Starlight and Mrs Cake arrived at the house of one of Mrs Cake’s friends, when they entered they saw two ponies that in Starlight's mind couldn’t be any more different. One was an Earth Pony that was clearly sophisticated while the other was a Unicorn that seemed to spend her time in a club.

The Unicorn gesture to Starlight “Mrs Cake, who’s our new guest?”

The Earth Pony shook her head “Vinyl, show some respect to our guest.”

Vinyl shrugged “I’m just curious, Tavi.”

Starlight rubbed her neck. “I’m Starlight, I don’t really have much experience spending time with others.”

A teal unicorn entered followed by a cream Earth Pony carrying a tray of sweets. A gray pegasus carrying a tray of muffins on her back entered behind them. The gray pegasus smiled at Starlight “I’m Derpy” she then gestured to the cream earth pony the teal unicorn “This is Bon Bon and Lyra.”

Lyra grinned “A new friend, I have something I would like to share with you later if we have time.”

Bon Bon groaned as she set the snacks on the table “I’m sure Starlight has better things to do then hear stories about humans.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow “Sunset mentioned something like that at some point in a letter she sent me. She was in a world full of humans.”

Lyra shook her head “I may inquire about it later but if Sunset refuses me, I’ll leave her be.”

Vinyl blinked “Who are you and what did you do with Lyra?”

Lyra groaned “Sunset was a very dangerous individual. I was still only a filly but I had heard her angry shouting across Canterlot. There was a lot of fire and yelling.”

Octavia frowned “I heard a few rumours but I didn't think that really happened.”

Starlight shook her head “How about we start, what kind of games do you play?”

Vinyl smiled “Tonight is card night, we have various card games.”

As Vinyl began setting cards, Lyra looked at Starlight “So. Where did you come from?”

Starlight rubbed the back of her head “I ran a village where I stole everyone’s Cutie Marks, believing that I could make a world where everypony was equal. My friend abandoned me the moment he got his talent.”

Lyra blinked “You can do that? But then how would anyone know they were special? That they could achieve great things.”

Starlight frowned “I believed that any superiority over another was the enemy. It didn’t really work out in the end.”

Vinyl turned to her “It often doesn’t. I tried to be what those in Canterlot call a proper musician but it simply didn’t work. I had no passion for that and all my music even when played technically well sounded soulless. One finds their path their own way.”

Vinyl then passed out seven cards to other ponies at the table as they did so, Starlight glanced towards the window for a moment before turning back to Vinyl. Outside the window five pairs of light arctic blue eyes stared through the window before whispering “She almost caught us.”

Starlight grimaced as heard the sound of flying “So someone was spying on us?”

Octavia frowned “Who?”

Starlight shook her head “I don’t know, light arctic blue eyes that glowed in the dark.”

Lyra shivered “Changelings… I remember them. The glow of their eyes and the feeling of their magic.”

Bon Bon frowned as she comforted Lyra “Why would they be spying on us?’

Starlight frowned “Not on us, on me. I’ve been so out of the way that I’m a wild card. Whatever they have planned I’ll try to keep you out of it. At least until I know more about their plans.”Lyra was taking deep breaths as Bon Bon was giving her a massage on her back. The group stayed silent for Lyra to recover.

Meanwhile the changelings returned to the hive, Queen Chrysalis was sitting on her throne as she was pinged (We have returned.)

Chrysalis frowned (What have you discovered?)

The Changelings responded (While we have got a little bit of information on Sunset Shimmer who seem to wield power that eclipses Discord we also have gathered intel on an unicorn of impressive power.)

Chrysalis grimaced (Report to me personally.) Chrysalis started pacing, if there was a being more powerful than Discord this could shift the balance of power. Her plan to infiltrate and capture all the ponies would have to be altered.

The changelings arrived in her room, they bowed “Our Queen. What little we have gathered from Sunset Shimmer is that she is far superior to Discord. We have no way of defeating her at this point, we aren’t even sure what she is capable of. Given that she has returned to Canterlot, our spies up there may be collecting more data.”

Chrysalis nodded “Well done but what about the new Unicorn?”

One of them shook her head “She is very observant, too observant. She noticed us almost immediately. We were trying to get close at night. She must have some experience with needing to be observant.”

Chrysalis growled “Return to Ponyville and collect more information during the day! Just stay hidden! Failure again will not be tolerated!”

Chrysalis frowned “With a little more information, we will have to terminate her. She is a threat to the well-being of the Hive and with rumours of a new Royal Wedding we can gather more energy for our plan.” She then returned to her chair to continue managing the plans for the takeover.

Author's Note

I'm sorry I haven't written chapter in a while, motivation is hard to come by.