Blood Dawn woke up that morning, feeling proud of herself. She still had to foalnap Luna and Discord, but taking Celestia still felt good. Looking out her window she saw it was still night, but it was almost time for the day. It made her panic a little, if ponies found out Luna was raising the sun as well they would work twice as hard on protecting Luna. Dawn needed to think fast.
Reaching her hand out, Dawn planned on raising the sun herself. She had been taught how when she was a younger filly. Her orange body glowed for a second in a dark blue light, her eyes began to shine white as the light of the sunrise filled her room.
Dawn fell to the floor in a small heap. She had gotten a little rusty on raising the sun, but she would learn.
First, she had another alicorn to deal with.
Pain. That’s the first thing Celestia felt as she slowly awoke that morning. Lots of pain. The white alicorn tried to stretch herself, thinking it was maybe some tired muscles, but soon found that she couldn’t move certain hooves. Celestia was now confused and in pain.
She looked up, unsure of what happened the night before. Celestia checked her form to see what was holding her back. Her hooves found the neck collar and chain stuck to her hindleg. Celestia tried to use her magic but quickly found them stunted.
Next, Celestia tried pulling the chains from the wall, they almost looked like the same from the wall itself, coming out like a vine.
Memories of the night before came back. The confrontation with the stranger, the stranger was laughing, there was a bright flash then...nothing.
While she pulled against the collar again, Celestia heard somepony yell at her but it was muffled. Quickly turning back, she saw a horrid sight. Asa. Her sister. Her once beautiful mane looked as though she hadn’t brushed it in days. Her dress was covered in dust and small tears. Celestia could see a gag had been stuffed into her sister’s mouth.
“Asa...” Celestia said. The trapped human nodded. “what happened?”
The woman looked at her own chains, knowing she wouldn’t get anything thru talking.
“That beast took you as well?” Celestia asked. Asa nodded. The Princess lowered her head into her hooves. “How could I not see sooner?”
Asa gave a muffled yell, trying to explain to her sister it wasn’t her fault.
Celestia looked back at her sister, who looked ready to speak some sense into somepony. The younger sister quickly put together what she was yelling.
“But it was my fault Sister. If I had noticed the signs-”
“Mmph! MmmMph mph mm ph.” Asa yelled out thru the gag.
This confused Celestia for just a moment. “What?”
Asa tried moving her hands, just enough to help Celestia understand.
“I see you are in chains.” Celestia said flatly.
The woman nodded, then she pointed a finger at Celestia.
“Me? I am in chains as well.”
Again, Asa nodded. She shook her chains, pointed at Celestia, then shook her head.
“I’m...not in chains?” Celestia said.
The elder shook her head.
“I’m not...at fault?” This made Asa nod, giving a smile as best she could thru the gag. “How do you know this?”
Asa gave a weak laugh, before shrugging her shoulder as best she could. Her muscles were tired, but she would continue to fight to protect her sister.
Celestia gave a weak laugh as well, lowering her head into her hooves again. “So what do we do now Asa?”
“Free freight.” Asa tried to explain, sounding almost like words. It took only a moment for Celestia to understand that.
We wait.
Dawn was finishing up the morning’s paperwork, wasn’t overly complicated. Just a few small disputes in Cloudsdale and Fillydelphia. So, once all of it was gone, the alicorn’s horn glowed and her disguise was placed.
The mastermind made a face of disgust as she looked down at her disguise, she only needed to be like this for a little while longer. Then, then she could shed it and bring good to the kingdom. Unlike her betraying sisters, the draconequus and Faust knows who else.
Taking a deep breath, Dawn walked over to Asa’s dresser and chose a light purple dress with amethysts placed around the neckline and waist. It was quite comfortable even when she wasn’t in her natural form.
It was then, Dawn had felt proud she had kept Celestia’s foalnapping a secret.
That is, until a nosey maid went to give Celestia breakfast...
“The Princess is missing!” Clean Linens yelled as she ran away from Princess Celestia’s room.
The Guards all stared at the maid as she ran across the hall, a few went off to check the Princess’ room and confirmed it. Said guards then reported this to their superiors, who reported it to the other guards and told them to be on high alert.
Guards were doubled as best they could, twice the guards for Luna, Asa, Twilight Sparkle, Prince Blueblood and Discord.
Blood Dawn cursed as she noticed all the guards. She asked what was happening and they explained the disappearance of Celestia
This was gonna be harder than she originally thought.
With more care, Dawn retreated to her room to process her sister’s disappearance. She was trying now to think of a way to whisk away Luna and Discord without a guard noticing either’s disappearance. Dawn theorized a magic made clone, a shadow spell, a reverse teleportation (bringing something to you instead of you to it) and finally just knocking out any guards.
“Hmm...can’t risk them knowing it’s me when they awaken. I could shed the disguise but then they would know about me. Ugh...what has become of the world if foalnapping is so much harder than it used to be? I remember the days when Mom and Dad would say a foal was missing and they would never be heard from again. Curse society for advancing since my departure!” Dawn cursed.
Slamming her hands onto the desk, Blood Dawn thought over the plan slowly falling apart.
Then her eyes fogged over.
For a few minutes, they stayed like that. Slowly coming out and her blank stare replaced with a victorious gleam. One of her victims was going to make this so much easier.
Now, many would assume that when Canterlot is on high alert, they would continue to let a sleeping princess sleep. Luna thought this same thing. Of course, she would be a little more angry about it (and the broken windows from the Royal Canterlot Voice should have helped clarify) but she was exhausted from only getting twenty minutes of sleep. Hearing her sister was missing helped.
Luna waited a moment after she had broken the windows to let the words sink in. Celestia was missing. It was suspected she disappeared just after raising the sun. Her older sister was missing. Whoever did it left little to no magic trace. The sister that stood by her after Nightmare Moon was gone. The guards were unable to determine what kind of creature took her. Celly was gone.
The words finally sunk in and Luna was, visibly, distraught.
“Where could she be?” Luna asked. She knew that nopony could escape the Palace, the windows in Celestia’s room were left closed meaning they weren’t used as the escape route.
Although Luna desperately wanted to help, her guards would not leave her be (there was an awkward moment in the bathroom to prove this), now all she wanted was a place to think! Being guided throughout the palace halls was, as Luna put it, just a little much.
Luna also demanded to see Asa, make sure she was alright, but the guards said Asa requested to be left alone. The Night Princess tried to request the same thing but was denied, saying her Majesty wanted to make sure her other sister was safe.
So now, Luna was walking with an entourage of five guards (two unicorns, two pegasi and an earth pony) towards the Main Hall to talk with Twilight about all of this. Rolling her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time, Luna’s eyes fell on the entrance to the Vault. She had seen it many times since her return and always thought it housing for some of the hoofmaidens or guards.
But now, Luna knew exactly what it was and the emptiness that was inside.
Perfect place to hide from the guards.
Luna looked around her at the wall of guards, blocking her escape. In a nearby window she noticed the perfect distraction, strange as it was.
“Look, a bird crossed with an orange!” Luna pointed out with her outstretched hoof.
True enough, there by the window was an orange with blue wings with a white and black stripes, the tail was the same. Such a strange occurrence, somewhat chaotic and...honestly a little funny.
The guards apparently, did not find this funny. They found it slightly alarming, and as guards they prepared to act. What none of them saw was Luna’s horn glowing a very light blue before she disappeared and was replaced by an illusioned blue alicorn mare.
Luna felt slightly awful for doing this, but she just needed a small amount of time to process the thought of Celestia being gone. Yes, she had done it before but she was still slightly waking up so she wasn’t able to fully process it.
She teleported into the large tunnel, let out a small sigh and fell to the floor. What was she going to do without Celestia? It was true the Night Princess had been making progress since she returned over a year ago, but Luna was still having trouble with interacting with the ponies outside of Canterlot, not using the Royal Canterlot Voice, and her speech patterns were quite odd to say the least.
It was this deep train of thought that gave The figure standing behind her enough time to place a small midnight blue dome over her and drag the Second Princess away before her Guards could follow her.