Twilight and Sunburst both stared at the spot on the floor where Stella had been, the latter more shocked and worried than the former by a fair margin. It was Twilight who spoke first. "Leave the barrier up for a day, and keep everyone inside. Just to be sure. But I think she's gone, yes. I doubt she just used her coil again in those conditions. Either way, the wait will be enough if she did." Her words were heavy, but her tone was resigned. "Maybe we'll even find her," she added, without believing it.
"But how?" Sunburst asked. "How did she..." He wasn't sure how to finish the sentence, much as he wasn't sure what exactly had happened.
"She didn't," said Twilight. "She could have. She could have forced anyone she got her hooves on to follow along with her, but she didn't do it with you and she didn't even do it with Starlight, so we can and should rule out the possibility of being betrayed. I think she thought it would have been cheating. You saw what just happened and you know what it means, but it wasn't who you'd think it was. Besides, we had eyes on her."
Sunburst stood in silence for a moment, processing that. "Then what happened? Who was it?"
"We'll have to talk about that," Twilight said. "But I think I understand him enough to know Stella isn't going to be a problem anymore, for better or worse."