V.II - The Ace of Hearts
“And that is why we sent Glimmer home,” Tempest concluded, unwavering in her soldier-like facade. “As I’ve explained, the only thing I do not take responsibility for is keeping you in the dark until after the fact—a decision made in the moment by the Wonderbolts rookie.” It was a worrying testament to her disquiet, how Rainbow said nothing in defense of her position with the renowned pegasus team. She just sat in the middle of their five friends, shoulders rising and falling, hooves together before her boggled eyes. “And in her defense,” Tempest continued, “I do not blame her. And neither do you, I imagine, if I trust your previous lack of confidence hadn’t bolstered since we’ve spoken this morning. It was a smart decision in the long run.”
That’s right. Twilight had nearly forgotten what she has and hasn’t disclosed to which pony: the girls and Tempest knew of her desperation and grief well. The princesses and Spike were well-aware of this on top of her brush with dark magic. Starlight knew none of this, for she would surely blame herself. Not a soul knew about her encounter with Draggle, but all knew how terrifying they were. Or they were supposed to, anyway.
So many lies. So many horrible, gut-wrenching lies. “Y-yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Applejack would be ashamed to know of them—everypony would. “You girls were wise to decide this. It’s horrible, it’s aggravating, and I feel a little bit betrayed despite knowing I would make it worse. Even now, I wish I’d gotten to say someth—something—!” Twilight’s throat closed. “Oh, Starlight!”
She tried to run away.
She wanted to run, to leave them, that’s how awful she felt.
To be driven to such a state… how she must feel right now...
It was inconceivable, yet it was real: Starlight willfully chose to lose her friends. It was almost frighteningly out of character if it didn’t make a tragic amount of sense.
And in the quiet betwixt gasps, the world kept on turning: firebugs droned softly above the Gourmet, the rightmost picnic table shuffled with the slightest movement of her statuesque friends, Tempest held her head higher—flaring nostrils and slight, heaving breast telling the truth beneath her cool facade—and in the far distance, but not even a quarter of a mile away, nearly everypony they knew shrieked with laughter, chatted happily about their day, their week, amidst themselves or with their new changeling friends whilst decorating gourds.
Oh, and somewhere, out in Equestria, Starlight Glimmer was crying. Starlight was hurting. Twilight’s fragile, albeit strong, selfless, gentle, foolish ex-student was falling apart but at least she was with friends… and was probably lying to them right now in some misguided attempt to protect them. Completely unaware that she was hurting them further.
It wasn’t her fault, Twilight had to remind herself. It wasn’t her fault, it was not her fault for being like this. Of course didn’t want to be this way. Except, it was her fault, she was her own fault and did nothing about it.
But Starlight didn’t want this, she didn’t mean for it to happen, but after so many years she still hadn’t learned to think outside of herself before acting, dang it! And from what Tempest was sharing, Starlight concluded herself a burden, and that the best course was to up and leave them…
Twilight elbowed her eyes, gulped her sobs. “Thank you,” she said thickly, hoarsely. “F-for being honest with me, Tem—I mean, Fizzlepop.” She still forgot her friend was trying to distance herself from that name.
“I’m not done,” she said, hoof raised. “When I was angry, and Starlight—when I was trying to get her to realize what she was saying, how she was acting… I told her you thought of her as a… a ‘self-loathing little worm.’” Fizzlepop’s throat pulsed with the girth of her guilt. “I’m sorry. I apologized to her, but I don’t feel any less guilty.”
Twilight couldn’t even blink, a fact her soon-to-be bodyguard lowered her gaze from, ashamed.
“I’m aware you didn’t describe her even half as loathsomely,” she continued. “That was my anger and I know she’s aware of it. There’s no need to fret over that, that’s not important. What is, is that Starlight knows you’re aware of her tendency to reject attention out of a sense of guilt. Whether or not she’s already concluded that, this’s been the core of her problem these past several days. It’s not unlike my own insistence that I wasn’t responsible for my maiming back in the day. You see, both of us couldn’t handle the reality of our situations, and we’d dealt with that in our own, self-destructive ways: rejected by my friends, I rejected my old life and sought another. Starlight, however, is blaming herself and views any efforts to comfort her as just that—an effort, and one not worth spending on her. And I fear, now that your recognition of her personality flaw is confirmed in her mind, instead of a notion she’d been paranoid about until now, it will make it all the harder for you to get close to her. She’s the type to envision a personality flaw as a flaw in her person, one she cannot change. She might even teleport away again, just as I had run from home.”
Twilight felt kicked in the heart as she echoed the word, “‘Again?’”
Tempest’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “That’s… what happened the other day. When you came to my room,” she added softly. “I shouldn’t have misled you, but I was only trying to protect her.”
That was perfectly understandable. Twilight would have done the exact same thing, and that’s exactly what Starlight did after it happened, according to Dash’s report and Starlight’s eventual confession.
But Twilight didn’t care. “She lied to me.” She kept lying. “She wants to leave me deep down because she’s afraid of me an’ she wants ta’ leave me-he-he!”
Tempest’s spiny little crown looked her in the eye. “Apologies for misleading you. I’ve done nothing but destroy your faith in me.”
Twilight barely heard her. “She lied to me…” She just kept lying and lying to protect them from herself. It wasn’t working in the slightest, and Twilight wanted to holler at her and tell her to stop doing that, to just be honest and unafraid of herself because she had no reason to be; but she was being ridiculous and selfish instead, but in her mind she was being considerate, prideful, and ever-so deep in heartache, so much so that she failed to realize leaving would destroy her friends more than losing her horn ever could—Twilight gasped, cramming down her tears, stomping them into nothing.
She almost spiraled like she did after Draggle. Twilight snuffled thickly, and regarded a glassy-eyed Tempest. “So you’re saying we’re stuck.”
“Did I say that?”
She said it with her explanation, her eyes. Intentional or not, she made the reality loud and clear at long last. “To get through to Starlight,” explained Twilight, “I have to make her understand how her negativity is an illusion. But at the same time, she does all she can to avoid talking to me. I’m willing to bet she doesn’t feel good about that, exacerbating this illusionary self-perception. But forcing anything will make her defensive. Doing nothing will only make her feel unloved, though, which is not an option no matter how much she rejects it.” A blink, forcing back the pressure—not again, not over this like some confused foal. She was the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle! She could figure this out—they could figure this out, her friends together, not fractured and lost as they have been.
This really is all my fault. If I just directed them better… Twilight shut her welling eyes, and breathed. Breathed. Breathed…
“I don’t know what to do now,” she sighed. It might be too late to salvage what they had that first day, when Starlight chose to lurk at Sweet Apple Acres instead of coming home to eat with her friends.
A starling, teeth-grinding crunch of wood splintering in half shot her heart out from her throat. To her left, Rainbow stood between their stunned friends, ready to pounce from a caved-in plank of picnic table before her. “This is all your fault, Tempest!” Her voice broke.
“Rainbow,” Twilight admonished over Fluttershy’s gasp.
“You broke Starlight! You pushed her over the edge and now she wants to leave us! If you told us earlier that she teleported the first time, she—that liar—” Rainbow rose her hoof and slammed the plank in two. “This’s all your fault! We would’ve helped her by now if you hadn’t come along!”
Applejack rose and slammed her hat down, probably in place of destroying Thorax’s property further. “Consarnit, Rainbow! Cool yer jets, for pony’s sake. This ain’t helpin’!”
“I’m not the one making Starlight worse by being a horrible friend!”
“You wanna clarify yer meanin’ by that?” AJ threatened, just as prideful as Starlight, for better or worse. She felt equally responsible as Twilight in her poor handling of all this horror; this morning, in private, she’d disclosed her own powerlessness from this past week, even shedding a single tear. “Last I recall, Dash, you didn’t help matters by blowin’ a gasket tryna wring an answer out of the poor girl, when all ya had to do was sit there and fly kites!”
“I already told you that I was trying to help her!”
“Just like Tempest here.”
Dash’s wings snapped open. “You wanna go?!”
“When n’ where, partner?!”
“Enough,” groaned Fizzlepop. “Enough of this chest-puff nonsense. Are you two really so short-sighted?”
“Yep!” Pinkie chirped.
Rainbow pointed at the broken unicorn. “Hey, don’t think I’d forgotten the reason Starlight wants to leave!”
“I’m well-aware of my part in all this,” Tempest seethed. “But your friend was broken long, long before I came along. Believe me, I’m the only one who would understand.”
“‘Believe you?’” Rainbow smiled in disbelief. Twilight’s heart throbbed to see her snuffle, wipe, and blink away tears. “‘Believe. You.’ Why should I believe you when you don’t even know a thing about Starlight? Why should I believe the word of a traitor to the actions of a friend—a kick-butt friend who’s willing to give up her magic to save Twilight?! While we’re off partying and writing her off as dead…” Never before had their strong, cocksure friend been so emotional—but many depths of these ponies have revealed themselves in light of the past month.
Especially when Twilight thought she was done for.
“Rainbow,” she whimpered, because it was true. Everything Dash had said was true in the depths of her own breaking heart. Twilight felt what she felt: responsible, ashamed, betrayed, and all-around afraid of her role in their friend’s deterioration. “Starlight acted on her own back at my farewell party. She had done so without intentionally telling anypony. You know as well as I that it was to spare you from making a sacrifice!”
“Yeah?” Rainbow croaked. “Well, it’s my life, and I get to decide what I do with it! And I chose to be a sad-sack instead of doing something to help you.”
“Oh, Rainbow.” Fluttershy stroked her foreleg. She was the only one privy to Dash’s shame, until now anyway, in letting Starlight make a sacrifice while they’d all lost hope.
“I didn’t want any of my friends making such sacrifices for me,” Twilight begged them to understand. “I know voicing this won’t make your opinions any less painful, but this mess all began because Starlight, she’d—”
“She forgot the point of all your lessons, that’s what!” Pinkie crossed her forelegs, miffed. And hurt, deeply so—her eyes glimmered wetly. “Friends throw themselves in the oven together, no exceptions! She forgot that, Twilight, she’s a silly forgetter when it really counts and now we’re here, watching her burn up with no way to save her.”
“She has, yes, but can you really blame her?” Twilight quickly added. “All of us has had a lapse in judgement under extreme circumstances.” She and Tempest exchanged knowing looks. “That excuses nothing, but blaming Starlight entirely will not make her feel better.”
“I know! I know!” Pinkied cried into the heavens, into her forelegs. “I just feel so SAD!” She plopped unto the picnic table without disturbing the bisected incline it now boasted.
“Like that’s any excuse for our muck-ups!” Rainbow Dash took to the air, gesturing with both forelegs. “She hit her, Twilight! She slapped Starlight around as if that was gonna help but it just made her cry. How could you trust this maniac to protect your life?! How could you trust her advice when she made Starlight wanna leave in the first place?”
Twilight opened her mouth as Fizzlepop stormed forth. “Firstly,” she began icily, “my treatment of Glimmer has nothing to do with my willingness to change and repay my debt owed to your princess.” Twilight was nopony’s princess. She was just their friend—their equal. Nothing more. “Second, and this’ll be a pill to swallow so prepare yourselves, your friend has been thinking about leaving you all for a while.” Twilight held her breath—that couldn’t be true. “That’s what I mean when I said she was broken. This idealistic version of Starlight Glimmer, who is smart and confident and strong? It’s the version of herself she wants to be known as, void of faults. I know it is.”
“Ho-how can you?” Dash’s eyes went wild with rage. “How even can you?! You’ve barely known her for a couple days!”
Twilight’s known her for years and felt she was only now seeing the real Starlight Glimmer: fearful and hateful of herself, no matter the amount of good she does or Twilight insists she is. How can anyone change such a self-perception but the pony herself?
Tempest rose her voice a hair below outright yelling. “Because unlike you, I know what it’s like to lose a piece of yourself, to lie about its impact, fake it, and push others away so they aren’t wasting time on a hopeless waste of space like you!”
Dash, staggered, feigned confidence and aloofness. “Y-yeah, sure! Please. Starlight knows there’s more to her than her magic.”
“Of course, but she doesn’t think that,” said Twilight. “I know Starlight, better than most. I can tell she thinks nothing of her kind, generous spirit, especially not when she’s overwhelmed with guilt! She doesn’t see her boundless empathy, or her vast intelligence, and if I were to point them out she’d write them off as just that: sparks of brilliance in a life saturated with mistakes, and proceed to list her lapses in judgement. Girls… this is serious. I’ve spent the last three years trying to improve her outlook, and until now, a week ago, I thought I succeeded! When, in reality, we’ve simply lived without further incidents.” What a great, perceptive friend Twilight was. Celestia was so right in giving her a pair of wings.
“This is the last thing any of you want to hear right now,” Tempest announced. “But I’ll say it for the sake of Starlight: she approached the witches wanting to end her life.”
Twilight’s heart stopped. She gawked at the statuesque unicorn.
Hollow in voice, Rainbow uttered, “That’s what that light show was outside. Wasn’t it?”
“You’re… no. No! You’re… you’re lying,” mumbled Pinkie. “You’re lying. You’re lying, you’re lying, you’re lying! You’re a liar, Starlight wouldn’t do that not ever!” She gasped sharply, then fell into Rarity’s attempted hug with a descending, “You’re lying, you’re lying, Starlight knows how much that’d hurt us, she’s lying, Twilight, make her leave!” Pinkie gasped harshly. “I don’t want to hear anymore, make her leave!”
Fizzlepop shook her head. “She did nothing of the sort, mind you. She only told me her intentions with seeing with witches.”
“As if that makes it any better!” Pinkie wept.
A beat of silence, followed by Rarity’s own sob and a sudden wail from Fluttershy. “I’m sorry, darling.” She and Pinkie stroked each other’s backs. “I’m trying to be strong, but…”
Tempest shut her eyes—so she wouldn’t have to see the pain she was causing them. It melted Twilight’s heart, despite her world shattering into pieces.
“I want to stress that it wasn’t over the horn,” Tempest explained over their joined grief. “She told me she only expected, and perhaps, part of her even wanted, to not return from these witches she’d dealt with. She was ready to give her life for you, Twilight. Her old guilt still runs deep, I suppose.”
“Stop it!” Rarity croaked. “Just… just be silent, curse you! You horrible, emotionless pony!” Tempest directed her narrowed eyes into the horizon. That was uncalled for, but Rarity was heartbroken. “Starlight,” Rarity gasped, “that beautiful, generous, selfish, awful pony! How could she?!”
“We should’ve kept an eye on her!” Fluttershy wailed into Rarity’s dampening shoulder. “But we were just so sad w-we couldn’t—” She broke apart into sobs before finishing her guilty thought.
“This… that can’t be true,” Applejack muttered to somepony far, far away. “I wanna believe it’s a lie, but… It can’t. It just can’t be true, y’all!”
“I should’ve done something more,” Fluttershy wept, “instead of letting her attacker get away! T’his’s all our faul-hault!”
Twilight attempted to console her, to comfort everypony because that’s what any decent Princess of Friendship would do. But her heart clogged her throat, her thoughts torn apart by the realization that Starlight despised herself so much, that she was perfectly happy relinquishing her wonderful life without hesitation.
And there was Fizzlepop looking over, miserable with what she’d done to them. But this was entirely necessary, and Twilight couldn’t be more thankful to have her by their side.
“Fizzlepop,” she uttered hoarsely, “you understand that we’ll act on this? Th-that we have to, for Starlight—!”
“I understand, Princess,” she cut in, hoof raised, “you need not explain.”
“But you must have known!” Twilight’s voice broke. “That Starlight, she—”
“Will likely, no, definitely despise me for sharing this.” A shake of the head, their friends processing this amongst themselves all the while.
“S-so you did this, knowing it might have cost you your friendship with Starlight?” Twilight loathed to say this, to think so lowly of her humbled friend. But she had to keep in mind—not only herself, but Tempest, Rainbow, Applejack, even Starlight Glimmer—-how recent events had brought out aspects of their souls seldom, if ever, revealed to the surface, let alone to themselves. “Tem—Fizzlepop?” she corrected, the pony in question blinking, returning from somewhere deep in her thoughts.
“Apologies,” she said, despite Twilight having just been in the same place. “I’m certain of how she’ll react, for I would do so in her shoes… and I do not care. It pains me, Princess. Pains me to lose what we could’ve had, for the few conversations we’ve shared together have been some of the best I had in years.”
Twilight’s heart cried out for her. “Oh, Fizzlepop…”
“There’s no reason to mourn for me, Princess. I’m used to losing. But I deserve it, and so does she.”
Twilight was in awe. What could she possibly say, except share her sorrow for the pain Fizzlepop inflicted upon herself for the sake of another? And her perception of constantly “losing” rather than the numerous strong wins she’d had this past year?
What could Twilight say? She didn’t know. She rarely did half the time and when she did she ended up second guessing herself after the fact.
But right here, right now, to the pony before her she wanted to let her know, “It hurts me, how similar the two of you are.”
“It honestly scares me,” Fizzlepop muttered quickly. “It infuriates me, saddens me, makes me rethink and regret nearly all that I do, every action that I take and have taken. She makes me feel comfortable in a way even you, with apologies, Princess, but you fail to achieve.”
Twilight smiled approvingly, however battered by her internal state. The fur of her cheeks was sticky with tears. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues in the near future. Sounds to me like you already have a deep, complicated friendship Starlight wouldn’t want to leave.” Perhaps Fizzlepop was the key to demonstrating to Starlight her worth, or rather what she’d achieved overall since coming under Twilight’s wing, and filling her life with so much joy.
“I suppose we did. Yeah.” Tempest smiled only to drop it immediately. “It serves me right to have lost it tonight. I am not ready to maintain a healthy relationship with another pony. Not yet, anyway—but what I had with Glimmer, however brief, makes me all the more determined to improve.”
Twilight loosened her breath, truly lost. In the back of her head, somewhere far, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were tangled in a messy group hug.
“Tempest,” she began, “I’ll do everything I can to mend your bond with Starlight. You have my word as the Princess of Friendship.”
“I’m sure you will.” She smiled faintly. “Part of me has faith in the reasonable pony I know she can be. When all is said in done, she’ll realize this was for the best.”
Hope sparked in Twilight’s bosom. “So you know how to proceed?” she cried, unashamed of her desperation when solely in the company of friends.
She felt embarrassed to be immediately dejected by the shake of Tempest’s head, for it wasn’t her fault and she’d accomplished more tonight than any of them had all week. “I do not. Rainbow Dash is correct in that I don’t know Glimmer as well as you do. I can only give input as a plan of attack formulates.”
“Okay,” Twilight exhaled.
“If… you’d like somewhere to start,” Fizzlepop began carefully, “I recommend you rip off the bandage ASAP. Tell her the truth of her situation, how you feel, and what it is you want. Knowing her she will resist, maybe even lash out like a cornered animal. But she will absorb this all the same.”
“That could make it worse.”
“But it would yield results, actual results, unlike your ineffective methods these last few days.”
The clearing of a throat cut through Twilight’s thoughts. “Pardon me, Tempest, but as far as I can see, we already tried your way tonight.” Applejack had everypony’s attention as she strolled over, hatless. “You even went n’ gave your terrible way a try. It did worse than fail, s’far’s I’m concerned. There’s a darn good chance that nothing we do will get through to Starlight.” By Twilight’s side she wrapped a foreleg around her withers tight, a warmth she eagerly leaned her weight and worries into, for Applejack was unafraid to voice them all. “Now I talked to Starlight myself, and that mare’s clammed up tighter than Granny’s jewelry box. T’ain’t no way we’re openin’ that by force! Now I trust your know-how in most of this, Tempest, an’ I ain’t so angry over your mistakes that I’m blind to your penance.”
“I know you’re talking about me!” Dash called.
Applejack deadpanned a moment. “I won’t go pretendin’ I know better than you about somethin’ that, frankly, upsets n’ sickens me to no end.” For the first time since she piped up, Tempest reacted to Applejack’s words: pity, honest-to-Celestia sorrow for the pain Starlight’s friends were feeling over this. Perhaps it was pity for herself, for what she lacked amidst her own trying time. “But if we go rippin’ bandages off’a Starlight, well, I can only see a disaster on our hooves. I’m only askin’, is there no better way?”
Tempest said nothing, did nothing but swallow. “There’s not.”
Twilight couldn’t help but moan in despair. This felt so dangerous; any move had the potential of ruining things further. There simply wasn’t a “right way” to go about this. “We can only act and hope our words get through to Starlight. And pardon me, ladies, but it sounds like any hesitance is just a fear of Starlight rejecting you further. But you have to understand, if we do nothing, you’ll definitely lose your friend if not in body, then surely her soul.”
A soft, mewling cry drew everypony to Fluttershy, caressed by a mascara-stained Rarity. “This’s so scary!” she cried. “I-I-I don’t want Starlight to hurt herself anymore!”
“Nor do I, my dear. But we must do something,” Rarity asserted thickly. “I mislike the uncertainty, too, but Starlight wouldn’t hesitate to risk a friendship if it meant healing that pony’s heart. We must be prepared to do the same!”
“The pony I had the least faith in appears to be the strongest and wisest among you,” Tempest remarked.
“Hey!” A thick snort brought their attention to Rainbow, red-eyed and wet-faced, and smiling cocksuredly. “Don’t judge us when we’ve not said a thing yet! That’s something Starlight told me once,” she told a feeble-smiling Pinkie. “So, hey, I’m in, too! For Starlight, I’ll do anything to make her happy again!”
Either Dash didn’t grasp Tempest’s earlier revelation—the evidence soaked and clinging to her face emphasizing she did—in which case she felt gutted to think Starlight thought so low, so little, of her life.
“Me too!” Pinkie bounced from her seat, sparking hope in Twilight’s breast as she said, “In fact, I think Starlight’s really happy most of the time! And she just said that because she’s so sad and stuff.”
Yes, yes! Perhaps she was being irrational, as she’s wont to be in such an emotional state.
“Well, shoot, s’pose this ain’t the first terrible idea I’ve seen through with y’all.” Applejack shook her head, brought her hoof down, and smiled. “Count me in! For Starlight!”
“For Starlight!” Fluttershy whisper-sob-yelled. “I don’t want her to hate me, but if that’s what it takes then it’s worth it! She’s worth it!”
“Fluttershy…” Tears pricked Twilight’s eyes, distorted her vision and rendered it impossible to speak, to commend and thank Fluttershy for her courage and determination. From all of them, really. But she was so in-awe of Fluttershy’s resolve. If she was so unafraid…
If given time, if told this alone, I might have doubted you all and tried taking care of this myself.
But if Fluttershy was game, then a faithless friend like Twilight ought to be as well.
Clearing her throat, and giving all of herself to the display of deeply-rooted friendship, Twilight found the strength to smile, and the courage to voice, “This will be no different from all the evils we’ve faced before. If anything, it’ll be even trickier. But with you girls, anything is possible. It’ll be okay, and Starlight will, too.”
Rainbow Dash swooped in close, folded forelegs braced on nothing. “Y’know, you really shoulda thought of this sooner. Things’re always good when we work together!”
“I know. And I’m sorry. Really, I am!” But they just smiled, confident and already forgiving her. Twilight was undeserving; she would never forgive herself for this last week, for the lies woven, even if this ended a hundred percent successfully. “But, I just felt so… so responsible! Like Starlight did this to herself because of something I made her feel! I couldn’t see anything beyond my guilt and I—! I just wanted to fix it,” she finished softly.
Something hard knocked her on the head, behind the horn. “Ow! Hey, what was that for?”
Rainbow was sneering knowingly above. “For being a scrambled Egghead and forgetting why you got these wings in the first place. Come on, ponies! Let’s do this!” Rainbow beat her chest. “For Starlight!”
“FOR STARLIGHT!” everypony, even Tempest, cried.
Twilight’s smile, her hope, the spark within her persisted as she regarded all their damp, smiling faces with her own. “Alright, girls. Thank you, for rolling with the bucks tonight, this past week even. It’s been difficult for all of us. But I feel confident for the first time since this started, confident that it will get better.”
“You should!” said Rainbow. “We’ve crowbarred our way into ‘your problem,’ and now? Heh! There’s no way you’re getting rid of us! And neither will Starlight.”
“Oh, absolutely, posi-tuvely!” Pinkie came hopping over. “Starlight loves us too much to wanna hurt us, or leave us! I’m pretty peeved that she was gonna go away all selfishly like that, but that’s all the more reason to help her from stumbling horn-first into another life-changing decision!” Pinkie gasped for breath, once, twice, and concisely concluded, “So, I’m not worried! Not-at-all. Nada, nope, zip-n-zilch!”
“Yeah. I-I guess so.” As always, Pinkie had this uncanny ability to boil something complicated into one simple and digestible. “This… is the right way, girls. I feel it now. I really do!” A smile eased its way in as warmth blossomed through Twilight’s breast. “Pinkie Pie, you’re a genius!”
A silver, balloon-laden smile shone as she bounced her weightless, frizzy floof. “Aren’t I always?”
“In yer own confoundin’ way, yeah, you sure are.” Pinkie and Applejack hooted together, Rarity and Fluttershy approaching behind them, forelegs locked.
“And let us not forget,” said Rarity, vigorously scrubbing away mascara tracks with a floating handkerchief marked by a lavish ‘R,’ “Oof,” she sniffled, “that Celestia, and Luna, and Discord are working day and night tracking down those nasty-sounding witches. Deal or no, those monsters will never hurt another pony again! And I, for one, will rest easily once more, knowing those beasts aren’t out there, lurking with impunity.”
“I agree.” Twilight felt awful, lying to her friends as they gave their all to fixing her mistakes. They had no idea of the real, dark reason she’d found herself committing an overnight to Canterlot earlier; why trading for Starlight’s horn was impossible. “Let’s hope they succeed. I don’t wanna think about how much harder this would be if they decided to harass Starlight, or fill her head with lies.”
“Come on, Twilight!” Rainbow groaned. “Starlight’s way too smart to pay attention to these obvious villains.”
“I have faith she would resist them,” said Fluttershy.
“That is if she doesn’t feint from how ugly they supposedly are,” joked Rarity, or perhaps she was being sincere.
A curtain of pink fell before Fluttershy’s face. “Ugly is, um, putting it gently,” she whispered.
Rarity shuddered, muttering “Goodness,” to herself. “Well, I, for one, have the utmost faith in our royal friends and resident Chaos Incarnate.”
“They are mighty powerful,” said AJ, rounding toward the broken picnic table, where her stetson lay.
“Now that is a mild sentiment if I ever heard one!” Rarity said in faux-shock. “They’re some of the most powerful beings to ever live. I sincerely doubt some ugly leeches—or, whatever you called them, Pinkie darling—”
“Liches!” she chirped. “Vengeful zom-bam-boes who wander the earth, unable to pass on into Elysium because of a self-inflicted curse! WooOooOoo!”
“Pinkie!” Applejack, hat between her teeth, swatted the party pony’s poofy head. She beamed her braces-clad grin harder. “Don’t go scarin’ Fluttershy with spooky tall tales.”
“T-t-t-t-too late!”
“Aw, I’m sorry, Fluttershy! I was just trying to make everypony laugh.”
“No one laughed before, Pinkie. No one,” said Rainbow.
“Fine, jeez,” she whined, disgruntled. “Well, let’s stop fretting over what-if’s and sad stuff, and let’s paint some squash!”
The girls funneled out with Twilight taking the lead. They were brighter in spirits, and they lightened her soul without a doubt. She was grateful to have them, and downright stupid trying to spare them in a manner not unlike Starlight’s.
I have to be better, Twilight told herself, and told herself, and told herself. I have to live up to my title, my accomplishments and my friends.
Twilight recited this, over and over and over again, like a mantra; as she apologized to Spike for leaving him suddenly, as her friends offered to share his work between the seven of them, as she painted a heart and smiley face on the pumpkin, as she listened to his recounting of his time at the Gourd Fest, as she told him everything that happened as they watched the sky rain down fiery, goopy gourd-guts, and felt his tears soak through her coat as he wept for Starlight, and she did, too.
Throughout all of that, Twilight made sure she never, ever forgot those words.
For Starlight’s sake, she had to be better: a better friend, a better princess.
Just better.
For despair had made her shamefully unacceptable until tonight.
Celestia was shocked in the side, a cool pressure against her wing emerging alongside a familiar, gentle presence.
“Apologies,” Luna intoned. “But it’s midnight, Big Sister. You wished for me to alert you.”
Right, right. So Celestia could have a full night’s sleep and fool Equestria into thinking the witches were nothing to worry about, simply by not mentioning them at all, or implying that they were even a care in the world beyond, ‘Hey, so why’s the hero of Princess Twilight hiding out in Ponyville?’
Wearing such a mask was foal’s play. It was nothing. Absolutely nothing, especially so to Twilight and poor Starlight, who needed something the most.
“Celestia?” Luna’s troubled self stepped into view. “Sister, are those tears of exhaustion?”
Yes… No, not at all. Celestia caught herself from nodding reflexively—shutting Luna out would yield nothing good and make her a hypocrite.
But Luna had enough on her plate; re-emphasizing what was already mentioned would do nothing but make her scared.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she yawned genuinely,“...Goodensh! I had no idea! That… it was’h s’ho late!” Everything reached across Equestria—her wings, legs, the resting arc of her spine—-until they let go all at once. Luna, her bedroom, the glowing copy of Twilight’s map fell into a darkness as the land itself had hours ago—her beastly-heavy eyelids at long, blessed last given reprieve. “Time is flying faster and faster,” she inhaled deep, exhaling, “...by the day.”
“Really now? Intriguing.” Luna’s silver-slippered thump-thumps against the carpet advanced, and Celestia was met with a map-bathed grin, a sight that lifted her heavy heart. “Pray, is this a sign of getting old, Sister—the quickening passage of time? Oh, what is it like? Tell me.”
Celestia had to smile—Luna, the ray of delight, as always in the darkest of times. And as everything changed, too fast to handle at times, she, ironically, was the one constant—at her core, no different from how she was a thousand years ago.
Celestia had missed her terribly. Her return marked the best and, in a different way, the worst years of Celestia’s life.
She had much time to reflect on this in her recent late evenings with Discord—when he’d decided to show, that is.
“I apologize once more.” Luna bowed her head. “This is no time for jests—”
“No. Please do.” Celestia touched a naked hoof to her cheek, which she gladly, adorably, leaned into. “Please, Luna, jest to your heart’s content. Don’t ever doubt the power of humor, or a good joke.”
“Where’s your prior seriousness? You must have gone loopy with sleep deprivation, dear sister,” Luna mumbled, a lazy smile to match.
No, little sister, just by everything else. Celestia smiled in spite of this, a testament to the power of having a friend by your side. “It’s keeping me sane, if I’m being honest… I’d have probably wandered down a dark path as Twilight nearly had, had you not stopped her. Or been here for me.”
A haunting prospect, one Luna rolled her eyes at, lifting away from her hoof. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re too wise to be so naive, believing your role is actually critical in all this.”
“But what if we’re wrong?” The hardness of her words, punched forth by emotion, startled even Luna into disquiet. Celestia made peace with this immediately, there was no use hiding her piddly fears and self-pity now. “I’ve been thinking, Luna. Thinking so much about my poor Twilight and… and Star-light.”
Guilt, sadness, grief strangled her in tandem. A weight latched around her neck, closing warmly against her sides—-not guilt now, but Luna and her wings. Air and reality flowed through her.
The horrible reality that, despite all this heartache, it will undoubtedly pass soon, and Starlight and Twilight will be all the stronger for it as Discord told her many times in moments of doubt.
“Luna,” Celestia cooed, throat closing again. This was horrible. So horrible, and she couldn’t stand it. “I love you,” she whispered, embracing her sister tight.
“And I you.”
Thank goodness she was here. Thank goodness she reaffirmed her faith and upheld it so mightily, where Celestia herself could not. Thank goodness she was simply Luna—caring, genuine, playful, empathetic.
“Sister,” Luna said suddenly, “what about our actions do you believe to be improper?”
Celestia pulled back, withheld Luna by her tense shoulders, and asked directly, “Don’t you feel that, perhaps, this is our time to set things right?” It was naive, it was foolish and probably irresponsible to her duty to Equestria, but Celestia hoped more than she ever had before that Luna would agree with her, and they would proceed to fulfill their true roles in all of this.
But Luna crushed her heart in looking away, grimacing painfully. She’d already thought of this and written it off.
“Oh, my dear sister,” Celestia gasped, “this is all so horrible. It’s too horrible to be real!”
Luna’s eyes widened, trying to comprehend the breakdown before her. “Celestia—”
“Everything is going wrong: our country is threatened by monsters of indescribable power and appearance, and at the heart of it, two of our closest friends are falling apart at the seams. But here we are!” she chirped, perhaps truly losing it now. “Squatting safely in our towers, pretending we’re saving them to zero avail. This will not work, you know it won’t. You know Twilight and the girls will pull through for us and yet we’re acting like this will be different.”
“Cel—”
“And I’ve been thinking,” she continued, needing to finish, “tortured, really, by the notion that we have the power to make it right. Tell me, what if it’s up to us to make that a reality?” A better one.
One that agreed with her short-sighted perspective of what was for the best.
Celestia came to and loathed these conclusions just as the words left her mouth. Shame festered within her, and she couldn’t stand to look Luna in the eye, foolish and breaking, too irrational to lead Equestria in this dark time. Perhaps that, in of itself, was her trial.
“Sister,” Luna’s soft word bucked her throat, “I agree with you from the depths of my heart. But you know that this isn’t the way of things.”
“‘The way of things,’” Celestia sneered. Sneered! She really was going mad from this! “But what has ‘the way of things’ done for us, except scare the daylights out of Twilight and funnel her into her Destiny?” The answer was right there in her question: nothing. They did nothing for the Two Sisters, and conversely everything for the new generation.
They were useless. It was maddening. It was terrifying.
“Speaking from personal experience,” Luna continued, “solving the problem for young Starlight—even if we were to find the witches and eliminate them like the beasts they are—-it wouldn’t fix anything within her heart. That, I believe, is up to Twilight Sparkle, and herself most of all.”
“Then that’s it.” Celestia was at a loss, unable to counter that without resembling the desperate mother she truly was and wanted to be. Once upon a time, Luna would bite her hoof at Destiny and save everypony she could, regardless.
And suddenly, a ton of bricks crashed upon her royal head: even Luna had changed these past several years. And it felt like only yesterday, she was doubting Twilight’s role in saving the Crystal Empire from Sombra.
Perhaps immortal Celestia was finally getting old.
”Everything is changing, Luna.” Just saying it aloud, acknowledging its reality, was a weight off Celestia’s chest. “Until many years ago, I lived one thousand years in solitude. Day in and day out was the same, routine: raise the sun, see the people, resolve minor squabbles, lower the sun, repeat. They blurred together. Nothing was ever surprising. Nothing unexpected had ever happened.”
A good-natured smile. “I’d say young Twilight was a much-needed dose of randomness.”
While not untrue… “She and Sunset both provided much in the way of, um, emotional catharsis.” Luna swiftly nuzzled her neck, expressing sorrow for the past and her part in it—despite Celestia being wholly responsible. Love filled her, heavy and warm, as she nosed Luna behind her ear. “But Twilight in particular, when I realized her significance, that of her cutie mark, I mean...” Celestia murmured into her soft, flowing mane. “I knew change—real change—was going to happen soon. And it did. Often in fact. So often that every day was something different. And until a month ago, different was something I learned to trust, anticipate, and have fun with.”
Even now, years later and after one ugly mishap of a play, she believed that one day, Twilight would become the sole non-blood relative Celestia needed in her life; to bare herself, her heart, her fears and regrets and her true, honest self just as she could with Luna, and nearly-so with Discord.
One day, my forever faithful student… Oftentimes, if she thought about her for too long, Celestia selfishly wished that time would come soon.
“Sister?”
Celestia flushed, having fallen deep in thought at her sister’s expense once again. “What is it, Luna?”
“Did you believe Princess Twilight would die?”
A loaded question that would decimate, then enrage, the heart of any save for Luna and Discord. “I did not,” she confessed. “Twilight had come too far, done too much, just to unceremoniously fall to a foreign ailment. But I won’t lie—her pain was mine, too.”
“Her pain was Equestria’s pain.” Luna stared thoughtfully at the map of Equestria, her brows furrowing at wherever their targets lurked. The Bad Lands felt the same as they had all night—a small comfort, albeit a maddening one. Like they were hoping disaster would strike. “We’ve traded one suffering hero for another. Tell me, Celestia, did you have an inkling of what would happen when Starlight retrieved the journal of one Lickety Split?”
“Of course not, Luna. Neither of us are omniscient—and I’d no notion of what its pages pertained to regardless. But my faith in Harmony, and the hope of Starlight Glimmer, clearly paid off, albeit at a terrible cost.” Celestia made no effort to suppress her shiver. “Only she and Fluttershy had seen them, and neither had the words to describe them, much less their power or their presence for that matter,” she rambled. “It’s chilling.”
“They frighten me,” said Luna, gazing upon the Bad Lands, where the Gourd Fest was going off without incident, thank Harmony. “To think they predate Discord himself…”
That was the most terrifying development since this all started. Even more so than hearing a monster irrevocably crippled Starlight Glimmer—her Destiny being for the sake of Twilight’s…
This still couldn’t be reality. And yet, it was. Celestia was living in it now and it felt like a horrible nightmare even a month later. That poor pony. The guilt and responsibility Twilight wailed into her side after almost dipping into dark magic...
“We’d be reckless fools not to be afraid of them, no better than the time we fought Sombra,” Celestia murmured, just in case a servant or guard passing by overheard, realized their Princess of the Sun and Moon were fearful of a genuine unknown. “I don’t like this, Luna. I cannot stop thinking about them now, even if I had the freedom to do so.”
“I know what you mean. It unsettles me that Twilight lacks even the slightest idea of where they had come from. Perhaps, if we can retrieve Lickety Split’s journal from young Starlight…”
It would be a dead end. She would surely repel their efforts as she’s wont to do, terrified of the witches’ power and the responsibility for whatever developments occurred from it.
“And yet, what she’s brought into my knowledge,” Celestia thought aloud. “What they’ve done to her, and almost drove Twilight into doing—”
“You will not blame her, Celestia,” Luna snapped.
That’s not what she was doing, but she was too startled by the change in tone, the aggressive, heartwarming defense of a subject Luna was affectionate for, to voice this.
Luna’s hardness crumbled away, as was inevitable within Celestia’s company, into her true, sorrowful self. “Please do not blame the poor soul, big sister. She is suffering already, believing herself reprobate for her actions and the simple fact that the Elements care about her.” And that was all she felt allowed to share of the one time she had visited Starlight.
“I know what she feels is no different from your own history.” Luna avoided her gaze, ashamed to this day of the Tantibus. “But I wasn’t blaming her for anything, Luna. In truth…” The truth closed Celestia throat, even a month later. “Well, in truth, if one were to go back to the beginning of this domino line, it all started when the Pillars planted the Tree of Harmony, and the land itself deemed us three necessary to Equestria’s salvation.”
And Starlight, a tragic, unspoken piece of that. It was no coincidence that her mark bore resemblance to Twilight’s.
‘Greatness always demands some degree of sacrifice.’ Discord had often said that, even in his days as a villain. Celestia often thought it was her pain in losing Luna that he foretold. What more, who else, needed to suffer before Equestria could exist worry-free? Every year brought forth another near-calamity, it just never seemed to end.
Would it end? Was Celestia going to be terrified for her subject’s emotional states until the end of time? Until their luck ran out?
Or was it this year, with the emergence of these impossibly elusive Humans?
“I am scared, Luna.”
“As am I, dear sister.”
“I’m scared for Starlight, the pain she’s feeling and spreading amongst her friends,” Celestia croaked. “I’m scared of the unknown machinations of these storybook witches.” She wiped her eyes, whispering, “I’m just scared. So, so scared.”
“Aw, come now, Celestia! All of this ‘oh-oh-see’ bemoaning is keeping me up.” Up above, Discord—decked-out in feety pajamas, a nightcap, holding a plushie of Fluttershy—-stretched his elongated form into the abyss of Luna’s ceiling, emitting his own, unique glow that could never be cast in shadow. It was impossible—it was Discord, and Celestia was so relieved to see him she smiled. “If you’re so afraid of conflict, why, you might as well never leave your house again. It builds character, after all!” Discord flexed his nonexistent muscles.
“Conflict can also break a pony,” Luna muttered dryly.
“You two seem all the better for it.” Discord smiled, like that was part of some joke only he was privy to. Unless, of course, he was gearing up for—”You’re certainly a lot less fun nowadays, however. No longer running about, afraid, as a chicken could without a head.” An insult, yes.
Luna shuddered. “Ch-ch-chickens can stumble this way and that like a genuine lich?”
“How should I know?” Discord shrugged, randomly humorous as ever. “I don’t make it my business torturing chickens. Only ponies—not that I particularly enjoy this brand of chaos, mind you.” He sensed his element all over the country, and detasted that which followed his friends wherever they went.
And now it was clear why he was so bitter to have been ‘woken up,’ pulled from his lovely dream into a living nightmare. “Sorry our whinging reminded you of reality,” said Celestia. “Would you like a glass of milk? Perhaps a nice bowl of raspberries before going back to sleep? The night cooks are still making breakfast, I’m sure they’ll be happy to whip something up.”
“No, no, no! I will do my part for Equestria, however futile. I am a team player, after all… Besides, I thought you made breakfast,” Discord accused, lounging on a bed of nothing.
“I make our breakfast,” said Celestia, gesturing between herself and Luna.
He blinked blearily, ever the dramatic. “Hm?” He snorted awake. “Sorry, sorry, wasn’t listening. Normal food kills me anyway, so I don’t care.” In a flash of light, Discord’s pajamas were replaced with a business suit tailored to his serpentine body, and his doll a briefcase. “Time to clock out, Sun-Lestia! Moona and I have some banter to distract ourselves with.”
So that’s what they’ve done to pass the time between dreamwalking. Celestia turned to her deadpanning sister. “I suppose that’s my cue to leave.”
Luna happily embraced her. “Sweet dreams, dear sister.”
“Don’t tear apart your room again.” Celestia hugged her tight, let her know it would all be okay, even though it was more for herself.
“I told you, Discord was insulting Starlight’s choices. I had to defend her honor.”
“You could do a right without falling into a wrong.” They pulled away. Behind Luna’s sheepish smile was Discord, peering through a telescope buried within the glowing depths of their Cutie Map replica—emphasizing this triad of pretend-usefulness. “Have a good night, Luna.”
“Same to you.” She smiled gently.
“Farewell, Celestia!” Discord waved without looking. “I’d give you a goodnight kiss, but this taxing work demands our utmost attention.” Luna leveled him with another flat stare.
Celestia chuckled. “I think I’ll live without it.” She summoned her power with the effort of an inhale, envisioning her bedroom and then herself within it.
A flash of light, a slight exertion from within, repelling outward upon her forehead.
The light dimmed and Celestia blinked blearily, exhaustion sapping her legs into nothing and almost bringing her down. Luna, Discord, and the map were gone: replaced by deeper shadows, solitude, and three, monstrous statues curled up against the starry backdrop outside her balcony.
Wait.
“Hi ThErE.”
Those voices, what in Equestria were those voices? One seemed mature and doting, as a mother ought to sound—as Celestia imagined Hydia herself sounding—but the other, mimicking her words almost perfectly save for half a second of delay… it was utterly monstrous: deep, guttural, it warbled the very air and made Celestia’s brain shudder uncontrollably.
Her desperation to hide her fear kept herself from massaging it: this was her domain, her country. They would play at her pace, not the other way around.
“From whom did you attain your power?” It was the number one question hounding her steps, her very thoughts, since Twilight had relayed Starlight Glimmer’s descriptors. “Are you truly the avatars of Equestrian magic?”
No sound. No movements. They were nothing like creatures of flesh and blood and yet they clearly, simply were—their presence was there, taking up half her chambers with their grotesquely huge selves. And yet, they acted frighteningly inhuman.
Thank you, Luna, for your night fulfilling its oft-accursed blessing of masking horrors in the dark.
“i dIdN’t ExPeCt HeR tO bE sO fOrWaRd,” a similarly haunting voice remarked, albeit the speaker had a country accent flavoring to her words.
“YeS yOu DiD,” tutted the motherly one—Hydia, it must have been. The middle lump bearing misshapen Tirek-esque horns. “sHe Is ThE pRiNcEsS oF eQuEsTrIa, AfTeR aLL.”
“Luna is my equal,” Celestia informed them.
“AnD nO fEaR eIThEr, No HeSiTaTiOn!” A girlish, mischievous cackle trembled down Celestia’s spine. “ThIS’LL bE fUn, VeRy FuN!”
Celestia schooled her racing heart, exhaling deeply to block it out. “Answer my questions,” she demanded in the momentary lull. Her chest throbbed intensely amidst the dead quiet. This was what she was waiting, for, her moment.
This was what several days of impotency and failure were built towards! She could. Not. Fail. She could not fail Equestria, and she could not fail Starlight. I have to match her sacrifice. Her drive, her fearlessness. If she could do it, if she could face these monsters and get what she wanted, then so can I.
“oF cOuRsE nOt.” Within the horned lump atop Hydia’s girthy form, twin pairs of green stars pierced the void it accompanied. “bUt YoU aLrEaDy KneW tHaT, dEeP dOwN. nO wAy CoUlD tHe ArChItEcTs Of YoUr PerFeCt UtOpIa Of HaRmOnY bE sO uNsIgHtLy!” she spat. “iT’s cOnCeItEd oF yOu To PrEsUmE yOuR mAgIc ‘EqUeStRiAn’ In OriGiN, tHoUgH! tEll Me, Is DiScOrD eQuEsTrIaN? hArMoNy?”
“Then how did you obtain this power?” Celestia cut in, uncaring of their mind games. “Where did you come from, if not the time predating Equestria?”
“oH, BuT wE dId!” cheered… Reeka, it had to be. “AnD wHaT a MinDlEsSlY hApPy AgE iT wAs, ToO. sO mUcH mOrE bOrInG tHaN tHiS oNe!”
And then three—no, four—cackling individuals rocked the world beneath her hooves. No way did the castle not hear this, this blatant disregard for discretion! Dread naturally took root in Celestia, realizing this. Her wings had subconsciously spread across the door.
As if that would stop them. I will fight until there’s nothing left of me. For her home, for her little ponies.
“LoOk At ThAt!” A sagging, thick arm from the massive, right form whipped up, pointing her way. “a ReAcTiOn At LaSt! SeE? sHe Is AfRaId!” This had to be Reeka—her glee and eagerness implied as much.
“wE oBtAiNeD oUr PoWeR jUsT aS yOu HaVe,” said Hydia. “ThRoUgH pLaNnInG, lUcK, tHeFt, AnD a NaIvE hOpE tO cHaNgE tHe WoRlD.”
Celestia steeled herself, her mind. Now wasn’t the time to debate philosophy and decipher their tricks. “Tell me why you’ve come.” She had to be specific, not unlike the wishes their storybook counterparts granted. “Why this moment, on this night, at this very time?”
In the deep of the dark, right beside her ear, somebody snapped—and a short sharp whoof, like one blowing out a candle, heralded a sourceless flame to appear above rotting, pock-marked fingers before her.
The flame guttered deep, but did not waver nor flicker. An unwavering source of light—a perfect flame.
A miniature of Celestia’s very own sun.
No. Not her sun. Theirs. Or whoever they stole this power from, but who?
They, these bonafide zombies curled up and motionless across her room. Each of them cast in amber, eyeless and mouthless in some variation. Yet they could speak, they could see, they could live their lives effortlessly and probably do so much more than they’ve demonstrated if they really wanted to.
Celestia was powerless. She was at their complete and utter mercy.
She was absolutely terrified, and if she were none of these things it would be far easier to surrender herself to the fate Starlight was convinced they commanded, and they themselves seemed to confirm with their power alone.
“Why?” Celestia breathed, in as much awe as she was in horror. “Answer me, already.”
Hydia stepped aside, her copious flesh unmoving as if ensnared in her spiderweb of burst blood vessels, hanging lower than her gut. How many poor, terrified souls did she devour, and how many of them die from heart attacks alone?
How accurate was the story, even?
Frighteningly so, it seemed, as Hydia uttered behind a handkerchief, “We WoUlD lIkE tO pLaY a GaMe.”
And something freezing-cold wrapped completely around Celestia’s barrel, something unlike panic. Her hooves left the ground before reality settled: she was being picked up like a doll. No one, not even Discord, had ever violated her space so thoroughly.
Celestia could only go rigid like the toy she was to these creatures. “Wha—?” Her voice failed her as Draggle—the one who’d grabbed her—reeled her and the sun across the room. Celestia couldn’t look or think beyond her eyes, for they were nothing of the sort but useless vessels for fat, pale worms, peering into her soul with clusters of crimson specks.
What horrific actions created these monsters?
“YoU’Re QuIeT,” Draggle huffed from sewn-up lips. “MuCh MorE tHaN sTaRLigHt.”
And suddenly Celestia’s fear was gone, replaced by protective rage. “What did you do to her?” she seethed.
“YoU’LL kNoW” purred Hydia, “vErY, vErY sOoN.”
Celestia went cold. Were they about to take her horn, too? Would that give Twilight and her friends the courage to somehow find these monsters and bring them to justice?
Celestia had never been so finely terrified and hopeful at once. She masked her feelings, but certainly her ever-expressive eyes betrayed her. “Then let’s play your game,” she said, suspended in the crane that was Draggle’s arm.
“HoW eAgEr, AnD tO tHiNk YoU’re AfRaId.” She looked to Hydia, and wished she hadn’t. “FeAr NoT!” Her eyes were but festering, empty pits. “wE wOn’T tAkE mUcH oF yOuR tImE.” She jerked her longest horn, sprouting like a growth from her temple, toward the dark valleys, pastures, and Ponyville in the distance. “sImPlY TeLL uS wHaT yOu SeE.”
This was obviously building toward something. Celestia was almost too afraid to find out what. Almost. “That’s it?” she asked, feigning disinterest. But they didn’t answer. Celestia returned to what she was fighting for, and had fought for all her life. “Well, I see my home. Equestria. It’s quite beautiful by day,” she assured them.
“rEaLLy?” crowed Reeka. “CuZ aLL i SeE aRe ThE fIeLdS aNd MoUnTaInS sOmE wAnNaBe LeAdErS pLaNtEd WiTh a BoLt Of ClOTh aNd NaMeD iT sO!”
To so casually disregard over a thousand years of hard-won Harmony to a mere “bolt of cloth…”
Celestia reaffirmed her inner strength—they could do whatever they liked with her, but they’ll fall eventually. Equestria’s future was secured and strong as it’s ever been. Hydia and her brood were no different from the gallery of power-hungry thugs who preceded them.
“I’m sure we can spend hours debating what defines a nation,” she answered simply.
“i WoUlD hAvE LiKeD tHaT, yOu KnOw.” Before her, between Equestria and her muzzle, Hydia raised a warty, clawed hand, palms up like her lanky daughter. “BuT,” she continued, “ThAt IsN’t WhAt We’Re HeRe To Do.”
“I already won your game,” Celestia pointed out, anything to anchor herself in calm and trick herself into thinking she had something of an upper hand.
“HaVe YoU? pErHaPs In yOuR mInD.” Floating above Hydia’s palm, a miniature sun not unlike Draggles manifested—cold, perfect, unwavering, and white as fresh-fallen snow. Celestia squinted against its intensity. “BuT fOr Us, We’Ve WaItEd OvEr A tHoUsAnD yEaRs To PlAy, AnD tHe GaMe HaS jUsT gOtTeN tO tHe GoOd PaRt.”
“What do you—?”
“tEll Me, PrIncEsS cElEsTiA, HaRmONy’S fIrSt Of MaNy BaNd-aIdS,” Hydia spat, then finished lightly, “dOeS pOnY wAnNa mAkE hEr SuBJeCtS gO bOoM-bOoM?”
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"This, in my opinion, is my finest chapter yet. Juggling so many different characters while establishing their personal stakes and reactions was a lot of fun, and I think it came out great. What did you guys think?"
Yes. Yes it was. Holy fuck, finally some hope here. Not a massive amount, but something! And yet the witches... god damn. Always so incredibly effective and terrifying.
9558584
I mean if you're still coming here I must be writing something well that isn't perceived as pure sadness porn
9558660
Oh definitely, it's just still quite sad. Didn't mean to imply that. Again, I've said you do fantastic characterization, you write everything incredibly, in my personal opinion. Was just a friendly joke, as this is one of the more sad and truly impactful fics I read currently.
On a completely different note, you did happen to misspell my name in the description. :P
My face when I see a new chapter up:
Really interesting to see the other characters' emotions and reactions in this chapter.
Two questions : So Celestia Luna and Discord are trying to find the witches from Cantrelot using a 2nd cutie map? If so, where did this map come from?
Really exciting to know what happens at the end of this chapter, can't wait for the next one!
9558674
Youre good - I wasn't disliking your comment, just voicing general exasperation in having little indication of how good my writinf is. Because people are definitely reading! But i have no idea if they're enjoying it aside from the few who comment, and even less so its quality. You understand, but don't take it personally!
9558744
Thanks for your comment! Yes to your first question (this was mentioned in passing in an earlier chapter). As for the second, that will be explained in detail later but Discord created a copy that is just a sort of "emotional link," like a magic detector, to Equestria, designed to sense anything all powerful like the witches. Little do the understand that the magic of Equestria IS the witches, and they clearly manipulated themselves and Starlight to have been non detectable at the Hive
9558776
Ah, yeah. I know that feeling. I'd like to be able to put everything I like about this story into words, but I'll just say this. When I first started reading, it wasn't because I'd already followed you, I hadn't read anything else of yours yet, (I'd only really been on this site for a little while). I opened Fimfiction, and it was at the top of the new stories section. It interested me, so I went against my usual preference for reading already finished fics, and gave it a read. I've been hooked since. I was initially expecting something more generic, if still enjoyable. This has defied that expectation by being both a far more interesting read than I would've predicted, (having clicked on a story in the new section, by someone I'd not heard of before.) And by being far from anything generic. This has been one of my favorite fics I've ever read, and I am excited to keep reading.
Maybe I won’t have to poke you with the stick after all.
9558820
Keep it ready though.
9558831
I intend to.
9558835
Make sure it's one of the good sticks though. He's earned that. Something polished, made of ebony perhaps.
9558854
I’ll get right on it.
Every time I read the witches' dialogue I feel genuinely scared. Like, you manage to (at least to me) convey that these creatures are actually terrifying eldritch horrors and I feel real fear.
The development you've given them is great, we know practically nothing of them and the mistery is driving me, as a reader, to especulate what the hell are they and what the fuck are they doing, and that's wonderful because it really makes me scared for Starlight, Twilight, Celestia and Equestria as a whole since I don't have a clue of what's going to happen.
This is a great story for plenty of reasons, for now just keep scaring me, you're doing a terrifyingly good job.
9559233
I'm glad that even 200K words later and dozens of appearances, the witches have not lost their scariness. I won't say anything more, but I am so, so, SO excited to see everybody's reaction to the end of this long, painful, frightening road.
Thank you for your kind words, sincerely
9558810
Thanks for your comment! I'm pleased to see you made my story an exception, and hadn't looked back since. To be honest, and this isn't me felating myself, but the Featured Box is a disappointment in this day and age. The only stories that get up there are either from a renowned author, clop, some low-brow comedy, or a mixture of the three or just two. I don't blame you for being intrigued by something different - and I was so surprised to see that The Broken Bond had made it to the top of the Featured Box when I first posted this story a year and a half ago (boy does time fly). But it didn't get the recognition I was somewhat hoping for, not that that stopped me. I suppose most people don't want to invest in a long story that's got a naturally negative vibe AND is about Starlight Glimmer - a controversial character. If this was a romance or about Trixie or Rainbow Dash in Starlight's place, it might be twice as popular but that isn't the tale I wished to tell, because while their reactions might be similar to Starlight the foundations, their inner selves, are completely different - and those aren't the ponies I consider my number one favorite. I didn't want to explore their character, but Starlight's, who, part of the reason she IS my favorite is because her actions have very clear correlations one can draw to something that had happened in her childhood. As far as MLP goes, she's quite a grounded and realistic character for better or worse.
Anyway, I suppose my sizable pool of readers, who have remained quiet, are curious to see where this ends or are holding off until this story is marked as 'Complete.' Which, if they know me, I don't blame them for. You look back at my log of stories and almost none of them are finished - and ugly habit I developed on here because I would feel dejected when a story was denied by EqD.
It's going to be a long road, Hermaeus - plenty to get more active readers (which I've gotten since I really started updating frequently). But this tale is not close to being done, actually, despite us being near the 'Climax' area of plot structure. I'd say we're actually halfway done - only you'll know this (and any who bothers to read this comment I suppose), but after Act VI there's going to be a seventh, split into three mini-acts. It's an epilogue of sorts, but, not really. Thematically, though, it's connected to everything we're now building towards, so it's not like it's a separate story
Also I finally fixed your name. When you first said that I was looking and comparing over and over not realizing what was wrong.
9560005
Ooo a 7th act! Named after Starlight's element I'd wager, whatever that might be. Very hyped.
9560005
This story quickly became one of those that I want to know how it ends, but I don't want it to end and the same time. Really excited to know there is so much more to come!
9560019
9560632
I'm saying nothing but mind the genre tag
9560649
"Quit being happy dammit, there are many painful feels in your future." ~What Apex probably means here. :P
9560840
But as Starlight has spent all her life learning, pain is a lesson, and that lesson can be applied to a great many beautiful things.
This isn't sadness porn. It's a cautionary tale, a multi-character study, and a love letter to our most important and oft-forgotten power as conscious individuals.
9560868
I know, I'm oversimplifying for the sake of the joke. Yes painful feels, but with a point, and understanding of the characters. There is thought, and care put into this. Beyond that in most books I've read. If this were just sadness porn, I wouldn't still be here, and it wouldn't hurt as much. Starlight is my favorite character, and this is the best depiction of her character I've seen, and that makes her suffering feel very real. Same with all the other characters.
9560889
Oh, I knew you weren't calling it that! I appreciate your sentiments regardless, but I was only pinning this here for any passersby. I'll put this at the end of a chapter at some point, a variation of it
Conformism for conformism god.
Translation to regular folk's language of that goes roughly like "I was sitting on my fat white ass waiting for someone else to do something, which in no way contradicts me being the most virtuous person around".
9563108
Uh, you're just being funny, right? You understand why both of these perspectives are valid and a thing?
9563310
I'm not sure what "valid" means exactly (what could be examples of "invalid perspectives"?), but why those things are things I explained in previous comment.
9563372
I meant why Pinkie and Celestia believe what they believe (are a thing) and why they are perfectly understandable perspectives to have in this world and in their characters (valid)
It has nothing to do with conformism. Nor Celestia pretending she is virtuous - neither me nor the show portrays her believing this, only the rest of the world, but really Twilight is the more virtuous character. Not that she has the self respect to recognize that, she is too humble and insecure
9563372
To break it down, here's what I mean. Pinkie loves her friends - they're her world, and her life's purpose is to make everyone happy. There will be more to her character that will be explored in this story that does exist in the show using context clues: in my view, Pinkie isn't all just bubbles and laughter - as she says in Flawless - she doesn't have the strongest love of herself, which is why I see her pride as being so easily wounded. In Pinkie's mind, her world is somewhat falling apart: she just got back from almost losing Twilight, after, just like her friends, losing hope - you have to imagine what Pinkie must be feeling then, and how she feels now only to turn around and realize Twilight got better because Starlight went above and beyond, and now she herself is falling apart because of it. None of Pinkie's carefully planned party efforts here, or the other day with the Crusaders, have helped, and instead, they made Starlight worse. Pinkie feels like she's failing, and on top of all that Tempest gave them the impression that Starlight is too pained to want to continue living her life, not just because of what's happened the past week, but for a long, long time she hasn't forgiven herself for what she did. As a friend, Pinkie believes it was her responsibility to make Starlight not just happy, but to feel better. To realize she never did, in the end, means she's failed and in her mind part of the reason Starlight is as bad as she is now.
This reality, as a whole, hasn't truly settled on her heart yet. Hope was given to them quickly after realizing all of this, so Pinkie is now going to pour 110% into being a better friend.
But when she's pinning the blame on Starlight having forgotten Twilight's lessons, in a way its a defense mechanism (as is her hope), but her philosophy here is one rooted in her experiences with the girls over the years. They've learned that the real power of friendship is not having to face the pain and the scariness of life alone. Friends would be willing to go through that with you, for you, because true friends will be there for each other. That's Starlight's first lesson in the show, via song in the S5 finale.
Of course Pinkie's reaction is extreme, but we aren't splitting hairs about this since they're discussing Starlight's unwillingness to open up to anyone. It's so, so easy to play armchair critic and "well actually" Starlight's perspective, it being her right to keep things to herself if that's what she wants, and that's what makes dealing with people who have depression so tricky. But the girls have tried giving her space, and it's abundantly clear that she's worse than ever to them. But understand that Pinkie is angry and heartbroken by this development, and she wished Starlight never forgot what the show has constantly pushed as being the essence of friendship: toughing out bullshit together, because good friends would be willing to do that with you. Either Starlight has forgotten that, or worse, she's so heartbroken that she - like Pinkie feels deep down - doesn't want to be a damper on everyone's party. A notion so terrible to Pinkie, so achingly familiar, that she wouldn't handle that reality with her feeling like the cause of it.
As for Celestia, you need only watch the show to know she's sat everything out to give Twilight the training she needs. In her eyes, her sickness was no exception - she wouldn't die here, but how was another matter entirely. She DID do everything in her power, as was explained in the first chapter, but she couldn't go to the desperate means Starlight had: finding an ancient journal deep in the library, drawing a feeble connection between its contents and a foal's story, and scouring the southern lands hoping her crackpot theory is right.
Starlight had a ton of faith, almost as much as Celestia. The only difference in this scenario between them, however, is Starlight having the freedom and ability to act on that.
9563557
Umm, what could possibly be more understandable than status signalling, conformism and inaction without significant personal gain?
Just with approval of social group being paramount criterion in her evaluation of actions. It only there existed single short word for that...
What else "virtue" can be? You can not be virtuous in vacuum without others looking at you and admiring your virtue. You can not "pretend" to have high status. Neither can you "believe" in high status. "Status" is how other folks behave in relation to you, not some kind of disembodied spirit.
9563594
How "being a better friend" manifests in reality? In their discussion they went to the point of realization that they would look cool and then immediately stopped --- I guess their actual problem had been solved that moment.
Good analogy. Whose problem is that exactly?
It's abundantly clear that she's not doing what they want. Failing to comply is unforgivable. Does that fucker know who's she messing with? Make her regret!
Except dark magic, as was explained later, and that didn't ever require her to raise her ass. Maybe if at least dozen folks bothered with raising theirs, couple alternative solutions suddenly become available?
Of course she couldn't --- that could make her LOOK BAD, and that's completely unacceptable.
9564099
I... What?
9564099
I feel like you're too angry to see outside of your own perspective. That you're twisting what I say to sound like the worst most heinous shit imaginable.
9564126
What?
9564158
Honestly, that's just regular shit we, great apes, were crafted from by natural selection --- nothing special here. Furthermore, if one to try to subtract it from human being, well, not much would have left, and as so that stuff is completely expected to be present immanently in everything we do. But those folks supposed to be heroes, and they seem to go as far as being proud of their shit.
9564402
Um, ok man. Wo-man. Let's just agree to disagree I guess.
I just feel like you are seeing a grey issue in a black and white perspective of what's correct and not. These characters are supposed to emote and think like human beings, as they are in the show. Theyre flawed and emotional and they are in a situation in which a friend they genuinely love is falling apart no matter what they do. And I dont think you understand Celestia's perspective. She has written herself off as being unimportant despite her efforts. She hasn't been so in the show - she had faith and believable faith in their religion. And I dont think you understand what an incurable disease is - for that is what Twilight had and why only the witches could cure her. Dark magic is an absolute no no, regardless of the situation.
9564418
Yes, that's what I've written below. The issue is it's somehow the worst human traits full 100% of the time. Where my stuff from below fails to predict their behavior?
They are in a situation in which a friend fails to comply with what they want from her and they're keeping pressing harder. And that's repeatedly framed as some kind of a good (or at least "understandable") thing.
9565339
Its not a good thing but it isnt bad either. This is what I mean when I say you're stuck trying to box this in black and white terms. These girls arent pushing "the worst human traits 100% of the time." Youre playing couch quarterback and telling ME how they SHOULD be acting as if I dont already know, and arent writing these characters to fall into their own mental trappings with good and bad intentions as they always have in the show and this story, and most would in real life if the events that are happening now were completely inconceivable until the events of the story began.
Stop playing backseat driver. Empathize and understand that no one, especially Starlight, is handling the situation well. Grief makes people do stupid things, especially when said things are making their friend worse.
Edit: I'll bite. How would you fix my story? Since you clearly understand it and its characters better than me.
9565736
The witches remind me of a quote from the original Hellboy movie. "What horrible will, could keep such a creature as this alive?"
9567675
It is. She had never been camping before then and thought it would be a good friendship building trip. On top of all the sucky things about camping, Maud and Trixie's fighting left a sour imprint.
9565736
Glad the witches are effectively terrifying! I tried to make them as uncanny as possible, and your description, "they just feel wrong" like they shouldn't exist, that's exactly the feeling I was hoping to convey while writing their chapters. Like they're too horrific to exist in MLP and yet they do.
So Twilight and her friends are feeling more optimistic, but I doubt Celestia will by the end of this.
So just wondering. What would happen to the witches if Cozy Glows plan of getting rid of all the magic actually succeeded. Would they be affected at all?
pain
Another chapter I think rightly would’ve been split, but no matter.
“What a great, perceptive friend Twilight was. Celestia was so right in giving her a pair of wings.“
Er, Twilight, don’t overestimate your position in Celestia’s Fabulous Manipulative Retirement Plan (no disrespect to Celestia, the manipulation is endearing).
Speaking of Celestia, a fantastic scene at the end! I was happy to see she handled the witches so well. I’m also very curious as to the implications of her conversation with Luna; it sounded like she wanted to become directly involved, implying that they have some level of power they normally don’t use. She sounded a bit like Daybreaker, for a moment. But then, that seems discontinuous with her helplessness against the witches later; was she simply wrong?
I will say, I think you’re underpowering Discord a bit. The witches are theorized to be the avatars of harmony (though they seem to disprove that here), which would make Discord their equal, not their inferior. And that aside, it’s not as if we’ve ever seen a limit to his power that wasn’t the Elements, and even they feel less like something more powerful than him and more like a workaround. He can create a volcano from nothing with a snap of his fingers; I find it a bit difficult to believe he can’t help here.
But then, if he could, this story would lose much of its premise, so I suppose I understand.
And, of course, Fizzlepop Berrytwist is the best friend.