Of all the people that could've been standing on the other side of the door, Chrysalis' name hadn't even made Luna's top one thousand guesses; still, there she stood, looking as though she had been sleeping rough in an alleyway for a month rather than having just spent the night in Harmony Hotel. “Do we hug or do we shake hands?” Chrysalis asked, handing a sparkly green gift bag over to her older sister. “Just a warning: you try to do the kissy-kissy thing, I will kick your scrawny behind.”

        “It was one time,” Luna said, rolling her eyes as she accepted the bag, looping the handles around her wrist. “Let's try a hug, eh? See how it feels, for old time's sake, anyway.”

        Chrysalis' arms gripped her sister with a strength that was surprising in such a slender frame.

        Returning the embrace, Luna said after a moment's pause, “This isn't so bad, is it?”

        Breaking free of each other's clutches, Chrysalis stepped inside Luna's apartment and cast a scrutinising eye over the décor; it was all very typically her, with the majority of the fixtures and fittings picked out in midnight blue. A white crescent-shaped couch dominated the living room, and if the sweat-soaked sheets blanketing it were any indication, it was also doubling as her sister's primary sleeping area. The navy curtains were drawn shut, but when Chrysalis pulled them open a cinch and had a look outside, she discovered that the apartment had a rather nice view of Mane Street.

        “You know it's pretty much customary to bring a sick person grapes while they're recovering, right?” Luna said, her brow furrowing slightly as she investigated the contents of the gift bag handed to her earlier by her sister. In between the stacks of puzzle books, DVDs, racy magazines and chocolate bars there were also numerous bottles of wine.

        “And I did,” Chrysalis replied, nodding her head in turn at each of the bottles of Merlot Luna held in either hand. “Your favourite kind, too. Okay, they may be a little bit more aged than you're used to, say six-to-eighteen months more, but I was always taught that it was the thought that counts in a present.”

        Luna made to say something, then thought better of it and simply settled for shaking her head wryly instead. Some people just didn't change, and her younger sister was clearly one of them. “It's … good to see you again, Chrys. Thank you for the gifts. They're very-” she managed a smirk “-thoughtful.”

        “Good to see you again, too, Lulu,” said Chrysalis; her eyes flitted uncertainly about the apartment, as if searching for something. Or someone. “Is … she around?”

        “Celestia? Uh-uh. She said she'd come around some time after school this afternoon.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

        “I still haven't spoken to her since I arrived,” Chrysalis said, the admission bringing a tight-lipped smile to her face. “I'm supposed to be starting as interim vice-principal next week, and I still can't bring myself to face her directly.”

        Luna, suppressing a sigh, pointed at a chair in the living room; she disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, and the sound of a cork popping made Chrysalis prick up her ears in interest. She returned a moment later with two full wineglasses in tow. “You know our big sister. She doesn't hold a grudge against anyone for anything. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you again.”

        “Twilight said as much,” replied Chrysalis. She shook her head again. “Anyway, never mind all of that. How are you, Lulu?”

        “I still hate being called Lulu-”

        “-I know, that's why I do it-”

        “-but apart from that, yeah, I'm good.”

        “Really?”

        “Really.”

        Chrysalis took a small sip of her wine, curling her lip up at the acidic flavour. While it was definitely a nice change of taste from the gut-rot served in Salt Block Saloon, she couldn't help but lament the lack of kick to it all the same. “What happened? If you want to talk about it, that is.”

        “It wasn't any one thing,” Luna said, fingering the stem of her glass pensively but never once bringing it to her own lips. “Mostly, just a feeling of being eternally unappreciated, I suppose.” She shot her sister a look. “I guess you'd know more about that than me, though.”

        “Yeah,” Chrysalis replied softly, eyes half-lidded as she recalled all the years spent wandering around aimlessly after being kicked out of CHS by the school board before finally putting down some semblance of roots in Palomino Creek. Literally, the furthest you could get from Canterlot before you'd start heading back there in the opposite direction.

        “Celestia never wanted you to leave, in spite of what you might think, Chrys.”

        “She didn't exactly fight my corner when the board demanded my resignation,” said Chrysalis, an edge of bitterness in her voice.

        “You were on your final warning. Good at your job or not, they'll only turn a blind eye to your, uh, extracurricular activities for so long,” Luna replied defensively, wishing that they didn't have to have this argument again. “Tartarus, if it wasn't for the fact that the Friendship Games are coming up this term and Mi Amore Cadenza took a job at Crystal Prep, they probably wouldn't even have allowed you to return.”

        “Huh. Twilight left the part about Mi Amore Cadenza out.” Well, it only made a modicum of sense that her sister would have cultivated multiple options for the post; still, that skinny little jezebel …? The so-called Princess of Love just because she happened to be a rather good guidance counsellor?

        Luna said nothing.

        Downing the rest of her wine quickly, Chrysalis tossed a scrap of paper on to the table, then got up and headed toward the front door. “Take it easy, okay? If you need me for anything, just call.”

        Luna followed her sister to the door and put a hand on her shoulder. Chrysalis didn't turn around. “Forgive Celestia, please? She didn't want you to get fired, she really didn't want you to leave Canterlot. You know that, if you'd asked her to, she would've used her influence to get you a job anywhere in the city. You were always so stubborn, though, always so determined to do things by yourself in your own … style.”

        Disentangling herself from her sister's grip, Chrysalis said nothing as she made her exit.

        Luna simply stared at the opposite door, a half-angry half-flustered expression on her face.