Chapter 23

Case Closed

Everything happened in an instant. Shards of sky-blue glass rained down in a deafening hail, shattering into countless specks of dust as they crashed against the floor. It was a marvel, one that was over in the blink of an eye. The pile of shattered gems still gleamed with a weakened light, making the chamber significantly darker than before.

Twilight still couldn’t process everything. She was too entranced by the glittering rain. Nopony moved. Nopony breathed.

When the last shards clinked against the rocky floor, the cavern became deathly silent. A glittering pile of sparkling dust lay in a pile where the Heart of Equestria had stood only moments before.

Once Twilight caught herself back up to speed, she was taken aback. Chrysalis had destroyed the only thing that had kept her and her subjects alive in recent months. From what she had been told, the Heart of Equestria had been used to provide unlimited emotions to the changelings of the city. Chrysalis, in a desperate attempt to make Celestia see sense, had destroyed her only lifeline.

Bewildered, Twilight glanced around. Everypony remained perfectly still with the exception of Chrysalis, who wobbled a bit on her hooves, breathing heavily. None of them seemed to understand the significance of what the changeling queen had done.

“There,” Chrysalis announced, breaking the fragile silence. Her voice was strained with effort. “Do you believe me now, Celestia? That gem caused all of this, not you. Nopony holds you responsible for what happened. Nopony.”

The words must have cut deep. Celestia, unblinking eyes wide with shock, took a hesitant step backwards. The fire in her eyes, the one that had been stoked by the Heart of Equestria, had burnt out. Without the maelstrom of emotion clouding her judgment, her expression changed.

As much as Twilight was relieved to see that Celestia had calmed down, she knew that it would be a bitter pill to swallow. Even Twilight had trouble believing it at first, and she hadn’t had the thousand years of guilt to work past.

Luna, spellbound before the pile of shattered gems, answered in her sister’s place. “Aria?” she gasped quietly, almost as if she were still convincing herself. “Those dreams really were yours. I-­I should have known, I am–“

“Don’t apologize, Luna,” Chrysalis sighed, shaking her head. Her breathing slowed. “I brought this upon myself with my desperate, selfish actions. It is only natural that you think me a liar.”

Over to the side, Twilight noticed her friends swarming around Rarity. All of them were asking questions faster than the overwhelmed unicorn could answer, but she seemed to be holding up pretty well, even with her mane covered in sticky goop. The five of them seemed blissfully ignorant of the weighty decisions that were being made only a few yards away from them. Twilight wished that she could go over and join her friends, but she felt that it was her responsibility to help the alicorns resolve their conflict. After all, she had been tossed into the middle of it without so much as an apology. Not that she needed one, but she would at least see it through to the end.

Still silent, Celestia stood perfectly still, her jaw half open. Twilight wasted no time in trotting up to her side and trying to get her attention.

“Princess, they told me everything. I know it’s hard, but–“

Celestia remained still, barely moving her mouth. She didn’t make eye contact. “Twilight…?”

“Y-yes, princess?”

“If you would not mind, I would like to spend some time alone with my sister, Cadenza, and….” The alicorn’s voice trailed into the chamber’s echo. There was no need for her to finish.

“Of course, princess,” Twilight said, bowing. As she trotted off, she pretended that she didn’t see the tears streaming down the alicorn’s moist cheeks. It was painfully obvious, even in the dark.

“Girls!” she called out as she trotted back towards the entrance. Her friends all glanced up at her just in time to brace themselves for a tackle. In what must have been the most embarrassing group hug of all time, Twilight unashamedly embraced her friends, reducing all of them to a pile of multi-colored, giggling blobs on the cavern floor.

“Nice dive!” Pinkie exclaimed once she had recovered. “I’d give that an eight out of ten. Your technique needs some more refinement, but the enthusiasm was all there. Needs work.”

The six of them shared another laugh before Twilight took it upon herself to remind them of the issue at hoof. “Let’s give them some space alright? I’ll explain things on the way out. And big brother, you come along as–“

“No,” Cadance stated, shaking her head. Shining Armor stood silently by his wife’s side, nodding in agreement. “He’s been with me since we met, and he should be here as much as I should. You two can talk later, but he’s staying.”

As Twilight locked eyes with her big brother, he nodded and motioned for her to move. The message was clear. Celestia didn’t want her personal student to see what a mess she had become. Twilight had already witnessed it first-hoof, but she knew that Celestia was in a vulnerable position right now. In a way, Twilight knew that she had been a replacement for Aria, a way for Celestia to vicariously live out the life that she believed to have had been cut short.

Nodding, Twilight motioned to her friends and left. It was over. There would be no more abductions, no more mysteries, and most importantly, no more guilt. Four alicorns, all so distinctly different, had been reunited again.

“Okay, seriously,” Rainbow sighed as they turned the first corner. “I’m completely lost here. All I’m getting out of this is that the evil queen back there had a change of heart, pun totally intended, and that she’s not so evil anymore. Did I miss anything?”

“You missed everything,” Rarity huffed, starting to become self-conscious of her appearance again. “I do believe that Twilight will have a history lesson for us on the way down.”

“Oh boy!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as she bounded into the middle of the group. “I’ve been trying to figure out why queen meanie was doing this the whole time, other than the obvious revenge ploy, but that just sounded silly to me! So c’mon, what’s the story? Tell me! Tell me!”

“Ugh, fine!” Rainbow groaned, pushing Pinkie out of her face to maintain some semblance of personal space. “Let’s just get this sob story over with, okay?”

By the time Twilight had explained everything and they reached the bottom, her friends were speechless. Rarity was only mildly shocked, since she had pieced together most of the information from the tidbits of conversation she had heard while in captivity. Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy, were all slack-jawed, but Pinkie seemed a little disappointed.

“Shoot,” the pink earth pony grumbled, kicking the ground. “So that’s how Equestria was made! Man, I was soooo close, too!”

“Close?” Applejack asked, quirking a brow. “C’mon, Pinkie, nopony woulda guessed that it was anythin’ like that!”

“Of course I wasn’t close, silly! I just say that so that everypony thinks I’m smarter than I really am. It confuses the hay out of them, too!”

Twilight cracked a smile. It was good to have her friends back, especially after such a heavy ordeal. Her real friends.

Almost immediately after Twilight had finished explaining things, they finally found their way down to the entrance with the help of Applejack. The spire was built like a maze, with tunnels twisting this way and that with no rhyme or reason. No wonder it had taken Page so long to find her way out and bring everypony back up. Luckily, Applejack had been paying attention when she rushed up to where Twilight was, so she was able to guide them out into the city proper.

As they emerged through the front gate, they were met with a curious sight. Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. Hundreds of changelings were all gathered around the entrance to the spire, their eyes aglow with an odd concoction of fear and excitement. They were all disguised as whatever identity that had assumed, creating a collage of clashing colors. The sight nearly made Rarity faint from an overload of tacky designs.

As the changelings gaped, expecting some sort of news, a shout came from the back of the crowd. “Hey, are you guys even listening to me? I thought I told you that we need to get the hay out of here before–“

“Wait!” Twilight shouted over the crowd, wishing she had a pair of wings so that she could see over the colorful mass of ponies. That voice was exceedingly familiar. “Red! Red, what in Celestia’s name are you doing down here? Did everypony end up here?!”

“What do you think?” The burnt-orange pegasus cried as she soared above the whispering crowd of changelings. Her movements were rather sluggish and it was obvious she was struggling. “Either way, it doesn’t really matter! What happened up there? Princess Luna fixed me up and told me to get these guys to evacuate, but they won’t listen to a word I say. Boy, I’ve got a few choice words for that prissy pink princess, but that can wait.”

“Cadance? What...? Okay, fine, we’ll talk this over later.” Taking a deep breath, Twilight tried to raise her voice so that all of the changelings could hear her. “You shouldn’t be in any danger! Princess Celestia has met with your queen! From what I can tell, everything’s going to be just fine!”

Twilight had expected for the news to be met with wild cheers, but she was first met by a series of grumbles, most of them referring to the point that Chrysalis was a princess, not a queen. But, within a few moments, the changelings erupted into a frenzied celebration. Some embraced others, some flew up into the air, and yet others stomped their hooves.

The underground city, with its few hundred occupants, was engulfed in thunderous applause. Of all of the creatures she had imagined herself saving, the changelings were definitely low on that list. Chrysalis herself was further down than that.

Amidst the celebration were a few familiar ponies. Nightowl, Page, Preston, and an undisguised changeling were all huddled together, talking excitedly. Red flew over and joined them. As much as Twilight scanned the crowd, she didn’t see Caesura. Had she run away? Was she safe?

Hoping to find some answers, Twilight approached the familiar group of ponies while her friends were mobbed with adoring fans. Apparently the changelings really did think of the Elements of Harmony as heroes after all. Laughing to herself, Twilight dodged a few changelings and approached the group from Everdale.

“Is she going to be okay?” Page asked quietly. “I mean, she doesn’t look that bad, but I really laid into her back—”

An undisguised changeling, the only one in the entire mob, nodded. “She’s tough as nails. You should have seen her taking out the royal guards when she ran away a few months ago! Don’t worry, we’ll just have Princess Chrysalis talk to her when she wakes up. You know, just so she doesn’t freak out again.”

Twilight stopped right in front of the group, blinking. The way that the changeling spoke sounded remarkably familiar. “Skylight?” she called as she ran right up to his side. “Are you okay? Did that lying spell—”

“Oh, I’m fine,” he insisted, giving an unsettling grin and buzzing his insect-like wings. “I should be worried about you!”

“Look, I’m a little tired, but how did you get out of your cell?”

“Oh, that? There was this big explosion, and then another. By the time the third one hit, my cell door had fallen clean off of the hinges. I was on my way up to the chamber to help you out, but then I ran into the Elements of Harmony! Y-your friends, that is. Sorry! And they told me to come down here and keep an eye on the others. But still, I can’t believe this! This is amazing!”

Considering everything that had just happened, a story like that was refreshingly simple. “Well, I’m sure you heard the news, but everything should be just fine. Your queen should—”

“Princess.”

“Er, your princess is talking with Celestia. So—”

“Any idea when they’ll be out?” he asked, alarmed. “W-we’ve got something planned. It’ll be really dramatic!”

“Hush,” Page interrupted, giving him a little smack on the back of the head. “You’ll ruin the moment. And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you lied to me for over six years. You too, ya big lummox.”

Nightowl lowered his head, earning a little chuckle from the other ponies. Despite having just learned about everything, they all seemed to take it in stride. It was quite remarkable. Preston was trying to cheer Nightowl up, though it sounded like he had somehow lost his accent.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight whispered, putting a hoof on her chin. “What about Caesura? Did she come through here?”

The question immediately silenced whatever chit-chat the little group had started. Each of them looked a little guilty, but it was Preston who finally spoke up, eyes focused on the ground in front of him. “We found her in some kind of garage. She just... went nuts. Tore all the parade floats apart, nearly dismantled some of the structural beams, and just wrecked the place. She was unconscious in front of some statue, but—”

“A statue?!” Twilight exclaimed, mane standing on end. “Oh no, I forgot! I left Mezza’s statue in the garage this whole time! Oh man, Celestia’s going to kill me for this! Guys, that statue is actually—”

“Her mom. We know.” Nightowl, finally raising his head back up, nodded. “I recognized her. And she didn’t look too happy to see her.”

Biting her lower lip, Twilight took a deep breath. “Where is she now?”

Nightowl pointed. “We put her up in the bedroom up here. I-I really think it would be in our best interests to let her rest!”

Twilight considered it. She felt like she needed to apologize somehow, but there was no denying the fact that Caesura had brought most of this upon herself. Maybe they could talk things over later, once the mangy mare had gotten some much-needed rest. She looked like an absolute wreck when she burst into the chamber where the Heart of Equestria was.

“Sounds good,” Twilight said, avoiding eye contact. Despite their differences, Twilight felt a bit of sympathy towards the other unicorn. “So, while we wait—”

“No need to wait!” exclaimed Skylight, pointing up towards the spire.

Everypony’s gazes drifted up towards the hole that Celestia had blown in the spire’s wall. A brilliant white figure appeared, followed by two dark and one pink. While they were still far off, Twilight knew exactly who they were.

Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Chrysalis all majestically descended from the tower. All eyes were on the four of them, some in awe and some in fear. It felt like ages before they finally touched the ground.

When they did, Twilight noticed that the crowd had stepped back, leaving her and the other Elements of Harmony standing by themselves in the middle of an empty circle. As if on cue, the disguised changelings all bowed their heads respectfully. Skylight, along with some of the other ponies from Everdale, stood proudly behind Twilight and her friends.

As soon as the alicorns’ hooves all touched the ground, Nightowl, Page, and Skylight gave a poorly synchronized salute. Celestia’s reaction was the same as Twilight’s: complete and utter confusion.

“What’s all this?” Celestia gasped, bloodshot eyes roaming the crowd. The salutes were not directed at her, but at the alicorn behind her.

Luna, blinking rapidly, stood still as Celestia stepped out of the way. The three saluting ponies stared directly at her. “Who planned this? Twilight Sparkle, if—”

“Princess Luna!” Page announced professionally, blowing a bit of her mane out of her eyes. “The nightwatch has finished surveying the area! Page Inkwell reporting!”

“The nightwatch?” Luna asked, still uneasy. She glanced sideways at her sister, but neither of them knew what to say.

“Yes ma’am! The three of us have scouted out the hidden city of Eccondale in search of anything that could be considered dangerous to Equestria. We have discovered that changelings inhabit the city, and they have been feeding off of the ponies of Everdale for the past month. After speaking with them, we have come to a conclusion regarding the current state of affairs.”

Luna, eyes shifting around nervously, didn’t saw a word.

Page took the initiative, grinning. “Princess, the nightwatch has found absolutely nothing wrong with this place.”

Twilight nearly groaned at how cheesy the dramatic presentation was. Had they planned this whole scene while they waited? There were so many more productive things that they could have done!

“Page Inkwell,” Luna responded awkwardly, playing along, “I applaud you and your comrades for your bravery in this reconnaissance mission. I agree with your findings, and I shall see to it that your queen — no, your princess — has full reign over this territory.”

Twilight stifled a laugh. This was ridiculous! It wasn’t like—

Cheers erupted from the crowd once again. Twilight started at the sudden applause from the changelings around her. Page, Nightowl, and Skylight all let their salutes fall and grinned.

Amidst the din, Twilight noticed Luna uneasily edging over to Celestia’s side. “Did I say the right thing, sister?” she whispered.

Celestia, suppressing a fit of laughter, managed to smile. “I don’t know. They’re the nightwatch, so they’re your responsibility.”

Grinning, Twilight turned to eye the cheering crowd. Skylight and Nightowl were jabbering excitedly to each other, but Page had flown off somewhere else. Twilight quickly spotted her landing next to Red and Preston, who were staring silently at each other. It was kind of awkward.

Before Twilight could understand what was going on, Page shouted something in Preston’s ear and kicked him forward so hard that he ended up tackling Red, putting the two in a rather awkward position.

Twilight’s cheeks flushed a bit as she quickly looked away, wondering when that had started. Despite having gone through this ordeal with those ponies, she still didn’t know much about them.

Quickly finding something else to focus on, Twilight trotted up to the four alicorns. She had to push a few changelings out of the way, since they were started to mob the princesses, but she finally made her way to Chrysalis.

“Chrys—er, Aria!” She called out, trying to get her attention.

The large changeling quietly turned. Despite her intimidating appearance, her eyes held nothing but happiness. “Twilight Sparkle, Aria has been gone for over one thousand years. I’m still Chrysalis, the one responsible for the invasion of Canterlot and other incidents. I intend to take full responsibility for that, not hide behind who I used to be. Still, I can’t thank you enough. I never thought that—”

“C-can we save that for later? There’s somepony you need to see.”

Chrysalis took a deep breath. “Caesura,” she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment. “Where is she?”

“She’s in that house over there, resting. You’ll want to ask Nightowl about this.”

“Good. There’s something I have to do before she wakes up.”

As Chrysalis began to wade through the crowd, Twilight remembered something. “Hey, wait a minute! Where’s my brother?”

“Shining Armor? Oh, he’s walking down. My sister has him thoroughly whipped, it seems.”

Upon hearing her call Cadance her sister, Twilight’s heart sank. Her brother, Shining Armor, had married Cadance. Cadance was Chrysalis’ sister. So that made them….

Shuddering, Twilight turned away. Most ponies complained about their in-laws, but they weren’t dealing with the queen of the changelings.

As Twilight made her way to the other alicorns, she tried to imagine how her parents would react to this.

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Red, her cheeks reflecting her name, huffed. The crowd had begun to disperse after things died down and the alicorns left, giving Red ample time to find what she was looking for. She needed this to distract her from the fact that Page had ruined what would have been her and Preston’s first kiss, but there was somepony that she needed to find in this city. She had a score to settle.

As she opened yet another door in the deserted city, she peered inside. All of the changelings were out in the main area, leaving the city to be a veritable ghost town. It was a large building, one that reminded Red of a hospital, but instead of having a red cross emblazoned on it, it had a bright green heart. This was probably where they were keeping him.

Despite the exhaustion that threatened to sweep over her, Red stepped inside. The lobby of the building was exceptionally clean. The idea of changelings feeding on somepony still made her sick to her stomach, but she swallowed her unease and focused her attention on the door at the far end of the room.

As Red approached it, she quietly red out the sign that hung on it. “Emergency emotional rations,” she mouthed, putting her hoof on the handle. The idea of feeding from emotions still sickened her, but she fought back her nausea. “You’d better be in here.”

As she pushed it open, she was hit with an odd stench. It smelled clean, but there was something off about it that made her nose twitch. She had come to the right spot.

Red silently stepped into the large room, shutting the door behind her. Slimy green pods were strewn about aimlessly, some hanging from the ceiling and others left lying on the floor. Her legs threatened to give out beneath her, but she forced herself to stay upright. She had to look around.

Every one that she looked into had a familiar face waiting inside.

“I’m sorry, Tradewind,” she whispered to one of them before moving on the next. Each time she stopped, she apologized to the pony inside by name. It took a while, but she finally reached the one hanging in the center of the ceiling.

As she approached it, she took a deep breath. A middle-aged, yellow pegasus was suspended inside, eyes closed. The others had looked like they were enjoying a peaceful rest, but this one was curled up on himself, face frozen in an eternal grimace. His cutie mark was an illegible signature.

“Dotted Line,” she mumbled, scowling. “For you, I’m not sorry. I always thought you were the worst boss a mare could ever have, and you know what? I was right. Not many mayors manage to do what you did. Nearly start an all out war, indirectly spark an invasion on Canterlot…. You brought all of this on yourself. You brought it on everypony around you. I’m not going to lie. I almost hope that you’re never let out of there.”

As expected, there was no response.

“Look, I know you can’t hear me, but consider this my two weeks notice. No, forget that. I quit. Right here, right now. Or, actually, I’ve got something better in mind. I’m the mayor now, you know.”

Grinning to herself, Red hovered back to the ground. If Page was going to stage her own dramatic scene, there was no reason that nopony else couldn’t. She had imagined doing this ever since she had taken that thankless job, but because of what she knew, he hadn’t allowed her to quit. Anypony who knew about the secrets of Everdale had to be kept on a tight leash. In his reasoning, she might cause a riot among the townsponies if she told them the truth.

With a determined huff, Red pushed the memories out of her thoughts. “Hey, Dotted Line?.”

Red stood on the other side of the doorway, smirking arrogantly at the pod in the center of the room.

“You’re fired!”

She slammed the door.

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Page scowled at Nightowl, who shrunk under her intense glare. Beside him, an undisguised changeling did the same. Skylight Dreamer was his name, though he had been hesitant to give it. It was like he didn’t want anypony to know.

“So you never even thought to tell me what was going on this whole time?!” Page scolded. She wasn’t nearly as upset as she pretended to be, but she just wanted to watch the two of them squirm. It was odd to think that she had spent more time with this changeling that she had with Nightowl. A bit unsettling, too.

“W-we couldn’t!” Nightowl protested, starting to shake a bit. “If Princess Chrysalis somehow found out, we’d be doomed! And Page, you know how bad you are with keeping secrets!”

“Oh, so you don’t trust me, is that it?” Page had to try not to burst out into laughter. “I see how it is, partner! Maybe the nightwatch needs a little reassignment. Yeah, I think we should start thinking about how many ponies we need on shift. It’s not two, I’ll tell you that.”

“W-wait, what? No, you can’t be serious about—”

“We need three.”

Having finally given up her act, Page rolled over onto the rocky floor and let loose the tidal wave of laughter she’d been holding back.

“Uh… Page, I—”

“Oh my gosh, Nightowl, you’re so gullible!” she howled, kicking wildly as she rolled around. “You think I’d be mad at you for that? Come on! If anything, you should be mad at me for not even noticing that my partner had been replaced! Jeez, you really haven’t changed in six years, have you?”

The changeling let out an uneasy laugh of his own. “I-I knew that the whole time! Heh, Nightowl, you didn’t—”

“Hey, don’t act like you weren’t scared!” Nightowl huffed indignantly. “You should know how scary she can get just as much as I do.”

Skylight swallowed air, still chuckling nervously. It seemed he was starting to relax. “O-okay, fine, maybe a little…. But, Page, did you really mean that I could—”

“Of course I meant it!” Page exclaimed, shooting back up to her hooves and flaring out her wings. “I mean, you were kinda part of the nightwatch already, it just wasn’t official. I’d say you did a good job of keeping watch, and your storytelling wasn’t that bad either. I’m pretty sure the three of us would come up with some pretty nasty tales if we put our minds to it.”

The stallion and the changeling were left speechless, neither of them sure what to say.

Page, grinning, sat back and spread her hooves out in the air like she was reading a neon sign. “I can see the headlines now! Changeling joins the Everdale nightwatch! Citizens panic and flee!”

“Hey!” Skylight cried.

Nightowl took a seat as well, looking like he was reading a newspaper. “But what’s this?! The latest headline! Everdale citizens accept changeling as one of their own and hold a parade in his honor!”

“But wait, the parade has been sabotaged! The float collapses!”

“Aha, then Princess Luna arrives and tells them all that she appointed him personally!”

Skylight, finally catching up with the two, hopped right in. “Oh no, it seems that Princess Chrysalis wants the changeling to be part of her nightwatch instead!”

Just like always, the three ponies took turns telling parts of a story and sabotaging each other. Page, holding back another fit of laughter, couldn’t help but smile.

From now on, bad things really wouldn’t happen in Everdale. The three of them were going to make sure of it.

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The world came back to Mezza in the blink of an eye. Her last memory… what was it? The Everfree Forest. Rarity. Rarity had warned her about a spy in the group, and that they needed to talk alone. But then—

“Aiiiieeee!” she screamed as her vision suddenly returned. There, standing right in front of her, was some kind of massive insect. Or a bug-pony. A monster. She had a spidery teal mane, a weird black shape, and holes in her legs, but her eyes were the most terrifying part about her. That unnatural green hue made her shudder.

“Silence!” the creature insisted, stomping a hoof on the ground.

The resulting report didn’t sound like the forest floor. In a panic, Mezza took in her surroundings. She was in some kind of torch-lit house. Was it night time? No, there was light outside, but it didn’t seem like the sun. Where in Equestria was this? This definitely wasn’t the Everfree Forest. Actually, she thought she heard some kind of chicken noise from the next room over. But more importantly, what kind of creature was this?!

“Look,” the creature grumbled irritably, “I’m not going to bother you with the details, but there’s somepony you need to talk to. If—”

“H-help! Somepony help! There’s a monster—”

Mezza’s cry for help was silenced with a bit of magic, clamping her mouth shut. Trembling, she stared up at the jagged horn the creature had. It could use magic? This was a nightmare! Yes, nothing but a nightmare! Another nightmare, just like the ones she had every night! She needed to wake up!

“Listen to me, foal! Fine…. Listen, Mezza. Just listen to me. Caesu — I mean, Dolce, is upstairs resting. I already told her everything, but she wants to talk to you. I’ll be back later to make sure you are both okay, but for now, I ask that you please refrain from screaming. Am I clear?”

Mezza had no idea how to respond. Should she go along with this creature’s lies and wait for help to come? It was obviously lying. That ill-fated trip to Everdale had been a desperate grab at thin air. Dolce… was gone.

Silently, Mezza closed her eyes. Whatever this creature did to her, she deserved it. She’d been one of worst mothers imaginable and it had taken her six years to finally face up to that fact. She hadn’t even thought about how Dolce had felt back then. A broken family and a traveling show.

Selfish, that’s what I was. I walked out on her father because we had a nasty fight, but I never thought about what Dolce felt. All that time, she’d put up with whatever was thrown her way, silently enduring. She was strong. Stronger than I’ll ever be. She even took it upon herself to make money for us to live off of. I never once thanked her. It took me six years of wallowing around in self-pity to accept what I’d done. I’ve given up on being a mother anyway. I never deserved to raise a foal.

“Are you listening to me? I’m going to let you talk now, but for goodness’ sake, please don’t scream. Okay?”

There was no point in screaming. Nopony would come to save her. The only two ponies she cared about weren’t coming. One hated her and the other might not even be alive. No, this was a fitting end for a pony like Mezza. She was alone. And she would remain that way.

She barely noticed when the spell was gone. Despite her terror, she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the monster that had abducted her.

The bug-pony, shifting about anxiously, took a deep breath. Her expressions were surprisingly relatable. “I shall leave you two to yourselves. You are her mother no matter what she says.” The monster paused, turning away. “Give her a normal life. Give her what I couldn’t.”

Before Mezza could respond to the confusing statements, the creature slipped out of the door, mane obscuring her unnatural eyes.

“Dolce…?” she whispered, breath catching in her throat. Was she referring to Dolce? What was that thing? Where was she now? Was Dolce really upstairs?

The last question was the only one that mattered. Mustering up whatever courage she had left, Mezza forced herself forward. Her joints and limbs ached, like she’d been standing on her hind legs for days, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. Her dream about Dolce had been clear. Dolce was still alive. She had to be. That dream had been the first in years. Everything else had been a nightmare.

Struggling on the steps, Mezza felt her legs begin to shake. Would Dolce hate her? Would she be happy? Would she even remember her own mother?

Silencing the questions she had, Mezza found herself at the top of the stairs. There, right in front of her, a door sat slightly ajar. This was it. This had to be it.

Holding her breath, she slowly pushed it open.

“Dolce?”

There, sitting on the side of the bed, was a dirty white mare. Her black mane was horrifyingly unkempt, almost scraggly enough to hide her horn. And there, on her flank, was a familiar image.

Two musical clefs arranged into a heart.

The sight was too much. Her legs nearly gave out on her. “Dolce…” she croaked.

The name caused the mare to turn her weary head. The eyes were familiar. Everything about her was familiar. She wasn’t just familiar… she was family. The only one she had left.

“Y-you…” the unicorn stammered hoarsely, pushing herself off of the bed. Her brow narrowed. “You…!”

There was no mistaking the hostility in her tone, but it didn’t matter. She was alive. Her strength flagging, Mezza collapsed to the floor and wept. The only words she could force out were a small apology.

“I’m so sorry, dear…. I missed you so much.”

The familiar stranger began to shake. Mezza, her watery eyes focused on her daughter, could only smile.

“Mom…? You’re….”

Words failed them. Mezza’s heavy heart finally lightened when she felt her daughter’s hoof helping her back up. Six years of loathing. Gone. Vanished into thin air.

It wasn’t going to be easy, but Mezza was relieved. She had her daughter back again. The past six years would be an obstacle in their relationship, but that wouldn’t stop her. She had a second chance.

“Mom…” Caesura croaked. She must have been crying too. “Y-you’ll… you’ll never believe what happened. I… I was a princess. B-but I messed up. I messed up so badly and everypony—”

Mezza placed a trembling hoof on her daughter’s lips to silence her. “We’ve… we’ve both made mistakes. And we’ll overcome them.

“We’ll overcome them… together. Let’s get out of here.”

“A-actually… can we stay here? Mom, I mean, Chrysalis raised me all this time.”

The word ’mom’ felt like a stab in the chest. Somepony else had adopted her? Somepony that was more fitting to be a mother, obviously.

Silently, Mezza hung her head. “A-as long as you’re okay,” she whispered, throat burning. She had to be strong. “I understand. I’ll be fine.”

“Mom… I want you to stay as well. If we left, Chrysalis would be… well, I’d feel awful. Just walking out like that. Let’s stay, mom.”

There was no proper reaction. Mezza was simply overcome by emotion. After six years, she’d been given another chance.

She wouldn’t waste this one.

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A beautiful, burning ball rose behind the Everfree Forest, bathing the land in a warm glow. Grass blew faintly in the wind, making the faint drops of dew sparkle. It was a new day, one that Twilight could fully appreciate.

“Looks like the princess is back up to snuff,” Applejack remarked idly, shifting uncomfortably in her harness. She and Rainbow were once again hauling a cart full of luggage while Twilight struggled to maintain a barrier around it. The new cart, which had been a gift from the changelings, was slightly smaller than the last one.“I’ve seen my share of sunrises, but boy, this one takes the cake!”

“Oh! Cake! That’s right!”

Twilight groaned as Pinkie began to ramble aimlessly about how much cake they were going to need for a “We’re so sorry we didn’t know you’d been replaced by an evil changeling” party for Rarity. Supplying the magic barrier with enough energy to keep it from wobbling was difficult, but it didn’t get any easier once somepony mentioned the ‘C’ word around Pinkie.

“Really now,” Rarity sighed. Her mane and tail were back to their usual style, since she had insisted on fixing herself up before she left. Everypony felt too guilty to refuse. “You needn’t throw a party for something like that. Honestly, I’m positive that Chrysalis, or whatever she decided her name was, could have done the same to any one of you without much effort!”

“I dunno about that,” Rainbow chuckled, grinning over at Applejack as they continued to pull the cart. “I mean, all she had to do was act prissy and ramble about fashion. None of us would have looked twice!”

“Take that back, you ruffian! If she replaced you, she would’ve had to simply fly around and say that everything was, as you say, ‘totally awesome’.”

“Nu-uh! She wouldn’t know the difference between awesomeness and radicalness if it bit her in the face! I’m the one and only Rainbow Dash, after all!”

Normally, Twilight would have found been upset about her friends arguing like this, but now it reminded her of why she loved them so much in the first place. They were all so unique. This was all in good fun, after all, since Twilight was sure that her friends were just as happy as she was now that everything was over.

Twilight tuned out their playful bickering for a while, simply focusing on keeping the barrier up. When she got back, she was going to pester Celestia day and night for corrected history lessons. Of course, she was going to get some sleep first, maybe even catch up with Luna as well.

After a few moments, Rainbow Dash’s voice cut through her concentration.

“Hey, Rarity, I know we’re joking around, but seriously… I’m really sorry. If—”

“Darling, that’s enough. I’ve had plenty of time sitting around doing nothing to think about things. Of course I was a bit upset, but what pony wouldn’t be? After waiting there for such a long time, I started imagining things from your point of view. I mean, if any of you had been replaced, I might have noticed a few things, but I would have chocked it up to stress or something else. Well, that was the long way to say ‘apology ‘accepted, I believe.”

Applejack groaned a little. “I still feel bad. But hey, all’s well that ends well, right y’all?”

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Rainbow chuckled. “It’s still kind of embarrassing. But hey, not as embarrassing as that love letter Preston wrote. Seriously, I’m surprised he could show his face after writing something as schmoozy like that!”

Pinkie frowned, tilting her head. “What love letter?”

“Did you take a smack to the head or something? You know, the love letter! The one I found outside of the jail? I’m pretty sure you were there, Pinkie.”

“Oh, that one! Preston didn’t write that one, you silly filly!”

Twilight’s concentration was broken for a moment. If Preston didn’t write that letter, who did? The writing was kind of awkward, from what she remembered, but what did that mean?

Rainbow, flapping her wings in frustration, kept pulling the cart without giving Pinkie another glance. “Let me guess. It’s something only you noticed, but decided to keep quiet about this whole time. Seriously, Pinkie, why can’t you say these things earlier?”

“Because this is more fun!”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll bite. Who wrote it then?”

“Queen meanie, of course! You see, me and Gummy like to send secret messages back and forth to each other all of the time, and trust me, he’s a master at cryptograms! You know what those are right? Anyway, that letter was a message from Chrysalis to Caesura. At first, I didn’t know who it was from, but now I imagine that it was supposed to be some kind of signal for Caesura to break out of jail and head for Eccondale, but it didn’t really pan out like that in the end. I didn’t make a copy of it, since that would’ve been totally rude, but if you take the first letter of every sentence, using paragraph breaks as spaces, you get the following:

“Come home Caesura.”

“What?!” Twilight barked. “You…! For Celestia’s sake, Pinkie, why didn’t you say something?!”

Fluttershy, hovering around the suitcases, began to murmur something.

Twilight blinked. “What was that Fluttershy?”

“Th-the… the suitcase is—”

Twilight immediately knew what she meant. With her barrier, she could feel the suitcase on top beginning to tip over. Desperately, remembering what had happened on the way here, Twilight tried to focus all of her energy into correcting it. Thanks to everything that had happened recently, she was absolutely exhausted, rendering her helpless against the simple power of gravity.

“Girls, look out!” Twilight cried as the pink suitcase fell to the ground.

It fell with a quiet clunk, landing harmlessly on the ground and bursting open. A large assortment of balloons escaped, flying off in every direction..

“W-wait,” Twilight stammered, glancing back and forth before the suitcase and Pinkie. “Wasn’t that suitcase—”

“Full of bricks? Nah, I only packed one of those. I don’t need bricks as much as I need balloons. The others were full of supplies to make those totally fun protest signs! So I just repacked a little.”

With a flourish, Pinkie trotted over and tossed the now empty suitcase back onto the pile, leaving all of her friends slack-jawed. Twilight may have solved the most needlessly convoluted mystery she’d ever encountered, but she was still leagues from solving the enigma that was Pinkamena Diane Pie.

The six mares shared a few laughs as they continued on. Everything seemed back to normal, even with Rainbow Dash constantly asking if they were almost back in Ponyville yet.

As Twilight thought back, she couldn’t help but be amazed at how they had gotten here. They had only showed up at Everdale to figure out what happened to some disappearing ponies, but one thing led to another, and the next thing Twilight knew she was trying to keep Celestia from going berserk.

Sighing, Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes. She would think on it later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that everything had turned out fine. She had her friends, her mentor, and had saved a city or two.

Maybe she wasn't such a bad detective after all. At least, not when she had her friends to help her.