Princess Celestia had returned to Canterlot, along with Nightmare Moon. Rumor had it that the two were going to share power. Suddenly, the feature piece that Sugar Scoop had done linking the Scoop family to Nightmare Moon didn't seem such a liability for them. They had a the esteem of a pony to rival Princess Celestia herself, and everypony knew it.

The high and mighty ponies of Canterlot had been summoned to Court for the presentation of "Princess Luna," the politically-correct name for Nightmare Moon. Sugar Scoop was in attendance thanks to her press pass, and Sunnyside had pulled some strings and arranged for Long Tail, Fizzlespark, and Glitterdust to attend. The five friends were united by their awareness of the conspiracy to free Nightmare Moon, and this gathering of Canterlot's movers and shakers provided a chance to learn more about the threat to Equestria.

The crowd fell silent as the royal fanfare played and two alicorns rode into the courtyard on the royal chariot. Nightmare Moon was not what anyone expected. She looked young and small next to Celestia, nothing more than a gangly filly. There was none of the expected triumph or haughtiness in her eyes.

The chariot came to a halt, and this "Princess Luna" spoke first.

"I come before you, ponies of Equestria, to confess my crimes, and ... beg your forgiveness." She stared at her own hooves, a lock of pale blue mane obscuring her face. "A thousand years ago, I led a revolt against – I mean, I turned against my sister, and tried to bring eternal night. I did this because... because... I was so jealous of the beautiful day time, and how everypony loved Celestia and not me, because her day time is so warm and fun and pretty." Celestia nodded. Luna sighed and averted her eyes. Or had she rolled her eyes?

"In my madness, I became Nightmare Moon, and Celestia had..." Luna's voice trembled. "No choice but to imprison me in the moon... forever." She choked on the last word. It seemed she couldn't go on, but after a few moments, she found her voice again.

"Yesterday, I escaped, still deranged, but Celestia and these six ponies cured me of my madness." Luna gestured at a motley group of ponies. Most bowed, but the pink one just grinned and waved energetically.

Luna continued. "For their help, I am grateful. I am now Princess Luna again, the same princess who ruled alongside Celestia, and I am ready to resume my royal duties." For the first time, Luna stood tall and proud. The crowd was silent, watching for Celestia's reaction.

The elder princess smiled and rubbed Luna's head with one hoof. "Of course, little sis! Why don't you raise the moon for us this very night?"

The crowd cheered, and it was difficult to spot through the herd, but Sugar thought she saw Luna gritting her teeth, and maybe even shaking a little bit as Celestia affectionately noogied her before the court.

Refreshments were brought out and the ponies began to mingle. Princess Luna was quickly swarmed, and seemed none to pleased about it. Glitterdust overheard some of the pony nobility expressing disbelief that those six common ponies from Ponyville could have defeated Nightmare Moon.

"I understand Twilight Sparkle was personally groomed by Princess Celestia," said one pony in a monocle. "She must have some highborn blood, and she is the leader."

"Yes, indeed," spoke another, whose cutie mark was a top hat. "And you're not going to tell me that white unicorn was born and bred out in the sticks. She managed to find something halfway decent to wear."

Sugar Scoop intended to speak with Princess Luna, but found herself among the Ponyville Six and decided to try interviewing one of them.

"Oh, you want to interview little me?" The unicorn said, with a rising inflection. "I suppose that's all right, only don't keep me too long. This could be my chance to meet him."

"Him?" Sugar Scoop asked, not knowing what she was getting into.

"Why, Prince Blueblood, of course! The most eligible stallion in Equestria." And a traitor to the crown who conspired to unleash Nightmare Moon. Why does this "Rarity" really want to meet him, I wonder...

As Sugar Scoop grilled Rarity on her interest in the Prince, Fizzlespark tried to make his way into the circle of ponies surrounding Luna. It wasn't going to be easy. His longtime rival, Twilight Sparkle, was watching him suspiciously. He to Sunnyside for backup, but Sunny's Scoop family friend, Sprinklebelle, had latched onto him and was keeping him well clear of the other troublesome ponies who had burst into her home and gotten him involved in dangerous matters better left undisturbed. She caught Fizzlespark's gaze and gave him a curt headshake. No help there...

"Who are you calling a rotten egg?" came a pugnacious voice, not far from Fizzlespark. He turned and saw Twilight's brat Spike picking a fight with his clockwork dragon, Spring. Spring replied in broken draconic, and Spike turned red with fury. "My mother was a classy lady!" he shouted, charging at Spring. Like his master, Spring understood that discretion was the better part of valor and high-tailed it away, passing under several dessert carts and lady's dresses in the attempt to lose the pursuing ball of claws.

"Spike! No!" Twilight yelled, clearly mortified. "Just calm down."

While she was distracted, Fizzlespark slipped into the crowd around Luna. Well done, Spring!

~~~

Sugar Scoop was still occupied with Rarity.

"I don't suppose you've had the opportunity to interview his Highness?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I've met him," Scoop said.

"You've met Prince Blueblood?" Rarity gasped.

"Yeah, I mean, I am part of the Scoop family. But... it's not like he hangs out in our basement or anything." Sugar watched the unicorn's reaction carefully.

"Oh, no, his place is among the castles and gardens, not shut away below ground. Beauty such as that exists to be displayed, to be adored. Believe me, I should know." Rarity gave Sugar what she seemed to think was a winning smile. She's actually serious, isn't she, Sugar thought. She doesn't know anything about his conspiracy.

"Right," Sugar said, taking a step away. "So, good luck with your boutique and all that-"

"Don't go, not when we're getting along so well." Rarity took hold of one of Sugar's forelegs. "Tell me, since you know the Prince, what is his favorite color?"

How am I supposed to know? Sugar wracked her brain, trying to come up with something to help her get away from this crazy pony. What does he like? Well, drinking... "Uh, burgundy?"

Rarity squealed. "Burgundy! Of course, it's so strong! And rich! And regal!" The moment passed abruptly. "Oh, why did I have to wear blue? It's his name, it was just... the obvious choice. I suppose every filly wears blue for him. He must be sick to death of it. Why was I such a foal?" The unicorn seemed on the verge of tears.

Sugar looked around helplessly and caught the eye of Red Velvet, the Cake family friend of Sunnyside whose home they had invaded last night while chasing the pegasus ninja. Red looked concerned and started approaching, but Rarity caught sight of her long, burgundy hair and growled.

"He's MINE."

~~~

Long Tail was wearing her all-white military uniform, which she was allowed to keep after honorably leaving the service. She was also standing stock still, all of her concentration focused on not butting in to correct the delusions of the ponies around her as they speculated on the secret history of the Ponyville Six, or observed that Princess Luna had favored them with a special glance.

She was doing quite well, not saying a word, but the strain was getting to her. She nearly jumped when somepony addressed her.

"Why hello, officer," the pony greeted her cheerfully. He was an earth pony with bright yellow fur and a fluffy white mane. He was well-dressed, in a mock military fashion, displaying a white pie cutie mark. "May I ask you a question?"

Long Tail's eyes widened. Only if you don't mind being horribly offended and disappointed and possibly going insane when your narrow worldview is shattered into a thousand tiny-

"Do you like periwinkles?"

"Do I-" Long Tail stammered. "You want to talk about periwinkles? I mean, yes! I love periwinkles. I could talk about periwinkles ALL DAY LONG."

The Pie pony cocked his head and smiled.

~~~

Spike pounced on Spring, smashing the clockwork dragon into a heap of gears, widgets, and doodads. He crossed his arms and harrumphed to himself in triumph.

Until the heap began to move. Slowly, the components pulled themselves together, reforming until Spring stood once again, eyes glowing red. Spike's expression turned to horror. The tables had turned.

As Spike desperately fled before the clockwork monster, Fizzlespark introduced himself to Princess Luna.

"Now, if I could just ask a couple of questions about the Sun and the Moon," he began. His horn glowed as he unfurled a half dozen charts and diagrams, largely blocking out the other ponies attempting to speak with the Princess. "I'm very curious about the mechanism by which they work. These are my observations and theories so far."

Luna looked at the diagrams with interest. "I can see what you were thinking," she said, pointing a hoof at one particular diagram. "But you don't know what the Sun looks like when it's behind the horizon. It's not cantilevered like this..."

The other ponies managed to stick their faces past the various sheets of paper Fizzlespark had put up, but remained silent. Luna hadn't said so many words to anypony. What was this pony's secret?

Twilight scooped Spike up and admonished him for causing trouble, then made her way to the throng around Princess Luna just as Fizzlespark was rolling up his diagrams and leaving. He nodded smugly, and she picked up her pace to speak with the other ponies.

"What did he say? What did they talk about?" And why did she open up to him and no one else?

Still new to friendship, it didn't occur to Twilight that Fizzlespark was the first pony to treat Luna not as a tool, not as an object of fear or ambition, but as somepony interesting to talk with. All she knew was that Fizzlespark, that mad pony with some chip on his shoulder about the entire practice of magic, was trying to get to Princess Luna, and was succeeding. She would have to warn Princess Celestia to keep an eye on him.

~~~

Glitterdust had commandeered a tray of hors d'oeuvres and was orbiting Prince Blueblood. Aside from nearly tripping over a rampaging baby dragon, the vigil was uneventful until the very end of the gathering. Blueblood seemed impatient by this point, putting on a charming air for the ponies he spoke with, but dropping it at once when he thought nopony was looking. When a servant brought the Prince an envelope, his Highness didn't even bother to be civil. His horn glowed and he snatched the envelope away from the messenger, turning at once to read it. Glitterdust couldn't see the words, but caught the Prince muttering to himself.

"Keep me waiting, will she? Four stars needed, and one can't even show up on time. She'll regret that when I'm King. I suppose I'll just have to amuse myself until tonight." The Prince's expression was predatory as he began scanning the crowd for somepony to "amuse" him.

Glitterdust walked quickly into the crowds to gather her friends and warn them that the Stars had something planned this very night.

~~~

That evening, the ponies gathered to honor the first moon to be raised by Princess Luna in a thousand years. Sprinklebelle was chosen to lead the Moon Hymn.*

Moon, moon -- shine tonight.
Hold us in your silver light.
Soon, soon -- glowing bright.
Come and touch our lives tonight.
Moon, moon -- taking flight.
Fold us in your cloak of night.
Soon, soon –- magic light.
Bring a dream of peace tonight.

Luna seemed comfortable, even confident, presiding over the moonrise. Red Velvet approached Sunnyside.

"I still don't trust her," Red whispered in Sunny's ear. "So I'm going to be her bestest friend ever." The comment was said so sweetly, yet so ominously, that Sunny had to suppress a shiver. Red smiled broadly, then turned and approached the Princess.

"Your Majesty," she began. "I've just had the most marvelous idea: Classical. Era. Revival. Fashion. Tell me, what kinds of clothes were in fashion a thousand years ago? What do you miss?"

Luna thought for a moment. "Well, I notice nopony is wearing any socks..."

"Oh, tell me more!"

Sunnyside took this moment alone to confer with his friends. The palace labyrinth was the perfect place for conspirators to meet unobserved, so the odds were good that Prince Blueblood's mysterious ally was somewhere inside.

Long Tail could use her prediction magic on anypony waiting suspiciously alone in the gardens, but would need some way to easily search the maze. Fizzlespark promised to solve that problem. All that remained was to find some way to delay Prince Blueblood.

"I think I can take care of that," Sugar Scoop put in. "Oh, Raaaarity!"

Five minutes later, Prince Blueblood was trotting about the maze trying to lose the obsessed filly from Ponyville who was relentlessly trailing him. Long Tail was strapped into a helicopter harness that carried her over the labyrinth hedges. As the helicopter whirled into the sky, it caught the attention of Twilight Sparkle. She quickly tracked it back to its source.

"Fizzlespark. I should have known."

"You mean you didn't recognize my handiwork? You're getting sloppy."

Spike and Spring glared at each other from behind their respective ponies.

"Why were you asking Luna about the magic for moving the Sun and Moon?" Twilight demanded. "They're the only ones capable of that level of magic power, and you... you're not even any good at magic, just your weird inventions."

"Why do you always assume that anything worthwhile has to be done with magic? Because it's the only thing you're any good at? Sure, you were born with a lot of magic power. That doesn't give you the right to look down on everypony who has to work hard to succeed."

"It's not everypony I have a problem with, it's you, Fizzlespark!"

The two unicorns were engaged in a shouting match near the labyrinth, and it was beginning to attract attention. Sunnyside spread his wings and opened his mouth to intervene, but suddenly Sprinklebelle was there cramming an ice cream cone in his opened mouth.

"Don't, Sunny," she said, putting herself between the diplomat-in-training and the quarreling unicorns.

Sunny folded his wings and removed the ice cream cone. "Mm, Blueberry Mint, that's new."

"We made it specially in honor of Princess Luna." Sprinklebelle smiled. "It has that rich purple color, and a cool, nighttime flavor."

"But," Sunny said, leaning to one side so he could see the snarling unicorns. "I should go help Fizzlespark."

Sprinklebelle put her hooves on Sunny's shoulders and looked at him gravely. "He's your friend, but he's also a colt who was in jail last night, and she's the hero of the day, Celestia's protege. That's not something for you to get in the middle of, especially not right in front of everypony here."

Fizzlespark now had a large diagram displayed on an easel and was pounding it with one hoof. Twilight tossed her head dismissively. Sunny looked back to Sprinklebelle. Her eyes were pleading now.

"Please," she said. "Don't be such a martyr all the time. I- I don't want to see you get hurt."

A lump formed in Sunny's throat. How could he disappoint Sprinklebelle, then go take sides between his friend and Princess Celestia's prize pupil?

"O- Okay," he said. Sprinklebelle brightened immediately. "Let's go explore the labyrinth. I hear they changed the layout recently."

~~~

Long Tail's tail brushed the tops of the hedges as she drifted over the labyrinth. She passed a variety of ponies playing and exploring and chatting, then spotted one waiting, nervously, all on his own. She gestured to Sugar Scoop, who pulled on her Scoop Family Ninja disguise and slipped up to the suspicious pony, a colt with chocolate brown hair and a mane of white and tan.

"Cousin Sugar?" The pony said, surprised. He positioned his body to obscure some object in an alcove behind him.

"Uh, hi Rocky Road," Sugar responded, disappointed that her disguise hadn't done her much good. She pulled it off her face and nodded toward the hidden alcove. "Whatcha got there?"

Rocky's normally stoic face contorted into one of fear and resentment. His cheeks darkened a shade. "Dammit, Sugar. You already know, if the family sent you out here to confront me about it. Well, you can just tell them I don't care what they think! I love her, and that's all that matters!" Rocky turned and snatched a bouquet of roses from the alcove with his teeth before galloping off into the maze.

Sugar facehoofed, then glared up at Long Tail. "Nice going."

Long Tail was unapologetic. "He was the most likely suspect, based on the observable data." She swished her tail. "Are you ready to try suspect number two?"

Grumbling, Sugar pulled the ninja mask back over her face and again took to the shadows.

~~~

"Oh Pri-innnce!" Rarity was sure he'd gone this way. She was so close to actually meeting him, but a glimpse here and there was all she'd managed. "If I could just catch his eye..." She pouted at the new dress she had prepared for the evening. "That pony at the fabric store has led me astray. This fabric is cranberry, not burgundy!"

A six-way intersection confronted her. "Don't give up, Rarity," she said to herself. "Not when you're so close. Aha!" She caught a glimpse of a sturdy white flank, an eight-pointed star, a flowing blond tail. She stood tall, made sure her mane had the proper bounce, and was about to step into the intersection when a pale earth pony with a glassy mane and a bag for a cutie mark meandered into it and the earth just collapsed. Glitterdust tumbled away down a chute into the darkness, and the trap door closed, leaving the intersection looking pristine and harmless. "Yaaaaaaah!" she called.

Blueblood leaned around the hedge, grinning, bur his jaw dropped and his eyes widened when he saw Rarity standing on terra firma across the intersection. "Um."

Rarity stared across the intersection.

"Um," he repeated once more, before collecting himself. He reared up on his hind legs. "Never fear! I'll save her at once!" With that, he charged off into the maze. Curse that interloper! What will it take to be rid of this blasted unicorn? If I never see her again, it'll be too soon!

"How gallant..." Rarity swooned.

~~~

"The next suspect is on the other side of this hedge," Long Tail explained. "That's all I have time to explain."

"What? Why?" Sugar asked. She looked up at the airborne unicorn.

Long Tail didn't answer. The problem was obvious. Her tail had gotten caught in the helicopter's rotor and was being slowly wound into the mechanism. She dangled stoically, like a captain going down with her ship. Sugar resisted the urge to salute, then resisted the urge to giggle as the last of the slack in Long Tail's tail was taken in and the yank momentarily disturbed her stoicism. The unicorn plummeted from the sky, arms flailing, landing somewhere outside the maze. Sugar was on her own.

She rounded the hedge, and for a moment thought there was nopony there.

"His Highness didn't deign to come himself?" came a whispered voice. Sugar turned stiffly, able to discern the outline of a pony in the shadows. Squinting, she made out a cutie mark of two coins, one with a Sun and one with a Moon.

"He is otherwise occupied," Sugar replied, suppressing a grin. "I am here on his behalf, in furtherance of Operation Solar Flare."

The shadowed pony was silent for a moment. "Very well." The pony tossed an envelope at Sugar's hooves. "Here is what he needs to know to do his part."

Sugar leaned down to retrieve the envelope, and by the time she straightened, the mysterious pony was gone. She squinted at the shadows one last time, then galloped off to find the others.

~~~

Sunnyside, Fizzlespark, and Sugar Scoop had gathered around Long Tail, who was a bit scuffed from her crash landing, but seemed mostly alright.

"But where's my helicopter?" Fizzlespark asked.

Long Tail gave him an unreadable look, then knocked one hoof on her own tail, with a metallic clank.

"Ah."

Sugar tore open the letter and read it aloud to everypony. It described a magical process that could channel a pony's negative feelings and amplify them with something called "Star Magic" to transform their own magic and persona into an "empowered" version of themselves. There was some suggestion that those performing the ritual could somehow control the emotions of the pony so transformed.

The envelope also included a diagram of a ritual chamber.

"Hey, does that diagram say those stairs go to the North Pool?" Sunny pointed. "That's not so far from here. So this chamber would be somewhere under the labyrinth." Sunny looked at the nearby hedges, then looked around at the group again. "Hey, has anypony seen Glitterdust?"

The ponies looked at one another and shrugged, except Sugar Scoop, who looked thoughtful.

"Rarity said somepony fell into a trap door and Prince Blueblood was charging off to save her," she offered.

"There's a trap door on this diagram, too," Sunny observed. "I think I can navigate us to that point in the labyrinth."

Everypony but Long Tail got up to go. She looked at Fizzlespark. "Fizzlespark, Could you please remove your helicopter from my tail?"

He considered a moment, looking down at her. "No."

"I was worried you'd say that."

Fizzlespark's horn glowed and the myriad metal components lodged in Long Tail's tail lifted off the ground. "But I'll carry it for you."

Without another word, Long Tail rose and everypony followed Sunnyside to a certain six-way intersection in the maze. They paused while Sunnyside checked his navigation by getting an aerial view, and Fizzlespark went to work re-assembling the components in Long Tail's tail into a "device for busting ponies out of trouble."

Long Tail couldn't bring herself to watch. She asked Sugar Scoop, "How does my tail look?"

"Oh, um, fine. It looks normal."

"Normal?" Long Tail gasped, a pained expression on her face. "Not Lorentzian!? Noooo..."

"Um... there, there?"

Sugar Scoop was grateful for the interruption when Sunnyside landed among the other ponies. "This is the right place, I'm sure of it."

"I'm just ... about..." Fizzlespark's horn glowed and the last piece of his contraption snapped into place. "Done!"

Long Tail finally turned her head. The device was nearly the size of a pony, acorn shaped, with a drill on the bottom. Her tail was wrapped tightly around the top.

"Oh, no, no, no..." She said. "This is..." Fizzlespark tugged her tail away from the drill, spinning it up as the tail uncoiled. It cracked through the trapdoor, destroyed its supports, and the entire intersection collapsed into a chute leading downward. "... a baaad plaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Sugar and Sunny reflexively took to the air as the ground collapsed, then shared a look and dove in after their friends.

~~~

Glitterdust had been minding her own business (well, spying on Prince Blueblood), when a trap door had dumped her underground in the middle of a spooky, glowing circle. Then there was a flash of light, a cold, itchy kind of sensation, then darkness. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, or if she had been unconscious. She stood up.

"Hello?" she tried.

"Velcome!" erupted an energetic voice, to Glitterdust's surprise. "Mein newest Star to shine across Eqvestria. I haff zeen your ambition, your chealousy. You hahnger for de greatness. Now your chourney ist complete!"

Spotlights shone on Glitterdust from all directions, blinding her. She shielded her face with one hoof.

"Vat? You are not her. Vere..." The oddly-accented voice rose to a shout. "Vere are de magicks?"

Glitterdust heard a clop of hooves. "Take avay this unfabulous pony." Strong ponies grasped Glitterdust from either side and led her into the darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the reflection of two red lenses, watching her expressionlessly.

"I vill haff Rarity to lead mein Fashion Police, von day, ven her chealousy and ambition again consume her!"

A grating, crunching noise began to emanate from the ceiling. The pony in the red lenses looked up for a moment, then looked back to the captive Glitterdust. "Now, I go!"

Glitterdust was tossed into a nearby cell, but it wasn't long before a loud crash came from the main chamber.

"Everypony okay?" Sunnyside.

"I thought you said Glitterdust would be here?" Fizzlespark. Her friends had come for her.

"She should be?" Sunnyside again. "Oh, shoot, she's probably under this debris. Lend me a hoof."

Actually, today has been surprisingly free of crushing by falling debris, Glitterdust thought. Then she winced, cautiously sending her gaze upward. To her relief, the ceiling did not immediately collapse on her.

"I'm over here!" she called, still watching the ceiling suspiciously with one eye.

Sunny trotted up. "Thank goodness! We were worried you'd been turned into some evil version of yourself, a sinister pony named 'Cloudkill' or something, infuriated at the working conditions in the postal service and about to rampage!"

"Nope?" Glitterdust replied.

"It's called going postal," Long Tail added, helpfully.

"The ritual works by twisting your inherent magic," Fizzlespark said. "Since Glitterdust is an earth pony, it wouldn't have any effect on her."

"So that's what that weird pony meant by 'de magicks,'" Glitterdust mused.

The others freed Glitterdust and had started comparing notes when a loud hissing interrupted their conversation. It was emanating from a darkened corridor nearby. Spring toddled up and sent a small burst of flame to illuminate the darkness.

Three large dragons stared back, then shot their own flames towards the ponies, who fled into the main chamber. The dragons' eyes and flames glittered with sparkles and purple haze.

In the main chamber, two more dragons blocked the stairs out. The ponies backed away from the beasts in a tightening arc.

"Fizzlespark, would you build something that makes a really big explosion?" Long Tail asked.

Sunny objected. "No exploding in the Castle!"

Fizzlespark seemed offended by Long Tail's suggestion. "My inventions never explode!" Everypony gave Fizzlespark a skeptical look, but he studiously ignored them.

"We need another way out," Sugar said, backing up quickly before a lick of dragon fire and bumping into the heap of debris.

Clicks, whirs, and revving sounds erupted from the debris, and Fizzlespark's Pony Escape Device started spinning again, eating straight through the floor, out the bottom of the castle, and falling away below.

Sugar raised an eyebrow at Fizzlespark. "What?" he said. "Sunny said to make a Pony Escape Device, and we need to escape. Did you think it was just a simple gyroscopic drill? Oh ho, no."

"Whatever," Sugar responded, clambering down the pony-sized hole.

"Go ahead," Sunny said. "I've got an idea. These look like dragons from the magic school, and those dragons can be reasoned with." Besides, I let Fizzlespark down earlier by running away when he was facing off with Twilight Sparkle. I can't just run again.

Sunny pulled an egg out of his vest pocket and cracked it open, pouring its contents on the flame-heated stone floor. It sizzled, and was perfectly cooked in moments. "Who's a good dragon?" he cooed.

Fizzlespark and Glitterdust scrambled down the drill hole as the dragons surrounded Sunnyside. Long Tail walked over to the hole, then looked over her shoulder at Sunnyside. Was he bravely covering their escape, or...

He looked at her. "They're perfectly nice dragons. See? They're eating right out of my hooves!"

"Sunny," she said, turning around and trotting towards him. "That only works until you run out of eggs!"

He poked around his vest for more, but didn't seem to have any. He offered a nervous smile to the dragons, whose expressions turned dark. One of them reared up and roared. Long Tail bit Sunnyside's tail and yanked him out of the way before the dragon's jaws snapped shut where his head had been moments before. She tumbled backwards into the hole, teeth still clenched onto Sunny's tail. They tumbled out of the castle together, pursued by purply flame. Flapping his wings wildly, Sunnyside veered their path towards a nearby hot air balloon, and they joined their friends in grasping onto the ropes dangling off its sides.

As everypony else breathed a sigh of relief, Glitterdust noticed the emblem of the postal service on the side of the balloon. She looked up to see the grey face of her boss, Ditzy. The mare's yellow eyes were akimbo, which somehow added to Glitterdust's vertigo.

"Good timing, Dusty!" the pony sang. "It's time for your shift!"

~~~

* Astute readers may note similarity to the Moon Song of the Fraggles. Historians believe the Fraggle version came first and was adapted by ponykind.