Welcome to the end of the first arc. Next chapter is another Interlude that shows what Team JNPR is up to now, but then we'll kick off the second arc with Mirror Mirror.

For a few tense seconds nothing happened.

Yang stood with her eyes forward, looking at nothing as she took long breaths. She closed her fingers into a tight fist and felt the satisfying pop of her knuckles. It felt nice to finally be out of that forest.

She finally looked at the ponies gathered before her. Eight of them, stallions, all looked exactly the same with their white coat and golden armor. She obviously recognized Apple Bloom and Applejack, but the final pony was a stranger.

The new purple pony was an alicorn, evident by her wings and horn. Her mane was a dark shade of violet, split down the middle by a streak of pink. This alicorn looked at Yang with a strange expression. She showed no fear, no confusion, simply shock.

That's when Yang realized that she had put all of her attention on the alicorn and had allowed the eight Guards to surround her. One barked at her, "Get on the ground!"

Yang said nothing and simply nodded as she got down on her knees. She heard the Guards asking her questions, but she didn't answer.

"Whose blood is that?"

"Did you take this filly into the forest?"

Several more questions followed but the human ignored all of them. Yang simply tilted her head down and sighed. "She's safe," Yang whispered, just loud enough for the guards to hear.

"Apple Bloom's safe."

With her hands magically bound, Yang was lead back to the Apple Family's house and put in the guest room, at Applejack's insistence. The farmer told the Guards that Yang wasn't dangerous and that it was all a misunderstanding.

But Yang still said nothing. When pressed for information all she would say was "Poachers in the forest," which prompted two guards to investigate. The remaining six made sure that Yang never left her room.

Yang sat at the edge of the bed with her hands still bound behind her back. She was still covered in blood, of which most of it had dried. It was a pain to move, as it clung to her skin and clothing. This entire situation was a bitch.

The door to the room opened with a loud creak. Yang looked up and saw a white stallion in golden armor walk in. One of the Guards. This one was a unicorn, as evidenced by the horn protruding from his head.

"Hello," he said as the door closed. His voice could be described as pleasant, a happy and chipper tone even as he stared an alien being in the eyes. "I'm Captain Flowers."

Yang nodded stiffly. "Yang."

Flowers smiled brightly and used his magic to pull out a chair, which he sat in. "Yes, I know who you are. Your friend filled us in. I must say, very impressive weapons you have there."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Uh... Thanks?"

Flowers laughed lightly, his horn sparking to life with a light blue glow. Yang felt her wrists separate and found she was able to move her hands again. Flowers smiled. "Sorry about that. My men just wanted to make sure you wouldn't try to attack."

Rubbing one of her wrists, Yang glared at the unicorn. "Yeah, yeah..." She mumbled with annoyance.

"Anyway, if you don't mind, Yang," Flowers leaned forward, his smile never fading. "I'd just love to know what went down in the Everfree today! Because to be honest..." Still with a smile, his happy eyes turned dark. "An alien walking out of a dangerous forest, covered in blood? That's more than a little suspicious."

Yang blinked. "Apple Bloom got lost. I went in to get her."

Still smiling, Flowers shook his head slowly. "Now, you see, we both know that there's more to that story." He used a hoof to gesture at Yang. "Where'd all that blood come from, hm? Apple Bloom doesn't have a scratch on her. And some of that red looks newer than the rest. Now why don't you try again, Yang? And please don't leave anything out."

Yang sighed as she crossed her arms. "Alright, fine."

And so Yang told Captain Flowers everything. From the manticore fight straight through killing Culus. She made sure to emphasize that his death was an accident. At the end of Yang's story, Flowers simply smiled and clapped his hooves together.

"That wasn't so hard, was it? I can assure you, Yang, the death of the poacher can be written up as a monster attack. As you're not of this world, I can't exactly charge you with accidental murder."

Yang rolled her eyes as Flowers got out of his chair and began walking around the room, continuing to talk. "And you so admirably risked your life to protect the filly. That's courage that only the bravest of heroes show, Ms Xiao Long." Yang raised an eyebrow at the use of her last name but the captain ignored it. "For that, I hope you will believe me when I say that you have done no wrong. You will have to be monitored, of course, but that is only a precaution. It won't last, I promise."

Nothing about this felt right.

Despite the uneasy feeling in jet gut, Yang nodded. "And the poachers?"

Flowers walked over to the lone window that was in the wall behind Yang. "We'll send in a few guards and round up as many as we can. Those papers you mentioned will be a great deal of help."

She let out a long breath through her nose. This guy spoke in such an off putting way... too friendly. "Okay."

The human stood and turned to face Flowers, who walked up to Yang with his big ol' grin still plastered on his face. He stuck a hoof out. "It was such a pleasure meeting you, Yang."

Yang nodded and made a noise that sounds vaguely like a "yeah" as she shook his hoof. The two parted, and Flowers saluted with a hoof before he trotted towards the door. He opened it and began exiting, but suddenly stopped and turned back to Yang.

"Oh, and by the way... I hear that some salt and cold water work wonders for blood stains."

Yang gave a half hearted grin and a short nod as Flowers smiled again and closed the door behind him.

Canterlot was a massive city, sitting on the side of the tallest mountain in a great show of elegant architecture. The spiraling towers peaked just above the clouds and the buildings framed the city perfectly.

Upon further inspection, many ponies were walking through the busy streets, in a hurry to get home at the end of a very long day. Weary from work or, rarely, excited for a night's worth of events, Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies all rushed past each other.

Every one of them lived their lives right next to one another without speaking to each other. It was rather sad, when given some thought. Lonely, such a lifestyle could become.

Loneliness was such a cold feeling. With everyone right beside you but just out of your reach, every friendship denied by the cruel wall of fate, the cold would eventually turn to numbness.

And no one knew that better than Princess Luna.

In her long life, she had of course had friends. Her sister, Celestia, was of course the one constant in the thousands of years they had lived. But the others, the ponies and griffons and others that Luna had befriended, were mortal.

They would grow old, wither and die all too soon. And then the population of Equestria began their admiration of her sister - something that, at the time, had not been paid to Luna equally.

The 1,000 years spent on the moon brought another meaning to the word "lonely". Nopony to talk to except herself and that thing would drive anypony mad. But now, in these modern times after her return, ponies were much more open to Princess Luna.

In her brief time back, she had made a few friends, like Twilight Sparkle and her friends. But still, none of them could truly comprehend the loneliness that Luna had endured.

Nopony could understand.

She was the loneliest of all.

Arc Two: Mirror, Mirror

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