//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Starlight Glimmer and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day // by Emperor //------------------------------// If I had known what was to await me that day, I would still have gotten out of bed. It just would have taken me a little longer to do so. Blankets are practically a magical artifact in themselves, did you know? As long as you have one over top of you, it provides warmth and comfort, but it also provides a feeling of security. While the world might be threatening, so long as you stay under a blanket, you aren’t having to deal with those threats. If I had the foresight, I probably would have dragged Double Diamond under the sheets with me the night before to have somepony else to snuggle. OK, on second thought, maybe I would have stayed in bed all day. I didn’t have precognition, however, and so it was that I was up shortly after sunrise. My grooming session went quick. Water was scarce, along with a source of heat, but it was nothing a pinch of magic couldn’t resolve. Still, I was glad the plumbing system would be fully online within a few moons. Ideology was all well and good, but what really held ponies together was creature comforts. I couldn’t blame them. “Good morning, Starlight Glimmer!” I was greeted as I exited my cottage. “Did you sleep well?” “I did, thank you. Good morning to you as well,” I answered the blue-coated unicorn sitting just outside the cottage closest to mine, basking in the morning sun. Party Favor was a little of an oddball at times, but he was a genuinely affable pony. I started to trot down the main street of my little village, only to stop as a cool breeze swept through. It carried with it the smell of honey and oats, a delightful scent that tickled my nose. Taking in a deep sniff, I let out a blissful sigh. There weren’t many ponies out yet, not that it surprised me. Today was a day of rest, and so many chose to sleep in. Some ponies had occasionally mocked my vision for Equality by insisting that every little thing in this village had to be equal, and one of the examples they came up with was requiring everypony to awake at the same time and go to sleep at the same time. There had been some growing pains a year ago as we attempted to figure out what Equality should mean in practice, but even the most fundamentalist interpretations hadn’t gone that far. Thanks to the dearth of ponies on the street, however, I chose to continue my conversation with Party Favor. “The train should be coming in today, correct?” I asked. He nodded. “It is. I’ve already gathered a few volunteers to help carry the supplies back. It would be easier if we had a road built already, though,” he added with a grimace. I lifted a hoof, and brought Party Favor in for a quick, comforting hug. “It’s alright,” I said. “One more season and I think we should be almost completely self-sufficient. Once the sewage system is done, we can start working on the nicer-to-have projects.” The need to even have a road was nuanced. If we had built the town next to the train station, it wouldn’t have been necessary. However, the train station was located at the edge of Equestria’s legal territory, and a small sign a few hundred meters out demarcated the precise location of Equestria’s borders. We had erred on the side of caution about the monarchs disapproving of the village and its founding, building it just outside the borders. In the event somepony decided to cut us off completely, it was my hope by then we wouldn’t need any more supplies. Party Favor let out a sigh and a weak smile, and said, “Yes, that would be ni-” Whatever he was about to say was cut off, as a loud, roaring sound suddenly swept the both of us off our hooves. It took me several seconds to even understand what happened, as I found myself on the ground, dazed. I looked over to Party Favor, who had struggled to get up onto his hooves. He made it, only to walk around like he had gotten into the liquor stores overnight and indulged, before tripping and falling over again. What was that sound? I thought to myself. Whatever it was, it had been loud enough to push me off my hooves from the vibration alone. “Testing, testing,” I said aloud, and frowned. I couldn’t hear a thing. I looked around again, and saw doors and windows opening, as the rest of the town had clearly been awoken by the noise. It didn’t surprise me to see that there wasn’t a single pony in the bunch that appeared to be reacting calmly, but it was still a disappointment. I had hoped the Cutie Mark magic would help suppress the herd instinct of ponykind to panicking when in a disaster, but if anything, it seemed to have made it worse. Unbeknownst to anypony else, I had never removed my Cutie Mark, being unable to inflict the magic on myself, so I still had my full ability to react under pressing circumstances. It was something I put to good use by catching a filly that fell from a second-floor window, before lowering her down. This was bad. Whatever had created the sound, it had set off my village. I needed to get the village under control, but I was only one pony, and if I couldn’t hear anything, I doubted anypony else could. That just made it worse. Well, start small, Starlight, I thought to myself, and quickly grabbed a blue-coated pegasus who was flailing about in my magical grip, locking her in place. Her eyes bulged in an even greater panic as she realised she couldn’t move. Slowly, carefully, keeping a good distance away from her, I walked around in a half-circle until I was in front of her line of sight, and then slowly closed in on her. Night Glider recognised me, and when it became obvious that I was the one holding her in place, she finally relaxed. Upon seeing that she was no longer in a state to accidentally harm herself or others, I let her down, giving her freedom of movement again. “Can you hear me, Night Glider?” I asked her. The other mare could tell that I was speaking, but she obviously couldn’t hear either, as she pantomimed a motion with her hoof to her ear. I took in a deep breath, and hummed in thought. After a few seconds, I decided to play charades with her as well. “You,” I pointed at her. Night Glider seemed to at least understand that. “Up,” I said, raising my hoof to the sky. “Around,” I added, swirling my hoof to indicate I wanted her up in the air and flying around. “Sound,” I pointed my hoof at my own ear, hoping Night Glider had followed me so far. “Investigate,” I ended off by lifting my hoof up to my forehead and squinting my eyes, as if I was peering at something in the distance. Night Glider seemed to understand what I wanted of her, as comprehension dawned on her face. Quickly, she took a one-two step before hopping off and gaining altitude, looking around to see what had caused the source of the sound. I let out a sigh as I looked around at the rest of the panicking ponies. That warm bed back in my cottage seemed so inviting right now. “This is the pits,” I said aloud, then blinked. Had I heard something just now? I hoped that meant my hearing was beginning to come back, and if that was the case, hopefully other ponies would be getting theirs back too. On the other hoof, maybe it was just ‘sound in the absence of sound’, my brain tricking me into believing there was noise, much like the buzzing in my ears when attempting to sleep at night in total silence. Casting those thoughts aside, I readied my horn, looking to pacify the village one pony at a time. Ever since that first day that I found Double Diamond in the snow, with a torn fetlock after crashing into a tree from skiing, I hadn’t ever actually returned to Equestria. I had nursed Double Diamond back to health in what was then just my cottage, having become a hermit inside of Equestria’s borders to self-study magic. During his recovery, we had chatted, both about his life and my own. When Double Diamond was fully healed, he had decided to stay with me, taking a shine to my ideology of Equality. However, he went out and invited a few other ponies who he thought would fit in, and so it was that Our Town was founded, making the decision to move my small cottage outside of Equestria. From there, ponies would wander in, either invited by current residents who knew others that were looking for a home, or ponies who chased rumours on the grapevine of a town where everypony was Equal. Many who came in assumed that I was the town’s leader because I was its founder, or because I was the only who could supposedly wield Meadowbrook’s Staff of Sameness. I won’t deny that that may have helped, but if it were just those two things, I would have stepped aside. It wasn’t that, though, that resulted in me becoming the leader. Rather, it was that I was an excellent administrator. In Equestria, when ponies pioneered new places, it could take them years to get entirely on their hooves, having to constantly rely on supplies from more settled areas throughout all that time. Our Town was founded at the base of a mountain range, where the wild wintry weather was still untamed, and where the local soil was on the low side of desirable. The town had doubled in population every six months for nearly two years, a growth rate that meant we were always catching up. Despite all that, we had never truly been panicking, thanks to my skills at logistics and planning. It wasn’t just long-term administration, however, that I was good at. I was also good at the very short-term, such as knocking sense into ponies who were in a panic from an unexpected sound boom. “Is there any broken glass around?” I asked the ponies who I currently had gathered around me. My sense of hearing wasn’t fully restored, but I could hear now. Once I had pacified my villagers, I had sent those who had foals away, telling them to calm down and reassure their fillies and colts. That still left me with a good number of ponies to do reconnaissance with. “No, none that we could find, Starlight Glimmer,” Double Diamond said. The white-coated Earth pony was practically my trusted lieutenant, who I could rely on to carry out any of my orders faithfully and unerringly. The other ponies had sensed this over time, and delegated their reports to him as a result. “We’ve already checked inside most of the homes, as well as the cave.” “Good then, I didn’t fancy having to get replacement windows,” I stated. I didn’t actually know if breaking glass with a loud noise alone was something that could happen or not, but it was better to be safe than sorry. “We’ll have to check later to make sure none of the underground pipes were damaged. Night Glider, what did you see?” “There was black smoke in the distance, coming from the direction of Manehatten,” Night Glider said, before frowning. “So maybe something exploded?” “A fertiliser plant, maybe?” Double Diamond asked. “Possibly. It wouldn’t be the first time,” Night Glider conceded. “It had to have been a really powerful explosion, however, for us to hear it all the way out here.” Another stallion spoke up. “We’re getting supplies in today, aren’t we?” Asked an Earth pony named Red Durum, one of the ponies who had helped set up our farms. He was a little young to yet be considered an adult, especially given he had yet to receive his Cutie Mark. It was that defining feature that helped me remember him, given his tame red coat, brown mane and brown eyes were rather unmemorable. “Maybe they’ll be able to tell us what happened.” That was a good point. “We’re supposed to, but whatever explosion occurred in Manehatten, we might not be getting supplies in today,” I said, a little worried. It wouldn’t be the be-all end-all if we didn’t get a delivery in today, but it would be a nuisance. We were supposed to get a batch of seeds that I wanted planted to harvest right before the first snow hit. “Doubtful,” said Party Favor. “We were knocked off our hooves. Trains are sensitive pieces of equipment that have to stay on the tracks, and if the force of the explosion knocked train cars off a rail, it would delay things considerably. Even if they switched to horsepower instead of engines, the train would still be several hours late.” Huh, I thought to myself. It’s easy to forget he’s one of the engineers around here sometimes. But what Party Favor said made logical sense. “Well, in that event, I think we’re going to have to change our plans for today. Perhaps you can take one or two other ponies with you just in case the train does arrive, and send off a signal in the event it does, and the rest of us will come to help you.” By ‘the rest of us’, I was of course excluding myself. I had no problem with doing grunt work, but Double Diamond, bless his chivalrous heart, had always found a way to keep me back in the village. I still found work to do each time, but it had lead to the weird situation that I technically hadn’t set hoof back in Equestria for nearly two years. There was no mental hang-ups about stepping past that small sign that indicated the border, I just...hadn’t. Party Favor knew this as well, but he didn’t acknowledge it either. “That sounds alright,” he said. “If the train doesn’t show up, though, what then?” I bit my lip. I had an idea, I just didn’t like it. “Then I’ll ask one of the pegasi to see if they can fly down to the nearest train station and find out when we should expect our supplies.” I didn’t like it, because that would mean somepony having to leave the village for the better part of a day at a minimum. Perhaps I was being a little overbearing and maternalistic, but ponies came here because they wanted to escape something, and found the society we had built attractive. Going back out into the larger world, where others would no doubt question and find fault with the Equal Cutie Mark...it stressed me out to no end. “If it takes too long, then several of us may have to go and retrieve the supplies, wherever they’re held up at.” Maybe that would be better. At least then, there would be strength in numbers. “Very well, Starlight Glimmer,” Party Favor said, giving me a quick nod of the head before turning around, selecting a couple of ponies to take with him. I let out yet another sigh, before finding the pony I was looking for. “Sugar Belle.” “Wha-?!” Said pony jumped a few inches in the air, before nervously turning back to face me. “Yes, Starlight Glimmer?” Sugar Belle asked. I smiled a little at Sugar Belle’s antics. “Put some hot water on and open up your cafe, please. I suspect that very shortly a lot of ponies are going to want some hot chocolate and tea to calm down.” Sugar Belle still trembled a little, but the purple unicorn was quick to heed my request. “Y-yes, Starlight Glimmer!” Sugar Belle said, teeth still slightly chattering before she galloped away into her cottage. I rolled my eyes. Perhaps I would have to have a few sessions of counseling with her in the future. She was simply far too skittish. The train never came. I scowled as I wrote it down both in the notes for the town and my personal journal. A delay in getting the crop seeds wouldn’t necessarily hurt us, but it would be a nuisance. The pegasi and what few unicorns who knew any weather magic would have to ward off winter conditions around the farm for however long it took the crops to grow. Alternatively, we would have to import food from Equestria for the winter, and while we weren’t anywhere close to running low on money, it would set back my goal for self-sufficiency by several months. Which meant that I would have to also find a pegasus in the morning to fly down the train tracks to the nearest station and find out what was going on. Whatever it was, it seemed to have troubled the Princesses as well, since the raising and lowering of the sun and moon tonight was very wonky, unlike the normally smooth movements I was used to seeing. Until then, I would have to review my paperwork and figure out how to work around this, before finally calling it a night and going to bed. I smirked at the thought as I took a sip of hot chocolate, which managed to soothe my frazzled nerves. Perhaps I would have to convince Double Diamond to come in and be my bedwarmer for tonight. Knock knock! The sudden knock startled me out of my reverie, and I could feel my cheeks slightly warm at the daydream that had just been cut short. “Come in,” I called out to whomever it was. With luck, maybe it was the pony I had just daydreamed about. I was disappointed as it wasn’t. Instead, Red Durum, the Earth pony farmer just slightly too young to have gotten his Cutie Mark yet walked in. “Is there anypony else around?” He asked. He looked far too serious for my liking, making me frown. “No, there isn’t,” I said slowly. “What brings you this late, Red Durum?” “Good,” he responded, seeming to ignore my question even as he turned to face me. “Night Glider assumed what happened in Manehatten was an explosion. She’s right, and so is Double Diamond about it being a fertiliser plant. They just don’t know who caused it.” I blinked several times rapidly as I suddenly lost control of the conversation. What had he just implied? That somebody had caused an explosion in Manehatten? Red Durum continued, “A monster locked away in Tartarus over a thousand years ago recently escaped. His name is Tirek, and he has the power to steal magic away from ponies. And he’s done just that, stealing the magic of nearly all the unicorns, pegasi and Earth ponies in Equestria, including the Princesses. He even tricked Discord, the Lord of Chaos, and stole his magic as well.” “What?” I asked, stunned, even as I rose to my hooves. “Wha-bu-” The other pony continued talking, mowing over my objections. “I don’t know why Tirek ignored us. My best guess is that whatever removal of a pony’s Cutie Mark does, it does something to a pony’s magic as well. Maybe to his senses, there was only a single pony with magic all the way up in the mountain range, and it was too far away and too few ponies for him to bother with.” “But that doesn’t make any sense? How do you even know all of-urk.” My throat clenched shut as I suddenly realised what he said. That, as far as Tirek's senses told him, there was only a single pony with magic up in the mountain range. Where a pony with magic meant a pony with a Cutie Mark. Red Durum knew. The shock must have shown on my face, as Red Durum said, “No, I haven’t told anypony, nor do I intend to. I was undercover here on order of my Queen, who I’ve been communicating with for the last few hours. We’ve been analysing Tirek’s power and all our options, and we’ve come to a troubling conclusion. My Queen is unable to attack Tirek with his capacity to steal magic, only defend. But we think there’s a magic that can stop him.” Wait? Did he say his Queen? “Are you...a Changeling?” I asked, as the pieces finally clicked in place. Some ponies thought the Changelings had some sort of hive mind link, able to communicate across long distances, and their ruler had called herself a Queen in the Canterlot invasion a few years ago. It would also explain why Red Durum had never gotten a Cutie Mark, even though he was on the cusp of adulthood: perhaps he suspected the Cutie Mark removal magic wouldn’t have worked on him if he had faked a Cutie Mark. He nodded, as he closed his eyes, and then reopened them. His brown eyes had shifted to blue. My heart sank, not because he had confirmed my suspicions about his being a Changeling. It was because I knew what he was about to say next. “Starlight Glimmer...you may be the only pony left who can save Equestria from Tirek.”