One Year Later

A single year, to the eyes of the young, it perceived to have a length of time equivalent to one's entire lifetime and more. To the adult, a single year passes much like the hour hand of the watch. To an elder, it is almost like the second hands are slowly ticking away until the last moment, in which the fire of life deep within them, fades. To the immortal, it passes seemingly in the blink of an eye.

The year for which Cheshire had been employed to the crown seemed to be rather uneventful for the most part, except for the few times that evil arcane beings attempted to rise up and overthrow the princesses. Each time some new evil being seemed to spring to existence, Cheshire always seemed to be waiting at either one of the princesses doors with a sly little tune based around the new being which sought to destroy life as they knew it. As such, the princesses both became rather accustom to laying about with paperwork until Cheshire would warn them of some sort of tragedy.

Yet recently, the purple striped feline had been silent.

It left both Celestia and Luna on edge. For neither of the Princesses knew if his silence was merely a blessing or a curse in disguise. What few times they had recently seen him from Star swirl the Bearded's study, he would merely wave to the princesses before commenting on the weather. It was completely unnerving to the two.

Finally they had trapped the purple rat in a corner.

Both princesses strode into the Royal Dining Room as twilight slowly began to engulf the sky and signal that the change from day to night was fast approaching. As they entered the dining room, they spotted their rather peculiar target resting upon one of the four chairs which was pulled to the table. The feline sat upon it's chair, both large yellow eyes seemingly dancing around while he seemed to jump into the air from the chair.

"From on high, the sister shall cry, her fall from grace shall bring about change." Cheshire spoke, his voice taking a sing-song style grace as he slowly extended his paw towards one of the few pieces of toast in front of him. His head seemed to roll upon his shoulders as his opposite paw slowly began to apply a rather hefty helping of butter to the top of the toast. Slowly he began to take bites from the toast until not a crumb remained upon his face, his tail slowly flicking at the air behind him. His, now empty, paw rose into the air as it began to count an invisible beat within the air, his grin slowly pulling further up his face.

"Banished afar, the sister shall wait, for the perfect chance to reciprocate!" Cheshire said, both paws now slowly keeping that imaginary beat as he continued to bounce about upon his chair.

"Cheshire, we needeth speak with you." Celestia said, turning her gaze to her sister for only a moment as they both exchanged rather worried glances. Yet, as she spoke to the feline, he seemed to ignore her as he continued to bounce about, his eyes closed to the world as his paws continued to count out a beat that he slowly began to whistle to.

Had their curiosity in what his recent silence was about not heavy in the air, both princesses would have taken part in his antics as they slowly had bonded over the course of the year with one another. Though, Luna was still rather reluctant to look Cheshire in the eyes.

"Dear Cheshire, please-" Celestia said, raising a hoof towards Cheshire as she went to merely nudge the joyful cat to grab his attention, before a rather loud high-pitched whistle rang out. Both Celestia and Luna's ears quickly shot down to their heads as they sought to block out the brief whistle, quickly closing their eyes in the process. Then, like that, the whistle ended.

"I must say, dear princesses. It certainly is rude to just allow a door to remain opened after entering a new room." Cheshire's voice rang out, both princesses turning their eyes towards the door, to which Cheshire lazily floated in the air next to. Their eyes quickly shot back to the chair, now being empty, before turning their eyes back towards Cheshire who closed the door to the royal dining room with a push.

"How dare thou call us rude!" Luna shouted, casting a rather angry glare towards the feline as her eyes slowly trailed him while he slowly crossed the Dining Room by swimming in the air.

"Luna, there be no reason to shout. He has a point." Celestia said, once again pointing a following hoof towards the feline which seemed to softly chuckled as he slowly backpedaled through thin air.

"Dear Princesses, you both have no reason to quarrel. I am only, once again, pulling your leg." Cheshire said, his paw slowly grasping on of his arms as he began to pull on it softly, said action only earning a deeper scowl from Luna.

"Y-Yes... Thou be pulling our leg." Luna said, closing her eyes as she quickly turned her head away from Cheshire who only seemed to grin harder at the apparent blush.

"We merely had a question, Cheshire. You come to us and sing when trouble is on the door step. At one point you were singing to us on a weekly basis. Yet, you sing no more. Is there no trouble?" Celestia asked, one of her eyebrows rising as she allowed her pointing hoof to slowly lower to the floor.

"Trouble? Depends on what you might consider trouble, hmm? Why, only moments ago I was having trouble with the butter jar." Cheshire said, pointing towards the jar of butter on the table from which he had taken the butter to coat his toast. "While two weeks ago I was having quite the bit of trouble keeping that Hydra from attacking the castle before you both could cast it back to the forest."

"We most obviously mean the bad kind of trouble." Luna said, deadpanning at the feline who compared a rather mundane problem to a 'life on the line' problem.

"Hmm, I shall warn you both the next time I have trouble with the butter then." Cheshire said, his grin pulling wider still as he rested his head upon his arms.

His response was met with the sound of a hoof meeting a face before slowly slipping down the face and meeting the floor once more. Who it was need not be mentioned, as it was obvious which one had performed the action, by the rather large hoof shaped red mark on her face.

"Cheshire, you need not warn us anytime you have trouble with the butter jar. We merely need a warning when something evil happens. We merely wish to know if now is a good time to relax before something happens." Celestia said, a visible form of concern on her face as she looked at Cheshire with concern.

"Yes, I shall warn you both the next time the chef refuses to make me scrambled eggs. That diabolical food prep refuses to take my order unless it involves grass, hay or wheat." Cheshire said, a visible look of dismay on his face before it quickly reverted to his normal appearance. Then with that he placed his paw upon the table, the slight nick in the side of the leg quickly snapping which in turn caused the jar of butter to be flung from the table. Before long it met Luna, the jar smacking her right in the flank which only caused her to yelp in surprise before she began to frown quite harder than before.

Slowly Cheshire floated over to Luna, his eyes plastered upon the butter stain on her coat which looked very familiar but he just couldn't put his paw on it. Then, just like that, he snapped his paw and turned towards Luna with the largest grin on his face possible. "Why Princess Celestia, you certainly look different. Have you done something with your hair?" Cheshire said, a loud and rather ferocious growl following behind his question as Luna quickly stomped off, leaving the two within the dining room.

An Hour Later in Luna's Room

There was a strange relaxed sense of ambiance that seemed to permeate through the various objects which infested Luna's bedroom. After the incident with the butter, Luna had quickly returned to her room to removed the additive from her body before it had the chance to dry. The guards, which guarded her door, had nearly jumped out of their collective furs when they saw the deranged princess stomping in their direction. They nearly pissed themselves on the spot, the look that she was giving had screamed bloody murder. Yet, they were met with the command to leave her for the night for she wished to rest in her room after a bath. They didn't quite get the chance to ask why she smelt so much like butter.

Luna's dark form slowly strode in front of her large mirror. The towel which floated in the air, by force of magic, slowly lowered to her head and began to wipe down her mane. The scowl on her face depicted her current feelings in the most fantastical of ways. One could almost imagine the sparks that would be flying from her head at this point if they stared long enough.

"That accursed Cheshire Cat. How dareth he do such a thing to we." Luna said, a quick whip of the head sending the towel flying across the room and into the wall with a damp 'thud'. Her head whipped the other direction, the action causing her ethereal mane to spread out around her form.

"And sister... How dareth she allow that, thing, within the walls so easily. It's almost as if-" Luna's words slowly died, a rather wicked glint appearing in her eye as the form upon the mirror seemed to slowly shift into an armored and more menacing version of her form. Slowly her head lowered as her lips pulled back into a nasty snarl, the form only matching her movements as it revealed rather sharp teeth.

"My, my, here I thought that Princess Luna's room would be much more lively." A voice called out, Luna's ears quickly darting up as the image upon the mirror quickly disappeared while she quickly whirled around towards the voice. Her eyes were met with the familiar form of a purple feline which rested upon her bed, his head resting upon his arm which was propped up against the bed.

"YOU!" Luna yelled, pointing her hoof towards the feline who only seemed to grin wider at her exclamation.

"Who?" Cheshire asked, his eyes quickly peering over his shoulder as if expecting to see some one behind him at this point. When his eyes met nothing, his paw which rested lazily upon his stomach pointed at his form while he turned his head and peered at Luna once more. "Me?"

"YES, YOU! Luna bellowed, obviously not enjoying his tomfoolery at this point as the cat only seemed to peer deep into her being.

"You?" Cheshire asked, pointing towards Luna who only seemed to shake in anger at the games that the cat was playing with her.

"YES ME! No, wait, I mean, YOU!" Luna yelled, her anger clouding her ability to reason with where this conversation was going between the two.

Her yelling only got a rather soft shrug of the shoulders from Cheshire who once again returned to lazing upon the bed. "Who?"

Luna was about to lose her calm at this point, a hoof stamping the ground as she snarled at the feline who seemed to treat this as if it was a game. Though, Luna couldn't help but feel that she was playing a game right now and Cheshire was at the wheel, guiding it where it was going. "You, you fool! Did sister send you?" Luna asked, allowing her yells to calm before she alerted the guard to what was occurring in her room.

"My dear, Luna. You know your sister all too well. Though sadly she didn't send me." Cheshire said, his tail pressing upon the bed, throwing him into the air to which he slowly lazed across the room until he was between her and the door.

"You lie! It is obvious that she has sent you. Does she plan to use you to get rid of me? That is it, isn't it!?" Luna said, her voice rising a whole octave as she looked at the feline with madness in her eyes. The only thing that the mad, cyan eyes seemed to meet was madness incarnate.

"Luna, Luna, Luna, you give your sister to much credit. I figured I could stop something bad before it happened but you make it hard." Cheshire said, slowly swirling his paw in the air in front of him as his eyelids slowly drooped down. It was obvious that he was taking this new form of madness that she was showing in stride.

"Don't talk to me like an equal, slave. You are merely a pawn in Celestia's plan to take the throne. She wishes us gone so she may rule the sun and the moon. We shan't allow her to win. We shall be the only ruler of Equestria and our little ponies shall learn to love the night. " Luna said, the madness in her eyes seemed to swirl as she seemed set on the possibility of Celestia trying to be rid of her.

"You suffer from a case of broken heart and madness. It usually happens to those who I fool with." Cheshire said, his yellow eyes stared at Luna for a while before he shook his head and sat upon his tail. "He was so much more respectable before he lost himself to madness, mischief and destruction. Don't go down the same path, Luna. Don't lose your head."

"Lose my head? Thou have a point..." Luna said, her hoof slowly rising to her muzzle as a soft glow began to coat her horn.

The soft sound of a blade cutting through air seemed to radiate through the air followed by the slamming open of Luna's bedroom doors.

There was a soft splat, a grinning and madness infested face slapping against the wall, completely devoid of a body below the lack of a neck. Slowly the head began to slide down the wall, blood slowly trailing behind it before it landed on the ground with a soft thud. Slowly, the princess of the night exited her room and walked up to the still grinning head of Cheshire. Her face took the form of a grimace at the form.

"So strange... Even in death thou grin. We hate thy grin." Luna said, turning around as she quickly bucked at the head, knocking every single tooth from the mouth which slowly began to droop till it closed. "Thou eyes as well. Always judging us in the end." Luna said, turning back to the head, her front hooves lifted into the air before coming down upon the yellow disks which continued to look to her. There was a soft pop as her hooves entered the sockets, popping the eyes while meeting bone at the end of the sockets. Her hooves slowly lifted from the sockets as she slowly laughed at the now destroyed head in front of her. "A fool thy were for thinking thou could stop us!" Luna said, laughing herself into a fit as she slowly made her way towards the throne room, leaving the desecrated head behind.

She would take the throne by force, blood on her hooves or not.

Author's Note

Well... That certainly escalated quickly. It seems that Cheshire might be onto something a lot more than he is letting on. Things might be explained a little more clearly later on, assuming of course he actually makes it out of decapitation alive.

I do hope that those who are following this story are enjoying it so far. I am trying to keep Cheshire a little in character with his more cartoony rendition but I know for sure there will be points where he will deviate from this idea. As always, to those who are new to this story, I certainly hope you enjoy the tale and stick around for the rest of the ride.

I'll try to not screw everything up too quickly.