As Starlight and the others made it to Ponyville, they headed for Twilight's castle and walked to where the cutie map was to think of a way to get the princesses back.
"Oh, pony feathers, I can't believe that we left Twilight and the princesses with that monster!” said Applejack, as she hit the ground with her hooves.
"I know what you mean, AJ. Oh, when I get my hooves on him, I'll buck him so hard that he'll wish that he was never born!" said Rainbow, as she hit her hooves together.
"Whoa there, Rainbow, darling! If you try something like that, he might hurt you, or worse, turn you into stone, just like he did with Twilight and the princesses,” said Rarity.
"Well, we've got to do something!” said Rainbow Dash.
Just then, Spike had an idea.
"What about asking Discord to help us?"
When Spike said that, everypony but Fluttershy smiled.
"That's a great idea, Spike," said Pinkie Pie.
"Yeah, not bad, Spike," said Rainbow Dash.
Just then, Fluttershy spoke up.
"Um... that won't work."
When she said that, everypony looked at the timid pegasus.
"What? Why not, darling?" asked Rarity.
"Well, he's on vacation, and he won't be back for a week or two."
After she said that, everypony groaned.
"Well there goes that idea - out the window." said Applejack.
Meanwhile, in the snowy part of Equestria, Shadow Flames’ airship was approaching a dark and scary castle.
"Um, excuse me, sir, but we will be arriving at the castle shortly," said a light gray unicorn.
Shadow Flames looked at the unicorn and said to him, "Thanks, Starblaze."
With that, he got up and headed towards where he was keeping the princesses, who were still stone statues.
When he made it to the place where he was going to keep the princesses, he said, with a evil smile on his face,"I hope you four will like my castle, because you will be staying there for a long, long time."
Just then, he felt the airship shake a little.
Feeling this, he knew that they had just landed at the castle.
"Master, we're here," said Starblaze.
"Alright. Open the airship doors," said Shadow Flames.
"Right away."
With that, Starblaze pulled down a lever, which caused the airship’s doors to open. After that, Shadow Flames powered up his horn, levitated the stone statues of the princesses and started towards the castle.
"Um, sir, do you need help?" asked Starblaze.
Shadow Flames looked at the unicorn and said in an heartless voice, “No. But you could tell the servants to have dinner ready, to celebrate my victory over the princesses."
After he said that, he set off for the dungeon. As he left, Starblaze was left shaking his head.
"Oh, master, what has happened to you? Ever since you cursed yourself with that stupid spell book, you have been so heartless."
Meanwhile, back with Shadow Flames, he entered the dungeon with his prisoners, then opened up one of the cells and put the princesses in it.
After that, Shadow Flames used his magic and freed the princesses from their stone prisons.
"Oh, my head! What happened?" asked Celestia.
"Princess, is that you?" asked Twilight.
Celestia turned around and saw Twilight trying to get up on her hooves.
"Twilight, are you okay?" asked Celestia, as she helped the lavender alicorn to her hooves.
"Yeah, I'm fine, princess. Just a little weak."
Just then, Twilight and Celestia saw that Luna and Cadence were starting to wake up.
"Sister, are you there?" asked the princess of the night.
After hearing that, Celestia came up to her sister and said, "I'm right here, Luna. I'm so glad you’re alright, dear sister."
Then, Twilight ran to her former foalsitter and helped her up.
"Cadence, are you alright?" she asked.
Cadence looked at Twilight and smiled.
"Yes, Twilight, I'm okay."
Just then, they heard the voice of Shadow Flames.
"Ah, you four are awake. Good."
The princesses turned around to see Shadow staring at them from behind the bars of the cell.
"Shadow Flames, where have you taken us?" asked Celestia.
Shadow Flames laughed and said, "Why, you’re in my castle."
"What? As your prisoners?" asked Luna.
"Oh, come now, moon princesses. Don't think of yourselves as prisoners - think of yourselves as my guests." said Shadow Flames.
"Let us go now, Shadow Flames, and we'll go easy on you," said Celestia.
Shadow Flames just laughed at Celestia and said, "Sorry, princess, but no can do. You four are going to stay here forever."
After hearing that, Luna got mad and started to power up her horn.
"That's it! Prepare yourself, you monster!"
As Luna fired her magic right at the bars of the cell, the magic just vanished.
"What, what happened to my magic?" asked Luna.
"I enchanted these cells so that you four wouldn't try anything stupid,” said Shadow Flames.
Then, as he turned around and started to leave, Twilight said,"You won't get away with this."
Hearing that, he turned back around and said to the Princess of Friendship, "Oh, but I already have."
With that, he stormed off, headed back to his chambers.
Back in Ponyville, Twilight's friends continued to figure out how to free Twilight and the princesses from Shadow Flames.
"Dear, sweet Celestia, I can't think of anything!" shouted Starlight, as she threw a paper ball across the room.
"Whoa, calm down there, sugarcube! We'll find a way to free them from Shadow Flames," said Applejack.
"Yeah, I'm sure we'll fine a way soon,” said Rainbow Dash.
"I hope so, ‘cause I can't even imagine what they are going through right now," said Fluttershy.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie gasped and said, "Starlight, your cutie mark is glowing and you know what that means!"
After hearing that, Starlight looked at her flank and, sure enough, her cutie mark was glowing.
"Oh, sweet Celestia, not now!" said Starlight, as she and her friends went up to the cutie map to see where the friendship problem was.
When they got to the cutie map, Starlight's cutie mark was spinning around an unknown castle in the snowiest place in all Equestria.
"Uh, why in the world is the map telling you to go there, Starlight?" asked Spike.
"I'm not sure, Spike, but if the map is telling me to go there, then I'm going!"
With that, Starlight hurried to her room to get her snow gear on.
As she was getting ready to leave for her journey, everypony watched her with worried expressions on their faces.
"Um, Starlight, darling, maybe we should go with you, just in case," said Rarity.
"Sorry, Rarity. You know that when the cutie map calls one or more ponies that those ponies need to go, but don't worry. I'll be fine," said Starlight, as she finished getting ready to go.
"I know, darling, it's just, I've got a bad feeling about this."
"You know, sugarcube, Rarity maybe right about this," said Applejack
But Starlight just smiled and said, "Hey, don't worry about a thing, you guys! I'll be fine and I'll be back soon."
With that, Starlight went off to the location that the cutie map told her to go.
"Good luck, Starlight!” they all shouted.
"Oh, I hope she'll be ok," said Fluttershy.
"Me too, Shy, me too," said Spike.
When Starlight made it to her destination, it was getting dark and the snow was falling heavily down.
"Well, here I go,” she said as she headed inside the castle.
Starlight opened the door to the castle. It was dark and it looked like no pony had lived in it for a long time.
"Um, hello? Is anypony here? Hello? Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadence? Are you four here?"
As Starlight continued to walk around the castle to try to find the princesses, she didn't know that she was being watched by two ponies.
"Well look at that, Silver Hooves, it's a mare," said a red unicorn with a orange mane and tail.
"I know it's a mare, Torch," said a blue earth pony.
"Don't you see, old friend? She's the one, the mare we have been waiting for! She has come to break the curse that is on our master."
With that, Torch ran right past Silver Hooves and started to follow Starlight.
"Hey, wait for me! Wait!" said Silver Hooves, as he ran after Torch.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a little colt came running up to a brown mare.
"Momma, there's a mare in the castle!"
Hearing that, the mare turned around and said to her son, "Now, Blitz, I'll not have you making up such wild stories."
"Really, momma! I saw her."
Just then, a yellow pegasus mare came up and said, "Oh, Caroline, have you heard? There's a mare in the castle."
Hearing this, Blitz smiled and said to his mother, "See, momma? I told ya."
Meanwhile, as Starlight continued to look for some other pony in the castle, she suddenly heard a noise. It sounded like somepony was doing magic.
"Hello, is anypony here?"
After hearing the sound of magic going off, she decided to find out where it was coming from.
Just then, Silver Hooves and Torch opened a door that was right behind Starlight, and when they did so, Starlight could hear voices.
"Hello, who’s there? Wait a second! That sounds like Celestia and Luna talking."
After she said that, she started to run down the stairs to where the princesses were at. Meanwhile, Luna continued to use her magic to try to get out of the cell.
"Sister, please stop. It’s no use," said Celestia.
"But, sister! We can't just stay here and do nothing."
Just then, Twilight spoke up.
"Celestia is right. Luna, please save your energy."
Just then, they all heard the sound of hoofsteps coming towards them. Then, they saw Starlight coming down the last row of stairs.
"Starlight, is that you?" Twilight asked.
When she heard Twilight's voice, she peered though the darkness and saw Twilight and the other princesses in the cell.
"Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Cadence. You’re all alright!!" said Starlight happily.
"We are just fine, Starlight, but how did you find us?" asked Cadence.
"There's no time for that right now. I have to get you four out of there."
"No, Starlight, you have to get out of here before Shadow Flames finds you," said Luna.
But Starlight continued to try to find a way to get the princesses out of the cell.
"I'm sorry, princess, but I'm not leaving without you or the others."
Suddenly, Starlight was levitated off the ground and thrown across the room.
"Starlight!!" shouted the princesses.
As Starlight struggled to get back to her hooves, she saw Shadow Flames staring back at her.
"What are you doing here?" asked Shadow Flames in a cold, dark voice.
"I came for the princesses. Please let them out,” said Starlight, with a little terror in her voice.
Shadow Flames looked at the unicorn and just laughed, saying,"If you think that I'm going to let the princesses out, then you got another thing coming."
"Please let them go. I'll do anything!" Starlight pleaded to the dark alicorn.
But Shadow just turned away and said,"There is nothing you can do."
"No wait, please!”
"I said, there is nothing you can do!!" Shouted Shadow, as he began to walk away.
Then, Starlight said something that would change her life forever.
"T.... TAKE ME INSTEAD!!!!"
After hearing that, Shadow turned around and said to her in a surprised voice.
"What, did you say?"
"T....Take me instead." Said Starlight, again with tears in her eyes.
Shadow, couldn't believe what he was hearing. This pony was willing to sacrifice her freedom for the princesses.
"You would do that? You would take their place?" He asked.
After hearing what Starlight just said, the princesses were shocked.
"What? Starlight, no!" said Twilight.
"Starlight, don't do this," said Celestia.
"Please reconsider, Miss Glimmer,” said Luna.
"Yes, get out of here while you still can," said Cadence.
But Starlight just looked at Shadow Flames and said to him, "If I did would you let them go?"
"Yes, but you must promise to stay here forever."
Starlight looked at the princesses, who had a look of worry in their eyes, but she knew what she had to do. So she walked up to Shadow Flames and said in a soft voice, "You....you have my word."
"Done!” shouted Shadow Flames. He then put a ring on Starlight's horn and said to her,"This will prevent you from using any magic."
With that said, he ran past Starlight, and unlocked the princesses’ cell.
When the princesses were out, they ran up to Starlight.
"Please, Starlight! You don't have to do this,” said Twilight.
Suddenly, Twilight and the other princesses were levitated by Shadow Flames' magic and then, he set off out of the castle with the princesses screaming at him to let them go.
Seeing this, Starlight cried out to try to stop him.
"No, wait please, not yet, princesses!!!!"
But her cries were unheard.
As Shadow Flames made it outside, he looked at the four alicorns and said in a venomous tone,"Consider yourselves lucky, you four, but know this: if you or anypony else tries to free my prisoner, you all will suffer my wrath."
With that, he threw them into a portal that would take them to Ponyville. Afterwards, Shadow Flames turned around and went back to lock up Starlight in the dungeon.
In the dungeon, Starlight had seen the whole thing from the window. She slumped over and started to cry, knowing she would never see her friends, the princesses, or even her teacher ever again.
As Shadow Flames started making his way back to the dungeon he heard a voice right beside him.
"Um, master?"
"What?" he growled as he turned around and saw Torch.
"Um, well, um, since the mare is going to be with us for quite some time, I was thinking that, um, you might want to offer her a more comfortable room."
After hearing that, Shadow Flames growled at Torch and stormed off towards the dungeon.
"Okay then, maybe not." said Torch, a little bit scared.
As Shadow made it to the dungeon, he saw Starlight crying on the floor, and when she looked up and saw him standing there, she said in a sad voice, "You didn't even let me say goodbye. I'll never see them again. I didn't even get to say goodbye."
As he saw Starlight crying, he started to feel a little sad but he just shook it off. Then, he remembered what Torch said.
"I'll show you to your room."
When Starlight heard this, she was both surprised and confused as she looked back up again.
"My room? But I thought-"
When Starlight said that, Shadow Flames looked at the dungeon and asked her, "What, you wanna stay in the dungeon forever?"
"No,” Starlight answered.
"Then, follow me," said Shadow Flames, as he held his hoof out to Starlight, making her back away in fear.
Seeing this, Shadow put his hoof down and said again, "You follow me.”
With that, Starlight got up and started to follow Shadow Flames throughout the castle.
As they continued to walk, Shadow looked behind him and saw that Starlight was looking at all the dark décor. Then, he said to her, "This is your home now. You are free to go wherever you like, except the West Wing."
Starlight looked up at him and asked, "What's in the West Wing?"
"It's forbidden, and you are never to set a hoof in there. Do you understand?"
When Shadow didn't get a reply out of her, he turned around and started to choke her with his magic.
"I said, do you understand?" Shadow repeated.
Starlight looked at Shadow Flames with fear in her eyes.
"Yes," Starlight said, gasping for air.
With that, he let her go and they continued walking to Starlight's room.
Finally, Shadow led Starlight to her room.
As she entered the dark place, she saw there was a large bed with blue and red sheets, plush pillows, a large closet on one wall, and a simple brown rug on the floor, near the bed. There was also a very large window showing the big blizzard that was beginning.
"Now, if you need anything, anything at all, my servants will attend to you. Oh, and one more thing. You will join me for dinner, that's not a request!" Shadow Flames yelled, before slamming the door hard.
After hearing the door slam shut, Starlight turned around and started to bang on the door with her hooves.
After a minute, she turned. around and slumped on the floor in sorrow. Then, quietly, she started to sing.
Starlight: “Yes I made the choice.
For the princesses, I will stay.
But I don't deserve to lose
My freedom in this way,
You monster!”
She glared at the door, imagining the alicorn was still behind it.
“If you think that what you've done is right, well then,
You’re a fool! Think again.”
Starlight erased her grim expression to look around her new room. It was so dark and gloomy, but she didn't have the urge to find a lamp right now.
“Is this home? Is this where I should learn to be happy?
Never dreamed that a home could be dark and cold.
I was told everyday in my childhood,
Even when we grow old,
Home will be where the heart is.
Never were words so true.
My heart's far, far away.
Home is, too.”
Starlight got up from the floor and slowly walked over to the large window.
“Is this home? Is this what I must learn to believe in?
Try to find something good in this tragic place?
Just in case, I should stay here forever,
Held in this empty space.
Oh, but that won't be easy.
I know the reason why.
My heart's far, far away.
Home's a lie.”
She placed her hooves on the cold glass of the window, seeing nothing but snow flying everywhere outside.
“What I'd give to return to the life that I knew lately.
But I know that I can't solve my problems by going back.”
Starlight removed her hooves from the window and stared up at the ceiling, seeing and feeling the height of the room. She then walked over to her bed, feeling helpless and defeated.
“Is this home? Am I here for a day or forever?
Shut away from the world until who knows when?
Oh, but then, as my life has been altered once,
It can change again.
Build higher walls around me.
Change every lock and key.
Nothing lasts, nothing holds all of me.
My heart's far, far away, home and free.”
Finally, Starlight began releasing the tears that were building up inside of her. She dropped to her bedside and quietly started to cry. Meanwhile, somewhere far outside of the castle, a strange unicorn’s horn was glowing red. Then, a voice rang out.
"Soon, I will have enough magic to rebuild my body, and I, King Sombra will finally rule all of Equestria!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"