My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 167: The Sad Story of Stygian

As the pillars prepared for battle, Starlight came trotting into the main hallway. This had to be done. There were things that she needed to know. "There's still one thing I don't get about all of this," She inquired of the pillars. "About Stygian. You were all friends with him once, before he became The Pony of Shadows. What happened between you to cause all those events?"

At that the mood of the pillars soured, turning almost mournful in posture. It was Rockhoof who broke the grim silence. "Reckoned it was only a matter of time until someone asked. But fair warning, lassie, the tale of our effort is a sad one," He began to recount the story of Stygian. "Stygian was a pony like the rest of us, though more the scholarly type than a hero. Always said as much. But when a group of sirens who called themselves the Dazzlings showed up in his village, the lad realized our world would need champions to defend it! So he sought us out one by one, helped us with our problems, and in return we came back to save his village."

Flash Magnus spoke up next. "Stygian never got involved in any of our battles, we always worked best when civilians and bystanders were out of the way. If Stygian ever joined the fray and got hurt on my watch, I'd never be able to forgive myself. Stygian seemed to know this too or so we thought," His tone of voice started to turn to anger as he continued. "But it seemed he grew jealous of our abilities. Jealous of the fact that we were the big heroes and not him. And then... well you wouldn't believe what he did next."

"W-why? W-what did he do?" Starlight asked with a gulp, slightly terrified of the prospect.

"He stole from us!" Mistmane commented. "Took away items from each of us that were important to us, or outright necessary for our line of work! The intent was use to them in some kind of enchantment. Ironically or whatever, it required Ponhenge to be effective. We caught him red hoofed with the stolen artifacts."

"And for that we had no choice but to cast him out," Mage Meadowbrook somberly added. "It wasn't anythin' personal but it was a betrayal that done stung somethin' fierce. We figured he just needed some time to cool off and think about what he'd done. It always worked for me whenever I acted up around Mother. Should've realized that wasn't gonna work."

Somnambula was the last of the pillars to speak, and her voice sounded the most mournful of all. "We always thought that he'd return and seek forgiveness. Even Starswirl was ready to welcome him back with open hooves. But days went by and then weeks yet Stygian didn't show. We assumed the worst, we feared someone or something had gotten to him in a moment of weakness. Then one day, all of a sudden, he returned. But he wasn't the same anymore, his heart was blackened and filled only with a desire for revenge. He became The Pony of Shadows, and dashed even my hope of saving him."

"So now you know the whole sad tale," Rockhoof finished. "It's tragic really when you think about it. I always considered Stygian to be like a little brother and even if I'd known then that taking him in would lead to all of this, I wouldn't have had the heart to turn him away."

"But why did he steal from all of you? You were all friends for years, he would've had to know those items were important to you. Why would he suddenly do something so short sighted and obvious?" Starlight asked as new questions came to the forefront of her mind. "And what he was even trying to do at Ponhenge?"

"That's the thing, we have no idea," Mage Meadowbrook answered. "We tried to give him a chance to speak up, plead his case. But he said nothin' the whole time, just stood there like a gator with its mouth wired shut. Mistmane and Starswirl suspected it was a spell intended to take away our powers and give them to him. I didn't wanna believe it, but Stygian never left any clues hintin' at an alternative. It was like he decided out of the blue to betray us."

"Perhaps that is partially our fault," Somnambula spoke up. "We should not have turned him loose so soon after he'd tried to go behind our backs. Perhaps if we had asked him, he would've spoken up and we would know the truth."

But Starswirl (who had overheard the entire conversation) shook his head as he coldly remarked. "It does us no good to dwell on what we could've done differently in the past. The fact is that we welcomed Stygian into our lives, and he repaid us by trying to take away our powers. Nothing will change that. So instead of moping around and hoping to change the past, let's instead focus on what we can do to protect the future! We know the location of our foe, and every moment we stand around here is a moment he spends growing stronger. If we don't act soon he'll be too powerful for anyone to defeat! Now we must retrieve the Elements of Harmony, and be on our way!"

---

Starswirl led the other pillars as well as the six stallions (alongside Twilight, Sunburst, Starlight, and Spike) to the Tree of Harmony. With a flick of his horn he effortlessly pried the elements from their resting place, assigning them each one by one to their respective bearers. And each in turned donned the respective necklace (or in Shining's case crown) that belonged to their elements.

"So eh... how do we use them?" Rockhoof questioned.

"Oh it's really quite simple," Fancy Pants spoke up. "All we have to do is..." But then he paused, realizing that he actually had no idea how to activate the Elements of Harmony on command. "You know, I never stopped to consider that. They just seem to work for us whenever we need them to. Just point at the problem and they take care of the rest."

Starswirl simply replied. "The Elements of Harmony activate in response to any threat to the realm. They are attuned to each of you as they were once attuned to the princesses. But because they're also connected to our virtues, we must use them in pairs. I assume you know what I mean," Everyone nodded. "Good. Now if there are no further questions, let's make haste to The Hollow Shades!"

As the rather large group set out, Shining noticed that Starlight didn't seem to be following them. Having already been made aware of his former student's concerns a while ago, he decided it best not to leave anything to chance. "What's the matter, Starlight? Aren't you gonna come with us?" He asked her.

Starlight hung her head and remarked in a defeated tone. "The map didn't call me and it's clear that I'm outvoted on how to approach this situation. No sense in me tagging along, I'll just get in the way."

"Oh come now, are you really going to tell me you trust the map's judgement on everything?" Shining inquired. "Because I certainly don't. You didn't need the map to tell you to go back to your old village, or to go to the changeling hive and overthrow Queen Chrysalis now did you?"

"No, I didn't." Starlight replied.

"And you didn't need it to reconnect with Sunburst in the Crystal Empire, or do just about everything else you've done since becoming my student," Shining went on to explain. "Besides, the map didn't call the pillars or even Twilight or Sunburst. But they're all going too. This is a situation that clearly calls for all the help we can get, and that includes you."

"But what about Stygian?" Starlight asked with concern. "You heard what the pillars said a while back. Stygian was once their friend. Something must be wrong. You're not really going to banish a pony back to limbo without knowing the whole story behind his actions, are you?"

"Starlight, I already told you that I must put aside my personal feelings on this matter and do what's best for all of Equestria," Shining somberly declared with a frown. "I don't like the idea of banishment, but I see no other way to save Equestria from a terrible fate! If another option presents itself and has a good chance of working, I might try it. But this whole mess was caused because I let my personal feelings cloud my judgement."

"Well... I just hope you make the right decision when the time comes." Starlight somberly declared. But it seemed that she was willing to accompany the rest of the group in spite of those concerns.

Author's Note:

Something I don't think a lot of people consider when talking about Stygian is that the items he stole weren't just random objects. They were artifacts that were near and dear to each of the pillars (and in the cases of Rockhoof and Meadowbrook they were actually necessary for them to do their jobs). Going behind their backs and taking such objects without asking certainly doesn't help his case. The pillars are right to suspect he was up to something.

But the pillars (or at least Somnambula) did expect him to eventually return and apologize. It's clear they didn't hold the act against him when they had time to reflect. They made a tough call, one that they regretted.

I wanted to try and elaborate on that a little. Plus, since Starlight hasn't been called by the map in this universe (since "A Royal Problem" didn't happen), her not being called now seems like a point worth bringing up (as far as I know she wasn't called by the map in the show canon episode either, but by that point we'd already seen the map expand its reach beyond the mane six for solo missions so the audience and Starlight in universe would no longer be surprised).

And yes, the title of this chapter is indeed a reference to "The Sad Story of Henry" in The Railway Series and the episode of the same name in the television show (retitled "Come Out, Henry!" in the U.S.).

Comments

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks very much for sharing this next/third-to-last chapter. Of course, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up were all pretty well done in all the right places. I especially liked the other Pillars' points of view concerning the story as well as Shining and Starlight's discussion at close to the end.

Yeah. I'm definitely going to be looking forward to the final two chapters.

[Yoshifan30]

So basically Stygian felt like he was a abandoned after what they did to him basically it's just a misunderstanding i hope they will found a way soon