"Girls, I need to talk to you," Twilight announced as her friends circled around her.
The purple princess had instructed Spike to summon all of their friends to the castle; an urgent issue had come up and it demanded their full attention. Luckily, the baby dragon's legs carried him far faster than one would think possible for someone his size and he successfully rounded-up the others in record time.
There was, however, a reason for Spike's uncharacteristic speed. Like Twilight, he was worried.
"What's up?" asked Rainbow Dash, flaring her wings and flashing a cocky grin. "We got some new baddie to lay the smack-down on? I could go for a good fight or three before lunch."
"Of course you could," Rarity chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Really, Rainbow, must everything end in sweat and violence with you? At least try to consider diplomacy as an option, darling."
"Hey, a good scuffle makes things more exciting," the colorful mare retorted, grinning wider. "I can't help that. So, who's in need of a swift kick to flank this time?"
Twilight simply shook her head.
"It's nothing like that," she said, her tone hesitant and confused. Her eyes shifted anxiously between each of her friends' expectant expressions.
Taking notice of the alicorn's mounting tension, Applejack placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder and assured her, "We're here for ya, Twi. If somethin's wrong, we'll all lend a hoof to help. You know you can count on us."
Letting out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding in, Twilight nodded her head in thanks and backed away to get a better view of the entire group.
"I'm worried," she explained, nervously shuffling back and forth in place as she spoke. "Something's wrong with Starlight, I can tell. I asked her the other day to fill me in; told her that Spike and I would always be there to listen if she needed us, but she wouldn't talk about it. She wouldn't talk about anything. She just stood there... staring."
"Where is she now?" Fluttershy quietly questioned, her voice even but concerned. "I saw her on the balcony when I was on my way inside. I waved hello, but... um... I guess she didn't see me."
"She's still there," the princess replied, brow knitted and expression strained. "She's been there for over four hours."
"Four and a half," Spike amended from his position on Twilight's back.
At that, everypony's eyes widened.
"Yesterday, after she finally came inside, I asked her again," Twilight sighed sadly, "but she just brushed it off as simple 'alone time'. I could buy that, I think, but the length of time she's been spending just standing there is starting to scare me and she's been doing it for weeks now."
Nodding his head, Spike added, "Nothing snaps her out of it either. She kinda just comes to eventually, like she's been asleep standing up or something. Gives me the creeps."
Twilight turned her head to face the small dragon on her back and glared. To his credit, he only shied away an inch or two.
"Well, what can we do?" Applejack questioned as she adjusted her hat. "Ah hate to see mah friends troubled by somethin' an' if she's spendin' that much time just standin' around starin' at nothin', then it definitely sounds like she's got some serious troubles goin' on."
"I don't know," Twilight answered, shaking her head, "but that's not all."
Flapping her wings and bringing herself into a low hover, Rainbow asked, "It's not?"
The young alicorn stared down at her hooves for a long moment before answering, "She's... she's been drinking lately too; quite a lot and she's been trying to hide it from me. She's kept up with her studies and her chores around the castle for the most part, but I've smelled it on her breath; seen the trips and stumbles that she tries to cover up whenever she enters the room and knows that Spike and I are watching."
"Ah've seen that before," Applejack said, tapping a hoof against the floor, "an' coupled with all that time she's spendin' out there on the balcony, well, now Ah ain't guessin' no more. Ah know somethin's wrong. Hittin' the sauce every once in a while for fun's all fine an' dandy, but every other day? That ain't good."
"Actually," Spike spoke, tugging at Twilight's mane and catching her worried eyes with an expression of his own to match, "I'm pretty sure it isn't every other day. It's every day period. I had to take some garbage out a few days ago after I cleaned up the mess I made while making breakfast. There were some bottles mixed in there underneath the rest of the trash... a lot of them."
"Have you... um... tried to talk to her about that too?" Fluttershy inquired.
"She denied it," the purple princess responded sadly, heaving another sigh. Fluffing her wings, she then looked to each of her friends and felt the warmth of their support bolster her confidence just a tiny bit more. With a tired smile, she shrugged her shoulders and added, "But with all seven of us here, maybe... maybe she'll open up? It's at least worth a shot."
Bouncing into the conversation with a wide grin despite what she'd just been told, Pinkie Pie nonetheless cheered, "Then let's head on up there and see what's got her party so pooped!"
"Indeed," Rarity added, her dainty smile more restrained than the bombastic party planner's. "If Starlight needs us, then there is no other place I would rather be today. Lead the way, Twilight."
With a unanimous nod, all seven turned and began their trek through the castle's labyrinthine halls. It seemed that their friend was hurting and she either wouldn't or couldn't voice her pain, so come Tartarus or high water, nothing would stop them from being there for her.
That was what friends were for, after all.
~ w ~
Starlight stood out on the balcony with her forehooves resting on her newest, perhaps closest friend, the guardrail. Her eyes, someplace far away, focused on nothing and rarely blinked. Were it not for the wind gently ruffling her mane, anypony could be forgiven for mistaking the young mare for a statue.
"You just need to see it, that's all," a familiar whisper told the unicorn. "You just need to know that it's there."
And it was there.
Daytime Ponyville bustled with the lively sounds of trotting ponies, a booming market, and the occasional crunch of carriage wheels grinding along unpaved roads. There were friendly conversations, there were a few heated arguments, and every once in a while Starlight could hear a happy laugh echo up to her in greeting.
"Still, the question's a little foalish, don't you think? Of course it's there, where else would it be?" the whisper chided.
Starlight had an answer, but feared actually voicing it.
Instead of the humble, little town in which she and her dear friends all lived, there would be a vast and sprawling waste. Shifting sands covered all, no ruins or rubble to hint at any particular location's name.
Starlight shifted some of her weight onto the hooves she had resting on the rail.
"Don't."
It was the strangest thing. In her dreams, the whisper always urged her on towards the edge of the cliff; towards the end. But here, in the world of the waking, she found that it only wished to reinforce her dwindling resolve. It was as though it couldn't make up its mind on the matter.
Such a strange little voice.
"Please, don't," it continued softly. "You're not thinking clearly right now, you don't know what you're doing."
Pictures of a dead and barren landscape screamed through Starlight's mind. Her grip on the rail tightened.
There was so much sand. Where it had come from, she didn't know, but who it had come from was all too understood. Each grain was a life cut short and the desert itself a massive graveyard, stretching on across the horizon in every direction but one.
The ocean.
No, that was her own personal graveyard, littered on the bottom with the bones of too many Starlights to count.
"What would your friends think? Yes, you stole their talents and kept them locked in a cage, but still, they accepted you and took you in. How much love does a level of forgiveness that runs that deep require? They care about you, Starlight."
The black waves roared as they crashed against Starlight's shores, chipping away with each unforgiving blow at what little strength the shaken mare still clung to.
She leaned forward.
"Please, Starlight!" the whisper plead, now shouting.
Odd, she thought, as it had never raised its voice at her before. Why now?
"You're young! You have your whole life ahead of you; all the time in the world to pay penance for what you've done!"
"Starlight?" came a different voice.
That voice was new. New but... still familiar. With it, there was an unspoken promise of books and knowledge; the study of something important that Starlight herself had once bastardized. Sadly, despite recognizing the voice, her mind remained firmly rooted elsewhere and failed to grant it the attention that it both demanded and deserved.
"Heya, Star, what's up?" came another, it too falling upon deaf ears.
"See, Starlight? Your friends are here. They'll help you get through this."
The mare in her dreams had done it. She'd found the courage to dive. Starlight trembled, shifting more and more of her weight onto her forehooves.
How cold would it be at the bottom of the sea? Would it be freezing enough to numb the pain?
"Stars and stones, not right in front of them! Are you really that cruel?!"
That was a good question. Was the pony who destroyed the world "cruel"? The answer seemed painfully obvious. After all, she'd been a tyrant once before. A tyrant and a thief. Surely "cruel" had been a part of her repertoire too.
"Um... Starlight? Are you... are you okay?"
More weight was traded from the balcony to the rail. She couldn't stop herself; she could hear it now, the ocean calling her name. It sounded so kind and understanding, so gentle. Surely it would forgive her.
All she needed to do was bridge the last few inches of that teeny, tiny gap between herself and oblivion. It wasn't very far, she just needed to move her little rump. She could make it there with a hop, skip, and a jump.
It was music to her ears.
"If you do it, it can't be undone! It isn't a pencil mark that you can erase or a spilled mug of cider to wipe up! It's your life, Starlight, and you only get one!"
Tears slipped down Starlight's cheeks as her eyes finally focused and she whispered aloud, "Good. One was too many."
Starlight Glimmer slipped along with her tears, her rear hooves rising as she flipped over the rail towards rapidly approaching destinations unknown.
She smiled.