//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Terrible Discovery // Story: Luster Dawn Friendship Successor // by SamSwordsman123 //------------------------------// With the Festival of the Two Sisters over, Twilight and Spike flew back to Canterlot, accompanied by Gallus and a group of Pegasus Royal Guards. Twilight’s heavier body made it a little more difficult for her to fly long distances than it was when she had been smaller. Of course, she could have teleported straight to Canterlot, but that would have denied her the chance to see the land in between while flying. Fortunately, she only needed to clear the Everfree forest and could land on the outskirts of Canterlot where she and her friends had fought their final big battle for Equestria years ago against Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. They had left the trio entombed in stone for the past two decades. Twilight had zapped them all with a Rainbow laser, gathering friendship magic on her with the aid of her friends, the Young Six, and the Pillars. She had stripped them of Grogar’s power, and Discord, Celestia, and Luna had all turned them to stone for their crimes against Equestria. Now they would remain here forever, trapped on that… Twilight gasped as she saw something in the distance. She saw the pedestal which the trio had stood upon. But it seemed to be empty. “What’s wrong Twilight?” Spike asked. Looking ahead, his mouth fell open. He rubbed his eyes, as though thinking was something in them. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Twilight asked, pointing to the pedestal. Gallus noticed it too and flew over. “They’re gone!” he shouted in worry. “No! No! No!” Twilight screamed. “They can’t be? How is this possible?” * Starlight and her family were too full from the festival food for much of a dinner. They did have a few apples though to hold them over till tomorrow. “So, Luster, did you enjoy the festival today?” Starlight asked. “Oh yes… but I wish I’d been able to use some friendship magic when we were fighting the monsters,” Luster said. Starlight put a hoof on her daughter. “For a long time, it took Twilight having to use the symbols of friendship like the elements of harmony or the chest that made this castle. It was a long time before she was able to use the magic of friendship without any sort of artifact. The bonds between her and her friends grew deep over the years. You’ve only had friends for a couple weeks now.” Luster sighed. “You’re right. But even so, I did something. Did you see me and River Song holding the manticore’s tail and keeping it from hurting Yelena?” Starlight shook her head. “No. Didn’t I tell you to stay where it was safe?” “The manticore was going to hurt Fluttershy!” Luster countered. “Could you expect me to just stand by?” Starlight frowned. “Alright, I guess I can’t ground you for defending my friend and a member of the Council of Friendship. But don’t take any unnecessary risks. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Besides, Equestria has Twilight and her friends to protect it.” “But she and her friends won’t be around forever,” Luster pointed out. “And Equestria’s ruler needs to lead it. She may have been its sworn defender at one point, but she can’t risk her life all the time now that she’s supreme ruler. She needs to let others do the fighting now, only intervene when it’s necessary like it was today.” “Pfft!” Trixie scoffed. “We could have handled those monsters being the Great and Powerful ponies we are! If Twilight had given us a bit more time, I’m sure we would have had them mopped up. I say bring them on next time! Any bad guys that show up we can handle ourselves!” Suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and Twilight and Spike burst in. “Starlight! I have bad news!” Twilight screamed. “Twilight? What’s wrong?” Starlight asked, she hadn’t seen Twilight this upset in years. Not since the deaths of Shining Armor and Cadence, which had been a shock for all of them. “No time to explain! I need the Council right now!” Twilight shouted. Starlight could tell it was must have been serious. Something bad was happening in Equestria by the way Twilight was reacting. Twilight lit up her horn and let out a bit of rainbow magic, summoning Discord in front of her as well as Fluttershy. The spirit of chaos and his wife were kissing. “Ahem!” Twilight cleared her throat. Discord broke the kiss and looked at Twilight. “Oh ho! A sudden summons from the ruler of Equestria,” he than changed his tone as he looked at Fluttershy. “This better be important as I was in the middle of something very important.” “Now Discord, we can always kiss later,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight would never summon you and I without good reason.” Twilight took a breath in an effort to calm herself. “Trust me, its very important. Discord could you please summon the others?” “Sure thing!” Discord said in a clearly annoyed tone as he put Fluttershy down and snapped his fingers, the other four ponies that were part of the Council of Friendship were summoned. Rarity was sopping wet as though she’d been showering. “Darlings, what’s going on?” “Are we having a surprise sleepover?” Pinkie asked. “No!” Twilight said. “We have an emergency! They are back!” Everypony was silent for a moment. Knowing that they most likely referred to three villains. “Please tell me they are not who I think?” Applejack asked. “Oh no! Not them! Anypony but them!” Rarity exclaimed. “Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight nodded. “I was on my way back to Canterlot when I saw the statues of them were gone!” All the ponies gasped. Even Discord’s teeth chattered as he recalled how he’d been deceived by the trio whom he himself had put together while posing as Grogar. Starlight cringed, her mind wandered back to the early days when Luster had been a baby. She’d had those nightmares of Chrysalis coming back and stealing her baby. Starlight had reminded herself that Chrysalis was trapped in stone, that she was gone for good. “You’re joking!” Starlight said. “Please tell me you’re joking!” Twilight looked at her. “Starlight, I would never joke on a matter like this!” Starlight began to breath hard and pace around the room. “No, no, no, no! Chrysalis is back and she’ll be out for revenge! She’s gonna come and take Luster away!” Sunburst put his hooves on his wife. “Starlight, calm down honey!” “Calm down! Calm down!?” Starlight screamed. “My archenemy has returned, and she’ll be after our daughter, I know it!” “Hey, Star! Take it easy! There’s no way Chrysalis even knows about Luster!” Trixie said. “She’s been trapped in stone the past twenty years and it was like taking a long nap!” “That’s right!” Discord said. “She and the other two were in hibernation while they were trapped. Unlike me they didn’t hear, see, or feel a thing while in stone. I did consider making their existence like mine, but I thought it best to be merciful and not torture them. Being trapped together was probably bad enough for them. There’s no way they know about Luster… unless somepony showed them the festival that happened and that particularly affection nuzzle you two shared in a crystal ball.” Starlight frowned. “Way to make me feel assured, Discord!” She looked at her daughter. Luster’s face was full of fear and worry. Worry for her mother’s current state, and fear of what her mother feared. “You… you think Chrysalis is gonna come after me to get revenge on you?” Luster asked. Starlight nodded. “I thought she’d never return! But now she’s back! She’s wanted revenge on me ever since I convinced the changelings to change! If she finds out I have a daughter, she’ll come after you for sure!” Everyone was looking at Starlight oddly. It was like Twilight’s moments of “Twilighting” but in Starlight’s case it was “Starlighting”. Twilight approached her former pupil and put a hoof on her. “Starlight, don’t worry. I’ll put out the word for everypony to keep a look out for Chrysalis and the other two!” “You think that’s gonna solve anything!?” Starlight yelled. “Chrysalis can take any form! She can look like any creature, somepony you know or a total stranger! There’s no way we can catch her! She could be here in Ponyville right now… she could even be one of you!” This caused her friends to look at her in astonishment. “Starlight, its us!” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, sugarcube. You’re overreacting, Chrysalis can’t have been out long! You think she would know what we all look like now that we’re older?” Applejack asked. “Yes, these bags under our eyes, and I have a gray hair!” Rarity said before looking at Twilight. “While you get the flowing mane!” Twilight frowned. “And I summoned all of you here! My magic would only bring the real ones here!” Discord pointed out. Starlight took a breath. “You’re right, I am overreacting. I’m sorry. I just… had some nightmares about Chrysalis returning and taking Luster after she was born. I knew it would never happen as long as she was in stone, but now… she’s back!” “Don’t worry, Starlight. We’ll deal with her and the others. We beat those villains once we’ll do it again!” Rainbow Dash said. “They don’t have the real Grogar’s magic this time, and the Bewitching Bell is being kept in my realm so no pony can use it!” Discord said. “Those meanies are gonna wish they stayed in stone!” Pinkie Pie declared. “But… how did they get out?” Rarity asked. “There’s a simple answer to that. Somepony or some creature freed them,” Discord said. “The question is… who?” “Ooh, you think its another of our old enemies back for revenge?” Pinkie asked. “Let’s see, who could it be? Pony of Shadows, Storm King, King Sombra no they’re gone!” “Maybe it’s a new enemy?” Twilight asked. “I don’t like what’s been going on recently. The Crystal Heart was stolen at Flurry’s coronation, somepony took the energy from it, a group of monsters attack Ponyville today and now these three are missing. Something is rising, something sinister.” “Well we’re just gonna have to defeat it like we do every other bad guy!” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s nothing we can’t handle!” “Don’t be overconfident Dash, sure we’ve always won before… but things can change,” Applejack said. “We nearly lost against those three last time, and if they’re working with somepony else it could be a lot harder.” Discord but a claw to his chin. “Who would even want to team up with those three losers anyway?” “Says the draconequus who pretended to be Grogar and had his magic drained by those losers?” Rainbow Dash asked in Discord’s face. “Now Rainbow, Discord had good intentions even if they were misguided,” Fluttershy defended her husband. “Girls, that’s in the past now! We need to deal with our villains today!” Twilight said. “We’ll put up wanted posters of the three of them. Discord can you give us illustrations of Tirek in all his forms?” Discord (in a painter’s garb) immediately painted pictures of each of Tirek’s forms and handed them to Twilight. “Thank you, I’ll get a picture of Cozy Glow out. Chrysalis will be hardest to spot since she can change forms.” Starlight shook her head. “Next to impossible. Well, I don’t care what she does to me! I’m not going to let her hurt Luster!” She turned to her daughter. “Luster, I need you to leave the Castle until Chrysalis is caught. Stay with one of your friends. If you see me in Ponyville, walk past me as though we’re strangers! Same with Sunburst and Trixie!” “What? Why?” Luster asked. “If Chrysalis doesn’t know you’re my daughter, she can’t find out!” Starlight said. “I need to pretend we’re strangers until she is back in stone or sent to Tartarus!”