Almost every jaw in the room dropped at what the windigo had just said before the medical team left the room with Spliced trotting after them.

“Did he-” Twilight started to say, before she turned to stare at Cadance. “Did he really say Pansy, Cookie and Clover? As in the founders of Equestria‽”

“I believe so,” she said, licking her lips. “You can ask him after he gets out of surgery, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eye twitched at this and she looked at her sister in law. “But he could know so much about that time period, and I have so many questions to ask!”

“You can interview him once he recovers,” Spliced called off from her shoulder. “And I’m sure I’ll have a few things of my own to add while you’re at it.”

Spike waited until everypony left before he turned to Twilight and asked her, “Does that make any other pony worried?”

“That depends on her questions,” Twilight replied. “Personally, I’d also like to know just how much she knows about the founding, since she did say Princess Celestia told her some about it.”

“Twilight, are you coming?” Cadance asked, poking her head back into the room. “While we cannot be in the operating room, we can watch from the observation deck to see how your latest house guest… performs.”

Twilight wrinkled her nose at the subtle message her former foalsitter was giving but nodded her head and followed her out of the room.

Spliced followed the medical team down the hall with Hale telling Snöflinga, or Snowflake, what his operation would entail, Spliced tuning out his words as he’d started to remind her of her more critical teachers that always harped on her for not following the ethics codes to the letter. It was always a waste of her time to make sure everything was perfectly okay withtheir standards.

Still, she was looking forward to this operation as it should be very interesting and an actual test of her skills.

“You mean I will be unconscious again,” Snowflake said crankily. “From what that crazy bitch said-”

“I do have a name, you idiotic teenager,” Spliced snapped, glaring at the windigo.

“I don’t what that is, but galna hynda passar dig,” he said and while Spliced couldn’t tell what he said, she had an idea that she’d just been insulted again.

“It seems that Twily’s spell wore off,” Shining Armor said as he walked beside the table, his shield creation remarkable as the unicorn managed to maintain it without showing any sign of strain. “Or she is out of range, I think.”

“Do you think she could embed the spell in something he could wear, so it wearing off wouldn’t be a problem?” Hale asked.

“I’d think it better if he learnedour language,” Pharynx said, his horns barely alight. It was a clear sign that these mimics were in far better health than those in her own dimension; she hadn’t even seen a live one in their full-fed state before meeting Pharynx, only preserved bodies that had been held onto for medical research; whereas from what she gathered, all of these mimics were in their full-fed form. “When we used to infiltrate towns and other places, we always made sure we could speak the language. Easier to blend in that way.” He shrugged. “‘Course, thanks to my brother and those others, now we don’t have to change our looks to blend in.”

“I’d like to meet this brother of yours; he sounds like a real effective and strong ruler to have your hive thriving like this,” Spliced said, causing Pharynx to snort loudly. “What, what did I say wrong?”

“Thorax, strong?” Pharynx snorted again. “He used to be the wimpiest Changeling I knew! I went through a lot of trouble to try and get him to toughen up when we were grubs, but he still didn’t want to fight. And after that whole invasion of Canterlot thing, he just up and hid out who knows where until they let him stay in this place.”

Spliced looked at him in confusion. “Then how did he end being your leader?”

Pharynx chuckled. “Turns out our old queen had been keeping us weak on purpose, hoarding all the love and magic she could get for herself. Then Thorax met that dragon kid Spike and got to be his friend, and they wound up convincing miss pink pony princess back there to let him stay. And then, after he’d been there a while, Chrysalis managed to kidnap the entire royal family and those others who’d helped stop her invasion. So Thorax, my baby bro, teamed up with these other two ponies and some crazy chaos creature to break into the hive and free them.”

“Chaos creature - Discord?” Spliced asked.

“That’s the one,” Pharynx said. “Apparently, one of the ponies we’d taken was his best friend or something.” He tapped a hoof on his chin. “Anyway, one of those other ponies who’d come into the hive with my brother, she’d figured out that since Thorax had been feeding off love that was freely given, it was making him stronger and healthier. And then, when Chrysalis got hold of him and tried to drain him dry, she told him to give Chrysalis all he had.”

Spliced blinked in confusion, but kept silent. She had a feeling Pharynx was going somewhere with this.

Pharynx spread his forelegs. “I don’t mind saying, I thought the whole thing was nuts then. But it worked: when he shared his love energy like that, he went through a metamorphosis that made him whole, turned him into the first Changeling king. And then most of us started sharing love and turned into new forms too.” He grimaced. “I was… kind of a hold-out for a while after that, thought the old ways were better and that being nice like everyling was doing was just making us weak, leaving us open to attack - didn’t help that this wild maulwurf started causing all kinds of trouble for us after that.”

“Maulwurf?” Spliced repeated.

“Big, dangerous burrowing animal. With a really thick hide.”

“Ah.”

“So,” Pharynx continued. “Once he came back from hanging out with this new Dragon Lord for a while, he showed he could be more assertive… but I was still a big jerk to him. It took them all sticking up for me and fighting the maulwurf to make me realize my bro and the rest of the hive really did still have a spine, and I finally figured out that he’d been right all along and that he was a lot stronger than I’d thought.” He chuckled a bit. “Anyway, that’s when I changed like the rest of ‘em - well, like Thorax, anyway. He and I are the only ones with these.” He gestured to the antler-like mandibles on his head. “Now, the only one of us who isn’t whole like this is our ex-Queen.”

“Fascinating…” Spliced looked up at him. “You know, I think I might have some ideas for helping track her down, so she can’t cause any trouble for your hive anymore.”

“Great! I’ll tell Thorax once we’re done here.” Pharynx gave her a smirk. “The sooner she’s dealt with, the better.”

“Ahem,” Doctor Hale cleared his throat loudly, drawing Spliced’s attention back to him. “I am not sure what exactly are the procedures in your place are like but here, we wash up before we enter an operating room as to have it remain a clean room.”

“I know what a clean room is, you-” Spliced bit her cheek, pawing the ground angrily. “Look, I’m not good at working with others; it’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t made a full biochemist.”

He gave her a long stare before he scoffed and shook his head. “I can understand that; not everypony is suited for group environments. It takes a big pony to admit something like that.”

Spliced nodded her head as she entered the scrub room and began to clean her hooves with Pharynx and Shining Armor doing the same alongside Doctor Hale, Doctor Hearty and two very notable non-equines.

The first one was a diamond dog with a tan coat and a black nose, and almost no tail. The other one was tall female griffon with a near entirely black coat and plumage save for her face, which bore a white pattern that resembled a skull of all things. Her entire presence might have been intimidating if not for the grin on her face.

“Hey there,” she said, looking at them, tipping her head towards them. “You must be Spliced Genome.”

Spliced nodded. “And you are…”

“Doctor Glorious Death, and yes, I’ve heard so many jokes about it.” She smirked, holding out her talon to have the nurse pull on a glove. “On the upside, at least I’ve got a sense of humour about it.” The diamond dog behind her gave a soft growl which caused Death to snort. “Easy there, Horrible,” she said calmly. “I’m sure that she wouldn’t make some lame joke or imply that I lose anyone on purpose.”

“With a name like that, it sounds like it’s your final fate,” Pharynx remarked as he scrubbed up. “Going out with a blaze of glory against some supreme enemy… a warrior’s dream.” Then he caught the look Shining Armor was giving him. “What?”

“When my predecessor as Captain of the Royal Guard was preparing us for the possibility of a major battle,” Shining Armor told him, “He said the goal wasn’t to die for our country… it was to make the other guy die for his.”

Pharynx grinned. “Sounds like my kind of guy then.” His grin fell as he was given a yellow rubber duckies print scrub suit to wear, giving a wide eyed look to the griffon who simply smirked at him and nodded at him to say yes, he had to wear it.

“It is the most practical outcome to subscribe to,” Spliced said, causing everyone to face her. “Unless you already have a condition that makes death certain for you no matter what, why wouldn’t you do your best to survive whatever fight you’re in?”

“I forgot that you were involved with a war,” Pharynx said with concern on his face with the doctors sharing confused looks.

“Well, I wasn’t on the front lines,” Spliced replied. “I’m a scientist, not a soldier. But I did learn from observing their experiences and reading the after-reports.”

This caused Shining to frown for a second but he quickly schooled his face. “You must have been very important to your operation to have access to those reports,” he said.

“The other side was using biochemical weapons; I was making the cures for our soldiers,” Spliced said automatically. “I kind of needed that information to do my work.”

“In any case,” Death said, clearing her throat before gesturing towards the diamond dog. “I would like to introduce my assistant, Dies Horribly.”

“What are your qualifications?” Spliced asked him.

“Me trained in best school and learned lot from Doctor Death,” the diamond dog said, giving Spliced an annoyed look. “Am actually trained, not some taught animal like most think me am.”

“I never said anything of the sort,” Spliced said with a frown. “As long as you know what you are doing, I do not care what species you are. I care for capability over anything else.”

“Then you are in luck,” Doctor Death said as one of the nurses put a cap on her head. “He put himself through countlessmedical schools just to impress me and he is going for his final test to become an anesthesiologist next week.” The griffon chuckled. “He has almost as many degrees as I do.”

The diamond dog whined and blushed at this with Pharynx tilting his head as he said through his mask, “Really?”

Doctor Horribly nodded his head and held his paw towards to Doctor Death, as a nurse placed a glove on it. “Me was saved by Doctor Death and me had to return favour somehow. Me decided to become doctor of me pack and me found me good at making others healthy.”

“Ah,” Spliced said.

“You can discuss that more later,” Doctor Hale remarked. “We have a patient waiting for us.”

“Agreed,” Doctor Death said as she made her way to the operation room to where Snowflake was being prepped for his surgery. “So Genome, let us go over what our dear friend Snöflinga has inside of him, hm?”

“Vad sa hon?” Snowflake said, tilting his head towards them before the nurse began to make soothing sounds, moving his head back to a more neutral state.

“Horribly, if you will please,” Doctor Death said as the diamond dog began to go for his machinery. “Now while I know you can’t understand me, but trust me, we will come up with a game plan and then make sure you’re right as rain. Or as snow in your case.”

Snowflake gave her a confused look and nearly jumped when Horribly came into view with the mask in paw. “Relax snow pony, when you wake, you feel good.”

“Vad säger han och vad gör han med mig?” Snowflake said as Horribly placed the mask over his face.

“In count three, you will be sleep,” Horribly said, holding up his paw with Snowflake squirming and beginning to fade away. “One, two, three.” Right on the count of three, Snowflake was under the effects of the anesthesia with Spliced nodding her head in approval as he managed to tell exactly the proper amount needed. “Okay strange pony, tell us what we need know.”

Spliced felt her ear twitch at that the title, but she was aware that it was a characteristic of the diamond dog and not an insult. Clearing her throat, she brought up the images she taken before and began to use her thaumatics to best expand on them as she gave a rundown on the biology of windigos and what was was wrong with this one.

Cadance placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder as she took her eyes off the operation room for a moment and said, “Twilight, I am sure you can ask for notes afterwards.”

Twilight lifted her head, the scroll she was scratching notes on pausing at the sound of her sister-in-law’s voice. They had been watching Spliced explain, at length, about all of the organs, both the normal ones and those unique to windigos, and which one they were operating on today. Despite her self-admitted limitations when it came to knowledge about windigo biology, she was going over everything she did know with ease, and Twilight found herself very impressed.

She was about to respond when she saw the look on Cadance’s face and saw the older alicorn tilt her head to Spike as well as tap a hoof on a sealed scroll bearing the wax symbol of the sun. Twilight understood the message immediately and turned to face her son.

“Spike,” she said, causing the dragon to turn to face her. “I think it would be best if you left the room for the moment; the surgery is about to begin and I am not sure if you are ready to see what it entails; there’s likely to be a lot of blood and viscera showing. Also, I believe that Cadance wishes to speak to me in private about something; while what I just said may sound like an excuse, it is and is not one. I will explain what I can to you afterwards. Do you understand Spike?”

Spike gave her a surprised look and stood there for a moment before nodding his head and making his way to the door, while the look on his face made Twilight positive that she had handled that perfectly.

“I’m impressed,” Cadance said as soon as Spike left the room. “A month ago, you would have made some poor excuse to get him out of the room and wouldn’t have thought to involve him until he pressured you to share.”

“Spliced kind of helped me realized that I needed to treat Spike more maturely as part of helping him get ready for… well. Growing up,” Twilight replied. “He’s getting close to that age, after all. I can’t treat him like a child forever.” She looked up at Cadance. “Speaking of children, where’s Flurry Heart?”

“I asked Sunburst to take her back to his home and watch over her for today, and possibly longer if we him need to,” Cadance replied. “But speaking of Spliced Genome, she is an... interesting character,” she said in a way that implied ‘interesting’ was not meant to be a compliment. “I felt her emotions, and it seems to me that she was only really happy when she was being more… aggressive, or showing off her knowledge. I will need to speak to Pharynx afterwards to have a full gauge of her emotions to be sure.”

“She’s from a rough world, and was all by herself for a few hundred years,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’m not trying to excuse her behavior, mind. Just putting it in perspective.”

“I’m fully aware of that and from Celestia told me of your observations, I am not sure how much of that is a product of her upbringing and what she dealt with and how much is that is the mare’s true nature.” Cadance flicked an ear.

“What concerns me,” she said quietly, “Is the times she questioned if an action would be considered to be correct; in my eyes, she is uncertain of what should be basic ethical concepts to grasp. It is good to lend help, and to offer to pay for something she wants and so on. But still, her shaky grasp on ethics paints a very troubling picture of that mare down there and I am not sure how much of it is an act to appease us. I can trust her to make sure that Snöflinga will be healthy as it would serve to prove she is correct to us; but I would neverleave Flurry Heart alone with her for even a second.”

Twilight was taken aback by the sheer venom spat by Cadance and to her greater surprise, she could not find herself disagreeing.

“For what it’s worth, she did say she would wait for parental permission before doing more… in-depth tests on an underage filly, even if it’s to help her,” Twilight said cautiously. “The same tests she mentioned to Doctor Hale?”

“That implies that she’s already done some tests,” Cadance replied stiffly. “Do you know what kind of test?”

“Just watching Scootaloo buzz her wings to try and take off,” Twilight said. “And she was just fine when I saw her afterward.”

“That was not what I meant,” Cadance said. “Do you know what the test she wants to perform on Scootaloo actually involves?” She didn’t wait for Twilight to respond before she continued to speak. “It involves having the pony in question have part of their bone marrow harvested for testing and it is extremely painful. She will have to be awake for it and under no medication or drugs as it will foul the test. This is something that she wants to perform on a child and had to remind herself that she needed permission to do so before she acted.”

“I know what it involves,” Twilight replied sharply. “She wants to see if there’s a problem with the flow of magic in her wings to confirm if that’s why she can’t fly yet, and she told Starlight, Spike and I what that kind of test would involve on the train ride up here. When, by the way, she was also asking how she could get in touch with Scootaloo’s family to ask them for permission… and as you heard when she was talking with Doctor Hale, she didn’t seem to object to bringing another doctor in to be involved with the exam.”

Cadance let out a tired sounding sigh and shook her head. “Twilight, this mare is dangerous and it would be beyond terrible to learn that she took advantage of you.”

“I’m aware that she’s dangerous and she’s a war criminal,” Twilight retorted. “I have my theories of what exactly she did just as no doubt you do and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have their own. I’m fullyaware that she was placed in my care so I could try and see past her defences and learn the truth, I’m not thatnaive to believe she was given to me solely to see if I could make her our friend.”

Cadance blinked at her and a soft smile appeared on her face. “You’ve grown much too, Twilight,” she said with praise in her voice. “It suits you well.”

Twilight took this in well, not speaking on it as it would lessen the moment. They let the moment stretch before Twilight’s eyes drifted to the sealed letter again, away from the ongoing surgery below them where Spliced was watching like a hawk from the side.

“This came from Celestia for us Twilight,” Cadance said as she levitated the letter over to her midway, pulling out a table so they could both read the letter at the same time. “From what I was told preceding this, she is finally ready to tell us of important secrets, including what happened to the alicorns before she and Luna.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at this news and quickly leaned close to her former foalsitter and scanned the letter, and her mouth hung low at the secrets inside, a gasp escaping Cadance’s lips as the greater roles that they possessed were now made clear.

They also saw that they were going to go see the alicorns that had come before Celestia and Luna, in a place called the Valley of Alicorns.