Author's Notes:

Audio Version

"So do you think Scar will be nice? Rainbow Dash seemed to think he was a jerk."
Twilight glanced back over her shoulder at the dragon riding on her back and gave him a reassuring smile. "Oh Spike, I'm sure it will be fine. Princess Celestia wanted us to meet him, and she knows what she's doing."

They had already said their farewells back in Ponyville, as a trip had been in the offing. Pack, Celestia's letter had said, but pack light. So the saddlebags on her back were not as weighty as they might have been. Her hooves tapped against the marble tiles of the palace floor, and a single guard shadowed them, his own steps soundless despite the armor he wore.

The reason for that guard was the set of dragons that had been inhabiting Canterlot for the past two weeks. Twilight had seen one perched on the observatory, looming like an enormous bird of prey. The malevolent shape had given her enough pause, even knowing she was perfectly safe, that she had to wonder anew how Fluttershy had made it through Draconia.

The answer was almost certainly Rainbow Dash, and Twilight felt that she really could use that brash confidence once the guard opened the door into the throne room. The large, lithe, and dangerous-looking form of the king of dragons lounged in the audience hall, taking up most of it. "He doesn't look like a king," Spike whispered in her ear. "Where's his crown?"

"Spike!" Twilight hissed, though she had to agree that Scar didn't look particularly regal. In fact, he most seemed like an oversized cat, stretched arrogantly across the floor. The hideously rippled scar and sightless eye faced in their direction, giving him a particularly sinister air.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle and Mister Spike," the guard announced. "Your Highness, Your Majesty."

"Thank you, Captain." Celestia gave the pegasus a smile of genuine warmth. "You may go now."

"Yes, Your Highness." The captain bowed and backed out, but not without a look of misgiving at the hulking draconic form occupying the hall. Scar twisted his neck to watch them, his good eye fixing on Twilight and her passenger.

"So this," he rumbled, his voice deep and resonant, vibrating the marble under her hooves, "is your protégé."

"And yours too, in a way," the alicorn replied, which made the unicorn blink. "Twilight, Spike, I'd like you to meet Scar."

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward with as much court dignity as she could muster and gave the dragon a brief genuflection, dipping her head respectfully. Spike, fortunately, had the presence of mind to slip off her back and offer Scar a bow. "Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty."

"Err, yeah, me too!" Spike added hastily afterward. The king of dragons lifted an eyeridge at them, a smile playing at the corners of his muzzle.

"Really? Or are you just saying to be polite?"

"Um..." The question took Twilight by surprise. She cast a quick, beseeching glance at Celestia, who only gave her the sink-or-swim look she reserved for the occasions she set her student a particularly interesting task. "Well, I'm certainly interested to meet you. I haven't met a dragon other than Spike who was willing to talk much."

"Honest enough." He waved a paw in her direction. "Call me Scar. I get enough of 'Your Highness' from my actual subjects." His good eye narrowed as he gave Spike a long look. "And how about you, young one?"

"Oh! I, uh..." Spike gripped his tail in both hands nervously. "I dunno! Am I supposed to be?"

"Probably not," Scar said dryly. "Where's your sister?" he added, switching his attention abruptly to Celestia and leaving the smaller dragon nonplussed.

"She'll be along." The princess was undisturbed by the dragon's regard. "Twilight, I'm sending Luna to Draconia for a while to continue diplomatic negotiations. We have quite a bit to work through after thousands of years without contact. I would like you to go along, because I expect this will be quite enlightening. And I want to you to take care of my sister." The last was added with a faint and impish smile. Twilight had to reply with a smile of her own.

"Oh, of course, Princess!" The unicorn wasn't particularly surprised. She hadn't seen Luna since her appearance at Nightmare Night, and was looking forward more to renewing her acquaintance with the younger princess than the trip to Draconia. The description of the land given by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had painted it as less than inviting, and she hoped that by now Luna had gotten more used to the modern world.

"And you, Spike. I hadn't expected it to happen this early, but this will be a good opportunity to meet other dragons - and your natural parents."

"Really?" Spike looked at her, his eyes wide in a mingled mixture of hope and anticipation and anxiety.

"Well, I could hardly deny you the opportunity now that it has arisen, could I?"

"Especially not since I insisted." Scar grinned, wide and toothy.

"There is that too," Celestia admitted calmly. "But for the moment this is only a visit." She gave Scar a look of open challenge, and the dragon waved his claws in acquiescence.

Twilight felt herself relax from a tension she hadn't been aware of. Spike was such a fixture in her life that the unicorn had never considered the dragon might stay behind on such a trip, and hearing Celestia deny the possibility before it was even raised gave her a peace of mind she hadn't even been looking for.

"So," she said brightly. "When are we leaving, then?"

"As soon as Luna gets here," Celestia told her. "And as soon as Scar finishes preparing your transportation."

"Hint taken." Scar snorted and got to his feet, the dragon almost completely filling the audience hall, and Twilight wondered how he was going to get out. And how he had gotten in, for that matter.

The question was answered as smoke curled from the dragon's nostrils, covering his muzzle with unnatural speed. The dragon's shape twisted and curled into a roil of grey, cascading suddenly over her. For the brief moment that Twilight was engulfed by his vaporous form, she could hear in the distance the primal roars of dragons and a chanting in a tongue unknown to her.

The unicorn yelped, taking a useless step backward, and then Scar was gone, flowing through the halls and out into the open air beyond.

"He's always like that," Celestia observed, beckoning Twilight forward. The unicorn obeyed, though not without a backward glance at the vanished dragon. Spike trailed behind her, looking thoughtful.

"Always like what? Crazy?" Her voice held more than an edge of exasperation. Alone with the princess, she didn't feel she was required to be so polite.

"It's mostly an act," Celesta replied, amused. "Mostly."

Twilight reached the base of the throne's dais and looked up at the alicorn. "So... what did you mean earlier when you said I was Scar's protégé too?"

"Oh, I wasn't talking about you." Celestia smiled her small, mysterious smile. "I was referring to Spike."

•••

Luna watched through the part in the curtains to the rear of Celestia's throne. She wanted to like Twilight; Celestia chose her students with care, and groomed them with equal exactitude. From what her sister had told her and the little she'd seen of the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle seemed a pleasant enough pony.

Whenever the alicorn saw her, however, she could only think of the crushing power of the Elements of Harmony and the pitiless glowing white of Twilight's eyes. Even after the brief respite of Nightmare Night, she had a hard time thinking of the unicorn as a mere pony. Something deep within her quailed at the thought of meeting her simultaneous destroyer and rescuer again, while at the corners of her mind the dark emotions that had first birthed Nightmare Moon stirred languidly.

The alicorn locked that all away with practiced skill, schooling her face into a cheerful smile as she walked into the conversation. Her crystalline shoes tapped softly against the marble, drawing the attention of the three in the throne room. "You'll have to ask Scar," Celestia was saying. "It's his story to tell. There you are, Luna." The princess turned her head to give her sister a brief, searching look.

"Just running a little late." Luna returned the look, giving nothing away, and turned to Twilight. The unicorn bowed her head deeply, as did the small dragon next to her, and the dark alicorn's smile grew a shade more genuine. For Twilight to be paying her respect seemed in some small way ironic.

"It's good to meet you again, Twilight Sparkle," Luna lied. "I wasn't expecting to travel with you, until today."

"I wasn't expecting to be traveling at all until today, Princess," Twilight replied. "But now I'm excited!" she continued cheerily. "I get to go to Draconia with you and see you in action. I have a dozen books on diplomacy and it still seems arcane."

"It's not that bad, really." The alicorn heard herself laugh, high and sweet. "But it's not particularly exciting, either."

"It doesn't have to be exciting, just interesting." The unicorn rolled her eyes. "Between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, I get enough excitement on a daily basis." Twilight's smile of fond reminisce removed any barb that the complaint might have held.

The dark princess felt the claws of a desperate jealousy scrabbling at the back of her mask, and she quashed it ruthlessly. "Sometimes it's not even that."

"Oh, I'm sure it will be if you're negotiating with Scar," Twilight said, blithely unaware of Luna's discomfort. "But, don't you know him? From before?" Now the unicorn looked uncertain, as she confronted the idea of a pony with thousands of years of memory.

Celestia rescued them from the incubating mutual awkwardness. "I was the one who handled communication with him. In many ways he was one of my students. But I cannot spare the time to take a trip to Draconia, so Luna is going in my stead."

"It's time I started to get involved in the world again," Luna added, echoing what Celestia had told her when the trip was proposed. In truth she had no desire for any sort of involvement, let alone spending weeks with Twilight as her only companion. But, even after everything, she still loved her sister and hadn't even thought of turning down Celestia's request.

"Oh, of course." Twilight's expression flickered from confused to understanding to tentative. "I thought I would have seen you earlier, though." The unicorn paused, searching for some way to delicately ask the question.

"It takes a while to catch up from missing a thousand years." Luna was using Celestia's words again, and she hated it. There had been no coaching or prodding from the older alicorn, only earnest conversation. The sun princess genuinely had no wish to control her younger sister, but Luna felt helpless to avoid falling into her orbit.

The alicorn abruptly decided she was ready to leave. "Is everything ready to go, 'Tia?" She turned to her sister, though the question was mostly rhetorical. This particular excursion had been decided on days ago, and she'd spent enough time discussing the dreary details of treaties and trade agreements for the staff to prepare a dozen trips.

"It will be once Scar finishes arranging transport," Celestia replied, descending from her dais. "But before you go, I think you'll need these." The alicorn's horn shone briefly and two shapes appeared in a flicker of light. The two steel medallions, each with a dragon's-head crest and suspended from a fine chain, floated toward them.

The white glow surrounding them shifted to purple, light for Twilight and dusky for Luna as the two ponies took the amulets. The unicorn put hers on and looked down at it, beaming. "So does this make me an official diplomat?"

Spike hopped onto Twilight's back, leaning forward to inspect the medallion himself. "Awesome!" The small dragon exclaimed. "This means I get like, an ultra-comfy room and all the gems I can eat, right?"

"Oh, Spike." Twilight giggled, and Luna looked down at her own medallion. It was no magically cheering talisman for her. It simply rested unassumingly against her pectoral, promising nothing, and the moon princess stifled a sigh.

"Well," she said instead, giving the unicorn a smile. "Let's see what Scar has brewed up for us."

The three of them walked out of the throne room, hoofsteps echoing from the vaulted marble, two pegasus guards appearing from nowhere to escort them. There was still, Luna thought, some hostility and wariness in those eyes, despite Celestia's patient explanations and subsequent strict instructions. It seemed odd that it was Twilight, who'd had far and away the closest contact with Nightmare Moon, who cherished no animosity at all.

Of course, it was Twilight who had shattered Nightmare Moon, too. Twilight and her friends, Luna had to remind herself, though the other faces were, like so many things, blurred in her memory. Her mind shivered away from the raw edges of those particular depths, and she focused ahead instead as they stepped out into the courtyard.

•••

For a moment, Twilight thought the dragons had stolen a piece of Cloudsdale. A nine-sided pedestal hung in the air, wreathed in cloud and tugging impatiently at a heavy chain attached to the steel pectoral of one of Scar's guards. It wasn't until she saw the runes, carved deep into the surface and shimmering faintly with entrained magic, that she realized it was not of pony origin.

"Do you like it?" Scar's voice rumbled in her ear. The unicorn squealed with surprise and jumped, whirling around to face the enormous dragon who had somehow snuck up behind her. Spike, taken equally off guard, windmilled and toppled off his perch on her back.

"Don't do that!" she scolded, forgetting propriety for a moment. She glared briefly at the single silver eye, half-noticing that neither Celestia nor Luna looked particularly surprised. "It's not nearly as funny as you think."

"And it's just rude," Spike agreed, picking himself up from the floor. "Especially since I get hurt."

The larger dragon gave them a grin, full of teeth and smoke. "But am I at fault for scaring you, or are you for not paying close enough attention, hmm?" Scar flowed past them, reaching up to effortlessly haul the pedestal down to ground level. "Your chariot awaits," he told them with a flourish of his paw.

The interior was half-cloud, half-stone, and fully furnished with cushions, tables, and chests. The latter bore Luna's crescent moon insignia; the royal's alternative to saddlebags. While the construct was comfortable enough for a pegasus or an alicorn, for a unicorn it was dangerous. She opened her mouth to point this out, then noticed Scar watching her intently. "...right."

Twilight cast her mind back, closing her eyes and concentrating briefly. Her horn glowed, and ephemeral bands swirled into existence around her hooves. They snapped inward suddenly, vanishing with a pulsed glow of power.

"What - " Spike began, then flinched as an identical magical construct enveloped all four paws. Twilight opened her eyes and looked around happily at the ponies and dragons watching her.

"It's the spell I looked up a while ago, to let the rest of us ponies walk on clouds. Well, and Spike." She grinned fondly back at the small dragon, who was rubbing his paws together and looking at them carefully. "So now I won't fall off!" She smiled broadly at Luna. "That's kind of important, I think."

Luna giggled softly. "'Tia would have a fit if I lost you halfway there." The alicorn flicked her wings, sailing the short distance from the ground to the lip of their conveyance. "Come on up!" she called to Twilight.

The unicorn grinned, and the world flickered around her as she transported herself and Spike to the pedestal in a flash of light. Luna seemed to flinch slightly as Twilight appeared beside the moon princess, but she ascribed it to her imagination as Luna immediately smiled cheerily and waved a hoof around the furnished interior.

"Welcome aboard!" Luna gave Twilight a half-bow, and then braced herself on the cloud to peer over the side at her sister, still standing on the marble tile. The unicorn joined her, looking down at Celestia.

The sun princess tilted her head back, looking up at the two with a small smile. "Be careful, both of you."

"I'm sure we'll be fine." Luna waved a hoof airily. "What's there to worry about?"

"Yeah!" Twilight added. "This'll be fun!"

"Class-y!" Spike hopped off Twilight's back to dive onto one of the cushions, sinking halfway into the richly padded bulk. "I could get used to this."

"Don't get too used to it," Twilight said dryly. "It's back to the library with us once we're done."

"Well until then I'm going to enjoy it." Spike stretched out on the cushion and closed his eyes. Twilight shook her head at him fondly and looked back to Celestia.

"Good bye, princess! We'll see you soon."

"Bye, sis!" Luna added from beside her. "Don't work too hard while I'm gone."

Scar released the chain, sending them upward again. The floor was remarkably stable underhoof, the platform refusing to bob and sway. Twilight suspected there was more magic involved than simply making it float; she hoped she'd get a chance to study it during their journey.

Celestia waved to them as they drew away from the castle, Scar's detail taking to the air with the heavy noise of wings. They rose higher and higher, the wind whistling around the pedestal, but the air within the border of the clouds remained still. Twilight watched Canterlot recede below them, then turned to Luna. "So..."

"Yes?" The princess walked across the cloudy floor, prodding at one of the cushions and looking at Twilight attentively. The purple unicorn felt suddenly awkward, fumbling for a topic to engage the alicorn.

"So, um, how are you finding Equestria these days?" Twilight winced as the words came out of her mouth. She didn't want to constantly bring up Luna's thousand years of exile, but it was hard to think of a conversational gambit that didn't refer to it obliquely.

A flicker of some unidentifiable emotion passed over the alicorn's face, and then Luna gave her a smile, stretching out on the unoccupied cushion. Spike was already snoring blissfully on his. "Celestia's kept it up pretty well. I was meaning to get out earlier, but I've been buried in history books and period literature."

"Oh!" Twilight brightened. Books were a subject on which she could hold forth for hours. "Who have you been reading? Whinny the Elder, Herocoltus?"

"More recent than that," Luna laughed. "Actually I just finished A History of Ponyville," she told Twilight. "I was curious after hearing 'Tia talk about it."

"Oh, yes." Twilight nodded. "Earth pony settlements are so fascinating. It's amazing how much they can get done without magic. My first Winter Wrap-Up was incredible, actually." The unicorn smiled, remembering. "It was an experience not using magic for once, but I don't think I could go without all the time. After all, it is my special talent." She giggled softly.

"You didn't mind only using your hooves?" Luna tilted her head curiously, and Twilight shook her head.

"Not really, not with the way it was a group effort. Besides, there are other unicorns in Ponyville, and if they could do it, so could I."

"Maybe next Winter Wrap-Up I can join you," the princess said thoughtfully.

"I'm sure Dash would love that," Twilight said cheerfully. "But the mayor would probably throw a shoe. Ponyville has had enough issues wrapping up properly without having to perform in front of royalty."

"I suppose that's true," Luna sighed, and the unicorn felt a twinge of sympathy for her downcast look. She knew what it was to feel out of place.

"If you want to join in, just show up!" Twilight encouraged. "You're a princess, you can do whatever you want."

"Actually, royalty means you have fewer freedoms than the average citizen." Scar's rumble intruded on them, the big dragon poking his head into the bubble of still air surrounding their conveyance. "It is a duty that you eat, sleep, and breathe your entire life."

This time they were both startled, the ponies looking upward at the dragon flying above them. "Eavesdropping isn't very polite," Twilight scolded.

"Not particularly, no," Scar replied with equanimity before continuing with the topic at hoof. "King and queens - and princes and princesses - are constrained by necessity to do things they would rather not. It is not our personal preferences that govern our lives, but the good of our subjects and our lands."

"You don't seem to sacrifice much to duty," Luna said, half-accusingly. "You seem to do whatever you want."

"I'm not quite as capricious as I may seem." The dragon gave them a toothy smile. "And I've developed a certain flair over the years, it's true. But ruling dragons isn't the same as ruling ponies, so it should be expected I don't act much like Celestia."

"That reminds me," Twilight interposed. "Celestia said something about Spike being your protégé... but he's been here ever since he was an egg. I don't think he's had any contact with you at all."

"Not as such, no," Scar conceded. "But I am the reason his egg was in Equestria in the first place. But if your friends had not come through when they did, he would have been the lever to stage my coup, when he came of age. As it is, he can lead a less political life."

"That seems awfully cold-blooded," Twilight said, then smiled wryly at her inadvertent joke. "I'm glad Spike doesn't have that weighing on him," she continued, looking over at the snoozing dragon. "He's still only a baby." The dragon had been her companion ever since she was a filly, and she had difficulty thinking of him as a political tool.

"But why did you have to take over in the first place?" Twilight asked, then flushed briefly. "I mean, was the other king not doing a good job or what?"

"The pony princesses rule together," Scar answered obliquely. "Sun and moon, in harmony. At least, they're supposed to." He cast a brief glance at Luna, who ducked her head in embarrassment. "Dragons are not the same." The dragon tapped the ouroboros pendant hanging around his neck.

"The dragon brothers rule in sequence. One rises to power, full of vigor and new ideas. Eventually, he grows fat and lazy and complacent, and his brother topples him, and he uses his exile to think and learn and plot and become worthy of rule once more." He grinned toothily. "It is harmony of a sort, between the two of us. It is balance. Nothing is meant to truly stand alone."

Twilight felt fundamentally uncomfortable talking to Scar, in precisely the way she thought she would feel with Luna. Speaking with the princess was like a conversation with an ordinary pony. Any conversation with Scar, on the other hoof, seemed to hold a myriad of sharp edges just out of sight.

So she was relieved when he finally withdrew from the conversation, great wings flapping as he flew ahead of them. From the vantage point of the cushions, the ground wasn't visible, but the clouds sped briskly by in testament to their speed. Spike woke up again later in their trip, leaning over the side to watch trees, hills, and mountains roll by.

"I've never been this far from Canterlot or Ponyville," he remarked. "D'ya think it will be that different in Draconia?"

"Well, it'll be colder at least." Twilight smiled. "Even colder than winter usually is, I expect."

"That's not what I meant," Spike shook his head. "I mean, if I talk about living in a big tree will my p-parents understand?" The small dragon tripped over the word, looking anxious.

"Oh Spike," the unicorn said reassuringly. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Draconia might be different but not that different."

"It used to be very like northern Equestria," Luna put in. "Long and long ago. I have to wonder how it's changed."

"There, you see?" Twilight beamed, trying to ignore the chill that went down her spine every time one of the princesses casually walked through the millennia. "You don't have to worry. I'm sure they'll be just like us."

The reassurance was for her as well as for Spike. Her conversation with the princess had remained confined to their comparative views of the history of Ponyville, rather than their actual mission. From what she'd seen so far, Twilight was more than willing to leave dealing with dragons up to Luna.

From what Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had related, Twilight expected the trip to take several days. But either they were moving faster than she thought, or there were subtle magics being worked, for the sun hadn't gotten near the horizon when whitecapped mountains hove into view.

Flying shapes hovered about the mountains, not the familiar pegasi of Equestria but rather glinting scaled figures, going about their own mysterious business. "Is that Eyrie Draconis?" Twilight propped herself up on the edge of their strange chariot, and Luna joined her.

"It looks like it," the princess agreed with her. "But I've never been myself."

Buildings were scattered over a series of broad plateaus, the city rising vertically from the snow-dusted valley below. Water ran through each section of the city, cascading downward in a series of falls, while glowing lava oozed sluggishly through a series of matching canals from the smoking volcano the city was built on.

Scar's form dived ahead of them, and Spike's arms windmilled as they dropped downward rapidly. Twilight couldn't help but squeak at the abrupt fall, but Luna seemed unaffected, merely ruffling her wings and peering downward. The horizon spun madly, and then was abruptly still as they landed.

The unicorn groaned. "All this way it was fine and they had to do that at the end."

"It wasn't that bad," Luna giggled, hopping lightly down from the cloud. Twilight shook her head to clear the vertigo, and brought herself and Spike down next to the princess with a flash of light.

"It was too," she whispered to Luna.

Aside from Scar and the dragon guards, there were only two other dragons on the flat landing area in front of the palace. One looked to be made of hammered bronze, each scale bearing the distinctive rippled pattern, her form sleek with metallic fins on her head and tail. The other seemed to be carved out of obsidian - Twilight would swear she could spot toolmarks - his hide glossy black and hinting at a translucence that never quite manifested. He was decorated in wicked-looking spines forming a crest at the back of his head and running down his back.

Those two were both looking at the same individual, ignoring their ruler, the guards, the princess, and her companion. Spike stared back, wide-eyed. "May I introduce your parents," Scar said quietly, "Lady Embersky and Lord Chasm."

•••

Luna watched as the unicorn followed her dragon companion. Spike's legs wobbled as he took his first hesitant steps forward toward the pair. Throughout her long life, that was one particular fear she'd never had to face. And yet, there was something in the dragon's movement that reminded her of herself when she'd opened her eyes to see Celestia looming over her.

She had to look away. The sound of voices washed over her, a lilting trumpet and earthshaking rumble of draconic voices, Spike's stammering reply. Twilight's responses, her words thin and thready in comparison with the power of Embersky and Chasm. It was a family meeting that she had no part in.

Instead she turned to study the architecture, trying to distract herself from snippets of words being passed around behind her. The stone was old, older than the mountain itself, as she looked at it. There were runes, once etched deep into the weathered rock face and now barely visible.

It was a puzzle that she told herself to concentrate on, but something interrupted her.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" The words were whispered in her ear, and she whirled to see Scar's blind eye staring whitely at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She looked back at that eye, though it couldn't possibly see her. It was, in fact, aimed slightly off to her left and above her, which was somehow even more disconcerting.

"You're older than I am," Scar said dryly, the words accompanied by a curl of smoke leaking from the side of the dragon's muzzle. "You should know better than to try and dissemble like that."

"You were born old," Luna muttered to him.

"And you were born young," Scar countered. "You should treasure that, princess."

"Celestia might play your games," Luna sighed. "But I don't have to, even if I am a diplomat. You are the Lord of Air and Fire, and I am the bringer of the moon. Why do you act like this? Playing?"

Scar ignored her. "I see how lonely you are. Where your choices have brought you. You can't even stand to watch, princess."

She didn't answer. She couldn't. There was nothing he said that she could find voice to protest, but at the same time she didn't know what he was trying to accomplish. She could feel his talons tugging at her mask, and the princess took a deep breath to steady herself. "What do you want, Scar?"

"It's what you want." The corner of his muzzle curled upward in a smile. It was not a pleasant expression. "If you could take it all back, right from the very beginning, would you?"

It was an unfair question. Luna's jaw ached as she pressed her muzzle tightly shut. Celestia had never asked her anything like it, even right after her return. After a great length of time she finally answered in a small voice. "You can't change the past."

"Good for you." Scar's head lifted to reveal Twilight trotting toward them, alone.

Luna looked a question at her and the unicorn smiled briefly. Her face was a welter of emotions, relief and fear and anxiety, and it was obvious that Twilight had no need of the type of mask Luna wore. "Spike's going to spend some time with his parents," she told the princess.

It took a moment for her to reassemble herself enough to reply properly. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. He deserves some time alone with them. But where do we go?" She looked over at Scar and the dragon lord bowed.

"If you'll follow me." He flowed past them, ignoring the waiting guards, and the ponies trotted to keep up. Behind them, servitors moved to unload their baggage. They outdistanced their luggage though, keeping up with Scar's swift pace.

"What's the rush?" Twilight asked, her hooves clattering along the stone. "We're not all dragon-sized, you know." Luna caught her glance; the larger alicorn wasn't having to expend quite as much effort.

"It is rude to make us rush," Luna agreed. "Slow down, Scar."

The dragon stopped abruptly, and Twilight skidded into his side. Luna managed a more graceful halt, but still gave Scar a glare. The dragon smiled unrepentantly and pointed to a door. "No need," he said. "We're here."

Luna blinked. The door was - and this was the most surprising thing - pony-sized. Not exactly pony sized, but it was certainly not built for dragons.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "Did you make this for us?"

"No, it's been here for some time." Scar inclined his head to them. "Go on in."

Luna looked at him suspiciously, then pushed the door open. She took two steps in, and stopped. The entire room was clad in silver, shining and untarnished, the walls covered in symbols. "Wow," the unicorn commented, stepping in behind the princess. "What is all this?"

"I don't know," Luna replied. "I can't read it." She should have been able to. The princess had learned nearly every language in existence throughout her long life, but so much of her knowledge had been bound up in Nightmare Moon. It was impossible to tell what she'd lost in that single instant of defeat.

"Kalāma banû pāna, mušḫuššu," Scar murmured from outside the door.

"What?" The princess blinked back at him, startled. Something about that language tickled the back of her brain.

"Would you like to know why all this here?"

"Sure!" Twilight grinned. "I'd love to know where this came from."

"No, wait!" Luna whirled on Twilight, but it was too late. The inscriptions on the walls blazed into life, the light bouncing off the polished silver. She turned again to run to the door, but there was no door there, just glowing symbols hanging in the air. And yet for an instant she saw Scar's blind eye watching her, his expression ineffably sad.

"What's going on?" Twilight backed away from the walls, into the center of the room, her horn glowing in defensive reflex.

"It's answering you," Luna said quietly as colors swirled behind the growing light. Fragments of knowledge swirled in her head, an inchoate mass that refused to accrete into a solid conclusion. Fear sent its icy talons through her, a sensation that a goddess did not often feel.

"Answering me? How can it be answering me? I didn't ask it a question!" Twilight's voice rose in shrill panic as she looked around wildly. Luna joined her in the middle of the room as the glow washed the walls away.

"It's answering me, too," the princess added in a whisper. The walls vanished in a final flare, and a wave of heat rolled over them. The sun stood high in the sky, hammering down mercilessly, flashing bright off endless ripples of white sand stretching in all directions from the circle of worn stone underhoof.

"Where... where are we?" Twilight looked around, dazed. Luna felt only a cold certainty that Scar and Celestia had colluded to send her here, the chill competing with the heat of their new surroundings. She didn't understand Twilight's role, but the princess knew that nothing had really changed, and it was exile again.

"Where my choices have brought me," she whispered.