Princess Celestia sorted through her paper work like every other day. She read through each one before approving it with her signature at the bottom. She sipped her cup of tea as she made her way through the stacks of paper. After three hours, she put her papers aside and moved over to one of the windows of Canterlot castle, where her morning sun was warmly illuminating the beautiful lands of Equestria. She brought her cup of tea with her and sipped more of it as she gazed at the wondrous lands she ruled over.
“What a lovely morning,” she said as she continued to stand at the window.
Even though she appeared to be resting, her mind was a whir of activity. In another hour, she had to get ready for lunch with some delegates from Vanhoover. They were traveling to Canterlot to discuss the Summer Sun Celebration, which was to be held in their city this year.
She was just about to return back to her papers when a red scroll popped out in front of her. She took a look at it and unfolded it, dreading what it might contain. She had designated red scrolls to be a sign of warning or emergency, but this was the first red scroll she had ever received in years.
The more she read of the scroll, the darker her expression became. This wasn’t possible. There was no way they could find her this fast; she’d hidden her tracks too well for that. Her eyes flittered to the scroll and back to the window, as if not looking at it for a moment would make it disappear. It didn’t. After a brief moments hesitation, Celestia rang for her secretary. After a short moment of time, the green-skinned secretary burst into the room, panting and out of breath.
“You called for me, princess?” she asked in intervals.
“Yes,” replied Celestia, primly. “I need you to waken my sister. She must meet the delegates from Vanhoover. Something has come up that requires my immediate attention.”
“Right now, princess?”
“Yes, right now, please.”
Once she was sure the secretary was done, Celestia focused the magic in her horn and teleported up to her study.
Arriving in her study, Princess Celestia made sure the door was locked and cast a spell that prevented anyone else from teleporting into the room to make sure no one saw what she was about to reveal. She headed to one of the shelves and searched for a specific book. Finding it, she opened it up, revealing an old dusty datapad inside.
Activating a button, the datapad produced a little scanner, scanning her face to make sure she was the right pony. A green light from the datapad acknowledged that she was the right pony, opening the map projector on the floor, revealing a long staircase down into blackness.
It was a long flight of stairs that led well beneath Canterlot castle. Celestia had this passage way dug up by herself using magic many years ago, back when they were still active. Although she hadn’t walked it in many an age, she could still navigate it with her eyes shut; every detail burned into her mind, as though it was on the back of her hoof.
Reaching the bottom of the flight of stairs, she continued forward down a long hallway, lined with tall metallic statues. With each hoofstep, long dormant lights flickered on, welcoming back their master.
Visions of an ancient and long forgotten past flashed through the alicorn’s mind. There were certain things that weren’t recorded in any history books in Equestria and for good reason. If anypony should ever find out just what she had to do… well, she had seen how they had all reacted to Nightmare Moon.
One final door stood between Princess Celestia and her goal. This one hissed open with a rush of pressurized air, sliding shut as soon as the alicorn’s tail was through. The Princess found herself in a circular room, lit by a soft array of blue lights. She ignored the numerous semi-transparent pods outlining the walls as she approached the center. Five feet away, the center of the floor opened like a camera shutter, and a slim pillar with a curved purple object on it rose to eye level. She picked it up, knowing that in doing so, she would drag both this world and the other into a conflict that neither of them could afford to lose.
“So it begins again.”
Canterlot High stood proudly in the morning sun, like a jewel on the landscape. The winter snow had just melted, leaving the front lawns a shimmering verdant green. The school stood as a monument of education, ready to welcome the students back from the holidays to begin a brand new semester.
The sound of a bike rattling over the sidewalk made itself known. The rider, a young man with yellow eyes wiped the sweat off of his dark blue brow and leaned over the handle of his handle bars. He wore an unbuttoned blue striped shirt over a simple white t-shirt with a baseball bat picture on the front, and a pair of pale blue jeans.
“Phew!” Home Run exclaimed as he got off his bike and walked it to the nearby bike rack. “I didn’t think the school would be this far. I should have left earlier.”
He locked his bike on one of the racks and made his way through the front doors of Canterlot High School. Following the signs towards the principal’s office, he found it quite easily. He made sure his attire was neat before knocking on the door.
“Come in,” a voice inside said.
He gently pushed open the door and stepped into the office.
“Hello,” the principal greeted. “Welcome to Canterlot High. What’s your name?”
“Home Run,” he told her.
The dreadnought class spaceships hung in the darkness of space, awaiting further orders. The men on the bridge stood to greet the captain as he entered, walking over to his usual spot on the bridge.
“Status!” the captain barked.
One of the men in the front turned around from his seat. “We’ve traced the signal to this planet. We standby to attack on your command, captain.”
The captain lifted his robot arm. “Halt. Do not attack immediately. If we attack and we hit the wrong location, our quarry will be alerted, and we will lose the element of surprise.”
“Yes sir, we will standby until your order.”
“Good,” the captain said, looking out the front window at the round blue planet. “This time… there will be no escape. I will find you, Lotus…”