The eruption was so powerful that it knocked Starlight Glimmer headfirst into the cavern walls. That was hours ago, and she woke up with a splitting headache and a small bead of light down the maze of mountain tunnels.
Her eyes narrowed, cheek cold from having rested on the near-frozen mountain floor. From all the darkness of the tunnels she was entrenched within, Starlight could still make out the sliver, the tiny hope for the burning moonlight near the end of the mountain tunnel. Her eyes widened, now completely focused on the hope for light. She flinched back, the pain in her forehead still strong.
What in Equestria caused that tremor? Starlight mentally asked herself, knowing she would never get a clear answer unless she acted. Though her mind still reeled on that simple question, her instincts told her to get a move on. Quickly. Before the light disappeared.
It wouldn’t have been the first time.
Everything was so much simpler back then. Her town, her own little slice of peace and harmony was stripped away from her, taken and tainted back to the wretched ideals of individualism. She had it all. Starlight had it all. Power, obedience, her own single voice that united the oppressed of the damned blessings of a cutie mark. Nothing came close to see the happy smiles and bright faces of those she had saved.
Well, their cutie marks were great, too.
But all of that fell apart the moment she let those terrible six enter her town. Since then, her world was torn to shreds and she was forced to live the remainder of her days trapped like some kind of scavenger deep within the tunnels and caverns of a mountain. She rarely came out—most of the time she was lost—and whenever she did to look for food and water, she would conceal her identity, as she expected some kind of bounty to be over her head. Thanks to Princess Twilight, of course.
The thought of Princess Twilight and her miserable friends sparked a furious flame within the unicorn’s chest, giving her enough strength to prop herself upwards. Gritting her teeth in fury, Starlight Glimmer glared a ferocious fire in her twin orbs of sight, both permanently locked on the flicker of light slowly beginning to fade away.
Not this time. She would not be lost again.
Shaking her head to clear away the numbness—though it was still clearly there—Starlight began a slow trot down the dark tunnel. The light grew nearer just as fast as it began to darken, consumed by the beast of the mountain. She snorted, blowing a heavy breath from her nostrils and kicked it in. It had been too long since she’s breathed actual air, not the kind that was infected by cavern moss and dust.
She still couldn’t believe she had been reduced to the state she was in.
Crawling about, surviving on whatever edible food source that came her way, lost like some stupid foal in a labyrinth of darkness and solitude, and being completely aware of her whole ordeal. She was always awake for the nightmare, living in the world that was taken from her. Her perfect world. No differences, no fights, nothing. Just peace.
Peace.
That has long since failed her.
But survival… Survival was her top priority. And she needed a clear exit out of the damn darkness.
Soon enough, Starlight arrived to the light, only to feel another tremor rip across the tunnel walls, causing her to stumble. A flurry of rocks and debris fell from the ceiling, crashing over the light and bringing only blackness.
Buck.
Starlight lit up her horn, the area cascaded in her light blue aura. The tumbling of pebbles to stone caught the unicorn’s interests, eyes narrowing on the building pile of rocks, the blockade that stood between her and her freedom from the dark.
She charged up her horn and blew it apart.
As the rock fragments hit her in the face and chest—causing the mare to flinch back and shield her vision—Starlight mentally grumbled, eyes opening to witness the shrinking dust across her forelegs.
Need to practice more on channeling energy. It’s been too long.
But she quickly cast those thoughts of practice aside. The outside moonlight had returned, stronger than ever before. A fresh breeze rolled in the tunnel, blowing past Starlight’s face and body and earning a satisfied sigh from the mare. She had done it. She earned her freedom.
The dust and dirt hadn’t settled since she blew apart the rock structure in her path, but it mattered little to Starlight. She stepped forward into the light with a smile on her face, the first, true smile she’s had in days.
Starlight’s smile shattered as she nearly fell to her death.
“Whoa!”
Her hoof skidded off the edge, pushing broken rocks down to the pit beneath her.
Backpedaling as quickly as her hooves could have managed, Starlight fell onto her haunches and placed a hoof to her chest, not surprised to feel her heart race at a quickened speed. No, she wasn’t surprised to feel that, as it’s expected once one nearly faces Death’s cold grasp. What she was surprised about was the pit she almost fell in.
For weeks she’s been trapped in the mountain. Not once had she come across a pit.
Then again, she was lost most of the time.
Seconds rolled by, but Starlight allowed them to. She wanted to wait for the clouds of dust to settle, giving her a clear view on what exactly she was facing. She didn’t have to wait long as the haze fell down, spilling fresh moonlight into the tunnel once more.
Starlight slowly stood up back to all four hooves. Her breathing grew ragged, coughing slightly at the small traces of dust lingering in that tainted air she loathed. Ignoring it the best she could, the unicorn moved forward, remembering to halt her progression at the edge of the moonlight.
Just as she suspected. A pit. Well, more or less.
As the dust settled in front of her vision, an even greater smoke cloud was built several feet beneath her. But Starlight wasn’t completely focused on what was beneath her, but rather what was all around her. Her jaw fell, gasping in a high pitch to show her shock and awe.
The event captured by her stunned and motionless gaze was instantaneous, surreal, and pronounced in every way. It was no pit, she knew that now. But what remained of the portion of the mountain she resided in was gone. Immediate. Exact. Complete. There was nothing left. Nothing but a large, circular crater embedded in the mountain side.
Rocks fell from the ceiling, becoming lost in the swirls of dark gray beneath the silent unicorn. The moon shone brightly from its position in the sky, which instantly startled the unicorn. She was curious earlier, but now she was certain it was nighttime, as the starry night was a clear fact of that. From what she could make out earlier before she fell unconscious, it was presumably daytime. She could’ve been wrong, too. It was hard to tell in her position.
Starlight remained motionless, mind still reeling on the event before her. She knew it was no pit. She knew that the crater was the aftermath of what caused the massive tremor earlier before, the same tremor that knocked her unconscious. But how?
From where she stood, Starlight could see no meteor or space debris. It was most likely lost within the lake of smoke several yards down. It would no doubt be a plausible resting point from the impact. She needed to be certain what was down below, what exactly had caused such destruction.
Starlight craned her neck forward. She was surprised to see that the crater was not as steep as she thought it was. She had most likely been moving too fast to see what lay beneath her, as she expected it to be a pit. Rather relieved on that information, Starlight pressed her two front hooves deep into the broken rock and slowly began to slide downwards.
The sharp rocks nearly pierced her skin, and it hurt. But no blood was drawn, at least as much as she knew. So, she kept sliding, kept at it until she entered the fog, instantly becoming one with the haze and losing sight of everything around her.
Starlight stopped sliding, taking a few cautious hoofsteps forward to prep herself on the rough surface. Once she was settled, her coughing fit returned, worse than before. Before, it was just a small dosage lingering in front of her. Now, she was trapped within the fog, the dastardly dust that snuck its way into her gasping lungs.
She inhaled through her nose, holding her breath as she scanned the smoky area. It was so quiet, minus the sounds of rocks impacting the shattered floor she stepped upon. A new thought dawned. She really hoped a rock didn’t fall on her.
Her lungs ached, her chest burning for fresh air, but her mind yelling at it, trying to tell it that there was no fresh air but damn smoke. Smoke that would send her into another coughing fit. The kind that split her throat and nearly shed blood. Starlight didn’t want that. She didn’t need it. But the lust for oxygen was too strong, so she breathed in and immediately began coughing.
She lifted her hoof, releasing the built-up cough into it. It continued like that for several second, so long in fact she when she recovered small bits of tears began to build at the corners of her eyes. Starlight snarled.
There’s nothing here. Time to go.
The unicorn spun around, horn glowing to find a way out of the madness.
“…Who are you?”
She froze. Her horn died.
The voice caught her completely off-guard, not only by its suddenness, but the way it sounded. So heavy, so broken, so…dark and mysterious. But it was clear, clear as Luna’s night sky. So clear that Starlight had to face it and see who it had belonged to. Or fight it. That was always an option.
Deciding to not speak out, Starlight continued onwards into the dust. She didn’t light up her horn, as that might attract the attention of whatever was in the area with her. She wanted to see it first, decide if it was worth her trouble or not, and then get away as quickly as possible. Not yet. She couldn’t be found yet. Not until Twilight was going to pay for what she did her.
After nearly a minute of onward silence, Starlight stopped, her hoof grazing a cracked rock and causing it to split in two. Her blood froze, chills racing up her spine and across her coat as the sound drifted through the dense air. She didn’t cough that time, as her breathing had become slow and regulated. Her eyes, though wide, burned from the dust building around her lenses.
She didn’t blink because she couldn’t.
She didn’t move because she didn’t want to.
She didn’t cough to remain silent, hidden.
She wasn’t hidden for long.
Three tall, bipedal figures stood in front of her as the dust slowly began to dissipate into the night air. As the image became clearer, Starlight noted that the middle figure was taller than the others, held a bulkier stature, and shined a different color than the others.
Starlight stopped.
She backtracked.
They were glowing. Two appeared to share the same color, both with blue eyes and shining chests and numerous other body parts. They were dim, though, as they both turned her way. The middle one, the one taller than the others, shined brighter as well. But it was not blue.
It was red.
And it turned its head around, its piercing, red gaze boring into the unicorn.
Starlight ran for it.
She spun around, galloped as fast as her hooves could have managed, and tripped over nearly every rock that crossed her path. No doubt about it now, she definitely earned a few cuts and gashes from the act, but she didn’t care. She just needed to get away from whatever beast she just saw.
Starlight didn’t get very far when one of the smaller ones landed directly in front of her.
What?! How is it that fast?!
Charging up her horn, Starlight gritted her teeth and prepared herself for a teleportation spell to instantly get around the beast. Her jaw relaxed, instead falling open once she saw the beast’s right arm morph into some kind of flat staff, something that burned bright blue at its tip.
She never got to teleport away. A bolt of energy shot out from the creature’s arm and struck the ground in front of her.
Starlight’s ears rang from the intensity of the blast, her back landing on several, jagged rocks and causing her to cry out in pain. She contained her scream, biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. But she didn’t care. Wounds would heal, and the creature had disappeared for the time being. She just needed to get away. Now.
Rolling over, Starlight rose up and charged up her horn, ready to teleport anywhere but where she was currently at. She managed to prepare the spell, horn fizzling with raw energy ready to be unleashed. And she would have unleashed that energy, she so would have…
…if it hadn’t been for the hand shooting out of the fog.
Starlight saw the hand coming, its claw-like fingers and hard-as-stone palm—cold, as well—wrapping around her horn and cutting off all magical flow. No use hiding now. She was caught defenseless, weakened, and without any way to defend herself. So she screamed out, hooves jetting upwards to attempt to push away the forearm. It didn’t move, much to her dismay.
“L-let go of me! Now! I swear, if you don’t let me go this instant I’ll—Ah!”
Starlight’s empty threat ended early. The forearm began to rise, lifting the unicorn off the ground kicking and screaming. It may not have been painful for Starlight once the hand held her horn in place, but once the entire limb began to lift her by her horn…that’s when her screams turned into cries of agony.
A unicorn’s horn was its most precious and sensitive appendage, and for it be brutalized the way Starlight was enduring was too much for her. She kicked, swung, screamed, and cried out again and again, but it just kept lifting her higher, blatantly ignoring her.
But it stopped.
Starlight didn’t quit, her eyes shut tight and hooves pressed against the wrist of the cold, cold arm that held her above the ground. It held her there for several seconds. Not once did its grip around Starlight’s horn loosen or tighten. It held it firmly, holding it so that Starlight’s pain began to subside. Even then it did not worsen.
After nearly a full thirty seconds of fruitless thrashing, Starlight gave in. She inhaled and exhaled at a quickened pace, the tears building at the edges of her eyes ready to flow. But she held them in, eyes opening at long last to meet the one who had managed to keep her restrained. Her expression stitched into that of a snarl, ready to show the beast that she wasn’t afraid no matter what it did.
As the dust settled, Starlight’s fearless expression faded with it.
After searching in the fog for so long, Starlight Glimmer came face-to-face with something she had never encountered. The face appeared metallic, its surface reflecting bits of Luna’s moonlight. What she assumed was its mouth remained closed, the cheeks of the creature being indented. But her gaze wasn’t drawn to its facial features for long. They were attracted to something much worse…
Its eyes.
Its terrible, horrible red eyes that had managed to break through the darkness and stab her shade of blue.
Starlight had felt nothing as she escaped from her pursuers so long ago. Her emotions had lain dormant as she picked at the fireplace she had built to survive the freezing temperatures within the mountain. The emotion she felt back then was anger, rage, and agony, all fusing together to build upon her growing hatred for Twilight Sparkle. She was not afraid of being alone. She was not afraid of what she had suffered through.
But when she stared into those red eyes, seeing all the evil the creature was capable of and then some, some she had no knowledge over, that made her feel…scared.
Fear of the unknown.
And it was holding her life in its hands.
She couldn’t hold it anymore. Starlight began to quiver as she continued to stare into the demon’s eyes, unable to break away and free herself. Her mouth fell, chest rising and falling at a brisk pace, as if contemplating that screaming for any sort of help would save her life or end it. She really didn’t know, and her options were slim as it was.
Starlight breathed in.
“Shhhhh...”
And she caught that breath.
The demon brought her in closer, so close that her nose nearly touched its opening mouth. She saw no teeth, but instead saw only red. Only red, only evil, only darkness and pain that she couldn’t even begin to fathom why it felt that way. But it did speak to her again, so close that its voice felt like ripples in her eardrums, spreading throughout her body, soul, and mind.
With Starlight Glimmer so close, it spoke to her in a low, low tone.
“Scream again…and you die.”