Her changelings bristled at the sight of this pony who so boldly stepped into their prison. Only her command kept them from attacking him out of desperation to escape. Chrysalis turned her gaze back to the pony; he stood tall, nearly the same height as she. His eyes had a haunting arrogance behind them, and his smirk spoke of extreme confidence in himself.

“I ask again,” he said, his voice carrying in the vaulted chamber. “You are Queen of this hive?”

Her lips pulled back in a snarl even as she stood from her dais. “Just who are you to demand anything of me?”

His smirk widened. “Who I am is not important at this moment, but what is important is what I have to offer you and your—” He paused a moment to glance at the collected changelings. “—brood.”

A growl escaped from her throat. “You don’t have anything I want, and now that the annoying costume is gone, we can finally leave!” She snapped a glare at her lieutenant. “Deal with him!”

A wicked grin crossed his face. “Yes, my Queen!”

The changeling burst for the pony who blocked the way out, and Crysalis sneered at the thought that they would soon all be free from their prison. Her grin dropped, however, as just as her lieutenant was to tear into him, the pony gave an annoyed frown and swung his scepter. The resounding crunch of metal meeting chitin ringed in her ears, and she ducked as her lieutenant flew back at her. The poor changeling groaned as he crashed into a few others who were slow to dodge.

She whirled back as she heard the sound of the scepter striking the cold stone, the ringing of metal booming in her ears. “Do any others wish to try their mettle against me?” he asked, a contempt frown on his face.

Hearing the painful moans of her lieutenant, Chrysalis snarled—her hackles rising.

Narrowing his amber-eyed gaze at her, he said, “If you so wish it. I can restore the automation, and see to it that it becomes truly indestructible. And I will leave you all here to feast upon each other until one of you dies from starvation.”

Her eyes widened as she felt her blood run cold. “You lie. No pony has the heart to follow through with such a threat.”

He lifted his chin. “Do you wish to gamble on that thought?”

Baring her fangs, she hissed yet stood her ground.

“Now that the foolishness is over, are you willing to hear my offer?”

The queen narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

“A simple arrangement,” he said, sweeping his gaze over the assembled changelings. “I require you and your changelings for a foray along Equestria’s borders. In return, I offer you and yours a small section of it for yourselves once I make Equestria my own.”

She all but laughed in his face. “You intend to challenge Celestia for her throne? You are a fool then. You have no idea the power she has at her disposal. A mere earth pony doesn't have the power to stand up to her guards let alone the princesses.”

The beginnings of a smirk tugged at her lips as his eyes narrowed. ‘So, that one hurt, huh?’

The annoyed expression left his face, replaced by the confident demeanor. “Of Celestia and Luna’s power and resources, you will inform me. In return for your services, I offer you and your changelings freedom from your imprisonment and a small kingdom of your own. All you need to do is to swear fealty to me and follow my orders without question or hesitation.”

Snarling again, she yelled, “Just who do you think you are to demand such of me!”

He gave her a hard glare. “I will not make this offer again.”

She scowled at the finality in his tone and growled to herself. ‘Freedom from this prison and a kingdom of my own? All for some stupid spoken oath of loyalty? Either this pony is an idiot, or there’s something else going on here.’ She glanced over at her changelings, many of them giving her questioning glances or hopeful looks. ‘Still, if he is able to make good on his promise, we get what we wanted. If not, we would still be free.’

She stood straighter showing calm for her subjects. “Fine. You have a deal,” she said, even as a plan began to take form in her mind.

There was something about his grin that caused a sickening feeling in her gut to happen. “Good,” he said. “But first, I require your oath and the information you hold. With it, we will begin taking back Equestria from those undeserving of her.”

Her brow furrowed even as her changelings relaxed. ‘Taking back? Who is this guy?’ she thought before speaking, “I will tell you what we know, but I want to know who you are.”

His grin widened. “Has history forgotten me?” he chuckled. “No matter, the world will soon know my name once more. All will tremble at my coming.”

As Twilight and her friends stepped off the train at Canterlot Train Station, she couldn’t help but enjoy the familiar sights of her old home city. Seeing the white walls and paved streets again brought memories of her and Shining Armor enjoying many happy days with their parents. Having lived in Canterlot for years before moving to Ponyville, Twilight knew the fastest way to the castle, and she soon lead them at a leisurely pace.

“What do you think the princess wants to tell us so badly?” Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered above the others—snapping Twilight from her reminiscing.

“I don’t know, Rainbow Dash; all her letter asked was for the six of us to come see her as soon as we could. I’m sure whatever she has to say will be important,” Twilight said as they wound their way through the streets of the capital city. She saw the city’s upper-class citizens, who usually just snubbed the ponies from Ponyville, knelt in respect or whispered amongst themselves as she passed by.

“I still don’t know how you do it, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her tone quiet as she looked at some of the kneeling ponies.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked her.

“All the attention you get.” She nodded towards a small group of ponies who bowed as they saw Twilight. “I don’t think I could ever get used to something like that. I’m not sure I’d want to.”

Twilight let out a huff. “There are times I wish they didn’t. I knew that being a princess would garner respect out of other ponies, but there are times I wish they would treat me like everypony else again.”

“Oh darling, you are looking at it the wrong way. You shouldn’t look at the adoration as a cause for embarrassment. Rather, look at them as signs of respect for your station. You are royalty now, dear, and awe and respect are both parts of it,” Rarity sighed, resting a foreleg over her eyes. “Ahh, what I wouldn’t give to have the adoration and admiration ponies give to royalty.”

Twilight's ears flattened. “I would give it to you if I could,”

“You mean that?” Rarity asked, grabbing ahold of Twilight and looking at her with hope-filled eyes.

“No,” Twilight deadpanned.

Rarity’s shocked expression couldn’t hold up to Twilight’s disarming smile, and the girls all shared a laugh. All of them except for Applejack, whose frown only deepened.

“Well, I think it’s a bunch of bologna,” the farm pony said, her mouth in a firm frown. “All them ponies used to not even give ya the time a day, but now that yer a princess and all, they’re falling all over themselves to give ya respect. They ain’t doing it because of who ya are, but what ya are.” She tugged her hat tighter on her head. “It’s as dishonest as ya can get.”

Twilight contemplated her words and found she could not argue the point. She also considered she had earned her title of Princess as Princess Celestia had told her that fateful day of her transformation. She also had many other questions, but Celestia promised all would be clear in time. Perhaps all of her efforts had led to this newfound attention. Applejack knew the value of hard-earned rewards better than most other ponies; maybe she hadn’t considered that. She was about to say as such before Pinkie Pie chimed in.

“If you want to know what I think, I think you shouldn’t let it bother you too much,” she said as she hopped along. “Yeah sure, other ponies are acting differently around you, but does it hurt to have them bow or whatever? If anything they’re the ones getting their knees all dusty, and I don’t think dusty knees are anything to worry over. So why worry? If it makes them happy, let them do it.”

Applejack stamped a hoof to the pavement. “It’s just plain dishonest though, Pinkie."

“Yeah,” she agreed. “But is it hurting anyone?”

Applejack lifted a hoof to argue, but whatever she was about to say died in her throat. With a quick huff, Applejack shook her head. “No…”

Pinkie smiled all the wider. “Then let them worry over how dirty their knees get.”

Twilight and the girls shared a laugh as the gates to Canterlot castle came within sight.

As Twilight opened the doors to the throne room, a smile played across her face as she viewed the majesty of it. Along the marble walls were many stained-glass windows—each of them depicting a great moment in Equestria’s history. She saw the one of the first Hearth’s Warming—colored in warm colors of reds, yellows, and browns—there was triumph over Discord, and the sorrow of Nightmare Moon’s banishment—depicted in softer, darker colors. Her smile widened when she looked at the more recent windows. Of her and her friends becoming the Elements of Harmony and defeating Nightmare Moon, the taming of Discord, and the triumph over the tyrant Sombra and the return of the Crystal Empire.

Twilight let out a content sigh at the monuments of her and her friend’s greatest triumphs, and all due to the bond of friendship they shared—a bond that would never break, not if she had anything to do with it.

As they approached, Princess Celestia smiled warmly. Princess Luna stood next to her, a warm-but-restrained smile on her face as they finished listening to a guard speak.

“Thank you, good sir, that will be all.” As the guard bowed to them, Celestia looked at them and said, “Princess Twilight, everypony, I am so pleased to see you all.”

Twilight shared a quick hug with her mentor before stepping back. “We came after we got your letter, Princess. Is there some emergency we need to know about?”

“When is there not some emergency?” Rainbow Dash muttered after rolling her eyes.

Twilight glared at her friend, but the princess only smiled. “It does seem that I call you all often with warnings of danger, and I promise that I do not do so purposefully. I called you all here to make you aware of a possible threat; although, it is not one we believe presents itself any time soon.”

Applejack removed her hat before asking, “So what's the trouble then, Princess?”

The warmth seemed to fade from Celestia’s face, and her gaze drifted to a nearby window. “A brief explanation first,” she said before regarding them again. “As you all are aware, our world exists as a balance of the essential forces that make up our world, such as good and evil, love and hatred, and order and chaos.” she shifted her weight before continuing. “As much as we might wish otherwise, we need the negative aspects to balance out our world to maintain harmony.”

Rarity’s eyes widened before she spoke. “Wait, how could too much good, love and order possibly be a bad thing?”

Luna turned to her. “Have you ever heard of the old saying, ‘Too much of anything is a bad thing?’ If we were to have too much of any once essence, harmony would be out of balance, and the opposing essence would swell to balance out the imbalance.”

“So too many parties are a bad thing? Cake too?! What about chocolate candy?!” Pinkie said with growing pitch to her voice.

A gentle smile tugged at Celestia’s expression. “Does eating too much cake or chocolate cause you to have an upset stomach?”

“It takes a lot of cake and candy to do that to Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned.

“Indeedy!” the pink mare agreed.

Luna continued, “Regardless, it is because of this that we need to inform you of the possible shift in the balance of our world.”

“Well what could a thrown the balance outta whack, Princess?” Applejack asked.

“An accidental discovery,” Celestia said. “A small group of adventuring ponies discovered a long-lost ruin far to the south of Equestria. One that I had hoped wouldn't ever have been discovered. Unknowingly, they released a long-sealed spirit.”

“Oh dearest Celestia, would you please get to the point? Much more of this and I’m likely to fall over from boredom,” said a voice that originated from above them.

A wide smile erupted across Fluttershy’s face. “Discord!”

“So good to see you Fluttershy, and you as well you other grumbling ponies,” the draconequus said as he appeared as part of a nearby stained glass window, reclining against an image of Celestia. “Now, if good ol’Celestia would kindly move this along, we all wouldn’t be bored to tears.” He stretched and in one hand appeared a glass of tea from which he took a noisy sip.

The princess sighed, shaking her head. “Very well then, the spirit they released was the Spirit of Order. He is Discord’s polar opposite—”

“And an even more dreadful bore than Celestia,” Discord said.

“—His name is Tyranny, and he represents the aspect of complete order and control.” Celestia’s
said before her horn glowed for a moment. A visage of Tyranny appeared before them.

Twilight jumped back from the apparition, a feeling of unease shivering down her spine as she looked over the cruel expression of Tyranny.

“He is ugly enough to frighten isn’t he? Though I guess not everypony can be good-looking as me.” The draconequus gestured to his patchwork face.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie giggled while the others groaned.

“Is there anything useful you can tell us about this guy?” Rainbow Dash asked the stained-glass window where Discord still idly sipped on his cup of tea.

“I see that patience is still not your strong point, Rainbow Dash,” Discord said, tosses his teacup over his shoulder. With a snap of his fingers, the draconequus appeared in the throne room, dressed in formal attire and a monocle, top hat, and cane. The head of the cane was Discord’s face but with its tongue sticking out. “To put it bluntly, Tyranny likes things neat and orderly. Structured with little deviation from what he considers right and proper. As Tyranny once oh-so-boringly put it, ‘Only in following strict rules and regulations can the world ever know peace,’” he said speaking in a fancy accent. Then, with a disgusted snort, the outfit disappeared. With another snap of his hand, a cone of chocolate filled cotton candy appeared in his hand, and he took a generous bite. “Far too controlling for me. I prefer things nice and random with some unpredictability thrown into the mix.”

“Don’t we know,” Twilight said, her ears pinning back at the memory of the last time he visited Ponyville.

“Surely you wound me, Twilight,” he said, placing his free paw over his heart dramatically. “But there is one thing you can expect from Tyranny, predictability. He cannot help but follow set patterns and plans. It is a weakness of the excessively orderly.” Discord gave Twilight a sly glance. Unbeknownst to the Spirit of Chaos, Pinkie Pie had snuck up on him and helped herself to his conjured snack.

Twilight glared at him and turned to back to Celestia. “If he’s been released, how come we haven’t seen any trouble from him? If he is anything like this guy—” she nodded towards Discord, “—he should have caused some trouble by now.”

Celestia's mouth turned down in a troubled frown. “Of that, we do not know. It could be his power has weakened from his imprisonment, but we truly do not know for certain. That is why I wished to inform you of the development so that you are aware should he strike.” Glancing out the nearby bay window, she sighed again. “Aside from the unfortunate happenings of the adventuring troupe that released him, we have seen nothing of his presence. It is worrisome.”

Twilight tilted her head. “What happened to the adventuring ponies, Princess?” she asked.

Celestia closed her eyes a moment, her ears pinning back. “Their leader was possessed by Tyranny. The moment he laid hoof on the scepter, Tyranny took control of his body so that he could influence this world.”

“You mean like a Nightmare?” Twilight asked, casting an apologetic look towards Princess Luna.

Luna closed her eyes a moment but didn’t appear bothered by the mention. “Not quite,” she said. “At the time of his imprisonment, Tyranny’s power was so great we could not seal it all away in stone, so we used the Elements of Harmony to divide his essence and seal each piece separately.” A frown marred her visage. “His physical form was destroyed in the process, something we hadn't meant to do.”

Celestia nodded. “When Luna went to investigate the temple where his scepter lay hidden, she discovered one of the adventuring ponies; and with her help, they found the temple. It is where they found the third member of their troop; turned to stone by Tyranny.”

There was a collective gasp, though Discord snorted. “With Discord’s help, we have been able to undo what was done, but it will be a while before he can move about again. The return from stone is a taxing process on ponies.”

“It is on everypony, Celestia,” Discord said with a snort. “If I might add one more thing.” He paused and looked to his nearly devoured treat; he pulled it away at the last second before Pinkie Pie could take another generous bite, causing the pink mare to fall clumsily to the ground. “As much as I find Tyranny to be an insufferable bore, I will admit that he is clever. He won’t do anything rash or stupid or completely random. A trait I find infinitely boring.” With a snap of his fingers, he and his treat disappeared, reappearing above them all relaxing in a hammock. He sipped from a coconut shell and wore beach attire.

“In the end, Twilight, I want you and your friends to be ready if and when he makes his appearance. Which I hope is not any time soon,” Celestia said.

The doors of the throne room flew open and in rushed one of the royal guards. The poor pony's hide was lathered in sweat, and his gasps for air ringed loud in Twilight’s ears.

“Your Majesties,” he stammered to Celestia and the other two princesses, kneeling before them. “There is news from our eastern border. One of our outposts has been attacked.”

“Attacked by whom?” the sun princess asked, getting to her hooves.

“Do you really have to ask, Celestia?” Discord commented, smirking.