Luna sat at her sister's Table in her study, massaging her head as a headache was forming, this was literal hell, From the annoying day court, where the nobles would try and needle favors from Celestia, but not all, just enough though, the mountain of papers where there were tons of different subsets and subtexts on ridiculous bills the aristocracy wanted to shove on the neighboring villages, she simply wanted to immolated the lot of it, but that's not what Celestia would do, she would tough it out, that is until three letters bearing the seal of Twilight landed in front of her, causing her to smile widely and shove the pile of papers on the floor next to her.
"Now, let us see what miss twilight has sent us," Luna said, slipping into a little of the old dialect, eagerly breaking the seal on the first one, which read.
"Dear Princess Luna,
Something or someone has sent Humans to our world, WITHOUT crossing the mirror, they have yet to have hurt anypony, and don't seem to be a danger, in fact when two guards saw them, they ran from them, but not without leaving behind some kind of trinket, Using a spell that I detailed in an enclosed letter, I was able to pull an entire soul from it when all I meant to do was lift the memories, its only a prototype, I'm not sure if it can be replicated with pony artifacts.
But that is not the main reason for this letter, Sunset is sure that if we approach them in the physical world, they will only go further into Equestria, making it harder to find them, so we would ask you to approach them inside their dreams, where they would be the least on guard.
Speaking of Guards, I had to tell Nexus nebula, and Fyre bright about the portal, and the human world, so as such I am requesting the transfer to ponyville, as my guards, the forms are in the second letter.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Luna's eyes widened while her mouth widened into a grin that would make discord proud, this took precedence over everything she was going to do today, so she went to work writing a response, it wasn't long, just enough to confirm that she agreed to help Twilight find them in the dream realm, but also that she would send out her most elite, while Celestia had the day and most ponies reveled in it, she had the night which opened magic that her dear sister couldn't begin to imagine, that let her celebrate her best, where she would offer them a choice, one that only the greatest were offered, the choice to stay as a bat pony or ascend to a thestral, the very embodiment of the night, and her elite guard.
"Hmm, there is much light left, my thestrals will still be among the populace, well everyone except my best," Luna said out loud to herself, before deciding to call Him.
Far away from her room, her thestral answered her call, disappearing from the populace, before shortly appearing before Luna in a flash of yellow light, causing Luna to shield her eyes.
"Thank you for answering my call, but a situation of the utmost importance has come up, while not a threat, I fear that Celestia's guards would only exasperate the problem, and with them being in the light so too speak, they would attract a lot of undue attention, two humans have made it to Equestria, And knowing the high nobility, they would sooner either want to own such an exotic creature or worst," Luna explained to the figure standing in front of her, a cloak already fastened around him, he nodded in understanding because he knew what the Canterlot high nobility thought of other species, with Luna saying nothing more, he headed off to the Night barracks that were situated under canterlot.
Meanwhile, Twilight got her message, which got her prancing, up until a frantic knocking caused her to stop mid-prance because behind the door was Fluttershy, the butter-yellow pegasus had a look of panic on her face.
"What's wrong Fluttershy," Twilight asked.
"You remember the manticore we ran into when we went to face nightmare moon," Fluttershy asked, confusing Twilight.
"yes, of course, is it attacking the school, the market, can you not calm it down?"
"NO, he's gravely injured, more than my medical skills can do without magic."
"Why me, I'm no vet."
"Last time I went to one for help on an exotic creature like a manticore, they refused to treat it, they said that while they have extensive medical knowledge of animals, they refuse to treat the everfree ones."
"Alright, Let me collect a few things," Twilight said as she collected a few tomes on the everfree forest animals, as well as medical books on animals of a variety before she teleported herself and Fluttershy in front of her home, but Fluttershy didn't go through the front door, instead she went around back, where the manticore was laying on its side, it's breathing slow, and labored.
Twilight walked up to it, while Fluttershy assured it that She was there to help, she examined its side where there were huge tears in its skin, where claws raked it, while just below it, a couple of puncture wounds just below it, on its hindquarters though was the most prolific wound, a massive chunk was missing, from these wounds, she knew that if she didn't act fast, it would die in a couple more minutes, so she did what she did best under pressure, she quickly reads, before turning to the dying animal, turning her horn to it.
"I sure hope this works," Fluttershy said as a purple glow surrounded the creature, but as Twilight poured magic into the healing spell, Fluttershy saw red smoke appear at the edges of the wounds, and soon her magic was going around it, as though whatever was in the wound was repelling her magic, the glow around the manticore stopped, when Twilight saw that it was having no effect.
"That shouldn't be happening, maybe I screwed up, here let's try that again." Twilight closed her eyes and tried the spell again, but the magic still was repelled, which caused Twilight to panic, because magic usually didn't act like this, which means that it was new magic, however, whatever it was, it stopped her from saving this poor creature, which started breathing shallowly, and slowly.
"It's okay, you tried your best, we should just make him comfortable," Fluttershy said, while Twilight simply stared at the ground, the shock of her magic failing, and her failure to save a life causing her mind to run slowly, but she complied, together they helped the manticore stay warm as its breathing slowed, then stopped.
"Its gone, and I failed, I wasn't good enough, I couldn't save a single life."
"W- We should probably bury him, Its the best we can do now," Fluttershy said, stuttering only once, but still holding back tears, Twilight nodded, Fluttershy went and got her shovel, while Twilight held the manticore, They didn't go far into the forest, Twilight dug a decent grave for him, deep enough so that no other creatures would dig up the corpse, when they were done, They went back to her house, where Fluttershy made a special tea, reserved for situations like this.
"I don't know why the wounds wouldn't close, I know that I performed the spell correctly, I didn't make a mistake." Twilight quietly rationalized, while Fluttershy simply looked out the window, the animals surrounded them, sensing that a life was lost, even angel bunny wasn't ornery, instead, he simply patted her foot.
Soon though Twilight decided that she needed some time to herself, so she excused her self, Fluttershy understood and watch her leave, soon she left for her room, leaving the two empty cups where they were.
Twilight sat in her Throne in the friendship castle, her hair frayed, sticking out at unnatural angles, she was glaring at the table, as if it would answer the questions burning in her mind.
WHY DID THE SPELL FAIL, AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH, DID I SCREW UP THE STRUCTURE, AND WHAT WAS THE RED STUFF?!
But she was pulled from her musings when a gentle knock echoed from her front door, which caused her to almost scream in frustration, but she smoothed her hair, silent calmed herself, and went to answer the door, but when she pulled it open her mind came to a screeching halt, because in front of her covered in a cloak, stood a stallion with a shock of dirty blond hair, and blue eyes that were icy cold, but not in a cruel way, rather that he had serious business with her, but none of that registered because she simply cried a single name.
"BLUEBLOOD?!"