The quill moved at the speed of my thoughts, and yet, it wasn’t fast enough. Shining’s words reverberated in my brain, the accusation ringing loud and true. I’ve been holding back and now I had to give her all of me—every last bit of it—if I ever wanted to see her again. And I would do it in the only way I knew how.
The spell I’m writing is something I’ve never tried before; it was like I was composing an anthem, writing an autobiography, and painting a portrait all at once. It was something intrinsic, my psyche in spell form, an extension of the pounding of blood in my veins. A scared little part of me needed to see it first, so I cast it, letting the spell flow around me, thinking about the mare who I never expected to become part of the magic. The spell unraveled and became a blur of light and sound, taking nothing from the scrolls of paper strewn across the desk but from all of the tangled experiences we had. It only ceased when I could translate the feelings I had voiced to her the night before, feelings that maybe would reach her this time.
As the last of the light faded, I finally heard a knock on the door, opening it only to see Twilight staring down at me, anxiety contouring her eyes despite the calmness of her face. “Sunburst?”
“I’m ready.” I gathered my things, legs trembling underneath me, but I blamed it on sitting on the desk for too long. I walked past her and trotted down the hall.
I can’t remember the last time I had so many guests in my house, but every available seat was occupied at the moment. Cadance and Shining Armor sat on the love seat, Flurry Heart perched on her father’s withers, looking around the room with wide eyes before landing on me. I smiled at her with a calm I didn’t have; the room was a tangled web of tense emotion that even I could feel, I couldn’t even imagine how a filly as sensitive as her was taking it. Healing Touch and the doctor were there as well, sitting on the opposite couch, two medical bags filled with supplies at their hooves. Twilight walked around me and stood next to them. All eyes were on me now.
I gulped. Yes, I was the only one who could wake Starlight, but I needed help. Even Shining and Cadance had help during their debacle.
“Everypony, thank you for coming,” I nodded at them in greeting, “before we get started, here’s the rundown.” I opened a book, flipping to a page I previously bookmarked. “Starlight was attacked with an artifact called the crook of Hyksos, there’s a long and bloody history to it, but to summarize—the one who holds it, it’s granted the power of subjugation. Perfect for the mining operation the Diamond Dogs were running, not so much for the creatures forced to work there.” I lifted the open book for them to see and pointed at the picture: a crook made out of gold with the head in the shape of a king cobra, with rubies for eyes and diamonds for fangs.
Everypony leaned in to see better, except Twilight, who only nodded while looking at the floor. “I wasn’t going to send her at first, but once she found out, she insisted. It…it probably brought her memories of Our Town.”
I sighed. That sounded like something Starlight would do.
Shining cleared his throat. “Alright, but why is Starlight in a coma then? Shouldn’t she had been enslaved like the others?”
“The crook of Hyksos is a powerful artifact, but—” my lips twitched with a smile “—Starlight is even stronger. The Diamond Dog must have realized that the crook wasn’t working on her and panicked, throwing spells left and right, destroying the wand in the process, which brings us to our current predicament.” I set the book down and opened another, flipping the pages until I found what I was looking for. “The reason Cadance, Twilight's, and my attempts to break the curse have failed is because there’s no curse to break. Starlight was never under a curse.”
Everypony looked at me with wide eyes. I looked back at them, waiting for the information to sink in. As I expected, it was Twilight who broke the silence first as realization dawned on her. “When the wand exploded, it wasn’t the magic dissipating, it was transferring! Of course!” Twilight facehoof and shook her head with dismay. “I should’ve seen this sooner!”
“You’re not the only one who feels that way, trust me.” I nodded with sympathy. “If all of that magic had gone up in a fiery blaze or an explosion, it would have taken half the mine with it.”
“And all those creatures trapped inside,” Shining said and paused before speaking up again. “Do you think Starlight knew this could happen? You said she was really good at magic, so…”
“I don’t know.” The thought troubled me more than I wanted to admit. I didn’t know what was worse, that Starlight jumped into this ignorant of the consequences, or that she was fully aware but still chose to risk her life. If her magic had been a little weaker or the wand a little stronger, Starlight wouldn’t have survived at all.
Twilight and Shining nodded in understanding, but Cadance, Healing Touch, and the Doctor looked confused. Flurry just looked bored. “Magic follows the laws of thermodynamics, to an extent,” I explained to them, “magic, like energy, can never be created or destroyed, when the crook broke all of that energy had to go somewhere and it latched on to the next suitable host: Starlight.”
“I thought you said Starlight was stronger than that thing,” Cadance said.
“She is, that’s why she’s lasted this long. The magic of the crook has wrapped around her mind and psyche, like aluminum foil around a radio, which was why Princess Luna didn’t notice her missing until Twilight contacted her, and why she couldn’t find her in the dream realm.” Twilight nodded in confirmation. “And what’s worse is that it’s growing stronger by feeding off her power, if we let it run its course it would lay stagnant in Starlight’s body, and that would be that, but Starlight wouldn’t…”
“In other words, I’d be forced to put her on a ventilator.”
“Caduceus!” Healing Touch hissed and elbowed the doctor in the ribs, hard enough for him to flinch, as punishment for his insensitive (but truthful) comment.
He rubbed the sore spot on his chest. “I’m just saying that Starlight is growing weaker even as we speak, whatever you got planned it better work. I don’t think she will be strong enough for a second attempt.”
If I wasn’t nervous enough the doctor’s words made sure that I was. The worst part was that he was right, Starlight was running out of time. The air of the tense room filled my lungs when I took a deep, calming breath to steady my nerves, closing my eyes to clear my mind. I could do this; I was the only one who could do this. Starlight was counting on me.
“Here’s the plan.” I levitated a book towards Twilight. “Twilight, once you raised the proper mental shields, I need you to hold and extract the corrupted magic from Starlight’s body.”
She took the book and flipped the pages, reading the passages I bookmarked for her, her eyes widened slightly as she read. “Combining Eliciunt Magicae with Anima Sigillum…yes, this could work!”
As Twilight studied, I turned to Shining. “Once Twilight gets the magic out, seal it in this wand.” I walked over to one of the display shelves I had all over my house bringing, down a wand similar to the original crook in design, made out of enchanted wood with intricate seals and talismans carved on the sides. “And put it in someplace safe where nopony will touch it.”
Shining took it, examining it closely before looking up at me with a smile and a salute. “You got it.”
“Cadance, I need your help to stabilize the connection between me and Starlight,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up, “it…it wouldn’t be too dissimilar to the way you spread love through your magic, and you wouldn’t have to do it for too long, once I reach her you can stop and help Shining with the wand.”
Cadance gave me a knowing look but didn’t comment on my embarrassment. “You can count on me.”
“And Flurry…”
She stood to attention—chest puffed out with pride like a soldier waiting for a command—and I had to hold back a smile when I handed her a helmet. “Put this on, hide behind the couch and raise a shield around you, Doctor Caduceus and Nurse Healing Touch.”
Flurry Heart pouted. “But I want to help.”
“And you are,” I reassured her. “When Starlight wakes up, she will be very sick, and she will need the doctors to help her feel better, ok?” I graciously omitted the part that I’d probably be ill by the end of this as well, but it was something Flurry didn’t need to hear.
She scolded me for a few seconds too long before Nurse Healing Touch came to my aid.
“We are counting on you, Princess Flurry Heart,” Healing Touch curtsied and smiled. “I feel much better knowing that you will be protecting us.”
“We’ll be in your care, your highness,” Doctor Caduceus said, smiling as well.
Flurry looked at them, hesitated, and finally relented, taking the helmet off my hooves and placing it on her head with a determined frown.
We got to work preparing the room. The furniture was pushed to the side and the old rug underneath was rolled away, clearing the space in the middle for me and Twilight to draw the appropriate magic circles. Despite the urgency of the situation, we didn’t rush through the process—the slightest error, the slightest misspelling, could be disastrous, and with Starlight’s life at stake, I was unwilling to make even the slightest mistake.
Once we were done double-checking, Shining walked in with Starlight cradled in his magic. She looked so pale and fragile, that I had to fight the urge to run over and take her from him, afraid he might break her. I ground my hooves to the floor to stop myself and, to his credit, Shining was careful, placing her in the center of the magic circle as instructed with extreme gentleness, meeting my eyes knowingly.
“Wait!”
My heart jumped to my throat, everypony flinching at the sound. Flurry flew in with a pillow in her grasp and placed gently underneath Starlight’s head. “Ok.”
I gave a shaky sigh and we all relaxed. I got inside the circle and sat on my haunches, grasping her face in my hooves as I did before. This was the last time.
When the meadow appeared, I didn’t give it a second thought and took off, running forward as soon as my hooves hit the grass. The malice was all around me, clinging to me like mud after a storm, I didn’t stop, I didn’t think, I just ran towards the last bit of light left on the horizon. Just before the darkness became overwhelming Twilight broke through, her magic driving the shadows away. It didn’t relent that easy though, the sky going dark and brightening in confusing intervals, it was dizzying to look at and I almost lost sight of Starlight, but I knew I was going down the right path when I was once again at the edge.
This time I didn’t hesitate, I jumped.
My hooves hit something solid, it reminded me of the crystal floors that decorated the castle, even making the same sounds as my horseshoes scraped the crystal in my mad dash upwards.
Starlight was nothing but a speck of light now, still, she glimmered brightly when I approached, just as the crystal bridge crumbled underneath me. I used the momentum I had to jump and catch her. I didn’t know if I was falling, flying, or floating, I didn’t care, instead, I let loose the magic that I knew was part of me. I thundered through the memories that were just me and started into the ones that were us, letting her see what I saw and felt anytime she was near. It was then that I felt her hooves around me, just holding me and putting gentle pressure on my shoulders. I didn’t open my eyes to confirm, tempting though it was, I knew I wasn’t done, I wasn’t laid bare yet.
As promised, I opened that partitioned part of me, letting Starlight have everything just like before, just like it was always supposed to be. A warmth started to bleed into those hooves, a new heaviness solidifying around my forelegs.
“Sunburst?” her voice sounded rusty, but it was there, it was fully hers.
The spell was finished and there was no pain, no flash expelling me back into the real world. I risked opening my eyes, her hooves gliding down my shoulders as I did. Starlight was there, short mane and shocked blue eyes, in the flesh.
I jumped to my hooves, sending grass and flowers flying in my wake, to cradle her face just like I did in the waking world. “Starlight…” she was radiating heat, life, and I felt like I was slipping into a dreamy haze just by holding her. Without another thought, I leaned in and kissed her fully on the lips.
It was disorienting to wake up in almost the same position, our lips not connected but my face hovering over hers. Twilight’s voice was like a buzz in my ear and I could feel the doctor’s hoof on my withers but it was as if none of that really mattered because as I took another breath, Starlight opened her eyes.
“She’s ok,” even my own voice sounded far off.
“Sunburst…” it was an aching croak, but she offered a smile to soften the sound.
I tried to speak but the tears seemed to choke all of my words, soft droplets falling from my face to hers. It wasn’t until I saw a drop of red that I knew.
In a way, I prayed that it would all end here, with my heart full and open and her alive and well.
Life doesn’t play into my dramatics, though. For a moment, I thought the darkness I was in was the afterlife, but it just turned out to be empty dreams, my body and mind too exhausted to even produce thoughts or images. There was nothing I could do but wait in the limbo until I could feel the warmth of the sun again, until my eyes finally opened to color and life, back in my room, in my bed.
The heat wasn’t the light, I realized when I opened my eyes, the sun wasn’t even touching the glass of the windows yet. It was two bodies pressed against me, one on each side. Flurry’s little head was pressed tightly against my foreleg looking impossibly uncomfortable as she tried to cling to me in her sleep. On the other side, Starlight’s face rested just inches from mine, her foreleg draped over my chest so her hoof was directly over my heart, feeling my heartbeat. I let my eyes scan the room, finding Cadance in one of the armchairs brought in from the living room, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
As if I had the energy or the moisture in me for it, my eyes started to water, a sob wracking my ribcage. I would have tried to put a hoof to my mouth but neither was available to me at the moment and the sputtering breath shot through the silent room.
Cadance’s eyes opened instantly. “Sunburst?”
I let another sob answer for me—as if I could do anything else—and she moved quickly from the seat to my side. Regardless of the other two, Cadance pulled me out of their grasp into a sitting position, clutching me tightly to her.
“Cadance?” Starlight’s half-asleep voice just made my crying worse, especially as her hoof reached for mine in the sheets. I met her halfway, squeezing as our hooves intertwined.
In the next second, Flurry was up, her little face pressing between me and Cadance, wrapping her wings around us as if to protect us from the light.
It was the strangest feeling—a warm, loving kind of agony, if there is such a thing, tearing me apart and pulling me back together.
We stayed like that until my weeping settled, Cadance pulling me away when my sobs turned into sniffles. “As Princess of the Crystal Empire, I forbid you from doing anything like that ever again.”
I couldn’t laugh, only offered a sharp breath from my nose and a weak smile.
“But you’re ok?”
“Ok,” I croaked back, feeling the sandpaper in my throat.
“Good,” her voice warbled and she pressed a wing to her mouth for a moment, eyes closed tightly as she trembled. She got herself under control and eased me back to bed, Flurry instantly moving to crawl on my chest, taking the space Cadance left behind. “I’m going to get you some things and talk to Shining.”
I nodded, a weak hoof wrapping around Flurry.
“Sunburst.” She was still half-asleep but I could tell that the waterworks were starting.
“Shh, it’s ok, Flurry,” my voice was barely above a whisper so I ran a hoof through her mane, trying my best to channel Cadance. It was Starlight’s hoof flexing in mine that finally brought me to look at her, a moment I had been avoiding since I woke her and saw her lying next to me. I tried to swallow before letting my head fall to her side, finding her face still so close to mine with her head on the pillow. “How are you?” I barely managed, sure that was the last of my voice.
Her other hoof came to her mouth, her nail pressing to her lips before letting it slide to her cheek. “I should be asking you that, sleeping for five days because of me.”
I shrugged; my voice spent. I was glad it was gone because I was afraid I’d start begging, melting under the warmth of her blue eyes.
“Thank you, Sunburst.” I thought her hoof would crush mine with the next squeeze. I brought the hoof up, resting it on my chest, trying to avoid the way she was looking at me, those eyes searching for something in my face. I was able to do that until I heard her gulp, trying to swallow her own tears.
The tears on her cheeks were torture and there was part of me that wanted so much to clear them from her face with my magic, my lips. But in the limited words she’d given me so far, I was waiting on a few more. I needed those few more, an echo of what I showed her through my spellwork. But that’s all I was doing, waiting, watching her tears until she pressed her face against my shoulder, hiding them from me.
And even though I hated it, I could feel that part of me closing back up, quickly locked up again after barely going free.