The New Problem

Night had fallen within the Crystal Empire and Moonlight found that she couldn't sleep. She was restless after learning that she wouldn't be able to return to where she came from. The moon shone on the balcony that she stood on, looking up to the stars. She didn't know what to do anymore, the entire reason she had come here ended in failure. Her entire mission had failed. She was a Special Investigator with no way home, she was AWOL now. The unicorn leaned against the railing and looked back into the castle. Floral Blossom and Ginger were sleeping as was most of the residents of the castle, the only ones who were awake at this time of night were the night guard and they weren't much for conversation. This suited the mare.

She always had wanted her freedom from that organization, yet now that she had it, she didn't know what to do. The unicorn walked back into the castle, but a sound from behind stopped her. "How did you get here?" she demanded.

"I'm here to see if the rumors my partner's drones told me are true. I could've attacked the Crystal Empire at any time, but that infernal Crystal Heart senses my intentions and would repel me if I tried," came the response from Sunrise Standing.

"That doesn't answer my question," sneered Moonlight.

The vampony shrugged, "Wings. I can fly. My counterpart here is a Pegasus, just like yours is a unicorn, just like you're a unicorn. Figured someone as smart as you would've figured it out by now," he said as he rolled his eyes.

The unicorn turned around and the two looked at each other. Upon their eyes meeting, Sunrise started to laugh. All the rumors he heard were indeed true. The fire in Moonlight's eyes was gone. The unicorn didn't bother to try to stop him from laughing, she instead turned away from him. "You've won, Sunrise. I hope you're happy now, because it's not going to give you your dad's school and he's not going to come back from what you did to him," she stated bluntly.

"It was never about getting the school, can't you see! It was about making you pay for what you did, Moonlight. It was always about that and now I've won! You won't be able to stop me anymore!" the vampony gloated.

Two guard ponies walked towards the balcony and the unicorn shook her head, "Leave the fool alone, he'll soon realize that his victory was hollow," she ordered.

"Yes, Miss Moonlight," one of the guards responded.

"A hollow victory is still a victory!" Sunrise yelled as he started to dance.

Moonlight couldn't believe what she was seeing, an aberration, someone who sold themselves to dark magic was dancing before her. She hated every moment of this and wanted nothing more than to shove her former friend off the balcony. It was insulting to watch him debase himself. However, the dancing started to slow and eventually stopped leading to a vampony that looked down at the ground in a bit of shock.

"Realized that now your singular drive has been fulfilled, you don't have anything to fall back on and now life is meaningless?" she said with a smirk.

"Yeah..." was the quiet reply.

"Sucks don't it, now if you don't mind. Get off my aunt's balcony and get out of her city!" Moonlight hissed.

Sunrise hissed back and took to the skies, "Mark my words, Moonlight, I will find some new purpose to fulfill, and when I do. I shall ensure that you are there to witness it!" he yelled at her in a feigned gloat.

The unicorn shrugged it off, she literally couldn't care less what Sunrise was doing. She walked through the corridors of the castle and to her bedroom to fall asleep finally.

"I'm not going back," said Moonlight to a surprised Floral Blossom and Ginger.

The kirin looked at her friend puzzled, but the griffon got up in her face about this, "What do ya mean you aren't going back?" she asked.

"Simple, I'm not returning to Ponyville. Not yet anyway. Look, I wrote two letters. One for Princess Twilight and one for Luster Dawn. They need to understand what's going on, but I need to spend some time on my own and figure things out. I need to clear my head and all that good stuff," the unicorn stated.

She pulled out two envelopes and handed them to Floral Blossom, "I promise that we'll see each other again. I haven't forgotten about our friendship," she reassured the kirin.

"But what about Sunrise? Isn't he still a threat? Don't you want to pursue him to the ends of the world?" Ginger rightfully asked.

Moonlight shrugged and walked away from them, "He's not going to be a threat to anyone in his current state. He's just as lost as I am, but he doesn't want to show it. You'll be safe going back to Canterlot without me," she said dismissively.

She didn't give the two a chance to respond as she closed the doors behind her and made her way to the throne room. The unicorn was hoping to find Cadance there, but it was empty. There wasn't anyone in there except for the guards. Dejected, she walked towards her room that had been given to her the night before. Moonlight watched as two guards nodded to her as she entered her room, but she didn't respond in kind. Instead she walked straight into her room and slumped on the bed.

She felt empty and completely demotivated. It was something that she had never experienced to this degree. She's been like this before, but in this case it was an all consuming emptiness and lack of desire to do anything. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come. It was as if the universe itself was taunting her. Images of her parents flashed in her mind, reminding her that she'll never be able to see them again, not even while disguising herself as she usually did.

"Hey, you going to come have breakfast with us? I know you're new to the family and all, but... wait weren't you supposed to go back to Ponyville with the others?" a voice asked her.

Moonlight picked her head off of the pillow long enough for her to speak up, "I'm not hungry and I don't want to go back to Ponyville. I've got important work to take care of here," she stated before putting her head back on the pillow.

Magic wrapped around the investigator and dragged her out of bed, "Sounds like me you're suffering from a bout of depression. Come on, staying isolated isn't going to do you any good," the Prince of the Crystal Empire said to her.

She was carried through the castle until they reached the dining hall. Cadance and Flurry Heart were already present and Shining Armor placed her down in one of the chairs. She looked at a stack of pancakes in front of her, but her first action was to immediately leave the chair and start trying to walk away. Moonlight didn't want to be around anyone, let alone her new adoptive family. Especially when they reminded her of her old family. The dark blue unicorn wanted nothing more than to get away from all of this, to walk into the frozen wastes and not look back.

The investigator didn't look back and she walked back towards her room, however Cadance landed in front of her and gave her a strong hug. "Moonlight, we're your family, you can tell us what's bothering you," she said sadly.

The unicorn tried to break from the hug, only to find that it got tighter. She knew that her new aunt wasn't going to let her go until she heard what was bothering the investigator. "Sunrise won, I've lost. I lost everything and now there's no point in continuing my mission," the unicorn said angrily.

"You think that it's all over because you feel like you've failed? Moonlight, there is always a reason to keep going forward. You might have lost your old family, but according to what Twilight told me, you weren't able to be with them as their daughter anyhow. You were forced to be something you're not and you want to go back to being who you really are deep down inside. With us, you finally get the chance to be the girl you want to be," Cadance said in a reassuring tone.

Moonlight broke free from the hug, but she was shocked rather than upset. She had never thought of things in this way. She was free to be who she wanted to be. The unicorn walked over to a window and looked out of it at her new home, the Crystal Empire. A smile crossed her face as she closed her eyes. She might have lost her old home, but there wasn't much worth going back for. This new world, this Equestria, was a beautiful place where she didn't have to constantly watch her back or worry about someone punishing her for her failures. She didn't have to feel like a weapon anymore with a singular purpose.

Her eyes opened and they appeared focused once more, "Well Director, it would seem that you've lost once and for all. I'm no longer on your so-called payroll and you no longer have any control over me or what I do. I'm my own woman now and there's nothing you can do about it," she boasted, confusing Cadance.

The alicorn looked around to see who her niece was talking to but Moonlight's laughter echoed through the halls as the unicorn removed her ID from her mane and looked at it one last time. Her horn ignited and the ID card burst into flames. She was no longer a Special Investigator, those days were behind her. But she knew the skills that she had learned during her time in the organization would benefit her.

The unicorn turned to her aunt with a smile and hugged her tightly, the alicorn replied in kind. "Aunt Cadance, do you know where Radiant Hope is? She's the only one who can help us aside from the reformed Sombra find all of our Ancestor's pieces and only together can they reverse the spell," she asked.

"I don't, but perhaps I know someone that does," Cadance replied.