'At least this once, you did not fail.'
Her entire body jerked as Starlight opened her tired eyes. Holding her aching head, the young unicorn groaned with pain as she forced her feeble body to get up. Her senses steadily returned to her, but as soon as she could comprehend the images in front of her, she wished they did not. Fearfully looking around, Starlight saw nothing but an endless horizon of darkness. She found herself in a realm so devoid of light that her own body appeared to emit a weak glow which illuminated the cold ground of cracked obsidian beneath her. In this plain, even shadows seemed bright like candlelight.
“Guys?” Starlight called out for her friends with a trembling voice, but even its echo abandoned her eventually. Shaking her head in frustration, she gritted her teeth as she took a couple of steps backwards. “What happened?” She though out loud, desperately scanning her void surroundings for anything that was not pitch-black eternity.
Ultimately, something close startled her as it suddenly appeared within her view. “Where did that come from?” Starlight wondered, only requiring a single step to stand right next to an object resembling a stalagmite of crystalline glass. It stood upright, towering the filly like an oak tree, and a gauzy veil of azure drew around its frame like veins. “And- what is it?”
Carefully touching it, Starlight's disquiet peaked when she felt absolutely nothing upon contact but its solid mass. She spotted her reflection within, yet it was a mere shadow of her actual self. Tired, periwinkle eyes drifted aimlessly, her once luscious fur a weak thistle, and a colorless mane and tail graced her brittle body. Starlight stared at her reflection in disbelief, unable to accept that this illusion could possibly be her. “What is happening?” She whispered so quietly that the words barely escaped her mouth.
Still, it was enough for her reflection to suddenly stare at her, a weak smirk forming on its muzzle. A faint glow the color of autumn leaves engulfed the reflection's iris, its simper forming into a haughty grin. Taking a single step forward, her splitting headache returned, causing her to cry out. In unison with her shout of pain, several flashes of lightning collided with the ground around her, frightening and briefly blinding her.
She felt her aching head calm down fast, and as she tried to look at the structure of crystal again, she realized it was no longer there. Instead, uncountable panes orbited her, showing her images that tore at her heart. Ponies with fake smiles exalting her, futures of suffering that had never been real yet had almost been eternized by her, and grief bestowed upon herself and others. All of them were memories of her errors and disgrace, pointing at her, mocking and laughing at her, showing her who she was deep inside.
Violently, Starlight shook her head and crouched down, facing the images with odium. “No! I atoned for my mistakes and learned from them! I have great friends and do my best to help everypony out as much as I can! Nopony is scared of me anymore- you hear me? And I am not scared either!”
As she yelled those words, she felt a freezing liquid rush past her legs and cover her knee-deep. Fully rising again, she looked at her mirror image within the oily, black water. Once again, it showed her the same, vitiated image of herself. This time however, she noticed that it moved just like a reflection should, in accordance with the original. Trembling with fear, Starlight pulled one of her wet hooves out of the water and pulled a streak of her mane into her field of vision. Both were pale like the reflection.
“No. No!” Starlight brayed, panic overcoming her mind as she stared at the panes circling her. Slowly, they started to shatter into millions of shards which dropped into the oily liquid. With every fragment, she felt it rising closer to her throat, becoming stickier until she could barely move her limbs within.
“Somepony- help me- please!” Starlight screamed for dear life, every movement of her forworn body causing the water to be in greater turbulence. As much as she attempted to breast the waves, she was ultimately helpless and alone. Her head often sank beneath the surface and Starlight desperately gasped for air as she chocked on the thick water.
It did not take long despite her hopeless struggle for her to break down from exhaustion, barely a single part of her body listening to her will. As she sunk deeper into the eternal abyss, her wrought up soul entered a state of placidity. Instead of the sounds of the sea, she only heard dulled, incomprehensible words calling out to her. The exception was her own name, at first spoken with a tone of amity that quickly faded for nothing but disdain.
Yes, it was true, was it not? Her name alone was the very essence of so much harm she had inflicted upon others. It had always been implausible to her how they could have forgiven her so easily, but perhaps the truth was that they had merely been pretending. Maybe the same was true for her supposed friends, who had treated her kindly solely for her to no longer be a danger to them and everyone else.
“No- I don't believe this.” Starlight thought as memories of her photos taken with all her friends appeared in her mind's eye. She remembered all the warm smiles and genuine bliss they had experienced together, the aspects of her life that made it worth living. She held it dear within her heart, and nothing would ever take this away from her again.
Something bedazzled the tired unicorn and when her weak gaze shifted to it, a faint smile grazed her muzzle. At first a tiny sparkle, it steadily grew into a gentle, white light, like the sun's reflection in the seashore during dawn.
Reaching out for it, her eyes tore open as she felt something grabbing her chest.
A bloodcurdling scream clang throughout the forest's edge as Starlight's body erected itself upwards. With her body demanding heavy gasps, she frantically looked in every direction, seeing nothing but vague shapes. Steadily, as her senses returned to her, her spirit eased, feeling the gentle touch of her mentor's hoof on her chest as she was greeted by a troubled smile. “Shhh- everything's fine. Starlight, are you okay?”
It took the frightened unicorn a long moment to comprehend her surroundings, but Twilight's soft touch and soothing voice allowed her to calm down eventually. Behind her teacher stood all of their close friends, as concerned about Starlight's well-being as Twilight. “I- think so.” She answered uncertainly, but with the wish to end her friends' concerns.
Taking Twilight's other hoof, she got back up on all her 4 legs, her dizzy head still inflicting pangs upon her. “What happened?” Starlight asked all of them, all looks shifting to Twilight Sparkle who most likely had an answer.
Letting go of her former pupil, the purple alicorn stared at the treetops of the glade, desperate to find an answer. To all of them, it felt like an eon past them by that only consisted of dead silence, filling their hearts with apprehension. Ultimately, it was Applejack who broke the calm. “Honestly, we dunno either.”
Rarity scratched her chin, her gaze wandering over the trees and shrubbery which encased the still glade. “We just woke up ourselves. At first, there were still these- strange holes in the air. But before we could do anything about them, they already faded away.”
Spike let himself fall onto the grassy ground, letting out a deep-drawn sigh. “And whatever happened, it took my ice cream away.” He lamented his loss, pouting like he was defying the clamors of a strict mother.
Rainbow Dash shook her head, questioning how escapist the young dragon actually was. Grabbing him by the nape, she made him get back on his feet. “Calm down. I buy you some more if you cut it out, okay?” She bribed him, which he gladly accepted.
Twilight Sparkle finally turned around, staring at Starlight Glimmer with an expression of trembling uncertainty as the others merely watched. “I don't know. It looks like your time travel spell didn't even transport us 5 minutes into the future or past, but some things are just not right.”
“Yes, like where my little sweeties are. Oh- I'm so worried about them.” Fluttershy anxiously expressed her concerns. Pinkie Pie, without hesitation, put a foreleg around the worried pegasus' shoulder, hoping her commiseration would ease Fluttershy's mind.
While everyone else took Twilight's words lightly like she had already told them everything before, Starlight found herself stammering an incomprehensible mush of syllables. Her mind could not even fathom what her teacher was telling her, much less form a satisfying answer. “My what- how?” Was all she could muster as a response, which was exactly as Twilight had suspected.
“You completely lost control over your body, and cast the same spell as- back then. But what I don't understand is how. The scroll was destroyed alongside the portal, and all the others I know of are safely locked away in Castle Canterlot's library. Not that it really matters, because you did it without one, which should be impossible.”
“Not to mention you collapsed before you even created it. Last time I checked, there was no such thing as sleep-casting.” Spike completed Twilight's illustration of the events that had transpired, to which she in turn could only nod affirmatively.
Starlight meanwhile felt like reality was slipping out of her grasp, her body quivering and her eyes rapidly moving like it was fighting an infection. She was unable to ponder, let alone utter her scattered thoughts and emotions to let her friends know how she felt about this imbroglio.
Approached by Twilight, Starlight once again felt her soft hoof on her chest as their gazes met. “Hey, it's okay. You don't know, and that's not a problem. Wouldn't be the first mystery we solved, and what matters the most is that nopony got hurt. Trust me, we'll sort everything out, 'cause that's what we always do best as best friends, right?” She spoke self-assuredly, occasionally looking over her shoulder to gain validation from the others.
As much as Twilight's words always filled her soul with confidence, a talent she greatly admired her mentor for, it still took her a while to fully accept them. “Okay.” Starlight affirmed, a weak smile forming on her face.
Twilight Sparkle nodded and let go of her. Quickly cantering to the glade's edge, the others followed suit unhesitatingly. While never having been officially enunciated, they greatly valued Twilight as their leader and pony who always knew what to do. “And to do that, we first need to get a picture of the situation. Let's head back to the castle and, if necessary, make a plan there.”
Together, they trotted through the tranquil streets of Ponyville, looking at all the other ponies who appeared to pursue their daily routines. Just like in the morning, Starlight noticed that the sky was cloudless and blue like the ocean. If it wasn't for the bizarre incident, the group would not even suspect that anything was out of the ordinary. However, the devitalized unicorn observed a surprising change in the villagers’ behavior. Before, they had been more than happy to see and thank her, but now it was like she and the others were at best non-existent.
Pinkie Pie found herself shivering slightly despite the sun shedding its yellow light at everything. “Girls? Is it just me or is it- not warm.” She wondered, certain that a spring day was not meant to be this mild.
“Yes, but it's not cold either. It's like- nothing.” Fluttershy tried to express her impression, and while it was a difficult concept to grasp her friends could relate to what she meant regardless.
Unsettled, they nevertheless ventured through Ponyville, passing by many more faces than usual. Like a national celebration was close to occur in this humble town, everything felt crowded if not overloaded, though nobody appeared to mind that. The group's acceptance that normalcy was present dwindled away with every passing second. In the end, it was the presence of a single, familiar stallion that assured Twilight that something was very wrong.
“Brother?” She spoke under her breath before galloping to the burly prince of the Crystal Empire. “Brother!” Twilight called out for him, coming to a halt at his side. “What are you doing here?” Jolting her brother's shoulder, she at first was happy to see her beloved sibling. Yet when he turned around to face her, unadulterated terror overcame her and her friends. Barely able to refrain from screaming, Twilight shook her head as she slowly moved away from her brother- or what was left of him.
“Hello, Twilight. Nice to see you after all this time. Isn't it another wonderful day?” Shining Armor spoke in a monotone voice empty of any emotions. A rapt yet false smile was on his lips, just like on every other pony that passed them by. His hair as pale as ashes, what struck true anguish in Twilight's heart were his eyes. Sallow and bereft of sheen, they were empty of any zest for life and spirit. Perpetually glancing towards emptiness, he simply walked away unconcernedly when he received no answer from his sister.
Left speechless, all of them could only watch as hundreds more walked past them. An all too familiar sight for everyone in the group, every single passerby had the same soul atrophy as the one before and after them. Pony or not pony, adult, elder or child; inside, all of them were perfectly equal.