War Zone-Equestria

After a walk that should have taken about 10 minutes, Derpy and Twilight arrived outside of Celestia’s office, after 28 minutes. They had made so many stops, and had enough emotional experiences in that time to depress a pony for ages. The last of the passages had been passed and they hadn’t run into anypony else; it was time to see the Princess.

“Now Twilight, I don’t know what the Princess is like in your dimension, but you have nothing to be worried about from this one ok. She’s kind and caring; and she’s saved my life more times than I can ever make up for. Just make sure you explain slowly that you aren’t the same Twilight as her old soldier and student. She’ll probably assume that straight away.” Derpy explained standing outside of Celestia’s office, before opening the door.

Derpy Trotted inside first, telling Twilight to wait for just a moment. Twilight listened in to the gap in the open door to see why.

“Princess Celestia? Are you busy at the moment?” Derpy asked as she walked up the large, white alicorn, sitting at her desk.

“Not at the moment no; I’ll have to report to the something troubling you commander?” Celestia asked back noticing the wet patches of fur on Derpy’s face. She quickly wiped them dry, forgetting that she hadn’t cleaned her face properly since her large emotional display in front of Twilight.

“Ah, no; I’m fine. I actually brought someone to see you…”

“Who?” Celestia asked confused.

Derpy looked out the door and ushered Twilight to come in.

Twilight walked inside the room and smiled. She hadn’t seen Princess Celestia in a while; but Celestia just sat there mouth agape. She was absolutely oblivious to what was happening. Had her top soldier and student, that had died in a rescue mission over a year ago… just walked into her office?!

“Twi…Twi-Twilight?! Is… Is it really… you?” She asked unable to confirm that she was seeing what was in front of her.

Derpy chuckled a bit… she’d never seen the Princess so dumbfounded and hopelessly confused.

“Yes… and no…” Twilight said as an answer. This only made the Princess even more confused. She stuttered trying to make out a sentence, before her eyes closed and she literally fainted, gently falling to the ground. She had a slight stream of drool coming from her mouth, but she was breathing just fine.

Derpy stopped chuckling and quickly sprinted over to her, checking her vital signs. Twilight started to worry, but Derpy started to chuckle again.

“I think that was a little too much for her…” Derpy said as she calmly went to a nearby sink, and poured some cool water into a bowl. She took it back over to the Princess and splashed it on her face to wake her up. The Princess shot up almost instantly, as if she hadn’t even fallen over to begin with. She sputtered a little bit and shook her head, trying to clear off all the water. Then she looked back at Twilight, and slowly walked over to her.

“Twilight. I can’t believe… how are you…. what…” The princess kept trying to form sentences, but they all ended unfinished and stuttered. She really had no idea what to say.

“Derpy, you told me that she was killed along with the other soldiers! How is she here?!” Celestia asked seemingly annoyed turning to the commander.

“They were princess. This is a different Twilight.” Derpy tried to explain.

“I’m Twilight from another dimension.” Twilight told her still smiling.

“How is that possible? I can’t believe it…” Celestia said. Even now she still couldn’t quite grasp at the reality of the moment.

“I’m not the soldier you sent into the mission at the lunar army’s base at Canterlot Castle. I’m still Twilight Sparkle, but a different version.”

The Princess hearing this ran up to Twilight and picked her up giving her a huge hug.

“Same Twilight or not, it’s been far too long! I’ve missed you so much!” The Princess said as she continued to hug Twilight. Twilight started to smile more than before, even Derpy smiled at what was happening. She’d never seen the Princess this happy before, let alone this affectionate to anypony else.

“I’ll be back shortly; I still have to deliver these bullets to the barracks.” Derpy said, slipping out of the room and walking off to perform other duties.

After about 2 whole minutes the princess let her down and backed up a bit.

“I can’t believe you’re here… How are you here? Where did you even come from?” Celestia asked, determined to make sense of the whole situation.

“Well. I’m from an alternate version of Equestria. I found a spell book that had a very powerful spell in it that allowed me to conjure a portal between both our dimensions, and my friends convinced me to try it…” Celestia quickly cut Twilight off.

“Are your friends here too?” Celestia asked. Twilights smile faded momentarily while she answered.

“Yes, but the last I saw of them they were badly injured; especially Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I didn’t know what had happened at first, but after Derpy explained a few things to me, I now know that they were shot.” Twilight explained.

“What? Shot by who?”

“Well… I don’t know. There was nopony in sight. The only place the bullets could have come from was the castle.”

“Oh no; Spike warned me that the engineer team in Canterlot were working on a high caliber rifle for an unknown soldier in the Lunar army, but he never reported that they completed it… this is going to make assaulting the Castle much harder… even for an aerial team. Never mind that for now though. I’ll see to it that your friends are cared for and make a full recovery as soon as possible. Any way, you were saying about the portal?”

“Well that’s about all there is to it. We entered it, and found that while our Equestria was peaceful, this one was a war zone! We ran from the bullets and collapsed through the roof of an area of the base. Derpy didn’t say which one.” Twilight said finishing her story.

“Ugh! Nopony tells me anything anymore, I’ll have to find out which section when Derpy comes back. It’ll need to be patched up as soon as possible. I’m sorry about the horrible welcome you and your friends received when you arrived Twilight. I certainly hope you were treated well when you were brought into the base.”

“Derpy was a little intimidating, but I warmed up to her really quickly.” Twilight said smiling about the sensitive moments Derpy had shown after interrogating her.

“I know she’s a little rough around the edges… but she’s been through so much….” Celestia said, thinking about the condition Derpy had been returned to her in without any of the other soldiers.

“Oh believe me Princess… I know.” Twilight said, envisioning the horrible memories that Derpy had courageously shared with her.

“Any way princess, I was hoping to get a few questions answered if it wouldn’t be too much trouble?” Twilight said thinking about the ones that Derpy hadn’t answered.

“Of course Twilight ask away.” Celestia said happy to help her favorite student in any way she could.

“Well, my biggest question is how did this war start? And how did it become so violent? Why is Luna so violent? She’s so kind in our dimension… I guess it just doesn’t make sense to me...”

Celestia’s face went grim. She didn’t like to talk about her sister, and normally she wouldn’t; but Twilight clearly needed answers.

“The war… started just over two years ago. Everything seemed normal until one night, my sister seemed to… well act strangely. She begun to speak much louder than usual and seemed to not have any recollection of where she was. But then she attacked me. She cast a spell at me and I got into a fight with her, but I was trying my best to not hurt her. I didn’t know what was wrong with her. She just seemed to snap. But something was also wrong with her eyes. The seemed to look like… like a serpent’s. They kept quivering and flashing but only for a short time. I knocked my sister to the ground quickly; her magic doesn’t have anywhere near as much power as mine did. But she didn’t snap out of whatever was happening. She just seemed possessed. She threw me off and teleported to another part of the castle, but every time I tried to find her, I found bodies instead; Lifeless bodies of innocent Canterlot ponies… some even torn apart in a bloody mess. It was horrible. I had to stop it. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t hurt my sister. Instead I ran, I left the castle with as many of my subjects following me as I could gather. I didn’t know what happened to Luna that day… but she wasn’t my sister anymore. She’d become something else. Almost like a creature of nightmares.” Celestia explained to Twilight.

Twilight was thinking hard about the situation. She couldn’t make any sense of it. ‘Just over two years ago… but that’s the same time frame we banished Nightmare moon. She can’t be here! It can’t be Nightmare Moon!’ but Twilight couldn’t think of any other plausible scenarios. ‘Evil serpentine eyes… murderous intent… trying to defeat Celestia…’ Every shred of evidence was pointing to Nightmare Moon.

Suddenly Derpy came back into the room.

“Ah commander, you’re back. Twilight informed me before that part of the base subsided when they fell into in…” Celestia began but Derpy cut her off.

“And I’ve set a team to fix it up already princess. Don’t worry; I wouldn’t leave our base exposed.”

“Good. How are Twilight’s friends?”

“They’re in a stable condition, but their injuries are severe. They’re awake, but they won’t be able to move for a long time. Especially the two that were shot; I’m worried Rainbow Dash might not ever be able to fly again. Apparently the bullet that struck her went straight through one of the nerves connecting to her left wing. And the Earth Pony… She’s lost heaps of strength in her back leg.” Derpy said with a grave tone to her voice.

Twilight’s spirit sunk. Rainbow Dash would kill herself if she was permanently grounded. She was the best flier in Equestria and that had all been taken from her in a matter of seconds.

“No need to worry. As Twilight’s friends they will receive all the help I can give them. I’ll happily donate some of my life force for them if it means fixing their injuries.” Celestia said, striking hope into Twilight’s heart again.

“Princess as noble as that is, are you sure you want to go through that sort of pain again? Especially after the first time you did it to me and the soldiers?” Derpy asked her princess concerned.

“Derpy I’m immortal… Yes, it hurts me, and yes I’ll admit it tires me drastically, but all wounds heal with time. Besides Twilight’s friends shouldn’t lose what they hold dearest because of our dimension’s violent events times.”

“You’d really do that for them?” Twilight asked happy that the princess was being so kind.

“Of course Twilight.” Celestia said with a grin.

“Ok Princess, there’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you about Twilight’ story. Like an idea as to how she could have done it. Remember Professor Malcolm? That unicorn that appeared out of nowhere over a thousand years ago, that was killed by Luna for his research on our dimension? Do you think that Malcolm got here the same way he did? Because that might have been what was in that book he always carried around! It might have been what Twilight used to get her friends and herself here! It would be why Luna was so intent on getting the book from him before he tossed it into the spell he cast.” Derpy explained, but Twilight snapped up immediately. Why didn’t Derpy tell her that was her explanation? That must have been how the book got to her after so long.

“Derpy? Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were thinking? Professor Malcolm Hoof’s book was exactly the one I used. It had the exact spell in it I used to get here. Why did Luna Kill him?” Twilight asked wanting to delve deeper into the unknown past of the unicorn responsible for the spell.

“Well, um… she must have been suspicious about the book he was carrying. He never left it alone, and bright explosive lights could always be seen coming from his home. Luna probably thought it had powerful magic written in it.” Derpy explained.

“It did have powerful magic in it. While he was here when the war broke out, he told me he had to leave. I didn’t know what he meant or where he was going. But he showed me the book and said that if he were to die before leaving Equestria that the book must be kept under safe supervision at all times, and not fall into the hooves of the Lunar army. I didn’t understand but I still acknowledged his request. But when I faced off against my sister a second time, she told me that she took great joy in slaughtering all the unicorns including him. When I demanded to know what she had done with the book he carried, I was relieved to find out that he’d tossed it into a body of magic and it disappeared. I didn’t think it contained something so huge. I thought it kept the secrets to his spells on immortality. He was so talented with magic, he could think of a spell for almost anything; and my sister killed him. I still don’t understand why she turned into such an evil hearted creature. She was just like me before she changed.” Celestia explained with a few unclear changes in emotion.

Twilight realized that the book had made it back to Canterlot in her dimension, and the princess must have hidden it to avoid anypony from finding out about the spells it held. So why did it end up in her library with the new books? But she also had to tell Celestia that her sister might not be acting the way she is of her own account. Twilight had always had a knack for seeing through a disguise, this became especially apparent during her brother’s wedding, when she proved her old foal sitter to be a villainous changeling. But she also remembered that these theories of hers often made other ponies, including her best friends, confused and disappointed in her, until she could prove them to be true. She had to wonder whether it might be better to explain her assumptions or wait until she had gathered more evidence apart from a change in her eyes, and knowledge about the elements of harmony. ‘Wait! The Elements of harmony! That might be all the proof I need!’ she quickly thought to herself.

“Princess? What do you know about the elements of harmony?” Twilight quickly asked the princess. Celestia thought for a moment trying to think if those words stood out at all, but she couldn’t think of anything.

“I’m sorry Twilight. I don’t believe I know what those are.” Celestia replied.

‘Yes! I have to be right! If the princess didn’t know about the elements of harmony, then how could Luna know about them? Unless she isn’t Luna! But then, how could Nightmare moon have possibly gotten into this dimension.’

That was the one thing she couldn’t figure out. She decided she’d share her theory anyway.

“Princess I…” But that’s all she got out. A greenish mist had suddenly appeared seeping through the roof of Celestia’s office, and in a flash of magic, formed itself into a scroll.

“Ah. Spike’s weekly report is very early this time.” Celestia said as she cheerily used her magic to unravel the scroll.

Twilight didn’t forget what she wanted to say, but on mention of Spike’s name she became a little excited to hear how the alternate version of her little friend was doing. While Celestia was focused on the note she turned to Derpy.

“So how well do you know Spike?” she asked.

“Oh, well, I didn’t really notice him much around, but after all the girls were killed in the mission, he’s only ever been interested in revenge on Luna. That’s why he became a double agent and took up a position as Celestia’s Spy in Canterlot. He often sends us information on weapon schematics, assaults, guard duty hours; anything that can make defending troops on the field from the Lunar army assaults easier. He was Twilight’s best friend you know. They had very different interests and hobbies, but Spike would always make time to hang out with Twilight and the others…” Derpy explained before the princess cut any further conversation short.

“Oh no… this is bad… Spike might be in trouble. He thinks his cover’s been blown. Commander Derpy, organize an extraction team and await further orders.”

“What?!” Twilight said shocked. “But if he’s been found out by Luna… She could…” Twilight stopped horrified. She knew that this Luna, or Nightmare Moon, would kill Spike without any hesitation if she knew he was a spy.

“On it Princess. Good luck getting back to your dimension Twilight, I hope things turn out well for you and your friends. And again, thanks for the kind words earlier.” Derpy said before turning and rushing out the door.

“Twilight, I think it’s time we finally went and saw your friends. I’ve got important matters to attend to now, so I’ll help out as fast as I can. Follow me.” Celestia said before also opening the door further.

“Oh, but Princess, maybe I could…” Twilight wanted to offer her assistance in helping rescue Spike. But she never got to say the words, before the princess had dashed out the door. She quickly chased after her. ‘Maybe I can ask after I’ve seen my friends. I’m sure she needs all the help she can get,’ Twilight thought as she closed the office door behind her.