Sweet Beginnings Part (1): A Unicorn-Centric Prelude (Being Re-Written... Please Wait)

by sapphireStarzzzz

The Day It All Changed Part - 1 (Starry I )

When the two deities, Mortimer and Irene, harnessed the powers of the seven elements, Darkness, Light, Chaos, Harmony, Life, Death and Time, they ended up creating a world, filled with millions of dimensions, each inhabited by creatures most unique. However, there were three that reigned supreme.

The Realms Creatarum, Fabulelas and Hominus.

Creatarum was a land full of creatures with fantastical powers, including the ponies. And it is, in a tiny corner of this wondrous place, called Coltuxor, where our story begins.

"I'm bored!", Galaxia whined. "Isn't there anything for us to do right now?"

"Hmm, you know what, there actually might be", Starry replied, musing on the topic for a bit.

She was definitely not bored, unlike her friend at the moment, perfectly content reading 'The Tale of The Lunar Mage'. But she knew that Galaxia would keep on irritating her with complaints until she came up with something for them to do together.

"What?", Galaxia asked

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head and Starry, keeping the book down and getting up from her place under the shade of a tree, poked Galaxia and yelled, "TAG, YOU'RE IT", running away as swiftly as her she could, with Galaxia shouting as she chased her, "Hey! Not fair. You could've given me a warning"

“Not my fault you weren’t paying attention”, she yelled back turning around. She was running backwards by now, amused at the disgruntled look on Galaxia’s face as she struggled to keep up with Starry.

But alas! There was a reason wise ponies always cautioned foals to keep their eyes to the front, for only a moment later, she found herself bumping into something.

“Ah”, Starry yelped as she wobbled and lost her balance, whirling around oddly as she fell on her back, with unimpressed blue eyes staring down at her.

Oh for the sake of- Why did her mother have to show up right now?

She lifted herself off the ground and stood up straight and alert. The least her mother could have done was to help her up.

“Good afternoon, mother”, she stated, making sure her posture was straight. She tried to maintain eye contact, but her mother’s stern gaze was fixed elsewhere.

She turned around, following her mother’s gaze and tensed when she spotted that the object her mother’s ire was Galatia, who had frozen when met with her mother, Duchess Pampered Ruby’s harsh glare.

“You!”, her mother cried out. “How many times must I reiterate that you must stay away from my daughter”, she hissed. Galatia backed away, cowering a little.

“And you”, she turned her towards Starry, who was too used to it to care, but still tensed a bit and pricked her ears to show her mother that she was listening.

“Why must you go around, associating yourself, associating us, with nameless, impoverished peasants like her? Are you really that eager to tarnish out reputations? What will ponies say?

Lady Starlit Night, daughter of Duchess Pampered Ruby and Duke Cosseted Nobleman, befriending dirty, filthy little things like her”, she spat at Galaxia’s, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. Starry sent her a loom that was supposed to be a mixture of reassuring and apologetic, however Galaxia’s simply looked away.

“And that’s excluding what you were doing! Running around like some plebeian foal! You might as well find a way to transform youself into a pig”, she scoffed. That disgusted expression had never suited her face, but Starry would never dare say that out loud.

“Come along right now, Starlit Night. And from now on, don’t let me see you in the company of the likes of her”, her mother scowled, walking away with a reluctant Starry, who had hurriedly grabbed her book, in tow.

Starry looked at Galaxia’s, hopefully. Perhaps Galaxia could forgive her for this, maybe they could remain friends. But judging by the harsh glare she received in return, that likely wasn’t going to be the case.

Lowering her head, ashamed and guilty, Starry held back tears of her own. Her friendship with Galaxia had been the most long-lasting, as they had met when they were twelve. It had endured for almost two years, and now, everything was ruined, all thanks to her mother.

She quietly followed her mother to their mansion, where she was greeted and bowed to by the servants, whom she did her best to greet back, but she really couldn't get herself to talk to anypony at the moment.

Suddenly, her mother halted and with her, so did Starry.

“Oh, I almost forgot! The reason I had been looking for you prior to, ahem, this, was to inform you of tonight’s banquet”, her mother revealed, her tone a lot lighter than it had been a little while ago.

“A banquet?”, Starry questioned, struggling to keep her voice from breaking. Bile had risen up in her throat, burning harshly due to the lack of outlet, but she wasn’t going to cry, not in front of her mother, no absolutely not.

But despite her numerous attempts, the tears leaked out eventually, streaming down her face and sobs escaped her mouth unvoluntarily.

"Oh, darling", her mother sighed, her eyes softening a little as she gathered Starlit in a hug. "Shhh, shh, hush now, hush", she whispered soothingly, rubbing Starlit's back gently.

"Mother's so sorry sweetheart, so sorry. But you'll understand why I did that eventually, it was for your own good. Ponies like her, well, they're not like us.

They have nothing to their names, no property, no fame, no social standing, not a drop of riches. They live filthy, unimportant lives. They're beneath us, do you understand?", her mother stated, gently stroking her mane.

There had been a time when she had believed in her parents' honey coated drivel, but that time was long gone.

She wasn't a naive, malleable little filly anymore. No, she was a proud adolescent, aged fifteen, with bold opinions that she wished she were bold enough to openly defend, instead of sneaking around.

So all Starry could do in response was turn her face away with a huff. Her mother's eyes hardened at that and retracted her hoof, coldly stating, "So be it. As I was saying before I was interrupted, your father and I are hosting a banquet. Most ponies of importance shall be attending, including King Zircon and Queen Silver Spades.

Do clean up, I'd rather not be answering guests as to why your eyes are red", she stood up and left without glancing back.

Starry sniffled, wiping her tears away harshly. She didn't want anypony at the banquet to see her in such a vulnerable state.

Wait, now that she had thought of the feast, she remembered that her mother said that King Zircon and Queen Silver Spades would be attending.

Which meant, her eyes widened in horror as the thought struck her, that Princess Golden Horn and Prince Bullion would be attending as well.

No, no, no, no, no! That couldn't be happening! Her day had just descended from bad to worse. The reason for this was that, well, let's just say that she wasn't too fond of either of them, though especially Golden Horn. But, really, she couldn't be blamed.

She really couldn't be blamed though. They were the archetypical spoiled, rich foals. Except, that they weren't just rich foals, no, they were also the foals of the monarchs of Unicoreanth and, in Bullion's case, their heir, which meant that Starry, unfortunately had had to tolerate their rude remarks and their presence in general quite often.

There was only one thing that could brighten her mood right now, and that, was their mansion's library. But she didn't wish to walk at the moment. Her legs were wobbling, as though all the energy had suddenly been drained out of them. They definitely wouldn't be able to handle climbing two flights of stairs.

Concentrating, she build up magic in her horn, which glowed with an indigo aura as a result, and teleported away, feeling herself dissipating from the corridor and reappearing in the library.

It was as comforting as ever, with thousands of books that were perfectly organised in their shelves, tables and chairs perfectly aligned. Her potions ingredients and bottles were stored away neatly and her brass telescope was stowed next to one of the shelves.

A large mirror hung on the wall, pristine and clean. She turned towards it, wincing as she took in her reflection. Her navy blue eyes were red-rimmed. Her dually midnight blue and black mane was messed up and there was mud on her hooves that stood out against her white coat.

Sighing, she yet again lit up her horn and used a few well-placed cleansing, styling and glamour spells for her hooves, her mane and eyes. There, much better.

She felt much better by now, the vanilla scent of books providing a calming effect. She flipped settled down on a chair, flipping through to find the page where she had left off and resumed reading 'The Tale of The Lunar Mage'

After a while, with the comfort of the cushy seat, the book in her hand and the utter exhaustion from today's events caused a pleasant buzz in her mind that remained there until she heard somepony knocking at the library's doors.

"Come in", she called out, keeping the book down, folding the top of the page she had left it off at. She was already halfway through it, she pridefully noted.

The door opened and the head servant, Red Apron, entered.

"My lady", she bowed down and Starry in turn, got up from the chair and inclined her head.

"Yes?", she questioned, urging the mare to go on.

"The guests will start arriving in an hour, my lady. Your mother told me to ask you to get ready", Red Apron informed, much to Starry's surprised.

"In an hour! But, isn't it supposed to be during the evening", Starlit cried out.

Red Apron smiled, a fond note in her eyes as she replied, "My lady, you've been here for the past six hours."

Five hours? But..... She glanced out of the window, only to find that Red Apron had been telling the truth The sun had lowered quite a bit, almost ready to set, whereas last she had checked, it had still been high up in the sky.

"Time really flies when you're reading a good book", she shook her head, still in disbelief over the fact that six hours had passed by without even her noticing.

"I personally don't see how you enjoy it as a past time, my lady", Red Apron casually remarked. "I would probably tire myself out if I continuously kept looking at words."

"Most ponies don't, not even my own parents", she shook her head.

"Well, you are quite a unique individual, my lady. After all, nopony else of your stature would show a lowly servant like me the respect you do", she quietly added, smiling at Starry.

Starry shook her head. There was nothing unique about treating somepony and being treated with respect, even if you were a 'lowly servant'. It was saddening to thing that she was the only pony to have treated Red Apron with respect, or at least the only pony with her social status.

Red Apron had been here for as long as she remembered. She was around seven years older than Starry and had lived here with her mother, who had been a servant herself.

Once her mother passed away of illness, as she'd received no education, Red Apron took over her mother's work at the mansion. Starry was quite fond of her and viewed her as an older-sister figure of sorts.

"I shall get you a dress, my lady. Which one do you wish to wear?", Red inquired.

"The white and blue dress dress, the one I enchanted, please", Starlit softly requested.

"Of course, right away", Red bowed one last time, before exiting the room.

Spending time in the library had helped quite a bit, because Starry felt completely relaxed and rejuvenated. True, she still mourned her friendship with Galaxia and was going to do so for a few years at the very least, but at least it wouldn't be at the fore-front of her mind.

Stretching, she picked up her book again, reading from where she left off, hoping to at least squeeze in a page, but unfortunately, there was another knock on the door, and she decided that it was probably Red Apron with her dress.

She had assumed right, for a moment later, said mare entered the library, levitating Starry's favourite with her.

"Thank you", she thanked Red Apron, who smiled back.

"Red", she began, just as Red was about to bow down and leave.

"Yes, my lady?", Red Apron asked.

"Where is my father?", she inquired.

"He is at the palace, my lady. He shall be escorting the Royals", Red replied.

"Thank you for telling me", she thanked Red Apron, who replied, "It was my pleasure", before bowing one last time and leaving.

If the Royals were going to be escorted by her father, then that meant they were going to be the first guests to arrive, which meant that she was going to have to show Bullion and Golden Horn around. Honestly, this was shaping up to be a horrible day for her.

---

Slipping into the dress, she teleported downstairs, right at the front door, where she found her mother pacing around, a nervous look on her face.

Starry realised that this was the first time the Royal Family was coming to their home. After all, it was she and her parents who generally went to the Imperial Palace.

"There you are! Finally. Come, your Father shall arrive with the Royal Family in a few moments", her mother beckoned her forwards.

"Stand over there, alright. Be ready to greet them", she instructed and Starry obeyed, mentally preparing a few lines of pleasantries and greetings.

Welcome to our place, thy highnesses. No, that, didn't sound good. Hmm, how about, welcome to our humble abode, thy highnesses. We hope thou enjoy the banquet, yes that sounded good enough. Or perhaps, we welcome you to our humble....

But Starry had no time left to prepare, for suddenly, her mother's wedding ring lit up. That could only mean that father was either in mortal danger or that he was coming. Starry was certain that it wasn't the former, which could only mean that father, and along with him, the Royal Family, was there.

Soon enough, there was a tell-tale knock on the double doors. Hastily bowing down, Starry and her mother clutched the double doors in their magic and swung them open.

Starry's father was the first to enter. He took his place next to the door, bowing down as well. He was followed by a mare and a stallion.

The stallion was regal looking, with a lavender coat, short and curly brown hair with blonde streaks and sharp magenta eyes, that seemed to be analysing everything in their surroundings. He wore a golden, amethyst decked crown and a fluffy, royal purple cape.

The mare on the other hoof, had an off-white coat, similar to a dove's colour. Her silver mane flowed down till her shoulder, but it was curled at the ends.

Her eyes were a smoky grey, with black eyes shadow on the lids and she too wore a cape, a black one with a silver hemline, but hers was long enough to resemble a dress. She wore a silver tiara with a sapphire studded in the middle.

"We are so delighted to have thou here, thy highnesses. Please followeth us to the ballroom", her father stated.

"We art delighted to be here as well, dear Duke and Duchess. Though we hope thou daughter shalt not mind entertaining our foals meanwhile", King Zircon replied. His voice was deep and slightly hoarse.

"Of course not. I shalt be delighted to, thy highnesses. It is an honour", Starlit replied. Well, not really, but there were some things you simply did not do and refusing the king was one of them.

As if on cue, Golden Horn and Bullion too entered. Golden had a canary yellow coat with, as her name suggested, golden eyes.

Her mane, which was orange with lemon yellow streaks, was pinned up in a bun and she had a look on her face that Starry assumed was supposed to be haughty, but made it appear as though she had something particularly smelly and disgusting under her nose.

Bullion, on the other hoof, closely resembled his father in terms of looks, however his lavender coat coat had a grey tint, his eyes were more purple than violet and his mane was purely blonde.

"The hall is this way, thy highnesses", her mother stated to the elder royals, as she and her father started leading them towards it, while the foals tagged along behind.

Once they had finally arrived, her parents began an economy related conversation with the elder royals, which meant that it was up to her to entertain the younger ones.

"Welcome to our humble abode, thy highnesses. We hope thou enjoy the banquet", she greeted the younger ones. Bullion acknowledged her with a nod, whereas Golden Horn, much to her frustration, simply glared down at her with a disgusted expression on her. Not unlike how her mother had glared down at Galaxia.

Golden Horn opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by Bullion, who stated, "Thank thee for thy warm welcome, Lady Starlit", all the while shooting a warning look at Golden Horn and pointing to their parents when he thought that Starry was not paying attention.

Golden huffed and walked over to her parents, with an exasperated Bullion following her. She spotted her mother excusing herself and heading in Starry's direction.

"Starlit come, we shall greet the other guests", her mother declared, beckoning Starry to follow her.

Author's Note:

And before anyone asks about the shifts between Shakespearian and Modern English, it has been done on purpose. After all, Princess Luna mentioned that it was the royal dialect, the royal 'we', as far as I remember.

And Starry's dress: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/79446380905111239/