Chapter XIV
As soon as Twilight's young assistant Spike had woken that fateful morning, he had found that his best friend and surrogate mother had disappeared. At first he thought nothing of it, seeing as how she often would wake up before him to get breakfast ready, or else study some new book that Celestia had sent. However, after searching the whole library without even finding a note, he started to suspect that something was wrong. Especially after Pinkie Pie had burst in screaming that she couldn't find Twilight anywhere.
That event alone had warranted a letter to Princess Celestia in Spike's eyes. Pinkie had, literally, a sixth sense about finding other ponies. If she was having trouble finding Twilight, then there was a very good chance that something had gone terribly wrong.
At first, Celestia had thought that Spike was overreacting. Surely Twilight had simply forgotten to leave a note stating where she had gone, so there was no reason to panic. The letter she sent back had been comforting, letting Spike know that Twilight had probably just gone out for a walk. Celestia had also told Spike that if Twilight hadn't returned by nightfall, that he should send her another letter.
That had been six months ago, and yet there was still no sign of Twilight Sparkle. As soon as it became clear that Twilight had disappeared, Celestia's fears began to run away with her. At first she had feared that somepony was planning an attack on the Elements of Harmony, so she had moved the remaining bearers to Canterlot for safety and had increased the security throughout the nation. Soldiers could be seen patrolling the skies and streets of Equestria, while Celestia had discreetly sent messages to all her allies, and spies to all her enemies, hoping that somepony knew anything about the whereabouts of her prized student. Not only that, but ever since Twilight's disappearance, Princess Luna had busied herself by sweeping through the entirety of the portion of the Astral Plane that surrounded Equis.
Eventually, after it became clear that nopony was attempting to steal away the elements, Celestia had grudgingly allowed the five mares to return to their homes, albeit with a guard detail discreetly tailing each one.
Even now, while Celestia handled Day Court, Luna was still busy sweeping the Astral Plane for any echo of Twilight. Celestia sighed when the griffon diplomat finished his long winded speech. It was one that Celestia was having a hard time following, due mainly to all the flowery words and fore-so-muches. “Chancellor, please just tell me simply what it is that your nation wants, I have other matters to attend to.”
“Simply?” the chancellor asked, looking a bit offended at Celestia's bluntness. “Simply put, we think that the alert status of Equestria is uncalled for. One missing pony is hardly something to fret over, and you're making my nation uneasy,” he said, clearly disappointed.
Normally Celestia would have treated the Chancellor with more respect, but after spending so many sleepless nights scanning the Astral Plane with Luna, she was frankly out of patience. She opened her mouth to tell the griffon diplomat just that when the booming voice of Sergent Clear Eyes rang out across the throne room. “Announcing her Royal Highness, the Oracle of Time and High Shaman of the Zebrican Tribes, Lady Alala!”
Celestia immediately rose from her throne in respect as the Zebrican Oracle and her aid slowly made their way to the throne. “I'm sorry Gustaf, I'm afraid I will have to cut our conversation short,” Celestia said.
The Chancellor only nodded at that, unable to tear his eyes away from the blind Seer. He gulped ever so slightly in terror as the unimposing zebra, with the help of her aid, slowly came to a stop in front of the throne. Respectfully, he moved out of the way to allow Alala unimpeded access to the Princess of the Sun.
“Lady Alala, It is my great honor to welcome you to Canterlot,” Celestia said as she took her seat again.
The Zebra looked up at the Princess of the Sun, her face unreadable and her milky eyes unfathomable. “The Sun and the Moon would do well to heed, for all of Equis is in dire need. Trouble comes, destruction assured, unless my warning is heard,” she said, her clear voice ringing with apprehension.
Celestia tilted her head slightly to the side, a twinge of fear running through her heart. Rarely did the Oracle ever leave her home, and even rarer did she ever talk with anypony other than her fellow zebra. However, each time she had, her warnings had been dire, and extremely accurate.
Only a fool would ignore a warning from the Oracle.
“I'm listening,” Celestia said carefully.
The Oracle stood a little straighter at that, her robe jingling as she did so. “A stranger approaches on wings of fire, bringing with him war's dark ire. Terror follows, ponies flee, the whole world in calamity. I see Equis, awash in flame, dead and gone, with us the same. Slaves of slaves our people become, with all our great work undone.”
While this pronouncement of doom filled Celestia's heart with dread, she knew that there had to be a way out. Lady Alala never revealed what the future held unless it could be changed. “What must we do to defeat this stranger?” Celestia asked.
“The stranger? You need not fear, though very strange he may appear. At his heels, though, terror true, an ancient evil comes for you. It comes for all, young and old, ending freedom, enslaving souls. The stranger comes to fight this foe, though how he does not know. Our help he needs to stop this blight, with his kind we must unite.”
Then, without another word, The Oracle turned and started to leave the throne room.
Chancellor Gustaf turned towards Celestia at that point, his expression perplexed. “Not even a goodbye? Or a by-your-leave?”
“We are lucky she decided to say anything at all. The Oracle only says what is needed, and no more. Often times she doesn't even say that much, preferring to let history take its own course without her meddling,” Celestia said as she arose. “I'm afraid that I must end Day Court for today, I must consult with my sister about this new development.”
The griffon nodded at that, his piercing blue eyes fixed upon the retreating back of Lady Alala. “I must take my leave as well. The emperor must be appraised of the recent developments, and it seems that we have a war to plan for.”
* * *
Celestia watched patiently as her sister left her trance, shaking her head slightly at the strain that she had endured in the Dreamscape. “Any luck Lulu?” Celestia asked as her sister slowly rose from her bed.
“I'm afraid not, dear sister. If she were dead, she would have left an echo on the Astral Plane. As it now stands, it feels as if she had just vanished! I cannot find even a trace of your student. I am sorry,” Luna said as she poured herself a cup of tea, exhaustion written clearly upon her face.
Celestia sidled alongside her sister, enfolding the Princess of the Night with one alabaster wing. “It's fine, Lulu, I know you've done your best. Far more than anypony could hope to match,” Celestia said as she hugged her sister closer. “You know what they say, no news is good news," she said weakly.
“Tia, you may put on a brave face for your people, but you need no such farce when you speak with me,” Luna softly rebuked her sister.
Celestia sighed at that, her mask falling as she did so. “I don't know what to do, Lulu. I feel that she is in danger, yet I don't know where to even look. By your own admission, she isn't even on Equis anymore...” Celestia said as sorrow seemed to fill her entire being. “Not only that, but I actually do have some news, and it troubles me greatly.”
Luna looked at her, her face falling a bit. “What has happened?” she asked urgently.
“The Lady Alala came to Day Court.”
Luna reeled at that, her eyes wide in amazement. “The Seer? She only leaves her mountain for the most dire of reasons! What did she say?”
Before Celestia could respond to her, however, she was interrupted by a deep rumbling from outside. “What in the name of-” Celestia started to say, but was interrupted as the doors of Luna's private chambers burst open, revealing Lieutenant Iron Heart.
“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! The sky is on fire!” he said, clearly out of breath.
Both of the Princesses quickly bolted to the balcony, gazing in awe and fear as a fireball slowly made its way towards Canterlot. It was huge, nearly the size of the city itself, and it seemed to be dead set on crashing into Canterlot castle. Below her, Celestia could hear the screams of her citizens as they panicked through the streets.
“Lieutenant Iron Heart, get together your best troops and quickly evacuate the city. Have Sergent Wild Wind gather our battlemages. I feel that we will need their help in averting this mete-”
“Sister, look! It slows!” Luna said, pointing with one hoof at the sky.
Celestia quickly turned, her eyes scanning the strange fireball. Sure enough, the fireball was slowing down. Celestia quickly noted that, along with the slowed speed, the fire seemed to lessen as well, until both the fire and the object stopped entirely.
What was revealed defied all reason. The object was large, probably as big as Canterlot Castle itself. It seemed to be a distinct oval shape, with three glowing disks positioned in a triangular pattern along its bottom. Its top was a complete mystery from this angle, though Celestia had no doubt that it was any less imposing. The object seemed to be painted a uniform black color, with what appeared to be silver lettering of some kind painted on the side. The object stopped just above Canterlot, its ominous form lurking in the evening sky.
“What is it?” Luna gasped.
“I do not know Luna, but I do not think it bodes well for us,” Celestia answered as a smaller black object detached itself from the larger object and swiftly made its way towards Canterlot's main airship dock.
* * *
“Increase elevation by thirty-five degrees.”
“I really don't know about this...”
“Just do it!”
Fine, fine, whatever you say.”
“Now, a little more to the left...”
“...You know, this really doesn't seem very safe, I really think we should be evacuating with the others...”
“FIRE NOW!”
* * *
“Do you really think this is a good idea Admiral? My people are usually very skittish, even at the best of times...” Twilight said nervously as she fiddled with the straps holding her in place.
“I'm sure. If my intelligence is correct, we don't really have that much time before the Dridune Armada get here. The gravitational forces around here make teleportation dangerous, so atmospheric entry was really our best course of action. As far as first contact situations go, it isn't ideal, no. But neither is the situation,” he responded as he waved one of his paws at the fretting unicorn.
“I'm just glad that we were able to get this many ships together in such a short notice. I really need to send the Pride King a gift for this one,” Captain Hale said from the pilot's seat. “Not to mention those planetary defense guns he gave us. Those will come in handy, especially if they just decided to nuke your planet from orbit.”
“Would they really do that?” Twilight asked in horror.
“You tell us. You've been inside their heads, you know them better than any of us. We don't know what they would do to an incorruptible planet because there has never been one before,” Captain Hale said as he deftly maneuvered the shuttle closer to the platform.
Just as he said that however, the proximity alarms at Hale's fingertips started to go off. What in the blue blazes? He wondered, just as something fast and pink streaked at high velocity directly for the small craft. With an explosion of confetti and streamers, the pink object hit the windshield of the small craft.
Everyone in the shuttle jumped as the strange creature thumped against the craft. The creature was pressed up against the windshield, her forelegs and hind legs spread out, while in her front hooves she held a sign that said something in Twilight's native tongue. She was far pinker than anything on hooves had a right to be, her mane and tail being a darker hue of pink, while her wide, manic eyes were a deep, piercing blue. Her mouth was contorted into a huge, toothy grin, which quickly opened as she screamed something that the people in the cabin could just barely make out.
“Hi Twilight!”
“Gah! Pinkie Pie!” Twilight yelled at the ridiculous mare.
“What in the blazes is that?” Zelgius asked, clearly shaken by the appearance of the pink pony.
“Thats one of my best friends, though why she's on the window is something only she knows.” Twilight said as she tried to get her heart back down to a more regular pace.
“What does the sign say?” Hale asked curiously as the mare started to wave.
“It says 'Welcome to Equis!'” Twilight answered him.
“Well, we can't let her just stay out there, she might fall off, and it is a long way down to the ground,” Hale said nervously.
Before anyone could say anything else, however, the proximity alarms went off again as a blue streak cut through the sky and nabbed Pinkie Pie off the windshield.
“What the heck was that?” Hale asked as the blue streak landed on the distant platform.
* * *
“Pinkie, how could you even think of doing something that stupid!” Rainbow Dash berated the hopping pink pony. “Those are aliens! They could have vaporized you without a second thought!”
“Aw, don't be mad Dashie! These are friendly aliens!” she said, not pausing for a second as she continued to bounce.
“How can you be so sure about that? What if they're some sort of horrible, bug-like abomination, who are just waiting to lay their eggs inside our cocooned bodies!” Rainbow said with a shiver as she waved her hooves at the pink mare below her.
“I think somepony has been reading Spike's comic book collection!” Pinkie said in a singsong tone of voice.
Before Rainbow could answer her though, she was interrupted as the platform was suddenly swarmed with gold plated Solar Guards and dark plated Night Sentinels. “Miss Dash, Miss Pie, I'm going to have to insist that both of you leave the area. It's not safe.” one of the guardsponies said as the others took up a perimeter around the slowly descending craft.
“I can't leave now! What if something happens! I need to be here to make sure that these aliens don't try anything stupid!” Rainbow said aggressively.
“Yeah! And I need to be here to throw all of our new friends a superrific 'Welcome to Equis!' party!” Pinkie said as she continued to bounce, uncaring about the way that everypony nearby was giving her an odd look.
“I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the sergeant, my little ponies,” a regal voice said from behind the two mares.
Pinkie and Rainbow quickly turned around to see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna alight onto the crowded tarmac.
However, before either Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie could begin to protest, or even begin to bow, a shout from one of the unicorns closest to the strange craft drew everypony's attention.
“It's opening!” he shouted in a panicked voice.
Everypony had frozen in place as they watched the strange, sleek black craft open. The door seemed to make a hissing sound as it opened, its black maw looking more foreboding with every passing second. The silence around the tarmac was palpable as the unicorn guards all pointed their horns at the craft, while the pegasi in the air readied their thunderheads that they had retrieved from the pegasi armory.
“Hold your fire!” Luna said to the assembled guards.
Reluctantly, the guards complied to the Night Princess's command. The tension was thick in the air as everypony anxiously waited to see what horrors from beyond the void would crawl out of the strange craft.
It was almost anticlimactic when all that trotted out was a young, purple unicorn mare, her smile slightly sheepish as she looked around at all the guards.
“Twilight!” everypony gasped in amazement. However, before anypony could make a move, something pink and fast weaved her way through the guards, zoomed up to the purple pony, and promptly wrapped her front hooves around the startled young mare.
While Twilight tried in vain to pry the exuberant Pinkie Pie off of her, the other ponies who were there started to take a step forward, only to retreat a little when something else stepped out of the landing craft.
* * *
Admiral Zelgius slowly left the shuttle, acutely aware of the stares and the horns directed his way. He made sure to make no sudden moves as he approached the assembled Equestrian forces and what appeared to be the Princesses, if Twilight's description of them were anything to go by.
He knew that any one of these creatures could end his life in any number of nasty ways, and frankly he was completely terrified of them. However, he had a mission to complete, and whether they killed him or not, he was still going to try.
There were just too many lives at stake, theirs included.
So, with all of this in mind, he did the one thing he could think of to alleviate the situation.
He bowed.