I took that day off to spend time with Cheerilee. We ate together, laughed together, discussed our problems, and even went to see Tree Hugger. We all relaxed, and had a fun time discussing our feelings toward Nightmare Night and whatnot. After all, it was getting closer.
The next day, I was back on the beat.
Okay so the situation was no cause for immediate danger, but there was still something off about it. Why would Luna come to me about something like this? Wouldn’t Twilight or even Starlight be better at detecting magical abnormalities? Hm…well, I suppose I did have my own way of finding out about certain hidden details faster than anypony else. And Nightmare Night was approaching fast, so I needed to start searching for leads.
First, I went back to our base. Corkscrew was there as usual. Though, not seeing Quick Draw there still made me somewhat unhappy. I hoped that she could recuperate and be herself again...someday. But that wasn’t the priority at the moment.
“Morning boss,” the pegasus waved at me from his desk. “Didja sleep well?”
“More or less,” I replied and took my seat, “Anyway, we have a new case. Sort of. Luna’s been talking about some sorta…” I waved my hoof around as I tried to come up with the words, “magical oddities? I don’t get it. But it’s probably related to Nightmare Night.”
His wings flapped with joy. “Ooh yeah! My costume is gonna be sick this year, sir!” He must’ve realized that he got off-topic, because he let out a sheepish giggle. “Hehe...I mean--right. Of course. We’ll start studying the situations right away. Though...we probably should act covert, right? Maybe...still hunt for candy while we’re investigating?” he stretched his neck to lean over to me.
My response was an exasperated sigh. “Uggh. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it. But if we need to be focused on a case, then I recommend you don’t lose your entire mind to the allure of sweets.”
Cork leaned back in his seat and scoffed. “Pff. Don’t worry about it, boss. We can handle anything life throws at us.”
“Yeah, so long as you don’t run into flaming torrents again. What did your mother say when she found out you did that?”
That certainly caught his attention. His wings fluttered once more, and he scrambled to change the subject with a sputter. “Uh-...well, y--anyway! I actually recently got a call from someone.”
For his sake, I dropped the previous little banter to focus on what he said. “Oh? Do tell.”
Corkscrew spoke in a rare, solemn tone as he looked down at his desk. “...Apparently Sunburst is now handling Quick Draw’s case, and he’s looking for our help with something unrelated to her.”
Now that was a surprise for sure. I had thought Trixie was taking care of her. But I suppose it made sense, given how inadequate he would feel in comparison to someone like Starlight. But beyond that, I wondered just what he wanted to speak to me about.
Well, no use hanging around the office. Though I did have to wonder if it had any relation to what Luna asked me about the day before. Hmmm…
“Alright,” I said with a nod, “I need to go see him right away, then. Where is he?”
“At the School of Friendship as always. He said anytime would be great since it’s a rather light day today.”
On top of things as always. I ruffled the young stallion’s mane, and smiled. “Alright, then. I guess I’ll be off to see what he wants. Don’t go doing anything crazy, alright?”
He swatted my hoof away. “Quit babying me, pops. I know what I’m doing.”
It was still adorable, regardless.
Anyhow, I left our base, and marched towards the School of Friendship. Well now. I wondered just how welcome I would be here after what I did for Cozy. Beyond that, the fact that Sunburst of all ponies needed to speak with me is something that I didn’t expect.
Whatever the case, I was going to find out soon enough. I made my way down the path, and knocked on the Friendship School’s front door. The first pony to answer was, thankfully, the pony that had requested my audience. The vice principal himself.
“You’re here. Great. Er, come on in, sir,” he beckoned me inside.
“Alright.” I went in, and shut the door behind myself. Then, we walked through the school, all the way back to an office where the orange unicorn stallion worked.
He shut the office door, and peered outside to make sure that we weren’t followed. What? Was he paranoid? “Sorry. Just wanted to ensure privacy between us.”
I tilted my head with a worried frown as I took a seat in front of his desk. “...Is everything alright?”
“Yes, well. Two things. First off, I’ve taken over for Trixie when dealing with your friend,” he explained as he sat in the chair behind his desk. He used his magic to levitate some papers in front of his face. “As it turns out, it appears that she only accepted to work with Neighsay out of fear of losing you due to feeling inferior.”
Ouch. I knew part of it was true, but it was damning to have it flung back into my face. So I suppose that my estimation was correct. “I see...so if I were to venture a guess, you took over her therapy sessions when you found out that little detail from Trixie, right?”
“Precisely, good guess. Yes I did,” he responded while he put the papers down. “Do you mind if I speak candidly for a moment, officer--no. Pale?”
I had no qualms with someone who wanted to explain themselves. Not only was it my job to listen, but it was simply polite to do so. “Go right ahead.”
“Well...here it is. To be frank, I’ve been quite envious of Starlight…” he mumbled in a low tone, as if he was ashamed of his own words.
“...Excuse me?”
There was a picture stand on his desk. In the portrait was a photograph of a young Sunburst and a young Starlight, happily studying together. He grabbed it with his magic. “When she was younger, she was just as smart as me, if not smarter. While I did earn my cutie mark first, she always had big ambitions. That’s why I was utterly devastated when I found out that she enslaved an entire village and nearly trapped Twilight in an alternate dimension.”
Of course. There was always going to be another, hidden perspective that one wouldn’t get unless they found both sides of the story. Personally, I did sometimes wonder what his take on her old actions were, given that she nearly destroyed the world through the dimensional flickering effect she caused. Not to mention, being the sole reason somepony turned evil must have done things to one’s psyche.
“I see...and when did you find out about her actions? And when you learned that you were the one that inadvertently caused her to feel such a way, what did you do? Did you approach her about it?” I asked in an equally candid manner.
Sunburst hesitated, and leaned back in his seat before he would answer. “...I...was afraid. Afraid of digging up those old wounds. So terrified of my own darn shadow that I decided to stay quiet and pretend like nothing happened.” He turned and looked away from me, a frown of discomfort plastered across his muzzle. “I...it was easier for me to ignore the problem than to actually care or do anything about it, you know?”
Ohoho. More than he could realize--and I was younger than he was! “For sure, VP. For sure. In fact, my entire job is dedicated to facing, and exposing those harmful truths that nopony else wants to deal with. It...gets to be a bit much after a while. But I manage. Though, if you have more to say, please continue.”
He nodded, and went on. “Anyways,” he said with an adjustment of his glasses, “I shied away from thinking about her problems because, well...she seemed happy. Granted, she spent far more time with Trixie than me, but she didn’t forget that I was her friend. In the end though...I felt like I failed as a friend when it came to dealing with our problems. And that maybe if I did something...said something.” He shut his eyes. “Maybe if I was more supportive, she wouldn’t have turned out the way she did. That’s what I wanted to say. Now--”
Oh no you don’t. Er, he wasn’t. I wasn’t going to let such a hot topic get dropped off so quickly. Besides, maybe I could learn more about him that would aid me in understanding the perspective of Quick Draw a bit better.
“Wait a moment, now. In those...two decades since you’ve been reunited with her, have you ever tried...talking to her about this?”
He shrugged with a pessimistic eye roll. “That’s the exact issue. Starlight’s seemed so...content with having been shown the light of friendship by Twilight Sparkle herself that I felt as if I was...unnecessary, to put it lightly. She didn’t need me in order to pull through her problems since Twilight and Trixie understood her far better than I ever could.”
Well now that just seemed rather...odd. Did he really mean to tell me that Starlight never once came to him about her problems? Her first friend? Sounded quite ridiculous. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, I--hold on,” I held up my hoof, “You’re saying that Starlight never bothered to explain to you how she felt about the fact that you earning your cutie mark first caused her to spiral into hatred towards them?”
His turquoise eyes quivered which silently displayed his sense of doubt. I could see right through him. But I allowed him to state his own feelings on the matter. “In a nutshell, while I am pretty decent at magic and have helped her with things like the Crystal Heart and the Pony of Shadows I still feel...insignificant towards her by comparison. The best way I can describe it is by saying that it’s as if Starlight became the leading mare in a play. While I’ve just been a nameless stagehoof that occasionally does things whenever I’m allowed to. Like I’m a mere accessory that accidentally kickstarted one of the most infamous moments in Equestria’s recent history.”
Dear Luna above. I couldn’t fathom being in such a position. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Throughout my own childhood, I always felt the need to prove that I was better than those around me through sheer force and the capacity to cause harm to others. It was a dangerous road to travel upon; the path of lack of self-esteem was nothing but a road encased in lies that you told yourself.
‘I don’t matter since somepony else has already handled it.’
‘No one needs my help since I’ll just get in the way.’
‘Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I mean it.’
It was making me pained inside just to think about such horrible deprecative thoughts. And it’s those very same thoughts that drove Quick Draw into a state of such weakness, that she was willing to accept help from Neighsay--a pony who worked behind the backs of those who trusted him just to obtain his own selfish desires.
But no. I wasn’t going to stand for it.
“Okay so,” I responded with newfound bravado, “In that case, you need to communicate with Starlight on how you feel. Don’t simply let yourself be some accessory. We’re all responsible for our own actions. Now maybe you messed up by not noticing sooner in the past. But the past is just that: the past. What are you going to do now?”
He sat upright, and cleared his throat. “Hm...you’re saying I don’t need to bottle up my feelings and keep a straight face to avoid being seen as weak?”
Wait what? Not that played-out stereotype. “Excuse me?” I asked as I leaned forward with a concerned, quizzical tilt of my head, “Who in the hay said that’s what you needed to do?”
His answer made everything crystal clear in an instant. “My mother. She always brought me up with the idea that colts need to grow into strong stallions that don’t show any weakness so that they can defend their marefriends and homes at all times. Why does tha--...” his pupils shrank as he began to realize the folly of his own parent, “Ohhhh…” His hoof slapped his forehead in a dramatic manner as he covered his eyes. “That’s why I’m like this. Could it also be why dad left...hm...”
My hoof met my forehead as well. I think this is what Corkscrew called a certified facehoof moment. Either way, now I understood just why Sunburst had kept his true thoughts hidden for so long. “That’s...absolutely not healthy in any sense of the word. Yes, stallions and mares alike need to be able to put emotion aside when dealing with their enemies or serious topics. But to push them down and never communicate them to anyone else? That’s only going to destroy yourself. It’s like...a poison. It can take you over. My own idiot of a father said the same tired thing.” I folded my hooves and rolled my eyes.
“Uh-huh...yup. Now I think I’m getting it. In fact, just getting this off my chest with you has helped me think a bit more clearly about what I should do next. So thanks for that, I suppose.”
I chuckled sarcastically. “Heh. Don’t thank me. It was you who bothered to talk about it. Now what else did you need my help with?”
“That’s right, yes…” He picked up some documents from a nearby drawer with his magic. “Okay, down to business. According to what Moondancer reported, Blossomforth was infected with some sort of magical curse that was set to go off at a specific time.”
That was new. I had never heard of a delayed magical setoff timer. Something like that could literally sway the tides of a war if employed properly. “I see. And what have you found since then?”
Sunburst pulled out some more documents, and set them in front of me. “We’ve deduced that the next anomaly will occur in Ponyville on Nightmare Night--which is just two days from now.”
So that was it. Luna’s fears were correct. If that was the case, then I had to prepare myself. I needed to get my costume ready twice as fast now. “Okay then...I’ll be on the lookout for any suspicious signs. If something like this were to happen, it could simply be passed off as a Nightmare Night Trick that nopony will realize is actually dangerous until it is too late.”
“Exactly,” Sunburst said with a nod as he levitated the newspaper over to me. The same one that I looked at not long ago. “Since you’ve proven yourself to be capable of taking care of Cozy Glow, I would like to request your assistance on this. Just act natural on that Night, and enjoy the festivities. But as soon as you come across anything weird, try to subdue it or let us know so we can all take care of it.”
Was that all? I hated to say it, but it sounded way easier than it seemed. Still...you never knew who could be involved with these things.
I got up from my seat, and trotted to the door. “Not a problem. But I do things my way, comprende?”
“If you’re sure. Just...don’t do anything crazy. And one more thing Pale,” he rubbed the back of his head, “...do me a favor and keep everything stated here between us. Stallion to stallion? I want to approach Starlight when I’m ready without her panicking.”
“Heh. No problem, Sunny Potter,” I poked a bit of fun at him as I left the room. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel his eyes roll as he tried to avoid laughing at the completely valid joke I made.
But if this incident was to occur on Nightmare Night, then I had to be ready. I had to be fast. I had to be strong.
Most importantly, though? I had to be spooky.