Mare Cognitum

"Well, we should definitely get going," Twilight said, levitating the book back into a shelf. "Celestia will be thrilled to hear that you're safe." She turned down a hallway marked with the letter 'N' above it, probably for North Wing, then up a flight of stairs at the end of it, and gestured for Streak to follow.

After going up to the upper level, and walking a bit more, they eventually came to what appeared to be a control room. It had an elevated panel in the middle of the room, forming a near-complete circle with a break in it for access. It was made of a metal, a little darker than gray, and was filled with many switches and buttons. At its center was a forked stick, probably for control. Hanging down from the roof, were three large screens angled toward the chair behind the stick. All around the room were many large windows.

"Hang on a bit Streak, this'll be a little rough. Take a seat." Twilight hit a button, and a chair slid out of the ground to the right of her. Streak sat, and a few straps came out and fastened her. "Get ready." She hit another button, and a control panel with even more buttons slid out. Typing in a few things, the spaceship suddenly swerved around, and flew forward.

Streak felt as if her hide was trying to rip itself from her bones. All of her weight was thrown backwards, and outside the window stars were flying as if they were in a cosmic blender. After but about twenty-five seconds of flying, the spaceship was already hovering outside of Equestria's atmosphere.

"We're here," Twilight said cooly as she got up.

Streak was still busy trying to figure out how many hooves she had. She waved at the air and drooled. Twilight went over, unfastened the buckles, and levitated her out of the chair, which then slid back down. Hitting a button on the panel, the spaceship slowly began to descend. Walking into the South Wing, Applejack lowered the walkway, and let Selena through.

"Again Sel, welcome 'ere to the great land of Equestri- ah?"

In front of them was Canterlot Palace, but something was amiss. The entire area was abandoned, and looked very dilapidated. Looking down to Ponyville, nopony was there either.

"D-did something happen while I was gone?" Selena asked shakily.

"Not that I know of... maybe we should look for the princesses."

They entered the palace, Twilight leading the way. Eventually, they got to a large, circular area- Princess Celestia's bedroom. Well, what was left of it. The whole place looked as if it had been through a fire, then an army stormed through it. Amidst all the wreckage, in the center of the sun emblazoned on the floor, was a small silver capsule, about the size of a peanut. Selena, as if she had done this a million times before, casually walked up to it and smashed it under her hoof. A green mist floated out.

"What did you just do!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "That's probably all that's left of Equestria, and-"

"Simmer down Rainbow," Applejack said, putting a hoof on the prismatic pony's shoulder.

"Yes darling, you simply must calm yourself. I'm fairly certain that she knows what she's doing... right?"

Selena didn't answer. Almost as if possessed, she walked away, a glazed look in her eyes, and gestured for Streak to come forth. Streak also seemed to be affected by it. Standing amidst the green mist, she closed her eyes.

"Tiid sah daal," she whispered softly. The mist began to bend, materializing like the coils of a snake, forming three bodies that snaked around the room, before swirling in a circle on the perimeter, as if sucked in by a snowclone. Streak backed up, and the others followed as the circle began to shrink, until it perfectly fit the sun's inner like a ring. In the middle of it, all light beige, was Princess Celestia.

"Princess!" Fluttershy shouted, which was practically a whisper.

"She cannot hear you. This is but an illusion, a recording." Streak said, as if this were here field of study. But it was monotonous, as if she was reading from a book.

Celestia raised her hooves, and she became engulfed in a tornado that matched her now-tan coat. It slowly became bigger and bigger, seeming to rip the colors off the walls, sucking everything in. It kept expanding until Canterlot palace now was surrounded with a large radius of a light beige.

In a world of one color, the eight were the only splashes out of place. The palace now looked normal: all the walls were fine, the furniture back in place, and outside, on her balcony, stood the princess. She seemed to be looking out to the horizon. A messanger knocked on her door.

"Come in."

The colt stepped in and bowed quickly. "Your Majesty! Our Kingdom is in dire trouble!"

"Oh?" She said, now worried.

"A letter came in from Fillydelphia. They have been invaded."

"We've stopped an invasion from Changelings before. Surely we can take on another army, one that has not breeched defenses."

"No, this is different. They are much, much worse than any amount of Changelings. I daresay, worse than all the monsters in Equestria! They are these beings, of pure light. They came from the sky, riding small gray disks, with rims of orange.

"Formed of a light blueish hue, they stand on only two legs. The other two, they use to grapple things, and are very long, reaching the ground. All wear masks, of brightest pink, with three feathers on top, wide, horizontal slit eyes, and a thin, long protruding muzzle."

"What is so bad about them?" Celestia said inquiringly.

The colt stopped to catch his breath, and cool his panic. "First thing you shall notice is, they have no want for peace whatsoever. First thing they did after descending, their leader, who had a larger mask than the others, with more feathers and a stouter nose, came and killed one of the Royal Guard. BAM! Just like that."

"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't happen that fast."

"It did, however. Their only goals were to invade. They do not try to even communicate, they only speak to each other in a strange humming language. They turn, looking at each other, as if sharing an unsaid joke, and one shall start to hum strangely. As they do this, black pulses emanate from their mask, which is sent in a vibrating flurry. The sounds they make are like knives banging, and hurt just as much. Many soldiers are sent to the ground, clutching their ears."

"How will this kill a colt however?"

"Their long, trailing arms, they drag behind them, and for good reason. When they wish to fight, they emit a loud, quick peck of a yell, and their arms square up at right angles, shrinking to match their legs. From the sides of their arms, two blades of glowing red sprout out of their arms, and their hooves sprout three spikes of equal color. The blades are like the rest of their body, but slightly more opaque. The inside is continually moving, filled with bubbles of air. They swing their arms, and they extend again, slashing. If one is lucky enough to dodge them, those creatures have other powers. They can harness the elements at will, with magic being at more ease to them than most archmage unicorns."

Celestia was very worried now. "Like?"

"With just sets of controlled hums, their bodies glow green, and they can do a variety of offensive spells- summoning blazes, lifting entire lakes of water from nothing, practically anything involving air, water, earth, or fire. They seem to be attuned to the earth."

The solar princess thought about this. "Aha! Simple!" she exclaimed. "All we do, is send out orders for all ponies to come to Canterlot. We can group everypony there and build barriers. Eventually, they'll just leave."

"Erm... I'm afraid that won't work. You see, they move faster than the wind. As they run, cones of wind surround them, and they, with a quick dash, can slice themselves through solid mountains, at ridiculously clean cuts. There is nothing we have built that can stop them. There is nowhere on Equestria we can hide."

That sent the gears in Celestia's head turning. "Nowhere on Equestria... hmm..."

It was the end of the recording. The beige slowly creeped back, all the way to the center of the room, where Celestia now stood. "Selena Astral," she said, her voice booming.

"Yes?"

"Now, this is just a recording, so I cannot really talk to you. Anyways, only you would be able to open the capsule. The message, you would only be able to activate with a ridiculous amount of magic prowess, so that doubly protected it- only Twilight would be able to open it, and probably only when she lost control. You'd have to put her in a trance, and let the pure energy flow. But enough about that."

"Wait, what?"

"Remember, I can't hear you!" Celestia said, with a smug grin on her face, as if her kingdom wasn't completely bucked up. "Anyways, we've all fleed in spaceships, as you've probably figured out by now. Also, those monsters didn't follow. They're still there. You're screwed!"

The transmission ended there. The image of Celestia crumbled to dust, and behind it, slowly revealed, was one of the monsters.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "Motherbu-"

Sorry for late upload! Also, sorry for that fake update. Published, realized it was really short, so took next chapter and tagged it on. Almost done with new fic.