//------------------------------//
// (Loyalty) The Broken Student - I.I - Just Another Sunday 
// Story: The Broken Bond 
// by TheApexSovereign 
//------------------------------//

"I may not know what comes next for you, but whatever it is, I promise I'll always be there for you."






I



Loyalty



The Broken Student






“Stop this, now. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, haunches tensing. She was like a kitten readying itself to pounce on a toy mouse: primal instincts urging her to intimidate her prey, while woefully unaware of how sweet and friendly she really looked.

Starlight Glimmer’s eyes narrowed at the alicorn. “You’ve no idea who you’re messing with, Princess.” She smiled, her insides jolting with excitement. “This isn’t a fight you can win, and everypony knows it.”

They stood on either side of the library, staring each other down.

And then Twilight giggled, breaking both her character and her steady prowl. Starlight couldn’t help but laugh, as well. Their sparring matches were just too fun.

A moment later, both ponies snapped into stances, resuming their ‘serious’ battle.

“Ready?” Twilight asked, her amusement impossible to hide.

Starlight smirked. “I dunno. Are you?”

Dear Celestia, how she loved this part.

“You’re gonna hit the floor faster than I could say... ‘friendship is magic,’” Twilight sneered.

“And you’ll be falling through it before you open your mouth!”

The instant she inhaled, Starlight jerked her head forward and fired, zapping the floor beneath Twilight, who vanished in a flash of magenta within the same instant.

“Guess you weren’t ready!” Starlight laughed, whirling on a ping snapping behind her.





It was nighttime, ten days since she’d fallen ill. Starlight snuggled up beside a princess, whose coat was so faded that what had once been lavender was now grey as ash. She was cold as stone to the touch, cold as the ice that had now encased Starlight's heart.





Twilight Sparkle towered over her, rightfully victorious, with nearly all the lilac drained from her face.

“It’s just… I’ve never seen you drop like that before,” she breathed. “I thought I really hurt you this time.”

Starlight lay comfortably on the floor, amused by her mentor’s concern. Twilight's reflexes had gotten insanely good from when they first fought! Starlight's tail swished lazily as she drew her forehooves in, pillowing her cheek. “Oh!” she moaned dramatically. “I can feel my insides disintegrating as we speak. Y-you have destroyed me, Dear Teacher! Why, Twilight? W-w-why?”

“Har. Hardy-har,” her friend mocked, eyes to the ceiling. “You’ll appreciate my smothering, Starlight, one day. Mark my words.”

“Sure, Twilight.” Starlight reached out with her mind and plucked a book with a red spine off its shelf. “Lemme put that in my filing cabinet.” It floated toward her, just as she envisioned it doing. Warmth surged from her chest to her forehead, and in a teal flash she transfigured the ancient tome into a wastepaper basket.

“This is where all my important papers go,” she teased.

Twilight threw her head back. “Star-light!”

“Alright, fine! I was gonna change it back!”





It physically pained Twilight to speak, so she pointed at the book she wanted to read. It was an innocent relic from her foalhood: Tall Tales and Unexplained Phenomena. First edition.





“Now I don’t know about you, but that duel left me famished,” moaned Twilight. “By my calculations, Spike should be ready with the breakfast.”

Starlight nodded enthusiastically. “Great idea. Last one there pays a late fee!”

“You’re on!” In a pink flash, Starlight found herself alone. A twisting warmth inside tugged in her chest as Starlight’s eyes widened—Twilight didn’t appear southeast of the library, in the direction of the dining room. It was east, far away. Somewhere with a heavy, earth-based magic, cleverly damping Twilight’s magic hoofprint by an eighth of a second.

Very clever. So they were doing this, now?

Starlight processed all of this in a moment, power welling within as every bit of magic saturating the walls, the floor, and the very air surrounding her drew inward. She imagined her destination.

Twilight Sparkle.

Starlight exhaled, pushing it and the sensation swelling in her forehead away, and illuminated the world with teal light.





Starlight would normally hate this, but she happily went through the effort for Twilight. She flipped through every story in the book for her, uncaring of Twilight's sweet little head shake to each one. She was almost startled when the princess nodded eagerly at The Ladies of Flutter Valley.





In a swampy bog drowned in brown, choked with cattails along with dozens of fat, sleepy frogs, Starlight caught sight of Twilight winking at her. And then an instant later, she was gone again.

You cheeky—! Starlight sensed her equal’s footprint somewhere in a place of dead earthen magic—Trying to throw me off again, eh?!—an instant before appearing there as well.

Twilight had led her somewhere dead of magic and life. A bitter wasteland of howling wind and white hills, powerful with something unfamiliar and ancient.

It was next to impossible to feel anything magical out here.

“Really?” Starlight yelled over the howling in her ears. “I thought this was off-limits, you cheater!”

“I couldn’t resist!” Twilight sneered, hovering across from her.

Next taste of magic, Twi. Starlight maintained the power thrumming at the forefront of her brain. Teleport literally anywhere else, and I'll still be able to sense your alicorn foot—

They were somewhere where the wind bellowed, the sky was a blue deeper than Starlight ever thought possible, and a certain pirate zeppelin with huge, prismatic wings beneath her hooves. Starlight’s teleportation had been so close to simultaneous that she’d teleported on top of Twilight.

She was gone before their collision. 

And then Starlight was leading Twilight, just barely, to the Crystal Empire, where she felt a powerful, primeval power called love.

She popped over to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie barely had time to blather, “Hi, guys—!” before Starlight blinked into the dining room.

Twilight popped in an instant later, panting with disbelief. “You,” she gasped, touching Starlight’s swelling chest, “you actually beat P-P-Pinkie Pie. And blipped! From one place to next as soon as you passed me like some kind of…” She shook her head.

“Yep, yep, and, a-yep,” laughed Starlight, bobbing her head with each affirmation. “Your magic signature is unmistakable, Teach! It’s like a flare fired into a night sky whenever you land. I can sense it like that.” Her horn crackled, hissing teal sparks—a little something she’d recently been taught by Trixie.





“‘The Ladies were a coven of earth ponies who lived deep in the wildlands of Flutter Valley,’” Starlight read. “‘A gorgeous vale where nature blooms freely, and made gentle by their will. So powerful was their magic, it was said that the Ladies pricking a doll's hoof woven in the likeness of a living pony would bring pain to their victim.’”





Twilight softly chuckled. “Impressive as always, Starlight. You’re getting stronger every moon.”

Starlight couldn’t help but beam at her teacher.

“Ah, ladies!” Starlight perked up. “Just in time, as always.” Spike, garbed in a chef’s hat and apron, stood behind her, claws on a service cart. “Now, behold!” He grabbed the handle of a silver platter cover. “Feast your eyes. On. This!” Spike lifted it, unveiling their main course. “Bone appetite!”

Starlight's mouth watered immediately at the scrumptious sight as coffee sloshed into a humming, floating mug in front of Twilight. “I’ll forgive that deliberate butchering of Prench because of how delicious this looks, Spike!" hooted Twilight. "You really outdid yourself!”

“Yeah…” That was supposed to be way more eloquent, but Starlight’s stomach had collapsed into a black hole at the sight.

Arranged on a smaller porcelain platter, three omelets bulged with spinach, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, and seeped succulent, gooey cheddar. Wisps of steam rose from them, carrying the scents of fresh vegetables spiced with a subtle prick of pepper, likely tucked away inside.





“‘Hydia and her brood were very kind, benevolent to all who paid them homage and respect!’” A gentle sound in Twilight’s throat, her faint smile, brought a larger one to Starlight’s face. “‘But there was one thing many did not know about them…’

“‘Those who wished to earn their favor had to make an offering, and there was only one thing the witches wanted. You see, they had an insatiable hunger... for the bodies of young foals!’ Ew, that’s a little gruesome, isn’t it?” She nervously laughed, then continued the story. “Uh, ‘Their bones made for good stock in the Ladies’ stew, you see! And the souls left behind were used to fulfill the wishes of former parents.’”





"This is like a three-course meal on one plate!” Starlight laughed. “It’d be a miracle if I could move after this, let alone eat at Grapes and Olives."

“Well that isn’t good,” fretted Twilight, pouring coffee into a midnight-blue mug, then a green one. “What would Maud say when I tell her you can’t make dinner tonight?”

Starlight gazed at the ceiling, imagining her earth pony friend lugging her comatose form by her curled tail, all the way to Ponyville Center. “Maud’ll drag me to Grapes and Olives if she had to. No way is she going to sit in a restaurant by herself. She’d do anything to avoid that. ‘A last, good meal with a friend’ was what she wanted. Which is understandable in my opinion. But Maud eats rocks, for Harmony's sake!"

The thought shot a chill down her spine.

"Her excuse is kinda flimsy, then? Maud just doesn't want to, I dunno, sit with me and talk, I guess?"

“Sounds to me like Maud is really excited to have dinner with you.” Twilight smiled, her eyes glazed with whatever friendship fantasies she was currently living. "Maybe she wants to talk to you about something personal, and feels uncomfortable just throwing it on you out of nowhere."

"She knows I'd be happy to."

"Maybe she doesn't," Twilight teased.

Starlight shrugged. "Then I'll talk to her at dinner." She poured herself a glass of Sweet Apple juice. "Or after. You know what I mean."

Twilight giggled. "I do."





“‘The Witches aided all who paid them tribute, for their powers were unparalleled. With a whisper to the wind, they could make rain happen in a drought, snow on a sweltering day, and cure the… th-the uncurable…’”

Twilight nosed the crook of Starlight’s neck.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, nuzzling her teacher in turn. “But you’re not, and I wish you were.” Starlight’s cheek twitched with a chilly shock against Twilight’s, careful to avoid the horn.





Suddenly, gorging on this delicious meal wasn’t too appealing.

“I don’t think I can eat all this,” Starlight confessed, crunching on a piece of hay bacon—salty with oil and Spike’s special rub, a little bit chewy. “Not if it means disappointing Maud,” she said between chews.

“What a dilemma. Throwing the results of my creative muse in the garbage,” Spike said, lifting one claw, “or eating two amazing meals in a day?” He lifted that claw, much lighter than the prior one.

Across the table, Twilight sputtered in disbelief. “Pizza is not an amazing meal.”

“Says you,” Spike and Starlight shot back.





Starlight's mind stayed on the Witches, even as her lips recited the main tale concerning Hazel and Griddle—twins who outsmarted the trio after their father sold them in exchange for food. She kept thinking about how nice it'd be if they existed. Offering them foals to eat was horrible, but what if there was something else they wanted?

Any one of Twilight’s friends would make a deal to save her.

Starlight wished they were real. Anything was worth saving her best friend.





Twilight chewed, her eyes suddenly widening. "Ooh, Starlight!" She gently struck the table. "Tell Spike about what you did this mor—” Twilight belted a cough into her foreleg. Ruffling her feathers, she stiffened with a deep gulp before her smile returned. “Tell Spike how you used Similo Duplex—ah!” Twilight’s fork clattered across the table as she doubled over, holding her stomach.

"Whoa!” Spike raised his one free claw. “Twilight, are you feeling alright?"

“I’m,” Twilight's voice gave out. Shuddering, muzzle swaying, Twilight stared down at her plate. “I-I’m fi— AGH!” She squealed in pain, hugging herself even tighter.

"Um, Twi?" chuckled Starlight. “Are you okay?”

This was funny, right? It wasn’t weird at all! Twilight wasn’t in pain, she was just joking around!





The story stayed on Starlight's mind long after she went to bed. It was so strange, she thought. That she’d read this particular story only days after it'd been determined that Twilight was doomed to an untimely death.

A story about beings who could make the impossible happen for a price?

That was just too convenient to be a coincidence.





A moment passed. Twilight hadn’t moved a muscle, her eyes clenched tight, hooves pressed into her stomach. Spike looked to Starlight and back, his ketchup-caked expression equal parts concerned and confused.

“Twilight?”

Slowly, her face lifted, wincing with every inch. Her lilac had turned sickly-grey, with terror radiating from her eyes. Starlight could barely breathe.

"Spike...?" Twilight called out faintly.

Starlight sat frozen, petrified by the sight of red dribbling down her purple lip.

"I…” Twilight’s voice shook. “I think I'm bleeding."





If The Mare in the Moon turned out to be a true story, why not this one?

Starlight took a train to Canterlot the following morning, memories of the last several days cycling in her mind like a horrible song until they reached the moment where it all began.

As they had a hundred times since.

They persisted as Starlight marched right up to the castle and she approached the cordial but sad-eyed Princess Celestia. She demanded access to the Forbidden Archives.

“Please,” she added. “I may have an idea for how we can save Twilight.”





A second later, Twilight Sparkle collapsed across the table. Starlight anticipated a bout of horrible coughing and gagging, but what Twilight did was far worse.

She began to scream.

“Make it stop!” she cried, her plate crashing to the floor, along with her coffee, and the pot itself. “It hurts! It hurts!” Twilight’s horn sparked and spat. “MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE!”

Starlight’s heart boomed in her ears as she flung her stool back against the wall and shot to her hooves, horn igniting. "Oh, my gosh, Twilight!" Spike was at her side before Starlight finished teleporting herself there, as well.

Starlight merely stood there, helpless. What could she possibly do?

Poor Spike whimpered, calling his caretaker’s name over and over on her other side, clutching her foreleg, hugging it.

“I...” Twilight gagged. “I n’heed—” Her horn erupted as she screamed in pain, and then Starlight was suddenly careening across the dining hall. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as a thought flashed through her mind.

Hospital. 

In a heartbeat, energy gathered in Starlight’s forehead and then pushed out in a short, ragged sigh. The world flashed turquoise, and when she hit the floor, the three of them were surrounded by the shocked staff of Ponyville Hospital’s emergency room.





'Our home is gone. I don't even want to speak of what we saw. Nopony does. It was so horrible.

‘Everything we've ever known is gone. As we flee north, to the Uncharted Lands, I find myself deathly afraid. Not of anything attacking us. To be honest, that'd be a relief. I just can't get the pictures out of my head. But the farther we go, the fewer pegasi and unicorns I see in our group. The adults are talking like they were the reason our home was destroyed.

‘The fools.

‘This disharmony will tear us apart. I know who it really was, but no one believes me. I was only a filly at the time, sure, but I'll never forget that purple sludge. It was the witches, Hydia and her horrible brood, or my name isn't Lickety Split.

‘It was them. They did this. I know it. In my bones, I know it.'

Starlight Glimmer closed the tattered, yellow-paged diary. She could scarcely breathe.

Twilight was going to be okay.





The Broken Bond