Safe

by Princess_Celest1a

Bats

Twilight opened her eyes. She saw the rest of her friends trying to wake up. The Alicorn looked over at Luna and Celestia. Luna looked slightly sleepy, but relatively well rested under the circumstances, especially since she was the Princess of the Night. Celestia, on the other hand, looked exhausted.
“My!” thought Twilight, “She looks like she hasn’t slept in days!” Twilight walked cautiously up to the white Alicorn.
“Princess,” whispered Twilight, “are you alright?” Celestia seemed to jerk herself out of a doze.
“H-huh?” stuttered the sleepy princess, “Oh. No. I’m fine.” Celestia tried to hide her exhausted state with a smile, but it only made her look more tired.
“Not to be rude, but I think you should get some sleep.” suggested Twilight. Celestia opened her mouth to answer, but a rumbling came from the other side of the cave.

Twilight and Celestia looked over at the cave entrance to see Luna removing the rock from the entrance to the cave. Luna peered tentatively outside.
“It seems Zarta has moved on,” said an obviously relieved Luna, “let us go outside once more.” Everyone followed Luna outside. Luna started following the black tendril.
“Um-” started Fluttershy, “if we were hiding from Zarta all night, why are we following it now?”
“It would not have been advantageous to try to fight Zarta while it was night time. During the day, we will have a better chance.” Fluttershy gulped, and jumped behind the nearest pony to her, who happened to be Rainbow Dash.
“Cool down, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash, “I’m sure this ‘Zarta’ will be a lot less scary than you think when we actually meet it.”
“Do not be so sure, Rainbow Dash.” said Celestia, “Zarta may very well be the most dangerous enemy you have ever faced.” Twilight noticed that Celestia once again had that nervous, frightened look upon her face.
“I wonder what could have happened in her past to make her this afraid.” thought Twilight, “Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen Celestia afraid before.”

“Instead of being a flesh and blood enemy, like Queen Chrysalis,” continued Celestia, “or even a shadow like King Sombra, Zarta is an embodiment of fear, just as Discord is an embodiment of chaos.”
“Well,” started Applejack, “what does Zarta look like, anyway?” Celestia continued her lecture.
“Unlike Discord, Zarta is not a physical embodiment of fear. Nopony knows exactly what Zarta looks like, but we can assume its outward appearance is merely of a black cloud, hence the painting in the palace.”
“What’s so scary about a black cloud?” asked Pinkie.
“It is not what Zarta looks like that makes it frightening, but what it does. As I have said before, I do not know exactly what Zarta does.”

Luna gazed at the ground.
“I believe we are getting nearer to our goal.” Twilight looked where Luna was looking. Twilight gasped. The black tendril they had been following was noticeably thicker, as if they were getting closer to the source. Twilight gulped. As she looked closer, she could see that it was throbbing.
“P-princess Luna?” Twilight asked with fear in her voice, “Why is it throbbing?”
“Do you really want to know the answer?” answered Luna. All of the ponies except for Celestia nodded. “I have absolutely no idea. Celestia would probably know more from firsthand experience; the ordeal was Zarta occurred while I was on the moon.” Everyone looked expectantly at Celestia.
“I’d rather not speak of it now.” said Celestia tersely. Although she managed to seem like she was just disinterested, Twilight could see in her eyes she was filled with fright.
“What the hay could scare CELESTIA?” thought Twilight worriedly. “I was scared before, but now I’m REALLY scared.”

The group of eight ponies came across a small forest.
“Yay!” said Fluttershy, “Maybe there are some cute creatures in here!” Suddenly, a there was a strange noise emanating from the brush.
“What’s that?” asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight started to answer tentatively.
“I think it’s...wings.” Everyone could now hear the wings clearly. Fluttershy once again hid under Pinkie Pie. The ponies looked at the bushes with fear in their eyes. Then, all of the sudden, something burst out from within the forest. Instead of the loud sound of wing flapping belonging to one monstrous creature, it belonged to many creatures flying as one. They looked like a bat gone wrong. They were very tiny, but had huge fangs. Then, they did something no one expected; they flew around until you could clearly see the word “Zarta” spelled out. Celestia screamed out in fear and bolted away. She opened up her long wings and took off, heading towards a big mountain.

“Princess! Wait!” Yelled Twilight. Luna yelled after her too, but Celestia kept flying away as fast as she could.
“Um…” started Fluttershy, “The… creatures are still here.”
“Sorry, of course.” said Luna, and she quickly dispelled the ugly creatures with a spell.
“Twilight,” said Luna urgently, “you have to go after her. She will not tell me what happened between Zarta and her. I hope she will tell you”
“O-okay.” Twilight gulped.

Author's Note:

Sorry it's short. I wanted to upload this before I leave for 3 days. Apologizing in advance if there are grammar errors. Hope you like the chapter, thanks for reviews!!!