“Shining Armor!” Twilight yelled from across the lawn in between them.
“Twiley!” Shining Armor said running towards her and the other mares accompanying here.
“Shining, we need your help…”
“I know, I was… I was there when it happened…”
“WHAT!?” they said in unison.
“I said I was there… I… I failed our princess…” he said looking off to the east. “And I know right now it doesn’t hold much value, but I heard your announcement Princess Luna, and I’ll have you know that I don’t share the same resentment that the rest of Canterlot does. That’s not important now, however…” he said turning his focus to the group as a whole.
“I didn’t get anything more than a glimpse of who the assailant was. As soon as that storm came in from the west, everything went dark, and before Princess Celestia could get anything lit up, her magic was suppressed.”
“Suppressed? But how? That shouldn’t be possible!” Luna shouted more in worry than in anger.
“I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was a dark figure. It was black, and had wings… It wasn’t a changeling though, I know that much. I saw enough of Chrysalis that I wouldn’t forget her or what her minions looked like in a lifetime. Whatever this was, it knew what it was after and how to keep her from calling for help. I do know that whoever took her went east, just past The Eponnine Mountains. That’s unfortunately all the information that I have.”
“It gives us something to go off of at least. We have a direction now! Something that we didn’t have just minutes ago,” Twilight stated before turning to Luna. “Luna, how far is it from here to the Eponnine Mountains?”
“It’s at least a three to four day walk, and most of it is through mountains. It’s a day and a half just to get out of the Canterlot Range.”
“Why do we have to walk anyway? Can’t you just call a Chariot for us like how you did when you sent for us?” Rainbow Dash inquired
“She makes a valid point princess. If we are on a time restriction here, which I assume we are, wouldn’t flying there be faster?”
“It would be, but only about a day.”
“Well, one less day of walking, and one less day whatever this thing is that took Princess Celestia has to hurt her.” Rainbow declared.
Luna nodded, “I agree, the closest one is back at the palace. With any luck we’ll be out of the Canterlot Mountain Range by Sunset… Hopefully Cadence has found something to help her figure ut how to lower the Sun.” she said hanging her head. “Why couldn’t I have been the one kidnapped…”
“Luna, don’t talk like that…” Twilight said resting a hoof on her shoulder.
“If it were me, at least Equestria would still have a normal night and day. No pony would miss me if I was gone…”
“You know that’s not true Luna! I love you, We love you! Your niece and sister both love you, and if something happened to you, you better believe I would be right her with my friends and the Elements of harmony just as ready to save you as I would your sister.”
“Yeah! Besides, we all know that the whole ‘Nightmare Moon’ thing was a big hoax thing that was just a figment of our imagination right?” Rainbow Dash said with a wink.
Luna smiled softly. “You are lucky to have made friends such as these Twilight Sparkle. They are truly amazing.”
“Hey! What about me!?”
Luna laughed and gave a soft nuzzle to Ice Storm. “And I’m lucky to have met a pony as special as you are,” she said looking up to the chariot. “We’re here, everyone in. I’m going to go check on Cadence before we leave and let her know what’s going on.”
The seven mares nodded as Luna flew up unto the Palace.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…”
“Cadence is everything okay?”
“No it’s not. Aunt Celestia doesn’t have a backup for anything anywhere, and I don’t know where else to look for anything to help me with the Sun.”
“The only thing I can think of is to try the Starswirl the Bearded Wing in the Canterlot Library. If anyplace is going to have the primary source of that spell, it will be there…”
“But what if I can’t do it Luna? You know as well as I that I’m nowhere near as powerful as you or your sister! What if I fail everypony… What if I don’t have the strength to change between day and night?” Cadence yelled with it being her turn to break down. “I’m scared Luna… I want Aunt Celestia back…”
“I want her back too Cadence,” Luna said wrapping a hoof and a wing around her. “We will find her. I promise…” she added pulling her in a tighter hug.
“It’s actually the reason I came up here. We found a lead. Shining Armor was here when Sister was taken.”
“What!?”
Luna nodded. “He said everything got dark quickly and whatever took Celestia is able to suppress her magic, which has me more worried than you can imagine.”
“How… was he…”
“He was quite shaken up from it. You’ll both have to be strong for each other thought this time. The love that we have will get us through this. I have full faith that you can do this.”
“Thank you…” Cadence said though her own sniffing as Luna started heading back to the Window. “Luna wait!”
“Yes?” she replied turning around.
“In case something happens and I don’t get to say it… I love you… IF anything else… please… just make sure you come home… I can’t lose both of you…”
Luna smiled as her heart melted. “I love you too Cadence. We’ll be back. All of us, I promise,” and with that she took off down to the Chariot.
“Is everything okay? That took longer than expected.” Twilight asked concerned.
“Cadence is just struggling with her emotions, as we all are at the moment, so I did what I could to comfort her as much as I could.”
Twilight nodded, “I still can’t believe it myself that something could over power Princess Celestia.”
“Take off,” Luna ordered before turning back to Twilight. “I’m still puzzled by this as well. First by Chrysalis, and now by whatever this thing is… I can’t help but wonder what’s happening to us that’s making us weaker, or are our enemies really getting that much stronger…”
“Well, from what I’ve seen you aren’t getting any weaker. You’re just as strong as I’ve ever seen you,” Ice commented.
“Then why didn’t I sense that my sister was in trouble until she was gone…”
“Nopony’s perfect, so how can we expect something that’s not even possible? I mean it’s not like you knew about it and didn’t do anything. You had no idea this was going to happen. I know that if you had been able to, you would have been able to stop whoever did this and keep them from your sister,” Ice Storm added reassuringly.
“At the very least slow it down so that Celestia would have had a chance…”
“This isn’t your fault dear. As you said, no one could have possibly expected this,” Rarity started. “I must admit I was completely shocked myself when she was beaten by Chrysalis. I was hoping that something like that would never happen again. Fortunately we have The Elements of Harmony though. If memory serves me correctly, they are supposed to be the one power to be able to fix anything.”
“I hope so girls… I hope so,” Luna finished as the chariot churned through the mountains. When they did get out of the mountains, Luna saw Cadence fly up into the sky with the moon, and much to her relief, was able to bring the sun down with her when she flew back down. I knew you had it in you, she thought to herself with a soft smile. “We should rest here for the night, and continue in the morning. Even though I prefer night travel, I know most of you have been up since Celestia rose the sun this morning, not to mention for once, I am exhausted myself.”
“It’s okay princess…”
“Luna, please Applejack. As of right now, I am not a princess. Until I have rescued my sister, I have officially resigned my status of princess of the night. So please, just call me Luna.”
Applejack nodded, “It’s okay Luna, we understand. This is a being tragedy for all of us, and can be tiring for even the most… dedicated of ponies.”
“I agree, however I’m not sure how much rest anypony is going to be able to get tonight. Even as tired as I am, I’m afraid to go to sleep… I’m afraid every second we wait… is another second that we’re going to be too late.”
“Have faith Twilight Sparkle, for faith at this moment, really is the only thing we have left.”