We return to Ponyville, the last day before the festival the town is a buss of activity. Scarlet and Bubbles are finishing off the last few copies together while Speedy is making his usual morning rounds. Silver fall is tracking Twilight Sparkle as she makes her trip into Ponyville doing his best to avoid being spotted. But Inertia isn’t doing anything special being her usual self she preparing a new theory. In her usual lengthy monologue…
“Princess Celestia maybe the ruler of the land but her coming her means nothing to me. There is a dragon pony wandering around and I’m going to find it, me being a laughing stalk will finally end. They’ll accept my theories and I get the respect I deserve but denied all these years. Ever since I got out of school they mocked me, my theories are illogical CRAZY EVEN. I’ll show them their all wrong, I’ve been right all along there is a monster in that Ever Forest and I’ll prove it. Someway I’ll prove it, prove that I’m right. It could be sitting there on the edge of the forest right now, watching us silently. Waiting for something to happen, waiting for the right moment to attack.”
Little did she know how right she was, a dragon was rising but not in the forest it was much closer to home. Poor Scarlet could feel the dragon rising its dark desires clouding her mind, how much longer will her willpower keep it contained. Inertia who has been spending her evenings pacing the edge of the forest dressed in a dark green cloak looking for any sign of the monster within the forest. When it’s in the town hiding in plain sight, trying to live a normal life hiding scars underneath a black tattered cloak.
Speedy drops by Bubbles’s shop, “Hey sis heard there was a delivery almost ready to be sent off. Three stops for these books her books are getting around a lot better now that you've helped.”
Bubbles replies, “Hey bro, ya a few more copies are left unfinished would you like to help us finish them? Oh and it’s all her she been doing all the hoof work doing public reading and visiting shops.”
“Sure what can I do to help?” Speedy asks as he follows his sister into the basement.
“Take over the press from Scarlet bro she looks a little out of it right now. Scarlet you ok?”she asked sounding very concerned.
Bubbles reaches to touch her right shoulder her eye looked so distant but the second she touched her. Scarlet head snaps towards Bubbles her right eye was briefly visible to Bubbles before she turned its pupil faded almost like she was blind in that eye. Scratches right through her eye she imagined how much that must have hurt. She tries to hide the flinch as the thought such a kind soul was tormented with a painful injury,
“You ok Scarlet you looked a bit out of it.” She guides Scarlet to a chair.
Scarlet replies to her question, “I’m sorry Bubbles there’s just, a lot on my mind right now.”
“Just sit there dear, Speedy and I will finish the last ones. Don’t worry its fine, just relax for a little while.”
Bubbles wasn’t sure who she was reassuring at the moment, her or Scarlet. Her hesitating wasn’t new she noticed it before, like she is hiding something. Probably not best to press her right now she must not be ready to talk about it yet.
We turn our focus to Silver Fall and Twilight Sparkle now, they have both arrived in Ponyville. It’s midday Twilight and Spike are walking through town to meet the pony in charge of decorations. But her plans got derailed as Rarity takes Twilight to the Carousel Boutique forcing Sliver Fall to move once again.
“She is so busy going from place to place this is exhausting following her with my pack on. Gotta stash this somewhere, somewhere some pony won’t find it” stuffs it into a hole in a tree and covers it with leaves. “There that’s good enough for now she’s on the move again.”
Spike asks, “Twilight if you worried about Nightmare Moon, how will you make friends.”
Twilight replies, “Something about it bothers me I’m not sure what but something got me on edge.”
Night has fallen on fair Ponyville; tonight will be no different, she locks up and leaves home heading to the edge of the forest.
Inertia says to herself, “I’m feeling lucky tonight there is something different in the air.”
Meanwhile Scarlet and Bubbles say their goodbyes, and part ways Scarlet heading off towards the forest.
“I can’t risk all their lives anymore, I should have know the potion wouldn't kill it off completely on the first dose. I have to go back home and wait till this event is over and I don’t want to risk seeing Celestia. Who knows how the dragon will react to seeing her again, Luna guide my way tonight.”
An eager Inertia is wandering the edge of the Everfree Forest she sees a figure shrouded in a black cloak walking into the forest. A pony who is moving swiftly though the thick undergrowth making it look so easy, going deeper into the woods then anyone would normally dare.
“Could this be the Starlight Dragon I’ve been hunting for all this time? I have to follow them for science and for myself.”
Till they look back towards Inertia, the moonlight lit up its scarlet coat and blue eyes. Her sky-blue mane with white tips covering her right eye, a faint white glow lighting up her face as she turns away revealing the glowing horn.
“What in Equestria is unicorn doing heading so deep into the Everfree Forest, I think its worth to keep following them.”
Scarlet beings to wonder, “Did anyone see me come into the woods, I can’t shake the feeling someone is watching me. I’m almost home just past this next clearing, and I won’t have to worry about this anymore.”
Scarlet is stopped cold as a pair of green/blue eyes appears before her slowly rising out of the bushes. Jumping towards her knocking her cloak off of her head revealing her silver streaks…
“SCARLET, hold on I’m coming!”
But before Inertia could catch up with her to protect her from the attacking timber wolf.
“Woody I told you to stay at home, I can handle myself."
Inertia stops to avoid being spotted but is shocked; Woody a tame dwarf timber wolf who somehow came to befriend Scarlet, with his eyes glowing a distinctive bluer hue then usual.
“I would hate to see you get hurt again Starlight.”
Inertia eyes widen,“Scarlet is Starlight… no this isn’t possible she so kind how could she murder and torture ponies.”
Woody speaks, “I’ve been watching you since you got deeper into the wood. No offence Starlight but look at yourself, your covered in scars and your blind in your right eye.” As he lifts her mane out of her face revealing the right eye a scared blinded eye. Inertia flinches as she realizes not only would that have hurt, but also her friend the person who didn’t judge her was the pony she was hunting. How do you expect me to just let you walk through the woods alone.”
Scarlet looks annoyed as she swats his paw out of her face, “Scarlet I’ve told you my name is Scarlet now, that part of my life is behind me and I want to leave it that way. If my memory serves me right I’m blind because I was saving you from more vicious timber wolfs. Even if my spell was meant to kill you when you attacked me it didn’t and I’ve protected you more then you have watched over me.”
Inertia watches as Scarlet’s blue eyes begin to glow red as her anger and rage grew within her. Her thoughts turn to the book. The horrors Starlight’s eyes have seen, from a power she appeared to have such little control of. She had all the information she needed to expose her as what she truly was, a pony with a dark gift she couldn’t control. The thoughts swirled around in her mind,
“If I reveal her they will hunt her down like a monster, I’ll be hailed as a hero but at what price. She is so kind even with everything that has happened to her, I would feel like I was the monster feeding her to a pack of timber wolfs to save myself. I don’t think I can do it, not for such a selfish reason as satisfying my ego. No one else is taking the story seriously just playing it off as an old mares tale, and for now that’s how it should stay. As long as no ponies life is put in danger I’ll remain silent.”
Inertia turns to walk away when screams of pain stop her dead in her tracks,
“Scarlet, oh no what is happening now.”
She screeches as a black and purple glow emanate from Scarlet’s horn surrounding her in a fog. Scarlet screams in pain as her body absorbs this dark aura, her red coat beings to harden into scales. Her horn is absorbed within her, replaced with blue spikes all the way down her head leading to and down her solidified tail. Black and red wings shoot out painfully from behind her front shoulders twisting and wincing, as she is great pain. What remained of her coat burned away reveling her true cutie mark, the burning blackened white star. Leaving a sliver belly of scales as the fire sweeps across her coming to her face she contorts trying to avoid it as if someone unseen was holding her down. But it comes consuming her face her once bright blue eyes darken to a teal and her teeth sharpen to a point. Finally the dark aura disappears completely and Starlight collapses to the ground.
Woody quickly spots Inertia and utters, “ Are you stupid come on run follow me,” as he pulls the unconscious Starlight onto his back.
Inertia hears what he was warning her about as she hears the distinctive timber wolf’s howl she darts off in the direction she saw them disappear into. Woody then appears on the edge of the clearing he had came back without Starlight guiding the now lost Inertia to Starlight’s shack.
Inertia is led to safely inside Starlight’s small cramped shack, “Thanks for saving me back there Woody right?”
“Ya that Starlight has been calling me that ever since her spell went awry. That gave me a voice instead of shattering me into pieces like the two other timber wolfs that attacked her. I ambushed her from the right side I though I was going to die but too my surprise I didn’t. She had blasted me with her spell but she collapsed mid casting. When I brought myself to walk to her side, her right eye was bleeding and her left wing was barely attached oozing blood. She was just lying there in a pool of her own blood; she attacked the other two almost like she was trying to save me, then I turned on her. I thought about ending her suffering right then and there but strangely I almost threw up at the thought. When she came to she was terrified she try to stand but quickly collapsed I saw fear in her eyes and I thought about telling her to calm down I wasn’t going to hurt her. She looked less afraid more startled and muttered weakly,”
“you, you can talk? That’s impossible the spell was too disrupt the magic that gives you life for a while... yet you can speak?”
She is putting pressure on her nearly detached wing, slowing the bleeding,
“Can all of your kind speak?”
“No” I replied to her, “Not to the point of your understanding, is there something I can do to help you?”
She looked at me weakly and said, “Just kill me, it will do the world a fav…or” her voice drops as she collapses once again.
“I wasn’t sure what to do then, she wanted me to kill her but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I did my best to tend to her wounds but it wasn’t the best she was out for hours, when she did wake she almost looked relieved that someone was there taking care of her. I carried her to this shack and helped tend to her wounds better and kept watching, waiting for something to attack.”
Inertia asks, “How long has it been since that day,” she looks over at Starlight with sad eyes.
“It’s been almost 2 years now, and for the longest time its been just her and me. She been the friend I’ve never had yet she focused so much energy into going back to who she use to be. Her heart is the same that it was before she was corrupted, but she only sees the monster that stares back at her in the mirror.”
He glances over moving her cloak to cover her like she had been sleeping.
“She’s so afraid of hurting someone again she tried to kill off the corruption before but that proved almost fatal. When she tried this time I was preparing for her to lose control like last time. He looks at the claw marks on his legs.
“Did she do that to you?” Inertia asked her voice shaky from fear.
“It was like something took over control of her, her eyes when red, she suddenly grew taller then even me and her hooves became claws. It was like she couldn’t hear my voice she attacked me for a while, eventually pinning me down her eyes were so distant. She was about to kill me her claws poised right above my face then she stopped. Her body began shaking like someone was holding her back. Then the red color in her eyes faded away the claws disappeared and she returned to her normal size. She didn’t want to talk about it after she came too she just sat there looking at her hooves.”
For the first time Inertia was afraid she though, “If she attacked someone she cares about what could stop her when it’s not someone she knows. Could she even stop herself? I don’t want to think about what the royal guards would do to her if they caught her.”
Scarlet begins to stir from underneath the cloak, suddenly her eyes shoot open and she nearly hits Inertia as she punches the air just in front of her like she was fighting something they couldn’t see.
“Uhhggg.” Starlight muttered, “What happened?”
Her eyes show terror as she sees she has returned to Starlight Dragon once more. Even with Inertia standing on her blind side, their eyes make contact; she turns her head to see who was there.
Starlight was speechless at first but uttered, “Inertia what are you doing in the Everfree Forest let alone my home? Contrary to what you may think Woody I’m not completely blind in my right eye.”
Inertia is speechless, “Does she really not remember what happened in the clearing. “I followed you into the forest; I didn’t know whom I was following at first till the timber wolf knocked the cloak off your head. I wanted to find the dragon that legends spoke of, living in the Everfree Forest.”
Starlight looked at her, “Well you found it, why don’t you go on home and tell the world of your discovery. After all I’m just a monster that thousands already tried to hunt down long ago, and failed.”
Her eyes darkened, almost becoming black. Her blunt cold words hurting her with each thought they provoke.
Inertia replies, “I can’t do that you’re not a monster Scarlet, the only pony who offered me any kind of friendship in a long time. You expect me to betray you so easily I can’t I just can’t.”
She can’t hold back her tears any longer, and just breaks down and cries. Starlight looks puzzled at the pony wallowing on the floor beside her, something in her broke that day. For moments later Inertia felt the weight of a hoof gently stoking her back silently reassuring her.
“You can call me Starlight, Inertia but only when I look like this.” She comforts the weeping pony on the ground, "I’ll guide you back to the edge of the woods soon. I still don’t feel that good to travel just yet. For now you can be my guest.”
Inertia looks up and sees Starlight smiling looking at her before nearly tackling Starlight with a hug.