Chapter 4 - The Stars Beckon
Spike had never found it hard to wake up. Waking up was, objectively, a very simple thing to do. In fact, he usually did it without thinking about it. It just happened. One moment you weren’t awake, the next you were. Sometimes there were a few stages in the process, true, where you were slightly more awake than you had been before, but in general it didn’t take much effort to go from not being awake at all to being ever so slightly awake.
Unless you were Rainbow Dash taking a nap, obviously, but since Spike self-evidently was not, the fact he wasn’t able to wake up was sort of getting to him. How he was aware of his unwaking state without being awake was a question all in its own. Despite not having read any books about how brains worked - he’d burned a few, but he was pretty sure that didn’t count as anything but property damage - Spike was willing to bet this was...unusual.
‘Not that unusual is really unusual anymore,’ thought the little dragon with a mental eyeroll. He paused, floating in the white void that he thought surrounded him.
After a moment, he tried to look around. This turned out to be somewhat difficult, as he wasn’t entirely certain he had a neck. Then again, he found himself frowning - or did it just feel like he should be frowning?
‘Maybe this is a dream?’ he suggested to himself, floating in a void he wasn’t sure existed, because he was kind of having trouble finding a frame of reference for what he was experiencing. ‘Princess Luna? Are you there? Twilight said you could visit dreams. Are you in mine?’
…
‘...I guess that’s a no?’
…
‘I’m going to take that as a no. Great. Even the Crusaders are more important than me.’
So, he floated. Or hovered. Or just….was there. If there was a there to be there. Possibly he was here. but that must surely also be a there from some point of view, so one must mean the other….right?
‘My brain hurts!’
That was about when the sensation of burning filled him and Spike found that it wasn’t just his brain that hurt.
*
For a moment, he hung on the precipice. His senses stirred and distorted, sluggish to adjust to the rush. Sounds filled his head with noise he couldn’t think past, and hard hooves jostled him, setting his teeth on edge as the world poured back into his awareness.
It was, for an instant of joy, a rush of emotions and sensations. The void between sleep and waking had been nothing; no breath, no heartbeat. Now his blood pounded through his veins, a flow of life he hadn’t missed until it was gone. The air tasted alive; with but an instant awake it filled his lungs in a way he had never noticed, because he had always been breathing. It wasn’t exactly optional, after all.
It was so easy to take things for granted, and even easier to never notice it.
On the other hand, one always noticed Princess Luna’s voice.
“Behold, my little ponies! He hath awoken!”
Eyelids like leaden weights struggled to rise, and sharp bright light lanced into his eyes. He yelped, and the light disappeared behind the barrier of his hands. The babble of voices grew and grew, dulcet tones mixed with harsh croaks and soft murmurs that mixed into a mess that pounded his head. His hands held tighter than ever over his eyes, and slowly the pressure seemed to drive back the pain.
“Everypony, please, he needs some space!”
Like an alicorn from on high, Rarity’s voice washed over Spike. The chaos around him faded away and from somewhere deep inside, came the willpower to open his eyes again. He shuddered until the light muted, a shielding array of purple appeared between him and it. Soft hooves held him, until vague blobs and blurs became the face he spent so very long imagining.
“Spike, darling, are your eyes alright?” she cooed, faint glow preceding the weightless that held him up.
“I’m fine,” said the dragon. His cheeks warmed, and she raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure? You look a tad feverish. Not that anypony would blame you, not after…” Rarity’s voice caught, and she looked away. Light slipped past her fabulous curls, but no shudders or yelps followed its touch upon his eyes as they narrowed.
Spike wiggled his feet until the weightlessness faded, and found himself the centre of attention. “After what? I just had a long, weird nap….right?”
He looked to one side, and Rainbow Dash found a sudden interest in art, eyes flicking away from him, and when his gaze turned to Pinkie, she joined the pegasus in her study of the portrait on the opposite wall.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a...a nap, dear.” Again, Rarity stopped almost as soon as she had started. Her jaw worked wordless for a moment. “Not at all, in fact. Do you remember what happened?”
His claw scratched across his scaled cheek, cupping his chin in thought. “Well, we were in that forest, following those…” His pupils shrunk; his eyes widened. “Monsters! In the forest! We were following them until Twilight went to talk to them and then….uh….”
Spike blinked, and in the back of his mind, he became aware of a ringing bell. An alarm, in fact, that had been ringing somewhere back there unnoticed since his eyes opened. Maybe before. It had him turning again, taking in the familiar setting.
The palace; weird, but he had been asleep. Princess Luna, her magic focused on a quill that seemed intent on not so much writing as carving her words into a notebook. One finger went up, then a second, and a third rose when he glanced at the bogstandard guards by the door.
A flash of purple, the swish of Rarity’s mane when she leaned forward to pat him on the shoulder, turn the ringing into a shriek. Sparks bounced and flared in the immature pathways of Spike’s mind until he found the thread of thought pulling him straight towards the most obvious of answers.
“Where’s Twilight?”
He didn’t need to hear Rarity’s answer. The look on her face was enough. Perhaps she wasn’t quite the open book to him that he was to her, but Spike was by no means illiterate in the reading of ponies. The dragon saw her lip tremble, and her eyes cast a look towards Princess Luna. His gaze tracked hers, darting through the room to the significantly princessless spot.
“Uh, the Princesses are going to expl-”
“Where,” he repeated, a rasp in his voice, his eyes widening and pupils shrinking, ‘is Twilight?!’
*
Princess Celestia, the Sun Herself, stood in the ruins of her office and felt. She felt so many things, try as she might she could name only a few of them. She drew in a breath, crisp air tainted by ozone rushing in, and shuddered.
‘I’ll have to call in specialists to clean this. The maids will have a devil of a time cleaning this without their help.’
She stepped forward, splinters cracking underhoof each time her hoof came down on what had once been most of her door.
‘Deep Grain should be able to replace the door, and he was quite hopeful of royal patronage to get his business started without his father’s help.’
She held to the thought, and she looked upon the room in search. The broken window, cracked and ruined. The mess of souvenirs, scattered with abandon, gave her yet more time.
More time. Princess Celestia looked upon the ruins of her office in search of time, and thoughts, and yet still she heard it.
‘This is your fault.’
She closed her eyes. All was still, from fetlock to wings to celestial mane. Invisible winds stirred no more, leaving her gossamer mane to hang around her as if a garish parody of a shroud.
‘You failed her.’
Her hoof nudged aside half a chair leg, sweeping it aside to reveal the debris below, and that soon put the charred ruins of half a book in her sight.
‘I failed her.’
She hung her head, letting a weight greater than gravity could ever compare to drag her face from above to below.
‘Just like I failed Luna.’
“Ah ha!”
The aura broke. A yelp burst from her royal muzzle, and her hooves slammed down an instant later. Stare became glare, and it fixed itself on Celestia’s muzzle. Her mane jerked, snapping about her like a hurricane until her eyes settled upon the darker alicorn watching her. Like the flip of a switch her mane fell again.
“Oh, Luna. My apologies. I was somewhat engrossed in thought,” she said with a slow shake of her head. A smile came on, faltering for a moment before she forced it up. “Did it work? Is Spike awake?”
“Indeed he is, and most confused.” Princess Luna strode into the room, splintered door and desk grinding beneath her hooves with each step. “The magic was just as you suspected, but t’was nothing to a dreamwalker.”
“I knew you could do it,” said Celestia, a smile upon her face. If it trembled for a moment, her sister deigned not to point it out. The solar alicorn strode through the wooden rubble, the tearing of carpet fragments shifting and catching on jagged wood following her with every step.
Her sister turned with her, dark hooves matching bright step for step. “You were right. The magic was unmistakably Twilight Sparkle’s-”
A gasp, nearly covered, slipped out. When Celestia’s hoof fell, a sharp thud rang out as plush carpet failed to guard the floor beneath from the force.
“-and unmistakably corrupted,” continued Luna. The stars in her mane bounced with the shudder than ran down her spine. “I can scarcely imagine a more foul magic. T’was a thing of darkness, though no shadow I have ever felt has been so...disturbing. Where could she have found such a magic that has escaped our notice?”
Celestia glanced to her side, eyes narrowing. “Twilight found nothing. It was the creature who stole her body. She is innocent in this!”
A moment too late, she caught Luna’s expression. She gasped, pressing her hoof to her lips.
“Luna, I’m sorry. That was...I’m sorry.” She reached for Luna. She blinked as her hoof extended, and for the barest of seconds, she saw not Canterlot, but a castle built of the stone of another age.
Luna turned from her, the stomp of her trot beating in time with Celestia’s heart, each pound against her chest sending a sliver of pain into her heart, and her snarl hung upon the air; “You don’t understand. You just don’t understand!”
“I understand.”
Reality came in two words, and the eyes of her sister. Dryness stilled her tongue, and Celestia looked away. Creases marred her features, and she hid her face from Luna’s sight.
“I said,” murmured Luna, the weight of her hoof on Celestia’s neck holding her back, “I understand. I did not mean to imply your student had made my mistake.”
“No, Luna, I didn’t mean to...that was...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, or to hurt you.” Sighing, she let her sister bring her face back until they gazed upon one another. “I’m sorry.”
Luna shook her head. “You need not apologise. When I spoke of understanding, I meant it. Know this, sister; I trust Twilight Sparkle, and I know she would never turn against you, no matter what power might be offered to her. The creature that has stolen her body is surely fighting her for control every moment.”
It was a rare sight, to see Celestia chew her lip. Yet now she did it, and her gaze intensified. “Luna...is this the voice…” Her voice skipped a beat, fading. “Do you speak with the voice of experience?”
Experience. Celestia’s heart hung heavy in her chest, and her stomach housed a cold flutter, but she kept her gaze steady, her eyes unflinching. Tears pressed against her will, boiling to escape, but not so much of a drop found its way from her eyes. ‘I know this is hard to ask, but I must…’
A wave of her hoof, and Luna banished the moment that passed. “I do. Always, no matter the actions of Nightmare Moon, I was there in her heart. Whether I cried in pain or urged her forward, I was there. I did not realise the trap until it was too late, that my voice had been silenced. Twilight Sparkle is surely trapped, but I doubt she was fooled. If she was taken, she would not have invited it in. She may be taken, but she did not give herself to this entity, of that I am sure.”
Her weight shifted, hoof going from shoulder to nose to give a gentle poke.
“And you, my dear sister, know this as well. Whatever mistakes I made in the past, I refuse to believe she has made, or you truly believe she has made them.”
The words left Celestia before she could stop them, and her hooves found their way around the smaller alicorn in the same instant. “Oh, Luna, thank you.”
A smile graced Luna, and she returned the gesture. “Anything for you, Celestia. We will save Twilight Sparkle. I promise.”
Celestia smiled, no hint to her tears or their cause left in her expression, nuzzling Luna for but a moment before raising her head, an ear cocking. She felt Luna shift against her, dark coat against bright.
“It would seem my responsibilities come to me,” she mused. With the softest of sighs they parted, smiles shrinking moment by moment with their embrace gone, that physical reassurance lost. With each step, they diminished, until Celestia’s lips were pressed thinly, razor straight.
“The study is this way!”’
“I think you will find it is this way, in fact.”
“Landsakes, girls, stop arguin’ and follow me, it’s this way!”
Royal carpet took the strides of alicorns, and no sound escaped. Perhaps, between voices that rose with each exchange and thick, plush carpet, it was forgivable that they came upon their subjects unnoticed.
”That way? You got it all wrong!” insisted Rainbow Dash. Her breath blew across Applejack’s face, orange fur rippling minutely.
The farmer glared, eyes narrow. With a poke she sent the pegasus back from her, and she smirked, “You ain’t got a clue, sugarcube,: she retorted. With a swing of her head, she had her stare set on another. “Same for you. It sure as slop ain’t that way.”
In a single sniff, Rarity packed enough disdain to make a noble green with envy. “Is it just me, or are your ‘country-isms’ getting more crude by the minute?”
“Now wait just a pig-swaddling second-”
“The royal study,” she cut in, “Is clearly in this direction.”
“If you wanna take the long, wrong way, maybe,” said Dash with a snort worthy a thousand disbelieving pegasi.
“If we were lookin’ for that, we’d go your way,” Applejack growled. “Some of us pay attention to where we’re goin’.”
Rainbow’s wings snapped, wind raising her, and earning a snicker when her friend flung her hoof out to catch a hat in its bid for escape. “Excuse you, but I’m a weatherpony. That means I gotta be able to recognise geography and junk. If I can do it from the sky, I can do it in a stupid hallway!”
Celestia lowered her gaze, watching the three, to another three. Spike’s claw lay in a mass of elegant pink mane, and a mess of curls claimed his other hand, but neither pony flanking him protested. Pinkie’s head merely bounced between ponies, as if caught in the world’s most enrapturing three way game of ping pong.
When her eyes fell on Fluttershy, they met the meek mare’s. Fluttershy blinked, and their stare expended for moments not with words, but with emotions that bridged with no need verbalising exactly how each felt on what was happening.
“Uh, girls…”
“With all due respect, darling, you are hardly a mare I would trust navigating a paper bag, much less a castle as fine as this.”
“Hey, my house is pretty much a mini-castle made of clouds, and I get around that just fine!”
The hint of a throat being cleared followed, and Fluttershy experienced what another pony might call annoyance. The sound found itself eaten alive within the chaos of arguing, and left nothing its wake.
“That’s cause ya live there, an’ you smash through the walls when you feel lazy.”
“Why shouldn’t I? It’s convenient!”
“Excuse me, but-” began Fluttershy.
Applejack all but growled, narrow glare fixed on Rainbow Dash
“Please, everypony, calm down,” Fluttered begged.
“Girls! Your argument is upsetting Fluttershy!” cried Rarity. making a sharp gesture with her hoof towards Fluttershy as she said it. “You really must rein yourselves in, and listen to me.”
What overtook Fluttershy’s face was not an expression she was familiar with. Her expression fell, lovely features drooping as she just stared at the three in front of her. Mouth hanging open, she turned back to the princesses with the faintest of sighs.
With a smile meant to reassure, Celestia finally let the little show end with but a clearing of her throat.
“I do hate to interrupt, but perhaps you took a wrong turn already?” she asked.
It was almost wrong, to find such amusement in the way Rarity’s eyes tried to leap from their sockets. Celestia tried to keep from smiling, she really did, and she even did better than Luna. She extended a wing, letting it cover the snicker on her sister’s face. Applejack’s sudden stillness provided less mirth, but the reaction didn’t go unnoticed.
Well, not by the Princesses at least.
“Nah,” said Rainbow Dash. Her chin sat on her hoof, and her eyes pierced the length of her chosen hall. “I’m way too good to get it wrong.”
“If you say so,” Luna agreed.
A grin lit Rainbow’s face. “Finally, one of you gets it!”
Words croaked from Applejack through numb lips. “Uh, Dash?”
“I told you, it's definitely this way!” the pegasus snapped.
“That’s not-” tried Rarity.
With a growl that verged on the subvocal, Rainbow Dash spun in a flurry of wing and rainbow-maned fury. “I know what I’m talking about! So just follow me and we’ll find the prin...cesses…”
Celestia smiled at her.
‘These three would make wonderful jesters, if they argue like this all the time.’
She let the thought bounce about for a moment, grasping the imagined levity of it before events whirled it away. All too soon, she brought herself back to the moment with a wave of her wing.
“If you would all follow me, my little ponies, we have much to discuss, and here is hardly appropriate.”
Spike spoke out, his gaze sharpened into a glare, “No! Enough stalling! Before we go anywhere else, somebody please, just tell me where Twilight is!”
Celestia stopped, her expression slack for a moment, and spared a glance with her sister. Luna winced, the look in her sister’s eyes sending a shiver of alarm down her spine. Her words, when they came, were swift but sure as only those coming to the rescue could be.
“Twilight Sparkle is… lost, my young friend. Not only lost to us, but I fear lost in her own mind, lost in contention with the will of another. What we must speak of is how to bring her back to us, both in body and mind.”
Rarity was quickest on the draw, shaking herself free from the shock the news had brought even as the others stared in numb surprise. A sapphire glow surrounded Spike, lifting him onto her back. “Then time is of the essence, yes? I must agree that the hallway is hardly the place to hold such a talk.”
“Indeed. Grave tides threaten to sweep us from our hooves. If we are to resist them, we must collect ourselves.” With a brandish of her wing, wind rushed past to the distant click of a door opening in answer. “Come! My sister’s study may be in ruins, but mine remains intact.”
Her stride gave no chance to question her; Princess Luna strode forward, sweeping them along with her. There was a simple expectation that they would follow, a certainty that she need not look back to see them trailing her, and it dragged them along before a single protest reached their lips.
Spike clutched Rarity’s mane, claws curling through her vibrant hair. His eyes tracked the Princess, latched onto her as surely as he was to Rarity. He blinked, and suddenly the room was different, minutes gone by unnoticed. Magic tugged at him, until the little dragon was settled at her side as Rarity sat. She smiled, and he back at her, for just a moment, before a throat was cleared and their attention drawn away.
“This is not an easy thing to talk of,” said Celestia, and in her eyes gleamed something of how much she meant that. Her gaze ran across each of them, and she sighed. “My sister spoke truly. Something evil has stolen her body and fled with it. The place we followed her - it - to was ancient, and its secrets many. How, I cannot answer, but they took flight across worlds.”
Silence greeted her, jaws hanging open and eyes so wide they seemed moments from popping free.
“Across worlds? What...what do you mean? Where did they take Twilight?!” Spike’s voice rang through the room, the sharp edge of fear piercing the pall of shock Celestia’s words had cast over the room.
“She means precisely that, young Spike,” answered Luna. Her tail flicked, a scowl on her face as she sat on the dark lounge chair. “Our world does not exist on its lonesome. The Engine of Creation that gave birth to our world has forged others, though we know little besides the fact that they exist.”
“Those meanies came from another world to abduct Twilight? Well, that’s just so rude!” Pinkie exclaimed, leaping from couch to coffee table. “I bet they’re the evil enchanters, and I already have a song about them!”
“Not now, Pinkie, we’ve gotta launch a rescue!” Her hooves slammed down, and as Pinkie wobbled, Rainbow Dash leaned over the table. “That’s what we’re doing, right? We’re gonna follow these monsters and kick that thing out of Twilight!”
“That is our intent, yes, but it won’t be easy.” ‘Nothing concerning the Makers ever is,’ Celestia thought, keeping it to herself.
Rainbow Dash shook her head, rainbow mane flying about. “Of course not, but we can do it! Whatever you need us to do to save Twilight, you can count on us.”
A smile lit Celestia’s face, and the laugh that came filled the room with light. “Ah, Rainbow Dash, Loyalty chose so very truly. If anypony can save Twilight, it is you six. I promise you this; we will save my student.”
A grin revealed itself beneath the brim of her hat as Applejack leveled her stare at the princess. “I don’t know much about magic and traveling worlds and such like, but if we needa kick somethin’ outta Twilight, I’m your mare.”
“If only it were so simple a matter,” Rarity murmured. She fixed the Princesses with a look, brows furrows. “Your Highnesses, is this...is it like…”
Luna grimaced, glancing away. “Nightmare Moon?” She waved off the apology before it could be voiced. “Fear not my feelings, lady Rarity, for the comparison is an apt one. We have already asked ourselves this.”
The weight of their stares, and all that shone within them, brought her eyes back to them. Her gaze hardened.
She said, at last. ”The corruption within the spell cast upon young Spike was alien and foul, but t’was not the working of a Nightmare, nor did it carry the taint of a maddened spirit. Simply put...“
“...we don’t know what it is,” finished Celestia. Her lips twisted into a frown. “Which alarms me, given the nature of its allies. Something dark and twisted, yet they were clearly children of the Makers.”
“The Makers?” Spike shook his head, the question falling away. “Never mind! They left from this ‘Engine’ place, right? So let’s go back and follow them.”
“Again, it is not so simple. They destroyed the gate in their wake. We must seek another path into the stars, if we are to follow,” Celestia said,
“Oh, oh, do we have to go up?” Pinkie grinned. “I had the best idea for how to go up into the sky really, really fast. If we fix the part where everything catches on fire, we’ll be in the stars in no time at all!”
Luna felt a stab of concern for her study, and her eyes beheld in her mind the image of it as a mirror of her sister’s. She shuddered. “Neigh, Pinkie Pie, we need not go up in quite that sense. Tis another direction that our path lies.
“North,” said the Princess. Unnoticed, the doors to her sister’s balcony swung open and they found themselves drawn up and in her wake. One by one, they joined her, gazing into the distance. Her hoof rose, jabbing towards the frozen roof to the world. “We must go north.”
Spike blinked, cocking his head to the side.“To the Crystal Empire?” asked the dragon. He shuddered. “Can somepony else be the one to tell Shining Armour? Or give me, I dunno, a suit of armour?”
“No, Spike, if we wish to find Twilight, we must go beyond those shining spires. For some of us, we must go even further,” said the Princess, her voice discoloured by a tremble of emotion.
A light tap announced her landing, and Rainbow Dash leaned forward on her perch. Bright blue contrasted the alabaster stone rail as she scuffed it casually with a lazy swipe of her hoof.
“I don’t get it. I thought the only thing past there was ice and a bunch of yaks,” she pointed out. Her ears swiveled, twisting towards half a dozen sharp breathes. “Oh, come on, I do the weather, I have to look at maps every now and then.”
“To say nothing of the remarkably accurate account of Yak culture in Daring Do And the Wooly Skull,” added Celestia. A rare smile was sketched across her muzzle, and she almost giggled at the pegasus. “You could swallow a fly like that.”
“Uh...right. So, yaks are up there, and lots of ice….what else?” Rainbow Dash asked, her brow furrowed as if she wasn’t sure who the alicorn next to her was. A delicate cough from behind made her eyes roll. “Your highness.”
The smile fell away; there was no hint it had ever been there. Expression unreadable, Celestia stared at something only she could see.
“Send word to your loved ones. If we are to save Twilight, we- you- may be gone for some time. I will ensure they are seen to. We must go north, and further.”
When she turned to address them, the stars of night wrapped her in light. They sparkled and shone, so distant, yet their light still surrounded her as if in halo, as if, perhaps, a sign.
“To the Tower of the Gods.”
*
When sunrise came to the Crystal Empire, it did so unexpectedly, and with guards unprepared. Not, it must be said, because they were lax. It was simply beyond any reasonable expectation that sunrise would occur at shortly after one in the morning.
“Please excuse me, gentlecolts,” said Celestia, a smile as radiant as the fading light of her magic washing over the guards. She raised her hoof in a gentle wave. “We’re simply passing through.”
“Er…” Pushing his helmet from where it had slipped over his eyes, the guard glanced across the group. “Your Highness, we weren’t expecting you. Either of you. Uh, any of you.”
“Think of it like a surprise party, just without the party,” Pinkie advised with a nod of deep wisdom. She frowned. “But wait, what’s the fun of a surprise without a party?”
“Truly, joyous Pinkie Pie, you pose a question for the ages,” Luna admitted. “Noble guards, we must ask that you delay reporting our arrival, for we must depart post-haste.”
The pair exchanged a look, and the unicorn’s horn glowed.
“Your highness…” began the hornless guard. His stare tightened for an instant, and drew in their gaze.
Magic washed out, light hanging upon the air in a gossamer glow that spun about the room. They ignored the squeals and gasps and glares until the light faded, and the unicorn nodded.
“They’re ponies,” he said. “Except the dragon, obviously.”
Celestia’s eyes lit with understanding, and she sighed. “You were making sure we weren’t changelings. Of course. I should have remembered Shining Armour’s precautions.”
The pegasus guard nodded, scraping a faint bow. “Yes, Your Highness. Sorry, but Captain Armour is very, uh, firm on the matter of keeping changelings out of the Crystal Empire.”
“Said he’d feed us to a manticore if any of us let one in,” added the unicorn.
A gasp brought ears and heads turning, though their attention failed to dissuade Fluttershy as she shook her head.
“Oh no, you can’t feed a manticore a pony,” she said, a tremble carrying in her voice.
“Fluttershy, darling, I’m sure-” Rarity said.
The caretaker continued, “They aren’t good at digesting a whole pony all at once, it would give them an awful tummy ache. I hope Shining Armour has something to soothe it if he does that.”
The silence lasted a moment or two, long enough for a blush to light her cheeks. The faintest of slaps echoed in the great crystal halls, blue hoof on blue face.
“Wow, ‘Shy, that’s totally the thing about that we should worry about,” she growled in deadpan, rolling her eyes. Her hooves pumped, a pushing motion at the guards. “You guys good then? We gotta go, important saving the world business.”
“Just orienting ourselves, Rainbow Dash, never fear,” Luna said, a wave of her hoof from pegasus to ground swaying the mare to land. “Hold fast, the delay has been enough to prepare. Our journey continues!”
And with a flash of light, it did.
“...you’re telling the Princess and Prince about this,” muttered the unicorn.
“...great.”
*
Sensation followed in the instant of teleportation, and it brought a razor blade of chill through too-thin coats and bared scales. Snow crunched underhoof, the howl of freezing winds rushing through the vista before them. It brought a smile to Celestia’s face, and she shared it with Luna, as the moon lit crags of ice with shafts of reflected lunar light bringing a hundred lights to the night.
“Whoa…”
Which of them said it, it would have been hard to say. There was no need to, for she saw it in their eyes and their expression. Her head turned, and her smile grew. She left her sister basking in this, soaking in the moonlight, and took a few steps.
“There.”
How it had escaped their notice before, none could ever have known. One moment, there was nothing ahead but more and more, the endless expanse of snow and ice that capped the world. A frozen mane that decorated the pinnacle of the world with the beauty and danger of winter, beyond the control of even the most skillful of pegasi weather-workers. A crown of rime and frost, unseen and no less resplendent because of it.
The jewel of this crown shone in the moonlight, a tower that thrust into the sky. A single shaft, ice clung to its root, and clouds gathered against its pinnacle. Sheers icy spikes wrapped it, a collar of frozen thorns, yet none brushed against the bronze pillar.
“Beautiful, is it not?”
Her voice spun them around, and Celestia smiled with the faintest hint of amusement hidden in her curving lips.
“Uldian, the Tower of the Gods, where the Makers presence is ever felt. Do not feel embarrassed, my little ponies, for being captivated.” She gestured, taking in the expanse before them. “Since the dawn of our world, Uldian has looked upon it, and guarded it.”
Spike gulped. “That sounds...really old. Like, really, really old.”
Luna nodded, a soft smile on her face. “The oldest, young Spike. Uldian was thrust into our world in the throes of its birth.”
“It’s birth? Okay, wait, you guys know how the world was made? ...the world was made? By who?” Rainbow Dash groaned, hooves dragging through her mane. “Don’t tell me Daring Do’s theory about a giant explosion is wrong! It sounded so awesome!”
Applejack eyed her friend, brow raised. “You know those books ‘a yours are fictional, right?” She jerked her head towards the alicorns. “Granny told me the Princesses made Equestria when I was a filly.”
Her eyes narrowed and aimed towards a giggle-snort, locking onto the bouncing pink mane of yet another friend from whom the sound came.
“Equestria wasn’t made when you were a filly, silly,” laughed the party pony. She grinned. “It was made-”
“Enough!” Luna cracked her hoof against the frosty ground, and the tumble of distant snow falling brushed their ears. “Time is of the essence, and though the mysteries of the past we might reveal to you are great, they are as vast in number as they are in scale. There is simply no time for us to share such secrets. Let us enter Uldian, and summon the Herald.”
“Uldian?” Rarity slapped a hoof over her mouth, flushing as the nocturnal mare’s head swung towards her.
“The Tower,” Celestia said. Her wing cut a stark contrast against her sister’s fur, curling over her back until the alicorn sighed and softened her expression.. “Please excuse Luna. As beautiful as coming to this place is, she is right. I promise, when Twilight has returned to us, we will explain everything.”
Luna harrumphed. “You need not apologise for me, sister. My temper overcame me. Uldian…” The word twisted her mouth into a scowl. “Let us be about our business.”
“O-oh, please don’t be upset, Princess.” Shivering against the cold, Fluttershy smiled. “We’ll save Twilight, and we can all leave soon. I know we can do it.”
“We can.” Almost underheard, Spike mumbled the words. His eyes raked the Tower, and his jaw set. “We definitely will.”
The harsh cut of her scowl long since faded, Luna wore a soft look. “Yes,” she murmured, and her eyes darkened. “We will, and we can forget this place once more.”
Down a path followed by royal hooves, cut curling and winding through spires and cliffs, the party passed in near silence. Only the clop of hooves and the pant of breath disturbed the glacial silence. Ever present, the Tower loomed. In arctic night, the tower was a sun, turning silver brilliance into bronze radiance that lit the world like day.
Hues of reflected light shifted in the last stretch, a changing net of colour that cast from the tower, as if to capture the sky. So many sights since the last dawn had given the six mortals pause, and yet still the world found time for another. It rose before them in chains and wire, and at first, it seemed as though the ice had granted them yet another vision of natural beauty. Only in the subtle changes, the soft eminence that changed in time with the heartbeat of miniature stars dotting the links in this arcane fence was its true nature revealed. Not ice, but crystal.
Shapes loomed, and with each step they took, something stirred. Their pace unhalting, the alicorns continued on, and only the beat of wings and the crunch of a single pony’s hooves told the princess’s which of their subjects still followed them.
Through the links, eyes glared into life with a snap of energy and fixed on them. Celestia’s ear twitched, and a golden veil rose behind her before Rainbow Dash hit the ground. Wings frozen by the will of the guardians, her muscles paralysed, she was in no position to dispute as she was laid gently next to Applejack, and the pair could only stare.
“Halt.”
Celestia disobeyed, ice crunching underhoof as she stepped forth and stood tall. “I am Celestia, Solar Aspect of this world, warden of the Titans. By right of our charge, open the way.”
With a flicker, the guardian’s eyes moved until they found the stiff backed alicorn beside her. “Security protocols engaged. Access may not be granted to singular Aspects.”
With a roll of her eyes, Luna sighed. “By right of our charge, the Lunar Aspect demands that the way be opened. Our purpose is one, and our cause our duty. Now be gone, bothersome construct.”
Whatever protocols existed within those blazing eyes, it turned out none addressed lack of respect. The eyes on the guard dimmed silently before blazing back to full strength. “Access granted. Uldian opens.”
The light itself seemed to flicker inside the arc of the gate before returning to normal and Celestia strode through, waving the others to follow her. As they approached the majestic doors of the tower, the princess stopped and held up a hoof for the others to stop their approach as well. Great statues of crystal flanked the door, kneeling on but one pair of legs, shimmering weapons grasped in digits on their forelimbs. Perhaps the only thing recognisable were the beards, from which stern expressions carved in diamond glowered silently. The group soon realized the reason for Celestia’s hesitation as the heads of the soldiers turned upwards and her voice rang out.
“There is no time to tour the innards of Uldian, my little ponies, we shall have to take the direct route. Guardians! Engage Aspect protocols. Take us with our companions to the Tower Pinnacle.” Celestia wasted no emotions on the orders, though she felt a hint of a smile at the corners of her lips when a groan issued from behind her.
“Aww, come on, an ancient magical tower built by gods and we don’t even get to explore it! This would have been great for my Daring Do story!”
The guardians had no response for such a thing, and no response for any save the Princess. Their eyes flickered, the glow of ancient magic lighting them for a moment. “Aspect protocols approved. Expedient ascent transport engaged. The Aspects and their companions may proceed.”
The great doors began to open on their own with a massive groan as a pearly white light began to seep out. Celestia, nodding to the guard statues, lead the others through the doors as the world was drowned out by the bright light.
*
Hooves touched down. The girls stood around the princesses, and blinked at the world around them, for indeed on every side, the world was laid out before them. Faint wisps of clouds faded in and out of sight beyond the bronze and gold rim, and above only the stars were higher than they were.
“My word…” Setting her sight on a distant peak, Rarity gasped as the clouds simply gave way. Hints of vapour floated, translucent, where the cloud had been. “I’m seeing through clouds…”
“And up way higher than we should be!” Rainbow Dash sniffed, nose twitching as she swept her gaze across the vista. “You guys should barely be able to breathe, and it should be way colder.”
Celestia laughed, the burst of mirth sweeping the awe from her subjects. She smiled, a hint of knowing in her eyes. “This is the least of the mysteries of the Makers. A simple trick of magic, if their creations can be even called that. I told you; they made this world.”
She heard a gulp and her eyes flicked, ears twitching as she fastened her gaze on Fluttershy.
“They sound…” Fluttershy hesitated, and peered around them. “..scary.”
“Scary, yes, but of benevolent purpose. They bring order and harmony to chaos, and build among the stars. This is why their constructs can help us. We’re going to summon a being to us, a creature of great knowledge and power,” Celestia began without preamble, meeting the eyes of each in succession. “He may look shocking, and he may say strange things, but his aid is our only way to follow Twilight in any timely fashion.”
Luna’s muzzle twisted with an ugly scowl. “With time, we could pierce the veils of space to follow her...but only with time, far too much. We cannot allow Twilight Sparkle to remain in the claws of those creatures or her possessor that long.”
“Indeed. Come sister”, Celestia said as she trotted towards a raised platform at the center of the roof, “we must begin the calling.”
The princesses destination was a large ritual center inscribed into the raised platform, with six faceted crystals encircling it, floating idly. The sisters stood together at the foot of the steps of the platform as they closed their eyes and their horns lit with power. They pulsed, beating in time with a rhythm only they could hear. At first, only their horns glowed and flared, until a thrum ran through the tower. The beat grew, caught within the tower itself, and amplified, until stands of light in six familiar colours began to form.
They spun, hovering above the floor in a circle. Beneath them, panels folded away and metal slid away as if oiled, not a squeak or creak disturbing the elegant shifting of plates. Like called to like, and gems that matched the shimmering magic emerged with pointed tips that caught the magical light in their crystalline formations. The crystals glowed, captured magic running down strands of thick coppery metal, and the beat of the magical working’s heart was taken within them.
Sweat built on royal brows, marring fur as dark as night and bright as day. Eyes closed, Celestia pushed her head forward and her horn blazed with energy. She gasped and her breath was stolen at the same moment as her sister’s horn joined hers in shared brilliance. The crystals ate and ate, devouring the magic as their colours flashed and pounded to a rhythm only they knew.
Then, it was done. Wavering, legs trembling, the alicorns went limp for a moment and the crystals’ light died away with a final flare. The only sound left was the panting of tired princesses, and unsteady breath of the smaller creatures behind them.
“Uh…” Rainbow Dash glanced over the crystals, her eyes drawn to the one that had settled to a dull red. “Shouldn’t something be kind of happening now?”
Rarity yanked her eyes from the purple crystal, and shook her head at her friend. “Patience, dear. The princesses know what they’re doing.”
“Indeed we do,” agreed Luna. She craned her neck, brushing aside her mane as she looked to the stars. “We have sent forth the summons, and...yes. It appears we have been heard.”
It began small, but then, all things do.
A pinprick of light, a dot of flickering white fire. It flashed and flared, bright against the bronze beneath, above and beside. Alone,so small, it was nothing but a single flickering flame.
Until there was another. Coalescing from the light of the first, their combined brilliance brought a third into being, and together they summoned the fourth. Less than a second has passed, and in the space of a single blink, more had summoned. Lines burned against their eyes, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one to shield her eyes.
A galaxy came to life a star at a time, light breaking against the air until it became a skin of celestial energy. Tall, towering, it loomed over them - not a pile, but a figure with limbs fleshed with starlight and joints of coldly burning suns.
“Translocation complete.”
The stars shifted, twisting until two that burned brighter than any other looked down upon them. Celestial bodies danced into an arm, stars twinkling as knuckles and joints, their light shining as if cast into flesh.
“I have been called, and so I answer.”
Eyes shining as if to light the depths of space, the celestial giant looked upon them, and his voice boomed. In his gaze and his voice, he spoke with a weight that shook the breath from mortals and a distance greater than the mere physical separation.
“I am Algalon the Observer, Herald of the Titans.”
Delicate gold rang on polished bronze, and glittering silver clinked at its side. Day and night stood together before this galaxy given shape, and met his eyes.
They bowed.
“Herald, you know me. Though only a few scant years have passed, your kindness has not been forgotten. As I stood before you, I do so again.” Celestia’s voice became bright, a glow to his thunderous boom. “I am Celestia, Solar Aspect.”
The giant inclined his head. “I recall your words still, Solar Aspect. That your world survived the taint of the Anomaly...pleases me. Your wisdom remains with me, and my calculations have grown clearer.”
Stars winked, died and flared in their paths, for a moment almost sketching the slightest of smiles upon a face from which stone might draw inspiration for indomitability. Applejack, her gaze on his face, blinked, and looked again for it. Her gaze found nothing but the cold light of his star-born expression, stoic and unmoving.
‘Did he smile, or did I imagine it?’
She was forced to look away, eyes diverting from the sudden supernovas his had become.
Whether she was returning his smile, or simply gifting him with her own, Celestia let the radiance of her power warm it. “It pleases me to hear that, Algalon. I have often wondered, since you showed mercy, whether what I said truly helped. No heart is heavier than that burdened by uncertainty in one’s own deeds.”
“Never was uncertainty intended in my creation, and yet, it seems it is what drives mortals to go beyond the limits they were meant for,” mused the giant. He shook his head slowly, starry beard swinging. “Yet I sense I was not summoned for discussion. You are in need, and as I swore when the Anomaly was sealed once more, I shall grant you audience.”
Celestia bowed her head. “That is all I ask, Herald.”
“And that is why you earned it.” His eyes grew to greater intensity, and looked up, peering beyond the limits of sight. “Analysis commencing…”
Luna pushed past her sister, shaking her head. “We have not called upon you, Observer, for an analysis of our world. We have asked for you to open the path to another.”
The image formed from her midnight blue glow, shimmering into the shape of the mogu. Its expression of fury and pain brought a smile to Luna’s face, almost a smirk as the faint wounds across its chest resolved within the ghostly form.
Algalon frowned, eyes flickering from beneath his furrowed brow.
“Analysis commencing...identity confirmed. Mogu. Classification: earth-shaper constructs. Weaponised by Highkeeper Ra against the Old Gods of Azeroth. Granted sentience by the Fist of Ra-Den.” The pause he took was thunderous in its silence, flaring solar brows crashing into a celestial furrow. “Conclusion reached. Error detected. They should not be here. They have gone where they were never intended. They have come to your world.”
“You’re darn right they did!”
He turned the cold blaze of his eyes upon the pony, bathing her orange fur in starlight. She gave her hat a tug, and the light splashed instead across its broad brim. She began to sweat, matting her fur, but she stared on. Applejack looked into the supernova eyes, and they in turned looked back. Alarm bells rang within her skull, knocking thoughts and fears aside as surely had her declaration had brought his attention, telling her an inescapable fact;
He was studying her. The giant of stars looked upon the farm pony, and in whatever lurked within the white suns of his mind, it unmade her and rebuilt her as if to find why she said what she did.
“I...I don’t pretend to understand what ya are, or why the Princesses can summon ya,” she said, heavy lips moving with effort. “But if you can help, we need ya. There ain’t no time to wait.”
“Fascinating.”
She jerked; a violent twitch shook the mare from hoof to head, and the link was broken.
“I have seen the tenacity of life, and yet it continues to surprise me.” His lips of stars curved down within his galactic beard. “And my sorrow at my flawed calculations grows. You have called for me to aid you.”
“Indeed we have, Herald,” replied Luna, impatience colouring her voice. Her hoof tapped, a steady, constant tink of silver on bronze. “And we must ask it with haste, as fair Applejack said.”
His eyes twinkled, quite literally, and starry features furrowed. “To alert the Makers? Or to take action? You wish for aid, yet even I am limited. I observe the creations of the Titans; I order re-origination, should I find them corrupted. I was never made to give aid.”
“Yet you did.”
His gaze fell upon Celestia, and if she felt the weight of galaxies in his stare, it broke across her like water.
“You aided us, when Discord broke free.”
“I gave no aid. Inaction is not aid,” the giant returned.
Celestia shook her head, eyes hardening. “Algalon, upon this very tower as Discord brought chaos to the heart my nation, you did act. You listened. You listened to me, and you gave the mortals with me the time to stop him.”
They felt it, each of them, for the moment that he glanced through them, six mortal hearts trembling against the weight of his judgement. “I listened, yes, but I can do nothing to punish the mogu for their violations. That is not my purpose.”
“Which is why we shall not ask for that, Herald!” Luna declared. Her hoof rang across the floor, punching through the chill air. “They have taken one of ours, and we must reclaim her. Herald of the Makers, we bid thee open the way to their world that she might be returned to us.”
A face made of stars was hard to read, it turned out, yet still his brow furrowed once more. “You desire translocation? You would abandon your duties for but one of your charges?”
“We abandon nothing,” spat Celestia. Her mane whipped about her, stirred from gentle astrals winds to snapping gale. She blocked the stares her subjects wore from her mind, and her breath hissed through her teeth. At last her mane fell about her shoulders, the gossamer drape all but frozen. “I apologise, Herald. That was rude of me, though no more than your own assertion.”
Algalon turned his head to the side, as if to peer at her from another angle, to see more. “Politeness is not among my purposes either, Aspect. One rarely requires tact when putting worlds to the Maker’s purifying torch.”
“Did that sound really bad to anypony else?” asked Rainbow Dash, shuffling ruffled wings back into place. “Putting places to torch means burning them, right?”
Her lips slapped shut, a visible shiver running down her spine when she found Princess Luna fixing her with a Look.
The giant waved his hand almost lazily. “I offer no niceties or kind lies, and expect none. I am the Observer, and I speak the truth as I have seen. You ask me to facilitate a transition between worlds the Titans never intended. I cannot.”
Luna snorted, thin jets of steam bursting from her nose. “You said the same when we begged but a day to prove the infestation had not won the day, when Discord was free. You said it was never intended. That you could not.”
“You gave us the chance to do the right thing once, Algalon. We will never abandon our ward, but Twilight Sparkle, the pony who was taken from us, she must be saved.” With a yielding step, Celestia cleared herself from his sight. From above he saw them all, and now the alicorns flanked their mortals. “These six mortals are exemplary, strong in heart, will and dedication. If you cannot grant us passage, grant it to them. Please.”
Heads turned and eyes widened, but her stare was only for the giant.
“You want us to go with this guy to another world?” spluttered Rainbow Dash. She pulled herself into the air, and set a glare upon the strange being. “He’s totally shady- I mean, not literally shady, ‘cause he’s made of stars, which is weird too, but he was talking about burning worlds! I didn’t even know there were more worlds and this guy has been going around burning them!”
Celestia’s lips thinned, and her mane swept about her as she shook her head. “There is not time to explain everything of the universe’s nature, and I fear you would not understand their full scope, but whatever his actions, they have been done with a purpose.” She grimaced. “A purpose I would not abide, were it my decision, but it is not and there are beings greater than Algalon who command his actions.”
“Commands he is, if not defying, then bending for our sake,” added Luna. Her stare brought the pegasus back to the floor, though Rainbow Dash never let them force her to lower her head. “This may be our only option.”
From beneath the brim of her hat, Applejack peered at the giant, then at the alicorns. “So…” she began, her frown carried in her voice, “Why don’t ya’ll go? I don’t mean to be rude, Princesses, but yer a lot more magic than us. I bet it’d take ya five minutes to go and bring back Twi’.”
Hers wasn’t the only gaze that Celestia found searching her for an answer, and though her lips parted, for a moment no sound passed them.
“Their duty.”
Algalon stirred, and Applejack gulped. Only the brim of her hat shielded her, yet she felt his gaze.
“Beg pardon, Sir Herald?” asked Rarity. Her smile might have been forced, but between the silent, unexpressive dragon riding her and the scale of the being she addressed, few could find fault with her for it. “But does Applejack not have a point? I do hate to seem critical, your highnesses, but surely Twilight would be safer with you?”
She jumped, and were it not for the same hoof that had wrapped itself around her neck, Spike would have fallen to the ground. Rarity huffed, and her glare went ignored as Pinkie pouted.
“Aww, but girls, don’t you want to save Twilight?” Her brows met, and the thought of them clicking with a doubtless confused noise manifested itself in the imaginations of her friends. “We can all go!”
To her relief, Rarity found herself freed, and Pinkie hovering above her. The party pony wilted in the face of Rainbow Dash’s glare.
“Don’t even ask that! Of course we want to save her, but they’re the Princesses! If they come too, we can fix this and be home in time for dinner. We can be home before Twilight’s been gone for even one day and this will be just another story where we all go home happy and everything is fine,” she growled. The pegasus screwed her face up, and her eyes burned. “So don’t you dare accuse me of not being willing to do anything to help Twilight, but I was kinda expecting the Princesses to do the same-”
“We cannot.” In the dead air of the tower, Celestia’s murmur rolled over them.
Arguments were frozen on tongues, glares chilled of their fire. They stilled, and her voice wash over them.
“The fact remains; it is you who must go. A whole world awaits you, my little ponies, and I know that working together, you can overcome it and bring Twilight back to us. All six of you.” Here her gaze found Spike’s, and he found himself sitting taller on Rarity’s back. “Find her, and save her, and we will unlock the magic needed to bring you home. It costs so much to ask this of you, but you are the only ones we can ask. I know you would go to Tartarus for Twilight, and I know none of you would refuse to go after her. We will be with you, in spirit if not in flesh.”
She let her words sink in, and a tension she could never admit to flooded away with each nod, each agreement, they began to voice.
“We’re ready to face whatever you ask of us, your highness. You can trust us,” said Rarity. She smiled, and reached back to loosen Spike’s grip upon her mane. “We won’t let you down.”
Spike nodded. His stare was lost in the crystal, gazing into its shimmering depth as if it might yield to his will alone and spit out Twilight. His hand fell away from her mane, and pushed up to stand on Rarity’s back as around him his friends chorused their resolve.
“Whatever it takes, we’re gettin’ her back.”
“I guess we won’t have time to throw Algalon here a welcome to Equestria party, will we?” asked Pinkie with a frown, hoof bouncing off the floor in an impatient tap-tap. “We really need to get after Twilight, before she starts to miss us.”
Rainbow Dash was not so circumspect in her scowling impatience. “Yeah, yeah, let’s get started, Twilight is waiting for us,” she urged.
“I, uh…” Fluttershy shook her head until her mane had floated clear of her eyes, and they grew firm. “I agree. Let’s save Twilight.”
From on high, as they always had, Celestia gazed down upon them. In the ethereal glow, her eyes shone and her voice trembled, “Oh, my little ponies…my dear little dragon...”
They were swept in, a great wind of gold pulling them in a flailing tide into Celestia’s grip. The overpowering hug was over almost as soon as it had begun, and the faint aches and sudden dislocation were all the princess left them to remember it by.
“Thank you.”
Whatever reply they might have had, whatever could be said in the face of this display, Algalon’s voice rolled over them before they could be made manifest.
“Time is of the essence. Approach the translocation matrix, travellers. Ulduar, and Azeroth, awaits.”
The centre of the platform shimmered, and from it rose a spear of crystal. Bonds of bronze and silver circled it, containing the trembling energies flaring with each pulse of its heartbeat. He gestured, and they followed, trotting to the crystal. Sparks of light bounced within it, complex patterns constrained by its banding. He reached out, and lightning danced between starry palm and crystal. They twisted and snapped, swirling into formations.
“Translocation calculations initiating.”
The floor began to glow, a ring of light beneath them. Rarity yelped, hooves flailing as gravity lost its hold upon her. She glared through the glow at Rainbow Dash as the mare cackled.
“What, don’t like floating?” the pegasus teased.
“Hmph! Well, some of us prefer to have our hooves on the ground, thank you very much,” retorted Rarity, suppressing with all her might the urge to roll her eyes. She was, after all, a lady.
“Nngh.” With a click of her teeth and a grunt, Applejack snapped onto her hat, it’s bid for freedom ended. “I gotta agree there,” she mumbled around it.
Raising her voice, Celestia’s voice rang around them, “Just stay calm, it will begin soon. I know you can do this. Find Twilight, and we will bring you back. Please, find her!”
“Beginning translocation…” intoned the giant, and the light flared.
“Remember your Elements, and...oh, damnation!” With a snarl, Luna ripped off her saddlebags, and six glowing bundles came free. “Your Elements!”
Had the growing throb of energy silenced itself, the moment may have been comical. Seven pairs of eyes widened to comical proportions, and save a single starry jaw, every mouth fell open.
“Quickly, before you’re gone!” They blinked away, an instant of magic whisking them from the princess to the ponies. Six points of midnight magic spat them out within the Titanic device’s light, a deep, dark blue that flared into a dozen colours beyond mortal sight.
“Luna, no!” A second too late, Celestia cried out.
Hooves wrapped around her bundle, pressing it to her chest, Applejack was the only one to find her gravity defying drift take her into sight of Algalon’s face, and then only to notice the tremor that beset his extended hand.
She gulped. “Aw, crabapples.”
“Error. Translocation...disrupted…” His voice rose, coloured by something that would have had fear pour from any reasonable being’s pores. Coloured light broke across him in a dozen shades, tides of energy sweeping by with each moment as the process broke down. “Matter destabilised...I cannot…”
Her mistake slapped Luna in the face, and it lent her the speed to dash towards the giant and the swirling energies that grew with every moment. “No, stop, wait!” she shrieked.
“Hold on!” roared the giant, and with a shout he was lost beneath the flaring of his stars. A pillar of stars at the height of their fury had replaced him, silver starlight blazing across them. “Translocation…”
The world vanished within the riot of twisting space and screaming physical laws. Mortal voices mixed into the shriek of violated physics, scraping against the blackboard of reality.
“...begins!”
With a final bellow, the world went silent and the light vanished, leaving the alicorns alone atop the tower, save perhaps for their fears and the weight of guilt.
“What have I done…” Luna cried out. Her hooves rang a ragged, beaten tune against the floor. “What have I done?!”
Far away, too far to answer, six stars fell upon a world. A world at war.
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And then Everyone died because Luna did a dumb. Oops.
And then Blizzard made another Warcraft RTS and the world was saved from the evils of bad MMO's.
Also first
And second:
Not my fault Blizzard made billions of dollars off of the most boring MMO on the market while simultaneously killing a series that I've loved since childhood, Auto.
Good to know you are writing again!
I do wonder why Alganon had to drop them off in Northrend when the Mogu are most likely heading to Pandaria, on the other end of the planet XD
6777994 Because Ulduar is the primary Titan facility, where most of their watchers and the Prime Designate were. So it seems reasonable to me that Algalon would treat it as his primary arrival location. Thing is, by my way of thinking, Algalon travels across the stars. To him, being on the same planet would be pretty much right there. Oh, an ocean won't be much effort to get across, surely.
6778022 Alganon also works for Ryan Air. "Near Pandaria" indeed.
Ulduar? So oh we go to see Brann Bronezbeard. Eventually Pandaria and Lorewalker Cho. I'm the only one who think that Cho is not excatly Mortal at any shape or form?
Now the fun begins.
well that was a hell of an exit.
Well that's probably for the best. A raid dungeon infested with betentacled horrors from beyond the pale is probably not the place to start.
Then again, it was a WOTLK raid, so they'd probably have been fine.
You, uh... know you can always poke me to help edit and whatnot, yes? Played WoW for over six years, Horde exclusively?
Also... yeah, I'm waiting for Spike to run into Nozdormu. Or better yet, Chromie. Thaaaaat'll be fun.
6782162
Better idea: Twi and Thrall. Or AJ and Thrall.
So basically Luna caused Algalon to fuck up his scatter roll for deep striking the ponies into Ulduar? It's going to be interesting where they all arrive and how they manage to meet if they get scattered to far apart.
Also i don't think you can really match characters or factions from the Warcraft-verse with the ponies they are far to different for that imo.
6782162
Depends on whether that's post Dalaran Purge....Angry Racist Jaina would probably not get on well with Twilight, I imagine.
6780343 Horde scum!
6779602 Well, if they landed in a Blackrock camp, the orcs would eat well that night....
6778232 Well, Algalon was aiming at Ulduar, but Luna's little boo boo may have put paid to that plan. Who knows? And....yes, I think yo are? Cho is just another Lorewalker. Speaking of which, I've thought hard on it, and given that the Thunder King wiped out the original Pandaren civilisation (the Pandaren language is likely the mogu language forcibly adopted by their slave races) , I think the Lorewalkers are the result of Pandaren originally trying to sneak out more about their original culture, the lore of who they were before the Mogu took it from them. That would require searching the whole of Pandaria, looking for ruins and clues. Hence Lorewalkers; walking the land, searching for lore. The fact they're spread out, searching the land, also means they're that much harder to wipe out, so there's always more chance of a Lorewalker surviving a mantid invasion or Mogu resurgence and being able to carry their history into the future.
A bit off-topic from your comment, but I like this headcanon of mine and took an excuse to share it.
6784115
I will end you, Alliance whelp!
This just got better and i didn't think it was possible.
Hmm... sound like they will miss Ulduar... and hit whatever Titan facility exists on Alternate Draenor or Outland...
Not sure if the error is time and/or space based...
Maybe they will pop up just in time to see Illidan get ganked in BT and that's why he made the trip to Equestria.
Poor Algalon... guy has a simple job, but all these "Authorized" users keep asking for favors.
Like that Bronzen Aspect guy... who hired him again?
That guy seems a little... small and fleshy for a Titan Aspect...
"Tower of the Gods" huh... I really need to beat Wind Waker.
I soooo want Fluttershy to have a Bloodfen Raptor with her
, Spike a Druid(because why not) and Pinkie when she gets Cupcakes
on us she changes class and either becomes from a priest to a shadow priest or a warlock
Man it has been SO LONG since I read this. Far too long, since this is a good story.
Hmm, Illidan certainly seems to intend to betray the Mogu in the future. At least we have that.
Poor Tia!
Oh, Uldium, I love it! Especially how Celestia and Luna seem to be the equilevent of Dragon Aspects.
Algalon! ALGALON! NO WAY! And he refers to Discord – who’s doing something sneaky – as an anomaly. All sorts of worldbuilding done right.
Yeah, good to see Rainbow’s picking up on the whole ‘reorigination’ thing.
Oh, they’re going straight to Ulduar hmm? I wonder if they’ll meet Mr. In The Mountains. He’s certainly comfortable with mortals given, you know, he married one.
Oh. I guess… I guess they’re not going to Ulduar after all.
Can’t wait to see more!
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Are you going to continue this?
I was really looking forward for this fanfic. It was the only promising and well written one I've seen featuring the ponies traveling to Azeroth.
But seeing it's tagged Incomplete since december 2015...
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