"She didn't look like this before," thought Celestia, staring intently at the unconscious pony she was straddling, horn pointed directly at her neck and glowing.

Below her laid a completely different, yet still recognisable, pony from the one she knew as Astral Blossom. For one, her coat, hair, and eyes were different colors from their original silver-and-white scheme. Her mane and tail were now a very dark pink, her coat a light rose pink, and her eyes a vibrant, almost luminous vermillion. The only remaining details that assured Celestia of the pony's identity were her voice and her Cutie Mark.

Second, she was an Alicorn. When Celestia had last seen her friend and former student, she had only been a Unicorn. An exceptionally gifted Unicorn, but just that. A Unicorn. As it stood now, Celestia was easily the taller of the two hoof-to-horntip, but Astral's horn was equally, if not longer, than Celestia's horn.

"It certainly fielded the power to back up it's length, some of those spells she used hit pretty hard." She'd blocked quite a few near hits from the pale-blood, and the more powerful, tightly concentrated ones had forced her back a step, or thrown her balance off briefly. Celestia knew she wasn't the most powerful being, and she knew she wouldn't have won the way she did without help. Despite it being two versus one, Astral had been going for the kill, while the two of them had only been attempting to subdue her. Alone, Celestia's goal likely wouldn't have been reached without significant injury or complete failure of her objective.

"I'm glad Twilight insisted on accompanying me. Astral was far more powerful than the last time I taught her war magic, even for an Alicorn," Celestia felt a frown grow at her next thought, "and more skilled, too."

So, holding down the incapacitated Alicorn in case she awoke from her violence-induced slumber, Celestia waited for the Princess of Friendship to begin working her magic at unwinding, or at least weakening, what both Princesses had discovered was a geas placed on Astral.

"Twilight, you are certain," panted Celestia, still holding her horn ready at Astral's neck, "that you can do this?"

Even though they had come to save Astral after Twilight had pried the story out of Celestia, they could not afford another confrontation. Twilight, for all her power, didn't have the experience to combat an obviously well-trained warmage using foreign techniques, and Celestia had nowhere near enough reserves left to keep Astral occupied while Twilight played support and looked for an opening in Astral's assault to exploit safely.

If they had to beat a retreat, Celestia wanted to have started three minutes ago, despite her own deep-seated desires to remain and rescue her friend.

"Yes, Princess, I'm certain. Give me fifteen minutes and I'll have her lucid enough to at least resist the geas." said Twilight with a wary, but determined look in her eyes.

Under many other circumstances, Celestia would have been proud of her student's ardor towards helping somepony. This was not one of those circumstances.

"Twilight," said Celestia, a twinge of uncertainty creeping in to her voice now. "I do not have the strength to battle her a second time, so I must ask again. Are. You. Certain?" Normally, she wouldn't have questioned Twilight's capabilities, but Astral's case was anything but normal.

This time, Twilight paused, her eyes turning pensive. She was obviously running through the calculations in her head. Could she do it?

Many factors contributed to the length of time it took for a geas to be unwound, such as the duration its target had been ensnared, the skill of both the planter and unwinder, and the overall complexity of the geas.

Despite the fact her former student had been under the geas for nearly 700 years, Twilight gave a resolute nod. "Fifteen minutes, and I'll have it done enough for her to not kill us."

Sighing, Celestia nodded once and resigned herself to waiting and going over all of her potential questions while her faithful student unwound the accursed geas.

"What shall I ask? Well, most important, I suppose, would be who put the geas on her? It would be unlikely she'd know, but it's worth an attempt. Secondly, does she remember me? Did the geas damage her mind?" Celestia's mood plummeted. That was a bitter thought, that her close friend and former student could be permanently affected by such an evil and insidious curse.

"No, I must not think that way. Remain positive! She will be fine, I'm sure." Not feeling much better despite her own self-assurances, she forged on. "Third, how in Tartarus did she become an alicorn?" Celestia knew Astral was a pale-blood, she'd known since taking her in, but she hadn't expected her to ascend.

Astral's cutie-mark was a splotch, much like Luna's, of slightly red-tinted silver underneath of what appeared to be some form of flowering tree blossom, blood red at the tips and a soft rose pink, much like her coat but slightly redder, from the center to the tips, the very center being a red wine red. The coloration on the tips formed a chevron along the tip edges. Surrounding the blossom were numerous white four-pointed stars.

Astral had described the stars as representing the heavens, the blossom as a representation of blossoming magic, and the silver splotch as a simple reminder of her lineage.

The last time Celestia had seen her, she had merely been conducting research on her lineage's past, nothing so grand as to facilitate ascension. Ascension required a few parameters be met, such as the purpose of a ponies' special talent being met to the greatest of its capabilities, or a massive wave of magical energy fueling the transformation. Most likely both, as the former tended to follow the latter, in Celestia's experience.

When Astral had left, she'd technically been under Celestia's personal tutelage, despite having advanced past needing a tutor long before her disappearance. As her teacher, Celestia had trusted Astral with a great wealth of knowledge, and was one of the few ponies in Celestia's waking memory she'd granted unrestricted access to the section in her library dedicated to the Dark Arts, not even Twilight had been granted that. Had Astral found a text on Alicorn Ascension that she hadn't known about, Celestia had no doubt Astral would have told her, let alone done something so brash as to leave and attempt it alone.

But Astral, like Sunset, had left quickly and quietly, leaving behind almost no trace as to where she went. However, unlike Sunset, she had also left a note. It was simple, saying that there was a personal matter she would see to, then return. She had said that it shouldn't take more than two weeks. A fortnight.

That fortnight had turned into 700 years.

After the alloted time had passed plus a few days, Celestia had started to feel bad, very bad, like something had happened to Astral. She'd assembled scouts, fliers, search and rescue to try and locate her former student, but all her attempts had failed. Even scrutinizing Astral's leftover papers and notes yielded no quarry. The pony had simply seemed to vanish from the physical world altogether, without a single lead to guide Celestia to her.

She'd grieved at Astral's loss, though not as intensely as she had with her sister. It had still hurt, though. She'd felt like she'd failed again, that she should have seen what was going to happen so she could stop it. It was like going through Nightmare Moon all over again, but without any closure, any purpose to her loss.

Then Twilight had pried the story from her, and found a book which referenced an ancient city "made by blood" and referencing pale-blood in Luna's private collection, and for the first time in 700 years, Celestia had felt hope. Perhaps her old friend could be found, and perhaps she was still alive? Maybe she'd come with them, from wherever she was?

Now, with Astral lying beneath her hooves and Twilight working beside her, Celestia felt one of the greatest surges of excitement she'd felt since her sister's cleansing. If this worked, there was a chance she'd get one of her closest friends and someone she'd never thought she'd see again back!

"But that's still an if, Celestia. Don't get your hopes up yet; you may have to leave her and come back later," Celestia quickly reminded herself. Excitement for the future could wait, first she had a pony to save.

Author's Note

An insanely exposition heavy first chapter. I feel like I'm drowning. Help.

Future chapters won't have nearly as much exposition as this one, we just need to get the initial world building phase of our AU out of the way.

As always, if anyone has any questions about the lore of this AU, feel free to ask. Also, don't forget to leave a comment if you enjoyed the story or PM me if you have any criticism I can build on.

Edit (7/8/19 - D/M/YY): Changed description of Astral's hair from "deep, rich magenta" to "very dark pink". For anyone interested, the hex code for the hair color I chose is #841734.