Luna sat on her throne thinking about what had just transpired between her and Celestia. She knew her sister was suspicious, but she couldn’t be sure how much the solar alicorn knew of her secret.
Twilight needs to hear about this.
She spoke to the Night Guard on her left. “Night Wing, can you go wake Princess Twilight for me, please? Tell her to come up here.” Night Wing saluted and left.
Ten minutes later, Night Wing arrived with Twilight in tow. The lavender alicorn looked up to see Luna sitting on the throne looking worried.
“Luna, what's the matter? I was asleep when Night came in.” She tilted her head confusedly.
Luna turned to her guards. “Leave us be for a while, please.”
Both guards saluted and promptly exited the room.
Luna sighed. “Tia was still on the throne when I came back from raising the moon; usually she heads straight to bed after we bring forth the night. When I asked her what was wrong, she asked me in turn why you came to visit without informing her beforehoof.” She sighed again, more heavily. “I believe she’s onto us, Twilight, though she’s still clueless as to exactly why you’re here. One thing is for sure, though; she’s not happy about being left in the dark.”
Luna saw Twilight’s expression go from confused, to shocked, then to fearful all in the span of her little speech. The lavender princess spoke up.
“Oh no! Luna what are we going to do? What if she finds out?” Her eyes went wide at a thought. “What if she’s listening to us right now? There could be bugs planted all over this room.”
Luna rolled her eyes at Twilight’s overanalyzing of the situation. She got off the throne and approached the panicking mare, wrapped a wing around her and replied in her best attempt at duplicating her sister’s naturally soothing voice.
“You must calm yourself, Twilight. If she finds out, we will deal with the consequences. Now, I’m certain Tia wouldn’t bug her own palace,” she furrowed her brows as she continued, “but what she will do is interrogate you for answers using . . . let’s just say, extreme methods.”
Twilight’s gaze went back to fearful. “How extreme?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Luna smiled. “Nothing dangerous, mind you, but she’s quite a stubborn mare when she’s determined to find something out. Odds are, she’ll attempt to trap you somewhere and only release you in exchange for answers.” She furrowed her brows again. “But remember this, Twilight Sparkle, no matter what she attempts don’t cave in and, as it’s said nowadays, ‘spill the beans’. The element of surprise is vital to this plan and losing it will put all of our efforts in vain.” She grabbed Twilight’s shoulders firmly and gazed into the smaller alicorn’s eyes. “Can I trust you to remain adamant about keeping the secret, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight gazed into the moon princess’ eyes. They were full of confidence, resolve, and determination; three things Twilight often wished she had more of. Her wish was granted, for staring into those eyes gave the lavender princess a confidence boost to which she furrowed her brows in determination as she resolved to keep her and Luna’s secret safe from Celestia.
“You can count on me, Lulu,” she replied.
Luna smiled and let go of Twilight. “Good to hear,” she said, than began walking back toward the throne. “May you sleep well, my little star,” she called over her shoulder.
Twilight giggled, and made way to the throne room doors. “Good night, Lulu,” she replied, and exited the throne room, letting the guards know they could come back in as she left.
Twilight walked down the halls of Canterlot Castle with stride, her previous fears of the secret being revealed to Celestia diminished to almost nothing. She had made it about halfway down the main hallway when a flash appeared around a corner just up ahead. Twilight stopped in her tracks and listened to see what would come next. Nothing did.
A little bit of fear returned to Twilight as she tip-hoofed her way closer to the corner. When she reached it, she leaned up against the wall and slowly peered around the corner.
The last thing she saw before blacking out was a bright white light shining from the tip of a long horn of equal color.
-----
“ . . . . . . . . . ight . . . . . . . . . ilight . . . . . . . . . . . . Twilight.”
“Huh, wha?” Twilight groggily said as she awoke from her slumber. She sat up and rubbed her back with both hooves to try and mend the aches.
“We need to talk, Twilight,” said a familiar voice from in front of her.
Twilight opened her eyes to see Celestia standing there with a neutral expression. Turning her head, she realized they were in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot. She hadn’t been down there since the royal wedding when Queen Chrysalis imprisoned her with princess Cadence.
The crystalline cave system was a near perfect dungeon as the crystals themselves contained special properties that prevented unicorns from teleporting through the walls. The only way in and out of the caves was through an entrance in the Canterhorn. It was how she and Cadence had escaped all those years ago, and how Celestia must’ve brought her down here now.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, standing up on all fours, “what’s going on?”
Celestia kept her neutral expression while she replied. “Twilight, we’ve known each other for many years now, and it goes without saying that we share everything on our minds.”
Twilight groaned inwardly. I can’t believe I fell for her trap so quickly. Alright, Twilight, you can’t let Luna down; remain vigilant and rock-steady until she’s done interrogating.
“To that end,” Celestia continued, and when she spoke next Twilight felt perturbed at the coldness laden in her voice, “what were you and Luna discussing earlier?”
Twilight was taken aback by the cold reply at first, but she quickly composed herself and answered in a matter-of-fact tone (despite flat out lying). “We were discussing possible names for a new comet we discovered the other night; I’ve been thinking about nam-“
“That’s a lie!”
Celestia’s use of the Royal Canterlot voice was so unexpected that Twilight started and was blown back a few meters before coming to a stop against a large crystal stalagmite. She shakily got back up on her hooves and turned back to her mentor who continued speaking.
“I overheard you two discussing something pertaining to me,” Celestia said, her voice sounded so cold and twisted that Twilight found herself cowering in fear. “I demand to know what it was about. If you refuse to answer, I will be forced to charge you with treason.”
That confused Twilight immensely. “What do you mean ‘treason’? I’ve done nothing of the sort!”
“If that’s the case, my ‘faithful’ student,” Celestia’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “then tell me what you two were discussing.”
Twilight was about to speak up, but hesitated when she remembered Luna’s words. Standing her ground, Twilight looked into her mentor’s eyes defiantly and spoke.
“Okay, I lied; we were in fact discussing something pertaining to you.” She softened her gaze a bit as she continued. “But I can’t, and won’t, tell you what we were discussing.”
Celestia sighed. “So, it’s actually come to this . . .”
Celestia’s horn lit up with a golden aura. Suddenly, Twilight felt something grasp her around the barrel and squeeze her against the crystal wall behind her. Looking down, she saw a section of crystal rock had jutted out of the wall and wrapped itself around her. It wrapped tightly enough that Twilight struggled to breathe. She tried pushing down on the crystal with all her might and flapped her wings as hard as she could. It helped loosen her a bit, but not by much and she quickly exhausted herself.
“I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, Twilight,” Celestia said. “I didn’t want to believe that my own student would keep secrets from me, but now you’ve left me with no choice.”
Twilight tried casting a spell on the crystal to shatter it, but to her surprise found herself unable to call magic into her horn. It was when she tried doing so that Twilight felt an incredible itching sensation around her horn. Casting her eyes upwards to the tip of her horn, she noticed the presence of something wrapped around it. Seeing Twilight’s confusion, Celestia answered her question before the lavender princess could ask it.
“It’s a magical suppressant, used to keep unicorn criminals from casting harmful spells. As long as you’re wearing it, which you will until I decide otherwise, magic is completely out of your reach.”
Twilight gazed at her mentor again with wide eyes. She remembered what Luna had said about Celestia taking extreme measures to get the information out of her, but what the solar alicorn was doing seemed beyond even that.
“Celestia . . . ,” Twilight whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby stripped of all power and authority pertaining to the title of Princess, of which you are no longer.”
Before Twilight had a chance to be shocked in response, Celestia cast another spell which made Twilight feel sleepy. She struggled to remain awake, but fighting against the magic of Princess Celestia was futile; Queen Chrysalis being the sole opponent of her majesty to ever triumph over her. Before Twilight fully passed out, she heard Celestia speak one last line.
“I’ll also be stripping you of your wings . . .”