//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen // Story: Starlight // by PurpleFire135 //------------------------------// Starlight and Applejack had been walking through the forest for roughly two hours and Starlight was beginning to really get tired. She could see that Applejack was too. She yawned for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, but Starlight did not feel like stopping. Not only were they still deep in the Everfree forest, which was a horrible place to sleep at any time, they also could not afford to stop. Every second they walked rather than stopped was a second closer they were to Rainbow and that was where Starlight desperately wanted to be. She looked up at the sky. She was happy to be able to see both the moon and the sun for the first time in days, since the storm had finally cleared completely. Looking at the sun, Starlight noticed something odd. It seemed…off; like it didn’t fit in the sky anymore. She frowned. She was sure it was too big. It wasn’t just her imagining it. It was defiantly the wrong size. She stopped, just looking towards its still form on the horizon. When Applejack noticed that she had stopped, she turned around, “What is it?” She asked, looking around as if there was something hiding in the brush. “The sun is too big.” Starlight said simply, and to her surprise, Applejack nodded. “Yep. It’s expanding.” Applejack replied. “Is it supposed to do that?” Starlight asked. “Nope.” Starlight shivered as if blown by a cold breeze, despite the fact the forest around them was quiet, still, and pleasantly warm after the storm had passed through. The shiver was something deeper, like a distinct wrong. Starlight had known that the sun was wrong before, but having it confirmed, that was something different entirely. She wondered for a fleeting second if Applejack was being truthful, and besides, how did she know? Despite that, Starlight could tell her words rang with truth. Starlight didn’t know how or why, but she knew Applejack wouldn’t and more importantly, wasn’t, lying to her. She frowned. “How can we fix it?” She asked, more than a little scared by what the answer could be. “We? We can’t.” Applejack said, turning to the path, motioning for Starlight to come up beside her and talk as they walked. Starlight scrunched up her nose. The typical ‘You’re a kid and you can’t help’ response, exactly what she had been expecting. She was wrong. “But…” Applejack started, turning to face Starlight again, “maybe you can.” --- “Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked tentatively, looking at the fluffy tail in front of her. She had been following Pinkie through the forest for several hours now, and she was sure they should have come to their destination already. Pinkie, though, seemed just as sure of where they were as she was when they started out that morning. “What’s up, Fluttercup?” Pinkie said, turning around and bouncing back towards her. Fluttershy looked around; they were in a part of the forest she had never been in before. “Are we lost?” Fluttershy asked bluntly. Pinkie looked up as if she were thinking. She went over to a tree, put her ear against it and started nodding, as if she were listening to some pony. Fluttershy was baffled. Then Pinkie stepped away from the tree and went right over to a seemingly random patch of dirt, muttering as she went. “Do you know where we are?” Fluttershy pressed. “Results so far are inconclusive. Hold on for just a tinsy-weensy minute!” Pinkie said happily. She picked up a dirt clod and licked it, then with a shrug ate the whole thing. Fluttershy’s eyebrows rose in confusion, but she didn’t say anything. She had long ago learned to let Pinkie be Pinkie, and not get in the way. She shuddered as she remembered a particular instance of parasprites when Pinkie wasn’t listened to. It hadn’t ended well. Pinkie finished the dirt clod and dug a lollipop out of….somewhere. Fluttershy couldn’t tell where, one second it wasn’t there and the next Pinkie was eating it as she looked around. “So…?” Fluttershy prompted. “I have no idea where we are!” Pinkie said with flourish and went to continue down the path. “Wha….?” Fluttershy trailed off. Suddenly Pinke jumped, turned and focused on a spot off the path; she was completely still. “Pinkie?!” Fluttershy was getting frustrated. Pinkie turned to her, eyes wide and held a hoof to her muzzle, signaling for Fluttershy to be quiet. Flutterhsy nodded, her ears pricked in the direction Pinkie was looking. After a few seconds of still, tense silence, a voice reached Fluttershy’s ears. “Me? How could I fix it?” Pinkie looked deliberately at Fluttershy. They both knew that voice. Starlight. They needed to get to her. Fluttershy felt hope flare inside her; maybe Rainbow was with her, maybe she was alright. No pony had seen Rainbow since she had flown off before the storm and the attack. Fluttershy had been worried, but there were other more pressing matters at hoof. Rainbow, for the most part, could handle herself. Fluttershy strained to hear another familiar voice answer back to Starlight. She was not prepared to hear the familiar voice that answered. --- “Well, as far as ah understand it, the sun is expanding because it is too old. Before the Uprising the princesses were stopping this from happening with magic; but now the magic has worn off and we have no way to put it back.” Applejack said. It suddenly dawned on Starlight why she might be able to fix it. She was the only unicorn left. The only magic left. She felt a very big weight settle on her. It was far too much to expect a filly to save a planet. Wasn’t it? Starlight felt a little nauseous. Applejack noticed and her face softened. “It’s alright, sugarcube. We don’t really expect you to do it by yourself, we--” Applejack was cut off as something launched itself at her and tackled her to the ground. She struggled, but whatever it was had an iron grip on her. Starlight jumped backwards in shock, and also to avoid the mass of flailing hooves, both those of Applejack as she struggled and those of her attacker. “You get away from her!” The attacker yelled at Applejack, who tried to say something, but was clearly being crushed under the weight of the very angry, very pink pony on top of her. “Pinkie?!” Starlight gasped. “What are you doing?!” She yelled, trying to run towards them, but something got in her way. “Fluttershy move!” Starlight yelled. “She’s a friend!” Starlight tried to squirm under Fluttershy’s outstretched wing. “Starlight, please! We need to get you out of here! Hop up! You can ride on me like you do Rainbow!” Fluttershy said, her voice tense and strained. Starlight didn’t understand. What was going on? Why were Fluttershy and Pinkie acting like this? “Starlight! It’s dangerous! Come with me!” Fluttershy said with force. “No! Tell me what’s going on! What’s dangerous?!” Starlight yelled back, trying again to get around Fluttershy, straining to see what was happening. Pinkie still had Applejack pinned under her. Applejack struggled to free herself, or even to be able to breathe. “Pinkie Pie!” She gasped. “Get off….can’t breathe!” “Why should I care?! You’re a just dirty traitor! You deserve it!” Pinkie yelled shrilly. Applejack had clearly had enough. “One last…chance! GET OFF!” “No!” Applejack pulled in a breath and kicked her back legs, hard. They connected with Pinkie’s stomach and the force threw Pinkie up into the air. “Pinkie!” Fluttershy cried, trying to fly towards her friend. Pinkie was going to come down hard on the forest floor. “Starlight!” Applejack yelled, and in an instant, Starlight understood what Applejack wanted her to do. She pulled deep into herself and summoned her magic. A dark purple aura surrounded Pinkie seconds before she would have crash landed. Starlight let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Applejack sucked one in and stood up. “Alrighty, can we just stop for a second and talk about this like rational ponies?!” She said, trying to stay calm. It was clear that she was frustrated. Pinkie pulled herself up, apparently not injured in the slightest, and faced Applejack, the intent to re-attack written all over her face. “The time for talking is over! You should have thought of that ten years ago!” Pinkie snarled, and then sprung. Applejack set her hooves in the ground and braced herself. “STOP!!!” Starlight screamed, running between them. Surprisingly, they both stopped. She let out a huff. “There’s no need for any pony to get hurt!” She said, looking at both of them. “Starlight, get out of the way.” Applejack told her. “Starlight get away from her!” Pinkie said, with a venom-filled glare directed towards Applejack. “No. She’s not mean. She hasn’t hurt me or anything! She’s nice! She found me by the camp and she’s gonna help me find Rainbow!” Starlight pleaded to Pinkie. Then she turned back to Applejack. “I thought you said that they were your friends.” “'Were' being the important word in that sentence.” Applejack responded wryly. “Yeah. We are totally not friends.” Pinkie said, very seriously. All traces of her usual playful nature were gone. “Now go with Fluttershy.” Starlight frowned up at her. “Um. Can I ask something?” Fluttershy asked. They all turned to look at her. “You know, um, if you don’t mind.” She said, shrinking a little. “Go ahead, Sugarcube.” Applejack automatically responded. Pinkie shot Applejack another hate filled look. “Starlight did you say something happened to Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. Starlight nodded sadly. “She was captured during the raid. They brought her directly back to the city.” Starlight’s heart fell just thinking about it. “Oh, no…” Fluttershy murmured softly. “I know… But Applejack said she knew how to get her out! We can go save her!” Starlight said, holding onto the one hope she had left. “Starlight, I think you need come with us. We’ll drop you off with the rest of the refugees from the camp and we’ll go get Rainbow, I promise.” Fluttershy said pleadingly, looking down at her. “I’m coming too! You might need my help! Besides, you can’t just leave me here! And you need Applejack! She promised me that she’d help get Rainbow free! She said she knows how.” Starlight said, standing to defend Applejack. Pinkie looked up at Applejack. “I’ll bet she does.” Pinkie said meanly. “The better question is: Why?” “Why what?” Applejack rebuffed. “Why you would want to free Rainbow Dash! Why you’re helping Starlight!” Pinkie responded. “Starlight, have you thought of that?! Why she’s helping you? Has it even occurred to you that it might be a trap?” Pinkie said, her eyes wide. “Because she’s a friend! And friends help each other!” Starlight said. “How do you know she’s a friend?!” “She proved it! And she promised.” Starlight said. Pinkie frowned and closed her eyes, clearly thinking something over. “I found her, lost and alone in the woods. She happens to want to help get Rainbow Dash free, which is the same thing I want. I know you don’t trust me, and I understand that.” Applejack said to Pinkie, trying to get Pinkie to understand. Pinkie sighed. “Why are you helping us? Why free Rainbow Dash at all? Why…” Pinkie trailed off, looking at Starlight. “Because I don’t want Rainbow to get hurt. Same as you.” “Why don’t you just let her go? Surely you would have that power.” Pinkie responded. “Actually, I don’t. As of yesterday, I am no longer a member of the Guard.” Applejack confessed. All three of them stared at her. Fluttershy and Pinkie because they couldn’t, and at least Pinkie, didn’t believe it. Starlight because she didn’t know Applejack was a Guard pony in the first place. She backed towards Pinkie and Fluttershy. “You’re a Guard?” She asked cautiously. “Not anymore.” Applejack said, trying to keep Starlight on her side. “She wasn’t just any Guard, Starlight. She’s the General.” Pinkie said, knowing that it would drive home why she and Fluttershy didn’t trust Applejack. Starlight was shocked. A cold lump of something formed in her belly. She realized it was a mix of fear and betrayal. “What? Is that true?” She asked, searching Applejack’s face, waiting for her to deny it. “Yes.” Applejack said, her voice infused with shame. “So, you were trying to trick me!” Starlight gasped. She didn’t even want to think of what could have happened. She had always seen the Guard ponies as obvious, blunt officers who took what they wanted when they wanted. It had never occurred to her that one could slip under her nose in the guise of a friend. She focused on Applejack, confusion and fear written all over her small features. “No, I really did mean everything I said.” Applejack said, trying to win the losing battle in front of her. “You’re a liar!” Pinkie said harshly and then looked to Fluttershy and Starlight. “Let’s go. We have to find the rest of the camp, and then we all can go and save Rainbow Dash.” Starlight bit her lip. Somehow, despite everything stacked against Applejack, Starlight still felt like the orange mare had been truthful with her. Besides, who better to break into the Guard’s stronghold than its old leader? It was a huge risk. There was still a nagging doubt in the back of Starlight’s mind that she was being led into a trap. She didn’t know what to do. She looked at the faces of the ponies around her. Applejack had her head held in shame, as if she already knew that she had lost all trust. Pinkie still looked like she wanted to attack Applejack, and Fluttershy just looked nervous. Starlight needed to either go with Pinkie and Fluttershy or stand with Applejack. She couldn’t help feeling like they were both the wrong choices. Then another thought floated towards her, something she had forgotten about. Applejack knew about the problem with the sun and she also knew that Starlight was the only one who could fix it. Even if she was lying, she needed Starlight alive and willing to fix it. Starlight swallowed, her mouth dry; she would need to know how to fix it too, which was no small task for a filly who had only just started learning magic last week and knew a grand total of two spells. Starlight sighed. There really was only the one choice; the one that lead her back to Rainbow with the most speed and the most chance of helping her escape. It also happened to be the choice where Starlight had to master high level magic and save the sun, so the world wasn’t destroyed. She pushed that particularly scary thought out of her mind; she would cross that bridge when she reached it. Though, she could still feel that in the back of her thoughts, a weight that she knew wouldn’t leave until this whole mess was figured out. She looked back to the ponies around her, and they were all looking at her. She realized she had completely spaced out and had not moved for several minutes. She coughed in embarrassment. Then she steeled herself and said, “I’m going with Applejack.” “WHAT?!” Pinkie yelled angrily. “I trust her, even if you don’t and if she was part of the Guard, she’ll know how to get to Rainbow.” Starlight defended her decision. Applejack looked very surprised for a second, but then with a shake of her head, reasserted herself. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by Fluttershy, of all ponies. “Well, then we’re coming too.” “Fluttershy! We can’t! We have to get to the rest of the camp…and other things!” Pinkie protested. Fluttershy pulled her away from Starlight and Applejack. “You don’t have to come. I am going to make sure Starlight is safe and get Rainbow Dash back. The refugees will be fine for a few days. Zecora and all the med ponies are there. They all know how to take care of themselves.” Fluttershy reassured Pinkie. “Besides, then you can keep an eye on Applejack.” “I can’t believe you’re willing to trust her! After all that has happened, we see her again and poof! You believe everything she says!” Pinkie frowned. “I didn’t say I trust her. I did say she is the best way to get to Rainbow, nothing more. I just don’t think attacking any pony is going to solve anything. Who knows? Maybe she has changed. It’s been a very long time. I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt.” Fluttershy explained in a soft voice. “Fine. But I’m keeping a very, very close eye on her!” Pinkie fumed. “Agreed.” Fluttershy nodded.