Celestia paced back and forth on the open plains at the foot of Canterlot Mountain, glancing in the direction of the Everfree Forest every so often as she'd paced. She'd heard the reports from the scouts who'd returned, the reports that had caused the gathering of the army behind her. A horde of what could only be called Monsters had marched out of the Everfree Forest, heading straight for Canterlot Mountain. And now the army was gathered, and Celestia could only wait, and worry, and hide her fear.
The gilded war armor she was wearing had been made with the expectation of her being at least 20 before she'd ever have to wear it, and as such was clunky and unwieldy on her 12 year old frame. However, she wasn't expected to actually engage in physical battle here. She was expected to lead, to direct, to inspire, and to lend aid with battle magic or the power of the sun. She only wished she felt capable of even one of those things.
The timing of this also upset Celestia greatly. Only a few months ago, that terrible fight with her precious little sister, the report of her last seen heading towards the forbidden mountain peak, and then no sign of her no matter how many search parties were sent. It had since taken all the strength Celestia had to guide the sun and moon, and not collapse from worry and grief. And now, after Canterlot Mountain had shaken from a massive surge of underground magic, followed by the approach of this army...the rumors were already abounding. The Moon Princess had reached the forbidden peak and had disturbed the Ancients in the Depths, and now they rose to claim the surface.
Celestia could not allow herself to think of any of these things. She had to lead her army. She had to shoulder her grief for her sister, for her parents, and face down the approaching army, ready to lead her ponies into battle for the safety of the surface. She would not fail here.
In the distance, she saw the dust cloud of uncounted feet marching towards the mountain. Focusing her eyes, she could see that not all the Monsters were walking. She couldn't make out shapes yet, but she could see that some of them flew over the others, on wings of flesh or even metal. She shivered, remembering the horror stories some told of the Deep Ones. She prayed her army was strong enough to defeat what approached them.
The dust cloud stopped, and across the open field she saw her foes. Monsters of every shape and size lined the field from end to end, looking like every image dredged from the depths of nightmares, shaped to bring terror to the living. Celestia found her own eyes drawn to a tall armored skeleton who gazed out at the amassed army of ponies and up the slopes of the mountain to Canterlot...
Before clapping his gloved hands to his cheek bones. "OH MY GOD!" he screamed out in stunned shock. "I FORGOT MY RACE CAR BED!"
Other shouts followed that one from the group of Monsters, promptly resulting in the vast majority rushing back towards the Everfree Forest, leaving Celestia to sit down heavily. "What?" she spoke up, totally confused. "That's...not how an army behaves..." She shook her head. "And what is a race car bed?"
When the new dust cloud faded, a much smaller group of monsters stood in the middle of the field. Three looked like bipedal goats, two adults and a child. The male adult was garbed in armor and wore a crown. The female adult wore purple robes. The child wore a striped shirt. Beside them was a fishwoman, standing tall and proud in metal armor and clutching a spear, her helmet under her arm. On the other side was a shorter skeleton in a blue hoodie. Surrounding them was about a dozen small creatures that looked like a cross between a dog, a cat, and a gerbil, pure white wearing blue sweatshirts and vibrating across the ground rather than walking. Each of these smaller creatures had large bags strapped to their backs, and suitcases by their side.
And a single figure raced ahead of the group towards the ponies, a figure Celestia instantly recognized, but at first could not believe...until she heard her voice.
"Tia! Tia!" The moon princess raced up, tackling her older sister and sending the war armor scattering as she glomped onto her. "I missed you so much!"
Celestia immediately enfolded her younger sister in her warmest embrace. "Oh Luna, my little Luna...I'm so sorry...I never should have yelled at you like that...I'm just so glad you're finally home..."
"Y-Your Highness," a nearby Earth Pony General spoke up. "There is still the...enemy?" he offered, gesturing to the remaining monsters. "What do we do?"
"Stand down!" Luna bellowed, the Royal Canterlot Voice erupted out of her small frame to the stunned amazement of all present, sending many of the nearest soldiers to their knees through sheer volume. "You will not harm our friends and family!"
Celestia was startled by what Luna had shouted, but she knew better than to question where others could hear. "You heard my sister," she told the General once he was standing again. "Tell the troops to stand down. Princess Luna has brought us new allies." I hope, she added silently. Once the soldiers had shifted to a more peaceful stance, demonstrating the strength of the Princesses rather than prepared to unleash it, Celestia turned to Luna. "Family?" she inquired.
"hoo dis, Papa?" a curious voice spoke up.
Celestia glanced down, seeing a tiny version of the white creatures she'd seen in the distance, this one barely big enough to hold in one hoof...which possessed a unicorn horn and a tiny pair of wings.
Luna giggled at the creature. "This is Tia, my big sis!" she proclaimed. "Tia, this is Princess Temmie! Say hi, Tem!"
"Hoy, Auntia!" the little creature greeted warmly before vibrating along, gliding up Celestia's leg and along her body before stopping on her muzzle, petting her on the bridge of her muzzle between her eyes.
Celestia stared at the tiny creature. "...wat?"
I guess that answers my question, huh?
PRINCESS TEMMIE!!!
... That is all...
Oh god. Oh god why. Prinzez Tem no. Tia is going to be so confused. And Pappy, dear Pappy leading the run back into the ground. Gosh this is great.
Think it would be ''slightly better if you replaced that last 'a' with a 'u'. Just my opinion. And to all those bastards on the internet that say i can't have an opinion!: F*ck you!
.......what?
I kind of wondered what happened to Princess Temmie.
soldiers
FUS-RO-DAH!!!
Celestia.exe stopped working.
heh.
...P....pss..pssst....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAHAHAHA! I completely forgot about that!
And thus, the Great First March back to the Surface came to an end.
The the next chapter of this great tale: The Great "Oh Crud! I forgot my _______!" Sprint back to the Underground
7467200 she's princess Cadence's ancestor.
perfect!
That ending though
Somebody PLEASE make a comic adaptation of this chapter!!!
I love how Princess Temmie called her Auntia.
Oh. Princess Temmie. Always nice to see continuity, especially for something so far back-
Oh. OH. Oh my god
Okay, while the chapter wasn't long and frankly not a whole lot happens, it's worth it for that one exchange.
Something I don't understand in this episode is...
How did die Celestia?
I mean, in a early episode Luna created a hole with her magic and Celestia fall from there, before Flowey un-did that timeline and returned to the past. Why do they really need to go from the barrier instead of Luna create another hole? And why did Celestia fall? Was she in the 'Forbidden Mountain'?
7467447
...what are you talking about?
I'm...going to try to explain based on what I think you're talking about.
In the undid timeline, Woona was able to fully unleash the Soulstone's magic as physical power, which shattered the barrier...and devastated the surface by destroying Mount Ebott, which was also Canterlot Mountain. Seeing this, Luna (then Woona) reset, undoing that timeline.
At the present time, they went through the original entrance to the Underground, which is in the Everfree Forest.
Celestia never fell. She led her armies down the slopes of the mountain to the plains.
I only got one thing to say about the cover art.
"Run man she about to shank yo ass"!
Seriously this could only be me, but every time I look at the picture, I think she's about to shank that guy.
Am I messed up?
7467447
7467490
I think part of what they're asking is why do they have to exit by the Everfree Forest and not by anywhere else. Your answer Tat, several chapters ago was that if the barrier was broken in any other place than at the castle in that one specific spot the magic that mace the barrier would have made the entire Underground collapse on itself and killed most if not all the monsters right?
Princess Temmie nose the best thing to do in this situation.
7467522
That's correct.
I've been asking that for all my life, but people will never stop complain about meaningless trivialities.
Oh, do they completely interrupt the tone and pacing of the plot and add nothing to the overall story, too? That does sound pretty terrifying.
An apt response, but not unwarranted. This is Undertale, a game that presents interesting personal dilemmas and religious subtext to the player, who is free to act based on these dilemmas and subtext. As a consequence, people become cancerous over it, much like any fan of an interesting medium.
Anyways, see you.
Another enjoyable chapter. Great job.
7467524 Boop.
7467215 That's funnier coming from a Bald Cleft. Not sure why...
7467490 Did she not die?
I was talking mainly about those scenes... The second quote is from the chapter "Love and Tolerance"
7467722 Ahh but you forget, when a timeline is reset, it essentially became another timeline. We aren't following that timeline because she Reset back to the point where Tia wasn't dead.
7467722
Yes. That was from the timeline that got erased, and thus did not actually happen except in her memory.
7467739 In theory yes, but even if that don't happen. The events around happen. I mean, Tia was in that moment in the X point exact to fall from the hole, maybe she was walking so a couple of seconds before or after she could maybe not fall. And Woona did not find any barrier when she made the hole.
If we take the ruins when she appeared as under the mountain, how far was Woona from the mountain when she did the hole?
7467742
True, it didn't happened, but where was the barrier in that moment? Or is the barrier only in the part that Woona did the fight?
7467746
Snowdin is also under the mountain.
New Home, however, is under the Everfree Forest.
7467722 that was the timeline that luna reset, essentially meaning the event that would have killed her sister never happened
Yay, it's the return of Princess Temmie!
7467748 So... In theory Celestia was between the 'Forbidden Mountain' and the Everfree Forest when she fall, but what happened with the barrier? If Woona managed to break it before, why it was that hard after? Because she did not have the items equipped? Or because the barrier was not there when Celestia fall in the hole in the erased timeline?
Discord, meet temmie!
Temmie: "Hoi!"
Discord: *unholy screaming*
How the hell do people have problems with this timeline concept?
I mean, this isn't even Back to the Future-level time manipulation.
Legacy of Kain is a distant speck on the complexity horizon compared to this.
This is KINDERGARTEN-level temporal instability.
7467766
Celestia never fell in a hole!
The 'Forbidden Mountain' you're talking about is Mount Canterlot. The 'Hole' Luna fell down is at the peak. In the erased timeline, the discharge of all the power at once shattered the barrier, and destroyed the entire mountain. Whereas the controlled release instead caused the Barrier Struggle we went over earlier.
7467796 At last! Thank you.
And then some colt chucked a rock at Sans when he wasn't looking. Just it nicking turned him to dust.
All hell broke loose after that.
CURSES! NOT MY RACE CAR BED! WHY DID I LEAVE IT BEHIND? I NEED TO USE IT IN ORDER TO EXPLORE THE SURFACE!
7467796
I thought it was Mount Canterhorn. while Canterlot was the city they built..
7467872
I honestly have no idea.
7467779 I dunno. You don't know what
magickindergarten was like for some of us, man.7467934 Hmph. I guess I'm just lucky for having grown up in the 80s. Time travel stuff is just easy for me to grasp.
For anyone still struggling, resets in this are like continuing in The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. "No, no that's not what happened..."
7467197
'Wat' is more of a baffled noise of protest, 'Wut' is more of pure bafflement.
So, y'know, depending on how you want to read it, either can make sense in this case.
Is it wrong for me to think this is what Temmie would sound like?
I could die of cute.
Whenn this started out, it was so intense and got me on edge...
Then I saw the Race Car Bed bit and lost it.
NIcely done man, hahaah