Azil

"And...you're sure?" Said that alluring yet commanding voice of absolute authority. She didn't hear a response, guessing that the question was answered with a simple nod of the head. A sigh followed shortly after, the unicorn taking a daring peak from her hiding spot and watching as Queen Celestia slowly dragged a hoof down her snout "How did this happen...? What are we supposed to do now?"

"That's...what I'm here to talk about," The other pony answered, though from her angle Twilight wasn't able to make out her form. "The pillars are weakening, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we're facing a risk of containment failure. We've been reading dimensional energy signatures of deep, chaotic energy which we're guessing is what's causing the scales to shift violently."

Celestia sat her flank down upon a royal maroon pillow of smooth, elegant silk and called upon a simple cast of magic to levitate a tea set from a nearby tray to their table. She began to serve the honeyed amber liquid as she nodded "I see...well that's good at least, about the containment anyway. I can only assume that the shifts are due to the workings of the Draconequus Chimera Majoris, but to what end I couldn't say...it will only bring about ruination on his own self."

A hoof appeared in Twilight's view, reaching out to take the cup Celestia offered. It was in a rough state, a multitude of scars making a unique impression in the chocolate fur. "It's obvious that there's an ulterior motive at work." The mystery pony answered. "What that is we obviously can't say, though we've sent agents to several different planes to try and counteract the destabilization...we're showing even results of success and failure, but we really need a replacement for the Throne of the Wind-Cracked Stone soon so..."

"No." Celestia said with a firm, dismissive tone. Her eyes narrowed, taking a moment to sip her tea as she said "You can find another, you don't need ours...they've been through too much already. You can't possibly expect me to 'ok' this course of action."

A weary sigh, a shuffling, and a light sipping later the voice responded "Anastasia is on her deathbed, and when she finally takes her place in the echoes of the wind...the gates of Azil will fly open." There was a tense feeling in the air, a very uncomfortable moment of unease settling across the meeting as the pony went on "I understand...I do...but what's more important? One pony, or the scales?"

Twilight wasn't sure what unnerved her more, the nature of the conversation or the fact that Celestia offered no response to the question for the remainder of the meeting.

~~~

"Three years..." Twilight mirrored with tired breath, looking towards the cloaked pony before her "I've been falling...for three years."

"And some change," the colt nodded, his wings shifting under the brown cloth "Really it's standard procedure for this particular holding cell, the nasties locked up in here can do some really nasty, mind-altering stuff if they go unchecked for too long." He glanced upwards, scanning the air as he clicked his tongue "Eh, though there was really only the one left in here, but even one is enough to royally screw a lot of things up. Wonder where the others went..."

Twilight slowly got to her hoofs, her legs shaking and wobbling as she groaned "T...this entire snowy plain is a holding cell?" The pegasus rushed to her aide, brushing his side up against her to stabilize her as she got her bearings.

"Yeah, ain't that neat??" He said with a little too much enthusiasm. "It's more like an ever-repeating pocket dimension, where if you cross over the edge of the plane you appear at the other side though you'd never be able to tell because of how similar the landscape is all around."

He started to guide her along, helping her began a slow walk forward as she winced, the wind beginning to pick up in the area as she asked "So...what was being contained in here then? Why did I need to be put in a bubble spell of stasis?"

"Classified," The pegasus answered immediately, looking at her out of the corner of his eye with a small smile on his muzzle "Though as to why the spell was necessary, the creatures in here don't particularly care for pony's of an 'unstable' mindset, though they are very patient. We had to drive you mad and make sure enough time passed that they would lose interest in you." He paused, tapping his hoof to his chin as his eyes slowly rolled towards the air "Though perhaps three years is a bit much...it's still standard procedure."

Twilight forced them to a stop, shooting a very angry glare towards the pegasus and snarling "Yeah, you THINK?! You owe me three years of answers, regardless if only minutes have passed. You owe me that at least!"

The pegasus raised a brow and answered her in a very careful, tip-toeing sort of tone "Look...technically I don't owe you a damn thing, you being an inmate yourself...but I suppose since the breach the rules have changed. We'll need each other to survive." He shook his head and sighed "Besides, even if I were to try and give you the exact answers to the questions I'm sure you're going to ask, it's classified to someone of your clearance level...and being an inmate pretty much means you have none. If I were to try and tell you anything, my mind would get hit with a minor amnesiac state and I'd forget everything about everything until I was 'retrieved' by the rest of the staff."

She blinked at him several times, her mouth slightly opening as she took on a most dumbfounded look. "That's pretty serious..." She whispered, shaking her head "But just you saying that only stirs up at least a hundred more questions. How about this?" She turned her head to him, making sure she had his full attention "I'll ask you questions, and you just let me know if you can answer ok? You can't be restricted to tell me everything." He gave it a moment before nodding, opening the way for Twilight to begin her questioning. "I'm an inmate, I could guess that much from when I woke up here in a padded cell...but what was my crime?"

"Partially classified," He answered, a sympathetic look on his face "Sorry, because of the nature of where we are there's a lot of protocols and procedures when it comes to case files. Technically yours was never fully closed and there are several details about the nature of your incarceration that I can't shed light on." He paused, once more tapping a hoof to his snout as if trying to choose the right wording. He nodded after a moment and went on "You're here for a reason, a primary reason. Really your 'crime' was more or less a convenient excuse to get you here, because you 'did' need to serve time, but you were also required for something...more. As for your base crime, there are multiple charges of assault and battery, battery, resisting arrest, and one count of attempted murder."

Twilight's eyes widened, staring forward into the wasteland of white and shivering. M-murder...? She had tried to kill someone? Who? What for? Could it have been....? "Did I try and kill Rainbow Dash?"

The pegasus shook his head "Sorry, beyond your list of charges which you are entitled to know, I can't discuss your case without an approved facility lawyer present."

Twilight nodded "I figured as much. Alright, so I'm guessing you're one of the 'guards' for this place, right?" A nod from the colt drew her to her next question "And this place is called Az-"

"SSSSHHHH!" The colt hissed, pressing a hoof to her lips and looking around frantically. After a few puffs of heavy breathing and an assuring quick glances to ensure nothing was coming at him, he looked back towards her and sighed "Be careful...that word has heavy power in the right instances...most of them extremely and violently dangerous. The best I can tell you is that you can just consider this a 'prison' of an alarming caliber."

The lavender mare blinked several times in surprise at the colt's sudden outburst, nodding after a moment as she went on "Ok, so a prison...are there other inmates like me here? What about an inmate named Ditzy Doo...? Why was she incarcerated here?"

The pegasus shook his head "There were...there's not many left that I know of now. I didn't get the full story myself about what happened. There was an incident, a major one...broke a lot of cells and tore a lot of things up. You're only one out of ten other pony inmates here that I know of that are still alive...at least since last I checked." He cocked his head upon hearing Ditzy's name however, furrowing his brow "Though Ditzy Doo...can't say I recognize that one. I wouldn't know anything about her, sorry."

"My horn?" Twilight asked, tapping the broken base of her magical conduit.

"Standard procedure for unicorn inmates." The colt answered, looking sort of sympathetic at her face "It should be obvious why we had to take it...though I'm sure that doesn't make it suck any less."

Twilight nodded, sighing heavily. She did figure that they had to take it to prevent her from teleportation or blowing the guards up or something. If she was here in a straight jacket...she couldn't have been in a very right state of mind to be trusted with something as volatile as battle magic. "Alright, two more questions...am I going to be able to speak to a higher up or your boss or someone who can give me the full story?"

The colt pondered this for several moments, unsure of how to answer. He paused, seeming deep in thought as he carefully pieced together his answer. "Uuuuh...yes? Someone of higher clearance should be able to answer you questions, though whether or not they'll be willing to give them to you I can't guarantee or say for sure."

She nodded, moving straight on to the last question which...honestly should have been the first if manners were to be considered. "What's your name?"

At this the pegasus smiled, chuckling and rubbing the back of his head before answering "Vasile".

Twilight smiled in kind and gave her own as she nudged them forward into the wasteland once more "Twilight, a pleasure." They walked for a good ten minutes before she chuckled bashfully and asked "I...take it you know where we're going, right?"

"Of course I do," Vasile scoffed "Though this may be a repetitive plane, it of course is still just a holding cell. There's a door, we just have to get to it...and make sure any inmates don't follow us out."

Twilight nodded, staring off to her left into the wide expanse. It really did seem like it went on forever...if it was a plane of existence that repeated herself, there'd be no way in hell she'd be able to tell where one side started and another began. Without this guard...she could have been wandering for eternity. "Say..." She piped up suddenly, looking back towards Vasile "Why...'are' you helping me anyway? I mean...I'm an inmate, right? Aren't you supposed to be cuffing my hooves and dragging me back to my cell or something? Make me eat slop and put me back in a straight jacket?"

Vasile rolled his eyes, giving her a slightly annoyed look that displayed the clear message of 'really?'. He shook his head and chuckled after a moment though, the irritation of her statement passing as it was clearly made in ignorance "Orders to bring you back unscathed to the best of my ability, first off." He nudged his head forward, ruffling his wings under his cloak to get them a little more comfy as he went on "Secondly, you're cooperating so why would I need to use force, and third...we're not your average prison or guards. Even we are capable of small amounts of kindness. Keep it in mind Twilight that while this is a prison, sure...a lot of pony's and other things here are just sick. Why torture something weak and sick?" He stopped them suddenly, his smile widening as he flicked a hoof out and pressed it against an invisible surface through the air. He thudded it against the unseeable object three times, a metallic gonging ringing out before a door opened before them as if from nowhere.

Twilight gasped as the entrance was revealed before them, Vasile extending a hoof into the thick blanket of darkness that rested just beyond and smiled as he turned his head to look upon her and smile, his words soft and laced with a tone that for some reason made her feel...uncomfortable.

"Shall we?"