Every self-sustaining timepiece in Equestria said it was ten in the morning.
The sky was still frozen at twilight.
Princess Cadance sat upon the throne, facing a large group of tense unicorns, some barely a few years older than her, others so ancient their skin hung in dense, leathery folds. Shining Armor stood at her side, face haggard and eyes bleary.
"Thank you all for coming," Cadance said as two unicorn guards closed the doors. "Everything you are about to be told is in strictest confidence. I apologize for summoning you in the middle of the night and then keeping you waiting, but I had matters to attend to that took longer than expected." Her gaze briefly strayed to the tall, ornate mirror that stood off to the side, a unicorn guard and a pegasus guard standing sentry over it.
"Is it true what they're saying?" a wizened old stallion asked. "Princess Celestia has fallen ill?"
Cadance grimaced. "I have asked the pegasus guard to spread that news in order to stall for time," she said. "The truth is far worse, I'm afraid."
The crowd of unicorns shifted and milled, glancing around with expressions of shock and unease. The same stallion asked, "Surely you don't mean to say she...passed away?"
"No!" Cadance replied frantically, her wings flaring. "No. As far as we know, Princess Celestia is alive, and we have no reason to believe otherwise." She glanced to Shining Armor, then braced herself. "However, she is...missing."
There was a collective gasp.
"Missing?" a middle-aged mare cried. "How...how can she be missing?"
Cadance glanced at the mirror. "I know this will sound strange," she said, "but she vanished through a magic portal contained within that mirror."
One of the oldest unicorns groaned. "Starswirl's besotted portals!" he hissed. "I have read about them. I thought they had all been sealed permanently!"
"Why would the princess pass through one of those old portals?" an ancient mare asked. "What could possibly be worth the danger to Equestria?"
"Can she not simply be retrieved by the guards?"
Cadance blinked. "You all...know about the portal?"
The first unicorn spoke up. "Only those of us who have been around for a very long time," he said. "Starswirl the Bearded's experimentation into space-time magic falls under the category of the most protected magic in Equestria, and only the most learned and trustworthy scholars are allowed to research his most advanced and dangerous spells and secrets." He stood and approached the mirror; the guards tensed, but Cadance waved them down. He studied the mirror, rubbing a hoof along its polished surface. He frowned. "Is it sealed?"
"It appears to be," Cadance said. "According to the guards who were present at the time, it sealed itself behind Celestia and Sunset Shimmer."
A collective hiss rose from the group.
"I should have known," the middle-aged mare growled, pawing the floor and snorting.
"That child!"
"She was such a promising student, but lately..."
"Sunset Shimmer has doomed Equestria!"
"What was she playing at?"
"QUIET!" Cadance called, her voice echoing. The unicorns stilled. Cadance pressed a hoof to her chest, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, extending her hoof forward. She opened her eyes and regarded the crowd. "We are facing a crisis the likes of which Equestria has not seen in a thousand years. I need all of you right now. You represent the greatest collective of magical knowledge ponykind has to offer." She stepped down from the throne. "Right now, we have two problems. We need to find a way to open that portal and retrieve Princess Celestia..." She took another deep breath. "And until she can be brought home, I need to learn how to move the sun and moon."
The crowd of unicorns shifted uneasily.
The eldest stallion coughed. "Princess, we...we can go through Starswirl's research on the portals and try to get Princess Celestia back, but..." He glanced to the middle-aged mare.
"We have no idea how to move the heavens," the mare said.
Cadance blinked. "What? But...!" She drew back. "No! In ancient times, before the founding of Equestria, unicorns moved the sun and moon! Every schoolfilly knows that!"
"That may be true, Your Highness," the mare said, "but over two thousand years ago, Princess Celestia herself sealed that knowledge. She destroyed all ancient records of the unicorn spells that controlled the sun and the moon."
Shining Armor stepped forward. "But why?" he asked. "Why would she—"
"She did it to protect generations of unicorns," the old stallion said. "She believed as long as she was connected to the sun, there was no need for unicorns to pass down such knowledge, and our ancient unicorn ancestors..." He bowed his head. "What isn't spoken of in school is that the unicorns who moved the sun and moon sacrificed their own magic to do so. It took large teams of unicorns to control the heavens, and no unicorn could endure the strain of moving the sun or moon for more than twenty years before permanently losing their magic. Even Starswirl the Bearded himself burned out his power as part of the sun team."
"It was Celestia's taking over the moving of the sun that restored the unicorns' magic," another stallion said. "After she learned how dangerous it was for any lesser pony to move the heavens, she ordered the knowledge sealed for all time, and personally destroyed all records of the spells that controlled the sun. Princess Luna did likewise with the spells to control the moon."
Cadance and Shining Armor looked at one another. Shining Armor's ears folded back. "Then...we're doomed," he said.
Cadance set her mouth grimly. "Unless we can open the portal and find Princess Celestia—"
"This portal...I don't think it can be forced open," the eldest unicorn said. His horn glowed, tracing the edge of the mirror with his magic. "I'll need access to Starswirl's notes on the portals to be sure, but some of them were designed to open and close on their own at set intervals. Legend has it that one such portal was created specifically to, erm...dispose of three dangerous creatures of dark magic that threatened Equestria long ago." He frowned, tapping his chin with a hoof. "This could well be that very portal."
Cadance gasped. "Then Celestia is in danger from dark magical beings?"
The old unicorn snorted dismissively. "Hardly likely, that was over a thousand years ago," he said. "Besides, it's Princess Celestia. She can certainly look after herself while we work to retrieve her." He frowned. "If we can."
"Portals to other dimensions are not forced open lightly," the middle-aged mare said hesitantly. "Starswirl was centuries ahead of his time, and no unicorn since has had his raw talent and intelligence. It could take months, even years to unravel his research and figure out how to open this portal. And even then, how would we find Princess Celestia in whatever world she's trapped in?"
"She's likely to stay close to the portal if at all possible," another mare said. "She might even be trying to open it from her side."
"We can't assume that," a younger stallion said. "We need to act, and we need to act quickly."
"But we can't act too quickly, or we could destroy the portal instead of opening it, and then she'd be lost forever!"
"If she isn't found quickly, Equestria will be doomed forever!"
"That's why our first priority needs to be—"
"Gentleponies, please cease your nickering," a deep, cultured female voice said. "There is nothing to be gained from this fruitless bickering!"
Every pony in the room fell silent, turning to the great doors of the throne room. The guards by the doors tensed.
A cloaked figure stood at the back of the throne room, halfway between the assembled unicorns and the guarded doors.
She hadn't been there before. The doors had never opened.
Cadance took a step forward as the unicorn scholars parted. "Excuse me," she said gently. "Who are you, and how did you get past the guards?"
"I have my ways and means," the cloaked mare said. "I'm afraid some of your guards are lost in their dreams."
Shining Armor trotted forward, head low and horn glowing. "I'll take care of this," he said. "The last thing we need right now is—"
"Stay your magic, I am not your foe," the mare said, raising a hoof. The folds of her cloak parted slightly, revealing an ash grey coat with dark stripes. The edge of a golden bangle peeked out from beneath the heavy brown fabric. "I have come to assist you in this time of woe."
Cadance waved Shining Armor down, then stepped forward, tilting her head curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Who are you?"
The mare lowered her hood, revealing more stripes, stormy blue-grey eyes, and a stiff mohawk, alternating between white and dark grey. Enormous gold hoop earrings hung from her ears, and gold bands encircled her neck.
"My name is Zecora, and this is no lie: You will need my assistance to unfreeze the sky."