Chapter 1:

Silent Night

A bright flash. Burning, then a deafening roar. Then pulling, from every direction. He could feel pulling at his limbs, being pulled to the limits. Being pulled apart. Then, snap.

Nothing.

Another flash, brighter this time. Coming back together, piece by piece, atom by atom. Then pressure, air all around, rushing. Air, blowing from behind. No,… from below. He’s falling, still blinded, too soon to see, eyes feeling… new.  Then, crack! Trees, the smell of green. Then, the ground.

He awoke just enough to know he was still alive, breathing in the dust and scents of the area around him. All energy seemed to be gone from his body, keeping him completely immobile, sprawled against the ground. He couldn’t move his face from the dirt, couldn’t move his arms or legs. Not even his fingers or toes were responding to his meager mental commands to straighten himself out and rise up off the ground. It was at this moment he realized, his whole body was numb, the familiar feeling of pins and needles beginning to dance over every inch of his skin. Somehow, in spite of the strange events that brought him here and the pain now slowly taking the place of the numbness, the feeling of his sleeping limbs waking brought him comfort. At least that meant that whatever had happened to him was wearing off. But the pain all through his body continued to grow, now rising into full effect as the pins and needles disappeared.Soon, he began to miss the numbness. The new, soar sensation making the young man want to curl up in the dirt, if only he could. “Why can’t… why can’t I move…?” he thought, still not able to quite force his eyes open.

===

From her favorite window in the palace, Luna had a wonderful view of the valley where Ponyville rested at the beginning of the Everfree Forest. Several large and small lakes dotted the landscape, with many various hills and dales surrounding the large town that was now in the last stages of retiring for the night. The few random clouds in the sky did little to hide the soft light of the waxing full moon from shining on the town, giving it an alluring and inviting aura as Luna turned her attention to the guests of tonight’s Grand Galloping Gala. Hours ago she watched as the first guests arrived, dressed in their finest suits and gowns, brought in by extravagant carriages pulled by handsome colts and stallions. She gave her own beautiful gown hanging on a cloth ponikin in the corner of the room more than a few sad glances as she listened to the entertainment play classical pieces for the crowd as they entered the palace, almost wishing she could just put it on and go down to join the festivities herself.

No more than 20 minutes ago, she heard a loud commotion from the main ball room, quickly followed by a small group of ponies running down the steps to their waiting carriage, their young dragon driver whipping the reins and sending the team of stallions dashing off into the city. Not long after that, it seemed the rest of the congregation began their slow, limping trek down the palace stairs to their carriages. Just as the long line of waiting coaches began to pull away, there was a soft rapping at the door to Luna’s chambers.  The door gently nudged open as a beautiful white mare with a flowing multicolored mane poked her head into the room. “Luna, darling, did you spend all night up here alone again?” Luna didn’t answer. She just took a few slow steps from the balcony and back into the room.

The light from the magic glowing torches in the room revealed the figure of a beautiful young mare. Princess Luna, the alicorn with a gorgeous coat of light blue, the feathers of her wings now held tight to her body matched in color. She had a lighter shade of blue to her mane that gently fell over her face and eyes down to her shoulders, a single spiral horn emanating from the center of her head. On her flanks, the symbol of the crescent moon on a slightly darker blue patch. With her head down and deep teal eyes facing the floor, she made her way to her bed and lay down, curling into a ball as her older sister, Princess Celestia, entered the room.  Her long, flowing mane moved ahead of her slightly, working around her long spiral horn. Her swan-like wings rested comfortably at her sides, almost covering the symbol of the sun that adorned both sides of her flank. She moved to the bed and sat down on the floor, facing her sister.

“I missed you at the Gala tonight, sister. I would have liked you by my side as I greeted the guests. Are you feeling well? Anything wrong?” she said as she touched the tip of her wing to Luna’s back. Luna curled up a little more and buried her face into the pillow deeper, bringing her wing up to hide her face. Luna responded quietly,

“No, nothing wrong, Tia… no more than usual.”

“Luna, it’s been quite a while now since you’ve been back with us. Don’t you think it’s time you let your subjects see their young princess again? I know they’re eager to get to know you again.” Celestia said as she curled up on the bed beside Luna, making it sink down on her side. Celestia was nearly twice the size of Luna, being both older and far more powerful than her sister, she usually preferred to stay in her astral form. She places a hoof on her little sister’s back between her wings and rubbed her gently. “You know, I’m going down to Ponyville soon to spend some time with some friends. You could come, if you like. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. No need to put on that stuffy gown or anything. Come as you are.”

Luna remained still and sighed. “Meeting friends…? You mean your student Twilight, and the other Elements of Harmony? They’d be the last ponies in the world that would want to be anywhere with me.”

Celestia pulled her hoof away and sat back up on the bed, her back to her sister. “You only think that, my dear.” She stood up off the bed and preened her feathers out before drawing her wings back close to her body. “You’re still free to come down and spend some time with me and the Elements tonight, if you like.” She began to slowly walk to the door. “And ever if there were some of our subjects who were weary of you, that’s never going to change until you go out and show them what a beautiful and special pony you truly are.” Celestia stood in the doorway, looking back at her little sister still curled up on the bed, alone in the dimly lit corner of the room. “I won’t ever force you to do anything you wouldn’t want to do, but someday, you’re going to have to face the world again. Only then will all your fears finally leave you and you’ll be happy again.”She put a hoof on the door handle and began to close it behind her as she left. “If you choose not to come down tonight, I’m not sure when I’ll be back, so I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?” Luna gave no answer. Celestia sighed as she slowly closed the door, a slight lump in her throat as she looked once again at her sad little sister. “… I love you, Luna…”

Celestia walked down the hall to the stairs, gliding down them as she descended into the front foyer and out the main front doors to her waiting chariot. With a word, the four pegasi stallions in front of the chariot took off, lifting it and their princess into the air and on their way to Ponyville. Celestia was looking forward to seeing her friends in town. She just knew they’d be together talking about tonight’s events, she just wasn’t sure where. No matter, a quick locator spell would help find them. She smiled as she imagined how surprised they would be to see her. However, she could not take her mind off her poor sister, Luna. Since her return to the palace, she has had a deep sadness over her, and been shy and reclusive, even to the point where she would go days without talking to anypony. These feelings had to come to an end soon, for Celestia feared that they would once again draw her sister to down a darker path. A path she feared her sister might not find her way back from this time.

===

The door shut, and Luna lay still on the bed, listening to the delicate hoof steps as her sister walked down the hall and stairs. She got up off the bed and walked to the balcony again, her head down in depression as she took her favorite place to watch over the valley below. Her sister’s chariot rose to its cruising altitude and was off to Ponyville. She watched as it descended into the city and disappeared into the streets out of view. Directly below, most of the palace guards trotted out of the various exits, informing some of the over-night guards on the events of the Gala, laughing as they passed off their duty for the night and discussed the mayhem near the end of the event. Soon, they began to disappear as well. Some into the palace, some off to their homes. And once again, Luna was alone, her least favorite place to be. She gazed up at the moon, hanging silently in the sky, and shuddered. The beautiful, bright, cold, lonely moon. She turned away, not even able to face her own charge in her current state.

“How could I ever go out and greet our subjects, sister? They know what I’ve done. They’ll never trust me again.” she spoke softly to the night, feeling a tear begin to form.

She closed her eyes and turned away, back into the room and out the door, into the hall. The magic lanterns on the wall kept the hallway lit just enough to allow passage through the palace, illuminating the various paintings and sculptures throughout. Busts carved out of marble, tapestries, and paintings of all kinds on both sides. However, Luna found herself drawn to on tapestry in particular; The Midnight Blaze.

It hung huge against the wall, stretching the width of at least three guards end to end and from floor to ceiling. The tapestry depicted the moon, the very astral body of witch Luna was the deity of, near the bottom of the painting. Below the moon, the horizon of Equestria, sleeping soundly in the night. Near the top, standing out against the deep blue night sky was a menacing wave of black, descending with spiked tentacles towards the moon and Equestria. The only thing that stood in the way of the coming threat was a single ball of fire, dark in the middle but surrounded by rays of light that radiated out over the moon and Equestria, defending it while at the same time, penetrating the dark aggressor above. Luna loved that tapestry, especially as of late, though she couldn’t quite put her hoof on why.

She gave the beautiful work of art a gentle smile and moved farther down the hallway to a set of doors leading to another balcony. This one was built to overlook the garden, a massive private reserve in the middle of the palace grounds for the rarest creatures in the world to live undisturbed. Luna sometimes found the songbirds and crickets soothing, so decided to rest here for a while and try to forget her troubles. But the garden offered no solace tonight, only silence. “Oh, that’s right.” She remembered. “The animals were chased into the palace during the end of the Gala. They’re probably all asleep from exhaustion.” From the balcony she could see every ground level door to the palace open, as to allow any more animals wondering the halls to find their way back to their homes. A lone cricket played a broken-up tune from somewhere down in the greenery. She sighed again. At least it was still a beautiful view, that high up from the treetops, looking down on the fountains and exotic trees that were scattered throughout. But not long after arriving, the scene began to bore her. She quickly started to miss the usual luster.

“I suppose I’ll just make myself some tea in the kitchen and call it a night.” She glanced up at the starry sky, opposite the position of the moon once again before turning away. Then, a flash. Luna paused.

“What was that?”Then again, twice, quickly this time. “What in the name of all the gods…” she thought aloud.

From high above the garden, out amongst the stars, a distant flicker was starting out in space. At first, Luna thought it might be a shooting star, or… perhaps a meteor falling. No, neither of those. There was an energy about it, faint. Definitely not noticeable by any normal pony, but to one such as Luna, it was there. She raised her two front hooves up on the banister, straining to get a better sense of the disturbance. Focusing, training her senses on that point in the sky, searching for anything. Suddenly, a bright flash, felt inside her mind. A burning wave, felt against her coat but by nothing else in the kingdom, blew her back against the doors of the balcony. She hit the floor with a groan, quickly looking back up to the spot in space. Now, feeling energy being pulled, from all around her, up towards the disturbance. The light was falling faster now, coming in at an amazing rate! A final loud “BOOM!” rang out, the object breaking through the atmosphere and exploding in the sky and vanishing in a brilliant flash of light.

Luna squinted as she surveyed the sky. “”Where did that come from?” she thought, wondering what that could have possibly have been. She thought she knew ALL the universal events and phenomenon, but this was entirely new to her. Perhaps she’d have to wait till Celestia came home to find out what it was. Out of the corner off her eye, quickly falling from the sky under the scene of the explosion, she caught a small object. And it seemed to be falling down towards the palace. Leaving behind a light trail of smoke that vanished as it reached about 5,000 feet above the ground, it toppled end over end as it fell. Luna jumped up from the balcony, using her magic and her wings to hover in the air, instinctively moving to intercept the object before it could do any harm. Her horn glowed with magic energy, preparing to blast the object, when she noticed...

“Are those… LIMBS?!” The silhouette of limbs flaying against the dark blue backdrop of the night caused Luna to almost fall from her hover. She backed down onto the balcony again, beginning to panic, knowing she didn’t have enough time now to stop the newly identified falling being from hitting the ground.

She ran back into the palace, tripping as she made her way hurriedly down the hallway to the main stairway, making her way through the foyer and bursting through the main hall. Halfway down the stairs she heard the loud thud from the being hitting the ground in the garden.

“Oh please oh please oh please oh please…!” Luna bursts through the open doors of the garden and stopped, quickly looking from left to right. “Where did it go, oh, where did it go?!?!” she thought out loud, stomping her front hooves in panic. From above the trees, there was a slight puff of smoke rising. Luna ran towards it, through bushes and ducking under low tree limbs as she went. In a moment she was upon the scene; a clearing in the trees with a small crater in the middle.

===

He thought about giving up. He thought about just not trying to move anymore. The pain was now extraordinary. The dust and dirt kept going in his nose and mouth as he tried to breath in the strange position he landed. Slowly, he began to feel… cold. “… I… guess I’m… not gonna… be getting up…”

She found him lying on his side, breathing shallow, smoke still coming from his body. “How is he even alive at all?” She thought. She ran to his side and knelt down. He looked like he didn’t have much time left, and Luna knew she had to work fast to save his life.

He felt himself starting to slip. The pain began to drive him down, farther into darkness. He didn’t care where he was or what happened to him at this point. All he could think about was the dirt and leaves and not being able to move, and how good it was starting to feel fading away from all that.

“Maybe wherever I go from here… will be better than this..” But as he was letting go, a miracle occurred.  Barely audible, they were so light, were footfalls on the leaves. They were quiet at first, slow. Then they paused, only to resume, quicker this time. Steadily they became louder until they came to a stop just above him. Then he heard her voice.

“Don’t worry, I’m here now. Everything’s going to be alright.”

A voice of an angel, out of nowhere. A voice sweeter than any he ever heard before. With the last of his last energy, he forced his eyes open for the first time since he saw the flash, only to close them again and smile before fading completely.

“I must be already gone.” He thought. “I could’ve sworn… that blue horse with wings… just talked to me…”

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