Celestia and Starswirl plodded through the forest side-by-side, but not a word was spoken between them. They had been wandering for hours and no explanation had been given as to why Starswirl had brought her out here, in the forest, in the middle of the night. Celestia’s mind was abuzz with an abundance of questions and, because she couldn’t bring herself to speak up, she continuously attempted to solve every little thought that came up in her mind on her own.
The more steps she took through the darkness with only the glow of their horns to see five feet ahead of them, the more her irritation and desire to quench her curiosity grew.
Finally, the words that had been sitting impatiently on her tongue for more than she could handle flew right out of her mouth, and at this point she didn’t know what would come out.
“Starswirl, why are we doing this?” She blurted. “You can’t just take me through a dark forest for who knows how long without even telling me what we’re doing or where we’re going! I’ve been literally blindly following you through this place and you haven’t said a word. If you don’t tell me what is going on in the next few seconds, I’m turning around right now.”
Starswirl’s eyes widened with surprise. Admittedly even she felt a spark of shock at how sharp her words had been.
But she didn’t feel like apologizing.
I have scarcely had any sleep these past few days and now i’m walking through the forest in the middle of the night without any reason, She thought in an attempt to justify herself, Why shouldn’t I be upset?
But yet she felt like the outburst had come out of nowhere, like the anger and the additional frustration hadn’t been her own.
Still she ignored the thought and stubbornly held Starswirl’s gaze as she waited for an answer.
Starswirl sighed.
“Fine,” he said.
For the first time Celestia noticed how his face seemed to sag with weariness. Her chest clenched faintly with momentary guilt, but then it disappeared, replaced again with the reminder that he had dragged her into something she didn’t understand.
Starswirl began, “This afternoon I was practicing a new spell and then I vaguely detected something unnatural… I sort of sensed an odd, different-feeling magic that seemed to be originating in this forest,”
He explained, his golden eyes darkening with an unreadable expression.
“Okay,” She muttered, “why are you so interested in this? Wouldn’t it just make more sense to send some guards to check it out?”
Starswirl’s eyes lit a little and he replied, “I did a little while afterwards and they plan to send out a few scouts in a couple days... but... Celestia, I can’t wait that long.”
His golden eyes suddenly glowed with a look of determination that scared Celestia a little.
“Why not?” She asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Along with the feeling of the odd magic, I could sense... I thought I found just the faintest hint of…”
His voice trailed off.
“Of what?” Celestia persisted.
“My… my mom,”
Starswirl replied, his tone so intense that Celestia wondered if she should try and talk him out of this belief. She felt as if his mind had conjured up the sense of his mother in its yearning for her return.
“Maybe we should go back and leave it to the guards to figure out,” She muttered.
Starswirl’s eyes grew with desperation.
“NO!” He exclaimed.
“Come on,” She sighed exasperatedly, “I’m sure that if you told the guards you felt that your mom had something to do with this, they’d send out a search much sooner!”
Starswirl shook his head.
“It’s too late now. We’re so close… if we wait any longer something could happen to her that we... may not want to find.”
Celestia let out a groan and Starswirl doggedly exclaimed,
“It’s my responsibility to find her!”
Celestia paused for a moment and met his distraught gaze, and her mind suddenly opened up to what he seemed to need her to understand.
“My dad is busy with all these guard duties now because of the attack. Nopony likes my mom because she married a sentry, so they aren’t going to find it as important to look for her. She is my mother, and now that I’ve made it this far, I cannot let her down!
“I am the only pony that is family and willing to find her right now, and I let my guard down enough to show you that I trust you to come with me. Please, just do me this one favor. If you do, I promise that I will never forget it.”
The irritation seemed to leave her in one breath as she heaved a sigh, replaced with the desire that rang in her heart to be a true friend to Starswirl in his time of need.
“Okay,”
She agreed, her gaze becoming firm with determination. She felt like herself again.
She met Starswirl’s gaze once more, but to her surprise she found for the first time a new look breaking through his icy golden eyes - like the door of his world had been opened up; the hard stone barrier that had protected his heart cracked a little.
“Thanks,” He muttered curtly despite the expression that his face gave away, and then began to walk again, sparking light from his horn once more in order to see ahead. The night was gradually growing darker and darker, but almost unnoticably, like an intruder of the sky.
Now that she was no longer focusing on trying to find answers and the unusual aggravation creeping into her thoughts like a virus had left, her mind was clear. The problem was that it was now open to a rising fear that quickly grew as they moved further into the woodland, her heart beating a little faster in her chest every second they moved further towards their destination.
“Starswirl?” She whispered quietly, almost coming off as a whimper, “Are we almo--”
“Shhhh!” Her grey-blue friend cut her off, “we’re nearing the area. I can see this orange-ish light up ahead.”
She squinted to see further in front of them. The light of their horns were making it difficult to see any other source of light in the deep darkness, but sure enough she spotted the appearance of an illumination in the distance, glinting with an odd orange color as Starswirl had affirmed.
“It must be fire,” She observed.
She looked up at the sky, feeling the fear surge through her once more, and thought urgently,
Please protect us, even from up there… please let us be okay.
“Come on,”
Starswirl nudged her with a hoof and together - now no longer using the light produced by their magic - they felt their way around the undergrowth and focused on the gleam, which became brighter as they moved closer towards the source of the odd magic that Starswirl had felt earlier.
She started to hear the echo of voices and quickly ducked behind a bush while Starswirl joined her, and strained her ears to make out the words of the creatures that were speaking around the fire. At first all she could detect was gibberish.
Finally she caught a few words from someone with a deep, raspy voice.
“W… a...we… fina… goi...to... ki..ther… so... ank..?”
Celestia raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Wa we fina goito kither so ank?
Starswirl furrowed his brows and whispered, “We need to move a little closer.”
Celestia’s eyes widened with fear, but Starswirl stared back at her with urgence, and reluctantly she crept from the shelter of the bushes and followed her friend to the next nearest hiding spot.
Starswirl pointed out to her the shelter of a few brambles and slunk behind them. Celestia settled beside him and once again attempted to listen in on the conversation, trying to ignore the loud crackling of the fire.
“We shouldn’t have to wait until morning,”
One murmured, his voice dripping with anticipation.
“We must perfect the tantabus,” another one growled, his voice deep, but smooth and imposing.
That must be their leader, Celestia realized. Suddenly her fear grew even greater, and her heartbeat rang loudly in her ears, drowning out the discussion of the creatures.
He’s the one who influenced that attack that harmed so many and took down even an alicorn! There’s no way he won’t find us - we’re going to DIE!
But another voice popped up in her mind as she attempted to reason with herself and sooth her worry with rationality.
It’s not like he’ll just be able to tell that we’re here. We just have to be super careful and make sure we don’t make any sudden sounds.
Celestia let out a silent, slow breath.
Then her eyes widened as the leader spoke again after several impatient sighs from his companions.
“Alicorn magic takes time to completely filter into my own,” he murmured, “Once perfected it will be a powerful darkness that can overtake any alicorn. And then… once we pluck those royal pains one-by-one, we’ll take their magic to add to the tantabus. We mustn’t rush or haste… We must plan and execute with precision.”
She suppressed a terrified squeal when he added,
“And if any of you question me again, with absolute sincerity I will make you regret it with every ounce of your sorry little half-blooded bodies…”
A scream rang suddenly, then was cut off after an abrupt sound of an explosion that could have only been produced from magic.
Afterwards she only detected whimpers.
Starswirl gulped.
“You … just disintegrated him,” one of the creatures croaked.
There was a short moment of silence, then the leader’s smooth voice answered without emotion,
“I just gave you a warning.”