A dreamless sleep was probably the greatest mercy Twilight could've asked for, and she wished it could've lasted longer, but once her mind started ticking over, she knew it was pointless to try and go back to sleep.

The previous day's events replayed themselves slowly within her head. How could they not? Celestia's betrayal, intentional or otherwise, was just too significant. And yet, the events in Nostralis were destined to become but a footnote in the history of the war. There was simply too much going on to dwell on it.

Twilight briefly wondered if everything became a footnote if you lived long enough. The events of the war would become footnotes, then the war itself would become one, and eventually the events of the entire century would. Alicorns lived on too grand a scale for them not to, or so it seemed to her.

That thought was too depressing for Twilight to want to spend long on, and with nothing else to occupy her that wasn't also depressing, she got up to begin the business of the day. A day that would hopefully contain less disappointments and unpleasant surprises than the day before.

Breakfast was basic, being nothing more than an apple and some water. Anything fancier required time and effort that she wasn't willing to devote to a simple meal. A bowl of cereal would've been nice, but it had been weeks, if not months, since she'd had milk, and cereal without milk was pointless. Truly, the most unappreciated sign of the end times was the difficulty in getting milk to put on cereal, if they'd even had cereal to put it on.

Twilight laughed quietly at herself, then left the small kitchen to go and see who else was around. It was fairly quiet for now, and as she passed the tiny areas the others had claimed for themselves, she could see Cadence and Flurry were still sleeping, with Cadence holding onto Flurry for dear life. Her brow occasionally furrowed with what Twilight assumed to be dreams, and Twilight knew they couldn't be good ones.

Unfortunately for Cadence, there wasn't to be any relief from her dreams, because Luna didn't appear to be back, and the other alicorn capable of helping had vowed to stay out of the dreamscape as long as Luna drew breath, which Twilight had easily translated as meaning forever. Perhaps that wasn't unreasonable, considering her history with the place.

Trixie, Sunset, and Ember were still asleep, along with Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor, but the beds that Moondancer and Mayfly used were empty, as were Luna's and Nightmare's. Since they weren't getting breakfast, she could only assume that they were in the observation area, which she headed to. As she expected, they were indeed there.

"Morning," Twilight said in simple greeting, getting a small nod from Moondancer, which was almost exuberant for her standards. Nightmare gave her a taut smile, and resumed staring out of the window at something. Mayfly didn't respond at all though, and sat clutching her stomach.

"Is something wrong, Mayfly?"

"My tummy hurts, and it keeps making funny noises."

"It sounds like you're hungry."

"That's what I said," Nightmare intoned, not taking her eyes away from the window.

"But I have all the love I could need now, so why am I hungry? And why does it feel all rumbly?"

"Your body wants actual food."

"But changelings don't need food!" Mayfly wailed in frustration.

"You aren't exactly your typical changeling any more, so who knows what other changes might've come along with that. Go to the kitchen, eat something, and the rumbling should stop."

Mayfly didn't move for several seconds, then lowered her head with a sigh. "I hate this body and its stupid biological needs. Old body was much easier, even if hungry for love most of time. Next thing you know I'll be defecating."

"Quite possibly," Twilight said stiffly, not wanting to go into that much detail. Thankfully it seemed she didn't have to as Mayfly slunk away in search of sustenance. Instead, Twilight wandered over to Nightmare and sat next to her. "What's up with you?"

"The pony you could consider my nemesis, Princess Celestia, has been turned into the puppet of Faust. I'm not saying this is a good thing, because apparently it makes her more dangerous, not less, but you'd think I'd at least find some amusement in it. Instead I'm just... kind of... sad, I guess? I have no idea why, and it's bothering me."

Moondancer looked up over the top of her book at Nightmare, "For a being that spends so much time insisting they're not Nightmare Moon, you also spend a lot of time acting like you are her. If you aren't Nightmare Moon, why is Celestia your nemesis?"

"I- You- I-" Nightmare spluttered. "Oh shut up, Moondancer. What would you know about it anyway? I'm not even fully sure what's going on in my head at times, so don't you dare try to be clever at me about it."

"I wouldn't if it wasn't so easy."

"I'm sorry, do you want me to show you how much like Nightmare Moon I can be, Moondancer? Would you feel better then?"

Moondancer calmly turned the page in her book, "If it helps you decide who you're supposed to be, go ahead."

Nightmare turned back to the window and growled in frustration, "I'm not Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon would've killed you for a lesser insult, and it doesn't make me feel better knowing she would do so."

"Moondancer," Twilight sighed, "please stop antagonizing her, and Nightmare, I don't know why you feel sad about Celestia, but it's probably a good thing that you do. Try to remember from a certain perspective that she is your sister."

"I try not to."

"Well I suggest you do. The Nightmare Moon in you might hate Celestia, but the Luna in you loves her. Remember that." Twilight clapped Nightmare on the shoulder as the dark mare sighed, then stood up. "Right, I'm off to Ponyville. If I'm needed, that's where I'll be."

"Aren't you even going to ask why I didn't come to help you yesterday?"

"Luna didn't want the thestrals knowing about you just yet, and you didn't feel keen on Celestia and Faust knowing you're both existing and free." Twilight smirked at Nightmare, "Did I get it right?"

"Spot on, smartass. Go do whatever it is you're going to do. I'm going to stay here and stare into space some more."

"You do that, and I'll see you later."

-0-0-0-

There was an army marching from Hollow Shades back towards Canterlot. Twilight did wonder if Celestia was with them, but figured she would've been returned to Faust sooner rather than later, and was probably in Canterlot already. All the same, Twilight made a point of circling to the north and around to Ponyville on a route that avoided both the army and Canterlot.

The tower that was being built in Ponyville was maybe three quarters complete, so whoever ordered it built wanted it done quick. Twilight couldn't begin to guess why, because she couldn't tell what purpose it was supposed to serve. Ponyville was a prison now, so extra protections in the form of the tower seemed pointless to her when the prison was already functioning. At the very least, it would make flying in unnoticed that little bit harder for ponies like herself.

A pony was stood outside the front door of the castle as Twilight came to it, and she quickly adjusted her course to go around the back and land on the balcony to quietly spy on what the pony was up to. She watched the lilac unicorn light her horn and direct her magic at the front door, and raised an eyebrow as the mare groaned loudly in frustration.

"Oh come on! Why won't you open?"

Twilight had only seen this pony once, but that was enough to know it was Starlight Glimmer, the pony that had stripped her friends, and all the prisoners here, of their cutie marks as part of their captivity. What reason did she have to get inside the castle?

A mischievous grin crept onto Twilight's face as an idea came to her, and as soon as the glow from Starlight's next attempt started to fade, Twilight projected an image of herself down to stand in front of the unicorn, consisting only of purple lines.

"What are you doing?"

"Yah!" Starlight screamed, jumping a foot into the air. She crouched as she landed, the slowly straightened back up as she realised it was only an illusion. "You scared the life out of me!"

"Unfortunately, it seems not. Now what are you doing trying to break into my castle? Stop that," she added as Starlight waved a hoof through her image.

"How are you doing that? Projection like this shouldn't be possible over long range. Unless..."

"It's a giant, magic, crystalline, tree-castle, that came out of a mystical box," Twilight said before Starlight could finish that thought. "You'd be surprised what I can make it do, including keeping nosy unicorns out. I like your mane by the way." Twilight waved a hoof in front of her face, imitating the flick in Starlight's mane. "Suits you loads more than that straight fringe ever did."

"Oh, um, thank you? One of the ponies in here did it for me, before I... yeah." Starlight looked down, her expression guilty.

"Was it Rarity?" Starlight winced and nodded. "Of course it was," Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. Bless Rarity and her big heart.

"I didn't want this, if that's what you're thinking."

"Then what did you want?"

"I wanted equality, for everypony! Not this! This is- This is... enforced inequality!"

"Uh-huh. I'm guessing that nopony took the time to explain to you during your imprisonment that equality has nothing to do with stripping ponies of their marks in an attempt to remove what makes them different, and that equality comes from having the same opportunities in life? No?"

"It might have been explained at some point, yes," Starlight hissed through her teeth.

"And was it pointed out that us all being different kinds of pony is also rather unequal, no matter how many ponies you remove the marks from?"

"Perhaps."

"Was it also pointed out to you that drastically altering ponies so they'll be your friends isn't the best way to go about not being alone."

"It worked better than being trapped in a prison cell did!"

Twilight held up a hoof, then lowered it slowly back to the ground. "Alright, touché. Still, what you did was wrong, and I hope you at least realise that in some capacity. Now I'm going to ask you again, why are you trying to get into my castle?"

"Why do you care? I've been trying for days, and it's only now you've decided to question it."

"I've been busy. Now stop avoiding the question, and tell me why you want into my castle. I might even let you in if it's a good reason."

Starlight opened her mouth, then shut it again with a shake of her head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Is that so? Try me."

"No, I don't think I will."

"Oh, I see how it is." Twilight grinned at Starlight, "You're worried that I might tell somepony, and that it might get back to Faust. You're doing something she doesn't want you to."

"Don't be ridiculous," Starlight protested, backing away from the still grinning image of Twilight. "I wouldn't dare do something like that." Starlight smiled unconvincingly, "I mean, why would I? I love the Lady, and she... loves me."

"Real convincing, Starlight. But, considering that I'm trying to stop Faust, and you know that, why hide it from me?"

"Because it's not ready yet!" Starlight's eyes went wide at her own outburst, "I mean- I mean-"

Starlight turned tail and ran, leaving Twilight to wonder what she was doing, and why she was so adamant on keeping it a secret. Strangest of all, why did it require access to her castle? Twilight shrugged, suspecting it wouldn't matter in the end, so it wasn't worth worrying about. If Faust couldn't get into the castle, Starlight Glimmer stood no chance.

Twilight dismissed her illusion and made for the balcony entrance, opening the door like it wasn't magically sealed to everything that except herself. The inside was still and quiet, as it should be, but it took on a melancholy feel for Twilight. This bright and cheerful castle was gifted to her as the Princess of Friendship, but had for the most part been empty of life, except for the time it housed an angry, hurt, and confused Twilight, and the brief period when it also housed her study buddies, and a Trixie. It deserved better than that.

Twilight wandered languidly towards the throne room, and walked slowly around the thrones, running a hoof over each of them as memories of better times flitted through her head. She finished at her own throne, and after a moment of hesitation she sat in it. It was exactly as cold and hard as she remembered it.

"Alright map, what do you have to show me now?"

Twilight's magic swept over the crystal map, bringing it to life with a surge of magic, and gasped as dozens of cutie marks started to swirl around its surface, all centred around Canterlot. Hers, her friends, Luna's, Cadence's, Trixie's, Moondancer's, Fleur's, Shining's, Nightmare's, and more most of which she recognised as ponies she knew. There was even images of Spike's and Ember's heads floating around with the others.

"Wait..."

Twilight checked again, then once more, looking through the collection of marks, only to reaffirm to herself that there was two she knew that were definitely missing. One made sense, it being Celestia's, and she was serving Faust, so she was part of the problem rather than the solution. The other one made less sense though, as it belonged to Sunset Shimmer.

Twilight commanded the table to show her where Sunset Shimmer was in all this, but it showed her nothing. It was at that time that Twilight saw Starlight Glimmer's mark amongst the rest. Starlight Glimmer was part of this, but not Sunset? How-
The map changed, showing her own mark floating over the north western part of Ponyville. A sensation in her rear made her look down to see that her cutie mark was pulsing, trying to catch her attention. "Alright, calm down, I'm right bloody here."

Twilight zoomed the map in as much as she was able, trying to find as precise a location as she could. It was just inside the fence of the prison, which ruled out it being Starlight Glimmer, thank goodness, but there was only one pony in Ponyville that Twilight would be interested in, and that was Fluttershy.

"You know, map, things would be so much easier if you just told us what the problem is, instead of leaving us to figure it out based on a vague location. I mean, you can work out that there's a problem in the first place, so why not elaborate a little?"

Twilight glanced out one of the windows, for what little information concerning the time could be gleaned from doing so. At the very least, she could tell it was still daylight outside, which seemed more than likely considering she hadn't been here very long.

A sharp sting on Twilight's rear made her jump, "Okay, I'm going! Sheesh..."

-0-0-0-

Twilight took a direct route from her castle to where the map pointed her too, and since it was the closest part of Ponyville to her castle, it made sense. There weren't even any guards around as a bonus, so when Twilight walked brazenly up to the fence, she was able to hear the feeble cries of Fluttershy fairly easily.

"Come on Fluttershy, I'm sure they're fine."

And Spike was there too. Double bonus.

"How can you say that? You have no idea where they've been taken! We don't even know where Tw-i-i-ilight is!"

Twilight cleared her throat noisily and waved at her two friends that were crouched in the lee of a house. "Hi guys."

"Twilight!" both Fluttershy and Spike shouted, with Fluttershy soon forgetting her tears as they sprinted to the fence where Twilight was. Twilight herself traded joy for concern as she saw the mask over Spike's mouth.

"Why the hell are they making you wear that?"

"Huh?" Spike said dumbly, then figuring out what Twilight meant, he tapped a claw on the mask. "Apparently fire breathing dragons with teeth that can chew diamonds get extra attention in prison. They think we might chew our way through the walls."

"But how do you eat?"

Spike stuck his tongue out through a gap in the mask in front of his mouth. "Patiently," he said, managing a small laugh.

"Oh Spike, I'm so sorry."

"What for? You didn't put this on me. You didn't kidnap us either, so stop blaming yourself." Spike held a claw out through the fence which Twilight took in a hoof to hold to her cheek.

"I've missed you so much, both of you. I wish I could get you out."

"You can't," Fluttershy said quickly, "not without the others, but we don't know where they are. The Mareitanians took them away with- with so many others," she sobbed. "I hope they're okay."

"They are. They're in Fillydelphia, being used to help rebuild the steelworks there as prison labour. I've already seen them." Twilight glanced back as her cutie mark started to pulse again, "Really map? All this just to make me come here and tell that to Fluttershy and Spike?"

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, giving Twilight a funny look.

"Don't worry about it. So," Twilight said brightly, "how are you two?"

"I wish I could say I've been worse," Fluttershy said dryly, "but I haven't."

"That's... fair. Look, I know things haven't been great for any of you, but hopefully it'll all be over before long. You just have to hold on."

"Easier said than done." Spike sighed and pressed his forehead against the fence, "How much longer do we have to be here?"

"I can't say, not for definite. When I can though, I hope to get everypony in here out."

Spike looked up at Twilight, "You can do that? How?"

"With some help from some friends I've made. I wish I could tell you more, but the less you know for now, the better."

"Yeah, alright," Spike grunted, but Twilight could hear a trace of amusement behind it. "Keep your secrets then." He glanced about quickly, "I'm not sure how much longer you should stay here. The guards might come around at any moment."

"I know, and I'd rather nopony knew I was here. In person at least."

"Before you go, have you seen what they're doing to the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Fluttershy asked, a little tangentially in Twilight's opinion. "We've heard rumours that it's being rebuilt," she explained as Twilight shrugged at her.

"Okay, I knew that much, but do you have any idea why?"

"Not really, but there's plenty of stories about bad things happening in the Everfree. I would ask my animal friends, but ever since Starlight Glimmer took my cutie mark, I just don't understand any of what they're saying." Fluttershy's voice broke as she spoke, and Twilight knew how much that had to be hurting her.

"Alright, I'll go check it out, but I don't think I'll be able to risk coming back here to tell you what's happening."

"I know, but as long as you know, that's good enough for me."

Twilight returned a smile as Fluttershy smiled bravely at her, but it slid off her face after a second. "I hate what this has done to you all, even Rainbow. I wish there was some way to make it all up to you, but I don't think there is."

"Getting us out of here would be a pretty neat start," Spike joked.

"Watch this space then," Twilight joked back. "Seriously though, I will get you out of here when I can." Twilight looked around, checking no guards were coming. "I better not push my luck any more than I have already. Bye guys. Hopefully it won't be too long until I see you both again."

"Bye Twilight," Spike said sadly.

"And be careful," Fluttershy added.

"I'll try, but I don't seem to be very good at that."

-0-0-0-

The Everfree Forest, mystery that it was, was quiet. That was unusual. Twilight had no idea why the Tree of Harmony had chosen to surround itself with something as chaotic as the Everfree, which she knew was possibly Discord's doing, but still, it made no sense to her. Maybe it liked being surrounded by life? Maybe the forest represented a truer view of harmony that a pony couldn't appreciate? Maybe the Tree used the forest as a form of protection? It certainly kept ponies away.

Whatever the reason was, it certainly had nothing to do with what the Mareitanians were doing there. Twilight had thought the forest as being quiet. What she hadn't considered it as being, was empty. She didn't consider that until she came closer to the castle and found that the Mareitanians had been collecting various beasts from the surrounding woods.

Puckwudgies filled several cages, while a pack of timberwolves filled another. There were cragodiles, a manticore, and any number of beasts native to the Everfree. Twilight was a little ashamed she could name so few of them. That was far from the point though. The point was, why were the Mareitanians capturing these creatures? Two possibilities came to mind, to either use or destroy them, and neither idea sounded good to Twilight. There was always the possibility of other options though.

The castle itself was still in the throes of being rebuilt. A lot of it was having to be taken down before being rebuilt, and that was slowing down progress. The workforce also seemed reduced compared to the one in Fillydelphia, even without the prisoners, so that did suggest that the castle wasn't as high a priority. That still didn't answer why it was a priority at all.

Twilight alighted herself on the upper branches of a tree, one of the few surrounding the clearing that had expanded around the castle. From there she watched quietly as a few ponies threw some scraps to the caged animals, meaning they were at least being fed. That part made sense, as Faust was unlikely to allow them to suffer, and it also suggested that the creatures weren't there to be destroyed. Unfortunately that still left the option of them being used.

None of this was really making sense. Perhaps the animals were caged because they took exception to the commotion going on around their homes. Maybe it really was that simple. Perhaps it was just a big red herring designed to confused any ponies that happened to be spying on the place. Ponies like a certain purple alicorn, who decided that the creatures had taken enough of her attention. The castle was always going to be the main attraction after all.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked out loud. Ever since she'd learnt of the Mareitanians plans to rebuild the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight had always wondered what their plan was. Its position right over the Tree of Harmony can't have gone unnoticed by Faust, but since they aren't connected, why rebuild the castle? It just didn't make sense.

After staring at the castle for a couple of minutes, Twilight decided that asking herself wasn't gaining anything, and perhaps she'd be better off asking somewhere else, or rather, something else.

A quick flight brought Twilight around to the base of the cliff the castle was built on, and then she stopped as the cave where the Tree lived was gone, like it had never been there. A wall of sheer rock was all there was to greet Twilight as she slowly flew down to the place where she remembered the cave being.

Sparing herself the dumb questions of 'how?' and 'why?' Twilight pressed a hoof against the cliff, finding it to be quite solid. She could feel something coming from within though, an intense sadness that radiated through the cold stone and into her very being.

Twilight closed her eyes and let her instincts do the work as she teleported forwards a few meters, hoping beyond hope that she didn't end up inside the rock. When she opened them again, immensely relieved that she could, she was in semi-darkness, with what little light there was coming from the Tree of Harmony, and the shield around it.

"Oh no," Twilight murmured, finding herself unwilling to speak any louder. She lit her horn and walked up to the tree, but stopped short of the shield in case touching it triggered a warning to Faust, because only she could've created a shield like this. Twilight looked at the tree, its image distorted by the shield, and sighed.

"I'm probably the last pony you wanted to see, I know. You tried to warn about the pony I was becoming back in Mareitania, and I repaid you by becoming that pony you tried to stop me being. I didn't have a choice though. At least not one that I could see." Twilight sighed again as the Tree gave no sign of having even acknowledged her presence, "And I'm talking to a tree. Let's see what we can do about this shield."

Twilight started to cautiously probe the shield with her magic. It could only have been made by Faust, because the power in it alone outdid anything any of the princesses could do. Amusingly, the power was all turned inwards, trying to contain the tree, with very little thought put towards protecting the shield from outside tampering. Perhaps that protection was unnecessary though, because the amount of magic in the shield put it beyond most beings attempts to alter or undo it.
Thankfully Twilight wasn't most beings, and if she still wasn't good enough, she was going to try anyway, consequences be damned, or dealt with after at least.

Twilight started by exploring a little deeper into the magic, searching for anything that might give away that she'd been here, or that might warn Faust. She couldn't find anything, but she knew well enough that meant little where Faust's magic was concerned. Typically Faust used her raw power to brute force spells, but that wasn't to say she couldn't be subtle at times. The spells Faust used were so old they were mostly forgotten, and only seemed to be passable because of the strength of her magic. A single unicorn would have no chance at using these spells, which tended to be the reason older spells were cast with groups of unicorns. It also meant there could be things Twilight could miss.

Finding nothing obvious, Twilight started to study how the spell worked, searching for the metaphorical spot where she could throw in a magical spanner. She found it in how the shield maintained itself. It was tuned to contain the specific magic of the Tree, which was technically already the most powerful kind of magic available, excepting the kind that could contain it, meaning most other magic wouldn't affect it either. However, there was a underlying element to the shield that was constantly attuning itself to the Tree to provide the best containment. Inserting a powerful spike of magic into that process at the wrong time could destabilize, and even destroy the barrier.

That was the theory at least, and as it was happening constantly, the window in which to insert that spike of magic was miniscule.

Twilight unconsciously stepped forwards as she tried to find that window, and was very surprised as a feeling of warmth washed over her. When she opened her eyes, she laughed her find her horn, a hoof, and most of her nose was sticking through the shield.

"I'm fairly certain there's a lesson in this somewhere." Twilight stepped forwards, and while there no certain way to describe the feeling, beyond getting a friendly hug from an entire swarm of electric bees, there was no resistance from the shield. There was a small concern that she wouldn't get back out, but that was future Twilight's problem.

It was then that Twilight realised that the Tree wasn't nearly so contained as she thought, because it was still connected to the map in her castle. It wasn't a full outlet for the Tree, but it was enough to get her to Fluttershy, which was enough to get her to come here. "You sneaky bastard tree," Twilight said with a grin. "Well, you got me here, so what do you want?"

A tendril of magic stretched out of the Tree, coming from the image of Celestia's cutie mark on the trunk. Twilight closed her eyes as it touched her, and felt herself getting pulled away.

-0-0-0-

Celestia breathed deeply and smiled at the pony before her as they pledged their loyalty to the throne. She didn't know who they were, and likely wouldn't any time soon, but the fact that they felt they could do such a thing was touching. It was nice that something nice could happen before the events that would be starting soon.

"I accept your pledge of loyalty," Celestia said evenly, getting a smile out of the pony. "Please, stand, and know that you are ever in our protection."

"Indeed."

Celestia looked sideways, and part of her almost jumped sideways at the sight of her mother standing beside her. She feared she might never get used to it, but the loving smile her mother gave her assuaged her fears every time. Far better Faust be there, than the monster that had tried to rule beside her.

"Thinking of her again?" Faust asked.

"I was, and it still makes me so angry. To think I almost let Platinum convince me she was my sister, rather than the disgusting offspring of a beast like Sombra." Celestia shook her head in dismay, "I can't believe I was so naïve. And yet, you bore her, so is she not in some way my sibling?"

Faust smiled gently at Celestia, "Think not like that, my darling Celestia. I may have been forced to bear her, but she is no child of mine, and no sister of yours. She may appear innocent now, but one day she will show the darkness in her, and you would have to choose between her, and the world."

"I would choose the world every time, Mother. How could I be so selfish not to?"

"I know, my darling, but Luna would still make you choose, and she would only gain pleasure from the pain of your decision."

"The pleasure would only be mine as I scorn her," Celestia said coldly. "If she thinks I would choose her, she is sorely mistaken. She should count herself lucky she escaped while she still could."

"Indeed. Our role is to the betterment of our world, Celestia, never forget it. Follow my lead, and all shall know peace and happiness."

"I shall, Mother, always."

"I know. Now, come Celestia, as unpleasant as it will undoubtedly be, we have something we must attend to."

Celestia nodded dourly. The trial of the betrayer, Platinum, wasn't something she was looking forward to. The very idea that she'd imprisoned Faust and kidnapped Celestia, as well as the wretch, Luna, to rule as her eternal puppets was abhorrent to Celestia. There was no justice great enough for one who would do such a thing.

Celestia followed her mother through the soon to be renamed Castle of the Two Sisters, letting the older alicorn lead the way as she tried to think. Calling it a trial was an overstatement at this point as Platinum's guilt was well established. Only Celestia and Faust would be allowed to face such an evil, and only they would be there to decide her well deserved punishment.

The dungeons were cool to the point of freezing, but Celestia showed no sign of letting it bother her as they came to the cell containing Platinum. With a nod from Faust, the two guards unlocked the cell, giving them access to its single occupant. Chain jingled against each other in the darkness, until Platinum stepped into the light.

Celestia was shocked at what she saw. Platinum had always held herself with such regality, but here, with the veneer of righteous nobility she haughtily shrouded herself in stripped away, she was... ugly, in every sense of the word. Celestia's once loving mother had nothing but a vicious sneer for her adopted daughter.

"What do you want?" Platinum asked in a voice as hard as diamonds. There was no love in there, as Celestia had remembered there once being.

"The time has come for you to pay for your many crimes," Faust said calmly, impressing Celestia that she could do so, after all that Platinum had put her through. "If you have anything you wish to say, say it now, otherwise we shall get on with this."

"My daughter, my true daughter will avenge me." Platinum narrowed her eyes at both of the alicorns. "One day, the true ruler of this country will rise to overthrow you, and on that day, I shall sit upon your throne and laugh."

"Except you shall not," Faust said back, with that same, even tone she always used. "That day shall never come, and in the unlikely event it should, you won't be seeing it. Princess Platinum, I hearby sentence you to the very same fate you tried to impose on me. You shall languish, forgotten by all, until you draw your last breath. Only then will you know peace at last."

Platinum's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't dare," she said, a note of fear making her voice tremble.

"It is already done." Faust turned and left, and Celestia followed, only looking back as a scream of incoherent rage filled the dungeon as Platinum's cell was locked, never to be reopened.

"Many will not be happy about this," Celestia said nervously. "Platinum was much beloved, and her betrayal unknown."

"I know, which is why history shall have to tell another story. The world is not yet ready to know the truth of what happened here today."

-0-0-0-

The sound of weapons clashing against weapons filled the area, in both land and sky. The dark, armoured forms of bat winged pegasi flitted through the sky as they battled against the golden armoured members of the Royal Guard in a battle for supremacy. In the midst of the battle, two alicorns faced each other in a battle for Equestria itself, one white and wearing ivory armour that remained resplendent even in the dark and cloudy sky. The other was an alicorn of dark navy colours, wearing armour as black as the night sky.

"What have you done to my mother, you monster!?" Celestia thrust Solaris towards the vile cretin that had dared to steal her mother away and attempt to overthrow their kingdom. The pony that Celestia had once considered showing mercy to, and perhaps might have even called sister had her mother not warned her not to.

"She's been indisposed," Luna said with glee, her tongue darting from between her teeth to lick her dark lips. "Don't worry, you'll be seeing her soon enough."

"If you think you can defeat me, you are sorely mistaken." Celestia fired an orb of golden light at the usurper, which was blocked by a swirling shield of pale, silvery magic. "I won't stop fighting until you're vanquished for good, you fiend!"

"My name... is Luna!" the dark alicorn screamed.

"You aren't worthy of even having a name," Celestia said calmly, certain in her heart that this insane creature would never prevail, even if their battle raged on for millennia. Fortunately, Celestia had one trick up her armoured sleeve should the battle become that desperate.

"Die!" Two glaives of a shining metal swept down towards Celestia's head, the strike sloppy and predictable, with all power and no finesse. Celestia juked to the side, dodging it easily, and retaliated with a swing of her spear that Luna clumsily blocked with a shield, relying on her magic to compensate for her lack of skill with her chosen weapons. Celestia refused to underestimate her opponent though, as even she could do the unexpected, as her army of mutants proved.

As if to further prove her point, a powerful blast of magic exploded in the air next to her, sending her tumbling away for a couple of seconds before righting herself. Two of the bat winged abominations came for her, hoping to capitalise on her distraction. They only had a moment to realise their failure before Solaris reduced them to ashes.

That was enough of a distraction again though for her main opponent to strike with her magic again, smashing Celestia out of the sky and onto the cold ground below. Celestia barely recovered fast enough to defend herself as Luna flew in towards her, her glaives ready to deliver a beheading strike had Celestia not raised Solaris fast enough.

"I have underestimated you, Luna," Celestia said, saying the name that the dark alicorn so desperately wished to be called by. The power she displayed was at least worthy of giving her a name, but Celestia knew that by refusing to acknowledge Luna as Faust's offspring, she had unwittingly refused to acknowledge that Luna would rival her in power. A mistake she would be making no longer.

"I haven't underestimated you though. Unlike you, I prepared for this moment for decades. Your precious Faust is gone, and without her to coddle you, you're vulnerable!"

Luna raised her head to point her horn directly at Celestia's head, unleashing a beam of deadly magic that would've killed Celestia had she not fired a beam of her own magic to intercept it. The two conflicting lines of energy met, fighting back and forth in a battle of will that would mean the end for one of them. A battle that Celestia could feel herself losing.

Celestia could feel the darkness in Luna's magic fogging her mind and sapping her strength. Slowly, the conflagration of magic where the two beams met started to creep nearer to Celestia, and she shouted as the heat started to burn her. She refused to give in though, and closed her eyes as she drew on the harmonious power of her mother. It was only a shadow of Faust's true strength, but it would be enough to defeat Luna once and for all.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked, a note of fear in her voice as a rainbow of energy started to coalesce around Celestia.

"Finishing this." The rainbow of magic surged into Celestia's own, empowering it to levels she wouldn't had thought possible if she hadn't seen her own mother perform such things. In the blink of an eye, Luna was overpowered, and was sent flying away, further and further until even Celestia wondered what was happening. It was only when the profile of a mare's head appeared on the moon that she understood what had occurred. Luna had been banished to the moon itself, forever marring its pristine surface.

Celestia rolled onto her front, her mind struggling to catch up to the here and now. She may have been able to tap her Mother's power, but she was far from able to do so for long. By the time she was able to recover enough to stand, the battle was over, and a stallion in golden armour was standing before her.

"My Queen, the battle is over, and we have captured the twisted army of the usurper."

"Queen?" Celestia asked, her confusion plain in her voice.

"Our Lady has not returned with the usurper's defeat," the pony said sadly. "With no way of knowing if she will return, we have no choice but to name you queen."

Celestia shook her head firmly, "No, you will not. My Mother will return one day, and on that day she would be queen once more. Until that day, I shall remain as Princess Celestia, so as to not overshadow all she is to us."

The stallion nodded, "As you wish, Princess. In her Majesty's absence though, it is your duty to decide the fate of these abominations that the usurper created."

Celestia didn't know what he meant, but as she looked around to discover what he was on about, she saw clusters of the bat winged ponies being held prisoners by her soldiers. "Is this all of them?" she asked, as there didn't seem to be that many.

"A number of the cowards fled the battle upon your defeat of their Mistress. Without their fellows, those remaining soon crumbled. What would you have us do with them, Princess?"

Celestia didn't know. That was the long and short of it. These creatures had been made for the singular purpose of fighting a war against the rulers of Equestria. That alone was reason enough to see them destroyed, but as Celestia stood there, she could see the fear in some of them, telling her that they were still ponies at their core. She wondered what her Mother would do. Faust had always been a champion of life, and chose to preserve it where she could. Did these ponies deserve that mercy too?

Celestia walked up to a small group of the bat ponies, and looked down on the one in front, a mare with a long plaited mane in shades of lilac, which matched her slitted eyes, but remained in contrast with her grey coat. "In exchange for your life, would you pledge loyalty to Equestria?"

The mare nodded slowly, apparently unable to speak at that moment.

"Very well. If you promise to never be a threat to Equestria, and even protect it in times of need, I will grant you all mercy. Betray that mercy, and there shall be no escape from my wrath. Do you agree?" The mare nodded enthusiastically. "Very well. Soldiers, strip them of their weapons and armour. We shall soon see whether they wish to live or not."

Celestia sighed as her soldiers set to work disarming the bat ponies, and hoped she had made the right decision. Without her Mother, all these decisions were now hers. The knowledge of Faust's whereabouts were now beyond her reach, trapped with Luna upon the moon. Celestia could only hope the price Faust would pay for her banishing Luna was worth it.

-0-0-0-

"You have gone too far, Twilight! I forgave you for releasing Luna, after you claimed to have redeemed her, much against my better judgement, but to join forces with her, and to let her corrupt Cadence as well... I have no words. I thought it was bad enough that you agreed with her plan to start a civil war in Mareitania, but when I learnt it was to be cover for Luna to get to Faust and destroy her once and for all, I should've realised then what was happening."

"Even so," Twilight said coldly. "Faust is invading Equestria, and-"

"You refused to grant her her sovereignty again! You turned her own country against her when you had no right to! What other choice did she have?"

"This is our country, Celestia, ours! Faust has no right to it!"

Celestia shook her head in disbelief, "I hear your voice, but your words sound very much like that of Luna's. When I granted you the rank of princess, I did not give you permission to betray Equestria and deny the return of the Queen. I'm sorry, Twilight, but if you're so determined to walk this path, then we are now enemies."

Celestia looked down at Twilight, and where she might have expected tears from her former student at such words from her, all she saw was cold indifference. Luna truly had changed her beyond all recognition.

Twilight turned and flicked her tail at Celestia as she walked away, then stopped to look back over her shoulder, determined to have the last word. "If that is the way you want it, fine. I will see you upon the field of battle, Princess, because this war is far from over.

-0-0-0-

Twilight came to, breaking free from the images flitting through her head, a head that was aching as she felt like she'd been smacked around the head with a thousand pages of bad fan-fiction. The best part was that she wasn't the slightest bit sure of what she'd just seen. None of what she'd been shown had actually happened, so why did the tree want her to see it?

"Why can't I ever get a straight answer to anything, ever?" Twilight followed the tendril of magic with her eyes as it returned to the image of Celestia's cutie mark on the Tree's trunk. "Okay, so this is to do with Celestia, obviously, but none of what you showed me had actually happened, so they were fake memories?"

Realisation dawned on Twilight. They were fake memories! Major events in Celestia's life had been totally rewritten, changed, or even completely altered, all to put Faust in a favourable light, while putting her sister and fellow princesses in the wrong. That had to be how Faust was using Celestia, not by controlling her, but by making her think that Faust was right. She believed in what Faust was doing.

There was a problem in Faust's method though, beyond the feeling that those memories had been made by somepony that didn't know the ponies involved very well. The end product didn't match up with reality. Celestia had no memories of Faust ever considering committing genocide, so why would she agree with the destruction of the thestrals in Nostralis when Faust herself apparently wouldn't have done such a thing?

Then there was the problem where Luna, and even Twilight herself, were painted as being corrupt and incapable of reason, compassion, or other basic actions. Would that illusion crumble as soon as one of them displayed an act of kindness in front of Celestia?

"I don't suppose you have any idea how to fix this?" Twilight asked the Tree hopefully. If it did, it didn't show it. "Right, well, you have at least told me what the problem is, so that's something. I guess all I can do now is come up with a plan. Uh, thanks for the help, I guess?"

Almost as if it was acknowledging Twilight's appreciation, the Elements lit up, each emitting a beam of magic that converged into a larger one that made a small, pony sized hole in the shield. Twilight waited a moment, unsure of what was happening, but since the hole wasn't getting any bigger, she figured it was for her to leave through.

The hole snapped shut as soon as she was through, and she turned to look at the Tree as it sat behind the shield, seeming so lonely trapped there. "We'll get you free, somehow," Twilight said, as she focussed her magic into a teleport back to her castle.

-0-0-0-

Twilight searched through the accumulated junk in her room of stuff. That part library, part laboratory, part room of assorted knickknacks, and part portal chamber to an entirely different dimension room. She'd managed to collect all of the stuff she had in there over a short period of time, so it made her wonder how, after a thousand years, Canterlot wasn't a junkyard consisting of Celestia's crap.

She eventually found what she'd originally came for in the corner, with a sheet draped over it. Twilight carried the crate into the middle of the room, and popped the lid off. Chills went down her spine as she looked inside at the dark metalled helm sat on top of a full suit of anti-magic armour. She hadn't opened the crate since Celestia dropped it off with her to research for that exact reason. Just looking at it brought up a slew of unpleasant memories.

Twilight picked up the helm, and turned it around in her hooves until a sense of unease, and an echo of deranged laughter, almost made her drop it. It was tempting to slam the lid back on the crate, hide it, and claim she couldn't find it when she got back to the retreat.

"It's just a suit of armour," Twilight told herself, feeling no better for having said it. Even without the memories, it still conjured images of an army of dark armoured earth ponies, crushing the unicorns who were helpless to stop them. This armour could have created a very different world had the earth ponies of old been given a chance to field them in large numbers back during the war between the three tribes.

In the end, Twilight did slam the lid back down on the crate, but only so she could more easily transport it. It was then that Twilight came upon a problem so annoying it was almost funny. She couldn't teleport the armour, and in all likelihood couldn't take it through the portal back to the retreat either. In fact, she wasn't even willing to try in case it damaged the portal, or even destroyed it.

"Luna fucking damn it," Twilight cursed. Her only option was to carry it to the portal and leave it in Starlight's old village to conduct their research there. A minor annoyance considering the alternative. She hefted the box in her magic, looked out of the nearest window, and sighed. It was going to be a long flight.

Author's Note

So for the last couple of years I've been like 'Saddle Arabia doesn't have unicorns or pegasi, and Lightning Dust overcame her issues to become a decent person. Then season 8 comes along and is like 'nope and nope, all your head canons are pointing in the wrong direction you silly goose.' Fuck you season 8, and the many horses you rode in on. (jk,ilyr)