"Sleep well, Sir Jeremy." Nightmare Moon told her friend, wishing him a good rest as he opened the stairway door. He glanced back at the three behind him for a short moment and gave them a small friendly smile before then disappearing from their sight behind the door.

To him, and the others, it had been a relatively tiring night what with all the excitement that had transpired earlier into it. The rest of the time they had spent awake had seemed to be nothing more than a dull passing of the hours, occasionally filled with short but pleasant conversations.

They had all but forgotten - at least, by what one could tell at a glance - of the earlier events that had transpired. The kiss, the grudges, the apologies. All of that had now seemed to be water under the bridge.

The moment that Jeremy had begun to feel tired though, he had decided that was that and excused himself to bed. He likely couldnt tell you if what he felt was emotional exhaustion or physical exhaustion, but that was hardly important. Now, Halfy, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis were left alone with no form of interaction other than with one another.

Considering the fact that it was often Jeremy that would bring about friendlier - or at least more tolerant - conversation with each other for them though, this proved to make things slightly more difficult.

After all, Nightmare Moon still wanted to involve herself in little to no way with Chrysalis, and vice versa. Halfy as well, while the other two admittedly held no quarrel with her, was often far too timid to begin conversation herself.

This, of course, led to a rather uncomfortable situation between the three as it had occasionally done in the nights prior. The three found themselves simply sat or laid in their respective areas of the living room, occasionally glancing to one another in shared silence.

"..."

"..."

"... Well, this certainly never gets anymore entertaining." Chrysalis commented, rolling her eyes as she stretched out one of her hind legs with a grunt.

Nightmare Moon did not respond to her, instead just looking to her with an already irritated glint in her eyes before then looking away again. As for Halfy, she gave a small though silent chuckle at this comment, in a way mentally agreeing with the statement.

"If thou art so very inconvenienced by thy current lack of activity, why not simply make use of our host's available literature?" Nightmare Moon half-asked half-sneered to the changeling, pointing towards the bookshelf that sat against the wall of the room with a barely raised forehoof.

Chrysalis gave a short growl at the alicorn, her teeth grinding slightly as she held back a comment that struggled to escape her. Truthfully, were it not for the fact that she had told Jeremy that she would not do so, Chrysalis would have brought up the book that held a story of Nightmare Moon that he had found in their earlier days here.

Though, a part of her did end up wondering why she even cared to keep her word on this for him. She had broken such 'promises' before, after all.

"As tempting as that is," she instead began snidely, "I'd rather just lay here for a while." Nightmare Moon audibly chuckled at this, drawing a questioning and almost scornful look from Chrysalis.

"As usual, mayhaps? Verily, we must wonder as to why thou art returned thine energy and strength if thou then dost not make use of it. A simple walk, even, would suffice for thine currently 'immobile' self's loss of gluttony... If only slight." Though Chrysalis understood her relatively easily, having lived for quite a span of time herself, she had for a moment almost understood what Nightmare Moon said as a roundabout way of calling her fat. She quickly realized that she had simply meant to call her lazy though.

"Magic and energy or not, I'd prefer not to walk out there, alone, during the night. In case you've forgotten with that precursor mindset of yours, we're still in the Everfree forest." Rather than take her seriously, Nightmare Moon once again rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Of course. 'Tis the more likely of reasonings." Though Chrysalis was unable to read Nightmare Moon's emotions or lies, due to the mental barrier she had put up again shortly after having realized that Chrsyalis had her powers back, she could easily detect the sarcasm in her voice.

"Alright, fine." She scoffed. "Halfy?" As she called out the mare's name, which rolled of her tongue oddly seeing as she had never before said it herself, the earth pony's eye momentarily widened before she quickly turned her head to the changeling. This had been the first time that she had directly interacted with her.

"Y-yes?" She asked, her ears raising in sudden attention.

"I'm going to need you to wake Nightmare Moon, Jeremy, and I up earlier. At least a little before the sun sets. The sooner that I can prove this alicorn wrong, the better." She said in a decisive and commanding tone, even though the scene only drew a withheld laugh from Nightmare Moon. To see Chrysalis take such a comment to heart like this, despite her ability to take much more from Jeremy during their arguments; It was both uncharacteristic and comical at the same time.

Despite this, however, Nightmare Moon did see an issue with this. A rather large one, at that. At least, in her opinion.

"Pray tell, for what reason must thou include Sir Jeremy and we in this foolish insistence of thine? Surely, neither of us have any interest of awaking during the active day, if even during it's fading." Though Nightmare Moon was amused by Chrysalis' behavior, she really did not feel the need to be awoken during her 'sister's' day in any way, shape, or form. Not when the night continued to provide her strength and display her efforts for the land to see.

"Easy. You, because that way I can prove it to you. As for Jeremy, that's because I want to make sure he doesn't call me lazy either. The two of you share a mindset often enough, after all, and I want to nip that argument in the bud." Nightmare Moon scoffed at this.

"Thou art tardy in that regard." She said under her breath. It was still more than loud enough for Chrysalis to hear though.

"... Like I said, a little before sunset." She finally said as she turned her attention back to Halfy. The mare, however, pursed her lips slightly and shuffled her hooves nervously below her. Chrysalis could feel the anxiety coming from her and almost rolled her eyes, already sensing a doubt coming. "What is it?" She asked with an exasperated sigh.

"W-well... It's just... I can wake you two up I'd you like, but I'm not sure about Jeremy. He seems to really like waking up at night, and I don't want to be a bother..." As she said this, she distinctly remembered the first time that she had woken him up. How he had asked her, in an almost nervous voice, if it really was the night or otherwise.

Chrysalis, however, rubbed her hoof against her face at this. She could feel that familiar bubbling that was her frustration.

"Ugh... I'll do it myself then. Just wake Nightmare Moon and-"

"We still do not wish to be awakened due to thy stubborn-"

"WAKE Nightmare Moon and I," she interrupted forcefully, attempting to get her point across, "and I'll deal with rest."

Halfy debated this choice for a moment, a sense of slight conflict coming about her as she had to choose between the preference of Chrysalis or that of Jeremy. In the end though, convinced by one more glare from the former monarch of changelings, Halfy gave out a sigh.

"... O-okay." She responded, drawing a nod from Chrysalis.

"Good." Chrysalis turned her head to Nightmare Moon with a seemingly triumphant and smug smile, which earned her a short glare in return. "Now, have anything else you'd like to sa-"

Almost upon reflexive impulse, Nightmare Moons horn glowed as she once again attempted her now favorite spell, creating a filled glass of water above Chrysalis before them quickly turning it over. This time though, Chrysalis did not even flinch. Instead, her smile continued as her own horn glowed in response and the water stopped itself mid-fall. Is flowed down an invisible 'umbrella' of magic she had created while Chrysalis just watched it bemusedly.

"Not this time." She said with a chuckle, drawing an even deeper glare from Nightmare Moon.

It would seem as though she would need to think of something else now.

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The birds sang in their bliss as the morning sun shined high above their heads, providing them with the warmth and light they needed to begin their days.

Ponies began to awake from their sleep, ranging from the more happy-go-lucky morning ponies to those who would grumble and ask for a few more minutes of rest.

Clouds, which had flown over from the unmanageable Everfree, dotted the sky and only seemed to add to the morning atmosphere. A pair of particularly early risers groaned and stretched as they gazed upon the new sky, sighing as they took in a breath of fresh air before, just as quickly, raising their brows in surprise, as one of these clouds was suddenly plowed through. An odd shape was left within it, only very vaguely familiar to any who had seen it.

The figure that had plowed through these figments of Everfree weather gave out a yawn through her seemingly creaking maw, her eyes slightly drooped from her recent flight.

After having left Canterlot, she had flown nonstop over to Ponyville, making it well into the night and morning as she passed over the home of one of her former friends and arch-enemies. The arch-enemy in particular was of the pink variety.

She didn't particularly like to even come close to this place, considering some of the bad memories that would spring up whenever she did, but it was the only way to get to that zebra's house in the forest.

Shaking her head and ignoring her growling stomach, she pushed through her exhaustion as she came up on the edge of the only remotely exciting thing that this town had to offer.

With a growing grin, she quickly brought herself in for a landing. The ground tamped lightly below her as she did so and her wings folding themselves against her back.

They felt slightly sore, but in a good way. The kind of soreness that one would feel after a lot of fulfilling exercise.

Moving her neck left and right, she allowed for it to give out two loud cracks as she began to now walk into the forest, working off of memory at this point.

"Okay... so, first, I have to take a left at the split tree... Or was it a right...? Hm. So this is why Jeremy would agree to meet me outside the forest whenever I came by."

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Another day of raising the sun. Another day of monarchal duties. And, more importantly, another day of seeking out the three escaped prisoners.

This was what was heavy on Princess Celestia's mind as she ate her breakfast, occasionally sipping from her nearby cup of tea or wiping off her muzzle as she went on.

To her, it had now been far too long since they last had any leads. No news from the guards. No recent sightings. Simply nothing.

The princess of the day gave out a silent sigh as she magically raised a small sweet up to her maw, taking measured a bite from it before following it with another sip of tea, and a wipe of her napkin.

Even more frustratingly, Discord was acting very snidely recently. Celestia just knew that somehow, someway, he had something to do with this. The issue, however, was that she didn't have any proof of this, nor would Discord likely ever confess to such a thing.

Another bite from her sweet, a sip of her tea, and a wipe of her napkin.

The stress was starting to get to her, really. Between hunting these dangerous beings down, while also keeping it hushed among the kingdom, her energy was beginning to wear.

Bite, drink, wipe.

She could keep her controlled and neutral persona when needed, but eventually, she would need a rest. A time without concern, if possible. Oh, how she longed for this to come sooner.

Bite. Drink. Wipe.

"It has certainly been a while since you've worried over your subjects to this extent"

She blinked, the sweet in her magical grasp floating in place as she shook her head slightly. That voice in the back of her head. It had been so long she had heard it. Not since-

The doors to the dining room slowly opened, interrupting her thoughts. A familiar blue aura of magical energy surrounded the doors as Celestia turned her head towards them. Unsurprisingly, tired figure that was her younger sister, Princess Luna, followed shortly after.

It wasn't hard to imagine why she had seem so exhausted. Luna was often seen in this state during the mornings, as she would come to the dining room for a pre-bed snack. Her nocturnal habits were practically set in stone, as it were. Add to that the stress that she was likely putting herself under as well and it was practically a surprise that she was even able to walk.

"You just had to let her involve herself, didn't you?"

No sooner than she had placed herself at the table, a soft yawn escaping her, had several castle servants begun to move about and prepare her a usual serving of moon cakes and warm milk.

"Good morning, sister." Celestia greeted, offering a kind smile to her younger sibling. Luna replied with a tired murmur, unable to truly create any words in her state. Celestia giggled at this, playfully rolling her eyes at her sister's ever-so-familiar behavior. "How was your rule tonight, if I may ask?" A plate that held two individual slices of moon cake was placed before the princess of the night, followed by a glass of milk and a pair of utensils.

"It was fine, for the most part. A few nightmares here and there, but nothing I could not handle." She replied as she enveloped her fork in her own aura, moving it over to her early morning sweet and tearing out a large mouthful before bringing it to her maw.

A couple of spare crumbs fell from her utensil onto the plate as she stuffed her mouth with her beloved snack. A smile came to her face as the wondrous taste overwhelmed her taste buds.

"That is good news." She said, floating her own dessert to her maw and preparing to take a bite... Before then pulling away for a moment.

"Don't ask her. Let your poor sister enjoy her-"

"... Did... you happen to see-"

Before Celestia could finish her question, Luna already was beginning to shake her head. She, though she had herself volunteered to do so, had been recently searching through the hundreds upon thousands of dreams the ponies held in the past few nights. All in an attempt to find those of the escaped prisoners so they might learn where they were hiding.

The results of this were... less than promising, however. Try as she might, Princess Luna was unable to find the dreams of the three during her nightly rule. She had thought that, perhaps, a sort of spell had been cast by her dark doppelgänger or even the changeling monarch. This theory, however, was quickly pushed aside as she realized that she would have been able to sense this magic and at least use it to somewhat narrow down the search if that were case.

Celestia gave out another sigh, momentarily breaking her monotony by taking an early sip of her tea rather than a bite of her cake.

"So much time without any sightings, its becoming more and more concerning. No sightings during the day, yet no dreams during the night? How would-" Celestia's eyes widened as a sense of realization dawned upon her. She let her cup and sweets momentarily fall upon the plate before, with a clear of her throat, she addressed her sibling once again.

"Don't you dare-"

"Luna?" She began, drawing a raised brow from her still tired sister. "... Perhaps... we have been approaching this the wrong way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, everypony! Eyes over here!" Top Suit called. His business partner and friend, Even Out, stood next to him as he brought the attention of their employees towards him.

At the moment, all the workers and heads of Hooves And Elbow Grease stood outside of the currently refurbishing building, where it was currently much more quiet in volume. As their eyes were shifted to the founders of the company, what little conversation that they had made between one another being silenced, Even Out and Top Suit gave two satisfied nods.

"Okay, good. Now, as you all may or may not know, our new company building is almost done. Which means, soon, we'll all have our offices, work stations, break rooms, all of that, back in no time!" The small crowd gave a cheer as Top Suit finished his statement, excitement clear in their voices and actions at the prospect of more efficiently being able to continue their business. Even Out and Top Suit looked to one another with two short grins before then returning their attention to their many employees.

"That's right," Even Out added, taking a step forward, "but, until then, it's business as usual everypony! Understood?" The ponies all gave out their loud murmurs of understanding and agreement. "Great! Now lets get movin'!" With a clap of his hooves, the ponies all began to spread out once more and head to their assigned areas with pride.

Even Out and Top Suit watched as this went on, satisfied smiles upon their muzzles as they looked on at the efficiency of their workers. Among these workers, a certain earth pony stallion quickly caught the two's attention as they suddenly remembered an important assignment that they had tasked him with.

"Oh, Follow Scene!" Even Out called, the pony turning his head towards the two in response before walking over to them. His red fur and yellow mane stood out among the other ponies while his cutie mark, comprised of a hammer and what seemed like a thin roll of film, described his talent in a rather unusual form. Nonetheless he was, despite his odd appearance, an altogether friendly pony with quite the reputation in the company as well.

"Yes sir?" He returned, a smile on his face as he sat himself before his two employers and gave a cheery salute.

"Just wanted to know how the progress on those schematics for Hardhat are going." Follow Scene momentarily raised a brow at this.

"You mean, Mr. Tendhoof?" He asked, himself unknowing of the stallion's apparent nickname. The two nodded at this.

"Yes, Mr. Tendhoof." Follow Scene's smile returned as his confusion was cleared, his ear momentarily twitching as he made to reply.

"I'm almost done, sirs. I just need to add a few finishing touches and it'll be ready." The two nodded at his answer, turning themselves as they began to return into the building to oversee progress.

"All right then. Just try not to to take too long Follow Scene. We're on a schedule, after all." The stallion once again nodded, calling out his response as they entered the company's construction epicenter.

"You can count on me! I'm not one of the best here because I was just lazing around." The two chuckled at this as the doors closed behind them, leaving Follow Scene and another few ponies outside to continue their work.

Follow Scene gave himself a shake, as though trying to give himself a burst of energy.

"Alright, top of the company again. Lets make it count!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As she began her morning process of organizing her various potions, elixirs, and ingredients, Zecora could not help the yawn that escaped her. This morning, it seemed, was a tiresome one.

Nonetheless, she desperately needed to prepare. Apple Bloom, among her other two friends as well, was supposed to come and help her today, and though she would never say this aloud she knew what this meant. She would need to place the more fragile/explosive of components and furniture in a safe location.

Apple Bloom and her two companions were dears, but they would occasionally be prone to more accidental tendencies every now and then.

As she placed a glass bottle of powdered tree root up on the top shelf, there was a knock at the door. Zecora rose a questioning brow as she turned to the source of the noise.

"Hmm. What an odd change of tune. What could they be doing here so soon?" She wondered curiously, lowering herself from the shelves as she then began to make her way towards the front door.

The knocking became slightly louder, and almost agressive, causing a slight sense of confusion to go through her as she wondered as to why Apple Bloom was acting so impatiently.

Grabbing hold of the door handle, the zebra pulled open the entrance to her home and put on a welcoming smile to greet her guests.

"Hello, you three. I was not expecting how early you would be-..." Within an instant, Zecora's smile was lost; a face of exasperation was now clear as she realized who was before her.

"Oh... It is you... This is a fact that I wish that I knew." Zecora said blandly, rolling her eyes as the visitor before her put on a smug grin and gave her a short wave.

"'Sup." She replied. Giving out a sigh as she rubbed her face with her hoof, Zecora grumbled for a moment or so.

"... Though I do prefer you to disappear, I must ask, what are you doing here?" She inquired with barely a half sense of interest about her.

The visitor gave a chuckle, her tail swishing slightly behind her as she answered. "Oh, you know." Zecora skeptically raised a brow to show the visitor that, as a matter of fact, she didn't. This time, the visitor gave out a sigh. "Ugh. Look, I've been traveling around for a while and I needed a break. Figured I'd see an old friend. So, yeah. Where's Jeremy?"

Though she didn't show it, favoring a face of her usual annoyance to her guest, Zecora felt a cringe of nervousness and anxiety go through her at the mention of Jeremy.

After all, he wasn't exactly in the sort of situation that would adhere a visit. Especially when it was from... her. So, with a quick little fib, she attempted to trick her into leaving.

"To tell you that he is here, I cannot. After all, he is currently residing in Canterlot." Immediately after she said this, a scoff could be heard from the visitor.

"Yeah, right. I already checked there, genius." She said, Zecora pursing her lips though raising a brow as she said this. "But all I heard there was some dumb joke. That's kinda the reason I'm here."

Mentally cursing her luck, Zecora sighed yet again. "... A joke? What could matter of this that you spoke?" She asked. Her visitor let out an annoyed chortle.

"Heh. Believe it or not, some ponies there kept on saying that he was dead, or something like that. Dumb, right?" At this, Zecora's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?! Who would make such a rumor be?!" She asked, utterly outraged. The guest before her just shrugged her shoulders, humming out an 'I don't know' in response. "To hear something such as this about Jeremy... Especially after so recently I did see-" Zecora thought out loud, only realizing what she had accidentally said far too late to take it back.

"Aha! So you do know where he is!" Taking in a breath, Zecora gave out a near inaudible groan.

"... Of his location, I know, yes. But, this information, to you I will not egress."

"What? Why not?!" Zecora rolled her eyes.

"Just as the year has it's seasons, I too have my reasons." As the figure before her made to open her maw again, Zecora quickly stopped her. "Though I cannot make such a fact endear, I can at the very least offer for you to-", Zecora shuddered slightly at what she was about to say,"... stay here."

She made a mental note to say that her friend would owe her for this. To offer kindness to someone she found to be obnoxious, badly influential, and a myriad of various other negative traits, if only to bore her long enough to leave...?

Oh, how she would hate this.

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There aren't many dreams that I can remember nowadays, but this one was special.

It was just me laying on a hillside, the wind gently blowing, the grass calmly swaying with the moon and stars shining placidly down upon me, and the silence that bathed the area and the sense of peace that I felt.

This was the life.

It was just... perfect.

With a sky so clear and air so clean, it practically felt like nothing could bother me. In fact, it was almost like I was floating.

Actually, it felt exactly like I was floating.

Wanna know why?

Because outside of that dream, I very much was.

********************************************

A sudden short fall, along with a sharp winding blow to my... well, my entire front side really, woke me up from my pleasant dream to an unpleasant sensation of pain. An involuntary grunt and groan left my mouth as my eyes shut themselves even tighter from the aches I was suddenly dealing with.

I could feel my leg caught on something, keeping it up and making my position even more uncomfortable.

I picked my head off of the wooden floor, doing my best to ignore the painful throbbing in my face as I turned it to look next to me.

The bed that I had been laying on, Halfy's bed, was there to my right. I, unfortunately, was very clearly no longer on it. The covers were messy and scrambled with a small portion currently being wrapped around my right leg.

I grumbled as I shook my leg loose, releasing myself from my 'trapped' position before I began to pick myself up.

As I did so, I dusted off my bandages and jacket, cleaning off whatever dust had stuck to me from my fall.

For a moment, I wondered if I had rolled off the bed in my sleep.

Before I could question this any further though, I heard a poorly withheld chuckle come from behind me. I'll give you three guesses as to who it was that was laughing; first two don't count.

I quickly caught sight of a Chrysalis, a smirk on her face and her jagged horn losing the glow it clearly had.

10 points to whoever guessed 'Chrysalis'. Anyone else? You clearly need remedial classes.

Rolling my eyes, though with a smile, I completely turned myself to face her. A yawn escaped me yawn as I crossed my arms. "Ugh. So, is there any particular reason you did that?" I asked. "Or are you still sore abut me not apologizing before?"

"I'm not. But, how else was I supposed to wake you up?" Again, there was that sense of smugness about her. I quickly began to list off all the other options she had.

"Lets see... You could've shaken me awake, called my name, pulled the covers off really quickl-" I paused for a second as I realized something. "In fact, why are you even waking me up at all?" I asked, rubbing some of the left over drowsiness from my eyes.

"Because Halfy wouldn't wake you up earlier, like I asked her to." She replied in an almost irritated form, giving out a short grumble in doing so.

"That still doesn't mean that you had to wake me up like that. You could have just... I'm sorry, what?" I froze as I realized what she had just said. Specifically, the 'earlier' portion of what she had said.

I felt that same sensation begin to grow. A creeping, crawling feeling in the lowest parts of my spine. I tried to weigh it down mentally as much as I could.

"... Uh... okay, three things." I began. "One, is that the first time you've said Halfy's name?" I know, it wasn't the biggest priority at the moment, but hey it was still pretty important. It either meant that the two were starting to get along, or she was just starting to bear her. More than likely, it was the latter.

"Two, why did you ask Halfy to wake me up earlier?"

"Because I needed to prove a point to the shadow alicorn who is beginning to annoy me."

I didn't particularly appreciate that reason, but I had more important things to worry about. Shaking my head, I moved onto my last, and most important, point.

"Okay, fine, whatever." Her eyes seemed to narrow at my response, which was fair considering my tone was probably getting... sharp. "Three... you said something about waking me up earlier, right?" She nodded. "Okay... H-how much earlier?" I hated that stutter. It was bad enough that Chrysalis could probably feel the sudden spike in anxiety that I felt, but the fact that I was now starting to show it physically didn't make it any better.

"... Why do you ask?" She questioned.

I elected not to answer. If I lied, she'd be able to tell.

Her face shifted to one of annoyance, likely from my refusal to say anything.

"... It's a little before sunset." She finally answered. That tingling at the bottom of my spine became a clawing. Burning cold that slowly but slowly but surely rose. With each vertebrae it overtook, every organ in its way felt slowed and labored. Every blood vessel became suddenly more willing to make itself known to me. Every breath I took and every beat of my heart were suddenly becoming deafening.

I tried to steady myself as much as I could.

"O-oh... Well, I-I'm just gonna get a little more sleep then. Heh. Uh, w-wake me up a little later. Preferably after the sun goes down." As you can tell, I wasn't doing a very good job.

If the sun was still out, if only by a little, then that meant that there was likely a decent amount of light.

Just thinking about that... I could already see the eight corners of that metal cell.

"Oh please." My eyes widened slightly as, with a movement of her head, Chrysalis' horn began to glow. The closed shutters of the single window in the room took on the same glow. It was only now that I noticed the thin, focused beams of light shining downwards at the floor.

The single metal door separating me from what was outside; the pain and suffering that awaited me.

"And the alicorn calls me lazy. Tch."

The sound of the door grinding open as the torchlight flooded into the room.

"CHRYSALIS, DON'T-" The window opened and the last thing I remember seeing was those same silhouettes coming to drag me out of the dark...

Next Chapter: Chapter 20: Change And Weakness Go Hand In Hand (Part 2) [Here Again] Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 15 Minutes