Twilight quickly read through the letter Snowbright had given her, then read through it again just to be sure. Then she read through it a third time simply because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I have just been informed of your taking of the city of Prance. While I wish I could say I was surprised I sadly am not as you have proven yourself the superior force in Mareitania, which is why I am writing to you now.

We can no longer sustain this war, and so I propose a meeting between myself and the leader of this new Mareitania, be that yourself or others, so we can discuss the possible cessation of hostilities.

I am sure you are no fan of war, and would wish for a swift resolution, therefore I am hoping we can successfully negotiate a lasting peace between us so that there need not be any more loss of life in our great country.

I shall leave the messenger in your care for now so that he might deliver your response to me post haste. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

Duke Hargrave II

"Duke Hargrave the second huh?" Trixie said, having read the letter over Twilight's shoulder. "He must have some serious balls to ask for peace now after all that's happened."

"I can't believe this," Twilight muttered, and she really couldn't. "Can we trust this?" she asked Snowbright. He shrugged.

"Maybe? Maybe not. This could be genuine, or it could be a trap. Who knows?"

"You're joking right?" Trixie half yelled. "Like we could ever trust anything he might say. Even if he agreed to a peace treaty, all he'd do is use the time to recover his strength to attack again. So then we'd have to do that too, then the war would just start again. I say fuck his peace."

"Trixie..."

"Don't 'Trixie' me." Trixie sat back and folded her forelegs with a huff, "You already know what my answer to this was going to be before you even asked the question."

"Too bad it's neither of yours decision," Snowbright said evenly. There was a glint in his eye that Twilight did not like the look of.

"And why's that?" Trixie asked.

"Because the letter says he wants to discuss peace with the leader, or leaders, of our Mareitania. Not the leader of the rebellion, but the leader of the country."

"Pfft, same thing."

Snowbright looked Twilight squarely in the eyes, "No it isn't, is it Twilight?" A cold lump settled in Twilight's stomach. While she was aware that Mareitania lacked a true leader, she hoped that little fact had been missed by others. Apparently not.

"He's right," Twilight admitted after a few seconds.

"What?"

Twilight turned to look at Trixie, "I made it pretty clear that I wasn't interested in ruling Mareitania when we started this. Unfortunately we seem to have forgot to implement an actual leader for the country. So now we need one we don't have one."

"Oh great! Who should it be then? How about you Snowbright? Why can't you be leader? What would your decision be?"

"I agree with you actually, so I'd continue the war."

Trixie stopped, at little bit surprised. "Huh." She shrugged, "Well that's that then. Snowbright says it's okay, so we keep fighting."

Twilight shook her head, "Except this isn't his decision either."

"Oh come on!" Trixie shouted in exasperation, "We've got this far without a leader! Why do we need one now?"

"Twilight's right Trixie," said Snowbright. "We can't keep going without a leader, or leaders." Again there was that glint that Twilight didn't like. Snowbright was planning something, and it could hardly bode well for what was to come. "Unfortunately I'm not fully informed on forming governments, so this is all on you Twilight."

"No pressure then."

"This is just typical," Trixie complained. "We take Prance and it seems like we're coming up to the finishing line, only to have this thrown at us."

Twilight blinked, Trixie's words having triggered a memory, "What did you say?"

"I said it's typical that we take Prance and come close to winning this war, only for the last pony imaginable to approach us with a peace offer."

"You have a funny idea of what counts as typical," Snowbright said as Twilight stared into space.

"Okay, so maybe it doesn't happen very often, but still."

Nightmare. Nightmare had said something about an offer from the Duke after they took Prance. Was this that offer? And didn't she say to be careful how they approached it? Perhaps she ought to have a talk with both their resident dreamwalkers.

"Happening once makes it about as far from typical as you can get," Snowbright continued while Twilight was lost in thought.

Trixie threw her forelegs into the air, "Oh sorry if I upset your sensibilities Snowbright, but me saying it's typical doesn't actually have to mean it is typical-"

"Quiet." Both of them looked at Twilight as she stood, her expression still one of deep thought. "Snowbright, put the messenger in one of the rooms of the castle. And make sure he, or she, isn't harassed or anything."

"Alright, I can do that. What are you going to be doing?"

"I need to go talk to somepony."

"What about me?" asked Trixie, "What can I do?"

"Stay there and get some rest."

"But I feel fine. Fit as fiddle, top notch, and all those other analogies."

"Aren't those synonyms?"

"Whatever! The point is I'm okay."

Twilight smirked at Trixie, "Too bad, doctors orders. Hopefully I won't be gone too long."

Trixie laid back against the headboard and folded her legs with a sharp sigh, "This blows."

"Oh, and Snowbright?" Snowbright stopped mid-turn as he was about to leave, "Please try and keep this quiet until we have the means to deal with it."

"Of course." He left, Twilight not far behind him, although her destination was to be considerably different.

Luna added to Twilight's legacy by reading through the letter for a fourth time, her expression of surprised confusion not moving an inch the entire time.

"This is most unexpected Twilight."

"No kidding."

"I'm not sure why you've come to me though. I'm as far from the leader of Mareitania as you can get."

"I'm still going to need your help though."

"And you shall have it." Luna smiled coyly at Twilight, "I know that's not the only reason you've come to me though." Twilight snorted with mirth. Stuff like that might impress other ponies, but she knew it was a guess.

"No fooling you I see. But yeah, there is something else. Nightmare warned me about something happening after we took Prance, and I strongly suspect this might be it. I need you to help me talk to her."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Rather astute of her. You understand that this is something you'll have to do on your own as I doubt she wishes to see me any time soon."

"Yeah, I figured as much."

"At least this explains why you dragged me into a room with a bed. I was beginning to become most concerned about your intentions."

"My intentions?" Twilight blushed as she realised just what it was that Luna was trying to say. "Uh, no, nothing like that."

"I mean I'm flattered Twilight, but even though I've experimented with both sexes, nothing quite beats the feeling of a stallion-"

"Stop! For the love of Celestia, stop!"

Luna snickered at Twilight, "Ah, so it's my sister you desire?"

"No! Why do ponies always do this to me?" Twilight jumped onto the bed and lay down, "Just put me to sleep and get me in touch with Nightmare, okay?"

"Touch, she says." Luna grinned as Twilight growled at her.

"Could we please just get on with this?"

"Quite the impatient lover, aren't you?"

Twilight buried her face in her hooves, her cheeks crimson with anger and embarrassment, "For fuck sake Luna." She looked back up as she felt Luna climb up on the bed with her, "Now what are you doing?"

"What?" Luna replied innocently. "I don't know how long I'm going to have to hold you in the dreamscape for, so I might as well get comfortable."

"Raargh! Fine! Can we please get a move on? Time is kind of an issue here."

"Oh very well." Luna pressed her horn to Twilight's forehead, and waited patiently for the spell she cast to put Twilight into a deep sleep. Once she heard the first cute little snore from Twilight she cast another spell, and a fine silver thread of magic wound up her horn and towards Twilight, linking her to the dreamscape. The rest of the work was now Twilight's alone since Luna wouldn't be joining her, meaning Luna had quite a bit of time to spare.

She started by climbing back off the bed and rifling through the drawers in the various pieces of furniture. Judging by what she found this room had belonged to a mare until recently, especially if the rather racy set of lingerie she found were any indication.

She stopped, then turned to look at the slumbering form of Twilight, a devilish grin on her face.

Twilight had specifically set out not having a single expectation when she entered the dreamscape. Even that failed when she opened her eyes to find she had arrived at the very definition of a stereotypical haunted house. Dark, foreboding, eerie, and lacking in straight lines were just some of the descriptions she could give to the gothic monstrosity before her.

"Oh brother," she muttered to herself. She turned around, curious as to what lay behind her, only to find that the hill the house occupied ended a dozen paces behind her, leaving only the dreamscape itself beyond that.

Rather than explore what might happen should she step off the edge, she decided to walk to the house and knock at the door. If she was lucky Nightmare might answer. If not, well that was anyponies guess.

The door creaked open, but rather than the Luna-like pony Twilight had been expecting, or the far taller visage of Nightmare Moon, it was opened by a small black filly with a purple mane and tail of normal hair. At least the eyes were recognisably the same.

"Hi Twilight," Nightmare said, sounding totally unsurprised to see the purple alicorn knocking at her door.

"Uh, hi Nightmare... I'm sorry, but why are you a filly, exactly?"

The diminutive pony shrugged, "I dunno. Just felt like being a filly today I guess."

"So you can change the age of your body?"

"Only between this and the way you saw me last. Besides, it's not like I actually have a body as such."

"So you can't be like the way you were when we first met?"

"You mean can I look like Nightmare Moon?" Twilight grinned sheepishly. "You can say her name you know, as long as you don't mean her as in me, and no, I can't look like her for some reason. I suspect that's because Nightmare Moon was Luna, and Luna took that back when she forced us to meet. It's probably to do with dream stuff again. Stupid dream stuff."

"Okay, I suppose." Twilight looked over Nightmare into the house. She was surprised by how normal the interior appeared, although there did seem to be a lot of doors. "What is this place?"

"I-uh..." Nightmare blushed, although it was barely visible under her black coat. "I thought I'd have a go at what Luna does, helping ponies with their nightmares, but I don't seem to be very good at it."

"So you made a creepy mansion with lots of doors."

Nightmare shrugged, "It made sense at the time. So, was there something I can help you with?"

"Yeah..." Twilight stared around the inside of the house again, then shook her head rapidly before she completely lost her focus. "Do you remember telling me that something might happen after we took Prance?"

"Sure." Nightmare's eyes widened slightly, "Ah! Did it happen?"

"Yeah."

"And was it an attempt at peace?"

"It was." Twilight frowned at Nightmare, "You knew what it would be? Why didn't you tell me?"

"No offence Twilight, but I've been avoiding you in case I run into Luna again." Nightmare shivered, "It's going to be a long time until I'm ready to do that again, if ever."

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Sure, come on in and we'll see what I can fish up." She stepped to the side to let Twilight in, but quickly stepped back again, blocking her. "Just a friendly warning, don't sit on the furniture."

"Why not?"

"Because it might try to eat you. Even the bean bag." Nightmare shuddered, "Especially the bean bag."

"Right, no sitting on things." Twilight let Nightmare lead the way into the house and along the unreasonably long corridor inside, lined every few meters with a door. It seemed the inside of the house was a good deal larger than the exterior would suggest.

"Living room, living room," Nightmare repeated quietly to herself, like she had trouble remembering where it was. She stopped at a door, shook her head, then moved onto the next. She reached up and tentatively pressed a hoof to the doorknob and turned it, only for the door to whip open as a howling gale threatened to suck them both into an endless black void.

Rapidly flapping her tiny wings, Nightmare managed to pull the door shut again, and collapsed against it in a heap. "Phew. Okay, so that door's the endless black void now."

Twilight flattened her mane back down into place, her eyes slightly wild from what had just happened, "Now? What do you mean now?"

"It keeps popping from time to time. Technically it's a dream, and whoever it belongs to must be a real nihilist, because that shit freaks even me out."

"You mean these doors lead to dreams?"

"Well, nightmares more specifically, but yeah." She stood and kicked the door sharply, "Sometimes they're supposed to go where I tell them though," she growled.

"You mean you don't know?"

"I'm not as good at this stuff as Luna is, okay? Or at least I'm not as good at the kind of dream magic she does anyway. Ripping memories out of a pony's head through brute force? I'm your pony. Trying to find a gentle resolution to a bad dream? Nope, no chance. Now, can I please go to the living room?"

Twilight jumped forwards to and stop Nightmare from opening the door again, only to have a foul smelling and spittle filled blast of air blow her mane back as she saw all too deeply down the throat of the manticore that now filled the doorway.

"Nope," Nightmare said as she slammed the door closed again. She opened it again, and Twilight shrieked as a swarm of bees bore down on her. Thankfully they turned to smoke as they crossed the threshold, and stopped completely when Nightmare shut the door again.

"Gaaahhh! Is it too much to ask to get into my own living room?"

"Why is there a different thing every time?"

"Because I'm not Luna! I'm sure she could do this just fine!"

"Then stop trying to be her!"

Nightmare cocked her head slightly, "Is that what you think I'm doing? I'm doing this because I'm bored Twilight, not because I want to live up to something. Honestly... the things you ponies think. It's lonely in the dreamscape Twilight, lonely and boring, so excuse me for wanting something to do."

Twilight opened her mouth, then shut it again as what she was going to say left her. "Sorry," she said instead, just as Nightmare opened the door again, and Twilight's voice left her again as an avalanche sped down the side of a mountain towards them.

"For fuck sake," Nightmare shut the door again, and Twilight jumped as something crashed into the back of it. She backed away slowly as Nightmare stood in front of the door and bucked it open, her short legs reducing the wood to splinters. On the other side was a living room.

"Finally," Nightmare grinned. "Come on in Twilight."

Twilight cautiously walked into the room, her stance low in preparation for anything. Thankfully it seemed rather normal, apart from the beanbag seat in the corner that was mumbling to itself in a low voice as it vibrated. Then the sofa shuddered and folded in half again and again until it vanished into nothing. Another sofa popped into existence where it had been, mostly the same, but with a slightly different pattern.

"As I said, avoid the furniture," Nightmare said close enough for her breath to tickle Twilight's ear.

"Why is this place like this? It seems more like something Discord would make."

"Surely you've had those nightmares that are terrifying even though they make no sense? Oh no! My sofa's trying to eat me, or the scary carrot is chasing me and I can't get away. Really irrational stuff, and since this house is connected to a lot of nightmares it seems to be leaking through."

That explanation didn't really sit right with Twilight, but sitting in a weird house in the dreamscape with the amalgamated personality of Luna and Nightmare Moon, who were technically the same pony anyway, and who was also currently a filly, didn't leave much room for argument. "Dream stuff again?" she said instead.

Nightmare grinned happily, showing her tiny fangs, "Now you're getting it! Honestly though, it wasn't like this when I made it." She walked over to a seemingly blank section of wall, and pushed it. The wall sprung open towards her at her touch, revealing a closet filled with shelves of little orbs.

"What is that?" Twilight asked, her eyes drawn to the orbs. Each seemed to contain little flashes of imagery, changing from scene to scene.

"This is just one big mimetic exercise. If there's something I find that I consider worth remembering, I make a little orb and put it in here so I remember it. I don't actually need to look in here because I remember what I put in the orbs, but I thought you might like to see it."

"But- Wait, how can I see images in the orbs if they're your memories."

"Because I made them like that, obviously." Her magic gently lifted one of the orbs out of its place and placed it on the table in the centre of the living room. The table then freaked out and ran around, crashing into everything it could before escaping out of the broken door.

"And this I why I can't have nice things," Nightmare sighed, instead placing the orb on the floor, while Twilight sat stock still after the table's short-lived rampage. "So, what was it you actually wanted to know?"

"Uh... um..."

"Seriously?" Nightmare snickered. "You came here without knowing what you actually wanted? What? Did you just think 'Nightmare said something about this! I'll go ask her!' Talk about a knee-jerk reaction." She picked the orb back up and flicked it into the cupboard, the doors slamming shut with barely a whisper of noise behind it.

"Sorry, but this was a big thing to suddenly happen. Besides, you did say to be careful how I approached it. Care to elaborate on that?"

"You really need me to?" Nightmare rolled her eyes at Twilight, "Fine. Firstly, you don't have a government, which is a major issue that I suspect you already know about. Secondly, if you screw this up you could tear your little rebellion apart. Some ponies want peace, others want to keep fighting. Screw it up and your rebellion, as well as your country, tries to do both. A nation divided and all that."

"I realise that, but if we were to accept his offer of peace, would it be genuine?"

Nightmare shrugged, "How would I know?"

"But- B-but that's what you're supposed to be doing!"

"Not really. I could pick up on his desire to make peace, and maybe catch him planning it down to the last intricate detail. So yes it may be genuine, but that doesn't mean he won't renege on it in the future. By that point your nation is really broken since the divide between those wanting to fight and those wanting peace basically split your country in two. Well, three if you include what the Duke still holds."

"So you're saying..?"

"I'm saying you'll have to use some foresight here. Honestly though, I suggest you place his offer of peace where even Celestia's favourite toy can't penetrate."

Twilight glared flatly at Nightmare, "What is with ponies and innuendos today? You're as bad as Luna."

"I really suggest you think very carefully about what you just said," Nightmare said. The little smirk she wore at least suggested that she wasn't really offended by the comment.

"Sorry." Twilight massaged her temples with her hooves, the motion doing nothing to help her think. "Okay, so you're saying I need to do this in a way that keeps the rebellion united, and to do that I need something that everypony will follow."

"Like an actual leader for the country. Or one that isn't you. I get the feeling you know that though. Perhaps I should warn you though that you might end up breaking a few eggs making this omelette."

"Yeah, I figured." Twilight leant back and tapped her forehooves on the carpeted floor. Ideas were starting to come to her, although how many of those were useful was a different matter. The biggest point was that this had been a mostly pointless trip since she hadn't really learnt anything.

"I should probably get out of here then," Twilight said as she stood.

"Probably. I'll show you out since there's a distinct possibility you might get lost."

"Couldn't Luna just wake me up?"

"Meh, humour me." Nightmare led the way out through the shattered door and down the hallway. The soft sounds their hooves made on the carpet was the only sound for a minute until something occurred to Twilight.

"I should probably ask before I go. Is there anything else important you have to tell me?"

"Eeehhh..." Nightmare guiltily looked away from Twilight, "Not really no. I wish I did, because then I'd feel like I was actually fulfilling our bargain, but I don't seem to find anything useful."

"At least you're trying though."

"I could tell you to beware of Snowbright though. Nothing specific, and I'm not saying he's planning something harmful, but he does have some very big dreams."

Twilight groaned internally. The last thing she neither wanted or needed was Snowbright giving her more grief like the last time he did during the death sentence issue. If he even tried to manipulate things his way, there were no promises she would keep her cool.

"Okay, so here we are," Nightmare said, disturbing Twilight from her funk long enough to see the filly Nightmare holding the door open for her. She walked through and out into the dreamscape, stopping long enough to say goodbye.

"Could you maybe come to me next time you have something? This place is too weird."

"Humph, I didn't ask you to come here. Not that it wasn't a pleasure of course. Do come again, and don't bring uninvited guests. See you soon Twilight."

"Yeah, bye Nightmare." Twilight started to go, but stopped as she realised she didn't actually know how to. "How am I supposed to wake up again?"

"Just walk off the edge and you'll wake up. Come on." Nightmare led her to the edge of little island the house occupied and stepped off it, her hooves seeming to stand on nothing. "Just follow me."

"Okay then," Twilight said, not wanting to doubt Nightmare as she was managing to stand on nothing. That was her biggest mistake as she failed to find anything to stand on and gracelessly flopped over the edge into a rapid descent.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH-!"

"Wakey wakey Twilight," Nightmare laughed as the scream was abruptly ended with Twilight waking. She stepped off nothing and walked back to front door, opening it and almost getting sucked into the black void again. She jumped back from the edge and pulled the door shut, then opened it again to the sight of a harem full of bearded stallions dressed in clothing that was rather gauzy, and definitely feminine in nature.

"You know what, I quit," she said, pulling the door behind her and walking away, her body returning to her adult size. As soon as her hooves left the dirt of the hill the entire thing shrank to a point of light and vanished.

-HHH!"

Twilight bounced on the bed, her entire body spasming as she was forced to wake very quickly. She thrashed about for a moment, until she saw she was in the room she had been in before her trip.

"Oh thank goodness," she breathed, bringing a hoof to press against her heaving chest. At least until she freaked out at what was on her hoof. Her hoof, and the entire leg it was attached to was clad in a black stocking, as were the rest of her legs. She also appeared to be dressed in some very scanty black lacey lingerie.

"What the hell!?" she shrieked, scrambling backwards quickly to try and get away from it. That didn't work, so she tore it all off her using magic and tossed it away.

"Aww, I thought you looked most lovely in that," Luna said from a shadowy corner of the room.

"Luna? You did that?"

"Indeed I did. I found the ensemble in one of the drawers and thought it'd be amusing to put it on you while you were... occupied."

Twilight lay back and smothered a growl, "Are all the ponies I know here jerks? Or is this another 'be mean to Twilight' day? You didn't take pictures did you?"

"Sadly I lack a camera, but remembering it is enough." Luna grinned as Twilight glowered at her, then coughed before changing the subject. "So, did our mighty oracle provide you with insight?"

"Not really."

"There's a surprise."

"But we agreed that we need to make an official government for Mareitania. Too bad I don't really know how to do that."

"Fear not Twilight. I have already consulted my sister, and her suggestion was to get as many ponies involved in this at once, as the larger the consensus, the less individual blame."

"How is that helpful?"

Luna shrugged, "I think you missed the point there. The rebellion needs to decide on a leader, not you on your own. I would suggest a grand summit of ponies essential to the liberation be brought together here so that we might all decide on the future of Mareitania together. I know that would increase the number of dissenting voices as well, but the onus would be on Mareitania itself to find a common path. All we would have to do is act as guiding voices, and maybe do a little paperwork."

Twilight nodded as she thought the idea over, but there were one or two flaws that were nagging at her.

"We can't have everypony from the rebellion attend. That'd be madness."

"I know, and that is why we shall have to do our best to make sure everypony is at least represented in the summit. At least everypony that isn't leaving the country after the war has ended."

"And how are we supposed to filter the rebellion down to just a few ponies."

"More than just a few Twilight. A few hundred maybe. Enough to decide on who the new leader is beyond a doubt. Then that leader can decide on whether to continue the war."

"What if they want peace?"

"Then that is their choice."

"This is going to be hard isn't it?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Great."

Luna cleared her throat again, "Speaking of ponies leaving the country after the war, might I suggest informing the thestrals of certain things?" Luna pulled the door to the room open, and a quartet of thestrals fell into it, including Shadow. "I appear to be developing a serious case of stalkers."

"Yeah... Shadow?"

Shadow jumped up into a crisp salute, "Yes ma'am!" Her cheeks were still bright red from having been caught spying on them. "Might I say you looked ravishing in that lingerie ma'am!"

Twilight glared at Luna, who grinned apologetically back. "Shadow, I need you to gather your thestrals and bring them to the mess hall here in the castle in an hour. Oh! And Spitfire and Soarin too."

Shadow saluted again, wincing as she poked herself in the corner of her eye, "Ah! Yes ma'am! Right away your royal sexiness!"

Twilight smiled uneasily as the four thestrals quickly departed to carry out their orders, then stomped up to Luna. "If you've started a thing here, I'm going to murder you in your sleep so Nightmare can watch it happen."

"I'll provide her with popcorn."

Twilight paced about the mess hall, ignoring the large number of thestrals that were watching her as she paced about sealing the doors and soundproofing the room. She had no intention of what was about to be revealed going any further than the ponies in this room for now.

"Okay," she said to herself, satisfied that eavesdroppers would have a hard time picking up on anything. "Let's get this over with."

She jumped up on the table nearest the end of the room where Luna was patiently waiting with her hooves clamped over her ears to block out the thestrals chattering that was becoming more and more high pitched in their excitement.

"Okay! Listen up!" Twilight waited for the room to fall silent. "It's come to my attention that the other day I ran out of the castle screaming Luna's name at the top of my voice. Since Trixie was on the verge of dying I didn't think much of it at the time, but I think it's something we should address."

Twilight held the pause for a moment, "It's true, Princess Luna is here in Mareitania." Excited chatter rippled around the room as Twilight gestured for Luna to join her on the table. As she climbed Luna's body shimmered as she transformed into her true nature, and a stunned silence filled the room as she smiled at the gathered ponies.

"Greetings my children."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" Twilight and the Wonderbolts slammed their hooves over their ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound of a couple hundred overexcited thestrals squealing sounds beyond pony comprehension. Luna merely grimaced and waved a hoof in an attempt to get them to quieten down, which they slowly did.

"I'm sorry for the deception, but it was necessary to keep my presence here in Mareitania a secret as I might upset a lot of ponies otherwise. That said, it's imperative that you tell nopony of this."

The thestrals all pressed a hoof to their chest and bowed. Twilight had no idea what that was about, but if she were to guess she thought it would be something Luna instilled in the thestrals before her banishment. Thestrals did live a long time, so even the youngest thestral here would probably only be third or fourth generation, and may have had certain mannerisms passed on to them.

"I would also like to pass onto all of you an invitation. You have all proven yourself excellent warriors, and made your mother proud." That made Twilight think. Did Luna really see all thestrals as her children? And for their part did the thestrals consider Luna their mother? Or spiritual mother at least. Twilight knew the thestrals referred to Luna as the Night Mother, but just 'mother' was new.

Twilight suspected she'd never get a straight answer, even out of Luna.

"And so," Luna continued, "I would be greatly honoured if you would all join my Night guard as proud defenders of Equestria once this foul war is over."

"EEEEE-" Twilight didn't even get a chance to react that time, and was more than a little concerned when the sound suddenly became muted. She stood there confused as Luna waved the thestrals down again, then became even more confused when Luna started moving her mouth, but no sound came out.

Then something warm and wet dribbled down the side of her head, and she pressed a hoof to it. When she pulled her hoof away again it had a thin smear of blood on it.

She looked up at the thestrals, and caught sight of the Wonderbolts doing something similar to herself, both of them panicked at their loss of hearing.

Twilight stood there in a daze as Luna's mouth kept flapping soundlessly. It wasn't until Luna poked her in the side that she knew she was being talked to. Even then she could only guess as to what was being said to her.

"I think the thestrals made me go deaf," Twilight said dumbly. Or at least that's what she hoped she said. Talking without hearing yourself was weird.

Luna winced and said something else to her. Twilight quickly learnt that lip-reading really wasn't one of her strong points, although she could read the guilty expressions many of the thestrals wore just fine.

Luna grabbed her chin and forced Twilight to look at her. She said something that looked like she was saying that her hearing should come back in an hour or two.

That, or it was a suggestion to smack a shower of glue, which seemed less likely.

In the end being deaf had helped her ignore the distractions while she wrote a shortlist of ponies to attend the summit. Not a huge bonus, but silver linings were precious things.

"I've finished fixing the Wonderbolts' hearing," Luna said as she entered Trixie's room, Trixie herself snoring peacefully, having fallen asleep when Twilight started asking for her opinions on who to invite. "Wait... can you hear me?"

"Yes I can hear you. Now. Remind me never to get myself into a situation like that again. I suppose that does at least mean the thestrals were pleased?"

Luna smiled, "You might say that. I'm surprised how many of them are capable of fully projected screeching like that here. The skill has more or less died out in Equestrian thestrals."

"Excuse me if I'm not too upset by that. It's an effective weapon, but murder on the ears."

"Oh no, I don't mean the squealing. All thestrals do that."

"I know what you meant Luna, it comes from them being part dragon, projecting their voice like that. Shadow told me about it. Anyway, have a look through this."

Luna took the papers Twilight held up for her and read through them. So far the list of who to invite to the summit consisted of quite a few ponies, starting with the usual suspects in the liberation front, and ending with some kind of representative from each town in rebellion held territory.

"Very good I suppose. I think you're missing something though."

"Who's that?"

"The nobles."

Twilight laughed at Luna, but it died out slowly when she saw Luna remained straight-faced, "You're serious, aren't you. What exactly have the nobles done to warrant an invitation to this?"

"Besides provide funding for a lot of ventures?" Twilight sighed and looked away. "That isn't the point though," Luna continued. "If you don't invite the nobles they will still turn up demanding to know why they weren't invited. If you invite them it'll save you a lot of grief."

"But why should they all come to represent themselves? The, and I really hate to say this, but the 'common' ponies don't get that."

"That's because the 'common' ponies aren't self-important fools Twilight." Luna placed the papers back on the desk in front of Twilight, "It'll be easier this way. Besides, I'm not suggesting that we listen to them. We'll force them to choose a representative for them, like Ivory, or this Hayfield fellow I've heard of."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully, "Alright, I suppose that's not so bad." Twilight added all the nobles she could remember onto the list, adding a note to find Ivory and ask if she'd missed any of them. "Anypony else you can think of?"

"What about the pegasi? Who is their representative to be?"

"The pegasi are all leaving for Equestria after the war ends, as well as the thestrals. They don't need representation."

"That doesn't mean pegasi won't continue to be born within Mareitania. Future pegasi will need their interests to be protected, lest they fall under the same biases our current pegasi do. They'll need both protection and support, at least until those biases die out."

"Hmm..." Currently the only pony Twilight could think of was Ivory, but she already had more than enough on her plate. "I'll have to think about that one. Anything else you can think of?"

"Who's representing Prance?"

"Prance? Uh..." Twilight skimmed down the list, then read through it again more thoroughly. It seemed she'd neglected to include Prance. "I suppose we could represent Prance ourselves?"

Luna shook her head, "Nay Twilight, we cannot. We will be moving on, and I suggest we leave somepony behind in our stead."

"How about that Mash pony Fleur talks about?" Trixie mumbled from her bed. "He seems like a decent enough pony."

"I suppose so. We'll have to ask him first though. Other than that I think we're all prepared. Well, prepared to send the invitations out anyway. We still have to clean the city up, fix the section of wall that we broke, tidy up the castle, and organise the catering..." Twilight rested her chin on the desk, "So much to do."

Luna laid a hoof on her back, "We have a week and a bit Twilight, it'll be fine."

"Yeah, you can do it," Trixie agreed. "Preferably somewhere else, away from Trixie. It's hard pretending to sleep when you're being so noisy."

"Don't think you're getting out of this completely Trixie. You get a job too."

Trixie sat up slightly, "Oh? And what mighty task can you count on me to complete flawlessly?"

"Well, since Snowbright is probably going to be distracted by disagreeing with everything I suggest at the summit, you get to be in charge of security."

"Oh goody, authority, my favourite."

Author's Notes:

I love me some bat ponies.