//------------------------------// // The Light That Glows // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Six pairs of pony eyes swung around to face Sunny, but Sunny couldn’t move. Her hooves were rooted to the spot, her eyes forever trapped in the paralyzing light of the wolf’s gaze. “No way!” she faintly heard Rainbow Dash shout. You have no way to fight us, the wolf said in the same voice, speaking directly into their minds, and all the ponies flinched as its voice slipped into their heads, and at the feeling of wrongness that came with it. We could easily crush you. Give us Sunny Starscout, and we will let you be. We have no need of you. We only want her. “Not happening,” Twilight muttered through gritted teeth, spreading her wings and lighting her horn threateningly. You should not protect her. She is an outsider. She doesn’t belong here. Give her to us and we will let you go- “Okay,” Sunny said. Once again, six shocked gazes rounded on her. “Sunny, no!” Fluttershy cried, but Sunny wouldn’t meet their eyes and took a few steps forward. Twilight grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. “You can’t just give yourself over to them, you said that yourself!” “They’ll let you all go,” Sunny said softly in a resigned voice. “They’re only here for me. If I don’t do this, they’ll tear you all apart. If I stay with you, I’ll put you all in danger. I can’t do that to you.” She turned around to face the wolf, who had no expression, but Sunny swore that it looked undeniably smug. “I’m going to do this.” “Sunny, please! We’ll figure something out-” Twilight stopped short. She was staring at Sunny’s flank - the one side that didn’t have a cutie mark. Sunny saw the confusion mount in Twilight’s eyes, and she felt her heart crumble. “What…” Twilight started to say, but suddenly Sunny felt something icy cold wrap around her and yank her backwards through the air. She screamed as Twilight and her friends leapt forward, crying out and reaching toward her, but the shadowy ropes that bound her were pulling her too fast for anyone to react, and soon Sunny disappeared inside the wolf. Darkness. Swirling darkness that was so complete that Sunny could barely see anything - not that there was anything to see. A strong wind blew, tossing her mane into disarray, but she had no idea where it came from or where it was going. There was something like sand beneath her hooves, and it was blowing through the air, mashing itself in her coat and getting under her hooves in a most uncomfortable way. Sunny spun in a circle, trying to find her bearings. And she saw something. In the distance, so faint that she was hardly sure that it was real, was the shape of a pony, their back turned to her, their shoulders hunched as they sat with their head hung, all the fight stolen out of them by the wolf’s horrid magic, which Sunny could feel pressing against her even then. The pony had a brilliant red coat and a golden mane, and Sunny was sure that she had seen them before… “Sprout?” The pony’s head lifted, and he turned to face her. “Sunny?” Sunny nodded and took a step forward. Sprout scrambled to his hooves and ran toward her, but before he reached her, black tendrils of shadow leaped out of the oppressive darkness and wrapped around him, tripping him and bringing him down. Sunny gasped. “Oh my stars…” She ran to his side, but every time she got close, the ropes would contract, Sprout would cry out in pain, and Sunny would hurriedly retreat so that they would stop. She felt hot tears pricking at her eyes, and standing there, completely helpless, while her friend suffered, was the worst thing in the world, harder than anything she had ever done before. Sprout shut his eyes and pushed himself to his hooves, his expression saying that even the slightest movement hurt more than words could say. He took a few steps back, and the ropes finally retracted back into the darkness. He opened his eyes, and Sunny saw that, somehow, however much pain she was feeling, his was ten times as worse. “Sunny… how are you here?” “I…” Sunny swallowed. “They said… they said that… if they took me, then… they would leave in peace,” she stammered out. For some reason, she felt like crying. “I couldn’t… I had to… I couldn’t let them do that.” Sprout nodded once to show that he understood, but he wouldn’t meet Sunny’s eyes. “How… how did you get here?” He shut his eyes, as if the memory were painful. “It just found me,” he whispered in a voice so broken and full of pain that it made Sunny’s heart throb. “It found me and took me and now I belong to it. That’s all.” “That can’t be-” “That’s it, okay?” he snapped, his voice suddenly sharp and angry. “Sprout… I found a… creature a couple days ago. A creature called a changeling - his name is Midge - they can shapeshift - anyway, I found Midge, and he was… he was disguised as you. And I got the feeling that… well, I’d just like to know what’s going on.” Sprout shrugged. “I left Maretime Bay. Midge was covering for me. That’s it.” “But for how long-” “Since you came back after you fought Chrysalis in the swamp.” Sunny gave a start. “How… how did you know about that? Nopony knew about that. Only Hitch and Izzy and Zipp and Pipp and Flurry and…” She trailed off. Sprout had shut his eyes again, but he looked as if he was trying very hard not to cry. “Sprout… what’s wrong? What’s the matter?” She took a step toward him, but he held up a hoof to stop her, saying, “Don’t.” Sunny stopped, but she felt like her heart was splitting in two without fully knowing why. “But… I don’t understand. How do you know about all that, and why has Midge been covering for you for months? How do you even know Midge, I mean, he never came by Maretime Bay-” “You promised,” Sprout muttered. That made her pause. “W-what?” “You promised me,” he said, his voice angry and near tears. “You promised me that you would never give up on me!” And then he finally met her eyes, and Sunny could see so much pain, so much hurt, that she didn’t even know it was possible to hurt so much. She heard it in his voice, saw it in his face, and she knew without a doubt that nothing about this was fake, every bit of jagged, twisted hurt was real, and it was tormenting him in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine. Then the sobs came, making his shoulders shake as tears rolled down his cheeks. “You promised you wouldn’t give up on me,” Sprout said in a broken voice. “And you did.” There was silence except for the blowing wind and Sprout’s quiet cries. “I ran away from Maretime Bay because… because I was with you, on all of our adventures, Sunny. I was there when we met Flurry Heart, I was there when the Legion of Doom put that spell on you, I was there when we tore apart Equestria to find you, I was there, in the Crystal Empire, when you saved us from Chrysalis and Tirek and Cozy Glow. I remember all the other creatures, I remember Candy Floss and Permafrost and Sour Lavender and the memory stone, I remember King Sombra, and I remember getting caught by the Legion of Doom in that swamp and having all of our magic stolen, and then Permafrost gave me a choice. He told me that he would set all of you free if you forgot about me, and I said yes, because it was worth it if you were free. I didn’t care about anything more in the whole world! And then… I couldn’t go back… I couldn’t face you all again. So I ran away, and I asked Midge to pretend to be me until… until I figured out a way to fix it.” The tears were coming more heavily now, and Sprout angrily wiped his hoof across his face. “So there’s the whole story. I hope you’re happy.” He turned away and took a few steps before he sat down, his shoulders still shaking with silent sobs. “Sprout… I’m so-” “Don’t.” “What?” “Don’t say you’re sorry. It doesn’t matter.” Sunny took a deep breath. When Sprout had first started talking, she had thought the whole idea was crazy. But as he kept on going, she started to get a headache, as if her memories were being ripped apart and restitched back together again. She got random flashes of things she didn’t remember, but she knew that what he was saying was true. “I believe you.” He didn’t turn around to face her, but his sobbing gradually ceased, and Sunny took that as a good sign. “Look. I don’t know how we might fix this, but I know that there has to be a way, and as soon as we get out of here, we’re going to find it-” “Don’t you get it, Sunny?” He did turn to face her now, and the look on his face was one of complete defeat. “There is no way out of here, this is it.” He turned away again, his voice catching. “Just give up.” Sunny felt her heart slowly breaking, but something in her hardened into a kind of resolve that filled her with strength and courage. She would not allow this to happen. She would not stand by while her friends are destroyed when she could do something to help them. She would not lose the ponies she cared about more than anything in the world. So help her, she would keep fighting until her dying breath, because she could not think of anything worth fighting for more. “No. Not yet.” Sunny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her heart began to beat faster as something new yet familiar raced through her blood. “Not today.” Sunny spread her wings as a golden light shone around her, feeling the magic tingle on her skin as she finally accepted it. The wind and shadows seemed to shrink away from her, hiding from the brilliant light, but it wasn’t good enough for her. Sprout felt something change; he felt a kind of warmth enter himself that he hadn’t felt since he got captured, he saw the golden glow that began to fill up his vision, and he knew instantly where it came from. “Sunny?” His eyes widened. Sunny was standing almost peacefully, her eyes shut and her expression calm, her wings spread and horn alight, her mane rippling and waving and glowing with ethereal light, little swirls of magic dancing around her and pushing the darkness away. The shadows seemed to hiss and back off, like they were afraid. Sunny took one last deep breath, lit up her horn with a blinding golden light, and launched herself upwards.