Mirai Start

by Megatron

Noizy Tribe

When she finally came to, Celestia found that they ruined stonework had been replaced by a carpet of fallen leaves. The castle was no where to be seen, and instead, the forest stretched out for as far as the eye could see. As she struggled to grasp her surroundings, she was shocked by a group of Pegasi who swooped in from above the forest canopy. They were all clad in armor not too dissimilar from her own royal guards, though theirs sported a dark black color and was clearly designed for actual combat rather than for display which when combined with the large lances that they carried, made it clear that these were soldiers. Before she could say anything, the Pegasi all pointed their lances towards the Alicorn, killing intent visible in their eyes.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Celestia said outraged.

“I should be the one asking that Unicorn! What was that bright flash and why are you in our territory?” a Pegasi with slightly more elaborate armor said. Given the look of his armor and the fact that he was the one asking questions, he must have been a captain commanding these brigands.

“Your territory? I am your Princess!” Celestia responded, quickly becoming confused.

“Sir look, she has wings!” one of the soldiers said, gesturing to her side. The captain stepped forward to look and to his amazement, she did indeed have wings.

“This is strange, we'll have to take her to King, he'll know what to do,” the captain said.

“King? There isn't a king in Equestria, at least not one that I know of,” Celestia said in response.

“If you don't know about your rightful king, you soon will, now fly with us and don't stray from our path or you're a corpse,” the captain shot back before signaling to his troops. On command, the soldiers raised their lances into a relaxed stance before lining up into a flying formation. Celestia stretched her wings and they all took off, flying high in the sky.

They flew through the clouds before reaching a large cloud with a large fortified building on top of it. Landing before the entrance to the structure, Celestia was ushered inside and after a short walk through a hallway that was dimly lit by a few torches, she was led into a large room dominated by a large throne. In that throne, a red furred Pegasus sat, a golden crown in the shape of Laurel Wreath perched atop his dark mane.

“My liege, I've found the source of the disturbance, and it's... interesting,” the captain said, bowing towards the throne once they reached speaking distance.

“Interesting? All I see is an overgrown Unicorn, hardly-” the king began to say before Celestia stretched out her wings, causing a shocked expression to cross the king's face. “I take it back, this is indeed most interesting, in fact, this stranger may just be the key to our final victory!”

“I don't understand, what's going on? What are you talking about?” Celestia asked, now very confused.

“Why, the long war against the other tribes of course. You're clearly a being of great power, and with your help, I'm sure that we can finally purge this land of the wicked Unicorns and Earth Ponies once and for all! This land will finally belong to us and us alone!”

“What makes you think that I'll help you?”

“Your wings of course, with wings that strong, you must at least be a noble Pegasus at heart, and if you refuse to help in our glorious cause...” with those words, every guard in the room drew closer to Celestia, lances drawn.

The princess weighed her options carefully, she didn't want to take part in a slaughter, but fighting her way out of a fortress would be far from easy, especially since she was still recovering from her battle with Nightmare Moon. Before she could come up with a solution however, a series of multicolored explosions flashed across the room, as a small group of Unicorns emerged from a portal at the other end of the room.

“Get in!” one of the Unicorns shouted after creating another portal next to Celestia. The Alicorn didn't hesitate to jump through the tear in space, happily accepting that way out. Once she was on the other side, several of the Unicorns jumped in after her before closing the portal to seal off their escape. “That was a close one,” the same Unicorn said, looking at Celestia.

“Who are you, why are you doing this?” she asked.

“There's little time, follow me, the Elder Mage will explain,” the Unicorn said, motioning for Celestia to follow him.

As she walked through the halls of the ornate structure she now found herself in, she saw Unicorns practicing many varieties of magic, most of it dark and highly destructive. Eventually, she reached a large well lit room with a single Unicorn looking at a crystal ball. As they drew closer to him, she saw that he was extremely old Stallion with a long white beard that went down to floor and eyes that were completely milky white, being the only features of his face that stood out against the darkness imposed by the large hood that shrouded his form.

“Welcome Celestia, I am glad that we were able to find you,” the Elder Mage said to Celestia without looking away from his crystal ball.

“You know who I am?” Celestia asked.

“But of course, I have seen many things,” he responded, his crystal ball temporarily flickering with magical light with that last line. “I know that you have come from the future, and that you must return as quickly as possible.”

“Do you know how I can go back?”

“Yes, I know I spell that will return you to the future, and I will cast it as best I can,” the old Unicorn said before looking towards Celestia. When he did so, his eyes and the crystal ball suddenly began to glow with the same green light as the tome, and in an instant, Celestia was again consumed by a flash of light followed by a long stretch of darkness.