Radiance of the Stars
Chapter 1: A Surge of Darkness
Shadows flooded across the normally bright and cheery land of Equestria, the dazzling and luminous midday sun was soon cloaked in a thick blanket of darkness. Fields and mountains were swallowed by the dark shroud, covering all in a haze of pitch blackness. It came swiftly, unexpected, whether from off of this planet, or deep within; it is impossible to tell. Unyielding to even the noblest tree or the most pristine lake, the swirling miasma of pure, uncontrollable darkness continued at its swift pace. Devouring inch by inch of the beautiful light that had once shone across the land, the shadowy mass continued to grow and continued to advance. Darker than the blackest night the Darkness encompassed more and more land, until, at long last, it’s path crossed that of civilization. Before the Darkness lay the bustling city of Manehattan. The city was brightly lit as the fiery summer sun sank beneath the distant horizon, Ponies carried on with their lives, eating dinner and otherwise finishing up yet another busy day in the big city; unaware of the horror that rapidly approached. As the shadows descended upon the city, something seemed to hinder them. They seemed to stop, almost hindered by some force more powerful than itself. The as if sensing this, the Darkness rose up again, creating a swirling midnight black whirlwind at the edge of the city’s light and innocent glow. A sudden quiet fell over the city as the citizens noticed a large disturbance in the sky. A huge swathe of the evening sky was blotted out, leaving nothing but a void, an empty black pit devoid of any life or light. It seemed as though as some horrible beast had come and torn a chunk out of the sky.
“Wh- what is that” wondered Star Charmer in dismay as she stared wide eyed at the most terrifying sight she could imagine. Covering the sky was a massive cloud of smoke? No it couldn't be smoke the black color was too uniform and the pattern too regular to be smoke. It almost reminded her of that one fateful summer as a filly, she had seen a solar eclipse. The moon had radiated light almost as if the heavens bestowed upon it, a halo of wondrous, perfect light. It was during this very eclipse that she had first discovered her love for the beauty that light imparts to the world. It was then as well that she had discovered that unlike any other unicorn, she could control that wondrous light, and bend it to her will with little to no effort at all. She wove the pristine white light into so many fantastical contortions, and shapes of such grace and beauty she amazed even herself. Looking around at what she had created in awe, Star, noticed something new, on her flank, standing out among the cool ice blue of her pelt, a glint. She knew what it was the second she saw it. Her cutie mark! Finally! Oh how long she had waited for this day! And how gorgeous it was too! The mark showed a pair of pure silver wings that were, in her opinion more stunning than even Princess Celestia’s. The wings seemed as if they emitted a light of their own, glowing and sparkling in the near darkness of that incredible night.
Star blinked, and the memory faded from her mind as suddenly as it had come. Glancing up once again, she once again saw the terrifying dark mass floating above the city continuing to condense itself. Looking around the street, she saw everypony else staring at the figure as well. “At least I am not the only one seeing this” she said to herself. “But, now what? That… that thing can’t be good we need to escape and fast!”
Clearing her throat and hastily casting a mundane voice amplification spell, Star spoke to the terrified ponies surrounding her: “Everypony! We need to do something! Don’t just stand and stare at it!”
“What should we do though? What even is that horrible thing?” somepony shouted amidst the crowd.
“Something, anything! We should leave the city at the very least!”
“Leave the city? Are you out of your mind? Why in Equestria would we do that?” another voice yelled.
“Look, whatever that thing is, it’s building itself toward the city! If we don’t leave then-”
Star was cut off as suddenly a sound cut through the night air with. The noise, that horrible terrifying noise; it sounded as if the souls of the damned had formed some perverted choir and decided to showcase themselves for the entire city. Ponies screamed in absolute terror, many froze in place once again, Star even saw several fall over unconscious. Fear gripped her too, an ice cold river running through her gut and down her spine, nearly freezing her in place. No; she couldn’t let herself be taken in by the horror of the situation too. Shaking her head, silver mane rustling as she quickly tried to regain control of herself.
“Run!” she shouted and began towards the city gate at as fast a pace as she could muster. She ran past crowds of ponies petrified in horror, yelling at them to join her but too focused on her escape to see if they actually did. Running street by street, Star finally could see Manehattan’s main gate in front of her relief rushed through her chest and she slightly lessened her headlong pace. Her respite did not last long however; the dreadful wail rang out again, louder and even more shrill than before. She stumbled and nearly fell as windows shattered around her sending thousands of miniscule knives careening through the air. Letting out a short scream, Star through herself down and covered her face as she felt tiny needles dance across her body prodding and leaving stinging scratches all over. Recovering as quickly as she could, and doing her best to ignore the newfound injuries Taking one glance back at the sky, Star’s heart dropped, that dark beast was plummeting towards the city, and fast! “No.” she whispered, as she saw an eruption of wood splinters, rocks, and other assorted shrapnel tossed, no, more like carried up into the darkness, where that too began to whirl along with the awful, churning blackness.
Forcing herself to look away from the destruction of the city she knew so well, Star resumed her headlong race to escape the city with her life. She flew past the gates as fast as her legs could carry her and beyond. She continued to run and run, not paying attention to how tired she was. Finally, after what seemed like a terror filled eternity, she came to rest on a small hill mostly populated by oak trees and blueberry bushes about a mile away from the city.
At last she could rest! Allowing herself to fall to the ground Star breathed heavily, heart pounding, lungs aching, and legs feeling like jelly, she allowed herself to fall onto the soft and welcoming grass. Laying there, panting, Star still could not comprehend all that had just occurred. What could that have possibly been? She thought to herself. Where did it come from and why? She sighed well at least I should be glad I made it out of the city in time.
It had only been 20 minutes since her escape but it had felt like hours but relieved as she was, Star could find no rest. No, I can’t fall asleep. Not now when there is still that horrible darkness in the city. Getting up, Star walked to the opposite edge of the hill where she should have been able to clearly see Manehattan. However, to her dismay, the city could not be seen, it seemed as if it had simply disappeared but that was not possible, No, it had to have been the Darkness she thought, I know that the city is still there along with all of the other ponies. Was I really the only one to escape? That can’t be possible, somepony else had to have gotten out too maybe if-. Suddenly, something caught her eye, in the field between the city and Star’s hill there was movement. It had no discernible shape, it slithered and flowed simultaneously. Its outline wavered, and from it not a single color could be detected. The Darkness, it seemed had found her.
What! How? How could it find me? What will happen if it catches me? No, I can’t risk finding that out now can I? Looking around her however, Star noticed that around every side of her hill there was movement. Her eyes widened and her pulse increased, there was no way off of the hill without risking contact with It. Panic gripped her as she backed up to the center of the hill. Star’s mind raced as she thought on how to escape her fate. Ugh! Why didn’t I ever bother to learn a teleportation spell? She could see It now, the Darkness advancing towards her on all sides like a wall of the purest ebony yet as liquid as the deepest lake.
Is this it? Can I do anything? Something! She wondered. Just then however, she noticed something, her cutie mark it seemed… different almost. The Silver was more iridescent than ever, and it really did seem to glow now, more so than ever before. A small circle of pure white light surrounded Star. What in Equestria is happening? Is this a hallucination? Am I going crazy? Tentatively, she reached out with her magic toward her cutie mark, and gasped, recoiling rapidly! Sweet Celestia! How is this possible?! The amount of energy she felt was unreal, where had it come from? Did it really come from her? She didn’t have time to ponder these sorts of things however; she could sense the Darkness growing nearer, ready to engulf her in it’s everlasting night.
More quickly this time, Star dove into and embraced the energy she could feel, letting it course through her body and prepared to use it for herself. She then reached out and began to manipulate the light emanating from her cutie mark. Without warning however, there was a blinding flash and seemingly without her willing, two massive wings of pure, gorgeous light, exact replicas of her cutie mark unfurled themselves. With a ghastly shriek, the Darkness seemed to almost be surprised but nonetheless continued its approach now even faster than before towards Star.
“No!” she screamed willing something to happen, something to save her from this horrible nightmare! She bellowed a wordless scream to the sky, tears clouding her vision and streamed down her face as she felt the oppressive blackness drawing extremely close.
Suddenly, her vision seemed to fail as two massive figures closed in front of her.
Everything went white.
And she lost consciousness.