Prologue: Genocide of the Saiyans
Long ago, on a far off planet called Vegeta, there once existed a race known as the Saiyans. The Saiyans were a warrior race, well-known across the universe as one of the most brutal and ferocious beings in existence. It was their strength and brutality that attracted the galactic tyrant, Lord Frieza, who then added the Saiyans to his Planet Trade Organization. The Saiyans, of course, had no problem with this, as they were more than happy to wipe planets of their inhabitants so Frieza could sell it to the highest bidder. But, what many beings did not know, however, were that Saiyans were capable of being ‘nice’, or a ‘good guy’ so to speak. As far as the universe was concerned, the Saiyans were an evil, heartless race, and they weren’t completely wrong. They just hadn’t met a good Saiyan.
Take Paragas, for example. Paragas was one of the few kind-hearted Saiyans in existence, and he was made fun of by the others for it. He never paid mind to his bullies, choosing to focus on his work rather than listen to their foolish ramblings. His job was relatively simple; he was the tactician of King Vegeta, and as such, was responsible for coming up with battle strategies for the King. Of course, the King didn’t always follow Paragas’ plans. Paragas was never discouraged by this; he knew his King well enough to know that he didn’t have to follow every plan to the letter.
Paragas’ job didn’t matter to him today, though. His wife, Kari, had recently died giving birth to fraternal twin boys, and, though saddened by her death, was eager to visit the nursery and see his newborn sons. He entered the room anxiously, unsure of what to expect. Despite never seeing his sons before, he recognized them instantly.
The elder of the two had his wife’s long, spiky hair, as well as her stunning jet-black eyes. The child was leaner than his younger brother, giving him the appearance of a warrior at birth. The younger of the two, however, had the natural baby fat, and appeared to have inherited his grandfather’s hairstyle.
Paragas looked down at his sons and smiled warmly, reaching his arms out toward them. The two Saiyans smiled back, reaching their hands up and squealing with delight. He chuckled, reaching down and scooping his children up into his arms.
“What did Kari name them?” he asked the doctor.
“Daiko and Broly,” the doctor answered.
Paragas smiled brightly. Daiko and Broly. My sons…. I will train you both to be strong warriors for King Vegeta. He held his sons close to him, and they soon fell asleep in his arms. As he watched them sleep, he began to think about their future. He would train Daiko and Broly to work together as a team to take down their opponents. Together, they would become a valuable asset to King Vegeta and his son, Prince Vegeta. Even Lord Frieza would recognize his children's potential, and they would both be promoted to high positions in his army.
As Paragas continued to dream about his children’s future, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the doors opening. He wasn’t the only one who was interrupted, as his sons began bawling their eyes out. Paragas began to rock his children, shushing them softly. As soon as they were calmed, he turned around to see another Saiyan had entered the room.
“Bardock?” he gasped, recognizing the Saiyan. “Is that you?”
Bardock replied by giving a grunt of confirmation. Upon further inspection, Paragas noticed that Bardock appeared to have been through a fight recently, as his armor showed signs of damage, and his head appeared to be bleeding. “Bardock?” asked Paragas. “Do you need help? You don’t appear to be in the best condition… “ Bardock grunted in annoyance as he pushed past him, picking up one of the other children in the nursery.
“I’m fine,” said Bardock coldly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to save my son, Kakarot from uncertain doom.”
“Save your son? Uncertain doom? What are you going on about?”, said Paragas in a worried tone.
Bardock looked Paragas dead in the eye and sighed, saying, “I doubt you’ll believe me, Paragas, but Frieza is on his way, and he’s going to destroy Planet Vegeta.”
Paragas gasped. “Wh- What!? Impossible! We’ve been loyal to Frieza for years! Why would he suddenly destroy us!?”
“I don’t know myself,” said Bardock, shrugging to himself, “But I’m going to make sure my son gets outta here in one piece.”
Suddenly, the two Saiyans heard a loud crash come from the door. The two turned to see the doctor holding a broken scouter and saying, “His power level… It’s ten thousand… I gotta tell the King about this…” The doctor stood up and dashed out of the room.
Paragas looked at Bardock and asked, “Who was he talking about?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think he meant me. He wouldn’t panic like that unless… “, Bardock’s eyes widened. He turned to Paragas and said, “Quick, Paragas! Check your kids power levels!” Though Paragas was confused by the question at first, he hesitantly turned on his scouter. The scouter bleeped to life, indicating a high power level nearby. He first focused the scouter on Broly, and the scouter jumped rapidly, registering a power level of ten thousand, just as the doctor had said.
Panic began to well up inside him, for he knew the King would not let Broly survive when he found out, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he did. He then focused the scouter on Daiko, and to his horror, it jumped higher, stopping at fifteen thousand.
His power level… thought Paragas to himself, It’s insane! The King will kill all three of us when he finds out!
Paragas turned to face Bardock, who was standing there, as if waiting for his response. “Bardock, I have a request to ask of you,” he said solemnly.
Bardock turned to face the Saiyan. “Yeah, what is it?”
“How many space pods are left?”
“Last I looked, there were two.”
Paragas sighed as he held Daiko out to Bardock, saying, “Here. I want you to put Daiko in the other pod. The King will soon learn of Broly’s power, so it’s too late to save him. But the doctor’s scouter broke before he could see Daiko’s power level, so maybe there’s a chance to save him.”
Bardock took the child from him and said, “Don’t worry about it, Paragas. I understand.”
The Saiyan then took off in search of the space pods, while Paragas headed for the throne room. He knew that the life of his child now depended on him, and he wasn’t going to let the king kill him.
But Paragas’ plea would be for nothing. Paragas tried to argue that Broly was only a child and could even grow into an extremely valuable ally for the King's son, Vegeta. King Vegeta, however, pointed out that the child could be just as much an enemy as an ally, and closed the case by blasting Paragas with his Execution Beam. Afterwards, Broly was mortally wounded, and the two Saiyans were left in the wasteland to die. But as the two lay there, Paragas looked up towards the stars and saw two ships leave the planet’s atmosphere. He smiled and whispered, "Thank you, Bardock. Goodbye, Daiko. I love you."
Daiko’s space pod continued to sail through space until it finally landed on a far-away planet, far outside even the Planet Trade’s borders. As soon as the pod crashed into the planet’s surface, Daiko was jolted awake. He immediately began crying out for his father, hoping to be picked up by him and told that everything would be alright. Instead, no one came for him. After a few minutes, Daiko’s cries became sniffles.
Daiko slowly crawled out of the pod, looking at his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was what he was crawling on. He didn’t know what it was, but it was soft and brown. He picked up some of the soft brown stuff and put it in his mouth, thinking it was food. He spat it back out immediately, as it didn’t taste very good.
After spitting up the soft brown stuff, Daiko’s attention was grabbed by the sound of giggling. Looking around, he saw a tall, white being that was standing on four legs. Daiko was fearful of the large creature, until he heard a melodious, angelic voice say, “Come, little one. I won’t hurt you.”
Daiko began slowly crawling his way over to the large, white creature. As he got closer to it, he noticed other things about the creature, such as its hair, which was blue, pink, and green in color. He started crawling to it faster, fascinated by the colors.
Just as Daiko was about to reach the creature, he fell. He grunted as his face hit the ground, and as he lifted his up, he began crying. He suddenly felt himself being lifted up, and was brought close to the creature’s face. The creature began nuzzling him gently, whispering, “Ssh, it’s okay, little one. I’m right here.”
The creature’s words soothed Daiko, and he stopped crying, snuggling close to the creature’s chest. He heard its steady heartbeat, and its rhythm soon lulled Daiko to sleep. As he slept, the creature looked around, noticing the space pod.
“Hmm, you're certainly not from around here, are you?” she said, looking at the child affectionately. “Now, what to name you…” she put a hoof to her mouth before saying, “I know… I’ll name you Astral Comet.”
As the creature continued to stare at the child, she said, “Come along, guards. There is no threat here. We are returning to the castle.”
“Yes, Princess Celestia!” the guards yelled out, causing her to glare at them sharply before they whispered back, “Sorry.”
As soon as Celestia returned to the castle, she walked into her bedroom, where she materialised a cradle for the child, laying him down gently in it. She levitated a blanket to him, wrapping it around his body.
As she watched the child sleep, she smiled warmly. “I wonder, little one, what are you? I would say you are human, but humans don't have tails. I suppose I’ll find out one day, won’t I? Anyway, goodnight, Astral. I love you.”
“Mother?”
…
“Mother?”
…
”Mother!”
Celestia awoke with a start, her eyes quickly scanning the room. She looked over and saw her son, Astral Comet. He was standing next to the bed, dressed in his trademark midnight-blue pants that were held up by a sunset-orange sash. His tail was swishing with excitement, and his long, spiky black hair was tied back in a ponytail.
“What is it, Astral?” she moaned, still in the process of waking up.
“Come on, Mother!” whined Astral. “You said that if I got you out of bed early, than you would help me with my magic lessons! Remember?”
Celestia looked down at Astral. “Yes, yes, I remember. Give Mommy a minute, and then I’ll be down to help, okay?”
“Okay!” Astral said, dashing out of the room.
Celestia slowly crawled out of bed and made her way downstairs. It was too early to be raising the sun; she didn’t need to look at a clock to know that. But it wasn’t the sun that concerned her right now. It was her son that worried her.
It had been hard to deal with at first. When she first learned that her son had less talent with magic than even an average Unicorn, she knew that her work was cut out for her. She had never instructed anypony so untalented in magic. The thought of her son being unable to use magic was unbearable, so she had come up with a solution; to teach him every morning, before the sun rose.
But the solution had started to create problems for the Princess. For one thing, she couldn’t get as much rest as she needed, so she started dozing off during court. This, of course, had only created more problems for her, problems that she didn’t want to think about this early of a morning.
When Celestia arrived in the courtyard, she saw Astral staring up into the sky, a hypnotic look on his face. She looked to see the still-night sky, the full moon casting a soft light across the courtyard.
Her eyes snapped back to Astral when he began to cry out loudly, his screams sounding like a mix of pain and agony. She watched in horror as her son began to grow in size, his clothes ripping apart as he grew. His body grew fur all over, and his eyes turned blood-red as his face contorted and twisted, a large maw, filled with fangs, growing out.
When he was done, Astral had turned into an enormous ape, roaring out in fury. He promptly started to try to smash the castle. But Celestia’s horn lit up, erecting a barrier around the courtyard. Astral began raining blows on the barrier, attempting to break it.
Celestia looked at the sight with fear. I don’t understand! she thought to herself. How did he transform in the first place? She looked up at the sky, trying to figure out why her son had suddenly become a giant, raging ape.
Suddenly, it hit her. That’s it! It must be the moon! I remember reading on creatures that undergo changes in the light of the full moon. Maybe if I lower it… No sooner than the thought entered her mind, she began lowering the moon, and raising the sun.
As the sun came up, Astral roared out, his body beginning to revert to its normal state. When his transformation was complete, he collapsed on the ground, panting hard. Celestia ran to his side, putting new clothes on him with her magic. Once he caught his breath, he looked up at his mother.
“I’m sorry, Mother!” he said, wrapping his arms around her foreleg, sobbing.
Celestia began rubbing Astral’s back with her free hoof. “Ssh, it’s okay, Astral. Are you ok?”
He nodded. “Yeah, i’m fine,” he sniffled, “But when I was like that… The only thing I could think was ‘kill’ and ‘destroy’.”
“Well, you're alright now,” Celestia said softly. “Tell you what. How about we not worry about your magic lesson today? We’ll take a little stroll around Canterlot instead.”
Astral shook his head. “No way! I’m not going to let something like this get me down! Come on, Mother! Let’s do this!”
Astral stood up and looked into his mother’s eyes with fierce determination. Celestia sighed. “Alright,” she said, “Let’s try something simple. I want you to levitate this ball.”
In front of Celestia materialized a bright red ball. Astral nodded, and extended his hand out towards it, his brows furrowed. A dim, sky-blueish glow began to flicker around his hand, as well as the ball. The ball began to slowly levitate into the air. It rose about five inches from the ground, then dropped. Astral collapsed onto the ground, his breath coming out ragged.
“Are you alright?” Celestia asked quickly.
Astral stood up after a minute. “I’m fine,” he called, “I just needed to take a breather.”
The rest of the morning continued on, with Astral succeeding in lifting the ball ten inches off the ground- a new record for him.
“I’m very proud of you today, Astral,” said Celestia, placing a soft kiss on his forehead.
Astral chuckled. “Thanks, Mother,” he said. “Where’s Sunset? Shouldn’t we have seen her by now?”
Celestia’s face changed to a look of concern. “I believe she’s at school right now, Astral. You won’t be able to see her until later.”
“Aww,” whined Astral. “But I wanted to show her how far I got today.”
“I know,” said Celestia. Suddenly, a thought came to her. “I do need to talk to her today about her friendship skills… again. Tell you what, Astral. Meet me and Sunset later today at the crystal mirror, okay?”
Astral looked at his mother with excitement. “Okay, Mother!” he shouted. He began running out of the courtyard, then stopped and turned around. “Is it okay if I go play with Cadance and Shining until then?”
Celestia chuckled. “Of course it is. Have fun, Astral. But don’t get too rough, okay?”
“I won’t!” Astral called. “See you later!”
As he dashed out of the courtyard, Celestia gave a huge sigh. “Now comes the worst part of the day… court duties.”
As Astral made his way outside the castle, he was suddenly stopped by a young colt about his age, and he sighed as he recognised who it was. Prince Blueblood.
“What do you want, Blueblood?” asked Astral in frustration.
Blueblood huffed at him indignantly. “What I want,” he said, “is for you to start addressing me as ‘Prince Blueblood’, as you should be. After all, I was born into royalty. Can you say the same for yourself, Prince Astral?”
Astral stood there in shock. His head fell, knowing that Blueblood was right. He couldn’t say that he was related to his mother in the slightest. He knew he was adopted; it wasn’t something that was kept a secret. But for Blueblood to have the nerve to remind him of the fact set something inside him on fire.
The next thing Blueblood knew, he was laid out on the marble floor, unconscious and bleeding from his nose. As Astral walked out of the castle, he muttered, “You're lucky that I don’t do more to you. You deserve far worse than that.”
Astral began wandering the castle grounds, looking for Cadance. He began calling for her, but no one answered. “Maybe she’s not here today,” Astral said, shrugging. He walked back into the castle, where he met with two guards.
“Hey, guys,” greeted Astral, “Would either of you know where I can find the crystal mirror?”
One of the guards pointed with their staff down a hallway.
“Thanks!” said Astral, beginning to make his way to the hall. One of the guards stopped him.
“Did you knock out Prince Blueblood, Prince Astral?” the guard asked.
“Yeah,” said Astral, “What of it?”
“Nothing,” said the guard, raising his spear. “Carry on.”
Astral ran down the hall, smirking to himself. Heh, I saw the looks on their faces. Seems like they like Blueblood about as much as I do!
Sunset Shimmer was feeling pretty good about herself today. She had single-handedly passed her mid-terms without a hitch, which was no surprise, considering that she was Princess Celestia’s personal student. When Celestia called for her, she thought that she would receive even more praise from her teacher.
But that wouldn’t be the case.
As the two began trotting down a long hallway, Celestia addressed her student. “Sunset Shimmer,” she began, “I have heard that you’re not getting along well with the other students- We’ve talked about the fact that personal relationships…”
Sunset scoffed. “Personal relationships? Who needs anypony? The most important thing in life is to be the best.”
Celestia sighed. “We’ve talked about friendship and its importance before,” she said, “And we’ve discussed that you need to start opening yourself up to new friends. And remember that talk we had about humility?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. ”I remember how boring it was.”
The two passed through a set of large double doors. Inside was a large room that held a tall, crystal mirror. Sunset also noticed that Astral was in the room as well.
“What’s he doing in here?” asked Sunset in a condescending tone.
“That will come later,” Celestia said. “Now, look into this mirror and tell me what you see.”
“A beautiful pony that has nothing but power and potential,” Sunset said, admiring her reflection.
Celestia sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. “Care to try that again with our talk about humility taken into account?” she asked.
Sunset gazed into the mirror. “I see a pony who isn’t powerful enough. Somepony who could be great, powerful…” The mirror reflected back to her an image of herself as an Alicorn. “Somepony that could rule Equestria.”
“Hmm, interesting,” muttered Celestia. She than spoke up, “How about you, Astral? What do you see?”
Astral stepped up to the crystal mirror. “I see… Somepony who has potential, but could never reach it on their own.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow at her son. “Oh?”
Astral continued. “I see somepony who could rule Equestria, but they wouldn’t be able to do it alone. They would have friends by their side to help them along the way. That’s what I see, Mother.”
Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Astral. Now, Sunset,” she said, turning her attention to her student, “This will be the next part of your training. I want you to help educate and teach Astral how to use magic.”
Sunset’s pupils shrank. “What?! But, Celestia, why me?!”
“Because, unfortunately, Astral seems to be having trouble learning magic, and with my duties, I’m afraid I just don’t have the time or patience to help him. That is why I’m entrusting you with teaching him magic.”
“This is so unfair!” cryed Sunset.
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Furthermore,” she continued, “I am also sending you away from Canterlot. You and Astral shall be staying in the Everfree Forest.”
“Could this get any worse?” whined Sunset.
“Never say that!” said Astral. “It could always get worse!”
“I don’t see how,” said Sunset.
“Oh, you’ll see,” said Celestia, “Soon enough.”
