Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Fixing

"What happened?" Scarlet Ribbon rushed towards Stella, shouting. "What happened?" she yelled again, louder.

Stella snapped towards her, her horn glowing, and Scarlet froze in place as she was hit by the alicorn's spell. Making sure no one else was there to see, Stella teleported both of them inside Scarlet's house. Once there she set the mare on the couch, and began to pace back and forth.

Scarlet just stared into nothingness, silent, eyes blank.

"Did he mention anything about leaving? Any places he would have wanted to go or was planning to? Any mention of anywhere outside of this town?" asked Stella.

After a moment of silence, Scarlet replied in a monotone voice, "Nothing."

Stella chewed on nothing for a moment. "Did he meet anyone from outside this town, after the last time I was here?"

"No," Scarlet replied.

"Did he meet ponies living in this town, besides you and your friend?"

Scarlet nodded. "Yes."

"When I deactivate the spell, immediately write down a full list of everyone he met and where they live, then leave it on the table, forget you wrote it, and never notice it's there. You won't question my absence, during or afterwards." Looking through and tweaking the mare's mind herself would have been a more efficient process, but Stella didn't have the time to properly set up the required spells, so she had to do it verbally. "Did he seem any different after any of those meetings?"

Scarlet shook her head. "He didn't."

"Did he seem any different at any point, like he'd found out about something?" Stella pressed on.

Scarlet's reaction was still the same. "He didn't."

"After you've written the list, you'll forget about seeing him disappear and you running towards me. What you'll remember is me coming back to you, talking to you, and us agreeing he would come with me so I can find help for him. After you don't see me for five minutes, you'll remember him walking away with me, us both leaving the town." Stella looked around the room for a moment, then grabbed hold of the honey jar on top of the shelf and quickly drew a mark on the bottom with her magic. "If he ever comes back, pay no mind to any contradictions between what he'll say to you and your memories, and come activate this as soon as you can without him noticing," she said, setting the jar back down as the mark slowly disappeared. "And don't let him into this room before that."

Scarlet nodded.

Stella grit her teeth. She reached inside her, shifting the way she was being seen by the mare, then her horn stopped glowing.

Scarlet got up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen, completely oblivious to the alicorn in the room.

Stella watched her go for just a moment, then her horn lit again and she disappeared from the room. She reappeared on a rooftop in a different city, staring straight at the crystal shape of the tree-like castle not too far ahead.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Sometimes, you've got to brute-force the mind control. It's messy and inefficient, but it's quick. And Stella knows she's not as invulnerable as she likes to think. There are still things she doesn't know, and she knows they absolutely can hurt her. And her first reactions to any such risk are fear, then resentful hatred at the unknown for making her feel that fear.

She really is her mother's daughter, isn't she?