Celestia strolled majestically through her castle halls, making her way silently to her bedchamber in the dimly lit hallways. Luna' s moon stood firmly in the sky, casting a soothing silverlight to it’s kingdom below. Celestia watched the large gray orb and sighed contently at her sister's masterpiece. She had thought about teleporting to her chambers but decided against it. The night was rather cool and serene, and if it were not for crisis Equestria was facing, she would have gone for a nice long flight around the Canterlot Mountains. But alas, this could not happen, there was too much at stake right now. She rounded a corner, sighing again as altered her regal mask while she recollected the events of her day. It was quite stressing since she couldn't find out what had threatened the power of Equestria. She sighed again as her grand bedchamber came into view, her solar guards standing guard at the entrance.

"Good evening, gentlecolts." The Goddess said in her angelic voice, nodding her head to the guards.

"Good evening, your highness." both guards replied in unison, bowing low in her presence.

"Now now, you know there’s no need for that. Please rise my little ponies." she replied, strolling pass them as her golden magic opened and then closed the doors behind her. She headed into her elaborately decorated room and unequipped her royal regalia, placing them in their designated area of storage. Celestia then immediately went to the fireplace and took a seat on a rather large golden pillow. The Solar Queen sat down, her horn soon shining as she began to summon a kettle and tea set from a small oakwood coffee table. A few minutes later, she found herself enjoying the soothing warmth of the fire and a hot cup of Moon Flower Leaf Tea. She often found that night sessions like these helped calm her nerves and further helped her with the patience of ruling Equestria. 'I am so glad Luna is back. I do not know how I would manage all of this on my own.' she thought, silently thanking Twilight for saving her sister. 'Speaking of which, I wonder why Twilight hasn't come to see me since she came?'

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Celestia was jerked from her thoughts as she heard the door to her chambers bang loudly. 'Who could that be?' She thought. Celestia took a moment to regain her regal stature and then got up from her place by the fire. She soon walked over to the door and opened it with her golden magic.

"Yes?" Celestia asked as the large doors opened, only to end up seeing a bowing Pegasus guard.

"Your Highness, The Elements are here to see you." the guard replied, gesturing to the five mares and baby dragon behind him.

"Ladies and young drake, it is a pleasure to see you all. Please, do come in." The princess called out as she spotted the six. Celestia led them to the fireplace where she was previously seated. Quickly using her magic, she summoned six new pillows for each to sit upon.

"So.....how was your trip to Canterlot?" Celestia asked them.

"It was simply marvelous, your majesty. Though I must say, the security spot check left me a bit frazzled." Rarity answered, fluffing her mane.

"I am sorry about the discomfort Miss Rarity, I can assure you those things were done for a good reason." Celestia replied a warm motherly smile on her face. She scanned the group, noticing that her precious student was missing. This made her furrow her brow. "Where is Twilight Sparkle?" She asked the six, only to see them hang their heads in response. This made Celestia a bit worried until Applejack decided to break the silence.

"We don't know yer' Highness. And truth be told, that's why we came to see you. We haven't seen her since last night after she ran off ramblin' to herself." the country pony explained.

"And what was she rambling about?" Celestia pressed, concern starting show on her face.

"Um, she said something about Princess Cadance being mean to everypony." Fluttershy whispered, scared to speak up in front of the royal pony.

"And none of you have seen her since?" The princess asked, worry clearly in her voice.

Spike stepped forward, his head hung low. "We looked everywhere in Canterlot, Princess Celestia, but we haven't found her. We even went to our old home. Night Light and Velvet are pretty worried about her too." Spike explained as his eyes brimmed with tears. Even Pinkie Pie was not her cheery self as she sat there, her mane deflated like a an airless balloon. Celestia was now very worried, it was not like student to run off and hide from her problems. That's not how she taught her. Except when it came to tests, but that was when she was a filly.

"I believe this is something very serious my little ponies. I must gather as much information as possible, as well as inform my sister. In the meantime, I would like to ask you all to remain within your rooms. Whatever is responsible for Twilight's disappearance could be out for the rest of you."

"But princess, we have to help with the search!" Rainbow Dash basically shouted at the Princess. “She’s our friend!”

"I am deeply sorry for asking this of you all, but you all need to remain indoors at all cost until we figure out what is going on."

"Bu-" Rainbow didn't get to finish her banter as Celestia intersected her.

"Be calm, Rainbow. I assure you that I can handle it from here. Return to your rooms and I will personally inform you of my findings." Seeing no point in arguing with the princess, everypony exchanged courtesy to the Solar Monarch and left her chambers, allowing her to mull the situation over.

"I hope you are alright, my dearest Twilight Sparkle."

****************

"What is this place?" Twilight asked, thought the question was more to herself than to Princess Luna. Before her eyes was a large white hallway that seem to run in the opposite direction for an eternity. Upon the walls of this majestic hallway were swirling images of ponies and other creatures Twilight had seen throughout her life. The purple unicorn slowly spun in a circle, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

"Welcome Twilight Sparkle, to the Hall of Memories. Everything you have done, heard of or have seen are contained here." The Lunar Princess said, gesturing Twilight to walk with her.

"Why are we here?"

"To solve what has been bothering you, of course." Luna answered, looking straight ahead. "As I understand, you are not fond of my niece. Would you like to tell me why?" Luna asked, meeting Twilight's eyes with a slight glare.

Twilight sighed and continued to walk down the hall. "As you may already know, Princess Cadance was my foalsitter while I was under your sister's wing as a foal. She was always so sweet, kind and loving towards me." Twilight stopped walking again and let a tear roll down her left cheek.

Luna cocked her head as looked at Twilight in slight confusion. "Then why are you so against her marrying your brother? I would have thought that such a union would have brought you two closer together."

"That's just the thing Luna, that isn't Cadance! Or, at least it doesn't feel like her. Her magic signature is all wrong, and her magic aura is clearly different. Not only that, the Cadance I know and love wouldn't hurt a fly!" The lavender unicorn shouted, her voice on the verge of cracking.

"What proof do you have to make such assertions?" The Night Goddess enquired.

"I saw her use a spell on my brother last night. When I confronted her, she attacked me and injured my friend!" Twilight bellowed, gritting her teeth as her horn began to spark due to her anger. "Why am I even explaining this when I could just show you?!". Twilight’s horn flared as it shot a powerful beam of magic at the wall. "There! Look at that! Are you happy now?!" she shouted as Luna looked at the screen and back at the screaming unicorn. .

Letting out a sigh, Luna walked over to the heaving unicorn and wrapped her wings around her. "Calm down Twilight, I believe you." Luna cooed as a mother would to her crying infant.

"What?!" Twilight shouted, pulling away from Luna and staring into her eyes. "You mean to tell me that you knew something was wrong all along?"

The dark alicorn chuckled. "Indeed Twilight, I have noticed the same changes as you have. You are quite talented Miss Sparkle. Not even my sister has noticed the changes in Cadance's magic signature, but you have." Luna looked at the swirling ball of memory Twilight had conjured up in her fit of anger. She observed the way Cadance's eyes glowed the sickly neon green color and the magic technique she used to attack Twilight. Luna watched in awe as Twilight took on Cadance, especially impressed at how Twilight was able to repel the attack. "I'm impressed Twilight Sparkle, my sister was wise to take you under her wings." Luna said after inspecting the memory.

"What do you mean?"

"I will get to that in a moment. Are you familiar with the spell Cadance used when she attacked you?" Luna asked as she turned back to Twilight.

"No, but I sense it is a very old and dark spell." Twilight answered, sitting down on the white supernatural ground.

"Yet you were able to repel it with one of your own?" The Night Queen asked, still intrigued..

"I was, but what does that have to do with this situation?" The unicorn asked, raising an eyebrow.

Luna slowly shook her head at Twilight's impatience and then continued. "I see much of myself in you Twilight Sparkle. However, your ability to master spells so easily is alarming and might be considered dangerous to others." Luna furrowed her eyebrows and looked at a stunned Twilight.

The lavender unicorn got up from her hunches and began pacing. "How is my mastering of magic a bad thing, Luna?......Isn't that the reason Princess Celestia took me under her wings?"

"Calm down my friend, I meant no harm in sharing this with you." Luna offered, trotting over to the frightened unicorn while resting a wing over her back. "What I was trying to say, is that with your talent, there is always the possibility of falling."

"Falling?"

"Yes my friend......into the darkness or in my case, the Nightmare". Luna departed from the embrace she was locked in with Twilight and continued. "But lucky for you, you have a whole kingdom looking out for you."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I want you to be prepared for the change you will go through in the near future."

"What change are you talking about, Luna?"

"I cannot tell you Twilight Sparkle, I have already overstepped my bounds by sharing this with you." Luna answered, reassuring Twilight. "Just know that you are destined for great things."

Twilight contemplated upon pressing further, but decided against it. She knew that Luna' s stubbornness was as tough as nails. Thus, she decided to enquire about Luna' s riddle at a later date. "So.......back to the matter at hoof." Twilight stated, steering the subject elsewhere.

"Ah, yes." Luna began as her expression changed from concern to slight anger. "That is part of why I brought you here Twilight. I plan on leaving for Maretonia as soon as we are done here."

"On what accordance?"

"I must go to Maretonia and investigate this crisis further, as this was the last place my niece was before she returned to Canterlot and...changed." Luna's eyes narrowed, more to a thought than at Twilight. "This expedition might take me two days."

"But this means-"

"Yes, it means I will miss the wedding. However, while I'm gone, trust nopony Twilight. I fear this being we are up against is very dangerous."

"But what about my friends?Or Princess Celestia and Flash Sentry?" Twilight basically screamed, worry in her eyes.

"Flash Sentry?" Luna asked, a teasing grin finding it’s place on her lips.

Twilight blushed at Luna's antics. "He's just a stallion I met today. He's part of Princess Cadance's Love Guard." Twilight replied, blushing some more.

"It seems like he is more than just an acquaintance, especially due to the way your cheeks are ablaze." the Alicorn teased some more.

"Luna!"

The Dark Alicorn couldn't help but laugh at Twilight's behavior. After her fit of laughter, she drew on her regal mask once more. "Just be careful my friend, and stay safe while I'm gone." Luna hugged Twilight again and then parted. "You must now awaken Twilight Sparkle, as I must go now."

"Goodbye Luna."

"Goodbye Twilight."