//------------------------------// // Starlight's World VI // Story: Starlight Glimmer Makes Many Mistakes // by MagicS //------------------------------// “That’s one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard in my life. If not the dumbest. It’s at least top three.” “Do you have a better plan?” “No...” “Then I’m doing it. We’ve been stuck in here too long anyways, it might already be evening by now.” Twilight and Starlight argued back and forth over Starlight’s idea. And Starlight did have to admit that this was a particularly silly idea but they didn’t really have anything else to do so they might as well give it a shot. She reached back to her tail and yanked out a few hairs, giving a little yelp of pain as she did, then used those hairs to make a hair tie and pull her hair back a little trying to recreate her old look that Empress Starlight still currently wore. “Bangs are going to be a little longer looking.” Starlight muttered to herself as she fixed the front curl of her mane and tried to pull it apart down her horn to make two bangs again. “Okay, how do I look?” She asked Twilight as she finished. Twilight scanned her up and down with her eyes, seeing if there was anything major out of order before nodding in affirmation. “Well you do look almost exactly like her. Right now it’s just that your color is a little muted and your Cutie Mark is wrong. But we can’t really do anything about that. I think at a glance you’d definitely pass for her.” “Great! Time to see if this works then.” Starlight said and walked up to the bars of the cell, pressing against them as far as she could go. “Guards! Hey guards, you out there?!” She shouted. “I can’t believe we’re trying this...” Twilight shook her head. Starlight ignored her and kept up her yelling. “Guards, it’s your Empress in here! Empress Starlight is right inside this room and I command you to come inside!” There didn’t seem to be any reaction from outside yet. It was possible that there wasn’t anypony out there to begin with and all of this was for naught. Would Empress Starlight bother with putting guards in the dungeon to begin with? The brainwashing seemed to make the existence of a dungeon… or even guards for that matter, almost completely pointless to begin with. Although obviously not entirely considering the present situation. “Hellooooo? Anypony out there? Empress Starlight here! You better listen to me!” Starlight kept yelling as Twilight just sighed and sat down. “Starlight this isn’t working, let’s calm down and-” An unlatching noise came from the door to their room and it was pushed inwards, two armor-clad guards walking inside and staring with their big vacant doe-eyes at the “Empress” pressed right up against the bars to her cell. Starlight couldn’t help but shoot a smug grin back at Twilight. “Oh for the love of… we’re still not out of here yet!” Twilight pouted, huffing defiantly as she sat back with her hooves crossed. One of the guards tilted his head at the strange sight of Starlight Glimmer behind bars. “Empress?” He questioned. He knew that Empress Starlight was still in her throne room or retired for the night right? Wasn’t she the one who ordered these two in here? This pony in front of him couldn’t be the Empress. Could she? “Yes, that’s right. Just look at me, who else could I be?” Starlight smiled at them, carefully angling herself so they couldn’t see her Cutie Mark. The guards looked at each other, their fried brains attempting to come up with an explanation. “But how?” The other guard asked. “How is it you in there? Aren’t you in the throne room or gone to bed? Are you a changeling? You warned us about changelings before.” “I can not believe this is working.” Twilight hissed out from behind Starlight. “Quiet!” Starlight whispered back to her before addressing the guards again. “That certainly makes sense but it obviously can’t be since I’m right here. And I can’t be a changeling either because then I could just change into something that could get out of this cell. Now if you could please unlock the door to the cell I’d really appreciate that.” She gave them a big wide smile. The guards stood there staring vacantly at her as if they couldn’t process what was going on. The brainwashing had taken away so much of their higher-thinking capacity and logical reasoning that being confronted with something like this it was like somepony had flipped a coin in their brains and the thing had somehow landed on its edge. If they kept staring at Starlight for too much longer she was worried that they would start drooling. Starlight bit her lip, maybe this wasn’t working. She looked back at Twilight who could only give her a shrug. Returning her attention to the guards she could see their eyes losing focus on her, they were starting to just zone out completely and not see her anymore, like when they had been carried in to meet Empress Starlight and were ignored as if they were less than objects by the guards escorting them. She scowled at them, her hooves squeezed the iron bars and she pressed her whole body shut against them. “Hey! This is your Empress you know?! Empress Starlight Glimmer is talking to you! I order the two of you to open this door right now!” She shouted at them. “Oof. Warn me next time.” Twilight said as she squinted and rubbed an ear. The two guards shook their heads like somepony had just dropped a bucket of water over them. Their eyes came back to focus on Starlight and even though they didn’t lose that empty doll-like quality they were clearly more alert now. Both guards suddenly snapped to attention and smiled at Starlight as if seeing her for the first time. “Yes, your Empress? How can we help you?” Both said in unison. Starlight grinned. “Good! Like I said, open up this cell door!” “Right away, Empress.” The first one responded and pulled out a key from a chain around his neck that had been covered by the armor. He quickly inserted it into the lock of Starlight and Twilight’s cell and opened it up for them, even holding the door open with a smile on his face. “Thank you.” Starlight told him and regally walked from the cell (but not before pulling a Pinkie Pie and stuffing her Evil self’s updated book into her mane), Twilight following her in slack-jawed disbelief. “I can’t, I just can’t even...” The alicorn muttered to herself as they left the cell. Starlight ignored her for now and turned to the two guards. “Excellent work, you have your Empress’s thanks. You may return to your duty of guarding this door now.” She flashed a smile at the two of them. “Of course, Empress!” They both said and saluted in unison again. And the two former prisoners walked out of the room and into the hallway of the dungeon, the guards closing the door behind them and obliviously returning to standing in front of it and vacantly staring forward as if the previous five minutes hadn’t happened. Twilight gave the two of them one last look before shaking her head and following Starlight as she made her way down the hallway that would lead them out of the dungeon. Starlight looked over her shoulder at Twilight as she walked and grinned at her teacher. “Think I should keep my mane like this for now.” “As much as I hate to say it it would probably be for the best if you did.” Twilight sighed. With night having fallen just a short while ago no more sunlight poured in through the windows of the Crystal Castle. It made it a little harder for Spike to see but it also made it a lot easier for him to sneak around. The cover of darkness helped as did the fact that it seemed like most guards had gone to sleep. It’s not like the castle was well known for its extensive security in the first place and it didn’t seem like Empress Starlight had done much to change that. So Spike tiptoed down the hallways of the castle, peeking around corners and into rooms as he searched for Twilight and Starlight. He was still up in a higher part of the castle closer to where Cadance and Shining Armor would sleep if things were normal so if Twilight and Starlight really had gotten caught like he worried they probably weren’t around here. But Spike wanted to be sure and to check everything just in case. He thought there might be something else useful he could find out if he kept looking. He was lucky that he had a pretty decent knowledge of the castle too, no getting lost for this dragon he thought proudly to himself. “Of course that’s all a moot point if all I’m doing is wandering around all night.” Spike grumbled to himself as he opened up the door to a closet. “Nothing.” Shutting the door Spike sighed and resumed his slow and careful walk down the dark corridors of the castle. Every now and then he’d see a guard making their rounds but probably at least partially as a result of the brainwashing spell they weren’t very attentive and he was always able to dip into a side room or hide somewhere to avoid them. “If Twilight and Starlight actually got caught by one of these guys I’d be amazed.” He said as he ducked out behind one and glided down the hallway. “And if I got caught by one I’d never let myself hear the end of it.” Spike came to a large room with a high ceiling held up by two rows of crystal pillars that stretched its length, a single guard roamed down the middle but thanks to the height of the room Spike would have no difficulty flying over them without being seen or heard. As he hovered in place above them Spike had to thank whatever fortune he had that these guards didn’t like looking up. Empress Starlight probably treated them more like ornamentation than anything and wasn’t likely to fine tune her brainwashing on them to make them more inquisitive and perceptive. The stillness of the night kept things quiet in the castle while Spike continued his so far uneventful and unproductive search. With the way the crystals warped the shadows and moonlight the eeriness of the castle was starting to get to him a bit, it just shouldn’t be this creepy in here but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable with how off and wrong things were. Normally even at night this should be such an inviting and happy place, filled with helpful guards and the happy family of Cadance, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. Instead it was a cold citadel that Spike had to sneak his way through. “Where the hay are you two?” Spike wondered aloud for not the first time. Spike entered another grand room from a side hallway and looked around for a second to see if there were any guards, finding none he started to fly down it towards where he knew the stairs were before stopping. He recognized well where he was. Turning around he looked at the back end of the room where a great set of double doors were, shortly past there would be Cadance and Shining Armor’s old room. The royal suite so to speak. “If I was Empress Starlight...” Spike gulped. If it’s her room maybe she keeps something important in there. Spike thought as he slowly drifted his way down to the large doors. He quietly pulled open one of the doors, making sure it wouldn’t so much as squeak and sell him out, and inched his way inside the interior chambers of the castle. Deftly as possible he shut the door again and looked around to make sure nopony had heard and no guards were around. Clear. “Whew.” Spike wiped a big dollop of sweat off his forehead. “Okay, time to head to Ca-er, Starlight’s room.” The little dragon walked down the red carpet covered hall leading to where royalty would normally reside. The current Empress didn’t count. Regardless if she was there or not. Surprisingly there seemed to be even fewer guards in this area of the castle. Maybe Empress Starlight didn’t want any other ponies in her inner sanctum or she just didn’t see the point. Considering what else he had seen from the guards and the security here Spike was betting on the latter. “Who here would be dumb enough to do this even if they weren’t brainwashed?” Spike asked nopony as he stealthily sneaked his way towards the royal bedrooms. And then stopped as his words caught up with him. “Oh. Right.” There weren’t as many individual rooms to check in and stop along the way to the bedroom so Spike forgoed checking any of them in the first place. He wasn’t wandering aimlessly anymore hoping for a clue or sign as to where Twilight and Starlight were but was now intent on getting into that bedroom and seeing if this evil Empress Starlight had anything important in there. Even if she didn’t it might be good for the others to know where she slept depending on how things went. Going down this hallway in the dark Spike could just picture Shining Armor kept up through the middle of the night in here by a mischief causing Flurry Heart while Cadance lied in bed with a pillow wrapped tightly around her head. It almost made him laugh. Maybe they should ask Twilight to repay all the foalsitting Cadance did when they were younger and have her take care of Flurry Heart some more. ...okay that was probably not a great idea but Spike was sure Twilight could at least manage better than the first time. Spike’s thoughts naturally started to drift in his lonesome and as he silently flew down the hallway he began to wonder if this counted as rescuing the Crystal Empire twice? Maybe if he succeeded here he could have Twilight requisition another statue of himself to be put in their Empire back home. “That would be awesome, Rainbow Dash would be so jealous.” He grinned and thumbed his chin, picturing the perfection of not one but two statues dedicated to him. “Who’s Rainbow Dash?” Spike held back a scream, managing only to slightly yelp in surprise as he covered his mouth and looked down to see a single empty-eyed guard looking up at him. At Spike’s silence the guard tilted his head in confusion. “Uh, she’s nopony.” Spike quickly said. “Oh.” The guard blinked. He then pointed up at Spike. “You’re a small purple dragon, Empress Starlight told us to look for you.” “That’s because I’m a friend! She wanted to say hi to me!” Spike immediately shot forth. The guard smiled. “I see. In that case would you like me to bring you to her?” “No, no! I know the way, but thanks.” Spike shook his hands. “Okay, have a nice night.” The guard said and proceeded to walk down the hallway. The moment he was out of sight Spike breathed a big sigh of relief. “These are the worst guards ever.” He shook his head. “No more messing around though, time to get to that room.” Spike flew his way through the dark crystal hallway, keeping high up at the ceiling and not talking to himself anymore in case there were actually any more guards here. It didn’t take long from that point for him to finally reach the bedroom he had been looking for. Now Spike had to be extra careful. If Empress Starlight was using this as her personal room now and she was inside there it’s also possible that she wasn’t even asleep right now. Just because she retired for the night doesn’t mean she couldn’t be staying up reading or anything. That was the risk Spike took as he decided to open up the door to “her” room. If she was still awake he’d be caught immediately. If she wasn’t she could still have some sort of alarm or spell that would be tripped. But he was willing to take that gamble. The doors were the most ornate in the whole castle, beautiful white crystal with all sorts of inlaid gems in them. On an average day Spike’s mouth would water looking at them. Tonight he had to ignore it all and oh so quietly and softly pull the door open. Just an inch. Not even an inch as he opened it the slightest of cracks to peek through. Spike was lucky that the door didn’t squeak or make any other noise as he opened it, and he had the sense not to ruin his good fortune with a sigh or “Yes!”. Let’s see what’s in here… Spike thought as he finally had enough space to squint an eye into the door’s crack and check out the room. A large room that he had been in many times greeted his eye. However it looked surprisingly spartan, most of the personal affects had been removed to leave behind only the bare essentials. A cabinet, a dresser, a small table with two chairs and a large mirror. And the bed of course. Where a pony shaped bump in the covers was steadily rising and falling. The Empress was peacefully asleep. Spike gulped and was about to very steadily open the door some more when a shimmering light caught his eye. It was so out of place there was no way he could miss it. Right past the blanket covered bump of Empress Starlight two glass jars sat on her headboard. Their sparkling contents made Spike’s eyes widen in recognition and worry. “Well that explains what happened at least.” He whispered to himself as he stared at Twilight and Starlight’s captive Cutie Marks. He narrowed his eyes at them, it was a good thing he decided to come here but was he really about to go attempt to steal back those Cutie Marks? Spike sighed. Yep, he was. The dragon carefully opened up the door just slightly more and squeezed his way inside, cautiously holding the door to make sure it wouldn’t slam shut behind him. He finally had inched his way entirely into the room and slowly let the door fall shut without a sound. Before he made any more movement he checked to make sure that the Empress was still sound asleep. And since it didn’t look like she had moved from her spot Spike figured he was in the clear. With a flap of his wings Spike hovered up in the air, making sure he had plenty of height so that she wouldn’t feel the breeze from his wing beats when he flew over her, and made his way to the headboard and the two jars on it. This is such a bad idea, why am I doing this? How did I get into this? Spike did his best not to sweat or make any noise as he flew over the sleeping form of Empress Starlight. He couldn’t help but steal a glimpse down though and spied her resting face, she really did look just like his friend. It was so weird. Not just for the similarity but for how innocent and peaceful she looked, like any other pony. Well, that was really no different from when he and Twilight dealt with his Starlight back then he figured. He descended a little bit so he could grab the jars and bit his lip in concentration so as to not make them wobble or clink against the hard wood of the headboard. Hard part’s over… Spike flew up and back beyond the reaches of the bed and dropped to the ground. He gave one last look at the big lump that was Empress Starlight’s sleeping form to make sure she hadn’t been stirred before he turned and went back to the door. All in all he’d been pretty lucky tonight and Twilight and Starlight would be really happy to have their Cutie Mark’s back. Wherever they were. “Right, how am I going to find them?” Spike whispered to himself as he made it back to the door. He shook his head. “One problem at a time.” Spike moved the jar he was holding in his right hand to the crook of his left elbow, balancing them and making sure he wouldn’t drop either right now he pushed open the door slowly again. Just barely making sure the opening was wide enough for him to slide back through without any problems Spike managed to safely exit the bedroom of Empress Starlight. “”Awesome job, Spike.” He said to himself and let go of the door. Which then swung back shut with just enough force to loudly reverberate throughout the whole room. Spike winced. “Oh boy...” “Huh? Whuzzat?” He heard from inside the room. “What th—The Cutie Marks?! GUARDS!” “Welp.” Spike looked at the two glass jars, grabbing the other from his elbow and holding them both in front of him. “Good thing Starlight still likes to keep important stuff in glass jars. Time to speed things up.” And he raised the jars over his head and slammed them to the ground. The glass shattered and the two Cutie Marks rose up, twirling around in the air before jetting off down the hallway, in pursuit of their missing flanks. Spike swiftly followed them, beating his wings as hard as he could to keep up with them. Wherever Twilight and Starlight were right now Spike was about find them.