Getting up in the morning was always a hassle, especially for a princess. Actually waking up was the worst part of it all, well, debatebly with getting her mane brushed, but nonetheless it was still a hassle. Celestias eyes opened to the night sky, dark and everlasting as always. Luna had made the night as beautiful as it was over a thousand years ago. Stars always aligned, moon bright, as welcoming as the sunlight was.
But this morning in particular felt... almost strange. She couldn't hear any sort of sounds, nothing at all. Celestia looked outside her window, usually by now some ponies would get up to see the early morning sunrise and they would have their home lights turned on, but it was just complete darkness outside. What was even more strange was that no pony was here, in her room, not even her personal guards.
After the Princess got ready for her day, she started to trot towards Luna's tower where she raises and lowers the moon. But on her way there, there was no pony in sight. The castle was completely empty.
Celestia started to fly to the top of the tower, but when she got there Luna was missing, but there was a note on the railing.
"Dearest sister,
I've hoped you've realized by now that Canterlot is completely empty. If you're reading this note, I have not returned yet. I'm flying out to meet up with Cadence, on my way back I'll see if Twilight is still with us as well. My prediction is that it isn't just ponies of Canterlot that have gone missing, 'tiss everyone, everywhere. Why we are still here I have not figured out just yet. When I get back meet me in the throne room. Hopefully I've figured something out by then.
-Luna
Celestia was in utter shock that it wasn't just her hallucinating, Luna had realized it too. 'Why didn't she wake me up? It's not safe for anypony to go out there!'
But she did as was told and went down into the throne room and waited for Luna's return. 'I just hope Cadence and Twilight are still with us' She thought to herself. But the question still remained, Why? And how? There is no entity that Celestia knew that could do such a thing, and it was almost impossible... Right? There was no way in Equestria that you could just make everypony disappear with a wave of the horn. This could be Discord's work, but he would have at least shown himself by now, plus he couldn't exactly just make everything just disappear anyway.
Celestia heard the door squeak open slightly and she turned to see who it was, already knowing it was her sister. Luna entered the throne room slowly looking exhausted. She was breathing deeply and when she opened her mouth to talk nothing came out. It looked like she could barely stand on her own four hooves. And that's when she collapsed, but she didn't faint. Celestia ran to her side looking for any wounds. Not seeing any she realized she was just tired. Luna barely whispered into Celestia's ear, "Something is out there, I don't know who it is or what it is, but it's huge. It's completely destroyed Manehatten, luckily no pony was there that I could see. All I know now is that Cadence and Twilight are on their way, it seems that we're... the only... one's." Luna fainted in the Princesses hooves and fell asleep.
She knew one thing, whatever was out there had the ability to take ponies off this planet completely, maybe even the wildlife to. Whatever it is, it's powerful, and not just that either. It's big enough to completely destroy one of the biggest cities in Equestria in one night. That was almost overwhelming.
On the bright side it's good to hear that Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight were still with us and on there way.
Celestia picked up Luna and carried her to her bedroom and laid her down on her bed. Whatever was out there needed to be taken care of quickly before any other cities were destroyed.
Celestia heard the door behind her open slightly and quickly turned around, horn ablaze...
A purple mare entered the room, startled to see her mentors horn pointed at her, "Whoa, whoa, hey!" Twilight stumbled over her hooves, taken aback from the sudden event, "It's just me Princess! Twilight Sparkle! I'm sorry I came here as fast as I could."
Celestia lowered her horn, noticing that it was her student, "I'm sorry Twilight, I was just trying to protect Luna, who knows what she's been through tonight."
The purple alicorn embraced her teacher, trying to comfort her, "I'm not sure what's going on but trust me, we'll get through it. I have no idea what's been going on, I was just awoken and told to come to Canterlot as quickly as possible." She pulled away as she heard a knock on the door. They both turned to see Cadence in the doorway.
Cadence looked around the room, "I'm sorry, is it a bad time?"
"Of course not Cadence, it's been so long since I've seen you." Celestia opened the door with her magic, inviting the pink alicorn inside. She walked into the room a bit shakingly, as if something had happened on her way here. Twilight excitedly trotted up to Cadence and said, "It's so good to see you again!"
They started to do their greeting, "Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" After they were done they embraced each other, "It's good to see you to Twi, glad you're still alive." She turned towards Celestia, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Not as much as Luna, but I'll try my best to explain." Celestia sat down next to Luna's bed, " Something is out there, and from what I've heard it's big, big enough to completely destroy Manehattan. Where it is now I have no idea, but we must do something as quickly as possible."
Cadence peered around Celestia, noticing Luna was asleep on her bed, "What happened?"
"Just exhausted about what happened today. This should wait until later, both of you can go ahead and get comfortable in the sleeping chambers, we'll talk when Luna comes back around.”
They both nodded in agreement and headed towards the sleeping quarters while Celestia stayed with Luna a minute longer, then headed off to rest herself up. There’s going to be a long day ahead of them.
CHAPTER 1: THE PREPERATIONS
Silence. Beautiful, perfect silence. Some say silence is golden, they find it peaceful and relaxing. You can't do a lot when it’s silent, and doing so would break it; Silence can also be terrifying and mysterious, where it's dark and you don’t know where you are and the only thing to greet you is silence. Pure, Silence.
Luna laid in her bed with her eyes closed. She had woken up already, but she still felt too tired to get up.
Her eyes fluttered suddenly as she felt as if something was pressing down, like as if something was looming over her...
“Ah, you’re awake, thank goodness!”
Luna opened her eyes to see Princess Celestia looking down at her from the side of the bed, a smile on her face. Wishing to greet her properly, Luna struggled to sit up, only to be stopped by an alabaster hoof.
“Careful now, you were comatose for all of yesterday”. Though her visage was as impassively smiling as ever, Celestia’s tone betrayed her worry.
Luna pulled herself up slowly, eyes watering from the pain. A dull throb of a headache threatened to overcome her, but thankfully it passed. She rested against the headboard tentatively, reflecting on the night before.
With a sudden revelation, Luna blurted out, “Twilight and Cadence! Did-did they…?”
Celestia nodded sagely. “They arrived right after you passed out. Don’t worry - they are fine. I expect they’ll be in the dining hall, wolfing down the salad Cadence made - as they often do when they think I am not watching.”
Luna smiled at that.
Celestia just stopped and watched her sister for a while before getting up, folding her wings neatly on her back. “If you are feeling better, feel free to join us. There is something important that we must discuss.” So saying, she left, leaving the door open.
Luna sat for a while longer. As she stared at the corridor outside deep in thought, her mind went back to Manehatten.
Twisted steel skeletons of the grand skyscrapers remained, clawing at the sky in sheer desperation. Houses - the dear homes and dwellings of ponies large and small - reduced to rubble.. And most of all, was the terrible monster. It squashed buildings with each uncaring step. Did it notice what it is stepping on? Does it feel anything?
In the end, the monster didn’t notice her. She shuddered with guilty relief; what could she have done? This... Huge thing with feet twice her own size.
Back in the present, Luna pulled at the covers with her magic experimentally, before throwing them off fully. She extended a leg over the side cautiously, her movements ever quickening as she realised the pain had worn off.
‘Well that was easier than I expected!’, thought the princess with relief, as she left her bedchambers behind.
It was going to be a long day. Her head reeled as she pondered how she was going to explain everything. How will they react to the beast? Speaking of which, she’d have to give it a name; it would be tedious to refer to it as ‘monster’ constantly.
Luna was distracted from her musings by the delicious smell of fresh salad. ‘Chrysanthemums! My favourite!’, she thought, throwing open the double doors with glee. Twilight broke off abruptly at the intrusion, her riveting speech about her recent study of antimatter interrupted.
“Twilight! Cadence! Oh how nice to see you! It’s been too long!” Luna ran forward, hugging the two Alicorns tight. “I am only sorry that it had to be in such dire straits”
The other two returned her hug in kind, uttering reassurances: “I know right? It’s unforgivable!” and “Aw Luna, I missed you too!”
Celestia cleared her throat gently, waiting as they sat down abashedly. Seeing that Luna heaped a healthy serving onto her plate, Celestia stood up. “Twilight, Cadence, thank you for arriving at such short notice. As you known, a strange calamity has befallen Equestria tonight - everypony apart from us has disappered, including Discord.” She motioned to her sister. “Luna, do you have anything to impart?”
Luna stood up as her sister sat down. Clearing her throat to gather her thoughts, she began, “I first noticed when I was walking through dreams. I had just left one when I realised that I was in limbo; there were no more dreams.” She swallowed as the other Alicorns exchanged uneasy looks.
“I woke up right after that, and I noticed that Nightshade and Reaper - my loyal sentinels - were missing. They would never leave my side while I Walk. That was when I first realised that something was wrong, and I didn’t have to check far until I realised - everypony has disappeared!” Luna paused again, judging her audience.
Cadence glanced at Twilight, her ears drooping. “I hope Shining is ok”, she muttered.
Twilight reached out, squeezing her hoof tightly.
At her sister’s nod, Luna continued, “After rousing you both, I went to Manehattan, because that was where the pony whose dream I was walking in lived.” She glanced uneasily at her sister. “It was all gone!”
“What?! Manehattan?” Twilight’s voice cracked at the sheer incredulity of it. “What do you mean exactly?”
“I mean that it’s gone, Twilight - rubble and destroyed buildings as far as the eye can see. Roads, trees and lamp posts - all thrown about like a small foal’s playroom. And… And amongst it all, was the biggest monster I have ever seen.” Luna’s voice was grave.
“A monster? What exactly did it look like, dear sister?”, queried Celestia, smoothing down her suddenly ruffled feathers.
“I-I don’t know how to describe it. It was… bigger than a dragon for sure. Almost as big as Tirek in his final state. It had these gigantic claws and spikes along its back.” Luna shuddered inadvertently. “I have seen many monsters in my lifetime, but never one like that.”
Silence fell as they pondered. Cadence just frowned worriedly, while Twilight tapped a hoof against her head thoughtfully. Celestia broke the silence, “Where was it headed? Did you see?”
Luna looked at the stained glass window as she answered. “Fillydelphia - I could see the mountains even from Manehattan. It’s the only place within a few hundred kilometres that I know of.”
Twilight chimed, “How fast was it moving?”
“I don’t know exactly, but it was pretty slow. It seemed a bit detached, not even looking at the ground.” Luna cocked her head for a second. “I don’t think it knows where to go.”
Twilight nodded. “We might have some time then - before it reaches Fillydelphia proper. Even if it could traverse the roads faster, the mountains should still hold it up.”
“C-”, Cadence broke off, biting her lip.
“Go on, Cadence”, encouraged Celestia, nodding at her.
“I-I was just wondering…” Cadence steeled herself with a deep breath. “Luna, you said that it seemed detached, like it didn’t know where it was going. Now I haven’t heard of anything like this creature before - and I am sure Twilight would have told us if she did - so I was just thinking…”, she trailed off again, glancing at Twilight with an unsure expression.
“You mean that it could be… not from Equestria?” Twilight finished, her statement sounding incredible even to her.
But as the Alicorns turned the idea over in their heads, it seemed that yes - maybe - it’s a long shot, but maybe it is not from Equestria?
But then, where did it come from? No one asked this of course.
Cadence continued, clearing her throat. “I was just thinking - maybe we can talk with it?”
At Twilight’s skeptical expression she hurried on, “If not fully talk, at least communicate in some way? I mean - if it had the planning and forethought to come to Equestria, maybe it can be reasoned with. That’s all I’m saying.”
Celestia nodded affirmatively. “Yes, maybe you have a point there Cadence - perhaps to one of its stature, we seem like mere ants.” She chuckled. “It’s been some time indeed since I’ve been so humbled.”
Twilight nodded as well. “Good point Cadence, but I think we should go with a worst-case scenario. If the creature cannot be reasoned with, we will need a contingency plan…”, she trailed off.
Luna opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the suddenly excited Friendship Princess. She met her sister’s smile, amazed by Twilight’s newfound courage.
“I’ve got it! We should lure it out - judge how powerful it is. If we could make an accurate assessment of the situation - learn its strengths and weaknesses hopefully - before we engage the creature, I believe that we stand a better than average chance!” Twilight felt her cheeks enflame when she noticed everyone’s gaze on her. The three others nodded slowly, a bit unsure. But no one could think of anything else just then.
Clearing her throat, Celestia stood upr to deliver her resolution, "First and foremost, we should strive for a peaceful result; we know precious little about this creature, and for all we know it might simply be lost. . But if there are no objections, I support Twilight’s idea.” She shot a small smile at her former student.
Twilight looked away, her cheeks suddenly aflame as she tried to hide her proud smile. Cadence mouthed “You go!”.
“Then there are no objections?” Celestia raised her eyebrows, looking at each pony in turn. They stood resolute, their expressions turning solemn and determined as the weight of their decision burdened them.
Reassured, she continued, "Please follow me.”
Celestia trotted out of the room, the others trailing close behind. Everyone’s mind swirled with unanswered questions, and they only just managed to stop short of bumping into each other when they realised that Celestia had stopped.
Twilight’s eyes shone with recognition - how could she ever forget the Astronomy tower? Many a bully she had escaped here, and she often spent long days reading or stargazing at night with her mentor by the warmth of the fireplace so conveniently located there.
Cadence paused at Twilight’s side, watching Celestia and Luna curiously.
Luna walked purposefully towards one of the older telescopes near the far wall. She fiddled with the knobs as Celestia stopped at the fireplace, hoof raised at a statuette of a bearded pony sitting on the mantelpiece. Nodding at each other, they pushed simultaneously.
Twilight gasped, and Cadence’s eyes widened, as a narrow passage a bit smaller than a door opened up with a groan.
Celestia smiled and walked inside, motioning for everyone to follow her in.
They descended, heads spinning slightly as they walked down the never-ending spiral staircase. Cadence wrinkled her nose at the musty smell born of disuse and neglect, patting Twilight on her back when she started coughing violently.
The passage ended in a small room, lit only by torches burning with a magical green hue. In the flickering torchlight was rows upon rows of ponekins wearing armour.
“Behold”, intoned Luna.
Sharp pikes glittered in racks. Cruel maces with sharp spikes, huge battleaxes and laces were hung up on the wall.
"These are all meant for use in tragic situations aren't they?" Twilight muttered, the enormity of the scene quieting her.. Twilight walked over to one [coloured armour] set. Slipping on a torc experimentally, she was surprised to see that it fit perfectly - it didn’t dig into her neck, and it didn’t hang loose.
Cadence noticed this, twitching her ears curiously. "When did you find the time to make these?” She walked over to Twilight, admiring how adventurous her normally reserved sister-in-law seemed. “And how come it fits so well?”
Celestia winked. “I had Twilight’s armour commissioned very recently - just after the coronation”, she said. “Your friend Rarity was a big help because she had made dresses for both of you in the past.”
She walked to a secluded corner of the room, a beautiful golden helmet tinted green in the flickering torchlight. Her wings drooped a little as the memories came flooding back. “Luna and I… We only used these twice before”. Luna glanced at her, and she nodded. “Once when Discord attacked, and once when Sombra terrorised the Crystal Empire.” She ran a hoof over the breastplate gingerly.
Cadence shared a quick look with Twilight. A silent agreement being reached, they set about wordlessly fastening their armour, Cadence helping Twilight with the helmet.
Her bearing proud and tall, Luna presented them with their swords. Twilight almost lost her grip due to the nervousness, but she bit down hard, watching the others. Cadence accepted hers with enviable grace, her somber manner advanced for her young age. Luna bowed her head a little when she reached her sister. A wordless glance, a blink and a nod being all they needed.
Fully equipped, the four Alicorns sheathed their swords and strode out of the hall, proud and terrifyingly graceful.
Far away, a huge mountain range split the earth. The city at its base seemed tiny and insignificant in the face of its ageless presence. And there, prowled the monster.
The Goliath fell to its knees. . Hot, burning energy coursed through it. Anger, passion and pain rolled into one as the creature opened its gigantic maw. Its very body twisting and contorting in alien ways, it screamed at the world - a cry of complete and utter hatred - the air shimmered as it breathed a huge column of flame.
