The World of Equestria

by Mona_Chromatic

Chapter 1 - Celestia

A wish without a will is meaningless. A will without a goal is pointless. A goal that very well may never come to fruition is not worth chasing. And yet somehow, climbing the endless stairs, dragging her torn dress, dirty feet, and burnt leg, Celestia found herself to be actively trying to salvage anything, absolutely anything, from the situation that roared outside.

The stairwell was dark, and the wound in her side burned like fire. Trudging up the desolate stairs, Celestia brought her head up. The tower seemed to extend into the void of space itself, and felt just as cold. Dragging her tired feet, Celestia pushed forward and upward.

Eventually, she slumped over the stairway railing as her feet finally gave out. The lights above her flickered as her body slowly collapsed onto the ground. As her vision blurred, heavy footsteps echoed through the halls and within her fading mind. Her body grew numb, but the pain of her failure hurt more than ever.

She should have seen it coming. She could have very well stopped it from happening, she thought to herself. So why was her city and the people burning to the ground? No... it wasn't her city anymore...

They were the ones who took it from her.

Tilting her head to the side in sheer exhaustion, the sound of heavy footsteps drew near. Heavy boots and armored soles clanked and tapped on the marble ground, echoing endlessly through the tower. Celestia looked backwards, and once again began running. The footsteps only seemed to grow louder, yet there was no one behind her. She brought her eyes forward again, and hastened her pace. Finally arriving at the top floor of the tower, she arrived at the door that would lead her to the roof. Gripping the handle, she took a deep breath.

It was all too much for her. She hesitated, staring at the pale white skin of her hand fused to the doorknob, unwilling to see the state that her city had become.

The footsteps returned. Without second thought, Celetia opened the door and stepped out into a word that was as scarred and damaged as her body. The roof had a semi-circular pavilion, allowing her to look down upon the streets of Canterlot, the beautiful city she had once ruled.

Police sirens blared as the cars themselves were lined up in front of the central building that was her home, where she was raised and taught, and where she and her sister Luna would plan how they would go about negotiating with the other cities like YakYakistan and Griffinstone.

Speaking of Luna... Celestia, for a moment, muted out all the other noise, trying to concentrate using the last of her magic reserves to communicate with her. Usually, telepathy was no issue for an experienced magic user like her, but after what just happened, even that took almost everything she had. She didn't even notice when the policemen pointed their guns at her, and fired.

Two of the bullets grazed and hit her left shoulder, while a third lodged itself inside her abdomen. She leapt back, avoiding the rest, but falling to the ground on her back, coughing up blood as she landed.

She could hear the policemen yelling, the sirens, and the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears, but nother scared her more than what she heard next.

The footsteps were back. They were closer and as numerous as they had ever been. Celetia rolled onto her stomach, and got up on her legs, limping towards the door, where the sounds grew louder and louder. She slammed the door, barred it with the heavy lock that it (conveniently) was attached to, and stepped several paces backwards. The footsteps stopped, but through the narrow, small translucent window on the door, she could instead see the silhouettes of her pursuers. The door rattled. Celestia had nowhere to run. She used what limited magic he had left inside her, causing her palms to glow with a white energy as the door shook with greater force. Being a princess meant that you underwent a lot of different forms of training, and self-defence was certainly one of the training that Celestia remembered vividly, given how different and dangerous it was when compared with the other classes.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't matter in the end. The door glowed with a sinister, violet hue, before crumbling away like dust and stone, revealing the source of this insidious, dark magic. There stood a single man, dressed in a black hood, with his arm raised and cackling with dark lighting, his face hidden under the shadows, and his magic radiating out his body like the sun. He stepped outwards, revealing seven other figures behind him, each with a mask bearing the visage of a demon, each of them radiating dark energy, and each of them wearing the same cloak as the first.

The man lowered his arm, and glared at the princess.

"You," he said in a heavy, Swedish accent, "have been very uncooperative thus far, Princess Celestia." His annoyance was clear, as his voice was toned to a deep growl.

Celestia yelled in anger, lunging towards him with her energized fingertips. She dashed forward with great speed, almost blinding, and extended her arm in the effort to strike the man directly in his temple. Her attack, however, was stopped, when the man simply raised his other arm, catching her wrist with his middle finger and thumb. The black magic coursed through the man's arm again, and produced a shockwave that knocked Celestia down again onto the ground.

Some of the other cloaked members began to close in around her. One man that was especially tall, towering at a bit over eight feet in height, with forearms that were as thick as tree trunks, stooped down on one knee to grab the princess and pick her up with his hand that alone was as large as her head.

The moment he did though, he found her leg suddenly wrapped around his arm, and the princess swinging herself back up, and leaping off of the man's broad shoulders. Celestia dashed around two other cloaked members, launching herself into the air, her own magic pulsating through her fingertips. She fired off two consecutive blasts from her hands that curved and darted through the air, right before a more feminine figure of the group raised her long-nailed and pale index finger, causing the air within a wide radius around her to shimmer. Before once again being interrupted by the leader of the troupe. Raising both of his arms, he cast his dark magic once again, producing black chains that shot through the air like snakes chasing after their prey.

And catch their prey they did, and Celestia's body was wrapped around in the coil, and her body hit the floor.

"Finally," came a low, gravely voice from the gigantic man, who walked over and was now holding the struggling princess in his right hand. "Should we continue with the operation?"

"Come now," came a second voice from the group. Celestia, though exhausted of any and all strength, listened as well as she could. This voice came from that of a woman, with sultry and even lustful undertones. "There is no need to rush. Besides," she added, "I wanted to enjoy myself a little bit before we complete the final act." As the woman said this, she removed her cloak, revealing a pale yet silk smooth face, with lips as red as a rose, but with eyes that shone with such a dark blue, the irises could barely be seen. Not that Celestia could see very much, but at least she could still hear the voices for now.

The woman, who was just as tall as Celestia, leaned her face close to that of the broken now ex-ruler. She stuck out her violet, serpentine and forked tongue, and licked some of the dirt that was stuck on Celetia's right cheek. As she did that, the tongue left a green residue, that hissed fiercely, leaving a red streak that stood out from the rest of Celestia's pale, bruised face. Celestia winced as the strange substance burned her skin like a wildfire, and the woman noticed this.

"Oh my," the pale woman commented, "Not quite all out of strength, are we?"

"That's enough, Lilith," said the newcomer, who pulled back his hood as well. With this motion, the remaining six did the same.

Each of the faces that were revealed had distinctly human tones to them, and yet despite that, there was also something incredibly alien about their features. One could almost call them "demonic".

It wasn't hard to notice certain features of some of their faces that were easy to remember, even if Celeatia's vision was so blurry she couldn't even see how far up the stairwell she had come before being captured. The tall, muscular one holding her by her arm had a face that might as well have been engraved with the constant scowl he made with his mouth. There was a short, fat, greasy man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, but his plump cheeks were folded three times and covered his neck. Two teenage boys of similar appearance, but one with devilish green eyes that was rimmed black with some sort of eyeshadow (Celestia guessed), while the other had fiery red eyes that gave him the appearance of a predatory bird eyeing a helpless mouse. The others were further away, and in the dark tower, Celestia couldn't make out any more details.

But as far as she could tell, they certainly were not human. That much was obvious at least.

Using what little energy she had left, she raised her head ever so slightly, to catch a glimpse of the eighth newcomer. From her perspective, he looked huge, but really, he was only barely six feet tall. His head and chin were clean shaven, and he looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. His bald forehead was wrinkled, which somehow formed three eye-shaped folds that, when connected, formed a small triangle. Contrasting with the greyish-green and tattered cloak he wore along with the others, the man wore a completely clean and well-ironed suit and tie that made him look like a CEO of a major company. Celestia tried to open her eyes wider, for a chance to see him better. She could have sworn she recognized him from somewhere.

Noticing her subtle movement, the woman with the tongue ("Lillith," as Celestia recalled), used her soft and leathery hands to raise Celestia's chin. Her long nails dug deeply into Celetia's left cheek, which was still red from the mysterious burn, and long, dark streaks of blood began to trickle out.

The pain finally snapped Celestia out of her dreamlike state. Now having a clear view of the people before her, she turned her head towards the man who stood in front of her. He turned around, and pulled out an old, black flip-phone, and dialed a few numbers. While his large hand held his phone close to his ear, Celestia could not see the man's face anymore. But she could see how much more danger she was in. The man, in his other free hand, held a knife, curved in a crude manner, and black and steely as the night sky.

She had to do something. She needed to somehow get out of here, far away. Slowly, she raised her right hand, reaching the silver ring that nestled on her left index finger. The tall cloaked man holding the princess took notice, and moved his hand to grip her wrists.

"Make another move, and I'll snap your arms like they're toothpicks," he growled in an angry but low sort of voice, tilting his thick neck staring his crimson eyes into the ones of Celestia. The man on the phone turned briefly, then resumed his phone call.

"Yes, of course the money will need to be transferred within the week," said the man in the suit, still keeping his eyes on Celestia while talking on the phone. There was a short pause, and the suited man's face turned and became angry. Lowering his head, he grumbled, "There is no alternative. If you do not comply, I will personally see to it that you are shamed, removed of power, and hated by your people, the world, and the heavens themselves."

Celestia raised her left leg, and bent her knee. If this was to work, she would likely faint from the process. The strain would be all too much on her depleted pool of magic.

This is my last option, she thought to myself. Sweet sister Luna, if you are there, if you can hear me, know that I will come back for you.

"You have a good day, too, Mr.President,'" scoffed the bald man, closing his phone. Lilith approached him.

"Did you get what you need?" she asked.

"Over one trillion dollars," hushed the man, pushing his finger against the succubus' lips. "This operation is a resounding su-"

Celestia swung her leg, leaping off the head of the short pudgy man. He gave a short yelp, and the giant man turned just in time to see Celestia's heel smash right into his eye. Dazed, he let go of the princess, reeling back and clutching his eye, already swollen.

The man in the suit raised his gun, and fired several times, while Lillith leapt forward and hissed. Reaching out her right hand, Celestia's fingers glow, as a whitish-green, translucent pattern of hexagons formed out in front of her, deflecting the bullets towards Lilith's direction. She cursed, moving to the side and hitting the stairway rail. Instantly, as the man reloaded the gun, Celestia's right palm made contact with the ring on her left hand. A ring of green fire encircled the princess. The flames rose several feet, and shone so bright the others had to shield their eyes. The ring began to fade from it's shining silver color, to a cold, jet black. Celestia glared at the figures.

"You..." she huffed as the flames began to twist around her body. "... you are going to pay for everything. I'll see to that myself..."

The roar of the flames drowned out all other noise, and just as quickly as they appeared, the flames and the princess vanished. The small traces of smoke and scorched concrete was all that was left on the silent stairway.

Still in shock, the seven cloaked figures took several steps back down the stairs, looking at one another. The man in the suit growled, straightened his tie, and glared at his associates.

"Don't just stand there with your mouth open like carps! Find her, and bring her to me, alive! Now!" he barked. All of them immediately were surrounded by black smoke, and one by one, they disappeared, except for one. Lilith turned to the man in the suit after he laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Master?" she asked curiously, pressing her pale index finger against her ruby rose lips.

"Celestia is not our only target," said the man. "Her sister has also escaped."

He began walking down the stairs, continuing his orders. "Luna will likely want revenge for this. Her very existence threatens this entire operation." - here he paused and looked back at Lillith. "I trust that you will neutralize her without much issue?"

Lilith cackled, her laugh echoing and ringing throughout the tower. "Of course. She could never run forever. It would be my absolute joy and pleasure to bring her to you with great speed, my Lord Grogar," she hissed calmly, her tongue vibrating in the air. "On the condition," she added, "that I may have my own fun with her before I do?". The man stared at her, eying her sultry expression, and nodded. Lilith laughed, and said, "You are too kind, master." As the words echoed out, the black cloud of smoke returned, and Lilith vanished, leaving an empty stairwell in the cold, dark tower....

But not before Grogar huffed and muttered to himself, "Drama queen..."

Author's Note:

LETS DO THIS THING! MY VERY FIRST STORY!

(Please tell me what you think. Every criticism will help)