Standing beside the throne, Raven Inkwell passed a small pile of documents to Princess Celestia as she caught her up on her schedule for the week.
"The meeting with the Governor of Pennsylhoofia had to be delayed due to a medical emergency, so your visit will happen in two weeks instead. The Minister of Agriculture has sent back his findings on Appaloosa's current yield, as you'll see here-"
Princess Celestia nodded her head as she absorbed the information delivered to her, reading the documents as Raven spoke to her.
As the two spoke about Celestia's order of business, a scroll magically popped into the air in a burst of golden sparks and blue smoke.
"Just a moment Raven," Celestia told her secretary as she picked the scroll up in her magic and started reading it, her eyebrows creasing as the words on the paper entered her mind, her focus soon turning almost entirely onto the scroll, before she shockingly turned her head away and called out orders.
"Guards! Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor." She ordered the royal guards who stood around the throne room, the ponies heeding her orders before dashing away to fulfill their task.
As the guards left, Celestia took out a scroll of her own, grabbed a quill from Raven, and started writing.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle, You must come to Canterlot at once-"
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Standing in front of a stained glass window, The Princess of the Night asked her sister, "Are you sure you don't want us to go as well?"
"Yes," Princess Celestia answered Luna, her eyes staring at the mural depicting the youngest Alicorn and her husband encircling Canterlot with their love, "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are already there," She turned to look at her sister from the corner of her eye, "The Others will be joining them soon,"
"The Empire's Magic is powerful," Luna reminded her with worry, "It's been over a thousand years since the Pillars banished it to the future, It will not fall again."
"She will succeed in her task, and when she does, we'll know that she is that much closer to being ready," Celestia told her sister, her eyes focusing on the depiction of Cadance on the window.
"About that, Sister, We think there is a discussion that must be had in regard-" Luna spoke up, only to close her mouth as a voice tried to gain their attention.
"Ahem,"
The two Alicorns turned to look at the new voice, Princess Celestia's eyes relaxing at the sight of the pony, while Luna frowned in worry.
Twilight Sparkle stood beyond the door to the corridor, an unsure smile on her face and a large bag on her back.
Seeing that her advice would not be heeded, Luna sighed and walked away, slightly disappointed in how her sister was treating the situation.
"Trust me, little sister," Celestia told Luna as she walked past, making her way out of the corridor.
"You wanted to see me?" Twilight asked as she walked towards Princess Celestia, "To give me a test?" She smiled at Luna as she walked by, faltering slightly as the Princess seemed to ignore her as she walked by.
"I brought my owl quills, And plenty of paper to show my work," Twilight Sparkle's smile returned as she turned to Princess Celestia, taking the bag off her back to show how ready she was.
"This is a different kind of test," Celestia told Twilight as she picked her bag up with a golden aura of magic, putting the papers and quills back into the bag, "The Crystal Empire has returned."
"The Crystal Empire?" Twilight's smile fell at the mention of the place, her horn glowed as she levitated four books out of her bag, "I - I'm sorry, I thought I studied- I don't think there's anything in any of my books-" Twilight opened one of the books as Celestia grabbed the other three and levitated them away.
"There wouldn't be," Celestia said as she turned to look at her throne, "Few remember it ever existed at all." She lifted a glass case over a light purple crystal and levitated it out, placing it on the floor in front of Twilight.
"Even my knowledge of the Empire is limited," Celestia admitted, a beam of magic leaving her horn and hitting the crystal, an illusion of a map forming on the ground with the crystal in its center.
"But what I do know, is that it contains a powerful magic," Celestia told Twilight, standing on the other side of the illusionary miniature of the Crystal Empire.
"One thousand year ago, King Sombra, a Unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire," Celestia said, the illusion of the empire shifting as black crystals burst out of the ground, the vibrant and colorful streets turned dull and colorless as the towering castle in the center of the Empire was encased in black crystals.
An Illusion of King Sombra sprung on top of the castle, his eyes burning with dark magic as the ponies of the Crystal Empire found themselves bound in chains, slaving away beneath his hooves.
"He was eventually overthrown," Celestia continued, the Illusion changing once more, now six silhouettes floated in a rainbow Corona, their forms hidden by the Harmony Magic that surrounded them as they blasted a beam of rainbow-colored magic at Sombra, his body disintegrating into smoke under their combined magical power, a crystal shell seeming to grow around him to trap his gaseous body.
Twilight looked with wide eyes at the Illusion, at the silhouettes of the six heroes, only to squint as she spotted a seventh silhouette hidden behind them, much smaller, without the rainbow Corona to highlight it.
"Turned to Shadow, and Banished to the ice of the arctic north." The ground opened up beneath Sombra's Crystal shell, swallowing him beneath the Ice, and trapping him for one thousand years.
"But not before he managed to put a curse upon the empire," Celestia kept speaking, "A curse that forced it to be banished into thin air," The Illusion shrunk back into the crystal before Celestia picked it back up and returned it to its pedestal.
"If the Empire is filled with hope and love, Those things will be reflected over all of Equestria," Princess Celestia turned back to Twilight, her horn glowing with the six colors of the Elements of Harmony.
"But if hatred and fear take hold~" Her horn was engulfed in a green and black aura, Her eyes turned green as purple flames licked at the air behind her like dark magical eyelashes before a beam of black magic left her horn, spots of purple and green bursting out of the magic like a sickness, the beam landing on the floor and extending into a crystalline shadow, growing longer and sharper as it crawled closer to Twilight Sparkle, before a dark crystal burst out of the shade, almost hitting Twilight before the shadow it grew from split apart, surrounding the Unicorn in a cage of darkness.
Celestia's eyes then shone with a bright light, her horn shining with gold as a light burst out of her body, shattering the crystals and banishing the shadows.
"Which is why I need your help finding a way to protect it."
"You want me to help protect an entire empire?" Twilight Sparkle asked her mentor.
"It is, as I said, a different kind of test." Princess Celestia's soft and warm smile did much to assure Twilight's worries, "But one I am certain you will pass."
Twilight took a deep breath to clear her mind before she focused on her teacher, "How do I begin?"
"You will be joining Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire." Celestia told her as she walked past her, motioning the Element of Magic to follow.
"My brother is there?" Twilight Sparkle asked, a hint of excitement in her voice as she walked after the Princess.
"He is, and Your Ponyville friends will join you there too, as well as the many other ponies who are already there. I have every confidence that you will succeed." The two ponies left the corridor with the Murals, "And when you do, I'll know that you're ready to move on to the next level of your studies." Celestia told Twilight.
Twilight smiled in excitement at the thought of moving on to the next step of her studies, a wide smile on her face at the excitement of the thought. Turning to look at the other ponies that stood around the large room, she caught eyes with Princess Luna, her smile faltering as the Princess of the Night looked down on her, disappointment in her stare.
The look Princess Luna gave her turned her bubbling excitement of success into the worry of failure.
"But what if I fail?" She asked Celestia, her eyes looking away from the second Princess.
"You won't." Princess Celestia told her.
"But what if-" Twilight tried to argue, only for Celestia to place a hoof on her shoulder.
"You won't" Celestia reassured her before Twilight started making her way out, "But Twilight-" She turned to look at the Princesses behind her.
"In the end, It must be you and you alone-" Princess Celestia stood beside Princess Luna, the two Alicorns staring at the Unicorn. One stared on with great worry and expectations, the other stared blankly as if she wished to be anywhere else at that moment, "-who ultimately assists Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the Empire. Do you understand?"
"Mhm!" Twilight nodded confidently, puffing her chest with pride.
"Then go, there is no time to lose." Princess Celestia told her before she closed the doors separating the two of them, Leaving the princesses on one side, and Twilight Sparkle on the other.
With her face close to the door, Twilight Sparkle gulped before turning away, trying to clear the worry from her mind as she started making her way out of the castle, only to stop as a pony called over to give her some tickets.
"Show these to the guards at Rutherford Station, the train there will take you and your friends to the Crystal Empire," The white Earth Pony with the brown mane told her as the tickets exchanged hooves before she readjusted her glasses and walked off.
Twilight looked at the tickets and took a deep breath.
She had a test to pass.
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Watching her sister walk away to prepare another supply of food and clean water, Princess Luna couldn't help but let her mind wander as she questioned the plan Celestia spoke to her about.
Especially the part where she was to keep everything secret, even from the other Royals.
"This will not pass well, Dear Sister," Princess Luna whispered as the door Celestia walked through closed behind her, leaving the Princess of the Night alone with her thoughts, "It is flawed and weary, a plan built upon an understanding that you do not hold." She shook her head and made her way in the opposite direction, "When the inevitable fallout hits, do not expect us to sit aside and do nothing. We will be right in the center, standing in front of you, telling you-" Luna paused in front of a door, her neck turning around to look behind her, at the door Celestia walked through, hoping, if only briefly, that her sister will walk back out and reevaluate her plan, ask for her opinions, do anything close to the sort.
Luna sighed with quiet disappointment as she looked away from the door behind her, her sister not walking through, before she opened the door she stood in front of, and left.
"~We told you so..."