Princess Celestia was bored, very bored. It had been hours since Day Court had begun and not a single person had come to see her. Certainly on any other day she would be sifting through mountains of scrolls and paperwork, disgruntled by the constant nagging of nobles trying to get on her good side. She would stress endlessly through these days, earning nothing but pounding headaches and a desire to sleep for the next hundred years. But, as one of Equestria’s two rulers she had a duty, and she made sure she was ready every day for what might come her way. Today, however, was different.
“Haah...,” Celestia sighed as she leaned back into her throne. “Perhaps I should just end Court for today? No no, I can't do that so soon. What if someone were to arrive just as I left?”
She had been having this conversation with herself for an hour, frowning all the while as she weighed her options. Surely she was not needed? If there was anything urgent that she needed to know about, it would have been brought to her attention already by a fumbling guard as usual. But today was just too slow, too uneventful for her to simply sit on her throne and wait for something to happen.
“I could be walking through the gardens,” she muttered to herself. “Maybe I could pay Twilight a visit, see how everyone in Ponyville is doing....”
Ultimately she stayed put, despite how enticing her ideas became. No matter how bored or restless she may be, there was always the possibility that an emergency would arise and require her to be there. Even still, her mind wandered in the silence of the room.
“I just want something, anything...,” she groaned, “to break up this monotony.”
***
The skies above Canterlot had been clear, thanks to the weather team. It was scheduled to be bright and sunny all day, being that it was the middle of Summer. The people of Canterlot were enjoying this warmth, bustling through the streets as they went about their business in the busy city.
Suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone, the sky grew dark. Black clouds appeared from nowhere, bringing with them a heavy downpour of rain. Thunder shook the ground as lightning came crashing down, and fierce winds screamed through the streets as people fled for shelter.
In the ensuing chaos, no one noticed something small falling from the clouds, rapidly approaching Canterlot Castle.
***
Celestia had risen from her throne when she heard the first roar of thunder from outside. She had left the throne room to stand at the front doors of the castle, peering outside into the violent storm. She felt a sense of unease, as not even a single cloud was in the schedule, yet this terrible weather had appeared seemingly from nowhere. Many thoughts raced through her mind, but she couldn't figure out on her own what could have caused it.
The world flashed white for an instant as a massive bolt of lightning struck nearby, the immediate boom of thunder drowning out the rain. Celestia felt a jolt of fear go through her in that moment. Something felt off and she waited, filled with trepidation, for something to happen.
It felt like hours had passed when her attention was torn from the sky. The clamor of armored feet and the sound of labored breathing reached her ears as a guard came running around the corner of the castle, nearly slipping on the wet stone beneath him.
“Princess Celestia!” He cried. “There's been an incident! We aren't sure what it is, but something came falling from the sky and it crashed in the garden!”
She felt a chill run down her spine, her worries only increasing after hearing the guards words. But, as Princess, she had to be ready at a moments notice, just like now.
“Send word to ten guards, have them meet me at the crash site!” Celestia ordered, an expression of urgency spread across her face. The guard nodded and ran off to carry out her command as Celestia herself charged through the rain.
The Princess wasted no time making it to the gardens and just from the edge she could see a pillar of smoke rising into the sky, and several trees were broken and toppled. The stomping of armored feet coming from behind her told her that the guards she requested were ready, and so she beckoned for them to follow as she walked steadfast to the crash site. The storm refused to relent, and with every step she took she was filled with more and more dread.
Finally she reached it after rounding a hedge, and the sight before her was one of devastation. A long, deep gouge was carved through the earth and it ended in a large crater. Many rows of bushes, trees and statues were reduced to nothing but rubble and debris, and small fires burned here and there. The smoke billowing from the crater itself was obscuring whatever caused this destruction, but Celestia could vaguely see the small silhouette of something curled up at the center.
“Form a perimeter around the crater!” The guards followed Celestia’s command immediately, circling the crater with their weapons ready. “I’m going to clear the smoke now! Be ready for anything!” The guards tensed at her words, but they held their ground as she worked magic through her hands and muttered an incantation under her breath. Exhaling, she pushed her hands forward and a gust of wind blew outward, carrying the smoke away.
As the smoke cleared, so to did the anxieties of the Princess and her guards. At the center of the crater, clad in tattered cloth and adorned with many large lacerations and bruises, laid the form of a young, human woman. She did not move an inch as the guards stared on in confusion, lowering their weapons and looking to their Princess, waiting for her to say something.
‘What’s going on here?’ Celestia looked to the sky in thought. ‘A sudden and violent storm appearing from nowhere, and in the midst of it this woman falls from the sky and destroys half of the garden on impact...?’
Before she could make sense of these strange events, Celestia’s attention was drawn back to the crater as the sounds of movement reached her ears. Peering down, she saw that the woman was slowly and strenuously pushing herself up from the ground, flinching as agony undoubtedly surged through her body. Seeing her in pain and not thinking clearly, Celestia leapt into the crater and approached the woman, much to the surprise of her guards. She knelt down in front of her and extended a hand, placing it gently on the mysterious woman’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
The stranger only raised her head, slowly turning it from side to side as she studied her surroundings with dull, lifeless green eyes. Through the matted hair and dirt, Celestia noticed a large cut diagonally across her face, running from her right temple to the left side of her jaw.
“Are you alright?” Celestia repeated her question in a more forceful tone, gaining the woman’s attention. “Can you understand me?”
“Where...,” the woman finally spoke, her voice rough and cracked. “Where am I...?”
Celestia had no time to respond as the woman collapsed into a heap, the faint sound of her ragged breathing the only thing confirming that she was even still alive. Without hesitation the Princess gingerly lifted her from the ground and surrounded herself in a faint golden glow, levitating herself and the injured stranger out of the crater.
“I’m taking her to the Castle’s infirmary,” she informed the guards. “Day Court is cancelled for the rest of the day, and have someone tell Luna about this situation as soon as she’s awake.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” they all replied and saluted in unison before marching off.
“Now...,” she murmured to the unconscious form in her arms. “Let’s get you to the infirmary, before it’s too late.”
***
Celestia frantically paced back and forth outside the doors to the infirmary, her arms crossed and head down, her eyes glued to the floor as she waited. The Healing Mages of the infirmary had promised her that they could heal the large gashes, but there was no telling when or even if she would wake up again. Her heart rate and blood pressure were dangerously low, her breathing was almost non-existent, and Celestia swore she heard the heart-rate monitor flatline at least three times.
Worried as she was, however, she promised not to enter the infirmary until the woman was stable. Celestia, as powerful as she may be, was not skilled in healing magic and even if she were, she wouldn’t dare get in the way of the professionals, who vigorously trained from a young age to get to the position they were in now. Instead, she resigned to pacing and thinking, wondering just who that near-dead woman was.
‘What could have caused all those wounds?’ she thought. ‘And just how did she survive them? How did she survive the fall? What caused her to be hurtled into the ground so forcefully?’
‘She questioned where she was as well....’ she had mulled over the only words that the stranger had said to her for quite some time. ‘She couldn’t possibly have fallen here voluntarily... and those wounds, they had to have come from something... perhaps a fight? Did something attack her?’
‘But she was cast down from the sky with such force!’ she began to absentmindedly chew on her fingernails as she quickened her pace. ‘I know for a fact that even a fully grown dragon would struggle to put in even a third of the might needed to throw something with that much power.’
‘Wait...,’ a thought struck her that caused her to freeze in place. ‘What if she isn’t from this world? Was she travelling in some sort of spacecraft and it exploded? No, there would be debris, and she would only fall, not be propelled with such force. Does she simply have amnesia from hitting her head on impact? But that wouldn’t explain the very precise injuries she had....’
‘Did...,’ Celestia felt a lump in her throat. ‘Did she anger something powerful, and after cutting her down it threw her to a random planet? Could it still be there, looming overhead as it waits to see if the woman will live? Will it come back to finish the job if she does? What if-’
“Tia!” It was with that booming shout that Celestia finally noticed the hand softly shaking her shoulder. The voice lowered, now full of concern. “You were thinking so loud that I could hear you.”
“Tia...,” the hand gently turned Celestia around, and Luna gazed up into her eyes with worry spread across her face. “You need to stop having these paranoid episodes. You keep overthinking things, and all it does is stress you out in the end.”
“I’m sorry, Luna.” Celestia sighed deeply, trying to get her tensed muscles to relax. “I just have so many questions about all of this. There have been so many strange occurrences that started off innocently enough, only to suddenly bring some new or old horror.” She embraced her sister, tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve just gotten so frightened at every turn when something out of the ordinary happens, and it’s all just built up into... well, into this.”
“It’s okay, Tia, you don’t have to apologize.” Luna tightened her grip, holding back tears of her own. “I know you’re struggling, but just remember to breathe and think about what’s happening in the moment, not what could happen in the future.”
“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia released her sister and stepped back, straightening out her white dress and wiping the tears from her face. “I’m so fortunate to have you as my little sister, I don’t know what I-”
She was cut off by the sound of the infirmary doors opening, causing both Princesses to glance at the doorway. Out trudged what appeared to be the most exhausted doctors and nurses in Canterlot, each one hunched over and dragging their feet.
“The patient-” Doctor Steady stifled a yawn, too tired to care for formalities in front of the Princesses. “The patient is stabilized, we got her heart rate and blood pressure back up to normal levels after we finally found a matching blood type. She’s also breathing normally, but still seems to be unconscious.”
“Thank you, Doctor Steady,” Celestia bowed in thanks, which the Doctor returned. “You sure do work fast.”
“Fast?” Steady scoffed. “I wouldn’t really call nearly seven hours fast, Your Highness.”
“S- seven hours?” she couldn’t believe she had been pacing for nearly seven hours. “I... I suppose I was simply lost in the thought the whole time,” she coughed into her hand and looked off to the side. “I didn’t even realize.”
“Well,” the doctor grunted as he craned his neck to the side, eliciting a loud crack. “In any case, our job is done. You’re welcome to go in and see her, but like I said before she’s still unconscious.”
“Thank you, all of you, for your hard work.” She smiled, bowing once more, this time taking to the whole group. “You’ll each receive a large bonus for this, it will be in the mail by the end of the week.”
The gathered Healing Mages, their spirits renewed by the generosity of their Princess, returned the bow before saying their goodbyes. They slowly reached the end of the hallway and rounded a corner, their exhausted conversation fading out quite quickly. The two Princess were left alone at the infirmary doors, Celestia staring into them with apprehension. Luna noticed that her sister was calm, that this uneasiness was different than the prior paranoia she had been feeling.
“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, stepping closer to stand beside Celestia. “You seem troubled, but about something else this time.”
“I’m just concerned, I suppose,” she replied with a sigh. “I’m worried about how long she’ll remain unconscious. I have many questions for her, but I can’t ask a single one until she wakes up, and who knows how long that will take....”
“Well then, let’s at least go in,” Luna marched forward, motioning for Celestia to follow. “I haven’t even seen her yet.”
“Right,” Celestia took a deep breath and collected her racing thoughts, then followed after Luna. As they walked, she muttered to herself, “I hope the Healer’s magic didn’t leave any scars, but with the severity of her wounds....”
“We’re about to find out,” they had arrived at the only bed with closed curtains, and Luna was drawing them back as quietly as she could. When the curtains were fully open, they both got a good look at the woman and gasped. “Oh dear....”
She was wearing a hospital gown and what was showing was still covered in bruises, marking her from head to toe. Both arms had multiple large scars from where her wounds were closed up, as was the same with her legs. The most glaring scar was on her face, which Celestia had seen the wound when she first approached her.
Celestia couldn’t help but feel something different about her, however. It was a subtle change, but she was just perceptive enough to notice it. Her features seemed somewhat softer, younger. It could be that she had not gotten a good look at her initially, but she wasn’t so sure of that. Something they also noticed was that she was fidgeting in her sleep, clutching onto the bed sheet beneath her, her face contorted with fear.
“A nightmare?” Luna asked, though they both knew the answer. “Then I think it’s a good thing I’m here, I can help.” She looked to Celestia for confirmation.
“By all means, go ahead,” she said with a smile. “If she’s going to be resting for a while, the least we can do is grant her comfort while she’s asleep.”
“All right, here we go...,” Luna rested her hands on the sleeping woman’s temples and she began to chant under her breath. Her eyes and hands began to glow blue and after finishing her incantation she stopped moving and speaking entirely.
Luna stood there, a blank expression on her face before she inhaled sharply. Confusion slowly overcame her, but suddenly she winced and closed her eyes, bowing her head. This lasted for several minutes, and Celestia was growing concerned at her sister’s hunched over, pained state.
The wincing stopped, however, and after regaining her composure Luna once again was confused, now slowly turning her head side to side. Celestia looked down and contemplated breaking the spell, but lurched back as she looked up and saw the pure terror on Luna’s face.
“No... no!” Luna shouted, and in a flash of blinding light she was thrown back onto the floor, her hands and eyes no longer glowing.
“Luna!” Celestia rushed to her side, kneeling down next to her and resting a hand on her shoulder. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Darkness....” she whispered. “There’s was just darkness at first, but I could hear these screams, faint but growing louder and louder. They were the horrid, ancient-sounding screeches of something I didn’t want to see. They were closing in all around, and I could see the echoes of shapes moving throughout the void around me. The screaming stopped.”
“Suddenly everything lit up,” she continued with a wavering voice. “I- it was a world of skin and sinew spread taught and twitching violently. Chattering teeth whispering words I couldn’t understand and darting eyes gazing into me for brief moments, searing my soul before glancing back into nothingness, perhaps unaware of the terror they imbued upon me.”
“It’s okay, Luna, it’s gonna be okay.” Celestia drew her sister into a hug. “It was just a nightmare.”
“Then from this madness,” she went on, not hearing Celestia. “Out came this silhouette of a figure, with large horns curving from its head and blazing green eyes. It told me to leave, it demanded I leave. So it forced me out of her mind.”
“But a dream couldn’t do that....” Celestia trailed off, unsure of what to think. She pulled the frantic Luna in tighter and closed her eyes, hoping she would calm down.
So caught up in Luna’s terrified state, neither of them noticed that the woman’s eyes were slowly opening.
Author's Note
Just in case there's any confusion this is a humanized pony universe. Also there are reasons this universe's Celestia is so paranoid and it will be explained later on.
