Son of the Night

by Rafarofa

Legacy

Son of The Night

Chapter 3 – Legacy

As consciousness returned to his mind, his senses returned to work. Noises could be heard in the distance, the surface where Aster was lying was soft, a strong scent of coffee filled the place and when his eyes opened, bright figures slowly began to take shape. Aster was in a room he had never seen, to his left was a desk with feathers and ink and a window above, to his right, shelves with some books and, to his front, a door. The door opened slowly and Starswirl entered carrying a tray.

"Ah, you're awake. I was starting to get worried that it would need magic to bring you back."

"Ow, my head..." Aster spoke still sleepy trying to get up.

"Do not push yourself too much now, you've been there for a long time." Starswirl said helping him sit up in the bed.

"What happened? How long was I out?"

"You lost control and Hurricane knocked you out. You've been there for four days."

"That much?"

"Yes, it was. Drink some of this, will do you well."

The caffeine with the sugar did finish awakening him.

"What is this place?"

"Come with me."

They left the bedroom and came to another room not very large. There were shelves with books and material for making potions and magic development.

"Welcome to my home."

Aster looked around observing the details of rustic decor. Starswirl should not be the kind that gets many visitors. One thing, however, caught his eye: a large closet in the center of the room that clearly did not belong to that environment.

"What is this closet..."

"Hurricane asked me to give you this. He wanted to deliver personally, but had some... urgent matters... to take care of."

"And what's in there?"

"If I tell you, it spoils the surprise."

Aster opened the closet. Inside was an armor. A smile formed on his face and he dressed quickly.

"Fitted you very well. Few ponies complete infantry training at your age."

"But I didn't have a regular training, I learned from the best. And speaking of which, where is he? I'd like to thank him."

In that momment Starswirl turned away, he began to look worried.

"What happened? Starswirl, where is he?"

"He... went to war."

Aster was in shock for a few seconds.

"W-war? What war? I'm not aware of any war! When has he? And against who?"

"This happened while you were unconscious. Actually, it comes from much earlier."

"But... Why there's happening a war?"

"Aster, have you heard of Draconequus?"

"Those people who have a body made of various animal parts?"

"Exactly"

"I've never met one, but I read about in the library once. What about them?"

"The draconequi are worshipers of chaos unlike us ponies that seek harmony. They act almost randomly and not think about the consequences of what they do. The relationship between the pony kingdom and the draconequi has always been unstable, but it's been a long time since we have been managing to keep the peace."

"Then why there is war now?"

"A month ago the king sent a diplomatic delegation to the kingdom of draconequi for further negotiations. Only one of the envoys returned, he told Discord, King of draconequi, ordered the capture of the others and declared war on the ponies in order to spread chaos throughout the world. Since then, preparations were made and yesterday... the army left. And Hurricane, being a general, went along."

The worried expression of Starswirl came back every time he spoke of his brother.

"Starswirl... I'm worried too. For the past ten years Hurricane Sword was the father I never had. But he is also the strongest warrior I know. You'll see, I'm sure in a few months he'll come back with stories of the battle to tell."

"Yeah, you're right. I needed someone to remind me of that."

"So, when do we go?"

"Huh?"

"To the war. You are a high mage, I'm a Lunar Guard soldier, shouldn't we join them?"

"You're not going to the war."

"What? Why?"

"Hurricane gave you the trainings for earth ponies and pegasi. Now, like any good unicorn, you will train to enhance your magic skills."

"But I don't know how to use magic."

"And that's why I am not going either, I'm the one who will teach you."

"Learning from you? That would be a great opportunity and an honor."

"Thank you, and when we're done, and the king has returned from the war, I'm sure he will like to meet you."

It took Aster by surprise.

"The king went too? Wasn't he supposed to send the army and stay here, you know... reigning?"

"He could not, it's part of his legacy, it's in his blood."

"Legacy?"

"Aster, do you know how Equestria was founded?"

"Well, I read a story with three races and..."

"And the books do not always tell the history as it is. Sit, Aster, this story was told to me by the king himself a few decades ago."

Starswirl also sat after picking up more coffee.

"A few thousands of years ago, after Equestria was founded by the three races it did not become a unified country. The races were seeking harmony, but things are not that easy. At that time was not yet chosen a king so the nation's territory was divided into several dukedoms, each dukedom was dominated by one clan and each clan in turn was led by a duke. Battles between clans as attempts to unification were not uncommon and yet they were ineffective as food for wendigos, the draconequi, who wandered lonely at the time, took advantage of it threatening to take the territory of the clans and end up with the ponies. With this in mind the leaders got together and organized a tournament to unify the dukedoms in a single kingdom. Although the history only tells about the participation of three races in the founding of Equestria, there was one more race, a breed known little by the others and that after the foundation was in possession of only one dukedom, right here in Canterlot, this race was the race of alicorns. The tournament champion was the alicorn called Solaris, the Duke of Canterlot. From that day he was crowned King Solaris I of Equestria and Canterlot and, by consequence the king as well as the royal family composed of alicorns, which have characteristics of the three races, was also tasked to perform the cycle of day and night raising and lowering the Sun and the Moon. His greatest achievement as king, however, was to have driven the draconequi of Equestria with the help of the armies of the various dukedoms."

Aster had barely touched the coffee, gaping by the history.

"Wow! So Equestria's first king was crowned on the battlefield? How amazing!"

"Yes, he was, and centuries later, with the death of the first king came second reign with his son Solaris II. The dukedoms were not very confident that the new king would be as good as the previous one, and this led him to be challenged for the throne several times. He beat all challengers irreducibly until the last challenge, defeating a challenger from each dukedom at the same time he had had enough of this situation. At that time he made all dukes swear allegiance to him and the kingdom, and that day was also marked as the day of the founding of the Royal Guard and the officialization of Equestria's Army gathering warriors of all clans. The peaceful reign continued since then and this brings us to our current king, Solaris III."

"But if draconequi were banished during the first reign, why didn't they attack right there, or in the second? Why wait until now?"

"Probably because of the chaotic nature of them, they took too long to join, and that Discord, who they call King, certainly is the most powerful of all. And it is because of this legacy of battles to defend the integrity of the kingdom that the king could not do any less, do you understand, Aster?"

"I do. And now that they have come together, they're probably out for revenge against the heir of him that banished them."

"But as you said yourself, have faith in our forces, we will surely win the war. But enough about that, let's finish setting the details of your training."

"Okay. Wow, study magic from Starswirl himself, this is a chance for a few. And where will it be? Behind the castle, where I always trained, or you have somewhere else in mind?"

"No, it won't, in fact it won't even be in Canterlot, we'll go travel."

"And where would it be?"

"Nowhere, everywhere, who knows? Even thought the pegasi control the weather, most of the forests remain untamed They would be a great place to learn magic because of the strong influence of nature that we receive. We'll spend a lot of time outside so go get your stuff. It is also good to get food and water since you can not know when we will have access again."

"So basically, it'll be a journey into the unknown."

"Pretty much. Learning new things in new places, cheer up. Enjoy the rest of the day, prepare and meet me at the main gate of the walls of the kingdom to depart tomorrow morning."

"Then it's settled."

The two shook hooves, Aster left the house and they began preparing for the trip.

Chapter 3 – End

Comments

[Blue Spark]

Hmmm, interesting story.
I think it's way too fast paced and that you have several errors in the story but other than that I think it's doing okay.
It would be great if you went through the chapters again and maybe added some more detail too, this seriously could be a good story.
I can't wait to read more.