::: Complete Recap of Part I :::
This section contains major spoilers for Starfall: Dominion of the Night, Part I.
If you're looking to catch up on the story, or simply would prefer to skip ahead but want to have a good handle on what's happening, then you've come to the right place. However... just keep in mind this will heavily narrow down the events.
LAST WARNING --- SPOILERS AHEAD
Prologue: In Another Time
In an alternate timeline, Princess Luna worries over her choices but struggles with a need to be defiant toward her sister, Princess Celestia. To her surprise, her thoughts are disrupted by the beautiful singing of Celestia and an alicorn filly named Star Flare.
Though her time with the filly is brief, the respect and admiration she shows makes Luna leery about the things she's set in motion, strengthening a part of her already conflicted over doing such deeds. Even so, she can't help but feel proud that her most recent plan goes without a hitch leaving her as the center of attention and a hero, despite she was actually the cause of the tragedy.
Chapter 1: Fool's Gambit
Over a thousand years in the future beyond Twilight Sparkle's transformation into a princess of Equestria, Star Swirl has a showdown with an ancient enemy that has brought incredible destruction to the world. As the battle wears on, the archmage's foe controls Celestia in an effort to defeat him and nearly does. With his staff taken from him then twisted into a new weapon with evil magic, the archmage is badly wounded and narrowly escapes using his timejump spell.
He reappears in Canterlot but in a time somewhat foreign to him, a place still in his future but not like it had or should be. Through magic and a special device, he attempts to discover his actual location via the other timelines, but in the midst of the spell something intervenes causing the device to explode.
Chapter 2: Veiled Lineage
While on their way home with their mother, Berry Bliss and Fidget witness a small explosion near the Canterlot library. Frightened by the event, Berry Bliss runs away but Fidget stays behind to help a strange elder pony who seemed to have been caught in the blast.
On the other side of Canterlot, Star Flare, now grown up and in the royal guard, heads through the snow-covered markets on her way home. After a bit of fun playing with some of the orphans there, she's stopped by Fidget who tells her about his earlier encounter and that Captain Stormstrike was looking for her. Though she'd prefer not to, she apologizes and leaves the little pony behind, taking flight to the library.
In the midst of being questioned about the explosion by Captain Stormstrike and a pony named Calligraphy, Star Swirl gives the false name of Virtuoso the Bearded and denies having any involvement. As they move into the alley where Star Swirl's tools for seeing the timelines exploded, the archmage uses a spell on the Captain to learn more of what's happening in current time. His plan, however, takes a turn as he's caught in the act by Star Flare who was in flight and saw everything overhead.
The sudden arrival of the alicorn, along with her striking resemblance to Princess Celestia - and most importantly, one Star Swirl knows doesn't belong in this timeline - makes him question everything he knows up to this point.
Though she has no reason to, something unusual about the old mage has Star Flare lowering her defenses and even trusting him. With a promise that he'd explain more about his reasons for being there, she reluctantly agrees to take him to the castle to see the princesses.
Chapter 3: Revelations
After previously casting a simple spell to gauge Star Flare's magical talent, Star Swirl concludes to himself that she wouldn't have the ability to use the timejump spell. This only makes him more concerned as to her reasons for being here.
As the two work their way through the frigid city, Star Swirl learns more and more about his companion and worries about her place here with the war of the sisters looming. Because of this, he attempts to give her a magical locket but is shocked to find she already has an identical one.
This last piece of evidence combined with knowledge of her cutie mark confirms to him that Star Flare is actually Celestia's daughter, Princess Elysia, a pony that shouldn't be born for nearly two thousand years but is somehow stranded here in this timeline just like him. Star Flare begs him for any information he might know, and he opens up, but knows the information could also be catastrophic and casts a spell to seal away her memories.
Chapter 4: Dark Tidings
Hours earlier, Luna dream gazes and unknowingly enters the mind of the unconscious Star Swirl and sees a desolate future. Before she can piece together what she's seeing, she's confronted by the welling darkness within, a manifestation of the evil that has worked tirelessly to take control of her heart. Terrified, she awakens wrapped in her blankets gasping for air.
After bathing, she decides she can no longer pretend these things aren't happening to her, but rather than act upon the impulse to be defiant with her sister, she heads to the grand hall hoping to find a way to rekindle a friendship between them.
Though Luna had every intention of being on her best behavior, she's given a less than formal greeting by a visiting gryphon named Gwyneth and her mood immediately sours. After being told that the gryphons would no longer protect the northern passage, and furthermore, that for a short time they would do so but only in the day, she can barely contain her anger as Celestia deflects the issue.
Before Luna can make any more of the matter, and just as Zaira and the Gwyneth were leaving, a royal guard enters the great hall and nervously announces a visitor - Star Swirl the Bearded.
Chapter 5: Wayward Harbinger
With the solstice festival about to happen and with the large crowds already within Canterlot, Scarlet Blossom frets over her decision to allow a guard to announce a visitor for the princesses, all the while Star Flare does her best to make her not worry over the matter so much.
Meanwhile in the great hall, still in shock at the announcement of Star Swirl's arrival, the princesses argue over whether the announced visitor could truly be the archmage they know. Though Luna is certain it couldn't be him, she tells the royal guard to dismiss whoever it may be as a prankster, but after hearing a few more details Celestia at the last moment intervenes and instead asks the guard to welcome the visitor and to treat him with care.
Word is given to Scarlet Blossom and Star Swirl is welcomed in, but the spell put on Star Flare begins to take effect and her memories of the time spent with the archmage begin to fade away. Suddenly remembering she was supposed to spend time with Skystrider tonight and was already quite late, she bolts into the air and takes flight.
Star Swirl is escorted to the grand hall by Scarlet Blossom and as they continue through the castle, he struggles with the idea of actually being a part of pushing Luna's conflict with Celestia.
Chapter 6: Afflicted
After a surprised welcome from the princesses, Star Swirl, struggling with the pain of his wound and dealing his best with the guilt of being a catalyst for their coming conflict, stands before both Celestia and Luna and tells them he knows of a looming threat to Equestria.
Before he can say much, Celestia reminds him she knows about his ability to move through time and that he had long ago made her a promise to never tell her of the future. He clarifies that what he speaks of is something she is already aware of, so it should have no effect on the course of time. He follows it with a declaration that he is a guardian of Equestria, and he will do everything in his power to stop the cause of these problems - all the while focusing his attention on Luna.
While Celestia does her best to lighten the clearly growing tension between Star Swirl and her sister, she finally decides the best method would be to separate them for now and asks Star Swirl to join her outside while she lowers the sun. Luna intervenes, however, and asks Star Swirl to stay with her to talk a bit longer. Celestia, while apprehensive, agrees but before she leaves Star Swirl tells her he'll join her outside in the royal gardens soon.
After Celestia leaves the grand hall, Luna magically bolts the doors and seals the room in magic. Fearfully, she confronts Star Swirl to find out just how much the archmage knows and he doesn't hold back. Without saying so directly, he makes it clear he knows she's fully responsible for many of the horrible events across Equestria. Before she can ask more though, her magic on the great hall is dispelled and Celestia's assistant and head of the magic order, Zaira, opens the doors and enters.
Shocked at the abrupt intrusion, Luna demands an explanation. After a small apology, Zaira follows it with a request to escort Star Swirl outside, telling them that Celestia has requested his presence. Before Luna can say anything about the matter, Star Swirl agrees.
Chapter 7: Broken Promise
Luna, unable to cope with the confrontation by Star Swirl, struggles to make it back to her chambers. On her way, she nearly runs into Scarlet Blossom, whom, with a spell that controls others by their deepest desires, uses the pony as a personal guard to give her time.
Star Swirl, while being escorted by Zaira to the frozen royal gardens, is told his plan works by the zebra. She feeds him bits of information to make him believe that what he's done will in fact cause the sisters to have their conflict, just as he was hoping. Before he goes outside to meet with Celestia, Zaira asks the old mage to promise to never return to this time. Surprised at her knowledge of his endeavors, he reluctantly agrees but is now even more curious about his unusual escort.
Once in the gardens, Princess Celestia meets with Star Swirl and they reflect on times gone by. Star Swirl debates with himself over what would happen if he simply confided the entirety of what's about to happen but his thoughts are interrupted as he's hit in the head by a snowball.
Celestia doesn't hide her feelings and as she moves close, she uses her magic to dispel his illusion of old age. Star Swirl's beard reverts to a goatee and his gray mane and tail shift to blue and black. Being so near her, he doesn't realize that she's inadvertently dispelled the illusion hiding the wound on his side as well.
Curious about his tattered robes, Celestia touches them at an unusual split in the material along his side. Feeling like a spear had just been stabbed into his ribs, Star Swirl has to use his magic to prevent himself from collapsing in pain. The sudden motion and burst of magic causes his robes to shift, fully exposing his side. Unable to hide it, the princess sees where his corrupted staff had carved deeply into him, its edged tip leaving a gaping wound from his shoulder clear through the cutie mark on his hip.
Seeing her fear and knowing it was nothing Celestia should've ever seen, he apologizes for breaking his promise and explains that she now knows a bit of the future. Concerned for her now more than ever, and feeling his own future is very uncertain, he decides to give her his personal journal of magic and tells her to one day give it to her student.
Before she can talk him out of it, Star Swirl summons his power to leave, intentionally making a big display of his magic. After returning his illusion of old age, in a spiral of blue light the archmage vanishes, leaving only a silver locket laying upon the snow.
Chapter 8: Herald of the Ages
Luna returns to her chambers and, completely overwhelmed by her own fears and sadness, cries as she tries to sort out the mess caused by Star Swirl's arrival. A fleeting spark of hope wells inside her as she feels the magic of her sister lowering the sun, but she realizes it's unlikely Star Swirl has spoken with her yet.
Unsure of what to do, she views her reflection in the mirror. Seeing her bloodshot eyes and matted cheeks from tears, she admits to herself she's the cause but her anger takes control and she magically shatters the mirror upon the floor. Slowly the princess of the night treads over the shards of glass and crawls into bed. Before falling to sleep, she takes off her tiara and sets it on the pillow beside her.
Having quickly changed out of her enchanted royal guard armor into just a simple coat, Star Flare arrives nearly frozen at Skystrider's home, but just before she gets to its entrance she's surprised by an explosion of fireworks overhead. She watches the display briefly but as the lights fade away she notices a different streak of light in the sky. Nearby, she hears an elderly pony say it's a comet. Star Flare asks about it and the elderly pony explains it's one that only comes around once every hundred years and that it always portends something horrible. Unsure of what to make of it, before she can ask anything more the elderly pony abruptly closes the door.
Before she can think much of it, behind her she hears Fidget call out her name. She sees the little pony has made a path in the snow for her and together they head into Skystrider's home.
Chapter 9: Memories
In a flash of green energy, Zaira appears before the outer walls of the magic order. After taking a moment to look above at the streak of the bright blue comet in the night sky, atop her head an invisible horn flashes with green magic and the gates to the magic order open and she slips inside.
Before making it to the main building, she notices a bird had made it through the wards shielding the magic order from the frigid elements. She wonders for a moment if it was someone's familiar, but before she can use magic to check for herself it quickly flies through the wards and leaves.
Zaira moves within the magic order and seals herself within her study. Using powerful magic and through a strange glowing gemstone, she connects herself to a dark unicorn from the future and tells him everything went as planned. She makes it clear that she was the one actually responsible for destroying the tools for Star Swirl's ability to see the threads of time and even mocks the mage, calling him weak and naive.
Before she can continue, the dark unicorn frightens her and she responds that a shielding for this time period has been put into place. Before she can continue though, Star Swirl appears and with magic knocks the zebra clear across the floor on her back.
Zaira, in complete disbelief at Star Swirl being there is shocked further when he makes it clear he knows she's a changeling. Ready for a fight, she transforms but before she can even attempt an attack the archmage sends her colliding against the wall, keeping her pinned there with energy.
Star Swirl, reluctant to cause her further harm, asks Zaira to tell him exactly what she's planned. The changeling, barely able to breathe, states that she simply wants the princess to carry out her destiny.
Meanwhile, in another part of Canterlot, Star Flare, Fidget and Skystider hang out and talk about the strange things that happened over the course of the day. A baby phoenix Fidget had found, which he believed to be injured, flies around playfully and stays near the little pony.
Fidget brings up the things that happened earlier and how he was a bit upset he couldn't go with Star Flare when she went over to the library, but Star Flare's memory of that time is hazy and she can't remember meeting with him. She's reminded about an older pony that had been at the library and it sparks something within her, and as she closes her eyes she doesn't realize a tear cascades down her cheek.
When she's asked what's the matter, and though she feels awful for having to do so, she lies and tells them the story Skystrider's neighbor told must've upset her.
Chapter 10: Precipice
The pain of his wound begins to be a bit too much and Star Swirl feels his powers beginning to diminish. Unable to clearly understand why a changeling would want to bring about something so horrible as starfall, Star Swirl opens up about what the day would bring but he's shocked at the response. Zaira tells him her kind isn't limited to feeding on positive emotion, rather it's the intensity of the emotion itself - and the fear and horror caused by starfall will allow the changelings to feed endlessly.
Knowing it was an eventuality, his spell keeping Zaira under control weakens enough for her to break free. The changeling stands defiantly, clearly ready for a fight, but she toys with Star Swirl, as if under the impression he was easy prey.
Clearly confident in her abilities, Zaira unleashes flames across the walls, unveiling a hidden prison she had kept behind one of the large tapestries. Mixed with smoke, a terrible stench wafts from the cell and Star Swirl looks within in horror, spotting multiple ponies he knows. The changeling had clearly been feeding off of them for a long time, but had done little to keep them in good health.
After a threat that the archmage would soon join them, Star Swirl vows he'll do everything he can to bring an end to this nightmare.
Current Day, Everfree Forest
“If I simply finish the restoration on these last few tapestries… could you just imagine how wonderful they would look in your new home, Twilight?” Rarity said with a longing sigh as she pictured it. “It’s an injustice they’ve had to wait this long, but I can fret over it no longer… I simply must finish this project!” The white unicorn blinked and looked at the bare rear wall of the old throne room then, with her lips twisting in confusion, she glanced to each of the equally bare side walls. “That is, if you could direct me to them. I thought they were here just a moment ago…”
Twilight Sparkle, covered in dust and cobwebs peeked out from the entrance to the side hall. “Oh, I’m not sure, Rarity. Maybe Fluttershy or Rainbow took them down while I was busy in the basement. You wouldn’t believe all of the great things I found down there!”
Trying to hide her shock at her friend’s appearance, quickly Rarity looked once more to the adjacent wall. “Yes, yes I’m sure… please do tell me all about it in a moment. I’m in the zone, so to speak, and before I lose my train of thought I need to find these tapestries and finish… falling?! Fallllling!” Rarity begins to scream as she tumbles backwards then gasps as purple magic surrounds her, keeping her suspended in the air.
Gently bringing her friend to a safe spot to land, the magical glow of energy surrounding Twilight’s horn vanishes. “That was close! Are you alright?”
“My word… I am, thanks to you.” As the energy surrounding her begins to fade, Rarity points a magically glowing hoof toward a gaping hole in the floor. “But where in the world did that come from?”
Taking a second to remove a cobweb dangling from her hair, Twilight tapped her chin and thought a moment. “We both know this place is full of hidden chambers and booby traps - maybe you triggered one of them somehow?”
“Perhaps…” Rarity looked from the hole then back to her friend. “But… I was just standing there. I don’t think I touched anything, well, aside from the floor, that is.”
“In this castle you never know…” A voice overhead began. “You should see some of the crazy places me and Fluttershy found.” Rainbow Dash lands with a dusty skid between the old thrones.
“Oh my, Rainbow and I were looking through the old tower when we thought we heard screaming.” Fluttershy lands as softly as a feather near Rarity. “Are you both alright?”
“I am, thanks to Twilight.” Rarity gave a warm smile to the purple alicorn. “Luckily she was here… but it was the strangest thing. Suddenly, it was like the floor beneath me just disappeared.” Rarity nervously looked from her friends back to the hole as she noticed they were moving to inspect it.
“Woah… I can’t even see the bottom!” Rainbow Dash said, a hoof bridged above her eyes to block out the morning sunlight. “It’s like it just goes on and on.”
“Perhaps it would be best if you all didn’t get so close… After all, we still don’t know how it got there.”
Grinning, Dash lets out a squeaky giggle and displays her wings. “I don’t think that’s something we need to worry abou-” She begins and falls forward as another section of the floor vanishes from beneath her in a white pulse. Before falling in too far, with a quick flip and a spiral of rainbow hair, the blue pegasus spreads her wings and quickly bolts back out of the hole. “Hey, what the heck just happened?!”
Everyone takes a step back, unsure of what to make of the strange event.
“Maybe Pinkie is playing that organ again?” Fluttershy says and shyly lowers her head, seemingly trying to make some sense of what was happening. “I think it did some really strange things last time…”
“Nope, wasn’t me!” Pinkie Pie announces as she happily bounces into the throne room from the opposite side hall, Spike following closely behind her. “If I had been you probably would’ve heard me playing, but since there’s no organ that’s pretty unlikely.”
Twilight waves her hoof for Pinkie to stop. “Wait, wait… There’s no organ? What are you talking about, Pinkie?”
“Notta, not there, history, gone…” The pink pony bounces one last time then lands on her rear hooves. With a quick glance about the room she points a hoof toward the rear wall. “Like the tapestries, the doorway to the kitchen, that spot in the floor, the throne that used to be on the right side … Oh! And that really creepy dragon statue that always gives me weird looks.” She giggles and tilts her head towards Twilight. “Between you and me, I’m totally glad that one’s gone.”
“She’s right, Twilight. Pinkie was going to show me some of the things she found out about the organ and it really wasn’t there…” As Spike finishes he looks around, apparently well aware of the disapproving looks he was receiving. “And I know what you’re all thinking… it definitely wasn’t an enchanted comic! I wasn’t even reading one!”
Twilight laughs then gives a tiny sigh. “It’s okay Spike, we believe you… it’s just that none of this makes a whole lot of sense.” She says but her shoulders slump as she looks to each of her friends. “For now though, no matter how much I’d like to stay, I don’t think the Castle of the Two Sisters is safe enough for us to be here. At least, not until we find out what’s causing things to up and vanish.”
“Very astute - as always - Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Discord’s head peeks up through the gaping hole in the floor.
“Discord!?" Twilight says in surprise and raises a front leg as her eyes narrow. "I should’ve known the whole hurt thing was an act… This seems like something you would do!”
“No, goodness no… Whatever do you mean? I’m simply here to help my friends.” In a flash of light Discord vanishes then reappears upside down above Twilight. “I’ve made many mistakes… but I’m here to prove that I’ve learned from them, and if you’ll let me, hopefully set things right.” As he finishes he flips upright then bows before the princess. “Most of all, above all else… I just hope in time you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.”
Rarity sighs as she notices the draconequus glance sadly to Fluttershy. “But if you aren’t the cause, then who’s the one doing this? Surely this has nothing to do with that awful monster, Tirek.”
“Right you are, lovely Rarity.” Discord vanishes once more and reappears next to the white unicorn and she quickly does her best to back-pedal from him. “As you know, the devourer of magic is once again caged in a place where he can do no harm.”
“Which is probably where you should be…” Spike mumbles.
Discord clears his throat. “Let’s try not to dwell so much on the past… except in the case of the current problem, because that’s exactly what’s required.”
Rainbow Dash hovers over close to Discord. “What does that even mean?”
“Well, let’s look at the facts shall we.” A book magically appears before the draconequus and he dons a detective hat and a thick pair of bifocals. The book opens in a shining orange glow and he quickly scans over a few details. “We have items going poof here, there…” he points to a torch sconce which in a white flash disappears along with the book in front of him. “Everywhere. And this isn’t just happening here in the Castle of the Two Sisters… No, no… It’s a phenomena occurring across Equestria, as I’m sure even our friend Applejack would tell you. If she were here, of course.”
“Oh my, Applejack?” Fluttershy meekly begins. “Is… she alright?”
“Wait a sec… When I asked her earlier if she wanted to come, she said she needed to take care of something at the farm.” Dash thinks a moment. “Come to think of it, she said something about missing zap apple trees.”
“Exactomondo!” Discord exclaims. “Applejack is fine, but the Apple family farm, and many of the other farms near the Everfree forest… not so much.”
“Goodness! If she’s having these kinds of problems, we must go help her at once!” Rarity says and looks to her friends as she readies herself to leave.
“That sadly isn’t the worst of it… as I’m sure you’ll learn in three, two, one…” Discord says as he hovers on his side, tapping his hooves to the countdown.
Spike looks left and right then grabs his stomach as he burps up green flame and a scroll.
In a flash of purple magic, the scroll’s seal is broken as it quickly hovers over to Twilight. Wasting no time, she scans the contents and gasps. “Princess Celestia has requested me to come to Canterlot as soon as I possibly can…”
“But why, Twilight?” Dash says and everyone looks to the purple alicorn.
“Because Princess Luna has fallen ill… she’s currently unable to perform her duties.” Twilight looks once more over the scroll then her eyes narrow as she looks to Discord. “If you knew all of this was happening... Are you playing games with us? Are you involved somehow? I never thought you’d stoop so low as to harm Princess Luna – Tell us what you’re up to!” Her horn shimmers with purple magic.
“Princess Twilight… you’ve held the combined magic of four alicorns. You’ve possessed virtually unlimited power in those tiny – yet wholly adorable – hooves of yours.” He pauses to point a clawed finger at the top of her head. “Oh, and within your horn too, of course. With your abilities, you should already know this has nothing to do with me.”
“Get to the point, Discord…” Dash buzzes by and lands next to Twilight.
“Well… It’s actually quite elementary.” With a wave of his paw, a smoking pipe appears and he quickly raises it and blows bubbles. “Twilight should feel the same, but perhaps it’s a form of magic she’s not as familiar with – I’m speaking of the magic of time, of course.” He closes his eyes and nods. “With the princess’s brief but almost unlimited connection to the arcane, she should’ve sensed how out of balance things were… Just as I have.” His brow furrows as he gives a look of distress to Twilight. “And I’m not just speaking of the elements or the problems caused by the incredibly not-so-friendly Tirek.”
Twilight nearly stumbles backwards as everyone else looks at Discord as if he had just gone crazy.
“Okay, Twi – Discord has clearly gone coo coo. So wuddya wanna do?” Dash covers her mouth with a hoof and whispers as she leans in close to Twilight.
Twilight glances to Dash then looks to each of her friends, stopping on Discord last. “No, he hasn’t… If anything, he’s starting to make sense for once. A long time ago, I used a time scroll I found in the Canterlot library. It created a small paradox that almost made me go crazy.”
“Yeah… I, uh, don’t know what a paradox is.” Dash says and apparently looks to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy for backup, both of which shrug.
“The spell was incredibly difficult to pull off… but basically, it gave me a very brief chance to speak with myself in the past. Because of that, I created a loop in time where I tried to find out what my future self was trying to warn me of.” Twilight says, recalling the matter.
“But… how did you manage to fix it?” Rarity quietly asks.
Twilight looks to Rarity, concern in her eyes. “I couldn’t fix it… that’s the thing. It had to play out for me to finally understand what I had done. But… how does this connect to all of the things disappearing?”
“Oh, don’t worry yourself over that. What you did wasn’t even a tiny drop in the ocean compared to what’s happening around us now.” Discord says and plucks a bit of webbing from Twilight’s hair. “Time can scatter in so many directions…” He weaves the webbing into a spiral that connects to each of his hands. “Every event tied to one another, all part of each other. That is… until…” He pulls a single strand of the webbing and hangs the full spiral from it atop crest of the doorway. “A single important event is severed, bringing an end to anything that connected to it from that point on.” A pair of scissors appears in his paw and he snips the single fastening thread, sending the webbing drifting to the floor.
“So you’re, uh, saying something in the past has been changed?” Dash says, her lips twisting as she tries to make sense of it all.
“He’s sayyyying, that somepony connected to all the things that have been disappearing has been removed from the course of time. So everything after that, poof, is vanishing.” Pinkie Pie says and blows into a smoking pipe sending bubbles into the air. “It all makes perfect sense.”
Discord nods and blows into his pipe as well.
“Uh… if you say so.” Dash says with a cocked eyebrow and scratches her head.
Twilight takes a step forward. “But how do I stop it? My attempt at fixing time didn’t exactly go very well for me last time…”
“First… You’ll need to discover who or what is the cause, which I’d say is likely something connected to the surrounding forest, this castle and even Princess Luna herself. Perhaps Princess Celestia could help give you a clue or four.” Discord says and looks about the throne room. “Tell her what you’ve learned so far… and because of it, perhaps she can give you even more insight. But whatever you decide to do, I’d make it quick… I don’t think we have much time left.” He chuckles at the pun then, apparently noticing nobody else found the humor in it, he coughs.
