Mayday wished to fly back on her newly healed wings, so Con Mane piloted the Spectre airship back to the mainland as his partner flew alongside. Rarity had decided to travel back with Fancypants, and Con Mane had been true to his word, purchasing several bulging chests of Sun's Tears for the giddy unicorn.

After Con Mane docked the Spectre in its secret hangar, the agents debriefed at the CIA's headquarters before heading to Canterlot Castle to report their findings to Princess Celestia. They eventually tracked her down at the Canterlot Archives, where Celestia, Luna, and Star Swirl were all still scouring texts. Twilight Sparkle had fallen asleep and lay curled up next to a book.

"Your highness, we have completed that special assignment regarding Project Krustallos," Con Mane said, bowing to the princesses. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was the Crystal Princess, heir to the Crystal Empire, a magical land that had been cursed by an evil unicorn sorcerer and hadn't been seen for nearly a thousand years. Project Krustallos was the CIA's ongoing project to ensure that if the Empire ever returned, Cadence, or her future descendants, would be ready to help reclaim it.

"Was the target what you feared?" Celestia asked.

Con Mane shook his head. "No, your highness. She was perfectly normal as far as we could see. A little self-conscious about her appearance, apparently, though."

Luna giggled. "Didn't I see thee on Mareay, 'Joe?'"

Con Mane nodded. "Yes, we were there to investigate Mareay's princess, In Hoc Signo Vinces."

Star Swirl frowned. "What for?"

Con Mane glanced at Twilight Sparkle and Celestia nodded at him to proceed. "The company was assigned to make sure nothing goes wrong at the royal wedding. We were going through the guest list and she triggered some red flags, so we went out there tonight to investigate."

Mayday nudged her partner, "It wasn't a total waste. Donut Boy here spent several weeks pay buying Sun's Tears for Rarity."

Celestia's eyes lit up. "You bought Sun's Tears for Rarity?  Ooh, I can't wait to see what she does with them!"

Mayday grinned. "Rarity is a pretty cool mare. She getting me a lunch date set up with Rainbow Dash, too."

Mayday looked at Star Swirl. "The princess claimed that you are her uncle. Was that true?"

Both princesses stared curiously at the old wizard. Star Swirl sighed. "My apologies for keeping this from you two. I know I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't bring myself to confess."

"What did you do, Star Swirl?" Celestia asked, concerned.

"When I visited the future where the Unliving Queen had ruled," Star Swirl slowly said, "I found a foal in her castle. In Hoc Signo Vinces. Her mother was gone, we defeated her and she was never going to make it back to her daughter. I.. I just couldn't leave her there. When I cast a spell to return, my magic brought me back to this timeline, however it had brought me years into the past. As we know, unicorn magic happens for a reason. I entrusted her to the Order of the Eclipse on Mareay and instructed them to strike her down if she ever showed any signs of evil. I've been observing her as she has grown, there never appeared to be any danger from that one, and so I kept my silence."

"Who was the father?" Luna asked.

Star Swirl shrugged. "I do not know. She had nopony that I could see. I... do not want to think about how she was even made. Somepony was deranged enough to bed the Unliving Queen? Ugh. The very thought is sickening."

The other ponies in the room nodded in agreement.

"Well, Star Swirl," Celestia sternly said, "What am I to do with you. You brought the daughter of the Unliving Queen back here, and didn't tell us? That's the kind of thing that I would want to know about!"

"My apologies, Princess Celestia," Star Swirl said. "I do not believe there is any threat from her though. Why, she is even getting married. She is quite normal, I assure you."

"We'll see," Celestia said with a sigh. "But I have my doubts."

Celestia turned to address the two agents. "Equestria thanks you for your service on this matter, you are dismissed."

After Con Mane and Mayday had left, Celestia bopped Star Swirl on the horn. "You old wizard! Any more surprises I need to know about?"

"None that I am aware of, Princess Celestia, Winny is a sweetheart, believe me. We shall not see any trouble from her," Star Swirl said while rubbing his horn.

Celestia laughed. "I believe you, I just don't like my friends keeping secrets, especially one of this magnitude. The Unliving Queen's daughter.. You are one crazy wizard, Star Swirl. If it had been anypony else that was involved, I would have sent an army to attack her at once. Since your magic brought you to a specific time in the past, clearly something must be planned for her that requires her to be a certain age at a certain time..."

Star Swirl smiled. "Thank you for your vote of confidence, Celestia. Yes, I concur that she likely has a role she has yet to play. I have difficulty imagining just what that will be, but I find it highly interesting."

"This was only my second time attending the festival on Mareay since I came back from the moon," Luna said. "I never noticed anything strange. However, didst thou not attend in my place, Celestia?"

"Indeed I did. I never sensed anything amiss with Princess Winny. She always seemed like a normal pony to me. Nice blonde mane, crisp white coat, just like our nephew, Blueblood. Winny has an unfortunate fondness for wearing armor, though," Celestia replied.

"Even if she herself may not be a threat, the corruptive entity may seek her out," Luna warned. "As we all know from my own experiences with it, benign magic can quickly be twisted for evil, and Winny is a unicorn. The daughter of one of the most powerful, corrupted unicorns at that."

Star Swirl nodded thoughtfully.

"Luna, please stay here and watch Twilight Sparkle." Celestia ordered. "Star Swirl, let us go see this niece of yours."

Luna watched the slumbering Twilight and glanced towards a clock. "No, sister. I can use my magic to see who she truly is. If she has been corrupted, I should be able to see without a doubt. You and Star Swirl can continue searching the books."

Celestia knew what her sister intended and smiled. "Very well, Luna."

Luna conjured herself up a feather mattress and laid down upon it. She closed her eyes and began to channel a spell that would allow her to visit the dreams of anypony that was asleep. As the spell finished, Luna opened her eyes and found herself floating in the night sky, surrounded by scores of faintly glowing orbs of energy that twinkled like stars. Each orb contained the dream world of a slumbering pony. Luna whispered, "Twilight Sparkle."

The orb containing Twilight's dream appeared before her and Luna smiled at what she saw. Twilight was dreaming of herself and Princess Celestia walking through an enormous library. Luna moved Twilight's orb to the side and summoned forth Winny's. Luna placed her hooves on the orb and transported herself inside the dream.

Luna dispersed her body into an invisible mist and looked around her surroundings. Luna recognized the location as being the isle of Mareay. She hovered into the air as the princess, clad in golden armor, merrily skipped along a path down towards a docked ship, holding suitcases in her magical grasp. Luna moved towards the ship, it was a great galleon but only one pony was aboard. Star Swirl stood on the deck in an admiral's uniform. Winny headed up the gangplank, and as she neared the top, the ship suddenly pulled away and headed to sea.

The luggage fell to the ground and Winny stared at the departing ship. Her head hung low, she began to slowly walk back to her castle, a trail of tears falling from her helmet. Winny headed into the castle garden and laid down in front of a big beech tree. Winny used her magic to pluck blackberries from nearby bushes, then removed her helmet to eat the berries. Luna, being an expert on dreams, was saddened to see there was just nothing there. She thought to herself, Somepony has low self-esteem...

A winged serpent began winding down the trunk of the beech tree. The scales of the serpent shimmered in a rainbow pattern and it coiled onto the ground in front of WInny. The serpent began to speak in the tongue of the ancient ponies and Winny held her hoof up to the serpent's lips.

"I know. I know..." Winny replied. Winny shook her head slowly. "Death conquers all."

The serpent bit at WInny's flank and clanged off her armor. The serpent scolded her. "Behold! Death is nothing to us!"

Winny looked towards her rear and sighed. "I don't know about all that. I'm just a plain old unicorn."

The serpent shook its head and vanished. Winny continued to eat berries, and Luna deduced the dream had ended. Her mist form coalesced and she set down outside the walls of the garden. Luna knocked against a gate and smiled as Winny jumped in obvious fright.

Winny's tail twitched in terror and she hurriedly put her helmet back on and nervously asked, "Hello?"

"It is I, Princess Luna, may I come in?" Luna said.

"P-princess Luna? Yes, of course! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Winny asked.

"My duty as Equestria's nighttime guardian and my love for my subjects requires me to venture forth into the dream world, to make sure all is well there, too, and help them with problems, if I can," Luna explained. "I have seen many, many dreams and nightmares, and I do believe thou hath had this dream before, correct? I believe I had looked at your dreams before in passing, and I apologize for not arriving sooner."

Winny nodded. "Yes, I began having this dream earlier this year. Can you tell me what it means?"

Luna smiled. "I could, but I would rather hear thine explanation."

Winny looked towards the docks. "Well, it always starts with me preparing to go on a trip with my uncle Star Swirl. I've heard and read so many stories about him, I guess I just want to go on an adventure. I always get left behind though, and it breaks my heart."

Winny turned to the beech tree. "I start eating blackberries by this tree, then the serpent comes and talks to me. I don't fear it, but it talks about death. I don't know why, but it points towards my flank and says to look at it, that death means nothing to us. Really weird."

"What do you think it means?" Luna asked.

Winny laughed. "Honestly, I have no idea! What is your take on it, your highness?"

"I think you are lonely and you desperately want to find friends, and it would be wise for thee to take heed. There are few forces more powerful than that of friendship," Luna softly said.

"But what If they don't want me?" Winny asked.

"'If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky. Who knows? Maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow.' My sister's protégé, Twilight Sparkle wrote that," Luna said.

Luna used her magic to conjure a rainbow in the sky as Winny looked up. Luna smiled at her. "I shall bid thee good night, In Hoc Signo Vinces. Remember, never give up on the glory of friendship. It is worth it, just ask Twilight Sparkle."

Winny hugged Luna. "Thank you, Princess Luna, and good night!"

Luna dismissed her dream magic and woke up in the Canterlot Archives. She yawned and stretched her wings as Celestia and Star Swirl hurried to her side.

"What did you learn?" Celestia asked.

"She is lonely, self-conscious. She doesn't really know who she is," Luna said. "There were many symbols in the dream suggesting such. In the dream, which she said she's had before, a winged serpent descends from a beech tree and talks to her in the ancient pony tongue. She and the serpent talk about death. It also points towards her cutie mark and says, 'Death is nothing to us.' What is her cutie mark, Star Swirl?"

"It's of a dragon. One of the Unliving Queen's knightly orders used the same symbol. The Order of the Undying Dragon, I believe it was called," Star Swirl replied.

"I see. Then her talent may be related to necromancy?" Luna asked.

Star Swirl nodded. "Remember that necromancy is not always used for evil. Winny received her cutie mark after an accident aboard a fishing vessel. A pony had been severely wounded and they raced back to Mareay. Winny, just a filly, galloped down to the pier to help. As she lay her hooves upon the fisherpony, she spontaneously cast some sort of healing spell, mending the poor pony's wounds. She saved his life and earned her cutie mark."

"Is she a threat?" Celestia asked.

Luna shook her head. "There was no darkness there. I can't see her following in her mother's evil hoofsteps, either. However, anything is possible. Even I fell prey to corruption."

Star Swirl frowned. "You're right, and I feel like a foal for bringing her here. What was I thinking! I shall watch over her, since I was the old foal that brought her here and she is therefore my burden. Speaking of which, back to the matter at hoof: Insidiosus Diabolicus...."