Skylight's Story: Monster

by NightArrow

Ch6: The Unfortunate Demise of Skylight Sparkle

Chapter 6: The Unfortunate Demise of Skylight Sparkle

*snap!* A blinding light filled the room. Skylight shielded her eyes, and Night Arrow’s stone encasing as well as his royal armor falls to pieces around him. Discord is gone.

“What the . . .?”

Skylight is completely elated. “Oh, Night Arrow!!”

Arrow scaned the room around him, trying to figure out just what’s going on. “Are we... in a library? Is that a statue of Fluttershy?” He said, dizzily walking over to it “Wow, that’s a perfect likeness. What library is this?”

“Night Arrow, we don’t have much time! I need to know, why do we live in Everfree Forest? Why didn’t you ever take me back to my family? Are you really so selfish that you just keep me... keep me prisoner in an old abandoned locker room!?”

“Wait a second! Selfish?? Prisoner!? Skylight, what’s gotten into you?? You’re starting to freak me out...! And not the usual kind of freaked out like when you’re bouncing off the walls. . . in fact, you look a little more... focused than usual. . .”

Skylight put her hooves on his shoulders “Night Arrow, please!! Just tell me! WHY DID YOU STEAL ME AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!!?”

Night Arrow looked genuinely offended. “Steal you away? STEAL you away!? Skylight, I never stole you from anything! You were just a filly! You seriously don’t remember that night do you?”

Skylight sat back down in front of Arrow. “I remember... the vats of rainbow, and the lightning, and . . .”

“The race? Against me? Through the factory?”

Skylight shook her head. “Wha... a race?”

“Hmmph,” A look of concern fell across his face. “You really don’t remember. Well trust me, Skylight: I’ll never forget.”

Skylight sat attentively as Night Arrow recalled the events of that fateful night that led them to live the life they had all these years in Everfree Stadium.

“It was in Cloudsdale. We used to always go up there after school. Being really they only two pegasus ponies in Canterlot kinda sucked since we were magic-less. And since my dad was the Wonderbolt’s coach, and your big brother was training for the Royal Guard, we were pretty stuck.

“We used to race each other all the time. The same way, starting off at the old beat-up storm cloud container, flying around the Rainbow section of the Weather Factory, and ending at Cloudsdale City Hall. But this night was different. The old storm cloud container was open! Remember? I dared you to go inside, and you, being the brave little filly you were took me up on it.

“You walked right in there, saying you felt all tingly from the static lightning.” Night Arrow smiled, “We laughed, then headed back out to start our race. I knew you looked a little jittery from the electricity, you still had pieces of storm cloud stuck all over you, but you insisted that you were fine. ‘Not trying to get out of a race, are ya’ Arrow?’ you mocked. And once I’m mocked, I never back down. So off we went. . .

“I was winning, well, at first. But this time something was different. I had never seen you fly so fast! And it looked like your wings were, I don’t know, electric! Like your little flapping was actually charging the lightning! At that moment, I knew I should have stopped the race, but my stupid pride wanted to beat you so bad. I’d never lost a race, and I’ll be damned if I lost to a little filly!

“So we raced on. As you got further and further ahead of me, I noticed your flight pattern became more and more erratic. You seemed to have less and less control every few feet. Just then, I realized the sky darkened around me, so I turned around, and there was a giant thundercloud behind me! The electricity you had on you must have magnetized you to the rest of it! It was following you, at a very high speed!

“I panicked! I tried calling out to you; ‘ Skylight!! Skylight STOP!!’ But you just responded with ‘ ‘Nice try, Arrow! Looks like I’m finally winning this one!’

“Suddenly, instead of flying between all the vats of rainbow... you just crashed right into one, literally into one; breaking a hole right into the side of it. I stopped in my tracks, terrified at the gallons and gallons of Rainbow pouring all over you.

“I bolted towards you again, tried to rescue you but just then, that thundercloud passed me right up, knocking me to the side, and slammed right into you. The whole place lit up like a Hearthwarming Tree. ‘AAAAARRRRROOOWW!!’ you screamed. ‘SSSKKYYYLLIIIIIIIIGGGHHHTT!!’ I called back. ‘
IT’S... IT’S IN MY EYES!! I CAN’T SEE!!’ you said. . .

“I just watched hopelessly, not knowing what to do. . .”

“When the lights finally went down, I expected the worst. My mind raced, I thought ‘How am i gonna tell Twilight? Shining Armor??’ This was all my fault. I knew racing through the factory with that electricity on you was a bad idea, but my stupid immaturity, and pride, didn’t let me stop us before it was too late.

“After all the lights had stopped, I heard a moaning coming from the busted vat. ‘...Ar-- arrow?’ I heard through the wreckage. I flew up as fast I could. My hooves digging though damp, grey storm cloud as quickly as I possible, then, I saw you.

“You were completely changed. Your mint coat was a neon green, your beautiful peach-colored mane was a shocking pink, and when you opened your eyes... they were... well, you know.

“When the sirens started, I said ‘We have to get outta here, Skylight!’ I grabbed you and flew straight down. We landed at the edge of the Everfree Forest, near a lake.

‘We need to go home, Sky’ I said.

‘I know, I just... I can’t think straight.’ you said.

‘Don’t go to sleep, I hear it’s dangerous to go to sleep after you hit your--’

‘No, no, I’m not tired... I’m actually more awake than I’ve ever felt...!’

‘Skylight, you still have rainbow all over your mane, and coat... go wash it off in the lake over there.’

‘Okay...’

You walked right over, and caught a glmpse of yourself in the reflection. ‘What the... I’m-- I’m a monster!’

‘No! No you’re not!’ I tried to calm you down. ‘You look crazy awesome!’ I said, ‘and look! Skylight! You got your cutie mark!’ You checked down, and saw it.

‘But... what the heck is my special talent? Crashing into vats of Rainbow?’

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know! But we need to get you home soon...’

‘Looking like this!? No way!’ You scrubbed and scrubbed for what felt like hours, but your coat only looked irritated from all the scrubbing. Not at all any less bright. ‘It’s... it’s not coming off!! Arrow! It’s not coming off!’ The panic in your voice made me want to panic too. . . but I knew I had to stay calm for you.

‘Skylight, we need to get you home...’

‘NO! Not like this!! I’ll be disowned! We’re practically Canterlot Royalty! My brother will never get into the academy with a crazy looking sister like this! And Twilight! She wants to study directly under the princess! You know how judgmental Canterlot ponies are, I’d ruin their lives!’

You began to cry. I met you down in the river, and gave you a hug. ‘Hey, heyheyhey.. calm down, Sky... look, it’s okay. We’ll just lay low for a while, okay? We’ll go home tomorrow when our head is clear, sound like a plan?’

You looked at me with those big, filly eyes, ‘Mmhmm...’

So we looked for a place to stay.”

Skylight was mesmerized by Night Arrow’s re-telling of her long-forgotten origin. “It was your idea to look through Everfree Forest.” He said, “Once we found the old abandoned stadium, it started to rain, so we just stayed in one of the locker rooms. I bugged you every day for 3 whole months to go back home. But you wanted to stay. You were too ashamed of your new look, you didn’t think anypony would accept you back in Canterlot. So eventually, I gave up. And we just lived in the Forest.”

“I.. I remember all that now. . .” Skylight said, pacing around the room, “It wasn’t your fault I’m family-less... it’s mine. And what about your family!? Oh Arrow, I’ve not only ruined my own life, I stole you away from your family too!! You could have been a Wonderbolt! You were training every day with your dad! Did you ever see any of them ever again!?”

“Well, no. But I felt so bad about your accident, and kinda got used to taking care of you. Sure I miss Raindrops and Scootaloo, and Dad, but... well, I’ve come to think of you as my little sister now...” he smiled.

Skylight’s eyes lit up.

“You’re all the family, I need Sky’...”

Skylight hugged Arrow tightly.

“Aww, how sentimental...” Discord said, appearing behind Night Arrow. “Touching really. But I hope you’ve made up your mind, Skylight. You have 30 seconds.”