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 Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:41 am
 The stars glowed high above the trees, unrivaled by the new moon. Their faint, celestial light left the faintest dusting of light on the surface of the lazy river flowing at the Starborn's midnight hooves. The lack of moonlight seemed to reflect the awful changes to the young princess' life. First, much of her family had disappeared, dissolving like morning mist before the sun. Then, her own great-uncle, Angetenar, new leader of her native herd, had tasked her with doing something with her life other than trying (and, admittedly, failing) to find their lost family. It seemed to Nephele, great-granddaughter to two great herd leaders, a princess in her own right, that life had been grossly unfair. As princess, if everything went right, she should be loved and pampered and praised, not sent about on errands like the average Star.
Unable to take the unfairness any longer, Nephele had left. She didn't want to rebuild things Tenar's way. She just wanted everything to go back to the way it had.
However, the spoiled princess was unaware of two facts: One, that her life was about to get a lot more unfair from her perspective. Two, that she had already been set on a course that would change her life and the lives of others around her forever. And for the second to occur, the first had to happen, as so often happens when one undertakes any quest, as Nephele had long since done. Quests do not always end as intended, and they almost always engender change and transformation on the part of the one on the quest. Once again, Aquarius found herself flying freely about. However, this time, she felt no subconscious cry for help. Nope. The Sign was scouting for good places for a shrine to any of her fellow Signs. The Order of the Tree was rapidly completing her own first shrine on this planet, and it would soon be proper to begin work on the next shrine.
Gliding above a placid river, silver eyes scouting the ground, Aquarius spotted a lone Starborn mare of similar features to the Arcturus stallion she'd aided the last time she'd gone out wandering. Come to think of it, this river wasn't so far away, either. Could she be related? Given the deep sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness roiling off the mare, it definitely seemed plausible. The Sign wondered in passing whether the elder of the family was a good one, if such pain seemed so endemic to those of this family.
Unable to let those in pain pass her by without helping, Aquarius angled downward, making her way slowly and gracefully from the center of the river toward the lone mare.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:10 pm
Nephele noticed it as she gazed upon the surface of the river. The faint rainbow nimbus glimmered in the shadows, reflecting off the rippling water, immediately lending an incredible radiance and luminosity to the landscape. The Star before her was a strange fusion of Nova, Arion, Arcturus, and Lyra, silver and snow, with scales belonging to no known Star kind, wrapped in luscious pearls and rainbow silks, like a miraculous promise after a storm. The mare held herself easily up, almost floating as she fluttered almost half a dozen pairs of delicate, stained glass wings. To put it simply, she looked like fairy tale magic given physical form. Startled, not thinking things through, she turned into a midnight-dark otter, ducking below the waves.
Who was this mare? It couldn't be...could it? A Sign? The Lady Aquarius? The same eminence that everyone in Moonlight had been claiming had visited her accursed great-uncle Dubhslaine? No way. Well, actually...if Aquarius would come to help a creature such as Dubhslaine, then it was only fitting for the legendary Sign to come to a princess like Nephele in her hour of need, too. Less startled, and now hopeful, she rose to the surface of the river, transforming easily into an equally dark swan, trying to hide her awe of the incredible Star before her.
Aquarius blinked as she saw the unfamiliar mare turn into an otter, and then a swan. Seeing the other Star, Dubhslaine, she had assumed that the stallion's family were feline Alcors. Not only could she see family resemblances more clearly between the two Stars, but it seemed probable that, whatever the nature of this family, it had powers that it should not have, between the dark magic on Dubhslaine's forehead, and the impossible flexibility in species that characterized this mare. Alcors, as a general rule, only had the one alternate form. Not two or more. As her compatriot Libra might put it, it was unjust.
Something needed to be done to correct this.
The Sign lowered her head to the level of the midnight swan's head. "Good evening, young lady. You seem to be in a dark frame of mind," she said formally. If she was going to use magic to change the young mare's life, then it was going to be a night for ritual, and rituals always called for formalities.
Joys.
Aquarius wasn't one for formalities; that was the role of most of the other Signs. The genie Novae were not born to be serious. Probably due to a potent combo of their magic, their history of enslavement, and their deep Nova ancestry, when they had frolicked below the waves. The Arion were similarly a light-hearted breed, but less as a factor of what made the genies so whimsical. Given the Starborn's mood and magic, whimsy was not on order tonight.
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Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:56 am
Nephele blinked in surprise, but got hold of herself quickly. The Signs were said not only to be powerful, but very wise. Of course the Lady Aquarius would realize something was wrong. Why else would she have come?
Nephele raised her avian head, gazing into the storm-silvered eyes of the ageless Sign. "You are correct, my Lady. I am indeed filled with sorrows and concerns this night."
It was going to be all right. Lady Aquarius was here. She would help the midnight princess find her long lost family. The Moonlight Herd would go back to how it used to be. Everyone would be together again, and happy. Angetenar would see, and even he would be so proud of Nephele. Everyone would be. Things would be better after tonight.
Aquarius tilted her head, watching the young mare's bright eyes curiously. Something seemed...off...about her mood. While dark thoughts did seem to swirl about her mind, there was a change beneath the surface, a subtle ripple, akin to a fish making its way to the surface of a lake, intent on catching the insects that settled, unaware, on its serene surface. And Aquarius had some idea of what was going on.
After all, while she'd pulled the darkness out of the young stallion, and that had been a good and welcome change in every aspect of his life, to stunt a power that would make someone special in a more socially elevated way was not so welcome a change. The times the Signs had come across Stars who had more power than they should, those Stars had been deemed by their home communities to be specially blessed, and worthy of love and praise. That said, it wasn't uncommon, in an often feudal world like theirs, for the unusually gifted to take advantage of their gifts on a personal level, and that was something that was not widely popular among the Signs themselves.
Sure, the Signs themselves were powerful. But the Signs had earned some of that extra power, and had lived at around a time when the world was different, in terms of magic. Some of the Signs had very mixed heritages, too, which could lend its own power.
The surface of the water rippled more vibrantly as Aquarius gathered her power about her. The faint rainbow nimbus surrounding her began to slowly suffuse her being. The moment was coming to change a young Star's life once again.
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Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:41 pm
Nephele held very still, closing her radiant eyes as she felt the unfamiliar magic brush across her being. It was cool and clear and cleansing, like a strange mix of water, wind, and fire. Was this what a blessing felt like? Would this help her find her long-lost family? It had to, if there was any justice to this world, and if the Lady Aquarius was truly as helpful as everyone said.
However, in her excitement and glee, Nephele had forgotten something crucial about the Sign whose magic enveloped the young Alcor mare.
Aquarius was a breaker of chains. A great equalizer. The Sign of Revolution.
She might not curse anyone who did not richly deserve it, but she would not bless those already too greatly gifted.
Somewhere in the midst of the sensation of storm and sun against her skin, Nephele lost track of her senses. What she was aware of was the Sign's voice echoing in her mind, sonorous as a bell, light as windchimes.
Who would you be, could you only choose one thing? Swan, or otter? Which is truly who you are? Swan? Or otter?
Nephele cried out in confusion, "Wait! What do you mean?"
Choose. Swan, or otter. You may not choose again. Choose. Choose which is dearer. Choose your fate. Choose.
"I--I--I--I choose swan!" Nephele cried out, as stronger storm winds seemed to beat at her being, blotting out all promise of the sun. "I am the swan!" She could not say why she had chosen the swan over the otter, but it felt the right choice in that moment. Yes. It had. Nephele could forego her otter pelt, but not her swan feathers. But why did she have to choose such a thing? What was happening?
Something inside felt like it was tearing apart, but she could not scream. The sound would not come to her lips. Something was wrong. This didn't feel like a blessing. What was happening? What was happening to her?!
Aquarius squeezed her stormy eyes shut as she worked, letting her powerful magic suffuse the mare. The young Alcor would not forgive the Sign, but this had to be done. The rules had been set out clearly by the Great Star Council. No Alcor could be heir to more than one alternate form, and no Algol may live again by multiple magics. Any Star whose blood defied such laws needed to be offered a choice to simplify their magic. It was not a popular event, and it was easier for everyone if such Stars were offered the choice when they were very young.
The choice had to come. It had been a long time since anyone had offered this Alcor choice. It had been thought, once, that all such Alcor and Algol had been offered the choice. Clearly, they had been wrong.
Reaching into the Alcor's heart, Nephele's heart, she could see the two shapes that had been adopted, and the lineage. That lineage. Of course. She should have known when she purified Dubhslaine. No other family line among the Alcors also claimed to have inherited demonic blood. No dark magic appeared in this mare's cells, but where one alternate form should be woven were two different ones. A swan and an otter. Not the greatest loss she could endure, even if she thought otherwise. Choosing swan would cost little, if anything, while choosing otter would cost her alternate form wings.
Aquarius' voice rang out in the instant of the choice, echoing through the soul of the younger Star, and, after hesitation, an answer.
The choice was made.
The Sign reached into Nephele's being, and, finding a stray thread in the tapestry of Alcor magic, tugged out the otter thread, pulling hard and firmly, before smoothing the resulting magic, leaving no gaps for new Alcor abilities. A swan Nephele had chosen to be. A swan Nephele would be, when she shed her hooves, a swan the color of midnight, wings sparkling with starlight, eyes glowing golden against the shadows.
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Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 4:16 pm
Finally, Nephele could feel the pain of the storm and the fire recede. She gasped for breath as the rainbow nimbus faded. There was a strange weight on her shoulders, unfamiliar and tangible, but still, somehow light in weight. Freaked out by whatever had happened, she dove for the dark waters of the river, calling on the river otter form to materialize.
It never came. She splashed about, confused and frightened, still equine in shape. Determined to get away from whatever had happened, she pulled on the swan form, and watched the surface of the water as she did so.
Her golden eyes went wide as she shifted easily into the familiar form of the midnight swan.
Upon her equine shoulders was the pelt of the same midnight swan that she became when she shifted. Sure, she knew of Alcors like this, but those were other types of Alcor, not those of the Kalibyn bloodline, not like her--
"What did you do?" she squawked, horrified and frightened.
"What did you do to me?"
"What I had to do," Aquarius replied quietly. Stretching out her powerful magic, she could sense it. The imbalance had been corrected, and the young Alcor mare was now as she should have been from birth. "It is a law more ancient than the Signs themselves that no Alcor may be heir to more than one bloodline; no Algol may live again by multiple magics. It is the law that has been set down, and the only mercy that may be granted is that of the choice of simplification offered by a Sign."
Steely eyes met golden ones, not backing down so easily. "To break these laws is to stand for injustice, and that is something I cannot, and will not, do. I will not beg forgiveness for what I have done." She could see it in the proud golden eyes, now broken-hearted and angry and frightened. It had been the right thing to do. Even if it never seemed like it.
"This magic cannot be reversed. I am sorry for the harm that you doubtless feel has been done to you, and all I can say is that this is not the end of the world, and perhaps in time, you will come to accept this destiny that has been wrought for you."
She lowered her head and eyes before kicking off the surface of the water, flying up into the night sky. Behind her, she could hear the screams and tears of the young mare, and the immovable strength faded. It was never easy to offer an Alcor's choice. But, sometime soon, it would need to come to the rest of this young mare's family line, and it was quite unlikely that they'd forgive the Signs for this.
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