When Worlds Collide
Prologue
“Celestia!” Luna cried as she desperately tried to keep up with her sister’s gallop. But the older pony had already bound up the side of the large hill and reached its peak, while Luna had only just arrived at its foot. She looked up at the steep hillside and sighed, Celestia had always been better at climbing than her.
The hill was barren, little more than a large mound of bare dirt and jutting rock. It was littered with loose rocks and a few sickly yellow plants that struggled as desperately to cling to life as they did to the hillside itself.
Luna slipped many times on the way up, sending small avalanches of stone and dust back the way she had come. She huffed and puffed as she pulled herself up one last rock before, finally, reaching the top of the hill.
“You’re so slow,” Celestia giggled, her smile as bright and radiant as her coat. Her multi-coloured mane flowing in the cool night breeze - Luna wasn’t surprised that her older sister didn’t look even slightly tired after their climb. She always looked so composed and collected, no matter what she did.
Luna had always been jealous of her sister; her coat and mane were a dull blue by comparison, and did anything but shine. Luna cast an unconscious glance at her bare blue flank, and even though Celestia’s flank was still blank, too. She never got teased about it, unlike Luna.
“Are we nearly there yet?” was all an exhausted Luna could manage without tumbling over.
“It’s only a little bit further,” Celestia said, nodding a little way beyond the other side of the hill. “I saw it land over there!”
Luna groaned she already felt like she could just collapse into a heap and sleep.
“Come on!” Celestia said, oblivious to her sister’s reluctance, already on her way down the other side of the hill. She was a bundle of energy, always dragging Luna on some adventure or other, in the wastes that surrounded their home.
Before she followed, Luna cast a glance back to their home: Ponyville. It was only a small village, little more than a few dozen shabby buildings; but it was an oasis of life in the vast, barren wastes that surrounded it. She remembered a story that their grandmother had once told them. One night the aged mare had told them that when she was a little foal the plants were green and had filled the entire landscape, as far as anypony could see. But this seemed a strange idea to Luna, even silly, as she tried to imagine Ponyville surrounded by a sea of green. Their mother had simply dismissed the whole thing as an oldmares tale. But still, Luna couldn’t help but wonder if it might have been true.
Down the other side of the hill, Luna slipped a few more time. And, once, she nearly fell head-over-hooves. Beyond the hill, the two ponies walked for a long time, along the near featureless terrain. Eventually that walk ground down to a slog that seemed to last an age to Luna. She began to think that this would turn out to be another of Celestia’s wild-goose chases. But then, in the distance, she saw it; a feint blue sparkle.
“There it is!” Celestia cried and burst into canter, heading straight for the warm blue glow.
“Wait for me!” Luna called, chasing after her older sister once again. As she arrived at the source of the glow, she saw that it was being emitted by a large stone that softly pulsed a blue light. The air around the stone buzzed with a frenetic energy making Luna’s fur stand on end.
“What is it?” Luna asked as she starred at the gently glowing stone. She found that she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the beautiful blue rock.
“I don’t know,” Celestia said with the same awe in her voice. “Maybe it’s a star?” she added with a budding excitement.
“A star!?” Luna looked up at the think grey clouds that rolled tumultuously above them. Through the occasional break in the suffocating blanket, she could see the tiny twinkling orbs of the stars. “What should we do with it?” Luna said as a twang of fear tugged at her stomach.
“Lets take it home,” Celestia said eagerly, moving toward the stone. “We should take it to the elder, she’ll know what to do with it.”
“Be careful, it might be dangerous!” But as usual, Celestia didn’t listen to her sister’s warnings. As she approached the glowing stone, it erupted in an explosion of multi-coloured light. Engulfing the two little ponies.
===
Luna woke with a start. That was such a long time ago, she thought, that night that changed everything for them. She had been having that same dream ever since she had been freed from her imprisonment in the moon.
Her room was dark, though a shaft of moonlight already streamed through her window. Celestia must have already raised it again, she sighed as she got out of bed and trotted over to the window. The moon was beautiful this evening, full and bright, and it lit everything beneath it.
Below the window, in the palace gardens, Luna saw Celestia looking up at the stars with a mournful expression on her face. Ever since she had gotten back, she had noticed Celestia doing that often. She was slowly beginning to realise how much her sister had changed since they were fillies; she was no longer the happy adventurous pony that she had once known and looked up to. It was as if that happy pony had been crushed by the weight of her responsibilities, and left an empty shell. Luna watched her turn and trot back towards the palace.
Luna sighed as she turned away from the window. Why did Celestia think that she had to handle all the world’s problems on her own?
As she trotted to the door that led to the hallway outside her room, a wave of energy washed over her sending her fur standing on end. Her skin tingling with an electrical excitement. What is going on!? Was she being attacked? She spun around, but her room was still empty. The intensity increased, and the air around her seemed to be vibrating with the same frantic, chaotic energy.
Luna fell to her knees as the world seemed to spin faster and faster around her. She felt as if she were being torn from the world. The palace disappeared, consumed by a thick foggy blackness and she felt that she was no longer alone in her room, if that was where she even was anymore. Dark shapes slowly emerged from the fog, surrounding Luna. They were indistinct, but she could see that they were all much taller than her, and that they all seemed to be standing on only two legs.
She tried to speak, but found that she could not make a sound.
“Colonel,” she heard one of the shapes say with a muffled voice, as if it were coming from a great distance, she had to strain to hear what was being said, “the gateway is back on-line, and we have connected to a new world.”
“Good,” another shape said. “I want the perimeter around the aperture secured immediately. We must find out if this new world has any C...”
Suddenly the world seemed to shake, as the shapes collapsed back into the fog. Moments later, the fog began to dissipate, vanishing back into the ether, leaving Luna sprawled on the floor of her suddenly still and silent room.
Feeling more than a little dizzy, she stumbled out of her room, into the lavishly decorated hallway beyond. Her hooves clacking loudly on the hard marble floor as she cantered through the hallway. She had to find Celestia!
From around a corner ahead, Luna saw the faint glow of a light. As she hurtled around it, she nearly collided into a surprised palace guard. If it hadn’t been for a quick burst of the alicorn’s wings, she would have sent him flying.
In his fright, the royal guard leaped backwards, he was a unicorn clad in the usual golden armour of the palace guards. The magical glow of his horn disappeared in a burst of sparks, the lamp he was levitating clattered noisily to the floor beside him.
“Ah, Princess!” he stammered in shock as he realised who had nearly crashed into him, before quickly dropping into a deep bow.
“Did anything strange happen to you a moment ago?” Luna asked.
“The hallways have been clear all night, Princess.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she sighed.
He looked up at her with a confused expression. “I don’t understand, Princess. Is anything the matter?”
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter,” Luna said as she galloped down the hallway, leaving a very confused guard in her wake.
She passed several more guards in her search for her older sister, and they were all as equally nonplussed by her question.
Eventually Luna found her, still in the gardens. She was staring absently into empty space. “Big sis!” Luna said as she approached. “Did something odd happen to you? None of the guards seemed to notice anything.”
“Yes,” Celestia said absentmindedly, almost as if she were barely aware that Luna was even there.
“What happened?”
The older pony slowly shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said before looking at Luna, and she saw the concern that twinkled her older sister’s eyes. “I’m sure it was nothing,” Celestia continued. “You should go and rest, you’ve still not fully recovered from your ordeal yet.”
“I’m fine,” Luna began to protest. But Celestia wasn’t listening, she had already turned and vanished back into the palace. Why did Celestia always have to treat her like a little filly? She stomped the earth with a hoof and gave a frustrated snort.
Luna stood there silently, stewing with indignation for a time. Imagining many ways she could prove herself to her older sister. She finally decided that she would figure out what was going on and prove to Celestia that she was her equal!
But where should she start? All she had to go on was a strange, and slightly surreal vision and... Then a sudden realisation hit her, like the proverbial brick: her dream! The wave of energy felt like the same energy from the Elements of Harmony. It must have something to do with them, she concluded.
Luna would prove to Celestia that she didn’t need to carry all of Equestria on her back. She suddenly leaped high into the sky, her dark blue wings stretching wide, carrying her even higher. Quickly, she was lost amongst the velvety blackness of the night sky.
===
Celestia stood in one of the many meeting rooms of the palace, looking disinterestedly at a tapestry that depicted the founding of Cantalot. She was waiting for a servant to fetch the supreme commander of her armies.
Something alien had arrived in Equestria, she knew. Something that could destroy them all.
A sharp knock at the door startled her back to reality. “Enter.”
A grey earth pony clad in the usual golden armour of the royal army, enhanced by a flowing red cape, signifying his position.
He kneeled on his forelegs before Celestia. “You summoned me, Your Majesty?”
Celestia was always impressed by the commander, even at such a late hour he was immaculate. His armour practically shone as brightly as her coat.
“Yes, I need you to increase the patrols around Equestria; both the number, and frequency. Also, I need you to send messengers to all the cities and towns, and put the guards there on high alert.”
“Is something the matter, Princess?” And for a split second Celestia saw concern betray the stony discipline of his face.
“There is,” she said solemnly. “A great storm is hanging over all of Equestria. I just hope we can stop it before it breaks.”