Twilight quickly caught her balance, shaking the nausea from her head. She often used teleportation to move around but this spell was far more powerful and was still taking some getting used to. Even with the threat of lingering nausea, Twilight had been more than happy to make the trip to this ancient site. If nothing else, she figured the scenery would be breathtaking.

The lavender alicorn crested the hill she’d teleported near and discovered she was very much correct.

She saw the large tower before her, standing like an ancient sentinel in the stillness of the cold night air. The tower sat on an island out in a lake that was framed from behind by mountains rising like giants off the far shore. Bright moonlight streamed down from the clear sky above, reflecting off the mirror stillness of the water. The reflected light from the lake joined with the direct moonlight as it struck the tower, making its polished-stone surface shine like quicksilver.

Twilight’s eyes traced down to the base of the stone tower, where she saw a large bridge that ran for hundreds of meters to the shoreline. The bridge was broad and brightly lit every dozen feet or so by what looked like glowing crystals; afterall it was not some obstacle to slow or bottleneck invaders, but a pathway to guide visitors.

As the last of her headache faded, the young alicorn decided it was time to head inside. She lit her horn and teleported to the grassy field just in front of the bridge stopping for a moment to press her hooves into the soft ground, enjoying the feel of the damp grass beneath her. As she got closer, she marveled at the placement of the stones used to construct the huge pathway. Each seemed to be a large block of limestone, carefully cut and placed, leaving almost no gaps. As the lake got deeper near to the base of the tower, the bridge must have extended downwards dozens of meters or so with many of these massive blocks carefully stacked on one another. Even after waterlogged centuries of providing passage, everything appeared solid and well preserved.

Twilight confidently walked along the limestone bridge, grinning ear to ear as she soaked in the history around her. Now only a few meters from the entrance, the alicorn noted that these massive doors were the only parts of the tower -inside or outside- that she’d observed so far that had been made of wood. Despite their imposing size, the wood doors were carved with heart-warming scenes of dancing foals and families under a bright moon that did nothing but welcome and reassure the observer. Looking up, the alicorn noticed a large silver plaque above the doors that read in ancient Equish, “Lunae lumen docebit vos”

As she pushed her forehooves against the two doors, she was astonished at how easily they opened despite their size.

Twilight trotted forward, the massive doors smoothly shutting behind her with only the faintest of clicks. Soon she found herself in a large arched room, only to be greeted by the unexpected sight of Celestia talking with Luna.

Upon seeing the Solar Princess, all the dirty things Twilight had witnessed Celestia do over the last few months came rushing into her mind, but much to her surprise, neither Princess was doing anything untoward at the moment. In fact, if anything it almost looked like Celestia was incredibly upset, but Twilight only caught the end of what was being said as Celestia’s head hung in sadness before she hugged her sister.

“I’m so sorry Lulu, I… the Sun Celebration ceremony has never failed before, you should have been showing signs by now… are you certain it didn’t work?”

The Sun Celebration? Twilight thought to herself for a moment. Right! That’s what Luna and Celestia had been doing a few months back.

The Sun Celebration was an ancient ritual in which Celestia would use tremendous amounts of magic to impregnate a mare, gifting them with a special filly, known as a ‘Star-Kissed Daughter’.

“We are certain… And I do not blame you sister, you tried to bless me with a foal, but it is obvious that even the power of the ceremony was not enough to overcome my barnessness.”

Luna gingerly rubbed Celestia’s mane with a hoof as they continued to hug.

“No matter what, we will always be grateful you loved us enough to try and gift us something so precious.” Luna pulled out of the hug before giving Celestia a small kiss on her nose.

Both alicorns then turned to face Twilight, and the purple alicorn noticed Celestia’s smile was forced.

After a moment Luna’s voice filled the large room. “Be welcomed Cannoss Dialogues!

Twilight was too busy looking at Luna and failed to notice Celestia roll her eyes upon hearing the title.

“Have you brought new memories to share with the order?”

Before she could answer, Celestia spoke, her voice devoid of its usual warmth and luster. “Yes, be welcomed, my faithful student.” her emphasis on the word made Twilight slightly uncomfortable.

She raised a hoof towards the Lunar Princess without taking her eyes off the young mare. “My sister and I were just discussing the situation with the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight’s look grew concerned and her burning questions about the Sun Celebration faded. “Situation?”

“Indeed.” Luna said, stepping forward. “I assume something happened with the Element of Generosity like with Honesty before her?” she now had a playful smile on her face while her elder sister began to frown.

Celestia turned to face her sister. “This is no time for pleasantries I’m afraid.” her head swung towards the lavender alicorn. “Twilight, whatever is happening, we believe the Elements of Harmony are being weakened in some way.”

The Solar Diarch began nervously pacing back and forth, deep in thought. As she paced her hair fell to one side, flowing down her withers and revealing that it was no longer aloft in the ethereal winds that always seemed to carry it.

She suddenly paused and turned back to Twilight, her features softer. “Twilight, please show Luna your memories of what happened with Rarity. We need to understand what is happening and we need to understand soon.”

Twilight nodded before racing off to find the drawer with her memory stone. She hadn’t been in this part of the tower yet, but she remembered the room seemed to be centrally located and had a hard to miss door made from a massive gemstone.

The alicorn suddenly skidded to a halt just as she galloped past a familiar face. She backtracked slightly and grabbed River Sparkle by the shoulders.

“River!” she shouted before remembering her manners. “Sorry, I mean Prioress, I need your help!”

The silver-haired unicorn nodded happily. “Of course, Twilight, it’s what I’m here for after all. Oh, and don’t worry you can just call me River. Remember, like I said before, lax hierarchy!”

River’s happy tone calmed Twilight, but only a little.

“River, can you please take me to the memory stones? I need to record something, it’s urgent.”

River smiled warmly gesturing with a hoof. “Of course Twilight, I forgot that last time you were here you used your amulet to teleport out.” she started walking down the hall towards the center of the tower, Twilight quickly following behind her.

“At some point we’re going to need to give you a full tour of this place, there’s so many amazing rooms and Luna told me you’d love the library i-”

She didn’t get to finish, Twilight had grabbed her shoulders and was about to demand to be shown the books before coming to her senses and mumbling, “Focus, Twilight, focus.”

River’s smile dropped as she became concerned for the frazzled alicorn. After no further outbursts, the unicorn shrugged and started walking again.

“So the room where we keep the memory stones is called the ‘Hall of Memories’ she rolled her eyes, I know, I know, not exactly original but- hmm... I guess it would be original given how old it is… right? Well, anway it’s in the central part of the tower on the second highest floor, each hall ends in a set of staircases that lead up or down, so just follow any hall, take the stairs up, and yo-”

Twilight had practically flown away from the slow walking unicorn, racing down the hall towards the first set of stairs.

River called out after her, “Well that wasn’t very nice. I could give you a bad employee review you know!” the echo of her voice followed by silence was the only response. “Ok, so I can’t really do that, but I won’t snuggle with you later!”

Later, in the Hall of Memories

“Exit!” Twilight said, and there was a flash of blue light. For her it had felt like an entire day had passed as she relived her memories from the last twenty four hours all over again. In actuality it had only been ten or so minutes since she’d first touched the stone to her head. As she shook away the remnants of the spells effects she noticed Celestia and Luna were standing a few meters away.

Before Twilight could speak, Celestia started, “I saw the memories too, I’m very disappointed in what Chrysalis tried to do with you. I will speak with her about this.” she shook her head sadly before turning to Luna. “This memory of the Element of Generosity is most concerning and the timing of the event matches what I observed with the Tree of Harmony earlier.”

Celestia took several strides forward, now towering over the lavender alicorn. “Twilight Sparkle, while I don’t think you’re intending to do this, I must ask that you practice caution when around your friends, at least until we know more about what’s happening between you girls and the elements.”

Twilight looked genuinely hurt. “Princess Celestia, are-are you saying I should stay away from my friends?”

Celestia knew how important this group of friends had become to one another, perhaps even closer than friends given the memories showing Twilight was considering herding, so she did her best to try and smile warmly.

“Not at all, like I said, just be careful. If something happened to you or the elements…” her smile faded completely. “Twilight, just please be careful, it’s all I ask.”

She gave Luna a brief nod. “I will return to Canterlot and continue observing the Tree of Harmony with a scrying spell while I perform my other duties. Stay safe, both of you.”

With that Celestia pulled a red gemstone from behind her golden necklace, taking it in her magic she poured energy into it until it glowed brightly, enveloping her in a cocoon of light that just as suddenly vanished with an audible *pop* as she teleported away.

Twilight did her best to remain calm after Celestia left. Experiencing everything twice in one day and having somepony she viewed as a mother watch such intimate moments of her life; she was going to need a while to recover.

Luna sensed this and pulled Twilight into a gentle hug with one of her large, midnight-blue wings.

Giving the mare a moment to relax, she eventually stepped back saying, “Twilight, be not concerned. Your beloved Celestia is not upset with you…” Luna’s serious face scrunched up cutely as she tried to find the words. “The elements… they’re very important to us Twilight, very important, and very old. We still don’t understand everything about them despite the fact we... found them those many centuries ago.”

Luna then softly poked Twilight in the chest with a forehoof. “Let’s not forget how important you and your friends are to us as well! As my sister has said, please just be careful Twilight and know we will both continue doing our best to love and protect you all.”

Luna stepped away from the smaller alicorn and jerked her head in a motion beckoning Twilight to follow. “Come with me, Twilight, perhaps you would enjoy seeing my personal library, it’s just down this hall on the righ-”

Twilight was already galloping away, her mind filled with the promise of unstudied parchments and tomes just waiting for her to read.

Luna shook her head. “Well, that was most rude indeed!”

Author's Note

So what do you think is happening with the Elements and Twilight's friends? Does this author even know?

Yes... maybe.