//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: A Glimmer of False Hope // Story: Undead Robot Bug Crusaders: Unusual Lives // by Banjo64 //------------------------------// Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath and braced herself. It was crucial to be in the proper mindset before making her appearance. Too angry, and she’d scare off possible new recruits. Too cheerful, and they’d think their actions had no consequences here. She needed to hit that perfect balance of stern and friendly to make this work. Especially since these ponies had to be put in the reeducation building before they’d even had their marks removed. “Alright, so as far as you know, these ponies just walked right up to Our Town, gave gasps of horror, and immediately started attacking ponies?” asked Starlight. “Yep. Only gave a few bruises before we pinned them down, though. They were screaming something about ‘cursed ponies’ and ‘monsters.’ I think the idea of equality really spooked them for some reason,” said Double Diamond. Starlight raised an eyebrow. She knew there were going to be ponies who didn’t exactly jump around with excitement at the idea of equality, but striking ponies like that seemed like a bit of an overreaction. … Then again, the stereotypical pony wasn’t exactly known for acting rationally... “Has anyone questioned them yet? Or at least asked why they started attacking?” asked Starlight. “Well, you did tell us to let you handle any outsiders, so no. But I did overhear them mention ‘not technically being Celestia’s orders’ or something like that,” said Double Diamond. It didn’t take long for Starlight to make the connection. “Great. They’re a bunch of Celestia’s Witnesses or something. These are exactly the kind of ponies I knew would give us trouble with spreading equality to all of Equestria, and they found Our Town before I could finalize a plan on how to get them to understand,” said Starlight as she fought the urge to facehoof. “So, what do we do then? Leave them in there for a few days and see if that does anything?” asked Double Diamond. “No. Ponies like them are so devoted to their faith that nothing short of proving their ideology wrong will convince them otherwise, and even then that’s not a guarantee. If there wasn’t a danger of them running to the Princesses before we’re ready for that step, I’d say we’d be better off just letting them leave. We can’t just hold them here for months while we build up our community,” answered Starlight. “Yeah. We only have one reeducation building, after all. So, what’s the plan, then?” asked Double Diamond. “Well… I guess we can try to convince them that Our Town is something the Princess approved of. Hay, we can probably claim this was organized by the Elements of Harmony. They’ll probably buy that,” answered Starlight. Starlight just stared. Her mind was temporarily on standby, so this was literally all she was capable of. “So…Twilight? what’s the scoop with the thing?” asked Rainbow Dash. Her companions looked at her with various degrees of confusion, with the exception of Pinkie Pie. She just continued making a house of books with the “literature” they’d been provided with. “What thing? I can’t tell what you’re referring to with that vague a description,” said Twilight. “You know, the thing in the place we’re not supposed to talk about?” answered Rainbow with an eyeroll. “I don’t believe that narrows it down very much, Rainbow Dash. That leaves quite a great deal many ‘things’ you could be referring to,” said Rarity. “Yeah. Ain’t like we constantly get involved in a lot of big government things or nothin’,” added Applejack. “Creativity is a bad thing!” said the loudspeaker. Taking a moment to glare at the speakers, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and made an effort not to yell at anypony. She succeeded, but it was a near thing. “I’m talking about the thing you were telling us a few days after Tirek finished rampaging. With the mirror?” clarified Rainbow. “Oh! That thing! Well, there were some delays, but things should start…” said Twilight. “Um, excuse me?” whispered Fluttershy. Everyone paused and looked towards the shy mare. Fluttershy didn’t say anything else, she just pointed at Starlight. Despite suddenly being the center of attention, Starlight could only continue to stare, mostly at the purple mare. The mare that happened to be an alicorn. “Buck, one of them’s an alicorn! Why the buck did nopony tell me there was a bucking alicorn?! Buck, that must be Princess Twilight Sparkle! Buck, they must be the Elements of Harmony! And they attacked Our Town on sight! Buck, buck, buck!” thought Starlight Glimmer. “Oh! Sorry, we didn’t hear you come in. Are you the mare in charge of this town?” asked Twilight. Starlight jumped, shook her head, and desperately tried to regain control of the situation. “Um… yes! I’m the mayor of this happy little community. My name is Starlight Glimmer. I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but after your actions upon arriving, I must admit I’m a little concerned.  Why did you feel the need to attack the fair poines of Our Town?” asked Starlight with what she hoped was a troubled expression (it was). “Did anypony else hear those capital letters?” asked Pinkie Pie. Starlight didn’t even noticed her speak. She was too busy trying to come up with a plan. “OK, just stay calm, Starlight. The ‘Elements of Harmony’ excuse isn’t going to work, but they’re clearly not Celestia’s Witnesses. They might be possible to convince. You can turn this around,” thought Starlight. “Not now, Pinkie. Er, yes. Sorry about that. We saw the way everypony’s cutie marks are the same and thought this might have been a town full of ghouls,” said Twilight. Any ideas Starlight might have started to form at that point fell apart. “Uh… come again? Did you say ghouls?” asked Starlight, looking at the ponies in front of her in disbelief. “Yes, Ghouls. More precisely, class G ghouls. There was a sighting of a town of them that believe cutie marks are some kind of evil curse. They took the form of normal ponies to draw victims in and, well, you know how contagious those kinds of ghouls are,” explained Twilight. Starlight didn’t know, but that was besides the point. There were many responses a pony could have to being informed of the existence of a village of undead. Fear, confusion, disbelief, ect. But Starlight’s reaction was rather unique. The only thing she felt upon hearing this news was the sensation of all of her plans collapsing before they’d even gotten off the ground. “Er… yes. Of course. I… understand where you’re coming from, but I can assure you that there are no undead in Our Town,” said Starlight with an awkward smile. “OK, seriously, I can’t be the only one who’s hearing that,” said Pinkie. Starlight continued to fail to notice her. “How am I supposed to convince anypony the values of equality if the closest equivalent is a village of undead?! How the buck am I supposed to keep the ponies I’ve already convinced to stay by my side if they hear about this?! Oh buck me, what the buck do I do?!” thought Starlight in a mad panic. Unknown to her, her panic was leaking through her face, making the other ponies in the room somewhat concerned, and more than a little suspicious. “Um… Thank you for being understanding. Well, even without your reassurance, it’s apparent to us now that whatever is happening in this town, the ghouls we were concerned about are most likely not involved. We want to formally apologize for attacking like that, and do anything we can to help to make up for it,” said Twilight. Starlight saw the opening, and failed to realize it had been left open intentionally. “Yes! I mean, yes, there is something you can do for me. I was wondering if you could tell me why you six were in the area. I mean, I can’t imagine why an alicorn and her… companions would be out here in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason,” said Starlight with as sincere a chuckle as she could manage. At this point, even Fluttershy was looking at her rather dubiously. Nevertheless, Twilight let out a cough and continued speaking. “Well, that’s sort of the issue here. We were sent here by… let’s say a force of Harmony. We’re not entirely sure why we’re here, just that there is something here we’re likely needed for. I don’t suppose there’s any problems in the area we could help with?” asked Twilight. “Yes. You can all get the buck out of here before all this talk of ghouls causes my ponies to leave! That would very much help! Not that you will, since apparently Harmony itself has...” thought Starlight before her train of thought screeched to a halt. Harmony, true capital ‘H’ Harmony, was a mystery. Was it a benevolent spirit? A possibly perfect ideology to strive for? A myth from the Age of Light? It was something worth pursuing, that much was certain, but the fact was that no one knew what true Harmony really looked liked, or how to obtain it. Well, with the exception of those who believed that their vision of the future was the one true way to Harmony. And Starlight Glimmer happened to be such a mare. “Could it be? Has Harmony itself delivered Twilight Sparkle and her followers to me to spread equality to all of Equestria? Is this the day where the next great Age begins?” thought Starlight. The idea quickly took root in her mind, and refused to let go. The panic faded from her mind as hope began to bloom in her heart. Whatever complications or issues might arise, as long as Harmony willed it, Equestria would have equality. “Well, nothing springs to mind. But if you have any business in the area I can arrange for a room for you all. I’m certain that with a little time, Our Town will leave quite the impression,” said Starlight with the first sincere smile she’s had since she entered the room. “Wait, this place is actually called ‘Our Town?’ Geez, and ponies say ‘Ponyville’ is a silly name,” said Pinkie Pie. Starlight heard her this time, and chose to continue ignoring her. “If you’ll just excuse me for a moment, I need to speak with the rest of the town and explain the situation. We’ll let you out of here in just a moment,” said Starlight with a smile. The moment she stepped outside, the six friends looked at each other. “I bet this is some kind of cult. The loudspeakers are saying a ton of creepy stuff that makes no sense,” said Rainbow Dash. “No deal on that bet. It’s way too obvious. The real question is what kind of cult, and mah money’s on some kind of political hooey,” said Applejack. “I quite agree. Did any of you happen to notice how utterly plain and flat everything about this town is? There’s something quite foul in this place, I am sure of it,” added Rarity. “Yep. This is totally going to end with us beating up or reforming that Starlight pony,” added Pinkie Pie. “Well, I’m not sure about the beating up part, but I agree that something needs to be done. Ready to save the day again, girls?” asked Twilight. There were five loud cheers of excitement, plus Fluttershy’s less than loud cheer. Creepy cults? Unnatural cutie marks? Weird harmony magic they really didn’t understand yet? Just another workday for the six of them, really. In another time, another place, another series of events and variants, Starlight Glimmer ran from her village in anger, vowing revenge and scheming how to make those six ponies pay for ruining her dreams of equality. In this time, this place, after a series of events that most would describe as “typical considering who was involved,” Starlight didn’t run in anger. For while other versions of Starlight could cling to denial, claim that such things didn’t even matter, or simply not even consider the possibility, this one had built what remained of her hope around a delusion that had been stripped away by one terrible truth: Harmony did not approve of her plans. “So… we’ve decided, unanimously, that removing our cutie marks is a bad idea and we don’t want to do that anymore,” said Sugar Belle. “It’s not that we disagree with what you’ve been saying all this time… well, not entirely…” said Party Favor before he trailed off. “But we really don’t want to end up as a town full of hate-filled undead, so… yeah. We’re going to have to stop the whole equality thing,” said Night Glider. Double Diamond didn’t say anything, though his expression was very uncomfortable. It was clear he felt guilty about the whole thing, but whether that was from what was currently happening or because he’d followed Starlight so devotedly for so long was unclear. Either way, Starlight could see that she had no support. The six ponies who had done this were simply part of the crowd, looking at her with various degrees of pity. And she didn’t have the strength to argue anymore. “I… understand. I mean, ghouls, right? Who could have seen that coming? I guess I just have to accept that I was… wrong,” said Starlight, struggling to hold back tears. Most of the ponies in the crowd gave her gentle smiles. “It’s alright, Starlight. We know you were just trying to help ponies. And you did help us establish Our Town in the first place. Even without the equality thing, we’d be happy to let you stay the mayor and…” said Sugar Belle. “No. I can’t. I just… I can’t. I’m sorry everypony. This town will just have to elect someone else. I… I need some time to think,” said Starlight. As she turned to leave, however, Starlight noticed the alicorn step forward. “Starlight, I understand you feel terrible right now, but that doesn’t mean you have to isolate yourself. We could…” started Twilight Sparkle. But Starlight didn’t let her finish. She just lit up her horn and teleported away. “Oh dear. I think she might be taking things a great deal harder than we anticipated,” said Rarity. “Yeah. Ah guess she really did want to help ponies. She was just goin’ about it the wrong way,” said Applejack. “And we didn’t even need to beat her up to make her realize that. That has to count for something,” added Pinkie Pie. Many ponies in the crowd gave her funny looks, but they lived in the same town as Party Favor. Even if he’d spent most of his time in Our Town without his cutie mark, they weren’t entirely unfamiliar with party pony antics. “So… now what? Do we look around and try to find her?” asked Rainbow Dash. “If she wants to be left alone, I think the best thing we can do is let her be alone. And I really don’t think any of us should go after her. We are kind of responsible for this,” said Flutterhsy. “I agree. If nothing else, I doubt she’d listen to the six of us right now. That said, we shouldn’t let her sulk for too long. if nopony sees her after a few hours, someone needs to look for her,” said Twilight. “We’ll handle that. She’s still an important part of our community, mayor or not. And I bet Double Diamond knows all her favorite hiding places,” said Night Gale. Double Diamond let out a sigh. He knew it’d come down to him. This was going to be all kinds of awkward. Hours later, the ponies of Our Town had to accept the fact that Starlight had left the area. She wasn’t in any of her favorite hiding places, she wasn’t waiting in the cutie mark vault, and she wasn’t even in the cave they’d been surprised to discover under her bed. The six visiting mares choose to stick around and help with the search, even after their cutie marks had shown that their mission was complete, but it the end, no sign of Starlight was found. In this time, in this place, Starlight didn’t run from the Our Town in anger and disgrace. She ran in shame and despair. And so Starlight found herself on a lonely road, the only one she knew led away from Our Town. She didn’t know where it was going, but she walked alone. And as she slowly trotted down this empty street, her mind was lost on the boulevard of broken dreams. Yeah. Ghouls. Don’t want to end up one of those. But if I’m honest with myself, that doesn’t really matter. Face it Starlight, this whole thing was doomed from the start. It’s not like you had any actual plans. Your entire strategy was to use that spell you memorized before it was locked up because it was too dangerous. Did you really think nopony would notice that? That the Princesses wouldn’t notice that? Starlight kicked a small stone as her mind continued to spiral downwards. And yeah, the Princesses. No real clue how to address them. It’s not like they needed their cutie marks to help them move the bucking sun and moon or anything. And really, what was the whole point of it all? Yeah, what Sunburst did was terrible, but can you really blame him for leaving you? You tried to make a cult. You built a house to brainwash ponies into following you. You were fantasizing about overthrowing the crown. Starlight started crying again, but she didn’t stop walking. Maybe it wasn’t because of his mark that he left you. He left you because he realized that you’re a horrible pony who deserves to be alone. And maybe you should be. Harmony opposes you. Equestria’s heros came to stop you. That makes you a villain. A monster. No better than Nightmare Moon or Discord, plunging the world into darkness for your own petty gratification. Starlight stopped, collapsed to the ground, and began sobbing. Her thoughts fell apart at this point, an aimless wandering of self-loathing and despair. But then… What if... Starlight’s mind froze as the thought entered her mind. She paused, thinking it over. It was a stupid idea, even she had to admit it, and it would takes months to prepare if it was even possible, but the idea refused to let go. She shouldn’t bother. She shouldn’t even be considering it, but... “I… I have to know,” she whispered. She pulled herself back up, and continued on her way. She had a plan, a desperate one, but a plan. A reminder to all personal: Be aware incident #2605PTL is still scheduled to occur despite recent ripples in the time stream. Please make certain all necessary measures are still in place and functional. And if we have to go through another “sheepocalypse” because someone didn’t bother updating the air conditioning settings again, I’m firing everyone involved in this matter. That includes you, Socket. Get your flank down there and do your bucking job for once. -Time Keeper, T.I.M.E. superintendent.