The castle doors closed as an embrace on the changelings, an embrace of cool air and the trailing aroma of freshly baked breads. Like mice enticed to the tune of a piper, the bug ponies followed their lunar host through halls decorated with vibrant banners and stained glass that scaled the walls. Colorful eyes, serving noses, peered into passing chambers and side corridors for the beckoning smell of grain. Indiscernible whispers from behind drew her attention, and with it a giggle, and so Luna turned to Thorax.

"Midday is luncheon for the castle's staff," she explained. "I'd love to compliment a changeling's sense of smell, but if I'm honest, the cooks draw even me from my lofty chambers come this time of day."

"Oh, that's alright. I don't need a good sense of smell to tell it smells great," Thorax expressed, his magenta eyes lighting up. "We don't tend to eat, nor have bread available that often, but I've had it before while staying in the Crystal Empire."

The bug monarch cast attention to his dotelings. "Though, I don't think any of these guys can say the same thing."

"Thorax, what is that?", came Cimex, rising to his hind legs to better sniff the air. He fell back to all fours as a grey hound, turning his snout's analysis to the ground. A few changelings egged him on with pumps of their hooves, commending his quest for the elusive treat.

"You all can eat physical food?" Luna inquired, stopping in pace for a moment and turning. "Is love not all that sustains you, now?"

"It's complicated," Thorax sighed, watching his sizable grey puppy travel ever farther from the group. With a flare of magic he wagged the dog's tail, seizing both his attention and his gaze. A stern look returned the drone to his normal form, and he championed a sheepish look before returning to the group with a few frantic trots. "We can eat physical food, and we gain some energy from it, but it's never been able to sustain us, not before or since we transformed."

"Ah, a recreational usage, then," Luna commented. "For ceremonies and the like, I presume?"

"Uhuh," said Thorax. "We have weekly pot lunches and some other food events, sometimes. Everyling loves the chance to eat physical meals for the taste. The social part is way more important, though."

Luna chuckled. She gave the small crowd of drones her attention. "Not so different from ponies in the least. Well, should any of you care to sample the kitchen staff's work, please feel free. They are gracious enough to allow my sister and I to partake on our strolls by the kitchen, I can't imagine they would take umbrage with honored guests doing the same."

Any chance for modest refusal on his drone's part was squandered, as Thorax looked about to see colorful tails leaping from his side in an instant, vanishing around a hallway corner. The alpha changeling winced, and Luna laughed, to the resulting screech of surprise from some poor kitchen staff worker.

"Oh gosh," Thorax breathed, his hoof retreating to the back of his head. With every faint cry and crash from the other room his wince grew more rigid. "Uh, I guess now might be a good time to say I really appreciate you entertaining us, princess. I'd hoped most of our energy would be spent on a city tour by now, but we're all still a bit antsy. You're sure we're not interrupting anything?"

Luna watched him closely. His body language, his smile as fragile as a dying candle flame. She smiled back, and he fidgeted. She sought his eye, and he socialized with the floor tiles, instead.

The princess fought her snicker valiantly. Twilight's assessments were spot on, as usual. The poor moosebug's self-esteem was adorably lacking.

"Walk with me?"

Thorax blinked. "Walk with you?"

"Mhmm," Luna chimed, nodding her head in invitation to the hall laid before them. "You're most certainly not interrupting anything. Quite the contrary, actually. I've something I wish to show you, before Twilight and my sister inevitably steal your attention away for the day."

Again Thorax blinked, an idle reflex of his buffering thoughts. Braving his anxieties, he trotted before the kitchen's open doorway and chanced a look inside. His fabricated fears of destruction were laid to rest before the sight of an immaculate kitchen/dining room. Long oak tables set with brilliant china and silverware were seated with a dozen or so ponies, generously partaking in what was assumedly a hearty meal of their own creation. Just past the ponies, his flock of colorful bugs had organized themselves into an efficient lunch room line along a buffet table. One by one they left with modest helpings of breads, lettuces and fruits.

"Thorax, come see!" called Calor, far louder than Thorax's comfort was willing to tolerate. His onset grimace quickly became a frantic grin for the dozen eyes latching onto him.

"They have bread with butter, garlic and herbs," Calor trailed on, practically salivating as he held aloft his precious tray of grains. "When we get back home I'm definitely going to start a Friends Baking Committee! I don't think I can live without this bread! Come try some!"

"That's okay, Calor, I'm not very hungry, right now," Thorax countered, raising a hoof to garnish further attention, albeit seeking only his drones'. "Guys, do me a favor and stay here for a few minutes while you have something to eat, okay? Princess Luna needs my help with something. We'll be right back. No running off, and no bothering anypony. We're guests here, and we need to behave ourselves."

Nods of changelings only half paying attention rounded the table and buffet line, as breads and lettuces were consumed with gusto. With a defeated shake of his head, Thorax gave the observing princess his best face. His cheeks reddened to her most zestful giggle yet, and together they meandered past the doorway and towards the silent halls, beyond.

"You have such attentiveness towards them," Luna said softly. "Never did I doubt Twilight Sparkle's notes, but there is a sense of wonder to be felt, experiencing the things she described, myself. You really are like their surrogate parent now, aren't you?"

Thorax had become one with the hall's many artworks. The princess's words tugged at him, reeling him in from the stained glass windows, which bathed the passage in colored light.

"I'm a guardian, a protector, a leader," Thorax rattled off, deflating a sigh in the same breath. "I suppose a parent is the closest comparison, though there are differences. Sometimes I'm just a good friend, and that's all I have to be. I want them to develop friendships for themselves, just as I did, and to discover themselves. Anything I can do to encourage that is what I'm here for."

Luna beamed, not to the monarch, but in a far away stare that transcended the room.

"To hear such aspirations from a changeling...my goodness, the marvelous times we live in. Forgive my late input on the subject, but it's such a lovely thing to see. Quite the contrast to what we've come to expect from the she-demon."

Thorax snorted, a slip that streaked redness across his cheeks.

"The she-demon?", he repeated in a rasp.

"I don't deign to refer to her by her former, self-proclaimed title," Luna remarked, offering a wink. "Celestia says it's foalish passive aggression, but I say a snake such as Chrysalis doesn't deserve the recognition."

Thorax fell into the folds of thought once more, lowering his head as he walked. His hooves pressed into a soft, midnight blue rug, and he traced its patterning with his eyes as he crossed it.

"Would you believe that some changelings actually missed the way things were with her, at first?"

He noted the sharp turn of Luna's head in his peripheral.

"Not a lot, mind you," he went on, calming himself in observing a flurry of birds soar by the windows. "Almost everyling was ready to try something new, to not always feel starved and desperate, trapped under her hoof. But there were some who resisted change all the same, some who denounced the idea of sharing rather than taking. Some of them missed her assuredness after seeing how meek I was."

"Hmm, we've a term for such things here in Equestria," Luna replied at last. Her tone was stern, but a smirk awaited the changeling. "'Stockhoof Syndrome', I believe. Irrational feelings of alliance towards a captor, abuser. Can't imagine how else the witch might obtain affection."

She drew a laugh, and that was all she needed.

"In more pleasant news, however, we've arrived," Luna continued, guiding the changeling to her side with a motion of her head. Thorax watched her, expecting more, but only patient curiosity awaited him.

And so Thorax looked around, and audibly gasped. The narrow, decorated hallway had given way to a commanding chamber, lined with bouquets of vivid purple flowers and deep blue tapestries. Lean pillars of light beset the tile floor in sequences of stripes, cast there by the tallest windows the changeling had ever seen.

Above all else was a smell, a light tickle in Thorax's nose. It soothed, yet enticed. With each breath his grin grew decidedly larger, as did more teeth go on display.

"This flower is known as 'lavender'," said Luna, summoning a bouquet from its home on the wall. It held itself aloft in her deep marine aura, bobbing in the air between the two of them. "It is among the most calming of scents, as well as a lovely shade of purple. Do you recognize it?"

The invitation too good to resist, Thorax ventured a more direct sniff. With a shiver in both body and tone, he expressed his approval.

"No, I've never seen or smelled anything like it!", he expressed. "Do you always decorate the castle with it like this?"

"On occasion," Luna replied, returning the delicate plant to its holster. "But today, I did this in light of your visit. You see, through Twilight's notes I learned of the role rest plays in your magic, now. As a caretaker of the night, restful sleep is my speciality. I wasn't sure if you had heard of lavender, before, so I decided to show you and find out."

Before Thorax could respond, another object was offered to him, floating in the alicorn's aura. A modest purple pouch with a silver pull string prompted the changeling to raise a receiving hoof. Specks of dirt clung to the sack's soft fabric - she had stored it in the same pitcher the bouquet came from.

"Lavender's scent is said to promote restorative sleep, and some say it even brings about pleasant dreams," Luna continued. "There are enough seeds in that pouch to grow several flower beds. I thought you might plant them near where you all rest. If nothing else, I'm sure it will bring your home a bit more personality."

"Oh my gosh, that's...so nice of you," Thorax whimpered, teetering on the edge of waterworks. "But are you sure? Do you have enough? I wouldn't want to take all you have."

"Trust me, I have more of the plant than I could possibly ever need," Luna dismissed with a waive of her hoof. "For a previous birthday I was gifted a greenhouse near the southern edge of the castle gardens, a joint gift from my sister and the castle's groundskeeper. In it I grow a plethora of lavender, as well as some other personal favorites."

Nodding, Thorax lifted the pouch to the lowest spike on his antler, where it was left for further carrying.

"I didn't know you were a gardener," he said, just before suffering a stammer. "W-well, I guess I technically don't know anything about you, asides your role in Equestria."

Luna giggled, reeling the timid changeling even further.

"I suppose it's surreal to see princesses engaging in simple things, no matter where you come from," she mused. "Raising the moon and defending dreams is a steep obligation, true, but I manage a few hobbies all the same."

Laughs traveled the air, faint and coming from the way in which the pair came. Their hooves followed the frivolity, and soon the stained glass depictions of pony triumphs and coronations lined up for Thorax once again.

"As for the gardening, I appreciate the compliment, but I merely dabble in the art," Luna said. "Compared to our groundskeeper I'm just a novice. Though, I am thankful that the one flower I do care for may be of use to you."

"Oh, I can't wait to show everyling," Thorax chirped, caught up in the shades of bended light. "I already know they'll be loved right away. The hive has sprouted with plant life, but we don't have very many scented flowers - mostly a lot of vines and shrubbery. I'd love to see if I can use this to help calm little changelings down for cluster naps. I bet our feelings forum coordinator would love some, too."

They passed a glass depiction of Discord, frozen in stone before the might of the elements. Thorax let out a chuckle, recognizing more than one face among the group of ponies vanquishing him.

"If I may tilt the topic, how do these 'cluster naps' usually work?" Luna asked. "In regards to you, I mean. Twilight's notes mentioned how large these sleeps can grow, and how your magic, as the alpha, distributes among your subjects, but I'm left wondering how you manage to organize such gatherings."

"Organize them?" Thorax repeated.

"You saw the line of ponies outside the castle doors today, yes?", Luna said with rhetoric, rolling her exhausted eyes for effect. "Three days of the week they line up to seek our council on personal matters of property distribution, financial deals, so on and so forth. We do our best to aid them on a first-come-first-serve basis, hence the line and designated times. It would appear to me that 'cluster naps' might call for a similar approach. How do you handle whose turn it is to rest next to you, and whose turn it is to rest further away?"

Thorax's teeth glinted. "Well, I guess you could say there's a process. It depends on the size of the group, but there is some overlap. Honestly, it'd be easier to show you than explain it. Would you like to see?"

Luna laughed. "Is my heart ready to witness such purity and love, up close? Well, suffice to say I'm ready to find out."

From atop a mound of compiled decorations, manifested paraphernalia featuring his own face and a slew of benches, rocks and walkways stacked haphazardly from the school's nearby courtyard, Discord sat upon a golden throne, crossing his scaled foot over his goat leg. With every wiggle of his clawed toes, he could practically see another puff of smoke escape the headmare's flared nostrils.

"What in Equestria is this, Discord?"

Discord's eel-like neck swam to attention.

"Did somecreature hear something? I most certainly did. It almost sounded like...disapproval." The spirit's beady eyes lazily drifted down the mountain of table linens and forgotten 'Faculty Appreciation Day' banners. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is an appreciation event, Headmare Twilight. I'm here to be appreciated. If thou has an issue with the Lord of Vice Headmares, I'm afraid you'll have to come back another day and go through the proper channels."

A series of desks materialized to Twilight's left. She turned, and five rows of Discords in proper suit and tie shuffled papers in perfect sequence.

"Substitute Vice Headmare, if we're going to get stingy about titles," the alicorn grumbled.

"Don't pay him no mind, Twilight," came Applejack, defusing the alicorn's sigh. In the midst of playing cards with Rainbow Dash at a so-far unclaimed picnic table, the farmer pony leaned sideways on one hoof and shot Twilight a knowing look. "You haven' been here for most of his braggin', lately, but he's still tickled pink bout' how he set up all those new changeling students, unassisted. Best leave him to it, he'll put everythin' back once he's done struttin' his ribbons. Ya know, hopefully."

"Besides, I've already tried doing something about it," said Starlight, attentively offering beverages to seated staff and teachers. "Trust me, it's not worth the headache. And anyway, shouldn't you be in Canterlot by now? Today is Thorax's big day over there, isn't it?"

"I can't in good conscience leave with things looking like this," Twilight pleaded, jabbing a hoof at a student-crafted statue for emphasis. Once a centerpiece to the courtyard, it now served as a cornerstone for Discord's pile of anarchy, pressed into the grass like an aged ruin.

"Well now you're just insulting modern art," Discord muttered, filing his eagle claw with a potato.

"Discord, just because Fluttershy is on a wildlife safari in Zebrambwe does not mean you get free reign of the school," Twilight spelled out, her tone saturated with an apparent vexation. "Yes, you are a valued member of our staff. Yes, we appreciate your input, services and enthusiasm. And yes, we're very sorry if we ever shunned or ignored you in the past."

From somewhere amidst time and space, Starlight mumbled something about ripping off still-fresh band-aids.

"But this?" Another mulberry hoof dramatically motioned to the mountain of items. "This is too much, Discord. Can you please turn things back so that everyone can enjoy the faculty event?"

The potato sprouted wings and flew away, and Discord relished the handiwork done on his nails.

"Can I?" he repeated. "Why, of course. Shall I? Well, now, that's another question entirely, Twilight. You of all ponies should know the importance of proper phrasing."

Twilight's brow twitched dangerously.

"Come now, my dear, my allegiance is to chaos, to fun," Discord guffawed, flopping about in his throne like a beached fish and drawing snickers from the attendees.

"It's not always about what you want, Discord," Twilight countered, hooves leaving the ground with the soft flapping of her wings. "You've long since learned that, you know what you ought to do, here. If you're not being inclusive, then you're being selfish."

"Celestia's student to the bitter end," Discord droned, standing atop the crown of his chair. With an aged brow he challenged the alicorn, tightening the belt holding together his form-fitting white robes. "Only a spoilsport deals in absolutes. If my one, isolated chance at frivolity this evening as a recognized faculty member is under scrutiny, then I shall do what I must to defend it."

Twilight's aura glowed, and a scroll soared into being in an arc around her head. The scroll rotated with a twirl and revealed the butterfly cutie mark of its addressed recipient. Discord froze. Twilight smirked.

"You will try."

"Wait, we're cuddling now?"

Calor's jaw unhinged in a display of betrayal as Xenica rubbed up and under Thorax's chin. Steadily thrumming all the while, she nestled herself among the alpha's hooves like they were curled pillows.

"Sorry, Calor, she was really quick," Thorax chuckled, clenching an eyelid as the violet changeling's tail waved by. "The left side is still open for you, though."

Little more than a defeated blue raspberry, Calor raised a distraught hoof.

"But...there's no hooves there to hold me."

Calor gasped. Two hooves wrapped around his neck from behind and held him hostage. His grin escaped in the same moment as a familiar love enwrapped him just as tight.

"I'll hold you, Calor," Apidae chirped. "And don't worry, you can be by Thorax - I'll be closer to the fire, that way."

With the zest of lunch behind them, and the castle's staff having long since retreated to the far corners of the castle, the small group of changelings huddled around the dining room's fireplace, a sole item against the eastern wall. The overhead lights had gone out, leaving the fire's consumption of wooden logs to illuminate the window-less room.

Luna breathed deeply, loafing herself a few feet away from the pile of bug ponies. In the embrace of the flame's light, her ethereal mane sparkled, its contents revealed like a flashlight piercing murky water. She watched Calor and Apidae roll over each other in a moment of bliss, their giggles harmonizing with the crackling fire. When Calor came to a jolted stop against chitin, an eyebrow drew to him.

"Can't go anywhere with you guys," Thorax mused, unrooting a hoof to properly assail Calor with a series of head pats. The blue drone thrummed incessantly.

"I've ventured sweet, candy-filled dreams of foals that are less adorable than this," said Luna, a giggle lacing her tone. "As soon as you mentioned resting, I knew just the atmosphere to set up. No other place in the castle boasts as much tranquility as the fireplace does. As somepony who is largely nocturnal - excluding important dates like today - it has brought me comfort on more moons than I can count."

Thorax looked to the princess more closely. Her visage in the dim glow was eerie, spectral, but nothing about her aura could scare him. He watched and waited, allowing the view of embraced changelings to sink in.

"Care to hazard a guess, yet?"

Luna broke the surface of her thoughts. "Pardon?"

"How we decide who's turn it is to nap next to me," Thorax clarified. A half-dozen pastel orbs flicked to him. "I guess it's not so easy to tell right now, because there's actually enough of me to go around. Didn't think about that. Anyway, a lot of it has to do with relationships, and how strong they are between myself and the changelings I'm resting with."

"Oh," Luna verbalized, shifting in position to better face her company. Her gaze flowed from one pair of colored spotlights to the next. "You mean to say that, those changelings you have close relations with take priority? That this somehow affects the distribution of love magic?"

"Thorax constantly gives off love energy," Apidae pitched in, offering a shiver to the touch of the fire's heat. "It affects all changelings nearby, regardless of his personal relationships with them. Of course, he benefits from being close with changelings, on top of that. This is different from the rest of us, because we can only give love energy to one or two other changelings at a time, and it's only effective when they're nearby, and our personal relationships are strong. Sometimes a strong feeling of empathy towards them works, too."

"So I see," said Luna, marking her continued following. "And what of cluster naps? How does their size fit into all this?"

"When changelings share love through cluster naps, we create a kind of circuit," Apidae lead on, pressing a cheek against Calor's and prompting his carapace to buzz. "One changeling shares love with two neighbors, they share with four more, and so on. If any of those changelings are good friends or mates, the magic is amplified."

"Add Thorax's love signal to the mix, and it's quite powerful," Xenica chipped in, contently laid under her monarch's hooves. "The more changelings in the chain who have strong personal connections, the more everyling in the chain benefits as a whole. That applies to Thorax, too."

"So love energy is amplified by relationships as it's distributed," Luna summarized, a smile dawning to her realization. "So by resting with changelings he knows well, Thorax is able to better serve the group as a whole."

"Sort of indirect favoritism, I admit," Thorax chuckled.

"Oh, I don't think so," Luna rebutted. "Such changelings have surely earned their place by your side through growing close to you as a friend. It's...a shockingly fair and effective form of magic. I'm beginning to understand how Twilight managed to write multiple volumes on the subject."

Voices fell, silenced by the subtle glow and monotonous fire. The occasional carapace buzzed with emoting wings as bug ponies curled and pressed into Thorax with deeper commitment. The more he found himself squished by bugs, the wider the monarch's etched grin grew.

"Speaking of Twilight, I feel it necessary to apologize."

Thorax blinked. In that short frame of time, Cimex wrapped around his neck as a reverse necktie. "Apologize? For what?"

"I believe at this point your city tour may need to be postponed to a future date," Luna remarked. "With Twilight still absent, you're without a guide. I'd take you, myself, but more pressingly, we're approaching the museum's opening. Knowing my luck, Celestia will appear to whisk you all away before we've even visited my favorite snack cart on the corner."

"Oh okay," Thorax said on reflex. He blinked again, leaving his eyes lidded longer, this time. Surprise, amusement, sorrow. An array of emotions came to him, though they were not his own. They were fragile, fleeting glimpses of thought that quickly faded away again. His body warmed to them, and he curiously looked around to spot them.

But not a single face reflected them. A more powerful force had masked them, triumphed over them. It was an unwavering sense of contentment, and it bloomed forth from every changeling. In the firelight's shroud their focus had depth. In Thorax's embrace they had grown calm. In attendance of the moon princess they had patience to spare.

Thorax breathed, and the bodies all around him readjusted quietly. For once in his life, his anxieties, in their entirety, had been silenced.

"Maybe we won't have time to go on a tour of the whole city today," said Thorax, bringing closure to the subject. "But a city tour was Twilight's idea in the first place, so if she's not here, I don't think it'd feel right having one, anyway. We can always come back and have one some other time."

The same pokes and prods of repositioning bugs got his attention, and the modest sack of seeds hugging his antler swayed in the motion of Thorax's head.

"I also think we're all just really enjoying this, right now. We don't usually get to enjoy firelight at the hive, and I certainly never have during the day."

"Fire means half-hour evacuation procedures lead by Pharynx," Xenica mumbled from beneath her green body pillows. "Standing in long rows, waiting for him to call your name. Except all his calls are yells, and you have a headache by the end. This is better."

"I think learning more about you would be just as interesting as a city tour, Your Majesty," Apidae added, watching the alicorn from over Calor's form.

"Me?" Luna squawked. "Oh, no, what's to tell? Should I not be asking the questions? This visit is all about yourselves."

Luna floundered before the changelings, unable to dampen their self-fueled excitement. Thorax cast her a sheepish look as his charge drowned her in questions, each one more expansive than the last.

"How does your mane do that wavy thing? Is it enchanted? Do you have really energetic shampoo?"

"Is your cutie mark just the moon and the black part is a coincidental beauty mark, or is the whole thing your cutie mark?"

"What does a moon princess do? Do you know why the moon looked weird for a long time, because I noticed that when I was a scout changeling. Was that some kind of pony holiday? It looked like a unicorn so I know it has to do with ponies."

"Did you really try to starve out the sun? Were you evil once, princess?"

Cast too deep and now beyond retrieval, the questions came to a ceasefire. All heads pivoted to a tangerine changeling, the last of Thorax's flock, peeking out from behind the alpha's flank.

"Labrum, you can't just ask the princess pony if she was evil," said Xenica, matter-of-factly. "You have to let her possible evil backstory come up naturally in conversation-"

"Xenny!" Thorax hissed, knocking changelings from their comfort in a sudden jerk of motion. "Really, guys, not every nation has leaders as casual as I am, you need to be more polite!"

"Do not worry, Thorax. I do not mind. It is a loaded question, but not one I'm uncomfortable delving into," Luna hummed, crossing her hooves and looking skyward. Her chin glowed with hellish light. "You've told me of your legacy, allow me to now tell you a bit of mine. You must understand that my time as princess, though now pleasant, is marked by suffering. Suffering in the form of jealousy, remorse, and nightmares."

"Your Majesty! Oh, what timing. Your Highness, over here!"

A lone pegasus circled the sky overhead. Though he tried, his calls could not reach the sun monarch's ears. Hers had long been filled by ceaseless queries, a roar of voices as loud as any manticore.

Perfectly centered in a mob of rabid reporters, Celestia stood calm before a storm of noise and lights. The paparazzi pushed and shoved, clamoring to gain even an inch, while their microphones held aloft in unique spectrums of colored magic.

"Your Highness," came a voice broken amidst the crowd. "Is it true the new city museum will feature potentially controversial exhibits concerning the changeling horde, and other defeated threats?"

"Princess, was the recent relapse of magic in Equestria truly the doing of a foal? Will this be confirmed by museum exhibits? Just how up-to-date will the museum's exhibits be?"

"Princess, is it true you've invited a group of changelings to attend the museum opening today?"

Frantic murmurs spread like wildfire. With the air now cleared, Celestia stepped forward, clearing her throat and pressing a hoof to it.

"I am pleased to announce that the museum will be opening very shortly," Celestia declared, her voice a contained boom within the city square. "I have just finished a personal tour with the museum's curator, Mild Menagerie, who remains inside, seeing to final preparations before the doors open this afternoon."

Looks of minor panic at the prospect of vampiric bug ponies lurking within city walls still dotted the masses, but as the alicorn spoke, the crowd's attention was seized. All voices fell before hers, while microphones and cameras hung upon every word.

"I can confirm that our grand opening today will play host to honored guests, guests who I have personally invited," she went on. "But I am afraid I am not available for further comment, I have duties elsewhere. For those who plan to stay in line, I look forward to opening this chapter in Canterlot's grand history with you all, very soon. All your questions and more will be revealed soon enough. That, I promise you."

As if waiting on the precipice of her final word, queries assaulted the princess yet again, but were in vain. The alicorn's milky wings spread, and she took off from the street below, leaving a sea of flashing lights in her wake.

Now an audience to the princess all on his own, the male pegasus cleared his throat to her approach. She nodded to him in greeting.

"My apologies," she began, offering an almost solemn look. "Preparations have been a bit of a nightmare, this morning, but we're finally finished. I do hope you haven't been waiting too long for my attention."

"Your Highness," came the male pegasus, clearly haggard and short of breath. Every word and movement labored, but still he managed to salute midair for the esteemed sun monarch. "Not at all, in fact I spotted you exiting the museum by chance on my way by. I have been dispatched by Princess Luna to locate the visiting changeling party, and I hoped they may have congregated at the museum with you."

Celestia's face grew hard. "I'm afraid they did not. Was Thorax not greeted and escorted from the city gates?"

"No ma'am," the stallion said weakly. "I regret to say that I relayed unclear orders to my squads this morning. They were under the impression that Princess Twilight would be meeting with, and escorting the changeling envoy, not our squads. They greeted Thorax at the gate, but did not escort him. We've since lost track of him."

A sigh as sharp as a spear's tip ruptured the guard pony's heart. Luna's wrath was nothing compared to Celestia's unspoken disappointment.

"Has anypony been in contact with Twilight?" the alicorn followed up. "You're certain they're not simply off on a tour within the city?"

"I suppose they could be, Your Majesty...but Princess Twilight is also presumably missing. None have seen her today, and she did not check in with any of our units as she typically does."

Celestia pressed a golden hoof against her temple. Beads of a sweat slid between the stallion's cheek and inner helmet.

"Start from the beginning, lieutenant," Celestia ordered, lowering her hoof. Her motherly tones had gone, as had the patience in her eyes. "How exactly did this impressive feat of miscommunication get started?"