The rain had stopped by the time I made it to the train station, but the fog had grown even thicker. Presumably the sunrise would clear it up in about an hour. That is, if we had a sunrise – with Celestia as she was, I couldn’t help but feel the whole natural order of Canterlot, if not the heavens themselves, had been turned upside-down.

For now, a single light on the platform fought a losing battle against the encroaching mist. Tangled Weave waited alone underneath, wearing a plain black dress cut for travelling.

She smiled at my arrival, just as if I was an old friend that she had been expecting to see her off. “Detective Slate! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Why’d you do it?” I said, my voice rough to my own ears.

“Getting straight to the point, I see. But really: must you ask?”

I shook my head. “I want to hear you say the words.”

“Very well.” A smile flitted across her muzzle. “Power, of course. It’s always about power, in the end. The Night Guard was unfortunately persistent in their investigation of my business ventures, and I saw an opportunity to resolve that problem.”

“And how did you know about Celestia?”

She chuckled. “I didn’t. That was an unexpected bonus. The point was never to bring Luna down, specifically, but to create some political turmoil at the upper levels. Just enough of a dust-up to cover my tracks in the eyes of the law. This? This works splendidly for my purposes.”

“And yet changelings are the ones who are called parasites,” I spat.

“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment.” An eyebrow raised. “After all, I couldn’t have done it alone. I suppose I should thank you for your part in the whole play. You were just the element of chaos I needed to keep everything humming along.”

“You know that had I known I would never have—”

“I know what you did do. Isn’t that what matters?”

I shook my head, but didn’t have an answer other than the turn of my stomach.

She smiled with a kind of possessive pride. “Really, I couldn’t be more pleased.”

“And to think, you almost got away with it all, too.”

“My dear,” she said, “I have gotten away with it. I shall be in Griffonstone by lunchtime, enjoying tea and perhaps some of those lovely scones they’re so proud of. Obviously the situation is a little too tense for my presence here in Canterlot, but that doesn’t mean I can’t continue with my business from afar. It will be a pleasant vacation.”

“You really think I’ll allow you to leave?”

Her head tilted to the side. “Do you really think you can stop me?”

With the sound of metal on metal, the train pulled into the station behind her, all of its windows curiously dark.

I took a step forward. “Yes, I do.”

She smiled at me, batting her eyelashes. Then her lips pursed in a whistle. Out of the fog, Rising Star came forward, pushing a pony along with him. It was Paisley, and his magic held a knife to her throat.

“You should know by now, Detective. I always have a plan.”

“She’s your daughter,” I whispered. “You wouldn’t.”

She shrugged. “Sentimentality is just another excuse for weakness.”

I ground my teeth, looking to Rising Star. He wasn’t grinning this time.

“Let her go, Star,” I said.

“Don’t think so. Maybe it’s time for you to turn around and walk away.”

I took a slow step towards him, watching warily. “How stupid can you be? Tangled Weave’s playing you. She was playing you the whole time – she intended for you to take the fall when the changeling scheme came to light.”

Star’s smirk was grimmer than normal. “You think you’re telling me anything I don’t already know?”

“Really, Detective,” Tangled chided. “Is that your move now, to try and turn us against one another?”

“She’s just using you, and as soon as you’re a liability she’ll feed you to the sharks.”

“Of course,” Star said. “And that makes this one relationship I completely understand. I can work with that.”

I grimaced. Paisley was drawing shallow breaths, her eyes wide. She clutched one foreleg tightly against herself, her neck drawn back as far as possible from the blade of the knife. “Please,” she whimpered.

I raised one hoof, then lowered it. My teeth clenched as I looked from Rising Star to Tangled Weave and back again. I thought about what my chances were. I thought about what was more important: saving the life of the pony I once loved, or having justice finally prevail. But what kind of justice came at the expense of an innocent life?

I reached up to pull my hat down over my horn as a grimace split my lips. I could see Star’s eyes narrow and the knife twitch in his magic. “You...”

A chime abruptly sounded, cutting through the tension.

I blinked. Star and Tangled shared a confused glance. The chime sounded again, and I realized it was coming from my jacket pocket.

“I think that’s for me,” I said. “Mind if I take the call?”

After the briefest moment of silence, Tangled Weave burst into laughter, waving a hoof. “By all means,” she said, catching her breath.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the crystal. As soon as my hoof touched it, I heard the voice clearly.

“Let them go,” Paisley Pastel said in my ear.

I looked up, eyes widening at the Paisley that Star held. My brain finally catching up with the way she was clutching that specific foreleg, her face creased with pain. Then I saw Ruby Quartz stepping out of the fog behind Rising Star, and a lot happened very quickly.

“No!” I shouted, as I lunged forward, the crystal falling to the ground. Star spun, throwing the changeling he held at me, while Ruby leapt at him from behind. The changeling stumbled across the platform and I bowled him over, knocking him to the side. But it had slowed me down enough. When I looked up, Star had won the brief tussle with Ruby and swung her around in a twisted approximation of a ballroom dance, only with his horn now pressed to her throat.

“Not one step further, Slate,” he said.

Tangled Weave hadn’t even moved, choosing instead to watch with her lips pursed. “Oh my. Well, I suppose this works just as well. You do keep things interesting, Detective. Star, be a dear and take care of the rest, please?” She reached down to pick up a suitcase in her mouth and daintily stepped forward and onto the train.

I was left with Star, still holding Ruby hostage. The changeling laid in an unmoving heap on the platform.

“Let her go, Star.”

He snarled at me. “Not a chance. In fact, I think we could use some insurance. Maybe she should come to Griffonstone too.”

“She doesn’t have anything to do with this. Let her go.” The word tasted bitter in my mouth but I tried it anyways: “Please.”

“And why should I?”

Silence stretched out. Because I owe her one, I thought, before dismissing it instantly in favor of the truth. Because she’s a pony. Because she’s a friend.

“Because I admit it: You’ve won.”

His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve beaten me. I give up. I’ll let you get on that train and go – as I see it, you and Tangled Weave deserve one another. But be the bigger pony. Let the girl go.”

“Yeah. And how many times have you sucker-punched me? How do I know this isn’t another trick?”

I sat down there on the floor of the train platform, taking off my hat and holding it in my hooves. “You’ve got my word.”

“What little that means,” he spat out. But a grin crossed his face. “You’re serious about this.”

“Deadly.”

He awkwardly dragged Ruby with him as he backed towards the train. After a few steps, his hoof hitting the metal stair heading up into the passenger car and he paused there, eyes darting back and forth as he watched me carefully, weighing his decision. We stood in silence each waiting for the other to make a move. Until the train jerked slightly, preparing to depart.

“It’s been a pleasure, Slate,” he said. He pushed Ruby forward and she landed in a tangle of limbs on the wooden platform. I jumped forward to her, as Rising Star vanished inside the train. With one squeal of its whistle, it pulled forward, picking up speed as it left the station.

My attention was on Ruby. “Are you okay?” I said, trying to help her up. “Did he hurt you?”

“Sorry,” she muttered, red-faced. “I— I thought I could help again and—”

“No,” a voice called out from the fog. Paisley Pastel stepped out, with Red Harvest at her side. “It worked out fine.”

Red moved to where the changeling lay on the platform, checking it over for signs of life or weaponry. Not necessarily in that order.

Paisley glided across the platform to us, eyes flicking across Ruby and me. “I need to have a few words with Slate.”

Ruby’s eyes were wide and uncertain, but she nodded. “Of course.”

“Mmm. Alone, if you don’t mind? We’ve got some guards and medical technicians in a perimeter around the station, if you are hurt and need it looked at.”

Ruby bit her lip. “R-right. Sorry.” She slowly backed away, still looking at us.

Paisley stared at her until she faded into the fog. “Cute,” she muttered in my direction. “I didn’t think you went for that type, Slate.”

“It’s not like that.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it should be. You could use somepony to keep you in line, and Celestia knows I don’t have the time.”

I let out a breath. “Maybe you’ll have more time pretty soon. Maybe PHAIR’s mostly out of a job now, depending on who’s left to be in charge.”

“Are you kidding?” she said, eyebrow raising. “I’m only going to have more to do. Untangling this mess and smoothing over racial relations is going to take years of effort, at best.”

“That’s you, alright,” I said. “Always onto the next problem.”

“Better than dwelling on the last one.”

I shrugged. “Then what, you were working with Luna the whole time?”

“Yes. We discovered the clues pointing towards someone planning a conspiracy in her name, but couldn’t pin down who, exactly. That’s when I got the idea to have myself arrested as a changeling. It would allow me to see the inside, follow the trail of who was responsible, as well as providing a means to shut down the whole changeling-framing system permanently.”

“But Rising Star threw a wrench into that.”

“By refusing to have me tested. Which was lucky on our part, as that’s what Mother wanted all along. Instead, Luna and Red arranged to get me out again, but that was when we found out about the plants in the Royal Guard. At the time we didn’t know how deep the scheme ran, and had to immediately divert all our attention to rooting out any conspirators. Turns out there wasn’t too much to find. We were very close to having the whole situation taken care of quietly and cleanly.”

“If it wasn’t for me.”

She glanced at me. “Pretty much, yes.”

I grimaced. “So the whole time, none of what I did mattered. This was all out of my hooves.”

“It was never ever close to your reach to begin with. Shouldn’t you be used to that by now?”

I didn’t have an answer.

Paisley stepped forward, staring down the tracks. I followed her gaze towards where the train had vanished, where it was even now speeding off into the distance.

“A fast pegasus could probably make it to the border, have them shut down the crossing before the train gets there,” I offered.

“I told you, didn’t I? To let them go. There will be nothing stopping them from crossing the border in another couple of hours.” She frowned, before turning to me. “Does that make me a bad pony?”

I thought it over in silence. “She’s still your mother,” I said. “I can understand wanting to protect her.”

A faint smile crossed her lips as her eyes slid shut. “I don’t think you understand. Princess Luna was waiting on that train. In Griffony, the laws are rather different than ours, particularly as it comes to repaying blood debts.”

“What are you saying?”

“Celestia passed away this morning. Luna was very unhappy you know, losing a sister. Even if it wasn’t quite the sister she thought, she loved Celestia very much.”

I stared out into the mist, noticing that ever so faintly, it had begun to brighten. The sun was rising after all, somewhere there beyond the fog, but it wasn’t clear how long it would take to strip away the last remnants of the storms. Before Canterlot would see the light again clearly from its source, before the warmth would chasing away the lingering shadows.

At least most of them. Some shadows would always remain. And some prices could only be paid far away from the light of day.

“Now, I’ll ask again,” Paisley said, shaking me from my reverie. “Am I a bad pony?”

I rolled it around in my head.

“You’re your mother’s daughter.”

She seemed satisfied by that answer.