High Moon Ch. 51:

No More Lies

“I believe…”

“What do you believe?!”

The day had finally came. It was time for Quill to take a chance at her and Spike’s opportunity to finally get their answers from Celestia. If she could do this, then finally, that voice in the back of their heads that had been screaming, crying, and begging for answers ever since they reached their late teens would go away. They would finally be able to put it at ease and move on with their lives with a free conscience.

All Quill had to do was win.

And standing outside, both Spike and Quill were getting ready for the competition in a way that the rest of the pack had never seen before. Both twins had their hands on each other’s shoulders as they jumped up and down simultaneously. “What do you believe Quill?!” Spike shouted at Quill in an attempt to get her pumped for the competition as they continued to jump rhythmically.

“I believe I will win!” Quill shouted back at Spike with the same amount of energy, locking her eyes dead on Spike’s. Ever since yesterday, Quill had been filled with this energy about her, and that energy was shared with the rest of the pack. “I believe I will win, I believe I will win, I believe I will win!”

“What do you believe?!” This energy was especially shared with Spike as he had as much of a stake in this as Quill did. And just like any brother would, he was right by Quill’s side to the very last moment, helping her any way he could.

“I believe we will win!” the twins continued chanting to themselves while the rest of the pack watched, filled with curiosity and hope for Quill’s victory.

The previous night, Blaze took a moment alone with Quill to speak with her in private, gifting her with an arm bracelet that was decorated with some purple and black feathers from Cinder, and adorned Quill’s firestone necklace with two bright blue sapphires before she placed a tender kiss on the top of Quill’s forehead and embracing her with a motherly hold for most of that evening.

“I believe we will win!” Quill had honestly never felt so peaceful like this before. The whole thing let her know that it would be okay if she didn’t win the competition, so as long as she had given it her all. And for some reason, that just made Quill want to win even more. “I believe we will win!” To let everyone know that the many hours that she’d put into her flight training hadn’t been wasted, that Quill wouldn’t let them down. “I believe we will win!” That she was going to give it her all, and come out on top as the victor.

“Woohoo, alright let’s do this!” Quill shouted as she and Spike pushed away from each other. “I won’t lose, I can’t lose. Not after all of you guys helped me get so much done.”

Chuckling, Wolf nodded over to Isis, who had chosen to attend in the younger pegasus form, giving her permission to take her leave to Stormfront with Frost. “And with that, I believe it is approaching the time that ticket-seller advised you to arrive at Stormfront,” Isis said as she stepped towards the twins, Frost following behind.

Quill looked over towards the sphinx and Frost with a determined smile on her face, nodding her head as a sign of her being ready to go before she looked back over at Spike. “Dude, I’m gonna win this thing for us, and we’ll get those answers. You ready?” Quill stuck out her hand towards Spike, committed to winning the competition.

Spike chuckled at Quill a bit before grabbing onto her wrist as she grabbed onto his. “You know I am sis, just go win this thing already,” Spike said with the same smile towards Quill, as he was confident in her skills and drive to win.

“You know I will.” Nodding to each other, the twins let their wrists go so Quill could leave with Isis and Frost. Turning towards the sphinx and half-breed mare, Quill cracked a smile with a nod to them. “I’m ready Isis. Let’s head to Stormfront so we can win this thing.”

“Speaking for the pack, I see,” Isis mused as she closed her eyes, beginning to gather her magic to ready the teleportation. “Very well you two, get ready because I am going to be using the teleportation spell.”

Both Frost and Quill stepped closer towards Isis, reaching out to each other’s hands to intertwine their fingers. Just like everyone else in the pack, Frost had been a major help with her swimming and flying lessons over the last two weeks. And Quill loved her for every bit of help Frost had given her.

Suddenly Isis’ wing snapped upwards before they flexed outwards, seeming to be exponentially larger than they normally were. From the sudden movement, some of Isis’ loose black feathers surrounded Quill and Frost, floating freely in the air around them, but not seeming to fall to the ground. As the black fathers continued surrounding them a bright halo of crimson light formed above Frost and Quill’s heads, that encircled them entirely from the shoulder-joints on Isis’ wings.

As everyone admired the bright display of Isis’ magic, a mirrored image of the cloud city began to coalesce inside the halo’s circle. Before they had any time to marvel at the scope of how powerful Isis was, both Frost and Quill began lifting off the ground slowly, along with Isis, who began directing her hands up towards the center of the circle.

While everyone was still in shock and wonder at Isis’ powers, Spike snapped himself out of it to run towards the edge of the halo’s circle. “Hey Quill! Don’t you dare think about losing you hear me? No one needs this more than you and I do, so win alright?”

Quill looked over towards Spike before she began confidently smiling and giving him a thumbs up right before Isis motioned her hands outwards, sending her and the two lovers into the image where they vanished. Moments after the three’s departure, the halo of red light faded away.

Once the light was gone, Wolf began leading the pack back towards the viewing area that had been set up yesterday thanks to Spike and Isis. With the dragoness off to the competition, all any of them could do was hope for her victory and watch. ‘You can do this Quill. Show them that we’re stronger than they think we are.’

A short distance from Stormfront’s stadium, a bright red halo began forming in the clear blue sky with a reflected image of the High Moon temple, before Quill, Frost, and Isis fell through onto a cloud above the cloud city.

As they landed on the cloud, Isis’ wings returned to their normal size against her back, and she breathed out slowly. A quick scan of the area showed that they had landed in the exact area where she wanted them to be. She then turned her attention to the two lovers standing in front of her. “Are you two alright?”

“Yeah, come on it’s starting,” Quill said as she flew off of the cloud straight to the stadium, Frost and Isis following in their disguises. The moment Quill landed she was already being directed towards where the competitors were being held to wait while, Frost and Isis both bought tickets with the extra bits they were able to get off of the gems they had from what they used for the fee payment.

As Quill waited in the side entrance to the arena, she kept her mind on the task at hand while the rest of the competitors were starting to get nervous. Especially with a dragoness in the competition now. Yet Quill ignored the other competitors since she had winning on her mind, but she noticed that Rainbow was nowhere to be found. Not that it would change anything.

Outside in the stadium, the starting ceremonies were beginning to take place with Celestia welcoming everyone to Stormfront and wishing luck to all of the competitors. It was obvious she didn’t know that Quill was in the competition. Continuing with the opening ceremonies, Celestia gifted the crowd with a pre-show performance by Dusk Flare and his younger sister, Wave Flare.

Quill, along with the other competitors, peeked out to watch the two half-breeds’ performance. However, the moment the two performers came in sight, Quill, Frost, and Isis were surprised to recognize Wave as the same half-breed who helped Quill out the other day.

“Well now, that’s Dusk’s sister? Let’s see what they can do,” Quill mumbled to herself as she watched the two half-breeds make their entrances on top of the VIP spectator stands with the others. Quill didn’t understand why Dusk had a hairband in his hair, but for some odd reason, it looked good on him. It at least kept his hair out of his eyes.

Quill was forced to stop paying attention to Dusk’s new hairstyle when Wave raised her hand, holding three fingers up as she started to count down along with Dusk. “Three!” Wave shouted in her cheerful voice, moving her hand down to eye level as she held up two fingers.

“Two!” Dusk roared with a small flare of purple flames, snapping his wings outward in a mighty display of the power he held in the two large appendages. Soon an equally wide, and toothy, smile came onto the two siblings’ faces as Wave brought her hand closer to her face, holding up only finger to her mouth.

“One.”

Suddenly, a massive vortex of wind erupted around the two, a collective gasp escaping the crowd from the furiousity of it. Once the tempest had died down, the two siblings were nowhere to be found. That was until someone spotted them high above the stadium as they lazily floated on their backs.

As the two slowly floated down, Wave spun around so she was facing down towards Dusk while he flipped so he was pointed face first towards the stadium. Once again, a strong whirlwind of air surrounded the two, shooting them into two different directions.

Plummeting straight to the ground, Dusk gave the crowd a scare as he pulled up, breathing out a controlled torrent of blue and purple flames. To make the flames a bit more showy, Dusk shook his head left to right as he continued this stream all the way back to the VIP box before arching back up to the sky midway.

Before the flames could disperse, Wave tore right through them with a corkscrew spin before she too joined her brother into the sky as she continued to rotate. The two soon began whirling around each other as they ascended higher into the clear sky, both releasing a shockwave of wind-magic after reaching the apex of their ascent.

As the crowd cheered for more, Dusk switched elemental magic, sparking electricity around his body and superheating the air around him and Wave. Meanwhile, Wave began encasing her own body in a strong gale of wind. At the same time, both half-breeds closed their wings tight, entering into a dive towards the cloud-arena. Swirling together, Dusk’s lighting-magic and Wave’s wind-magic began mixing into each other, creating a windstorm of purple and black electricity that was given shape by Wave’s wind.

Upon closer inspection, the shape that the wind and lighting was given looked to be that of an elder dragon soaring downwards. But this changed as the pair began to make another turn upward to change the meaning behind the stunt. Now it wasn’t a dragon heading to its doom, instead it was a dragon soaring higher than it ever had before.

The pre-show ended with the two causing another massive shockwave of wind and electricity, flying off into the distance as the coward let out a loud cheer and roar for the awesome display of Dusk and Wave’s dragon magic.

After seeing that first hand, Quill felt a fire growing inside of her as she was now more than ready for the competition. After the pre-show, the competition quickly got underway as the announcer called in the first of the competitors. Time seemed to carry on forever for Quill as the competition started off on a good note with a few of the best flyers that Stormfront had to offer. Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn’t just pegasi that were in the competition. Griffons of different kinds and one very exceptional winged canine were also in the running for the win.

However, with each performance, the fire that had been burning in Quill’s chest only got hotter and more intense. She was flying with her pack’s wishes. She couldn’t let them all down, not after they put in so much time to help her out. Thanks to the night she’d spent alone with Blaze, Quill knew that nothing would change if she did lose, but that didn’t change what she had planned to do.

Quill had to admit though, all of the competitors were really good, and some were just doing it for the fun of things. Others though...to put it nicely, they didn’t perform up to par. However, that didn’t matter now as the last of the other competitors left out of the waiting room before it was Quill’s turn to go out.

“Mares and gentlecolts,” the announcer started, apparently the same stallion that had been working at the entry booth the other day. Since she was the last contestant of the show, Quill got ready as she got down onto all fours, wings flexed to send her propelling out. “Ah am happy to give ya’ll another big surprise with our final contestant. From parts deep inside the Everfree Forest, Quill Ferox Dragul!”

‘Show time.’ Quill launched herself out of the side entrance, rocketing straight towards the crowd before kicking off of the cloud ground to send her skyrocketing upwards. Spreading her wings open, Quill began to climb higher into the air at an alarming rate. As she climbed into the air, Quill began envisioning the practice course back in the Everfree.

She waved in and out of the imaginary rings, adding spins as Quill reached the top of the climb. Shutting her wings tight, Quill flipped backwards to dive back down into the same set of imaginary rings, pulling out with a spin upwards. Quill rapidly approached the VIP seats, spotting Celestia observing her performance with a look Quill never seen on her face before. Quill banked down and left, leveling out mere inches above the cloud ground.

Imagining the hurdles were right in front of her, Quill started snaking in and out of the cloud, looking like a shark in water. Thinking how this impression could be made, Quill ducked down into the cloud floor, just so her sharp head-spines could be seen, giving off the impression of a shark.

This trick was harder than Quill had thought it was since she had to cut through the dense packing of the cloud floor, but thanks to all of the swimming and flying lessons, she did it with ease.

Bursting free from the cloud floor, Quill soared above the stadium's ground, causing a trail of clouds to move upward from her sheer speed. Kicking off the cloud floor for extra speed, Quill rocketed up towards the sky, shutting her wings to allow the extra momentum to lift her up higher before again flipping downwards with a fast and tight spin.

As her rotation continued to build up, the strain of holding her eyes open became difficult to do, but that’s when Quill remembered a trick that Spike had told her about his meditation, hoping for the sake of getting their answers from Celestia that it would work.

Closing her eyes, Quill began the difficult task of calmly breathing as she dove towards the ground, but achieving it through the meditation. ‘One...’ Quill slowly counted in her head, tearing through a soft cloud as all outside sounds began to fade away. ‘Two...’ Though, unlike her brother and his girlfriend, she didn’t have to imagine a peaceful reality. No, she had all she needed right here in this moment. Quill had everything she could need with the life she had right now. And soon, she would have all she could ever want. ‘Three!’

Snapping her eyes wide open, Quill slammed her right hand into the cloud floor, kicking out her legs, wings, and tail to aid in stopping her rotation. Due to the sheer force of her landing, the cloud ground that served as the competitors floor blew downward out of the arena, leaving Quill flap her wings again to keep herself lifted up. Taking a deep breath, Quill slowly spun around to face the VIP seats, a proud smirk on her face.

The crowd suddenly went into an uproar at the dragoness’ performance, all equally blown away that Quill was able to destroy the hard-packed cloud floor. Even some of the other competitors had to give Quill a standing ovation, unable to lie about her skills.

As the cheering continued, the announcer got on the AC to proclaim, “And with tha’ blazing performance, Quill Ferox Dragul wins the Stormfront flight competition!”

Hearing the crowd’s cheers, Quill used the strength in her wings to launch herself upward with a spin-flip, this time landing in front of the audience to give them a bow as they again went into an uproar.

She had done it. Quill had won the chance to get the answers she and Spike had been needing all their lives. Questions that only one mare had the answers to. “And to present the grand prize of one thousand five hundred golden bits and a golden ticket for three to Canterlot Castle, the proud ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia!”

Slowly walking down a flight of stairs, Celestia took in a slightly shaky breath after seeing just how much Quill had grown outside her watch. It was far more than she thought it would be, and she could only guess that the young dragoness had help achieving this. It made her curious how much her twin had grown as well.

Proudly walking towards Celestia, Quill still felt the same burning flame flowing all through her. She done much more than win the chance for answers. Right now, Quill could hold her head up high to Celestia, knowing that she had been able to learn so much without the help of the goddess, and it just stoked the flame that was burning inside her.

Petty it may be, but she felt it was highly deserved. Quill worked hard to get where she was right now. And she only had her family in High Moon to thank for it. “Well, never thought we’d meet again like this, Princess,” Quill lied, playing at having no real reason for her being in the competition in the first place. “Honestly, I would never have thought you would attend this kind of event in this out-of-the-way city. Props I must give.”

“Well, I honestly must say that I would never thought to see you here as well, Quill,” Celestia giggled a bit before sparking her horn in a golden light, summoning a tan colored bag with the grand prize money inside and three golden tickets. “And I am honored to name you the winner of this competition for your extraordinary skills, Quill.”

As Celestia floated the two objects over towards Quill, the dragoness glanced back towards where Isis and Frost were seated and smiled. “No,” Quill laughed as she turned her head back around to Celestia, who had a puzzled look on her face. “I’m not the winner of this competition. My pack is.”

Before Celestia could question what Quill meant by her words, both Isis and Frost flew from their seats, landing behind Quill. Frost quickly embraced her lover by wrapping her arms around Quill’s neck, and placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

While the two young lovers continued to display their affection, Isis, still concealed by a hooded cloak she borrowed from Blaze, reached a hand out towards the objects that were still in Celestia’s grip. “I’ll just take that from you now,” she softly spoke as her hand began to be encased in a bright red light, quickly overpowering Celestia’s magical grip.

Celestia’s eyes widened in shock at what the hooded creature was able to do just now. No other normal creature in the world was supposed to be able to do what she, assuming it was a female by her voice, had done. There wasn’t any form of magic that Celestia knew of that could possibly overpower her own, and the only creature that could dispel her magic like that without causing neither of them harm would be…

“No, impossible,” Celestia breathed out, having an idea as to who the creature was, but not believing that a ghost could be standing right in front of her. “Um, excuse me, I know this may sound odd, but have we met before? I know I would remember a type of magic that could dispel mine if I’d seen it before.”

Isis blankly stared at Celestia, debating with herself whether or not should she answer the mare’s question or not. She should just to get it off her mind, which was the same reason the twins had for wanting Quill to win the competition. She failed to see why it would matter any longer.

Looking over towards Quill, Isis searched the dragoness’ eyes to look for an answer since Isis couldn’t find one herself. When Quill caught onto what Isis was looking for, she nodded her head in silence, knowing she could wait her turn later now that she won a full day with the sun mare.

Slowly turning her head back to Celestia, Isis looked into Celestia’s violet colored eyes for another quiet moment before she reached for her hood. As she did so, she dispelled the illusion she had cast over herself. Once removed, Isis continued to blankly stare at the wide eyed princess, oddly not feeling any sense of anger, hatred, or any other emotions of instant gratification that she always thought she would feel.

‘Perhaps I really have moved on from the past,’ Isis thought to herself as a smile began to grow on her face. “Hello Tia,” Isis laughed, still puzzled as to why she wasn’t feeling any anger or betrayal in her heart. However, after all that she had done with her new family, she truthfully no longer cared. “It has been quite some time. A thousand years or so since we last saw each other face to face. How have you been? I see you’re doing quite the job as ruler of this kingdom.”

“Isis...Isis is that really you?” Celestia questioned, already knowing the answer, but trying to understand how the sphinx was still alive. The last time she had seen the sphinx was during the Nightmare Rebellion over a thousand years ago. It would be safe to say that they did not end on good terms.

“Indeed it is Celestia, I live and breath to this very day. Though, you seem almost shocked to see me,” Isis tilted her head in some amusement she was now seeing the mare being forced to relive the events that led up to all of her past sins. “Humph, well no matter. That was far in the past, far too back for us to do anything about it now.”

“Isis wait,” Celestia pleaded, trying to stop the sphinx before she could leave. “I...I am sorry for what happened.” Isis’ smile slowly began to drop back into a blank stare from Celestia’s futile pleading and feeble attempts to make amends. “Back then I truly thought you had perished, and-”

“Celestia, please spare your breath. It will not change a single thing that has happened, you should know this by now.” The calmness in Isis’ voice had it’s intended effect of getting Celestia to calm herself a bit. Yet she still had a look of remorse on her face. “There’s nothing we could do to change anything that happened. All we can do is look towards the future.”

Closing her eyes, Celestia let out a small sigh that turned into a weak laugh, nodding her head as she was forced to agree with the sphinx. “Even after all this time, you still are much wiser than I, Isis. Very well, if that’s how you truly feel,” Celestia paused, only getting Isis to nod her head. “Then I would like to wish all of you the best of luck. Farewell for now.”

As Celestia turned to leave, Quill honestly had to fight herself from asking, no, demanding the answers that Spike and herself had been denied all their lives. However, just like Isis, she couldn’t just let the mare walk off without saying something. “Be seeing you tomorrow Celestia,” Quill called out to the mare while her golden chariot landed on the ground a few feet in front of Celestia, being pulled by two white stallion guards. “I’m sure that Spike is going to love the time that we’ll be spending together, you know, talking about our parents.”

Before Celestia left in her golden chariot, Quill caught the look on the mare’s face. It showed disbelief and maybe even a small amount of spite glistening in her eyes. Quill wanted to say that it had something to do with her confronting Isis for the first time in centuries, but there was a small part of her saying that it regarding what would be happening tomorrow.

Quill’s thoughts were soon cut short by the sound of two pairs of wings beating against the air, causing her and the other two females to look up to see Dusk and his sister flying towards them. “Yo Quill,” Dusk called out to Quill as he and Wave guided down to the cloud ground, landing smoothly in front of Quill while Wave landed behind Dusk on his right side. Dusk quickly gave Quill a high-five for the performance she had just pulled off, seeming to be completely impressed with her. “Quill, that was amazing! You’ve seriously gotten a lot better. Hey listen, if you want, I could show you a cool trick or two with your fire-magic-”

“Oh silly big brother,” Wave giggled, hopping up on Dusk’s back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Can’t you tell that this dragoness needs some time to rest? I mean after a show like that I would be tired. Isn’t that right Ferox, or should I say Quill?”

“Quill’s just fine,” Quill smiled towards Wave since she played a small part in Quill being able to participate in the competition in the first place. “And I gotta say this, your guys’ performance was incredible. I mean, that gale dragon you guys had...just amazing, you guys.”

Both siblings smiled at the dragoness for her words, both of them equally happy with the way the stunt had turned out. Especially since they came up with it on the fly, but they sure weren’t going to tell anyone that. “Heh, thanks Quill. But I got one thing to ask before we head off,” Wave said as she let go of Dusk’s neck, moving to stand in front of her elder brother. “You do know that there wasn’t a rule against using magic, right? I’m sure you could’ve won with using only half of the tricks you did.”

Quill smirked at Wave for a bit, opening her mouth to answer the half-breed when the words processed in her head. She couldn’t lie by saying she hadn’t thought of using magic, but then again, she couldn’t lie by saying she didn’t even know about the lack of a rule. “Well I...because you see...yeah, I didn’t even know about that, to be honest,” Quill said, scratching her cheek with a sheepish grin. “But even if I had known, my flying is way too good for me to add magic to it.” The smile on Quill’s face grew as she pointed her thumb towards her chest, giving off a vibe of pride and confidence. “I couldn’t lose, not with my pack backing me up.”

“Oh Quill, we’re your family, of course we’re going to help you,” Frost said, tightening her grip around her lover’s neck as she began nuzzling into Quill’s cheek. “I’m sure everyone back home is really proud of you right now. You’ve done all of us proud today, Quill.”

“Yes Quill, Frost is correct. Today has not only been a momentous day for you, but for all of us in High Moon,” Isis smiled towards Quill, feeling her own sense of pride because of Quill, and knowing that the rest of the pack was likely feeling the same thing. “Come, let us return home so the others can see your achievements in person.”

Quill nodded her head towards the sphinx, more than ready to get back to High Moon to give the good news to Spike in person. It wouldn’t be much longer before they had the truth. “Yeah alright Isis,” Quill laughed a bit, just thinking about the look on Spike’s face when they got back. “See ya around Dusk, Wave. We gotta head back home.”

“Go on then, and congratulations,” Dusk said, waving the dragoness off with the other two females. However before they could leave, Dusk remembered something sort of important that he needed to ask from Quill. “Oh right, and tell Spike there’s something I want to talk about whenever he has the time. It’s kinda important, but he can stop by whenever. Just tell him to do it sometime soon.”

Quill nodded her head at Dusk as Isis began performing the same teleportation spell, expanding her wings over the two lovers, and creating a halo of red light that began rippling on the inside with a image of High Moon. As she began lifting herself and the two lovers, Dusk and Wave’s eyes widened at the awesome sight of the sphinx’s magic. Right before they were pulled into the halo, Quill gave Dusk a hearty thumbs up to silently show how much joy she was feeling.

Once the three were gone, and the light had faded away, Wave began moving part of her hair over her purple eye to let Rogue ask a question she needed to. “Dusk, that blue dragoness,” Rogue started in a cold and curious tone of voice as she turned her head back up to Dusk. “She’s a changeling, isn’t she?”

Dusk began chuckling a bit, not surprised that his sister was able to pick up on the changeling's natural scent. He knew that he needed to tell his sisters if Quill was going to use that extra third ticket on Frost like he thought she would. So now the trouble was, knowing his sisters, they would want the full story.

“Heh, yeah, it’s a long story…”

Rogue turned around in a swift motion, walking in the direction towards Canterlot, getting ready to fly back there with Dusk. “Well I’m sure it’s an interesting tale, one I’m positive Verdite and I will just love to hear.”

“Of course you will.” Sighing, Dusk turned around to follow his sister for their flight back to Canterlot, knowing that it was going to be a long one.

The moment Quill, Frost, and Isis got back, Quill was showered with praise from the pack, all congratulating her in her victory today, with Blaze saying they’d have a feast to toast to it. Spike was able to make it a bigger party when Quill found out he had actual chips and drinks to go around the pack. Everyone had a good time as the party continued onwards into the night, telling jokes, and celebrating Quill’s victory.

Quill’s victory truly was shared throughout the pack, and it was shown in the merriment everyone expressed. After some time, the dragoness of the hour and her twin brother both took their leave to speak with each other in private, sneaking out a few cans of sodas and bags of chips with them.

As they made their way through the tunnel, both took turns sharing what they felt during the flight competition with each other. Spike finally got Quill to admit that she had been nervous about the whole thing, but that it was certainly understandable for her to feel that way. Honestly, Spike had been worried just as much as Quill was, especially after seeing that winged-canine rip apart a thunder cloud with his bare claws.

Everyone in the pack had been worried for Quill, not for whether she would win or not, but worried that if she didn’t, she would blame herself for wasting everyone’s time. Quill tried to wave it off, but she knew in the back of her head that Spike was right. She would have felt horrible for wasting everyone’s time like that and not having something to show up for it.

But luckily, that hadn’t happened, so they didn’t have to worry about it. As they reached the mansion, Quill offered Spike a ride up to the roof like she had done before, but Spike waved her off, saying he could climb up on his own.

Shrugging her shoulders, Quill gently opened her wings to fly up one of the shorter the roofs before climbing all the way to the top one. Back on the ground, Spike ran into the mansion to climb the stairs to the top floor so he could climb out of the window and up to the top of the roof with Quill.

After climbing up to the roof, Spike spotted Quill sitting with the small book bag with their share of sodas and snacks in it. “Heads up.” Quill tossed Spike one of the drinks as he made his way towards her, glancing at it to see that it was an orange soda. Spike chuckled a bit as he sat down next to Quill, popping the top of the can and taking a sip of it.

Quill did the same thing as Spike, letting out a small sigh afterwards, both looking straight at Princess Nightmare and Princess Luna’s bright pale-blue moon. “So,” Spike breathed out, leaning back against a balcony. “This is really happening. We’re really gonna get all of the answers we’ve been begging for all our lives.”

“Yup,” Quill emotionlessly answered after taking another sip of her cherry soda, still staring at the moon as though she was looking for it to somehow answer their question. As impossible as that was.

Spike looked over to his left side, only seeing a look of deep thought on his sister’s face. A look he only saw when Quill was thinking about something really important. “So why doesn’t it feel like it Quill? To me, it feels like we’re gonna get the same crap that we’ve always gotten.” Spike scoffed, laughing as he turned his head up to the starry night sky, admiring the beauty of the night. “It feels like we’re just gonna get a tour of the castle, and some cheap momento.”

“No. We are gonna get more than that, Spike,” Quill huffed, shaking her head at the moon, still trying to get it to respond to her. Or maybe she was trying to somehow reach the controllers of the moon, sighing in defeat afterwards. “We’re the ones that have her backed into a corner. I mean, you heard the things Isis said that Celestia used to do, and you know she can prove it too. Celestia knows what we’re coming for, I made sure she knew that much. I’m just trying to think of how we’re gonna do it.”

“Ah, yeah that is a tough question,” Spike mused as he took another sip of his drink, tapping his claws on the roof in thought. Of course they wanted answers, but the question was how to get someone like Celestia to tell them the truth. In spite of how determined they were, the mare could easily tell them a lie without flinching, just as she had all their lives. “Well, what about that extra ticket? We could bring someone that could tell that Celestia would be lying.”

“Yeah...but that doesn’t leave us with a lot of choices,” Quill sighed, already having a list of all the members of High Moon who fit the task. However, that only meant they could take Frost, Isis, and Lily. “Isis already sounds like she doesn’t want anything to do with Celestia anymore, though.”

“And Lily was talking about something big and important with Wolf during the party,” Spike added, having already made the same list as Quill had, knowing who that left. “Quill, are you sure about this? Bringing Frost could be a problem. A big one. I mean, if Dusk was able to sniff her out, what’s stopping that diamond dog sergeant from doing the same thing?”

Quill sighed as she knew Spike was right regardless of how she looked at it. They could take a chance and have Frost come with them, but they would be running the risk of her getting caught even if she was in her dragoness form. However, Frost had been able to be around Celestia without raising any suspicions before, and that’s what they needed.

Still, though, there was Obsidian. Quill could still remember the dog and those Nightmare elite soldiers tearing through the courtyard of the castle and to the main ballroom, leaving a bloody trail of destruction in their wake when Chrysalis had invaded. Quill knew it was a stretch, but Obsidian was different from the other guards. He didn’t act like a mindless drone, like most of the other guards did.

Obsidian listened to reason, and he was the only reason that they had been able to stay out in High Moon in the first place. Surely if they could get him to understand the situation, then everything could go smoothly. Then again, there was always the chance of things turning south.

“Yeah I know Spike, but Sergeant Obsidian may be different. He helped us stay out here, and he let Dusk keep his collar after he became an Element. He could be a big help one day,” Quill argued, still hating the idea herself, but needing answers. “And Frost isn’t dumb. She knows how to keep herself hidden and under detection. The biggest thing we have to do is either completely avoid Obsidian or be upfront with him about it.”

“My vote goes for avoiding him as much as we can, but if not, then we’ll be upfront with it,” Spike said as he sat his soda can down on the flat roof before reaching into their bag to pull out a bag of potato chips. Quill sighed as she did the same as Spike, pulling out a bag of spicy-hot chips. “The last thing we need is for Frost to get locked up over something that happened three years ago.”

“And that’s what gets me,” Quill spat as she shoved a handful of chips in her mouth, munching down on them before speaking again. “The invasion happened three years ago, and Equestria didn’t even suffer any losses. And yet now the entire kingdom is closed-mindedly scared of changelings when there’s another, much younger yet bigger, neighboring kingdom that has no problems with them. Heck, there are probably changelings all around the world!”

“Quill that’s because the Lunar Republics were formed with every type of species. Equines, canines, bovines, avians, felines, and even dragons. Equestria is… well, a kingdom for ponies,” Spike sighed, also wishing that there was something he could do about it, but not knowing where to start. “They’re two different kingdoms Quill, and that invasion was a major insult to the Guard and even Celestia. What Chrysalis did scared everypony out of their minds. Of course they’re going to be afraid when it comes to changelings.”

Quill again sighed as she continued to munch down on the spicy chips, not feeling any of the heat due to the overpowering flame from her dragon’s soul. “But that doesn’t give them the right to discriminate against all changelings. Not all of them are bad.” Quill looked down towards the roof with a growing look of disgust on her face. “I mean, what could we do to fix it Spike? It’s not like we could just out all of the other hives in Equestria. Neither Frost nor I are gonna sell them out for that.”

“Well there’s not much you can do Quill,” Spike said with a small sigh of his own. He knew he’d promised to help in anyway he could, but it was going to be hard to change an entire kingdom’s view like that. If Quill and Frost wanted Equestria to forgive the changelings for what happened three years ago, then she and Frost would have to do something that outshone the invasion. “Quill, maybe you should do something else. Something beside trying to get Equestria to forgive the changelings.”

Quill sat in thought for a moment, thinking about what Spike was saying. She already knew that it would be nearly impossible to get Equestria to forget the changeling invasion, especially since they tended to fear things they don’t fully understand. To Quill, that’d always been Equestria’s biggest flaw. Fearing something you didn’t understand because it was new or different.

“Yeah Spike, you might be right. For now I guess we should worry about beating Frost’s mother before we do anything else. But that’s for the future. We still gotta get our answers from Celestia,” Quill said in a low tone of voice, knowing that she and Frost would have to draw a plan out out before they made any kind of action against Frost’s mother. “There’s no guarantee that Frost will be on board with it, though. So don’t be surprised if we have to bring Cyclone or Veil as backup instead.”

“Ah, yeah that makes sense,” Spike mumbled to himself as he turned his head back up to the starry night sky. He wouldn’t mind showing Cyclone where he had once lived; there were a few shops around Canterlot that he would love to show her. “Well here’s my question, how are we gonna get her to tell the truth? It’s not like we could just walk up and say, ‘Hi Celestia, you seem great, hey what was that story you had about finding our egg?’ I have a feeling that won’t work.”

Quill rolled her eyes at Spike’s obvious observation, wanting to smack him on the back of the his head for it, but discarding that thought. “Thank you Captain Obvious for the ever so grand observation, once again,” Quill deadpanned, getting Spike to laugh as he reached for his drink. “But you’re right, we need a way to get her to tell the truth. Which is why I wanted to bring Frost, she’d be able to tell if Celestia was lying to us or not.”

“Again, that makes sense. So I guess it’s settled then?” Spike asked, sounding as if he didn’t want to discuss the matter any longer. This much Quill could agree with since it was a hard and tricky matter to work around. Not only would they be trying to get an immortal to tell them exactly what they wanted to hear, but they would have to be able to call her out on it. “I mean, if Frost doesn’t go, we’re gonna have to hope that Celestia tells us the truth on her own. And well…”

“Yeah I know Spike, I know. But I’m sure Frost will come with us, all we can do now is wait for the morning,” Quill said reach for her drink to take another swig of it to calm her nerves down. “By the way, Dusk wants to talk to you about something. Sounds important, but I don’t know what it is.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at Quill, especially since he hadn’t spoken to Dusk since he’d brought Cyclone over to tell him about the dragoness’ broken dragon’s soul. So Spike couldn’t think about anything that Dusk could want to talk to him about, unless it had to do with Rarity or any of the other Elements.

“Um, okay,” Spike shrugged, unable to think what the half-breed could want from him. “I guess I’ll talk with him after we settle things with Celestia,” he said reaching out for his drink again to finish it off, but stopping when a sudden thought came into his head. “Hey Quill.”

“Yeah, what Spike?” Quill asked looking at her brother as he raised his soda can up into the air with a toothy smirk. Soon understanding what the drake was doing, Quill laughed for a bit before she raised her drink as well. “A toast huh? Alright, to what though?”

“Us,” Spike said, not intending it to be a joke in anyway. Though, the humor was shared between them since it lightened the air after the heavy conversation they’d had. “To finally moving on with our lives, to knowing the truth about ourselves, and to finally get our answers.” Quill smiled at Spike, happy to see that he was finally realizing that their lives would be better out here in Everfree and not trying to make everything up with the Elements, only for them to try to rope the twins back.

“To no more lies.”