Most ponies will describe Princess Celestia with hyperboles, majestic, glorious, radiant; but she herself prefered to be seen as a simple pony. One with a special position and an unique talent for magic but one that could still be relatable to anypony in the kingdom. That´s why she insisted on being secured in a special chamber as she channeled all the necesarry magic to keep the Elements of Harmony working to maintain the barrier over Canterlot and Ponyville. Seeing her like this, engulfed in flames and rainbow glow, Prince Solaris could see why she didn´t want the attention. Certianly, the word marvelous came to mind the second he saw her...

"You´re gazing at her again, brother," said a voice at his back, causing Solaris to startle.

"Artemis! Don´t play those games with me again...and I´m not gazing at her, simply...contemplating," Solaris explained but his brother wasn´t buying any of that. "Very well, maybe I was...a little entranced by her."

"I´ll say more than a little, dear brother. Ever since you met her, you had nothing but words of praise for Princess Celestia," Artemis said, admitting to himself that the view of the Princess at her full power was certainly breathtaking. "If I didn´t know you any better I´ll say you fell for her the second your gazes met."

Solaris let go a big sigh and to this brother´s surprise, nodded. "Perhaps I did, little brother. The weight of my responsabilites, of my long life-span, of the solitude of a milennia guarding the kingdom...that was a burden that I was never able to share with any other, until I met Celestia." Solaris looked at his brother and recognized that sting of guilt that came evident anytime the incident a thousand years ago was mentioned. "Don´t fret, Artemis. You know I don´t blame you at all for your past actions. That´s my point, speaking to Celestia about this issue, I found a kindred spirit who related to my pain and so a conecction was made."

"I suposse so. I have found also a common sould within Princess Luna. Seems she and I have indeed plenty of similarities..." Artemis noticed his brother smirking and blushed. "As if! My...my intentions to Princess Luna are far more platonic to yours with her sister!"

"If you say so, little brother..." Solaris said and then rustled Artemis´ mane a little. " I´m just teasing you, little brother! Besides, whatever my intentions to Celestia are..well, they just don´t matter."

"You haven´t told them," Artemis said. "Dusk Shine and his friends ignore it but you and Celestia have been at talks for a while and..."

"And closing the conecction to our words permantly is the best option. We cannot allow things like Eris meeting with her equally-dangerous counterpart again. I fear that this time will be the last one we´ll be together, no matter how much we´ll miss the friends we made."

The brothers took a look at Celestia, knowing that she was having similar concerns. Artemis nuzzled his brother and said "Whatever decision you made, I´ll stand by your side, brother."

"Thank you, Artemis."

Artemis retired, leaving his brother to his thoughts. Sadly, said contemplation meant that Solaris´ guard was down and he didn´t noticed the evil presence behind him before it was too late.

"So sweeet, you are indeed the loving big brother that the ponies sing about..."

Solaris turned around, ligthing his horn with the strengh of a small sun, revealing the gaze of a hulking, drooling changeling with a crown.

"Cocoon! But you were..."

"Gone? Certainly but not for good. After my...foreced retirement, courtesy of your star pupil, I spent a long time pulling some strings," Cocoon explained. "I told Eris about her counterpart and all the wonderful pranks they could pull together. I convinced my own counterpart to launch a cojoint attack to your realm...not that I cared to stay to see the obvious resolution."

"You...betrayed her?"

"Well, somebody had to take my place behind Tartarus door, right?" Cocoon said, laughing.

"In a way, is good to see that you would betray even yourself. A lesson to never extend a hoof in friendship to you, Cocoon", Solaris said.

"Speaking of friends, your little princess there seems pretty occupied. All that magic, she´s probably so concentrated that isn´t even hearing you shouting your rehearsed speech about friendship and all that mushy stuff."

"You stay away from her and all the otehr ponies!"

"Come on, Solly. You can do better, where´s the Canterlot voice?"

Solaris exploded like a blazing sun, jumping over Cocoon who, for a moment, feared for his own safety. Even so, he reacted fast enough, pulling a bag from his belt and tossing the content to Solari´s face. The prince coughed and fell, feeling numb almost inmediatly.

Cocoon took a second to realize he had won and then laughed, "Ha! Told you I was pulling some strings, poking around some places, stealing stuff. Celestia´s universe has a pretty talented wizard called Starswirl and he made quite a few funny tricks like this one. A sleeping powder, he discarded it cause it caused nightmares but I find it aprropiate for the ocassion, don´t you, Solly?"

The last thing Solaris saw was his own reflection, smirking as Cocoon took his appeareance.

****

The train to Canterlor seemed slower than usual. It actually was going right on schedule but since the group of ponies was headed to a mission that seemed like certain doomed, it was painfully slow.

"Okay, gonna say it...this place is bogus," Rainbow Blitz said. Next to him Applejack nodded, keeping his arms crossed.

Behind them, Berry and Pinkie pondered the situation. "Mmh, I don´t know, when we walked into a town of brainwashed ponies with the same Cutie Marks was pretty reckless too," Berry said.

"Wait, when did you did that?" Pinkie protested.

"Weird. Maybe we´re a little ahead of your in our universe. Have you and Rainbow already visited the griffon kingdom?"

"NO! Have you already lose your heads over candies and made weird jokes to Dusk Shine?"

"Please, make them stop..." Rainbow Dash asked and Blitz patted her back.

In the other side of the cart, Dusk Shine and Twilight Sparkle remained in silent. Fluttershy noticed that and was worried but for different reason that she let on, "They seemed very preoucuppied. You think they´re fine, Rarity?"

"They probably have too much in their heads right now, dear. If anything, I´m happy that they finally seem to have found something in common. Out of all our pairings, they seemed to be the ones who never could see each other as equals." As Rarity said that, a loud snore was heard. They turned their heads to find Elusive drooling and snoring, spread all over a seat like a lazy bum.

"Please, tell me, I´m nothing like that!" Rarity said and Fluttershy giggled.

As the group made their way to Canterlot, in the back chart, Princess Luna was sleeping or trying to. Her magic was still weak and her body was sore from her time on the forest, she knew she was no match for the evil being that had captured her sister and new friends but she was confident she had still one trick Coccon wasn´t counting on.

****

"Princess Luna, I´m so glad to see you fine and well!"

Prince Solaris seemed sincere, with his big beaming smile and open arms. The rest of the ponies had troubles trying to keep a straight face, particullary Applejack and Fluttershy due to their natures, needing a poke from the pegasi. Meanwhile, Elusive was still a bit sleepy, much to the displeasure of Rarity and both Pinkie and Berry seemed totally unaware they were on a secret mission judging by their smiles.

"When our guards reported you were missing, I grown concerned. I have no idea what happened to you!"

Princess Luna did her best to kept a straight face and answered," I sensed a powerful and concerning magic. With my sister occupied, I figured I needed to take matters in my own hooves."

"And I applaud your for that! But with all the concerns regarding our jointed universes, I wish you should have asked for help. I´m sure Artemis would have been delighted to join you."

Luna had to repress a growl at that. "I fear Artemis must be occupied with matters of his own. Haven´t seen of him for a while now."

"Yes, Prince Solaris. We were wondering about him too," Twilight Sparkle interrupted.

"Arty? Why, he´s just right here," Solaris said and, to a collective gasp, Artemis appeared looking the same as usual, quiet and reserved. "Haha, you two have so much in common! Hiding in the dark withouth saying a beep, such trouble makers!"

Artemis said nothing as his brother rustled him a bit, much to the confusion of the ponies. Ever suspicious, Rarity and Elusive looked at Princess Luna, wondering what was up. The only one smirking was Fluttershy, sure of her victory and her queen´s plan.

"You must be terribly tired, Princess Luna. Why don´t we all go to our chambers to rest? Dusk Shine, I trust you´re taking care of the matters at Ponyville, right?"

"Yes, your higness. We have a few clues as to what this strange magic could be. I actually brought Twilight here so we can both take a look at the Royal Library. The rest just kinda followed along," Dusk Shine and his friends groaned, not really playing along, just annoyed.

"Suit yourself. We´ll keep an eye on Celestia in the meantime," and with that Solaris retreated, along with both rulers of the night.

As they took the stairs down to the dungeons, Rainbow Dash and Blitz kept a conversation, hovering over the group.

"Okay, that was super creepy cause I know he´s an evil changeling impersonating him but he was also really charm and good looking, you get me?" Dash said.

"Yeah, Prince  Solaris has quite a presence, right? It must be the goatte, gvies him a rought air, was kinda thinking of adding one myself, what´ya think?" Blitz said, earning a laugh from Rainbow Dash. "He-hey, cut it out!"

"That was a scary deal, allright. I get yah have a plan there, Dusk?" Applejack asked.

"Don´t worry, Applejack. We do have a plan," Twilight reasurred him. "I just hope it works," she added, ruining that assurance.

"Umh, I´m the only one who´s wondering why we´re going down?" Fluttershy asked, trying to pry on some information.

"I´ll wonder why there´s isn´t a single tapestry in this whole place. I know there are the dungeons and all but still, a bit of decoration wouldn´t hurt. Your castle definetly needs some improvement," Elusive said.

"And what makes you think is our side of the castle? Maybe the lack of good taste comes from your side!" Rarity retorted.

"What? Where did that come from?"

"From your awful manners of sleep, I´ll said from the house you were raised..."

"How dare you?"

"I dare!"

"So much from being the closest of pairings," Rainbow Blitz said and Dash nodded.

Eventually, the stairs ended (not the banter between the fashionist unicorns) and they reached a dead end. Applejack was about to ask what was next, when Dusk Shine used his magic to pull a torch, revealing a secret passage. They walked a little more and finally reached a big chamber were too unicorns were waiting for them. Neither Shinign Armor nor Gleaming Shield looked too happy to see them.

"Here we are," Dusk Shine said.

"Dusk, I especifically asked you to keep my sister out of this! What happened?" Shining said.

"Get off Dusk Shine, big bro. If anything, you´re the one who owns us some explanation. Actually, you owe me some explaining!"

"Twily, I just..."

"Don´t you Twily me, mister!"

Dusk Shine approached his sister, expecting some yelling as well. "Relax, little bro. Unlike Shining, I´m happy all of you are up to date. We have much work to do."

Gleaming Shield ligthed her horn, revealing over two dozens cells around the room, all with changeling of various side and shapes, hissing at them.

"We´ve captured over a hundred changeling agents, posing as ponies from both universes. Of several races, ages, they seem to be trying to take over as many ponies as they can and they´re half way through it..."

"How awful..." Rarity said, grabbing Elusive´s hoof, their argument forgotten.

"And to think they were all our friends...but what happened to the ponies? Where are they?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, where´s Applejack?" Rainbow Dash demanded to know. "I meant, girl Applejack..." she added when both pink ponies pointed at the male one.

"We have no idea where the captured ponies are. They must have some secret lair somewhere in the kingdom but with the ever chaning landscapes, is proving quite difficult to find it," Shining Armor said.

"So what´s the plan, Gleaming Boy, keep capturing changeling until we got them all?" Blitz asked, much to the displeasure of Shining over being called that.

"Yeah, you have any idea how many ponies are out there? And now with the alternate universe expansion is gonna take like twice the work!" Pinkie Pie said.

"I´m sorry, female Berry but so far we have no better option. We have to keep aphrending as many changeling agents as we can, least they end up inflitrating our group...like she did!"

And with that Gleaming Shield shot at Fluttershy, revealing her to be a changeling as well, much to the horror of everpony. What they all failed to see was that Fluttershy previously nodded to Gleaming while they were all distracted. As distracted as they were now, gasping and arguing, failing to notice the green glow in Gleamin´s eyes.

****

Princess Luna looked at the door, where the glow of her sister´s magic was so bright, it was peering throuhg the cracks. Luna was worried for her, posing such an easy target. In the other hoof, Cocoon had not intented to hurt her. Maybe he didn´t dared, considering Celestia´s magic was protecting the area surrounding the castle from all this universe alterations. Maybe he wasn´t able to hurt Celestia on this form or maybe he was just as cowardly as Luna guessed, keeping Celestia around as bargain. Either way, Luna was ready to take matters on her own, even if it was a risky movement for her.

"Luna, you seem distracted. I was asking you if Dusk Shine confided you with any information about the magic sources around Ponyville," Solaris said, sounding as sincere as ever.

"My apologies, I was...concerned about my sister," Luna admitted, figuring it was the best option. "I fear this much effort will be dangerous to her health."

"I understand you. I even offered to take her place but she said no..." Solaris said, his attention focused on the door now. "She seems to be the type of mare that takes matter in her own hooves, right?"

"As I am, fake regent!" Luna shouted and took advantage of the momentary distraction of Solaris to take the form of Nightmare Moon and launched a powerful spell that would put him to sleep, a special magic only she could handle. What she didn´t take into account was Artemis jumping in the middle, recieving the full spell.

Solaris seemed as surprised as Luna but, like before, once his victory seemed certain he started to laugh. Not the kind laughter of Solaris but the raspy, evil one of the Changeling King.

"Artemis! Why you coward, using him as a shield! Do you even have a limit to your cowardice?"

"Oh please, I didn´t told him to do that! I suposse I understimated his love for his big brother. Even brainwhased like that, once he saw Solaris in danger, or me in this case, he jumped right to protect him."  

"Such evilness...you know full well how much love she has for Solaris. And even when his body acted withouth thinking, you gloat because it benifts you?"

"Argh, I didn´t think there could be a pony even for melodramatic than Solaris and his brother but I was wrong...Yes, I´m gloating, I won! My agents have surely captured Dusk and his stupid friends by now. Your sister is unable to do anything to stop me and once I figure how to crack the Elements of Harmony, I´ll make our universes connection permanent, turning them into my new kingdom! And you, little princess, have used the last of your magic, haven´t you? You wasted your only change to defeat me and instead of being mad at Artemis for ruining it, you keep giving those speeches. Pathetic!"

"I may have used all my strength, evil one...but that doesn´t mean I´ll give up!" Luna shouted and gathered as little magic as she had to take her full regal form. Wasn´t the dark presence of Nightmare Moon but the shining form of the Princess of the Night.

Sadly, said form didn´t last long. A splitting headache attacked Luna and she felt to the ground, crying.

"You fool! Don´t you remember how easy it was for me to manipulate you the first time? Sure, you resisted all the way. Even your ego made you think I was going to be your loving servant," Cocoon said, remembering how annoying Nightmare Moon had been  as servant, even under his control. "Those pink alicorns may have free you from my control momentarily but now that I have you at close range, I can turn against your friends once more..."

Luna shouted, using all her strengh to avoid the gaze of those sick, glowing green eyes.

****

"Wait, Mrs. Fluttershy. But she...but I...but we...but..." Applejack was having a mental crisis over the whole thing while the rainbow ponies were ready to attack Fluttershy.

"All along? You were a changeling all along?" Blitz shouted.

"So what happened to Applejack? Did you capture her too? Where´s Fluttershy? Tell me!" Dash barked.

"Hey, you two! Cut it out!" Bubble Berry said, jumping in between then and the changeling.

"Oh great, now Berry is also brainwashed," Dash said.

"I´m not brainwashed, Dash!" Berry shouted, to the surprise of everyone, including the changeling. "What I´m saying is that she´s not responsible, she was only following order all around ever since she took Fluttershy face after that big party we had waaay early at the beginning of the story."

There was a small silence as they processed that.

"Wait, you knew? You have known she´s a changeling since then?!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Well duh, did nopony noticed how different Fluttershy has been acting since then? You guys are bad at foreshadowing, it was so obvious."

"No, it wasn´t!" they shouted.

"Mmh, in retrospect, I should have noticed too. I think I was too distracted, like there was something right in front of my face taking away my attention, know what I mean?" Pinkie Pie asked, her face buried on Rainbow Blitz´s who was holding her in the air.

"This is why I didn´t wanted you telling my sister about it! I was afraid some of her friends would have already being replaced!" Shining Armor shouted.

"Shining, I appreciate your concern but you should have been paying closer attention to your own friends!" Twilight Sparkle said, taking a shot at Gleaming Shield, revealing her to be a changeling.

"Oh come on, is there anyone else in this room who is a changeling?" Dash shouted. "Seriously, Rarity?"

"Sorry dear, when I´m nervious I act out of characther..." Rarity admitted, putting her hoof down.

"You idiots! You knew all along and yet you let yourselves into a trap?" the former Gleaming Shield asked.

"The trap is on you, changeling. You led us right into were you keep all the changelings in their cells," Dusk Shine said.

"Yes, the cells that I can open at will," the changeling said, using her magic to do just that.

All the ponies trembled, realizing they were surrounded by hissing monsters with sharp fangs. Before they could jump at them, however, a series of explosion hit them, filling the room with green smoke. The smoke was harmless to the ponies but soon put all the changelings to sleep, including the former Fluttershy who fell in Berry´s arms. From the smoke two figures appeared...

"Stallion-Do-Good?" Dash said.

"Mare-Do-Well?" Blitz said.

"This is your plan? Two masked ponies against an entire army?" the former Gleaming Shield said, fighting to keep awake.

"No, they simple are the backup," Dusk Shine admitted.

"Our real plan?" twilight Sparkle said and then the roof collapsed, as a tall, dark figure descended, roaring.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

Queen Chrysallis was not pleased.