Final Twilight

by Zeg

Chapter V

"Princess...?"

Celestia stared forward, not really focusing her gaze on anything. Her body was standing on a open walkway that bridged the gap between two of the Canterlot Castle spires. Her mind, however, might as well had been on the moon. She was still attempting to process what had happened the night before, going over and over what had happened.

"Princess...?"

In a few short moments everything had gotten completely out of hoof. If only she had made different choices, all of it could have possibly been avoided.

"Princess...?"

Her inaction may have very well cost innocent lives. If only she had listened to her sister.

"Princess Celestia?"

Celestia blinked and focused her gaze down at the unicorn that the voice had been coming from. A teal blue coated stallion with a mahogany mane tied back into a pony tail stood there. He wore a simple white vest that had a collar and pockets on the front. The sight of the simple uniform sparked recognition in the princess's mind.

"Doctor.." Celestia mumbled quietly in response.

"Princess Luna sent me here to check on you. She said that you've seemed quite distraught ever since what happened last night," the unicorn explained now that he had Celestia's full attention.

Celestia managed a weary smile only shortly before it faded. She nodded to the unicorn in front of her. "She would be right, but I'm afraid medical attention will not cure what troubles me. How is my student, she should have arrived at the ward last night."

"She did. At first I was concerned that she may have suffered some sort of head trauma, but she eventually came around on her own and started responding somewhat normally. I wasn't able to find anything physically wrong with her.. just odd that she had those featherless wings."

"I see.. would you mind accompanying me to the ward then doctor? I would like to see her," Celestia asked as she began to take a few steps in the direction that would lead her to the palace medial ward.

"Oh, she isn't at the ward princess. She was already moved."

Celestia stopped dead in her tracks, freezing like a statue. Her head craned back around as she stared hard at the doctor. "Moved where?" She asked forcefully.

The doctor couldn't help but back up a step at the sudden change in mood. "I-I'm not sure. The guards took her from the ward on Princess Luna's order. I thought you knew."

Celestia mouthed her sister's name and then let her eyes slowly slide closed. "Where is she?" Celestia asked in a huff, quickly adding, "My sister."

The doctor fidgeted a bit as he grit his teeth. "I'm afraid I don't know that either. I'm truly sorry princess. I wouldn't have mentioned this if-"

"No.." Celestia cut the doctor's apology off short, "I'm glad you did. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to track down my sister and have a word with her."

---

The guards in front of Luna's bed chamber door reported that the moon princess had not been seen anywhere near by this morning. This lead Celestia to continue her search until she came to an office that she often used for reading, be it casual or official. As she approached the door way, she could see a pegasus guard that noticed her and turned his attention toward his ruler.

"Your majesty," the guard greeted with a nod, "Princess Luna awaits inside your office."

"Thank you," Celestia nodded in reply as she used her magic to open the door. Just inside was a room that had a fire place with a crackling fire burning within on the wall to the left, and a large desk that held many stacks of papers and scrolls to the right. Along the walls were many shelves and cubby holes that held books and scrolls. A large window covered by a pure white curtain took up most of the remaining wall opposite of the doorway, with a dark stained oaken table against the wall just under it. And there laying on a large, plush velvet cushion that was next to the table was Luna.

Celestia used her back hoof to slowly close the door letting it latch with a quiet click. She walked into the room approaching her sister but stopped half way, just staring at her. Luna quietly stared back as if she already knew what was coming and was simply waiting for it.

"Where is she?" Celestia asked calmly.

Luna broke her gaze away from her sister and looked at the table. It had a stack of books on it that hadn't been reshelved. Prodding at the book stack with one of her hooves for a few seconds, Luna looked back up to Celestia before simply saying, "She's a threat."

"That is not what I asked," Celestia said back sternly.

Luna sighed. "I told the guards to have her placed in one of the suppression chambers. It is just a precaution."

"Precaution? That room is reserved for the worst kind of unicorns."

"Yes I know," Luna said before standing up and walking toward her sister. She continued to speak as she approached, "And right now five of the six elements are missing, along with their bearers, thanks in no small part to Twilight Sparkle's actions."

Celestia seemed to struggle with her words for a moment. She knew what she wanted to say, that Luna was just wrong, but she needed to think this through rationally. Forming her thoughts, she continued the argument. "There is no proof that Twilight was acting on her own will."

"And just that notion should clear her of any ill intent?"

"No.. I'm not saying that. I'm saying this punishment is far too extreme."

"For your student," Luna added. This caused Celestia's stare to harden quite dramatically. "Oh do not look at me like that. If this was anypony other than Twilight Sparkle you would not be in here arguing with me over my decision."

"I'm hardly playing favorites here if that's what you're suggesting," Celestia said as she grappled with her sister's words.

"It is exactly what I'm suggesting! You let your guard down because it is her, your special student. And now all but one of the elements are gone. I told you something was not right, and yet your only concern was her safety!” Luna entire body was showing signs of her fuse reaching its end as she visibly shook with anger.

"Are you blaming me for this?" Celestia nearly hissed back.

“I blame HER for making you like this!” The room fell into an uneasy silence after Luna made her accusation. She kept her eyes squarely focused on her older sister, waiting for the sun princess to fight back. But that wouldn't happen.

Celestia backed off from the confrontation, turning and walking a few steps away. She closed her eyes and drew in a calming breath before turning to the side to face her sister again. Celestia cast a solemn glance to her sister as she said, “She is not going to replace you.”

Luna's expression shortly changed to shock and disbelief, before it quickly returned to anger. With little hesitation, she cast her gaze down at the floor as she quickly tried to make her way to the office door. However, she had to stop when her older sister moved to block her path. Shuffling her steps quickly to the right, she attempted to get by but was blocked yet again. Her temper was now past its limit. “Get out of my way!” She screamed up into her sister's face.

Celestia quietly stared back into her younger sister's eyes. It was obvious enough that Luna was angry, but she saw something else there too. Her eyes threatened to drop welled up tears. Her voice had been trembling. The younger alicorn was hurting.

Sitting herself there upon the floor, Celestia reached forward with her forelegs and pulled Luna to her. She met some resistance from her younger sister at first, but once she encircled the indigo alicorn with her pure white wings the struggling stopped as Luna yielded to her sister's embrace.

“I lost you for a thousand years. I refuse to ever lose you again,” Celestia said quietly. “I meant exactly what I said. You can never be replaced by somepony else.” Celestia unfolded her wings, and released her embrace as she sat back to look eye to eye with her sister. “I'm sorry if my poor choices last night made you feel like I was putting you two at odds with each other. That was never my intention. I trust you Luna, and always will. Nopony, not even Twilight Sparkle, will ever take your place in my heart.”

Luna sighed as she used the back of her hoof to dry the corner of her eyes. “It honestly felt that you were casting my opinions to the side in favor of her's.”

“I was fooled, Luna, but I do not intend on being fooled again,” Celestia said as she stood and walked around behind her desk taking a seat on the velvet pillow there. She placed her forelegs upon the top of the desk, crossing them and resting her chin atop of them. “What would you recommend we do with her? Would you rather that we just be rid of her?” Celestia seriously asked.

Luna was actually socked into silence by her sister's words. She knew what her sister was hinting at. It was one of the ultimate forms of punishment for threatening Equestria; banishment. She thought back to her own punishment, and a chill ran through her spine. The unbearable solitude of banishment was something that she would not wish upon her worst enemy. "Of course not. We do not have to go that far... but we can not just let her run free like nothing ever happened, can we?"

Celestia tapped one of her hooves against her desk slowly, pondering over the dilemma. In her heart and mind Celestia just knew that Twilight would not have done these things without being forced to do so, and the reaction Twilight had shortly after she was pulled from the spell was enough for Celestia to confirm it for herself. The stunned silence the young unicorn had fallen into, the horrified look in her eyes, the tears that had poured out from them, and the fact she had offered no resistance as she was taken away to the medical ward; all of those emotions and actions were not possible to fake to that degree. Twilight had been truly devastated.

Celestia needed a way to be sure that Twilight was herself, and would stay that way. The only way to even begin would be to speak with the unicorn directly. "I'm going to go see her," Celestia said as she pushed herself up from her siting spot. “The fact is that she is the only one who knows what happened in that room. If there is a chance that she can help us... I believe we need to take it.”

Celestia made her way to the room's door and used her magic to open it. Glancing over her shoulder she took a good long look at her sister, who just sat there staring back. She had expected Luna to protest at least a little, but instead she was only met with the younger sister's silent stare. "Trust me," was the last thing Celestia said before she passed through the threshold of the doorway. The door slowly swung back closed, and let go a light click as it latched, leaving Luna alone with her thoughts in the office once again.

---

Celestia strode quickly to her destination with a singular purpose, ignoring concerned glances she received by the castle staff and guards that gave her room to pass. She approached a part of the castle that she hadn't visited often, a part that she wish was unnecessary.

Celestia quickly approached a pair of guards, one unicorn and the other an earth pony that stood on either side of a poorly lit passage way that lead to a spiral staircase. She paused before them as they stiffened to attention at their ruler's presence. "Show me to her," Celestia commanded as she cast her stoic gaze between the two. Without question, the two guards nodded and turned to follow their princess down the staircase, flanking either side of her.

The stairway turned about nearly three times over as the three ponies traveled downward. The decent down was like a trip into the past. This part of the castle looked nothing like the rest. The walls were not bright and buffed to a shine like the rest, and instead were made of rough gray stone. There were no rainbow colored stain glass windows in this place like there were in the rest of the palace, and in fact the only source of light came from flames that burned within simple metal half sphere containers that hung from the ceiling by three chains each down the center of a long hallway.

The chamber itself was only a hallway full of doors that seemed to stretch off into endless darkness. The hall was barely wide enough for Celestia's two guards to stay on either side of her as they passed by many doors which appeared to have layers of dust clinging to their surface. This was a part of the castle that rarely saw attention.

The guards stopped and turned toward one of the doors on the right of the seemingly endless hallway. They both looked up to their princess expectantly. "Open it," Celestia simply commanded as she stared at the doorway. The unicorn guard nodded and leaned his horn forward, letting it light with magic. A click followed by a loud siding sound that ended with a clack could be heard, and then the door slowly swung open into the room with a complaining creek. The open door revealed a strange blue light that flooded out to bathe the hallway in its hew.

Celestia closed her eyes momentarily, drawing in a deep breath. Letting the calming breath go, she opened her eyes again and looked upon the figure in the middle of the glowing light. She couldn't make out all the details, but she could see enough to know a pony was laying there.

"Close this door behind me, and no matter what you hear you do not open this door again until I say so.. is this understood?" She spoke without breaking her gaze into the room. The two guards looked to each other with unsure looks then both glanced back at their princess. Celestia let her eyes drift away from the room and back and forth between the two guards when they didn't immediately answer her, her expression still betraying no real emotion. She was serious about her command and it would be carried out to the letter. Anything less would be unacceptable.

"Yes your majesty," one of the guards finally answered.

"We will guard the door and await your return," the other added with a nod to confirm he understood her orders.

"Good," Celestia simply said as she looked forward again and strode into the room.

The door slid closed behind her. Its locking mechanism sliding back into place echoed with a similar sound to the one that it had opened to. Once she was sure it was secured and she was locked within the room, she approached the center were the blue hewed circle was. The sight before her was all wrong, something that should only happen within a nightmare.

The floor had a glowing circle with detailed lines and inscriptions that traced around its edge and through its center. It slightly pulsed very slowly, and caused what appeared to be a rim of light to rise from its outer most edge. Along this edge there were six evenly placed pillars, all about the same height as the princess. And from each one of these pillars a glowing blue chain was fastened from the middle of the pillar to the prisoner that laid in the center. Each chain held on to her with a shackle at its end. The chain that stretched from the pillar behind her had a large shackle that rounded her body and held her wings tight to her sides. The opposite chain ran the length of the floor in front of her and was shackled around her neck. The remaining four, two to each side, each shackled to one of her legs. And there Twilight Sparkle laid staring at the floor, her hooves drawn up under her body.

If Twilight had noticed Celestia's presence in her cell she didn't let on that she had. She continued to just stare at the ground. Within leg distance of her in this imprisonment circle was a small table that was no higher than a hoof width, and on this table was a plate and glass. The plate held a simple sandwich and the glass water, but it was apparent that they had not been touched. If it weren't for the gentle heaving of her sides as she drew breath in and her eyes blinking slowly every so often, Twilight would have otherwise looked like she was only a life-like statue.

Celestia regarded her student as she slowly walked around the edge of the circle, coming to stop next to the pillar that connected to the chain that fastened around Twilight's neck. "Twilight..." Celestia quietly said, her voice echoing hollowly off the chamber's walls. There was no response at all. "Look at me," Celestia gently commanded, hoping that she could get her student to break out of her trace. Still, there was no response.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at her student, and then gingerly stepped a hoof into the circle. She could feel the effect of the spell as soon as she cross the barrier as the tingle traveled through her leg. She continued forward, another hoof in, then her face and neck. As she continued to slowly step into the spell the rainbow flowing colors of her mane were stripped away, replaced by a simple mane comprised of pink strands of hair. A few more careful steps and the rest of her body crossed the barrier, her tail following the same fate as her mane. The magic nullifying field suppressed her powers, the same as it did Twilight's. Within the circle she was not the powerful alicorn princess. She was just a pony, same as anypony else would be.

After taking a moment to adjust to the feeling of her magic being locked down, Celestia stepped forward only stopping when her front hooves were barely a leg's length away from Twilight's face. She noticed a flinch from her student, but Twilight did not look up and continued silently staring at whatever her gaze had been locked on. Celestia knew now for sure that she was being ignored. With a not too happy expression, she lowered herself to the floor folding her hooves under her body and bringing her face close to Twilight's. She stared at her student as Twilight's eyes drifted off to the side to avoid the glance.

"Twilight, do not act as if I do not exist," Celestia said with a displeased frown pulling at the edges of her mouth. Twilight still attempted to avoid her mentor's gaze but could no longer keep herself completely in check. The corners of her eyes were starting to spill tears down the sides of her face. "Look at me," Celestia once again calmly said, doing her best to keep tears from falling from her own eyes at the sight of her student. Still, Twilight continued to silently avoid her gaze. "Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia barked her name firmly, causing the room to echo again. The chained unicorn jerked at the sudden noise causing the chains that held her to clatter to the sudden movement. Her frightened eyes snapped to Celestia's, and despite the intense fear that she would meet with the harsh look of contempt and loathing bearing down upon her she only saw Celestia's worried face.

With Twilight's attention fully focused on her now, Celestia gently unfolded one of her hooves and extended it towards her student's face using it to wipe one of the tear trails away. "Please, don't shut me out," Celestia gently spoke as she caressed the side of Twilight's face. Twilight seemed to be unsure of this action at first. She had dreaded the moment her mentor would come see her since being placed within this room. She had thought long and hard on the possibilities, on how Celestia would react to what had happened, on how she would be punished for what she had done. But this wasn't anything like what she had expected. She was confused, and could only think of one thing to say.

"Why?" Twilight quietly whispered.

Celestia stopped her motions only for a second and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I.. I thought..." Twilight began, but lost her words as her face started to twist into one that seemed to be in pain. She slowly lowered her head until her face was burred into her forelegs, and her body began to let go sobs as moans as sadness escaped from her. All Celestia could think to do was comfort her student, quietly stroking Twilight's mane while she let go her emotional pain.

It took some time for Twilight to calm down again. Her sobs eventually became sniffles, and she had eventually stopped hiding her face, instead laying her chin atop her forelegs. All the while, Celestia had quietly waited there stroking her student's mane gently until she could recover from her sadness. Feeling the urge to speak again, Twilight swallowed before she drew in a breath of air to speak. "Why are you here?" She asked with her tired voice.

Celestia let her hoof rest as she looked over at the table next to Twilight. She had noticed the untouched food there when she had walked in. Glancing back at Twilight, she lowered her head so that her own chin was laying on her own forelegs, so she could look straight into her student's eyes. This time, Twilight didn't glance away. "I'm worried about my student. I honestly thought they had kept you in the ward over night." The two stared at each other for a short time before Celestia spoke again, "Have you eaten anything?"

Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as she let out a long sigh. This caused the frown to tug at Celestia's mouth again.

"Twilight, I will not have you refusing to take care of yourself," Celestia spoke in an authoritative tone, but it was more like one that a mother would use to speak to her child than that of a ruler commanding a subject.

"I don't.." Twilight started, but seemed to once again lose her voice.

However, this time Celestia pressed the matter, trying to keep her student talking. "You don't what?"

Twilight's face once again became pained with sadness as she struggled to continue her statement. She managed to whisper, "I don't deserve.. to live." However before she could once again be consumed by the feeling, she was shocked out of it by Celestia grabbing Twilight's chin with a hoof, and forcing her to stare up into her mentor's hard gaze.

"You will not ever repeat that again," Celestia ordered as she seemed to growl through clamped teeth. Twilight struggled slightly against Celestia's grip, but her teacher would not relent.

"But I.. they're gone.. I.." Twilight choked out as tears cut hot trails down the side of her face as she drew in a gasp of air. "It's my fault.. I killed my friends-"

"NO!" Celestia grasped both of Twilight's shoulders and forcefully shook her, but not enough to harm her, "I refuse to believe that you are capable of such a horrendous act. You are Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. You are no murderer, and I will not have you inflicting cruel punishments upon yourself that you do not deserve!" At this point, Twilight simply seemed to be gasping for air as her quick sobbing breaths shook her entire body.

Celestia shifted forward, and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, hugging her close to her chest. Twilight instinctively returned the embrace, her chains clinking and grinding as they slid across the floor.

"I'm sorry.. I sorry I couldn't stop it.. I'm sorry," Twilight whaled as she pressed her face into her mentor's fur.

"Sshhh..." Celestia quietly hushed as she let Twilight cling to her. "They're still out there somewhere, and we will find them. You have done no wrong."

A long time passed like this. How long Celestia wasn't quite sure, perhaps nearly half an hour had gone by while she held her student close within the glowing circle, letting her empty her emotions. Through it all, Twilight apologized for things that had been out of her control, and Celestia tried to quietly reassure her student that she wasn't at fault. It finally reached a point where Twilight seemed to be at the bottom of her well of sadness, and the tears simply quit flowing. She had grown quiet while she just laid there with the side of her head against Celestia's chest.

"They've found nothing at all," Celestia spoke breaking the long silence as she let her eyes trace along the magical chains that held her student captive. "I have all of the greatest minds of this palace I know working to try and find any trace at all of the Elements of Harmony and your friends.. and they've found absolutely nothing."

Twilight remained completely silent, just intent on listening to Celestia's voice.

"Actually," Celestia spoke again as she turned her gaze to look down at Twilight, "I suppose that isn't entirely true. There is one great mind who hasn't been able to help me look for them."

Twilight glanced up when she noticed that Celestia had stopped talking. When she did, she saw her mentor smiling down at her.

"You," Celestia spoke simply as her smile widened a bit.

Twilight really had cried herself dry. She wasn't sure what the emotion was that was left behind after she had vented all of her sadness, but for some reason the emptiness kept her from smiling back. Instead, she drew in a heavy breath of air and let it go with a huff, before she spoke in turn. "I can't help."

"Not like this, no." With that Celestia gently stood as she let Twilight slip from her grasp. Turning about and taking a few steps she stepped outside of the nullifying field, her flowing mane slowly coming back to life as she did. Once she felt her magic returning to her, she bent her neck downward and pointed the tip of her horn at a circle located on the side of one of the pillars. The tip of her horn glowed a bright white for only a few seconds and then the blue hew in the room brightened shortly before it began to quickly fade out. As the light faded, the magical chains that held Twilight at the center of the circle began to dematerialize. Starting at the pillars and running along the length of the chains, her bonds vanished link by link until the shackles themselves faded out of existence.

Twilight laid there on the floor for a moment, her only movement being from her glancing around at the floor that had died down to a very dim blue glow. Many of the lines and inscriptions had vanished leaving only a dim blue circle that lit the room. Taking a careful step, Twilight hoisted herself up to her hooves, and then used one of her forelegs to scratch at the other where the magical shackle had been. She glanced up at her mentor with a look that seemed to ask if this was a trick of some sort.

"Am I.. free to go?" Twilight asked, the tone of her voice saying just how much she couldn't believe such a thing could be possible.

Celestia stared back at Twilight for a few seconds before she shook her head. "Not entirely." She could see the tiny spark of hope fade from Twilight's eyes almost immediately at the words. "Even so, I will not have you wasting away in this room for actions that were not entirely your own, and I do believe your help may be the key to finding your friends. You were there."

"But.. how. I mean.. I don't know where to start looking," Twilight sighed as she seemed to droop toward the floor. Even her new wings sagged from her sides until they touched the ground. “We don't even know what happened to them. They could just be... gone.”

"Have faith, my student. I'm sure something will come to mind if you just spend some time reflecting on what happened. You shouldn't give up on the possibility of finding your friends so easily. Now, come here," Celestia calmly commanded as she herself approached a shelf in the room. Twilight couldn't quite see what it was that her mentor was doing at the shelf, but it appeared she was picking something up using her teeth, which seemed odd for the princess that had enough magical power to move the sun. Once Twilight was standing beside her teacher, Celestia turned to face her and in a swift motion placed an object that she had gripped in her teeth over the tip of Twilight's horn. It slid down to the base of her horn with a quick tink, and Twilight pulled back a step at the sudden odd sensation. She strained her eyesight to try and look at it, and could make out a metallic reflection from the blue light coming off of it. She attempted to will it off of her horn with her levitation magic, just trying to get a better look at it, but then noticed that nothing happened.

"It's a null ring," Celestia said simply.

"Oh.." Twilight mouthed quietly. The null ring had an enchantment on it similar to the circle that she had been held in. It was a device that nullified magic which would explain why Celestia hadn't lifted it with her own magic, and when placed on a unicorn's horn the ring would prevent any attempts at casting spells. "I wouldn't trust me right now either," Twilight mumbled as her gaze cast downward toward the floor.

Celestia paused shortly when she heard the comment. The frown returned to her lips with a vengeance, and she pushed her face close to Twilight's before speaking. "I'm not going to tolerate any more of this self hate coming from you."

"Well.. I just.." Twilight stammered as she shrunk away a step.

"Just nothing. The ring is for your protection Twilight. I do not believe that there is any trace of the darkness that was possessing you left. If there had been I'm sure I would have felt it at some point. However, I must take precautions. In the event this darkness tries to take you again," Celestia raised her hoof and gently tapped it against Twilight's horn, "this will give us a chance to stop it before any more harm can come to you or anypony else. The ring's effect will linger for a short time even if it is removed, so should something compel you to remove it against your will.. it will still buy us the time we need."

Twilight took in the words of her mentor and then tried to force a smile on her face. "I understand. I'm really not trying to be like this. It's just that.. after everything that has happened.. I just feel like I could have done.. that I should have done something to stopped it all."

"I know, you have a habit of shouldering all of the responsibility whether it is yours or not." Celestia folded one of her wings over Twilight and pulled her close to her side. "But, you're just as much a victim of this thing as your friends, of not more so. This is your chance to right the wrongs that this darkness forced onto you and triumph over it."

Twilight closed her eyes and let herself lean against her mentor's side. She could feel her warmth, hear her strong but gentle heart beat. At this moment, she wondered why she ever thought that Celestia could have forsaken her. Celestia trusted her completely, even after everything that had happened, and at no point had that trust wavered. For the first time since she had regained control of her own mind, it ignited with a spark of confidence. She put on a sincere smile and glanced up to Celestia.

"OK then. Where do I start?"

Celestia smiled warmly back down at her student. "The archives I would imagine. Hopefully somewhere in the experiences you were put through with that thing you might be able to dredge out something useful from the memories that could help discover just what sort of magic was used. It's odd, there are no tracers of any teleportation magic being used at all even though your friends were taken away along with the elements. Nor is there any evidence of destructive magic, which is why I doubt your friends were harmed by the spell directly. It's as if they all simply vanished at once along with the darkness. All that is left is a faded magic circle on the floor, which nopony has been able to decipher yet."

"That.. does seem weird," Twilight scratched at her chin with one of her fore-hooves. Already the gears in her mind were starting to turn as she tried to process the impossible scenario. If a magical spell had been used, no matter how small, there should have been traces of magic left that could help identify it, and teleporting her five friends away was no small amount of magic. But to leave no identifiable trace at all...

"Yes, rather perplexing," Celestia commented, seeming to echo Twilight's internal thoughts. She had started walking towards the door with her student under her wing. "Open," She commanded firmly at the door.

On that queue, the door clicked and let go a sliding sound that ended with a loud clack, before it swung open into the room. Outside the two guards that had lead Celestia here both stood vigilant, however there was a slight surprised reaction to the sight of Twilight being freed from her bonds.

"She is to be escorted to the archives, and you two are to stay within sight of her until you are otherwise relieved of this duty," Celestia spoke firmly as she arched an eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two guards.

"Yes princess," the two guards spoke in union.

"Good," Celestia nodded before turning her neck toward Twilight, "And you are to stay here in the palace, preferably near the archives. Try not to wander from their sight. Should anything happen they are here to protect you." Celestia cast a side glance at the two guards making sure her words were sinking in for them as well.

Twilight agreed with a nod.

"Princess, may I speak freely?" the unicorn guard spoke up.

"You may."

"Should this change of plans not be reported to the Captain?"

Celestia fully faced the guard, showing her regal smile. "I'm glad you asked. I will personally see to it that Captain Shining is informed of the end of Twilight's imprisonment and that she is officially joining the search effort for the missing mares. I will also inform him that your post has been changed by my order, you needn't worry yourself over it."

The guard nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Nudging Twilight along under her wing, Celestia began to walk down the hallway back to the spiral stairway that lead back up to the castle palace.

Twilight found herself lingering on thoughts of her brother after the mention of his name. She hadn't seen him in quiet some time, only once after his wedding to the princess Cadence. But she honestly wasn't sure she wanted to see him now like this. Her body was.. not right. Her mane and tail where now streaked with dark black strands of hair, and her fur seemed dull compared to how it normally should look. The fur under her eyes had dark streaks, almost like she had cried ink from them. But the most unsettling change were the featherless, bat-like wings that had sprouted from her back. She didn't know what they meant or why she had them. She felt tainted, like the wings were a beast that was slumbering on her back just waiting to awaken and take control of her again. But she had actually felt the darkness being ripped away form her when Celestia had pulled her from it the night before. She was hopeful that had been the last time she would ever feel its presence.

"Twilight, we're here," the voice of her mentor rang in her ears causing her to snap back to reality. She hadn't been paying much attention to where she had been walking as she traveled along side Celestia under her protective wing, and had just been allowing herself to be lead along. They had actually walked the entire distance from the suppression chamber to the archives already while she had been lost in her thoughts. She glanced to her side, and noticed the open doorway that lead into the room with towering book shelves and equally long tables.

Twilight nodded before she looked up to Celestia. "I'll do my best," she said as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. With that, Twilight approached the archives, and possibly one of the most daunting research tasks she would ever have to face.