The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope

by Wings of Black Glass

Suspicious Sunburst

“I don’t know what to do.” I coddled Flurry, rocking her gently. It was a few minutes since the encounter with Shining Armor and Cadence in the throne room, and the little Alicorn finally stopped crying, exhausting herself to sleep.

“It would appear we found our problem.”

“Gee, you think?”

“Sarcasm is unnecessary.” His blasé attitude rankled me, it was almost like he wasn’t taking this seriously.

“It's only my brother and his wife, rulers of the Crystal Empire, ready to tear each other apart!” Flurry warbled in her sleep, I looked over to see her shaking in my aura, I had been rocking a bit too enthusiastically. I had to take several deep breaths, pacing back and forth to calm my nerves.

“I apologize, I know nothing of these two. Maybe somepony else can explain the situation if they are unwilling to speak to us.” He was probably right, for some reason it bothered me that he thought of it first. “We should see if we can find Starlight Glimmer.”

“Sunburst would be the better choice.” I shook my head. “He lives here after all.” Sable stepped back, his eyes narrowing for some reason, but nodded anyway. I glared at him, his behavior was curious. Then I remembered Flurry Heart, still being rocked to sleep by my magic. “What do we do with Flurry Heart? I don’t want to leave her alone with her parents behaving like that.”

“We will have to bring her along. Unless you have a better idea.” I did not. With a sigh I led us away, Sunburst’s home was out in the city. The light mist blanketing the town had begun to thicken. Again we found that nopony was willing to engage us in conversation at all, either glaring at us with hostility or avoiding us altogether. I kept Flurry Heart close, hovering the infant just in front of me as we walked.

Sable kept the light snow at bay with a simple spell, blowing it to the side before it even touched us. I scoffed, His concern for us was unwarranted. Without any distractions, we reached Sunburst’s home quickly. I knocked on the door, my hoof pounding hard against the wood. Sable glanced at me from the corner of his eye but said nothing.

“Who is it this time?” I recognized Sunburst’s voice; he sounded worried, or suspicious, I couldn’t tell which.

“It's Twilight Sparkle.” The door opened with a creak, just an inch. Sunburst’s bespectacled eye peered out at us from inside the darkened room.

“How can I be sure? You might be a changeling.” Now, that was strange. The changelings were all friendly now, why would he be concerned about that?

“Come on Sunburst; it's me, you know me. I’ve even got Flurry Heart with me.” The eye behind the door swerved now towards Flurry Heart. “Just let us in already.” There was a moment of silence before the door slammed shut.

“That went well.” I glared at Sable again, and he pretended not to notice. Then I heard a door chain being moved, and the door opened quickly.

“Hurry, hurry.” The orange Unicorn beckoned us inside. “They might get in.” Now Sunburst was starting to sound outright paranoid. I went in first, levitating Flurry with me, Sable had to shuffle in right behind me before Sunburst shoved the door closed, locking and attaching a strong chain to it. The room was dark, and I could only see by the faint light coming in through curtained windows and the glow of my magic aura, still holding Flurry in the air.

“Sunburst, what is going on?” The orange Unicorn was even more ragged than usual, his eyes flicking from my face to shadowed corners and back.

“I don’t know! Everypony has gone crazy!”

“When did this start?” Sable spoke, in the dim light he appeared almost invisible, and Sunburst almost fell over in his haste to back away.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” He pointed accusing at Sable, who for his part continued to be unconcerned with all the open hostility he had received today.

“My name is Sable Stardust, and I mean you no harm.” This did not seem to make Sunburst feel any better. “Please, answer the question.” He spoke slowly, calmly. I caught on to something in his tone, I remembered it from their first meeting at the castle. He was forcing this calm state, suppressing something stronger. Sable looked to me and stepped back from the frightened Unicorn; the extra distance helped calm Sunburst.

“I didn’t notice until it was too late.” Sunburst stalked the room, glancing out through a tiny tear in the curtain to the empty street. “I think I might be the only one left not replaced.”

“Replaced?”

“It’s the only thing I can think of, everypony has been replaced by changelings!”

“That's preposterous.”

“Every time I go outside I get all these stares, it’s like they don’t trust me anymore. It's not normal, what else could it be?” This was going nowhere; he was starting to repeat himself.

“Sunburst.” Sable still spoke calmly, flatly. “Where is Starlight Glimmer?”

“She got here the day before yesterday. She said there was something that felt wrong with the Empire. She saw it too!”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know. She should have been back by now!” The panic in his voice began to rise again. “They must have got her too!” Sunburst shoved a bookshelf in front of the window and curled up in the corner of the room. “Quick, get down, or they’ll see you!”

“Come on Sunburst; you aren’t this useless.” He whimpered, and I turned away with some irritation from the terrified and paranoid Sunburst. Sable watched me intently. “What?!” He didn’t recoil when I snapped at him.

“Do you trust me?” That came out of nowhere.

“What are you talking about?”

“It is a simple question. Do you trust me?” I didn’t answer. His neon blue eyes swiveled to the infant still napping in my magic aura. “How do you feel about Flurry Heart?”

“What’s with all the questions?”

“I have a theory. Just look at her, and tell me how you feel.” Might as well get this foolishness out of the way. I looked at the infant, murmuring in her sleep. I considered my emotions at the moment. Irritated at this pointless waste of time, we have more important things to do. Concerned, Something was very wrong here. Worried, Shining Armor and Cadence have never fought like that before. Flurry Heart burbled in her sleep, and I let a tear roll down my cheek.

“I don’t want to let anything bad happen to you.” I told the infant. “I promise I’ll fix this.” I cradled Flurry in one wing, holding the little warm body close.

“There, concentrate on that.” I almost forgot he was standing there. Something glowed around me, and a heavy weight lifted from my shoulders I did not know I was carrying. I looked over to see Sable concentrating on a spell, the glow caused by his magic. “Do you feel better now?”

“Sable?” I felt somehow lighter, less tense, significantly less angry. “What are you doing?” He didn’t answer, but walked towards Starburst, slowly navigating the darkened room by feel.

“Stay back!” The orange Unicorn cried out in terror.

“Remain calm. I am here to help.” Sable’s magic enveloped Sunburst. The orange Unicorn blinked, his spectacles falling off his nose. His shivering stopped, and he slowly got back to his feet, retrieving his glasses.

“What? Twilight? What’s going on?” The paranoia and panic in his voice were gone.

“I don’t know. Sable, what are you doing?”

“Our emotions are being manipulated.” He had to speak slowly, his spell taking most of his concentration.

“Manipulated, how?”

“I have no idea.” Sable shook his head slowly. “I think it has something to do with the strange weather outside.” I blinked, I remembered being annoyed with him almost the moment we entered the city. Sunburst looked out the window, pushing aside the curtain along one edge of the window not blocked by the bookcase.

“That fog is getting thicker. I can barely see down the road.”

“I’m losing the spell, brace yourselves.” Sable grunted, peeking out from his closed eyes, and his aura blinked out. Now aware of my own emotions, I felt a sudden surge of anger towards him. My first instinct was to shout, but I checked myself, breathing deeply. My pulse beat loudly in my ears, but I knew I could control my feelings. Sunburst cringed and hunched over, suddenly jittery.

“Sunburst? Are you alright?”

“I… I think so.” He had to take his own deep breaths to steady himself. “Yes, I can control it now.”

“What could do this to an entire city?” I was glad Flurry was still sleeping. An Alicorn with out of control emotions could be a dangerous thing. Sunburst shook his head.

“I have no idea. The Crystal Heart should keep the city safe from something like this.”

“Crystal Heart?” Sable wouldn’t have known about it, of course.

“It’s an artifact that keeps the city safe; it’s powered by the hope and love of all the Crystal Ponies.” my heart jumped to my throat. “And if every pony in the city has turned on each other…” I looked to Sunburst to see the same concern on his face.

“We need to get to the Heart!”

---

“Something was manipulating emotions across the entire city?”

“That’s terrifying.”

“What can even do that?”