It was nearing midnight when they finally carried Rainbow Dash out of the castle. All of them looked and felt completely exhausted. Dash was unconscious on Pinkie's back, being watched over by Twilight. Celestia and Wayfarer had to lean against each other just to stay standing, every step sending a twinge of pain up their spines. The guards were clearly in a panic when they saw the state of the group, but Twilight and the others ignored their constant offerings of assistance and just kept walking. The streets were deserted, and only a few windows were alight with late night activity, so they had to depend on the stars and the moon to guide their way.

When they reached the library, Twilight noticed that the front room and bedroom lights were still on. The door creaked open and she sighed at the site of Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike all there waiting for them. Spike was holding a scroll in his claws and was looking nervously at Rarity, who looked ready to kill the ponies that were now entering. As it was she settled for walking up to them and eyeing each one as they entered. When Pinkie walked in with Rainbow Dash, her scowl died a bit, but returned in force when Wayfarer stepped through the threshold with Celestia.

"I'm going to give Dash your bed for tonight Wayfarer." Twilight said as she and Pinkie trudged into the hallway.

"That's fine." He muttered. Wayfarer and Celestia now stood in the middle of the room, with Rarity directly in front of them, looking from one to the other with utter contempt for both of them. Neither seemed to want to meet her eyes.

"I'm going to do this now before my nerve leaves me," She said simply before she raised her hoof and brought it right across the side of Celestia's face. Celestia didn't say anything as her cheek turned red and started to sting, she just turned her head down to stare at the floor.

"I deserved that." She mumbled after a moment.

"Yes! You very well did!" Rarity said as tears started to flow from her eyes. "Thank you for bringing back Rainbow Dash safe and sound, but if you ever write off my feelings for my friends again, I will... I... I don't know what I'll do, but you won't like it!"

"If it means your safety, then I think I can live with that."

Rarity snorted and shook her head, turning away from the two and taking a seat next to Fluttershy. "You have a letter." She said curtly, nodding her head over at Spike.

Spike hopped up from his spot and handed the letter to Celestia. He stood there awkwardly for a moment while she undid the seal, before running off up the stairs to bed. He passed Twilight and Pinkie on the way out, who had returned from the guest room and headed straight for the couch opposite of Fluttershy and Rarity. Celestia's eyes scanned the letter, her face scrunching up in irritation and confusion the more she read, till eventually she sighed and rolled the parchment back up.

"What's that?" Twilight asked.

"Letter from Luna." Celestia said as she walked over to a writing desk, setting down the scroll and picking up a blank sheet and quill. "Apparently Blueblood has given up his schemes of removing myself and or Luna from the throne. She didn't buy that and thinks he might be up to something, so she decided to let me know. It's nothing really that important, not right now at least."

"Does this mean you can sit down and tell us what in the name of Equestria is going on?" Rarity said, obviously still very irate about the whole thing.

"No." Celestia said as she started to write out a response to Luna. "I trust the two of you can keep it a secret, but if I tell you what we're doing you'll be inclined to try and follow us, and I'd rather not put you under a sleeping spell every time we have a crisis that needs our attention."

Rarity just got more flustered at this before Twilight tried to calm her down. "Rarity, if you won't do it for your own safety, will you promise to not get involved for our sanity?"

"Ugghhh!" Rarity groaned. "You want us to help you by NOT helping you? Twilight, I think you are forgetting that you, me, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack are the wielders of Equestria's greatest line of defense. Whatever horrors you are facing I'm sure would be much easier to handle with The Elements of Harmony."

"If that were true, then why do you think we haven't used them yet?" Twilight pointedly asked.

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, then thought about it for a moment and sighed in defeat. "You must have a reason... I suppose."

"We do, and I'm begging you,” Twilight pleaded. “Please trust that we know what we're doing.” Rarity remained silent, but refused to make eye contact with her friend. Glancing around, Wayfarer noted that nopony seemed to want to look anyone else in the eye at the moment. Rarity sighed and got to her hooves.

"I suppose that's it then?” Rarity said. “Fine, I've taken up enough of your time today. Coming Fluttershy?"

"Oh, umm,” mumbled Fluttershy. “I guess so. Good night everypony." The two made their leave from Twilight's library, closing the door none too gently as they disappeared into the night. Pinkie then made to get up as well, but was also followed by Twilight.

"Let me walk you home Pinkie. After today, I think we really should start traveling in pairs."

"That... actually sounds like a good idea." Celestia said as she took the now vacant couch, her completed letter clutched in magic. "I'll write out something to post around town tomorrow, after I get some shut eye." The letter suddenly burst into flames and went flying out the door as Pinkie and Twilight opened it again.

"I'll be back in a flash." Twilight said as she shut the door behind her. Wayfarer took that moment to drop on the opposite couch that Pinkie and Twilight had left. He and Celestia starred across the coffee table at each other, too tired to really do anything else.

"You alright?" Celestia asked.

"I'm a little numb,” Wayfarer grumbled. “But otherwise, I'm still here. You?"

"I've had worse." She chuckled. "And I'll probably have worse by the time this is all over."

"That's a positive thought." Wayfarer sighed. Pain wasn't really a foreign concept to him, he'd had his fair share of instances where he or some random act of fate had done bodily harm to him. But tonight's ordeal had certainly been the worst for him, unless something happened before his memory loss. He shuttered slightly at the idea that more pain might be lurking in his future. "You've seriously had worse?" he asked out of curiosity.

"That might have been the sixth closest to death I've ever come." Celestia said, adjusting her head slightly to rest her chin on a couch cushion. "And two of those have been in the last couple of years. This was definitely an unpleasant night, but it's far from the worst situation I've ever been in."

"I... think... that was my first time coming close to death."

"I would hope. But why would you say 'you think'?"

"I don't remember anything from my childhood, so it's possible something might have happened then."

"... I can't really remember my childhood either. Fifteen hundred years is a long time, so it was inevitable that some memories would fade, but it still hurts when I can't even remember the day I learned to fly, or when I raised the sun for the first time on my own." Celestia grimaced as her lost memories flitted about her, teasing her to try and reach out to them. "I'm so old. Old enough to have changed who I am dozens of times over. But you are still young. You shouldn't have lost your memories, you should have been allowed to stay the pony you were."

"It doesn't really matter to me to be honest." Wayfarer said. "I am who I am now. Who ever I was before is gone now and there's no use looking for him." Celestia opened her mouth to say something, then decided to stay herself and instead nuzzled her muzzle into the pillow.

A flash of light announced Twilight's return. She started to stagger towards the steps to her room when she saw the two laying on her couches.

"Wayfarer, take my bed. I'll take the couch."

"How about no." Wayfarer grumbled.

"I'm not doing this again. It's bad enough Celestia has to sleep on an over sized pillow instead of a proper bed, but that couch is ancient! You're going to wake up sore and I don't think Cheerilee will be happy if you come to work in that sort of state."

"I'm going to wake up sore either way. Keep your bed Twilight."

Twilight stood at the foot of the stairs for a moment before walking over to Wayfarer and grabbing his tail in her magic. She dragged him off the couch with a thud and started to lug him over to the steps.

"Twilight! Let go!"

"You're getting a good night's sleep! You and Rainbow Dash both!"

"I'll be fine! Let me go!"

"Take my bed!"

"No! You need it more than I do!"

"Stop being stubborn about this!"

"Right back at you!"

"Fine! We'll both sleep in it! Alright?" Twilight looked down from the steps to glare at Wayfarer, who was hanging onto the bottom stair, trying to keep himself from being dragged up the flight. His grip loosened a bit when he heard her proposal, he turned his head around slowly to glare back at Twilight and raised an eye at her.

"Seriously Twilight?" He said in his most deadpan of voices. Twilight looked confused for a moment before her eyes went wide and her face went beet red. She dropped Wayfarer's tail and started backing up the steps, nervously laughing as she went.

"Or YOU KNOW... you could, stay DOWN HERE! On the COUCH! Away from ME! YOU KNOW! Eeep!" She tripped over the last step in her haste and then made a scramble to right herself and rush away. Wayfarer heard a door slam, then the sound of somepony trying to stifle a fit of laughter. He turned his head back around to look at the couches and gave Celestia an evil eye.

"It's not funny." He said as he got back up and returned to his previous position across from the giggling white mare.

"Oh you're right." She said with a hoof over her mouth. "It's hilarious. And it'll be even funnier when her Brother finds out.

"Yeah. That's what I need right now. An over protective brother thinking I have the hots for his sister." Wayfarer groaned into a pillow, mumbling out a half hearted Good night to Celestia, which she returned before turning out the lights.

"What do you mean she's sick?" Scootaloo shouted loudly at Wayfarer as he walked down the road to the school house, with the Cutiemark Crusaders hot on his hooves.

"She caught something bad in Cloudsdale and she needs to recuperate." He replied. "Give her some time alright?"

"Is it serious?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Not deathly so, she really just needs to sleep it off is all."

"Like she don't do that all the time already," Apple Bloom said. "If she ain't working with the other weather ponies or practice'n her fly'n, she's usually nap'n in one of our apple trees."

Scootaloo just grimaced at the ground in response. She had rushed over to the library that morning just as Wayfarer was dragging his hooves out the front door. She demanded to see Rainbow Dash before Twilight stepped out as well and berated her for trying to skip school, then sent both her and Wayfarer on their way.

"It's not fair." Scootaloo mumbled. Wayfarer didn't say anything to that, in part because he partially agreed with her.

"Aww, come on Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said in an attempt to cheer up her friend. "You've been down in the dumps for a month! Rainbow Dash is back now! You should be happy!"

"Well... I don't feel happy," Scootaloo sighed.

"Why don't we try see'n her AFTER school?" Applebloom suggested.

"That's even if we HAVE school," Sweetie Belle said as they drew closer to the School House and saw that a small crowd of foals were gathered around the front door.

"Why aren't they going in?" Applebloom asked.

"Hey it's Miss Cheerilee's janitor!" One of the foals said as they crossed into the school yard. "Maybe he knows what's going on?" Wayfarer was then surrounded by a mass of confused children, all clamoring to question him at the same time.

"Hold up! I just got here!" He said as he tried to make his way to the door. "Where's Miss Cheerilee?"

"We don't know!" Said one filly.

"She left a note on the door though." said another. Wayfarer, after finally getting the kids to back off, went to take a look at the note in question. 'Classes canceled' it said.

"Well, that's informative." Wayfarer mumbled.

"She's never canceled class before!"

"Yeah even when she got sick she just had somepony else come and teach us."

"What do we do?"

"Go home? I don't think my mom will believe me if I tell her Cheerilee canceled school."

"Quite everyone." Wayfarer said calmly, getting the children's attention. "Does anyone here know where Miss Cheerilee lives?"

"Uhhmm... at the school?” One colt said. If Wayfarer wasn't legitimately worried about Cheerilee, he might have actually laughed at that.

"I know where thee livths!" Said a curly maned filly with a thick lisp. "Thee livths a few houtheths away from me!"

"Great. Can you give me an exact address? I'm going to go see if she's okay, the rest of you all should head straight home. Let your parents know something's up. Alright?" There was a general nod and murmur of understanding before the foals started to trot away, save for the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the filly with the lisp, who gave Wayfarer the address he needed before she joined her other classmates.

"Go on then you three." Wayfarer said to Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Can we go with you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't think so,” Wayfarer said, shaking his head. “I really don't think your parents would want you three wondering about without knowing where you are." All three of them looked at each other with confusion before turning back to Wayfarer.

"My Parents are still on their trip," Sweetie Belle said. "And Rarity never really asks me where I go as long as I don't cause trouble."

"My... Brother and Sister usually just ask that Ah get home before supper." Apple Bloom said. "And that Ah make time to do mah chores."

"The lady at The Home says I need to be back by curfew and that's it." Scootaloo said.

Wayfarer raised an eye at this, looking at each filly in turn with confusion and a hint of incredulousness. "So you three just roam around town all day without any supervision?" The three nodded. "Well I guess that's one of the joys of living in a small town where everypony knows you... but still, I think your guardians would like to know what's going on. So run on home then." The three fillies shoulders slumped as they all murmured agreed and started to trudge their way back to their respective homes. Wayfarer stuck around the school house for a minute or two to make sure no late comers showed up, before he too left the empty building behind.

The walk over to Cheerilee's house was short and to the point, but Wayfarer had a feeling that the following conversation would be anything but. The house itself was a relatively small, one floor abode, with all the curtains drawn closed. There were a lot of Marigolds and Fuchsias in the flower boxes under the windows, which for the most part looked well taken care of, so Wayfarer reasonably felt assured that Cheerilee hadn't just up and left town within the last three days. He stepped up to the door and knocked three times on the wood, calling out his employer's name.

"Cheerilee? Miss Cheerilee are you home?"

Wayfarer heard a bit of shuffling from inside and almost caught one of the curtains being pulled back slightly before the door was creaked open. Cheerilee stood there looking like she'd just gotten out of bed after a horrible night's rest. Her mane was in shambles and her coat was frayed in some places. The bags under her eyes turned from purple to an unfriendly maroon, and the eyes themselves looked ready to snap shut at any moment.

"Good morning Wayfarer." She mumbled before stretching out her mouth into an overtly loud yawn. "What are you doing here this early?"

"Wondering why school was canceled." Wayfarer said. "As I'm sure half of Ponyville will be when they hear about it."

"Oh." Cheerilee said simply. She looked from Wayfarer's face to the ground, eyes darting back and forth like she was in deep thought. She lifted her head back up and stepped aside. "Well come in. I just put a pot of coffee on the stove, you want some?"

"That'd be nice, thank you." Wayfarer said as he took in the sight of Cheerilee's front room slash kitchen.

The entire room looked about as neat and tidy as Twilight's library. Everything had its own place, nothing was where it shouldn't be. That was until he saw the table, which was the exact opposite. It looked as though she'd taken one of her filing cabinets and just turned the whole thing over on the table's surface, and then she'd tossed her typewriter onto it as well in what little space was remaining.

"Were you writing something?" Wayfarer asked.

"What? Oh yes, I was writing a letter to one of my old students. Did I mention them yet? Moved to Manehatten to work at a museum?"

"Well you mentioned wanting to write to them,” Wayfarer said, racking his memories. “But I don’t think you mentioned Manehatten."

Cheerilee nodded to herself and went to go check on the Coffee. Wayfarer continued his examination of the front room, noting with some degree of surprise that there were very little personal effects in the room. He could have very well walked into another library, or a small coffee shop with how little of Cheerilee's personality showed in the room. That is until he spotted a shelf that had several photo albums lined up, each having a label designating about three years each, going back about Twenty-Five years. Wayfarer grabbed the first one and cracked it open.

He was greeted by the smiles of about a dozen fillies and colts, as well as two older mares. One was obviously a much younger Cheerilee, with a very frizzy mane and wearing hoofbands of all things. The other was a much more subdued looking mare who looked to be getting on in years.

"I was only 16 when that photo was taken." Cheerilee said from behind Wayfarer, making him turn his head to see her carrying a mug of coffee for him. "I was technically only a Teachers assistant, but I considered myself an educator all the while." She took the album and hoofed over the coffee. She placed the book on the already crowded table and started to absentmindedly flip through it. "There he is."

Cheerilee turned the book around for Wayfarer to see as she pointed a hoof to a picture of a very young colt. The picture itself was too faded to really make out the colour, but he looked very tan with spiky dark brown hair. "Little Pocket Watch. Wanted to be an Archeologist."

"Is he who you're writing to?" Wayfarer asked.

"Mhmm." Cheerilee said, closing the book and setting it back on its shelf. "He's got a cousin still in Ponyville, Time Turner, he works at the local clock shop. I went by the other day to ask if Turner had heard from Pocket. He said he was doing great, then he gave me Pocket's address so I could write to him." Cheerilee moved back to her type writer, sitting down and staring intently at the almost filled page. "I wanted to ask how he was doing, if life and work was treating him well..." She hung her head slightly. "If I'd prepared him enough for what 'life and work' entailed."

"You still hung up on that?" Wayfarer asked.

Cheerilee smiled and tore the letter out of the type writer, placing it with three other pages before folding them into thirds and then reaching for an envelope. "We all have our hang ups, some less obvious to us then others." She stuffed the letter into the envelope and sealed it shut before turning to Wayfarer. "And I blame this particular one on you."

"Me?" Wayfarer said incredulously. "What did I do?"

"You gave me enough free time to actually think and consider what the future holds for my students, and whether or not I was giving them what they needed to succeed. Without you I'd be too busy to even consider the notion... thank you for that."

"Uhm... you're welcome, I guess."

Wayfarer was on his way back to the Library when Pinkie decided she didn't like how alone he looked and decided to jump out the window of Sugarcube Corner as he walked by.

"Hi'ya Wayfarer!" She said as she matched his gate.

"Hello Pinkie. Got a day off?"

"Nope." Pinkie said. "But the Cake's schedule is always more of a suggestion for me."

"Really." Wayfarer said with a flat stare. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"Well I do tend to work a lot even when they DO give me time off, but that's because baking is second only to hanging out with friends in the 'Things that make Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie' category."

"I would have thought Partying would be number two on that list."

"Silly!" Pinkie snorted as she got in front of Wayfarer and started walking backwards. "Partying is something I do ALL the time. It's more of a way of life than anything. Partying is more like the unspoken number zero of 'Things that make Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie.'"

"Partying: The philosophy of Pinkie Pie." Wayfarer snorted as he rolled his eyes. "Sounds like one of those weird, new age, spiritual cleansing books the ponies in the Baltimare shopping district try to sell."

"Ooh! You mean like fortune tellers and stuff?"

"Yeah, that's it! Except I don't think you'll be trying to convince ponies to 'Rid yourselves of all your worldly possessions' or any of that horse hockey."

"Yeah no, definitely not. Especially if candy is considered a worldly possession! Can you imagine having to give up candy?!"

"Oh the horror." Wayfarer deadpanned with only the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"No more peppermints!" Pinkie cried out. "No more taffy or gumdrops! No more Dragon's Beard or Gummy Bears or Carmel or Toffees or Licorice or... or..."

"Or chocolate?" Wayfarer helpfully suggested, though from the way she reacted he might as well had told Pinkie everything she knew and loved had been destroyed in an instant.

"NOT THE CHOCOLATE!!" Pinkie screamed and threw herself at Wayfarer's hooves, stopping him in the middle of the street and causing everypony in the vicinity to turn their heads in the two's direction, before realizing who was making the commotion and going back to what they were just doing. "Please tell me the fortune tellers won't come to take my chocolate Wayfarer! Say it ain't so!"

"Pinkie! Relax!” Wayfarer said, pushing Pinkie off. “I'm sure the tambourine wielding fiends like chocolate just as much as you do!"

"Oh okay!" Pinkie said, dropping the over dramatic waterworks and standing back up. "I was afraid I'd have to get rid of my 'Madam Pinkie' stuff! That would have bee a waste of a good character!"

Wayfarer shook his head and continued to walk. "Really Pinkie, who doesn't love chocolate?"

"I don't know... but they're probably not of this world!"

"Well you'd better get back to Sugarcube Corner and make sure those other worldly fortune tellers know what they're missing."

"Hey that's a great idea! Thanks Farey! See ya around!"

"IT'S WAYFARER!!" He shouted off at the pink blur that sped off back the way they came.

"Well, Discord finished putting the front of the castle back together." Celestia said as she walked in the front door around dinner time. "Now we need to find a way to have the opening ceremony without actually letting anypony into the castle."

"Good luck with that." Wayfarer said before spooning a mouthful of egg fried rice into his maw.

"I suppose we could have the party out in the gardens." Twilight said as she broke apart her chopsticks. "But I think ponies will want to see the inside one way or another."

"You guys keep talking like I'm not in the room." Spike said, struggling to correctly hold his chopsticks. "It gets kind of annoying you know." Twilight and Celestia shared a look of guilt before turning to Spike.

"Spike." Twilight said. "We-"

"Don't worry about it." The dragon said as he sighed and dropped the Chinieghs utensils and followed Wayfarer's example with a fork. "I heard what you all said last night. I promise I won't go running after wherever you guys go when Ponies disappear. I'll be sure to send a letter to Princess Luna if you're ever not there when I wake up." Spike froze for a moment before looking up at Twilight with a twinge of fear about him. "Please don't ever not be there when I wake up."

Twilight leaned over and embraced Spike in her forehooves. "Don't worry, I'll be alright Spike."

Wayfarer started to tap his own fork against the table in thought. From all they'd seen, the Shadows don't even really appear in or around the castle until around midnight. During the day, and even partially into the night, they keep to the underground. But then again, just because they hadn't seen one during the day doesn't mean they weren't lurking in some of the more inward rooms of the castle, where no sunlight at all reached.

"Well if we had the Ceremony all through the day, we'd be less likely to have any incidents." Wayfarer said. "Some extra security probably wouldn't go amiss though."

"What good would they do against the shadows though?" Twilight pointed out. "Our magic doesn't work on them, remember?"

"Magic, no." Celestia said. "But conventional weaponry does work. Discord took out more than a few with just a golf club, I'm sure a battalion of well armed guards would be able to sweep the castle of any Shadows still lurking about in the daytime."

"Are you sure about that?" Twilight asked. "I mean no offense, but the royal guards don't have the best track record when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Well that's what peace time does to a country's military,” Celestia said. She then started to chew on the ends of her chopsticks in thought. “Go long enough without any significant incident and they become complacent. Your brother's been on a bit of a crusade to get that fixed for goodness knows how long."

"Shining? Yeah he told me once before I came to Ponyville that Guard training was a little lax. It doesn't surprise me he'd want to make improvements even after retiring from being Captain."

"Maybe we should get him to come take care of security." Wayfarer said.

"He's probably too busy in the Chrystal Empire for that." Twilight said, ears flattening against her head. "Plus I wouldn't want to take him away from Cadence for too long."

"I'm sure your brother could spare a few days down here for that." Celestia said. "This is your castle after all, I'm sure he'd want to make sure it's safe for you. But whatever the case, the Ceremony will have to wait until after the Summer Sun Celebration." Her face scrunched up a bit before she continued. "The Elite of Canterlot and other cities will probably want to attend, and at the moment they're busy with the Sun Celebrations in their own towns."

"Well there is the week between that and 'Breezy Beaches Week'" Twilight said, looking over at the calendar on the wall. "We'll have to discuss that with Mayor Ivory at some point I guess." Dinner continued over more idle chatter, before the four of them felt the call of their night caps and bedsheets.

There was a crowd at the school house when Wayfarer arrived the next morning. He recognized a lot of the ponies present as the parents of Cheerilee's students, and Applejack. Cheerilee herself was standing in front of the school addressing the group as she ushered in the foals.

"Again, you have my apologies. And I promise all of you that the next time I have to take a leave of absence, you will all know long in advance. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to play catch up with my students." She let in one more student before trotting inside, letting the crowd disperse back into town.

"Hey." Came a familiar southern drawl as Applejack approached Wayfarer. "Applebloom said you went over to Cheerilee's yesterday. What happened to her?"

"She didn't say?" Wayfarer asked, only to have AJ shake her head slightly. "Well, she just needed a day off is all. She needed to take care of some personal business."

Applejack snorted at that. "Lot of ponies start'n to skiv out on work just to sort out 'Personal Business'. Someponies can't afford to just do that sort of thing on a whim you know?" She hesitated a moment before turning her head to the side and looking away from Wayfarer. "Listen, I'm sorry you had to see me and Rainbow have it out like that the other day. Wasn't fair to you or my friends." She then turned back to look at Wayfarer with a stern look in her eye. "But Discord was right, somethin funny's go'n on round here, and I have a hunch that you, Twi, and that Sunny Skies character are in on it."

Wayfarer started to sweat a little as Applejack took a step forward and got right into his face. Her green eyes seemed to be judging every facial feature and twitch for even the slightest hint of guilt, and Wayfarer had a horrible poker face. Rarity and Fluttershy were one thing, with the exception of Rarity slapping Celestia, they hadn't gotten physical with their anger. And most of their displeasure was directed at Twilight and Celestia then him anyway. Applejack on the other hoof seemed to be constantly on the line with whether or not she actually liked him, and from what he'd seen the farm mare could easily buck him into next week if she wanted to. Luckily for him, Applejack wasn't ready to shatter his jaw quite yet. She sighed and turned away from Wayfarer, heading back to the road.

"Yall just make sure Twi's safe you hear me? She's not just important to Ponyville anymore, she's important to all of Equestria. You got that?"

"Yeah." Wayfarer said, exhaling a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. "Yeah, I got it."

As the students piled out of the classroom at the end of the day, Wayfarer couldn't help but smile over at Cheerilee, who looked at least twice as happy as he did at the moment. She'd been on cloud nine almost the entire day, joyfully answering questions and spending time with her students. Her smile had become almost infectious by the time lunch had rolled around, to the point where even the grouchiest kids in the class were grinning along with her. Some of the kids had asked her what she was so happy about, and she would just respond that she was glad to be back with them.

The front door closed shut gently as the last filly left, then Cheerilee started to chuckle under her breath as she walked over to her desk.

"Okay, I'll bite." Wayfarer said as she sat down. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Pocket Watch wrote back." Cheerilee said as she pulled out a folded up sheet of paper. "Probably the best start to a day I've had in a long time."

"Already?” Wayfarer asked. “Didn't you send that letter only yesterday?"

"I know, I was surprised too. But that's Pocket for you. I remember he'd turn in assignments the day after they were assigned, even when he had weeks to work on them."

"Oh boy, a Teachers Pet eh?"

Cheerilee snorted in laughter at that. "No no no, nothing like that. He just loved doing things on time. He loved the freedom that getting things done and out of the way allowed for him. It was all about finding something to do and doing it right then and there, just because he could." Her eyes darted over the letter, occassionally smirking at something she read as another good memory came back to her. "He kept moving forward, no matter what. And I realized that I should be doing the same." Cheerilee reached for the letter's envelope and turned it upside down, and a small pin fell out. It looked like a single smiling flower, like it was lifted right from Cheerilee's cutie mark.

"What's that?" Wayfarer asked.

"It's one of the pins I give to my students during the last year they attend my class." She said melancholically. "Or to be more accurate, the pins that the previous years students give them. It's a bit of a ceremony I have at the end of the year, each of the graduating class picks a student a year younger then them and pins this to them, sort of like the passing of the torch from one to another. Pocket moved away with his family half way through the year and never had a chance to pin this to a student." She lifted the letter up again with a smile, reading a little more from it before looking up at Wayfarer. "He asked me to give this to what ever student didn't get one this year." She stepped forward with the little button in her hoof. "Unfortunately everypony DID get one this year, so I guess I should give this to you."

Wayfarer felt a slight pressure over his chest as Cheerilee stuck the pin to the lapel of his shirt. He looked down at it and smiled, before puffing out his chest and posing like a soldier who'd been awarded some sort of high honor. Cheerilee chuckled at that.

"Don't forget to make sure that gets to one of the students at the end of the year, Alright?"

"You can count on me Miss Cheerilee."

She smiled and looked around the classroom, which already looked cleaned and tidy even before Wayfarer started cleaning. "You know what? It seems a little redundant having you come in every day just to clean. I want you to start taking Tuesdays and Thursdays off from now on. Don't worry, I'll adjust your pay accordingly."

As the day drew to a close, Wayfarer returned to the Library in high spirits. His soul felt as light as a feather, and he sensed that something had changed inside him. Dinner passed with conversation of the coming week, Twilight saying that Rainbow Dash had briefly awoken and was able to eat something before falling asleep again, Spike trying to convince them that he was feeling bumps in his back that he thought were his wings finally coming out, before they were again called to their beds for the night.

Wayfarer was staying up a little later than usual, curled up on the couch under a reading lamp and reading from a book that Twilight had suggested to him. The sound of shuffling hooves from across the room stole his attention as he looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing in the doorframe to the hallway.

"Dash?" he asked, uncertain if she was even fully conscious. "Something wrong?"

"No," she mumbled. "Just stretching my legs. I'm not used to sleeping for this long, it feels off."

"I can imagine."

"Yeah... I want to go take a flight and stretch my wings, but I'll probably end up falling asleep while airborne if I do that." Rainbow walked over to the opposite couch and collapsed on it. "Why don't you take the guest bed tonight? I think I've hogged it enough."

"Hey now, you need it more than I do."

"No, I don't. I can sleep almost anywhere. I once spent a night in one of AJ's Apple trees and woke up perfectly rested." Wayfarer still wasn't convinced. "Do it, or you'll be the first thing I sic Andraste on when I can finally stand on my own for more than five minutes."

"Alright, fine." Wayfarer sighed as he got up. "But if Twilight gets miffed at me, I'm blaming you."

"Duly noted... hey."

"Yeah?"

"What's with the pin on your shirt?"

"Oh," Wayfarer touched at the pin. "Just something Cheerilee gave me."

"Kind of ruins the whole, 'Too cool for you' look you've got going on."

"Heh, yeah I guess it does."

Wayfarer walked back to the guest room and pulled the pin off, placing it gently on the shelf before pulling off the rest of his clothes. As he turned to the bed, he caught site of his tarot deck. Smiling, he pulled the first card off the top: The Priestess. He placed the card with the button, then laid himself down and drifted off to sleep.

Blueblood, after giving the two unicorns tailing him the slip, galloped lightly through the alley ways as Luna's moon raised high over head. By the time his pursuers realized he wasn't on the train bound for Las Haygas, they'd already be too far down the tracks to do anything about it. He turned the corner and found the pony he was looking for. Moon was standing in her usual black cloak, staring up at her namesake from across the street from Blueblood. Slowly he walked over to her and stood by her side.

"Do they suspect anything?" she asked.

"Of course they do,” Blueblood snorted in annoyance. “They always suspect my actions no matter how innocent."

"I suppose that was unpreventable," Moon said. The two stood in silence for a while. A nearby street lamp flickered on and off a few times, but other than that the night was dead still.

"So what are my orders?" Blueblood asked.

"Judgement wishes for you to stay in Canterlot. With three of the four princesses away from the capital, you are next in line for the seat of power should anything go wrong. And things WILL go wrong, I can assure you."

"You have a plan?"

"I always have a plan my dear. Soon I will put Luna out of commission myself, and you will be there to take charge. Celestia will be too distracted with other things to be able to return, so you and I will have all the time we need to fulfill our role unhindered by either princess."

"And that role is?"

If Moon could smile through her mask, she would have done so as she levitated another set of black robes and a mask from her bags. "Why, to bring sustenance to our master of course." Blueblood picked up the mask and looked into the slits that were meant to be eyes. The mask itself was shaped like a shield, was coloured a yellowish gold and had no other features aside from the eyes.

Blueblood turned the mask around and place it over his face before drawing the cloak around himself.

"Welcome to the Shadow Arcana." Moon said. "Blueblood of the Chariot."

Author's Notes:

I'm deeply sorry for how long it took such a short chapter to come out, but I'm afraid such is life.