All Behind Celestial Rays

by Cosy Purity

When Things Start To Change

Celestia nearly tripped over her hooves as she hurried to catch up with her mother who was quickly walking down the hall toward the Solar Meeting Room, where all the captains of the royal guard from everywhere across the kingdom were meeting up.

She noticed grim anxiety stream like waves from every step Vibrant took, and Celestia’s heart clenched in fear; She’d never seen her mother so worried.

Before they’d reached the room, Vibrant turned to her daughter and murmured quickly,

“You can’t come inside with me. I need you to go into your father’s dorm and wait for me there. It’s nearly sunset and he’ll be with you soon.”

Celestia met her mother’s pale blue gaze. “But I want to go,” She complained, “I have to know what is going on too!”

Vibrant shook her head sternly and gently nudged her off in the opposite direction with her wing.

“Go,” Vibrant ordered, and then grudgingly Celestia nodded and walked back toward her father’s dorm.

Then after realizing how her mother wanted to send her away to ensure her safety, she felt a pang of fear and scampered quickly up the stairs, wondering if whatever attacked the sector where Starswirl’s mom had been stationed was sneaking around the palace, waiting to strike a terrified young alicorn.

Once she caught sight of the dorm straight ahead of her, she ran a little faster and, due to the speed of her pace, her vision blurred so that all she could see was the dorm. Then, out of nowhere, a shape flashed around the corner of her eye and she crashed into it head-on, afterwards toppling over onto the floor with the breath knocked out of her.

After taking a moment to regain her breath and calm herself from the shock of the event, she shook her head vigorously and looked up from where she was splayed on the floor to see that she’d bumped into Starswirl, who was crouched on the ground with an irritated glare in his golden eyes.

“Why are you so clumsy?” He growled, then scrambled back onto his hooves and heaved a long sigh while closing his eyes, as if trying to gain back energy from the hard impact of his encounter with Celestia.

Then finally he queried,

“Why were you running up here so fast? Don’t you know you should try to be a little less disruptive so that you don’t knock somepony over?”

Celestia ignored the vague sting she felt from his words and answered,

“There’s been an attack somewhere off in the kingdom… My mom wanted me to go back to Nebula’s room and I thought that maybe some evil ponies were hiding around in the castle, and I was kinda scared, so…-”

“Attack?”

Starswirl broke in, his voice full of dismay and a hint of disbelief.

“Where did this happen?”

Celestia’s heart dropped.

A gleam of worry appeared in Starswirl’s golden eyes at the sight of Celestia’s suddenly darkened expression.

Then he repeated himself more firmly,

“Where did the attack take place?”

Celestia gulped. How could she possibly tell him that whoever these evil ponies were had invaded where his mother was, and she still hadn’t been found?

“Oh… just… somewhere off in the farthest parts of the kingdom,”

She muttered vaguely.

Starswirl persisted,

“Have they attacked near wherever my mom is? Do you know if she’s safe?”

GAH!

Celestia thought frustratedly as Starswirl asked the very questions she’d hoped wouldn’t cross his mind. Her heart beat quickly with fear as she remained silent for several more moments, watching Starswirl’s face grow more and more with worry and irritation.

“Just spit it out!” Starswirl exclaimed.

Finally, realizing that there was no way she could maneuver around the question, Celestia took a deep breath and whispered,

“Okay.”

Starswirl tensed at the grimness in her voice but she continued,

“They attacked her station directly.”

Her chest tightened.

“She’s been reported missing.”

---

Glowing crystals shaped as stars were scattered all across the ceiling just like how the Lunar Corridor was designed, while dark purple and blue sheets hung and stretched across the room like a protective silk barrier. The floor was draped in a fuzzy, comfortable navy blue rug with the moon and the sun at the centre just beside each other. Stars surrounded the moon while dark, tinted blue clouds surrounded the sun, and swirls of gold bordered the edges of it, where each end of the rug met the dark violet walls.

At the very edge of the room was a large, plush bed. A silk blanket of darkened lavender cascaded from the edges of the bed and four cushy pillows lined the top against the wooden structure that was tinted dark blue, where two pillars outstretched from it; the right had a moon at the top, and the left had the sun.

Two black pillows on the right were covered in stars and the other two on the left were pale yellow with the image of the sun and it’s rays outstretching to every corner of the pillow. Settled on the bed were Starswirl and Celestia, plenty comfortable as they settled in the lavender blanket, but hardly at peace.

Celestia was leaned against Starswirl, her head rested on his neck; He didn’t even budge. That’s how she knew how badly he was shaken.

“It’ll be okay,” She soothed.

Starswirl’s eyes flashed with momentary fury, but then disappeared almost instantly, replaced with a crumpled expression of sorrow.

She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder and attempted a smile.

“Just because she’s missing doesn’t mean she’s not alive,” She assured in a voice as calm as her mother’s, “No matter what happens, everything will be okay.”

Starswirl shook his head and closed his eyes. “No,” He croaked, “I just want my momma…” he repeated himself, “I just want her here…”

Celestia closed her eyes as well and took a deep breath, trying to find a moment, even a sliver of peace.

Father will be here soon, she told herself.

As if he had been summoned by that single thought, the flap of deep blue wings appeared at the window and the large form of her father stepped inside, his eyes weary.

He ruled the night on the other side of the kingdom, and then when the sun began to rise and Vibrant took over, he returned to the side where the Alicorn palace resided and began his shift there.

Sometimes Celestia wondered if her parents ever got a full night of sleep.

“Honey,”

Nebula’s call broke her out of her thoughts and she lifted her head to meet his pale-purple gaze.

“What are you and …” He narrowed his eyes in surprise and continued, “...Starswirl doing in here?”

“Mom sent me in because she had a meeting with all the captains of the royal guard and Starswirl came in with me,” She explained.

Nebula’s eyes widened. “What… what’s going on?” He stammered, realizing the gravity of the situation as his wife had to meet with every captain of the royal guard.

“Someone attacked where Starswirl’s mom was. I don’t know what else has happened,” Celestia muttered, wishing she’d been allowed in the room where they were holding a conference on the issue.

Nebula folded his wings and plodded over to the left side of the bed and climbed on top to join the two young ponies.

“Then I guess we’ll have to wait until they’re done,” He murmured.

Wanting to change the subject, Celestia queried,

“Daddy, have you raised the moon yet?”

Her father’s eyes widened and a giant exclamation point seemed to appear just above his head.

“Oh, right,” He said, “Thanks Sweetie. Do you two want to watch?”

Celestia gazed at Starswirl and quietly she murmured his name.

He blinked opened his blank eyes and grunted.

“I’ll assume that’s a yes,” She said, and guided him off the bed towards the window with Nebula following just behind.

Igniting the glow of his horn, her father gripped the moon in a barrier of bright blue magic and slowly began to guide the bright sphere towards the centre of the sky.

Celestia watched in awe, then gently nudged Starswirl without moving her gaze from the moon and whispered in his ear,

“Isn’t this amazing?”

Starswirl watched the moon climb further into the sky, his gaze still blank but his eyes now widened with vague curiosity.

“Sure,” he muttered. “It’s cool.”

Then the full disk of pure white reached it’s peak and Nebula let go, and a burst of blue dissipated from the moon. The tiny sparkling remnants of Nebula’s magic spread across the night sky and each took their place beside the moon.

“Wow,” Celestia uttered with only a breath, taken by the marvel of her father’s magic.

Nebula then began to arrange the stars in gorgeous patterns that Celestia recognized as constellations. She snuck a glance at Starswirl and saw him watching the scene with new interest, a smile beginning to appear on his face.

She’d never seen him smile before.

Cautiously she reached a hoof around his shoulder in a small embrace, and laid her head on his neck. She watched him in surprise as he closed his eyes and welcomed the moment of peace.

The view of the beautiful combination of blue and purple shades that were lit with the shine of the moon and the gleam of the stars seemed to wrap them in a blanket of tranquility and offered the gift of feeling, for once, like they were together in harmony, without a single trouble in the world to take this rare comfort away.