What would happen if Celestia had flown to John instead of running, avoiding the avalanche?
“Princess! There!”
“I see him!” Princess Celestia and Twilight ran through Ghastly Gorge, seeking the creature that had been had been haunting the Everfree Forest. Now they were closing in him, and he was not going to get away this time.
They saw him standing at the top of the canyon wall, silhouetted against the dying rays of the sun. Celestia’s wings flared as she prepared to take flight. “Twilight!” she ordered. “Stay back!”
“Yes, Princess.” Twilight’s hooves created sparks on the rocky ground of the canyon as she skidded to a halt, covering her eyes when Celestia took to the air. The wind buffeted at Twilight for a moment before she opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear them of any dust and grit as she watched her mentor fly towards the creature.
Celestia beat her wings as she flew towards the creature. He started acting strangely as she watched. His hands clutching his head, he dropped a trio of strange objects at his feet. Her wings flaring in the evening sunlight, Celestia watched as the three objects erupted in a fiery explosion.
The side of the cliff was torn asunder, and tonnes upon tonnes of the crumbling rock tore away from the cliff face, dropping mightily onto the ground below. Celestia shuddered as she flew in to take a closer look at the creature, which was badly burned and gasping for air. If she had thoughtlessly rushed in…
Celestia’s hooves created small puffs of dust as she landed in the blood-splattered soil. For the first time, she got to saw the creature that had caused her ponies so much grief. Two arms, two legs, bipedal… Like a really wimpy minotaur. Though Celestia could hardly make out what it would normally look like past the horrible burns that covered most of its body.
Her horn glowed for a moment as she tried to lift the creature with her magic, but like Twilight had told her, her magic seemed to dissipate and fade as soon as her energies brushed against it. She had to admit, even if only to herself, Discord had really outdone himself this time. Celestia leaned in close to the creature, and gave it a little sniff.
Strange. She could definitely smell Discord’s ethereal presence on the creature, but something seemed… off. She couldn’t pin down what it was, but there was definitely something familiar here. If she could only place it…
“Princess!”
Celestia looked over at Twilight’s shout to see that her beloved student had managed to scale the cliff side of Ghastly Gorge. Twilight cantered over to where the Princess stood, a sad look on her face as she stared down at the injured creature.
“Again…” Twilight whispered, leaning into the Princess’ leg. Celestia leaned down and nuzzled her student, her gentle presence giving Twilight comfort.
After several long seconds of silence, Celestia turned to the injured creature. “Now,” she mused, “what are we going to do with you?”
___________________________________________
Several hours later, Celestia rode on the train to Canterlot. Her horn glowed brightly as she tucked the sun out of sight behind the horizon, letting Luna raise the moon for the night. The creature had been restrained, and was being held in the car behind her. Next to her, Twilight Sparkle fussed over her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were being relocated to Canterlot, where Celestia hoped some of the best doctors in the country would be able to help them.
Rainbow Dash’s wing twitched under Twilight’s ministration, before the pegasus gave the unicorn a gentle push back. “I’m fine, Twilight. Really. I’ve had worse crashes than this. A few days of rest and recover, boring as they may be, and I’ll be out flying circles around every other pegasus in the sky before you know it.”
Twilight didn’t look impressed at her friend’s boasting. “No, Dash,” she fumed. “You’re not listening to me. You’ve gotten in crashes before, I know.” She rolled her eyes, thinking of all the times her library had been the unintentional landing pad. “Believe me, I know. But you’ve never been injured like this before. Whenever you’ve gotten in a crash, your own innate pegasus magic-“
“Ugh,” Dash groaned. “Do we have to do the egghead stuff now? Ow!” She rubbed the back of her head.
“Hush up, Dash,” Applejack said, her tail falling limply at her side after she had just used it to whip Dash. “Ah want ta hear this. Go ahead, Twi.”
“Right,” Twilight said, not noticing the tiny smile spreading on Celestia’s face, the Princess amused by how her student still loved explaining things. “Anyway, whenever you’ve gotten into a crash before, your own innate pegasus magic has protected you. This is the same magic that allows you to walk on clouds or control the weather, which unicorns or earth ponies normally can’t do.”
“But,” she continued, “that creature negated even that magic. At least, I think so. Instead of being immune to magic, I think the chaotic magic around him negates almost all magic. Except for the magic that keep healing him,” she added.
“So what yer sayin’ is that this varmint is a walkin’ anti-magic field?” Applejack asked. “Can Discord do that? I mean, he should be locked up nice ‘n tight in that statue of his. Is he really able to do something so powerful?”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Twilight stated, grooming Dash’s uninjured wing and ignoring the pegasus’ frown. “So I did a little testing on the creature while we were loading him on the train. It’s not that he ‘negates’ magic, exactly. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like…” She paused for a moment, trying to think how best to explain it. “It’s like it… twists any nearby magic. Any direct magic will be cancelled out, while any indirect magic will work perfectly well.”
Applejack nodded, looking like she understood Twilight’s lecture. “Ah don’t get it.” Or not.
“I don’t either,” Twilight admitted, a hint of frustration creeping into her voice. “If I had more time, or something I could work with, I think I might be able to make some headway. Right now…” She tapered off, shaking her head and rubbing her temples. “I swear, Discord’s harder to understand than Pinkie.”
“Discord has always been a law unto himself,” Celestia said, speaking up for the first time since they had entered the train. The three mares looked over at her, giving her their full attention. Celestia regally turned to them, or at least as regal as one can look while stuck in a cramped train seat designed for ponies half her size.
“In order to counter Discord’s chaotic magic, you have to put yourself in his shoes. You have to think like he does, to see through his eyes.” She gave them a moment to absorb what she said.
Dash clutched her skull in her hooves, faintly moaning. “My head hurts now.”A groan of agreement came from where Applejack was lying, the farmpony’s eyes crossing slightly.
Celestia only chuckled sedately before turning back to her student. “Because of the nature of Discord’s magic, it cannot be fought against directly. Only the power of Harmony can truly stop him.” Celestia’s eyes flickered as something outside the window caught her eye. Something was going on at Canterlot…
__________________________________________
“Shining Armor, I know it must have been hard for you, but I have a question I really need to ask you. Namely, where is my sister?”
Shining Armor hemmed and hawed under the weight of Celestia’s glare. A few hours had passed since the changelings had made their second attack, and the recovery processes was well underway. Their Queen had been saying something about wanting to talk, but Celestia was in a bad mood after the incident in Ghastly Gorge, and had personally thrown every changeling out of the city. The Queen had been much weaker then the last time they had fought, and Celestia was able to overpower her easily.
Now she was finding out that Luna hadn’t been seen since before the invasion. To make matters worse, the moon hadn’t been raised. Not once, in the many centuries since Luna had gotten her cutie mark, had Luna neglected to raise and lower the moon. Well, there had been that Nightmare Moon incident, but other than that… Celestia shook off the useless thoughts and continued glaring down at Shining Armor. Though he didn’t technically work for her anymore, he had the misfortune of being in range, and that made him a viable target.
Twilight and her friends had been dropped off at the hospital, where they were being processed for treatment. Meaning that Princess Celestia didn’t need to worry about them anymore, and only needed to focus on finding out what happened to her baby sister. Even after all these years, Luna was still Celestia’s beloved baby sister.
“We think, well…” Shining Armor wilted. In his time as Captain, he had faced monsters the like of which couldn’t be imagined. He had plugged a hole in Tarterus to prevent the demons inside from escaping, he had been under the mind control of the cruel changeling queen, and he had fought to liberate the Crystal Empire from the dark king Sombra. He would rather be in any of those places then right here, right now, explaining to Princess Celestia why they couldn’t find Princess Luna.
Seeing no course of escape, Shining Armor finally admitted where they thought Luna was. “We think… Wethinkshe’stheprisonerofthechangelings.” He dropped that piece of information like one would drop a highly explosive ticking bomb, before turning and sprinting out the throne room. Celestia could yell at him later, but he just wanted to get away.
Celestia remained silent, not even seeming to notice Shining Armor’s rapid exit. Her eyes burning with a dark fire, she quietly muttered to the empty room. “I won’t lose you again.”
If anyone had been in the room, they would have noticed as her mane seemed to… change. The vibrant colours, giving a feeling of life and energy, darkened. The feeling coming from them became something dead, cruel, and cold.
Celestia didn’t notice. She would rescue her sister, no matter the cost.
_________________________________________
Chrysalis stood at the exit to the changeling hive. Her heart was heavy, sorrow filling her entire being. It was over. Years after years of hiding in the shadows, barely eke out what was needed to exist. So many past rulers before her, and it would all end here, with her.
Taking a deep breath, she observed the situation before her. The normally dead wasteland teemed with life, thousands of unicorns and earth ponies covering the ground. The sky was filled with pegasi, their wings throwing out long shadows cast by the sun. Strange how the sun seemed darker than usual. Chrysalis couldn’t know it, but the amount of the light cast by the sun served as a reflection of the heart of the one who raised it.
Chrysalis focused her thoughts, sending out her last mental order to her changelings. Her minions, her servants, her people, her belongings, her underlings. Her friends.
This is it, she sent. We’ve lost. No matter how this battle ends, there is nothing for us. We have nowhere to go, and nowhere to return to. If we win or escape, a slow death by starvation is the only thing that awaits us. If this is how we meet are end, so be it. We will accept it. The ponies had come to rescue their Princess Luna. There was no stopping them.
But, she added, we will give them something to remember. They may defeat us, but we will ensure they will never forget us. Dropping into a battle pose, she prepared for what she knew would be the last fight of her life. Her horn flaring brightly, she fired shots out at the onrushing army of nearly fifty thousand ponies.
“WE WILL NOT SURRENDER!”