In the throne room, sat Celestia and Luna, working as usual. With the recent conflict, they had to push past a lot of important paperwork and with Starfall somewhere lost in the forest, they were less than at full capacity then usual. For them there was no sleep or rest, only the heavy burden of leadership.
Suddenly the large doors swung open and with it came a alert guard running towards them "Your highness! News from Ponyville!" He spoke as he approached the throne and removed his helmet.
"Yes what is it?" Celestia asked anxiously.
"There has been a report of a massive earthquake and forest fire in the Everfre- I mean Everlife forest!"
The royal sisters were lost for words. A forest fire and a Earthquake at the same time is not natural... Both of them looked at eachother wondering if Starfall was involved somehow. "Has there been any news of my son?" Luna asked, worried for her beloved son.
"No Ma'am, there hasn't been any sightings of the prince." The guard replied emotionless.
Luna took a deep breath as it was starting to make her paranoid that something may have happened. What if there were more humans in the forest, or in the world? "Very well, tell the local pegasus and the emergency squad in cloudsdale to produce more storm clouds to combat the forest fire, The earthquake will just have to be endured until its over."
"Yes Ma'am!" He saluted and ran off as quickly as he arrived.
After the guard left, Luna turned her attention towards her sister. "Tia are you alright?" Luna asked her sister who looked even paler than her white fur coat could reveal.
"Do you think maybe Starfall could be the cause of this natural disaster?"
Luna was taken back by the sudden accusation against her son. Sure he was powerful but he could not use magic during day time and he isn't strong enough to cause an earthquake if its not night time. "But Tia, its day time, Starfall can't use magic or his strength as long as your sun reigns."
"You are forgetting that he just tore 3 humans apart in broad daylight. Right in front of entire Equestrian defence force!"
"Of course I have not forgotten, But that was different, He lost himself to his grief and anger, releasing the powers from his father's side!"
"-Which means that it could still be him, who knows what the poor thing is going through after seeing the only father figure he ever had, die in front of him... I can't imagine what he could be going through right now...Maybe...Maybe he lost control." Celestia leaned back on the marble throne again as she was still grieving the unexpected loss of her Captain. Soon they would have to chose a new one, and she also knew that there was someone who wouldn't miss the chance to volunteer.
A powerful lightning and flashes brimmed inside the throne room. The guards present rushed immediately to defensive stance in front of the Princesses and faced what the anomaly that was taking its shape of a circle that was large enough to be a portal. From the portal, a human emerged, but its features could not be made out as it was still a white figured that hadn't been fully formed yet.
Luna and Celestia also took their stances incase it was another human who they had not known about. But their fears were quickly dismissed as from the white form, Starfall emerged with a neutral look on his face, like he was bored...
"Starfall!" Luna called out of joy. The guards went back into their previous placement as the threat was non-existent. "Thank goodness you are alright!" Luna threw herself on her son and gave him a comforting hug. Though he did not hug her back, instead he used his arms to remove her hooves off him.
"Yes, yes I'm back. I'm gonna be heading to my room now." Starfall immediately turned his back on his mother and started making his way back to his room.
"Wait! Don't you want to talk about what happened? or have something to eat at least?" Luna was not expecting her son to be so...Accepting of Vigile's demise, he saw it happening first hand, yet he was acting like he it didn't bother him...Like he didn't have a care in the world.
He quickly turned around to answer "No, I'm stuffed, I ate already. though it tasted awful, I guess I can't complain after all...I am moronic enough to use a forest as a fireplace and a half stripped open tree as a pike for the meat...Oh well." With those words, he made his way out of the throne room. Luna and Celestia were dead silent to what just had happened.
A full day had passed since the tragedy. The castle was awfully quiet and no guards were talking at their posts. no orders were being barked and even the servants were awfully quiet today and to add on top of that, it was scheduled rain today along with the quick thrown together funeral of Captain Vigile. Several ponies from Ponyville that were acquainted with him and some from Canterlot, came to pay their respects. The grieving widow was crying under her breath with the recent loss of her husband. Dinky was also mourning in silence whilst holding her mothers hoof.
Celestia took a deep breath before starting the ceremony. "We are all here today to honor the passing of Vigile. One of the bravest stallions I've had the good fortune to meet in the long time I have walked this world. He was a kind soul that brought people together and always helped those in need. He was loyal to the throne and his country. I remember it like it was yesterday, when he first put on his new armor and with pride beaming in his eyes, he swore to protect the throne and all of Equestria with his life, yesterday he fulfilled his oath and duty...He died a hero's death...He deserves a hero's burial." She turned around and faced the closed casket. "Farewell Vigile and thank you for your 22 years of service, Captain of the royal guard, Loving husband and father." Everyone were lining up to say their final goodbyes, everyone that Vigile would consider a friend had come...All but Starfall had come to show their respects.
Celestia made her way to her nephew's room. She was going to confront him about what had happened yesterday, for the reveal of daylight powers that nopony know he could summon and most of all, what happened when he ran off. Celestia noticed there were no guards stationed outside of Starfall's room, which wasn't suspicious but it was unusual. She knocked a on the door and waited a short moment, after no sound was utter, she knocked again with nothing but laughter and giggling. Celestia decided to open the door, to see what was going on.
The moment she opened the door, a feminine voice could be heard yelling out by the interruption. Celestia saw the floor full with clothes belonging to Starfall and a maid uniform belonging to one of his hand maidens. The maid looked in fright at Celestia who was staring at Starfall with a scowl. However, he remained unaffected and continued to kiss the maid's neck with his aunt watching. "Leave us!" Celestia said with a stern voice at the poor maid.
"Yes your majesty!" She quickly ran out of the room, leaving her maid uniform.
Celestia walked in and kicked the door shut. Starfall just gave an uninterested sigh at his aunts annoying interruption. "I see you are interrupting my fun as always." He said rolling his eyes.
Celestia's horn started to give off a golden aura that was affecting the door. She took a long deep breath... "ARE YOU BUCKING INSANE!" She roared out to make the entire castle tremor. "How can you sleep with one of the maids during Vigile's funeral! Have you lost your mind!" surprisingly, Starfall seemed unaffected by Celestia's nagging.
"And I should care because...?" He asked leaning his head forward.
"Tell me what happened yesterday. How could you teleport in broad daylight and what exactly happened after you ran off!" She demanded with a very angry voice that would terrify most ponies, but Starfall just stared at his aunt with a cocky smile.
"Nah, I don't feel like it." He said turning his back and lying down in the bed. Celestia's horn gave off its golden aura, she aimed her horn towards her nephew and started channeling a spell. But the moment it made contact with him, a powerful shock struck back, giving her a terrible headache. "Oh and if you are thinking about peeking into my mind, I've already put up several mental barriers which ironically, you taught me to repel against Changelings and Keristrasza.
Celestia was now frightened that her nephew had indirectly attacked her. He sounded not bother by this and was completely accepting of it. But the only thing running in her mind was the question: What happened...
The night sky was shining gloriously as always. The moon and stars were in their positions and Luna had finally finished sending back the letters sent by the world leaders about the appearance of the massive storm clouds all over the world. On her way back to her room, she could hear a sobbing stallion just around the corner. She glanced at what it could be and her eyes were not ready for what was to come. She saw Zenith and two other guards leading a beating, bruised and bleeding stallion to the dungeons below. "Hold Zenith!" She called out.
The three guards turned around to see the lunar princess approaching them. the two lesser guards quickly bowed in front of Luna, however Zenith did not change his stance. "Yes your highness?" He asked with a respectful tone.
"Who is the stallion and more importantly, what happened to him?" Luna asked, turning her gaze towards the beaten and bruised pony.
"I do not know who he is, but I was charged by Prince Starfall to oversee his punishment." He answered with no remorse or guilt behind his voice, even if he was the one that committed the inhumane punishment.
Luna was drastically taken back by the answer. She could not believe that her son would harm a single pony. Luna quickly approached the cowering stallion, her horn glowed with a bright blue aura that was conveyed unto the poor stallion. His wounds quickly started to heal and his eyes also shared the same glow. "Forget everything that happened in the Castle and go home!" She rose up and turned towards the two guards. "Make sure he gets home safely!" She ordered. The two guards saluted and started guiding the delirious stallion away from the dungeon entrance. "Now tell me why I should not throw you into the dungeon for assaulting one of my subjects?" She asked, with anger brimming in her voice.
Zenith did not show any sign of fear from the princess' threat. "I only did what I was ordered to by The Prince." He answered.
Luna stomped the ground out of fury from the reply. "I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!" She shouted at him. But the initial shock started to settle, and as she pieced the pieces together from what happened today, and the day before yesterday, Luna turned her back on Zenith and made her way towards her son's room.
It did not take her long before she was standing outside Starfall's room. She took a deep breath before entering, bracing herself for might come next. She slowly opened the door with the wooden creaking sound emanating, alerting Starfall of her presence. She saw him sitting at the fireplace reading a book that was bound in...
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF LIGHTBRINGER DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!!!" Luna commanded out with her legendary royal canterlot voice which she hadn't used in years, which is tragic that she had to use it towards her son.
Starfall closed the black book full with dark magical secrets and gave his mother a deceptive welcoming smile. "Ahh, mother, so great you decided to come by!" He said sarcastically.
"What is wrong with you child, why are you behaving this way all of a sudden!" She called out, making the books disappear in a flash of light.
Starfall kept his red eyes on his mother and did not change his smile. "I was a little bit bored so I decided to read a book that I already hadn't read, and I can say that the books we keep in the forbidden section are quite the read." He said, trying to suppress an evil chuckle.
Luna scowled at her son for deliberately defying her and her sisters rules. "That is unacceptable! You know yourself that the forbidden section is off limits to any pony including the royal family!" Starfall did not respond. "you will tell me why you have harmed one of our subjects! What did he do to deserve those injuries that you brought upon him!"
Starfall peaked up at hearing the stallion that he had harmed. "Oh I have done nothing wrong, I simply sentenced the commoner to 100 whip lashings for not paying his taxes." He answered with such a passion that he gave off the vibe that he enjoyed what he had done.
Luna could not believe it...Her son was following in the footsteps of his cousin..."Why Starfall...Why are you doing this! Don't you see that you are following in the footsteps of King Sombra! If you continue to act in disregard of others, I will be forced to-"
"Forced to what? Kill me?" He interrupted her. "Then how about I make it easier for you then." A black aura surrounded his hands and from it, his fathers knife appeared. "If you want to stop me, you gonna have to do it now!" He used his powerful magic to drag his mother closer to him and raise her front part of her body to stand bipedal against him. The knife's tip was pointed towards Starfall's heart and Luna's hoof was being pressed up against the grip.
"Starfall! Stop!" She protested, trying to free her hoof.
He pressed the knife further in, until it pierced his skin and dug into his flesh. "Do it! Kill your beloved son!" He pressed it even further, the knife was scratching the surface of his heart, yet Starfall remained unaffected. Several drops of blood started to pour out of the wound and Luna, despite all her strength and even some attempt with her magic, could not release herself. "DO IT!" He called out one more time.
"NO STOP!" The spell broke, and she fell backwards, with tears emerging from her eyes she looked terrified at her son.
Starfall smiled. "Pity...That was the one chance you had to stop me...And you wasted it" He pulled out the knife with his hand and a deep cut was left of his previous action. "I'm bored by this now." He started making his way towards the open balcony. A powerful cracking sound could be heard as his black wings seemed to be growing. "I'm gonna pay Keristrasza a visit, don't wait up for me and don't worry about any unexpected grandchildren." He gave a low chuckle before flying off into the distance.
Luna lowered her head, still shocked by the recent events, she gazed at the floor in shame, but a high pitch cry caught her attention. Luna stood up from the ground and slowly walked towards the window, where the sound originated from. She looked out and saw Frosthowl chained up below the spiraling tower. "Starfall..." she uttered in disbelief.
Thunder and lightning, the sky was covered in a endless wave of thundering clouds and volcanic tremors. Starfall saw how all the dragons in the mountains and below narrowed their sights on him, except a few hatchling and drakes that foolishly fly in the prince's direction were quickly turned into ash, the older dragons however were afraid of the bold prince, not by his magical powers, but old memories rushing back to them.
Starfall landed in the heart of the crater, A dried out vulcane, that had erupted several hundred years ago was the only mountain in the world, big enough to house the dragon queen, Starfall unimpressed by the humongous size of the mountain, kept moving on, his amber eyes quickly caught sight of dragon's and elder wyrms keeping their distance behind the prince. Not fearing to walk in to the pitch dark mountain entrance, he kept on going until he eventually came to what was the grandest of grand throne rooms he had ever seen. This however caught his attention, he was impressed, you could fit a whole castle in a single throne room, his nocturnal eyes caught glimpse in the lonely corner a large pile of gold, the size of Canterlot city walls, but he had other booty in mind. Moments later, he saw her off in the distance, sitting in her throne that was made out of solid gold, she sat, waiting for the prince to approach her. Starfall krept a smile and kept on walking, but just then, a massive claw struck the ground before him, stopping him in place.
"Nacoz varazhj, human, you dare approach my mate?!" The loud roar of a dragon could be heard echoing throughout the mountain. Starfall did not answer and brushed off the dust that had landed on his cloths, ignoring the black dragon. "Such insolence, such arrogance!"
Starfall glanced at the golden throne with the queens leaning lying sideways, enjoying the alpha male show off that was being displayed in front of her. "If you wish my favor, you must earn it." Her magnificent voice cried out.
Starfall simply sighed. "Very well." He replied.
The black dragon bellowed out a laughter that once again echoed through the mountain. "Do you really think you can vanquish me?! I survived the onslaught of your kind in ages past, I will show my dominance and supremacy over all life once again!" an infernal blue fire started to glow from the giant dragon's stomach. Suffer human! Just as the fire was released out of the dragon's mouth, Starfall was engulfed in flame. The black dragon smiled, thinking he had slain his challenger. "Unworthy of my flame" The smoke cleared and revealed Starfall maintaining a black barrier, his eyes were glowing crimson red. "What!?" The dragon panicked, but quickly took a deep breath and spewed out another wave of fire, this time, the fire was circling around the black dragon, the same barrier that was protecting Starfall, now encased the black dragon instead. The dragon, unaffected by his own fire, was very quickly running out of air, his own flame and smoke would now be his end, He stopped spewing fire and started to slam and claw the barrier, gasping and pleading for air, the dragon slowly wore himself out until eventually, he fell against the barrier, unconscious due to the lack of air.
"The dark void awaits you, worm!" Starfall spoke with spite and malice in his voice. He could feel the ancient dragon's heart slowly giving away. ´´Just a little more...´´ He thought.
The sound of clapping could be heard across the room, the dragon queen's humanoid form made her way towards Starfall. the sound of bracelets and rings clinging, caught Starfall's attention. "Well done!" Starfall dropped the barrier, letting the colossal dragon hit the ground with a massive quake. "Well? Aren't you going to assert yourself?" She said, turning against the unconscious body of her former mate.
Starfall smiled. "With pleasure." Starfall made a slapping motion against the wind, from it a large crack could be heard and the giant dragon's body gave a final twitch before going completely limp.
"Well done, you have earned my favor, Prince Starfall!" The dragon queen announced as she pressed her body against the prince's, her pristine eyes, with the same colors as Starfall, she smiled, finally having the world's powerful creature in her arms, and as her lover.