The adjustment of a second princess joining Twilight Sparkle on the throne after a thousand years of only Twilight ruling was… slow. It had been so long that only the other princesses remembered there even was a second princess that had once ruled along Twilight.

Luster was acutely aware of this fact and it often led to a lack of confidence at the galas and other meetings where she was introduced to the ponies of Equestria for the first time again. Twilight made sure to make her as comfortable as possible.

Irradiance was a close companion to both Alicorns for the majority of the time. After having defeated Luster Dawn with the magic of friendship, Irradiance was a key component within the royal hierarchy. He became properly introduced to Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, at the first summit that Luster Dawn attended. He was given the honorary title of “Guardian of Friendship.”

Irradiance wasn’t the only one of the six to earn a title, of course. After the defeat of Luster Dawn, the group of creatures did earn a stained glass portrait. Cobalt was over the moon and Irradiance emphasized that this did not mean the group would simply stop their assistance of other creatures, but meant they didn’t need to reach for selfish goals anymore. They’d already achieved their immortalization. (Cobalt was still jealous that Hibiscus and Irradiance had physical memorials).

The group had become the Elements of Polyphony and the new series of heroes became even more well-known throughout Equestria. Irradiance was suddenly blessed with even more royal treatment, given gifts and free samples, and rushed to a free table whenever he went out. It was exhausting just as much as it was rewarding.

“Did you deal with this fame when you became an Element of Harmony?” Irradiance had asked Twilight, who shook her head.

“No, I wasn’t as famous as you are,” Twilight had recalled, “Not until I earned my status as Princess of Friendship, of course. But gossip spreads quickly in Canterlot. I was living in Ponyville at the time, so I suppose that may be a factor.”

Though his friends stayed in Canterlot for as long as they all could, Irradiance wasn’t able to see them all the time. Studies as Twilight’s student weren’t solely friendship-related and often meant researching ancient artifacts, and accompanying her to meetings and other social events.

Letters became a common thing between the six creatures. Irradiance had started it, sending a letter to Leviathan once a week or so, until eventually, Leviathan started sending the letters to Amber, who sent them to Marigold, who sent them to Cobalt and Hibiscus, until they reached Irradiance once again. They weren’t able to see each other, but they still spoke as often as they could. It was a nice tradeoff.

Luster and Irradiance had grown close after the incident, as they’d dubbed it. Both new to the royal treatment, they stuck together at the summits, public relations meetings, and within the castle in general. Luster wanted help relearning friendship and Irradiance was the perfect pony to help her. He referred to his own friends for some topics (each creature seemed to be the expert of their own element. Made sense).

“How are you adjusting to the heightened fame, Irradiance?”

He had been in the middle of walking home from visiting Marigold at her apothecary when several reporter ponies had stopped him in the street, asking sudden interview questions to put in a magazine article.

Irradiance approached the castle gates, ears pressed back in exhaustion, “Slowly,” He admitted, yawning as he opened the doors with his magic, horn sparkling in the purple aura. Canon Ball and Spearhead exchanged a glance, empathizing with the Unicorn.

“Luster Dawn said the same thing,” Spearhead said. Irradiance nodded.

“I’d figure. A thousand years of being locked away? It can’t be easy for her to come back to a new series of guards, friends, and an entire town after all that time.”

With a wave, Irradiance entered the castle and beelined it toward his room, tired of the week’s assignments from the princess, the socialization with all of the reporters and store staff who wanted to give the Guardian of Harmony gifts, and more. Not that he was ingrateful! Irradiance was much the opposite! But he was still an introvert at heart, missing his home within Everfree every now and then. A nap on his bed in his room was something he was craving more than anything else.

“Afternoon, Irradiance,” A guard greeted, bowing his head as the stallion approached his bedroom door.

“Afternoon,” The stallion replied. Used to the antics by now, he did a double-take at the guard, expecting a green coat and darker green mane to be beneath the armor, but he was met with no such thing.

Instead of Leviathan’s common pony disguise, this guard was none of the others that the purple Unicorn had seen before. His coat was a deep grey, his mane black, and his horn seemed to be tipped with red.

“What was your name again?” Irradiance asked. He’d done his best to meet and become friendly with the majority of the castle guards, but this one wasn’t familiar in the slightest.

“Noctis Steel, ” The guard responded firmly, looking up and adjusting his posture. Irradiance felt a chill go through him at the name but left it alone.

“At ease, soldier,” He dismissed the guard’s formal pose, entering his room and closing the door behind him. Something felt… off… about that Notcis Steel. He couldn’t place it, but he felt like he’d seen the Unicorn before somewhere.

“Finally!” A voice came from Irradiance’s bed. Turning around, the purple Unicorn saw the face he’d been hoping for. “I’ve been waiting here for ages!”

Leviathan was in his pony form, likely having come in as a guard before retiring to Irradiance’s room to surprise the Unicorn. Irradiance grinned at his partner, waltzing over and lying down on his bed.

“Why can’t you ever just tell me you’re going to visit?” Irradiance questioned, looking back at the stallion. Leviathan shrugged, transforming into his Changeling form in a flash of red.

“It’s funner to surprise you.”

“Funner isn’t a word.”

“I can say it, can’t I?” Irradiance looked away. Leviathan grinned, “Then it’s a word!”

“Whatever. I came here to nap, not to converse with an illiterate Changeling.”

“Hey!” Leviathan laughed in mock offense, watching as Irradiance made himself comfortable on the plush bed and closed his eyes.

“I’m serious. Sleep or get out.”

Leviathan rolled his eyes before joining his partner in bed, snuggling up close. It was nice being able to have these private moments with each other. Irradiance wondered if any of the others (apart from Cobalt and Hibiscus, of course) had found companionship anywhere. Was Amber even the romantic type? She’d been engaged to Leviathan, but that was just diplomatic, wasn’t it?

Marigold would definitely be a romantic pony. She had happiness in her heart. Platonic love, romantic love, Irradiance was sure she was capable of it all. Whichever pony earned that love was going to be lucky.

As he drifted off to sleep, Irradiance couldn’t help but think about that guard by his door. He knew the majority of the guards by name and if he didn't know their names, he knew what they looked like at the very least. Usually a white or grey coat, white, blue, or grey manes… Leviathan’s pony disguise was the only guard that usually stuck out. This Noctis wasn’t familiar and it just kept pulling Irradiance out of his peaceful nap.

Huffing and puffing, Irradiance finally sat up and decided to confront the guard. Leviathan, having managed to fall asleep, was left alone in the bed as Irradiance maneuvered around him, trying his best not to wake his partner. His own thoughts shouldn’t prohibit anyone else’s rest.

Slowly walking toward the door to his bedroom, Irradiance opened them to speak to Noctis, wondering if he’d been hired recently and the Unicorn had simply forgotten to introduce himself.

“Hey, Noctis?” Irradiance turned to his right, about to greet the Unicorn, but he was gone. A puff of what looked like black smoke was wafting away, but no Unicorn guard was anywhere to be found. An uneasy feeling took over Irradaince’s stomach as he quickly closed his bedroom door and tried to consider if the guard was a hallucination.

“Irradiance?” Leviathan woke up with the slam of the door, hair messy and eyes tired. The purple Unicorn turned around.

“Have you ever heard of a Noctis Steel in the guard ranks?” Leviathan shook his head slowly.

“I’ve been gone for a while, but the name doesn’t ring a bell. Most of the new guards don’t guard the inner rooms, though. They’re usually given hall duty to get used to the job.”

Irradiance’s stomach turned again. Something was wrong. His face was turning closer to green than purple and Leviathan was up and out of the bed within a few moments to comfort the stallion.

“Hey, hey, are you okay? What happened?” The Changeling led Irradiance to the edge of the bed, having him sit down before he was sick where he stood.

Feeling himself start to shake, Irradiance tried to speak calmly, “I think someone’s trying to invade the castle. There was a new guard outside of my room but when I went to check, he was gone.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just walk away?” Irradiance shook his head, sure in his beliefs. “No, he just disappeared! There was smoke when I went to speak to him. Guards don’t just leave their posts, anyway.

Leviathan hummed. “Okay. Okay, so we’ll mention it to Twilight. But I’d never let anyone get close to you, Mr. Guardian of Harmony,” The Changeling teased, and Irradiance let out a weak laugh.

Calming down with the help of his partner, Irradiance settled himself and gave up trying to nap, resorting to having Leviathan quiz him on the terms of friendship and other units he’d been given to research by Twilight recently. Might as well make the visit worth it.

(Within a nearby empire, a shadow returned, and snow began to fall.)

Author's Note

woooow. way to be original, me. using the same setup and another teaser at the end?
idk its fun. its like in Disney Descendants where they're like "you didn't think that was the end of the story, did you?"
i like giving myself the option to write more!!!!
so idk you can guess who noctis steel is but I'm not gonna say it outright. i hope you enjoyed this little sequel! ill see yall next time :)