Meanwhile, in the Bad Lands, Cadence and Twilight were talking to keep each other from focusing on their surroundings and going nuts.
"Why is the queen returning to Equestria now?" Twilight wondered aloud.
"Maybe she's taking advantage of the confusion over the Autumn Evening Celebration?" Cadence suggested.
"But how could she know about it? Only ponies in Equestria know about it."
"Think. Is there any way that the word could have gotten out of Equestria?"
"No…" She reflected back to the day she had heard about it. Celestia had suddenly summoned both Twilight and Luna. The three had met in the hall connecting to Canterlot Tower.
"Princess Celestia," Twilight began. "Why did you ask us here?"
"Yes, sister," Luna added. "What's the word?"
"Well," Celestia began. "Since the exile of Nightmare Moon, we have had a thousand years-"
"One thousand and three" Luna and Twilight corrected in unison.
"Pardon me, one thousand and three years' worth of Summer Sun Celebrations. Now that we have a princess of the moon and a princess of the stars, I think it is high time that there was a celebration for the night." Both the other ponies gasped.
"Do you really mean it, sister?" Luna couldn't hide her excitement.
"Yes, Luna. Like you always told me, the night is beautiful, and should be celebrated, and now it will be. We'll call it the Autumn Evening Celebration." The three began to excitedly chatter about details.
"Nopony except the three of us were in the room, except… The intern!" Twilight exclaimed.
"What intern?" Cadence asked.
"A pegasus pony came to the castle and volunteered to help Celestia, at least while she was planning the celebration. Nopony had seen him before. He must have been a changeling spy."
"The more I hear, the more I think that this whole thing was a plot to get me, so I don't defeat Chrysallis again, and to get you so she can take your place."
"I agree. I can only imagine what-" At that moment, a changeling walked in. The two ponies shrunk back.
"Follow me." He commanded, leading the two outside.
"Where are we going?"
"We thought you might like some exercise. Just don't try anything."
"Take his advice," Cadence whispered to Twilight. "When they first brought me here, they put me down and I tried to fly away, but then they stuck my wings to my body with changeling residue." She turned and showed the green goo under both her wings.
Twilight gulped. "Thanks for the notice. I'm sorry about your wings."
Walking outside wasn't much better than the dungeon. In fact, it was worse. The whole aura of the place was dark. The sky was dark, the buildings were dark, and civilians either scowled to each other as they passed or began fighting.
"It's awful here."
"The changelings are understandably irritable, since food has been scarce. I would help them any way I could if they fed on anything besides love..." Cadence replied ruefully.
"Can't you perform your love spell?"
"I already tried, but apparently Equestria magic is almost completely ineffective here in the Bad Lands. They have to find love on their own."
"I see..." Twilight frowned. Suddenly, a couple of holes had formed on one of her wings.
"Twilight, your wing!" Cadence gasped.
"What?" Twilight lifted it, and saw the holes. "Oh no! They're just like the ones that the changelings have all over their bodies."
"They must form whenever sadness overtakes them. You have to keep positive, or you'll get more."
"Right." Twilight groaned, looking at the holes. "This is where Pinkie Pie would come in handy..."
"Just remember, all it takes to turn a bad situation around is a smile or a laugh." Cadence paused, and then started singing a random, silly song, just like Pinkie. Both burst out laughing. One of the holes seemed to shrink a little bit.
"That's it! Just keep a positive attitude, and misery will stop wearing on you."
The changeling who had been leading them hid his own small smile. He turned. "Alright. Back to the dungeon."