“Sebastian?” Aurora called, waving a hoof in front of my face.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, there you are. Thought we lost you for a second. Ready to go?”
I nodded, unsure of what she was talking about for a moment, then remembered why she had come last night. We were on the way to Canterlot. To meet with the princess… Questions began flooding my mind as quickly as I’d made the realization. A two hour cab-ride later, we arrived at the door of Canterlot Castle. The castle itself was a very striking structure. Tall, commanding, and precariously perched, it was a structure not easily missed. The white marble walls, golden spires and interesting architecture echoed Russia’s Kremlin Palace. I stood there, awe-struck by the beauty of it until a gruff voice broke me from my stupor.

“Business?” the guard, a buff, white-coated pegasus seemingly dressed for battle, demanded.
Aurora answered him.

“We’re here for an appointment with Princess Celestia. I’m Aurora Dawn and this is Sebastian Cooper. We’re the ones called here about the Rainbow Factory scandal.”
His eyes were set in a very self-important manner as he inspected each of our faces. It was the look of a man who took his job far too seriously. After several seconds, he huffed and stepped to the side, allowing us passage into a massive hallway. The inside of the castle was just as impressive, if not more so, than the outside. Pristine white floors, as pure as virgin snow, were covered by an endless lavender carpet. The walls were lined with a countless number of paintings depicting scenes of victory, war, woe, joy, famine, and prosperity. Even the windows were stained with various scenes of a similar nature. One particular window caught my attention. It told a story I knew well… Twilight, Rainbow, A.J., Shy, Rarity, and Pinkie all stood in a “V” formation, firing a strange beam at a creature made of many different parts of various creatures.

The Return of Harmony, I thought. The day my friends sealed an ancient evil… Discord… Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony…

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice asked from my right.
I glanced at it to see a face I could never possibly do justice to in a mere description. The set of her eyes was a pensive one. Those deep-set, rose-colored eyes were off in another realm… A realm of enlightenment… I dared not to adjust my bandage and look into her mind. Those striking orbs lingered on me for several moments before she spoke again.

“It’s been quite some time since we last met, Mister Cooper.”
It took me a few moments before I could collect enough of my thoughts to speak again. Merely gazing upon the Sun Princess had a sort of thought-scattering effect on me…

“Indeed, it has, Princess.” I replied, having to consciously force myself to look away.
The silence that fell between us was a thick one. One that spoke quite loudly. I had questions, she knew I did, but she was waiting for me to ask them… It took me a few moments to gather the right words.

“Princess, if I may, why am I here? What is distressing you so much that you had to call on me; a no-name subject?”
The age-old monarch took a long time in answering.

“I wished for you to observe justice. You were in that factory –you know what happened there. You did what you had to, but I feel it would be good to have you here for the execution.”
I looked at her again, an incredulous quirk curving my brow.

“Who’s getting executed?”
Princess Celestia fixed her gaze on me. There was something… Different… I couldn’t tell exactly what had changed, but even in the few months that had passed since we spoke at Sugar Cube Corner, Princess Celestia’s eyes had shifted. I recalled that the first time we met, those orbs held a distinctively knowing glow. Now, as she looked over my frame, that glow had been replaced. She was speculative and seemed to be examining every detail about me… Memorizing me…

“He is called Doctor Atmosphere. We apprehended him shortly after the escape two months back. He… Ran that factory… He knows he’ll die, so he won’t talk. We’ve tried everything…”
My mind instantly snapped into motion. I could get the information she wanted, whatever it was, but I needed to make it seem like I was confused…

“Well, uh, what do you guys want to know?”

“That factory has been kidnapping class failures from Cloudesdale for four years, and yet we couldn’t even find it. We want to know how he does it…”
That answered the question of how all of this was going on under her nose…

It’s not invisible… Hm…

“Has he breathed a word?”
Celestia shook her head.

“I’m surmising that you’ve already exhausted all of your best interrogators?”
A nod.

“Enhanced techniques?”
A head-shake.

“We don’t do that here in Equestria.”

“In an official capacity, you mean.”
This seemed to strike the Princess. Her face told me she hadn’t thought of an off-the-record encounter…

“I can get you what you want, but I’ll need a few favors…”