Princess Celestia read the report on her desk with a relieved smile. Ever since Twilight was teleported by Discord as he was being Sealed, she and her magical experts worked day and night to come up with a spell to rescue her. She was instantly able to tell that Twilight was not sent anywhere on Equestria and feared she was sent to some otherworldly place, namely the only other one she was aware of… Earth. Her fears were confirmed when she and her sister Luna poured their godly might to scry Twilight in the nothingness that was the space between worlds. Twilight was in a HUMAN world and she had currently been in that world for the past forty five days.

Celestia's smile disappeared as anxious worry replaced her mood. There was no telling what condition she would find Twilight in. Would she be a guest in a household of good humans, a victim of horrifying lab experiments, tortured and beaten by humans who considered her an unholy abomination? Dark images and memories of when she first saw the world of humans filled her mind and there was little Celestia could do to rid herself of them.

Celestia calmed herself and focused on the fact that she could rescue finally Twilight after all this time. Inwardly she couldn't help but think that if Twilight was here, her valuable input would have ensured that the development of the spell would advance far faster. She studied the report further and frowned when she saw the theoretical power requirements. While it was not beyond hers and Luna's power it would mean, for a time, Equestria would have to do without both of its rulers.

'No.' Celestia thought firmly. The humans had very devastating weapons, even with her and Luna's power if something were to happen…

'Hmmm… perhaps… should I really risk them?' Celestia asked herself. The remaining Elements of Harmony had more than enough power for the spell itself, and the Elements themselves could be used to ensure Twilights rescue should they need to force her release. While this had the benefit of making sure Equestria had a ruler in her absence, she felt wrong for basically wanting to use Twilights friends as shields.

She sighed and began writing a message to send to spike. She felt that she had no better option than to have the remaining elements of harmony with her, taking along a battalion of palace guards would only make it harder to hide and retrieve Twilight unnoticed. Finishing the letter, she called to a guard and ordered that chariots be made ready, and sent to Ponyville to collect Twilight's friends.

-several hours later-

Celestia smiled at the ponies before her. "Hello my little ponies I have no doubt you are all wondering why I called you here."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Pinkie shouted while hopping in place. "I bet I know! Did you get Twilight back!"

"Unfortunately not, my energetic subject." Celestia smiled sadly as Pinkie's hair began to deflate. "But her return is the reason you are all here."

"Really?" Applejack asked. "We'd be glad to help in any way to get our friend back, princess."

"Yes, you see during all this time I and my magical experts have been working to develop a spell to retrieve my wayward student." Celestia explained. "We know where she was sent, but we couldn't get there until now. This is where you all come in my little ponies. The spell is finished and simple enough to use, but there is the small matter of the power requirements. While I and my sister can supply the power, that would mean Equestria would have to make do without us, and I am not willing to do that…"

"So you require the power of the Elements of Harmony themselves your highness?" Rarity asked and got a confirming nod. "You cannot ask for that which is given freely your majesty."

The other four elements nodded in agreement causing Celestia to smile happily. She realized that even if she had decided to go with the alternative, the five mares before her would have somehow found out about it and tagged along to help get Twilight.

"Thank you, all of you." Celestia motioned for a nearby guard. "Please tell my sister to meet me in the throne room."

"Of course your majesty." He saluted crisply and marched out.

"Please follow me my ponies."

-the throne room-

The five of the mane six stood in in a circle with Princess Celestia. Said princess was now reassuring Luna that she would do fine in her absence.

"Luna you have done well to catch up with the trends and you passed your lessons with flying colors. I'm sure you will do fine in the few hours I will be gone." Personally, Celestia felt that Luna was more worried about her and was merely stalling. And she was right, Luna was the more magically inclined of the two, but the spell was not what was worrying her. She just had this feeling that something was going to go wrong.

"Okay Tia just… just be careful okay?" The smaller princess said.

"I will Luna." Celestia turned and walked back into place and looked at the five mares accompanying her. "Is everypony ready?"

Getting nods from all of them she then took a deep breath and as one the princess' horn and the five elements of Harmony began to glow with blinding light. The effect was immediate; the world froze in place and began to melt, like a painting left out in the rain. Celestia and the five mares were treated to the sight of Princess Luna and the palace guards melting disgustingly before suddenly disintegrating into pigments of color. The pigments fell to the 'floor', a plane of endless black, before being blown away by an unfelt wind.

The six ponies felt themselves move. The world around them was endless black dotted by little white lights, which streaked by as the six pones felt themselves move and pick up speed until suddenly stopping. For a timeless moment they felt like they were covered by crawling bugs and watched by a thousand eyes before they continued moving. They moved faster and faster until Rainbow Dash felt like she should have caused a Rainboom several times over.

Before they knew it was all over and new world began to fade into sight. First was the sky, an unnatural stormy gray… then was the ground, made of black and gray rocks with yellow markings… next was their surroundings, towering constructions of lifeless gray rock and dull blacked mirrors were all around them. Finally with a small pop in their ears they began to hear the new world they were in, they immediately wished they couldn't.

All around them explosions and metallic screams rang out, threatening to deafen them. Celestia stood just as dazed and scared as the other ponies before her insight into the human world told her where she was, a warzone. Just as that realization hit her a terrible wail rose up, drowning out everything else in its volume. She knew what that was as well.

"Quickly my ponies, this way!" Celestia shouted in urgency, managing to shake the others out of their shock.

Celestia and the five mares ran down what looked to be an alien street looking for shelter. The Princess' head turned this way and that looking desperately for anywhere to hide as the wail grew louder and louder, telling her she had seconds left. Making a sharp right turn, Celestia's horn glowed with power as she hoped there wasn't a wall behind one of the black mirrors.

The mirror shattered inwards revealing a large dark room filled with tables, desks, small walls and chairs. The six ponies leapt over the short rock wall. Celestia turned towards the entrance they made, horn glowing with magic just as the wail grew to a climax.

There was a deafening explosion as a shockwave blasted forth from the point of impact several blocks away. A wall of dust was kicked up as the shockwave expanded, obliterating small buildings and instantly knocking over the taller ones, until the wave of dust and kinetic energy reached the building the ponies were taking shelter in.

Celestia struggled to keep her shield up as the world around her trembled and incredible forces buffeted her and her ponies. She could just make out Fluttershy's terrified screaming above the sound of the wailing winds and crumbling rock.

'Wait… crumbling rock?' Almost not willing to take a look Celestia peered up and past the dust filling the room to see the ceiling. Massive cracks were quickly forming on the ceiling and before long ever larger chunks of it began to fall around them. Just as the portion of ceiling above them collapsed she felt Rarity add her magic to her own. Then everything went black.

-somewhere nearby-

Ten figures stood on the skeletal remains of a sky scraper, nine of them bipedal. One of the figures raised a leg, and placed it against its head.

"This is command squad Gamma." Its feminine voice rang out in the stillness. "All squads in the Quicksilver region report."

"This is Omega, all clear." A voice on her communicator said.

"This is Zeta, all clear."

"This is Alpha, we have three casualties, all friendly fire." Alpha stated. "Return to full strength, ETA two minutes."

"This is Beta, Ground Sweeper was ineffective against hostiles in the city outskirts, taking fire." Another voice said calmly with gunshots going off in the background.

"This is Delta, all clear, Requesting permission to reinforce Beta."

"Permission granted Delta." The figure answered. "What is your ETA to Beta's position?"

"ETA thirty seconds, Gamma." Delta Answered

"Beta this is Gamma, Delta is moving to assist." She reported. "ETA, thirty seconds."

"Roger that Gamma." Beta replied while the sound of gunfire seemed to have intensified in the last few seconds.

"Cloud Ranger this is Gamma report."

"Gamma this is Cloud Ranger." A female voice replied. "Currently running a recon sweep on the battlefield. Updating battle map now Gamma."

"Good work Cloud Ranger." She complimented as she studied the updated battle map. "Requesting a scan of the local area now, Cloud Ranger."

"Scanning, what am I looking for Gamma?" Cloud Ranger asked.

"Twenty seconds before the Ground Sweeper was dropped we detected a teleport with an unknown IFF." She reported. "I want you to look for thermal signatures, radio signals, anything out of the ordinary."

"Scan complete Gamma" Cloud Ranger reported. "Seeing a whole lot of fading thermals… wait got something."

"What is it?" She asked.

"Detecting non-fading thermals near assumed teleport location." Cloud Ranger stated. "Intensifying scan... I've got six unknowns Gamma."

"Roger that Cloud Ranger, Gamma out."

"Good Hunting Gamma."

"All right War Mages." The figure said as she faced the nine behind her. "We have some unknowns that need to be investigated, Jacobs take point."

-several meters underground-

Celestia couldn't make out anything in the darkness other than small beams of light piercing the rubble above them. Thankfully her shield held out long enough for the rubble to stabilize as a sort of dome over them; it wouldn't have been possible if Rarity hadn't added her magic at the last moment though. Suddenly the darkness was lifted as light poured forth from said pony's horn.

"Is everypony okay?" Rarity asked.

There were several groans and coughs and one subdued 'yes' but everyone was fine. Now they could focus on getting out from under the rubble. Their hastily made shelter was sturdy now, but there no telling just how many tons of rock was pressing on it, it was best they got out while they could. They explored their surroundings a bit and found a space they could crawl through and began making their way out. It was slow going as they tried to not disturb the rubble too much and Celestia, as the largest pony there, kept getting stuck but eventually they made out.

The already alien landscape had changed massively, there were hills of rubble and broken glass all around them and the force of the blast had cleared the sky of storm clouds but replaced it with a blinding blanket of dust. The sounds of battle were still there but they were far more subdued then before.

As the dust covered ponies made their way across the ruined and blasted city, Celestia began to be overcome with worry. The spell was designed to teleport them to Twilights general area, but the area was a horrific warzone the likes of which had never before occurred in Equestria. Celestia forced herself to stop thinking as thoughts of whether or not Twilight was even still alive let alone in one piece began to assail her mind.

'She has to be alive! She has to be…' She told herself.

It was then that Fluttershy stopped and her ear began twitching as she thought she heard something. It twitched again as it managed to catch it. Then the wind shifted and Fluttershy heard what it was, a cry of fear and agony made by what she though was a little filly. She darted for a nearby pile of rubble to get a better look.

"Fluttershy, where ya going!" Applejack called after her.

Fluttershy climbed to the top looked around her. She heard another cry and found where it was coming and gasped. Just a little ways away from the base of the rubble pile she was on was a little clothed bipedal creature with a long blond mane and pink hairless skin. It was in lying in growing puddle of blood and released little scared sobs laced with pain. Being the Element of Kindness Fluttershy could not deny her nature and galloped down the side of the rubble pile.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" She called out.

"Fluttershy! Slow down a darned second!" Applejack shouted as she and the others followed close behind Fluttershy.

Fluttershy reached the little creature and reached out with a hoof to roll it over onto its back. However as soon as she touched it little bolts of purple electricity arced over its form, causing Fluttershy to jump away with a shocked squeak. The sparks faded away to reveal a pile of dirt that looked exactly like the little creature whose cries attracted them. The pile of dirt then lost consistency and collapsed into a small pile of dirt. Celestia could tell that this was some form of illusion and suddenly had a very bad feeling. She was proven right a second later.

Six massive black forms dropped from the sky and crashed loudly into the ground around them. Emerging from the ensuing dust clouds were six bipedal giants wearing black metal armor, each one stood at a horrifying twelve feet and wielded massive swords lined with glowing silver runes. Floating in the air around the ponies were four figures. Three of them were like the six on the ground, but stood at half the height, wielded no swords and had stubbly glowing wings on their backs. However it was the last floating one that held the ponies' attention.

Like the other three airborne figures it had short glowing stubbly wings on its back but that's where the similarities ended. The figure was a pony wearing silvery full body armor.

The armored pony dropped to the ground and stood in front of the shocked ponies, standing slightly taller than Celestia. The black glass panels where its eyes were glowed a brilliant purple for moment, then faded. Suddenly its armor began changing, plates of silvery metal flipped and shifted until the armored pony stood at equal height with the other smaller ponies. Creases then appeared in the armor around its head before the metal retracted and revealed the identity of its wearer. It was Twilight.

This shocked Celestia and the five mares, but what happened next would practically send them into a stupor.

"That jewelry, that hair, the way you hold yourself, I know what you are… a noble." 'Twilight' sneered in disgust and stepped closer to Celestia, her hatred filled violet eyes bore into Celestia's shocked pink ones. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you killed filth!"

Silence met this question.