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Magic in the Stars

by Australian Chaos

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Lunar Fate

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Author's Notes: I must sincerely apologise for the extreme delay in getting this chapter finished for you to read. My inspiration has a habit of running off an me, leaving both me and my readers high and dry. I think I have found the source of the problem, and hope I can post a bit more regularly from now on. But I won't promise anything, as I just don't know.

Once again, a huge thanks to DiamondGirl400 for betaing this chapter...and for pestering me incessantly about getting this chapter finished. Without her, you would probably still be waiting for this to come out, instead of reading it now.


Chapter 5

Lunar Fate

Since Princess Luna's impromptu test would have to wait until nightfall, when the stars became visible, Starfall ended up spending the rest of the day in the company of the two Princesses, and the young unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. The purple pony actually roped him into engaging in a brief conversation with her, during which time he learned that she was studying advanced magic under the personal guidance of Princess Celestia, and that she lived in a small, out of the way town called Ponyville.

Starfall, for his part, relayed what little he cared to share about his past, growing up in a small cloud town far from Canterlot, striking a meagre living on his own once he had come of age, before coming here, hoping to get a hoof into the astronomy profession, a passion of his. It was the first time Starfall had engaged in prolonged conversation with anypony for a number of years, and he found Twilight fairly nice.

But soon enough, the time came for the Princesses to lower the sun, and raise the moon, meaning Starfall's moment of truth had come. Without any further fanfare or delay, Princess Luna made her way towards one of the windows in the room, that allowed a brilliant view of a large expanse of Equestria...and an impressive view of the night sky above. "Come, Starfall! Let us see these abilities thou claims to possess!" she called, a hint of a challenge in her voice. She was clearly still highly sceptical of Starfall's claim he could just 'see' the power and magic in the stars by instinct, and thought Starfall would back down.

Starfall did hesitate, clearly nervous. He glanced at Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, seeing neither encouragement nor disbelief there...Celestia was clearly reserving judgement, while Twilight seemed to be just trying to stay out of the incident. Taking a deep breath, the young pegasus stallion nervously followed after Princess Luna, silently praying his instincts gave him the knowledge he needed...his freedom and continued existence within Equestrian society would most likely depend on it.

He came up to the Princess, who gestured for him to come up to the window ledge, where he would have the best view of the sky. Starfall did so, looking up, immediately noting from the constellations he recognised that the window faced out west, back towards his home. He felt his confidence grow a little as his instincts quickly recognised several constellations, allowing him a moment to clear his mind, and prepare himself, just before Princess Luna got started on his impromptu test.

"Very well, Starfall, let us begin. Tell us, what is that constellation over there, near the horizon?" she asked, pointing with her hoof so Starfall could identify it. "And what is the nature of it's hidden power?"

Starfall quickly followed Luna's hoof, and answered almost immediately. "That is the Fuga constellation. It takes the shape of a pegasus wing, and as such is considered their collective star sign. As you might expect, it's power is strongest when assisting in flight-based magic."

Princess Luna gave him a hard look, though Starfall could have sworn she had briefly looked rather impressed. She soon adopted her hard, determined look, and turned back to the skies, pointing out another constellation. "And what is that constellation, there? And it's hidden power?" she asked, Starfall moving to identify it as quickly as possible.

This question and answer routine continued well into the night, Princess Luna seeming determined to find a way to trip him up, but even though Starfall was unable to name a couple of constellations, he was still able to identify the nature of their hidden power. Starfall was growing sure the Princess had pointed out almost every constellation in the night sky, and was wondering when she would stop, though part of him realised she probably would not stop until he failed to identify the power in a constellation.

Finally, as Princess Luna searched for yet another constellation to use, did her older sister finally step in. "I think that's quite enough, my sister," Princess Celestia said, her tone gentle, but with that hint of authority to it that said she didn't want any arguing over it. "Starfall's more than proved his ability to you, don't you think?"

Princess Luna looked back at her elder sister for a few moments, her gaze clearly showing her intention to argue the matter further, before the look on Celestia's face seemed to make her change her mind. "Very well, sister," she finally replied. "Starfall has indeed exceeded all expectations we sought of him," she added, almost reluctantly. To the yellow pegasus in question, it was clear that Princess Luna still did not trust him, even if her words helped reignite his hope.

The night Princess' follow-up to those words, however, crushed his hope once more. "But this does not change matters...he still has knowledge of a royal secret, and nothing any pony can do will change that."

Celestia frowned for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I guess that is true, sister. But also remember that knowing this secret came about through no conscious choice of his." The Princess then turned to Starfall. "Starfall, have you ever mentioned this knowledge, even in passing, to anypony at all?"

Starfall was quick to answer. "No, Your Highness. I had assumed it was general knowledge, and so never saw reason to mention it to anypony who was interested in astronomy. And there was no point mentioning such details to anypony who had no interest in the subject at all," he added, being as honest as possible. He knew any attempt to lie to the Princesses would come back to haunt him terribly if he even tried, and so decided not to even risk it.

Princess Luna still seemed highly troubled, though. "All this work to determine Starfall's integrity is not helping us. He knows things he shouldn't...if he truly is innocent of any true wrongdoing, then what can we do about this?"

Even Princess Celestia seemed momentarily stumped by the question, making Starfall shuffle nervously as he waited to learn what they were going to do with him. For several agonisingly long moments, there was a tense silence as the Princesses seemed to brainstorm what to do with him.

Finally, Princess Celestia turned to Twilight Sparkle, apparently intent on asking for her opinion. But even as her mouth opened, she stopped, the look in her eyes clearly showing that an idea had come to mind. A soft smile graced her features as she turned back to her older sister. "I think I might have a solution to this dilemma that might also fix another problem I have struggled to solve recently."

Luna looked at her older sister, surprise and curiosity evident. "And pray tell, what is this solution thou hast come to?" she asked after a moment of silence, Starfall also looking over at the elder Princess in curious hope.

Celestia gave another smile, before answering Princess Luna's question with one of her own. "What happened the last time I came across a young pony with exceptional, almost forbidden talents that needed to be controlled and focused? Does any pony in here remember what happened to that pony?" she asked, a hint of amusement in her tone.

Starfall only gave everypony in the room a confused look, having no idea what Princess Celestia was on about. Princess Luna seemed to be just as confused at her sister's question. Before anypony could voice their confusion, though, Twilight Sparkle seemed to figure it out. "Princess? Are you really suggesting that he...?" she trailed off, clearly stunned by her mentor's insinuation, as Princess Celestia smiled at her.

"My sister, I am fairly certain you are not going to like this suggestion, but hear me out before you raise your protests," she asked, getting an odd look from Princess Luna, even as the younger sister nodded. "Starfall is clearly in possession of a great secret, but since this exposure has been caused by fate, and his special talent, I see no reason why he should be punished, especially since he has told nopony of this secret, thankfully."

Starfall's spirits soared at that statement. He could scarcely believe it, Princess Celestia was not going to have him punished, he could go home again! His internal, silent celebration had to pause, however...it seemed Princess Celestia was not finished just yet.

"However, he has also shown that he knows this secret because of a great gift he possesses. I have never seen a pony with such a natural grasp of astronomy before. But your knowledge and skills are still limited, which is why I believe your talents should be expanded and cultivated." At this point, Princess Celestia turned to Princess Luna. "Princess Luna, when I saw how gifted Twilight Sparkle was in magic, I took her under my wing so I could see that talent come to life. I am asking you, sister, to do the same with Starfall."

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