It turned out that each of the two princesses had their own private wing in the Canterlot Castle. Celestia's wing was decorated all in cheerful pastel colors, with lots of windows that let the sunshine pour in. It was a little too bright for the Changeling princesses, who grew up in a dimly lit Hive, but the light was bearable.

A Day Guard directed them to Princess Celestia's private rooftop terrace, where she was currently having breakfast with Princess Luna. The two alicorn sisters were sitting at the round, white-tablecloth-covered dining table, enjoying a nice meal of freshly baked pastries and hot tea while the warm morning breeze blew. Chrysalis even spotted a whole Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake on the table.

Once they were on the terrace and well out of sight of the guards, Lavender undid her invisibility spell with a small purple flare.

"Lavender?" Luna set down her fork and frowned with concern. "Why aren't you disguised as Cloverluck? And – and what happened to your wing? It's bleeding!"

"Oh, yes. She bumped into a vase, it broke, and now her wing is injured," Peridot told the princesses in a flat voice. "I was wondering if you could mend it? With a spell, maybe?" She shifted shyly, which was quite unlike her. "And, well, I was hoping if you could teach me a healing spell or two. It might be useful in the future."

"Good idea, Peri," Chrysalis said brightly. She turned to Celestia and Luna. "Maybe you could teach me, too, in case something happens when we aren't together?"

Celestia dabbed at her mouth with her cloth napkin and smiled. "Of course, it would be my pleasure." She sighed a little. "I have missed being a teacher . . ." The Day Princess trailed off at the end, then shook herself. "I'll mend Lavender's wing – come here, Lavender, it won't hurt a bit – and you three are welcome to join us for breakfast before we start the magic lesson."

Lavender came closer and extended her cut left wing to Celestia, who gently used a soft hoofkerchief to clean the small amount of blood from it. Then, the regal alicorn touched the tip of her long white horn to the wound and made it light up with her soft, sun-gold magic. Chrysalis, Peridot, Lavender, and Luna watched as Celestia concentrated her magic on the gash in Lavender's violet wing. Slowly but surely, a thread of golden light wove back and forth there, closing the cut with small, neat stitches. When the injury was all sewn together, the stitches of light flashed and then disappeared, fading into the wing. There was no scar, no flaw, nothing to show that the injury had ever been there.

"That was amazing!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "Now I am absolutely positive that I want to learn this. I could actually . . . help ponies and Changelings."

"Can you fly, Lavender?" Luna asked the practical question.

The young half-Changeling flapped her wings rapidly, which was needed to gain flight with the Changelings' insect-like wings. She rose into the air and did a few loop-de-loops and dizzying turns. "Yep!" she chirped happily, coming back down to land on the solid stone. "My wings have never been better, actually."

Her stomach growled angrily and suddenly. The hint of a purple-red blush bloomed on Lavender's cheeks, and everyone else just laughed.

"Yes, Lavender's belly, I completely agree," Celestia said with a giggle. "Sit down, the three of you, and eat! You must all be starving. Oh, and by the way, you two missed dinner last night, Peridot and Chrysalislis. Were you that tired? You went to sleep just after the moon rose. Too bad you three missed out on the epic stargazing session my sister and I had."

"Stargazing?" Peridot questioned. It was like a foreign word to her and Chrysalis. There were no stars in the Wastelands.

"Yes, it is one of the best things to do on a clear night," Luna said, puffing her chest proudly. "Have you not heard of stargazing? Oh, and you should try the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, Chrysalis. I think you'll like it, all of you."

By now, Chrysalis was stuffing her face with cake and pastries, with gulps of the decent tea in between bites and no princessly table manners at all. She slowed down and flushed a dark color when she saw that everyone was staring at her. "Sorry," Chrysalis mumbled through a mouthful of food. "But I am hungry." She cut herself a slice from the recommended Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake and started to scarf it down with more decorum this time.

The others sat down and began to eat as well, chatting in between bites as if it were any ordinary day. Luna and Celestia pointed out the finer aspects of stargazing, and even invited the three Changelings to join them tonight. Luna would make the night sky clear just for them.

After a delicious breakfast and a lesson on magic with Celestia and Luna, Chrysalis and Peridot were granted special permission to explore Canterlot Castle with Lavender – once more disguised as Cloverluck – as their guide. There was so much to look at! Lavender took her princesses to the royal solarium first.

It was a huge, airy room at the end of the south wing with walls and a ceiling that were made of glass. Not just any type of glass – much of it was stained glass. Chunks of ruby red, garnet orange, topaz yellow, emerald green, sapphire blue, and amethyst violet made a patchwork quilt of colors on the shiny marble floor. The room appeared to be a sort of sitting room. A few round rugs lay on the floor here and there. Plush couches, sitting pillows, and small side tables stood in little circles around each rug.

"This is where the majority of the palace staff come to rest and relax," Lavender explained as they marveled at the beauty and clarity of the stained glass. "Oh, look, there's Sapphire Starlight. Hey, Sapphire!" she called and waved for no apparent reason.

The blue unicorn looked up from her paperwork nearby and smiled back, looking a little bemused.

A loud, unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out across the room: "YOU!"

Chrysalis, Peridot, and Lavender turned around to see a tall white unicorn stallion with a golden-blonde mane, light blue eyes, and a group of dollar signs and gold bits for a cutie mark. Around his neck was a collar with a red bow-tie. He looked like the stereotypical kind of stallion that mares fell helplessly in love with, but the Changelings could see past that. What was really noticeable was that his entire face had turned tomato red up to his ears.

"YOU!" he shouted again.

Peridot arched an eyebrow and glanced at Lavender, whose expression was a mixture of amusement and disgust.

"Two words: Duke Blueblood," the disguised half-Changeling whispered.

By now, the few ponies in the solarium had turned to stare at the so-called duke. Slowly, Sapphire Starlight began to step forward to the Changeling princesses' side.

Eventually, Duke Blueblood stopped shouting like a mad stallion, but his face was still bright red as he pointed an angry, accusing hoof at Chrysalis and Peridot. "You! You are the scheming, good-for-nothing bugs that are planning a war against us! They're rotten bugs, I tell you!" he yelled at the other ponies, who were looking rather annoyed.

Pretty face, not-so-pretty personality.

Sapphire Starlight stepped up and frowned at Blueblood. "Duke Blueblood, allow me to introduce Princess Peridot and Princess Chrysalislis of the Changeling Hive," she said in a seemingly patient voice. "They are legally here as temporary ambassadors from the Hive. Please be respectful to them. Your aunts would be very displeased if you spoke to royalty in this rather . . . impolite manner, my Duke. It is unseemly."

Blueblood just sputtered a little and glared at the Changelings. "I am talking to Auntie Celestia about this!" he half-shrieked, and galloped out of the solarium.

After a long silence, the other ponies shrugged and went back to whatever they had been doing before the arrogant duke had interrupted.

Chrysalis and Peridot turned to stare at Lavender and Sapphire.

Princess Luna's assistant simply shrugged. "He's always a bit high-strung," she said. "Don't mind Blueblood; he's just as young as you, and young stallions can be very, very hotheaded. This particular duke is the nephew of the Princesses. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have loads of paperwork to do."

"It was nice seeing you here, Sapphire," Chrysalis called after the mare, who twitched an ear to show that she had heard. "And thank you."

Lavender smiled pleasantly, as though nothing had happened. "Now, shall we have tea here?"

After a servant brought a tray of tea and pastries to the solarium, Lavender and the Changeling guests sat down to take their morning tea. To Chrysalis's and Peridot's delight, there was almost everything on the platter of tea sweets, even a few slices of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake, which they gladly gulped down. While Chrysalis still liked the MMMM cake best, Peridot took interest in the sweet fruit biscuits.

"Somepony – er, someone – is sure hungry," Lavender said with a smirk, watching the two young royals stuff their faces. "We could send a Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake home with you, Chrysalis, and a large tin of fruit biscuits for you, Peridot. When you two go back, of course."

"Really? That would be great!" Chrysalis said enthusiastically, wiping her muzzle with a cloth napkin.

"So, where to next, Lavender?" Peridot asked, eyeing a strawberry tea cake on the platter. "I would like to see the royal archives, if that's okay with the Princesses."

"We'll stop at Princess Luna's office on our way to the observatory to ask her," Lavender promised. "If she allows us, then I'll take you to the archives after we visit the observatory – it's really nice, trust me. I haven't been there in a while, actually. I think it needs dusting, and I'm actually in charge of the servants, so it's my job to make sure."

"Really? What's it like?"

A pounding headache assaulted Peridot's forehead as they walked, and when she glanced over at Chrysalis, her little sister was rubbing her head, too. "Are you two okay?" Lavender asked, noticing this.

"Fine," Peridot said. She didn't want to be a bother.

Chrysalis, on the other hoof, was blunt. "No," she said plainly. "I've got a really bad headache, and so does Peridot. I can totally tell, sis."

"There's cold water and iced tea in Princess Luna's office," Lavender said concernedly. She frowned at the way her princesses were stumbling around. "It's not far. And Chrysalis, you weren't kidding when you said that the headache is bad. Come on. Don't strain yourself. You two should probably rest after this."

While Celestia's wing of palace rooms was painted in light daytime shades, Luna's private wing was decorated in a palette of pale silvery-whites and dark blues and purples, fitting for a Princess of the Night. Her office was close to the entrance of the wing, and the three Changelings reached it soon enough. Chrysalis and Peridot were wobbling on their hooves now, Lavender trying to support both of them.

Luna was sitting behind the large mahogany desk . . . fast asleep. Her head rested on her forehooves, which were placed on her desktop, and she snored softly, her illusive mane rippling gently. She appeared to have fallen asleep while reading a huge stack of paperwork.

Lavender thought this to be quite whimsical, but there was no time to be amused right now. "Princess Luna? Princess, wake up, please," she said somewhat loudly, coming over to the desk. "Princess!"

"Hmm? What?" Princess Luna raised her head sleepily, blinking. Her eyes widened when she saw the state of her foreign guests. "By me, what happened? You two look like you're going to pass out! Here, lie down." Rushing around the table, Luna started to guide Chrysalis and Peridot toward the plush, dark blue couch at the back of her office.

Before they were within three paces of the comfortable-looking couch, the two Changeling princesses collapsed, right there, on the floor.

"Oh . . . my . . ." Luna trailed off, giving Lavender and the Changelings a very worried look.

"I have no idea, Princess."

Chrysalis woke up in a room so white that she was nearly blinded by the snowy color. White walls, white curtains, white beds, white tables, white kits with red crosses on them. She was lying in one of the beds, covered with a white comforter up to her shoulders. It was soft and rather comfy.

Definitely the royal infirmary. She tried to sit up, but her head screamed in protest, and she had to lie down again. Peridot lay awake in the bed next to Chrysalis's. Her expression was questioning as she looked at the younger sister, who shrugged in reply.

Loud, stompy hoofsteps sounded in the hallway outside the all-white infirmary, getting closer and closer. The door banged open, and a very furious-looking alicorn of the night stormed inside. Her normally gentle blue eyes were filled with fire, and her magical mane and tail billowed in an angry cloud of blue night sky and stars.

"WHERE IS HE?!" she raged, slamming a silver-clad hoof down on the white marble floor. The polished stone cracked under the force of her blow. "OH, I'LL GIVE HIM A PIECE OF MY MIND! I'LL –"

"Luna, please!" Princess Celestia hurried into the room. "Calm down, sister. Our guests are resting." She gestured at Chrysalis and Peridot, which was enough to quiet the Night Princess.

"I'm sorry," Luna said apologetically, though she still looked flaming mad. "But he poisoned them! The legal ambassadors and Changeling princesses! HOW DARE HE –"

"That is enough, Luna," Celestia said sharply, the closest she ever came to snapping at her sister. Her voice softened. "I know you're angry. But we will have to deal with that later. How are you feeling, Chrysalis and Peridot?" She approached the beds, standing between them.

"We're fine, Celestia," Peridot assured the Day Princess. "Who are you talking about? Who poisoned us?"

"Duke Blueblood," Luna spat, which earned her a warning look from Celestia. "He did it."

"I should have guessed," Chrysalis said, with a roll of her eyes. "How, though?"

"He put Verderia poison in the pastries you had with your morning tea," Celestia explained. "Or so he thought. He put something else in the poison instead of the Verderia plant – the most important part of the potion!" She rolled her eyes and snorted. "At least that caused you to sleep for only a day. He will be punished, Luna and I will see to that personally, I assure you. The servant mare who brought the tea to you, Fern Drop, had nothing to do with it, fortunately. Duke Blueblood slipped the poison into the pastries before Fern Drop could notice. Luckily, Lavender didn't eat them." Celestia glanced at "Cloverluck", who was now standing next to her. The servant gave a small nod.

"So now it's tomorrow," Lavender said. "Just before sunset, actually."

"You'll be all right," Luna said reassuringly. "The palace doctors here are the finest medics bits can buy. They'll fix you up."

Celestia grinned teasingly at her sister. "And maybe we should bring in a stoneworker pony to fix that crack you made in the floor . . ."

Author's Note

Duke Blueblood's title is not a mistake; he is our Prince Blueblood's great-grandfather or something like that. I'm still trying to figure that out. I just modeled the duke's personality after the prince's. Hope you liked it!