The meeting was rift with icy tension. Though Star Swirl did a good enough job explaining the situation and the ponies did come up with the idea of banishing the Pony of Shadows back to Limbo - at the cost of the Elements of Harmony - Shiva kept a consistent death glare on the bearded wizard. Star Wing and the others were downright ecstatic when a break was called, allowing the Wolf of Equestria and Equestria’s Greatest Mage to separate before another fight broke out.
Star Wing sighed as Shiva turned and departed to warn her pack of the Pony of Shadows. Before she could join her Alpha, however…
“Star?” Flash asked. “Mind if I walk with you for a bit?”
Star looked back, smiling at her role model. “No… I mean… yes?” she grumbled. “Why do you use the ‘would you mind?’ I never know what to say with that.”
Flash chuckled. “Alright; ‘can’ I walk with you?”
“Absolutely.”
Flash chuckled, and together, the two walked out of the castle, Rainbow Dash almost following after them before recognizing that Star and Flash needed some time alone. She withdrew back into the castle, as Star and Flash watched Shiva return to the Ever-Free.
“Well…” Star noted. “I’m not gonna be able to do this under better circumstances, so…” she jumped onto Flash and gave him the mother of all bear hugs. To be fair, Flash tried the same thing, only to fall under Star’s larger weight.
“Oh, Star!” he mumbled under her. “You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”
Star yelped and fluttered off him. “Yeah. Forgot I wasn’t exactly a lap filly anymore.” She picked him up. “You okay?”
“More than okay,” he admitted, his smile becoming morose. "I'll be honest Star: When I realized I'd sent you into the Everfree and to your death, the thought of you thinking that I'd betrayed you and Hunter... it stuck with me since then, I don't think I need to tell you how happy I am to be here and see that you're still among the living. After I returned to the castle I went to that picture of me and Hunter, and just cried my eyes out. I had made a promise to Hunter that should anything happen to him that I would watch over you, but after everything..." He trailed off, unable to continue.
Star hushed, nuzzling him gently. “But it turned out okay,” she promised. “I found Shiva. She saved me.”
Flash sighed. “Still… I should’ve done something to stop it,” he noted. “I should’ve…”
“Uncle Flash,” Star said gently. “You did do something.” She drew his gaze to her own. “You saved me.”
Flash huffed bitterly. “By sending you into the most dangerous area of Equestria?”
Star smirked. “I’m sure you’ve encountered some places that were far more dangerous.” Her smirk faded as she held up a necklace of charms around her neck.
Flash glanced at the metal Star wore, noticing that despite the passage of time it still looked as new as it did the day he gave it to her. Flash blinked, noticing that next to a lock of fur fixed to the ribbon with a charm resembling a bow and arrow was a second one: a bone that had been curved into the shape of a Pony helmet and painted grey with a red plume, his helmet.
Flash reached over and gently lifted the charm, staring at it for a few moments before looking at Star, who gave him a small grin.
"No matter what, I’ll never forget how you were the first pony other than my parents to show me love. The one who shared his meals with me; the one who read stories to me." She pulled him into another tight hug. "The one who was my hero."
Flash smiled as tear flowed from his eyes again, returning the hug and rubbing Star's back. “For so long,” he whispered. “I feared that I had sent you to your death. I didn’t trust Celestia or Starswirl with finding you… and before I could try and look for you myself, the Pony of Shadows made his move, and we were forced to join him in limbo to stop his rampage.” His expression became pained. "Even now, there's a chance we may have to rejoin him in Limbo to stop him again."
Star grimaced. “Speaking of that…” she peered back at the castle. “Despite Shiva and Starswirl’s argument, I couldn’t help but do a head count.” She peered at Flash. “Where's Stygian?”
Flash’s grimace deepened in pain. “He’s…”
Suddenly, Twilight burst out. “I got it!” she declared in glee. “The Pillars don’t have to leave Equestria!”
Star and Flash glanced at each other in shock before following the others to join Twilight back at the map.
“I still have some work to do,” Twilight admitted. “But if the Pillars can hold open the gateway to limbo, a powerful enough pony can do the banishing spell themselves, without having to sacrifice all of you as well!”
Star peered at Twilight’s spell. “Not just one powerful pony,” she noted. “Maybe several. And some of them… might not have to be ponies.”
Starswirl scoffed at Star’s suggestion. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Twilight, this is hardly the time to take risks on half-baked spells.”
Twilight’s ears flattened and she lowered her head in depression. This, combined with his foul treatment towards Shiva and the possibility that her Uncle Flash would have to leave again, hit Star in a way that she hadn’t been hurt before.
“That did it,” Star grumbled.
Before she knew what she was doing, she flew over the map and seized Starswirl by his beard.
“Star?!” Flash yelped.
“Princess Star Wing!” several yelled.
But Star only had eyes for the old wizard. “I’ve had a belly FULL of your CRUD!” she snarled, silencing everyone’s protests. She pointed at Twilight, who flinched as if she didn’t want the attention. “That mare does NOTHING half-baked. Especially not magic. You may have been the Greatest Mage of our time, but Twilight is the greatest mage of THIS TIME! She’s figured out spells and magic that YOU FAILED AT! And she deserves a lot more respect than this grumpy old fart persona you’ve given her thus far.” She released Starswirl, letting him fall to his flank. “She made a mistake, sure. But she’s working to fix it. Which is a lot more than what you’re doing with Shiva!”
Starswirl’s horn flared in warning. “Don’t presume you know better than me, child! I’ve seen threats like that wolf a thousand times over! It was because of me that Equestria remained safe long before you were born! I didn’t keep it safe by leaving my heart open to be crushed by those who would manipulate me and the rest of Ponykind.”
“Okay, both of you enough!” Meadowbrook barked, getting between the alicorn and the unicorn. “Starswirl, Twilight’s method is unconventional… but what if it could work?”
Starswirl glowered at Star, who glared right back, but with a sigh, he admitted. “I suppose there is a small chance.”
“One problem,” Sunburst added. “We don’t know where to find the villain.”
On cue, their marks all shimmered, hovering over…
“Hollow Shades?” Applejack noted. “I think a branch of the Apple Family lives there.”
“They’d have to be pretty distant," Twilight noted. "The Hollow Shades were abandoned eons ago.”
“Hm…” Rarity mused. “The only time the map’s called all of us to one place was Starlight’s village.”
“Which means the Pony of Shadows must be there,” Star theorized.
“So… it’s like a super villain tracker?” Rainbow Dash asked, before noticing Starlight. “No offense,” she added quickly.
“It’s likely,” Twilight noted, turning to Starswirl. “Do you think the map could be trying to tell us where the Pony of Shadows is?”
Star Wing rolled her eyes as Starswirl grinned at Twilight’s deferring to him.
“The Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light of the realm…” he admitted. “Yes. A good thought, Twilight.”
Star’s glower faded by a fraction, as Twilight squealed in glee.
“I will make my notes on this spell,” Starswirl decided. “Ready yourselves for battle.”
Starlight spoke up. “Look, I know I’m not as experienced as all of you, but is banishment really the only option? I mean, it’s been a long time. Maybe the Pony of Shadows is willing to talk.”
Starswirl scoffed. “I doubt we can save our homeland with a conversation.”
“But we could try,” Starlight insisted.
“Starlight,” Twilight said. “I’m sure Starswirl and the others did try.”
“Did they?” Star Wing asked. “Or was it more ‘banter and wisecracks while fighting?’”
“The Pony of Shadows was not interested in reconciliation,” Starswirl replied firmly. “Once a villain, always a villain.”
Unfortunately, at that moment, Shiva returned, her own mark glowing as she glowered in irritation. Star flinched as she walked in right at Starswirl’s words of villainy.
“Oh no, why,” Star whimpered.
The others paused, all of them freezing in shock as Shiva glared at Starswirl once more.
Starswirl sighed. “What is it now, dog?” he demanded.
“Once a villain, always a villain, huh?” Shiva growled. Her lightning tendrils flickered to life. “So that means I should just kill you right now, yeah?”
Starswirl’s horn flared up. “Try it and I’ll do what I should’ve done all those years ago,” he promised.
The others jumped between the angry wolf and unicorn. “Shiva, please don’t!” Twilight cried.
“We already have one villain to deal with!” Star Wing agreed.
“He’s the villain to my people!” Shiva insisted, pointing at Starswirl. “He slaughtered my husband! He killed my friends!”
“You were going to overthrow my kingdom and destroy my princesses!” Starswirl shot back.
“LIES!” Shiva thundered, another shockwave threatening to throw every pony off their hooves. She turned to the other Pillars. “Are all of you foals like this one?” She waved a claw at Starswirl. “Did the nobles truly beguile all of the greatest heroes of their time into accepting this treachery?”
“No!” Flash insisted, rising up. “I saw them for what they were. I sent Princess Star Wing into the forest! If I hadn’t, they would have seen her dead within days of Luna’s banishment!”
Starswirl gaped at Flash. “Impossible!” he insisted. “They…”
“They had Celestia wrapped around their hooves,” Flash growled, looking to his fellow Pillar with disappointment. “They had you wrapped around their hooves as well. All that praise and honor of being the Greatest Mage… it truly went to your head like it did Celestia’s, didn’t it?”
Star Wing gasped. “Is that what happened to Stygian?” she asked.
Every pony paused. “Who?” Starlight asked.
Rockhoof lowered his head in grief. “Oh, that tale is a sad one.”
Star Wing inched forward. “Please,” she insisted. “We have to know.”
The Pillars glanced at each other, but Flash stepped forward.
“Stygian was the one who gathered us together; he may have been just an ordinary unicorn, but he recognized that our emerging world would need champions to defend it.” His head lowered. “Unfortunately, he grew jealous of our abilities.”
“He stole objects from us,” Mistmane agreed. “Artifacts to use in a spell.”
“And we cast him out for it,” Meadowbrook admitted.
“We always thought he’d return and seek forgiveness,” Somnabula said. “But when we saw him again, his heart was bent on revenge. He dashed even my hope of saving him.”
Starswirl nodded grimly. “The Stygian we knew died that day. And now… there is only the Pony of Shadows.”
The others were silent.
“But why did he steal the artifacts?” Starlight insisted.
“No doubt it was an enchantment to take our powers for himself.” Mage replied.
But Star Wing was unconvinced. “Is that what the nobles told you?” she asked. “It wasn’t enough that they wrote him out of almost all the stories?”
Flash winced. “Star, it wasn’t like that!”
“Then what was it like?!” Star insisted.
“The curse of glory,” Shiva growled, her rage only slightly sated. “Stygian was likely an Omega; not one known for his strength, but for his brains. But brains only get you so far in fame, yes?” She glared at the others now. “While you all rose in fame for your magic and abilities, he was shunned and put off to the side. That honor should have been his!”
“It’s not our fault he didn’t have special powers,” Starswirl insisted.
“Then why didn’t you let him know you appreciated him?!” Shiva demanded. “Why did he have to find solace in darkness?”
“He stole from us!” Meadowbrook insisted. “He tried to take our powers!”
“And you never asked him why?” Shiva demanded. “He was your pack mate! He was your friend!”
Starswirl huffed. “Not after that day.”
Shiva stared at him, her rage reaching a new level. She glared down at the map, almost analyzing where the Pony of Shadows was. “I see,” she muttered darkly.
Star shivered at the venom in her voice. “A-Alpha?”
Shiva didn’t even look at her adopted daughter. Once more, she turned on her heel, and left.
“Alpha!” Star protested, but the wolf teleported away.
“Star, what’s she doing?” Flash demanded.
Star’s eyes widened in fear, and she teleported back to the forest. She landed in the trees just in time to hear Shiva’s orders.
“I want my strongest Gammas and wargs,” Shiva ordered. “A lost pony is in Hollow Shades and he needs our help now! Hurry! Time is not on our side.”
Star flinched, already guessing what Shiva was going to do. She turned, about to teleport back to Flash… only for a rope of light to snag her by the horn, shutting off her magic.
With a yelp, Star was yanked out of the trees, hitting the ground hard in front of Alpha Shiva.
Star chuckled, trying not to whimper at the look of burning rage in Shiva’s eyes. “H-Hi, Alpha,” she squeaked.
“I can’t let you go back to them, Star,” Shiva said firmly.
“G-Go back to who?” Star stammered. “The Pillars? Aw, come on, I haven’t seen Uncle Flash in…”
The light rope extended, binding around Star’s body like a spider web.
“The Pillars cannot be trusted with Stygian,” Shiva insisted. “And you and the Elements are too wrapped up in hero-worship to see the damage they’ll do!”
Star swallowed. “Begging your pardon, Alpha,” she said. “But don’t you think you’re getting a little too wrapped up in emotions as well?”
Shiva chuckled, a mad little titter that sent Star’s heart on a marathon. “Whatever do you mean?” she replied. “I’m helping a pony; all those centuries of wolves insisting we take revenge or let the ponies rip each other apart. And yet I’m doing exactly what I did with you; I’m saving another pony from their own race.”
Flicking her wrist, the light rope sailed over a branch and hoisted Star Wing up. She was left hanging upside down, bound in an unbreakable rope, as Shiva turned away, grinning as her wargs assembled, Kodo right behind them.
“Good work,” Shiva praised her son, before turning to the others. “Wolves of Equestria. We make for Hollow Shade. We must rescue the pony Stygian from the traitors he used to call friends!”
“And if they try to stop us?” Kodo asked.
Shiva glowered darkly. “Stop them,” she replied. “By any means necessary.”
Far too many wolves cheered in bloodthirsty glee.
“No! Shiva, please…!” Star tried to say, but Kodo silenced her with a spell that gagged her mouth with what felt like spider webbing. Star kicked and squirmed in her bindings, but was helpless to stop the wolves as they marched for Hollow Shade.