"Good job guys," Twilight whispered as she stood at the bow of the Emperor's airship, watching the smoke rise from Canterlot in the distance. All she could do was hope beyond hope that they were all okay. More selfishly she hoped her family was okay, as well as Fleur and the filly. The others maybe, possibly, took slight, teeny tiny a back seat to those. She could tell Cadence was worried too, but like herself the pink alicorn kept it inside for now.

"The time has come then," Luna said, standing proudly beside them, Ember and a disguised Nightmare beside her. "We should make all haste to the Everfree Castle before Faust and Celestia depart."

"We should make all haste with all parts of this plan," Twilight corrected her. "But yes, it's time for you to go. Discord?"

"Yes?" Discord said back like he'd been there the entire time, rather than having just poofed into existence right then.

"Are you ready?"

"Oh please, I was born ready, despite never having actually been born. I skipped puberty too. I really don't feel like I missed anything doing that."

"Off you go then, and good luck. We all know how pleased Faust will be to see you."

Discord grinned happily, "It'll be just like the good ole days, except hopefully without the hundreds left dead from collateral just from us saying so much as 'hello.'"

Discord popped away again, leaving Twilight to sigh uncomfortably. "I really hope he was joking. I guess you're off as well then?" she asked Luna.

"Indeed. Come along Cadence, Ember, Nightmare; my dear sister awaits, and won't she be ever so glad to see us. Good luck on your endeavours, all of you. I'm sure we'll all have some interesting stories to share before today is over."

"Good luck," Twilight said as the four of them leapt over the guard rail and set off into flight towards the Everfree forest, leaving Twilight to turn to Trixie and the three Wonderbolts. "I hope you're all ready as well?"

"Oh heck yeah I am!" Rainbow exclaimed, taking off just to raise a hoof into the air. "I've been waiting ages to get our friends back, and now we're finally doing it!"

"It is probably about time," Trixie said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it is." Twilight let herself worry for a moment, but knew better than to think her friends would be angry with her when they hadn't been during that brief chance she had to see them again in Fillydelphia. She shrugged it off, then raised her head to speak to the griffon piloting the airship.

"Helmsgriff, all speed to Ponyville, and have someone signal your soldiers to get ready to attack. We have some work to do."

Discord appeared in cave where the Tree of Harmony resided, filling the cave with a bright and sparkling light that danced through the shield erected around it until it faded. He never did understand why the Tree lived here of all places. The Tree of Harmony, both a font and beacon of hope and peace, and it lived in a dank little cave in a spooky forest.

Perhaps it didn't have a choice. Perhaps it was forced to stay where it was planted, which only begged the question of why Faust planted it here of all places? It made no sense, and as far as he was concerned it was proof that Faust had always been the unhinged one, not him.

"Hello there, Treesie," Discord said to the Tree as he walked up to it. "I'm going to do something to you, and you either might or might not like it." Discord stopped just outside the shield and inspected it. With slow deliberation, he raised his eagle claw and rapped a single knuckle against the shield, shattering it like an eggshell.

"You never were the best at shields, Order."

Discord paused as the tone in the air changed. He felt... expected. Welcomed even, like the Tree was pleased to see him. That was not something he expected, and made him just a touch uneasy. Still, there was a job to do, and he was happy to do it because all of this finally meant getting rid of Order, and getting Fluttershy back. Not necessarily in that order.

Raising a claw, Discord let raw chaos well up in it, a eye hurting, mind bending cloud of impossible geometry, nonsensical gibberish, a touch of paisley, and one of the fundamental basics of the universe. There is nothing without chaos.

"I suppose I should've brought you dinner first, but I have no idea what it is you actually live on."

Discord pressed his claw to the trunk of the Tree, feeding his chaos into it as fast as it would absorb it, which was surprisingly quickly as it seems. He kept feeding his magic into the Tree until suddenly it stopped, and he let go, shaking a claw that now ached from what he'd done.

The Tree started to quiver and shake, groaning with horribly delicate pinging sounds as its crystalline structure was forced into a new shape. Discord stepped back in alarm, rather concerned that he might've royally screwed things up as the creaking and cracking filled the cave.

Slowly though the noise slowed as the Tree took on a new shape. Admittedly it was much like the old one, but far softer looking. It was still made of dazzling crystals, but the shape was far more organic, more like an actual tree, rather than being all sharp facets and jagged edges. It was actually rather beautiful, and it pulsed with a power it didn't have before.

Almost as an afterthought the Elements of Harmony were released from their branches. They regained their familiar form of necklaces and a big crown thingy, but the Elements themselves seem to have changed along with the Tree, becoming softer and rounder, and glowed with a gentle inner light that hadn't been there before, making the Elements feel alive in a way they hadn't previously.

A feel of insistence in the air made Discord take the Elements in his claws, and he didn't know how he knew, but he knew he needed to get them to Twilight. That part would prove to be easier done than said, which was good because he could feel Order coming, and she was not going to be happy to see him.

Discord clapped his claws together, popping the Elements away to the Retreat in the frozen north, where they would hopefully appear in an easy to find place, like the middle of the floor. Just in time too as the musical burst of a teleport echoed behind him. Discord put on his cheesiest grin, and spun to face Faust, his claws held out like he expected a hug.

"Order, darling, it's been far too long!"

"You! What are you doing he-" Faust stopped midsentence as she noticed the difference in the Tree's appearance. She seemed to forget Discord as she slowly walked towards it, trying to work out why it was different.

"You like it?" Discord asked, his satisfaction growing at Faust's disquiet. "I think the Tree does, although I'm sure it's just happy to be from under your stampy little hoof."

"W-w-what did you do? Why is it different?" Faust stamped around to face Discord, her confusion turning to anger in the blink of an eye. "What did you do!?"

"Nothing that shouldn't have been done a long time ago," Discord replied snidely. "Trying to synthesize your own chaos, how dare you. Nope, I decided that wasn't good enough, so I gave the Tree the real deal, and look how happy and healthy it is now." Discord wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, "Papa's so proud."

Faust responded with violence, blasting Discord with a spell that threatened to vaporise his physical form if he hadn't decided to not be standing in front of her while she did it. "I know you're angry, but I'm sure we can come to an amicable solution where we can have our kid every other week."

"Shut up!" Faust tried to attack Discord again, her magic melting a swath of the ground to molten slag as she turned to strike him.

"Alright fine, but I'm not going any lower than having her every other weekend."

"So how are we doing this?" Nightmare asked cheerfully as she, Luna, Cadence, and Ember flew low over the canopy of the Everfree. "Are we going in horns blazing? Or are we going to sneak in and find Celestia the hard way, then take her by surprise?"

Luna peered sideways at her doppelganger, "I'm pretty sure she's going to be surprised whatever we do. Personally I'm hoping she's actually here, and not-"

Splort!

Luna's words were lost to the strange sounding explosion that lit up part of the forest, reducing it to ash, cinders, and tartan carpeting. "I suppose we can take that to mean Discord has Faust's attention. I guess that also means he's done what he needed to do to the Tree."

"Do you feel any different?" Cadence asked, looking to both Luna and Nightmare for an answer.

Luna shared a look with Nightmare, who shrugged and shook her head. "Honestly, no. I hadn't even realised he'd done it. Perhaps we worried for nothing, and there are no side effects. Perhaps our binding to the Tree was only ever tangential at most. Who knows?"

"I bet Faust could give us an answer," said Nightmare. "All we'd have to be is brave enough to ask."

Luna dismissed the idea, "I'd sooner remain in ignorance. Besides, we're nearly at the castle, so let us put our minds to that first."

They dropped down below the canopy half a mile from the castle to avoid being spotted as they made their approach. Not that it would be difficult to avoid detection if they so wished, but Luna would rather see what they were dealing with first.

A hasty trot brought them to the road leading to the castle, newly made during its reconstruction, although it seemed to be used a lot less now as the flora of the Everfree started to reclaim the gravel track. Following the track towards the castle eventually brought them to a ravine spanned by a stone bridge rather than the rickety rope one that had been there previously.

"Aw, I remember this place," Nightmare said with a certain fondness. "This is where we tried to tempt Rainbow away from her friends by letting her join the Shadowbolts as captain. Do you remember, Luna?"

Rolling her eyes, Luna snorted un-amusedly. "How could I forget?"

"How indeed?" Nightmare said sarcastically since she was the one that ended up with the vast majority of their memories.

"Since the Shadowbolts were only an illusion, do you remember what we were actually going to do with Rainbow Dash?"

Nightmare shrugged, "I don't know. Were we ever going to have a sex dungeon?"

"A sex dungeon? What has that got to do with- Stars above, Nightmare, you're disgusting!"

"But a pegasus athlete like her with the stamina she has... unf, the things we could have done." Nightmare started to laugh as Luna wheeled on her with a growl, "I'm joking, I'm joking. Mostly. You actually wanted to be a good ruler to your little ponies, barring the fact they'd be dead within a few weeks of eternal night. You'd probably release her to live with the shame of having betrayed her country for a obviously false promise... for a few weeks until she died in the frozen wasteland of your making."

"Thank you for reminding me of that." Luna covered her eyes, embarrassed at how stupid that all sounded to her now, and how close she came to ending all life on the planet.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure Cadence would've been prime material for a sex dungeon once you'd broken her spirit. Only room for one princess in Equestria after all."

"Now I know you're making that up. I wasn't even aware of Cadence until after I was redeemed."

Nightmare smiled knowingly, "And?"

"And everything!" Luna smacked Nightmare on the side, "Shut up."

"Besides, in that kind of situation I'd wouldn't put a bet on who broke first." Cadence smiled as both Luna and Nightmare gawped at her. "Just saying."

"By the ancestors, will you all shut up?" Ember groaned, having heard enough. "How the fuck is this what you're all talking about? I mean, come on! Seriously?"

Luna cleared her throat in embarrassment as that topic had gone on for far too long, and should probably never been brought up at all. "Apologies, Ember. I suppose we should make our way in. There doesn't appear to be many guards around here to impede us."

"I wonder why?" said Cadence. "You'd think a place like this would be swarming with guards."

"They're likely out enforcing the ban from entering the forest." Luna shrugged, "Besides, with both Celestia and Faust residing here, guards seem a little redundant."

"Maybe Faust doesn't even want her own soldiers hanging around her castle," Nightmare added. "Not if she's hiding what we think she's hiding here."

"Only one way to find out if that's true," Luna said as she started to cross the bridge into the castle grounds. "Come on, there's no way we'll find anything out by hiding in a bush out here."

She walked slow until they caught up, but a large part of that was to give her time to observe the castle itself. The builders had done an excellent job of restoring the place, even down to the last gargoyle. It was as dark and gothic as Luna remembered it being, but there was something not quite right with it, and it took her a couple of minutes to work out. This had been the Castle of the Two Sisters, but every trace of one of those sisters, herself, had been painstakingly removed.

"Must Faust destroy everything that I have?"

"Pretty sure you destroyed this place first," Nightmare said, having noticed the same thing as Luna, and came to the same conclusion, but with the added benefit of not really caring. "You should be glad that piece of shame is gone."

Luna chewed on the inside corner of her lip as that particular memory came up. Restored as the castle might be, there was no forgetting that shame. That didn't mean she couldn't have a dig at Nightmare.

"That's right, I have you to remind me of everything I did wrong instead."

"Aw, you love me really."

"Yes, like a favourite rash, or a particularly unpleasant smell that's as intriguing as it is disgusting." Luna took hold of the heavy iron in the huge double doors of the castle, and twisted it, unlatching the door to let it creak ponderously open, wincing at the noise. "Well, if they didn't know we were here, they do now."

The inside was just as subtly altered as the outside. None of the banners belonging to Luna that had hung throughout the castle were present. Instead there were only Celestia's, giving the castle a very sunny feel inside since they favoured warmer colours. That was where the effect ended though. Restored as the castle might be, the absence of ponies made it feel as cold and lifeless as it had been for the last thousand years.

"No welcoming party?" Nightmare tutted. "What a disappointment. So, where should we start our search for Celestia?"

"We aren't. Not yet at least." There was a banner at the far end of the hall above the stairs, showing Faust overshadowing the smaller figure of Celestia, with her wings curled around the smaller mare. It was probably meant to appear like a loving embrace, but to Luna it seemed as though to say that Celestia belonged to Faust. It make her skin crawl. "I'd rather see what's being hidden in this place, because we might not get the chance afterwards. Follow me."

The layout of the castle was exactly as Luna remembered it, and Luna couldn't help but think that it was to help reinforce whatever had been done to Celestia. She'd have to know more of what had been done to be sure, but Luna wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth since it allowed her to easily guide their way to the lower reaches of the castle.

The hall of hooves had been removed, along with yet one more piece of Luna's childhood. Not that she particularly minded that part going missing because those disembodied hooves were creepy as get all out. The traps had also been removed, along with every pitfall, false door, and all the other things that made living here such an amusingly hazardous occupation. It had become boring.

It has also become home to decent amount of critters judging by the sounds as they went deeper. Squawking, barking, and other noises could be heard, as well as the rattle of cages. Luna started to dread what they were going to find down here.

What they did find was a large chamber, bigger than Luna remembered there being down here, and it was filled to the brim with cages of all sizes holding a large variety of animals from the mundane cats, dogs, rabbits, and others, to the more fantastical puckwudgies, phoenix's, timberwolves, and many more besides. All of them hollered as the three alicorns and dragon drew near.

"Ugh, it stinks like a cesspit in here," Nightmare commented of the smell so many nervous animals living in close proximity made. "What could Faust possibly want with all these?"

"I'm going to say the answer is nothing good," Luna said back. Luna lowered her head down level with a caged timberwolf that snapped its wooden jaws at her and growled. "At least this explains what happened to all the animals Twilight saw caged up here."

Cadence shook her head, "This doesn't explain nearly enough. Faust doesn't do anything without a reason, insane as those reasons might be. Why have all these here?"

"I smell ponies," Ember mentioned before any of the others could give Cadence an answer. "Maybe a griffon too, and-" Ember sniffed harder, "-maybe a kirin? I don't know, but there's definitely more than just these animals here."

Luna was about to ask where when she saw an entrance into an adjoining chamber. Shrugging at the others she went through into a room similar to the one they'd just been in, but containing cages and pens holding a different variety of creature. There were cows and sheep, a trio of griffons, a kirin, and in one pen a pair of ponies, one male, one female. The female appeared to be pregnant.

Luna walked through them, unease growing in her at the way the people in here were looking at her. The cows bayed in fear, the sheep panicked, the griffons appeared to want to eat her, and the kirin got so worked up it caught fire, which only seemed to frighten it further.

"What is going on here?" Luna asked out loud. She hoped the ponies might give her answers, but felt that hope fade with the way the ponies looked at her as well. They weren't frightened, at least not by her, although the other creatures were spooking them a little. What they were doing was worse, they were looking at her with rather blank expressions.

"Greetings, my little ponies," Luna said in as friendly a manner as possible to the blue and white ponies. "I don't suppose you could tell me why you're here? Do you know what Faust's doing with all these animals?"

The stallion whinnied. Honest to goodness whinnied. That was not a reply that Luna expected, but when he grabbed a mouthful of hay to chew on while he stared at her she knew she wasn't going to get much more of an answer.

"They don't have cutie marks," Cadence observed.

"They're missing a lot more than that," said Nightmare. "They've been made into simple animals."

"But how?"

"How could I possibly know?"

Luna probed the minds of the ponies, hoping to find some kind of spell that was making them this way, but there was nothing she could find, at least not directly. There were traces of Faust's magic, but from what little Luna could tell the magic had been used to make direct changes rather than to enchant.

Luna jerked as it came to her, "This is her plan?"

"Her plan for what?" asked Cadence.

"Her plan for 'the' plan. To create her natural order she's going to make everyone like these ponies here."

"How?"

"Maybe this could tell you?" said Ember, waving an old style ledger in her claw. "I found it in the lab setup at the end of the room, but it's written in old so I can't read it."

"Old?" Luna took the ledger and looked at the front, and the single word written upon it, Apotheosis. There was a word to fill you with confidence considering what they'd found. The inside was written in old equish, which probably made sense for Faust to use, but did make reading a slower process.

"Restituere ordinem oportet vivere incipit," Luna read out loud. "Re- Restoring order... starts with... life?" Luna read it over again and sighed, "I must be rustier than I thought. How about you, Nightmare? You seem to have a knack for languages."

Nightmare rolled her eyes but took the book to start skimming through it. "Okay, so she's acquired several species native to Equestria to begin with and intends to use the non-sapient ones to create a template for the sapient ones. Then we have about thirty pages of failures and moaning, and a rant about how the accursed Discord is to blame for her inability to do this. Oh, and then she does it the next day."

"Really?"

Nightmare tapped a hoof on the page, "It's right here, I'm not making it up. Anyway, she succeeded in transplanting the more predatory, primal instincts of a timberwolf into a griffon without making the griffon forget it was a griffon. Good for her," Nightmare deadpanned. "Returned him to cage with the two females, and- Oh, gross! That's horrible."

"I'm guessing that's nothing we want to hear about?" said Luna.

"No, but Faust converted the two females afterwards as what she calls a kindness, and that she feels terrible for not thinking of what might happen. Anyway... pleased with her success there she goes on to succeed with cows and sheep, but has been met with limited success with Ponies and the kirin. She can't stop them catching fire."

Luna started laughing, "Seems we were right about Faust's promise to the kirin."

"Uh-huh." Nightmare started skimming through the pages again. "Ah, here we are, achieved success with the ponies. Converted both and let them breed to see if foals will be as she hopes. Using magic to accelerate gestation, will discover if it works in a couple of months." Nightmare snickered at an absent Faust, "So you're literally attempting to breed stupidity. I'm sure that'll work exactly how you want."

"So that's how she intends to make this work?" Cadence said in disgust. "By forcing mares to breed with this stallion?"

"Not quite, there's quite a bit on the vector she intends to use. Basically she's created a serum that when injected into both mares and stallions will do nothing at the time to avoid panic, but subsequent generations will display the traits she worked to create. Yep, she's breeding stupidity."

Luna's blood ran cold, "Has she already started this process?"

"Uh... no, she plans to wait until after she's pacified all the nations of the world, allowing her to create templates for all sapient species to begin with. Inflicting all nations at the same time will create less panic and resistance, or so she hopes."

"Then we stop it now." Luna pointed at the laboratory at the end of the room, "We'll keep the journal as proof, but the rest of it must be destroyed."

"What about the people Faust experimented on?" Cadence asked.

"I'm afraid they shall have to be culled, to stop Faust's plans at its very source."

"What? No!" Cadence stepped in-between Luna and the ponies, "You can't just kill them because of what Faust did to them! That's cruel, and unfair, and she's pregnant! Maybe they can be cured. Maybe Discord could do something if we can't!"

Luna groaned, although she was glad in a way. She had no desire to actually kill anything here, and this gave her a tiny scapegoat in that she could now make it Cadence's problem. Perhaps there was an alternative solution though that could please both parties.

"Would you accept them being sterilized? Assuming they can't be fixed that is. Once the females have given birth at least, although the young would have to be sterilized as well. That way they can live, and Faust's treachery contained to these few unfortunate souls."

"Why didn't you think of that in the first place?!"

Luna didn't reply because saying that she didn't have the time or energy to cart these hapless beings around sounded bad even to her. She supposed it wouldn't matter in a week or two seeing as how Faust would be defeated by then, with any luck. Perhaps they could stay here for now, and Faust would likely sustain them until her defeat.

"Let's destroy this abomination of a laboratory then proceed with finding Celestia. I think we've seen enough of what Faust has to offer to not search any deeper."

Quarter of an hour later found them stalking through the upper parts of the castle. There was still no guards, and still no Celestia, although they'd barely started looking. Luna was guiding them towards what she remembered to be Celestia's old bedroom in the east wing, facing the sun as it rose. Luna had the west wing, with the nothing particular special about what it faced, although it did get some pleasant sunsets. She suspected all traces of that being her room were eradicated, which killed her curiosity in finding out.

"Is there some reason why we're avoiding the throne room?" Cadence asked suddenly, breaking a silence that had followed them for quite some time.

"No reason," Luna and Nightmare said together, giving each other a hard look when they did.

"Real convincing," said Ember.

"That is a place of unpleasant memories for the both of us," Luna confessed after a few seconds. "Pardon us if we wish to save it for last."

"Even though that's where Celestia most likely is."

There was no denying that, but Luna was determined to leave it until last so closed the subject by refusing to speak of it any further.

It wasn't long after that they heard crying, and a voice trying to sooth the one in tears. Neither of them sounded like Celestia, so with considerable caution they decided to investigate, and found the sounds coming from the room next to where Celestia's was, which was odd to Luna, because the room next to Celestia's had only ever been used for storage.

"Hello?" Luna said cautiously. There was a gasp from inside the room, and the sound of hooves a few seconds later. The door cracked open, showing a sliver of a blue earth pony mare with a pink mane wearing a maid's uniform, whose visible eye widened in surprise at what she found.

"Princess Luna? Princess Cadence?" the mare said in strongly accented ponish. The door swung open much wider, "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be looking for Celestia."

"I thought that too," Ember said dryly.

"You know we're here?" Luna asked, suddenly very worried about how this pony could possibly have known they were here.

"Oh yes, Celestia saw you coming. She's waiting for you in the throne room."

"Called it," Ember said quietly, sure no one even cared at this point.

"Who can we hear crying?" Cadence asked kindly, the sound of the crying now much louder with the door open.

"Ach, that is my sister, Aloe. She has burned her hooves."

"How?"

"On Celestia."

"On Celestia? Let me see." Cadence strode into the room to where a pink pony was sat leaning against a bed, her hooves dipped into a bowl of cold water with care being taken to not put any weight on them. The pony, Aloe, looked up in surprise as Cadence stood in front of her and lifted her hooves out of the water to use her magic to soothe them instead.

"Ooh, that's nasty," Nightmare commented on the raw and blistered hooves as they followed after Cadence. "How did that happen?"

"I'm not sure I should be telling you," the blue pony said hesitantly, wondering why a thestral was speaking over the princesses.

"Oh just tell them, Lotus! I'm pretty sure they're here to help."

Lotus nodded, accepting that. "We were giving Princess Celestia her daily massage when she saw you coming."

"Saw us coming?" Luna said incredulously. "From here?"

"You can see the bridge from the window here," Lotus explained, pointing at a small window at the end of their room. "The view is even better from Princess Celestia's room. Anyway, the moment she saw you she... turned... hot, and burned Aloe's hooves. I was lucky enough to not be touching her at the time, although I could still feel the heat. It was so intense."

"Then what?"

"I don't know, she just paced around for a while, then announced she was going to wait for you in the throne room. I brought Aloe here, and that's all I know."

"And you know nothing of what's happening in the rest of the castle?" Luna asked the mares.

Lotus shook her head, then stopped and hung it. "Only rumours, Princess, but nothing more. Queen Faust banished the rest of the staff from the castle once ponies started getting too suspicious, and we never go far from Princess Celestia's chambers on her orders. Please, help us. We don't want to be here any more."

"We never did in the first place," Aloe added.

Luna hid a groan. Not because she didn't want to rescue these ponies, but because it mean sending someone away when she needed everyone here. There was also the small problem where Ember couldn't possibly carry two full grown ponies, so that left herself, Nightmare, or Cadence to do it, and herself and Nightmare were kind of integral to her plan.

"Cadence, you're going to have to take these two to Ponyville for evacuation."

"What? But don't you need me here?"

"Yes," Luna said bluntly, "but these two need to get to safety, and Ember can't carry two ponies, but you can. Go quick, and get back here as fast as you can."

Cadence shifted from hoof to hoof, wanting to say this was a bad idea, but she couldn't disagree either. "Okay, I'll do it, but you three better be careful without me."

"Don't you worry," Luna said as Cadence scooped the two earth ponies up in her magic and teleported away, "if we're lucky none of us will have to lift a hoof to beat Celestia."

The entrance to the throne room loomed large over them, seeming all the more intimidating for what was within waiting for them. Luna had imagined this event for quite some time, and now she was here she had to admit to being worried. Her plan rested on something happening that might not actually happen.

Celestia had cracked in Zebrica, without a doubt. Whatever Faust had done to her was far from infallible. But time had passed since then, and Faust could've done plenty to reinforce Celestia's mind, assuming she even could. The real Celestia might not even exist any more.

There was only one way to find out though, and that was through this confrontation that had been long in the planning. The fact that Celestia was here waiting for it as well mean she'd had time to think on it as well, and to maybe even turn it into a trap, although Luna doubted that. The real Celestia wasn't much of one for traps, but she did enjoy games. The current Celestia probably did too.

"You might want to try going as a unicorn," Luna said to Nightmare. "Magic's probably more use to you in here."

"You're putting this off," Nightmare said back as she changed. "Stop wasting time and get in there."

"I'm not putting this off," Luna protested weakly. She totally was, and they all knew it. There really wasn't anything for it though, so she threw the doors open and strode in as boldly as she could.

Celestia was waiting for them as the twins had said, sat on the step in front of the two thrones, which appeared to be the originals as far as Luna could tell, although obviously repaired. She was wearing her royal regalia, and smiled in an all too friendly manner as they walked up to her.

"Nice to see you, sister," she said pleasantly, standing to walk up to them and close the distance.

"I'm sure it is." Luna looked about the throne room, at its columns and high stone arches. Again, apart from the complete denial of her living here, it was exactly as she remembered it. As it had been before she lost her way and destroyed it in a jealous rage.

"Do you remember the last time we were here together?"

Luna rolled her eyes, but continued to humour her sister. "How could I possibly forget? I do suspect that the way you remember it is different from the way I do."

"So you would deny abducting my mother?"

"And that's why it's different."

"How did it go again?" Celestia teleported up to the balcony above the two thrones, in front of a large stained glass window that depicted that same image of Faust embracing Celestia with her wings. "I'm pretty sure I was stood where you are now, pleading with you to stop."

"You presented a pitiful argument, if I remember correctly."

Celestia narrowed her eyes a little, "Since I was ignored anyway, I don't see how the validity of my argument matters. It certainly didn't to you."

"It was also a long time ago." Luna sighed and canted her head to the side, "What are you doing, Celestia?"

"Ah-ah! Let me finish. Now then, I was stood down there, pleading for all that was good and sane-"

"That part's true at least," Nightmare snickered quietly, earning herself a sharp glare from Luna.

"-And you were up here. What was it you said?"

"That there should be only one princess in Equestria," Luna said tiredly, "and that princess should be me."

"And then you smashed part of the balcony in your petty rage, just like this." Celestia reared up and smashed the front of the balcony in a burst of flames that carried up her legs and igniting her mane and tail into a raging inferno. When she opened her eyes again, they were darker and slitted.

Luna sighed and shook her head, and not just because Celestia had made that look way better than she had. "Oh Celestia."

"You were right about one thing at least. What you were wrong about is which princess it should be." Celestia teleported down in front of them in a swirl of flames, "What? Aren't you going to plead for me to stop?"

"Are you going to listen as much as I did? Because I'd rather save my breath if that's the case. Besides, I think you've forgotten some things that also happened, Celestia, if that's what you're still calling yourself."

"Of course it is. Why detract from something that's already perfect?" Celestia started to pace around the three of them in a circle, all of them turning to keep her in front. "I'll indulge you though and ask what it is I've forgotten?"

Luna pointed to the stained glass window, "Do you not remember me smashing that? Clearing it out of the way so I could embrace the power of darkness, and swallow your sun in a solar eclipse? Do you not remember me becoming... Nightmare Moon?"

"Nightmare Moon?" Celestia snorted with laughter, "What kind of tacky name is that? I'm pretty sure you're just making this up now."

"Ouch," Nightmare muttered, unheard.

Luna smiled, "Am I now? Show her."

Nightmare stepped forwards, her form rippling as she shed her disguise. Her coat grew black, her eyes slitted, and as an afterthought she gave herself the pale blue armour that she'd worn so long ago. "Remember me, Celestia? I certainly remember you, and the banishment you inflicted upon me."

Celestia stepped back quickly in fright, then stopped. "I know you, you're- Aaagh!" Celestia dropped to her knees as a splitting pain tore through her head, and she clutched her head in her hooves as it failed to abate. "H-how? You- Nngh!"

"Does it hurt to remember me, Celestia?" Nightmare purred, thoroughly enjoying this. "Does it hurt to remember how you banished your own sister? Oh how you cried for her."

"Silence! Give me my sister back!" Celestia froze like she couldn't quite believe what she'd just said, but a fresh wave of agony stopped her from acting on any conclusions she might have made. "What have you done to me!?"

"Nothing that hasn't already been done to you," Luna barked, happy that her gambit with showing Celestia Nightmare had been fruitful. "What you're feeling now is something Faust did to you, to bury the truth of who you are. Let it out, Celestia! Don't fight it!"

"What truth? That you banished Mother? That you tried to overthrow Equestria in your own pathetic need for validation? That-" Celestia stopped as she set her eyes back on Nightmare, and groaned as a renewed bout of pain tore through her. "Nnggaaargh!"

"Yes, I did try to overthrow you out of petty jealousy, I don't deny it, but we didn't even know Faust existed then, and we wouldn't for another thousand years. Everything you think you know about her has been forced into your head by Faust! She tried to twist the events of what happened here a thousand years ago because it made me look more of a villain if I did it all myself, but here is proof of what really happened that night. Faust didn't know about Nightmare Moon, so she never removed that part from your memories."

"Comparing yourself to me as a villain? Really?" Nightmare deadpanned. "You're not making me look good in front of her."

"Sorry." Luna smiled sympathetically, "We'll have to work on that bit later. As for you, Celestia, do you believe me now when I say not everything is a simple as Faust made you believe?"

Celestia didn't answer, having fallen quiet as floods of memories filled her mind. It wasn't that simple though, because she still didn't know the truth. Both sets of memories were as convincing as the other, and all it did was make her angry. If there was one clear thing though, the memories she had of Faust didn't quite add up at times, so if there was betrayal somewhere in this, it lay with her more than it did Luna.

"Sister?"

"Don't 'sister' me, Luna," Celestia growled in a low voice. "Even if any of what I'm remembering is true, you still have a long way to go explaining what that monster is doing here!"

"That's a bit of a long story," Luna said hesitantly. "The short version of why she's standing here now, separate to me is that Faust found Nightmare's conscience in the dreamscape and captured it. Then she gave her a body."

"Yet another of her many mistakes," Nightmare tittered.

"Don't you mock her."

Nightmare raised an eyebrow, suspicious as to why Celestia was still defending Faust. "Seriously?"

Ember cleared her throat to get their attention as they seemed to have neglected to notice something very important. "Guys, why is she still on fire?"

Luna blinked, having somewhat forgotten that little point, even though it was right in front of her. Why was Celestia still flaming? Should they be worried? Who was she kidding? Of course they should be.

"What are you planning to do, Celestia? I can understand that you're angry, but there's no need to take it out on us. Faust is to blame for this."

"And she thinks you're to blame! But right now I have two little voices in my head telling me that you're both right, which also means you're both wrong. I think it's about time to make my own decisions, and I've decided that I ruled this country alone for a thousand years where nothing went wrong. Maybe we should go back to that."

All of them stepped back as the heat around Celestia spiked. "No, Celestia, don't do this."

"Do what? Return Equestria to peace and harmony? Ever since you came back there's been nothing but trouble, and the same goes for Faust. Perhaps the best solution is to do away with all of you!"

"And how's that going to work?" Nightmare asked suddenly. "You don't have a snowball's chance in hell of beating Faust on your own. You couldn't even beat me on your own without the Elements," she added flatly, still playing the role set for her.

"Then perhaps I should start with you, just to prove I can!"

Nightmare teleported away with a yelp as a wall of flame flew at her, direct from Celestia's horn. This had suddenly become a lot more serious, and with Celestia acting this way she was more of a threat through unpredictability alone. Thankfully Nightmare wasn't alone as Luna blasted Celestia sideways into a wall.

Celestia rolled onto her front and shook her head from the impact, confusion riding her features. "You would defend that thing?"

"Nightmare is my responsibility, in all ways, so yes. Besides," Luna's face slid into a smirk, "she's not so bad once you get to know her."

"And this terrible judgement you possess is why you're unfit to rule." Celestia dodged to the side as Ember lunged for her, and threw the dragon away with a flick of her telekinesis. While she was distracted Nightmare tried to attack, but a wreath of flame dissipated her magic before it could do much more than tickle Celestia.

Luna watched with concern as the banners in the room nearest to Celestia caught fire, and the very walls steam as every last trace of moisture was boiled out of them. She thought Celestia would be less dangerous without her spear, Solaris, but it seemed she was just as dangerous either way.

Celestia laughed as she shed her protection, "Still convinced I'm weak, Nightmare Moon?"

"Ugh, please stop calling me that." Nightmare teleported back to Luna, "Could we maybe move this along? I don't like standing this close to the sun."

"Together then." Both alicorns ran forwards and attacked as one, firing beams of magic at Celestia that forced her back on the defensive. She shielded herself, using an actual shield this time, holding them both off. Eventually they ran out of steam, their attacks sputtering out while Celestia was still untouched.

Ember tried to take the opportunity to sneak behind Celestia while she was distracted. When her shield was lowered Ember pounced, leaping onto Celestia's back and digging her claws in to get purchase. That was the plan at least. Celestia disappeared, leaving her to try and hold on to a puff of flame as she fell to the ground. Before she could get back up a hoof pressed against the back of her head, trapping it against the floor as hot breath tickled her ear.

"Fool me twice, shame on me." Celestia reared up to put all her weight on her one hoof to crush Ember's head, but was stopped as Luna tackled her directly. They tumbled away, each trying to get on top, and each failing to get the proper footing to let them stay there, at least up until Celestia felt something very sharp and very cold pressed up against both sides of her neck; a pair of silvery glaives, coated in a thin layer of frost despite being so close to her.

"They were shattered!"

"They were," Luna confirmed, "and still are. These are new, given to me by Twilight." Luna smiled at the sneer that brought out of Celestia. "I want you to meet Selene and Nocturne."

Celestia shifted uncomfortably as the blades cut effortlessly into the skin of her neck, "Charmed, I'm sure."

"It doesn't need to be this way, Celestia, you know that. You're hurt and confused, and I appreciate that, but killing us all won't help."

"Are you sure about that? Because I'm wagering a millennia of peace against these few years of near constant problems since you came back, and I'm feeling confident I can win that bet." Celestia flicked her eyes downward, then teleported away when Luna did the same. "I can't believe you still fall for that."

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for the classics," Luna said shamelessly, even though her cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

"Then maybe you'll enjoy this." Celestia bowed her head, releasing a stream of the hottest flame she could conjure, firing it directly at Luna. She pushed harder, keeping Nightmare and even Ember at bay with its sheer intensity.

After a while she stopped, confident that she'd see nothing more than a husk of charred meat before her. Instead she got a shock as Luna stood with her glaives crossed before her, totally unharmed as frost crept over the floor around her, hissing as it met the glowing hot stones left from Celestia's onslaught. She wasn't even sweating. In fact, she was shivering quite a bit instead.

"That's impossible! Nothing should've survived that!"

"Could've fooled me," Luna muttered as she shook, dislodging fragments of ice off her mane. She hadn't quite expected that to happen, and would have to remember to not channel quite so much power through these new glaives. She expanded the area of cold around her, cooling the rest of the floor back to tolerable levels as Nightmare and Ember joined her, the former grinning cockily, while Ember had her claws out and fangs bared, ready to fight.

"Give up already," Nightmare sighed. "Even I could've dodged that attack."

Celestia backed off, her mind rapidly calculating the path to victory, but finding nothing. Without a good counter to Luna's new weapons, she was beaten. There was only one option for her.

"She's going to run," said Ember.

Luna nodded, "I know. Before you go, Celestia, just remember than I'm not responsible for the state you're in right now. Faust is. If there's anything of yourself left in there, please, help us beat her. Or at least think about it."

The flames in Celestia's mane flickered with a mix of green, blue, purple, and pink, and then she was gone.

Luna lowered her weapons with a sigh, "Not the result I had hoped for, but at the very least she is no longer siding with Faust. I honestly thought she'd be a little more freaked out over you being here, Nightmare."

"Me too. I must be losing my touch."

"So what now?" Ember asked, rubbing her head. She really didn't want to think about how close she just came to dying.

"Now?" Luna shrugged, "Now we hope that Celestia can sort it out in her head as she needs to. At the very least we can hope she won't get in the way of us stopping Faust. As for now, our job here is done. Let us return those beasts to the Everfree quickly, then we shall return to Twilight with the hope her news is slightly better than ours.

Author's Notes:

Title used shamelessly...