A Dubious Welcome

by Maonyman

CH10: Welcome to Earth, Again

When Celestia appeared in the sunny plains, she was instantly on high alert.

It took mere seconds for a skilled unicorn to summon a return portal, so whatever had stopped Twilight from returning must have either moved incredibly fast, seemed totally innocuous until it was too late, or was able to suppress magic to some degree. So, with ears perked, hind legs slightly bent, wings loose and ready, and horn nearly buzzing with energy primed to release, Celestia stood tense and silent for a long time.

She did not at all trust the innocent sounds of nature around her, but after several minutes passed with no movement save for the insects and a small bird taking flight nearby, she relaxed marginally and began to explore her immediate surroundings. She was in a wide savanna covered with dry, brown grass and sparsely populated with odd trees that had many branches but no leaves save for along the very top.

It was a shame she had not the time to cast more protective spells. Her wards should absorb the bulk of any serious injury, but anything more powerful would take time to cast and, now that she was here, she didn't want to risk dropping her guard for that long. However, she did risk a very quick spell that allowed her to feel when a creature was watching her from behind where she could not see.

Some movement in the distance caught her attention and, though she couldn't be sure through the vegetation, Celestia thought they were distinctly equine in shape. That wasn't very unexpected--the first dimension explorers had been surprised to find creature in other worlds were quite similar to their own. Nature tended toward certain designs, it seemed.

She turned and began heading toward the equines, still wary of this world but unwilling to immediately assume every creature she saw was hostile. So long as she kept her guard up, there should be little risk. As she approached, she saw they were closer to wild deer than to ponies, with a single black stripe running along their side.

Then she noticed the two tall horns on their heads and stopped dead in her tracks.

If these creatures could use magic, that raised the stakes significantly. They would be a great help if they were friendly... but also a major threat if they were hostile, as even weak magic users could overpower an alicorn in large enough numbers. Was that what happened to Twilight?

While she was still trying to decide whether she should risk approaching them, the entire herd abruptly bolted, all of them galloping away as fast as they could move. The fact that she saw no reason for them to run only made Celestia more nervous.

She turned and began to trot away, too anxious to walk but not wanting to make too much noise. There were more trees in this area, not dense enough to form a true canopy, but she was uncomfortable with any restriction at all to her airspace right now and headed for a broad clearing just ahead.

As she passed under one of the last trees before the clearing, her ears twitched at a faint rustle above her. There was a burst of yellow movement in the corner of her eye and her wings flung out more from instinct than any conscious effort. A great weight collided with her left wing and bounced over her back, leaving a bright line of pain across her withers. Even as she jerked her head around, her horn only just beginning to glow, the beast managed to twist in the air, land upright, and instantly launch itself at her throat.

Then it abruptly stopped and floated in mid-air within Celestia's magical grasp. Flailing wildly, it let out a deep, crackling roar and struggled to reach her with its claws, then her horn pulsed once and it fell limp. She casually tossed the unconscious beast aside and primed herself for a followup attack from its allies.

But all was still.

The alicorn waited a moment longer, but as the silence continued, she eventually decided any allies would have attacked while she was distracted with the first, so it must have been solitary.

She took a deep breath, shook herself a bit, and peered over her shoulder at the red gash in her back. Even with her ward, it had managed to slice surprisingly deep into her skin and she was thankful she'd insisted on refreshing her knowledge of medical magic every few decades, cleaning the wound and staunching the blood with relative ease.

Figuring it was unlikely a solitary predator would share its territory with another, she decided to take the time and cast a real spell, something that would protect her more effectively than a simple ward to absorb kinetic force. She was severely limited by the lack of reagents, but after scouring her memory, she eventually settled on a complex regenerative spell. It was quite tricky to cast, but it needed no extra materials, would greatly accelerate her healing, and wore off very slowly over the course of about a week.

A few moments later, she watched with satisfaction as the long cut rapidly stitched itself shut, scabbing over before her eyes. It did not stop the pain, of course, and larger injuries would still take hours or even days to heal, but at least it would no longer require conscious effort on her part.

Feeling a little more confident with that spell in place, she finally turned back to her attacker and floated its limp form up to get a better look. It was an enormous cat-like creature with golden yellow fur and a dense pattern of irregular black which was obviously quite an effective camouflage. It had a stocky build and heavy paws covered with thick fur to dampen their noise.

Floating the beast along beside her, she continued trotting into the clearing and immediately took to the air, aiming for one of the tiny clouds in the sky. When it did not appear to be getting any closer, Celestia was dismayed to realize the cloud was actually far larger and more distant than she had thought.

Shrugging to herself, she decided the middle of the sky would do just as well, turned the beast so it faced away from her, and woke it from its magical sleep. Almost instantly, it began to flail again and Celestia had to harden her telekinetic grip to keep it from twisting too much.

"Can you understand me?"

Its ears swiveled back on her and it let out a low growl. Celestia dropped the beast a few feet and caught it again, adding a note of command to her voice.

"Let's try that again. Answer me."

It growled again but Celestia thought it sounded a bit uncertain now. When it tried to twist its head around to look at the source of the sound, she hovered around in front of it. She had to steel her magic against its sudden attempt to claw at her face.

"That was not wise."

Her magic pressed firmly into its throat, cutting its roar off into a weak mewling whimper, but still, the beast only glared at her and bared its teeth. Celestia sighed and floated the mindless creature back to the ground.

There had been no intelligence in those eyes.

She watched it sprint away until it faded into the brush, then turned in a slow circle, examining the landscape around her. There was a hard line off in the distance, far too straight to be made by wild animals. It might simply be a geographic feature, but if it was a path, then it must lead to some sort of civilization.

Celestia angled a glide toward the line, keeping relatively low to reduce the distance from which she would be visible, just in case. Hopefully these creatures, whatever they were, would be compatible with one of her various language spells and willing to communicate. Perhaps she could even barter magical services in exchange for information or hospitality.

There was a flash of light from a distant bush.

Something ricocheted off the base of her horn and her head exploded with pain. Her wings folded like paper and she plummeted down, bouncing off a tree branch before thudding heavily to the ground.

Dazed, disoriented, and blinded with searing agony, she struggled to stand, to open her eyes, even just to breathe as she heard the faraway roar of some strange monster, but her body felt distant and it took all her will simply to remain conscious.

She should really be more afraid, but in that moment, Celestia worried only for her dear sister. Would Luna be okay without her? ...Yes, she was strong. She will be a good Princess. And Twilight, is this what happened to her precious student?

Seized by an urgent desire to lay eyes upon whatever monstrosity had defeated her so easily, Celestia tried again to open her eyes, and was almost surprised when she succeeded. She lifted her head with a great effort and stared dumbly at the bark of the tree beside her. She had tried to open her eyes before, hadn't she?

Then her head cleared a bit more and she almost slapped a hoof to her muzzle. Of course, her regeneration spell! It was working better than she expected and she might now have a real chance of fighting back or escaping. That was good, as the roaring sound was becoming quite loud and Celestia knew she could wait no longer.

She began to struggle to her hooves, then cried out in pain as her foreleg buckled underneath her. Dismayed, she could only stare at the unnatural angle in her cannon bone, shocked by her lame state. Her wards should have prevented such an impact!

Then, with mounting horror, Celestia saw the hard kink in her leg grow thicker before her very eyes as the regeneration spell forced her body to repair a bone that was not properly set. She immediately flopped onto her side and tried to push the bone straight with her other hoof, but it had already began to stiffen with new bone growth. Tartarus, this regeneration was too strong!

In desperation she slapped her hoof against the trunk of the tree in an attempt to shatter the new bone, but the flash of pain that lanced up her foreleg nearly made her lose consciousness again.

Abruptly, the monster came roaring around the tree and Celestia stared in amazement as three dark-skinned ape-like creatures leapt from the back of some sort of large metallic vehicle. From the way the others deferred to him it was obvious which one was the leader and, with as much dignity as she could muster, Celestia stood on her three unbroken legs to face him.

He immediately gestured at her, barking a command in a strange language, and one of the other creatures raised a device in one hand and pointed it at her head. Fortunately, a magical shield spell was one of the simplest of spells and Celestia hardly even needed to think before casting it.

Agony lanced through her skull as her horn fizzled and a golden spark shot out from the damaged base where she had been struck out of the air. All three creatures leapt back with cries of alarm and the device made a sound like thunder, startling the one that held it.

By the time the pain faded enough for Celestia to see clearly again, their leader was scowling as he strode purposefully toward her and lifted a similar device of his own. She stumbled as she tried to take a step back, eyes going wide and ears flattening against her skull.

"N-No, wait! I didn't mean--"

Celestia felt a burst of pressure and pain.

Then she felt nothing.

Comments

[Poparakelis]

When Celestia appeared in the sunny plains, she was instantly on high alert.

SLOW DOWN FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!!!

[Poparakelis]

And did she die? Because if she did that was pathetic

[BleuBlooms]

We'll see where you take this.

[tigereye504]

I don't understand, why is Celestia acting with such reckless urgency? She had established that Twilight is alive and that she could follow to whatever world Twilight had gone to, but knew that the world must be dangerous because Twilight couldn't cast the return spell that, as noted by Celestia, would take mere moments to cast. She has ready access to reagents before she crossed over; she was in Twilight's castle which would surely be as well stocked as any mage's workshop to support Twilight's research. She had multiple skilled magi in her sister and Starlight to aid in making preparations. Indeed, Starlight is experienced in world-hopping from her time travel battle with Twilight! She at least would be an important ally to bring with, both less important to the country's continued function than one of the diarchs and a powerful magi who could watch Celestia's back.

I want to give the story the benefit of the doubt but this complete failure to plan, and the ganking she receives from wildlife and poacher upon arrival as consequence, is very hard to swallow when done by an ancient demigod known for her forethought and schemes.

[Fox Jones]

11649075
Keep in mind, that she's given most of her power to Luna before she left, so she's not as magically strong as you'd expect! Granted, yes it does not excuse the lack of planning from her side, there is room to give the benefit of the doubt, especially if she's worried sick for Twilight! Yes, there is some fault, but not that much!