“What?!” Princess Celestia slammed her hoof down violently, and glared at the quivering guard before her,”
“W-We sent a g-guard s-squad to search for the s-suspicious c-contact, a-and she was g-gone,” He backed away from the alabaster alicorn staring him down. “E-Eyewitnesses saw her get on a t-train for P-Ponyville,”
Celestia growled through clenched teeth. “Dammit Twilight,” She turned away from the guard. “Leave us,” Luna looked up at her sister with saddened eyes.
“Sister…,” She said, calmly.
“What the buck is she doing?!” Celestia’s eyes looked almost as angry as Luna knew she was sad. Twilight had been gone for almost seven months, and Celestia’s temper was getting shorter and shorter with every passing day. And with each passing day, it became more and more important for Luna to control more and more of their diarchy. In fact, if they didn’t find Twilight soon, Celestia might have to be relieved of her position.
If there was one thing Luna wanted to avoid, it was taking over the entire empire. That, and being the one to tell her sister she was to be relieved.
“We have no way of knowing, dear sister,” She moved toward the princess of the sun. “But whatever it is, we know its purpose,”
Celestia’s anger dropped off dramatically. “Why can’t she just communicate with us?” Luna looked into her sisters eyes, and saw them refract the light. “If we could just talk to her, she’d know that I just want to help her through this. She needs to be able to get through this if she is to-,”
“Yes, my sister,” She knew that if Twilight was to fulfill her destiny, she’d have to be able to cope with this kind of loss. However… “Sister, what if she’s planning to try again?”
“I don’t know sister, but we will cross that bridge when we get there,” Water began to stream down the sides of the alabaster alicorn’s face.
Luna sighed sympathetically. At least Celestia wasn’t violent right now. “Perhaps you should go get some rest, sister,”
“Yes, I think I should,” Celestia replied, her voice cracking. She walked out of the room, and headed left for her personal quarters.
Almost the moment Luna heard the door close, one of the guards burst in. “Urgent news for Princess Celestia,”
“Celestia is not in a fit state to hear any sort of news, I will receive it in her place,”
“Yes, of course. It’s about Twilight Sparkle…,”
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Twilight trudged through the thick mud and foliage littering the ground. The Everfree forest was often muddy and such, but today it seemed as though it was muddier and suchier than usual. But, it was worth it, she was going to get to see her friends again, or her friend, anyway. She promised herself that she would only regularly speak with one of her friends, and since Rarity was the only pony who really knew anything about where she had gone, she only ever spoke to her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when her back left hoof refused to dislodge itself from the thick mud. “Well, that’s just perfect,” She drew moisture from the plants to her left, and washed off her hoof with the floating pool.
Rainbow giggled. “Kinda reminds me of the Klaudian rainforest,”
“I hated the Klaudian rainforest,” Twilight replied with a decent amount of venom on hated. She didn’t like wet things. Swamps, lakes, oceans, leaky pipes, bogs, name it, and if it’s wet, it made the list of things Twilight Sparkle wanted to obliterate.
Rainbow giggled again, and continued to throughout her sentence. “Remember when you tried to cross that old bridge, and then the bridge collapsed, and you had to swim through the muddy water?”
“Yes, Rainbow. I remember,”
“And then you tried to dry off, but the mud got all crusty?”
“Yes, Rainbow,”
“And then you tried to wash it off, but you used the river water, so-,” Dash had started to full on laugh now
“Yes, Rainbow. I was there,”
“Right, right,” She wiped a false tear from her eye.
“Save your energy Rainbow. The last thing I need you to do right now is collapse,”
“Right,” Rainbow loved Twilight, but there was one thing she couldn’t do with Twilight that she could do with other mares. Get away with something. If she had been dating Pinkie Pie, Cloudchaser, or hell, even if she’d asked out Octavia, she could’ve done something insignificant every once in a while, and not have it be addressed. Twilight, however, kept close watch on her surroundings, and only rarely missed anything, and that was never something to do with Dash.
Still, Rainbow had to give her credit for her devotion. Even if it got them both into trouble from time to time. Okay all the time. Damn, they were gonna have a lot of stories to share with Rarity when they got back to Ponyville. Like when they found that underground research facility that was doing so pretty crazy shit. Or their first adventure in Cageno, that was a hell of a lot of fun.
“Rainbow?!” Dash snapped out of her thoughts. Recently she had been getting more and more likely to get lost in her own thoughts. To anypony else it could be attributed to Twilight rubbing off on her. However, both ponies knew this to be wrong, even if they couldn’t yet peg the true reason.
“Yeah?” replied Dash, nonchalantly.
“We’re almost there, which disguise should I use?”
“Well, I doubt they’ll expect a unicorn, so how about…Studded Dust?”
“Oh, great idea!” Said Twilight, giddily. “I haven’t used that one since we fought Sparkling Pearl,” Her horn lit up, and the clean, lavender fur began to change to matted, gray fur. Her indigo mane became a very dusty gold, and her eyes turned green.
Twilight looked herself over. “Hmm, why do I feel like I’m missing something…,”
Rainbow giggled. “Cutie Mark,” She audibly held back laughter.
“Thank you, Rainbow,” She spoke deliberately, and powerfully without raising her voice, causing Dash to halt her laughter. Twilight’s horn glowed again, and her pink and white stars became a small gem, of the magical variety. “So, when we speak to Rarity, where should we start?”
“Well, at the beginning, duh,” Rainbow bounced her right hoof off the side of her head to emphasize the obviousness of the answer.
“Yeah, I suppose it’ll make more sense for the readers too,”
“Yeah…wait, who?”
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Celestia fought back tears, and looked out her window, from which she could see half of Canterlot. She missed her student. She missed her closest friend other than her sister. She missed her Twilight.
She stopped her thoughts. No, she mustn’t think like that, after all, not only would it never occur, she didn’t truly want it to occur. It was just another one of her mind’s stupid habits. Someday she would have to create a spell so that she could prevent those.
The door to her room opened slowly, but deliberately. There was only one pony she knew whose mannerisms were as such. “Hello sister,” Said Celestia, her voice cracking slightly.
“A report from the guards stationed out in the country regarding Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia suddenly became more active than she had been in several weeks.
“Really? What is it? Have they found her?”
“Yes. I’ll get there. Not particularly,” Luna sighed, saddened. “The fact of the matter is, I don’t know if it is news you truly want to here,”
Celestia appeared to lose some of her newfound energy, but still maintained a decent amount. “Well?”
Luna sighed, again. “The train that Twilight Sparkle was on was found stopped on the way to Ponyville. The engine, coalbox, and storage cars were about forty miles ahead of the rest of the train. The main storage car was lacking a roof, sides, and back. Within the front portion of the engine were numerous bodies, as well as a device capable of blasting a hole in a mountain. We have yet to find a body, but we can infer that-,”
“That she is among the dead,” Celestia’s energy had completely faded. Her tears began to flow freely again. “Get as many guards as possible out there, they shall not rest until we find Twilight Sparkle,”
“Yes, sister,” Luna turned to leave.
“Oh, and Luna?”
“Yes?”
“Could you perhaps take my Celestial Shift tomorrow? I fear I am not fit to handle such a task,”
Luna paused. She wanted to refuse, but she couldn’t do that to her big sister. “Of course,” The door became enveloped in a blue aura, and closed.