//------------------------------// // Heroes Missing // Story: Rifts of Power and Darkness // by BoltAshera //------------------------------// Up in Canterlot Castle, the princess of the night snuck into her sister’s room to wake her up; a cake held in her magic grip. A muffled snicker escaped Luna’s lips as she floated the cake to hover above her solar sister. With a barely contained laugh, Luna cut her magic, the confection dropped and splattered over Celestia’s face. The white alicorn bolted upright with a yelp, causing Luna’s laughter to finally be too much to contain. “We finally got thee, sister!” Celestia gaze deadpanned at her sister and she quickly used her magic to clean off the pieces of cake from her coat, mane, and her bed. Luna’s laughter died down when she noticed that her sister wasn’t laughing with her. Luna gave Celestia a nervous grin as she asked,“Um, art thee ok, sister?” Celestia then smirked and launched the remains of the smashed up cake at her sister, who let out a yelp as her face, neck, and mane were covered in cake. The white alicorn giggled at the look on her sister’s face. “Who got who now, dear sister?” The two sisters looked to each other for a moment before Luna jumped on her sister, the two alicorns rolled around the room, laughing. Both of them became covered with the cake until a surge of magic power cut their revelry short. They look to each other in surprise. “Didst thee feel that, Tia?” Celestia nodded and looked in the direction of Ponyville. “I did, that felt like it came from Ponyville.” Celestia stood up and cleaned herself up with a flash of magic, her sister did the same beside her. “We art certain that whatever it is, our friends can handle it, sister. We should not be worried.” Luna smiled and nuzzled her sister comfortingly, the larger alicorn returned the gesture, but also gave her head a slight shake “I have a bad feeling about this Lulu, that magic wasn’t Equestrian.” Luna opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a second, stronger pulse of magic that washed over them. The younger sister scowled to herself and nodded in agreement. “Mayhap thee art right, sister, but thee art needed for thy Summer Sun Celebration. Go prepare and we shall investigate these waves of power coming from Twilight Sparkle’s town.” Celestia looked down to her sister and gave her a nod, followed by quick nuzzle. “Alright, be quick Luna, and be careful” Luna returned the nuzzle quickly before she dashed through the balcony door and took off. Once in the air, she poured all the power she could into her speed to reach the town as fast as possible. However, before she made it halfway, Twilight’s palace, visible even at that distance, was surrounded by a bright lavender light, forcing the night princess to cover her eyes with a forehoof just to hold off the bright light. As the blinding light faded from view, Luna was slammed with a massive wave of magical pressure that knocked her out of the air for a moment before she recovered, then she looked down towards the Palace of Friendship, expecting the worst. Instead she saw the palace was completely intact. However, Luna knew that something huge just happened there and once more rocketed off towards the palace. She reached the crystalline palace seconds later and slammed through the doors, her worry over her friend’s safety superseding any worry about things like property damage or doors. “Twilight Sparkle! Spike! Where art thee‽” Luna’s cry was answered by a low groan from a nearby staircase, prompting her to rush over towards the sound. She found Spike in a heap at the bottom of a large set of crystalline steps. He gave a groan as he attempted to right himself “Ugh...what happened?” “Spike! Dost thou know where we couldst find Twilight Sparkle?” Luna wasted no time getting in the young dragon’s face, causing him to yelp in surprise before bowing awkwardly “P-princess? I think she was in the throne room, at least, that’s where she said she was going to be casting that spell she found in your old castle to teleport herself and her friends from here to Canterlot. I’m not sure what happened, I was just walking down the stairs one moment, and the next I was laying at the bottom of the stairs feeling like I was just bucked by AJ” Luna sprinted to the throne room, with Spike being left behind even as he tried his best to keep up with the night princess. Luna froze as she entered upon seeing the marks on the ground. “W-what’s wrong princess?” Spike panted as he ran into the room. When he received no response, Spike lightly poked her hind leg. “Princess?” Luna ignored Spike and walked up towards the six scorch marks on the ground with an unreadable expression on her face. Spike followed close behind until he saw the marks himself. His eyes went wide, his mind instantly going back to Twilight’s warnings about teleportation spells and he quickly feared the worst had happened. Fighting back tears, Spike mumbled, “No...Twilight…” The dark alicorn lowered her head and closed her eyes, her horn lighting up with her indigo aura as she casted every scanning and detection spell in her considerable repertoire. Spike took a couple steps back from Luna, he was watching her intently and wondering if she will be able to save his older sister/mother figure. So intent on her fate, Spike failed to notice the tears that ran down his own scaled cheeks. Luna stood there for a long while, her horn blazing with power as she attempted to track down where her closest friends had went, or if they were even still alive. Spike sat down nearby while the princess worked, tears streaming unheeded down his face at the thought of losing the one that had practically raised him. Finally, Luna’s aura faded from her horn and she panted heavily, fixing Spike with a look that brokered no hesitation, only obedience. “Princess Twilight and her friends live yet, but we cannot locate them. Send a letter to our sister to inform her that her presence is required here immediately.” Spike snapped a quick salute and took off running out of the room up to the study where Twilight kept all her writing supplies. He sniffled and rubbed the tears from his face as he went, a determined expression fixing itself on his face. Once Spike was out of earshot, Luna lit up her horn once more and ghostly images of the six missing ponies appeared around her as her magic replayed the events that occurred. She watched Twilight cast the spell, the rift appearing in the air, and then the six of them get sucked through it. As the images faded, Luna fell to her knees with a cry, the tears she was holding back coming forward as her composure shattered from the thought that her friends may not make it home. “Please...my friends...stay safe. We will find you, I promise, but wherever you are, stay safe.” Luna then buried her face in her forelegs and awaited her sister’s arrival.