Nyx sat up in her hospital bed crossly. According to the doctors of the hospital, and the aided data from Dr. Eggman, she had made a full recovery hours ago, and she could feel it. Nothing felt broken anymore, her soreness had faded away, and she didn't feel any single thing out of the ordinary; except, that is, the increased strength in her magical and physical health. The doctors still questioned how this was possible, mainly because alicorn health was barely outside of their expertise. They requested that she would have to stay another day or two, three at the maximum, for further study and observations.

Nyx was not happy about this at all. She felt fine, better than ever in fact, but she couldn't leave. She wanted nothing more than do something that didn't involve sitting around and feeling useless in her actions, something the Children of Nightmare did for her back when she believed to me Nightmare Moon. At least she was not without company, as not only did Twilight not leave the hospital at all and was visited by some of the princess's best friends, but Spike and Rainbow Dash took turns sticking around while having their own responsibilities to uphold. Sadly, even that didn't elevate Nyx's negative mood.

"It's not fair," Nyx whined as her forearms were crossed and wore a pouty expression. "If I feel all better, then I don't need to be here anymore. I want to go home."

Twilight, understanding the filly's frustration, looked at her with a sympathetic look. "Nyx, you heard Dr. Monitor. He just needs to look over you for just a while longer and nothing else, then you'll be able to go home."

The filly just looked up with the same expression. "But I'm tired of being stuck in this stupid bed. I want to go home and read, go back to school and learn, and see my friends and have fun. We were going to do some crusading and have a sleepover."

"I know, Nyx," the purple mare said, nuzzling her daughter's cheek in hopes to cool down the noticeable rising temper. It did little help, but enough to change the filly's pout into a calm, but still sad, expression. "I'm sure your friends miss you, too. The last few days have been long for everypony, and I'm sure they're worried about you." She quietly thought to herself about how her friends broke the news to the other fillies, not once asking about it when her friends stopped by to visit. Breaking out of her thoughts, she added "They know you'd need your rest, and will wait until-"

A sudden knock on the door caught the alicorns off guard. They then the muffled voice of Rainbow Dash, asking if anypony was awake, which Twilight confirmed and allowed her friend to enter the room with the door open just enough to allow Rainbow through. The pegasus stood by the open door and looked over at the pouting filly.

"Hey, Nyx, feeling all better yet?"

Nyx humphed at Rainbow's unintentional question. Twilight replied to her friend with "She is, but she still has another day or two before she can go home."

"Still not fair," Nyx grumbled to herself.

Rainbow's face went from showing concern to smirking a devilish grin. "Hey, cheer up, kid. I was stuck in here a few times, too, so I know how much it stinks to sit around. I'm glad I had your mom help me out by finding a way to pass the time. Plus, I did have something else that helped out a bit from time to time."

Curiosity getting the best of her, but still acting cross, Nyx looked back up and asked "Like what?"

"Well..." Rainbow teased around with a pause for dramatic effect. She knew she was playfully getting under the skin of both alicorns, and a few others not inside the room.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash! We want to see Nyx!" A voice yelled from the other side of the door, with a very identifiable squeak as it spoke.

Still wearing her grin, the cyan mare used a hind leg to kick the door wide open to reveal Nyx's best friends; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the former wearing a saddlebag, and the latter being the one whining to be let in. The biggest smile crossed Nyx's face as the trio raced into the room and surrounded each side of the bed. It was great to have her aunts/godmothers visit so often, but she was beginning to doubt that she wouldn't see her friends until she would be released from the hospital.

"Howdy, Nyx," Apple Bloom said. "How are you holdin' up here?"

"I'm fine. I'm stuck here, but I'm pretty much all better," Nyx replied.

"Wait, you're better, but you can't leave?" Scootaloo asked. Nyx gave a quick summary of what the doctors wanted to do with monitoring her. "That doesn't make sense. But, whatever, I'm not a doctor."

"We're just glad you're alright," Sweetie Belle said. "Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash took us to your house, and we were told about everything that happened to you. We were so worried about you and wanted to get here sooner, but we had to wait."

Twilight became a little confused. She knew that they had to wait until Nyx was awake and wouldn't be interrupted of rest, but she thought that they'd actually visit sooner than this. "Rainbow, do you know why they waited so long?" she asked.

Still wearing her grin, she motioned her head towards the still open door and replied "Well, we thought it would be best to have a chaperon for each of them."

Then, two others appeared on the other side of the door. Their presence put both Twilight and Nyx's faces in the happiest expressions possible at the sight of who walked their way in. With smiling faces and much needed relief to see the little black filly alright was Tails and Cosmo, heroes of Mobius and Equestria, and best friends of the Sparkle family.

"Good to see you're alright, Nyx," greeted the two-tailed fox. He then began to bow to the princess and say "Twilight, We-"

"Don't even bother bowing," Twilight interrupted with a demanding, yet happy, tone in her voice. She walked up to the two and added "I'm just glad to see you here," and gave each of them a welcoming hug.

"We wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Cosmo said kindly. "The moment we heard about Nyx, we wrapped up things we were in the middle of at home and got here as quick as possible."

"And we thought we'd double the surprise with both the Crusaders and us coming here at the same time," Tails added humorously.

Twilight wore the strongest of smiles. It meant the world to have her five best friends from home be right by her side for support at the start, and it felt the same to have her best friends from beyond Equestria there for support as well. "Thank you."

Cosmo smiled back before making her way over to the hospital bed. She stood in the spot where Twilight had parked herself for most of the last few days, looking down at the filly with the brightest turquoise eyes she'd ever seen. Nyx, looking back up as the happiest pony in the world at the moment, fought herself from jumping out of the bed and hug Cosmo, but the couple IVs still hooked up to her held her back from doing so.

"How's my favorite little pony feeling? Dr. Eggman told us you were as good as new now," said the Seedrian. "I did overhear that you were back at full strength."

"Yeah," Nyx replied, "just stuck here for another day or so."

Still smiling, Cosmo said "Well I'm just glad to see you alright. Tails and I were very worried about you, but now we're here to help." She then leaned down, and she and Nyx shared a tight hug together. "Now we're not leaving your side until this whole thing is done and over with. If there's anything you need, just say the word and we'll help make it happen."

"And that goes double for us," Scootaloo added, followed by the trio of fillies to jump up and join in on the hug. It wasn't hard to hear Nyx sniffling at the emotions from the levels of support she was being given.

Tails, Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood where they were watching the adorable moment. The purple mare couldn't help but allow a couple of tears to slip out of her eyes, managing to brush one of the sides away with her hoof. The other, however, was cleaned off with the aid of a noticing Rainbow Dash, whose control of 'sappiness' was starting to slip again, with the use of a wing tip. Tails, who kept himself collected like Cosmo, caught the moment in the corner of his eye, trying to hide a knowing grin.

"Twilight, if you don't mind me asking," said the fox, "I heard you got bucked. Are you feeling sore or-"

"No," Twilight interrupted. "Just... upset, but more on the angry side. I can tolerate how some ponies feel about Nyx, but what he did..." She paused, her words starting to seethe out of her. "I never tolerate abuse."

"And neither do we," Tails stated. He also spoke with a mad, almost unsettling tone. If the fillies weren't in the room, he would've let his mood out fully other than barely. "We've seen this kind of behavior before, and that includes away from fighting an enemy in battle. It almost never gets easier, but the sad thing that's made it easier is dealing with it so much with our friends by our side." He made his tone change to a much lighter, more determined sound. "And that's why we're here now. Cosmo and I have decided that, until this whole mess is taken care of, we're staying in Ponyville to help however we can."

"You are?" Rainbow asked.

"Absolutely," Cosmo confirmed, she and Nyx overhearing.

Twilight then said "That means so much for you to offer that, but I couldn't ask you to do that. The fact that you're here now and sent your friend to come here and help Nyx means so much as it is. I wouldn't want you to have to leave Mobius and stay here. There's no telling how long this could last."

Tails didn't say anything at first. Instead his mind recalled the memories of when he first met the love of his life, and how her calling for heroes lead to the first war against the Metarex back in their home galaxy. It was a war with the bitterest end, yet contained some of his favorite memories of the time spent with Cosmo, in both best and worst situations.

Then he thought of the message they received from Spike, forwarded by Celestia. There was a new crisis going on, a near unthinkable one for the dimension of friendship-empowered ponies, and knowing how close their two worlds have become, the Princess wanted to make sure they were informed. He knew that no amount of heroes and warriors in Team JAG could prevent every single crisis that can occur, or the said team wouldn't exist, but it didn't stop him from step up and make sure the current crisis was put to rest, once and for all at best.

"Twilight," Tails began again, "you're one of our best friends, and Nyx and your world mean so much to us. We don't want to leave. We want to stay and make sure our friends get through this, and do whatever we can to support."

Twilight grinned, touched by how the support her friends were giving just kept building. Before she could reply to him, Nyx spoke up and caught her attention. "Mom, can they please stay? I really want them to."

The purple mare nodded. "Of course they can stay." That put a grin across her daughter's face bigger than before, a shine of happiness that meant a lot to have. It was also a big sense of relief, knowing that two friends that were greatly known for being interdimensional heroes, including Equestria. As much as the thought wasn't wanted, knowing that they would be around for a while made Twilight feel much safer, especially for Nyx.

Then, a thought that was barely lingering in both Nyx and Twilight's curious minds became stronger. They both noticed the saddlebag Apple Bloom was wearing, unsure why she had it, unless it had something to do with the hospital visit. Twilight asked Rainbow Dash about it, but the pegasus only wore a smile and said nothing. Nyx then decided to ask her friend "Apple Bloom, why do you have a saddlebag?"

"Because we brought a gift for you," replied the little earth pony. "When we found out that you were in the hospital, we wanted to do somethin' that would help you cheer up a bunch."

Sweetie Belle, using her magic, opened the saddlebag and lifted out what was inside. It was a closed, but not sealed, envelope that was larger than a normal-sized envelope and decorated with little things that Nyx would like, mainly crude drawings of books and smiling pony faces, with a couple stickers that included a guitar, for her enjoyment of Tails and his friends' interdimensional music group. The alicorn filly smiled as she took a moment to look at all the different images on the envelope, until Sweetie Belle encouraged her to open it up.

Nyx lifted the flap and pulled out what was inside with her own magic. It was a card - in actuality, a folded half-cut piece of white poster paper - that had the words "Dear Nyx," written in script on it, along with drawings of her cutie mark and the Cutie Mark Crusaders logo in the bottom two corners. It was all surrounded by a trim of pink construction paper, which had a familiar six-pointed star cut out around it every inch or so where the inner trim pointed, modeled after the top few points of Nyx's shield.

When she opened it up, it was like looking at a Sonic Rainbomb as almost the entire inside was covered with all different colored words and drawings. What it shared with the cover was the pink trim, but this time with no cut-out stars, and elegant script in the center, most likely written before the poster was folded in half, that read "We all miss you. Get well soon!" She noticed the same script underneath that and just right of the crease. It was a signature, more specifically Miss Cheerilee's signature, and a pen drawing of a smiling flower, much like what she had on her cutie mark.

That's when Nyx realized where this card was from, and that was her classmates and friends from Ponyville Elementary School. Her eyes darted around at all the different drawings and signatures, all of them different colors that helped each one stand out on their own. She found signatures from Twist, Ditzy, Snips and Snails, Feather Weight, Rumble, Snowstar; all of them and more had a place on the card. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo signed it as well, taking up the whole top left corner for their names and drawings of all their faces and Nyx's. Judging by the art style, she assumed it was Apple Bloom who drew it, since it looked similar to the drawing her friend made after she saved Ponyville from the Attack of Everfree.

The more she looked around at the card, the more she loved it. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that ponies were worried about her being safe, unlike the ponies who were worried for her repeating Nightmare Moon's actions. After giving it a good look at every corner, she let it down low enough so she could look at her friends.

"This card is great," Nyx said happily. "I love it!"

"We were expectin' you would," Apple Bloom replied. "We couldn't leave ya stuck in here without somethin' nice to look at."

"Yeah, and when we told everypony at school about it, they wanted to help too," added Sweetie Belle.

"Well, almost everypony," Scootaloo stated with a sour, mad look on her face.

Nyx's face began to wear a curious look. "Almost everypony? Was someone unable to-" She stopped herself as she took another look inside the card, swearing she saw all her friends from school sign it. Turns out she was right, but there were two classmates whose names were completely absent. "Oh... Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They didn't sign the card."

"That's putting it lightly," Sweetie Belle commented. "Those two kept on being jerks the whole time."

It was a sad understatement about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They never liked Nyx, not ever since she starting going to class, and it got especially worse after Nightmare Moon's reign. They would bully and insult her at any given opportunity, whether it would be in school or not. It didn't help that Diamond Tiara held a grudge towards Nyx for taking her father away to serve the former queen, nor did she care that the classmate she loathed was hurt.

In fact, she praised it as good news.

/)∞(\

After finding out about Nyx, the trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders felt horrible. One of their fellow Crusaders, one of their best friends, was beaten and was sitting in the hospital; none of them could understand it, even with what they knew about their friend. Worst of all, they felt helpless, unable to go to Nyx and help solve such a problem. That, however, changed when they reminded themselves that Crusaders always stick together, and always find a way to help each other out.

It was during school when they got the idea of making an art project for Nyx, something bright and colorful to cheer her up. They asked Miss Cheerilee if she had any blank posters to use, and explained their intentions. Their teacher loved their idea, and she pulled out a large folded poster from her desk, in a drawer where she kept extra drawing supplies for big class projects, and cut the poster in half and gave it to the trio. With their blank canvas in hoof, they grabbed some of their art supplies from their desks - crayons, colored pencils, stickers, everything they had - and went outside to join the rest of their classmates for recess. They got themselves set up on the picnic table and got right to work.

Their work soon grabbed the attention of other fillies and colts, the first of whom being Twist. Others began to follow suit and asked what was going on, being told by one of the Crusaders, and then asked to join in, too. Halfway through recess, nearly all of them were packed around the table and either waited for their turn or to see the ongoing work and overall project. That was all put to a halt the moment Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked over.

Immediately, the two were bothersome as they asked what lame thing was going on, which Scootaloo explained how Nyx wasn't feeling well and they were making a collage of drawings for her. Diamond Tiara scoffed at the idea, having heard that the alicorn filly was at the hospital from her father talking to some customers at the family's store, Barnyard Bargains. She then went on to say how it was a 'Blessing' that 'Nightmare Moon' was out of school, and how Nyx deserved what she got.

Apple Bloom jumped out of her seat and walked over towards the two bullies, telling them that nopony deserved to be treated like a punching bag. Silver Spoon, however, responded with how Nyx didn't deserve any attention, but deserved to be forgotten about like the 'Nightmare' she said Nyx is. Scootaloo jumped in and said that they didn't care about what they thought, told Apple Bloom to come back to working on the poster, and asked the two bullies to leave them alone.

The yellow filly turned around and made her way back to her seat, but not before giving the two a glare that said "Get lost." The Crusaders and their classmates began to resume work on Nyx's gift, but Diamond Tiara was not done with them yet. She didn't like how all her classmates were trying to do something nice for the alicorn she despised so much, nor did she like being ignored. Unknown to her, an open window nearby caught somepony's attention from inside the schoolhouse.

Then, Diamond Tiara found her tools to make sure the class couldn't finish their project. She instructed Silver Spoon to bring over a large rock that sat nearby, and then found an opening to jump in between a couple fillies, and took another good look at what the poster had so far. It was bright, colorful, covered in positivity, and anything that could make Nyx smile; it made her sick to her stomach. She seized her opportunity to pull her dirty trick, with emphasis on dirty.

She grabbed the poster and yanked it off the table, and then jumped back down on the floor and ran over a few feet away. There was a mud puddle left behind from a recent rainy day, and even though it had dried for the most part, there was still a fair amount of mud still wet sitting in the center. Silver Spoon stood on one side of the puddle with the fetched rock as Diamond Tiara came up to it and dropped the poster into the mud face down, ruining all the hard work the class had put into it. To add onto that, she walked around next to Silver Spoon, and both picked up the rock and threw it on top of the now muddy poster.

"Nyx doesn't deserve care, she deserves nothing. You're all losers for calling her a good pony, because she's, like, the farthest from that. I hope she stays in that hospital and doesn't come back out."

With those words said, Diamond Tiara's plan came to reality. She ruined the now infuriated Cutie Mark Crusaders' present for Nyx, and now the injured filly would get nothing. It took everything that four classmates had to hold Apple Bloom back, even more for Scootaloo, but Sweetie Belle didn't try to pick a fight, for she decided to try and fight herself off from crying and run inside the school house for their teacher.

Little did any of the fillies and colts know was that Cheerilee had overheard, and saw, everything that happened after Diamond Tiara first began to talk.

The mulberry mare had immediately walked out the door, and sternly and crossly yelled out Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's names. This caught everypony's attention and left the entire playground in silence and speechlessness. After telling the two bullies to go in the schoolhouse and wait for her, she stepped over to the muddy poster frowning, pulling it out with a hoof and seeing that it couldn't be cleaned off and redone, let alone repaired. The rock put a hole in the middle and left seems of crumple marks spanning around it. It chipped heavily at her heart, such a wonderful gesture having to now be thrown away.

But, she took a good look at the trio of friends Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, all of whom looking the same. Their eyes were dilated and saddened, tears under each one as they fought hard not to cry, with the little white unicorn caving in and broke out crying. Their best friend was hurt and their efforts to make her feel better was now a muddy mess. Seeing that, and the rest of her saddened students, did not settle well with her, especially with what she'll have to talk about to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

But she decided that instead of looking on the negative, she would do two things: report her two troublesome students to their parents, and provide the items needed to start the project anew.

/)∞(\

The trio didn't want to bother Nyx with the details of what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had done, so they decided to keep the focus on the card and not on what almost wasn't. "So, Nyx, what do you think? You like it?" Scootaloo asked.

"I already said I love it," Nyx replied, slightly confused by her friend asking that. She shook off the feeling as she looked at the card once more before folding it and setting it down in front of her. "Thank you so much, girls. This means so much to me."

"Of course," Sweetie Belle squeaked. "Anything for our fellow Crusader, and friend."

"Let me see the card, Nyx," said Twilight, walking up to her bedside and next to Cosmo. After a confirming nod from Nyx, she took the card in her magic and opened it up to look at its contents. Words couldn't describe how thoughtful and wonderful this gift was, seeing so many colts and fillies worked together to make this for her daughter. She saw a candy cane colored with the blues of Nyx's cutie mark next to Twist's signature, one of Snowstar's snowflake drawings, no doubt trying to carry on her ancestor’s legacy, and so many other drawings that made the alicorn smile.

It was good to see how most ponies had grown to accept Nyx and were willing to forgive her. Seeing this from classmates spoke volumes of how even children were able to forgive Nyx, whether it was from the help of their own parents or just from themselves, and it gave Twilight a small restoration in her faith. She wished other ponies could be like that, but she did understand that not all ponies are the same, them taking longer to do so or not at all. Nevertheless, symbols like the class's card was more than anyone could ask for, and she owed Cheerilee a lot of gratitude for having a hoof in this.

Both Tails and Rainbow Dash looked over Twilight's shoulders to look at the card as well, both enjoying the sight as well. "That's a cool card you guys made," said the cyan mare.

An excited little orange pony turned her head around almost immediately. "Really? You like it too?"

"You kidding? This card is awesome, one of the coolest things anypony would do for a friend. That's a sign of loyal friends if I ever saw one," Rainbow said, nuggying her hoof in Scootaloo's mane.

"It's a good thing we had practice in doin' big art projects. Miss Cheerilee still remembers how big our card was for her on Hearts & Hooves Day," said Apple Bloom.

"Yeah, I think I heard about that," Tails said, remembering a previous conversation he had with Cheerilee during one of his previous visits. Part of him was glad they didn't repeat, if not go beyond, that size of a card for Nyx, otherwise he would have needed to carry it in and through the hospital instead of putting it in the fillies' saddlebags. It wasn't that he wouldn't be up for doing so, but he would admit that it would've served better as a surprise gift for Nyx when she would return home, where the card wouldn't be, for lack of better thought, obstructive.

Twilight set the card back down in the bed in front of Nyx, leaving it left open for all to see. Before anyone said anything else, a knock came from the door, and then opened a moment later. A familiar pegasus began to walk into the room, but one only familiar to Nyx, Twilight and Rainbow Dash: Detective Benson.

"Hello, Your Highness," she said, greeting Twilight specifically. "I hope I'm not disturbing you at a bad time."

"Not at all, detective," replied the purple mare. "We were actually beginning to wonder when you'd come back from Canterlot."

"I actually returned a little while ago, but was told by the clerk that visitors arrived just a few minutes before me. I decided to speak to your doctors before coming back into here," explained Olivia. She then turned her attention over to the awake and healthy filly in the hospital bed. "I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better, Nyx."

"Thank you," replied the alicorn filly.

"Since your doctors said you're at full health again, I'd like to ask you about what happened at Night Stone Castle. Seeing as you have company..." Before the pegasus said anything else, her eyes fixated on two beings that she vaguely recognized, and they looked like a fox and a flower, respectively. She has heard about two friends of Princess Twilight around her office and Canterlot, but never came face to face with these 'heroes of Mobius,' not counting the intruding Dr. Eggman. "Your Highness, are they friends of yours as well?" she asked, motioning her hoof towards the two.

"Yes," replied the princess proudly, "yes they are." Knowing introductions were needed for both sides, she introduced her two friends first. "This is Tails and Cosmo, very close friends of mine and my family. They are from their home dimension of Mobius and will be staying at my castle until this entire ordeal is resolved.

"Tails, Cosmo, this is Detective Olivia Benson, the lead detective of Equestria's Special Victims Unit. She was personally hired by Princess Celestia to handle our legal case against the ponies that hurt Nyx."

The three crossed their respective sides of the room and met in the center, where Tails let his hand out to shake Olivia's hoof. As the two shook, they wore greeting smiles, but the detectives wasn't as sincere as Tails's, mainly because of how he and Cosmo were tied with the 'interrupting' Dr. Eggman.

"It is nice to meet you both," she said. "You are the same Tails who sent that doctor here to help Nyx, aren't you?"

Tails nodded his head and replied "Yes, but I did hear that he was a little less than subtle with his arrival here. I apologize if he caused you any trouble, but if there was any doctor who would make his way to Nyx in a hurry, it was him." He turned his head around to face Nyx and add "And as you can see, his help was proven successful."

"Perhaps," Olivia said, barely agreeing, "and I do thank you for your assistance." She paused as an idea came into immediate consideration, and decided to follow along with it. "If you have a moment, I would like to ask you a couple questions in private. A statement from you may be helpful before I sit down with Princess Twilight and Nyx."

"Questions about what?" Cosmo asked.

"About your involvement with the Royal family. It will only be a few minutes, and one of you can stay here if you wish. I do not need to speak to both of you at this moment."

Tails took a second to think to himself before he nodded again, agreeing to go talk with the pegasus detective elsewhere. "I'll answer whatever questions you have the best I can."

After hearing what her loved one said, Cosmo gave her answer next. "I'd like to stay with our friends for now, since both of us aren't needed."

"Very well," said the detective. She then reached her head around to view Twilight and say "Princess, I'm afraid to say that I can't wait too much longer for statements from your daughter and yourself. Following my discussion with him, I'd like to talk to you next. I believe it would be needless to say that your daughter is in good hooves to allow that."

Twilight knew this was inevitable, and she wished it could have been when Nyx was out of the hospital and back home. She knew from what she studied about SVU cases was that child victims could allow one parent to sit with them and the investigating detective, but not the other way around, including the ponies of royal status. It was great relief to know how Rainbow Dash, who barely left her side since what happened, and Tails and Cosmo, who intended to stay by their sides for the duration of the trial, were there to stay by Nyx and make sure she felt safe.

"Of course," said Twilight. "I know Nyx is in good hooves - and hands - with my friends here."

Olivia nodded with a grin, and then she said "Alright then. Tails, if you would follow me, we'll be going just down the hall."

"Lead the way," replied the fox. The detective exited first, and then he stepped out. After turning around to give a happy smile to everyone inside, he closed the door behind him.

Silence that followed was broken by Rainbow Dash, who said "About time she got back. I thought she said she would be back in less than a day, not more."

"I'm sure she was very busy back in Canterlot. If she interrogated Silver Lining and everypony that was with him, then that would have taken at least a day," Twilight said, trying to defend the detective. "She did say she came back shortly after Cosmo and the others arrive and waited a while before coming in, so when you think about it, she was on time. For the most part, at least."

The cyan mare continued her disgruntled mood and said "Whatever. I just want to see Silver Lining thrown in Tartarus, right next to Tirek. That jerk should have his magic taken away."

"Rainbow Dash," snipped Twilight, "that's not needed right now."

The alicorn motioned her eyes towards the fillies standing right there near them, who were looking up at Rainbow Dash with strange looks. Nyx's look was different, hers being sadder at the thought of what was suggested. Rainbow just let out a deep breath, snarling the air through her nostrils, and apologized. However, even before she said anything, the three Crusaders' curiosity was provoked.

"Who the hay is Silver Lining? Is he the pony who hurt Nyx?" Scootaloo asked.

"And what does Special Victims Unit mean anyway?" Apple Bloom added.

"It's a police force," Nyx answered, explaining the latter question first. "They investigate crimes that are worse than ones like stealing. Ponies that are hurt very badly are looked into by detectives who help make sure it doesn't happen again to ponies...

"Like me."

Nyx's face fell, and for a moment Sweetie Belle thought her friend was going to cry. The little unicorn jumped her forehooves up on the bed to stand herself up so she can see better, and with a concerned look on her face. With no intentions to ask the wrong thing, she asked "You mean like that pony, Silver something, was he the guy who hit you?"

"Sweetie Belle!" snapped the other two crusaders, but the damage was done.

"Y-yes," Nyx answered, starting to whimper while fighting herself not to cry. "He hit me, he hit m-my mom, and then, everypony else began hitting me, and-"

Before she knew it, her best friends jumped up onto the bed and surrounded her for a group hug. Nyx still kept fighting herself from crying, but she welcomed the caring embrace by trying to hug them back. Unfortunately, the IVs were still in her front legs, and she couldn't move them without pulling them out.

"Please don't cry, Nyx. We hate to see ya sad," Apple Bloom said caringly.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset," apologized Sweetie Belle. Her tone expressed how awful she felt, and she felt absolutely horrible.

"Yeah, forget about that Silver jackplot," Scootaloo added.

"Scoots!" Rainbow Dash said, never thought she'd hear such language coming from her number one fan.

"Hey, I'm sorry but he is one," said the filly, defending her actions. "Anypony who thinks they can hurt Nyx or Twilight are not only-

"Wait, he hurt Twilight, too?!"

The trio's eyes shot over to Twilight, and without much options, she solemnly nodded to confirm it. "I guess you didn’t hear Tails ask me about it before. Yes, I was bucked in the chest, but like Nyx I'm fine. It only knocked the wind out of me, nothing more."

Scootaloo scowled once again, disliking that bully of a pony all the more. "That settles it! He hits a filly and bucks a princess, so that makes him a great, big jackpl-" She found herself silenced by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who both covered her mouth with a hoof.

"We get it," said the yellow filly, "he's a big jerk. Don't get yourself in trouble by swearin' again."

Knowing her friends were right, Scootaloo forfeited and kept her anger to herself, but she still didn't look too happy. The trio then loosened their hug around Nyx and instead sat around their friend, all as a shroud of silence fell amongst the group. It was broken when an unpredictable chuckle came from Cosmo, one that was soft but just loud enough to hear.

"Cosmo?" Twilight said, confused about the sudden chuckle.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude," replied the Seedrian. "It's just that how Scootaloo acted is similar to how my friends tend to act when they're distressed or angry. Whenever something severe happens, there are times when their attitudes, and on several points language, turn quite livid and explicit. I can recall several occasions when Tails was like that."

"You mean like how he said he was against Tirek?" Nyx asked. Both he and Cosmo came to help everypony fight the magic-siphoning villain during the climax of his actions, but only knew of how Tails acted towards Tirek through conversations following that fight.

"Well..." Cosmo tried to reply, but had to think about how to carefully word it. Her love did manage to reach high levels - very, very high levels - of such an attitude from time to time, mainly when she or their closest friends were put in harm's way. Her best way to answer the filly was "...not even close. Tails... has developed quite the temper when he has to fight, ever since we fought the Metarex War."

"Tails? The same two-tailed, Super Saiy-something, perhaps the calmest fox thing I've ever seen, Tails?" Rainbow said, unsure if she could believe that. Sure she saw a little of his anger out first-hoof, mainly against Tirek and months before that when they first met and had to save the Crusaders against a trio of teenage dragons, but never thought he would get that...

"You mean during that final battle you showed us?" Twilight mentioned.

That brought a specific memory back to both the purple and cyan mares. When the couple first arrived at Equestria and reunited, they agreed to use Zecora's potion to see past events and see what happened during the climax of the for-mentioned war. They remembered what happened to Cosmo, how Tails and their friends reacted, and what he pulled off against their foes. It was too hard to watch, even harder to believe that it was true, but considering all who the ponies came to know in the last several months, it was a series of events they were used to having to deal with.

"Oh," Rainbow Dash said weakly, "yeah. I almost forgot about that."

Cosmo, who wore a smile regardless of the haunting memories lingering in the front of her conscious, nodded her head and took a seat next to Nyx and the Crusaders on the bed. "There were a few moments before that, but less temperamental and more defensive when dealing with enemies. Following that war, however, he had developed that temper, and it would ignite every now and again after that. Disputes between friends, battles and wars that followed the first war with the Metarex, anyone or anything that tries to threaten me, he opens up an anger that I never thought could come out of him."

"That's a bunch of rotten apples," protested Apple Bloom. "He's one of the nicest people I've ever met. How could HE of anyone get so mad!?"

"Yeah," agreed Scootaloo. "I don't see that happening."

"Then I'll let you in on a secret," Cosmo said, "but this doesn't leave this room unless Tails and I mention it. Promise not to tell anypony?"

"Does it have to be a Pinkie Promise?" Nyx asked. That kind of promise was something she could never understand, yet her friends do and would make from time to time.

The Seedrian shook her head and told the filly "No, just a regular promise is fine."

"Then we promise," the four fillies said at once.

"And so do we," Twilight added, speaking on behalf of herself and Rainbow Dash.

"Alright then," Cosmo said, and then told the ponies her secret. "When we found out about what happened to you, Nyx, Tails and I were both upset. But Tails let out how he felt in his anger, and clenched his fist to..."

/)∞(\

"So following your involvement in the Tirek attacks and your music festivals, Princess Celestia agreed to make sure you were notified of any and all circumstances with any of the princesses and Nyx?"

"Correct, if not able to be done by Twilight that is."

"I'll have to double check our records with the Equestrian government to verify the Princess' decree, but I do believe that it wouldn't be true if you didn't send for your friend. Now, you arrived in Equestria about a day ago, according to what you said. Why didn't you visit Nyx or Twilight sooner?"

"We didn't want to intrude on them with Nyx in recovery, and the hospital would allow only so many visitors in and out their doors."

Detective Benson was wrapping up her questions for Tails to better understand why he and Cosmo got involved in her case. They were both sitting on a bench down the hallway from Nyx's room, a bench that sat just a couple yards away from the royal lounge. It didn't come across the detective's mind to go in there for a more private questioning, but with the rule of nopony allowed inside with the company and consent of an Equestrian princess, it was nothing to bother about. She wanted to get this questioning finished so she could finally talk to the victims of the crime.

"Alright then, Mr. Prower," she said, using the fox's formal name after learning of it minutes ago, "I have one more question for you. You said you volunteered to stay with the Princess until this case is closed. Are you planning to serve as a Royal Guard, or act on your own accord like how you sent Dr. Eggman here?"

"Cosmo and I are both here to serve as moral support to Twilight and Nyx, and will act appropriately, given time and place. If anyone tries to harm them or any other pony, I will step forward and defend them as I know how, but if any of the princesses disapprove of my actions, I will change my actions to their standards."

Olivia nodded her head and sat up from her seat, and Tails followed suit. Although she still questioned the thought of allowing a being with 'unique' powers, she couldn't deny the loyalty he was serving to the victims of this crime. She reached out her hoof and said "Thank you, Mr. Prower. That will be all." He respectfully returned her hoof with his hand to shake, a confident grin across his face. "You may return to your friends, but if you would please ask Princess Twilight to meet me here..."

"Of course," Tails said, "I'll make sure to do that." He began to walk down the hallway back to the room everyone was in, but only made four steps before stopping and turning around. "Detective, my friends from Team JAG and I are willing to help in any means possible. We've only known of Equestria for a short while, but we care about you all very much. If there is anything you, your police force, or even the princesses need help with, never hesitate to ask.

"We've seen a lot of tragedies, better ones I can count with only one hand, and we want to make sure your home doesn't deal with anything like this again, like we work for our homes."

The detective didn't say anything at first, and stayed quiet until she settled on the right words to say. "I'll try to make sure of that. Thank you." After a quick exchange of small smiles, she watched Tails make his way down the hall a few yards before turning her attention down at some notes.

These were notes that were started the moment Princess Celestia asked her to take the case. She jotted down all the brief info she could onto a small, pocket-sized notepad, including names of certain ponies she interrogated back in Canterlot and what they said, and the statements from Rainbow Dash and the newly added ones from Tails, all behind the first sheet of the pad that listed the victims, the accused and the charges at hoof. It was a style of organization that Twilight Sparkle would adore seeing another pony uphold, but for the detective, it was all to make sure she would get her job done, and have it done right. She needed to take whatever she writes down in the notepad, and piece it together, much like a puzzle; a puzzle that, when pieced together correctly, will end this entire ordeal sooner than it started.

She read through a few key notes that connected everything together, specifically the start of when the ponies started to pummel the alicorn filly. Several ponies that were interrogated admitted to how it started with Silver Lining, and how they matched up with Rainbow Dash's statement. However, she was still lacking a key piece to the puzzle: Silver's motive to attack Nyx. Her notes said he was looking out for everypony's 'well-being,' but there was more to it, there always was, and she needed to make that connection.

Her train of thought stopped as she heard hoofsteps coming closer, and turned her head to see Twilight walking towards her. Upon seeing the approaching princess, she closed her notebook and set it in a coat pocket for a moment, and then bowed briefly. "I'll try to make this quick for you, Your Highness," said the detective. "Before we start, do you require anything, and may we discuss this in a more private location, if you would prefer that?" She motioned a hoof to the royal waiting room.

"That would be nice if we went inside there," Twilight answered, "and no, I do not require anything. Yourself?"

"No thank you. Please, after you."

The princess and detective entered the private room, the latter closing the door behind her before making herself comfortable on a chair as the former sat herself on the adjacent sofa. Detective Benson took out her notes from one pocket, and then took out an envelope from inside her jacket that contained some of the medical records that officers were permitted to view. She looked over those contents before turning her focus back to her notes to see how well the two matched, and then looked at Twilight professionally.

"Princess, I understand this may be hard for you," said Olivia, "but I need you to tell me in your own words what happened at Night Stone Castle. Please start from the beginning, and up until you entered the hospital."

Twilight couldn't immediately begin her explanation. She felt rattled at the thought of thinking about what happened, and she took a long deep breath to calm her nerves. It was the same breathing method Cadance taught her before, back when she and her friends helped have the Equestria Games hosted at the Crystal Empire. Little did she admit how it began to fail working for her since then, but she still tried with the hope it could.

"Your Highness," Olivia said, trying to sound as soft and kind as she could, "I don't mean to force pressure onto you-"

"No, no," the purple mare interrupted, "you're not. I'm just... I'm having a hard time..."

"I know, Princess. This isn't easy for any mother, but I promise you that the more you talk about it, the easier this will be for you. I'll need your statement for court, and you'll be called to repeat this again when court starts. Take your time... You can do it."

With another deep breath, this time without the hoof motion of Cadance's technique, Twilight found the will to recall and speak of what happened. She explained that Rainbow Dash informed her about what was going on, finding Silver Lining and his 'followers' at Nyx's castle, the for mentioned unicorn's accusations and how she and Nyx retaliated. Then came the violent moments, which she struggled to speak in any way other than quick bursts at a time that took her emotions in ranges from sad to livid. After explaining how she used a holding spell on everypony and getting Nyx to the hospital, she stopped as there wasn't much more to elaborate.

The detective finished writing down notes in her notebook before looking back at the princess to start asking a few questions. "Princess, have you had any past confrontations with Silver Lining, or any of the ponies who attacked Nyx?"

Twilight shook her head as she answered with "No, I didn't recognize any of them. Silver said he's traveled all across Equestria doing what he was doing at Nyx's castle, so they may have come from all different cities as far as I know."

"Okay then," said Olivia. "Have you heard us or witnessed any other rallies or protests outside of Night Stone Castle before this?"

"Not the castle specifically," Twilight replied, shaking her head again, "but there have been instances during town meetings where ponies would protest the castle still standing."

"I see, and how often has that happened?"

The alicorn thought carefully, but it was an easy to recall just how often that would happen. "Almost every meeting since Nyx was pardoned for her actions. It was annually at every meeting until I became a princess, where I decided to let the castle stand and give it back to Nyx, when she's earned it that is. Ponies were not happy about it, but no one fought it as often as before after that. I guess that because I'm now a princess, they didn't want to try and fight royal authority. It's only once every now and again that somepony tries to argue my decision."

The detective continued to write down a few notes, trying to summarize Princess Twilight's words specifically. When she wrote down what she could, she then asked "I understand that there has been verbal disrespect towards you and your family since Nightmare Moon was, if I'm not out of line to say, extinguished by Princess Luna. Is this the first time your daughter has been attacked, physically?"

Twilight began to nod, but immediately stopped because her nod wasn't a fully truthful answer. "There was the incident at Canterlot when a news reporter chased her on the catwalks during the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant two years ago, but the most that happened was him removing her headband, and he pleaded guilty. Over a year later, when Tirek was stealing everypony's magic, he found and captured her, threatening to potentially take her life if we didn't agree to surrender to his rule." The more she explained those events, the more anger she began to seethe out of her, all the thoughts of what others have done to her daughter piling into a list of hateful acts she could not stand for.

Seeing a nerve struck, Detective Benson only wrote a few words in her notebook before saying "I'm afraid that neither of those events rule into battery, Princess. The first you mentioned had no intent of abuse, but even though Tirek intended to do so, he did not take your daughter's magic." She tried to hide a shiver down her spine when she recalled the villain cornering the entire SVU and stole their magic, including her own. "Princess, if I may confide to you..."

"Yes, Detective?"

"I consider Nyx lucky. She didn't have their magic taken away, her abilities fueling that of a monster who wanted to take control of Equestria. Even though she was once... Well, you know, she was given guidance to be someone better and use her talents to help others rather than live as a conqueror."

Trying to smile, Twilight replied with "Thank you, Detective. I only wish she was accepted enough by ponies to not cause this whole mess in the first place." She bowed her head in despair, as if displaying herself breaking apart once again. "I don't think there's enough luck in Equestria to change that."

"Perhaps," sighed Olivia, who decided to try and shift the conversation back to questioning. "Princess, I only have one more question to ask for you. According to you, Silver Lining claimed that you and the Elements of Harmony are under the Blessing of Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia has told me that all six of you have medical records testing negative for being Blessed, but during trial the defense will question it for being out of date, given the time between then and now. Would you be willing to allow a psychologist to reexamine yourself and your friends for an up-to-date record?"

The purple mare opened her mouth to immediately answer, but no voice came out. Instead she paused to think about the proposition at hoof, and how it conflicted with what she had already studied about Equestrian law and order. According to one of her books given to her by Celestia after moving into her castle, evaluations of the psychological variety are valid for a maximum of five years - or as read, one thousand, eight hundred twenty-five nights; sixty full moons - and the previous evaluations for everypony that had been Blessed had taken place less than three years ago. If it were more extreme circumstances, new evaluations would have to be conducted yearly.

This left Twilight in a conundrum of what to do, because where between the two timelines the Blessed evaluations fell under was unknown to her. Since there were no fatalities involved, it wouldn't have to be yearly to be checked again, unless a pony chooses otherwise, like her older brother. However, his case was different as he fell insecure with himself, and Nyx, when he had the follow-up evaluation shortly before a certain Hearth's Warming Eve.

Not knowing which way at this crossroads to lean to, she stopped her train of thought and asked herself a question: what did she believe was right?

Author's Note

Finally a new update!

This is a long, looong overdue update, and I'm sorry for making it such a long wait. Unfortunately, this was an intentional wait, as I found myself not putting as much focus onto this story as I was with another that's almost done with its writing. To show my appreciation for those who stuck around for this next chapter, it's been made especially large in size as I chose to combine the next few chapters together. I hope you enjoy this new chapter (working title 'Here to Stay' for those who'd get a metal reference) and let me know what you think in the comments! Expect a new update sometime around spring break!