The Fallen Star Returns

Princess Celestia has just finished an other regular day of her life. She raised the sun, attended a ceremony, did the paperwork, and lowered the sun. Everything went as it should. Now, it was time for her sister, Luna to take over, and handle Equestria's affairs during the night. Celestia retreated to her quarters to finally get some shut-eye. All she wanted now is to rest until tomorrow, after this uneventful day.

However this was not the only reason she wanted to sleep so early. She has had strange dreams as of late. The dreams' main point was not on their story, they were usually silly scenarios. She was more interested about a pony, who had always shown up in the background. He was familiar, but the Princess didn't know for sure if it was the one who she thought of.

The fact that this pony was in her every dream recently made Celestia uneasy. She layed down in her bed, covered herself with a blanket, and placed her head on her pillow. It didn't take long before she fell asleep, entering a dream.

When she opened her eyes she was surrounded by pure darkness. The only source of light was coming from a small orb above her head. She saw absolutely nothing, but she heard the hoofbeats in the distance. Looking in the direction she heard them from, Celestia saw a pair of eyes approaching her. Their midnight blue colors contrasted from the blackness around them.

The Princess haven't seen them in centuries, but she recognized them well. She tried to leave the spot of light she was standing on, but she couldn't move. As the eyes got closer she dared to ask one question, "Moonlight Shadow, is that you?"

The eyes' color changed to crimson as an answer. Celestia clearly saw the anger, and hatred in them. It was the same hatred she was five hundred years ago, when they have departed. The hoofbeats stopped, and the next thing the Princess saw was a red flash hitting her directly in the chest.

"I am sorry... I am so sorry," these were Celestia's last words before she collapsed. She was weak, drained from her strength. A pony took shape from the shadows, back with his original midnight blue eyes.  As she looked upon him, she knew what was about to happen. She is finally going to get what she deserves. "Go ahead, finish it,"  she said, accepting her end.

"Soon. Our return is inevitable. When we will meet again, you are going to pay for what you have done to us."  two voices spoke at the same time, and Celestia recognized both. One she loved, and an other which she hated. When she looked back up at the shadowy figure, she saw the orb's light growing stronger, illuminating the darkness.

"Wait, don't leave!" Celestia screamed loudly as she woke. She was in her room, in the highest tower of Canterlot Castle. She was sweating, and her heart was beating faster then an alarm clock. She immediately got out of bed, and made her way to the Throne room. She must act now, or the phantom from her dreams is going to become reality. As she went down the hall, she came across two guards on patrol. She stopped and gave an order to them: "Find Captain Shining Armor, and tell him to meet me in the Throne room as soon as possible." she then quickly continued her way through the halls. The entire castle was empty, no wonder, because it was in the middle of the night. When Celestia arrived to the throne room she found her younger sister, Luna there.

"Good night, sister. What brings you here this late during the night?" Luna asked curiously.

"Greetings sister. A very important matter came up that must be delt with right now," Celestia answered in a very serious tone.

"May I ask what that matter is?"

"You are going to find out as soon as Shining Armor gets here."

After the brief conversation they have waited a few minutes, before the captain showed up. Even in this late hour he was fresh, and ready to do his duty.

"You have summoned me, your majesty." Shining stopped in front of Celestia, with his head held high.

"Please, this formality is no longer necessary. You are now the Prince of the Crystal Empire," Celestia said with a small smile on her face.

"Sorry, I'm still getting used to it. Anyways, why have you sent for me?" the unicorn was surprised at what the Princess said. He was a Prince, but he still looked up to Celestia as his superior.

"Tomorrow is going to be the last day, when you are the Captain of the Royal Guard. I want you to do one final assignment." she started.

"What must I do?" he thought, if this is going to be his last task for Celestia, then he didn't want to fail her.

"There is a prison deep within the Crystal mountains." Celestia started. "I am going to give you a map, which leads straight there. There is only one pony inside, a unicorn who is very talented in magic. Dark magic to be precise. You will have to check up on his status, and make sure that he stays locked up.

"We have a prison that is dedicated to hold on single pony?" Shining asked with a confused look on his face.

"Yes. It is a very long story, and we don't have time to tell you. Before you leave, I will share a bit more information about the prison, and it's resident."

"Understood." Shining Armor knew, when he was dismissed, even if he is not told to.  He quickly headed to the barracks to assemble his troops. If this pony is as dangerous as Celestia thinks, then he must bring the best of the guards with him.

As the captain left the two princesses remained alone. They were both looking outside the window, inspecting the stars upon the sky. Luna was as confused as Shining Armor before, and she had lots of questions to ask. In the end, she only asked one.

"Who is this unicorn?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Somepony who was very close to me. I guided him through his life, and I have seen his developing talents in magic. I thought he would become the wielder of the Elements. But as time gone by, I have discovered his darker side. A darkness, which would consume him one day. I did everything in my power to save him from it, but I have failed him. Now he thinks that I betrayed him," Celestia answered with a dark look on her face. Luna knew Celestia won't tell her anymore. She saw fear, sorrow, and regret in her sister's eyes. She has never seen her like this before. Now, Luna was almost as concerned about this situation as Celestia.

"Was he with you during my absence?" Luna turned to Celestia and looked in her eyes.

"Yes. I was trusted to raise him up, to be his mother, which he never had." her words stuck as she remembered the first day they have met.

Celestia was just done having dinner with the finest of the Canterlot royalties. Or at least that's what the papers said. The Princess didn't really like dinners like this. She thought that most of these ponies are stuck-ups, who can only talk about fashion, and how much money they have. But as the ruler of Equestria, it was her duty to attend to events like this. Even if she didn't want to.

She was heading back to her quarters, when she felt something strange in the air. She met nopony on the way, and for some reason she got nervous. After opening the door to her room, she noticed that her windows were open. She could clearly remember she closed them before she headed down for the dinner. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary though, everything was at where she left it. However the strange feeling got stronger as she approached her bedroom's door.

She carefully opened it, but as soon as she looked before her bed, her blood stopped running in her veins. There was a wounded pegasus laying on the floor. and a small basket was on her bed. She quickly rushed to the pegasus' side to see her condition. She didn't have any injury on her body, but Celestia felt her spirit was about to die.

The pegasus opened her eyes and looked at the Princess, "Please, I beg you. You are the only pony on this plane earth who can protect him," she pointed at the basket, "He is the only pony left to me. My little Moonlight..."

With these last words the unknown pony jolted one last time before Celestia felt her soul was ripped from her body. It must have been a powerful curse, which must have been a pain to her for a long time. Now she was finally in peace.

Celestia slowly stood up and looked at the basket. She heard a quiet cry coming from the inside. When she walked up to it, she removed the blanket, revealing a small unicorn colt. Tears were shedding from his eyes onto his little gray face. He probably felt his mother departing from this world. Celestia carefully levitated the baby out of his holder, while she raised the blanket from her bed. Then she placed the little one on her bed, and covered him. By the look on his face, he enjoyed laying down in the big comfortable bed. He fell asleep pretty fast.

Celestia didn't know what to do know. She had many questions, which were unanswered. Who was this pegasus who broke into her quarters? What was she running from? And how is she suppose to raise a baby? As she looked back at the lifeless body of her visitor, she felt a sense of duty. She quietly levitated the body out of the room, and went after it. At the door she looked back at the colt in her bed. She found the way he buried his head in the pillow very cute.

After she closed the door, she vowed to herself that she is going to take care of Moonlight as if he was her own. She is going to stop whatever his mother tried to protect him from. But now, she's got a burial to organize. To a mare she, whose name she didn't even know.