Author's Note

Warning: this is where the story starts to earn it's Mature rating. The first paragraph contains a character (spoiler, it's Luna) being eaten alive while unable to do anything about it, so if you don't feel like reading that, I advise you skip to the second paragraph.

(Edited on 9-10-2021)

Act 1: Chapter 7: Developments (edited)

3 Sap Moon 1008

The door of the cage was pushed open with a single nudge from her hoof. Nightmare Moon stepped inside the cage and looked down mockingly at the imprisoned alicorn.

Separating Luna from Nightmare had been a piece of cake after the bombing: new bodies were simple to create for someone as powerful as Nightmare Moon. Luna was now a shadow of her former self, but she still managed to glare up hatefully at Nightmare.

Nightmare gave a fanged, mocking grin back. ‘’Still spiteful?’’

Not that she had expected anything different. For all that Nightmare looked down on Luna, she had to respect her spirit.

‘’Go to Tartarus,’’ Luna spat.

‘’Hmph,’’ Nightmare huffed. ‘’Very well then.’’

She considered. When Nightmare had informed Luna about how Cadence and Shining had died, the alicorn had raged at her for days. But now, that anger had dissipated into a simmer, just waiting to be released again.

Not that she could do much. Nightmare had siphoned off much of Luna’s magic and her cell was surrounded by loyal guards willing to gun her down without a thought.

But that wouldn’t be necessary. Before Luna could react, Nightmare sent a blast of shadow from her horn that knocked her out cold.

‘’Carry her,’’ Nightmare commanded two of her guards, who had waited outside the room. The thestrals quickly got into the room and laid Luna upon both their backs, then followed after her.

Nightmare strode through the halls of Canterlot Castle. Whoever happened to be on her path quickly stepped aside, bowing deeply for her. Nightmare basked in their reverence and fear. It is good to be Empress.

The doors to the plaza flung open. The new flag of the Lunar Empire blew next to that of the Changeling Lands, and the Lunar Guard patrolled together with the Queen's Guard. And standing in the centre of the plaza was the only mare Nightmare cared about besides herself.

‘’Hello love,’’ Chrysalis purred. Her oily mane flowed freely down her neck, and the armour she wore only served to draw attention to her beautiful body. In the light of her moon, she looked even more beautiful than normal. Though if Nightmare had her way, the light of the moon would become normal soon enough.

Nightmare drew close to her and met her eyes. ‘’Greetings,’’ she purred back.

Chrysalis’ eyes darted away from Nightmare’s after a moment, looking behind her. ‘’Finally then,’’ she declared. ‘’I have been waiting for this day.’’

‘’So I have,’’ Nightmare said, before stepping aside. ‘’You know what to do.’’

‘’That I do.’’ And Chrysalis strode forward. The two thestrals unceremoniously threw Luna off their backs, and Chrysalis loomed over her.

Nightmare was the only one to remain in the plaza itself, the other beings present retreated to the edges or inside.

Chrysalis chuckled, then pounced on Luna.

Nightmare watched, entranced, as Chrysalis tore off Luna’s ear and swallowed it in one bite. Luna stirred, but did not wake up. She couldn’t. But Nightmare had made sure she could feel everything that was happening to her.

Chrysalis bit off Luna’s other ear, then broke her horn off and licked the spilling magic and blood up with her tongue. Nightmare knew from experience Chrysalis’ tongue was very smooth and slick. No doubt Luna did not see it that way though.

Chrysalis moved past Luna’s head, planting a trail of quick bites down her throat and on her side before taking a lunge at Luna’s cutie mark. Luna softly groaned in pain as Chrysalis tore away the moon on her flank.

When she is finished, she will be even more beautiful, Nightmare thought as she continued to watch her lover literally tear Luna to shreds. With her other senses, she watched the changelings and thestrals that stood at the edge of the plaza, watching in silence. Not one of them appeared to be unnerved or affected in any other way by the sight before them.

Good. Our troops ought to be loyal to the death.

Nightmare, on a whim, changed the spell keeping Luna in check, allowing her to scream.

The result was music to her ears; the dying sounds of the person she hated most of all in this world.

Truly, who wouldn’t be pleased by such a thing?

|-x-X-x-|

3 Sap Moon 1008

Time to face the music.

Star stood in front of the New Mareland Ministry of Defense. Jet Set’s letter had explained that the Magical Advisory Council met once a week in a room in it’s own section of the Ministry of Defence.

In Sunset. Some two-hundred-and-fifty kilometers away from Sunville.

When he had left in the morning, Flurry had been close to crying, begging him not to leave. He and Emerald had spent fifteen minutes calming her down. It had been hard for Star too, and even now he was still thinking back to Flurry.

Star shook himself. Focus now, worry later.

He walked through the doors into the reception area. After a moment of looking and determining that no one was waiting on him specifically, he made his way to the reception instead.

Before he could address the mare sitting behind the desk, he heard a voice behind him. ‘’Professor!’’

Would you look at that.

Star turned around to see a pale yellow mare, wearing a black sweater with her red and purple hair done up in a bun walking towards him.

‘’Moondancer,’’ he greeted with a smile. ‘’I had forgotten you’d moved here.’’

‘’I didn’t know you had come here as well until the president told me,’’ Moondancer replied as she came to a halt in front of him. ‘’I’m part of the Magical Advisory Council as well,’’ she continued with a smile. ‘’Come with me, I’ll show you the way.’’

Well, he wasn’t about to refuse that offer. ‘’Lead the way then.’’

Star followed behind Moondancer past the security checkpoint - which Moondancer had passed with a simple showing of a card - and through the corridors of the building, past many offices filled with working ponies.

‘’We’re ecstatic to work with you, professor,’’ Moondancer said, and Star could hear she meant it.

‘’Please, call me Star,’’ he offered. ‘’I am no longer your professor. And I look forward to working with you as well.’’

‘’Of course, proff-Star. I know I can’t wait, and I’m sure the others can’t as well,’’ Moondancer gushed.

Alright, so she was laying it on a little thick. Then again, Star knew she meant it. Moondancer had always been a bit starry-eyed when it came to professors or authority in general. That evidently hadn’t changed between her graduation from CSGU and now.

‘’We’re here!’’ Moondancer announced, stopping in front of a set of double doors. A sign was placed above them, reading ‘Department of Magic’.

‘’I was under the impression,’’ Star said dryly, ‘’that New Mareland maintained the same system as Equestria and kept magic as an incorporated thing rather than a special department?’’

Moondancer blushed for a moment, as if she was responsible for that. ‘’I-I don’t know, Star. I think they made it a separate thing after the Cockatrice War? But I could be wrong about that.’’

‘’Calm, Moondancer. This isn’t a test,’’ Star lightly reminded her. ‘’It’s not important anyway. Why don’t we go inside and you can show me where I’ll be working.’’

‘’Y-yes, of course.’’ Moondancer opened the doors with a touch of telekinesis. Her fine control can use some work. It’s obvious she’s used to handling larger objects, like books.

Star stepped past her and found himself in a long hallway. Unlike the ones that had come before, this hallway was devoid of other life, and the offices were unoccupied. How interesting.

Star would have to consider what his funding was. While he had access to most of his accounts and his mansion was self-sufficient in everything except food, that didn’t mean he wanted to just throw money away when other solutions were available.

Or perhaps there was just no paperwork to be done. But Star sincerely doubted that.

‘’The meeting room is down the hall.’’ Moondancer once again took the lead, walking down the hallway while Star followed behind her.

I suppose I could ask about the other members of the council. But I’ll meet them in a few seconds anyway, so there’s little use.

‘’And we’re there.’’

The door was quite unassuming, looking no different from the other dozen or so doors in the hallway. Star would have walked past it without a second thought.

‘’You can go first,’’ he offered.

Moondancer nodded, and so Star opened the door with his telekinesis - taking care to exercise more control than usual - and stepped aside to allow Moondancer in. Then he entered himself.

My word. Not what I expected.

Diversity of the three pony tribes, he’d expected. Griffons or thestrals, because those were significant minorities here in New Mareland, he’d hoped for.

A griffon, a thestral, two unicorns including Moondancer, a zebra, an earth pony and a pegasus?

‘’Good morning,’’ Star greeted the room. ‘’I am Star Tower Spellweaver, archmage and former Royal Magician of Canterlot.’’

‘’Sir,’’ rippled through the room. Everyone was looking at him with a mix of fear, respect and curiosity in their eyes.

Well. He’d expected them to know who he was and that they would show the appropriate deference; he hadn’t expected such a reaction. Not that he disapproved.

The seat at the head of the table was empty. With no other empty seats in sight - Moondancer had sat down in what was evidently her own seat, between the other unicorn and the zebra - Star made for the empty chair and sat down in it. It was a comfortable chair, but it probably hadn’t been designed for that.

Or perhaps it was. Meetings can take long, after all.

‘’Well,’’ Star began after a moment of silence, because no one was making any moves to speak up themselves, ‘’please introduce yourselves to me, and then we can get started.’’

The griffon - brown feathers, green eyes and a short grey mustache, though he was only in his early twenties - at the right end of the table cleared his throat. ‘’I am Guido Laviano, signor. My expertise is griffon magics, especially enchantments.’’

‘’Pleasure,’’ Star said, and resigned himself to saying that some more before this was over.

The pegasus - light grey on white, with intriguing eyes of violet - was next. ‘’I am Starfeather, archmage. I graduated top of my class at the Stratus Springs Academy for Pegasi.’’

Star had heard of that place. Stratus Springs wasn’t a cloud city, but it was New Mareland’s closest equivalent, with the largest cloud district on Griffonia and an academy for pegasi magic that was almost as distinguished as Cloudsdale’s or Fillydelphia’s. ‘’Pleasure.’’

The thestral next to Starfeather was almost an inversion of her neighbour’s colours: grey on charcoal black, with eyes that were deep blue like the sea. ‘’Ayalir is my name, sir. I wrote a thesis on thestral magic that was published in scientific journals across the nation.’’

‘’And in Equestria,’’ Star chimed in, now recognizing the mare from a picture included with the publication. ‘’You wrote a most interesting thesis.’’

Is that wise to say?

He decided to keep the knowledge that Luna had complimented the piece for its accuracy to himself for now.

Ayalir bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement. ‘’Thank you, sir.’’

Star gave her a nod back. The final person on this side of the table was the earth pony. He had a short mane of green and gold, and a coat of brown that matched his red eyes, and appeared to be the youngest of the group. ‘’Sir, my name is Dirt Catcher. I created a rune that can bypass most silence wards.’’

‘’Now why haven’t I heard of this?’’ Star asked no-one in particular. ‘’I would think such an invention would be news.’’

‘’It is not yet public, sir,’’ Dirt Catcher quickly explained. ‘’I presented my work to my teacher, and he told me to keep it a secret. A few days later I was visited by a representative from the Minister of Defence, and, well… here we are.’’ He chuckled nervously.

‘’If it’s possible, I’d like to see your rune in action,’’ Star requested. Of course a spell virtually every private meeting between mages requires can be circumvented by a rune.

‘’Of course, sir,’’ Dirt Catcher agreed easily.

‘’Excellent,’’ Star declared, before moving onto the most intriguing curiosity of the meeting: the zebra mare sitting on his left.

‘’Archmage,’’ she acknowledged his unasked question with a nod. ‘’My name is Nilinti. I am an expert in alchemy, taught in Tobuck.’’

That answered none of the questions he had about how she had come here, but that could wait.

‘’Pleasure.’’ Star passed over Moondancer with a nod and a smile, moving on to the final member of the council: the other unicorn. She had a lime green coat and an orange and sky blue mane, with brown eyes.

‘’Greetings, archmage,’’ she said. ‘’It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Gem Jewel. Unimaginative, I know.’’

Well, I can always appreciate someone with a sense of humor.

‘’Oh, and I graduated at the Sunset College of Healers.’’

‘’You’re a healer?’’ Star asked for clarification.

‘’That I am,’’ Gem affirmed. ‘’Mastery in it. I work at the Princess Celestia Hospital as a specialist.’’

‘’Admirable work,’’ Star remarked, before letting his eyes roam through the room. ‘’Ladies, gentlegriff, I’m afraid the president was not very descriptive in one thing: our current task. Do we have any matters to attend?’’

‘’The Magical Advisory Council is relatively new, signor; we’ve only known each other for two weeks,’’ Guido spoke up. ‘’So far, we have yet to receive a task; or anything else from the government, for that matter.’’

‘’Brilliant,’’ Star sighed. ‘’Well then, the president told me he didn’t care for what I did as long as I did my job. I’m sure the privilege extends to you as well, so if there is nothing to do, we might as well discuss topics that interest us all.’’

‘’Such as?’’ Ayalir asked.

Smiling, Star leaned forward. ‘’To start, do any of you have any experiments running, or research you want to talk about?’’

Gathering information while also making connections. At least this day won’t be a waste.

|-x-X-x-|

3 Sap Moon 1008

Flurry was laying on the couch, looking outside despondently. Lily, Berry and Magic had come by earlier, but Flurry hadn’t been happy to play with them. She missed her daddy too much to be distracted by playing, and the three other foals had left after an hour, when it became clear they couldn’t cheer her up.

Mom had tried her best to distract her with games and books, but no matter what she tried, Flurry’s mind kept on focusing on her adoptive father.

Please be alright, daddy. I don’t want to lose you too, she prayed.

‘’Flurry?’’

What did Mom want now?

‘’Yes, mommy?’’

Mom appeared in her sight, smiling softly. ‘’Do you want to go outside?’’

Flurry looked outside. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was blue with a few white clouds. ‘’Sure,’’ she said after a moment.

Flurry slid off the couch and landed on her hooves, then followed after Mom as the mare walked into the garden. ‘’Let’s go to the observatory,’’ she suggested.

Isn’t the observatory the place to look at the stars at night?

Indeed it was, Flurry found out when they arrived. The observatory was built into a large tree, with a large telescope sticking out through the leaves and branches, while the floor was covered in a carpet that showed the stars. The bark of the tree had little alcoves carven into it, where books and instruments Flurry didn’t know the meaning of.

Flurry sat down on her haunches. The carpet was very soft, and as Mom sat down next to her, Flurry leaned into her side.

Mom looked down at her with a smile. ‘’Like it?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ Flurry softly replied.

‘’It’s probably better at night,’’ Mom continued. ‘’Shall we go here tonight as well?’’

‘’Okay,’’ Flurry agreed, before snuggling up further against Mom’s side. ‘’I’m sorry for being sad, mommy.’’

‘’Don’t ever be sorry for that, Flurry,’’ Mom immediately said in a tone that wasn’t angry, but also wasn’t cheerful. ‘’You don’t control the way you feel, and it’s perfectly alright to feel sad when your father isn’t there.’’

Flurry buried herself in Mom‘s side. ‘’Thanks, mommy. I love you.’’

‘’I love you too, Flurry.’’ And Mom nuzzled her head. Flurry turned her face up and nuzzled Mom back, while drawing one of her wings around Mom‘s back in a hug.

Hoofsteps behind them.

‘’Hello again,’’ her father’s voice said.

‘’Daddy!’’ Flurry jumped up and burst towards him, wrapping around his neck in a powerful hug. ‘’You’re back!’’

‘’That I am,’’ Dad replied as he nuzzled her face. ‘’I wasn’t gone for so long, was I?’’

That, Flurry would admit, was true. But it’d felt like a century. So instead of replying, she just held onto him, even as he sat down on the ground.

‘’So why come here?’’ Dad asked.

‘’I wanted to show it to Flurry,’’ Mom answered. ‘’I like it here.’’

Dad hummed. ‘’It isn’t night though.’’

‘’Does it matter?’’ Mom asked, and she sounded amused.

Dad chuckled. ‘’I guess not.’’

Flurry finally let go of Dad’s neck, but she still remained pressed up against him. ‘’What did you do, daddy?’’ she asked him after a moment of silence.

‘’Well, I met with the other members of the council,’’ Dad explained to her, ‘’and we had a grand old time. They’re all smart, eager young people, and I am the old wizard charged with keeping a leash on them all.’’

‘’Surely it’s not so bad,’’ Mom remarked.

‘’It isn’t,’’ Dad confirmed. ‘’They are all smart though. It’ll be a pleasure to work with them.’’

Flurry nodded, then hesitated. Should I? ‘’When are you leaving again?’’

‘’Not for the next few days,’’ Dad replied. ‘’We’ve scheduled our meetings to be at the same time, on this day, once a week. Other than that and some incidental matters, I’ll be here full-time.’’

‘’That’s good.’’ I can’t be without you, daddy, or you, mommy.

Her father must have seen her emotions, because he wrapped a foreleg around her and ran it over her wing. ‘’I’m sorry I have to leave, sweetheart,’’ he said softly.

‘’It’s okay.’’ She leaned into the hug. ‘’I love you, daddy.’’

‘’I love you too, sweetheart,’’ Dad replied.

Flurry relished in the peace and comfort which followed that statement. She could hear the birds sing outside, the leaves of trees rustling in the wind, Mom and Dad’s quiet breaths. It’s not like with mommy and daddy in the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Palace was never silent, even late at night when Flurry couldn’t sleep and stared up at the ceiling of her room.

In the Palace, her parents had always been close by. Sometimes one of them left for a short time, but they were always back quickly.

‘’Daddy,’’ she asked, turning her head up to look at his face, ‘’am I still a princess?’’

For a moment, Dad’s face was thoughtful, then he smiled and answered, ‘’Of course you are, Flurry. But… it’s complicated.’’

‘’Can you explain it to me?’’

Dad’s smile dimmed. ‘’I’ll try.’’ He shifted slightly. ‘’Okay, so you are still a princess. The Crown Princess of the Crystal Empire, to be precise. But, we are not in the Crystal Empire and probably won’t be for a very long time. And in New Mareland, your title means little.’’ He tilted his head. ‘’Do you still follow?’’

Not fully, but I think I get it. Instead of saying that though, Flurry just nodded.

‘’Great,’’ Dad said. ‘’Because we adopted you, it gets a little complicated. You see, I am not a prince, and neither is Mom a princess. Or well, we weren’t. It’s an interesting bit of legalese, but your… mother actually included an elevation of status for both of us along with your adoption papers.’’

‘’So you’re both princes now?’’ Flurry asked for clarification.

‘’Yes,’’ Mom affirmed, ‘’we are. Though as Dad said, it doesn’t mean a lot here.’’

‘’Most people who don’t know you all that well will probably address you as princess,’’ Dad interjected. ‘’I’m afraid they won’t do the same for us. Not that it matters.’’ The last part was said with a glance at Mom.

‘’Okay,’’ Flurry said after a moment of processing it all. ‘’Thank you for telling me, daddy.’’ And she gave him a hug.

A hug, which he eagerly returned. ‘’Anytime, sweetheart.’’ And he pressed a kiss to her forehead.