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// 7 - I Have You Now 
// Story: Best Served Cold 
// by David Silver 
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Saffron smiled with Starlight behind her. "I hope you don't mind my place. I... wanted to be closer to my element."

Starlight raised a brow at that. "Element?"

Saffron gave a toss of her head as if indicating. "My cutie mark, you know, gems and shiny rocks, dear. So I decided, why not, and set up shop underground."

Starlight seemed to relax at that. "That'd make you the second friend of mine that's gone underground. Is this a new trend I'm missing out on?" she jested with a timid smile. "No offense or anything, promise."

Saffron snorted softly as she trotted along. The road had long since ended, leaving them trotting out across the grass. Even it was starting to become sparse as they approached the rocky outcrop that was her home. "Dear, no offense, but you live in a huge rock. You beat me to the punch."

Starlight looked off sharply to Twilight's towering castle. "I... didn't think of it like that, huh..." She hastened to catch up with Saffron, her eyes swiveling onto the dark mouth of the cave. "So, your place, huh? It looks less cramped than the wagon."

Saffron descended into the cave, the acoustics giving a slight echo to their clip-clops. She had her. Starlight was in... gentle... hooves, to dismantle as she pleased. She couldn't help a little chuckle that escaped from her depths. "So, here we are!" She waved at the spacious cavern interior. "Pick any spot you like."

Starlight's horn began to glow, shedding some needed light over the dark-grey stone. "I... No beds?" She smiled awkwardly. "I suppose I'm in no position to be complaining, so, um, forget that. Thank you." She looked for a spot relatively free of jutting rocks and settled down onto it. "How long have you lived here?"

"Not too long... Someone chased me out of my old cave. It was much nicer."

Starlight put a hoof to her mouth. "What? Who would do something like that?"

Someone like you, silently thought Saffron even as she smiled. "She'll get her comeuppance. I'm not too worried."

Starlight looked around the cave slowly, scanning over the ceiling as she rolled over in place. "Reminds me of the time I had to live in a cave for a little while..."

"Were you camping, dear?" Saffron smirked, imagining the whimsical tale of fun that was attached.

"I wish." Starlight waved a forehoof in the air. "It was just after Twilight destroyed me, kicked over my sand castle. All I knew was... fury. I was determined. I was going to get revenge, but those first few days, I sulked and steamed." She lowered the same hoof to tap on the ground. "It wasn't my highest point..."

Saffron perked an ear. Even she could see some analogues. "How terrible, dear. To be cast from your comfy bed to hard stone."

Starlight suddenly sighed explosively. "And it happened again!" She curled in place miserably. "At least... this time I have a friend." A little smile formed on her face. "That really does make a difference."

Saffron sat down beside Starlight's head, tempted as she was to set a hoof down just a bit to the right and take care of things directly and permanently. "You're still outcast. How much does a friend help in the end, dear?"

Starlight grunted before she rolled up onto her haunches. "That's temporary. One way or the other, I'll... work past that. Not being alone... I was a fool for thinking I could take on the whole world on my own. There are ponies that care about me, like Trixie, and you. You'll help me bounce back, and I'll be stronger for it." A cautious smile formed. "Right?"

Saffron waved the thought away. "Romantic... but who would care about a villian?"

Though she had been referring to herself, Starlight took it quite personally, flinching as if stabbed. "I... Yeah... I mean, I deal with that... Ponies are just waiting for me to relapse... and sometimes I even do, and I just don't understand. I'm not trying to be bad... I just don't understand them sometimes." She reached out a hoof towards Saffron, hovering there in the air. "But that's what friends are for. True friends don't give up on friends."

Saffron smirked softly in thought. "What if a bad pony enjoyed being bad?"

Starlight drew her hoof back in surprise. "What? I mean... I'm not like that. I don't want to enslave Equestria anymore. I had my 'fun'. Besides, I can do a lot more on the good side, I think." Her eyes widened slightly. "Is this about Chrysalis? I hope not... Is that... I don't... I don't think so... I hurt her." She sank to her belly. "I took away her family and her home. Sure, I tried to offer a hoof at the end, but she was still reeling from that loss... of course she didn't accept."

"I'm glad you understand." Saffron nodded softly. "That would have been strange of her."

Starlight let out a bitter laugh, squirming atop her rough stone bed. "Twilight has managed it before... I'm guessing that's how she got the friendship princess title. Hay, she did it to me, remember? She reached out right when I was winning. She gave me that hoof."

Saffron rolled a hoof. "See, there's your mistake. Twilight offered the hoof when you were at a height. You offered a hoof when they were at their lowest."

Starlight slumped, eyes glistening. "Wow... you're... right. I never looked at it that way." She flopped bonelessly to the floor, head bumping against a protrusion. She gave it a nasty glare before she settled. "I suppose I have to wait until she's had her revenge then. Not like I don't deserve it..."

Saffron arched a brow. "You do?"

"I've done plenty of bad things, sure." She wobbled a hoof. "Stole years from pony's lives, acting out my power fantasy. I brainwashed my newer friends, trying to shortcut through friendship lessons. Now tell me that isn't hilariously demented, now that I think back on it."

Saffron's other brow rose to meet its peer. "You mind controlled Twilight and her friends?" Her voice was incredulous where it didn't lace with barely hidden laughter.

"Not Twilight, just her friends, yeah." Starlight smiled awkwardly. "It was the stupidest thing, looking back on it. I mean... I guess that's kind of... my problem. I act first, consider the consequences later."

"Quite the troublemaker, aren't you dear?" Saffron leaned forward. "You should have thought about the consequences before tossing a queen out of her own hive."

Starlight perked an ear at Saffron. "Huh? I mean, no. I literally didn't even know better. We were doing what we could, to save all our friends." She choked out a laugh as she rose up and paced about the room, hooves clopping against stone. "I didn't know Thorax would do that." She spotted the wince across Saffron's face. "Huh, do you know him?"

Saffron masked her disgust as quickly as she could. "I've heard of him! I mean, who hasn't? It's just... Weren't the changelings cooler before they went all rainbow riot?" She rolled a hoof. "All sleek and black, and dangerous glowing eyes that would bore into your soul."

Starlight turned to Saffron, smiling a little. "Oh wow, you're... reminding me of myself, back in the day. I used to think that look was so... right. Dark, brooding, and dangerous; I thought I was all of those things." She shook her head a little. "I'm... Oh, look at me, making little of... Nevermind. If you like the look, you do you. There's nothing wrong with that, really." She smiled awkwardly at one of her few remaining friends. "Besides, I like to think I did look... cool."

Saffron waved a jewel-clad hoof at her friend, her smile reflecting some of the light of Starlight's glowing horn. "Think nothing of it. Do I look like I'm doing that look?"

Starlight eyed her bejeweled companion. "I suppose not... but you could, if you wanted. If you want to, we really should." She approached Saffron with a growing smile. "Let's go clothes shopping, try it out. I bet Rarity would be tickled with a pony wanting to try a new look, and I'll help, promise."

Saffron blinked at her friend. "Are you saying you'd like me even if I was dark and dangerous?"

"And brooding," added Starlight with a goofy grin. "Yes, yes I would. That's what friends are for. You could totally work it into your jeweled angle. Glittering diamonds only stand out more against the dark, right? I'm serious, if you want to try it out, let's do it."

Saffron shook her head. "We're getting off-topic, dear. I meant more like sleek and dangerous predators." She rolled a hoof in the air. "They struck fear at the sight of them, now..."

"Now they're a little lost." Starlight nodded softly. "But they're finding themselves, I think. It's a change, but it's not the end by far. I'm not that worried about them..." She let out her breath slowly as she sat down beside Saffron. "They'll manage. I more wonder about their old queen."

"Old?!" blurted Saffron without thinking, coloring quickly at her mistake.

"You know, the one before their new one?" She suddenly laughed. "That came out wrong, Thorax isn't a queen. Um, nevermind that." She frowned a little. "Though I suppose he could be one if he wanted to be. That has to be weird, being a changeling. Just, poof, be whatever you want to be at the moment." She clopped her forehooves together. "Makes me wonder..."

Saffron waved it all away. "I imagine it's like being an apex predator, using your tools to take down unwitting prey. Just when they think they're safe, you pounce on them." She suddenly jumped, literally pouncing on Starlight. "Then you have them!"

Starlight burst into merry laughter as she squirmed under Saffron. "Oh no, I've been caught!" She hoofed at Saffron gently, fixing her a piteous look. "Have mercy on me. I'll make it worth your while, mighty predator."

Saffron got her stance over Starlight more steady, feeling the rush of having captured her prey. She had Starlight. She could do whatever she wanted. "I should think not, my wily little victim. It's time for your comeuppance..."

Starlight's mock-struggle slowed. "What?"

Saffron shook her head. "I was just roleplaying." She poked Starlight in the chest, still over her. "What would you do, if some changeling caught you?"

Starlight smiled up at Saffron. "I would... try to be a good pony, which means offering them the chance to be good too, even if it hurts to do."

Saffron frowned. Starlight was sounding too... "That's awfully self-righteous of you, dear. It doesn't suit you."

Starlight blinked at that. "Huh?" She tried to sit up, but Saffron was holding her down quite well. "What do you think I should do then?"

Saffron put a hoof under Starlight's chin, forcing her captive to meet her gaze. "You, the mighty Starlight? You either fight, or, perhaps, if you're feeling that miserable, you just roll over and offer your neck. At least then it'd be fast." Not that she had any intention of giving a fast release...

Starlight shivered softly. "You are too good at this, you're making me nervous." With a sudden pop, Starlight ceased to be under Saffron and appeared just a few feet away, standing and facing her. "The only changeling left, that I know of, is Queen Chrysalis, and if she needed to get a few licks in on me, fine... But I won't fail again..." She sat on her haunches, smiling timidly. "I really think there's something there. We just have to put this behind us and, you know, find it."

Saffron's gaze rose to Starlight's horn. She would need to handle that, or act so quickly there was no chance for magic. Hm. Perhaps it was not the right time to make the final attack. Besides, she was enjoying tormenting her prey.