//------------------------------// // 6: The Shadow of Regret // Story: To the Flamespire! // by Vivid Syntax //------------------------------// Zipp threw her party dress off into a heap, where it was quickly trampled by a fleeing guest. The Zephyr Heights Rotunda was full of screams. In a panic, Zipp looked around, but Sunny wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Ahahahaha! Really, Princess?” Opaline cackled. A plume of fire enveloped her, and the spears thrown by the guards incinerated before they could find purchase. “Didn’t you think I’d see this coming? I am a villain, after all.” Zipp’s heart beat so loud that it nearly drowned out the shouts of the guards. She leapt into the air and surveyed the scene. The Ascension Banquet was in shambles. The guards were easily outmatched, Hitch was scrambling to get Sparky to safety, and Pipp was ensnared in a sphere of fire. At least Izzy was having fun silently bouncing around inside her anti-magic bubble. Swallowing her fear, Zipp hovered in front of Opaline. “Y-you won’t get away with this!” “Hm-hm-hm!” Opaline flared her horn, and another bubble formed around Pipp, followed by more for Hitch and Sparky. “You’re joking. After all, you’re the one who was trying to get away with something.” Opaline swooped in closer, her face right up to Zipp. “How does it feel to be such a complete, utter failure, My Queen?” Zipp was stunned. She could barely keep her wings flapping, and in Opaline’s eyes, she saw her own reflection surrounded by an all-consuming fire. Her mouth opened, but no words could escape. Opaline smirked. “Come now, Your Highness. Silence in the face of a superior is terribly uncouth.” From inside her bubble, Pipp shouted in a muted voice, “Zipp! What do we do?” Hitch echoed her. “You’ve got this, Zipp! Just tell us what you need!” Zipp’s eyes darted around again: her trapped friends, Opaline, the destruction in the royal palace, the screams of all the guests… and it was all her fault. “I… I…” Opaline grimaced. “Yes, Your Highness, what will you do?” Cold panic gripped Zipp’s heart. She felt like iron chains had grabbed onto her and were squeezing tighter and tighter. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. What could she do? All the while, her friends called out, “Zipp! Zipp!” “Zipp! Zipp, wake up!” “AH!!!” Zipp leapt up in a cold sweat and flew directly upwards, bumping her head on the ceiling of the Mare Stream. “Ow!” Panicked, she tried to fly outside, but in her haze, she bumped into a window like a bird. “Dang it!” Starlight recoiled from the sound of the impact. “That one looked like it hurt.” She forced herself to relax. “It’s okay, Zipp. You can breathe. You’re safe.” “It’s not okay!” Zipp snapped. When Starlight flinched, Zipp finally found her bearings and drifted down to the floor. “Sorry, Starlight.” She shook her head and rubbed her temple. “It was… I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” Starlight nodded. “Forgiven.” Something about that word was like a punch to Zipp’s gut. “You looked like you were having a nightmare.” “Yeah, it was… It was bad.” “Do you wanna tell me about it? It might make you feel better.” “I… really don’t want to revisit it if I can avoid it.” Starlight sat down, and she floated a mug to Zipp with her magic. “Take it from me, Zipp. You won’t stop having those bad dreams until you face them.” Her head hung low, Zipp said, “I don’t think tea is going to help me solve this.” “Tea? Are you kidding?” Starlight floated her own mug over and took a giant gulp. “This is the blackest coffee I could make. These benches are fine for flying, but they are not good beds.” Zipp laughed and finally grabbed the mug. She inhaled the strong coffee scent, and it helped bring her back to reality. She noticed where they were: inside the Mare Stream, safe like Starlight had said they were, far away from the ruined halls of the palace. The coffee was already only warm, and she wondered how long she’d slept in. She took a deep quaff of the thick liquid then said, “Thanks, Starlight.” “No problem. I made some French toast if you’d like. No point trying to face the world on an empty stomach.” “I’d love some.” The two of them chatted over breakfast. To Zipp’s relief, Starlight was much more interested in the types of kites that they flew in Zephyr Heights than she was in the dream, at least for the moment. The more Zipp relaxed and ate her breakfast, the more she realized exactly how tightly she had been wound. It occurred to her that she hadn’t taken a quiet moment like this since Opaline’s attack. “Huh.” “What is it, Zipp?” Starlight wiped some orange juice from her lips. “It’s just… I’m thinking about the attack. And it’s awful, and I wish I wasn’t, but it’s not as scary right now for whatever reason.” “I make very good French toast.” “Ha! Yeah, you do.” She looked out the window at a damaged tree. From this angle, it looked eerily like a broken pillar in the palace. “It was bad, Starlight.” “It sounds like it. What happened?” “It was the Ascension Banquet. See, mom, Queen Haven—sorry, did I mention I’m a princess?” “Briefly, yes.” Zipp cocked her head. “You… seem really chill about it?” Starlight smirked. “Kid, I’ve been around the block a few times. It feels like I run into a new princess with just about every change of the season.” “Got it. Well, I’m a princess, too, but I don’t really like talking about it, but mom does, and she really, really wants me to start thinking about my future as queen, and that means all these traditions, and—” “Breathe, Zipp.” Zipp took a breath. “Thanks. So yeah, there’s this tradition called the Ascension Banquet. It’s supposed to represent the start of my journey to the throne. It’s my first real princess duty in years, and… it went really, really badly.” Starlight paused to give the statement room. “If it’s any consolation,” she started cautiously. “...getting attacked by a megalomaniac at a royal function was pretty par for the course in my day.” Shaking her head, Zipp chuckled. “Old Equestria still sounds nuts.” “But that’s the villains for you. I know you feel bad about what happened, Zipp, but you have to remember: Opaline is the one that did this. It isn’t your fault.” Zipp drooped, and she felt like a boulder had been dropped on her back.  “You can’t control what somepony else does, and you couldn’t have known that Opaline was going to attack that day. It’s not even your responsibility, anyway. That’s what the guards are for.” The weight piled up on Zipp. The guards, the guests, everyone had been counting on her. It had all gone so wrong. Her thoughts spiraled.  “Zipp, you’re shaking.” Zipp felt the quiver in her wings, so she took a deep breath and downed the rest of her coffee. With the bitter flavor in her mouth, she looked Starlight in the eye. “It was my fault, Starlight. That’s why I need to fix this.” Starlight let Zipp’s words hang in the air for a moment longer. “We’ll fix it together, Zipp.” After a pause, Starlight sighed. “But I can’t force you to talk about it. Let’s get packed up and ready to go.” “Yeah,” Zipp mumbled.  They took stock of the materials in the Mare Stream. There were enough snacks and water to last several days, and between them, they could carry about six saddlebags’ worth of supplies. Outside, Zipp flew up and surveyed the landscape, but the Windigos were still crashing through the clouds above. In the distance, she saw it: the Flamespire, a tall, thin rock structure in the distance, glowing with red heat and with a distressing, purple flame spewing from the castle located at the very top. Zipp shuddered and gulped, and she heard the rumbling above that signaled the Windigos had spotted her. She quickly swooped back down as Starlight made room for two mugs. “Do you really need to bring those?” Starlight smiled. “Listen, you don’t want to see me in the mornings without my coffee, in the afternoons without my tea, or at night without my cocoa.” Zipp laughed. “The stories always said that Rarity was the high-maintenance once.” “Hey, this isn’t high-maintenance! At least I’m not bringing a fainting couch with me.” “Did she seriously do that?” “More than she would ever admit.” Starlight strapped the first bag to herself. “So, what’s the situation with air travel?” “No go, but we aren’t far. I think we can get to the Flamespire in a couple days, tops.” “No time like the present!” Starlight grabbed her other bags and walked where Zipp indicated. “We’ll get through this together, Zipp. Let’s go.” Zipp attached her own saddlebags as Starlight walked ahead, and she gave one long, last look at the Mare Stream, broken and dark in the middle of the jungle. Her heart felt heavy, and to herself, she said, “Don’t worry, everypony. I’ll make this right. Starlight will have a plan.” “You coming, Zipp?” “Right behind you!”  The two of them headed into the depths of the jungle, and as they disappeared into the trees, Starlight asked, “So, know any good traveling songs?” “No, but I bet you do.” Starlight beamed. “Right you are! And a one, and a two…”