The Rising Stars

Chapters

Running in the Dark
The Test
Trapped
Wheat Cakes
Starswirl's Story
Loss
The Veil
The Plan
Dreams Don't Last Forever
"I forgot...
to remember...

Running in the Dark

Chapter One: Running in the Dark
By: ShootingStar159
Edited by: Rainbow Dash

Luna watched the moon rise, a magical power causing it to climb gently through the night sky. She lay on a large rock that dominated the small forest clearing she was in, giving her a clear view of the surrounding trees. The stillness of the forest echoed around her, every small sounds magnified by the silence of the night. The shining lights of the stars crowned the moon with their glow. This was one of her favorite places in the forest, a place where she could sit and think for hours, where nopony would come to disturb her.

The moon shone through her dark blue fur and mane, giving her an otherworldly glow, and the light glinted off the three small jewels that sparkled from necklace of silver draped around her neck. Other than a slight breeze tugging gently at her mane, she sat motionless, her mind troubled by recent events. ‘Two years, she thought, it's been two years since Discord disappeared. Things have gotten worse since then. The depressing reality of her situation tried to overwhelm her, but she just breathed deeply and tried to exhale her troubles along with her breath. Instead, she chose to think of old memories, the happier times when she had her entire family with her.

She remembered how happy she felt when she would help her father raise the moon each night, and how he would look at her with pride in his eyes. Luna remembered all the harvests with her mother, and how she would smile when Luna ran up to her showing with amazed joy how large the golden apples were that year. Memories of all the late nights with Celestia, giggling quietly at secret jokes the two of them shared, trying not to get in trouble by waking their older sister. How the rising sun in the morning would shine right in her eyes, dragging her painfully from her dreams. She was still convinced that the only reason mother and Celestia raised the sun east to west was so that it would shine in her eyes while she was trying to sleep.

Luna thought of the time she spent walking the great forest with Nemus, listening intently as he told her the names of every tree and animal that lived within. She had always been amazed at how her eldest brother and his unicorn followers would magically bend the forest around them, moving the trees in new shapes, bringing a sense of order to nature.

She remembered the times when she would soar through the air with Atton, working to prepare the skies for winter and to clean up for the spring. She thought of the time her brother had risked his life to bust a thundercloud as large as a mountain that had been headed towards the forest. That fearless act had not only earned him her lifetime admiration, but that of every pegasus who had seen it.

Playing in the river with Marim had always been one of her favorite things to do, and the memory of the times they had spent together were some of her fondest. Marim was a natural swimmer, more comfortable in the water than on the ground or in the sky. She would always stand next to the rushing water, watch it flow west and wonder aloud where it would lead her.

The times she would sneak out of the tower late at night to visit the shapeshifter, Umbralaven, to learn the dark secrets he would teach. The thrill of mastering new magic, unlocking the secrets of the world around her while he watched with pale eyes from the shadows.

Every so often she would get caught sneaking back into the tower, usually by her eldest sister, Corvare, who would lecture her for what felt like forever on how dangerous Umbralaven was. That he was unpredictable and dangerous, and that he couldn't be trusted for every reason imaginable, even his tendency to hunt and eat other animals.

"What does that matter?" Luna would ask even if she didn't really care about the answer.

"He's a shapeshifter," was her sister's reply, and the distaste in her voice showed just how strongly she disliked Umbra. "He could eat anything he wants, but he chooses to kill." Maybe Corvare was right, but Luna hadn't cared much, she was far too excited to learn. She never got annoyed with her sister though, well not much anyway. Corvare may have been pushy but she only did it because she worried for her little sister.

And of course there was Discord, with his endless good-humor and constant 'pranks'. While he never hurt anyone, the chaos his "little jokes" as he liked to call them usually ended up wrecking something. Nemus and Corvare barely tolerated him, but Celestia and Luna usually enjoyed his company. He got along especially well with Celestia, who did her best to restrain his more destructive urges. That was probably why father had chosen her to watch over Discord and to do whatever it took to stop him if he ever were to let his chaotic nature take over.

And they were all gone.

After her father and mother had left, the rest of the family didn't see any reason to stay. They had gathered their followers, and ventured off into the world to start their own kingdoms and live their own lives. But Celestia had stayed, and so Luna stayed with her. Now even Discord was gone, and since then Celestia had succumbed to a horrible depression that kept her shut in her room most days. Luna had tried to convince Celestia to leave the forest, and to look for Discord, but her sisters failure had crushed her spirit. Celestia refused to leave, insisting that one day, Discord would return and that everything would be fine then. Luna doubted this, but she refused to leave her sister alone.

Luna sighed deeply, sinking her head down to rest on her hooves. Her dark thoughts clouded her mind once more and this time she couldn't shake them. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked the empty air, hoping for some kind of answer, but of course none came, only the sound of trees rustling in the breeze, and the sound of something running through the forest drew her attention.

A large grey wolf came dashing out of the trees into the clearing, running towards Luna. "Lumba!" Luna cried in welcome, sitting up to greet her friend. The wolf leapt up on top of the rock to stand in front of her, but was panting too much from her run to speak for a few moments. When the wolf spoke it came out as a series of growls, yips, and whines.

"Luna, my friend, there is something in the forest." The wolf stopped to draw another few deep breaths. Luna, sensing something was wrong, waited for her friend, not wanting to rush her. "I don't know what it is, but it looks something like you, though rather small. I also think it's male, but it is hard to be sure."

"What do you mean it looks like me?" Luna asked, tilting her head. "Is it another alicorn?"

"I don't think so, it has a horn but no wings. If you want to save its life you must hurry. I couldn't stop the others." Luna felt a slight chill run down her spine.

"You don't mean—" Luna was cut off as a loud howling echoed through the forest. "Oh no..." She stood up and spread her wings, taking off towards the sounds of the hunt.

Another howl caused his chest to constrict and his heart thudded painfully in his chest, pushing his legs to run faster. His breaths came as ragged gasps, and his legs were already burning with the exertion, but he refused to give up. He had not come this far, had not lost everything he owned to be eaten now. Branches scratched at his face, leaving stinging welts behind. His long brown mane kept catching on other branches, slowing him down. The brightness of the moon was mostly obscured by the thick branches in the tall trees and there was only enough light to see a few dozen feet in front of him.

A panting noise started to grow close, and looking over his shoulder, he saw a great grey wolf had gained on him. The wolf's yellow eyes gleamed, its teeth bared in a snarl; a single leap and he would be in its jaws.

The wolf lunged, and the colt deftly avoided the leap, skidding to a halt and watching the wolf sail past in front of him, missing him by inches. Quickly, he turned to the left and ran, but the snarls and growls of the rest of the pack had only grown closer. Tears started to blind his vision, but he quickly shook them away. No matter what, I won't cry, he told himself as he tried to push his tired limbs to move faster, but the wolves were only growing closer. He came upon a dirt path that cut through the forest, and he turned to follow it, hoping that it would lead him to help.

Looking desperately ahead, he saw a dead tree just up the path. He focused closely on the tree, and his horn lit up with his magic. He concentrated on seeing the tree and then pictured it breaking and crashing down. The tree shattered, falling to block the path just as he ran under it.

A loud screech cut through the crash of the falling tree as it fell on a wolf, causing the young unicorn's heart to leap. They were much closer than he had thought, but he didn't dare to look back. He just focused on the path ahead of him. Suddenly a trio of wolves leaped out of the forest from his left, blocking the path in front of him. He skidded a little as he turned quickly to the right and began racing through the trees, but only made it about twenty feet before five more wolves blocked his path. He was surrounded.

He stopped running, closing his eyes in fear just as he felt sharp teeth sink into the back of his neck and lift him into the air. He screamed in pain as the teeth sank into his skin, and the edges of his vision went white. Then the wolf shook its head violently and he felt something give in his neck, and the white pain caused what was left of his vision to blur and his entire body to go limp as he realized he was about to die. Then a voice rang through the forest.

"Stop! Put him down now!"

The strong grip of the wolf vanished, and he fell to the forest floor, darkness overtaking his vision.

When he came too, the first thing he thought was that he must be dead. His second thought was that dying was much more painful than he had thought it would be. The back of his neck was aching, and the rest of him wasn't much better off. Finally coming to the conclusion that he might, in fact, still be alive, he sat up to take a closer look at himself. Looking back, he noticed a small cluster of scars on his neck where the wolf had bit him. They hurt, but at least he wasn't going to bleed to death.

To his surprise he realized that there was also no blood staining his light grey coat. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had looked so clean. He sat up looking around, able to see clearly in the bright light of the moon. He lay in a large clearing dominated by a large rock in the center. The clearing was empty, except for a dark blue mare who appeared to be speaking with... wolves!

He tried to quickly jump to his hooves, but then realized just how much they hurt. He could barely move them, and just the attempt made him whimper in pain. The slight noise attracted the attention of the dark blue pony, who turned her head toward him for a moment, then turned her attention back to wolf pack, who lowered their heads and tails at the harsh tone she was speaking in, whining pitifully.

With a final wave of her hoof, the pack bowed low, turned, and ran out of the clearing, except one, the largest who stayed sitting by her side. The mare turned and began walking towards him, the wolf close at her side. A dozen thought began soaring through his mind. Who is she? Is she the one who saved me? But why, she seems to be their leader or something? Oh no! What if she stopped them because she wants to eat me instead? He tried desperately to stand, but he just couldn't will his limbs to make the effort.

Instead, he settled for inching away from them as fast as he could. The mare stopped and tilted her head at him, a concerned look flashing across her face. Her expression cleared a moment later and she turned to the wolf and spoke to it in a low tone that he could not understand. The wolf turned to her with a hurt look on its face, then walked away towards the great rock in the clearing.

Probably upset that she won't share me for dinner, he thought to himself as he tried even harder to escape. A spike of fear shot through him as a blue aura surrounded him, pulling him closer to the monster that was about to devour him. He shut his eyes tightly, then a voice, calm and soothing spoke to him.

"Hello, young one, what is your name?" the voice said. The voice was kind, and one of the most beautiful things he had ever heard, and he began to hope he was safe, but he crushed that feeling instantly. He had read of monsters that would appear to be kind and beautiful, right up until they sank their horrible fangs into you. Instead he squeezed his eyes tighter, and put his hooves in front of his face.

"Please, oh please don't eat me," he whimpered. To his suprise, he felt himself lowered to the ground, and heard soft laughter in reply. The laughter was not mocking or evil though, just amused and bit... sad? The voice spoke again, and this time he opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"I promise, I'm not going to eat you," the mare said, smiling down at him.

The first thing he noticed was that she was tall, taller even then most stallions he had seen. Despite this she carried herself with the grace of one who had barely entered adulthood, still getting used to their new size. Her fur was a shade or two lighter than the night sky, and her mane was only a shade lighter than that. A silver moon glowed on her flank that matched the briliance of the real thing, and three small gems graced her neck along a silver chain. Nestled further down her back were a pair of....wings? They certainly looked real, but he was having trouble understanding how that was possible.

But the thing that captured his attention most was her smile, how it spoke both great joy but also great sorrow. He had seen that smile on his mothers face often, every time she saw him practicing a new magic spell. He had not understood her smile back then, but now that smile haunted his dreams. All he could do was look upon the beauty of the mare before him, until she poked him gently with a hoof.

"Well, are you going to tell me your name," she asked, that smile still upon her lips. The boy stood shakily upon his tired legs, bowing before the mare as he had been taught to do before royalty, one leg forward, his chest and nose barely hovering over the ground.

"My name is Starswirl," he said quietly.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading!
This story is going through some editing, so the layout and such between chapters may not be consistent until the edit is complete. Sorry, just bear with it please until the editing process finished.

The Test

Luna watched with unease as the young unicorn bowed low before her, shuffling her hooves nervously. Bending her head down to his level, she spoke to him gently, but with a trace of discomfort in her voice.

"Um, why are you bowing?" she asked, at which Starswirl raised his head with a blush. He found that he could not meet her eyes. He had felt confident and bold just a few moments ago, but now he felt silly, as though he had been caught pretending to be something he was not. He quickly bowed his head again to hide his reddening cheeks.

"I... I don't really know," he stammered out, "I just felt as though I should." He had never felt so embarrassed in his life. Ever since he could remember, every adult he had met had complimented his parents on how grown up he behaved, and how much older than his actual age he appeared. Just being in this mare's presence however, made him feel awkward and childish.

Luna, for her part, felt equally out of place. While her parents and siblings had each had their own followers and admirers who gave them such honors, she herself, being the youngest, had never received such attention. She had always felt the act to be rather silly, and she had said as much to her father once. Whenever her father would meet with the ponies who lived in or around the tower, they would always bow at him. After one particularly large gathering Luna sighed, and asked her parents why people felt the need to act so dramatically before them. Her father had laughed gently for a moment before answering.

"Luna, they bend their knees and bow their heads, not because it makes them feel better about themselves, but because they cannot express their feeling in words, and so let their actions speak for them. Remember Luna that a person's words can deceive, but their actions will tell you more about them than they ever intend to show." She had accepted her father's answer at the time, but she still found the whole practice unnecessary. Now, here she was receiving this same 'honor.'

She bent over and pulled Starswirl back to his hooves. "Look," she said, trying to keep from sounding too awkward, "it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, I do. It just makes me feel rather silly." The small unicorn stood shakily for a moment or two before his tired legs gave out and he fell to the ground. "I'm so sorry; I didn't realize how tired you are." Luna moved by the colt's side, sitting next to him. "Please, take some time to rest, and then I'll take you home."

Luna took the chance to study the colt while he lay next to her, trying to rub some life back into his tired limbs. His eyes were a rich gold color, but they were now glazed over with exhaustion. When Luna had used her magic to heal the terrible wounds the wolf had inflicted on him, she had also cast a spell to clean his coat and mane. His light grey fur was still matted from lack of grooming, and his darker mane had grown to an uneven and awkward length, but at least he was clean. A sudden howling far in the distance caused his eyes to widen; his breathing increased and he started to tremble slightly. Luna placed a comforting hoof on his back, trying to reassure him.

"It's okay, Starswirl, I won't let anything hurt you. Oh, please forgive the wolves. It has been hundreds of years since a unicorn has been in the forest. Fortunately, Lumba was smart enough to come find me." Luna pointed to the large wolf that was moodily sitting on top of the rock. "Rest assured, they will not bother you again."

Starswirl followed Luna's gaze until he saw the wolf, then he shrank back with a whimper, pressing himself against Luna for protection, much to her surprise. He certainly warmed up to me quickly, she thought to herself with a suppressed grin. But now to take care of this little problem.

"You know," she said to the cowering unicorn, "it's really Lumba you have to thank for saving your life. I think she deserves some gratitude, don't you?" Starswirl looked up her with fear in his eyes, but she ignored it. She could not let Starswirl live his life in fear that some creature was going to eat him in his sleep. "Lumba, come here my friend, this brave young stallion wants to give his appreciation." Lumba's ears perked up, then she stood and began to climb down from the rock.
Starswirl tried to stand and run, but found himself wrapped in something very soft, but at the same time incredibly strong. Looking back to see what was holding him, he froze. It was one of her wings, tightly wrapped around him to prevent his escape. How could I forget about her wings, he thought. Just what is she, how does she have wings and a horn—.

That was when he felt something soft and wet scrape along his hoof and he jumped back in fright— or tried to as the wing holding him down only tightened its grip. Lumba lay across from him not more than a foot away, looking at him with large, bright green eyes. He tried to shrink away again, but the mare held on tightly to him. "Come on now," she said to him. "This beautiful girl here saved your life; you should do something to thank her."

Starswirl had never been more scared in his life, he could not have moved if he wanted to. It took all of his strength to tilt his head and look at this strange mare's face to beg for help, but the look on her face stopped him. Her blue eyes gazed steadily at him, as though trying to see through him. This intense scrutiny caused him to stop short of begging for help, and instead to study her little further as well. Her eyes weren't cold, but the strength of her gaze made it clear she wanted something from him. She's testing me! he realized. He had seen that look on enough people's faces as they tried to get the measure of him.

I don't know what she wants from me, he thought, but if she thinks I can do this, at least I can try. Finding it easier to gather his courage, he turned to face Lumba, but stop, suddenly unsure of what to do. Turning back to Luna he spoke up, proud to hear his voice was calm and strong. "Can I at least know your name?" he asked. The mare smiled at him before replying.

"My name is Luna, Starswirl, forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. Now, to get back to Lumba, why don't you try scratching behind her ears, she likes that."
Emboldened slightly, he turned back to Lumba and stretched his left hoof out slowly. Lumba's head darted forward, and Starswirl pulled his hoof back slightly out of reflex, but Lumba only sniffed his hoof for a second before lowering her head under his hoof, pushing it up and over the back of her head right behind her right ear. She then sat there waiting patiently for this strange creature to give her the reward she was promised.

Starswirl grinned a little, feeling less nervous now. Huh, she's kind of cute, he thought, then proceeded to lightly scratch behind her ears. Lumba leaned into the movement of his hoof behind her head, only encouraging Starswirl to push a little harder. Luna smiled, happy in the young unicorn's success and courage. She wasn't sure he could actually do it. "Very well, Lumba, you've had your reward, now it's time for me to speak with our young friend and we don't need you here getting in the way. Go on home, I'll be along soon." Lumba gave a small whine, but got to her paws and walked off into the forest. Despite how well that had gone, Starswirl could not help feeling slightly relieved that she was gone.

Luna turned her head back towards her new friend. "Now Starswirl, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, and I'm sure you have a few of your own." Starswirl nodded his head in agreement. Luna nodded back, then stood up and walked a few feet away before turning back and sitting down. "Now, firstly, where are you from and... Starswirl?" Luna looked in surprise as Starswirl's eyelids snapped shut and his head fell forward, snoring before he hit the soft grass.

Luna sat in surprise for a few moments before berating herself out loud. "Oh, Luna, of course he's exhausted, chased all night by wolves and then forced to confront his attacker's again mere hours later. Suppose I'll take him home with me, he'll be safer there." Carefully, so as not to disturb his sleep, she lifted him up to her back with her magic, then spread her wings softly, taking to the skies and circling a bit before turning east, towards home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.
Comments and feedback are appreciated.

Trapped

Starswirl ran over a constantly changing landscape. One moment he was in a dark forest, with tall trees surrounding him and branches scratching at his face as he ran, then the next twigs and grass were replaced by the cobblestone streets of the small village he grew up in. He ran as fast as he could, trying desperately to escape from—.

From what exactly? What is after me? He wanted to look behind himself to see, but dared not risk slowing his pace. Instead he lowered his head and kept running.

He ran for what felt like forever, until he rounded the corner of a building into an abandoned alleyway. It was completely empty, no trash or junk cluttering the path, just the cobble street and the building walls on both sides. He could see a bright light at the end of the alley, and he raced towards it knowing it meant safety from whatever was behind him.

With a sudden, ear-splitting crash, a giant tree branch tore through the building walls ahead of him, then another, and another, all of them twisting around each other to block his path. Starswirl's heart fell and his stomach twisted as he realized he was trapped. More and more branches grew to block the alley until not even a single ray of light pierced their canopy, leaving Starswirl in total darkness.

He stopped running, afraid of hitting something in the darkness. The skin on his back crawled; he was intensely aware that the things were right behind him. He closed his eyes and waited for some kind of attack, but one never came, just an eerie silence. He was just starting to relax when he heard the whispers. Many voices speaking with one another just behind him, too softly for him to understand.

Starswirl's front legs shook and a bead of cold sweat ran down his face. The voices grew louder and closer, but he still could not understand them. To be honest, he preferred not knowing what the voices were planning to do to him. He just stood there shaking and sweating until the whispers were right in his ear. A warm breath on the back of his neck made him jump, and with a cry he spun around to face his attackers.

A white light shone in his eyes, blinding him with its brightness. Starswirl raised a hoof over his eyes to shield them, blinking away the pain from the sudden change in light.The glow of the moon shone around him, revealing his surroundings once more. The alley was gone, and in its place a large cliff face stretched before him. Beyond that he could see the ocean, dark blue under the night sky. Looking behind him, he saw the forest once again, but all the trees were so tightly intermingled he stood no chance of pushing through them.

Only one way to go, I guess, he thought, turning back to face the cliff.

He looked to his left, then his right and froze. There, not a hundred feet away stood his mother, wearing her dark green cloak that matched the color of her mane over her creamy yellow fur to protect her from the breeze. She stood there on the cliff edge staring down at the ocean that stretched below her, and her mane flowed softly on the wind. He could hear the sound of waves crashing far below.

He felt his voice catch in his throat, and then he jumped in the air yelling out, "Mother! I'm here, I'm home!" She turned towards him, her eyes lighting up when she saw him and a big grin spread across her face. She raised one hoof to wave at him, and then it happened. The same way it happened every night. Her other hoof, perched precariously on the cliff slipped, and with a small cry of surprise she went over the edge. He froze, unable to believe what had just happened, then tried to run for the edge to see what happened to her. As always, something grabbed him from behind, but this time instead of the strong grip of a hoof or magic, sharp teeth dug into the back of his neck and he cried out in fear, then—.

He woke up, sweat on his brow and tears in his eyes. The same dream again, he thought to himself. The dream didn't even make sense; his family had lived in a mountain village. Starswirl had never even seen the ocean before. He lay quietly for a moment, blinking his tears away before realizing something was different. For one, he was lying in a bed, instead of a cold cave floor or grass field. It had been several months since he had even seen a bed, much less slept in one. He tried to raise his head to look around, but the sharp pain in the back of his neck brought back the memories from the night before with sudden clarity.

The wolves, he thought, sitting up suddenly— or tried to, as the pain in his neck erupted into fiery spikes and he fell back onto the pillow. OW, Ow, ow, ow. He raised both hooves up to his neck, holding it gently as he rocked his body back and forth. The pain finally ebbed away enough for him to sit up, slowly this time. He looked around, studying the room in an attempt to identify where he was. The room was small, but two large windows gave it an open feel, and in between the windows was a small opening to a large courtyard outside. Through the window he could see a similar room across the open courtyard filled with trees and flowers, the scent was of which was refreshing as well as serving to set his stomach growling. The sound of birds chirping came through the open windows.

Studying the room more closely, he noticed that the walls were carved stone of some sort, and all the furniture was made of a lightly colored wood he couldn't identify. There was a dresser and mirror across from the bed, and a small bookshelf was against the wall across from a door that he guessed led further into— well whatever building he was in. Finally he gave up. Wherever this place was, it was certainly one he had never been to.

"Where am I?" he asked the empty room.The sound of something walking came from outside the room, and he looked over just in time to see the door open, and Luna to come walking inside.

"Good morning, Starswirl,” she greeted him cheerfully. “I am glad to see you're awake." She walked inside, a small tray perched on her back. Starswirl's ears perked up and he looked at the tray hungrily, but to his disapointment, there was just a glass of water and a small bottle of what appeared to be medicine on it. Luna levitated the glass to him which he took thankfully, drinking it all in one go. He sat there for a moment before turning to her.

"Um, miss Luna, where am I?" Luna set the tray down on a small table next to the bed, then turned to speak with him.

"You're in my home, but we need to take care of that wound before I answer any more questions. Done with your drink?" Starswirl nodded and held out the glass for her.
Luna smiled and took the glass back, and then picked up the medicine bottle. Turning back, she saw his face scrunch up with distaste. Luna smiled at him, remembering how much she hated it when she had to take medicine when she was younger.

"Now, Starswirl, I know from personal experience how bad this medicine is," she told him, "but I only closed your wound last night. The wolf not only tore several muscles, but also broke your neck in two places. It's amazing that you’re still alive. I healed the wounds but it still hurts I imagine?" Starswirl nodded, rubbing the back of his neck in pain. Luna held out the bottle to him and he took it with a grimace. "This will make the pain go away, and will help speed the healing process. Don't worry; one dose should do the trick."

Starswirl held the bottle between his hooves. "You can call me Star if you want." he said quietly, avoiding her eyes. "It's what my mother used to call me." He opened the bottle, then, holding his nose with one hoof, proceeded to down the whole thing in one go. He spat the bottle back into his hooves, and then coughed to try and clear his mouth and throat of the nasty taste. Amazingly though, the pain vanished as though it had never been there. He stretched his neck a bit, glad to be able to move freely again.

"Ack! Well, actually," he continued, "she would call me Little Star, but I never really liked that." He turned to face her, looking into her eye for the first time since last night, using his magic to return the medicine bottle. Luna studied him carefully for a moment before taking the bottle with her own magic. She turned and placed the bottle back on the tray, then looked out the window for a moment before turning back to him.

"Very well, Star it is," she smiled at him, though he noticed a strange look in her eyes. "Now, I imagine you're hungry. Come with me, and I'll get you some breakfast." Starswirl perked up once again at the prospect of food, and climbed out of the bed. "I'm starving!" he said with a huge smile on his face, cheered by the thought of food. "It's actually been a few days since I last ate real food, just whatever I could scrounge from the wilderness."

Luna stood waiting for him by the door, and then lead him out into a spacious corridor that stretched before them. The room he was staying in was the last in the hallway, and they walked towards the entrance. Luna was talking to Starswirl about something, but he was much too distracted by his surroundings to notice. The stone walls were cleanly cut, but he could tell they were very old by how faded they had become. The floors were made of a light rose marble, and the sound of their hooves upon it caused an echo throughout the corridor.

They exited the corridor into the main entrance, a large open hall. He stared about him in awe and confusion. The entrance to the castle, for that was all he could assume they were in, was beautifully designed, but the lack of decorations on the walls and the absence of furniture made the place seem lifeless and cold. To his left were large oak doors carved with intricate designs and two his right was a large staircase that led to the second floor, and another staircase beyond that leading to the third. This place is massive, he thought to himself.

"Well?"

Luna's voice finally pierced the awestruck haze around his mind. Starswirl whipped his head around, trying to remember what she was saying. "Um, I...uh," Luna's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and his bowed his head, feeling his cheeks redden slightly. "I'm sorry, Luna, I wasn't paying attention."

"Really," Luna replied, her voice mildly sarcastic. "I was saying that first we need to go see my sister, see if she would like to join us for breakfast." Luna turned towards the stairs, ascending them quickly, while Starswirl followed closely after her.

"This place is huge," he said, "where is everyone?"

"They all left a long time ago," Luna responded without turning around. "Only my sister Celestia and I remain."

Luna stopped at the second floor, and turned down a well-lit corridor, walking down to the second room where she stopped and knocked twice on the door before opening it. Starswirl started to follow her inside, but Luna stopped him with a hoof.

"Wait here Star; I need to see my sister alone." He backed up, sitting down next to the door looking around the hallway.

"It won't take long," Luna reassured him as she pushed the door the rest of the way open and went inside. Her sister's room was much the same as it was every morning. A spacious living area dominated by a large fireplace lay just inside, with a equally roomy bedroom adjacent. There was a doorway on the other side of the room that led out to her sister's balcony, the doors to which were open, and Celestia could be seen sitting on a large cushion outside.

Luna walked inside, stopping to look at the vase of flowers on the table in the center of the living area. The petals were starting to droop, and Luna made a mental note to gather some more flowers later that day. Looking into her sister's bedroom she saw that the bed looked untouched this morning as well. Luna was still unsure when or even if her sister slept anymore.

Luna sighed deeply, then walked quietly to the balcony doors, which she peeked through tentatively, not wanting to wake her sister just in case she was asleep. Even though Luna was certain she had not made a single noise to give herself away, Celestia turned to look at her from over her shoulder. "Good morning Luna." Celestia said, her voice full of warmth. Luna smiled back, but one look in her sister's eyes told her nothing had changed. The fire that once burned brightly there was still gone.

Luna stepped through the doorway and moved to the cushion next to her sister, taking a seat. "Good morning, 'Tia," Luna said after settling herself down. They sat quietly together watching the forest before them teem with life. Luna waited for her sister to say something, but when Celestia remained silent, she spoke up.

"We have a guest this morning 'Tia," Celestia turned to look at her sister, and Luna's heart leapt when she saw a glimmer of fire return to her sisters eyes.

"Discord?" Celestia asked, hope and joy in her voice. Luna's heart dropped like a stone, and she felt a coldness pass through her chest for a moment. She was barely able to force out her reply.

"No, I'm sorry Celestia I haven't heard anything about him." The fire was extinguished, and Celestia turned to look out into the forest once more. Luna sat miserably next to her sister, guilty for unintentionally hurting her sister further, and unsure of what to say.

Just as she was about to get up and leave, Celestia spoke again. "So, who is our guest?" she asked. The tightness in her chest prevented Luna from speaking for a moment, but she quickly regained control of herself.

"It's a young unicorn colt. I found him in the forest last night just before the wolves got him. I brought him back with me." Celestia tilted her head and looked at her sister with curiosity.

"What is a unicorn doing wandering the forest?" she asked, a bit of life back in her voice. Luna's spirits rose slightly to hear some life in her sister's voice again.

"I'm not sure, I was going to ask him after breakfast this morning and I wanted to know if you wanted to join us." Celestia sat thoughtfully for a moment, and then stood up, shaking a bit of dew from her fur.

"I think I will join you for breakfast, Luna. I just need a few minutes to make myself presentable." Luna stood up as well, happier than she had been in a while.

"Of course 'Tia, we'll wait for you in the kitchen." Luna turned and walked towards the door, and one of the burdens worrying her mind eased a bit.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.
Well, I think the revisements are going well, but what do you think?
Please leave a comment letting me know. Do you like it, hate it, find it boring? Anything?

Wheat Cakes

Starswirl sat in the hall, trying to keep himself entertained while waiting for Luna. First he looked around the hallway, trying to ignore the rumbling in his stomach, but that only provided a moment's distraction as the corridor was as empty and lifeless as the rest of the place appeared to be.

Then he tried to distract himself by tapping his hooves on the marble floor in a simple rhythm, but the loud noise that caused made him quickly give that up. Instead he settled on opening his mouth slightly, then tapping his cheeks lightly to create soft popping noises, opening and closing his mouth slightly to change the pitch. This successfully kept his interest until the click of the door opening made him stop and sit back up at attention.

Luna walked out the door, head held high and her expression much clearer than it had been before. Motioning for Starswirl to follow her, she walked down the hall at a brisk pace. Starswirl stood and quickly tried to get a peek inside the room before the door closed all the way, but all he could see was some fancy furniture and some slight movement before the door closed with a click. He huffed in frustration, then turned and quickly darted to catch up to Luna. Luna looked down at him; smiling as he slowed his pace once he had caught up, and then turned her attention back to where she was going.

"So, is your sister going to join us?" Starswirl asked as he tried to keep up, hoping to get some information.

"Yes, she will be down shortly. It's so good to see her more like herself again." Luna did seem much happier than when she had gone into her sister's room.

"Why, was she sick or something?"

"No, she...well—," Luna stopped to consider her answer, her brow slightly creased. "She... failed a very important assignment she was given, and that upset her."

"An assignment? What kind of assignment?" They had reached the entryway again, and Luna turned to walk downstairs, Starswirl keeping close next to her. Luna did not answer for a minute, and just when Starswirl thought she wouldn't answer, she spoke. Slowly though, as if weighing each word before she said it.

"She was supposed to watch a friend of ours, but he went missing. We aren't sure where he
is now."

"If he's missing, then why aren't you out looking for him?” Starswirl asked in confusion. “What if he needs help?" Luna glanced down at him, her expression unreadable. Instead of answering, she changed the subject.

"We are almost at the kitchens now," she said. "You'll be fed soon enough." Starswirl's stomach growled loudly enough for her to hear it. "And not a moment too soon it sounds like," she said with a smile. She led him down a large corridor with doors on one side and large windows on the other. An idle ruffle of her wings drew his attention and his curiosity.

"If you don't mind me asking, Miss Luna, you're not a unicorn are you?"

"What gave it away?" Luna replied with a bit of dry sarcasm that he didn't pick up on.

"Your wings; I've never seen a pony with wings and a horn before." He hesitated a bit, then pressed forward. "Are you an alicorn?"

"Yes," came her simple reply, then she caught sight of his stunned face. "What?"

"That's incredible! I can't believe it, I met a real alicorn." Starswirl felt an excited grin spread over his face. Nopony is gonna believe this, he thought, unable to believe his luck.

"I'm glad you're happy," Luna said, then they came to a stop in front of an open doorway into one of the largest rooms he had ever seen. A giant hall stretched before his eyes as he entered what had clearly once been a great dining hall, but there was nothing inside. No great tables stretching to fill the great void, no chairs, no candles or torches, no works of art. Once more the lifelessness of the place began to bear down on him, and he continued to follow Luna closely.

At the end of the hall was set of double doors, which Luna opened into a large kitchen. There were large number of fire ovens along one wall as well as several stoves and big sink for cleaning as well. There was a large metal door on the far side of the kitchen, but he had no idea what could be behind there. One side of the kitchen was taken up by a small table, only big enough for three or four ponies. It was clearly not part of the original design, as there wasn't enough room on the side of the table closest to the wall; anyone sitting there would be quite cramped.

"What's this table doing in the kitchen?" Starswirl asked. Luna turned to face him before answering.

"My sister and I decided to move it in here. It used to be out in the hall but the emptiness got to us and we decided to take our meals in here. I prefer it this way honestly, means we spend more time together. Now go ahead and take a seat, I'll be back in a moment." Luna turned and walked to the big metal door in the back of the kitchen. She opened it with her magic and stood studying the contents.

Starswirl walked to the table, pulling out the chair and taking his seat. It was then he realized how tall the table was; his head barely cleared the edge of it. He was about to mention it to Luna as she walked towards the table, but the large amount of food she floated in front of her brushed any other concerns from his mind. Though he gagged a little inwardly at all the green she was carrying, he smiled a little at the bright red apples she carried as well. There were also some slightly smaller round orange things he had never seen before.
Luna set all the food on the table, and Starswirl reached for one of the orange spheres.

"What are these called?" he asked Luna, turning the fruit around in his hooves, noting the roughness of its exterior. Luna had to work to hold back a smile before answering. "They're called oranges." Starswirl looked confused for a moment.

"Wait," he said, and the look on his face nearly caused Luna to burst out laughing. "You're telling me that this orange fruit is actually called an orange?"

This time, Luna did laugh. "It's just a name, now go ahead and eat it." Starswirl frowned, and then lifted the fruit to take a bite. Luna put her hoof out to stop him. "Wait," she said," you have to peel it first, like this." Luna took the orange with her magic and began to peel it, taking off the skin in efficient strips until it was all gone. She then split the orange into its slices and gave them to the young unicorn. "There you go, now finish eating that while I get breakfast ready."

Luna went back into the kitchen and started getting out the pots and pans necessary to make her sister's breakfast. Starswirl looked at the fruit tentatively, and then carefully bit into a piece. A surprising amount of juice squirted into his mouth, and a bit dripped down his chin and then onto his chest. Quickly, he grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped the juice off his coat, then popped the rest of the piece of fruit in his mouth and began to chew. His eyes lit up at the sweetness of the fruit, and he quickly downed two more slices.

"These oranges are amazing! I could eat these all day," he said, reaching for the rest of the slices.

"That's good," Luna replied. "We only have a few left though; they're not in season at the moment." Starswirl stopped just before he tossed the remaining slices in his mouth. Realizing he would not get to eat oranges all day, he decided to take his time.

"So...," he said as he took a small bite of one of the slices, "why are you and your sister alone? You said that everypony else left long ago, but why did they leave?"

"That's a bit of a long story. I'll tell it to you after breakfast." Starswirl gave a small moan of disappointment, but continued eating in silence.

Luna finished preparing her sister's breakfast of eggs and fresh vegetables, and placed the food at her place at the table. "Ok Starswirl, now what can I make you for breakfast?" Luna said, turning to her young guest. Starswirl licked the last of the orange off his lips, and then thought for a moment.

"I would really like some wheat cakes." he said. "Oh, I mean, can I please have some wheat cakes?"

Luna tilted her head at the unicorn. "I've never heard of those before. I'm afraid I have no idea how to make them." Starswirl's head slumped back onto the table in disappointment. "I do know of a way to get some for you though," Luna said, walking closer to the unicorn. Starswirl's head came back up, a huge grin on his face. He stood up on his back legs, placing his front hooves on the table.

"How?" he said.

"Get your hooves off the table," Luna scolded him. Starswirl sat back down, but could not keep himself from fidgeting restlessly with excitement. Luna took her place opposite him at the table. "Now, what I need you to do to make this work is to picture these wheat cakes clearly in your mind. It might help if you close your eyes." Starswirl shut his eyes tightly, trying to picture them. "Make sure they're spot on accurate; color, flavor, texture, temperature, size, shape, smell." Luna waited for a few moments for him to do this.

"Can you see them?" Luna asked. Starswirl pictured the delicious smell rousing him from his
sleep. He would wake up, running into the kitchen to see his mother place the small cakes on a plate, and then place them on the table. He remembered their soft brown color, and their softness and sweetness on his tongue. He nodded his readiness, not wanting to speak and break his concentration.

"Okay," he heard Luna say, then there was a bright flash of light from behind his closed eyes. "You can open your eyes now," she said. "How did I do?" He noticed the smell before he even opened his eyes. Just like I remember, he thought to himself, a small bit of sadness creeping over him. The small stack of cakes steamed on a small plate before him. Even the plate is just as I remember, he thought to himself with amazement. Then the reality of what had just happened hit him.

Jumping up again, he put his hooves back on the table without thinking. "How did you do that?!" he practically shouted at her. Luna responded with the same volume.

"Hooves, off!" Starswirl sat back down quickly, but refused to let her get out of this. "Every book I have ever read says that magic can only be used to change the world around us, but you didn't change something else into these cakes, you just made them appear out of nowhere. That's impossible."

"Impossible is a strong word for someone so young. Let's just say that the magic you have been taught is different." Luna returned with a much calmer voice. Starswirl started to stand up again, but held himself back in time.

"What does that mean?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as hers.

"Alicorn magic works differently than unicorn magic," said a voice from the entryway. Starswirl turned around in his seat to see who had spoken, then sat dumbstruck.

She's beautiful, was all he could think. Luna's youth became suddenly much clearer, for this alicorn was much taller and clearly in adulthood, with none of the awkwardness in her movements that Luna had. Her multicolored mane flowed down her neck in a tempest of pink and green and blue. Her fur was pure white, but not blindingly so, and a golden sun shone on her flank. A set of three gems much like Luna's graced her neck upon a golden chain.

The newcomer walked to Luna, embracing her closely for a moment before moving to the food set at the table. This must be Luna's sister, he thought. Luna started to make the introductions.

"Celestia, this is Starswirl, and Starswirl, this is my older sister, Celestia."

"It's good to meet you Starswirl," Celestia said as she took her seat. Celestia at the table, munching on a stick of celery for a moment while watching him. "Aren't you hungry," she asked him with an amused look on her face. To his surprise, he found he wasn't at the moment.

"So then you could create something from nothing because you're an alicorn?" Luna nodded at him, but Celestia made a small noise of contradiction. She finished chewing, swallowed, and then spoke.

"Well, to say we create from nothing is to misunderstand the principles of magic." Luna sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing how hard it was to stop her sister when she started lecturing. " And while it's called alicorn magic, that's only because alicorns discovered it. Given enough time and training, you could do much the same thing. Magic is powered by our thoughts; Luna didn't create this food from nothing, she made it from your own memories, so they should be exactly as you remember. Speaking of which, you should probably eat those before they get cold." Celestia waved a hoof at the steaming wheat cakes.

"Oh, yeah." Starswirl turned back to his food, taking another sniff, and then his face fell slightly. "Oh right, I forgot about that." Luna looked around worried.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Nothing, nothing," Starswirl was quick to respond, "it's just, well... mother could never get the wheat cakes right, she would always burn them a little." He turned slightly red, but Celestia just smiled at him.

"Then they will taste a little burned I'm afraid," Celestia said. Luna still looked a little worried.

"I can make you something else if you want," she said.

Starswirl shook his head, then used his magic to pick up the knife and fork lying next to his plate. He cut a small piece off one of the cakes and moved it into his mouth, chewing slowly. The sweet flavor, slightly burnt, hit him and all the memories of the last few months disappeared. He was back in his home with his mother and father, eating breakfast and laughing. He was safe and happy and nothing would take that away from them.

He couldn't hold in the sadness anymore, and with a choked sob, a tear streamed down his face. Luna stared at him, confused by his reaction. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" she stood up and tried to move over next to him, but Celestia placed a hoof on her chest, stopping her. Starswirl tried to wipe away the tears with a hoof, but they just wouldn't stop.

"It's, uh... it's nothing, I'm okay," he said, but he felt his voice waver with restrained emotion. He kept his gaze fixed on the cakes in front of him, too ashamed to look at the sisters. I can't believe I'm crying like a foal, now they're going to treat me like a little kid.

"Starswirl," he heard Celestia say, and he glanced up, ready to meet her sympathetic eyes. To his surprise, she was focusing on her food, not even looking at him. "You don't need to be ashamed of your tears Starswirl," she said. "Trust me; we have all shed our fair share. Sit down Luna, here, you can share my breakfast."

Luna sat down and accepted the carrot her sister gave her, but didn't eat it. Instead she just sat there, upset that she had made Starswirl cry. I just wanted to make him something special, she thought despondently.

Starswirl took another bite of his food, feeling a little bit better. It was just as good as the first bite, so he kept eating. Every few bites, another memory would cause a tear to spill down his cheek, but he didn't try to hide them. Celestia tried to make small talk, but stopped when she realized no one else felt like talking. Luna was wondering what she could do to cheer up Starswirl when she felt something poke her leg. Looking down, she saw Starswirl standing next to her with a sad smile on his face.

"Um, thanks for the breakfast, Miss Luna, it was really good." Luna looked up to see the plate of wheat cakes was empty.

"Your welcome, Starswirl," Luna gave him a small smile of her own. "I'm glad you liked them. And I'm sorry if they made you sad."

"It's okay, I feel better now," he replied, wiping the dried tears off his face.

"I'm glad to hear that," Celestia said as she stood up from her finished meal, and walked around to stand next to Starswirl. "Now why don't we go somewhere we can talk for a bit." she placed a comforting hoof on his back. "You can tell us a little bit more about yourself, and we can answer any questions you have." Starswirl just nodded, and then followed Celestia back into the hall. Luna used her magic to whisk the dishes into the sink, then hurried to catch up.

Author's Note

OK, this chapter was the hardest one to revise, and not because it needed a lot of editing, that only took about an hour. The thing that took me so long with this chapter is that it's boring. I couldn't just get rid of it though, so I tried to change a few things to make it more interesting. I hope it's at least readable.

As always thanks for reading, comments and insults are appreciated.

Starswirl's Story

Celestia led Starswirl outside into a large courtyard that he recognized as the one just outside the room he had awoken in. He followed her, sniffing quietly to himself. He felt much better after letting out all those emotions, but it had still been embarrassing. Celestia walked into a small grove of trees in the middle of the garden that dominated the courtyard. There was a circular clearing of well-kept grass in the center of the trees, and the aroma of flowers floated gently on the slight breeze.

Celestia moved to one side of the grove and lay upon the soft grass. Turning to Starswirl, she motioned for him to sit across from her. He sat down only a few feet from her, and Luna moved to sit by her sister's side. Once they were all settled, Celestia spoke to Starswirl.

"Now Starswirl, I am sure you have some questions of your own, but I would like to hear your story first off if you don't mind." Luna sat forward, eager to get some answers. Starswirl looked between the two uncomfortably for a moment before answering.

"Well, okay," he said. "but like I told Luna, you can just call me Star if you want to." He shuffled his feet a little, not making eye contact with the white alicorn, afraid he was being too familiar with her. Celestia only smiled warmly at him.

"Okay, Star, please, tell us why you are so far from home."

Starswirl sat up straighter, looking like he was about to give a speech before a class. He cleared his throat, and then began speaking. Luna had to stifle a laugh at how cute he looked.

"Well, you already know my name. I'm eight... no wait, nine?" Starswirl's faced scrunched up with thought as he tried to figure out how long he had been wandering. "I don't know the date. I was born on the third day of winter."

"That was about two weeks ago," Luna spoke up.

"Really?" Starswirl felt lost for a moment. "I guess I've been running for almost five months then." Luna's eyes widened, and she and her sister shared a glance before returning their attention to the light grey unicorn.

How did he survive on his own for so long? Luna thought. Starswirl sat dazed for a moment before he shook himself out of it, returning to his story.

"I was born in a small mountain village in the Unicorn Kingdom, far to the west of here. I lived there with my mother and father; my mother was a teacher and my father ran the caravans that brought food from the earth pony tribes to the various towns and cities in the Kingdom. There never was enough food, but our family would get by." A confused look passed over Celestia's face.

"Wait," she said, "why would you be low on food? Don't the unicorns grow their own food?" Starswirl seemed surprised by the question.

"I don't think so," he replied. "I mean, I never heard of a unicorn that would grow food. We get all our food from the earth ponies in exchange for raising the sun and moon every night and day." The look of confusion on Celestia's face only deepened, and Starswirl tried to explain better.

"It's been that way for a long time, the three races each provides something, the pegasi control the weather, the earth ponies grow the food, and the unicorns raise the sun and moon. It's been that way for hundreds of years."

"I see, please, Star, continue," Celestia said. Starswirl smiled at her and nodded then continued.

"Like I said the unicorns raise the sun and the moon. Every morning, every adult in my village gets up and goes to a hill outside the village. They cast a spell, and the sun rises; apparently this take place all over the kingdom, every unicorn helps. It isn't easy either, most of the villagers are too tired to do anything afterwards except rest and prepare to raise the moon in the evening."

"My mother says it used to be much easier, but that was before the magic purges." Celestia and Luna exchanged another look, but didn't interrupt this time.

"Many years before I was born the old king died, and our new king, Midas took his father's throne. He was very young though, and relied on the advice of the chief court wizard, a stallion named Sombra. According to old stories he was the most powerful unicorn our people had ever seen. He was very popular, until the king's daughter caught him performing dark magic. Apparently, he was using dark magic to try and find a way to become immortal. He killed a lot of ponies before they caught him."

"King Midas was furious at Sombra's betrayal, and planned to execute him. He escaped, of course, but not before planting suspicions in the King's mind that powerful magic users are drawn to dark magic, an idea the king latched onto. It gave him a reason for Sombra's betrayal, as well as an outlet. The king decreed that everyone with a certain magical strength would be executed for the 'safety of the Kingdom' and now, being too skilled with magic gets you a death sentence. He had all the court mages killed in their sleep, and every once in awhile, someone disappears."

Celestia looked as though she was going to be ill, but Luna rose to her feet slowly, and Starswirl shrank from the sight of her. She seemed much taller than she did a moment ago. Her eyes smoldered with blue flames, and she shook with uncontainable anger. Celestia saw this and tried to head her off.

"Luna, wait-" she said, trying to calm her little sister.

"NO! I WON'T CALM DOWN!" Luna began pacing back and forth, and the sound of birds fleeing if fear could be heard. "AFTER EVERYTHING OUR PARENTS SACRIFICED, THE LESSONS WE TAUGHT THEM, NOW THEY ARE KILLING EACH OTHER OUT OF FEAR." Starswirl pressed his hooves against his ears and shut his eyes tightly, trying to block out the painful noise. "FATHER WOULDN'T HAVE STOOD FOR THIS AND NEITHER SHOULD WE, WE NEED TO—"

"LUNA!" Celestia's full volume shout froze Luna in her tracks, and all she could do was stare at her sister; Celestia never shouted. Luna looked at her sister carefully. Celestia sat still in apparent calm, but the fires blazing in her eyes and the slightly red tint to her face showed that she was anything but calm. She's just much better at containing it, Luna realized, and her cheeks burned with shame. Celestia stared straight into her sister's eyes. When she spoke her voice was calm, none of her emotions betrayed her.

"What are you going to do sister?" she said. "Will you go and exact revenge for the dead? Find this Midas and kill him in the name of justice? What then? Find this Sombra and do the same?"

Luna realized her sister was right. What could she do exactly? She sat down and breathed deeply until she had control of herself again. In the distance came the howling of wolves; they had heard their friend's shouts, and called out to her, letting her know they were near if she needed them. Luna used her magic to send calming thoughts to her friends. Then she turned to face her sister.

"You're right Celestia," she said in a calm voice that matched her sister's. "I could never kill anyone, even if they did deserve it. I'm sorry." Celestia smiled, but motioned towards Starswirl. The small unicorn was curled in a ball, shaking slightly, covering his ears and his eyes tightly shut. Luna felt horrible; she had completely forgotten Starswirl in her anger. Carefully she walked over to him, and prodded him gently with a hoof.

He opened his eyes, and at the calm smile she gave him, took his hooves off his ears as well. She rubbed a hoof through his dark brown mane gently, and he sat back up carefully.

"I'm sorry if I scared you Star," she said, "I just...got a little angry."

"A little angry," he said softly, clearly uncertain how that could have been worse.

"Yeah, just a little," Luna smiled sheepishly. "Go ahead and finish your story, I won't interrupt again. Luna stood up and moved to sit next to her sister. Starswirl sat for a moment, trying to pick up where he left off.

"Um... oh yes, so I was born into a world that distrusts magic. My parents figured out pretty quick that I was good with magic, and they tried to get me to hide my powers. I couldn't though; I had to show off what I could do around town. At first everyone was really impressed by what I could do, but eventually they started to be afraid of it. I never hurt anyone, but not reporting powerful magic users is also punishable by death. I know now why so many people looked at me with haunted eyes. They didn't want to turn me in, but if they didn't, they could lose their lives as well. I can only assume that one of them couldn't take it anymore."

"The guards came at night while I was sleeping. I think they wanted to take me with as little fuss as possible, but my mother had other plans. She laid out the guards with some kind of spell, then she tried to smuggle me out of the town. She caused a distraction so I could get out of the village, and told me to wait for her on a hill just outside of town, but she never came. I had to run when the guards came looking for me. I think she told me to wait for her because she knew I would never leave her otherwise."

"After that I just kept walking east. Nowhere I found felt safe enough, so I just kept moving until I found this forest, and well you know what comes next." He relaxed again, glad to be done. Celestia looked awkward for a moment, and then cleared her throat.

"And your mother?" she asked. Starswirl shifted awkwardly.

"I don't know," he said, and he looked at the ground, the horrible thought too much for him, and studied the grass under him instead. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, and then back at Starswirl. The three sat quietly until the oppressive silence became too much for the unicorn.

"Um, you said I could ask my questions when I was done, right?" he asked nervously. The two sister's smiled at him, nodding, and Celestia scooted forward, ready to answer him. He thought about what to ask first; it was obvious really. "Where am I?"

"You are in the Evergreen Forest. This is the Tower of the Stars that our parents built as a guiding light to anyone wandering in the Chaos that blanketed the world about thousands of years ago." Starswirl gave them a blank look. Clearly none of those names meant anything to him.

"Um... okay," he said, unsure if those were things he was supposed to know about. "What does that mean?"

"Now that," Celestia said with a smile, "is a long story. So I think I'll just give you the important parts. Like I said, thousands of years ago, the world was covered in Chaos. Do you know what that means?" Starswirl shook his head. "Well, neither do I; father would try and explain it to us, but it is like nothing we have experienced."

"The way he tells it, Chaos was a black cloud that covered the world. The first thing he remembered was walking in the darkness. The Chaos did horrible things to the minds and bodies of those trapped inside the cloud. Every emotion you could feel and every sensation you could experience, all happening at once; it was torture."

"And it was then," Luna said taking over the story," that he found our mother. They literally stumbled into each other in the cloud. They found that when they stayed close to each other, the Chaos didn't seem to affect them. To make a long story short, they travelled together for a time and they grew very close. When they finally admitted to each other that they were in love, the strangest thing happened. The cloud retreated from them and the world began to shape around them as the cloud fled."

"They stood under a dark sky on an open field. It was here that they built their home; this very tower in fact, though it wasn't this big to begin with. They then gave each other a name; our father's name is Astrum, and our mother's name is Solista. The darkness of the sky eventually began to weigh on them. It reminded them too much of the cloud, which they could still see on the horizon. So Astrum used his magic to create the stars, and they shone on the world giving it its first light."

"Turns out," Celestia said, "those stars did more than light up the night sky. They provided a light for others trapped in the cloud, and they were able to find their way out by following the light. One of the first to escape this way was our eldest brother, Nemus. Most of those who escape the cloud are fully grown, but Nemus was just a foal, and our mother took pity on him. They took him in and raised him as their own foal. As Nemus grew older he started to go out into the cloud to help guide others to the tower. He used his magic to create the first forest, the very one we are in right now. The bravery and skill he showed were enough for my parents; they officially adopted him as their son, and used a lost magic called soul magic to change him into an alicorn."

"Is that really possible?" Starswirl asked, fully absorbed in the story.

"Yes," Luna replied. "Soul magic is a lost form of magic. The caster is able to take a piece of a soul and use that energy for powerful magic. Our parents were the only ones who ever mastered it, and they used that power sparingly."

"After Nemus learned of the existence of soul magic, he urged our parents to use soul magic to destroy the Chaos. The three of them together came up with a way to defeat Chaos; our parents used soul magic to take parts of their souls and combine them. Astrum combined six pieces of his soul with six pieces of Solista's and placed them into six gems." Luna placed a hoof over the necklace she wore. "These gems in fact; they are called the Elements of Harmony."

Celestia took over again. "How our parents traveled into the cloud and used the Elements to defeat Chaos is a story for another time." Starswirl sat silently, thinking about the story he had just heard until Celestia cleared her throat

"Star? Is that it or did you have other questions?" she asked. Starswirl snapped himself out his dazed thoughts, and he began to feel sick as he realized what his only remaining question was.

"Oh, yeah, I do have one more." He looked at his feet again, trying to gather the courage to ask. "It's not really a question though, more of a favor really." He stopped, afraid to go on, but the two alicorns just sat there, waiting. Finally, he took a large breath, and then blurted out the words before he could change his mind.

"Can I please stay here?!" he closed his eyes, trying to keep his rebellious stomach settled.

"Of course you can stay," said two voices simultaneously and without hesitation.
He opened his eyes in surprise, not sure he believed them, not after having to fend for himself for so long. He struggled to speak, but his voice had rebelled along with his traitorous stomach. After a fierce battle, he found he could speak again.

"Re-really?" he stammered out unable to believe it. Celestia and Luna just sat there, smiling at him. Disbelief flooded him, and he felt more tears try to come, but he fought them back. Instead he jumped up and ran to Luna, throwing his hooves around her in a hug. Starswirl's suddenness surprised Luna, but she returned the hug with equal strength.

"Thank you so much," she heard him say into her shoulder. She broke the hug, pushing him back to look him in the eye.

"You didn't even have to ask you know," she said, and he gave another huge smile. Celestia stood up and stretched her legs, tired after sitting still for so long. Starswirl saw this and ran over to give her a hug too.

"Okay Star, settle down," she said laughing as she ruffled his mane. Starswirl let go and just stood there, smiling. "Now it's been a long morning," she continued, "but there is plenty of light left in the day. Why don't Luna and I show you around the tower?"

"Okay," he replied, still grinning widely. He turned towards the tower, talking excitedly. The two sisters followed, but both were absorbed in their thoughts, trying to come to terms with how the outside world was changing.

Later that night, he climbed into his new bed, in his new room, a sleepy smile on his face. Happier than he had been in a long time, he drifted off to sleep.

Then the dreams began...

Author's Note

Another chapter revised, and this ones pretty different. The next chapter is going to be brand new, just a bit of the story I shouldn't have left out. It is also the reason that I changed the rating to give it a gore tag, just so your aware. After that is an old chapter that I'm going to heavily revise and then that's it, revisions complete and we can move forward with the story.

Comments and feedback WANTED, please let me now what you think, even if it's all bad.

Loss

"Starswirl! Starswirl, you need to wake up, now!" Starswirl's eyes cracked open to look blearily around him. It was still dark and the moon shone through his bedroom window. His mother, Star Song, stood crouched over his small bed, shaking him roughly to try and wake him. Her green mane was a mess of unkempt curls; she must have just woken up herself. A lit candle on his dresser cast dark shadows over his room, casting his mother's face in shadow.

"Oh, good, you're awake Little Star. Listen, the guards are coming for you; they want to take you away, but I won't let them." His mother helped him out of bed, then grabbed the candle and led him out into the cramped living area. Starswirl followed behind her, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

"The guard?" he said, trying to understand what was going on with his sleep addled brain.
"Why does the guard want to take me away?" His mother went into the kitchen, taking as much food lying around as she could and putting it into saddlebags.

"It's because of your magic, Star," she said as she stuffed some leftover bread into one of the bags along with some cheese. "Someone must have reported you to the guard, and now they're coming for you." Finished in the kitchen she went over to a large desk and started shuffling through the drawers. Starswirl felt confusion and fear tighten in his stomach as he fully awoke.

"My magic? What does my magic have to do with—"

"You know exactly what I mean Starswirl," she said as she continued to poke through the drawers. "I've told you about Sombra and how dangerous it is to perform magic in public, but that still didn't keep you from showing off." Her voice rose as she became frustrated at not being able to find what she was looking for. "Come on, where are you? Aha! There you are." Her eyes lit up as she pulled a small bundle of papers out of the drawer tied together and wrapped in a leather case.

Starswirl felt his face grow hot. "I-I'm sorry, mother, I knew I wasn't supposed to, but everyone was always so impressed—" He stopped, the tightness in his throat kept him from continuing, and he hung his head. Star Song's hoof rubbed his head gently. Her voice was gentle when she spoke.

"Don't worry, Little Star, everything will work out in the end. Now, put this saddlebag on, we—" A noise from outside the front of the house stopped her and mother and son stood frozen, listening intently. They heard the sound again, hoof steps on cobblestone. Shadows of movement played across the front windows as dark figures moved around outside.

"Get behind me," Star Song whispered, and Starswirl darted behind her, peeking around her back legs. She blew out the candle, leaving them in the dark. A loud voice, male and ringing with authority cut through the silence of the night.
"The Royal Guard demands entry, by the authority of the King!" An eerie silence followed the echoes of his shout, nothing moved outside or in.

Then the front door exploded. Chunks of the wooden door hurtled towards Starswirl and his mother, and Starswirl gave a short yelp of fear at the noise. Star Song's horn glowed a bright green, and the wooden shards bounced off a magic shield she conjured to protect them. Three unicorn stallions rushed through the front door, brandishing swords with their magic.
The one in gold armor, who appeared to be the leader, pointed his sword at Star Song. "Give up the colt, mare, he's the only one we want." Star Song stood her ground.

"Not a chance," she growled, and her horn glowed brightly, illuminating the entire room, creating greenish shadows behind the guards. There was a powerful blast of magic, twice as loud as the exploding door, and a wave of magical energy pulsed through the house. The three guards were hurled back by the power of her attack. One guard was thrown back against a wall; the other flew back through one of the front windows where he rolled into the street, twitching a bit before laying still.

The leader was thrown into the ceiling, and he fell back to the ground in a pile of golden misery, moaning softly before blacking out. The one thrown into the wall tried to stand upon his shaking feet, but a heavy paperweight was magically thrown into the side of his head. He fell to the ground heavily, not rising again.

The sudden silence echoed loudly in the destroyed house. Papers floated around and dust fell from the ceiling. Star Song panted quietly for a bit before turning to wordlessly finish helping Starswirl with his saddlebag. Starswirl just stared wide eyed and slack jawed at the devastation his mother had caused.

A sudden crash made him flinch; a glass that had been knocked over had rolled off the kitchen table, smashing on the ground. He stared at the pieces, then looked around, trying to see the wreckage as the home he had grown up in. Star Song pulled the straps tightly, then pushed Starswirl towards the door, stepping over the bodies of the guards without hesitation.

"Let's go Starswirl."

The two ran down the street, heading in the direction of the front gate. The small village, Aurom, was located along a major highway that connected the capital to both the Earth and Pegasus pony kingdoms. Small as the village was, it was of strategic importance, located near the borders. As such it was surrounded by a small wall with only two entrances, each one heavily guarded. They needed to hurry before the alarm was raised and the village gates were closed.

Already they could hear the sounds of guards behind them. Starswirl tried to keep up with the fast pace his mother set, but already he was breathing hard, struggling to maintain the pace. He focused solely on running, putting each hoof in front of the other, and when Star Song suddenly stopped, he ran full speed into her, bouncing off and falling to the ground. He yelped in pain and stood up quickly to see why she had stopped. A group of guards was running down the street towards them.

Star Song grabbed him with her magic, picking him up and turning to race down an alley. She put him back on the ground and he came up running. The two hurried down the alley, the sounds of the guards right behind them.

Suddenly, a bright light shone ahead of them, too bright to look directly at it. Starswirl blinked away the pain, but Star Song didn't even seem to notice, she just kept running towards the light. Starswirl could only follow and try to keep up. The light grew brighter and closer with every step until he could only shut his eyes and hope he didn't run into anything. He suddenly realized he could no longer hear the pursuing guards, and as soon as he did, the light vanished.

Blinking quickly to try and adjust his eyes to the change in light, he looked around. They were now in a forest whose trees stretched up taller than he could see. No low-hanging branches could be seen, and the two weaved their way among the closely spread trees. Star Song didn't stop running and he could only follow along behind her. The trees began to thin, and he could see a clearing of some kind ahead.

"Come on, Star," his mother panted out. "We're almost there." He followed silently, too tired to even respond.

They exited the forest into the clearing. About a hundred feet in front of them was a cliff face that stretched to the left and right as far they could see. Starswirl collapsed to the ground, unable to move another step. Star Song walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, when he felt a hot, moist breath on the back of his head. Starswirl stiffened, then jumped to his feet and ran towards his mother, who also ran towards him. He ran as fast as he could, but whatever it was, it stayed right behind him, growing closer with each step.

Fear finally overtook Starswirl, and he threw himself to the ground and covered his head with his hooves, hoping it wouldn't hurt too badly. Instead of an onset of pain, he felt a rush of air as whatever it was jumped over him and kept running towards his mother. A jolt of surprise and fear ran up his spine, and he looked up to see a giant grey wolf charging towards his mother. It was almost as tall as Star Song, and third longer. Star Song was clearly not prepared for the wolf to completely ignore Starswirl, but she stopped running, standing her ground before the beast.

Her horn glowed brightly, and a bolt of magical energy flew at the wolf. The bolt passed right through the creature, which didn't even flinch. Star Song's eyes widened, and she tried to think of something else, but it was too late. Everything seemed to slow down for Starswirl as the beast leapt. Every detail of what happened next was burned into his mind.

Star Song reared her head back to try and dodge, but it was too late. The wolf latched onto
her neck with it's jaws, the sharp teeth effortlessly piercing the skin to sink in deep. The wolf twisted in midair to drag Star Song to the ground, placing both front paws as big as Starswirl's head onto her body to hold her down. Star Song tried to struggle, but she was held down fast, and her screams rattled in her throat, unable to get past the tight grip the wolf had on her neck. The wolf shifted its jaws to get a better grip, the jerked its head up with a wet ripping sound.

Starswirl watched wide-eyed as a splash of red arched up into the air. His mind went blank and he felt his body go numb with the realization of what had just happened. He couldn't see his mother clearly, but the way her body stopped struggling along with the spreading pool of blood told him everything he needed to know. He distantly heard the wolf chew and swallow, but it didn't really register for him until the wolf turned to look at him. All he could see was his mother's blood on its jaws.

The beast turned around to walk slowly towards Starswirl. The movement gave him a clear view of his mother's body, and he looked at her before quickly turning away. This can't be real, he thought. Starswirl turned and emptied his stomach on the ground next to him, then turned to look at the monster who had taken the thing he loved most from him. He stood up on legs shaking with fear and grief, determined to go as bravely as his mother. He looked the beast in the eye. As soon as he made eye contact, he froze.

The pale blue eyes that stared at him were familiar; very familiar. His mind was a rush of confusion, grief, anger, and disbelief as he stared into its eyes.

"Luna?"

The wolf seemed to grin at him with its blood stained teeth for a moment, then it lunged.

"Starswirl! Starswirl, are you alright? Wake up!"

Starswirl's eyes shot open and he sat up, sending drops of sweat flying off his brow. He sat still in horrified disbelief as the memories of the dream washed over him. He slowly started to relax, realizing the dream was over, and he was safe. His throat felt raw, as if he had been screaming at the top of his lungs. Just a dream, he thought as he closed his eyes, but the vision of his mother's body flashed behind his eyelids, and he opened them again as his stomach felt queasy.

Remembering the voice that had awoken him, he turned to see who it was, but one look into Luna's concerned eyes was enough to set his heart racing with fear. Seeing the young colt stiffen, Luna reached out to comfort him, but Starswirl shrank away from her touch. Luna stopped reaching, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Star? Are you okay?" she asked, trying to figure out why he was acting this way. He stared into her eyes with fear for a few more seconds, then turned away.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, j-just a bad dream," he said, staring down at his sheets. Luna tried to meet his gaze again, but he refused to look at her. Instead she reached out a hoof and lightly stroked his shoulder. He flinched as though in pain, but didn't make a sound.

"Alright then, if you're sure you're okay," she said, turning to leave the room. She looked back at him before walking through the doorway, but Starswirl just sat there, staring at nothing. Confused, she walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Celestia was waiting for her outside; Starswirl's screams had also woken her as well.

"Is he okay?" she asked, her face looking as troubled as Luna felt.

"I'm not sure, he says it was just a dream, but—"

"A dream?" Celestia asked.

"That's what he said, but I don't know, he was giving me the strangest look, almost like...almost like he was afraid of me."

“Why do you think that would be?” Celestia asked in confusion.

“I don’t know,” Luna replied, looking back at the closed door. “But bad dreams are to be expected I suppose. Still, why would he be afraid of me?”

"Well," Celestia said confidently, "no use worrying about it now, we can talk to him again in the morning. Good night, Luna."

"Good night, Celestia, I'm just going to wait here, in case he needs to talk to someone." Celestia nodded and headed back towards her own room.

Luna sat outside the door all night, listening intently all night long for the slightest sound, but nothing stirred inside Star's room. Starswirl lay back down, but couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, the images played back through his mind.

Instead he stared out the window at the moon as it lazily arched through the sky.

Author's Note

Another chapter done, finally making good time on this. This is a new scene I added. I refrenced the dream before, but didn't show it. As I was reviewing what I had written for the revisements, I found that to be a major weak point, so I decided to add this. This will help make things in the next chapter clearer, so I hope this was worth the read.

If you liked it, let me know. If you didn't, well let me know that too.

The Veil

The early morning sun shone brightly through the bedroom windows, the glare on the panes causing Starswirl to squint and blink away the tear inducing pain. He rolled over to shield his eyes from the light, but it was much too late. Morning had come, and his chances of sleep were now lost. It was time to get up and get some food to be able to face today's challenges.

C'mon Starswirl, get yourself up, he thought, half-heartedly trying to raise himself up, but giving up halfway to fall back into the soft mattress. I'm too tired for this, but I can't sleep. Every time he had been about to fall asleep again last night the memories of the dream would set his heart racing, and he would lie there shaking, trying anything to banish the image of his mother's body.

Oh well, maybe I can catch a nap after breakfast. He sat up in the bed, rubbing his tired eyes when he heard a scratching noise coming from the door leading out into the courtyard. What's that? He jumped off the bed and walked over to the door, but when he saw what was there he stopped and took a few steps back. Sitting on the other side of the full-glass door was a familiar looking grey wolf with green eyes, holding a dark blue cloak and saddlebag in her mouth.

"How is he?" Celestia asked Luna. The two sisters stood in front of a large window on the second floor of the tower that overlooked the front courtyard. Luna didn't look well; there were dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and her head and ears drooped with exhaustion.

"If he feels anything like I do, probably not too well," Luna replied, then gave a long yawn into her hoof. "I didn't get any more sleep last night, and I'm pretty sure he didn't either." Luna sighed, her head lowering slightly more. "He still wouldn't look me in the eye at breakfast." Celestia glanced at Luna from the corner of her eye before looking back through the window. Starswirl could be seen down in the courtyard; he seemed to be reading something in the small grove of trees in the center of the courtyard.

"What did he say at breakfast?"

"Not much," Luna said, "just that he had a bad dream. I asked him if he had many of those, but he wouldn't answer me."

"Let's assume he does then," Celestia's said turning to face her sister. "You need to talk to him, Luna."

"Me?" Luna looked at her sister in surprise. "I already tried; he doesn't want to talk to me. I actually think he's afraid of me."

"What was that line you used to throw around all the time when you were younger?" Celestia said with a wry smile. " 'Fears are made to be faced.' " Luna gave her sister a nasty look at having her own words turned on her.

"Funny, but I think he's been through enough these past couple of days, we don't really need to scare him further."

"I was actually talking about you Luna." Luna's brow rose, her voice rising in pitch.

"What do you mean?"

"You're scared he doesn't trust you anymore. You're afraid of hurting him, even though you have done nothing to hurt him before; well get over it. He does trust you Luna, I can tell, and he needs you now." The two sisters faced each other, but Celestia could see the mental debate in Luna's mind from the way her eyes flicked back and forth slightly. Finally, Luna turned to look out the window again.

"I'll talk to him," she said quietly, "but I don't know what I can do to help him."

That's one fight down, Celestia thought with relief, then she prepared herself for the second, harder battle. "Well, I have an idea of what to do, actually." Luna looked over again, brow arched and eyes curious. Celestia steeled herself against the coming outburst.

"You could try using the Dream Walking spell on him." Luna's eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. Her entire body slowly tensed, and a burning anger shone in the little of her eyes that Celestia could see. When Luna spoke it wasn't with the ear splitting shout Celestia expected, but with quiet anger.

"How could you ask that of me?" Luna said, her voice quaking with expected anger, but the grief in her voice made Celestia pause for moment. Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but Luna cut her off, her voice slightly raised.

"No! I can't do that, I won't do it. You know what I almost did to you." The pain in her sister's voice tore at Celestia's will but she kept pushing.

"Yes, I do know what happened, and I know what it cost you, but you need to think about Starswirl."

"You have no idea what it cost me!” Luna snarled, making Celestia draw back a bit in alarm. “ And I am thinking of him. Last time I tried that spell—" Luna choked a moment on the memory. "I won't take the same risk with his life, not over a couple of bad dreams." Celestia allowed a little anger to slip into her voice.

"These are not just a 'couple of bad dreams' Luna, his nightmares are beginning to affect him while he's awake as well. He needs help, and you can give it to him. If you can help someone, then it's your duty to do so."

Luna's face went blank and she stared at Celestia in disbelief. "Duty?" she said, as though she couldn't believe the word had come from her sister's mouth. "You're going to lecture me about duty? What about your duties sister, or have you forgotten about your responsibility for Discord?"

Celestia's eyes widened, and the small ache in her chest that never went away became a burning pain. "I-I...I was just—" she tried to explain, but the pain drove both thought and speech from her mind, and all she could do was turn and walk away. She tried to act normal, but she could feel the mask of composure she wore crack under the whirlwind of emotions she was feeling, and she hurried to get away from Luna before her sister could see the pain she was in.

She managed to make it to her room and shut the door before slumping down to the ground. She lay on the floor, her mind racing as thoughts and emotions whirled in her head. Over and over, she thought the same thing. She's right, I did fail.

Luna felt like slamming her face through a wall. Way to go Luna, Celestia's finally acting more like herself again and you had to mess that up. Anger at her sister mixed with the guilt she felt for hurting her left Luna torn, unsure of what to do.

I need to apologize to her, Luna thought with a sigh. Maybe she did need to hear that, but I definitely could have said it better. Besides— Luna turned to look out the window, watching Starswirl. She's right; Starswirl needs help, and the Dream Walking spell would help him. I just need to give him the choice.

Coming to a decision didn't help calm her thoughts, but at least now she had a plan.

Starswirl was trying to study the crude map his mother had sketched in her journal, but it was hard to focus with the wolf, Lumba, just a few feet away. He was grateful of course that Lumba had brought him his things; when he had thrown them away because they were slowing him down, he didn't think he would see them again. Still, every time he would take something out of one of the bags, Lumba would come over to sniff whatever it was. He knew she wouldn't hurt him, but even so, having her that close made him a little nervous.

Closing his mother's journal, he slipped it back into his bag, then pulled out his own journal. He had been writing in it for a couple of years, though not frequently. It was nice to be able to put his thoughts clearly on paper when they were moving too fast for him to think properly. Lumba's attention was fixed on the book, and she started to get up but Starswirl stopped her.

"Ah!" he said holding out a hoof, and Lumba stopped and stared at him. He floated the journal over to her with his magic, and she sniffed it for a moment before growing bored again. Floating the journal back over, he opened it to a blank page, then pulled out his quill and an ink bottle. Dipping the quill in the ink, he started to scratch his thoughts on the page, but nothing appeared. He tried dipping the quill again, but the ink had dried out.

Oh, well, he thought while putting away his journal. Maybe Luna can give me some ink. Thinking of Luna made his spirits fall a little. I need to apologize to her for how I have been acting around her. He didn't know how to explain what was going on to her though. What do I say? Oh, hey Luna, the reason I've been avoiding you is because I'm just a little foal who can't handle a bad dream. That'll go over well. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hooves, trying to think of a better way to do things.

A slight rustling noise from Lumba drew his attention and he looked up to see the wolf looking towards the tower entrance. Following her gaze, he saw Luna walking towards the two of them, her head bowed as though in deep thought. Well, I guess now's my chance, he thought, preparing himself for—, well for whatever came next.

"Hello, Star," Luna said as she entered the grove. She stopped to scratch Lumba's head before sitting across from him.

"H-hello, Luna," he said, the slight shaking in his voice making his face redden slightly. C'mon Starswirl, colt up! "Luna, I—"

"There's something important that I want to talk to you about Star," Luna interrupted him. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, uh, no go ahead."

"Thank you," Starswirl heard Luna take a deep breath. "It's pretty clear that you’re avoiding me for some reason Star, and it is also clear that it has something to do with your dream last night. Is that correct?"

"Yes it is," he whispered, hanging his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" he yelled then put his hoof over his mouth, his face turning a bright red. "I-I mean, no, thank you, but I really don't want to talk about it. I just want to forget about the whole thing."

"I see," Luna said thoughtfully, "and how is this plan working out for you?"

"Not well," he admitted, "every time I close my eyes, I see... well it just won't go away."

"I might have a way to help you with that," she said. Starswirl felt his heart rise with hope, and he looked Luna straight in her eyes.

"How?"

"There is a magic spell I know," she said. "Using it, I would be able to enter your dream and see what you're dreaming. I would even be able to interact with you, even change some things." Starswirl could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Is that really possible?" he asked, and Luna nodded back with a smile. "That would be amazing! I have been having nightmares ever since I left home, but last night's dream, it—, well it was pretty bad. I was honestly afraid to try and go to sleep tonight. This spell, how does it work, is it safe?"

A strange look crossed her face and her eyes lost their focus for a moment. She had to clear her throat before answering. "It is mostly safe, the chance that I would mess it up is very small, but—" she stopped talking, afraid to admit the dangers.

"But what?" Starswirl asked, starting to grow worried.

"It will be easier to show you," she said, and with a glow of her horn, a scroll of parchment, a quill, and an inkwell flashed into existence. Starswirl smiled slightly at this casual display of her abilities. Luna opened the scroll, spreading it out flat; the inside was blank. Then, dipping the quill in the ink, she drew two large circles next to each other on the parchment, close, but not touching each other.

"These are the two halves of your mind," she said. "The left side is where your mind processes the world you see around you. You use it to do most of you daily functions as well as where most of your rational thought takes place. The right side is where you think creatively. Whenever you are drawing a picture or writing a story, you use the right side of your brain. For the sake of this discussion, let's call the left side reality, and the right side fantasy. Do you understand so far?" Starswirl nodded, fully absorbed in the lesson."

"Okay, now this," she drew a much smaller circle that bridged the other two circles. "This is how we make the connection between the two. This is what allows you to see what is in front of you, and then imagine what is could be. Your see a blank canvas and both sides of your mind work together to create a painting.

"This is also where your dreams take place. I'm sure you notice how when you dream people and places you recognize can be in them, and other times it could be full of things that you have never seen before. That is because your dreams take from both parts of your mind. We call this middle area The Veil. This is where the danger comes in."

"To enter your dreams I have to pass through The Veil, but if I am not careful, I could damage it. The end result would be—" Luna stopped and her eyes went out of focus for a moment again. "The result would be insanity. Your mind would no longer be able to tell the difference between what is real and what is just a creation of your imagination."

Starswirl stared at her, trying to wrap his mind around the implications that failure would mean, when Luna spoke again. "I also feel that I should tell you; the only time I have tried to use the spell on another person, I was not careful enough, and I damaged The Veil of that pony's mind. I have learned a lot since then, but it is still something you should know."

Starswirl looked down to stare at the ground, his mind a blur of confused thoughts and feelings. The minutes ticked by as he sat there thinking. Eventually Luna stood up, moving to stand next to him. Tilting his head up to look at her, she lowered her head to his level. "I know this is scary, but I promise, if you choose to go through with this I will do whatever it takes to make sure you are yourself at the end." He nodded at her, then turned his head to look away.
"Take as long as you want to think on it. Let me know what you decide."

She turned to leave, levitating the scroll, ink and quill after her. "Wait," he said, and she turned to face him. "Could you leave the ink? I ran out of my own." Luna smiled and floated the ink back to place it in front of him. He thanked her, then pulled out his journal as she walked away, Lumba following close behind her. Dipping the quill, he moved to write on the open page, but stopped when he realized he wasn't even sure what to write first.

He sat motionless amongst the trees for a long time.

Author's Note

Last revised chapter (yay)
It's all new from here out, so of course I want to know what you think so far. Were the revisions worth the time it took? This chapter took so long because I literally rewrote the entire thing. It took me a whole day to write the Luna and Celestia scene because I was worried Celestia was too out of character but this really was the best way to work this scene for the scene I have planned ahead. Just know that after this Celestia is how she is supposed to be.

Hope you enjoyed reading it so far.

The Plan

"'Tia, can I come in?" Luna spoke quietly into her sister's bedroom door. When no answer came, she knocked on the door again and spoke a bit louder. "'Tia, are you there? I just want to talk to you for a minute." There was still no answer from inside, so Luna softly turned the knob and pushed opened the door.

To Luna's surprise, a cheery fire burned in the fireplace, giving a welcome warmth to the cool evening. Three large, soft couches were arranged around the fireplace, and Celestia sat upon one furthest from the door, perusing a large piece parchment by the light of the fire. Luna walked inside to stand behind the nearest couch before clearing her throat, hoping to draw her sister's attention. When Celestia continued to study the parchment obviously, Luna spoke up again.

"Celestia," she said with a bit more volume than before. Celestia's head snapped up and she gave a soft gasp.

"Luna," she said in surprise, "I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Are you alright?"

Luna raised a brow at the question, but smiled at her sister. "I'm fine Celestia; I was here to check on you actually."

Celestia blushed a little at the memory of yesterday's argument, but gave her sister a half-smile of her own. "Oh, right. I'm doing fine Luna, why don't you join me?" Celestia patted the empty spot on the couch next to her before turning her attention back to her parchment.

Luna moved to sit next to Celestia, looking over at what was holding her sister's attention. A very detailed map was spread before her. She recognized it as one of her sister's; mapmaking was one of Celestia's older hobbies. The Evergreen forest was a small cluster of drawn trees in the middle of the map, and the surrounding landscape was drawn with agonizing attention to detail. Large sections were blank however, and three faint circles were drawn over some of the blank portions.

Luna sat next to her sister in silence, not wanting to speak first. Celestia pretended to study the map, but Luna could tell her mind was elsewhere when she stared at the same point of the map for several minutes. The crackling of the fire was the only noise to be heard. Luna opened her mouth to break the silence, but Celestia spoke first.

"Luna, I want to thank you."

Luna turned to stare at her in surprise. Celestia looked at the map for a few more seconds before turning to look in Luna's eyes. Luna's mouth opened and closed a few time as she tried to come up with a response.

"Y-you want... to thank me?" she managed to say. "I don't think I did anything worthy of thanks."

Celestia gave Luna a warm smile. "No, you did do something; you made me realize that I can't stay here like this. I need to leave."

"Leave?" Luna looked at her, stunned. While the two sisters were able to leave at any time they wanted, Luna and Celestia had spent their whole lives in the tower. "Where will you go?"

"I don't really know to be honest," Celestia replied, then turned back to the map. "All I know is, Discord is out there, and it is up to me to find him."

"And what then? What if he doesn't want to go home?"

"Then I'll just have to stay with him, wherever he is."

Luna hesitated before asking her next question. "What if he—" she swallowed audibly. "What if he does need to be stopped?"

Celestia sat still for a moment then turned and looked in her sister's eyes. The intensity of the warring emotions burning in Celestia's eyes made Luna draw back slightly. "I'll do whatever is necessary," she said, but the confidence of her words was weakened by her wavering voice. Celestia only saw doubt on Luna's face. "You don't think I can do it?"

"To be honest, I don't know; and I don't think you know either. That's not what I'm worried about though. How will you stop him on your own? You'll need the Elements to even have a chance, and you only have three."

"I can resonate with all six Elements. I've done it before, remember?"

"Yes I do. I also remember that it almost killed you. I'm not about to let you sacrifice yourself when it isn't necessary." The two sat thinking for a moment before Luna spoke again.

"I'll go with you; the two of us together can find him."

Celestia smiled at her sister. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Luna looked at her blankly. "Starswirl?" Luna's eyes widened in memory of the young unicorn.

"We can bring him with us," Luna started, but Celestia cut her off.

"He needs a stable home, Luna. If we can't give it to him, then we need to find one for him."

Luna sat quietly for a moment, then smiled as a plan came to her. "Funny you should mention finding him a new home."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Starswirl gave me his mother's journal to read, he said there were some things in it I might be interested in. Turns out, his mother wasn't unprepared for what happened with the guard. She had been planning to take him from the Unicorn Kingdom for a while; she just wasn't expecting things to happen so suddenly. From what I gather, she was planning to take Starswirl north, to the 'home of her ancestors'. She also refers to it as the 'golden woods'."

Celestia looked thoughtfully at her map. "The Golden Woods," she said softly, brushing a hoof at the faint circle farthest north.

"Exactly," Luna said in excitement. "Starswirl also thinks that if his mother made it out of the city, that's where she would go."

"So you want to take him north to find the Golden Woods, where even if his mother isn't there, then at least there will be some family to leave him with?"

"Yes, and once we find him a place to stay, we can go and find Discord. Not a bad plan I say."

"It is a good plan," Celestia admitted, and Luna smiled widely. "But—" Luna's face fell slightly. "We need to make sure it's okay with him. We agreed to take him in, we can't just abandon him."

"I don't think we'll have a problem there, he was the one to give me the journal. I think he wants to go just to see if his mother is there."

"Well then," Celestia stood up, and Luna stood with her. "I'll start preparing to leave, you go talk to Starswirl."

"I'll talk to him in the morning, it is getting rather late. I think he's already gone to bed."

"That reminds me," Celestia said with a slight frown. "How is he doing?"

Luna's face fell, her excitement gone as her shoulders slumped down and she sighed. "Not well; he had another nightmare last night, but he still won't talk about it. I even tried giving him a sleeping potion, but I think it might have made it worse since he couldn't wake himself up."

"Hopefully these dreams will fade in time."

"Hopefully," Luna agreed, but hope was the furthest thing on her mind.

Author's Note

Been busy this week so only a short chapter.
Comments and feedback appreciated.

Dreams Don't Last Forever

Later that evening, Luna lay on her bed reading by candlelight. The hour was late, but she couldn't sleep. She had spent several hours tossing in bed before admitting defeat. Her mind was in no mood to relax, no matter how tired her body was. Not that this mattered a great deal, her magic made a great many things easier to deal with. Technically, Luna hadn't required sleep for several decades now; a simple refreshment spell would reinvigorate her mind and body, making sleep unnecessary.

Still, she enjoyed sleep, the peace and calm of the night allowing her body the chance to do what came naturally. It was just another routine she would maintain, even though she didn’t need to. Her room for example; the large room located towards the top of the tower was made for both Luna and Celestia to live in, but Celestia had her own room now. Luna could have chosen any of the empty rooms located closer to the ground floor, but, well, it was her room.

Luna turned the page of the book she was reading with her magic, engrossed on the words scrawled in ink across the page. She was studying her old teacher's notes on dreamwalking, hoping to gain some insight that had escaped her the last dozen times she had read it.

When entering the mind, it is important to remain calm, she read. As you 'push' your way inside, the subject's mind will push back. Do not try and force your way through; this is dangerous, and damaging part of the mind is common. Instead, try and match the force of the subject's mind. Don't think of it as a wrestling match, with two opponents trying to overpower each other, but as a dance, a union between two minds working together.

Luna closed the book with a sigh. I have read and reread this so many times I have it memorized, she thought, but that doesn't make this any easier. Climbing off the bed, she stretched out her legs before levitating the notes back onto her bookshelf. She turned to look at a large clock ticking away in a corner. So late already? she thought with a sigh. Might as well go check on Star as long as I can't sleep.

Walking over to her desk, she opened one of the drawers and levitated a small blue bottle up to peer at the label on the side. Nodding in recognition, she grabbed it with her mouth and walked to the door leading out of her room. Turning the handle she pulled the door open, but as she tried to exit the room, a small gasp from the floor caused her to start in alarm.

"Wha—" she yelped instinctively, and the bottle fell from her mouth. The bottle fell, but just as it was about to hit the ground, a bright gold aura caught it, carrying it back safely into the air. Luna looked down at the small grey unicorn sitting in front of the door.

"Starswirl? What are you doing here?" Luna took the bottle from him with her magic, and he looked away, blushing.

"Sorry Luna," he said, looking at the floor, "I was just—, um I was..." Sighing, he sat up straight and looked her in the eye. "I couldn't sleep again."

"I'm sorry," Luna said. She hefted the bottle a little higher. "I was actually just on my way to see you. I thought you might want another dose of sleeping potion."

"No."

"No?" Luna said confused. "You don't want any potion?"

"No," he replied again, more forcefully this time, with a shake of his head for emphasis.

"Then I'm confused," Luna said slightly shaking her head. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I want you to use the spell on me."

"I—" Luna stopped and stared at him. "I honestly did not expect you to agree to it. Are you sure you want to risk it? Why don't we wait a few more days—?"

"No!" he said, his face contorting with emotion. "I don't want to wait; I wake up tired every day. The things I dream stay with me all day." He grabbed her foreleg with both of his. "Please," he said, his voice shaking. "I don't want these dreams anymore." Luna sighed, wrapping her free leg around Starswirl's back comfortingly.

"Alright, Star," she said. "We can do the spell right now." Starswirl relaxed in her forelegs, whispering a quiet 'thank you'. Luna patted him on the back a few times until he let go of her leg. "Come on inside, you can sleep in here tonight."

A short time later, Starswirl was comfortably settled beneath the sheets of a small bed Luna had magicked from nowhere. Luna had spent several minutes mixing up a new potion, one she said was better suited for the spell. He looked around Luna's room with interest, noting the large number of books and scrolls filling the shelves and stacked neatly in corners. Everything was neat and orderly, everything in its proper place.

He turned his attention back to Luna as she walked up to him with another small vial of bright red liquid. Small bubbles rose to its surface, and a sharp fruity smell filled the air. Starswirl reached out to take it from her, but she pulled the vial away. He looked at her, confused.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Luna asked him. He nodded, but Luna only looked at him unblinking, looking for any signs of second thoughts.

"I'm sure," he assured her emphatically. "I spent a lot of time thinking about it."

"Why though?" she asked. When all Starswirl did was raise a quizzical brow at her, her face creased in irritation. "Why are you letting me try this? I told you before that I've never done this successfully, so why?" Now it was his turn to feel confused.

"You're my friend, Luna; I trust you." Luna stared at him in silence for a moment before turning to look at the wall. Starswirl shifted about nervously. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she replied before turning to look back at him. She floated the vial over to him, and he took it in his hooves. Taking a careful sip, he was surprised by the fruity flavor that fizzed on his tongue. Quickly gulping down the rest of the potion he handed the vial back to her.

"That tasted pretty good," he said. "How long until—oh..." A large weight pushed down on him, and he felt his eyes close against his will and his whole body relax into sleep. As he lost awareness of his surroundings, he thought he heard Luna whisper, "I won't let you down...friend."

Luna walked upon the flat surface of Starswirl's mind. The ground shimmered with reflected light, but the surroundings were completely black. Luna could see her reflection in the surface, but it was distorted from the ripples that formed with every step she took. Her hoofsteps made light ringing noises that echoed faintly in the distance.

There were no landmarks or other indications of where she was, but she didn't care; she knew where she was going. The air crackled with electricity, as if she were walking through a static filled dust storm. Every so often, a jolt of electricity would spark from the air to strike her, the sound making her flinch each time even though she felt nothing.

She wasn't sure how long she had been walking; time was harder to keep track of when moving outside your own body, but she figured it had only been a few minutes. The ripples along the ground finally struck something in front of her and came spreading back towards her. Peering into the black, she saw what she was looking for; a large dome of what looked like some silvery liquid.

There it is, she thought. The Veil; it's just how I remember it. She picked up her pace and in a few more moments she stood in front of it. The dome was vast, stretching higher and wider than she could see. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch it. A slight tingle ran through her leg, uncomfortable enough that she pulled away.

Alright Luna, you can do this. Just treat it like a dance, right? Reaching for the silver wall once again, this time she put some real pressure behind it. Immediately, she felt the wall start to push back, but she kept a steady amount of force behind the push trying to match with the wall. The tingling sensation was starting to drive her crazy, but she did her best to ignore it. The little game continued for what felt like hours, but finally, Luna felt her hoof sink softly through the dome wall.

I did it! she practically shouted in her mind. Alright, slowly now, just walk through. She walked forward slowly, letting first one leg pass through the barrier, then pushing her face through, then her other leg, and so on. Her whole body felt numb, like when your leg falls asleep after sitting on it for too long.

After pulling her last leg through, she stands still for a moment before opening her eyes. A paved road stretches before her, lined with houses. It looks like some kind of town or village. Is this where he is from? It was night, and the entire town was quiet as she walked down the streets.

Something feels off; the dream seems too...solid, she thought. There was none of the typical distortion that came from looking at the dream world from an outside perspective. I suppose if this is a memory, then the dream would be more stable, but—

Her musings were broken off by a loud crack that echoed in the night air. Whirling around towards the direction the sound came from, she jumped up, letting her wings carry her over the rooftops to get a better view. As she circled in the air looking for the source of the sound, a much louder bang reverberated throughout the village, and she saw a flash of light from one of the smaller houses in the middle of the village. As she dived towards the house, she saw a dark figure fly through one of the house's front windows.

She landed on a roof of a nearby house and waited. As she watched, a unicorn mare in a dark green cloak led a smaller figure in a blue cloak out of the building. Luna recognized the blue cloak as Starswirl's and she flew after them as they ran down the dark streets. They kept running until they encountered more dark figures headed towards them, at which point they turned and ran down a shadowy alley. The figures followed close behind them.

Luna was about to swoop down to help when the world rippled. She pulled out of her dive instantly, and a bright light appeared in front of the two unicorns running below her. She had read about this happening sometimes from her teacher's notes and she thought back to what he had written.

Most dreams are unstable, constantly shifting around you. The dreamer is unaware of this, he acts as if it is completely natural, and for the dreamer it is. Sometimes though, the dream is remarkably stable. This usually happens when the dream draws a great deal upon memory, but there is still some distortion. If, however the dream is completely stable, this is a sign that—

Luna's eyes widened and she froze in midair for a moment before remembering to keep her wings flapping. No, she thought. It can't be. The dream world became more and more unstable, rippling in larger and larger waves. Of course, it all makes sense. Recurring nightmares, complete memory of the dreams, why the sleep potion failed. It all adds up! The bright light filled the entire world, blinding her. She closed her eyes against the light.

If the world is stable again when the light fades, I'll know for sure, she thought. The light faded abruptly, and she opened her eyes to find herself floating over a large forest of tall trees.

There wasn't even a hint of distortion in the world below. Her face set in a scowl, she looked around for Starswirl and his mother. After a few moments of searching, she caught sight of some color running among the trees. There was a large dark shape following them as well.

"Come on, Star," his mother panted out. "We're almost there." He followed silently, too tired to even respond.

"It's the ocean Star," she said with wonder, "I never thought I would see it." She turned around to smile at him, but the smile froze on her face, and her eyes widened. "Starswirl, I need you to come here now." Her voice wavered with contained emotions. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when he felt a hot, moist breath on the back of his head. Starswirl stiffened, then jumped to his feet and ran towards his mother, who also ran towards him. He ran as fast as he could, but whatever it was, it stayed right behind him, growing closer with each step.

Fear finally overtook Starswirl, and he threw himself to the ground and covered his head with his hooves, hoping it wouldn't hurt too badly. Instead of an onset of pain, he felt a rush of air as whatever it was jumped over him and kept running towards his mother. A jolt of surprise and fear ran up his spine, and he looked up to see a giant grey wolf charging towards his mother. It was almost as tall as Star Song, and a third longer. Star Song was clearly not prepared for the wolf to completely ignore Starswirl, but she stopped running, standing her ground before the beast.

Star Song reared her head back to try and dodge, but she didn't have time. The wolf opened its jaws wide, but just as it was about to bite down, a dark blue blur slammed into it, sending the wolf flying. Starswirl gasped in surprise and relief as he looked at his mother's savior.

Luna floated in the air, her large wings keeping her aloft for a few moments before she landed. Starswirl tried to run to her, but Star Song got to him first. She grabbed him and held him close, trying to protect him with her body as they turned to look at the scene playing out in front of them.

Luna did not even spare a glance towards Starswirl, keeping her attention solely on the grey predator as it pulled itself back to its feet. Starswirl watched in amazement as the shiny blue eyes of the wolf changed to a pale yellow. It stood staring at Luna, and she stared back. It began to circle them, trying to go around their protector to get to its prey. Luna mirrored its every move, keeping herself between the wolf and its food.

Suddenly, the wolf sprang forward, moving fast, too fast. It shot past Luna before she could react, and leapt snarling towards Starswirl and his mother. Starswirl gasped in surprise and fear, but before the wolf reached them, it slammed into a shining blue field that suddenly appeared between them. The wolf ricocheted off the shield with a yelp, landing a few feet away. It tried to stand, but before it could, a bright blue aura surrounded it and the wolf was hurled into a nearby tree.

There was a sick crunch of bones snapping, and when the wolf came to its feet once more, it was with a noticeable limp. Luna moved to stand between them again, meeting the pale eyes with an unblinking gaze. Starswirl and Star Song now sat a few dozen meters from the side of the cliff. Luna stood along the cliff face a short distance from them, and the wolf was only a bit further than that. The two stared at each other for long moments until the wolf grinned.

Starswirl stared, horrified, as the creature...changed. That was really the only way to describe it. The bones under the skin began to shift about; it stood upon its back legs as its limbs changed shape, become larger and more bipedal. Its fur fell off in chunks, revealing leathery skin that shone in the moonlight; it reminded Starswirl of a snake he had once seen. The forelegs became arms, and the paws turned into claws with long fingers. The tail grew longer, and its jaws began to shrink back into the skull. The mouth became a gaping maw with razor fangs and the nose a pair of recessed slits. It grew larger and larger until it was taller than the tallest trees.

The monster threw its head back with a loud roar that shook the forest. Starswirl buried his face in his mother's coat and she gripped him more tightly as they shook with fear together. Luna watched the entire transformation without blinking. When the creature roared, she lowered her head, but not from fear. Her horn began to glow with magical energy, brighter and brighter until a shaft of magical power shot from her horn to lance its way into the monster's chest, passing completely through to the other side.

The monster's roar of power became a shriek of pain as it collapsed into a crouch. Instead of blood, liquid fire spewed out of both holes. Fire from its chest landed on the grass they stood on, while the bits from its back landed among the trees of the forest. Both caught fire, and soon the clearing was filled with smoke. Star Song used her magic to keep the smoke away from herself and her son, but the smoke obscured Luna and the monster for a few moments.

When the smoke cleared enough for them to see, to their amazement the monster was not only alive, the wounds on its chest were closing. In moments, it was completely healed. The creature looked at Luna warily, but Luna only blinked once, returning it's look without emotion. Standing on its feet once more, the creature took a deep breath of air, its chest swelling impossibly large. When it had taken as much air into it as it could, it opened its mouth to spew liquid fire at the three ponies before it.

Starswirl cried in fear as the flames rushed towards him, and he buried his face into his mother once more, waiting for pain and death to wash over him. Neither came; he opened his eyes. Once more, a bright blue shield surrounded both him and his mother. White hot flames surrounded them, but he was able to see Luna through the fire. She was protected herself with her own shield. He could still feel the heat of the fire, but the shield was keeping most of the heat at bay.

That's amazing, he thought. Being able to cast two shields at one time can't be easy. He opened his mouth to cheer, but the breath caught in his throat. He tried to breath, but no air filled his lungs; he was choking! He stared at the flames in realization. The fire didn't need to touch them to kill, it would burn up all the air, choking them to death.

Luna had come to the same conclusion. Her expression didn't change, but she altered her stance, spreading her legs slightly. Lowering her head once more, her horn began to glow, brighter than before. As her horn glowed more intensely with each passing second though, Starswirl noticed the heat of the flames growing more intense as well. When a patch of fur on Star Songs' leg began to blacken, he realized what was happening. Luna was trying to gather more magical energy then she had. She wasn't able to work whatever magic she was trying to use and both shields at one time.

I need to do something, he thought desperately. Looking at the blue shield, he tried to copy it. Closing his eyes, he pictured a shield of his own and gathered the magic to his horn. The heat of the fire slowing faded, and he opened his eyes to see a shimmering gold shield surrounding him and his mother. He pushed the shield outward until it brushed against Luna's.

When Luna felt Starswirl's shield brush against her own, she turned to look at him. Her eyes widened when she saw the shield, then narrowed when he nodded at her. To his surprise, he heard her voice inside his head.

I'm trusting you Star.

She turned back to the monster and dropped her shield surrounding them. Intense heat washed over him immediately, and he saw his own fur begin to blacken and smoke. Quickly, he put more power behind the shield, everything he had, and the heat lessened. He was running out of time though. He could see the edges of his vision darken from lack of air.

Luna's horn shone brighter than ever, and a loud roaring could be heard from somewhere. Turning towards the noise, Starswirl watched, stunned, to see a massive wave from the ocean headed right for them. The monster saw it as well, and tried to turn and run when suddenly, the cliff face he was standing on collapsed beneath him and he fell, barely catching himself on the edge. Luna had used her magic to tear the ground he stood on away from the cliff face.

The wave washed over them all, extinguishing the flames and allowing them to breathe freely once more. The wave receded, and the ocean lowered back to its normal level. Starswirl fell to the ground, exhausted; he had used too much magic and his shield vanished. Steam from the extinguished fires hissed in the air. He watched the monster pull itself up off the cliff, but he was much too tired to care. It stared at them without emotion for a moment, then it wavered in the air like water that you threw a rock into, and then vanished.

Starswirl let his head fall to the ground, closing his eyes. He felt his mother's hooves pull him into a gentle hug.

"You saved our lives Star," she whispered to him. "I'm so proud of you." He felt himself blush at his mother's praise, but he shook his head slightly.

"It wasn't just me; Luna deserves more thanks than me." He opened his eyes to thank Luna, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"What are you talking about Starswirl?" his mother asked in a worried voice. "There was no one else here but us."

Luna opened her eyes with a groan. Her entire body was sore, and she was as tired as if she had been awake a whole week straight. Struggling to her feet, she stumbled over to Starswirl's bed. She focused as much as she could and cast a quick spell on his sleeping form. He stirred slightly as the blue aura surrounded him, but did not wake.

Turning to her bed she walked towards it, but fell to the ground before she made it halfway. She was so tired; too tired to even cast a spell to help herself. The irony of the situation didn't escape her, but she was too tired to even care about that. Crawling the last few feet to her bed, she dragged herself up. As soon as her head hit her pillow, she passed out, but one word echoed through her dreamless sleep.

Umbralaven

Author's Note

That is the end of Part One. For details of Part Two see my latest blog post here.

I also want to thank everyone who has read my story, especially those who actually made it this far. I know I'm not the best writer, but I hope I am at least getting better. So thanks for sticking with this so far, I really appreciate it.

"I forgot...

“This is sooo relaxing, Marim. Why don’t we do this sort of thing more often?” The creamy white alicorn mare relaxed in the rivers’ current, allowing its steady movement to carry her troubles along with it. Her pink and red mane billowed around her head underwater as a soft cloud.

“Because you always say you’re too busy, silly,” the sky-blue filly responded with a laugh. “You really should relax more often.” The small earth pony swam steadily back and forth in the gentle currents.

“Well, you’ve convinced me.” Corvare sighed as she felt knots in her neck she hadn’t even realized were there start to loosen at the rivers constant pressure. The calmness of the forest surroundings helped to clear her mind of the dozens of responsibilities she was letting pile up while she lay there.

“What’s this?” came the more masculine voice of her older brother, Nemus. “Is my uptight sister actually enjoying herself for once? Will wonders ever cease...?” The slightly mocking tone set Corvare’s teeth slightly on edge, but her older brother’s presence was part of what was relaxing her, so she let it go. She really didn’t get to see enough of Nemus these days.

“Aww, don’t be so mean, Nemus,” Marim piped up. “She works hard to keep us all safe, just like you do.”

“Don’t worry about me, Marim,” Corvare spoke up. “Not even Nemus could spoil my good mood right now.”

“A challenge? Now don’t tempt me further.” Corvare sighed again, this time in annoyance. “I tease, sister; enjoy your day off.” Reassured, she settled back, determined to make the most of the day.

“So, where is Celestia?” Marim asked. “I thought she was going to join us.”

And just like that, the moment’s ruined, Corvare thought as she felt all those knots begin to tighten back up. She couldn’t really blame Marim though; being tactful was never a strong aspect of eight-year old fillies.

“How should I know,” Corvare responded, trying her best to keep her tone light and civil. Her jealousy dripped through her charade though, making Nemus and Marim exchange an awkward glance. “She’s probably somewhere showing off to mother.”

An uncomfortable silence hung over the three, the flow of the river the only noise until Nemus cleared his throat. “Ahem, well, any idea where Luna got off to? I saw her run off with Atton this morning.” Marim looked pointedly away.

“Not sure, they could be anywhere by now.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Nemus asked, slightly concerned. Luna wasn’t known for being the most level-headed of fillies.

“Oh, nothing, I think Luna asked Atton to teach her how to, uh, fly.”

“What!” Corvare sat up hurriedly, throwing water over the other two. “Luna is far too young to be trying to fly! Where is she?” Marim shrugged her shoulders and opened her mouth to reply, but stopped and tilted her head as if listening to something. Looking up, she smiled and pointed.

“Oh, there she is.” Nemus and Corvare both looked up in time to see a blue blur come crashing down into the river. Corvare and Marim both jumped back in surprise, but Nemus quickly dove after his little sister. He came back up a few moments later several meters downstream from where Luna had landed, the blue alicorn filly securely held in his teeth.

He swam to the edge of the river before dumping the sputtering and coughing Luna on the shore and hauling himself out. “Are you okay, Luna,” he asked as he helped his sister sit up and spit out an impressive amount of water. She nodded, but was still coughing too hard to speak.

Marim and Corvare pulled themselves out of the river as well and ran to check on Luna as Nemus tried to shake the water off of his feathers. Marim ran up and started to pound on Luna’s back. “There you go, Luna, just cough up all that water so you can breath.”

“It’s okay,” Luna choked out between coughing fits. “I’m... fine.”

“Wow, Luna,” came another voice from above. They looked up to see another sky-blue pegasus, Marim’s twin brother, Atton. He floated on a cloud just above them, an excited grin on his face. “You did much better that time.”

“That was a complete free-fall,” Corvare practically yelled at the young colt. “How could that, in any way, have been an improvement?!”

Atton thought carefully for a moment. “Well,” he answered carefully. “She managed to not hit the ground this time.”

“Oh, by the stars, Luna.” Corvare kneeled down next to her sister, taking a closer look at her. Her small body was covered in bumps, scratches, and bruises, and she was carefully nursing her front left leg. “Nemus, help me with her smaller injuries.”

Nemus nodded and closed his eyes. His horn lit up, and a green aura surrounded Luna as his healing magic went to work. The scratches closed and the bumps and bruises faded away. Luna squirmed around, giggling.

“That tickles,” she squeaked out as the strange sensations made her skin crawl slightly. “Ow!” she exclaimed as Corvare tried to extend her hurt leg all the way. Luna slapped her sister’s hooves away. “That hurt, Corvare!”

“Of course it hurt,” Corvare said as she tried to get Luna to hold still. “I’m pretty sure your leg’s broken.” Corvare grabbed Luna’s hoof again and started to extend her leg, slower this time. The pain made Luna squirm around more, instinctively trying to pull away from the source of pain.

“Marim, can you help hold her still so I can fix her leg?” Corvare asked the blue earth pony. Marim wrapped Luna up in a hug, holding her still and comforting her at the same time.

“It’s okay, Luna, just a few moments, and you’ll start to feel much better.” The amber glow of Corvare’s spell wrapped around Luna’s injured knee, and she whimpered at the prickling pain that pierced her leg. “It won’t last much longer; remember when I broke my leg? Corvare fixed it up so fast I barely felt it.”

Sure enough, just a few moments after Corvare started her spell, the pain in Luna’s leg began to fade, leaving a slightly numb sensation behind. As Corvare let the spell dissipate, Luna stretched her leg around, glad to be pain-free once more.

“Thanks, Corvare,” Luna said, smiling at her older sister. Corvare smiled back and patted Luna on the head. Then she straightened up into her ‘lecture’ pose that Luna recognized so well.

“I’m so sorry, I promise I won’t do it again,” Luna blurted out quickly, hoping to head her sister off and avoid a lengthy lecture.

“Sorry isn’t going to do it this time, Luna.” The serious look on Corvare’s face left Luna slightly worried. “You were seriously hurt; you could have died!”

“I really am sorry this time though. I promise not to do it again, please don’t tell mother.”

“This is far beyond telling mother, Luna. I’m of half a mind to not let you out of my sight for the next fifty years!” Now that was a scary thought; Luna loved her eldest sister, but Corvare was boring! All she ever did was walk around the forest and look out past the borders into the wasteland.

“Oh, there’s no need to go to that extreme,” Nemus spoke up, earning him a heartfelt thankful look from his youngest sister. “I think it’s time she starts her magic lessons, and who better to teach her than mother?”

Luna’s relieved expression turned to one of horror; mother spent all her time in dusty laboratories and moldy libraries. She couldn’t imagine a more boring experience. Corvare thought it over carefully for a moment.

“You may be right, Nemus,” Corvare said thoughtfully, looking at Luna’s face. She had no intention of having mother teach Luna; mother was far too busy for that. If Luna was forced to ‘choose’ her mentors though, Corvare preferred she chose her siblings rather than be forced into it. Corvare opened her mouth to give her ultimatum, but Atton cut her off.

“Hey, look over there,” he cried out, and everypony else turned to look where he was pointing. “Is that a vesper pony?” Sure enough, walking through the trees was a dark grey pony with the large ears and leathery wings of a vesper.

What’s a vesper doing here? Corvare wondered. Vesper, or bat ponies, lived apart from the rest of the three tribes, living in their secret home, The Hollow. It was rare to see one in the forest, and judging from the direction it was traveling, it had just come from the Tower.

The pony turned to look in their direction and its eyes met with Corvare’s. Instead of the reptilian eyes of a vesper though, a normal rounded pupil set within pale yellow stared back at her. Corvare stiffened, a low growl sounding deep in her throat.

“It’s him!” she spat out.

“It is?” Nemus sounded surprised and he took a much closer look. “Well, well, it’s been a few decades since we saw him last.”

“Who,” Luna asked, wondering who could visibly upset Corvare so much.

“His name is Umbralaven.”

“Nemus!” Corvare spun on her brother, furious.

“What?” Nemus replied, unshaken by her temper. “She’ll only keep bugging us until we tell her.” Corvare growled again, but kept quiet as Nemus turned back to Luna. “Umbra is a shapeshifter; you remember the stories father would tell you, about how he and mother used the Elements of Harmony to defeat the Heart of Chaos and bring order to the world?”

Luna nodded; it was only her favorite story of all time! “Do you remember the part about the chaos demon, the one who guided mother and father to the Heart?”

“That was him?” Nemus nodded in reply. “Then if he’s a friend, why is this the first time I’ve seen him?” Nemus started to respond, but Corvare cut him off.

“Friend? Ha, he’s more like a lost animal that father turned into a pet. I don’t know why father allows him to roam free.”

“He prefers his privacy,” Nemus answered Luna, ignoring Corvare. “Sometimes though, he comes to visit to help our parents out with a magical problem they might be having.” Luna’s eyes lit up at that.

“He’s good at magic?”

“Very good, apparently, though I don’t know how powerful he really is.” Luna sat thinking for a long moment.

“Hey, Atton,” she suddenly spoke up. The pegasus colt peeked at her over the edge of his cloud.

“Yeah?”

“You hungry?”

“A little,” he admitted cheerily.

“Then let’s go back to the Tower, I’m starving.”

“Oh, okay; bye Marim, I’ll see you later.” Marim waved goodbye to her twin before jumping back into the river with a splash.

“I’ll want to talk to you later, Luna,” Corvare called out as Luna and Atton zoomed off on the cloud together. Marim, Corvare, and Nemus settled back into the rivers current, Corvare doing her best to relax again. Nemus shifted around for a few minutes uncomfortably.

“You do know she went after Umbralaven, right?” he finally spoke up.

“What?” Corvare stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Why else would she want lunch at nine in the morning?”

Corvare sat stunned for a few tense moments before shooting out of the water. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?!”

“I thought it was obvious,” he responded.

“Well, it wasn’t! Oh, when I find her, she is going to be in so much trouble.”

“This is far enough.” Luna had to shout to make herself heard over the rushing wind; Atton really enjoyed flying fast. Atton turned to her, confused.

“Far enough from what?”

“Far enough from Corvare so she can’t find me before I catch up to Umbra-what’s-his-name.”

“So, wait,” Atton said as he slowed their speed enough so they didn’t have to yell at each other. “You mean we’re not going to get some food?”

“Of course not, it’s only— don’t tell me you’re already hungry?”

“A little, yeah,” Atton answered defensively. “You would be too if you had to fly another pony around all day!”

“Ugh, alright fine, just put me down here. Then you can go stuff your face.”

“Alright,” he replied cheerfully, lowering the cloud until it hovered only a few feet off the ground. “Bye, Luna,” he called as she jumped off, then took off, flying back in the direction of the Tower. She head into the forest, quickly finding the trail that Umbralaven had left.

The trail he left was obvious to the filly, who spent much of her time in the forest. The disturbed leaves and broken branches allowed her to quickly and easily follow him. She kept a brisk pace, her head down as she kept her eyes open for the trail.

Her heart leapt in her chest at a sudden rush of movement behind her. Spinning around, she held as motionless as she could as she looked among the trees for any sign of movement. Her ears twitched, listening for odd sounds, but all she heard was her own pounding heart.

Nothing was there.

Luna’s heartbeat slowly returned to normal, and as the sound of birds and scampering of squirrels returned, she sighed in relief. She relaxed and turned to follow the trail again— and recoiled in surprise.

A pair of ponies stood not five feet away from her, studying her closely with orange reptilian eyes. How did they sneak up on me like that, she thought in amazement. The vesper stared at her, and she stared back. Vesper ponies were so rare and reclusive, this was the first time she had been close to one. It was amazing to her how something so similar could be so alien.

The two had dark grey fur, but the one on the left was slightly darker. They were the same size and build, though Luna thought the one on the right was male. Their extra-large ears swiveled and twitched, the only movement except for the occasional slow blink. Their muzzles were slightly shorter than an average pony, their mouths slightly wider with the tips of their pointed teeth showing.

“Uhh... hello?” Luna said, finally breaking the silence.

“Is there something we can help you with?” the one on the right asked, its deep voice confirming that it was male.

“Oh, no, not really,” Luna replied, hesitating a moment. “I was just following somepony.”

“You were following us,” The mare on the left said caustically, baring her fangs slightly.

“My mistake, I was trying to follow... you know, it doesn’t really matter, sorry for bothering you.” Luna turned and started to run, but ran smack into something standing behind her. She staggered back with a yelp, holding her nose.

“Perhaps I could help you then?”

It was another vesper, but this one was slightly taller and instead of the reptilian slits, his pupils were a normal circle. His eyes were a pale yellow that seemed to glow slightly. Luna gasped in surprise, but when she realized who it was, she stood up straight and tried to give a welcoming smile.

“Hello, my name is Luna,” she introduced herself, taking care to be respectful. “Are you Umbralaven?”

“Yes,” he replied, a bored look on his face.

“Is it true that you’re a shapeshifter?”

“It is.”

“Cool, can you show me?” Luna asked in excitement.

“I could, but I won’t,” he deadpanned in reply.

“Oh,” Luna said, greatly disappointed.

“Is that all you wanted?” He started to move around her without waiting for an answer, but she jumped quickly in front of him again.

“Wait, I had one more question,” Luna cried.

“Very well,” he replied, but now he looked and sounded bored and impatient.

“I hear you’re good with magic; is that true?”

“Yes, I am; do you have any other questions, or can I go now?”

“Just one more,” Luna said, and her chest tightened up a bit with nervousness. “It’s more of a favor really; could you please teach me magic?” She closed her eyes tight, her chest swelling up as she held her breath.

“No.”

...

He brushed past her and continued through the trees leaving her behind. Luna blinked a couple of times in surprise before whirling around and chasing after him. His two companions were following him closely, but she pushed past them to walk behind Umbralaven.

“Why not?” she asked, careful to not sound as though she were whining.

“Because I said so, isn’t that enough?”

“Of course not; that only says that you don’t really have a reason, you’re just lazy.” He gave her an arch look over his shoulder, but she just smiled sweetly at him.

“I have no desire to teach someone as young as you,” he finally answered turning back to look where he was going.

“As an alicorn, isn’t my age relational? After all, I’m already older than most ponies I know.”

“The word you’re looking for is ‘relative’, and no it isn’t. By my standards you are still very young, barely more than a squalling infant.”

“There’s no need to be condensing,” Luna replied, slightly annoyed now.

“That’s ‘condescending’, and stop using big words you don’t know the meaning of.” Umbralaven’s tone had gone from impatient to annoyed.

“Are you going to be my teacher,” she asked innocently.

“No.”

“Then you really can’t tell me what to do, can you? Now give me a real reason.”

“Listen,” Umbralaven snarled, his tone causing Luna ‘s smile to fade. “Even if I wanted to teach you, which I don’t, your father would never allow it.” That stopped Luna in her tracks; it really was a good reason. Even if he did agree to teach her, she would need her father’s permission. And why would he give permission when she had an entire family of powerful magic users to teach her? The thought angered her, and she felt her chance to learn something different and exciting slipping through her hooves.

“So, my sister was right then,” she yelled after him, letting her anger speak for her. “You really are nothing more than my father’s pet.” The reaction to that was instantaneous. The vesper mare spun angrily to snarl at her, while the other stared at her darkly. Umbralaven’s reaction was the most interesting though.

He paused for a moment, his head tilted slightly before turning to look at her as if seeing her for the first time. The vesper mare crouched as if to pounce at Luna, who backed up in alarm, but just as she moved to leap, Umbralaven held out a hoof to restrain her. She looked up at him in confusion that only deepened when she saw his face.

Umbralaven walked towards Luna slowly, intensely studying her. Their eyes met, and the scrutiny of his gaze gave Luna the shivers; it was as if he was not just seeing her, but every little thing that she was made of. Every hair in her mane, every speck of dust on her hooves, every vein in her eyes. She even imagined that she could feel him looking into her very thoughts.

Luna couldn’t take it any more; she broke eye contact, looking down at the ground and the sensation vanished. She felt his continued gaze on her for several long moments before he spoke again.

“An attempt at manipulation,” he remarked thoughtfully; it wasn’t a question. “To try and evoke an emotional response on my part in order to force me to choose to give you what you want, just so I could prove you wrong about me.” He chuckled softly before continuing.

“Unfortunately for you, I couldn’t care less what you think of me. Still,” he continued, his tone still thoughtful, “you show more cunning than I would have expected from one so young.”

“I’m little, not young,” Luna remarked obstinately, daring to look at him once more.

“You’re both,” he countered coolly, and Luna scowled at him. “Still, you have managed to make yourself a bit more interesting.”

“So you’ll teach me then?” Luna asked, her heart soaring with hope.

“Not quite yet, I need to know if you are even worth the time it would take to teach you anything worthwhile.” Umbralaven raised one of his wings, revealing a pouch he had concealed underneath. His eyes glowed brightly, and a pale yellow aura opened the pouch and removed what appeared to be a small rock, its surface uneven and multi-hued. He floated the rock over to her, and she took it hesitantly.

“What is this?” she asked nervously.

“A test,” he answered. “If you can make that seed grow into fruition and bring me the flower that sprouts from its top, then I will agree to teach you anything you wish to know about magic... within reason of course.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Then I doubt very much that we will ever speak again. There is a simple rule that you must follow. It must be you who casts the spell to make the seed grow, as well as pick the flower. I don’t care if you get help, but it must be your work or it doesn’t count. Be careful as well who you show the seed to. Show it to the wrong person, and they will want to know where you got it. If they don’t like the answer... well, they’ll probably take it from you.”

“You have three days to do this; I will be waiting for you here at sundown on the third day. If you break the rule, I will know, and I won’t even bother showing up. Do you understand?”

Luna nodded and looked down at the seed she held in her hooves—

“Enjoying the memories?”

Luna sat up in bed with a start, her breath coming in gasps as she tried to place where she was. A quick look around showed she was in her room at the tower; she gave a relieved sigh. The sunlight streaming through her window gave her a clear view of her spacious bedroom, as well as her young guest. The sight of Starswirl still curled up in his small bed snoring softly brought the events of the previous night back to her.

Rolling out of bed, she stretched herself out and rubbed her eyes awake. She felt far better after a good night’s sleep, though she still felt slightly sore. Walking over to his sleeping form, she made certain the protection spell she placed on him last night was still in effect, relaxing further as a blue aura shone around him.

What a strange thing to dream about, considering recent events, she thought, both her dream and Starswirl’s still weighing on her mind.

“Very strange indeed.”

Luna froze, confusion and nervousness tightening her stomach. There was no one else here, but she had still heard the voice clearly. “Umbralaven?” she whispered.

“A messenger will be arriving soon,” came the voice again, and Luna realized with fear that it was coming from her own mind. Now that she had noticed, she could feel his presence in her head like a wet cloth resting on her forehead. “It would be best if you were ready to receive her.”

“Get out of my head,” she whispered again, the best she could manage through her fear and surprise. The bizarre sensation faded away as quickly as she had noticed it. Feeling light-headed, she leaned against her bed for a moment, trying to come to grips with what had just happened.

He has grown much more powerful since we last met, she thought with a twinge of concern over Starswirl’s safety. Whatever Umbralaven had planned for the colt, it certainly didn’t seem too concerned with his mental health. Well, he isn’t the only one who’s learned a few new tricks, she thought as confidently as she could manage.

Walking over to one of her cabinets, she opened a drawer filled with jewelry, some expensive, others not quite so. Selecting a small necklace of silver, she held it up for closer inspection. The necklace itself was simple, just a silver chain, but the adornment was of the moon, skillfully carved.

It had been a gift from a vesper filly who had admired her from afar. It was the first piece she had crafted after earning her cutie mark in metal-working, and she had made it as a sign of appreciation for the young mare she had looked up to.

This will do just fine, Luna thought as she carried the necklace over to her desk. Dipping a quill into some ink, she carefully wrote a few simple lines onto a piece of parchment that she then rolled into a scroll.

Grabbing both scroll and necklace, she stopped to look at Starswirl one more time. He slept soundly, still under the effect of the sleeping potion. She stared at him, her expression unreadable. She watched his side gently rise and fall for a few moments, then turned, leaving the room to find her sister.

Author's Note

It's been a long time, but the new chapter is finally up. Also, if you don't mind just leave a short comment to let me know what you thought, I'd appreciate it, especially since it has been so long.

to remember...

Celestia’s brow creased in concentration, as she focused solely on the task in front of her. This was too important to mess up. Moving the knife in quick, even strokes, she felt a bead of sweat run down her face. Wiping away the sweat, she stepped back to admire her work, blinking away tears in irritation. Satisfied, she scraped the onions into the frying pan where they pleasantly hissed away.

After that, she poured in the eggs, where they blended together with the onions temptingly. A few minutes and a half dozen ingredients later, and a giant, golden-yellow omelet sat steaming in two halves upon the kitchen table. Pleased with her work, she took her seat at the table, waiting for her younger sister.

Not really sure why Luna’s still sleeping this late in the morning, Celestia thought. But whatever the reason, at least it gives me the chance to do something nice for her. As Celestia expected, it wasn’t long before Luna walked into the kitchen, freezing at the unusual sight of her sister there waiting for her.

“Good morning Luna! You certainly are up late this morning.” Luna stood motionless, blinking a few more times before a smile of joy spread across her face. She moved around the table and before Celestia could stop her, she pulled her older sister into a crushing hug. Celestia felt her face warm slightly at the obvious affection and happiness in her little sister’s embrace.

“Good morning to you as well, ‘Tia,” Luna said as she pulled away. “It certainly nice to see you... up, for a change.” Celestia shuffled about on her chair, flustered by Luna’s unusually exuberant greeting. She shifted her wings a bit, stretching them out and checking her feathers in a nervous habit.

“Well, we can’t both sleep all morning. Now, come and have some breakfast; it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure I did a good job.” Instead of the eager look Celestia expected to see on her face, Luna expression fell, and she gave a sigh of regret.

“Sorry, sister, but I don’t have time. I’ll be leaving soon.”

“What do you mean, leaving?” Celestia looked closely at Luna, taking in the bag strapped to her back, the guilty expression, the secretive way she refused to look her older sister in the eye. “And where are you going exactly?”

“Just that,” Luna replied, evading the question as best she could. “I’m leaving shortly, and I’m not sure just how long I’ll be gone.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and she stood up to tower over her smaller sibling.

“Luna—”

“I can’t tell you where I’m going, because I’m not entirely sure where that is.”

“You can at least tell me why you’re going then,” Celestia remarked pointedly. “You haven’t left the tower in decades, and right after we make plans to leave, you tell me you’re leaving for someplace you don’t know, and you don’t know when you’ll be back.” Luna stood silently arguing with herself on just how much Celestia needed to know.

“Luna.” There was none of Celestia’s usual patience or understanding in her voice now.

“Right, yes, of course,” Luna said quickly, turning back to face Celestia again. “It has to do with Starswirl. I know what’s been causing his nightmares. Or, I should really say, who has been causing his nightmares.” Celestia’s expression darkened at the thought of someone harming Starswirl.

“It was Umbralaven.”

Celestia’s angry look turned to confusion. “Wait, I... what—” she blinked a few times as her eyes went out of focus for a moment. “That doesn’t even make any sense. Umbralaven might be a bit... harsh at times, but he doesn’t attack children. Are you sure it’s—”

“Of course I’m sure!” Luna said, louder than she meant to. She ducked her head slightly when her sister arched her brow in surprise. “Sorry; yes, I know it’s him. He’s sending someone to fetch me. I expect he’ll be here soon.” Celestia sat thinking for a minute before standing.

“Right, well, I’m coming with you. I admit, I don’t really trust him with you, not after that falling out you had.”

“No, ‘Tia, you stay here; that business between Umbralaven and myself was all my fault. You need to stay here and watch Starswirl. Besides, I have something I need you to do.” Luna levitated the moon pendant and scroll from her pouch, floating them over to Celestia. “I put a protective spell on Starswirl; it should be strong enough to keep Umbra out of his head. I put the spell down here, I just need you to cast it on this charm.”

“A more permanent solution? Good idea,” Celestia said, taking the items with her own magic. She rolled open the scroll and studied the instructions written within. “Of course, I’ll take care of it.”

“Now,” she continued after floating the scrolls behind her to rest on the table. “I know you have to leave, but surely you can have some of this breakfast I made before I go, right?”

“You really should ya know,” an unfamiliar voice said from the table. Both sisters froze in shock before turning to look at who was speaking. To their astonishment, a smallish grey vesper mare was sitting at Luna’s place at the table, shovelling the last bits of Luna’s omelet into her mouth before sitting back into the chair. “Ahhhh, that was great.” The vesper grabbed a napkin and wiped some of the grease off her chin. “You sure you don’t want some? That has to have been the best omelet I’ve ever had.”

She blinked a few times as silence was her only answer, then shrugged and reached across the table to take Celestia’s half of the omelet.

“That’s mine,” Celestia said, grabbing the plate away from the intruder with her magic. The mare overreached trying to grab the plate anyways and slipped, sprawling over the table.

“Okay, fine,” she said, blowing a lock of her mane out of her now grumpy look on her face. “No need to be so grabby.”

“Grabby—!” Celestia half shouted in disbelief. “I made that for my sister, you—you—”

“I take it your my guide?” Luna cut in. The mare smiled and sat up on top of the table, hanging her back legs over the edge, swinging them back and forth like a bored foal.

“That’s me! The name’s—”

“Bright Eyes, right?” Luna asked slyly. The mare’s yellow eyes, which did have a remarkable sheen to them, widened in alarm.

“Ho-How did—?” she stammered out.

“Your grandfather told me about you the last time he visited me. Told me all about his daughter’s little ball of terror; a ‘yellow eyed devil’ he called you.”

“Okay, right, you know gramps, huh?” Bright Eyes relaxed again, her legs once again swinging away. “Call me Brie though, alright?”

“Well, Brie, I’m Luna and this is Celestia; though I assume you’re already aware of that.” Brie nodded several times. “Right, well, as pleasant as this has all been, I don’t want to waste any more time; let’s get going.” Brie jumped off the table and walked out of the kitchen humming to herself along the way.

Luna turned to her sister, but Celestia spoke first, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Luna,” she said with a smile. “Sorry you didn’t get your breakfast, though. Tell ya what, I’ll make you something every day till you get back, alright?” Luna smiled back, and Celestia walked off pushing the door to the kitchen open.

Luna sighed, but just as she started to relax, there was a loud splash followed by a hollow banging sound. She heard Celestia give a small cry of surprise, and she rushed out of the kitchen to see what had happened. Celestia stood just outside in a puddle of water, soaking wet, with a bucket dangling from her horn. Her eyes were wide with shock, but her face was twisted into an ugly scowl as she watched Brie lying on her back, kicking the air in laughter.

Luna quickly rushed past Celestia to Brie, whispering an apology to her sister, and grabbed the vesper by the ear with her teeth, dragging her up off the ground none too gently, and then pulling her whining out of the hall. Celestia stood motionless, listening as Luna dragged Brie off.

“Hey, watch the ear, I need that ya know. OW! Seriously, are you trying to rip it off!”

“Okay, I’m sorry, please just let go!”

Luna stood outside the tower, Brie’s ear still clamped between her teeth. Luna had walked her all the way outside like that, and while Luna wasn’t as big as her sister, she still dwarfed the small vesper. Brie had been forced to half fly, half jump on her back legs just to keep Luna from tearing her ear off.

Satisfied that Brie was done messing around, Luna let go of her ear. Brie collapsed on the ground, whimpering as she cradled her ear. After giving her some time to recover, Luna nudged her a few times with her hoof.

“C’mon, the day’s getting on.” The early morning chill was long gone from the air, and the sun could clearly be seen peeking over the edge of the tower’s walls now. “If we hurry, we can get to your home by the end of the day.”

“No, we can’t,” Brie whined in return. “It’ll take at least two days to get there.”

“Two days?” Luna blinked a few times before continuing. “It’s only been a few hours since Umbralaven and I... talked.”

“Yeah? Well, he sent me out to get you as soon as the colt set foot in the tower, three days ago. Getting back in two days is pushing it already.” Luna absorbed that bit of information in silence; whatever Umbra was planning, he was definitely several steps ahead of her.

“In that case, get up,” Luna said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”

“Fine.” Bright Eyes got to her hooves, still rubbing her ear. After stretching out her leathery wings a few times, she leaped into the air, holding herself aloft with steady strokes. Luna flew after her, keeping a close distance to her as they flew low over the trees of the forest.

They flew in silence for a long while, Brie still rubbing at her sensitive ears and shooting dark looks over her shoulder from time to time. Every so often, Brie would startle Luna by tucking her wings and diving into the forest, but before Luna could go after her each time, Brie would fly back above the trees with a piece of fruit or bug firmly trapped in her fangs.

Finally, Luna grew bored of nothing but flying, and raced to catch up to the young vesper.

“Why did you do that to my sister?” Luna asked as she flew alongside Brie.

“Thought it would be funny,” Brie replied with a grin. “And, boy, was it.”

“I doubt she’d agree with you.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t do it for her.”

The sun had already passed its apex before Brie called for a short break; they landed in a small grove of trees on the edge of the forest. A small creek flowed nearby, and Brie immediately drank her fill while Luna settled in the shade of the trees. Luna opened up her bag, spilling out an assortment of fruit from the tower’s orchards.

Luna started to tuck in, but stopped when she saw Brie; she had settled down a few feet away, and was giving the meal a sideways look. With a small sigh, Luna pushed the food over towards her. Brie grinned widely and started eating with a relish.

“You’re certainly eating a lot of my food today,” Luna said, watching Brie down a cheese sandwich in a couple of large bites. Brie didn’t answer, just kept eating.

They continued eating in silence until Luna spoke up.

“So, how is your grandfather doing? It’s been a very long time since I saw him last.” Brie paused mid-bite, then slowly set her food back on the ground.

“Look,” she said, a wary look on her face. “Not that I don’t believe you or anything, but how exactly do you know Gramps?”

“He was a messenger for Umbralaven, same as you are now. He came to give some messages to me every so often, and we both did each other some favors on occasion.” Brie sat motionless, staring at the same spot on the ground for about a minute.

Brie grabbed an apple out of the pile of food sitting between the two, holding it up as she looked for any blemishes, turning it back and forth in her hoof.

“When I left, he was lying on his deathbed.” Brie avoided looking Luna in the eye, instead focusing all her attention on the apple. “I doubt he’s lasted this long.”

Luna sighed, hanging her head in regret, the familiar hollow feeling of loss settling into her gut. Losing friends hurt, but not being there when they died always hurt more. “I’m sorry; I had a great deal of respect for your grandfather. But, why are you here, instead of with your family?”

“He had great respect for you as well.” There was something about the way she said that that made Luna look up at her. A caution and reserve that made Luna curious.

“And you? I take it you don’t feel the same.”

Bright Eyes stood up, dropping her untouched apple. “You were the one in such a hurry. Then let’s get going.” Without waiting, Brie took off into the air again, and Luna scrambled to put the remaining food back in her bag and catch up.

The rest of the day passed in silence. Bright Eyes ignored Luna each time she tried to start a conversation, and Luna eventually gave up trying. They had flown northwest most of the day, but once the sun started to dip over the horizon, Brie turned straight west, flying towards a distant mountain range.

“Hold up,” Luna called out. “I know this area; there’s a small mountain village not far from here. It’s a family group of earth ponies, and some pegasi as well.”

“I know that,” Brie called back. “Where do you think we’re going?”

“Do you think they will let us stay the night?”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to mind.” Luna frowned at that; Brie didn’t sound... right. Luna didn’t have time to ask questions though, as they cleared the mountains into the valley and the village came into view, just as the sun sank under the other mountain range in the distance. The village was small, a smattering of wood houses along a single road that led in both directions towards the mountains.

Luna could tell something was wrong instantly; no candles burned in windows and no kitchen fires sent clouds of cheery smoke into the air. The entire valley was too quiet, not even the small movements of animals could be seen. Alarmed, Luna dove towards the ground, landing in the center of the town next to a large well.

“Hello!” Luna called out, but only the echoes answered. Running to one of the houses, she peered in the window. Nothing was inside, no furniture or other household items. Walking to the door, she was surprised to find it unlocked. It gave way with the slightest push.

The entire house was as empty as the view from the window had suggested. A thick layer of dust covered everything; whoever had lived here had left a long time ago. Shutting the door to the house behind her, she walked back over to the well where Bright Eyes was waiting for her, eyes fixed on the ground.

“I don’t understand what happened, the house was abandoned long ago.” Bright Eyes looked up at Luna for a second, then back at the ground.

“They’re all like that,” she said. Luna’s eyes narrowed, and she looked around the village.

“How can you know for sure?” Luna asked. “We haven’t looked in each building.”

“I know.” Again, her tone drew Luna’s attention. Brie noticed her attention, and sat up straight, taking a deep breath. “A couple of months ago, there was this colt.” Luna felt her face harden against her will. “He was a very long way from home, and he was terribly lonely. So when he found a trail leading across the mountains, he followed it, hoping it would lead him to others.
But someone else was watching him, someone greatly interested in his future. This person didn’t want the colt to become attached to others, he wanted him to keep wandering alone, so he ordered one of his agents to get rid of the villagers.”

“The colt is Starswirl, the someone is Umbralaven, and the agent is you,” Luna interjected with some impatience. “I know the players of Umbralaven’s game. What did you do to these ponies?”

Brie swallowed loudly. “The only source of water in this valley are three wells; I poisoned each of them.” Luna closed her eyes in grief and sat down as a wave of exhaustion swept over her. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” Brie said, regret thick in her voice. “It was non-toxic to ponies, it would just cause weakness and some nausea. Nothing fatal, just enough for them to have to leave the valley. And they did...”

“But?”

Brie sighed, and when she spoke it was with soul crushing guilt. “But, one of the foals had a bad reaction to the poison.

He died.”

A stunned silence stretched between the two. Luna stared in shock at the young mare, who for her part looked away in misery.

“Well, was it worth it?” Luna asked as she felt a fierce anger flickering in her chest.

“Umbralaven believed it was,” Brie responded defensively. “He said it was an unfortunate, but unavoidable—”

“No was it worth it to you?” Brie scowled, but when she opened her mouth to respond, Luna cut her off. “Was it worth it to break the first rule? ‘Never harm the innocent.’ And that’s exactly what you did.”

“You have no right to talk, traitor.” Luna’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed again in anger. “You broke your first rule as well, or have you forgotten already?”

“I did it, I did it!”

The small filly ran up to the shadowed figure, a bright blue flower floating magically in front of her. Umbralaven didn’t turn to face her as she stopped next to him, panting from the run and the excitement. He did float the flower away from the filly, studying it closely.

“You passed the test,“ he finally said, just as the sun dipped beyond the horizon. “And just in time as well.”

“So that’s it then?” Luna asked, gasping for breath. “You’ll teach me magic?”

“I spoke with your father and he gave his permission.” Luna’s face scrunched up in confusion; Umbralaven took notice. “You didn’t think I was going to take you away with me without his knowledge, did you?” If anything, Luna’s confusion deepened.

“So, wait, I have to leave to tower?”

“Of course,” he replied. “My home is far away from here. You don’t expect me to have to travel so very far every time you are ready to learn something new, do you?”

“No, I just—” Luna hesitated, looking back towards home. “I’d have to say goodbye to my parents; my brother and sisters.”

“It’s your choice,” he said without emotion, and Luna looked back him. He studied her from the corner of his eye. “You can come with me and have a chance to learn the secrets I know. Or you can stay at home, and let your family teach you. Whatever you choose, know you choice is final. I won’t offer you this chance again.”

Luna looked again towards home, at the tip of the tower sticking above the trees. She sat quiet, thinking for long minutes before turning back. Her face was set with determination, and stood as tall as she could.

“I’ll come with you,” she said. “I want to learn everything I can, and I can’t do that here.”

“Very well,” he said in reply. “Then we leave now.” Luna opened her mouth to protest, but Umbralaven cut her off. “Your mother and father already know you aren’t coming back, and they said you could leave now.” Umbralaven levitated a couple of small bags that Luna recognized as hers from behind a bush. Luna stared back and forth between him and the bags.

“You already knew I was going to succeed?”

“Now, If you’re going to learn under me,” he said without paying her any mind. “There is one rule that you must follow, and never break it. If you do, then your tutelage with me will end.” Umbralaven fixed the filly with a harsh glare, and Luna swallowed in nervousness.

“No matter what happens, you must never use anything I teach you to hurt an innocent person.”

“What you and I did are completely different,” Luna said, unable to keep the harshness from her voice. Not for the first time, she wished she had more of her sister’s calmness under pressure.

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Brie retorted. “We both broke the first rule, don’t try and pretend that I somehow broke it worse than you did.” Luna swallowed her anger as best she could before speaking again.

“Why are we here, Brie?” Brie was caught off guard by the change in topic, but she recovered fast.

“To show you how serious Umbralaven is to get a hold of Starswirl. Now you know just what he’ll do to get him.” Luna’s brow furrowed as the anger started to swell again, but Brie ignored the obvious signs of her fury. “If you don’t want anyone else to die, then do the smart thing, and just hand him over.” Brie let her challenge hang there as Luna took several deep breaths through her nose to calm herself.

“You asked me before why I was here, instead of at my grandfather’s side,” Brie said. ’“I came because Umbralaven need the fastest; I came because I started this job, and I’m gonna see it through.”

“What was his name, Brie?” Brie’s face crinkled in confusion. “What was the name of the foal you killed?” Brie’s face changed to something unidentifiable for a split second before it changed to an amused indifference that chilled Luna.

“Why would I know that?” she asked, bemused. Before Luna could explode at her she turned and flew a few feet into the air before holding herself steady. “Get some rest, I’ll come and find you tomorrow when it’s time to leave.”

Bright Eyes flew away, leaving Luna in a ghost town, alone and in the dark and cold of ghosts.

“Morning, ‘Tia,” Luna said to her sister over the breakfast table as she took her seat. On second look at her though, she recoiled slightly. “Oh, wow, ‘Tia, you look terrible.”

“I feel terrible,” Celestia muttered over her toast. Her hair was a tangled mess and their were terrible dark bags under her eyes. “I didn’t get a moment’s sleep last night.” Celestia took another half-hearted bite of toast.

“You couldn’t sleep?” Luna asked in surprise, getting a half nod in return. “Why not?”

“Take a guess, Luna.”

Luna grimaced at her sister’s unusually harsh words. “Discord.” Celestia nodded in confirmation.

“He’s disappeared before, but never this long. I’m starting to worry he’s run off for good this time. Add that worry to what Father’s going to say when he finds out, and I can’t even calm down enough to sleep.”

Luna poked around at her food in silence, watching her sister eat as the time went on. As Celestia took her last bite of toast, Luna spoke.

“Well, I do know a new spell; I could help you out with your sleep problem.”

With a start, Luna jerked awake as the fire popped loudly from the fireplace. She shook herself free from her dream’s grasp, holding her head between her hooves as a splitting headache gripped her. Looking around the small house she had broken into to spend the night, she noticed the sky outside the window was still dark.

Of all the times to sleep lightly, you pick tonight, she thought to herself, the chill of having to stay in this abandoned home creeping up her spine again. The house was empty except for her.

I wonder where Brie is? Making up her mind suddenly, she threw off the thin blanket she had packed in her bag, walking out into the town. Wherever she is, she can’t be too far away, not if her job is too escort me.

Looking around she turned randomly down the single street, looking for the vesper, though whether to smack her in the face or yell at her or... something she wasn’t really sure. She just knew she wanted to see her. At the outskirts of the town she stopped; she was turning to walk back, when she saw something on a hill in the distance. What it was she couldn’t make out, but she headed for it anyways.

It took a few minutes of walking, but she finally reached the hill. To her surprise, she found herself in a small graveyard for the earth pony families that had lived there. What she had seen in the distance had been the gravestones. She walked among them now reading the names of those whose homes lay below, now abandoned; just like those buried here now.

As she turned to leave the dead to their rest, she heard a voice talking among the graves. Brie? Luna thought as she thought recognized the tone of the voice. Picking her way carefully between the grave markers, she stopped when she caught a glimpse of grey fur.

Peeking over a gravestone, she saw something that confused her: Bright Eyes hunched over a grave, her hooves hanging on the stone as she rested her head against it. Luna could see her shoulders shaking and her wings hung lifelessly against the ground. She was saying something, but Luna was still too far away to make it out.

Closing her eyes, she focused on using her magic to sharpen her hearing. Instantly, Brie voice clearly filled her ears.

“I’’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

Luna opened her eyes in clarity and looked at the mare in uneasiness. Luna crept away without a sound, certain that she wasn’t getting any sleep that night.