The Deity Star

by Laarsgaard

Prophet

Three months later…

Celestia sat in her room looking down on the cobbled street. It was crowded with happy Alicorns. They were happy because they finally had a permanent home. It took her father Ferrus another three months to shift the mountain into the perfect state. Every day he had awakened earlier and earlier, sometimes he wouldn’t even come home. Ever since the incident he had spoken very few words to his eldest daughter. He didn’t need any excuse. It was obvious what she was to him now, nothing.

The collapse had claimed two of the lives of Ferrus’ fellow casters, crushing them to pulp. Ferrus had been the one to pull out their mangled corpses from the rubble. He never showed his emotions but on the inside he was infuriated and filled with sorrow at the loss. The funerals had been the saddest affair Celestia had ever attended. She had tried to apologize to her father then and a few other occasions but he shunned her, she did not exist anymore.

Last month however, was the hardest to deal with. Ventia had finally given birth to her second daughter, Luna. Luna came out midnight blue with a spectral mane of the same color. When Ventia had brought her home Luna didn’t cry or scream, such a peaceful child.

Ferrus had done nothing but show his affection from the minute she was born. He swooned over his new daughter, in his mind, his only daughter. She loved him back. The first word out of her mouth had been ‘Dada’. Celestia would watch the two of them together and the pain was almost too much to take. She would run off to her room in their new house and cry. Ventia would always be up to comfort her daughter, but no matter what she did she could never make Ferrus love Celestia again.

And now Celestia sat in her room and read her books. She had no friends, she rarely left the house and she avoided her family like the plague. All she did was study magic. It was the one thing she felt could bring her father back to her.

She was reading a rather large book written by a rather young and radical sorcerer by the name of Starswirl. His ideas were rather different when it came to magic. It was as if he had taken the whole concept of spells and turned them on their ear and then ran with it until something exploded or turned into gelatin. Celestia was enjoying it as it was rather exceptional in her opinion.

She turned the page but didn’t begin reading. Her attention was again drawn out the window. Living in the newly dubbed Canterlot was a different experience in and of itself. For one, they were in the midst of still building it, the ground was solid and unmoving for once but it was still unfinished. Celestia never knew if she would get to see a finished world or just live out her pitiful existence stuck in this room avoiding her unloving father.

The most confusing thing to her was the fact that they were building a massive palace. Celestia had no idea why or who they were building this palace for. To her it made no sense. The Alicorns had one ruler, Queen Galaxia, and she had been missing for almost all of Celestia’s short life.

The little Alicorn decided she couldn’t read anymore and that she wanted to go out. She didn’t often go out, but it felt like something was in the air, something was calling to her. She left her room and quietly made her way to the front door. Celestia slipped out into streets and turned to the still unfinished palace. She could just see the beginning of spires as she moved closer.

The streets were crowded with other Alicorns as they migrated to the front of the palace. Celestia could not put her hoof on it, but something strange was happening. After another few minutes of travel the streets began to get crowded as more and more ponies added to the press. Celestia was still small enough to worm her way through the mass of moving ponies. Her pace had slowed but eventually she started to hear shouting. Not mass shouting, but the shouting of one voice, deep and eloquent. Celestia couldn’t quite make out the words the pony was saying, but he was yelling with conviction. Celestia pushed her way forward more and eventually she came to the front of the crowd which surrounded one pacing stallion.

The stallion was oddly colored. His coat flowed over itself in dark and impressive colors, ever shifting with each step from midnight blue to deep purple, to crimson. His mane swirled about him as if he was underwater. It flowed and shifted just as his coat did only it contrasted whatever color his pelt was. His cutie mark was a single bright star that shined with actual light. Celestia wondered if she could feel heat off of it. But what caught her attention was not his mane or his coat, but his eyes. His eyes shifted color as well, every octave change, every blink and every step his eyes shifted into another hue. From blue to yellow to black to white to red, every second always changing and yet they always held the same insane conviction. Celestia was now close enough to hear what he was convicted about.

“The star is coming.” He shouted into the crowd. “It is coming, the star of stars. It will be here to choose the next one.”

“The next what?” some pony from the crowd shouted out. The crazed stallion wheeled and flared his wings.

“The next of your rulers, the next of your deities, foolish stallion!” he chastised. Celestia could feel the air as it charged with tension.

“Go to your homes,” commanded the stallion. “Collect your children and prepare them!” he continued. “Teach them all you can, for when the star arrives you must present them to the star,” he began to shoo away the crowd with his hoof. He grew impatient with the unmoving audience. “Do not hesitate!” he screamed. He charged into the crowd. The stallions and mares turned and fled from the mad pony, but their minds were heavy with his message.

Celestia had not moved. She was in awe of the great and colorful stallion. She just wanted to watch him for a bit. He was quite majestic and obviously there was no pony like him in the whole world. His eyes locked onto Celestia and the prophet froze. His mane stopped moving and his color drained from him until he was grey.

“Come to me child.” He whispered. Now it was Celestia’s turn to freeze, but not knowing what to do now that the crowd was gone she approached the strange stallion. She came to stand within inches of him, his gaze having hypnotized her.

He bent down his neck and sniffed at her. Celestia didn’t flinch away from this strange practice but it did set her on edge.

“I pity you child.” Said the stallion. Celestia continued to stare at him.

“Why?” she asked, sounding incredibly childish. Stallion never broke eye contact.

“I name thee doom bringer.” He uttered, almost too quite to be heard. The stallion raised his head and the color returned to his body. His horn glowed brightly and with a loud bang he was gone. Celestia blinked. She couldn’t quite understand what she had just seen or heard, but she could feel something deep down inside her very being that something bad was coming and somehow, it involved her.