Twilight and Pinkie walked through the Crystal Empire over to the castle. They were ready to meet their quotas. After making their way towards the throne room, they saw Cadence, Luna, and Shining Armor waiting for them.

“Twilie!” Shining Armor shouted, rushing over to hug Twilight.

For some odd reason, Twilight doesn’t seem to feel any sort of affection Shining Armor is displaying towards her. But not wanting to bring any form of pain to him, she backs away from him. Shining Armor was taken aback by this form of action, but he understood why she did so. Twilight went towards Cadence and Luna to report.

“Have you found any souls in Equestria?” Luna asked.

“Fifteen. Though there are more to be desired if it weren’t for the Anomaly.” Twilight confirmed.

“That’s more than enough for today. But our soldiers are currently doing everything in their power to keep the darkness’ creatures from destroying the barrier.”

“She’s right. So far, the dragons have decimated the entire Pegasus forces in Cloudsdale, the griffons have made short work of the army stationed in Vanhoover, and now most of the yaks have been corrupted with the other percent trying to find shelter elsewhere, or so we’ve heard. Even the Changelings didn’t stand a chance against the anomaly. I’ve yet to hear anything back from the Hippogriffs, but from what I’ve been hearing, half of them have already been corrupted, including Queen Novo. The only silver lining was that Princess Skystar managed to escape, though we do not know when. The recon team is still trying to find clues on her whereabouts.” Cadence said in a solemn voice.

“Everywhere I go, there’s nothing but bad news coming around here now.” Pinkie said, feeling bummed out.

“Well, ever since this anomaly started, we have been trying to keep everypony’s spirits up and doing whatever we can to fight back, but the Corruption is ceaseless. No matter what plan we implement, we get trampled over by that monster in Canterlot.”

“Recently, I’ve received a report that it made himself into Equestria’s new king and is doing everything within its power to blanket Equestria into a massive sea of corruption for all its subjects. I have no idea how it managed to rally all the creatures outside Equestria, but its motives seemed to have swooned them all into its favor.” Shining Armor said.

“And it managed to turn Equestria into Hell.”

Everypony solemnly remembered what has transpired when the creature first appeared. The nightmare that occured was when the creatures started invading Equestria and obliterated nearly half the armies that protected their cities.

“So what do we do next?” Twilight asked.

“Right now, Rainbow Dash has sent out a rescue party for Princess Skystar and Applejack is trying to find a way to bring the survivors back. The unfortunate part is that we’re running short on room.” Luna said.

“And the creature is relentless in bringing everypony to it’s side. It even has patrolling the Everfree Forest as it’s watch dogs. The manticores are even kept as his own personal pets. Any creature that disobeys or betrays it usually feeds them to the manticores. At least that was what one of the survivors told me.” Shining Armor said.

“Hmm. Anything else?” Twilight asked.

“Unfortunately, that’s all we have right now. Until we gain more intel on what to do next, you and Pinkie Pie are off-duty.” Luna said.

Both Pinkie and Twilight nodded and left the castle. But before Twilight and Pinkie could leave, Luna asked,

“About my sister… is she okay?”

Keeping her secret, Twilight responded,

“She’s fine. She’s not willing to come back just yet.”

“I see. Well, if you see her again, tell her that her dear sister misses her and really wants her back at the castle.” Luna pleaded.

Twilight nodded and left the castle with Pinkie. After going out the door, Pinkie asked,

“So what’re you gonna do, Twilight?”

“I’m gonna patrol the streets for awhile. I need to make sure that any corruption didn’t make its way into our sanctuary. But more importantly… there’s a certain pony that I need to visit.” Twilight said.

“Oh. Well, have fun!” Pinkie said as she pranced away.

After Pinkie left, Twilight strolled around the Empire to see if there was any trouble lurking about. After a whole hour of searching, Twilight called in quits. She went back to her room in the castle and laid on her bed. The words that Celestia spewed at her sparked her interest. She had no idea what she meant by ‘black ooze’, but she had a good idea where it could lead. She decided that she would investigate the matter tomorrow. She may not have a clue as to what Celestia was hiding, but she would do what she could and get to the bottom. Even if it meant that the latter was hiding something that could cripple the Empire.

As for Starlight, she was still keeping an eye on Twilight. Even after Celestia’s departure from the Crystal Empire, Starlight made it her own mission to keep an eye on Twilight, especially after figuring what she was doing with the bodies. Starlight had always known that her former teacher was keeping secrets, but she never knew that she would never do anything as twisted or conniving as haul away the corrupting ooze from outside Equestria. As she kept moving, Starlight ran into Moon Dancer.

“Hey, Starlight. Do you have that new spell we’ve been working on together?” Moon Dancer asked.

“Not right now, Moon Dancer. I’m on a mission right now.” Starlight answered.

“Mission for what?” Moon Dancer wondered as Starlight eyed Twilight.

“Listen. I know what I’m doing isn’t part of saving Equestria, but I’m keeping an eye on Twilight for personal reasons.”

Dumbfounded by Starlight’s remark, Moon Dancer asks,

“Which are…?”

Knowing that Moon Dancer wouldn’t leave her alone now that she told her, Starlight said,

“Okay… I’m gonna tell you something that’s gonna make you angry, but you have to promise that you never tell this to anypony else. Do you promise?”

After receiving a subtle nod from Moon Dancer, Starlight grabbed the former and whispered in her ear. Five minutes later, Starlight was finished explaining everything to Moon Dancer was beyond shocked to learn about what Twilight was doing the entire time. Moon Dancer stuttered,

“How… How could she…? How could she…? We need to do something about this! More and more she does this, she’s gonna-!”

But before Moon Dancer could speak any further, Starlight covered her mouth to keep her from yelling out loud.

“Shh! You’re gonna give yourself away. Look, I know what she’s doing is beyond sickening, but now that you know, you have to keep this to yourself. If she finds out what you’ve heard, you could be imprisoned or worse. Do you want that?” Starlight reasoned.

After thinking this over a little, Moon Dancer reluctantly nodded and Starlight moved her hoof off the former’s mouth.

“What’re we gonna do?” Moon Dancer whispered.

“Right now, you are gonna keep doing more research on more magic spells while I am gonna keep an eye on Twilight to see if she’s doing anything funny.” Starlight answered.

“What? But if she’s doing something and she found out, then-”

“She won’t. Which is perfect for me to keep gathering more information on her. Do you understand?”

“I suppose…”

“Then keep doing what you’re doing. But for the time being, I’m gonna keep an eye on Twilight. So just leave it to me. Okay?”

Having no other choice and knowing that their chances were limited, Moon Dancer gave Starlight a reluctant nod and left her to do more research on magical spells. Seizing this opportunity, Starlight slipped away, sneaking around the castle and went near Twilight’s room to spy on her. But after peeking in on Twilight sleeping, Starlight realized that her shift was over, leaving her no other choice but to return to her quarters. After making her way back to her room, Starlight immediately began doing research on the ooze.

“Just what are you hiding, Twilight…?” Starlight wondered as she started researching the corrupting ooze.