*Chapter 1*

Alkor Zephyr

...

Wonderlocke ambled down the carpeted corridor a slowly as his patience would allow him to. The plush carpet beneath him all but deadened the sound of his hoofsteps, which was good, he did not want his prey to escape him. As it happened, Wonderlocke was on a hunt; a particular hunt he had embarked on every day of his life for the past three years. His quarry was very allusive, never did they make this easy for him...which was just the way he wanted it.

Wonderlocke came to an abrupt stop as he passed a large magnificent window, full of the reflective moonlight that shone off the earth on their horizon. And behind one of the curtains of this window, was his opponent. He could tell because while the curtain was indeed long enough to cover her body down to her hooves, it was not wide enough to conceal the tuft of marble-blue hair that was her tail.

Wonderlocke had his chance. "Oh, my, wherever could Celestia have gone?" He drawled aloud with false wonder. "It appears I have been bested. Our princess is a truly indomitable hide-and-seek force of nature. I think I will just offer my unconditional surrender..." He turned full to face the curtain that Celestia was no doubt behind and cast his horn aglow as he magically shoved aside the curtain. "AHA!" Remarked Wonderlocke, "I have found her!"

The tiny pink alicorn filly squeaked with delighted terror as Wonderlocke bored down on her. "Hey wait, I wanna do-over!" She cried.

"No such luck, princess," Wonderlocke said. "You must surrender now if you are to receive so much as a modicum of mercy from me."

"I could do that..." Celestia said, rolling her wide blue eyes. "Or...I could do...this!" And she dashed away as fast as her tiny filly legs could possibly carry her, which wasn't very fast at all.

She was still within easy range of Wonderlocke's magic, as he ignited a levitation spell and pulled the young princess up to his eye level. "You are the loser in this contest, dear princess. And as such, you must give into my demands."

"Which are..." Celestia asked dubiously, although she already knew the answer.

"To begin the afternoon lesson, as we do every day."

And he set Celestia to ride on his back as he trotted back down the corridor to the lesson hall.

Life was much like this every day at the palace. Things never did change much in this world, circumstance and location pretty much saw to that. Because, as it just so happened...

These ponies lived on the moon.

Living in such a place of course afforded them protection from almost any sort of disaster, invasion, or conflict. The price, however, was total isolation. The planet however, was much more than a simple satellite that orbited the earth. It had a proper name, which was Alkor Zephyr. Of course, the only ponies who ever called it that were those that lived here, and even then, most of then still simply referred to it as "The Moon", which was more than understandable; " Alkor Zephyr" was quite the mouthful.

Life here on the moon was no easy task at all. Still most of the planet was uninhabitable, and was hence left untouched. However, a vast majority of cities had spread over Alkor Zephyr, most of them playing home to multitudes of factories and facilities where the food of this world is grown synthetically by magic.

While life on the moon flourished in small numbers, the highest concentration of lunar ponies was found in that of it's mighty capital empire, the city of Iraklia. The grand empire resided in the southern-most part of the moon. Thanks to modern irrigation, fresh water flowed freely through canals on the marble streets of the kingdom, and played wonderfully through ornate fountains that dotted the city. And of course, there was the Grand Castle Zephyr at it's center. A towering structure carved out of gilded ivory and pure white moonstone. The spires of its sparkling towers seemed to pierce the very surface of the planet earth below them, which was reflected like a fantastic mirage in the crystal-clear lake that surrounded Iraklia.

And then there were the ruling bodies themselves, the married king and queen couple that have ruled Alkor Zephyr for the past two-hundred years. First, was king Aquario. A proud and heartily out-spoken alicorn stallion who's coat was a curious shade of deep, nearly translucent purple. His eyes were an exact match of his coat, and his wonderful mane was the precise color of clean, pure water, and magically flowed like so to boot. His cutie mark was a ceramic vase from which curving lines that represented flowing water spilled. Aquario was one to treat his fellow ponies with a well-invested respect, be them peasant or noble, from which ponies, said respect and admiration was duly returned.

And then there was Queen Galactica. The alicorn mare was older than her husband by thirty-one years (with Aquario being three hundred and four) but she hardly acted the part (this is said with the most careful and utmost respect of course). Galactica's coat was a pretty seashell-pink, and her eyes were much the same color. Her glorious mane was said to be the exact hue of pale stardust, and shimmered with trapped particles of semiprecious stones. Her cutie mark was a solar eclipse; the sun overlapping the moon. Despite her relatively advanced age, (even in alicorn years) Galactica was a bright and personable pony who simply enjoyed enjoying herself. She could be seen as downright bubbly at the best of times. There have been many a pony (mostly her political opponents) that have often mistaken her lighthearted nature for weakness.

Those ponies no longer have jobs in politics.

And, as it has no doubt been deduced by now, they were the parents of Princess Celestia. And they were happily expecting another prince or princess in the coming weeks.

As Wonderlocke carried the young Princess Celestia on his back, they walked past another one of the floor-level windows that gazed out upon Grand Zephyr Castle and the encompassing backdrop of the planet earth. Celestia unceremoniously hopped from her unicorn tutor's back and gazed out the window. Sighing, Wonderlocke joined her to take in the view. By his own admission, Wonderlocke wasn't exactly a young pony anymore, and hence the spectacle of marveling at the view, as breath-taking as it actually was, has since lost it's original appeal. But Celestia, fully engrossed in the absolute wonderment that all seven of her young years could muster, always stopped to take in the sight. "Hey," she asked suddenly. "Do you think there are ponies down there?" Her voice held all the innocent, and rather reckless charm of a child who really wanted an answer to a question.

"On earth, you mean?" was Wonderlocke's response.

"Of course on earth," Celestia responded with a wise and child-like impatience. "I already know there are ponies here."

"Of course there are ponies on earth," Wonderlocke answered, somewhat untruthfully. He had always imagined such, but of course, nopony here was in any position to ever find out.

"You don't know that..." Celestia pouted. Steadying her fore hooves on the glass of the window, she raised herself to stand on her hind legs. "If there are ponies down there, I want to be the first to see them, and to find out what they're like." Wonderlocke was silently taken aback at Celestia's somber moment of personal exploration. "Do you think they know we're up here?"

"I can't really say..."

"If they did, I bet they'd call us moonies."

"Moonies? Your highness?" Wonderlocke said.

"Yes, moonies," Celestia said. "Ponies on the moon. Moonies." She said this to Wonderlocke as though it should have been obvious to him.

Wonderlocke heaved a sigh that turned into a chuckle. "Well dear princess, since it is I who has just received a rather thorough education here, I do believe we can skip your lessons for today," he said. "I will escort you back to-" but Celestia had already peeled out, leaving only a trail of her laughter behind her. As it turns out, that filly could run fast when she wanted to.

...

The sacred birthing chamber was a riot of bustling activity. Pony maids and attendees scurried forth, this way and that, retrieving fresh blankets, fluffing pillows, or whatever else it was that their queen happened to desire at the time. And Galactica lay in the very center of the rabble, comfortable on her fluffy bed of silk and satin, but at the same time, rather discontent. As it happened, she was having a hard time finding a lying position that was equally supportive of her spine and her swollen belly. No amount of fluffed pillows or additional layers of bedding seemed to help. "Jedite!" She called.

A handsome blonde unicorn stallion made himself present at her call. "How may I be of service, my queen," he said smoothly.

"If you could be a dear and fetch me some cool water and arrange a compress for me, I'd be very much appreciative."

Jedite struck a small bow, one that barely worked the muscles in his neck. "At once," he said simply.

Galactica sighed and rolled onto her back, this prompting the almost blindingly swift replacement of several now flattened pillows she had been lying on. "You are being most stubborn." She said this directly at her belly as she craned her neck to stare down at it. "Almost twelve months now and you refuse to come. You must be a colt; only they can be this stubborn." She sighed as she let the contentment of her former nightly ritual wash over her mind. Lying in bed with Aquario as he massaged and talked to her belly, no doubt to the child inside of course. His conversations with his soon son-or-daughter-to be were highly animated; with all the enthusiastic "Oh really's " and "That's very interesting's" a father would coddle his child with.

But at that moment, it was another voice that came into her mind.
"Mommy! Mommy!"

Galactica peered over the mound of her belly to see her sweet pink-coated daughter smiling at her from the foot of her bed, with a gaggle of somewhat disapproving nurse mares looking on. "Celestia, sweetie, I am happy to see you, of course, but should you not be with Wonderlocke about now?" She said.

"I got let off lessons today!" Celestia chirped, as though trumpeting her greatest achievement to date.

"I see..." Galactica mused. "At any rate, sugarpop, now is not the best time for you to be milling about the castle. Why don't you go play with your little friend, Moon Petal?"

"But I just wanted to see-"

Galactica held up her fore hoof and cast her daughter a withering and motherly glare. "Everything with me is fine, sugarpop. But this is a rather busy and important time in mommy's life. I of course want you to be a part of it, and you will, but not just yet. Understand?"

"Yes, mommy..."

Celestia left the birthing chamber with a somewhat dampened spirit, which immediately perked up again as she met a certain unicorn mare in the corridor. "Auntie Beryl!"

Onega Beryl was the half-sister of Queen Galactica. Though both mares shared the same birth mother, Onega Scion, their father's were quite different. Galactica's father was the legendary lunar pegasus knight, King Battlestar. While Beryl's father, was much more...nondescript. A handsome, but rather simple lunar unicorn that married into his royal title.

As it stood, Beryl was far less comparable in all areas of the public eye to her sister, the queen. She did not have Galactica's bubbly out-going companionably; nor did she share the same alicorn birth status; and while she was far from unattractive, she shared none of her sister's glowing cosmic beauty. Beryl's coat was a light, glossy brown. And her somewhat wild mane and tail were bright blood-red. Her eyes were perhaps a shade or two lighter than her hair, and her cutie mark was a crystal ball, clutched by a clawed hand. Beryl also had another feature; one that somewhat coarsened the unique looks that she had. It was a birthmark. It appeared not unlike a patch of absolute pitch-black clouds. This black mark covered nearly the entirety of the left side of her face. There were some that saw this as an omen of sorts; a reason for most ponies to keep their distance from her, something that Beryl never minded. King Aquario himself seemed the most wary of this fact, and often treated her with a blatant disregard, much to his wife's disapproval.

Beryl rolled her eyes over to address the alicorn filly that nosed her way into her midst. "How do you do, precious niece of mine..." Beryl had often been admonished for her rather dreamy speech pattern; all of her sentences seemed to drift off into space, and her attention always seemed to be elsewhere...

"Everything is fine," Celestia said, with but a trace of a rather dejected and unjust emotion. "Mommy is very busy prepping the arrival of the new baby."

"Ah, yes, she is close to giving birth isn't she?" Beryl mused. "Perhaps within the week..."

"I hope it's a colt," Celestia said wistfully. "Then I could have a little brother to boss around, and I could make him get me stuff..." Celestia cocked her little head as she thought deeper into the issue. "And if any pony ever picked on him, I would totally kick their flanks! But who would pick on a prince? And then when he's older, I can help him find that perfect mare; oh it would be wonderful!"

"You've given this quite some thought..." Beryl said.

"Only recently," Celestia said soberly. "It was nearly a year ago when mommy and daddy sat me down and said that mommy was pregnant. And I said, 'what does pregnant mean?' And daddy said that I was going to have a new little brother or sister. But that seemed like so long ago, that there was almost time to forget, but now that they're so close..."

Beryl was silent for just a few moments. "Why don't you go see your father, dear niece. I am sure he would delight in your presence about now..."

"Okay," Celestia said in a somewhat deflated tone. Beryl watched her progress down the corridor until she eventually turned down the adjacent hall. And slowly, Beryl turned her head back to it's original position, staring out the gilded window and onto the earth below.

...

Nightwing entered the vast royal hall amid the collective chatter of several royal delegates of the Alkor Zephyr's western mounds, and King Aquario himself. Hearing his approaching hoofsteps, Aquario turned his attention to his head guardsmen, "Ah, captain Nightwing," he said. "What impeccable timing you have. As it just so happens, we were just discussing the matters of border security and the possible potential for need of it's increase. If you could ever be so kind as to inform these gentlecolts here that such a thing is far from necessary."

Nightwing took his que and addressed the group of stallions just in front of him. "As it has been my duty for the past seven years, I have just returned from my patrol of the Iraklian border. And as per my findings in the previously mentioned time span, I can safely assure you that increased security is far from a necessary precaution."

"And there you have it," Aquario said somewhat triumphantly. "Now if you fine gentlecolts have anything else of importance to debate with me-"

"Daddy!"

Aquario's sentence was cut off by the rather unceremonious entrance of his young daughter, who's tiny hooves reverberated loudly on the marble floor. "It appears this court has come to an end. Matters of dire paternal importance have suddenly come to my attention." Aquario clearly said this as a joke, but none the less, the words had their desired effect as the group of pony delegates shuffled off, muttering amongst themselves. Aquario caught his daughter in a one-legged hug as she barreled into his chest at top speed. It was then that Aquario noticed that Nightwing was still standing stiffly at attention. "I know I didn't say so directly, Nightwing, but you are dismissed," he said smiling.

Nightwing fidgeted just a bit as he said, "But I have not given you my full report, your highness..."

"And I doubt very much that you will need to," Aquario chuckled. "Alkor Zephyr is in no immediate danger; and Iraklia is even less so. Why don't you take the rest of the day off."

Nightwing hesitated just slightly, the prospect of taking off so much leisure time was almost a foreign concept to the dutiful pegasus. "At your word, majesty," he finally said with a bow. He then offered the same gesture to Celestia as he trotted his way out of the hall.

"Well then," Aquario said to his daughter, "What brings you around these parts young lady. It had better be important."

"Well..." Celestia began somewhat devilishly, "Wonderlocke dismissed me from lessons today, so I thought I would use my spare time wisely and come visit you."

"Wonderlocke let you off, eh?" Aquario said. "No, no, no, that will never do." He straitened his legs as as he stood to his full height. "Since you're confident enough in your abilities to put off lessons, let's see what you can do." Aquario ignited his horn as he levitated an apple from a bowl of fruit on a stone table beside him just above his head. "And...now!" He launched the apple high into the air, just grazing the ornate ceiling that stood well above their heads.

Celestia took the que and took a few steps back, her eyes locked all the time on the rapidly falling fruit. She took careful aim at the apple and loosed a small blast of magic from her horn, which collided with her target and sent pulpy bits of apple all over the room. "Ha!" Was Celestia's triumphant cry.

"That was just for starters," Aquario chuckled. He launched three more apples into the air and Celestia shot down every one of them with an aim as true as any of his unicorn archers. Soon the hall was absolutely coated with sticky apple pulp and skin. "Wonderful!" Aquario rejoiced. "You've definitely been keeping your skills sharp!" Aquario beat two rhythmic stamps of his front hoof on the marble floor and from two corners of the room appeared two unicorn servants. "Please clean this up, won't you ladies?" He said, still chuckling. The maid mares responded with obedient bows as Aquario said to his daughter, "Would you like to watch the sun come around, Celestia?"

"Of course!" She squeaked excitedly.

So Aquario and Celestia took the well-traveled path that lead them to one of Celestia's favorite places in the entire palace. The observatory. The room was about as close to the sky as one could possibly be. From here, they had the most magnificent view of the planet earth below them, in all it's spherical splendor. The two ponies sat themselves on the balcony that looked onto the wonderful scene. While the earth was possibly one of the most beautiful things Celestia had ever seen; with it's scattered vapor of white clouds that swirled over deep blue oceans, this was not what they had come to see.

And just then, the object of their interest swam into their view. It was the sun. As radiant as it could ever be; it's rays reaching down to warm the earth below. Of course, their lunar home was much too far from the burning sphere for it to be of any use or harm to them; the lunar ponies having adapted to life with no sunlight. But there were times when Celestia wished that it would come closer, so that she may embrace it's shining warmth and feel it rush through her body.

Aquario turned to his daughter. "Do you know what the sun is, Celestia?" He asked her.

"It's a star," she said back knowingly. "Wonderlocke taught me that."

Aquario nodded. "But it's not just any star," he said. "The sun is the biggest, brightest, most powerful and beautiful star in all the universe. And it happens to be your mother's favorite." A fond distance of remembrance came to his eyes then, as he thought of the pony he loved so dearly. "She said to me, 'If I could have any star in the sky, it would be that one.' But, seeing as I can't actually give her a star; I gave her the next best thing."

"What?" Celestia said, with honest curiosity.

Aquario chuckled. "A daughter named after the very star she idolized so very much." Celestia blushed through her pink coat at the mention of the star she was named for. "But do you know what the best thing about the sun is, Celestia?" She shook her head slightly. "As I said before, the sun is the most powerful star in the universe, and one day, Celestia, it will be yours."

Celestia's eyes went saucer-wide as she took in a breath. "You mean..."

"Yes," Aquario assured her. "Me and you mother's lives have been long, and will be longer still, but there will come a day when we are no longer with you. And that is the day you will become ruling queen of Alkor Zephyr, and inherit the star you were named for. You will be the sole master of it's light and commander of all it's astral fire." He beamed down at his young daughter. "You were born to do great things, Celestia," he said. "And great things you will do." Celestia was all but silent with the wonderment of her father's speech. One day the sun would be hers, and she would rule Iraklia and all of Alkor Zephyr. Of course, she hardly wanted to imagine a world without her parents in it, but that was the grim reality of life; it could not last forever, no matter how powerful of a pony you were. But at least she wouldn't have to much about such a thing too much right now. At least not for the next two or three hundred years.

"But alas, dear daughter, it is time now for you to retire for the night."

"But I'm not sleepy, daddy!" The young princess protested.

Aquario shook his head patiently. "Sleep is much like hunger, Celestia," he said. "It is always best addressed when it is not felt, so it does not interfere with one's thoughts or actions." He cocked his great purple head slightly as he mused aloud. "It is, however, quite the walk to your bedroom from here. I believe it to be in both our best interests to save us from such a dreary amount of walking, no?"

Celestia nodded gleefully as Aquario cast his horn aglow with starry purple light. And in no more time than Celestia could even blink, they were both standing in her plush, sun-colored bedroom. Celestia always marveled at her father's power; her own teleportation spells could barely get her across the room, let alone halfway across the castle. She climbed into her silken bed as her father used his magic to tuck the blanket up just under her chin. "Can you sing that song, daddy?" Celestia said.

Aquario nodded as he sat just on the edge of Celestia's bed, from where he could more easily stare into his daughter's wonderful blue eyes. The song she had requested was one that Aquario himself had become quite familiar with when he was but a colt so many years ago. It was called "The House of the Moon". The song was actually a poem, written by a famous lunar pony-poet who fancied himself, "The Prophet of the Last Eclipse". The poem itself was rather dark and doom-speaking; telling of the last pony on the moon witnessing the death of every last star in the universe, until all was plunged into a void of light-less dark. However, when said poem was converted into song, the meter came across as more relaxing and tranquilly harmonic than the lyrics may lead one to believe. And he's been singing this same song as Celestia's lullaby for the past four years. Aquario cleared his throat and began to sing:

"Sighted.

I am excited.

For the last of the days.

I'm elated

but not related

to my kin who make their home in the stars.

Sold my soul for solar.

A lunatic for Luna.

Prophesied for profit.

Now I've lost my mind

something I don't mind.

Shine, this silent star of mine

so timeless, past your prime

and oh-so slowly dying.

I try to understand

the things that I can't stand

the end of the ending...beginning..."

Celestia had been soothed into sleep even before the song ended. She lay on her back; mouth just open as she breathed rhythmically, her chest rising and falling as she did so. Aquario smiled both inwardly and outwardly, as a fatherly pride filled his being. "Sleep well, my shining star," he whispered gently, kissing her forehead ever so lovingly.

...

Beryl had not deviated a single inch from her position since her conversation with Celestia. She simply remained inert and intent; her gaze never straying from the earth on the horizon. Despite her seemingly trance-like stare, she was alert enough to notice the approach of her consort; for his image was reflected in the dark of the glass through which she stared. "My dear Jedite..." she said silkily.

The unicorn bowed with a gracious sincerity, his head nearly touching the floor between his hooves. "I bring you good news, my queen of queens," he said.

"About the legendary silver crystal?" Beryl asked.

"Yes, my lady," Jedite responded. "Out in the middle regions of dust and waste, we have honed in on a tremendous energy source. It is buried some ways beneath the surface, but it bears an unmistakable resemblance to the energy that resonates from the fragment of the crystal currently in your possession."

Beryl flicked her ears around the bronze tiara that rested on her head. In the very center of its face rested a chip of silver that shone with the most minute of enchanted iridescence. She chuckled silently to herself. "That is most wonderful, Jedite. Most wonderful indeed..."

"The legendary silver crystal shall soon be yours, my queen of queens," Jedite said smugly. "And with it's power you can finally take your proper place as ruler of Alkor Zephyr."

A crookedly genuine smile broke over Beryl's face; it's ferocity reflected in the moon glass before her. Soon she would rule this world, and the next.

Soon...

...

A/N:

I have two words to say.

Sailor Moon Crystal.

Okay...granted that's three words, but you get my point. Sailor Moon has come back into my life in the best way possible (it feels like so many moons ago I was watching the original series every day before school. Ah, memories...) And of course, with my overactive imagination, I found myself starting a fanfic about it (sort of). While the fic is inspired by Sailor Moon Crystal, it also does and doesn't resemble it in most cases, which may be good, or bad...whatever.

Also, I learned a few things about myself recently. Apparently, with me being a Gemini and all, I'm cursed with a rather brilliant intellect, and very active mind. And it's these very facts that lead to the Gemini trait of inconsistency. You can read it all here- .

I guess now I realize why I can't seem to follow any of my fics through... however, I'm going to do my level best in fighting against my stupid Gemini inconsistency to bring my two pony fics home. So with that, I'll sign off for now. Will post again soon.

-B.D. Skunkworks

P.S.- So hype for the Destiny beta on XBOX360! July 23rd can't come soon enough!