Starlight stood before the bridge in the ravine and swallowed.
It was different than it had been before. Whereas the last bridge had been wide and thin, this one was thick and narrow, looking much sturdier, yet perilously easy to fall from. Gerardo had officially decided the way forward was past it; she hadn't been given a chance for input in case her knowledge was compromised to lead them into a trap.
"The mortar's made of moon glass?" Valey tapped the bridge experimentally with a hoof. "Yeah, not feeling that here either. Bananas, it's windy, though. Seems like flying is out, so it's just a matter of not falling off."
Gerardo beckoned from the other side, having already crossed. "It's quite manageable if you're careful. Just keep low down to minimize your area and you'll be fine!"
Maple crept across, sliding along on her belly like it was a rail and grasping the sides for balance. Valey followed suit, and soon only Starlight was left on the entrance side. She gave the narrow walkway a dubious look. "Ummm..."
Valey blinked back at her. "Oh, uhh... we need a way to get you across, don't we? You're probably small enough to just get blown off?"
"Oh! Starlight..." Maple winced. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking... Do you want me to come back and try to help you over? You could hold onto my tail, or..."
Starlight folded her ears and stretched out a hoof, instantly moving from the relative calm of the near ledge into the magical gale. Ordinarily, it would probably blow her off, but she was almost certain she was lighter after whatever she had done with the Firefly Sisters' song. Even holding Maple's tail, she'd be flapping behind her like a kite.
This had to be a dream. Either it was a dream, or the cave could react and change according to her fears, because just one room ago she had imagined the possibility of a trap that forced her to be the one to stay behind... "I don't know!" she called back across the chasm. "Please don't leave me behind!"
Was this that? Technically, they hadn't needed to leave Valey behind the first time either. She only stayed back because sticking together would be dangerous. And maybe her friends could get her across the bridge, too, but it would almost certainly require her telling them about her handicap... telling Maple how she had done something similar to using the harmony extractor and now might be partially disappeared without her usual coming back. And now of all times, that was a conversation she didn't know if she could face.
The wind buffeted her ears, rushing them past and threatening to snarl her mane. Below, the bricks that made up her platform were harder than stone against her hooves, making her feel like she had walked for miles. She was tired, lightheaded, and wanted to go home, yet was lost in a dream or perhaps something worse... and now she was about to be alone. Hurting Maple by telling her what had happened was out of the question. The only decision was whether to let her friends leave her behind, or ask them to proceed on her own.
"I..." Starlight wanted to look away, but knew her friends would never hear her over the wind if she didn't try her best to throw her voice. "There's only one more room! Just go and come back quickly, okay? Otherwise you'll have to get me across this twice for nothing. And if it's not the end, then come back and try to help me across?"
Valey saluted. "Yeah, we'll be right back! You got that, Ironflanks, Birdo?"
Her friends all cheered their agreement, clearly trying to encourage her. Maybe they were thanking her for making their descent easier by staying behind. Starlight wished they wouldn't. It would help her more if they hurried up, so she wouldn't have to be separated from their brightness for as long...
Maple was the last one through the door into the seal room, watching over her shoulder as she stepped inside. Then the stone door slid shut with its usual strange will, cutting her off from sight... and an iron grate dropped down, sealing all of Starlight's friends inside.
"NO!" Starlight screamed, the pain of being cut off already too much, assaulting her with the realization that trap was still there and there was nothing and no way for her to help. She tried to step onto the bridge, to chase her friends and break down the door to help against whatever lay inside, and the winds threatened to lift her, rearing her unwillingly onto her hind legs before she could stagger back to safety. "Maple! Valey! Maple! Give them back!"
Snarling, Starlight summoned her shadow cloak. That protected her from magic, and these winds were clearly unnatural, right? Somehow, it worked, the roaring in her ears lessening as the gale stopped running through her fur.
Starlight raced across the bridge, utterly ignored by the air, and slammed into the door, hammering on it with everything she had. But the bars wouldn't budge and the rock was completely soundproof, leaving her nothing and no way to get through to the other side.
She wished her cloak hadn't worked. If she had thought of this just a little earlier, she could have been there. But she had been too preoccupied thinking of this as the same as Valey's trap, some part of the cave that had been designed just for her without workarounds. Maybe it was just a trap. Maybe the bridge hadn't been built specially for her. Was that even worse, knowing that even the designer of an evil cave hadn't cared about her or thought her worth notice? Either way, she was alone.
She was alone because she hadn't thought fast enough, because she thought the trap was about her when it had an easy way through. She was alone because she hadn't tried hard enough to stay with her friends, because she hadn't been willing to scare Maple by telling her about possibly disappearing again. Maybe that was the point of the cave. Maybe it was a test, letting ponies proceed together by being willing to take risks for their friends, and only together could they survive the trial at the end. Maybe she was reading into things again and it was all meaningless... but either way, Starlight was alone.
With too much in her heart and nothing anywhere else, she curled up with Gerardo's sword and cried, wishing anything could be different. Anything at all. But seconds turned into minutes, and the door didn't unbar.
Eventually, Starlight's sobs turned to sniffles, and her mind started to wander beyond her missing friends. There was the chapel, with its mysterious murals... the murals that still depicted all of her friends, along with the tall, armored alicorn who felt faintly safe. What was in the mirror chapel this time around? She hadn't checked, but she could. The mural had shown her friends. She needed her friends. If maybe, just maybe they were there...
Making sure she was cloaked, Starlight slouched back across the bridge, checking her shoulder every few steps to see if the door had unbarred. The first time she looked, it was still barred. The second time, it was also still barred. The third... nothing had changed. It was also barred the fourth. She couldn't bring herself to cast a fifth glance, though she wasn't giving up hope that they could return. She just had to stay strong, and this wasn't helping at all...
Starlight finally took her fifth glance as the door to the mirror chapel slid open. It was still barred. She sighed, wiped her muzzle and stepped inside.
Inside the chapel were at least a dozen Valeys.
There were even more Maples. Lots of Gerardos too, though not nearly as many. There were also Shinesparks, and even a Jamjars or two. Some Ambers, lots of Willows, even an Elise, the matriarch who had given them shelter from a storm in Blueleaf. All of them and more were seated in the pews, faces she loved mixed with ones that had barely done her a good turn and she couldn't even put names to. All of them were bowing, facing the altar where she stood alone.
"Wait, are you..." Starlight's tearstained face scrunched. "Bowing at me?"
Nobody answered. They barely even breathed. Somewhere in the crowd, an ear twitched, but the countless copies of ponies filling the room continued bowing with reverence.
"I... This is weird..." Starlight swallowed. The copies had no brightness and there was nothing attractive about them, illusions for all she cared or knew. And her real friends bowing before her like that would be... How would it be? She shuddered, imagining Maple paying her that kind of reverence. All that brightness could be hers forever, and it was what she wanted, but... she didn't want to be above her friends. She already was, forced to be the one who risked her neck and protected them when the world demanded it, and she hated it. She wanted to look up to them, not down on them. Why were they all bowing?
"Stop that!" Starlight stomped a hoof. "Go away!"
One by one, the illusions faded out, until once again Starlight was alone.
It didn't make her feel better. Rubbing the lump in her throat, she folded her ears. "I... No, come back..."
The illusions returned, fading back into existence and resuming their bows.
Somehow, this made things worse too. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't want to see her friends like that! Growling, she stomped up to the chapel's altar, yelling down at it. "What's wrong with this place!? What's wrong with me?"
The altar was low enough to the ground to be shorter than she was, capped by a bowl of dark water that reflected a starry sky. Starlight glanced up at the rough stone ceiling, then back down at the bowl. "Well!?"
Her reflection glared back at her, the force of her voice making the water ripple slightly. The ripples disturbed her image, and as it congealed again, it began to change. Her eyes stayed slitted like the moon glass made them, but her muzzle grew square, her coat darkened until it was perfect black, and her horn grew until it was longer than her leg, an armored faceplate appearing on her forehead as her mane turned to mist. It was the alicorn from the mural.
You're lonely, her Nightmare Module voice said, speaking in time with the movements of the reflection's lips. Before, its tone had been sterile, like a recording, but now it printed in her mind with all the inflections and emotion of a real pony, sounding vaguely curious and amused. It's a hard life, isn't it?
"Who are you?" Starlight frowned down at the pool.
I'll just take that as a yes, the reflection answered. I am everything that's possible.
Starlight squinted and tilted her head.
I am the guardian of this place, the dark alicorn continued. The resting place of the Nightmare Modules. You've come for them, haven't you? Her eyeslits dilated in interest, and Starlight was suddenly unable to look away. Speak with me. Tell me your darkest desire.