Chapter 1
It’s a few minutes before noon at the quiet Canterlot Royal Palace in Canterlot. The Princess and her royal daughters go about their routine royal duties with the exception of her son Prince Somnus Silverlight. After losing a hoof ball game bet with his older sister Aurora, Somnus was tasked by her to clean the Canterlot archives, a chore his siblings don’t like doing. Standing on her back legs with her front hoofs braced securely on an empty shelf, she carefully places a book with her teeth. She was a rather unhappy dark blue pegasi mare with an ice blue mane and tail wearing the dull purple colored body armor of Princess Luna’s Lunar Guard.
“I am Captain Adrian Nightwing a proud member of Princess Luna’s Lunar Guard and I am reduced to maid work.” Adrian said with some pride and bitterness as a troubled look appears on her face.
“Somnus!” Adrian calls as he walks out from behind a bookcase floating several books in his dark blue bubble.
“Yes?” Somnus answers floating the books onto the bookshelf she was using to brace herself.
“Did her highness really order me to help you clean the Canterlot Archives, Somnus?” Adrian inquires studying Somnus acutely as a stress line forms on his brow knowing he lied to her.
“The idea of Royal orders is kind of a subjective concept….did her highness specifically pick you to do this job or did she pull your name out of a hat, then assign you to do this job…that is the real question, Adrian?” Somnus explains trying to cloud the issue and baffle Adrian, so she will forget the question she asked.
“Well another subjective concept I would like to make you aware of your highness…. (Blowing the dust off the underside of her front horseshoes) It’s called ‘make you feel the pain of lying to me!’” Adrian said bluntly as she chases Somnus around the Canterlot Archives. For a pegasi who can fly, Adrian is pretty quick on her legs keeping up with Somnus a half-alicorn and half-unicorn pony without the wings of his mother.
“Got you!” Adrian exclaims tackling Somnus.
“Now for the pain!” Adrian exclaimed lifting her hoof up. Unaware that Princess Luna has just entered the Canterlot archive from the hallway. She floats a tray with several small sandwiches cut into small triangles, a pitcher of apple cider and three glasses.
“Captain Nightwing! Don’t lay a hoof on Prince Somnus!” Luna bellows catching the attention of Adrian as he slips out of her grip and runs behind his aunt.
“Adrian, do you know how much trouble you will be in if you strike a royal foal…I bet it’s more than you would like….so tell me what happened?” Luna asks so she gives the explanation. After hearing what happened Luna kicks Somnus with her back leg to make a point to him and promised Adrian she will discipline him for faking a Royal Order from a Princess.
“With that settled, would you both like to join me for lunch?” Luna inquires as they both shook their heads and waited for Luna to set down the tray on a nearby table, at which time the three ponies gathered around the table and began eating and talking.
From a cheerful scene in the Canterlot archives to a more somber scene, Princess Celestia sits in a small sitting room somewhere in the Royal Palace. Her light purple eyes mist over with tears as she holds a shard of a broke mirror in her yellow magic aura.
“I still miss him so, the Good king Sombra from the alternate world…I didn’t know he loved me, if I knew I would have tried to stop him from sacrificing himself for me…” Celestia thought as a beautiful light blue younger Alicorn mare with a crimson red mane and tail enters the sitting room. A floating tray in a dark blue bubble appears with two plates of sandwiches, a pot of tea and two tea cups.
“Mother lunch is here, may I join you?” Inquires the friendly Alicorn mare as a small bit of light from a window in the sitting room reflects off the mirror shard her mother was trying to hide under some papers on the table.
“Sure you may join me, Aurora.” Celestia said friendly as Aurora floated one plate of food in front of her mother and then to herself.
“Thank you mother, but the real reason I want to join you for lunch is because you felt a bit distant in court this afternoon…is something wrong?” Aurora inquires as she pours her mother a cup of tea from the tea pot.
“Thank you, Aurora…I should have known nothing gets past you. You are like your father; you can read me like a book.” Celestia comments chuckling into her hoof after taking a sip of tea from her cup.
“But it’s nothing, Aurora….nothing at all.” Celestia comments lying to her own daughter as Aurora regards her mother curiously and floats the mirror shard out from under the papers.
“Curious mother, I am guessing this magic mirror shard is what you kept in that small treasure box on top of your desk in your bed chamber…I remember as a small filly seeing that small treasure box on top of your desk everytime you took me to your bed chamber to teach me how to use my magic properly.” Aurora explains as it caused Celestia to begin to tear-up with all the precious memories that were made after good king Sombra sacrificed himself.
“You are correct; Aurora. This is the item that was in that small treasure box on my desk that I kept in my room. (Floating the magic mirror shard from Aurora over to herself)” Celestia explains looking at it.
“May I ask why you kept it, mother?” Aurora inquires as Celestia sighs.
“Long before I met your father and had three beautiful foals with him...There was another stallion who loved me, at the time I didn’t know he loved me….his name was King Sombra.” Celestia said beaming fondly.
“What?!” Aurora exclaimed gawking in disbelief.
“Mother! How could you have fallen in love with such an evil pony like King Sombra? He destroyed hope and love in cousin Cadence’s Crystal Empire! If Twilight and her friends didn’t stop him he could have done some serious damage to our home!” Aurora said in a huff wondering who her mother really was.
“Calm yourself Aurora (shaking her hoof) The King Sombra I was in love with is from the alternate world…where your aunt and I are evil princesses. He was good king Sombra or he was that before…….” Celestia said her voice trailing off as a single tear runs down her cheek. Sensing something, Aurora stands up and walks around the table, wraps her wings around her mother and gives her a loving hug.
“What ever happened will not change how I feel about my mother, Princess Celestia Silverlight….The mare I call mother.” Aurora said beaming fondly as Celestia wipes away the tear with her hoof, kissing her daughter on her cheek.
“You three will never really know how special you are to this old Alicorn and her life.” Celestia said lovingly as she finishes her story for Aurora.
Meanwhile back in the Canterlot archives, Somnus with the help of his aunt Luna finishes cleaning the archives, after Captain Nightwing had to leave for her guard duty at the front gate of the palace.
“Almost done, Auntie and thank you for helping me after Adrian left….I don’t think I could have finished cleaning the whole Archives by myself without your help.” Somnus thankful as he dips a clean cloth into some clean water and uses it to clean the dust off Luna’s face for her.
“You are welcome, Somnus….oh, by the way, could you meet me this evening in the training park inside the palace….I would like a few sparing rounds with you….I would like to knock off some of the rust from my sword skills.” Luna asks as Somnus shook his head and agreed to meet his aunt.
“Ouch…ouch…ouch!” Somnus exclaims clamping his eyes shut as the whole contents of a single bookcase falls on top of his head after his aunt accidentally slams the door leading into the Canterlot Archives with her back leg.
As the books continue to tumble off the shelves onto Somnus’s head, several out of date maps of Equestria begin to roll off their shelf being pushed by a rose pink colored diary with his mother’s gold sun symbol on it. As the last of the maps fall off the shelf and to the ground, the rose pink diary also falls and crashes snapping the lock open on the book. This reveals the entries inside. With the books now on top of Somnus’s head he slowly stands-up and shakes them off.
“Huh?” Somnus exclaims stepping on a small pile of books that shoots out from under his front hoofs dumping his chin on top of the open diary.
“Why this looks like mother’s writing….it’s kind of quickly jotted down, not her standard elegant writing style like she does for correspondences…she must have been upset or hurt when she wrote it…but you still can read it…..I wonder what this book is?” Somnus thought carefully moving away from the bookshelf as he floats the books back onto the shelves and leaves the Canterlot archives with his mother’s book.
For the next few hours Somnus reads the book in his bed chamber from cover to cover. Soon the sun slowly sets and moon rises in the sky meaning it was time for his Aunt Princess Luna to take over the royal duties from his mother Princess Celestia. The feeling of a dark cloud hung over the head of the depressed young unicorn stallion as he walked toward the palace training park to meet his Aunt Luna for a sparring match.
In the moon lit palace training park Somnus and his Aunt Luna spar with wooden swords the same weight as the real ones. Their normal sparing matches are very intense to say the least as Luna made a point to train her nephew at her skill level. After dodging a clumsy sword strike from Somnus, Luna fires a magic beam from her horn as a counter to Somnus’s sword strike.
“Child! Dodge it quickly!” Luna shrieks as the beam hits Somnus straight on throwing him head over hoof out of the training circle into a pile of hay against one wall of the palace.
Luna releases the magic on the handle of the wooden sword and runs over to the pile of hay. She begins to dig through the pile as fast as she could with her front hooves searching for her nephew as her breath quickens not knowing how badly hurt he is. With half the pile now dug through a few inches from her silver horseshoes she finds the singed and largely unhurt Somnus. She sighs in relief as she hugs him and brings him out of the hay pile.
“For bucking sakes, Somnus! Don’t scare me like that, child! I thought you were badly hurt or even killed!” Luna snaps as all her worries come out of her as an angry tone of voice is directed towards the depressed Somnus. Slowly Luna calms herself down and notices the stricken look in the face of her nephew.
“What is wrong with you child?” Luna inquires calmly and thoughtful as she sits down in front of the troubled young stallion with concern on her face.
“Do you care about me, Auntie?” Somnus inquires confused catching Luna by surprise.
“Huh? Of course I do, Somnus….why would you think I don’t?” Luna answered as it made Somnus even more confused.
“Does mother care about me, Auntie?” Somnus inquires quickly as the question caused Luna to have a total lapse in judgment and answer with the first thing that came into her mind.
“I don’t know! I can’t read your mother’s mind!” Luna blurts out as she quickly covers her mouth with her hoofs and watches a glum Somnus run off into the night.
“What is wrong with that nephew of mine? Why would he ask me if his mother cares about him? And dumb me blurting out the first thing that came to my mind…I don’t know. I feel that Somnus was hoping I could put something that was troubling him at ease, but I failed and might have made it worse….But I can’t think about that right now I have evening court to begin. If I get a chance or see him I will talk to him.” Luna thought reluctantly making her way to the throne room to begin evening court.
Deep beneath the surface of this troubled young unicorn stallion a dark power begins to bubble and seethe slowly trying to take form. But it’s far too weak to maintain its shape. When it does, two beams, a yellow one and blue one strike it sending it back into its shapeless form. The beams are fired by two Alicorn spirits trying to maintain the balance within the soul of Prince Somnus.
“(Breathing heavy) our power is beginning to weaken…soon that beast will be able to take control of Somnus’ soul.” The yellow Alicorn spirit said exhausted as the blue alicorn spirit lands.
“(Breathing heavy) even though our power is getting weaker….we can’t stop fighting…where’s the turquoise alicorn spirit at?” The blue alicorn spirit inquires looking around.
“She was the first one of us taken by the beast….her power of love kept that beast chained in his cell, but once Somnus started to lose the love in his heart…the chains shattered and the beast absorbed her.” The yellow alicorn spirit explains as blue alicorn spirit shook her head.
“What about magenta alicorn spirit?” The blue alicorn spirit inquired.
“The magenta alicorn spirit was next to be taken by the beast….her power of friendship kept the beast’s cell locked, but once Somnus started to lose the friendship in his heart..The beast escaped and absorbed her…..we are the last of the Alicorn Spirits, once we get absorbed nothing can stop the beast from taking control.” The yellow Alicorn spirit explains with a somber voice.
“Not true…there is a dark blue Alicorn spirit who sleeps deep in the heart of Somnus…the beast can’t absorb him….but once he is awakened the beast will lose its hold on Somnus.” The blue Alicorn spirit explains.
“Yes, that’s true….but something extreme must happen to Somnus to awaken that dark blue Alicorn spirit from its sleep.” The yellow Alicorn spirit explains taking to sky once again after resting followed by the blue Alicorn spirit.
Back in the Canterlot royal palace, a downcast Prince Somnus lies on a patch of green grass in the garden beside a reflecting pool looking at his reflection in the clear water. He lifts his hoof up and splashes it in the pool causing his reflection to become distorted for a while. As the clear water in the pool settles, his reflection returns along with the reflection of a concerned pale pink Alicorn mare with a pastel-colored mane. He looks over his shoulder; standing there was his mother wearing her evening robe.
“Baby is something wrong?’ Celestia inquires rubbing the side of her snout up and down Somnus’s neck in a loving gesture as a mother does to her foal.
“You know if something is troubling you, I am always available to talk. No matter how busy I get with my royal duties. You are my main concern.” Celestia said lovely rubbing her cheek against his trying to get him to open up to her, before placing a kiss on his horn.
“I am ok mother, nothing to concern you about (yawn)” Somnus replies pretending nothing is troubling him as he gets to his hoofs and begins to walk away.
“But?” Celestia exclaims lifting her hoof up.
“Mother! I am fine!” Somnus snaps at Celestia catching her by surprise as she drops her hoof and watches him run back to the royal palace.
A very confused and puzzled Celestia walks over to the reflecting pool and looks at her troubled reflection in the clear water as a single tear splashes causing her reflection to distort for awhile, before it returns soon after.
“What am I missing? Clearly my son needs my help.” Celestia said to her reflection in the pool before she walks back to the palace; no closer to figuring out why her son needs her.