The Return of Unicornia

by StormLuna

Arrival in Unicornia

Once the six arrived in Appaloosa, they began to walk south. The temperatures were well in excess of ninety degrees and this frustrated Rainbow, "Ugh, it is so hot. I wish we could all fly so we could get there quicker."

Applejack too was frustrated, not with the heat but Rainbow's complaining, "Well we can't. It might take us a while but we'll get to Unicornia when we get there."

Rainbow sighed in frustration as did most of the rest of their friends. Twilight however remained quiet as she continued to think about their interaction with Celestia. She knew that this pony was obviously very special to her but she wondered why she would become so angry over Rainbow bringing up using the Elements and kicking some serious flank. She sighed, "Why, why? Why is this pony so special to her? In the past she thought she had to be punished but why not now? Why does she want us to reunite them?"

Rarity overheard her and suggested, "Twilight darling, she did say they had a mother/daughter type relationship. Maybe she wants that back, maybe she wants somepony she can feel like a mother to again."

Twilight's voice became filled with sadness, "Maybe but we always had such a close relationship. I always thought of her as a second mom and I always thought she viewed me as a daughter."

Rarity suggested, "She might have but obviously this pony was something truly special and you shouldn't let that get you down."

Twilight held her head low and replied, "I know. It just hurts knowing that she held somepony that dear in the past."

Twilight again went silent after her brief discussion with Rarity and said little as they continued their journey south. Despite knowing that Rarity was right, she felt a bit of jealousy that Celestia would be so close to somepony that she would think of her as a daughter. She said nothing about it to her other friends either as she figured that they simply wouldn't understand. Twilight's silence did however make their journey a bit more tense.

---

The following day in the afternoon they saw what appeared to be a dome off in the distance, one that resembled the one that protected the Crystal Empire from the arctic. Twilight pointed towards it and said, "Well ladies, we're almost there."

Rainbow replied, "Well I hope it is nice and cool in there, I don't know how much more of this heat I can take."

Once they arrived right at the barrier, they noticed something a bit different about it. Unlike the barrier that separated the Crystal Empire from the arctic, this barrier seemed thicker. Twilight reached her hoof out and touched it but would not be thrilled when she would be thrown back by a shock.

"Aaaah!" Twilight screamed.

This surprised them because with the dome that protected the Crystal Empire, one could walk straight through it. This one however, had magical properties to it that prevented outsiders from getting in. Twilight's friends also reached out and touched it and were thrown back by the same shock. Rarity sighed, "How are we supposed to get in?"

Applejack then began to dig and said, "Well if we can't walk through it, we're going to have to tunnel under it."

Rarity immediately objected, "Dig? Ugh, that isn't very ladylike."

Applejack sighed in disgust, "Dang nabbit, you just can't risk getting dirty can you?" Applejack continued to dig while most everypony else joined her. While they were digging Twilight suggested, "Rarity, after we dig the tunnel to the other side, you can just follow us."

Rarity cringed at the thoughts of having to crawl through a tunnel but knew that she didn't have any other choice if she was to join her friends on the other side to confront the queen of Unicornia. Once her friends had tunneled through to the other side, Rarity began to crawl through it and was not one bit pleased when she emerged on the other side with her coat full of dirt.

"Ugh, I look awful." Rarity said in disgust.

Her friends rolled their eyes in disgust but Rarity's lack of cleanliness would not be their primary focus. They immediately noticed that they were in a dark forest, one that was rather chilly. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around herself and commented, "Wow, talk about a change. It goes from being hot and sunny to chilly and dark."

Twilight suggested, "Well how about we head away from the barrier and towards what will hopefully be their capitol. I really want to meet this pony and get her to reverse that spell."

The six began to walk south, or what they assumed to be south. As they were walking through the forest they ran across a few squirrels and Fluttershy was the first to notice something strange about them. She pointed at them and asked, "Ladies, do those squirrels have horns?"

They looked at them and noticed that they did indeed have horns like unicorns. Fluttershy then decided to try and get their attention, "Uhm squirrels, could you tell me how to get to the capitol of Unicornia?"

The squirrels gave her a disgusted look before flaring up their horns and beginning to discharge energy at all six of them. They took off running as fast as they could and luckily the squirrels didn't chase after them. Once they got away from the squirrels, they ran across other animals and noticed that they all had horns and that the herbivores were using magic to remove berries from the bushes.

This was something that shocked all of them, Fluttershy in particular. She questioned, "How is it that all these animals have horns and magic?"

Twilight suggested, "Perhaps it is something this pony did. Maybe she wanted all the animals to have magic in the event outsiders got in. Maybe she figured they could attack them and drive them out."

After several hours of walking and a few more encounters with animals who fired magic at them, they finally exited the forest and were out in the open. The sun was shining brightly but the temperatures were comfortable. This brought out a great amount of relief to them, Rainbow in particular. "This is a relief, I thought it would be hot once we got out of the forest."

Twilight commented, "Well this dome does keep the outside elements out so I figured it wouldn't be hot."

The six were expecting to see the city's capitol not too far away given how the city in the Crystal Empire was not too far away from the dome but this was not the case. All they could see were open fields along with animals grazing, animals which flared up their horns upon seeing them. Like it was with every other animal there, they discharged magic at them and Fluttershy, no matter how hard she tried, could not reason with them.

It was early in the evening when they finally saw what appeared to be a city in the distance. Once they got closer they saw a tall structure that stood well above the rest of the community. Rainbow thought she saw something coming from the top of it so she flew forward and took a closer look at it. She was shocked when she saw a purple gem that was radiating energy skywards, into the dome that was then spreading outwards. She knew she had to tell her friends about this.

She flew back to her friends and told them what she found, "Ladies, I know what makes this dome. There is a purple gem at the top of that tower protecting this place. It is what is making this dome!"

Twilight replied, "Well we know what keeps the elements out. Now to go and speak to the queen and convince her to reverse those spells."

Fluttershy added, "And if she cast spells on the animals, to reverse those too."

When they entered the city, they saw plenty of ponies out and about. Just as Celestia had stated, every single one of them were unicorn mares and many were giving them cold glares. Finally one of them approached Rarity and asked, "What are you along with these non-unicorns doing in Unicornia? How did you get inside the dome? It is supposed to keep outsiders where they belong, out."

Rarity replied, "Well you see darling, we were sent here by Princess Celestia to talk to your queen about those spells she...."

The mare immediately grasped her in her aura and ordered, "You're coming with me. Queen Starlight will deal with you and let me say this, she will not be happy over why you are here."

They then found themselves being carried in an aura that they could not break out of. Twilight tried flaring up her horn to teleport them out of the unicorn's aura but she could not get her magic to work. She then realized that who had been identified as Queen Starlight must have cast some sort of spell to prevent the magic of outsiders from working.

After what was likely ten minutes, they found themselves right in front of the palace and standing by the door were two larger unicorn mares, mares who were obviously at one time in the past stallions given their build. Their captor released them and they were then grasped in the aura of one of the guards.

The guard asked, "Red Gala, who are these ponies and why are you bringing them here?"

"Solar Eclipse, I caught them coming from the north and they claimed they were sent here by Princess Celestia."

The other guard began to violate their personal space and demanded an answer, "You six don't have the Elements of Harmony on you, do you?"

Twilight nervously replied, "No, we don't. Why do you ask?"

The guard replied, "Security reasons. Now come, you will answer to the queen for this."

Very quickly they were led through the entrance and down a long hallway, a hallway that had multiple turns to it. Soon they were led into a large room with a throne and a guard standing on each side of it. Surprisingly though there was no trace of the queen or anypony else who might be royalty.

Finally one of the guards spoke, "Solar Eclipse, Lunar Eclipse, who are these ponies and where are they from."

Lunar Eclipse replied, "They came from the north and claim they were sent here by Princess Celestia."

One of the guards ordered, "Release them and return to your post." Solar Eclipse released them and then the two guards flared up their horns. The guard said, "Evening Star, make sure they don't leave. I'm going to go tell Queen Starlight about this. I am certain she won't be pleased."

The other guard replied, "I'm certain she won't Morning Star, I'm certain she won't be." She then turned to the six and added, "And for your sake, you better not be here to try and depose Queen Starlight. She always had a feeling that Celestia would one day send ponies in to try and do something to her."

Morning Star headed through a door in the back of what was clearly the throne room. Evening Star continued to glare at Twilight and her friends in silence. They were all nervous but out of all of them, Twilight was the most nervous. Just from the way things were sounding, their queen would not be overly happy over Princess Celestia sending them there. With what Celestia had told them, Twilight knew that Starlight would likely believe they were sent to try and dethrone her or if she weren't told, that she may believe they have the Elements with them.

Comments

[Stet709]

So, instead of having a vendetta against cutie marks, Starlight has one against non-unicorns and stallions. Great...

[StormLuna]

11679434

Well she has her reasons....yeah it may seem messed up but bad childhood experiences can shape one's ideologies.