"Come on," Twilight said. "We've got a meeting with the Princesses."

They all began the walk towards Ponyville, the ground vibrating with each hoof fall, and the air alive with the sounds of changeling wings. Beside her on the left was Camo Travles, Soul Song, and the drone. On her right, Big Mac, and Spike riding atop Shining Armor's back.

They made great progress, moving quickly without a change in the way. Twilight for her part, had a knowing smile that grew and grew as the ponies of the town were starting to gather around the edges of the buildings to see what the black mass moving towards them was. Once she could make out the face of Carrot Top at the front of the crowd, the other ponies quickly split and went into any building the could. She shook her head in amusement as the ponies peeked out from the blinds as they finally entered the town.

Stopping only once in the street, she looked around and immediately noticed her library, grinning she looked to the left to see the train station, now devoid of any ponies.

Making their way towards it, most of the swarm stay behind. Stopping at the tracks, now with only six changelings counting the drone. She looked down at her hooves and placed the first on the rock surface, pulled herself up and repeated it. The other changelings, grabbing the others while Soul Song carried Camo up in a black fog, followed Twilight as they scaled the mountain side.

Seeing the rest of them move so slow, Soul Song, on Camo's request, picked them up and began her flight upwards with her passengers. The edge of the cliff and edge of the train station above came into view as she sped up. As she reached the edge of the platform, the startled gasps of the snobbish Canterlot ponies could be heard. Dropping off her passengers, Soul Song remained as she was, with Camo at her side and the others where they once were.

They all stared in slight shock, disgust, and fear at the small group as they made their way towards the castle with little difficulty seeing as how the ponies were moving out of the way immediately.

The castle itself was blocked by a drawbridge and a steep incline to reach the drawbridge itself. Passing the buildings and drawing more stares, they were coming closer to the drawbridge where, from the screams of nobles, a small amount of guards were there. Approaching the guards, Twilight stopped and looked at each of them.

"Hello, I'm here to speak with Princess Celestia and Luna." She said. "I'm sure they would care to see me, and my friends."

"We're sorry, but we cannot let you pass." The guard in front of her said. "Any of you."

"What if I said the fate of everypony in Canterlot and Equestria was at stake?" She said idly inspecting a hoof. "Because it does, as a matter of fact. And if you don't move, then I will personally throw over the drawbridge and have you lower it. Now move, if you would be so kind."

"Why should we listen to you?" He asked again. "For all we know, you could be plotting to-"

"Hey!" Camo said disguising himself again. "Remember me? I was the one who broke your nose."

"I do not recall ever meeting-"

He was cut off as Camo, arched his hoof back as far as it could, brought it forward and with a crack sent the guard down to the ground. Camo, laughing for a moment, waved goodbye to the others as the guards began to chase him down. Shining Armor, for his part, was grinding his teeth at the stallion.

"He certainly knows how to clear a crowd." Spike said.

"When he comes back, ah'm gonna give him a right good hit over the head." Big mac said. "That can wait ah suppose. Twilight, if ya would, ah think we need to speak with the Princesses."

Twilight nodded and with a flash of her horn, the drawbridge was lowered and the entrance to the castle lay before them.

Twilight immediately began galloping towards it, a bright and determined smile on her face as she passed guards upon guards. As she neared the golden doors, they suddenly started to open, as if they knew she was arriving. What she didn't expect, was when she saw Celestia in the doorway with a smile that quickly turned into a startled gasp as Twilight failed to stop in time, sending both of them sliding into the castle.

As the others galloped in, Twilight was painfully picking herself off of her teacher and co-ruler of Equestria.

"Twilight, are you alright!?" Spike asked hoping down from the drone's back. "Twilight!"

"Are you two alright?" Shining asked, torn between wanting to help his sister and his princess.

"I am unharmed, captain." Celestia said standing. "Twilight, it is very nice to see you unharmed. I just never wanted to see you like this, exactly." She said adjusting her crown. "Come along, your friends and my sister are waiting for you in the throne room."

Twilight and the rest of her small group all followed the solar alicorn as she led them a short distance to another set of large, golden doors, each side engraved with Celestia and Luna. Opening it, Celestia was the first to enter, and the first to be hit with a blast of confetti by Pinkie.

Blowing off a piece of confetti that was hanging by her horn, Celestia opened the doors to let the rest of them come in.

Twilight, upon seeing her friends, rushed to them with a large grin that was followed by the air escaping her lungs as Pinkie put her in a bone crushing hug.

"Twilight! We missed you so much! And now that you're back, we can throw a party to celebrate it! And then a party to celebrate having a party for a changeling that's actually our friend! I'll get my party canon refilled!" She said before bounding away to her blue canon.

"Twilight," Rarity said. "That monster didn't hurt you, did she?" She asked as Twilight struggled to get air back into her lungs. "Right, maybe you need to breath first."

"S-She tried." Twilight said. "Do you all remember what I did to the drone?" She asked nodding towards the drone. "Imagine something ten times worse, and she just stood and let me hit her, not on purpose I'm sure."

"Jeez," Rainbow said. "What could have made you do something worse than that?"

"She..." Twilight trailed off, staring at the floor. "I lost a friend. But, I'm here again, that's what matters, right? We're all together again." She said giving them all a smile.

"Not quite," Soul Song said. "Camo should be making one of his spectacular entrances at any moment."

They all turned towards the windows expectantly; straining, they could hear the faint sound of guards. When it grew louder, they all looked at the middle window as Camo crashed through it. Rolling on the marble, he was stopped along with the glass falling by a blue aurora. Looking around, he caught sight of the two suddenly depressed alicorns.

"Hey, Celestia, Luna, I'm alive! And you know what that means, right?" He asked as Luna set him down.

"Unfortunately, yes." Celestia said. "You will have a clean slate with us, as friends. And, as promised, a new leg."

"We just never said when we'd do either of the two." Luna said as the two sisters shared a laugh.

"Oh, now that's just dirty." Camo said eliciting a cough from Shining Armor. "Don't you start either! I promised nothing! But, I guess this is as good as it gets." He shrugged. "At least Soul Song isn't trying to eat me."

"Speaking of promises," Celestia said lighting her horn with a shallow yellow. "We have something that belongs to you. Something you left here upon our first meeting. Twilight and company, you may leave and go to the guest bedrooms. We shall deal with this in the morning."

As the others left, leaving the two alicorns and changeling king. There was a sudden scream followed by the sound of a deep bass, and following that, Camo grabbing at the marble floor in front of the golden doors. The others, quick to react, watched in slight horror as tendrils of pink wrapped around him as he held onto the edge of the door.

"Run!" He yelled. "They never destroyed the artifact! Somepony get some cucumbers!" And with that final warning, he was dragged into the throne room and the door shut with a bang.

The others just stood in silence, not sure if they should be horrified or concerned for their own safety.

"S-Should we help him?" Twilight asked looking at the others.

"Buck him, he deserves whatever is coming to him." Shining said. "I'm going to get some rest and send Cadence a quick letter telling her I'm back. And," he turned suddenly and looked at the golden doors. "Tell the guards to put up as many wards around the throne room as possible. Make sure Princess Celestia and Luna can not leave."

"What about Camo?"

"What about him?" Shining said. "All he has to do is pull something out from his saddlebag and he's good. But, the only other time this has happened, it didn't bode well for the poor guard they got. Just... Just keep away from the throne room until the guards say otherwise."

As he left, they all just stood there watching him leave. With a unanimous shrug, they all followed him to the guest bedrooms.

Twilight and Big Macintosh

Twilight sighed as she felt the warm covers of the plush bed envelope her. She giggled when she felt the rough coat of her colt friend against her back, along with a pair of large hooves wrapping around her shoulders. Turning her head, she gave Big Mac a light nuzzle on his neck before letting her head plop down on her pillow.

"It feels good to be home." Twilight said. "And even better to not to have to deal with-"

"Now hush up 'bout that," Big Mac said. "Ah'm sure she ain't that dimwitted. With what ah heard ya do to that drone, ah'm sure she ain't gonna be thinking 'bout attacking us. Why don't we just get some rest?"

"Sure. That sounds great. and for once not on something that smells like it was dug up."

A they laid together, waiting for sleep to overtake them, a sudden knocking was heard. Groaning in annoyance, Twilight unlocked the with a flick of magic. When it opened, a nearly hyperventilating Spike rushed in with a scroll in claw. Seeing him in such a state, Twilight immediately sat up and watched as he threw the scroll on the bed and ran out without another word.

"Ah wonder whats got his tail in a twist?" Big Mac said glancing at the scroll. "What do ya think it says?"

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling I know what it is." Twilight said lifting the scroll up.

She opened it, and as her eyes scanned the words, her blood started to boil. her wings fluttered angrily, her horn grew bright and brighter until the scroll burst into ash in her hooves, and then the ash combusted.

"It seems she is that dimwitted." Twilight said. "Chrysalis is coming to Canterlot in three days. And she says that the time for playing is over."

"Well, ah suppose there ain't nothin' we can do 'bout it right now. Why don't ya uts rest? We all need some sleep, especially ma'h favorite mare." He said making her temper go down. "Come on, lay down egghead."

She responded by throwing a pillow at him.

Author's Notes:

So... Remember the artifact mentioned earlier? the one that put Celestia and Luna into a state of extreme estrus? Yeah... Camo is literally bucked.

Oh! And, the next few chapters will be a bit on the lighter side.