//------------------------------// // Astral Star: The Deep Darkness // Story: Our Little Scrapbook // by Astral Star and Company //------------------------------// Long ago, beyond the magical land of Equestria, there was once a grand kingdom. It was ruled by a beautiful queen, who was loved by all throughout the land, it prospered and grew beyond anything any pony could have imagined. The land flourished in her care, the water and wind sung her praises to the glorious sky above. Not a single tear was shed, for as long as she had lived. The people bowed in the streets, flowers were tossed in her wake, and ponies cheered for joy for every smile she threw their way. She had ruled with such benevolence and grace for hundreds of years. None have questioned her longevity, but all have worshiped her life as the grand model of perfection. Against her wishes, they transcended her name to equal the gods themselves. Like all things however, good or bad, they must come to an end. One day, she began to grow old. Her people began to worry, they knew not what would happen to their bountiful land without her care and service. To their relief, she had a solution. Before the time of her passing, she adopted an apprentice. From a young age, she would nurture and train her to take her place once the time is right, thus securing the future of the kingdom. This little foal grew up big and strong. She was beautiful and wise, almost equaling her mentor in every shape and form. The queen, so proud of her student she was, that she was blind to the darkness seeping into the little mare's heart. Unknown to all but herself, the mare was insatiable. Tasting the power of the queen's knowledge and magic, she hungered for more. She had begun a quest for power that would consume her in mind, body, and eventually, spirit. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years as she searched. Hours upon hours she spent, trawling through all the known magics, learning every single one until she's mastered them all. Yet, her hunger did not cease, she yearned for more, she wanted power above all else. She wanted power, she wanted might, she wanted omniscience, she wanted... Divinity Decades since the beginning of her search, she came upon a tome so ancient and powerful, it had been kept secret for all of known history. Inside, it gave her everything she wanted. The most powerful and darkest of magics laid bare before her hungry eyes, she took it all. She absorbed all this knowledge, and it in turn consumed her. She was no longer the mare that lived under the shadow of a queen. She was POWER! Soon she confronted her former mentor, in an attempt to usurp the throne, she engaged a colossal battle of magical might. The queen, with a heavy heart, stood against her pupil. Darkness and anarchy spread across the land as the two arcane forces fought for dominance. The Kingdom fell to ruin as Chaos claimed the people. The once beautiful kingdom, crumbled into living death as war and strife plagued the land for years gone by. Seeing the destruction that their conflict had wrought, the queen pleaded for the fighting to end. But her pupil was beyond caring now, all she wanted was power, and she couldn't care less what happened to those in her way. The queen, with tears in her eyes, called upon the most sacred and forbidden of magic. With her superior majesty, she wasted away all that her pupil had become. She forcefully divided power from body, killing her student in the process. She gathered all the darkness, all the destruction, all the strife and flung it away, into lands beyond sight and memory. Swollen with grief and sadness, the queen past away a sorrowful shell of her former self. The land withered, the water and wind stilled their song, and the sky darkened in its absence. The Kingdom mourned for the loss of their queen It wasn't long before the sands of time claimed them. Long faded into distant memory, their sadness reached deep into the earth below, never to see the light of day. Years afterward, their agony poisoned the land above. Their wailing conjured a fog so thick, that even light dared not go further. The Kingdom became shrouded in darkness, as the students final curse wreathed the sky in black. Creature's beyond knowledge, embodiment of destruction and death claimed this land for their own. The power of the student, slumbered deep beneath its soil, feeding its spawn with corrupt and dangerous power. And that, is how the Darkness came to be.