Soft Quill pried open her eyes with a soft groan. Bright light dazzled her vision, and it took her several long, dizzying seconds to realise that she was staring at her hooves. With great effort, she craned her neck upward and caught a glimpse of a bright turquoise sky, swirling with streaks of brilliant yellow. She shook her head, but the colors did not go away. Deciding she must still be dizzy, she turned her gaze to her companions. They lay scattered over the ground in an area of nearly… 10 square pony-lengths. Eight ponies in an area of five pony-lengths by two pony-lengths take up how much space? And if two of them are the princesses…?
The princesses!
Suddenly, Soft Quill was standing on her feet, swaying uncertainly back and forth. She tried to take a step, but fell to her knees again, like a foal taking their first steps. Scolding herself for her weakness, she tried again, but only made it halfway up before she collapsed. Deciding she’d better stay on the ground for now, Soft Quill instead tried to remember how’d she’d gotten here - wherever ‘here’ was.
She knew she’d been waiting for the Princess to be free, so she could submit her thoughts on the new curriculum at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. There had not been nearly enough focus the many uses of math and the ways magic could be tied in - like when using the Pythagorhen system! Or Neighton’s theory of gravity, and the corresponding uses of telekinesis! But as she had patiently waited outside the throne room for hours upon end - she was certain it had to have been over half a day, no matter what that skinny grey unicorn claimed. He clearly had no idea how to do basic math - that nosy reporter Scribbles came nosing into Soft Quill’s personal business, asking her what use was math when all a good unicorn needed was a personal spellbook and a notebook and quill. Despite Soft Quill’s protests, and the reporter’s clear bias, as seen when looking at the blotchy newspaper on the stallion’s off-white flank, she had not been allowed to see the princess right away, and instead been forced to wait longer. With that reporter. It was intolerable. So when she’d spotted the princess walking down a nearby hallway, with a countryside farmer taking up her time, Soft Quill had taken the initative and galloped after her, intent on finally having a moment of the princess’ time. Scribbles had gotten in her way, of course, and the skinny grey unicorn had tried to stop them both, but Soft Quill showed them both with the power of physics. She had found the princess, been pleading with her to get that stupid reporter off her back so she could discuss more important things like math when something had made her fall over. Than there had been a blinding flash of light, and the feeling of getting pulled up into the sky - a completely unnatural sensation for any sensible, wingless pony - and then Soft Quill could only remember the sensation of being spun around and around and around in an ever dizzying vortex of colors, and then… nothing. After that, she’d woken up here, in this field of tall, coarse grass with a multi-colored sky with seven other unconsiouc ponies, two of which she couldn’t stand.
A sudden change in the breathing of the ponies around her made Soft Quill perk her ears, and broke her out of her reverie. To her left, Scribbles was stirring, and the irritating grey unicorn was opening his eyes to her right. He groaned, and tried to sit up, but didn’t succeed either.
“Ooh, my head,” he mumbled, sinking back into the grass. “Princess…?”
“Kibtz?”
The princess’ voice was blurred and confused, but Soft Quill would have recognised it anywhere.
“Princess?” she demanded, trying to struggle to her feet again. Her voice sounded thin and reedy, but she struggled on anyway. “Where are we? What did you do?” Her hooves found purchase on the rough dirt, and she stumbled over to where the princess was stirring.
Celestia slowly rose to her full height. Even weak and confused, she still towered over Soft Quill. Her gleaming lavender eyes slowly focused on the unicorn below her. “You are… one of my teachers,” she said slowly. “Was it you who burst in?”
“I had to get away from that reporter! And your butler wouldn’t let me in first! Then that reporter did something! Where are we? Can you send us back?”
“Hey!” Scribbles’ voice was weak, but clear from behind Soft Quill. “It was you who - “
“If either of you listened - “ the pretentious unicorn burst in.
“Silence!”
Everyone shut up. Quiet it may have been, but it was still the voice of their Princess.
“Everypony, stop talking,” Celestia ordered wearily. “Who all is here, and who has not woken up yet?”
“I’m awake, Princess!” the strained voice of Scribbles called from the nearby grass. “Can’t stand up yet, but I’m here.”
“I am here, Princess,” Kibtz reported stiffly. “Along with these two troublemakers, I count only you, the farmer Ryemane, Princess Luna, and your guards. And me, of course. That makes eight.”
“Eight,” Celestia murmured vaguely, her gaze drifting upward to the strangely-colored sky. “Eight ponies under a… under a... Great Sun, that sky!” Suddenly, every muscle in the Princess’ great body was stiff. Her eyes flew wide open, her head came up, her body responding to the sudden urge to flee. “Luna!” The Princess practically yelled. “Luna, wake up!”
Soft Quill staggered a couple of paces away from the Princess, shocked by her sudden change in tone. Even Kibtz seemed startled by her actions.
Celestis staggered over to the dark form of the Lunar princess and nudged her frantically with her muzzle, pushing her sister’s head a few paces across the dusty ground. “Luna!”
“Hmm?” The dark alicorn stirred feebly, forelegs shuffling in place. “Five more minutes…”
“Luna, look at the sky! Tell me I’m seeing things.”
“The sky?” Luna cracked open one eye, revealing a thin slit of her dark iris. “Sister, nothing is…” She gasped abruptly, a sharp, frightening sound for the listening ponies. She rolled to her feet, wings flaring out for balance. Her head angled upward, nostrils flaring, seeking out some scent unknown to Soft Quill and her fellow companions. Her ears went flat against her head, and she turned wide eyes on Celestia, a hint of white showing around edges. “It can’t be…” she breathed.
“But it is,” Celestia answered solemnly. Her voice was relatively calm once more, but her ears remained flat. Soft Quill felt her own breathing increase, preparing to flee from whatever had frightened her rulers so. Even the presence of Scribbles as he staggered up beside her did not distract her from focusing on the princesses.
“Wha’s goin’ on?” A fuzzy voice asked from Soft Quill’s left. She turned slightly and saw the farmer filly standing there. The Solar Guard stood stiffly beside her, and the Lunar Thestral was just folding his wings from a short distance away. Clearly, they had woken silently, and begun gathering the sleepy, confused ponies into one place. Soft Quill felt slightly trapped, and shifted her hind legs, wanting only to go back to her cozy classroom and organize her collection of quills again.
Celestia turned to the group of ponies and spoke in a commanding tone. “Everyone, we have fallen into a very dangerous time. From here on, there must be no arguing and no blaming. If I or Princess Luna tell you to do something, you must do it immediately, no matter how ludicrous it sounds. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Princess,” the guards immediately replied. The farmer nodded, confusion still evident on her face. Soft Quill raised a hoof to ask a question but was interrupted by Scribbles, who rudely pushed in front of her and demanded in a loud voice, “Where are we? I have a right to know!”
“The Princess said - “ Kibtz began.
“SILENCE!” Luna thundered. The waves from her voice rippled through the air and silenced the squabbling stallions. “NO arguing,” she commanded as they turned to look at her, her voice a little softer this time. They nodded mutely.
“Princess,” Soft Quill called, making sure to keep all hint of the annoyance she felt from her voice. “Um… May I ask a question?”
Celestia glanced anxiously up at the sky, then back at Soft Quill, and nodded. “Quickly,” she said. “We haven’t got much time.”
“Well... Princess, I couldn’t help but notice, but… you said we’d fallen into a very dangerous time. Are you saying we’ve traveled across time?! That’s impossible!”
“Clearly not as impossible as it seems,” Celestia said gravely. “This is the future site of Canterlot, but nearly 4000 years before it is built. And it is a very dangerous time to be out in the open. We must hurry and find shelter before I can explain further. Come.” She turned, and began walking away, leaving the others no choice but to follow. At a quiet command from Luna, the guards rose into the air and began circling overhead, keeping watch from above. Before they had traveled more than a few paces, the Thestral came diving down and landed swiftly in front of the princesses.
“There are ponies heading this way,” he reported swiftly, urgency filling his tone. “I believe they are being chased from the sky by strange creatures. I could not identify them.”
“Strange creatures?” Luna asked, her ears flattening again as she spoke. “NIght Wings. Quickly. Do they have multi-colored streaks of light trailing from behind them?”
“Yes, ma’am, they do.”
Luna locked gazes with Celestia. “Terror raid,” she whispered. “We must get to the shelter.”
“They’re too close, there’s no time,” Celestia replied. “Luna, help me. I have to make a shield. Can you cast an illusion around it to hide us?”
“If anyone else can, they’re welcome to help,” Luna replied grimly. The pair of alicorns lit their horns, and a rippling shield of yellow and blue rose up around them.
“Make no sound,” Celestia cautioned. “No matter what happens. And don’t leave the shield.”
No one answered. Petrified, Soft Quill was staring at what was going on outside the shield. Three hideous creatures streaked through the sky, leaving obnoxiously rainbow colored trails behind them. Soft Quill couldn’t see many details, but what she could see was startling. Dragon’s head topped a pegasi’s body, and a long serpent trailed behind as the tail, expelling the brightly colored gases from its mouth as the beast flew. Soft Quill shuddered.
“Princess? What is that thing?” The Solar guard whispered, horror clearly showing in her tone.
“One of the minions created by Discord, over ten thousand years ago,” Celestia responded, speaking just barely above the level of inaudible. “Be quiet, or they will target us too.”
“Too?” Suddenly, Soft Quill saw what the beasts were chasing. Streaking away in the sky ahead of them was a pale blue mare. As she watched, one of them flicked its tail toward her, and the serpent head bit down on her wing. With a grating scream that rang in the listening ponies’ ears, the mare fell from the sky. Soft Quill winced, waiting for the impact that would surely break the mare’s legs. To her shock, a corona suddenly appeared around the mare’s body, softening the impact and allowing her to land on her feet and instantly start galloping away. It also gave Soft Quill a clear view of the horn on the mare’s head. An alicorn!
Movement off to Soft Quill’s left distracted her from the chase to her right. In the long grass, two fillies snuck low to the ground. Foals of the alicorn mare, she assumed. She couldn’t see them very clearly, but she thought they looked like alicorns too. One of them, a tiny, dark blue filly with a pale blue mane and tail, no more than a weanling, jerked around at her mother’s cry. Instinctively, she tried to run to her mother, but the white yearling nipped her sharply. They froze, staring anxiously up at the sky.
The sudden movement caught the attention of the flying beasts. With a shrill cry that tore at the ears of the listeners, one of them peeled off from the flock and flew at the fillies. The alicorn mare looked back, and seeing her foals in danger, shot a beam of pure magic at the beast. “Me!” she shouted hoarsely, voice ragged from running. “Get me!”
Under the shield, the small herd of waiting ponies was ridiculously tense, unable to bear the stress of staying still while fear ran wild around them. “We have to help,” Scribbles whispered frantically to the princesses.
Celestia and Luna were more tense than Soft Quill had thought possible. Luna’s eyes were bleeding to white at the edges, and Celestia’s wings were flaring outward from her body. Neither of them spoke, just shook their heads emphatically. Everypony underneath the shield tensed unhappily, but no one dared go against the princesses.
Outside the shield, the mare had successfully distracted the beast from the fillies. All three of them chased her across the field. For several long minutes, it seemed she would escape, but then, she stumbled - on a rabbit hole, perhaps, Soft Quill couldn’t tell. With a shriek of victory, the beasts dived at her, lifting her off the ground and wrapping her in their coils. A ripple of magic passed across the grasses, and the two of the three creatures were gone - the mare along with them.
The third turned back across the field and shrieked a hunting cry before streaking back, straight towards the fillies still huddled together in the grass. The yearling screamed at the sight, nipping and kicking at the weanling to drive her along. The pair struggled straight towards the shield, giving the watching ponies a very clear view of the black patched flanks of the younger, their gleaming violet and turquoise eyes. Above, the sole remaining beast circled, watching, waiting for his moment. Suddenly, the weanling stumbled, and fell. The beast shrieked and dove. All the watching ponies drew breath to scream in terror, but the white yearling beat them to it. With a shriek that could have deafened the Dragon Lord, the yearling threw herself over her sister and shot a beam of pure, scorching, brilliant yellow energy straight at the beast. Whether by luck or skill, the beam hit the beast directly on its eye. The beast let out an answering scream, this one filled with pain and anger rather than terror. It twisted, turned, shot straight up into the sky, and vanished.
The watching ponies stared at the fillies, mouths open wide. Soft Quill peered hard at the white filly, who was now tugging hard on the mane of the fallen weanling, and turned to stare at the princesses. Luna and Celestia did not looked shocked or horrified like all the others. Rather, there was great pain evident on their faces, and Celestia had a wing spread over Luna’s back - either for comfort, or to prevent her from flying away. A sound from beyond the shield drew her attention back to the fillies, who were now close enough to be heard.
“Get up, Luna, get up!” The yearling frantically hissed. Oblivious to the sharp intake of breath from within the shield, she tried to pull her sister up by her forelock. The weanling stirred, and struggled to her hooves.
“Stop pulling,” she mumbled blearily. “Mama… Mama!” The filly lunged, tried to run towards where she had last seen her mother, but the yearling - Princess Celestia, Soft Quill realised with shock running through her body like an electric current - stopped the weanling in her tracks.
“Not that way! We have to get away!”
Despite the little dark filly’s protests, her sister drove her away from the grassy field. The pair galloped away until they were out of sight. Behind the shield, no one moved or spoke for a long, long time.