//------------------------------// // CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR // Story: Dear Faithful Student // by Muramasa //------------------------------// CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: PONYVILLE STATION STARLIGHT GLIMMER I've done a lot of bad things. I would never run from them -- if anypony asked, I was always happy to answer, despite the pain it brought me -- but I still didn't like to think about them, and I only hope that I was able to atone for even a fraction of the things I did at Our Town through my visits. I would still wake up at nights in cold sweats remembering the recordings I would play for the village, the cutie marks I had stolen, the futures I had taken away. I've done a lot of bad things, but when Chrysalis had told me what she'd done to Melody Waltz, and what she had told her to do, I was at a complete loss for words. She had continued staring out the window, having watched Celestia draw down the sun and her sister hang the moon in the sky. She didn't say anything, and for a millennium, I didn't either. I was trying to think of a thousand different things, from calling her a slew of the worst names I could think of to asking a million more questions, but try as I might, I simply couldn't formulate anything. After the silence was deafening to both of our ears, she finally spoke up, not bothering to turn to where I was sitting. "If you follow this river, you'll make it out of the forest," she started. "You're free to bathe in it if you need to. It'll take you about forty-five minutes to get to town, but you should be safe as long as you stick to the edge of the water. I would leave now, lest more creatures of the night grow curious." After all this time, she's still helping me. Even after Melody. Even after Thorax. I tried to offer her friendship when we had battled at the Changeling Kingdom, and she had rebuked me. I knew she didn't like me, and I certainly had no love for her -- especially after what she had just told me she'd done -- and so I put my confusion into words and spoke for the first time in minutes. "You're despicable," I told her. "And yet you saved my life. I have to repay you somehow, but after what you've told me, I'm struggling to decide if you deserve it. Why did you do this?" I'd risen from my seat to prepare for my departure, but it seemed as if Chrysalis wouldn't give me the satisfaction of a quick exit. She stayed silent for a moment, but just before the length of it got awkward, she replied. "I know," she said. "Perhaps my good deeds will never outweigh my sins, but I suppose one is better than none, even if a temporary grace. As for repayment, I only require one thing." She turned to me and stared me in the eyes, piercing through me with a fire as she rose her voice. "Stop Cyrilla," she told me. "Don't let her hurt anyone else. Because if you don't stop her, the next knock at my door will be the last one I ever hear." I let her words bounce around my head, and I refused to let myself think about a possibility where her reign of terror went uncontested. Slowly, I nodded, and once she did the same and not a word was spoken, I headed towards the front door and turned its handle. When I'd opened it, however, a thought came to me, and so I called her name through the silence. "Chrysalis." She turned to me again, narrowing her eyes ever slightly. I closed my eyes and sighed, knowing I was about to throw out a question I didn't think she was going to be able to answer. "Did you ever find out where she was going in the Everfree?" To my shock, she nodded almost immediately, and her reply came just as quickly. "The Castle of the Two Sisters." I needed a manecut. As much as I wanted to get back to Canterlot, I couldn't go anywhere with the state my mane and tail were in. I took up Chrysalis' offer and took a bath in the stream, but that was entirely ineffective, and so my last remaining option was the removal of all afflicted areas. As such, when I finally emerged from the forest and set my sights on the wonderful town I called my home (before everypony's temporary residency in Canterlot, that is), the first thing I did was go to Lotus and Aloe's spa. The spa -- which doubled as a salon -- should have only been just closing if my mental calculations were correct, and sure enough, as I trotted over to the door, I could see the two ponies gathering up their things to head home for the night beyond the glass door. Desperately, I knocked, and both of them looked up in confusion before the realized who I was. Thankfully, I'd come to know the two of them well in my visits with Rarity, and so it was Aloe who rushed to the door and cracked it open. "Starlight! I am very sorry, we've just -- oh, my goodness!" Her gaze drifted upward to the remnants of the cocoon in my mane and tail, and her eyes grew even wider when she saw the numerous bruises and cuts all across my body. On another night, I would have smiled sheepishly, but I simply looked to her with pleading eyes as I clutched my chest with a hoof. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I have a train to Canterlot I need to catch and I can't go out looking like this. Could you help me?" Aloe looked back to Lotus, and once she got a glimpse of me, it only took a second for her to wave her hoof and gesture me to enter. "I can't have one of my clients walking around like that," she said slyly. "Up for a change of pace while we're at it?" I settled on a somewhat-similar version of my mane that was cut that was shorter than it had ever been in my entire life. It didn't fall past my jawline, and it was strange to not feel my mane as I always had. It looked fantastic, nonetheless, and I was astonished that the two could create such a look with how much my hair had been completely destroyed by the cocoon, so I made sure to give them the biggest hug I could muster before I walked out of the building and let them final close their shop. My new look felt fresh, but my body certainly did not, and so I continued to hobble as I made my way to the second place on my hitlist: the Castle of Friendship. Lotus and Aloe were kind enough to cut my mane and tail free of charge. The train station wouldn't be so kind, I knew, and so I was forced to break into the castle in order to grab some bits for the ride back to Canterlot Castle. Fortunately, since I knew it inside and out, all I had to do was get close enough to where I could teleport without expending too much magical energy. The problem with that, though, was that I had to save it for the teleporting in question, so I didn't want to teleport there from where I had been. Thus, my aching body was forced to make the mildly unfortunate long-ish walk to the castle, and it protested with every step I took. Ponyville was always a peaceful place, but when it was lit up at night, it looked truly beautiful. I usually didn't go out much as my day winded down, but being beneath the street lights as only one or two ponies passed me by was an experience I didn't get to go through all too often, so I savored the pleasant scenery as long as I could. I can't wait to get back here, I thought to myself. It was as I was walking, though, that a newspaper on the side of the street caught my eye. It appeared that somepony had been reading it and had cast it aside, and so I walked over near it and grabbed it with my magic. It would be nice to catch up on the news as I walked to the castle, but as I put my eyes on the front page of the latest issue of the Ponyville Citizen, I had to stifle a gasp. CELESTIA CONFIRMS CANTERLOT LINKED TO GUARD ATTACKS 103 GUARDS CURRENTLY IN STASIS: CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND EQUESTRIAN DIARCHS WILL NOT NAME ASSAILANT What? Stasis? I looked to the article for more information, but it seemed as if the paper didn't really have anything else: A lone pony had gone to both the Crystal Palace and Canterlot Castle and put numerous guards and servants in some sort of coma, but Cadance and Celestia had only told the press that they are "handling the situation" and that the pony has yet to be apprehended. It was shocking news, and likely a contributor to the lack of ponies out at night, but it was the mention of the Crystal Empire that had resurfaced a memory. Twilight! When I had been assaulted, she was supposedly on her way to investigate what she believed to be a strange lack of response from the Palace. Her name wasn't mentioned anywhere in the article, and I found myself picking up the pace as much as I could in a marginal effort to get to Canterlot and make sure the mare that meant so much to me was okay. I'd tried to take my mind off the article, and before I knew it, I was outside the giant double doors of the Castle of Friendship. Sighing in relief, I readied my magic and teleported to the first place I knew would have a store of bits: Twilight's room. I felt intrusive the moment I ended up in it, but I quickly put the thought behind me as I turned on the lights. As usual, everything was perfectly folded and in its place, and although I wanted nothing more than to jump on to her comfortable-looking bed and fall asleep forever, I immediately ran towards her closet to find what I was looking for: her stash of bits. "Sorry, Twi," I muttered, reaching towards the back of the massive closet space and grabbing a bag. Having come from nobility and being ascended to a monarch, Twilight was one of the richest mares in the world (though she would never admit it), but I still felt guilty taking from her even though I knew she wouldn't care. There was time to apologize to Twilight later. For now, I had to get to her. A quick teleport out saw me on my way to the last place on my list. The trains were always running, but there were certain places they would stop running very late at night. Canterlot happened to be one of them (which was awfully strange, since it was the nation's capital), and so I desperately hoped with every fiber of my being that I could make a train before they stopped running them. Thankfully, the station wasn't all that far away from the castle, and it only took a few minutes before I approached it. There were quite a few ponies waiting for a train to wherever they were going, reading the same paper I had been earlier or just staring out at the stars. I looked towards the tracks to see if I could hear a car coming in, and although I did, there was something else that immediately drew my attention. In the grass field beyond the tracks was a stallion that nopony else seemed to notice. He had some sort of pendant and another object hanging from his neck, and what appeared to be either a stark white or grey coat -- the night made it hard to tell -- and an amber mane and tail, but that wasn't at all the most notable feature about him. It was his eyes. His sclera burned bright red, to the point where it was almost illuminated. His irises were a bit darker of a red, and his pupils were so dilated that I almost didn't notice them. Finally, a purple aura emanated slowly from the corners, but the most frightening thing about them was where their cold stare was focused on. Me. I took a step back, but I didn't get a lot of time to stare back as the car came rolling in. It was thunderous as it rolled into the station, and when it slowed down to a screeching halt, the last car in the chain passed the point where he had been and unblocked the view of it from my sight. The pony was gone. I shook my head and blinked, half expecting him to be there, but he was still missing when I opened my eyes. I was thoroughly creeped out by the short encounter, but I also understood that I didn't have a whole lot of time to be disturbed by it. Quickly, I hobbled over to the attendant taking tickets, panting as I threw out words. "Does this train leave for Canterlot?" I asked him hurriedly. He shook his head, pointing to a chart behind him that revealed no such further trips were planned. "Nope. Last train to Canterlot left a few minutes ago." I'll write a friendship report on this one later. I looked down to the bag of bits I'd held and opened it up, trying to eye just how much was in it. Thankfully, the answer appeared to be a lot, and so I pulled out three hundred bits and threw them on the counter in from of the attendant. He stared at it wide-eyed before looking up at me in bewilderment, and I made a gesture to the train that had only just arrived to the station with a nod of my head. "Where is it going now?" I asked him. Raising his eyebrows, he reached over to the microphone at the side of his desk and pulled it up to his face, leaning out of his booth to address the ponies waiting at the station. "Fillies and gentlecolts, we've had a slight change in our scheduling this evening..." When the lonely train to Canterlot left Ponyville Station, it held only myself. It made sense. There was no scheduled train to Canterlot, so the "agreement" I'd made with the station didn't draw any new ponies. I doubted that anypony would be willing to strike up a conversation with me even if they were on the train, but even so, perhaps somepony else sitting across the aisle would make me feel less alone. I'd been alone for a month, and the only real conversation I'd had since I broke free was with a changeling who considered herself my nemesis. I missed Twilight, I missed Trixie, I missed Sunset, and I missed all the ponies I've been friends with and the apprentices I've gotten to know. It was an hour from Ponyville to Canterlot, and it gave me plenty of time to think of plenty of things, but there was one incidence in particular I just couldn't shake. That stallion. His eyes were locked to me. Nopony else seemed to notice him, but that harrowing stare was meant for one pony only. He seemed so focused on me, and yet when the train car had passed him, he was gone as quickly as he'd appeared. I shook my head as I held on to the pole grip next to me, looking out the window as I thought of the encounter. Maybe I was hallucinating. It's been a long, long day for you, Starlight. I wanted to convince myself, but I wasn't doing a very good job of it. I fell asleep for the rest of the ride. It was entirely dreamless, which I was thankful for: I feared that if it hadn't been, it would be more likely to be a nightmare. It was the screeching halt of the train that woke me. I quickly peered out the window to peer at the Canterlot lights, still shining so brightly this late at night. It was a bit deceiving: Manehatten may have never slept, but Canterlot certainly did, and so pretty much every store and locale was likely to be closed at this hour. Everypony was sleeping, but I knew of at least one that would be awake. Gratefully, I grabbed my bag of bits and hurried off the train. The conductor hopped off with me, which I found a bit strange, but when I saw him run up to the station attendant, who had a confused look on his face, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I hopped off the platform and made the long walk to Canterlot Castle. Ponyville was just a town, and when Canterlot hit you, it reminded you that it was a city. The old spires and architecture of the city were a commanding presence, and although it was one of Equestria's oldest cities, it still found a way to feel fresh and invigorating. It was definitely a wonderful place, but after living in rural areas for my entire life -- from Sire's Hollow to Ponyville -- I didn't know if I could live permanently in such a metropolitan area. The path up to Canterlot Castle, however, was not so metropolitan, and if I wasn't hurting all over my body, I would probably have stopped to appreciate the numerous fountains and gardens that made up the path to the gate. It was a very steep one, though, and it took everything in my power to keep momentum as I trudged up what was essentially a mountainside. Eventually, though, I appeared just over the hill to where the bridge was. The moat was still as the moonlight hit it, but there was something else that drew my attention: there were two guards standing attentively at the front gate. And that's when a thought hit me. If Melody took my shape, she could still be in there. If I showed up to the door as a second Starlight Glimmer, and they were aware of Melody Waltz (they would have had to have heard from Celestia), they would probably be immediately suspicious of me. I made the quick decision that I did not, in fact, want to go through some sort of protocol so late at night, and I gambled on myself to find the pony I was looking for after teleporting into the castle. That was okay. I knew where she was. I didn't know the floor plan for Canterlot Castle nearly as much as Celestia's students did, but I could envision the exact place I wanted to go, and so I closed my eyes and let my magic take me there. And then I appeared there, and I realized exactly where I was. This was the spot. That glass door Chrysalis had described so eloquently in her story was right in front of me, and it was almost exactly as she'd described it. The stained glass was simply a collection of brilliant colors, but I could see them cast upon the floor from the moonlight outside. I couldn't help but put myself where she was all those years ago, but I knew that this upcoming meeting would be far happier than the one between Celestia and Chrysalis. I also wasn't knocking. I opened the door slowly and slipped out before closing it, and when I looked towards the lone table on the edge of the balcony, I couldn't help but smile as my intuition was proven correct. Princess Twilight Sparkle was, in fact, sitting out on the balcony, with a bottle of wine resting in the center of the table. I didn't guess that she would have a guest, though: Sunset Shimmer was with her, and it seemed as if the two somehow hadn't heard me enter. They were in the middle of a conversation, and from a glance, it seemed as if Twilight was giving Sunset some of the sage advice she was often known for. "--We can only make them happy now," she said. "And I know you've taken such good care of Violet. She considers you her best friend, you know." "Mind if I join you all this fine evening?" I asked slyly, circling around the two and taking the last seat at the table facing the door. They both looked to me and nodded, with Twilight waving a hoof towards the seat I'd just occupied. "Always, Starlight," she said. "But yeah, I've been worried about this whole thing too, but thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--" I couldn't help but let a dumb smile dominate my expression as the two of them slowly realized what had just occurred. That let me know one thing: I wasn't supposed to be here, and the two of them stared at me with absolutely shellshocked expressions before staring at each other in disbelief. I opted to let them come to terms with it, but it was Sunset that spoke first, firing off a rapid inquiry. "Okay, Glimmy," she started, trying (and failing miserably) to calm herself. "Across the portal, we fought against a Canterlot Mall usher. What was her name, and why were we fighting her?" "Juniper Montage," I told her immediately. "And she was a bit too obsessed with an Equestrian-enchanted hand mirror. Call me 'Glimmy' one more time, SunShim, and I'm throwing you off this balcony." I knew it was a test, and that I'd passed with flying colors. The two of them jumped up with blinding speed and entrapped me in a massive group hug, crushing just about every bone in my body. I was about to protest, but I felt tears hit my coat on both sides, and so I permitted myself to endure the pain. Twilight spoke first after a long time in the embrace, holding on even after Sunset had released herself from the hug. "Celestia, Starlight, we thought you might... you might have... " I didn't know if Melody had decided not to become me or if she only had done so for a short amount of time, but if both of them thought I could have died, I was glad to be here for the both of them. "I'm here now, Twi," I told her, returning it the best I could. "But I've also been in a lot of pain, so if you could take it easy, I'd appreciate it." I couldn't help but laugh as Twilight immediately unlatched herself, an apologetic countenance already spreading across her face like wildfire. When she looked over me, though, her eyes grew wide and she put a hoof over her mouth in shock: a glance at Sunset showed the same thing. "What... what did she do to you?" Twilight asked, her voice growing a snarl with each syllable. That was the final piece: Melody likely did, in fact, impersonate me, and they knew exactly who she was. "I went to go help Trixie with her show, and on the way back from a supply run at the market, she jumped me. She beat me within an inch of life and then hung me from the ceiling in a changeling cocoon. I don't think she did any permanent damage, but just enough to hurt the entire time I was in there." The next glares from the two were initially of fury, but Twilight quickly softened up and put a hoof on my shoulder, looking straight through me with sympathetic eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked me. I knew she wasn't talking about my body -- I was obviously not okay in that regard -- but I had to think about the answer. Twilight had been in a changeling cocoon before, but only over the course of a day, not a month. There were plenty of times where I'd given up hope in my personal little stasis, but after making it out and hearing of the things that Melody had done, I found myself staring right back at her with a curt nod. "Yeah," I replied. "Yeah, I'm okay. But you also have some explaining to do." I reached down to my bag of bits, but Sunset interjected with a quip before I could even grab what I wanted to show them. "Us? You're the one who just showed up with a giant bag of bits and a new mane cut." Sunset was always freakishly attentive, so it didn't surprise me in the slightest that she'd noticed me sit down with it. For the trillionth time in the past five minutes, Twilight's eyes again widened at the sight of her own bag of bits, and I could feel myself blushing in embarrassment as I beat her to words. "Yeah, I'll get you back, Twi. Sorry about that." She was already waving it off when I used my magic to drop the newspaper I'd grabbed on to the table next to the wine bottle, and the two of them leaned forward in curiosity. "I need to know everything that happened while I was M.I.A," I told them, "Especially this." Once they saw the headline, their faces soured. They looked at each other, and then they told me everything. They told me of the pony named Zephyr, and what he had done at the Crystal Empire. Twilight showed me her permanent scar that now ran down the length of her face (though it wasn't extremely visible, especially at night), and Sunset had informed me that she was dealing with a punctured lung after he had entered this very castle. I was in shock that he would be so bold and brazen, but more so that he was powerful enough to have survived both attempts. I could feel a wave of anger slowly boiling at what he had done to my friends, and I almost wanted to hop out of my chair and go find him after hearing the things that he had done. And then I asked what he looked like. Amber hair. Red eyes. A pendant and a horn. The stallion at Ponyville Station.