Celestia’s eyes widened as she glanced nervously through the crowd. Her breaths grew heavy and her legs trembled, as though on the verge of running. Who was Chrysalis? What was the Nightmare talking about? …What had made her seemingly unshakable aunt so terrified?

Celestia glanced fearfully around the room, eyes lingering on the cameras and reporters before finally coming to meet Cadance’s own, uttering silent apologies as green flames rose around her, slowly covering her entire body: replacing white fur with cold, black chitin; replacing soft, feathered wings with shredded cuticle; replacing her flowing rainbow mane with clumpy blue strands somehow littered with holes. Replacing her gentle, kind purple eyes with an insectile green.

Panicked whispers ran throughout the hall, while several ponies simply froze and stared in shock, Nebula and her sister among them. Shining paused for a moment in whispering orders to the remaining guards before resuming quietly trying to evacuate civilians and the injured royal guards as though nothing had happened. Lyra gasped, hiding behind Bon-Bon who lay a comforting hoof around the green mare’s shoulder

“So good to see you again, old friend!”

The Nightmare’s remark snapped the gathered ponies out of their shock into a mad panic, Shining’s quiet evacuation falling into a stampede under her manic cackle.

Celes-Chrysalis closed her eyes and took a steadying breath before glaring at Nightmare Moon and Sunset Blaze “Leave my ponies alone and I shall surrender. Fail to and… we all know I cannot defeat both of you: not even with the love of every pony in Equestria. But I can draw our fight out for weeks, months even- I can make you regret ever hearing my name!”

“I already do, next? Negotiations usually take a position of power you know dear Chryssy.” Nightmare Moon pretended to observe her silver shoe, before smirking cruelly, “Well, no you don’t. you rule a hivemind.”

“Oh, like you know better Luna. You had a grand total of three diplomatic duties, and two of them were me!”

“At least I- wait, two?”

“…And you’re blind to any truth you don’t want to know, apparently.”

Sunset Blaze, who had taken hold of Cadance while the other alicorns talked, snarled as her fiery mane rose and roared, “Thou dare insult The Queen of The Night!? You dare compare this mighty nation to your monstrous caverns!”

“The only monsters here are you!” Cadance struggled against her bonds as she glared at the tyrant alicorns “And I have literally no idea what in Equestria is going on, but Auntie is a great ruler! …so buck off!”

“You dare speak against thy true Queen!?” Sunset Blaze’s mane flared in anger, and the magical bonds around Cadance tightened.

She found herself gasping for breath and heard her aunt and Shining Armour cry her name as blackness enveloped her vision and she passed out to Sunset Blaze’s cruel smirk. That went better in her head.

/\v/<

When she regained consciousness, she was surrounded by comforting bookshelves with Shining hovering over her,

“Wh-what happened? How did we get away? Where are we?” Cadance sat bolt-upright frantically looking around,

“Cady! Thank Celestia you’re alright! Don’t worry everyone is safe, When you passed out Cele- …the Princess blasted them both through a wall; I brought you here, to the library, and my colts are protecting everyone. This… this’ll all be fine.”

“And my Aunt?”

Shining’s guilty glance aside told her everything she had to know.

“I have to help.” Cadance shakily got to her hooves,

“That would be unwise. As already proven, you aren’t as strong as the Nightmares and Chrysalis would happily lay down her life for you, making you a hindrance in an outright battle.” Nebula walked through the door, followed by her sister, Lyra and Bon-Bon, “That doesn’t mean you are useless though- quite the opposite in fact.”

As she flew to a nearby shelf and withdrew a book Shining’s eyes narrowed warily, “How come you seemed to know exactly what was happening anyway Nebula? And what were those ‘Elements of Harmony’ you mentioned?”

Nebula dropped the book- titled ‘Elements of Harmony: a reference guide’- on the table in the centre of the room and glanced aside to her sister,

“Lulu, this is far more your decision than it is mine.” Sky Tierer’s eyes held an uncharacteristic seriousness, “you’re the one who came up with a stupidly reckless and unnecessarily dangerous plan to fix our mess.”

Nebula sighed, flying up to a different shelf and pulling down a foal’s story book- the Tale of Two Sisters. “You know the story of Celestia’s rule but…” she gave a small, sad grin “We’ve already established that’s a lie. In truth… the story is the one you know until the younger sister’s stupid, stupid jealousy. Celestia couldn’t bring herself to harm her sister, and kneeled but Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Hive, somehow got the elements to work for her and- as you now know- took Celestia’s place as ruler of Equestria.”

Bon-Bon narrowed her eyes into a glare, “And you know this because...?”

Nebula shot one last questioning glance at Sky, who nodded, and sighed before sadly smiling, “Isn’t it obvious? I am the one who started this mess. I am Princess Luna, ruler of the night, guardian of dreams… the true form of Nightmare Moon.”

"..."

“That’s not funny.”

Shining was the first to break the silence.

“’Tis not a jape.” Nebula stared with tired eyes,

Tia grinned and interjected, “Nah, Lulu lost her sense of humour a couple decades ago. Now I’ve got it!”

“Wait…” Bon-Bon spoke quietly, as though still thinking, “If she’s Luna, wouldn’t that make you… the real Celestia?”

Sky Tierer simply smirked.

Shining frowned and started skimming the book on the elements that Nebula- Luna- had placed on the table. “What are these ‘elements’? I had dismissed them as a myth- I presume they’re in the palace of two sisters?”

Nebula nodded, “You presume correctly, that is where… the final battle took place. Even though Chryssy found a way to use them, it’s highly unlikely she can move them. As for what they are… well, I believe Cadance can give a better summary of the novels than I can,”

Wait. What. “Those are accurate?!”

“Well, Chryssy was quite over-critical of herself, and my portrayal was riddled with inaccuracies, but the Elements are portrayed realistically.”

“Chrys- Auntie wrote them?!” Cadance was mildly concerned she may have unhinged her jaw. “wait, Chryssy? How close were you?”

Nebula blushed, and Cadance realised she was back on familiar grounds.

“So, preeety close then,”

“Oh, you would not believe the amount of times I caught them making out in alcoves…”

“Equestriacouldbeendinglet’sfocusonthat!”

Shining frowned slightly, “Speaking of the apocalypse, how can you two simultaneously be here and all… evil tyrant fighting across the planet?”

“Ok, first of I’m an evil minion!” Sky smirked, “And secondly… we aren’t sure. We just woke up, on the edge of the Everfree, like we are now.”

“If I were to guess, I’d say Chryssy’s treatment of the sun and moon are to blame.” Nebula frowned up at the sky, “They have not liked being moved by force, these past centuries. We could feel their ill-content, even addled by the Nightmares…”

“...And our respective celestial bodies were our prisons. Us being split in two is probably them going on strike ‘till we can take over moving ‘em again.” Sky paused pensively, “Probably why the Nightmare’s were released early too?”

“S-so, these elements… if we get them, we can help Queen Chrysalis?” Lyra asked, still clearly shaken.

Cadance nodded, “Yes, according to the book there are six, Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity and the sixth element which is… like, friendship? Just as a concept?”

“It’s called the element of Magic, but yes effectively.”

Lyra frowned resolutely. “What are we waiting for then? They’re in the Everfree right?”

Bon-Bon rested a hoof on her shoulders, “Lyra, y-we’re civilian, are you sure?”

“Definitely. Our leader needs our help, I’m helping her.”

Cadance looked over the room. They had a plan, and she wouldn’t be doing this alone. Despite her fears, despite the stakes, despite everything, she found herself smiling. They would stop this eternal night.

She would save her aunt.

Author's Note

So... I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I'm also super happy with it? It's shorter, but I genuinely couldn't find a way to extend it that didn't seem forced and, while I love the cliffhanger I was actively trying to avoid one and did one anyway?

Also I can't tell if the dialogue is 'witty and realistic', 'stilted and tryhard' or just both.

Edit: So yeah, sorry for the delay, but I just couldn't get the next bit to a length I'd be willing to have a chapter for, so now it's tagged on to the end of this one. Sorry!