A Disparate Bond

by the7Saviors

A Mutual Understanding

It took several long minutes of empty reassurances that everything would be okay, but eventually the light pink filly calmed down enough for the lavender filly to ask a few questions that were running through her mind. She decided to ask the most appropriate question she could think of.

"Do you... feel any better?" she asked, knowing the answer already.

The other filly said nothing, only giving a small sniff and shake of her head in response. The lavender filly was silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle," the lavender filly offered, "can you tell me your name?"

"...S-Starlight," the other filly replied hoarsely, "my n-name is Starlight Glimmer."

Twilight tried to smile for Starlight's sake, but an errant gust of freezing wind blew through the destroyed house and the smile dropped off her face as she shivered.

"Do you have any blankets or anything?" Twilight asked worriedly, "I think it's getting colder."

Starlight nodded and pulled away from Twilight's warm embrace. She silently trotted across the dark and messy room, making sure to avoid as much of the aftermath of whatever had happened here as possible.

She briefly disappeared into a backroom before coming back out with two thick brown blankets. She offered one to Twilight, who tried to take it, before wincing in pain. She reached up and rubbed her horn, pulling her hoof away a second later with a hiss.

She sighed and trotted over to where Starlight was. As she took the blanket in her hooves, Starlight eyed her curiously.

"...Your horn burned out," she stated bluntly, "why?"

Twilight took a moment to answer as she wrapped the blanket around herself. Once she was comfortably snug she turned back to Starlight with a grimace.

"I... I don't really know exactly what happened, but..." she shifted uncomfortably and looked away, "something terrible happened and I used a really powerful spell that dropped me in this place."

"Oh..."

Starlight said nothing more as she wrapped herself up in her own blanket. Together they sat there in the dark, everything completely silent save for the howling wind outside. As the silence dragged on, it became more and more tense, but neither filly made any attempt to break it.

There was only one topic on their minds and neither of them had any desire to share just what had happened.

At the very least, the blankets did an adequate job of keeping the wind chill to a bare minimum if nothing else. Twilight's ear twitched and she turned to Starlight to see her moving back toward the far corner of the room where she was originally.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked with a bemused frown.

"Going to sleep."

With that, Starlight lowered herself to the floor and curled up beneath the blanket, facing towards the wall.

"Oh... well... good night, then..." Twilight replied feeling somewhat awkward, "I guess I'll... try to do the same..."

She moved over to another part of the living room and laid down, adjusting herself so that she was at least somewhat comfortable. She didn't believe for a second that sleep would come to her. She didn't know what had happened here with Starlight, but she was fairly sure the pink filly wouldn't actually be getting any sleep either.

Still, it gave them both an excuse not to talk to each other about themselves and what they went through without the uneasy silence.

Sure enough however, Twilight's ears picked up quiet sobs coming from the other side of the living room. Had the wind not died down, she would've missed them, but as it stood, they were perfectly audible to the lavender filly.

She let out a quiet sigh.

It was strange.

Until she had met Starlight, she was ready to give up completely on doing anything but wandering around until she froze or starved to death. She didn't want to die, but she had already accepted it as a strong possibility given her current circumstances.

Now though...

Seeing Starlight Glimmer in that state somehow made her feel calmer about her own situation. In a way, she was also relieved to know that she wasn't alone, even if Starlight didn't want to talk about what happened.

It wasn't like Twilight herself wanted to talk about it either, but still, it felt nice to be able to reach out and give the pink filly at least a little bit of comfort, whether it was reciprocated or not.

She felt she had regained some kind of control over her own emotions by trying to help Starlight with hers. Twilight began to think that maybe if she could get Starlight to open up, they could both find some kind of mutual understanding.

They already had some common ground to work off of, but the problem was that neither of them were ready to build anything up from that common ground. Still She had to try if not for her own sake, then for Starlight's.

Whether either of them liked it or not, it looked like all they had left was each other in this vast rocky desert that stretched on for who knew how long.

A soft snore caught Twilight's attention and she looked over to see that the pink filly had finally fallen asleep. Twilight didn't know how long she had been lying there ruminating on both their situations, but it must've been for quite some time, as she herself was becoming tired.

With all these thoughts in mind, she tried to ignore the stench of the bodies -- and the fact that the bodies were even there -- and get some rest. Eventually rest finally did claim her and she fell into a fitful sleep.

---

Twilight sneezed.

The act jolted her awake and she slowly sat up, the blanket falling around her. She blinked a few times and looked around, momentarily confused as to where she was and what had happened.

Then all the memories came crashing back down on her like so many boulders in a landslide. Rather than let them overwhelm her, she desperately tried to push the memories to the back of her mind and focus on the filly she had met during the night.

Twilight looked around the ruined shack.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out the place they had slept wasn't a shack like she had thought. The morning was grey, but it was still bright enough out to make out the interior -- especially with all the holes in the walls and ceilings.

It turned out the building had been a legitimately nice cabin before whatever had caused all of this death and destruction.

Now however, everything was shattered, smashed, crushed, or otherwise broken in one way or another. A quick glance around the main room showed that Starlight was nowhere to be found -- her blanket laying crumpled up and abandoned in the corner.

Twilight yawned and stood up, shaking the blanket the rest of the way off. The air was cool, but thankfully nowhere near as bad as it had been last night. She decided her winter coat was enough to keep the morning's chill at bay and proceed to look around the room for the pink filly.

Wrinkling up her nose at the smell and doing her best to avoid the bodies, she looked under the overturned furniture and even in the few rooms there were in the cabin. Eventually she found Starlight in what she could only assume was a bedroom.

Starlight had her back to the lavender filly and it looked like she was messing with something Twilight couldn't see. From the look of it, it seemed she'd washed off the blood at some point, as her pale pink fur cleared of the stuff, something which Twilight was honestly thankful for.

"Starlight?"

A slight turn of the head was the only acknowledgment Starlight gave before going back to whatever she was doing.

"What are you..." Starlight shifted and Twilight got a glimpse of what she was messing with, "...is that a candle?"

Held in Starlight's bright blue magic was a tall maroon colored candle -- it's wick lit and the melting wax dripping steadily onto the floor. Twilight also took note of a pair of dirty brown saddlebags lying on the floor nearby that looked much too big for Starlight.

Regardless of the fact, the light pink filly threw them onto her back.

"Why do you have -- hey!"

Twilight cried out in surprise as Starlight pushed past her and trotted out into the living room with the lit candle.

"Starlight!" Twilight called out as she trotted after the other filly, "what are you doing?"

Starlight stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to Twilight.

The look on her face sent shivers down the lavender filly's spine.

"S-Starlight?" Twilight asked again, taking a hesitant step forward, "w-what are doing?"

Rather than answer, Starlight turned and trotted towards a large bucket near the wall that Twilight had failed to notice earlier.

"Starlight?"

Ignoring the lavender filly, Starlight grunted as she lifted the bucket in her magic. Twilight watched as she raised the bucket overhead and jumped back in surprise as the filly proceeded to dump the contents all over the hardwood floor.

Oil.

The smell of it hit Twilight like a punch to the muzzle, and it was in that moment that she realized what Starlight was planning to do.

"Starlight, wait!" the lavender filly cried, "you can't just--"

"I'm leaving."

The hollowness in Starlight's voice caused Twilight's heart to skip a beat. For a moment, she couldn't do anything but gape at the other filly as she tossed the now empty bucket away and trotted towards the entrance to the cabin -- lit candle floating beside her.

"You should probably leave too."

Twilight scrambled after Starlight and made it outside just as Starlight threw the lit candle back into the cabin.

The candle hit the large pool of oil and set the floor aflame. Both Twilight and Starlight slowly backed away from the cabin and looked on as the fire spread across the floor, then to the wooden furniture, then it hit the walls and continued to fan out and cover everything within.

Twilight couldn't look away, both horrified and enthralled by the spectacle. Starlight merely looked on with a blank expression, but the tears streaming down her face made her true feelings about the situation clear for Twilight to see.

The lavender filly wanted to say something -- anything to make Starlight feel better, but she couldn't think of what to say at that moment. So she turned her attention back to the burning cabin.

Twilight didn't know how long they sat there, but neither of them spoke a word as the time passed and the flames grew. As they watched the flames grow higher and higher, they settled into a sort of trance -- losing themselves in their own thoughts and feelings.

"I think..."

Starlight's ears perked up and she gave the contemplative filly next to her a side glance.

"Maybe it's wrong," Twilight continued, "but I feel... better -- about my family I mean. I'm looking at all this fire, and I keep imagining them... their bodies, in that cabin."

Despite both the heat and the calm induced by the roaring flames, she shuddered.

"It's like, nopony will have to see them... like they were," she hung her head in sorrow, "I won't have to see them like that. I can pretend like I didn't see..."

Her voice hitched and she turned to Starlight with tears in her eyes.

"Is... i-is that... how you feel?" she asked, "is that why... why you did it?"

Starlight's mask cracked as she looked at the despairing filly.

She had heard Twilight saying something about her parents last night, but she had been too caught up in her own horror and despair to pay her problems any real attention. It wasn't until that moment -- sitting in front of her burning home -- that Starlight understood.

This filly was just like her.

She had also lost everything she ever cared about. She had also wound up lost, afraid, and alone with nopony to rely on. In that moment it finally dawned on the light pink filly that Twilight could've died out there in those freezing cold winds had she not found her cabin.

Right then and there, Starlight made a decision.

Rather than answer Twilight's question, she looked towards her home one last time before turning away and trotting off in the other direction.

"S-Starlight?" Twilight asked in confusion, "w-where... where are you going?"

Starlight stopped and turned towards Twilight with a look of grim determination.

"There's supposed to be a town somewhere around here, and I'm gonna find it," she trotted over to the bewildered lavender filly and put a hoof on her shoulder, "and you're coming with me."

Without another word, Starlight stepped back and continued her trot forward. Twilight remained seated where she was, momentarily stunned by Starlight's sudden change in demeanor. After a few more seconds she slowly began to smile and hurried after the light pink filly.

As they trotted away from the still blazing cabin, Twilight couldn't help but hope...

Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all...

Author's Note:

Whether it's a fireplace, a simple campfire, a large bonfire, a blazing forest, or a burning cabin, no matter how horrible the circumstances may be, there's just something about an open flame that draws the eye.

Comments

[the book keeper]

Thanks for another good chapter can;t wait for the next one.

Also are Twilight and Starlight going to go to Cleestia school for gifted Unicorns or are you going to go down a diffrent path anyway I look forward to the next chapter

[xDHannibalxD]

Getting a strong Elric brothers vibe here. I like it.

[the7Saviors]

8910131
That's exactly what I thought! I didn't realize it until after I had finished writing the chapter.

[the7Saviors]

8910119
No, they won't be learning at CSGU. Their teacher lies elsewhere, and let's just say that they aren't a teacher our Kind and Benevolent Sun Goddess would approve of...

[the book keeper]

8910153
sounds interesting can't wait

[Bowser3000000]

So Starlight is going to create her anti-cutie marks town with Twilight as a second in commander? Or they are simply going all "evilier than thou" or what

[the7Saviors]

8911602
Nah, I'm doing something entirely different. There will be moral degradation, but it will be gradual. Don't expect to see a super evil Twi/Glim duo all at once or immediately.

[Bowser3000000]

8911631
Well I suppose the wait is worth to see Super Evil Twi Star duo how I pity now Nightmare Moon when she returns

[Zeprto678]

I'm guessing that these two will meet someone who will look after them? Just like how Twilight,Trixie,and Sunset have Ancient Scroll?

[the7Saviors]

8912046
Yup. And they ain't gonna be no Ancient Scroll lemme tell ya.

[Midnight Moon]

8912148
So, maybe not necessarily evil, but definitely colder, harsher? Shaping the two fillies' worldview so they only truly care about each other?

Starlight, having accidentally killed her family and only friend, takes a more proactive role, actively pursuing their best interests. In contrast, Twilight, having watched her family and BBBFF get brutally murdered, takes a more passive role, planning their long-term goals and ambitions. Starlight tends to be the face, and the defender of the duo, while Twilight is the brains. At some point, Twilight has to step out of her shell in order to protect Starlight, showing more of the phenomenal strength her magic possesses.

And their caretaker? They're not what you'd call a kind pony. Perhaps they've been shaped by tragedy too, which is why they bother looking after them in the first place. Regardless, their method of taking care of the duo strengthens the bonds the fillies share, perhaps at the cost of their empathy for other ponies. But no matter what happens, Twilight and Starlight will ALWAYS be there for each other. And not even Celestia herself can help anypony foolish enough to try and seperate them.

[the7Saviors]

8914696
Good guesses, but to tell you the truth I haven't planned ahead nearly that far. It could turn out like you predicted, or it could be something completely different. I don't generally plan my stories ahead of time -- rather, I take a few vague ideas, I write a chapter, and continue to build the story from that chapter onward focusing on one chapter at a time.

Then I work backwards -- looking back on what I've already written and using that to write something new that's consistent and makes sense with what I've added to the story previously. In short, I don't really know where the story is gonna go until it gets there and that's what makes writing fun and exciting for me.

Sorry for going off on a tangent, but yeah, those really were some good guesses.