//------------------------------// // The Last Run of Starlight Glimmer (Starlight, horror(?), uwu) // Story: Sunflower Seeds // by Rune Soldier Dan //------------------------------// The last few feeble rays of Autumn light dwindled to darkness, and Starlight ran. Into the gloom, through the once-cheery forest as its bright colors turned to black and silvery damp. Fallen leaves clung to her hooves, the ground beneath churned and muddy and darkly indistinct. Only the outlines of bare trees kept her on the path. Her eyes strained on the mere few steps ahead of her, desperately wary for any stump or hole. She couldn’t trip. If she went down, she’d never get up. Her hooves splashed into wet spots and crunched where the leaves were dry. Deaf to anything around or behind her, almost blind. Cooling air tickled her nose and where the lines of sweat creased her neck and flanks. All else was so hot. Aching, hammered breaths wheezed like expanding brass within her chest, slowing and weighing her, dragging her inevitably towards the ground. The siren song – stop, fall, rest. Just for a moment… just to catch her breath… No sound but from her own gallop and the wind in her ears. Were they still behind her? Silly, of course they were. A thin branch plucked her ear as she went by. Starlight lacked the breath to even yelp, plunging on without a break in her stride. Then another. She bowed her head and barreled on. Was the path getting more narrow? Had she veered off it entirely? The trees seemed to loom close and irregular, grasping out with their naked limbs. One entered her downward vision, directly to her fore. Starlight blindly veered left and continued to run. Was this a normal part of the path? The Whitetail Woods were so close to Ponyville – why had Starlight never run here before? Even a light jog, or study of the paths to give her the barest sense of direction. She was a lazy pony at heart, only studying or practicing what she found fun. Why do any kind of exercise when she could just zap herself anywhere? THIS WAS WHY! And now it was too late… Her ears pricked up. Over the rustle and splash of her hooves and the wind dashing past and the throb of hot lifeblood squeezing through her body in beat after beat after beat, Starlight heard the crunch of a hoof on leaves, not twenty paces behind her. Reach the forest’s edge. That was all. Her friends would see, surely at least someone from the town would see. Presuming she hadn’t made a wrong turn or gone off the path entirely. Maybe she was going deeper into the woods. Maybe this was… punishment. Starlight knew she got off easy after so many crimes. Twilight and her friends could forgive the unforgivable. Perhaps there were powers in the universe which did not. Her heart, aching for so long now, felt to be pulling back on its many veins, choking her from the inside. Slowing her legs, forcing them to an irregular stumble. She righted her pace, mouth open with silent breaths, but the heart fought back. The lope and push of her legs shrunk, and grew no faster. A voice yelled from somewhere. Ahead, behind? Direction and words were drowned by the hot blood pounding through her ears. Somehow, though, she could clearly hear the trot of her pursuer. It slowed, letting her pull ahead. A whimper broke Starlight’s throat as dark shapes came to view before her. Suddenly there was light, if only a little. The trees ended abruptly, leaving Luna’s clear sky twinkling above her. The shapes in front cavorted madly, prancing and shouting and giving whistles shriller than any bird. The trot behind her grew silent. Its duty was done – Starlight had been herded directly where she was supposed to be. She was finished. Almost. Though her motions were still sprinting, the speed was of a jog rapidly decaying to a walk. Yet she pressed on, right for the shapes and the banner above them. Stumble. Don’t fall. Don’t give up. Starlight corrected and kept running. All the way beneath the black and white checkered banner and a few steps past it to be safe. Okay, now she could fall. Starlight threw herself sideways upon the ground, managing to heave out two words on her way down. “Never again!” One of the shapes moved closer, resolving in the moonlight to a familiar purple alicorn. Twilight Sparkle held down a cup of water for her, beaming. “Congratulations, Starlight!” The blood in Starlight’s ears finally began to recede, unveiling the sounds of the world: Twilight’s friends cheering and congratulating her, and Rainbow Dash putting two feathers in her mouth to whistle like the damned. Starlight took the water in her magic and poured it over her lips, her sideways mouth missing most of it. Fluttershy squee’d, clip-clapping her front hooves together. “Oh, how wonderful! You finished your first Running of the Leaves festival. You must be so proud.” ‘Proud’ was nowhere near Starlight’s dictionary right now. She pulled her head up enough to take a better drink. “Yeah, she finished...” Rainbow’s scraggly voice trickled from the other side. “Dead last.” “Dead-dead last.” The soft trod of Applejack’s hooves caught up behind Starlight. She had reached the end hours ago and circled back to help the slowpokes along. Then circled back again for Starlight. Applejack turned her head, seeing no one but their gang. “I’m guessing the mayor and all went home?” “It’s nighttime, Applejack,” Rainbow snorted. “You know it.” A light ‘hmph’ rang out from Rarity. “And I suppose you two have never placed last?” That shut them up. Starlight opened her mouth to speak, closed it as Pinkie set off a party cannon, then tried again. “Never again.” “You’ll do better next time.” Twilight smiled sweetly. “The important thing is that you did your best.” “Twilight, I know you view me as a peer but you girls are twenty-five, constantly running around the globe, and range from ‘fit’ to ‘professional athlete’ to ‘borderline demigod.’” Twilight winced and twitched her wings. “I’m not a demigod.” “I was talking about Pinkie but sure. Meanwhile, I’m forty-one, fat-assed, and float myself one block to the candy store if it’s too hot out. I was willing to try this...” She caught ‘pagan earth pony bullshit’ in her throat. “...Holiday, but I’ll cheer you on from the finish line next time.” Twilight’s eyes were soft and bright in the moonlight. She smiled without condemnation and pat Starlight on the shoulder. “That’s okay. I’m proud of you for giving it a try.” She turned away, helping her friends pack up the drinks and banner. Starlight laid another few seconds, pondering her own feelings. She felt… disappointed. In herself. Super-mage Starlight, throwing a tantrum over a little exercise? She stood, slowly but easily. Her recovering body was sore, but it somehow felt amazing. If her lungs felt like brass before and weighed her down, now the brass was turning to clouds, pulling her up with a remarkable feeling of energy. ‘This wasn’t so bad,’ Starlight thought. The Starlight of five or thirty minutes ago would have thrown something at her, but that Starlight was gone. A little practice, a little preparatory exercise. Weekly jogs in the woods, which were quite idyllic in the daytime. She’d get herself into a healthier routine, not just for next year but to lead a better life in general. And then when Autumn came again, she’d run the leaves and it would be a fun surprise for all who heard her griping. And next time… she wouldn’t come in last. Starlight stuck to her new exercise regimen for three days, and next year came in last once more. Although she did finish before sundown that time, and Twilight was proud of her.