Sins of The Past

Celestia sighed, mentally willing away the tears in her eyes. She placed one hoof on the dead unicorn's shattered ribs and whispered,

"Enigma, if you can hear me, give me a sign. I need your help."

Communing with the dead was a taboo practice, one that she had outlawed, but dire circumstance called for extreme solutions. She couldn't defeat with the Barriers without Enigma's help -- there was no way. She had tried to raise an army by herself, to defend her beloved little ponies, but it had been so long. No pony even remembered the meaning of the word 'war', let alone its consequences.

Suddenly, the mirror to her right flickered. She turned quickly and watched as it lit up with a pale violet glow. It fogged over and words began to appear.

"CAN'T HELP. AM DEAD. HAVE FRIEND WHO CAN. NEED MIRROR FROM CRYSTAL PALACE."

Celestia facehoofed and considered replying back with, "Wait, you're dead? I didn't notice!" but more words on the mirror interrupted her.

"HEARD THAT. GO NOW. TO WAIT IS TO BE TOO LATE."

Celestia nodded, not knowing if Enigma could see her or not, and teleported to the Crystal Empire.

Cadence woke with a start, feeling an unannounced presence beside her. She looked up and screamed.

"Dammit Celestia! Don't do that!" she snapped, giving the Sun goddess a sharp look of reproach.

"Where is the mirror?" Celestia asked, not acknowledging her niece's poor language.

"In the basement, where it's always been! Why? What's going on, Celestia!?"

Celestia ignored her and sprinted for the basement. The mirror shone like a beacon at sea. It glimmered faintly, a few words appearing on its surface.

"CONNECTING TO LONIAN INTERFACE ... PLEASE WAIT"

Eventually, the mirror dulled again, the words "CONNECTED. PLEASE PROCEED," replacing the ones there before it. She dashed through the mirror, not even stopping to consider what the hell a Lonian even was.

The sun was just cresting over far-off mountains when Celestia fell through the Gate and into a plush chair. Its faint light danced across her snow-white hands -- hands? Hands. She was in a stadium of some sort, looking down on an octagonal ring.

The word "FIGHT!" repeated itself over and over again, like a steady drum beat as two pinkish creatures climbed into the ring, wearing nothing but a pair of odd-looking things over their legs. Celestia looked around. Beside her, deeply absorbed in the chanting, was a dark-maned, pale skinned thing like the ones in the ring. It reminded her of Enigma, so she figured it couldn't hurt to try.

"Could you please explain to me where I am?" she asked, trying to get the thing's attention. It looked over at her, its eyes wide.

"Celestia?!" it asked, stunned. "Celestia, what are you ... who ..." The words devolved into senseless babbling, the thing's mouth eventually just hanging limp, baring her sharp teeth.

"I'm sorry?" Celestia offered, feeling like she had offended the creature.

"Don't be sorry!" the creature said quickly, sweeping her forelegs from side to side. "Come with me!" Celestia was roughly grabbed and dragged out of the stadium, unable to walk as quickly on her hindlegs as this thing.

A strange looking carriage was waiting for her and her escort outside of the stadium. It had no ponies drawing it, just another of these creatures leaning against it, smoke rolling out of his mouth. He held a stick between his lips -- it was white tipped with brown, unlike any tree Celestia had ever seen.

"Got yourself a new toy?" it asked, grinning at her escort.

"No. Just take me home, Daimeon," Celestia's escort said, opening the door for her. "Get in."

It climbed into the front of the horseless carriage and so did the one with the stick. She barely had time to shut the door before the carriage took off at an astounding speed. Not even the fastest of the Wonderbolts had ever moved this quickly. Celestia pressed her face to the window, watching in fascination as the countryside was reduced to a multicolored blur. Sooner than she would have hoped, it stopped and her door came open again.

"C'mon," Daimeon said, gesturing to the mass of stone and glass behind it. "The castle's back this way." This mess was a castle?! Celestia couldn't believe it. It was disorderly and sharp, crowned by a large stained glass window.  Against her instincts, she walked into the castle.