The little filly reached out a hoof in greeting as the cart careened towards them. Starlight saw it, but only just before--
*CRACK*
Starlight watched in silent horror as the still body of the young foal flew to the side, and landed with a small thud. She ran towards her, but found only a lifeless form of what was once a beautiful filly.
She picked up the filly in her arms, and held her close.
Just then, the scenery shifted: reforming to when she stood in the doorway, and the cart impacted the young pony.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
The scene played before her, over and over again: droning on in a steady rhythm of death, and darkness. Each time the crunch of her bones grew louder, and Starlight looked down as the room started swirling: noticing a river of blood across her forehooves. She tried to shake it off, but she couldn't.
It was her own blood: she let this happen. Her own blood.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
"Stop it..."
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
"It's not my fault..."
*CRACK!*
*CRACK!*
*CRACK!*
"I'm not responsible, i-it was an accident..."
*CRACK!*
"Mommy!"
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"NO!!"
The blanket flew off of Starlight as she sat up in her bed, screaming. Her mattress was drenched with sweat, and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her hair was messed up, and her entire body was shivering. She looked over to the doorway, her pupils the size of pinpricks: and saw Twilight glancing worriedly inside.
"Starlight? What happened?"
Starlight dropped her gaze to her bed, and slowly let herself droop back into it. "I-it's nothing, Twilight... I just need some more sleep..."
She turned around, and let her eyes focus on the sunshine behind her window's shades.
"I'll get you some soup, if you want." Twilight said with an almost maternal smile.
Starlight heard the door creaking, and decided to speak up.
"I-if Scootaloo comes by, she'll probably want to be read the next chapter of the book." She sighed, hearing Twilight's hooves screech on the crystal floor as she stopped in her tracks. "If she wants me to read some more, let me know, alright?"
"Sure thing, Starlight." Twilight replied, poking her head back through the door. "Thank you for doing that, I'd forgotten all about that."
"It's not a problem, Twilight." Starlight sighed. "It's the things that we hope to forget, that we end up remembering the most..."
She could tell just by the sound of the hooffalls that Twilight was confused by her words, but she knew she'd rather by cryptic than share that area of her past.
She laid there for hours: watching the sunlight through her blinds slowly shift in position. It seemed that her eyes had just started to drift shut when a soft knocking stirred her violently:
"Starlight? If you're not asleep, Scootaloo would rather you read the story."
Twilight's voice sounded polite, but in her sleepy haze: Starlight heard only bratty whining. Her head knew this wasn't the case, but her body wanted to go out there, and strangle that filly of a princess.
She groaned out an agreement, brushed her hair and coat quickly, and made for the stairs outside her door.
By the time she had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, she had used a quick time spell to freshen her face: so that she looked presentable. She found Scootaloo waiting quietly on the bottom step: back to her.
Deciding to have a little fun with the filly, Starlight levitated herself just high enough so that she wouldn't have to make hoofsteps when she walked. She slowly glided forward, and peered over her purple mane:
She was resting her eyes, and seemed to be holding the book rather closely: practically hugging the manuscript. Starlight silently giggled to herself, and lowered her hoof very slowly in front of Scootaloo's face.
"Boop!"
Scootaloo jumped back as Starlight's hoof gently bumped her nose, before quickly bubbling with laughter. Starlight smiled as she lifted both the filly and the book, and flew into the entrance hall.
"Thanks, Twilight!" She called, as she passed the library, before finally settling in a familiar recliner.
"Ready?" She asked, letting the filly nestle into her coat.
"Ready!" Scootaloo called with a sharp salute.
Starlight nodded, and cracked the book once more:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Chapter Three: Building Ragnarok.
The leader of the bandits chuckled to himself as he held the bloody dagger in his teeth: eying the streets warily. His associates carried three dead Raiders out of the building behind him, as well as a dead mare.
"Was it really necessary to kill Trimmer like that?" One of the masked guards complained, heaving the dead bodies into a crate. "She was pretty hot, Flinch, we could've used her... 'talents' in other ways."
"You can amuse yourself with her corpse, if you're that desperate." Flinch growled. "We don't have as much time as we usually do, that Dark might be on the lookout for us, after our little 'Run-in' yesterday."
"I'm just saying, the mares are getting pretty slim in this town, and you're not helping the population any." The guard mumbled. "Still, I guess--"
His abrupt stop caught the others by surprise, as Flinch turned in time to see his minion's head roll to his hooves. There was a clank as the body sulked to the ground, but there was no sign of whatever killed him.
"Spread out, and see if there a--"
Flinch didn't get to finish his sentence, and the blade of a white sword found a home in his cheeks. He screamed in agony as he bit down on the blade, and watched as a... a creature took out the other three with seamless ease.
It slowly drew a larger sword out of a bandit's skull with it's horn, and flared out it's bony wings. It was covered in bone, and steam hissed from it's skull. It slowly turned to Flinch, and spoke in the tone of a long-dead soul:
"Go to your Emperor, little imp. Tell him of the coming of the end. Tell him to stop this cruelty to the Half-breeds, or he'll be the next to fall."
With that, the creature flapped its mighty wings once, and was gone: leaving the terrified creep in a blood-filled alley, with a blade through his mouth.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
*Knock, knock, knock*
Starlight looked up irritably from the book as the filly snoozed gently on her lap. and out to the doorway: she could see a figure standing outside, but she couldn't recognize the shape.
'Do visiters always come here at the most inconvenient times?' She thought bitterly. Slowly- not wanting to disturb either Twilight's studying, or Scootaloo's nap -Starlight levitated herself and the filly, and after placing Scootaloo gently on the cushion: she floated over to the door.
She opened it, and was surprised by the figure who stood in the doorway.
"Uh... may I come in...?"
Silence.
"Uh... o-of course! Come in..."
"... mom?"