“They are released?!” Luna shouted, not quite using the Traditional Canterlot Voice. Twilight winced, but nodded while the Princess paced furiously in their shared study. She had taken the Princess aside from the party, which Luminous had rejoined after a while. “They should have paid for their crimes, for reckless endangerment at the very least! Tell us where they went, and we shall-” Luna stopped when as Twilight's hoof pressed against her lips. The gesture was as unconscious on Twilight's part as the frown that creased the purple unicorn's face, and Luna found herself feeling rather touched, rather than annoyed. After all, nopony back in Canterlot would have dared to shush her, out of fear, and Luna found the sheer audacity of the purple unicorn endearing.

“Yes,” Twilight said slowly, her purple eyes troubled, but resolute as she lowered her hoof with just the slightest of blushes as a silent apology. “I told them to leave, and to only come back when Luminous called for them. They... Well they were honestly horrified at what Luminous had heard.” Twilight shook her head as she saw Luna's face contract in doubt, “No, I believe them, but the fact is they did drop her, but not on purpose, it was more that they were afraid to go get her. Afraid of what others would think of them for dropping their child.” Twilight blew out a sigh as she turned and walked to the window, which overlooked a birthday party in full swing.

Luminous had rejoined the festivities shortly after her parents' departure, and had been immediately and thoroughly distracted by cake and presents. The changelings of the Citadel had truly outdone themselves in that regard, even given the mere two days they'd had to prepare. She was practically buried now in everything from toys to books to bits of armor. Some of it had been made from the stuff of the Hedge itself, while others had been rather expensive purchases. Twilight hadn't realized just how popular her squire was with the changelings of the Citadel, but it made her all the more sure of her decision.

“No,” Twilight said softly, while Luna stepped up beside her to join in her reflections, “No I couldn't punish them, however much I wanted to. It's not my place to do so. Luminous is going to have to confront them about it someday, and it wouldn't be right for me to pass judgment before she does. Besides,” Twilight added frankly, nodding to the party, “If this group knew what her parents had done, they probably would bring their own punishments to bear, and they don't deserve that.” Luna looked unconvinced, but Twilight just looked over the party, thinking. After a moment, Twilight shook her head and sighed, then put a smile back on her face and stepped out to make sure Luminous enjoyed the rest of her party. Luna paused for a moment, something tickling her attention, and examined the room critically for several seconds before following Twilight.

Twilight wandered through a dark forest of polished wooden trees and paper leaves, her every sense attuned to the clear presence of danger. The forest was lit by neither moonlight nor daylight, and the only light came from Twilight's own mane, which flickered and danced with her own inner nervousness. The shadows whispered worriedly to Twilight as she walked soundlessly across hardwood floors, and she hushed them mentally to hear better.

Twilight's heartbeat seemed monstrously loud as she strained her ears to listen for something in the darkness, for her senses told her she was not alone. She felt afraid, for this place was darker even than the Everfree, and the sense of peril would not leave. Twilight swallowed hard, and vainly wished for light, something to penetrate the gloom and give her a decent shadow to hide in.

At that moment, as if responding to her request, Twilight felt two touches upon her mind, like a very quiet offer. Twilight gave a silent assent, and the forest suddenly became illuminated as the sun and moon both rose from opposite sides of the sky. The light was both silver and gold, and cast aside the darkness, but what was left was almost worse.

Hundreds of the Beast's wolves growled as they were revealed; their dark coats glistened with malice in the gold and silver light as their burning orange eyes fixated on Twilight. Twilight felt she was surrounded. It looked hopeless, Twilight was outnumbered hundreds to one, but just as the black curtain of despair began to sink upon her, a familiar scent filled Twilight's nose. A small fox sat beside her, with no sign of his arrival, and said quite clearly, “I've seen worse.”

Twilight laughed shortly, but before she could ask, Blackboard continued, “Help is always given to those who know how to ask, Twilight. So long as you honor your agreements, you'll never lack for allies.” Twilight realized then, in a flash of clarity, that the moon and sun were waiting patiently for her request. Time slowed as the wolf-creatures began to charge, and the sounds dimmed, except for Blackboard's voice. “You know how to ask, so ask.”

Twilight asked the sun and moon for aid, in return for serving those they honored, and it was as if she could suddenly feel the essence of the sun and moon pouring into her. Twilight's eyes closed, and when they opened, the whole forest was ash and bones. Yet for some reason, all she could smell was cherry blossoms as the scene began to fade

The smell of cherry blossoms filled Twilight's nose as she woke in her bed, the scent carried in on the breeze from a window she definitely remembered closing, which was now open to the new dawn peeking over the horizon. She rose to close the window, and a movement in the corner of her vision brought her gaze to her squire, who was curled up on her smaller bed. It was still covered in presents, so she was actually laying on what were the softer acquisitions, and squirming a little in her sleep. She was probably uncomfortable lying on top of all her gifts like an adolescent dragon, but she had insisted that she wouldn't clutter up the construction with her things, despite her rather modest chests and drawers bulging with birthday loot.

Twilight made a note mentally to insist that Luminous have a room built adjoining hers. Her squire had been firm on sleeping in the same room as Twilight, like the history books showed, but it was becoming apparent that that wouldn't work. Luminous had grown since her bed had been made, and although she'd made no complaint, Twilight knew it was becoming cramped for her. Twilight watched her squire for a few moments, and reflected on how much the filly had been through. She'd seen more combat than many of the Royal Guard, fought creatures out of nightmares, and all without a word of complaint. She had proven to be an able warrior, daring beyond all good sense, and such a skilled assistant that Twilight was sure she and Spike would do everything for her, were they in the same room together.

Twilight frowned as she thought of Spike, and made another note to make quarters for him at the Citadel. He had fallen asleep during the party and had been roomed temporarily in one of the tents. Twilight had been initially afraid to bring Spike to the Citadel, for fear that agents of the Beast would take the little dragon, but the fortress was well enough through construction that the safest place would probably be with her now. She mentally kicked herself for not getting onto that sooner, but with all the arrangements for the party and dealing with the Darkest Dawn she'd barely had time to send him an invitation, let alone work out living arrangements.

She was still musing about that when Luminous gave a little murmur of disquiet, her face contorting slightly as she rolled over, scattering gifts. She seemed to be having another nightmare, but just as Twilight was about to intervene, she hesitated, and nuzzled Luminous gently instead. Sure enough, the filly relaxed with a sigh into more peaceful sleep. Twilight smiled and backed away from Luminous silently. Her squire had had enough invasion of privacy recently, and although Twilight still prowled her friends' dreams, including Luminous's, looking for signs of dream-poison, she felt Luminous deserved her own dreams for the night.

The thought of what Luminous's parents had done to the little filly still brought a bitter taste to Twilight's mouth. She knew she had had to let them go, much as she would have liked to punish them for their crimes. She was still a relatively new power in Equestrian politics, A rather more cynical part of her remarked that it would put two high-placed nobles in her debt, but she dismissed the advantage even as her mind noted it down.

Twilight was still musing when a sense of unease washed over her. Almost immediately afterward, a great roar filled the air, startling the whole castle. Luminous rolled awake, scattering presents as she attempted to clear her sleep-fogged mind. A moment later, the general alarm began to go up, and the sounds of battle filled the air; the Citadel was under attack.

Gestalt battled furiously against the wolf-creature before him, swearing almost as loudly as the feral pegasus Sharp Claw next to him. “Scum-sucking, son of a sun-blighted whorehouse!” the vicious pegasus snarled as he crashed claws-first into a wolf-creature and ripped a bloody tear in its belly with his clawed hoof-paws. He and Gestalt were alone on the wall while reinforcements scrambled to their aid, but for the moment the patchwork pony and the feral fighter were holding off whatever wolf-creatures tried to assault the gates. Twilight had given great thought to the defenses of the Citadel, and the wolf-creatures could only attack through two heavily defended gatehouses; everything else was defended by the deep gorge and high, thick walls that bristled with magical power.

Unfortunately, Gestalt and Sharp Claw were the only two that had been on watch duty on the rear entrance during the ceremony, and while reinforcements were incoming, the two changelings were currently alone. Gestalt cut through one creature with his bladed wing, while Sharp Claw bit into another and disemboweled it with a kick of his rear legs, just in time for another to come leaping over its fallen comrade. Sharp Claw braced himself for the impact, and was readying a counter when a searing pain sliced across his side. He whirled, and saw a green-eyed Gestalt smirk softly before he changed into a wolf-creature in a flash of green fire. Then the original attacker was upon him and Sharp Claw felt a sudden and sharp impact on his head, then nothing.

Kazarhoth's blue fire melted through the ranks of the wolf-creatures outside the main gate like a hot knife through butter, while Archaemonstrixillator ripped through the horde of ravenous fur. His scarred body ran with the blood of the creatures he had sent to their deaths. Kretellmanstrix, ever confident, was disdainfully ripping apart any wolfen creature so unwise to approach, alongside the bigger, scarred dragon-changeling. “They die in droves, why don't they break?!” Kretellmanstrix snarled to Archaemonstrixillator in their native tongue. “I tire of ripping the flesh from these pathetic creatures' bones, they present no challenge!”

“They are driven,” Archaemonstrixillator replied calmly, as a sweep of his tail launched several unfortunate wolf-creatures into the trees at bone-breaking speed, “Driven by their master to their deaths like fodder.”

“Then let him come!” Kazarhoth snarled, between breaths of fire, “Let this master face us with all his might, and be done with it!” He loosed a flurry of fire so intense it reduced several dozen wolf-creatures to ashes and bones, and then abruptly there were no more attackers before them, the wolves were running for the trees. Kazarhoth was about to loose an insulting parting shot when a deep roar filled the whole Citadel again, and an immense shape loomed out of the forest, dwarfing even the dragon-changelings.

“Young one,” Archaemonstrixillator said wearily, “Be careful what you wish for.”

The main hall was a melee, and ran with the blood of changelings, ponies and wolf-creatures. The wolves had burst through the rear gate, blasted through the en-route reinforcements and made straight for the main hall. Automatic magical defenses destroyed many of them or diverted the vicious invaders into the river far below, but the wolves kept pouring through, overwhelming the incomplete defensive network. Twilight and Luminous were at the center of the fight, directing the defenders into an organized defense.

“Left flank tighten up!” Twilight called sharply, her burning mane sparking with words of command as the left side of the formation pulled closer together. Twilight took a moment to shoot a spell over the heads of the formation, which put a barrier of purple, whispering fire between the defenders and the wolves. The brief respite allowed the formation to pull back to the thrones, where changeling and pony alike stood their ground against the wolves that leapt through the fire, burning but still savage. Luminous's lance of light took out the first to leap snarling towards the defenders like a burning ghoul. Its momentum was halted by the beam of white light that pierced through its skull, and it fell to the ground, twitching and burning.

Twilight nudged her squire with quiet approval for the excellent shot, even as Luminous swallowed bile for what she'd just done. She took a moment to recover her strength, for that much concentrated light was still difficult to master, and while it didn't take as much out of her as it did the first time, it was still difficult to consign another creature to death. She recovered relatively quickly, just in time to divert a wolf-creature from flanking the defending party with her shield spell. The simple magic rolled the wolf-creature away, where it was pounced upon by an earth pony and two changelings, who stomped it into oblivion before rejoining the formation.

One of the ponies took a claw across the chest and fell back deeper into the formation. Luminous felt Twilight's concern even before she saw the unicorn changeling's face, which confused her for a moment, then she found herself fending off two wolves who had rushed, burning, into the formation. Luminous let out what she felt was a war-cry to stiffen her resolve and leapt into the fray.

She didn't notice anything until a panicked voice cried out, “Gas!” and suddenly the hall was full of a cloying smoke and vapor. Luminous sent out a wild blast of light as something tried to approach her and Twilight, and was rewarded with a cry of surprise and pain. Her victory was brief however, for the gas quickly stole her breath, and she was coughing and wheezing, while her vision darkened at the corners. She felt something sharp pierce her side, and tried to scream a warning, but her voice was lost amidst the clamor, and she fell limp on the stone floor.