Of Moons, Mares and Men

by Electricut

A Shift in the Heavens, from Hell

-Equestria-

“Alright, we’ll see you later Rarity!” Twilight called, walking happily out of the Boutique. Spike bade her farewell a moment later, and hurried to catch up with his companion. Twilight wasn’t moving fast though, and was taking the time to enjoy the sunlight. As he caught up and matched step with her, Spike tried to do the same. While it had been a rather hot summer thus far, the weather was now pleasantly breezy, and the sun didn’t beat down quite as hard as it had been.

“We still need to visit Pinkie Pie and make sure the sweets and party decorations are all set up.” Twilight explained, more to keep herself on track than to inform her assistant. “I’ll be honest; it’s a little strange being the one to set up the ‘thank you for saving us’ party this time!”

“Yeah, I still keep expecting someone to come up and say ‘no, no, you saved us all! Let us handle it, you just relax!’ ” Spike agreed. “Still, it feels just as weird that we didn’t help out with the battle this time.”

“True, but I think it’s better this way.” Twilight explained. “If the Elements of Harmony go around fixing every problem in Equestria, we’ll become overtaxed, and everypony will begin to expect too much of us, for us to be perfect when we’re just normal ponies like them. Besides, think of it from the royal guard’s point of view. The citizens of Equestria need to have faith in them, to know that they are strong, willing and able to protect them from danger. It’s better that we let them take care of things in Canterlot without us getting involved, even if we might have wanted to.”

Spike shrugged. “When you put it that way, I guess you’re right… still feels like we’re being a little lazy though.”

Twilight sighed. “I know. I probably would have suggested we help anyway, if Shining Armor hadn’t insisted. Figures that it would be him to kick the royal guard back into action!”

“Um, Twi…?”

“So at the very least, for him, I don’t mind being on the sidelines this time…”

“Twilight, I think somepony’s trying to teleport in over there.” Spike stated, pointing a claw to a nearby tree slightly further down the path. The patch of air around it was shimmering brightly, the same as when Twilight used her own teleportation spell.

“Oh! Looks like their destination point is a bit off… I bet I can just nudge it over a bit…” Twilight readied a spell on her horn, pointed it at the tree, and turned it slowly until the shimmering had been completely detached. As soon as it was free of obstacles, a pair of ponies- both clad in the gold armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard, one a unicorn and one a pegasus- materialized there.

“Ugh, I’ll never get used to that…” the pegasus complained. “Coulda’ flown here with how long that seemed to take, anyway, and my stomach wouldn’t be as upset with me…”

“Hey, I can hardly be blamed for that, either.” The unicorn countered. “Captain Shining Armor had to teach me that spell in a hurry, and it probably didn’t go as smoothly as it should have.”

“You two gentlecolts were being held up by that tree.” Twilight pointed out, getting the attention of the two soldiers. “Good thing I found you, or you might have been stuck in magic-space for hours!”

“Ah! Miss Sparkle!” the unicorn exclaimed, and the two royal guards saluted. “Your presence has been requested in Canterlot. Please come with us immediately.”

Twilight’s eyebrows raised in alarm. “In Canterlot? What happened?”

The two looked to each other. “We can tell you what we know on the way. It’s an urgent matter though, and I’m sure you understand that as such, it’s sort of classified.”

Twilight hesitated. “Can’t you tell me anything about it? Just so Spike and the others will know where I am and not worry about me?”

The royal guards paused for a few seconds, then the pegasus stepped forward. “It’s about the recent monster attack, and its aftermath. Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have all requested your immediate presence.”

Both the princesses and my brother? She thought. “Alright, I suppose it must be important. Spike, can you hold down the fort here and finish preparations for the party?”

Spike gave her a mock salute in confirmation, and Twilight trotted over to the two soldiers. “You’d better let me do the teleporting for all of us, if it’s that urgent.” The unicorn chuckled and shook his head, but allowed Twilight to charge the spell upon her horn with a flourish, plucking the three from the grassy paths of Ponyville and depositing them on the grand streets of Canterlot. Twilight began trotting briskly towards the castle, with the two soldiers in-step at either side.

“Alright, now tell me everything you can.” Twilight demanded as the three walked. “It would be best not to waste the captain’s or princess’s time.”

The pegasus began. “I trust that you knew the gist of what happened yesterday?”

“The outbreak of monsters from the gates of Tartarus near Canterlot, correct?” Twilight said, “But I thought they were all contained!”

“They were, but…” the pegasus paused, “The public was… misled slightly, about the nature of the conflict. They assumed, and we allowed them to believe, that it was a simple outbreak and nothing more. However, in reality… it was a raid. An organized attack, led by the witch Hecate.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. I didn’t think there was anything in Tartarus that was capable of such planning… “But, you still contained the attack, right? I suppose this means it did a lot more damage than I thought, and you need me to help manage things?”

The unicorn sighed. “It did a lot more damage, yeah. Unfortunately… it’s not all done yet. It seems as though we’re in for a lot worse, and we’re not even sure what we’re in for anymore.”

Twilight began to feel very apprehensive. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had happened, but knew she had to. “Tell me what happened.”

After a considerable pause, the unicorn continued. “The witch Hecate had something with her. Some kind of artifact that let her cast a really powerful spell. More powerful than anything we’ve ever seen. It even took princess Celestia by surprise.”

“What did it do?!” she asked, almost shouted.

“Look up, Twilight Sparkle.”

With a racing heart, the young unicorn raised her eyes to the sky, and what she saw made no sense at all. Above the city of Canterlot swirled an array of colors, ending in wispy streams around the edges of the city. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, and with how the two soldiers seemed to react to it, she got a distinct gut feeling that the lights could not be good.

“What is it…?” Twilight asked in wonder.

“It’s a massive spell, and it’s only just begun to be cast. Two hours ago, it was just above the castle, and now it’s covered the whole city. That’s part of why you’ve been summoned, Twilight. We need to calculate how long it will take before it engulfs the world, and if it can be stopped before then.”

Twilight gulped. “What happens if it isn’t stopped? What kind of spell is it?”

“You ought to recognize it.” The unicorn continued. “It may be a much larger and slowed-down version, but it’s the very same spell that brought us here. It’s a giant teleportation spell.”

A teleportation spell… that’s going to envelop the whole world?! “I think it’s best if you wait to have the rest explained to you.” The pegasus stated. “The princesses know more about the issue than we do.” Twilight was about to object, but realized that they were right. These two had only been sent to retrieve her, and it would be better to ask the princess to explain what was happening. Still, the ultimate question hung in the air, felt by all: If Equestria is going to be affected by a giant teleportation spell, then where will it go if we fail?

The three made their way quickly through the grand doors to the castle, up the massive staircase, and headed for the throne room. The second set of huge doors swung wide, and Twilight could see the Princess of the Night on her throne. The Princess of the Sun was in the center of the room, eyes darting across the contents of a simple table, covered in charts, maps and documents. Around the room was a collection of other ponies, largely unicorns, though with a few pegasi and earth ponies interspersed.

“Princess, I’m here.” Twilight announced, moving to her mentor’s side.

Celestia looked up from the papers momentarily to greet her pupil gratefully. “Twilight, thank goodness you’re here.” She said, turning her gaze back to the table. “We need every brilliant mind we can get, and yours is one of the brightest there is.”

“My escort told me the basics of the situation, princess.” Twilight explained. “A giant teleportation spell is taking effect over all of Equestria, starting with Canterlot. What can we do to stop it? And if we fail… what happens to us?”

The princess shook her head. “That’s what we need to find out, and quickly. We do not know where Equestria would be sent if this spell succeeds, as it is not far enough along to detect. However, one conclusion has been drawn right away: if we leave this spot in space, my connection with Equestria’s sun will break, and I… in the worst case scenario, it’s likely that I could perish without that connection.

Twilight gasped in alarm. “N-no! Princess, don’t say that! What would Equestria be without you? What would I be?!”

Celestia nodded. “This is exactly why we need to hurry and stop this madness before it begins.”

Twilight cast a glance towards Princess Luna, who was directing several unicorns in performing various detection spells. Celestia noticed this and answered Twilight’s next question before she asked: “I do not know what would become of Luna if this were to come to pass. It is quite possible that the moon would be enveloped by the spell as well, and she would retain her power and life force, but… it’s just as possible that it would remain here as well. There are too many elements we do not yet know.

“We do know one thing though. In the event that we fail, and Equestria is taken from its place in the universe, then it is extremely likely that we will no longer have a sun to nourish life. As a last-resort plan, it would be possible to set up a grid of Sun-spot spells around the planet to provide adequate lighting and warmth for pony kind to survive, but even then… it will be cold. Very cold. Additionally, we would need to organize the world’s pegasi to completely cover the sky in clouds, to keep in what heat we can get.”

Twilight’s mind spun, and she felt physically dizzy. If we lose all sunlight and view of the sky, then… then it will be incredibly difficult to grow any crops. The citizens of Equestria could survive for a little while on preserved goods, maybe even several years, but sooner or later the lack of food production would catch up with us, and… She shook her head. “I’ll do anything I can to help keep that from happening.” she promised.

Celestia nodded. “I know you will. Thank you. Right now, we’re trying to figure out just how far we can push our own magic, in the hopes that we’ll be able to devise a counter-spell powerful enough to stop the teleportation spell.”

Twilight nodded and moved over to one of the stations at the table. We have time, but not a lot. Due to the concentration of magic in Canterlot, and the counter-measures these unicorns were able to put in place early, the spell is being slowed considerably. However, once it breaks away from the borders of the city, it will begin expanding at an insane rate. Unless it becomes impaired or stopped by another counter-spell, it will envelop Equestria completely in… one hundred and twenty-five days? Give or take a few days. I’ll need to devote my full attention to this, so…

Twilight excused herself from the table, located an inkwell, quill and blank paper, and quickly wrote out a message for Spike saying that she would be too busy to return to Ponyville, but that the celebrations should proceed as planned. They don’t know what is happening here, and as long as they can, they should keep their spirits high. I believe that we WILL find a way to save Equestria, but if not, we’re all in for hard times… with a shaky horn and an unfamiliar spell, Twilight successfully sent the message to her faithful companion. She sighed heavily, bracing herself for the task at hand, and trotted back into the throne room.

Comments

[Alalic]

Interesting description. Will read later.

[Esme]

I like it.

[vaultboy124]

more plz

[Electricut]

934544

Working on it. I didn't get any built up behind release, so it's going to take a little longer than Elements of Harmony did.