KingOfTheLab presents...

a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic story...

THE STARMAKER

Chapter 1- The Mysterious Book

It was a quiet evening in Ponyville. Princess Luna's moon shone brightly, the stars twinkled in the sky, and everypony was nestled in their beds, fast asleep.

Well, almost everypony.

Lights flickered in Twilight Sparkle's treehouse library, where the purple unicorn pony was pulling an all-night studying session. Owlowiscious the owl sat on a nearby perch , filling in as assistant while Twilght's normal helper, the baby dragon Spike, slept. Her horn glowed as she pored over the books.

"Hmm," she started, "Get this, Owlowiscious; according to these equations, it should be possible to-"

She was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hoo." Owlowiscious hooted.

Twilight looked up from her books. "My thoughts exactly. Who could that be at this hour?"

Another knock.

"Coming, coming!" Twilight called out as she trotted to the door. Opening the door, she went into a well-rehearsed spiel, "I'm sorry, but the library is closed now, you'll have to wait until morning to check out books. If you have any books to return, please use the book return slot under the window to the left. Thank y-"

That's when she realized no one was there.

"Hmm. That's strange." She looked around, peering into the night. "Hello? Anyone there? Pinkie Pie, if this is another one of your pranks, I swear…"

She looked down, taking notice of the package on her doorstep.

"I don't remember ordering anything…"

She heard a yawn behind her. Turning around, she found a bleary-eyed Spike.

"What's all the racket?" he asked sleepily.

"Spike, did you order any new books or anything like that recently?"

Another yawn. "No. Why?"

Twilight stepped aside, gesturing to the package. In an instant, Spike's eyes seemed to brighten as he rushed over to the package. "Ooh! I wonder what it is? Or who it's from?"

"Spike, be careful, we have no idea-"

But Twilight's warning fell on deaf ears; Spike was already tearing into the package.

"It's a…book?" Spike seemed a little let down. It was indeed a book, and a rather ornate on at that, with fancy golden symbols etched into the cover.

"I guess that makes sense," Twilight Sparkle reasoned. "After all, this is a library. Probably just an anonymous donation."

"In the middle of the night?" Spike questioned.

"Good point. Well, I'll take a look at it."

"And I'm going back to bed," said Spike, reverting to his bleary-eyed state.

Twilight giggled. "You do that, Spike. See you in the morning."

The next day was a beautiful day, which saw Twilight and some of her friends out in meadow just outside Ponyville. Rainbow Dash paced in front of two other Pegasus ponies: Fluttershy and Scootaloo. Today was the first day of "Rainbow Dash's Super Amazing Crazy Awesome Flying Academy." Rarity and Applejack watched from the sidelines, along with Scootaloo's friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle; the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight Sparkle was there too, but she was buried in her new book, taking notes on a scroll of parchment.

Rainbow Dash continued her pacing. "Fear does not exist in this dojo!"

Scootaloo jumped up and down. "No Sensei!"

Fluttershy gulped.

"Defeat does not exist in this dojo!"

"No Sensei!"

Gulp.

Applejack scratched her head. "Now what in tarnation is a "dojo?" Or a "Sensei," for that matter?"

Rarity shrugged. "What I want to know is how Rainbow Dash roped Fluttershy into these flying lessons. I mean, Scootaloo I understand, but Fluttershy?"

"Well, you know that girl…can't say no to anypony."

Rarity nodded, then stopped and thought. "And what are we doing here?"

"Hmm. Ain't got nuthin' better to do I guess…hey, where's Pinkie?"

"At Sugarcube Corner. She said something about having a big order to fill."

Applejack did a double take. "Pinkie Pie's hard at work while we're goofing off? Never thought I'd see the day."

Both ponies glanced over at Twilight. "What do you think, Twilight?"

It took the purple unicorn a moment to separate herself from her work. "What? Oh, sorry. Yes, it's very, um…thingish?"

"What's got you so occupied, Twi?" asked Applejack.

Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry guys, it's just that somepony left this book at the library last night."

"And?" Rarity goaded.

"Well, it's written in an ancient language, and I stayed up all night trying to translate it, but I still can't make heads or tails out of it!"

Applejack and Rarity exchanged glances. Applejack coughed.

"Maybe you should take a break and enjoy the show," Applejack waved a hoof at the Pegasus ponies. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air and did a few flips.

"Now you guys try!" she encouraged.

Scootaloo flapped her tiny wings as hard as she could, raising herself an inch off the ground, She tried to flip, but ended up crashing upside down.

"Um, that's…good…" Rainbow Dash said. "Your turn, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy let out a small 'eep.'

At that moment the three ponies on the sideline decided to turn their focus back on Twilight's book.

"Do you have anything figured out?" Rarity asked.

"Well, some of it is similar to what we speak today, so I was able to translate that…and one word keeps popping up…I think it's a name…Abysma or something…"

"Abysma the Corruptor?" Applejack asked.

Rarity and Twilight gave Applejack a "Huh?" look.

Applejack chuckled. "Now don't tell me you gals ain't never heard that story before."

Both unicorns shook their heads.

"Ooh!" Applebloom exclaimed. "That's my favorite!"

"Granny Smith told us that story all the time when Mac and I were little. Classic tale of good versus evil, y'all sure you haven't heard it?"

Again, the unicorns shook their heads.

"Anyway, it's the story of an evil witch, named Abysma the Corruptor, who ruled over Equestria before it was Equestria. In those days, the land was covered in darkness. And not just the night that Nightmare Moon wanted, I mean total darkness. No sun, no moon, no stars. A pony couldn't see her hoof in front of her face! Abysma was a tyrant, and ponies lived in misery, until three ponies rose up. The first created the sun, the second created the moon, and the third created the stars. Together, they brought light to the world, driving Abysma to the deepest, darkest corners of Equestria. And together they ruled justly over a new Equestria, and everypony lived happily ever after. The end."

"Yay!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle cheered.

"Wow, that is some story," Rarity commented.

"Wait…I don't get it," Twilight said, confused. "I've worked with Princess Celestia my whole life and never heard that story. And she certainly never mentioned anything about a third princess."

Applejack chuckled again. "That's because it's a fairytale, sugarcube! Why, I'd bet every apple in the orchard that Princess Celestia herself would be the first one to tell you that it never happened."

A light bulb went off over Rarity's head. "That's it! I'll bet that book of your's is a book of fairytales!"

Twilight frowned. "Well, that's not that interesting…and who would give me a book of fairytales in the middle of the night?"

Awaken Luna…

Serve your purpose…

Awaken Nightmare Moon…

My greatest corruption…

AWAKEN!

Princess Luna awoke with a start, in a cold sweat. To her surprise, and comfort, Her sister Celestia was standing over her.

"Are you all right, Luna?" Celestia inquired. "You cried out in your sleep."

"Is it time to raise the moon?" Luna asked timidly.

"No," Celestia smiled. "The day is not yet done. Go back to sleep, sister."

Luna settled back into her bed, falling back into a cautious sleep.