Chapter 273 - Lamentful Briefing
Starlight...
You all were just casually following her to this manor hidden in the forest. The manor owned by Chrysalis. It made you feel so uneasy. If Chrysalis really had no part in all this, then what’s really going on? “So, are you going to tell us what happened?”
Starlight winced at those words. “I’m trying to think of ways to tell it. Look, I’m gonna try to unpack this for all of you in a way that doesn’t sound like all hope is lost. How much do you all know?”
“We know there’s something turning ponies into zombies, and some guy named Tirek running the show. But, like, that’s the thing. What happened to Headmare Twilight? The professors? Or Anon and his dad? Are you telling us none of them could stop him?” Smolder asked, in disbelief that things seemed to have fallen apart so fast.
Starlight hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. Look, I… Okay, so…” She seemed to be having trouble getting her words out. “So, Tirek isn’t actually working alone. And, uh, from what I was told. The pony he’s working with might be the true mastermind.”
“Winter Krumb! I knew it!” Smolder shouted, bringing her fist down onto her claws. “I knew that’s why Anon’s alarm things only worked halfway. We all got the dreams, but we didn’t get the teleportation because of that stupid barrier!”
“Yona knew too. But, erm, Yona don’t think that’s why alarm clock thing not work. Yona just think Anon botch spell. Dream not seem like Anon’s style.” Yona noted.
“Winter Krumb? Who even is that?” You asked. “I never heard of him.”
“Erm, that’s because Winter Krumb is actually Tirek.” Starlight said nervously.
“Winter Krumb is Tirek? That doesn’t make any sense. If he’s Tirek, then who is the real mastermind?” Ocellus asked.
…Chrysalis?
Starlight hesitated once again. She then hung her head as her ears folded downwards. “Cozy Glow…”
Who? But the others seemed to know her as they all reacted in shock.
“Cozy Glow? ‘Cute as a button’ Cozy Glow? That’s impossible, she’s so nice!” Silverstream said in shock.
“Yeah, that can’t be right. I figured Winter Krumb had to be a bad guy, but are you telling me Cozy Glow was the real villain here? That doesn’t make any sense. She’s our friend, she’d never do anything like that. Hey, Ocellus, did you notice anything off about her. Like, ever?” Smolder asked.
Ocellus began to feel really nervous about the whole situation. “N-no. I always sensed that her feelings were always genuine. B-but, i-if she’s…” Ocellus stopped, and gulped hard as she realized something horrible. “Anon… Wasn’t Anon supposed to be with her yesterday?”
“Oh no! Ocellus right! Anon! Is Anon okay?!” Yona asked, fearing the worst.
You noticed Starlight stop, she tensed up really hard there, but didn’t look back at any of you as she led on. But her voice, it became so sad. “We don’t know where he is.”
“What about my sister? What happened to Twilight? Her friends? What happened to them?” You had to know. You needed to know that they were okay, that maybe there was a chance.
Starlight hung her head lower. “She was captured. Discord before her. And the rest of the elements afterwards. It was all a trap that was meticulously set to control all of Equestria tomorrow…” And so Starlight began to explain the situation. First, from everything she had gathered from Discord. But then, to your surprise, she began to explain everything else from the perspective of another…
She explained how Chrysalis herself had tried to stop them with the rest of the elements. While some of the story seemed off, like them teaming up with her in the first place, it seems it wasn’t enough to stop them. It seems the only glimmer of hope was the fact that Chrysalis made it out with Discord, and damaged this staff she was talking about, which seemed to be the key to everything. However… “So you’re telling me they have my sister, and are using her as a battery, and she couldn’t rescue her?! She led them all into that! How could she not plan ahead when it was so important?!”
“Hey!” Starlight suddenly snapped back. “I may have not been there, but I promise you she gave it her all! She managed to damage the staff! That gives us time. We’ve been trying to figure out a plan of attack, but when that barrier was forged, it put everything to a halt. If we could destroy it, we’d have a chance. They haven’t made a move since she got back, their area of influence hasn’t even increased. We’re all doing our best, Shining! I understand you’re upset, but you’re not the only one who lost somepony today, got it?”
You winced at those words. Y-you knew that. But, how could you remain calm knowing your sister is in some tube? How could a foal even do all this? A foal? It didn’t make any sense. “I’m sorry, I just… I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t either…” Smolder said as she looked down, shoulders slumped. “Cozy was our friend, and she used all of us.”
“And Anon is gone… I-is he with Applebloom? You said you were looking for her.” Silverstream asked, her heart crushed that any of her friends could be gone or being controlled.
“We split into two groups. But it’s actually Applebloom missing with her friends, and Gallus and Sandbar as well. They just separated from the group when we were moving from the old castle to the manor and-EEP!” Suddenly Yona interrupted her.
“Gallus and Sandbar?! They okay!? Why not say so sooner?! We worried about them too!” Yona shouted!
“And erm, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We were worried about them too, of course.” Ocellus added.
“You gotta let us come with you to find them! We can’t lose them too!” Smolder said, smashing her fists together, ready for action.
“No! No, I can’t allow that. We already lost too many.” Starlight said, as she pushed a few branches aside, revealing the manor on the other side, in the usual clearing. “We’re here. I want you all to get settled in, alright? There’s no need to be reckless and risk you guys as well when things are this dangerous.”
“How can you say that?!” Smolder said in shock and frustration. “They’re our friends! We can’t just sit around and do nothing!”
“We’re not doing nothing! We’re going to try and find them! We only just started so they couldn’t have gotten far and I have some locator spells I could use to try and find them. If not, I know Big Mac will either be able to figure out where Applebloom would have gone, and if that doesn’t work, there’s Scrappy.” Starlight said, approaching the door to let them inside.
“What about your friend, Trixie?” Ocellus asked.
Starlight went silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “...Shining Armor, can you come with me? I feel like you’d be a really big help in finding them.”
“Erm, I don’t want to sound all jerky, but most of us can fly. Wouldn’t it help if we flew around to find them?” Silverstream asked as she gently rocked the sleeping Flurry Heart.
“The forest is thick, and it isn’t exactly bright enough out there to spot anything from the skies.” Starlight then seemed to become more desperate in getting them inside. “Please, just leave it to us. We’ll find them. It’s too risky to take all of you, it’ll be easier to move in smaller groups, especially with how dangerous the forest can already be.”
…
…
“She’s right. And besides, I have this” You point to your armor. “I can use it in case anything does happen, I can still use my magic against anything close to me. And besides, I do need all your help.” You looked at your sleeping daughter in the hippogriff’s arms, and slowly approached her. “I need you all to stay here, and keep everycreature safe. To keep her safe.” You were really saying this, to keep Flurry here, in Chrysalis’s home. Either you’re crazy, or you’re so filled with grief that you’re afraid you’d lose it like… Like you lost it on Anon that one time. It'd be better to leave Flurry with them until you could find your center. You didn't want to shout at them for any mistake they might make.
Silverstream frowned as she looked down at Flurry, cradling her once again. “I don’t want her to be alone when she seems to be so calm with me. But, I dunno, the fact Hero Colt Anon is missing… Is kinda scary to me.”
“Counselor Starlight, are you sure you don’t know where Anon is? He seems to be the only one unaccounted for in your story. Wouldn’t his father know?” Ocellus asked, curious as to Anon’s location. It’s almost like she didn’t believe it, as if something was off.
“He doesn’t…” Starlight said with hesitancy in her voice. “But we’ll find him. And if he’s been changed, then I promise, we’ll get him out of there. Now, please?” She asked, trying to urge them into the manor.
Smolder groaned, complying despite her irritation. “Fine! We’ll stay and hold the fort! But you better find them, got it? Nocreature gets left behind, right?”
Starlight nodded, stuttering slightly in her words. “R-right.”
“Good.” Smolder sighed “Cozy Glow… Really, that’s hard to believe too. If only I had stuck to my instincts, maybe I could have stopped her.”
“Smolder, Yona know it hurt. Yona very angry she use all of us, Yona not even know why she did. But if Cozy Glow want to be evil, then she never our friend. Counselor Starlight never lead us wrong before, she smart pony. We trust for now, and wait for friends to come back. Then we plan and crush Cozy Glow and Tirek.” Yona said, offering helpful words to help calm her friend down.
“I just… I can’t believe I never sensed it. I… Don’t even think Chrysalis herself would have been able to sense it. The only other pony I know who could fake their emotions was Anon, and even he isn’t that good.” Ocellus said, feeling like a failure that she couldn’t figure it out before all of this happened.
“H-hey, it’ll be okay. Who knows? Maybe Gallus, Sandbar, and the crusaders went missing because they found Anon asleep or knocked out somewhere. Yeah! Of course!” Silverstream said with enthusiasm. Though, this time, it seemed a tad strained. “A-anon can’t be the hero all the time. Even he needs us to watch his back and get him back in the fight!”
“I hope so.” Smolder sighed. You have only known her for a little while, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen a dragon so down before. She finally went inside, followed by the others.
Starlight waited for the door to close, she then looked at you, tears in her eyes despite looking so determined. “Follow me, there’s a little more to the story. I just didn’t want them to hear it.”
More to the story? “What do you mean there’s more? It already sounds crazy that Tirek would team up with a foal, or that the foal herself planned everything. What more can there be?! Unless you’re going to tell me they already got Princess Celestia and Luna.”
“Hmnnn…” Suddenly, Starlight became more quiet, somber even. “No, we had Spike send letters to them to stay away, and to evacuate Canterlot. For now, they’ll be fine. No, this is mainly about something else. Considering it’d also be the reason that if she saw you, you may not be standing a few seconds after.”
You tensed up at those words. Chrysalis, seems she was as angry at you as you were of her. But why? Other than the fact she doesn’t want you around, why would she be that angry? “What do you mean by that? What else happened, Starlight?”
“W-well, you probably wanted to know a reason why she’d give it her all to save everypony, right?” She started to slowly sniffle, as tears dropped from her eyes. “Well, there’s one reason.”
…W-why was she crying like that? “And that is?”
“Anon is gone…” Starlight said, nearly choking up from those words.
Gone? “W-what do you mean? Unless…” She mentioned he was with them when it all started. No, they didn’t…
Starlight nodded, looking at you with heavy sorrowful eyes. “They got rid of him, Shining. They obliterated him. I couldn’t believe it myself, to go that far…” Starlight began to break up even more. “Chrysalis hasn’t been the same since she came back. She locked herself in her room. She only seems, well, sane around Diamond Tiara. Or she’s pretending to be, for her sake.”
“She doesn’t know?” Anon’s marefriend, oh no…
Starlight shook her head. “No, neither does anypony else. Just me, Discord, and Chrysalis. I’ve heard her in there, she just murmurs to herself plans to… Well, let’s just say they’d wish it’d be an instant disintegration for themselves. I know you don’t like her, Shining. But she lost her family, and now she’s lost her best friend. Practically her brother at this point.”
…
You… You actually felt sorry for her. You didn’t realize that they were that close. You didn’t know that she’d lose her mind like that if something happened to him. But you should have, you should have known she cared about him that deeply back when she tried to end Twily. She stopped, because he nearly lost his life. And now…
You began to shed tears for her. “I’m sorry. I really am. Isn’t there something I can do for her?”
"Huh?" Starlight almost seemed in disbelief at those words, given they came from you. “Unless you have something that can bring her closer to getting her revenge, no. But I also don’t think it’d be fair to leave you out in the cold, given what’s going on. I could try talking to her to let you in.”
“Actually…” You bring your hoof to your armor. This could be it, this could be the key! “I think I got something she might want to see.”
“Huh, what?” Starlight then notices where you’re touching. “That old-looking armor?”
“Yup. It’s made from Chrysalis’s old throne, and has anti-magic properties. Um, Sunburst and some of the researcher ponies we have kind of made it too weak to break the barrier. But given, y’know, this is changeling material, I was thinking maybe she could fix it up. Make it strong enough to stop the barrier, and their magic.” You said, giving Starlight an unsure smirk. “Could be worth a shot.”
Starlight just stared, her tear-filled eyes filling with hope. “Shining, tell me you’re not messing with me.”
“I’m not. I gotta say, even though it isn’t the pony way, I’m feeling like getting some vengeance myself. I want to get everypony to safety. I want to save my wife and sister. And, well, I want to avenge Anon. And I’ll team up with Chrysalis, no problem, if we can all make it happen.” You said, feeling your own confidence returning.
“Y-yeah. Yeah! T-that might just work. Um, y-you might need to have Diamond present you to her to maybe soften her up a bit, but with that armor, that might hopefully snap her out of it. We might actually have a way inside!” Starlight said, her excitement broken up by her crushing sadness, even as she began to see hope on the horizon.
“Good to hear.” You said as you smashed your hoof down in confidence. But then, you realized something. “Wait, you didn’t really mention Discord. How is he taking it?”
“Um, much better than Chrysalis. He’s been using the magic he does have to keep himself busy as the chef and, er, two magicless waiters. When you mention Anon to him, he doesn’t want to talk about it. But if you mention Fluttershy, he sort of shatters. I mean, literally shatters.” Starlight explained, she almost seemed disgusted that he didn’t seem that hurt over Anon’s passing. "I'm surprised he has enough magic to do one of his gags"
“Alright…” You said with a determined nod. “First things first, we gotta find those missing foals and their friends.”
Starlight nodded. “Right. Let’s catch up with Trixie’s group, we might be able to use a powerful tracking spell if we work together. We’ll find them, then head back to the manor to start planning our next move.”
And so you hurried alongside Trixie, to find Applebloom and her group.
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One ‘already’ too many. (?)
Missing comma or period.
Missing period.
"You have only known her (...)" (?)
old-looking
on (?)
things (?)
Starlight (?)
I could be wrong about some of the above.
11538616
>alongside Trixie.
oh god, what was in my mind
With how much Chrysalis seemed when she damaged the staff it's hard to imagine what you have planned for the final confrontation. It probably won't be Chrysalis again. She has already been used as the 'deus ex machina' and we've gathered so many allies. I believe it will be some group effort at the end. Though, we still have Chrysalis' transformation as an Ace in our sleeve. But on the other hoof you mentioned how good of an ending you have planned. You said the same for Jimmy, and that one was awesome. I don't think you're gonna pull any ancient loose ends again, so what? Tempest maybe.
Reading these few chapters really paints Shining as a dumb muscled rock. He keeps changing his mind, thinking surface level, not analyzing. Just going with what others tell him to do.
I find it weird how he didn't object at all leaving his daughter in hands of 'mostly strangers' inside Chrysalis' home with her inside.
11563561
he's trying to trust, in that regard. It could be easily inferred that the forest is a million times more dangerous than your enemy who everyone tries to convince him is good now
Oh god, I just got chills.