0.0: A/N
Well, Fillies and Gentlecolts, here it is. The place where I'm starting work on yet another of my Grand Follies, which will hopefully progress farther than my ill-fated Legacy of Kain (which made it roughly one-third of the way into the epic storyline before I kinda got distracted by everything in existence that wasn't Final Fantasy IV.).
The Dark Star Saga originally started as, of all things, my entry for the February Writing Contest on this very site! As it's currently December, you can kinda guess how well that worked out. At any rate, with the help of a dear friend of mine, the seeds of that idea (which will be kicking off... Act 2-ish, if I remember correctly) mutated and interbred with about....
Uhm....
Five of my other pre-existing story ideas?
At any rate, those stories will be making appearances throughout the course of what I call the Dark Star Saga.
What is the Dark Star Saga? it's a story that I've wanted to tell since before I had a fandom to put it into. I'm not going to go into thematic elements and such, but I am going to say that things are gonna get dark. Not Cupcakes dark, not Rainbow Factory dark, or anything like that. But starting fairly early on, more adult elements than would ever be seen in the show will come up.
And yet, not the entire story is going to be mature-rated. I'm still trying to figure out how to structure this in the FimFiction system, but at the moment, here's what I'm going for.
These Author's Notes are Chapter 0, and have been noted as such. I'm going to go ahead like that, with each "story" being treated as a separate chapter, and each chapter within a story as a sub-chapter.
So, immediately following this, you should be finding Chapter 1.0: Shadows of the Past. That's a very short interlude, taking place immediately after Season 3, Episode 2. The rest of the stories will be taking place later on, and I'll be building a timeline of what all has happened in these notes (that'll be "0.1"). Also, since I expect this to get up to at least 15 "chapters," with several actual chapters to each of *those*, I'm going to be relatively kind and keep a summary of what happened, for folks who either don't want to read what's come before so they can catch up, or for folks who want to skip a story because of content and come back later.
Yeah... content. That's gonna be a nasty one to manage, I'm afraid. As a whole, Dark Star Saga is a story that will contain pretty much everything you can imagine. It's rated Mature, and I've got it tagged as Romance, Dark, Adventure, and Alternate Universe because those are the 4 elements that make up most of the story.
Characters will have sex in this story, some of those encounters actually kinda important to the plot and such (you there, snickering in the back row because I said 'plot'! Shaddup!) I thought long and hard (I'm watching you!) about whether or not I should write the scenes out, but eventually I decided... I'm hitting on enough other stuff in this thing eventually that, altogether, it's already going to be Mature, so why the buck not? Not all the scenes are going to be detailed, because frankly, I'm not looking to write that kinda story. But if I think it makes the story better I'm gonna do it. Note that 'hotter' is also a subset of 'better' sometimes. If you don't like it... gloss over it.
Characters will fight, be injured, and even die in this story. Some of them rather messily, and I'm not planning on holding much back if I think it makes the story better to include the details. Note that 'gorier' doesn't necessarily mean 'better,' but if I'm looking to get an emotional reaction out of my readers, sometimes I'm gonna go for the kidneys.
So how about this - if I'm going to include anything gory in a segment, I'll tag it with a "G". If I'm going to include anything smutty in it, I'll take it with an "S." It's sorta like the tags we already have, but I can tag individual chapters rather than having to tag the whole story (which I already did, but... YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, DAMMIT!)
At any rate, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated, and may even influence tiny little details of the plot. Sadly, I do not want to promise a schedule for these things, as I know myself better than that. While I'm doing my damnedest not to fade out on this one, it is distinctly possible that some new shiny thing (or year end at work) may suddenly demand my attention, and then I have no clue how long it'll take me to get back to it. Sorry, folks, it's just the way my brain works. I'd rather delay the next chapter for some time than write a bad one, y'know?
I hope you enjoy, and until then, zis has been Shrinky Frod, and I vill be seeink all of you... later.
1.0: Shadows of the Past
Celestia smiled softly at the radiant light streaming out from the north, proof that her pupil had succeeded. To anypony looking on, it would seem she had been expecting the result, and that she was pleased with it. To be fair, that was mostly true.
But it was the pain hidden behind her eyes that made Luna turn, inclining her head to rub her horn lightly against Celestia’s in a gentle nuzzle.
Will you be all right, sister? Luna asked silently across the bond forged by the contact. I felt it as well, you need not try to protect me from this.
In time, little sister, Celestia promised, standing straight and tall and looking over at a golden-furred, white-maned unicorn with a tied scroll on her flank.
“Furled Scroll, please prepare a statement that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor will be returning from the Crystal Empire, accompanied by the Elements of Harmony. A celebration in honor of their return will be held, et cetera, et cetera. If you would please take our Guard out with you… I wish some time alone with my sister.”
“Of course, your Majesty,” the seneschal bowed graciously, backing out of the royal chamber, swiftly followed by the gold-clad pegasus guards. Once they were sure they were alone, the two alicorns stepped apart, and Celestia looked out at the radiant sky again.
“So few of us are left,” she murmured. “I knew this could happen, but it always hurts to lose another. Even one as mad as Sombra had become.”
“You should have sent me instead,” Luna murmured, nuzzling her sister tenderly. “I may have been able to reason with him, or at least find the Heart sooner. I would have known what to look for, after all.”
“And when you had?” Celestia asked gently. “How would you have restored its power, replaced the barrier surrounding the Empire, without Twilight’s friends having restored the Crystal Ponies faith and love of life? It would have ended with a battle either way, Luna. Besides, you and I both know that we have far, far darker fears to be drawn into by Sombra’s magic.”
“Fears that we have faced, 'Tia!” Luna objected with a frown. “Nightmare… that’s it, isn’t it? You feared that Sombra might bring the Nightmare back to the surface with his magic?” Celestia recoiled from the thought, turning to look at Luna in shock.
“Never!” She exclaimed, shifting uneasily. “Luna, please, I know that she is… well bridled. I trust you, and have faith in your ability to control her. Please, do not think that I mistrust you in any way.”
“Why then?” Luna scowled. “Why send Twilight Sparkle as the one who had been intended to face Sombra? You could have sent her with her friends to restart the Crystal Faire while I found the Heart. You could have done any of a thousand things, and yet you chose to send Twilight, and to frame it as a test no less!” Understanding clearly dawned in Luna’s eyes, and Celestia turned away when she saw it, lowering her head shamefully.
“You didn’t just know that this *could* happen,” Luna murmured. “You knew that it would, if you sent Twilight, didn’t you? You knew that she was the least equipped to end this peacefully, particularly when you had presented it to her as some sort of grand academic exercise.”
“I knew… that it was more probable,” Celestia admitted softly. “Luna… what would have happened if we had restored the barrier? Sombra would have been free. The crystal ponies, the Crystal Empire, would have existed in a state of unending siege, assuming that Sombra didn’t find some other way to spread his darkness before returning! He isn't… he wasn’t one of us, any longer.”
“But why send Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, to be your left hoof? Your assassin?” Luna asked in a quiet, almost accusatory whisper.
“Because Twilight will never know that is what she was, Luna,” Celestia said softly, looking out at the light again. “Even if she had seen Sombra disintegrated by the pulse… she lacks the capacity to understand exactly what she did. She doesn’t know what he was, didn’t even know he existed before I sent her to the Crystal Empire. All he ever has been to her is a creature out of myth... likely, she thinks him banished back to his frozen prison forevermore. Even in her darkest fantasies regarding me, and she has seen me angry before, she can conceive of nothing that I might do worse than what I did to Nightmare Moon. She… all of our little ponies… they are so like children, that they cannot comprehend such a thing. We have worked so hard to secure that innocence.”
“Perhaps it would be better if, some day soon, our little ponies were to grow up,” Luna suggested. “Then… at least then, sister, we would not be alone in bearing that burden, with so very many others already upon our shoulders.”
“I would rather bear a burden by choice, for those I love, than bear the burden of their suffering at the whims of fate,” Celestia countered. She turned towards her little sister, a pained smile upon her face. “Please, Luna. For now… no more. Twilight Sparkle will return with no greater worry than whether or not she passed the test I set before her. Sombra has been freed from the torment that drove him to enslave an empire. The Crystal Empire has returned, and can spread its peace and love throughout Equestria once more. This… this is a day for celebration, Luna. Don’t you think?”
Luna stepped closer, resting her head gently against Celestia’s long neck, nuzzling her tenderly.
“Promise me one thing, sister. That when you retire after your celebration… allow yourself to grieve as well.”
“I will, Luna,” Celestia whispered. “I doubt that I will have any choice in the matter. At least this should be the last of our old legacies to come back and haunt us.”
This time, it was Luna’s turn to be silent. While Celestia took it as quiet agreement, the indigo-maned alicorn had not the heart to disagree. But she had studied the stars in silence for a thousand years, with little else to occupy her mind. And she had seen what would soon appear on the horizons of her dear world.
A dark star was rising, and the return of King Sombra had been merely the first of the long forgotten shadows it would cast.
