My Little Pony: Dark Star

by WestRail642fan

Chapter #29: The Best of Friends

Chapter Twenty Nine.
The Best of Friends.

The sun slowly began to set over the crystalline city. The auroras continued their dance across the sky as the moon began to rise.

"Mom, can me and Lillian please our new friends out for a night on the town?" Flurry begged her mother, eyes pleading widely.

"Yes, Yes, Fine!" Cadenza gently rubbed her forehead as a migraine began to form, "Just remember..." She continued before being cut off.

"Be home by midnight, I know Mom, I'm not a filly anymore." Flurry flapped her wings excitedly.

"I know, just be safe..." Cadenza replied softly, cupping Flurry's chin in her hooves, "Remember, wear your cloak, it's going to be chilly tonight."

"Yes, mother." Flurry smiled at Cadenza's touch, "I will." She replied before happily trotting away.

"What am I going to do with her..." Cadenza mused, rolling her eyes as Flurry left the room.

"Well? What did Mom say?" Shooting Star leaned forwards, slight hesitation on her face as Flurry closed the door behind herself.

"My dear Lillian." Flurry pauses, putting on some shades, "Operation: Girl's Night Out is a go." The white alicorn grinned.

"Sweet!" Shooting Star cheered, hoof-bumping Flurry Heart, "I'm just dying to have a fun night out."

"Really? You? I thought you'd be wanting to hang out with your father." Flurry looked at her older sister as the pair trotted down one of the many palace halls.

"Yeah... But I think Mom is gonna tell him about their marriage..." Shooting Star paused, "... No longer being legally binding..." She frowned.

"Oh..." Flurry looked down, "I can see why you want a night out, I bet things will get mighty awkward..." She added.

"Tell me about it... I just hope Dad takes it well..." Shooting Star replied as the pair walked through the next door.

---

"A night out on the town? Really?!" Pipp giggled like a teenager, eyes twinkling.

"Yes, a night out, you've never had one?" Flurry asked as she dug through her closet.

"No, not really, Mom would never let me leave the palace, and no offence to Sunny, but Maretime Bay isn't exactly the party capital of Equestria." Pipp frowned.

"Hey! I heard that!" Sunny glared angrily at Pipp.

"I'm sorry, but it's true, Sunny." Pipp shrugged, "Maretime Bay is lovely during the day, but the nightlife is ...eh... to be desired." She added as Sunny continued to glare at her.

Flurry giggled softly, "If only Auntie Twilight could see this..." She sighed sadly.

"You're Aunt was Twilight Sparkle, wasn't she?" Zipp's ears perked up, "We found a message from her in the Unity Crystals if you want to see it?" The white pegasus asked, pulling out her phone.

"No, I'm fine, if it's anything like Auntie, it would be a message of hope in these dark times..." Flurry shook her head softly.

"Ok? Well, if you change your mind, just ask..." Zipp sighed, placing her phone back under her wing.

"What was it like, in the final days of Equestria, before magic disappeared?" Sunny asked Flurry softly, placing a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder.

"It was cold and silent... Dark Star had been draining Equestria of its magic for five years, at first, we barely noticed, but then Unicorns, Earth Ponies and Pegasi began to lose their magic." Flurry sighed, "The Crystal Heart spoke to my mom, told her that the only way to protect the Empire was for it to disappear, back to the snow it came from..." She continued, a tear falling from her eye.

"So that's why the Empire disappeared..." Zipp rubbed her chin.

"I'd rather not dwell on those dark days if you don't mind..." Flurry tapped on Sunny's hoof.

"Dark Star... She did things to my mother..." Sunny's voice cracked, "My mother, Opaline Arcana, is now an alicorn because of her… That bitch did horrific experiments on my mom..." Sunny pulled out her phone and shoved it into Flurry's face, "This is what that bitch did to her."

Flurry watched in horror as Sunny scrolled through pictures that showed off every scar inflicted on Opaline by Dark Star's twisted experiments.

"That is what she was draining Equestria's magic for! She was trying to unlock the secrets of immortality in alicorns!" Sunny practically screamed in Flurry's face.

"Wait... So you're saying that Dark Star experimented with magic to try and unlock the secrets of ancient Equestrian Alicorn magic??" Flurry said as she scratched her head.

"Yes!" Sunny shouted, holding back her tears, "AND SHE USED MY POOR MOTHER AS HER GUINEA PIG!"

"Should we stop this?" Pipp watched on with concern.

"Nah, I'd say just let her get it out of her system..." Shooting Star replied from the other side of the room, "Besides, Flurry's no stranger to getting screamed at directly in the face." She grinned devilishly.

---

Opaline sat in the middle of her childhood bedroom, horn steadily illuminating her surroundings.

"Let's hope this works..." She spoke to herself, holding up a hoof-held mirror as she blasted it with her magic, "Show me Misty..." She ordered the metallic object in her magical grasp. She watched as her reflection shifted into an image of Misty, sound asleep on a sofa, surrounded by half-full bowls of chocolate-coated popcorn.

"Oh Misty..." She softly spoke to herself, "Please... Please, don't listen to that mare..." She prayed to herself, eyes locked on the vision of her adoptive child, she let out a long sigh, "Mirror, show me Stellar..." She wiped her eyes full of tears as the vision of Misty shifted into Sunny mid-yelling at Flurry Heart.

"Stellar..." She whispered, looking up at her bedroom window, "Hold on, Mommy's coming..." She added, putting the mirror down, "Let's hope I can still fit." She said to herself as she threw the window open and wriggled through it, grunting as she popped free. Without a second thought, she flapped her wings as hard as she could, making a B-line for the palace.

---

"Why... Why didn't the Empire fight her? WHY?!" Sunny screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks, "YOU GUYS HAD THE POTENTIAL, YOU GUYS HAD AN ARMY!" She continued, now shaking Flurry harshly by her shoulders.

Before Flurry could speak a response, a loud thud echoed around the room, Zipp slowly turned towards a window, taking a peak behind the curtain. She froze, slowly backing away from the curtain, "Uh... Sunny? Your Mom's outside..." The White Pegasus spoke, all attention now on her.

"Really?!" Sunny spoke, smiling widely as she ran over to the window, throwing the curtain open, only to see her mother splattered on the window like a bug on a windshield, "Uh... Mom?"

"Little help..." Opaline groaned, peeling her head off of the glass. Sunny quickly opened the window, allowing Opaline inside the palace, the alicorn peeled herself off the window, landing in a heap on the floor, "Oof..." She rubbed her head as Sunny nuzzled up to her.

"Flurry, meet my mother, Opaline Arcana. Mom, meet Flurry Heart, Crown Princess of the Crystal Empire." Sunny spoke, pointing from one to the other.

"Yes, I know who she is..." Flurry spoke, studying Opaline as she walked around the purple alicorn.

"Hey! Watch it!" Opaline yelped as Flurry pulled on one of her wings, "They're sensitive..." She added as Flurry inspected her tattered feathers.

"Hmm..." Flurry hummed to herself, "You really need to preen more often..." She spoke, yanking on Opaline's feathers.

"Well excuse me, I wasn't exactly born with wings ya know." Opaline grumbled, folding her wing back to her side, clearly offended by the Princess's remark.

Flurry leaned over, looking over at Pipp and Zipp, eyebrow raised.

"Hey, don't look at us!" Pipp protested, "She was our enemy up until a few days ago." She added, visibly disgusted by what Flurry was hinting at.

"Yeah... No. I ain't preening her." Zipp spoke bluntly, not amused in the slightest.

Shooting Star let out a long sigh, "Come on, Opaline, I'll preen ya." She continued, pulling out brush from under her wing.

"Wait... You don't use your mouth to preen like birds?" Opaline asked, perplexed.

"Ew, No!" Flurry recoiled in horror.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say McFlurry." Shooting Star smirked knowingly.

"Hey! I wouldn't have needed to have resorted to doing it the old-fashioned way if you hadn't stolen my brush!" Flurry slammed her hoof down, the adult mare whining like a teenager.

"Hey, I brought you a new one." Shooting Star shrugged.

"That's not the point, Lillian!" Flurry continued to whine.

"Yep, those two are definitely siblings..." Pipp giggled, glancing at Zipp as Shooting Star gently started brushing Opaline's feathers while still arguing with Flurry Heart.

Opaline sat awkwardly in the middle of the room as Shooting Star continued to brush her feathers, avoiding eye contact with the tall pegasus.

Shooting Star chuckled awkwardly as she tried to find something in her mind to start a conversation. "So... Is it true Sunny here is your daughter?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, but her birth name is Stellar Harmony..." Opaline muttered under her breath, wincing as the brush pulled against her feathers.

"I see..." Shooting Star hummed in reply, "So, you're like 2040 years old now, right?" She spoke up.

"Yes..." Opaline froze in thought, "2046 years to be exact..." She sighed, Sunny let out an audible gasp, "Yeah, I'm that old and I've seen a lot of things happen during that time..." She added, looking away from Sunny.

"Well, this is getting awkward..." Izzy said in a hushed voice, rubbing the back of her head.

"You're telling me..." Dazzle answered Izzy in an equally hushed tone.

"But I just told you..." Izzy raised an eyebrow at Dazzle Feather, who proceeded to face hoof in mild annoyance.

"There! All nice and tidy." Shooting Star smiled, looking at Opaline's wings.

"Wow, you work fast..." Opaline looked down at her wings as Shooting Star quickly swept up the removed feathers that lay on the floor.

"There we go all done, hope it’s not a bad look for ya." Flurry said, running her hooves along Opaline's silky soft wings.

"So pretty..." Pipp hid her smile as she watched Opaline flutter her wings gently.

"Heh, someone's jealous..." Zipp snickered at Pipp.

"Am not..." Pipp huffed, the fluff on her chest puffing out.

"You totally are..." Zipp replied, still snickering.

"AM NOT!" Pipp shouted, her fluffy wings flaring out as her face turned red.

"Oh yes, you 100% are!" Zipp snickered even harder.

Pipp huffed out her chest as her cheeks turned a deep red, "My wings are still far prettier..." She grumbled to herself, watching Izzy and Sunny both gently rubbing Opaline's soft feathers.

"Yeah, they may be prettier, but in terms of size, I still win." Zipp snickered as she showed Pipp her wings, which were much larger in size, "See? I take the prize." Zipp grinned smugly.

"Yeah, pretty sure Flurry here had you both beat. She had the wingspan of a fully grown adult, while only a foal." Shooting Star chucked, gesturing to Flurry Heart.

"LILLIAN!" Flurry screamed in horror, "WHY OF ALL THINGS DID YOU PICK THAT TO TELL OUR GUESTS!" she covered herself with her wings to hide her blush.

"Because you look adorable when mad." Shooting Star giggled, pinching Flurry's cheeks.

End of Chapter Twenty Nine.