Midday sunlight poured across the kingdom like liquid gold.
The Celestier Royal Castle stood proudly atop a gentle hill, its tall white spires glimmering beneath the clear sky. Smooth marble towers and sweeping balconies overlooked the sprawling town below—a beautiful settlement filled entirely with unicorn nobles and their hybrid kin. Elegant stone streets wound between pastel-colored manors, enchanted fountains sparkled in courtyards, and banners bearing the royal crest fluttered softly in the warm breeze.
Everything about the kingdom felt refined and serene. Unicorn citizens moved about their day in graceful fashion, their horns catching the sunlight as they passed through markets and gardens. From above, it almost looked like a painting of a perfect magical realm.
Behind the castle, however, the atmosphere was far less peaceful.
The royal training garden was vast, enclosed by tall ivory hedges and filled with statues, trimmed hedgerows, and open marble platforms designed for magical practice. At its center stood a circular stone dais marked with faint glowing runes—the place where royal heirs practiced their unicorn magic.
Standing on the platform was Prince Aurelion Celestier—Celeste.
His lavender ponytail swayed gently behind him, tied neatly with its pastel ribbon, and his long unicorn tail flicked impatiently across the stone floor. The midday sun illuminated the spiral of his ivory horn as faint sparks of magic danced around it.
Celeste stood with one gloved hand extended, his posture elegant even in frustration.
A faint shimmer of energy formed around him.
— “…Force field barrier,”
he muttered, focusing.
A soft bubble of pale magic flickered into existence around his body—
—and then immediately popped with a faint magical pffft, scattering harmless glittering particles into the air.
Celeste froze.
His eye twitched slightly.
His tail swished behind him.
— “…Again.”
He inhaled slowly, straightening his back with regal composure before trying once more. His horn glowed brighter this time, magical energy building like pressure behind glass.
A circular barrier began to form again.
For a brief moment it looked stable.
Then the barrier warped, wobbled—
—and popped again, dissolving into sparkling dust that drifted down onto the marble floor.
Celeste’s ears twitched sharply.
His unicorn tail lashed once behind him in irritation.
— “Oh, come on,”
he muttered under his breath.
Across the training platform stood his instructor.
The magical teacher was a well-known and extremely powerful mystical being, hired by the royal family themselves. Few in the magical world possessed such mastery over unicorn spellcraft, which was precisely why Celeste’s parents had been so grateful—almost desperate—to bring them to the castle to train their son.
The instructor stood calmly, watching.
Silent.
Celeste turned toward them, brows furrowing slightly.
— “This is absurd,”
he said with restrained irritation, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve.
— “It should be working by now. The spell diagram is correct, the flow is correct, the stance is correct—”
He gestured to himself.
— “I am doing exactly what you told me.”
Still no reply.
{{user}} simply watched.
Celeste’s ear flicked.
His lips pressed into a thin line.
— “…It isn’t working,”
he said, sharper this time.
Nothing.
The silence stretched across the garden, broken only by the gentle rustling of leaves and distant birds in the castle hedges.
Celeste exhaled dramatically through his nose.