"I'd like to thank you all for joining us this morning," Court Drama said from his place at the top of the stairs. To his left was Princess Celestia and Shining Armor, to his right stood Elizabeth. Below them, looking apprehensive yet attentive, were Twilight, Wayfarer, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Discord, and the rest of the T.A.R.O.T. persona users, including Gust, Hourglass, and Vivid Dreams. "T.A.R.O.T. and myself have already done a dress rehearsal, as it were, a few nights ago. I'm glad to see you all are in tip to shape."

"It has been a while," Wayfarer heard Vivid whisper to Hourglass.

"Indeed Mr. Vivid," Court said, startling the younger unicorn. "T.A.R.O.T. hasn't had a full blown operation since early Spring, and I'm glad to see you are excited about it."

The members of T.A.R.O.T. chuckled, Vivid cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"To be fair, Sir," Hourglass said as she roughly threw a hoof around Vivid's shoulder. "This is his first gig since joining up. Only natural for him to have some pre show jitters."

"It's your first real gig too Hourglass," Gust responded with a smirk. "So you'd be wise of you not to try and upstage the rest of us quite yet."

"Alright that's enough," Court said as another round of chuckles erupted. "We're here to keep everyone safe tonight. As many ponies are coming from all over Equestria tonight, the mass of collective unconscious energy is going to be like a dinner bell to the Shadows. If we're not prepared, or if we slack off, some pony might get hurt. So treat this just like every other mission: with a degree of seriousness."

"Pardon me Sir," Twilight spoke up, stepping forward and asking her question more to Celestia then to Court. "If the New Moon grants the Shadows strength, why not move the coronation to another date? We've waited this long, what's another week or two?"

"I've toyed around with that idea Twilight," Celestia sighed. "I even wrote a letter to both Luna and Prime Minister Iron Gavel asking what they thought about the logistics of moving a royal gathering like this. They both said, and I reluctantly agree, that the nobility that's already here in Ponyville and the one's still in Canterlot would likely set both on fire when they start rioting. Especially when we can't give them any sort of reason why we delayed it."

"Mass Collective Awareness of the Shadow's existence gives them strength just as the New Moon does," Elizabeth explained. "If you warn the people of the danger, all your efforts on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration may be rendered unbuttoned." Everyone looked at her with confusion at that, even her. "Unfastened? Untied? Unzipped? Something along those lines."

"So we need to pretend like nothing is wrong while we work behind the scenes," Discord surmised. "You all take your cover as showman quite literally I must say. The audience only sees the play on stage but never thinks about the crew working behind the curtain to ensure the production goes smoothly."

"And a good actor," Hourglass spoke up. "Can improvise should anything go wrong and keep the illusion going."

"Hah!" Discord laughed. "Wonderous! I like you lot already."

"So our actors," Court said, drawing their attention back to himself. "Will be Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and her friends. While T.A.R.O.T., Prince Shining Armor, and his platoon of Royal Guards will be our crew. We will be down in the labyrinth, drawing attention to ourselves and keeping the Shadows far from the surface. Discord, you will have to play both positions tonight. No one would notice you popping in and out of the party, so you will be perfect for relaying information between the two groups. Unlike a normal play, we won't have any cue's about what is going on on stage, so our communications expert, Infinite," A grey unicorn wearing a black peacoat and a beret stood up straight at the mention of his name. "Will be waiting in the lock box for you to give him reports, and so that he might report to you our status."

"Ughh," Discord growned. "My role is the carrier pigeon? I'm hurt good sir. A talent such as I deserves a grand role to play, with my name up in lights on the marque!"

"Hey, don't think of it as a carrier pigeon," One of the other T.A.R.O.T. members said. "Think of it as that one character who keeps popping up to riff on the action and make snide comments to the audience."

Discord tapped his chin for a moment in thought, before turning in a seemingly random direction and speaking to the air. "In hindsight I knew they were playing me for a fool, but the chance to follow in the footsteps of famous comedy routines was too great to pass up." Discord then turned back to Court Drama and rolled his eyes at him. "Very well, if I am to be the comic relief then I suppose I might as well."

"Good to know," Court said. "Now, places everyone, the show starts early when the servants, cooks and guests start showing up."

Carriages and chariots started lining up early outside the gates to the castle around an hour before the party was officially supposed to start. Royals, Nobility, important business leaders, celebrities. Anyone who might be interested in getting into the good graces of Princess Twilight Sparkle or to be the first to invest in the development of Ponyville now that there was a Princess with her own castle there. The Nobility especially looked eager to get inside, though Wayfarer guessed that the longer they stayed in Ponyville, the more concerned they might be that they'd actually have ton converse with commoners. Wayfarer couldn't help but smirk at that idea though. There was no guest list for this gathering, all were welcome, including the citizens of Ponyville. Even a good chunk of Applejack's extended family were expected to show up, which was sure to just twist the ears of every pony of high standing there.

Inside the castle, the throne room, banquet hall, gathering hall, and foyer were quickly filled with tables of food, seating arrangements, ice sculptures and even more decor then normal. Three bands, the absolute best provided by the Caravan, were busy warming up in there respective halls, adjusting their instruments to fit the acoustics of the room. Pinkie Pie was talking with one group to try and get them to play more upbeat music for dancing, but they could only promise her so much, even if they did seem sympathetic to her efforts. Cooks were still in the kitchen preparing more food as servants brought them out to the tables, helped along by Applejack and her family. Occasionally the servants would all check their uniforms for even the slightest stain or wrinkle, or Rarity would beat them to it and immediately fix what was wrong with their appearance before skipping off with excited glee. Fluttershy and some ponies from in town were debating about the garden, while in the sky Rainbow Dash and the weather team were cleaning up the last few clouds they'd brought in for one last sprinkling of water to keep all the flora looking good.

Everything top side was going smoothly, even Cadence managed to make it back after a quick return to the Crystal empire. "They didn't even notice I was there," She giggled. "They're doing just fine now that they realized the sky wasn't going to fall without me or Shining there."

Celestia and Twilight smiled at that, but all three Princesses were a little disappointed that Luna would not be joining them. "She's been nervous about leaving Canterlot unguarded ever since the Summer Sun Celebration," Celestia explained. "That, and large social gatherings still make her slightly uncomfortable."

While preparations for the party continued, down below Wayfarer and Discord had joined Infinite and Shining in the Lock Box. "We have a few Maya's straggling in the upper levels, but everything seems all clear," Infinite said as his Persona, a man with a disc for a face and speakers in his arms and chest, kneeled at the head of the stairs leading into the darkness.

"Maya?" Wayfarer asked with confusion.

"They're what we call the little blob Shadows," Infinite said.

Some static came over the speakers on Infinite's Persona before the voice of Gust came through. "We've got Laughing Tables and Venus Eagles on floor 12. Seems they got the message though and aren't keen on sticking around to say hi."

"Let em' go for now," Court Drama's voice responded. "We can't blow all our energy now before night falls. If they get to floor 10, turn them back."

"Roger that," came Gust's acknowledgement.

Infinite turned to Wayfarer and Discord and nodded. "We got it covered, come check back in when the sun finally sets."

"Cool beans," Discord said before picking Wayfarer up by the neck of the brand new suit Rarity had made for him. "Come, let's go usher in the audience."

With the stroke of six o'clock and the chimes of the clock tower, the gates to Twilight's castle, at long last, opened to the ponies of Equestria. The carriages carried their passengers all the way to the front steps before letting them out and departing, making room for the next in the line to do the same. Dozens of carriages came through before one without any ponies pulling it came to a stop. Three very tall unicorns wearing masks stepped out, the middle one flicking her horn and causing their ride to disappear.

"Are you certain this is a good idea?" The dark blue pony wearing an intricate cape and suit patterned with stars said. "You didn't really fill us in on what you brought back with you from your little trip, Judgement."

"Come now, Emperor," The middle pony said. Her outfit was slightly off white and layered with stiff outcroppings, like freshly made scrolls of paper. Behind her trailed a dress of owl feathers with highlights of ink. "This is supposed to be a night of fun and socializing! besides, don't you have faith in me?"

"If I said no, would that matter?"

"Of course it would! It would matter greatly when I consider throwing you into Mother's mouth when she rises."

"Then yes," Emperor sighed with annoyance. "I have absolute faith in your abilities."

"Good," Judgement said sweetly, before turning to the last member of their trio. "And you Empress? Do you have faith?"

Empress did not say anything, she merely grunted in affirmation before adjusting her own dress, which looked like someone had sewn fire into the white fabric.

"Excellent, now, let's proceed, we're drawing attention to ourselves."

Farther back in the line, a group of pony villains had foregone the need for a chariot or carriage and were simply walking up to the gates of the castle. With them was a turquoise pegasus mare with wings that looked like a second set was attached behind the first, making them look like butterfly wings. The mare looked way to serious for the crowd of excited party goers, with her sullen expression and determined trot. As she neared the gate, a unicorn guard off to the side caught her attention. He was channeling a spell that expelled illusions and revealed the true form of things, a spell the pegasus knew was used to catch changelings. She'd foreseen this though, and had met this particular guard before he had gone on duty earlier that day. She had cast her own spell on the guard, and now, with a brief flash of green in her eyes, she activated it. The guard's spell dropped just long enough for the pegasus to pass under the gates and into the courtyard.

She finally relaxed and smiled, looking more like those around her now that she had gotten in undetected. She held back a laugh, though she desperately wanted to cackle at the foolishness of her prey.

"Soon, Sparkle," She muttered to herself. "I'll have my vengeance soon."