>”I’m sure you understand” my fuckin’ ass
>I mean, yeah, you get the secrecy part since he was pretty explicit about it before he left ponyville
>but zero explanation on what your up to
>though if you had to guess it’s gonna be a princess meet up
>but why the hell would you need applejack
>sure, bringing a buddy is nice, but considering the topic of all this wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to NOT bring her?
>she had just about no involvement in any of this
>whatever, doctor’s orders…

>you know, having next to no breaks inbetween major world ending events and debilitating illnesses is starting to fuck with you
>not in a “oh god im so traumatized” way, but more like  “damn i haven’t eaten/slept/showered in a while” 
“Yo, AJ, we got an early morning tomorrow, heading to canterlot for a super top secret mission”
>she looks at you with a deadpan stare
…
>”you better get y’er chores done BEFORE we leave ‘non...”
>;_;

>the early morning train was actually pretty comfy
>you’ve only been waking up earlier ever since applejack forced you into slavary doing these “chores”
>but to actually have the time to look at the orange glow on the horizon was a whole other deal
>plus the colder temperature in the early mornings felt pretty good 
>but now that you’re on the train with nothing but time to kill you’ve got some thinking to do
>if you’re right in assuming you’re all going to meet with Celestia, do you tell AJ everything now or wait and let shining armour do all the talking?
…
>easier to let him do it
>especially since you’re not sure what’s gonna be talked about anyways
>considering how secretive shining wanted to be, who knows if he’s gonna tell her everything or if he’s gonna hold back some details
>even more reason to not tell AJ anything
>”so anon, why in equestria would they need either of us for a meeting with the princesses?”
>half-truth meta works everytime
“AJ, I have no real clue why exactly they need us but it sounds important enough to not skip”
>”heh, maybe it’s an award ceremony for ya”
>oh that would be so cool
>actually, now that you think of it-
>oh no wait celestia doesn’t know of your involvement so it’s probably NOT an award ceremony
“I sure would love to have a sick medal”
>”well whatever it is, this whole ordeal that’s been goin’ on has set us back a week chore wise”
>”so once we’re finished, we’re gonna need to seriously get on it with all the work we’ve got back logged”
>”uhg, if this streak keeps goin’ on ah might have to hire somepony or two, actually maybe a better idea would be to ask a few relatives to come over, we’re in a tight spot and it sure would be nice to have the help”
“Sounds like a good plan”

>sleeping on trains is usually easier when you’re sleep deprived like last time, so that was boring as hell
>at least you made it to canterlot within a decent amount of time

>https://youtu.be/XDWZKIytZTI (from all walks of life)

>when you stepped off the train you saw 3 familiar faces
>shining, cadence, and best buddy doc
>but for some weird reason there’s a fourth that you don’t know
“So um, who’s she?”
>shining answers in a hushed tone
>”that’s not important right now, what IS important is that we get to the castle on time because YOU were late”
>so much for making it within decent time…

>as you made way to the castle you had some questions
>too bad shining armour’s being bitchy, so lets not poke the bear
>what in the hell is gonna happen now?
>seriously you were banking on shining armour explaining the whole situation to AJ
>shit, let’s hope she’s got nerves of steel because this might be quite a few bombshells for her

>the 6 of you make way into the castle and notice a lack of guards inside
>the doors close behind you leaving all of you in a quiet castle with an eerily pissed looking princess

>https://youtu.be/zgZoPQ7Lhr8 (okay how fucked are we?)

>”shining armour, would you PLEASE tell me why you brought guests to our PRIVATE discussion”
>off to a bad start already, the rest of you tense up and look at flick your eyes towards him
>”Princess, I need you to trust me when I say these guests are going to be very important in a moment, you can trust them the same way you trust me and Cadence”
>Celestia lets out a sigh and looks out the window
>”even if i didn’t it would hardly matter at this point”
>”Vanhoover’s on complete lockdown, no one goes in and no one goes out”
>”this isn’t going to be a secret for much longer anyways as the news spreads”
>she looks back to shining armour
>”I’m sure your aware of what happened when we had to flee to canterlot”
>”that illness wasn’t a one time thing it seems”
>”I hate to say this but even after we weakened our enemies abroad, we still may not have the resources or time to take care of this mess”
>”even after calling on every nation I could think of to lend us aid I have yet to get a single response from any of them”
>she turns back to face the rest of you
>”under normal circumstances I would have much more to say”
>”but considering your ‘friends’ it would be VERY unwise for me to continue”
>she looks at the three of you quizzically
>”well, I’m sure Cadence and shining armour brought you here for a reason”
>something about this feels like it is NOT going to plan and you are sweating bullets
>thank god the other lady spoke
>”I.. I might know why the other nations haven’t responded princess…”
>she shrinks her head down and undisguizes herself
>hoooooly fuck this feels like a BAD plan
>celestia raises her head and looks to shining armour on the brink of fury
>if it wasn’t for her hushed tone you would probably be shaking right now
>”what in EQUESTRIA were you thinking shining!”
>”you better have a real good explanation for this because this is bordering treason…”
>shining armour was definitely shaking and trying to push out a response
>thankfully chrysalis spoke up
>”WAIT, please, I understand you’re angry, but I think I know what’s going on outside equestria”
>celestia gives her a stern look 
>”speak…”
>chrysalis shrinks her head slightly lower
>”I, I think what’s going on in vanhoover is the same thing that happened to me”
>”this disease, it isn’t normal, it starves you to feed off only to grow stronger and leave”
>celestia looks like she’s on the verge of murder
>”that is EXACTLY what a normal disease does”
>chrysalis panicks
>”no, NO, I mean, it thinks, it SPOKE TO ME!”
>”it, it’s spreading across nations, I heard it speak about griffons and zebra’s and kirin but that’s all I could hear, I know it wasn’t delusions because when it left, it manifested as this dark pony with red eyes, but made of that dark cloud it first came as”
>celestia looked at her only a tiny bit less pissed
>”PLEASE, you have to believe me, i lost EVERYTHING, you know I wouldn’t help you in any other circumstance so you know I’m being truthful when i say this, right?”
>celestia closes her eyes and pushes air out of her nose
>”how did you find her…”
>that question seems to fall on either shining, doc, or you
>it was taking way too long for either of them to speak and you could feel the tension
>if none of you spoke she was going to who knows what
“Um, we found her almost dead on her castle floor…”
>celestia turns her head to you
>”who are you anyways”
“Anon.. anonymous, princess…”
>her anger seems to fade almost completely when she hears this
>”huh, like the anonymous twilight wrote to me about?”
“Y-yeah, I live in ponyville at the moment so, that’s, probably me…”
>”well… I’m sorry this is how we had to meet each other”
>she turns back to shining armour
>”how long ago did this happen”
>he tries his hardest to keep a calm face
>”only two days ago princess”
>she gets that almost murder face on her again
>”there is no way you could have gotten her before the pre-emptive strike”
>”are you telling me, as one of my highest ranking military commanders, you went behind my back and did some kind of secret mission without me knowing”
>”and to top it all off, you come here and throw that in my face?”
>oh this is a fucking NIGHTMARE scenario…
>doc interjects suddenly
>”wait, princess, we found a cure because of this mission, I swear”
>this alone drops the majority of your worries
>this better not be a bluff or your probably getting executed
>celestia’s expression doesn’t change as she looks to him
>”how can you be so sure…”
>he swallows before speaking
>”we… anonymous and I… we gathered as many samples as we could of the disease… we didn’t plan on finding chrysalis, it just happened when we explored the cave”
>”when we parted ways I did a number of experiments on the substance as well as chrysalis and found that those depleted crystals did wonders against the disease, far more so than it does on the host”
>Celestia’s expression doesn’t change
>”you can’t be serious, that stuff is industrial waste, it’s quite literally poison to us”
>the doctor shrinks back slightly
>”y-yes, but if taken in a much smaller dose, it kills off the disease while leaving the host only temporarliy weak or bedridden at worst”
>”I was confident enough to even test it myself while fully healthy to prove it”
>he opens the pouch on his saddle bag
>”I have enough here for about 500 ponies”
>celestia’s expression starts to soften
>”and you’re absolutely certain this is enough to cure it?”
>he raises his head back up gaining a bit more confidence
>”I’m certain, this disease feeds off of magic, not food or energy like a normal disease, although it looks extremly similar when comparing this to another common illness”
>”if it wasn’t for anon’s case of it I likely wouldn’t have realized that so soon”
>celestia takes the bag from him
>”are you sure that one pill is going to be neither too much or too little for anypony who takes it, even foals or heavier ponies?”
>the doctor stands with full confidence
>”I promise it is, this disease is a lot weaker than it looks and our bodies are a lot more ressiliant against a dose of drained crystals this small then the disease ever could be”
…
>celestia lets out a very large sigh

>”well, that settles that then”
>”it settles a lot of things actually”
>her whole demeanor has changed
>”you know shining, if you had just told me you had a plan to find a cure I would have fully supported it”
>”throwing these two straight into changeling territory was just reckless, I could have easily arranged for them to be escorted by the entire army that was heading there already”
>”seriously, if it wasn’t for this disease ravaging that place it wouldn’t have ended well for those two”
>”in the future, please understand that I’m capable of seeing the value of something like this”
>”let’s not have this happen again”
>”the secrecy, not the major accomplishments, keep those coming”
>her mood seems to be a lot better than it was before
>a massive relief for both you and everyone else
>”just one last thing”
>she looks directly at shining armour
>”why did you pick anonymous for this job? I mean he lives all the way in ponyville? Couldn’t you have gotten just about anypony else for the job, it seemed pretty menial anyways”
>shining armour makes his point, still feeling a little guilty about the secrecy behind the mission
>”honestly, if i told you I don’t think you would believe me”
>she tilts her head in confusion
>”oh come on, out of everything i’ve heard today I’m quite sure this won’t be too surprising”
>he fidgets a bit trying to come up with an answer
>”well… how about you ask him yourself”
>everyone turns to you
>oh shining armour you dick wad
>they look at you expecting a good answer
>and you have a good answer but it’s such a curve ball you’re not sure how the princess is gonna take it
“Oh, um, well, so, I, uh”
>you fidget with your hands
“When uh, big mac, kinda left for the crystal empire, like conscripted, for the war I-”
>”OH COME ON ANON, JUST TELL ‘ER HOW YAH KICKED HIS FLANK, KNOCKED THAT DANG HORN RIGHT OFF HIS NOGGIN!”
>everyone turns towards applejack who you forgot was even here
>celestia turns back to you
>”I don’t mean to be rude anonymous but… how could you have possibly done that?”
>cadence comes to your defense
>”he showed me himself when he came to the crystal empire after the trains left”
>”it’s quite the sight to see”
>celestia looks between you and cadence almost dumbfounded
>”I’m sorry, am I missing something here?”
>cadence proceeds to go on quite possibly the most boring story about all the stuff you did
>the only parts you paid attention to were the pauses between her sentances
>by the time she finished you felt about ready to head home
>no loose ends no nothing
>great work team lets GTFO-
>”anonymous can i talk with you in private before you leave?”
>mmmmmmmmmFUCK
“Sure princess wha-”
>”oh please, call me Celestia”
“oh, right, what’s up celestia?”
>she looks at you a little funny
>”you seem to be a bit of an accomplished individual it seems”
>damn right
>”and I’m glad to have finally figured out exactly how sombra fell, I had initially assumed it to be dumb luck or that he pushed himself too far somehow”
>her demeanor changes to dread for a moment
>”but there’s something very terrifying about only surviving by pure chance”
>”I hope you can understand how I feel when I ask you this, but may I take your um, ‘rifle’ in for research?”
>a perfect idea hits you
“I can actually do you one better, I have the blueprints for everything back home, I can probably send in that and you could easily make as many as you needed”
>a big smile spreads on her face
>”that would be perfect anonymous, thank you”