A long, long time ago, Castle Twilight was bustling with mares, stallions, children, servants, beloved pets, and everything in between, a perfect example of the extravagance and splendor that Equestrian nobility stood for.
Now, it'd be lucky if the wind stopped by to visit.
The once great castle was now merely a relic of time. The expertly carved stone that made up the castle was collapsed and shattered, peacefully littered across the neglected castle grounds in an uneven heap. The stained glass windows were gone now, their location or what they once looked like only known by souls who had long ago left this world. The inside of the castle, now left almost entirely visible from the outside, was nigh unrecognizable; the carpeted floors were almost entirely deteriorated, the paintings on the walls either gone or unrecognizable, and the wooden desks and shelves rotted all to Tartarus. Everything the castle once bore proudly was, in a word, a mere ghost.
Except the banner.
Princess Twilight Sparkle never quite knew why that was, either. Everything in the castle her family once dwelled in was a shadow of what it once was, but not the banner; no, the banner flew high and mighty across the ruin, having seemingly never aged a bit. The hot pink star on a navy blue field that was the banner of House Twilight burned brightly in the midday sun, and the actual massive flag itself flapped and quivered with the wind without missing a single beat. It was mesmerizing, and it flew proudly over the nothing Castle Twilight had become.
The wind was howling today. It coursed through Twilight's ears like thunder, flowing in and out of her ears like a tidal wave; it had been annoying at first, but the longer she stood it, it became...soothing, in a way. Twilight tilted her head to the left, causing the wind to shift a pitch, and looked upon the ruler of Equestria, and her long time mentor, as her eyes were still set on the banner.
"And here it still flows," she began. Her voice was so melodic it almost made music with the wind. "I was there the day your ancestors raised it. It was a proud moment, indeed." She turned back to Twilight, with a countenance of curiosity. "Why are we here?" she asked. Twilight's face had been grim the moment they had arrived at the castle, and the question did nothing to change it.
"Follow me," she said simply, and together they went.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, in her youth, had been quite the introvert, but she was never short for words. She always had questions, because her curiosity was nigh insatiable; if you gave Twilight Sparkle all the knowledge in world, every tidbit of information, the answers to all of life's mindrending questions, it would not be enough for the young Princess. She had to know, an as a result, her mouth was always moving. And in Celestia's experience in knowing her, if Twilight Sparkle's mouth was NOT moving, than she had learned something she did not want to.
"Twilight," began Celestia.