Dominant Species

by DarkPhoenix

The Light

Chapter 1: The Light

It was Luna who spotted it first. She was flying through the skies late one night, keeping a close eye on the land, feeling for the ripples in the back of her mind that signified a nightmare. It was rare for her to interfere in her subjects’ dreams.. Even rarer still that she manipulated the skeins of dreams to allow two or more ponies to share a dream. She had recently taken an interest in a young filly named Scootaloo,and had briefly allowed both her and her idol, Rainbow Dash, to share dreams.

Yet such times were rare; she preferred to allow her subjects their autonomy. After all, dreams, even nightmares, were a natural part of a pony’s life. Nightmares allowed one to face one’s fears in the safety of one’s mind.

As she flew, she noticed something different in the night sky. Contrary to popular belief, she lacked the ability to create true stars in the night sky. True, she could add illusions to the sky, but the creation of those heavenly bodies was far beyond her. Each star was an entity unto itself, much like the sun that her sister, Celestia, moved each day. Perhaps if she was close enough to a star she could move it, but such a trip was unnecessary when all she had to do was add the illusion of stars to the sky.

Yet that night was different. She felt a ripple run through her mind, one that she had not felt before. Her teal eyes scanned the sky, searching for something out of the ordinary. It took her a moment, but she finally spotted it; a light in the sky that had not been there before. It was faint, but distinguishable to her heightened vision.

It wasn't unheard of for new stars to appear, and some had even vanished in a brilliant flare of light. It was the nature of the universe, a constant cycle of life, death, and creation. Luna had never felt a sense of dread accompany the birth of a new star. This was something different. It had suddenly appeared in the black depths of space, far from the clusters of stars, or the nurseries of the nebulae.

Luna narrowed her eyes, staring at the tiny dot, trying to discern the mystery behind it. She knew her sky, knew what to expect from it. In all her long years of keeping watch over the night, even when she was trapped on the moon. Something like this had never happened before.

After several minutes of trying to figure out what it was, she shook her head. “Perhaps Tia saying I work too hard was not simply a jest,” she mused quietly. “Most likely this thing is but an anomaly. If it is still there tomorrow, I shall ask her advice.”

She flew off into the night, her magical senses once again alert for signs of a nightmare.

* * *

The next night, she was once again on patrol. She had pushed the new addition to her sky to the back of her mind. The stress of half-running an entire country instead took the forefront of her thoughts. Since her return from exile, so hadn’t had a day off. In fact, she had covered for Tia more than once. Smiling, she remembered one time that she had locked Tia inside her room, changing her form to resemble her and presiding over the Day Court. Her sister had been angry at first, but Luna had forced her to admit that she had enjoyed her day off.

By instinct, she cast her magic out across the sky, checking that everything was as it should be. She once again found the disturbing anomaly that had appeared the night before. She tightened her magic upon it, finding its exact location and homing in. Her eyes followed the strand of magic, seeing once more that which she thought was an illusion.

Unlike the previous night, though, this time it was brighter in the sky. Where once it had been dim, barely able to be seen next to the brighter stars around it, now it stood out on its own.

Her eyes narrowed while her brain tried to make sense of this. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Stars did not just move closer to Equus. A star only grew brighter when it was nearing the end of it’s lifecycle. Even then, the process took thousands of years. It was impossible for it to happen overnight.

“Perhaps I should let Tia know about this...” She watched the light for an hour, staring at it through slitted eyelids. Yet she could not tell whether it was getting brighter or not. “If it’s brighter tomorrow, I shall inform her.”

A tingle broke her attention from the anomaly. “Hmm, it would seem that the one called Lyra is having another nightmare. I should investigate but...” She sighed. “That one has very odd... dreams.” Luna hesitated, unwilling to enter the mare’s dreams. “If this involves ‘hands’ again, then she is on her own.”

She filed away the information about the new star and set off towards Ponyville, steeling herself for whatever new horrors Lyra could drag up this time. Her last dream about those creatures called “humans” had given the moon princess daymares for a week.

* * *

Just as she had every night before, Luna was once more scanning the skies. And this time, she was frightened. The light which appeared two nights ago was now growing so bright it was actually overpowering the stars around it; half of the constellation of Manticoro was blotted out.

“This... is worrisome,” she muttered. “Tia needs to know about this.”

With powerful beats of her wings, she sped towards Canterlot Castle, leaving a starry trail in her wake. She alighted atop the highest balcony of the second tallest tower. Her hoofsteps unsure, she strode over to the closed door. Luna peered in past the open curtains to the room within.

She knocked on the glass, a light tapping ringing out across the balcony. With her enhanced night vision, she could see a figure stirring amongst the blankets on the bed. When nopony arose, she knocked once more, louder this time.

The blankets moved again, this time a white head framed by a quad-colored mane appeared, the purple eyes blinking at the source of the disturbance. Luna waved at the pony inside, beckoning her to come over.

The pony’s horn lit up and the blankets folded themselves into a neat pile at the foot of the bed. She stood up, her mane impeccable as always. Luna was secretly jealous of her sister. No matter what, Tia always looked her best, even when she had just rolled out of bed.

Tia plodded across the room and opened the door to the balcony with another burst of magic. “Lulu, what is it?” she asked.

“Tia, I’m afraid there is something I must bring to your attention.”

“What? Can’t this wait until morning?” Celestia asked with a yawn. Despite what she portrayed in front of her subjects, Celestia had moods and emotions just like anypony else. And right now, she looked annoyed and tired.

“I’m afraid not.”

Celestia seemed to pick up on Luna’s worry, because her visible eye narrowed. “What is it?”

Luna backed up a few steps, beckoning her sister outside. Celestia followed, her shoe-less hooves making far less noise than her smaller sister.

Pointing with a silver-clad hoof, Luna asked, “Do you see that light?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes.”

“Three nights ago, it wasn’t there. Two nights ago, it was faint. Last night, it was brighter, but still not quite there. Now, as you can see, it is blocking half of the nearby constellations.”

Luna turned her gaze from the sky to her sister. Celestia was staring at her. “Lulu, I’m too tired for this..”

Luna shook her head. “This isn’t my doing. I don’t know what this is, only that it appeared and is now getting brighter.” She felt as her sister’s magic scanned across the sky. The two of them had grown up together and knew each other’s magical signatures intimately. She knew that Tia was simply seeing whether the light had her signature on it, signifying it as an illusion.

“Hmm,” Tia hummed thoughtfully.

“See? It is no creation of mine. Tell me Tia, did anything like this happen while I was... indisposed?”

Celestia shook her head, her mane rippling. “No. I admit to not having the fine control that you do over the night sky, but nothing of this sort happened.”

The sisters stood staring at the light for several moments. Finally Celestia spoke up. “Keep an eye on this sister. Should it keep growing, alert me.”

“What should I do for now? Surely if I have noticed it, and it is that bright, then there are astronomers who have seen it as well.”

“They will likely come to me during Court to ask about it. Shall I tell them that you are simply in a mood and playing a trick?” Celestia asked.

“I...” Luna hesitated and glanced away. “I don’t know Tia.”

Celestia sighed. “I will think of something. For now, I’m going back to bed. Let me know if it gets worse.” With that, she turned around and went back inside, closing the door behind her.

Luna stood on the balcony for a while longer, staring once more at the light in the sky. “I wish she would take me seriously sometimes.” She flapped her wings and took off, soaring towards the highest balcony on the tallest tower.

Alighting upon the stones, her horn lit up and opened the door. She stepped inside the room, her room, closing the door and drawing the curtains behind her. The room became nearly pitch black, just the way she liked it. Only a faint glowing from the walls and ceiling, hundreds of individual pinpricks of light, a perfect replica of the sky outside, lit the room.

She made her way over to her desk, stacked high with papers and books. A quick burst of telekinesis moved them all aside. She pulled out a single, thick journal, opening to a blank page. Grabbing a quill and ink in her magic, she wrote down just what she saw in the sky and its location.

No sooner was her task done did she move over to her favorite reclining pillow, settling herself into its soft depths. There she simply cast out her magic, doing her nightly duty of monitoring the dreamscape. True, it was easier to do so outside and flying amongst the land, but she could handle it from here too.

Handling things from her room allowed her to direct part of her thoughts towards the new addition to her sky. Perhaps it was simply a star which was too faint to see before now going supernova. If that were true, then it would burn bright for several days, a week at most, before vanishing. Tonight was the third night. If it was still there after a week, then she could truly worry.

Still, she could not shake the feeling that there was something different about this light. Every time she thought about it, a shudder ran down her spine. “Please let this be nothing,” she said.

* * *

Luna was now truly worried. Once more she was standing on her sister’s balcony. The regal figure of her sister stood next to her. They were both looking up at the sky, frowns matching the mood perfectly.

“It has been two days and still it grows brighter,” Luna said. “Manticoro is gone.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes. And it’s getting bigger as well.”

Indeed, the light was bigger and brighter. The whole of Manticoro was dwarfed by the light. Luna could sense that the stars in the constellation still existed, they just couldn’t be seen. Already the light was bigger than any other star in the sky.

Both sisters had tried scanning the light with magic, but neither could tell what it was, only that it existed. It was as if something was blocking their attempts. But they couldn’t figure out what.

“Tia, you know that ponies will be in Court tomorrow, asking about this.” Luna knew they had been lucky so far and nopony had noticed. But now, even a casual observer could see.

She nodded. “I know.”

“What are you going to tell them?”

Celestia sighed. Luna could tell that she was at a loss for what to say, a rare thing for the regal Alicorn. “I don’t know. The last thing I want to do is incite a panic, but I don’t know what to say about this.”

Celestia always had something to say, some calm reassurance about the situation. To find her at a loss for words was something that nopony currently living, except her sister, had ever experienced.

“You will think of something, sister,” Luna reassured her.

Celestia tore her gaze from the light and looked at Luna. “Will I? When neither of us can explain this to ourselves, how will I explain it to my ponies?”

Luna draped a wing over her sister. “You will, I’m sure of it. You always have before.”

Celestia leaned into her. “Thank you Lulu, but this time may be different. Something feels... off about this.”

“You feel it too, Tia?”

“Yes. There is something about this that feels like nothing I have ever experienced before.”

They both shivered. Silence reigned over them both, neither knowing what to say. It was Luna who broke it.

“You should go back to sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day, for both of us.”

“You’re right Lulu. Though I don’t know how I will be able to sleep tonight.” Celestia frowned, the expression seeming out of place on her face. Always Tia had a smile, even during the most boring of meetings. She only ever let her real emotions show around Luna.

“Try.” Luna forced a smile on her face.

Instead of responding, Celestia went back inside her room, the door closing behind her with a resounding click.

Luna returned her gaze to the sky, unable to shake the ever-growing feeling of dread. She had lived for a long time, experienced a lot of things. But she had never encountered anything like this.

Eventually, she left her sister’s balcony in favor of her own. Her nightly duty of watching over her subjects’ dreams was forgotten in favor of trying to figure out the mystery behind the light. But no matter how hard she thought about it, no matter how deep into her memories she went, nothing surfaced. No solutions, no insights, nothing.

She felt powerless, something she was not used to. She knew that Celestia was feeling the same thing. They could do nothing but wait and see what transpired. And hope that they were both wrong about what they felt.

* * *

A week passed. The light did not get any brighter, but it did grow larger, as if it was moving closer. Luna had been right, Court was full of ponies asking about the new light in the sky. First among them was Twilight Sparkle, her sister’s student.

Celestia had tried to calm them down, to offer them her assurances that nothing was wrong. She had offered the explanation that this was but an anomaly, telling the ponies about previous times when a light had appeared in the night sky only to die out within a week.

That had calmed them, for a while. Now though, with the light still there, looming over them all, they were panicking once more. Just that morning, Equestria Daily had run a front page article about the phenomenon.

For now the panic was more curiosity based, rather than fear. But Luna felt as if that wouldn’t last. Celestia could only keep them under control for so long. Soon they would find out that she knew just as much as they did, which was to say nothing. Then they would truly panic.

Only three other ponies, besides Luna and Celestia, knew the truth: Twilight, her brother Shining Armor who was Captain of the Royal Guard, and Midnight Blade, Captain of Luna’s own Lunar Guard.

Luna’s own experiences with Twilight were minimal, but based upon what she knew of the mare, she would have told her friends, the other Elements of Harmony. While she owed the Elements her life, Luna was not sure what good they would be in the current situation.

But Celestia, despite the front she portrayed for the ponies, was a master strategist. Even against a foe as unpredictable as Discord she had ensured victory. Every foe who had tried to take over Equestria had been defeated by some plan set in motion by her.

The light was larger than any star in the sky, but still smaller than the moon. Once more, Luna tried to scan it with magic, hoping for something to have changed, for the outcome to be different this time. But still she could discern nothing about it. To her frustration. it resisted all efforts to read it.

Even though it was late at night, she could feel the tension that pervaded Canterlot, indeed all of Equestria. It was as if the land waited with bated breath, watching to see what would happen next. One small spark could ignite a conflagration. As a Princess, it was her duty to keep the population calm, even if she herself wanted to join them in panic.

Fear was an emotion that, while unfamiliar, was not unknown to her. But as she stood on her balcony, she felt its cold embrace grip her heart. The closer the light got, the more the feeling of dread grew. That sense of something being wrong, of imminent change coming, she couldn’t shake it.

Try as she might, there was nothing she could do about the light, or whatever it was. All she could do was hope to contain the fallout as much as possible. She ruffled her wings, a chill gripping her despite it being a warm summer night.

* * *

Luna once more found herself in the company of her sister late at night. Only this time, they weren’t outside, nor were they alone. A meeting between the Royal Sisters and their respective Captains had been called. Sitting around a small table were Luna, Tia, the Captain of Tia’s guard, Shining Armor, and Midnight Blade, Luna’s Captain.

“Princess, why have you called us here?” Shining asked.

“I assume it has to do with that light,” Midnight said, her bat-like wings folded at her side.

Celestia nodded. “It does. You already know as much as my sister and I do on the matter.”

“Which isn’t much,” Midnight muttered.

Luna glared at her Captain. Midnight may be a good guardspony, but she lacked discipline at times.

Celestia ignored the comment. “I’m sure that this is nothing, but I think the general population could use some reassurance.” She gave both Captains a long look. “Therefore, I want both of you to organize more patrols. Run some parade drills in town. Show everypony that you are there.”

“Midnight,” Luna said. “I want you to organize nightly patrols of Canterlot. The Night Guard is still small, and you aren’t quite accepted by the general population, but now is your chance to show them that you are just as good as the Royal Guard.”

“But we aren’t just as good as the Royal Guard,” Midnight said.

Luna stared at her Captain. “What do you mean?”

“We’re better,” she said, nudging Shining so hard he nearly fell over. Shining just groaned. Midnight liked to maintain that she had a friendly rivalry with him.

“Whatever,” he said, trying not to roll his eyes.

She rubbed up against him almost flirtingly. “Just admit it,” she whispered into his ear.

He stepped away. “I’ll admit it when the Night Guard manages to beat the Royal Guard in a monthly inspection.”

She pouted. “Oh but Shiney, how can we win when against such a big, strong stallion like you?”

“Enough Midnight,” Luna commanded.

The dark coated guardspony shot one last grin at Shining Armor before turning her attention back to matters at hand.

Celestia cleared her throat. “Shining.”

“Yes ma’am?”

“Send word to the outposts in all the cities, tell them to increase their presence in whatever way they can. Drill, train, patrol, make sure the ponies see the Royal Guard out and about.”

Shining saluted. “Yes ma’am, will do.”

Celestia dismissed the two Captains. They filed out of the room, Midnight still trying to rile up Shining.

When they were gone and the door was closed, Luna regarded her sister. “Tia, what was that all about?”

“Nothing other than what it seems. You’ve heard about the ponies coming into Day Court to ask about the light. This is just to reassure them that everything is fine.”

“And there’s nothing behind this?”

Celestia finally turned to look at Luna. “I hope not,” she said cryptically.

Celestia tried to get up and leave. Luna ignited her horn, sealing the door shut and preventing her sister from leaving.

“Tia, I’m your sister. You can trust me.” She gave Celestia a pleading look. “I know you’re still trying to shelter me, but it’s time to stop. So I ask again, what are you really planning?”

Celestia sighed. “Luna, I just want to reassure the ponies that everything is under control.”

Luna stared at Celestia, not buying her explanation for a second. With a sigh of her own, she relinquished her hold on the door, allowing her sister to leave. She would have more luck trying to convince Twilight Sparkle to burn a book than she would getting a secret out of her sister.

She knew that Tia was planning something, and knowing her, it was a “worst-case scenario” plan. Whatever she was planning, Luna hoped that it would never come to fruition.

Author's Note:

Proofread by:
Sasha Nein
Nadake

Comments

[shapeshiftingpedro]

You do realize that by the time the "star" was big enough to cover most of that constellation, it would have been visible during daytime, right?

[Widow Peak]

Alright, so far so good. You have caught my interest.