Once again at the front steps to the Sanitarium, Rainbow Dash found herself wishing she could shrink away and leave the place. Midday’s sun didn’t make the place look any better, only making it’s gleaming exterior hurt her eyes. Somehow even the slight familiarity she had with the building made her only more wary of its interior, her eyes wishing to not be bombarded with the endless white held within. Pinkie Pie stood beside her, held tilted in confusion at Rainbow’s instinctive backpedal,

“You know it’s just a building, right Dashie?” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she shook her head, namesake mane bouncing across her face. She hadn’t expected Pinkie to get it, not yet at least. She’d gone over to the marketplace, where Pinkie had been trying to interview ponies about their past experiences with Sombra. While the party pony hadn’t had any incidents the likes of Rainbow’s, she hadn’t any luck either, most crystal ponies unwilling to spill the beans on their memories of Sombra. This was no doubt their best shot, thought Rainbow, turning to respond to her friend,

“It’s not just the building, Pinkie. You don’t know how weird it is in there yet. It’s like-”

“Super duper white inside? Not single little plant, painting, or bit of fun in sight? Even the ponies inside are white and really really serious?”

“Yeah! Wait, what?” Rainbow stared at her friend, confused momentarily that Pinkie knew all that.

“You told me silly!” Oh, right. She’d told Pinkie about the situation on the way over, but in truth she’d been occupied with thoughts of how exactly she was going to investigate the place. Part of her wanted to just stroll in and insist they interview the patients, surely the ponies most deeply stricken by Sombra’s reign must know something about it. Then Twilight’s words arose again, unbidden, reminding her that those very same ponies likely didn’t want any reminding of that very fact. Ughh, her job was just finding information by talking to ponies! Why did that have to be hard? “Dashie! You coming?” It was then that she noticed Pinkie ahead of her, about to enter the building via its wide double doors.

“Wait up!” She flew up beside Pinkie before they both entered, both immediately treated to a cry of pain behind the receptionist’s desk ahead. The receptionist crawled out from beneath her desk and into her chair, one hoof caressing the back of her head as she tried to stifle an expression of pain on her face,

“Hi-ngh, there! Welcome to the Blessing Well Sanitarium, the only true place of rest and recuperation in the greater-Crystal Empire area! Haha, I kid! I’m Gratuity, is there anything I can- Oh, Rainbow Dash! Welcome back, do you have anymore questions?” Her face morphed seemingly effortlessly, taking on the same wide smile as the last time. Rainbow would’ve been more impressed if it wasn’t so obviously fake, the smile stretching past her face and yet not touching her eyes, the mare’s gaze bordering on a glare.

“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie, and you already met my friend, Dashie!” Pinkie practically bounced with each step beside Rainbow as they approached the desk, something the mare before them struggled to keep her mouth shut on, lips twitching as she took in the excitable pink pony.

“Charmed. What can I do for you, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? More questions about what a Sanitarium is?”

“Well actually-”

“We’re investigating you!” Pinkie cheerfully exclaimed before sticking a hoof in her mane and pulling out the seal given to her by Shining, clearly stating her an agent of the crown in the Crystal Empire. Gratuity was blown back in surprise, stammering as she tried to gather herself. Rainbow Dash winced, unsure if this was the right approach. Her nerves crawled on end, as though Pinkie’s outburst had caught the building’s attention on top of them.

No point letting the advantage leave them, “That’s right, we’re here to find out what’s going on in this-” She bit her tongue, unwilling to insult the place to one of its employees just yet, “- big place.”

“Ah-ah of course! A-apologies if I seem off-put by it all, it isn’t everyday you get told you’re being investigated by strange ponies out of the blue!” The mare’s voice came out wavering, her usual carefully prepared script caught off guard so suddenly. What did she mean by she was being investigated? She was just a receptionist, it wasn’t like- “But I cannot allow you to go wherever and talk to whoever you like!”

“What? That’s like the whole point of an investigation!” Rainbow pressed the mare, throwing her hooves atop the desk.

“T-t-t-hat would be a dire violation of our patients’ safety and privacy!” The mare gulped, eyes wide at the intrusion into her personal space and hooves shivering in place. Pinkie stepped closer, gently pulling Rainbow back off the desk before giving her an exaggerated wink and facing Gratuity,

“We don’t want to do any of that, silly! We just want to examine your facilities! I’m sure you can keep an eye on two ponies as we just take a quick look-y-see around!”

“That’s… Oh why you want a tour!” Gratuity relaxed almost instantly, her snow white eyes widening from the pin pricks they’d constricted into, “You should’ve said earlier! That won’t be an issue at all.” She slipped from her seat and rounded the desk, Rainbow on edge herself at the prospect of being led further into the building. How did Pinkie do it? She looked to her pink friend, finding the mare had suddenly stopped all the excited energy from earlier, now seeming the definition of calm, “Really, we wouldn’t do this normally, but with the seal, I have no choice!” Gratuity exclaimed it with a wide smile on her face, her words a complete clash with her cheerful mask. It was almost as if the pegasus and Pinkie had swapped for how expressive they were being.

“Please, follow along now.” Pinkie and Rainbow kept pace beside each other, following behind the white receptionist as she led them into the building’s depths, pushing past the first set of double doors on their right. Just past, they saw a large room, couches centered around a single large coffee table to the left while a small kitchen and serving table stood on the right. White streamers laid haphazardly across the ground, and a banner hung half taken down from the ceiling, ‘Happy Birtday’ misspelled in black ink. “Aha, we had a birthday yesterday! One of our staff, Whistle Reed, I believe his name was. This is our staff room as you can see; everypony say hi to our guests!” Their guide waved to the room’s few occupants, all white ponies who seemed more interested in their various meals or distractions.

Pinkie’s smile, a sight Rainbow needed after seeing Gratuity’s imitation of one, grew at the sight of the party decorations left lying around, “I knew I felt a party around!” It deflated then at the realization that they’d been a day late, and Rainbow knew then what her friend was thinking: were they too late to throw another? A look and a small nod told Pinkie that now wasn’t the time, instead listening to their guide try to rattle off the names of the other ponies in the room. Rainbow leaned in close to Pinkie, voice hushed as she tried to stay below Gratuity’s rambling,

“Pinks, how are you not weirded out by this place? Isn’t there something about it that, I don’t know, just digs at ya?” Pinkie’s response was shrill, like it took more effort to keep her voice quiet,

“It is weird, Dashie. Maybe that’s what these ponies need?”

“… but I like to call her Frigid, haha!” Gratuity’s laugh was mirthless, the joke about her fellow coworker as forced as her smile was. Rainbow and Pinkie returned their attention to her, still needing her to guide them through the building on this ‘tour’. They stood there for several more seconds as Gratuity’s forced laugh slowly stilled before she immediately started walking again, introducing them to the next room ahead as they stepped into a featureless hall, “Up ahead, I’ll show you to what I like to call our ‘Nice Room’! This is where we allow our more comfortable and sociable patients mingle with each other and the staff.”

Entering out of the hall, it was like they’d stepped outside again: green trees and bushes adorned a large patch of green in the floor, as though they’d just plucked the corner of a park and stuck it inside the building. The only thing giving away that they were still indoors was the high ceiling, almost giving the impression that you could look out into sky and yet it was still pure white. Ponies in white scrubs walked around various ‘nature’ trails, or sat in benches and spoke to each other in hushed voices. Finally a hint of color, as the assumed patients all still had their natural body and mane colors, though they seemed… muted. Like a nearby mare who laid on a nearby log and similarly slept like one, who’s mane looked like it once shone with the brilliance of a crimson ruby and now had the tone of muddy earth that’d had something red spilled in it.

“Isn’t it simply wonderful? A curated and safe piece of the outside for all our sociable friends to enjoy.” Gratuity breathed deep, though Rainbow couldn’t see why. The air was as still in here as anywhere else she’d been, the trees somehow doing nothing to freshen up the place. A pair of ponies nearby discussed something, Rainbow swiveling her head to hear better as she took a step closer,

“I’m sorry, miss Melody. Your recovery won’t be finished for sometime yet.” A white stallion stood over a small mare, her all purple body curling up on itself in her seat,

“O-oh, I just thought that with how good I felt, I might get the chance to see her again…”

“Trust me, when you’re ready to see them, I’ll let you know.”

“O-okay, thank you for taking good care of me.”

“Of course.” He sniffed, nonchalant about the conversation that had made the patient retreat deeper into her own body. He looked over at Gratuity, a sneer flashing on his face for a second before he turned it into a polite smile, walking over to her, “Gratuity, what’s going on? Are these new patients? Where’s their uniforms?”

She faced him, jaw dropping in faux shock, “Why it’s Whistle Reed himself! No sir, I’m just giving two guests a tour of our facilities, they’ve got the Castle’s seal!”

“Oh!” His tone rose an octave, the stallion putting on his most charming grin for the two mares before him, “A seal you say?”

“Yup! From Shining Armor himself!” Pinkie stuck her hoof in her hair again, retrieving the seal to show. The stallion looked it over, humming as he confirmed to himself that it was the real thing,

“That you are, miss! Pray tell then, what brings you two fine ladies to our humble little place of care?”

“We’re here to inspect the place! What better way to find out how a Sanitarium works than from the inside?” Pinkie gave Rainbow an expectant look, waiting for her to continue. She didn’t catch it at first, Pinkie just seeming to do Pinkie things, but then it dawned on her. Pinkie must’ve caught some sense about the place if she wasn’t just telling them exactly what they were looking for here,

“Right! We’re just, uh, you know, learning about the place!” Ugh, like Pinkie didn’t just say that? Think, think… “There’s no Sanitariums or anything in Equestria, most ponies seem to do just fine without ‘em. Pinkie and me are just curious about why that is.”

“Indeed, that is a mighty prudent question.” Reed looked at Rainbow more thoughtfully than he did her friend, head leaning back as he took her all in. His gaze lingered uncomfortably long on her wings, and she could’ve sworn that she caught his mouth twitch… upwards? The crystal earth pony released a sigh before facing his coworker again, “Could you not have informed the rest of us? You know how intrusive visitors can be.”

Gratuity rolled her eyes as exaggerated as can be, head swinging around with them, “Haha! How could I have done that, when they just strolled in here and asked for one?”

“Hmph. Not to worry, I’ll let the rest know. Keep them here a moment, would you? I’m sure there’s some procedures that should wait until they’re aware of our guests.” He walked off, passing behind a lone wooden door, plain except for the ‘STAFF ONLY’ sign hanging from it.

“Well, why don’t you try conversing with a few of our patients? I’m sure you’ll see how well they’re recovering in our care!” Gratuity faced them now, smile stretched to the edge of her cheeks in what looked like an attempt to suppress any other possible emotion,

“Sure?” Rainbow stepped away from Pinkie, both of them choosing a different pony to speak to. Rainbow had decided on the small mare that Reed had addressed, the mare now plainly trying to keep herself from crying as she burrowed her face into her tail, “Hey, uhm, excuse me?” The mare’s head shot up, not expecting anypony to have approached her.

“Oh! Please excuse me!” She sniffled, using her hoof to rub the tear-streaks from her cheeks, “Y-yes? Can I help you?”

“Sorry miss, but can I ask what the guy from before said to you?” The mare brought her hoof to her nose, brow furrowing in thought,

“With mister Reed? O-oh, we were just discussing my release. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my daughter…”

“Your daughter? How long has it been?”

“Three years, come her birthday next week. I would like to see her then, a filly only turns three once.” Rainbow’s eyes widened, concern escalating at the mare’s words. The mare’s face flushed, catching onto the absurdity of her statement, “O-oh, excuse me. I’m telling you these things, and you don’t even know my name. I’m Lavender Melody, and I- oh, hmm….” She fell deep in thought for a second, eyes glazing over before she was back, unaware that she’d blanked out, “I was a musician before I was sent here for treatment.”

Rainbow’s hoof rose hesitantly, unsure of what just happened to the mare, “Are you okay? What just happened?” Lavender lowered her head, shame washing over her face at the confusion in Rainbow’s,

“I’m so sorry! That’s part of why I’m here, the doctors haven’t been able to cure me of my episodes yet.” She slowly pulled herself back up, confidence surging as she recounted Reed’s words, “Mister Reed knows when I’ll get better though! He’ll help me, and then I’ll get to see my little girl again.”

“How long have you been here, miss?” Rainbow asked the question carefully, not yet sure she even wanted the answer,

“Oh, well it’s been about five years now. It was… harder, back then, but things are so much better now. The Crystal Heart’s magic has done wonders to help my recovery, really!” The mare cried that last bit out loud, almost trying to convince herself of it as much as she was trying to convince Rainbow. Five years, Rainbow gulped, she was in no position to make anything of that. She needed to get back to her investigation, about Sombra’s origins, and she wasn’t about to ask this poor mare anything about that.

Who would she ask then? She looked around the room, her sight catching on Pinkie speaking to a gathered group of ponies about something. The party pony’s infectious cheer seemed to work on the ponies here, laughter rising from the group. “You know, you remind me of my girl. That thick coat, and such a vibrant mane!” Lavender continued on, unheeding of Rainbow trying to find another pony to speak to, “You lose your colors, feeling like I do.” She looked down at her own body; beneath her white outfit her purple fur had darkened to near blackness, dry and coarse against her own skin. “Please, if you see my girl, Neon Blitz, will you let her know I still remember her? I’ll be coming as soon as I can.” Rainbow nodded, feeling obligated to when this mare had clearly gone through struggle enough.

“Alright! May our two guests please return to us?” Whistle Reed stood beside Gratuity before another set of double doors across the room, eyes half-lidded in boredom as he waited for them to arrive. Rainbow murmured a soft ‘sorry’ to Lavender before walking back towards her guide...s? Pinkie caught up with her, shrill voice returned as she whispered, “Figure anything out yet, Dashie?” Rainbow shook her head, concern wrinkling her brow as she returned the whisper,

“I’ll tell you later.”

“So how was chatting to our patients?” Whistle Reed spoke with a volume natural to his voice, words echoing against the walls. The room paid attention he opened his mouth, whether it was for the sheer noise or for the charisma that’d seemed to begin dripping from every vowel uttered, “I trust they were on their best behavior for you today!” He addressed the patients as much as he did his guests, letting them all linger on it before the two reached him.

“They were fantastic! I’m surprised some of them even need to stay here, they seem so healthy already!” Pinkie was quick to take the lead, letting Rainbow gather herself after her exchange earlier.

“Oh, good!” Reed seemed surprised, as though he wouldn’t describe a single one of his patients the same way Pinkie did, “You know, we put incredible time and effort into making sure each one of them is feeling their best, each and every single day. I’m glad you can recognize our efforts so easily.” His smile grew smug, giving the room another glance before turning back to the Rainbow and Pinkie, “Now, Gratuity is still here to give you the rest of your tour, but I figured it could only help you ladies if I allowed myself to tag along. Little old Gratuity who sits behind a desk all day can’t help you as well as I can.” Said mare allowed her smile to drop a little, turning to him with gritted teeth,

“Ha ha, that’s our Whistle Reed. What a jokester. Perhaps we should tone down the comedy around our guests?” His smirk didn’t move, keeping himself ignorant of what she said,

“Now, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, shall we continue your tour?” He turned his back on them before pushing the doors open, walking through with a stride only the most confident held, like he could navigate these halls with his eyes shut. They walked past offices for resident doctors, past bedrooms for the so-called ‘sociable’ ponies, past utility closets and holding rooms. Whistle Reed explained every little detail they stepped past, even explaining the crystals embedded in the ceiling that granted everything its glorious alabaster sheen. His words, not Rainbow’s.

That was, until they walked down a particular hallway. It served only to lead to a single set of doors at its end, save for a lone un-marked door on Rainbow’s right. Reed was silent as they walked down, the only sound in the air the clop of everypony’s hooves against the flooring. When they walked past that strange door without a word said about it, she knew something had to be up, “What’s in there?” Reed turned around to see Rainbow stopped beside the door, head tilted in its direction,

“Well you see, that’s our… operation room, and we have a few delicate ponies currently being helped in there. It would be dangerous, not only for them, if we interfered. Please, let us continue on. It’s almost time for evening meal in the cafeteria. Wouldn’t you rather see the food we serve?” Pinkie perked up at that, having carefully listened to Reed’s explanations all along,

“Oooh, is there any cake?! Cookies, cupcakes, pies?!”

“Maybe?” He offered the answer cautiously, as though he didn’t know himself, before looking at Rainbow, “You should try holding the same excitement as your friend really.” What? She was plenty excitable! What the buck did this guy know about her? Rainbow grabbed Pinkie by the shoulders as soon as he turned his back on them, whispering to her the plan,

“Pinks, I need you to keep them distracted while I figure out whatever the heck they’re hiding in there.” Pinkie shook her head up and down vigorously, absolutely prepared to do anything necessary to keep all eyes on her,

“You got it Dashie, don’t worry! No pony will even think, ‘hey, where’d that cool rainbow girl go?’!”

“Uh… right. Thanks Pinkie, I know you got my back.”

“Of course silly! Now, watch this!” Bouncing forwards, Pinkie ran towards the end of the hall, hyperventilating something about cake and parties and making their two guides rush after her in an effort to not lose her. She had no worries, Pinkie knew what she was doing when it came to this sort of thing. She viewed her own task as the harder of the two, as a quick test of the door’s handle proved it locked. Backtracking, she exited the hall opposite of where the others had gone, looking around for some place that might keep a key. Everything being white was beginning to seem an intentional design, Rainbow almost immediately feeling lost. There were few identifying markers anywhere in these uniform halls, the most differentiating each pale corridor from each other being the amount of doors it held.

Choosing a random direction that felt new, she tried to keep a good pace. Rainbow wasn’t intending on meeting anypony else without her tour guides here, and staying still too long would no doubt have somepony finding her eventually. Muffled voices could be heard from each door she passed, sometimes a solitary pony speaking to themselves, sometimes a group discussing something too quiet to overhear. None of those rooms were safe to enter, instead continuing her search.

Choosing yet another direction to walk in, she encountered a strange new sight: Labels sat beside each door, the hall lined on both the right and left with doors, each door holding a tinted window in it. She tried to peer in one, but it reflected too much, the glass as white as anything else in this freaking building. Instead she turned to the label, reading the text which only served to confuse her further, ‘0978, Visiting’.What was the number for? What did visiting mean? Why did she suddenly hear a terrified scream from within? It hushed as quickly as it came, the door quiet save for the faint whimpers within. No other door stirred, not even in response to the scream, and the hall she came from remained silent. It seemed no one else had even heard the scream.

Right, what the buck? What the buck?! Rainbow backpedaled from the door, sure she wasn’t to find anything inside that room. She examined the next one instead, reading its accompanying label: ‘0112, Resident’. Great, so apparently there’s residents and there’s visiting. Nothing strange there. Each door on this hall, two dozen she ultimately counted, had its own label with an equally cryptic number and designation, either resident or visiting. Save for one door at the end of this hallway, a set of double doors that swung open at her touch.

Inside, it looked like an office space. White desks with white paper scattered across their tops; cabinets and bookshelves lining the walls; a water cooler sat in a corner, still bubbling as it relieved itself of the vacuum within. It was almost as though she’d just missed everypony, eyeing another set of double doors across the room that they must’ve left through. Well, she wouldn’t say no to opportunity.

Rainbow began rifling through each of the desks, looking for anything key-like in nature. She had to be careful, to not too obviously mess anything up, and to of course not knock the desks themselves. Ink pots sat atop each desk, uncorked, black ink within the only other color in the room. Other than herself, of course.

“I mean, cake isn’t that amazing.” A voice approached from outside the room. Crap! Rainbow was still there in the middle of the room, conspicuous as can be,

“Ugh, I know. And that pink! Come on girl, there’s gotta be some elegance if you’re gonna be so monochrome about it.” There wasn’t a single hiding space in sight, nothing that’d hide her multi-color body at least. Think, think! What if she hid under a desk? It wouldn’t be so bright, but she’d still stick out like a sore hoof. Unless?

“Hah, not like us, right? Right?” The voices just outside the door, Rainbow swooped up as many ink pots in her grip as she could hold before tipping them over onto herself, dousing herself in that black liquid. It stained into her hair and fur, darkening her body enough that even she’d struggle to recognize herself. It stuck oddly to her skin, almost sludgy, but she hadn’t any other ideas. Then it was time for her to hide, slipping under a desk and pressing body as small as she could, hoping she blended in with the shadows.

“Yeah yeah, not like- what the?! Who spilled ink, everywhere?!” A feminine voice cried out, anger and disbelief surging in her voice, “Ugh! Come on, let’s get janitorial. Who does this?!” Huh. Guess she didn’t need to pour it all on herself? She crawled out from under the desk as the two ponies’ conversation got further, their groaning not stopping all the while. She looked down at herself, her body pitch black from the ink. It made for a cool look at least?

Rainbow got back to her search, hunting for anything even metallic within each drawer. Her dripping hooves left black splotches on everything she touched, but she’d let somepony else worry about that. Then, “Yes!” A small hard object brushed against her hoof beneath a pile of paperwork, revealing itself to be a key indeed once extracted. She prayed that it was the key she needed, already feeling uncomfortable in her own body with this mess on her.

She slipped the key into her mane, taking a note from Pinkie, before exiting the room. Rainbow tried to find her way back to that mysterious door, hooves leaving a trail of black prints behind her as she stalked the halls. She’d tried flapping her wings to fly, but all that achieved was flinging ink across the walls, and one trail was already pushing it for her. Thankfully she wasn’t too far from where she’d started, not wasting any time in investigating the other nearby rooms.

Pulling out the key from her mane, it covered in black goop now too, she plunged it into the door’s keyhole. It sunk in clean, and with a twist she felt a heavy mechanism release inside the door. With success in reach at last, she reached out and pulled on the door handle, almost no effort needed before it swung open before her. So far, so good. She closed the door behind her, making sure to stick the key back into her mane; she might need it again. What she saw next gave her pause.

Dark gray stone stairs led down into a basement, the ceiling and walls adorned in wooden support beams holding smooth carved rock back. Small lines and runes marked every surface that wasn’t the wood, swirling and flowing together into larger and larger symbols the further down she descended. Each step down, she felt whispers bearing down on the edges of her vision, like the ink had infiltrated her eyesight and was blurring the corners of her eyes. Hushed noises crawled along inside of her eyelids, her magenta eyes flicking in every which direction to catch them. Fuzzy shapes outstretched like clawing limbs just outside of eyesight fought to be recognized by her.

The shapes in the rock almost appeared to flow like water, so cleanly marked into the surface that it couldn’t have been done by pony hooves. Rainbow’s heart pounded, thoughts weighing so heavily on it as she neared the bottom of the stairs, fear clutching her mind at what may lay down here. Then she reached it, a large round empty room. Lit torches lined the walls, illuminating the runes and markings flowing into a large spiral in the center of the room. No pony else was in here, in fact there was nothing else in here as well, the room entirely barren. Had she imagined everything, walking down here?

Releasing a heavy sigh, she climbed back up the stairs, suddenly feeling much more mundane. She pushed the door open and stepped back out in the dazzling whiteness, disappointment staining her expression as much as the ink did. Clearly, she hadn’t thought this all out as well as she would’ve liked, biting her lip as she tried to imagine her next steps.

“D-Demon! Shadow Demon!” A pony to her left screeched, and she looked up to see the sheer panic in their eyes. She also took note of their patient uniform.

“Oh no.” She tried to raise her hooves, to show she wasn’t dangerous, “Hey there! No need to be scared, it’s just me, Rainbow Dash!”

The pony’s jaw dropped a second before they screamed again, louder this time, before falling to the floor in shock. Shouting could be heard from outside the hall, as staff no doubt took notice of this scream. “Great...”

The evening sun’s rays snuck into the room, past the drawn curtains, draping themselves across the pony sleeping in its bed. A couple minutes longer, and the angle would’ve been just right for the stray light to lay across the pony’s eyes, no doubt disturbing their rest. A grumble and a moan escaped from the pony, muscles flexing and shaking the blankets off of them before the light could yet do anything to them.

Trixie still felt exhausted. Her limbs burned from the endless running she’d done all night, and a cloud of fatigue still hung over her head, until she then realized where those sensations originated from. She had succeeded her trial! Forcing her eyes open, she had to blink away the bleariness in her vision before she could gather where she was.

Lifting her head from the downy pillow, she was able to take in her surroundings, starting from the blankets yet on her body that felt greater than silk, to the midnight black curtains blocking most of the evening sun from entering the room. She actually couldn’t see much past that, the rest of the room far too dark for her eyes to make out. Wait, evening?

Slipping out from under those heavenly covers, she wobbled over to the window, using her magic for the first time in hours to pull the curtain aside. The light blinded her almost instantly, a faint eep escaping her before shehastily threw the curtains back into place. She blinked the pain away, more carefully pulling the curtain open only a bit at a time. What she saw outside stunned her; a view of Canterlot grander than any she could’ve imagined. The painted rooftops of the city below shimmered in the remnants of Celestia’s sunlight, not to mention the rest of Equestria which could be seen from this height.

The realization hit her then: She was in Canterlot’s Castle, where the Princesses ruled! She even had her own room?! A knock rang from the door, soft at first before ending off firm. “Who’s there?” She yelled out, suddenly feeling embarrassed when her voice came out hoarse.

“Corporal Flitting Breeze, here to introduce myself to you, madam.” Fat lot that told her, but she wasn’t in the mood for twenty questions through a door,

“Come in.” The door cracked open and a stallion entered the room, closing the door behind him. His gaze was held straight forwards as he saluted,

“I am Corporal Flitting Breeze, and I’ve been assigned to be your personal guard, madam Lulamoon.” Hmm, yes, that’s all- wait, he’s the pegasus who knocked her out at the end of her chase last night! She still felt the small ache in her chin. Taking a closer look all but confirmed it to her. He was the very same, right down to that mop of grass green hair he called a mane. Why he hadn’t chopped it down like most other guards she’d seen eluded her, especially when it was so ugly, “Madam?”

“You hit me last night.” She hissed it out at him, anger filling her veins. Trixie had never been stricken like that before! Or at least, not so daringly. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t the best track record, but this was the first time she was given a small position of authority over the pony that’d hit her. She was going to make the most of it.

“Accept my deepest apology, madam. It was not my intention to hurt you, rather to capture a fugitive of the law.”

“Hah, you got lucky! The Great and Powerful Trixie let you capture her, otherwise how would she have become Luna’s student?”

“Errh, right, madam.” He shuffled imperceptibly, still holding the same rigid pose near the room’s entrance. She stared him down, or at least she tried to, his gaze still firmly stuck on some random wall fixture and not on her. Grumbling rose from her throat before a brilliantly petty idea struck her,

“Clean up my bed.”

“Pardon, madam? Isn’t that for the maidservants?”

“So?” She huffed, hooves positioned on her hips as she sat impatiently, “I’m waiting?”

“I- uh, right you are, madam.” He hovered up off the ground, wings keeping him aloft as he floated over to her bed, hooves yanking sheets and covers back into place. Trixie smirked at the sight, simply knowing to herself that she would put him to great use, but too intrigued in everything else to watch the show. She approached the rest of her room, the drawn curtain now letting enough light in to see what other furniture she had in here. A dark blue couch sat before a fireplace, and fine dark drapery hung from nearly every inch of her walls, save for where decorative paintings sat. A writing desk stood lonely in a dim corner, awaiting its first parchment and spill of ink. The ground was covered in- “There, it’s clean.”

She was torn from her examination, looking back at the guard as he hung in the air above her bed. It did indeed look clean, nary a wrinkle in sight on those night sky blue covers. Alas for him, Trixie’s keen and very petty eyes caught a wrinkle or two hidden out of his sight.

“Tch, not hardly! Come now, if you’re to be Trixie’s personal guard, you’re going to have to do a lot better than that!” She telekinetically grabbed the few wrinkles as she berated him before ripping the blankets off the bed entirely, watching as his stony face fell. She felt giddy, glee slipping out into a wide smile before she ripped her attention back off him. Her room was far more interesting to her than some rude stallion. The floors of her room were coated in black rugs, a strange sight but not one she questioned; perhaps the affluent merely liked soft floors? The room, overall, was remarkably empty. Perhaps she was expected to fill it out herself? It would simply be one of the many questions she’d have for Princess Luna later.

“Hmph!” The sound of him struggling behind her only served to relax her further, as the evening sun outside dipped below the horizon, bathing her room a cool blue light now. She turned around to see an utterly immaculate bed, the stallion panting slightly as he looked at his own handiwork. Not a wrinkle lay in sight, every sheet fitted as tight as could be. Well, she certainly expected that to take longer. Not to worry, horn beginning to glow as she ‘invented’ a few wrinkles in her mind to point out to him, “Excuse me! Madam.” He interrupted her before she could do anything more, Trixie facing him with a pout,

“What? You know it isn’t perfect yet. I mean really, just take a look at-”

“Madam Lulamoon, I was sent here to introduce myself as your personal guard and to, when you seemed awake enough after your sleep, give you the Princess Celestia’s summons.” Oh. Trixie shut up then, her eyes struggling to meet his now, “The Princess Celestia requests your presence in the throne room. And pardon me, madam, but you seem awake to me.”

Author's Note

I told you we'd get going once I shook the rust off! I'm hoping people will start getting a sense of where our plot is going now but if not, don't worry. The next chapter will clear some things up.

Please point out any mistakes or errors you notice. In a similar vein, if anyone would like to edit or proofread for our story moving forward, I would love to coordinate with you!