Starfall [prelude]

{LALUNA}

Starfall

The moon was screaming.

There was no other way to describe it, as the stars halted in the sky, shuttering at their shepherd’s cry. The stars, no, she, she felt the reverberating howl of terror echo through her domain. She could feel the terror and the pain of the moon, reverberating through her very being.

She danced through her conciseness, breathless and terrified.

Each jump brought a new scene unto her sight, from the dead silence of the galaxy to various glimpses of equestrian ground. At last she found her destination, from which the screaming could be heard loudest of all.

The north star shuttered and drew her in, and she drew in the terror and helplessness it felt, as she descended into the scene. They stared down at an unfamiliar forrest, and watched as two creatures rushed through the dead of night.

She... the moon, she rushed through the forest, battered and sobbing, her pain thrust unto the universe at large, echoing through the stars like a desperate cry for help. The second much larger presence gave chase, overshadowing the moon and drawing ever closer.

It was terrifying to witness.

It made the stars shake and tremble, honestly frightened of what would happen if the moon was overtaken. Something deep within her heart told her that the stars knew what would happen, but dared not share with her, despite their closeness. She rebelled for a moment, staring down at the scene.

She had to help! She had to help somehow.

The north star held fast to her, whispering timid condolences and refusing to let her free. Soon other stars rushed to assist the northern star, to assist in holding back the ruler of the stars.

Not our fight

Nor our place

Nor yours

This is the business of la luna

Not of il corpo celeste

They whispered fiercely, presences from each of the stars tightly twisting against her, pulling her backwards. She twisted for a moment against her dearest friends, helplessness enveloping her, desperation and honest desire propelling her spirit forward.

I shall make this our fight! Shall you let the moon fall from the sky, and we, along with it? Will you let the moon be wrestled from the sky, and taken from us? Our precious shepherd, she must be protected! She found herself shouting down her most favored friends, as she pressed against her ethereal form, trying to wrest from it her equestrian-bound one.

Her beloved friends twisted and winced at her questions, and slowly she felt their binding grips untangle, their holds on her form release. The northern star held firm, staring down at the moon and her shadow.

she is, true, the one who ushers us into the sky

who brings night upon the world

and you are our keeper

the blanket cross the night sky

and though we fear the nightmare

if you so desperately wish it

we stars will aid in her escape

The northern star twisted even more tightly about her, and she could feel him relinquish his form unto her. wrest us from this endless night, he murmured, as his spirit began to dwindle. She felt the stars mourn for a moment, and she knew what he wished.

She closed her eyes and let gravity take hold.

The northern star fell from the sky.

Celestia's Embrace [one]

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{LALUNA}

Celestia's Embrace

Run. To run from the shadow at her heels was all she could think to do.

Through the endless stretches of Equestria, she would run forever, in a helpless attempt to outrun the shadows that wished to snuff her from existence. There was no room for her anymore, if she remained... she would ruin what the night had become. She did not wish to disappear though.

If anything, she wanted... she wanted to see her sister again.

Her hooves ached though, her wings were strained from overuse-one was even broken, and her body begged for her to stop running. She couldn't keep it up much longer, and it pained her to think that it would all end so close to her birthplace. She kept running, hopeful that the old castle might offer her peace.

Enough peace to come to terms with what would occur.

She pushed herself harder, trying to gain some ground between herself and her pursuer. Her state left it hard for her to notice much about her surroundings, such as the sight of a falling star. Pressing through the forrest, she found the forest gave way to a clearing, which displayed proudly in the distance, a small castle.

Her hooves drove her onwards, but managed to stop her cold when she noticed the startlingly bright light that was descending upon the old castle. Unto Equestria a massive twist of gas and rock thundered down into the atmosphere, like a falling sun. It drove through the sky, and started directly for the old castle.

She felt her heart thundering, her wonder overtaking her fears.

Was it the sun? Her sister come to meet her, one last time?

She dared not wander closer, as she watched the fallen object dive closer and closer. At the last moment, she covered her eyes as the blindingly bright object crashed into the castle. The echo reverberated through the forest, though it disturbed not a creature, and displaced naught but the castle.

To see the castle in a twist of brightly burning rubble was somewhat... despairing. The object that had crashed into the castle was seemingly lost... broken apart by the impact. Though, after a long moment of observation, she noticed some... creature climbing away from the rubble.

The creature wrested it's form from the crater, a blinding blur of light, unrecognizable. It was not her sister, the filly noted sadly as she watched it clamber away from the impact site, slowly noting the twist of lilac and midnight purple that slowly disrupted the shine of the mysterious creature. It was a unicorn.

A unicorn whom had fallen from the sky.

After a long moment, she felt her heart twist into hopefulness.

It had been so long since... since she had seen another pony.

She timidly stumbled forward, well beyond noticing her aching hooves and tired body.

The unicorn began to run towards her, though her face... her face was frightening. She stopped walking forward, pulling her ears down. Did the fallen pony wish her harm, as the nightmare did? She shivered, for a long moment, and hid herself under her hooves.

The lilac unicorn was on her in a moment-and for a moment, she figured it was all over.

All the running, all the hiding, and all the desperate wishing to see the sun one last time, all for naught.

She closed her eyes, and braced for whatever hit was to follow. When no such strike occurred, she opened her teal eyes, timidly blinking at her surroundings.

Behind her stood the nightmare, and the unicorn.

Intertwined, horns crossed and magic twisting against one another, neither giving the other any ground.

Run!

The unicorn called to her, and for a moment she felt the embrace of the night sky. Slowly it dawned on her what had fallen from the sky-and her eyes wandered upwards to search for the missing star. She was heartbroken, for a long moment, to find that the northern star was gone.

So... the unicorn was... the stars? Or, the northern star?

The... the stars had come to her aid?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the shift in magic around them, and she watched the lilac unicorn fall backwards in a flash of magic. The filly took a few steps backwards, as she watched the nightmare bare down upon the unicorn. The unicorn threw her a desperate look.

Go! Get out of here!

That shook her enough to get to her hooves. She felt terror instill itself in her heart, as she backed away from the two. What about- you?

Run! Run, and never seize! I shall lend to your-!

The filly tripped as she watched the nightmare howl, the shade cutting off the strange unicorn's words as they began to fight again. So, she did as she was told. The stars were her oldest friends.

She would run. She would run, and run, and never stop.

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She was no match for it. Her breaths grew shallow, her magic wavered. The stars did all they could to sustain her rampant use of magic, each one slowly blinking out of the sky. And as the nightmarish beast brought it's onslaught, she desperately fought against it, matching it blow for blow, as the stars vanished from the sky.

As she drew her last breath, she laughed with it.

As the master of the stars fell to the nightmare... the sun began to rise. She could hear the monster scream and baulk at the rising sun, as her consciousness began to fade. She accepted it.

The setting of the moon.
The fading of the stars.
The fading of twilight.

Her gaze became glassy, as she laughed with her last breath at the shadow, who was banished alongside her by the light.

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The bed and the earth felt it amusing to conspire against her that fine morning. While she twisted through her nightmare, the bed loosened it’s grip on her and the earth did the rest-knocking the air out of her lungs, more so than her dream had, a broken wheeze of terror and pain escaping her. “Celestia-” She groaned loudly as she kicked away her blankets, gasping for air.

“I hope you have good reason for shouting out her highnesses’ name, Twilly.”

Twilight Sparkle simply squeaked, hooves desperately scrambling to find a pillow. Managing to find one of the well-stuffed squares, she launched it at her brother, still struggling to breath properly. “... a.. ah... I...” The well punctuated sound of a pillow smacking a shield gave her a moment to breath.

She turned on her side to glower at the white stallion standing in her doorway. He had apparently been crossing between the halls at the perfect moment, to comment so suddenly on her shouting. He was smirking slightly, the pink tint of a dissipating shield still slightly lighting his face. Twilight shook a hoof at him, and sharply noted, “Yes.”

Getting back to a more normal tone, she sighed, “That was... not the worst nightmare I’ve ever had, but the floor punched me...” Her brother tossed her pillow back onto her bed, shaking out his mane for a moment. She knew it was to distract her, as his smirk had slowly dissipated into a worried little smile.

She already knew where this was headed. Shining Armor poked her in the flank and sat down next to her. “Worse than magic kindergarden?” He half whispered in a conspiring tone.

Well, she hadn’t expected that. Twilight snorted, a soft smile tugging at her features. “... well... I suppose it wasn't as bad as that one. ... I guess... it was a nice blend of terrifying and interesting." Shining probably expected her to go into an in depth explanation of her dream. Twilight sat there for a long moment, simply trying to process how to explain any of it.

I was the stars. No.. I had... domain... over the stars? I was the stars, but they were also themselves, and I was their lady? I guess I was an alicorn of the stars, but I was still a unicorn? Oh... bother. Her thoughts twisted and rebelled against her, the morning having it's usual effect on her. "... it was like... ugh. Can we have breakfast, or coffee, or something, before I try to explain it?"

Shining Armor ruffled her already wild-bedmane, laughing lightly. "Sure! Mom's been down there slaving away-"

Twilight quirked her eyebrows, then paused. Mom was slaving away at a stove? She only did that when... when...

Panic slowly overtook any thoughts she was having about her dream, "... oh. Ohhhhhh, Celestia's Mane! We go back to the academy today, don't we?!" She bounced away from the floor and the twist of covers she'd been trapped in, rushing past Shining.

"I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED PACKING-"

Shining chuckled as his sister began to rifle through her room, tossing books around and generally freaking out. He stood and pushed Twilight's curtains away from her windows, letting the sun's warm embrace flood the room. "I'll go grab your suitcase, then, Twilight." He laughed, stretching slightly.

He trotted out of the room, rolling his eyes slightly and smiling as his sister began to shout something about being late. There was the matter of finding a suitcase big enough for all the research and books Twilight would doubtlessly want to drag back to the academy... and that would take most of the morning before breakfast.

Best to get what needed to be done out of the way early after all.