It's All A Little Strange To Me

by Essay Jay

Issue 3.2 ~ Without Hesitation

Starlight Glimmer held her side gingerly as she took deep breaths. Deep breaths that were fully warranted, for she had just found out what had really happened to the pony she had fought. If there was any appropriate moment to puke after all that had transpired, it would’ve been then. Once again focusing inward, she did her best to calm the raging storm of emotion within her.

In all honesty, Starlight Glimmer would’ve rather bottled the feelings up and continued with whatever the buck was going on around her, but she already knew how something like that turned out. With memories now arising in her already troubled mind, Starlight did her best to redirect her thoughts from one of her best friends in Equestria: Trixie Lulamoon. Starlight could only hope Trixie was doing well for herself without her.

Resolving the train of thought by deciding she would be the first Starlight would check up on after this whole mystical end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it event happened, she continued onward. She needed to get back to Kamare-taj, if only to get reinforcements. If not, she would take this straight to Celestia herself. Being close friends with as well as the student of the Princess of Friendship certainly had nothing to do with it.

She stumbled past the pony’s body, already doing her best to wash the image from her mind. Using her breathing exercises, she put the most important thing she could think of at the moment as her only goal: Mordo. Was he still there? She could only hope. Stumbling down the hallways and following her bloody trail, she found herself at the base of a set of stairs. The same set of stairs she had fallen down.

Already, she could feel the dread building. It was almost predictable. Starlight walked up the steps… and saw the broken remains of the prison that had held Mordo. The pieces were strewn haphazardly, no care given in how the artifact was removed. Maybe if she had time, she could repair it, but it seemed time was something that she did not have in abundance. She could feel it in the air. A forbearing thickness that refused to diffuse.\

A voice from behind her called her name.

Starlight’s head whipped around, blinking as she saw the form of Jade smiling at her. “Thank Celestia you’re alright! We were worried when you got thrown through the door.”

“Ehe,” Starlight giggled weakly, trotting over to Jade. “Yeah. Hi. Nothing to worry about. You know, except for the imminent destruction of the remaining Sanctums and this gash I have in my chest. No biggie.”

“Wait, what?” Jade asked, rushing over to Starlight. “Are you okay? Woah, those are stitches. When did you get time to get stitches?”

Starlight winced and pushed Jade away. “I had… a little help. From a few friends.”

“You used a portal?”

“...yeah.”

“Good on ya, Starcicle!” Jade said, slapping her on the back. “You’ve grown proficient in your studies.”

“Owww,” Starlight winced before shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Jade then kept her hoof on Starlight’s back as she realised something. Starlight watched as Jade’s eyes darted over to the destroyed displays before coming back to the cape on her back. “The Cloak of Levitation,” Jade murmured, nodding her head with a small smile, “It chose you, eh?”

“Fairly impressive, I must say,” another voice said, stepping into view. How Starlight had not noticed her before, she couldn’t say, but the Ancient One now stood in front of her, her robes still as pristine as ever.

“Yeah?” Starlight said.

“Quite so.”

Starlight sighed, stepping away from the two and rubbing her temples. “It’s nice to see your priorities are in check, because Mordo is missing. He’s escaped.”

“Mordo?” Jade asked, raising an eyebrow. “Really? Noooo, that’s impossible.”

“Your snark is noted, Jade,” the Ancient One said, facing Starlight. “Starlight, I commend you for your efforts in containing him, but I find it hard to believe he was able to escape on his own.”

“He can bend space and matter at will,” Starlight remarked. “Pretty freaky stuff you got going there.”

“He folds space and matter outside the mirror dimension?” the Ancient One inquired gravely. “In the real world?”

Starlight nodded. “Yes. And he’s got like, three more initiates following him around, I think.”

“Where are they?”

“I trapped one in the desert.”

“And the others?”

Starlight gritted her teeth, shaking her head and facing away from them.

“Starlight, where are-”

“One of their bodies is in the hall, okay!?” Starlight shrieked, before covering her mouth and hiding a few tears. “I just… please… Mordo, he… Master Swift is in the foyer…”

“Yeah, it was one of the first things we did when we got here,” Jade said softly. “We took her back to Kamare-Taj. She’ll recover.”

“Mordo is cunning and ruthless, Starlight,” the Ancient One said. “He will do what he wants, where he can, when he can, and if he can break your morale before you even meet him, you’re already defeated. I know him, Starlight, and you must stay strong. The Zebrican Citadel has fallen. Only Canterlot and Neighpon remain.”

Starlight heard her pause before she continued. “You just protected this Citadel by yourself, and seeing as how the old Master has been incapacitated, it needs a new one. What do you say, Master Glimmer?”

Starlight Glimmer froze where she stood, wiping her tears away as she let herself process the Ancient One’s words. She took a deep breath, scrunching her face in frustration as she hissed. Turning around, she said “Look, I don’t want to be a master, and honestly, I don’t care. I was, and am a student of the Princess of Friendship: Twilight Sparkle, and when I became her pupil, I promised to devote my time in making friends with everypony and spreading the magic of friendship.”

With an audible whoosh, Starlight jammed her hoof in the general direction of the halls she had trotted through. “I have just killed somepony! You can’t come here and tell me to be a protector of the world when I’ve just taken the life of another being! I didn’t leave behind my past and reform myself just to do something like this again! I’ve seen the worlds I created. The destruction I’d caused, all because of my anger. I can’t, I just...”

“When you became Twilight’s student, you wanted to only wanted to make one right, and that was to help yourself.The friendship came after. When you came to Kamare-taj, you came for one thing only, to heal. Believe it or not, Starlight, you’re only here to help yourself.”

Starlight stared, brows furrowing further and further as she listened. “Seriously? Oh, oh I get it. You’re still seeing things, aren’t you? You still think you know me better than I know myself, huh?”

“Now hey,” Jade started, “That was uncalled for-”

“I see what I’ve always seen since we first met,” the Ancient One said, cutting Jade off. “I see you and your ambition, your ego, the way you think you can go anywhere and do anything. Even heal the unhealable, or challenge death, which no one can control. Not even you, Starlight Glimmer.”

Jade blinked at that, her gaze going from Starlight to the Ancient One. Starlight, on the other hoof, fumed, her face going red with indignation. “What about Dormammu?” she whispered, her voice shaking as she controlled the tempest behind her eyes. “He offers immortality. He provides everything anyone could need to have power.”

“It’s our fear of death that gives him power,” the Ancient One said, staying resolute as Starlight trotted closer. “We must rise above his persuasions and realise that immortality is not a gift, but a curse.”

“And you would know, huh?” Starlight said. “Escaping death. I saw what was written in the Book of Starswirl. I read the missing pages. I know how you do it. I worked it all out.”

The Ancient One kept her eyes fixed, betraying no emotion. “I would advise you think about your next words very carefully, Starlight.”

“Because you won’t like them?” Starlight retorted.

“No.” The Ancient One stepped forward. “Because you may not know of what you speak.”

“Starlight? Ancient One?” Jade asked. “What are you two talking about?”

“You know her,” Starlight said, pointing at the Ancient One. “Yeah, haven’t you ever wondered where her long life comes from? Her immortality? It comes from Dormammu. Right?” She turned to face the Ancient One. “You draw power from the Dark Dimension and use it to live forever. Nice, right?”

Jade waved her hooves laughing nervously. “Woah woah, hey, that can’t be true. Don’t accuse her of that. It’s not true, right, Ancient One? Right?”

The Ancient One said nothing, until something in the air changed and she looked at the two of them. “Mordo will return with his followers. When he does, you will need reinforcements to defend this Citadel.”

“Hey, wait,” Jade called before the Ancient One slipped away and disappeared into the shadows of Canterlot Citadel. For a moment, there was silence while Starlight calmed down and Jade stared into the empty space of the Ancient One’s wake. Stepping away closer to open space, Starlight tried to clear her head, sitting down and staring out the large window of the room. How could all of this be happening, when ponies were just walking up and down the street like it was just another Tuesday?

Chancing a glance behind her, Starlight watched Jade begin pacing and muttering to herself. Mustering her courage, Starlight said “The Ancient One. She’s not who you think she is. She’s good. But she’s a hypocrite.”

“How?” Jade asked. She stopped in her tracks and shook her head. “How could you possibly say that about her when you don’t even know half of what she’s done for this world?”

“Do you?” Starlight shot back. “You look about as old as me. We’ve only been on this planet less than two dozen years. What could you know about her that I don’t?”

“The people she’s saved and the creature’s she’s faced?” Jade said. “You don’t know anything about what she’s done! The responsibility she carries is one seldom few can understand, much less you!”

“No, I don’t,” Starlight agreed. “And, frankly, I don’t want to know.”

“You’re just being a sissy,” Jade shot back. “What kind of hero would back away from something?”

“Don’t you know who I am?” Starlight shouted. “Don’t you know what I’ve done!? I was a villain! I could’ve torn the universe in half and I wouldn’t have cared less, all because I was hell bent on exacting revenge! I’ve killed hundreds of timelines, I’ve murdered in cold blood, and now I’ve just killed another pony. I’m no hero. You hear?!”

Starlight fell on her haunches, feeling tears coming to her eyes. She buried herself in her wrappings, wiping as much of it away as she could. When she heard nothing, she shook her head and said the same thing again: “I’m no hero.”

What she expected was the sound of hooves trotting, trotting away from her and leaving her to wallow alone in her misery. What she didn’t expect was a pair of hooves wrapping around her, pulling her into an embrace. Sniffling, Starlight brought her eyes up to see Jade hugging her tightly. Frowning in thought, Starlight tried to form more words.

“Hey, Starcicle,” Jade whispered. “C’mere.”

“I’m already here,” Starlight muttered before obliging and reciprocating the hug.

Jade patted Starlight on the back and rubbed it, breathing deeply. “Do you want to know why I’m defending her?”

“The Ancient One?”

“No, the Muffin Mare,” Jade said. “Of course I’m talking about the Ancient One, you doof!”

“Alright, alright, I get it. And yes, I do.”

“When I was still a teenage filly,” Jade said, “I was running away. From my family. From my titles. From my responsibilities. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. So I ran.”

“Wow, no wonder you’re so sassy,” Starlight said, pulling away slightly. “That sounds like something out of a cheesy adventure novel.”

“Hey, sh!” Jade said, silencing Starlight. “Yes, it’s cheesy, but let me finish, because this is important. I was alone, and I was terrified of what was going on around me. I could hear howls, I could hear the scratching of claws, the sounds of predators all around me, when I heard someone shouting. I was so scared I didn’t even care who it was, so I ran towards the voice, and sure enough, I found someone who could protect me. Do you know who that was?”

“The Ancient One,” Starlight provided. “So that’s how you met her?”

“You are absolutely incorrect,” Jade said, pushing Starlight with a slight smile before she grimaced, wincing as if it were a bad memory. “I wish it was. Here, and now, I could only have wished it was. No, it wasn't her.”

“Then who?” Starlight asked.

At that exact moment, they could hear rumbling from within the Citadel. As they flicked their ears, they could even hear the eerie chanting of voices from within. Jade and Starlight looked at each other, all mirth now disappearing from their visages. They both knew exactly who had just arrived and said the name to each other in one accord.

“Mordo’s here.”

Author's Note:

With everything going on and the end of school, I am trying very hard to finish this damn story. Not that I'm not enjoying it. Just... wow. It takes a lot to finish something. Like I have to sell my soul or something.

Expect sporadic updates.

Comments

[Boltstrike58]

I hope Jade doesn't turn evil, like Mordo did in the movie.

[Snowdrifter]

9001766
Jade has already turned to the Snark Side.