Title:           Starcrossed Prologue
Author:          TheOneTrueHazard
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/NjzYsnzQ
First Edit:      Wednesday 20th of August 2014 12:15:42 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Wednesday 20th of August 2014 12:15:42 PM CDT

----------------------------------------------------------------Starcrossed: a Prologue
The night was cool in Canterlot, and the crisp air was rushed across the mare's wings and over her horn as she trotted leisurely through the streets to the castle. A thick book hovered about a foot from her snout, enveloped in amethyst light. The twin guards bristled their feathery wings at her approach and stood at salute, pushing the monstrous doors open ahead of her. "Princess Twilight! They are expecting you!"
 
She nodded politely to the paired pegasi and passed beyond the doors. Two rows of familiar stained glass greeted her from behind the columns that supported the vaulted ceiling high above. It wasn't until recently that Twilight realized the hidden nooks and crannies up there. Her mentor had said that they were hiding spots for pegasi during a siege of the castle, but the purple mare had found that they were perfect spots to hide away with a gripping book.
 
That was not what she was here for. Celestia had summoned her from Ponyville. "...For further training," the missive said as it belched out with Spike's verdant flame. What kind of training had the majestic, older alicorn in mind for tonight? They were never what the young mare expected them to be. Even if they seemed straightforward, they always seemed to have a strange twist to them that made her life difficult. Not that she was complaining. She always learned something from them, and if there was anything she loved, it was learning. Mostly from books, but experience often taught lessons more deeply. She wove through the palace halls, mostly by muscle memory. As a filly, she had roamed these marble mazes, with little more than a hastily scrawled map to guide her. Finally, she came to the throne room door. The guards pushed it open before her and bowed. On the far end of the room, a large throne sat, flanked by yet more guards. And there, was her mentor, the Princess Celestia...
 
...Conked out and sprawled in a very unladylike manner over her throne. Her perch had a skirt made of scrolls and parchments, mounding up and threatening to bury the white mare. A tiny pool of saliva seeped into the arm of the massive chair, and a light snore escaped her nostrils.
 
A midnight blue alicorn stepped out from behind the throne. "Ah, Princess Twilight. We..." She reached up a hoof and gently pushed her sister's mouth shut, "I would apologize on our sister's behalf. She has been worrying herself too much, I fear. It has gotten to her."
 
"Worry?" Twilight tilted her head in concern, "What does Princess Celestia have to worry about? What's wrong, Princess Luna?"
 
Luna sat down, prim and proper. "Do you remember those ponies that arrived out of nowhere?"
 
Twilight nodded.
 
"They were... Not ponies. They were creatures from another world. That world in the Mirror through which you stepped."
 
"Humans? Those ponies were human?"
 
"Yes. The same. We know not how they arrived in our cities, or why, but they are here."
 
"Are they causing trouble? Is that the problem?"
 
"Not precisely. Here, let us show you." From among the pile of scrolls, a map lifted out. Several regions of the map were circled, with names beside them. "When they arrived, we sent these human ponies to colonies throughout the land. Most of these colonies are doing quite well. They are growing and thriving in their areas, despite some minor mishaps. But this one..."
 
She pointed at a colony north of Canterlot and southwest of the Crystal Empire. It was circled in red and labelled "Four Cannon".
 
"...This one is almost constantly in peril."
 
"What kind of peril?"
 
Scrolls and parchments started lifting up from the mound around the chair, one after another. "Trolls, cockatrices, changelings, giant insects, will o' wisps... All of these things, on top of the inclement environs."
 
"Inclement... environs?"
 
"Have you heard, Princess Twilight, of the curse of the northern lands?"
 
She scratched at her chin. "I think I remember reading something about it."
 
"Any who try to settle those lands have failed. Their settlements sink into the marshes. Their crops do not grow as easily. Sometimes, they merely vanish. Ghost towns are in their place."
 
"And you sent them there? You knew how bad those lands were, and you sent them there?"
 
"Yes. And now you see the reason for our concern." Luna turned sad, blue eyes to the sleeping form. "Our sister is wracked with guilt. We, as well, but she feels it most keenly. Each time we receive report that another of their populace has died... She takes it hard. It is our fault. Everything that's happened to them."
 
This knowledge fell heavily on the young mare. Her mentor, the flawless Celestia, doomed these humans to the northern lands. And now, the guilt of a ruler weighed upon her like lead. This revelation pushed on Twilight's mind, squeezing so that when she worked up to her question of "Why?" it came out as little more than a Fluttershy squeak.
 
"Hmm?"
 
"Why did you do this to them? What did they do to deserve this?"
 
There was silence. Utter silence. Only the crackle of torches and the cough of an earthie guard dared break the quiet. Luna stared at the floor like a teenager, angry that she had been caught doing something she oughtn't. "Star Swirl."
 
That name shattered the tension in the room. It was a name Twilight knew well from her studies in magic. He was an ancient role model to her. The consummate wizard. "Star Swirl? As in Star Swirl the Bearded? What does he have to do about all this?"
 
"Everything. Come with us. I do not wish to rouse my sister." The crescent moon on her flank lifted as she stood and walked out to the balcony. A letter floated in the night air behind her. Twilight followed. "As you well know, Star Swirl was a friend to me and my sister. He taught us many things about magic. Later in his life, he began to experiment with temporal magic."
 
"Such as the amniomorphic spell?"
 
"Precisely. However, it was during these experiments that he began to have visions of the future." The older alicorn gazed off the balcony and into the northern horizon. The letter drifted to the lavender pony. "He did not share these visions with us, but he did give us a dire warning."
 
Twilight took hold of the letter in her magic and began reading with rapt attention.
 
        "Dearest Ladies,
        How are you two? I trust that you have settled into your crowns well under the assistance of misses Cookie, Clover, and Pansy. I do not fear, for the two of you were born for this role as surely as I was born for magic.
       
        I do not wish to add to your concerns, but I must tell you of the results of my toying with the magic of the hourglass. I have completed forays into the past, limited to only seconds, but my attempts to journey to the future have yielded no direct results. However, I have been granted glimpses of what is to come, and there are events that could spell disaster for all of Equestria, should you fail to act as I instruct.
       
        One day, many, many years from now, thousands of ponies will arrive in your fair towns and cities, appearing as if from nowhere. These are not your citizens, for they come from a world far beyond our own. When they appear, you must banish them. I have provided for you a map. Send these ponies to the places I have marked. You must not grant them aid beyond what they can trade fairly for, and you must not allow your citizens to cross their borders. If you do as I instruct, you will prevent a catastrophe that would be the end of thousands of your citizen's lives. You must promise me that you will do this.
       
        On a related note, if you could send Clover to me as soon as she is free. I have several projects that could use her eye for detail. Furthermore, if you could recommend a good mason and smith in Manehattan, I would like to employ them as well.
       
        Your friend and mentor,"
       
Twilight peered at the symbol that appeared beneath that line. Three stars on a swirled background. Definitely the mark of Star Swirl.
 
        "PS:" the letter concluded, "Even 1000 years is not too late to make recompense. Your love for each other is beyond all hurt."
 
A shock of epiphany rattled through the young mare's spine.
 
"You read the postscript, did you not?" Luna smiled broadly. "I had always mistaken his meaning... Until you drew me out from the Nightmare."
 
"So, he knew that you would become Nightmare Moon?"
 
"It seems so. Then, when the humans arrived in our towns, you can understand that we had to take the actions he prescribed. When we realized where his map had sent some of these humans, we were hesitant. The sacrifice of a few hundred, to save millions. It was not a decision we wanted to make. They did not deserve what is to come." She looked wistfully back to her sister. "And our choice has haunted us since then."
 
Twilight glanced out to the north, at the Towering Mountain peeking up above the mountain range around it. They were out there: freezing, hungry, afraid... and likely angry. What must these innocent humans have thought about the sisters? About Equestria? "They must think that we hate them."
 
"And it could not be farther from the truth. They are an inspiration! True, some are selfish, and prone to fits of anger for little reason, and some force their will on the weaker... But others..." A warm light glinted in Luna's eyes. "Others are brave and true. They struggle on, not just for survival, but for community. It is our sincere hope that one day, we may grow to be friends with these humans. But alas, our actions have lead to their mistrust and... even hatred of us. We cannot blame them."
 
"They feel abandoned."
 
"They do."
 
"Then why not tell them we are thinking about them?" Twilight stamped a hoof on the tile, her eyes filled with sympathy. "Tell them that you do care. Let them know what Star Swirl said to you!"
 
Luna's gaze dropped to the balcony floor. "We cannot. His further letters forbade it. Beyond a mistaken deportation -for which that official has been fired, we assure you- we have wholly stayed out of their affairs."
 
The lavender mare sat, defeated. She turned her gaze out again to where she knew this town of Four Cannon lay. Stars twinkled around the Sky Lake Range and above the great Lake Epona. Strange, though, that no stars wreathed the Towering Mountain. A thought sparked in her. "We can't tell them about why they're there... But can we tell them that we at least care?"
 
A small bit of her wondered if she was spending too much time around Zecora.
 
"There was nothing in his letters that said we could not." The elder princess took three steps back and breathed deeply.
 
Pink mana swirled and gathered around Twilight Sparkle's horn, and white light streamed from her eyes. "Then we can give them a sign."
 
------------------------Meanwhile, In Four Cannon
 
Spark Chaser slipped his knife along the sheet of rough paper, giving it as crisp an edge as he could muster. He had practiced this technique many times in his college years, scoring the page many times instead of slicing all the way through at once. It made the edge more clean. He laid the page on the pile, completing another stack of paper. He placed a small rock on it, a piece of quartz he had found in the diamond dog lair in Mist Veil. This was the stack he was going to deliver to Golden Touch. Next to it was the one for the workshop, in (unsolicited) payment for their work on cartography tools. Lastly, topped with a small figurine, was the stack he had made for himself and and the Pathfinders to use for cartography. He gazed at the figurine for a moment. It was of a young unicorn mare. A long time back, in a fit of boredom, he had painted the figurine a familiar shade of lavender, and used thin black lines to illustrate a pair of wings. It was his prized possession.
 
Bright light blasted through the two windows on the north wall, casting strange shadows through the mostly empty shelves of the Pathfinders Lodge. Everything was consumed in scintillating sparkles of white and purple light. Sparky blinked a few times to adjust his vision to the new light levels, as the light itself dimmed slightly. He peered through the window at the source of the glow. There, crowning the Towering Mountain, was a purple star. It was wreathed in six smaller, white stars that danced around it.
 
Twilight's star.
 
He ran to the door and swung it open. The brisk night air froze his ears and snout, but at least it was warmer than those deep winter nights in the old Watchtower. The cold wind brushed along the shattered splinters at the end of his horn. He jumped inside to grab his coat, then darted out again.
 
Through streets of distant buildings. He ran up the Spooky Lane. Between rows of houses. Through the palisade gate. Through the tiny fort of Northbrook and the Kremlin within. Past Mist Veil and the cave where they discovered the cause of Green Light's amnesia. Down the long and frosty road past Fort Unity. Past the frozen corpses of the exploration team. The trip took hours, and his lungs burnt. Before him, the tall, spindly mountain stood, defiant against the sky and cloud. Spark Chaser walked up to the foot of the mountain, a steep, snow-capped cliff side barring his way all the way around.
 
So he climbed. This is not an easy feat for a pony. The grayish brown unicorn pushed his will out through his hooves to grip hold of the rocks and haul himself up. His mass was completely different from his old human body, which had not been a good climber to begin with. It was an arduous climb, not quite vertical, but quite steep. After about an hour of climbing, he found himself nearing an outcropping. Sparky dared not look down to see how high he had climbed. He was sure it was a death drop. It didn't matter. Twilight was up there. She was so close, yet so far away. His view was partially obscured by a shrub on the outcropping, but the night sky was so blank now, he felt he was almost there. It was like she was right there beside him. He took a grip on a rock near the top of the cliff, then released his other left hoof to grab another place.
 
The rock pulled out, held in place only by the thin root of the bush.
 
The root snapped.
 
His two front hooves flailed, desperate for purchase. None was to be found.
 
All of his weight supported by the magic flowing through his back hooves, he toppled backwards.
 
The magic popped, and his back hooves were in open air.
 
Spark Chaser was in free fall.
 
They say your life flashes before your eyes at times like these. It didn't. Just fear. Fear of the ground rushing up to meet him. Fear that he had wasted his second chance at life in self-hatred and misery. Fear that he hadn't really done anything worthwhile for the people who had been thrust into his life: the people of Four Cannon. But none of that mattered now. There was nothing he could do to change the past. Nothing he could do to change the power of gravity over his form. He took one last look at the peak above, then he closed his eyes and fell.
 
He heard a thud. It coursed through his body and rattled his heart. That was it. He must have hit the ground. Probably splattered across the ground and waiting for the last sparks of life to fade from his marshmallow mind. He was dead.
 
Then, there was the strangest feeling. Air rushed passed him. Sparky tumbled and twirled in its eddies, out of control. He opened his eyes to see the dark, night sky whipping past him, switching places with the Towering Mountain and the horizon in turn. Red light glowed from him, trailing off to a place far below. The telltale signs of an explosion unfurled where the trail ended. His flight slowed, slowed, and slowed to a stop. For a brief moment, he was weightless in the sky. Snow tumbled down the mountain in an avalanche, careening down in a spiral. It was then that he noticed the pattern of cliffs. They formed a spiral staircase around the outside of the steep mountain. Straight ahead of him was the peak of that mountain. Where Twilight had to be. Where her star had been hours ago. Its light was so comforting and warm. He felt the magic flow through his body, gathering where the tip of his shattered horn would be. A red glow suffused down the phantom horn and over his body in a rush of power and energy.
 
THUD.
 
Speed. Air clawed and tore at his face, screaming in his ears and tugging at his cheeks. He knew he was screaming. The sound was drowned out by the explosion and the roar of wind. Clouds ran past him like wild buffalo stampeding across a midnight prairie. Snow filled his vision, and the wet slush coated him. Dirt flew, pebbles lanced at his face. Red consumed his vision, saturating all that had once been purple. A wave of crimson overtook the peak, a perky shade of apple red. Then, the darkness claimed him, and he passed out.
 
If you had been there, you would have seen a curious sight. A white and red pony, laying prone and unconscious. His coat slowly muddied to a grayed tan, his mane a desaturated brown. The tip of his horn frayed away to a blasted root. And five feet ahead of him, on the peak of the Towering Mountain, was a door chiseled from stone in the side of a cube-shaped building.
 
------------------------Canterlot
 
Twilight Sparkle gawked. Hours had passed since she let the magic of the star fade. But there, where she once held hope aloft for the Cannonites, was a blood red light. "What.. What happened? Princess Luna? Did I do something wrong?"
 
Red light glinted off Luna's eyes. "No, Princess Twilight... I think somepony finally did something right..."
 
----------------------------------------------------------------Starcrossed: The Quest
 
Starcrossed is a puzzle/exploration quest that will launch a larger plotline for all of Four Cannon. It will be played from #pathfinderslodge, and will run with rules minimal gameplay. Regardless of which system you have a sheet in, you will be able to play. Even if you can't make it for "Starcrossed", go ahead and sign up. It is only the first of many quests that will be run by multiple GMs, and everyone should have a chance to go! Signing up will give us all the info we'll need to  make these quests right! Please sign up here: http://goo.gl/GauvKD
 
A log of Starcrossed is available here: http://pastebin.com/D1P7aX7Y