"Any threes?" a Royal Guard asked, sitting at the tiny folding table in the equally tiny room of the tiny guard post. It was the bare skeleton of a train station at the edge of the world.

"Go fish," the other replied. While he sifted through the mess of worn cards, the other grabbed his drink and pried it free of the frost sticking it to the table. "Damn this cold!" he cursed. His words were barely audible over the howling winds of the Frozen North outside. The tiny building had zero insulation from either the noise or the arctic temperatures. The tiny coal furnace barely kept the room inside above freezing.

"So what got you into the shit outfit?" the third asked.

"Sleeping on duty. You?"

"Same. what about you?"

"Statutory," the third said. The other two sneered. "Hey, she had her cutie mark. But I guess the rules are stricter when you're in the guard."

"Mm-hmm," the other confirmed.

"So it was this or... you know. Snip snip."

"I would've chosen the knife, I think," the other said, shivering.

"What about you, El Tee?" the other asked the forth guard there, the only pony standing watch at the frosty window.

"I was assigned here," the lieutenant answered.

"Yeah, but what did you do wrong?"

"Yeah, nopony comes here by choice. It's either this or the dungeon."

"I accepted this assignment voluntarily," the lieutenant answered, his eyes never leaving the snowy horizon.

"The fuck did ya do that for?"

"Do you hate yourself or something?"

"No. I just know the real reason for this remote post," the officer replied.

"Yeah, to look out for abominable snow ponies!"

"No. Yetis!"

"Windigos."

"Windigos aren't real."

"Well neither are Yetis."

The officer ignored the ranting arguments of the guards tasked under his unit. He just kept a vigilant watch.

"So when are you gonna tell us why we're really here?" they asked.

"When you get some brass on your lapel," the lieutenant answered, tapping his officer insignia with his hoof.

"I bet El Tee stabbed a guy," one of them said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Came home early from a shift, caught his wife in bed with another stallion, and stabbed him."

"Pretty sure they hang you for murder."

"I didn't say he killed him. Just, I dunno. Cut him or something."

"Maybe he tried to stab Celestia... with his dick."

"Hehe- yeah, but then when she saw how little his peener was she just felt sorry for him and sent him here." They all laughed at the officer's expense.

"Can it," the lieutenant barked at them.

"Or else what? You'll send us... here!?" They kept laughing. He ignored them. He kept watch, looking for any sign of it returning. Princess Celestia herself had instructed him, as she had all of the officers assigned to this post, to look for the signs of it's return. She wasn't precisely sure what those signs would be. So he had to be vigilant. It could be small, something subtle, that required the keen eye of an attentive guard. Something as small and faint as-

With a thunderous crash and boom, blinding white light flooded the window. The lieutenant was sent tumbling to the floor. The ground shook violently as the room was lit up. It was not the soft yellow light of the sun that never visited this dark part of the world. It was the crisp white light of lightning. But it came, not from a quick bolt, but from everywhere, and it persisted, forcing them to shield their eyes with their hooves.

When his pupils had finally shrank to pinpricks, he could just barely look through his squinted eyelids. It was like looking into the sun, but it was there, a few klicks in the distance. The shimmering crystal spires he had been shown in Celestia's ancient books. This was it. After a thousand years of waiting and watching, he would be the one. He would be the guard to herald the news.

It had returned.

"Prep the train!" he yelled. The other guards scrambled out to the tiny train that had brought them to this place. The officer loaded coal into the furnace and struck it with a flash-fire spell to get the furnace to roar to life. But the furnace wasn't the only thing that roared. He looked behind them towards the horizon. An inky smoke billowed up out of the fissures in the ice. A pair of giant green eyes appeared, glaring at them.

"Get this thing moving! Now!" he screamed in horror. The boiler pumped steam into the pistons. The wheels strained at the ice binding them to the tracks. He struck them with another heat spell, freeing them from the frost. The water caused the wheels to slip, spinning in place on the metal tracks. The monstrous cloud of shadow drew closer.

"Get the fuck out of here!" he yelled at the other three on the locomotive. He struck the linkage with a spell and shattered it, freeing the locomotive from the rest of the train. It pulled away quickly, speeding off to Canterlot. "Tell Celestia that it has returned!" he yelled after them.

He turned and fired off a few arcane blasts at the smoke monster. Its attention ignored the departing locomotive, and shifted to the stranded officer. The unicorn's horn glowed and fired another bolt at the creature. The smoke shifted and parted, easily avoiding the attack. He fired again and again without effect. The lieutenant looked to the locomotive one last time, to see that it was now a distant speck on the horizon. "Eat, drink, be merry my Guard..." The creature quickly drew in closer for the kill. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"...for tomorrow we may die."

"How goes the foal-making?" Princess Celestia asked as she looked over the stack of paperwork in front of her.

"Oh, well, you know. We keep trying," Raven said, levitating the stack of legislature for the princess to sign.

"Do you think he might be infertile?" Celestia asked her, dipping her quill in the inkwell.

"Oh, no. I'm pretty sure he has a high sperm count," she said.

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Celestia asked. Raven blushed.

"Heh-he, um, because I have to chew before I swallow."

"You know, you can't make a foal like that," Celestia teased.

"I know," Raven said. "We haven't done that in a long time. He makes sure to put it... in the right place."

"Are you sure he's delivering it deep enough?" Celestia asked indirectly of his size.

"Oh yes," Raven answered a bit too quickly.

"Well then, I must admit, I am a bit envious," Celestia said, signing the next form.

"But you- you could have any stallion you want," Raven said. Celestia looked off wistfully into the distance for a moment, thinking about her own plans for her future suitor.

"Well, like you would say, 'I'm working on it'." Celestia signed the next form. "Besides, listening to you for now is enough for me. And I wouldn't worry about it too much, dear. It's still early in the season. I'm sure you'll have better luck this year."

"Thank you, Princess." Raven moved the next form to the bottom of the stack as Celestia continued to sign in relative silence. A few minutes later, the door to the throne room was slammed open.

"News from northern Equestria!" the panicked guard yelled as he ran in. He had been running all the way from the train station. The other two lagged far behind. "... Your Highness." he added as he caught his breath. Raven collected the signed papers and excused herself.

"Yes?" Celestia asked of the guard.

"I am simply to tell you that... IT has returned," he said, relaying his fallen officer's final message. The princess gasped in realization of what he meant. If it had returned, it meant that he had as well. He could threaten to jeopardize everything that she had worked so hard for. After nearly losing everything in the changeling invasion, she was not about to risk it again. She turned to her other guard.

"Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor!" she commanded.

"Yes, Your Highness," he acknowledged. The three of them ran off to Cadance's villa in the the Canterlot palisades. Celestia would not chance it again. She wanted to know exactly where they were at all times until this threat was dealt with. And she knew just the pony for the job. Celestia took up her quill and enchanted parchment.

My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once. I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again, and stop-

Celestia paused for a moment, looking at the parchment. She looked at it, and thought about her hasty plan. She put the quill and parchment down, leaned back in her throne, and thought. Celestia was a brilliant tactician, and an even more masterful strategist. If her millennium of reign had taught her nothing else; it was that she could not just think in the short term.

Yes, the Elements had worked before. They worked every time they were used. So why mess with a solution that worked every single time? Because if she came to rely on a single solution too much, it could become a weakness. Case and point, Queen Chrysalis.

Chrysalis had, in rare deft, outmaneuvered Celestia in neutralizing the Elements. She had the one element that mattered; the element of surprise. But as before, Celestia had been wise enough to have more than just one weapon. By her lucky stars, the training she had given her niece and captain had paid off in spades. They routed the invasion in a way that the queen could not have anticipated.

Celestia did not just train her guards to know how to fight with magic, or a spear. When that fails, the sword, the shield, sticks, stones, and their very hooves were trained weapons. And now, just as then, Celestia understood that she needed more than just one weapon in her arsenal.

And Twilight Sparkle had still yet to realize her true potential.

Celestia chewed her lip for a moment. She knew she was losing time that she did not have.

The pious prayed to a higher power for good fortune. The entire city of Las Pegasus was built on the belief the lady luck smiled on the intrepid gambles. And there was no gamble larger than this, with an entire empire at stake. Celestia had a plan. She had come up with a backup plan. Celestia smiled now she had a backup plan for that. She took up her quill and rewrote her letter.

Celestia knew better than anypony that fortune favors neither the righteous, nor the bold...

"Come on, come on!" Twilight Sparkle groaned as she worked feverishly in her Ponyville laboratory, in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library. She was hastily awaiting the results of her test. She paced back and forth in front of her lab bench. Her eyes darted from the test tube, to the clock, and back again. The reaction should only take two minutes. But it felt like an eternity.

"Come on. Please," she begged of the test tube, willing it to give her the result she desired. Endless seconds ticked on the clock. Her mind idly wandered back to the previous week, back to her brother's wedding. After the wedding, after the reception, after the dancing and cake. When the bride and groom were ready to depart on their honeymoon carriage.

Princess Cadance boarded the carriage first. And before Shining Armor followed after her, he stopped to give his sister a hug goodbye. Twilight hugged him and pressed her face into his mane, breathing in his scent. She nearly came right then and there, remembering what they had done together not more than a few hours earlier. When they had made love together. His hug came with the promise of seeing her again. "I love you, Twilie."

If Twilight tried hard enough to remember that moment, she could almost smell him again, right then and there in her lab. She closed her eyes. She could almost see him on top of her, the look on his face, that moment when he came deep inside her. She could recall the feeling of it. Her tail flagged so hard at the memory that her dock ached.

"Twilight?" Spike asked.

"GAH!" Twilight jumped from her fantasies back to reality at the sound of his voice. It was coming from the top of the basement stairs. She thought that she had locked the door. But she must have forgotten in her excitement. Her hoof swept the extraneous materials off the lab bench, into the trash bin. "What is it, Spike? I'm in the middle of a very important science!" Spike ran downstairs as fast as he could, clutching a scroll.

"It's a message from Princess Celestia," he said, giving the scroll to Twilight. "It sounds urgent."

My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once. I have a test for you.

"A test!?" Twilight shrieked. Her mind ran wild with anxiety.

A test!? What kind of test? That kind of test!? But why? Did she know? How could she know!?

"Big whoop. So your old teacher wants to give you a test," Spike said.

"But why the urgency? 'You must come to Canterlot at once'?" she asked.

"Well, maybe it's like a pop quiz... on the friendship lessons you've learned," he suggested.

"That- that actually makes more sense," Twilight realized. Her fears suddenly felt very unfounded.

"Well, we better get going then," Spike said. "Oh hey, what's with the red potion?" he asked, pointing at the test tube.

"It's-" Twilight's head whipped around to look at her lab bench. The liquid in the tube was indeed red. She felt her heart breaking. "It's nothing," she sighed. "Go upstairs and pack for Canterlot. I'll be there in a minute." Spike did as he was told and ran back upstairs. Twilight discarded the liquid into the sink drain. She levitated the small box out of the trash and double-checked the back. "Blue for positive... red for negative," she said to herself. With a quick flame spell, she incinerated the pregnancy test.

Shining Armor sat beside Princess Cadance on the sofa in the living room of their villa. Each of them were reading a book. Shining was reading one of the comic variety. It was pretty much how thing had been ever since they had gotten back from their honeymoon to Horseshoe Bay. In fact, even the honeymoon itself was rather uneventful.

After the ordeal that was their wedding day, each of them were more than happy to simply go straight to sleep on the night of their wedding. Spending the next day poolside, or on the beach, was just the way to relax, too. After such a stressful event, who could expect them to consummate their marriage right away? Better to wait a day or two. Or seven.

Cadance looked up from her book, over at her new husband. He had his nose buried in his comic book, admiring the art. She knew it was him. But whenever she looked at him, she felt a pang of the memory of the changeling that wore his face. The queen was so anxious to have sex with her. She wondered, how it was that the queen had tricked Shining into being trapped in the caves. Had she worn Cadance's face? What else had she done with Shining while so? Did she try to seduce him? Did she succeed? she wondered.

She didn't ask him about it. He didn't say. She pushed the thoughts away. She just needed time, she decided. Time for those thoughts and feelings to pass. She went back to reading her book.

Shining looked up from his comic book, over at his new wife. She had her nose buried in her book, engrossed in her story. He knew it was her. But whenever he looked at her, he felt a pang of the memory of the changeling that wore her face. The queen had tricked him into having sex with her. He wondered, did she manage to do the same with his bride? Wearing his face? He felt his face flush with angry jealousy at the mere thought. But at the same time, he realized his own hypocrisy. If she had been tricked into sex with the changeling, she was no worse than he was for the same sin. Guilt supplanted his jealousy.

She never asked him about what had happened with him and the queen. He never had to lie to her.

He averted his eyes back to his comic, even though he couldn't focus on reading in that moment.

He knew that even if Cadance had sex with the changeling, she was still on the moral high-ground. His own secret guilt gnawed a hole in the pit of his stomach. Changeling trickery aside, every time he looked at his wife, he couldn't help but remember how he had consciously chose to betray her... with his own sister.

His imagination betrayed him, remembering the last time he'd had sex. That day when his sister laid beneath him as he rutted her. It wasn't nearly as wild or kinky as some of the things he had done with Cadance in the past. Objectively it was rather tame. But it was just so much more intimate with his sister. Nothing else came close. Even as he hated himself for it, he reveled in the memory.

"Good scene?" Cadance asked playfully.

"Hmm?" Shining looked up at her. Her eyes darted down to his lap. He looked down at himself, at the first erection she'd seen from him since before the wedding. "Sorry," he blurted reflexively. Cadance didn't know what to expect as a reaction. But the last thing she expected was an apology. Her playful expression fell. Shining scrambled onto damage control. But it was too late. His erection wilted even as he spoke. "I mean- sorry. I mean- no. It's not a good scene. It's- I- I was just thinking about you," he lied.

"Okay," Cadance said, still not sure what to make of the whole thing. "But- but why did you feel like you needed to apologize? We're married. And I've seen it hundreds of times before anyway."

"I- I don't know."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"Shining, come on. I could always tell when you were lying because you were never any good at it. I know something is wrong," she said. He felt the room getting smaller around them. He felt his throat closing up. She knew something was wrong. Her senses were tuned in. She would be able to tell if he was lying, and she wouldn't let this go until she got an answer.

"I just..." he trailed off. "It's hard-" He adjusted his words. "It difficult to-" He didn't want to say look at her. "... to get in the mood because..."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because... I can't help but think about what she... the queen, would have done to you if..." he didn't even want to think it.

"But you stopped her," Cadance said. "You saved me. You and Twilight, together."

You and Twilight, together

The combination of words in her voice were like a knife in his side.

"I just..." he tried again. "I was just worried about... while I was in the caves... and she was disguised as me... What she did with- what she did to you."

"Oh. Oh!" Cadance said in realization.

"Yeah."

"Nothing," Cadance said. Shining gave her a dubious look. "No, I mean it. She didn't- we didn't do anything."

"Really?" he asked, both in hope and doubt.

"Well... I mean, it's not like he- she didn't try," Cadance admitted. Shining felt his blood surge. "But I didn't let anything happen!" she said, adamant. He wanted to believe her. "She was very... aggressive. It wasn't like you. It was very off-putting. I guess my instincts knew better than I did. I'm just glad I trusted them."

"..."

"Shining?"

"Yeah?" he asked. He realized she was asking if he believed her. He wasn't certain. But he wasn't a breathing lie detector like his wife. And he wanted to believe her. For the sake of his sanity he needed to believe her, to trust her. If he couldn't trust her, if they couldn't trust each other, than what the hell were they even doing? "I mean, yeah. I'm glad you trusted your instincts, too. I'm glad that- that didn't happen. With her. To you." He rustled his comic book and tried to keep reading.

"Shining?" she asked again. He looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

"What about you?" she asked.

"Nothing!" he blurted. "I mean, w- what? What about me?" he asked. Cadance grew visibly frustrated.

"Shining, did she- When was the last time it was the real you?" she asked. He took a deep breath.

"When they picked me up for the bachelor party," he said. "You- she showed up at the club, disguised as you and she trapped me in the caves."

"And?"

"And?"

"And that's it?" Cadance asked. Shining gulped. His ear twitched nervously. Cadance didn't need him to say it. She could see the truth in his eyes. She looked away first. He did the same. "It's okay," she said. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry." In a single breath, Cadance had gone from an interrogation, to surmising the truth, forgiving him, and then apologizing.

"What!?" Shining stood up, upset and confused. "Cadie, no! I'm sorry!" he said louder than he intended. He was angry about the situation, angry at Chrysalis, but mostly, angry at himself. "I- I had sex with her."

"I'm sorry, Shining," she apologized again. "I shouldn't have made you talk about it. It's not your fault that she did that to you."

"Did to me?"

"That she- that she raped you," Cadance said as tears ran down her cheeks.

That WORD! In his anger, Shining opened his mouth to argue with her. But he froze. He looked at her, and saw how hurt she was. She cried for him. It pained her to know what had happened to him. He felt the same pain when Twilight had told him what had happened to her. Where Shining had once seethed in hatred for the rapist and distrusted his spouse, Cadance only wept for the victim. Him.

He had sex with someone else, and she only loved him more. Shining fell into his chair.

An actual knife in the heart would have hurt less.

All this time he'd felt so bad about being the one doing the... doing in the encounter. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Cadance was right.

"She raped me," he said, as though only just now understanding it when hearing his own words out loud. Cadance rushed over and wrapped her hooves around him.

"I'm sorry, Shiny," she said as she held him "I know you would never do anything to hurt me." Shining felt the knife in his heart twist a little more. "You're a good pony. I love you." Salt in the wound.

"I love you too," he said. He never knew that words so sweet could taste so bitter.

So what do we do?
We choose who gets hurt.

Twilight's words echoed in Shining's mind. He held Cadance as she cried into his shoulder.

Everypony... Everypony gets hurt.

An urgent knock at the door startled them both. Cadance clamored to her hooves and wiped her eyes quickly to make herself look decent while Shining went to see who was at the door. He recognized Celestia's personal guards.

"Yes?"

"Captain," the guard greeted. "The immediate presence of Princess Cadance and yourself had been urgently requested by Princess Celestia at once!" he said.

"Cadie?" he said into the house. Cadance had heard the guard. She finished composing herself and nodded, following them back to Canterlot Castle.

"Auntie Tia?" Cadance said as she and Shining entered the throne room. "You wanted to see me? To see us?" Celestia nodded.

"What's so urgent?" Shining asked.

"The Crystal Empire had returned!" Celestia said.

"The Crystal Empire?" Shining asked. "Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't have," Celestia said. "Few remember it ever existed at all. Even my knowledge of the Empire is limited. But what I do know is that it contains a powerful magic. One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire. He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north. But not before he was able to put a curse upon the empire, a curse that caused it to vanish into thin air. If the empire is filled with hope and love, those things are reflected across all of Equestria. If hatred and fear take hold..."

"So that's what that remote post was for in the Frozen North?" Shining asked. Celestia nodded.

"So you need me to go to the Crystal Empire and spread hope and love with my magic?" Cadance asked.

"No," Celestia said sternly. "According to the survivors, I'm afraid the Crystal Empire isn't the only thing that has returned."

"Survivors?" Shining asked.

"The three guards that escaped the Frozen North remote post," Celestia said. "They said that a monster... made of shadow attacked their post. They managed to escape, and deliver the message of the Empire's return. Their commanding officer however... was not so lucky. I fear that King Sombra has also returned, freed from his icy prison."

"We need to stop him!" Shining said with conviction. "A fallen Guard must be avenged!"

"The citizens of the Empire need to be protected," Cadance said. "I can do that with my love magic. So can Shining, with his shield spell."

"I called you here because I don't want to risk losing you again. I want you both right here, never leaving my sight until this is resolved. Luna and I will deal with Sombra ourselves again if we must. I have already contacted Twilight Sparkle. She and the other Elements of Harmony will go to the empire and destroy Sombra once and for all." She looked at Cadance.

"If the returned king is a threat, I can't abide putting Twilight into harm's way!" Cadance said.

"She won't be defenseless. As I said, she and the others will have the Elements. They will be able to vanquish the king once and for all, where Luna and I failed in the past. I just don't want to risk losing you two after what happened at the wedding."

"We're not defenseless either," Shining said. "We won't be taken by surprise this time. We know what we're facing."

"And if you're so confident in Twilight's success, you have nothing to fear," Cadance said.

"And if you're not, I will not stand idly by while my sister fights this battle!" Shining said.

Celestia looked back and forth between them. Was this what it was like to have foals? she wondered. To be, at once, proud and terrified at the same time?

"So be it," Celestia said at last. "Just promise me..." She took a deep breath. "Promise me that you will not take a single unnecessary risk."

"I will protect her with my life!" Shining said.

"You are not a bodyguard any longer, Prince Armor. Do not let it come to that," Celestia said sternly. He nodded. "Take care of each other, and be careful. There is no time to lose."

They both left and made haste for the waiting train at the station. Celestia fell into her throne and rubbed her face with her hooves. The stakes had just raised a little bit higher. It was not the outcome she had intended. But she knew that once she set her mind to something, her niece could not be dissuaded. And now, matters were worse.

"Sister?" Princess Luna greeted a few hours later. "You sent for me to be woken early?" she said with a yawn. Celestia had the Crystal Empire shard in her hoof, and was reading a very old book in the other. "What is the meaning of this?"

"The Crystal Empire has returned," Celestia said.

"The Crystal Empire!?" Luna said in surprise. "This is wonderful news!"

"Reports indicate that it did not come back alone," Celestia said. Luna realized what it meant a moment later.

"The dark king?" she asked Celestia nodded and set the crystal back under the glass dome beside the throne. "Should we not depart at once to defeat him as we have before?"

"It would do no good for him to make the Empire vanish for another millennium," Celestia said. "I have already considered it."

"We did not have the Elements before. Could we not take them, ourselves, and turn him to stone as we did with Discord?" Celestia shook her head.

"We are no longer connected to the Elements. That mantle has passed to Twilight and her friends." Celestia leaned back in the throne again with a heavy sigh. "Ugh... Twilight," she groaned. "The moment I saw her cutie mark, I knew everything had changed. That it would be she, not Cadance, that would aid in your escape from Nightmare Moon. She, who would bear the Element of Magic. She who would one day..." Celestia trailed off and looked at the book beside her. Luna recognized it at last.

"Is that Starswirl's final spell-book?" Luna asked. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, and the final spell he had tried to conjure, to self-substantiate himself into an alicorn. I think Twilight has the potential to solve it."

"Do you think she's ready for that?" Luna asked. Celestia stood and walked with her younger sibling. She looked at the new stained-glass window of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance thoughtfully.

"I think that she can be... that she will be, if she can manage to protect the Empire..." Celestia trailed off.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go as well?" Luna asked.

"Yes. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are already there. The others will be joining them soon," Celestia said.

"The Empire's magic is powerful. It can not fall again, my sister."

"She will succeed at her task. And when she does, we'll know that she is that much closer to being ready." Twilight cleared her throat in the doorway at the far end of the throne room. "Trust me, little sister," Celestia whispered.

"You wanted to see me? To give me a test?" Twilight asked. On Luna's way out, she briefly caught eyes with the unicorn. Twilight turned her attention back to her mentor. "I brought my own quills, and plenty of paper to show my work."

"This is a different kind of test," Celestia said. "The Crystal Empire has returned!"

Princess Luna stood outside of the throne room while her elder sister briefed the unicorn about her task. She did not abide her cavalier plan to deal with King Sombra. There was far too much at stake. Celestia risked the lives of innocent ponies like such pawns in chess. But for her to put her own beloved Cadance in harm's way, Luna wondered, she must be quite confident in her plan. She had become too accustomed to things going her way. As far as you know, Luna, she imagined Celestia's voice in her mind. That same smug, cocksure attitude she always had. Being brought low by the Changeling Queen seemed to have done nothing to curb it.

"I need your help finding a way to protect the Crystal Empire," Celestia said to Twilight.

"You want me to help protect an entire empire?" Twilight asked.

"It is, as I said, a different kind of test. But one I'm certain you will pass."

"How do I begin?"

"By joining Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire."

Twilight's face lit up. She had been depressed all morning after the negative result of her test. It was only overridden by her anxiety from the urgent letter from Celestia, and this subsequent meeting. But now, at the very mention of her brother's name, all of that went out the window, if only briefly. Just the prospect, the possibility that she might yet have another chance with him... her mission in the Crystal Empire now became two-fold.

"My brother is there?" she asked excitedly.

"He is," Celestia confirmed. Twilight felt herself nearly leap in joy. She trotted after Celestia as she walked her to the throne room door. "And your Ponyville friends will join you there as well. I have every confidence you will succeed. And when you do, I'll know you are ready to move on to the next level of your studies." They stepped outside of the throne room. Luna was there, waiting. Twilight could see that Luna did not share Celestia's optimism. It showed on her face. Twilight felt a pang of doubt.

"But what if I fail?" Twilight asked.

"You wont," Celestia assured her.

"But, what if-" Celestia stopped Twilight with a hoof on her shoulder.

"You won't," Celestia repeated. Twilight turned to leave. "But Twilight," Twilight turned back to look at the royal sisters. "In the end, it must be you, and you alone who ultimately assists Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the empire. Do you understand?"

"Mmhmm!" Twilight confirmed.

"Then go. There is no time to lose!" Celestia said, closing the door. Once Twilight was gone, Luna turned to Celestia.

"You're playing a very dangerous game," Luna said, walking over to the window, watching Twilight depart outside.

"Change always is," Celestia said. "But I'm sure she will make short work of vanquishing the king right away. After all, I told her that there was no time to lose. You know how much she hates being tardy." Luna continued to watch Twilight outside.

"She singing," Luna said, pointing at the unicorn prancing about the streets of Canterlot.

"I wasn't prepared for thiiiiis!"

Celestia rubbed the bridge of her nose in embarrassment while Twilight wrapped up her impromptu musical number and rounded up her friends onto the train bound for the Frozen North.

"There, you see?" Celestia said, watching the train speed away to the northern horizon. "They're on their way. They'll defeat the king in no time."

"Well, they're going to have a hard time doing it without these," Luna said, pointing at the box with the Elements of Harmony in it. Celestia looked at the box, scarcely believing that she had forgotten to give them to Twilight.

"... Well shit."