The Tower

Twilight arrived in Canterlot along with the artifact in the middle of the night and they left the craft in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city; before Twilight went to the castle for the evening. The next day she was joined by the Celestia and two royal guards inside the warehouse; in the center of which sat the craft.

"So, my student you believe this artifact to be a ship?" Celestia asked

"Yes, princess. I assume you already read my report?" Twilight responded.

"Indeed. You mentioned it might still be functional?"

"Yes, princess but its just a theory."

Princess Celestia walked around to the side of the craft to where the hatch was. Celestia pressed her hoof against the red panel causing the hatch to open once more. She looked through the hatch and pulled out the dull grey crystal.

Admiring it Celestia said, "Crystals store arcane energy, and this one seems to be drained of it's."

"Why would it be drained?" Twilight asked.

"I believe this is the craft's power source."

"And the craft wasn't on because it's power source was drained."

"Precisely." The Celestia said as she began to channel arcane energy through her horn into the crystal. "There that should do it." Celestia finished as she inserted the now blue crystal back into place. As soon as the crystal was in place the front tip of the craft glowed red and it lifted into the air. It spun around in place as if it were looking for something, then two small beams of light shot out of either disc between the barrels on the sides of the craft. It spun around several more times until it stopped and faced the two princesses causing the two guards to step forward protectively.

"Hello?" Twilight decided to asked. The craft emitted a low humming sound and pointed the lasers at Twilight. The craft's barrels began to rotate faster and faster causing the humming to grow louder.

"Twilight look out!" Celestia shouted forming a protective barrier in front of Twilight. Suddenly the drone fired off a volley of bullets at Twilight all of which were deflected by Celestia's shield. One of the guards, a unicorn, fired a beam of magic that impacted one of the drone's fins causing it to spin momentarily. The drone's alarm sounded for a second as the drone spun around to face the opposite wall. The drone fired another volley of bullets through the wall, then it rammed itself through the wall and flew outside towards Canterlot.

"We have to stop it!" Twilight called flying through the hole in the wall followed by the two guards. The drone was moving incredibly fast flying over house tops an through the streets occasionally. The drone had made it to the center of Canterlot when it was finally surrounded by royal guard ponies. It spun around as though it were looking for something; when it stopped it started heading toward something off in the distance.

"Halt!" Yelled several of the guards ponies in front the drone. They were met with another volley of gunfire causing them to fall to the ground. Twilight realized where it was headed, to the Tower. As it flew off the side of the mountain and into the open air it started to pick up speed. Twilight realized that if she was going to catch it she had to do it now or she'd lose it. She noticed the still open hatch and sped towards it making use of Rainbow Dash's flying lessons. She climbed into the hole and pulled the crystal out off the pedestal causing the hatch to close with her still inside the craft. The craft started to plummet and she realized that if she didn't put the crystal back she was going to die from the crash. After reinserting the crystal the craft's insides began to light up once more as the drone began to resume it's previous path. Twilight began to head for the hatch when she realized, it was still closed.

Twilight awoke not realizing she'd been asleep. The journey from Canterlot to the Tower had taken less than a day which was remarkably fast since it would have taken the seasoned pegasus three days to complete. She stood up and looked towards the hatch which was now open.

Twilight stepped out onto a grey stone walkway. It was damp, dark, and depressing Twilight thought as she noticed a doorway. As she walked towards the doorway she noticed something strange about the floor and the tower itself. It was one solid piece of stone their was no seam, joint, or crack in sight.

Twilight reached the door and stood on a balcony outside. The light blinded her a she looked around bellow her rested several very large projectile weapons that pivoted left and right as they searched the sky for targets. Bellow them at the base of the tower there was a large field and beyond that their was a wall that circled the tower and upon that sat more turrets scanning the ground for anything that moved.

Twilight realized the only way out would be to teleport so she began gathering arcane power for the longest teleport of her life. After several minutes and no progress she cried, "Ugh! Why isn't it working!" All the energy she drew into her horn seemed to be absorbed by some unknown force. That's when she noticed the blue dome around the tower. It seemed to respond to her drawing in magic by glowing brighter.

"So, a forcefield that absorbs magic?" Twilight asked nopony in particular. Suddenly Twilight realized her predicament as she turned to face the tower, "I'm trapped here! The Tower that forced everypony away is keeping me prisoner!"