“Hello,” said Starlight in a tense voice.
Trixie lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of her spacious room in Twilight’s castle. She was unable to pull the covers over herself because it felt wrong to her. She concentrated on evening out her breathing, listening to the sounds of the castle around her. Hearing the opening of the door to her chambers, the clip-clop of hooves trotted in.
“Trixie?” called out Starlight.
Trixie turned her gaze to Starlight, but said nothing.
“Trixie…,” said Starlight as she sat down next to the bed, her eyes tracing Trixie’s form uncovered by blankets. “It’s okay. You’re really here. This is not a dream, this is real… I am real.”
Trixie whimpered in response, shying away from Starlight.
Starlight sighed as she reached out a hoof and carefully pressed it against Trixie’s front left hoof. She gently massaged the hoof, observing how thin the foreleg it was attached to was. It hurt to see how frail Trixie had become. She couldn’t walk under her own power anymore and her magic had grown very weak.
A pop of magic told Starlight that Twilight had arrived, and she turned to address her.
“Hi, Twilight,” she said.
“Hello, Starlight,” was the response, followed by, “How is Trixie doing?” Twilight asked with a gesture toward Trixie.
“Still not talking… barely moving… and she won’t use the blankets,” Starlight said with a frown.
“Zecora said this would take a lot of time,” Twilight reminded.
“It’s been weeks, Twilight!” said Starlight.
“I know, I know,” assured Twilight with a troubled frown.
“How long was she in there anyway?” asked Starlight, sickened by the thought.
“The reading said fourteen months, twenty days, and about seven hours,” replied Twilight.
“Where is she?” Starlight asked as her voice hardened in anger.
“East wing, lower floor, sealed a room for use as a prison. She’s there,” replied Twilight, whose eyes were carefully examining Trixie as she prepared for Trixie’s therapy.
“I’m going to visit her,” Starlight announced in a thin, tense voice.
“I’m sure she’ll love that,” remarked Twilight with sarcasm.
Starlight vanished in a pop of magic, leaving Twilight with Trixie.
“You’ll be alright. You’re safe here, Trixie… We’ll get you walking on your own again,” said Twilight in a soothing voice.
Starlight appeared in the sealed room with a pop of magic. Hers and Twilight’s signatures had been specifically excluded from the seal.
“Hello,” said Starlight in a tense voice.
The mare said nothing.
Starlight trotted around her for a moment before stopping in front of her. The harness had been rigged to hold her perfectly still. The ring around her horn had been specially crafted to seal in her magic and be uncomfortable. She was raised off the floor on a stand. All told, she resembled one of Rarity’s dress forms. The strap around her muzzle kept her mouth closed, and a series of spells kept her conscious, sustained, and eyes open.
“She’s very slow in recovering, and still hasn’t spoken. You’ll be here until she does and decides what we’re going to do with you. I really do want her to recover, but I know now that it will take time,” Starlight informed.
The dark red mare said nothing. Her eyes kept following Starlight whenever she came into view.
“Even then, there is no guarantee. Personally? I’d like to remove your coat and sever your horn completely, and I don’t feel that would be enough, either!” Starlight screeched in anger. For a brief moment, as she spoke, her neck veins appeared again.
“Let me tell you what you did to her,” Starlight went on. “Her muscles have atrophied to such a degree that she cannot walk under her own power. She has so little magic that she can’t lift anything heavier than a feather. She is terrified to cover herself with a blanket. She can hardly cope with being in a small room, and she doesn’t speak at all.”
The mare stared at Starlight wordlessly.
Starlight moved in closer, snout to snout with the captive. The mare could feel Starlight’s breath on her face.
“Fourteen months, twenty days, seven hours. That is how long she suffered in that horrid condition. What did you do to her? She hasn’t said, so we don’t really know,” said Starlight with a frown.
“But you know what? We’re going to make her better,” Starlight assured.
“You still don’t understand how we found out, or found you, do you?” Starlight growled as she pressed her snout to the mare’s snout.
“I’m a good friend of Trixie. I follow her show. I followed the tour itinerary, but she hadn’t performed at any of those towns… so I went the other way, and that was when I found her discarded cart. After that? I went to Twilight Sparkle, and together we began a search for Trixie… but she was shielded from all types of sensory spells… At least on the basic level. Princess Twilight has something far more powerful and sophisticated at her disposal. We used the Cutie Map, we just calibrated the map to Trixie’s magical signature and cutie mark signature, and it pinpointed her. It wasn’t exact. We had to search the area she was located too. We found the statue garden, nice plaques and realistic statues… Magic masked the feeding tube and breathing tubes and the rear opening too. They just looked just like an ordinary statue… until Twilight cast a clearing spell, unmasking things. All of those statues… disgusting. They weren’t all alive, but those that were were brought back to their loved ones and given medical care. They’ll recover, but it’ll take time… And that’s just for the physical part. The psychological damage… that’s…,” Starlight stopped, her voice beginning to crack with emotion as her eyes welled with tears.
“You… will… pay,” she growled quietly, watching the mare’s eyes shrink to pinpricks as she visibly struggled against her restraints.
Twilight gradually moved Trixie’s limbs to promote blood flow and produce muscle mass.
“This is real, Trixie… You aren’t dreaming. You aren’t going to wake up and find this isn’t true. Starlight and I found you, and we’re working to get you healthy again… And we have the mare responsible for your captivity. We’ve rescued all the other ponies in her statue garden… Trixie, please… You’ll be okay. We’re all here for you,” Twilight soothed softly.
Trixie stared straight ahead at a wall behind Twilight as Twilight flexed and bent her foreleg.
A pop of magic told her that Starlight had arrived in the room again.
“I never feel better after talking to her,” Starlight admitted.
“No… Me either,” returned Twilight.
“Trixie, this is real… You’re awake. You’re not dreaming… You really are here. We really are here. You aren’t… trapped inside that abomination anymore,” said Starlight.
It had been Fluttershy’s suggestion to continually assure Trixie that she was really free. Rarity paid for all of Trixie’s medical care out of her own wealth, although Twilight balanced it out on her own end.
Rainbow Dash organized a workout regimen which Twilight executed when Starlight did not. Applejack provided nutrition, although Trixie didn’t hold food down very well most of the time.
Pinkie Pie attempted to provide a positive atmosphere. The room was kept dim, not so others couldn’t see, but so that Trixie’s eyes could spend their time readjusting to seeing anything. The bandages had come off some weeks prior.
The time spent trapped inside a statue of herself had cost her much. Her friends were working tirelessly to help her recover. The mental damage was proving far more difficult to overcome. Trixie hadn’t spoken a word since she was returned. She barely moved.
Fluttershy tended to her hygiene, keeping her bed and linens clean, and cleaning up her waste. At that moment, Twilight smelled something pungent slipping into her nostrils. Trixie had voided her bladder again.
“Oh my,” said Fluttershy as she fluttered into the room and alit on the floor.
“Oh, good timing Fluttershy,” said Twilight.
Fluttershy wasted little time in collecting some towels from the armoire, then proceeded to clean Trixie’s hindquarters and tail while Twilight carefully cleaned the linens beneath.
“The poor thing, she hasn’t got any strength…,” murmured Fluttershy.
“I’m scared, Fluttershy,” wailed Twilight.
“Of what?” asked Fluttershy.
“What if there are other ponies like that mare out there? What do we do about them? I don’t want to hurt anypony else. I don’t like what’s happening to her right now, but… I don’t know what else to do and I won’t let her hurt anypony else,” said Twilight through a sigh.
“I don’t know Twilight, but I agree with you,” she said.
A light chuckle, disembodied, faded into the room. A pair of eyes, red with yellow sclera, appeared before the trapped mare, then a mouth, then a mismatched face and body.
“You have made some very powerful enemies, you know?”
The mare said nothing.
“I am curious to know… how did you mask Trixie from me? That is impressive magic you possess…er… possessed, I suppose.”
The mare said nothing.
“I, in particular, sympathize with Trixie and your other victims. I endured it for more than a millennia.”
The mare said nothing.
“And let me tell you something… That is a very boring, very scary existence. I could show you, of course… but I’m going to respect the wishes of my friends and leave this up to Trixie. Count your lucky stars.”
Starlight sat next to the bed while reading a novel to Trixie as Twilight continued to exercise Trixie’s limbs. It was one of Rarity’s “Shadow Spade” novels this time. The story focused on a bad guy being brought to justice through quality detective work while describing the various outfits. Starlight strongly suspected that this was the reason why Rarity enjoyed these novels so much.
It had proven impossible to get too near Trixie, to hug her, and she didn’t easily accept food at first. It took a few weeks before she ate anything solid, and even then not very much of it.
But, eventually, she did start to eat a bit better, even though it still wasn’t a lot. A firm regimen of antibiotics had been prescribed. After the little more than a year that she’d been trapped, she had shed and grew a seasonal coat that had had nowhere to go. The result was that her limited room was made more limited while her shed hairs dug into her flesh.
For all that they knew, there was still so much they hadn’t learned before Trixie hadn’t spoken a word since her rescue.
Starlight’s resolve cracked. She began to tear up. Twilight turned her attention to Starlight while continuing Trixie’s exercises.
“Starlight? Want to talk about it?”
Starlight shuddered as she touched one of Trixie’s many healing bedsores which were spread throughout her coat, making swiss cheese of it. She swallowed as she pulled her hoof back and lay her head on the bed.
“I’m sorry Twilight, it’s… very hard to see her like this,” said Starlight.
Twilight brushed a hoof through Starlight’s mane. “There is no need to apologize for that. I understand completely. It’s horrid to see, and I am afraid for her… I’m afraid of what other ponies could be doing these evil things. I… never thought something like this would happen.”
“Twilight, what can we do? What if there are other ponies being victimized like this? What if there are other such evil ponies or other creatures out there? How can we protect everycreature?”
“I don’t know what we can do, at least, not on our own… And we can’t just go out there hunting for bad guys. We won’t know who is and who is not one, and everypony deserves respect for their privacy.”
“I keep thinking about myself… about what I did… I look back and think about how they were afraid. They pulled you into a basement to talk quietly… Just to remember what it was like to have their Cutie marks…,” Starlight’s voice began to crack at this last. Tears welled in her eyes from the guilt which began to overwhelm her.
“What you did was bad, but it’s in the past. You’ve been forgiven by everypony… but yourself, I suppose. It probably did feel awful, but… I don’t think what you did really compares to this mare’s evil. Your ponies could at least move around and attempt to live. She didn’t allow any of that for her victims. They were nothing to her… from what I’ve heard from others, she… she just used them.”
Starlight took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and centered herself. Twilight took a moment to embrace her, thus pulling her into a hug.
“Take a moment, Starlight… Trixie is here, she is safe with us… The others have been returned to their loved ones. The few that died have been provided proper burials and their loved ones have been given closure.”
Starlight swallowed, casting out a shuddering breath before turning her gaze to Trixie.
“Twilight… Can I be honest with you?”
“I hope you feel that you can, and I hope that I have shown you that I won’t judge you when you are,” replied Twilight.
Starlight sighed and closed her eyes. A tear painted a streak down the fur of her muzzle.
“I… I felt something for Trixie…,” said Starlight quietly.
“Felt something?”
“I wanted to protect her… and even though she felt like second best whenever you were in the room… I-I wanted her to know that she was always first with me… My heart got… a little more excited around her… I think… I love her,” admitted Starlight.
Twilight smiled, and Trixie did nothing at all.
“Will… I… do you think she’ll get better?”
“With care and time? Yes, I believe that with all my heart.”
“And that mare?”
“In time, as well. She’ll answer for all of her crimes,” said Twilight darkly.
The mare found her room growing rather dark rather quickly, followed suddenly by a presence standing just in front of her. A dark mare with crystalline blue eyes, wings, and a horn gazed into the captive mare’s eyes.
“You think to torture my subjects? You think to hold them away from sun and moon, away from life and love? You think this will go unanswered?” asked Luna in an accusing voice.
The mare stared at Luna wordlessly.
“You will answer for your crimes… Even now the mares and fillies that manage any sleep are plagued by nightmares. I do what I can to help them, but… now I have learned more about your torment,” said Luna, her eyes narrowing.
“Perversions I had never thought a pony capable of before, you have committed. Against mares and fillies both. There truly is no punishment sufficient for a mare like you. Equestria is not in the habit of withholding forgiveness or depriving creatures of second chances… However, my sister and I feel it prudent that your victims be given a unanimous voice concerning your fate. Unfortunately, that is not possible. Three of them died.”
The mare’s eyes began to water. Luna moved much closer, eyes narrowed.
“Tears?”
A flash of magic and Luna stood in the dreamscape, the mare stood shivering in the barren scene.
“You cry?”
“P-P-Princess Luna,” said the mare.
“I will hear you,” said Luna.
“I-I-I’m not the one who did it,” said the mare plaintively.
“Proof?”
“M-Magic signatures… P-Please check them,” she said quietly, her voice cracking as more tears slipped out.
“Indeed, I will bring this to Twilight’s attention. If you are found to be truthful, then you are owed a great debt,” said Luna as she faded from the dreamscape and the room.
Luna appeared in Trixie’s room.
“Twilight Sparkle, a moment of your time?”
“Of course Princess Luna,” said Twilight, who paused in her efforts to exercise Trixie’s limbs and trotted out of the room with Luna.
Luna turned her gaze on Twilight.
“I spoke to her in the dreamscape where she could do no harm… She asserts that she is not the guilty party, and to please check the magical signatures,” stated Luna.
“Right… Alright. If you think that’s necessary,” said Twilight.
“We are Equestrian. We do not convict or condemn without proof, and even in those times we prefer to offer second chances. Chances to do things differently,” said Luna with a sigh.
Twilight trotted up to her and pulled her into a hug.
“You’re right, Luna. I’m sorry. I’ll do some research then. I’ll let you know if it yields any results,” Twilight promised as she turned back to the room’s door.
“Starlight, be on guard. Princess Luna says that mare states her innocence, and she wants me to compare magical signatures. So, we aren’t sure whether or not Trixie’s captor is who we have… On that note, I’m going to send word to the guards to up their details on the recovering victims.”
Twilight’s breathing was troubled. She ruminated on the results of her exam, then sighed, then teleported to the room containing the mare. She began by releasing the mare from all but the magic suppression.
“First of all, I want to apologize to you. I suspected, and was wrong about, you being guilty of imprisoning all of those mares and fillies.”
The mare responded by vomiting all over the floor, though having had little to eat she was mostly ejecting bile.
Twilight quickly helped by moving her mane out of the way and stroking her back, waiting patiently for the nausea fit to end.
“H-He… I-I was a slave… I d-didn’t…,” the mare stammered out, almost in hysterics.
“Calm down. Take your time… You’ll be okay. Would you like something fresh to eat?”
The mare merely nodded. In response, Twilight lifted her in a bubble of telekinetic grip and carried her away to another room with a proper bed. She then settled the mare into bed and sent for Spike to bring some food.
She sat down alongside the bed and pursed her lips.
“He?”
“Calls himself Black Soul… I don’t know if I was his first, but he kept me as a servant… I-I was…,” the mare broke down crying.
“Take your time,” said Twilight.
“He didn’t lure them in… th-that was my r-responsibility… He said I had to look… um… unthreatening… I would talk to the m-mares and f-f-f,” she choked on the last word, bursting into more tears.
Twilight sighed and took her forehoof into both of her own, “Easy… Easy… It’s over now. You’re here in my castle. You’ll be alright, only please… Tell me everything.”
“He kept my magic suppressed… I-I don’t know how… and I had to talk to young mares and fillies. I had to i-i-invite them to tea in m-my cottage… the tea put them in a long sleep, and h-he sealed them in stone while they slept… He put t-tubes in their nostrils and mouths, and left their hindquarters exposed…”
She sighed, cringing at her memories.
“He liked to… to… l-lick them,” she said just barely above her breath.
Twilight cringed. What had Trixie been put through? It had been worse than she thought. It was no wonder Trixie was so bad off, so silent, and so averse to being touched.
“Where did he stay?”
“Under the c-cottage… A secret entrance… He built up his garden, and wh-when he got bored he… he stopped feeding them… I could hear the groans of the fillies as they grew too big for their prisons.”
Twilight’s eye twitched.
“There’s another?!” Starlight exclaimed.
“Yes, Starlight,” answered Twilight.
“How do we find him?”
“I’m working on that. I have his magic signature… I can work from there quite easily.”
“Please keep me informed, Twilight,” requested Starlight.
“Take care of Trixie… She…,” Twilight swallowed as she explained the rest of what Trixie endured.
Starlight scowled darkly.
Starlight lay on the bed next to Trixie. She lay on her left side with her hoof she gently brushed against Trixie’s snout. Trixie shuddered and retracted as much as she was able. Starlight sighed as she carefully moved Trixie’s gaze to her own eyes.
“Trixie… I love you… I’m sorry I didn’t say that sooner… but I do. I’m going to be here for you. I’m never going to give up… I just want you to know that… I’m here… I’m really here,” Starlight said as she placed her hoof on Trixie’s foreleg.
A tear slipped from Trixie’s eye. It traced a line down her snout and dropped to the bed. A weak struggle brought her slightly closer to Starlight, which Starlight gasped at.
Starlight took a breath and shuffled closer to Trixie. She was careful lifting her with telekinesis and slipping her forelegs around her. She pulled Trixie into a gentle caress.
“It’s okay, Trixie… I’m here,” she said as Trixie weakly buried her muzzle in Starlight’s neck fuzz. Starlight stroked a forehoof through Trixie’s mane, though it was sparse and stringy.
“I’ll never let anypony hurt you again… and you’ll get strong enough to protect yourself, too…,” Starlight promised quietly.
No more… Let me out… Please please pleasepleaseplease… So dark… nothing…. Where am I?whodidthistome?please?letmeout…whawha…n-no…stopthat…pleaseidontwantthat…leavemaloneitfeels…stop…toomuch…nonono…imdonepleasestopitssosensitive…n-noooooooo
Starlight awoke with a start at Trixie’s whimpering and then screaming. She quickly nuzzled Trixie reassuringly while stroking her mane and squeezing her gently.
“Shh shh… Trixie, it’s okay… It’s okay… You’re here, with me… in Twi- er… my castle… It’s okay… Shh…,” she said quietly.
Trixie continued to whimper while pushing into Starlight’s embrace. Starlight sighed and pulled her closer still.
“You… did you sleep? Did you have a nightmare?” she asked quietly.
“Indeed so,” confirmed a voice from behind Starlight.
“Princess Luna,” said Starlight respectfully without turning away from Trixie.
“I woke her… The nightmare was intense, it had a grip… She felt so much fear she could not pull herself away… She could not see that it was not real… Because nothingness looks… the same…,” said Luna.
“So… she slept?”
“Yes, though fitfully… I suspect you are responsible for her being able to sleep a little,” said Luna.
“A little? How long?”
“An hour,” said Luna.
“That’s… She hasn’t slept that long since we rescued her,” Starlight lamented sadly.
“Yes. You bring her comfort. A sense of safety,” Luna said.
Starlight swallowed. A tear slipped down her muzzle as she smiled faintly at the thought. She pulled Trixie a little closer and kissed her cheek gently.
“You’ll be okay Trixie… I promise,” she said.
Trixie made a feeble attempt at hugging Starlight back, but had very little strength with which to accomplish it.
Twilight stood inside the cottage. She faced the back wall and scanned around the main room for anything suspicious. She hadn’t really been focused on the scene like this before. She had been more concerned with releasing all of the prisoners from their captivity. She hadn’t stopped to think about where the materials for their prisons had been stored, or where the process took place, but she hadn’t stumbled on anything in the time she’d spent opening the grim prisons.
Today, she was carefully inspecting the cottage. The walls were painted a soft, pale, blue and decorated with what appeared to be family portraits resembling the mare he’d evidently used as bait. Twilight wasn’t entirely convinced of the mare’s story, but she wasn’t ruling out the stallion in question.
A simple table and four chairs had been set up in the middle of the room while a cast-iron stove with a kettle and pot sat in the corner of the kitchen. Nothing stood out. It was plain and simple.
Twilight’s horn began to glow as she prepared a spell of truesight.
A flash of light washed the room out before settling again. Twilight scanned the room anew. She saw nothing unusual, although the paint seemed to shimmer now in her sight. She moved closer to the wall. She reached out to touch it. It felt like a standard wooden wall.
Another spell and the wall split apart, revealing a staircase where none should be. She took a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks, then descended the stairs.
The stairwell was dark. A few candles served as the sparse lighting which allowed one to see the steps on the way down. The chambers at the bottom of the stairs disturbed Twilight. It was another residence. There was a large main room with three rooms splitting off from that room. The smaller rooms were a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The large main room was not a living area. Instead, it contained a large wooden frame like a sandbox, minus any sand. Instead, it contained a viscous grey material that writhed and rippled in its containment.
Twilight thought better of touching it with a hoof.
Looking around, she found a rod leaning against a wall. She took this in her telekinesis and dropped it in the material. When she did, it immediately began to rise up and encase the rod.
“What the…,” she started, but her voice faded with frustration and disgust. She began to analyze the magic, carefully dissecting the spellwork and dissolving the elements in a particular order.
“This is… Where is this stallion?” she wondered aloud.
The magic slowly faded away. The material fell limp and lifeless.
Next, she cast a spell dissolving the material. Once it was gone, she turned to the other rooms.
The kitchen was uninteresting. It had the basics to cook and supply food to survive in this environment.
The bathroom was a bathroom. Nothing more to it.
The bedroom was another terrifying element of the abode. It seemed the stallion didn’t always simply imprison his victims in stone. The bed was queen-sized and equipped with leather cuffs at the posts which were strapped along the bedding to secure a body in place. A closet full of additional restraints and… other things... was set next to the bed. A cage was set on the other side of the room, likely meant to be viewed from the bed. The room smelled strongly of excretions of all kinds.
Twilight swallowed hard and took a deep shuddering breath as she turned away from the bed. She lost her lunch on the floor. She collapsed as she continued to heave for several seconds afterward while breathing heavily through sobs.
At that moment she felt the ring slip around her horn. Her eyes widened as she stood and looked around. A stallion with a dark grey coat, dark brown eyes, and a forest green mane and tail, smiled at her.
“Welcome, Princess,” he said.
Twilight sighed. She wiped her muzzle to remove the leftover sick while staring at him.
“Black Soul, I presume?” she asked, calm quickly returning to her.
He blinked. He stared at her as she only became calm.
“You… are unusually calm for a mare in your situation…” he said.
“Actually, I would say that you are unusually calm for a stallion in yours,” Twilight evenly returned.
He blinked again then raised an eyebrow as he approached her. Twilight watched his approach, but did not shy away from him. He reached out a hoof, quickly bringing it down in a strike to her head. It connected solidly, but she didn’t even flinch at the contact.
Twilight just stared at him.
“You’re accustomed to unicorn mares and fillies,” she began. “You have never attempted an Alicorn. I am much more than my magic, and I am not helpless with this ring on my horn,” she finished as she landed a solid blow on his throat.
He collapsed in a fit of choking coughs as Twilight trotted to the door and, using the frame, slipped the ring from her horn with ease. He continued to struggle for breath as he was lifted in a telekinetic bubble which Twilight tightened until he could no longer move.
“You’ll answer for everything,” Twilight promised as she charged her magic. After that, they both vanished in a thick bubble of magic.
Starlight, come to the sealed room. Twilight’s voice echoed in Starlight’s head.
Starlight took a moment to charge her magic while looking at Trixie.
“I’m sorry, Trixie. I’ll be back. Okay? You’re okay. You won’t be alone. Rarity is here now. Fluttershy will be around shortly… You’ll be okay. I… I love you…,” she said as she vanished in a pop of magic.
Only to reappear in the sealed room. During that time, Twilight finished restraining the stallion.
“Who…,” began Starlight, but her voice faded.
“Black Soul,” Twilight answered the unfinished question.
“So… he’s…,” Starlight didn’t finish before Twilight responded.
“Yes,” she reported. She hovered the magic suppression ring up in her telekinesis.
“He wanted to abduct me,” Twilight further informed.
“Did he?” Starlight asked, mildly entertained at the notion.
“Didn’t work. Now he’s here,” Twilight returned.
Starlight stared at him, particularly at his eyes and his mane.
“You… what you did to my friend… What… All of them…,” Starlight sputtered, fury quickly overcoming her senses. Twilight charged her magic and teleported Starlight and herself away.
“Try to calm down, Starlight… He’s… He won’t go anywhere. He’s done hurting them… So please, just…,” Twilight began, only to be cut off when Starlight wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s neck. Wracking sobs shook her body as she buried her muzzle in Twilight’s neck.
“It’s… well… he’s done with. Now? We have to help Trixie and the others,” Twilight suggested to allay the focus off the stallion and return it to his victims.
“What about her?” asked Starlight.
Twilight sighed. She stroked Starlight’s mane as she contemplated.
“Her… We need her name, she has to answer for her part… but… she needs healing too… and everypony deserves a second chance…,” said Twilight.
“Even the stallion?” Starlight asked doubtfully.
Twilight narrowed her eyes as she said coldly, “His was when he met me. He wanted to abduct a Princess… He gave up his second chance then.”
Starlight nodded.
NONONOgetawaystoppleaseidontwantthatitfeelsgoodnostoppleaseidontmeanthatthisisntrightpleasestopstopstopstopstop
Trixie screamed. The sound echoed throughout the castle. This caused Starlight’s ears to perk and her magic to quickly charge. She used it to vanish then reappear in Trixie’s room. Starlight quickly rushed to Trixie and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, holding her gently as she whispered in her ear, “No no no… Trixie, you’re safe… You’re okay… I’m here, Twilight is around… Nopony is going to hurt you.”
Trixie trembled, sobbed, and clung to Starlight tightly. Starlight closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her own cheeks as she held Trixie tighter.
“Oh, Trixie… He did this to you… but… he’s here, imprisoned… He can’t hurt you or anypony else ever again,” she whispered desperately into Trixie’s ear.
Trixie’s breathing was ragged. Her coat foaming with sweat as she trembled in Starlight’s grasp and stared at nothing. Starlight swallowed, holding her close and crying.
Rarity sighed as she sat back in silence while tears brimmed in her eyes.
The stallion was still. He didn’t have a choice in the matter. He stared at the door. He had few other things to look at. He felt the restraints, the leather digging into his coat, the bit and bridle holding his snout firmly closed, and the ring upon his horn He felt every point of restraint. The magic flowed throughout the room, yet he could touch none of it.
“So, you’re the one?” asked a husky female voice. He saw nopony at first. Then, a unicorn mare with a shocking red and yellow mane, goldenrod coat and icy blue eyes stepped into the room. She stared at him.
“I’ll have to hunt you down,” she promised, which left him utterly confused.
“There is always a parallel… Always someone just like us in the other place… All except me. I died. It made it easier to find a place in that world, but… everypony else? There’s one of us there,” she said as she marched up to him.
“Starlight’s doppelganger was… very very wrong, and I almost failed… Twilight and her friends found her here. She had an entire town captive, slaves to their equality… She took their cutie marks, some were voluntary but most had just given up,” she said quietly.
“It’s… often much nicer in this world… she was… she’d almost had them kill themselves… and I have to find her still, because in this world? She lost her town and did something so dangerous, so… huge… that it changed everything in all worlds connected to it… I came from here, but after what she’d done? I usually had no reason to come here. My life hadn’t become twisted yet… My heart hadn’t darkened with envy and greed… No… I usually just ended up dead,” she said, beginning to ramble as she trotted around him.
“Anyway… I can’t… fathom… what sort of horrors a duplicate of you would be up to… but I have to find you… so I have to understand you,” she went on.
The stallion couldn’t turn to face her. He couldn’t respond in any meaningful way at all.
“And him? I’ll make sure he never hurts another living soul. He’ll be worse than you, and that… that is what scares me the most,” she said coldly.
“You’re… fortunate. Twilight’s instructions were that I could not harm you, and believe me… Restraint is not my strong suit. Or it wasn’t. Twilight… and my friends… have helped me. I’m not who I used to be… but… I am capable of more than my friends here, and in the other world, are… And that makes me the most dangerous pony for you,” she told him.
“Princess Luna said she would help me, but I couldn’t wait to face you… so I’m here a bit early. Like I said… me and restraint…,” she said quietly.
The stallion couldn’t track her movement, so she approached his field of vision from the opposite she’d left and looked at him.
“I can’t let you run around free any longer in my world, so I have to be quick about this… and that isn’t really an option when it comes to understanding someone… It can’t be rushed. You always miss something that way.”
The stallion didn’t react other than his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
“Starlight Glimmer is… capable of things too… I misspoke when I said I was the most dangerous pony for you… because she went further and did more damage than I wanted to do… I wanted to rule. She wanted to destroy… I wanted power… and she had all she needed, she wanted no more… And when she is given permission? She’ll destroy you, slowly.”
The stallion remained still.
“Sunset Shimmer,” spoke a disembodied voice.
Sunset Shimmer bowed.
“Princess Luna,” she said respectfully.
The shadows swelled and swirled, coalescing into Luna’s body as she spoke again.
“Do not bow to me, Sunset Shimmer. You do not need to. You wish to speak to this one?”
“No. Speaking is all I’ve done since I found him. I want to hear him,” she corrected.
“And what will be most useful?”
“His nightmares,” Sunset answered without hesitation.
Luna nodded. In response, her horn began to dim with a sickening unlight as the stallion began to lose consciousness.
A mare stood over him, looming and regal in her bearing. She stared down, cold and judgmental.
“You disappoint me, Nutshell,” she said. He whimpered as she raised a hoof and slammed it down on top of his head, driving him to the floor before winding back for another blow.
Sunset watched with interest. Luna watched with disgust.
“Abused as a child, and he became this?”
“Did anypony know? Did he ever know there was another way?” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Does that excuse him?” Luna challenged.
“No, of course not. But I… I still feel bad for him then, for this colt I see now,” Sunset said quietly.
“I wonder if his life would have been different if he’d been saved from this?” Luna wondered aloud.
“I want to believe that. I hope it would have been so,” said Sunset.
“Starlight was gifted, and still is… and Starswirl’s spells became far more potent in her hooves. Perhaps she still could save him?”, Luna proposed.
“Will she want to?” Sunset asked.
“I do not know,” Luna said with a shrug.
“I don’t think it’s wise to mess with time… Even if it helps him and all of his victims… We don’t know what else it will change,” said Sunset through a sigh.
“…I suppose you are right,” replied Luna reluctantly.
“But… I know enough now. I’ll find him in the other world,” said Sunset.
Luna nodded. After that, they both faded from his nightmare, leaving him inside of it.
Trixie had finally calmed down. Her sobs had dulled to whimpers. Her trembling to minor shivering as Starlight held her and whispered more encouragement into her ear.
“Oh darling…,” Rarity quietly said with sympathy.
Twilight paced the Cutie Map chamber. Her friends sat around the table. The mare, who had been a slave, stood next to it, trembling.
“What is your name?” asked Fluttershy in her gentle voice.
“Faith,” answered the mare.
“That’s a lovely name, dear,” cheered Rarity.
Faith closed her eyes. Tears slipped down her muzzle as she bowed her head.
“Yer safe, hun… You did some bad things… Ya have to answer fer ‘em… but… you don’t seem like a bad pony ta me,” said Applejack.
Faith swallowed, turned away from the table, and bumped into Twilight.
“He can’t hurt you, or anypony else, anymore. We have him,” Twilight promised.
Faith opened her eyes. She looked at Twilight with fear etched into her features. She stepped back, bumping into the Cutie Map table.
“No… no no no…,” she gasped.
“So…,” said Twilight, “Tell us everything you left out.”
Rainbow Dash raised a brow.
Faith swallowed and sat down on her rump.
“He was… I was… there against my will for… a few years… and then… I-I didn’t… fight it… anymore… I went along with everything. I lured them in… because… because then he left me alone… more and more often… I was… I was getting ready to escape, to leave him behind with all of his prisoners and never look back… I-I,” her voice broke.
Applejack’s gaze turned hard. Rarity’s breath caught. Fluttershy shed a tear. Pinkie Pie was expressionless, except for her mane, tail, and vivid colors she’d have been indistinguishable from her sister Maud.
Rainbow Dash cleared the distance between herself and Faith as if it hadn’t been there at all. She tackled Faith to the floor and pinned her there. Rainbow brought her face close to Faith’s own. Rainbow’s breath washed over Faith’s muzzle.
Twilight placed a hoof on Rainbow’s withers and gently brushed down.
“Calm down, Rainbow… She’s hurting as much as any of his victims… She is not proud of what she was going to do,” she said softly. Rainbow calmed down and backed off of Faith. Rainbow even offered Faith a leg up as a way of apology.
Faith whimpered as she took Rainbow’s hoof with her own trembling one, then stood. Rainbow took a few sharp breaths, then stepped forward and wrapped a leg around Faith’s neck, hugging her.
“You didn’t see another way out,” Rainbow softly acknowledged.
“I’m sorry… I’m so… so sorry,” Faith gasped through a sob as she hugged Rainbow Dash.
Faith was guided into Trixie’s room slowly. Starlight stood protectively between them. Starlight’s gaze was hard and threatening. Fire danced in them at the prospect of unleashing violence if she only had an excuse.
Faith did not offer her any excuses. She remained quiet and timid as she entered the room. She looked at the floor. Her ears drooped. A tear dropped to the floor.
“T…Trixie?” she said softly.
Starlight’s ear swiveled around before she turned her gaze to Trixie. Trixie had tensed up at the sound of the voice and begun to whimper. Starlight gently stroked a hoof through her mane.
“I… My name is Faith… I… I lured you into a cottage… My m-m… um… a terrible stallion heard your… you…,” Faith winced at herself, stopping before she’d give Trixie reason to blame herself.
“He wanted you… and I…. I had to deliver… To save my own hide… I… I didn’t care about you… o-or the others… I just wanted to escape him… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry… I know… I know it… it will never be enough… not ever… but… You deserve to hear it,” said Faith.
Starlight took a shuddering breath as she continued to stroke Trixie’s mane.
“I… I don’t know how to make this right… h-how to make it up to you…,” said Faith.
Trixie squeezed her eyes shut and whispered in a voice scratched by more than a year of disuse.
“Go…aw…ay…,” she croaked.
Starlight blinked, staring at Trixie for a moment.
“Bu-,” began Faith, cutting herself off as Starlight’s gaze snapped around to her.
“She told you to go away,” Starlight reminded firmly.
Faith swallowed, nodded, then turned to leave the room with Fluttershy’s guidance. Starlight turned back to Trixie and wrapped her forelegs around Trixie and hugged her gently.
“She wasn’t here to hurt you… She… was here to apologize…,” said Starlight.
Trixie shuddered as she pulled herself into Starlight.
“I know… It isn’t much consolation… but… I really believe she meant it,” said Starlight softly.
Tears streamed from Trixie’s eyes as she buried her muzzle in Starlight’s neck. Starlight sighed, closed her eyes, and held Trixie close.
“I’m here… I’ll always be here for you…,” she whispered as she stroked Trixie’s mane.
Trixie’s voice croaked as she spoke her next words, “Th-Thank… you…”
A pair of eyes with yellow sclera and red irises appeared in front of the stallion, followed by the rest of a draconequus.
“Well… You’re the one?” he asked, chuckling to himself as he slithered around the stallion’s neck, keeping his gaze firmly locked on the stallion’s eyes.
“Do you know how much you have upset Fluttershy? How scared she is of you?” he asked quietly.
The stallion remained motionless.
“Once upon a time… I was rather a bad draconequus… I did awful things. I made ponies miserable… And then I was introduced to Fluttershy… I had never been shown compassion before… But… before then? I played games. One game I played involved rules… I took the horns and wings from ponies, left them even with earth ponies… sort of… Do you know what it’s like to lose your horn?” asked Discord, who then snickered as he gazed at the stallion’s head.
“You do now… No more horn… No more magic for you… and when you are allowed to speak again?” Discord asked as he gently touched a talon to the stallion’s forehead, “Only the truth will you ever speak, knowing forever that you are weak.”
Discord’s laughter lingered long after he faded from the room.
