Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Drea.

Starshine was there, but she wasn't really there. It was different from what he was used to. Like she was someplace else that wasn't either reality or the unreality she nonexisted in whenever she wasn't. But not fully there. Not fully anywhere, she felt more caught between all three places, a little in each of them. Split apart yet connected, not fully manifesting as anything more than a ghost.

Sunburst pulled on her. Softly, slowly, tugging at her fragmented essence until it became a single whole he could latch on to and invoke. Once he had a firm enough grasp on her, once she was whole enough, he pulled, and felt her coming towards him.

He opened his eyes to see the alicorn manifest in front of him once more. She looked about the same as she had the last time he'd seen her, but her manestyle was slightly different. Maybe her eye colour was different too, he didn't really get a good chance to look. "Sorry!" she said immediately upon being again. "Sorry, I got busy doing a thing and then I kinda started stuttering in and out and I let go of myself and I think I must have gotten snagged someplace and then I couldn't properly pull and-"

Sunburst silenced her with a hoof to her lips first, then with a quick hug. "No need to apologise," he said letting go of the hug, "no time for it either. Nightmare Moon is free. Twilight is keeping her busy, but we need the rest of the Elements. Rainbow is already coming here, we need you to get Applejack and Pinkie. After that you should rescue Lyra and Bon Bon too."

Starshine stepped back and gave a salute. "On it, dad!" she said, then she disappeared before Sunburst could make his discomfort explicit. The unicorn was left to wait for her to get back, and in the meantime walked to Rarity and Fluttershy to watch the scene with them. But before he could sit down properly, Starshine spoke again in his mind. "What happened to Starlight? Wasn't she the one supposed to be there?"

"She's wounded," Sunburst thought back at her. "Last I saw her she was unconscious. She was hurt while deactivating a spell. She's stable though, she should survive." Starshine went silent on the other end of the conversation, and he focused on the battle going on instead.

Twilight surprisingly seemed to be doing well on the offensive, at least judging by all the stains of blood on the ground that weren't hers. He looked for a moment at Celestia and Luna instead. There was a strange glow spreading between them, and he hoped whatever it was it was a good thing.

It felt weird to stand and watch like that, but he couldn't exactly intervene in any meaningful way. Tired from exerting his powers, his regular magic was insignificant next to what Twilight was dishing out, and more importantly he wouldn't have been able to aim at Nightmare Moon without the risk of hitting the other instead. Waiting and watching really was all he could at that moment, keeping himself ready in case he was suddenly needed. So he did that.