The Search for Celestia

The City of Canterlot was bustling with activity, with everypony outside enjoying the grand clear summer weather. Inside the royal palace, their was an air of cheerfulness as the royal staff moved about to perform their royal duties. Even the guards were cheerful, by displaying a smile as they stood guard in several positions throughout the castle, though they weren't chatty like the rest of the staff was. It was just one of those days where everypony was generally in a good mood.

That was why Princess Celestia spent most of the day in her royal quarters, for she knew that if she went outside, everypony would see her unease and the cheerful mood would be gone like the wind. Celestia was nervous, confused, and generally uneasy. She was in tuned to the magical aspects of Equestria and she could feel powerful or strange magics when they happened and, over the last few days, she had felt a strange kind of magic at work. It felt like a subtle ripple, coming over her body and sending unnatural shivers. It was magic she had never before experienced, which was odd, considering who she was. It also gave her a bad feeling, like something terrible was about to happen. Only a few times had she experienced that and, every time, she was right.

Knowing she had to take action, she had several ponies do some investigating as to the source of the magic. Although the ripple felt weak, it also felt close, incredibly close to her. Wherever the magic was coming from, it was somewhere in Canterlot. The Princess sat on her bed, looking over some papers and charts about the general state of things throughout the kingdom when she heard movement outside her doors, and then a calm knock.

"Come in." She said, putting on a calm and friendly voice.

"Your majesty..." Came a male voice, she didn't recognize it but that could've just been muffled by the door. "We've found something during the investigation. You should have a look..."

The white mare placed the papers down and stood up, making her way to the door. When she opened it, she found herself looking into three strange black objects being levitated by several unicorns wearing even stranger clothing and equipment. The objects made a hollow *ping* sound and out exploded three blue-white fireballs that impacted into Celestia's chest. The Princess stumbled back from the blow, before collapsing. Her mind reeled, trying to process what had just happened, she had no strength to move, and she was having trouble remaining conscious.

The mysterious ponies moved in quickly, surrounding the downed alicorn. One of them leaned down and placed a strange device on Celestia's back and, unknown to her, she disappeared from view. The ponies then switched on the goggles they wore, and the lens turned from pitch black to a bright crimson red. They activated their own cloaking devices and the unicorns lifted the semi-conscious Celestia off the ground, carefully and silently making their way out of her royal quarters, where two guards were slumped against the wall, unconscious. One of the ponies turned and softly closed the large doors and then moved back to the group.

Celestia blinked, fighting to stay awake and tried to figure out what was going on. She realized she was being levitated out of her room and through several hallways. Out in the open, she realized, they had past by a few staff and guards but they didn't noticed her, even if the group past right by their eyes. She realized that she and the hostile ponies were using some sort of invisibility spell, but she couldn't feel anything. She suddenly lost strength and briefly lost consciousness again.

When she awoke, she realized she was in the main corridor of the palace. I've got to do something! She thought. I won't let them take me! With that, she mustered all the strength she could and created a shockwave that sent the group into the air, disabling their cloaks and rendering them visible. Celestia fell to the ground, this time falling completely unconscious. Her final hope now rested on her Royal Guards...

The guards who stared in complete shock at what they had just seen. One moment they were standing, relaxed, and the next they hear a *boom* and their princess appears out of nowhere along with several strange ponies wearing even stranger garb and equipment. They were all on the ground, the ponies groggily getting up, but their princess laid on the ground, completely still including her lustrous mane. Immediately the guards ran over to Celestia, paying no attention to the other ponies, until those ponies drew the same objects used to bring Celestia down and fired on the guards. The shots impacted on the guards armour and they fell, immediately knocked out, but the commotion drew more guards into the corridor.

One unicorn guard looked down in shock and surprise and fear at what laid below her. Her horn pulsed and she sent out a special spell known only to the Royal Guards, a special beacon that was a message to all guards; "Emergency! All Guards to the Royal Palace Immediately!"

With that spell sent, more shouting could be heard throughout the castle as every guard rushed to the beacon's source. The guard jumped down and charged at the nearest ponynapper. He spotted her and fired his weapon, which she dodged and fired a stun spell in return, her spell impacted the pony, sending him flying and slamming into a wall. She looked and saw the other ponies surround the unconscious Celestia, one of them shouting something.

"Re-activate the Cloaking fields now, before we're overrun!" He said as he fired his weapon at a Pegasus guard, sending him crashing.

"Fields reactivated!" Another shouted.

"Corro!" The leader shouted. "Evacuation plan Lambda, now!"

"Sir!" A large bulky stallion pulled out an object, a cylinder and threw it in front of the charging guard. She stopped, her gut feeling telling her to not get close to it, the object rolled to her hooves, before it exploded in a cloud of smoke,  shrouding the entire corridor and causing the mare to cough.

"What's going on?" A guard asked as several more ran into the smoke.

"Is something on fire?"

"Is the Princess okay!?"

The mare heard what sounded like two pins being pulled and then two loud explosions and screams of pain.

The ponynappers made their way out of the smoke and the outside, where they saw in the distance large numbers of Royal Guards rushing for the palace. A unicorn levitated a detonator in front of him, and flicked the switch. Numerous explosions from cloaked bombs placed throughout the city went off at once, causing everypony nearby to panic and run in fear. The cheerful mood within the city was now a forgotten memory as the rushing guards stopped, confused and conflicted on whether they should aid the city or find out what was going on in the palace.

The Unicorn smiled and activated his cloaking device, fading from view, followed by the other ponynappers and the unconscious Celestia...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's next on the list, Spike?" Twilight asked as she and her Number 1 Assistant walked through the Ponyville Market.

"Well..." The baby dragon said, looking at the long piece of parchment he held. "Next is... the tomatoes!"

She nodded, remembering the crucial ingredient for her new alchemy project.

"Alright, I think there was a tomato stall on the edge of the market, let's go see if that's still around."

"Hey guys!" A voice called out, causing the two to turn and see a rainbow-maned pegasus fly to them.

"Hey Rainbow, what are you doing here?" Twilight greeted her friend.

"You haven't seen Pinkie Pie anywhere, have you? I've been looking all over the town for her."

"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight placed a hoof on her chin, thinking back. "I haven't seen her all day, no. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Pinkie was supposed to go pranking with me, but she's apparently playing hide and go seek and I can't-

"GUYS!" A bubbly voice called out behind Twilight, causing them all to jump.

Twilight spun around and saw herself looking at a gasping Pinkie Pie.

"Have *pant* to warn *pant pant* you..." She fell on her rump, sighing in exhaustion.

"There you are!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Where have you been hiding?"

"Consarn it, Pinkie!" Applejack called out as she ran up to the group, followed by Fluttershy and Rarity. "Give us a chance to catch up, will ya?"

"Wow, the whole gang's here." Spike commented.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked as the panting Pinkie raised a hoof, and then shuddered, shaking involuntarily. Twilight's eyes widened, recognizing this instantly. The others realized it too, with Fluttershy cowering, remembering the rampaging hydra.

Pinkie shivered again.

"Doozy! Big one!" She gasped out.

"Where?" Rainbow asked, looking around as if expecting monsters to jump up from out of thin air.

Before she could answer, several loud booms echoed across the market. The group turned, where they saw several smoke columns rising from the city of Canterlot. Several other ponies who looked up and saw the smoke turned and whispered to each other, worried at might have happened. For Twilight, a cold chill ran through her as her mind asked the same questions.

"Spike..." Twilight said, her voice unexpectedly quiet.

"Y-yeah?"

"Letter to the Princess, now!"

Spike instantly drew a quill and parchment like a knight would draw a sword and shield. Before Twilight could begin in telling the baby dragon what to write, however, he belched and a piece of tied parchment appeared before the dragon's tiny feet. Twilight immediately levitated it toward her and untied it, reading it's contents.

"It's from Princess Luna!" She said in surprise and worry, only Princess Celestia sent letters through Spike...

"Well?" Dash asked impatiently, eyeing the smoke columns from Canterlot nervously. "Read it!"

Twilight obeyed and her eyes began scrolling the words as she read aloud.

"Twilight - Gather your friends immediately! A crisis has struck us and all of Equestria is in danger. I have dispatched a chariot to your library, it will take you to the palace. I will explain more in person, but hurry, time is of the essence!"

Twilight looked and knew nothing needed to be said, without a word, the 6 mares and baby dragon galloped towards the library, where a dark chariot and two Night Guards of Luna stood waiting for them. They looked very out of place in the day, and Twilight wondered why the NIght Guard was active with the sun hanging directly overhead. The guards flapped their wings in anticipation as they arrived.

"We know it's gonna be crowded," One of them said.

"But get on!" The other said.

The mares obeyed without question, except for Dash and Fluttershy, who flew next to the chariot as it lifted off and flew at a fast speed towards the city of Canterlot.

"Can you tell us what's going on?" Twilight asked as she saw the smoke once more from the city.

"We aren't sure," one of the Night Guards answered. "But from we have heard, the city was attacked."

"Attacked!?"

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise. "By who!?"

"We don't know, our Princess will explain more."

It wasn't long before the chariot flew over the city, Twilight looked down and saw several buildings on fire and a squad of Royal Guards run into one where screaming was heard. She looked over and saw the Royal Hospital overflowing with injured ponies and wondered who or what could have done such a thing. As they arrived to the courtyard of the castle, the 6 mares spotted Luna directing several Royal and Night Guards and several high class nobles glaring at her. As the chariot landed and the 6 ponies made their way to the Night Princess, Twilight that, although Luna showed and looked calm, her wide-eyes told her that she was anything but. She overheard what some of the nobles shouting at her.

"We want answer now, Luna! What has happened here and where is Celestia!?"

"All your questions will be answered in due time!" She said frantically, doing her best to remain calm, she glanced over and saw Twilight and her friends. "If you'll excuse me, but I must go and speak to these ponies."

The nobles looked over the 6 approaching mares and scoffed.

"If you can't deal with us," said the lead noble. "You certainly can't deal with common rabble!"

"What the hay did you just call us!?" Applejack shouted out.

"How dare you insult us so uncouthly!" Rarity said, aghast and insulted.

"Why I oughtta knock you a good one!" Rainbow growled.

"These 'common rabble' are Twilight Sparkle and her friends." Luna said, her voice disturbingly calm causing the nobleponies to stare in shock at the six newcomers. "As you are aware, Twilight is the personal student to Celestia herself and she and her friends are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and they are far more useful then you all are so kindly..." She took a deep breath and flared her wings. "SHUT UP!!!"

The sudden force of the Royal Canterlot Voice blew the nobles away, sending them sprawling on the ground. Luna turned and sighed, opening her eyes, which Twilight saw were filled with stress and worry. "Thank you for coming, everypony."

"What happened, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"The castle was attacked by a group of ponies with equipment that has never been seen before. They... captured my sister..."

A shocked silence, before...

"WHAT!?"

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!"

"That ain't true, it can't be!"

"No way, Celestia's too awesome for that to happen!"

"Of all the things that could happen... This is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!"

But Twilight was dead silent as she stared blankly ahead, her mind trying to process what she had been told. Celestia, captured... Canterlot, burning... That was when she felt something strange...

"What about the fires in the city?" Rainbow asked, eyeing the smoke and the sounds of commotion below.

"I believe the attackers caused that as distractions... and I don't know how my sister was captured by them... or how I let it happen..."

Fluttershy, sensing Luna's discomfort, approached her. "It's okay, it's not your fault, you are the Princess of the Night."

"I thank you, kind Fluttershy... But I should've been more alert..."

"Was anypony hurt?" Applejack asked.

"Many ponies are injured," Luna said. "But none are serious, the Royal Guards that were harmed have slightly more severe injuries but they'll all recover in due time. Right now, our priority is finding my sister and finding the ones who have done this."

"How are we going to find her?" Rarity asked.

"Any moment now, Shining Armour will have- Ah!" Suddenly, a large purple bubble appeared, surrounding the city. "My sister has not yet been taken out of the city. Now the culprits can't escape with her!"

"Good..." Twilight said, her eyes closed. But when she opened them, there was a fierce fire in them. "...because somepony is going to pay dearly for this!"

Luna nodded and her horn glowed as she levitated the Elements of Harmony to the 6 mares. "Keep them with you in case they are needed."

They all nodded eagerly as the necklaces and crown were placed on them.

"So, the princess is still inside the city?" Applejack asked.

Luna nodded. "Yes, I would've felt her presence weakening if she passed beyond the boundaries of the city."

"Perfect!" Rainbow cried out, clopping her hooves together. "I'll do a fly around and see if I can find anything!" With that, the cyan pegasus took off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. Luna opened her mouth to speak when she heard panting and the ponies all turned to see a gasping royal guard, who managed a salute.

"P-princess..." He gasped. "There is an injured stallion in the marketplace, which we have converted into an encampment for the injured until the hospitals have more room, he claims that Princess Celestia had sent him and sent others to investigate something strange early this morning."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Has he found anything?"

"He says he has, Captain Shining Armour believes you should be informed so he sent me."

"Commendable work, guard, rest and then see what you can do to help with the damage." Luna nodded as the guard saluted before stumbling off, still out of breath. The royal princess then looked at Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, I wish you to accompany me to the market, we'll see what this stallion has to tell us."

Twilight nodded. Luna then glanced at the other mares. "The rest of you, go out and help with the damages, there are likely other ponies in need of rescue, I will send out a beacon if you are needed."

The other mares bowed before running off toward different parts of the wrecked city. For a moment, Twilight stood there, overlooking the once great city now in chaos and gripped in panic. It shook her to see her home city in this state. "Does everypony know about Celestia's capture?" She asked.

Luna shook her head. "Nay, Twilight, only those in the palace know, I feel if it were found out she was captured, all of Equestria would be in a panic, nevermind Canterlot."

The princess glanced down and saw Twilight looking at the ground uncomfortably. "Are you alright, Twilight?"

The unicorn shook her head. "No, I'm anything but alright..." Again, Twilight suddenly felt shivers up her body from... something, she wasn't sure what, maybe a gust of wind? "...We better go, I want to know what's going on."

"Same... what did my sister have ponies looking for, anyways?" Luna muttered, more to herself then to Twilight. The two mares then charged down, heading for the market place.

The Market place was always crowded when Twilight came to it, but instead of ponies shopping at the stalls, now many ponies were lying under the stalls now converted to house them in their injured and there were so many. Twilight was taken aback at how many bandaged ponies there were, including small children squealing in pain. How could anypony be so cruel? One glance at Luna and Twilight could see that she was visibly shaken as well, almost on the verge of crying, but she was also on the verge of a rage.

Twilight looked away and her eyes widened at a silvered-armoured stallion directing several other guards, who saluted before running off to carry out whatever orders they were given.

"Shining Armour!" The unicorn called out.

Immediately, Shining spun around and saw his eyes shine upon seeing his sister. "Twiley!" Then, the siblings galloped to each other and embraced in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay..." Twilight muttered as a few tears began falling, feeling momentarily safe in her brother's embrace. She looked up and saw his face covered in ash and his mane askew. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine..." He said calmly, his smile dropping as he glanced back and saw two Royal Guards helping one of their injured comrades, who groaned in pain. "A lot better then many others..." He released his little sister and saluted Luna.

"Princess," he said simply.

"At ease, Captain." Luna said. "Your messenger informed us that there was a Stallion who found something of importance?"

Shining nodded, and made a gesture. "Follow me."

The three ponies then walked down further through the market, Twilight staying close to her brother.

"Where's Cadance?" She asked.

"She's in the hospital." The stallion answered.

Twilight gasped and her heart began beating faster in fear that her sister-in-law was among the many injured. "Oh no! Is she okay!?"

"Don't worry, Twiley, she's just fine. She's helping the injured in the hospital right now."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight calmed down. The three stopped at a covered stall, Shining levitated the tarp away and made way for Twilight and Luna to enter. The night princess strode in without hesitation, followed closely by Twilight. The unicorn blinked as she saw a familiar brown stallion with both his hind-legs wrapped in bandages and an hourglass Cutie Mark.

"Inspector Time Turner!" The lavender unicorn said, shocked.

The brown stallion turned, blinking. "Oh! Allo Twilight," he said in a Trottingham accent. "Fancy seeing you here! I must apologize for not returning that book to the library..."

"You two know each other?" Luna asked.

"Yes, he's one of the residences in Ponyville," Twilight answered. "He's a regular at the library, always taking out books of all kinds... and he usually brings that back overdue..."

Time Turner gave a sheepish smile.

Luna nodded at the unicorn and stared at the Earth Pony. "How are your injuries, Time Turner?"

"Well, I'm sore all over, can't feel my hind legs and I have a splitting headache, but other then that I'm just fine, thank you." He gave a smile before going serious. "I need to talk to Princess Celestia, it's very urgent."

"Uh..." Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but she wasn't sure if he was to be told of her capture.

"I know that the city is in a terrible state right now, but Celestia said that this was of the highest priority, no matter what. Plus, I think it has something to do with those explosions in the city."

Luna nodded. "I believe you are right, Time Turner, but I'm afraid my sister is unable to, right now. I will hear what you have to say."

Time Turner looked at Luna. "Alright, uh, do you why what I was sent for?"

At this, Luna shook her head.

Time Turner nodded slowly, his face grim, he was a very intuitive pony, Twilight knew, and seemed to see the hidden meanings in Luna's words. "I see... Princess Celestia had me and several others look around the city for the source of a mysterious magical force. She wasn't sure what it was, so she had me and several others look around to see what we could find."

"A magical force?" Twilight and Luna asked simultaneously. That was when Twilight got another feeling, almost a tingle over her body, like it came from beneath the ground...

Time Turner nodded. "Yes, apparently Celestia didn't know what it was, and it worried her. I was in the middle of exploring the crystal caves beneath Canterlot when Celestia sent out a call to me and a few others. I soon discovered a strange object  placed on a wall in a nearby alley. I don't know what it was but it was of a technology I had never seen before, it was incredibly advanced."

"What was it?" Twilight asked.

"Some kind of explosive, it began beeping and I had a bad feeling from it so I bolted out of there. Good thing I did, otherwise I might be far worse off." He gestured to his bandaged hind legs.

"...an explosive?"

"Yes, Twilight, it was designed to cause destruction, having some sort of dangerous material as a catalyst. I couldn't look at it for very long. One moment, the wall was clear, and then the next, it was there. I saw it appear out of thin air! Fancy that, object appearing out a thin air with vastly advanced technology..." He shook his head. "Sorry, I went off on a tangent."

"It's alright, inspector..." Luna said. "Thank you for telling me this, do you need anything?"

Time Turner thought it over briefly. "Yes, could I have some English muffins with a side of butter? That would be fantastic..."

"I'll see what I can do." With that, the dark alicorn turned and left. Twilight nodded her goodbyes before leaving. When she walked outside, she saw Luna looking very disturbed.

"Is something wrong, Princess?"

Luna slowly nodded. "Yes, my sister and I are rather magically in-tuned and we can sense when powerful magics are being used. But it seems my sister felt something when I didn't. I'm worried that, during my thousand year banishment, I may have lost this ability."

"So, the princess felt something strange and had several ponies investigate... and then this happened... then Time Turner mentioned finding some sort of explosive that appeared out of nowhere."

"No doubt there were several others placed throughout the city, causing this mess in the first place." Luna commented, Twilight nodded, before continuing.

"I highly doubt that these are simple coincidences... Luna, you said the attackers had equipment never before seen?"

The night princess nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Time Turner mentioned that the explosive also seemed highly advanced... I have a feeling that this was planned a long time beforehoof..."

"Hmm... but we still don't know anything else, or more importantly where to find my sister..."

"No... but it's odd, why did Time Turner mention the Crystal Caves? It had nothing to do with..." Suddenly, Twilight got another tingle and she suddenly got an idea, her eyes widened. "Luna... Can you send out the beacon calling my friends back? I think I know where Celestia has been taken..."