//------------------------------//
// A Time to Regroup  
// Story: Terror in Equestria:  Rise of the Dark Queen 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

Luna and Celestia continued flying west as they finally started crossing the Pegasus Ocean as they headed towards the place Luna knows they will be safe.  She is still levitating Celestia as she is not sure if she can fly on her own yet.  She yells to Celestia, "Do you think you can fly on your own yet?"

Celestia can barely hear her but replies, "Yeah, I can try."

Upon hearing this, Luna stops levitating her. Celestia at first fell a decent distance but then started flying like normal.  Celestia said to Luna, "I think I'm going to be ok now.  Thanks for getting me out of that situation."

"I could tell you were not in good shape and I was starting to wonder if Twilight was going to try to kill you." replied Luna

They continued to head west at a faster speed.  Finally they see land on the horizon.  Celestia asks, "What is that on the horizon?  Are we approaching Saddle Arabia?"

"No," said Luna, "we are approaching Alicorn Island.  This is where we will be safe and it is where we can regroup and hopefully get some allies to take back Canterlot and hopefully all of Equestria."

Celestia asked with excitement, "We're going to see mom and dad?"

Luna gave Celestia a smile and said, "Yes, we are going to see mom and dad.  I know they told us to only come to them if there was an extreme emergency.  Well, this would be classified as an extreme emergency."

They started to cross over the land as they could see Faustica approaching, the city where their parents live.  Tired, they landed down on the main street.  "Do you even remember where mom and dad live? asked Celestia

"Big sister, they are the king and queen here, they live in the palace up there on that hill.  Did you forget?" replied Luna

Celestia said, "I did forget.  I had a nervous breakdown before the battle, thought I was going to get killed in battle and am very tired now."

Luna seemed a bit irritated but told Celestia that they need to get up to the palace as she is also tired and that she is hungry.  "I miss mom's cooking so much.  I just hope she will still cook us something to eat.  After all, nothing beats mom's cooking." said Luna

They approach the castle where two guards who appear to be in the military stopped them.  "Who are you two?" asked the guard

The other guard interrupts and said, "Can't you tell by their cutie marks, mane and coat colors that they are the daughters of the king and queen?  Come on your Majesties, I will lead you to the throne room."

As they went into the throne room they could see Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos sitting on the thrones.  Galaxia saw her two daughters and ran up to them and said, "Celestia, Luna!  How are my princesses?"  

This caused King Cosmos to trot down to where they were and say, "How are you doing Celestia" and "How is daddy's little filly?" to Luna

Luna said, "Things are not going well at all.  There is a major disaster that has happened in Equestria."

"What sort of disaster? asked Galaxia "Why aren't you two there taking care of the problem?"

Celestia replied, "I will tell you why, I was nearly killed by a student of mine that I had transformed into an Alicorn princess."

"What the hay?" said a shocked Cosmos

Celestia then proceeded to tell them in full detail about Twilight, her obsession with studying, her writing her own magic and her becoming an Alicorn.

Galaxia replied, "Well that still doesn't explain why she tried to kill you.  What caused her to try to do that and how does such a young Alicorn become that powerful?"

Luna replied, "She became that powerful because she has been obsessed with studying from even before she was accepted into Celestia's school.  As far as why she tried to kill Celestia, after she was crowned princess and given her own empire, she was corrupted by King Sombra, who has conquered the Crystal Empire for the second time and Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings.  They decided to form a dark alliance and brought a massive army of changelings and dark unicorns to take Canterlot."

Cosmos said, "Ouch, that would be a tough force to handle for anypony."

Luna replied, "Yeah and the thing is, I killed a bunch of them but Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's former student and now self-proclaimed Dark Queen, knows a duplication spell and kept on making more and more changelings.  I couldn't even put a dent in their forces."

Galaxia had a horrified look on her face and said, "This is going to require something far more powerful than even an army of 100 Alicorns could provide.  This is going to require the aid of one whose magic is infinitely powerful.  We have only one choice, we must ask 'The One' to assist us in taking back Canterlot and Equestria."

Celestia replied, "The One?"

Luna said, "Yes big sister, 'The One.'  We need to ask for help from Goddess LaurFa."

One thing that Luna does not realize is that even getting in to see LaurFa is a high honor, but to actually get Her to help you in any kind of cause is impossible, as She has yet to intervene in any conflict.

Cosmos said, "Well we can try.  I know the guards up there so I am hoping they will tell Her that we would like to see Her."

Celestia asked her dad when they should try to go and see if they can see Her.  Cosmos told his eldest daughter that they will wait until tomorrow.

"Besides my daughters, you must be tired and hungry.  I know how much you two always loved my cooking so I am going to tell the chefs to take the night off and I will do the cooking." said Galaxia

"YAY!  Thank you mommy!" shouted Luna and Celestia in unison.  

Cosmos gave them a smile and said, "I miss Galaxia's cooking as well.  Once you become a king or queen of a decently populated country you don't have much spare time on your hands."

Celestia replied, "But back when you two were the king and queen of Equestria you had plenty of time for us."

Cosmos said, "Well Equestria had just been founded by LaurFa and very few ponies lived there.  Back then it was more like we were property owners than rulers."

Very soon Galaxia came into the dining hall and said, "Dinner is served!"

Cosmos and their daughers rushed to the table waiting for Galaxia to give them their supper.  Galaxia said, "I don't think I've done this in over 3,000 years.  I almost forgot how to do it!" 

Over supper they reminisced over the old days when Luna and Celestia were fillies.  Galaxia, even after 3,000 years, still gave Celestia a hard time over the one time when she tried to raise the sun in the western sky and brought out Luna's moon by mistake.  Luna laughed, "Yeah Celestia, you were trying to do my job. Either that or you loved the night so much you couldn't bear to bring it to an end!"

Celestia blushed and said, "That was a long time ago.  I was just a little filly learning how to do it."

After supper and some more reminiscing about the past Luna and Celestia headed to the VIP sleeping quarters,  "Good night mom, good night dad." said Luna and Celesita

"Good night girls." said Galaxia

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed parasprites bite!" said Cosmos

Luna and Celestia got the best night of sleep they had gotten in a very long time.  Perhaps it was because they knew they were safe with their parents and far beyond the reach of any of Equestria's evil doers.  They woke up the next morning well rested and headed to the dining hall for breakfast.

"Morning mommy, morning dad." said Luna

"Morning sweetie." replied Galaxia

Once they sat down for breakfast they began to talk more about what is going on and when they would go and see if they can see LaurFa.  Cosmos said, "We will head up to Her palace as soon as we get done eating."

Celestia said, "It is so high and the cliffs are so steep, how are we going to get there?"

Luna snickered and said, "Oh silly sister, you know we have wings.  We can fly there."

Celestia feeling quite embarrassed said, "How could I forget that?  I have been forgetting way too many things here lately."

After breakfast the royal family headed up to the Grand Palace of Laurfa.  They were met at the palace entrance by two guards.  One with a stern look on his face said, "Who are you and what brings you here?"

Galaxia replied, "Well I am Queen Galaxia, this is King Cosmos and these two are Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, our daughters."

The attitude of the guard changed completely and he said, "Geez, how could I not have recognized you.  I will lead the four of you to Her throne room."

When they entered the throne room they saw LaurFa, the most regal, powerful and beautiful Alicorn there was.  She was solid white with a flowing red mane and tail with an ink jar and a quill for a cutie mark.  This was the first time Celestia and Luna had ever seen Her.  They were amazed by Her beauty.

LaurFa looked up and said, "Queen Galaxia, King Cosmos, how are you two doing today?"

Galaxia knowing Her better walked up Her and said, "Your Supreme Highness, my daughters are the two princesses over in Equestria and three villains led by an incredibly powerful and tyrannical Alicorn have taken over Equestria and we are here to see if you would be willing to help them get their country back."

"I have seen what is going on over there from afar.  I have been contemplating what needs to be done since your daughters were ran out of there.  At first I thought that sending members of our military there but then I saw how powerful Queen Twilight Sparkle has become, and realized that will not work." said LaurFa

Queen Galaxia looked with concern over what She had said.  She replied, "What sort of things are you planning?"

LaurFa replied, "I am not sure, I want to see what continues to happen over there.  I have a feeling that those three who took over there will probably start a war of their own against each other."

They continued to discuss things involving the situation.  LaurFa told them of how she thinks that very soon those three will not want to share power and that after they have their war or one of them deposes the other two.

Luna said, "How would one of them depose the other two?  They would have to learn how to banish the others out of Equestria and the only two ponies in Equestria that know how to do that are myself and Celestia."

LaurFa replied, "Twilight Sparkle is the one that would be most likely to know how to do that.  She does have the ability to write her own magic."

Celestia said, "All she has done is rewrite that one spell of Starswirl the Bearded.  I wouldn't think she would have the ability to do that."

LaurFa interrupted, "I have seen her write plenty of her own magic in just the past week.  She has written an invisibility spell, a counter spell for it and a duplication spell.  she has done all of this in just three days.  Luna, Celestia, do either one of you know what kind of spells are in the Canterlot Archives or what kind of information she has access to now?"

Celestia told the Goddess that Twilight has access to all sorts of information.  She also told Her that while there are no actual banishing spells in there, there are spells she could use to brainwash all their forces to be loyal to her and her alone.

"Oh my!" replied LaurFa "If she does that things will not look good.  I want all four of you to meet me in three days after you eat breakfast.  I will go with you to Canterlot and take care of this problem."

"Thank you your Supreme Highness, we greatly appreciate it." said Galaxia

"Anytime, I will see you on Friday morning." said LaurFa

The royal family headed back home as it was getting close to lunch.  "I hope we can win this and take back Canterlot and all of Equestria." said Celestia

Luna replied, "Big sister, we are talking about Goddess LaurFa, the absolute most powerful pony on the face of the planet.  With her on our side, victory is guaranteed."