The Gift of Life

by hell00001

Prologue: A Story for a Young Filly

The Gift of Life Prologue

Here is the song Celestia sings in this prologue. A beautiful piece of work done by PonyPhonic. I recommend everyone listen to. I was nearly in tears :'(

~~~

Beautiful music filled the halls of Canterlot Castle, waking a young unicorn filly from the safety and comfort of her bed. She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling, before rolling over in her bed to look over at her door. Behind that door was where the source of music came from. Its sorrowful notes gripped the young filly’s heart with an unparalleled sadness that she had never felt before. She took a deep breath, and pulled the covers away from her body so she could clamber down onto the smooth marble tile that covered her floor.

She started to gather a stack of books underneath the doorknob. Being that the filly still only came up to a full grown pony’s knees, she had many troubles reaching her own doorknob, and usually had a maid with her at all times to help her get around the castle.

"I wish I could use my magic," the unicorn filly grumbled, stacking more books to make a staircase to the doorknob. "But no, I can only use it at my daily practices."

When the stack of books was high enough, she climbed to the top and turned the doorknob. The filly hopped off of the stack before the door could smash into the stack of books she made, and send her falling to the floor. She clumsily rolled to a stop and picked herself up, listening to some more of the beautiful music. She set off down the hall.

The little unicorn followed the source of music through corridor after corridor. As she was rounding a corner, the familiar shadow of her foalsitter appeared, and she quickly took shelter behind one of the many expensive vases that decorated the castle halls. The unicorn filly watched as the young alicorn made her way by the vase, and when the coast was clear, she hopped back into clear few and continued on her way.

Finally the filly came to a pair of massive double doors. One of the doors was slightly cracked open. The filly pushed the door open slightly and entered the massive and lavish room only to find the bed that was normally occupied at this time of night to be empty. She then heard some more of the song that was echoing through the castle. The filly turned towards the source and saw a large and regal pony staring up at the moon that was drenching her in its gloomy light.

♫ “May all your dreams be sweet tonight
Safe upon your bed of moonlight
And know not of pain, sadness, or care
When I dream, I’ll fly away and meet you there
Sleep…” ♫

Tears flowed freely down Princess Celestia’s face as she stared up at the outline of a pony that had stared down over Equestria for a thousand years. No, it was not a pony. It was her…

Princess Celestia jumped when she felt a soft nudge brush up against one of her pale and slender legs. Her nerves were calmed instantly when she saw it was her little unicorn student, Twilight Sparkle. She gave a sigh and stared back at the moon. This was no way that her student should see her mentor.

“Princess Celestia, why are you crying?” asked the filly in her little voice.

Celestia looked back down at the little filly and forced a sad smile. Twilight looked back up at Celestia with big and innocent eyes that were filled with genuine compassion. Celestia gave another small sigh and lay down next to the unicorn filly, extending her wing so she could place it around the filly when she shivered as a gentle breeze picked up.

“You know, you should be in bed young filly,” Celestia said.

“I know Princess. It’s just that I woke up to some beautiful music and wanted to investigate,” the filly said.

“Oh, I’m sorry Twilight. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“But Princess, your music is so beautiful. Why haven’t I heard you sing that before?”

“It’s…” The Princess hesitated. Should she tell this young filly about the story of her childhood? Perhaps she should know. It is only a matter of time before she finds out anyway. The thousandth Summer Sun Celebration is drawing near and her sister will be released…

The princess’s thoughts were stopped short when there was a sudden thud as one of her doors to her bed chambers was pushed open and the sound of galloping hooves came to a stop behind her. Celestia turned to see that it was Princess Cadence who had rushed into her chambers.

“Auntie! Twilight has gone missing! She is not in her bed and I… Oh.” Cadence had stopped short when Celestia had lifted her wing to reveal Twilight staring back at her. Cadence looked between the Twilight and Celestia a few times before opening her mouth.

“Shouldn’t Twilight be in bed, Auntie?” Cadence asked.

“That is my fault, Cadence," Celestia said, rolling her eyes, "I accidentally woke Twilight with one of my songs, so she came here to investigate. I was about to tell her the story behind the song. Would you like to join us?”

“Uh… Sure. Of course, Auntie.”

Cadence trotted over to the other side of Celestia and lay down as well, allowing the princess to extend both of her wings and shelter the two ponies from the cold air. She then looked back up at the moon as another tear managed to slip down her face.

“Cadance, have you ever heard me sing the song about the two sisters; about the one sister who fell from grace while the other did nothing to stop her?” Celestia asked.

Cadance nodded and looked at her aunt with a quizzical expression. Celestia took a glance at first Twilight, who was still looking up at her, and then over to Cadence.

“Well, I thought up that song in dedication to my sister that I lost a thousand years ago.”

“Wait, you had a sister?” Cadence asked with disbelief in her voice.

“Yes, I am the sister in the song who is depicted as not saving the other from her fall. Her name was Luna. She used to have power and control over the moon and together we ruled over Equestria. That is, until the day that I lost her.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, Princess, how did you lose your sister?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Celestia looked across the city of Canterlot, now breathing in the silent night. She felt a brief sense of serenity, before she felt a nudge against her neck. It was Candece. Celestia realized she had started crying again, and she cleared her throat.

“Back about one thousand years ago there used to be a city called Everfree, and it was the capital of Equestria…”

Comments

[hell00001]

Hey everyone, I was hoping you guys could leave some feedback. That thumbs down is making me curious what I did wrong... Thank you!

[CubicGaming]

This is pretty good. When do you think you'll be updating it? Also: 1337741
I dunno, wasn't me (the third like was, though ).

[hell00001]

1339698 Thank you! I'm halfway done with chapter 1, don't you worry. I should have it up either tonight or tomorrow. My goal is to have chapters out every 4-7 days depending on the size!

[CubicGaming]

1339765
Okay, good. Because there are some stories on my favorites list that either update very slowly or seem to have been forgotten (actually this seems to be quite common, probably just the writers running out of ideas). Hopefuly the same won't happen to this.

[hell00001]

1339836 I can't make you a guarantee or a promise but I can assure you that I will try my best to keep this story moving along so my readers will constantly have updates to read and won't forget what happened in the previous chapter. I have so many ideas for this story and I just want to get them all written out as fast as I can so I don't forget them.

[The Princess Rarity]

Awwwwww! I love the song so much!

[hell00001]

1615617 So do I! I always get emotional when I listen to the song. It is a major source of inspiration for me to write this story!

[Shadow Veil]

Curse my curiosity! I just had to go and click on the song that makes me get overly emotional! It goes over perfectly, but I always get so sad when I listen to it. None-the-less, I commend you for a job well done (I need to go cry in a corner).