Twilight Sparkle shuffled across the kitchen floor and set the plates on the dining table in front of Spike and Starlight Glimmer. Spike looked at his breakfast. "What is this?" he asked.

"Quiche," Twilight said with a huff.

"What's quiche?" he asked.

"Eggs," Starlight said, poking her breakfast with her fork.

"... Why is it green?" he asked.

"I added green peppers," Twilight said. Which was technically true.

Starlight gave the dish a sideways look. "It doesn't look very appetizing,"

Twilight glared at her with tired eyes. "You have no idea what I went through to make this," she growled.

Spike looked up at her. She looked tired and cranky. She sat down at the table with her own plate and ate her green quiche. Spike picked up a bit on his fork and closed his eyes. It tasted like any other omelette.

Starlight also ate, trying her best to not look at it. "There was a shipment of the new books you ordered for the library this morning," she said.

The mere mention of new books visibly brightened Twilight's demeanor. She paused between bites. "Well then you know what that means," she said. "We have to move the older books to the reference section. Gotta keep the new books front and center."

After breakfast, they did exactly that. Despite being able to levitate an Ursa Minor, and an entire orchard worth of apples, Twilight still had Starlight and Spike move a few boxes of books to make them feel useful. It wasn't the first time Spike had to move a box of books. But he still insisted on filling a box as big as he was full of heavy books. As if the day wouldn't be complete without Spike getting injured somehow, he tripped on the stairs leading down to the reference section and nearly broke his neck.

Luckily, Twilight caught him and the box with her magic. She would not have any harm come to her books. And it would have been really inconvenient to have to install ramps everywhere in the castle just because Spike was in a wheelchair.

Once all the boxes were moved, Spike walked over to stare out the window. "What's that?" he asked.

"It's the sun. Try not to stare," Twilight said.

"No, that!" Spike said, pointing at the figure in the sky.

"Is it a bird?" Starlight asked.

"Is it a gryphon?" Spike asked.

"I'll ready the ballista!" Starlight said.

"Don't be racist, Starlight," Twilight scolded.

"No, wait!" Spike said. "The mailmare's coming!"

"Phrasing," Starlight said.

"Duck!" Twilight shouted as she shoved everypony out of the way with her magic. Derpy, the mail carrier pegasus, crashed through the open window and landed in the heap of unsorted books. "Taking flying lessons from Rainbow Dash, I see." Derpy presented the envelope. "Oh. I usually get letters by dragon," Twilight said.

"It is the fastest way to get mail," Spike said with all the pride of a fax machine. Derpy shook her head and gave the letter to Starlight.

"For me?" Starlight asked. "Who would be sending me a letter?" Derpy gave her the letter and flew away. Starlight opened and read it. Her eyes went wide in horror. "It's the ponies from my old village. They've invited me to the annual Sunset Festival!"

"Okay, so why do you look terrified?" Spike asked.

"I'm afraid to go back to the village for the celebration," she said. "After everything that happened, having to face them again would be traumatizing."

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. "Alright, just slow your roll there, girl. You forcibly stole my cutie mark and tried to brainwash me and my friends that weekend, so let's not forget who traumatized who, m'kay? But as an introvert myself, I totally get where you're coming from. Social obligations, am I right?" Twilight asked as she rolled her eyes. "Just because they invited you doesn't mean you have to go. So just don't."

Spike burped up a scroll with his green dragon-fire breath. "The fastest way to get mail!"

"Yeah, we heard you the first time," Twilight said opening the scroll. "Oh, for buck's sake!"

"What is it?" Spike asked.

"It's a royal summons to Canterlot," Twilight said with a huff. "We have to leave tomorrow."

"You were saying about just not going?" Starlight asked.

"Every day I hate these wings a little more," Princess Twilight Sparkle muttered. "This is different. I don't have a choice." Twilight put on her tiara of office. "I swear it's like a hoofcuff for your head. For your life."

"It's an All-Call. It must be important," Spike said.

"What's an All-Call?" Starlight asked.

"It means all the Elements and the royalty will be there," Spike said. "Cadance, Shining and Flurry too,"

Twilight read over the scroll again. She would get to see Shining. Deep down, she truly desired to see him very much. But her rational mind knew it would only serve to frustrate her even more. Whatever joy she might have felt turned to anger.

"You know what?" Twilight asked Starlight. "I think you should go to that festival."

"But I don't wanna!" Starlight whined. "I'd end up being the center of attention one way or another. What if I end up making myself look bad?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure as long as you don't try to enslave the town again, you'll be in the green. But if you're really worried, just bring your marefriend, Trixie, along. If anypony can make you look better by comparison, it's her." Starlight glared at her. "Tell me I'm wrong."

Starlight grumbled. "Yeah, it's true. But it's still not nice to say it."

Princess Cadance huffed with irritation as she and her spouse packed for their trip. "How many times do I have to tell you, we will be fine, Cherry?" she asked.

"At least one more time, Princess," Cherub Whine said. The nanny matron stood by with the other guard mares, pleading to accompany the royal family.

Shining tried to reassure her. "The only other ponies on the train will be our guards. And the Canterlot Royal guard will be escorting us the entire time we're there."

Cadance grabbed her bag and Flurry Heart. "We will be fine. You don't need to worry about us."

Cherub stood a bit taller in stubborn pride and followed after the royal family. "It is my task and purpose to worry about you!"

"That was never your job," Cadance said.

"It is!" Cherub said. "It always has been! From the day I was presented to you when you were just a little foal. Because Princess Celestia entrusted me with that which was most precious to her in the whole world!" Cherub followed Cadance and her family to the train station. As Cadance said, the station and train had numerous guards. Shining boarded the train with Flurry and their luggage. Cherub put her hoof on Cadance's shoulder. "If anything were to happen under my watch-"

"I know," Cadance said, brushing her hoof away before boarding. "You would never forgive me." The door closed and the train pulled away from the station.

Cherub stood and watched as the train became smaller and smaller in the distance. "I would never forgive myself," she whispered.

Celestia and Luna oversaw the preparations for the big meeting. The meeting was to take place during the day, of course, so Luna was swaying a bit on her hooves trying to stay awake during her normal sleeping hours.

The grand dining table in the royal hall had places made up for all of the visiting guests. Cadance's family, Twilight, and her friends. The trumpets outside heralded their arrival. Each of them filed in to the familiar hall and took a seat at the long table. Celestia and Luna sat at one end. Cadance and her family sat closest near their end. Twilight sat across from Shining.

There was so much that they each wanted to talk about with the other. They both knew it perfectly well. But neither of them let it show in their faces. Twilight briefly considered just how well she had become accustomed to this mask she had been wearing for so long. She looked over at Celestia. The picture of stoic perfection. It made her wonder what was going on behind those eyes of calm.

The wait staff began going around serving drinks with tea, wine, cider, and a sippy-bottle of juice for the little one.

Twilight looked back at Shining and Cadance. "So... how's Flurry?" she asked them.

"She keeps out hooves full," Cadance said, literally cradling the foal in her hooves. "She's growing fast. We've started weaning her." Cadance gave Flurry some grape juice from the bottle. "I am so glad to be done with nursing." Cadance drank some grown-up grape juice from her glass.

Shining waited for his cider and took a sip before he cleared his throat to talk to his sister. "How is..." He tried to think of a word beside 'monster', 'prisoner' or 'hostage'. "... your guest?"

"He has been very cooperative," Twilight assured him before she had a bit of her tea.

"So our scouts have confirmed," Shining said, referring to reconnaissance mission that the pegasi division had carried out. The goal was to ascertain the location of the changeling hive with the information provided by Thorax. A success though it was, Shining looked none too pleased.

"What's the next step?" Twilight asked.

Flurry Heart dozed off as Cadance rocked her gently in her hooves. "I presume that is what this meeting is about," Cadance said.

Celestia waited for everypony to have their drinks before she indulged herself with her wine. "Now that everypony has their drinks, let's talk about why we are here."

"..."

"..."

"And that is...?" Shining asked.

Celestia looked at Twilight, who just shrugged. "I thought you called this meeting," she said.

"I thought you did," Twilight said.

"I thought you did," Shining said.

There was a thud as Luna finally passed out and slumped over onto the table.

"Hey Twi-ligghhh-" Fluttershy slurred. "This-sizz sum bomb-ass tea..." The words dribbled out of her mouth. She dropped her tea cup before falling out of her chair.

"Alright, who let Fluttershy drink on the train?" Twilight said as she got up to help Fluttershy. As soon as she stood, the room around her spun and she tripped over her own hooves. She was unconscious before she fell into a crumpled heap on the floor.

Shining looked at everypony falling unconscious. He looked at his wife, next to him. Her eyes were closed and her head was nodded over in with their sleeping daughter in her hooves. The edges of his vision began to get dim. In his peripheries, he could see the wait staff began to surround the table. The forms of the waitresses and buss ponies flashed in green flames and turned into-

"No." Shining felt his blood boil at the sight of the changelings. He tried to rise to fight. But his limbs felt like they were filled with sand.

"Yiss," one of the changelings hissed at him as the others began to cocoon his wife, sister, and the other princesses while he sat there, paralyzed, helpless to stop them. The changelings each took the form of the ponies they were cocooning. Shining felt chitinous hooves on him. "Sssleep now," it hissed at him. The changeling took his form, the last thing he saw before darkness took his sight.

Never again, he had sworn. He had promised himself. He had promised his wife and family. And he failed them. In his final moments of consciousness, he seethed in anger.

~

Princess Luna opened her eyes some time later. It was night now, and her usual waking time. She looked at the dining room table on the ceiling. The room was upside down and everything was green. She realized that it was she, that was upside down and hanging from the ceiling inside a changeling cocoon. Everypony that had been at the dinner was hanging around her, similarly cocooned. She tried to use her magic, but found that it was grounded by the fluid she was suspended in. She needed to get a message out somehow. Twilight's pupil was the first pony she could think of. Her eyes glowed as she entered the dreamscape to get a message to the mare.

"We've got a live one!" the changeling wearing Princess Luna's appearance shouted to the others. The changelings grabbed Luna's cocoon and pulled it from the ceiling. They ripped it open and pulled her out, keeping her horn submerged. They began to lick her all over, coating her with changeling venom. Especially where it could be absorbed quickly through the skin inside her mouth and her marehood. In the dreamscape, Luna could feel her body being molested, but she needed to get the message out to Starlight Glimmer.

The changelings only stopped when the light faded from Luna's eyes. She heard the changelings hiss, "I'm gonna fill thisss one with ssso many eggsss!"

"Remember the queen's orders!" the commanding changeling said. "We need to bring them back to the hive, alive and unspoiled!"

The next day, Shining Armor's consciousness returned to him the moment his cocoon broke open and he spilled out of it onto the floor beside his wife and foal. He defensively held them both in his hooves and his vision adjusted. The others from the dinner had been freed as well, presumably by the colorful creatures around them. They were atop a tall tower amidst a wasteland in a region of Equestria he didn't recognize.

Cadance looked at him with pleading eyes. "Let's not tell Cherry about getting captured like this. She'll be pissed."

Starlight Glimmer helped Twilight Sparkle out of the broken remains of her cocoon. "Starlight? What happened?"

"Princess Luna got a message to me in a dream about the changelings returning. Thorax told me about their plan. We defeated the changeling with no magic at all, they found a new leader, and they're all kind of... good now." Starlight explained.

Princess Luna joined them. "Well done, Starlight Glimmer! It seems as though you've learned a great deal since we last spoke."

Queen Chrysalis burst from the rubble of her throne room and hissed. Shining Armor's horn flared with brilliant light, ready to volley his magical attack. He was not alone. His wife, sister, Luna, and Princess Celestia were ready as well. Shining stepped forward, ready to grab the bug with his magic and rip her in half right there. "Cover Flurry's eyes."

Starlight Glimmer blocked his line of sight to speak with the queen. "When Twilight and her friends defeated me I chose to run away and seek revenge. You don't have to. You can be the leader your subjects deserve." Starlight extended her hoof to her.

Chrysalis slapped her hoof away and snarled. "There is no revenge you can ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!" She backed up to the edge of the tower and jumped off.

A white blur rushed past Starlight and jumped off the edge after the queen.

"Shining!" Twilight screamed, jumping after him.

Queen Chrysalis started to spread her wings to control her descent. Shining Armor had no such reservations. He reached out in front of him with his hooves, shaping his body into a spear to close the distance. He would catch up to her, rip her wings from her back, and pile drive her body into the jagged rocks below. If he had time, he would surround himself with a shield. Maybe he would survive. Maybe. But she wouldn't. He would make sure of that.

Never again.

Under him, he felt the flitter of her insect wings just graze his hoof. His whole body jerked to a stop, surrounded in purple magic. Chrysalis flew down away from him and pulled out of her dive to flee to the forest.

The magic placed him gently on the ground and Twilight landed beside him. As soon as she released him he elbowed her in the ribs hard and ran in a dead sprint after the queen.

"Some gratitude for saving your life," Twilight wheezed, chasing after her brother into the woods. She was hardly the athlete that he was and he was getting away from her. There was no space in the forest to fly and even if she could, the pain in her side would have made it very challenging. It was all she could do to follow the flashes of white fur in the dark green of the forest.

"Shining!" Twilight finally caught up to him in a small clearing. He stood there, just outside the entrance of a dark cave. Twilight panted loudly, both from the physical exertion and her bruised ribs. He was breathing heavy also. But he stood still as a statue, never taking his eyes off the cave.

"She's in there," he said. There was no emotion in his words. There was no anger, or fear. Just an eerie calm in the statement.

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.

He nodded. "Hiding."

"She could be disguised as a rock in there," she said.

"No. She won't. She's too proud," he said.

"It could be a trap," she said.

"Not this time. I'm ready," he said. "She's trapped." He took a step forward.

"Shining-"

"Wait here."

"Shining-"

"I said, wait. Here."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Conduct diplomacy." Shining walked into the cave.

Twilight watched light from his horn get dimmer as he went deeper inside.

~

She waited, like he asked her to. She waited for a long time. Occasionally she would hear a noise of some kind or another coming from the bowels of the cavern. It was going to start getting dark soon. She contemplated going in after him. Then she saw movement coming out of the cave. Twilight readied her horn and prepared for the worst. It was her brother. Or at least, it looked like him.

"Shining?" she asked cautiously, keeping her defenses up.

He looked at her. His eyes looked dark and tired. "I'm not gonna have to do the fucking ladybug dance am I?" he asked with a groan. She shook her head and he just stared off into the woods, like his mind was a thousand miles away.

"What... what did she say?" Twilight asked nervously. His attention turned back to her.

"Hmm? The queen? Lots of things. Some of them were even true..." he trailed off, standing there in silence once more.

"... and then?" Twilight asked.

"And then..."

Shining calmly reached into his bag. It was then that Twilight noticed that the white fur of his hooves were stained green with changeling blood. Shining grabbed something out of his bag and tossed it at her. The severed horn of Queen Chrysalis clattered across the stone ground and came to a stop in front of Twilight's hooves.

"Well, then she died."