Rattle the Stars

The aftermath of forging an alliance with her mother had Sidra shaking. It was late, the adrenaline still coursing through her body keeping her from sleep. So instead she wandered the halls, looking for…. She wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for.

There was a restlessness to her. A sort of… urgency, but for what she did not quite know.

A shadow caught her attention and she turned to see Aurelion walking through the halls. Sidra stiffened, the magic in her body fighting to be released. She had never been fond of Aurelion, and he has always looked down on her. The pampered princess she had been had wilted in his presence, doing her best to avoid that cutting gaze. How her mother had never noticed… Well she hadn’t noticed a lot of things.

Neither had her half siblings. Sidra wondered then, if Sonnet and Minuet had been here… Would they have felt the same?

She never thought much about her siblings, having not been close with any of her relations. Baroque was certainly nice, but she had never had much of a chance to spend an extended amount of time with him, to really have that close sibling bond she saw in her other siblings. She rarely spoke of or to her blood father, and after she had left…

Aurelion noticed her then, his sharp gaze meeting hers.

“You are still here?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“I am,” Sidra said, her words calm, careful.

“You should have never been born,” Aurelion stated. Sidra nearly flinched, having never heard him state outright what had always been unsaid between them.

“I know,” Sidra replied, at a loss of what to say. As she had cared for her own wonderful and gifted herd, Sidra had come to realize why Khaalida was how she was. Sidra had grown older, had grown more sure of herself in the time since she had last spoken to her dam. It felt like each time they came together, it was with more respect and understanding between the two. How could you pick between impossible odds? And Sidra herself was the most unlikely of all.

Aurelion seemed surprised at the response, and simply snorted. “I’m leaving,” he said.

“Good,” Sidra replied, once again seeming to surprise the stallion. “My mother can do a million times better than you.”

The young yet powerful mare couldn’t remember the last time she called her dam ‘Mother’.

She saw a spark of anger in Aurelion’s eyes, but something else, something like defeat, weariness, and despair. Sidra realized that Aurelion wasn’t leaving because he wanted to but…

“She finally kicked you out, did she?” Sidra snorted. “Good riddance.”

Not giving him another thought, Sidra walked away, to the courtyard where they had sealed their alliance with blood and magic, and took to the skies.

The flying was nice, taking with it some of the stress and excess energy of the day. It was calm and quiet, the winds holding her as she was cloaked in the night skies embrace.

Something like peace came over her then. Peace with her life, with her position, with everything.

Her mother was breaking from prophecy. Sidra could feel it. Khaalida was preparing for something big, bigger than anything that had come before. She had been a deity in name, yes… but this felt like becoming even larger than that.

Perhaps it was that shift in thinking, that change in her thoughts. But one moment she was flying above the mountains, the next soaring through empty space and floating land.

Sidra looked around in pure awe as the Astral Region spread out below her.

It was beyond her wildest dreams. Gorgeous, and yet, so lonely. A hauntingly beautiful place.

“How did I end up here?” She whispered to herself.

You came because you needed to be here, a voice whispered in her mind. Sidra looked around wildly.

“What do you mean? Who are you?”

You came here because you wished to be. Your power has grown, and you have begun your ascension.

“My what now?” Sidra asked, coming to land on a floating island and looking around wildly. “I don’t want to ascend, I don’t want to be pulled into another far fetched prophecy. I just want to live my life and do my best for my herd.”

You have redefined yourself, young one. From the moment you were born, you lived your life to everyone's fate and rules. It made you, and broke you. When you left, you followed the threads of fate. But in your actions today, you have created a new path, a new branch of possibility.

“I changed the future? I changed my fate?” Sidra asked.

Your dam took a huge chance on you, young one. Your birth was the least likely outcome of the prophecy. And furthermore, it was even less likely you would forgive the past and make an alliance with your mother. You have constantly taken the least possible path, and in such, have created a new possibility for the future. Your actions have changed many things, and from your choices, a new and better future has arisen.

“But… All this, from forging an alliance with my mother?” Sidra asked.

Sometimes even actions that seem like they have no change on the world have the biggest change. Have you made your choice?

“My choice?” Sidra asked, still confused.

Of who you want to be.

Sidra stared over the vast and beautiful Astral region, contemplating that thought.

“I want to be myself. I want to be someone who can do good for my herd, and lead them right. I want to be someone who can protect the weak, and help others grow. I want to forge my own path, with my own choices, and do better. I want to be… me.”

A warmth came around her then, a gentle light different than her aura. Her eyes began to grow heavy, as weariness came over her. As she drifted off into darkness she heard the last words spoken.

And so you shall, young one. Rattle the stars, little deity.

When Sidra awoke, she was in her room in Espeor, and everything was the same. Or rather, nothing was the same. Her soul felt both lighter and heavier, and within the core of her magic, she felt more.

She began to rise when she caught sight of her legs, and froze. Shock rippled through her system, and she rushed to the mirror, only to stare at herself in shock. The markings, the coat color, everything that had marked her as her mothers child, gone. Everything that had branded her from foalhood as her mothers successor was gone. Instead, a paler form stared back from the mirror, tones of blue replacing the purple, where the dark on her legs had been turning almost white. The markings of her mother were gone, and instead moonlight graced her features.

She was different, ascended, or whatever the other had said in the Astral Realm.

“That was real,” Sidra gasped.

A knock at the door had Sidra spinning, but before she could say anything her mother appeared in the doorway.

“Sidra, are you…. Oh,” Khaalida said, blinking in surprise.

“Momma?” Sidra asked, her tone quavering slightly. “What happened to me?”

Tears welled in Khaalida’s eyes.

“Oh, my beautiful girl. Well done!” Khaalida said, stepping fully into the room and looking her over.

“Can you please explain to me what happened before I truly have a breakdown?!” Sidra exclaimed, and Khaalida laughed.

“Come, let's sit. I will explain everything.”

Sidra was sitting, not very restfully though. But she was patient, and let her mother gather her thoughts.

“When you were born, there was a prophecy behind you and your siblings' birth. But what I didn’t tell was that there was a difference in the prophecy given for the least likely outcome. That of a third foal,” Khaalida explained. “The main prophecy was what it was, but in the event of the third foal, there was a specific part about her. About you. That you would be in the image of the mother, to be shackled to the same fate.”

“What does that mean?”

“That you would be born to follow my path, to follow my prophecy instead of your own,” Khaalida said with a sigh. “When you were born, you were precious to me. I did not want that future for you. Every future I looked at, every prophecy I read, stated that if I sent you away, if I tried to make you stray from my path, it would end in the ruination of my people. And no true happy ending for you. So I let it pass, and did my best to ensure that you could handle it. When you were born with magic, such beautiful and wonderful magic, I knew I had to make sure you learned well how to use it, what the power would bring. I knew I had to ensure you would not falter. I knew it was nearly time for you to leave, so those extra lessons I made you take? It was to better prepare you. And when you left, I ensured Sulien would be with you, and that he knew to take you to our allies. Meeting them and living among them was essential to your growth.”

“Wait, Sulien? You told him?!” Sidra exclaimed.

“I did. You were so close, and I had to ensure you would have some guidance. I’m surprised he didn’t come with you for something as big as this,” Khaalida commented.

Sidra looked down. “He… He and I have grown apart,” Sidra said softly. “He leaves often, and when he comes back, he is different. Happier. I don’t know.”

Khaalida looked at Sidra with a soft and sad gaze. “Quirlicorns change, for if they were to be stagnant there would be no room for growth,” Khaalida said. “Perhaps time shall bring him back to your side.”

“As a friend, I hope so,” Sidra admitted.

“I hope so too, sweetheart,” Khaalida said, and Sidra smiled slightly.

“So what next?” Sidra asked, and Khaalida smiled at the memories.

“I kept watch over you, and one day, the visions changed. You met Morana, and something shifted in your future.”

“Morana caused that?” Sidra asked, thinking of the prickly mare she had worked with.

“Yes, oddly enough. Another foal I had a prophecy for, actually,” Khaalida said. “Strange times we live in, truly.

“The new future for you, was one which played out today. Where you managed to break the original prophecy. I saw a glimpse of this, of what you should have been born as, and I hoped with all of my heart that it would come true. And it did, it truly did,” Khaalida said with a soft and gentle smile.

“So this… this is what I was supposed to be born looking like? If not for the interference of prophecy?” Sidra asked.

“Yes. This is who you truly were, deep within,” Khaalida said, gesturing to Sidra’s new coat.

“And… last night, in the dream I had. I dreamed of the Astral Region, and a voice talked to me. It called me a deity,” Sidra said, a bit suspicious.

“Yes,” Khaalida confirmed. “You have joined the ranks of lesser deities. I felt it early this morning, that's why I came to check on you.”

“So…. A lesser deity, like you are? I’m going to need a strong coffee to get through all this change,” Sidra said with a sigh.

“Aren’t you too young for coffee?” Khaalida said, her tone turning motherly. Sidra just gave her a bit of side eye, before they both burst out laughing.

“Come on, we could both use some coffee,” Khaalida said, standing and heading for the door.

“Coming, Mom,” Sidra replied, a grin coming over her face as she followed her mother.

Something settled within her, and she faced the day with a new feeling within her chest. One of lightness and freedom, as if some shadow had been cast aside.

Sidra of Valisthea stepped into the world, leaving behind everything she had been to rattle the stars.