The Starlight Broadcast

by ponyfhtagn

Pt.1 - Chapter 2

“Rarity, I’m so sorry,” Spike said, stroking her mane.

“No, no,” Rarity sniffed, looking up from the pillow she had been wailing into. “I’m fine. I should be stronger than this. Besides, it’s not your fault they cancelled the school performance and all my beautiful costumes were for nothing.” She let out another sniffle, that broke into a whine and then she was sobbing into her pillow once more.

Spike sucked in a breath and decided now was not the time to try and reiterate how he kind of felt like it maybe was he fault. Or… mostly, Starlight’s fault, anyway.

He gave the filly a pat on the shoulder. It didn’t help.

So Spike let his gaze drift around the room instead. It was so strange seeing Carousel Boutique before it even was a boutique. Certainly it looked very strange because all the windows had been broken during the blast, and Rarity’s family had covered them over with sheets of clear plastic for now.

Rarity’s room was still filled with fabrics and designs, but there was… more of an arts-and-crafts feel to the mess. Most of the outfits were child-sized, although there were adult-sized mannequins and designs for great sweeping ball gowns. The sewing table was at foal height and probably child-proofed in some way. There were also other projects: curtains, pillow cases, bed sheets. Young Rarity was trying it all and slowly discovering who she was.

But now…

Spike glanced shyly at the blank space where her cutiemark should have been.

Had he messed it all up? Maybe if he hadn’t been there…

No. This was Starlight’s fault. She messed with time. She tried to stop the rainboom. But instead… What had they created?

“D-don’t worry, Rarity,” Spike tried again. “The performance is just delayed for a bit. Because of the explosion.”

Rarity sniffed and looked up again. “Mother said we’re all supposed to call it the Starburst Event. That’s what the papers have been calling it. More formal. Less threatening. Or something.” Her face flopped down onto the pillow once more.

“Well,” Spike tried again. “I’m sure the school performance will be back on soon. Then you can show your costumes again and... I don’t know, maybe get your cutiemark? Huh?” He tried to smile.

Rarity glanced at him without lifting her head much.

“Well what’s so crazy about that?” Spike asked.

Rarity sat up at last and took a deep breath. She wiped her face with her forelegs and calmed herself. “No, Spike. I don’t think fashion is my destiny after all. I think Equestria needs me. Like you said.”

“Uh… did I say that? I don’t think I said that.”

“You see, Spike…” Rarity hopped off the bed and paced to the plastic-covered window. “Unicorn magic is very important, especially while one is still growing. It can tell you things about yourself. About your destiny.”

“Rarity, I’m telling you. Your horn lead you to the jewels,” Spike insisted.

“Maybe…” Rarity went on, gazing out at the night at the now curfewed streets. “But I don’t know if I believe that anymore.”

“Rarity, listen.” Spike jumped off the bed and plodded over to her. “The blast—The Starlight Event. It changed things. The world is different.”

“Then maybe I’m supposed to be different, too,” Rarity said.

“But the costumes—”

“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Rarity insisted, turning to face him. “Why don’t you take those gems. Dragons eat gems, yes? Well it’s better than my excuses for why I’m always smuggling oat-cakes up to my room after dinner.” She smiled. “Go on.”

Spike looked over at the cardboard box marked School Costumes. He hesitated for a moment, but shook his head. “No. Everything will be back to normal soon. Just wait.”

Rarity sighed and nodded. “Alright.” She didn’t sound convinced. “I just wish there was something we could do about it. Hasn’t your friend… Twilight? Hasn’t she contacted you yet?”

Spike shook his head. “No. And the letters I send keep getting—I guess… rejected?”

“Well, darling, you are setting them on fire,” Rarity teased.

Spike smiled back.

The silence threatened to become awkward.

“We could…” Rarity started, “go look for her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Spike said. “I don’t think she’s even here anymore.”

Rarity tilted her head. “…yyyyyessss. That’s why we should look for her.”

“No, I mean—” Spike rubbed at his face.

“Darling, how do you expect me to help if you won’t give me the whole story?”

“What? I told you. Me and Twilight were trying to stop Starlight—”

“From casting an evil spell. Yes.” Rarity waved a hoof. “But that doesn’t explain how you know who I am. It doesn’t explain any of these other strange things you say, and it certainly doesn’t explain how you’re a dragon.”

Spike shrugged. “Uh… magic?”

Rarity narrowed her eyes at him.

Spike huffed a sigh. “You’re right. And I could really use your help.”

“That means you’ll tell me everything?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

Spike met her eyes and nodded. “The truth. The whole story.”

“Oh yes!” Rarity cheered. “Tell me! Tell me now!”

Hoofsteps approached her door. Then a motherly voice said, “Rarity, please. Keep it down. Your baby sister is trying to sleep.”

Rarity winced. “Sorry mother,” she hissed.

The hoofsteps retreated back down the hall.

Spike cleared his throat. “Maybeeee in the morning.”

Rarity slumped. “Fine.”

“And… Maybe we should go somewhere else, so we don’t bother your patents.”

“Oh please. Them?” Rarity tsked. “I spent a whole day getting dragged around by my horn and they didn’t notice. I smuggled a dragon into my room and they didn’t notice. They don’t notice anything unless it wakes the baby.”

Rarity and Spike shared a quiet giggle.

“Okay,” Rarity whispered. “Tomorrow. School’s are still closed so we’ll have the day to ourselves.”

“Right,” Spike said.

Rarity climbed into bed and pulled her sleep-mask over her eyes. “Good night, Spike.”

The little dragon settled down in the decorative and cushy basket-bed that Rarity had insisted on making for him. “Night, Rarity,” he said with a yawn, and snuggled down into the soft pillowy fabric.

The night in Canterlot, however, was not so restful for some.

The little filly Twilight paced a circle in her lonely bedroom. It had been a couple of days since she failed her exam. The test that would grant her entrance into Celestia’s prestigious school. The place where Twilight belonged.

But nothing had happened.

Yes, her parents had talked.

But nothing. Nothing yet.

All the windows had been replaced. At least, for those who could afford it. It turned out the magic reinforcement had slowly drained from them in the course of an hour or so until they shattered. A delayed reaction, of sorts.

All the magic-run things in the streets had also lost their power. The street lights, sure, but also everything else that ran on magic. Canterlot was in upheaval.

Well of course nothing was getting done. Who would have time for a little filly’s hopes and dreams? Not with all this going on. Besides… Schools were closed, anyway.

Twilight stopped pacing and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

Not even her foalsitter Cadence was around anymore. She had been called back to Celestia’s side on full alert following ‘The Starburst Event’. Twilight had new foalsitters. Sometimes this or that unicorn. Most times it was her brother. And he was missing Cadence even more than Twilight. He didn’t have time to listen to her problems. Nopony did…

Twilight lit up her horn and went to her tall and adorned bedroom mirror. She gazed at her own reflection, lit by her sparking magenta magic, and wondered what had gone wrong at the test?

The explosion—the flash—the light, the sound. It scared her, yes, but had it been more? She thought harder.

Yes… There was something. She recalled how all three unicorns holding the exam had dropped their clip boards. Okay, sure, they had just been startled but a big explosion. But then… Had they picked up their things using magic? Or their hooves…?

Twilight wasn’t certain. Had they used magic? She thought they had. Yes, they had. Or had they? Twilight shook her head. No. That was a lie. They hadn’t. Something had happened to them. Something so slight they had probably already dismissed it. They had lost their magic for a short moment. And Twilight must have also.

“And because I’m so small…” Twilight whispered to herself. “And I’m only a filly! It’s no wonder I couldn’t complete the rest of the test!”

She rushed from the mirror and sprang to the door.

Her outstretched hoof hesitated.

Everypony was asleep right now. She’d have to tell them in the morning.

Twilight started pacing again.

But would they even listen? Or would they be able to do anything about it? Equestria was a mess right now. No one cared for the broken dreams of one little filly.

Twilight levitated her pillow and threw it against the wall.

“Fine,” Twilight grumbled. “If they won’t let me take the test… I’ll just have to take it by force.”

And she grinned at the notion.

Across the shambles of Canterlot and the ruins of Ponyville, in the tarp-covered house on the Pie Family Rock Farm, a little pink pony was up past her bedtime, rocking and giggling at the sky.

“Pinkie?” Maud asked, pushing open the door to the attic room.

The two bunk beds had been soiled with dust when the roof had caved in. There were rocks and wood fragments everywhere. It was an old house. They would built it stronger this time.

“Pinkie, what are you doing up here?” Maud asked, walking carefully into the room. “It’s not safe. Come back to bed with the rest of us.”

Pinkie had hauled a grubby mattress onto the floor where she sat, curled and rocking, staring upwards.

Maud looked up. “Pinkie, the tarp has slipped. It’s freezing in here. And if it rains you’ll get soaked.

Pinkie chuckled at that. Or maybe it was a coincidence.

Maud went to sit on the mattress by her little sister. “Hey. You can talk to me. Whatever it is, you can talk to me.”

Pinkie rocked and snickered.

“You know I listen, Pinkie,” Maud said. “I always listen to you. About that frog you found. And that rock shaped like a doughnut. And your Pinkie Sense. So you can tell me, Pinkie. What happened out there?”

Pinkie’s eyes remained fixed on the sky, but the giggles ceased and she began to whisper. “The wounds of the past have circled back. A vicious cycle inward trapped. Suffering. War. I see a plague of creatures. I see night eternal. I see everything. But it is the nothing-space that scares me. The dark that does not know. I see an infinity of stars burn out. The path of fate has twisted. Lines were crossed. Lines will bleed.”

Maud took the opportunity to check on Pinkie’s bandages and bruises. No bones had been broken, and her wounds were mostly superficial. Though Maud did wonder how it would be for Pinkie growing up with a notched ear. And she’d probably have scars.

“Go on,” Maud said.

Pinkie did. “There is a servant, misplaced. He walks the path of memory because he knows no better. His fate was altered long, long ago. He is older than he knows and will suffer years unnatural. She will hurt him and he will let her. He can save us but she is not the one. None of them are. Do not believe what you remember. We all must die so we can live.”

Maud put a hoof on her sister’s fluffy head. “Okay, Pinkie. You know the rules. When you start talking about death that means it’s time for bed.”

Pinkie giggled again. “…time.”

“Yes Pinkie.” Maud patted her mane. “I could try brushing this,” Maud offered. She gave one of her rare smiles. “Or maybe it would be better to shave you.”

Pinkie giggled again. “…would be… could be…”

Maud persisted. “Yes. And your tail’s so fluffy now you could be a bunny rabbit,” she said, pulling at the tangled mess.

The tail moved and suddenly Maud froze. Her eyes were locked on the curious patterning on Pinkie’s flank. Was it a wound? A rash? Maud leapt up to pull the tarp further back, allowing the moonlight to fully spill into the room.

“Pinkie…” Maud said, pulling the filly’s tail aside once more.

It was a mark. A symbol. Of a narrow eye. Many eyes. Staring out from Pinkie’s flank in the most disturbing way.

“Pinkie. Is this your cutiemark?” Maud asked. “When did this come in? What does it mean?”

Pinkie continued to rock and giggle. “…whendid, whatdoes? Mean and meaning?”

And she broke into snickering fit.

Comments

[Dragon Master Spike]

Aww man, Rarity and Spike team up, Twilight going dark (?), seer Pinkie? This getting good.