Harmonia continued to hug Duskfall for a few moments before turning her attention to Starlight. Duskfall had never seen Harmonia mad before, so seeing her downright furious was certainly a sight to behold. Harmonia’s outward appearance was calm, but anyone with even the slightest amount of empathic ability could sense the Greater Spirit of Harmony was boiling with rage. So of course Starlight didn’t notice anything was wrong other than a tiny Alicorn looking at her funny.

“Do anything to take Duskfall away from us again, to harm her in any way, and I will end you,” Harmonia promised as she flared her wings and released a pulse of power to demonstrate how serious she was. As someone from a lower level playing field, Lightning was still trying to get used to how casually some beings could toss around that level of power. Given this was going to be her new home, Lightning decided it was high time to put some training in to get more in touch with her Changeling heritage. She wouldn’t be able to skirt by with just her emotion sensing around here.

Starlight couldn’t miss the obvious threat and bowed submissively.

“I’m content to keep my head down for awhile,” Starlight said meekly, her eyes closed as she awaited Harmonia’s judgment. The Greater Spirit paced around Starlight, observing her top to bottom. Finally Harmonia glanced to Duskfall, who just shrugged.

“I’ve punished her somewhat and she knows if she causes further trouble she’s toast. I’m sure the others are all gonna want to yell at her too, so laboring the point doesn’t seem worth it,” Duskfall remarked. Harmonia made a frustrated face before sighing.

“I suppose you’re right. Speaking of, they should be arriving any second now, so I hope you’re ready to catch Rainbow when she spots your new friend,” Harmonia warned as Starlight resumed standing upright.

“Huh? Me? Why would Rainbow come after me?” Lighting asked blankly. She looked from Duskfall to Harmonia for answers.

“Didn’t I… dammit, Sparkle Family Curse,” Before Duskfall could elaborate, the doors to the Map Room burst open, admitting everyone, even Celestia and Cadence.

“DUSKFALL!” Predictably, the purple Alicorn found herself buried under a sea of ponies and humans turned pony, a few Changelings, and a single young dragon. Lightning had the common sense to get out of the way before impact. Starlight, not so much and ended up squished against a wall.

“You know, if I wasn’t immortal, I’d almost be worried about suffocating to death,” Duskfall snarked from somewhere under the living tide. The crowd sheepishly backed off to give Duskfall space. That was when Rainbow spotted Lightning.

“What’s she doing here?!” Rainbow shouted.

“Before you lynch her or Starlight, let me explain what I’ve been doing recently,” Duskfall tried to placate them.

“And maybe explain to me why this Rainbow looks ready to pluck my feathers, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked hopefully.

“‘Lady Duskfall’?” The room at large repeated.

“All will be explained,” Duskfall promised with a hoof raised in a calming gesture. Once everyone had gotten comfortable, Duskfall told the story of what she had been doing on her latest forced vacation. Most might have edited out or skirted over what Duskfall had done to Starlight and Tirek, but she gave it to them straight, only leaving out the exact appearance of the things she assaulted Tirek with.

“So, I’ve had a fun five or so months. How have you guys been?” Duskfall asked pleasantly at the end of her tale. She had the sweetest ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ smile too. Lightning, who had lived through most of it, was the first to react by covering her face with a hoof.

“Lady Duskfall, I will be the first to admit you have little to no tact, but I also like to think I know you well enough to know when you’re being intentionally obtuse,” Lightning groaned.

“But if I can’t take the piss with my favorite people in the multiverse, who can I take the piss with?” Duskfall asked innocently, a dumb puppy look now on her face as she turned to Lightning.

“You’re insufferable,” Starlight said with a glare, but no bite in her voice or energy in her ears.

“And you’re a bitch. I think I come out ahead,” Duskfall easily replied, not even bothering to look in Starlight’s direction.

“Well, despite you somehow managing to invoke Fate herself, I still think it’s appropriate to apologize for suggesting you and Starlight settle your differences in the Chaos Dimension,” Discord said, holding his paw and claws in front of him.

“I agreed to it and like you said, Fate somehow got involved, so who knows what predestination fuckery was going on,” Duskfall waved him off with a wing, “Honestly, the whole thing sucked and I’m glad it’s done with, but I’m not completely sorry it happened either.”

“Nice save, m’lady,” Lightning snarked, casually flipping her off with a wing. This just caused Duskfall to giggle.

“Anyway, now that my story time is over, I cede the floor to whoever wants to tell me what you all have been up to,” Duskfall said diplomatically with appropriate gesture of bowing away from the now open floor.

Watching Duskfall’s overblown display, a memory tickled in the back of Luna’s mind.

“Duskfall, if you’re that exhausted, you should sleep first,” Luna chided.

“Pfft, exhausted? Who? Me?” Duskfall tried to laugh it off, but soon her laughter gained a tinge of sadness, “Old habits die hard, huh? You caught me. I’m pretty much dead on my hooves. Still, I won’t be able to sleep if I’m constantly wondering if Rainbow set up Prisma on a date with Fluttershy.”

“Nothing quite that…flavorful has happened,” Anwyn assured while holding a hoof over her mouth to try and hide her giggles at the Rainbows and Fluttershys’ embarrassed expressions.

“Still, the point stands, I’ll sleep better if I’m reasonably caught up on current events,” Duskfall said firmly, trying to stand at attention to keep them from forcing her to bed. Maybe some of them bought it, but Celestia, Luna, Discord, and Harmonia certainly didn’t. Duskfall was just glad they didn’t force the issue.

So the others stepped up and began telling them what had happened in the three weeks of their lives since Duskfall and Starlight had vanished. The CMC had gotten their Cutie Marks while helping a stallion named Trouble Hooves. The Humans had finally gotten tested and they seemed to be stable with room to grow naturally in the future and they were also preparing for some kind of competition called the Friendship Games with a rival school. To wrap things up, Anwyn was preparing to open a second location and a fundraiser was happening in Ponyville with a fairly famous pop star coming to perform.

“Anything else can wait. To bed now, Duskfall,” Luna all but ordered.

“You’re not my Mom! You can’t tell me what to do!” Duskfall pouted petulantly. By some united brainwave, they all, save Starlight, turned to Duskfall with pleading faces.

“Please go to bed, (Lady) Duskfall,” In the face of so much concentrated cute, even someone who like to think of themselves as coldhearted like Duskfall fell in the face of the onslaught.

“Fine! I yield! Don’t expect me to wake up for at least a week!” Duskfall threatened, but as she turned to walk away, a small smile was on her face. It was good to be home again.

Author's Notes:

For some reason I feel like this isn't up to my usual standard, yet I can't actually find anything wrong with it. Of course, this is entirely possibly the fault of the new sleep medicine I tried a week ago. That stuff messed me up hardcore. My head still feels filled with cotton and my muscles still feel weak.

Naturally, the stuff failed to put me to sleep.

Unfortunately, my psychiatrist had prescribed me yet another sleep drug, which I'm scheduled to pick up in 2 or 3 days. So if next chapter doesn't show up in a week, it'll probably be because my brain has been completely scrambled by the new drug.