Winter Solstice

by Judgeitive

Beginnings

Princess Luna cried out as an explosion lifted her off her feet, sending her hurtling into a tree. She struggled weakly in her prone position, wincing in pain.

The full moon shone overhead, the symbol of her power, she bitterly thought to herself. How had she let it come to this? bested this easily, and by her? A shadow fell over her; she glared up at her assailant - nopony had beaten her like this, not even the Elements’ new wielders when she was Nightmare Moon.

“Give her to me, Luna, and I will destroy you myself. It might even be painless. Would you rather I made your sister do it?”

“You can’t have her!” Luna replied snarling, sending a bolt of blue smoke at the other mare. With a slight chuckle, the figure sent a small tendril of red light. It quickly dissipated the attack and curled forward to wrap around the Princess’ horn.

Luna screamed, her back arching as the magic shot through her alicorn frame. She fell limp, her wing tips singed, eyes shut as the unicorn’s magic wormed its way into her mind.

“I’m afraid it is you who are wrong,” The attacker smirked, chuckling again. “My dear Nightmare Moon”

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Several days prior...

Mysteria and Twilight shared a smile as their carriage pulled into Canterlot. The city was bustling despite the cold as countless unicorns made their way to the palace. Snowflakes swirled around them, highlighting the designs and styles of the ponies of Equestria. This event attracted them from all over the kingdom and nopony could miss such a gathering.

“Why have the festival now, Twilight?” Mysteria asked her teacher curiously, shivering despite herself.

The purple unicorn smiled, looking over at the well dressed unicorns from Manehatten. As usual they had tried to outdo the others and were bedecked in silks and gems.

“Celestia arranged it so that the annual celebration and meeting for magic would occur during the longest night of the year. This was to bring magic firmly under the authority of her sister, as Princess Celestia handles most of the normal day to day affairs. Since Luna is back among us, we should see her as the guest of honour.”

Her student nodded in comprehension and looked around for other fillies her age. Sighing, she noticed that they all proudly displayed cutie marks. Their dresses and suits shaped elegantly to show their stars, tomes, comets and more.

“Do you think I could get my cutie mark finding out about magic here?” She asked eagerly bouncing forward.

Twilight turned to her pupil who was busily skipping along with her eyes shut. She was reminded strongly of the three young fillies back in Ponyville, desperately searching for their own cutie marks.

“Are you by any chance one of the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’, Mysteria?” she asked archly, raising her eyebrow.

“I sure am. They invited me to join when I first came to Ponyville.” She told her teacher, missing the facehoof that followed her statement. “They made me promise to try as many subjects as possible in case they’re my special talent.”

Twilight forced a smile. “Well, that’s certainly one way to go about choosing lectures.”

“Which one’s are you going to?” The grey unicorn asked frowning in consternation.

“Hmm, Oh let me see.” Twilight rummaged through her satchel, removing a checklist. “Individual Magic Effect discussion, Elements of Harmony, Discord, Inheritance Lines, and Magical Containment.”

They stopped in a crowd outside the main gates, Mysteria turned to face the purple unicorn.

“You sure are being specific Twilight, are you sure you don’t want to be more open minded?”

For a moment, she thought she saw a flash of concern cross her teacher’s face, but it was soon replaced with a smile.

“Don’t worry, we’ll see each other at the large meetings and at mealtimes.”

Reassured and with a final nod to Twilight, Mysteria headed towards her first lecture, a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

Twilight watched her go - she knew she shouldn’t be concerned, but she had planned tthe solstice following her report to the princess last month.

Dear Princess Celestia, she had written, on one of the rare times when Mysteria was out of the library. When Mysteria first came here, she had not yet developed her powers to a usable stage. As we know, developing past this point can be explosive or unpredictable, but my main cause of concern was that it was unique in her case. She lashed out with an unexpected degree of power and control, mortally wounding three Timberwolves.

This was followed by a form of possession or submission to instincts which was totally out of character in nature. This state was only alleviated by the intervention of your sister who was able to calm Mysteria.

I shall be investigating this matter further at the Winter Solstice but i felt it best to inform you should you wish to take any steps.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Shaking her head, she brushed aside her concerns, determined to find out what had occurred.

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Mysteria quickly joined the throng headed towards astronomy. The normally empty hallways of Canterlot castle were now filled, voices echoing through the tall hallways, reaching an excited crescendo as the doors ahead opened.

“Welcome, Fillies and Gentlecolts, to the first lecture on astronomy. Today we look at the connection between our princesses and their respective celestial bodies, as referenced in the Astronomical Astronomers Almanack to all things Astronomy.

Shaking her head in confusion at the book name, Mysteria followed the crowd into the lecture hall. Benches rose up around a blackboard where a grey colt with a clean white mane, wearing a light taupe sweater stood poised to begin.

She settled down and took out of her saddlebag a notepad and pen. Effortlessly, she levitated her quill and notebook. She grinned ruefully as she remembered the difficulty she used to have before moving to Ponyville - back then it had been difficult to shakily lift a quill, let alone levitate multiple objects, all whilst concentrating on a lecture.

Smiling, she turned to back to the professor, who was surprisingly an earth pony. Oh well, she thought,he can be knowledgeable about a subject and still not have magic . The colt lifted up a piece of chalk and quickly began sketching a diagram involving planets and stars.

“Since their appearance, the celestial bodies of the moon and the sun have been connected to the alicorn Princesses Luna and Celestia. Their unique capability to move the sun and moon without external aid allowed them to develop a closer bond to the heavenly spheres, accounting for their cutie marks and distinct manes. It is also known that not all Alicorns can form such a bond, as is apparent from Princess Cadence. Now, as referenced in the official text, certain celestial constellations are suggested to be conduits for celestial power, which aid in the movement of the sun and moon. Some theorise, however, they may the unique interstellar movements of unknown third party....”

Mysteria yawned, covering her mouth with her hoof to quiet the sound, and continued to take notes. The lecture dragged on for another hour, and though she was sure it could be interesting, the delivery bored her, and it all felt achingly familiar.

She looked at her notes and gasped - focused on the lecture in a daze of boredom, her notes had cut off and below, a diagram depicting the moon and four stars surrounding it had taken its place. On closer examination, the stars were the ends of a single constellation, curving down and around the moon. As she looked at her work, she became aware of another observer. Hurriedly, she shut the notebook and stuffed it into her bag, before wheeling around to glare at the dark blue unicorn staring curiously at her.

He jumped back, a slightly guilty look on his face.

“Sorry about that, I just thought it looked interesting.” He stammered, blushing slightly under her stare. She took a small triumph in his discomfort - she had practiced that stare with Fluttershy and the other crusaders for days.

“I don’t like other ponies sneaking up on me.” She told him icily, her magenta eyes locked on his soft yellow ones.

He gulped but held her stare.

“I was going to tell you that you have excellent drawing skills, and seem to have an interesting take on some of the theories suggested.” He said, all in a rush, breaking eye contact and shuffling his hooves.

Mysteria was taken aback, suddenly feeling very silly.

“Oh, I’m sorry I was so short with you.” She apologised, slowly walking towards the door, “It’s just that I was a little annoyed that I fell asleep, and didn’t get my cutie mark.”

The stallion smiled kindly, keeping pace with her as she left the empty lecture hall and headed towards the grand meeting.

“I know what you mean,” He told her, “I still don’t have a cutie mark, and this is the third Winter Solstice I’ve been to.”

She raised her eyebrows but didn't comment, instead telling him about her friends back in Ponyville and the stunts that they pulled in order to try and get their cutie marks. He was laughing about one of their escapades she had described, as they arrived at the great hall.

“If you’re staying for the entire solstice, I’ll probably run into you again.” he said as Mysteria looked around for her teacher.

Her face perked up and she turned to him.

“Which lectures are you going to?” she asked, eagerly taking her carefully prepared schedule out of her bag. He nodded enthusiastically as they began comparing timetables.

From the other side of the hall, Twilight watched the exchange with beady eyes - Mysteria was being too open with that stranger and she didn’t like it. She thought about the lecture she had just attended and began to prepare a simple spell aimed at the blue unicorn.

“Well I suppose I’ll see you at dinner then,” he told Mysteria as they put their things away. He started to go then turned back to her, shaking his head ruefully. “You know, I think I forgot to introduce myself.” he cleared his throat.

“My name is Gently Star, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. May I inquire as to your name, fair mare?”

She giggled at his overacting, and haughtily responded.

“Mysteria of Ponyville, student of Twilight Sparkle and Cutie Mark Crusader.”

They both kept straight faces for a moment before breaking into giggles again.

Mysteria waved goodbye and skipped away to find her teacher - she needed to tell her about the lecture and her new friend.

As Twilight saw her student approaching, she reluctantly stopped casting the spell, raising her hoof so her student could find her. Soon, she promised to herself.

Gently watched her leave, his smile quickly disappearing as he scowled up at the ceiling.

“No” he whispered, “I can’t do it now.”

He screamed silently, his body lifting off the ground as all his limbs snapped out suddenly. Then as quickly as he had been lifted, he dropped, slumping on the ground.

He looked up again at the grey unicorn through a haze of pain, and his eyes flashed from yellow, to red.

Comments

[Nexidava]

No, Luna!

Dark things are afoot, or ahoof, or whatever...

I look forward to the rest!