Author's Note

Chapter Seven Recap:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r9VEdWgVFG0uJtDyTxcF6s6aA5Q-a3QOdneD_4UKzQg

Away From Home

The crowd of ponies out in the fields, modest in size as it may be, stomp their hooves gleefully as a final flurry of fireworks and magic spectacle erupts before them. There are a myriad of neon colors in the night sky, flashing and crackling against the distant galaxies like tiny stars themselves, even if for a brief moment. And under this brilliant display stands a blue unicorn—horn alight with magic, and muzzle stretched wide with a smile.

The boom of pyrotechnics and magic energies are muffled inside, where Starlight Glimmer lies alone in her hammock. There’s a letter in her outstretched hooves before her, beside an open envelope once sealed with Twilight’s insignia, and the hanging lantern that reveals the contents of both objects with its warm glow.

The noise outside grows quieter, and soon Starlight can hear the unicorn responsible for the theatrics retreat backstage, before approaching the wagon door. Starlight Glimmer is quick to return the letter to its envelope, leaning over her shoulder to welcome the other unicorn. “Hey!” She says. Trixie smirks proudly back at her.

“You heard them, right?” She asks, pointing a hoof to the wall.

Starlight snickers. “Yes. I heard them.”

Trixie begins to strut further into the wagon, moving a box aside to make room for the door to close, and keeping an eye on her reflection as she removes a cloth draped over her mirror. “The show’s really been on the upswing these past few months—I’ve no doubt we could be filling stadiums next year! And oh,” Trixie pauses her self admiration in the mirror, glancing over to the mare with her hind legs hanging down from the hammock, and the envelope in her lap. “...I couldn’t have done it without my Great and Powerful Assistant, of course. Thanks for putting out my fires.”

Starlight Glimmer swings her legs idly in the air, smiling down at her friend. “Of course! You know, everypony needs a shoulder to lean on every now and again.”

“I meant the fireworks,” Trixie clears up. “I was thanking you for putting out the grass fires.”

“Oh.” Starlight responds with a smirk, as Trixie’s eyes drift downward. They settle on a stuffed suitcase, resting on the floor at Starlight Glimmer’s hooves.

“What is that?” Trixie inquires with her brow arched almost comically. “You’re leaving?”

“Trixie, I—” Starlight places the envelope face down on top of the suitcase, and then hops down to the floor. “—yes, I’m going… away, for a while.” The blue showpony scowls, prompting Starlight to rush her explanation along. “It has nothing to do with you! I promise. It’s just something I have to do myself…”

“You’re abandoning me.” Trixie accuses, reflection pouting alongside her.

“Come on, it’s not like that! I’ll still find time to visit—”

“‘Visit’?” Trixie snarls. “How long are you going to be gone?”

Starlight hangs her head, and scrapes lightly at the wooden floor. “...I don’t really know… a year, maybe—”

“A YEAR?” She cries out, taken even more aback than before. “When were you planning on telling me this?”

“I’d just recently decided it myself! I wasn’t going to drop it on you in the middle of a show!”

“Why are you doing this?”

There’s a moment of newfound silence after Trixie’s question. Starlight exhales softly, and dips her head once more before staring straight into her friend’s eyes. “I just—I’ve found myself not too sure of things lately. I’ve been tired… hurt, perhaps. But I have faith now that this is something I must do. It’s time for a new chapter.”

Trixie doesn’t immediately respond. Instead, her muzzle twists in disgust, and she finds it impossible to look at Starlight as she mutters her reply under her breath. “...You sound more like Twilight Sparkle everyday…” The pink unicorn across from her simply sighs. “Go then!” Trixie says, keeping her nose held high and walking past Starlight. “I don’t care where it is, just go!”

Starlight allows herself to be pushed aside as Trixie crosses the small space, and sinks into her hammock. She pulls the brim of her large, blue stage hat down, a further display of her not-so-subtle indifference.

With a frown over her muzzle, Starlight Glimmer sheepishly looks down at the suitcase, playing with one of the zippers. “...I’m sure you won’t want to be hearing much more from me, but—” She looks up at the pony lying in front of her. “—I like what we have. I’ve really come to appreciate being your friend.” She quits her antics with the zipper, and places a hoof firmly atop the luggage. “So… ‘thank you’, I guess is what I’m trying to say.”

Trixie remains silent. Starlight smiles earnestly, though it’s quick to fade as she rubs behind one ear, and turns to take her leave. But not before one last thought comes to her mind. “Oh and I left that jacket you liked so much in your closet… think you were right about it looking better on you than it ever did on me.”

Just as the door swings open, the mare in the hammock rouses. “Starlight…” She calls out. The pony in question turns back, eager to listen. “...I appreciate… your appreciation.” She grumbles, the words sounding like they’re somewhat of a struggle to get out.

Starlight titters softly. “You got it, Trix’.”

* * *

The crystal halls and vaulted ceilings of Twilight’s castle loom large over its occupants. Incidental as it may be, with Twilight herself gone the halls actually find themselves with much more company than they’re used to, packs of guards and police strolling about.

Moon Dust walks alongside a tall bookshelf in the library, narrowed eyes scanning a scene not unlike the rest they’d just gone over. She pauses at the end of the shelf, and looks back over her shoulder at the door she came in. A police officer stands beyond it on one side, speaking with a pegasus guard on the other. Moon returns her gaze to the interior of the room, up to a small window where a patch of sunlight filters in. The pegasus sighs, her rubber-wrapped forehooves edging just past the square of light.

As she returns out into the main hall, she’s approached by a dark gray colt with his mane and tail similarly bound in a net. “So, what’re we thinking?” He asks casually.

Moon Dust walks slowly with the colt, replying as she watches the ponies around them. “No broken windows, no broken locks, no blood, no missing possessions—you think Celestia’s gonna be happy to see me come up there with a big hooful of fuck all?”

The gray colt following Moon arches his brow, hesitating to comment. “Not especially so, I’d reckon.”

Moon Dust pauses her walk, head revolving for inspection. “Could be magic, I suppose. That leaves a lot of options, but the lab’s already swept for arcane residue and I’ve got this funny little feeling that they’ll come up with shit.”

“What about the princess herself?” The scowling pegasus suddenly turns back to listen. “I mean she’s run off before, right? Overburdened by the duties of ruling ‘n all that?”

“Not like this, she hasn’t”. The dull violet pegasus turns to face forward again. “We’ve got word back from the Crystal Empire that she’s not up there, her closest friends don’t have a clue—we even checked with that stripe out in the woods… We have nothing.”

“We got a dirt sample on the carpet over there…” The second pony is quick to point out. Moon Dust’s gaze follows his outstretched hoof to where a small group of ponies are setting up a camera.

“Dirt?” She asks. “So we have a hoofprint?”

The colt shakes his head. “Not entirely, no. There’s no way in saying that it was the perp’s, either. Could’ve been tracked in from a guest, or a guard… Could’ve been tracked in by Princess Twilight, I s'pose.”

The comment elicits little reaction from Moon Dust, who turns her head back slowly to watch the crew set up. “...Celestia’s going to eat me alive…” She mutters under her breath.

* * *

The refrigerator door creaks as Applejack swings it open, and leans against it to look inside. There are a number of jars and bottles, milk, butter, a half-eaten pie. A.J. begins to rifle through the contents as the front door to the house comes open, and a male voice calls out. “Hello?” It asks.

“I’m in here!” The orange mare at the fridge replies. Shortly after, hoofsteps creak across the floorboards of the hall, until their owner stands in the archway into the kitchen. Mint Julep, with his undone tie resting around his neck, stares in confusion at his wife. “You’re just in time.” She says, grabbing something glass with her mouth.

“...Time for what?” Mint Julep inquires.

With little notice, a bottle suddenly comes flying in Mint’s direction. The stallion grimaces and outstretches a hoof, fumbling the object long enough for his magic to kick in and save it. He rotates the cold bottle to inspect the label as Applejack retrieves another. “...Oh no, hun, I can’t. Not tonight.”

A.J. turns around with her own bottle held against her chest, and her brow raised in suspicion. “Ya work in the liquor business. Whaddya mean ‘you can’t’?”

Mint Julep snickers through his teeth and puts the bottle down on the counter. “I do work in the liquor business. Meaning I’ve already endured my fair share of celebratory shots and cocktail parties.”

“So one more cider in the evenin' shouldn’t be a problem, then.” Applejack quickly responds, shutting the refrigerator with her hind leg. “Come on.”

Mint Julep scoffs. He picks the bottle back up off of the counter with his magic, and removes the tie completely with a forehoof. It’s tossed casually out onto a wooden bench in the hall, where it falls right next to an old and battered cowmare hat; one that, once upon a time, would’ve never been found anywhere but atop a familiar blonde mane.

The low hanging sun pours its light over the apple orchard, as the two ponies walk out the back. Applejack walks along the patio with her husband following shortly behind, and approaches a pair of cloth reclining chairs next to a small table. She climbs into the chair nearest the table, leaving Mint to lazily claim the remaining seat. As the stallion gets settled in, Applejack reaches out to the table with her muzzle and clenches a bottle opener that had been left there in her teeth, lifting the cider up with a forehoof. “So…” She manages to say, air wisping through her teeth. “...how was your day?”

Mint Julep smiles. “It was fine. You know, business as usual.” A.J.’s cold bottle of cider makes a small fsh noise as the cap comes loose, allowing the mare to toss the bottle opener in Mint’s direction. He’s more prepared this time, and catches it in his levitation with ease. “What about yours? What’s the word on the princess?”

“Ah,” Applejack begins, a bit of a scowl formed. “Celestia’s little bloodhound was creeping ‘round the farm earlier, shaking me down for any whereabouts on Twilight. Like if I had any idea, I wouldn’t be out there finding her myself…”

Mint Julep nods quietly in agreement, opening his bottle, and then levitating the cap back to the table. “...You think this could be a kidnapping?”

A.J. takes a swig of her drink, and then locks her gaze on the rolling horizon. “My thinking is this: anypony who’s gonna go through the trouble of kidnapping a princess can only want one thing… a helluva lot o’ bits.”

“So you’re confident that she’s safe, then?” Mint replies, quickly making an amendment. “—er, relatively, that is…”

The orange earth pony on his left turns to look his way. Her eyes soften as she allows them to drift downward. “...It might not be a pleasant thought, but if somepony was interested in hurtin’ Twilight… I imagine they’d want ponies to know about it…” Another swig, and a quiet moment of introspection. “...No, this is just a rotten mare with more than a few screws loose, and massive delusions of grandeur… And she will be caught.”

Mint Julep leans a little further back in his chair, turning his head and smiling at the freckled mare. “You’re right.” He takes an oddly refrained sip of his drink. “No, of course you’re right. Princess Twilight will be safely returned—eventually.”

Applejack turns her head to the side as well, warmly returning Mint’s optimism with an earnest smile of her own. The moment is interrupted with the sound of a distant screen door slamming, both ponies turning to observe the commotion. A.J.’s younger sister Apple Bloom can soon be seen cantering away from the house with her coltfriend in toe, the two engaged in a loud and expletive-riddled conversation that carries out across the farmlands.

With a heavy sigh and a long drink of her cider, Applejack watches as the young pair head out together. “...As if we didn’t have enough on our plates…” She laments quietly.

* * *

A breeze runs through Celestia’s private chambers, and through the coats of the three ponies within it. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Moon Dust all stand nearly equidistant from one another, forming a close triangle on Celestia’s rug.

“Perhaps I don’t understand, Moon Dust,” Celestia says with royal authority. “Princess Twilight has been missing for almost twenty-four hours now, and you’ve found nothing to indicate where she might’ve gone?”

“I’m doing what I can, Princess Celestia.” Moon Dust is quick to reply. “I’ve already spoken with her closest friends—”

“That’s not good en—” Celestia freezes her response and closes her eyes, as if to physically prevent herself from going further. She straightens her posture and takes a deep breath. “...Alright... It’s alright. Which of her friends did you speak with, then?”

“Rainbow Dash; Applejack. I figured they’d be the most likely to know anything, but they’re just as in the dark as we are. Rarity hasn’t been around Ponyville in months, Fluttershy’s probably been seen last in public even further back than that. And I figured Pinkie Pie… well, you know how she is…”

Celestia begins to confidently nod her head. “You raise fair points. But I’d like you to eventually get to all of them anyway, understood? We must be vigilant.” Moon Dust starts to nod silently in agreeance as Princess Luna finally steps into the conversation.

“What about Dr. Heartstrings? Have you spoken with her?”

The other two ponies share a confused glance. “The anthropologist?” Celestia inquires.

“Yes… the one working on the DNA data project with Twilight.” The room remains quiet as Luna’s eyes dart back and forth between her cohorts. “Surely I’m not the only one who’s taken notice of how the two look at one another...”

Princess Celestia’s brow tightens with steely determination, before she turns back to Moon Dust. “Go see what you can find. Dr. Heartstrings’ apartment and restaurant are both in town anyway… We need to use anything that we have.”

Moon Dust nods in affirmation. “Understood.”

Princess Celestia stands tall in front of her doorway as Moon Dust takes her leave and heads down the hall in a canter. Princess Luna slowly approaches from behind, standing nearly wing-to-wing with her sister as Moon Dust’s hoofsteps fade into an echo. “...You’re welcome.” She says almost playfully.

Celestia tilts her head, looking down at the other alicorn. “I hope you’re right about this. Princess Twilight could be in very grave danger.”

As the elder sister finishes, she turns and walks slowly back into her room, leaving her flowing and ethereal mane to pass over Luna. “I know that.” She replies back. “She’s my friend too, you know.”

Celestia snaps her head back around almost instantly. “Your ‘friend’?” She lambasts. “I’ve known that mare since she was a filly, and she’s looked up to me for just as long. If anything were to happen to her, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself! ...And so she’s your ‘friend’...”

The cold attitude of her sister brews a sinister venom in Luna. “I think you could.” She says with a furrowed brow. Celestia turns back again, quickly noticing the daggers that look back at her.

“What?” She asks.

“Forgive yourself, I mean.” Luna’s hooves twist ever so slightly in the carpet. “I don’t think that there’s a single thing the mare who would exile her own sister couldn’t forgive herself for.”

The two ponies hold their unyielding gazes at one another, Celestia’s face growing unusually cross. “Luna.” She growls. “I think I’ve heard enough of your council tonight… You had best leave.”

There’s a small twitch in Princess Luna’s eye. She scoffs while looking down, and then back up over Celestia, maintaining a sharp, rigid posture. Even so, the younger alicorn resists saying another word, and turns to follow orders.

Princess Celestia follows shortly behind as she watches Luna march through the door and past the guards on either side. Her narrowed eyes track Luna down the hall, a direction opposite that Moon Dust had taken.

The princess in the doorway takes a deep breath. She doesn’t bother watching to see where exactly her sister goes, instead turning back inside, and using her magic to slam the door behind her.

* * *

The cloudless night sky looms over Canterlot, pale violets and deep blues painted over the expanse. The stars shimmer over the castle, and the courtyard gardens where a small group of unicorns engage in a casual game of Croquet. They chatter and chuckle over drinks and small delicacies, blissfully unaware—or perhaps, willfully dispassionate of—the civil unrest that now brews throughout the country.

A wall of vines grows up along the white stone, behind the formally dressed party, and the stoic guards that stand behind them. Up and up this foliage spreads, clinging to the ceiling of an overhang, and wrapping around the front of the balcony it supports. Princess Luna sits atop this balcony; alone, and with a quiet watch over the festivities happening below. She watches with despondent eyes as a stallion hits his ball through one of the hoops set along the grass, and the group around him stomps the ground in polite celebration.

“Quite a pleasant night, isn’t it?” The male voice draws Luna’s gaze over her shoulder, and at the amber dragon lingering in the archway.

“...Yes.” Luna responds plainly. Dominus allows his familiar smirk to fade a little, and watches the princess turn forward again.

“May I join you?” He asks. Luna doesn’t turn around again, but does gesture to a chair next to her with a partially unfurled wing. Dominus Temporis accepts his invitation silently, pushing off of the arch and finding his seat next to the Princess of the Night.

Neither of them immediately talk. Luna remains occupied with the game below, which Dominus briefly joins the spectating of, only to ultimately turn and instead study the somber look of the princess. “...You must have quite a lot on your mind.” He says with a soft tone.

Luna tilts her head in the dragon’s direction. “That another one of your abilities?” She asks. “Reading ponies’ sad faces?”

Dominus chuckles in earnest; even if Luna bows her head to sigh. “I’m sorry.” She amends.

“You’re forgiven.” Dominus is quick to respond. “And we don’t have to talk about it.” He continues with a grin. A small lapse in their conversation allows him to look back out over the ledge, the commotion below bringing another thought to mind. “...Though if I’m to be quite honest, I don’t know a thing about how this game works,” He says while a claw points toward the courtyard. “so we won’t be talking about that, either.”

This brings out the first smile of the night for Luna. “I wouldn’t dare bore you with the details.” The two share another smile and glance, before returning to watch the gardens. As Princess Luna’s joyful expression slowly falls, a passing thought takes hold.

“...Do you ever wonder… what things would’ve been like for us… if we were born normal?” She asks quietly.

Dominus rests an arm up on the end table next to him, mindful of the vase on top as he considers his response. “...Well, sure.” He tilts his head ever so slightly. “Something that you’ve been thinking about a lot, recently?”

Princess Luna stares down to the stone beneath her hooves. “...More and more.” She casts her glance back up at the dragon across from her. “Where would you go, if that were the case for us?”

Dominus smiles warmly. “Up North, I suppose. Somewhere near the mountains—somewhere quiet. The kind of place where everypony knows everypony else, you know?” Princess Luna nods kindly in agreement. “What about you? Have a place in mind?”

The dark blue alicorn inhales sharply. “I think so, yeah. There’s this island I sometimes fantasize about… warm, and with sun-kissed beaches.” She snickers for a second before continuing. “Which yes, I get may seem odd coming from the Princess of the Night. But… somewhere like that.” Luna’s voice grows softer as she stares off into the sky, no doubt envisioning this place in great detail. “...Where the white sand stretches for miles, and the sea laps gently around your hooves. With no other landmass visible on the unending horizon, and the only sounds are that of the rustling forest behind you, and the enchanting azure waves stretching out before you. Where the shallows are lit at night with beached bioluminescence… and the cosmos loom above, visible in all of its splendor with unmatched clarity… I imagine what it would be like to spend a summer in a place like that, I suppose...” The princess trails off quietly, like she is pained to return back to the balcony. A pain not unnoticed by Dominus.

“Well fuck it.” He says plainly. Luna’s face twists with great confusion.

“I beg your pardon?” She asks.

“You want to find a place like that? I say go for it. The Southern Luna Ocean has—who knows how many uncharted islands...” Luna begins to laugh cheerfully before Dominus can even finish. “...And I don’t know about an entire season, but I suppose I could find an ‘important diplomatic operation’ to have you sent on for two, maybe three weeks. Might knock me down a couple rungs in the faith that Celestia has in me, but I’m pretty sure I could sell it.”

Wide grin still on her muzzle, Luna settles back in her chair, and locks eyes with her friend as her enchanted mane flows gently around her visage. “You’d really do that for me, wouldn’t you?”

Dominus simply smiles back. “Of course I would.”

* * *

Just outside of Canterlot Castle, the streets lie eerily empty. A sole, gray-violet pegasus walks under the ample light of the street lamps, narrowed eyes inspecting the windows and alleys as she passes them. She finds her destination at an upcoming street corner, a brilliant neon sign reading ‘Canterlot, USA’ above its entrance. As she approaches the front door to let herself in, two motionless and armor-clad ponies go unnoticed, their bodies piled on top of one another behind a large dumpster.

The restaurant is almost entirely empty. The sole occupant behind the bar, a well-built stallion with a golden coat, turns and faces the entrance as soon as Moon Dust walks through it. The two stare at one another with sharp eyes, as an unrecognizable rock opera plays softly from overhead.

“You work for Heartstrings?” Moon Dust inquires. The pony in the kitchen responds with a methodical approach, walking silently toward the counter between the two of them. The inspecting pegasus takes a moment to look around as he does, noticing the overturned chairs and mess of pots and pans on the floor behind the bar. “What the fuck is going on here?” She bites.

The silent stallion passes through the partition in the counter, dragging a large bread knife off of a dirty plate with his magic as he does so. Moon Dust flinches at the flash of metal, instinctively lifting a foreleg up to block an incoming attack. The stallion’s magic wastes no time flailing the knife through the air, and then thrusting it down at the mare.

There’s a wet stabbing noise, followed quickly by a metal thud. Saliva flies out from Moon Dust’s mouth as she cries through teeth gritted hard enough to crack glass. The serrated blade had gone straight down through her right foreleg, and pierced into the table beneath her, pinning her there.

The mare looks up with the eyes of a bloodthirsty predator, and swings her remaining free hoof as hard as she can at the attacker. He absorbs the blow straight into the jaw, recoiling back and falling to the ground at the foot of the bar, a few loose teeth clattering on the linoleum around him.

With the stallion no longer a threat, Moon Dust takes another look at her wound and winces at the damage. She lifts her spare, shaking foreleg up to the blade handle, and presses it gently to the wood. This simple gesture is enough to send a renewed wave of pain throughout her body, the blade’s metal teeth likely lodged between nerves.

The mare bows her head and suppresses another cry of pain, muzzle grimaced. Suddenly, the sounds of muffled voices can be heard coming from the floor above, and the shuffling of hooves is just audible over the smooth rock harmonies.

A puff of air is blown out of Moon’s nostrils, the mare now painfully aware that she was away from a weapon as at least two more were headed for the stairs. She takes a firm grip of the blade handle, and tugs to see if she can rip it from the table, bringing a fresh sense of unbearable pain, and a gushing stream of blood underhoof.

She looks at the stairs, just at the end of the kitchen, and with shadows moving along the walls.

Moon Dust slams her left hoof down on the table to brace, then bites the blade handle with unyielding force. Sweat perspires from her forehead as she clenches her jaw, and lifts. An outpouring of fresh blood drains beneath her leg, covering the table and dripping down onto the floor in a crimson sheet. Flesh can be heard tearing as Moon Dust persists, her pinned leg lifting slowly with the blade.

Finally, she’s freed. The tip of the blade comes out of the tabletop, and Moon Dust falls backward as her tear stricken eyes remain shut, and her howling mouth still locked on the handle. The ‘employees only’ door is snapped open just as soon as she slides behind the bar, next to the unconscious stallion slumped down there.

“What the hell happened…” One of the new voices calls out in annoyance. “...where’s Stint?”

Even with it pulled out of the table, the long blade remains lodged in Moon’s foreleg, a thin ribbon of blood dripping to the floor as she stares at it. She shakes her head and her messy silver mane, focusing instead on the bright fluorescent lights above… and the hoofsteps slowly approaching.

Of the two new unicorns in the room, a mare leads with a flintlock rifle in her magic’s grasp. The stallion traipsing behind her is similarly armed, but keeps the barrel of his gun aimed lower, allowing his cohort to take point. They approach the edge of the kitchen, where the room gives way to the side the customers visit, just on the other side of the bar. Having checked the rest of the room, the scowling mare slides two hooves up onto the countertop, and peers further and further over the edge.

Moon Dust leaps up her metal hair stick held tightly in a hoof, impaling the mare through her eye socket. She cries out and drops her rifle, the stallion behind raising his and pushing to see where his target was. Not wasting a beat, Moon Dust lifts herself over the bar, fighting to grab a hold of the screaming mare’s neck. The dying unicorn begins to flail her legs wildly, hitting the stallion behind her and forcing him to back up. This gives Moon Dust just enough time to maneuver over the bar completely, holding the gravely wounded mare like a hostage.

“DROP THE FUCKING GUN!” She barks, just over the wailing sounds before her. The stallion, panicking, raises the rifle up and aims for a quick shot.

It comes just as Moon Dust twists her hostage to the side, forcing their neck to absorb the shot. It cuts straight through in a flash, the lead ball opening a gory exit wound right in front of Moon Dust, and cutting off the mare’s ear-splitting cry. It’s replaced by an unmistakable death rattle, choking and gurgling as blood spurts from the wound and out of her mouth.

As the smoke in the room clears, Moon Dust locks eyes with the stallion standing with his face twisted in shock, the now empty rifle falling slowly from his grasp. “Shit…” He mumbles.

Moon Dust grunts as she pushes the corpse forward, knocking the remaining attacker to the floor with a clang, rifle and pans spilling out in a mess. He attempts to push the writhing body of his comrade off, getting back up to his hind legs before Moon Dust pushes him back down, this time his outstretched hoof knocking down a collection of plates off of the counter next to him. She climbs on top as he’s pressed against his back, a swift punch from Moon’s good leg bruising his cheek. Energy draining, Moon Dust next resorts to pressing hard down on the unicorn’s throat with her leg, pushing her body’s weight down, and choking him out.

Little to either of the ponies notice, Moon Dust had painted a trail of blood into the kitchen with her, as the serrated knife still protrudes out of her leg during the scuffle. The sputtering unicorn catches the first glimpse, bulging eyes drifting to the shimmering metal on his left. With a wild grasp of levitation, he catches the blade handle with his magic, and begins ripping through tendons to retrieve it.

Moon Dust howls, distracted by the pain long enough to allow the stallion to break free. He lunges for the pegasus, and the two become entangled as his magic pries the weapon out of her flesh, and Moon Dust bites down on his exposed neck with frightening force. The two shriek from the adrenaline and suffering, Moon’s animalistic cry muted in the flesh and blood she tears out with her maw. She barely even notices as the blade once lodged in her leg clatters against the floor, the unicorn no longer cogent enough to coordinate an attack with it.

The pegasus spits out most of the meat pulled off with her teeth, thrusting the mortally wounded pony back against the counter as she leans down to pick up the knife. A weak swing from the unicorn is easy enough to block before she clamors over him, and drives the blade right into his temple. His forehooves grapple hopelessly at the weapon as Moon Dust slams her hoof down into the butt of the handle, three times in succession, and with growing ferociousness.

The stallion dies with his back bent over the counter, and the knife lodged deep within his skull. Moon Dust slides down off of him, falling backward into the opposite counter as she does so. Her crazed eyes flicker over to the entrance, and she begins to limp toward it with the fire still burning. She picks up a dinner plate without a second thought, smashing it down on the bar as she reaches it so that it leaves a collection of jagged pieces. She takes the largest, and falls down on top of the still unconscious unicorn with it held in her curled hoof. The final blow is delivered without resistance, the stallion’s throat cut slowly from side to side. He is the last to die—and he does so slowly.

The pegasus’s shaking body rises up over the dead, her coat stained all over with a deep crimson pattern. Her eyes flutter as they lead over to the door at the end of the room, the one the other ponies had exited from. She steels herself and pushes off toward it, limbs quivering during their journey.

Bodies lay strewn about the restaurant, white tiles stained with a river of fresh blood. Moon Dust doesn’t even bother retrieving the knife or hair stick still lodged in a corpse’s skull, as she shambles toward the ‘employees only’ door. Her wicked eyes stay trained on her goal, and her bruised and bloodied limbs don’t dare dissuade her from this path, even as she leaves the crimson tracks of a wounded animal.

A new pair of ponies open the door before she can reach it, once again from the opposite side. A large, stocky earth pony stallion in front, and a smaller unicorn mare with a mint-colored coat behind. Similarly to Moon Dust, both are covered in bruises and lacerations.

Celestia’s bloodhound stops, and leans against a nearby wall so that she can inspect the two. She tightens her gaze as her fog-riddled mind turns the situation over, figuring the distance between them, and looking for improvisational weapons along the way. A bloody smear is left along the wall as she pushes off of it, shaking her dazed head, and revealing a desperate snarl.

The stallion at the bottom of the stairs doesn’t delay. He lowers his stance, and charges headlong into a confrontation with the ragged pegasus challenging him. The two cry out in rage and pain, adrenaline sending them into what could very well be the last fight their broken bodies will allow.

The two never make contact. “ENOUGH!” Shouts the unicorn, enveloping both in a field of her levitation. Both attackers stumble to the floor after the magic dissolves, leaving them to be confused and disoriented as they eye one another. The greenish mare nods in Moon Dust’s direction. “You’re not with The Equestrians, are you?”

Moon Dust spits out a ribbon of blood. “...I’d hardly have a reason to kill three of them, if I was.” She grunts as she lifts herself slowly to her hooves again, stumbling against the wall for support. She looks up at the unicorn from behind the messy and wet pieces of hair that dangle down from her mane. “You Lyra Heartstrings?”

Lyra pauses her inspection of the wounds on her ally, staring instead at Moon Dust with intense, inspecting eyes. “...Yes.” She replies simply.

Moon Dust drops her head again, sniffing loudly as her nose begins to leak. “You got bandaging in here, Lyra?” She asks upon lifting her head back up.

Lyra Heartstrings again motions with her head, this time toward the bathroom in the back of the kitchen. “There’s a first aid kit in there, right on the wall when you come in.”

Moon Dust nods slowly. She breathes in and forces herself away from the support of the wall, shuffling toward the back with the energy of a creeping glacier.

Lyra turns back to her friend, removing the last of torn binds on his hind leg, and observing the battered skin beneath. She pulls in for a closer look, only to recoil back a moment later at the sounds of a large crash behind them. The pair look over at Moon Dust, who had fallen halfway to her destination, and now lay motionless on the kitchen floor.

* * *

Out in the rolling fields of Sweet Apple Acres, crickets can be heard chirping under cover of night, and moonlight provides soft tones for the tree canopies to be painted in. It provides light for one of the house’s windows, too, the closed glass glistening up on the second story.

A small pebble strikes the glass, before falling helplessly back down to the earth. A short moment passes, and after there’s no sign of life stirring in the room, a second pebble flies up and hits the pane once more. This time, there’s a response.

Apple Bloom comes to the window in her room, and lifts it up so that her groggy eyes can focus on the figure on the ground. “Blue...?” She whispers. She begins to lean out of the window to get a better look at the pegasus, before confirming her guess, and leaning down onto the windowsill with a sigh. “What the hell are you doing?”

Blue looks up with a wide grin. “Come down for a second, I got something to show you!” He says, in a similar whisper-shout tone.

“Really? At one o’ clock in the fuckin’ morning?” Apple Bloom retorts. Blue’s smile only grows wider.

“Come on, it’ll be worth it! I promise!”

Apple Bloom sighs once again, looking outward at the midnight blue sky, before rubbing her eyes with a forehoof. “...Fine.” She concedes. “Hang on a second.”

The young filly closes her window and disappears out of view, no doubt finishing waking herself up, and heading down the stairs. When she finally does emerge out of the door Blue stands in front of, she does so with a furrowed brow, and a suspicious gaze. “This better be worth it.” She mutters under her breath.

“It will be.” Blue responds, dropping the whispery voice. “Now it’s just over here, come on!” He waves a hoof out toward the old barn on the property, coaxing the two of them to head off in that direction.

“Why didn’t you just fly up to my window? Why’d you have to throw shit at it?” Apple Bloom asks, genuinely confused.

Blue looks back over his shoulder with a goofy smile. “Because it was more romantic that way, I mean come on!”

Apple Bloom shakes her head and scoffs. “Yeah, you’re a real charmer...”

The pair eventually reach the destination Blue had them headed toward: the old, faded red barn in the middle of Applejack’s property. Blue happily scampers up to the main door, pushing it open slowly so that moonlight cascades over the interior.

Apple Bloom cocks a brow at the vacant room, draped in shadow and dust. “Wow, is murdering me the surprise?”

Blue scoffs at the comment, before heading straight in. “Just, come here…”

Tired, confused, and admittingly a little curious, Apple Bloom walks in after the stallion, and immediately looks around. While it’s true that most of the interior is covered in darkness, a strange source of warm light beams through the old floorboards above, illuminating the barn’s contents in flickering rectangles. There are empty stalls lining either side, hay tossed haphazardly about the areas where animals once resided. There are dangling ropes and all manner of rusted tools hanging from the walls, and the air is as cool as it is outside. Apparently the aging wood and broken windows did little to help that.

Blue stops just before a ladder on the left, leaning against it while motioning upward with his forehoof. “...Go on.” He says through a grin.

Curious and well enough awake now, Apple Bloom simply chuckles at the odd circumstances, and happily takes the lead. The wood rungs of the ladder creak a little as she steps through them, though not enough to deter the young mare. She reaches the small wooden platform and pauses, forehooves planted on the boards, and a growing smile on her muzzle.

Somepony had made quite a little nook, up there in the rafters. The source of light could now be identified as a hooful of candles laid out around the space, as they flicker silently around a patch of blankets and pillows. And in the center of the rustic little platform is a single cupcake—resting enticingly in a patch of moonlight, and adorned with a striped burning candle.

Apple Bloom is left standing frozen at the sight, as the soft beating of wings sounds behind her. Blue lands tepidly beside her, kissing the side of her neck, and extending a hoof over the back of it. “Happy Birthday, A.B..” He says softly.

Words failing her, Apple Bloom exhales a stifled breath in a mix of shock and joy. “...You did all this?” She eventually manages.

Blue smirks as he walks around the mare’s side. “Of course I did. You think I’d do any less for my girl?”

Apple Bloom’s genuine smile cracks with a small scoff. “Well, you did just up and forget ‘your girl’s’ birthday last year...”

“Oh, come on.” The stallion replies, swinging his head with exaggerated strife. “I told you I was sorry about that. We were barely seeing each—” He pauses, staring at Apple Bloom who looks back at him with half-lidded eyes, and a casual, wry smirk. Blue discards the rest of his apology, and snickers with a small nod. “Blow the candle out on that thing already, will ya?”

Happy to oblige, Appbloom trots to the center of the platform, and sits in front of the pastry with her forelegs straight, and her hind legs spread on the wood. The flickering light reflects in her eyes briefly, before a strong huff of her breath extinguishes it. The end of the wick draws a swirling ribbon of smoke into the air, while Blue cautiously stomps his hooves along the floorboards in celebration.

Before too long, the two ponies find themselves laid out on their backs, huddled together under a mess of blankets, and eyes cast skyward. The state of disrepair the barn is in left a large hole in the roof looming above them, allowing soft moonlight to pour inside, and the cosmos to drift slowly in view.

“So I was totally the first to wish you a happy birthday this year, huh?” Blue asks, keeping his gaze to the night sky.

Apple Bloom chuckles in their makeshift bed beside him, shaking her head at the question. “Yes, Blue. You were the only one sweet enough to wake me up in the middle of the night so you could wish me a happy birthday.”

The pegasus next to her nods with a casual smirk on his muzzle. “Awesome.” He says.

As if she’d suddenly just reminded herself of the scenario, Apple Bloom leans her head back into the pillows, yawning while her eyes stay trained on the stars above. “...That is a hellava view, though.”

“Right?” Blue needlessly adds.

“...You know, we’ve got it pretty good. Twilight told me that a lot of the places humans lived back then, couldn’t see the night sky like this. She said their cities produced too much ‘light pollution’.”

Blue suddenly shifts his position, leaning onto his side so that he can reach out with a hoof and grab something from his nearby saddlebags. “Hey…” He begins to say, leaning back once he retrieved the item. It’s a plain cigarette, passed to Apple Bloom’s muzzle by the tip of his wing. “...Be honest with me. Do you think Princess Twilight… really just had that dream? Like with the humans in it?”

Apple Bloom’s gaze tightens as she watches Blue light a match, and as he brings it to the smoke dangling from her lips. “What’s the alternative, that she just made it up?” She says with her teeth clenched.

“No,” Blue is quick to reply. “I believe she saw them. Just how can anypony be sure… that it was real?”

Apple Bloom takes a drag of the cigarette, before shaking her head. “Of course it wasn’t real, it was a dream—”

“—but what if the dream was planted?” The pegasus responds, faster now, and with growing excitement in his voice. “Think about it! Luna is the master of dreams, right? And if her and her sister wanted to do it, Twilight would make the perfect subject to plant the vision into!”

Apple Bloom cautiously holds the lit cigarette with a steady hoof, eyes still narrowed with suspicion. “But why, though?”

“Because Twilight would make the perfect scapegoat for them!”

“No, why would Celestia and Luna unleash all of this on Equestria? It’s been nothing but chaos since The Vault opened!”

The crazy look in Blue’s eye suddenly falters, and a knowing smile takes its place. “Exactly.” He says, grasping the cigarette with a wingtip and pulling it up to his own lips. Apple Bloom stares at him, annoyed. She shakes her head once more, and turns onto her side so that she can speak directly with the colt.

“‘Exactly’ what? How is that good for them?”

Blue shifts his posture, moving a little further up as if preparing to give a speech, and passing the cigarette back to Apple Bloom. “Stone Skipper’s friend Raven, you know the one from the party last month? She knows all about this shit—”

“Why are you listening to any of Stone’s friends? You know he’s dumber than a literal rock, don’t you?”

“Shh,” Blue hisses. “I know, but Raven’s different. She went to college or whatever. In any case, she tells us about this ‘Wendigo Prophecy’... you know, like back in medieval times, when the Wendigos kind of scared everypony into getting along?”

“What, I suppose Celestia was responsible for that, too?” The young mare snidely remarks.

“Uh, yes, actually.” Blue replies without a hint of playfulness. “But that was then. The point is, that the Wendigo Prophecy is as old as the princesses themselves, and all of the shit with The Vault, the humans, and Twilight’s planted dream, is all just a part of their machine. It’s about making us feel small, and keeping us docile.”

“So Celestia and Luna made everything up about the humans?” Apple Bloom asks somewhat sarcastically.

“No,” Blue is quick to respond. “they were real. It’s just that they’re used by Canterlot as nothing more than a Wendigo. Celestia stands at her stupid pedestal and gives her speech about ‘reuniting with humans’, as if we’re on even terms. They were on the fucking moon!” A small cloud of smoke seeps out of Apple Bloom’s mouth as she snickers at the comment. “I mean, our cities are all just—fucking, puns of their cities. We’re just a fucking parody, mare.”

Apple Bloom holds her cigarette steady as she smiles a little wider and shakes her head. “Where are you going with this?”

“I don’t know!” Blue nearly shouts, throwing a hoof into the air. “Now I’m just fucking pissed!”

Apple Bloom laughs and rolls back under the covers, letting Blue take the cigarette for one last drag. She relaxes and sighs under the vivid night sky, eyelids sagging a little at the sight. Only a soft grinding sound draws her attention away. She rolls her head just far enough to the side so that she can see Blue as he pushes the last of the cigarette into the floorboards, making a small burn mark. “Hey, watch the hay with that thing, will ya?” Apple Bloom points out.

“Yeah, yeah; I got it.” The pegasus replies. He grinds the stub until the light is extinguished, and only a small line of smoke remains after his hoof is pulled back.

“Oh!” He suddenly exclaims. “That reminds me…” Apple Bloom watches curiously as Blue leans back to his saddlebags, digging through to find another item. It doesn’t take long for a searching hoof to find it.

“Now, you don’t have to try it if you don’t want to…” He pulls out a small glass vial, garnering confusion from the mare watching. “...but suffice it to say, in addition to knowing a shit ton of stuff about humans, Raven also has the hook ups.” More items started to follow the vial, including a common tablespoon, and a medical needle, among other things.

Apple Bloom cocks a brow. “What is that?”

“Raven called it ‘heroin’...” Blue answers, closing the flap on his bags back up. “Said it gives a rush like nothing you’ve ever seen. Like the whole could already be turned to shit—and yet, you’ll be in absolute bliss. Like none of it matters.” A bit lost in his own explanation, the pegasus reorients his head so that he can face Apple Bloom. “It’s man-made, A.B.”

This stirs a little more curiosity in the young mare; though she’s careful to not reveal too much of it. “How the hell did you even get something like that?”

“Like I said,” Blue responds. “She has the hook ups.” He unfurls his wings a bit, giving them a soft flap; perhaps out of discomfort, or perhaps nervousness. “...So, you gonna try it with me?”

Apple Bloom sighs, and the edges of her mouth widen into a flat frown.

* * *

The sun peaks over the distant hills of Ponyville, and casts its light over the golden valleys of Sweet Apple Acres. Where a breezy wind once blew through the cracks of the old barn, a layer of dust and warmth now filters through. A sleeping Apple Bloom twitches at the sound of a distant rooster, stirring under the sheets that now served only to make her sweat. Her nose sniffles, and with the covers now pushed a little further down her body, she opts to adjust her head, and try once more to fall asleep.

A soft noise prevents her from doing so. At first, she assumes it to be snoring from the colt next to her. But another moment of listening to it brings out an urge to investigate. She inhales sharply, and pushes herself up with her forehooves, looking over to the pegasus next to her.

“Blue?” She comments quietly. “Hey, Blue?” His eyes are half-lidded, but the young stallion utters no response.

A tinge of fear grows inside Apple Bloom. “Blue, hey!” She moves over to him, grabbing hold of his shoulders and trying to jostle him awake. “Hey, are you alright? Can you hear me?” Apple Bloom asks, voice shook with panic. Her eyes narrow at the nearly pinpoint pupils on the pony’s vacant expression.

“Hey! Come on, Blue! Wake up!” Apple Bloom grows more desperate in her attempts, shaking the colt harder, and shouting louder as her eyes steadily grow more red. “Blue! Please, please wake up!”

Blue remains unresponsive. His mouth hangs open, and his breathing is slow and labored. Apple Bloom nearly chokes, looking around her surroundings with tears obstructing her vision. “HELP!” She shouts, calling out to anypony that can hear her. “PLEASE, HE—HE NEEDS HELP!” She looks back over her friend as a tear starts to roll down her cheek, and the sound of cantering hoofsteps grows nearer.

“Apple Bloom?” A mare’s voice calls out from below. “Is that you? What’s gotten into you?”

Apple Bloom scrambles to the edge of the platform, leaning over to speak with the orange mare while nearing hysterics. “Sis’, please—he needs help!”

Something about seeing her sister like that sends Applejack into a machine-like response, hitting the hay-covered floor running, and scaling the wooden ladder with ease. When her head emerges over the floorboards, the shock in her eyes brings only brief pause to her reaction. She heaves herself up with her forelegs, and quickly waves a hoof at her younger sister. “Stay back!”

Apple Bloom does as she’s told. She backpedals into the cramped space behind her, bumping into the rafters while her eyes stay trained on the horrible scene. Applejack takes a passing glance at the equipment sprawled out around the colt, then hurries to push him onto his side. “Blue, listen to me! Stay on your side, okay!” Her tangled blonde mane gets brushed to the side with a hoof, as the other holds the young pegasus steady. “Don’t roll onto your back again! Stay on your side!”

A third party steps into the room. “Hun?” Mint Julep asks from below. “Everything alright?”

Applejack looks up, scanning the floor around them until she finds a small vial. She gently releases Blue, then stumbles over to grip the glass container in her teeth.

Mint Julep is curiously craning his head upward when his wife leans over the ledge. She nods toward him, saying “Take it—” through clenched teeth. Mint is quick to follow orders, grasping the vial in a field of his magic and holding it to the light for inspection. “It’s the kid,” A.J. begins. “There’s a needle up here, I think he’s overdosing. Do you know what that is?”

Mint Julep squints as he spins the vial around once, closely inspecting the light powder inside. “Looks like…” He takes a cautionary whiff near the bottle opening. “...maybe morphine?”

The earth pony mare checks over her shoulder, then peers back down at Mint Julep. “What can we do?” She asks with convicted severity.

The unicorn on the ground looks up and away from the bottle. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital—quickly.”

Applejack begins to nod her head in response. “Yeah. Okay.” She turns around briefly, watching the motionless colt on the floor. “I’m gonna pass him down to you, okay?”

“Yeah, of course.”

As A.J. slowly drags Blue over and down to the ground floor, Mint is careful to guide the young pegasus with levitation, and onto his back. The stallion grunts as he shoulders the new load, slowly orientating himself as Applejack calls for his attention. “Big Mac is in the southern field; you reach him, then the two of you dump the apple cart and use it to get him to Nurse Redheart, alright?”

“Yeah,” Mint Julep says, finally settling with the added weight on his back. The unicorn takes but a few steps toward the door before A.J. stops him again.

“Mint,” She says, waiting for him to turn around again. “take the vial.”

The pony in question cocks a brow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, I don’t know what—”

“Just take it.” Applejack says with finality. “She needs to know as much as she can about that stuff, and… Redheart knows me. She… she’ll be understanding, I promise.” Before Mint can respond, the briefly soft eyes of the earth pony narrow back to flittering points, and she waves the stallion out. “Now get going! I’ll catch up!”

Mint Julep nods in affirmation, and turns once again to head out, this time uninterrupted. Applejack watches his tail disappear beyond the barn opening, then stands up straight and takes a deep breath. Her eyes narrow in further conviction, and she turns to finally face the cowering mare behind her.

“Give me your leg.” She demands of the filly, whose head is turned in fear. “Your leg, Apple Bloom.” Applejack says once more.

Slowly, Apple Bloom does as she’s told, lifting her foreleg for her older sister to grab somewhat aggressively. The young filly’s lip begins to quiver, eyes dancing between her extended leg and the pony angrily inspecting her coat. “Applejack, I—” Her voice cracks, and it takes a moment for it to return to her. “—I promise you, I—I didn’t do anything…”

The comment goes unnoticed, A.J. only dropping the first leg, and yanking the filly closer for an inspection of the other.

Apple Bloom grunts softly in pain. “P-please, I’m not lying—”

“Do you have ANY idea what could’ve happened to you?” Applejack barks, ceasing her inspection. “Huh?” Her eyes drill into Apple Bloom’s, who can’t stare forward as tears well up. “Do you think Mom n’ Dad would be proud—look at me,” Applejack releases her sister’s foreleg, and yanks her head up by her chin. “—do ya think they’d be proud, to see you like this?”

Tears begin to flow freely from Apple Bloom. “I’m ss…” She whimpers, just loud enough to be heard. Applejack ignores her.

“Celestia’s sake, Apple Bloom, you could’ve been killed!” There’s a twitch in A.J.’s eye as she continues. “What’s wrong with you? HUH?” She gives the filly a shake on the shoulders, who further loses herself in her sobbing.

“I’m sorry… I—”

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Applejack shouts, voice only just wavering at the end. She watches the small, trembling filly before her, misted eyes wincing as she succumbs to her uncontrollable crying, breaths just long enough to mutter ‘I’m sorry’ a dozen more times. Applejack releases a shaky breath of her own, the fire in her eyes doused in a matter of seconds.

“I know…” She admits quietly, the tension in her outstretched legs flushing out. As Apple Bloom wails uncontrollably, A.J.'s grip around her brings her close to the fur of her chest, the mare’s head resting gently atop Apple Bloom’s. “Shh… I know, Sugarcube…” Applejack’s throat is dry and her voice is faltering. But her glazed eyes stay focused on the old wood behind them, and she waits for as long as she needs to to say the words with strength. “I know. It’s okay.”

The young Apple Bloom sobs into her big sister’s chest, forelegs locked around her neck in a hug that Applejack had nearly forgotten the feeling of.

“Shh… It’s okay.” Applejack says through the first tears of her own. She kisses the top of Apple Bloom’s mane, while her foreleg pets slowly down the back of her neck. “...It’s gonna be okay, ah promise.”

* * *

The ambient sounds of healthcare providers shuffling about the hospital eventually drags Moon Dust out of a lengthy nap, the mare’s squinted eyes adjusting to the room’s light. She’s laying in a bed with plain white sheets, an IV line on one leg, and bandaging on the other.

“You get some good rest?” A mare to Moon Dust’s side asks. She winces as she lifts herself and turns to see who it is, eyes relaxing once she notices the mint unicorn in the bed next to her.

“Are they all dead?” Moon Dust asks, ignoring Lyra’s initial pleasantries. “The Equestrians, did they all die?”

Lyra Heartstrings looks over the top of the book held between her hooves, brow raised and eyes half-lidded. “Well you’re a real ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Moon’s head snaps back toward the unicorn, nearly snarling with frustration and pain. “Alright,” Lyra concedes. “yes, from what I’ve heard, it sounds like none of them made it to the hospital alive.”

Moon Dust sinks back into her pillow with an exhausted sigh. “We could’ve used them…” She admits aloud.

“‘Use them’...?” Lyra inquires. “Moon Dust—that’s your name, right?” The mare in question glances over, but doesn’t respond. “Well, Moon Dust, I can only guess as to what you mean by ‘using them’. I mean what are you anyway, a hitmare or something?”

“No.” Moon Dust growls back. Lyra shakes her head and sticks a forehoof out into the air.

“Then—? What, exactly?”

The wounded pegasus again hesitates to respond, looking down at the folds of her sheets as her pupils shift with introspection. Eventually, Lyra scoffs off to the side.

“...Whatever. I guess it doesn’t matter.” She pulls the book back up to her muzzle. “But yes, to answer your original question: they’re all gone.”

The two ponies lay back into their beds and rejoin the silence, Moon’s eyes watching the small window in the door as Lyra’s scan over her book. The bed creaks as Moon Dust shifts in it, grimacing as she turns to inspect the mess of medical equipment to her side. Her lips purse as she searches for the right way to continue the conversation. “...How’s the big guy doing?”

“Crane?” Lyra responds without looking up. “Yeah, he’s fine. They’ve got him on the floor above us.” She uses a field of gold magic to turn the page in her book. “Honestly, it was you we were worried that wasn’t gonna make it. You lost a lot of blood back there.” Moon Dust closes her eyes as she listens and her mind churns. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

The pegasus exhales when she opens her eyes again, looking with a tired expression up at the ceiling panels. “Yeah.” She mumbles, only just loud enough for Lyra to hear. “...So you must know where Princess Twilight is—” Lyra looks up before the other mare can even finish. “—that’s why The Equestrians were tearing the place apart?”

“What?” Dr. Heartstrings asks, face twisted with confusion. “The Equestrians were tearing my place apart because of their backwards beliefs that drove their heads up their own asses, not because they wanted any information.”

“So you have no idea where the princess actually is?”

“Not a clue.”

As it turns out, Moon Dust had no shortage of things to sigh about. She lands back into her pillow with a soft plump, and slowly raises her bandaged hoof to her forehead. “Perfect.” She groans.

“Not sure Twilight would want to see me right now anyway.”

Moon Dust rolls just a tad to the side, not bothering to guide her eyes far from the ceiling. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I’m pretty sure she tried to break up with me, last time we talked.” Lyra answers candidly. At this, Moon Dust finally turns her head far enough to see the unicorn.

“Oh? And what did she say exactly?”

“‘I don’t want to be seen with you because I’m too important, and my weak, helpless marefriend would make me vulnerable’...” She turns a page with a forehoof this time, and somewhat aggressively. “...or something to that effect, anyway.”

“She was worried somepony could use you to get to her…” Moon Dust rephrases. “And—she was right, in this instance. Wasn’t she?”

“Again—” Lyra suddenly snaps the book shut. “—they weren’t there for her, they were there because they have a problem with history. A history my restaurant happened to embrace.” She levitates the book to the table next to her while shaking her head. “And I don’t see how that even if they were there for another reason, that that means we should just—” She waves a hoof next to her head as she searches for the words. “—get down on our knees and conform to their perverse idea of justice!”

Lyra pauses for a moment to sigh and lower her tone, which had started to creep toward more of a shout. She’s sitting up in her bed at this point, forehooves in her lap and the covers laid out over that. Now it was her turn to be introspective.

“...You don’t just throw away something like that. And if you’re not willing to stand up for it… then what’s the point?” She lightly tosses one of the hooves in her lap. “...What’s the point of any of this...”

* * *

The train car rattles gently along the passing tracks below. The engine’s whistle can be heard blowing near the front, muffled as it is back in these passenger cars. Families of ponies sit nestled close to one another in each divided bench section, one foal in particular leaping up off of her seat to canter down the aisle, nearly running into an older mare along the way. Starlight Glimmer smiles and steps aside as the child passes, resuming her slow walk back to her seat shortly after.

After she finds it, Starlight lays down casually on a bench with her saddlebags already situated next to her. The bench across from her is empty, giving her a small section of privacy, and relative quietness. Starlight’s hazy blue magic first envelopes her horn, and then the top-most flap on her bags, the spell pulling it back to reveal a plain looking letter sitting at the top—plain, with the exception of Princess Twilight’s insignia embedded in the wax seal.

Starlight releases a slow sigh. She lifts the letter into her telekinesis, and the already broken seal does nothing to stop the paper flap from bellowing open. The mare pulls the flap all the way back, and retrieves the two documents found inside. The first is a letter, and takes Starlight’s attention much faster than the second. Even without the unique seal, the writing on the parchment is more than a little familiar to the unicorn.

‘Dear Starlight Glimmer,’ it begins.

‘I hope this letter finds you well. I’m sorry for my lack of contact as of late, and even sorrier for the way I’ve treated you. It’s an awful thing for a pony to speak to another the way I did back in that cafe, even more so for the fact that you viewed me as a close friend. It’s true that I was incredibly frustrated by work and a few nagging personal issues at the time, but that’s certainly no excuse to lash out on the ones you care most about…’

Starlight briefly pauses her reading, and looks out at the window across from her. The great Equestrian landscape sprawls out into the distance, rolling sun-kissed hills and scattered orchards. She holds the letter close to her while switching spots with her bag, allowing her to rest her shoulder against the glass and get a better look. The scene feels increasingly distant, despite this.

‘...I want to be very clear about this, Starlight: I think you’d do wonderfully at Starswirl Academy. You’re passionate, and incredibly clever about your work, and I’ve no doubt that these qualities would extend to your curriculum at SA. My confidence is reiterated upon in the enclosed letter of recommendation I’ve sent along with this note, and is free to be used at your discretion…’

A large tunnel suddenly passes over the train, swallowing the Equestrian landscape in an instant. Starlight is left to continue reading by the warm interior light.

‘...I know that you may not hold a very high opinion of me anymore, and you have every right to feel that way. But please: with or without my help, pursue whatever path you’d like to take. I have the utmost confidence that within it, you will find success.

Yours respectfully, Twilight Sparkle.’

Another sigh, much deeper than the last. Starlight places the letter gently back down atop her luggage, and rests her head on the edge of the window. She peers out into the surrounding darkness, until the light at the end of the tunnel breaks free, and once again reveals the Equestrian countryside. Only this time, instead of staring out at rolling fields of green and vast forest canopy, Starlight finds herself looking at a distant valley.

The young mare can see her own tired expression in the glass, looming large over the village in the valley she once called home. Perhaps it was time for her to call it home once again.