The Kindom Beneath the Mountain

by Sawtoothetherium

Escape

Canterlot Dungeons

Celestia hid above the door to the cell that held her for weeks. She was waiting for a griffin to come in and check to see if she was hiding. She didn’t need to wait long. She heard the door open and quickly swung to kick the unfortunate griffin in the beak, knocking him out cold. She approached the unconscious griffin and took the keys from him. From there she went down the cell block and found the cells holding Twilight and the rest of them.

Celestia approached the first cell and unlocked it, which drew their attention. The pony inside was rainbow dash, she looked up and found Celestia standing in the doorway. She got up from her sitting position in surprise.

“Princess?” She asked quietly.

“Just Celestia.” She said, “We’re getting out of here. Watch the hall and warn me if any griffins head this way.”

“Yes Princess.”

“Just Celestia,” She said, “I’m no princess, not anymore.”

Rainbow went to watch the hallway while Celestia went to the other cells to get the rest out. The next cell had Fluttershy, who was quietly crying in the corner. She looked up to see the door open and peeked out to see Celestia opening the others. Twilight and her friends were the only ones down there besides Celestia, the guards were killed in the assault.

Celestia soon had the rest of them out of their cells and they came up behind rainbow.

“All clear.” Rainbow whispered.

So the group sneaked through the halls of the lower castle and exited through a side door. They made their way across the gardens before they heard the alarm bell.

“Twilight, Rarity,” Celestia said, “Teleport yourselves and pinkie and applejack to the northern base of the mountain and wait for us there, I will teleport myself and Fluttershy as well as Rainbow dash.”

They emmediately obeyed, Twilight teleported AJ and Rarity teleported Pinkie. When those four were gone Celestia charged up her own teleportation spell and teleported the three remaining ponies to the northern base of the mountain where the rest were waiting. Celestia did a headcount, all of them were there.

“What happened to Spike?” Celestia asked Twilight.

“He fled south to the dragon kingdom, he is safe.” Twilight assured her.

Celestia sighed thankful that they may have some allies.

“What about Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.

“I dont know.” Celestia said, “She fled north, but the yaks aren’t the freindliest to a pony who needs help. I cant help but worry.”

“Well lets go after her,” Rainbow said, “If spike is safe for sure then we had best look for a sign of your sister. Make sure she’s okay before anything else.”

The rest nodded in agreement. So they began to walk north, only moving by night, which was a sign that Luna was doing well enough to raise the moon every night. Celestia had begun with the sun again which would serve as a clue to say that Celestia had escaped. They traveled north until they reached the mountains, where a small group of griffins found them.

“Come quietly,” The seargent told them, “and no punishment will be issued.”

Celestia responded by impaling him with her horn before blasting his still impaled body with magic. The group of now four griffins attacked her, only to be interrupted by either magic or a punch. Twilight and Rarity fired magic beams at two griffins with leathal intent while the other two were knocked back by AJ and RB. RB had flown fast enough to reduce the griffins beack to shards of bone, and AJ had only hit hard enough to cause unconsciousness.

From there the group fled into the mountains and farther north. Much to their dismay, they weren’t near as resistant to cold weather as Luna was so they quickly passed out from hypothermia.

---

Celestia woke with a blanket and clothes on her. She thought it strange that clothes were needed for an equine, but they kept her warm. Celestia opened her eyes to see she was in a bedroll alongside the other six, a few feet away was a group of lightly armored ponies around a fire. There were six of them, all of them male and all wearing nearly identical looking sets of armor. Celestia tried sitting up to get a better look at them but felt a hoof gently push her down.

“Not so quickly, you’re still recovering.”

Celestias eyes widened, she knew that voice. She looked to her right to see Luna, in a set of fur and leather armor with a sword at her hip, sitting there.

“How are you feeling?” Luna asked quietly.

Celestia opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“Confused?” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded.

“I will explain everything later. But please don’t address me as “Sister” or hint that you are in any way familiar with me when you speak with the others.”

Celestia was confused but nodded in understanding, her sister always had a reason for doing things.

One of the stallions from the campfire, a grey batpony, looked at them and called to Luna.

“One of them awake?” He asked.

“Yes Shade, this one woke up not a minute ago.” Luna said.

The batpony called Shade got up and moved over to sit next to Luna and check on Celestia. He put a hoof on her forehead.

“She’s still a bit cold.” Shade said quietly. “What’s your name?”

“Celestia.” She awnsered.

“We found you down south. Unconscious and in a state of hypothermia. Can you tell me how you came here?”

“Yes, my friends and I were fleeing from the griffins who have just recently taken over the nation we call home.”

Shade took a sideways glance at Luna, he had heard this before. “So it really has happened.”

“You didn’t believe me?” Luna asked.

“It’s not that I didn’t believe you. It’s that I wasn’t absolutely certain. You were still a stranger to me at the time.”

Luna snorted. Shade returned to the campfire and Luna remained there to tend to the ponies.