Chapter 1: The Phantom of Fire
Starlight took a long drink from the water fountain, its cool, rejuvenating water acting as a sort of mental detox for him. He needed it now. His upcoming exam in his Advanced Magical Theory class weighed on his mind. A few locks of his black mane fell in front of his eyes as he enjoyed his refreshment. He grumbled as he moved them back out of the way, and continued mulling over the many aspects of the exam that he had rigorously studied for.
Things like advanced aura manipulation and even a newly learned chameleon spell were fairly simplistic concepts for his self-proclaimed "super intellect", yet overconfidence would do him no favors. In his mind, he was certain of his own superiority, but one had to account for variables. He would only look all the more foolish if he boasted of the certainty of success, only to unknowingly neglect some vital element and fail.
Never again.
When he heard the sharp, clamorous ringing of the bell, he knew that it was time to get moving. He broke away from the stream of the fountain and turned it off, having already drank several bottles worth anyway, and obediently followed the bell’s unspoken orders. He wordlessly moved to join the pandemonium of a school hallway during the transition between classes.
Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns might have been an upscale establishment, but with the increasing amounts of students that it got from all all over country and the comparatively small institution that housed them all, it got a tad crowded.
The hallway was crowded to the point where even navigating the fairly simple layout of the corridors was a feat in and of itself. Once one was in the hallway, they became part of a collective, and Starlight was shunted along a predetermined path by the throng of other ponies. He could not turn around at any point. He had to go with the flow. It was like being in a river, and trying to swim against the current would just cause him to drown.
He regarded the ponies shoving into him from behind and to his sides with disdain. Even in such close quarters, they could have at least tried to show some kind of courtesy. He rolled his eyes and shoved them back, moving abruptly past them and ignoring their protests. After he made his way through the mob of commuting students, occasionally grouching at ponies who had the nerve to bump into him, he arrived at the cafeteria.
The room was a large and regal looking but still fairly plain room with banners of Celestia’s sun cutie mark hanging from the ceiling everywhere he looked. It also housed an array of wooden tables, that all had the same symbol emblazoned on them in their center. The banners and tables were equally spaced out, and a lunch line in the back passed right in front of the entrance to the kitchen, necessitating that other ponies regularly move aside as staff entered and left the kitchens through it.
He reluctantly joined the queue to get his lunch from what resembled an efficient factory assembly line. He looked at his food tray once he received it and was unimpressed by what he saw.
Mushy looking beans, some soggy cornbread, and a single potato that he would have to go through the trouble of opening up and meticulously adding butter to before it was acceptable to eat. That was the meal that he was presented, and it was frankly beneath him. He thought that he deserved far better than this mediocre excuse for food, but he spared the lunch mares his usual rant on the poor quality of the day’s meal. That took effort that he was unwilling to expend today.
He saw a table with two other ponies, a unicorn stallion and mare around his age that were sharing some friendly conversation, and decided that he should join them. They were as good company as any.
"Good day to you both," Starlight greeted as he took an empty seat at the table. "Well, as good of a day as you can have with this second-rate slop of a meal anyways..."
He levitated the tray over and placed it in front of himself, and pulled himself up onto the seat with his light purple forehooves. Looking down at the underside of his left one, he frowned as he saw that he had stepped in something and not noticed, which he wordlessly wiped off on the underside of the bench.
Meanwhile, the two other ponies at the table stopped talking. The atmosphere had become immediately uncomfortable as Starlight intruded into the conversation, which he had not noticed since he was too preoccupied with his hoof now, and they sheepishly looked to each other for a moment before the stallion tried to respond.
"Uh... it’s not that bad," he said, trying not to sound like he was contradicting Starlight. "I’m just grateful that we even get food for free like this."
The mare whispered something into the stallion’s ear, and before Starlight could retort, he found that his only company had taken their food and retreated to a different table, hastily making some excuse about seeing a friend of theirs and going over to see him. As they left, he could only sigh.
"Peasants..." he muttered to himself, shaking his head.
Starlight was used to eating lunch by himself. In fact, it was almost a routine thing to him by now. Nopony ever seemed to want to be around him for some reason; he didn’t know what he was doing wrong. He was just acting like his mother or any of her friends always did. But then again, his mother was a mare of class, and he couldn’t expect the customs he learned from her to mesh well when dealing with the common rabble.
He finished up the rest of his meal alone, and after waiting at his ghost town of a table for another fifteen minutes, the thunderous staccatos of the bell sounded throughout the building. He got up, put away his tray, and went with the flow of bodies that were all migrating towards the once again bustling hallway.
***
Starlight shortly arrived at the examination room for his Advanced Magical Theory course. It was a spacious room that resembled an amphitheater, with desks on each step that all faced towards a huge chalkboard with a large, mahogany teacher’s desk off to the side. A few high windows allowed some natural light to leak into the room.
The room was already crowded with ponies at the desks, most of which were looking nervous and stressed over the exam. Many of them were desperately skimming through their notes, and Starlight even saw a few hurriedly scribbling down formulas that they should have had memorized on small, ripped fragments of paper to use as cheatsheets.
He briefly considered stopping Professor Eclipse, the wizened old stallion moderating the exam, to inform him of this development. Then he decided against it. While he didn’t like other ponies breaking the rules, and he wasn’t exactly popular anyway, he knew he would not help himself by playing snitch.
Starlight found a seat at the back corner of the room and took out a quill and some ink from his saddle bags. The bell once again loudly announced its presence, which signified the beginning of another period.
"Today you will be taking unit five’s final examination," announced the professor as he took his own seat between a desk and the massive chalk board.
A collective groan of despair chorused throughout the room. Starlight though instead looked eager.
"Now, don’t give me that!" the professor scolded. "I know this material might seem out of your reach, but don’t forget who you are. You’re here because you’re the country’s best and brightest, or at least have the potential to be. You hold the future of Equestria in your hooves. Besides, you’ve all had more than sufficient amounts of time to study for this, so get out a quill and ink and cease with your complaints."
The students all drew the requested materials from their various rucksacks and saddlebags, like Starlight had already done. The old unicorn then began distributing the exam papers to everypony. With his levitation magic, of course. Professor Eclipse never missed an opportunity to avoid actual physical movement, and instead reclined in his chair as he floated the exams over to where they needed to go.
"Alright, this goes without saying, but no talking, no note passing, no looking at other students, no materials other than your papers and other exam materials, especially not your notes. You should have memorised them by now, so put them away. And if you’re found to be cheating in any way for any length of time during the exam, you will be disqualified entirely."
His eyes swept the room.
"You have an hour. Begin."
The silence in the room after that point was almost absolute. The only sound heard was the scratching of quills on parchment and the occasional cough or sniffle. Starlight immediately got his brain into gear and blocked out all other thoughts that didn’t pertain to the task at hoof.
The young stallion couldn’t really be said to show all that much respect in his day to day life. There were precious few other ponies that he didn’t regard as beneath him, yet he respected this institution and its rules because of what it gave him in return for that respect. He had knowledge, and whether he obtained it from class or from the libraries in his spare time, he was thankful for it.
Knowledge, he knew, was the key to success. He couldn’t remember who told him that, but whoever it was, he was grateful for their wisdom. If knowledge was power, that made him powerful, and he never wanted anypony to forget it. That was what this exam was for. He wasn’t learning anything new from doing this, but once it was all over, he’d have a piece of paper to prove his value to anypony who would dare question it.
He had always had what some might call impossible goals. He wanted to create his own business empire, that would go on to develop revolutionary new spells and technology to deter the threats to Equestria’s very existence like the Elements of Harmony did. He wanted to one day be the beloved hero himself. He wanted to make billions of bits, live in a upscale Canterlot mansion, and earn great fame and respect. Some days, he dared even dream of immortality.
Oh yes, many scoffed at his professed desires. They said that no one single pony could ever hope to accomplish even half those things. "Be realistic, Starlight," they would say to him. But they were the ones who asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. It wasn’t his fault his answer hadn’t changed since magic kindergarten. If anything, he thought that showed he had conviction.
Already though, he was coming to the end of his paper. His scribbling looked a little messy, but he made short work of the remaining questions and began reading it back.
They said that if you finished the exam early, use the time left to check your answers and make any necessary changes. That was a suggestion suited to those who finished five to ten minutes before the deadline though. He finished the whole thing in nine minutes. Even though he double-checked all his answers, that only added another two, mainly because he made no changes. He was certain that everything was correct.
With that, he got up and carried his paper over the teacher’s desk to turn in. Unsurprisingly, he was the first one done. The elderly unicorn looked up from the book that he was reading to give Starlight a friendly smile as he slid the paper onto his desk.
Starlight remembered the first time he had done this. Theoretically, he was supposed to sit in place until the hour was up, and then the exam invigilator(s) would come around and collect the papers. That’s what happened for everypony else. Except that this finishing early thing was a common occurrence for Starlight, and in his normal classes he’d often just give in his paper directly and then leave to do something else.
Exams were meant to be different from regular classes, but they didn’t enforce that rule on him here either anymore. He’d complained so loudly about the pointlessness of being made to sit around for an hour "just because everypony else is stupid" that the staff complied with his demands, mostly just to make him shut up about it.
"You show great potential, young stallion," the professor said in a hushed tone, to avoid disturbing the other testing students. "You do your work with unprecedented amounts of focus and passion. I can see a bright future for you, no matter what it may be."
Starlight grinned. It was only natural that he would receive special praise. Magical study was his special talent after all. This was indicated by his cutie mark, which was an arcane symbol of an inscribed triangle with various other shapes and details inside. Not uncommon in Canterlot, where many unicorns with magic-related talents had cutie marks of ancient runes, celestial bodies or other abstract imagery. He still wasn’t sure what specific spell formula the symbol actually came from though.
"I only do my best, sir," Starlight responded rather loudly, obviously wanting his classmates to hear, unlike the professor.
Just that slight disturbance was enough to draw the attention of most of the easily distracted class. Sufficiently pleased with the scene he had caused, Starlight then turned and started strutting over to the doors leading out of the hall. He felt like a celebrity walking down a red carpet, and quietly but shamelessly reveled in the attention, however brief it was.
As he left the hall, Starlight decided to head back in the direction of the water fountain.
***
The bell announced to the students, some of which who were still rushing to the completion of their exam, that the last period of the school day was over. Collectively they began gathering up their papers and leaving the room, and they looked relieved to be doing so. At least, those who were finished did.
In the congested halls outside, the rest of the students were joined by Starlight, just returned from the library; he was willing to walk out of the exam early, but rarely did he ever leave the premises before the normal time. In front of him, he levitated a book on the genealogy of Canterlot’s noble houses, which he remained engrossed in even as he weaved through the crowd.
During his stroll towards the exit, he overheard four ponies from his Advanced Magical Theory class talking about him. Two mares and two stallions.
The mares looked like they were related thanks to their similar colors, both having a sort of mauve-ish coat and light red manes. The colts however were completely different, one being a yellow-coated stallion who was as big as an earth pony and had the physique of a bodybuilder, and the other being small and weedy, wearing glasses, and having both his coat and mane different shades of blue.
"Did you see how fast that one guy completed the exam?" one of the mares asked. "I wonder how he does it? I barely got it finished, and I was really rushing through that thing."
"Yeah. He even got praise from Mr. Eclipse, and he’s harsh as all hell," the big pony pointed out.
"Who are we talking about here?" asked the other mare.
"You know the guy," her sister replied. "The one who interrupted the exam and left about ten minutes in? With the... the legs? And the—"
"Oh! Okay. I know who you’re talking about. Yeah, I’ve seen him before. What was the guy’s name again?"
Starlight came strutting up to the circle of ponies and cleared his throat.
"Good day to you all," he said, amiably as he could manage. "That exam was pretty simple, don’t you agree?"
They all gave him that stare, similar to the one that he received from the ponies at the lunch table earlier. It was partly annoyance, partly disdain and resentment, and partly... sympathy. That was the oddest part about how they looked at him. There was the distinct impression that they didn’t like him, but they felt bad about it for some reason.
Starlight recognized the look. It had been leveled at him often enough. Though even after all this time, it was why they disliked him in the first place that still mystified him. The pity he understood completely.
"It was the questions about how humidity affects the accuracy of a teleport spell that got me," Glasses replied. "I just can’t remember those formulas. How do you do it so easily?"
"Oh, well, intellectual greatness isn’t achieved so easily. I work hard to maintain it. Don’t feel bad if you can’t match it; few can."
The other ponies’ expressions didn’t change, but the bodybuilder looked significantly more irritated by this.
"Listen here, you snob," he began. "You don’t just get to—"
He was cut off by one of the mares, who pulled his head away and hissed something Starlight couldn’t hear into the stallion’s ear. Whatever it was she said, it got him to roll his eyes and sigh, before turning back to Starlight and speak to him again in a more friendly tone, though an obviously false one.
"Uh... sorry. Didn’t mean to get angry. Say, I don’t think we’ve met. What’s your name?"
"Oh. Sorry. I’ve just come to assume most ponies know me by now. I hate to brag, but I am rather famous around here. My name is Starlight Hocus Kadabra. And yours is...?"
"No problem. Mine’s Endurance. The mares are Sidestep and Nimble, and this is Silver Quill."
Silver Quill, the one with the glasses, also spoke up at this point.
"Say, uh... You want to join us for a bar run at the Drunken Dragon?"
Starlight blinked.
"Really? You expect me to go a bar?" He sneered at the thought of it. "That shoddy hole-in-the-wall breeds nothing but drunken idiots who drain from society, and I, of all ponies, do not intend on becoming one of them, thank you very much. I wouldn’t mind something cultured, but that dive... definitely not."
Silver Quill was receiving glares from the rest of the group now, and he gave them all an apologetic look.
"I’m not opposed to some other kind of social outing though," Starlight considered. "We could arrange some other destination? Perhaps one a little more... restrained?"
"Uh, yeah..." Endurance agreed. "Sounds good... We’ll be in touch, Starlight. See ya around, buddy."
"And you too, my good fellow!"
As the other ponies all left together and Starlight began trying to find his place in the book again, he didn’t hear Nimble’s sigh of relief and thanking Celestia, Endurance’s admonishing of the other stallion, or Sidestep’s last comment.
"I thought we’d never get away..."
***
Though he’d been spending his time since leaving the exam in the school’s library, it wasn’t where Starlight had obtained the genealogy book. That had been something he’d picked up from the Canterlot Library in the city center, and since he was already coming near to the end of it, he’d had a mind to go there to finish it and return it to take out something new before he left. Otherwise he might spend the night without a book.
He was glad for the opportunity to be outside though. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns was many things, but it was not spacious. And he hated crowds.
Canterlot itself wasn’t so bad. The streets tended to be a lot clearer, and the environment in general was just nicer to look at. Interiors could range from opulent and flashy to simple and utilitarian depending on the building, but Canterlot’s architecture was really quite beautiful. The skyline was full of spires and towers, and it was all clean and white. Not like Manehattan, which was all grey skyscrapers and pollution.
Starlight heard the usual sounds as he passed through the city. The clopping of hooves on cobblestone, carts and carriages creaking along the road, and the unmistakable sound of street vendors shouting at the passing ponies about how they should buy their stuff.
Groups and couples of higher-class ponies pointing their noses up into the air passed by him. Multitudes of exotic shops and stands that showcased overpriced items from all over the world were lined on the sides of the streets. And the Canterlot equivalent to rush hour was in full swing as various ponies in suits and other formal wear could be seen either walking or riding carriages in both directions.
Fortunately, it was nowhere near as bad as the hallways of the school. The city and streets were open enough that there was never any risk of bumping into anypony. Not to mention it was mostly other adults on the street (Starlight liked to consider himself an adult) instead of other careless teens.
Then again, one could never be entirely free of riffraff.
A lone earth pony stallion with a tattered, dirty bowtie was playing an old guitar on a street corner. He had a trilby hat sitting upside down in front of him for the purpose of holding the money of whoever was charitable enough to toss him some. His music wasn’t that great, and much of it was out of tune, but it was obvious that he was giving it his best effort.
Some of the passing ponies who weren’t too busy sticking their noses up in the air deposited their spare change into his hat. Every time they did, he’d take a split-second break from his tune to give them a quick "thank you" in a gruff voice.
While playing, he’d look at the ponies that came near him as they passed on the sidewalk. Many of them seemed to be intending to ignore him and pass on by, but that brief moment of eye contact kept guilting them into giving him something anyway, no matter how small.
Some kind of psychological trick, Starlight deduced. By sharing eye contact, it became impossible for them to pretend they hadn’t noticed him and walk on past. For the unicorn, the only real mystery is why nopony else seemed to be able to see past the hollow manipulation and ignore him as they had intended to.
As he passed by, the vagrant tried the same trick with him. He looked at Starlight. His expression wasn’t tear-filled, or pleading. He just looked weary. But then again, making himself look pathetic wasn’t really the point. It was just to force passing ponies to acknowledge him. So Starlight did exactly that.
"Get a job, street trash," he said as he walked on by.
The earth pony took another break from his terrible music to respond, though this time not with thanks.
"Screw you too, scabby."
As Starlight continued down the sidewalk in the direction of the library, the music gradually fading from his ears, he rolled his eyes once again.
Haven’t heard that one before.
***
His time at the library was brief. Starlight was an exceptionally fast reader, and he concluded with his book shortly after arriving. He did as he planned, returning the book and taking out a new one for the rest of the night and possibly tomorrow as well.
Starlight’s new pick was a historical account of the settling of Fillydelphia, the first part of a series. He was tempted to get the rest as well, but he didn’t want to check them out in case he read through the first book and decided it was too boring to continue with. That had happened before.
As he walked back home, the day was just beginning to die. It wasn’t very late, but already the sun was setting and the night was assuming control. Street lamps started to come to life one by one and illuminate the twilight. Shopkeepers were all coming out of their places of business to close up shop and go home for the day.
Starlight hated how early it got dark this time of year. Despite his name, he really wasn’t fond of the night. It was cold, you couldn’t see things, and everypony knew that night-time was when street thugs liked to go on the prowl. In other cities, at least. Canterlot was a safe enough place that Starlight had no fear of getting murdered, but still...
It wasn’t dark yet, of course, but Starlight was still anxious to get home. In daylight, he would sometimes dare to continue reading as he walked, but he knew that he walked a lot slower when he did. If he didn’t keep a brisk pace, then it’d really be nightfall by the time he reached home. And mother did worry so when he was out alone in the dark.
On his way back home, he even saw the earth pony vagrant from earlier, just beginning to pack up and no longer playing music. He gave Starlight a dirty look as he passed. Starlight ignored him.
"Asshole," the earth pony muttered when he thought Starlight couldn’t hear.
"Gutter filth," was the unicorn’s much louder response.
After that, Starlight’s trip continued without incident. He left the city center and made it all the way to his home in the uptown district before it got properly dark. It was with great relief that he opened the front gate and strolled down the garden path.
With his magic, he lifted a gnome on the edge of the lawn and pulled a key out from underneath it, with which he unlocked the front door. He floated it back to its proper place as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
"Starlight?" a voice called from upstairs. "Starlight, dear? Is that you?"
That was odd. Normally, he called out to ask if she was there.
Starlight’s mother appeared at the top of the stairs. She beamed as she saw him and moved down them as quickly as she could manage considering the dress trailing around her legs. She was a unicorn (of course) with a scarlet-red coat, an orange mane and tail, and gold-yellow eyes. Her current ensemble was pink and green dress with all the accessories. Pearl necklace, silver earrings, you name it.
Likely she was going out to a party tonight.
"Starlight, darling, thank Celestia you’re home!" she shouted out as she crossed the foyer, a Canterlot accent thick in her voice.
Starlight smiled, happily surprised by the warm reception. He wasn’t used to his mom being so glad to see him.
"I desperately needed somepony to tell me if this dress goes with my mane or not!" she exclaimed, sounding as desperate as a mare dangling over a shark tank.
His expression quickly deflated into one of disappointment.
"Oh, sorry to worry you... I was just in town," he mumbled.
"What have I told you about prowling the streets like that? There are all sorts of dangerous thugs and hoodlums creeping about, but that’s not really important right now! I have a dinner party that I have to attend tomorrow, and I simply need to know your opinion on the dress."
Starlight took a good look at the dress that she so badly wanted his input on. It looked good enough to him, but he wasn’t really sure how much his opinion was worth. His mother had always gone on at length about clothes, so he knew a bit, but not much of it stuck due to his tendency to block out her ramblings on fabulousness and what was "in" and what was "out".
What he did know though was that he didn’t want to encourage her panicky madness either way.
"Relax, mother, your dress is fine. I’m sure that yours will be the best one there."
He said that completely without enthusiasm. His mother was more worried about the appearance of her attire rather than him. Rarely was he ever disappointed with her anymore, but somehow she managed it again today.
"Oh, thank you darling," she said with a sigh of relief. "I just needed to know. I have a reputation to uphold, you know."
"You’re welcome. I’ll be taking a shower now."
He moved past her and started climbing up the stairs, towards the bathroom. His mother did not appear to notice his scowling. Scarlet Kadabra was not the most observant of mares.
His house wasn’t the largest one, but a large house wasn’t necessary when the only ponies that lived in it were him and her. It made things lonely sometimes, but it had always been like that, for as long as he could remember. He sometimes felt that he should have gotten used to it by now, but he never quite did. Why that was, he wasn’t sure.
Scarlet had always told him of how she had found him when he was a just a foal, in a basket outside her door. She said that she took him in out of the kindness of her own heart. Raised him as if he were her own. And while that last part was certainly true, he found it hard to believe that she adopted him purely out of kindness.
Admittedly, there wasn’t any other obvious motivation, but she wasn’t exactly known for being kind and generous. He loved her dearly, but that simply wasn’t the kind of pony she was. He often felt like she was his real mother, because he couldn’t have envisioned her raising somepony else’s child purely out of charity and goodwill.
Then again, she had, so maybe he just didn’t know her that well. Not that he could be blamed for that. They didn’t really interact that much.
The Kadabra family home was a lot more spartan than one would have guessed if they’d ever met one of its two residents. The family were at a low point right now, so Scarlet had fired the maid in order to keep up her ridiculous spending habits. Treading through the house, Starlight could see that the effects were beginning to pile up in a very literal sense.
There was clutter everywhere, mostly mounds of clothes scattered on the floor. Scarlet’s habit of throwing parties had contributed to the mess in the form of wine and food stains on tablecloths, couch pillows, and pretty much every surface that could show it. Used plates, glasses, and silverware could be found piled up on tables, yet to be attended to.
The whole place looked like a lazy teenager’s bedroom. Which was ironic, because Starlight’s room was actually the cleanest place in the house.
He reached the bathroom, which was also thoroughly untidy, mostly due to the ridiculous amount of cosmetics strewn about. He cautiously stepped over the minefield of floor detritus to the shower and started to run the water. While he waited for it to heat up, he looked at his fatigued reflection in the mirror, sighing as he saw them again.
Several smooth, hardened chips of flesh dotted his purple coat. All of them were fairly small, but very noticeable. No hair grew out of them, so they weren’t covered by his coat, and to make matters worse they were much darker than the rest of him and tended to be shiny in light, making them extra noticeable.
They were dotted randomly all over his body, most in very awkward places. The worst of all was the one right between his muzzle and his right eye, but he also didn’t like the one on his forehead, or the one on the side of his neck that meant he couldn’t lean his head too far to that side without it digging into him.
It was very much like having a series of permanent scabs. They’d been with him his whole life. He had tried picking at them until they bled, but the damned things kept growing back, like they were meant to be there. Eventually he’d given up and just taken to covering them with makeup of the same color as his coat, or wearing a cloak that covered most of his body, or both. Unfortunately, the cloak always made him sweat, and it’d come off before the end of the day. It was even worse in summer.
It didn’t help that they itched like crazy, or that at least one was always digging into him no matter which way he positioned himself. They weren’t exactly flesh; they rested on top of his skin, but their undersides were attached to him. A bit like being covered in dozens of barnacles, only tearing them off made him bleed all over the floor.
About the only good thing that could be said about them was that they weren’t cancerous, whatever they were. He could live with them, but it would be a very uncomfortable life. And even if they were itchy, irritated the skin, and made him look like he had broken out of a quarantine somewhere, they didn’t do much to impede on day-to-day life.
Though his disproportionately-sized forelegs did. Starlight reflected on this too as he lifted his right so that it could also be seen in the mirror. It was huge enough to be an earth pony’s, and yet his left was small enough to belong to a colt ten years his younger. For most, one uncommon affliction would be enough. Not for Starlight though. He also had mismatched limbs that made walking difficult and caused him to frequently stumble. Not to mention that they gave him trouble when climbing up stairs or running unless he was careful.
He liked to think of it as the universe giving him a friendly reminder that life was not fair, and that that no matter how good things are going for you, there will always be something or somepony out there to make you feel miserable again.
At least, that was the lesson he took from this.
It could be worse, he thought to himself as he stood there, staring at his reflection. I could have been adopted by rock farmers.
One thing that should be known about Starlight: No amount of humbling physical disabilities would ever stop him from feeling superior to everypony else.
By then, there was more than enough heat, so he happily climbed into his shower and embraced the water. It had a calming effect on him. Even books were second to a nice, hot shower on his list of favorite things to do. Under the warm water was one of the few places where the itching stopped and he felt truly comfortable, and the total privacy allowed him to relax his mind just as much as his body.
Much as he considered himself an intellectual, even he liked to switch off and not have to think too hard every once in awhile. It was those moments of true peace like these that made life worth living.
"Starlight! Come out of the shower! I need you to do something for me!" the voice of Scarlet called from the other side of the bathroom door.
And it was moments like those that made him wish he were dead.
"Yes, mother," he yelled back, trying his best to hide the fact that he wanted to murder her for the interruption.
He grudgingly turned the water flow off, crawled out of the shower, and started to dry himself off. He quickly opened the door to see Scarlet on the other side, with a small piece of paper.
"What?" he said flatly.
"I need a few things from the grocery store. We’ve got nothing for dinner tonight. Would you be a dear, and go fetch them for me?"
She seemed oblivious to everything wrong with this situation. She was the adult who was meant to be responsible for this kind of thing, not him. He was doing something while she was not. Earlier she said she was worried that he was out alone that late, and now it was even later and she was asking him to go out alone again. Not to mention the fact that she was clearly an idiot, and Starlight was of the opinion that stupid ponies were meant to serve their intellectual superiors, not the other way around.
He took a deep breath.
Respect your mother, Starlight.
"Fine," he answered. "Just give me the list and I’ll get on with it."
She gave him a cheery smile and floated a hastily scrawled list up to his face. Starlight grabbed the list with his magic, and gave it a once over. Then she gave him a pouch with a few dozen bits in it.
"Thanks, dear," she said with a warm smile. "You’ve no idea how important this is to me, what with Clean Sweep gone and—"
"Yes, yes, I know! I’ll get going. Just give me a moment to get ready..."
***
It was well and truly dark out when he left to get the groceries. His mother couldn’t have picked a worse time to send Starlight off on this errand, but nevertheless he had to persevere.
The worst part though was that he hadn’t the time to reapply the makeup he usually used when going out. At this time of night, there weren’t many ponies out, so it didn’t matter as much. However, he would have to interact with at least one, namely the cashier, and he never liked having to do that while exposed. The pitying looks were bad enough when they only saw the legs.
It did serve a purpose though. Ponies were far less willing to fight or stay angry at a cripple. It made them feel bad, you see. Starlight didn’t really consider himself a cripple, because he could walk fine if he was careful, but others seemed to disagree. He didn’t complain about that, as ponies tended to get upset with him an awful lot, and it was good to have that sympathy-inducing appearance to defuse those situations.
He just wished they didn’t get so angry at him in the first place, or at least that they explained what he was doing wrong. He’d been called a snob once or twice, but he really didn’t see how that was so. He merely stated facts. What was everypony’s problem? Was "snob" just a general insult that common folk used for ponies they were jealous of now?
Idiots. The lot of them. Learn the meaning of words before you use them!
While Starlight would have liked to wear his cloak out tonight, he couldn’t. The thing was currently lost in the wash, and had been ever since the maid had left. He had to look around and find it at some point. That was a long-term project though, because the house was full of clothes piles that it could be hidden in, so he hadn’t had the cloak earlier today and he still didn’t have it now.
The crisp night air chilled him without it. He could see his breath in front of his face as he walked down the illuminated streets of Canterlot towards the 24/7 market on the edge of the residential zone. Already the houses were disappearing to give way to stores and late night eating and drinking establishments. Canterlot’s nightlife could hardly be described as busy (not like Las Pegasus or Manehattan anyway), but it was there.
He saw the night-goers prowling the streets and hanging around outside of bars, trying to decide where to spend their hard earned bits. They were mostly groups of friends and couples, all a lot less formal than the kind of ponies he saw around here in the daylight.
While he wasn’t near the downtown area, he could still just barely detect the thumps of music being produced by the neon-drenched night clubs further into the city. Idly, he wondered if Endurance, Silver Quill and those mares were out there in the middle of it all. They were probably laughing over a round of beers right now.
While he didn’t approve, Starlight would be lying if he said he didn’t get the appeal. He wondered if he’d be less lonely were he born a savage like the rest of these detestable creatures. Alas, he was too cultured and intelligent to debase himself in such a way, and he would never truly know. Such was the price of genius.
He caught sight of his destination, the Evergreen Market. It was essentially just a corner shop that was big enough to not limit itself to newspapers and chocolate bars. Probably intended to be that originally, but however small it was compared to the big supermarket chains, it had everything they needed, and it was local. The clear glass door had a sign on its exterior that read, "Like an evergreen, we’re always ready to do business!"
He proceeded to enter the market and pull out his mother’s shopping list. The list commanded that he buy eggs, bread, wine, cheese, some produce, and a lot of cosmetics. He complied, and started to scour the store for the requested items.
He noticed that he was getting very peculiar looks from his few fellow shoppers, but as usual, nopony wanted to be a dick about it. He received no comments, and whenever he met their gaze, they all realized that they were staring and promptly looked away. A mare he passed in one of the aisles gave him an apologetic look as her son skittered away from him. He ignored them. He didn’t like kids anyways.
Once he had collected all of the items, he headed over towards the cashier to pay. On his way down an aisle, he sighted a sign that showed that there was a sale on kumquat-flavored pudding, which was basically ambrosia to him. The sign excitedly claimed that it was only two bits. He added the pudding to his assortment of products and continued to checkout.
He reached the domain of the market’s depressed and very tired looking cashier and started to levitate his items onto the table. The transaction went smoothly until they ran into a complication of enormous magnitude.
"What?! The sign specifically said that this pudding was two bits!" he yelled with more volume than was necessary. "You’re a cashier! Your job isn’t that complicated! Get the prices right and take my money! That’s all you have to do! What kind of imbecile are you that you can fail even that?!"
"Sir, that sign is two days old," the sleep-deprived cashier murmured. "We forgot to take it down. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but can you please just calm down?"
"Calm down? Calm down?! I’m as calm as anypony that is being robbed of their money is! There is a sign that clearly proclaims its price being two bits. Not three bits, two bits. Is it too much to expect that prices be consistent?!"
"Rules are rules, sir. I can’t go against store policy. You’ll have to take it up with my manager."
"Oh, I’ll take it up with your manager alright! And tell them of your incompetence! You will rue the day you dared try to rip me off! I’m not some simpering peasant who will sit by and accept this kind of treatment!"
The cashier let out a long, tired sigh.
"Sir, if I just sell it to you for two bits, will you please just leave?" he bargained.
"I’m glad to see that you’re thinking straight at last. Now, finish my order."
The cashier began packing his groceries for him.
"And update your signs according to the proper prices next time, moron."
The rest of the purchase went normally, and the unicorn left the store afterwards with a large, brown paper bag in the grip of his magic. He began cantering back towards home with a bit more speed in his gait. He didn’t want to keep his mother waiting for too much longer, or spend a second longer in the vicinity of such fools.
One day I will destroy all of these ponies...
***
Starlight went back the way he came, passing by all the same clubs, bars, and stores that he did before. The ponies outside had changed this time, and there was a different gang hanging around outside that bar he passed. He ignored them and kept walking on, determined not to waste any more time being out here in the open.
For some reason, his mind drifted back to that street musician from earlier in the day. He wondered what he was doing right now. It was winter, after all, and the stallion was clearly homeless. He did feel a slight amount of pity for anypony that was forced to sleep out in this, especially considering the volume of the other ponies out on the town right now, and that awful club music assaulting his ears.
Though then again, maybe being forced to experience this all night would be karmic justice. With any luck, it’d teach the vagrant to stop inflicting his own awful music on the world.
As the homes began reappearing, he put that behind him and concentrated on the route back to his house. Like he always did, he kept a lookout for a small side route that would take him straight to his street. Luckily, he discovered a little path between two lines of back gardens that were cut off by a wooden fence. He spotted it a few houses down and quickened his pace to reach it sooner.
As he turned into the pathway though, he froze. Standing in the middle of the the path, just yards away from him, was some kind of nightmare creature.
It wore a formal-looking suit, giving it some distant echoes of civility, but there ended all similarities the thing had with common ponies. It stood up on its two hind legs, but seemed to have no balance problems at all. Its forelegs dangled at its sides, unused. And its skin... it didn’t have skin. It was made of fire, or at least it had the appearance of such.
Its round head was just a glowing orange ball, and on the end of its forelegs, its hooves were the same. In fact, it was glowing like that all over, it’s just that the glow was most noticeable over the areas not covered up with clothing. Most frightening of all, it lacked any wings, but it floated just slightly off the ground.
Initially it was faced away from him, but when he stepped into the alley, it twisted its head around to look at him. He got a good look at its facial features. Its eyes were tiny compared to ponies, and black as night. They especially stood out when everything else about him was so bright. And even though it was harder to see through the fiery energy, he could make out a mouth too. Not a muzzle. Just a mouth. And it was giving him a wide, toothy grin.
It’s okay. Be brave, Starlight. You’re a student of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns! You can take care of yourself! You can stand up to this thing, whatever it is!
He took a tentative step forward, ready to confront the specter.
"Hel—"
The creature cut him off, talking to him in a distorted voice that was heard both by his ears and in his mind.
"Starlight! Good that you’ve shown up. I’ve been looking all day for you."
Scratch that, no I can’t! Run away!
Starlight let out a very feminine scream and galloped away as fast away as he could. He stopped deliberately pacing his strides with each leg correctly, and just ran as instinct told him to. The result was that he didn’t move that much faster than normal, and now he hobbled along, bouncing from side to side with every step.
He fled into the street he had just came from and ran down the middle of the road. Though he didn’t look back, behind him the fiery phantom emerged from the alley, poking his head around the corner. Starlight wasn’t getting very far very fast, so he nonchalantly drifted out of his hiding place and began slowly floating down the road after Starlight. Despite his lack of speed, he was gaining quickly on him.
"Come on, kid. Let’s be civil about this."
His mouth didn’t move when he spoke. He didn’t even change his facial expression. Starlight looked behind him to see his pursuer getting closer, and began screaming even louder. It was his hope that somepony in the houses would look out the window and see them. Maybe some kind soul would call the police and save him.
"God, will you just calm down? You’re going to make a scene," the spirit said as it floated around in front of Starlight and blocked his escape. "Listen, my name is Ambition, and I think we can—"
Starlight charged and unleashed a spell on the demon, firing a bolt of raw magical energy into his chest. The projectile passed right through his torso, not even impacting the suit. The thing still had not stopped grinning, and continued to hold that exact same expression as it looked down at the spot where the spell would have impacted, back up at him again, and then tilted its head as if to say, "Really?"
This wasn’t going well. Starlight hastily drew on all the magic he had left in him, getting ready to try something extremely stupid and dangerous. Before his aggressor could move for him again, Starlight disappeared in a flash, utilizing a spell that even for him was more than a little tricky. He appeared again just a little further down the street, singed all over and limping away as fast as he could.
Looking back, he saw Ambition still staring at where he was before. Then the demon looked over his shoulder and spotted Starlight. The extremely slow chase resumed.
"Really now?" he called. "This is embarrassing. Look, I just want to use your body so that I can overthrow the government. It’s really not much to ask."
While doing his utmost to escape, Starlight couldn’t help but scold himself for making such a foolish move. Teleportation was still somewhat out of his league, and it was a miracle he hadn’t torn himself apart by accident, especially considering that he hadn’t actually been directly taught about it and he cast that spell using just what he’d read about its mechanics.
Never again! I swear! NEVER using that again!
He screamed like a little filly again as Ambition once more appeared in front of him.
"Starlight, this is childish. We’ve got work to do. Would you please just stop with the dramatics?"
"Why is nopony coming to help me?!" the frightened stallion called out.
"Because this is Canterlot, and showing compassion to another pony here is considered a major faux pas. Now stay still. "
Ambition shot forward, far faster than he’d been moving until now. Starlight saw his fiery forehooves moving up in front of him, except that they weren’t hooves, but something else. They bore more similarity to claws of a baby dragon than anything else. And they were dexterous too, as he felt when the claws wrapped around his head. For fire, they didn’t feel all that warm. He gave one last scream as Ambition lowered himself so that he was level with Starlight, and then headbutted his victim.
Starlight stumbled back when the impact happened, but he didn’t actually feel it. He had felt those claws, but not the impact of Ambition’s head. And now the demonic specter was gone, as if he was never there in the first place.
Oh, thank Celestia...
He stumbled over to the closest sidewalk and collapsed, panting in exhaustion and quietly thankful that whatever he had just experienced seemed to have passed. Was that a hallucination? A dream? Was he going to wake up soon? It had felt real, and this still felt real, but...
There was a slight tingling sensation in the front of his brain. It wasn’t painful, but it felt peculiar. His eyes widened and his breathing picked up again.
Looking for me?
Ambition’s voice echoed in his mind, quieter than before, and no longer distorted, but just as unnerving.
"Wh-where are you, m-monster?" he stuttered out, trembling.
Why, I’m right here beside you! As close to you as I could possibly get, I’d say. To put it simply, I’m in your mind. I’m the consciousness next to yours. And now, it will make this whole process a lot easier on the both of us if you didn’t resist as I assume control over your body.
"You will leave my body this instant, you cur!" Starlight demanded.
Hey, bro, don’t go all ‘innocent victim’ on me now. I would have asked for consent, but you’re the one who started making a scene. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Besides, it won’t hurt. I think. Never done this before actually, but you know what they say. There’s a first time for everything.
Starlight steeled himself and stood up again.
"You are not taking me over!"
Come on, Starlight. I am FAR from the first guy to have tampered with your mind. If anything, you should be familiar with being so utterly dominated. Though, I guess not. Memory magic and all.
"What are you talking about, demon?!"
Hold on. Let’s go digging in this sandbox a bit and see if we can find some buried treasure underneath all the trash and broken glass.
There was a flash of memory, and a sudden clarity in Starlight’s mind. For his part, he felt like he’d been bucked in the face, and he reeled with the impact as the scene played almost before his eyes.
"Starlight, your daddy’s gotta go to work now."
"But why does he hafta work, mom?"
"Daddy has a very important job, darling."
"What does he do?"
"Well, sweetie, it’s like this..."
Starlight yelled out. His head thumped painfully even before he fell back and hit it on a street light.
"What is that?! What was that?!" he demanded.
Not done yet. Let’s try another.
Starlight once again screamed as his head was assaulted with sharp pain.
"Hey, kiddo! How’re you doing? Look how big you’ve gotten! Ha! You still studying your magic?"
"Sure am, Uncle Viper!"
"Well, you keep at it! Talented little tyke like you? You’d make a great Purifier."
"Oh! I didn’t hear you come in. What a surprise!"
"I do apologize, Miss Scarlet. I just needed to see Clairvoyance. Work trouble again. You know how it is. Is he around here anywhere?"
Starlight buckled to his knees.
"STOP IT!"
Not until I break you!
"Son, it’s very important that you understand what I did for a living. And it’s even more important that you know why it was wrong."
"Why?"
"Equestria is veiled in darkness, my boy. We need to bring it back into the light."
The young unicorn had his head to the ground, hooves covering his face, and was grinding his horn against the pavement. Doing so was immensely painful for him, but he kept at it anyway, trying to use the pain he was causing himself to block out what Ambition was doing to him. These memories that he was digging up were painful in a whole different way, and his brain was pulsing like it was about to explode.
"Celestia, please! Just stop!"
No! Your memories have been seriously fucked with, and I’m going to fix that right here and right now! It’s time to stop living the lie, kid!
"No! Don’t! Take me, but don’t harm—"
"You talk too much, traitor. On your knees!"
"Agh!"
"Don’t worry. We won’t hurt them. And Starlight still has a mother, so take comfort in the fact that he won’t be an orphan."
"Dad!"
"Stay back, son!"
"You had this coming for a long time, turncoat. I hope it was worth it."
Starlight collapsed onto the pavement. He was panting more heavily than he had after the chase, but the pain was easing slightly. He rolled over onto his back, and stared up at the sky. He could almost see that psychopath’s grinning face before his eyes. The truth was beginning to sink in.
He wasn’t adopted. He had never been fatherless. He was raised by his real parents all along. There were family friends and a happy uncle and a bigger house. There was a tragedy when he was fifteen. It was taken from him, somehow. His memories were altered, along with his very sense of self. Everything was a lie. If there was one thing out of the flood of information that stood out the clearest though, it was those two words. "The Purifiers."
He could no longer take the mental strain of the countless resurfacing memories. He began to lose himself, drifting into a state of semiconsciousness where he couldn’t feel his body anymore. All feeling left him, replaced only by a numbness as he was left in his state of shock.
Echoing in the back of his mind, he heard Ambition’s sinister chuckling.
Starlight Kadabra is dead. Long live Starlight.
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My sarcastic comments in the author's notes aside, I am proud of how this turned out.
Adding to read later, this is basically a must-read for me.
2913034
Thanks, I hope that I won't let you down.
Okay, this one have been advertised for quite a long time, lets see if its lives up to the hype :D
You have officially grabbed my attention, stuffed it into a sack, thrown it into your car, and driven off with it, leaving only a ransom note demanding that I like and favorite this story as well as immediately follow you. You leave me no choice but to shower you with praises. you monster.
(thanks to DannyJ as well, without whom I would not be reading this!)
2913418
Well, that's fantastic to hear, but this is just the first shavings off of the onion. Be expecting a lot more to come.
2912859
I came here from your journal post. You had me at, "their superpower is schizophrenia."
So thanks for that.
2913868
No need to thank me, citizen. It's all in a day's work for Madman.
(Pretend that I have a cape right now.)
Lookin' good.
This is literally the best thing ever written by anyone ever. Like seriously. I am not even kidding. You should all like and favorite this masterpiece. It could have been written by fucking Jesus and it would have been just a little bit worse. I am not joking this is probably the cure for cancer and the reason the holocaust ended. Sometimes I cannot sleep because I am reeling in the beauty of this brilliant work of art. If I was a potato, I would stop being a potato just so I could read this. It makes me want to call my parents and tell them that I have moved to Vietnam just so I can read this more.
Seriously though, you should read this, it is amazing.
- ploopdud
This has captured my interests
i.minus.com/ivuLxVbWnRmVf.gif
2918463
wtf did I just read? Nice comment you got there. I don't understand the last part about Vietnam though.
2918463
I really enjoyed reading that.
2921682
Nice gif.
2913145
Oh yeah, this as expected was awesome
Did you know that Starlight was the name of one of the main characters in MLP G1.5?
I have a question in regards to the first part of the story. Would Unicorns be disqualified from taking the test if they forego using a quill and ink in favor of literally burning magic into their papers producing a blackish trail of ashes that only affect a tiny portion of the paper itself?