The Quest Through Time

Chapter 7

“Yes, it’s us!” Twilight said happily. “We’re here to rescue you!”

Celestia could only smile. “How you came to be here I do not know, but first you need to take care of this magic energy field.” She looked up. “There should be a small object on top of the cage, that’s the power source.” Twilight nodded and used her magic to send a lightning bolt on it, short-circuiting it.

Using her magic, Celestia then sent out a large wave of energy, slicing the bars to her cage in half before the cell collapsed around her. “Ah, much better,” she said pleasantly. Twilight then went up to her and hugged her, causing Celestia to chuckle. “My dear Twilight, I do not see why you are so happy to see me. After all, did you not see me yesterday?”

“You-” Twilight started. “You know what happened?”

“I can only guess but yes, it seems somehow you went forward in time to this period,” Celestia answered. “Right now it’s the only explanation considering you haven’t aged a day since I last saw you.”

“So… everyone thought we died?” Rainbow asked.

“We thought it was a tragic accident,” Celestia said. “But now I’m not so sure.”

“Princess,” Twilight said. “What has happened in the last fifty years?”

Celestia sighed. “Where do I even begin?” She looked around herself. “It’s a complicated story, one that begins centuries ago but it’ll make more sense if I start there.” The six ponies sat and listened to her story.

“Long ago after the defeat of Discord,” Celestia began, “Equestria was in need of a new ruler. At the time there were three royal families, mine included. Since Luna and I were able to defeat Discord, the ponies believed we were destined to rule Equestria. However, the other royals did not quite agree, including one in particular whose name was Ghidious.

“Ghidious believed he was the true heir because his father was the former king before Discord took over. Once the new Parliament was established, a vote was taken. Luna and I were chosen by Parliament and our citizens as rulers of Equestria. Ghidious, rather furious, left and wasn’t seen again for some time. Then the Golden Age, as they called it, began but it did not last long. There were some who wished for a new government to be formed and state after state began to secede. All of a sudden Equestria was plunged into a civil war. Later I found out that Ghidious had been behind everything. He of course summoned all sorts of terrible creatures for his army and he was very close in succeeding. Only at the final battle in Canterlot was I able to defeat him, ending the war completely.”

“Go princess!” Rainbow said.

“So what happened then?” Applejack asked.

“I then exiled Ghidious from the land and Equestria rebuilt itself,” Celestia continued. “Years passed and now we come to the present, or rather, your present. After you all disappeared, Ghidious returned, having changed much from the last two hundred years. He was remorseful and full of regret, and I, being kind and forgiving at the time, pardoned him and allowed him to return and join Parliament. He always did have a way of convincing others. Unfortunately, that would be my biggest mistake.”

Celestia took a deep breath. “To put it modestly, he played me. At the time, the issue of magical borders was on our minds. For years, there were magical barriers protecting cities from monster attacks, such as from the Everfree Forest. Ghidious came to me and suggested that the barriers expire, that we were being paranoid and at the same time forcing animals out of their habitat. I then decided the barriers expire to see what would happen. They were shocked, to say the least but I thought it was the best choice at the time. Then, that night, was when everything changed.”

Celestia was in her room reading over documents when the door burst open. There was Ghidious, accompanied by members of the Royal Guard. “Ghidious, what is going on?” she asked sharply, upset that she was being interrupted so rudely.

“I’m sorry it has come to this,” Ghidious said, who didn’t seem sorry one bit. “An emergency meeting of Parliament has just ended and the decision. In the name of Parliament of the Equestrian Republic, you are under arrest princess.”

“Under what charges!?” Celestia said, her eyes widening.

“Multiple charges of embezzling, unconstitutional vetoes against multiple bills,” Ghidious said. “The list is rather long.”

“Those charges are false and made up!” Celestia shouted. “This is treason Ghidious!”

“I’m afraid not,” Ghidious said, holding up a piece of paper. “This was signed by top members of Parliament.”

“…He played me completely,” Celestia said sadly. “He managed to influence Parliament against me and I was ousted from power.”

“They had no right to do that!” Rarity said.

“It does not matter now. Ghidious was then named ruler but he took control almost immediately. He dissolved Parliament and named himself Emperor, taking control and building up the army you see now,” Celestia said. “But there’s more to it than that. These soldiers are different. Somehow, Ghidious managed to find a way to give non-unicorns magic. I still cannot figure out how but in his exile he had been planning this for years. Even by the time he returned he had a sizeable army. But he didn’t stop there. He even created machines that were capable of using magic but he needed a new source. And as you can probably guess, I was that source.”

“So… you’re saying he has drained you of your magic?” Twilight asked.

“Not completely,” Celestia said, smiling. “For one such as I, it would take years and years to drain me completely. More to Ghidious’ delight though. But thanks to you, we can hopefully stop production.”

“There’s one thing I don’t get though,” Applejack said. “If you got booted outta power, what happened to Princess Luna?”

“Ah,” Celestia said, nodding. “Before you get upset, do not assume she fled because of cowardice. I was able to warn her in time before she came to my rescue. I told her to flee and wait until the time was right. Over the years, my sister has been successful starting a rebellion to at least keep the Empire busy at the moment.”

“So where is Princess Luna?” Fluttershy asked.

“I do not know,” Celestia said softly. “Ghidious himself asked me the same question, which means he wants us both out of the way. I also told her to keep Cadence safe, for I know he is targeting her as well.”

“So what do we do now?” Twilight asked.

“Well Twilight, I do think it’s about time we leave this wretched place,” Celestia said.

All of a sudden there came chatter from where the unconscious soldier was. Applejack, being the closest one to it, picked up a walkie-talkie. “Uh, everything’s fine here. We’re fine, we’re okay… how are you?”

“There was a power outage on the prisoner’s cell,” the caller said. “What happened?”

“Just a system malfunction,” Applejack said. “I have everything under control.”

“We’re going to send reinforcements in case the prisoner tries to-”

“No, that won’t be necessary; she’s sleeping, um…” Applejack then stepped on the device and broke it. “Boring conversation anyway, Twilight we’re about to have company!”

“I know a secret way out,” Celestia said. “Follow me.”

They quickly made their escape, heading towards the control room. Might as well trash the place before leaving. However, it didn’t take long before they were spotted by a platoon. “The prisoner has escaped! Take them down!”

(A/N: For this next part the song I’m using is “Battle 1” from Final Fantasy IX.)

*Although they were surrounded, they were forgetting just who Celestia was and that she had more power than they thought. Stomping her hoof, the magnitude knocked three of them back. Twilight and Rarity used their magic while Rainbow Dash attacked from above and Applejack was able to take a few out with her shotgun.

*cue FF7 Victory Fanfare*

“More will be coming soon,” Celestia said. “We must hurry.” After a couple more flights of stairs, they finally made it to the control room. “I guess we lucked out after all,” Celestia said, ready to fry the whole system.

(A/N: For this final part, the song I’m using here is “Suspicion” from Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy.)

“Oh, leaving so soon?” *A dark void appeared and then out of it came Ghidious.

“Ghidious…” Celestia said acidly. “Sorry but I feel like I may overstayed my welcome.”

“Now now Princess…” Ghidious said, smirking. “I only did what I did to keep you in line. Can’t have anyone ruining the party of course.”

“You’re gonna pay for what you did to the Princess!” Twilight shouted.

“Ah, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Ghidious said, looking more intrigued. “So nice to meet you all finally. I was hoping it would be a… couple more years until we met but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“What?” Rainbow said.

“You mean you were behind that chasm?” Rarity said.

“Oh it was quite easy, if you must know,” Ghidious replied. “With her pets out of the way, taking care of the Princess turned out to be a lot easier for me.”

“I should’ve expected such foulness from you,” Celestia said. “But this is the beginning of the end Ghidious.”

“Is that right?” Ghidious asked. “You may still be all-powerful but I have an entire army at my side. Your rebellion is surviving on borrowed time. But it doesn’t matter, my search is almost complete. As you can remember Celestia, there was something I was looking for the last time we took arms.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “No… Ghidious you mustn’t! Their power is too great for this world!”

“Their power will be mine to use,” Ghidious said. “And then nothing, not even you or your sister, will be able to stop me!” Soon soldiers appeared and surrounded them, Bellatrix herself included.

“Shall I take care of them my lord?” she asked.

“Only if they don’t come willingly,” Ghidious replied.

“You forget one thing Ghidious,” Celestia said, her horn glowing suddenly. “You haven’t found where they’ve been hidden yet and if you have, you and I both know acquiring their power is next to impossible.” Her horn then sparked, causing the controls in the room to go haywire and explode, causing a large cloud of smoke and a large chain reaction.

Once the smoke cleared, Ghidious saw that Celestia and her companions were gone and offered a grudging smile.

“Clever girl…”