Celestia lay asleep in her king-sized bed. She was deep in a pleasant dream, one where she sifted through her centuries worth of memories, having a bird’s eye view of it all. Nostalgia washed over her like the crashing waves of the ocean, and she always smiled when it did. However, as much as she wanted to ignore it, there was a slight rumbling from the ground. Oh, what she was going to do when she found out who was disturbing her---
“Wake up sister!”
Celestia opened her eyes. Luna was shaking her violently, and it didn’t help that she had a terrified look on her face.
“What’s the matter Luna?”
“Outside! There is some sort of riot going on!”
Celestia’s eyes became pinpricks. It was a word she thought she would never hear in a thousand centuries, no matter the context. What on Equestria could have happened that the citizens would riot over? Was it something she said in a speech? A decision she made? A---
Another explosion boomed in the distance. Celestia’s train of thought was interrupted, and she needed to know what was going on.
She trotted to the window. It was a few hours before dawn, and the sight in front of her was daunting. What looked like earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all vandalized and even destroyed property. Their anger was so extreme Celestia almost felt it radiate on her skin as if it were heat. She breathed heavily in and out, but it was no use, especially because it seemed like they were just outside the castle doors.
“Sister, the royal guards won’t be able to hold them off forever, we must leave while we can!”
“Y... yes, you’re right. Let’s go.”
The two princesses left the room and entered the halls. Royal guards dashed towards the exit, and Celestia noticed that they were all sweating. The stained-glass windows began to vibrate, and some of the doors were being banged on.
“Luna, what could I have possibly said that would incite such a riot? I have double checked my speeches, there seemed to be no offensive material. This just doesn’t add up.”
“I know, but I have a feeling that we may not be the perpetrators. Maybe one of our associates enacted an unpopular law. It has happened before.”
“Yes, there were associates that enacted unpopular laws without our permission, but even when they did the public response was peaceful.”
“What I’m saying is that we should investigate this before---
Luna was interrupted when Starlight Glimmer burst through one of the stained-glass windows, completely shattering it. She appeared beaten but not bloodied, with bruise marks scattered around her body along with the occasional burn mark.
“Starlight! Oh my, are you alright?” said Celestia, trotting towards her.
“We… we need to go. They’re already at the castle doors.”
Celestia’s heart stopped when she saw the exit to the castle burst open with thousands of pony-like creatures. They looked terrifying, and would be bound to give anypony nightmares, but neither of the sisters had the time to study exactly how they looked like, only that they seemed mechanical. Celestia watched in horror as the two guards that were at the gate were completely engulfed by them, with only their screams left.
Luna used her magical grasp to hold Starlight and they both dashed through the castle, wondering where to go now that the exit has been bombarded.
“Let’s go to the library!” screamed Luna, “There’s a place to hide there!”
As they ran through, they heard the screams of guards behind them as they were being annihilated by the mechanical creatures. The only other sound was the stained-glass windows being shattered as they busted through.
The sisters and Starlight made it to the stairs, where the lights were either damaged or rapidly turning on and off. They all stopped as they heard a mechanical sound, like two greasy gears turning against each other. It sounded as if it was coming from above them.
“Just stay still...” whispered Celestia, “Wait until the sound stops.”
They heard the gears grinding faster, followed by a gut-wrenching scream, not from the monster, but from a pony. The scream got louder, and there was the sound of bones crunching. Then it became silent.
“Alright, let’s move.”
They made it through the stairs and were at the library. It was the only place where the bright yellow lights still worked, but there was still the occasional rumble of the ground.
“So where do we hide?” asked Celestia.
“There’s a bunker area here, or if you prefer, a panic-room. It’s not very stable, so I hope it’s still---
“LOOK OUT!”
Luna looked behind her and ducked as one of the creatures lunged towards her. Now Celestia had a perfect, non-blurry view of the mechanical beast. From a distance, she thought it was a pony, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. It was spider-like, with eight legs that had sharp, pointy spikes at the end of them. But what made Celestia almost well up was its mouth. It was a box-like shape, and there were two saws that weren’t spinning, but most likely did so when the creature requested. Celestia could only imagine the purpose. It was rusty and appeared rather steam punkish.
Celestia stopped staring as she saw Luna back up from the creature, which inched closer to her. It growled with its gears, which twisted and turned. They were both assessing what to do, and Luna wasn’t sure if magic would work against it, because she wasn’t ready to provoke it.
Celestia froze as she saw Starlight approach the back of the creature, which was still eyeing Luna. Starlight opened what looked like the main battery and shot one beam at it. It turned behind and started to make an ear-splitting cry as it slowly collapsed to the ground.
“Well, that’s done with,” said Starlight.
“Thanks for saving me. What’s wrong with your mane if I may ask?” said Luna, noticing that Starlight’s mane didn’t have that small strand of orange it usually had.
“Because I’m not your Starlight. I come from another alternate timeline. What does your Starlight look like?”
“Exactly like you. But do you see that light blue part of your mane?”
“Yes?”
“Ours had orange there.”
“Ah, well that explains why you’re dark purple.”
“I think we should stop chatting now. Last I recall there were mechanical beasts ravaging our city,” said Celestia.
“Right. Unfortunately, I can’t stay to help you, but…” Starlight tossed a small black device to Celestia, “You can use that to activate a huge portal that you can direct the beasts to go to. I would have used it, but it takes about ten minutes to start up,” she pulled out a blue, intricate looking remote from a black pouch.
“Where are you going?” asked Celestia.
“Oh me? I have some angry intergalactic police to attend to.”
In a sudden flash of blue light, Starlight disappeared from the library.
