//------------------------------// // Chapter 19 – The Trial of Starlight Glimmer // Story: Under Her Wing // by Tinyweasels //------------------------------// Chapter 19 – The Trial of Starlight Glimmer The human and two ponies walked through town and the curious onlookers kept their distance as they passed. Rainbow felt a bit of deja vu at the whispers and suspicion in the eyes of the locals. Admittedly, in this case it was justified. When they got to the castle the guards let them pass without so much as a second glance, but as they passed a guard turned and walked with them, eventually taking point and leading them to the map room. When they went in, Twilight stood and looked gravely at them. "Starlight," Twilight said coolly when they made eye contact. "Twilight," was the equally cool reply. Rainbow sat on her throne and Fullbright stayed with Starlight and talked quietly with her. Twilight just sat staring at Starlight, her hooves together. Rainbow could almost see the wheels of Twilight's mind turning. "So, I sent word to the others so everypony should be here soon," Rainbow said and that seemed to wake Twilight from her thoughts. "Oh, yes. Thank you, Rainbow," Twilight said, looking conflicted for a few moments and then managing a small smile. Twilight levitated over a cushion for Starlight to sit on. "I have informed Celestia that you've arrived, but I would guess that you're tired from your journey and you are welcome to a suite here at the castle to rest up before we begin resolving this issue." "Thank you, but I've come too far to wait any longer. I need the matter settled." Twilight nodded and sent a servant to fetch a tea pot and cups. When the servant returned a short time later, Twilight levitated the tray and she manifested a small wooden box. She approached Starlight, set the tray down and opened the box. From what Rainbow could see, it was just tea. Twilight poured out some hot water into the cup and mixed in just a pinch of the exotic tea, stirring it in, then offered it to Starlight. "This is a special blend of tea given to me by Celestia. You'll find it very refreshing," Twilight said with a smile. Starlight looked at it suspiciously for a few moments then took it in her hooves for an experimental sip. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she took a deeper sip and then finished it. Rainbow noted an instant improvement in Starlight's state. Her faded colors even seemed to brighten a bit. "What is that?" Starlight asked in wonder. "Celestia said it was an ancient restorative, very powerful and very rare." "Thank you, Twilight," Starlight said meekly. "You're welcome, Starlight," Twilight replied with a smile. Shortly, Rainbow saw her friends begin to arrive. Each looked apprehensively at Starlight as they entered and took their seats. Soon the door opened and in walked Princess Celestia and with her Nightmare Moon. Starlight lowered her head in despair as she saw the forces aligning against her. Fullbright came up to her and hugged her, which surprised her greatly, and began a hushed conversation with her. Rainbow smiled—Her dad's time in the Wonderbolts had given him a knack for awesome pep talks in tense situations. Twilight's horn glowed and the map vanished. Celestia stood beside Twilight's throne while Nightmare circled predatorily in the shadows of the room. Without his characteristic fanfare, Discord suddenly materialized. Fluttershy let out a loud gasp of surprise and delight and rushed over and hugged him. "Discord! I was so worried about you," she said, crying tears of joy. He hugged her tightly, a sincere smile on his face. "I missed you too, dearest Fluttershy." Rainbow looked to Starlight, who seemed utterly overwhelmed. Her dad continued to talk to her and encourage her. Celestia looked to all the assembled and smiled. "So, now that we are all present we can begin. Twilight, I am giving you the responsibility of this tribunal." Twilight looked panicked for a moment, but she got control of her emotions and nodded. "Yes, Celestia." Twilight took a few more moments to gather her thoughts before she began. "Starlight Glimmer, this is a royal tribunal due to the nature of what you've done and the magic you've displayed This seemed a matter above a normal jury trial. All present have been informed of what happened, so there is no need for a recap. Let's go right to the heart of the matter and ask you to explain your reasons for what you did—and I don't mean the ideology of your town. What I am looking for is your reasons for forming that ideology to begin with." Starlight nodded and looked at all those assembled and began her explanation. They all listened intently as she spoke of a childhood betrayal that caused a catastrophic domino effect in her life. A life where there had seemingly never been anypony she could reliably turn to for support, eventually the lack of trust tainting her to the core. Rainbow looked to the others, each considering Starlight’s words carefully except for Discord, who was reading something and would occasionally look up from it for a few moments, apparently making notations on his reading material as he listened. As Rainbow listened to Starlight, her mind went back to her time at the Tree of Harmony. While her mother had shown her different paths her life could have taken, she realized she wasn’t shown any alternate paths in Equestria. What if she had never been adopted? What if she had never forgiven Ponyville for her treatment? What if she had never become friends with the others? What would she have become? A heart full of bitterness and resentment growing and blossoming into what? Into this? Using dark powers to settle the score with the world that had cast her aside? Now a dark vision filled her mind, a vision more intense than a mere daydream. She saw herself sitting on the throne of a shattered Canterlot, her eyes glowing with the greenish black glow of corruption, a variety of magical talismans and weapons adorning her and her armor. Around her neck, wearing them as trophies, were three alicorn horns. She strode to the balcony and looked down at the dimensional portal where her armies comprised of all manner of foul creatures and horrors beyond imagining, pouring through the portal to lay waste to the human world. If not for the love of others, she would have become the destroyer. Rainbow made a gasp and leaned forward suddenly, tears running down her cheeks. “Rainbow, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked with concern. “Whoa, sorry guys. I’m okay. Sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. Discord had said that in another world, Starlight had set herself up as Empress of Equestria. Sometimes the choice between good and evil is balanced on a knife’s edge, and all it takes is just one little push in either direction to decide which way you fall. Rainbow looked to Princess Nightmare. Perceived betrayal in the past drove her to madness and nearly engulfed the world in eternal night. Now Starlight was balanced on that knife’s edge, her path about to be set. As the proceedings progressed, she found herself a bit annoyed again that she hadn't been able to go along with her friends on their trip to Equality. They were a team and should have faced Starlight together so she could have been there to help the others. She didn't say anything as the others debated the issue, not having shared the same experiences. As things were discussed back and forth, eventually Discord spoke. "My friends, as I had said before, I had changed things. And for better or worse, I changed Starlight's future as well," he said, holding up the papers he'd been reading. "I know what she would have done if she had escaped capture. What her revenge would have been. Starlight, with your permission, I would like to show them all the events of your past and, if you will forgive me, I want to show them what the future would have held.” She nodded. "Yes, do whatever you must," she said with resignation. "Thank you." The room around them turned fluid and they soon all stood watching the life of little Starlight and her friend Sunburst. They watched as he seemingly turned his back on his shocked and betrayed friend. Things jumped forward to points in her life that showed her growing obsession with magic and Rainbow finally got to see the events of Equality first hand. "Now, this is what was to come, but my actions changed and prevented these events. However, they are still relevant," Discord said. They all watched as they were shown, with little context, Twilight, Spike and Starlight jumping through time to various alternate futures of Equestria, the general idea being that Starlight was trying to prevent the friendship of the elements, believing that just a few friends didn't have the power to change the world. They saw a world where the changelings had triumphed, where weird evil versions of AJ's cousins Flim and Flam had triumphed, where Sombra had triumphed as well as a world where Nightmare had triumphed. Nightmare looked pained, having been given a glimpse of what might have been. Rainbow was shocked, seeing herself as Nightmare's captain of the guard and Rarity her chamberlain. The events where highly edited for some reason, but here and there she could see Cloudsdale in the distance and little ponies flying around, like it was flight camp. Then they came to a dead world, a final bad end for Equestria. It was there that Twilight gave an impassioned plea for Starlight to rethink her philosophy. Perhaps Discord had plugged them all into the emotions of the moment, as Rainbow could see that all present were sharing the hurt, pain and hope of Twilight and Starlight. When the images faded, Starlight just began sobbing. Twilight got off her throne and went over to her and hugged her and she hugged back. Celestia walked over and Starlight looked up at her in sorrowful remorse. Celestia smiled at her and joined in the hug. Rainbow looked to her friends, seeing each battling within themselves to forgive or not, then each in turn joining the hug. Even Discord joined in. Rainbow got up and hugged Starlight as well. She looked around, but Nightmare had slipped out of the room at some point. Twilight looked at Starlight and smiled. "Starlight Glimmer, will you let us be your friends, to help you to share what we've learned, to help you become so much more than you are now? You have such amazing potential." She nodded, tears streaming down her face. Twilight levitated the jar with Starlight's cutie mark and opened it, the magic swirled around and then launched itself at Starlight and rejoined with her. Starlight began crying harder, in joy at finally being made whole again. Rainbow discreetly left the room, looking for Nightmare. She looked around and eventually found her sitting at an open window, a window that bizarrely showed a night sky featuring a full moon, despite it being daylight through the other windows. Rainbow was shocked to see that the princess was crying. "Princess Nightmare?" Rainbow asked hesitantly as she approached, wondering if she was taking her life in her hands by talking to her in this state. Nightmare turned suddenly and hugged Rainbow and began sobbing. Rainbow wrapped her arms around the princess. "What's wrong, Princess?" she asked in concern. The princess said nothing, just continuing to cry, but eventually she looked at Rainbow and then turned to a wisp of cloud and flew out the window and the skyscape returned to daylight. "Well, that was weird," Rainbow said to herself as she returned to the map room to discover the group had already moved to the dining room and an improvised party, courtesy of Pinkie, was already in progress with several ponies from town present. As time went on, the party continued to expand, moving from the dining room to the ballroom, and more and more ponies showing up to celebrate Starlight's change of heart. It reminded Rainbow of her own welcome party. The ponies of Ponyville were so in sync with each other that they just knew to go with the moment and celebrate. Starlight for her part seemed overwhelmed by it all—having gone from a world of fear, suspicion and mistrust to encountering an outpouring of love the likes of which she hadn't believed were possible. Fullbright came up to Rainbow and put a hoof on her hand and looked up at her with a proud smile. "Honey, that was amazing. You and your friends do some mighty fine work." "Hey Dad, that wasn't even our best work. I prefer the more physical stuff, like when I kicked that full sized dragon in the face!" “You did what?!” “Yeah, it wasn’t my brightest idea. And having to get rescued by Fluttershy was a real blow to my pride.” "Still, it was nice to see you and your friends at work. Now I finally have some idea what it is you do, so I can answer ponies when they ask me what it is you do for a living," he said with a proud smile. Starlight approached and both father and daughter smiled at her. "Well, how are you feeling, Starlight?" Rainbow asked. Starlight hugged Rainbow and Fullbright, then she looked up at Rainbow. "You had said it would be a new beginning and I didn't believe you. I'm sorry." "Hey, no problem, Starlight,” Rainbow said. “You wanted a perfect town of friendship and equality. Well, Ponyville's likely the best example you're gonna find." She nodded with a smile. "It will take some getting used to, being the student of Princess Twilight." Rainbow gave a start—that decision must have happened after she left the room to chase after Nightmare. "Oh! Well, congratulations! Twilight will be a great teacher and we'll all help show you how awesome friendship can be!" "It will take some time to learn to trust again, so I ask your patience," Starlight said sheepishly. "Hey, no problem. Take all the time you need. We're all here for you." She now shook her head. "I just don't understand this. I should have at best been banished or at worst taken Discord's place in the statue garden." Celestia approached and smiled. "While I wish it were possible to help all who go astray, we are sometimes made aware of those in need of our help before it's too late. As it was with you. You had not yet reached the point of no return, Starlight, and you had the choice to accept our help or walk away." "Thanks to Discord, I have a greater insight into what I am capable of. I’m not an evil pony, but I have within me the potential to be. I need to understand that part of me, to understand how to control it before it controls me." "The journey of self-discovery is always a wonderful and terrible one, but it always bears fruit because there is always more to learn about ourselves," Celestia said, looking kindly at Starlight before giving her a hug. The party continued growing and by evening it seemed all of Ponyville had gathered to celebrate. Twilight and the others had stepped back to let Starlight mingle on her own, to get to know the rest of the town. Rainbow looked to Twilight and smiled. "Oh, our little Twilight’s growing up so fast! A student of her own now!" She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and the others laughed. Twilight looked embarrassed. "Yeah, it is odd. It will be a learning experience for me too." "We'll do all we can, Twilight, to help her along. We got your back," Rainbow said confidently. "Darn straight," AJ said. "Ma's already invited her to dinner, and that's always a Ponyville tradition for newcomers." "Ahem, not quite," an annoyed Discord said as he suddenly appeared. "I've lived here since Season Three and I haven't had dinner with the Apples yet.” “Season?” “Nevermind. Suffice it to say I haven’t graced your table.” AJ nodded. "Yeah, that’s true. The truth is, Ma's still mighty sore at you for what ya did to her when you first showed up. Ma's special talent is hospitality and she loves her family more than anythin' and you turned her against her talent and against us. She said some mighty unkind things to all of us when she was under your power and she remembers every single cruel word she said. Now, Ma's all about forgivin' and forgettin' and the golden rule and such, but you really got under her skin and she's havin' a hard time forgivin'. At one time or another every single resident of Ponyville has been a guest at the table of the Apple family and that invitation is open to you. I just never said anythin' 'til now 'cause we were all afraid of what you'd do." "But I've changed!' "I know, Discord, but I still recall dinner at Fluttershy's." "That was a long time ago." "Look, I'll talk to Ma and see what she says, but understand this, Discord," she said and held up a hoof. "You know, this is a time I wish I had a hand instead of a hoof so I could help make a point," she said. "You get just—" she said and Discord snapped his fingers and AJ's hoof became a hand. AJ gave a quick shriek of surprise, then spent a few moments trying to figure out how to operate a hand and eventually held up a single finger. Rainbow had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. “Uh, wrong finger, AJ. This one,” Rainbow said and wiggled her pointing finger. "Pardon," AJ said as she held up the correct finger. "You get just one chance at this, Discord. Ma can forgive you once, but not twice. Understand?" "Yes, I understand, Apple Jewel." "Good, now get this thing offa my hoof!" Fluttershy smiled up at Discord and put a hoof on his hand. "Don't worry, Discord. I'll go with you. We'll show Ma Apple you're not a bad guy anymore and you'll make a good impression on the whole family." Discord picked her up and hugged her tight. Rainbow sat and enjoyed the party as Starlight mingled with the whole population. The formerly friendless pony had now probably been hugged more in one night than all the rest of her life combined. Rainbow played her emergency guitar, casually playing along with the record player that Pinkie also had stashed at the castle for music emergencies. He father sat by her side and together they quietly made up comical lyrics to the popular Equestrian songs Pinkie's machine was playing. Eventually, Starlight made her way over to them and sat beside Rainbow, watching the ponies party. "Liking Ponyville so far, Starlight?" Rainbow asked. "Yes, very much so. I'm still overwhelmed! A part of me is afraid that I'll suddenly wake up in the tunnels where Discord found me and I'll discover this is all just a dream." "Well, if it is a dream, maybe it's one of those prophetic ones, so come here anyway and you'll see it's all really like this." Starlight just smiled and nodded, her attention drifting to Rainbow's guitar playing. To show off, Rainbow began playing complex riffs on her guitar. "It's amazing that you can play that so well without hooves," Starlight observed. "Yeeeeaaahhh," Rainbow said with an arched eyebrow, looking at Starlight. "Funny how that is." Starlight watched her for a while and then looked up hesitantly. "May I try that?" Rainbow smiled and handed the guitar over. Starlight tried to emulate the way Rainbow had held it and began experimentally playing. For the second time in less than a week Rainbow heard the sounds of a guitar in pain. Starlight continued playing a little longer and then stopped and looked forlornly at it a few moments before levitating it back to Rainbow. "You would think I'd have some sort of natural aptitude with a guitar, as my father played one." "Really? Was he good?" Rainbow asked. "I don't know. I never met him. My mother was in a big traveling magic show and he just wandered into camp at one of the stops and joined up. He was a pegasus named Duke and mother said he was quite the charmer. They had a whirlwind romance, one that ended when she found out she wasn't the only mare he was romancing in the show. When he realized he'd been found out he ran for the hills and she never saw him again." "Oh man, sorry Starlight. I kinda know how that feels." "At times I've thought to find him, other times to forget him and yet other times to destroy him." "I met my human folks. I had expected to march up to them, look them in the eye and cuss them out for a few hours and wash my hands of them. Then when I met my birth mom, I looked her in the eye, we both burst into tears and hugged and I ended up staying with her for over a month. Meeting Dad was kinda similar, except there was a big family barbecue as they all met the daughter he had left behind in ponyland. What I'm saying is, you should track him down—if not to forgive, then to at least give yourself some closure. And who knows, maybe you'll see it in your heart to forgive him." Starlight nodded, looking off in the distance. "Maybe, but that's something for another day. I have a lot of work to do here before I'm ready to change my thinking about other things." Rainbow resumed playing as her friends came over and then Discord. "Hey, Discord," Rainbow said with a smile. "You did good, buddy." He beamed at the compliment. "Thank you, Rainbow. It wasn't easy." Fluttershy patted his hand. "Yes, we're all so proud of you." Twilight looked up at him. "I have to admit, I was surprised you didn't produce Sunburst and confront him. That would have been in character for you." Discord nodded. "I had thought of that, but having Starlight meet him now would disrupt a future event. I’ve done that enough with Nightmare and Rainbow Dash, and changing how you all got your cutie marks,” he added under his breath. “Starlight has to meet him when you all travel to the Crystal Empire to celebrate the birth of Cadance's baby." A deathly silence fell over the room. "Cadance is pregnant?" Twilight and the others all gasped in surprise and excitement. "Discord, now they all know!" Pinkie exclaimed loudly. "YOU JUST RUINED MY EPISODE—er, surprise!"