The sun had long since set upon the Crystal Empire, though that did not mean that its beauty was in any way diminished. For the skies were clear, and thus the magnificent full moon of Princess Luna, along with her bright and twinkling stars, gave all the light that was needed for the buildings to shimmer in the darkness of the night. As for the ponies, many of them had already gone to their homes, and were sleeping soundly in their beds, with the only activity being that of the night-time patrols scouring the streets. The same was true of the royal palace, for while all the princesses and other visiting dignitaries had long ago drifted into a comfortable sleep, their guards were still active, walking the halls to keep an eye out for anything unusual that may seek to cause them harm. However, in a quiet and forgotten corner of the palace, something was occurring that none of them noticed. For there, stashed amongst many ancient and forgotten magical artefacts, was a mirror, tall enough even for an alicorn, and engraved with many strange and ancient symbols, most notably images of the moon in its various month-long shapes. And speaking of the moon, its light now poured in through the nearby window, illuminating that ancient mirror, just in time for the surface of the thing to start glowing and shimmering, as if waking up after a long slumber.

Within moments, and against what most ponies would expect of such an object, something actually began to emerge from it. First, a hoof, a light orange in colour, and then, the one to whom it belonged to. The figure was undoubtedly a pony mare, given the general size and shape, though she was clad in a dark cloak and hood, obscuring her true identity from all. The moment she was out of the mirror, she looked around, taking in her unfamiliar surroundings, before locking her eyes on a nearby door. Slowly, she made her way over to it, before raising a hoof and carefully turning the knob. With the kind of care usually reversed for surgeons, she opened it, and peeked through its tiniest gap. Beyond was a hallway, though nopony seemed to be there at this time, leading to the figure opening the door in earnest. She looked left, and then right, before making her way out, walking down the hall in a manner that made it clear that she was searching for something. After passing down many other such hallways, she stopped, as she could now hear the sound of approaching hoof-steps. Sure enough, she saw the first signs of an armoured guard about to emerge from around the corner, and thus, darted into a nearby darkened inlet in the wall, her breathing now halted, lest she alert the approaching stallion.

The guard moved along that room, passing the mare by, not seeing her in the shadows that she'd shrouded herself in, much to her relief. Although, she waited until the guard was gone, his hoof-steps so distant that she could no longer hear them, before finally emerging from her hiding spot. When she did, she picked up the pace somewhat, and soon found herself along a stretch of hallways with several ornate doors, which no doubt marked the presence of quarters reserved for important or noteworthy ponies. Moving as stealthily as she could, she moved to each one, and yet again, gently opened each one, peeking inside and trying to find what, or who, was within. The first one the figure looked into appeared to be some kind of ambassador, though from where, she could not say. The second had what was obviously a married couple, a white stallion and a pink mare, though the figure paused for a moment when she realised that the latter was an alicorn. On that room, she was especially careful to close the door without a sound. Moving onto the third door, she found that the room within was vacant, as was the fourth. But, it was the fifth room that finally yielded the fruit in her search. For there, sleeping soundly within, was Twilight Sparkle, with young Spike sleeping in an adjacent bed.

The figure began to open the door more so, poking her hooded head in and gazing around the room. There were no guards here, which was a relief for her, and so it wasn't long before she started to enter the room fully, making sure to take slow and steady steps, lest the floorboards creak beneath her. Gradually, she approached the bed of the young alicorn before her, and it was here that the figure locked her gaze upon the object that lay beside her as she slept; the crown. The Element of Magic was right there, within her grasp, but, she had to get past the room's two sleeping occupants to get to it. So, she made her way over, trying to be as silent as a mouse as she did so. Within a few minutes, she arrived at the bedside table, looking down upon the crown, and within the darkness of her hood, a grin could now be seen. The figure concentrated, and from within her hood, a glow began to light up, making it very clear that there was a unicorn's horn under there, and, more importantly that a spell was being cast. And soon afterwards, the crown began to be bathed in the pale green of the figure's magical aura, before starting to be levitated up and away from the table. The figure watched, her heart pounding in her chest as the ancient magical artefact drew closer and closer. In this one moment, she could almost taste her success.

But, that moment was fleeting, for seconds afterwards, something began to happen that the figure had not expected in the slightest. The crown, while still covered in her own aura, began to glow itself, starting first with the star-shaped jewel at its top, and then spreading to the whole thing. This new aura was a light purple in colour, and seemed to be fighting against the green aura around it. Although the figure concentrated as hard as she could, she found that this new spell was simply too much for her own, and within moments, she lost her hold on it. As her own magic began to dissipate, the purple aura began to shoot outwards and, to the mare's shock, struck her, which soon left her completely surrounded by this new power. As one might expect in this commotion, both Twilight and Spike were soon awoken, with the latter backing away in shock upon seeing this intruder. As for Twilight, she simply watched intently as the figure struggled against the power that now held her, with no spell on her part managing to undo its effects, even letting out a scream during her struggle. Eventually, and to the unknown's mare's horror, she found herself paralyzed, with the magic having halted all movement for her. Now defenceless, she watched as the lavender alicorn finally got out of bed, before steadily moving towards her, her expression never changing from seriousness.

"The Element of Magic is too important to risk leaving exposed like that. You didn't think I wouldn't take some precautions, did you?"

The figure said nothing, as she was still frozen in place, even as the purple aura around her began to fade away somewhat. As for Twilight, she looked over to the door of her room, where, as she expected, it soon burst open, and her brother, Shining Armour, came charging in, flanked by a pair of unicorn guards, having no doubt been alerted to all this by the mare's screams. It took them only a moment to get a feel for what was going on, as the white stallion locked his eyes on the hooded mare in front of his sister. He looked from her, and then to Twilight, before moving over to the latter, embracing her in a tight hug and speaking to her with concern dripping from his voice.

"Twilight! Are you okay?"

Although taken aback by her brother's impromptu embrace, the young alicorn nodded as she parted from him.

"I'm fine, Shining. Everything's under control."

The stallion nodded at that, before then turning to the still-frozen figure, after which he narrowed his eyes.

"So...who do we have here?"

Twilight turned to the intruder and stepped forward, raising a hoof and, in one swift motion, lowered the hood of the mare before her. Now, her face was revealed. A unicorn, with a bright red and yellow mane, currently looking very afraid. As for Twilight, her expression was a completely neutral one at this moment, as she finally answered her brother's question.

"Her name is Sunset Shimmer."

Shining turned to her, showing clear confusion at that. Obviously, neither he nor anypony else here except for her would know who that was, but it didn't matter at this point. Instead, Twilight moved over to the nearby dressing table, right to where her discarded saddle-bags were, and everypony watched as she used her magic to levitate a small object out from within it. Shining's eyes widened as she drew closer to him once more, as he finally knew what it was she'd brought; a magical inhibitor ring. It was a simple, small golden band, adorned with several tiny and ancient-looking runes, but he and many others who had studied magic to some degree knew its effects. These rings were created to block the magical powers of unicorns deemed too dangerous to be given free reign with that power. So, he watched in silence as his sister moved over to Sunset, after which she carefully slipped the ring over the intruding mare's horn, making sure it fit snugly before giving a nod, satisfied that she had done what she needed to. After that, she turned to her brother.

"Give her a quarters somewhere and post guards outside her door. It won't be long before this paralysis wears off. The ring is enchanted so only I can take it off, so she shouldn't give you too much trouble."

The older stallion paused at that for a moment, before giving his sister a single nod. He turned, silently using his hoof to gesture to the guards that had accompanied him here, who saluted at him before moving over to the still-unmoving mare. Carefully, they each lit up their horns and began to levitate her, gently taking her out of the room and down the hallways. Twilight and Spike watched them go, as did Cadence, who only now had emerged from her and Shining's room. The pink alicorn looked to her sister-in-law, opening her mouth to no doubt ask what was going on, but stopped when she caught sight of somepony else coming down the hall. Turning, Twilight saw, as she expected, that Princess Celestia herself was now approaching, her face covered in a look of worry.

"Twilight? What's going on?"

The young alicorn grimaced slightly, as she knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant topic of conversation, but she nevertheless steeled herself before answering her teacher.

"Sunset Shimmer has returned."

Immediately, the elder alicorn froze in place, her face bearing utter shock as she looked to her student. There was disbelief there, with Celestia perhaps not quite grasping what had been said to her, although, Twilight knew that Celestia had already been foretold about this, and was, perhaps, simply shocked that this return had come this soon. In time, the sun princess' face softened, before gaining a look of slight sadness, and then looking down the hallway where Shining had taken her one-time student. Twilight knew, just from looking, that there was nothing Celestia would have wanted more than to go off and speak to her old student after such a long time without her. And sure enough, the older alicorn began to move in that direction, only to be stopped when Twilight barred her path. Although taken aback by her actions, Celestia nevertheless remained silent as her fellow alicorn began to explain herself.

"Princess...I know you want to talk to her after so long...but I think it'll make things worse if she sees you right now. Let me talk to her."

Celestia seemed unsure about that, and looked back to the hallways, deep in thought for a few moments, before turning back to Twilight.

"My student...are you certain you can help her?"

There was silence between the two alicorns for a while, and Twilight let out a sigh, before turning to look upon the hallway herself, with her face bearing a look of uncertainty.

"...I hope so."