Blueblood, after spending the night and following morning suspended in midair, was eventually brought down and deflated by Luna. However, he had been spotted by several ponies, who spread it around the PonyNet, and nearly everypony in Equestria who got sight of photographs got a good laugh at the bratty prince. The thought of this alone only brought Blueblood down further. He was no longer willing to bring himself to misbehave, lest he face even worse consequences.

By this point, Aversion's muscles had shrunken back to their normal size, with Luna's passive magic having worn off gradually over several days. The same happened with Scolus. However, the improvements she made to their... special parts... happened to stick around, being a permanent alteration that could only be undone by another intentional spell. It was a change both were more than happy to keep.

As per usual, the trio were having lunch at the Castle of the Two Sisters, conversing over the usual stuff... but Scolus appeared somewhat uncomfortable.

"Scol?" Aversion asked. "You doing alright, dude?"

"W-well..." Scolus stammered, "...it's complicated."

"What ever is the matter?" Luna asked.

"Listen," Scolus began, "I know this is a bit much to ask, but... could I stay here at the castle?"

"Of course!" Luna said. "You're always welcome here, Scolus. But, if you'll beg my pardon for asking... why do you want to avoid the changeling hive?"

Scolus shuffled his legs nervously. "I get the feeling that Chrysalis is catching onto the fact that I made up an excuse for why my muscles got so pumped for a short time. For one thing, I'm back to normal, and two... she actually tried to integrate what I suggested into our diet, and well... many of my hive-brothers and hive-sisters have gotten sick. I swear, our sick chamber's never been so full before..."

"Oh, jeez... that sounds bad!" Aversion said.

Scolus nodded. "And believe me, I do not want to be on the receiving-end of my queen's wrath. She's scary! She'll send me to Tartarus and back the next time she sees me!"

Luna stood from her chair, walked up to the changeling, and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Aw, you poor thing," the Princess said. "I'm sorry about making you stand out in such a way that you'd get in trouble! But as long you're with us, Scolus..." she then hugged the drone, "...you won't need to worry about that nasty Queen Chrysalis."

Scolus, his eyes closed with a warm smile, hugged Luna back. "Gotta say, it's good to have friends who care about me."

"Totally!" Aversion acknowledged. "Especially when they are willing to fend of a threat from inside oneself as well."

"Oh yeah," Scolus said, "you still got that shadow-demon lurking around in your spirit-self, huh Av?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Aversion said.

"Fortunately, I've been working out a way in which to potentially get rid of this entity for good," Luna said.

"That's good," Scolus said. "At least you've found a way to be on top of it! And if there's anything I can do to help, just say the word!"

"Thanks, Scol," Aversion said.

"In any case," Luna said, "I've been getting fairly restless, what with being indoors constantly and whatnot. Mayhaps we should go for a nice hike?"

Aversion shrugged. "Sure. I always love to get out and do things with you, Lulu!"

"Alright," Scolus said, "you two have fun! In the meantime, I'm gonna go get a room setup for myself."

"Of course!" Luna said. "Since Avey and I are using my old room, you may feel free to use my sister's old room as your own."

"Great!" Scolus said. "In any case, I'm also glad that Blueblood's been dealt with... or should I call him 'Bluebloat'?"

The trio laughed at the pun. Having finished his meal, the changeling stood from the table, fully satiated thanks to it in addition to the moderate love that Luna and Aversion were giving each other throughout lunch.

"Well then," Luna said, "now that we've finished off our meals, shall we be off?"

'Yeah, let's go get some fresh air and exercise!" Aversion said.

So, the alicorn and earth pony both put their dishes into the enchanted, self-washing kitchen basin, and readied themselves to go for a walk through the woods. The two always loved going for good, long walks, as it allowed them to really go deep with conversation topics, which they otherwise would not talk about in a casual setting. What could they say? They really liked to know more about each other deep down.

However, all may not have been as well for the time being as they thought. The aura stone attuned to Aversion's life energy, which was still sitting on its perch in Luna's room, subtly flickered and became noticeably dimmer...

Aversion and Luna went around the woods in the locality of the castle, more or less conversing on more personal matters that they could not bring themselves to talk about with Scolus around.

"There are times when I felt like I had no will to go on," Luna said. "But, in time, I learned that there were a great many ponies who cared about me. And I thought my sister was hogging the spotlight."

"Wow," Aversion said. "I guess I was looking at things from a very one-dimensional standpoint myself. Y'know, Lulu, now you got me thinking that maybe there are ponies out there who care about me."

"Of course there are!" Luna said.

While continuing to give each other short pep-talks, Aversion figured it might be a good chance to see if there was anything else Luna might still be holding back from him.

"Tell me, Lulu," Aversion began, "what's the most personal thing about yourself that you are willing to confess to me?"

Luna pursed her lips. "Well..."

However, she was cut short as her eyes fixed on something else.

"What's the matter?" Aversion asked.

"There's..." Luna spoke, "...somepony else here."

Aversion looked ahead to see exactly what his marefriend was talking about. There was another pony present on the path.

It was a mare covered in a thick, spherical coat of very fluffy, soft-pink fur. She had green eyes with sharp eyelid corners, and some eyelashes on the lower lids. She stared at the two with a very vacant expression... and with her tongue hanging out for some reason.

"Uh... hello?" Aversion said. "Who are you?"

The mare said nothing. But after staring for a brief moment, she leaped a bit closer to Aversion. From there, she ran a hoof through his mane, turned his head back and forth, examining it, opening his mouth to look inside, and just getting an overall look at his physique.

After a moment, she sat, staring briefly, before moving to Luna and doing the same thing. The fluffy mare seems totally mesmerized by the alicorn's rippling mane and tail. After taking a bit of time to physically examine the two, she stepped back, staring into space for a brief moment, before she gasped, a huge grin appearing on her face.

Then she immediately took off running down the path and out of sight. Needless to say, the two who remained were quite flabbergasted by what just happened.

"...What was that all about?" Aversion asked. "Who was she?"

"I'm not sure..." Luna said, her eyes narrow and rubbing her chin.

In spite of the random encounter, the two continued on their way, trying to pretend it didn’t happen. Despite them being surprised by this, there was also something else making them feel a bit uneasy even before they began their walk. But what it was, they could not say…

Later that night, after the trio fell asleep. Luna found herself in the Dream Void once again, but rather than get some actual work done right off the bat, the first thing she did was make her way to Aversion’s subconscious, where she readied herself to confront the demon.

“Okay…” Luna said to herself, “...this shouldn’t be impossible. I’m sure that there’s some way to take this thing out.”

She opened the door, and as per usual, the shadow pony stood there, as if expecting to see her. It glared at her momentarily, before giving its shrill, chilling, mouthless scream that threw her back, the door closing a moment after she flew away. The alicorn stumbled to regain her footing so as to stand back up.

“Ngh…” Luna groaned, “...I don’t see what I am to do from here!”

She stopped to think about what could possibly be done if she could not get through to Aversion’s subconscious.

“Let’s see,” Luna said to herself, “if this creature originated from Tartarus through the invocation… perhaps we may just be able to get it to return by performing another invocation? But…”

She knew that doing such a task would require projection to Tartarus itself, and that place was very dangerous to still-living ponies, as they risk being trapped forever. But if they were able to lure the creature back into Tartarus to trap it…

“I may need to bring this up with Avey to see what he thinks,” Luna said.

In the meantime, she carried out her dream duty as per normal, but the thought of the shadow pony wreaking havoc on Aversion’s subconscious and life force made her ever more impatient. She knew what needed to be done.

I WOULD go to Tartarus for Avey! She thought. Never would I forsake him if it meant saving myself!

Author's Note

Forgive me if this chapter seems like filler, but I've been under a lot of emotional uncertainty and confusion. I hope that by the time the next chapter can be posted, I will have collected myself and be able to think more clearly. No matter what happens, I am still grateful for all of you guys continuing to follow and support me by reading my stories!