“Your majesty?” the guard inquired from the doorway. Princess Celestia turned to him with an unusually serious look.
“Ready the chariot and a platoon of pegasi. There is a disturbance near the Everfree Forest,” she said, gazing into the distance. The guard saluted and left the throne room.
“Your majesty, surely you can send a letter to Twilight Sparkle,” an adviser said from her side. “You still need to meet with the mayor of Trottingham and the representatives from Cloudsdale over the weather. And let's not forget that today has a large number of petitions scheduled in court.”
The princess shook her head and walked stately out to the gardens. “This is a matter for me, not for Twilight. Ask Luna to take care of the mayor and representatives and reschedule court for tomorrow.”
The adviser sighed and jotted some notes on his pad. “If Luna can't take it, shall I put it off for tomorrow as well?” The princess nodded and the advising unicorn bowed, recognizing the dismissal. He sighed and trotted off with his pad, mumbling to himself about the fickleness of royalty.
Celestia stepped into the chariot, a rare frown on her face as the pegasi lifted off. Ponyvillle was a common area for magical events ever since Twilight Sparkle had moved out there, but this was different. Something had interfered with the ancient wards she and Luna had placed over the land so many years ago. And then, a minute later, she felt something poke her sun curiously, like a newborn filly investigating a cat for the first time. That meant that there was something new in the land, and yet strangely the land wasn't upset. She pondered as the pegasi drew the chariot through the sky, out of Canterlot, and toward Ponyville.
* * *
Rainbow Dash was having a relatively boring day. There wasn't any weather scheduled for today and Cloudsdale didn't need her or her team anywhere else. There weren't even any real clouds to clear, not that that would have kept her busy for long. Even training for the Wonderbolts just didn't feel right today. Sure, she could probably still work on the Triple-Twist Aileron Loop, but it was starting to feel stale. Practicing was boring, especially without anyone watching. She sighed as she floated through the air, landing on a small patch of cloud that she kept nearby.
“So borrrrred!” she cried to no one in particular. “I mean, come on, there's really nothing happening today? Pinkie's baking, Twilight's reading, AJ's been working on that new barn for days; Ugh! even Scootaloo's off with her friends.” She sighed and flumped back into the cloud sending little poofs swirling away, now just watching the boring market below. Rose was out selling flowers, Lyra and Bonbon were having lunch, Derpy was delivering mail in her own special way. Everything was just so...normal. She was about to give up and go visit Fluttershy. It'd be kinda dull taking care of the animals, but at least her friend always had something to talk about once you got her started. It was better than the other alternative...Rarity. Going to Carousel Boutique was pretty much the same as torture to the pegasus who prided herself on never brushing her mane. She was sure she was earning some kind of record and she intended to keep it that way.
So she took a quick look around town, in case a giant cupcake had fallen out of the sky or something. With nothing new to interest her she sighed and launched herself off toward Fluttershy's cottage. At least the wind was finally in her mane again. She let herself grin as she did a few loops almost without thinking. One of these days she had to get around to teaching Scoots how to do that. Then she'd finally have someone to fly with, maybe. Well, maybe not. The last time she'd seen Scootaloo, the filly still hadn't figured out hovering.
Dash was so lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the strange shapes on the ground. But the movement caught her eye and she slowed down to circle over them. Halfway to Fluttershy's cottage, there were two weird looking creatures down there. One was wearing some sort of black dress and the other had on a white shirt. But it wasn't the clothes that made her puzzled, it was the way they walked. They were on two legs, not on four, and they had strange claws on their forelegs instead of hooves. And they didn't have a tail! Even tank had a tail, and he was a pretty weird sort of creature. Come to think of, almost everything had a tail, didn't it? Curious, she decided to investigate more closely. After all, she was the fastest pony in all of Equestria, and they didn't have wings or a horn or anything. If they tried anything, she'd knock them upside the head and zoom off fast enough to make a double rainboom. She circled down, ignoring the bright glint in the distance.
Whatever Rainbow Dash had thought of them, the two creatures weren't stupid. They'd seen the pegasus from a distance, watching her loop around leaving her signature trail of rainbows. Now they stopped in their steps, watching her as she circled down to hover in front of them. For a moment they stared at each other, the two creatures and a blue pegasus. And then, just as Dash was about to inch forward, the tall one spoke. “A pegasus, right?”
Dash jumped and fluttered back a foot. “Whoa! You can talk!”
The tall one, a male judging by his voice, nodded. The shorter one nodded. “And so can you, it seems.” She was definitely a she. Her voice was like a softer version of Luna's.
“Duh, of course I can talk,” Dash replied, coming up closer to get a good look at their faces. They were as tall as Princess Celestia, so Dash decided to stay in the air. “And of course I'm a pegasus. No other pony can fly and I'm definitely not a griffon or a dragon.”
“Pony?” asked the mare.
Dash facehoofed. “Duh, what did you think I was?” She flew around them slowly, taking a better look at them. The two things were quiet, watching Rainbow fly around them. “So, what are you? You don't have tails, wings, or a horn. You can stand on two legs and you have claws instead of hooves. And no fur. Huh, you're the weirdest creatures I've seen from the Forest. Not even any scales.”
“The Forest?” the man asked.
“The Everfree Forest,” Dash pointed back towards it. “All the weird creatures, like you two, come from there. How can you not know that?”
“Because we didn't come from the Everfree Forest.”
“You didn't? Then where'd you come from? And what are you?”
The girl opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off by a spear of light slamming into the ground and knocking the humans down. Dash looked up, ready to go attack whatever this was, to see Princess Celestia hovering in the sky and a platoon of guards descending on them. The Princess' horn was glowing and her face was stern. Dash dropped to the ground, bowing as low as she could and praying that Celestia didn't blast her next.
The strange creatures, though, got up quickly and faced the sun princess. In his hand, the tall one held a shining spear of light while the shorter one had two disks of darkness in hers. The pegasi guards quickly formed a circle around the group with halberds at the ready. “These are humans, Rainbow Dash,” Princess Celestia said.
“Hu-humans?” the pegasus asked, looking up again.
The princess nodded and hovered before the two 'humans'. “Yes, and they do not belong here.”
“Well, we can argue about belonging later, but you're right,” the man said, unafraid, “we are humans. Who are you?” He pointed his spear at the hovering princess. Instantly the guards moved in closer with their halberds extended.
“Lower your weapons and stand down!” the nearest guard ordered. “You are in the presence of Princess Celestia of Equestria, Keeper of the Sun and Ruler of the Day.”
The man looked at the woman. “She's an alicorn, a winged pegasus,” she filled in for him.
“Lower your weapons!” the guard repeated. The man just looked back to the princess.
“With all due respect, your highness,” he said, “I'd rather not. You seem to have us surrounded.”
Without warning, a bolt of light shot from Celestia's horn. The man moved swiftly, bringing his spear up to meet it. There was a crack as it connected and for a moment he seemed to be straining before deflecting the bolt up and away. The movement left him open and in that split second several polearms pressed against his chest. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she had seen, nopony had ever done something like that before, not since the Changeling attack. She looked up to the princess, but Celestia's face was as blank as ever. Then her eyes moved. Rainbow followed to see the girl standing quietly, her black disks spinning.
“I recognize shadow magic, girl,” Celestia said, narrowing her eyes. “You are weak during the day, do not test me.”
The two stared at each other. Rainbow knew that look, it was the look of challenge that you gave to another pony before the race. It was a look that meant you were serious and you were sizing up the opposition. Somepony always had to back down from that, and when they did, that was when they lost. And as Dash expected, the girl was the one to back down. The black disks evaporated away and the guards moved in to surround them. The man gave her a look. “Tch,” he muttered as his spear dissolved into light.
“Get into the chariot,” the guard said. It was the same one from before, and he gave the man a sharp poke and he and the woman began walking. By now Rainbow Dash felt confident enough to stand again, the princess wasn't mad at her apparently, so now it was time to move along fly off before anything else happened. She turned slowly and was about to take off when two guards crossed their spears in her face. She looked around frantically. “You too,” the guard said to her, pointing to the chariot.
“Me! What'd I do?” She asked in panic as they herded her in to stand next to the two humans. “I didn't do anything! I was just going to Fluttershy's house, I didn't even prank anyone! Princess Celestia!” She turned to the monarch, pleading and clearly afraid. By now a crowd on ponies from the town had turned out to see the spectacle. She looked around but the guards were as stony as ever. She couldn't let herself be arrested, not here, not in front of all these other ponies. Without warning, she leaped into the air, but the guards were already waiting for her. Two were in front of her, halberds pointing. She dashed to the side to find another there, and then there was one behind her. She was being enclosed, but there was still an opening and she was Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in Equestria. She ducked down toward the ponies on the ground and in less than a second she was out and away from the guards. And then suddenly she hit a wall.
“What!?” Dash looked around frantically, squirming in air, held by a golden glow. She looked back to see Princess Celestia standing by the chariot, horn glowing, her face calm, but a little sad. “Princess?” The monarch was silent, as were the humans. Sighing, Dash stopped struggling and Celestia set her down. The pegasus walked over to the chariot, head and ears down, doing her best to avoid the gaze of the crowd. As she stepped into the chariot, she heard the guards start clearing out the assembled ponies.
“Relax, Rainbow Dash,” a voice said by her ear. She looked up to see the princess there with a slight smile. “You are not in trouble, but you were the first to see these humans. I need your help. Don't worry about your friends, I will send a letter to Twilight. In the meantime, please just relax and don't try to fly off again.” She gave Rainbow a smile before beating her wings, taking off. The guards followed, pulling the chariot into the air. Rainbow Dash looked up to the two humans, but their faces were blank and they ignored her.
“Princess Celestia!!” Rainbow heard the voice come up from far below and she poked her head over the side. “Rainbow Dash! What happened?” A purple unicorn was galloping after the chariot, even though she had no hope of keeping up.
“Twilight!” she called back to her friend, waving a hoof at her. Twilight's expression perked up and she began concentrating, her horn glowing. “Nonono!” Dash shook her head and waved her forelegs, but they were too far away for Twilight to hear and a moment later the unicorn blinked out of existence. Dash turned to look at the chariot, but instead of the usual flash of light there was a purple shimmer around the chariot followed by a scream. Rainbow scrambled to look overboard to see Twilight falling, her face surprised and scared. Dash tensed herself to fly after her, but the guards were already on it. Two stallions plummeted like hawks and below Dash saw her other friends waiting for her. She relaxed, as Twilight was caught by the guards and met by her friends. But they were shrinking, getting farther away as the chariot rose.
“Is she alright?” the woman asked. She looked down at Dash, a little worried. The pony nodded.
“Yeah...” The woman opened her mouth to say something again but Dash had already settled down in the chariot, ignoring the humans. All of this was their fault and Rainbow wasn't really sure how to feel about it.
Ahead of them Celestia flew onwards, her face determined. Humans had returned to Equestria. Somehow, even after being banished by the will of the land itself, humans had returned. <Luna,> she thought to her sister. She waited a moment as the velvet presence in the distance yawned and made contact.
<Sister? It's late.> The mental voice was clearly tired and the vestiges of sleep surrounded her.
<Luna, I am returning to Canterlot with the guards. We need accommodations: two rooms, magically sealed. Tell Shining Armor to prepare my quarters as well and wait for us there.>
The violet presence snapped awake, concerned. <Of course, sister. We shall meet you on the northern balcony.>
The link was cut and Celestia turned her glance back at the humans. They were waiting, behaving themselves. So far they hadn't tried any magic, but that didn't mean much. Somehow they had come here through the wards and that was never good.