Prisoner of Butterfly Island

by Magic Step

Starlight's Story

Twilight dodged stray lasers from the combatants and ran around the edge of the room. The inside of the moon was like nothing she’d ever seen before. The floors were shiny and slick; the walls were curved like a sphere. One wall was a giant window crisscrossed by metal beams in a geodesic dome pattern.

The rest of the room was filled with strange things Twilight had never seen before. Desks filled with glowing boxes with moving pictures on them. Bins of butterflies that looked frozen. Huge metal cubes with blinking lights and spinning wheels behind glass.

Then she found a back door, with a strange green light shining through it. In the light she saw the shadow of a hole-filled leg.

Twilight gasped and approached the door, peering in cautiously from the side.

Behind the door was a cave… no, more like a hallway made of metal. Glowing green globs the size of her head were stuck to the wall at random heights and regular intervals that provided light. At the end of the hallway was a ladder.

Behind her, Shining Armor cried out in pain. Once, twice, then a third time was more like a muffled gurgle.

“And now for- Twilight!?” Starlight Glimmer roared in annoyance.

No time to hesitate; the unknown seemed safer now. Twilight raced for the ladder. The tunnel made her claustrophobic, and the ladder felt awkward, but she slid her back hooves into the hole and flailed them a bit until she found her footing. Then she carefully lowered the rest of her body down and tried to take a step down to the next rung, but instead she lost her balance and couldn’t hold herself up with her forehooves. She free fell a few feet before thinking to slow her fall with her wings; as non-life threatening as that had been, her heart was still racing.

“Twilight! Don’t think you can hide from me, you pathetic little filly!” Starlight shouted.

Twilight landed on the strange metal floor with an audible clank that made her wince. She turned away from the ladder and surveyed the new room.

It had strange machines similar to the ones used in the room above. There were large pictures all over the walls of various places in Butterfly Island; her house, the portal room, the dance floor-

No wait, they weren’t pictures. They were moving. These were some kind of magic mirrors… or something.

Ponies were darting back and forth across the mirrors; others were huddling and hugging each other. The two Cutie Mark Crusaders and a hoofful of other children were at the water park playset, swimming; they looked like they were trying not to think about something horrible so they could have a good time.

After searching all the magic mirrors, Twilight finally found her friends. They were at Fluttershy’s house. Fluttershy was tearfully bandaging up Rainbow’s wing; Rarity was walking around in a hysterical tizzy; Pinkie Pie was hugging her rubber chicken and crying; Applejack just looked morose.

“Smile for the cameras,” Starlight said.

Twilight had somehow completely forgotten her life might be in danger. She whirled around just in time to get blasted with ice right in her face. The cold spread down her entire body and no matter how much she struggled, none of her limbs responded. She toppled to the ground with a loud clatter and watched Starlight’s pink hooves cross the floor.

“Glad you could make it, Twilight. So now, I guess you know the real truth.”

“Y-you just wanted to kill me!?” Twilight shrieked.

“No, no, the larger picture. Come on you moron. Why do you think all of this was in the moon?”

“I don’t know!”

Teal energy surrounded Twilight and she was lifted upright again to see Starlight’s annoyed expression. “Please at least make a token attempt.”

“What does it matter to you? You’re going to kill me anyway!” Twilight said.

“Twilight, if that’s all I wanted, why would I put so much effort into this…? Because believe me, while tricking you is incredibly easy, it’s incredibly painful to try and get you to notice the obvious…”

Twilight didn’t answer. She felt tears run down her cheeks; her throat was too tight for speech.

“But why should I be surprised? You always were stupid and naive and only did exactly what you were told to do.” Starlight glared at Twilight. “And when you met ponies who looked a little like bugs and were told you should kill them without mercy, you went above and beyond, didn’t you?”

Twilight sobbed. She should have known. She was so foolish. Why was it not until she saw the swarm at Sweet Apple Acres that it occurred to her that maybe changelings were just like ponies?

“But of course, you had all your little friends to support you and tell you that what you were doing was right. How does it feel to know that you hurt all of them for no reason?” Starlight tightened her telekinetic grip around Twilight’s jaw, making her squeak in pain. “The only ponies who ever cared for you, and you betrayed most of them, would have betrayed Pinkie Pie if you had the chance, and you delivered Shining Armor over to his death.”

Twilight had no answers. Her heart was broken. She’d had everything and she threw it away on the word of a pink pony she never should have trusted.

“I had a friend, once. Sunburst was a huge fan of yours, you know. He watched you every spare minute he got.”

“W-what!?” Twilight said. She’d had a stalker…?

“He thought you were such a bright and shining spirit. He would have done anything to be on the show. Then he finally had the chance when the changeling invasion began.”

“Oh no, no, no, please…” Twilight said.

“Oh yes, yes, yes,” Starlight Glimmer said. “You do remember, don’t you!? Your magical sparkly weapons that would have teleported him safely off the island, giving you the illusion of victory, suddenly malfunctioned on you, didn’t they? And what did you do, you sick, twisted monster!?”

“Y-your friend… was that changeling?” Twilight was shaking as she remembered the feel of the heavy book in her forelegs as she bashed the head of the strange bug pony over and over and over…

Starlight was right. She was a monster.

Twilight wept bitterly. For a minute, that was it. Starlight said nothing and Twilight’s vision was too blurred to see what reaction she had, if any.

Then Twilight stammered, “Why didn’t you just kill me from the start?”

“I thought…It wasn’t enough to just repay bloodshed with bloodshed. I wanted you to understand why you deserved to die. I didn’t want you to be ignorant.” Starlight’s tone was weird. She was a lot less angry now. “I tricked you into betraying your friends, because I thought only that would hammer home to you what a horrible pony you are.”

Twilight was starting to feel numb from so much crying. “Stop beating a dead horse. My life is already over.”

Through her blurry vision, Starlight came into focus. She didn’t look angry anymore. She looked… deep in thought.

“Starlight, no!” Shining Armor shouted.

Starlight cried out in anger and Twilight in shock as they both turned back to the ladder they’d come down.

Shining Armor had a cut in his neck with blood gushing down; he was practically holding his own limbs together in a pink blob of magic. A sputtering shield spell floated in front of him, just large enough to cover the more vital areas.

“Please, no! Twilight was just doing what she was told!” Shining Armor begged. “If anypony deserves your rage, isn’t it the Queen!?”

“The queen?” Twilight asked. What was a queen?

“How d-dare you speak badly of her!?” Starlight Glimmer demanded, firing a turquoise bolt at Shining.

Shining Armor managed to maneuver the shield to intercept it, but he still cried out in pain as the shield flickered.

“No, please!” Twilight ran to stand between them. “I’m the only pony who should die!”

“Please don’t say that!” Shining Armor said.

“You were trying to kill her yourself just ten minutes ago! Ponies are so emotional!” Starlight Glimmer rolled her eyes.

“It wasn’t Twilight who decided to kill changelings on the air for entertainment! It wasn’t even my idea! The Queen wanted to punish limp-wristed and nonconformist changelings.”

“Lies!” Starlight Glimmer glared at Shining. “Sunburst wasn’t harming anypony! Everypony said his special effects were the best!”

“I killed him on the ground…” Twilight muttered, confused.

“Your Queen cares about nothing except herself and she’s as entertained by the death of her disobedient children as our viewers!” Shining Armor shouted.

“LIAR!” Starlight Glimmer roared, turquoise flames bursting from her skin and hiding her. When they burned away, a changeling stood in her place.

Of all the recent twists, this was the least surprising to Twilight.

“Twilight killed Sunburst and it is Twilight who will die!” the changeling shrieked, in the same buzzy voice as the changeling on Applejack’s farm. “If the Queen meant to punish him, why would she have given Twilight teleportation necklaces?”

“And by the same token, do you really think they just malfunctioned by accident? Because if they did, wouldn’t that mean Sunburst died because he built a trinket stupidly?” Shining asked.

Then Twilight heard a faint voice buzzing in her brain. It was Shining Armor’s voice. “I’m distracting her, Twilight! Run, please, run!”

As Twilight tried to subtly pull away, she heard one last tiny whisper in her mind. “I love you, Twilie.”

Twilight turned away from the combatants only to be faced with a wall of green flame. Her screams attracted Starlight and Shining’s attention.

The flames flickered and faded, revealing the largest changeling Twilight had ever seen. She had large, blue-green eyes with real irises unlike the small blue lights the smaller bugs had. She had a mane and a tail too, made of shiny blue fibers that didn’t look like real hair. She had a much longer horn and a tiny crown on top.

“Your highness!” Starlight gasped, horrified. “I-I didn’t… I know you didn’t want me to ruin the show!”

“Whatever,” the giant changeling said in an echoing voice. “What’s done is done. It’s over.”

“No, Queen Chrysalis, please!” Shining Armor threw himself at the giant bug’s hole-ridden hooves. “She’s ignorant! We can make it work! Everypony still loves Twilight!”

The queen smacked Shining Armor in the head. “Shut up you fool. Your denial is pathetic.”

“What are they talking about?” Twilight cried. “Who are you?”

“I’m going to explain everything to you and we can settle this once and for all,” Queen Chrysalis said, with a wicked looking smirk.

Comments

[Viper Pit]

I'm getting familiar vibes from this you know that one movie where a guys entire life was a show