Stars Rise & Fall

by Illumenarie

Prologue

Her head throbbed and her vision was blurry as if she had been dealt a blow to the head. She couldn't quite feel her legs but she tried to get to them. If it was the last thing she did, she would stand to face her attacker. Shaking her head as her vision started to clear just a bit, she managed to find her hoofing and she took a wide stance. While the reason she did this was because she felt weak in the knees, she had hopped it doubled to intimidate whoever decided to come at her from the shadows. Lowering her head and pointing her horn in the direction her ears flicked towards a source of sound, she looked out into the darkness, eyes blazing and furrowed brows, with her horn already lit with a spell.

“Ah, she stands,” Came a leering voice that seemed to surround her all at once. It was both sinister and slightly...insane all at the same time; the effect chilling and unnerving. Lavender fur bristled as she felt a chill run down her withers and end at the tip of her tail.

“Tell me Princess,” Spoke the darkened pony as she came into view, trotted around her in a circle all the while she eyed her with those slitted pupils as if she were her prey.

“Why does thou continue to fight when the war has already been won?”

A gasp caught in her throat as recollection hit her with a force that almost knocked her over.

She knew this voice.

“Luna,” the words hung in the air as they fell from her slack jaw. Shock was instantly replaced by anger as she gazed at the dark pony who's eyes lit up in utter amusement.

“Who were you expecting?”

“Princess Luna, how—why? I don't understand. Why are you doing this?” Flabbergasted that once again it seemed that the Princess of the Night had taken up her Nightmare form to plunge all of Equestria under her eternal night, Twilight stood there trying to figure out what had happened to cause it this time. Princess Celestia had done all she could to keep Luna's name untainted and not many ponies came to still fear her since her return. They even shared the throne, both ruling together as they had always done though now extra attention was given to include Luna so she would never have reason to feel as if she were lesser.

Did Celestia have something to do with this? No, that couldn't be the reason, Twilight thought to herself as she moved on to her next theory noting how perfectly their relationship had been mended. Princess Celestia had welcomed Luna back with opened wings and Luna had been ever the remorseful for her actions. Surely there was something else going on here she had overlooked. Following her with her eyes as she was not the one to be stupid enough to let her opponent out of sight for a second time, she watched as a dark blue energy began to glow around Nightmare Moon's horn. In reaction, Twilight's own horn lit up in a magenta colored light and she steadied her stance ready to dish out a stunning blow. If she could stun her, even for a second, that would be enough time for her to get to her friends and--

“Why now, Twilight Sparkle, is that a look for a princess?” She asked as she paused, the glow from her horn fading as whatever spell she was going to use died. Twilight flicked her eyes to her sides and quickly brought them back to look at Nightmare Moon as she realized she was alone. Feeling utterly powerless knowing that her magic alone would never be enough to rid Equestria of such a formidable foe, her own magic trickled and died on the tip of her horn. There was a pang of sadness in her core when she realized that her friends weren't here to help her.

But that only raised another question: just where were they?

“Ah, I was wondering when you would notice. You are correct. You are alone. They've abandoned you. What did one expect when you decided to leave the ponies you would dare call your friends alone to suffer?”

“What are you talking about!” The young mare shot at the corrupt princess trying to muster as much venom as she felt churning inside her.

“I would never abandon my friends!” This caused Nightmare Moon to cock an eyebrow quizzically.

“Oh? So thou-st say now. But where were you when I invaded their dreams? Where were you when I crushed their spirits? Where were you when I stripped them of their elements only to use them as the perfect weapons to end them all?” More angry than anything, Twilight stamped her hoof in retort.

“What are you talking about, Luna? I would never abandon my friends. I would never leave them alone to—to suffer!”

And that is when the most vile smile happened to cross the face of the princess. Fangs extended over dark lips and green, cat eyes lit up with joy. What made the look so vile was the sheer amount of pure joy was just unnatural to see coming from a being so dark in nature. Seeing it made Twilight's stomach turn and made her heart sink.

She acts like she knows something I don't. But—but, I would know if my friends were in trouble. I would know if they needed me. I would, wouldn't I?

“One would think so, no? But that is where you are wrong. You didn't.” Hearing this made Twilight realize her worst fears. That's when she saw her horn light again and suddenly shapes appeared before her. Five gems suspended in the air above Nightmare Moon all displaying a single, large and painful looking crack running through their centers. It looked at if the gems had been damaged and badly at that.

That was when she noticed the dull shimmer as the slain images of her friends reflected of the gems' surfaces.

The Elements of Harmony had been destroyed. Her friends had been defeated.

“But—but how? How did I—how did you? Why did you?” Tears burned in her eyes as despair quickly began to sink in. She wanted to disappear or better yet, she wanted to die.

How could I have allowed Nightmare Moon to harm my friends?

As if she was reading her thoughts, Nightmare Moon spoke.

“Allow me to show you,”

And with that, Twilight saw Luna's horn light up in her signature magical aura but she couldn't react fast enough with her own magic before its beam reached her. As it enveloped her, she found herself forcibly pulled into the memories of the fallen princess and was shown exactly what had happened.

One by one, Twilight witnessed both with her own eyes and through the memories of her now sworn nemesis, the demise of each of her friends. All bested by Nightmare Moon because she had not been there to save them. When the vision was over, Twilight was released from Luna's magical grip and her thoughts were once again her own. It wasn't long before realization began in root itself in her mind. Her face, already wet and stained by her still flowing tears, crumpled as a cry wound itself out of her mouth as she sunk to her knees, devastated.

“No...” came her weak protest as she shook her head feeling the world begin to crumble around her. Darkness loomed from Nightmare Moon and surrounded her in a cold, vice-like grip. As if that was needed, for her heart was already broken. The dark mare reared up on her hind legs and flailed her front hooves in the air triumphantly as she threw her head back to cackle, the sound echoing around the younger alicorn princess.

This has to be a dream, it just has to be...

Defeated, Twilight looked up at her victor and watched horrified as her form morphed and changed into another.

Nightmare Moon's armor fell away and her pitch black coat began to lighten to a shade in the same color range as Princess Luna's normal coat. Dappled throughout the dark blue fur were speckles of white that looked like stars. Luna's flowing, nearly translucent mane changed colors entirely and became more opaque and more like actual hair instead of the astral background of the night sky. It gave her new emerging form an almost mortal appearance. Deep burgundy locks grew and spread out in a wild array, the tips colored a familiar shade of pink that at the moment, escaped Twilight's reasoning on why the color was so familiar. The mare's tail followed shortly afterward, matching the wild mane.

Then suddenly, the voice of the mare who moments before sounded like Luna had changed to sound less like the princess and like somepony Twilight had never met before. It had a melodic quality to it and lacked much of the princesses' regal, old fashioned, Canterlotean accent. It was almost child-like, like the voice of an adolescent or somepony closer to Twilight's own age. Still with tears freely flowing down her cheeks, Twilight stared at this new pony with wide eyes not understanding what was happening. Scanning the unknown mare over from ear to hoof, Twilight attempted with all that remained of her cognitive reasoning skills to give a name to this mysterious newcomer but failed to do so. This mare was an alicorn judging by her horn and wings and should have been somepony everypony should have known. There were only four alicorn princesses in Equestria. Surely somepony would have noticed the sudden arrival of a fifth.

“Who are you?” Gold eyes opened to look at Twilight and as they found her, she took note on their appearance. She had round, normal pupils, no longer sporting the predatory eyes of a hunter like the Nightmare she came from. She even appeared to be less threatening; her features average and more like a regular pony except for the combination of having both a unicorn's magic and the wings of a pegasus granting her the power to fly. All was lacking was a show of strength and as the pony lowered her front hooves and returned to stand on all four, Twilight noticed the small fissures having been created in the ground beneath her which stood to demonstrate that while still managing to look quite frail, this pony was undeniably an alicorn. Her face seemed to hold a sense of kindness as she spotted Twilight, her eyes growing wide as if she had just seen her there for the first time. Lowering her head, Twilight's eyes were drawn to something odd that she hadn't caught before about the alicorn.

Her horn was broken; snapped off about halfway down from the tip and spouting a small shower of light pink sparks that matched the pink tips of her mane and tail. Again, Twilight's eyes widened in shock and question.

“D-do you wanna see the stars fall?” The young mare asked, her voice hitched and soft putting the lavender alicorn in mind of one of her soft spoken friends who also had a shy demeanor.

“The stars fall? Why would I—where's Luna? Where's my friends?” The young mare looked down and turned away. Without warning, she broke out into a run.

“Wait!” Twilight called out as she started to run after her. Darkness filed out from in front of the mare and wrapped around the both of them blocking out Twilight's vision leaving her only aware of the sound of her galloping hooves as they became harder and harder to hear with the increasing distance put between them.

“Wait! Come back! Who are you? Where are my friends? Where is Princess Luna? What is going on here?” She yelled to no avail as the floor gave way to the small fissures the alicorn had created earlier and widened, pulling her into the darkness itself.

---

“...wait! Come back. Don't leave...” Tossing and turning in the large bed, Twilight was still calling out for the mysterious mare when her eyes fluttered opened as she began to wake up from her dream. As the images of her dream left her, she came to see a concerned purple and green dragon looking at her.

“S-Spike?”

“Uh, good morning? Are you okay, Twilight?” Looking around the large, princess approved bedroom, she came to realize that she had been asleep for Celestia knows how long, possibly missing her duties to hold court. Turning back to her faithful assistant, she wasn't exactly sure how to respond to his question.

“Y-yes. No? I don't know, Spike. I honestly don't know.”

“Were you having a bad dream or something? You were shouting so I came to check on you but when I got in here you were all tangled up in the blankets.” Realizing that she was indeed ensnared in her bedding, she wriggled herself free and left the unmade bed to go to one of her most visited room in her new castle: her library. Following her was the pittering claws of the baby dragon that was still waiting for her to reassure him that she was indeed alright.

“So do you wanna talk about it?”

“Yes Spike, and to say that I had a bad dream would be an understatement. I think I may have had a precognitive dream and I really, really, really hope that's the furthest thing from whatever that was. Have you heard from the others? What time is it?”

“It's just barely morning, Twilight. And um, Rainbow Dash called and said that she'd be running late 'cause some random cloud front blew in and they're having a bit of trouble at the factory getting rid of 'em all. Rarity wanted to know what drinks to bring and since you were sleeping, I told her I'd have you call her back when you woke up. And Pinkie Pie called but the only message she left was a shower of confetti. Why you ask?” Relief flooded her hearing that Spike had heard from three of her friends and they seemed to be alright at least. While that didn't shake the fear from her, it did make her feel a little bit better. If that had been a precognitive dream, she still had time to figure out what she could do to prevent it from happening. But first, she had to write a letter to Princess Celestia.

“I think we're all in trouble, Spike. I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia.” The young dragon's eyes grew wide and he swallowed. Nodding his head, he pulled out a quill and a scroll from his belly pouch. Taking the quill and wrapping it in a cloak of magenta magic, Twilight was distracted from putting quill to parchment as something caught her eye from the window.

Trotting over towards the large window that provided her library with ample light, the lavender mare pressed her nose to the class as her jaw dropped and a shiver spread out all over her entire body. Streaking the early morning sky was a a blip of light with a dimmer trail that was easy to spot in the muted colors of the early dawn as the sky was still slightly dark. Pressing his face to the glass too, Spike watched the shooting star streak the sky and disappear upon the horizon.

“Wow, a shooting star. That's so cool.”

“No, no it's not. I think that's the start of this. I think I might already be too late!”

“Why? Too late for--” Before he could finish his sentence, Twilight was surrounded by the aura of her magic and the room lit up in a bright magenta flash which caused Spike to close his eyes. When he opened them, Twilight was no where in sight.

Sighing to himself, he went over and picked up the quill and parchment that she had left behind and stored them back in his pouch before going over to Twilight's huge bed and curled up in it. With a yawn, he closed his eyes and decided that he would catch a few more hours of sleep until Twilight came back.

She'll get me if she needs me, The young dragon thought to himself not realizing the severity of the situation at hand.

Author's Note:

Firstly, I would just like to thank all of you who decided to read both the first version of this story and give even more thanks for those who came back to read my attempt at re-visioning it. You guys mean a lot to me. I hope all of you enjoyed this as much as I have and look forward to what's to come.