//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Tea And Secrets 
// Story: Pandemic 
// by ASGeek2012 
//------------------------------//

Of all the disasters Starlight Glimmer had anticipated concerning high tea with Princess Celestia, she encountered something far more dreadful than any she had imagined: boredom.

Starlight managed not to sigh as she levitated her cup of tea and took a sip. Not being much of a tea drinker in the first place, she had nursed her first cup while Twilight and Celestia were on their third. For perhaps the tenth time she tried to shoot Twilight an imploring look, but her alicorn friend continued to go on and on and on in her discussion with Celestia about the changeling negotiations.

"Starlight Glimmer, you've been rather quiet."

"Gah!" The cup shook in Starlight's faltering magical grip at the sound of Celestia's voice, spilling tea all over the front of her cushion.

Celestia smiled. "Allow me." Her horn glowed as she picked up a napkin and dabbed the wet spot.

"Sorry," Starlight said in a sheepish voice. "I, um, guess I haven't had much to say, Princess."

"Indeed?" said Celestia as she tossed the spent napkin into a waste basket. "From the way Twilight tells it, you are usually quite vocal in your opinions."

Starlight raised an eyebrow at Twilight. "Oh, is that what she said?"

"I meant it in a good way, of course," said Twilight with a smile. "You've taught me almost as much as I've taught you."

Starlight's gaze softened. "Well, um, thank you."

Celestia poured herself some more tea. "You appear to be brooding. Please, do speak what is on your mind."

Starlight's gaze flicked from Twilight back to Celestia. "Well, Princess Luna had told us she would speak to you about the matter concerning that house on Old Canterlot Way."

Celestia paused before setting down the tea kettle.

"Yes, thank you for bringing that up," said Twilight. She turned to her former mentor. "Did she ask you about it?"

"Yes, she did," Celestia said softly. She slowly smiled. "Thank you for expressing your concern, Twilight, but I assure you, the matter is in capable hooves."

"Oh." Twilight exchanged a troubled look with Starlight. "So you don't need us to investigate?"

Celestia's eyes briefly slid over to Starlight before returning to Twilight. "Us?"

"Where Starlight is my student in magic as well as friendship, I intended to include her. She expressed a keen interest in assisting."

"Very commendable, both of you," said Celestia. "But, as I said, unnecessary."

"So you already know what this anomaly is?" Twilight asked.

Celestia paused to take a sip of tea. "I do, and I have taken care of it."

Starlight frowned.

"What was it?" Twilight asked.

"A transient incursion of chaos energy," said Celestia.

Starlight raised an eyebrow.

"I shall make a note to take this up with Discord."

"But ..." Twilight exchanged a helpless look with Starlight.

Starlight gestured with a hoof and mouthed the words "go on."

Twilight took a deep breath and turned back to Celestia. "Princess, with all due respect, I think I know chaos energy when I see it, and this wasn't it."

Celestia set down her cup. "Twilight, I admire your ability to disagree with me when you feel strongly enough about something, but in this case, I fear I must insist that you accept my answer."

Starlight shook her head.

Twilight slowly nodded at Celestia. "All right, Princess. Thank you."

Starlight face-hoofed.

Celestia glanced at Starlight. "In fact, Twilight, might I suggest that you put your prodigious energies to better use, such as continuing your friendship lessons with your young protégé here."

"Oh, well, we are," said Twilight. "It just hasn't been our sole focus of late."

"Nevertheless, it is where your talents are most needed at the moment."

Starlight blinked. "Huh?"

Celestia gave her a gentle smile. "You are already a very powerful unicorn, dear Starlight, thus a shift of your focus back to friendship would be most prudent. Just a suggestion, of course."

Starlight gave Twilight a puzzled look, but Twilight could only shrug in confusion.

Celestia rose to her hooves. "As lovely as this has been, I must return to my duties. Thank you, Twilight, Starlight. Always a pleasure to see you."

Twilight started to open her mouth, but Celestia had already turned and headed away.





"I can't believe you let the Princess trot all over you like that!" Starlight exclaimed as they left the palace.

"I did no such thing," Twilight declared. "I simply deferred to her greater wisdom."

Starlight snorted. "Greater wisdom my flank. She's hiding something."

Twilight gasped. "Starlight! That's a terrible thing to say about Celestia!"

"Even if it's true?"

"Stop it. This really isn't up for discussion."

Starlight frowned. "You do realize you're her peer, right? You really don't need her permission."

"She's a ruler of Equestria, and I'm not," said Twilight. "She outranks me. Besides, it's common courtesy to defer to her in matters concerning Canterlot itself."

"Oh, right, just like you 'deferred' during your brother's wedding," said Starlight. "I saw the look on your face in there. You didn't buy what Celestia was saying, either."

Twilight sighed. "I admit, I was disappointed we couldn't investigate, but if she says that the matter has been cleared up, there's nothing to do."

Starlight narrowed her eyes. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'll be the judge of that." She turned and cantered away.

"Huh? Wait, Starlight! Where are you going?" Twilight cried.

"To Old Canterlot Way! I want to see for myself just how much this has been 'taken care of.' Now, you coming along?"

Twilight galloped to catch up. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not? Last time I looked, we're free ponies allowed to do whatever we want within the law. Unless Princess Celestia comes up with some decree that we can't--"

"All right, all right!" Twilight cried. "You can be one stubborn unicorn when you want to be."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Now, come on."





Starlight was the first to enter the old street, with Twilight trotting just behind her, glancing about nervously as if expecting to see the royal guard suddenly swoop down on them and demand to know what they were doing. Despite knowing full well she did not have to defer to Celestia in everything, Twilight still sometimes had trouble shaking loose of her old role as Celestia's student.

Starlight stopped before the building and glanced up. "This is the place, right?"

Twilight stopped next to her. "Yes."

Starlight tilted her head and frowned. She lighted her horn briefly, then stepped forward. "Hrmm."

"See, I told you we could trust her," said Twilight. "I'm not sensing the disturbance anymore, either."

Starlight lifted a fore-hoof and poked the air before her. Magic rippled and swirled. "Then explain to me why the seal is still in place."

"It is?" Twilight stepped forward and repeated the gesture. "Well, maybe she forgot to remove it."

Starlight raised an eyebrow. "You don't seriously believe that."

"Ponies forget things all the time, Starlight."

"She's the immortal Princess of the Sun! I don't think she would forget something like this." She sighed and stepped back. "Fine, I'll go take a closer look myself."

A magical aura surrounded her entire body, and she levitated herself until she came level with where Twilight had detected the anomaly the strongest.

"Well?" Twilight called up from below.

"I'm not detecting the anomalous magic."

"Good. Now, let's get to the train station and--"

Starlight turned towards her companion on the ground. "But what I am detecting is a shield!"

Twilight's mouth dropped open. She extended her wings and flew up to Starlight, turning her glowing horn towards the building. "You're right!"

"So tell me again how Princess Celestia is not hiding something?"

"But, well, there's got to be a logical explanation for this."

"Yeah, there is. The anomaly is still there, and all that's happened is that the Princess slapped a shield around it."

"But this makes no sense," said Twilight. "If she did want to hide this from me, she would know I could detect a shield. I mean, you detected it, for goodness sake."

"Unless she expected you to be a good little former student and do whatever she told you to do, and this was just to prevent other ponies from finding it." Starlight narrowed her eyes. "Or it's here to prevent whatever this is from getting worse."

"But that would mean she doesn't know what to do," Twilight countered. "And in that case, she'd come right to me for help. She did it when Discord showed up, she did it with the Crystal Empire, she did it with Tirek, so why wouldn't she do it now?"

Starlight lowered herself to the ground, Twilight joining her as the levitation aura faded. "I honestly don't know," said Starlight in a more contrite voice. "But none of this is adding up, and that means we should investigate anyway. Admit it, you can't give me a good reason why we shouldn't."

Twilight glanced first up at the building and then back the way they had come. "I feel like it would be going behind Celestia's back."

Starlight stepped up to her. "You said before that Princess Celestia outranks you, but so does Princess Luna, and she's obviously concerned about it. How about doing it for her sake?"

"We haven't spoken to her since yesterday," said Twilight. "She could very well be content with Celestia's explanation."

"Now you're really grasping at straws, Twilight."

"Can you blame me? You're asking me to reject the trust I've built up between myself and Celestia!"

"Then prove it to yourself that there's something to actually be worried about here!"

"And how do you propose I do that?"

"Well, that depends," said Starlight. "Can you break through the shield?"

Twilight recoiled. "I'm not dispelling the shield! If it is there to contain--"

Starlight waved a hoof. "Fine, then can you find a way to look through it? All I want to do is confirm the anomaly is still there."

"Hmm," Twilight mused. "That might be tricky."

"Well, if anypony can do it, you can." Starlight smirked. "I've had first-hoof experience with how good you are with shield spells. You don't want to know how many times in our, ah, altercation that I wanted to scream at you to stop with the stupid shields already."

Twilight smiled faintly. "All right, let me see what I can do." She flew back up the side of the building. "I think I can project an energy wave at the shield that will cause it to resonate at a specific frequency, which in turn will ripple through the thaumic matrix and reflect back to me an impression of the anomalous energy on the other side."

Starlight grinned. "In other words, you're going to make it ring like a bell and listen for the echo."

"Didn't I just say that?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Right."

Twilight's horn glowed. "Here goes." She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Hmm. The shield is a bit stiffer than expected, but ... wait, I'm getting some interference ... let me work around it, and--" She suddenly gasped and recoiled, her eyes flying open as the glow in her horn died.

"What happened?" Starlight called up.

Twilight dashed to the ground, landing with a hard clop of her hooves. "There's an additional spell on the shield. It's like an anti-tampering alarm. If I had continued any further, I would've triggered it!"

"Uh-huh," said Starlight. "But, of course, Princess Celestia isn't hiding anything. Nope, not a thing."

Twilight frowned and folded her wings. "You've made your point."

"Now can we investigate?"

Twilight glanced up at the building. "Well, we can't do anything here, not without alerting Celestia to what we're doing."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I guess our next course of action is to head over to the Canterlot Archives," said Starlight.

Twilight smiled. "Of course! We know the approximate time period when somepony last lived here. We should examine any document that might be relevant."

"So long as we don't have any trouble retrieving them."

"What trouble could there possibly be, especially with my old friend Wordy Scroll running the archives now?"





Twilight's pupils shrank. "What do you mean, 'no'?!"

Wordy Scroll cringed and tucked his tail between his hind legs. "I-I'm terribly sorry. This is very awkward, you know, you being a good friend and a princess yourself--"

"Yes, I am a princess!" Twilight bellowed. "Therefore, I order you to give me access to those documents!"

"But I can't!" Wordy whined. "Princess Celestia herself has placed a temporary hold on all information pertaining to that time period."

"This is ridiculous!" Twilight thundered. "She wouldn't restrict it from me, a fellow princess and former student!"

"She was very specific in her wording, Twily. She said absolutely nopony but herself shall have access to them until further notice, no exceptions. She did say she hoped it would not be for long, so perhaps if you come back in a few days?"

"I doubt that will help," Starlight muttered.

"I'm beginning to agree with you," said Twilight.

Starlight stepped closer and whispered, "You sure you don't want me to, ah, I don't know, drop a mind magic spell or two on him?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Absolutely not."

Starlight shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

Twilight turned back to Wordy. "Can I at least ask you to not report this to Celestia?"

Wordy scraped the floor with a hoof. "She told me I was supposed to report all inquiries for--"

"Can you do it as a favor to an old friend? Please?"

"Oh, all right," said Wordy in a reluctant voice. "I promise not to tell her about this."

Twilight let out a windy sigh. "Thank you."

"If you want, I can send you a letter when Celestia lifts the restriction."

"Yes, you do that," said Twilight as she turned away.

Wordy gave them a sad look as they left.

"And I know what you want to say," said Twilight in irritation as they stepped outside. "So don't."

"I don't think I have to," said Starlight.

Twilight lowered her head, her ears drooping. "This really has me upset, Starlight. Not only is this forcing me not to trust Celestia, it's like she doesn't trust me anymore. I don't know what to do."

"You said when you were young, Princess Cadance used to foalsit you. So she was likely old enough to recall if anything had happened about the time the building was sealed."

Twilight looked up. "That's a great idea. I'll dictate a letter to Spike as soon as we're back in the castle. Maybe she can shed some light on this."





Twilight's horn glowed, and yet another book slipped from a high shelf in her library and floated to the table beside a growing tower of similar books. Her hooves echoed in the quiet as she stepped over to the table and flipped it open with her magic. She frowned in concentration before finally slamming the book closed. She turned away as she levitated it to the top of the stack.

At the door, a wary Spike drummed his claws together. "Um, Twilight? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Twilight looked up and selected another book. "I'm trying to find any evidence of some historical event that led to that building being sealed."

Spike stepped inside just as the latest book landed on the table. He picked it up. "The Illustrated History Of Furniture?"

"Look, I'm desperate, okay?" Twilight said as she snatched the book out of his claws in her magic. "Maybe the place had a magical sofa that got out of hoof. Or an enchanted hassock that developed an attitude."

Spike raised an eyebrow.

Twilight skimmed through the book before closing it and levitating it to the top of the stack. "No theory is too crazy, Spike."

Gentle hoofsteps stopped at the door, and a soft voice said, "Um, is this a bad time?"

Twilight turned. "Not at all, Fluttershy, please come in," she said in a lower voice.

Fluttershy stepped inside. "Starlight said you wanted to see me?"

Twilight approached her. "You said Discord is always telling you funny stories about stuff he did, right?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, yes. They're pretty amusing."

"Do you recall him saying he did anything in Canterlot?"

"He's played pranks on Princess Celestia from time to time, if that's what you mean."

"Did he ever mention the street Old Canterlot Way?"

Fluttershy looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, not that I can recall. Why?"

Twilight sighed and turned away. "Just checking on something, that's all."

Fluttershy stepped towards her friend. "You seem really upset, Twilight. Is there something I can do to help? Did Discord do something he shouldn't?"

"Not this time, apparently." Twilight muttered, "That would've been too easy."

"I don't understand," said Fluttershy.

Spike turned towards her. "Apparently, Princess Celestia is hiding something--"

"We don't know that for sure yet!" Twilight cried.

"--inside a sealed building in an older section of Canterlot."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh, my, why would she do that?"

Twilight whirled around. "Exactly my point! There couldn't possibly be anything so bad that--"

Spike abruptly belched green fire, and a scroll popped into existence. He grabbed it in his claws and started to unroll it. "It's from Princess Cadance."

"Starlight!" Twilight called out. "We got a reply!"

A few moments later, Starlight rushed inside.

Spike unrolled the scroll fully. "Ahem. Dearest Twilight, it is always a pleasure to hear from you, and, of course, Shining Armor sends his love as well. I do know of the street of which you speak, but unfortunately I know of no incident that would result in a building being magically sealed. The only event of import during that time period was Auntie Celestia having a hard time dealing with the Griffon Kingdom, and she once confided in me that she worried the situation would result in war. I know you are upset that Celestia appears to be acting in an uncar ... um ... uncharack ... uh ..."

Twilight glanced over his shoulder. "Uncharacteristically."

"What-she-said secretive manner," continued Spike. "But my experience has been that she always does things for a reason. Perhaps a little more time and patience is all that is needed. Please keep Shining Armor and myself informed of the situation. Love, Cadance."

"Well, that was a big dead end," Starlight muttered.

"Or maybe not," said Twilight. "There's a lot about that period of time that is not publicly known. Celestia's final round of negotiations with the griffons was carried out largely in secret, and the details of the final peace treaty were sealed."

"But don't you have access to that information?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight sighed. "Well, I did. I never bothered to go look at the details myself after I became a princess."

Starlight grinned. "Obviously due to your lingering trauma over that A-minus."

"Yes."

Starlight blinked. "Um, I was kidding."

Spike leaned over to her. "But she's not."

"But what would griffons have to do with a sealed building in Canterlot?" asked Fluttershy.

"I'm not sure," said Twilight. "But I have an idea how we might find out."





A piercing whistle sounded in the skies high above Ponyville, where several young pegasi hovered above slowly drifting clouds. They immediately stopped chatting and turned their full attention to their rainbow-maned instructor.

Rainbow Dash let the whistle fall from her mouth and hang from her neck by its string. "Okay, listen up, you noobs! I want a show of hooves. Who thinks they know how to fly?"

The pegasi exchanged confused glances. Slowly, they all put up a fore-hoof.

Rainbow nodded seemingly in approval. "Hmm, all of you, I see," she mused as she drifted towards the front ranks of the pegasi. She suddenly knocked the raised fore-hoof of the nearest pegasus aside. "Wrong answer! Yeah, maybe you know how to flap your wings and stay airborne, but there's flying, and there's weather flying. Controlling the weather takes a whole other set of skills. Maybe some of you are fast, but, again, there's a huge difference between flying in a straight line and making a sharp turn to corral a storm."

She hovered back and forth before them. "Now, the basics are actually not that hard. Pegasi have a natural instinct for this. Left on your own, you'd figure it out. You'll be at least competent." She stopped and faced them. "But if you're gonna be on my weather team, you gotta be better than competent, and I let only the best handle weather over Sweet Apple Acres! Now, first things first. I'm gonna run you through some simple exercises ..."

After she had all the pegasi performing basic tasks like pushing clouds together and generating breezes or light rain showers, she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Hey, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash turned around. "Oh, hi, Twilight."

Twilight flew up to her. She glanced towards the others. "Latest batch of recruits?"

Rainbow grinned. "Yeah. Typical noobs. I think I can whip them into shape." She leaned over and whispered, "They're actually showing some good promise, but don't tell them I said that."

Twilight chuckled. "Your secret is safe with me."

"So what's up?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Sure thing! This first class won't take long. What do you need?"

"I need you to talk to your friend Gilda."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Gilda? As in, head off to the Griffon Kingdom and talk to her kinda thing?"

"I know it's a bit of a long trip, but--"

Rainbow snorted and waved a hoof. "Did you forget who you're talking to? Only reason it took a while last time was because I was with Pinkie. If I'm going solo on this, I can get there a lot faster. What do you want me to talk to Gilda about?"

"I want you to ask her if she or anyone she knows has any knowledge about a geopolitical incident between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom about twenty years ago."

Rainbow blinked. "A geo-what now?"

Twilight sighed. "Just ask her if she knows of any stories about her people and ponies going to war over something."

"Wow, that actually happened?"

"Some sort of incident, yes, but thankfully not a war. Other than that, though, I'm having difficulty tracking down information about it."

Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "I dunno, this is starting to sound like egghead stuff."

Twilight smiled, her horn glowing as she plucked a scroll from her mane and gave it to Rainbow. "No worries, I jotted down a few talking points."

Rainbow let the scroll unfold. She quickly lost sight of the other end through a cloud far below. "Er ... right. Look, this sounds like something more up your alley. Why send me?"

"It's a bit of a long story," said Twilight. "Let's just say I don't want to raise certain suspicions and leave it at that."

Rainbow smiled. "Okay, now it's starting to sound interesting. So I should keep this quiet?"

"Definitely."

"You got it, Twilight! I won't let you down, I promise."





Twilight's hooves echo far more than usual as she trots towards her former mentor's throne room. She is both mystified and worried by this unexpected summons, delivered to her as if she is still but the lowly student. She tells herself she has no reason to fear this invitation despite its urgency, yet she cannot shake the feeling that she is being called to task for something she has done.

"No, stop it, you're being silly," says Twilight, her voice sounding much louder than normal, echoing as if she is in an enormous, abandoned chamber rather than the halls of Canterlot Palace. "You're a princess yourself. As Starlight said, I'm her peer."

Nevertheless, she pauses at doors that soar overhead into infinity and swallows hard. Her heart hammers, and her eyes glisten with uncertainly. She finally takes a deep breath, steels herself, and throws the doors open.

"It is about time you got here!" a voice thunders from the other side of the room.

Twilight gasps and backs up a step, one fore-hoof raised and trembling as she stares at the visage sitting upon Celestia's throne. Her mane is ablaze, as if on fire, and her eyes glow with such intensity that Twilight cannot stare at them for more than a few seconds at a time.

Twilight turns her head away. "I got here as soon as I could!"

"Lies!" Celestia's voice booms, shaking the floor with its vehemence. "You compound your falsehoods with more falsehoods! I will not tolerate this!"

Twilight forces herself to raise her head and twist her muzzle into a deep frown. "And I will not tolerate being treated this way! I am a fellow princess, and thus deserving of--"

Celestia throws her head back and laughs before leveling her gaze at Twilight. "You will be silent." She slowly descends from the throne, each hoofstep leaving behind a smoking, charred mark in its wake. Her cutie mark glows as if it is the sun itself.

"Why?!" Twilight demands. "Have I done something to offend you?"

"Oh, my dear little Twilight, how can you be so naive after all these years?" Celestia sneers. "OF COURSE THOU HAST DONE SOMETHING TO OFFEND US!"

Twilight shivers as she jams her fore-hooves to her ears. She has never heard Celestia use the Royal Canterlot Voice in such close proximity and hopes she never does again.

"Did you not think I would find out?" says Celestia. "Did you not think I would notice your attempts to cover it up?"

A cold knot of fear settles into Twilight's stomach. "I-I can explain! Please, let me--"

Celestia stomps a fore-hoof against the floor, shattering tile and glass. "There can be no explanation for this!"

"But I was only concerned about the safety of Canterlot!" Twilight wails. "I was concerned about YOU!"

Celestia raises an eyebrow. "What are you babbling about?"

Twilight hesitates, glancing to the side. "Isn't this about the anomaly I'm investigating?"

Celestia fixes her burning gaze on her former student, and at once Twilight feels as if she is in an oven. "What I speak of, little pony, is THIS ..."

In a sparkle of magic, a paper materializes on the floor before Twilight's hooves. She tilts her head in confusion until she sees the "A-" in red in the upper right corner. She gasps and recoils. "Wh-what??"

"Look what it says, you miserable excuse for a princess!" Celestia declares. "A-MINUS!"

Twilight's pupils shrink to pin-pricks. "Y-You can't be serious!"

"NO PRINCESS OF OUR REALM SHALL BISMIRCH HER ALICORNHOOD WITH SUCH A DISGUSTING GRADE!"

"I have no idea how it happened!" Twilight bellows in as much rage as fear. "Don't you think I agonized over it for weeks?! I got one little reference wrong! The teacher recalled seeing something else in the text, but I was sure ... I ..."

Twilight's mouth drops open.

"And you continue to compound your crime with more worthless blather!"

Twilight is not listening. "Wait! That oddity that happened earlier with the ledger, when Starlight and I saw something different ... what if that's what happened to me with that paper? What if the text somehow changed between when I read it and my teacher did?" She gasped. "Then there IS a connection with the griffons! But how could text be made to--"

She is startled out of her reverie by Celestia stomping both fore-hooves on the floor. Twilight shrieks as a crack in the floor shoots towards her, and she just barely makes it into the air in time.

Celestia steps forward. "You do not deserve to be an alicorn, but we have no recorded means to demote you. So I will invent one now." Her eyes become blinding, and her horn blazes. "I will burn your wings off."

"No, stop, wait!" Twilight cries.

"SISTER!"

Twilight's heart leaps into her throat as another earth-shaking voice joins the fray. Celestia turns in time to see Luna approaching, her mane and eyes similarly ablaze. "Do you think to do this without me present?" Luna booms. "I am disappointed."

"Far be it from me to deny my own kin," says Celestia. "Would you prefer to take the first shot?"

Luna's mouth twists into a terrifyingly feral smile. "Gladly."

Her horn and eyes blaze. Twilight whimpers and covers her eyes with her hooves. She flinches when she hears a blast of energy, followed by a scream, and then nothing.

"Twilight," says Luna in a far gentler voice. "It is okay. You may open your eyes."

Twilight swallows and drops her hooves. A smoking crater stands where Celestia once did. "Y-You ... you just ..."

Luna steps forward, her eyes and mane back to normal. "This is a dream, Twilight."

"A dream? Oh, thank Celestia! Um, I mean--"

Luna chuckles. "It is all right. I am sorry I did not come sooner."

Twilight shakes her head. "No, it's fine. This actually helped me come to a realization about something."

"I do hope it is about that anomaly."

"It is. But how did you know?"

"More of a fortuitous guess." Luna sighs. "Twilight, I hope this means you are actively investigating it, as it removes a tremendous burden from me."

"What burden is that?"

"The burden of begging you to take on this task."

Twilight's eyes widen. "Beg me? Why?"

Luna starts to pace. "I am worried for my sister. She is acting increasingly paranoid about this subject. Something is wrong, and she refuses to tell me."

Twilight lands and steps up to Luna. "Celestia is blocking everypony from obtaining any information from the Archives about that time period."

Luna nods. "I am aware."

"If you can do anything to get me around that block--"

"I fear I cannot." She pauses. "But there is something I can obtain for you. I do not believe that Tia is aware I know of its existence. It is a private journal she has kept for many, many years. It covers many volumes, but I believe I can find one from that time period."

Twilight's pupils shrink. "You mean, like a diary? But that ... that will have a lot of personal information in it! I feel like I would be violating her privacy if I read it."

"I will not force you to read it. I will give it to you, and you will choose to do as you wish with it."

Twilight lowers her head. "I don't know about this, Luna."

Luna steps forward and places a fore-hoof gently on Twilight's shoulder. "I understand, but I fear whatever this is, it is bigger than anything we can imagine. We need to get to the bottom of it. For my sister's sake."

Twilight lifts her head. "I'll do everything I can to help."