Author's Note

This is probably going to be a rather long chapter, as it is a mix of two different story plots from the manga. Like I said in the description, I don't want this story to be a complete copy and paste so there's gonna be a few plots that are merged (like this chapter) and a few that'll be ignored/replaced (I'm changing the "Mao goes home" arc to something else. So I wanted to get this out of the way before doing so.

Anyway, enjoy reading!

P.S: Chrysalis is hella OOC but I had to or it wouldn't work djsjdjdjdj

For the Love of a Lady

"Here m'lady, have this token!"

Standing before me was a man, and this man was very tall. He had dark skin and short blur hair with white streaks that was shaved off by the sides, allowing him to sport a mohawk kind of look. He stared down at me with his bright yellow eyes, which only made his seemingly towering height all the more intimidating, but what I had failed to notice at the time was that he wore his belt up and was standing on his toes to appear taller, that didn't stop him from being naturally tall though. I knew he was a soldier from his rather formal dressing and the amount of war trophies around his hips, talk about a not so subtle flex.

The man handed me another bracelet, this one was a simply gold that was surrounded with silver rings. "My name's Thunderlane, and I thought it would only be nice if I gave you this!" He chirped rather optimistically to me. "Anyway, I'll see you later!" He smiled before walking off.

At this point, I had just assumed the bracelets were a "well done for actually attending the gala!" type thing as I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Oh... it's rather plain for a gala bracelet..." Rarity sighed, looking it over "the gold doesn't even look close to being authentic- huh?"

As we all looked ahead of us, Lady Luna along with her attendants approached us. Upon seeing me, her attendants immediatly put on a face of distaste and unhappiness, however the consort seemed to be either oblivious or unfazed "Rainbow Dash, it has been quite a long while since I have last seen you..." she said, trailing off her sentence as she looked me up and down

I bowed "why yes your grace it has been quite a while" I quietly responded. We stayed in a slightly awkward silence for a bit before she quickly walked up to me and rubbed along my face, I froze, not exactly knowing what to do as she continued to touch of my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. After a few seconds of this she let go and giggled "I was only checking something, well then, have a good gala and a very good night girls" she spoke again before turning around and walking.

As I stood there, stunned, I could hear a few attendants running up to Lady Luna and panicking:

"Lady! I suggest you wash your hands after that!"

"Yeah, who knows what kinda diseases she has on her!"

"Lady! With all due respect, why would you do that!?"

I instead stood there, heavily caught off guard by what had just seen this.

AJ chuckled "man, imagine if Lady Celestia saw that?"

Although I had at first requested of Starlight to be the food tester for today, she was too busy looking after Princess Twilight and couldn't, which was a bit annoying because as much as I love the job I just wasn't in the mood to have everyone stare at me as I tested for poison. It wasn't too bad, my seat got me an even better view of the place, to the west were the army dudes and stuff, and to the right were the gay monks plus Spitfire. Actually, Spitfire wasn't sitting with Soarin nor the other gay monks, I saw her sitting in the middle of the army dudes, looking as tired and done with everyone's shit as ever. It was funny, for one of the very few if not only female Eunuchs, she didn't seem at all out of place sitting with the guys from the military, if not she looked somewhat more intimidating going by the heavy silence and somewhat angry vibes she always seemed to carry around with her. I also saw that Thunderlane dude from earlier, sitting at the end, it was probably because he was the youngest.

I looked around and realized that Soarin was nowhere to be seen, I couldn't figure out why, maybe he got bored and left? Before I could ponder some more, Starlight came and poured me a cup of cider, which signalled the beginning of the banquet. I did my usual thing, I checked for any cloudiness from magic which was easy because they had used a silver cup, I checked for any traces of magical particles, I even smelt it, nothing seemed off. Then I had to swallow it, and just before could rinse I realized that my prediction was correct, everyone's eyes were on me.

I somehow managed to brush it off, and instead began thinking of how someone would want to poison someone at a banquet. I mean, personally I think fast acting poison would make more sense because why risk getting poisoned yourself when you can just kill 'em instantly? It better be fast acting if the food is poisoned, it would feel amazing to have that gurgling feeling in your stomach... that tingly feeling you get on the back of your tongue when you puke... or better yet, the adrenaline spike you get when you really need to vomit it out quickly... God it's been quite a while since I've been poisoned now that I think about it- huh?

Starlight had indirectly slapped me on the back "stop gushing! You're making us look bad!" She hissed quietly as she took away the cup.

"Ah shit, my bad Starry" I shrugged, watching as she placed a bowl of food on the table. The food consisted of a chocolate souffle that I could see had soft vanilla cream oozing out of it that had many, MANY nuts in it, it was surrounded by strawberries that were sliced in half and had white chocolate shavings sprinkled atop. It looked fucking delicious I was kinda sad I had to give it up honestly because I really would have eaten the whole thing if I could.

I ended up looking to my side, and noticed the young Lady Cadenza shivering as she stared at the souffle, hers didn't seem to have nuts in it, but it had pineapple. I paused, I knew that Lady Cadenza liked having nuts in her desserts, as I saw it on written requests list and the kitchen, whilst Lady Celestia had requested pineapples.

Did they mess up the meals?

I watched as the girl gently put the pineapples into her mouth, albeit very hesitantly. I just assumed that maybe she didn't like them, but had to eat them because the Emperor was there. I managed to get a glimpse at the attendant food taster sitting behind her, who wore this grin... her grin was very disturbing to say the least.

Finally, all I had to do next was test the souffle. I did my usual checks, looking for clouds (this time from the pouring cream), checking particles, testing the scent yadda yadda yadda. However, it wasn't until I took a bite of the souffle did I get a punch that I had been waiting for so long to finally return to me, I felt a burning and scratching sensation echo through my body as if I had been shot with a bullet, the orgasmic pleasure of my insides being set ablaze and my throat closing was too much for me to handle, the rush of desperation that ran through my brain that begged me to puke and get it out.

It all felt too good.

I smiled, gently whiping my face as everyone stared, many didn't care as they assumed it was safe, due to my absolute euphoria. I simply looked into the crowd and said:

"The souffle is poisoned"

After I had announced the poison, I rushed away out of the door to find a place to puke, Starlight quickly ran to me in a panic, I brushed her off, quickly running to the nearest river I could find and vomited heavily into it. Once I had done, I went to wash my mouth in the well that was close by. I sat back, relishing in the totally awesome thing that I had just happened. Not only did I get to relive those sick ass sensations from back when I worked as a herbalist, but I indirectly proved to everyone that I could take poison! That should be like... uh... forty awesome points!

"Well, aren't you one happy little food taster?"

I looked back and saw Soarin, quickly I waved "Yo Soars, how are you doin' dude?" I laughed.

Soarin just glared, I didn't notice his stern and somewhat peeved facial expression "you're awfully... exciteable today" he quietly said. It had been so long since I last had legitimate hard hitting poison that I couldn't help but be a bit giddy, I realized that no food taster should be so gleeful whilst ingesting poison so I left the Gala as quickly as I could, but now that I think about it, as an attendat I really shouldn't be acting that way so of course Soarin's gonna throw a hissy fit about it.

Out of nowhere, the Eunuch grabbed my hand and began stomping somewhere "what the hell are you doing!?"

Soarin simply looked ahead "laughing and smiling after getting poisoned is a very serious sign that there could be something wrong, so I'm going to take you to the infirmary"

I spluttered "wha-!? Dude, I AM my own infirmary, I can look after myself" I then sighed as he continued walking "look, I puked it into that river so it's all cool, I don't have any poison in me no more" I wish I didn't have to though, if I had kept it swallowed then the feeling of pure and cold numbness would have spread all over my body, I could only imagine how thrilling it would be to have to get rid poison from in me whilst numb? It'd be like, a cooler and more dangerous version of The Legends of Daring Do.

"Soarin?"

"What?"

"Could I please bring the rest of the souffle home with me?"

"You're an absolute idiot"

"Eh, I prefer the term 'adventerous' really"

Soarin sighed "your overly happy persona made someone doubt that it was poisoned and they ended up eating the whole thing!"

I snickered "who's the idiot?"

Soarin glared "some cook dude, he ended up going completely numb and every one is freaking out"

I perked, rummaging through my dress slit before bringing out a bag "oh! I made this vomiting drug yesterday, it's meant to make ya stomach prolapse, it'll hurt like a bitch but I added some zap apple to the ingredients so it tastes pretty good! So he can use this!" I proudly gleamed.

Soarin snatched the bag, not sharing my enthusiasm "I honestly believe you're more dangerous than poison, besides, we already have a medic who's fixing everything" as he took my HARD WORK away from me, I looked and saw that he had a new bracelet on, probably replacing the one he gave me, plus his clothes looked ruffled... could it be....

He wasn't at the banquet because he was doing something indecent!? I knew he was just as bisexual as the other monks! Before I could continue speculating, something clicked in my head "Soarin?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd like to have a talk with Lady Cadenza"

The three of us, which was me, Soarin and Spitfire, stood in a room in front of Lady Cadenza and her attendant. Soarin was back to being his annoyingly charming self, and I had to stop myself from cringing everytime Lady Cadenza practically swooned in his presence "again my Lady I am so very sorry you had to be dragged here so suddenly"

Lady Cadenza waved "oh, not it is most definately my pleasure to be summoned here by you Soarin~" the young girl giggled.

As Soarin thanked her, I looked and see that her attendant rolling her eyes and seemingly scowling at her behavior "as sweet as the sentiment is your grace, it was actually this attendant who wanted to see you"

As the fourteen year old looked at me, her face went from a blushing smile to an annoyed frown "oh... I see..." she simply sighed, scratching her arm "may I ask why you wanted to see me?"

I watched as her attendant chuckled at her realization, but I didn't care. I watched as she scratched her arm and quickly lifted the arm if her gaudy gown to show off her sore rash "as I had predicted, you got a rash... you're not able to eat pineapples, are you Lady Cadenza?"

Spitfire raised a brow "what do you mean?"

"Well, there's certain foods that certain people can't eat, kinda like eggs, nuts, or in Lady Cadenza's case, pineapples, for example I can't eat tomatoes"

Spitfire visibly and audibly guffawed "wait, out of everything you have eaten and continue to eat, including poison, the one thing that you can't stomach is TOMATOES!?"

I frowned "hey, don't question my bodily functions! Jeesh... anyway, believe me when I say I really tried to build a tolerance to it, but I couldn't, my throat always contracted and I always got huge rashes even with small bites, and it took ages for my body to fully recover" I then looked over at the two ladies, my eyes shifting towards the seemingly non caring attendant "that's a way to tell if you can't eat a food, anyway Lady Cadenza, is your stomach alright? You don't feel any pains or nausea do you?"

She shook her head.

"Should I give you any form of puking remedy or laxative?"

She shook her head even more.

"Okay then, please sit down and listen to the rest of what I have to say" when she and the attendant sat down, I began speaking again "the food was very obviously prepared by the harem, Lady Celestia is not picky and is willing to eat the same food as the Emperor, however, I noticed that Lady Celestia had nuts and Lady Cadenza had pineapples, which was odd as it's Lady Cadenza that likes nuts and Lady Celestia that likes pineapples, therefore my theory is somebody purposely mixed up the meals"

As everyone went silent, more so than before, I continued "Lady Cadenza, you can eat nuts, right?"

She nodded "y-yes, I can eat nuts..."

"However, you aren't able to eat pineapples are you?"

Lady Cadenza nodded again, however this time her attendant looked visibly shaken by her response, I continued talking, my tone noticably darkening as time went on "this only something someone who cannot eat certain foods will understand, but it's not just 'being a picky eater', although luckily it only ended in a rash this time, it can cause many things such as heart failure, permanent internal swelling, difficulty breathing... to put it simply, if you were to be fed that willingly, it would be the equivalent to being served hard hitting poison, now I understand that as you were right in front of the Emperor it would have been very difficult to speak up, but eating it was extremely dangerous"

"Is there anything else you can't eat?"

"W-Well, there's honey and mushrooms..."

I looked over at the attendant and noticed that she was the smirking one "you're her food taster, correct?"

"Y-Yes" the red headed earth type said.

"What's your name?"

"Roseluck m-ma'am" she quietly responded.

"Why did you feed her the pineapple snack, knowing fully well she dislikes it?"

Roseluck stared at me for a bit before shakily sighing "I... believed she was being too picky, so I switched the plates, I had no idea she physically couldn't eat it..."

I groaned internally "well, luckily not only did you manage to save Lady Cadenza's life this time, but she got out with only a rash, if you hadn't have switched the plates, Lady Cadenza would have been poisoned" I turned around to walk somewhere "however, her eating the pineapple was still dangerous and still could have killed her, so next time either make her vomit it out instantly or just don't feed it to her, got it?"

"Yes ma'am" Roseluck nodded, clearly shaken and embarrassed.

I walked over to a desk, bringing out a rolled up piece of paper that was wrapped with bands "I summarized all of the needed precautions to take on this here sheet, it's not exactly difficult, but if you forget not only do I think Lady Cadenza won't live to see another day, but you'll be held responsible for it" I handed her the sheet and looked her in her eyes, and without realizing it, my voice had echoed the same level of harshness as it did all those months ago at Lady Luna's palace "if you ever forget this, I don't even think the gods would be able to forgive your negligence"

Roseluck took the sheet with shivering hands, before signalling for both her and Lady Cadenza to leave. The two soon walked out, shaking and shivering as they walked passed me. "Well done! Man I almost forgot you had it in you to scold people like that!" Soarin laughed as he attempted to wrap an arm around me, I quickly slapped his arm away though "that doesn't mean much coming from a sissy like you, also don't touch me"

Spitfire's once disturbed expression became a smirk, Soarin however frowned "you're the only girl to ever say that to me" she muttered.

"Well duh? Telling a guy straight up that he's a creeper is impolite!" I then turned around "anywho, I gotsa go and let the others and Lady Celestia know I'm okay, o see ya-"

"Wait" Soarin blurted. I sighed and stood still "why did you make sure that Roseluck was in the room too?"

I shrugged "eh, I dunno"

"Fine, if you wanna play stupid then at least answer me this, the poisoned meal was supposed to be for the Virgin Amore consort?"

I nodded "well, in the event that there was no poison in the other meal, that would be the only logical explanation"

A few days had passed since The Grand Galloping Gala, I hadn't done much as the other three attendants where very sure that I needed to rest and fully heal from the poisoning, although I was sure that I was fine. When I had finally gotten tired of sleeping all day, I woke myself up and went to get ready. I made sure to reapply my makeup, adding my freckles and eyebags before happily sighing, I felt somewhat naked without them.

"I for one am glad that you added them back, as pretty as you are without them, having everybody ask me who you are would have been so troublesome" Lady Celestia chuckled.

"Yeah, plus ya look more like Dashie now and less like... uh... Dashie's prissy twin sister" AJ snorted as she was sweeping the floor.

"Anyway, Spitfire's been here all morning and I'm not sure what to do about it, she didn't seem busy so I just had her weeding outside!" I couldn't help but stare at Lady Celestia for a bit, I was both surprised that she had her doing that and surprised that she just went for it. Although she is highly respected and considered a military figure, Spitfire was also very serious about her respect and devotion to those she works for, if she's willing to follow Soarin's goofy ass around of course she'd be willing to pull a few weeds for Lady Celestia. Funnily enough, similar to Soarin, Spitfire also had universal beauty. She was the type who had both men and women swooning, whilst with Soarin it was because no one could actually tell if he was a man or woman, with Spitfire it was because of her elegant appearance yet headstrong and cold personality. Kinda like the bad boy trope except not really.

"She most likely came for me your grace... may I borrow the living room for the time being?" I asked.

"Of course Rainbow! Starlight, could you please go and fetch Spitfire for me?" Lady Celestia gently asked.

Starlight, who was currently playing with Princess Twilight (who had actually learned to walk and taken her first steps during these passed few days), lifted up the toddler and given her to the consort. I couldn't help but notice the gleam in her eyes, maybe she was so devoted to Celestia that doing something for her made her that happy. I couldn't help myself but chuckle, Starlight, sort of like Rarity, was extremely beautiful and was definately good looking enough to be in the harem or at least married by now. However, whilst Rarity's temper and inability to take disrespect seemed to scare off and intimidate men, for Starlight it was her intelligence, many talents, skills, and her very strong magical abilities that seemed to intimidate men and stop them from courting her.

Wow, men are cowards.

Soon, Spitfire and I were in an empty room together "Soarin told me to bring you this"

I sat ahead of Spitfire, who placed the now stale souffle in front of me. I looked it over, before noticing that she was staring at me "what's up?" I cautiously said.

She sighed before rubbing her temples "please for the love of all things holy do not eat it"

I pouted "of course I won't! It's all stale and won't even be tasty, plus I bet the poison's aleady all gone..."

Spitfire blinked "the only thing stopping you... is the taste..."

As I poked into the souffle, I soon noticed something... off. I cut it in half with a knife that was lying around and saw many puffs of magical cloudsn not only that, but there were lingering particles of violet magic inside of the souffle. I poked the magic sparkles, wincing as they pricked me "a magic potion..."

"Huh?"

"Spitfire, this isn't a normal poison, this is a magic potion" I stood up "this wasn't traditionally made poison, it was magic"

Spitfire stood up as well, staring at me "are you saying that a magic type did this?"

"Yeah, a unicorn did this, a pureblood did"

Spitfire's eyes widenned "I remember something"

"What?"

"The one in charge of the cooking Lady Cadenza's was this chick... I forgot her name... but she had red hair that had like, purple streaks I think, I could also tell she was a magic type because her wrists had a natural purple wrapping"

I raised a brow at her "but how? Only attendants of a consort can cook their food, and Lady Cadenza has no magic type consorts, she only has cloud type consorts and earth type consorts..."

"I also remember this chick wore an outfit with loads of holes in it, it was also black and blueish" she added quickly.

"Magic type... holes... blueish... and Lady Cadenza has no magic types... this means-"

"An attendant of the Ever Changing Hive consort cooked Lady Cadenza's meal..."

...

"Spitfire?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Soarin to alert Lady Chrysalis, I'll be making my way to the Ever Changing Hive Palace tomorrow"

Each palace is said to be colored by their master's spirit and symbol. For example, Lady Celestia's Solar Sun palace is filled with a sense of warmth, comfort and radiance. Lady Luna's Eclipse Moon Palace radiated a feeling of elegance and refinement, and as for Lady Chrysalis... her palace was very, odd but cozy. There were sculpted cocoons everywhere and many encased bugs and critters, the whole palace was colored in greens, blacks and murky blues. It wasn't filled with useless furniture, every single one had a use.

I was walking behind the head attendant, she had short red hair that had purple streaks, just as Spitfire had described. Her eyesight was a little wonky but she seemed very kind and was most definately very devoted to Lady Chysalis, her name was Moondancer and as far as she was concerned, I was only here to help for the end of year cleaning. Soarin had sent me to investigate, but knew that if anyone discovered why I was here it would cause a panic, and especially since Moondancer is currently a prime suspect for the attempted murder of Lady Cadenza.

"Moondancer, who is this? I don't think I've seen her before..."

Ahead of me stood the feared yet respected ex-crown princess herself. Lady Chrysalis seemed to exert the same creepy but cozy feel to her that the house did. She didn't wear makeup and didn't wear and overabundance of accessories. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous, nor was she all that cute and nor was she super voluptuous or curvy, but her masculine and strong beauty was what shone the most and gave her one of the most unconventionally beautiful faces I had ever seen. Another thing that shocked me was how dark skinned she was, being a few shades darker than me, it was a shock to me that someone who was very clearly not pureblooded managed to make it so high in the harem status wise. Sure, Lady Cadenza isn't pureblooded, but I'm pretty sure she's too young for the Emperor to care.

Knowing this, both her race, status and looks, in just a few seconds I found myself looking up to this complete stranger.

"Oh, this is Rainbow Dash, she was sent here to inspect the place and help with the end of year cleaning your grace" Moondancer bowed. A part of me refused to believe that Lady Chrysalis was thirty five, she looked so much younger, all she had to do was change outfits and she'd look exactly like a young Eunuch, she also had the same presence as Soarin... which sort of disturbed me.

I actually couldn't believe anyone in this castle would try to kill Lady Cadenza. Soon after the encounter, Moondancer led me somewhere to help her with work.

One thing I learned is that the attendants of the Ever Changing Hive consort were amazing, easily rivaling Lady Celestia's. Their adoration for Lady Chrysalis really showed in their work, Moondancer by far being the best. She was intelligent, kind, quick to both praise and scold people and knew how to handle pressure. Not only that, but she was also known to do work that was usually left for the lower servants to do; all due to her adoration and respect for Lady Chrysalis. She would have made an amazing wife if she wasn't in the inner palace. It was funny, even though she loves Lady Chrysalis, the things Moondancer has done for her far outweighed anything she had to do as a head attendant and head maid, her loyalty ran so deep that she didn't even want to marry.

My praises became a lot more morbid over time though, when someone is that loyal, that could very well be a motive for murder. Say Moondancer was the daughter of a high ranking official, if he really wanted his daughter to enter the palace as a consort, the most likely to be full on replaced would be Lady Chrysalis. However, say one of the other main consorts were to 'disappear' from their position, things would be different. Ignoring Lady Luna and Celestia, because Emperor Sombra just doesn't seem to like younger girls, she most likely hasn't 'paid Lady Cadenza a visit' yet. Even the lower classed consorts he visits are extremely curvy and voluptious, and as I've said before the more flat chested and less curvy consorts have a much harder time getting the Emperor to visit them.

In other words, although due to her undeniable beauty and already high status she would be near impossible to replace, if she were to die, her maids wouldn't care as they look down upon her because they believe she hasn't fulfilled her duty as a consort, which has and always will be to birth the Emperor a child. In a way it's actually a good thing, as although she's old enough to get married, she is much too young to have a child, her body wouldn't be able to handle it. Honestly, it just reminds me of how old Empress Platinum was when she had the Emperor and... just thinking of the late Emperor's love of younger girls makes me wanna hurl.

Haha, that rhymed.

Anyway, if someone were to kill a consort on behalf of Lady Chrysalis, it's not to weird to say that Lady Cadenza would be the most likely target. I was wiping the shelf and saw a whole bunch of containers "yo, what do I do once I'm done?"

An attendant looked at me and smiled "oh, all you gotta do is put them back in their place once you've finished!"

I opened the containers; looking at the odd color of them before asking "are these honey?"

"Yup! Moondancer comes from a family of bee-keepers!" Of course, so she was from a high familial status. Honey was already a luxery so having multiple different kinds had to mean she was very rich.

As I looked out of the window, I saw Lady Cadenza and... her food taster looking around the palace forest? Why are they there? Seeing her also reminded me that Lady Cadenza said she couldn't handle honey... hm...

I stretched, it had been a while since I had worked that hard, and because Moondancer kept praising me, it felt almost wrong to not continue working "great job Rainbow Dash, you are definately much more determined than Soarin made you out to be in that letter" Moondancer chuckled, coming up behind me "in fact, could you walk with me for a bit?" I nodded and followed her, it wasn't long until we arrived at Moondancer's room, it was pretty empty, kind of like Starlight's room. I looked to the side of me, and saw a pot of honey there too, but I could have sworn I saw a glint of-

"Sorry to keep you waiting, it gets very cold at night so I wanted to get you a blanket..." Moondancer smiled "here you go!"

"Oh, um, thank you very much! I really appreciate it...!" I quickly waved.

She soon held onto the door "goodnight!" She said before slamming it.

"And that's all I managed to get from the Ever Changing Hive Palace"

I stood in front of Soarin, I was a bit upset that I couldn't find any definative evidence that the Ever Changing Hive Palace actually did anything "is that so?"

I groaned "yeah, that's all" I don't know exactly what he expected I mean I'm still just an athlete turned doctor. I watched as he stirred a cup of fancy tea with honey and lemon "do you still find anything suspicious, if you need more clues we can send you back"

"Did Lady Celestia's Souffle have cream or honey?"

Soarin was taken by surprise but answered "well, from my examinations I believe it was indeed honey, why?"

I looked down "I saw a container full of honey in Moondancer's room and I saw many different sparks coming from it, I can't really figure out what color it was but I do remember the souffle was poisoned with a magical potion, and it turns out that what I had assumed was cream ended up being honey"

Soarin looked at me up and down before smirking "you get an... A for effort"

Bastard! He probably already investigated this and knew, cheeky twat, I outta-

Before I could mentally go off even more, he swiftly slid over the table and appraoched me with a pot of honey in hand and his fingers coated "I think you deserve a treat~"

I glared "go feed someone else, asshole"

"No need to be shy, it's just honey!"

"Fuck you!"

He approaching me as I walked back, this nasty perv! He really thought he could do anything just because he's hot!? Well, he's been like that since I met him but still! I ended up against a wall, with Soarin too close for comfort, I looked around for Spitfire to help and I saw the bitch looking out the window, purposely ignoring my struggles!

I am totally serving her puking remedies!

"Aw, come on Dashie, don't you like sweet things?" He said with an unnecessary sultriness to his voice.

"I like spicy food more" I hissed, hoping to get him off.

"But hey, one taste won't kill you!"

Shit, this wasn't going anywhere. If it wasn't for how he had me pinned I would have kicked him in the balls by now, well I doubt he has balls me to kick. If it was Poison Joke honey at least I could get a kick from it, after all, honey made from a poisonous flower is still poison.

Wait...

"Soarin, may I ask why you're harrassing my attendant?"

Soarin looked back to see Lady Celestia and Starlight, both looking rather peeved "y-your grace! I was just, uh..."

"When did I or Rainbow give you permission to do this?"

I didn't really listen to what happened next, but I saw Lady Celestia practically chase Soarin out of the room with Starlight following close behind. Spitfire then approached me, supressing a laugh like the shithead she is "could you please forgive him? It was just a prank taken a bit too far Dash"

But you didn't help! Is what I wanted to yell but instead I scoffed "next time, you gotta lick the honey!"

"L-Lick?" She grimaced.

"Anyway! I'd like to confirm something with you..."

"Yup, this is the Virgin Amore Palace, where Lady Cadenza lives"

Spitfire and I walked in and were escorted to Lady Cadenza's room, once she saw us, the tanned girl jumped up with excitement I hadn't seen from her before and smiled "Welcome!- wait, where's Soarin?"

That's why she was excited.

Spitfire and I bowed "I apologize for the sudden visit Lady Cadenza"

The consort scoffed "please, call me Cadence, Cadenza is such a prissy name, also you can drop the lady thing too, I'm younger than you two aren't I?" Spitfire stayed silent and I shrugged, I had nothing against being less formal with someone "anyway, what do two Solar Sun attendants want with me?"

Cadence was most definately a beautiful teenager and would definately grow to be a gorgeous woman, but she was still too childlike and immature to really live like a true consort. Also, she was dressed much less elegantly than when she was at the gala and more pampered and pretty, looking more like an adorable princess than a royal consort, and honestly it suited her much more. "I'd like to discuss a few things your grace"

Cadence looked at me, suddenly her eyes got wide "y-you're that girl from the garden party... w-what do you want?"

"Do you hate honey?"

She perked "how did you..."

"Your face shows it" I shrugged, recieving an admitedly adorable 'hmph!' from Cadence "I understand if you felt sick from eating it before you'd try avoiding it, is it like pineapples to you?"

Cadence shook her head "no, it's nothing like that, I don't remember since it happened when I was really young, but apparently I had almost died from eating honey, so my nursing mother and attendants banned me from eating it-"

"Hey! Who do you think you are, just bluntly talking to Lady Cadenza like that!? Have you no manners!? What do you want!?"

I groaned, more bitchy attendants. I was kinda sick of dealing with them "I was... sent here by Soarin himself, if you have a complaint, speak directly to him"

Luckily, the girls had skipped off giggling about how they'd talk to his royal sexiness Soarin, I couldn't wait to see him get all uncomfortable because they wanna get all touchy feely with him, payback is a bitch and she definately likes to bite.

"Anyway, one last question Cadence, are you by any chance acquainted the Ever Changing Hive head attendant, Moondancer?" I saw as she got visibly uncomfortable "could you tell us the full story?"

Seventeen years ago, before Emperor Sombra became the emperor and was just crown prince, he had a son with Lady Chrysalis. The late Emperor also had a child with another woman, who ended up being the now Emperor's brother. The baby boy, Thorax, had died before he reached his first birthday, and the current Emperor didn't get any other children until after the late Emperor had died. At the time, Lady Chrysalis was the only consort, and though nobody knows exactly why Emperor Sombra stayed with her for so long, many assume he may have fallen for her, this is only further strengthened by the fact that they grew up together.

As for how I know Moondancer? Well, not only was she looking after Thorax, but I always visited Miss Chrysalis back then. When the old Emperor was alive, I got really attached to her, and she did the same to me! It was weird, because although she was technically my daughter-in-law, she was more of a mother to me than anyone else, apparently Miss Chrysalis looked after me so the creepy old Emperor wouldn't visit me.

It was funny, I mean, I was taken from my family and became a consort really young, and I soon heard that Miss Chrysalis couldn't have anymore babies! That made me really sad, so I visited her more often so I could try and cheer her up! But one day I had to stop...

I wasn't happy.

Somehow I had already expected this, the herbs that grew outside in the inner palace gardens were not natural, they were planted. I know this because they were the ones my father and I often use, which only grow in the Everfree forest, and it just so happens that a certain ex-Eunuch family member of mine I know who plants these types of herbs who used to work here. I looked at the documents that Spitfire had managed to find for me in anger, what did he do? Why did he get his shoulder markings scraped out? Why did they take away his ability to fly?

Why was my father punished for the baby's death?

......

That's it! I had figured it out!

Now all I needed to do was confront Moondancer.

"A message from consort Celestia? What a shame, Lady Chrysalis is out at a social gathering currently-"

I opened the case in my hand and showed it at the peppy Moondancer, her mood had immediately vanished. She stared emptily at the case, almost as if she was both thinking and not thinking at the same time "I want to have a talk with you, Moondancer"

I walked in and saw the room was already packed, as if she wanted to leave. I sat down at the table and watched as she cut up some bread and poured honey all over it, along with making two cups of tea. She soon placed them on the table and smiled again, sitting down "so, what are you up to today? End of year cleaning is practically finished"

I took a sip of the tea "when are you planning in leaving the Ever Changing Hive Palace?"

Moondancer stared at me before laughing a hollow laugh "you're pretty intuitive"

Everything was packed because of the simple fact that Lady Chrysalis was being replaced with a new consort. She didn't have a very strong backing as to why she should keep her position, and only managed to really stay because her and the Emperor grew up together, if her son were still alive however were still alive that would be different, but going by not only what happened to her and her masculine disposition...

She would quicker count as a female Eunuch than Spitfire.

No, that was all speculation, I need confirmation "Lady Chrysalis is no longer able to have children, right?" The inner palace has no use for a consort who can't bare children, not even Lady Chrysalis, a respected consort that Emperor Sombra clearly has a lot of love for isn't exempt from this rule. "Did something happen during her labor"

Moondancer gave me a look, it wasn't exactly a glare, but it was a look "that isn't your business"

I looked her into her eyes "yes it is, for my foster father was punished for it"

In a split second, Moondancer had slammed her hands on the table. I simply watched her, I wanted to glare, I wanted to yell at her to tell me what she did to get my innocent father's wing marking removed, but I couldn't. Instead I then began speaking "Lady Chrysalis had gone into labor at around the same time as Empress Platinum had, and since my father was the only doctor, they had to count which baby was more important, and they claimed Empress Platinum's one as. Thus, Lady Chrysalis was most likely forced to have her labor postponed, it had miraculously not killed her, but it did destroy her womb, she managed to somehow have a safe and healthy baby who sadly died later on" I took in a breath, my mood involuntarily getting worse "do you feel responsible for it? Since Lady Chrysalis became too sick to take care of baby Thorax, it was you who looked after him, right?"

Moondancer looked me up and down, her expression still as blank and empty as before "you sure know a lot for the daughter of a sinch who couldn't even save Chrysalis' baby"

I smirked "maybe so, maybe so..."

An apothecary can't just wipe their hands clean of medical mistakes, that's why my dad is okay with being called a sinch, he thinks it's fair.

It's just who he is, and it made me even angrier.

"It was reported that he died from the poisonous powder that baby Tantabus just recently died from, but that's not true is it Moondancer?" I held to open "the man you so proudly called a sinch banned that powder ages ago, knowing it was poisonous, and you're smart enough to not just disobey him, no, the real reason baby Thorax died was because of this" I held the stem of the flower in the case that was next to a flask, the flower was a periwinkle blue with blue stems sticking out of it, there was also small puffs coming out "this is poison joke, similar to any other venomous flower, making honey out of it would be like making poison"

"I'm not stupid, I know that" she quickly responded, looking down at the table.

I nodded "of course you are, you come from a family of bee-keepers" I then sat down "what you didn't know was that although the food taster claimed the honey to be safe fo the baby, it still had traces of poison in it, the most it would have done to an adult was make them feel funny, but to baby? That level of poison is lethal"

And thus, Lady Chrysalis' son ceased to breathe, and the cause of death was unknown. Due to the incident and him being unable to help Lady Chrysalis' during her labor, Strike Kicker, my foster father and the doctor at the time had his wing markings scratched off of him, rendering him unable to fly anymore and was banished from the inner palace.

I continued to speak "you stopped at nothing to make sure Lady Chrysalis never found out you killed her child, hence why you wanted to kill Lady Cadenza" I looked into her eyes "one day, she told you that she didn't like honey because she had some that made it hard to breathe and almost killed her when she was little, and you were so afraid that Lady Chrysalis might realize the parallels of Candence' and Thorax' situations that she'd discover the truth, that you kept giving her excuses as to why she couldn't visit Lady Chrysalis until you eventually banned her all together" I chuckled "you must have felt so safe, until you saw the one girl you thought was gone forever at the palace, not only as a high ranking consort but with enough power to drive off Lady Chrysalis, but like a child who had just found their missing mother, she ran to hug her"

Moondancer glared at me, her breathing became jagged and her eyes had gotten wider "that's why you thought of making her vanish by mixing poison joke honey with a choking potion of yours to kill her, luckily one of the attendants switched the meals, so she lived"

"What do you want from me?" She hoarsly asked, her hand shakily moving on top of the large cleaver she used to cut the bread "anything is fine, just take it and go"

I furrowed my brows at her "killing me would do nothing, and you yourself know that, the truth was going to be uncovered sooner or later" I hissed "if not by my innocent father, then by someone who could simply out two and two together"

Moondancer began shaking violently, her heavy breaths becoming audible pants, she gripped the sides of the table as her chest pounded up and down "do you have someone you care about dearly?" her question caught me off guard, I couldn't even answer "all my life all I had been taught to do was study and work, study and work, my parents even made me become a stupid maid just to do this, but when I had met Lady Chrysalis, I was shocked, she was so... so... strong and respectable, she could talk to Emperor Sombra casually as if they were both brothers" I watched as she gripped her chest "I promised to serve her for the rest of my days, and that I would never work for anyone else, but-" Moondancer suddenly fell onto her knees, her eyes wet with flowing tears as she began banging on the ground with her fists.

"I TOOK HIM AWAY FROM HER RAINBOW DASH! The baby she loved so much, the child she held as if he were worth more than all the gold in the world! I KILLED HIM! With these very hands of mine, I TOOK AWAY THE ONE THING SHE LOVED THE MOST!" she soon stopped and put her hands around her arms, still weeping as she tried to continue "but even then, all she said was...."

Lady Chrysalis sat in front of her group of attendants, her eyes hollow and red with tears her eye bags heavy "I know you're all worried, but please do not be, my... my baby was like a butterly, his life was so short, yet so beautiful... he didn't live long, but he brought joy onto everyone who care for him... he didn't have a chance to go through his metamorphosis... but I know he's up there somewhere, flying amongst the many other butterflies that had passed after their short time... so let's not weep for baby Thorax, but instead remember and cherish all of the precious moments we had with him..."

Moondancer cried harder "Every... single night she weeped and wailed for her baby, the one I KILLED, yet she... all she did was..." it wasn't long before she simply broke down, falling into a mess of tears and coughs. I hadn't forgiven her for what she had brought upon my father, but most of my anger had disappeared, being replaced with pity. This had been on her mind, eating her alive for seventeen years, the same woman who had devoted her whole being to Lady Chrysalis. I couldn't say I felt the same way, as I never had to go through anything like that, and as much as I wanted to feel for her, I couldn't.

Everything was to be reported to Spitfire, I couldn't lie as I'd be caught, even if she had killed me with that cleaver, the truth would have been revealed, and no matter what she can't not get the death penalty, she was smart enough to know that "I have a proposal, it's not a very nice one, since it basically condemns you to death, the inevitable consequence cannot be changed, but if you're okay withh this, please hear me out..."

"Moondancer turned herself in, do you happen to have anything to do with this?"

Soarin sat in his usual seat and looked over a scroll he had been sent I shrugged "nah, I have absolutely nothing to do with it" I sighed.

Soarin raised a brow, obviously not believing me "well then, why did you get Spitfire to get all those old documents about the prince's death?"

I lowered my head "I believed I was onto something, but was led in circles"

Soarin exhaled heavily "it says here that Moondancer's motive was to make sure Lady Chrysalis kept her rank as a high class consort"

"Really? Then I was far off" I semi lied. My proposal to Moondancer was to turn in one motive and claim responsibility for the baby's death, as it would have saved everyone a lot more time and not resulted in a needless investigation. "Speaking of which, Lady Chrysalis stepping down from being a high ranks consort didn't have anything to do with Moony did it?"

Soarin shook his head "nah, it's completely unrelated, but I heard she's being moved to a palace up north though, all by wish of the Emperor"

"I see" he must really love her then...

I saw a bunch of poison joke flowers and plucked one "oh, Starlight placed those there because they're blooming off season" I sucked from the plucked part of the plant and hummed. Soarin raised a brow but copies me "wow, this is really sweet!"

"It's poisonous"

I chuckled as he coughed and began attempting to spit it out "calm down, you're an adult so it won't kill you"

Moondancer's execution was quick and only took half a day, so I could finally call an end to this whole Gala fiasco. I was currently sitting on the wall outside, I was tired but it was really pretty out, I kind of wish I had taken some cider with me because it just felt like the perfect moment to be drinking- huh? Someone else was here?

"I recognize that rainbow hair anywhere, you're that maid that recently helped out aren't you?"

I looked back and saw Lady Chrysalis behind me, I quickly bowed and scrambled "I'll take my leave your grace-"

She chuckled "that won't be necessary, and as much as I love being called Lady Chrysalis I'm leaving tomorrow, so just call me Chrysalis..."

I snickered "Rainbow Dash"

She smiled "how fitting"

She sat beside me and soon brought a flask and a cup "want some cider?" She casually asked. I soon found myself drinking with the soon to be ex-consort, she was so naturally charming and casual yet still mainstaining her regalness that it caught me off guard, she honestly reminded me of someone...

"I'm like a man, aren't I?" She suddenly asked, after she wiped lingering cider off of her face.

"Well... when you act like that...."

Instead if being offended, she laughed aloud "you're an honest one, I like that" she said, looking up. I knew she was going to spill her feelings, but I didn't stop her, I let her speak "Sombra and I have always been friends, but of course there was point in time where we had to be more than friends, I was supposed to set an example before he became the Emperor, that's why, even after I lost my dear Thorax, him and I just went back to being friends, we grew up together" she chuckled "we were breastfed by the same wet nurse... honestly, I wonder why I was chosen as a consort... I was simply chosen due to my connections to the Emperor, honestly I should have given up my role years ago, yet why... did I keep going..."

It was odd hearing Chrysalis talk in such a somber manner, even though she'd be leaving tomorrow. As a dark skinned cloud type, I can only imagine what she had to go through to get her position not only as a consort but as a friend of the Emperor, only to have it stripped away from her...

Actually, I understand why she's so upset. However, the Emperor's moving her to another palace, so that's how I know he must still carry a lot of love and affection of Chrysalis, it was sweet really.

Chrysalis gently poured the rest of her cider into the river "everyone's a fool... but it makes life interesting... so I'm cool with it"

After we shared one last laugh, she decided to get down from the wall and leave. I stayed for a bit, admiring the stars some more before soon getting down myself.

"Dashie!? What are you doing up there!?"

The sudden yelling scared me and made me lose my balance, and before you ask why I didn't just fly it's because I forgot I could, jeez.

I ended up landing on someone "my bad" he said...

Wait...

"Soarin? What are you doing here?" I asked with a groan.

"I should really be asking you that" he muttered before he... held onto me tighter? It felt a bit awkward really, he was doing that one thing... what was it called... oh yeah! He was hugging me.

"Are you... good Soarin? You aren't high or drunk or anything?"

Soarin shook his head "nah, but can I just... do this for a bit? Like, I promise to get off..."

As much as I wanted to yell and kick and scream, I was too tired and a bit drizzled from the cider, so I just shrugged "fine, but if anyone sees us you're dead"

"Hmkay...."

The consort headpiece that served as proof was to be given to the new Ever Changing Hive consort soon, Lady Chrysalis looked prideful, she didn't look as if she was chased away from the castle, she looked as if she was a proud worker who had decided she had done her duty. Now that I saw them standing beside each other, I realized that the person she reminded me of was Soarin, they had the same kind of universal beauty.

Wild.

"Wait, Miss Chrysalis!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Cadence running up towards the leaving woman, her attendants close behind (albeit rather annoyed). I watched as the other three stopped and Roseluck followed. I didn't seemd to notice this, but Roseluck had become a lot more protective of Cadence, and pretty much everywhere Cadence went she went, it made me smile. Although the other attendants were still bitchy as hell, at least Roseluck had come around and actually began caring about Cadence.

Cadence ended up tripping as she approached her, her three attendants began laughing as Roseluck tried to catch up and help. Chrysalis looked back, soon kneeling down beside her, and at that moment the masculine consort wore one of the most motherly faces I had seen in a while.