Herald of Dawn

Celestia rose to her hooves, wings extended out in an intimidating display. She took several careful steps towards the only ruler who cared  pay her a visit:

Enigmatic Insanity, Queen of the Hajahact Empire.

Two pegasi stallions stood beside the kirin, one on each side. Celestia would have sworn she had seen mountains smaller than those few ponies assigned to guard the Queen. Every hoof step was an earthquake; every wing beat, a hurricane.

Celestia's own Royal Guard stood at attention, flanking and boxing in the Princess. It wasn't that she didn't trust Enigma, but she didn't. Murdering Celestia in her own throne room wasn't beyond the ruthlessness of the Queen.

As the two regents came within speaking distance of each other, the Royal Guard in front of Celesta stepped  aside. Enigma's pegasi stepped back, leaving Celestia and Enigma to speak.

Neither spoke for several minutes.

Celestia cleared her throat.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you to Equestria, Queen Enigmatic Insanity," she said, the lie bitter as it rolled off of her tongue.

In all honesty, she didn't find pleasure in welcoming the mare anywhere that wasn't the deepest depths of Tartarus. Yet, she was not rash enough to rush into a conflict with the barren country bordering Equestria.

Even with the Elements, a war against Hajahact meant a long drawn out conflict that would murder many of her little ponies.

The loss of a single one was unacceptable.

So Celestia continued to play the political game. She would even consider trading Iron Ire -- the thought of the steel-eyed pegasus made her blood cold -- for Twilight's release.

That she, the Princess of the Sun, imprisoned the lead general of the Hajahact Winged Guard, would no doubt be a factor in these negotiations.

It was a gamble to assume that Twilight had ended up somewhere in Hajahact, but a safe one as far as it concerned Celestia. She only hoped that the Queen would break before Twilight died out there in those vast lava fields.

The Queen's gaze was cold and glassy -- her eyes had about as much life to them as the wares in a fishmonger's stall. Were it not for the slight, tiny breaths she took, one might think the kirin dead. Celestia's breath caught in her throat as Enigma's guttural voice all but mutilated the words coming out of her mouth.

"To my knowledge, Princess Twilight Sparkle is not within my country's borders."

Celestia drooped. Her emotionless facade buckled under the weight of that twelve word sentence.

That same incandescent mane that once flowed with the grace befitting a royal now draped across the burdened princess like a security blanket. The light of the sun radiating from within her dimmed, as did her hope.

In her heart, she knew that Enigma was lying to her.

Despite the Queen's best efforts to conceal it, Celestia could have sworn she saw the ghost of a smirk curl up on Enigma's face. The kirin was laughing at her. Knowing the monsterous mare, it was probable that Twilight was already dead.

Celestia put a hoof to her throat, attempting to crush the lump swelling within.

No.

She couldn't afford to think like that. She had to remain positive.

She would find her precious student.

She would prevail.

Hours of negotiations lead to nothing. Enigma simply would not let her write out the release of Iron Ire, the single most vital element in the continued dominance of the Hajahact military. Initially, it was for a purpose that Celestia would not let the pegasus go -- she tried to extract from him the secrets of warfare. Now, it was simply so that the Hajahact military would continue to be crippled by the loss of their lead general.

When Enigma's guards came to speak to her, Celestia was rapt. They whispered in the Queen's ears, but she could make out the word 'Twilight' like it had been screamed. Celestia decided that the best course of action was to play dumb, pretend that she had not heard what she did.

When Enigma got up to leave, suddenly refusing to continue negotiating, Celestia prepared herself for what was to come.

When she followed the Queen's convoy on the sly, Celestia knew that she would have Twilight in her hooves by the end of the night or she would die trying.