The previous day, Canterlot Castle

“Sister?” asked Luna as she looked at the expression of utter disbelief, shock and fear on Celestia’s face, all of that hid the minuscule spark of hope in her eyes.

Without hesitation, Celestia turned around and flew toward the throne, more specifically behind the throne, as soon as the other three got over the surprise they run toward Celestia and when they move around the throne they saw her push the last brick of a sequence. Like many stereotypical secret passages in medieval castles the wall itself receded a few inches before parting in the middle along the bricks, which revealed a set of the spiral staircase leading down, however, Celestia just jumped down the middle of the vertical tunnel instead of using the stairs.

Luna looked at the unicorn siblings and grabbed them with her telekinesis before jumping after her sister. That caused Twilight to yelp in surprise but otherwise didn't protest while Shining remained silent, a few seconds later Luna unfurled her wings and slowed her descent along with the pair of unicorns, who were placed on the ground. The trio landed in the crystal caves beneath the city, Twilight shivered at the memory of Chrysalis sending her down here while using Cadence’s face. Shining just took in his surroundings like he was trained to do, he saw about three openings that led somewhere deeper into the mountain, however, the fourth passage was wider and had some engravings along the edges. Luna without hesitation went into this passage and the unicorn siblings followed her, from there it was more or less a straight line until they reached a circular chamber where Celestia was standing.

“It's not here,” said Celestia but if it was to herself or those behind her it was anybody's guess.

The trio walked around the shocked princess and say that she was standing before an altar, clearly mean to have something placed on it but it was empty and they questioned how this altar was related to Shining's report.

“It's not here,” repeated Celestia, clearly in disbelief.

“What's not here, sister?” asked Luna worried for her sister and some small part of her believed that maybe this was also related to the secret her sister struggle to tell her in the recent months.

“His ring,” said Celestia but the reference was lost to the trio of confused ponies.

“Who’s ring, Tia?” asked Luna as she placed her left hand on Celestia's right shoulder.

“Volthoom's,” said Celestia and when she said that name it dawned on Shining that the changeling that was ruling the Crystal Empire knew Princess Celestia and that could potentially mean that said changeling thousands of years old. Twilight on the other hand just gained a thoughtful expression and she was sure she heard that name before but she couldn't remember where.

“Sister, why would Volthoom's ring be here in the first place? And what all of this has to do with the changeling that shares his name?” asked Luna with a serious tone.

Instead of answering Luna Celestia sighed before facing the unicorn siblings and say, “There is nothing we can do for now. Captain Armor, get some rest because you and a few other guards will be accompanying me and/or Luna back to the Crystal Empire in a day or two. Twilight, I need you to go back and gather the rest of the Elements as soon as possible and meet us in the throne room where I will explain what is going on.”

Both unicorns nodded and went back to the cave where they landed before climbing the staircase. Celestia kept an eye on their magical signature and once she was sure they were back at the throne room she turned to her sister, who was looking at her with a serious and impatient expression, clearly demanding answers silently.

Luna just crossed her arms and kept giving her sister a knowing look, she had been yearning for answers since she came back, she wanted to know what happened to Flutter Valley and the widely accepted account of “it was destroyed in a cataclysmic event” wasn't enough for her. She knew that an event of the magnitude need to destroy the Valley didn't happen by chance, no, someone triggered the destruction of the Valley and she had no doubt that whoever did that was also tied to Volthoom's disappearance. The fact that her sister had their former mentor's ring down here made that perfectly clear and she wasn't willing to wait for Celestia to build up the courage to talk anymore, she wanted answers now, however, she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Celestia fell on her knees and gripped her little sister's blue dress, tear flowing from her eyes and running down her beautiful face as she repeated over and over again, “I'm sorry.”

Luna just looked at her sister, the white alicorn clinging to her and she didn’t know what to do, she never saw her older sister like this before, so fragile, so broke. She just placed her hand on Celestia's head and run her finger over her light green, blue and pink mane while waiting for her sister to calm down and talk to her.

Canterlot Castle, Throne room, about an hour later

The Royals Sisters stood beside each in the throne room overlooking the city of Canterlot, Luna glanced at her sister and wondered she was ok. The Diarch of the Sun recovered enough to look presentable and she told that the reason she broke like that was the secret she kept all this time, it was time to reveal it. It didn’t take long for Twilight and her brother to return with the rest of the Elements of Harmony, so Celestia and Luna turned to face their subjects before approaching them.

“We’re here, princess?” said Twilight after the door of the throne room was closed and the guards left before that, leaving the Royal Sister alone with the Elements and the Captain.

“Tell me, Twilight, what do you know of the ‘The Falling Star and the Flutter Ponies’?” asked Celestia and Twilight’s tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what a fairy tale had to do with the situation.

“Oh, it’s one of my favorite fairy tales,” said Fluttershy excitedly, for her, which caused everyone to look at her and she tried to hide behind her mane.

“Mine too!” said Pinkie.

“I remember that story, mother used to tell me and Twily when we were little,” commented Shining Armor.

“Man, I haven’t heard that one in a while,” commented Rainbow, then she asked confusedly, “But what a fairy tale has to do with any of this?”

“I don’t remember that tale, it must have come up after my banishment,” commented Luna to herself, then she turned to Celestia and asked, “Still, you never told me what happened to the flutter ponies.”

“Wait, flutter ponies are real!” said Twilight excitedly and already imagining how this revolutionary information would affect academic work, the existence of Flutter Valley was always speculated but never proven.

“Yes, they are, Flutter Valley used to be their home but by the time I went there was only a desert and there was no sign of either the flutter ponies or fairy ponies. Later I found that the Valley was renamed Badlands and that the fairy ponies moved but no sign of the flutter ponies, why is that sister?” asked Luna as she crossed her arms and looked at Celestia.

“Fairy ponies?” asked AJ and Rainbow.

“Oh, that’s another name for breezies,” commented Fluttershy before Twilight, which made her the center of attention again.

“Are all of you aware of the situation with the Crystal Empire?” asked Celestia as she looked at the rest of the Elements and one by one they nodded at the serious tone of the Princess, then she started, “Well, the ‘The Falling Star and the Flutter Ponies’ is not just a fairy tale its based on a real story, that was how the ‘God of Light’ arrived on Equus, it was around that time that Luna was born.”

That piece of information shocked the one present, except for Luna who already knew all of this, they heard legends of the “God of Light” and it was a shock to them at not only was he real but also that Flutter Valley was real since its existence was debated by scholars to this day.

“It was just a year later that Luna and I along with our parents visited the Valley where the ‘Fallen Star’ fell, it was there that we met the so-called ‘God of Light’, a being made of pure energy that came from beyond the stars, his name was Volthoom,” said Celestia which caused Shining Armor and Twilight to recognize the name, even if the person that Shining met in the north was just a changeling using the God of Light’s name it meant that he/she at the very least knew the truth about this story. Without pausing Celestia continued, “For many years he was mine and Luna’s teacher, he became the guardian of both Flutter Valley and the Crystal Empire, and for a long time everything was fine. However, that changed when a group of crystal ponies came from the north asking for help, telling stories of how Sombra, an advisor at the time, betrayed Queen Amore and usurped the throne. So, in order to help the King and Queen of Equestria led an army to liberate the Crystal Empire from Sombra’s rule.”

Twilight saw as her teacher’s hands tightened into a fist and started to tremble, never in her life had she ever saw Princess Celestia like that, the same could be said for the other Elements and Shining Armor.

“Luna and I plus our elite guard went into the Crystal Palace to deal with Sombra personally, we expected a unicorn that dabbled in dark magic and not a fully powered umbrum with his power boosted by all the fear and suffering of the crystal ponies. He unleashed his army of umbrums and our guards were the first to fall, it was a long and arduous battle and we won but in his defeat, Sombra took the Empire with him,” explained Celestia and Twilight nodded, it was more or less what was explained to her before but with more details. Luna paid attention but rolled her eyes not understanding where all of this was going but she remained silent as her sister continued, “However, while Luna and I were fighting Sombra our parents were keeping the umbrums at bay, the army we brought with us stood no chance and was forced to retreat. Unfortunately, the battle attracted the attention of the windigos further north beyond the Crystal Mountains, however, the battle also caught Volthoom’s attention. I don’t know the details but the armies of umbrum and windigos possessed Volthoom and the issuing battle cost the life of our parents.”

“After this, the council of nobles was ready to crown Celestia as the new Queen but she declared there would be no King or Queen from then on, thus we ruled as Princesses. A few years later the whole event involving Nightmare Moon happened,” commented Luna to both skip the unimportant parts as well as to give time for his sister to get her thoughts in order.

“A few years after Nightmare Moon was banished, Volthoom returned and I blamed him for the death of our parents as well as Luna’s emotional turmoil, so I attacked him,” explained Celestia with guilty evident in her voice.

“Sister, you didn’t,” gasped Luna when she heard what her sister said and already she was putting the pieces together.

“That fighting devastated the Valley and Volthoom was destroyed. The only thing left was his ring and I almost died when I put it on,” said Celestia, with deep sadness evident in her tone, however, she managed to keep herself from crying in front of her subject since she already did so with Luna. Then she looked up to the ceiling and said, “It never truly dawned on me how old or knowledgeable Volthoom truly was, sometimes I would hear him mumble about things that didn’t make sense at the time but as technology advanced I found myself reflecting back on his words.”

“You kept his ring? After all this time,” asked Luna as he hands trembled, she just found out that her sister might be responsible for the death of their teacher, however, with Shining Armor’s report she wasn’t so sure about that. So she turned to face the stallion and asked, “Captain Armor, did this Emperor/Regent ever displayed the ability to create hard-light constructs of an unknown type of energy?”

“Yes, several changelings displayed such abilities during my visit,” answered Shining Armor and that left two possibilities, the changelings either reversed engineered Volthoom’s ring or they were taught how to do it. Either way, it was clear that the changelings were responsible for stealing the ring and this matter needed to be addressed with haste.

“We must prepare for this journey, immediately,” said Luna her voice filled his determination, anger and hope.

Present Day, Crystal Palace’s Dungeon

Chrysalis just looked at the pink alicorn glaring at her and said, “That anger does not suit your beautiful face, Princess Cadence.”

“And why would you care?” scoffed Cadence not really believing the changeling.

Chrysalis moved her hands beyond the bars and held Cadence by her chin, the Queen could feel and see the anger flowing out of the pink alicorn like flames.

“I happen to find you to be a very beautiful mare, plus it's not like I did all of that in the wedding to specifically hurt you,” commented Chrysalis and Cadence just moved her face away from Chrysalis. The Queen just sighed and said, “I just attacked during your wedding because it proved to be the perfect distraction for our real goal as well as an opportunity to gather a great deal of love to feed my children, even if I almost broke my back with that stunt you and Shining Armor pulled at the end.”

“And why should I believe in anything you say?” asked Cadence with disdain.

“You know? You shouldn’t judge all changelings solely based on one experience, If I did the same with Equestrians I would have argued with my mother and older sister to raze Equestria to the ground for what they did to me,” commented Chrysalis with a shrug.

“It just proves how evil you are,” said Cadence and Chrysalis frowned.

“Was I evil when I was but a nymph wanting to make new friends, was that why I was chased out of the villages I visited nine hundred years ago? Or it was simply because I looked different and that was why they feared me?” asked Chrysalis but her voice had more disappointment than anger, then she added, “You Equestrian preach about love and acceptance but are among the most xenophobic inhabitants of Equus, at least it’s not as bad today as it was back then, especially along the borders. Still, that pales in comparison with what Celestia did to our people, yet my mother chose to not seek retribution from either her or her people.”

“And what did Aunty Celestia did that would be so horrible?” asked Cadence, her previous doubts coming back to her as she heard Chrysalis’ story.

“Genocide,” said Chrysalis.

“Impossible! Aunty would never to that!” shouted Cadence as she tried to reach for Chrysalis, who just took a step back, and it was this moment that two guards on either side of the cell made themselves know by pointing their spears at Cadence, who’s hand was inches from reaching the Queen.

“Just like it was impossible for Luna to bring eternal night,” commented Chrysalis.

“Aunty Luna wasn’t herself when she did that!” said Cadence to Chrysalis.

“And apparently, neither was Celestia,” said Chrysalis and for the first time Cadence understood what she was implying, however, that realization didn’t stop Chrysalis from asking, “Have you ever wondered how changelings came to be?”

“Why would I wonder about that?” asked Candace as she retreated to the interior of her cell and sat on her bed.

“Because we’re the result of the genocide I just mentioned. Tell me, have you ever heard the tale of the flutter ponies?” asked Chrysalis but she didn’t expect an answer and the look of realization on the face of the alicorn was all she needed, so she left the dungeon and ignored the attempts of the alicorn of asking further questions.

Afternoon

Cadence just laid on her cell looking at the ceiling reflecting on the words that were spoken by Chrysalis, she didn’t believe them, nor did she want to believe them at first, but the more she thought about it the more it made sense, that plus the reaction of Celestia to little things or events that were mentioned that were related to certain time periods were slowing fitting together in a rather grim picture.

The introspection of the pink alicorn was interrupted by the noise of the door being open, the dungeon entrance and not the cell, so she sat up and waited for her visitor(s). She was already anticipating another visit from Chrysalis and she was already thinking about the questions she would ask, and the snarky remarks she would make.

“Greetings, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” said a unfamiliar voice that wasn’t Chrysalis, instead she saw a rather tall changeling with a familiar silver mane but instead of a beautiful mare she saw what appeared to be a rather effeminate and androgyny male looking changeling, however, that didn’t make him any less beautiful or alluring. Following him was an almost equally tall female changeling with chitin and mane made of many shades of brown, her brown slitted eyes exuding wisdom, which made her just as alluring as the first one but in a different way. Cadence was distracted by their beauty that she missed the question asked by the silver one and she only realized that when she heard, “You know its rude to stare, right?”

“W-what?” asked Cadence as she realized she was staring.

“At the risk of sounding narcissistic: don’t worry, we know we have that effect on others,” said Phyllia as she looked at the alicorn, then she asked, “Either way, my mate asked how are you feeling today?”

“I-I’m fine, thank you for asking, Miss,” said Cadence a little embarrassed.

“What a polite little pony. I’m Empress Phyllia, Ruler of the Changelings,” said Phyllia introduced herself to the shocked alicorn before motioning to Volthoom and say, “I’m sure you already met my mate, Emperor-Regent of the Crystal Empire Volthoom the First Lightsmith. Although he might have been in his female form when you met him.”

“You’re the one that put me in here!” shouted Cadence it clicked in her mind who was standing before her.

“You’re the one that attacked an innocent civilian,” commented Volthoom as he crossed his arms.

“I sure they were being controlled in some way, just like Chrysalis did before,” snorted Cadence and that caused Volthoom and Phyllia to sigh.

“Is that difficult to accept that we are not using some form of mind control on the crystal ponies?” asked Phyllia and she saw that Cadence wasn’t convinced, so she asked, “Ok then, name one pony that was brainwashed by my daughter aside from the bridesmaids and Shining Armor.”

Cadence tried to think about who else was brainwashed and she couldn’t find an answer to the question, she also made a mental note about this one being Chrysalis’ mother… or father for all she knew.

“Unlike what you think we prefer genuine emotions and you can rest your pretty little mind since we found an alternative source, so we don’t need to ‘kidnap ponies and drain them until they are empty husks’,” said Phyllia and the last part was said in a mocking tone.

“Either way, we came to see how you were doing,” commented Volthoom.

“And why would you care?” asked Cadence.

“I don’t, but Celestia would not hesitate in waging war against both Changeling and Crystal Empire if we give her enough reason to,” commented Volthoom with a shrug before adding while leaving the dungeon, “I never really cared what occurred in Equestria so long they stayed out of the Crystal Empire and Flutter Valley’s affairs.”

After saying his piece, Volthoom left the dungeon and Phyllia just glanced at her retreating mate while saying, “Don’t worry, he’s just upset with himself for letting one of the citizens under his protection get hurt like that.”

“Whatever,” said Cadence before returning to her bed and just ignore the Empress, who just sighed at the fact that the princess wasn’t being cooperative.

Volthoom’s office

Volthoom sighed as he sat on his chair, he was unsure of how to confront Celestia and Luna, after all, it had been thousands of years.

*ping*

However, Volthoom’s introspection was interrupted ping sound in his mind, so his skin became see-through showing his chromatic glowing veins/nerves and the black sphere in its chest and like before he pulled the Travel Lantern and placed it on the table before saying the password, “Password: Light of Lights.”

“Travel Lantern online. Voiceprint Recognized. Greetings Volthoom,” said the Travel Lantern as it came online.

“What’s it TL?” asked Volthoom as he looked at the sentient device.

“Update: A new token has been added to this unit’s inventory,” informed TL in is plain artificial tone before asking, “Query: Would you like to exam it?”

“Sure,” said Volthoom and TL projected a small portal in front of it before dropping a scroll on the table, which Volthoom proceeded to pick up.

“To the one that is hearing my voice, I am Ōtsutsuki Kazuki and if you are in need of my services sign this contract and summon me. We can negotiate the conditions of our contract after my summoning, I don’t care about morals and so long our contract is upheld you have my loyalty. Call out my full name in order to summon me,” said a voice in Volthoom’s mind as he held the token before opening the scroll and see the complex fractal images that were too small and complex to be made by a brush yet it seemed to be made by a brush. The level of coordination and prescription to make those would be unimaginable, nothing short of a computer and able to generate such partners.

“Ōtsutsuki, why that name sounds familiar?” wondered Volthoom before looking at TL and ask, “Do you know anything about the ‘Ōtsutsuki’?”

“Searching… searching… answer found. Answer: an ancient clan of horned celestial beings that can devour the life-force of entire worlds. Addendum: Closest equivalent from former local multiverse being the New Gods,” answered TL.

“So, they are a mix of the New Gods and Galactus. The name sounds Japanese so they may be from an anime,” thought Volthoom as he pondered on the information he received. Volthoom preferred comics and he occasionally watched anime before his displacement. Maybe he heard or read a bit about them in a passing, either way, it was an option to consider, so he thought, “Maybe I should call him to help me with Celestia and Luna.”

After spending a few minutes thinking Volthoom placed the scroll back inside TL before saying, “Thanks for the update TL, keep me informed.”

“Answer: Certainly, it was a pleasure to help, Volthoom. Travel Lantern offline,” answered TL before Volthoom placed the sentient device back inside himself.

Night, Master Bedroom

Volthoom entered the bedroom after a long day of work and he was greeted by Amore nursing her new child, Rondo, as she leaned on Phyllia’s shoulder. He just smiled as he sat beside Amore on the bed before hugging the mare and ask after a kiss, “So, how it feels to be back on the throne, Empress Amore?”

“I still prefer ‘Queen’ though,” commented Amore before leaning on Volthoom’s shoulder as she sat between the two taller changelings. Then she said as she looked at the nymph as he finished his meal, “But I really don’t mind.”

After feeding her child, which was a new experience to Amore, she got up and gently placed him against her shoulder.

“So, any luck with Cadence?” asked Volthoom as he laid on the bed before relaxing.

“A little, she was polite enough to answer my questions but didn’t talk much otherwise. All we can do is wait for Celestia and Luna to see how the situation plays out,” explained Phyllia as she laid beside her mate while Amore placed the sleeping Rondo in a crib that was not too far from the spacious bed before joining her herd-mates.

“Well, we better get some rest since tomorrow is going to be a very important day,” said Amore as she laid beside Volthoom, opposite to Phyllia.

“Yeah,” said Volthoom as his mind returned to the token he received earlier today.

Middle of the night

*crying*

Amore sat up with a startled expression as she heard Rondo cry and she immediately got up to check on the nymph while Volthoom and Phyllia just groaned loud enough for Amore to hear, “Welcome to parenthood.”

Amore herself just sighed in relief as she held Rondo, there was nothing wrong and he was just hungry. So, she just thought as she fed her child, “Well, I’m in for the whole package.”

This would be the first of many nights of sleep being interrupted to come, at least she had her herd to help her.

Next day, noon

Celestia and Luna arrived with the Elements of Harmony and a group of guards led by Shining Armor, the two alicorns managed to easily make a barrier around the group to shield them from the blizzard, so the group arrived at Sapphire City like before.

“It has been a thousand years since I last saw Sapphire City,” commented Luna after she lowered her scarf and hood of her winter gear, which was followed by the other since they were no longer facing a blizzard.

“I thought that the Crystal Empire was a single city-state and its surrounding territories,” commented Twilight as she looked at the city.

“And it was for most of its history, I wasn’t sure if the surrounding cities would have survived Sombra brief rule,” explained Celestia as she saw multiple glowing dots flying from the city toward them. Luna and the others also noticed the five objects approaching and tensed, when they were close enough they revealed themselves to be four changelings, two were the same butterfly-like changelings that Shining Armor and the previous group of guards encountered before, following them were two smaller changelings with horns that were reminiscent of a beetle’s horn/mandible, however, it was the fifth member that caught them off guard, it looked like a channeling but its doll-like face and exposed cables clearly showed that it was artificial in nature.

“Greetings, Sun Tyrant, we’re expecting you,” said Hedy coldly as she floated not far from the Equestrians that were standing on the cliff overlooking the city.

“Oi! Don’t talk to the princess like that!” shouted Rainbow before speeding toward Hedy.

“Rainbow!” shouted multiple ponies, AJ, Twilight and Rarity failed to grab the pegasus, however, before either Celestia or Luna could grab the pegasus Jet extended his right hand toward Rainbow and a ray of light was projected before it took the form of a bubble around the blue pegasus. As soon as Rainbow hit the surface it stretched like rubber before rebounding and leaving a disorientated pegasus trapped in the sphere of light.

“Attacking a Royal Changeling and lightsmith is a serious crime, Bearer of Loyalty, which would be more than enough reason for us to throw you in the dungeon and leave you there,” said Hedy as she approached the group, who tensed were ready to fight. Instead, she just faced Celestia and said, “I trust you'll keep your little attack dog here on a tight leash, let's not start a war unnecessarily.”

Jet just undid the bubble and let Rainbow fall on the snowbank face first, the pegasus mare just pulled herself out of the snow and glared at the one who did this but otherwise refrained from attacking again.

“We were instructed to escort your group to the Crystal Palace,” said Jet as he extended his left arm and projected a platform of light before saying, “Come, we better not keep the Empress and the Grandmaster waiting.”

“Isn't there any other way to reach the palace?” asked Luna as she looked at the platform with uncertainty.

“We could take the train but flying would be faster, it would be faster with Warp Gate though,” commented Thorax absently, which earned a glare from Pharynx, and he just looked at his brother while his cousins just facepalmed at his helping nature, which caused him to just ask, “What?”

*sigh* “Fine, we can go into the city and take the train or the portal to Diamond City,” said Hedy to herself before she motioned for the city while saying to the group, “Come with us to the city, from there we can go to Diamond City.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other before nodding and motioning for the group to follow.