"So we're somewhere called Yharnam?" Astral repeated. She was seated behind "her" desk, with Celestia and Twilight seated before it. She wasn't fond of the seating arrangement, but Celestia, and by extension Twilight, had insisted as Astral was apparently "the boss" here.

Said Princesses both nodded. "Yeah, but we didn't expect this," Twilight said, gesturing behind Astral out of the Clock's face and around the room.

"The reference we found that guided us here was already at least a thousand years old," Celestia clarified, "and yet I'd never heard of Yharnam. For a city of this size to still be operating without my knowledge..."

"... Something doesn't add up," Astral sighed, finishing Celestia's sentence. "Anything out of the ordinary you've noticed, then?"

Twilight and Celestia both stopped, but while Twilight's expression was ponderous, Celestia's got tense. "There is one thing. As far as I can sense, the Sun is completely outside of my influence," Celestia provided, followed by dead silence from both of her students.

"Well, that's not very promising, is it?" Astral replied after a moment, having had a tough time processing such information.

Celestia nodded gravely, a wing over Twilight as said pony also processed that statement. "It's not every day I have my connection stripped from me, Astral. I think we should be cautious."

"Agreed, for the time being." Astral rubbed her temples, of all the things... "Lost connection to your Sun, eh? Either something very powerful or entirely natural is causing that, and I'd like to find out what."

"So would I. Anything particular in mind?" replied Celestia.

Astral closed her eyes, still massaging her head. "I need more information before I can say anything. First, how did you get here?"

"I – it felt like a teleportation spell, but different," Twilight spoke up from under Celestia's wing. "We walked through a pony-made ravine, and halfway through I feel a tingle, you know, like the kind you get when someone casts something on you, and then we walk out and see a whole city and no rainforest."

"So I see. Think you can find that ravine again?"

"Probably, it'll take a while though." Twilight said, regaining some of her composure.

"That's fine. No guards?"

"Twilight doesn't have a guard yet, and none of my own were with us when we passed through the ravine. I took only a few with me to conserve on resources and maximize speed," supplied Celestia.

"I see. Why didn't you fly over this ravine?"

"Inclement weather of the magical variety," grumbled Twilight. "One of my friends can fly in it, but I sure can't, I just got these wings a few months ago."

"Is that so." Astral opened her eyes again, scanning the clockwork above them as if it could answer her questions. "I have a hypothesis. You said you felt like you'd been teleported, but different? Perhaps you have been teleported, but through time, not space. Of course, that implies a number of things by itself, like a pony intelligent and powerful enough to cast such a spell somehow sneaking up on you two unnoticed, and then casting an intricate and very powerful spell on two Princesses in such a manner as to avoid detection or alarming either Princess." Astral breathed in. "Unless someone has designed a time travelling ward?"

Twilight shook her head. "Time magic is unstable by nature. Nopony has ever managed to create a stable, long-lasting spellform for any kind of time travel."

Astral nodded. "Then I suppose we've got a hypothesis. Any alternatives you two can think up?"

Both Celestia and Twilight shuddered, but Celestia spoke for them both. "Yes, but we'll say later if it becomes important."

Astral raised her eyebrow but pressed no further. "Alright, then. We'll need ideas to test our hypothesis. Twilight, you're smart, so you start."

-#-#-#-

It only took another half an hour to reach a consensus, and Astral learned a few other interesting tidbits along the way.

First, all of the documents on her desk were in a runic script none of them had ever seen, and yet despite not having any memory of the runes, Astral could identify and read them fluently. She had tried to read them to figure out exactly what she'd been doing here, but all she got was gibberish about gibberish. Frankly, the whole thing made no sense and hurt her head.

Second, she wasn't the only pony here who spoke modern Equestrian. The pony who'd led Celestia to her had also spoken modern Equestrian, though like her with an accent. That threw her theory of time travel off, but not by much.

Third, she had a small bell on her desk which had served as a method of summoning servants. She'd ordered some tea for the three of them as they had sat and brainstormed.

And last, apparently tonight was a "night of the hunt". Ominous, but ultimately inconsequential. Hopefully they'd be out of here long before that became a problem.

"Alright," said Astral, gazing at the sun outside the window, "it's looking to be roughly three-thirty to four, so make this quick once you're out there. I'm not eager to stick around for a "night of the hunt", nor am I eager to alter the timestream anymore than I already have if I'm right."

Astral rung the bell on her desk one time, summoning a servant who appeared within seconds. She was a dusky redish-purple with pale lavender hair, named Yvonne.

"Yes, my Lady?" she asked in near monotone.

"Yvonne, find me somepony I can trust, and who takes my orders. Actually, find me two ponies, specifically a librarian and a guard, or the best guard-like pony I have available to me."

"As you wish, my Lady," Yvonne replied, leaving and closing the large door opposite them.

For a few minutes, silence, aside from the occasional creak of the mechanisms above, reigned in the room. Astral thought out their plan, how it could go wrong, what she'd do if they weren't time-displaced.

It got ugly, fast. She didn't like the implications.

"Astral, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Celestia broke the silence first, obviously uncomfortable.

Astral stirred from her thoughts. "Yes, 'Tia, I'm sure. Combined, we know virtually nothing about this place, and the Church's library is the best place to learn. I'm the only one who can read their writing, so I stay, and I don't trust this city enough to give either of you to it alone."

Celestia sighed, nodding once. "On point as usual, Astral," she said, giving Astral a small smile, who returned it.

It took another fifteen minutes before Yvonne returned with two ponies in tow: an Earth Pony stallion dressed in an odd leather coat, and an Earth Pony mare with only a pair of glasses on. "My Lady, your requested servants," Yvonne bowed her head and stepped back to allow the two ponies center stage.

The stallion in leathers stepped forward and bowed on his hooves to Astral. His coat was a sage green, while his short hair was a sickly, pale yellow. Over his right shoulder was a sheathe for a sword, and over his left shoulder was another, but absolutely massive metal blade. Wrapped around his left hoof, over his elbow and up his sleeve was a strange metal contraption, the centerpiece of which was a tube connected to his lower leg and nearly so long as to touch the ground before his hoof.

"My Lady, Eustace Guthrie, at your service," he said smoothly.

Astral nodded at the pony, unused to deference being displayed to her. "Oh, please, I'll have none of that. Stand, if you will. I have a special assignment for you, but first I'd like to know who our other guest is," she said gesturing at the mare with a wing as he stood up.

Said mare bowed much like Eustace, but her posture was laced with trepidation. "Mary Domnhall, my Lady," she said. She was a dull turquoise, with brown hair tied in a bun.

Astral smiled. "A pleasure. I also have a job for you, but I suspect you'll like yours more than Eustace will like his."

Eustace perked his ears up, "Ah, and what may be my assignment, Lady Astral?"

"A simple job. Escort these two" – Astral gestured to both Princesses with a wing – "wherever they wish to go, while keeping them safe and ensuring they return here in one piece."

"Understood, my Lady," Eustace replied, face kept neutral. "Should they not have weapons, in case trouble finds us?"

"If you believe it necessary, Eustace."

"I do. Before we leave," he said, addressing Twilight and Celestia, "we shall make arrangements at the workshop. Are either of you versed in the fine Arts of combat?"

"I am, Twilight is not," Celestia said, eyes narrowed, "why?"

Eustace cocked his head at her question before answering. "Because beasts have a peculiar sense of smell, of course. Chances are, they'll find us even if we try to avoid them," he said, his neutral tinged with confusion.

Twilight's ears perked, despite her apprehension. "Beasts? What are those?"

"They are –" Eustace started before cutting himself off abruptly. He quickly turned his head to look at Astral, eyes wide. "Outsiders? With no knowledge of the hunt? My Lady, please reconsider this, tonight of all nights –"

"Is a night of the hunt, yes, I know, but they will work quick," she said, pointedly looking at the two Princesses, "and return here before nightfall."

"My Lady, tonight will be no ordinary hunt! Even in the day the Hunters are having a bloodbath, the streets are no place for outsiders!" Eustace exclaimed.

Astral understood his reluctance, to a degree. He was a professional guard, or soldier, or something, and he was being given an escort order. What she didn't understand, however, was what exactly his last statement meant.

She looked at him, curiosity mixed with caution. "Hunters? Bloodbath? Eustace, what's going on out there?"

Eustace closed his mouth before he said anything. Instead, he turned to Mary. "Did I miss something?" he said, barely above a whisper.

Mary only shook her head, equally confused.

"I – I see. So..." he mulled over his words carefully, "with all due respect, are you suffering from amnesia, my Lady?"

"Thank the Maker Celestia made me deal with Court," Astral thought through her pokerface. "Actually, yes. I was hoping I'd get away with simply digging the information from some ponies discretely. Seems I wasn't discrete enough," she deadpanned.

"Ah, is that so? Things make sense, now. That's why you called the librarian?" Eustace said, shaking a forehoof towards Mary.

"Yes, my amnesia seems to be rather total, aside from the basics of some or others." Astral turned her head to Mary fully. "This is why I've summoned you, Mary. I need to be led to the library and shown how it works, where everything is. That's your assignment."

Mary breathed a visible sigh of relief, but Eustace still looked unsettled with his situation. "My Lady, You might not remember, but tonight will be no ordinary hunt. The Beast scourge has only risen in intensity these past few weeks, and as of late the despicable creatures appear in broad daylight, only increasing in numbers. I mustprotest against bringing a non-combatant, it puts all of us in too much danger!"

"Time is of the essence, Eustace. Twilight is more than capable of protecting herself," Astral said, privately praying that Twilight had been given the basics of staying alive, "and Celestia is quite the seasoned veteran. I'm sure with their help, nothing will happen."

Eustace's lips tightened, and he looked at Celestia in particular, looking her up and down. "Wings and a horn, eh? Don't know how I missed those before." He turned back to Astral. "Fine, but they'd better live up to your precedent, my Lady, else I'll resign."

Astral sighed, relieved. If she was certain of one thing, it was that Celestia would blow Eustace's expectations out of the water.

Author's Note

NOT HAPPY. I really wanted to get them out of this god damned, blood-forsaken beast ridden tower this chapter, but there was no easy way to write it in without making it feel like a massive cut worthy of a whole new chapter anyways or shoehorning in asinine levels of filler and useless dialogue. ~~Kinda feel guilty about the under 2k word count though, feel like I should have been able to fit more in. Ah well, it works so it's good.~~ Nevermind! It's literally two words over 2k, don't feel bad now!

Detail: I feel like Astral takes command too easily. I'll chock it up to Celestia training her in command in case she were ever indisposed.

Detail: the introduced OCs won't play too big a part, don't worry. They're firmly relegated to the realm of supporting cast, only here to serve as temporary guides to our out-of-place mains.

Also, here's the hexes:
Eyes: FF0515
Coat: FFCED1
Hair: 841734

and that's all folks