All Behind Celestial Rays

by Cosy Purity

Beware the Ones Yearning For Justice

Two days had passed since the news of the attack, and fretful, uneasy conversations buzzed all about the castle. Security had been doubled throughout the kingdom’s quarters, and every day Celestia watched a troop of soldiers going out on a daily commanded patrol to scout the immediate area; She’d overheard her mother state that the same had been instructed for every other sector.

She’d also learned that the invasion had occurred in a large town called ‘Weathervane’. Unusual storms had been going on in that area and Princess Cloudwhisper had been sent there to monitor it, being the princess of weather itself. Vibrant suspected that whoever had attacked the city had something to do with the odd frequent squalls. Meanwhile, Nebula and his own royal guard attempted to guess where the next incursion would take place.

No one knew enough to speculate who was behind it all. There were a few survivors who testified that a storm worse than the ones they’d witnessed before rolled in and a terrifying darkness fell on the city, and suddenly creatures draped in dark armour plunged like birds upon the citizens and plucked ponies one-by-one, and disappeared into the clouds. All they had heard were screams from the residents, peculiar roars like a lion would produce, and loud squawks that reminded them of an eagle’s.

The entire description of it shook Celestia with a great disturbance. She could feel that something big was behind this, something with terrible intention….

“Celestia,”

The firm call of her name broke her from her thoughts. It was Nebula, his eyes wide with an unreadable expression.
She reminded herself that she was within the Crystal Hallway, and looked outside of the various windows lining the hall and saw that it was night.

A dark tint was upon the place due to the purple shades outside, and a moon nearing crescent hung in the deep blanket.

“Honey,” her father repeated, sounding more sympathetic this time. Celestia turned to meet his warm blue eyes.

“Sorry,” She muttered, “I keep drifting off.”

A sympathetic smile broke upon Nebula’s face. “I know it’s scary,” he murmured, “but we’ll figure this out soon enough. Don’t worry.”

Celestia searched her father’s gaze and knew that he wasn’t entirely certain, but in her desire for reassurance she allowed herself to believe him.

Nebula then looked out into the darkened view outside the windows and murmured, “Why don’t you come with me to my dorm?” He offered, then put in, “You should be getting some rest; you’re only a filly and you’ve been put through quite a lot of stress the past couple of days.”

Celestia sighed.

“Okay.”

In silence they walked back to his room, the two of them equally enveloped in their thoughts. She tried not to fret over how they would figure out who had launched the attack, or if something were to happen to one of her parents - and in result her coming sister - or where Princess Cloudwhisper had gone and if Starswirl would remain stable meanwhile her disappearance. But the more she shoved away the thoughts, the more they seemed to attack her. She squeezed her eyes shut and closed off every thought from her mind, trying to allow silence to occupy it.
Her father laid a wing on her shoulders and gently guided her into his room as he held the door open with his magic.
She closed her eyes as she snuggled into the comfy sheets on the bed and watched the shaft of light from the outside shrink until the door closed with a faint thud.

---

Celestia began to run in the pitch-black halls of the castle, loud stomping echoing from directly behind her in pursuit. The thing behind her roared and Celestia squealed, quickening her pace and breaking through the breeze she created in her speed, the air thick with her fear.

She could sense the creature catching up on her.

Then it did.

To her immense dismay she felt it’s claws pierce into her shoulders and force her to the ground, it’s hot stinky breath hitting her face. Then it began to shake her violently, and she let out a horrified yelp.

Celestia woke with a start, her eyes wide and her chest heaving as she wheezed with short, terrified gasps, her lungs clenching tightly. The realization hit her that during the dream she’d been holding her breath. But she didn’t have much time to catch it.

As her eyes began to adjust she saw the shape of something just in front of her, and felt something gripping her shoulders, just as she’d experienced in her dream. She had no air left in her lungs to scream. Wriggling out of the grasp of the creature, she glared at it and slapped at what seemed to be its head.

“Oww!!” It squeaked, “watch it!”

Celestia widened her eyes, realizing that the voice sounded oddly familiar. Frustrated that she still hadn’t adjusted to the dark, she squinted to try to make out a clearer image of the creature.

“Starswirl?”

She breathed.

She only heard the reply of a grunt.

Yeah, that’s him.

“What are you doing here?” She whispered furiously.

“I’m going on a little adventure,” he replied, “I want you to come with me.”

“Adventure?” She echoed irritably, her voice raising a little, “In the middle of the night?!”

Her eyes had adjusted enough to see Starswirl’s own eyes grow with caution.

“Keep it down!” He growled, then added, “And yeah. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

She felt frustrated that Starswirl knew very well how hard it was for her to turn down the opportunity of an exciting experience and was using the weakness against her.
After a moment of hesitation she puffed,

“Fine.”

Starswirl nodded and lightly leapt off of the bed, nodding toward the door as a gesture for Celestia to follow. Grunting with reluctance, she crept down while cautiously trying not to make a sound as she landed and joined Starswirl just beside the door. He lit his horn and slowly cracked it open, then slunk through and entered the next room. Celestia followed and broke into a sprint as Starswirl began heading down towards the staircase and placed a hoof on the first step.

Finally once Celestia had caught up they took their time down the stairs to make sure their hooves made no sound and no one would detect them; She hadn’t even the slightest idea how long it had taken them, but it already felt like an hour.

Just as Celestia was ready to start into the first corridor, Starswirl stopped her with a hoof and murmured,

“There’s a quicker way we can get out of here without alerting any guards.”

Celestia lifted an eyebrow with interest.

“How can we do that?” She whispered.

Starswirl looked out into the corridor to see if any guards were near enough to hear them. “It’s a spell that’s going to have to take the combination of our magic,” He responded after a moment, and then took a step towards her and dipped his head to touch his horn to hers. Then his horn lit with a golden glow and he instructed, “Start thinking of the park outside of the castle, in the area just in front of the forest.”

Celestia lit her own horn and began to imagine the lush expanse of grass and several flowers, and then focused on the very far side of the park where undergrowth surrounded it, trees and shrub lined up against the grass to form an entrance into its woodland.

White sparks flew from their twined horns.

Suddenly she felt the spell envelope them and complete in an abrupt flash. Then seemingly a second later she could feel with certainty that they were in a completely different place.

She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings to see that they were just in front of the forest.

Her chest tightened with excitement once the realization hit her.
We teleported!