Octavia let out a large sigh as she was forced to wait outside with Vinyl and Frostbite while Princess Luna was in Fiery’s room, doing whatever it was she was doing. She heard hoofsteps approach her, and she looked up to see a smiling Vinyl, hovering Octavia’s favorite tea in front of her. “Thought I’d get you something to calm your nerves, you know?”

Octavia responded Vinyl with a weak smile before talking. “Thank you Vinyl, I appreciate it.”

“No problem ‘Tavi. I mean, what type of friend would I be if I didn’t care about your well being?”

Octavia laughed weakly at the poor joke and took the bottle of tea from Vinyl. “Why don’t you sit by me Vinyl?” Octavia asked as she patted the seat the next to her with her free hoof.

Vinyl smiled and nodded. “Sure thing ‘Tavi.” she said, sitting down next to her friend.

Multiple minutes passed by as all three ponies kept quiet, unsure what to say with the current atmosphere. “So…” Frostbite began, trying to be the icebreaker. “What do you think the Princess is doing?”

“I’d rather not think about it.” Octavia replied, rubbing her forehead both in exhaustion and annoyance.

“Alright, alright, just thought I’d ask….”

The ponies were quiet once more, only to have Frostbite humming to himself minutes later as he laid his head backwards on the chair, staring up at the ceiling of the room. Octavia’s patience was rapidly growing thin as he continued to hum, finally causing her to snap and say something. “Would you please stop that?”

“Hmm?”

“That constant humming, do you really need to do it?” She asked in an annoyed tone.

“Oh, sorry…. Just thought I’d do something to pass the time, that’s all….”

When Frostbite became quiet once more, Octavia let out another sigh. “Look Frostbite, I’m sorry for snapping like that, alright? I just…”

“You’re just stressed out?” Frostbite tried finishing for her as he glanced over in Octavia’s direction, and she nodded in response. “Thought so. If it makes you feel any better, I think we’re all a little stressed.” He told Octavia as he moved his eyes back up to the ceiling.

Octavia smiled a bit, trying to find some comfort in Frostbite’s words, before putting on the same sad face she had on a few moments earlier.

Once again, minutes passed, and the three ponies continued to wait outside, unsure as to when they should go back in. As they continued to wait though, quite a surprise came as Princess Luna herself walked down the hallway near the waiting room and saw them inside. “What are you three doing in here?” She asked as she poked her head inside the room.

The three ponies looked at Luna, presuming that she had just finished with Fiery. “Hello your highness.” Octavia said. “We were just waiting for you to get finished with Fiery, that’s all.”

“Oh, well, that’s very kind of you three, but I haven’t even gone to his room yet.” She replied. “I was just on my way to it when I saw you three in here.”

The three ponies looked at the Princess with sudden confusion, before looking at each other, then back at Luna. “Are you alright Princess?” Vinyl asked, her eyebrow raised as she questioned Luna’s behavior.

“I don’t know how to respond that, but I suppose if you must know Ms. Scratch…. Well, this whole ordeal has put a lot of stress on me, but I think I’ll be able to live through it. Why do you ask?”

“But… But weren’t you just in Fiery’s room?” Frostbite asked next.

“No… As I stated before, I just got done with talking to the doctor and was on my way to it, as I wasn’t able to go earlier due to Tia needing a few things from me, no matter how much I wanted to…. Is there something you three aren’t telling me?”

“It’s just, we’re waiting out here because you told us to leave Fiery’s room maybe ten minutes ago so you could be alone with him.” Octavia answered.

“I see…. Do you three mind accompanying me for a few minutes?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fiery still laid sleeping in bed as the fake Luna rose her head. “Well, that went a lot better than expected. At least now Tia has nothing to complain about anymore.”

“Oh, is that so?” A new voice asked, causing the fake Luna to turn her head towards the doorway, only to see the real Princess Luna standing there with anger on her face, along with the ponies the fake Luna had set out of the room just a few moments earlier, confusion on their face.

“T-Two Luna’s?!”

The fake Luna sighed and looked back at the real Luna with annoyance. “You really do come at the worst times, don’t you Lulu?”

“Do not call me that!” Luna snapped back, making a growling noise towards the fake Luna shortly afterwards as she ground her teeth.

“P-Princess Luna?” Octavia interrupted, still confused. “What’s going on here?”

“Yes Lulu, why don’t you explain?” The fake Luna mocked. “After all, these are your subjects.” She continued to say as she put on a smug smile.

“I have nothing to explain as I’m not the one confusing them, Chrissie Wissie!”

The fake Luna let out a gasp, then quickly began to push against Luna’s head with her own, while growling and grinding her teeth as well. “How dare you call me that, you know I always hated that nickname!”

“What’s wrong Chrissie Wissie?” Luna asked with a smug smile on her face this time, while pushing back with her own head. “Afraid of your childhood nickname?!”

Meanwhile, the three ponies near the door stood there, completely silent and still confused. “Uh….” Octavia began, ready to ask what was going on once again, only to be interrupted this time as a bright flash blinded everypony in the room. When they all opened their eyes, everypony, except for Vinyl, recognized it as Celestia’s study.

With a loud sigh, the regular ponies turned their attention to the alicorn that had summoned them, while the other two alicorns continued to push against one another, trying to become dominant over the other. “Really you two, must you always fight whenever you see each other?”

“She started it! She was doing something strange to Fiery!” Luna yelled, not taking her attention away from the fake Luna. “She’s always been jealous of us Tia! Whenever we got something, she needed to have it, and now she’s trying to steal Fiery from me! Just like what she tried to do to your captain and our niece!”

“Stuff it Lulu!” The fake Luna snapped back. “I’m only here because Celestia asked me to be here!”

Before the two Luna’s could continue arguing any further, Celestia let out another sigh and pulled them apart using her magic, setting them down on opposite sides of the room. Meanwhile, Octavia looked around the room, still confused as to what was going on, and saw that there were other ponies in the room besides her and the others she was with. Those ponies, to be exact, were Fiery’s mother, and the Elements of Harmony.

Octavia walked over towards to the Elements, hoping that they were told as to what was going on. “Hello girls.” She greeted as she got closer. Before she could any closer though, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a pink blur that began to cry into Octavia’s shoulder. Octavia let out a sigh and smiled at it. “Hello Pinkie.” She said as she began to rub her sister’s back.

“Oh Octi, I’m so sorry!” Pinkie said through her tears.

“Sorry? For what?” Octavia asked, but instead of getting an answer from her sister, she only got more tears.

“I assume she’s talking about Fiery.” Starry spoke up, walking up to Octavia and helping her get Pinkie off.

“Oh Pinkie… you don’t need to worry about anything, as he’s going to be just fine.” Octavia told her sister, trying to cheer up the Element of Laughter. “The doctors told us that they were able to get everything out of his body, and that he should be awake any minute now.”

“I-Is that true?” A timid voice asked.

Octavia looked for where the voice came from, and spotted Fluttershy. She nodded at the question. “Yes, it is.”

“And it’s all thanks to me!” The fake Luna called out from the other side of the room, trying to get back at Luna, but was being blocked by Celestia’s magic.

“I am to assume that you were successful then?” Celestia asked, and the fake Luna responded.

“Of course, who do you think I am?! Now, I’ve kept my end of the deal Celestia, you have to keep yours!”

“Um, Princess?” Twilight Sparkle spoke up, interrupting the conversation between the two Princesses, or so she thought. “Excuse me for interrupting, but… who is that?” The other girls behind her agreed with her, wondering who it was as well.

Instead of answering though, Celestia’s horn glowed brightly, teleporting the fake Luna far away, a smile on Celestia’s face when the imposter was gone. “Now that’s out of the way, all we need to do is wait for Fiery’s recovery.”

“Oh no you don’t Tia!” Luna said as she walked towards her sister. “Just what was she doing here? What was she doing to Fiery?”

“And who was she?” Octavia asked once more, hoping for an answer, but it didn’t come for a while.

Before Celestia could open her mouth, Frostbite raised his hoof into the air. “Err, yes Frostbite?” Celestia answered his call. “Did you need something?”

“Yes, may I take a crack at who that pony was?”

“You don’t need to because I already know who it is! And when I get my hooves on her-“

“Hush Luna.” Celestia interrupted her sister, and then turned back to Frostbite and smiled. “If you think you know, go ahead.”

“Ahem, thank you.” Frostbite turned towards Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie?”

“Yes?”

“Detective hat and pipe please.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie.” She answered, and within a second, she was gone. Everypony in the room wondered where she went, but before any of them could ask, she had already come back with a deerstalker hat and a pipe that blew bubbles. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Frostbite said as he took the hat and pipe from her, and wore them accordingly before continuing. “Now, I do believe the pony was….!” He paused for dramatic effect, only to stop as another bright light enveloped part of the room, and when the light disappeared, there stood a black alicorn, holes in her hooves, a crooked horn on her head, insect wings, and a long, cerulean mane and tail. Two tiny fangs were accompanied with a frowning face, and two glaring eyes of three different shades of green looking right at Celestia.

“Oh my, already back?”

“Queen Chrysalis….” Frostbite finished.

Twilight and the other Elements quickly got in front of Celestia, ready to protect her, but the new arrival ignored them completely. “You know why I’m here Celestia.” Chrysalis said in an angry tone while pointing her hoof to Celestia. “Now give me what I want!”

Before Celestia had a chance to respond, Twilight stepped up. “You’ll never get Equestria, Chrysalis!” She said in a heroic tone. “Every time you try to-“

“Equestria? Please, purple unicorn, I’m not here for that… this time…. No, Celestia knows exactly what I want. I did what you wanted, now you have to give up your end of the bargain! And no weaseling out this time!”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Very well Chrysalis, you win.”

“Princess!”

“I promise not to tell mother and father, if they ever come back, of your latest failed coup attempt of Equestria.”

“Tia!”

“And?” Chrysalis said as she raised her eyebrow, making Celestia sigh.

“And as promised, I give you-“ Celestia began to sniffle some. “200 pounds of our finest chocolates and cakes…. Goodbye my lovelies….”

With that, Celestia summoned 200 pounds of chocolates and cakes, as promised, right in front of Chrysalis, making Chrysalis burst into evil laughter and dive into the pile.

“Hey! Those are my chocolates!” Luna called out in anger as she pointed her hoof at the pile. “Tia!”

“Ahahaha! Not anymore baby sister!” Chrysalis said as she popped her head out of the pile. “Now they’re my chocolates! Ahahaha!”

“I was saving them for the honeymoon too….” Luna quietly said to herself as she began to pout and look at the ground.

“Waaaait a minute, hold the phone, all that stuff.” Frostbite said, making all the ponies in the room, except for Chrysalis who was still swimming in the pile, look at him. “Mother and father? Calling Princess Luna ‘baby sister’….? Are you three, by any chance….”

“Related?” Celestia asked, and Frostbite nodded. “Yes, we are.”

Everypony in the room gasped at the sudden revealment. “R-Related?!” Twilight said, becoming wide-eyed, only to collapse onto the ground shortly afterwards.

“Twilight!”

“Don’t worry, she just fainted… I think….” Frostbite said, trying his best to reassure the other Elements.

“Ah, this really quite enjoyable, but I suppose I should teleport these out of here before they become ruined.” Chrysalis said to nopony in general as she leaped out of the pile of chocolates and cakes and used her magic to do exactly as she said, teleporting them to her own castle where her changeling minions were waiting for the precious packages.

“I don’t understand though, I mean, you and Luna are so nice, and Chrysalis is so….” Frostbite continued.

“Mean?”

“That’s one way of putting it, yes.”

At the mention of her name, and being called mean, Chrysalis began to laugh again. “Yes, indeed, I mean quite mean, aren’t I? If you want to blame anypony for it though, you’ll have to blame mother and father for it.”

“They didn’t love you enough?”

“They neglected you?”

“They didn’t praise you enough?” All the ponies in the room asked, only to be answered by Celestia.

“They made her mean to begin with.”

All the ponies turned to Celestia, confused. “Excuse me Princess-“ Rarity began. “But…. What do you exactly mean they made her mean to begin with? Surely no parent would intentionally make their own child so… horrible, would they?”

“Normal parents? No. Our parents? Yes.”

“But why? Why would your parents want to do such a thing?” Rarity continued.

“Because they were sick and tired of all of the goodness that was in the world.” Chrysalis answered.

“Pardon?”

Celestia sighed. “What she meant to say, is that our parents noticed sometime before Chryalis’s birth, that, although our world was charming and delightful, it was missing a certain… factor, or so Ignis has told me in the past.”

“Ignis? Who in the hay is tha’?” Applejack asked.

“Our brother.” Luna calmly answered.

“Brother?! You mean you have more than just her as a sibling?!” Twilight asked once she heard the words when she woke up, only to faint again right afterwards.

“Should I take her outside so she doesn’t faint a third time when she wakes up? Or just leave her there?”

“You can just lay her on the sofa Frostbite, that would be lovely.” Celestia said with a smile.

“So putting extra siblings aside-“ Vinyl interrupted. “How exactly did they make you mean? Strict curfew? Harsh punishments for doing the littlest things?”

“No, they made her mean the moment she was born.”

“But you can’t just make your child to be mean the moment they’re born. I mean, who are these parents anyways? I haven’t heard about them at all until today!” Rainbow Dash said to Celestia.

“That’s because they’ve been gone for the past three thousand years Ms. Dash.” Celestia answered. “The reason why their names or who they were at all never came up in our culture is because it’s been too long since anypony besides my siblings and I knew about them. Their names haven’t been mentioned for almost 1,000 years, around the time the Nightmare took over Luna.”

“So, you just sort of let their names and such be forgotten in time?” Octavia asked and Celestia nodded. “But why?”

“Because that’s the way they wanted it to be.” Luna answered, walking up to be next to her sisters, and quickly giving Chrysalis a jab in the side as she approached the two. “They thought there were going to be gone for a long time, so instead of our people remembering and mourning over them, they would be forgotten while Tia and I would take their place.”

Next, Chrysalis spoke, but not before returning the jab from Luna with a jab of her own. “I still think they made the foolish mistake of letting you two rule Equestria. I should have been the one to rule it since they’ve been gone, but nooooo, you two had to be goody-two-hooves and take the position of Queen of Equestria away from me, didn’t you?!”

“We didn’t take anything from you Chrissie-“

“Don’t call me that!”

Celestia ignored the comment and continued. “The reason why mother and father gave us this country in their absence is because we were the only ones who were fit and capable of taking care of it. All of our other siblings were in other parts of the world, ruling their own pieces of land, including you!”

“Bah, utter nonsense, I could have taken care of this country just fine!”

“No, you couldn’t have. You remember the time mother and father allowed you to keep that pet phoenix?”

“… No.”

Celestia sighed. “Starry, Luna, can you please explain to her-“ Celestia was saying, but stopped as she scanned the room, and saw that not only Starry, but Octavia, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Luna as well, had left the room. They all left presumably around the time the argument began, and Luna leaving shortly afterwards. “Where did Starry and Luna go?”

“I think Fiery’s mom and ‘Tavi said something about checking up on Fiery since he’s all good now, and I think Princess Luna followed them after your sister punched her. Pinkie and Fluttershy left long before that, around the time Queen Meanie here reappeared.” Vinyl explained.

“I didn’t punch anypony! And how dare you call me Queen Meanie, you insolent whelp!”

“Why didn’t they say anything to us before leaving?”

“That’s because you and your sister were having too much fun arguing, or so Starry said.” Vinyl replied with a grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fiery had finally woken up, but felt very stiff, and wasn’t able to open his eyes. He began to try to move his arms, only to feel them locked into place and forced to be at his sides. He began to try to do the same with his legs, only to get the same feeling once again. He gave up moving and began to hear the noises that were around him.

He could hear the constant beeping of some sort of machine that was close to him, making him think that it was some sort of heart monitor since his little fight with Lunar caused him to be hospitalized. That wasn’t all of it though.

He had a hard time hearing it, but if he focused hard enough, he could hear the breathing of two ponies inside the room with him, one of them cutting something. Suddenly, he heard the cutting stop and one of the ponies, a mare, speak.

“Ow…” The first mare spoke, Fiery recognizing it as Fluttershy.

“Are you okay Fluttershy?” The other mare asked, this time Fiery recognizing it as Pinkie Pie.

Fiery began to hear a sucking noise, presumably coming from Fluttershy as she sucked on her wound while she nodded at Pinkie Pie, indicating she was fine. “I’m alright.” Fluttershy replied quietly after she was done trying to clean her wound with her mouth.

The next thing he knew, Fiery could hear a door being opened up and three sets of hooves entering the room. He instantly recognized two of them as Luna and Octavia when they began to talk, but didn’t know who the third pony was, as they kept quiet for quite a while.

“So how is he?” Octavia asked as she found her seat, right next to Pinkie.

“The doctors say that whatever was blocking the healing from before is now gone, and with the glass and wood gone, he’s expected to be fully healed with unicorn magic by the end of the week. He’s also expected to wake up any day now.” Pinkie explained.

“The end of the week…? Well, I knew unicorn magic was good, but….”

“A little surprised Ms. Pie?” Luna asked Octavia. Fiery could tell she was smirking, simply by the sound of her voice. A little cocky, maybe, but he thought it was only fair for Luna to brag since the Palace needed the best magic and healing needed in the nation in case something happened to either the Princesses or any of the nobles.

“W-Well, i-it’s just-“ Octavia stopped though as the third pony who had come in sighed. “Starry?”

‘So the third pony is mom?’ Fiery thought to himself, forgetting that his mother and Luna could hear him.

Starry jerked her head up and turned to Fiery’s head, as did Luna. Luna looked back at Starry with confusion. “Did… Did you just hear that?” She asked Starry, trying to confirm it.

“I, I think so….”

“What are you two talking about?” Pinkie asked.

Luna shook her head. “It’s nothing Ms. Pie…. It must have been our imagination, that’s all….”

The room fell silent then, nopony talking for several minutes. All that could be heard was once again the beeping of the heart monitor. Finally, Starry spoke up.

“Do… Do you all mind if I could be alone with my son?”

Fiery couldn’t hear any audible acknowledgement, but he guessed that all of the other mares said yes, as soon afterwards, he heard the hoofsteps of four ponies exit the room, the door shutting after the last one. He heard Starry take a deep breath, and then speak once again.

“Son… I don’t know whether or not you can hear this, but… I’m sorry… I’m sorry this ever happened….” Starry said quietly, tearing up at the same time. “I-I knew this was going to happen, a-and instead of stopping it…” She began to break down and cry, unable to speak anymore. She laid her head on Fiery’s bedside.

Fiery said or thought nothing, instead, he tried as hard as possible to open his eyes. At the same time, he tried opening his mouth and talk, only to feel it be completely dry.

Starry lifted her head, wiping her tears away, and grabbed hold of Fiery’s hoof. “Son, I want you to know that I never intended for this to happen to you… I-I love you very much, and I just hope you can forgive me….”

Very weakly, Fiery responded to his mother. “Of course I do….”

Starry’s ears perked up and she looked right at Fiery’s face. “F-Fiery…? Son?”

Fiery was barely able to open his eyes, finally winning the battle of whatever was causing him to keep them closed, and gave his mother a weak smile as he slightly turned his head towards hers. “I forgive you mom.”

Again, Starry began to burst into tears as she quickly wrapped her hooves around Fiery’s neck, forgetting that he was still fragile. “Fiery, my son, I’m so sorry…!” She kept repeating as she rubbed cheeks with him, despite the protests that came from Fiery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Fiery woke from his sleep, everypony important to him that was inside the castle had been informed. He got no rest that day as everypony came and saw him, mostly crying out of relief and then would hug him, only to quickly let go as he was still recovering from various wounds.

The last pony to come and visit him was no other than Celestia, who came in with a smile on her face.

“Well, I’m surprised you actually showed up.” Fiery said with a slight grin, but also as quietly as possible, as to not wake the sleeping Octavia and Vinyl on the sofa and chair.

“I just wanted to make sure you were truly alright, and I’m glad to see that you are.” Celestia responded, walking up next to his bed. “But I also came here for another reason Fiery.”

Fiery didn’t respond, questioning it at all, because he could guess what was going to come.

“I wanted to know… What did you see?”

Fiery stayed silent for a little while before answering Celestia. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Celestia sighed, then smirked a bit and turned away from Fiery. “Of course you don’t…” She said softly, under her breath so that Fiery couldn’t hear. She then spoke loud enough to say goodbye. “Goodnight Fiery, and remember, once you get out of that bed, it’s back to getting prepared for the wedding.” She said as she looked back at Fiery and winked. Fiery simply rolled his eyes.

As Celestia left the room, she began to think to herself. ‘I know what I felt…. Why do they wish to hide themselves after so much time has gone by…?’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright guys, I know I said I wished this was going to be longer, but unfortunately I’m unable to think of any more besides this. I’m probably going have to write an entire new chapter about Fiery’s recovery and of the months leading up to the wedding between Fiery and Luna. Until next time.