“Everything is ready, your Highness,” the Gryphon, Adrian Copperbeak, said. He gestured towards the gates, already opening with a low hiss.

Twilight nodded and ventured forth, a group of guards, mostly changelings, towing behind her. Around them loomed the depths of the Citadel, filled with cybernetic wonders of all kinds. She continued to press on through the bowels of the metallic spire, unfazed by the towering vault within. For many of the guards following her, the first time being in the Citadel’s holding center was shiver-worthy: despite her protests, the center was home for daily executions, painless of course, but nevertheless disturbing for most people.

Cultists of all kinds and species looked on at her from beyond the blue shields that separated their cells from the main hallway. Labelled as criminals, they did not glare and throw insults at her. On the contrary: they respected, and even loved her. She found that hard to believe, even more so due to the fact that criminals were virtually non-existent during a large part of her life.

“Admit it,” she thought to herself. “They’re partly right: We used to keep the peace for a large chunk of time... Then, they’re partly wrong. It was the original inhabitants of the planet, ruled by Princesses, Queens, and Kings, that broke that peace, not the Humans.”

The Princess continued to trudge forward, deeper into the holding center. The convicts inside the cells lining the hall looked on at her brightly, or bowed along with the guards. Some would consider that strange, particularly if they were from the past. Such things were normal back then.

Twilight slowed to a halt in front of the door to a small interrogation room. The guards next to the entrance bowed, an action coupled with the door sliding into the wall. She continued onwards, looking down. A long, metallic hallway was waiting for her. “A Pony cult... Strange. Nowadays you’d expect people to be more mixed on their groups. I hope-”

Lost in her thoughts, she bumped into someone. Or rather, somepony. Twilight looked up, then up again, her eyes meeting with those of a pony from the past. A single eye, blue iris, right next to a cybernetic eye glowing with the same colour.

“Princess... Luna?”

The other alicorn chuckled, “Twilight Sparkle... It’s been a long time. You have changed quite a bit,” she mentioned, looking her over. “How does it feel to have wings?” Luna asked, smiling warmly.

Twilight, too lost to notice her guards freeze in place, grinned nervously. “W-well... it’s-” She shook her head in a rapid manner, lining her thoughts in order. “Luna, it’s been sixteen years, and you’re supposed to be in LunarComplex Delta, still healing your wounds. What happened? Why are you suddenly here? Where’s Celestia?”

Luna sighed, “I recuperated, is that so hard to believe? Speaking of believing: you should be the one explaining things to me, who, as you said, has been practically missing for more than sixteen years.” She brought her leg up to rub her horn, a mix of metal and organic tissue just as the rest of her body. “As for Celestia... She is preparing to give a public speech to give the news on my condition.”

“Ugh,” Twilight groaned. “This is too much for a single day,” she muttered as she looked back up at Luna. “I’ll talk to you after we deal with the prisoner.” She walked past the blue alicorn and gestured towards the next door. “Shall we?”

With their guards back into their senses and their own priorities in check, Twilight and Luna stood next to each other, facing the door. They both nodded at the same time, prompting the guards to open the door, which slid into the wall with a low hiss. The purple Princess gulped as the two walked into the interrogation room, holding inside of itself a single, yellow unicorn mare with a brown mane and orange eyes. She was being held by all five limbs thanks to an energy field, coupled with a magic disruption device on her horn. Guards had initially scoffed at a tail restraint, until one pony had managed to hide a poisoned tine in theirs. That trick wouldn't work again.

Once the two Princesses and their guards walked into the room, she glared up at them, gritting her teeth. “Princess Luna...? Heh, thought your flank was dead- AAUGH!” she screamed as one of the changeling guards beside Twilight and Luna fired a stunning spell at her. Twilight yelped, unused to the behavior of both the guard and the convict.

“Your mouth is to remain shut unless ordered to, mare!”

“Enough!” Luna commanded, glaring at the guards herself. “Is this truly how you treat prisoners-” she began, cut off by Twilight.

“Sadly, yes. Things have changed ever since you were injured, Luna.” Twilight sighed, “This mare is as capable of killing a sentient being as the guard was capable of stunning her.” She turned to the smoldering, heaving mare. “What is your name?”

“L-Lauren...” the mare stammered out. “Lauren Davidson...”

Luna craned her neck backwards. “A human name? Do explain.”

“I don’t have to explain shit-!” She received another bolt of changeling magic. Twilight closed her eyes as the mare screamed in agony.

The Lunar Princess groaned. “I suggest you cooperate, Lauren. Now, I have been missing out on the advancement of our society for quite some time, so you will have to bare with me.” She stepped closer to the mare. “Why do you have a human’s name? Or is this simply a jest?”

“I-...” Lauren froze. Twilight and Luna both traced the mare’s eyes to the same changeling guard that stunned her.

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, “Guards, please exit the room.”

Every guard in the room tilted their head to the side. “Princess, are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes. Now go, please,” Luna said. Both she and Twilight watched as the guards saluted and walked out of the room in an orderly fashion.

“Let’s hope that I made the right call...” Twilight thought to herself before looking back at Lauren. “Now, will you cooperate?”

“F-Fine,” the mare said, defeated. “Name’s like that because one of Silverback’s dumb rebel ‘Guardsmen’ killed my father when I was still in my mother’s womb, then had the nerve to seek her out after the war was over to ‘Pay’ for his crimes... She fell in love with him, sadly, and was stupid enough to name me like a woman. Are you happy now?”

“Interesting,” Luna mused as Twilight furrowed her brow, predicting the following argument that the Princess of the Night was about to have with Lauren. “I assume that is the reason as to why you hate Humankind, along with the probable fact that he left you and your mother behind seven years later?”

Lauren’s expression softened as her eyes dropped, then suddenly charged her horn with magic: an escape attempt foiled by the magic disruptor on her horn. She then looked around the room frantically, the Princesses both staring at her in silence. “This isn’t about me! It’s about all of us!”

“How so?” Twilight asked, stepping forward. “If it’s about everyone, then why was the cult you led made out only of ponies?”

“I... I...” Lauren stuttered. “You don’t understand! The balance has to be restored to the way it was before the first dropship crash-landed near Ponyville!” She tugged on her restraints. “Everything’s been falling apart ever since! Can’t you see it!?”

Twilight glanced over to Luna, who remained silent, her face stoic. She then looked back at the mare. “I’ve studied Human history for more than twenty years now, and trust me, it’ll get better. We just have to be strong.”

Tears began to stream down Lauren’s face. “What else do you want to hear!? The evidence is there!” She continued try and force her way out, to no avail. “Fine, I’ll tell you what everyone else tells you! I hate humans! My step dad left me to die along with my mum! What else!? Or do you want to hear the important things!?”

The purple Alicorn sighed, whispering to the other, “I think she’s had enough. We should leave-” she was cut off by Luna shushing her.

“If you stop yelling, we will listen.” Luna joined the other Princess by stepping forward. “Now, you are right: we are not here to hear you cry about your own past and then try to make you feel better.” She huffed. “Look at me: Silverback, while he did save the entire planet from being immolated, had to use the moon as a shield to protect the Earth from the blast of an antimatter bomb.”

“Now,” Luna continued, “Human historians did their work right by setting in steel the fact that he is neither a savior nor a destroyer. The historians from other species added that the very phrase I just mentioned defines the humans perfectly. They are a shade of grey.” She sighed, moving on, “Even if he did almost inadvertently kill me, I do not hold a grudge on his species for that, and after my ‘resurrection’ is revealed to the world, many people will think I look like a monster. I do not care, for my near-death experience was necessary. Why? The fact that my satellite aided in stopping everyone from being wiped out, and the fact that I did not move it despite the excruciating pain, makes me and practically everybody else know that I am NOT a monster.”

Luna took a deep breath as Twilight and Lauren stared at her in shock. She then stepped back and nodded at the other Princess, who cleared her throat and spoke back up, “What Princess Luna is trying to convey is that you have no reason to believe the world is off of its balance. But, despite that, do you have anything else to say in order to back you up, or is this interrogation over? We understand if you chose the latter, as you have said nothing to prove your innocence.”

Lauren furrowed her brow and looked around the room. “I don’t need to prove shit! You’ll see what I mean...”

Twilight sighed, “Care to tell us now-?” she began to ask, only to stop as Luna briskly trotted out of the room. She shook her head and quickly followed.

Outside, Twilight was forced to trot at a fast pace to keep up with Luna, who sped through the long hallway of the Citadel’s holding center, their guards in tow and the prisoners looking at the Night Alicorn in disbelief. “What’s wrong, Luna?” she asked as she followed, her voice with a tone of weariness.

“I’m simply tired, Twilight Sparkle. I have never heard anyone spout as much nonsense as Miss Davidson has...” Luna slowed to a stop as they finally crossed the holding center and stepped into the elevator that connected it to the rest of the Citadel.

“I understand, Luna.” Twilight maneuvered her left wing to tap the elevator’s holoscreen, promptly causing it to close its doors after both of the Alicorns’ guards entered it, before beginning its ascent. “Much like what I’ve heard from the other cultists... Except...” she thought, then looked back at the other Princess. “I also noticed that she didn’t treat us like royalty, unlike the other cultists I have interrogated...” The elevator continued its ascent.

“Perhaps she was a simple criminal, then?” Luna mused. “There are several possibilities-”

The foundations of the Citadel shook as the elevator screeched to a halt and the lights faded away, replaced by the emergency lighting. Both Twilight and Luna remained perfectly still and looked up while their guards fell to the floor.

“Warning, warning!” the deep, cybernetic voice of the Citadel’s VI, reminiscent of that of the Vector’s, exclaimed. “Containment breach detected on multiple sectors! Alert status: RED!”

“Luna-!” Twilight yelled, turning around to see the blue Alicorn charge her horn and fire a blast of magic at the small gate on the elevator’s ceiling.

“On me!” Luna yelled as she extended her metallic wings, taking flight through the hole with Twilight and the guards following suit. They began to fly upwards through the elevator shaft. Soon after, the elevator itself broke down and fell.

“Multiple enemy squads detected on index four! Tactical teams, dispatched!” the VI bellowed. “Holding Center, breached! Routing worldwide alert sta-... status... Error, energy core destroyed. Defending units, evacuate VIP’s...!”

Twilight and the guards struggled to keep up at the pace of Luna’s strong wings. “Guards!” the purple Princess yelled. “Any idea of what’s happening!? Who’s attacking us!?”

“All systems have gone haywire!” A Gryphon guard yelled, holding a claw to his visor. “We need to get out of the citadel- Watch out!” She reached behind her back with her other claw, grabbing a firm grip of her rifle. Twilight gasped and looked up as the guard fired a volley of gauss shells at an incoming pegasus pony wearing a dark mask and a distinct set of black armor, tearing his body in two.

Twilight dodged the mangled body. “Who the-!?”

“GoldenTalon mercenaries!” one of the changeling guards yelled, his wings buzzing loudly. “Incoming! Brace for fire!” He and the other changeling guards charged their horns and released a blast of plasma magic upwards, hitting a group of mercenaries that were dropping down onto them.

“Luna!” Twilight yelled as she dodged the bodies. “Don’t go too far!” She looked up to see the Princess speeding up.

“To the right!” Luna commanded. Immediately, the whole group did as she told, taking to the right as another of the many elevators of the shaft came sparking down with several panicking civilians inside. She gritted her teeth and fired a massive plasma beam from her horn far up into the shaft. Seconds later, more dead, smoldering mercenaries fell.

Twilight’s breathing sped up while she broke out in cold sweat. Her eyes, wide, watched as Luna and the guards kept making more and more mercenaries of all species drop dead through the shaft.

A few seconds later, they reached ground level. Upwards, the exit to the Citadel’s main floor could be seen, guarded by several mercenaries and automated turrets sitting next to explosive charges. “Do not fire!” Luna yelled. “You will risk our one exit!”

“You heard her!” one of the changeling guards commanded. “Hold your fire and keep going up! Cover the Princesses with your lives!” Without looking back, the guards tucked their legs tightly to their bodies and raced past the two Princesses, heading towards the death trap above.

“No!” Twilight screamed, watching as the incoming projectiles began to tear up her guards. She closed her eyes and continued to fly behind Luna, who noticed her and slowed down to grab a firm grip of her. The Moon Princess, once grabbing a hold of the Sunset Princess, followed the trail of the guards.

She opened her eyes as Luna unceremoniously plopped her on the main floor of the Citadel. Gunfire and magic fire all around her, she stood up and looked on as the remainder of the guards engaged in melee combat with the mercenaries.

“Twilight!” Luna yelled. “We have to go! We have to go now!”

“No!” she snapped. “You go! I’ll make sure you get out!” Twilight assumed an aggressive stance towards the rest of the attackers.

“I am not leaving anyone behind after disappearing for so long!”

“You’re not!” Twilight yelled back. “You have to warn the humans!”

Luna glanced between Twilight and the hallways leading out of the citadel. “Come on!” the other Princess screamed. “You’re wasting time!”

“Fine!” Luna flared her wings open, taking flight throughout the Citadel.

Soon after, she found herself flying with glimpses of purple magic shining behind her.