Navigation by night is never easy, and doubly difficult when flying, but with the flare behind them showing them where the rendezvous was, Celestia was able to calculate a rough bearing to Canterlot, checking over her shoulder periodically to make sure they hadn’t drifted. It was the toughest piece of navigation she had ever had to do and was grateful for Luna’s moon. Solaris was keeping going, digging deep into reserves of energy he never knew he had, never once complaining, but truly wishing he was safely back on the ground and Blitz could get his urgently required medical attention. Inspired by Rainbow’s courage, he wasn’t going to give up either and was determined to see this through without burdening Celestia further.
Celestia kept a picture of the flight plan in her mind and focused on constantly recalculating their position from basics, using different points as a cross reference to double check her assumptions as she knew there was no margin for error. She hadn’t had to work her maths this hard since her school days, and it was another feat of mathematics to work out when they had been.
They had been flying their rescue mission for hours, and based on what she believed, Celestia expected they had reached the outskirts of Canterlot. She felt for Solaris who was gamely carrying the heavy load without complaint, a feat that she doubted she would have been able to do herself, and redoubled her dead reckoning navigation calculations – surely they were there by now!
For his part, Solaris marvelled at the confidence Celestia was showing in her unwavering direction and doubted whether he could have provided such a solid course for them to steer by, especially as she had taken a direct route rather than the dog legs of the original flight plan and was determined to keep going for her as well as the two brave pegasi.
Just then, lights appeared below them and they all recognised at once one of the familiar Canterlot landmarks and made a slight correction to get them to their landing point by the castle wall. They all knew that circling round the castle would attract the attention of the guards and had to make the approach straight in and just hope not to be seen.
The compacted snow of the snowponies’ coats had hardened on the surface to a thin veneer of ice and sparkled in the moonlight making them look like a party of Crystal Ponies, waiting expectantly for the music to start again in a game of musical statues. Their unseeing eyes suddenly turned to see four ponies flying towards them as if coming to join in the game.
Having been caught out by the weight of his load before, Solaris made a magnificent flare right up close to the admiring snowponies, beating his tortured wings strongly just before impact so that his landing was as soft as if he had stepped off an escalator. He gratefully squatted down to allow his passengers to get off, and did not flinch as the muscles in his haunches tightened after the prolonged and unfamiliar exercise in the cold night air, screaming at him as the unconscious Blitz was assisted down by Dusk and Twilight.
Celestia’s horn lit briefly, opening the magic secret door and all six ponies filed in, Blitz continuing to be supported by the magicians. Solaris had barely a chance to catch his breath as they filed along the passageway and spilled out into the throne room to gasps from everypony present. The assembled guests stared at the apparitions that had burst in, all looking utterly exhausted.
“Male AJ!” called Celestia picking on the strong farm pony “Come and carry Blitz through the portal please!”
The exhausted magicians gratefully allowed the orange pony to take his unconscious friend from them and carry him to the portal. Celestia quickly addressed all those present, including AJ who was still walking towards the portal;
“Sorry everypony but the party is over. An attack is massed on our borders and Blitz has been injured. You must leave now and let Prince Solaris and Prince Artemis handle the situation in their world as Luna and I will on this side. I hope we may meet again shortly under better circumstances, but for now goodbye and farewell!”
The ponies barely said goodbye to each other before filing through the portal as the immediacy of the situation dictated, even Elusive and Butterscotch pulled themselves away from the embrace of their female partners with no fuss and complied. While Dusk went ahead to brief Artemis, Solaris stayed with Celestia until all his ponies were safely through the portal.
“Celly, you were magnificent” he said with respect evident in his deep voice.
“Solly, how you carried the pegasi all that way I will never know” she reciprocated.
“But now I must go. Blitz needs help and I must rouse the guards” he said, then softened his voice to continue “I had rather hoped for a different ending to this evening. Another time, Celly.”
“Another time, Solly” she replied, giving him a brief kiss as he entered the portal behind the last of the ponies and turned to place his horn on hers as they summoned the frequency of magic and their images distorted, melting away in ripples as the mirror returned to its rightful duty once more.
“Rainbow Dash, I think you could benefit from medical attention too” said Celestia, her voice a mixture of authority tempered with maternal concern. The injured pegasus did not complain and went with AJ to find the duty medical orderly.
Luna, who had been hanging back while her sister had rattled off her series of commands now stepped forward.
“I am glad you are safe Sister” she said “Pray, what happened out there tonight?”
“Hydras have crossed our borders in large numbers. It would appear that Rainbow and Blitz tried to take them on by themselves.”
Luna gave a surprised look and then concurred.
“That sounds about right if I know Rainbow Dash” then added in a more serious tone “It sounds like we must summon the guards, Sister.”
“My little ponies” said Celestia “It has been a long day and events are now in hand that must be addressed without delay. I hope you enjoyed yourselves and I look forward to arranging another such opportunity in the near future, one which we can hopefully all enjoy under more relaxed circumstances. But for now, I propose you all stay overnight as our honoured guests in the Royal Castle. Goodnight and fare thee well.”
Luna tilted her head at her Sister’s unexpected use of the olden tongue, but could tell it was purely out of tiredness rather than any attempt at sibling humour, so kept her council. The remaining guests all offered their thanks and departed, leaving the Royal Sisters and Twilight to determine their next steps.
“You too Twilight” smiled Celestia “Thank you for all your help today, but I think your dragon needs you.”
Twilight smiled and bade the sisters goodnight, but before she turned to leave, she rushed forward and gave Celestia and big hug and a kiss.
“I love you, Princess” she whispered, then turned back to follow the others out of the door.
***
With the Royal Guard and Night Guard Generals in the throne room, Celestia outlined the situation on their border based on ‘reliable high quality intelligence from an undisclosed source’. The hydras had earned a fearsome reputation as pony-eaters, but were not generally regarded as being very clever; it was the fact that every monster had four hungry mouths, each on a long neck that that could strike out in any direction that made them so dangerous. The Bat Ponies would muster en masse and tool up to face a known enemy, the hydras’ element of surprise having been lost. The General was secretly glad of an opportunity show his mettle and claim some honour in the friendly rivalry with his opposite number from the Royal Guard and formulated a plan of attack. Fortunately, for everypony concerned, Canterlot as the nation’s capital held the largest military contingent of any city in Equestria, and numbers were on hoof ready to respond at a moment’s notice.
Plans agreed, the Generals were dismissed to convene with the lower levels of command and formulate the tactical response to the strategic directive, although the rank and file members of the Royal Guard were allowed to remain asleep for the time being as they would be required to be fresh if called upon for any possible daytime assault. However, if they were to be called to arms, it would mean that the Night Guard would have been unable to contain the problem by themselves, a frightening prospect considering the respect they had earned for their fighting prowess.
Half an hour later, Celestia and Luna walked out onto the rampart of the castle wall and shared a moment together under the deceptively peaceful glow of the moonlight.
“Luna, you bring the sky to life with your artistry. It is truly a thing of wonder.”
“Thank you, Sister; it gives me pleasure and provides a friendly backdrop to those who may be out at night.”
“Why do you think the hydras have chosen to attack us now?”
Luna laughed cynically “They are not clever enough to mass and execute a coordinated attack, so it could be that they have succumbed to some misguided herd mentality or possibly that they have been driven this way because of a more fearsome predator.”
“Good point Luna” agreed Celestia “We should increase patrols along that area of our border until further notice.”
“An admirable suggestion, Sister. Either way, they are not going to be supplementing their diet with any of our ponies” Luna concurred.
Just then they heard the incredible sound of massed beating wings as wave upon wave of Bat Ponies flew over them, all bearing variety of lethal looking weapons.
“It begins” said Celestia solemnly.
“Let us hope they all return safely with news of victory and stories of bravery to recount” said Luna, almost as a prayer.
“Amen to that Sister, amen to that.”