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Chapter the Prologue2,188 words
Chapter the First1,894 words

Chapter the First

Today was cause for grand celebration in the kingdom of Equestria. The capital city of Canterlot would be host to yet another wedding. Many ponies were excited, others could care less. Nevertheless, all would agree that this joining of two souls would be one that would live on for a thousand generations.

As much as a grand occasion that it was, Celestia found the entire thing nerve-wracking. Perhaps it was that she wasn't the one conducting the ceremony and instead stood in the bridegroom's horseshoes, or perhaps it was the fact that the public were very mixed opinion wise. Whatever the reason may be, she, the sovereign ruler, was very, very nervous.

Celestia paced back and forth in her room, giving a glance to her dress in the corner. She had to thank Rarity whenever she got the chance. The ruler shook her head and ran through her mental checklist. Luna will be giving the ceremony, Twilight is going to be my best mare and is also organizing the ceremony with Cadence, Pinkie Pie is organizing the reception, Shining Armor is head of the security, Applejack and most of Ponyville's baker's and chefs are catering, Rarity already has the dress attire worked out, Rainbow Dash is working the weather for the wedding, Fluttershy is... that's right, the bird choir for the wedding... Derpy is... Celestia paused. She took a moment to comprehend her soon-to-be spouse's explanation of why she was having her neighbor/roommate participating in the ceremony b handing her over instead of her actual father.

"I don't have the best relationship with my folks," Derpy's voice echoed in Celestia's mind. "We haven't spoken to each other in a long, long time. To ask my dad to just hand me over to the ruler of Equestria, let alone for his blessing, might not be the greatest idea. I know it's strange to have my neighbor hand me off, but he's more of a father than my real one. It's hard to explain him, but I'm sure you'll understand when you meet him."

With a long sigh, Celestia stopped her pacing and simply stared over her room. Her mind was ticking away, trying to make a plan over her plan. She was brought out of her thoughts by a gentle tapping on the door.

"Sister? Tis time for the rehearsal," Luna's muffled voice called.

"Coming!" Celestia replied. She tried to shake the concern out of her mind. With a sigh, she mumbled, "I should be happier, but... I can't shake this feeling that something is wrong..."

Celestia stood at the altar, the room deathly silent. Chairs were placed all around it. She had wanted the ceremony to take place in this room. They would begin at sunset, and as the last words were spoken the light from the sun dipping over the horizon would shine through the windows, silhouetting their forms as they shared the seal of their wedding. This was a rehearsal, however. the only needed ponies were Twilight, Luna, this mysterious neighbor, Derpy and herself. However, there was a slight problem. 3/5 ponies were not here, and one was a little more necessary than the other.

A clocked chimed, and the ruler of Equestria began to sweat a little. She kept telling herself that everything was fine. She had a small inkling that something like this may have happened. She had planned so that something like this would not happen. there would be a female guard to help the Pegasus find her way to the rehearsal. In addition, there would be a second guard to take over for that guard if they needed to pee or something or if the first guard forgot where to go. As a last precaution, she recruited an undercover spy to pose as a bridesmaid to remind Derpy to get to the rehearsal. That guard would definitely know where to go if the two outside didn't know-

Celestia wiped her brow. She was sweating more than a little. She gazed at the clock. Had ten minutes really passed her by? Well, a thousand years did pass faster than she imagined. She kept calm though... well, calmer than her student.

"Where is she? She's fifteen minutes late- FIFTEEN MINUTES! How can we hope to pull off the wedding if we can't even get to the rehearsal?! Gah!!! Now sixteen! When..." Celestia softly tuned out Twilight's maniacal rant. She didn't want to become more worried than she needed to be. Still though, her student did have a fair point. Would it take this long for Derpy to become lost and have plan b, section 4, protocol beta get throne into action? Or... was it Plan gamma, section d, protocol 2? In either case, she knew exactly what to do. I mean, the Pegasus wouldn't be lost for twenty whole minutes. She still had-

The clock in the room ticked over another minute.

If there was ever any doubt that Celestia's coat could lose no more color, it would've been dashed away in the instant that minute ticked over. Her lower body slumped to the floor and her façade fell away completely. Her mane even drooped as all hope and every single one of Celestia's well-laid plans fell away and became meaningless. Every one of her plans had fallen away, but she still knew exactly what to expect.

"Sister...?" Luna would begin with concern first.

"Celestia?" Twilight would so eagerly follow, her own worry being placed on the backburners.

She would not answer and would simply let the next one and a half minutes tick away. Then, the doors to the room burst open. All three of her recruited guards came rushing towards them, stopping before her with their heads hung low.

"We have failed you princess..." they said in unison.

Here it comes, Celestia thought with a droop over her own head. Her eyes welled up with tears as she braced herself for the bad news.

"Derpy, she..." spoke the false bridesmaid.

I should've seen this coming, she reprimanded herself.

"She..."

Hurry up and just say it already! she ordered internally.

"She's been kidnapped."

There was a deafening pause. Twilight gasped in shock, trying to figure out who the culprits could be? Chrysalis? Somba's return? Discord? Meanwhile, Luna seemed to be a mixture of sadness and deep thught. She began to think si ilarly to Twilight, but began running over all of the shared enemies they could've earned over time.

Celestia... did not appear to share the same emotions that her fellow princesses held. For her, everything froze in place, or rather went in very slow motion. Her one thousand year old mind cranked and chugged as the colors around began to blur. She could hear the muffled voices all around her, speaking gibberish. She came to one conclusion: she definitely should have planned for this moment. The difference between what she assumed had happened and what she knew though was a simple fact. She now had hope.

As Luna and Twilight chatted up the guards, leaving the sun-raiser to her misery, the group suddenly found themselves flush against the walls of the room in what could only be described as a blink. Luna and Twilight were the first to right themselves. Luna however seemed to know what was going on.

"It seems my sister ha perhaps become the most dangerous threat to Equestria," she stated neutrally. "I've only ever seen her this... empowered one other time when we were younger."

"Luna," Twilight gasped. "That was... Princess Celestia?" She watched the princess of the night examining a smoldering and bubbling crater where the sun princess once slumped.

"We were igh but foals, yet I still remember..." Luna said with a shake of her head. "She had lost a simple toy, one that could've been replaced post-haste, but she..." Luna shook her head and point towards the large doors of the room, broken off their hinges and partially cracked. "She becme so... obsessed in finding it that she would've torn the walls out to find it."

"But... she didn't," Twilight began in worry. "She controlled herself, right?"

"To put it in simple terms," Luna began with urgency. "Mother and father are not here to pacify her."

Celestia's horn flashed as multiple spells were thrown into the rooms she passed. Some contained ponies, others did not. It didn't matter to her. She only had one mare on her mind. At some point, she had lost her tiara, and her royal regalia. Even the choker around her neck was gone. It probably melted. It was not as important as Derpy was. Nothing could ever be as important as Derpy.

Celestia finished one wing of the castle and was approaching the main hall, where the stained glass windows would be. They could always make more-

Celestia's flight was tossed roughly to the ground as she felt a powerful magical barrier break like glass. She stood up, disoriented from the fall to only be knocked to the ground. She looked up to the pony that would dare interrupt her. Luna. Behind her was a pony reling from magical feedback. Twilight Sparkle. ...Still not as important as Derpy.

"SISTER!" Luna shouted with the Royal Canterlotian voice. It hurt the sun alicorn's ears, but she could complain when Derpy was found.

"Luna, I must find-"

THWACK!

Luna threw a powerful smack across Celestia's cheek. It stung, and for a moment Celestia's mind was blank.

"Snap out of this! Control thyself!" Luna commanded with a quieter voice.

"I... must find her..." the sun alicorn mumbled, her wings spreading out again as she prepared for faster than light travel. "Derpy..."

"NAY!" Luna replied resolutely. "Thou shalt destroy thyself and the country you rule! If you do not come to thy senses now, then how ill you expect to find her?!?!?"

"If it means finding-"

"STOP! You are giving into your fears, sister!" Luna pleaded "If the kingdom and you are nothing but a pale echo of what they were, what does that leave this mare when she is found?!"

"Her... me... together..."

"Celestia-!"

"Er... Excuse me..." a rather posh voice interrupted. A small brown stallion with a chocolate brown mane that also was adorned in an ugly green tie approached the alicorns as if it were nothing. "Royal sisters, if my tardiness is the cause for this ruckus then I must quit emphatically apologize."

The room was deathly silent as all eyes were upon the strange brown stallion.

"And... you would be?" Celestia spoke up as she straightened herself out.

"I'm the Doctor," he replied with a smile. "I'm, er... Derpy's neighbor...? Speaking of, where is she?"

Author's Note:

... Well, that happened. I know I'm probably taking several liberties with Celestia's personality, but hear me out before you boil me in oil.

If I were an a thousand year old entity who just got their shot at true love in all my life- pretty much waiting eons for someone to have that special spark with me- I would make my wedding in the same exact way. Planning for every little contingency I could think of and some that I could not. Pretty much, the bridezilla to end all bridezillas. Then, if I found out that instead of my wife missing before the ceremony even began, I'd assume the worst: they dumped me and left. Can any of you see where I was going with this? The scene with Celestia pretty much going all DBZ was inspired by the fight with Tirek. In the end I blame ponies... always...