Celestia groaned from the deepest parts of her throat. The world came back to her slowly. It was a mystery exactly when she woke up. All she knew was in her moments of consciousness, she realized she had already been awake for several minutes. Although she was laying still, every bone ached and complained. It felt like she had been in the same position for hours. Like she had gotten almost too much sleep, her joints stiff and inoperable. Her white fur shone through her closed eyelids, combined with the holy light shining in the room she was in made it real difficult to drift back to sleep. Against her better knowledge, and certainly against her complaining body, Celestia forced her eyelids open.
For a moment, the world was blown out white. Unlike her last rude awakening, she still had her hearing in the first few crucial seconds. Also unlike last time, she was unable to do anything as the sound of heavy clunking metal approached the bed, stopping a good distance away.
“You sent her to the infirmary, you know.” A stallion said sternly. Celestia grunted, closing her eyes again as she tried blinking back the world. She noticed how her pink hair extended down into her vision, how frail and thin it really looked in this moment. She blinked a few more times, realizing the bright light that was blowing out her vision was actually three huge windows directly in front of her, where her legs were pointing. In her vision, she could see she was being covered by a plush blanket.
The bed she was in was ginormous. She didn’t even cover half-way down the length of the bed, her head being propped up by giant pillows. The room she in was massive. Not nearly the same size of the throne room she was in moments ago, but the ceiling extended way past the normal height of a pony, a golden chandelier dangling in the middle.The walls were painted an ugly purple, every little thing in the entire room being painted a golden trim. A fireplace sat unlit, a huge collection of scrolls being neatly arranged on a nearby shelf. The room was obviously a bedroom, with the bed in the middle, and a closet, body length mirror, and many dressers lining the walls. It looked very luxurious. Just like all the picture books Celestia read when she was younger about princesses in the olden world.
She licked her lips dry, closing her eyes again and trying her damnedest to drift back to sleeo. She wanted this feeling of pain to stop. Just for her to stop existing for a moment. Whatever was happening right now surely didn’t need her input.
“You don’t even care, do you?” He asked, sighing in a frustrated manner. “You dislocated her jaw. I suggested sending you to the dungeons, but Princess Luna demanded you be send to Her Majesty’s quarters.”
That got her attention. It seemed Celestia wasn’t getting any sleep any time soon. It’s not like she needed it.
Celestia opened her eyes again. She tried to sit up from her position. Her muscles tensed as she tried, complaining and creaking as she did. Suddenly, her hoof grew taught as a chain across her chest gave it’s slack up. She fell back her short distance into the bed again, turning to look at what kept her captive. It was a simple, surprisingly shiny silver chain, bound painfully tight along her wrist. No doubt some of the fur was probably worn off beneath it. It ran form her right hoof, along her chest, and ended by being somehow magically embedded into the tiled floor.
That was another strange thing about this massive bedroom. The bed was sunk into the ground, the edge of the bed barely raising any higher than the tiled floor around her. She twisted her hoof for a second, feeling the constraint. Even if this stuff was made out of the cheapest metal in Equestria, she still wouldn’t be able to break it. Not in her weakened state, at least.
In an attempt to view the stallion talking, Celestia pushed her head further into the pillow. Her pink hair fell around, giving her an almost insane look. She saw an unobstructed view of the stallion, albeit the view being upside-down. She squinted her eyes.
It might’ve been armor. It might’ve also been the most ridiculous costume she had ever seen a pony wear. She had no idea.
It had, just like everything else in the room, a golden trim. The main bulk of the metal appeared to be either painted purple, or just naturally purple, blending himself in with the walls. He had his electric blue mane styled into a mohawk, his mane sticking out of the top of the helmet that sat on top of his head. He had a white coat and blue eyes. Blue eyes that looked pissed.
Celestia tried to laugh. Really, she did. What she only found herself doing, however, was violently coughing from the lack of water she hadn’t been ingesting. The stallion grunted in frustration, yet his fact fell a few notches of anger, donning something very reminiscent of sympathy for Celestia. He still looked angry, but walked over to a nearby cart full of amenities that included water.
He poured a glass, not in a particular rush, and levitated it next to the prisoner. She happily used her free hoof to take it, greedily drinking down it’s contents as she coughed around the liquid. She let the empty glass drop for a moment, the stallion levitating it next to the bed. She closed her eyes again, sighing as her mouth finally felt parched.
Until a shadow blocked the windows in front of her.
She opened her eyes again, staring at the huge stallion towering over her, standing at the foot of the bed. She gulped, her mouth returning to the dry state it was previously.
“Let’s start this off simple.” He said with an unreadable tone, although he still looked quite peeved. “My name is Captain Armor. What is your name, prisoner?” He commanded. Celestia debated for a moment. Should she really tell the truth to this hostage-taker? Why would she need to lie? It surely wouldn’t hurt.
But then, it seemed the absurdity of the situation had really grasped her.
She was in a bed. Chained to said bed. There was a stallion standing over her. And he was wearing a costume. He was a Unicorn, and she was an Earth-pony.
Oh dear.
If this was any other situation, this would’ve been a dream come true. Unfortunately for Celestia, she suddenly felt very bare and uncomfortable as she looked from the constraint and back at the stallion. He seemed to pick up on the signal, his face dropping even further from the familiar anger.
“Right.” He said, shaking his head. “I’m sure you didn’t mean to hit my sister.”
Celestia’s ears twitched as the stallion started to walk away, head held lower than usual. She gathered the strength in her throat and croaked out a question.
“Sister?” She asked, her throat raspy. The stallion stopped, a hoof still in the air. He turned as so only one side of his face was visible, a critical observing her.
“Sister, yes.” He said, putting his hoof down. “That purple Unicorn you clocked. Do you know her?”
“No.” She shook her head in the bed. There was a moment where both ponies were staring at eachother, unsure of exactly what to do. The silence almost threatened to permiate forever. “I- I have a sister, too.” She finally said.
“Do you?” He asked, his curiosity piped.
“She’s a decade younger than me. Bou’t this tall.” She made a weak motion with her hoof, more of a generalization of her sister’s height. For a moment, Captain Armor looked conflicted. He bit his lip, turning to look away. Celestia watched as he calculated, eventually turning back to her with an even more relaxed expression.
“Twily’s six years younger.” He said, turning to look out the window. “When she was born, I don’t know. At first I felt jelous. My parents were giving this- this screaming foal more attention than me. But then- I don’t know. Something broke in me.”
“You wanted to protect her?” Celestia guessed. Captain Armor turned to look at her with a questioning glance, one of more guarded curiosity than anger. “I’ve been around the block, buddy. I know how it feels to see your sister hurt. You don’t want it to ever happen again. You’ll promise to keep her safe, no matter what.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, looking back out the window.
“I broke that promise.”
“What?” He asked, turning around fairly quickly. “To your sister, or to mine?”
“Mine.” Celestia said, diverting eye contact to a blurry nearby picture of a short purple unicorn posing with a tall white mare. “I- I almost lead her to her death. We were struggling and- it was our only chance of prospering.”
“You sacrificed her?” Captain Armor asked, suddenly becoming angry again.
“No. I didn’t sacrifice her.” Celestia elaborated, letting her eyes find a blurry and unfocused photograph hung on the wall. The white mare looked somehow familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. “We used these artifacts to kill The Beast. They only work when ponies with an unbreakable bond are close by. They work on harmony. It was me and my sister, or nothing.”
“Hm.” Captain Armor breathed, walking around the bed and out of view. “I don’t like that, but- hey, I’ve done worse to my sister.”
“Really now?” Celestia asked. “What happened?”
“It was at my wedding.” Celestia saw some motion out of the corner of her eye. On one of the nearby three-way-mirrors, she could barely see Captain Armor grab a different picture from the wall with a hoof, holding it up to his face. “Some mind control spell. I yelled at her pretty bad. I know it was just the magic talking, but- I felt really bad. It made me feel like I wanted to yell at her.”
“Mind control’s a bitch.” Celestia giggled, without coughing.
“Makes it sound like you’ve dealt with it before.” He said, readjusting the picture in his hooves.
“Earth-pony here.” Celestia said, waving a hoof around her head. “Don’t have much protection against it.” Captain Armor looked up from the picture in surprise towards the bed Celestia was inhabiting. “Sometimes you can recognize the signs before it takes hold. Get yourself a Unicorn who knows what they’re doing. Other times, you don’t notice it until you start yelling things you never would in a million years.”
“So you have dealt with it before?” He asked. “Hardcore.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re right, though. It is a bitch.” He said. The two exchanged a short laugh. “Hey, I never got your name.” Captain Armor said, placing down the portrait.
“Call me Tia.” She said with a smile.
“Then call me Shining.” He rolled his shoulder. “If you get out of here, you should really apologize to my sister, Twily. I don’t know why, but she’s really shaken up about it.”
“Yeah. Sorry, I guess I got startled pretty bad.” Celestia played with the edge of her blanket, looking away from the mirror.
“Water under the bridge, I guess. Was about two days ago, anyway.”
“Two days?” Celestia asked, surprised. “How long was I out for?”
“Well- two days.” He said. “Apparently Princess Luna gave you a little too much of a sleep spell. She was super apologetic about it, though. Didn’t mean to.”
“You keep mentioning-” Celestia huffed in frustration. It could very easily be one of the foreign leaders sharing the same name with her sister. She needed to stop jumping to conclusions so fast. What was the possibility that yes, this Princess Luna was the same pony as the Pegasus Luna.
“I don’t even know where my sister is.” Celestia admitted. “We were fighting The Beast, then I woke up on this big throne-looking room’s floor.”
“Well. That was the throne room.” Shining explained. “Mind telling me a little more about this ‘beast’ you keep mentioning?”
“You don’t know?” She said, adjusting herself on the bed. “The Beast is the opposite of harmony. Disharmony, if you would. He is- he was a nasty piece of work.” Celestia fumbled her blanket, accidentally dropping it on her. Shining seemed to notice the discomfort. He stared at the picture for a few more moments before placing it back on it’s rightful spot.
“Listen- if you aren’t some kind of super villain, I will gladly lend you some of my troops to help find your sister.” He said, approaching the window once more. Celestia kept staring at the fray of the blanket.
“Lend some troops? What are you, some kind of commander?”
“You could say that.” He laughed. “Or you could call me Prince of The Crystal Empire.”
“Hah. No.” Celestia said, still playing with her blanket. “You seem like a good stallion, but you aren’t no Princess Amore.”
“Princess Amore?” Shining asked, turning around. “That was- um-” He lightly stomped the hoof, looking for the right words. “That was the princess of The Crystal Empire directly before King Sombra, right?”
Celestia, instead of responding, kept playing with her blanket. Shining’s gaze dropped, watching as the mare kept screwing with it. He turned back to the window, staring at the streets below. This mare seemed, at best, out of date with her knowledge. Perhaps she had an ulterior motive, perhaps not. It’s true she did sock Twilight Sparkle, but she might’ve just been confused and scared.
Shining was about to turn and grab Princess Luna when he heard a peculiar sound: sniffing. Shining turned around to watch as Tia seemed to be leaking tears. He froze, suddenly unsure of himself and what to do. He leaned forwards on his hoofs, and then backed off. He decided the best course of action was to just talk from a distance.
“Um- hey?” He asked. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“My sister.” She stated bluntly, hiding her tears with her mane. “I don’t know where she is.”
“I told you- I will help you find her-”
“But what if she’s already gone?” Celestia yelled. “I just fought tooth and nail with the devil himself! What if he- I dunno- magic’d her to purgatory!” She buried her head into her hooves. Shining stood, unsure of himself as he watched the mare break down. He knew how to comfort his wife, but- this was a complete stranger.
The door of the room slowly creaked open. Shining looked up with pleading eyes at the new figure entering the room. The figure nodded, approaching the bed from behind.
“What if I got her killed?” Celestia sobbed. “I shouldn’t of. I should’ve left it to the strategists or something! I just want to see my sister again.”
“Want no more.” Luna said. With a flick of magic, the constraint around Celestia’s hoof suddenly clicked off. She looked down in surprise at the now-free’d hoof. Celestia turned around in the bed, staring up at the towering figure.
“What?” Shining asked.
“Lulu?” Celestia said, crawling slowly towards the tall mare. “Is that really you?”
“What?” Shining asked, a little bit more concerned and even more worried.
“Yes, Tia.” She said with a smile. “It is me.”
“What?!”
“You look- so old!” Celestia beamed, shakily standing up and weakly hugging Luna’s legs. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there! I- I think I got zapped by The Beast or something and ended up in the future!” Celestia looked at Shining. “And I assume this is your husband, right?”
“What!” He said, backing up. “No, no, no!”
“Nice to meet you, brother in law!” She beamed, crossing the distance, suddenly finding the strength to hop like a filly. “I don’t know if Luna’s ever mentioned me, seeing as I vanished for a while, but-” She wiped away the renaming tears, completely forgetting about her woes. She turned away from Shining. “I’m real sorry, Luna. I just-”
“Tia, you weren’t absent. And Sir Shining Armor isn’t my husband.” Luna explained. “Come, we can explain on the way.”
“To what?” Celestia asked, walking towards Luna. “Where are we going? Woah, you’re tall.” She craned her neck backwards.
“I assume you come from a time before Discord?” Luna asked, using her magic to open the door.
“Discord? You mean The Beast, right?”
“Oh, I forgot.” Luna laughed. “That’s what we used to call him, correct?”
“Used to?” The doors swung shut, leaving a very confused Shining. “What the fuck?” He asked. “W-Wait up for me!”