> My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Unofficially Off-Record Pre-Prelude > by The Warrior Of Darkness > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > My Sweet Prince of the Sky > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Sweet Prince Of The Sky The Night Sky was peaceful with the moon overlooking the land that so many called home. Everypony under it's light slept peacefully, thanks to the Princess of the Sun, the same princess that should be asleep along with her ponies, but instead found herself looking over the night sky, as her sister did. Celestia looked out over the slumbering land that she promised to rule alongside with her sister, Princess Luna. She had made that promise to the ponies of the land so long ago when she and her sister had toppled Discord's rule, and established Peace and Harmony in it. She broke that promise, when she had no other choice to banish her sister to the moon, and had regretted the events that lead up to it ever since. As she looked out over Equestria she felt a sudden pull towards an area in the land that most deemed unfit to live, the Everfree Forest. As Celestia looked toward the area of dark forest, running for miles out from Ponyville, she felt a magical signature, a powerful one. It reminded her of how her magic was and as she thought more on it, she felt the need to investigate, but felt that she should do it alone. The Everfree was calling to her, and so she would rather risk her own than her guards, coming to a swift decision, she teleported from the castle she resided in, to the front of the woods. Not wasting anytime, she proceeded immediately noticing that the strong magic she felt in the woods mirrored her own... That mirrored Luna's. 'Oh No, say it isn't so' she thought. Hoping that somehow, that evil corruption of her sister had not found a way from the moon, after just 50 years of being put on it. She knew if this were true she would lose the battle, the last time she had the Elements with her. If her thought was correct she should have brought some guards along with her. Thankfully, she was wrong, finally arriving at the source of the magical anomaly, she took note of the building that was in front of her, a building so much like the old castle that remained somewhere inside the Everfree. As she approached the building Celestia noticed the quietness of the Everfree, it felt like dread, as if something was here that even the forest wanted no part of. Taking a deep breath, allowing the crisp, cold air of the night to calm her nerves she went inside, the darkness of the building taking control of her senses, she lit her horn, so she could better see and continued onward, downward to be precise, the building went down into the ground, she continued onward till she hit only what she could describe as a "barrier of stench" walking out into the room that smelled of death. Celestia moved onward making her magic flow deeper into her horn, lighting the room only for her to stumble back, her magic waning at her own surprise as she looked at what was causing the stench: Burn Marks. Everywhere. Celestia didn't need to look more to note what kind of burning could cause such a stench. These burn marks were once ponies, she thought as she looked onward with horror, to see massive amounts of lab equipment thrown everywhere. 'What happened here? Who could have done such as thing?' Celestia thought as her pace quickened, hoping to find anything that could show what happened in this place, She turned down hallways, entered doors, she found nothing. Celestia was beginning to feel hopeless at the scene she saw before her, burn marks that pointed towards a gruesome death of her ponies, as she entered what looked to be the final 'testing site' she took note that this room had been where the magic she had felt was at it's strongest, she slowly pushed the door open, walking inside. As she looked around she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, turning towards it to see a small colt pushed up against the wall, with black marks all around the area he occupied. Celestia crept forward, keeping her eyes on the small pony she took note of the colt's sleeping expression, it was filled with horror, once she saw that she immediately surged forward towards him, carefully looking at him, noticing the scars that ran around his body, the numerous cuts around his hooves, around his wings. She looked towards his head, surprised to find that resting on his head was a horn, he was the magic anomaly. This colt was a Alicorn. Celestia realized the implications of this, a alicorn colt here, in this abyss? Celestia immediately knew what she had to do, softly taking the colt onto her back and leaving the room, being careful as to not wake the sleeping child. 'This colt was a survivor of whatever happened here, he also seems to be a victim'. She began to navigate her way back through this labyrinth of death, so she could see that he did not fall prey to whatever goes bump in the night. As she continued, she reached her destination, finally seeing the illuminated night through the treetops of the Everfree Forest. She wanted to immediately teleport to the castle so he could get proper medical treatment, but did not know what would happen to this child should she do that, instead, she made sure he was secure on her back, and took off into the sky, leaving the building behind. She never noticed the vines that grew around him in the building, or the plant life that seemingly popped up as she left with him. As she flew she turned her neck to view the alicorn's features, surely them being in a better light would help her distinguish his features. She had sworn his colors were different but when she did look, she noticed that his coat was near white, mostly the color of paled turquoise; she looked further towards his flank, what she saw would have gave her a heart attack. On his flank was a emblem that resembled her own, instead of the large circle signifying the sun, there was what looked to be blue flames, with it turning to resemble the "spirals" of flame that was apart of her cutie mark. Lastly, she looked upon his mane, shocked to see that it was turning white, ending with an ethereal blue. 'This colt, this child is just like me.. And just like Luna.'. Turning around, Princess Celestia finally took notice of the Skye, it being filled with dancing lights, that was arranged from various violets. She read that as a sign, whether from her chained sister on the moon or from Faust herself, she would take care of this colt; as she reached her destination she thought about the building in the Everfree, the signs of lifelessness it showed, the stains of black from ponies that were once there. She would have the guard put a thorough investigation of the place, after all alicorn colts just don't come from the Sky. > The Day After > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day after was great, the sun shining, the birds singing... and Celestia was dreading Day Court as much as she always did. Celestia rubbed her head, in thought of the current situation in front of her while she sat at her throne, as the nobles of Canterlot started their daily bickering about laws and whatnot. They argued onward about offers that would increase the state of Equestria and building of a new city being worked on, the city that would is knows as Manehattan. She watched on, her eyes focused on the window leading outside, her mind on other events, such as the colt that was currently being treated in the medical wing of the castle, she recalled the look on Doctor Heartwind's face as she brought him to him. He had saw to it that the child would be looked after, and after a series of tests were run it was determined that while his mind suffered no "visible" psychological trauma, he had discovered small incisions all around the small alicorn. After this revelation was made, it was determined that the facility would need to be looked at further, and Celestia had called on one of her captain; Captain Cross Skies, would look into it. That had been an hour ago since the order had been given out, and his company had not returned. Normally, she would fret about this, but she felt that the time had not been long enough for her to worry about her captain yet, the building in the Everfree must be hard to locate, considering that the only magical energy they could have used to locate it, was in the Castle. Looking back down and tuning back into the nobles' conversation she noticed that the conversation began to shift back to her, likely rapping up so she could give the final say, and then they leave... finally. Don't get her wrong, she loves her ponies, she just hates dealing with the nobles. "But Manehattan would be a grand city, to show off the achievements of the nobility! We cannot allow simple commoners to be apart of it!" A small, dark lilac unicorn said, looking towards the other unicorn in the room. 'Midnight Swallow' Celestia thought. 'Midnight Swallow is a unicorn of high nobility in Canterlot, but unfortunately because of it he cannot comprehend the other houses of nobility and non-nobility alike.' She thought. Fixing her look on the other noble in the room Celestia realized that these two were keeping her from more serious matters other than the city she began to make her decision clear to them by speaking up: "Midnight Swallow, Steel Gust. This conversation has carried on for far too long, the decision is clear that you cannot work together in the building of Manehattan, so I will decide for you" She started. "Rather than limit the city to only nobility, I suggest you to build a city that will become a beacon of unity beyond just nobility, but rather unity of ALL ponies." Celestia finished, with the two nobles letting her words sink in, before bowing and leaving, being escorted out by guards back to their respective homes. As the throne doors closed, she immediately jumped off the throne, well not literally but her energy seemed to be directed elsewhere as she walked with brisk movement directed towards the medical facility, paying no mind to the guards as they fell in line around and behind her as she moved to her destination. Finally arriving there she opened the door to a flustered Heartwind who instantly bowed down in front of the Solar Princess. "P-Princess Celestia, I was just about to come get you, the colt you brought back from the Everfree has finally awakened" He said in a fluster, obviously trying to get his thoughts under control. "It's Alright. You said he's awake?" She asked. "How is he? Is he ok? You said that he had incisions on him, does that mean that-". Celestia paused herself, falling back in line to her usual mask that she showed in front of her ponies. As she did that, Heartwind took the time to explain: "He seems to be better now that he has been seen medically, when you brought him in, his magic was all over the place. We had to use a inhibitor to temporarily disable his magic. It's much better now and to be honest, he seems much healthier. From the tests that have just finished we figured out that he gave off magic much like you Princess". Heartwind said as he finished up, looking back at her to see the slightest face of shock that soon turned back into a mask. "So you say his magic is much like mine, does that explain the Cutie Mark, as I recall it looked like an eclipse of the Sun and the Moon. Celestia said the gentle, motherly tone of voice as she and Heartwind continued down to the section that the alicorn was in. Heartwind kept pace with her but it was evident that he was excited: "Well not exactly your Highness, we don't have a clue about that but his magic is very strong, and it keeps growing, it's relatively small, but it still is going up from what we can sense from him. His body doesn't seem to be able to take this growth though, so it seems like it caps out at a certain level." He stated as they reached the room, opening to find the young alicorn upright staring at the ceiling. "He's been very quiet since he awoke, however, his eyes are the most peculiar thing that we haven't been able to figure out". Celestia looked towards the doctor, waiting for an explanation, however she found herself looking towards the colt; his eyes looking back at her; grey, blind eyes looking back at her. Despite this, it seemed that he could still see following the look of her waving mane. As she turned at slowly crept forward towards him Heartwind explained the case of his eyes: "It would seem like he's blind but they respond to light just the same, it's as if the look themselves seem like they're blind but instead they function perfectly. That's the only other part that we've been unable to determine other than the cutie mark. As he said that her eyes shifted towards the colt's exposed flank, the mark just barely showing out from under the covers of the bed. "While we haven't found anything about those, the fact remains, he hasn't talked at all since he woke. I was hoping that maybe if you spoke to him, he might speak. Heartwind said, facing the Princess of the Sun as she looked back towards him and back towards the colt, contemplating speaking to the young child. After a moment, her heart gave in as she looked towards him, and started to speak, she began with a simple question, the one she wanted answered since she had seen him: "Do you know your name?" She said, keeping her voice low as to not startle the colt. She inspected his face to see signs of recognition, not noticing anything she began to look towards Heartwind, who was focused on the colt, not noticing that she had turned to address him. When she noticed this, she turned back to see the colt's muzzle opened to speak, when he did, his voice carried into the wind with the tones of what could be described as bliss, as if the oceans themselves had decided to bring upon gentle waves. "My name is Skye" The newly named colt Skye said, his voice unwavering as he looked back at Celestia, his gaze meeting hers. > The Night After (Yeah I know...) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia's heart began to race as the words registered in her mind, He Spoke! He can actually speak! She looked towards Doctor Heartwind as he mirrored her look exactly, surprise registering in his voice as he spoke: "If you can speak, why didn't you before?" The stallion said, hoping for an answer directed to him. Skye looked at him, then to her, returning his gaze back to the doctor, and opened his mouth to speak: "You remind me of them... they were scary... they did things to us..." He said, his voice trailing off into a whisper, cracking into what sounded like, crying? Immediately aware at the current situation the questioning had brought Celestia jumped up, concern written all over her, but she didn't care about that now. She would comfort this colt now, rather than run him to the ground with questioning. She wrapped her wings and hooves around him, caressing the young colt, her voice being a beacon in the night. "It's alright, It's ok, no one is here to harm you" She began, comforting the child who was in between her hooves, his shaking slowing down as she continued: "We aren't here to harm you, we just want to find out what happened to you, for us to be able to help you, you've got to talk to us" Celestia finished. Skye had soon stopped shaking, and pushed himself into the fluff of her body, seemingly comfortable around the older alicorn. Celestia allowed him to stay, looking at the approaching Doctor, giving him a look that said No Further. She had wanted to find out from Skye himself but, her suspicions had all been confirmed. Skye was a result of experimentation, she could tell from one glance that both his wings and horn were natural born, but his magic was something else entirely, it radiating similiar to Nightmare Moon's, but without the free-form signature of chaos magic. It was worrying, it didn't copy either Harmonious or Chaotic, and was a mixture of Neither. She could feel that he did possess Harmonious magic, but the one that was going haywire was unknown to her. She decided then and there that this alicorn would need to stay in the Castle. Not for the safety of others, but for the safety of himself. If the magic she felt wasn't any known one, then that meant that the experiments the "ponies" Skye spoke of, introduced him and others to something not of this world, and had infused it into their very core. That would explain the magic fluctuations near him. As she decided onward of what she would do, and how to execute it, Heartwind spoke up, voicing a different question to the colt: "Are there any others? Princess Celestia said she found you in the Everfree, and then you just said 'us". He stated, continuing with his watching of the colt. Skye popped his head out, gazing at the doctor for a moment and then speaking, his voice resonating with a bit more confidence, it seems that staying close to her helped. "No, there were others. They went with the older ponies, I never saw them again." Skye said while pulling back into Celestia's warmth. She took this moment to ask a burning question that had begun to pop up in her mind, so as soft as she could she asked: "Do you remember where you were? Whether you had parents?" She asked, certain that she would get a answer. A answer she was dreading to hear. Skye looked up at her, his face seeming to find no purchase in his memories. "I don't know. I don't remember. I just know my name, I know I was being looked over by bad ponies." He said, his face coming to rest on her wing. Her heart broke, this alicorn knew nothing about his past, except for his name, even though he sounded unsure about that. It was like his memories were gone, as if they had never existed in the first place. It was heartbreaking, and since he was a special case, that might be the cause of his magic being unique. 'being different' she told herself. Celestia began to move, and shuffle off of the bad, using her magic to float the colt onto her back, making way to the door, only for Doctor Heartwind to stop her, bringing up various conditions about Skye's health, normally she would have just ignored it, but she found that she should listen, so as to know if there was something that could help her answer the questions she held within. As Heartwind listed off all these conditions, she found that Skye had not said anything, and instead had found interest in the differences of Heartwind's mane like his own. He did not voice any questions much to her hope, seeming to find his answer when looking between his own and her's. As the Doctor finished up, she felt a small rumble on her back, upon her investigation she found that Skye was looking back at her, with the faintest hint of embarrassment. He was hungry, though he was embarrassed by it, there was no need for him to be at all, so she decided to shift her focus as soon as she could leave the medical wing, deciding that questions she had or anything retaining to Skye's "place of residence" could be put off for later. Instead she would focus on one thing only as she took various routes, going down different hallways to reach one of the castle's main chambers. Skye's eyes followed their route, seeming to focus on all at once as they seemed brimmed with curiosity, it was apparent that he had never seen Canterlot Castle at all, from the inside nor outside. She would figure that out later, but first she would go to the castle's cafeteria, first she would feed Skye, and herself. After all, dinner time was one of the most important meals of the day, right? Right. > 994 Years Later > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia thought about the events that led up to where she were now. How if she had not gone in the woods that night Skye might not have survived to see the daylight. She had became very surprised when he showed signs of being immortal, much like her, but instead of the original spell used when turning her and her sister immortal, it had given him immortality that would change his form every 500 years. It was nothing serious, as he kept his memories, but changed mane and coat color. Judging from what the scientists had said (It had taken a lot of time for Skye to be able to let scientists near him) they had learned that not only was a type of immortal like her, but the reason why his body was forced into those transformations was because his power had been rapidly increasing. When she had brought him in, he held magic next to a fully grown unicorns, but he could not control it. He had stayed with her and soon learned it, and to keep the nobility line in check from justifying him as an outsider, she had made an announcement that he was "crowned" Prince Skye, Eternal Flame. It took after her own title as the Eternal Sun. She had watched him on as he studied academics and even politics. He had learned enough of how to deal with nobility to even help her! Celestia smiled at the thought. Celestia would soon depart from Day Court, as she was needed by her student, Twilight Sparkle. They had met during the entrance exam to her school, and Skye thought it amazing that such a small unicorn could hold that kind of power. She guessed it reminded him of himself, so she took her under her wing, teaching her. Twilight was, interesting indeed. She spent time inside, rather researching than going out partying like her previous student. She had also seemed to take an interest in Skye, at least a academic one, pestering him about the differences between him and her. Each time Celestia caught her she would begin to reprimand her, only for Skye to interrupt, and tell her he was fine with it. He had definitely come far from the small colt that was afraid of the dark, and afraid of any profession within the scientific field. She liked to think that she had rubbed off on him, is voice had retained that smooth ocean-like tone from so long ago, yet it had matured, and turned into brief waves, which turn into a crackling tsunami when angered. She had seen many times when he was angry, not at her, but at himself. It was mainly in his earlier years that he had done so, but had become calm and collected as the years passed by. Speaking of the devil, Celestia,cracked open a brief smile, eyeing him as he made his way towards her in the throne room. "Hello Mother!" Skye said happily, trotting along till he reached the end. He had taken to calling her 'Mother' in place of Princess Celestia. While she knew it probably for the best that he didn't, he had grown up with only one positive solid in his life, her. Skye has seen guards come and go, maids take leave and never come back, he had even seen her previous student, Sunset Shimmer, disappear. They never changed, so she allowed it, the nobles couldn't call him out on in anyway, they only know what they were told. Not Skye's true origins, and they'll never know. "Hello there Skye, how are you feeling today?" She replied in earnest. "I'm great actually, had another bout with that dream I told you about but nothing bad." Skye said back. Recently, he had begun to have dreams of a large blue alicorn, her fur near black as the night. It was obvious that he was talking about Nightmare Moon, the corrupted version of Princess Luna. This meant that she was going to return soon. She would need to talk about the plan to Skye, so he did not seek her out, it was much more a test for Twilight, so she spoke. "I know more of this dream you speak of, we will talk about it later, but right now, I ask that you bring this letter to Twilight from me, if I'm guessing correctly, she would be in the library as usual." She finished, keeping her composure at the look of Skye's pouting gesture. He was trying to get her to laugh, but she would not let herself fall easily, instead she called him out on the loss. "I see your still trying to perfect your gaze, you have lost this round young one, this brings us to 75 to 52, better luck next time." She said, beaming a smile at him. Skye sat there, realizing he had lost, and just as quickly as he came he went to go give Twilight the letter. The timetable had moved up greatly, due to Skye coincidentally confirming her suspicions that Nightmare Moon would return. Hopefully Twilight could bring back the Elements of Harmony, and bring back her sister, she missed her, and likely, would love Skye the same if she were ever to return. 'She will return, I should not stress so much. I trust in Twilight, I have to'. She could no longer wield the Elements, the last time she had used them were the initial fight with Nightmare, so instead her sword had become the Solar guard, while the shield remained diplomacy at best. She had faith that in the coming hours that Twilight could solve it, she just needed a push in the right direction.