MLP: Starswirl of Solaris

by Evident Disaster

Chapter 8

CH8: Breaking bonds, building lies…

XXXXX

Starswirl felt the cold wind of the night from her balcony, it was almost time, her parent's train was arriving within the next few minutes and they'd be at the library in 5 if they took a straight path, she couldn't believe this, her clay clone had taken over her personality taken everything from her, she'd be just Starswirl the daughter of a corrupted princess who turned her back on Equestria for Nightmare Moon and damned the world to eternal darkness.

She didn't know if she was to feel just crushing defeat or anger, she had lost her former life, if not that then the trust of her friends and family, if this Twilight was going to do anything it would worsen the state of the world. Celestia help her, she couldn't imagine a worse fate than this.

But she did know something, the clone seemed to have some sort of issue with what it was doing, it was cloned from her, made by Nightmare, but altered by Celestia, it was a mix of good and bad things, but it seemed that this might be a cause for conflict within it. Maybe there was something else with the Twilight clone, but she wouldn't know, Nightmare made it.

And of course then there was the plan that Celestia had given to Twilight, so then there might be a solution, she wasn't sure, she had to make a move, anything to stop this clone from doing things that would hurt her friends or her family. But that might have to come with careful planning, the Twilight clone was a very capable mare from what Star could tell so that meant anything rash might be disastrous.

At the moment Star decided to meet with her family, and hopefully find out about Shining, she hoped that he might come to visit her, if not for knowing the new member of the family, at least sating his curiosity. But there was also the fact that Shining was going to meet Twilight and if that happened, the clone might try and eliminate him from existence.

Starswirl waited and looked above, her face feeling the cool wind, the night sky looked so cold and yet beautiful, maybe this was what Nightmare wanted, but this would come with a cost. She didn't understand, she might see potential in Starswirl, but she didn't understand what that potential could be.

Her friends indoors called to her.
"Hey Starswirl, we've finished with the decorations you wanna come down?" AJ asked.

"I'll be there in a moment." Star replied.

As she took her time outside she could feel something different was coming, something big, and it was going to cause all sorts of things, but what could make her feel this sort of dread? Was it fear of Nightmare or something else? Heading into the warmth of her home she found that the group had set up a large oak table where the open space was, the horsehead model sculpture was placed on the other side of the room.

Spike returned not long ago and was busy in the kitchen getting the food prepared, and Pinkie was busy placing muffins and cupcakes on a tray and balancing it on her head. AJ set the chairs, and Rarity went about talking to Fluttershy excitedly about her plans for tomorrow night, their spa plan, and also idle gossip of the events going around town.

Starswirl felt that she should tell them about Twilight and her, but it didn't seem right, the contract was still in place, Nightmare would hunt her and the others if she broke it, or she'd use her own clone to kill her. The thoughts of such things happening to those around her terrified her, she didn't know if any time would be a good time to reveal her secret.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and let Twilight in, she held a soft grin that didn't seem to fade off her face, she simply yawned and then took her seat AJ set into place, Star eyed the clone of her and felt the burn of resentment inside her, this being was trying to stay neutral out of the conflict. She was playing both sides from what she could tell, doing as Nightmare intended and Celestia, it made her wonder if this went all to the gutter, would that mare still be here?

There was a couple of knocks on the door and Starswirl went over to the door to answer it, she used her magic and prepared herself for the meeting with her grandparents.
"Hello!" She greeted.

The response she got wasn't exactly the one she expected.
"Good evening Princess Starswirl, we've apprehended the thief, he's been detained for extended period in Ponyville prison. We haven't found the items you reported missing though." The night guard stated.

Star realised her mistake and smiled sheepishly and then replied.
"Oh, well thank you I guess I'll have to ask mum for another ticket, or ask her for help on that matter."

"Very well good night your highness, also we have brought your grandparents from the station." The stallion backed away to allow her to see her grandparents.

The azure coat of her grandfather blended well to the night and her grandmother whose coat was a silvery white, they both smiled at her and greeted her.
"Hello Starswirl, it's good to finally meet you." Twilight Velvet said somewhat with an awkward undertone.

"Grandma, I mean this is a certain surprise. I mean it considering your… sudden appearance with the guards and all." Star began to mutter on anxiously.

"Looks like you inherited a rather apparent trait from me." Twilight Sparkle stated aptly as she appeared with a smile on her face.

"Twilight!" Star's grandparents said in surprise.

"Hey mum, hey dad, I guess it's been a while." She said with a sombre grin.

Starswirl's mind flared with a bit of grievance, her life had been cheated out of by this cruel harlot taking her previous life for her own gain, and not to mention was stealing her parents from right under her. It made her heart ache, but she dared not to act upon it, she knew the pact she had no choice but to uphold it, or much worse things would happen.

She let Twilight introduce her.
"Mum, Dad, I guess you met my daughter."

Her mother went and put a hoof up on Star's chin and said warmly.
"She's got your eyes."

"And my ears." Her father joked.

"Well we better get inside, thank you guard, please take your leave." Twilight said to the sergeant who saluted and directed his group away.

The family entered into the tree house where the others were, they greeted Twilight's parents. Twilight explained who they each were.
"Mum, Dad, I'm glad to introduce you to my friends, this here's Applejack." She motioned to the orange mare. AJ greeted them with a lift of her Stetson and smiled welcomingly.

"This is Rainbow Dash, the town's most skilled and fastest flier." She pointed to the cyan mare.

RD greeted them jovially.
"Hey there!"

"And then here's Rarity, she's the towns up and coming clothes designer, she enjoys dresses and casual sessions, she's a rather formal mare." Twilight introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you." Rarity greeted them humbly.

"And then here's Fluttershy?" Twilight pointed to where Fluttershy had been.

They found her hiding behind the table in the room, next to Starswirl, Star moved to let them see her.
"This is Fluttershy." She sheepishly introduced.

"Umm hello?" Twilight's mum said.

"Hello…" Fluttershy eked out.

Finally there was the last of Twilight's friends.
"And here is-."

"HI!" A pink blur shot by and pressed her hooves on top of Twilight's head as she greeted them.

"I'm Pinkie Pie, it's great to meet other ponies, including family, Twilights been so busy, but I've been keeping Star's company and then there are all the things we've been doing since she's arrived and then all the things still to come. Like apple buck season, the harvest moon, and of course the gala, and soon Shining Armour's return, the war, and possibly the end of Equestria!" Pinkie said in a fashion that no one seemed to understand her.

An apple flew into Pinkie's mouth before she could continue talking and Twilight pulled Pinkie to her side and smiled.
"She's Pinkie Pie." She introduced.

As her parents began to speak to Twilight's friends Twilight went over to Starswirl.
"Now I know you're probably wondering, but I needed that distraction."

"Why exactly are you doing this?" Star asked.

"Because there's more to this meeting than just you or mum and dad." Twilight replied.

"Don't you dare, do anything to my parents." Star glared at Twilight.

"Why they aren't my parents, but more importantly, you are my daughter." She said with a shrug before she levitated something from her cloak.

She hovered out 5 golden tickets.
"You and I have quite a lot in common, you may be smart, but so am I, you wish to be more friendly so am I, but more importantly you still have to act as my daughter regardless, and I must act as your mother, so here." She gave her the tickets.

"What?" Star perplexed.

"You needed these tickets didn't you? Nightmare didn't mind me adding your names to the list or to having given you some extra's besides I'm sure we can finally speak in private without so much happening, and so would Nightmare." She replied.

But before Star could inquire any further there was a burst of flame from Spike, a scroll appeared. He didn't dare read it as it had a note attached.
"Hey Twilight a message came through."

She strode over without delay, Star watched nervously. Twilight picked it up and began to read it, she smiled slightly. Spike tried to get a good look.
"Come on who's it from?"

"Someone special Spike and I need to meet with them." She addressed them all.
"I'm sorry everyone I need to take a breather for a few minutes, I'll be back shortly."

She strode up the stairs and they watched her exit, Star knew that there was something else, she just did, and as the others distracted Star's grandparents she went and followed her mother. Spike asked.
"Hey Star where are you going?"

"I need to grab something from my room, keep my parents from getting looped into anything could you?" She asked.

"Okay…" He replied uncertain as she ascended to the next floor.

XXXXX

In less than a week, he and his fellow guards had made the fort their home, this was to be the home for the Equestrian Liberation Army, ELA, it sounded catchy, but also loosely termed, he would have preferred the Royal Alliance Forces, RAF, considering that they had an army of various organisations helping, including the Equestrian Navy and Fillydelphia.

There was a rumour going about the coming war, if the Crystal Kingdom would dedicate further forces to aid in it and push the armies of Nightmare back, but it was unlikely to occur any time soon, Cadence was already pushing her command as it was, her sway over her people wasn't meant to extend so far, especially in war.

She had no idea how long the kingdom had gone without conflict, and with this rise with Nightmare it would unite them, but also separate them, there were plenty who didn't want the Crystal Kingdom to enter war with the lands of Equestria, and the reasons weren't as good. But it was also the same for going to war; they didn't have a good reason aside from possible invasion from Nightmare. But that alone was very frightening, especially with reports coming from the north that battalions of night guards were on their way to the south. There were already reports of naval fleets being prepared in the south of Manehattan; it was just a matter of time.

In the fort, the guards prepared for the mass exodus of warriors from Equestria, they'd be gathering here in the fort to prepare for the war, the fort's name was still undecided between, the Anvil or the Forge, many were going on about how symbolic a title was to the morale of an army and it was being decided by the present company.

Shining meanwhile had his hooves busy with getting the new armour working; he had almost completed basic training in his own arcane armour. The old suits were worth their weight in steel from what he could tell by the harsh movement, but they were sturdy enough to withstand a buck from a Minotaur or two.

Speaking of Minotaur's he heard that an arriving band of mercenaries were on their way from the west, a Minotaur clan was heading along to join them as well, it seemed that Nightmare's armies had stirred more trouble than previously thought. If this was the case, then there was bound to be vastly more sympathisers preparing to join the Crystal Kingdom on its struggle for freedom and peace to rid them of this menace called Nightmare Moon.

Shining, had sworn to himself he'd avenge his sister from the tyrant for taking his sister as her own plaything and also to ensure the safety of his wife, in secret the princess had married Shining as they fled to the Crystal Kingdom it wasn't to become official till next year, hopefully by then the war might have progressed and Nightmare might be contained long enough.

There was also the fact that his army needed him, the guards were gathering and with this store of weapons used by the old empire they needed to train an army as soon as possible, thankfully that wouldn't be such a problem they had experienced trainers, and warriors, but the number of these colts would soon drop once combat began.

A small reprieve was that there was some extra help from the south of the kingdom, the Applelossan ponies had rebelled in outrage against sustained taxation as well as increased demands for apples to be sent into Equestria, it was already a heavy burden on the ponies in the south as it was, which meant a very likely conflict was soon to erupt there as well. If that is so, then the ponies would be easier to recruit to their aid, the front meant that the rebels could distract Nightmare on two fronts.

Shining hoped that it worked out, he needed to practice more before he could take his suit into live combat, he needed time which he honestly believed that he had very little of. His thoughts were interrupted as a cough from behind him recognised the figure of a RAF, well the newly founded RAF, Soarin.

"Commander Shining, I got a message from Spitfire and the Cloudsdale movement, we have reports of moving weather patterns of hot fronts coming along the west, and moderately cool fronts south east, by tonight we will have a mild weather, mainly clouds and a possible chance of rain, she wants you to make your move tonight." Soarin reported.

Shining thought about what he reported.
"Is Spitfire sure about this?" He asked.

"She's absolutely certain that this is the time, we might not get another good amount of cloud cover to keep the patrols busy, not to mention we've already run short on time, any longer a delay we might have to wait weeks if not months." He advised.

Shining felt somewhat cheated about going now, he had planned to see Cadence first, but his family took priority as well. He nodded.
"Tell Spitfire to keep our backs covered I leave for Ponyville tonight." He said to the Pegasus.

Soarin saluted and then exited the room. Shining sighed to himself, the coming conflict had been rather tiresome, having to prepare for war was something he never imagined doing especially in the time of Celestia's 1000th year of reign in Equestria. He hurried down to prepare a small team to go with him, it was smart to have your own back covered from rather dangerous patrols, and he knew that the night guards had plenty of troops to spare.

However something seemed to make him concerned, there was constant reports that Nightmare had a new apprentice someone with immense magical prowess, of course that was just a rumour, but it had some standing. Reports from the castle had been clear that Nightmare had acquired a bit of help and that help wasn't easy to determine, it could be anyone with magical skill that Nightmare had gained.

He braced himself and made sure that whatever came, he had to be prepared for.

XXXXX

Shining Armour had hoped that his sister had gotten the message, and thankfully she did, she came around to the top level to meet with him in her room, she closed the door and smiled.
"Brother how've you been?" She greeted him.

Shining noticed that she didn't try hugging him; he assumed that she'd want to hug for their reunion, it was a little off, but he did understand that she went through a very traumatic experience; she did get violated by the damned abomination of ponykind. He replied.
"It's good to see you to Twily, is mom and dad okay?" He asked.

"They're fine, they were worried as well when I got taken, and so was everypony else, but I'm back now, at least for the moment, I need to get back to Nightmare as soon as I'm finished here, and also Starswirl." She muttered.

"Oh your daughter, I should say congratulations, but I don't think that would seem appropriate for this time, such a terrible thing had happened, I mean I'm glad you have a daughter, but your choice of spouses isn't something I'm happy about." He expressed with a dark look.

"I know Nightmare's had me on the ropes for a bit, I'm glad I can still visit the girls, I nearly missed your letter. Thankfully I got it when it arrived…" She stated.

Something clicked into place, he recalled from the outskirts from his spies.
"Sir, the messenger was caught; he never arrived at the chambers of Twilight Sparkle."

"Twily, I need to know, what did I used to read to you when you were little?" He asked.

Twilight was caught off guard.
"I don't understand, why are you suddenly asking me this?"

"Answer the question…" He stated darkly.

Twilight paused and then recalled.
"The Three Sheep…"

Shining then corrected her.
"The pony who cried wolf…"

There were four things happened; firstly the room door burst open and out came Starswirl.
"Brother, run!" Starswirl yelled. The second thing that happened was Twilight's eyes darkened with the irises becoming a silverly colour, and her mane burst into life like Nightmare's. Third thing, the windows exploded from magical decompression. And then the fourth thing was his armour activating.

Shining, managed to get his armour active during the free fall. Thankfully his royal guard armour was cleverly disguised as Steel Hooves magical arcane armour. He managed to get it active as a spell collided with him.
'Twilight wasn't Twilight, but something caught his attention, Starswirl's eyes, watering away he could see them turn purple.

But as time came back to him, he felt the world spin around, he hit the other side of the room hard, and he found himself flying through the wall. He made another rotation before he hit the ground, a few cracked ribs, but nothing serious from the sound of his body hitting the ground below, he coughed out and then felt his spine click back into place.

He called over the short spell communication.
"I'm on the ground. Celestia above, Twilight's a traitor." He coughed.

"Your sister turned traitor?" His second in command exclaimed.

"Get the others clear of here, the night watch will be on you soon, I'll link back at Whitetail." He stated as he began to run.

From behind him he could feel the eyes of Twilight upon him, her eyes burned with arcane anger, an anger not like his sister, but of a monster, one that he now knew was playing with him, one he'd rid of once he got the chance. But for now, it was back to the crystal kingdom where he could recuperate from this startling revelation, Cadence had to know.

As he rushed through the streets ponies exited their homes to see what the commotion was about, and also his parents who were bewildered as to what happened. He knew that he'd probably never see them again after this night, the exodus to the fort had already begun, thousands of guards were abandoning their posts tonight and by tomorrow, it was going to be a very different day.

XXXXX

Shadow Star Fortress…

"My dear sister, how you've fallen." Nightmare cooed.

"How far you've fallen, so regal and now just a common mare, I'll make you suffer like all living things, for what you've all done to me, but justice will be served when the time is right, for now you will suffer as I did." Nightmare hissed.

As Nightmare turned away she heard a reply.
"I won't fade, you can't live without me sister, and what would you be? A solitary queen? A ruler of death? No pony would welcome you; they fear and hate you, because you do what you do with spite not resolve or understanding, a representation of arrogance of your ego, toppling over all other senses. It is pitiful not for you to look at me, but for me to look at you…" Celestia replied resolutely.

She turned to see Celestia sitting upright from her sleep; she was lying on some ruined pillows looking back at Nightmare.
"Look at your sister, how far you've gone, from what you once were, the noble honourable sister I once loved, now driven by her thirst for recognition for empathy for some sense of sympathy when you have grabbed it with force and have driven it into Equestria's people without thinking. Who is the more pitiful?"

Nightmare's eyes simmered and she roared.
"Damn you!"

She sent a bolt at Celestia but it hit the prison shell she was locked inside, it bounded off the surface and ripped through the ceiling of the chamber and through the side of the castle rocking it to its foundation. Celestia didn't more, she stared at Nightmare without another look, Nightmare hissed.
"I do not stand in the shadow, I do not! Now shut up!"

Nightmare left the chambers feeling angered furious, she had been analysed by the defeated as being worse than defeated? The thought rocked her to her core. That she was nothing more than grasping at the straws of Equestria's people with fear and power, but she refused to believe she had failed, she wasn't weak!

Celestia sighed.
"Sister, why did you do this to yourself?"

XXXXX

Twilight looked at the hole in the room.
"Damn he got away…" She hissed.

"Twilight what the hay?" AJ said as she entered into the room.

"There was an attempt on my life, it seemed that a former guard dressed as my brother decided to eliminate me." She explained.

The others arrived to see the scene only Spike noticing Star on her side.
"What happened?" He asked.

"She got in the way when I tried to pursue Spike, take care of her; I need to meet with the local guard." Before AJ or the others could stop her she vanished.

"That doesn't seem like Twilight to go off and running when someone's been hurt." AJ said as she tried to check Star's pulse.

"Is she going to be okay?" Twilight's mother asked.

"She's just unconscious." Fluttershy checked.

RD asked.
"Just what in the hay's going on?"

XXXXX

AN: This is for beta readers only! (void now)

I finished so anyone seeing that can ignore it, the chapter is completed, and now things are beginning to get interesting. We're on the way to heck and beyond and also, there are a lot of things happening on my end. There's still plenty more things to come mares and stallions this fic is far from over.

And also I need beta readers! Editors or storyboard writers, this is not easy as an individual story writer because of how many things I'm currently trying to do.

Comments

[Evident Disaster]

I'm getting arthritis from writing so much... but the show must go on!

[Jirodyne]

Bah, it's only arthritis, go walk it off and then write some more!

[nightmaster0]

Will Shining figure out that wasn't Twilight. What will he think about the fact his 'niece' saved him?

[Evident Disaster]

1448370 Or will he really believe that Twilight's a traitor? Evil

[Browniel42]

Well Starswirl (Twilight) said "Brother, run!" So I assume that he'll figure it out eventually. Unless he's a total idiot of course.

[Evident Disaster]

1485057
Sorry for not replying sooner, I haven't had time to come back to MLP stuff in a while, and I've been caught up in so much other work. Also this is over a year old when I joined the community only a couple of months prior. My writing style was nowhere near what it is now, and also I kinda admit I'm sort of slow to fix up my mistakes.
For the sake of argument, well I guess I'm a bit lazy.

[Evident Disaster]

3276054
He probably got part of that, hopefully he figures out a means to helping her.