---

Celestia was running. Running down a corridor with doors on either side. She was running towards something. Or was it away from something? She couldn’t tell, mostly because not even her magic could light up the dark passage too far back, only wide enough to see the doors on either side. Each door was unique in appearance, with different colors, designs and knobs. But one thing about them was constant. There were pictures of ponies hanging from them. Ponies who were glaring at her, following her with their gazes. And from all of them, she could hear their tormenting words:

“You murderer!”

“You abandoned us!”

“You betrayed us!”

“You left that human in your pets worthless hooves!”

“You turned that human into the monster he became!”

“You did this to Equestria!”

“You are unworthy!”

“Traitor!”

“Monster!”

Celestia sobbed as she galloped harder, unable to spread her wings even to stop her ears. The corridor was only narrow enough to give her a couple of feet on either side. The floor was made of carpet, so she couldn’t make enough noise to drown the accusations out. The same accusations she’d heard in her head for three months. The same ones that were in her dreams night after night. The same accusations she couldn’t stop seeing on the faces of her advisors or the other nobles.

She heard something else now, the sound of heavy boots on thick carpet and a raspy breathing. Both very familiar to her. Both belonging to one of her greatest failures since Nightmare Moon. She didn’t need to glance behind her to know that the human Jason Wright was running up close behind her. She could feel his breath somehow on the nape of her neck, could sense his malevolent grin. A grin she had put on his face from her lack of care for any nonponies. Even during Discord’s first release, she hadn’t even thought about how the dragon in her former student’s care must have felt when she sent those friendship reports back to help remind her of what she'd gained. It must have been immensely painful to cough up those scrolls one after the other.

She cursed herself. She always thought she was a caring pony, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized just how she wouldn’t have checked in too much on Jason even without Discord’s spell. The boot falls only increased in volume. There was the smell of death in the air, of blood. And of tears.

She cried out for help. “Somepony! Anypony! HELP!”

It was then that this nightmare took a turn which it hadn’t done before. Ahead of her, a golden light burst into existence, with a figure hovering there invitingly. Celestia ran faster, panting hard. She jumped, but too late as a pair of gloved hands grabbed her back hooves and began pulling her back into the darkness. She screamed in fear.

But that scream died in her throat as the figure leaped out of the light, revealing itself to be another human. This human had somewhat long brown hair, bright blue eyes, looked pristine and without injury, and very furious with whoever was pulling her back. The human passed Celestia, rushing towards the other human figure, holding Jason back. His body glowed with a bright golden light which worked hard to banish the black tendrils which emanated from the dark and ever demonic form that belonged to Jason. The second human was wearing golden armor and had a shining sword by his side which he drew and swung at the darkness. “RUN PRINCESS! RUUUN!” the second human bellowed.

Despite her desire to run, she forced herself to stop. She did not want to abandon another human. The guilt was eating away at her. “What about you!?” she cried out.

“I SAID GO!” he yelled. He held out his hand and a burst of wind caught the unsuspecting alicorn by surprise. As she was thrown back into the light, she saw a dark cruel blade shoved directly through her rescuer, coming out the back with blood.

She screamed-

---

-And woke up screaming, clutching her bedding close to her as she had done nearly every night for the past three months. Not even her sister’s intervention could stave off the nightmares, at least, what little time Luna had to come to save her sister.

It was just before dawn; the fire in her hearth having since gone out. However, she was still drenched in sweat as was her orange comforter. She flung it away from her, taking in deep breaths to try and calm her frazzled nerves. She’d had nightmares nearly identical to the one she’d just had for months. But the dream she’d just had was new. Completely unexpected.

In a flash of dark blue light, a tired but worried Luna appeared in Celestia’s bedroom. She looked at Celestia and her frown deepened. “It happened again, didn’t it?” she asked, coming to the futon where Celestia slept and putting a comforting wing around her.

Celestia lowered her head, nodding as the tears came. “It…he almost got me this time,” Celestia said.

“We apologize, dear sister,” Luna said sincerely. “We were dealing with a larger influx of nightmares than normal.”

Celestia shook her head. “I told you to focus your attention on the common pony before me,” she said, “I’m not angry at you.”

Luna’s ears flattened and she moved closer to her older sister. “You need a better night’s rest if you are to continue rebuilding Equestria,” she said, slipping into a more informal speech than she used with others, “You can’t keep going on like this. You’re going to collapse one day, and then what?”

Celestia stiffened, then turned to face her sister, a look of bitter anger on her face. “Our little ponies are more important than me right now!” she shouted. “They make the kingdom, not buildings or borders!” She was nearly in Luna’s face before she realized what she was doing. Slowly, she pulled away and looked down at the blanket in front of her. “Forgive me, Lulu…I didn’t mean it…”

“Cellie, you’re my sister…” Luna said softly, lifting Celestia to face her with her hoof, “I love you deeply, but you need to let somepony help you. You’re falling apart.”

Celestia curled up, pulling her thin sheet closer to her. “I’ll be fine.”

“No, you wont,” Luna said stalwartly. “You’re at your limit! Please, you need a break!”

“Not yet,” Celestia said as she slowly removed the sheet covering the rest of her. Only to see her flank glowing a deep crimson, bright lights moving towards her cutie mark on either side. “What in the Maker’s name…?”

“Cellie? What is that?” Luna asked, staring at the glowing red flanks in shock.

Celestia stood and got a better look at her flanks, trying desperately to remember where she had seen this before. It had been quite a long time since she’d seen anything remotely familiar to it, and it was ringing a bell in her mind. Finally, it came to her. “A call from the map…”

“What map?” Luna asked.

“The cutie mark map in Twilight’s Castle of…Castle of Friendship,” Celestia hesitated to speak the words, seeing as how it had been scraped clean of any reference to her once faithful student by Jason and his changeling army. “Twilight and her frie-the other Elements of Harmony used to be summoned by it to find friendship problems around Equestria,” she explained. “I remember when she first told me about it. How she and the others had been summoned to a town up north, only to discover that the townsponies had just recently driven off their former leader who had stolen their cutie marks. They helped the townsponies get their lives back on track.” She looked back at her cutie mark. “I’ve read reports from Twilight about them, but she never made mention that the cutle marks were red like this. The pattern matches, though.”

“It must be quite serious if you are being summoned to solve a problem about friendship,” Luna said with a frown. “Then you should go.”

Celestia stiffened. “I can’t go. I have a city to help rebuild,” she said.

“If this cutie mark map is summoning you and it’s an offshoot of the Tree of Harmony, I think you should go,” Luna insisted. “It could very well take only a single day to complete. I can watch the throne in your stead.”

Celestia turned to Luna, worry in her face and in her heart. Even if it had been seven years since Luna had returned from her banishment, she still wasn’t too sure if she was ready for the stresses of her Celestial Court. There was a Lunar Court, but since it took place during the night, there wasn’t much for Luna to do, which was why she had learned dreamwalking magic when she had returned from the moon. “What if it doesn’t take a day? What if it’s in some distant place? Like maybe the Crystal Empire?”

“Sister, I can handle it,” Luna said in a soft and reassuring tone. “If this map has summoned you, it must be a situation most dire. Come, I’ll help you pack for an extended journey just in case.” And with that, Luna began wandering the room, grabbing a large white suitcase with the solar diarch’s cutie mark emblazoned on the side. She opened it and began packing a few things Celestia might need in all kinds of weather.

Celestia watched her sister with renewed respect and love. For too long she had been overprotective of the lunar Princess. She’d been having her take baby steps when it came to her reintegration into modern day Equestrian society, but it was time for her to take her wings and soar again, soar like the lovely alicorn she was. Even before she was banished, Luna was a mare grown, not some filly in need of coddling. She finally stood, making her bed quickly with her magic and sighing. “Very well, sister. I’m going. But you don’t need to pack so much,” she insisted with a very small smile, “I doubt I’ll be gone too long.”

“Has this map ever called you before?” Luna asked, turning to her with her magic holding a pair of thick hoofboots in her dark blue magical embrace. When Celestia simply shook her head, Luna placed the boots into the suitcase. “Then it must be extremely dire indeed. What was it mother used to say to us when we went on long trips to the sea? Pack for what might happen, not for what you hope to happen?”

“You’ve taken that to heart, I see,” Celestia said, looking at her increasingly overcrowded suitcase.

“They taught us much, Maker keep their souls close to her bosom,” Luna said, putting one hoof to her chest.

“Apparently, not everything,” Celestia said, her ears lowered as she looked at a small jar in the corner of the room. There, enclosed by a lid, sat some inert changeling goop which she had taken from her wings after Jason had released her. She’d placed another jar of it in her throne room, in her private dining room, even in her private privy. She didn’t want to forget what she had wroght.

Luna’s eyes followed her sister’s, and her frown returned. “You should get rid of those,” she said. “They’re nothing but a reminder to you. They could also be causing some of your nightmares. We don’t know what that fluid does.”

“Do not touch them,” Celestia said firmly, “None of them. I need that reminder. I failed miserably, Luna.”

“Don’t say that, it was Discord-”

“Discord be damned!” Celestia shouted angrily, stamping her hoof on the ground, “All that cretin did was ever so slightly enhance the feelings I have about other creatures that are not my ponies! I would have forgotten about him regardless!” She was panting heavily when she was finished with her tirade, looking wildly at a stunned Luna.

The lunar Princess, however, cleared her throat, walked over, and put a comforting wing on Celestia’s withers. “This trip might be good for you,” Luna said. “Yes, you have your faults, but your compassion isn’t one of them. Remember what you told me about the moment when you confronted the Elements of Harmony in jail before Discord’s death? You called them out. That shows that you do care deeply.”

“But only for ponies,” Celestia said. “I’ve done things that I regret not only to Jason, but to other non-ponies as well. Young Spike, for example.”

“What about him?” Luna asked.

So, Celestia told her. She told Luna about how the egg that had been found floating in Horseshoe Bay had been found by her more than thirteen years ago. How she had taken it and used it as a mere means to test students. How she had assigned the young Spike to become Twilight Sparkle’s assistant. Not friend, but lowly assistant. How she had cast a spell on Spike to use him as only a messenger. The incident with how Discord was first released, the way that even other ponies had apparently used him from reports she’d received from one of her ex-agents of S.M.I.L.E. who now lived in Ponyville, and other incidents she’d heard about. “My little ponies have been sheltered from other races,” she finished with tears in her eyes, “they are afraid and suspicious of anycreature not their own. They were even afraid of a zebra, and they look so much like a pony that we’re practically kindred.”

Luna took this all in stride, her face stony with no reaction to all she’d just heard. She walked up to Celestia and asked, “Have you apologized to young Spike for this? Have you offered amnesty to no one other than Jason? What about his changeling army? To me, what the reports say is that they seemed very uncomfortable in burning Ponyville down. Some did it mostly out of fear.”

Celestia’s ears lowered. More guilt was piled up on the preexisting guilt she already felt. “I…I never thought to…oh Maker above…I haven’t learned.”

“Anypony can forgive you for making such an oversight in these trying times,” Luna said softly.

“I shouldn’t have forgotten that!” Celestia said with tears now streaming down her cheeks. Tears of self loathing. Tears of inner hatred. “I’m no worse than those foal abusers I’ve had to execute in my rule!”

“Then do something about it now!” Luna bellowed, startling Celestia. The lunar diarch had used her Royal Canterlot Voice. Taking a deep breath, Luna softened her tone and continued, “What was it father said? There’s no time like the present to right a wrong?”

Celestia swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, and with a slow nod, turned and walked over to the table where her crown, chestplate, golden shoes and her other royal accoutrements sat. She quickly got them on, brushed her mane and tail, then walked over to the window. She opened it, raised her head, and began raising the sun at its proper time. The sky was partly cloudy this morning, with patches of fog covering the valley floor below, especially around where Ponyville had once lay. It was both a blessing and a curse to not be able to see the land below. A blessing since she could at least pretend for a moment things were back to normal, and a curse because the fog reminded her of the thick billowing smoke clouds that had surrounded Ponyville when she’d first gotten a glimpse of what Jason had done to it.

When she turned back, she found that Luna was holding out the suitcase for her. It was all packed and ready to go for her. Celestia took the suitcase in her magic, and nodded gratefully at her. “Come with me, Luna,” she said, walking towards the door, holding her head high as a ruler should even if parts of her felt that she didn’t truly deserve to do so, “We’re going to make this announcement together.”

“Together, dear sister,” Luna said as she used her magic to open the door. The two stepped out into the hallway, ready to face the day.

---

Spike rolled over in his bed in the Castle of Friendship. The morning was still dark, with the only light coming in being from one of the nearest oil lanterns hanging near the castle. He hadn’t really gotten much of a good night sleep ever since Twilight had told him about why this Jason, who Spike had never known about until that day when he burned down Ponyville, had done what he had done. Spike hadn’t even known a human had been in Ponyville. Apparently, he’d been in Canterlot during that time and somehow had missed the human’s first arrival.

She knew that Twilight wasn’t a big fan of them, especially after that first night they’d spent in Canterlot High’s library during their first trip through Star Swirl’s mirror, but Spike actually liked the humans he’d met. Sure, there were things about them that might cause a pony to feel appaled, such as their consumption of meat and their more warlike nature, at least according to what Twilight had told him a few days after they’d first come back from their world, but he’d seen that they were just as capable of friendship as ponies were. And perhaps even more so.

He was sure that had he known about this human, one who his supposed first friend had turned away at the drop of a bit, he would have rushed to find him and try to help him. At least, he thought that was what he would do. Then he remembered how he had abandoned Twilight at the Canterlot Royal Wedding out of fear or being pulled out of said event. If the townsponies had treated Jason so cruelly, then what was to stop them from turning on him when they found that he was helping a creature they so despised?

His answer came from the bed beside him as the teen filly in bed beside him stirred. Sweetie Belle opened one eye and looked up at Spike, who was sitting up in bed much like he’d been doing most of the night. She’d come to stay the night, with Rarity’s permission, to, in Sweetie’s own words, “...get out of that tent and away from my sister for a while.” Ever since the destruction of Ponyville, Sweetie Belle and Spike, both teenagers in Pony terms, had gotten closer, finding comfort in each other. Spike’s crush on Rarity had instantly evaporated when Twilight had told him what she and the other Elements had done. It had broken his heart, but he found himself drawn to other foals his own age. He spent more time with them than Twilight, especially the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and even more especially, Sweetie Belle.

“Spike? Did you just wake up?” Sweetie’s melodious and soothing voice asked in a tired tone as she, too, slowly pulled the blankets off of her and sat up to properly face one of her newer best friends.

“No,” he admitted. He knew better than to lie to Sweetie Belle. She had a way of knowing when he was lying ever since the two began hanging out with the other CMC members.

Sweetie frowned and moved closer, putting a hoof around his shoulder. “What’s wrong? Still thinking about that human…Jace, was it?”

“Jason Wright,” he corrected her automatically. When her ears lowered at his sudden harsh tone, he immediately softened. “Sorry, Sweetie…”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, giving him a reassuring smile. “After what you told me, I’m not surprised he’s been on your mind. I can’t imagine anypony doing that to anycreature, especially not my sister,” she said. “But it happened, and now we’re paying for it.”

Spike put an arm around Sweetie Belle, pulling her closer and burying his face in her soft barrel. Sweetie allowed this, wrapping her forelegs around him comfortingly. “I’m scared,” he admitted with his face still in her barrel. “What if the town does the same to me?”

“That won’t ever happen,” Sweetie Belle said reassuringly, tightening her grip around him. “It shouldn’t have happened to the human, and it sure as Tartarus won’t happen to you. If they do turn on you or even throw you out, I’ll come with you.”

Spike moved away from the hug, slowly shaking his head. “What about Rarity? What about your parents?”

“They were part of the problem,” Sweetie said with a slightly bitter tone, looking angrily at the bed before returning her gaze to Spike. “Rarity chased him out, and I know for a fact my parents threw garbage at him. They’re thinking of moving to another town.”

Spike felt a lump forming in his throat. “Does that mean you’re going with them?” he asked worriedly. He didn’t want to lose one of his newest and best friends.

Sweetie shook her head. “No, I’ll still be with Rarity. Unless there’s room for me here. With you.” She smiled at him hopefully.

Spike couldn’t help it. Her smile was one of the few things that could make him smile, if only temporarily. “There are plenty of empty rooms here where you could stay,” he said.

“Or I could stay with you in this room,” she said softly.

For some reason, that sent his heart racing. Just the thought of him and the teenage filly living together in the same room, under the same roof, made him smile all the wider. It also made him nervous, and he couldn’t exactly tell why. “You…you’d really want to stay with me?” he asked.

“Spike, of course I would,” she said, leaning in and placing her head on his chest. He could feel how soft her mane was as well as the warmth emanating from her. “You’re one of my best and closest friends. I like being around you. You make me feel safe and secure.”

Spike automatically once more wrapped his arms around her. That reassurance was enough for him to at least temporarily forget his fears and troubles as the two sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

That was, until a sudden red light began emanating from the spines on his head. Sweetie Belle noticed this and looked up. “Spike? What’s that light on your spines?”

Spike quickly broke the hug and rushed over to the nearby vanity mirror next to the dresser. Despite it being still dark, he could see himself in the mirror thanks to the lights coming off of his spines. They would start at the frontmost part of the green spikes on his head, then move backwards. There was a familiar chiming noise coming from them, but he’d never seen anypony have a red mark before. “I think…I think the map is summoning me to help solve a friendship problem,” he said in stunned silence. In the time since the map had appeared, he’d never been summoned before.

Sweetie came trotting up next to him, smiling at him warmly. “Must be important, if Spike the Brave and Bold is being summoned,” she said teasingly, bumping him playfully with her flank. She’d often tease him about his status in the Crystal Empire ever since she learned about it.

He sighed, but smiled down at her. “Well, if they want Spike the Hero, they’ve got it,” he said with a chuckle. However, the chuckle died down as he said, “But it might take me away from Ponyville for a while.”

Sweetie waved her hoof. “I’ll be alright here, I promise.” She looked down at her own cutie mark, which wasn’t glowing. “It would be nice to go with you. I’ve never been summoned before either.”

“Well, do you want to come?” Spike asked automatically.

She shook her head. “Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and I are still trying to help the town. N-Not that you’re not!” she said quickly when she saw his face fall, “but if the map is calling you, then you should go. I’ll be here waiting for when you get back. So will the others.”

Spike’s smile returned, and just then the sun began to rise. As it did, the light shone into the window, illuminating Sweetie Belle from behind like some kind of angelic ray from the heavens. Her green eyes were now more visible, and the morning sun which caught a patch of clear sky through the thick fog surrounding Ponyville shone through her purple and pink striped mane. Spike moved closer and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised.

“I know you will, and I’ll be here. Me and your other friends,” she whispered before gently pushing him away. “Now, go and see where you’re going, you big lug. I’ve got some more beauty sleep to catch up on before I go back to the tent for some breakfast.” So saying, she jumped right back into bed and curled up underneath the blankets, covering her eyes with them.

He chuckled, then ran to the door and rushed out into the massive hallways. It might be good for him, he thought to himself as he headed to the castle’s multiple throne room. Maybe it would be good for him to get out of Ponyville and away from it all to help clear his head. He wished Sweetie Belle had been summoned too, but she was right. She had been busy helping the town to recover as best she could. Her and the other CMC members.

When he burst through the doors to the palace room, he skidded to a halt. A frantic looking Twilight was looking around, her wings in her ears. The entire room was bathed in a dark red light which oscillated to a brighter light, then back to the darker light. And there was a loud noise coming from the now completely red table. An alarm of some kind. Spike immediately put his claws over his ears to block out the noise. He then noticed something that made his heart sink.

Twilight’s own cutie mark was glowing the same color as his spines were.

When she saw him, she called out something to him, but thanks to him stopping his ears and the noise of the alarm, he couldn’t hear what she said. He walked over to her and shouted, “What was that??”

“I said can you help me find out how to turn off this alarm??” Twilight’s muffled voice could be heard through the din.

Spike nodded in understanding and looked around the throne room, trying to find anything that could be the cause of the alarm. He had to remove his hands from his ears so he could listen, and he quickly got a headache because of it. But he endured it if only to stop the alarm from blaring. Looking over at Twilight, who had removed her wings from her ears, he shouted, “Can’t you cover the noise with some magic spell!?”

“What?!” Twilight shouted back, putting one wing to her ear to better hear what he’d said.

“I said, can’t you use your magic to cover up the noise?!” Spike shouted again.

A look of realization came over her and she facehooved. “Right…” Lifting her horn, she cast a purple shield around the map. The alarm sound was instantly muffled so it was barely audible. Both alicorn and dragon breathed a sigh of relief.

“What in Equestria is going on?” Spike asked, looking around the room now that the noise was reduced. “Why is the room all red?”

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight said, “but that’s not my biggest worry now. Look.”

When she pointed to the table, Spike’s eyes followed. And what he saw made his heart sink. There were seven cutie marks circling a certain spot on one side of the map. Seven cutie marks and the image of a very familiar dragon. The cutie marks belonged to the Elements of Harmony, along with a very surprising addition. “Princess Celestia?!” Spike gaped in wonder.

“I don’t know why either,” Twilight said honestly, “but it looks like we’re heading outside of Equestria altogether.”

Spike took another look and tilted his head. The cutie marks and his image were hovering over a large treelike structure across the Celestial Sea. There were small thatched roofed building on it and near the top a tall white fortress that seemed to reach for the heavens. “Where is that?” Spike asked.

“That would be Griffonstone, my dear Spike,” a deeper and older voice said from behind them.

Spike turned and saw Princess Celestia standing in the doorway, a large suitcase by her side. Twilight immediately bowed her head, but Spike just stood there, watching her curiously. Ever since the incident with Jason and his changelings, he’d been doing a lot of thinking about how ponies had treated him. He remembered the first incident with Discord and how she’d been sending letter after letter through him, causing him to have an upset stomach for a least two days. He remembered his first Winter Wrap-Up where they’d left him on the ice until he fell in and caught a nasty cold. He’d honestly once thought of the Princess as a second mother at one time, but after what had happened and what she’d been a part of, he didn’t think of her like that anymore.

“But why would the map be summoning us all to Griffonstone?” Twilight asked, raising her head to look at her former mentor with confusion.

“We’ll have to find out when we get there,” Celestia said, walking over and looking closer at the map. Spike watched her warily, and then when she looked down at Spike with wide eyes, she added, “You’re coming too?”

“Got a problem with that?” he asked, crossing his arms and looking at her with a frown.

“Spike!” Twilight said in alarm.

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Celestia said, raising a wing to stop her old student, “he has every right to be upset with me. And no, I don’t have a problem. In fact, I’m glad you’re coming.”

“So I can lug around your luggage for you like some sort of pack mule?” Spike asked bitterly. “Like how Rarity used to make me do? Or Twilight?”

Twilight’s ears flattened and she looked away guiltily. Celestia’s ears also flattened, but she held Spike’s gaze. “No, we won’t be making you do that,” she said sincerely. “I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own luggage. As are all of the rest,” she added, looking with disappointment at Twilight.

“Y-Yes, yes I am,” Twilight said, lifting a smaller purple suitcase with her cutie mark on it.

“Good,” Spike said. “I’m going to go pack. I’ll be back here when I’m done.” With that, he strode to the door, barely catching a glimpse of Twilight reaching out towards him with a guilty look in her eyes. But in his mind, it was too little, too late. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders pulled their own weight and didn’t use him as forced labor. It was one of the many reasons why he loved spending so much time with them.

As he left the room, he could hear Celestia’s disappointed tone asking, “You used Spike as free labor?” He ignored the receding voices as he headed back to his room. He wasn’t looking forward to this trip, and really wished that Sweetie Belle was coming along.

---

An hour later, all seven of the ponies who had been summoned by the map were in the throne room, looking at it. The alarm had stopped when the last pony, Pinkie, walked in blearily. However, the red oscillating lights didn’t vanish. Twilight stood in front of them, looking at the map. She felt a slight hint of nostalgia as they all gathered next to their thrones, not sitting in them at all. Spike was standing in the corner, arms crossed and staring at them all with a stony expression.

Twilight could still remember the stinging remarks from the Princess about how she’d treated Spike through the years. And it hadn’t just stopped with her. With each pony who came in, they had received a tongue lashing about how they’d treated Spike. The looks of guilt on each of their faces broke Twilight’s heart, but she knew that she deserved the most out of the lectures since she’d been doing it to the dragon the longest. Piled on top of the guilt she felt regarding Jason, it felt like another crushing weight had been piled onto her.

When the Princess finished, she turned back and looked at the map. “Now then, it would seem that the map is summoning everypon-everyone-here to Griffonstone.” Twilight could see the nod of approval from Spike when Princess Celestia corrected herself. “I will be personally buying tickets for all of you. That gives you all time to pack whatever you need. Meet at the Ponyville station when you’re done and I’ll buy the tickets then.”

“What about Canterlot?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“Don’t you worry about that, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said, “My sister says she can handle things while I’m gone. Besides, the royal advisors there can help her if things get too rough. She’ll be fine.”

Twilight was a bit relieved, but she still couldn’t help but worry. Her old mentor had received more flack about Jason’s attack than even her or her friends. Her leadership skills were being called into question by ponies all over Equestria. She’d read newspaper articles of interviews between common ponies from Manehatten, Baltimare, Vanhoover, and even Appleloosa who thought that in recent years, the Princess had begun to lose the knack to rule. They cited the examples of Nightmare Moon, Discord’s first release, King Sombra, Tirek, and Jason Wright. Many felt that she was too lenient and were demanding some more permanent solutions to other enemies of Equestria. Many outside of Canterlot and Ponyville were demanding the death penalty for these enemies, something that Princess Celestia had outlawed centuries before after things had calmed down with the Nightmare Moon incident having destroyed the Castle of the Two Sisters and the city that once surrounded it.

“I have my things here,” Pinkie, who was a dull pink now, much like how she looked during the surprise party debacle during Twilight’s first couple of months in Ponyville. Only, her fur, mane and tail were grayer than they had been then.

“I’ve got enough with me to be alright,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to some worryingly light saddlebags on her back.

“I’ll need to go back home to my tent,” Rarity said, saying the last word with some resentment. “I will return momentarily.” She then turned to Spike. “Spikey…is Sweetie Belle still in your room sleeping?”

Spike nodded. Twilight was surprised, since she hadn’t known Sweetie Belle was in the castle. “She’s still there, sleeping. And don’t you dare call me Spikey, or Spikey Wikey either. It’s just Spike,” he said stonily.

“Oh…right,” Rarity said, ears flattened. “Is it okay if she stays here while I’m gone?”

“Ask Twilight,” Spike said, pointing his thumb over at the purple alicorn.

“She can stay here as long as she wants,” Twilight said.

Rarity looked relieved at that. “Thank you. I’ll go pack.” So saying, she left the throne room, walking back to her tent.

Fluttershy, who was holding Angel close to her in her wings, simply turned and walked out after Rarity, presumably to go pack as well. When Twilight asked her if she needed help, Fluttershy simply shook her head and said, in a quiet, quivering tone, “No…”

Applejack looked the least upset out of all of them, but Twilight could tell something was missing in her behavior. Her back was a bit more hunched than it had been, her hat, which was normally pretty clean despite her work on a farm, was dirty and there was a small tear in one side. There was something missing from her eyes, as well. It took her a minute to realize that Applejack’s normally green eyes were lacking in a bit of their normal hue. Instead, they had dulled slightly. “Ah’ll be back, too,” she said, turning and heading back to her farm. Twilight also noticed that her tail and mane, which would normally both be tied up at the ends with a hairband, were loose and somewhat unkempt.

With that, the room was emptier than it had been, leaving Twilight, Princess Celestia, Spike and a forlorn Pinkie. The solar diarch raised her head, grabbed her suitcase with her magic, and headed to the door. “Come along, everyp-everyone, let’s go wait at the train station.”

Twilight grabbed her suitcase and an equally stuffed pair of saddlebags, Pinkie turned and followed the Princess out. Twilight looked back at Spike, who had a backpack on his back along with a small suitcase that matched his size. They locked eyes for a moment, and in that moment, Twilight felt a glimmer of hope that she could at least try and fix the relationship she had with her number one assistant-no, he was much more than that to her. He was like a little brother, and it took the burning of Ponyville for her to realize it.

However, that hope was quickly dashed to pieces when Spike frowned at her. “You gonna move, Princess? Or are you just gonna stand there?”

“R-Right,” Twilight said, heartbroken once more as she turned and followed Pinkie and Princess Celestia out of the throne room. As they headed to the exit, she inhaled and exhaled softly. As they approached the door, one thought played over and over in Twilight’s mind: How can we solve a friendship problem when we’re all like this…? Maker above…what do we do?

Next Chapter: 4: Second Adjustments Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 52 Minutes