Only in my dreams

The twelve unicorns scurried around the room as they mixed different chemicals and cast assorted spells on vials and other lab items. Celestia watched them from a distance as they labored away. From her point of view, the clearest thing she could see was the swooshing beards that many of the unicorns had grown over the years.

She could only assume that it was because they all tried to model themselves after Starswirl the Bearded, the most powerful unicorn wizard to have ever walked on Equestrian soil. And, in all truth, she missed his presence. Even after hundreds of years since his absence, she still felt there was a connection between the two of them. Something that reminded her that he was once there, always by her side in her time of need.

Starswirl had always been there when Celestia was a little filly. Teaching her, guiding her, and all of the sorts. But he was old as well and his time was closing in on him. Every day he grew older, yet everyday, she visited him. Always talking about magic until the day her parents told her that she couldn’t see him again.

With slight hesitation, Bliss Endeavor trotted up to Celestia. “Princess, I regret to inform you that this spell may take some time.”

She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. “How long until you think it will be finished?” She asked.

“Uh…” The unicorn looked down at his hooves as he thought over the large amount of work the council would have to do.  “With all the testing required, it could take roughly ten years. This kind of spell has never been attempted before, so we honestly have no idea. It may take less time, but it may also take more.”

Celestia nearly lost her breath. All she heard was ten years.  “Ten years? Are you certain that it will take that long?”

“I’m afraid so. If we work too fast, mistakes may be made. The possible damage of the spell being produced incorrectly could be catastrophic. If anypony attempted to cast the spell before we can ensure its integrity, it could backfire on them.” Bliss rubbed his left fetlock with his hoof.

Celestia tried to maintain her composure, but failed. Her shoulders drooped and a small sliver of anger started to build up in her chest. She rubbed her temples in a desperate attempt to keep herself at ease.

“It’s fine.”

She regained some of her composure. A short moment passing before she decided to take a walk around the room to better control her emotions.

The sound of her hooves echoed through the room as the unicorns silently worked, this time, taking note of what they were all doing.

Finding herself curious, Celestia walked up to a mare who was well immersed into her assigned task.

Minutes passed before she noticed Celestia’s presence. Instead of the normal surprised notion that most ponies would give her upon her sudden arrival, the mare only asked her to put goggles on in order to protect her eyes.

Celestia looked down at the mare and smiled, “Of course.”

Already familiar with the layout of the room, she retrieved her own pair of protective eyewear from a white case in the back.

Satisfied that her princess was now protected, the mare went back to work. As Celestia watched she couldn't help but get the feeling that somehow, this mare reminded her of her own sister. She didn't know how, or why, but she did. Trying to ignore the feeling as best she could, Celestia still found herself unable to stop thinking about it.

Luna is a protective type of pony. She would never allowed anypony to hurt another, and would do as much as she could to prevent conflicts from happening. How Celestia had drawn the two together, she didn't know. Such a small similarity would generally pass right through her.

Celestia went back to wondering the lab. Coming to several to observe, she eventually became bored of watching the council members work and left them to their own devices.

The large double doors shrunk to a single set, then expanded into what seemed like a never ending hallway.

Looking to her left, Celestias eyes peered down a corridor that became darker and darker the further it went. Windows had never been placed down that way, giving it an ominous aura.

Celestia had never been down this hall. She hadn't been able to explore it due to her royal duties and business. But now, for the first time in countless years, she had been given the opportunity to explore the mysterious corridor to her hearts content.

With her council hard at work and nothing else to do, she took off down the darkened path.

As a little filly, she had heard many stories about what laid down these hallways. She had been told that there was a large prison system that held some of the most horrendous beings to ever threaten Equestria. Most of them immortal like herself, or at least with enough magical power to make themselves near immortal. Never had she believed those stories, but never did she have the time come down and find out for herself. Although, she likely wouldn't have given the fact that she had been scared to death at the idea of possibly running into a pony twice her size that had escaped from his cell.

Those fears no longer plagued her. Not only was she now one of the most magically gifted beings on Equestria, but she was easily double the size of most ponies. That in itself would give any other pony, or creature,  enough sense to not mess with her.

oOo

Curiosity drove Celestia down the halls of the lower castle levels. Mold and moss had infected almost every corner, turning them into green bunches of stink and filth. The sound of water dripping onto the floor played a constant background track to beat of her hooves as she continued her trek.

Over the years, the constant percolation of water from the upper levels had flooded every crack and crevice, turning the path into something more recognizable as a cave, rather that part of the castle itself.

Occasionally, a mouse or rat would scurry away from her hooves as they clanked and splashed on the stone below her.

She chuckled to herself lightly before continuing on, completely unfazed by what she had seen thus far. The brief thought of somepony she knows that would have hated the very existence of this place crossed her mind.

No matter how dreary surroundings were, she kept walking, knowing that it may be years before time would be granted to her once more in this extent. Eventually, she hit a split. One path went straight on, while the other went off to her right.

The eerie sounds of the prisoners crying for help suddenly broke the relative silence. She looked off to the right, where the cries originated from. They should have known that no help would ever come their way. It was strange that they would even conceive the idea that somepony would just dawdle around and release them from their well deserved cages.

She took the path to her right, the wails and cries steadily increasing as they heard her approach.

The torches lighting her way flickered, casting her shadow far down the path and illuminating where the cells began. She felt a shiver run down her spine and was hit by the feeling of spiders crawling all over her body. The only thing keeping her walking forward was her pure curiosity of what would follow.

No less than a minute later, she had walked up to the first cell. Behind it laid a large, black furred creature that she recognized from many centuries ago. Even in its shrunken state, it looked ferocious enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the largest stallions.

Celestia's parents had used their magic to shrink it down so it would fit into the cage. How the magic spell never faded was beyond her knowledge. For all she knew, the spell could be permanent. And from the looks of it, it likely was. No spell that would stick for hundreds of years wasn't permanent. There was no possible way.

Suddenly, a loud bang emitted from further down the stone trail. With only a moment of hesitation, she speed off in the direction that the monstrous sound had come from. Looking both ways, Celestia searched for anything that could have produced the horrific sound of metal snapping.

The cell system seemed to go on forever, but none of the blocks she could see had taken damage.  Finally, one cell caught her eye. It was made of a glowing, blue magic. A series of twelve beams formed into a square, each spiraled by a wisp of purple light. She knew this wasn't the one that the sound had originated from, but with its unique construction she couldn't help but take interest.

Looking inside revealed very little as only half a foot in the cell was visible. There was a sudden groan as whatever creature inside woke from its slumber. She could hear what sounded like hooves clicking on ground. Her heart started to beat harder in her chest as she backed away from the cage. Memories came swirling back to her like she was reading them from a book. Memories that she would have prefered to keep buried.

“Hello Celestia.”

Celestia gasped as her suspicions were confirmed. The stallion laughed a deep, dark, and evil laugh as he saw the expression that had so easily carved its way into her face.

“Starswirl."

Her mind blazed over what she could remember of the old stallion.

In his old age he had become more and more curious about the Arcane Arts. Eventually, he was driven so far into his obsession that he had destroyed entire towns across all of Equestria in his search to further his knowledge.

In the elder wizards own eyes, he had been doing the right thing. He had been taking means to advance the magical knowledge for all of pony kind. He was building a better tomorrow and in the name of progress, some casualties were to be expected.

Celestia, still being relatively young, had been forced to watch as her parents took to extreme means to capture him and stop the rampaging that had caused death to whomever he thought was holding information back. The struggle he had put up against two alicorns adults was, while admirable incredible, still horrifying for the young princess.

“Now I remember why you disappeared.”

Her anger nearly enveloped her. Her mind being completely fogged, she failed to notice the gaping hole in cell directly behind her.