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.