Author's Note

hi! my names fable, and this is my first story of this size. i do hope to make a sequel to this. theres gonna be alot of art made for this project by me, so if you want you can go to my instagram @fablebitme

please enjoy, and if you have any ideas/criticism feel free to lmk in the comments :D

this is an aged up version of celly. i cant draw fillies yet bc i havent figured out their proportions, so this is good enough methinks. i posted it on ig so if u cant see it js go there

1 - Tragedy And Hope

It was all gone.

Celestia wondered what she did to deserve such an ugly fate. Blood not her own coated the ground around her, the black. Charred corpse of her lay in front of her. Celestia's baby pink mane obscured her face, but the sound of sobbing that came from her was undeniable.

Entropy, the killer of immortals. This force, brought into being by her own mother, was something she didn’t understand. It afflicted her dying parent for years, slowly eating at her. Her mother created their world, so why, HOW was she dead? there was debris of her ruined castle all around her, all sorts of strange red flames licked at the remains of her home in the crater its foundation used to be. She, along with her father and..

a low, sad crying shook Celestia out of her memories. She coughed and wiped her tears, slowly rising to her hooves. She looked back at the carriage which carried the supplies her father had left them before he’d gone ahead. He was in the castle during the blast, telling celestia to stay put and away from it. The young white filly had huffed and puffed, pulling the ‘i’m old enough’ card. Still, her father had spread his majestic wings and… the filly shook her head and looked down at the now orphaned cornflower blue foal. A small nub for a horn, and 2 tiny wings on its currently covered back. She was so young, wrapped in a fine purple silk. She cooed and shushed the foal shakily, putting her back to bed.

Celestia and her father had questioned the sickly mother when shed given them their mission off to the nearby country of minos, asking why shed asked them to take a foal so young. Her mother, mad and faded with age, had screamed at them to not question her and to just “do as asked”, and then “my moonlight will guide your path, follow it until you reach the twilight”. Celestia had been confused and scared of her mother in her final days, her coat had turned from a beautiful lilac purple to black so deep it made the shadows look pale in comparison. She was the perfect picture of a mare on her death-bed.

Still, she was still She Who Created All, so everything she did must've had a purpose. There had to be a reason, she wouldn’t die for no reason by a force SHE created, right?

A chill ran down celestia's spine from the cold wind blowing through the open crater. She looked up at the stars and stationary moon, realizing what it meant now that her mother was gone. With a resigned sigh, she put her sleeping baby sister back into the carriage and tightened the wooden harness around her barrel, making sure to avoid damaging her feathery wings. She began walking away from the crater. Celestia was strong for a filly her age, having gained her mark by raising the sun with the help of her mother a few winters ago. She had taken the young foal up above the clouds, and had shown her how to control the celestial spheres.

There was a celestial mechanism set in place, to make sure the sun and moon were never tampered with. All celestia had to do was guide her magic up to the sky, find the sun, and coax it above the horizon, and the rest was simply done automatically until it was time to lower it below the horizon once more. Of course, it was extremely simplified for her young foal mind as the mechanism was extremely intricate and complex, invisible runes and wheels ran through the sky connecting everything together seamlessly. Even the stars had a place in the mechanism. Her mother had been sickly, even then. But she was still coherent and.. Sane. It was the last time shed seen her parent leave the castle, ever since then she was practically bed-ridden.

Celestia realized with dawning horror that the mechanism was probably broken now. Her mothers corrupted magic had been using it to raise and lower the sun and moon for nearly a decade now, so celestia herself wouldn’t be able to use it anymore. The filly stopped breathing and looked up, using her magical sight to make certain- and sure enough, the celestial mechanism was nearly destroyed. Runes and intricate details had been shattered, with only the outline husk still barely holding together. She almost screamed in sadness and frustration. She stomped her tiny hooves on the stony ground and silently cursed everything, making sure not to wake her sister. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, deciding it was a problem for later. Right now, she had bigger problems to deal with- like where she was supposed to go.

She focused, trying to discern anything her cryptic mother had left for her. She always was one to leave mysteries for the filly, testing her time and time. And yet, celestia was so upset at the moment she didn’t even want to think. She looked back up at the stars, and then her eyes settled on the moon. Wait, that’s right! something her mother said about following the moon until she reached the twilight. At the time, shed assumed it was some sort of strange blessing shed never heard of, or some secret code for her diplomatic mission to minos- but both proved to be incorrect. She gave a sigh of relief and changed paths to the direction of the moon. It’d be a while before anything bad happened because of the extended stationary moon. The earth would keep itself alive with its innate reserves of magic, so it could last for several weeks before.. No, celestia decided to shut down that line of thinking. She grunted and hoisted herself upright.

With a flick of her magic, she did an inventory count while walking, checking to see how much food and water was left. She sighed, it definitely wasn’t good. While she wouldn’t need to eat for several more hours and could potentially ration, her baby sister wasn’t so resilient. The filly would cry and whine endlessly, and in this new dangerous world such a luxury couldn’t be afforded. Celestia managed her way out of the crater, finally making it out into the outskirts of the ruined city and castle, before having to stop for a second. A rumble shook the ground below her, low tremors escalated to quakes that shook the earth below her. A great ivory crystal tree emerged from the direction of her mothers body.

Celestia didn’t have the time or strength to give her mother a proper burial, opting to decide to do it later when she secured the safety of herself and her sister. Miniature trees of many colors, shapes, and sizes sprouted around the large crystal tree, obscuring its grandiose form and, as celestia realizes, was expanding in all directions. Rapidly. The young filly spread her wings and began to run. Shed tried to take off into the air, but the carriage was too heavy to be carried, even by her strong yet small alicorn body. She was never a good flier, and had never been able to manage more than a glide due to her fear of heights. She used bursts of golden magic to lift herself up into the night sky to no avail. She heaved from the effort and frustration, deciding that a run-glide would have to do.

With bursts of magic, she ran from the encroaching forest, trying her best to follow the moons guiding light into the safety of the air above the trees. Her wings straight, magic buckled, and body ached but she was just nearly there. With a final thrust, she used all her strength to give herself the final boost necessary to reach above the treeline, sighing in relief and elation from being saved from the large randomized flora that sprang below her within seconds. As soon as it was safe, celestia's wings gave out and roughly landed in a small clearing. She hadn't realized it, but shed run so far she made it the bottom of canterhorn mountain. She was near an empty cave, and so decided it’d be good enough. The filly readjusted the too-tight harness around her barrel and made sure luna was still asleep. How she hadn't awoken from the ruckus was beyond celestia, but she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The soft thumping of her hooves against the gravel and grass laden earth resounded across the miniature clearing and she entered the cave. Seeing as it was only a tiny area with no deeper entrances, she made sure to park her carriage in the far end of the cave.

Celestia peered over the top of the carriage, looking down at her sister sleeping form. She levitated the sleeping form over her back slowly, and cleared the carriage of its luggage. Thankfully, celestia's father had brought with them an old magic book for camping. How to set up protection wards, make a cot, purify water, everything necessary and then some. Using the sleeping bags and blankets shed packed for the long trip to minos, she made a tiny cot that was just barely big enough for her and her sister. Before shed allow sleep and exhaustion to claim her, however, she deposited her sister in the carriage and went back outside the cave. She took a moment to observe the new forest that suddenly sprung up, questions ringing through the white alicorns mind. She cleared her head and took a deep, shuddering breath. None of that mattered right now. She needed to set up wards to keep any nasty beings away from the cave. Sure the forest was brand new, but animals and other creatures would surely move in soon enough. She needed to protect her sister, and reach this ‘twilight’ her mother spoke of.

With renewed vigor, the filly lit her- A shock of pain arced down her horn, and a migraine threatened to form. She rubbed her temples and soldiered through the pain, going through all the motions necessary to place the magical defenses. As soon as she was done, she nearly collapsed from the pain, scrunching her eyes tightly and groaning in agony. The ground below her didn’t make for a particularly soft landing, but at least she was safe for now. She idly wondered what happened to thee villagers around her old castle. When shed gone to the castle after the explosion, the entire place was a ghost town. Could the blast have incinerated them all so thoroughly not even ashes remained? more and more questions, and no way to answer any of them. The young filly got up to her full height. She wasn’t particularly impressive, still being a mere fledgling alicorn. Her coat was a pristine alabaster with a yellow-tinged tint like the morning light, a light red mane that faded to a very pale, almost invisible yellow at the tips. And a majestic, powerful horn. Even for her age, her horn was quite big. Once, when shed been kidnapped and rescued almost immediately, a pillager had spoken of how much value her horn would have if sold on the market. Suffice to say, he didn’t live to follow through with the sale. It was the first time shed seen her mother furious. Her mother..

Celestia had just suffered an unspeakable loss, having her parents, kingdom, palace, and even her title taken from her. But she still had a purpose, to protect her sister and find out what happened. Maybe even rebuild her kingdom. She was too young to be formally coronated as a princess, so she no royal title yet to speak of. She had a heartache with no time to mourn, and a baby to keep safe.

The young filly, filled with a special hope and unspoken despair, tucked her wings and turned around, walking back into the cave.