//------------------------------//
// Broken 
// Story: All Behind Celestial Rays 
// by Cosy Purity 
//------------------------------//

A large burst of white magic appeared in the morning sky; its power was so incredible that it launched the young little white alicorn all the way into the forest several miles below, where she escaped the notice of the two nearly identical alicorns who had purposefully appeared there.
Celestia felt herself being hurled through the air, the forcing wind beating at her face and giving rise to the anxiety growing in her stomach, unknowing of whether this would be her final moment or if by some miracle something would break her terrible fall.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, but for a split second she took an ounce of courage and opened them again to see where she was heading, only to make immediate impact with a tree.
She smacked face-first into the trunk at the very top, and began tumbling through branches and leaves for a while until one branch around the bottom finally caught her, preventing her from suffering further injury by hitting the ground.
It was safe to say that at this point Celestia was very unconscious.
She slipped from the last branch and landed a couple inches from the ground.





A hazy darkness clouded Celestia’s vision as she began to blink open her eyes and awake from unconsciousness, and then immediately the soreness from the fall hit her like a gust of wind. She groaned louder and then took a moment to let her mind clear and the pain ebb, even slightly, before she attempted to open her eyes again. Finally after a pause she narrowly opened them once more. Her vision was still fuzzy, but as it began to readjust and the blackness lifted a little, she found she could see more clearly.
She could see a figure just above her.
There were droplets falling onto her face, and she wanted to react, but hadn’t any strength left. The first thought that came to her clouded mind was,
Timberwolf.
Yet, she couldn’t feel foul breath beating onto her face or the creaking of wooden limbs, or the spine-chilling growl it made just before it decided to capture its prey.
In fact, the droplets she felt weren’t sticky like saliva as she had first guessed it was. She knew she couldn’t rely on her mind right now for anything, so she croaked a little and then blinked one more time, and found her vision to be a lot clearer.
Starswirl.
Starswirl was bent over her splayed body, tears dripping down his cheeks and landing on her wounded face.
“You’re awake,” he spoke hushedly, “you’re alive.”
Celestia watched him plod to her side and sit down carelessly, then dip his head, his golden-and-brown mane falling and covering his face, the earth below his sagging head darkening with more tears.
“Y-you’re all I... h-have left,” he continued, hardly able to speak as his crying worsened, “...a-and I almost... lost you.”





Nebula followed Nightfall into the sky as if to his execution. As they reached the peak, where the sun gleamed brightly, shining all hope and and rays of warmth onto the forest below, Nightfall hissed furiously and exclaimed,
“What mocking sunlight! It basks in its day and the admiration of its beholders. Little does it know of the night that comes soon, the moon readily rising to take its place in the sky!” he turned to Nebula and added menacingly, a cruel smile on his face, “by the end of this, it’ll never rise again.”
Eyes widening with anger and shock, Nebula watched Nightfall surround the sun with the glow of his dark magic, now powerful enough due to the Tantabus, and begin to lower it with rather dangerous haste, as if he was betting on almost accidentally disrupting the gas star enough to do some damage to this world.
In the end it lowered without complication, but at the same time with defeat, and he watched as the entire forest fell under the gloom of the unnatural darkness.
Nightfall terminated his telekinesis and flew over to Nebula, meeting his gaze challengingly and powerfully, as if he knew the coming battle was over before it had started.
“I have a fun idea,” he whispered, “I won’t raise the moon. No light will shine in this eternal darkness. I will be the moon in its place.”
Nebula’s gaze darkened with the rest of the world, despair beginning to seep into the corners of his heart.
Nightfall continued in a nearly whimsical mockery of tone,
“Time to begin the moon’s ascent!”
Immediately he ignited his horn in preparation for attack and Nebula darted out of the way, hesitating to respond with his own magic.
“Don’t be too careful,” Nightfall jeered, sending a sheet of magic in his direction like a blast of lightning.
Nebula managed to dodge again, then, thinking of his family, he squeezed his eyes shut and with tears in his eyes, sent a shot back towards his brother.

Celestia felt mildly uncomfortable as she was carried with Starswirl’s magic toward where he had indicated the alicorns and the rest were hiding out. She’d never experienced a sensation like this one, to be surrounded by magic and thus fly without her control. She felt totally powerless. Inwardly she wished she could fly on her own, and suddenly realized how ponies without wings felt.
As she pondered this new revelation, a sudden thought came to her mind.
“Sta-sta…” She began, attempting to speak, “sta...rrr...swi...rrr...lll…”
Her heart lurched as she heard Starswirl’s wrenched reply, sounding as if it pained him to hear her in such a condition, and almost she felt regret for speaking:
“What is it, Celestia?”
The alicorn filly willed herself to talk more clearly, with all her heart, but still the result was only a little bit improved:
“H-h-hooww…. did... you…. find me?”
Starswirl, who was levitating Celestia behind him, kept his gaze on the incoming trees he weaved around, yet his head ducked a little. After a moment he said,
“We all noticed you were missing. Then I went to look for you so that everyone else could stay and be safe. I noticed a flash in the sky, then two alicorns. Then I saw you, all flung off into the trees… I came by and you were unconscious, but… I figured worse. It was a hard fall. I...I…” his voice began to break, then he swallowed and continued with a harder tone, “I waited for you to wake up, even though I thought you wouldn’t… I waited a long time…”
“Ssstaar...swirrl…”
Celestia murmured, and Starswirl stopped and turned his head weakly to look at her as he croaked,
“What?”
Celestia managed a tiny smile.
“Itt’ss…. okay.”