//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 Holding On And Letting Go 
// Story: A Prince's Journey 
// by Frosthowl 
//------------------------------//

As the play came to an end, music flooded the room with four of the six Elements of Harmony singing a joyous tune.

"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through, will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very eeeend"

The ponies finished their song and the audience cheered happily to the performers. As the crowd was applauding, a sudden earthquake hit the town. Ponies started to panic and find shelter in case the earthquake was some sort of large wild beast. The walls and floor shook, startling everypony attending. Joy and merriment were replaced by fear and confusion as ponies started scrambling about, looking for some form of shelter. Foals cried out for their mothers, spouting out claims of monsters and windigoes.

Twilight watched the hysteria unfold in front of her. She had to step in and calm them down. "Please everypony, calm down!" The crowd stopped screaming but still remained hiding in their spots.

"What was that?" Twilight asked herself. Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash made their way outside. The blue barrier, that Princess Luna had erected to keep wild beasts out and her son away from trouble, laid shattered and in pieces on the ground."What could have destroyed the force field?!" She pondered over what could have destroyed such a powerful barrier but quickly pushed those thoughts aside to focus on what mattered at the moment. "I must find Starfall. He and I together should be powerful enough to create a new barrier!" Twilight turned to her friends, each giving a quick nod.

Twilight galloped to her tree house, hoping the young boy was safe. She slammed open the door to her home and found it was empty. "Starfall?" she called. Fear and disbelief swelled inside her. 

"Starfall?!" she yelled out again, thinking that he might be taking a nap. She rushed into Starfall’s room, only to find the prince missing. Scanning the room, Twilight saw that his boots were missing as well, meaning he had gone outside. She a gave frustrated groan, knowing that Starfall had most likely been responsible for the situation.

She left the treehouse, heading back to her friends to tell them about the prince's unknown whereabouts. She arrived back at townhall, her friends waiting wide-eyed for what Twilight had to say. "Well? Is the little feller alright?" Applejack asked the mare.

"No! He's gone!" Twilight panicked. "We have to find him!" She said getting more and more worried about the young prince.

"Calm down, Twi!" Applejack grabbed Twilights hooves to her her attention, "Me and Rainbow Dash will go look for him! You go and alert the princesses! And Pinkie..." She stopped as she didn't know what to tell her what to do.

"I'll use my Pinkie Sense!" She said with a happy tone whilst jumping up and down. Nopony could understand how she could be this calm at a moment like this.

"Alright, girls! Let’s get to it!" Applejack reared before galloping off with her group.





It had been a few minutes, and the ponies were starting to lose hope. They had just been at Fluttershy's cottage who said he was with her just an hour ago, so he could have gotten far. "You guys, look!" Pinkie shouted, getting everyone's attention. By the edge of the forest lay three motionless forms. Rainbow Dash flew as quick as lightning, her fears coming true as she got closer.

It was Starfall... His skin was pale, blood frozen on his arm. The ponies arrived and saw the giant wolf and its cub, along with the human prince on the ground. He lay there, his eyes firmly shut as snow blanketed his pale cheeks in a thin white veil. Beside him rested a small wolf pup who had burrowed up against Starfall, comfortably sleeping beside him. The mother lay just a few yards away from the prince. She looked as if she was sleeping, though she was deathly still, the rise and fall of her chest absent. The trio looked almost peaceful, despite the frozen blood around the dead prince’s arm.

"Starfall!" The newly arrived princesses flew down to see their nephew and son lying lifeless on the ground. Luna didn't waste a second and jumped down, placing an ear on his chest. Seconds went by in silence. Nothing. "No heartbeat... No heartbeat!" She yelled again, despair filling her voice and her face stricken with terror. Like her son’s heartbeat, her world had stopped.

"We may still be able to save him!" Cadence yelled at Luna, snapping Luna out of her sorrow and getting her to look up. Cadence’s horn glowed intensely, and in a blinding blue flash, made everyone except the large wolf disappear. Now alone on the forest’s edge, snowflakes softly fell onto the dead beast, settling in her fur and dancing around her.





The group of ponies found themselves inside Twilight’s home. The limp human body fell on his bed with the princesses gathering around him. They didn't waste a second to take care of their beloved prince. "We need to start his heart again,” said Cadence, turning towards Luna. “Before we do this, Celestia and I will heat up his body, while you and Twilight try to shock his heart." With a tug, Cadence used her magic to remove the prince's shirt.

Celestia and Cadence's horns flared brighter than the sun, heating the room in its warmth as they brought their horns closer to the prince. The color of Starfall’s skin began to return, if only a little, but his heart still wasn’t beating. Luna and Twilight stepped in beside him. With only the goal of bringing the boy back to life, they charged an enormous amount of electricity and aimed it directly at the human’s heart. His arms, hands, and fingers twitched from the charge but didn't seem to give any noticeable effect.

Luna furrowed her brow. "Again!" She charged her horn for another powerful electrical shock. "Clear!" A bolt of lightning hit her son, causing his entire body to jump. She put her ear to the boy’s chest.

Her breath began to quicken as her body trembled. "He's... He’s still not breathing!"

Cadence closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. "Then we have one last option... We need to revive him," she said letting the words hang in the air. Channeling life was not something everypony could do. The spell itself was arguably the most difficult to perform, even for the princesses. The four alicorns charged their spell before releasing a blinding gold beam into the unconscious child.

The healing spell tested the alicorns’ magical strength to the limit. Even with the combined magical strength of the four most powerful magic users in the world, they might not be able to bring him back. Cadence's horn was first to flicker as the spell drained her of magic. She stopped abruptly and started rubbing her head, an intense headache forming from the overuse of magic. Though Twilight lasted longer than her sister-in-law, her stopped glowing with a splitting headache to go with it.

It was now just Celestia and Luna. Neither was going to give up anytime soon. Celestia loved her nephew and showed no sign of slowing down, determined to bring him back. Though, it seemed hopeless. Minutes later, she couldn't keep up the spell anymore. She collapsed on the ground, exhausted from her relentless use of magic. However, Luna was not stopping. Though her legs buckled under her, she kept going. She gritted her teeth, pushing past the pain. She couldn’t lose her son.

"Lulu?" Celestia asked her sister worryingly. She didn't respond as she was determined to keep going even if it was gonna kill her.

"Luna!" Celestia raised her voice again, trying to snap her sister out before she seriously hurt herself. Luna's snout started leaking blood. The dripping blood from her nose was the signal Celestia needed to stop her sister from killing herself.

"Luna, stop!" Celestia this time jumped between Luna and her son, cutting off the spell. Luna fell on her stomach, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Celestia draped a hoof around her sister. "I'm sorry, Lulu. He is gone," she said as she too began tearing up at the loss of her nephew.

All the ponies were completely silent as the young boy’s death, words unable to escape their mouths. Luna stared in disbelief at her dead son. Unnoticed by the rest, the young wolf cub let out a whimper, sensing the sadness in the room.






"Where am I?" Starfall found himself lying on field of snow, though it didn’t feel cold. He looked up and saw that the stars and moon were gone, showing only the midnight sky. There was no one, not even a sound, to greet him. Starfall tried to stand up, but it felt like his entire body was strapped down to the snowy ground. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, frightened as he struggled to move his body upwards. He couldn't feel his arms, legs, or chest. Panic began to set in as he choked down the horrific feeling of being chained to the ground, shackled forever to the lifeless realm.

After many futile attempts, he submitted his fate, giving in to despair. "Is this the spirit world? Has my demise arrived?" The prince lay on the ground, coming to terms with his worst fear. He knew he was dead, and the fact that he wasn't breathing was also a dead giveaway. A pang of sorrow hit the young boy as he realised he would never see his mother again. Hoping he would be freed from his imprisonment or given an answer to where he was, a bright white light appeared in the form of... a human.

His jaw dropped at the sight of the humanoid figure. He wasn’t sure who this was, but he had to ask anyways, if it was who he thought it was. "Father?" The white light did not answer. He just stood there looking at him."Father, is that you?" He asked again, hoping he would answer. His chest pounded as if his heart would burst if he didn’t get an answer.

The white spirit offered his hand to the child. Suddenly, his right arm was pulled free from the ground as he took hold of the spirit’s offering hand. Despite their best efforts, it simply wasn't enough. They both stopped when they realized they weren’t going to get any farther. "It’s not enough, is it?" Starfall asked. It was hopeless. He was doomed to be trapped in his snowy prison.

Another human-shaped spirit came from the distance, except it had black wings. The prince was confused of who this was, but then he remembered the statue. "Alexander?" he asked the spirit, who resembled the young prince more than his father.

"Do not fear, young prince. Your family will always be there to help you up, should you fall. Take my hand, return to yours!"

The prince tried to free his left arm but couldn’t break his shackles. "I... I can’t...  I'm not strong enough."

Alexander kept his left hand offered to his descendant. "You are strong enough. You are the descendant of the greatest warriors who ever lived. You can do this!"

Mustering his strength, he fought to get up, the Crystal King's words ringing in his head. "I will not be chained to death!" he yelled out as he struggled to break the shackles. "I am Prince Starfall, sovereign ruler of Equestria and son of Princess Luna! And I yield to... nothing!" He roared out with his Royal Canterlot Voice. The shackles shattered, and the prince grabbed hold of his ancestor’s left hand.

"Now pull!"





Sunlight beamed through the window. Starfall shot upward from his unconscious position, throwing off the covers that were placed over his head. He was in his room on his bed. Glancing at his right arm, he found his wound closed up, as if nothing ever happened. The prince’s eyes widened when he remembered the wolf and her cub. He didn’t waste a second to put on his shirt and boots before quickly leaving his room. Going down the stairs, he was hoping to see somepony with the cub."Twilight...? Spike?" He looked around the library, but there was no one."Where did they go?"

He opened the door that led outside and saw that the house was guarded by ten guards, all snapping to attention upon seeing him. One of the commanding officer approached the recently awoken prince. "Your highness!"

The prince's attention was focused on the guard clad in blue and golden armor. "Lieutenant Shieldwall? What are you and your platoon doing here?"

"The princesses sent an entire battalion to Ponyville after it was discovered that you had been mortally wounded. You barely made it... All of the princesses had to work together to heal you. They are currently at the cottage of the Element of Kindness."

The prince was shocked just how close he came to meet his demise. "Was... Was it really that bad?"

"Yes... Thank goodness you are well, sir!" said the lieutenant. "My platoon is ready to escort you to your mother." The guards regrouped five by five behind Shieldwall.

The prince rolled his eyes with a sigh "Fine! Lets just go already."





The group of guards and the human made their way towards Fluttershy’s cottage. On their way there, hushed whispers could be heard as ponies saw the human, wondering what had happened last night when the barriers fell. The prince caught a glimpse of a very dear friend he hadn't seen in years.

"Starfall!" The pony came trotting towards the prince. Acting on instinct, the guards pointed their spears at the incoming pony. Amethyst Star came to a halt at the hostile greeting, eyeing the spear in front of her.

"Stand down!" the prince roared out with the Royal Canterlot Voice. The spears were withdrawn, though it didn’t do much to calm the pony. He waved away the guards separating the himself and the jewelry maker. "I'm so sorry, Amy." He picked up the hoof of the middle-aged mare and gently kissed it. "How have you been doing? I haven't seen you in two years."

Amethyst offered a warm smile. "I see you're still as formal as ever." She wrapped him in an embrace. "I've missed you too, Starfall. The last time I saw you, you were almost as tall as me." Starfall broke the hug between him and his foal sitter but still kept his warm smile.

"As happy as I am to see you, Amethyst, I'm on very important business," he said, his smile slowly fading away.

She kept her smile and nodded. "I understand. Now run along." She ruffled Starfall's hair and trotted away.

The prince, however, fumed with anger as he turned to his guards. "I don't want to see anymore acts of aggression like that again! The next guard to aim their spear towards an innocent pony will be dishonorably discharged. Do I make myself clear?" The guards were taken back by the prince’s quick change of heart but nodded anyway.

"Forgive them, your highness." Shieldwall apologized for his guards, giving them an angry glance. "It won't happen again."

Starfall narrowed his eyes. "It better not."





The Lieutenant waited with his guards outside. As Starfall opened the door, he saw all his friends and family. "Good morning." He groaned before taking a seat, earning the attention of every pony in the room. With gaping mouths and wide eyes, they stared at him in shock.

"Zombie!" Pinkie yelled out running out of the building with a blazing trail. The prince looked oddly at his aunt’s antics, though what she said caught his attention.

"What did she mean by zombie?" He turned towards the other ponies room, still with mouths hanging open.

"Y-you were dead!" Twilight stammered. "How?!" Twilight once again had her episode, but was quickly calmed down by her mentor.

Celestia and Luna threw themselves at the young boy. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Celestia sobbed into his shoulder. The prince could feel his mother and aunts’ tears washing down his chest.

Luna leaned back after she had wiped off her tears. "How are you... still alive? Are you really here, Starfall?" Luna asked slowly as she put her hoof on his cheek.

"I... I died?" His mouth hung open as he tried to wrap his head around the shocking revelation. Memories resurfaced as he pieced them back together. Then, he remembered.

"Father!" he exclaimed. "I saw him!" Starfall stood up from the couch, every pony taken aback by his statement. "I saw him!" At that point, the prince remembered everything that had happened yesterday before he died. "The wolf.." he spoke slowly.

Starfall ran out of the cottage and made his way to where he fell yesterday. "Starfall!?" the ponies asked, wondering where the prince was running off to.





The prince ran towards the forest behind the cottage. The large amount of snow was making it hard not to lose balance, but he had to get to her. Off in the distance, he saw the wolf lying on the ground with snow covering half its body and in a pool of its frozen blood.

Starfall fell down on his hands and knees. Luna and Rainbow Dash caught up with the young human and saw how devastated he was over the death of the giant white wolf. Luna stepped forward slowly behind her son. "You did what you had to. If you didn't defend yourself, it wouldn't be coming back to mourn you."

Starfall's eyes shot open as his mother spoke, his eyes switching from their beautiful sky blue to murderous blood red. "You think I killed her?!" He asked his mother with fury burning in his eyes,

Luna drew back from her sons outburst. "I just said you did what you had to. Your father also protected himself and his friends from wolves, even at the cost of those wolves’ lives." Luna said thinking that it would calm him down. It didn't...

"Protect myself?!" he snapped back. "I was trying to save her!" The prince stomped on the ground with a thunderous quake that blew away all the snow from the field they were standing on and revealing the frosted grass beneath. "Do you think I would kill for my enjoyment? Are you afraid that I'll become like the humans that ravaged Equestria, killing thousands of creatures just for my own amusement?"

The recently arrived ponies saw the burst of rage and heard what he said. But his rage was quickly doused out. Starfall fell on his knees with tears flowing down his cheeks. He did his best to fight the sobs, but to no avail, he openly cried in front of them--something he nor any human had ever done in front of them.

Fluttershy stepped forward and hugged the crying boy. "What happened yesterday?" She whispered compassionately into his ear.





He sat next to the fireplace, softly stroking the wolf cub’s fur. The ponies all sat around Starfall, waiting for him to reveal the events of the night before. Starfall gave a heavy sigh and opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again.

“Take your time. There’s no rush,” Luna said softly. Starfall kept his gaze on the young wolf, who innocently stirred in his sleep. He once again opened his mouth to speak, and this time he was ready.

“I had just visited Aunt Fluttershy and was on my way back when I heard a loud roar from the forest. Out of curiosity, I went through the barrier and into the Everlife Forest.” The prince paused, expecting an outburst from his mother. There was none. He glanced up and met her eyes and quickly looked away in shame.

“I followed the source of the roar, and there I saw two wolves protecting their cub from a chimera." Twilight gasped at Starfalls mentioning of the chimera. "He mortally wounded the female and killed the male by... by ripping off its head.” All of the ponies gasped. Twilight got up and wrapped a wing around him as he began to break down. Though he was sobbing, he carried on telling the story, knowing that if he stopped now it would be awhile before he’d be ready to speak again;

“I-I knew I had to,” he sniffed, “to do something to save the cub.” He choked back tears and moved on, “I stunned the Chimera, grabbed the pup, and ran away.” He allowed himself a small moment to let the tears die down.

“I ran and ran, but the chimera was faster. I finally stopped running to face him head on.” Twilight backed away now, giving the young boy some space. Starfall didn’t need to look up to see his mother’s broken heart.

“He mauled my arm and knocked me down. He was about to kill me when...” He thought back to when he had killed the Chimera--how he had forgiven his mother and focused all his magical power into the beast. The roomed stayed quiet as he tried to think of a proper way to explain it.

“When I instinctively focused all my magical power to defend myself and sent it hurtling through half the forest. When I made my way to the wolf, I found it with a lot of blood and... not breathing.” Twilight’s jaw dropped.

“You mean to say you defeated an adult chimera?!” she asked, shock evident in her eyes.

“Killed..." He corrected her with guilt in his voice.

“Woah, remind me not to tick you off!” Rainbow Dash joked before being kneed by Applejack, who gave her a “Now’s not the time” look. They turned back to Starfall, whose tears were gently dripping onto the wolf cub in his lap.

“I carried the wolf pup back to its mom,” he said shakily. “She’d been bleeding, badly. I gave him back to her, but I saw she had an infected wound. I tried to suck out the venom, but it still couldn’t stand. I...” he froze, remembering his promise. “I promised her she would... they would both live...” He once again broke down into Twilight’s wings.

Luna had had enough of this torture. She stood up, and spoke: “That’s enough, my son. You’ve done brilliantly already, but you need time to rest and--”

“No, Luna.” Celestia calmly said. “He needs to get this out now.” Luna reluctantly sat back down, and her sister put a wing over her, supporting her. Starfall took a deep breath, and forced himself onwards, the same way he’d done so that night:

“I carried them both to the barrier but collapsed due to my own wounds. I reached the force field, with my magic used up. I wasn’t strong enough to nullify it again or break it, so I knew that I had only one alternative left. I focused all my strength into a final blow hoping...” Twilight stood back in disbelief, knowing where this was going. “Hoping the barrier would break and you would find us in time.”

Silence filled the room. All that could be heard as Starfall’s words sunk in was the crackling of the fire. He wasn’t finished. “As I shattered the barrier, I fell on my stomach. My blood... Spilled. My body... Broken. And my life... Slipping.” Starfall spoke as he recalled his agony in perfect detail. Some of his aunts were at the point of tears from his horrible experience. But most of all, his mother felt guilty for not being there when her son needed her the most. 

“I woke in a snowy field, except there was blackness all around me and the wolves were gone. I saw a... a white spirit in the shape of a human, and another one with black wings." The ponies gazed even more intently at Starfall from the mentioning of Alexander and Anthony. “They helped me find my way back through the spirit world." A dead silence fell in the room. Starfall's family still couldn't believe that he actually died, much less saw his father on the other side.

“Afterwards, I woke up in my room and the guards escorted me here and that’s it.” Starfall took a shaky sigh, finally having that hellish night in the past. Fluttershy was the first to break the awkward silence and went up to Starfall.

“Do you want me to take the cub?”

“No!” he replied alarmed. “I am responsible for his mother's death. I shall take up the task to watch over him. It is the only way I can redeem myself. And just maybe, he’ll forgive me when he grows up,” he explained, once again tearing up. Fluttershy reeled back, worried that she’d done something wrong to cause the prince to cry.

Luna looked at the sleeping wolf cub... I don't doubt that it won’t be too much of a bother. The wolves of Equestria always were loyal to me. But perhaps that bond lives in Starfall as well? Luna smiled. “Very well.” Luna spoke calmly, “We shall keep the wolf." Starfall looked up at his mother. Then, carefully, he got up, walked over to his mother and gave her the cub. Luna carefully placed it on her back to tend to it during its early weeks. But before she could make her way towards the door she was stopped by Starfall.

“Mother, I forgive you for concealing the truth about my history, and I apologize for all the stress I must have caused you today. I would completely understand if you chose not to forgive me.” Much to his surprise, Luna embraced Starfall with a bone crushing hug. Everypony in the room smiled, and Starfall hugged back.

“I love you, Starfall,” Luna cried.

“I love you too, Mother,” he wept back.

Soon, everypony left Fluttershy’s cottage. As they walked a thought struck Starfall. He still needed to tell Skyla that he had forgiven her. "Mother, could you help me send a letter to Skyla?"

Luna put a wing around her son and smiled proudly “It would be my pleasure.” Starfall smiled and nodded, content with how things had worked out.





The following morning, Skyla and her father were enjoying some nice, cool lemonade in the sun when a parchment unexpectedly arrived and landed on their table. Shining Armor, expecting it was for him, immediately picked it up and opened it without reading the “For Skyla” tag on the front.

It began: Dear Skyla...

He instantly recognized the handwriting. He knew that it was the child prince that had wrote it, He read on:

I am ready to forgive you for your actions and start our friendship anew. I realize now that you were cornered into a hard decision and can’t be blamed for what happened. I will be busy with my studies but I will send more letter to come eventually.

Love, Starfall

Shining armor felt his daughters eyes on him, intrigued about the letter.

“What is it, daddy?” she asked.

“Oh, just a reminder about some meeting I have in the future,” he lied. “Nothing to get your little head worried about.” He scuffled her mane, and she giggled. His daughter then sighed, and grimaced.

“What’s wrong, Skyla?” He asked.

“Do you think Starfall will ever forgive me...” she said, looking distantly at the ground.

“Well...” he sighed. “We’re just going to have to wait and see on that front.”

“It felt horrible, breaking my promise.” Skyla’s voice began to crack up now, her tears glistening in her eyes. Shining Armor used his magic to bring his daughter over for a hug.

“There there, Skyla. Your father will always be here for you...” He turned her head so that she looked him in the eyes. “Starfall may not be your friend, but I will always be your BFFF.”  He smiled down on his daughter. He rolled the scroll back in its previous form. "Could you excuse me for a moment, Skyla?"

"It’s okay, dad." She smiled back at her father.

Shining Armor made his way to his bedchamber so nopony could see him. "You little worm, I won't have you anywhere near my daughter." He said as he finished incinerating the letter to ash.


End of Act 1