The countdown inside Twilight's head began as soon as Spike regained conscienceless and was, to her surprise, released shortly after; though the massive bandages on both his side and his forehead were anything less than attractive, they were both glad he was alright, a bit traumatized but alright nonetheless.

They did not have long until the Celebration of Solstice was to take place, handing over the Spring to Winter. If they were going to depose Celestia, this was going to be the time to do it. Twilight doubted she or her friends could take being exiled for much longer.

Everypony had already went about their business according to Twilight's planning: Rarity and Flutershy were watching the crusaders who were practicing their stealthiness.  Their mission was to eavesdrop on a private assembly held between Celestia and the Council Of Canterlot in order to know the working of the ceremony.

Twilight initially wanted to go to the Archives with just Spike to refresh her memory on some spells she was going to need to make this whole thing work; though Rainbow Dash seemed awfully willing to go with and Twilight caved. Rainbow acted as if she needed to discuss something. As they entered the archives Twilight had had it with waiting.

"What's wrong with you Dash?" Twilight asked with a look of concern. "It's unlike you to want to come to a place like this."

"Well~" Rainbow began timidly, "There's something I need to find out--It's messing with my head and--could you please help me?"

"I can't really say until I know what it is." Twilight was getting worried.

"Well, I had...a kid when I was in my senior year of Flight Camp.  Long story short, I never knew the dad and had a blind birth."

"Okay well as I understand it, the whole purpose of that is to not know who the filly is." Twilight said. She was partially stunned, she had never known this about Rainbow. "W-why is it only now you're mentioning this?"

"I kind forgot about it." Rainbow conceded, "I focused on becoming a Wonderbolt and then you came along, the elements, Ponyville in general, I just forgot about it."

"But why would you want to know?" Twilight asked.

"I just do okay!" Rainbow spat. "Sorry.  I just- I just need to know."

"Well I'm sure I can perform the spell in question but, we need the feather of a foal of interest." Twilight stated.

"I have one." Rainbow mumbled.

"Oh?" Twilight was suspicious now. "How did you manage that?"

Rainbow wasn't going to say though it was as simple as plucking one off of Scootaloo while she was asleep. The filly initially found it odd that one of her feathers was missing but figured it was related to the incident from a few days ago.

Rainbow pulled the lone feather out of her saddlebag.

Twilight paused for a moment and stared at her with a cold face.

"Scootaloo?"

"N-No." Rainbow stuttered. "I just found it lying around and was curious."

"You're a terrible liar." Twilight deadpanned, "Give me the feather. And one of yours."

Rainbow did as she was told and Twilight placed the two items on a coffee table. Her horn glowed lightly and soon the two feathers glowed as well.

"This will take some time." Twilight said.

"Well it better not be too long!" Scootaloo whined.

"Oh you girls are fine." Rarity said, "Fluttershy and I simply must have some means of unwinding! It's only fair."

"Why can't we go play while you two do boring spa stuff?" Applebloom whined.

"Because!" Rarity lectured, "You three should know better by now. It is much too dangerous for you girls to be out and about on your own."

"We'll stay really close!" Sweetie pipped.

"No." Rarity said. "Absolutely not!"

"Dammit." Scootaloo muttered.

"Language young lady!" Rarity hissed, "I swear for being a filly you have quite the potty mouth."

The crusaders had already "practiced" their stealth skills throughout various alleys of Canterlot. While they spent most of that time scaring Rarity and Fluttershy, for fun of course, they did manage to figure out how to navigate an air shaft, or at least Applebloom did. Sweetie Belle was crying not even two minutes into it and Scootaloo was busy half laughing, half berating her friend for being a foal.

As the two mares turned to each-other to sink into some conversation, the three fillies made their escape. Applebloom was first: she crept over to the door and opened it every so slowly. The other two bolted out in a blur and Applebloom followed.

"So, what should we practice now?" Scootaloo was excited.

"I dunno girls," Sweetie Belle worried, "We could get in big trouble if they catch us."

"Pssh, Rarity and Fluttershy?" Scootaloo boasted. "They may nab you slowpokes but they're no match for me!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Applebloom didn't want to sit and wait for the to bicker again.

"Ooh!" Sweetie Belle snapped into thought, "Let's go check out some spy books!"

"Reading?" Scootaloo whined, "Sounds lame."

"Sounds like a plan ta me!" Applebloom smiled.

"Well that sounds boring to me. I wouldnt've left if I knew you two eggheads were going to do something like that!"

"Aw hush it Scootaloo, it'll be fun! Maybe we can learn how to make fancy gadgets and booby traps!" Applebloom was really looking forward to this. Something peaceful.

"hmph. Whatever." Scootaloo huffed, "I'm going to go do something fun!" And with that the three went different ways. Sweetie and Applebloom went towards the Archives whist Scootaloo went in some unknown direction into town.

"Scootaloo wait!" Sweetie protested, "If you get lost, we'll be in super-duper-ultra trouble!"

"Sucks to be you!" Scootaloo called to them.

"Well ah'm fine if she decides to be stupid." Applebloom said, "Better than listening to her whine tha whole time."

"I guess so." Sweetie hung her head.

Scootaloo wasn't too sure where she was headed, and now that the feeling of rebelliousness was depleted she wasn't too sure if leaving her fellow crusaders was such a grand idea. She scanned the signs and advertisements of various shops, schools, and art houses looking for something to kill time. Then she found one:

"SIR RISQUE'S BIG PONY PICTURE SHOW"

"MATURE PONIES ONLY"

"Well that sounds like fun!" Scootaloo beamed as she dashed into the picture house.

Rainbow Dash looked on as Twilight continued her tedious spell. She had seen no visual indication anything was happening save for Twilight;s glowing horn and the glowing feathers.

"Does it really take this long?" Dash asked.

"Yes." Said an annoyed Twilight, "Until I figure out where each pattern begins, we won't be getting anywhere in decoding them."

As she said those words her horn lost its glow and the feathers began circling each-other, both retaining their aura.

"What's happening now?" Rainbow asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is the part we--you have been waiting for." Twilight responded.

They watched the small patterns, too small to see, suddenly come into view as a glowing beam of magic slowly traced their contours. Both mares eyes grew wide as it began to finish its course.

They were a perfect match.

It was pin-drop quiet in the second floor of the archives, both mares stared before them in complete disbelief at what they were seeing.

"A-are you sure about this Twilight?" Rainbow asked, voice tremoring.

The mare took some time to pull herself from her trance. "Y-yes...I am very sure."

"This can't mean-" Rainbow began.

"It does." Twilight answered.

Scootaloo was bounding like a mad filly back towards the intersection where she left her friends. The things she saw being performed on screen and in person by the patrons in the parlor were beyond pornographic.

The filly was making good pace all things considered as she catching up wit her friends as they were passing to the archive building.

"Shoot Scoots, you look like a deer in headlights, what happened?" Applebloom asked.

"Nothing, totally nothing." Scootaloo rattled, "Ew!"

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked. Normally she'd be considerably concerned for the filly's well being but with how she was treated today, she could care less.

"Mare and stallions doing some pretty nasty things. Can we go inside now?"

"To you? Applebloom asked.

"NO!" Scootaloo boomed. "You're sick Applebloom!"

"What? I was jus-" Applebloom began though Sweetie shushed her. Best not get their friend worked up again.

The three walked into the first floor and were amazed by the various historical artifacts inside. The towering shelves filled end to end with new and old books, and a wall of manuscripts and historical factoids.

"Wow, there's a lot of cool stuff in here!" Sweetie Belle admired the aged books and the sense of antiquity that radiated in the room.

"Hey girls, lookie here!" Applebloom was bouncing excitedly. The other two trotted over to see a large grayscale photograph of what appeared to be a valley with a large plot of apple trees.

It was Ponyville.

"Wow," Sweetie Belle said, "That must've been when your great grandparents moved there!"

"I reckon so." Applebloom smiled, "Can't make out anypony though."

"Of course not, it's old." Scootaloo panned. Sweetie glared at her.

"B-but cool" Scootaloo added.

Sweetie let out a loud gasp and darted to a large painting on the opposite wall.

"Look! Look!" She shouted. Before the three was a dated painting of Princess Luna, dressed in an elegant dress made of crystals and some very pretty semi-trasnparent silver cloth.

"She's so pretty!" Applebloom mused.

"Pfft. Lame." Scootaloo yawned.

"Oh will you stop it Scoots?" Applebloom complained, "This is why ah didn't want ya here, yer ruinin' all the fun!"

"Well so-rry I can't be interested in this boring old junk. I thought we were looking up spy stuff?"

"Girls?"  Twilight asked, causing the three fillies to jump in surprise. They didn't hear anypony else.

"Oh...hey Twi..." Applebloom turned crimson int he cheeks, "How are..things?"

"I thought you girls were with Rarity and Fluttershy." Twilight said sternly, "I told you girls to stay put."

"I told you!" Sweetie Belle shouted, "What did I say!?"

"Oh shut up." Scootaloo grimaced.

Twilight suddenly noticed the filly. "It's fine...I guess. But- Scootaloo, can you come with me for a minute?"

"What did I do?" Scootaloo protested.

"Nothing. I just need to show you something." Twilight motioned to filly to follow. The other two followed too.

"Alone." Twilight sighed. Applebllom and Sweetie Belle reluctantly returned to looking through books and art.

"What did I do?" Scootaloo asked again. No answer.

The two came to the second floor and saw Rainbow Dash, back turned looking out a window.

"I knew I heard them downstairs." Twilight said to Rainbow Dash who didn't respond.

"What are you guys doing here?" Scootaloo asked. "Why are you ignoring me Twilight?"

"Rainbow Dash needs to talk to you." Twilight said, "This is between you two."

Twilight then returned downstairs and closed the doors behind her. Likely to keep the other two fillies out of trouble. Scootaloo sat silently watching Rainbow Dash staring out the window. The silence was eerie as the only light in the room came from a few large ceramic windows on one side leaving most of the room dark.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Scootaloo didn't like this. it reminded her of the night she went to find Dash in the forest.

Rainbow Dash said nothing though Scootaloo could see she winced at the filly's words. Scootaloo slowly trotted over to Rainbow's side, staring out the window with her.

"I don't see anything." Scootaloo said as she tried to figure out what the mare was so fixated on.

There was silence once again.

"You're kinda scaring me Dash, what's up?" Scootaloo muzzled the mare in the side to try to get her attention.

Suddenly, the filly was scooped up in Dash's hooves as Rainbow stroked her mane gently. Tears fell from the mare's eye onto the filly's stomach and hooves.

"What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked. "Are you okay?"

Silence again as the crying increased. It wasn't audible though Scootaloo could clearly see in her eyes that something was wrong.

"I hurt you." Rainbow whimpered, almost too quiet for Scootaloo to hear.

"I hurt my baby."

Scootaloo was unsure of what to say. She wasn't putting two and two together, not as if she had any real way to do so regardless.

"What are you talking about? You have a kid?" Scootaloo was half nervous and half excited. It'd be cool to meet Dash's filly. "How come I've never seen her?" Scootaloo bit her tongue, that sounded accusatory.

"Is she hurt?" Scootaloo asked.

Suddenly, her grip on he filly tightened as she was pulled closer to the mare's chest. Rainbow stroked the fillys back and wings. Scootaloo was very weirded out but dared not move.

"Never again." Rainbow mumbled. "Never again, I promise."

"W-what do you mean Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo was scared now, the mare was acting weird and she didn't seem to want to let go of her.

Scootaloo looked to see Twilight and the two fillies cautiously enter the room.

"What's up with Dash?" Scootaloo asked bluntly.

Twilight sighed, she figured Rainbow couldn't do it. She slowly walked over to Rainbow and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Scootaloo was let go and shook herself to loosen up her fur and wings.

"She keeps saying something about her kid being hurt or something. I'm kind of worried."

"It's you." Twilight said simply. She didn't want to spell it out for her.

"Who is me?" Scootaloo asked. "What's going on here?"

"Rainbow Dash is Scootaloo's mom?!" Sweetie Belle pipped from ot of nowhere.

Twilight sighed, "Yes."

Scootaloo's eyes went wide and dilated as her brain went into a tailspin. Had she just heard what she think she did?  She looked over at Rainbow who seemed composed now and was looking down at the filly.

"I...I don't believe it." Scootaloo said out loud. She went over to Rainbow Dash and sat with her.

"Is that true Rainbow Dash?"

Scootaloo sat silently, her face flat and unreadable. That awkward embrace earlier, the words Rainbow Dash said to her... all the fillies and colts in school teasing her for being without parents, mothers and fathers days spent alone, doing everything she could to evade and forget the notion of having parents altogether, all of that pain and emptiness eviscerated as she looked into the magenta eyes of a smiling pegasus.  

Mommy.

Scootaloo got on her feet. Her lip was quivering, she wanted to say the word but she found it hard, she found it imposable. It was as if her mind was using all the pent up denial and acceptance it had to reject it. Though finally, tears welled up in her eyes and a smile crept on her face.

"MOMMY!" Scootaloo dove into the loving hooves of her mother, sobbing a steady stream of joyful tears.

Normally she would be a bit embarrassed using such a foalish word but nothing mattered in that moment, nothing save the knowledge that the cyan peagsus stroking her mane and holding her close was her mother, flesh and blood.

Rainbow Dash simply looked at Twilight who herself couldn't help crack a wide grin.

"Congratulations Rainbow Dash." Twilight said softly.

"Congratulations?" Applebloom whispered, "Scootaloo was born a long time ago..."

"She's being polite you dipstick." Sweetie Belle spat.

The two pegasus finally left eachother's embrace and turned to their friends. Scootaloo slowly reverted to her normal self, she realized her friends had seen the whole thing and grew red in the face.

"I hate to cut things short," Twilight began, "But we ought to get going. I'm sure Rarity and Fluttershy-"

"AW SHIT!"  A collective blast of profanity erupted from all three of the crusaders.

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked, a bit shocked.

"Yeah what was that about?" Rainbow cast a worried look Scootaloo's direction. Scootaloo avoided eye contact.

"We...sorta ditched them at the spa back downtown." Sweetie Belle said sheepishly.

"Ah have a feelin' they're lookin' fer us." Applebloom laughed nervously.

"It isn't going to be pretty when we find them that's for sure." Scootaloo cringed.

"It'll be fine once we explain what happened." Twilight said as she opened the door to go downstairs, "So long as you girls keep your potty-mouths in check."

"Got it!" Applebloom replied. Speeding out the door.

Sweetie Belle, Rainbow, and Scootaloo took their time. Rainbow Dash had a hoof around Scootaloo as Sweetie walked beside them.

They made their way back into the bright streets of Canterlot. It wasn't even noon yet.

They finally made their way to the spa, Rarity and Fluttershy were not present.

"Uh oh." Sweetie Belle said meekly, "They're looking for us."

"Relax," Rainbow Dash assured the filly, "Like Twilight said, Rarity might blow her top but once we explain everything you'll be fine."

"I hope so." Sweetie Belle groaned. "I already ticked her off once."

"How bad could it possibly be?" Scootaloo asked.

Apparently it could be terrible. One good thing is that Rarity no longer had to deal with Scootaloo, one bad thing though is that this meant all of her anger could now be directed at her sister. Sweetie Belle had never seen Rarity this furious, and it seemed Fluttershy hadn't either as she was hiding under a bed in the hotel room.

"...And one more thing!" Rarity screamed. Yes, screamed. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?! This is the largest city in Equestria! The fact that you three made a stupid decision to trot along by yourselves is simply unacceptable!"

Sweetie Belle all but cowered in the corner of the room, ears flat and eyes shut. It had been an hour of this. One straight hour of Rarity screaming and lecturing. With a few tearful intermissions.

Apparently Rarity was expecting something.

"Well?! Have you anything to say for your...your..inexplicable behavior?!"

Sweetie kept her eyes shut. "I'm really sorry sis."  It was but a whisper. Sweetie was genuinely scared.

Rarity finally seemed to calm herself down.

"I don't want to hear a word from you for the remainder of the evening understood?"

"But-"

"NOT A WORD!"

Sweetie Belle simply nodded and bolted out the door into the hall where Applebloom was laughing hysterically. Everypony else didn't seem to share in her humor.

"You okay Sweetie Belle?" Asked a concerned Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle simply nodded and Scootaloo pulled her into a hug.

"You think we can go inside now?" Rainbow Dash joked.

"Well we have no choice now." An annoyed Twilight said, "We need to finish sorting out some things before we attend the parade tonight. We need to be well rehearsed because timing will be crucial."

They slowly returned inside and went over the grand plan.

Twilight had spent some time in the archives prior to the confrontation examining the princesses, the layout of Canterlot castle among other things. She knew the place by heart as she had lived their while studying under the princess and had been there on countless occasions, however the other ponies were not as fortunate in her expansive knowledge of the area thus she felt the need to be sure of every detail.

The crusaders had, despite their antics, acrewd considerable skill in stealth tactics. Odd considering they liked to be anything but, however, this was serious and, they still had that bad taste in their mouths about the origin of the cutie marks. They had an axe to grind.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were to command the aerial portion of this plan. The Wonderbolts were to be performing at this parade, they were Canterlot's only means of aerial defense outside of Cloudsdale which unbeknownst to the politicos of Canterlot, were anything but on their side.

Rarity? Well Rarity was to follow Twilight and provide as "backup". Rarity objected to this numerous times as she felt unused but when provided alternatives such as aiding the crusaders (involved crawling through sewage and furnace shafts) or, being a distraction which implied being alone while all hell broke loose, she was contempt with her initial assignment.

"...all of the gaurds including my brother will be in the parade itself, the only shield will be around the city itself." Twilight was pointing to various points on a map sprawled upon a bed while the other ponies stood by and around her watching and listening intently.

"What about Caedence?" Rarity asked.

"Crystal Empire." Twilight answered, "From what my brother told me there seems to be a bit of a localized celebration there as well so she opted to manage that instead."

Rainbow of all the ponies looked the most uneasy. Scootaloo noticed this and muzzled her mom gently.

"What's up?" Scootaloo asked, concerned.

Rainbow let out a sigh, "I never thought in all my life I'd have to go against the Wonderbolts; I never thought they would be my enemies."

"I never thought I'd have to sabotage one of my brother's favorite occasions, let alone dismantle everything he's worked for." Twilight said, "It's hard for all of us but it must be done."

Rarity made one last attempt to back out. "I honestly have never seen any reason to believe the princess is evil or sinister save the literature we reviewed back in Ponyville, honestly this seems to be a personal endeavor."

"I wouldn't bring you all here, completely uproot our lives if it was just a grudge between myself and Celestia," Twilight said, "Irony is she always taught me to live for the best for myself and for everypony around me. Evil does not have to be opaque, injustice does not have to be swift; it can be deliberate, discrete, and paced. If we simply think on the surface and let this extortion continue, things will come crashing and we'll have nopony to blame but ourselves."

The mares nodded in agreement. The fillies seemed bored and antsy. Twilight noticed this.

"You three are going to act as bugs, meaning you will be listening in on some very important discussions, which requires each and every one of you to play a part: Applebloom you will take notes, Sweetie Belle you will relay what you hear to Applebloom to assist her task and Scootaloo, you will be the lookout.

"Lookout! Why me?" Scootaloo pouted.

"Aw come on kid, it's a lot better than having to listen to a bunch of old ponies talk." Rainbow rustled the fillies mane.

"I guess." Scootaloo conceded.

"So, if you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy asked. It had been some time since she talked when everypony was around. "How will we all know the others have made it in their duty?"

An immature trio of snickers could be heard.

"Great question Fluttershy." Twilight smiled. "We will all meet at the castle gardens. Nopony will be there during the ceremony and given the route won't be there after the first part is complete."

"Alright so can we go now?" Applebloom was bouncing anxiously.

"Yes, we should probably get you girls where you need to go." Twilight sighed. She looked at her friends with a look of sheer determination.

"Are we ready girls?" Twilight grinned.

"We sure are!" Said Rainbow Dash. The others nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, we'll meet Spike at the Council Building, let's go." Next Chapter: Standards and Practices Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes