//------------------------------//
// Pt.1 - Chapter 18 
// Story: The Starlight Broadcast 
// by ponyfhtagn 
//------------------------------//

Twilight wasn’t sure when she had woken up, nor even when she had become aware that she was awake. How long had she already been lying here staring at the ceiling?
No… The canopy. Made of soft pale-pink fabric. She was lying in a four-poster bed and this was not her room. But everything was soft and warm and smelled nice and clean. Smelled… kind of like Cadence.
Without otherwise moving, Twilight managed to get something of a look at her surroundings. She recognised it as Cadence’s private chamber in the palace. But there was no Cadence. There was nopony at all. All was quiet and still.
Like the terrible anticipation before a surprise party.
The bed was too large. It made Twilight feel small and squished. Panic set in as she recalled her nightmarish journey into the layers of magic of the dragon egg.
The egg?
Where was the egg?
Twilight tried to sit up. Her legs felt stupid and heavy. She couldn’t lift her head at first. She managed to roll over and get her hooves under her. The folds of the heavy blankets reminded her too much of that crushing sea—those tangling chains. Twilight managed to kick the covers off with her hind legs. She crawled to the edge of the bed and slid down. It was a controlled descent that still ended with a thump.
This was undoubtedly Cadence’s room.
The warm afternoon sun was coming through the windows at a gentle angle, painting the room in gold and in pink from the curtains. The furniture was the same as Twilight usually found it. Bookshelves, study desk, lamps, dresses, vanity mirror, stuffed toy collection. Twilight still couldn’t understand how a pony could dedicate more space to dresses and stuffed animals than to books and scrolls.
One thing was different, thought, in the room. There was a chair by the bed that Twilight had never seen there before. Just a regular chair from elsewhere in the palace. Twilight also noticed that on the bedside table there was a washcloth, a pitcher of water and a half-empty glass with a bendy straw. Somepony had been here to watch over her.
To keep tabs on her. Twilight knew it was all over now. Part of her was crushed and yet part of her was relived. Mostly she was uncertain. But with her warden absent for the moment, Twilight felt the overpowering urge to leave while she still could.
She went to the main doors and magically turned the handle, pulling the door open just a crack to peek outside. She caught a glimpse of royal guard armour just outside. Too late! She’d been spotted. The guard turned and pulled the door open wider, blocking the escape rout with his body.
“Please go back to bed,” he said, like the obedient automaton he likely was. “Mi Amore Cadenza will see you soon. Please wait for her.” Then he shut the door.
Twilight kept low to the floor as she retreated, shuffling slowly backwards and not taking her eyes off the exit. Her hindquarters met the bed and she scurried underneath to hide.
Just who was this Mi Amore Cadenza?
Was she some kind of inquisitor here to interrogate Twilight for information? She would want to know how Twilight had gotten past the sphinx, of course, and how Twilight had avoided the night guards. Would Twilight have to implicate her brother with how she had gotten the shift details from him?
Yes… that was an interesting plan… blame it all on Shining Armor…
But that wouldn’t work. The inquisitor would see right through her. She’d somehow know what Shining wasn’t smart enough to do what Twilight had done. The inquisitor would glare down at little Twilight—with that eye patch and grizzled grey mane—probably a scar on one cheek—and that voice like a hunting dog’s bark.
Twilight almost hit the underside of the bed when she heard hoofsteps approach outside the chamber doors. She could feel a strange and powerful presence just outside the room. The inquisitor, it must be! The stranger’s magic was like that swaddling bed that Twilight had just escaped—too big, too soft, too sweet, too warm. It made Twilight drowsy and worked her into a panic at the same time.
And how could she feel all this through the doors?
“Thankyou. You can go now,” said a voice. It was muffled but so familiar.
“She’s awake. She tried to come outside,” the guard reported.
“I will talk to her,” that familiar voice replied. “Leave us.”
“But… My orders were—”
“I can deal with one little filly.”
Twilight hunkered down. Her breath quickened.
The guard was being sent away so he wouldn’t hear the screams.
“Take new orders,” the familiar voice went on. “Why don’t you go… help run errands. Celestia wants a box of party string. Go find that.”
“Okay…” the guard said. “But why does Celestia have us collecting all these weird things now?”
“Just go, okay.”
Twilight heard the guard’s horseshoes trotting off down the hall. She held her breath as the door clicked open and hoofsteps entered the room. The smothering pillow magic was even stronger now—she couldn’t breathe!
“Sorry, Twilight. I wanted to be here when you woke up,” said a gentle voice. “Twilight?”
Twilight poked her head out from under the bed, shaky and gasping. “Cadence?”
“Why are you on the floor?” Cadence asked. “Are you feeling okay?”
Twilight ran up to her. “Cadence! You came to rescue me. Quick, before the guard comes back.”
Cadence shut the door with her bright blue magic.
That same magic. It was her that Twilight was feeling. Suffocating and soft.
Twilight took a mortified step back.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Cadence said quickly. “Nopony’s angry with you. Twilight, we were so worried. When your brother found you you were screaming uncontrollably. Even after they brought you here you were tossing and turning all night and morning. You had a fever and you were muttering and sobbing. Do you remember that?”
Twilight shook her head. “No…”
Cadence took a step forward. “How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Are you too hot? Too cold?”
Twilight took a step back. “No. I’m fine. I feel much better. Let’s go before that Mi Amore Cadenza pony comes. They said she was going to interrogate me. You won’t let her do that to me, will you?” Twilight begged.
Cadence blinked. “Twilight… Mi Amore Cadenza is my name. I just prefer it if everypony calls me Cadence. And I’m not here to interrogate you.”
Twilight took another step back. “Oh? Then what’s with all the questions?”
“Twilight, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Twilight studied her foalsitter’s expression. What was really going on here? What was the meaning of all this? Cadence looked concerned, yes. Maybe. Of course… they didn’t need an interrogator—Cadence already knew everything. Twilight was standing there—no dress—her secret cutiemark out in the open—and yet Cadence hadn’t reacted at all. Because she knew. This was just a game to them…
“Can I go now?” Twilight said.
Cadence glanced at the door and then back to Twilight. Her face betrayed her guilt.
“So I’m a prisoner…” Twilight said.
“Twilight…” Cadence began. “We—” Cadence cut herself off with a huff. She closed her eyes. “We found something in your room,” she continued, cautiously. “A dragon egg. Like from your test. Do you remember that?”
Twilight took another step back and bumped into the bed.
“It… looked like you’d been keeping it in your toy box,” Cadence said, opening her eyes but not looking at her. “We also found lots of books. Particularly Warhock’s The Living Spell, which you had open on your bed. You checked it out from the library at Celestia’s school.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Twilight barked. “Why don’t you just come out with it! Admit it! You didn’t want me to have the egg and now you’re going to punish me. I’m too clever and you don’t like it. You just won’t let me win!”
It was Cadence who took a step back this time. “Twilight… No. I didn’t—I’m not trying to hurt you! You’re just confused right now, that’s all,” Cadence said, perhaps to reassure herself more than anything. “I brought you here to heal you and to protect you. It’s okay. Just tell me who gave you the egg. Tell me what happened to you and we can deal with this properly and you can go home.”
“Who gave me the egg?” Twilight repeated. “Nopony gave me the egg. No pony would! They showed it to me and they took it away! I don’t get to have the things I need! I have to work so, so hard. Nopony was going to help me—I had to do everything myself!” She tapped her chest. “I had to best the sphinx. I had to evade the guards. I had to search through the files. And hide, and lie, and practice, study, compose! I had to—” She choked off her own words, dropping to a whimper. “…to see.”
Cadence could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Twilight…” She slowly approached. “Twilight, no. You didn’t do this. Somepony tricked you or used you. It’s not your fault.”
“Nothing is my fault!” Twilight snapped. “But it happens to me anyway! I had to make it right again. I had to do it. Nopony would believe me. You’re all just afraid of what I can do! What I could do if I had my full magic. You all pretend that nothing happened to me that day but you just wanted to keep me weak!
“And that egg…” Twilight sneered. “You’re all a bunch of monsters. Did you think when you showed it to me that I wouldn’t find out? I know everything! I always have to know everything! And I know what you did down there, in Project Draco. I—”
“What?” Cadence exclaimed suddenly. Her voice was thready. “Twilight, you didn’t… You didn’t really go there. How would you? You don’t know—”
“Don’t I?” Twilight said. “All those little eggs, so full of magic and potential. But you chained them and caged them and carved bits out of them! The things they were supposed to be. Butchers! You squished them down and made them weak! You put parasitic spells into them to change them—made them what you wanted them to be—not what they need to be! You sank their spirits beneath a dark sea, heavy and crushing to make them quiet—make them sleep.
“And then!!” Twilight drew a deep breath and pounced hard on her forehooves. “You wouldn’t even let them BE BORN!!”
The high ceiling rang with the echoes of accusation. Twilight stood ridged and panting with fury. She glared mercilessly up at Cadence. Her once beloved foalsitter now stood trembling with tears in her eyes.
“Twilight…” Cadence croaked, almost a whisper. She looked away and blinked a few times. “Twilight. None of that was me. That lab has been part of the palace since before I was born. You can’t blame me for—”
“You and everypony!” Twilight barked. She hissed a breath. “You knew… You knew about the hatchery and you left it there. Every guard. Every record keeper. Every janitor. Every sick pony who was ever a part of it. Celestia? All of you! You’re all guilty! You all did this and then you locked the doors and tried to forget!”
Cadence winced. “You shouldn’t have to know about this…”
“Well I do!”
“Well you shouldn’t!” Cadence exclaimed, turning back to face her. “What were you thinking!? You tried to look at all that magic? Almost a hundred years of torture and mutilation and experimentation! To say nothing of the dragon embryo inside—do you know how powerful a dragon’s spirit is?”
“NO!” Twilight snapped. “Because you all broke their spirits and left them to suffocate and die!”
“Twilight, it wasn’t me!”
“Liar!” Twilight screamed, turning and scampering under the bed again.
“Twilight, please come out,” Cadence sobbed. “I can’t bear how you look at me. Twilight? Twilight, please. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry you had to see that and feel that. I’m sorry I didn’t realise sooner that you needed help. I… I’m so sorry about the lab, Twilight. But what was I supposed to do? It was years before I even came here. Twilight, the damage was done. What do you want from me?”
“I want you…” Twilight growled. “TO GO AWAY!!”
Her words hung like thunder in the silence that followed.
Twilight heard Cadence’s gentle hoofstep. Then Cadence broke into subdued sobs and retreated from the room. The door clicked shut and Twilight peeked out just in time to see a flash of blue light around the magical lock.
“No…” Twilight whispered.
She darted to the door and tried to open it. It was stuck fast. She would try Warhock’s spell to read the sequence for the lock. Yes. That was what she would do. Just reach out and pull the pieces of the spell together. Come on. She had practiced this spell non-stop for the past several days. There was nothing to it.
Why wasn’t this working?
Twilight felt heat rising behind her eyes. She scrabbled for the spell and couldn’t bring it together. There was nothing! Study, practice, compose—all for nothing!
Twilight felt a sting of dread and rushed to Cadence’s vanity mirror. She gazed into the reflective glass and let out a wail of heartache. They had done it! They had ruined her now! They had made her the weak thing they had always wanted her to be. Even though she would still be able to do basic magic she knew she would never be free of their diminishments.
Twilight lit her horn and once more reached for Warhock’s spell. But it would never be hers again. She saw that as clearly as she saw the glowing band of golden runes that encircled her spiralling horn. Runes that grew brighter the more she struggled—bringing heat and pressure to her thoughts—but faded to invisibility again once she had ceased to conjure.
She was finished. 
She had crossed the line that they had pointed her towards and she had given them all the excuse they needed to punish her. An insidious trap—and she had fallen for it. Now she was under their control.
No…
Her control. For the glowing runes were the same colour as that golden magic belonging to Equestria’s ruling Princess. Celestia. The probable mastermind behind Project Draco. And the entrance test and the school itself and the library that held Warhock’s book and… and…
Twilight turned wide-eyed towards the sunlight windows and stared.
“The Starburst Event…” Twilight whispered.
It was the only answer. Celestia had been behind it all. All so they could rob Twilight of her powers and trick her into this new detention. This way nopony would come for her. Not her parents, not her brother. Nopony. And what if they had been in on it too? Shining Amror definitely was! He and Cadence. And Celestia…
Twilight crawled back to bed and wriggled under it to hide.
There, nestled in the warm dark, she curled up tight and pretended that she was an egg. Just a little purple lump of an egg. All safe. All sleepy. Nopony trying to hurt her here. But nopony coming to save her, either.
“I’ll save you…” Twilight sneered in defiance. “I’ll save you all,” she sobbed. “But who’s going to save me?”