All Behind Celestial Rays

by Cosy Purity


The Beginning

It was a clear, bright morning, and alicorns were flying or running around in a game of chase, or practicing magic in preparation for the coming Solar exams.
Celestia plodded along the path of solid lunar-like stone, which appeared blank and grey in the daytime, but glowed brightly with a white light during the night. There was a field of grass on the left of the path as well as the right, and on both sides of her were a group friends studying or playing around, or just talking and enjoying one another’s company.
She didn’t really have friends here - she realized that she didn’t quite fit into any group, but she was fine with it; All she needed was her one good friend, Starswirl.
His formal name was Sir Starswirl, because his father was a soldier of the royal guard - and usually it was customary for an alicorn to refer to a guard formally - but Celestia felt she had a special connection with Starswirl that allowed her to call him anything she liked.
At the end of the path she reached the entrance to the Central Castle, where every alicorn lived. The pillars and the entire structure didn’t seem to ever end; It seemed to reach far above the clouds, so that she couldn’t even dream to gaze at the very top.
She smiled as she stared at the magnificent castle for a few moments longer, and then started inside and made her way through the dark, marble-like, shiny corridor that welcomed her. There were tables on the far right of her for studying, with a few ferns lining the corners of the building, and dark blue pillars lined up on every side until the very end of the corridor. Chandeliers which glowed like the stars hung far above her, making it seem like she was looking up at the night sky.
This was what was known as the Lunar Corridor. Half of the building belonged to the night, and half belonged to the day. Despite this, the alicorns that lived inside had their own special thing to control.
She smiled, remembering the fact that Starswirl’s mom controlled the clouds and the weather. Her own mother and father reigned the entire building, and even the rest of the alicorns were their subjects. Her mother, Vibrant Sunrise, was ruler of the day and the sun - On the other hand, her father - Nebula - ruled the moon and everything of the night.
When Vibrant Sunrise’s light burned out, it would be Celestia’s turn to rule the day. Even though the idea of the responsibility was incredible to her, the thought of her mother not being around made her feel sick to her stomach.
I won’t think about that, she decided quickly, and shook her head to clear it. Feeling the need for a distraction from these thoughts, she decided to go look for Starswirl.
She began sprinting down the corridor, her hooves slippery on the marble floor, and burst into the next room which only led to another corridor. Sometimes she wondered what the point was for all these rooms. She made it into the next corridor and spotted Starswirl intently practicing on a spell to create a trio of lit candles from thin air.
Quietly stepping toward him, not wanting to disturb his training, she watched a white glow bubble from his lit horn, she began to admire how skilled he was in magic. Many alicorn professors marvelled on how advanced he was - but everypony knew that his mother, Princess Cloudwhisper, passed down to him her magic abilities - and not exactly in the way that many ponies would like.
It was frowned upon for an alicorn to marry a simple soldier, especially because of the fact that two alicorns produced children with the same abilities as they harbored in order that whatever they controlled would continue to stay in control and their unique magic would live on. Now that Princess Cloudwhisper and Sharp Sheath couldn’t have an alicorn child, the responsibility of her own magic to control the weather would have to weigh on her own shoulders, and everypony would have to hope that she lived for a long time. If anything were to… happen to her… perhaps it would be in the hooves of the pegasi to take on the task. Celestia knew though, that this was a tall order.
Would they ever really be able to fill Cloudwhisper’s horse-shoes?
Celestia shook her head, deciding that these thoughts were too negative to be reflecting over on a day like this. She decided to focus on her friend and his spell.
Starswirl’s eyes were squeezed shut, and a his face was scrunched up in intense concentration. Suddenly, a yellow spark fizzled into thin air, and exploded into three candles lit with flame, surrounded by his magic as he levitated it.
Celestia’s breath was taken away as she widened her eyes in pure awe, and breathed, “That… was… amazing!”
Starswirl had been so intent on his spell that he hadn’t even noticed her presence and flinched in surprise, his levitation spell dissipating immediately. He let out a squeak as the candles plummeted in what seemed like slow motion and shattered immediately as they hit the floor, chunks of wax spilling out on the shiny marble with the reflection of the flame resting in the sheen.
Starswirl was frozen, his face pale and his golden eyes locked on the broken candles before him. Celestia was about to apologize when she noticed that the flame on the trio of candles was growing a bit broader, spreading from the wick to the fractured shards of white solid material that was quickly melting and staining the marble floor. In spontaneous instinct she created a rain spell that dropped a shower of droplets onto the candles and instantly put out the blaze, leaving a large puddle of charred wax on the floor.
As she breathed a sigh of relief, Starswirl started, and snapped his gaze to meet hers, his piercing eyes filled with a combination of indignation and ire.
“You just destroyed the evidence I’d finally had for a spell that you know I’ve been working on for weeks!”
Celestia ducked her head and unraveled her wings, lifting them slowly to rest on her ears and cover half of her face, unease and embarrassment pulsing in her chest.
“I… um… s-sorry,” she whispered.
Starswirl growled and hauled himself to his hooves, turning toward the opening to the next corridor which led to the library.
Celestia guessed he was going to practice there alone, and her heart lurched.
I want to play! She thought, and quickly folded her wings and bounded in front of him.
“Do you want to go up the staircase and play in my father’s dorm?” She suggested.
“No, I’m going to go practice my magic. By myself.” He started toward the direction of the next corridor, but Celestia cut in front of him a second time, knowing this was her last chance to change his mind, and blurted,
“I can cast a better spell than you can!”
Starswirl froze and widened his eyes with indignation, his iris shrinking with shock.
“W-What… did you just say…?”
Celestia smiled slightly.
Got you.
“I can easily beat you in any contest of magic. I’m an alicorn. Unlike you, I don’t need to practice.”
Starswirl gaped, and his eyes glowed with rage.
“Oh,” Celestia murmured softly, “You think you could beat me?”
“I know I could beat you!” Starswirl exclaimed.
“Okay, then. Prove it.”
Starswirl immediately turned toward the puddle of wax and, igniting the magic of his horn, surrounded it in the yellow glow that his magic produced, white sparks shooting from his horn in the intensity of the spell.
The puddle of wax disappeared in a burst of white light, then reappeared after a second flash in the form of three new candles without flame.
Once he had carefully set it on a round table beside them he met her gaze and said smoothly, “Think you can do better than that?”
Celestia smiled and bounced over to the other side of the table, narrowing her eyes as she glared at the target that was the trio of candles.
She began to levitate the candles and squeezed her eyes shut. The yellow glow surrounding her horn - similar to the kind Starswirl produced - grew broader as she focused, the difficulty of the spell becoming apparent in her concentration. She opened her eyes slightly and saw that the candles were now a white silhouette. The barrier of her magic began to expand until it flashed in a sheet of white light, and both Starswirl and Celestia had to shield their eyes against the momentary glare. In the effect of the strength of her magic, gleaming rays shown off what Celestia had created out of the candles: A large bouquet of scarlet red roses.
With the object still levitated in her magic, Celestia moved it gently over to Starswirl and ceased her spell, and the bouquet of roses dropped at his hooves.
Without meeting her gaze Starswirl whispered,
“You win.”
Celestia plodded to his side and wrapped a hoof around his shoulders, and she felt him tense under her embrace.
“No,” Celestia said, “We win!”
Starswirl shrugged her off and stepped to the side, the expression of his eyes returning to the unreadable, emotionless yellow stones that they usually were.
“You tricked me,” He observed, and Celestia nodded, her eyes growing wide with her smile. Starswirl levitated a rose from the bouquet and placed it in a lock of Celestia’s hair beside her ear; Then walked away.