"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.

"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 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.