“Well I managed to put together a new memory chip for the magic camera, I gave the old one with the previous logs to spike so people know what state Canterlot is in. I scouted out a clear route and managed to get him out without any problems, though I had to fight a Spectre to get back home. I’ve done some research on the antitoxin properties of my blood, but nothing conclusive or worth mentioning has come up yet. Twilight Sparkle, Day 42, Log 8.” Twilight said into the camera after she made sure it worked again.

She put it back on the table and looked at her makeshift chemistry lab. It was terrible in terms of quality and took utmost care to handle without anything breaking.

“In order for me to actually get anything done I need better equipment.” She said to herself as she left her home. She looked up at the palace. She had gone there a few times to search the archives and it was clear of Ghasts. She had no idea if Spectres could get in but she had seen a Ghost there once. The palace had the best lab in all of equestria though and it was her best chance to get what she needed.

She took off and blasted towards the palace on her wings. Normally she would teleport, but after teleporting under a pile of rubble where a friend’s house used to be she stopped using that means of travel.
---
She forwent the front gates and instead shot up towards the tower, Celestia’s old quarters, and landed there. She saw that the decaying properties of the toxin had gotten to some of the weaker things in the room, though the desk and the bed were still in pristine condition. She saw a large force of magic coming from the desk in the form of a shell with her optics and pushed the visor up to reveal a box.

She used Celestia’s normal unlocking spell to open the box and she was surprised to see her old friendship reports in the box. She smiled and resealed the box on placed them in her backpack. She opened the door slowly and slipped out, making as little noise as possible, and relied on her memory of the place to guide her towards areas of the palace she wanted to go. Her first stop was the kitchen.

“Oh great.” Twilight sighed. There was a Ghost gorging itself on the spoiled food, its wings in disrepair with a ruptured steam tank on the back. She snuck up on the creature and swiftly took its head off with the Longsword blade. Once she cleaned it’s blood from her clothes and her arm she looked around the large kitchen.

She managed to find a small 1x2 foot cooler that held a loaf of bread, slightly green milk and hidden under the bread was a bottle of wine Twilight recognized. It was Celestia’s and it was nearly as old as she was. She put the bread and bottle of wine in a bubble of magic and placed them in her pack and left the room.

Next was the guardhouse. There was always plenty of salvageable material and blades for her use. She also had a few racks of armor that she had been experimenting with and now needed replacements. She also found a pair of magic, short range radios and placed them in a side pocket. Using a shrinking spell she placed a good amount of armor and weapons into her backpack and kept going.

Her next stop was Luna’s room. She hadn’t been there and she wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything the princess of the night left behind that wasn’t important. She quickly found the doors leading to her quarters and pushed them open. She was impressed by the room. While celestia’s room was rather bare, Luna had many wondrous curtains and paintings and even a few banners from a previous age lining the walls. She pulled her visor back down and scanned the room for anything protected by magic.

She was surprised to see a painting and a box under the bed covered in various barriers. She examined the painting first. It was a picture someone had painted perhaps right after the banishment. It was of Luna and Nightmare Moon locked in a battle, neither side winning. But while Nightmare moon had nothing but darkness behind her, Luna had various people and her sister, along with the moon and sun backing her up. Twilight could tell why it was protected. She put a barrier around it as to not break any of the ones in place and used a shrinking spell and put it in her pack.

She then turned her attention to the box under the bed. It had a padlock keeping it shut, but it had been corroded by the air and now rested at the box’s side. The box had a simple invisibility spell on it and a simple barrier to ward away the elements. They were rather recent spells, judging by the actual spells. Twilight opened it and was surprised to see what was inside. Nightmare Moon’s regalia. As she examined the regalia she noticed a carving on the lid of the box.

‘Even when my darkness was at its peak and all was lost, you will have those that still love you and see through the Nightmare.’

She recognized it as Celestia’s handiwork and smiled as she added the box to her pack. She made one final sweep of the room, picking up some important documents that weren’t too badly corroded, and left for her final stop, the labs.
---
“Of course, if there’s a Ghost of course there’d be a Spectre.” Twilight said lowly when she turned a corner that lead to the labs to come face to face with a Spectre. It didn’t notice her, it seemed to be looking around. There was something about it that made Twilight not want to attack it. It looked right at her and she saw it’s eyes weren’t like the others.

“Oh? What have we here?” It said. Twilight realized that it’s tattered and ripped clothes was that of a large wizard hat and cape with corroded bells.

“You can’t be...” Twilight started.

“I am, young mage. Starswirl the Bearded, at least before time took that away.” The spectre chuckled.

“How are you here? let alone withholding your intelligence?” Twilight asked.

“I was buried at the castle graveyard, my magic never left my body like it normally does when someone dies. It kept my body relatively untouched by time, except for the beard. I wasn’t aware, it’s like I blinked and suddenly I’m alive again, though obviously I’m not truly alive.” Starswirl explained.

“So the toxin reached you... I guess maybe it’s strong magic that allows the afflicted to retain their intelligence.” Twilight said.

“What do you mean? Are there others like me?” Starswirl asked.

“You can say that.” Twilight said, slipping the mask off.

“Oh dear, I can tell you’re not quite human anymore. I must ask, what are you doing at the palace?” He said, looking around.

“Mainly to get better lab equipment from the palace labs, though I’ve made a few stops and salvaged some useful things and even found some items of importance.” Twilight answered.

“You will have to tell me why Canterlot is in such a state, but for now I will assist while I can.” Starswirl said.

“Thank you.” Twilight said and continued on, followed by the mage. Starswirl had asked about Twilight while they advanced and she told him about her life and what had happened. When they finally reached the lab he had her wait while he made sure it was safe.

“I knew I heard something... How the hell did you guys get in?” Twilight said to herself as three Ghasts found their way to the corridor she was on. She put her steam rifle on the ground, letting the steam build up to the necessary pressure while she fought, and extended the longsword’s blade.

She made the first strike, startling the Ghasts before they completely turned the corner. She had killed the first by removing its head and jumped back. She looked at the rifle, but it wasn’t at the required pressure yet so she looked back at her now prepared opponents.

She blocked two sets of claws and teeth and activated her blood pump on her arm. Just as it reached the holes she had made she jumped back and lunged forward once more, grabbing one of their heads and pulling her mask back on as the rancid smell of flesh burning in acid filled the corridor. Just as the final beast lunged at her, she swiped her hand at it, flinging some of her acidic blood into it and causing it to falter. She quickly turned the pump off and slid towards the rifle.

Hearing the noise, Starswirl looked out of the door to catch Twilight grabbing the rifle and sending a spike into the final creature’s head. He saw the state of the other two and he stepped out fully.

“Well the labs are clear, I guess the same can’t be said for the rest of the palace.” He said.

“I’m used to more numbers, it must be really hard for them to get in.” Twilight said.

“So that acid blood of yours is supposed to be an antitoxin?” Starswirl asked.

“It absorbs the toxin and destroys it, but it’s obviously not like vaseline.” Twilight said, earning a chuckle from the mage. She entered the dark room and snapped her fingers and sending a bit of magic up to the lights, turning them on.

“Oh my.” Starswirl said as his power was starting to be siphoned off towards the ceiling. “It appears this lab was equipped with a gem that absorbed ambient and unstable magics, that just so happens to be what I’m made of at the moment. Well it was good to see a friendly face, I wasn’t going to live like this for much longer anyways.” He continued.

“Well, I’d hate to say goodbye so soon but I understand.” Twilight said. She shook his hand before the decayed body fell to the ground. With a moment’s thought she used her magic to remove the hat and cloak. At this point they were technically ancient artifacts.

“Alright let’s see. That gem could be useful for this. I’ll need one of the hazardous material handling kits...” She started as she looked around the room.
---
Back at her house, she fixed up the cloak and hat and hung them on a blank wall. The gem she had pried from its place had been randomly emitting light every now and then, but it was just a small glow so she resolved to examine it later. She took her hoodie off and threw it onto her open bed and retrieved her pack. There was a small shelf with important and/or valuable items she had found and that’s where she put the things she had found at the palace. She put the bread and the wine into the cooling unit and the things she salvaged from the armory on racks and tables. Lastly, she used her magic to toss away her old lab gear and replaced it with the pristine Palace lab gear.

“Alright, First on the list. Find out the blood to toxin ratio needed in order to be completely absorbed and how long different ratios take.” Twilight said to herself and used a magic coated syringe to take a fresh blood sample from her good arm.
---
“Spike, WHere is the rest of your team?” Celestia asked. It had taken a few days but Spike finally managed to get all the way up to Celestia to give his report.

“They’re dead princess. Almost all of the life you sensed are these mutated monsters. They’re like zombies, and the one that took out my team had unstable magic pouring out of it that ripped them to pieces.” Spike answered.

“If you say you somehow miraculously escaped or killed them all I’ll look at your memories myself...” Luna said.

“No I didn’t do it, but... I said almost everything. Twilight’s alive, and she’s surviving.” Spike said, putting the memory chip on the table. Celestia recognized it and ran a vision spell through it, it projected what was recorded on it.

“Some people think survival is fun, that challenging themselves in life or death situations is a blast. Those people don’t know what it’s like to actually survive. Sure, hiking in the wilderness could kill you... But they’ve never been through true survival. Twilight Sparkle, Day 30.” The recording of Twilight started. When the first one finished, Celestia stopped the spell.

“She’s alive?” Celestia said.

“Yes, she saved me and helped me get back out. Celestia, we found out that her blood absorbs the toxin in the air, she said when she’s found a way to make it work she’ll turn the barrier blue.” Spike said.

“What do you mean make it work?” Luna asked.

“She changed in there, mostly physically. Her blood has acidic properties now and she’s got superhuman strength and speed. She somehow pieced together makeshift biomechanical limbs and used them and even rigged an entire house with steam power.” Spike said.

“Wait, you said biomechanical limbs?” Shining asked.

“She... She lost her right arm when it started, but using books and manuals she put makeshift stuff together and used it, but she told me she found a black market stash in the Olympian sports store. Blueblood is dealing black market prosthetics. Illegal ones and military prototypes, she had a modified Longsword last I saw.” Spike continued.

“That is a Lie! I wouldn’t even deal anything with such peasants!” Blueblood exclaimed. Spike pulled the evidence Twilight took and the note and put them on the table.

“Her most current log was right before she helped me, I think she said log seven. We can learn from them, that’s what she told me.” Spike said as Blueblood tried to run, but Celestia stopped him.

“Well thank you spike, when this is all over I’ll thank Twilight personally... Everyone but Twilight’s personal friends and family leave.” Celestia said. The guards and officials nodded as the rest of Twilight’s friends stepped up. Shining and Cadence stepped up to the table as well.