Ponyville, causing the younger mare to giggle before they made it to the apple stand, Fluttershy gasping as she saw a new pony there. “Oh my, I don’t think I have seen you around before, what’s your name?”

“The names Fuji partner,” the raven maned mare said, shaking Fluttershy’s hoof before giggling as Applejack walked up beside her and nipped her ear.

“Well howdy Fluttershy, here to by some apples?”

“Um yes but…did you just nip that mare’s ear?”

Applejack giggled, pulling Fuji close as she smiled. “Recent development actually, looks tah me like loves been in the air since Twilight got hitched with the princesses.”

Fluttershy nodded, leaning herself against Nyx, who had been trying to have a subtle conversation with Fuji using no words. “I think so to, for last night I met this wonderful mare next to me, and we may have…um…well you know.”

Applejack nodded, then turned to greet the mare next to her only to have her eyes widen in shock. “An ALICORN!” she yelled, only to have Fuji stop her from bowing with a hoof.

“There fake sugar cube,” said Fuji with a smile, causing both Applejack and Fluttershy’s eyes to widen.

“How do you know that,” asked Fluttershy, looking confused.

Fuji just smiled, then raised up her hoof and hoof bumped Nyx, smiling as Nyx spoke up. “Nice to see you Fuji, you up here for the reunion?”

“Yah bet sugar, yah know I wouldn’t miss it for tha world.”

“Um, what are yah to talken bout?” asked Applejack.

Fuji smiled at applejack, “me and Nyx went to tha same school in Canterlot together and our fifth class reunion is coming up, though ah'm surprised that we both happened into the same town, ah thought yah was coming from Fillydelphia?”

“I was, but I decided to stop by my hometown to see if it had changed any, and to um…do some singing, which is how I met this lovely mare here.”

Fuji smiled, then turned to Applejack and gave her a kiss on the nose. “Well sug, why don’t we get back to work now, ah’m sure there are a lot more ponies who will want them delicious apples.”

Applejack nodded, then picked up a bushel of apples and handed them to Fluttershy. “Here you go Flutters, on the house, and you missy make sure she doesn’t give them away, like I know she is prone to.”

Fluttershy made to protest, only to have Nyx magic the apples away, “There, at her hut and safe as can be.”

Fluttershy looked like she wanted to scold Nyx, but then she saw Rarity, and immediately waved her over.

“Well hello darling,” said Rarity “I was just coming over to see if you wanted to go to the spa with me.”

“Oh I would love to Rarity, but um…can I bring my marefriend along with me?”

“Marefriend?” asked Rarity, before noticing the mare standing beside, her eyes widening as she spoke. “Oh my…and…and who might you be?”

“My name is Nyx, oh and before you freak, no I am not an alicorn, these wings are magical constructs.”

“Oh I already knew that, unicorn you see,” said Rarity, pointing at her horn. “And I think it would be lovely idea to bring you along, it would be lovely to talk with a mare who was able to woo Fluttershy so.”

Nyx nodded, then followed Rarity with Fluttershy after saying by to Fuji, keeping close to the young mare as they made their way through the streets of Ponyville.

*

Celestia was nervous, really nervous, for something had woke her that she had hoped had been left in the past. She had felt, for a briefest of moments, the presence of the one who had killed Twilight after Sombra had been defeated. But before she could get a decent fix on the beings location, something had blocked her vision; something she knew shouldn’t have done so.

The Elements of Harmony.

She couldn’t understand it, why would the elements hide such a being from her sight, for she had caused so much disharmony with one simple act. “Maybe the elements are broken,” she thought, but quickly shook such a thought from her mind. “No, that makes no sense; if they were broken they would not have been able to stop Discord. There must be another reason why…but what.”

She looked back toward the bed, watching as Twilight nuzzled close to Luna, her ears twitching as she dreamed. “Maybe…maybe the other…the one who was in this body before we brought our Twilight back is using her connection to the elements to shield this foe…but then how are we going to find her.”

She puzzled over this for a long moment, and then finally got an idea, teleporting herself in front of Cadance’s door and knocking, not too surprised when Cadance appeared looking rather disheveled.

“Mom…what are you doing here, I thought you were staying in your room with mother today?”

“I was planning to, but something has happened that I need your husband’s assistance with, is he in?”

Cadance nodded, and then invited her inside, leaving the room for a moment and then returning with Shining, who looked concerned as he sat down. “What is it you need your highness?”

“Shining please we’re family, so please call me Celestia.”

Shining Armor hesitated, not really feeling comfortable with being so informal with the princess, but he finally relented. “Ok Celestia, what is it you needed to speak to me about.”

Celestia hesitated due to fear, then shook her fear away and started to speak. “This morning I felt a presence I only felt once in myself once in my lifetime…which I felt the…the night Cadance’s mother was killed.”

Cadance’s eyes widened, shock washing over her face as she spoke, “my…my mother’s assassin, but…but how is that possible?”

“I don’t honestly know Cadance, all I really know is it is connected to Twilight herself, all I know is I detected her again…but something blocked me from finding her.”

Celestia shook from nerves, and Shining finally decided it was time to speak up. “Celestia, if this presence really is the pony who killed Twilight before, then we will need to find them immediately, and I will need information about them to stand a chance of finding them.”

Celestia nodded, “I know…she is a unicorn mare of black coat and purple mane and tail, and she has magically constructed wings as well, so make sure you have pegasi in your search parties to catch her.”

Shining nodded, getting up out of his seat as he summoned his armor to him. “I’ll get scouts sent out to all the major cities and some of the settlements nearby, as for Ponyville, I’ll conduct the scouting mission there myself.”

He got up, and as he headed for the door Cadance stood as well and joined him. “I’ll go with you, after all this mare may be more powerful then the guards could handle, with your permission of course Mom.”

“You have it,” said Celestia, “And I’ll send word to the guard that you are fully in charge of this investigation, for I want this done as smoothly.”

*

“Will do your highness, and thank you,” said Shining, before closing the door with a sigh, and then looking to his wife before teleporting them to a secure location.

“This is not good, this is really not good, what are we going to do.”

“For one, we're going to stop panicking,” said Shining, drawing his wife’s attention as he headed over to a table and began writing letters. “Second, from we were told by Luna and the others is that Thorax knew about this and was monitoring the situation, right?”

When Cadance nodded, Shining continued. “ Then I need you to got to him and get him to send a group of Changelings disguised as guards to meet me at Ponyville, that way I can search Ponyville without worry of having to cover anything up, meanwhile I’ll pass out these letters to the leaders of the groups heading to the other cities and towns, urging upmost digression and secrecy.”

“Good thinking,” said Cadance, before teleporting away, soon followed by Shining after his letters were finished, hoping that his gamble would pay off.

*

Deep within the pocket realm that acted as their prison, the souls who had been watching the exchanged sighed in relief, many dispersing save for one pony, who walked up to Twilight with a wide grin. “So, it looks like you and I will be leaving tonight as planned, that is reassuring.”

Twilight nodded, settling back down into her meditative stance as the stallion sat down next to her, his smile disappearing as he placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “So, you ready to see Loyalty again after all this time apart?”

Twilight nodded again, her magic stretching out as she began strengthening the recent threads made between the ponies trapped here and three of the elements, binding them closer to her as she let her concentration drift back to the stallion beside her. “I’m ready as I’ll ever be Loki; I just hope you’re ready to see Laughter after all these years.”

Loki nodded, lying on his back in midair as though it were nothing and flashing Twilight a bright smile. “Oh I can assure you Magic, I most certainly am ready to meet her, I just don’t think the world is ready, if you know what I mean.”

After a few moments of thinking, Twilight simply fell over laughing, wheezing out an incoherent reply as Loki smiled once more, then floated away and leaving her to her work.

Author's Note

Two more chapters to go in the Mending ark, and then the real shit hits the fan. Till then guys, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them on by, I love hearing from you guys.