To the north of Equestria lies Dew Valley, where every morning a beautiful dew covers the earth, making it look as if the landscape were crafted of glimmering crystal. The skies surrounding the valley are always void of clouds, letting the sun shine over the land and paint it the beautiful hues of orange and red which mark the arrival of the dawn. Within Dew Valley lies the small town of Teroma, which is inhabited by a population of rather prejudiced earth ponies. On the outskirts of the valley lie several farms which are known to grow the most succulent fruit in all of Equestria, except for those of Ponyville's Sweet Apple Acres.
This story starts on the path between these two areas, as a matter of fact. A middle-aged stallion with a stone-gray coat and a slightly brighter grey mane is walking along a well traversed road, through a dense forest on his way back from a family reunion (which he is rarely able to attend). As he emerges from beneath the canopy of the forest, he is blinded by the brightness of the sun. As his eyes start to adjust to the light, he is greeted by the sight of a field populated with a variety of beautiful flowers. As he takes in the wondrous sight, he decides a break from his travels would be for the best, so he trots up to an old oak tree just outside of the forest, overlooking the meadow. As he starts to unpack his supplies for a picnic, he sits down to rest and enjoy his view of the open fields. After a while, he decides to take out and prepare all the food for his meal. While he is preparing his food, he is interrupted by the deafening sound of an explosion from beyond a nearby hill. He runs towards the source of the noise, rushing over the paths and landscape thinking in fear that someone may have gotten injured or worse, and may still be in danger. As he reaches the crest of the hill, a one-room cottage with shattered windows comes within view; as he gets closer he notices a door broken off its hinges.
Cautiously, he approaches the entrance to inspect the cause of the explosion. As he steps over the fallen door to enter, he finds the building completely devoid of furniture, except for a crib in the center of the room, and something resembling a table, which is broken into splinters. The crib was made of a sturdy wood, and painted lavender. Emblazoned upon its frame is the name 'Stardust' in pink letters. As he approaches the crib, papers below his feet shift about, making his trek across the room more noticeable. Approaching the crib he notices a small foal within it, sleeping soundly with a blanket over the lower portions of its body. The foal has a faded pink coat and a blue mane. The thing that he notices the most, however, is the horn upon its head. Choosing to see if the foal is injured or otherwise, he reaches down to lift up the foal. As soon as he touches its fur he sees a flash of light, and the next thing he knows he is in a room with two other ponies, who were completely oblivious to his presence, unable to do anything other than watch as the scene before him unfolds.
It was nighttime, evident by the moonlight streaming in through the windows, which was the only light in the room, excluding a single candle hovering over a crib in the middle of the room. Of the two other ponies in the room, there was one of each gender. The mare’s cutie mark was a book with a quill lying across it, while the stallion’s cutie mark was a white star.
"Starshine, what in the world are you thinking?! You know full well the risks that come from using this spell!" shouts the mare, whose faded blue coat was shimmering in the candlelight.
"Yes, I do." The stallion, dubbed by the mare to be Starshine, states sharply, "You also know the that we won't find a single pony willing to be the subject of this spell."
"And you would risk the life of your own daughter for your studies?!" The mare questions, "Would you do the same if I were in her place?!"
"Of course not, Amber, but you must be aware of the consequences that would follow if our research was ever discovered," Starshine says with a hint of distress in his voice, his silver mane seeming to glow in the moonlight.
There’s a moment of silence before Amber caves in to her husband's words. "... Fine. But you'd better double, no triple check all of your calculations before we do this. I don't want my little Stardust to get hurt."
The grey stallion loses his sight as he is immersed into complete darkness. A few moments later, the darkness recedes in an instant, blinding him. As his eyes begin to readjust, he realizes that he is in the same room, the only change being that the sun has replaced the moon in the window, making the room brighter than it was previously.
He takes notice that he can now move. Although, as he tries to grab the attention of the other ponies in the room, he goes unnoticed. Eventually, after growing desperate to gain some recognition, he attempts to buck the stallion. He chooses him over the mare because he hates people who don't respect life, especially those of the ones in their own families. However, as soon as he should have made contact, he is sent flying through the stallion, and collapses on the floor. As soon as he realizes the futility of his actions, he grumpily plops his rear onto the floor, and resolves to watch as the scene unfolds before him, yet again.
Both of the ponies are standing by the crib, staring at each other. The stallion is looking into his wife's eyes, while she stares longingly at her daughter. The mare's eyes are filled with fear, most likely due to the chance of failure, while the stallion's eyes are brimming with determination.
As she looks up to meet his stare, she asks, "Are you sure she won't be harmed?"
He replies to her with confidence, "One hundred percent. There's absolutely no chance Stardust will be injured in any manner."
Amber leans down and kisses the sleeping foal on her forehead, just below her horn. The foal moves at the gentle touch, but soon returns to her slumber. The two grown unicorns then lower their horns, which begin to glow. The mare's horn is glowing a brilliant orange, the stallion's a dull red. After a minute passes, the auras encompassing their horns shoots out to a couple hooves height above the foal, creating a pulsing white ball of energy, which is blinding to look at. The ball grows until the diameter of it is about the length of an alicorn horn, then a beam of light shoots down onto the foal, who is still sleeping soundly. As the beam continues to go into the foal, nothing changes other than a slight movement beneath the blanket. The ball of energy gradually shrinks as time passes. Then, the ball starts to expand rapidly, and the stallion's eyes widen in panic in response..
"Need to stop the spell!" he shouts, trying to be heard over the sounds of magical distortion in the surrounding air.
"What will happen to her?!" the mare questions demandingly, also shouting to be heard. She neither hears nor sees any attempt to respond from Starshine, only the defeated look in his eyes.
A couple moments later, she stops funneling her magic into the orb, with tears in her eyes. As soon as the ball of magic stops receiving energy her, it destabilizes further. The last thing she says is, "I'm sorry..." before she directs all of her energy into putting a shield around the foal. As soon as she finishes weaving her spell, which only takes mere seconds, the sphere of magic explodes, emitting an advancing wall of light. The explosion sends a shock wave through the room, causing the stacks of papers on the nearby table to be sent flying around the room, while the table itself is sent smashing into a wall. As the light touches the two unicorns, they vanish into thin air, with no trace left behind. However, the failure of the spell doesn’t affect the foal. As soon as the light touches the stallion, his vision goes black again.
As the grey stallion wakes up, he finds himself collapsed onto the crib, his face lightly pressing into the side of it. As the stallion stands up shakily and manages to regain a somewhat decent footing, he goes to look inside of the crib and sees the foal's large amethyst eyes, matching the glow upon her horn. After staring into the unicorn foal's eyes for a few moments, he sees the glow around its horn fade away. As all of the scenes he has just seen come back to his mind, he ends up in a slight daze.
His mind is abuzz with questions about what has just occurred, but he ignores them for the time being, with there being a more important matter at hoof: What to do with the foal? There are only three main options for him to choose from. He could either leave the foal there for someone else to find, bring it to an orphanage or something else of the sort, or take it home and care for it there. The first of those options is absolutely out of question. He knows that if the foal was left alone, it would surely die. The other two options are also quite easy to choose between. He wouldn't be able to care for the foal on his own, barely being able to support himself. The ponies in his town wouldn't allow a unicorn to even be near them, either. That only leaves him the option of bringing it to an orphanage in the last town he was in.
........
