Golden Flash glared at Twilight as she put him down in front of Celestia, Artemis and herself and continued his attempt to take the book from her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow “Why are you trying to take the book from me, Golden Flash?” I’d better be careful. I almost said Golden Thunder.

Golden Flash’s glare deepened “That book belongs to me, princess.”

Twilight raised the other eyebrow as well. “This book belongs to the castle library.”

Golden Flash shifted his gaze to Celestia, and noted her neutral expression, before looking at Artemis. He was surprised to see that Artemis’ expression was fairly neutral as well. That’s odd. He’s usually easy to read.

According to Mom and Dad, this book is a recording of history. It’s just been mislabeled because we thought it was fiction at the time it was translated. However, the fact that he’s acting this way means that he may know the truth. Maybe I can get him to reveal something. Twilight strengthened her magic, overwhelming his, and floated the book to her side.

Surprised, Golden Flash turned to her.

“Why did you say that this book is yours?” Twilight asked “It’s clearly marked as a library book.”

Golden Flash glanced at the librarians. “I’ve been trying to buy that book for months, princess. The librarians keep telling me that I must get permission from Princess Celestia before permanently removing anything from the library.”

Those ponies deserve a raise. Celestia nodded “Every book in this library is for everypony to read, Golden Flash. I have never allowed a book to be sold from this library, and don’t intend to start now.”

I think I know what Twilight is trying to do. Let’s see if I can give him another push. “Golden Flash,” Artemis began “you didn’t answer Twilight’s question. Why did you say that the book is yours?”

Aware of the fact that they weren’t going to let him leave without answering the question, Golden Flash’s glare returned. “That book belongs to me because it chronicles the last day of my ancestor’s life. Even if you won’t give it to me today, that book will be mine.” He lowered his voice to a menacing growl. “I know that you killed him, just because he wanted a chance to rule Equestria. At least he got rid of your parents first.” Not waiting for a response, he turned and left the library.

For a moment, none of them could say or do anything.

Finally, Twilight managed to shake herself from her surprise enough to teleport them, and the book, to her classroom. Looking at the clock, she saw that they still had fifteen minutes before class, and court, started. Making sure they were alone, she locked the door and cast a soundproofing spell around the room.

Once they were sure that nopony could walk in on them, Celestia, Artemis and Twilight immediately slumped to the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia gave Twilight a weak smile. “Well done, Twilight.”

Shaking himself out of his shock, Artemis looked at Celestia “I’ll be right back, sister.”

Raising an eyebrow, Celestia turned to him. “Where are you going?”

Artemis closed his eyes “To tell Mother and Father about this.” Without waiting for a response, he entered the dream realm.

Sundance and Midnight Armor were relaxing on the cloud, just watching the stars. They looked up as Artemis appeared next to the cloud. Smiling, both of them stood and walked over to him. Their smiles vanished when they saw his expression.

“What’s wrong?” Sundance asked

Artemis looked at his parents. Taking a deep breath, he said two words. “He knows” Before they could ask, he showed them what happened in the library.

Eyes wide, Sundance had to sit down.

Midnight Armor growled, especially when he heard Golden Flash’s last comment.

“W-where is the book?” Sundance hesitantly asked

Artemis smiled slightly “Twilight has it. She made sure to bring it with us when she teleported us out of the library.”

Sundance breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

Shaking his head, Artemis muttered “I can’t believe he tried overpower her.”

Midnight Armor chuckled “That was a foolish move on his part. I doubt he could have overpowered her when she was a unicorn. Now that she’s an alicorn, he doesn’t have a chance.”

Nuzzling his parents, Artemis sighed “I can’t stay any longer because court is about to start. I just wanted to let you know what happened.”

Sundance nodded “We’ll see you tonight.”

Midnight Armor nodded as well “Thank you for telling us.”

As Artemis vanished, Sundance turned to her husband. “I’m glad we told Twilight what happened. It seems that we were right to be worried.”

He pulled his wife close “You’re right. We now know that Golden Flash knows what happened and it’s clear that he’s angry.”

She nodded and leaned into his side “We just don’t know what, if anything, he intends to do about it. It’s quite possible that our children are in danger.”

He sighed “Golden Flash probably only told our children what he did because he knew that they weren’t going to let him leave without giving them some kind of answer.”

She laughed “Remind me not to underestimate Twilight. Based on what I saw, she purposely made him reveal some of what he knew. And she managed to do it without revealing anything herself.”

He nodded “Agreed. It looked like Artemis helped as well, by making Golden Flash answer her question.”

Artemis opened his eyes to find that Twilight had moved next to Celestia. He saw that his sister had used a wing to pull Twilight close, obviously needing comfort. He moved to her other side and gave her a hug.

Celestia buried her face in her brother’s neck and took several shaky breaths.

Twilight nuzzled Celestia before turning her attention to the book. She locked it with a password, placed a barrier around it and teleported it to Celestia’s room. Then she whispered the password to Celestia.

Celestia giggled at the password that Twilight had chosen. That’s something that happened during her first lesson with me. There’s no way that anypony, other than the two of us, would even think of it.

Before any of them could say anything else, somepony knocked on the door. Celestia stood, dried her eyes with a spell and settled her usual carefully neutral expression onto her face. Artemis also stood as Twilight walked to the door, cancelling the soundproofing spell as she did.

On the other side of the door were her students and their parents.

Steel Night and Midnight Fang were standing behind them. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Celestia and Artemis were in the room with their princess.

Twilight smiled “I’m sorry. Celestia, Artemis and I were discussing something and lost track of time.” She gestured to the desks. “Come on in and we’ll get started.” She looked at the parents “We’ll be in the library for the last couple of hours of the day, so please be there to pick them up at five.”

As the foals walked over to their desks, Celestia smiled at them. “We have to go now, but we’ll see you for lunch.”

Artemis nodded before teleporting himself and his sister to the throne room.

In the throne room, as usual, there were several dozen ponies present and waiting for them. Surprisingly, Golden Flash stood in the group of nobles.

Suppressing a smile, Celestia watched as he looked both of them over carefully. He’s probably looking for the book. Does he really think we would bring it to court? “Good Morning, my little ponies”

“Good Morning Princess Celestia and Prince Artemis”

Golden Flash stepped forward, quickly removing a small smirk from his face and bowing. “Good Morning, your highnesses. We understand that, with the new court system, both of you will be working together to address our petitions. As such, we would like to submit the ones that we’ve been holding on to.”

Celestia briefly raised an eyebrow “Why have you been holding back petitions?”

Arctic Breeze stepped forward “I can answer that question, princess. The nobles were reserving their petitions until they were certain that decision to hold combined courts wouldn’t be reversed. Now that it’s clear that it won’t, Ice Blossom and I have received several new petitions as well as requests for status updates on others that have already been submitted. We will finish screening them today and present the appropriate ones to you tomorrow.”

Ice Blossom joined him “It’s our understanding that most of the petitions submitted before Blueblood’s trial have been denied. We have already informed the petitioners of this, as well as given them Princess Twilight’s reasons for why she denied those petitions.”

Artemis smiled “Thank you, Ice Blossom. I’m glad that you’ve decided to transfer from Night Court and help Arctic Breeze.”

Celestia smiled as well “As am I. With our courts combined, and Artemis’ increased availability to other ponies, I’m sure that the number of petitions we receive will increase to a point where it will be very difficult for Arctic Breeze to screen them by himself.”

Ice Blossom smiled “Of course, your highnesses. Thank you for offering me this position, Prince Artemis.”

Artemis laughed “With everything that you’ve done for us over the last couple of weeks, how could I not? I knew that I had to find a way to keep you on the team. There was only one thing that worried me. I thought that Arctic Breeze might feel like he was being replaced.”

Arctic Breeze laughed as well. “That thought never even crossed my mind, Prince Artemis. Instead, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the new numbers. So I was very glad to see Ice Blossom and even happier when she told me that you had transferred her from Night Court so that we could work together.”

Ice Blossom nodded “There’s another benefit that made this position something I couldn’t refuse.”

Artemis paused, thoughts of Golden Thunder flashing through his mind. “If you don’t mind me asking, what benefit are you talking about?”

“I don’t mind at all, Prince Artemis.” She replied “I’m now free to spend the evenings with my daughter. In fact, we’ve already begun a new routine. After dinner each night, I help her work on the magic exercises that Princess Twilight assigns her.”

Artemis’ eyes widened “Your daughter is a student in that class?” He paused for a moment, mentally reviewing the unicorns in Twilight’s class. Suddenly he gasped “Winter Night is your daughter, isn’t she?”

Smiling, Ice Blossom nodded “That’s right. My husband used to take the more active role in caring for her because I was always asleep during the day. Even now, he’s the one that brings her to and from class, so I’m not surprised that you didn’t notice. He’s also the one that you brought into her nightmare last week because I wasn’t asleep at the time.”

She paused “In fact, I didn’t put two and two together until I noticed the improvement in her magic yesterday and asked her what her teacher was doing differently. As she levitated her stuffed animals around her room, she told me that she had a new teacher. Then she told me that she’s very happy that she gets to learn from Princess Twilight because she’s actually learning how to use her magic.” She bowed “I know it’s a little late, but I want to thank you for what you’ve done for my daughter, Prince Artemis.”

Artemis smiled “Of course”

Celestia smiled as well “It must have been difficult for you to have so little time to spend with her. I’m glad to hear that you have more time for your family, Ice Blossom.”

Ice Blossom raised her head, still smiling “Thank you, princess.”

Celestia cleared her throat “Let’s get on with court. Since the new petitions have yet to go through the screening process, we will move onto the other ponies present. We’ll take the most serious case first.”

Several hours later

Celestia sighed as she walked into the library.

Artemis turned to her “Is something wrong, sister?”

She shook her head “No. I’m just glad court is finally over.” She heard Artemis laugh and glanced at him. She noticed that he was looking into a corner in the back of the library. Following his gaze, Celestia saw Twilight sitting at a table and counted seven open books floating in front of her little sister, while at least a dozen more sat on the table in front of her. Laughing as well, she shook her head. “She said that she wanted to look into something, so that must be what she’s doing. When she researches something, she gets kind of . . . Well, I call it her “Research Mode” and she can spend hours like that.”

Laughing again, Artemis turned to his sister. “We should leave her alone for now. After all, we have our own research to do.”

Celestia nodded as she led her brother to a room in the back of the library and nodded to the head librarian. “My brother and I have research to do. Please see to it that we are not disturbed.”

The Pegasus mare bowed “Yes, Princess Celestia.”

Once inside the room, she closed and locked the door. As Artemis cast a soundproofing spell around the room, she summoned a book from her room. She released Twilight’s barrier and entered the password before placing the now open book on the table in front of them. Exchanging glances, they bent over it and began to read.

Three hours later, they had managed to get a fairly large amount of research done by working together. They had long since finished the book, it had turned out to be an accurate account of that battle, and had moved onto the spells that Golden Thunder had used. They only stopped when they each felt the pull of their respective celestial bodies. Once they had lowered the sun and raised the moon, they stood and stretched before Celestia teleported everything they were using to her room.

She saw the expression on her brother’s face and shook her head. “I won’t do any research without you. I just don’t want anypony to touch our research materials.” Artemis nodded as they walked out of the room.

Looking around the library, his eyes widened as he saw Golden Flash sitting at a table against the opposite wall. There was an open book in front of him but he wasn’t looking at it. Instead, he was staring intently at the table in the corner. Nudging Celestia, he whispered “Sister, look”

Surprised, Celestia glanced at her brother before following his gaze. She gasped softly “What’s he doing?” She followed Golden Flash’s gaze to Twilight and smiled as she saw that her sister had enclosed that entire corner in a combination of a barrier and soundproofing spell. Twilight had clearly decided that she wasn’t going to move or stop her research. Instead, she came up with a simple way to make sure that he couldn’t bother her. Nudging her brother, she used a wing to point at Twilight and whispered “Twilight knows he’s there.”

He gasped “What?” Following the tip of his sister’s wing, he smiled as he saw what his mare had done. Suddenly, he got an idea. Smirking at his sister, he whispered “This should be fun.”

Artemis raised his voice. “Are we finally in agreement on what to do for that petition, sister? I can’t believe you made me go through thirty years’ worth of tax changes. Couldn’t you have just told me what you were talking about?” Glad that his head was turned, he smiled as Golden Flash jumped and turned to them.

Celestia was equally glad that Artemis’ head was turned because it was blocking Golden Flash from seeing her smile. “Of course not, little brother. You need to know that information for next time. The best way for me to make sure that you learn it is to ensure that you read the necessary books. Why do you think we’ve been holed up in the library all afternoon? As for your first question, yes, I believe we agree on the best course of action for us to take.”

She made a point of looking over at Twilight. “So that’s where Twilight’s been. We need to tell her that it’s time for dinner.” She laughed “Come on, it may take both of us to get her out of “Research Mode”.”

Ignoring Golden Flash, they walked over to Twilight, and easily passed through her barrier. They both knew that Twilight sensed them immediately, but she didn’t move until they were right next to the table.

Feigning surprise, Twilight looked up, making sure that Golden Flash could see her move but making equally sure that she didn’t look at him. Instead, she looked at Celestia as she lowered her barrier. “Is it dinnertime already?”

Celestia laughed “Yes, it’s time for dinner. Are you going to leave your mess here?”

Twilight shook her head and teleported everything she’d been using to Artemis’ room. “I’ve already gotten permission to take these books to our room. I’ll continue my research after class tomorrow.”

Continuing the act, Artemis groaned “Great, you’ve made a mess of my desk. How am I supposed to use it when you’ve covered it in books?”

Twilight gave him a mock glare “You said you’d share yours until mine is finished!”

“Fine” Artemis sighed “Try to leave me a little bit of free space, please. I need somewhere to put the petitions that Celestia and I looked into this afternoon.”

Still playing along, Twilight nodded “I’ll move a few things when we get to our room after dinner.”

Twilight paused and made a face, this one genuine. “Do I have to eat?”

“Yes” Artemis immediately replied I wondered when she’d ask that. I don’t blame her for not wanting to eat, but she needs to do it anyway.

“I’m probably not going to be able to hold anything down.” Twilight argued, standing and stretching her wings “I haven’t been able to keep anything solid in my stomach for two days now.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Artemis told her “You still need to try.”

“Artemis is right.” Celestia added “You’re pregnant, Twilight. I won’t allow you to skip meals.”

“Fine” Twilight grumbled, walking past Golden Flash without even looking at him.

Golden Flash was actually glad that Twilight had ignored him. Instead, he shuddered as he remembered his wife’s pregnancies. I don’t envy Prince Artemis right now. Princess Twilight seems to have it far worse than my wife did. It’s probably a good idea for me to avoid angering her for a while. I’ll just move on with a different part of my plan. My research has advanced far enough that I’ll finally be able to cast that spell tomorrow. I just have to figure out where I’m going to be when I cast it. The location must be perfect. Hearing Artemis’ voice, he looked up.

Artemis sighed and turned to Celestia “I hate having to do that.”

Celestia nodded “Me too. But she needs to eat. Besides, Apple Crunch has been experimenting with new recipes. He’s trying to find something she can keep in her stomach. Maybe tonight’s attempt will be successful.”

“Are you coming?” Twilight asked, standing in the doorway “I want to get this over with. If I have to throw up, the sooner I do it, the better.”

Celestia winced “Good luck, little brother. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

Artemis rolled his eyes “Thanks” He and Celestia walked past Golden Thunder, also without looking at him.

Golden Flash waited until the alicorns left the library before closing the book and standing. He left the book on the table and walked out of the library. I should get some dinner as well. After that, I need to get some rest so I’ll have enough magic for tomorrow.

A few minutes later, Celestia, Artemis and Twilight walked into the dining room and found Apple Crunch waiting for them. Dinner that night was tomato soup and sandwiches. Celestia and Artemis had grilled cheese sandwiches while Twilight had a cucumber one. Celestia and Artemis had glasses of milk and Twilight had a bottle of apple juice.

As they sat at the table, Twilight looked at Celestia. “If I have to leave the table, I’m not coming back tonight.” She turned to Artemis “If that happens, take your time. I’ll wait for you in our room.”

Artemis opened his mouth, clearly going to object, but Twilight cut him off. “No” she insisted, shaking her head “There’s no reason for both of us to go hungry.”

Seeing that there was no point in arguing, and not in the mood for a fight, Artemis sighed. “Very well”

Twilight nodded and turned her attention to her meal. After slowly eating half of the sandwich, she sighed in relief as it seemed that it would stay down. Unfortunately, the first spoonful of soup changed that. She dropped the spoon and teleported to the bathroom attached to their room.

Apple Crunch sighed and pulled out a pad of paper, placing an “X” next to the meal he prepared for the night.

Artemis looked at his sister. “How long does she have to go through this?”

Celestia sighed “You know it could be up to a month. Then again, that’s how it was for Mother. It may be completely different for Twilight.”

Shaking their heads, the siblings went back to their dinners. When they finished, Artemis levitated the bottle of apple juice to his side.

“At least we know that she can keep this in her stomach.” He told his sister “I’ll make sure she drinks it before we go to bed.”

She nodded “Good idea. Sleep well”

Artemis nodded as well “You too, sister.” He teleported to the room he shared with Twilight.

Twilight looked up at a flash of Artemis’ magic. Closing the book she was reading, she climbed off of the couch and placed the book on his desk. Turning to him, she paused as she saw a bottle of apple juice hovering on front of her.

“You forgot something.” He said, nuzzling her “We already know you can keep this down, so you should drink it now.” He held his breath, watching her carefully.

Twilight smiled “Thanks” Knowing he wasn’t going to move until she drank the apple juice, she opened the bottle and drank everything in it. After a couple of minutes, it was clear that it was going to stay down.

He sighed in relief and teleported the empty bottle to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Apple Crunch looked over as an empty bottle appeared on the counter. Above it were a few sentences in Artemis’ magic.

Twilight managed to keep the apple juice down so far. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try making a meal with apples. Since she can tolerate the juice, maybe she’ll be able to keep apples down as well.

Apple Crunch nodded thoughtfully “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Prince Artemis is right. That’s not a bad idea. I think I’ll make her some applesauce for breakfast. That would be a good test of the idea. If it works, there are several apple dishes that I can make for her.”

In Artemis’ room, he opened his eyes to find Twilight looking at him. He walked over to their bed and lay down. “I told Apple Crunch that you were able to keep the apple juice down.”

Twilight nodded, climbed in as well and settled next to him.

He pulled her closer and covered her with a wing. For a while, they lay like that. After roughly half an hour of relaxing, Artemis heard a soft snore. Looking at Twilight, he smiled when he noticed that she had fallen asleep. Laughing softly, he closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep as well.

Sundance and Midnight Armor were both asleep when Artemis appeared in the Dream Realm.

Smiling, he brought Celestia and Twilight into his dream. As soon as they appeared, he turned to them. “Shh” He whispered “Mother and Father are asleep.”

Glancing at their parents, Celestia quietly replied “What do you want to do?”

After a moment, Twilight shrugged “Why don’t we join them?” she asked softly “I’m sure they’ll wake us when they want to talk.”

Celestia nodded “We might as well. Besides, I don’t want to be the one to wake them. Father is one thing, but Mother always did like her sleep.”

Laughing softly, Artemis lay down next to their mother. Celestia lay next to their father and Twilight lay between their parents. It wasn’t long before all three of them were also asleep.

A little over an hour later, Sundance tried to roll over, but found that she couldn’t move. Surprised, she opened her eyes and looked around. Not believing what she saw, she rubbed her eyes and looked again. Assured that her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, she reached over Twilight and nuzzled her husband.

After a second nuzzle, he mumbled “What?”

“Look around us” she quietly told him

Still half asleep, he repeated himself, louder this time. “What?”

“Shh!” she whispered “Do you want to wake them?!”

Taking the hint, he lowered his voice. “Wake who? What’s going . . . on?” Opening his eyes, he suddenly noticed that their children were sleeping next to them. “When did they get here?”

She shrugged “I found them like this when I woke up a couple of minutes ago.” Looking at their children for a moment, she sighed. “As much as I’d rather not, perhaps we should wake them after all. We need to know what else happened today.”

He reluctantly nodded “I agree. I’d like to know as much about the situation as possible. Perhaps we’ll be able to see something they miss. At this point, that’s the only way we can help them.”

Sundance flinched “That wouldn’t have been the case if we had listened to them when they tried to warn us about Golden Thunder.”

Ears drooping, he sighed “I know. We learned our lesson the hard way. It’s only thanks to Artemis’ power and determination to protect our souls that we can talk to our children today. We have to make sure that they don’t meet the same fate we did.”

“Let’s wake them then.” She nuzzled Artemis while he nuzzled Celestia.

“What’s going on?” Artemis mumbled

“Hmm?” Celestia asked

Both of them opened their eyes as their parents turned to Twilight, nuzzling her as well.

She grumbled something about being hungry and buried her face in Midnight Armor’s shoulder. After a moment, she yawned and lifted her head.

Sundance raised an eyebrow “Didn’t you eat dinner?”

Twilight winced

Seeing this, Celestia answered their mother’s question. “She tried to, Mother, but it came right back up.”

“She hasn’t been able to keep anything solid in her stomach for two days now.” Artemis explained, sighing “After what you said last night, we tried apple juice this morning. Twilight is able to keep that down but . . .”

Midnight Armor grimaced “That’s the same problem you had, Sundance.”

Shuddering as she remembered her own experiences, Sundance nodded. “I know she said that she wasn’t able to hold anything down yesterday, but I was hoping that it was a temporary issue.” She nuzzled Twilight and sighed “You might want to pay attention as well, Celestia. I don’t want either of you to have to go through what I did.”

She thought for a moment “I don’t remember either of my parents, so I’m not sure if this is normal for an alicorn pregnancy or not. However, I do know that it happened for both of my pregnancies.”

Midnight Armor shook his head “Unfortunately, I don’t remember my parents either. That means we don’t have any other alicorn pregnancies to go back to for information.” He paused as something occurred to him. “Actually, there is another alicorn you can ask. Cadance. If she had the same problem, maybe she found a solution. Even if she didn’t have that problem, she may have an idea that’ll help.”

Artemis blinked “You’re right. I can’t believe we didn’t think about that. Hearth’s Warming is next week and we’re going to be in the Crystal Empire for the holiday. We’ll ask her then.”

Celestia smiled “I’ve been thinking about when we should head to the Crystal Empire. If I recall correctly, the winter break starts on Monday for the students.”

Twilight nodded “Tomorrow is the last day of class. Then we have a two week break.”

Surprised, Artemis looked from Celestia to Twilight. “Really?” When both of them nodded, he frowned. “Sorry, I guess I haven’t been paying attention.”

Twilight laughed “What reason would you have to pay attention to the school calendar? After all, our foal hasn’t even been born yet, let alone reached school age.”

“As for court,” Celestia began “with everything that’s happened lately, you’ve had a lot on your mind. Besides, there have been a few major changes in your life. I’m not surprised that you’ve been distracted.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’ve taken the liberty of contacting Cadance. She and Shining Armor are expecting all of us, minus Twilight’s friends, to arrive on Monday around dinner time.”

Twilight tilted her head “Why aren’t they expecting the girls?”

Celestia smiled “They can come with us if they want, but we’re working off of the assumption that they’ll probably want to stay with their families for the holiday.”

After a moment’s thought, Twilight nodded “That makes sense, but I’m still going to ask them. Mainly because I don’t want them to be offended if I don’t.” After another pause, she continued. “He loves going to the Crystal Empire, so I’m sure that Spike will want to come. But I have to warn you, every time we go, he tells the story of how he saved the crystal ponies. Several times.”

Artemis blinked “Every time?

Celestia raised an eyebrow “Several times?”

Laughing, Twilight nodded again “The girls and I have saved the day many times, but he’s really only got this one thing to brag about.” She shrugged “So we indulge him a little. When we get there, Spike goes off to be treated to as many gems as he wants. Meanwhile, the rest of us go our separate ways and try to clear our heads. It’s a nice story, and Spike does a good job of telling it, but there’s only so many times we can take hearing it in a row.”

“I didn’t know he does that.” Celestia replied “He certainly didn’t say anything to us when we went to the Chrystal Empire last time.”

“You didn’t travel with us. Even though Rainbow, Fluttershy and I could fly to the Crystal Empire, we like to travel together.” Twilight shrugged “That means the girls, Spike and I have to take the train. It also means that he has plenty of time to tell the story.”

Chuckling, Artemis shook his head “Celestia and I usually either fly or take a chariot.” He looked at his sister “I think we should take the enclosed one this time.”

Celestia laughed “I agree. It gets really cold at altitude and I’m certainly not going to expect, or allow, Twilight to fly for three hours in those temperatures. Besides, if Spike decides to come with us, that probably wouldn’t work out well.”

Twilight shook her head “He likes to ride on my back while I’m flying but, like most dragons, he hates cold weather. I’m sure he’d appreciate taking the chariot.”

Everypony looked at Midnight Armor as he cleared his throat. “Your mother and I would like to talk about what happened today.”

Sundance nodded “We don’t have much time left in our visit, only one more day. After that, we’ll have to wait three months before we’re able to talk to you again. So we’d like to make sure that we know as much about what’s going on as possible.”

Twilight, Celestia and Artemis nodded.

“We already know what happened in the library this morning.” Midnight Armor began “I’d like to start by saying that you did a good job, Twilight and Artemis.”

Sundance nodded “We noticed that you made Golden Flash reveal some of what he knew.”

Sighing, Twilight glanced at their mother “I thought I might be able to get him to reveal something, I just didn’t think it would be that.”

Artemis shuddered “Me either. I just saw what Twilight was trying to do and wanted to give him another push.”

Midnight Armor shook his head “At least we know that he knows the truth. What we don’t know, is what he plans to do next.”

Sundance turned to Celestia “Did Golden Flash cause any trouble in court?”

Celestia shook her head “Aside from a few smirks sent in our direction, he was actually well behaved.”

“That’s . . . odd.” Sundance commented “Especially considering his comments in the library.”

“It was definitely strange.” Artemis replied “He stayed with the other nobles and didn’t say much to us for the duration of court today. In fact, we didn’t see him alone again until after court. Celestia, Twilight and I went back to the library for some research. Twilight took over a corner of the library while Celestia and I went into the back room.”

Midnight Armor raised an eyebrow “He was there as well?”

Twilight shook her head “Not at first. In fact, I was there for almost an hour and a half before he walked in.” She sighed “Unfortunately, he noticed me right away.”

Taking a deep breath, Artemis asked “Did he bother you?”

Glancing at him, she asked “Why do you think I enclosed that entire corner in a barrier and soundproofing spell? I refused to let him force me out of the library, but wanted him to leave me alone.”

Midnight Armor nuzzled her “What did he want?”

“A few things” Twilight replied “First, he wanted me to give him that book. I told him that, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t give it to him because Celestia had it.”

Celestia laughed “I assume he didn’t like that answer.”

Twilight shook her head “He said, and I quote, “How dare you! She has no right to read that! You have no idea what they, and their parents, did to my ancestor!”” She giggled “I didn’t correct him, so he has no idea that I know what happened that day.”

“Well done, Twilight! That may be useful later.” Sundance hugged her youngest. “What else did he want?”

Twilight returned the hug before replying “Once he realized that I wasn’t going to give him the book, he switched to complaining about the fact that I denied the petitions from a couple of weeks ago. I reminded him that I knew those petitions were meant to trick Artemis into allowing the nobles to steal money from the treasury. There wasn’t much he could say to that, so he switched topics again.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow “To what?”

“My research” Twilight answered “He wanted to know what I was working on and even offered to assist me.”

Artemis laughed “Really?”

Laughing as well, Twilight nodded “I politely declined, of course. Fortunately, that’s when a few librarians walked over with several books that I had asked for. He told me that he needed to go get a book and would be right back. As soon as he walked away, I put up a barrier. When he came back, he demanded that I let him in.” She shrugged “I cast a soundproofing spell instead.”

Midnight Armor chuckled “I wish I could have seen that.”

Twilight smiled at him “I can help with that.” She showed them what she had done, as well as Golden Flash’s response. As she expected, everypony laughed.

Sundance turned to Twilight “You had no intention of allowing him to help, did you?”

Giggling, Twilight shook her head before turning to Celestia. “How did your research go?”

“Well,” Celestia began “we’ve determined that the book is an accurate account of that battle. As for the control spell, it’s extremely complex. It seems that Golden Thunder was able to tell the Chimera Anima what to do by making it think that its actions were its own. Instead, he was controlling what it wanted to do.”

“You’re right,” Midnight Armor commented “that’s a very complex spell. I’m surprised that he was able to create a spell like that.” He paused, worried “Does it work on ponies?”

“Yes and no” Artemis answered “Yes, because it can be used to control some ponies. No, because anypony that is smart or powerful enough will be able to escape the control, unless they willingly allow it. That’s probably why he used the Chimera Anima to attack us.”

Midnight Armor sighed in relief

“Speaking of that creature,” Sundance began “were you able to figure out how he gave it the ability to steal and eat souls?”

Celestia nodded “If you think the control spell was complex, you should have seen the one for stealing souls. The only good thing about it is that it’s impossible for that spell to take the soul from a living pony. I believe that’s why he gave the ability to a Chimera. The lion part had to kill the ponies before the snake could take their souls.”

“I see.” Midnight Armor thought for a moment “What is the possibility that Golden Flash knows of these spells?”

Celestia looked at their father “On one hoof, I’d say that the chance of him knowing about them is rather small because I classified those spells as forbidden over a thousand years ago. On the other, I think it’s safe to assume that at least some of Golden Thunder’s research was passed on to his descendants.”

Artemis also turned to their father. “If he knows those spells, wouldn’t he have used them by now?”

Sundance nodded “You’re right, Artemis. The fact that he hasn’t used them, leads me to believe that he doesn’t know about them. Or maybe he doesn’t possess the ability to cast them.” She turned to Twilight “What were you researching?”

Twilight turned to their mother “I wanted to see if I could figure out what he was doing with the souls that he had his creation steal.”

Midnight Armor raised an eyebrow “It gained power by eating the souls of ponies. What else is there to figure out?”

Sundance, Celestia and Artemis nodded.

Twilight shook her head “Something about that seemed a bit off, so I looked into what would happen if one living creature ate the soul of another. The reason living creatures can’t eat souls is simple . . . none of them are supposed to. Any creature that does ingest the soul of another, with or without the aid of magic, would have to be able to digest the soul or get rid of it rather quickly. This is because living beings are only supposed to have one soul in them. Their own.”

Artemis opened his mouth. Twilight saw this and shook her head.

“Before you say anything,” She told him “the situation with you and Night is different because neither of you ate the soul of the other. In your case, it’s two souls bound together and sharing the same body. Besides, the Elements of Harmony had a major part to play in your particular situation. If there were negative side effects, you’d know about them already.”

Artemis realized that she was right and nodded for her to continue.

She looked at Sundance. “In your memory, the Chimera Anima ate two dozen souls at once. Yes, those souls gave it a lot of power, but it had trouble controlling that power. Remember how Golden Thunder said that the Chimera Anima’s next attack was too strong? The Chimera Anima having that many souls in it had to have been a temporary plan because no living creature is equipped to handle that many souls in its body for long. That means there must have been a place to put those souls later.”

“There was another thing that I thought was strange.” She continued “Golden Thunder alternated between asking Artemis to allow his creation to eat your souls and demanding that Artemis give them to him. That led me to believe that he had a different plan for your souls. I wanted to see if I could figure out what it was.”

For several minutes, Sundance, Midnight Armor, Celestia and Artemis just stared at her.

Finally, Celestia asked “W-were you able to figure out what it was?”

Twilight hesitated before admitting “I discovered a couple of possibilities, neither of them pleasant.”

“I doubt that pony had anything pleasant planned for us.” Midnight Armor said, shaking his head “Please tell us what you discovered, Twilight.”

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded “I realized that there was something familiar about the name Golden Thunder. It drove me crazy all day because I couldn’t figure out where I heard the name before. In fact, it wasn’t until I started my research this afternoon that I finally figured it out.” She looked at Midnight Armor and Sundance “Do you remember the spell I told you that I wouldn’t restore because it was too dangerous?”

Sundance thought for several minutes. Finally, she said “I believe it was called the Spirit Reanimation Spell.”

Twilight nodded “Golden Thunder is the one that created that spell. Basically, it allows the caster to call another pony, or ponies, back from the dead. That would be bad enough, if it wasn’t for a crucial detail. Whoever is brought back by that spell would be under the control of the caster, potentially forced to do things against their will.”

Artemis’ eyes widened before he shuddered “He could have cast it on Mother and Father. Then he would have sent them against us.”

Celestia gasped “That would have been very bad. There’s no way we would have been able to bring ourselves to fight them.”

Twilight nodded “Fortunately, he wasn’t able to get the spell to work, so that never happened. As for using it now, even if Golden Flash manages to restore that spell, he can’t do anything to them because it calls souls from the Realm of the Dead. Mom and Dad never entered that realm because their souls live on as stars. That means the spell won’t affect them.”

Midnight Armor hesitantly asked “How hard would it be to restore that spell?”

Twilight thought back to what she’d read about it. After a moment, she replied “Not very. Golden Thunder was close to getting the spell right. If he’d done a little more research, and maybe an experiment or two, he probably would have discovered the problem and been able to fix it.”

Celestia gave Twilight a look “I know you, Twilight. I’m sure you looked for a spell that would counter the Spirit Reanimation Spell.”

Twilight nodded “There are too many dangerous ponies that could be brought back.”

“Did you find one?” Artemis asked

Twilight shook her head “Once a pony has been brought back by that spell, they’re here until they die again. The reason that spell can’t be countered is that it works in two stages. The first stage calls the soul of the dead pony from the Realm of the Dead. The second stage either uses their original body or creates a new one, identical to the one they had when they were alive, for the soul to inhabit.”

Sundance gave Twilight a look that was similar to Celestia’s. “Twilight, I may not know you as well as Celestia does, but I do know that you wouldn’t have left it there.”

Twilight blushed “You’re right, I didn’t leave it there. It’s not possible to counter the Spirit Reanimation Spell, but I did create a spell to stop it. If I can get to the pony casting the spell in time, I can stop the spell and shut it down. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reverse the spell. For example, if I get there during the second stage, I can stop the body from being summoned or created. However, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about the soul that had been summoned in the first stage. We would have to come up with another plan for that.”

“Twilight . . .”

She saw the look on Midnight Armor’s face. “Don’t worry, Dad. I tested my spell as thoroughly as possible. It’ll take a lot of magic to stop the Spirit Reanimation Spell, but I can do it.”

Midnight Armor sighed in relief and hugged his daughter. “Good.” He paused “You said that you discovered a couple of possible plans that Golden Thunder might have had for our souls. What’s the second possibility?”

Twilight looked down. “This one might actually be worse.”

Celestia looked over “What do you mean?”

Twilight glanced at her “Back then, nopony thought it was possible for a pony that wasn’t born an alicorn to become one. That being the case, fortunately for all of us, Golden Thunder didn’t bother trying that route. However, according to my research, he was looking for a way to take the immortality from your souls and transfer it to his. Then, he would have just needed to find a way to keep his body going.” She heard them gasp and hurriedly finished her explanation. “There was nothing in what I read that suggested that he found a way to do that. However, I believe that may have been one of his goals.”

“Y-you’re right.” Sundance stammered “That one’s worse.”

Shuddering, Midnight Armor nodded “Were you able to find a way to stop that from happening? I know that can’t happen to the souls of your mother and I, but that doesn’t mean somepony can’t try it with one of you.”

Twilight shook her head “I had to stop my research for the day. I’ll continue it after class tomorrow.”

Celestia and Artemis looked at each other before she turned to Twilight. “Once we finish dealing with the new petitions, we’ll help you. If the petitions take too long, please make sure you tell us what progress you make tomorrow night.”

Twilight nodded

Sundance sighed “Now that that’s settled, I think that’s enough for tonight.”

Midnight Armor nodded “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to relax for a while.”

Everypony else nodded. They spent the rest of the dream relaxing and watching the stars around them. After a couple of hours, Artemis and Celestia raised their heads and looked at each other.

Knowing what that meant, Midnight Armor smiled “We’ll see you tonight.”

Sundance nodded “Make sure you tell us anything that happens as well as what you discover.”

Celestia, Artemis and Twilight nodded and vanished.

When Twilight and Artemis walked into the dining room, they found Celestia and Apple Crunch waiting for them. At Twilight’s place at the table, sat a bowl of freshly made applesauce and a bottle of apple juice.

Twilight walked closer and smelled the applesauce. She was surprised when her stomach growled. Cautiously, she lifted her spoon and took a bite.

Celestia, Artemis and Apple Crunch held their breaths. After a couple of minutes, they sighed in relief as she slowly ate her breakfast before drinking the apple juice.

A few minutes later, she also sighed in relief as it became clear that her breakfast was going to stay down. “Thank you, Apple Crunch.”

Apple Crunch smiled and bowed “I can’t take credit for this, princess, it’s Prince Artemis that you should be thanking. He’s the one who suggested that I make you a meal from apples because you were able to keep down the juice.”

Twilight smiled “The idea may not have been yours, but you still made the food. Thank you.”

She turned to Artemis and pulled him into a kiss. “Thank you” She whispered, burying her face in his neck.

He smiled and wrapped a wing around her. “It’s my fault you were feeling like that. Of course I was going to do whatever I could to help.”

“How is it your fault?”

He tightened his wing around her. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, it’s my foal in you that’s making you feel like that.”

Twilight shook her head “You mean our foal. Besides, morning sickness is a part of being pregnant. It happens to every mare and its nopony’s fault.”

He smiled and kissed her again before turning his attention to his breakfast, making quick work of his cheese and spinach omelet. They waited for Celestia to finish her waffles.

Once all three of them had finished eating, they headed for the throne room. Pausing in the doorway, Twilight nuzzled Celestia and Artemis before continuing towards her classroom.

Celestia and Artemis walked into the throne room. As usual, it was full of ponies needing their help. Under the cover of looking around at the ponies in the room, they looked at Golden Flash. He was standing with the group of nobles that were usually in court and one of the few ponies not looking at either of them.

Filing that away for later consideration, Celestia walked up to the throne and sat in front of it. She smiled as Artemis sat next to her. “Good Morning, my little ponies.”

“Good Morning, Princess Celestia and Prince Artemis”

Celestia glanced at Artemis and nodded before turning back to the other ponies in the room. “Before court begins, my brother and I would like to make an announcement. As we usually do at this time of year, there will be a two week break for Hearth’s Warming. However, there will be a change this year.” She paused as everypony in the room began to talk quietly among themselves.

Artemis cleared his throat, catching their attention. “The change that my sister spoke of is this . . . Celestia, Twilight and I have been asked to travel to the Crystal Empire on Monday. We will be there for a week but will return well before court is scheduled to resume.”

“In an effort to make sure that everypony takes time to spend the Holiday with their families,” Celestia continued “we’re going to close the castle when we leave.”

Artemis nodded “We’re aware that some ponies don’t want to take a vacation, regardless of who offers it. This year, we’re not taking “No” for an answer. The castle will reopen when we return.”

Celestia smiled “Now that that has been taken care of, I would like to get to today’s petitions.”

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly until just before five o’clock. Celestia and Artemis had closed court early, citing the desire to give ponies more time with their families for the holiday season. They headed for the training yard to discuss castle security with Sapphire Wing and Silver Shadow for the week that they were going to be in the Crystal Empire.

Most of the ponies had left the castle when court ended for the day. However, there was one pony that hadn’t left yet. Now that the throne room was empty, he walked towards the throne. Stopping a few feet in front of it, he lit his horn and prepared to cast the spell that he’d spent the last five and a half months researching and restoring. I can’t think of a better place to bring him back. Still, I’m going to have to hurry if I want to get this done before Princess Celestia or Prince Artemis come back. I’m not worried about Princess Twilight because she said that she’d be doing research today. That should keep her occupied.

He cast his spell. A few minutes later, he smiled as he saw his ancestor’s soul take shape in front of him.

Twilight sighed as she walked out of the library. It was a little after five and the last of her students had just left. Deciding to see if Celestia and Artemis would be willing to help her, she headed for the throne room.

Once she got there, she noticed that Golden Flash was standing in front of the throne, casting a spell of some kind. What’s he doing?

She was horrified when Golden Thunder’s soul appeared. This is not good! Not only did he cast the Spirit Reanimation Spell, he’s already reached the second stage! I have to stop him from finishing that spell! She quickly did three things . . . held Golden Flash’s body and Golden Thunder’s soul firmly in her magic, cast her spell to shut down the Spirit Reanimation Spell and sent a message to Artemis. I need time to shut the Spirit Reanimation Spell down. While I can stop the spell from progressing any further, I’m going to need Celestia and Artemis’ help to shut it down completely. Hopefully, they get my message and come quickly.

Celestia and Artemis were in the training yard, each talking to their respective Guard Captains.

Artemis and Silver Shadow looked up as the message from Twilight appeared in front of them. Their eyes widened as they read the words.

Artemis immediately raised his voice “Sister!”

The urgency in his voice made Celestia and Sapphire Wing turn. They saw Artemis and Silver Shadow staring at a short message written in Twilight’s magic.

Throne Room NOW! Bring Celestia!

Knowing that it had to be an emergency, Celestia used the power of the sun to cast her teleportation spell, taking herself and her brother straight to the throne room.

Both Captains immediately took flight, headed for the throne room as well.

In the throne room, Golden Flash was beginning to panic. Why can’t I move?! Damn, I’m losing control of the spell! This is bad, I’m not done yet!

Meanwhile, Golden Thunder had been looking around, wondering where in Equestria he was. This is obviously a throne room, but it doesn’t look like the one in the Everfree Castle. Regardless, he smiled One of my descendants must have fixed my spell and brought me back. I should have my body soon. Before he could consider anything else, he found his soul caught in powerful magic. This isn’t the magic of Celestia or Artemis. Who in Equestria, other than those two, is powerful enough to catch souls in their magic?! This isn’t good! Whoever this is, they’ve also stopped the Spirit Reanimation Spell!

Both of them were forced to close their eyes as the throne room was suddenly filled with sunlight. When they opened them again, they found themselves staring at Celestia and Artemis.

Golden Thunder’s eyes went wide. They’ve certainly grown.

Celestia and Artemis were shocked as they took in the scene in front of them. Twilight was standing near the door, facing them, wings flared and horn glowing. In front of her, stood Golden Flash and the soul of Golden Thunder. They were both being held in her magic while she tried to stop the Spirit Reanimation Spell.

Twilight sighed in relief when she saw them. “T-this is taking too much magic!” she panted “I-I need your help!”

Celestia and Artemis immediately added their magic to her spell.

Golden Flash gasped as control of the Spirit Reanimation Spell was taken from him. Held by Twilight’s magic, he had no choice but to watch as the spell was stopped.

Golden Thunder watched the same thing, noticing that his soul was suddenly surrounded with three different colors of magic, gold, dark blue and magenta. He instantly knew what they had done. They’ve stopped my body from forming, so I’m stuck as a soul. The gold magic is Celestia’s, the dark blue magic is Artemis’, but who does the other magic belong to?! It’s far too powerful to belong to a unicorn. He was torn from his thoughts as Celestia and Artemis gasped in horror. He looked up to see similar expressions on their faces. The odd thing was that neither of them were looking at him. Instead, they were both looking past him.

As soon as the spell was completely stopped, Twilight collapsed. As she fell towards the floor, everypony heard rapid hoofsteps as two ponies raced into the room. Before she could hit the floor, they rushed to her side and braced her.

“My princess!” Silver Shadow shouted

“Princess Twilight!” Sapphire Wing exclaimed

The Guard Captains didn’t notice Steel Night and Midnight Fang follow them into the throne room.

Golden Thunder tried to turn his head to see who they were talking to, but found that he couldn’t move. Who is Princess Twilight? He looked up as he heard Artemis’ voice.

“Twilight!” He levitated her to his side and placed her between himself and his sister.

Golden Thunder’s eyes widened as he saw her. Is she the daughter of Celestia and Artemis?! That’s disgusting! They’re siblings! He sighed in relief as Artemis kissed the lavender alicorn. Thank the heavens. He’s not in a relationship with his sister. Instead, he’s clearly in a relationship with this new princess.

Not caring about Golden Flash or Golden Thunder, Artemis kissed Twilight as his magic swept over her body. He sighed in relief when he noticed that her magic levels hadn’t gone low enough to put her life in danger. “Are you alright?!”

Still panting, Twilight nodded as she leaned into his side. “Thanks for coming so quickly. I couldn’t have held that on my own for much longer.” She turned to Celestia “What do you want to do with them?”

“Give me a moment.” Celestia whispered, nuzzling Twilight, before turning to the ponies in front of her. She noticed that Golden Flash was trembling. “Are you alright, Golden Flash?”

Golden Thunder raised an eyebrow Golden Flash?

Golden Flash struggled to catch his breath but nodded. “Y-yes, princess”

Golden Thunder smiled as he heard the voice. This stallion must be one of my descendants. How fitting. I was brought back by one that was named after me.

Why did he call Celestia “Princess”? Shouldn’t she be the Queen now that her mother is dead? If she kept her old title, I bet her brother did as well.

Celestia nodded “Now you understand one of the reasons this spell was never completed. It’s too dangerous to cast. The amount of magic required means that it has to be cast by either a team of ponies or an alicorn.”

Artemis narrowed his eyes “You should be grateful. By stopping that spell before it drained your magic, Twilight saved your life.”

After another flash of sunlight lit the room, Celestia turned back to Golden Flash. “You should also consider yourself lucky that the Spirit Reanimation Spell wasn’t classified as a Forbidden Spell when you cast it, but it is now. You know what will happen if you cast it again.”

Finally, she turned to the soul. “Hello, Golden Thunder.” She began coldly “I haven’t seen you since the day you killed Mother and Father.”

The guards gasped. They weren’t sure which horrified them the most, her tone of voice or her words.

Golden Thunder laughed “It’s nice to see you, too, Princess Celestia. You’ve grown into a beautiful mare. In fact, you look very much like your mother.” He turned to Artemis “Prince Artemis, it’s been a long time. You may not be as big as your father, but you’re clearly more powerful than he ever was.”

Artemis glared and spoke in the same cold tone as his sister. “Yes, Golden Thunder, it has been a while. I can’t believe you have the nerve to mention Mother and Father, especially after what you did to them.”

Celestia turned to Twilight “You can shut the spell down now, Twilight. But don’t use your magic, we’ll lend you ours.”

Celestia and Artemis touched their horns to hers. Twilight used their combined magic to shut the Spirit Reanimation Spell down. Doing so created a bright flash of light that required everypony present to close their eyes. It also required all of her focus. She had no choice but to drop the spell that was holding Golden Flash and Golden Thunder.

Seeing his chance, Golden Thunder entered the body of Golden Flash. Remain calm, Golden Flash. I will not harm you. Unfortunately, without one of my own, I must take shelter in the body of another. Do not tell anypony where I am.

Golden Flash’s eyes widened Y-yes, ancestor.

Everypony opened their eyes to find that Golden Thunder had vanished.

Celestia sent a wave of magic through the room. I know he’s still here because I can sense his presence. He doesn’t have a body because Twilight managed to stop the spell before one was created for him. That means that Golden Thunder has probably entered the body of another. If I had to guess, I’d say that he’s in Golden Flash’s body. However, I can’t tell for sure right now. There are spells I can use to find him and I’ll try them tomorrow, once my magic has recovered. Until I figure out where he’s gone, I’ll just have to observe everything closely. This also means that we’re going to have to take a rather extreme measure to closing the castle when we leave.

The Spirit Reanimation Spell wasn’t forbidden when he cast it. While his actions are troubling, Golden Flash hasn’t done anything illegal. I have to let him go.

Celestia turned to Golden Flash. “You should go home and rest, Golden Flash. I suggest you do so now, before I change my mind. We will discuss your actions when we return from the Crystal Empire.”

Golden Flash bowed “Yes, Princess Celestia.” Staggering slightly, he turned and left the room.

Next Chapter: Chapter 50 Estimated time remaining: 22 Hours, 31 Minutes