drama Stars Rise & Fall [Prologue]

[Astraea 8]

     “Oh Astraea,” The princess spoke as she gazed upon the azure furred filly as her heart sank to a familiar pit in her stomach.

     

     “There are reasons as to why the practice of dark magic is strictly forbidden.” Looking at the young mare as the inky black tendrils of darkness began to crawl from her horn and turn her starry coat dark as the night itself, she bit back the guilt that rose within her, mustering all her strength to speak.

     

     “...reasons such as this.” This guilt was felt deeper than even the guilt she had felt all those many years ago when she witnessed the same thing happen to her dear sister. It stung her with the vigor of a fresh wound – for which it was – and what made it worse was the fact that this, like before, was yet again, all her fault.

The dark magic she had warned her dear niece to never tamper with and the resulting corruption that came from her doing just that, had been her own doing though all she had wanted to do was familiarize her with it and protect her from it if it so happened to latch itself onto her.

 

     Part of the reason she came to believe Luna had fallen victim to the dark forces was her ignorance to it as even back when the two of them were young fillies, not yet princesses even, the art had been an arcane practice. Instead, it seemed that she had single hoofly led her down this path by showing her the forbidden tomes and teaching her basic defense spells after attacking her with a bit of dark magic in the hopes that that would be enough to guard her from it.

 

     “By dabbling in the dark arts, you've opened yourself to the dark forces that transformed your mother into Nightmare Moon. I am sorry my dear niece, but there is nothing that I can do for you now.”

Lowering her gaze and her head, unable to watch her failure unfold before her for a second time, she involuntarily began to take a few steps back, her hooves clacking against the marble floor as her withers rippled in response to the vileness that seeped from her young niece, her body instinctively not wanting anything to do with it.

 

     Tears pooled in her magenta colored eyes and fell from her lashes as the image of Astraea's golden colored orbs was burned into her mind. Just the remembrance of the wave upon wave of negative emotions she saw reflected in them turned her stomach and brought a deep rooted sorrow out of its hiding place that she had thought, since her sister's return, had been long settled. Emotions such as jealousy, inadequacy, pride, and a lust for power, were all emotions she remembered seeing in the eyes of the young mare's mother just before she banished her to the moon.

 

     With Luna, she had been blindsided by her sister's sudden desire to blanket Equestria in her eternal night and stand as the land's only princess, though that had not been the case with her niece. She had had warnings with Astraea and while now her earlier theories to dismiss them were clear to have been nothing but her foalish attempt to not see what had been happening directly under her very eyes, with every memory of their past conversations running through her head as she found her flank pressed against a wall, it became obvious that her wishful thinking had led something like this to pass under her nose. She should have seen this coming and it frustrated her even more knowing that subconsciously, she had, yet had done nothing to prevent it.

 

     With the coolness of the stone at her backside, she gasped with the sudden jolt of a phantom pain of a wound that had long healed. The arching lightning bolt shaped scar still remained under her pristine coat, invisible to all minus herself and Luna, that faded mark nopony knew lay under white fur thanks to her amazing regenerative abilities that healed her from the most serious of injuries. It was with that, that she found herself and her eyes narrowed as she lifted her head and held it with the character of the immortal alicorn princess she had forgotten herself to be.

 

     “I command that the dark forces that have so taken the body of my niece hostage, leave at once less I am forced to remove it at the risk of causing harm to the vessel you've claimed.” It was a bluff but she had hoped that her words rang with enough power to scare the darkness into letting her niece's body go. Even as the words left her mouth, she instantly regretted saying them knowing that she would not be able to harm a hair in the main or the tail of her beloved niece. If she couldn't fight Luna when she openly attacked her, how could she point her horn at Astraea when she had done less?

 

     The young mare still stood in the same spot, kneeling as her face twisted, her eyes flickering back and forth between large, rounded pupils and cat-like ones signaling that the transformation was far from complete. How far was a question she had no answers for but she could judge that the process would remain unfinished as long as bits and pieces of Astraea's coat remained untouched by the darkness that crawled over her body. Her wings, lower legs, and her rump all remained their original color but the tendrils were advancing so she had to act fast.

 

     Even with her understanding that she had to do something – anything – she knew not what she could do to save her, her earlier words having been the complete truth. Her horn glowed with a brilliant yellow light as she readied her magic. She was preparing herself with numerous deflective and protective spells as she was against using offensive magic to subdue her at this point unless the situation developed to where she had no choice but to use it. However, as her magic called out for the assistance of the three Elements of Harmony that used to belong to her in the time before she lost her connection with them, she remembered that she could not reach them or channel their power anymore as the six elements now belonged to new bearers. Her heart sank to a new low and she swallowed realizing this.

 

     “There is nothing I can do for her.”

 

     Watching with a careful eye, she saw how jerky the young mare's movements were becoming. Robotically, she moved to crane her neck to look up at Celestia, her eyes just barely meeting hers with her sudden increase in height. The tip of her horn glow with a faint, blood red light, a drastic change from the light pink glow of her magic she had grown accustomed to since her niece's horn regrew with the gaining of her cutie mark just a few months prior. She made no movements to suggest that she was frightened by this even though deep down, she was quaking with fear. Fear of what she would do to prevent her niece from harming her precious ponies.

 

     Astraea's mouth opened and from inside she could see sharp, carnivorous teeth peering from her lips – a truly unnatural dentition for the herbivorous creature she was. She continued to watch as her throat constricted in response to the wicked smile that appeared.

 

     “Does...thou...wish...” Her voice came out low, changed, deeper than before with a rattle of something that made Celestia's stomach cut flips. Her ears rotated to the front of her head as she strained to catch the last bit of what she was saying. Astraea's eyes settled into their slitted appearance as the sinister smile grew wider only making the princess panic. Without warning and too quick before she had the chance to respond, there was a blinding flash of red colored magic and a searing pain that struck her side. Screaming at the blow that had been dealt to her side, there was no need to strain to hear her niece once the words boomed out of her mouth and echoed around the palace corridors following the fading sound of her own earlier outburst.

 

     “DOES THOU WISH TO SEE THE STARS FALL?!?”

 

     Even as she reeled from the blow, her ears ringing from the loudness of the usage of a corrupt version of the Royal Canterlot Voice, Celestia began to find her footing and rose to her hooves, her horn blazing and more than ready to unleash a fury of magic upon the being that dare strike her down in such a demeaning manner. As she got Astraea in her sights and planned to target her side to give her a matching scar to the one Luna had given her long ago, in the mists of her diabolical laughter, the shadows enveloped her and in another bright flash of crimson magic, Astraea's form disappeared from view leaving only an echo of thunder.

 

     With wide eyes and a gaping jaw, she stared at the blackened spot before her and cursed to herself in a very unprincipled manner as she shook from rage and fatigue. Her nostrils flared and she reared back on her hind legs, the adrenalin coursing through her veins dulling the pain she felt as she kicked angrily at the spot where her niece had been seconds before. Mighty hooves came crashing down onto the marble floor with all the strength of an earth pony and sounding like rolling thunder as she repeating the action several times more as her anger only rose. The final time her hooves struck the ground she took in a deep breath and felt the pain of her wound slightly with the stretching of her abdomen.

 

     “ASTRAEA!” She yelled to the ceiling of the palace as her voice was carried throughout the large dwelling and drawing in those who may have not previously heard the thunder of Astraea's escape or her one-pony stampede.

 

     Breathless and with black spots dotting the edges of her vision, she stood on her strong legs with blood dripping from the jagged wound as she made her way for the door where she was met by the concerned face of her dear sister.

 

     “My stars, what has happened? You are bleeding. Celestia, what on earth –“

 

     “Astraea,” She spoke in one word as she walked past Luna not even looking at her as she continued on her way. Pausing hearing her daughter's name, her ears lowering with the thought of what – if anything – she had to do with the wounds sustained to her sister. She swallowed as one thought came to mind before she trotted beside Celestia once more.

 

     “No. No, it cannot be. Sister please, tell me 'tis not as it seems. P-perhaps you are mistaken. P-perhaps – “

 

     “No Luna, I am not mistaken. As much as we both may wish otherwise, it is true.” Her voice came out more harshly that she had intended and she instantly regretted directing her frustrations at her. Luna stood, her blue eyes fearful, hurt, and ashamed all at the same time. Celestia softened her own eyes as she turned to her from the perch of the balcony and bowed in apology.

 

     “I am sorry, Luna. 'Tis not your fault and I know it. I will find her and I will do whatever needs to be done to right this. I will not send her to the moon as I did with you if I can so help it. Again, I am sorry it has come to this. I am–“ She wavered and her apology was cut short by a sharp intake of breath as she extended her wings against the darkness of the night sky. Luna saw how her eyes narrowed and how her brows knitted over them. Her legs stood strongly but it wasn't long before they buckled under her. Seeing her sister fall, Luna ran to her as the light blue aura of her magic wrapped around Celestia's form. Fat, burning tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at her sister as they slowly began to close even as her face held a defiant look that told her that she was fighting the black out that was approaching.

 

     Calling for her guards to assist her as the warmth of her sister's blood began to seep into her own coat, her ears caught the sound of laughter from above. Luna looked up at her beautiful night sky littered with the articulately crafted constellations as she saw a glowing, winged form fly past the moon. Lightning struck and thunder rolled while she caught sight of other bodies streaking the sky and heading towards the ground below.

 

     “Falling stars.” The princess thought to herself with a touch of awe at seeing so many of them descend from the heavens all at once, brought down by a foal who had only recently discovered she had the ability to arrange them.

 

     The sound of thirty or more sets of hooves came clattering to the two of them along with the fluttering wing strokes of both Day and Night guard ponies as they filled out around the two princesses. A collective gasp fell over them before they cleared their throats and began to form a protective circle around their fallen leader and co-ruler.

 

     “Get her to the infirmary, quickly!” She demanded as she levitated her sister's crumpled body onto the chariot that awaited her. Sweat already beading on her brow at the effort, she looked to the sky once more as she nestled herself beside her sister as the guards pulled the chariot through the doors that lead them away from the balcony's edge.

 

     “What is it that I have done?” Luna asked herself as she looked down at her sister, the sound of falling stars echoing in her ears along with the sound of wretched laughter.

 

     And it was with that final image did the princess of the night awoke from her dream, her fur dampened by sweat, her cheeks and the fabric of her pillows stained by her tears. Confused and panicked, she lept from her bed and made her way to look out her window only to be greeted by the dawning light of the rising morning sun. Finding little comfort in merely seeing the sun rise, she bolted out of her chambers and down to the platform that was attached to the wing of her sister's to confirm that she was indeed alright. Her heart beat in her chest with the same thundering of her hooves as she made the rather short journey and with a flick of her magic, she threw open the heavy double doors of her sister's chambers to the surprise of the two guards that stood to either side of the doors, and ran full speed into Celestia as she was returning from having done her duty of guiding the sun into the sky.

 

     “Oh, well good morning, Luna. It is quite a surprise to see you up so early,” Celestia said with a chuckle in her voice as she looked down at her sister after recovering from being startled by her sudden appearance. It didn't take long before Celestia noticed the way her sister trembled in front of her. Her fur was damp and there were dark tracks of tears turning the light blue fur of her cheeks a darker shade.

 

     She smelled of stale sweat and of fear.

 

     Her smile dropped as she lowered her head and wrapped both her neck and her wing around her baby sister offering her comfort from whatever troubled her.

 

     “Luna, what is wrong? Are you alright?” She asked as she nuzzled her affectionately like a mother would their newborn foal. Luna merely shook her head as a new stream of tears began to fall from her eyes as she pressed her face into the side of her dear sister.

 

     Celestia held her for as long as Luna allowed her to before she sniffled and pulled herself together. She looked into her eyes which were now puffy and red but she saw the determined look she had known her sister having return to her face. Without either having to utter another word, they both knew that they had much to talk about.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Astraea