Unraveling a Rainbow

Once again, the ponies of Canterlot joined together to celebrate the union of their newest prince and princess in matrimony. The apprehension from the invasion was still palpable with suspicions still lingering in the air as Princess Celestia looked upon the gallery. There were several holes littering the room devoid of the guards, nobles, and politicians that had occupied them a few days before. The most painfully obvious ones were being occupied by Lyra Heartstrings and Octavia who had replaced Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the bridal party. The two musicians were asked to fill in for the absent bird chorus with Fluttershy still in bed. Celestia thanked the stars the fragile pegasus had woken up earlier before the ceremony, but she was still in no condition to attend, much less conduct the music.

“I do…”

So much had happened to her little ponies over the past two days, so much heartache. Her eidetic memory worked against her as she mentally listed off the names she knew that had gone missing. Each face was another life connected to a friends and family who were worried about them.

“Aunty?”

So many were still missing, possibly taken and replaced by changelings, or perhaps they never even existed and were infiltrators all along. How could she let this happen so easily? She should’ve known Cadence better than to let her be snatched away so easily by an imposter. Just because you don’t hear from an old threat doesn’t mean they’re gone forever, she should’ve known better than…

“Aunty Celestia, I do,” Cadence hushed towards the princess of the sun, nudging her back down to earth. Princess Celestia blinked as she recomposed herself.

“My apologies, thank you,” she whispered back. She cleared her throat as she mustered herself to clear the tension she’d let loose in the room. “With great joy, I now pronounce you mare and stallion. May the coming years be made brighter for us all with your union,” she affectionately declared for the lovely couple.

Cadence and Shining Armor locked into a passionate kiss as the crowd around cheered for the two. Octavia raised her bow to the strings as she and Lyra strummed out a beautiful ballad of the love the newlyweds shared, the cello playing the part of the groom as the lyre strummed as the beautiful bride. Instead of rushing out of the room, Cadence and Shining looked out towards their friends and family. After the song finished, Cadence rose a hoof to address them.

“Thank you so much everypony for being here to share this beautiful moment with me and Shining. As the Princess of Love, it fills my heart with joy finally finding my own special somepony, especially after being a bridesmaid for so many of your big days,” she joked as many of her friends shared a knowing laugh of her match-making hobby.

“It also means so much to me and Shining Armor that you all are here to celebrate today despite the loss I’m sure we all feel. Every one of us has been affected by the invasion with our friends and family missing and our lives torn apart. I know I have,” she affirmed somberly as Armor hugged his beloved to give her strength to go on. She beamed a smile as she gathered her courage. “But it’s times like these that we all need to be strong and remember to press forward. Our love is our strength and Shining Armor and I know we need to share our strength with all of you in these trying times. We want everypony to know that no matter what, we aren’t going to let the changelings steal our love away from any of us.” Cadence left the altar and began to trot among down the aisle towards her friends and family.

“We are Equestrians, we help each other, we stick with our friends, and we love one another with all of our hearts. Let nothing take that away from us and we will all come out better and stronger than before.”

With that, Cadence nodded to Octavia and Lyra, who again played the newlyweds out as they gleefully galloped to their reception. The two whisked through the gallery who thumped a resounding applause for the marriage and for her words of encouragement. Almost no one noticed the pink blur following closely behind to kick-off the reception. Princess Celestia beamed with pride knowing Cadence and Shining Armor together would make Equestria an even better place. Sadly, her delight was fleeting as the other ponies filed out behind the happy couple, Celestia remained behind to meet Princess Luna who fluttered in through the window.

“It seems Applejack was able to attend after all,” Celestia started with a positive note.

“Indeed, I am glad I found her when I did.”

“Was her nightmare really that bad?”

Luna shook her head. “You misunderstand, it was not a nightmare nor was it a dream. She was simply trapped in nothingness. Being cut off from her imagination while fully aware in a dream state is a most insidious form of torture.”

“Torture?” she nearly choked taken aback by the mere notion.

“Indeed. In such dire straits, the mind can usually hallucinate to preoccupy itself when it perceives no other stimuli. It is maddening in itself, but it is a device used to cope with such pure isolation, but she was even robbed of that ability forcing her mind to endure it cognitively. It is a miracle she was able to maintain anything for long in her condition. If I had not remained with her while she slept, Applejack would not have woken up the same pony.”

Celestia remained silent as they made their way towards the castle dungeon. Her thoughts drifted to her sister’s banishment to the moon, isolated for a thousand years to watch the planet go on without her.  Luna never talked about the time she spent sealed away and Celestia would be the first to admit she was too frightened to bring it up. She had several ideas of the manner in which her Luna had spent the last millennium, something metaphysical with her silhouette being plastered upon face of the moon itself, the mare in the moon as it had become known over the forgotten years. Though Celestia had her own sorrows being separated from her sister for a thousand years, she hoped Luna had spent the time asleep, letting the centuries slip past quickly as she was purified. However, there was no way to know without discussing Luna’s other side, a darkness she did not want to bring up.

Luna broke the silence as they continued towards the dungeon. “Sadly, the nurse imposter’s antigen took Twilight most of the day to brew which left me without an opportunity to speak with the prisoner further.”

“You mean Doctor Heartthrob?” Celestia offered in clarification.

“Yes, the orange shape-shifter you are so eager to call by the missing pony’s name,” she seethed through her gritted teeth. “I thought an extra millennium among our subjects would make you more perceptive to lies, dear sister. It seems the slow dripping of decades has dulled your sensibilities.”

“I understand your hesitation, Luna, but if you were there—”

“If I were there I would have stopped her ploy to prey upon your love of our dear subjects!” the princess of the night argued stamping a hoof down as she stopped dead in her trot to eye her elder sister.

“Can you not see it? That is all they are after. Love, your love! What other stories they weave to weaken your resolve, you must not listen. You cannot allow yourself to fall for petty deceptions so easily.” Luna snapped back, each word bitingly strong with painful ferocity.

“I saw no deception in Heartthrob’s eyes,” the sun princess asserted wholeheartedly, standing straight with regal authority. “I have spent lifetimes governing both the day and night and faced many attempts of manipulation and subterfuge. Even our own ponies tried to sneak their way into my good graces hiding their true intentions, but in spite of all that, I persevered and helped them become better than self-serving liars and cheaters. I believe that everything, pony or otherwise, has good in its heart that can easily outshine what they keep in the shadows.”

Luna circled around her sister proudly, keeping her narrowed blue eyes locked onto her sister’s pools of magenta.

“What do you know of those who lurk in the shadows? What ponies hide from one another, their weaknesses, their fears, their lies that all stalk them in their deepest nightmares? You know nothing!” Luna spat in reply.

In front of Celestia, an illustrious hand mirror trimmed with beautiful white rose petals appeared a picture of Nurse Heartthrob looking at her beaming a radiant smile that welcomed all who would approach with warmth and affection.

“I do not envy your naivety, dear sister. You see their brilliant faces so clearly basking in your glorious light of day…”

The mirror whipped around to a fractured reflection of a charred black mirror revealing Heartthrob’s orange changeling backside. Her holey hooves held a vicious looking knife dripping with green goo designed to kill all who came close to her heartwarming grin.

“… but what truly matters is what lurks in the darkness where your loving glow fails to touch at their backs.”

Suddenly, the changeling crooked angrily to face Celestia’s attentive gaze. The monster hissed angrily, catching the sun princess off guard, as she lunged towards her prey with murderous intent scrawled on her terrifying visage. As she nearly leapt from the reflection, the mirror flared away in blue flames ending with Luna trotted in front of her startled elder sister.

“It seems time has let you forget changelings are natural born tricksters. It is in their nature to spread lies to keep you a hair’s breadth away from the darkness so they can steal you away when the time is right. Mark my words sister, your faith that goodwill and harmony are inherent in all creatures will betray you in the end.”

Celestia shut her eyes, chewing on the words her sister had given her. As she heard her sister continue towards the dungeon, she refocused her gaze on her sister meeting Luna’s searing ire with hope.

“And what if you are wrong about them and they speak the truth, Luna?” Celestia countered.

Luna turned away.

“Their truth is what I fear the most.”

It had taken Fluttershy the better part of the afternoon to finally blearily feel her way out of the bed. She had slept for so long, but she still felt incredibly tired as the covers refused to let her go without a fight. She tumbled unceremoniously out of bed to the cold floor, loosing a stifled “eep” as gravity took her down. Finding her strength from the sudden chill of the floor, she carefully trotted towards the door, avoiding the eyes of any familiar nurses bustling around the medical wing.

As she rounded a corner, the bitter aroma of fresh coffee crossed her muzzle.  She wasn’t particularly fond of the black drink that tasted more like licorice tossed around in dirt, but her need for a pick-me-up outweighed her distaste of the powerful concoction. She decided to risk the exposure, figuring maybe they had enough cream and sugar to mask the foul taste.

She tip-hooved her way to a coffee pot surrounded by concerned mares and stallions in a makeshift waiting room. Family and friends sat, paced, slept, and passed the time to keep an ear out for news of their injured or sick loved ones. Fluttershy carefully reached for the pot until a slightly familiar shop owner spotted her.

“Hey! You’re one a’ Spike’s friends, Butterscotch, right?” the burly unicorn brightly greeted under a thick Bucklyn accent to the cover-blown Fluttershy. “Hey, you don’t look so good. Feeling okay?”

“Umm, no. Well actually yes… but no… maybe? Not so loud please, sir,” she stammered in reply, her eyes darting around to see if anyone noticed her presence.

“I’m Fluttershy…” she whispered as she sank lower to the ground. The donut cutie-marked stallion watched as Fluttershy slowly reached for the handle of the coffee pot, her knees wobbling back and forth as if they were going to give way to her anxiety.

“Well, no need to be shy about it, Fluttashy,” he guffawed as he grabbed the pot with his hoof, pouring the terrified pegasus a cup. “Bet nopony thoughta that one before,” he said with a friendly wink. Seeing his joke fall flat on its face, he decided a different approach was in order to calm the mare down.

“I brew the best coffee in the city that’s sure to cure ya crummy feels,” he proudly claimed while offering the cup in hoof to Fluttershy, “and don’t let nopony tell you othawise, even if these noble types like their venti macchiato iced tea brewed espresso latte who-zi-ma-whats-its betta. Who puts ice in coffee anyway? It ain’t natural.”

“I… see…” she sheepishly replied. Eying the bitter concoction made her wish for her iced matcha latte with cream and chocolate sprinkles. The stallion gave a knowing chuckle to himself as Fluttershy somberly gazed at the black pool before her.

“Sorry about that Fluttashy, Joe knows a cream-drinka look when he sees it. Here, lemme mix ya up somethin’ special,” Joe offered, taking the cup out of her hoof and expertly mixing an impromptu brew together with what little was available. “Now there’s a pretty cup-a-Joe’s Joe for ya. Didn’t have much to work with, but at least the temp’s a good ol’ one-seven-five, perfect for bringin’ out the flavor.”

Fluttershy took a careful whiff of the enhanced coffee. It smelled considerably better than before, almost palatable. She took a quick sip to explore the taste as the intense heat assaulted her taste buds in a great way. It was amazing how easily its sweet taste could invigorate her.

“Oh my, this is quite delicious, Mr. Joe.”

“Please, just call me Joe, or Donut, or Donut Joe,” Donut Joe rambled on before laughing. “How about calling me anything but stupid unless I deserve it, that work for ya?”

She chuckled for a bit before recalling the reason she crawled out of bed in the first place. She attempted to guzzle down her coffee to get going, but only managed to nearly scald her tongue. She choked a bit as she coughed up hot liquid.

“Woah, easy there lil’ missy! I know ya high strung and all, but chuggin’ coffee ain’t gonna help nopony, yourself included.”

Fluttershy hacked and wheezed catching her breath from the burning caffeine shot straight through her head. “I’m sorry, I-just-really-need-to-see-my-friends-because-they’re-the-ones-in-deep-deep-trouble-and-it’s-just-so-frustrating-when-you-wish-you-could-do-something-for-them-because-they’re-both-very-dear-to-me-and—” she gasped for air from her breathless coffee-fueled tirade.

“I don’t know how to help them!” she cried as tears formed in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey, slow down! I understand,” he interrupted the panicked yammering trying to calm the meeker mare down gasping for breath. “It’s one of the reasons I been hanging around joints like this. I got a marefriend–well a friend whosa mare really—that I hadn’t seen around my shop since that whole swarm rolled through. Truth is, I’m bouncin’ around the hospitals asking about her. None a’ my regulars have seen her. You wouldn’t happen to know a unicorn named Sunny Skies, would ya Fluttashy?”

“Oh no, I’m sorry Mr. Donut Joe, I don’t.”

“Heh, it’s just Donut or Joe, and no need to apologize. I’m just glad a sweet little thing like you didn’t get hurt in all that shifty mess the otha day.”

Fluttershy blushed and braved another large swig of her coffee to pad out her part of the conversation.

“I just gotta find her, you know, before things start getting outta hand with all the talk a’ changeling hunts starting up soon.”

Fluttershy gagged on her coffee, gasping for air as she felt some coffee nearly settle in her lungs.

“W-wh-cough-WHAT?!” she choked out incredulously, drawing more attention that she meant to with her small yelp.

“Ya mean ya hadn’t heard?” Donut Joe incredulously asked, his accent somehow thickening as he fumed. “Lotsa of dem nobles are demandin’ the guards start arrestin’ families a’ missing ponies like sprinkle-snatchin’ criminals! As if it wasn’t bad enough havin’ a lost loved one, but now they wanna make things worse by accusin’ dem a’ harborin’ changelings? Da nerve! Da absolute nerve! I bet mosta ‘em got their noses stuck up so high in da clouds, they don’t even realize they got missing folks too!”

She quickly took one final swig to finish off what little was left in her cup. She quickly shoved the used cup next to the other dirty ones nearly toppling the ceramic stacks as she gave another frantic search to see if anypony had noticed her yet.

“I-I don’t know much about that. I’m sorry. Oh, and thank you M… Donut Joe. The coffee was really good and I’m sorry I spilt so much of it, but I need to go find my friend. Now!”

“Heh, well you’re very… fast?” Fluttershy zipped off around the corner as fast as her weary legs would carry her before Joe could finish his courteous reply correctly. He took her used cup in hoof and whiffed the remnants of the dark sugar and cream filled concoction.

“Maybe I shoulda gave her decaf?”

A catchy pop song blared from the royal pavilion as ponies danced the fleeting dusk away in elated celebration. Pinkie and Rarity had gone all out to make the event a success with Pinkie providing her trademark party antics while Rarity used the extra time she had after redesigning the bridal party’s gowns to help with the regal decorations. It was truly a party for all ages with everypony enjoying delectable delights, amazing music, and even a few childish party games. No one would soon forget Shining’s utter determination to win against his new wife at Twister, except for Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight pored over notes while nibbling on an apple fritter, shunning out the party bustling around her. The bloom love song or whatever the hay it was didn’t help her concentrate as she started piecing together what little she had discovered from the changelings. She knew the princesses were going to be questioning Heartthrob soon, but she had to stay for the reception being both Shiny’s best mare and mare of honor for Cadence. She wanted to be happy for her big brother best friend forever and newest sisterly addition, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the muddled puzzle she had in front of her.

“I hope that sour look of yours ain’t from my fritter, sugarcube,” Applejack joked as she joined Twilight at her table with her own plate of baked goods. Twilight forced a smile as her friend sat down, trying to downplay her own worries.

“Of course not, AJ. I’ve never heard of anypony complaining about something you baked,” Twilight affirmed. “Well, unless we count that one applebuck season when Big Mac broke—”

“Now now, don’t get into a rumble with a rattlesnake by rustlin’ the bushes,” AJ quipped before Twilight brought up the baked bads incident. “Seriously though, I know what’s eatin’ at ya, but just like the princess said, we can’t let some bitter bugs go and ruin a good time.”

“I know, I know, sweet-eating Celestia, I know!” she flailed her hooves skyward as she flopped down and headdesked the table. “I just can’t help myself. So much of this doesn’t make any sense.”

“How do ya mean?”

Twilight huffed as she plodded through her ever-growing notes she had kept to help her focus, another veritable spider web of speculation with very little evidence to capture any probable hypothesis buzzing around just out of reach. She began explaining to how impossible it was to pinpoint when Rainbow Dash had been replaced. AJ admitted she recognized a few of the bits of information as she shuffled through her notes: a three broken wing images, a page filled with wing power tables, a list of successfully performed Sonic Rainbooms, she had seen a few in passing over the past few months. Twilight tried to squeeze any helpful information she might have missed out of her friend, but Applejack wasn’t the best board to bounce off ideas and speculations.

“I’m sorry, Twi. I ain’t that great at figurin’ out congodrums…”

“Conundrums,” Twilight dully corrected, her face still pressed to the table.

“Bless you. As I was sayin’, I ain’t great a puzzle solvin’, but maybe focusin’ on somethin’ else for a spell might do ya some good.”

“Like what?” Twilight inquired with as much enthusiasm as the ever-jovial Tom the boulder.

“Well, I dunno how helpful it’ll be, if at all, but Princess Luna and I had a lotta time to talk about some stuff when I was under,” she remarked and flinched a bit. “A whole lotta time…”

“And?”

“Well, I don’t remember everythin’, but I reckon somethin’ mighty strong was botherin’ her too.”

“You don’t say,” Sparkle fizzled flatly.

“Yeah, but I could tell plain as day she knew a lot more than she was a lettin’ on. I thought she’d be a better liar, but it’s more her not tellin’ the whole story than anythin’ else, know what I mean?”

“The princesses can be rather cryptic sometimes, AJ,” Twilight replied, bringing herself up to face her friend, finding more interest in the conversation at hoof. “So what did you talk about?”

“Well, aside from her wowin’ me with her dream powers, we started talkin’ about the Elements of Harmony. Didja know she used to wield Honesty, Loyalty, and Laughter?”

“Really? I can see the other two, but Laughter?”

“I know, right? Boy howdy, can she be a hoot-and-a-half when you get some one-on-one time with her like I did,” the farmer lauded before regaining her more serious tone, “but she showed me somethin’ that… I dunno, maybe she was just showin’ off, but maybe there’s somethin’ in there you can make sense of.”

Applejack followed Luna through the white nothingness before them as it gave way to pillars and spires shooting around them. The farmer could only marvel in silent awe as walls stacked themselves brick by brick with the windows materializing from broken shards of glass. Soon enough, the night settled around them as the two mares found themselves in the middle of the Castle of the Two Sisters, or the ruins thereof, with the illusion of the Everfree growing into existence outside.

“Pardon me for sayin’ this princess, but when I said ‘let’s go someplace fun’, I didn’t really have a spooky castle in middle of the Everfree Forest in mind.”

“My apologies dear Applejack, I just needed a bit of your memory to rebuild from. Tell me, do you know where we are?”

Applejack looked around the room a bit, noticing the ceiling was blown clean off with the creeping forest breaking through the broken windows and missing roof. The most prominent remnant of a former decoration was the strange pronged ornament in the middle of the room with five orbs attached to what she thought was a sculpture of a dead tree. As she neared the dusty remains, she remembered the first Summer Sun Celebration with Twilight Sparkle.

“I remember now, this is the place where we showed up Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, right?”

Luna gave a curt nod in reply, “Yes, but it was not always such a ruined castle as you see now…”

Luna lifted her head shooting a pale beam of light into the middle of the room. The elements rattled as the room spun to life. The moon rose from the west, quickly shooting across the painted sky brightly as it fell eastward giving way to the sun’s glorious light of day which also sped across the blue cloudless expanse in mere seconds. The heavenly bodies quickened their pace as their passage ramped up faster and faster with the sun rising and setting followed by the moon, then sun, then moon, sun, moon, sun, moon...

As time continued its heavenly backtracking, the invading greenery receded to the edges of the room as Luna began returning to the castle in its former glory. Luna conducted a symphony of dreamweaving spells to forge the room. Broken columns were replaced by ornate pillars trimmed with celestial bodies embroidered with starlight, the marble walls bounced light around with beautiful murals depicting scenes embodying each elemental force with the stained glass windows beaming their colorful images as the sun and moon finally took their places in the sunset west and moonrise east. As the ancient magic subsided, Applejack gaped in awe at the completed palace’s magnificence.

“Welcome to the Chamber of the Harmony, dear Applejack, as it was known in a time long forgotten.”

Applejack lost her words, not from a lack of vocabulary, but there was not a single word that could capture its beauty. She slowly crept along the wall looking intently at the scenes depicted of harmony against chaos. Every millimeter revealed new details and stories nopony had ever dreamed in modern times. Sure she recognized Discord from their recent encounter and the Windigos from tales of Hearth's Warming Eve, but their tales were just a small part of the eons spanning the room. Harrowing battles, great evils, devastating cataclysms, all made right with Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic, their unfurling stories were inlaid in the walls as if they were painstakingly etched onto each surface over countless years. Among the celebrations of the triumphant tales of harmony were confusing markings of the heavens and charts of stars, planets, and galaxies known only in the secret places of the immortal pony sisters. Applejack found herself lost in a world before there ever was one.

A vaguely familiar orb cast its caring pink light upon her, drawing the farmer out of her confusion. It drew her gaze away from the marvels on edges of the room for her to recollect herself. What Applejack recognized as the Element of Kindness led her to the center where the other elemental spheres danced around a beautiful depiction of a glass tree, emitting lights of their own. Generosity spun around, graciously giving light to the shadowy corners of the room; Kindness followed suit, gently shining different colors upon the murals and filling the still images with light; Magic hovered above them all, brilliantly glowing magenta as the epicenter of harmony. More striking though were Honesty, Loyalty, and Laughter, resonating with Princess Luna and surrounding her as she breathed in their brilliant warming caress.

“In the time before Celestia and I came to rule the three unified tribes of Equestria, we were known simply as the Two Sisters: the Shapers of Heaven and Keepers of Harmony. My sister wielded the powers of Kindness, Generosity, and Magic while I kept Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty,” she giggled as laughter spun around her barrel, tickling her sides.

“Though they are only my figments, it is good to feel their welcoming presence again after so very long,” she reveled aloud. She looked towards Applejack, only to see the mare’s legs buckle under the pressure of the sights and wonders she beheld.

“I-I can’t… it’s so… this is too much,” Applejack quavered finally at wit's end, her knees refusing to let her stand. She wilted, having expended her strength merely uttering a sentence under the pressure of her emotions running relays of humility, honor, awe, and sheer terror. It took every scrap of pride she had left to not weep from gazing upon the ancient palace’s overwhelming splendor.

Luna carefully walked to the mare forced to the floor and helped her to her hooves with a warm smile. “I am most pleased by your respect for one of my favorite places. It took many years to craft these halls. Fear not, friend. As one who bears an Element of Harmony, you are most worthy to be here, Honest Applejack.”

“Well,” Applejack chuckled with small sniffle, “if ya say so, princess.” Applejack felt new life breathing into her as if verbal permission from the princess was all she needed to withstand the overload around her. She kept telling herself it was just a dream, that she could handle it, but it was once also a very real place.

“This room was a testament to their power to bring peace to the land, even before the time of Equestria,” she continued as she took to her wings to admire her craftsmanship. “Celestia and I carved into the rock the many triumphs over the powers that threatened the fragile balance we worked so hard to maintain. It served as a constant reminder for us that though the power of friendship is strong, harmony is something that must be fought for and protected. You will understand this in time.”

Luna fluttered to a landing as her familiar elements spun around her. She brightened as she spotted an element to bring Applejack back down to earth. “Here, here! Take it,” Luna excitedly whispered to her friend. With childlike pride, she quickly motioned Honesty to Applejack. “This is how the elements were when we first wielded them.”

Applejack felt the power of Honesty resonate within her as the elemental sphere drew closer. Even in this imaginary recreation, the power emanating from her element felt tangible. As she held it in her hooves, the orb recognized her as its bearer as she felt it pierce her chest with its power. Honesty always sought the truth no matter how hard it would be to hear, and Honesty’s familiar pull on AJ’s heart was one she knew well and felt comfort in where others would find very little.

“Each element radiates power when close to its true wielder. They have a will all their own, and only resonate with whomever they have chosen to be their rightful owners.”

“Ya don’t say… I guess that explains why poor Spike couldn’t do a thing to help against Discord.”

“Indeed, they respond to Harmony, which your friendship with Twilight Sparkle and your other friends was powerful enough to reawaken them after so many years, something that I clearly lack.”

With that, Laugher and Loyalty spun around slowly reflecting the face of the princess of the night in their pearlescent luster. Their glow dimmed before falling to the floor and rolling back to the center of the room. Drawing closer to the center, the two orbs sprung to life again, lifting off the ground when reunited with the other elements. Luna’s countenance sank as the ancient warmth seeped away, leaving her cold and alone.

“But that can’t be right,” Applejack disagreed, taken aback by the elements' rejection of Luna. “You used to represent half of ‘em! I’m sure they know ya too after all those years.”

The princess drew a remorseful sigh as the moon rose in the east, casting its pale beams into the chamber to replace the westward warming sun. She cast a pitiful gaze as she waved a hoof in front of the heavenly sphere, painting the visage of the Nightmare upon its surface.

“Indeed you are correct, Applejack. At times I feel they know me better than I know myself. The elements are fully aware of my treachery, thusly, I am no longer am worthy of their power.”

“But that ain’t true at all!” Applejack unabashedly objected. “Since you came back, you’ve done nothing but right by me and my kin. Sure, we were scared a’ you at first, but I know you work hard for the sake of everypony, even if we don’t always see it when we’re all asleep.”

Luna turned to face the farmer, raising her voice, “No, Applejack, it goes much deeper than that. I lied to Celestia, betrayed the trust of everypony I ever held dear, and lost my laughter long ago. I forced my beloved sister to do the unthinkable… to break the one rule that mattered, a sin that can never be forgiven causing the elements to lie dormant for a millennium…”

“But ain’t that kinda silly to fret over now?”

“You misunderstand. To them I am nothing but a worthless traitor.”

“Horesapples! We already took care of Nightmare Moon and the elements are back to normal—”

“IT IS NOT SO SIMPLE!” she boomed with visceral regal spite catching AJ completely off guard. “You speak in such petty terms of acts seen in days, weeks, and months to one who has lived to face thousands upon thousands of evils over the lost ages of this world! What do you know of the Fell-King Sombra, Tirek the devourer, or the Blight of Wormwood?”

“I don’t…” Applejack offered in an apology that was ignored by royal ire.

“I witnessed horrors unimaginable, their atrocities, their malice, their wanton destruction, yet for all of history’s lessons, I still conspired against my sister out of petty jealousy. I let the very same darkness take hold of me! I made her turn against me, something she never should have been forced to do!”

The irate princess spun around as her angry tirade continued. “And now, Harmony is once again threatened and I can do nothing but wait as the elements remain scattered among the frail, mortal hooves of—of…” she somberly trailed off seeing her rage reflected in Applejack’s frightened eyes. “My deepest apologies, dear Applejack, these words were never meant for you. I came to alleviate your fears and I only brought a nightmare instead.”

Applejack was torn apart inside seeing the alicorn compare herself to that monster. She needed to say something, but her leveled-headed temperament had been thrown out the window from being scared witless by a charging alicorn. Luna solemnly walked towards the ornate doors basking in both the sun and moon’s radiant beams of light.

“Let us depart from this place, it is nothing more than a distant memory.”

Before Applejack could stop her, she walked through the doors, breaking her spell. The canvas around her flashed to black and white as the dream shattered in an instant with a flurry of sparkling shards raining all around. Luna drew in a long breath and snorted contently as the memory faded into obscurity. She awkwardly brightened up as if she had struck by an epiphany. She ran to Applejack with a toothy grin stretching ear to ear, pushing the last few moments away as if it had never happened.

“Come, it seems in my absence, several ingenious unicorns have fashioned amusements by capturing and utilizing dream energy in strange devices to present us with the most glorious of interactive experiences!”

“Beg your pardon?”

“Tell me, have you ever played a Joyboy from the inside before?” Luna gleefully giggled as Applejack wondered if she was supposed to know what that meant.

 Twilight waited for Applejack to continue her story, having started jotting down serious notes when Applejack had described the Chamber of Harmony. With bated breath she soon realized AJ had run out of material for her to take down. She knew the answer, but figured there would be no harm in asking.

“Well, what happened after that?”

“I can’t rightly recall anythin’ else really important that you might want an earful about,” Applejack offered, biting her lip to come up with more details. “I do know I got the fourth highest score in all of Equestria on some game called ‘Super Bronco Blasters.’ Turns out it’s a lot easier when you’re the actual blastin’ bronco.”

Twilight sat in perplexed contemplation, gleaning over her notes to compare and contrast their relevance. It truly was a unique experience to relive the ancient wonders of the world through an alicorn’s eye, but how any of it could relate to anything now was beyond her presently. The more concerning matter was the question of Luna’s unforgivable sin she referenced and how it related to Princess Celestia.

Twilight had gathered the elements had lost their power sometime after the first battle with Nightmare Moon. Was banishment using the elements something bad? They more or less had done the same to Discord twice without consequence. Come to think of it, was starting to say something about the elements being scattered. Rainbow was missing, that much was certain, but they still had all the elements. She was missing something, but nothing stood out among the other bits of information that she didn’t already know. Twilight tore a bite out from her cold apple fritter as she munched on the puzzle pieces in front of her. Applejack, realizing her mistake, furrowed her brow as she bit the tip of her tongue.

“Shoot, that didn’t help a darn thing, did it Twi?”

“Nope,” Twilight drawled out between fritter crunches as Pinkie Pie cranked up the beats of DJ Pon3 as the reception ramped up with more ponies cutting loose on the dance floor. “But I’m glad you told me, AJ. It’s not every day you get a peek into an ancient ruin in its prime and I’m sure Spike will be relieved to know his sense of loyalty wasn’t the problem when we faced down with Discord. Thanks!”

“Your mighty welcome, Twi. Now, as RD would say, let’s drop this ‘egghead’ stuff and get to partyin’! You don’t want your new sister to be gettin’ bummed out because her mare of honor was all glum at the reception, right?”

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle as she sorted her collection of notes and folders into a neat pile and sent them away with a quick teleport to her saddlebags. The princesses would kill her if they knew how much time she had spent studying during her brother and foalsitter’s big day, but she couldn’t help but wonder how the interrogations were going. The sky lit with stars as the celebration carried on into the evening.

In the dark recesses of the rarely used dungeon, Heartthrob shivered from the unusual coldness of the underground cells. The royal sister’s kept the dungeon small and out of the way, tucked below a rarely trotted corner of the castle. No guards were ever normally posted, nor did any castle hands come to clean the aged catacombs without direct orders from either of the princesses. There was very little comfort to be found, with only a small, purple magic flare keeping her room lit. At least the little blue flicker had the decency to dim when she had tried to sleep on the stone slab the previous night.

She peeked outside the small window of her door to see the lunar guard that had been keeping a vigilant eye out for signs of trouble whistled a casual tune. The dark blue stallion looked up briefly to see the changeling’s peep out the iron bars. He snorted giving the changeling a stink eye glare to sit back down before she got into anymore trouble.

With a discontented sigh, she fell back to the floor to look at the pale green light as the guard started his little song again. So many thoughts ran through her head against her will as she tried piecing together where exactly everything had gone wrong. Of course it was that cursed changeling Chromina’s fault in the first place. She snapped her eyes shut as an image formed in her mind of that changeling that went beyond the reasonable definitions of “horror” or “nightmare”. From what she had been shown from the short link they shared, she wished she had never agreed to her deal. She opened her eyes again to see the familiar yellow ember dance in its glass container. If the princesses only knew and had listened to her pleas for—

Heartthrob consciously blinked, keeping her focus on the orange light. She blinked again to see it change to red, and repeated to see it become violet again. She fluttered her eyes open and close as it ran its way working through the color spectrum all over again.

“You forgot about the lights again, princess,” she nonchalantly commented to the ever-changing lamp in her room, the remnants of a defense mechanism foisted upon her by Chromina. “Like I said the last time, if I see rainbows, I’ll know I’m dreaming.”

There was a loud clash against a table as Heartthrob popped up from her slumber, unkempt drool pooling into a sloppy puddle around her head. She wiped the dribble with a blush from her face as she faced the two royal sisters, the sun frowning ever-so-slightly at the moon who had reared up on the table, snorting furiously while eying the changeling like her prey.

“I would not resort to such enigmatic methods if you would simply cooperate!” she flared, her anger somehow resounding throughout the dank inquisitor room like a thunderhead.

“I told you before, Princess Luna,” Heartthrob desperately reasoned against the oncoming storm, “I can’t tell you anything that Chromina has not permitted me to speak of. If she finds out I said anything she doesn’t want me to—”

“WE CARE NOT FOR THINE STOLEN FACE, DECEITFUL WRETCH!”

“I will speak for myself, Luna.” Celestia remarked, prodded her sister down to her haunches. The elder sister had heard more than enough of the obnoxiously loud, headache inducing “royal we” for one day. “The three of us will just have to find out what we can that won’t endanger her further.”

Luna gritted her teeth as she shot daggers with her narrowed gaze at the shape-shifting prisoner. “We should have you taste that despicable concoction Applejack had forced down her throat,” the moon spat, her words cleaving straight through Heartthrob. “Perhaps then you will be more… agreeable?”

Luna and Heartthrob shared in shuddering as the temperature suddenly spiked in an uncomfortable warm glow, making the the midnight alicorn immediately regret spouting her threat against the changeling. Even though medical drones supposedly weren’t adept at tasting emotions other than love and compassion, the Princess of the Sun’s unrelenting righteous anger burned with an unbearable spiciness that easily scalded the changeling’s tongue. Not needing empathic abilities to sense the elder’s ire, Luna’s fury fizzled out in her sister’s tapered white hot intensity.

“I will not tolerate any further threats against our guest or I will personally lock you in her cell for the evening while she rests in your bed. Do I make myself clear, Luna?” she asked sweetly hiding a solar flare behind her controlled eyes. Heartthrob doused the flames in her mouth with spittle, wishing she had a glass of milk rather than her own dwindling repurposed love to cool the boiling under her tongue.

Luna bit back her choice words for the contemptible changeling. Heartthrob marveled at the emotions bubbling between the two titans of their world as they continued clashing wordlessly. It hadn’t been so bad the other night with all their emotions being directed towards Chromina, but being the focus for the sisters’ contention was becoming unbearable having never tasted such strong feelings.

“So, sister,” Luna huffed, relenting to her elder, “if not the pickled threat upstairs, what should we discuss with our ‘esteemed guest?’”

Celestia ignored Luna’s less-than-gracious tone and shut her eyes to ponder for a few moments. Heartthrob idled nervously in her seat wondering what the princess of the sun would ask of her. At this point, she did not have much respect for Luna, but the changeling truly loved Princess Celestia and had always wished she could meet her, though obvious reasons kept her from getting too close. To shape-shifter’s surprise, the torrential emotions quelled themselves into a tender pool of contentment, one of the few flavors Heartthrob could taste clearly.

“I think I would like to hear about you, Nurse Heartthrob, and how you came to our aid despite your heritage.”

Heartthrob felt her jaw unhinge, leaving her mouth agape for a few moments in shock. Being a prisoner of possible war, she was had expected something more along the lines of changeling military strength or battle tactics, which she honestly knew nothing about. Furthermore, Celestia’s inquiry was backed with enough love to satiate her emotional appetite with a single lick. She wanted more than anything to savor the succulent flavor having lacked a source of love for nearly two days, but she was already on melting thin ice without feeding off of royalty.

“Chromina was right about one thing, your highness, I didn’t come to Canterlot because of my duty as a pegasus nurse,” Heartthrob started tepidly. “I actually came here looking for my husband.”

“Ah yes, Mr. Scruffy Bootly, former lieutenant of the city guard and current heir to his father’s caravanning company, the Bootly Connection, correct?” the princess of the sun commented with a pleasant smile.

“Yes, your highness,” Heartthrob replied, both astonished and frayed at the seams, wondering why the princess called his name so readily. “I got a letter from Scruffy two days before the invasion saying he was called back to Canterlot to bolster the guard for the upcoming wedding.”

“I remember he had the utmost zeal for duty while patrolling the city outskirts during his time in the guard. With the threat against Canterlot, we needed every able-hoof we could muster and he came with glowing recommendations from Captain Silver Spear, which he proved true during the invasion. He fought bravely for all of the ponies around him,” she proudly remarked trying to brighten the changeling’s spirits. Heartthrob was less than receptive as she fiddled nervously with her hooves, a nervous habit she had picked up during her first years as a pony, always feeling for holes in her legs. “Is there something on your mind?”

Celestia paused for a ponderous moment as she eyed the nerve-wracked changeling. The princess’s gaze fell upon the shifter’s fidgeting which she was unwittingly focusing around her wedding bangle. “Don’t worry, Heartthrob. Your husband is safe and sound.”

“He is?!” she exclaimed, brightening up immediately at the good news. To the solar princess’s delight, the changeling had forgotten to add “her highness” to her statement like a chronic royal sneeze.

“He helped many ponies take shelter during the changelings' assault and only came out with a few bumps and bruises. I look forward to awarding him for his remarkable courage once everything has settled down.”

Heartthrob caught her breath as she held a hoof over her heart and heaved a sigh of relief when Celestia lifted that exhausting burden off her.

“Of course, the first name out of my sister’s mouth is your supposed husband’s,” Luna retorted coldly, rolling her eyes at what she considered a disingenuous display of affection. “You expect us to believe it was serendipity that had you stumbling into the castle’s infirmary while on your quest to seek your lost love as well?”

“Yes?” Heartthrob meekly answered, not exactly sure how to respond to the question.

Princess Celestia chuckled at the exchange. “I for one would be surprised if she had not been summoned with the nature of Rainbow Dash’s treatment.”

“I’m all ears, sister,” Luna deadpanned, quite cross with Celestia’s continued rebuttals to her arguments.

Princess Celestia’s horn glowed with golden light as a scroll materialized in front of her wrapped with the usual red ribbon. She gracefully loosed the knot and unfurled the parchment as her eyes ran over the words within.

“Class A Field Nurse Heartthrob Bootly of the honorable Nimbostratus Hospital,” she proudly started as her she followed the list. “Awarded for Outstanding Excellence in Medical Service five times during her time at Cloudsdale Central Clinic, recommended for her current position by several notable physicians, including our own Doctor Triage of Canterlot Castle as well as two notable patients, Misty Fly and Rapidfire of the Wonderbolts, commended for going above and beyond the call of service during Discord’s second reign when she assisted pegasi with altered wings and other chaotic ailments suffered while airborne… need I go on?”

The sun eyed the moon with a knowing smirk. “You have made Nurse Heartthrob’s credentials abundantly clear,” Luna huffed, turning away from her sister’s haughty light to not press the issue of identity further to her stubborn sister.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Celestia stated whisking the parchment back from whence it came before recomposing herself as she turned back to Heartthrob. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize your name when we first met. I’ve always wanted to meet the humble healer always hiding from her accolades.”

Heartthrob had forgotten about more than half of those the princess had listed for her younger sister. She never attended award ceremonies, fearing being put in the spotlight in case there were any errant changelings happening by to catch her. She now wished she had risked it, feeling the sheer admiration beaming from the princess’s warm smile. It was unbelievable, too good to be true. She looked for a rainbow light somewhere, but the only colors were hues of morning and midnight.

“But, Princess Celestia, I don’t understand,” Heartthrob remarked genuinely perplexed and touched by the princess’s honesty. “How can you believe I’m me so easily?”

“Simple, it’s because I choose to believe in you,” she replied casually to Heartthrob.

“You may have made a mistake in trying to harm Chromina by suppressing her magic, but right now I only want answers that may help us in our current predicament.” Princess Celestia giggled slightly. “After all, why should I bother questioning you if I can’t trust anything you say?” Celestia made herself more comfortable as she shifted into her seat’s cushion a bit more and leaned forward to give Heartthrob undivided attention. “So tell me about yourself, Doctor Heartthrob. Why have you served me and my little ponies so faithfully over the years?”

Heartthrob paused, looking at the scowling muzzle of Princess Luna counter to the warm glow of Celestia. No matter what she said, the room would be divided through the middle between day and night.

“Perhaps it would be better if I showed you, your highnesses,” Heartthrob offered as an inviting amber ribbon of arcane energy emerged from her horn. “Do you trust me?”

Far away from the comforts of Canterlot, deep within the sandy wastes of the Badlands, an unassuming canyon bustled with excitement and fear. Inside of what appeared on the surface to be a series dirty caves soon yielded to immaculate crystalline halls the color of emeralds and sapphires known to other lesser colonies as the hallowed halls of Queen Chrysalis’ Royal Hive. Her royal worship had returned two days ago from the failed strike against Equestria, their mangled deity quietly rushed to the depths of the hive to her own personal Medipod.

Inside the pristine healing chamber, Queen Chrysalis was listening to the Hive Mind as a chorus, hundreds of thousand voices strong, singing their reverent songs to her through the changeling Mindscape. She wanted to bathe in their glorious anthem to her greatness while slumbering in the warm regen-a-gel of her royal Medipod, but a certain presence was gnawing at her head, someone who had no business still being alive. However, if the brief moment she felt the thoughts of the forgotten changeling was real, then she had no business lingering in a stew. She took one last deep swath of gel before reemerging into the waking world.

From outside her serene container, a frenzied panic set upon her drones. They had stabilized her condition from being jettisoned from Canterlot like a cannonball, not many had fared any better with most ending up as black blots on the sides of mountains or little smears in forests to be feasted upon by wild animals. However, acting Prime Sarthii Varista struggled to regain control as the queen was stirring far too early in her treatment. With Chrysalis’ prime medical drone, Prime Quadraxi, was still missing from the failed invasion, it was up to him to maintain the queen’s health, and failure to do so would mean a swift death for him and his hive.

The team fought to regain control, but they soon realized it was Chrysalis herself overriding their healing efforts. With a severly cracked carapace and a broken foreleg, her majesty Queen Chrysalis emerged from her pod like a broken slug, dripping with healing gel and writhing in pain from forcing herself awake.

“Oh, no! Please, your majesty, it is still far too early! You shouldn’t be moving around for at least another two weeks!” Sarthii begged as he buzzed over to the irritable queen.

“Indeed, which is why I have faithful drones like you to keep me moving, now come!”

“Your majesty, I must insist that you—GURK!” Queen Chrysalis ripped the kind doctor from the floor wrapping her magic around the petty drone like a tight noose. She thrusted the doctor in front of her eyes lit with feral intensity.

“Tell me, what is the one virtue I have instilled in you since you were a lowly maggot, Quadraxi?” she spat, her eyes flared with vibrant intensity as she stared into the panicked eyes of her physician. “SPEAK!” she demanded to the captured changeling glanced around, seeing fear instilled into the eyes of every other shifter in the queen’s healing cabal. As his eyes pleaded for help, one of the braver sentries stood at attention.

“Your worship, if I may! This is not Prime Quadraxi, rather Sarthii of Queen Varista’s brood,”

Chrysalis looked over the features of the choking changeling in her vicegrip, noting the foreign hive’s purple coloration. “And that matters why?”

“The next best doctor for royal care is Doctor Boldren from Queen Felbi’s hive deep in the Forests of Leota.”

“I see, and that is at least two days away,” she replied ponderously. Realizing her hasty error, she kindly smiled at her honorable guard before turning back to Doctor Sarthii. “It seems I owe you an apology. It would be unfair of me to punish you for doing your sworn duty. As reward for your diligence, from this day forward you will be known as Prime Drone Quadraxi.”

The new Quadraxi cocked his brow for the unique reward his queen had bestowed upon him. His flinched as a painful pulse coursed through his body, shifting his hive’s purple coloration to Chrysalis’ green as she assimilated him into her hive. The small choir in his mind grew to a deep symphony, singing praises to their almighty queen. Not wanting to test her patience by mentioning the hive transition or the awkward femininity of his new title, he simply idled as the queen turned towards the guard who had bravely stemmed Chrysalis’ wrath.

“Oh, and sir…”

“Kexsrith, your worship.”

“Of course, Sir Kexsrith. You are now Doctor Sarthii,” she said matter-of-factly, “and as I was saying… ” Before the confused guard could react to his strange promotion, Queen Chrysalis’ kind gratitude quickly flared into an enraged scowl as she seized full control the guard’s horn.

“MY WORD IS FINAL!”

The guard’s horn sparked with green fire engulfing his body from the ground up as the poor guard to erupted into green flames. His painful, agonizing cries echoed through the dark halls of the hive as he the loyal guard was slowly reduced to an unassuming pile of goo and ash. With a callous flourish of magic, she destroyed what little remnants of the honorable guard spread across the floor into a simple black scar on the floor, not letting him have the dignity of his ashes being cast into the wind. She eyed the closest guard to her immediate right who quickly clicked to attention fearing for his life. “One of you send my condolences to Queen Varista for her loss,” the queen coldly droned to the guard. She turned to formally address the newly assimilated medical drone. “Now, Prime Quadraxi, what do we say?”

“I-I live to serve our savior, High Queen Chrysalis!” he echoed with the other fanatical drones now in his mind.

“Perfect,” the queen bubbled. “this is why I am so fond of you Quadraxi: you know your place in my heart so well,” she said grimacing with suppressed ire as she ran a hoof through the changeling’s fin, molding it into a longer gossamer drape falling across his neck. Making more cosmetic changes before channeling another surge of magic through his body, she callously dropped the frightened changeling to the floor. “Of course, if it turns out the former Quadraxi is still alive, you may have to return to being Sarthii, and I am afraid that no one likes Sarthii.”

The shivering shape-shifter sank, wholeheartedly accepted his… her new name and position within Chrysalis’ hive. For her sake, she prayed the former prime was eaten by a wild manticore.

“Yes…” Quadraxi trailed at hearing her new, higher pitched buzz before continuing. “I mean, yes, I obey, your majesty.”

“I prefer ‘Your Worship’ from my inner circle.”

“My apologies, your worship.”

“Very good, Quadraxi, you always were my favorite medical drone. Now, tend to me, we have much to discuss with our plans for a second assault against Equestria.”

The doctor stopped dead in her gender-bent tracks. Though she had only been summoned a day before once the queen was found, she knew Chyrsalis’ hive had suffered gravely from Canterlot. They had not yet begun to mend yet from their numerous losses, and Queen Chrysalis was now suggesting an all out assault against the two most powerful ponies in the world? Quadraxi knew enough to know that the hive had no hope in Tartarus surviving another heated encounter with Equestria, let alone an assault. Lower hives under the Overqueen’s rule across the empire would be at risk of breaking from their Overshadowed link and join with others such as the Keemah Concordant or fly under the banner of the Maroon Marauder, Queen Alistair. Spreading their forces further wouldn’t just be stupid, it’d be suicide.

“You are not so good at keeping your thoughts and hesitations to yourself, are you Quadraxi?” Chrysalis countered the not-so-private thoughts of her recent replacement. “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” she affirmed, bonking the small doctor across the horn, “we already have everything in place. We only need to help a lost soul find her way back to my loving embrace, and we will hold the power to wipe Equestria off the face of the planet!”

“Sentries, assemble the surviving members of Dawnbreaker, we make for the ruins of the Wyrmpyre Rock,” Chrysalis ordered to her personal guards. Quadraxi shivered under the sheer pressure of confidence emitted by the changeling queen. Keeping her own thoughts to herself, Quadraxi hoped the queen could live up to the title she had foisted upon herself.

“With a single, radiant hymn, I will bring the two sisters to their knees, leaving nothing but ash in its glorious wake.”