Across The Pond

It was almost dawn. Celestia and Luna were sitting atop one of Canterlot's many tower balconies talking when a familiar sight came into view. Luna noticed it first.

"Sister, what it that?" Luna asked, pointing a hoof off in the distance.

"I think that may be Philomena" Celestia said as the figure grew closer.

After a few moments Philomena had gotten close enough for both princesses to be sure it was her.

"Does this mean what we think it means?" Luna asked

"I hope so Luna" Celestia responded as Philomena landed on Celestia's shoulder.

Tied to Philomena's right leg were two scrolls. Celestia used her magic to take one scroll and then unroll it.

Celestia cleared her throat and began to read.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

We received a letter from Twilight telling us where she is. Turns out she is not far from us so we are heading to meet her now. We should only be a few hours until we see her again.

You should also know that the airship was lost, along with a few members of the crew during the crash. When we see Twilight again we will try to figure out how to get back but we might need help from you to get back home to Equestria.

Sincerely Applejack"

As Celestia finished she looked to Luna with both worry and comfort in her eyes.

"Sister, are you alright. You seem confused" Luna observed.

"On one hoof I am happy that Twilight's has been found by the search team. On the other hoof a few of my guards are gone and they have no way of getting back" Celestia said, hanging her had at the last part.

"If only they mentioned where they were, we could have just gone there and gotten them" Luna said.

Celestia sighed before grabbing the second scroll in her magical grip and unrolling it.

Once again Celestia cleared her throat and read aloud.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I have so much to tell you. Did you know they've never heard of you here?

I've learned so much since I've been here, not all of it is good. To answer your question physically I am fine but right now I just need somepony to talk to. For now they will be my friends but when I see you I wish to speak with you about what I've seen.

I miss you, and I miss Equestria. I am ready to come back but I do not know the way.

Hopefully by the time you are reading this I am already on my way home, dreaming of my own bed. For now it seems I must settle for the bed the Emperor has provided.

As always, your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

"Well at least she is fine" Luna said, trying to look at the bright side of things.

"Luna, if you would, could you go and get Shining Armor and Spike? They deserve to hear of this." Celestia asked Luna, still looking down but smiling now. Her star pupil was safe.

"Of course, dear sister" Luna said as she began to walk away.

Emperor Titus Mede II had just finished giving his speech and was now on his way to attempt to deal with his guard Captain. Though he had yet to be found before Emperor Mede gave his speech he was hoping that the possible traitor was found soon. 'Possible traitor? Surely his absence now was a statement of where he stood' Emperor Mede thought.

Emperor Mede was about to walk out the large doors of the Imperial Palace when Strillian walked in front of him.

"Stand aside Strillian" Emperor Mede demanded.

"That was quite the speech sire, truly inspiring" Strillian said with a weak smile.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" asked Emperor Mede.

"It's not safe sire, not with the traitor still loose. And only the nine know how many in this city are spies. I'm afraid I must ask you to remain here until we can guarantee your safety beyond the confines of the White Gold tower" Strillian said.

"And if I choose to ignore your warning Strillian?" Emperor Mede asked cautiously, he wasn't sure who he could trust anymore.

"I will not stop you, you are the Emperor and can do as you please but I will insist on accompanying you everywhere you go. If that's fine with you" Strillian told Emperor Mede.

"You said they hadn't found Scelian yet?" Emperor Mede asked, ignoring Strillian's question.

"No sir, not a hair. But search teams are checking every inch of the city. If he is still here, we'll find him" Strillian said confidently.

"Well then I suppose there is no reason for me to leave right this second" Emperor Mede said.

"Thank you" Strillian said quietly.

Emperor Mede didn't usually leave the Palace so he decided to trust his body guard's words and continue the day as he would any other. He turned without saying a word and started walking for the tower where his guest was staying.

He had gotten to the door that lead to the room Twilight was staying in. Emperor Mede was about to open it when he heard voices coming from inside. He stopped to listen. When he identified about four different voices, one of them Twilight's, and none of them seemed to be saying anything threatening he opened the door.

When he did he found six ponies staring at him. Emperor Mede looked at Twilight and asked "I wasn't aware you had guests, care to tell me how they got in without me knowing? Especially since the city has been on high alert since sunset yesterday" Emperor Mede asked, raising an eyebrow as he stared onward at Twilight.

Twilight looked back and said "I don't know how they did it. I just woke up and they were here."

"Well we'll have to have proper introductions later, right now I want to know if you know where I might find Vallius, I have a few new orders for him" Emperor Mede said.

"He stopped by earlier, he said hi to my friends and then said something about Cloud Ruler Temple" Twilight told the Emperor. "That was only about twenty minutes ago so if you hurry you'd probably catch him."

"Thanks" Emperor Mede said gruffly as he walked out the door, closing it behind him. As he started to walk away he heard one of them say "well that was rather rude." Emperor Mede chuckled a little and kept moving.