A few minutes later at the Royal Guard encampment in the Crystal Caverns...

"...only has some burns to her fur, but otherwise appears to be in good health.  She should awaken from her shock sometime in the next half hour."

"Thank you for keeping me updated Frost."

With a slight bow, the tan earth pony turned and left the dimly lit tent that contained the Princess of Magic.  Frustration and stress were etched into her face as she studied a parchment that had recently arrived from one of her many informants across the world.  Pale light spilled from Twilight Sparkle's horn, harshly illuminating the contents of the area.  Stacks of paperwork and miscellany lay everywhere around a barely made bed.  As much as such things annoyed her, the missive currently in her hooves took priority over everything.

"I did as you asked when I followed my brethren into the dark earth.  I did as you asked to try to prove to you that things were not as they seemed.  In the end, things were worse than both of us could imagine.  Deep in the caves below Ironholdt they found a massive tomb complex beyond anything I could imagine.  At first, I held out hope that this would be an archeological find that would bring untold riches to the Minotaur lands.  

All my hopes were dashed as I watched the guards and researchers alike tear into whatever relics they were able to get their hands on.  Worse still was how they treated the dead.  Nearly every casket was torn open to see what treasures lay within.  The coffins were torn from the cold stone floors, metal lids torn away with hammer and bar to see what was inside.  Every single one was the same, but after the first few things of use were discovered in the crypt all pretense of civility fled.  It mattered not that they looked like they could be smaller cousins of my species, only that they were more advanced than any of us by leaps and bounds.  They are not minotaurs, please do not disturb their rest during your search.

I am unsure of where the new weapons and armor you are being attacked with come from, but without a doubt they are related to this place.  The trespass the Minotaurs have committed was bad enough.  When I became fed up with the behavior of my people, I came across the true horror.  They had stacked the noble dead like cordwood in whatever spare space was available.  Countless corpses lined the hallways and spaces of the place.  Whatever their reasoning in the initial act is moot.  From now on you can count on my personal support and that of my clan.  I do hope the reports of a similar structure below Canterlot are true as the senate refuses to listen to reason.  Force may be the only way to stop this insanity.

Go with the sun.

Ferrus

PS Please tell Fluttershy hello and thank you for standing up to me."

By the time she was done reading it, tears of rage and sorrow were dripping down Twilight's face.  Over the last seven years since her ascension, many tears had been shed and there were still many more to follow. The tear stained parchment joined the stack of letters needing replies.  So little time had passed since she was nothing more than a student in Ponyville learning about friendship.  Incrementally, life had changed for both the better and worse.  Her friends still surrounded her, albeit most of them wore somber faces these days.  

As she looked at the letter again, the tears stopped.  Sorrow that had etched itself into her face was subsumed by anger.  Anger for the creature that was keeping her from what her people needed to survive.  Anger toward the minotaurs for starting a genocidal war against the ponies.  ANGER for the creatures that tried to strike down her teacher and friend.

"Guard!  Prepare another unit of unicorn guards.  We are going to attempt entry into the crypt.  We can't fail this time.  Celestia is depending on us."

Her voice bellowed out of the tent at the duo of guards standing near the closed canvas entrance.  They could only nod grimly and begin their assigned tasks.  On the other side of the encampment, everyone gave a massive crimson pony plenty of room as he began to don thick slabs of blackened plate mail, a war hammer lay on the stone next to his steel shod hooves.

Three years ago...

"Twilight, you are my most trusted student and a member of royalty, but in this regard I have to go alone."

Celestia looked down at her protege with concern in her eyes.  Little did the fledgling alicorn know of the troubles brewing in the republic to Equestria's western frontier.  Some things had to be met with tact, and others with stern determination after all.  With those final words, the regal alicorn summoned a golden sphere of energy around herself and vanished with little more than a rustle of wind.

Not even a half hour later, there was a massive explosion of magic in the throne room.  For a moment there was silence.  For a moment, the shock set in before the screaming started as sanguine blood began to stain the pristine white marble floor.  As she slowly toppled over, a blood stained scroll fell from Celestia's mouth flutter to the ground like a dying crow.  A massive gouge was torn from her head next to the alicorn's horn, staining everything red.  As Celestia's eyes rolled back, she gestured weakly at the scroll and mouthed a single word as ponies streamed to her aid.

"...Luna"