This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.
Chapter 2
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I woke up from my snooze and looked out my window. “Horseapples.” I said to myself, cursing myself for falling asleep. But, waking up at dusk wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. I got up and stretched and walked out onto the balcony of my bedroom and looked out across my large back yard and towards the Academy. There were a few students lounging or playing lazy games of Frisbee or horseshoes as the day wound up. I didn’t really care that they were screwing around on what was essentially my lawn, since I knew they would be off to dinner or back to their dorms. Talking about dinner, my stomach rumbled like I hadn’t eaten in years, so I headed over to my bedroom door (built into the floor), opened it, and went down the spiral staircase to the library.
The library was silent and dark, so I knew Dagger was asleep already. His room wasn't the “guest room,” but he liked to stay there since it was much closer to all his precious books. He also was quite the early bird, getting up hours before the sun or I rose. Yet, he would always eat the leftovers of what I made for dinner as his breakfast, so in a strange way, we still “ate” together.
I went into the kitchen and looked through the refrigerator, realizing neither of us had gone shopping this week. I cussed under my breath, but a smile broke across my face as I looked through the pantry. I quickly looked through the spice cabinet and my smile grew even wider. I pulled out a pot from under the stove and filled with water in the sink, putting it on a burner and igniting the flame all in one quick movement, looking forward to the dinner I was about to have. I sliced carrots, celery, corn, peas, onions, and a little radish, dumping it all in a pan next to the pot on the stove and similarly, I lit the burner underneath that, only on a higher setting. I sprinkled the different spices I needed into the pan and pot separately, dumping the contents of the pan into the pot after a flash-sear along with the package of ramen noodles I found in the pantry. I almost squealed as it all cooked, knowing that ramen was one of the greatest foods in all of Celestia-bucking-Equestria.
After it was done cooking, I poured some into a bowl, covered it, and put it into the fridge, reminding myself to go shopping tomorrow after I got kicked out of class again. Then I grabbed my lucky pair of chopsticks and headed outside, thinking that since tonight was such a good night, I should eat outside.
I sat down at my patio’s table, a solid table made of stone (another relic left behind by my ancestor) and gave the ramen a gentle blow. I scooped up a small wad of noodles and ramen-y goodness with my chopsticks and lifted them to my lips, almost melting from the wait.
BAM!!!!! I flew from my seat at the patio via a burst of powerful magic and watched in horror as my pot of ramen flew through the air. I mouthed a wordless scream as it hit the stone floor of my patio, spilling all over the place and breaking one of my lucky chopsticks. I got up off the ground and walked over to it, silent for a while. I gently lifted one of the broken chopsticks, and it snapped in two, falling back to the horrendous mess that was once my fantastic dinner. I looked over my shoulder to where the burst of magical energy came from and I saw a group of seven ponies and a timberwolf, all fighting one unicorn. The unicorn’s magic was so strong I could feel it from where I stood and I knew it was the magic that threw me from my seat. I screamed louder than the timberwolf and sprinted towards the unicorn, running faster and faster as my magic intertwined with the earth’s, granting me materials to work my earth pony magic with, but also with a massive amount of power.
“HOW DARE YOU!” I screamed in hunger-driven anger, scaring the timberwolf and the hot mare that was grappling with the young, crazy-looking unicorn. I dropped down in between them, and sent a pillar of stone up from the ground, smashing the young unicorn in the chest and sending him flying off about ten meters. Before the ponies and timberwolf could ask who I was, their eyes widened as the unicorn got up and a wave of dangerous purple energy shot towards us. I reached into the earth with my magic and a gout of lava shot into the sky in front of the magic, absorbing the burst and turning into weakened obsidian which I charged through at the unicorn. The unicorn seemed surprised at my attack, but I wasn’t even close to done yet.
No pony, NO PONY, gets away with harming my ramen. Especially when I'm hungry!
I let loose a primal scream and the earth swirled around me, reflecting any weak bursts of energy the unicorn emitted. “Is that all you’ve got?” I asked him as he was shot away from me by yet another one of my pillars.
“NO.” he said, his voice rattling around in my mind, echoed by magic, and yet everywhere in my mind. Suddenly, the world took on a purple tint and I felt as he ponies behind me and all the life around me froze up. I started to feel the same, my muscles turning to stone, my bones becoming fossils…but something stopped my transformation. I felt my true lifeblood, my world, flowing through my body. My mind not have worked at the time, nor my body, but my heart was constantly in action with the power of the earth. I could feel that the earth didn’t like this…this annoying suspension. So she woke me up, just as the young unicorn was about to incinerate me with blast of concentrated power. I lifted up the ground beneath his feet and suddenly, I saw the earth in deep shades of green, brown, and blue. The trees reached from underground to trap the unicorn, the stone growing upwards to meet the creature, and the dust settling on him, ready to reclaim him. But he was strong. He resisted.
Suddenly, from the cage in the air the earth had formed around him, the brightest flash of purple blasted through all my magic sending me and the other behind me flying into the back wall of my home.
“The Mountain King…will return.” Said the young unicorn in a voice I had heard only in nightmares. I opened my dazed eyes to see that he was shining brightly, ready to teleport, but as I looked at his face, I saw his purple irises glowing with dark magic circles, his horn glowing black. Suddenly, there was a bright flash. He disappeared, but then my world went dark and I fell into the darkness.
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“…and him disappearing was the last thing we all saw.” A strong mare’s voice said, her words echoing in my mind like I was underwater.
“We thank you Captain.” Said a familiar voice in my mind, a voice I hadn’t heard in about four years. “You have done well. We will all morn Scroll Wheel and Midas Touch on the morrow, but now, we will rest. I am sure…”
“Oooh…my bucking skull…” I moaned as I tried to open my eyes, realizing too late that it was a bad idea, but hearing a tinkling laugh that only princesses could possess.
“Hey Princess Luna.” I said in a wimpy greeting, realizing we were all in the library and they were sitting around me, who was laying on the couch. “I’d bow if I could, but I doubt I can even get up right now.”
“It is alright Alder Branch. You have helped my Lunar Battalion tonight. You have earned this rest.” She said before sipping at some drink, probably tea.
“What?” I said, throwing my foreleg from over my eyes, only to close them as the light hit me and I sat up shakily. “Buck. Hey, Dagger, I assume you’re here someplace.”
“That I am, Al.”
“Would you please turn down those lights before I throw-up all over royalty?” I heard a chorus of chuckles, which surprised me, since I thought it was only the four of us.
“Not again.” Luna said briskly, making her soldiers laugh even harder.
“May I ask who you are?” asked a sandy, yet suspicious voice. I understood though. She was a soldier, so who was I, a commoner, to be so friendly and close to Princess Luna? As the lights dimmed, thanks to Dagger, I answered her before opening my eyes to her. It was a wise decision.
“I’m Alder Branch Steelhooves.” I said as I opened my eyes to look at the most beautiful mare I had ever seen. Her pink eyes and lovely looks made my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth while I looked at her glossy yellow coat and platinum blonde mane. Her cutie mark was two lollipops, which was strange for any soldier of the Lunar Battalion, a Captain nonetheless. I sat there gawking at her beauty, until she finally coughed, making me blush and painfully aware there were nine sets of eyes on I and her.
I heard some whispered chuckling from two pegasi in the corner of the room, but I cleared my throat. “Do you mean these guys are all in the battalion?”
“But of course.” Luna said, sipping her tea carefully.
“Well, they must be a unit…” I continued looking at their uniforms until my eyes grew wide when I spotted the small moon on their backs. “Puck? Why were they called out? And why are there only eight of…oh Faust.” I said, the room’s warmth leaving me immediately. I knew what this meant. One is not raised as a Steelhooves, even a rebellious one, without learning a few things about how the Lunar Battalion is run.
“W…what happened tonight?” I asked Luna with a confused glance.
Somberly, she told me about her trouble in the Dreaming, making me pale, and then about the story her Captain, the one that caught my fancy not too long before, had reported to her. However, when she was done with her story, she let out a long sigh. Usually this wouldn’t mean a thing, but knowing Princess Luna all your life teaches you her little quirks. Quickly, I thought up an excuse to get us alone.
“Oh Faust.” I said, not needing to fake drowsiness. “That…that’s quite the tale. Princess, I appreciate you telling me all this, but could I bother you to help me one more time?” I said, a spark of knowing glowing in her eyes. “Would you help me up to my room? I think my hooves are too weak to support me after a tale like that.”
Before one of her soldiers could answer for her, she sprung up and said in the royal Canterlot voice “WE WILL BE GLAD TO BE OF SERVICE,” keeping her soldiers and Dagger at bay as she swiftly flew by me, picking me up under my legs and speeding up the corkscrew stairs. When we got into my room, she locked the door behind us and put a silence charm on the room, making sure no eavesdroppers would be able to hear us.
“What else?” I asked, sitting down on the edge of my bed, actually feeling the weakness spread through my legs. Luna walked over to the bed and sat down next to me, her horn a lit. Suddenly, a small crystal box appeared on the ground in front of me.
“This is one of the tomes of the General of the Lunar Battalion.” She said.
“My ancestor.” I deadpanned, starting to dislike this more and more. All my issues seemed to always stem from my family, in one way or another…
“Yes.” She replied. “He left many for future generals, but this one is of the highest importance. It recalls what your ancestor found under the Smokey Mountain in the Unicorn Range. Be warned, if you are to listen to what this tome has to tell, you will be bound by Equestrian law not to speak of what transpired here tonight.”
“What? That some freaky unicorn killed my ramen and then the Princess of the Night dragged me up to my room, locking me in, and cast a silence spell so nopony could hear us?” I said cheekily.
Luna started to laugh yet again. The tinkling and lovely laughter sent waves of joy through me as they always had.
“You really are more like Crimson than you know, Alder. However, I know of your distaste in my battalion, even though I wish it were not so. So let us warn you,” she said, putting a hoof over mine. “If you do not wish to be pulled into our company, please, do not listen to the tome.”
I just looked down at the crystal box and then up to my mirror. I saw my grey mane in liberty spikes, as I always had it, and then at my dark blue coat. My dusky golden eyes looked back at me puzzled, until I glanced back down to the tome. I may not ever allow myself to be like the rest of my pompous, self-centered, pieces of horse-manure family, but something about this whole situation didn’t sit right with me. Don’t get me wrong: I still didn’t care about the Lunar Battalion. But when Luna mentioned the two ponies that died tonight…her face, and that of Captain Butterscotch’s…I couldn’t let their memories go in vain. I had to find out what the hell was going on here.
“Fine, I take a look in the book.” I said, letting my magic meld the floor under the book into an endtable, bringing the book up towards me. I tried to open the cover when it was close to me, but it was solidly stuck to the rest of the book.
“Open it with your magic. Crimson expected the next general of the Lunar Battalion to be able to use any magic.”
I snorted. “How presumptuous. What if the next general couldn’t use magic?”
“I believe it was Crimson himself who said ‘No earth pony is without his magic.’” Luna said smugly. I rolled my eyes and opened the book with my magic, only to find out it wasn’t a book. The top of the crystal tome opened, projecting a bright and magical light, blinding me for a moment, until I realized the book had used some sort of inner magic to make the room an endless sea of pure white. The only things I could differentiate from the white were my bed and Princess Luna.
“Hello descendant.”
I whipped m head around looking for the source of the voice, only to jump up from my bed as I saw an old stallion sitting to the left of me. I was scared at his sudden approach, but I realized who he was within seconds, being around his statues and such from an early age. However, none of the statues had made out his features just right. His silvery coat shone like stars at night, his blood-red mane shockingly colorful even in old age, and finally his eyes the color of moonlight, staring straight into you, like they knew all that this world had to teach. He looked me up and down with a raised eyebrow and then turned to face Princess Luna.
“So this one here is one of my descendants?” he said with a snarky smirk.
“He is so much like you…” Luna replied nonchalantly. “It is good to see you again Crimson, but could we save the banter for later? He needs to know about the Mountain King.”
“Ohhhh, so that’s what it is…” Crimson said, his expression turning from relaxed and happy to serious in ten seconds flat. “Alright then.” He continued with a ‘huff’ as he got up off of the bed and walked over to me. He eyed me again, part of the smirk returning, but he walked past me and I turned to follow with my eyes. Suddenly, the environment changed around us and we were in what appeared to be a large and long, brightly lit, garage. I could tell it was underground and its walls were covered in the normal legion of tools and devices, but as the room went further, the tools became more sinister and arcane-looking. I saw a unicorn bent over a table at the far end, working on something ferociously while a muffled klaxon was going off in the background. His horn was alit with a pale red aura and I could see the beads of sweat on his back, running down… to the tips of his Frankenstein-looking wings. His left one was a dark silk black and looked like it was pristinely clean, while his right, a white one, was beaten up with feathers askew and some even falling out occasionally.
Suddenly, the door to the garage opened and the sound of the klaxon erupted into the room just as my ancestor came into view from the darkened corridor. As he sprung into the room, he seemed to melt into vision out of the nothingness in the corridor. He was wearing a strange, yet handsome, suit of pure black; the General’s uniform.
“Cyanide Capsule! Get over here with your wings up and horn de-activated. I am placing you under arrest for the cruel and unlawful use of magic.” Crimson shouted. I could feel the amount of magical power being unleashed by him as he, like I with my earth pony magic, connected into the Earth’s magical undercurrents, ready to use them at a moment’s notice. Cyanide Capsule must have felt this too, as he stopped working, but did not turn around to face my ancestor.
“CYANIDE!” My ancestor shouted, half threat, half command.
Yet Cyanide just started laughing. His horn lit up and Crimson readied himself to attack or defend, but no magical assault came. Instead, some strange classical music started playing. The laughing of Cyanide turned into a crazed cackle as the song played. Crimson narrowed his eyes and started to sneak closer to the crazed alicorn. But then, as Crimson was about to reach him, he was flung back by an incredibly strong blast of magic. I thought this would be the end of Crimson, but he caught himself using the Earth’s magic. A large wall of soft sod erupted out of the concrete floor, catching him, while another wall of raised concrete protected him from Cyanide’s next attack. However, the concrete disintegrated after the attack, making the air thick with particulate dust. No attacks were cast while the dust made a veil between them and only Cyanide’s cackling could be heard, except it was magnified and divided by magic, making the laughing louder and seemingly coming from everywhere. As the dust cleared, I got my first glimpse of Cyanide Capsule.
His coat was light yellow, his mane a darker shade of that. But his irises were deep red, as was the aura around his horn. But that wasn’t the only striking feature of his eyes. In each eye was what looked like a vicious black tattoo. His horn a lit again and I could see the same tattoo form on his horn, reacting with the other ones, making the tattoo in his left eye spread, turning it black for a moment as the red aura of his magic pulsated uncontrollably. I saw Crimson prepare for an attack, but the attack came so suddenly that he had no time to prepare. However, this attack didn’t send him flying, crush, or kill him; it invaded his mind. Suddenly, I realized that the same had happened to me earlier as the same sort of magic was cast. I could tell from its feel that it was one of the darker magicks, ones that helped nopony but hurt all.
The magic seeped into Crimson’s core being and I could see and feel as the Mountain King’s mental attack drove deeper and deeper, trying to kill Crimson, or stop him long enough to be killed. But the Mountain King sneered and I knew the attack was changing dramatically. His left eye turned completely black and now started to bleed. I could feel as Crimson thought he was aflame and that the only way to stop this ethereal pain was to fight for the Mountain King. Crimson almost bowed to him too, but at the last moment, as he started to fall, he felt the magic of the Earth and heard a mare’s voice. It was gentle and made me very sad, but I heard it very clearly.
“Rise. Protect yourself.” She said very simply, and Crimson rose, the spell broken, and stomped once on the ground, raising a long pillar of stone under the Mountain King’s head. However, the Mountain King saw it with a sneer and stepped away from the pillar as it rose to the ceiling quickly. The Mountain King looked angered and somewhat scared, but Crimson looked absolutely tired. He panted quickly and reached into the Earth once more for strength and magical power as the Mountain King’s horn started to glow again, the black tattoos coming back. This time, the tattoo in his right eye reacted, turning it completely black in seconds. The room around Crimson started to shake and the blood flowed freely from the Mountain King’s eyes as the concrete floor beneath the two of them broke apart and bony legs shot out of the ground like a cornfield of evil. As skeletons and rotted corpses climbed out of the ground I threw up at the sight. This was yet another dark magick: necromancy.
If Crimson was as sickened as I was, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gritted his teeth and quickly stomped the ground in rapid succession, crushing most of the skeletons with sickening many a sickening “crunch!” before they even got out of the ground. But some still escaped the Earth’s embrace and hobbled towards Crimson, ready to make him join their legions. But the rapid stomping did more than just crush the skeletons, it also filled the air with dirt. Crimson quickly called upon the dusty dirt in the air and directed it like a moving belt sander, turning the corpses into gritty piles of dust in a short time. I threw up yet again looking at the grisly scene, but found a comforting wing over my haunches as I rose shakily from the ground. Luna was standing next to me and urged me to keep watching. The battle, as we could both feel, was coming to a climax.
After the last corpse was reduced to a pile of snowy dust, the Mountain King scowled at Crimson and attacked him with simple magical attacks over and over, only to end up being pushed back by an angry general, one who had had enough of the alicorn’s dark magic. As the Mountain King was forced back to the wall of his own workshop, he could see my angry ancestor coming towards him like a dark arbiter of his death. He looked and saw all of his attacks had not worked against the strength of my ancestor. He saw in fear the growing darkness, foreboding in its justice, following in the wake of Crimson’s every hoof-fall. The Mountain King simply freaked out.
Crimson ran towards the alicorn as his horn started to glow again, only this time his black eyes bled more as his whole horn reacted with the tattoo, turning it into a deep shade of oily black. Crimson soon found himself running on air as the magic was powerful enough to negate gravity in the room. I, Luna, and Crimson were able to look on in a type of object disgust and fascination as the Mountain King’s coat and mane turned the same oily black, the color spreading from his horn. He started to bleed from the mouth and soon cuts started to appear wildly on his body, flowing freely and openly. The hairs on the base of my neck rose as I felt an amazing gathering of magical power and I saw Crimson try to shield himself as the Mountain King laughed maniacally and looked at Crimson with a sick visage.
“You may have beaten my powers for now, Lunar soldier,” He said, his voice distorted by magic. “But you will not live forever-I will! I will be stronger when I return and you, nor your loved ones, will escaped my wrath!”
Then the magic collected by the Mountain King was released in a harsh flash of light, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes where the Mountain King once stood and an insidious laugh that echoed in the room as gravity was returned and Crimson fell to earth. The room started to shake yet again, showing the signs of fighting only as a building can. Crimson quickly caught his breath and his hooves, gathering himself up off the floor and he sprinted off towards the door he came in through. But before he ran out, he looked back over his shoulder, but shook his head and left the room as a large convulsion shook the building yet again. He doubted what he had seen, but I didn’t.
The ashes of the Mountain King’s body shifted as the floor moved in tremors of stress, showing a large circle, in fact it was actually three circles, one inscribed within each other. I gasped as I noticed their significance while my ancestor did not. The first point of importance was that each circle was one of the Mountain King’s tattoos, each put into the ground with black magic, just as the tattoos must have been. The next, and more important, thing I noticed was that each circle was overflowing with dark magic; each wave hitting me harder and harder as I felt the screams of innocent ponies killed for their lives to fuel the dark magic. The final thing I noticed was that in the center of the circle was a small, violet gemstone. It emanated the darkest magic, but also more…a sort of sentience…a sort of life…
The walls of the memory started to crumble as I wondered what the gem was, returning the three of us to the whitened realm. Crimson was now much older again and his face was dark with understanding. Luna looked at me seriously and opened her mouth to speak, but Crimson stopped her.
“Well boy?” he asked me stoically. “What was the stone?”
“A soul stone.” I said quietly, knowing that even its existence was illegal in Equestria. To make such a thing required the heavy, and repetitious, use of dark magic: meaning the death of innocent ponies. To make a soul stone required quite a lot of lives, all innocent and of any wrongdoing and all violently murdered by somepony who they thought was a friend. It was sickening.
Crimson’s sigh brought tore me away from my thinking. “I’m sorry.” He said to me, looking downtrodden and in the wrong. “If I had noticed all those years ago, then maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“You mean him randomly appearing outside the my house?” I asked, not sure of what he was talking about.
“You mean MY house.” He said with the evil eye. “But yes, that and what will happen in the future.”
“What do you mean?”
Crimson started to pace away from me. “The Mountain King was not lying when he said he would return and he would destroy my life-my family. It was no coincidence that he appeared outside our house, the library. He was attracted to you by your magic.”
“But what about all my cousins? Won’t they be in danger too? He wasn’t even as close to as strong as he was when he fought you. Plus, he was just a scrawny foal. He can’t be that dangerous…” I said confidently.
“No. You didn’t notice it, but the Lunar Soldiers did.” He said, shaking his head. “That foal was being possessed by the Mountain King. Every second that passes, he will become stronger while the foal’s willpower breaks down and his mind leaves him. You must be ready for when the Mountain King comes back, fully in control. Luckily, since it is not his body, he will never have full control, meaning he will be weaker.”
I stood up straighter and I could feel my eyes narrow, my body tense up. “What are you talking about, old stallion?” I asked angrily.
“The Battalion, boy. They will keep you safe. While you may not be able to fight him, the Battalion can at least get you to someplace that I know the Mountain King won’t ever be able to reach. You’re enlisted.” He answered as I started to see red. The one thing, the one thing that I had fought against my whole life, the one thing that I had built my current life around not doing, was now crashing through the walls of my life and breaking down the front door of my reality. I could feel myself connect to the earth and feel her magic and mine intertwine in a mix of rage and anger, my negative emotions only getting worse as I started to feel sick from the feedback that comes with using the earth’s magic as offensive weapon. The treehouse did not react to my magic however, and I wondered this until I looked over to Luna and Crimson.
Both of their eyes were glowing white with power, blocking out the magic of the earth and bringing me to my senses. I quickly let go of my connection with the earth, the magic fading away and making the palpable mist of energy in the room disappear. However, the use of magic by Crimson quickly made the white landscape and his form start to fade away. His last words before disappearing were “Join the battalion. It is your destiny. Fight it as you may, but it is your home…”
I snarled at him as he faded into eternity, the magical book closing its lid and returning Luna and I to my bedroom of my house. Without talking, I headed over to my bed table, pulled a cigarette out of the drawer and headed out to my balcony. I quickly lit it with magic and took an angry drag while I gazed at the stars. I felt Luna walk up beside me, but I was too angry to acknowledge her presence.
“Do you know how bad that is for you?” she asked me.
“What the buck was all that!?!” I screamed at her, my cigarette falling out of my mouth and almost off the balcony.
“It was a warning.” Luna said evenly, as she brought my caught cigarette up to my mouth with her magic. “Not only from me, but from your ancestor. I am sorry, but I warned you before we opened the book…”
“What? That my war-monger ancestor had managed to somehow trap his magic in a bucking book and it was all to recruit me? Or do you really expect me to believe this ‘Mountain King’ horseshit? Did my parents put you up to this?” I spat out, my anger and frustration tainting my words.
“No.” Luna said evenly and seriously. She flashed me a look that reminded me she was a Princess of Equestria, not another college-buddy I could just cuss at. I quickly bit my tongue as she cleared her throat.
“The Mountain King is a real entity, and you met him earlier tonight. However, your ancestor forgot to mention one thing: he will only come after you.”
“Why is that? Some stupid move made by my ancestor, what 150 years ago, is coming to haunt me now?” I said sarcastically, only to shut up as Luna flashed me another look.
“Yes. But, he comes after you, and only you, because your magical powers are the most like Crimson’s from so many years ago. Because your powers are the strongest, the Mountain King won’t stop until he has killed you. Then, he will move onto the other members of your family and try to take over Equestria.”
“If that’s how it is, then why don’t you stop him?”
“I am by saving you.” she said, turning back into my room, surprising me by crushing my cigarette with her magic. “You will report downstairs tomorrow night after your dinner. You need to be ready to leave. The rest of my battalion will take you to someplace I know is safe. We will talk more tomorrow. For now, think.”
I dropped my crushed cigarette to the floor of my balcony and crushed it underneath my hoof as I leaned onto the railing. I looked up to the starry night sky and did as Luna said: I thought. I thought about what this meant and how much I hated the idea of joining the Battalion. I hated that it didn’t seem like I had a choice. I thought about escaping right now, molding the balcony into a stairwell with my magic and just running away. Then I thought about how strong the Lunar Battalion was in their element: night. I gave a deep sigh and pulled a lounge chair sitting on the balcony to my side and laid on it. I looked up at the dark sky, filled with so many stars. I wished to be up there with the stars so much I could almost feel them calling to me. I sighed again and rolled onto my side, laying there with uneasy thoughts until the dawn came.