Chapter 2, star song

Every pony in ponyville stared skyward as the eye of the stallion expanded outwards, in a matter of minutes it went from the size of a pin prick in the night sky to the size of an apple. The whole town ground to a halt as every pony stared up at the sky. At sweet apple acres big Mac paused mid kick, the apples on the tree remaining attached to the branches. Down by his feet, young apple bloom hid behind one of his front legs. "why has the sky gone so bright big Mac?" she asked, her head peaking out to stare as the ball of flame got bigger, "I'm scared big Mac, are you scared too?" big Mac stared at the expanse of flame as it lit up the sky for a few moments, then he looked down and gave his little sister a gentle nudge "eeyup".

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Far away in Canterlot, the royal princesses Celestia and Luna watched from the castles highest tower as a comet emerged from the super-nova that had consumed the constellation of the stallion. Celestias eyes flickered in the light of the comet as it soared across the night sky, a trail of gold following in its wake. Her sister Luna shook her head and muttered to herself, in the darkness of the night her skin blended into her surroundings.

"Our brother is free so it would seem" Celestia sighed "this is not a welcome surprise, I though you said the star would be able to contain him" Luna's head snapped about, she stared her sister in the eyes.

"The spell I placed on the star was perfect; I checked every alignment, every astrological position. Everything was perfect. Damn it Celestia I incised the runes on him myself, we even used his own cutie mark on him, there's no way that he could have escaped" Luna sighed and turned away from the comet, turning her attention to the verdant valley below.

"If we don't do something about this quick then it's entirely possible that Nova could land here in Equestria, the star went into a supernova sister, you saw that the same as me. The energies Nova had to harness would have to be titanic. If he lands here then he'll be too powerful to stop. we should contact the scribes at the library, they should be able to map the comets trajectory over Equestria" Luna walked over to the door of the stair well, when she realized that Celestia wasn't following her she turned back to find her sister was still at the towers crenellations, her eyes still tracking the comet.

"Celestia, we're wasting time. The longer you stand there the closer Nova comes to Equestria". Celestia didn't take her eyes off the comet, but she still replied to her sisters urgings.

"Luna, it's been almost eight thousand years since Nova was with us, maybe we should let him stay here in Equestria, if we really have to we could send him into exile in the mountains, but we don't even know if he'll land here at all, maybe it would be best if we leave this for now and let destiny choose its own path" Luna couldn't help but stare, shocked by her sisters leniency to their estranged brother.

"Are you mad? Do I need to remind you that you were the one who suggested that we lock him within one of his own stars in the first place? In case you haven't forgotten Celestia we usurped him of his powers and locked him within a star for eight thousand years, and we haven't even fed him once! I can guarantee that he's going to be angry. And the fact we killed his precious Cherry blossom isn't going to help matters at all, if he lands here, he'll kill us. We need to act now!" Celestia looked at the floor, unable to meet her sisters' gaze.

"I guess your right Luna; we have to do something about this. In the morning I'll contact the librarians, they should provide us with the answers we seek". Luna gave her sister a hard stare before she nodded her agreement. As she turned to go down the stairs she heard Celestia call her name, she turned to find her sister still at the crenellations, but now she hung her head, in sadness or shame Luna couldn't tell.

"Nova always loved the stars, I remember when we where children he would stay up all night at the top of this very tower, staring at them. Once in the middle of the night I woke and couldn't find him, but when I came up here he was sitting like he always did, watching the stars. He asked me if I could hear them like he did" Celestia gave a sad smile and quietly sniffed, Luna saw a tear roll down her sisters cheek, Celestia was crying. "I had no idea what he meant, I told him as much. 'Listen' he said, and I did, but all I could hear was silence. 'But you've got to hear them' he said, I still remember the look on his face; he never looked half as handsome as when he was confused. 'I'm sorry Nova, I can't' I must have told him a hundred times before he believed me, but after he had talked about them so much, I felt sad that I couldn't hear them, so I asked him what a star sounded like. He sat in silence for a long time after that, like he forgot I was even there. When I turned to go he started to sing, quiet at first, but then he got louder and louder. It was such a beautiful song, and he sang it so well. When he sung it, for a second I thought I actually hear his stars singing with him. It was so beautiful" Celestia looked up at the stars, her tears rolling down her neck. Luna didn't know what to say.

"That was thousands of years ago sister. Nova can no longer hear the stars, just as we can't. We took his stars from him; we took his stars and his soul. It was your suggestion to take his mark in the first place Celestia, yours" Luna turned to go down the stairs, Celestia watched her go. Just before Lunas flank disappeared from sight, she told Celestia one last thing. "You took his mark, his stars and his soul Celestia. And now he's come back for vengeance, he'll kill you sister, make no mistake" Lunas flank disappeared down the stairwell, but her last few words stayed with Celestia for the rest of the night. "If you had taken the moon from me, I would have done the same".

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Blossom, it was my cherry blossom. The thought played itself over and over in Novas mind. She's alive, my sweet blossom is alive. For days he drifted in and out of consciousness, riding on waves of darkness and forgotten memories. Once he had dreamed that he was in the forest, the small filly called cherub showing him her butterfly net. "I come out here every day and catch as many as I can" she said, her bright blue eyes filled with joy. Nova laughed and replied "do you now young one? I bet you've caught a lot today". The filly's smile grew even wider and Nova swore her eyes started to twinkle "you bet I have, I've caught two whole jars worth of butterflies just today" she pulled out two small glass jars from her flank pack, Nova counted thirteen butterflies in the first jar and just as many in the second. He was about to congratulate the young filly when he realized she wasn't there, he was alone in the forest. Just then he heard the howl of a mighty wolf and woke with a start, still shooting through space. From what he could tell when he was awake was that he must have travelled thousands of leagues, far off in the distance behind him the star had consumed the whole constellation. He smiled at the thought, when he had been trapped for so long within his cell he had forgotten the plan he had laid in place millennia ago. Before his sisters had sealed the vault and drawn up the last of the runes he had used his last reserves of energy to alter the orbits of several stars to form a new constellation in the night sky. Over the many generations it had changed names multiple times. The unicorns had named it the seer, for its stars had formed the shape of a sorceress enacting a great ritual. The pegausi had named it the tempest, for the stars in their eyes was shaped like a great storm. The earth ponies, being as humble as they were, simply named it the plow. But despite its various names, the stallion was made to perform one simple task. To alter the flow of astrological energy released by the orbit of the stars as they travelled their set paths and funnel it into the heart of the stallions' eye. It would take eons; he had known that when he formed the constellation, harnessing the energies of a celestial body took time. But when his plans came to fruition the star would contain so much excess energy that it would turn into a super-nova centuries before it's predetermined time. Nova was pleased with the end result, but there were certain abnormalities that disturbed him to no end. The first was the most obvious, the appearance of cherry blossom. Blossom was dead, he had seen being tortured and mutilated before his own eyes. So how could she have appeared before his very eyes was a mystery, nothing brought back the dead, though once he had heard of angels who had families that they visited. And how had she survived the flames unscathed? And when she kissed him, her touch had healed his wounds, but she was just an earth pony, how could she have these abilities? Somewhere in the back of his mind a part of him told himself that the alteration of the flow of arcane energies had formed a nexus point within the star itself, this build up of energy had caused the walls between the realities to thin, allowing the souls of the deceased to cross into this astral plane. But at the moment the explanation would have to wait, he currently needed to focus on more pressing issues. For instance, he had no idea where he was going. Nova closed his eyes and let his body go limp. He had no idea no where he was going, but there was no point in worrying about something that was out his control. He curled up into his accustomed sleeping position, a tight ball, and drifted into darkness and dreams of his sweet, sweet Cherry blossom.

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"Your royal highness, I'm most honored that you have come to the order of librarians for knowledge" Luna stared down at the small, wrinkled mare in front of her. The mistress librarian of the royal library was a wizened old creature, with big round eyes behind equally large and round glasses. She had taken her vows when she was just a filly and hadn't left the capital ever since, though from the look of her, Luna wouldn't be surprised if mistress librarian Jane hadn't left the library at all.

"I have come seeking knowledge mistress librarian, I wish to know more about comets, specifically the one that was spotted a few days ago after the stallions' eye exploded".

"of course, of course this way your highness" Jane beckoned for Luna to follow her and she set off through rows and rows of book shelves "ahh yes, the report on the trajectory of the comet 'liberus Aquila', come your highness, one of my scribes finished the report just yesterday, A strange request from her royal highness princess Celestia, commissioning a report on a comet. A comet of all things as well, I would think she would be more interested in the recent surges of astrological energy we've been reading from the sun" they passed rows upon rows of high book shelves, occasionally passing a pony head deep in a book within one of the aisles. Luna hadn't really been paying attention, but when she heard about the increased solar radiation, some nagging doubt caught her interest.

"The sun you say?" if Celestias own sun, a star itself, was in flux then it meant that Nova could have possibly regained some of his powers. The sun was a star, the same as any other. It would take nothing for Nova to use a fraction of his powers and bring the sun down upon their very heads, the thought of being baked alive within her own castle wasn't an idea Luna wanted to entertain for long. "How is this possible?" she asked. Her voice was loud in the dusty silence of the library. "Surely if something was amiss with her own celestial body my sister would know about it". The librarian gave Luna an excited look from behind her thick glasses. 'She doesn't know' Luna realized 'none of them know about Nova, or the dangers he brings'

"Well your highness, I can guarantee you that you're not the only pony to be vexed by this mystery. Why, even our head astrologer professor far eye had to pause to scratch his head. At first we thought it was something to do with your royal sisters' ability to control the sun, when we analyzed the type of energy that was being detected we discovered that it was astrological rather than solar"

"Mistress Librarian, my powers allow me to control the moon. I'm afraid you'll have to enlighten me on what types of energy the sun gives off" Luna had never paid much attention to the arcane machinations her sister used to bring up the sun each morning, and as for different types of energy. The librarian was better off talking to one of her books; Luna knew and cared little about the subject.

The librarian gave Luna a warm smile and launched straight into the subject. "Well you see princess, the sun and all celestial bodies all give off energy. Some of it is easy to sense, for instance the sun gives off light and warmth, every pony can see that. But as well as those forms the energy takes on other forms, for instance the sun also gives of several different of astrological energy"

'She sounds like she giving another lecture' Luna thought, but instead she simply nodded her understanding.

"Of the seven different types we monitor here at the library, five have little effect on us at all. For instance, gold waves produce nothing more than a slight tinge to the atmosphere. Ultra-violet radiation is dangerous, but the atmosphere protects us from it. However there are two types that have been known to have some effect on our lives. The first is celestial energy which is generated by the suns orbit, as the sun moves the excess energy produced causes the sun to wobble on its axis. This change in the suns angle relative to Equestria causes the constant cycle of the seasons, since as the angle changes the amount of light and warmth reaching us changes as well, decreasing in the winter and reaching a maximum in the summer. The second is a type of wave that we have trouble monitoring, primarily because it rarely reacts with our sensory devices at all, we've named this energy ghost waves as a result. From what we can tell, as soon as it's generated it either dissipates, changes into celestial energy or is funnelled away from the sun" the head librarian paused to wipe her glasses "do you believe in the concept of astrology your highness?"

Luna had had firsthand experience with astrology; the moon did play a vital role in the concept. "I have heard of it, though I do sometimes doubt it. It seems strange to me that our fates are governed by some distant stars" the librarian nodded.

"It's only to be expected my lady, there's a fierce debate amongst my colleagues as to whether or not astrology is even a science at all" they had reached the far wall of the library tower, before them was a small iron cage just about big enough to fit five ponies. The librarian held the door open for Luna as she stepped inside. Luna disliked the device, through the gaps in the floor she could see the ground floor a long way below her and the cage shook as well, forcing her to sway in time with the movements to keep her balance. The librarian stepped inside, closed the door, and gave a sharp pull on a small rope. Somewhere over head Luna heard a bell ring and then the cage began to rise, it moved upwards in fits of starts and stops, but the ride gradually became smoother as they rose higher, the librarian resumed her lecture.

"From our previous interactions with ghost waves we can tell that there is something strange about its composition, celestial energy contains trace amounts of hydrogen and helium, which is only to be expected since it comes from the sun. But ghost waves don't even contain trace amounts of anything, the waves themselves are composed of pure energy"

"Pure energy" Luna paused, her mind processing the information "but that would mean that the waves are formed by…"

"Magic" the librarian finished her sentence "your correct about that my lady, only magic is formed from pure energy. But if the waves are formed from magic as our data suggests then that means astrology may be entirely possible. That's not all; we're also getting similar readings from the supernova within the constellation of the stallion."

"Their connected" if what the head librarian was suggesting was true then anypony with the ability to control the stars was also capable of controlling the destiny of the world. Luna didn't like the idea one bit.

"Precisely your highness, we have several of our sensory devices tracking other stars; all of them have come up with the same results. We've hypothesised that all the stars in the sky may be connected by links of ghost waves, a massive network spanning the universe."

The idea of it sent an iron grip over Lunas heart. If this was all true then it meant that should Nova regain his abilities he would not only control the stars but the fate of the whole universe. He couldn't be allowed to Equestria. He had to be stopped.