Trumpets triumphantly blared as the early morning sun shown down on the crystal empire below. Ponies gathered in the streets cheered as streamers and confetti rained down from above.

"The Duke and Duchess of Maretonia." A royal guard announced, bowing reverently as the crystal ponies cheered louder.

The Duke and Duchess approached the crystal spire, looks of satisfaction on their faces as they walked in their regal garb. While the Duke wore long, colorful robes that completely covered his entire body, save for his face, the Duchess wore a much more form-fitting garb and tunic. As they confidently strode toward the alicorns, changeling Queen, and human standing just a few dozen paces away from them, Anon couldn't help but lean over to his wife.

"What is the almighty fuck is that thing on her head?" Anon whispered, just barely being heard over the cheers and music.

"A traditional head garb. Please, honey... don't stare. They don't like it if you stare." Celestia whispered back as she glanced at her husband.

She took a moment to eye him over, before her horn discreetly lit up and she adjusted his tie. Once she was satisfied with it, she gave a small nod and turned to look at the Duke and Duchess once more. She noticed the elders of the Duke and Duchess trailing just behind them, and a quick memory of them flashed through her mind, making her smile.

Once the approaching party reached a respectable distance from the group of alicorns, the massive banner overhead unfurled and fell down to its full length. Twilight could be seen atop the balcony, smiling and waving to the crowd below just as the Duke and Duchess reached their princesses. They both bowed deeply to the solar, lunar, and love princesses. Said princesses and Anon gave a nod in return.

"It has been many moons since I last saw you both. It's wonderful to see you as adults." Celestia greeted, a warm smile on her face.

"Indeed, Princess. My mother has told me many tales of your beauty, but they pale in comparison to the real thing." The Duke replied, smiling up to the taller alicorn.

Celestia gave him a thankful look before looking past him to his elders, "Aaryines. You've raised a wonderful and charming stallion."

"You're too kind, princess," The elder mare replied, nodding with a gentle smile on her features.

"And it looks like you'll be raising your own foals soon enough." The other, slightly older stallion grinned.

Celestia chuckled, "Oh, I imagine we'll be having quite a hoofful soon enough." She glanced down at her gravid belly.

"So this is the Prince we've heard so much about." The Duchess chimed in, looking over to Anon.

"The one and only." Anon beamed.

The Duchess chuckled at Anon as he placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out, prompting Luna to roll her eyes and bat him with her wing.

It was at that moment that the Duke noticed Chrysalis, despite her best attempts to stay silent and avoid drawing too much attention to herself.

"So it is true... the Queen of the Changelings." He stated, shaking his head in disbelief.

All eyes quickly darted to Chrysalis, much to her displeasure. She found herself suddenly being appraised as if she were for sale, and immediately fixed the Duke with the most confident smile she could.

"Well I couldn't let you ponies do all the negotiating without me, now could I?" She intoned, taking note of his surprised expression upon hearing her voice.

"Indeed. And here I thought that changelings were our enemies. I'm glad to see that things have changed for the better." The Duke smiled.

Chrysalis was prepared for many reactions from the Duke. This, was not one of them. Disgust, revulsion, anger, concern, and even confusion, she could handle. Genuine happiness and acceptance was not something she expected to feel quite so readily and suddenly, yet it was thrust upon her all the same. So lost for words was she, that she simply stared owlishly at him for a few seconds until Luna intervened.

"Why don't we all head inside? We have much to discuss." Luna suggested.

"Agreed, " Celestia nodded, "Won't you all please kindly follow us?"

With that, the gathered royals turned around and led the way for the Duke and Duchess into the crystal castle. They ascended the stairs once more, however this time Celestia and Luna teleported to the top instead of walking. Much to Anon's amusement, the sisters were waiting patiently for the rest of the group as they walked up the rest of the stairs. The group was quickly intercepted by Raven, who happily led them down the halls to their designated meeting room at the other side of the spire.

Upon entering the room, the group found Shining Armor waiting for them. He gave a small nod of greeting to the Duke and Duchess as they took in the room. It was a lavish, oval-shaped room with an opulent crystal table seated in the center. Massive stained glass windows brightly illuminated the space, filling it with a mix of colors that ranged all over the cooler side of the spectrum. Once they were all inside and seated, Raven nodded to Javelin, who stoically closed the door behind them, blocking the room from any other creatures that might listen in.

"Alright, now that we're getting down to business, let's begin with trade, shall we?" The Duchess offered.

"A splendid idea. Let's begin." Celestia smiled.

Chrysalis tried, in vain, to hide the grimace that found its way onto her face as the meeting quickly fell into one of the most boring snooze-fests she'd ever experienced.

Chrysalis, Anon, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence stepped out of the room as the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia followed behind them. Raven quickly finished picking up some paperwork before Shining Armor led her out the door, quickly followed by Javelin. Although not a word was spoken between the large group as they all made their way down the hall and out of the negotiations room, there was a sense of relief and happiness filling the air.

Chrysalis could feel the warm emotions positively radiating off of everypony around her, and despite how dreadfully boring the whole affair was, she took some semblance of pride in her minor, yet still very important, contributions to the negotiations. She cast a look over her wither to see Anon, who happily smiled down at her and patted her wither. Giving a genuine smile of thanks in return, she playfully bumped Anon's thigh with her flank, making him snort in amusement.

Soon enough the group reached the end of the hall and separated. With warm words of thanks and goodbyes, the Duke, Duchess, and their entourage split off and headed to their own rooms for the evening. While Chrysalis could detect much less open hostility emanating from him, Shining Armor also quickly took his leave and left for his room, leaving just Cadence with them.

"Well, that was certainly a good meeting." Cadence smiled, looking back at her aunts.

"Indeed. I was worried that the tax code adjustments would be too aggressive for them, but they were more than willing to accept the small hike in exchange for better trade tariffs." Celestia nodded.

"That and being able to hold the Equestrian Olympics in three years." Anon added.

"That's admittedly going to be a massive capital gain for them, especially in the tourism department." Luna acknowledged.

"I'm just relieved nothing bad happened." Chrysalis chuckled, prompting Anon to chuckle along with her.

"Ah, you worry too much. Those guys are super chill." Anon dismissed, wrapping his arm around Chrysalis in a quick hug.

"They've been good friends of the crown for centuries. Their family lineage dates back to the five hundreds ANM. Honestly, it'd be more surprising if they weren't cooperative. Still, tax codes are always a bit iffy." Raven added.

Celestia nodded, "Indeed. It never hurts to be prepared, just in case," She replied, before turning to the rest of the group, "You were all instrumental in making this a success. Thank you for being so helpful. Especially you, Chrysalis." She nodded, making the Changeling Queen blush.

"Oh, I hardly did anything in there. Just threw out a few suggestions here and there." Chrysalis replied.

"On the contrary, you being here to show that you really have allied yourself with us, showed them that Equestria is stronger now than ever before. It drastically changed the dynamic of our negotiation ability, and gave us the leverage we needed to make a deal that will benefit all of us. Not only that, but you've been phenomenally behaved ever since you came back to us." Luna asserted, each compliment filled with genuine care and compassion.

Sensing her blush returning in full force, Chrysalis hastily shook her head, "T-thank you, but as Celestia said, this was a team effort. Hopefully a display of what we can achieve in the future, together?" She offered, in a bid to take the focus off of her, specifically.

Taking note of the blushing changeling Queen's nervousness at being praised, Celestia opted to simply nod and smile, "Indeed. I think there is much to look forward to in the near future between us, Chrysalis. Now, these negotiations have been tiring, what do you say we go meet with Twilight and call it a day from there, hmm?" She offered.

A chorus of agreement swept through the group, and with that, they made their way down the hall after the dignitaries. Soon enough, they all arrived at a massive double door just in time to see Twilight speaking with the Duke and Duchess. After a few words and a deep bow from the princess of friendship, the dignitaries left, leaving just the purple alicorn to smile and wave after them as the group of royals quickly caught up to her.

Taking note of her approaching fellow princesses, Twilight stepped toward them, a slightly concerned look on her muzzle, "Is there anything else I can do to assist with their visit?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but their visit is already over." Cadence replied, taking note of the downtrodden look that instantly formed on Twilight's face.

"Oh." Twilight muttered.

"Something wrong?" Luna asked, a worried look on her face as well.

"I guess I just don't really understand why I'm here. Couldn't one of the royal guard have unfurled the banner?" Twilight replied.

"Having all four of us in the empire to greet them, lets the dignitaries know that their visit is considered an important one." Celestia explained.

Cadence stepped over to Twilight and wrapped a foreleg around her wither, "Plus, it gives me an opportunity to see my favorite sister-in-law." She added.

"And I'm happy to see you," Twilight responded, "All of you..."

Sensing that there was more she wanted to say, the group shared a look with each other, prompting Cadence to gently lift Twilight's chin with her hoof, "But..." She trailed off.

"But I..." Twilight began, before letting out a quick sigh, "Well it's just that Princess Luna raises the moon. Princess Celestia raises the sun. You protect the crystal empire, and all I seem to do is... smile and wave." She explained, looking down in disappointment.

With that, Twilight turned around and made way for the balcony at the end of the hall. Soft, melodic notes of acoustic guitar suddenly filled the air, and as the rest of the ponies present simply followed after Twilight as if they heard nothing, Anon groaned and looked back and forth at everyone around him.

"Oh come on! Another one of these musical things!? Am I the only one hearing this?" He questioned, before noticing that Chrysalis was still standing beside him, "Chryssi, are you hearing this?"

Chrysalis curiously raised an eyebrow at him, "Hearing what?" She asked, before following after the royal sisters.

Anon groaned as he followed his wives and Chrysalis out to the balcony, where Twilight finally started singing.

"What are you talking about?" Anon asked, crossing his arms as Twilight approached Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.

"Again, what are you on about? You helped a shitload with the whole Changeling thing." Anon indignantly asserted.

As Celestia approached Twilight, Anon groaned and facepalmed, "Oh great. Now she's gonna sing too."

"She does have a great singing voice though... oh no, not you too, Luna." Anon sighed.

"Luna, how is flying like that not hurting your back with the foal?" Anon questioned, dumbly as Cadence stepped in.

Seeing the inevitable chorus, Anon heavily sighed as all three alicorns surrounded Twilight.

"Here we go again... at least they all have good singing voices." Anon muttered.

"How are you guys flying basically upside-down like that? How is that not painful this late into a pregnancy?" Anon questioned.

As Celestia gently hugged Twilight closer to her, Anon slowly clapped from his side of the balcony.

"Your time will come." Celestia offered, smiling down at the younger alicorn.

"Encore, encore!" Anon sarcastically cheered, making everypony eye him curiously.

"Encore? For what, Nonny?" Luna questioned, tilting her head to the side.

Anon sighed, "Ah, nevermind. As long as Twilight's cheered up, we're good," He dismissively waved, turning to Javelin, "Let me guess, you didn't see anything weird just now, did you?"

Javelin's face quickly adopted a look of confusion, "Um, no. Why?" He questioned.

Anon sighed and muttered, "Nevermind. Nevermind. This world's shenanigans vex me," as he walked past the confused guard and leaned against the balcony doorway, his arms crossed.

"Uh, what was that about?" Javelin inquired, looking after the human and over to Raven.

Raven shrugged.

As the other three alicorns stepped away from Twilight, giving her space to reflect and think on her place as a princess, Chrysalis walked over to her. With her wings fidgeting under her elytra, the changeling Queen took her spot resting her forelegs on the balcony railing, while the retreating alicorns watched from beside Anon in the doorway in interest.

Twilight looked up to Chrysalis with a confused expression on her face, but that quickly changed as the changeling cleared her throat and fixed her with a serious look.

"I'm not sure if I'm in any position to offer advice, especially given our history... but for what it's worth, I do think that you've already made a difference. Were it not for you, my hive would most likely still be starving or the process to get them immigrated into Equestria would have been so bogged down in red tape, that they'd still be in processing for another several months at best." Chrysalis offered, her voice full of sincerity.

Taken aback by the sudden kindness from the former villain, Twilight found herself at a loss for words. She struggled for a few seconds, but eventually managed to find a response.

"T-thank you, Chrysalis. That... that really means a lot to hear from you. I... you've really come a long way in a short time." Twilight said, giving a grateful smile.

Chrysalis nodded, "My goal was originally just to save my hive... but now I see that there isn't any harm in making some friends along the way. Maybe we aren't so different after all." She chuckled.

Twilight beamed, and quickly wrapped her hooves around Chrysalis, pulling her into a hug. Despite her instincts, Chrysalis found that she couldn't bring herself to push the little alicorn away, and slowly returned the hug. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all positively squealed in happiness at the new development, but managed to keep their excitement from getting loud enough to draw either Twilight or Chrysalis's attention.

Pulling away and wiping the beginnings of a tear from her eye, Twilight looked back up to Chrysalis, "Thank you, Chrysalis. I'm really glad that you came back to us." She said.

Before Chrysalis could respond, she felt a familiar magical aura around her horn, and after a second, the mana nullification ring unlocked and fell from her head. She felt a surprisingly large surge of magical power, and curiously glanced back to Celestia, the question plain to see in her eyes.

"I think you've more than shown us that we can trust you, Chrysalis." Celestia gently smiled.

Chrysalis couldn't stop the beaming smile that found its way onto her muzzle even if she tried.

In the dark night sky of Manehattan, a lone mocha colored pony walked through the empty streets, a barrel of oranges held in his magical grasp. The sound of a tin can clattering against the ground echoed through the nearby alleyway, startling him considerably. However, with a sigh of relief at the lack of a malicious presence behind him, he continued forward, only to nearly walk face first into a cloaked figure. The sound of heavy breathing filled the air as the figure stood before him, unflinching.

"Very sorry," The pony said with a nervous chuckle, "You came out of nowhere."

After a moment of tense silence, the figure spoke, "Is he friend, or is he foe, the pony wonders... I can assure you, I am no 'friend'. I am Lord Tirek." He said, clenching his emaciated fist tightly.

Giving the pony no time to react, Tirek opened his mouth, syphoning the blue magical energy straight from the stallion's horn, the color fading from his eyes as he quickly lost all the magic in his body. Even his cutie mark simply faded from his coat as he fell to the ground, his barrel of oranges falling to the ground beside him.

"And I will take what should have been mine, long ago." Tirek muttered, his form growing and muscle mass forming where is wasn't before.

The pony stared in terror as the form of Tirek grew to nearly double his height, and a sinister laugh filled the air as the centaur's eyes glowed yellow in the dark.

Celestia awoke with a start and a gasp, her breath heaving as she tried to calm herself down. Laying beside her, his arm still draped over her barrel, Anon also awoke and quickly sat up, a wave of concern quickly washing away any sleepiness he felt at being awoken at such a late hour.

"Celly? What's wrong?" Anon asked, cautiously rubbing her wither with his free hand.

Before Celestia could answer his question, Luna barged in, throwing the doors open and fixing her sister with a worried look.

"Sister! Are you alright?" Luna asked, quickly stepping into the bedroom.

Celestia rubbed her forehead with her hoof as she stared, wide-eyed back at her younger sister, "I've just had the most terrible dream."

"Why do you think I'm here? You know as well as I do that this was not a dream, but a vision." Luna asserted, quickly reaching the side of the bed.

"Then we haven't much time. The stronger he becomes, the more we are all in danger." Celestia responded, rolling out of bed and walking over to the nearby window.

"What? Who? What are you two talking about? What vision?" Anon questioned, following his wife out of the bed.

Luna and Celestia shared a look, before the ladder turned back to her husband and pulled him into a gentle hug, "It's a lot to explain, Nonny. We'll have to inform Twilight, Cadence, and Chrysalis as well. Would you mind waiting until then?" She asked, gently.

Anon looked into Celestia's eyes for a few moments, the deep concern radiating from her did little to assure him, but he elected to trust his wife and gave a nod.

"Thank you. We must get the three of them at once." Celestia announced, turning to Luna.

"On it." Luna replied, before turning to the doorway, "Dusk, Echo! Get Cadence, Chrysalis, and Twilight to the briefing room, now!" She ordered.

The only response she received was the sound of two sets of leathery wings flapping in the night.

Within twenty minutes, all parties were assembled at the briefing room, and although Cadence and Twilight were visibly sleepy, Celestia commanded their full attention as she walked into the room, Luna and Anon in tow.

"Celestia, Luna, Anon. What's going on?" Twilight asked, worriedly.

"It's best you all sit down. This is very dire news, indeed." Celestia explained, taking note of the increasingly concerned looks she received.

"I don't think I like the sound of that." Chrysalis muttered, her brow furrowed.

"It has nothing to do with you or your hive, if that's your concern, Chrysalis. This is a threat to all of us, and we need to take it with the level of seriousness that it deserves." Luna replied.

Now commanding the full attention of all parties before her, Celestia's horn lit up in a bright white light, before a brown book with a golden unicorn manifested before her. She placed the book down on the table and flipped through the pages until she arrived where she wanted to be and looked back up to the group.

"The immortal being known as Tirek has escaped from Tartarus. Luna and I have both seen a vision, given to us by an ancient spell that would alert us on just such an occasion." Celestia began.

"Tirek?" Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side.

"He is free..." Chrysalis muttered, looking down in thought.

Celestia nodded, "Yes. To explain for you, Twilight, Tirek and his brother Scorpan came here from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic. But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard." She began.

"Scorpan urged his brother to abandon their plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted us to Tireks intentions." Luna added.

"Scorpan returned to his own land, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes. But it appears he has found a way to escape." Celestia finished.

"We believe it happened when Cerberus left his post at the gates." Luna stated, looking at the book.

"But that was a long time ago. Why is he just now starting to steal magic?" Twilight questioned.

"His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers." Celestia explained, walking past Twilight.

"But with each passing moment, he grows stronger still." Luna added.

"And I know just the princess who could stop him." Cadence offered, smiling to her sister-in-law.

Twilight's wings immediately unfurled as excitement filled her voice, "Yes. I'll find him and-"

"No, Twilight." Celestia cut her off, "I'm afraid I must call on another to stop Tirek."

"Who?" Anon questioned, tilting his head to the side.

"Discord."

Oh boy. Things are starting to get interesting now. Not sure if you guys will like the incorporation of the song from the show in here but I couldn't resist. It was just too funny to have Anon all confused about it while it was happening lol.

As for what happens next... only time will tell. I hope you guys are as excited as I am.

Oh! For anyone interested, I have finally made a discord server! If you want to chat with me, hang out and play games or watch me stream art and such, feel free to join :D

https://discord.gg/zSB8EUuA