It wouldn’t do to linger on what did not concern her. All she wanted now was knowledge and power. Two sides of the same coin, and she wanted them for their own sake. What more was there to life? She continued onwards, her cloak trailing the dust behind her, and it was as she mused on her favourite things that she noticed it. She was not alone in her sanctum. A cold fury built within her that she had not felt in some time. Who was it that trespassed on what was hers? Who would dare? She stopped and turned, listening, sensing without seeing, knowing without being. There was nopony in the building, at least, no pony living, for no hoof trod upon the floors that did not belong to her, no breath breathing her air but her own. Something was rotten, and she could feel the pall darken the ethereal waves that flowed through the manse.