Alerted by her shout, everypony looked back at the entrance to the Throne Room. They spilled from the ancient archway, five in total. None of the timberwolves advanced yet, they kept to the wall, sniffing around and scanning the area.
One of them had a mustache adoring its muzzle.
“Oh…” Starburst heard Nidra exclaim. “Probably shouldn’t have done that…”
Starburst didn’t have the time to turn to her and snap that yes, she shouldn’t have. The moment the alicorn princess had spoken, the timberwolf with the mustache turned its head to her, his ears alert. A savage growl spewed from his wooden muzzle, and the other timberwolves followed his lead.
They were slowly advancing.
Under normal circumstances, Starburst would have loved the rare occasion to display her fighting skills. However, right now, she was exhausted. The fight with Starfall had cost her much of her stamina, and injecting him even with just a portion of her pegasi magic was even more strenuous that she had counted on.
“Annie,” she turned to her blind friend, “think you can calm them dow-”
She trailed off the moment her eyes laid on Anthea. The unicorn was laying on T’s back, her forelegs wrapped around his neck. She looked about just a bad as Starburst felt herself. She must have exerted her magic, she realized with dread. Immediately, she felt pangs of conscience; I shouldn’t have pushed her this far…
Normally, Starburst would have probably enjoyed seeing Little Miss Perfect being helpless, even though she would feel really guilty while doing that. However, "normally" didn't apply to the situation when a) Annie's exhaustion was Starburst's fault; b) they were in the middle of the Everfree Forest; and c) they were facing five pissed timberwolves.
Guess we'll have to do this the hard way, she thought, narrowing her eyes with determination just as the vicious creatures began moving in on them.
“Prism, Wind, get the ropes and untie them,” she told them quickly, spreading her wings; the lead timberwolf, alerted, turned its attention to her; “Gold, June, help me corral them. Nidra, put them to sleep. Everypony else, stay back.”
She didn’t wait for them to confirm whether they agreed on her plan or not, or explain to them in more detail just what she wanted them to do. The wolves had finally decided to attack, the leader leaping into the air. Her wings sprung, carrying her right at it.
No matter how dangerous the timberwolves where, they were still made out of branches. Of wood. And wood is weaker than metal.
Upon colliding with her outstretched hooves, the timberwolf fell apart, the branches making its body falling down on the stone floor. Starburst flew past where he was, flapping her wings to fly out of reach of its packmates’ jaws…and found out that she didn’t have enough strength to do that so quickly. In fact, the attack on that timberwolf proved so exerting that black spots appeared on the edges of her vision.
Starburst was forced to land on the floor, breathing heavily. The timberwolves would have to be stupid to not try and get her while she was down and she knew it. Upon landing, she immediately dropped down and rolled to the side, causing two timberwolves that were about to jump on her crashed into each other.
Three… she thought as she stopped her roll right in front of another one.
It bared her teeth at her and growled, but before it had a chance to bite her, its head was struck by a beam of blue energy. Instead of making him fall into pieces, however, it made him sway slowly left and right, as if it was drowsy.
The familiar sound of wood colliding with a pair of strong hindhooves from behind her signaled to Starburst that the last timberwolf had been dealt with. While pieces of it flew past her, the one stuck by Nidra’s spell fell to the floor fast asleep.
“Not exactly...” Starburst wheezed as she rose up from the floor. “what I had in mind, but…”
“It worked?” suggested Prism as he and Whirlwind flew down, each holding in their forehooves an end of a long royal banner that Starfall had used as a rope.
Having little air in her lungs, Starburst was resigned to nodding her head in reply as she sat down. She also pointed meaningfully at the pieces of timber lying across the Throne Room. The two pegasi didn't need any further explanation and begun to gather the branches, putting them inside the banner and tying it together. That way the timberwolves wouldn’t be able to reform.
Starburst observed Prism and Whirlwind for a while, to make sure they didn’t miss any pieces, but she quickly realized that her vision was blurry. She shook her head to clear it, steadying her legs to not fall down and alert the others. The last thing she needed right now was her friends worrying whether she was going to pass out or not. Starburst had quite often worked out to the point when that happened, so she was familiar with her limits. She could still fight.
Okay, maybe more like stand still or walk. The fight was over anyway…
“Everypony okay?” she asked, looking around. They had taken care of all the timberwolves, but Starburst wanted to make sure nopony was hurt.
While her friends all nodded, her eyes moved from Gold and June standing next to her; through Prism and Whirlwind tying up the banner with timberwolves pieces inside into a big bundle; to Annie, lying on T’s back and nuzzling his neck; Nidra, who was watching her and slightly red on his cheek T with narrow eyes; Claire, who was watching Nidra with narrow eyes; and stopped on Candy, who was asking Annie if she was alright.
Seeing that everypony was okay, Starburst sighed with relief... and then she paused. Something was not right. She raised her head and looked around at the ponies around her, counting…
“Starfall!” she exclaimed when she realized that the very pony who was the reason why they were there was nowhere in sight. “Where did he go?!”
Everypony was equally surprised and shocked as her. They began to look around the Throne Room. There’s only one exit, and there were timberwolves blocking it… Starburst pondered while she checked the hole June had made in the wall after Starfall’s water duplicate had pissed her off. The hole, however, didn’t break through the wall, and was just a large crack. Couldn’t escape here… a secret passage? No, somepony would have heard him… And besides, he had only about half a day to explore this castle, and making that “sky battlefield” alone must have taken quite some time-
Her eyes widened. The tightrope web! It was leading all the way to the…
Starburst looked up just in time to see the end of a blue-white tail disappear over the edge of the open roof, beneath the blue sheeting.
“GET BACK HERE!” she shouted, her wings carrying her up into the air much slower than she would have wanted them too.
Which was probably why Claire managed to catch her by her hind leg.
“Hold it, Star!” she shouted, pulling her down to the floor. “We have a bigger problem, or haven’t you noticed?”
“But he’s getting away!” Starburst protested, looking at her friends as if she had lost her mind.
“Star, I know it was really important for you to catch him, dear, but you are in no condition to go after him, and besides-”
Starburst cut her off by ripping her leg free from the grasp of Claire’s hoof-claw. “I am fine, while Starfall can’t use magic,” she told her angrily, “and as for that ‘besides’, the timberwolves had been dealt with. Or haven’t you noticed?” she added mockingly.
She would have probably flew away right that second - as with every one she wasted talking Starfall was getting further away - if it that moment a voice hadn’t spoke up: “Nope.”
Starburst turned away from Claire and looked at Gold. “What do you mean, ‘nope’? They’re tied up.”
But the golden earth pony shook his head. “They should’ve started reformin’ already,” he said, point at the bundle Prism and Whirlwind had made.
It was still. There was no sign of movement from within.
“Which means,” June continued, being on the same mind apparently as her cousin. With their family living so close to the Everfree Forest, they were told a lot about the timberwolves as they grew up, so they knew about them more than anypony else in Ponyville, save maybe for Fluttershy; “that was a scoutin’ pack.”
“A scouting pack?” Candy asked, looking startled. “You mean there are more of them?”
June opened her mouth to reply, but something else had decided to answer Candy’s question. A loud, lengthy howl came from outside of the castle, making all of them shake with dread.
It took a few seconds for June to gather her voice. “Yes,” she answered Candy’s question, though it was no longer needed. “And somepony had pissed ‘em off!” June added, glaring at Nidra.
“Wait, are you suggesting this is MY fault!?” Nidra protested, outraged. “How was I supposed to know that those pieces of timber could actually get offended?! And besides, whose fault is it that we’re here, anyway?!” she added, glancing at Starburst.
Starburst didn’t even dignify that with an answer. She turned back to Claire, still wanting to go after Starfall: “I can just fly after him quickly, catch him, and we can get out of here. Will only take a-”
“No,” Claire cut her off. Starburst grind her teeth; Claire was one of a few ponies she let talk down to her, as she admired her a lot. Didn’t mean she liked it, though. “Star, you can barely fly. I doubt you would have been able to catch him now, even with Prism and Whirlwind helping you and with Starfall being unable to use his magic. And if you would catch him, what do you plan to do? Drag him around tied up while we run for our lives from a pack of timberwolves?”
“But… I caught him!” she protested with a stomp. “I outwitted him, had him at my mercy, and… and you let him escape!” Starburst accused, looking at Prism and Whirlwind. “How could the two of you miss seeing him climb up the tightrope?”
“Sorry, but we were kinda preoccupied with, I dunno, timberwolves?” Prism replied sarcastically, but Starburst was no longer listening to him.
“And you!” she whirled around to point at Nidra accusingly. “Did you have to antagonize those timberwolves?! You had to stick that stupid mustache to it?!”
“Star, that’s enough!” June stopped her, looking at her angrily. “What’s done is done, and now we’ve gotta figure out how to get back home safely!”
Starburst grabbed her head, stifling a scream of rage. She had him! He was right there, powerless, and got away again! She was so frustrated that she could barely stop herself from hitting the closest pony.
But they were right. She knew that. There was no use crying over spilled milk. Starfall ran away; she had managed to take him by surprise, but if she would chase after him with just a few friends, he could probably escape them. They would have been wasting time while they should stay together. Her friends came first.
But still… he is out there, alone and without his magic...
“You’re right,” she mumbled reluctantly. She took a deep, calming breath. “Okay… how are we going to get out from a castle in the middle of the forest surrounded by a big pack of timberwolves?”
“We can use a secret underground passage that leads right back to Ponyville.”
She hadn’t really expected an answer, so to say that she was surprised was an understatement. Starburst stared at Nidra with shock, and she wasn’t the only one.
“How do you know there is any underground passage leading to Ponyville?” Claire asked her, utterly surprised.
“And why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Whirlwind asked. “We could have got here that way instead of trotting through that forest.”
“We couldn’t,” Nidra replied. “Well, we could, but we wouldn’t be able to get in, it opens on this side. As for how I know about;” she added and smirked; “whose mom trashed this place?”
“Nevermind,” Starburst sighed, “where’s the entrance?”
“In the royal bedchambers above us. Shall we?” Nidra asked, nodding at the doorway.
As everypony shrugged and began trotting towards the door, Starburst looked up at the ceiling one more time, wondering if she should go after him right now after all…
… and her stomach picked up that moment to remind her (and everypony else within a half a mile radius, apparently) that it has been some time since she had last eaten.
Starburst blushed and looked at her friends, who were all looking at her with amusement. “Think that those royal bedchambers have about a dozen watermelons?” Prism asked out loud, making everypony snort with laughter.
“Shut it,” Starburst snapped, using her rage to distract her mind before it would cause her to start drooling at the thought of watermelons.
She once again looked back at the ceiling. “Come along, Star,” Annie called after her from atop of T, “you really wouldn’t want to stay alone here.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, with her eyes still on the ceiling.
“It’s star-spider season.”
Starburst’s body went rigid. She hated every type of creepy crawlies. “Annie?”
“Yeah?” the blind pony asked, barely containing laughter.
“I hate you sometimes,” Starburst exclaimed as she raced after her friends.
They were moving through the ruins of the castle slowly and carefully. For all they knew, there could be more timberwolves prowling around. Of course, Annie and Nidra, who were listening intently for any alarming noises, would warn them if anything was about to jump on them from around the corner.
Before they left the Throne Room, Starburst had taken off her armor, so she could walk around much easier. She used another banner to make a sack to carry it. It was resting now on Gold’s back, its weight being no problem to the strong stallion.
Occasionally, Starburst would shot a longing glance at the bundle hiding her armor, wishing she could wear it. However, if she was really going to go along with the plan that she hatched in her head, she needed to preserve her strength.
She was in a sour mood, and her friends could easily see that. “Oh, cheer up, Star,” Candy told her. “I mean, sure, he got away, but you’ve beaten him! That has to count for something, right?”
It did. “Yeah… and now he will never be caught with the same trick again,” Starburst replied, knowing that if Starfall would get away now, he would be careful to not let himself be played like that.
Candy was about to say something, but her attention had suddenly focused on something else. More out of boredom than genuine curiosity, Starburst looked at the same direction as well.
The blue-gray pony was looking at Nidra, who was talking with the hovering next to her Prism. “Why are you flying so oddly?”
“What do you mean?” the pegasus asked.
Starburst immediately recognized what Nidra meant. Prism’s hind legs were slightly curled up, and his tail seemed to stick tightly against his body. The alicorn princess told him pretty much the same, which caused Prism to grimace in pain and shame… and Whirlwind to snicked with laughter.
“He got kicked in the nuts,” she told Nidra, though she looked guiltily at Prism.
Somehow, Nidra managed to stifle laughter, though Starburst was willing to bet that Prism’s embarrassed and angry face hadn’t made it easier for her.
“Glad to see somepony found it amusing,” he said, glaring at Whirlwind.
“Sorry,” she apologized, holding her mouth. “But you’ve gotta admit, that if it had happened to somepony else, you would have been laughing too.”
“... Fair enough.”
“Must have hurt a lot,” Nidra said, surprisingly politely.
“Eh, not really,” Prism replied, regaining his cocky attitude (Oh, joy.). “That little prick could hardly kick.”
In retort to that, Whirlwind made a pretty good imitation of the shriek he had uttered when Starfall’s hooves hit that very sensitive spot.
“Oh, shut up,” Prism snorted, though the end of his mouth curved up a bit as Whirlwind and Nidra shared a giggle.
“No, no, no…” Starburst heard Candy mutter beside her. Confused, she looked at her. The blue-gray earth pony was still looking at the trio. “Although… Those two would kinda make a cute couple, I suppose…”
“Who, Prism and Wind?” Starburst asked, confused. “I thought that you had already established that.”
“No, are you blind? I meant Prism and Nidra!” Candy told her in a hushed voice.
Prism and Nidra?! But… I thought she liked T… ugh, relationships! Who needs them?! Starburst wondered rhetorically. And Prism? Seriously?! What could a mare see in him… well, maybe besides those gorgeous green eyes…
She quickly stopped that train of thoughts before some of that could reflect on her face. The last thing Starburst needed right now was Candy thinking that she had a thing for Prism.
Aside from that little bit, their journey to the royal bedchambers had proven - fortunately - uneventful. Of course, there were a few more timberwolf’s howls, but both Nidra and Annie had agreed that they came from outside of the castle, so they weren’t worried… for now. Other than that, there was still no sign of timberwolves anywhere.
Or of Starfall, either, Starburst thought as they looked around bedchamber of Celestia for the hidden switch.
“Hmm…” Nidra muttered, pulling one book after another from the shelf on the wall. “It should be somewhere- Ah, here we go!” she exclaimed as one of the books, instead of being thrown out of the shelf, leaned on the edge of it.
With a loud screech, one of the bedchamber’s walls began to rise into the ceiling. Starburst followed everypony to stand beside it as the wall disappeared, revealing a long spiral stairs leading down.
“Wow, it’s… really dark in there,” she commented, glancing uncertainly at Annie.
“Really?” she asked nervously, her forehooves’ grip on T’s neck tightening. “Oh, joy…”
Starburst turned to Claire with a raised eyebrow. The dragon-pony hybrid nodded and concentrated her magic. Her twin horns lighted with purple light, illuminating the stairs.
“Okay,” Starburst said, looking at her friends. “Nidra, since you can see in the dark much better than the rest of us, take the lead. Let’s go, the sooner we get out of here the better.”
Everypony nodded and began to enter the staircase. It was very wide, so it was easy for several ponies to walk side by side. Starburst watched as all her friends entered beyond where wall was.
Wow… this is way too easy, she thought guiltily before she jumped to the wall and pushed the lever-book back to its original place.
At the sound of the wall moving again the ponies glanced back, and in the split second before it fell down Starburst managed to see the eyes of each of them grow wide in terror as they shouted and tried to jump back. When the passage had closed, Starburst heard a few of them collide with the wall.
“Star!”
“What the-”
“What are you doing!?”
Huh, so this wall isn’t soundproof, she thought hearing the muffled voices of her friends. I suppose it’s better that I can explain this a bit…
“Guys, calm down!” she shouted to them. “Listen-”
“Open this door right now!” she heard somebody reply… probably June. She could also hear her and Gold bucking the wall, as well as Claire scratching it with her claws.
“Listen!” Starburst shouted louder. “You guys go home and tell Princess Luna about what happened. I will look for Starfall and…”
“Look Star,” Annie spoke, “I understand that you would want us out while you two spend some time with all those bedrooms here, but-”
Okay, that is it!
“HE CAN’T USE MAGIC OR MOVE PROPERLY AND THERE ARE TIMBERWOLVES ALL AROUND THE CASTLE, OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?!” she exclaimed angrily, feeling her cheeks becoming red. The shouts on the other side of the wall grew silent as they realized what she had figured out some time ago. “Pull your heads out of a gutter, for Celestia’s sake!”
“Okay, just… calm down, Star!” Claire said. “You’re right, we shouldn’t leave him behind. Just open the passage and-”
“No,” she cut her off. “Nidra was right.”
“I was?”
“Yes, you were. You were in danger because I dragged you here.”
“Star, that’s not-” Gold tried to say, but Starburst didn’t let him.
“But nevermind that. I alone will have much easier time avoiding timberwolves. I rested up a bit and without my armor I won’t tire out again. I will find Starfall, talk some sense to him - with my forehooves most likely - and I will wait for Princess Luna and the Royal Guard in the castle.”
“But-”
“Princess Luna will be able to teleport here right away the moment you will tell her about this, so it would be best if you would go right now, don’t you agree?” she told them bristly. She hated long goodbyes.
Her last sentence must have made them realize that there was some sense in what she was proposing to do. The objections on the other side of the wall had ceased, and they began to mutter between themselves.
“And don’t try to have Annie teleporting me!” Starburst shouted, suddenly realizing that. “By the looks of her, she would pass out before she would finish casting the spell!”
The angry hiss that came from the other side told her that it was exactly what they had been thinking. It took a few more moments of them whispering between themselves before Claire finally spoke up: “You’re sure you’ll be fine?”
“Of course,” she replied, relieved that they’ve given up.
“No dizziness or faint spells?” Del asked, as he was the most familiar one with her passing out.
“No,” Starburst said, angry that he brought that up. “Unless something really hard hits me in the back of the head I won’t pass out.”
“Any urge to kiss a blue stallion?”
“N- CANDY!” she shouted, once again blushing. “I swear to Celestia, one more joke like that and I-” she bit herself on the tongue before she set ‘I’ll cut you’ (Candy didn’t deserve such a scary reply). Instead, she went with: “won’t attend that party for you and Del!”
“Aww-”
“Wait, what party?” Nidra asked, sounding confused.
“A party celebrating that Candy and Del got together,” Annie told her.
“Ooh, congrats guys! I didn’t know you were an item!”
“Thanks! Think you will be able to come?”
Starburst turned her head away from the secret passage and looked into the mirror that stood beside the ancient bed. From within, her reflection looked at her with a deadpanned expression.
“I’m going to look for Starfall now!” she told them in a raised voice. “Take care guys!”
“Good luck!” she heard as she turned towards the door.
“Stay safe!”
“Say ‘hi’ to Starry for me!”
“Kick him in the balls for me!”
“Be careful!”
“Lay a big, wet, sloppy kiss on h-”
Starburst speeded up so that she wouldn’t hear the rest of Annie’s farewell.
There seemed to be no sign of Starfall in the castle where they had walked through it. Starburst assumed that meant that he must have tried to escape as far away from it - and them - as he could. Once she figured that out, she wasted no time trying to look for him within the castle and flew out of it.
“Come on, where are you…” she murmured under her breath as she scanned all the rooftops, starting with the one through which he had escaped her earlier.
If he had come up here, she thought once she landed at the spot where he must have be if she had seen his tail, then… which way did he go? Starburst looked around. There! She ran up to the edge of the rooftop, where a thick bunch of vines went up on the entire side of the castle’s face. He must have gone down this way… she thought, looking at the patch of grass beneath it. Thank goodness that idiot hadn’t fall down.
Starburst spread her wings and flew down. If he had made it down there, he had to go around the castle, as the bridge was the only safe way of getting back to the rest of the forest.
She looked up at the sky for a moment; it was getting cloudier. To make the matters worse, the clouds were dark. Could it be raining soon? She shook her head; she had a pony to find first.
Okay, but how am I going to find him there? she wondered as she flew. Getting down on those vines must have taken him a while; he had to be careful with his body being in that state.
As she flew over the bridge, she heard the timberwolves again. Starburst might have ignored it, if it weren’t for three things. The first was that it was a bit further away from the castle than the previous one must have been. The second was that she caught a sight of a few dark shapes moving in the direction of it.
The third was another roar, not of a timberwolf, but a familiar one nonetheless.
Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me… Starburst thought as she steered in the direction of the howl as well.
As it turned out, nopony was kidding her. In fact, the reality was even more cliché than Starburst had expected.
Starfall was not only surrounded by a huge pack of timberwolves with no way to escape. He surrounded by a huge pack of timberwolves while standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a river that led further into the forest.
How none of them managed to bit him was beyond Starburst’s understanding. By the time she caught up with them, the leading timberwolves were only a few feet away from him, with one or two making a quick dart forward and trying to grab him with their teeth.
Starfall was having none of that. Whenever a timberwolf tried its luck, he immediately turned to it and bared his fangs at it and bit the air before its muzzle. He uttered dragon-like grunts each time he did that, making the predators back away each time out of fear.
I will have to carry him to the other side of the river, Starburst realized.
What would happen after that was anypony’s guess. There were no timberwolves on the other bank… for now.
Preparing herself for the extortion, Starburst flew up high and began to swoop down in order to gain momentum. “Hey!” she called out, hoping that Starfall, being as cunning as he was, would figure out what was her intention.
The blue unicorn’s attention shifted from the wolves to her… and his eyes grew wide in fear. He took a step back.
Seriously?! He’s facing a whole pack of timberwolves, but he gets scared of me as I come to his rescue… that’s kinda flattering, actually…
Then the ground beneath him crumbled.
Of, for the- she began to think as she sped up after the falling pony.
Luckily for Starfall, she was already flying fast as it was crumbling. And there was quite a distance from the surface of the river to the top of the cliff, about thirty feet. Because of all that, with a little coaxing of her wings, she managed to reach Starfall just in time to catch his outstretched leg and pull him up.
“I got you!” Starburst exclaimed, both with relief and satisfaction, as she rose higher.
The moment she grabbed his hoof, though, Starfall began to struggle. “S-stop wiggling, you idiot!” she hissed through clenched teeth. With her muscles burning, she tried to steer them to the opposite bank. However, the unicorn’s movements were making it hard to fly. She looked down in anger. “I’m trying to save your hide, you little-”
As she talked, Starfall’s eyes shifted slowly to something behind her shoulder, and soon he cut her off by screaming: “Look out behind you!”
Starburst scowled. “Do you really-
Something heavy hit her in the back of the head.
Everything turned black.