Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Jan 28, 2016 20:02:10 GMT -5
I hope I finish this so that I post all of it. I'm nowhere near done at the moment but I hope to post new chapters every week, most likely on Friday. Tomorrow won't count since I'm posting the first chapter today. Alright, guys, hope you enjoy my fanfiction of Celestia's past!
Chapter 1
The beginning
It was a clear, bright morning, and alicorns were flying or running around in a game of chase, or practicing magic in preparation for the coming Solar exams.
Celestia plodded along the path of solid lunar-like stone, which appeared blank and grey in the daytime, but glowed brightly with a white light during the night. There was a field of grass on the left of the path as well as the right, and on both sides of her were a group friends studying or playing around, or just talking and enjoying one another’s company.
She didn’t really have friends here - she realized that she didn’t quite fit into any group, but she was fine with it; All she needed was her one good friend, Starswirl.
His formal name was Sir Starswirl, because his father was a soldier of the royal guard - and usually it was customary for an alicorn to refer to a guard formally - but Celestia felt she had a special connection with Starswirl that allowed her to call him anything she liked.
At the end of the path she reached the entrance to the Central Castle, where every alicorn lived. The pillars and the entire structure didn’t seem to ever end; It seemed to reach far above the clouds, so that she couldn’t even dream to gaze at the very top.
She smiled as she stared at the magnificent castle for a few moments longer, and then started inside and made her way through the dark, marble-like, shiny corridor that welcomed her. There were tables on the far right of her for studying, with a few ferns lining the corners of the building, and dark blue pillars lined up on every side until the very end of the corridor. Chandeliers which glowed like the stars hung far above her, making it seem like she was looking up at the night sky.
This was what was known as the Lunar Corridor. Half of the building belonged to the night, and half belonged to the day. Despite this, the alicorns that lived inside had their own special thing to control.
She smiled, remembering the fact that Starswirl’s mom controlled the clouds and the weather. Her own mother and father reigned the entire building, and even the rest of the alicorns were their subjects. Her mother, Vibrant Sunrise, was ruler of the day and the sun - On the other hand, her father - Nebula - ruled the moon and everything of the night.
When Vibrant Sunrise’s light burned out, it would be Celestia’s turn to rule the day. Even though the idea of the responsibility was incredible to her, the thought of her mother not being around made her feel sick to her stomach.
I won’t think about that, she decided quickly, and shook her head to clear it. Feeling the need for a distraction from these thoughts, she decided to go look for Starswirl.
She began sprinting down the corridor, her hooves slippery on the marble floor, and burst into the next room which only led to another corridor. Sometimes she wondered what the point was for all these rooms.
She made it into the next corridor and spotted Starswirl intently practicing on a spell to create a trio of lit candles from thin air.
She quietly stepped toward him, not wanting to disturb his training. As she watched a white glow bubble from his lit horn, she began to admire how skilled he was in magic. Many alicorn professors marvelled on how advanced he was - but everypony knew that his mother, Princess Cloudwhisper, passed down to him her magic abilities - and not exactly in the way that many ponies would like.
It was frowned upon for an alicorn to marry a simple soldier, especially because of the fact that two alicorns produced children with the same abilities as they harbored in order that whatever they controlled would continue to stay in control and their unique magic would live on. Now that Princess Cloudwhisper and Sharp Sheath couldn’t have an alicorn child, the responsibility of her own magic to control the weather would have to weigh on her own shoulders, and everypony would have to hope that she lived for a long time. If anything were to… happen to her…. perhaps it would be in the hooves of the pegasi to take on the task. Celestia knew though, that this was a tall order.
Would they ever really be able to fill Cloudwhisper’s horse-shoes?
Celestia shook her head, deciding that these thoughts were too negative to be reflecting over on a day like this. She decided to focus on her friend and his spell.
Starswirl’s eyes were squeezed shut, and a his face was scrunched up in intense concentration. Suddenly, a yellow spark fizzled into thin air, and exploded into three candles lit with flame, surrounded by his magic as he levitated it.
Celestia’s breath was taken away as she widened her eyes in pure awe, and breathed, “That… was… amazing!”
Starswirl had been so intent on his spell that he hadn’t even noticed her presence and flinched in surprise, his levitation spell dissipating immediately. He let out a squeak as the candles plummeted in what seemed like slow motion and shattered immediately as they hit the floor, chunks of wax spilled out on the shiny marble with the reflection of the flame resting in the sheen.
Starswirl was frozen, his face pale and his golden eyes locked on the broken candles before him. Celestia was about to apologize when she noticed that the flame on the trio of candles was growing a bit broader, spreading from the wick to the fractured shards of white solid material that was quickly melting and staining the marble floor. In immediate instinct she created a rain spell that dropped a shower of droplets onto the candles and instantly put out the blaze, leaving a large puddle of charred wax on the floor.
As she breathed a sigh of relief, Starswirl started, and snapped his gaze to meet hers, his piercing eyes filled with a combination of indignation and ire.
“You just destroyed the evidence I’d finally had for a spell that you know i’ve been working on for weeks!”
Celestia ducked her head and unraveled her wings, lifting them slowly to rest on her ears and cover half of her face, unease and embarrassment pulsing in her chest.
“I… um… s-sorry,” she whispered.
Starswirl growled and hauled himself to his hooves, turning toward the opening to the next corridor which led to the library.
Celestia guessed he was going to practice there alone, and her heart lurched.
I want to play! She thought, and quickly folded her wings and bounded in front of him.
“Do you want to go up the staircase and play in my father’s dorm?” She suggested.
“No, i’m going to go practice my magic. By myself.” He started toward the direction of the next corridor, but Celestia cut in front of him a second time, knowing this was her last chance to change his mind, and blurted,
“I can cast a better spell than you can!”
Starswirl froze and widened his eyes with indignation, his iris shrinking with shock.
“W-What…. did you just say…?”
Celestia smiled slightly.
Got you.
“I can easily beat you in any contest of magic. I’m an alicorn. Unlike you, I don’t need to practice.”
Starswirl gaped, and his eyes glowed with rage.
“Oh,” Celestia murmured softly, “You think you could beat me?”
“I know I could beat you!” Starswirl exclaimed.
“Okay, then. Prove it.”
Starswirl immediately turned toward the puddle of wax and, igniting the magic of his horn, surrounded it in the yellow glow that his magic produced, white sparks shooting from his horn in the intensity of the spell.
The puddle of wax disappeared in a burst of white light, then reappeared after a second flash in the form of three new candles without flame.
Once he had carefully set it on a round table beside them he met her gaze and said smoothly, “Think you can do better than that?”
Celestia smiled and bounced over to the other side of the table, narrowing her eyes as she glared at the target that was the trio of candles.
She began to levitate the candles and squeezed her eyes shut. The yellow glow surrounding her horn - similar to the kind Starswirl produced - grew broader as she focused, the difficulty of the spell becoming apparent in her concentration. She opened her eyes slightly and saw that the candles were now a white silhouette. The barrier of her magic began to expand until it flashed in a sheet of white light, and both Starswirl and Celestia had to shield their eyes against the momentary glare. In the effect of the strength of her magic, gleaming rays shown off what Celestia had created out of the candles: A large bouquet of scarlet red roses.
With the object still levitated in her magic, Celestia moved it gently over to Starswirl and ceased her spell, and the bouquet of roses dropped at his hooves.
Without meeting her gaze Starswirl whispered,
“You win.”
Celestia plodded to his side and wrapped a hoof around his shoulders, and she felt him tense under her embrace.
“No,” Celestia said, “We win!”
Starswirl shrugged her off and stepped to the side, the expression of his eyes returning to the unreadable, emotionless yellow stones that they usually were.
“You tricked me,” He observed, and Celestia nodded, her eyes growing wide with her smile. Starswirl levitated a rose from the bouquet and placed it in a lock of Celestia’s hair beside her ear; Then walked away.
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
Post by ✯~Rippleshadow~✯ on Feb 3, 2016 21:23:44 GMT -5
I totally forgot about this; the other day in the chat you asked me to read it and I said I'd bookmark it and read it when I wasn't busy. And then I forgot to read it, but I looked in my bookmarks and found it!
Anyway, I don't watch MLP anymore, but I've enjoyed what you've posted of your fanfic so far. Your writing style is nice and concise, I like it. I'll be sure to read more if you continue to update.
Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Feb 8, 2016 19:19:19 GMT -5
Sorry for double-post. I forgot to post this on Friday... and Saturday, sunday.... half of today... and THEN I FINALLY REMEMBERED. So here is CHAPTER 2!!
Chapter 2
Something to Notice
Celestia was curled up in a plush, large pillow which was laid in the centre of the Resting Room, which was where she and her family would gather to relax and talk about their day, and also served as a good place to talk or spend time with a friend if you didn’t want any other ponies intervening. Vibrant Sunrise was beside her, busy braiding her soft pink hair.
“How was your day, little one?”
Her mother murmured in that soothing voice that Celestia always cherished; It had always helped her feel safe and calm and at peace, like they were in their own little bubble apart from the rest of the large, stressful world.
“It was fine,” She answered, “I got into a magic contest with Starswirl.”
She could sense her mother’s disquiet at the mention of Starswirl’s name; Celestia knew that Vibrant always worried about what other alicorns would think of her being close to a unicorn ponies weren’t quite generally fond of because of who his parents were.
Celestia knew her mother had nothing against her friend; It was only her natural motherly desire to protect Celestia from being the object of scorn.
Still, she continued to braid Celestia’s hair casually and maintain an unwavering expression of calm and nonchalance. Then she continued,
“How did that go?”
“It was fun. Starswirl said that I won, but I think we both did, because we’re friends.”
Vibrant nodded, and Celestia caught a flash of a smile.
Celestia continued,
“He put a rose in my hair and then went to the library, and then I watched the clouds and came back here.”
A spark of curiosity appeared in her mother’s eyes.
“Where’s the rose? I didn’t see it with you when you came in,” she said.
“Oh, it’s in my room,” Celestia explained. “I put it in a vase so that it would last longer.”
Vibrant nodded.
Once she finished braiding, Celestia laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes, while her mother began to stroke her hair gently. Suddenly she felt her mother’s hoof tense slightly, and the vaguest grunt escaped her.
Celestia lifted her head and sat up, looking at her mother with large, concerned purple eyes.
Vibrant put a hoof to her stomach and her eyes softened a little, then she looked back at her daughter.
“It’s nothing to be worried about, sweetie,” She assured her quickly. Then after a short pause, she said,
“But … mommy has a bit of a surprise that may make you very excited.”
Celestia’s eyes grew with curiosity, and playfully she flipped onto her back and looked at her mother upside-down, her hair splaying out onto the pillow.
“What is it?” She squealed.
“Well, Little one…” her mother began, “In a while... you’re going to have a little sister.” Celestia caught a slight wince from Vibrant, as if she expected the news to either be received very well, or very badly.
A long gasp escaped Celestia and her eyes widened even broader meanwhile. Once she could finally speak, she breathed,
“I’m… getting… a sister?!” The last words rose to a squeak with the absolute shock and excitement she was overwhelmed with.
Vibrant laughed and a glimmer of relief flashed in her eyes.
Celestia leapt to her hooves and, full of excitement, she bounced around the room saying,
“I’m getting a sister! I’m getting a sister!” Then finally flopped back onto the pillow once the energy was spent and exclaimed,
“Does daddy know?!”
Vibrant snorted in amusement and then said warmly,
“He will pretty soon,”
Another chuckle escaped her and Celestia smiled; she enjoyed seeing her mother laugh. It was a bit of a rare sight since she had to maintain a very calm composure as the High Princess of Alicorns. Sighing, she laid her head down again and held close to her this moment in her heart.
~~~
Once the excitement of the news had died down, the two decided to rest in their own separate pillows; It had been a long day and they both had felt the need to take a nap.
Celestia nuzzled the pillow and brought her hooves closer to her chin as she curled in a comfortable position, busy dreaming about what it would be like to have a sister of her own.
She envisioned her little sister as a tiny copy of herself, and pictured them playing together in a field or flying among the clouds during sunset, and then settling on a cloud to watch the sun fall until their father took over the night sky.
“Oh, look! Daddy is putting the stars in the sky!” The mini Celestia exclaimed.
“Yeah; Now he’s forming a constellation,” She imagined herself replying.
“Oh, wow, this is so amazing! I’m so glad I get to watch this with you,” Mini Celestia said.
“I’m glad too.”
“You’re the best big sister ever!”
Celestia smiled and rested the side of her head on her arm, curling up tighter.
Then suddenly three loud knocks erupted from the door.
Celestia’s eyes flew open and she woke up with a jolt, leaping to her hooves and instinctively sprinting over to her mother’s side.
Vibrant wrapped one wing reassuringly around Celestia and then calmly plodded over to the door, and then turned the knob with her magic and opened it slightly.
The worried eyes of a Royal Guard were on the other side; Curious, Vibrant opened it further so that he could enter the room.
“U-uh, er… your majesty…” The Guard stammered, bowed quickly, and then returned upright and began,
“There’s been an attack on the farthest sector of the kingdom.”
Vibrant’s eyes lit up in shock, and the Guard continued,
“It was within the area where Princess Cloudwhisper was stationed… We’ve lost several soldiers and civilians, and there have been a number of casualties.”
Celestia’s heart lurched. Dreading the answer, she queried,
“...What happened to Princess Cloudwhisper? Is she okay?”
The Guard ducked his head and squeezed his eyes shut, gulped once, and answered,
“She’s… gone missing, your highness.”
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Feb 12, 2016 16:26:56 GMT -5
Thank you x3 Also, it just happens to be Friday, so I'm going to post the third chapter! Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3
When things start to change
Celestia nearly tripped over her hooves as she hurried to catch up with her mother who was quickly walking down the hall toward the Solar Meeting Room, where all the captains of the royal guard from everywhere across the kingdom were meeting up.
She noticed grim anxiety stream like waves from every step Vibrant took, and Celestia’s heart clenched in fear - She’d never seen her mother so worried.
Before they’d reached the room Vibrant turned to her daughter and murmured quickly,
“You can’t come inside with me. I need you to go into your father’s dorm and wait for me there. It’s nearly sunset and he’ll be with you soon.”
Celestia met her mother’s pale blue gaze. “But I want to go,” She complained, “I have to know what is going on too!”
Vibrant shook her head sternly and gently nudged her off in the opposite direction with her wing.
“Go,” she ordered, and then grudgingly Celestia nodded and walked back toward her father’s dorm.
Then after realizing how her mother wanted to send her away to ensure her safety, she felt a pang of fear and scampered quickly up the stairs, wondering if whatever attacked the sector where Starswirl’s mom had been stationed was sneaking around the palace, waiting to strike a terrified young alicorn.
Once she caught the dorm straight ahead of her, she ran a little faster and, due to the speed of her pace, her vision blurred so that all she could see was the dorm. Then, out of nowhere, a shape flashed around the corner of her eye and she crashed into it head-on, afterwards toppling over onto the floor with the breath knocked out of her.
After taking a moment to catch her breath and calm herself from the shock of the event, she shook her head vigorously and looked up from where she was splayed on the floor to see that she’d bumped into Starswirl, who was crouched on the ground with an irritated glare in his golden eyes.
“Why are you so clumsy?” He growled, then scrambled back onto his hooves and heaved a long sigh while closing his eyes, as if trying to gain back energy from the hard impact of his encounter with Celestia.
Then finally he queried,
“Why were you running up here so fast? Don’t you know you should try to be a little less disruptive so that you don’t knock somepony over?”
Celestia ignored the vague sting she felt from his words and answered,
“There’s been an attack somewhere off in the kingdom… My mom wanted me to go back to Nebula’s room and I thought that maybe some evil ponies were hiding around in the castle, and I was kinda scared, so…-”
“Attack?”
Starswirl broke in, his voice full of dismay and a hint of disbelief.
“Where did this happen?”
Celestia’s heart dropped.
A gleam of worry appeared in Starswirl’s golden eyes at the sight of Celestia’s suddenly darkened expression.
Then he repeated himself more firmly,
“Where did the attack take place?”
Celestia gulped. How could she possibly tell him that whoever these evil ponies were had invaded where his mother was, and she still hasn’t been found?
“Oh… just… somewhere off in the farthest parts of the kingdom,”
She muttered vaguely.
Starswirl persisted,
“Have they attacked near wherever my mom is? Do you know if she’s safe?”
GAH!
Celestia thought frustratedly as Starswirl asked the very questions she’d hoped wouldn’t cross his mind. Her heart beat quickly with fear as she remained silent for several more moments, watching Starswirl’s face grow more and more with worry and irritation.
“Just spit it out!” Starswirl exclaimed.
Finally, realizing that there was no way she could maneuver around the question, Celestia took a deep breath and whispered,
“Okay.”
Starswirl tensed at the grimness in her voice but she continued,
“They attacked her station directly.”
Her chest tightened.
“She’s been reported missing.”
~~~
Glowing crystals shaped as stars were scattered all across the ceiling just as the Lunar Corridor was designed, while dark purple and blue sheets hung and stretched across the room like a protective silk barrier. The floor was draped in a fuzzy, comfortable navy blue rug with the moon and the sun at the centre just beside each other. Stars surrounded the moon while dark, tinted blue clouds surrounded the sun, and swirls of gold bordered the edges of it, where each end of the rug met the dark violet walls.
At the very edge of the room was a large, plush bed. A silk blanket of darkened lavender cascaded from the edges of the bed and four cushy pillows lined the top against the wooden wall of dark blue, where two pillars outstretched from it; the right had a moon at the top, and the left had the sun.
Two black pillows on the right were covered in stars and the other two on the left were pale yellow with the image of the sun and it’s rays outstretching to every corner of the pillow. Settled on the bed were Starswirl and Celestia, plenty comfortable as they settled in the lavender blanket, but hardly at peace.
Celestia was leaned against Starswirl, her head rested on his neck; He didn’t even budge. That’s how she knew how badly he was shaken.
“It’ll be okay,” She soothed.
Starswirl’s eyes flashed with momentary fury, but then disappeared almost instantly, replaced with a crumpled expression of sorrow.
She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder and attempted a smile.
“Just because she’s missing doesn’t mean she’s not alive,” She assured in a voice as calm as her mother’s.
“No matter what happens, everything will be okay.”
Starswirl shook his head and closed his eyes. “No,” He croaked, “I just want my momma…” he repeated himself, “I just want her here…”
Celestia closed her eyes as well and took a deep breath, trying to find a moment, even a sliver of peace.
Father will be here soon, she told herself.
As if he had been summoned by that single thought, the flap of deep blue wings appeared at the window and the large form of her father stepped inside, his eyes weary.
He ruled the night on the other side of the kingdom, and then when the sun began to rise and Vibrant took over, the returned to the side where the Alicorn palace resided and began his shift there.
Sometimes Celestia wondered if her parents ever got a full night of sleep.
“Honey,”
Nebula’s call broke her out of her thoughts and she lifted her head to meet his pale-purple gaze.
“What are you and …” He narrowed his eyes in surprise and continued, “Starswirl doing in here?”
“Mom sent me in because she had a meeting with all the captains of the royal guard and Starswirl came in with me,” She explained.
Nebula’s eyes widened. “What… what’s going on?” He stammered, realizing the gravity of the situation as his wife had to meet with every captain of the royal guard.
“Someone attacked where Starswirl’s mom was. I don’t know what else has happened,” Celestia muttered, wishing she’d been allowed in the room where they were holding a conference on the issue.
Nebula folded his wings and plodded over to the left side of the bed and climbed on top to join the two young ponies.
“Then I guess we’ll have to wait until they’re done,” He murmured.
Wanting to change the subject, Celestia queried,
“Daddy, have you raised the moon yet?”
Her father’s eyes widened and a giant exclamation point seemed to appear just above his head.
“Oh, right,” He said, “Thanks Sweetie. Do you two want to watch?”
Celestia gazed at Starswirl and quietly she murmured his name.
He blinked opened his blank eyes and grunted.
“I’ll assume that’s a yes,” She said and guided him off the bed towards the window with Nebula following just behind.
Igniting the glow of his horn, her father gripped the moon in a barrier of bright blue magic and slowly began to guide it towards the centre of the sky.
Celestia watched in awe, then gently nudged Starswirl without moving her gaze from the moon and whispered in his ear,
“Isn’t this amazing?”
Starswirl watched the moon climb further into the sky, his gaze still blank but his eyes widened with vague curiosity.
“Sure,” he muttered. “It’s cool.”
Then the full disk of pure white reached it’s peak and Nebula let go, and a burst of blue dissipated from the moon. The tiny sparkling remnants of Nebula’s magic spread across the night sky and each took their place beside the moon.
“Wow,” Celestia uttered with only a breath, taken by the marvel of her father’s magic.
Nebula then began to arrange the stars in gorgeous patterns that Celestia recognized as constellations. She snuck a glance at Starswirl and saw him watching the scene with new interest, and a smile beginning to appear on his face.
She’d never seen him smile before.
Cautiously she reached a hoof around his shoulder in a small embrace, and laid her head on his neck. She watched him in surprise as he closed his eyes and welcomed a moment of peace.
The view of the beautiful combination of blue and purple shades lit with the shine of the moon and the gleam of the stars wrapped them in a blanket of tranquility and offered the gift of feeling, for once, like they were together in harmony, without a single trouble in the world to take this rare comfort away.
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Feb 19, 2016 17:10:50 GMT -5
Sorry for double-post, but here's Chapter 4! Happy Friday <3
Chapter 4
Beware the ones yearning for justice
Two days had passed since the news of the attack, and fretful, uneasy conversations buzzed all about the castle. Security had been doubled throughout the kingdom’s quarters, and every day Celestia watched a troop of soldiers going out on a daily commanded patrol to scout the immediate area; She’d overheard her mother state that the same had been instructed for every other sector.
She’d also learned that the invasion had occurred in a large town called ‘Weathervane’. Unusual storms had been going on in that area and Princess Cloudwhisper had been sent there to monitor it, being the princess of weather itself. Vibrant suspected that whoever had attacked the city had something to do with the odd frequent squalls. Meanwhile, Nebula and his own royal guard attempted to guess where the next incursion would take place.
No one knew enough to speculate who was behind it all. There were a few survivors who testified that a storm worse than the ones they’d witnessed before rolled in and a terrifying darkness fell on the city, and suddenly creatures draped in dark armour plunged like birds upon the citizens and plucked ponies one-by-one, and disappeared into the clouds. All they had heard were screams from the residents, peculiar roars like a lion would produce, and loud squawks that reminded them of an eagle’s.
The entire description of it shook Celestia with a great disturbance. She could feel that something big was behind this, something with terrible intention….
“Celestia,”
The firm call of her name broke her from her thoughts. It was Nebula, his eyes wide with an unreadable expression.
She reminded herself that she was within the Crystal Hallway, and looked outside of the various windows lining the hall and saw that it was night.
A dark tint was upon the place due to the purple shades outside, and a moon nearing crescent hung in the deep blanket.
“Honey,” her father repeated, sounding more sympathetic this time. Celestia turned to meet his warm blue eyes.
“Sorry,” She muttered, “I keep drifting off.”
A sympathetic smile broke upon Nebula’s face. “I know it’s scary,” he murmured, “but we’ll figure this out soon enough. Don’t worry.”
Celestia searched her father’s gaze and knew that he wasn’t entirely certain, but in her desire for reassurance she allowed herself to believe him.
Nebula then looked out into the darkened view outside the windows and murmured, “Why don’t you come with me to my dorm?” He offered, then put in, “You should be getting some rest; you’re only a filly and you’ve been put through quite a lot of stress the past couple of days.”
Celestia sighed.
“Okay.”
In silence they walked back to his room, the two of them equally enveloped in their thoughts. She tried not to fret over how they would figure out who had launched the attack, or if something were to happen to one of her parents - and in result her coming sister - or where Princess Cloudwhisper had gone and if Starswirl would remain stable meanwhile her disappearance. But the more she shoved away the thoughts, the more they seemed to attack her. She squeezed her eyes shut and closed off every thought from her mind, trying to allow silence to occupy it.
Her father laid a wing on her shoulders and gently guided her into his room as he held the door open with his magic.
She closed her eyes as she snuggled into the comfy sheets on the bed and watched the shaft of light from the outside shrink until the door closed with a faint thud.
~~~
Celestia began to run in the pitch-black halls of the castle, loud stomping echoing from directly behind her in pursuit. The thing behind her roared and Celestia squealed, quickening her pace and breaking through the breeze she created in her speed, the air thick with her fear.
She could sense the creature catching up on her.
Then it did.
To her immense dismay she felt it’s claws pierce into her shoulders and forced her to the ground, it’s hot stinky breath hitting her face. Then it began to shake her violently, and she let out a horrified yelp.
Celestia woke with a start, her eyes wide and her chest heaving as she wheezed with short, terrified gasps, her lungs clenching tightly. The realization hit her that during the dream she’d been holding her breath. But she didn’t have much time to catch it.
As her eyes began to adjust she saw the shape of something just in front of her, and felt something gripping her shoulders, just as she’d experienced in her dream. She had no air left in her lungs to scream. Wriggling out of the grasp of the creature, she glared at it and slapped at what seemed to be its head.
“Oww!!”
It squeaked.
“Watch it!”
Celestia widened her eyes, realizing that the voice sounded oddly familiar. Frustrated that she still hadn’t adjusted to the dark, she squinted to try to make out a clearer image of the creature.
“Starswirl?”
She breathed.
She only heard the reply of a grunt.
Yeah, that’s him.
“What are you doing here?” She whispered furiously.
“I’m going on a little adventure,” he replied, “I want you to come with me.”
“Adventure?” She echoed irritably, her voice raising a little. “In the middle of the night?!”
Her eyes had adjusted enough to see Starswirl’s own eyes grow with caution.
“Keep it down!” He growled, then added, “And yeah. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
She felt frustrated that Starswirl knew very well how hard it was for her to turn down the opportunity of an exciting experience and was using the weakness against her.
After a moment of hesitation she puffed,
“Fine.”
Starswirl nodded and lightly leapt off of the bed, nodding toward the door as a gesture for Celestia to follow. Grunting with reluctance, she crept down while cautiously trying not to make a sound as she landed and joined Starswirl just beside the door. He lit his horn and slowly cracked it open, then slunk through and entered the next room. Celestia followed and broke into a sprint as Starswirl began heading down towards the staircase and placed a hoof on the first step.
Finally once Celestia had caught up they took their time down the stairs; She hadn’t even the slightest idea how long it had taken them, but it had already felt like an hour.
Just as Celestia was ready to start into the first corridor, Starswirl stopped her with a hoof and murmured,
“There’s a quicker way we can get out of here without alerting any guards.”
Celestia lifted an eyebrow with interest.
“How can we do that?” She whispered.
Starswirl looked out into the corridor to see if any guards were near. “It’s a spell that’s going to have to take the combination of our magic,” He responded after a moment, and then took a step towards her and dipped his head to touch his horn to hers. Then his horn lit with a golden glow and he instructed, “Start thinking of the park outside of the castle, in the area just in front of the forest.”
Celestia lit her own horn and began to imagine the lush expanse of grass and several flowers, and then focused on the very far side of the park where undergrowth surrounded it, trees and shrub lined up against the grass to form an entrance into its woodland.
White sparks flew from their twined horns.
Suddenly she felt the spell envelope them and complete in an abrupt flash. Then seemingly a second later she could feel with certainty that they were in a completely different place.
She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings to see that they were just in front of the forest.
Her chest tightened with excitement once the realization hit her.
We teleported!
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Feb 26, 2016 16:09:07 GMT -5
It's Friday so here's the next update.
Chapter 5
What’s found in the forest
Celestia and Starswirl plodded through the forest side-by-side, but not a word was spoken between them. They had been wandering for hours and no explanation had been given to why they were out here, in the forest, in the middle of the night. Celestia’s mind was abuzz with an abundance of questions and, because she couldn’t bring herself to speak up, she continuously attempted to solve every little thought that came up in her mind.
The more steps she took through the darkness with only the glow of their horns to see five feet ahead of them, the more her irritation and desire to quench her curiosity grew.
Finally, the words that had been sitting impatiently on her tongue for more than she could handle flew right out of her mouth, and at this point she didn’t know what would come out.
“Starswirl, why are we doing this?” She blurted. “You can’t just take me through a dark forest for who knows how long without even telling me what we’re doing or where we’re going! I’ve been literally blindly following you through this place and you haven’t said a word. If you don’t tell me what is going on in the next few seconds, i’m turning around right now.”
Starswirl’s eyes widened with surprise. Admittedly even she felt a spark of shock at how sharp her words had been.
But she didn’t feel like apologizing.
I have scarcely had any sleep these past few days and now i’m walking through the forest in the middle of the night without any reason, She thought in an attempt to justify herself, Why shouldn’t I be upset?
But yet she felt like the outburst had come out of nowhere, like the anger and the additional frustration hadn’t been her own.
Still she ignored the thought and stubbornly held Starswirl’s gaze as she waited for an answer.
Starswirl sighed.
“Fine,” he said.
For the first time Celestia noticed how his face seemed to sag with weariness. Her chest clenched faintly with momentary guilt, but then it disappeared, replaced again with the reminder that he had dragged her into something she didn’t understand.
Starswirl began, “This afternoon I was practicing a new spell and then I vaguely detected something unnatural…. I sort of sensed an odd, different-feeling magic that seemed to be originating in this forest,”
He explained, his golden eyes darkened with an unreadable expression.
“Okay,” She muttered,
“Why are you so interested in this? Wouldn’t it just make more sense to send some guards to check it out?”
Starswirl’s eyes lit a little and he replied, “I did a little while afterwards and they plan to send out a few scouts in a couple days... But… Celestia, I can’t wait that long.”
His golden eyes suddenly glowed with a look of determination that scared Celestia a little.
“Why not?” She asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Along with the feeling of the odd magic, I could sense…. I thought I found just the faintest hint of….”
His voice trailed off.
“Of what?” Celestia persisted.
“My…. my mom,”
Starswirl replied, his tone so intense that Celestia wondered if she should try and talk him out of this belief. She felt as if his mind had conjured up the presence of his mother in its yearning for her return.
“Maybe we should go back and leave it to the guards to figure out,” She muttered.
Starswirl’s eyes grew with desperation.
“NO!” He exclaimed.
“Come on,” She sighed exasperatedly, “I’m sure that if you told the guards you felt that your mom had something to do with this, they’d send out a search much sooner!”
Starswirl shook his head.
“It’s too late now. We’re so close…. if we wait any longer something could happen to her that we... may not want to find.”
Celestia let out a groan and Starswirl doggedly exclaimed,
“It’s my responsibility to find her!”
Celestia paused for a moment and met his distraught gaze, her mind suddenly opening up to what he seemed to need her to understand.
“My dad is busy with all these guard duties now because of the attack. Nopony likes my mom because she married a sentry, so they aren’t going to find it as important to look for her. She is my mother, and now that i’ve made it this far, I cannot let her down!
“I am the only pony that is family and willing to find her right now, and I let my guard down to show you that I trust you enough with this situation to come with me. Please, just do me this one favor. If you do, I promise that I will never forget it.”
The irritation seemed to leave her in one breath as she heaved a sigh, replaced with the desire that rang in her heart to be a true friend to Starswirl in his time of need.
“Okay,”
She agreed, her gaze becoming firm with determination. She felt like herself again.
She met Starswirl’s gaze once more, but to her surprise she found for the first time found a new look breaking through his icey golden eyes - like the door of his world had been opened up, the hard stone barrier that had protected his heart cracking a little.
“Thanks,” He muttered curtly despite the expression that his face gave away, and began to walk again, sparking light from his horn once more in order to see ahead. The night was gradually growing darker and darker, but almost unnoticeably, like an intruder of the sky.
Now that she was no longer focusing on trying to find answers and the unusual aggravation creeping into her thoughts like a virus, her mind was clear. The problem was that it was now open to a rising fear that quickly grew as they moved further into the woodland, her heart beating a little faster in her chest every second they moved further towards their destination.
“Starswirl?” She whispered quietly, almost coming off as a whimper, “Are we almo--”
“Shhhh!”
Her grey-blue friend cut her off, “We’re nearing the area. I can see this orange-ish light up ahead.”
She squinted to see ahead. The light of their horns was making it difficult to see any other source of light in the deep darkness, but sure enough she spotted the appearance of a source of light in the distance, glinting with an odd orange color as Starswirl had affirmed.
“It must be fire,” She observed.
She looked up at the sky, feeling the fear surge through her once more, and thought urgently,
Please protect us, even from up there… Please let us be okay.
“Come on,”
Starswirl nudged her with a hoof and together - now no longer using the light produced by their magic - they felt their way around the undergrowth and focused on the gleam, which became brighter as they moved closer towards the source of the odd magic that Starswirl had felt earlier.
She started to hear the echo of voices and quickly ducked behind a bush while Starswirl joined her, and strained her ears to make out what words of the creatures that were speaking around the fire. At first all she could detect was gibberish.
Finally she caught a few words from someone with a deep, raspy voice.
Starswirl furrowed his brows and whispered, “We need to move a little closer.”
Celestia’s eyes widened with fear, but Starswirl stared back at her with urgence, and reluctantly she crept from the shelter of the bushes and followed her friend to the next nearest hiding spot.
Starswirl pointed out to her the shelter of a few brambles and slunk behind them. Celestia settled beside him and once again attempted to listen in on the conversation, trying to ignore the loud crackling of the fire.
“We shouldn’t have to wait until morning,”
One murmured, his voice dripping with anticipation.
“We must perfect the tantabus,” Another one growled, his voice deep, but smooth and imposing.
That must be their leader, Celestia realized. Suddenly her fear grew even greater, and her heartbeat rang loudly in her ears, drowning out the discussion of the creatures.
He’s the one who influenced that attack that harmed so many and took down even an alicorn! There’s no way he won’t find us - we’re going to DIE!
But another voice popped up in her mind as she attempted to reason with herself and sooth her worry with rationality.
It’s not like he’ll just be able to tell that we’re here. We just have to be super careful and make sure we don’t make any sudden sounds.
Celestia let out a silent, slow breath.
Then her eyes widened as the leader spoke again after several impatient sighs from his companions.
“Alicorn magic takes time to completely filter into my own,” he murmured, “Once perfected it will be a powerful darkness that can overtake any alicorn. And then… once we pluck those royal pains one-by-one, we’ll take their magic to add to the tantabus. We mustn’t rush with haste… We must plan and execute with precision.”
She suppressed a squeal when he added,
“And if any of you question me again, with absolute sincerity I will make you regret it with every ounce of your sorry little half-blood bodies….”
A scream rang suddenly, then was cut off after an abrupt sound of an explosion only produced from magic.
Afterwards she only detected whimpers.
Starswirl gulped.
“You … just disintegrated him,” one of the creatures croaked.
There was a short moment of silence, then the leader’s smooth voice answered without emotion,
“I just gave you a warning.”
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
Post by Hollyleaf ღ on Mar 4, 2016 16:47:41 GMT -5
And time for Chapter 6 because it's Friday.
Chapter 6
A trip seemed wasted
What happened to Princess Cloudwhisper?
It was the only question that rang in her head. Everything about these creatures seemed so evil to her that she was starting to question her earlier confidence that the princess really was okay.
She looked warily at Starswirl for a moment, able to make out his grey-blue shape as night began to make way for morning. He didn’t meet her gaze. To her dismay, as she looked at him more closely, an expression of horror and realization glittered clearly in the pools of his yellow eyes, and emotions were coming off of him in anxious waves. Celestia bent over and whispered in his ear - so quietly that even she could barely hear it:
“Let’s go.”
Starswirl shook his head for a moment, but when he turned to face her and saw her look more urgently at him, he sighed.
“Same place,”
He breathed, and Celestia nodded, meeting her horn to her friend’s. Their magic lit in unison and the yellow barrier began to surround them.
Celestia hoped deeply within her heart that they weren’t so close that the evil creatures would notice the spell.
A flash.
Familiar, lush grass soothed her tired hooves and she exhaled wearily. The fear had emotionally exhausted her, but the hours of walking towards the campsite where the malicious gang were meeting had taken the additional toll on her young alicorn body.
“I’m so glad we’re out of there,” She uttered in a gasp.
After a few seconds of recovering from the mountain of anxiety she had retained, Celestia lifted her head to see Starswirl staring at her intently.
She panted for a moment longer and then muttered,
“What...?”
Starswirl narrowed his eyes nearly to slits.
“I think I know what happened to my mom.”
Celestia widened her eyes and then looked up at the expanse of sky, realizing that the shades of deep purple were quickly climbing into a pale pink as they made way for the sun, the time of day nearing dawn.
“Why don’t you tell me when we get inside the castle? We can teleport to the Resting Room… my dad never goes in there and my mom is busy working with her princess duties, so we’ll be left alone.”
Starswirl followed her gaze and the corners of his eyes crinkled with urgence.
“No… that’s not our priority right now. We have to hurry and tell everyone that those evil things are going to attack the castle…. They probably won’t attack at dawn because nopony will be awake. They’ll want everypony out in the open… so we have until it’s clearly morning, a little bit after sunrise.”
Celestia widened her eyes.
“How are we going to tell them without revealing that we’d snuck out at night?”
Just as Starswirl was about to answer, a distant voice rang throughout the whole field, and Celestia’s heart lurched.
“HEY, you!”
The voice of a guard.
“What are you two doing out here?!”
The hairs along Celestia’s neck raised.
“Well, that’s one way to let them know,”
Starswirl muttered.
A white guard with a purple-and-pale indigo mane walked firmly at the left of Celestia, and a blood-orange guard with a darker red mane stood at the right of her friend.
They were being guided towards the meeting room where her mother had been discussing the attack with the captains of the royal guard several days ago.
Well, at least i’ll get to see inside of the room like I wanted,
Celestia thought, attempting to bring the positive out of the situation.
The door was opened to Celestia’s mother sitting on the other side of a large, rectangular, wooden table with seats on every edge of it that she guessed all members of the royal royal guard were assigned to.
Celestia met her Vibrant’s gaze and found nothing but a combination of sternness, relief, and the fury of a mother that had probably been pacing with anxiety as she wondered where her daughter could possibly be.
Celestia ducked her head and let her pink bangs cover part of her face, her wings unraveling and remaining in a position of guilty submission. She allowed her guard to gently herd her toward the chair directly opposite of the seat her mother was settled in, while Starswirl grudgingly flopped into the chair directly beside Celestia.
Vibrant folded her hooves and laid them on the table, her posture firm and professional. Celestia dared to try and meet her mother’s gaze, and found her expression to be boiling with curiosity - not the kind Celestia often experienced with an interest and eagerness to learn, but the kind that screamed the question, How could you do something so stupid?
She felt like covering her eyes with her hooves to hide her face from her mother’s fixed stare; Celestia had never seen Vibrant with such a look.
She wished she’d stop.
Then, Vibrant let out a long sigh, and took a brief moment of silence as if to search for the right words so that she wouldn’t yell at her daughter in front of her friend, as well as the two guards beside the closed door to the room.
Then she breathed out calmly, slowly,
“...What…. happened….?”
That’s an awfully broad question,
Celestia thought, but remained silent. Vibrant then rephrased,
“Why did you to leave the castle?”
Celestia gulped, then prepared herself to answer.
“W-”
“I made her come with me,” Starswirl broke in, and Celestia stared at him, vaguely shocked. It was hardly like him to come to her defense.
“I couldn’t stand to wait for you to send out a troop to check out the weird magic i’d sensed earlier. I was blinded by how much I needed to see my mom, to know she was okay - so I had to go out and find it myself…. or…. with a little help.”
Vibrant’s firm blue gaze cooled down to confused.
“What…. does this have anything to do with your mom?”
She asked.
Starswirl answered without hesitation,
“Along with the magic, I felt her as well - as if she was….. near it.”
A brief period of silence fell upon the meeting room. Celestia had to admit that she was feeling mildly uncomfortable, but she didn’t dare speak up - she knew it was not her place right now.
Then a question that made Celestia’s heart clench with anxiety rang out clearly from her mother, who’s voice was tense, unsure of what to anticipate of the answer.
“...Was she?”
Starswirl nodded slowly.
Celestia gulped.
“We found the creatures that had attacked on Weathervane. They were working on creating a dark substance called the ‘tantabus’... formed from alicorn magic. Their leader revealed that they were working on contaminating the alicorn magic to turn it into his own, to turn it into a magic of darkness.”
Vibrant tipped her head slightly to one side.
“What… does that mean?”
Starswirl answered,
“The leader must be an alicorn, if he can contaminate the magic to be his own and absorb it. It also means that he had to use a certain alicorn’s magic to contaminate… and that magic was my mother’s.”
He added,
“That’s why I felt her along with the presence of odd magic - because it was her’s. But it felt odd because it was in the middle of being contaminated. I think I was able to sense it because of the connection I have with her, because of the magic we share.”
Celestia met Starswirl’s gaze.
“So then if the alicorn has taken her magic…” She began.
Starswirl nodded, his eyes glittering, and his face contorting a little. He looked as if he were about to cry.
“Yeah,” He said, his voice shaky, “She’s gone.”
♦I'm the Forgotten Warrior ✽ an impossible girl ❀ raggedy and always running♦
