//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Reflection // Story: Forgotten Bygones // by Catpaw616 //------------------------------// "Starlight Glimmer!" Starlight looked up as she saw Twilight above them. She was startled by Twilight's sudden appearance. They have been caught, but for some reason... she was thankful that it wasn't Luna or Celestia, or even the guards. It was just her, alone. "Not again." Starlight heard Trixie groan right behind her. The blue pony turned to Starlight. "Starlight, teleport us, now." Normally in times like this, she would. But something nagged inside her as she saw Twilight float down to the ground. Starlight knew that the real Twilight that she had known and loved has been inside there somewhere. She needed to root it out and bring it to light somehow. But even when she is optimistic, suspicion had overlapped excitement. She now knew this Twilight now. She would shun her, hate her, and summon every source of authority whenever she had the chance. Without even an explanation! "Why aren't you getting the guards?" Starlight said coldly to Twilight. "Because," Twilight said as she stretched out her wings. "I want to talk to you." Starlight couldn't help but stiffen. The guards were somewhere nearby. She literally heard them outside just moments ago. Was she trying to distract her? Almost like how I distracted her when I trapped her and her friends in the vault. Starlight remembered that day, back when she was evil, and hated cutie marks with a passion. She distracted Twilight and the others long enough that she let her followers corner them, and that was how Starlight easily got their cutie marks. I'm not going to let that happen. Starlight immediately got into a protective position and her horn glowed threateningly. "If you are trying to fool me and pull a trick on me and my friends, I'll make you regret that." She said to the princess, but she was shocked by herself at how her words were packed with so much venom. I didn't mean it that way... Starlight thought, but Trixie had just risked her freedom to save her and Discord. She was not going to let Twilight make the sacrifice all for nothing, and she might as well make it known to her that if Twilight was going to treat her like an enemy, she would let her know that taking her down was going to be harder than she would think. "Starlight?" Trixie addressed her nervously, but she ignored her. She wanted all her focus on Twilight. "I'm trying to give you a chance to redeem yourself." Twilight stated. Starlight could see that the princess was trying to keep her cool, and so was Starlight. "I already did." Starlight said slowly. She suddenly came up with an idea. If words weren't enough to convince Twilight, then footage will. "Want me to prove it?" Knowing a spell that she had learned a while back, she crouched one of her hooves, and made herself low to the ground. Her horn sent out a bright orb. Once the orb was above Starlight's head, footage played of the two mares both sharing jokes, laughter, and shared friendship to each other. Can it finally work? Hope starting rising in Starlight, but she kept looking at her side to make sure that no guards were sneaking up on them. When she looked up, her heart sank when she saw that Twilight didn't look impressed at all. "Wow, that must be a good spell that you cast." Twilight said with unamusement. The orb popped away as Starlight had stopped performing the magic. She was now in the mist of sadness and confusion. "What do you mean?" Twilight shrugged. "I knew that you were a talented unicorn." she began. "But you must be pretty good if you could somehow make slideshows of me and you together. And how did you know what my castle looked like?" Twilight sounded almost impressed, but Starlight could tell that it was a facade. Why don't you remember?! Starlight wanted to say that out loud, she really did. But she was too stunned to even speak to her. But even before Twilight had reformed Starlight, she would at least have enough brainpower. She didn't assume that Twilight was this dumb before she plotted her revenge with the Cutie Map. She hung her head. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She started to wept. Oh Twilight, where are you? Please come back... "Wow." Twilight said as she looked down at Starlight, with a surprised look. "Either you must be an impersonator, or you took a serious personality change. Never would I imagined you crying in front of me!" The moment she said that, a tiny candle of rage burned inside her. Then as seconds passed, it started getting brighter, and bigger, and angrier. Starlight immediately stopped crying. Quick as lightning, Starlight opened her eyes. Rage, and hatred was all over her now. And she was going to show this Twilight just how she felt about her this whole time since she kicked her out of the castle. She got to her hind legs, and instantly punched Twilight in the face with her hoof before the alicorn could react. It may be the hardest punch that she will ever make in her life. Heck, this was probably the first time she punched a pony! Twilight, who was caught off-guard, immediately fell to the ground, and didn't get up. Starlight was worried for a moment that she thought that she had killed her, but she saw that her sides were heaving. She was just unconscious. "Didn't expect that, did you, princess?" Starlight said hatefully as she looked down at the unicorn. She put a smirk on her face. What you rightfully deserve. Then right away, she was startled when Discord and Trixie immediately got in front of her and pushed her away. "Starlight! Snap out of it!" Trixie said, desperately. "What has gotten into you?" "Yeah, and while I thought that was amazing," Discord added. "a tiny bit of me is thinking that was not a good idea." She couldn't believe it. She had shown Twilight justice! After all the pain, the sorrow, and the punishment that they unfairly went through? "Yeah, well she deserved it!" Starlight defended herself. "She's lucky that I only punched her and did nothing else! Or maybe... I should have..." She felt that the punch was too light. Oh no... she should've done something worse. Something that would haunt this new Twilight for years to come... Starlight would make sure that she would pay. "Snap out of it!" Trixie snapped. She lifted her hoof, and before Starlight could react, she harshly slapped Starlight in the face. She had winced for a moment, but when she opened her eyes, the anger inside of her was instantly gone. But instead, was questioning as to what she did, and what she thought. Why did I think those thoughts...? Starlight asked in her mind. That was not like me... "Wow... thanks." Starlight thanked them as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I... didn't know what I was doing. It was like as if I..." "As if you what?" Trixie asked with a concerned tone. "I couldn't control myself." she finished. Just then, Starlight saw two guards appear from behind the corner, and they immediately looked at Twilight in horror. "Princess Twilight?" A guard asked, shocked at seeing the princess not moving. "Them." A guard pointed at the three. "They hurt the princess!" Starlight immediately turned her gaze to Twilight. I did that. she repeated in her mind. I, myself, did that. She was immediately overrun by guilt. "I-I-I-I didn't mean too..." Starlight stammered. She didn't mean to hurt Twilight... but it was as if something had took over, A violent tendency. And she had no idea how, or why. She was started when she felt Discord's lion paw touch her. "Teleporting time, guilt later!" Starlight gazed at Twilight one more time. She closed her eyes tight and she was about to do a teleporting spell. I'm sorry, Twilight. I'm really sorry. "What do you mean that she didn't deserve it?" Trixie exclaimed when Starlight was finished telling her side of the story to her and Discord. "If anything, it was rightfully deserved!" "You don't get it, do you?" Starlight asked angrily to Trixie. "I've made things worse for us when I punched Twilight in the face! I could've killed her!" "True, you did now put us in jeopardy when it wasn't that bad already when we tried to escape-" "Wow, Discord!" Trixie put on a fake happy tone. "Thank you for enlightening us on that funny fact!" "You didn't let me finish." Discord said to Trixie while pulling a hissing tongue at her. "I was going to say, that while you did that, I will have to admit, seeing you punch Twilight has to be the most satisfying bit I have seen in a long while." Starlight was about to say something, but she shut her eyes tight and sighed. She opened them and looked down at the river. "I had a violent rage burning inside. Something that I have abandoned since I became Twilight's pupil and friend. Now its coming back." Starlight looked at herself. "Just like how my old hairstyle did." Then Trixie saw her came into a realization. "Wait..." She looked down at her reflection once more, then she looked at her hooves. "I'm coming back..." Starlight whispered. "You're what?" Discord asked Starlight in an almost-snarky tone. "My evil tendencies are coming back..." Starlight breathed out. She now raised her voice. "I'm slowly descending to evil!" "Starlight, now you're being delusional!" Trixie said with an exasperated sigh. "Just because you gave Twilight some much needed karma, it does not make you evil." "Oh, but it does." Starlight tried to reason. "Don't you see? Old manestyle? Violent thoughts? And now the punch?" "I mean..." Discord muttered. "It does kind of make sense now that I think about it." "I'm somehow beginning to corrupt." Starlight now started walking around in panic. "And..." she turned towards Discord and Trixie. "It may happen to you too." Trixie and Discord now became concerned. Me turning evil? Trixie thought in dismay. Now that is something I don't want to experience, again. "I don't know." Starlight now pranced around. She suddenly stopped when she saw lights in the distance and was deep into the Everfree Forest. Trixie and Discord saw Starlight walking towards the forest. "Where are you going now?" Discord asked her. "I'm going to, what I believe, will be our only reliable source." Starlight turned her head to Discord and Trixie. "This weird thing has corrupted every pony, but has it affected a zebra?" With that, she walked through the bushes and disappeared into the woods. "Wait up!" Discord quickly followed Starlight. Trixie sighed. She doubted that Zecora would be any help to them. She might just be corrupt as well as the rest of their former friends. But Starlight was obviously going to her hut, and most likely not get answers. After Trixie had hid her wagon deep into the woods, she quickly followed the path that her two only friends went.