Author's Note

The following chapter contains a brief description of [gore] in a medical context.

Additionally, I forgot to mention that this story splits off from the cannon storyline sometime after Scare Master in season six, and assumes that Hearthbreakers chronologically occurs after.

Chapter 3 - Twilight's Hunt for Truth

“Good morning, Twilight,” Spike said, looking up from his bowl of sapphires.

Twilight squinted at him through groggy eyes, her mind just beginning to wake up properly from what little sleep she got. She yawned, and wiped away the long-dried tears from her face. Her voice was raspy and monotonous.

“Morning. Coffee.”

“On the table.”

Twilight lurched her way over to the room service tray on the dining table in her palace suite. She had been living in this room for the past month, mostly working. Complex charts and chalk-laden blackboards cluttered every wall of the once luxurious suite. Now, it was indistinguishable from a messy professor's office. Twilight had tried to keep it all neat, but eventually, the need to juggle large volumes of information overcame her compulsion for order.

Having poured herself a cup of the coffee, Twilight took a seat across from Spike. As the caffeine gradually diffused into her bloodstream, she absentmindedly eyed over a stray diagram of her machine.

It was perfect. Not one mis-carved rune, not one crossed power stream. It would have performed perfectly, had it not been for Discord’s meddling. Why did he have to go and do that? Didn’t he know how much this meant to me? Well, of course he did. Why else would he do it?

The more Twilight thought about it, the angrier she became. Discord had destroyed her best chance of actually making a contribution to science, and for what? She genuinely had no idea. Even Discord usually had some reason for his behaviour, whether to prove some nonsensical point, or simply get a kick out of watching ponies scramble to clean up a mess he had caused. But this? He just showed up in time to throw a spanner in the cogs and left.

“Twilight?”

Twilight's coffee began to boil in her magical grip as she began to seethe. He had no right to interfere with my work! If it had just been some dumb project, then that would be one thing, but this is deliberately hindering scientific progress! Why, I have half a mind to summon that wormy ass of his right now and shove it into…

“Uh, Twilight?”

“YES, SPIKE?!” Twilight’s mug erupted into a geyser of vapourized coffee, the ceramic mug itself beginning to glow and deform from the intense heat of her rage.

Spike paid little attention to his caretaker’s outburst, instead clutching his stomach with a twitch in his eye.

“I feel… weird. Like something’s digging around in my body.” Before she could respond, Spike collapsed and began jerking in odd angles. Twilight immediately forgot her grievances and dashed around the table to get to her assistant’s side.

“Spike! Just, uh… Just stay there. I’ll get somepony to-”

Before she could get all her words out, Twilight gasped as Spike let out a mighty belch, and a cone of golden flames engulfed the space above the table. No heat came from the flame. Instead, it gave her a chill. The fire almost felt like it was judging her.

When the golden fire finally died down, a letter remained floating in its place. The envelope was a bright, crimson red, and seemed to shimmer.

Once Twilight snapped out of her shock, she broke her gaze with the mysterious mail to check on Spike. He lay face up on the cushion, limbs splayed out and staring dumbly at the ceiling.

“...Sapphires for breakfast; never again.”

Giving a sigh of relief to see him well, Twilight turned back to the letter. She plucked it from its spot suspended above the table and brought it cautiously towards her face. Instead of a scroll with a wax seal bearing the insignia of the Crown like she was used to, this envelope instead had a rune impressed into a seal of lead, presumably what was giving it its magical shimmer.

She hadn’t been holding it for three seconds before the shimmering field rippled with light, and an ethereal voice filled the air.

“Recipient thaumic signature detected - please state your name to confirm.” The voice was like wind chimes ringing in her brain.

“Uh, Princess Twilight Sparkle…” she responded to the disembodied voice that seemed to come from every direction at once.

“Confirmed. This is a high-security message from the desk of Princess Celestia of Equestria. Please tear the parchment in twain once read to initiate self-destruct. Self destruct will be initiated automatically in five minutes.”

And with that, the shimmering field shattered, and the lead seal melted off, evaporating before it hit the hardwood floor.

Twilight stood stunned as she held a letter that had told her it intended to destroy itself. Spike groaned beside her as he pulled himself up into a sitting position.

“Well, are you going to read it? Whatever it is, it’s spoiled my appetite. Might as well find out what it wants.” Twilight turned to him with a mixed look of awe and fear.

“Spike, this is a Royal High-Security Communiqué. It’s only used for the most dire of circumstances. I think the last time one went out was when Tirek took over, and the princesses had to secure Equestria’s secret installations. I’ve never seen one up close.” Twilight just sat there, staring in awe at the red envelope.

“Well, what are you waiting for, then? Open it!”

Twilight looked unsure for a moment, then quickly nodded. She gingerly pried it open with her magic, and equally carefully pulled out a surprisingly ragged piece of scrap parchment.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Twilight,

Report the the Crystal Capital castle dungeon immediately.

- C.

P.S. Speak to nopony. That includes Spike. Go.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

“Well? What does it say?” Spike, now recovered from his ordeal, attempted to read over Twilight’s shoulder, but she pulled it away from him.

“It says that, uh… that I can’t tell you what it says. I… I have to go. To a place. Right now.” Nothing like had ever happened to Twilight before. She didn’t know what to think, or how to feel. All she knew was that Celestia was ordering her to go to the Crystal Empire in one of the most urgent manners possible.

Spike simply gave her a concerned look. He realized the situation must have been quite grave to have Twilight so spooked.

Twilight then moved the paper away from her face and began tearing the paper in two. Once the rip reached about half way, both the parchment and the envelope began to dissolve into a cloud of golden sparks, before fading into nothing.

She then returned Spikes look of concern, then began towards the door. However before she could get to it, a sonorous call came from outside her suite’s balcony window.

“Princess Twilight, are you in?”

“Luna?” Twilight would recognise the night princess’ commanding voice anywhere. Upon hearing Twilight respond, the princess of the night let herself into the suite from the balcony.

“Ah! Thank the Makers! Pray tell, Princess Twilight, has sister come to see you? It is of the utmost importance.”

“No, but I did just get… a red letter from her.” Luna did not appear as impressed as Twilight had been.

“Oh. She has no doubt instructed you to depart for the Crystal Empire.” So much for ‘Speak to nopony’. Twilight decided she could trust Luna, though she loathed to brush off such rigid orders.

“She did. Luna, can you tell us what’s going on?” Twilight was getting worried.

“I am afraid not. This turn of events has unfolded just as quickly upon me. Though, I have some notion as to what has prompted sister’s strange actions. We were having our supper - or breakfast, as it were - when an urgent letter from Princess Cadence arrived by dragonfire. Attached was a guard report of some sort. Before I could draw information from her, she dashed to her desk, hastily wrote up several letters, then teleported away. I could not trace her. I had hoped that she would be here.”

Twilight frowned. Whatever was going on, if Celestia didn’t even have time to speak to her sister, it was far more urgent than she had thought. Celestia clearly knew something.

“Do you have any idea what could cause her to act like this?” Luna sadly shook her head.

“I am afraid not, Twilight. Many… procedures were conceived over the centuries, relating to many scenarios; war, plague, natural disaster, to name a few. Though, without more information, I could not guess as to what exactly has occurred. However, for ‘Tia to have acted with such haste, it can be assumed that the situation is of the utmost gravity.” Luna said. However, after a moment, she flattened her ears and added apologetically, “Oh, yes. And I am afraid your brother has been injured.” This statement left Twilight jarred.

“W-What? How badly?”

“If I saw correctly, the guard report mentioned Shining Armor, and bore the seal of the Crystal Palace’s royal infirmary. Evidently, badly enough to be hospitalised.” Twilight was frozen with anxiety, haunted by thoughts of what could have happened to her dear brother. Quickly she regained control and looked back up to her fellow princess.

“Whatever’s going on, it’s important. I’ll get to the Crystal Empire as fast as I can, so I can see Shining and figure out what Princess Celestia wants me to do.” Luna nodded.

“Prudent decision. Speak to the Rail Master at the train station. She will have an emergency engine brought out with haste. It is faster than other engines, and will not make stops.”

Twilight turned to the balcony and made to take flight, before Spike spoke up.

“Uh, what about me? Am I coming too?”

“Sorry Spike, I think I’m supposed to do this alone. I’m sure I’ll be back soon, when this clears up,” she apologised. Spike nodded and let Twilight perform her duty. Luna and the dragon watched as she took to the air and silently flew out the window and into the early morning sky.

“If you would not mind, Spike, I should like to have you with me. Having a source of dragonfire shall be most useful.” Spike smiled in agreement. Luna crouched down to allow the dragon onto her back. “You have no aversions to opossums, have you?”

“I… don’t think so. Why?” Luna stood and began to leave Twilight’s suite. She simply smiled.

“No reason. Perish the thought”

<~.~.~</^>~.~.~>

Several ponies were startled as their princess teleported straight into the train station office. Twilight ignored everypony accept the Canterlot Rail Master sitting in her office. Twilight urgently requested the emergency engine, and the mare quickly called out orders to a nearby engineer.

The locomotive was hitched and ready in under ten minutes. Unlike normal steam engines, it was propelled magically. It and its single car were not ornate like other trains, but made of wood and polished wrought iron. They were conical in shape to allow for higher aerodynamic efficiency.

Now, Twilight sat in the sparsely furnished car, traveling north at nearly a hundred miles an hour. There was nothing to distract her from her thoughts but the drone of the magical engine ahead.

Twilight rested her head in her hooves and gazed out the narrow, utilitarian window, her lack of sleep catching up with her. She was still trying to convince herself that the last half-hour had actually happened.

What happened to get Celestia to act this way? Why was there no time to explain it? How is Shining involved?

She was drowning in questions that she couldn’t answer, so she tried to distract herself by thinking what her friends were up to. Likely, they were all preparing for Hearth’s Warming coming in a few days. Twilight sighed at the thought. The last time they had all been able to spend time together as friends was for Nightmare Night, over a month ago, and now she was about to miss one of the most important holidays to be among friends and family. Would she have to miss Winter Wrap-Up as well? When she had initially proposed the idea to catch an asteroid, her friends were all so supportive. Even when it began to consume more and more of her time, they had assured her that they would manage, and that they were glad that she had found a way to fulfill her life-long dream of making an actual scientific breakthrough, instead of “just being smart”.

For the first time, she began to question whether it was worth it.

As Twilight attempted to catch a bit of sleep, she lost herself in her mind. She was drowning in worries for her brother and fear of the unknown. She could tell secrets were being kept, and that troubled her. What the future held for her, she couldn’t guess. After her misfortune just the previous night with her teleportation experiment, she couldn’t help but feel like she couldn’t catch a break.--

After a while, the train moved under dark northern clouds, and it began to snow. Twilight stared blankly out the window, and eventually drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

...

Twilight looked around as she entered the Crystal Palace’s medical wing. She had been there several times before, but it was now unrecognizable. The main reception room was in chaos; crystal ponies of various professions trotted briskly from room to room, hauling boxes of files and assorted medical equipment. Papers lay scattered on the crystal floor, and everypony had various looks of concentration, clearly working as quickly and efficiently as they were able.

Ponies barely spared the princess a quick bow before getting back to whatever they were doing. As Twilight approached the reception desk, the attendant looked up and dropped her stack of papers upon seeing her, looking shocked.

“Oh, Princess, you’re here already. Apologies about the state of this place. The director is waiting in her office.” The crystal mare said distractedly, her concentration clearly divided.

“Of course, but first, I need to see Shining Armor.” Twilight’s worry deepened when the mare expression grew troubled.

“Oh, the Prince. Yes, he is in room ‘14-A’, in the intensive care ward. I believe Doctor Hays just went to check on him. You could still catch him.” The attendant’s ears were folded back in pity. This can’t be good. Twilight thanked the mare, and trotted quickly to the specified room.

Once she found her way to the intensive care ward, the crystal walls became plaster to easier see contamination. The air reeked of bleach.

Upon arriving at the door labeled ‘14-A’, Twilight stopped as somepony in medical garb exited the room, who she assumed was Doctor Hays. She didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

“Doctor. Tell me what happened,” she demanded. The stallion turned to see his princess glaring at him, and thankfully didn’t try to bow, or anything else that would only serve to waste her time.

“Princess Twilight. I don’t know much about what happened, but an hour ago, Prince Shining was brought in from outside the city by the Guard. He has a serious burn across his right latissimus dorsi and external intercostal muscles, along with some frost bite. We’ve managed to stabilize him, but he’s still in critical condition.” Doctor Hays efficiently conveyed the important information to Twilight.

Twilight turned away from him and was about to burst into the hospital room, when the doctor put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her.

“Princess Cadence is currently asleep in there. I wouldn't recommend waking her. This… incident has taken its toll. On everypony.” After a moment’s pause, Twilight nodded and steeled herself. She opened the door, and slowly entered the sickeningly sterile room. Her eyes ran laps around the beige walls, before finally managing to settle on the mass in the bed on the far end of the room. On a cushion next to the bed sat Cadence, her head wrapped in her forelegs resting on the mattress. Her hair was in a most disheveled state.

Shining Armor lay there, his eyes closed and breathing shallow. Were it not for the medical equipment on either side of the bed, Twilight could believe he was simply sleeping. Time seemed to slow as she began toward his side. After what felt like an eternity, she arrived next to her unconscious brother.

With a hoof, she gently touched his shoulder, careful not to disturb the blanket hiding his injury. When no response came, she hung her head in silence, trying to fight back the fear and sadness in her heart.

Doctor Hays stood in the doorway, patiently waiting while she stood in the prince’s presence. After a few minutes, she turned away from her brother and sister-in-law and returned to the door, the normal glimmer of cheer found in the princess’s eye absent. Wordlessly, they both vacated the room, and she gently shut the door. Once they were once again alone, Twilight took a deep breath of bleached air and blanked her face.

“Prognosis?” The doctor grimaced. Worst part of this damn job…

“Not good. I won’t lie to you princess. He could die.” This caused Twilight’s composure to shatter completely. A manic rage grew in her eyes as she began shaking.

“You have access to the best doctors and medical technology in Equestria, maybe even the world, and you can’t even heal a burn?! Did you even try any regeneration spells?! I certainly didn’t sense any healing magic residue on him!” Her voice rang through the hall, startling a few nurses passing by.

“Princess, please try to remain calm. I realize that this is traumatic news, but we have to try to stay rational.” Twilight’s nostrils were flaring in anger like a bull, but she let him continue. The doctor looked at her sympathetically, before explaining. “The nature of the burn makes any regeneration spell either impossible or potentially lethal. The wound is too close to his vital organs to brute-force it with a restructuring spell, and we can’t just simply regenerate it closed, because the necrotic tissue will almost certainly cause him to go into septic shock. Any other healing spells utilise his body’s own regenerative capabilities, and he’s nowhere near strong enough right now to normal regen-therapy.

“Normally, we could just keep him here for a few months while he regains strength, but the high risk of infection means we don’t exactly have time on our side.”

Twilight glared at the doctor for several moments, trying to think of something, anything, that could save her brother.

“Let me see.”

“See? See what, Your Highness?”

“The burn. Let me see it.”

He stood there awkwardly under his princess’ glare, before concedeing. The unicorn levitated some papers from his saddlebags.

“Very well, Princess. I can’t let you disturb the prince, but these photographs were just developed. I warn you, though; they are-” His warning was cut off by Twilight snatching the photos from him in her own magic. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked over the first one.

The colour photo showed her brother sprawled out on a gurney, the legs of several guards and doctors in the edge of the shot. Centre frame was a long crevice in Shining’s body, running from his shoulder to his flank. Twilight couldn’t quite make out the details, as the picture was smudged from motion. However, the next one in the stack gladly focused on the gruesome wound. The fur around the burn had been shaven off, and blue marker now encircled the gash to better notice infection.

The burn itself caused Twilight’s stomach to roll. Most of the flesh in the gash was burnt black, with patches of bloody, raw muscle in the cracks. Twilight felt shivers go down her spine when she noticed some deformed ridges, blackened on one side, that could only be bone.

Twilight desperately tried to keep herself from vomiting right there in the hall as she continued to flip though the disturbing photos of her fallen brother. The last one in the stack was an osteography, confirming that Shining’s pelvis and several ribs had been mangled.

After standing dumbstruck for a while, Twilight slowly returned the photos. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered that this was the most horrendous injury she had ever laid eyes on.

“...I see…” she said softly, her look of shock not yet gone. Doctor Hays tried to give her a reassuring smile as he replaced the pictures.

“Try not to worry too much, Your Highness. He just got here, and we have a whole slew of treatments ready to try, so it’s not like we’re without options. And like you said; we have the best resources on Equus available to us. We’re not about to just let our best prince go without a fight.”

Twilight tried her best to return his smile, but underneath, her dread refused to be buried. The doctor decided to change the topic. “Anyway, I believe Doctor Reflex is waiting for you. You’re a bit earlier than expected, but I’m sure she won’t mind. She’ll probably be in the director’s office, just down this hall and to the right.”

Twilight nodded, not bothering to respond, and began to trot down the hall. However, she paused when Doctor Hays added,

“Princess, I’m not stupid, and I don’t think you are either. The scorching on only one side of the ribs indicates a blast of some kind. This was clearly caused by some sort of weapon. I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on, but there’s been talk of terrorists…” He stopped when he noticed the princess frown. He cleared his throat and looked away. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re here to help figure things out, so any information about whatever has done this to your brother will help us greatly to make decisions for his care.”

“If I learn anything that can help save Shining, believe me, I won’t hesitate to pursue it,” she stated firmly, then turned without waiting for his reply, and made her way to the director’s office.

…

As it turned out, the director of the hospital was not in her office. Her secretary, a small Crystal mare suggested checking the hospital’s third level, so that’s where Twilight was headed now. The hospital was its own spire of the castle, and had a spiraling staircase and an recently-installed, modern elevator to change floors. Twilight chose to take the stairs, as they were faster, and the elevator was being occupied by a team of workers ferrying large crates.

As she approached the third floor, she could start to hear strange clanging noises. Once she arrived and opened the pair of swinging doors, her ears were assaulted by the pounding of construction equipment.

Before her was a sight to behold; dozens of construction workers in reflective gear and hard hats were busy knocking down walls, erecting support beams, and all manner of different tasks. The area wasn’t particularly large, as this was the tip of the spire, but was spacious enough to reverberate the torrent of sound.

In the middle of it all was a unicorn mare speaking, or shouting, rather, with a group of ponies trying to assemble a machine of some sort. She was wearing a hard hat like everypony else, but her black and white business dress indicated an administrator. Twilight supposed that this was her mare.

The mare looked away from her conversation with the mechanics and locked eyes with Twilight from across the room. She looked surprised for a moment, before looking back to the worker. She bellowed some orders over the din, turned to make her way towards Twilight. Once she was close, Twilight cast a muffling spell around them to actually be able to converse. The mare gave her a polite nod.

“Princess, you’re early. Excellent. I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you in our little workplace yet. I still need to oversee this reconstruction. These ponies couldn’t tell a centrifuge from a soul-forge.” The mare gave a quick glance over her shoulder to glare at the mechanics, who appeared to be trying to hook up what Twilight recognised as a medical refrigeration unit. “Oh, where are my manners; my name is Doctor Sharp Reflex. I’m chief surgeon and acting director of the Royal Crystal Infirmary, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

Twilight eye twitched slightly. She considered herself a patient mare, but enough was enough. She had been carted to the other side of Equestria, and led through a rigamarole of tracking ponies down. And for what? Something important was going on, and it seemed like everypony knew more than her, and nopony was telling her anything!

She took a deep breath, and did her best to speak in a calm and collected fashion.

“I’m sorry Doctor, but I was asleep two hours ago, and just saw my brother... in the critical care ward. The only thing I know is that I’m supposed to go to the castle dungeon for some unknown reason. Now, can you tell me what’s going on here?” Doctor Reflex expression grew concerned.

“Oh my. This must be more serious than I thought… Well, I’m afraid I don’t know the nature of the situation, but I can tell you about this.” She gestured to the reconstruction effort going on around them, the noise reduced to whispers. “Just a few hours ago, I received an emergency message from the Crown instructing me to oversee the conversion of this storage floor into a new laboratory. Apparently, the castle foreman got the same message, as I found the construction team ready to go by the time I spoke to him.”

A new laboratory? Twilight added it to the ever-growing list of things she had to get answers to.

“Do you know why? Build a lab, that is.”

“Afraid not, Your Highness. Though in the supply manifest, there’s listed microscopes, alchemical analyzers, and various thaumometers. If I had to guess, I'd say we’ll be doing something biology related. Oh, and some medical runes were requested to be sent to the dungeon, so I imagine we’ll be doing something there while this lab is being finished.”

“You keep saying we…”

“Hmm? Oh. It’s just that my message implied that we’d be working on something together. Us, and possibly a whole team. I did see Doctor Edge heading towards the dungeon this morning.”

Doctor Edge? Could she mean Straight Edge? Before she could ask, Doctor Sharp continued.

“Perhaps there is something you could answer me, Princess.” Twilight doubted there was anything she could say for certain about this ridiculous situation she was in, but she nodded her head anyway. “Well, if I am correct in assuming we are assembling a research team, then I can only wonder, why me? I mean, I know I’m a good surgeon-” she gave Twilight a sly smile, “-but I’m by no means the best in Equestria. You are renowned for your vast knowledge of magic and science, and if I’m not mistaken, Doctor Edge is the leading figure in materials science. It almost makes me wonder…” The doctor paused to think, but before she could continue, Twilight noticed a sudden flash of movement behind Sharp Reflex.

The refrigeration unit had started wildly spraying coolant, and the workers were scrambling to get the leak under control. Sharp gave a groan when she turned and saw the mess unfurl.

“Apologies, Your Highness, we can speak later. I’m sure all these questions will be answered in the dungeon. For now, I have to get these feather-brains in line. I will see you as soon as I’m able. Now, WHO SAID YOU COULD UNSCREW…” she hollered to the mechanics as she cantered away, her admonitions fading away with the rest of the sound as she crossed the silencing spell’s one-way barrier.

Well, that’s that, I suppose. Twilight watched the bizarre sight for a few moments, before heading back towards the stairs. With any luck she was finally about to find out what the buck was going on. To say that she was frustrated is an understatement; she was positively pissed. She absolutely loathed not knowing things, and she had only accumulated questions since arriving in the Crystal Empire.

The only thing that kept her from snapping at Doctor Reflex was the fascinating prospect of being on a research team. Did Celestia have something that needed the best minds in Equestria to investigate? Was a dangerous relic from the rule of Sombra discovered in the dungeon? Or perhaps somepony was infected with an unknown pathogen, and was being kept in the dungeon while a proper lab could be assembled. She giggled internally as she imagined having to tell Spike that they had a zombie outbreak on their hooves. Whatever the case, Twilight’s curiosity had been piqued.

With nothing left to do but head down to the castle’s dungeon, once more she trotted towards a future she couldn’t see. Descending the crystal staircase, she absent-mindedly gazed at her reflected image.

…

Four hallways and two stairwells later, Twilight arrived at the door to the staircase that led down into the castle dungeon. Two Crystal guards were posted on either side of the reinforced entrance. She was a little concerned by their full battle armour and mana-lances, but they let her pass without issue.

As she descended what she dearly hoped to be the final set of stairs, she recalled what she knew of this castle’s dungeon. Unlike Canterlot’s or her own, this dungeon was quite small, with only a hoofful of cells. The Crystal Empire’s society had been quite advanced for it’s time before Sombra’s takeover, and was likely the first nation to adopt a public penitentiary system, with a whole building separate to the castle.

From accounts she had read, the castle dungeon was mostly used for scaring young royals out of misbehaving.

The stairs eventually ended, and led into a small antechamber, dimly lit by a single sconce.

Twilight was distracting herself from her little castle-marathon by imagining all the possible things that could be waiting for her down here. With her mind distracted, she was startled to suddenly bump into something hard. She looked up, and was shocked to see a pony in front of her, from hoof to ear covered in black and silver armour. The light from the sconce glittered off the silver bands and the steel sword.

Twilight gulped. She knew what this pony was. This was a Praetorian, the elite guard of the Crown. In the past, it was their duty to protect the royalty of Canterlot Palace by keeping watch for would-be assassins, or act as bodyguards during times of war.

The last time Twilight remembered seeing one was when she had still been a student of Celestia, during some important diplomatic meeting she was too young to know or care about. When she had read about them later, and asked her teacher why she didn’t see them anymore, Celestia told her it was because they had been outmoded by modern security spells, and close combat specialization was rarely needed, even in altercations.

“Ah, Twilight, I hope my obtuse friend here didn’t startle you.” Twilight heard a familiar mare’s voice beside her, where she had been sure nopony was standing before.

Twilight turned and saw a older, chocolate-brown mare, wearing beautiful robes of the Canterlot colours, gold, black, and white. Her pointed hat and utility belt covered with small sacks and runes indicated that she was a battle-mage.

After a moment, the memory clicked in Twilight’s head.

“Seer Stone? What are you doing here?” Seer Stone had occasionally looked after Twilight for Celestia when she was too busy with political matters to teach Twilight. Twilight had learned many powerful self-defence spells from this mare over the years.

“What’s it look like? Guarding!” Seer gave a good-natured laugh. “But, before we continue, I’m afraid I have to ask to see your seal. Celestia’s orders.”

Twilight nodded and stood back, and cast a shower of purple light above her head. The light arranged itself into an intricate pattern of swirling stars and tendrils of various colours, all circling around the purple star of her cutie-mark. It was her seal, which was a form of authentication among unicorn nobility, and was virtually irreplicable.

“Excellent! Now, if you would stand aside?” She asked the Praetorian. He wordlessly stepped to the side, revealing the door to the dungeon proper. As Twilight and Seer moved to enter, Twilight noticed that this Praetorian was a pegasus.

Once inside, Twilight looked around. It was barely a dungeon. It consisted of a single hallway, with a dozen cell doors at most on either side. It was even well-lit. What a weird dungeon, she thought.

“So Seer, can you tell me what in Equestria is going on?” Twilight asked hopefully as they walked down the stone hall.

“Heh. Let me guess; you’ve been galloping around the castle after Celestia gave you some vague orders, and you’re tearing your mane out because you can’t get any information from anypony.” Seer knew her better than she thought.

“You don’t know the half of it. So, a praetorian and a battle-mage? This must be more serious than I thought.” Seer’s cheer waned slightly.

“Indeed. Well, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be my place to tell you, but you’ll be relieved to hear that your journey has come to an end. Through that door is Doctor Straight Edge, who should be able to answer all your questions. Well… most of them, at least.” Seer gestured to a simple wooden door at the end of the hall they were heading towards. “It’s my understanding that you know him?”

Twilight nodded. Straight Edge was a family friend, her father’s old university roommate. When she was a young filly, she loved his visits, as he always brought something fascinating from his lab. He was Twilight’s first introduction to the fascinating world of science. In later years, he would give her his lab’s private-subscription science journals about Equestria’s cutting-edge theories in mathematics, physics, and alchemy.

“Good. There is a long journey ahead of us, Twilight, and we’ll need all the friendship we can get. Though, I bet you already know all about that.” Seer chuckled, poking fun at Twilight’s moniker of “Princess of Friendship”, though at this point, she was too wound up to care.

“Yes, of course. Just through this door?” They had come the the door at the end of the hall, and Twilight was practically shaking in anticipation. Seer nodded happily.

Yes. This is the dungeon-keeper's office and quarters. After the construction of the dungeon, it was mostly used for-” before she could get into a history lesson, Twilight pulled the door open as quickly as she could without breaking it and moved inside, closing it behind her. Seer chuckled again, enjoying making one of her students squirm again.

Inside, Twilight noticed nothing glaringly out of place. It was the size of a large living room, lightly furnished with a wooden desk and some chairs. One wall held two other doors, both closed, one with guards on either side. On the far end of the room was Straight Edge, looking at some objects atop a long table spanning the length of the wall. When he heard the door, he turned and gave her a bright smile.

“Twilight! How are you doing? I’ve been reading all about your amazing project. How has it been goin- eep!” In the middle of his sentence, he gave a yelp as Twilight magically pulled him across the room to nose-to-nose with his old friend.

“Greeting later. Explanations now.”

Once she returned him his mobility, he gave a little shake, and returned to her gaze.

“Heh, still not one for small talk, eh? Can’t say I blame you; this discovery can only be described as… world-shattering.” Twilight found herself once again suppressing a growl.

“And this discovery is…” she prompted. Straight Edge’s eyes widened.

“You weren’t told? Well, I suppose that makes sense. I didn’t find out until I got here, I figured you being a princess-”

“Edge!”

“Right, sorry.”

With that he leaned in close and looked conspiratorially to either side, despite the guards and them being the only ones in the room, and gave her a sharp smile.

“Aliens.”

Twilight cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, making sure she had heard correctly.

“Aliens?”

“Aliens.”

Twilight stood there for several seconds, trying to grasp the idea.

“As in… extra-Equan aliens?"

“Yep. Those aliens.”