The Cosmos Calamity

Chapters

Play Among the Stars
Nopony's Vault But Mine
Oh Brother There Art Thou
Student-Teacher Conflicts

Play Among the Stars

In Equestria, emergencies seemed to crop up every few months or so. Whether it was an infestation of hungry insects, or an attempted coup by a power-mad yeti-thing, there was always no shortage of danger for the otherwise peaceful inhabitants of the kingdom. This was just something that the ponies of Equestria had learned to deal with. And for some reason, whenever something dangerous loomed on the horizon, the fate of Equestria always wound up resting on the shoulders of a certain six ponies. (Give or take a dragon and/or a former cult leader.)

It hadn’t been terribly long since the last disaster had been averted, either. The Storm King, despite his momentary conquest of Equestria, had been defeated. His minions had all, more or less, been reformed. His fleet of airships had been dismantled, or auctioned off to weirdos with lots of money. The only thing left to deal with was all of the now-unsellable merchandise that the King had left behind in the wake of his defeat.

That and the Staff of Sacanas. Nopony had really known what to do with that, so it just wound up getting locked away in a vault in Canterlot.

Staff aside, however, it had looked as if Equestria was safe once again. All of the ponies could go about their lives, throwing parties and learning lessons and just generally enjoying themselves. There didn’t seem to be any reason not to, right?

However, just one month after the Storm King’s fall…

Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to sleepless nights. Whether it was an extra-long study session, a stressful situation that was keeping her awake, or just getting absorbed in a good book, Twilight had a lot of reasons for not getting the recommended eight hours of sleep. The most common reason, however, was when Twilight indulged in her hobby of astrology. She could often spend hour after hour searching the stars, much to her friends’ concern.

Tonight, however, Twilight wasn’t looking at the stars for fun. She was focused intently on the telescope she’d set up on her castle’s balcony. A cup of hot cocoa and star chart had been set up on a small desk off to her side. Spike, ever the faithful assistant, had fallen asleep under the desk with his own cup of cocoa.

Twilight looked away from the telescope just long enough to glance at the star chart. Her eye quickly returned to her lens, and Twilight scanned the sky to double-check her findings. After a few seconds, the telescope was directed at the desired coordinates, and Twilight could see what she’d been looking for. Or, rather, she couldn’t see it.

A triumphant exclamation of discovery escaped Twilight, jolting Spike from his sleep. The young dragon jumped up, banging his head on the bottom of the desk and jostling Twilight’s now-cold cup of cocoa. As Spike crawled out from below the desk, Twilight offered a meek smile of apology in response.

“Sorry,” Twilight said with a chuckle. Her horn lit up as her cup of cocoa floated over to her. Twilight took a sip, grimaced, and set the cup aside. She’d have to reheat that later.

“Did you find your… thing?” Spike asked sleepily, rubbing the spot on his head he’d hit.

“Do you mean definitive proof of my theory?” Twilight asked smugly. She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “Absolutely! Come over here and take a look!”

Spike, who would have much rather gone back into the castle to curl up in his bed, sighed and walked over to the telescope. He stood in front of it for a bit, waiting for Twilight to realize he was too short to reach the lens. With an awkward chuckle, Twilight realized her mistake and lowered the telescope down to Spike’s level. The young dragon closed one eye and looked through the lens at the night sky.

“Okay. Stars,” Spike said, unimpressed. “What am I supposed to be seeing here?”

Twilight magically shifted the telescope to the right slightly, pointing it at a particular patch of sky. Spike looked up from the telescope, one eyebrow raised. A shift in perspective hadn’t cleared things up for him.

“It’s not what you should be seeing,” Twilight said. “It’s what you aren’t seeing that’s important.”

“Is this, like, a riddle?” Spike asked tiredly. “I’m not good at riddles, Twilight. We both know that.”

Twilight frowned. It wasn’t unusual that Spike didn’t understand what she was talking about. He wasn’t as invested in astrology as her. On top of that, Twilight supposed she was being unnecessarily vague. Twilight walked over to the desk and pointed to a spot on the star chart. Spike watched her, eager to find out why he couldn’t just go back to bed.

“Monoceros,” Twilight said. Her hoof tapped a collection of stars on the chart which, if one squinted, might have looked vaguely like a unicorn. “It has four main stars and thirty-two Neigher/ Flame-Steed stars.”

Twilight raised her hoof off the map and pointed at the corresponding patch of sky. Spike looked up at where she was pointing, but all he could see were… well, stars. It didn’t look too unusual. Twilight felt herself beginning to grow frustrated. She emphatically pointed at a single star in particular.

“It should be right there!” Twilight said fervently. “Since last week, Monoceros has been reduced to one visible star!”

Spike dropped his unimpressed expression. He now looked simply confused. Twilight shifted the telescope and pointed again at the star chart.

“Next, Draco, the dragon.” Twilight saw Spike’s eyes light up a bit at the mention of this constellation’s name. She’d been banking on that. “Out of Draco’s fourteen main stars, more than half are just… gone! It’s like they were never even there!”

Spike looked up at the night sky again. Nothing looked out of place to him; there seemed to be just as many stars as before… Right? Spike had never paid much attention to the constellations. Was he imagining it, or did there seem to be more black spaces between the stars?

“… Maybe Princess Luna’s doing some spring cleaning?” Spike suggested.

“It’s autumn,” Twilight pointed out.

As much as she hated to admit it, however, Princess Luna doing something with the stars was the only explanation Twilight could come up with. If that was the case, though, wouldn’t Twilight have been told what was going on? She was Celestia’s former student and a princess in her own right. This seemed like something Twilight would be kept in on.

“Whatever’s going on, I’m sure the Princesses have already noticed.” Twilight began to roll up the star chart. She didn’t need it now that she’d confirmed her suspicions. “We should get the girls together and head to Canterlot tomorrow. The Princesses will know what to do.”

Spike frowned. “Disappearing stars and all of us headed to Canterlot? Whenever something like this happens, Twilight, we usually get pulled into some sort of adventure.”

“Well, hopefully nopony gets turned to stone this time,” Twilight said with a hopeful little smile. She was mostly joking.

Mostly.

When Twilight’s friends heard about the vanishing stars, none of them seemed to share her concerns. Everypony had more or less assumed that Princess Luna was doing something with them. The only pony who might have shared Twilight’s worries, Starlight, was off visiting Thorax in the Changeling Kingdom, and so Twilight was the only one worried about what this could all mean.

Despite not sharing Twilight’s fears, however, her friends had all been more than willing to head to Canterlot with her. It had been a month since they’d all last been to Canterlot, and while that trip hadn’t exactly started off well, it had ended on a pretty good note. Hopefully, they’d be able to enjoy this trip a bit more.

And so the six friends, plus Spike, boarded the first available train to Canterlot. They arrived in the early afternoon, and upon disembarking, made their way to Canterlot Castle.

The streets and sidewalks were full of ponies going about their daily lives. Just form looking, it was impossible to tell that Canterlot had been subject to a hostile takeover just a month ago. Ponies in Equestria tended to bounce back from tragedies pretty quickly. Maybe they were just conditioned to these kinds of disasters.

“What do you think they did with the Storm King’s chunks?” Rainbow Dash asked, much to the disgust of several of the others. Twilight couldn’t help thinking that Dash could’ve chosen a better word for that topic.

“I assume his… remains were placed in Tartarus,” Twilight said as they trotted along on the path to the castle, “Just in case anyone tried to somehow put him back together. Better safe than sorry, after all.”

“Oh, man,” Dash muttered. “I wish I could’ve grabbed something when he shattered.”

“Say what now?” Applejack asked flatly. Everypony stopped walking to give Rainbow Dash a confused look.

“What?” Dash asked defensively. “It’d make a good conversation piece! Besides, he got turned into stone; he wouldn’t mind!”

“It’d still be rather ghastly, darling,” Rarity said as they began walking again. The group rounded the corner, walking down the road that led directly to the palace. The entrance was in sight, guarded by a pair of stoic-looking pegasus stallions. “I wouldn’t want a stone eyeball or something sitting on my mantle, reminding me of that horrid Storm King.”

“Um, could we stop talking about keeping our enemies’ petrified remains?” Fluttershy had lowered her head, and looked as if she was going to start shaking any minute now.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was continuing to bounce around without a care in the world. “Ooh, but it’d make a great Nightmare Night decoration! You could put them all together and make a super spooky Storm King statue! Ooh!” Pinkie’s eyes lit up as a new idea occurred to her. “Or you could take the pieces he left behind and make a pair of tiny Storm Kings! I’m getting some great ideas for next Nightmare Night!”

By the time Pinkie had started talking about cobbling together the remains of their enemies into a sort of grisly monument, the group had reached the castle’s doors. Neither of the guards looked particularly comfortable with what they’d overheard Pinkie talking about. The two of them opened the doors to the castle and wordlessly allowed the group to enter.

Before too long, the doors to the throne room were open, as well. Celestia was seated in her throne, all set for receiving royal petitioners. When she saw she was being visited by Twilight and her friends, the small, polite smile on her face grew ever so slightly.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise!” Celestia stepped down from her throne and lowered her head in a polite bow to Twilight. Twilight returned the gesture. When she lifted her head, she rushed to her mentor’s side for a brief hug.

“I wish I had known you would all be arriving,” Celestia said as she withdrew from Twilight. “I would have had refreshments prepared. What brings you all to Canterlot?”

Applejack briefly removed her had in a sign of respect to Celestia. “Actually, Princess, this ain’t a social call. Twilight’s got something she thought you’d be interested in.”

Celestia looked at Twilight, curious as to what could have brought the small group all the way to Canterlot. Celestia didn’t look particularly concerned; that made Twilight feel better. However, as Twilight began to lay out her findings regarding the vanishing stars, she saw a look of worry begin to form on Celestia’s face. When Twilight finished, Celestia had a hoof to her chin, her brow furrowed as she thought about Twilight’s discovery.

“It’s probably nothing. Princess Luna’s probably just… getting rid of some clutter, right?” Twilight smiled hopefully. It was a silly thing to hope for, but Twilight would have preferred it over something bad happening.

“My sister is able to move the stars,” Celestia mused, “but she cannot make them disappear.” The Princess looked over to Fluttershy. “Are you all certain that this is not a prank by Discord?”

All eyes were on Fluttershy, and the young pegasus flinched a bit at being put on the spot. She was a great deal less shy than she had been when Twilight first met her, but Fluttershy seemed like she’d always be at least a little bashful.

“Um… I don’t think Discord would do something like this,” Fluttershy said. “His pranks are usually a lot less, um… subtle.”

Everypony considered this and then nodded in agreement. Discord didn’t actually seem like he understood subtlety that well. Besides, just making a few stars disappear? That wasn’t much of a prank, even for someone like Discord. No one would notice the stars were missing except for eggheads like Twilight.

“If it isn’t Discord, then I must admit that I’m at a loss for what could be happening to the stars,” Celestia confessed. “I suppose Luna may know something, but we will have to wait for her to wake up. She’s evidently had a long night.”

While the princess chuckled politely, conversation broke out among the gathered ponies. While Twilight’s friends discussed what they could do while they waited for Luna to wake up, Twilight found herself beginning to wonder something. It had been about a month since she’d been to Canterlot last, and Twilight was a bit out of touch in one regard.

“Princess,” Twilight said, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you’d heard anything from Fizzlepop.”

Twilight’s friends’ conversations died down when they all heard her question. None of them had really gotten to know the Storm King’s former minion, but the initial spark of friendship had been there. More or less.

“Who’s Fizzlepop again?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Tempest Shadow,” Twilight said, smiling politely at Dash from over her shoulder. “I haven’t heard from her since the festival. She said that she needed to work some things out.” Twilight turned back to the Princess, who had a small smile on her face. “I was wondering if Fizzlepop might have said anything to you.”

“Your ability to befriend your enemies never ceases to amaze me, Twilight,” Celestia said proudly. “Rest assured, Tempest Shadow is fine. She’d performing a bit of… community service while she works at finding her place in the world.”

Community service? Twilight supposed it made sense that Tempest and the redeemed forces of the Storm King wouldn’t have gotten off scot-free. Twilight was certainly glad that Princess Celestia was giving them all a chance, especially after the whole thing where Fizzlepop had turned her to stone. That was pretty forgiving.

As if she somehow knew what Twilight was thinking, Celestia gave her former student a reassuring smile. She placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and nodded wordlessly before making her way towards the throne room’s doors.

“Now, I’m sure you all have things you’d like to do while you wait for my sister to wake,” Celestia said over her shoulder. “Don’t let me stop you. I have business I need to tend to myself.”

“I suppose I could check in on the boutique while I’m here,” Rarity said thoughtfully. Soon, she and the others began following Celestia out of the throne room. When the doors closed behind them, only Spike and Twilight were left behind.

Twilight’s attention had moved to one of the many stained glass windows that lined the walls of the throne room. This one depicted both Celestia and Luna rising up against a starry night sky. What was this window supposed to commemorate? It was vague enough to be anything, Twilight supposed. Maybe it was just a tribute to the Royal Sisters themselves.

“Twilight?” Spike asked as he came to her side. “Uh… are you okay? Everyone’s kinda gone.”

“Hmm?” Twilight turned back to Spike, almost started to hear his voice. She laughed and offered a small smile in apology. “Sorry. Guess I got a little lost in my thoughts.”

“Whatcha thinking about?” Spike asked. It certainly wasn’t unusual for Twilight Sparkle to get sidelined by whatever was going on inside her head. Usually when she did that, however, she was reading a book, or doing research; not staring at a window. Spike found himself feeling a bit concerned.

Twilight considered Spike’s question. She didn’t know what answer to give to him. Twilight had quite a bit on her mind; the vanishing stars were at the forefront, of course. Thankfully, Celestia had eased some of Twilight’s worries.

Twilight supposed that was what she’d been thinking about. She felt grateful for the bond she had with the Princesses. Twilight had always admired Princess Celestia, and by this point, they were practically family. Twilight felt a sense of peace knowing that whatever problems she had, she could come to Celestia; if not for answers, then for support.

With that thought in her head, Twilight used her magic to lift Spike up onto her back.

“I’m just thinking about how good life is,” Twilight said as she began trotting towards the throne room’s doors. “And speaking of good times, let’s go see if Pony Joe still sells those bear claws we used to get.”

“Bear claws?!” Spike repeated excitedly, his concerns completely gone. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Twilight and Spike both laughed as Twilight trotted on out of the throne room. Things were good, and it seemed like they’d stay good for a little while. Once they figured out what was happening to the stars, things would get even better. For now, though, all they had to worry about were donuts.

If they’d been outside to see a shadowy shape darting cross the sky in the direction of the Royal Vaults, however, they may have reconsidered their priorities.

Author's Note

It took me a while to work up the confidence to get started here. I kept debating about getting a proofreader or a beta reader, but I decided to stop stalling and post the first chapter.

Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes left over after my brief attempt at proofreading. I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it!

Nopony's Vault But Mine

During Twilight’s days as a student in Canterlot, Pony Joe’s donut shop had served as a little home away from home. Twilight hadn’t done a lot of socializing in those days, so the times when she went to get donuts or coffee were the only times she’d really go out to do something. And while Ponyville had the Cakes and Pinkie, Twilight sometimes found herself missing the atmosphere of Joe’s shop.

When Twilight and Spike entered the shop, a wave of nostalgia hit them both. It was silly, of course; it had only been a couple months since the last time they’d been to Pony Joe’s shop. But with everything that went on in Ponyville and in Twilight’s life in general, those few months almost seemed like a lifetime ago.

Pony Joe had been cleaning the countertop when the bell over the door rang. As soon as he saw who had come in, a big smile appeared on his face.

“Princess Twilight!” Joe said in a loud, friendly tone of voice. Normally, Twilight would have worried that this would draw attention to her. However, it was the middle of the afternoon; not exactly pique business hours for a donut shop. There didn’t seem to be anypony in the shop except for someone sitting by themselves and reading a newspaper in the corner.

“How’s business, Joe?” Spike asked as he and Twilight took a seat at the counter.

With a sigh, Pony Joe slung the rag he’d been using to clean the counter over his shoulder. “Lemme tell you,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Ever since folks found out this was a place Twilight went to when she was just a student, I’ve been getting business by the barrel. Trouble is, most of ‘em just wanna eat what Twilight ate, or sit where she sat.”

Twilight and Spike exchanged a look. They’d certainly run into their share of odd fan-ponies ever since Twilight had gained her wings. Mostly, they were harmless, but every now and then there’d be a real weirdo. From the sounds of things, Pony Joe was dealing mostly with the latter.

“Sorry about that,” Twilight said through her teeth.

Pony Joe waved a hoof in the air to dismiss Twilight’s concerns. “Ah, don’t worry ‘bout it,” he said. “Trust me, I’ve dealt with worse. You don’t wanna see what this place’s like after a big hoofball game, Princess, trust me.”

Twilight laughed politely behind her hoof. Spike, who was a bit of a hoofball fan himself, felt insulted for a reason he wasn’t quite sure of.

“Trouble is, with all the new customers, I’m getting to be understaffed,” Joe continued. “I’ve tried hiring a few folks to help out in the kitchen, but none of ‘em have worked out.”

“What kinds of ponies have you hired?” Twilight asked, already wondering why Joe would have trouble finding hires.

“Lotsa types,” Joe said, leaning on the counter tiredly. “Not just ponies, neither. I wound up hiring one of them furry guys; y’know, the ones who worked for the Storm King?”

“Oh, yeah,” Twilight said. “The furry guys.”

“Well, at first he did real good,” Joe said. “He followed instructions, didn’t complain or sample the wares. The trouble was, his fur kept getting in the donuts. And since they don’t make full-body hairnets, I had to let the guy go.”

Twilight wanted to offer some words of reassurance, but the image of one of those yeti soldiers wearing a gigantic hairnet was too funny to not laugh at. A snort of laughter escaped Twi, prompting an odd look at Spike.

When the giggles had well and truly left her, Twilight ordered a pair of bear claws for herself and Spike. They made short work of them, along with the complimentary coffee. Despite Pony Joe’s insistence that the pastries were on the house, Twilight had refused to not pay for them. Pony Joe gave a nod of thanks and then headed to the back of the shop.

“I can’t believe you turned down free pastries,” Spike said. It was hard to tell if he was disappointed in Twilight or impressed by her integrity.

“I get enough free pastries from Pinkie, Spike,” Twilight pointed out. “Besides, relying on a royal title just to get free stuff isn’t the right thing to do. I have a responsibility to the ponies in Equestria. I can’t take advantage of that.”

“You’re just full of morals, aren’t you?”

The familiar voice caught both Twilight and Spike off-guard. At first, Twilight wasn’t sure where it had come from. Then she remembered there was only one other pony in the donut shop. Twilight turned to the corner where the only other customer sat, their face obscured by a newspaper.

Slowly, the newspaper lowered to reveal a smirking Tempest Shadow, AKA Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

“Fizzlepop!” Twilight cried out in surprise. She rushed over to the table where the Storm King’s former minion was sitting at and held up a hoof. Tempest extended her own hoof and pounded Twilight’s in a friendly greeting.

It didn’t take Twilight long to notice something was different about Tempest. She’d switched out the black armor she’d worn under the Storm King’s employ for the golden armor that Canterlot’s guards wore. Now Twilight understood what Celestia had meant by ‘community service’.

“Still feels weird hearing my real name,” Tempest said dryly. “You’re about the only pony who doesn’t call me ‘Tempest’.”

From where Spike sat, he reached a claw up to wave at Tempest. “Heya, Fizzlepop!”

Tempest looked at Spike from over Twilight’s shoulder and gave him a brief nod in acknowledgement. “Yeah, hi… uh… baby dragon.”

The friendly smile on Spike’s face turned into an unamused frown. He and Tempest hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk yet, but that was no excuse for her to not know Spike’s name. All those years outside of Equestria had really done a number on Tempest’s etiquette.

“Look at you!” Twilight said in amazement. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the golden armor Tempest was wearing. “You’re a royal guard now?”

“Not exactly,” Tempest said, smiling a bit at Twilight’s attention. “Your Princess gave me a job guarding the royal vaults. Apparently, since I have so much experience with stealing magical artifacts, I’m the perfect fit for security duty.” Tempest shrugged, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, this all seems a little too forgiving.”

“Would you rather have them throw you in the dungeons for your various war crimes?” Twilight asked teasingly. Tempest’s only response was to chuckle.

“I’m still getting used to the whole… ‘love and friendship’ thing,” she said with a sigh. Tempest set the newspaper back down at the table she’d been sitting at and hopped out of her seat. “I’ve been out of Equestria for… well, a long time. I’m used to how things work out there.

“But here?” Tempest looked out of the shop’s window at the ponies walking in the street. “I don’t know. I feel like a stranger in Equestria. Nothing’s making a whole lot of sense lately.”

There was a loneliness in Tempest’s voice that took Twilight by surprise. Twilight might not have known the hornless unicorn all that well, but they had still become fast friends at the Festival. Twilight wished she knew what to say to Tempest, but what could she say? Nothing came to mind.

Tempest seemed to notice that Twilight wanted to reach out to her. Tempest straightened up and cleared her throat, trying to brush off the dreary, distant mood she’d just had.

“So, Princess,” Tempest said. “You want to see the royal vaults?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up with interest. The royal vaults? It was certainly an attractive proposal. Twilight had never had a reason to go see them before. On top of that, the vaults were tightly guarded; it was impossible to get into the central vault for most ponies. It wasn’t really a place you could do sightseeing.

“Is that allowed?” Twilight asked. She spoke quietly, as if Pony Joe might hear them from the back of the shop and report them to the guards. “I mean, will you get in trouble?”

Tempest threw up her shoulders in an uncaring shrug. “Eh. I work there, and you’re a princess. Between the two of us, I think we’re allowed.”

Oh. Right. Despite living in a palace, being involved in politics, and occasionally having to wear a crown, Twilight still forgot she was a princess from time to time.

“Besides, I’ll just be showing you where I work,” Tempest continued as she began trotting towards the door. “It’s not like we’ll be going into the central vault. Even the guards can’t get in there.”

Seeing that Tempest was leaving, Twilight hurried after her. Spike wasn’t far behind. He ran as fast as his stumpy little dragon legs could carry him. Both Twilight and Spike followed Tempest out into the street and off towards the royal vaults.

“Well, I suppose it won’t be any trouble, then,” Twilight said as she lifted Spike onto her back. “I have business with the princesses, though, so I don’t want to take too long.”

“It’s just a visit,” Tempest sighed, glancing over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be in and out before you know it.”

“Wait. One of your friends used to run a cult?”

Twilight and Tempest had been walking for a while by the time they reached the road to the royal vaults. During the time they’d spent walking, they’d talked and gotten to know each other. Or, rather, Tempest had gotten to know Twilight; Tempest didn’t talk about herself very much.

“It wasn’t really a cult,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. “It was more of an… isolated commune where they adhered to a certain way of life based on the ideals of a single, charismatic pony.”

“Twilight, that’s a cult,” Tempest said dryly. “That’s the very definition of a cult.”

“I was watching hoofball at the time,” Spike said, “so I can’t say if it was a cult or not. But I will say that Starlight definitely seems pretty culty sometimes.”

Twilight gave Spike a look. It was a look that said ‘It’s not nice to imply our friends act like cult leaders, even if it’s super true’. Spike could only shrug in response, getting a chuckle out of Tempest.

They were at the doors of the building that contained the royal vaults. It was a large, white, stone building with a golden dome for a roof. A pair of large, golden doors was set into the front wall. Intricate patterns had been carved into the doors, depicting vines and ivy branching out in all directions. A set of stained windows peered down from the second story.

Twilight turned to Tempest to comment on the building’s architecture, or to say something about how she should have come here a while ago. But something was wrong. Tempest had a serious expression on her face as she stared at the door. It was an expression Twilight hadn’t seen since she’d been capture and drained of her magic. Something was setting Tempest’s soldier instincts off.

“There are supposed to be guards stationed outside,” Tempest said, any trace of fun in her voice gone. Her change in tone and composure was almost a complete 180; like she’d turned into a different pony.

‘The Strange Case of Fizzlepop and Tempest Shadow’.

Twilight watched as Tempest trotted forward to inspect the vault’s doorway. She went about her business so seriously that it was almost off-putting. Twilight didn’t want to say anything out of fear she’d somehow distract Tempest.

“Maybe they went on break?” Spike ventured cautiously.

“The guards here might be soft, but they’re still trained professionals.” Tempest didn’t look at Twilight or Spike as she spoke. She was running her hoof over the edges of the golden doors, inspecting for something Twilight couldn’t have guessed. “They wouldn’t abandon their post without having someone else take over.”

Evidently satisfied with what she had or hadn’t found, Tempest pushed the golden double-doors open with a single hoof. The doors swung inwards with a low creaking noise that made Twilight’s hairs stand on end.

The main building of the royal vaults was almost completely dark. The sunlight shining in from outside did little to illuminate the large lobby that waited beyond the doors. Unintimidated by the darkness, Tempest trotted on ahead. Twilight called after her friend, but she quickly trotted in after her, Spike in tow.

The two ponies stood side-by-side in the dimly-lit lobby. From where Spike sat on Twilight’s back, he squinted to try and make out anything in the dark. He thought he saw a desk; maybe a potted plant? It could’ve been a Ficus or something.

“Er… Twilight?” Tempest whispered. She nudged the other pony to get her attention, and then gestured out to the dark. “Do you think you could light things up a little? I would, but I don’t want to blow us up.”

“Oh!” The fact that Tempest couldn’t use her magic to light things up had completely slipped Twilight’s mind. With a bashful chuckle, Twilight lit up her horn and bathed the room in lavender light.

The lobby, while well-maintained, wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. From the way it looked, it seemed this was just a room for guards and employees to check in. A red carpet stretched from the entrance doorway to a stairwell that led down into the actual vaults.

Lying in front of that stairwell was a pair of motionless guard ponies.

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight exclaimed. She rushed over to the pair of guards, fearing for the worst. Thankfully, once Twilight was at their side, she saw they were both still breathing. Twilight let out a sigh of relief while Spike jumped down to stand at her side.

“What happened to them?” Spike asked. He reached out to poke one of the guards, but then thought twice and withdrew his claw.

“Magic.” Tempest’s tone was cold and calculated as she approached from behind. “They aren’t bruised, so the attacker didn’t engage them in combat. They must have used a spell to knock them out.”

“Attacker?” Spike repeated fearfully. “W-What makes you think they were attacked?”

“Because guards don’t typically just abandon their posts and then pass out on their own,” Tempest said dryly. She walked up to one of the guards and kicked them lightly with her front hoof. “Hey. Wake up.”

Twilight watched as Tempest continued to try and gently kick consciousness back into the guard. She had been about to step in and put a stop to Tempest’s terrible bedside manner when the guard’s eyes began to flicker open. The guard looked exhausted, but none the worse for wear.

“Sky Scrawl,” Tempest said to the guard bluntly, “what happened? Who did this?”

The guard groaned weakly. He moved his hoof to his head in a motion that seemed to require all of his energy. For a moment, Twilight worried he wouldn’t be able to speak, but eventually he began to gradually find his words.

“Came in… outta nowhere,” Sky Scrawl grumbled. “They just dropped outta the sky… Then… ugh…”

“Focus,” Tempest said sternly. She lowered herself to the guard’s eye level and grabbed both sides of his face roughly, shaking him back and forth for a bit. Tempest glared into Sky Scrawl’s eyes; her horn was beginning to spark slightly.

“Er… Tempest?” Twilight said. Her friend’s behavior was starting to get kind of intense. It was a little scary. Unfortunately, Tempest was a bit too preoccupied to start listening to Twilight.

“Where are the other guards? Has the pony who did this already left?”

Sky Scrawl seemed to be starting to wake up, if only a little bit. He stammered and stalled as he tried to wrack his brain. “The others are at their stations, I think. And I don’t think the pony who did this is gone… I dunno… I think I’ve been asleep.”

“Of course.” Tempest sighed, letting go of Sky Scrawl and letting him drift off into unconsciousness once again.

Twilight watched as the guard pony’s head dropped to the ground, unable to stay up without some kind of support. Twilight reached out to Sky Scrawl, but was caught off-guard by the sight of Tempest stepping over him and walked towards the stairwell. Exasperated, Twilight followed her, Spike once again hopping onto her back.

The stairwell was dimly illuminated by torches set into the wall. Despite the flickering light from the flames, however, Twilight realized she couldn’t see the bottom of the stairwell. She decided to keep the light in her horn going, just to be safe. Anything could be waiting for them down there, after all.

“Fizzlepop…” Twilight whispered as they descended the stairs. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering; it just seemed like the right thing to do when dealing with a possible break-in. “Don’t you think you were a little rough with Sky Scrawl?”

“Hmm?” Tempest barely glanced over her shoulder at Twilight and Spike as they continued down the stairs. “What do you mean?”

“You were kicking him and shaking him a bunch,” Spike said bluntly.

“Oh.” Tempest sounded mildly surprised to hear this being brought up. “Sorry. Instincts took over.”

“Instincts?” Twilight repeated. “Your instincts tell you to rough up an unconscious pony?!”

Tempest continued marching down the steps, into the ominous darkness. It was starting to dawn on Twilight that these stairs led very, very far down. Well, if there was one safe place to keep a mysterious royal vault, deep underground was probably it. Twilight wondered how deep the designers of the vault had had to dig to make this.

“Look,” Tempest said, sighing impatiently. “I’ve been out of Equestria for a very long time; most of my life, actually. I’m used to how things are done out there. Now’s not exactly the best time to be gentle either way.”

Twilight frowned. “Normally, I’d concede that you had a point, but you literally kicked him.”

“Stop,” Tempest said.

“No, I’m being serious!” Twilight exclaimed. “You can’t tell me it’s okay to kick somepony anywhere in the world! It has nothing to do with being gentle; it’s just common sense!”

“No, I mean actually stop,” Tempest said. “Something’s wrong.”

Twilight froze in her tracks, one hoof hanging awkwardly in midair. She looked around and noticed they had stopped on a landing. A pair of golden doors stood to Twilight’s left, nowhere near as large and ornate as the ones out front. The stairs continued on downwards from the landing, plunging once again into darkness.

Tempest—or Fizzlepop or whoever she was at the moment—observed the doors stoically. She placed a hoof on the doorframe once again and began to inspect it, one eyebrow raised. Twilight watched Tempest as she ran her hoof up and down the frame for what felt like minutes.

“Is this an instinct thing, too?” Spike asked sarcastically.

Tempest looked over her shoulder and shot a look at Spike that was absolutely chilling. It reminded Twilight of the look Tempest had had when she zapped that mole who Capper had worked for. For just a moment, Twilight was actually worried for Spike’s safety. After a few seconds, however, Tempest exhaled and returned to a neutral expression.

“These doors lead to Canterlot’s gold reserves,” Tempest explained, tapping her hoof against the door for emphasis. “The doorframe is enchanted to keep track of anyone who enters or exits the room. Whoever it was that knocked out the guards upstairs, they haven’t gone into this part of the vaults.”

Twilight blinked. Why would a thief bypass a room filled with gold and riches? What else was in these vaults?

“Also, this door should have guards stationed outside of it as well,” Tempest pointed out as an aside. “And, well… Obviously, it doesn’t.”

“Whenever something like this happens, I always wind up wondering why we even have so many guards,” Spike muttered. He didn’t pay taxes, but if he did, he’d be complaining about what a waste of money all these guards seemed to be.

“You’re not wrong,” Tempest admitted, glancing down the stairwell. “Whoever trained these guards wasn’t very competent.”

Spike had been a little proud to hear Tempest was agreeing with him, but his pride turned to embarrassment when Tempest disparaged the pony who’d trained the guards. Spike looked down at Twilight and saw she had an irritated, unamused expression on her face.

“My brother was the last captain of the guards,” Twilight said flatly.

“So, hey, we should keep going downstairs,” Tempest said quickly. Without waiting for a response, she descended down into the darkness. With a frustrated sigh, Twilight followed after her, her horn helping to illuminate their way.

“How much farther down do we have to keep going?” Spike grumbled after they’d descended several more flights of stairs. “It feels like we’ve been walking forever.”

“It’s been less than ten minutes.” Tempest replied.

Spike groaned dramatically and rolled over on Twilight’s back. He gazed up at the dimly-lit ceiling. The torches that had once lined the walls of the stairwell had stopped being lit several flights ago. Now they only had the purple glow of Twilight’s horn to help them along the way.

“We shouldn’t be much longer,” Tempest said. “The only place left for anypony to be is the entrance to the reliquary. We’ll get answers once we’re there.”

“You think that’s where all of the missing guards are?” Twilight asked.

“Either that, or whoever broke in has done something with them,” Tempest said. As if to assuage any worries that might have risen from that statement, she quickly added, “Which is unlikely, since they left two guards in the lobby. Whoever this is doesn’t seem to want to… permanently dispose of anypony.”

Twilight shuddered. She hated the idea of anypony getting hurt; especially guard ponies who were just doing their job. Tempest, on the other hoof, wasn’t acting worried at all about the fates of her coworkers. Either she didn’t like the other guards very much, or this was another part of those ‘instincts’ she’d mentioned earlier.

“So… this reliquary…” Twilight said slowly. She needed to clarify something, and really wanted to stop thinking about how cold Tempest was acting. “That’s where the princesses keep important artifacts, right?”

Tempest chuckled slightly, looking back at Twilight with a small smile. It seemed that, despite her rough behavior, Tempest was still Fizzlepop after all.

“That’s what I was told. I don’t know for certain. Only the princesses can get into the reliquary. The doors won’t even show up without alicorn magic.”

That was certainly impressive. Twilight knew about locks that needed a particular individual’s magic to unlock, but she’d never heard of doors that would only appear for a certain type of magic. Given how rare alicorns were, this seemed like a pretty solid security measure. Unless one of the princesses was coerced somehow, no thief could get into the reliquary.

Being such a fan of literature, Twilight should have known about an often-overused trope known as ‘tempting fate’. This is when a character says or thinks something, only for circumstances to nearly immediately prove them wrong. Twilight herself had experienced this phenomenon more times than she could count. And sadly, she was about to experience it again.

When Tempest and Twilight finally reached the end of the stairwell, the bottom floor was bathed in an almost golden light. There was no furniture in the room, nor any light source. The only decorations were the piles of unconscious guards strewn about on the floor haphazardly. Twilight barely noticed them, however.

The light that was pouring into the basement was coming from a pair of wide, open doors set into the wall opposite Twilight and Tempest. Beyond the doors were hundreds of crates, shelves, and podiums, all filled with various relics that Twilight couldn’t even begin to name. A large brass ball hung from the reliquary’s ceiling, casting light like a miniature sun.

Twilight looked over to Tempest, who was already trying to shake one of the guards awake. As soon as Tempest noticed Twilight was looking at her, she stopped what she was doing. Then, as if to make up for her roughness, she gave the unconscious guard a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“I thought you said the door can’t show up without alicorn magic!” Twilight said.

“I was just repeating what I was told!” Tempest said indignantly. She sounded grumpy, but Twilight could see that Tempest was as confused as she was.

Tempest looked around at the dozen or so guards lain out on the stone floor. She turned to Twilight, her eyes focused. “Get the guards out of here. I’ll deal with whoever’s broken into the reliquary.”

“What?! No!”

“Wait, why not?” Spike asked worriedly.

“This isn’t up for discussion,” Tempest said sternly. “You’re the one with the magic. You’re the one who can get the guards to safety. I dunno, teleport them or something; get creative.”

“I’m not leaving you alone to face whoever knocked out all of these guards!” Twilight hissed. “I may not have your fancy military training, commander, but my friends and I deal with threats all the time!”

“Uh… guys?” Spike said.

“Right. Right. Your precious ‘magic of friendship’.” Tempest said, clearly exhausted. “I can appreciate you have some sort of magical harmony with your friends, but ‘friendship’ isn’t the answer to every problem, Princess.”

“Guys, seriously.”

“I’m not saying it is!” Twilight snapped back. “I’m saying I have experience! Let me help you!”

“Okay, I get you guys are having a serious disagreement, but—”

“I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger to stop a petty thief.” Tempest narrowed her eyes and glared at Twilight, the magic from her horn sparking fiercely. “I can handle this on my own, Princess. Go to where it’s sa—”

Spike let out a long, loud cry of frustration and grabbed Twilight’s head, jerking it to look at the open doors to the reliquary. Tempest watched this in confusion, and then turned her own attention in that direction.

A figure stood in center of the reliquary. They stood with their back to room’s source of light, blocking obscuring themselves in shadows. Twilight couldn’t quite make out much about the figure, but they appeared to be a very tall, lanky unicorn carrying something with one of their front hooves.

The shadowy figure stood facing them silently. Slowly, it began to trot towards the doors, gradually coming more and more into view. Though shadows still obscured them, Twilight could now make out the figure’s long mane. She could also hear a metal clanking noise with every other step the figure took.

“Who are you?!” Twilight called out as she glared into the reliquary. “What is it you want?!”

The figure didn’t answer. They continued to wordlessly march ahead. Twilight could just make out the white, magical glow of their horn.

“How did you get in there?” Tempest asked. “Those doors won’t show up without alicorn magic. Entrance should be impossible.”

The figure took a few more steps forward, and then stopped. It seemed to be considering Tempest’s question. Twilight could now see that the object the figure was carrying, cradling in their foreleg, was a staff.

The Staff of Sacanas.

Twilight opened her mouth to ask what the figure wanted with the staff. She was interrupted by the sight of a large pair of wings slowly unfurling from the unicorn’s sides. The wings unfolded to their maximum length, stretching out until they were at their most visible.

“Well,” Spike said as Twilight and Tempest stared on in shock, “I guess that answers that question.”

Oh Brother There Art Thou

An alicorn.

Twilight didn’t know what she’d been expecting when she, Tempest, and Spike had discovered that somepony had broken into the royal vaults. She wouldn’t have been surprised to find a rogue Changeling or a remnant from the Storm King’s forces. She knew what she hadn’t been expecting, though:

An alicorn.

The alicorn folded their wings back to their sides and began trotting towards the entrance once again. Now that they were closer, Twilight could make out their features more clearly. The alicorn had a grey coat and a long, charcoal-black mane. Their frame was thin and wiry, to the point where they looked almost malnourished.

Most shocking, however, were the plainly masculine features on the alicorn’s face.

The alicorn stopped at the doorframe, staring tiredly at Twilight and Tempest. Twilight watched him as he cradled the Staff of Sacanas in one of his forelegs. When Twilight looked to his other foreleg, she saw it ended in a stump just above the knee; a brass prosthetic had replaced his hoof. That explained the noise he’d been making.

“Is… this another princess?” Tempest whispered through the side of her mouth. “I’ve been away for a while; I don’t know all of them.”

“No,” said the alicorn in a distinctly male voice. “I am not a princess.”

Tempest’s eyes flickered towards the alicorn. She was evidently unhappy that he had listened in on her comment to Twilight. Tempest’s irritation only grew when she recognized the staff resting in the alicorn’s front hoof. Her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed, sparks of magic bursting from her horn.

“Put back the staff,” she said sternly, “and walk away. Or else we do this the hard way.”

“Oh, my. Intimidating.” The alicorn said looked at the Staff of Sacanas with his tired, pale eyes. “Do I have you to thank for bringing this into Equestria? I’m quite grateful. Stealing it from the Arimaspi it belonged to may have been difficult. Stealing it from here, though?”

The alicorn spun the staff around in his hoof. His eyes, black and baggy, looked up at Tempest with something approaching mild amusement.

“You might as well have gift-wrapped it for me.”

With the look Tempest was giving to him, Twilight almost expected her friend to tackle the alicorn right then and there. Despite her anger, however, it looked like Tempest’s military training was once again in control. Without any Obsidian Orbs or magic-cancelling armor, Tempest was probably weighing the situation before she attacked the alicorn.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked, drawing the alicorn’s attention. She hoped that if she bought time and distracted him, Tempest would get some sort of an opening. “Why did you break into the royal vaults?”

The alicorn studied Twilight for a moment. His eyes looked over her horn, her wings, and her dragon. He stared at Spike in disinterest before he finally responded to Twilight’s question.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” he sighed wearily.

As the alicorn looked off into the distance, Twilight stammered to come up with a reply. Ordinarily, Twilight was used to villains and evildoers pretty much just spelling out their plans right away. This alicorn, however, didn’t seem interested in sharing. Twilight almost felt like she was intruding by asking him for the bare details of his identities.

“Do you want to talk to somepony else?” Twilight ventured, smiling awkwardly. “You can talk to Spike, if you want.” Twilight gestured to the dragon riding around on her back. Spike waved briefly at the alicorn, who continued to barely pay any attention to the other ponies in the room.

“I was just about to get going, actually,” the alicorn said with a sigh. “I’ve wasted over a thousand years already; I don’t want to wait another minute. And I’d rather not stand around while your edgy girlfriend keeps glaring at me.”

Tempest took this as a cue to glare even harder at the alicorn. The way he was casually dismissing both her and Twilight was beginning to wear on Tempest’s nerves. Normally, Tempest knew how to keep her cool during tense situations. Her earlier bickering with Twilight had shortened her temper, however, and this alicorn’s flippant attitude was only making things worse.

“What makes you think you’re going to get a chance to leave?” Tempest asked. “What do you have planned? Teleportation? Do you really think you can cast a spell before the Princess stops you?”

The alicorn sighed and lifted his brass hoof to his face, clumsily brushing his greasy mane aside. The Staff of Sacanas became enveloped in an aura of white magic and drifted to the alicorn’s side.

“Ah, the ‘princess’,” the alicorn mused. “I suppose you’re the pony to talk to if I want a message delivered to Celestia, yes?”

“I mean, she has a PO Box, dude,” Spike chimed in. “You could just send a letter. You don’t need to break into a thing just to talk to her.”

The alicorn ignored Spike’s comment and began to survey the room. His eyes seemed to be focusing not on the ponies in front of him, but on the empty space between them. For just a moment, the alicorn’s eye twitched and the glow of magic from his horn intensified.

Twilight didn’t want to see whatever it was he had planned. She began to focus the magic in her horn, ready to counter the alicorn’s spell. Twilight lifted her leg to take a step forward…

Only her hoof remained firmly planted on the stone basement floor.

Twilight looked down at her hooves in confusion. To her shock, the floor of the basement was no longer there. Instead of the dark, stone bricks that Twilight had become accustomed to during her descent into the vaults, there was… well, nothing; just a black, unending darkness in place of a floor. A blackness that everypony except for the mysterious alicorn was slowly sinking into.

Twilight flapped her wings, desperately struggling to free herself from the void she was falling into. All she managed to do was tire her wings out. Trying to levitate herself with magic yielded similar results. Spike’s cries of panic and tugging on Twilight’s mane weren’t helping, either.

Tempest was struggling as well, angrily trying to pull her hooves off of the ground. They weren’t sinking terribly quickly, but her hooves were still almost magnetically stuck to the surface of the void below. Looking around, Tempest saw that the unconscious guards were all firmly stuck, as well. Sparks of magic erupted from Tempest’s horn in frustration.

“You don’t need to panic so much,” the alicorn said, annoyed. “I’m just sending you somewhere else. It’s a basic portal spell. Stop freaking out.” He spoke with all of the impatient frustration of a foalsitter trying to calm down a foal who didn’t want to eat peas.

Twilight looked up at the alicorn, gritting her teeth as she continued to struggle. Her expression slacked in shock, however, when she saw the strange changes he was going through. Shimmering, black and green cracks were beginning to form in his horn, and his expression was warped from exertion.

“When you go tattle to Celestia that I stole this stick, give her a message from me.” The alicorn scowled down at Twilight as she sunk further and further. His expression twitched a bit, as if in pain. “Tell her that when everything in Equestria rots and dies, it’ll all be on her. Everything I’m about to do? It’s all her fault.”

“What are you—” Twilight felt her words die in her throat as a strange sensation overcame her. She could feel herself being pulled apart, almost. It was a bizarre, buzzing feeling, as if every particle in her body was being disassembled and dragged away. She could feel herself sinking into the portal, faster and faster, her eyes locked on the alicorn’s.

As the room began to fade away, the alicorn began to smirk at the rapidly disappearing ponies.

“And when she asks for a name, you can tell her that Cosmos is back.”

When Twilight’s friends returned to the throne room to meet with Princess Celestia and Luna, they immediately knew something was off. Twilight wasn’t there. Ordinarily, she would have been the first one back in the throne room. But when Rainbow Dash and the others arrived, Celestia and Luna were the only ones waiting for them.

“Maybe she ran into somepony,” Fluttershy suggested. She wasn’t particularly worried; none of them were. They had no reason to suspect something bad had happened to Twilight in her own hometown.

“But it’s been fifteen minutes, Fluttershy,” Rarity pointed out. “With how worried she was about this star business, you’d think she’d make her way here post haste.”

“I am certain Twilight Sparkle has only allowed herself to become momentarily distracted,” Luna said from where she stood beside her sister. “To be honest, I am eager to discuss this matter with the stars, myself.”

“Should we go look for her?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I don’t wanna stick around just waiting for Twilight so show up.”

“Be patient, my little ponies.” Celestia gave a motherly smile to Twilight’s friends. While she shared their mild concerns, Celestia didn’t see any reason to form a search party just yet. “I’m certain Twilight Sparkle is on her way here as we speak.”

As soon as Celestia finished saying this, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Tempest Shadow fell from the ceiling. They were joined by about a dozen unconscious guards, who fell onto the stone floor of the throne room with a soft thud.

“There they are!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

As her friends gathered around her, Twilight slowly got up onto her hooves. She felt as if she’d just spent an hour spinning around in circles. The alicorn’s portal spell wasn’t exactly smooth traveling. Gradually, Twilight steadied herself and looked around at everypony else who’d traveled through the portal with her.

The guards were still all unconscious, though from the sounds of their groaning, they’d be coming out of it soon. Spike was already up and wobbling around, looking like he’d just gotten off of the world’s most dizzying roller coaster. Tempest was the only other pony who looked like she’d regained her composure even a little bit. She was standing up, but her eyes didn’t seem to know where to look.

“What in tarnation just happened?” asked Applejack as she reached out a hoof to help steady Twilight. Twilight grabbed onto the hoof appreciatively, and didn’t let go until the room stopped spinning.

“Princesses,” Tempest said, looking vaguely in Celestia and Luna’s direction. “We’re robbery.”

“I… beg your pardon?” Celestia asked.

“I thought her name was Tempest,” Luna whispered to her sister. “Who’s Robbery?”

“No,” Twilight said. The vertigo was finally beginning to die down. “What she means is there’s been a robbery. Somepony has broken into the royal vaults and stolen the staff… thing.”

Celestia and Luna both exchanged a concerned look.

“The royal vaults have not been broken into for over five hundred years,” Celestia said, stunned. “Do you know how the thief bypassed the alicorn security measure which guards the reliquary?”

“He didn’t need to bypass it,” Tempest explained. She’d more or less steadied herself, but her head was starting to pound fiercely. “He just walked right in. The thief was an alicorn.”

A look appeared on Celestia’s face that Twilight had never seen before. It was something like shock, but seemed much more intense. Luna also had a look of horrified surprise on her face. The two royal sisters glanced at each other, communicating wordlessly, and then looked back to Twilight and Tempest.

“He was an alicorn?” Celestia repeated, putting emphasis on the word ‘he’. Twilight couldn’t blame the princess for being surprised; in all of Twilight’s research, she didn’t remember ever reading about a male alicorn. Then again, alicorns weren’t exactly as common as unicorns. There wasn’t much information to go off of.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “An alicorn stallion. One with a gray coat and a long, black mane.”

“His right front hoof was missing,” Tempest added matter-of-factly. “He looked sleep-deprived, as well; he had heavy, black bags under his eyes.”

Twilight nodded in agreement and turned back to the princesses. She was shocked to see that the looks of surprise on their faces had escalated into pure horror. Celestia had extended a hoof towards Luna, who was helping her older sister stay standing. Twilight had never seen the princesses quite so shaken.

“Twilight,” Celestia said slowly. She hesitated, taking a deep breath, and then looked into Twilight’s eyes. “This is very, very important. Did this alicorn say his name? Did he even hint at his name?”

The look in Celestia’s eyes told Twilight that the princesses already suspected what the alicorn’s name was. And for some reason, these suspicions were terrifying them.

“He was…” Twilight hesitated for just a moment. For some reason, she was almost afraid to tell Celestia and Luna the alicorn’s name. But keeping it a secret wasn’t going to help anypony. If they knew who this stranger was, they might know where he was going or what he was planning.

With that in mind, Twilight took a deep breath and gave the princesses their answer.

“Cosmos,” she said. “He said his name was Cosmos.”

The words hung in the air for a few seconds that felt like hours. Everypony watched the expressions on the princesses’ faces change as the name fully set in. There was fear, shock, sorrow, and a host of other emotions Twilight couldn’t even begin to recognize.

Celestia swooned, reaching out a hoof to brace herself on her sister.

“All these years…” Celestia muttered. “All these years and he shows up like this?”

“Have faith, sister,” Luna said as she struggled to maintain her own composure. She brought a reassuring hoof to her sister’s chest, trying to help calm her. “Do not assume the worst. There is bound to be an explanation for all of this.”

“Hey, if there’s an explanation, you mind letting us in on it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around everypony falling from the ceiling.”

“It was Cosmos,” Tempest explained. She sounded slightly bitter when she revealed this fact. “He was able to utilize some sort of… portal spell. With that kind of magic, he’s probably long gone from the vaults.”

“Portals?” Celestia repeated, still reeling. “That doesn’t make sense. Cosmos could never utilize magic that sophisticated. He struggled with basic levitation for years!”

Twilight had a difficult time imagining an alicorn having difficulty with basic magic. She knew of unicorns with magical disabilities, of course; it was as natural as pegasi who couldn’t fly, or earth ponies who couldn’t do earth pony things. But an alicorn with a magical disability seemed absurd to Twilight somehow.

A thought occurred to Twilight. Over the years, Celestia had had many students, and had taken a great interest in the lives of alicorns or potential alicorns. That was why she had mentored Twilight, and why she had adopted Cadence as a niece. Was Cosmos another one of these ponies who had drawn Celestia’s attention?

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked. “This Cosmos… was he another one of your students?”

Celestia looked at Twilight as if she were speaking some alien language. The princess took a deep breath, put a hoof to her head, and did her best to get her thoughts straight. When Celestia finally felt as if she were over the shock of Twilight’s news, she finally spoke.

“Not… as such, Twilight.” Celestia sighed. “Cosmos was… is…”

Twilight had never seen the princess struggle to find her words like this. Celestia always seemed so sure, so certain. Now, however, she seemed truly shaken, and it was almost as if Celestia didn’t know how to deal with her loss for words.

Finally, Celestia steeled herself and simply let the words fall out.

“Cosmos is our brother, Twilight.”

The silence in the throne room was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife. After a while, the groaning of waking guards began to bring reality back. Twilight and her friends looked around as the guards slowly began getting back onto their hooves. None of them seemed to be suffering from the dizziness that Twilight had been. Unconsciousness was probably the thing that’d saved them.

“Oh, jeez,” one of the guards said. “What’d I miss?”

“I have no doubt you all have many questions.”

“Not really!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I’m pretty content!”

After all of the unconscious guards had woken up, and after Celestia had given them some time to rest, the throne room was quickly deemed an inappropriate place for the conversation that would follow. Without much explanation, Celestia and Luna brought Twilight and her friends into the royal libraries to continue their talk.

Everypony, Spike included, had gathered around a large table sat in the middle of the well-maintained library. Luna spent some time scouring the book shelves before bringing a large, dusty tome to the proceedings. Inscribed on the cover in gold print was ‘LINEAGE OF ROYALTY’.

“Very few ponies know about our lives before we became princesses,” Luna said as she magically opened the book. “However, before Star Swirl the Bearded approached us with the offer to become Equestria’s protectors…”

“Wait, hold on,” Tempest said, slowly raising a hoof. “You two became princesses? Some pony just walked up to you and asked you if you wanted to rule a kingdom? There’s no line of succession?”

Celestia and Luna both exchanged a glance. They weren’t really used to these sorts of questions. Tempest had spent the last few years serving under a king, so it was natural she’d wonder why Equestria only had princesses. Still, it wasn’t really the point of this little get-together.

“Tempest, we can discuss Equestria’s royal family later, darling,” Rarity said to the confused unicorn. “For now, I think we’d all like to have this Cosmos business sorted out.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said. “Please, Princess, continue.”

“Cosmos’s existence is not widely known,” Celestia said solemnly. “I would wager that only dedicated historians or researchers would even know his name. That is because we were… separated from our brother before history truly had its eye on us.”

“Begging your pardon, princess, but what do you mean by ‘separated’?” Applejack asked worriedly. As someone with a younger sibling of her own, Applejack found herself emphasizing with the princesses, even if the whole story hadn’t come out yet.

“It is not a fond memory of ours,” Luna said solemnly. She had finished flipping through the pages of the Lineage of Royalty, and had opened the book to a family tree diagram. At the very top of the tree, connected by a solid black line, were Celestia and Luna. No mention of any parents.

Twilight noticed, however, a small asterisk next to Celestia’s name. She immediately began searching the page for the corresponding footnote. Finally, she found it; at the very bottom of the page, in very small print, were three fairly unilluminating words:

‘Possible third sibling?’

“When Luna and I were young, we and Cosmos were raised by a small tribe of alicorns,” Celestia began as Twilight continued perusing the book. “We received a basic education in magic, flight, and the ways of our kind. Luna and I both excelled in magic, while Cosmos…”

Celestia trailed off, trying to think of a good way to phrase what she needed to say. After a second of silence, Luna took over.

“As we said before, Cosmos had certain disadvantages when it came to magic,” Luna said. “He struggled with getting the magic within himself to flow outwards. In these modern times, he would have been diagnosed with magical blockage syndrome.”

“Magical what now?” Rainbow repeated, staring blankly at the princesses.

“It’s a condition which severely limits a unicorn’s magical abilities,” Twilight explained, switching over into egghead mode. “MBS, as the name suggests, creates magical blockages inside of a unicorn’s horn. It’s fairly uncommon; only about one in fifty unicorns is born with MBS.”

“And unlike certain conditions, MBS is treatable.” Tempest added, a trace of bitterness in her voice. “A powerful magical surge from an outside source can potentially clear out the blockages. Either that, or seriously overload the unicorn’s brain.”

An uncomfortable silence settled in. Nopony wanted to ask why Tempest knew about that, or what ‘overloading a brain’ constituted. They all had their own theories, however.

“Cosmos flourished in many non-magical fields,” Celestia continued. “Flight, combat, the culinary arts… But over the years, as he observed Luna and I hone our magical talents, he grew frustrated. He started to think of himself as a failure, and became desperate to fix whatever was stopping him from reaching his potential.”

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy whispered sympathetically. She knew how damaging failure could be to a pony’s self-esteem; everypony at the table did.

“At the time, I did not realize how difficult magic truly was for Cosmos,” Celestia said. She looked off to the side, as if trying to avert everypony else’s gaze. “Magic came so simply for us; it never even occurred to me that it was different for our brother. I believed that Cosmos simply wasn’t applying himself. I thought…”

Celestia closed her eyes, trailing off. Some sad memory was beginning to surface; one that looked as if it might bring the princess to tears. Once again, Twilight found herself seeing her former mentor in a new, more vulnerable light. Luna, seeing her sister at a loss for words, continued the explanation.

“As the years went on, Cosmos grew more and more obsessed with finding a way to let his magic flow more freely,” Luna said. “He ventured to places of power and consumed various potions and tinctures. Nothing he did succeeded in improving his magic, however, and with each failure he grew more and more bitter.

“Eventually, Cosmos began to research the very nature of magic itself,” Luna continued as Celestia regained her composure. “He read everything he could on the natural flow of magic throughout the world. Eventually, he found something.”

“The Heart of Equestria,” Celestia chimed in. All eyes looked to her in surprise.

“The Heart of Equestria is a focal point for all of the magic that flows throughout Equestria and beyond,” Celestia explained. “It serves as a sort of balancing stone, ensuring that all natural magic gets to where it needs to go. Cosmos became convinced that by coming into contact with the raw, natural magic contained in the Heart, he could solve all of his problems.”

Something told Twilight that things hadn’t gone according to plan for Cosmos. Messing around with an object that maintained the balance of magic in Equestria was a surefire recipe for disaster. Twilight couldn’t even consider the number of ways that tampering with the Heart could go wrong.

“So what happened?” Spike asked, practically standing in his chair so he could be better seen. “Did this Cosmos guy go after the Heart? Did you have to banish him like Nightmare Moon?”

Luna gave Spike a small glare at the mention of her alter ego. Chuckling awkwardly, the young dragon sank down into his seat.

“When Cosmos came to us to tell us about the Heart of Equestria, he wanted us to come with him,” Celestia said. “As I said before, I was not aware of the nature of his disability. I thought he was simply being lazy. And after pestering us about the Heart for a bit, I… may have let him know my opinion.”

Celestia sighed in shame, lifting her hoof to her head.

“We exchanged words. Harsh words,” Celestia said. “In the end, Cosmos ran off by himself in the middle of the night. Stubborn filly that I was, I refused to chase after him. I was certain he would return home within a few days at most.”

“As you might guess by our surprise at hearing of his return, that was not the case,” Luna said. “We have not heard from our younger brother in over a thousand years.”

“Please, try to understand.” Celestia said suddenly, speaking in a defensive tone. “After three days, we went after him. But the Heart of Equestria is located at the center of a treacherous forest known as the Undergrowth. Our every attempt to locate Cosmos was thwarted before we could make any progress.

“This all occurred years before Luna and I became Equestria’s princesses. Gradually, our duties to our kingdom began to eat up any time we could have devoted to searching for Cosmos.”

“That is not to say we gave up,” Luna said. “We sent search parties into the Undergrowth, time and time again. The ones that returned found nothing. In the end, I suppose we lost hope.”

“What about the search parties that didn’t return?” Pinkie asked suspiciously. “What did they find?”

“Okay, this has all been real interesting,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. “But why did Cosmos bust into Canterlot, knock out a buncha guards, and steal the Staff of… of…” Rainbow glanced over at Tempest, clearly at a loss. “Yo, Tempest, help me out here.”

“Sacanas,” Tempest Shadow said dryly. After her years serving the Storm King, she’d gotten used to reminding people about the staff’s name. “The staff can be used to steal alicorn magic. I have no idea what an alicorn would want with it.”

Twilight frowned as she considered the facts. It wasn’t easy; she had a lot of new information to process. Everything about Cosmos, his relationship with the princesses, and the Heart of Equestria was buzzing around inside of Twilight’s head. It didn’t help at all that Twilight was still concerned about the vanishing stars.

The stars.

Twilight’s eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. Her head snapped up to look at Luna, catching the Princess of the Night by surprise.

“Princess,” Twilight said. “The stars; they’re old magic, right?”

Luna looked around in confusion. She was apparently unsure as to why Twilight was quizzing her on magic.

“Yes,” Luna said slowly. “The stars are very old magic. The stars are some of the first things to come into existence in the universe.”

“Okay,” Twilight said. She placed her hooves on the table as she tried to untangle the theory in her head. “So if somepony were to tamper with the balance of magic, the oldest magic might be the first to go screwy, right?”

“Screwy?” Luna repeated.

“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed, quickly catching on to what Twilight was saying. “The stars, darling! You’re saying they’re disappearing because of Cosmos and the Heart of Equestria!”

“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed. “I mean, probably! Maybe? We’re dealing with a lot of unknowns here.”

“Wait,” Tempest said, looking off to the side. “If he went after the Heart a thousand years ago, why are the stars only disappearing now? And why would he go after the Staff of Sacanas?”

Twilight frowned. She didn’t know how to answer that first question. Clearly, they were still missing a few pieces of the puzzle. But Twilight thought she had a good guess of an answer for the second question. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an answer she liked very much.

“Tempest,” Twilight said, turning to the pony who knew the most about the staff. “If the Staff of Sacanas can drain magic from an alicorn… is it possible that it could also work in reverse?”

Tempest blinked. “What, you mean could an alicorn use the staff to drain magic directly into themselves?” She asked. “I suppose so? It’s not as if anyone has ever tested that theory. The staff belonged to the lord of a far-off land before an Arimaspi king stole it. I don’t believe an alicorn has ever gotten their hooves on it.”

“You mean until now,” Applejack pointed out.

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “This is a bit of a longshot, but I think I know what Cosmos is planning. I know why he’s stolen the staff, and maybe why the stars are starting to disappear.”

“I thought you just said why the stars are disappearing,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s because Cosmos messed around with the Heart of Equestria, right?”

Twilight nodded slowly. Her brain felt like it was on fire. It always did when she came up with ideas like this. Twilight was well-aware that she was making a few leaps of logic here, but even then she felt that this was the most-likely explanation.

“Right,” Twilight said. “He’s tampered with the Heart. And maybe that’s how he’s suddenly more powerful than before. But I’m willing to bet that, whatever it was he did, it wasn’t enough. And now he wants to take another shot at getting even more power."

Twilight lifted her head and looked around the table at everypony sitting with her in the library. Some of them were reaching the same conclusion as her. The princesses in particular both seemed terrified at what was being implied.

“The first time was just a trial run,” Twilight concluded. “Now he plans on using the Staff of Sacanas to drain the Heart of Equestria’s magic.”

Author's Note

This is the first chapter I seriously rewrote, and as such I'm not super confident.

I feel like I broke the whole 'show, don't tell' rule with that little exposition dump I did.

Student-Teacher Conflicts

It had been only a few hours since the meeting in the library. The night sky (with noticeably fewer stars) was hanging above Equestria, as per usual. To the ponies of Equestria, it must have seemed like an ordinary night. But for Twilight and her friends, recent discoveries were weighing heavily on them.

They shouldn’t have been resting; that was Twilight’s opinion. They needed to chase after Cosmos before he could head into the Undergrowth and drain the Heart of Equestria. But the princesses had both claimed that a trek through the Undergrowth would take three days. They’d insisted that everypony rest before anyone went after Cosmos.

Try as Twilight might, however, sleep wouldn’t come. The comfortable guest bed she’d been provided went to waste as Twilight lay awake, staring up at the ceiling. While Spike snoozed on a cot in the corner, Twilight struggled to rest her busy mind.

It was a no go, unfortunately. Twilight still had too many questions and doubts floating around inside of her head. Today had been insane, and Twilight had a feeling that the coming days would only be crazier.

Since sleep was so far-off, Twilight climbed out of bed, trotted out of the room, and wandered into the halls of Canterlot Castle.

The castle was still and silent, the only sounds being the far-off noises of the night cleaning staff. Twilight walked through the dimly lit halls, on towards Princess Celestia’s chambers. She had no idea if her mentor would be awake; Twilight seriously doubted it, given how hectic the day must have been for her. Still, Twilight needed someone to talk to, and Celestia was the first pony to come to mind.

Thankfully, when Twilight reached Celestia’s bed chambers, she saw that she wasn’t the only one having a restless night. Light was pouring out from beneath the bedroom door. Twilight supposed it was possible Princess Celestia was just sleeping with the light on, but she was fairly certain that wasn’t the case. With that in mind, Twilight knocked on the door.

“You may enter.”

Twilight gently pushed the door open with her hoof and trotted into the room. Princess Celestia wasn’t in bed; instead, she was stretched out on a couch in the corner, looking over a collection of books. The princess looked up from her studies and gave Twilight a small, tired smile as she closed the door.

“Excuse me for intruding, Princess,” Twilight said, but Celestia cut her off by raising a hoof.

“This is no intrusion, Twilight Sparkle. It seems we are both having trouble sleeping.”

Twilight let loose a sigh, and all the regal formality she’d been carrying left her. She trotted tiredly to Celestia’s side and sat down, resting on her haunches. Celestia sighed as well and closed the book she was inspecting, carefully marking her place as she did so.

“What is it that’s troubling you, Twilight?” Celestia asked, concerned.

Twilight looked off to the side. She wasn’t exactly sure how to put what she wanted to say; it was a bit silly, after all. Still, keeping secrets from Princess Celestia was no way to do things.

“It’s just…” Twilight sighed and turned back to Celestia. “You’ve never talked about Cosmos before. There’s no mention of him anywhere in Equestria’s history. I know that’s because he ran away when you were young, but… Princess, I feel like you’ve been keeping this from me—from all of us, for years.”

Celestia listened as Twilight let her feelings out into the open. When Twilight finished, she recognized something in Celestia’s eyes. The princess looked ashamed; guilty, almost. Twilight found herself feeling as if she’d done something wrong by bringing up her concerns. The princess hid her feelings well enough, however.

“It has never been my intent to keep things from you, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said. “I apologize. But talking about Cosmos serves no purpose except to make me aware of my failures as a sister.”

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but once again Celestia raised a hoof to silence her.

“Please, Twilight, do not argue with me on this,” Celestia said. “Because I did not see how much trouble Cosmos was having, he ran away. Because I did not see how jealous Luna was, she became Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia looked down at the floor, an expression of deep sorrow on her face. “The ponies of Equestria look to me for leadership. How would they look at me if they knew the ways I’ve failed my own family?”

Once again, Twilight found herself seeing Princess Celestia in a new light. She’d never seen the princess quite so vulnerable. The air of nobility and perfection Celestia usually gave off was gone. For the first time, Twilight saw Celestia not as a mentor or an idol, but as another pony.

Celestia noticed the way Twilight was looking at her and chuckled sadly. “I’m sorry; I’m being a bit of a downer, aren’t I? It’s difficult to stay upbeat right now, I’m afraid. I have far too much on my mind.”

“You aren’t alone,” Twilight chuckled. It felt odd to be the one offering support to Celestia for once. “But don’t worry. My friends and I will stop him before he does anything to upset the flow of magic in Equestria.”

Twilight had meant to sound reassuring, but for some reason Celestia was looking away from her. Twilight began wondering if she’d said something wrong. Finally, after a moment of awkward silence, Celestia spoke. What she said threw Twilight for a loop.

“Twilight, I am going to have to ask you and your friends to stand down in this matter,” Celestia said quietly. “Luna and I will deal with Cosmos ourselves.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She wasn’t sure what to say. Had she done something to cause Celestia to lose faith in her? Was Celestia upset that Twilight hadn’t captured Cosmos when she encountered him in the vaults? That wasn’t like Celestia at all, though. Despite Twilight’s fears, she knew Celestia wasn’t the type of pony to hold someone’s failures against them.

“Are you sure, princess?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“You told me that Cosmos was able to cast a spell which opened a portal beneath your hooves,” Celestia said. “If that is the case, Cosmos’s MBS has been cured. There is a good chance he is as powerful as Luna and I.”

“Princess, I appreciate your concern,” Twilight said, “but we’ve handled powerful threats before. We defeated Discord, and the Pony of Shadows, and Chrysalis. We can face Cosmos, as well. We can bring your brother home.”

Celestia shook her head sadly. The Princess of the Sun lifted herself up onto her haunches, towering over Twilight from up on her couch.

“I know you have proven yourself time and time again, Twilight. I know that you and your friends have triumphed over impossible odds together. But I cannot ask you to face this challenge. Not this time. I do not believe you would be able to triumph.”

“But why?” Twilight asked. The question wound up coming out a bit more confrontational than she’d intended.

In all the years that she had known Celestia, the princess had always believed in Twilight. Even when Twilight hadn’t believed in herself, Celestia had been sure of her student’s success. But now, that support felt like it was just gone.

Having Celestia say that she didn’t think Twilight could deal with this was so strange that it made Twilight feel as if the floor had fallen out from under her. Twilight almost felt like she was about to fall through another portal.

“Is it because he’s your brother? Is it because of something you’re not telling me? Princess, please explain this to me; I need to know!”

Princess Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped. The princess looked off to the side, an almost ashamed expression on her face. When she spoke, it was in a tone of voice that Twilight had never heard from her before.

“I am scared, Twilight.” Celestia said, her voice shaking. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Cosmos has been gone since we were children. I do not know how he has changed in the many years since I last saw him. I do not know what he will do if someone tries to stop him. I fear that he… he…”

Though Celestia was unable to say what she wanted, Twilight understood almost right away.

“Are you scared he might… ‘hurt’ me?” Twilight asked. When she said ‘hurt’, of course, she was actually talking about something much worse than just being hurt. When Twilight said ‘hurt’, she was talking about going the way of the Storm King.

Celestia bit her bottom lip. Twilight had never seen the princess quite so anxious before. Of course, Twilight knew that the princess had fears and worries just like anypony else. Twilight had just never gotten a front row seat to those feelings before.

“I do not know,” Celestia said tiredly. “I just don’t know, Twilight. But I cannot stop thinking about what could have happened when you met him in the royal vaults.”

Twilight felt a pang in her chest. Her failure to do anything when she met Cosmos was still weighing on her. Twilight knew a hundred spells she could have used to stop Cosmos. But the shock of seeing a male alicorn had thrown Twilight for such a loop that she hadn’t been able to do anything.

Thankfully, of course, nopony had gotten hurt. But Twilight still felt ashamed for not doing anything.

And now Celestia was losing confidence in Twilight because of her failure.

“He didn’t really do anything,” Twilight pointed out quietly. “He could have, but he didn’t. He didn’t even really hurt the guards; he just used a spell to knock them out. I know that Cosmos’s plan will put a lot of ponies in danger, but I don’t think he wants to deliberately hurt anypony.”

Well, aside from Princess Celestia. Cosmos had said that, when he drained the magic from the Heart of Equestria and turned the kingdom into a lifeless husk, it would be her fault. That was a pretty clear threat.

Aside from that, though, Cosmos actually seemed to be actively avoiding hurting anypony.

Unfortunately, Celestia didn’t seem convinced by Twilight’s argument. The look that the princess was giving her told Twilight that Celestia might not be convinced by any argument. Celestia wore the sad frown of a mare who’d already decided to do something bad in somepony else’s best interest.

“I am sorry, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said. “But my mind has been made up. You and your friends will return home. Luna and I will go into the Undergrowth in pursuit of Cosmos.”

Twilight blinked a few times, her mouth hanging open. She wanted to ask why Celestia was being so stubborn. She wanted to ask why they couldn’t just work together on this. Most of all, though, Twilight wanted to ask her mentor why she wasn’t thinking straight. Why wasn’t she able to see that she was actively sticking with a bad decision?

But Twilight feared that, no matter what she said, it would come out angry. And the idea of getting into a shouting match with Princess Celestia was too much for Twilight to bear.

So instead, Twilight Sparkle just said, “Good night, Princess.”

Twilight didn’t stand around and wait for Celestia to respond. Before the princess could wish her student good night, Twilight turned and walked out of Celestia’s bedroom, magically closing the doors behind her.

Twilight stood outside of the closed doors, all alone in the dark castle hallway. It took a moment for Twilight to realize she was upset. The emotions didn’t come all at once; rather, Twilight felt herself begin to slowly uncover them. It was as if reality was only just now sinking in.

She was angry. She was sad. Most of all, though, Twilight felt a sense of betrayal she couldn’t shake away. How could the princess, one of the wisest ponies in Equestria, act like this? Hadn’t she read Twilight’s friendship reports? Celestia should have known better.

Deep down, Twilight knew that Celestia wasn’t thinking straight. She knew that the return of Cosmos had drawn out some long-buried pain from inside of the princess. But that didn’t make Twilight feel any better.

It made her feel worse, in fact; because it made Twilight realize that Celestia, no matter how wise and benevolent she was, was just a pony like everypony else.

Twilight felt sick. As she marched back to her guest room, she had a feeling that sleep wouldn’t be coming easily.

And yet, when she laid her head down on the pillow, exhaustion quickly claimed her.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open, and at once she knew she was dreaming. A swirling aurora hung in the violet night sky. There were too many stars to count, and an enormous moon hung up above. A familiar silhouette was floating down from the moon as Twilight sat up to greet its owner.

While Luna slowly descended, Twilight found that her dreaming state did little to ease the unease in her chest. She knew the best thing to do would be to tell Celestia just how she felt, but Twilight still felt too upset to talk to the princess. Maybe in a day or two she’d feel better, but for now Twilight wanted nothing to do with Celestia.

Luna, however, Twilight felt she could talk to.

The Princess of the Night had a sad, understanding smile on her face. It was a smile that told Twilight that Luna already knew about Celestia’s decision. Facing that smile, Twilight found she was unable to do anything except hang her head sadly.

Princess Luna reached out a hoof and placed it on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Listen to me, Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna walked past Twilight, trotting across the featureless ground beneath them. Twilight turned to follow, but stopped herself before she could trot after the princess. Twilight had a feeling she was just supposed to sit and listen to whatever Luna had to say.

“I am aware that my sister is not in her best state of mind,” Luna said. “But she has not lost faith in you, Twilight Sparkle. In this matter, however, she has her doubts over whether you can properly deal with Cosmos.”

“Princess, that’s exactly what ‘losing faith’ means,” Twilight pointed out. “She doesn’t think we can face Cosmos. But she’s wrong.”

“Perhaps,” Luna mused. The princess trotted forward a bit before she came to a stop. The Princess of the Night looked up at the swirling sky above them, admiring the world that Twilight had dreamed up.

“You are right to be upset,” Luna said. “But my sister is also right to doubt you. From what you’ve told us, Cosmos’s magic has grown considerably in the last thousand years. If he has become as powerful as my sister and I, I do not know that you could face him and emerge victorious.”

Great. This again.

“However,” Luna continued, “I know better than my sister that you and your friends are more than capable of defeating a malevolent alicorn.” A small smile graced Luna’s face as she looked playfully at Twilight. “I do not know for certain if you can defeat Cosmos, but I am willing to take the bet.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say to that. While she was grateful for Luna’s support, Celestia’s doubts still made Twilight ache inside. Luna seemed to notice Twilight’s dissatisfaction and once again placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

“Celestia blames herself for Cosmos’s disappearance,” Luna said gently. “For years, she has dealt with her guilt in silence. Now that Cosmos has returned, those feelings have resurfaced. She does not wish to see her most prized student be put into danger because of her mistakes.”

“I understand that,” Twilight said. “I do. But just because I understand it doesn’t mean I’m okay with it. I know my friends and I can help Celestia.”

Twilight sighed. “But she won’t let us. She probably won’t even tell us where the Undergrowth is.”

Luna pondered Twilight’s words for a few moments, and then seemed to reach some kind of conclusion. The alicorn bowed her head, touching the tip of her horn to Twilight’s. Luna’s eyes seemed to light up as a magical transference seemed to take place.

A vision appeared in Twilight’s head. It was so vivid, so clear, that the dream around her seemed to disappear. Twilight could see a vast, tropical forest, thick with humidity. Animal cries and birdsong surrounded Twilight. Everywhere she looked, Twilight could see plants she had never seen before.

But something was odd. There was no sunlight, and yet the forest was visible. When Twilight looked up, she saw why; there was no sky. Instead, there was the massive stone ceiling of some underground cavern. Luminous crystals hung from above, shining blue light down into the forest below.

Twilight only had a few moments to stare in amazement at the strange environment she found herself in, however. In an instant, Twilight felt herself be pulled upwards by some powerful, unseen force. She passed through the cavern and emerged above ground, but still she didn’t stop. Twilight continued going upwards until she could see the entirety of the Kingdom of Equestria beneath her. As if looking at the map, one spot was indicated by a bright, red X.

“The Undergrowth,” Twilight whispered.

As soon as the words escaped her mouth, Twilight found herself back in the dream. Luna was lifting her head away, her eyes having returned to normal. It took Twilight a moment to properly realize what had just happened.

There was a map inside of Twilight’s head now; one that led to the Undergrowth. And at the center of the Undergrowth was the Heart of Equestria.

“The Undergrowth… is underground?” Twilight asked, stunned. Well, that explained the name, at least.

“Celestia plans on leaving for the Undergrowth after she raises the sun in the morning,” Luna said hastily. “Cadence is already on her way from the Crystal Empire to fulfill our duties. If you truly intend on going to the Undergrowth, I would suggest that you leave before my sister and I. I will try and convince Celestia that your help is needed.”

It hurt Twilight to know that Celestia needed convincing in the first place. But whatever. Now wasn’t the time to be upset. Now was the time to ready the cavalry, so to speak.

“Thank you for your help, Princess Luna,” Twilight said with a small bow. “I promise you, my friends and I will stop Cosmos before he reaches the Heart of Equestria.”

Luna returned the bow. When she lifted her head, she had a small, confident smile on her face. That smile was the last thing Twilight saw before she woke up.

Author's Note

This chapter was rewritten several times. No matter how I handled it, the conflict between Twilight and Celestia never felt right. It always felt very forced.

I'm a little happier with this version, but I'm aware that it isn't perfect. Arguments can be hard to write.