Starswirl blearily opened his eyes, his vision blurry from being attacked. What had happened? One minute he had been talking to Twilight, the next she had smashed him in the nose with magic. Looking around as he blinked his lack of vision away, he attempted to rub it away with his hands only to be stopped by a tightened rope around his wrists that held his ahands hostage behind his back. Frowning he looked back at said rope, igniting his horn to undo it. Instead however, an aching pain shot throughout his horn, causing him to wince back in pain. So they had blocked his magic. Yet the question still remained. Why?

Looking around he noticed that he was in a dark room the only visible source of light being a single light over a bland steel table. He looked down at his legs, having nowhere else to look, as he sighed. At least they had let him keep his clothes.

Twilight looked out of the invisible window at the old wizard, a conflicted frown on his face. The conflict ended immediately when she remebered why he was in there. He had been trained by Sombra himself, and was clearly unbothered by it. Either he really didn't care that he was trained by one of the greatest villains Equestria had ever seen, or less likely, he simply wasn't aware of just how evil his teacher was. She was doubtful about the second one though, considering you would have to live under a literal rock to not hear about the tyrranical King Sombra and his brutal enslavement of the crystal ponies.

"It is alright Twilight, I'm sure he will come clean." Luna said from behind her, placing a reassuring hand on Twilight's shoulder.

Looking back over she smiled in thanks, "Thanks Luna." She said before turning into a troubled frown, "But I'm afraid I have doubts about him now. How can anyone trust him if he was trained by Sombra?" She continued, still slightly distressed at the recent revelation.

Luna nodded sagely, " I understand Twilight but you must remember, Starswirl has saved Equestria more times than anyone can count. Don't you think if he wanted to follow in his masters footsteps he would have done so by now?" She reasoned, slightly brightening Twilight's thinking.

She sighed dejectedly, "I guess you're right Luna." Twilight explained, "But I just can't look at him the same anymore. I adored him as a child and an adult, yet I don't think I can go back to that now." She admitted.

Luna sighed at that. "Me too Twilight. Me too..."

An invisible door opened somewhere in the darkness, followed by the footsteps approaching closer. The owner of the footsteps than came into view in the form of Twilight, the very one that had blasted him in the face. She walked into the light, taking a seat in the chair opposite him on the other side of the table. There was definitely some explaining to do. Before Starswirl could ask his questions however, Twilight spoke first.

"What was your affiliation with King Sombra?" She said, a stoney expression on her face as she said it.

Starswirl tilted his head in confusion, "King?" He said, unaware that his master was royalty.

Twilight blinked at that for some reason before returning to her stoney expression, not a single emotion getting through, "Yes. King Sombra." She said, the second option becoming more and more reasonable.

Starswirl shook his head, "Terribly sorry Twilight, I was not aware of his royalty. Tell me, what exactly was he king of?" He inquired, bringing out another blink of pure shock.

"The Crystal Empire." She practically mumbled out as she continued to stare in shock.

Starswirl frowned at that, "Tell me, if he was the leader of the Crystal Empire wouldn't he have been emperor instead?" He pointed out, unfortunately passing through one ear and out the other of the confused purple alicorn.

"You really don't know do you?" She said, leaning over the table slightly, using her elbows to hold herself up.

Starswirl raised his eyebrow at that, "What I don't know is why exactly you blasted me in the face with magic." He replied curtly.

Twilight sighed in what seemed like relief, "So you don't know do you." She stated again, confusing Starswirl even more than he already was. Befoer Starswirl could press further Twilight's horn glowed, the rope around his wrists loosening before falling to the cold metal floor. She than stood up, beckoning Starswirl to do the same. And do that he did as he followed her towards the shrouded door in the darkness, opening it to reveal a smiling Princess Luna.

Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration Starswirl spoke up, "So why exactly was I knocked unconscious, tied up, and interrogated?" He demanded, eyes narrowing accusingly at Twilight and Luna who were now both smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, it was just a precaution." Twilight explained, however only left Starswirl with another question.

"A precaution against what?!" He said again, practically shouting this time.

Twilight sighed, "You may want to sit down for this."

"This doesn't make any sense." Starswirl said, Head in his hands as he sat in their new location of a spare living room Luna had. Twilight had spent the last hour explaining the events of King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. Apparently Sombra had appeared out of the blue and taken it over for no rhyme or reason, "Sombra would never do any of this." He pleaded, more to himself if anyone.

Twilight placed a sympathetic hand on Starswirls shoulder, "I am afraid that whatever Sombra you knew is long gone."

Starswirl, shook his head, trying to deny it but failing. Sombra, his oldest friend and teacher was long gone, being replaced by the apparent corrupted version of him. "Tell me, what happened to the other nations in the Frozen North? From what I've heard they simply don't exist anymore." He asked, remembering visting a couple of the kingdoms and principalities there.

It was Luna that sighed and explained this time, "When Sombra came to power he set about expanding the Crystal Empire. Unfortunately in doing so he destroyed all the protective barriers that had been set up around these nations. What followed was known among the crystal ponies as 'The Great Freeze' In which the crystal pony population in the frozen north was halved from the amount of death and cold there was."

Starswirl closed his eyes, focusing his willpower to try and form coherent thoughts. With a reaffirming nod he stood up and anounced his plan, "I am going to the Frozen North."

Luna and Twilight stared at him in shock, yet couldn't get a word out before he continued.

"I plan to find out what caused my teacher to be corrupted and see if I can cure it." He explained, making both of the alicorn's jaws drop.

"You can't do that!" Twilight was the first to speak up, staring at Starswirl in disbelief, "If Sombra was as powerful as you said he was when he was uncorrupted than you won't stand a chance!" She shouted, frantically trying to deter Starswirls plan.

Starswirl responded by holding up a hand to silence her, "If I don't do this I can never rest peacefully. Plus even if I do get corrupted I'll use this." He said, holding up a green vial he had pulled from his pocket.

Twilight stammered away, attempting to find anyway to stop him from going that wasn't violence. She stopped as Luna's hand fell to her shoulder for the second time that day. Looking into Luna's eyes she saw the exact opposite of what she wanted to see. Luna agreed with Starswirl. Sighing Twilight walked toward Starswirl, placing both hands on his shoulders.

"Make it back safe. The world needs more heroes like you." She said, pulling Starswirl into a hug that he returned.

Releasing him, she watched as he exited the room, no doubt to find a train to the Crystal Empire.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." She uttered out as he rounded the corner...

Author's Note

Why do the call it a carrot and not a long orange?