Eclipsedby Alleria WindrunnerChaptersDepressedWhat To DoThe Five-Hundredth DateContinued Meetings & Hacked CamerasHuntressBack to BeforeThe End/Epilogue/ThingybobberDepressed What's wrong with me? I should be happy for her. Why am I not? If I knew, I wouldn't find me asking my self what's wrong. But here I am. And nopony else knows about it. Not even Luna. Not even Twilight. Not even Cadence. I'm on my own. Completely and totally on my own. Ever since the wedding a year ago, Luna's been getting more comfortable with our subects. A part-time princess. rarely actually at the palace except during nighttime. Her husband shows her his old haunts all day, three times a week. I can see them taking off from their tower now, actually. Their daughters are becoming wondeful princesses, and Prisma helps me and Twilight with a fair amount of royal duties when her mother is gone with her father. Aura's usually with her sister, but today she decided to take a cloud bath. She's up there splashing in the clouds.....how does something that's not a liquid splash anyway? I had no idea a thousand years ago, and I'm still clueless a thousand years later. But I'm getting distracted. I delved into my mind to figure out what was wrong with me, not reminisce about the good old days when a princess could wear a floppy hat with googly eyes in public, wear sunglasses and socks to a court meeting to drive the wrinkly old bats insane, and when a princess could take a cloudbath in a public cloud bathhouse. I've reached a conclusion. My mind is at war with itself, dancing and twirling around it, trying not to touch the subject most touchy for me at the moment. My sister's wedding. She's grown distant from me. It's painful. Mentally painful and physically painful. I know she loves him, but I wish we could have some sister-sister bonding time again, like we used to once or twice every month. It's been one year, and nothing of the sort has been suggested by either of us. I gave myself all sorts of excuses at first. It was just the strain of being a mother. It was just settling in. It was just having to protect her husband from the press. It was just teaching her daughters to be proper princesses. I had many different theories, ranging from stupid things to major things to small things. Anything but the probable and painful truth. Anything but the fact that maybe......just maybe,.......she....didn't......love me as much anymore. Anything but the fact that maybe her husband was closer to her than I was. That she might be closer to him than she was to me. Anything. Anything else. Just not that. Not that train of thinking. I couldn't handle it then, and I still have to be careful. The last time I let myself just think, well.........I'm still having issues explaining to everypony that the red dragon eyes and the flames that had made up my mane and tail were just an experimental illusionary spell, performed on me by Twilight. And the simple fact tht it was there, in the back of my mind, behind the regal mask. Behind my everyday facade. The emotionless, always in control ruler that my subjects know and see frequently. The gentle, regal pony they all looked up to. It whispers to me, and I can see now why Luna became Nightmare. There was too much bitterness to hold in, and it couldn't be properlyvented through tears or words. It could only be vented by action. So my little sister had acted and ended up on the moon for a thousand years, agonizing over her poor choices when the Nightmare let her go, raging at me and my little ponies when it held sway over her body. Should I resign? Is it even possible? Every ruler before me ruled till the people lost faith in them and they faded. Till our immortal equivalent of death. But wait. I know what's wrong now. Why I can't get a good night's sleep anymore. Why I have less confidence than usual. Why nothing ever seems joyful or bright to my eyes anymore. It's a feeling I'm familiar with from Luna's thousand-year exile. It's depression. I'm depressed. Why? Maybe, just maybe because you have been separated from your little ponies as your sister got closer to them, a little voice in the back of my head nagged at me, the voice of the tyrant I could be if I let it take me as Luna had been taken by the Nightmare. Shut. Up. I told it, reasserting control over myself, body, mind, and magic. But at least I knew what the problem was. I levitated a quill over, an inkwell and a rather large roll of parchment coming with it, and settled onto my plush, elaborate (to say the least), purple and gold embroidered couch. Dipping my quill into the inkwell, I began to write out my formal resignation to my subjects.The parchment glowed golden as my magic swept the quill lightly across its surface. I would no longer be an active ruler, just a noble or minor royalty. And maybe it would help me tackle my depression if I wasn't being thouroughly watched all the time. Press. Guards. Friends. Family. A whole nation. All watching me closely. All the bucking time. I cringed as the rather unpolite word swirled around my mind, echoing and resounding multiple times. The thing that was a nightmare me shifted in its corner of my mind and snickered at my actions, but it stayed silent. As I paused my writing to mentally scowl at the creature, I added to my mentaal checklist: Find duplicate personality remover spell. It might be in the library, but I bet it'll be in the Archives instead. Most likely. And probably in the Starswirl the Bearded wing, no less. I set my quill back to the paper. I had an important legal document to draft, revise, keep secret, finish, and submit to the court I'd set up when I first became a monarch, a ruler of my ponies, an icon as frequently grouped with the sun as a hammer and a nail, or a fish and a fishbowl, or pond, or whatever. What To Do"Ideas?" "No." "Anything?" "Fresh out." "Come on, we gotta help aunt Celly!" "Can't she deal with it herself?" A purple, with gold trimmings to be exact, pillow soared in an arc across the room, squarely smacking Aura in the face. "OW! Okay! Okay! Just lay off!" "Any ideas yet?" "Yeah." "What?" "Let's drag her into a pillowfight!" Another purple and gold pillow learned how to fly, again hitting its target, more specifically Aura, perfectly and nearly impaling itself on her grey horn. "OW! Lay off!" "We need ideas!" "Ugh." Aura flopped face down on her queen-sized bed, her grey fur splaying along the ridge in her covers as the two brushed. Odd, she happened to be a princess. "Come on!" She was prodded, somewhat rudely, by a black hoof. As it just so happened, the applied pressure of the hoof was just enough to knock her off the bed. Aura's face hit the floor with a painful noise evident to the blushing Prisma, who was currently hiding behind a billowing wave of red, orange, and yellow. "Really?" Aura peeled her grey face off the marble floor, un-muffling the last few letters of the word. Peeling the rest of her body off the floor, she got back up onto the bed, sitting a bit farther away from the edge this time. "Oops. Sorry." Prisma tried to go for a sheepish smile, but it didn't last more than a half a second before she had to push her flowing mood-mane out of her face. Since she was worried, her mane was red, orange and yellow, lacking its normal double-rainbow coloration. "But at least I got an idea on how to he-" she was cut off as her sister pounced on her with the consistency of a wolf pinning down an injured hare. "Really? What?" "First, get off me." Aura's chest heaved as she gasped air back into her deflated lungs, comically re-inflating the rest of her body. "Second, I think I know....." she trailed off with an evil smirk. Then she lifted her muzzle to her sister's black ear, careful not to let their horns hit anything.That hurt, contrary to popular belief that unicorns had no feeling in their horns. After a few minutes of whispering into each others' ears and grinning sinisterly, the sisters left the room. As they left, however, they didn't notice one of the new security cameras swivel to keep its glistening black lens trained on the pair of alicorns as they walked away. _________ "...They're leaving.....they're turning the corner....Yes!" murmured an indigo alicorn, hunched over a rather large control panel inlaid into a table. The panel in question contained a number of joysticks and approximately forty-seven buttons of various colors and sizes, some sporting labels. Chrome and steel made up the panel, as well as the table. A navy alicorn peered over her shoulder at the flickering screen, watching the two moving figures-their targets-move across it, but blinked when his sister pivoted whichever camera she had trained on them to keep them in sight. Prince Orion and Princess Andromeda eagerly tracked their sisters across half the palace, before they came muzzle-to-camera with a problem. The end of where the cameras were installed. Sighing, Orion prodded his sister, asking "Now what?" Andromeda turned around slowly, doing a complete circle before stopping and marching towards a hatch that led down a maze of tunnels into Andromeda's room. If the lighting wasn't so bad, anyone present could've seen an evil grin slide across Andromeda's face as she addressed her brother. "We're gonna follow 'em, Orion." A very smart sounding "Oh." was the only answer. ______________ Prisma lifted one black, silver-clad forehoof, and introduced it to the door. "Yes?" their mother answered the door, but only met two bellies, one grey and one black, as they rolled around on the floor. "BWAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!" The lunar diarch looked up to notice her mane sticking out in five directions and knotted and tangled in various places. She turned around to see her husband and the girls' father trying to contain a laugh. He was failing miserably. She did a one-eighty and slammed the door, the cyan glow around the doorknob fading as the magic was repurposed elsewhere. When the two young alicorns were finished laughing, they could hear wingbeats, hoofsteps, and things like "Honey....wait, I can explain!" "AAHHH!" and things flying around. After a particularly painful sounding crash, they heard their mother's voice: "You let me answer the door like this?!" Then their father's voice. "Umm........yes?" More sounds of the painful variety emanated from their parents room while the girls listened. "OW!" "HELP!" "Sweetie, OUCH!" " Wait, please, I OWWW!" After a few more minutes of this type of noise, their mother answered the door again, this time shoving their father, Rainbow Blitz, out the door before her in a cardboard box labeled: 104 COUCH LANE, CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA. The destination for the box was very clear. As was the purpose of use. Then she answered her daughters again. "Now, what did you girls want?" "Well mom, we're kinda worried about aunt Celly..." _________________________ In another room, a towertop made of white marble, a similarly white alicorn was making revisions and redrafts of a rather large, rather long, scroll. She sighed quite frequently, and made to put the paper away a few times but stopped. She was clearly at war with herself. She trotted to the window. If anypony had seen Princess Celestia, they would've immediately known what was wrong. Most ponies could probably tell her about their experiences with it, as nopony save an insane one lived their entire life happy. This was Princess Celestia, co-ruler of all of Equestria, and she was depressed. Normally, the only rank above 'ruler of my homeworld' is 'creator of the world' and above that 'creator of the universe'. She sighed again, muttering so it was just barely audible, "Lulu, I hope you don't take this the wrong way and that you'll know what to do...." She trailed off and returned to the large mass of papers cluttering her desk. And so went an afternoon in Canterlot Castle. The Five-Hundredth Date "I'll go talk to her about i-...you know what? Just get everything in order and we can spring it on her by surprise. Blind dates! Oooh, this'll be just like my favorite romance novel!" Aura looked over at her mother, thoroughly confused beyond belief. "Mom?" "Yes?" "What's a novel?" _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Two shadows, one male and one female, slid across the window. They stop and hover, presumeably by their wings, which were rather clumsy pegasus ones. The window creaked open, and the two ponies flung themselves inside, slamming shut the window as a patrol of pegasus Storm Guards swooped by. They chittered to each other in something definitely not Equestrian, and erupted in green flames. A moment later, two black ponies with insectoid wings and holes just about everywhere stood, surveying their room. The two chunks of black swiss cheese chittered to each other again, but this time the female spoke angrily and smacked her much less graceful or shapely looking compatriot, sending him flying into the wall. Luckily nothing was broken, changeling body parts or otherwise. The female strode to the door and erupted again in green flames, this time coming out as an exact copy of a female Storm Guard, armor and all. Her sidekick did the same(though he didn't become a female), and the two left towards the private halls of the younger Royal Sisters. _______________________ Aura looked up as her mother entered the room. "The lineup is ready, we just have to start it." Luna nodded, bringing in a small, thick book. "And this, my dear, is a novel." "Ah." _______________________ "Status report." Luna ordered, setting down across from her youngest child, Andromeda. The mare in question was currently glued to a bank of screens, Prisma and Orion on either side of her. They were watching all over the palace, courtesy of Andromeda's technical genius and hacking skills. Aura rose from a chair, bringing with her a clipboard of notes from each of her siblings wreathed in magic. Facing her mother, she started reading from one of the three, dropping the others (plus another that she grabbed off her chair) on a table nearby. "Let's see....Mosely Orange, fail. Royal Riff, fail. Twilight Sparkle.....iffy. Mr. Groomsby, cancelled due to flu. Big Macintosh, cancelled to 'family issues'. Sassaflash, definitely not...." she rattled off whatever she read on each clipboard, at last coming to her own. It was marked '!!!!', and with good reason: "Discord, unknown. Rari- seriously?" she stopped to glance at Prisma before clearing her throat and continuing, "ahem. Rarity,-" "Wait, what?" asked Luna, jumping up and stealing the clipboard. An evil smile slowly crept over her regal features. "Aura? Set this one up, please. I've got to see how this turns out." "'kay, mom. Good night, and happy hunting." ________________ Three days had passed. Three confusing, filled-to-the-brim-with-trouble days. And changelings were being found in the corridors, with a frightening trend too. All that were found out were within fourteen yards from the quarters of royalty. It was a troubling time for guards indeed, when they prayed each and every day and night for an enemy that was easier to ferret out. ________________ "Why hello, Rarity. What a pleasant surprise to see you here!" Celestia said as she slid into a luxury booth that had been reserved in their names.......it didn't take much thinking to figure out who would do something like that. "Likewise, Princess," Rarity replied, jumping out of her seat to bow to the regal white alicorn. Looking up, her eyes were immediately glued to Celestia's chest armor. "Oh my, you changed the gem in your armor!" She exclaimed, now intently studying the fine emerald that had been input into the gold armor in replacement of the normal magenta stone. "Yes, what do you think? Is an emerald the right stone?" Celestia inquired, aiming for Rarity's knowledge of fashion and color mixing to tell her what the normal Canterlot pony would think of the change. "Hmm....." Rarity muttered, regarding the stone critically for a moment, before pulling out a balloon from her saddlebag, blowing it up, and speaking into it like it was a telephone. Celestia sat on a chair and watched with an utterly confused expression covering the space where her regal mask used to be as she watched the odd behaviors of her apparent date. "Wait for it," Rarity said, snapping Celestia from confused to extremely curious, with a touch of wariness and a dash of confusion still remaining. Pinkie Pie burst out of the balloon with a cloud of confetti. Rarity waltzed over to her friend and began digging through the bubbly pink mare's mane, a variety of sounds coming from it as Rarity rifled around. She heard a trombone, some cymbals, a cow mooing, a cat hissing, and an assortment of funny, odd, and just downright disturbing noises. A moment later, Rarity pulled out a color chart and immediately began searching for the perfect type of gem for the princess to use. Giving a triumphant "Ah-hah!" she turned it around and pointed with her hoof at a color. "Deep Sapphire..." Celestia murmured, reading the name. It was an accent color, perfect; it went great with magenta and pastels, absolutely marvelous. "Rarity, you astound me!" she exclaimed with a gentle smile, before finishing under her breath and out of the corner of her mouth. "and you, Pinkie...doubly so......" * * * Luna rolled around laughing, her mane tangled slightly as she and her children observed her sister and the Element of Generosity on their 'date'. It was hilarious! Especially since Rarity was Blueblood without the snobbiness and high standing. Although, so were some Canterlot mares, though everypony in the capitol city had some degree of snootiness about them. "I wonder how this'll pan out..." muttered Orion, sitting in the second chair to the left. Continued Meetings & Hacked Cameras "That's strange....." Andromeda muttered, her left ear twitching as she sent her magical senses through the castle, detecting several pinpoints of energy around some of the Storm Guards, which was odd because they were all pegasi. Their natural magic levels were normal, but they carried unicorn magic. That did it. She'd been smelling, or rather, sensing, a rat for a week. Something was wrong, and it was always in the Storm Guard. What was it with her sister? She was going to find out what the feather was going on if it took her to the end of time. Which, most likely thanks to her whole inherited 'immortality thing', she'd be alive for. * * * * * * Prisma looked around at her assorted peers, mares in hoof-made robes. The robes were surprisingly not anything like anypony would've thought. To put it bluntly: the assorted mares were wearing assorted colored robes, representing from red down in rank. There was one red-dressed mare of each race, but the other ranks, orange through purple, were far more random. What nopony else knew was that one of the purple-rankers was a navy-magenta blend colored mare with her horn sticking out of her hood and her wings carefully concealed under her loose robes. Upon her first deployment, Andromeda went immediately for a Storm Guard that was lounging around on a marble bench in a side hallway. Stuffing the armored grey stallion into one of the burlap potato sacks she was levitating on her way to the castle kitchen, she magically cloaked it so it was invisible and quickly went on her way. Her disguise had worked perfectly, and her older sister hadn't suspected that her guards, the Legion of Light, had concealed her younger sister perfectly. If her plan went perfectly, she would figure out what was going on and, if necessary, end it once and for all. * * * * * * Aura vanished around a marble corner as Orion watched her. Despite the fact that his sister's guards were all pegasi, all it had taken was a lesson from Andromeda, and his horn was not there. In visuals, at least. His wings and stature had been cloaked as well, and he had swapped his colors around so he was a normal-looking orange pegasus stallion with a short blue mane and tail. He hadn't bothered to change his cutiemark, he was under armor, for the love of Luna! Although in hindsight that was a bad idea, seeing as the armor covered his flank snugly and left no wiggle room. Everypony in the castle knew his mark, so all it would take was one wrong move and the armor would slide, revealing his careful watching of his elder sisters. When he'd asked Andromeda what would happen if they were revealed, she'd turned her hoof into a strange thing with five small wiggly things that looked like miniature hooves. "Five syllables: that would be real bad,*" she said, extending one of the mini-hooves with each word. it had confused him beyond belief, but it was just a side-affect of living with too many mares he supposed. Too many mares........definitely. * * * * * * "Are they still up to it?" Aura asked, flicking her mane out of her face as Prisma walked in, pushing her ethereal mane out of the way with some Nightmare Moon-colored magic. "Yes.....although I still don't know what they're doing. All I know is that Orion is in your guards under a cloaking spell, and Andromeda is spending all her free time as a rank purple in my Legion of Light," Prisma responded, a quizzical look covering her regal features. "Well, I do, I've got her journal write here. Get it? Write here?" Aura said, giving herself a magical pat on the back as she said her......clever.....pun. Prisma facehooved and grabbed the journal, a carefully kept gold-trimmed leather book with a slightly worn spine and yellow pages. It wasn't too elaborate except for the gold replica of Andromeda's starburst cutie mark that represented her jack-of-all-trades type skills. She opened the book and flipped through the carefully written entries (Andromeda prided herself on her penmareship) until she reached a three page spread. She allowed herself a small "Aha!" of victory, then began intently studying the same three pages, over and over. By the third re-read of the third page, her face had blanched so much that her black fur was the only thing keeping her from looking like Celestia. * * * * * * Me and Orion have infiltrated the LOL and the Storm Guard, and our sisters don't suspect or haven't shown any signs of suspicion. I have captured one of the male Storm Guards with the unusual magic spikes around him, and have him locked up in my lab. My sisters will catch on if we're not careful, so this must be executed perfectly and with the right pacing, or it could end up a really really really really big mess. The captured Storm Guard woke today, I fed him and gave him something to drink. He has so far revealed nothing unusual and the spells-as I have figured them out-surrounding him are complex. He has denied the use of magic on his person, but evidently he has no idea who I am since I keep my disguise on at all times when around him. That purple robe could be longer, though. I will kill the ones who don't give me information until I get some kind of clue about what's going on or I kill them all. Better get my biology books and my hidden knife out, I suppose. Huntress Prechapter Author's Note: This chapter will be from Andromeda's P.O.V., so it'll be in first pony (person, whatever). I lowered my self gently towards the ground below me, a surge of light pink magic encasing me before I re-appeared as a simple pink unicorn, my magic extending to my cutie mark and turning it in to a rose. I already had a carefully planned cover story and I'd decided what my special talent was. Anyway, the first place on my scourge of changelings was Ponyville. I'd have to take extreme measures to fly under the radar and stay far, far away from the Elements of Harmony. Even in their older prime years, the other elements still had their odd super-ultra perceptive powers......and I definitely had to watch out for auntie Pinkie. I trotted in to town, levitating two suitcases behind me. One held my killing and trapping things, and the other held care items. If I wanted to fly under the radar I had to look normal and trap and execute cleanly, no evidence and no weirdness. For emphasis on that last part, I stuck on a 'Background Pony' spell. In three seconds, I was immediately confronted with my worst fear. "Hi! Are you new around here? You must be new around here because I've never seen you before and if you're new that means you have no friends. Oh no that's so sad because friends are the super-duperest most bestest things in the whole wide world and believe me, I know because I have six best best best best best best best best friends, and one of them's Princess Twilight! I know it sounds silly, but........" She turned in a full circle three times before coming to a stop. "Hey, new pony, where'd ya go? I didn't even get to ask your name which is super sad because then when I throw you your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party I can't put your name on the banner and if ponies don't know your name they can't be friends with you and..." Pinkie's voice trailed off as I ducked behind a row of thatched-roof cottages. I took a moment to smooth down my mane, a couple of strands had popped up during my encounter with aunt Pinkie. Not to mention my eyes were wider than physically possible with terror and my chest was heaving. I quickly whipped out my map and checked the coast was clear before fleeing at normal pace towards my temporary home, a normal cottage with a straw roof that somehow held out rain (was it enchanted perhaps?) and whitewashed posterior walls. The inside was a warm cream color with some nice magenta carpeting. But the important part was that everything was low key and completely, utterly, normal. Nothing unique to draw attention to myself. * * * * * * "Tell me. What's going on in Canterlot Castle?" I walked slowly, my knife held at the pegasus's throat. I'd been down here for fifteen minutes, my patience was beginning to wear thin. If she didn't talk soon, she'd be just another dead body. I twisted the knife slightly, causing her to wince in pain as a drop of blood rolled down her neck. She said nothing. So I tried again. "Listen, if you tell me what's going on, I'll let you go. I just want to know why some of Princess Aura's guards are pegasi but have active unicorn magic on them. Can you tell me why?" Her eyes went wide, but she still kept quiet. A stubborn one. Then she started speaking as more blood trickled down her neck, staining her mint-green coat with red. "I-I wasn't told much. But Queen Chrysalis said that we'd been ordered by the Dark Lady to get Princess Aura. That's all I know." I pondered this new installment of information for a minute. My sister was in danger because some 'Dark Lady' had allied or hired the changelings to get her. But...it wasn't enough. I needed more facts before I could make my case to my aunt Celestia. "Where are some higher up changelings stationed here?" She gulped, the act causing more blood to flow. "Th-there's a pony named Silver Gust, and she's been replaced. The real pony is still alive, though." She was shaking like a leaf. In a sudden surge of compassion that came from galaxy-knows-where, I made the most stupid offer I possibly could. "If I let you go, will you be my friend and help me hunt down other changelings? I know it's a lot to ask, but I could use the inside information and you look like you could use a friend." She looked over at me and concentrated on re-connecting her mouth and her brain with her vocal chords. "Really? You'd let an enemy become a friend slash informant?" I thought about that for a minute. Whats she was saying did make sense. We were enemies. But that could change. And I was going to change it. "Yes, I would." I replied as a large smile slowly slid across her face. "But first," she got nervous again, "you need a name. I can't travel with a horse with no name." Her smile re-established its claim on her muzzle. Then she got a thoughtful look to her. "My name will be......Selene." I smiled at her before I remembered what I looked how I looked at the moment. I dropped my disguise in a whirl of pink magic. She lost the smile really fast. I grabbed the knife and cleaned it absentmindedly as I cast a healing spell on her neck wound, the tissues connecting and fur growing over it. "Well Selene, shall we go?" I asked. "We've got to catch the noon train to Detrot, and on the way you can tell me who's there." And we left. Back to Before It had been two months since she first abandoned her papers in an effort to get out and fix her condition, cure her of the black cloud constantly hovering over her head. Her depression hadn't really gotten any better though, and she had been getting increasingly worried, yet felt oddly....detached, she supposed was the correct term, from her emotions. Celestia had put off her formal official written resignation for two months now. With Andromeda on her impromptu and rather suddenly taken vacation, the castle was slightly less busy, though Orion seemed to miss his absent sister. he was also acting wierd, like disappearing in any free time he got. In the meantime, Celestia had been going out to more posh, snooty,high society events with Rarity, getting herself some socialization and Rarity more Canterlot Fame points. She was literally the talk of the town, and everypony important knew her as a wonderful guest and a marvelous dress designer. Her dresses were now officially designer label dresses, she'd become so popular. But now that Rarity was becoming more busy than ever with her business booming and the bits practically flowing from noble pockets to her coffers, she found herself back at square one. She was bored and lonely, but then Prisma began approaching her and asking to learn how to rule. Celestia had gladly accepted to teach her niece, when she resigned Prisma could fill her place. Her official form of resignation-she liked to call it the 'retirement writing'-was nearly complete. Then she'd have to go through it again for more errors before sending it in and hoping Luna didn't lose her temper and go all Nightmare Moon on her again. Actually, she'd be praying that Luna's temper would hold, which was ironic because she was the pony everypony else prayed to. She sighed and set the papers in their folder on her desk before trotting to the blazing fireplace and idly using her magic to change the color of the flames. Her white fur seemed dyed by the light, so she held out a hoof and watched it. First purple, then navy, then gold, then black, then orange, then green, then cyan, then teal, then red, and so on until she could no longer think of any more colors to make the fire be. On the other side of the door, a hoof kissed the wood repeatedly. "Come in," she called, adding some seemingly genuine cheer to her tone and a gentle smile that she hoped didn't look too fake to her face to hide her depression. A flowing, ethereal double-rainbow mane poked its way slowly through the doorway, followed by a long black horn and the rest of her niece. "Hi auntie Tia! I'm here for my next lesson!" she said cheerfully. Somewhere in the vast space that was Celestia's mind, a loud smack could be heard as a mental hoof met a mental face. How could she have forgotten that she had agreed to let Prisma help her with Day Court? Sometimes she surprised herself with the types of things she always had managed to forget completely. "Oh! Let's hurry, it won't be too long before the lines start forming and we'll have ponies to help!" she said quickly and cheerfully, and added under her breath, "and sniveling, nasal-voiced, stupid, snotty, and other words that all amount to annoying; nobles to beat upside the head with the secret royal sceptre." Prisma didn't hear her under-the-breath elaboration at all. * * * * * ".....and so you see, Princess, I just need some of the guard dispatched to deal with the manticore that's been terrorizing my farm," concluded the prostrate green earth pony mare in front of them. Prisma spared her regal aunt a glance, and , catching Celestia's approving nod, turned her head and focus back to the bowing pony and spoke to her. "Please, bowing isn't necessary. Now, about the manticore. I will dispatch a squad or two of guards to go with to your property with you. They'll also accompany you home, Ms. Horseradish.They will take care of the manticore and any other Everfree monsters lurking near your home and your farm, I promise. Thank you for bringing this matter to me, and have a good day." Dismissed, the mare turned and trotted out of the petition hall. Celestia sidled up to her niece and whispered "Nice touch, thanking them. Remember to dismiss court for lunch." before moving back to her previous position next to her niece on the golden dias. The next petitioner was one of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire to be exact. "Princess, we're requesting permission to recruit some new members. The ponies in question are Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. With your approval, we'll notify them of their new status." Celestia answered her. "Of course. They'll be excited, I'm sure." Spitfire chuckled. "Yeah, I bet Rainbow'll be doing her whole 'ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh' thing she does when she's excited. See ya, Princess." * * * * * "That's the last of them, Princess." a guard said as his colleagues closed the petition hall doors. "Of course, corporal. Have a wonderful night and sweet dreams." Princess Celestia replied. The guard bowed to them and exited the room as thestral patrols began to take to the halls. "Nice going, Prisma. Soon you'll be able to run court on your own without anypony's help. Of course, you'll have to pick your own royal advisor." Celestia teased. "Yeah right. Goodnight auntie." Prisma said, giving her aunt a nuzzle as she walked down the hall to her quarters. She passed a door where her Legion of Light rank blues had just been replaced by Luna's thestrals. Celestia sighed and began the trek to her own nickels. Dimes. Quarters. Whatever. The End/Epilogue/Thingybobber Luna just couldn't believe it. She'd been spying on her big sister for weeks, keeping tabs on her at all times, but now Rarity had seemingly gone and cleared up Celestia's depression with a telekinetic wave of an Xbox controller. She'd started bringing hers over about a week ago, and Celestia, of course, had gone out and gotten her own. Luna suspected that there was more to their meetings than met the eye, but no matter. Her sister was happy now, and she'd burned the formal written resignation papers anyway, just in case. It was always good to have a backup plan. * * * * * * "Ah!" Rarity gave a very un-ladylike squeal/shout hybrid as her crosshairs were stained with digital blood. Her character spun as she twirled the joystick frantically. Then she spotted her salvation and began running towards it. More blood stained her crosshairs as she was shot again. "Help me!" Celestia's unicorn sniper character spun and she looked down her sights at an area behind Rarity's avatar. Then she shot. "Boom, headshot!" then she added as an afterthought, "By the way, maybe you should make a sniper class too. You don't seem to do too good with your current custom class." Rarity sighed. "I do think that you're quite right. I think I'll shift right away." She hit the start button on her gem-studded controller, popping up the 'custom class' menu and ditching her submachine gun for a nice sniper rifle. To top it off, she applied the skin to it that had been given to her by Fancypants, as a gift from one friend to another. It made her gun white and purple with blue diamond-shaped gems studded on either side in the shape of her cutie mark, with purple accessories and a white main part. When she fired, the ensuing light was now her magic color instead of default orange. The skin was complex and beautiful, and she'd thanked Fancypants many times over for it. Then when it got out that Celestia had been gaming with Rarity, Fancypants had another skin commissioned, this one for her choice gun, a sniper rifle lovingly equipped with several perks and an infared scope. When at last Celestia's skin arrived, she was in awe. It turned her gun pure, freshly-fallen snow white, and all her accessories turned pink, the same shade as her younger self's mane, and the gems were in the shape of her cutie mark now with the gunfire a light gold. He even went so far as to ask the producer of the game to make the princesses able to play alicorns, which the company quickly agreed to. In a month, Celestia was able to play herself, what she looked like in real life. Flowing mane and all. With her totally sweet sniper rifle, of course. Luna played with them, with her own custom skin that she'd ordered for herself a while back, and they blazed through the ranks until they were top level. And still, they continued to kick plot. Anypony that saw her coming in the game knew it was better to accept their pixelated demise than run from the inevitable. The same went for Luna. And Cadence. And Twilight. Once they'd conquered the live realm, they went to killing zombies, with the odd training match or live game every once in a while. They pushed their nerves with each round. "Quick! Luna, get in the teleporter and get the tape! We'll cover for you!" Now that Celestia had unlocked the pure and undiluted gamer inside, she didn't think she'd ever be depressed again. And she was right. To a certain degree. But then again, she couldn't play during Day Court. That was a definite annoyance. That, and spending so much time with Rarity paid off in the end. Celestia was a real goddess, a gaming goddess, and she had a beautiful marefriend. She was on top of the world......literally.
Depressed What's wrong with me? I should be happy for her. Why am I not? If I knew, I wouldn't find me asking my self what's wrong. But here I am. And nopony else knows about it. Not even Luna. Not even Twilight. Not even Cadence. I'm on my own. Completely and totally on my own. Ever since the wedding a year ago, Luna's been getting more comfortable with our subects. A part-time princess. rarely actually at the palace except during nighttime. Her husband shows her his old haunts all day, three times a week. I can see them taking off from their tower now, actually. Their daughters are becoming wondeful princesses, and Prisma helps me and Twilight with a fair amount of royal duties when her mother is gone with her father. Aura's usually with her sister, but today she decided to take a cloud bath. She's up there splashing in the clouds.....how does something that's not a liquid splash anyway? I had no idea a thousand years ago, and I'm still clueless a thousand years later. But I'm getting distracted. I delved into my mind to figure out what was wrong with me, not reminisce about the good old days when a princess could wear a floppy hat with googly eyes in public, wear sunglasses and socks to a court meeting to drive the wrinkly old bats insane, and when a princess could take a cloudbath in a public cloud bathhouse. I've reached a conclusion. My mind is at war with itself, dancing and twirling around it, trying not to touch the subject most touchy for me at the moment. My sister's wedding. She's grown distant from me. It's painful. Mentally painful and physically painful. I know she loves him, but I wish we could have some sister-sister bonding time again, like we used to once or twice every month. It's been one year, and nothing of the sort has been suggested by either of us. I gave myself all sorts of excuses at first. It was just the strain of being a mother. It was just settling in. It was just having to protect her husband from the press. It was just teaching her daughters to be proper princesses. I had many different theories, ranging from stupid things to major things to small things. Anything but the probable and painful truth. Anything but the fact that maybe......just maybe,.......she....didn't......love me as much anymore. Anything but the fact that maybe her husband was closer to her than I was. That she might be closer to him than she was to me. Anything. Anything else. Just not that. Not that train of thinking. I couldn't handle it then, and I still have to be careful. The last time I let myself just think, well.........I'm still having issues explaining to everypony that the red dragon eyes and the flames that had made up my mane and tail were just an experimental illusionary spell, performed on me by Twilight. And the simple fact tht it was there, in the back of my mind, behind the regal mask. Behind my everyday facade. The emotionless, always in control ruler that my subjects know and see frequently. The gentle, regal pony they all looked up to. It whispers to me, and I can see now why Luna became Nightmare. There was too much bitterness to hold in, and it couldn't be properlyvented through tears or words. It could only be vented by action. So my little sister had acted and ended up on the moon for a thousand years, agonizing over her poor choices when the Nightmare let her go, raging at me and my little ponies when it held sway over her body. Should I resign? Is it even possible? Every ruler before me ruled till the people lost faith in them and they faded. Till our immortal equivalent of death. But wait. I know what's wrong now. Why I can't get a good night's sleep anymore. Why I have less confidence than usual. Why nothing ever seems joyful or bright to my eyes anymore. It's a feeling I'm familiar with from Luna's thousand-year exile. It's depression. I'm depressed. Why? Maybe, just maybe because you have been separated from your little ponies as your sister got closer to them, a little voice in the back of my head nagged at me, the voice of the tyrant I could be if I let it take me as Luna had been taken by the Nightmare. Shut. Up. I told it, reasserting control over myself, body, mind, and magic. But at least I knew what the problem was. I levitated a quill over, an inkwell and a rather large roll of parchment coming with it, and settled onto my plush, elaborate (to say the least), purple and gold embroidered couch. Dipping my quill into the inkwell, I began to write out my formal resignation to my subjects.The parchment glowed golden as my magic swept the quill lightly across its surface. I would no longer be an active ruler, just a noble or minor royalty. And maybe it would help me tackle my depression if I wasn't being thouroughly watched all the time. Press. Guards. Friends. Family. A whole nation. All watching me closely. All the bucking time. I cringed as the rather unpolite word swirled around my mind, echoing and resounding multiple times. The thing that was a nightmare me shifted in its corner of my mind and snickered at my actions, but it stayed silent. As I paused my writing to mentally scowl at the creature, I added to my mentaal checklist: Find duplicate personality remover spell. It might be in the library, but I bet it'll be in the Archives instead. Most likely. And probably in the Starswirl the Bearded wing, no less. I set my quill back to the paper. I had an important legal document to draft, revise, keep secret, finish, and submit to the court I'd set up when I first became a monarch, a ruler of my ponies, an icon as frequently grouped with the sun as a hammer and a nail, or a fish and a fishbowl, or pond, or whatever.
What To Do"Ideas?" "No." "Anything?" "Fresh out." "Come on, we gotta help aunt Celly!" "Can't she deal with it herself?" A purple, with gold trimmings to be exact, pillow soared in an arc across the room, squarely smacking Aura in the face. "OW! Okay! Okay! Just lay off!" "Any ideas yet?" "Yeah." "What?" "Let's drag her into a pillowfight!" Another purple and gold pillow learned how to fly, again hitting its target, more specifically Aura, perfectly and nearly impaling itself on her grey horn. "OW! Lay off!" "We need ideas!" "Ugh." Aura flopped face down on her queen-sized bed, her grey fur splaying along the ridge in her covers as the two brushed. Odd, she happened to be a princess. "Come on!" She was prodded, somewhat rudely, by a black hoof. As it just so happened, the applied pressure of the hoof was just enough to knock her off the bed. Aura's face hit the floor with a painful noise evident to the blushing Prisma, who was currently hiding behind a billowing wave of red, orange, and yellow. "Really?" Aura peeled her grey face off the marble floor, un-muffling the last few letters of the word. Peeling the rest of her body off the floor, she got back up onto the bed, sitting a bit farther away from the edge this time. "Oops. Sorry." Prisma tried to go for a sheepish smile, but it didn't last more than a half a second before she had to push her flowing mood-mane out of her face. Since she was worried, her mane was red, orange and yellow, lacking its normal double-rainbow coloration. "But at least I got an idea on how to he-" she was cut off as her sister pounced on her with the consistency of a wolf pinning down an injured hare. "Really? What?" "First, get off me." Aura's chest heaved as she gasped air back into her deflated lungs, comically re-inflating the rest of her body. "Second, I think I know....." she trailed off with an evil smirk. Then she lifted her muzzle to her sister's black ear, careful not to let their horns hit anything.That hurt, contrary to popular belief that unicorns had no feeling in their horns. After a few minutes of whispering into each others' ears and grinning sinisterly, the sisters left the room. As they left, however, they didn't notice one of the new security cameras swivel to keep its glistening black lens trained on the pair of alicorns as they walked away. _________ "...They're leaving.....they're turning the corner....Yes!" murmured an indigo alicorn, hunched over a rather large control panel inlaid into a table. The panel in question contained a number of joysticks and approximately forty-seven buttons of various colors and sizes, some sporting labels. Chrome and steel made up the panel, as well as the table. A navy alicorn peered over her shoulder at the flickering screen, watching the two moving figures-their targets-move across it, but blinked when his sister pivoted whichever camera she had trained on them to keep them in sight. Prince Orion and Princess Andromeda eagerly tracked their sisters across half the palace, before they came muzzle-to-camera with a problem. The end of where the cameras were installed. Sighing, Orion prodded his sister, asking "Now what?" Andromeda turned around slowly, doing a complete circle before stopping and marching towards a hatch that led down a maze of tunnels into Andromeda's room. If the lighting wasn't so bad, anyone present could've seen an evil grin slide across Andromeda's face as she addressed her brother. "We're gonna follow 'em, Orion." A very smart sounding "Oh." was the only answer. ______________ Prisma lifted one black, silver-clad forehoof, and introduced it to the door. "Yes?" their mother answered the door, but only met two bellies, one grey and one black, as they rolled around on the floor. "BWAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!" The lunar diarch looked up to notice her mane sticking out in five directions and knotted and tangled in various places. She turned around to see her husband and the girls' father trying to contain a laugh. He was failing miserably. She did a one-eighty and slammed the door, the cyan glow around the doorknob fading as the magic was repurposed elsewhere. When the two young alicorns were finished laughing, they could hear wingbeats, hoofsteps, and things like "Honey....wait, I can explain!" "AAHHH!" and things flying around. After a particularly painful sounding crash, they heard their mother's voice: "You let me answer the door like this?!" Then their father's voice. "Umm........yes?" More sounds of the painful variety emanated from their parents room while the girls listened. "OW!" "HELP!" "Sweetie, OUCH!" " Wait, please, I OWWW!" After a few more minutes of this type of noise, their mother answered the door again, this time shoving their father, Rainbow Blitz, out the door before her in a cardboard box labeled: 104 COUCH LANE, CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA. The destination for the box was very clear. As was the purpose of use. Then she answered her daughters again. "Now, what did you girls want?" "Well mom, we're kinda worried about aunt Celly..." _________________________ In another room, a towertop made of white marble, a similarly white alicorn was making revisions and redrafts of a rather large, rather long, scroll. She sighed quite frequently, and made to put the paper away a few times but stopped. She was clearly at war with herself. She trotted to the window. If anypony had seen Princess Celestia, they would've immediately known what was wrong. Most ponies could probably tell her about their experiences with it, as nopony save an insane one lived their entire life happy. This was Princess Celestia, co-ruler of all of Equestria, and she was depressed. Normally, the only rank above 'ruler of my homeworld' is 'creator of the world' and above that 'creator of the universe'. She sighed again, muttering so it was just barely audible, "Lulu, I hope you don't take this the wrong way and that you'll know what to do...." She trailed off and returned to the large mass of papers cluttering her desk. And so went an afternoon in Canterlot Castle.
The Five-Hundredth Date "I'll go talk to her about i-...you know what? Just get everything in order and we can spring it on her by surprise. Blind dates! Oooh, this'll be just like my favorite romance novel!" Aura looked over at her mother, thoroughly confused beyond belief. "Mom?" "Yes?" "What's a novel?" _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Two shadows, one male and one female, slid across the window. They stop and hover, presumeably by their wings, which were rather clumsy pegasus ones. The window creaked open, and the two ponies flung themselves inside, slamming shut the window as a patrol of pegasus Storm Guards swooped by. They chittered to each other in something definitely not Equestrian, and erupted in green flames. A moment later, two black ponies with insectoid wings and holes just about everywhere stood, surveying their room. The two chunks of black swiss cheese chittered to each other again, but this time the female spoke angrily and smacked her much less graceful or shapely looking compatriot, sending him flying into the wall. Luckily nothing was broken, changeling body parts or otherwise. The female strode to the door and erupted again in green flames, this time coming out as an exact copy of a female Storm Guard, armor and all. Her sidekick did the same(though he didn't become a female), and the two left towards the private halls of the younger Royal Sisters. _______________________ Aura looked up as her mother entered the room. "The lineup is ready, we just have to start it." Luna nodded, bringing in a small, thick book. "And this, my dear, is a novel." "Ah." _______________________ "Status report." Luna ordered, setting down across from her youngest child, Andromeda. The mare in question was currently glued to a bank of screens, Prisma and Orion on either side of her. They were watching all over the palace, courtesy of Andromeda's technical genius and hacking skills. Aura rose from a chair, bringing with her a clipboard of notes from each of her siblings wreathed in magic. Facing her mother, she started reading from one of the three, dropping the others (plus another that she grabbed off her chair) on a table nearby. "Let's see....Mosely Orange, fail. Royal Riff, fail. Twilight Sparkle.....iffy. Mr. Groomsby, cancelled due to flu. Big Macintosh, cancelled to 'family issues'. Sassaflash, definitely not...." she rattled off whatever she read on each clipboard, at last coming to her own. It was marked '!!!!', and with good reason: "Discord, unknown. Rari- seriously?" she stopped to glance at Prisma before clearing her throat and continuing, "ahem. Rarity,-" "Wait, what?" asked Luna, jumping up and stealing the clipboard. An evil smile slowly crept over her regal features. "Aura? Set this one up, please. I've got to see how this turns out." "'kay, mom. Good night, and happy hunting." ________________ Three days had passed. Three confusing, filled-to-the-brim-with-trouble days. And changelings were being found in the corridors, with a frightening trend too. All that were found out were within fourteen yards from the quarters of royalty. It was a troubling time for guards indeed, when they prayed each and every day and night for an enemy that was easier to ferret out. ________________ "Why hello, Rarity. What a pleasant surprise to see you here!" Celestia said as she slid into a luxury booth that had been reserved in their names.......it didn't take much thinking to figure out who would do something like that. "Likewise, Princess," Rarity replied, jumping out of her seat to bow to the regal white alicorn. Looking up, her eyes were immediately glued to Celestia's chest armor. "Oh my, you changed the gem in your armor!" She exclaimed, now intently studying the fine emerald that had been input into the gold armor in replacement of the normal magenta stone. "Yes, what do you think? Is an emerald the right stone?" Celestia inquired, aiming for Rarity's knowledge of fashion and color mixing to tell her what the normal Canterlot pony would think of the change. "Hmm....." Rarity muttered, regarding the stone critically for a moment, before pulling out a balloon from her saddlebag, blowing it up, and speaking into it like it was a telephone. Celestia sat on a chair and watched with an utterly confused expression covering the space where her regal mask used to be as she watched the odd behaviors of her apparent date. "Wait for it," Rarity said, snapping Celestia from confused to extremely curious, with a touch of wariness and a dash of confusion still remaining. Pinkie Pie burst out of the balloon with a cloud of confetti. Rarity waltzed over to her friend and began digging through the bubbly pink mare's mane, a variety of sounds coming from it as Rarity rifled around. She heard a trombone, some cymbals, a cow mooing, a cat hissing, and an assortment of funny, odd, and just downright disturbing noises. A moment later, Rarity pulled out a color chart and immediately began searching for the perfect type of gem for the princess to use. Giving a triumphant "Ah-hah!" she turned it around and pointed with her hoof at a color. "Deep Sapphire..." Celestia murmured, reading the name. It was an accent color, perfect; it went great with magenta and pastels, absolutely marvelous. "Rarity, you astound me!" she exclaimed with a gentle smile, before finishing under her breath and out of the corner of her mouth. "and you, Pinkie...doubly so......" * * * Luna rolled around laughing, her mane tangled slightly as she and her children observed her sister and the Element of Generosity on their 'date'. It was hilarious! Especially since Rarity was Blueblood without the snobbiness and high standing. Although, so were some Canterlot mares, though everypony in the capitol city had some degree of snootiness about them. "I wonder how this'll pan out..." muttered Orion, sitting in the second chair to the left.
Continued Meetings & Hacked Cameras "That's strange....." Andromeda muttered, her left ear twitching as she sent her magical senses through the castle, detecting several pinpoints of energy around some of the Storm Guards, which was odd because they were all pegasi. Their natural magic levels were normal, but they carried unicorn magic. That did it. She'd been smelling, or rather, sensing, a rat for a week. Something was wrong, and it was always in the Storm Guard. What was it with her sister? She was going to find out what the feather was going on if it took her to the end of time. Which, most likely thanks to her whole inherited 'immortality thing', she'd be alive for. * * * * * * Prisma looked around at her assorted peers, mares in hoof-made robes. The robes were surprisingly not anything like anypony would've thought. To put it bluntly: the assorted mares were wearing assorted colored robes, representing from red down in rank. There was one red-dressed mare of each race, but the other ranks, orange through purple, were far more random. What nopony else knew was that one of the purple-rankers was a navy-magenta blend colored mare with her horn sticking out of her hood and her wings carefully concealed under her loose robes. Upon her first deployment, Andromeda went immediately for a Storm Guard that was lounging around on a marble bench in a side hallway. Stuffing the armored grey stallion into one of the burlap potato sacks she was levitating on her way to the castle kitchen, she magically cloaked it so it was invisible and quickly went on her way. Her disguise had worked perfectly, and her older sister hadn't suspected that her guards, the Legion of Light, had concealed her younger sister perfectly. If her plan went perfectly, she would figure out what was going on and, if necessary, end it once and for all. * * * * * * Aura vanished around a marble corner as Orion watched her. Despite the fact that his sister's guards were all pegasi, all it had taken was a lesson from Andromeda, and his horn was not there. In visuals, at least. His wings and stature had been cloaked as well, and he had swapped his colors around so he was a normal-looking orange pegasus stallion with a short blue mane and tail. He hadn't bothered to change his cutiemark, he was under armor, for the love of Luna! Although in hindsight that was a bad idea, seeing as the armor covered his flank snugly and left no wiggle room. Everypony in the castle knew his mark, so all it would take was one wrong move and the armor would slide, revealing his careful watching of his elder sisters. When he'd asked Andromeda what would happen if they were revealed, she'd turned her hoof into a strange thing with five small wiggly things that looked like miniature hooves. "Five syllables: that would be real bad,*" she said, extending one of the mini-hooves with each word. it had confused him beyond belief, but it was just a side-affect of living with too many mares he supposed. Too many mares........definitely. * * * * * * "Are they still up to it?" Aura asked, flicking her mane out of her face as Prisma walked in, pushing her ethereal mane out of the way with some Nightmare Moon-colored magic. "Yes.....although I still don't know what they're doing. All I know is that Orion is in your guards under a cloaking spell, and Andromeda is spending all her free time as a rank purple in my Legion of Light," Prisma responded, a quizzical look covering her regal features. "Well, I do, I've got her journal write here. Get it? Write here?" Aura said, giving herself a magical pat on the back as she said her......clever.....pun. Prisma facehooved and grabbed the journal, a carefully kept gold-trimmed leather book with a slightly worn spine and yellow pages. It wasn't too elaborate except for the gold replica of Andromeda's starburst cutie mark that represented her jack-of-all-trades type skills. She opened the book and flipped through the carefully written entries (Andromeda prided herself on her penmareship) until she reached a three page spread. She allowed herself a small "Aha!" of victory, then began intently studying the same three pages, over and over. By the third re-read of the third page, her face had blanched so much that her black fur was the only thing keeping her from looking like Celestia. * * * * * * Me and Orion have infiltrated the LOL and the Storm Guard, and our sisters don't suspect or haven't shown any signs of suspicion. I have captured one of the male Storm Guards with the unusual magic spikes around him, and have him locked up in my lab. My sisters will catch on if we're not careful, so this must be executed perfectly and with the right pacing, or it could end up a really really really really big mess. The captured Storm Guard woke today, I fed him and gave him something to drink. He has so far revealed nothing unusual and the spells-as I have figured them out-surrounding him are complex. He has denied the use of magic on his person, but evidently he has no idea who I am since I keep my disguise on at all times when around him. That purple robe could be longer, though. I will kill the ones who don't give me information until I get some kind of clue about what's going on or I kill them all. Better get my biology books and my hidden knife out, I suppose.
Huntress Prechapter Author's Note: This chapter will be from Andromeda's P.O.V., so it'll be in first pony (person, whatever). I lowered my self gently towards the ground below me, a surge of light pink magic encasing me before I re-appeared as a simple pink unicorn, my magic extending to my cutie mark and turning it in to a rose. I already had a carefully planned cover story and I'd decided what my special talent was. Anyway, the first place on my scourge of changelings was Ponyville. I'd have to take extreme measures to fly under the radar and stay far, far away from the Elements of Harmony. Even in their older prime years, the other elements still had their odd super-ultra perceptive powers......and I definitely had to watch out for auntie Pinkie. I trotted in to town, levitating two suitcases behind me. One held my killing and trapping things, and the other held care items. If I wanted to fly under the radar I had to look normal and trap and execute cleanly, no evidence and no weirdness. For emphasis on that last part, I stuck on a 'Background Pony' spell. In three seconds, I was immediately confronted with my worst fear. "Hi! Are you new around here? You must be new around here because I've never seen you before and if you're new that means you have no friends. Oh no that's so sad because friends are the super-duperest most bestest things in the whole wide world and believe me, I know because I have six best best best best best best best best friends, and one of them's Princess Twilight! I know it sounds silly, but........" She turned in a full circle three times before coming to a stop. "Hey, new pony, where'd ya go? I didn't even get to ask your name which is super sad because then when I throw you your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party I can't put your name on the banner and if ponies don't know your name they can't be friends with you and..." Pinkie's voice trailed off as I ducked behind a row of thatched-roof cottages. I took a moment to smooth down my mane, a couple of strands had popped up during my encounter with aunt Pinkie. Not to mention my eyes were wider than physically possible with terror and my chest was heaving. I quickly whipped out my map and checked the coast was clear before fleeing at normal pace towards my temporary home, a normal cottage with a straw roof that somehow held out rain (was it enchanted perhaps?) and whitewashed posterior walls. The inside was a warm cream color with some nice magenta carpeting. But the important part was that everything was low key and completely, utterly, normal. Nothing unique to draw attention to myself. * * * * * * "Tell me. What's going on in Canterlot Castle?" I walked slowly, my knife held at the pegasus's throat. I'd been down here for fifteen minutes, my patience was beginning to wear thin. If she didn't talk soon, she'd be just another dead body. I twisted the knife slightly, causing her to wince in pain as a drop of blood rolled down her neck. She said nothing. So I tried again. "Listen, if you tell me what's going on, I'll let you go. I just want to know why some of Princess Aura's guards are pegasi but have active unicorn magic on them. Can you tell me why?" Her eyes went wide, but she still kept quiet. A stubborn one. Then she started speaking as more blood trickled down her neck, staining her mint-green coat with red. "I-I wasn't told much. But Queen Chrysalis said that we'd been ordered by the Dark Lady to get Princess Aura. That's all I know." I pondered this new installment of information for a minute. My sister was in danger because some 'Dark Lady' had allied or hired the changelings to get her. But...it wasn't enough. I needed more facts before I could make my case to my aunt Celestia. "Where are some higher up changelings stationed here?" She gulped, the act causing more blood to flow. "Th-there's a pony named Silver Gust, and she's been replaced. The real pony is still alive, though." She was shaking like a leaf. In a sudden surge of compassion that came from galaxy-knows-where, I made the most stupid offer I possibly could. "If I let you go, will you be my friend and help me hunt down other changelings? I know it's a lot to ask, but I could use the inside information and you look like you could use a friend." She looked over at me and concentrated on re-connecting her mouth and her brain with her vocal chords. "Really? You'd let an enemy become a friend slash informant?" I thought about that for a minute. Whats she was saying did make sense. We were enemies. But that could change. And I was going to change it. "Yes, I would." I replied as a large smile slowly slid across her face. "But first," she got nervous again, "you need a name. I can't travel with a horse with no name." Her smile re-established its claim on her muzzle. Then she got a thoughtful look to her. "My name will be......Selene." I smiled at her before I remembered what I looked how I looked at the moment. I dropped my disguise in a whirl of pink magic. She lost the smile really fast. I grabbed the knife and cleaned it absentmindedly as I cast a healing spell on her neck wound, the tissues connecting and fur growing over it. "Well Selene, shall we go?" I asked. "We've got to catch the noon train to Detrot, and on the way you can tell me who's there." And we left.
Back to Before It had been two months since she first abandoned her papers in an effort to get out and fix her condition, cure her of the black cloud constantly hovering over her head. Her depression hadn't really gotten any better though, and she had been getting increasingly worried, yet felt oddly....detached, she supposed was the correct term, from her emotions. Celestia had put off her formal official written resignation for two months now. With Andromeda on her impromptu and rather suddenly taken vacation, the castle was slightly less busy, though Orion seemed to miss his absent sister. he was also acting wierd, like disappearing in any free time he got. In the meantime, Celestia had been going out to more posh, snooty,high society events with Rarity, getting herself some socialization and Rarity more Canterlot Fame points. She was literally the talk of the town, and everypony important knew her as a wonderful guest and a marvelous dress designer. Her dresses were now officially designer label dresses, she'd become so popular. But now that Rarity was becoming more busy than ever with her business booming and the bits practically flowing from noble pockets to her coffers, she found herself back at square one. She was bored and lonely, but then Prisma began approaching her and asking to learn how to rule. Celestia had gladly accepted to teach her niece, when she resigned Prisma could fill her place. Her official form of resignation-she liked to call it the 'retirement writing'-was nearly complete. Then she'd have to go through it again for more errors before sending it in and hoping Luna didn't lose her temper and go all Nightmare Moon on her again. Actually, she'd be praying that Luna's temper would hold, which was ironic because she was the pony everypony else prayed to. She sighed and set the papers in their folder on her desk before trotting to the blazing fireplace and idly using her magic to change the color of the flames. Her white fur seemed dyed by the light, so she held out a hoof and watched it. First purple, then navy, then gold, then black, then orange, then green, then cyan, then teal, then red, and so on until she could no longer think of any more colors to make the fire be. On the other side of the door, a hoof kissed the wood repeatedly. "Come in," she called, adding some seemingly genuine cheer to her tone and a gentle smile that she hoped didn't look too fake to her face to hide her depression. A flowing, ethereal double-rainbow mane poked its way slowly through the doorway, followed by a long black horn and the rest of her niece. "Hi auntie Tia! I'm here for my next lesson!" she said cheerfully. Somewhere in the vast space that was Celestia's mind, a loud smack could be heard as a mental hoof met a mental face. How could she have forgotten that she had agreed to let Prisma help her with Day Court? Sometimes she surprised herself with the types of things she always had managed to forget completely. "Oh! Let's hurry, it won't be too long before the lines start forming and we'll have ponies to help!" she said quickly and cheerfully, and added under her breath, "and sniveling, nasal-voiced, stupid, snotty, and other words that all amount to annoying; nobles to beat upside the head with the secret royal sceptre." Prisma didn't hear her under-the-breath elaboration at all. * * * * * ".....and so you see, Princess, I just need some of the guard dispatched to deal with the manticore that's been terrorizing my farm," concluded the prostrate green earth pony mare in front of them. Prisma spared her regal aunt a glance, and , catching Celestia's approving nod, turned her head and focus back to the bowing pony and spoke to her. "Please, bowing isn't necessary. Now, about the manticore. I will dispatch a squad or two of guards to go with to your property with you. They'll also accompany you home, Ms. Horseradish.They will take care of the manticore and any other Everfree monsters lurking near your home and your farm, I promise. Thank you for bringing this matter to me, and have a good day." Dismissed, the mare turned and trotted out of the petition hall. Celestia sidled up to her niece and whispered "Nice touch, thanking them. Remember to dismiss court for lunch." before moving back to her previous position next to her niece on the golden dias. The next petitioner was one of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire to be exact. "Princess, we're requesting permission to recruit some new members. The ponies in question are Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. With your approval, we'll notify them of their new status." Celestia answered her. "Of course. They'll be excited, I'm sure." Spitfire chuckled. "Yeah, I bet Rainbow'll be doing her whole 'ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh' thing she does when she's excited. See ya, Princess." * * * * * "That's the last of them, Princess." a guard said as his colleagues closed the petition hall doors. "Of course, corporal. Have a wonderful night and sweet dreams." Princess Celestia replied. The guard bowed to them and exited the room as thestral patrols began to take to the halls. "Nice going, Prisma. Soon you'll be able to run court on your own without anypony's help. Of course, you'll have to pick your own royal advisor." Celestia teased. "Yeah right. Goodnight auntie." Prisma said, giving her aunt a nuzzle as she walked down the hall to her quarters. She passed a door where her Legion of Light rank blues had just been replaced by Luna's thestrals. Celestia sighed and began the trek to her own nickels. Dimes. Quarters. Whatever.
The End/Epilogue/Thingybobber Luna just couldn't believe it. She'd been spying on her big sister for weeks, keeping tabs on her at all times, but now Rarity had seemingly gone and cleared up Celestia's depression with a telekinetic wave of an Xbox controller. She'd started bringing hers over about a week ago, and Celestia, of course, had gone out and gotten her own. Luna suspected that there was more to their meetings than met the eye, but no matter. Her sister was happy now, and she'd burned the formal written resignation papers anyway, just in case. It was always good to have a backup plan. * * * * * * "Ah!" Rarity gave a very un-ladylike squeal/shout hybrid as her crosshairs were stained with digital blood. Her character spun as she twirled the joystick frantically. Then she spotted her salvation and began running towards it. More blood stained her crosshairs as she was shot again. "Help me!" Celestia's unicorn sniper character spun and she looked down her sights at an area behind Rarity's avatar. Then she shot. "Boom, headshot!" then she added as an afterthought, "By the way, maybe you should make a sniper class too. You don't seem to do too good with your current custom class." Rarity sighed. "I do think that you're quite right. I think I'll shift right away." She hit the start button on her gem-studded controller, popping up the 'custom class' menu and ditching her submachine gun for a nice sniper rifle. To top it off, she applied the skin to it that had been given to her by Fancypants, as a gift from one friend to another. It made her gun white and purple with blue diamond-shaped gems studded on either side in the shape of her cutie mark, with purple accessories and a white main part. When she fired, the ensuing light was now her magic color instead of default orange. The skin was complex and beautiful, and she'd thanked Fancypants many times over for it. Then when it got out that Celestia had been gaming with Rarity, Fancypants had another skin commissioned, this one for her choice gun, a sniper rifle lovingly equipped with several perks and an infared scope. When at last Celestia's skin arrived, she was in awe. It turned her gun pure, freshly-fallen snow white, and all her accessories turned pink, the same shade as her younger self's mane, and the gems were in the shape of her cutie mark now with the gunfire a light gold. He even went so far as to ask the producer of the game to make the princesses able to play alicorns, which the company quickly agreed to. In a month, Celestia was able to play herself, what she looked like in real life. Flowing mane and all. With her totally sweet sniper rifle, of course. Luna played with them, with her own custom skin that she'd ordered for herself a while back, and they blazed through the ranks until they were top level. And still, they continued to kick plot. Anypony that saw her coming in the game knew it was better to accept their pixelated demise than run from the inevitable. The same went for Luna. And Cadence. And Twilight. Once they'd conquered the live realm, they went to killing zombies, with the odd training match or live game every once in a while. They pushed their nerves with each round. "Quick! Luna, get in the teleporter and get the tape! We'll cover for you!" Now that Celestia had unlocked the pure and undiluted gamer inside, she didn't think she'd ever be depressed again. And she was right. To a certain degree. But then again, she couldn't play during Day Court. That was a definite annoyance. That, and spending so much time with Rarity paid off in the end. Celestia was a real goddess, a gaming goddess, and she had a beautiful marefriend. She was on top of the world......literally.
