Chains Of Gold

by Dawn Leaper

How The Stars Weep

Author's Note:

I know it's been a hideously long time since I last updated, but if you're still here, I want to thank you so much for sticking with this story. I do have a plan for this, I promise!!

Ps- longest chapter yet! Woo!

It was a quiet, cool night, with a faint breeze that tickled the ends of Twilight's mane. She gazed at the moon, of which she had duly raised, as the celestial object effused a lustre, silvery light that seemed to turn every rooftop in Canterlot into a painted mirror after the downpour of drizzle that had blown over the city earlier.

She loved rainy nights like these, when the air settled and the world slowed down and the dampness allowed everything to smell brighter and stronger. She could smell the cool rain and the wet earth from below, and the vines of honeysuckle that wound their way up the sides of the Royal balcony, sweet and fragrant.

The earth seemed to just relax a little bit, letting its secrets go unguarded, like the luminous eyes of the fox that sprinted across the rose garden, or the baby barn owls that cooed from the rafters, or the way the wind fluttered the curtains ever so slightly.

"Mommy," a quiet, high-pitched voice whispered from the side of her.

Twilight turned to her left to see her daughter sitting next to her on the balcony, the filly's blue-striped navy mane tangled and curling from sleep. She smiled.

"Yes, my little sorcerer?" She replied, lowering herself gracefully down to the ground so she was level with the little unicorn.

Starfall frowned through her yawn, lifted a small, purple hoof to her mouth. "I can't sleep." She murmured, shivering slightly in the cold night air.

Twilight frowned as she wrapped a wing over her daughter, who nuzzled into the softness, grateful for the warmth.

"Ah, is Cori snoring again?" She chuckled lightly, breathing in the filly's familiar scent of rosewood and apricots.

"Cori is always snoring," Star groaned, "and Hestia started crying again."

Twilight tried hard to stifle her small chuckles. Coriolis, her eldest son who could and would sleep through an earthquake, was a notorious snorer, and she pitied her daughter who slept in the room next to his. And their youngest, Hestia, was only sixteen months old, and not a good sleeper.

Poor Star.

"I mean, seriously," her daughter grumbled again, "he sleeps like he's dead to the world. In fact, he'd remain completely asleep during a volcano eruption, or if the castle was besieged."

"Hey!" An muffled, sleepy voice cracked blearily from the open French windows, "I heard- yawn- that..."

Starfall rolled her eyes. "You were supposed to."

"Not my fault you're such a light sleeper..." Cori retorted. "Wear earplugs or something, idiot."

Star growled at him. "Ugh, I wanna just punch him in his smug little face-"

"Starfall!" Twilight admonished, frowning. "Violence is never the answer."

"Except when it is." Star grumbled.

"There will be no punched annoying brothers," Twilight said, trying and failing to hide the mild amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Not even a little bit? Not even a little nose break?"

"Absolutely not," Twilight replied, with the distinct tone of finality that all mothers held in their voice.

"Ha! Told you," the voice from the room came once more, "and besides, I'm not nearly as bad as Dad."

"What do you want, a gold star? Just shut up and go the sleep, moron."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her daughter's language, but said nothing. Since she had been spending loads of time at the Skies' house with Dash's kids- as Star's best friend was Dawn- Twilight wasn't, truthfully, surprised her daughter's language had become a bit fruitier.

An angry grunt came from the room, before silence once more. Twilight shook her head humorously.

"What are you smiling at," Star grumbled, huffing in slight indignity. "You don't have to sleep listening to practically a bulldozer every night."

"Oh, believe me, Star," Twilight snorted, "Cori got his snoring from one of his parents, and it certainly wasn't me."

Starfall gazed at her pitifully. "Poor you, mom."

"Poor me indeed. You know, Star, if Cori's really that bad, we can always change your room to another one in the Palace-"

"No!" Her daughter interrupted hastily. "No, I like my room. It has a nice view, and I have my height charts on the wall, and my secret hidey-hole where I keep my collection of-" She shoved a hoof over her mouth.

Twilight pulled a curious face. "Secret collection of what?"

"Uhhm, nothing. Nevermind." Starfall flushed, going a rather alarming shade of sangria.

Her mother raised an eyebrow, but decided not to pry. She had read in a scholarly article that children deserved their own privacy in order to learn and develop their own sense of person.

Plus, Star was really stubborn and pressing her for it would most likely get them nowhere.

"The cosmos is looking particularly lovely right now" Twilight smiled, resting her forehooves on the balcony.

"If you do say so yourself," Star chuckled.

"Hey!" Twilight chided playfully, "It really wasn't me. You know what's funny," she sighed, "I've never really gotten the hang of painting the sky. I don't know how or why, but somewhere, wherever Luna is now, she's still the one who organises the stars. I... can't really explain it. She is the stars, in a way."

"Aunt Dash used to say she thought the stars were fireflies," Star giggled at the memory.

Twilight chuckled. "Yes, that does sound like something Rainbow Dash would say."

There was a comfortable silence between them, as they looked up, peacefully enraptured by the star-stitched sky, impossibly big and impossibly bright. The clear night, combined with the height of the tower, allowed them to see as far as their eyes would let them.

Starfall could see the large balls of burning hydrogen and helium, fiery colossal balls that seemed like small, glimmering pinpricks in a sheet of black fabric. She knew how stars worked, their lifecycles, delicate balances of gravitational pull and the force of fusion... but they still awed her every time.

How one could create a phenomenon so... resplendent.

"Where are Celestia and Luna?" Starfall asked, the question popping into her head without any real thought.

Twilight looked down at her, taking her hooves off the balcony ledge in surprise. "What brought on this sudden question?" She replied.

Star lifted her eyebrows nonchalantly. "I don't know..." she murmured. "It's just I've never really thought about it. Have you?"

"All the time." Twilight replied, sighing.

"So... what do you think?"

Her mother shrugged. "I suppose... I've had a couple theories."

"Like..." Star prompted.

The alicorn lifted her gaze to the sky. "Well, I think it's probably different for every alicorn. There used to be loads of them, you know. Entire populations, in the Great Before."

"Really?" Star asked, blue eyes wide and dark in the moonlight.

"Yes. Before the Concordian Era, otherwise known as the Equestrian Era, when Luna and Celestia assumed roles as diarchs. Before the Pre-Classical Period as well, and even before the Paleo Pony Age. Before all we know now to be normal society, there existed the Land Of The Alicorns. The Blessed Country. They called the land Etheria, and their capital Elysium. Their infrastructure was even more advanced and scientific than we could ever imagine, the very core of their society ran on the most powerful energy source known to ponykind- divine magic."

"Whoaa..." Star muttered, now decidedly more awake. "What else do we know about them?"

"Well, their herbology was unique, their methods unprecedented by our kind. They knew not of pollution, nor segregation. They lived in a world free of hate and anger and jealousy. And although they knew pain, for life does not exist without it, the children of the land used to frolick free of trouble, their parents sent them out free of fear, to play in the rolling hills and green valleys, filled with the everlasting abundance of flowers and insects and all creatures great and small.

And a bit of that magic has lasted. You see how even know, the power of Etheria still runs through the ground of Equestria itself. It still aids mainstream magic, still causes the manes of it's citizens to wave in ethereal breeze."

Here, Twilight gestured to her long, flowing purple mane, dark and diaphanous.

Star frowned. "But you never lived in Elysium, mom."

"No, I didn't." Twilight sighed almost wistfully. "But being part of a culture is more than just if you were alive at a certain time and place. When you have the magic, you belong. But can you imagine how exciting it must have been? All the fascinating new technology and plant species?"

"It probably would've been normal to them," Star frowned.

"Yes," Twilight chuckled, "you're right."

"So what about where the alicorns are now?" Star asked, "That doesn't explain where they all went."

Her mother tutted playfully. "Patience is a virtue, daughter mine. I was just getting to that part. Elysium was ruled by the most benevolent of leaders. The first and oldest alicorn diarch known goes by the name of Fausti. Some called her their Queen Fausti. Other dubbed her the 'Bringer Of Light', or 'Keeper Of Dawn' Some simply called her 'The Lady'. Whatever she was referred to as, she was revered by all.

Nopony knows where she came from, but it's suspected that she was one of the original spirits, restless forms of existence that roamed the empty multiverse right at the inconceivably early beginning of time. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, some tangible, some not, some sentient and others passive. Some say she was born from nothing into a cloud of chaos, destined to divide the clutter of cacophonic matter into land and sky and sea, to bring order and harmony to the Dissidence. Others say she created Etheria entirely from her own powers, or she found barren wastelands of pre-existing primordial rock and transformed them into pastures of lush grounds and rich diversity, subsequently establishing the foundations of Elysium itself.

Using her magic, she breathed life into Etheria, and craft her first creation, in the image of herself. Creatures blessed with both wings and horn. They bore the gift of eternal life."

"The alicorns," Star interrupted, and Twilight nodded.

"Yes. And you may wonder why there were two thrones in the sisters' castle of ancient, two thrones that have stood there and will continue to stand there for as long as time itself. For you see, at first, Fausti never intended to take a consort. But love, as it always does, took her by surprise.

She had never felt such an emotion before. Nox was another alicorn, one equal to her in power- and most surprising of all, he was not descended from the ones she had created. He was an inter-dimensional original spirit, born from chaos, bringing order, just like she had been. He intruiged her, she had never seen another like herself before.

To her bright day and warm sunlight and forests and hills, he brought sweet night and cool moonlight and deep lakes and roaring rivers. And so, it came to be that she raised the sun, and he raised the moon, equal and balanced and harmonious like all things should be. An apt reflection on the very principles of which they ruled Etheria by."

"Huh," Star mused. "Has there always been two diarchs? Two rulers?"

Twilight nodded. "There always used to be. Fausti and Nox had two daughters. Can you guess who they are?"

"Celestia and Luna?"

"That's right," Twilight nodded, "except back then, they were known as Celeste and Alune. And contrary to what ponies believe nowadays, they weren't goddesses. At least, not fully-fledged ones."

"What do you mean?"

"The demigod alicorns all had different roles. While the Royal family were responsible for the keeping of time, of night and day, other alicorns specialised in affairs of Love, of Friendship. Only the best in their fields ascended to become fully-fledged deities. Celestia and Luna were demigods in their own right until they ascended, and become at one with their natures. Believe it or not, they didn't actually become fully mature goddesses like their parents until relatively recently.

Anyway, we don't know where Etheria came from, in fact, we know little about our own world, and our place in existence. The furthest we can trace back is Queen Fausti, and even then, our knowledge is shaky. Uncertain. Hazy. It was hard to accept that there was such an advanced world before the earliest evolutions of ordinary ponykind."

"What happened to them?" Star questioned.

Twilight's ears drooped slightly.

"They were massacred."

"What?" Starfall asked, shocked at the sadness and severity of her mother's tone.

Twilight sighed. "Life is never perfect, and when there is seemingly untouchable tranquility, tribulation is never far behind. The inter-dimensional spirirts like Fausti and Nox wander restlessly through space and time, always seeking a place to build an empire. But not all, like the kindly rulers of Elysium, have amiable intentions.

Another spirit had grown jealous of Fausti's success in settling down. They called it 'The Affamé', or-"

"The Starved," Star murmured, crossing her hooves under her chin.

"Yes. It was a singular entity spread across multiple beings. Large, irregular forms that were both intangible and formidable. They were plagues, hungry, merciless and full of chaos magic, mindless creatures who's sole purpose was to devour, destroying homes, poisoning the earth, turning forests into burnt wastelands, villages into smouldering graveyards.

And within the space of what we would call a fortnight, or what they would call a half-moon cycle, most of Etheria had crumbled crumbled to ash and bracken.

All the remaining alicorns convened in the strongest and most ancient part of the land: their capital, Elysium, and home to Fausti and the ponies of her blood. They held a meeting, a convening in the Great Hall, the only building in the entire capital which had remained unscathed.

Fausti did not smile.

They were desperate. Amidst the chaos and the confusion and the anxiety for the very bones of their civilisation, they looked to their leader, their founder, for guidance."

"What?" Star asked, eyes wide, "What did she do?"

Twilight breathed, and a strange sort of ancient power seemed to hum within her.

"She drew upon the divine magic of her people. She channelled their loyalty, their kindness, their generosity, their honesty and their joy. And to these, she added her own divine magic."

"She... she created the Elements of Harmony?"

"Hmm... well, no, not exactly. More like... she capture their essence and stored them in tangible forms- crystals- that could be used by anyone worthy enough."

"Woah..." Star murmured. "So, did she kick their ass- uh, I mean, defeat them?"

"Yes... and no. The Affamé were composed of pure ungodly magic, magic that scorched the Earth and blackened the trees. The kind that shriveled flowers and scratched at your skin, made you restless, and would eventually drive you insane. Such an evil thing could not survive so close to such bearers of grace, such as, for example, Elemental Crystals. The power of good, as grossly overexaggerated, will always find a way to succeed.

But Fausti knew that no victory comes freely. She knew that if she channelled her magic through the Elements, and used her essence to destroy the creed, there was a likely chance that she would perish in the process. Inter-dimensional spirits are powerful things, especially those of malicious nature, and Fausti knew that the odds of her making it out alive were slim."

"She sacrificed herself?" Star asked, sadly. The bravery of some characters... to give your own life, to walk willingly into the hands of death for the sake of others? The strength of those ponies was unimaginable.

"I'm afraid to say that you're right," Twilight replied, and there was something in her mother's voice that made Star switch her gaze to the alicorn's. "But there was one small problem."

"Fausti breathed life into the land. She gave life to her subjects. And although she is not the creator of all, her life is tied to the very essence of the land itself. If she, the uncontested creator and ruler were to fall, Etheria itself would die with her, regardless of the Affamé.

So she did what she had been waiting to do for a long time. She and Nox renounced their crowns, there and then, and the gilded circlets of twisted vines split apart to reveal something gold and shimmering underneath, like the dawning of a new day. A new time.

Celestia and Luna were crowned then. Celeste and Alune, the daughter of the Heavens and the child of the Stars. The new rulers of Etheria, their of the land tied to their spirits. I believe they knew not of what their mother intended to do, what she was prepared to sacrifice to save them, to save them all. Their goodnights and kisses the evening of that Convening were bidden without the knowledge it was indeed their last."

Star exhaled shakily. Her mother's eyes were glazed over, almost as if she were recalling a memory, or having a flashback. Whatever it was, Star was intruiged, so she kept quiet and didn't interrupt.

"Nox refused to let Fausti face death alone. The next day, the Queen stood in front of the Wastelands. Her King stood besides her, for even on the brink of death, their love was a bond not even the most powerful of executioners could sever.

Their daughters watched in horror as their parents used their Original magic to activate the Elements of Harmony. They watched as the spectrum of beaming light sent the Affamé up in flames, they watched as the Wastelands crumbled to ashes and violet blood drained the lands, forming purple rings around fallen creed.

They watched as their parents gave themselves, the very nature of their magic, into defeating the Affamé once and for all, the Crystals shattering into a million tiny pieces of raw power.

They watched as the once mighty King and Queen drained themselves of their own life source, all to save what they had worked so hard to protect.

And they watched, as from the bloodied ashes where the rulers had fallen, the Tree grew. A small, bloody sapling at first, but a miraculously robust oak tree within weeks, tall and spiralling and woven with the groves of something that was really, much older. And they called it the Tree of Harmony, and swore to maintain the peace that their parents had given their sight and bodies and breath to.

And so Equestria was created, the new land, tied to Celestia and Luna and all their disciples. Their students and citizens. All who had the divine magic were tied to the land, and all who lived their protected it.

But that wasn't enough for the sisters. They vowed that the land should never be found by the same type of Inter-dimensional spirit that vanquished nearly all of their once-beautiful home.

They cast an enchantment, a Concealing Spell, once so powerful that even through the long, long time that has been the history of Equestria as we know it, not one single pony has ever found a trace of this land. They call it the Isle of the Blessed now, for it is so distant and unreachable they image it isolated from the rest of the world. The Gods live in peace. And we do not disturb them."

Star frowned. Something didn't add up. "But if nobody else knew about it, apart from Celestia and Luna, how do you know about it?"

Twilight hesitated. "I... I'm not quite sure. I feel like- sometimes I have visions, prenominal dreams... like a hidden part of me somehow knows everything. I... can't really explain it."

And truthfully... she had nothing more to say. Twilight didn't really know how she knew all of this. Maybe it was a ruler-of-Equestria thing, maybe Celestia was trying to communicate with her from wherever she was now.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was a lost memory. One she had certainly never experienced, but a kind of inherited memory, an instinct, as the newly hatched day-old arctic goose chick instinctively throws itself off an 400 foot cliff to reach the ground, or how a pigeon always knows which way is homebound.

It was an instinct so strong she couldn't just ignore it. She had indulged in the dream, learning about the past.

She had almost forgotten about Starfall listening wide-eyed at her feet.

"Do you know where they are, mom?" Her daughter asked, curling up closer under her mother's wing. Twilight smiled, and cradled the small, warm body closer.

"You what I truly think?" She whispered conspiratorially.

"What?" Star giggled back.

"Look up at the sky, Star," Twilight hushed her, "look and listen. Breathe in the air around you."

Starfall tilted her head to look at the glorious expanse of the sky above, dark and shocking and glimmering, like a rich pony's dress dripping with jewels. She listened to the crickets chirping and the owls hooting and the wood pigeons cooing softly in the Palace grounds. She breathed in the cool air of night, the fresh scents and the damp, earthliness that day had yet to bring.

"They are everywhere, Star," Twilight sighed quietly, almost inaudibly, "perhaps they are not a physical city or a town. Perhaps the Concealment Spell was so powerful that it whisked them away into the very bones of nature itself. Perhaps their love is in the union of couples, the celebration of love that comes in any shape or form. Perhaps their joy runs in the coherence of family life, or the sense of belonging to a household, a family, a community. Perhaps their magic runs through my veins, runs through your veins, runs through the earth itself."

"Wow..." Star mumbled, "way to blow my tiny mind..."

"My darling," Twilight smiled, "you have one of the strongest minds I have yet to witness. I doubt even I could blow it away."

And it was true. Twilight had been secretly delighted to watch her daughter take after her academically.

"Thanks mom," Star yawned.

"Time for bed I think," Twilight grinned, picking her daughter up softly.

"Nooo..." Star moaned softly, "don't make me go back next to Cori..."

Twilight chuckled.

"Tell me one more thing, mom," Star asked, blue eyes like large, dark mirrors reflecting the cosmos above. "One more theory. Please?"

"Alright," Twilight sighed, "one more thing."

They sat there in silence for a bit, watching the odd shooting star fall across the sky like a brilliant, blinding red-hot scar.

Twilight spoke eventually. "You know what I've always thought about the stars?"

"Yeah?"

"It sounds rather far-fetched and super cliché... but I've always thought that the stars were the alicorns of old, in a way. Looking down on all of us from above, living the life some of them never got to live."

"Like... angels?"

"I suppose. And I know the science of stars, I know how they burn, how they work. But sometimes I can't help but wonder that if there is, nestled between all the fiery forms, the spirit of an fallen alicorn that burns just as brightly as the rest."

"Hmmm."

"That's why we named you Starfall, you know. You were our little angel that had fallen to Earth."

Her daughter said nothing, just smiled discreetly to herself as snuggled closer. Twilight could feel her filly nodding off slowly to sleep in her arms, as Star's muscles relaxed and the tension of consciousness slowly melted from her posture.

And Twilight enjoyed the quiet moment with her daughter, the feel of the little body in her arms, brimming with personality and vibrancy and life, life that Twilight had created herself.

Out of all the spells and discoveries and inventions Twilight had made over the years, her children were by far her most cherished creations.

"Mommy?" Star asked, her voice heavy with sleep.

"Yes my dear?" Twilight replied, stroking the filly's silky mane gently.

"Will you join the stars one day?" Star asked, the question innocent and idle.

And then something changed. The world seemed to shift, jolting under her hooves.

Twilight blinked. And although the question was unintentional and sweet, it shook her to her very core.

What would happen to her?

How long did alicorns even live? She knew Celestia and Luna were at least a couple of millenia old... Gods above.

This hadn't ever crossed her mind before. Her hooves shook slightly.

She didn't even know how long her own children were going to live. Flash- Flash wouldn't-

"Mommy?" Star asked, frowning, "are you okay?"

Twilight looked her daughter, her beautiful, precious daughter, and for once in her life, had no answer.

"I don't know..." Twilight murmured, her heart pounding and head surprisingly numb. She felt dizzy, and was swaying slightly on her hooves.

"I... I don't know-" she repeated, and the suddenly everything was fading to black.

The scene of the courtyard flaked away in front of her, changing from one image to the next- a time-lapse that spanned decades, huge towering structures rising in the distance, roads and streetlamps meandering their way into the distance building like snakes across sand.

Above her, the sky flickered epileptically from day to night, before turning dark altogether. And in her hands, Starfall grew lighter and lighter, flaking away in her very grip, turning to nothing, dust and ash. Twilight tried to hold on, but she couldn't, her daughter was being snatched from her by some unknown force and she couldn't stop it-

"Don't leave me, mommy!" Star cried, reaching out with the last fading ghost of her arms. "Don't leave me, don't let me go without you!"

"I won't, baby, I won't-" Twilight replied, something hot and wet running down her cheeks. Star's eyes shone like watery sapphires in the strange, diaphanous light.

"Promise I can stay with you forever, mommy? Promise?" Star wailed, as her arms shattered into dust and her eyes glowed, like the burning embers of a blue fire being briefly stoked by the wind that blew away the ash surrounding it.

"I- I promise, Star- I promise-" Twilight screamed back, as her daughter melted from her grasp.

And then her daughter was gone, and Twilight didn't know how to get her back.

---

The flames crackled and popped with a sort of dancing amusement, jumping and spitting its golden embers all over the stoker as their flaxen light permeated the State Room, dark in the early hours of the morning.

Spike was enjoying his favourite ruby gems, and finishing official Amassador of Friendship paperwork by the fireplace when he heard Twilight's scream.

He abandoned his pen and rushed out the room and up the gilded flights of stairs, red carpets gleaming a deep purple in the moonlight.

Bursting into the Royal Chambers, Spike halted as he saw the disrupted bedsheets, eyes scanned the room frantically- because although he knew Twi was more than capable of protecting herself, old habits died hard.

His heart flooded with relief as he spotted her at the balcony, chin tipped up towards the night sky.

Joining her, he was silent as she turned to him. Her purple eyes were large and shimmering, cheeks stained with tears, and her mane had lost some of its wave.

"Bad dream?" He muttered sympathetically. He knew she was plagued with nightmares ever since she had lost Lady Hestia- or Tia, as they liked to call her. A fond nickname for both Twilight's beloved mentor, and her youngest daughter.

Twilight still remained soundless, her mane picking up as the wind whirled around them.

Finally she spoke. "It was only a dream," she murmured, and even though her voice was barely audible, Spike could hear the sheer potency of the agony roaring behind it. "It was only a dream..."

Above her, the stars seemed to weep at her broken promise.

Comments

[Rawislon03]

Makes you wonder if Prince Blueblood’s relation to Celestia was similar to Twilights relationship with her own descendants. I wonder what would she see and who would she meet if she were to actually seek out her descendants.

[Dawn Leaper]

10980435
Hmm. That's an interesting idea. I suppose by now she has to many to keep track of. Ponies with royal blood but not necessarily the magic.

[Crystalline Waters]

This was so incredibly beautiful. Not just the story but the way it was written gave me goosebumps.
You're incredible, and so is this story!
:)

[Dawn Leaper]

10992099
Thank you