Chapter 15

A Warm Welcome

Dreams. On the surface, they were beautiful creations of idle minds, but if anypony dared to delve deeper, they would quickly begin to see why most ponies forgot about them as soon as they woke up. In the world of dreams, the subconscious mind was allowed to run loose, expressing individuality without social restraints or censors, making it a double edged sword. The only reason that friendships could exist was due to the filter that ponies placed over their thoughts in order to establish a connection with others.

Luna, the Princess of the Night, had pondered over this social philosophy for thousands of years, but she always arrived at the same answer. Ponies were innately incompatible with other ponies, but their conscious thoughts allowed them to block out their confrontational tendencies. That sad truth was the only thing that Discord had to abuse in order to send the entirety of Equestria into chaos, since his primary method of ‘corrupting’ his victims involved negating the filter on their thoughts. Luna had been skeptical of his reform, but it seemed that the thought of a conscious mind had never occurred to him, so when Fluttershy had forced him to start questioning his actions, something clicked inside of him, bringing him to realize what he had been doing.

Shaking her head, Luna tried to forget about him and focus on her current situation. She had enough immortal enemies to deal with. Twilight Sparkle’s thoughts were an absolute wreck, which made Luna feel guilty about introducing her to the world of dreams, but there were other dreams to be visited too. Her last search for a dream involving the town of Everdale had proved to be successful, leading her to a rather depressed mare named Mezza, but there were bound to be others.

With a sigh, Luna tried her best not to think of her sister’s student anymore. When visiting dreams, she was used to being seen as Nightmare Moon, but after seeing the orderly nature of Twilight’s dream, she had allowed herself to hope that things could be different. In any other situation, Luna would have been able to shrug off such an insult, even if it was from somepony she knew, but since she had allowed herself to hope, the wound cut deep. Part of her wondered if using her power over dreams was worth her time anymore, now that nopony saw her as Princess Luna anymore.

Regardless, she would still aid Twilight Sparkle in her mission. Luna was no detective herself, but there was something strange about this mystery that kept her from accepting its finality. She felt that there was some small contradiction in facts that she had overlooked, but even after recreating some of the scenes described to her she could not put her worries to rest.

Luna, with renewed vigor, set out to see if there were any other dreams that were related to Everdale. It was remarkably odd that she had not been able to find the dreams of any of the ponies that were taken, but that meant one of two things: either they were not dreaming about Everdale, or something far worse had happened to them. Luna, even after seeing some less than pleasant dreams, did not want to imagine the latter.

After a short search, trying to sort out the dreams into topics, finally found one that was relevant. The dream appeared to be the same as the others, a small white speck that, when looked at, showed small visions of what was going through the pony’s mind, but this dreamer had the word Everdale present in his or her thoughts. Without hesitation, Luna focused on the dream and slipped into the dreamer’s subconscious.

As she entered, first thing she noticed was how hazy the dream was, like the dreamer had no concept of where they were. There, floating in space, was a single building, one that couldn’t seem to decide on its shape. There was nothing to set it apart as some kind of special place, which was common in most pony’s dreams, but the fact that the outside world didn’t exist here was alarming.

Luna, doing her best to remain silent, proceeded to slip in through the side of the building, doing her best to remain unnoticed in her observation. As soon as the dreamer was made conscious of her presence, they almost immediately changed their dream to something much more pleasant, masking their subconscious like they did in real life. While dreaming, most ponies thought of dreams as an escape from the real world, so when they realized that their private world was being invaded, their sleep suffered and their dreams grew more realistic.

“Go away, I’m busy.”

The harsh, female voice caught Luna off of her guard, making her aware of the fact that she was suddenly inside of a large office space, surrounded by mountains of papers. There had to be more paper here than in the entirety of Twilight’s library!

Looking around for the source of the voice, Luna tried to make sense of the dream. The dreamer had noticed her immediately, meaning that she was extremely observant, but even more surprising was the fact that she had been transported somewhere without knowing. Despite that, the dreamer still remained hidden amongst the jungle of paper stacks, making Luna wonder why this pony remained hidden among them.

“One thousand apologies!” Luna announced, not bothering to disguise herself. The dreamer must have known who she was, considering the fact that she had been transported instead of ejected, but it was surprising to be treated with dismissal instead of fear. Whenever she was recognized in a dream, that recognition tended to coincide with fear, especially with the events of Nightmare Moon fresh in memory.

“I may be busy, but that’s my job. If it is urgent, you may file for a meeting with—”

“No she may not!” came a male voice, overpowering the other with enough force to make even Luna wince. “What did I tell you about meetings? I hired you to be my in between and keep them from bothering me with their petty requests! Now get back to work!”

“Yes Mr. Line. Apologies, sir.”

Blinking, Luna ventured further through the maze of paper, trying to make sense of the situation. Did that other pony have some sort of megaphone? Whose dream was this?

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly found herself standing in front of a cluttered desk in the midst of the paper stacks. The pony behind the counter, a burnt-orange pegasus with a tidy blonde mane, neatly arranged into a bun, peered down her spectacles at the mounds of paper in front of her, desperately scribbling on them before tossing them off into one of the many piles.

“Pardon me,” Luna announced, but the mare didn’t look up. “I am here to file a request in regards to Everdale—”

The last word caused the mare to jerk up, her eyes widening when she saw who was standing on the other side of her desk. This was normal for Luna, who, to many ponies, appeared as Nightmare Moon whenever she was seen in a dream. Luna sighed, waiting for the inevitable cry of terror.

“P-Princess Luna!” the mare blurted out, immediately throwing her latest stack of finished papers aside. “I-I didn’t see you there! But as you can see, w-we’re very busy at the moment, so perhaps you could come back another time! Please, I beg of you!”

There were so many revealing things about what this mare was doing, but Luna already knew how to interpret signs like this. Based on Twilight’s descriptions, this must be Red, the mastermind behind the foalnappings, but she looked surprisingly collected for a culprit who had been captured. Apparently, much to Luna’s surprise, Red did not see her as Nightmare Moon. Twilight had said she was the mayor of Everdale, so there was also the question of why she was appearing as an overworked secretary.

“I am not here to intrude,” Luna soothed, doing her best to keep Red from panicking and closing her mind. “Instead, I merely wish to inquire about the recent disappearances.”

“What disappearances?” Red answered, her ear twitching. “You must be mistaken. Everything is absolutely pristine at the moment. Dotted Line is doing an excellent job as a mayor, much better than I could ever hope to be, but that’s why I’m his secretary. I can’t imagine how awful I would be if I were the one in charge!”

Frowning Luna began to realize what was going on. This mare was going through one of the many stages of denial and regression in order to preserve her sanity. In that case, all of the papers she had filed were most likely the thoughts that she was repressing, which could prove to be useful. By examining her subconscious output, there was a chance that Luna could find the motive behind these crimes.

Carefully, Luna eyed the stack of papers that Red had shoved off of the desk, quickly taking note of their contents. In the world of dreams, information was much more readily available, allowing Luna to read the entire contents of the stack in a single glance.

“If everything is pristine, then why all of the clutter? I do not see why you would need a pile of missing pony forms.”

“They’re not missing pony forms, they’re just apology letters, you see—”

“Apology letters?” Luna interrupted, trying to keep Red from realizing that she was answering without a conscious filter. It was surprising, but Red seemed to be answering all of her questions truthfully. It reminded Luna of Cadance’s powers, but surely her fellow alicorn would not be so reckless as to use it on a pony in their sleep. “To whom are they addressed?”

“All of the citizens of Everdale,” she answered hesitantly, beginning to realize that her delusion was crumbling. It was as if she had tried to tell a lie, but couldn’t. “You see, there was an incident in the past, but everything is back to normal. I just wanted to make sure that everypony knew how sorry I felt.”

“And what about the other forms?”

“Those? Those are actually part of my journal, but I haven’t had time to go back and read them, seeing as we are so busy at the moment.”

Luna, seeing her chance to dig further, tried to get more information on what Red had done to Everdale while her defenses were still down. “Busy? Either way, I must inquire about something. What are you apologizing about, miss Red?”

In a sudden gust of wind, the stacks of paper were whipped into a howling storm, blowing in every direction until, by some miracle, they all filtered into the file cabinets that lined the large room. Startled, Luna turned back to Red, only to find the pegasus standing further away, her desk and spectacles having vanished along with the daunting stacks of paper.

“Who are you?” Red asked suspiciously, wings flared. “You haven’t filled out the right paperwork to access government documents yet!”

Wincing, Luna realized that the mare’s guard had gone up. If she wasn’t careful, Red would start trying to force her out of the dream. “One thousand and one apologies, miss Red. I must have missed some paperwork along the way. Would you be so kind as to—”

“No, this isn’t right!” Red cried out, stamping a hoof as he mane began to slip out of its unruly bun. “How do you know my name? None of the authorization forms have my name on them!”

Cornered, Luna tried to backpedal, watching the mare unravel in front of her. “You see, I just—”

“No, this is my dream! You’re not part of this! Who are....”

Red trailed off, her eyes widening as she began to retreat backwards. “N-no, you’re...! Please! I did everything I could to keep them from finding it! I’m begging you, just let them go!”

In the world of dreams, emotions were subject to sudden changes, but this shift had been caused by something, something that drilled sheer terror into Red’s subconscious. Luna, making sure that she didn’t appear as Nightmare Moon, gently shook her head and held out a hoof. “No, I intend you no harm. I am as I appear to: Luna, the Princess of the Night. I am only here to help.”

Miraculously, those words seemed to keep Red from losing control of herself, but there was still strain in her voice. “I see,” she sighed. “So you’re here to invade my dreams and read my mind, aren’t you?”

The way that Red had accepted Luna’s presence was surprising, but Luna was grateful that she wouldn’t have to forcefully drag Red’s subconscious into the open. “I am here to do nothing of the sort. I only wish to speak to you about your motives regarding the disappearances.”

“So you already.... I see. That’s why ponies keep showing up when they do. I should have known. I should have known you’ve been involved from the very beginning.”

Luna had no idea what to make of this mare. How had she known the extent of Luna’s powers? Her word choice made it seem like she had known about Luna’s secret from the very beginning, making the alicorn cautious. A very select few knew about what she could do, but she knew that she could trust all of them to keep her secret safe. Had somepony told her?

“There’s nothing here for you, princess,” Red stated, her voice quivering in a pitiful attempt to cover up her desperation. “The Elements of Harmony have c-completed th-th-th-their...!”

As Red choked on her own words, Luna’s eyes widened. These symptoms were identical to those of a pony under Cadance’s truth spell, but certainly she wouldn’t.... “Red, breathe with me,” Luna ordered, remembering the breathing exercises that Cadance had taught everypony. “In and out. Good! You may relax around me, for I no longer require the formalities that my sister enjoys. All I ask is that you tell me what is happening in Everdale at the moment.”

“I-I...” the mare stammered, chomping down on her bottom lip to the point that looked painful. “Everything is f-f-fine! The Elements w-will be b-back... s-s—”

“Please, do not lie to me!” Luna commanded, growing desperate. “Instead, I shall ask you another question. Do the Elements of Harmony require my sister and I to intervene?”

The trembling mare, her eyes wide with fear, began to back away. “They are—”

“Red, my sister and I only wish to aid you and your town. Allow me to word it differently, then. Do you require my sister and I to intervene?”

There was a heavy pause, making Luna wonder if she had made the right decision in pushing Red like this. She hadn’t abused her powers in over one thousand years, but this was starting to cross the line. Thankfully, Red’s posture slackened, her wings returning to her sides and her disheveled mane starting to return to its normal state. In dreams, physical appearances were determined by mental states, showing that Red was beginning to organize her thoughts again.

“Princess Luna?’

“Yes, miss Red?”

“Please.... Save u—!”

A sea of stars twinkled in the dreamscape, each of them containing a beautiful dream. Luna had seen this sight many times before, but the abrupt transition was something that she would never become acclimated with. Her sudden ejection from Red’s dream, especially at a crucial point like that, could only mean one thing.

“She must have been woken up quite forcefully,” Luna mused to herself, gazing out among the expanse of stars in the metaphysical sky. From what Luna could tell, it was in the middle of the afternoon, which raised the question of why Red had been asleep in the first place, but Luna could only hope that she remained safe. The pegasus had a lot of explaining to do.

From what Luna knew so far, something dangerous was being hidden in Everdale, something that had remained even after Twilight had solved the mystery. The likelihood of having to directly intervene was growing, which made Luna wonder how she was going to deal with a whole town of hostages.

Making one last check of the dreamscape for anything involving the town of Everdale, Luna made sure that she had done everything she could from her remote position. She had only detected one when she entered Red’s dream, but she wanted to be sure that she hadn’t missed anything.

Much to her surprise, another one came forward, one that she had not seen in her last search. Worried, Luna reached out and embraced the dream, allowing herself to be wrapped up in it before she was drawn in.

This dream was much more complete than Red’s, with every aspect clearly and articulately defined, but the space was much larger. Luna found herself standing just outside of a small town, one that she assumed to be Everdale, but everything seemed unnaturally still. It was almost like she was staring at a painting of a town, albeit a very detailed one.

Then the heat hit her. In a sudden flash, the idyllic town in front of her burst into blinding flames, the sudden wash of smoke nearly overwhelming Luna as she stepped backwards. Taken aback by the sudden change in the dream’s mood, Luna attempted to hide herself, making her form invisible to the unaware dreamer. She rarely used this when she investigated dreams, so she did not breach the dreamer’s trust, but the overwhelming malice made her anxious.

Hesitantly, Luna spread her impressive wings and flew up into the air, surveying the burning town beneath. Everything was silent aside from the crackling of the flames and the rush of the wind, making the scene even more eerie to watch. If a dreamer had a violent dream directed at somepony, that pony was usually present, either trying to reason with the dreamer or fulfilling the stereotype that the dreamer saw them as. Here, there was nopony in the streets at all.

As Luna lowered herself into the center of town, she took notice of a statue that was placed in the middle of the fountain. The intricate carving depicted one pegasi flying straight forward, but there was also what Luna believed to be another identical pegasi in the water around it, lying on its back.

In the blink of an eye, the stone pegasus in the fountain was smashed to pieces, sending different parts of it flying in every direction. Luna winced as one of the wings flew through her body, but she did her best to remain incognito. It was a good thing, too, considering the fact that the dreamer now stood in the fountain where the broken pegasus used to be.

The dreamer this time was a scraggly-looking unicorn with an off-white coat and a dirty black mane and tail. Holding her breath, Luna remained perfectly still as the huffing mare released her hold on a large sledgehammer and let it splash into the fountain beside her. Based on the descriptions Twilight had given her, this was probably Caesura, but Twilight hadn’t painted this mare as a crazed lunatic. It was obvious that this unicorn had issues.

“I know you’re here,” Caesura hissed loudly, making sure her voice was audible over the raging fire.

Luna held her breath, her heart pounding. Had Caesura seen her when she first entered? How did she know? It was possible that Caesura was actually somewhere else, giving Luna the idea to take a quick look around the dream to see if somepony else was watching. As soon as she noticed a shape in the window of one of the burning buildings, Luna focused in, trying to see who it was.

She wished that she hadn’t. If anypony had a violent dream, the targets were usually hazy shapes, since most of the ponies she saw were too timid to actually hurt anypony in real life. Through the window, Luna could see at least three distinct ponies, all of them perfectly detailed from their wide eyes and trembling legs. Caesura’s mind knew exactly what it was doing and who it was doing it to, making Luna more than anxious to leave.

“Get out!” belted Caesura from the middle of town square, stamping a hoof on the broken head of the statue beneath her. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to know where Luna was. “I’ll give you to the count of five, princess! Five....”

Luna didn’t need to hear the number four before she ejected herself from the dream as quickly as she could. Finally allowing herself to breathe, Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, doing everything in her power to remain calm. While in in other pony’s dreams, the dreamer had control over the world around themselves, meaning that Luna could be put in some dangerous positions if she wasn’t careful. It had happened before, after all.

After visiting the two dreams, Luna knew that she had seen enough. It was obvious that something dangerous was going on in Everdale, but Luna still had no idea what it could be. She could only do so much by pulling the strings in the background, especially now that Twilight had all but banned her from her dreams. Regardless of the situation, Luna knew that she would end up going to Everdale eventually.

Steeling herself, Luna readied herself to wake up and go back into the real world. She had her share of worries, including Twilight Sparkle’s well-being, but there was another question that bothered her more than anything else.

How had those two known about her powers?

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Twilight Sparkle laid face down on the hard, rocky ground. It was just like one of those painful mornings after staying up too late to study, but this time she didn’t have a bed to roll over onto.

Normally, Twilight would have been able to catch herself as she jumped out of a speeding minecart that was tilting off of the rails, but trying to do that while levitating a heavy statue and making sure that it didn’t get damaged had proved to be a bit too difficult for her. Apparently the railway had only been designed for a certain weight limit.

Grumbling to herself, the unicorn forced herself up off of the floor of the cave and took a quick look around. Mezza’s statue was standing perfectly upright, thanks to Twilight’s last minute magical intervention, but the minecart was off to the side in shambles. Silently, Twilight worried if her friends were okay. The track had split off into multiple directions, apparently determined by which way the occupant was leaning at the time. Based on that, Twilight had a feeling that her friends had all gotten separated again.

Twilight was tempted to wait by the side of the tracks and see if Page and Applejack happened to go the same way she did, but the chances were slim. Her only option was to continue forwards until she found one of the exits that led into the city, even though it would probably be a long trek. Wrapping the statue in a levitation spell, Twilight began the long walk forward.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long at all. By following the curve in the rail she had fallen off of, she could keep an eye out for signs, like the ones she had seen on the way down that identified where each route went. The fork in the rails that she had crashed on had a wooden post with the words “Art District” painted on the front with surprisingly intricate hoofwriting.

The more Twilight thought about this new town, the more excited she became at the prospect of studying it. She could be immortalized in the history books as the first pony to ever document the lives of ponies in a completely underground society!

Thankfully, as Twilight rounded the next corner, she saw the station at the end of the tracks. There appeared to be a braking mechanism in place that would slow down the cart once it arrived, but the track continued onwards, making Twilight wonder if that track led back up to the top.

Chastising herself for losing her focus, Twilight surveyed her immediate surroundings. There was a small wooden shack by the end of the tracks, but there was nothing else she could see. There didn’t seem to be anypony in the immediate area, which was fortunate, but it seemed suspicious that there was no security around.

Forcing herself to be careful, Twilight crept up towards the shack, her ears perked and listening for any kind of movement. She had expected that there were ponies around, but instead of the shuffling of hooves, she heard what sounded like a small orchestra playing. While it wasn’t what she expected, it confirmed her fears that there really were other ponies around.

Twilight began to form a plan of action, putting her hoof on the door. There were probably guards inside, listening to something on their phonograph while they sat around and waited. If she had the element of surprise on her side, she might be able to knock them out before they raised an alarm. She just had to be careful.

Doing her best Daring Do impression, Twilight kicked down the door and leapt through, levitating the statue of Mezza in case she needed to use it as a weapon.

But it looked like she wasn’t going to need it. Instead of a guard shack on the other side of the door, what awaited Twilight was one of the most gorgeous cityscapes she had ever seen in her life. The wooden shack had been nothing but a facade for the door, one that lead to the outskirts of the city proper. The city itself reminded Twilight of a paint by numbers book she had gotten as a filly, since all of the buildings and decorations looked like they had been thrown together at random. Despite the artistic sensibilities, the sheer amount of houses and shops that she could see ahead of her was absolutely staggering, especially for a city that was entirely underground.

In the street ahead of her, there were a few ponies quickly trotting through the streets, each of them looking like they were in a hurry to get somewhere. It was strange seeing ponies here, but what was even stranger was the way that they dressed themselves up. The few that she could see, three unicorns and a pegasus, all had the most outrageous colorings, with dyed patterns and marks all over their coats. Not only that, but nearly all of them had some kind of clothing, which was odd for everyday use.

Then there was the music again, this time much louder than it had been from outside. On the corner of the street in front of her was a phonograph, just like the one Twilight owned herself. The music it was playing sounded like somepony had deliberately scratched the record, making Twilight wince, but none of the ponies in the street seemed to notice it. In fact, none of them seemed to notice Twilight at all, even though she had jumped through the door with enough dramatic flair to make Rainbow Dash embarrassed.

“Okay, stay calm,” Twilight whispered to herself as she trotted forward, carrying Mezza along with her. Her friends had probably arrived as well, but depending on how extensive the rail system was, they could be scattered anywhere throughout the city. But before Twilight could make it any further, she felt a strange sensation in the back of her head.

“The barrier!” she gasped quietly, closing her eyes to try and focus on the shape that had just passed through it. From what she could tell, it was a pegasus, one flying at a remarkably fast speed. So far, outside of the seven of them that had passed through already, this was the eighth. Curious, Twilight tried to imagine how anypony would be able to stop before they collided with the rock wall behind it, considering that she had placed the barrier right in front of the carts.

Either way, somepony was tailing them. The only shapes on this barrier were those of Page, Applejack, and this new pegasus, but that pegasus had been moving awfully fast. Whoever it was, they were in a hurry.

Before Twilight could continue on, she felt a few more disturbances in the barrier, making her pause to catch her balance. These next shapes were not flying at abnormally fast speeds like the pegasus was, but Twilight once again checked to see how many had just passed through. There appeared to be three, but from what she could tell, one of them was carrying another on their back, so that made four in total. In fact, that shape looked remarkably familiar. Of the other two, one was a unicorn, but the other was—

“Cadance?!” Twilight gasped, looking around her to make sure that nopony was listening in. The wildly decorated ponies of Everdale were all either too busy or too distracted to pay attention, thankfully. “That has to be Shining, Cadance, and.... Wait, that shape is the exact same one from back at the hotel, when Nightowl was carrying Page. But if—”

“There you are!” cried a familiar voice from her left, causing Twilight to whip around and ready Mezza’s statue again.

“Applejack!” Twilight sighed with relief. Sure enough, the orange mare was standing with her head poking out of one of the doorways of a nearby building, motioning for Twilight to hurry inside. More than happy to oblige, Twilight galloped over and slipped inside. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you!”

“You? Glad to see me?” Applejack scoffed, frowning and closing the door once Twilight came in. “We’ve been worried sick about ya! We thought you might’ve missed the memo or something, and trust me, you don’t even wanna know what’ll happen to ya if you miss this.”

Confused, Twilight glanced around the large room she had walked into. It appeared to be some sort of storage area, rather dimly lit, but Applejack wasn’t the only one in there. The rest of her friends were there as well, excluding Page, and all staring anxiously at her. There were a numerous amount of empty cardboard boxes lying around, as well as a few mirrors hanging on the walls.

“Now scuttle on up here and get your tiara,” Applejack grumbled, trotting over to a small box in the corner and pulling out a familiar golden tiara with a gem in the center. “And lose the statue already! Goodness, Sparky, are feeling alright?”

Bewildered, Twilight looked around at the rest of her friends as Applejack placed the tiara on her head. “The Elements?” Twilight croaked, trying to figure out how they had gotten down here. They had been in such a hurry that they had left the Elements of Harmony in the hotel, so how had they gotten down here so quickly?

“Hurry up, clock’s ticking Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed as she dashed around the corner, followed by the rest of Twilight’s friends. They were all there, but where had Page gone to? And why were Cadance and Shining following them? What was going on?!

“Girls!” cried Twilight as she darted around the corner as well, dodging the array of empty boxes littering the floor. Without thinking, she set Mezza’s statue down on the ground so that she could keep up with the rest of them.

There, in what appeared to be an even larger and darker room, Twilight could see the outline of some large cart in the middle. No, cart wasn’t the right word, it was more like a parade float, but it was too dark to make out the details. The other five mares had already taken up positions on unevenly raised platforms, looking expectantly at Twilight. Even in the darkness, she could see that they were all wearing their Elements as well.

Before Twilight could speak up, Rarity huffed and gave a brusque motion with her hoof, looking rather impatient. Deciding that she could save the questions for later, Twilight did as she was told and hopped up on the float and took the only raised platform left, the one right in the middle.

As soon as she took her spot, the door in front of her began to swing open, reminding Twilight of the large doors on Applejack’s barn. Brilliant light from the other side flooded into the dark room, making Twilight squint in order to see what was going on around her.

Just as she had suspected, they were on some highly decorative parade float, adorned with flowers and what appeared to be a large painting on the back of it. The painting itself resembled one of Celestia’s many stained glass windows, but this one was much more intricately composed. It was in the shape of a diamond split up into four sections, all but one of them containing a portrait of one of the alicorn princesses of Equestria. Princess Celestia was in the top quadrant overlaid with the image of a radiant sun while Princess Luna was opposite her on the bottom, painted predictably with the image of the moon behind her. Princess Cadance, oddly enough, was included in the rightmost section, her serene expression complemented by the image of her cutie mark, a crystal heart, behind her. Twilight was already bemused as to why this painting existed, but what made it even worse was the fact that on the left, opposite of Princess Cadance, was painted entirely black, making the painting seem incomplete.

Sadly, Twilight had no time to admire the painting before the float jerked forward. Twilight hadn’t noticed it before, but the float was hooked up to what appeared to be six rows of Celestia’s royal guards, who were pulling the heavy float along. This was absolutely absurd! Royal guards? Down here?!

For a moment Twilight wondered if she was dreaming, or if Luna was playing some kind of trick on her, getting her revenge for what had happened earlier, but there was no mistaking this for a dream. Her short time with Luna had taught her how to identify a dream, and Twilight knew that this was as real as it got.

As soon as the float passed through the massive doorway, they were greeted by a thunderous wave of cheering and applause, completely catching Twilight off guard. Somewhere, amidst the din, some kind of fanfare was being played, reminding Twilight of her triumphant return after defeating Discord for the first time. Wildly decorated ponies lined the streets, the sheer number of unicorns and pegasi making Twilight wonder what kind of place this was. She’d never seen ponies with colorings like that before!

Desperately trying to make sense of the situation, Twilight glanced back at her friends, only to find them all striking various poses on the stage like living statues. Confused, Twilight simply played along, taking her own heroic stance.

Sadly, Twilight had no chance to stop and think about the situation. Within moments, the float began to swivel around on its base, continuing its forward path but slowly rotating to face the other way. The other Elements of Harmony all changed their poses almost immediately, moving to stand up on two legs and hold their front hooves out in the air like they were about to sneak up on somepony. Once again, Twilight imitated them for lack of a better idea.

Once the float had turned a full 180 degrees, Twilight realized that there was yet another float behind them, one that was being pulled along by what appeared to be heavy chains attached to the larger float. Trying to find some reason for all of the symbolism, Twilight studied the other float. It was entirely barren of decoration, but what caught her attention was not the cart itself, but the pony that was riding it.

“Cadance?” Twilight whispered to herself, starting to become worried. Cadance had passed through the barrier only moments ago, hadn’t she? If that was the case, how did she get down here so quickly?

Twilight got her answer almost immediately. The celebratory fanfare in the background swelled to a surprisingly dissonant climax, making Twilight’s heart pound as magical lights began to shine from behind her. Six different colors, each of them representing one of the Elements of Harmony, all focused on Princess Cadance until the alicorn was enveloped in a blindingly white shine.

Twilight had to bring a hoof up to cover her eyes from the brilliant display, but when she opened them again, the Princess on the cart behind her was a completely different kind of alicorn. In fact, Twilight wouldn’t even consider her an alicorn at all.

Chrysalis...?!

There was no mistaking it. There, standing proudly on the spartan cart, was the queen of the changelings herself, head held high and spidery teal mane whipping wildly in an unseen wind over her closed eyes. At her dramatic appearance, the music ceased, ending on a dissonant nonresolution, making Twilight cringe on the inside.

Reflexively, she winced and took a step backwards. The eerie silence grated against her, sending shivers from her spine to her ears. Why weren’t the ponies panicking? Why was everything so quiet? What the wide world of Equestria was going on?!

The changeling queen slowly opened her bug-like eyes. Immediately, the music began again, repeating the last painful chord even louder than the last time. Just like before, the magical lights burst forth from Twilight’s float, focusing in on Chrysalis and encasing her inside of another brilliant beam.

This time, once the light faded, the terrifying queen laid motionless on the cart as if she were taking a nap. Hooves trembling, Twilight’s eyes darted wildly around the crowd to see their reactions. The music, instead of the bombastic fanfare from before, had faded into what sounded like a gentle Kyrie from a requiem. After the silence, the effect of this musical shift was evident in the onlookers’ postures, which ranged from quaking in fear to bowing with respect. All of the ponies that had been wearing hats, which had been quite a few of them, all held them over their hearts and closed their eyes in somber regards.

Twilight was left to ponder over its meaning as the float turned around once again to face the front. The Kyrie continued amidst the silence, making things even more uncomfortable than they already were, but as soon as the cart had made its full rotation, the music began to swell once again, giving small hints about the fanfare from the beginning. After a single chord was left hanging in the background, silence followed again.

Unable to sit still, Twilight broke out of the formation on her float and darted around to the back, behind the large painting of the princesses. There, on the cart behind them, Chrysalis was starting to stir, her insect-like wings buzzing ever so slowly as the music began to crescendo again.

With one last flourish in the strings, the changeling queen finally roused herself weakly to her legs, unsteadily wobbling as the cart moved. Her rise was met with a deafening roar of celebration from the ponies that lined the streets, which culminated in a return from the fanfare at the beginning of the parade. Twilight had read about allegorical displays like this, but for once, she had no intention of writing a research paper on what she had just witnessed.

That was when Chrysalis and Twilight met each other’s gazes. Their eyes locked, both of them caught by surprise at the other’s presence. In the brief moment where they stared at each other, Twilight almost felt like the two of them were having a conversation. That one moment of surprise said more about the changeling queen than Twilight had ever known. Time, between the two, was static.

A sudden outcry of murmurs and uneasy questions from the crowd of ponies drew Twilight back to reality. The music had stopped and everypony was staring at her, some in fear and some in awe. Twilight, bewildered, swore that she heard the word “imposter” whispered several times.

As soon as Twilight realized what was going on, a bright green light from the corner of her vision drew her attention. “W-wait!” she called out as she saw Chrysalis’ jagged horn beginning to glow, reminding Twilight of the first time she had seen Chrysalis use her magic.

Just like that time, Twilight felt her eyes become heavy and tired, leaving her listing on her unsteady legs. This was... a sleep spell?

As Twilight fell unconscious, she felt a hint of relief hidden amongst her confusion. Not only was she finally able to get some rest, but she would also get the opportunity to apologize to Luna. Despite the the unceremonious addition of changelings to this mystery, Twilight found herself relieved.

After all, Chrysalis’ appearance just made the previous mysteries a whole lot easier.