Twilight tapped her hoof nervously in the car she was being transported in. She was still nervous about Dash being in control of Sparkle Industries, but that wasn't what was bothering her. The fact that Luna had contacted her directly was a bit more concerning, but even that could be explained away rather easily.
What she had the most trouble dealing with was the armed escort.
After she had packed her bags, she went out front to meet her ride, only it wasn't at all what she had been expecting. A Humvee had pulled up with no less than four soldiers in it to bring her to Canterlot. And it didn't help much that each of them looked like they were in Luna's personal guard.
The trip wasn't too long, but the tense atmosphere made it feel a lot longer. Silence stretched the entire time and Twilight's nervousness only grew. They stopped a couple of times, but only to fuel up.
Once they had gotten to the castle, Twilight was let out, but only with two of the soldiers as guards. When she saw what had happened, though, she almost completely forgot about them.
The once-simple castle now had metal plates layered on top of the stone. The towers seemed larger and more imposing, and on top of each one was what looked like a very large rifle. The colors of the castle had also changed, though not as much. Mow they looked darker and a bit more intimidating.
Overall, it did not remind her of old times like she thought it would.
The guards in front of the gate watched her from behind their armor and weapons, but each of them didn't seem to be too worried about her. It actually almost looked like they were watching more around her than her actual arrival.
A creak snapped Twilight's attention back to the castle as the main gate opened to reveal even more guards. They watched carefully, but again, there was that feeling they were watching around her. It was very unsettling to see, and she moved quickly to find out what was going on.
In the throne room, surprisingly enough, there weren't any guards. There were two right outside the doors, but none in the room itself. Instead, Celestia and Luna sat on their thrones with weapons right next to them. They looked tired, but that changed as soon as they saw her. Though there was something about Celestia's expression that didn't feel right. It almost felt like she pitied her.
"Luna called," Twilight said. "She said there was something important I was needed for."
"Indeed," Luna said, standing up. "A long time ago, there was a war between Equestria and a much darker power. You might know of the time we fought King Sombra."
"It was noted in the history books," Twilight said.
"He was not the only threat," Luna continued. "There was a smaller organization that was far more dangerous than Sombra and his armies. It was known as Hydra."
"Hydra was kept out of the books," Celestia said, joining her sister. "It was destroyed during the war and there was no need to keep their atrocities for future generations to read about once peace had been restored. But they were not easy to deal with. There is only one reason we were able to keep them from achieving their goal."
The sisters started walking down a hallway Twilight had never noticed before and she followed, though she was starting to think there was something far more serious than an organization that had been destroyed so long ago. Luna didn't let them fall into silence, though, as she continued the story. "There was a mare who visited us to warn us about Hydra. She had immense magical power and was better at it than most ponies of the time. She told us about the kind of threat they posed and what we had to do to keep them from winning the war. She even lent a hoof in dispatching them and made quite a fine soldier."
"What does this have to do with me?" Twilight asked, not sure where everything was going. "Has Hydra come back? Do you need my help in stopping them again?"
The stopped in front of a wall where there was a large chunk of ice that was slowly melting. Sensors and machines were hooked up to it and life signs were coming from inside. Twilight stared at the foggy ice, still not quite sure where this was going until Luna wiped a hoof across the ice to show a familiar-looking purple unicorn asleep inside.
"We need your help then," Celestia answered. "The mare who helped us, the one who brought Hydra to its knees so we could keep them from winning, was you."
Twilight sat down, not entirely sure she was seeing things clearly. "How is this even possible?" she whispered.
"A variation on a spell you're familiar with," Luna responded. "I believe you used Star Swirl's time travel spell not too long ago, correct?"
Twilight blushed a little being reminded of that day. "I guess I overreacted a bit," she said. "But that was only a one-time spell and it barely lasted five minutes. This...." She waved her hoof toward the frozen figure inside. "This is much more powerful than what he wrote."
"Only what he finished," Celestia said, earning a confused expression from Twilight. "He was working on something far bigger than a week of travel back in time. Unfortunately, he never finished his research. Something else took up his time and he passed before he could continue that area of study.
"Only recently did we find his notes on time travel and how he built his first spell around it. It was very in-depth about how the universe and time work. The past few weeks for us have been just as exciting as yours going through his studies and trying to piece together the spell you would eventually use to help us in that time of need. When my sister contacted you, we had just made a breakthrough in the research and our scientists say it'll work."
She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "It's going to be hard for you," she continued. "You're going back to a time of war; a time neither of us are proud of. We've seen you become one of the best soldiers in history, and one of the best ponies I have ever had the privilege of meeting. I'm sorry for what you must do and things you must experience, but they are necessary."
Luna took over from there. "You must understand; we were both very different ponies then. It was a darker time, not unlike the new battles we experience now. And we will not believe you right away. It took some convincing to get us to see the truth. I cannot say more than that."
Twilight stared at herself in the ice. It was too much. Too much was going on all at once. A secret orginazation, hidden history, time travel- it sounded like one of J. K. Yearling's science fiction novels, and she was at the middle of it. It was overwhelming how much was happening and how much it relied on her. One wrong move and history would be changed. One thing done slightly differently, and life as she knows it would be changed, at best. At worst....
She took a breath, moving her hoof up to her chest and pushed away as she let it out. She just had to stay calm and do what she needed to. The less she knew, the more likely she would do things the way she was supposed to.
"I understand," she said after a moment of silence. "What do you need me to do here?"
Luna out a file and gave it to Twilight. "You need to know what Hydra was capable of," she explained. "This details what they were doing without telling of your exploits and the outcomes of their experiments. It's the barest details, as you requested back then. We will prepare the spell to send you back while you read."
"Alright," Twilight said quietly, opening the file. "Let's see what you were up to."
*******************************
Twilight was in a haze as she walked to the room that had been prepared for the spell. The things she had read about, the things Hydra had done, it was just wrong. The experiments they did on ponies and the lengths they would go to in order to bring about their world order... it was savage.
"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Celestia asked, snapping Twilight from her thoughts. "We can give you more time and send you back after some training, if you want."
"I'm ready," Twilight replied shakily. "I do have one question before I go, though."
"Yes?"
"When you took me in, when you taught me about magic and how to use it, did you do that for me or for this?"
Celestia took a moment before speaking. "At first, it was for this," she started. "I recognized you and knew what you would have to do later in your life. I would've accepted you even if the judges hadn't, just so I could make sure you fulfilled your destiny. But after seeing what you could do, after teaching you some of the basics, I realised how much this meant to you. I became attached, forgetting about the past and simply trying to help you be the best you could be.
"My heart broke when I heard about what had been found. I had forgotten this time would come and I didn't prepare you for it properly, and for that, I am truly sorry. However, I am certain everything will turn out the way it should be, and that you will help us beat Hydra. You already have, if you think about it." Celestia let a small, sad smile grace her face.
Twilight nodded, feeling better about why she was the person she was supposed to be. It was good to know she hadn't molded for this occasion or manipulated into a situation like this. It gave her a small comfort going into this knowing she was and always had been on her own path.
When they walked into the room, that comfort turned into amazement. What was once probably a simple room was now filled with arcane runes. The domed ceiling pulsated with power in time with five pillars that were standing in the middle of the room. Eldritch sigils surrounded the pillars, contained within a circle of power, a steady stream of energy flowing through them. At four points of the circle, offsetting the five points the pillars made up, were hooded unicorns, their horns glowing and proving the magic that was powering the spell.
Twilight carefully walked into the circle, staggering slightly when she passed over the circle. The sheer amount of power inside was terrifying, easily enough to level the city if the spell went wrong. It was hard to focus as she walked into the center of the circle, but that was where she needed to be.
Two of the larger space between the unicorns were filled in by the royal sisters themselves, their horns glowing as they began to weave the power into something more focused. The colored lights of magic flowed from the horns of the six ponies up to the cieling before being redirected down into the circle like a cage closing. The sigils the began to glow steadily, becoming brighter as each second passed. Pressure built up inside the circle and Twilight could barely stay standing as the power flowed down over her. Light blended together, becoming a blinding whiteness that blocked out everything else.
Suddenly, the power was released. The intricate designs flared and the spell went off, color dancing in Twilight's vision as the ground was taken from beneath her. She let out a scream as she fell, everything feeling unreal and merged together. Ther was no wind, but gravity was pulling her down somewhere. Thw whole world was nothing but blurred colors and that falling sensation for what couldn't have been more than a few seconds.
Then, her hooves were on the ground again, in a dark and dull room. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust from the blinding colors, but after amoment, she could see it was the same room. It was missing the carvings and the ponies, but it was definitely the same room. Moonlight streamed in through the windows and dim torches lit what was left to be seen.
The doors slammed open, a small platoon of guards streaming in with weapons ready before Twilight could make sense of anything. Within seconds, she was surrounded and had a dozen spears and swords pointed right at her. She could barely breathe without one of them twitching slightly, waiting for any hostile movement.
The unicorn in front of her looked at her sternly. "State your name and intention," she ordered.
"T-twilight Sparkle," Twilight replied, barely keeping herself from throwing up a shield spell. "I'm here to help."
"How?" the military mare asked.
"I have information for the Princesses," Twilight replied.
"Information on what?"
"Information on a science division called Hydra."
