The Journey of Night and Day

Astrum shook his great head to clear it. The world tilted and shook around him, the sky a now a bloody red and bright orange, and other alicorns shot great blasts of magic at opponents. A group of changelings attacked a thin green alicorns, who Astrum recognized as the Insect Queen, Bestiola. The dark blue alicorn shakily rose to his hooves, and started a spell to protect the queen.

Suddenly, a flash of blinding green light invaded Astrum's vision, and he covered his muzzle with his starry wings. Astrum could see the light dim down noticeably through the feathers of his wings, and put them down.

Astrum's violet-blue eyes widened in horror and in anger as he spotted a hoard of changelings attempting to break down the castle doors.

Before he had the chance to react, however, an orange alicorn mare flew at top speed to the castle's defense. She lifted her beautiful head and sent a golden ray of magic out of her horn, paralyzing the changelings instantly. They fell from the sky, eyes shut tightly in pain, and crashed into the ground with several loud cracks.

Astrum raced over to stand beside his wife. "Well done, Lucerna!" Lucerna nodded thankfully. "Do not praise me yet," she lifted her gaze to the red sky.

Millions of black shapes were hurtling towards the castle at a rate faster than Fulgmis, the King of Lightning, could fly, their pointed horns holding fire. "MOVE!!" Astrum shouted, pushing Lucerna away gently but firmly.

"No way am I going anywhere! They are my children as much as they are yours," Lucerna argued, her voice raised loudly above the low and steady hum of insect wings. Astrum sighed. If they were to die, they would both die fighting, that was one fact Astrum couldn't deny. And he had made a promise. A life-changing promise, an 'until death' sort of promise.

Astrum had sworn, on that fateful day, that he would protect his new children until the end of eternity. And that is what he planned to do.

The changelings hit, and the two great ponies were thrown back into the castle wall. Astrum's gaze blurred, and he blinked it away. He could not die yet.

A sleek black changeling smashed into Astrum's chest, horn pointed, aiming. Astrum growled and delivered a powerful kick with his hind leg, which sent it a good distance before it landed in the dust, unconscious.

A blood-curdling scream resounded to Astrum's right side. He blasted two changelings off his wings, and turned to Lucerna. The world froze as changelings flew away from the orange alicorn's body, revealing the damage done. He raced over to Lucerna, checking frantically for a sign that she was still alive.

Astrum's heart froze. He sank to the ground, complete numbness washing over him. Changelings rained down on him, but he barely noticed. Lucerna, the only thing that would ever be able to comfort him in the dark of night, was dead. The love and light in his life, gone forever.

A sharp pain ripped through Astrum's tired heart, and his eyes snapped shut in agony. The King of the Night's life was ended in a fiery blast of bright green, the world spinning in a seemingly endless torrent of war and hate.