Everfree Forest, Castle of the Alicorn Sisters
Darkness surrounded the Castle of the Alicorn Sisters, the night was still reigning in Equestria but that would soon change, in less than an hour, the princesses of Equestria would make their usual ritual to make the transition from night to day. While seeing the two princesses making the transition was a marvel to witness, it was no less wonderful to see the dawn itself. The dawn, for those who weren't familiar with the princesses, was a sort of dance between the two celestial bodies that would last just a couple of minutes, but it was so well staged and choreographed that it had to be applauded nonetheless. It required a certain level of finesse and skill to make your leave at the same time the other dancer was coming out to dance without taking out the importance of either dancer on the stage. For some, this dance was the beginning of their chores and, to enjoy it as best as they could, this individuals would wake up as early as they could to either enjoy it or to show their fidelity to the warming dancer by working before it came out, that way, the dancer would witness the dedication of those who wanted to show the best they had to this being whose beauty was too big to see.
As the dancing hour came closer and closer, the inhabitant residing the Everfree Forest was making the finishing touches to his most recent plan. A way to enter into the city, infiltrate into the tower and open the vault to gaze at the Elements of Harmony. There would be a time were he would've run from the dancing sun, but he stopped doing that in the moment the fiery being no longer was harming to him. He had no fear of the sun.
Raziel was prepared for this day, he knew that it would determine how hard he would have to try and befriend the ponies in Equestria and how much did they actually needed him to defeat the Elder God. He started to think in all the possible ways this could go wrong and what he would have to do in case he failed, he looked around once more in the library of the decaying castle that was now housing him and decided to think back what he was about to do.
As the shifting hour between light and darkness approaches, I gazed at the Castle in Canterlot, aware of who are there and what they could do to me if so they decide that I'm a danger to them. It doesn't escape me the irony that, for a being that benefits so much from the dark, I decided to go after my target in the day, when it's easier to find me.
The Moon starts to drop at a speed that Raziel still haven't gotten used to and, in the same pace, the Sun starts to rise on the exact opposite side of Equestria. The holes in the castle's roof allows the rays from the sun to enter into the ancient construction and start to warm the air, something that Raziel still feel on his body as the rays hits him as well.
The sun, once my mortal enemy during my life under Kain's command, now it was a part of the world's visage. Nothing to fear, for it couldn't end my life anymore. The same thing I could say about the princess that commanded it, it had more than enough power to defeat me in combat, years of combat experience and magic beyond my own comprehension but I didn't fear her for she couldn't end my life. In the end, what I feared wasn't the princess herself, but what she represented.
As Raziel leaves the Everfree, he sees how the plants and flowers start to feed from the light of life given by the celestial body and how those plants became into the food of the herbivores, who would then become the food of the carnivores and so on and so fort. They would all, eventually, come to Raziel.
Celestia was the icon of the Equestrian society. She was their life and the reflection of their society. Had Celestia been kept prisoner inside the sun by Nightmare Moon or Celestia's mentality be harmed or corrupted, it would've been a matter of time before Equestria itself collapsed through a proximity effect with their beloved princess. For that reason, I cannot kill Celestia, it would be the same mistake that Kain committed against King William the Just, for all it achieved was hatred towards the species that murdered their fair ruler.
As the sun positioned itself on the sky and the world started to run at its pace, Raziel decided to start moving towards its target. He knew that the morning would be crowded in the markets and, wherever one side of the town was active, the other side of the town would be calm. It would be a matter of avoiding contact with the equestrians and the alicorns and Raziel was well aware of the councils with Celestia, she would be busy all day receiving her citizens, which was just another area to avoid.
I needed to avoid having Celestia as an enemy, for that would mean losing my opportunity with the rest of Equestria. Once I managed to befriend the elements, they would give Celestia the proof of my goodwill and my quest against the Elder God would become much easier. Very ironic, then, that my plan could be something that, should it fail, would endanger my relationship with her by moving to her city without properly meeting. Regardless, what I were about to do would give me a more concise direction of how to approach the equestrians and the ponies residing in Ponyville.
As Raziel looked at Canterlot Castle, imposing itself on the kingdom by defying all logic, he decided to shift planes to ensure a faster travel towards the city, and while Raziel was starting to move to his target, he wondered, what has happened to Luna during all of this time?
Canterlot Castle
Princess Luna was a living transition, for she was facing multiple changes on her life at the same time even though she was used to them. She could still remember that era where she was a novice to the position of being a monarch, the hurdles it brought to fix the problems in Equestria, the stabilization of the kingdom, bringing peace and harmony to the other species, bringing the night and creating the most beautiful constellations she could come up in her head and having to protect the ponies from nightmares on their dreams. All of that was a great time for her and she would treasure it for she brought the transition form chaos to harmony in Equestria.
She then started to suffer another type of transition, an emotional one, as the equestrians stopped going to her courts, they stopped gazing at her work, they stopped thanking her for the protection brought to them on their dreams and gave Celestia all the credit for the pacification of Equestria while she got the blame for the disappearance of The Crystal Empire, even if she fought the most for its liberation. For Luna, she felt betrayed as this ponies would start to forget about her and go toward her bigger sister, who had all the attention and love but didn't care to share it with her. She wanted that love and, in the same fashion of the one who killed his brother for the attention of his superior, she wanted to get rid of her sister to gain what was being taken away from her. She stopped hearing the voice of conscience and moderation, warning her of how the elements were abandoning her should she continue on this path, and listened to the voice of greed and envy, telling her that it would all be worth it for the instant gratification of being recognized by her subjects. The emotional transition then reflected in her body and she became Nightmare Moon, the tyrant that would wrap Equestria in an eternal night if it weren't for Celestia and The Elements of Harmony banishing her to the moon.
Had this exile been designed to be eternal or temporary it is as unknown as whether or not Nightmare Moon was aware of the transition of time during her banishment or if she fought for liberation inside her prison. What we can all be sure is that, when she came back, she was as furious as she was a millennia ago and still wanted to wrap Equestria on an eternal night. She thought that this would mean the transition from day to night but her plans were thwarted, once again, by The Elements of Harmony and their new bearers.
This encounter was also important for Nightmare Moon because she met a very strange creature that, she was sure, didn't belong to Equestria. Its physical appearance was beyond any kind of nightmare her subjects ever dreamed, its garments weren't made by any civilization she ever met or knew about from the ancient times (being biped made it even more uncanny) and its magic wasn't of any form or substance commonly known in her world. For all Nightmare Moon could understand, this creature wasn't born in Equestria or any natural place in the world, perhaps, it was born in Tartarus and managed to escape from that place.
The encounter between Nightmare Moon and the creature was one of the most captivating things that the princess of the night would remember, for here it was, a creature that belonged to the uncanny valley but it talked in such a way that it felt as it were once of royalty. Its fiery personality and determination was something akin to her younger self but the machinations of its minds were beyond her, a great figure that would have been of great help for her had it not chosen to fight against the nightmare and help The Element Bearers to banish her to the moon.
As Nightmare Moon fought the creature known as Raziel, a new emotional transition happened inside of her. A transition from confidence to fear, fear when she saw that Raziel was managing to stop her in every move she did, fear of hoping that his threat of finishing her were just a way of speaking, fear of the elements actually working this time, fear of failing once again and return to her eternal prison, fear that would lead her to use Twilight Sparkle as a living bait to have an easy hit against Raziel and end his life. But finishing Raziel's life didn't stop her emotional transition, it became even stronger as she saw how The Elements of Harmony managed to be returned to what they used to be and were used against her once more but, to her relief, instead of being banished once again, she was released from the greed and envy just to be returned to Princess Luna.
Becoming Princess Luna once again, and being forgiven by her sister was one of the best things that the navy blue princess could ever ask for. She now had the chance to right her wrongs and live with the guilt of ending someone's life as the reminder of what could happen should she ever consider return to her wrongdoings ir, at least, that's what she thought so. She would never forget how her skin would freeze in the moment she saw Raziel's figure in the Everfree Forest's entrance, looking at her, before leaving and Luna would always hope that it was just a mere illusion caused by her guilt because she never saw it again, neither in Canterlot or in the Dreamscape for that matter.
From here on out, Luna would start a new transition in the history of Equestria. A reformative transition where she would start to fulfill her old tasks while learning of all the things that happened in her beloved land of Equestria. But, for all of her desires to leave her past behind, Luna could not forget about Raziel and how he almost defeated her with his all powerful blade. She would have nightmares that, could or could not be created by herself as a punishment for what he did as Nightmare Moon, would feature Raziel ending her life in the most painful way possible.
She would never allow that to stop her from trying to recover from her old life or from going back to her old position, but she would always have a hard time to get closer to her sister for fear of her resentment or for fear of being rejected by her for committing an atrocity that she would never let herself to forget. And for that, she would always be thankful to her sister for trying to get closer to her and for giving her this new chance of redemption by helping her stop this intruder from getting The Elements of Harmony. She wasn't sure when it would come, but she knew it would come and, once it did, she would face it and come out triumphant from the ordeal and Equestria would, once again, love her for it.
Canterlot City, Canterlot's Tower Borders
As Raziel went through the city of Canterlot, he took note of how much have the city increased its security. Now there were more guards patrolling the streets and skies in the ever moving city. It was obvious for Raziel that this was because of his previous adventure in the city and this also meant that, should he fail this time, there would be a much tougher security the next time he came. He had to make it worth it.
Thankfully, his determined route wasn't so affected as he feared. There were more guards in the populated areas and the places close to Celestia than the places with lower population, it was just a matter of keeping his invisibility on the streets until he could enter into the tower but there was something else worth noticing.
As I got closer to the Tower housing The Elements of Harmony, I couldn't stop myself from noticing how there were more guards in the most populated zones whereas the least populated places had a surprisingly fewer amount of guards. The most likely reason behind it would be that the guards were meant to protect the population from something, something that was already looking at them and it was sad that their princess thought that I would attack the population instead of venturing into their tower.
Raziel moved around the guards and made sure that no needless confrontation could take place on the city neither that he could be detected. As he moved around, he noticed that many of the guards were either pegasi or unicorns, a clear indication of what kind of fight he would have to face should he ever fight the Royal Guard. What made it more interesting, was that, the closer he got to the tower, the more unicorns Raziel would find patrolling the streets and the less pegasi on the skies.
This new development was a great help for Raziel, as it became easier for him to move around the rooftops instead of the streets to avoid the guards. It looked like the Royal Guard was expecting that, whatever could try to get into the vault containing their precious weapon, it was going to attempt to enter through land. A very dangerous mistake that Raziel would exploit to his best.
Once Raziel reached the tower, he only found unicorns guarding the tower, there were no more pegasi and that meant that Raziel could try to enter through the skies. The main challenge in here would be to reach the tower without being detected by the unicorns and, while the Dark Reaver could provide him of invisibility, Raziel was well aware that they could detect other beings through other means. Raziel needed to bypass them by doing vampire skills that he never thought ever needing on his unlife: stealth. Or, at least, as much stealth as a kid would need, with the amount of guards there were in there, he only needed to distract them in one place long enough to pass through them on the other side and he was sure what magic would be of use for him.
It was just a matter of starting a fire in one extreme of the tower, starting it with just a little light and let it grow until it were an actual fire. After creating multiple fire sources that would help each other out to become a raging fire, Raziel only had to move to the other side and wait for a few moments before the guards noticed the fire and all of them moved to put down the fire before it got worse.
In the moment that last guard moved to put down the fire, Raziel moved into the tower while remaining invisible and managed to get into the structure. As much as Raziel would love to enter through the front door, that would only alert the guards of a security breach, which meant that Raziel had to take the tall route as he started to climb the tower as fast as he could, which was a snail pace to avoid detection through sounds, and hope that he could find a way to enter through the roof.
As Raziel managed to get into the top of the tower, Raziel managed to find a window that wasn't completely closed that could help him to enter into the tower. Raziel wouldn't miss the chance given to him with the window and quickly entered into the building by gliding with his wings, slowly enough to notice that the tower's interior was designed in a way that he never expected to see. Once he landed, all that was left for him was to seal the door with his Fire Reaver by melting the doors into one. He knew that it wouldn't stop them forever, but it would give Raziel enough time to open the vault and leave, regardless of what happened with The Elements, and, with the door sealed, Raziel took a look at the tower's interior with more detail and analyzed his next step.
As he looked at the great room, he saw that it consisted in a single, circular room with small windows at the side, too small for a pony to pass, with too great windows in the middle of the tower. This two great windows were made in such a way that the light was aimed at two specific parts of the room, a couple of statues of Princess Celestia on the left of the room and Princess Luna on the right side of the room.
This two statues were made in a particular way, Celestia's statue was made of white marble, with the regalia being bathed in gold and small gems making the statue's mane look the same way the original Celestia's did. Meanwhile, Luna's statue was made of obsidian and had her regalia bathed in silver with dark gems making up her mane but there was something that this statues were lacking that picked Raziel's interest: They lacked their respective horns, should they have it, the light would be passing right through them and then hitting a couple of orbs, a white one and a black one respectively, that were in front of the mentioned statues.
Crossing the statues, and right in front of Raziel, was a great door that looked impassable, Raziel didn't want to know if his Fire Reaver would be able to melt it on the first place but, to his relief, it looked like the door needed a key. A key that Raziel was very sure he would have to search for in the tower. As he looked around the tower, he couldn't stop noticing the decorations, all the walls having images of Equestria from the era before Nightmare Moon, but some of them were looking wrong. This images looked cut down and stitched together with the wrong parts, creating a mess of an image.
As Raziel decided to get closer to the walls looking wrong, he saw that the image to the left contained a botched image of the sun along three elements above a white alicorn. As Raziel got closer to the images, he noticed that said images were plaques that could be removed fairly easy, so Raziel decided to move them around to make the image look the way it should.
Once the image was fixed, Raziel saw that a hidden door on the left of the great vault opened reviling a hidden path that went down under. As Raziel went through the new path given to him, he reached another circular room that had nine torches shut down and, above each torch, Raziel saw what he supposed were cutie marks. From left to right, there was a six pointed star, a lyre, three balloons, a sun, three diamonds, a rainbow colored lightning, an apple, a moon and a butterfly. It didn't took to long to Raziel understand what he had to do and lighted the torches that had the cutie marks belonging to the Elements of Harmony with his Fire Reaver.
When the torches went lit, the center of the room opened and raised a white crystal that looked like a horn. Raziel took his prize and went back to complete the other part of the puzzle, which he hoped to never see again as they remembered him of all the traps and attacks he had to suffer in his brother's lair. He sometimes wondered what brought Zephom to make such nightmarish place.
Once Raziel put the white horn on Celestia's statue, the light passed through the crystal and lighted the orb, making it shine with white light that embraced one part of the room and, as Raziel was starting to move in the direction to the other statue, he heard a faint noise, a noise that he'd never heard before but he knew that it couldn't be good for him. As he turned to the source that caused said noise, he saw a pink alicorn looking at him with shock in her eyes and was so static that many would have confused it with an actual statue. Before Raziel could do anything, the alicorn disappeared once again in a flash and then Raziel started to hear sounds in the outside. He was found.
Not losing time, and hoping nobody would try to enter into the vault, Raziel decided to quickly move into the next image on the right. The image this time, was the moon having another three elements with a blue alicorn below them. Raziel fixed the image again and, again, a hidden door opened on the right side of the vault's door.
As Raziel went down and found the same torches under the same cutie marks, he quickly lighted the torches with the elements's cutie marks and waited for the floor to open but it was for naught. As Raziel waited desperately before the guards could come up, he realized that this was Luna's room, the moon, darkness, and decided to put down the torches with his Water Reaver and then lighted the torches that didn't have the elements's cutie marks and, to his satisfaction, the floor opened this time, revealing a dark crystal horn that Raziel snatched right away and took it to Luna's statue.
As the two statues regained their horns and lighted their respective orbs, Raziel could hear the guards already trying to open the door, he had little time. The orbs then started to shoot a beam of light each to the keyhole unlocking the great vault and opening it, reviling yet another type of barrier, a magic one.
To Raziel's surprise, this magic barrier had all the looks of responding to a single entity and it didn't look like there was another puzzle to open it, it was locked. Raziel was about to quit on this but he then remembered how Nosgoth had some doors that were locked away and only the Soul Reaver could open it through vast amounts of magic. As Raziel started to weight if it could work, he then decided to test if the barrier was like a lock, if you melt it, it would open up. Once Raziel started to hear more voices outside the tower, he decided to make one last bet and gave his all.
Canterlot, Outside the Tower
Princess Celestia was getting close to the tower containing the Elements of Harmony, once she heard that an intruder was found, she decided to quickly send a messenger to his sister to meet up in front of the tower and face the intruder to save the elements. Celestia was sure of what it was and she was hoping that, with the help of her sister, it could be captured and questioned as she was getting sick of not knowing what was going on.
That's why she put a complicated lock system in the tower, no matter how skillful, smart or adept in magic one could be, it would be impossible to solve the puzzle required to open the first door before the guards could bust them out of the tower and, even if they could do it on time, she was sure that the magic barrier, that would only respond to her signature magic, was capable of stopping anything else that dared to get the elements.
As she teleport to the tower, she found 30 guards already watching the tower's entrance as a pair of unicorns were trying to open the door. On one side of the tower's entrance, Celestia found Cadence looking as if a storm passed through her with Shining Armor at her side ordering the guards the next steps to be taken if a confrontation with the intruder does happen. As Celestia got closer at the captain, she was immediately noticed by her subjects, except Cadance, who then bowed and waited for her orders.
"Captain! Report!"
Summoned Celestia with an authority that she haven't used in her life on a long time. Shining Armor quickly replie.
"Princess! 15 minutes ago, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza reported through my soldiers that a creature was inside the tower that contained The Elements of Harmony. As my soldiers tried to open the door, it was discovered that the door was sealed shut from the inside by melting the doors into one. Even through my unicorn soldiers would be able to enter, to avoid a confrontation with an unknown creature, I ordered that we would wait and watch the tower until both the door was unlocked and your presence was here. The door's unlocking has proceeded with a success of 70% so far and I have 10 earth ponies, 15 unicorn and 10 pegasi ready for combat. Now, I'll wait for future orders."
Celestia saw him undisturbed over the possibility of the elements being stolen which, considering how he responded to that immediate threat, showed a great amount of discipline that should get a reward once this is over with.
"Captain, I plan to deal with this creature with the presence of my sister once she reaches here" -. If Shining Armor had a problem with Luna, he didn't showed it on his face. - "Once the tower in opened, we'll enter into the tower and confront it. You'll prepare your troops to capture it only if its weakened enough to ensure success without suffering losses. We do not know what it's capable off, which is why both I and my sister will deal with it first. Is that clear!?"
Shining's response was filled with the respect and discipline that showed Celestia that this was the pony that would lead her guard very soon: "Yes! My Princess!"
"Great. Now, we have to wait for-"
As Celestia spoke, the light usual from a teleportation spell flashed a few meters away from her and it was followed by a voice that almost made all the ponies in place deaf.
"Thou Princess is here to confront our enemy! Show us the way!"
It was clear for Celestia that Luna was a little excited at the prospect of recovering her image so soon, something that the princess of the sun herself shared with her.
"Sister, it makes me glad to see you here. I was ordering our captain that we would soon confront the creature as soon as the door is opened".
Luna looked pleased at the beginning, but she soon started to frown at this and responded with the same energy as before.
"Sister, doth it sounds with wonders thou idea. We think that thee and us should infiltrate into the tower before the intruder achieves to reach The Elements!"
Celestia was glad that she found the sound suppression spell that allowed her to listen to her without losing her hearing capabilities.
"Sister, while your worries are understandable, you should not worry. I designed the vault to have a complex locking mechanism, even by now, he must be trying to finish the first part to unlock the door."
"It had the first horn!" - That was the answer that started to chill Princess Celestia as Cadence looked at her for the first time since she got there, still looking like a mess, and she only made her feel worse. - "I saw it with my eyes, that... thing... already had the first horn placed to unlock the door you placed there auntie Celestia. It was already starting to solve the second part of the unlocking mechanism" -. Her eyes seemed demented, as if she saw something that shouldn't exist. - "Auntie, do you know what thing is!? Is that what you feared could enter into the vault!? How do you know about it!?"
Celestia was surprised by this, she didn't expected for that thing to solve her puzzles so fast, but she was still confident and had to keep Cadence calm. - "Do not worry, even if it managed to open the door, I put a magic barrier between the elements and the outside. Only I can put down the barrier and there's nothing strong enough to put it down."
As she said this, a great pressure started to weight on all the ponies on the area. This wasn't a common type of pressure made by the air or anything normal, it was a magic pressure, one that was being felt by all the ponies in the area in the ways that each race was related to magic. The unicorns started to feel their horns being pushed down, the pegasi started to have their wings shaking around as they became impossible to control, the earth ponies started to have their hooves shaking and were incapable of standing up and the princesses, while managing to stay up, were having all the three of those issues affecting them at the same time.
This pressure was raising as time passed, becoming more and more unbearable and, even when it only passed a couple of seconds, it felt as minutes that were constraining their magic and it was all released in a blast that send them all, sans the princesses and pegasi, to the ground in a magic wave that went through the city and was felt by all the ponies in Canterlot.
A few seconds later, once both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna recovered from the magic pressure. They looked at each other out and knew that they had to enter into the vault right away, they couldn't wait until the door was busted open. They looked inside the tower, channeled their magic and teleport themselves inside the place before Shining Armor could ask them what were they thinking.
Once they entered into the tower, Celestia took her time to look in the place. All the puzzles were solved, the statues had their respective horns and the orbs were shining. As she looked deep into the vault, she saw The Elements of Harmony already exposed but they were all still there, undisturbed. Perhaps the intruder didn't got the time to touch them yet? As Celestia thought about the intruder, she started to use her magic to detect any type of magic signature inside the tower. She could feel one, very close to her and it wasn't Luna. It was it.
"We know you're here!" - Said Celestia with a voice that showed no fear. - "Show yourself before we show yourself out!"
Celestia looked at Luna and saw a face of determination, ready to face all the demons they fought together so many eons ago, and she was glad of having her there.
"Thou shall not escape from here! Thou hast trespassed a forbidden place and saith practice will not be allowed!"
Both princesses waited for the creature to respond, it were just a couple seconds, but they were among the most tense seconds Celestia felt in a lot of centuries, wondering if she was going to face the same monsters as she faced before with her sister. Discord, Tirek, Sombra, all of them were creatures that endangered the peace of the world and, if this creature was like them, then she would not hesitate to face it down just like she did with all the others. They both waited for a response and, when it felt that it wasn't coming, they heard a voice that neither princess expected at all but for different reasons. For Celestia, her surprise was for how knightly is sounded, as it came from a noble that earned its place through hard work; Luna, on the other side, was surprised for how familiar the voice sounded. A voice that sounded right in front of them even though there was nothing in there.
"My apologies for the intrusion, but I needed to see the elements for myself, after all, I never had the chance to see them in action."
As the voice faded, a very familiar creature appeared in front of Celestia, it was the same one she saw back in Canterlot the day Nightmare Moon came back. The creature appeared, like its appearance, in a very particular way. It appeared right in front of her, as if it were using an invisible spell but it didn't have anything in its body that looked like it could use magic and, since it was daylight and the creature was in front of her, Celestia could now take a better look at what may be the most horrible thing she'd ever seen. Its lack of organs or skin, its blue muscles, its claws and she was wondering if it had a jaw at all under that clothe. Whatever it may be, she was ready for it.
"In action? My apologies but, without its bearers, The Elements of Harmony cannot be used for, only those that embodies the virtues of the elements are capable of wielding and using them to their maximum potential."
Celestia looked at the creature with a smug face, hoping to get a reaction from it but it remained frozen in place, making it hard for Celestia to read it. She decided to press on.
"Unless you're a creature filled with Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Laughter, Loyalty or understand the magic of friendship, my apologies but, you won't see them in action very soon."
Celestia and the creature stayed on a standoff, seeing who could react first. Celestia was already planning which spells to use against it so her sister could knock it out in place but, before she could see how her sister was fairing or if she was making her spells, the creature responded.
"I see, then, my fears are confirmed. Without the bearers, this elements are useless. Just a nice piece of jewelry to be worn by a noble. I suppose this means that you're guarding the wrong object, after all, the bearers are the ones that can wield its powers."
Celestia tried to analyze its answer while making up her response. It looked like it wanted something with the elements, maybe not the elements themselves but, perhaps, they power they wield? Why did he wanted their power? And, more importantly, does this means that he'll try to get closer to Twilight now? She had to know.
"Yes and no" -, Celestia called back. - "While it is true that the bearers are the ones capable of using their power, without the elements, the bearers cannot have access to them. Both the bearers and the elements must be together for its powers to be used at its full potential."
Celestia was aware of how much information she has given out, but, she needed to keep it distracted long enough for the guards to open the door and for Luna to prepare her spells to trap it. She needed to say something else.
"And, tell me, what is the reason why you want so desperately to wield the elements's powers? If you managed to open my vault, that means that you should have enough power to face anything you want."
Celestia thought that the creature was going to take its time but, this time, it answered almost right away.
"Indeed, I have plenty of power but there are things that not even I can defeat. Under such circumstances, I need to give my part to those who can fight those enemies that cannot be defeated through my own hands."
That was all Celestia needed to know.
"In that case, I think you'll have to come with us and answer our questions, right Luna?... Luna?"
As Celestia turned to her side and looked at her sister, she suddenly felt as if she was looking at a different pony at all. The once fearless sister that she met all those centuries ago, capable of fighting Discord over and over and capable of doing anything just to get what she wanted was, under Celestia's eyes, replaced by an alicorn that couldn't stop seeing with terror in her eyes to the creature in front of her. Her mouth was hanging open, her eyes were about to go in their own direction, even though her legs weren't moving, her muscles were trembling and her face was fixed on a state of shock that made her look like if she was going to run at any given moment.
"Luna, what's wrong?"
Celestia really wanted to see what happened to her sister but she also couldn't ignore her visitor. Thankfully, or sadly, the creature decided to respond.
"It looks like you need to solve your own family problems, princess, after all, if you cannot hold your own house, then you'll not be able to defend those close to you."
In that moment Celestia turned to the creature and saw, to her shocked, how it was moving its hands on the same gesture she saw back then when she first saw it and she knew what it meant. She quickly tried to place a location spell, anything, on it just as it was starting to fade away but, if any of her spells hit it, it looked like none of them landed on the creature.
As she went closer to the place where the creature was located, she tried to detect any signature spell and see if she could understand what kind of magic it used but, whatever it was, it wasn't there anymore. It felt as if its magic was something out of this world, she was trying to piece together what happened when the door busted out, her sister disappeared and the world started to move again from her little moment with that creature.
All in all, Celestia felt more confused than ever.
Canterlot City/Spectral Realm
As Raziel went through the desolated streets of Canterlot in the spectral real, except by the occasional soul, she tried to piece the information given by Celestia. As he looked at his Reaver Blade, he understood now how symbiotic the elements were to their users with the exception that Raziel was inextricable connected to his blade and he was unable to remove it from his body, no matter what. Regardless, he was now sure that he had to get closer to the ponies living in Ponyville since it was the only chance he could have to save Equestria from the false god feeding off from it.
And so, Raziel decided to return back to the Everfree Forest, mulling down the information and hoping that there was something he could do to improve his relationship with the ponies. Since, it truly was, his only chance.
Canterlot Castle, Celestia's Room/Physical Realm
Celestia was trying to get a grip of the situation she was in right now. Whatever kind of magic the creature used to open the barrier, it was strong enough to be felt in Canterlot, even if it lasted just a second, and the news were all over the place trying to figure out what happened. They knew that something big should have happened if the Royal Guard was mobilized, they knew that her sister was, somehow, related since half of Canterlot heard her voice speaking about an intruder and, both the media and the guards, were wondering what Luna did during all of this. For Celestia's chagrin, since the media was already speaking about it, she was sure that the nobles would soon figure out most of it and that was going to be a pain.
In the end, Celestia was wondering about that creature that intrude into her vault. Its voice didn't sound evil or ill wishing but it did sound as if it had an ulterior motive, as if it wanted the elements for a personal gain... but what?
As Celestia was wondering about it, she heard a voice, a mysterious voice. A voice that sounded as if it came from all the places at the same time, a voice that had authority and wisdom, a voice that, apparently, knew Celestia already.
Hello Celestia! I will aid you!