Chapters Dark Horses: Daughter of the Night
Stars.
When she woke up, she was staring up at the stars. Or was she moving through them? She couldn't tell. Her head was already spinning without trying to tell if she was moving. Her entire body ached all over. Even just lifting an arm felt impossible. She cautiously moved her head to look around, wincing at the pain of even that task. It was then that she notice that she seemed to be floating on air.
"What is your name?"
Surprise took her as she had not expected to hear anyone. She began to look around, but seeing no one there she began to think she was alone. Just her and the stars slowly moving by.
"Please tell me your name."
There it was again! She knew she haden't made it up. The voice was a female's, both powerful and yet sad at the same time.
"Where am I?" She asked still looking around.
There was no reply. She couldn't see who was talking to her but she was determined to find out where she was before answering any questions this voice had to ask.
"Where am I?" she repeated.
"The Void."
"The Void... what is that?" Now she was curious. Out of all her lessons with her mentor she had never heard of this place. The Void. Had she died? Was this where she was to remain forever? Fear began to creep into the back of her mind. She was only 21!
"The best way to describe it is to say that it is like bridge. A place between what you were and what you will be."
"What do you mean?" Her head was now swelling with more questions. This voice was leaving her far more confused than when she woke up.
"You will find out later. For now, tell me, what is your name?"
"I don't have a real name. My mentor always referred to me as the lost child. When I lived on the streets, I was called the little thief. Other than that, I have no name."
The voice was quiet for a few moments as if it was thinking over what it had just heard.
"For where you are going, I think it would be best if we give you a name. Maybe you would like the name of my old mentor. I used to tease him about how girly of a name he had but he was a great friend before I became that nightmare... How does Starswirl sound?"
"Starswirl..." It was a strange name. But then again her life was anything but normal. The more she taught about it, the more she liked it. A small smile slowly began to form on her lips. For the first time in her life, she had a name. It felt weird. "I guess it will do. What do you mean by 'Where you are going?'"
"I am not quite sure actually... I didn't cast the spell that sent you here, so I honestly don't know where in Equestria you will end up."
Equestria. Another strange name to another strange place she had never heard of. Suddenly a sickening thought hit her. The voice wasn't talking about a place on Earth.
"Calm down." The voice seem to have noticed the fear she was feeling. "I understand you are confused on what is going on but trust me, panicing will get you nowhere real quick. Right now we need to focus on what is going to happen when you get here. That is why you needed the name. So I can find you. No one has use that name in forever so it shouldn't be to hard to locate you. Once we meet up, we can come up with a plan for what to do."
Starswirl took a deep breath. Following what the voice said, she tried to relax as best one could while floating around. It was hard, but eventually she was relaxed. In fact she was almost relaxed enough that she felt her eyes start to close. All the stress had really worn her out without realizing it. She had one last question she needed answered before she drifted to sleep.
"What is your name?"
"Luna."
With that, everything went black.
Dark Horses: Daughter of the Night
"Why me?"
The sky was growing dark with storm clouds as the chariot raced towards Ponyville. It had been a long day for Equestria's newest princess as she had just finished what had to be the worst meeting she had ever had with her former mentor. Okay, maybe not the worst since the whole "Want it, Need it" talk had been even more troubling. But she was definitely not ready for what her for former magic, now "how to be princess" mentor had put her up to. It had only been one week since she became an alicorn and now she was tasked with what was probably (Quote Rarity) Worst! Possible! Thing!
She had to find a student to mentor.
Out of all the things she had done in the past, this seemed like would be near impossible. Sure facing Discord had been a challenge and a half, but she would rather face him again than do this. She had been alright with young fillies and colts but she had never had to be a mentor to one. She had no idea who she would pick let alone how she would be able to teach them...
"Why me? I just became a princess! I should be learning about how to do princess things! I should be learning about the court, or visiting with the Canterlot Nobles, or..."
CRACK!!!
"LAND, LAND NOW!!!" Twilight screamed as lightning began to flash around the chariot. Through her little panic attack she had failed to notice the malevolent sky that threatened to send her and her guards hurtling towards the ground.
"Hang on princess! We are almost there!"
The chariot began to drop rapidly as the library came into sight. Twilight braced herself for what was sure to be her end. They were going way to fast for her liking and after some "crash" courses in flying from her friend Rainbow Dash, she knew this was far too fast for a landing.
"SLOW IT DOWN! SLOW IT DOWN! FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, LUNA, CADENCE AND TWILIGHT (wait, that's me...) SLOW IT DOWN!"
The guards suddenly pulled up and the chariot came to a almost painful stop. Slowly it lowered to the ground and landed right beside the library. Sitting in full shock, Twilight slowly took a step out of the chariot and began kissing the ground. Her once beatifully done mane was now a mess and she was now getting dirt all over her snout, but she didn't care. She had never wanted to be back on the ground. Slowly she looked back up to see the guards were chuckling at the young princess kissing the ground.
With sudden authority in her voice, "You may take your leave, or do I need to inform Celestia of the two guards who need to go back to basic training."
With a sudden burst of energy (and a newfound fear of the princess), the two guards took off racing towards Canterlot to beat the storm and to avoid something that no guard ever wanted to go through twice.
Twilight sighed. She looked up at her old home and smiled. She was glad to be back.
CRACK!!!
Rain began to fall in huge sheets that would make it hard for any pegasus to fly. She quickly stepped inside and closed the door behind her. This was going to be a long night. Not only did she have to think about her future student but now she had a violent storm going on outside. With another sigh she began to walk up to the stairs to her room.
"That is quite a storm out over Ponyville, don't you think dear sister?"
"Yes, it is..." Luna was studying this storm very carefully. She had just got a letter moments ago. It was not the letter she had hope to see. Something with the spell had gone wrong. And all she could do was watch. She now knew at least where the spell had sent Starswirl. Not that it would matter now...
Her sister, Celestia, sat next to her with a calm look on her face.
"Is something bothering you Luna? You haven't even touched the food that was brought up. Are worried about Twilight? Her guards have already returned and she arived saftly if that is what you are worried about."
Luna sat quietly debating what she would do. If she told her sister her plan, then Celestia would be angry with her. But if she didn't, then the life of someone that was precious to Equestria's survival would be lost.
"Luna?"
"Sister, forgive me..."
Still not asleep.
She was tired as hay, and she still couldn't sleep. Twilight had now fully given up. It was as though her mind had now officially removed its off switch.
CRACK!!!
Well there was also this blasted storm. It had been almost four hours and the storm still showed no sign of letting up. At least was now she was home with Spike. He had been running the library the last week waiting for Twilight to return.
Maybe if she closed her eyes one more time...
"BURP!"
Her eyes flung open as Spike sat in his bed rubbing his eyes with one set of claws while holding a letter in the other.
"What the... A letter? TWILIGHT! Your home!" Spike dashed out of his bed, dropping the letter, and gave Twilight the biggest hug she had ever received from the little guy.
"Yep! Pri... I mean Celestia wants me to continue my studies here, just like when I was studying friendship. Sorry I didn't wake you earlier but I was exhausted and you were already asleep so I decided to try to go to bed myself. Sadly I don't think that is going to happen..."
"You look like something that got dragged to Manehatten and back, no offence.."
"It's fine. Now what does Celestia want at this hour?" Using her magic she grabbed the letter and opened it up in front of her.
"To my faithful student," she read aloud.
"Sorry to disturb you this late at night and just after you arrived back home but there is a matter of great importance. It appears that my sister and someone else who she refuses to tell me have teleported a strange creature from a different world to ours. She also refuses to tell me why she did this. It appears that these creatures call themselves 'humans'. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the spell and the result is the storm that is now over Ponyville. I know it is late at night and there is an unnatural storm going on, but if you will please go and find this strange creature it would be very helpful. Just as a little warning, keep your guard up. I do not know anything about these humans but that they look different from ponies. Pleas be careful and report back in the morning if you find anything.
Princess Celestia
P.S. Her name, as Luna just informed me, is Starswirl."
Both her and Spike look at each other for a second until outside the window came a sudden blinding light.
CRACK!!! BOOOM!!!
"AHHHH!!!..."
Twilight and Spike both jumped to their feet and raced to the window. It was a young filly's cry they had heard from the outside. There, lying in the street below the window was the form of a filly lying on the ground. Instinct took over and Twilight raced to the door, not even grabbing an umbrella. The letter from Celestia didn't matter anymore. There was a filly who was out in the rain and possibly injured who needed help right away.
She ran with all her might and using her magic, she lifted the small form up onto her back and raced to the library. Running back through the already open doorway to the tree she raced to the nearest couch and place the unconscious filly down. That was when she froze.
"Twilight! Is she alright..." Spike said as he walked up and froze just as Twilight had. His mouth quickly dropped to the ground at what they were staring at.
There, lying on the couch, was a filly version of Princess Twilight, wings and all. The mane was the same and fur color where the exact same. The only difference was the cutie mark. Instead of the stars that Twilight had, this filly had what looked like three blue comets all descending on a single blue dot.
Spike slowly began to rub his head as he spoke in a whisper, "Why does everything happen in Ponyville..."
Yep, it was definitely going to be a long night...
Dark Horses: Daughter of the Night
"I did what I could, and she is alive. Now tell me, who is she?"
Luna could feel her sister's hard stare as she kept her own head down. This was not the way she had planned to tell her sister. Why had she not told her in the first place? It would have made things so much easier. But then she remember. All the fear of what Celestia would have done had she found out Luna's secret. Her stomach churned at the very idea of her sister ordering the use of the Elements of Harmony on the poor thing. Or even keeping Luna away from Starswirl. She felt like dying right there.
"Her name is..." Luna began to tremble all over. After being freed from Nightmare Moon she and her sister told each other everything. Every concern, every sadness, every pain. They had agreed, no more secrets. Except this. This was something Luna felt she had needed to fix first and then tell her about it after there was no problem. But that plan was gone. The moment the teleportation spell had gone wrong was when Luna realized she might have gotten in over her head. Tears slowly began to form in her eyes and her shaking had only gotten worse.
Wings came around her and she suddenly felt everything melt away. She felt the soft, warm fur of her older sister as Celestia nuzzled the younger one like a small filly. A small smile slowly came to her face and she began to wipe the tears away with a hoof.
Celestia spoke in a quiet soothing voice as she said, "No matter what you have done, I made you a promise. We will fix whatever it is together, remember? You and I, as sisters."
Luna slowly broke free of the embrace while keeping her eyes on her sister. Maybe everything would be alright.
"Her name is Starswirl. She is my daughter." Here was the part where Celestia broke her promise. Here was the part where she was sent back to the moon. She knew her sister had told her they would fix this together, but now that she knew the truth, would things ever be fixed?
Once again Luna found her self in a giant wing hug. Once again tears formed in her eyes as she began to cry. She cried for her child. She cried because she had kept a major secret from her sister. But most of all, she cried because her sister wasn't angry with her. Knowing the only person in the world who had probably suffered as much over her banishment as she had wasn't angry about this her feel like the greatest pain in her life was finally gone.
They sat there, on the same balcony only an hour before had been the sight of one of Luna's most nervous moments. The two sisters, held together in a tight embrace, sat there as nothing else in the world mattered anymore.
And Luna cried.
The fire in Celestia's bedroom was now lit bring a warm and cozy feeling to the nervous younger sister. The two of them sat on the large bed with Celestia's wing draped over Luna.
She was ready. She had to tell the story. She could finally set herself free.
"Over a thousand years ago, right during the war between you and my possessed form, Nightmare Moon realized that she was loosing. It would only be a matter of time before you had caught her and defeated her. She became desperate. Though I was locked away somewhere deep inside, I could feel her fear. She came up with a plan that even Discord might have considered crazy.
She was going to have a child and possess it."
Luna paused her in her story to look up to her older sister. Celestia sat quietly with a face of both pain and worry. Taking a deep breath, Luna continued on.
"The first thing she did was find the strongest unicorn in her Army of the Night. Using her power, Nightmare possessed him even more than he already was. She created the illusion in his head that he had just met the most gorgeous mare in all of Equestria and forced him upon her. When the deed was over, Nightmare took his life. I don't even know his name..." Tears formed in Luna's eyes again. "After that she used magic to make sure she became pregnant and then to speed the process up. What normally took months took only a few days. She gave birth to an alicorn. She was white like you, but with a dark blue mane like mine. She was perfect. Nightmare than placed a curse on her. An illusion curse that would slowly change her appearance to look similar to the closest living being to her, even a different creature. (This is why Luna thought she might still look like a human. SLOW change) It took a few minutes, but soon the little one began to look like a filly version of Nightmare Moon."
Luna paused again. She had to. The tears just wouldn't stop. The thought that her beautiful filly was cursed like that had ripped her to shreds. Suddenly a quick peck on the cheek caused her to look up at Celestia. Tears were falling from her eyes as well. Celestia pulled Luna even closer using her wings. They sat together quietly, both just glad for the company of the other.
After a few minutes, Luna continued.
"While Nightmare was watching the filly change, I suddenly felt stronger. I began to push for control with all my might. I wasn't going to let her go through with this. She may have brought this filly into the world, but this was my body. That meant that she was also my child in a way. Nothing was going to harm her. As soon as I felt I had the ability to use magic, I did. I cast the strongest teleportation spell I could on the little one. I sent her as far away as could, not even knowing where it might be. It was then that I lost control.
After the Elements had freed me, I began to search for her. First I searched our planet, but I found no trace of her. I expanded my magic and began to search every planet near ours. After about ten different planets, I found her on one filled with strange creatures. She was too far away for me to simply teleport her here myself, so I sent the head of your school. That's why he took the sudden vacation. He was very interested in visiting this planet and found an illusion spell to blend in with these creature. When he found her, she was trying to kill him."
"Why would she try to do that? Did she see past his illusion or something?"
"I don't know the entire reason. The letter I received only said that he had simply put her into a deep sleep with magic and used a teleportation spell to send her. During the teleportation I was able to enter her dreams and talk to her. I was finally able to name my own daughter."
"Let me guess, this is where the spell went wrong."
"Yes. I got the letter, asked you for help, and now we are here."
They sat quietly again, neither one of them willing to move. Celestia looked deep in thought and Luna began to worry. What would her sister do now? During the story, Celestia had been just as Luna would have expected. But now she had no idea what the older one was thinking.
"Celestia, I..."
"We need to find her. She belongs here. With us, the way it should have been"
Almost instantly Celestia felt the living daylights being squeezed out of her Luna could hardly contain herself. Finally she and her daughter could be together.
"Thank you so much Celestia... I was so worried that you would..."
"Luna, she may have been born out of Nightmare Moon's horrible plan, but she is your daughter and she is my family. How could I do anything but love her?"
There they sat on the bed, tears both in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Neither of them could be happier.
Dark Horses: Daughter of the Night
Intro: The Young Assassin
Wait .
When the moon was at it's highest. That is what the information had said. Yet here she was, positioned on a branch, her cloak blowing in the wind. It had been a long two hours and with no fire, the night had been merciless.
Wait .
She checked the moon's position again as if doubting herself. Her mentor's voice whispering in her head, "Patients, that is what you lack. Learn that and you might just beat me."
Hours of sitting on a tall pole in the middle of a forest with her mentor watching clearing had helped her to survive this far, but she had only began her training a year ago. She had so much more to learn and this new test seemed to be a little advanced for her.
Clop, clop, clop.
Her eyes darted around to spot the source. A lone rider slowly approached the tree she had position she herself in. She had chosen the right path.
Almost...
Her heart was beating so fast she was worried she would move to quickly. One false move and she might not obtain what was asked of her. She needed him to move right below her. She could then have the drop on him and one little flick of her wrist would send the hidden blade she wore into man's chest. He would never know what happened.
Only a little more... No...
Fear took her thoughts. Her entire plan had just blown up for there, only a few feet from where she needed him to be, was the man. He had stopped his horse and was starring at her. And he was smiling. Not an evil smile, but a strangely kind smile that made her sick to her stomach.
She had to strike. There was no way she would let this man get the best of her. And with that, she jumped into the air.
Another mistake.
Right as she was about tom flick her wrist to trigger the hidden blade, a wall of magic suddenly appeared before the man causing her to crash and fall next to the horse the man had been riding.
She cursed herself for being so foolish. All she had done this night was prove she was no more ready to complete her training than when she had began. She tried to jump back to her feet but a dark haze suddenly crept over her mind. A faint glow from the mans hand told her exactly what was happening. This was it.
I failed...
"On the contrary, my dear. Your true mission has only just begun."
And with that she was out.