Under the cover of darkness, Starlight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack made their way silently down the stairs of the confined, cluttered home which they had been so graciously allowed to stay in. As silently as they could, that is, since the creaky floorboards supporting the weight of six ponies were awfully difficult to keep from making any noise. Not that their hosts would’ve minded being woken up, but they wanted to avoid causing a fuss. Any extra awareness would most likely hurt rather than help them, and at the moment their sole goal was to make it to Canterlot Castle without drawing any unnecessary attention.
“Thank you so much for the stay! See you soon!” Pinkie called as quietly as was possible for her.
“Come on Pinkie, let’s go.” Starlight ushered everypony out of the confined home one at a time. With a soft click of the front door, they were alone, immersed in darkness.
“Ugh, I’d help if we could see anything.” groaned Rainbow.
“Oh, of course. Here you are, dear.” Rarity lit up her horn, the soft blue glow lighting up the small area of space in which the six stood. Starlight followed suit.
“Heh, right. Thanks. Now come on, let's go get Twilight.”
Luckily, almost nopony was out at this hour, but once in a while an earlier riser would pass by, and the six, always unsure whether the approaching figure was friend or foe, under some sort of spell or not, did their best to hide. Things were going well until, at last, they reached the grand castle. Even through the darkness, the dozens of tirelessly patrolling guards were unmistakable.
Rainbow scanned the area worriedly, “Great, what are we gonna do about these guys?”
Starlight thought for a minute, “There's no doubt the castle has protection against teleportation spells, if not before, than definitely now.”
“Alright, well, that isn't good. How else are we supposed to get in?”
“Yeah, those guys don't look all that friendly,” spoke an unsure Pinkie.
Starlight looked towards the gates. Only two guards stood at the entrance, so still it appeared that they’d recently crossed the path of a cockatrice. There wasn't nearly as many down on the ground than there were patrolling the skies, she gathered.
“Well, I might be able to get past whatever barrier there is and teleport inside if I can get close enough. But somepony will have to distract those guards near the gate.” She turned to the others. Not one made a sound, save for Fluttershy who let out a small sneeze. The little pegasus had admitted to feeling much better that morning, although she still hadn't seemed in the best condition during their journey.
“Rainbow and I will help distract ‘em, Starlight,” she gave the pegasus hovering above her a glare. “I talked with her earlier about taking one for the team, maybe you'd like to show us, sugar?”
Rainbow grumbled, “Fine. But if we get killed, it's your fault, AJ.”
“Ooh! Ooh! Can I help too?” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down excitedly. “I can be very distracting!”
“Sure, Pinkie,” said Applejack. “Come on you two, follow my lead.”
“Do you girls mind staying here? In case anything happens?” asked Starlight, her nervousness beginning to grow as Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie sped off in the opposite direction.
“Why of course, darling. You be careful now. Stay focused. Get to Twilight as soon as you can.”
“And Starlight-” added Fluttershy hoarsely.
“Yes, Fluttershy?”
“Try and make sure she gets out safe. And Spike, him too.”
With a nod, Starlight headed for the gate. As she galloped, Celestia’s former sun began to rise.
“Hello mister castle guard my name’s Pinkie Pie do you know how many bricks make up Canterlot castle I bet it's pretty boring here I wouldn't be surprised if you’ve counted all of them by now but just in case you hadn't I estimate that there is around five hundred thousand three hundred eighteen bricks does that sound about right I think it sounds about right I'm very good at estimating things there was this one time I guessed how many jelly beans were in a jar at the Ponyville fair and I got it right oh I was so happy I even got a prize it was a great prize I still have it even though the fair was long ago do you like prizes?”
The grey unicorn stationed by the gate was so completely enthralled and bewildered by the filly’s ability to speak so rapidly without taking so much as a breath, he forgot to cast any sort of spell to stop her from approaching. When Pinkie stopped at last and he was able to come to his senses, a rainbow colored blur descended upon him from above and knocked him out on contact. The second guard stationed by the gate was equally as unfortunate, taking instead a bucking kick to the muzzle. Both guards left unconscious at their post, Applejack motioned to Starlight that now was the time. Said unicorn galloped as fast as she could through the gates, getting as far as possible before Pegasus guards began to dive towards her like speeding bullets. Just before they could reach the purple unicorn, however, Starlight disintegrated in a spark of teal magic. She looked around and found herself just inside the castle walls. Their plan had, miraculously, worked.
“Come on, y'all. Let’s get back to Rarity and Fluttershy before we get spotted.”
Pinkie pie straightened the helmet of the guard before her, left askew from the pegasus who’d tackled him to the ground unconscious.
“Sorry about that, mister. Have a nice day!”
It was clear Starlight's luck wasn't going to last, however, as guards began to sprint for her the instant she entered the castle walls. Starlight galloped as fast as she could to where she could only hope Twilight and Spike would be, the throne room. She half ran, half teleported her way through the castle foyer, dodging magic blasts and newly-angered guards. When she finally managed to burst through the doors, however, she found the throne room completely vacant, save for even more guards, their expressions those of ravenous bloodhounds. They leaped at her, teeth bared and horns fully charged, but in a flash she was out of their grasp.
Spell after spell after spell, Starlight teleported into every room she knew of in Canterlot castle, staying just quick enough to check whether it housed Twilight or Spike, while still staying a step ahead of her pursuers. Soon she began to grow tired, however, the incredible amount of teleportation spells in such a short amount of time was draining on her. When she finally ended up in the kitchens, panting and exhausted, the pounding of armored hooves emanating from above her, Starlight realized she was out of places to look. But as the threatening hoofsteps grew closer and closer, it dawned that there was one place she knew of that she had failed to check. The sun was rising, wasn’t it? It was clear from the light beginning to pour into the windows surrounding her. And where had Celestia raised the sun the last time Starlight was here, when she was sent by the map? That balcony. It was the only logical place.
Twilight didn’t know what time it was or long she’d been out when she began to slowly gain back her consciousness. However, due to her stiff limbs, aching neck and shivering body, she’d assumed it had been quite a while. It took some time for the alicorn to notice that her waking had in fact been caused by a poking hoof.
“Are you alright, your Highness? Did something happen?”
As soon as Twilight managed to pull her tired eyes open and fully regain her senses, she smacked the guard’s hoof away and defensively jumped to her feet, unwillingly cringing as she did so, thanks to her sore and throbbing limbs. Sleeping for so long on the hard marble floor hadn’t done too much good for them, that was for sure.
“Princess! Are you okay? I-I’m sorry, it’s just you were in here for so long and when I came in I found you-”
“Quiet!” Twilight snapped. The guard fell silent in an instant. Her tone was violent enough to silence even a pony who hadn’t been programmed to obey her every command. “I’m fine!” she shoved away yet another helping hoof. “It was nothing, I just decided to... sleep here tonight, you know… with them.” She lazily pointed towards the three unconscious ponies beside her, wanting anything than to be forced to look upon their faces again.
“Oh Princess, I understand, yes. I’m terribly…”
“Stop apologizing! It won’t do anypony any good. We’re wasting time as it is. Tell me, how long has it been?”
“Several hours, your Highness. In fact, it’s nearly time for you to raise the sun in a few-”
“What?!” Twilight shoved the guard out of her way and burst through the door to the infirmary without so much as a word of thanks. She located the nearest clock, and found, much to her own demise, that the sun would need raising in just a couple minutes. And so, the princess had no choice but to make her way to Celestia’s study. She dare not fly, her wings were in as rough a shape as her legs from being sprawled out on the cold, hard ground for so long. Her mind was also far too fuzzy at the moment to attempt teleportation, so she merely walked up stairs and down corridors until finally reaching the location she required.
Just on time she thought to herself. Now I can get this infuriating business over with.
The voice had not yet returned to Twilight, perhaps it could have just been fed up with her, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was lucky to have no distractions as she headed for the balcony and forcefully tugged the sun into the sky, and its celestial counterpart below the horizon. She was pleased to find the deed much easier than the previous day. Apparently, even if her friend was currently giving her the telepathic equivalent of the silent treatment, her magic was still getting its much needed boost.
Twilight’s peace in performing her duties was quickly diminished, however, as none other than the same exact guard that had caused her so much trouble just a few minutes earlier was now back. At least, Twilight was fairly certain it was the same exact guard. They all looked pretty similar.
“Princess!” the guard came galloping up to Twilight, panting. “I’m sorry to bother you, again. But... but... intruders! They’ve been spotted by the castle!” After hearing out the stallion, Twilight simply smacked her face with a hoof and grumbled.
Unbelievable…
In little more than a second, a wisp of eerie black magic had grabbed the intruding guard by the throat, which then brought his fearful eyes right to Twilight's glowing green ones.
“So what? You are the royal guard, are you not? Do your job! Protect me! Chase those mischievous little ponies away! Kill them if you must, and be done with it! Is that so much to ask? For my military to remain calm under the presence of a threat?”
When the guard, face purple and gasping for breath, understandably did not respond to Twilight, her overwhelming rage only grew. Her torturous dark magic seeped through his body. She grimaced and asked him yet again, “Is it so much to ask, now? is it?!”
In that moment, a bright spark of blue magic broke Twilight from her concentration. Released from her magical hold, the royal guard came tumbling to the floor, gasping for breath. Twilight looked to her side. Starlight Glimmer had appeared only a few feet away. She looked shocked beyond understanding.
Starlight at first didn't even find herself able to recognize the pony before her. Her color scheme, her mane, wings and horn, cutie mark, those we’re all Twilight’s. But the mare’s face, Starlight was certain couldn’t possibly have been her mentor’s. Both of her eyes were a luminescent neon green, with black wisps of magic shooting out of their sides like living eyelashes. Her mouth slowly twisted into an malicious grin, as she beheld the unicorn that had just appeared in front of her.
“YOU!” In something Starlight most definitely hadn’t seen coming, Twilight acted in a very similar manner to her guards, quite literally lunging for her former student in a fit or pure rage. In a split second decision of fight or flight, Starlight had sent a powerful laser beam right at her mentor. She would have immediately regretted doing so if it wasn’t for what happened next.
The beam had indeed stopped Twilight from getting too close, but what was actually meant to be a powerful attack spell hadn’t given the alicorn any external injuries at all. In fact, she only shook her head clear after the point-blank hit, and besides that seemed completely unscathed, and, if possible, even more angry.
“Oh, you pathetic little thing. What were you planning on doing, barging in here and defeating me? Force me to bow to your hooves!” Twilight then let out something like a laugh, but it was a sound Starlight had never heard come from the princess. It was a dreadful and mortifying sound that Starlight wanted to cease the second it started.
“Oh, Starlight. You are a clever unicorn, i’ll give you that. A prize student. But you are no match for me, not even close. Especially with the new help I’ve been granted,” Twilight motioned up to her horn, flaring threateningly. “You made a mistake coming here, my student. You were lucky enough to get past my foolish excuses for guards, but you will not surpass me. You will now see what happens when you disobey your master, Starlight Glimmer!” A mirthless chuckle was drowned out by a blast of magic, and all was lost to darkness.
“Starlight? Oh, is she gonna be alright?”
“She shouldn't have gone in there alone. It’s too dangerous!”
“What do ya’ll think happened? Why is she all banged up like that?”
When the injured unicorn’s eyes opened at last, she found several colorful blurry figures looking down at her worriedly, their speech warped. After a few seconds to regain full consciousness, however, she realized that it was in fact none other than her friends. Starlight found herself propped against a wall of a very familiar building. It was the same place they’d hidden before storming the castle.
“Ugh… what happened?” She was so, so glad to see them, but the thumping in her head drowned out any possible positive feelings at the moment.
“That’s what we wouldn’t mind you telling’ us, sugarcube.” For a moment, Starlight’s mind was a rusty old machine, with gears that refused to turn. After a little while, though, things began to click into place.
“I-I saw Twilight!” shouted the unicorn without warning.
“You did?” asked Rainbow, pushing past the others to face her. “Where? Was she okay? What happened to her?” her face was mere inches from Starlight’s now, eyes wide and curious. Applejack quickly pushed the pegasus aside and asked, in a far more calming tone:
“Starlight. Somethin' obviously real bad has happened to ya. Why don’t ya just start from the beginnin’, now?”
“Wait, what do you mean something-” when Starlight put her hooves to her face, her answer was clear. She now bore large cuts all across her face, each of which burned on contact with her hooves. She quickly tore them away. Looking down, she realized that her torso was laden with a few bruises and scrapes as well, though her face certainly bore to worst of the damage.
“I did my best to patch them up, dear,” said Rarity, stepping forward rather slowly. “Though i’m afraid I am not very medically talented.”
“We know you’ve been through a lot, Starlight,” began Fluttershy, “But please, if you wouldn’t mind trying to tell us what happened, if you can?”
Starlight gave a weary exhale, racking her brain for the details of the fast-paced mess that had just occurred, “Well, I got into the castle okay. Only, I couldn’t find Twilight or Spike anywhere. There were just loads of guards patrolling the place. So I looked and looked, those guards on my tail the whole time, before realizing where she must’ve been.”
“Well, where?” asked Rainbow impatiently.
“Celestia’s balcony, the same place where she raises the sun each morning. I’d been there once before when the map called me here. Twilight’s the one raising the sun now, so I assumed that’s where she’d do it too. And I was right, I found her there.”
“Wait, Twilight’s raising the sun now?” shouted Rainbow. “How in Equestria is she managing to do to that?”
“Well, obviously,” said an annoyed Applejack. “If Princess Celestia or Luna can’t do it, it must be Twilight causing the day and night now.”
“That gives her an awful lot of control. It can’t be too good for a pony in her state.” said Rarity worriedly.
“Tell me about it...” said Starlight, looking down at her hooves. The white unicorn cocked her head.
“What do you mean, darling?”
After a short pause, Starlight struggled the get the words out of her mouth, her voice shaking and gaze shifting, “She- she was different. I mean, I knew she probably would be, but, she was really different. She wasn’t Twilight. That thing that’s got a hold of her, it transformed her somehow. I-I don’t know how to explain. When I got there she was- torturing this guard…”
“Torturing?!” four startled voices asked at once. Fluttershy just whimpered.
“Yeah, and it looked like she was using dark magic to do it. And when she saw me,” The five ponies stared at Starlight expectantly, as if she was reaching the climax of a riveting story. “When she saw me-” Starlight found herself lost for words, and was begging to get a little chocked up. She forced herself to stay calm and to continue her retelling. “She got so angry, when she saw me. She was screaming and yelling, and she jumped right at me-”
“But you were able to stop her?”
“At first, but then she shot this huge magic blast at me, I couldn’t stop it, I- I tried teleporting away-” Starlight looked around at her surroundings and to the ponies in front of her. “I must’ve made it, I guess.”
“Yeah, it's a good thing ya did. But you’re pretty banged up, sugar. I bet Twilight did a number on ya before ya could escape, still.” Starlight was avoiding Applejack’s worried gaze. Tears were threatening her. “Yeah, I… I guess she did.”
“And Spike?” asked Fluttershy.
“I didn’t see any sign of him.”
“Well, did you want us to find a place for you to recover, Starlight?” asked Rarity. “We could very easily head back to Skycharter and Astrid's.”
“No, I don’t think we can afford the time.” said Starlight. “We obviously can’t do anything here, at least not by ourselves. We need to find help.”
“But from whom?” asked Rarity. “All the other princesses are unconscious, and most likely heavily guarded, at that.”
“What about the rest of Twilight’s family?” asked Rainbow Dash. Everypony turned their heads. “Her brother and niece, I mean. They’re still in the Crystal Empire, right? Nothing’s happened to them yet!”
“You’re right, Rainbow Dash.” said Starlight. “As far as we know, which obviously isn’t much, nothing’s happened to Shining or Flurry. Shining might not even know what’s happened to Cadance. Much less Twilight.”
“So, we should go tell him!” said Pinkie. “If Shining Armor doesn’t know about what’s happened to Cadance or his sister... that’d be no fun at all for anypony to be kept in the dark about something like that. We should let him know and maybe- maybe he can help us!”
“We could definitely use some help figuring out what exactly this thing is and how to stop it,” Starlight struggled to rise to her hooves. “Well...” she looked to the others. “I guess we don’t have any time to lose.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow lifted herself up off the ground impatiently. “We need to get our Twilight help as soon as possible. Come on, we’ll catch the next train to the Crystal Empire.”
“Now, hang on a second, would ya?” Applejack called after the pegasus, who had already began to speed off in the direction of Canterlot's train station. “Starlight here’s been through a lot. Give ‘er time.”
“I’m alright, Applejack, but thanks.” With the unsteadiness of her voice and the less than flawless state she was in at the moment, she thought it rather unlikely that what she was saying was believable, but Dash was right. They needed to leave immediately and get help as soon as possible.
“Alright, well, be careful y’all. I’m bettin’ those guards are still out lookin’ for us.”
As carefully as when they had arrived, the six ponies made their way to the train station. Luckily, they found no guards standing in their way. With the morning sun now a good distance up in the sky, the ponies of Canterlot were joyfully milling about. Completely unaware, it seemed, of the terrifying despot they were now under. Starlight and the others couldn’t help but wonder if they would remain clueless for long.
Minutes seemed to drag on like hours while the six ponies waited in the nearly empty train station. This time, however, the weather was rather pleasant, a warm, if not terryfing sun shining above them, and the ponies were much more comfortable biding time before the train arrived. Random travelers would often look at Starlight with odd expressions, obviously confused about her rather noticeable injuries. The unicorn did her very best to avoid their gases. There were more important things she had to worry about right now.
“Are you sure you’re alright, dear?” Rarity cooed just as the train arrived. “If you wanted to hold on a bit before continuing, i’m certain it won’t make much of a difference.”
“No, i’m alright. I can rest on the train. It’s a few hours to the Crystal Empire, anyway.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant, dear, perhaps you’d want to-”
“See a doctor,” said Rainbow flatly. “No offense, but you don’t look too hot.” Rarity cast the pegasus an angry glare, one that she'd been getting quite used to the past few days.
“That can wait.” said Starlight, clearly as annoyed by Rainbow as Rarity was. “Right now, our priority is Prince Shining Armor and Flurry Heart.”
A colorful train billowing clouds of smoke screeched to a halt in front of the awaiting ponies. The car the six entered was fuller than on their first train ride, with a few ponies already seated, but due to their early hour of travel they were lucky enough to remain unnoticed. Most of the ponies in the car were asleep, anyway. All were looking forward to a few hours of peace after what had just unfolded.
“Who has all our bits?” asked Dash lazily, after several minutes of silent travel. “I never had any breakfast. And it's not like I had too long to eat dinner last night, either-”
“We need to save what we have left, Rainbow,” Starlight was checking her nearly empty saddlebags the other five were lucky to have held onto by this point. “These train tickets haven’t exactly been cheap. We can only pay for what’s necessary.”
With a sigh, Rainbow was silent once more. Save for an occasional groan or a rumbling stomach from her, no pony made a sound for a good while after that. All were lost in thought. It was certainly not to everypony’s surprise that Pinkie was the first one to pep up, sitting still for long periods of time had never exactly been her strong suit. What did surprise them was her tone.
“Starlight?”
“I- uh, yes Pinkie?” The little pink pony was clearly unhappy, her curly mane was even drooping a bit to prove it. She stared out at the moving scenery, not even wanting to face the ponies beside her. Starlight was taken aback by an emotion that was so scarce to see the little earth pony feeling.
“I understand if you might not wanna talk about it, but... what exactly did Twi look like? You said she wasn’t herself, didn’t you?”
Starlight took a deep breath before responding. It may have been rather difficult for her to get it out, but that was no excuse to not at least try for Pinkie’s sake.
“Well, her eyes were glowing bright green. And she had this terrifying laugh. It was downright creepy, like she just seemed amused by everything that was happening. And, her magic... it wasn’t like it usually is. It was definitely dark magic, but, that wasn’t the only difference. It was like it was… alive in some way. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it wasn’t like any kind of magic i’ve seen before. I didn’t even notice if that guard turned out alright. But if this is how she’s treating the ponies at her command, torturing and mind-controlling, I doubt she’ll want to treat the rest of Equestria with any more mercy.” Starlight had been so caught up in her explanation, she had failed to notice the tears beginning to leak out of Pinkie’s eyes. The pink pony’s next words were pushed out through a choked throat.
“Do you- do you think we’ll be able to help her, Starlight? You know about magic, what if- what if she’ll never get better? What if this thing will just keep corrupting her forever?”
Pinkie’s face and tone alone drove a hole through Starlight’s heart, and she in that moment she would’ve done anything to get the usually ecstatic pony smiling and chatting again. Even so, she deserved the truth, even if that truth was underwhelming.
“Pinkie pie, I’m sorry, from such a quick glimpse I really couldn’t get any good information on what it is that’s got her. It's just that... dark magic is something you choose to do, you know? If you get too immersed in it, there can be consequences, but- dark magic isn’t supposed to be conscious . It can’t do anything on it’s own. I really… I really don’t know what we’re up against, Pinkie. I’m sorry. I’m sure we’ll know more soon, though.”
“Soon? As in when? And how?” A sob. “I love her so much, Starlight! I love her so much and I can’t even think about losing her! Her birthday’s in a week, did you know? I’ve got it all planned ahead of time. I’ve bought the ingredients to make her favorite cake and everything. Chocolate with buttercream frosting! But if we can’t help Twilight, what if she’s gonna be like this forever and nopony’s gonna do anything about it! What if that happens, huh? She’ll never get to celebrate anything! What if we let her go and now we’re never gonna get her back, you guys?!”
Pinkie was now crying and quivering, everypony in the train car looking at her with expressions of pure shock. Starlight moved over to sit next to Pinkie, and put a hoof around her overwhelmed friend.
“Pinkie, we all love Twilight and we’re all incredibly worried about her. That’s why we're doing our best to get help. You know who’s gonna do something about this, Pinkie? We are. We’re gonna find out what happened and we’re gonna free her from whatever it is that’s holding her against her will, even if it's the last thing we do. Isn’t that right, you guys?”
“Of course, sugar,” Applejack took a seat on the opposite side of Pinkie, giving her a gentle smile. “I’m gonna bet ya there’s a way to stop all of this. Perhaps even closer than we think. We just haven’t found it yet.”
“Why certainly, dear,” Rarity joined the others on the train seat. “Twilight and Spike will turn out just fine, if we have any say in the matter. We just require a bit of assistance, is all.”
“Yeah, but we’ll get ‘em, Pinks. And soon. Don’t you worry.” said Rainbow. The train seat was getting quite crowded with all six of them, but Pinkie certainly didn't seem to mind. She brushed her remaining tears away, eventually calming down and drifting off to sleep, as she remained surrounded by her friends for the remainder of their journey north.
By the time the train reached the Crystal Empire, everypony had fallen asleep due to the lack of rest the last few nights and the rather eventful and tiring morning. Everypony except for Starlight, that is. The purple unicorn stared aimlessly out the train window, watching as their surroundings became enveloped in a blanket of icy snow. Once in a while, she’d re-count the remaining bits in her saddlebags out of pure anxiety. Finding it impossible to fall asleep partly because of her nervousness, and partly because of the pain from all her recent injuries, Starlight found herself relieved when they had at last entered the magical sphere keeping the Empire safe from the Frozen North, and pulled up to the station.