The world was ending, but all one pony could see was red.
Metaphorically, that is, though not unlike the miasma spewing forth relentlessly from her very own horn, crimson deep as her rage.
She only saw red, and the balloon up ahead. She galloped alone down the streets of Ponyville, its population having convened at the castle and outside of her ability to care.
"S-rli-t!"
She only saw red.
"STA-IGHT -LIMM-R!"
She only felt red.
"STAR-LIGH-HIGH-HIGHT!" echoed haggardly behind her. She whirled around before fully realizing who it belonged to.
"Spike..." the pony moaned. It wasn't in displeasure of seeing him.
He sprinted across Ponyville's vacant market square upon stumpy legs. The sight of him, his evident anger, invoked Starlight Glimmer's ire like a burning whip:
"I am NOT going back there!" she roared, hoof pointed to the distant silhouette of the Friendship Castle. From afar, lavender and magenta ribbons draped it like a glorified Hearth's Warming tree. Ponyville and anypony even remotely important to the princess who owned it - which was about half of Equestria, it seemed - were crammed inside under a veil of merriment. "You're free to not have any faith in me, Spike. But our 'friends' have given up on her! Not me though - I won't!" Her hoof stamped down, punctuating her horn as it belched more crimson.
Starlight Glimmer returned to the anchored basket before her. Deep down she was ashamed. Sweet Celestia, I haven't sounded this deranged since...
A potent pang in her chest flared, harsher than before.
She placed one hoof upon the basket as Spike skidded to a stop behind her. He gasped for breath between every word. "How, could you, saythat?!" he cried, rage pushing past his exhaustion. "You saw them, Starlight, you were right there! They're taking this harder than anypony, almost as much as me! And you-!"
"And I'm not giving up on Twilight just yet!"
Spike's brows furrowed, his green eyes glaring. "Do you even know how you sound right now!? You're acting as if our friends are throwing in the towel and just forgetting about Twilight. But they're not! There's just... n-nothing left," Spike gasped upon a sob. "Y-You were there yesterday, Starlight! You heard Princess Celestia, you heard what she said! You saw her cry-!"
"No," Starlight snapped, "I saw her calling quits!" She wouldn't let herself give in to despair again, not while on the cusp of seeing her plan through.
Spike's mouth dropped open, his face twisted and ready to object. Starlight's red cloud dispelled the moment her magic ripped a bulky tome from her saddlebag. It's cover was a swirl of pink and purple,, and a red ribbon lie snug in the middle. "There's always another way, Spike - always! And the fact that the princesses hadn't exhausted them all is proof that there's still a chance at saving Twilight!"
"Starlight-"
The book shifted in front of her, flipping to the bookmarked page. Her eyes scanned between lines of text. "I just need to get there-"
"Starlight!"
"-meet the Witches of Flutter Valley-"
"Starlight!"
"-And strike a deal that'll stop Twilight from dying!"
"STAR-LIGHT!"
Her name rolled briefly across the darkened homes of Ponyville.
Spike sighed, sagging with what she secretly hoped was defeat. "This is crazy, Starlight… Just come back home, please." He gestured toward it. "Celebrate with our friends, spend the weekend reading with Twilight. Just… be there, with us." His voice was quieter than a whisper, but twice as pitiful. "Your friends. F-For however long, she has l-left. 'nd just... just accept the fact that Princess Celestia has tried everything!" he finished with a sob that tore her heart asunder.
Starlight wrenched away from him, eyes clenched shut, yet allowing a few tears to squeeze out unbidden.
'Accept the reality,' he says. 'Accept defeat. Let Twilight die.'
Grief tore her apart inside, as everything she just said came rushing back. Starlight flinched feeling a claw touch her chest, then eased into its compassionate grip. "I'm sorry," she gasped, touching her snout to his frontmost spine. "I understand that what I'm doing is hurting you. And I didn't really mean what I'd said, about Celestia, our friends, but, but this is all just so… s-so..."
Finishing was a struggle. Whatever energy filled her before was whisked away by Spike's truths. She couldn't deny that her idea was folly.
"I meant what I'd said before." Strength returned. "I'm not giving up on Twilight. Even if there's just a chance, I'd take it. And there's nothing you, or any of our friends, can do to stop me."
Unfortunately for her, Spike was a fantastic friend who knew just how badly she was hurting. He had been watching her like a dragon monitors their horde ever since Celestia broke the news.
Previously upset, his face adopted a snarl hearing the challenge in her statement. "And you're just gonna steal Cherry Berry's balloon!? You're gonna save her by chasing that stupid foal's story!?" With that, as far as Starlight was concerned, this conversation was over. She belted out a groan before turning back toward the balloon basket.
"Starlight Glimmer!"
She did her best to ignore him - "Starlight, come on!" - it was easy until he yanked her tail. "Please don't..." She heard the tears in his tone just prior to beholding them herself, looking over to her hindquarters to find a dragon embracing her curled tail like a life-preserve. "Please, don't," he croaked, eyes clenched shut, "I dunno what you're thinking, r'where you're goin', but..."
"Shh..." she cooed, turning to embrace her dear friend fiercely just as he started to wail. Starlight didn't know the cause or its target, nor the goal of pathetically wailing his fists against her. In her heart she could not empathize, feel his pain.
Starlight didn't loosen her embrace until Spike's sobs receded in intensity, and his fists ceased ineffectively pummeling her coat. He was still snuffling, rubbing his puffy eyes as Starlight pulled away. She lacked the energy to grimace at her snot-caked chest. A simple, soapy flash cleansed her entirely.
Spike's last words, a desperate bid to get his friend to stay here with the herd, encircled her thoughts. "You know exactly where I'm going, Spike, and why," she told him sincerely. He had been the only one Starlight trusted to support her in this endeavor, yet even he was devoid of any hope to save his best friend - his quintessential mother for pony's sake! "Aren't you willing to try anything to save her?"
"Of course I am! But..." Spike turned crestfallen before echoing the night prior, "...your idea is just so... so...!"
"Crazy?" she offered.
"Silly! I mean, this is a book for foals you've taken notes on, Starlight. It isn't real, and why does it matter if the original author was inspired by something to write it!? That doesn't mean there's a group of Witches in the swamp who grant wishes, and even if there was, even if by some miracle you're actually right-!" Spike stammered, unable to comprehend it. "Then this is not only dangerous, it's stupid! You could be turned into a skateboard, or something crazy like that!" His arms waved frantically, culminating into the fact that he was just trying to instill a fear of the boogeypony within her.
Spike hadn't said anything new, having already known of every risk before even conversing with him the previous night. "Maybe," she sighed, "but I have to try."
They went at it for an hour then. Now, Spike at least knew better than to argue further, as he dropped his face with a shallow sob.
Starlight pitied him. It panged her deep in the heart.
Once upon a time, if he failed to convince her otherwise, Spike wouldn't hesitate to join in on this quest - for her safety, he'd assure Starlight. But Twilight's condition defeated him as it had everypony else. Even Somnambula's abundant hope was drained, as Starlight saw dried mascara on her cheeks as she casually exited the castle.
But she was not mad at him, or anypony. Not even a little. Starlight empathized, understanding their position entirely: their hopes have been shattered as soon as Celestia waved the white flag.
"Listen," she lifted his face, and he did his gaze, as she pressed a hoof to his trembling chin, "I get that you don't believe me... and to be honest, I don't blame you for a second. But you just gotta have faith in me, Spike! I know, I know -it sounds totally and utterly crazy. I know I sound ridiculous, and I know you're just saying all of this because you don't want to see me hurt myself." Spike's face tried turning away in shame, but Starlight sat to hold it in both hooves."Trust, Spike. That's all I ask. Trust in me, trust that everything that's happened to us since moving to Ponyville has been for a reason. This is all you need to do. Everything'll be okay, I promise. I, I Pinkie Promise, even!"
Spike pressed his lips together. His crushed gaze told enough.
Starlight took a step back. She stole a second and third after Spike remained in place. "If anypony asks," she said while doing so, "please, just don't tell them where I am. I know they won't understand, and I don't want them worrying about me... If they do ask, say… Well, just say I'm going to my old friends."
Like that'll help. She wondered how long it would take for Rainbow Dash to suddenly appear in her balloon's path, screaming and spitting for trying to send them the complete opposite way.
"But-! But-!" Spike argued.
"Nopony's gonna change my mind." Her tone booked no argument, and it seemed to have achieved such as she levitated herself into the basket to the sound of silence.
He appeared at the basket's edge, atop his tiptoes. "It's just that-!"
"Spike."
He stepped back, mouth clamped shut, with fresh tears running down his cheeks - he may run grooves into them at this rate. It's Twilight's only hope left, Starlight wanted to say, but she knew better than to drive the spear further into the poor dragon's heart.
Starlight breathed in deep. "Everyone knows that the old pony's tales originate from some form of the truth. Twilight was right about Nightmare Moon, for one. And until I met her, I thought Harmony was just a myth, a story like all the others."
"But this is different, Starlight. It's not even an old pony's tale - it's a folk story! Like how Rockhoof used a shovel to-!" Spike's memory caught up to him, and he moaned in dismay while Starlight mustered a smug grin.
"That's not a story anymore, remember?" Starlight's magic released the balloon's sandbags, no longer anchoring it to Ponyville's marketplace. "But they all start like that, don't they Spike?"
As the balloon rose, she went over to the edge and perched upon it. "But I have to believe in them, Spike - not just for her sake, but my own!" she shouted, her voice having risen steadily as the dragon grew incrementally smaller. "Don't you get it?! This is a risk I'm wiling to take!" She would have said more, had the words not been too big to be summoned forth.
But Spike never answered - and it wasn't that he was too far to hear, he just didn't.
Faith, she answered, reaffirming it for herself. I need to have faith - the same faith Twilight had in me when she offered her hoof.
Starlight Glimmer watched Spike grow smaller and smaller. She rose high into the deep purple of dusk, ashamed for her lack of courage: This is a sacrifice I'm willing to make, she wished to say, but the words just wouldn't come forth.
They were true, but Starlight failed to ascertain why they failed her.
She didn't think about it for long.
The Broken Bond
By TheOneAndOnly1993
Shafts of sunlight pierced the foggy gloom above Starlight Glimmer, pale daggers through a milky film enshrouding her world. She panted, keeping in pace with her racing heart, as she glanced behind her.
Starlight made out the balloon as a purple globe through the gloom.
And that was it.
She felt no breeze stir her mane. Nor did the warble of birds flutter in the air, or the buzz of swamp bugs stir lazily in the gloom.
Starlight's eardrums boomed softly with the sound of quiet.
She saw nothing but what lied ahead: a wall of black claws reaching toward her. Once trees, she assumed, but whatever lurked within gnarled them into a defense designed to scare anypony away. Their trunks grew, curving sporadically into whatever shape ensured only one way to enter.
Almost mockingly, a black-mud path before her beckoned visitors inside. The woodland's maw opened wide, the trees themselves curved and their brambles ensnared to form a tunnel. Starlight wore a critical eye as she examined its utterly perfect architecture.
She hoped nopony was watching. It there was, she prayed even harder for them to have been fooled by her mask.
And ponies call the Everfree unnatural? At least there, the trees grew in their own shape, their own freedom. Whatever force ruled here, it preferred absolute control. It did so with cruelty, and a magic far beyond that of anypony who ever lived.
Except for the princesses. Starlight felt no lighter after her assurance than she did before.
She swallowed hard. Her eyes couldn't break away from the mud-caked path before her. The longer she stared, the more it played tricks with her eyes. If she were not a skeptical pony, Starlight might have believed them when she saw the stuff writhe, ever so slightly.
That's no mud. She had zero intentions of finding out what it was. Starlight gazed deep into the abyss before her, wondering just how long it was, and how long she could maintain a levitation field upon herself.
I held it just fine before, and during a fight with Twilight, no less. This is foal's play.
Common unicorns required a certain amount of attention toward activating their magic, though for some, a mere thought willed it into existence.
A mental glance as thoughtless as breathing snapped Starlight's horn to life, and the whole world thrummed to the beat of one heart. The magic wreathing her horn swallowed her entire body, and it carried her into the darkness ahead. She was engulfed completely, save for the field illuminating her surroundings in a dim, teal-tinted flush.
Not that Starlight Glimmer was actually sparing her attention. By the light of her horn, a book floated from her saddlebag and opened to a page marked with a red ribbon.
She read aloud in her head, trying to spite the deafening silence embracing her:
"Where's th' pay-ath?" asked Hazel. The colt and his twin sister, Griddle, looked upon Father with huge, innocent eyes.
Father's wheat stalk shifted to the opposite corner of his mouth as he pointed into the swamp ahead. "Jus' walk straight on through, young'ins. That thar goop is yucky, to be shoore, but it won't hurt'cha none. You'll eventch'lly come to a big ol' clearin' - can't miss it, shorely can't. N' then? ...Then they'll come to you, if it pleases 'em. They may even take care o' ya, give ya a place that c'n actually feed ya..."
Griddle smiled happily, her cheekbones pronounced. "Don't be sad, Daddy! We know you do your best, and that's all that matters!"
Hazel was still the worrywart, his eyes flitting from the darkness ahead, to the warm presence of Father. "But... w-what if th' Witches, err, the Ladies, don't appear? Ho-How'll we know they're coming!?"
"Oh, ya won't," Father winked. "But bless yer souls if they do! They come? An' you see 'em? Why, must mean you're might' special! Meetin' was destined t' happen, jus' like that mark on yer flank! Y'know what Ah mean?"
Griddle trotted forward, nuzzling Father's leg affectionately. "And then, if they meet us, the Ladies of Flutter Valley'll feed us, an' give Hazel n' Ah treats to bring home!" Father simply bent down, kissed his daughter's head, then pulled his son in to do the same, forcing back tears all the while.
God knows it'll be the last time he will.
Starlight Glimmer shuddered. "Hope this is the 'old pony's tale' part of the story," she remarked.
Though it probably isn't, she dreaded. Celestia knows they'll be just as horrible as I imagine: cauldron full of fillies, huge warts, broomsticks...
Starlight grimaced as pain burned a hole in her stomach, twisting with the mental image she conjured up and the preexisting emptiness of her belly. Now I REALLY wish I wasn't so unreasonably angry back home. Maybe then I would have actually EATEN something...
She envisioned a squeezing gesture, and the teal magic ensnaring Tall Tales and Unexplained Phenomena closed it shut with a solid THWUMP. Although she read it cover-to-cover on the balloon ride here, she just had to double-check the illustration and directions given on the fourth section of its thirteenth chapter:
'The Witches of Flutter Valley.'
Flying in, the brittle, clawed fingers of bared birches had eached up at her from the fog enshrouding it. It was impossible for Starlight to know these were different from the last three: all shriveled, dead woodlands. But after triple checking the gnarled, naked branches twisted round each other in the picture, to those which leered before her and above, Starlight knew.
She was not only in Flutter Valley, but at the actual doorstep of the "Ladies" who called it home.
Her blood chilled, and lightheadedness had almost forced Starlight to the soggy soil below her. They're real... It's all real. Sweet Celestia, they're real!
Although a veil of fog concealed it, Starlight could ascertain its size created a barrier between southern Equestria, and whatever lay beyond.
As she soared deeper into the bog, Starlight saw precious little beyond the suffocating darkness between every trunk, let alone trace of an uncharted continent. They were snowflakes, where every one was different: thick, thin, bent like an "L" or twisting upwards in a warped, wooden corkscrew; their sizes ranged from thin as a foreleg, to massive mounds of black willow-bark.
"Who decided to name this place 'Flutter Valley?'" Starlight muttered. Her ears twitched at the sound of sudden noise, beyond the monotonous hum of her levitation-field.
It was just a macabre name with no definitive origin. Centuries ago, ponies apparently went missing here every so often. Starlight assumed this it's what led to the region's abandonment, and eventually, its place in reality. Flutter Valley was but an anomaly, a ghost story for foals that none were brave enough to seek the truth.
But perhaps, maybe, that's for the best...
Whether or not the Witches themselves were real, a dark, primal sort of force soaked the very air Starlight breathed. Perhaps the goop passing beneath her was toxic to ponies. She did not stare into it for long, the sheer blackness of it felt like gazing into a bottomless pit, save for a wavy, teal light acting as her shadow.
Maybe Flutter Valley wasn't always like this.
Starlight couldn't help but think of her dear friend, Fluttershy. Although, any resemblance to her gentle, softspoken friend began and ended at the name.
For a moment, Starlight reflected upon the irony of it all. She entered this bog with substantially less trepidation than a conversation with the pony she'd since spent numerous animal tea parties getting to know.
Finally arriving at the fabled bog, Starlight realized she was so close to preserving the happiness of that distant past - to saving Twilight Sparkle. She had almost lost the ability to breathe. Starlight wanted nothing more than to fall upon the damp, curled grass that kissed her knees, and lose herself to the same sickness which had ensnared her friends:
Emotion. Senseless, raw, uncontrollable, and from the soul.
But she hadn't yet.
She never did; she wept and cried alongside them to be sure, but Starlight Glimmer was never defeated by it. She never was one to simply give up and accept reality.
Whatever it takes, I will save her...
Because if she succumbed to this sickness? If she just gave upand accepted her teacher's fate like Spike and Applejack and even Princess Celestia-!?
A gasp tore from her throat.
Her anger and magic had surged forth as one; teal sparks spat forth from her horn, and her entire body dropped.
Starlight's heart threatened to lurch out of her throat, but was swallowed in a gasp for breath. She peeked one eye open, observing her back-left an inch from dipping into the purple-black sludge of Flutter Valley. Blinking, Starlight held her entire being for a full second before thrashing her head to and fro. She steeled her gaze ahead, piercing the dense gloom of Flutter Valley's encroaching, wooden skeletons.
She pressed on with a roll of the eyes. "Keep your cool, Starlight," she muttered. "There's no need to let your emotions get the best of you now, eh-heh!" An uneasy titter marked the start of an elongated silence.
It wasn't long before the initial purpose behind thinking so much made itself eerily known.
She struggled not to feel disturbed at the sincere lack of life in this bog. No cries of a beast hunting, or being hunted. No occasional gargle of a gas pocket, erupting with its atrocious fumes which characterized a normal bog, nor did she hear the slurp of trees seeping deeper into the purple-black glue. The black glue, which devoured the swamp even beyond the path, if her reflected teal glow was anything to go by. It comprised its entire floor, beginning abruptly, unnaturally, at the ancient bramble-gate inviting Starlight inside.
She didn't know what the ponies back home were complaining about. Over there, at least, the Everfree Forest was actually alive; untamed and unsettling, to be sure, but fascinating in how self-sufficient and rich it was. Here, though, the lack of anything living tightened her tummy into a knot.
Instead of the slurp of rotting vegetation, there was only a silence where Starlight Glimmer breathed to the beat of her own pulse. Instead of scummy, brown water, there was stillness. It was stagnant, a sheet of iron stretching out forever. It would never break or churn or burp up atrocious gas pockets.
The memory of such things tickled her insides. What she wouldn't give to have one burst in her face again, its tang so acrid it beckoned the casting of an air-freshener charm and a soft giggle from Fluttershy. But there wasn't even any air - not hot, nor moist - to dampen Starlight's coat, to settle discomfort on her own skin.
Here she was dry as a bone, and she just felt uncomfortable altogether. Starlight ignored the itch creeping down her spine, zeroing in on the light at the end of the tunnel:
White, churning, tricking her for but a moment that it was alive.
Perhaps, in a spell of thought, the soul of this accursed place, where all the life that was missing had convened? Starlight accelerated through the last stretch of the tunnel, a burning desperation ablaze deep in her core that had shattered into pieces upon breaking through.
White roiled all around her, nothing more than a screen of fog. But it thrummed with magic, and a haggard cry tore from Starlight's throat as she crashed and carved a trail of mud into the earth.
Similar to when a Pegasus is in flight, or an Earth Pony in contact with the elements, Unicorns are able to with Equestria's higher plane through the use of their horn. When partaking with this special bond, they open themselves to a connection with its very soul. Starlight Glimmer felt especially in-tune with the land's inherent soul, but ever since moving to Ponyville, and inside Twilight's castle especially, this connection transmuted into a blossoming warmth that she still hadn't fully understood, but treasured greatly all the same.
This place was another matter entirely.
It was like seven hammers striking the inside of her brain at once, and that time itself paused upon the moment of impact. It was too much, too saturated with magic that was so unfamiliar and ancient and dense that Starlight could not sustain her spell for a second before pain speared her cranium, and she lost control altogether.
A slick sensation clung to her undercarriage. Starlight groaned as she stood, and not solely from the sensation down there. She gave her entire being, mind and soul, several beats of utter silence to recover and relish in the calm enshrouding her before recollecting.
She wasted no time absorbing her surroundings: a veritable wall of trees, as dense and before, encircled this grassy enclosure. Mist swallowed the opposite end of the clearing in a murky embrace, though her imagination surmised the obvious.
But what allured Starlight Glimmer's attention - a veritable moth towards light within utter darkness - sat directly behind her.
Starlight leaped back and stared for a beat before she soundlessly cooed. Where's Maud when you need her?
Several feet away, upon a flat-topped rock like a pedestal, was a rock she would doubtlessly find interesting.
It was the huge - the size of her head, really - whose edges were cut so fine it'd make Rarity squeal in delight. That is if she wasn't already enamored by the warm glow it exuded, orange at its center, and self-contained. It dimmed, then brightened, then faded once more - a cycle it repeated endlessly. This light did not shine, even against the surface it sat upon. Magic thrummed within Starlight's horn as she neared, as if the gemstone's pulse comprised her own.
"What are you?" Starlight wondered. She felt compelled to raise a hoof, to touch it, investigate it. But something inside, nestled deep within, kept it rooted to the moistened soil.
This feeling enwreathed her heart, familiar and new at the same time. One part of Starlight's brain wondered, frightened, at the power this gem had upon her will. Just merely looking at it had this effect on her.
It was this same feeling which stilled Starlight's tremulous form. It gave her the strength to look away from the sunshine stone, and voice a commanding, "Hello?" into the emptiness around her.
It was like shouting into a pillow, the fog's density smothered her voice.
Starlight breathed some of it in to speak in a stronger, fearless tone. "I know that you dwell here, and I demand that you show yourself!"
She might have cast an uncloaking charm upon the surrounding area, had the preceding pain not been just seconds old. Just what was that, anyway? Starlight wondered, breathing through her mouth as her gaze bounced to every corner of this clearing. There was pain while I was casting a spell, and it didn't go away until after I deactivated my magic, she rationalized, turning, which means that it couldn't possibly have been an anti-magic fie-
"WHA-H'AIE!" Starlight's heart slammed into her throat, and dropped right down: something giggled, directly in her ear.
In its direction, she found only fog.
She stared, unblinkingly, unmovingly, as it curled toward her, rolling upon an invisible barrier covering the tunnel she emerged from. At her left flank, it had thinned enough to see nothing past the enclosing treeline, black and lifeless.
Starlight's previous rationalization resurfaced. It filled her head with thoughts, distracting her from the silence which prickled her skin. So if this isn't anti-magic...
Prepared for what's to come, Starlight manifested her connection to magic - a powerful teal glow represented this, and lasted all of half a second before blinking out of existence with a sharp gasp.
"T'hen this play-hace...!" Starlight panted, "...Is'sa a whole, oth'r magic... entirely!" It was so different from any time Starlight had engaged with her magic elsewhere. The magic of this place, these Witches, it felt primordial: ancient, and powerful, too. Whatever they were, whoever this was, wielded a power leagues beyond that of herself.
Fog infiltrated Starlight's lungs as she stood there, buckled. Her eyes whizzed about, absorbing the silence enclosing her. She scanned for any sign of movement, a disturbance in the fog. But it churned and rolled and did little but prickle her skin and stand her hairs on ends.
A stone fell into her stomach.
Starlight scanned the perimeter again with parted lips. A full rotation nearly ended in further dread until the feeling shot through her bosom like a lance.
Her breath halted as it caught her eye: an image that hung there within the tree-wall for a beat before melting into the darkness.
It was a fragment of... something...
A face, un-ponylike, with eyes glowing like lights but black as the shadow it dwelt within.
A face looking upon her with perverse interest.
We see you we hear you we're coming for you Starlight...
The whispers of the fog dissipated with a shake of the head. "Just tricks of the fog!" she told herself. "Just some silly spatial d-distortion, brought about by th-the... thee, the... thoo..." Starlight's voice had diminished from a whisper, to a squeak, before then achieving silence. Her eyes roved endlessly, as if the Witches would just appear if she looked hard enough.
She was afraid, and she hated it, but with every second passed the feeling intensified until it hurt to breathe. What if they truly did show because of Destiny, like in the story? And that Starlight's did not entwine with theirs? What if... What if Spike was right? What if this was all just folly, a heartbreak waiting to happen? What if...?
What if Twilight Sparkle truly IS destined to...?
Starlight gulped, sounding a whimper. She whipped back around, flinging her gaze from branch to branch. "No," she whispered, spinning once more. "No! No..." trailed into a pitiful sob, "this can't be it! I came all this way! There, There has to be a way to save Twilight, there has to!"
"dRy YoUr TeArS, mY lItTlE pOnY," a voice spoke, directly in her ear.
Cold spasms drove down Starlight's back; she gulped a yelp, her head whipping around and -
She let out a bloodcurdling scream.
But it did little to justify the terror which speared through her very soul. Starlight had turned anticipating further disappointment, and instead was met with the Witches of Flutter Valley emerging from the fog on creeping, deliberate footsteps. Grass and soft soil squashed audibly from across the clearing.
Her forelegs trembled. Starlight's chest cavity swelled with fog, expelling it, before gasping for more once again. Everything she was going to say to them fled from her thoughts. She forgot how to even speak, or what words even were. She just stood there, gaping, sweating as she felt the air shift upon their approach, heated, like plastic bent and folded in an instant.
"dIsPeL aNy NoTiOnS oF uSiNg YoUr MaGiC, pReTtY oNe!" two voices snarled as one - from which ones, Starlight was too busy reeling from disgusted shock.
As they approached her with lethargic movements, those same voices took evident glee in beholding their newest victim. "yOuUu HoLd No PoWeR oVeR tHiS pLaNe…" The female-sounding voice was different, adopting a bit of a twang akin to Applejack's
Her words were a buzz in Starlight's ears, their demonic undertones raking chills across her back. She couldn't stop herself from gawking; they resembled nothing Starlight had ever encountered, nor dreamed of hearing. The Witches bore a loose similarity to the Humans Sunset Shimmer lived among, except the comparison began and ended with their figures.
Their composition was a sickly-grey composition, unlike the pastel Humans she was familiar with. They looked diseased: veined and spotted with scabs, rashes, and several various blemishes, scars and growths her stomach clenched as more were revealed the longer she stared. They weren't slim and kind-looking, either; they were big, their heads actually smaller than their torsos, with faces obscured or deformed to the point of being indecipherable.
The center Witch was the shortest (although definitely a head taller than most ponies), and grotesquely fat. The sagging, pale flesh of her stomach concealed whatever she had for feet, featuring instead black roots which crawled up and underneath a stained, royal-blue dress. She was dressed like a mage: shawl, amulet pulsing between her enormous, sagging breasts.
A set of horns burst from the sides of her noggin, bald, but for strands of orange hair that Spike could tally with both claws. They grew at absurd, crooked angles, unnatural and painful-looking. They irritated the OCD pony within Starlight, as the more elevated curved up toward the heavens, much longer than its siblings, and perhaps longer than the horn of Princess Celestia. With a violet scrap of fabric cinched about her face, tattered and clearly torn from her stained cloak, it was hard to get a read on this thing with only two rotting, black pits for eyes.
She may as well have been wearing a mask.
Not unlike the girl at her left, who stood mere inches taller than the ringleader, though still shorter because of the horn. Beholding her for the first time, she was a living horror story: in gold and red saturated enough to render Rarity a heaving mess, crimson so dark it was nigh ink-colored mottled the witch's burlap dress. A severe case of what looked like gout, with enraged boils and pustules, coated her cankles.
What sort of accident had befallen this creature? Starlight gawked and gaped, staring at her the longest as they emerged from the fog, three seconds to be precise, for she had never seen so much blood at once; nothing greater than a gushy nose of course. The gloves she wore just so happened to be the same rust color; crusty, flaking, where the latex of one appeared to have been eaten away, revealing on her hand's back a set of thin, white...
Starlight dry-heaved - a fist that'd forced its way up her gullet was swallowed down just as it reached its apex.
She was already reeling from their appearances. Starlight could not even begin to comprehend the crimes this monster had committed, how many have crossed her spoon. How many had she eaten out of that dented, stained pot on her head? It looked to have been slammed upon her by Tirek, packing in as much of her raven-haired head as possible. The rest of her face was just a maw - lipless and toothless; a grey ruin of gums save for her big snaggletooth lancing the jaw, its tail poking out her chin, corrupting the flesh around it like a diseased soul patch.
It would seem that pain did not exist for her, or her associates, for she was beaming - the sort of vacant, gaping-black-pit smile that would swallow up all the joy in a Pinkie Pie-party. Starlight Glimmer blanched, trying to turn her head away if not for her eyes, burrowed deep within her mouth's void already. A brief tug-of-war ensued in which she tried to look away, until suddenly her gaze snapped free toward the last witch.
Or rather, her stilts, err... her knees: bent inwards, giving her a pigeon-toed appearance with big, hulking hands suspended limply above the ground. Starlight's head craned, taking in the Witch's patchwork-preserved overalls, for that was all she wore, until her horn pointed toward the fog-laden heavens.
The background's purity clasped the third Witch in an angelic glow, enshrouding the details of her face. This would have perturbed Starlight had the previous one not been burned into her memory. But this one's stiff, orange hair concealed the majority of her face anyway, defined enough to make out one that is long and gaunt. Perhaps if she used that ratty bow hanging loosely around her neck, she could do something about her hair - at least then, Starlight wouldn't have to endure the unflinching stare of those familiar, shadow-black lights peering at her from within that hay-pile of a mane.
She was huge - taller than Discord, easily, but even thinner than him. She was only bones with a layer of skin stretched over it. With what little of her rashy skin was left bare by her overalls, Starlight saw racks of shadows, her ribs, barely concealed by those ludicrous arms that were twice as long as her own torso; and her sternum, peeking out from beneath her denim, was but a jagged dagger pointed toward a pencil-thin neck.
With a chill clawing through her, Starlight's gaze wavered to the middle Witch. By pure rationalization, she must have been the leader.
"wHy'D yA dIsTuRb OuR rEsT, pOnY?!" The tall witch on the left had lurched forward a step, although Starlight's gaze only found her upended, scabby hands before the rightmost added, "wHaT gIvEs YoU tHe RiGhT, tHe ShEeR aUdAcItY, tO cOmE iNtO oUr HoMe!?"
Starlight blanched, her eyes frozen on her bobbing, grey uvula. The Witch's lips never moved, not even a little, as if all their voices were a force of magic altogether. They rang with a demonic resonance, burrowing deep into Starlight's brain, and gnawing chunks from her insides with every word.
"nOw, NoW, gIrLs - SeTtLe DoWn..."
The middle one approached, somehow with no eyes. Her voice was like a kindly mother's underneath the evil seeped within. It somehow frosting the air before her without disturbing the cloth bound around her bloated face.
"wHy, iT's NoT bEeN tOo LoNg SiNcE oUr LaSt OnE. dOn'T yOu DaRe ShAmE mE iN fRoNt Of OuR nEw FrIeNd, YoU iNgRaTeS! NoT wHeN i'Ve TaUgHt YoU bOtH oN hOw We TrEaT gUeStS…" Her body turned slightly towards the fat, rightmost Witch. "yOu HaVeN't FoRgOtTeN, hAvE yOu ReEkA?"
"oHhHh-H'oH-h'Oh! cErTaInLy NoT! hMm... I cAn TaStE hEr AlL-rEaDy!" Defying all logic and reason, "Reeka" slurped her lips without doing so as she rubbed her bloodied hands together. "cAn I eAt HeR lIvEr, mOmMa? ThAt WaS aLwAyS mY fAvOrItE." Clasped hands rubbed against her cheek; coupled with her inflated foot twisting into the muck, Reeka resembled a macabre parody of how a Human teenager would probably act.
"nO! wE cAn'T eAt HeR!" The lofty Witch rolled a hand up in confusion. "BuT mOmMa! i ThOuGhT tHe OmEnS sAiD tHaT tHiS oNe WoUlD sAvE-OW-H'OW!" Despite her cry, the crackle of a wood echoed clearly in Starlight's ears.
She had buckled suddenly to one knee, caressing her shin where it was now gifted with a new joint.
"Momma" must have lashed out her spotted in an unbelievable burst of speed. It was the only explanation Starlight could accept.
"i ThInK yOu BrOkE iT!" Her otherworldly blubbers garnered not a scrap of pity from Starlight.
The desire to scream, 'NO KIDDING!' was fierce, but the chill in Starlight's gut crawled up and tightened around her throat.
"fIrStLy, tHaT's 'HyDiA' To YoU, yOu DeGeNeRaTeS!" Momma's statuesque posture did not express her rage, or any movement whatsoever apart from a finger pointed at the air.
She continued at her downed daughter, "AnD dArE nOt SpOiL oUr FuN eVeR AgAiN, dRaGgLe, LeSt YoU wAnT mE tO eAt YoUr LiPs LiKe I dId ReEkA."
"Holy Celestia..."
It was like firing off an air horn in a quiet room - three faced slid towards Starlight and made her flinch.
But her blood ran cold hearing the words, "SoMeThInG tHe MaTtEr, StArLiGhT?" from Draggle. Smoothly, she ascended out of her peripherals, returning to her prior knuckle-dragging posture.
Whatever slur of words Starlight's brain had prepared before meeting the Witches was long gone.
"Do We HoRrIfY yOu?" Reeka stepped forth, hands splayed out, as if presenting their home and all the milky smoke enshrouding it.
Hydia laughed sharply, once, adding with amusement, "wE'rE aLl DrEsSeD uP, jUsT fOr YoU! oH, iF oNlY yOu KnEw JuSt HoW mUcH tImE wE sPeNt In FrOnT oF tHe GlAsS iN aNtIcIpAtIoN oF fInAlLy MeEtInG yOu!"
The pony lifted a hoof off the ground - only to pull it closer to herself. "You guys saw that I was coming? Or..." Her brain wracked, her brows furrowed, and Starlight Glimmer finished with mustered courage, "Or did you somehow know already? How?"
Reeka clapped her hands together. "oOh-H'oH-h'Oh! ShE's QuIcK aS a WhIp, ThIs HeRe PoNy!"
Draggle did not move. "SeE? sEe? SeE hOw ShE wOnDeRs AbOuT dEsTiNy? I ToLd YoU sHe WoUlD bE mY fAvOrITe."
Spiders skittered down her back.
Hydia concluded in her demonic, solemn intonations: "YeS, bUt NoT aS mUcH aS sHe ShOuLd! AnD tHaT mEaNs, NoT eNoUgH tO rUiN oUr FuN…"
Starlight's breath caught in her throat, and not just because of those implications.
No one's spoken of Destiny so casually before, as if the concept were as simple as cutie marks; ponies just didn't think much of the supposed superstition. Even without being explicit, the witches' knowledge of such things was unparalleled by probably any pony alive, save for Celestia.
They clearly know me... which means, they know why I'm here, right? And... And their magic, whatever it is... it's gotta be powerful enough to save Twilight!
But Starlight couldn't help her curiosity, and uncertainty, from craving the obvious.
"Who are you, exactly?" she wondered, doing her best to sound aloof despite the frantic bouncing of her heart. "Or should I say: what are you?"
"OLd," Draggle answered.
"Gee. Thanks."
Reeka clarified, "OlDeR tHaN yOuR pErCePtIoN oF tHe WoRd. wE'vE bEeN aRoUnD lOnG bEfOrE tHe CoNcEpTiOn Of EqUeStRiA… bEfOrE eVeN tHe FoRmAtIoN Of ThE tHrEe pOnY tRiBeS!"
They're only gonna be vague about it. The prospect disturbed Starlight far more than it annoyed her. Everything she thought she knew about these creatures was just sent into a tailspin.
O-kay, she summarized, so I got myself into a deal with beings older than Equestria itself, more powerful than anypony who ever lived, and OH! Are carnivores... Super! Great job, Starlight. You REALLY outdid yourself this time! Ponyfeathers, if I get out of this intact? Twilight'll never NEVER trust me to make my own decisions again...
Draggle breathed heavily, a gale wailing through a long, dark tunnel. "iT's BeEn A lOnG, lOnG tImE sInCe ThEn… H'aH, tHe MeMoRiEs! ThE jOy! tHe ENdLeSs PoNy BuFfEtS sMoOzIe WoUlD bRiNg Us FoR mOnThS aFtEr," she sighed once more, cupping a huge hand to her narrow chest. "yOuR sMeLl, StArLiGhT, iT's ToRtUrE! yOu ReEk oF sHaMpOo, As If YoU bAtHe In ThE sTuFf!"
"U-Uh'm-"
Starlight leaped back a foot as Reeka stomped forth. "i CaN't TaKe It AnYmOrE!" Her claws were poised to grab the mare. "hYdIA, pLeAsE, sHe DoEsN't NeEd AlL fOuR lEgS fOr LaTeR-"
"nO!" she snapped with finality, forcing Reeka to shrink back into the group like a child.
Hydia inhaled deep. "wHo We ArE dOeS nOt MaTtEr, NoR iS iT aNy Of YoUr CoNcErN. yOu NeEd OnLy To KnOw ThAt We HaVe PoWeR. fOrRbIdDeN pOwEr, ThE kInD tHaT rUnS dEeP iN tHe HeArT oF tHiS lAnD's FoUnDaTiOn."
Such boasts would make even Trixie cackle at their absurdity... hearing it second-hoof, of course. It was a bold claim, Starlight mused, and she wouldn't put it past these creatures to twist the narrative, her fear, and the logic she so heavily relied upon to get her to dance to their tune.
"Very interesting. And is Princess Celestia aware of this?"
"uS...?" droned Draggle.
"No, I mean-"
"OuR mAgIc?" Reeka purred, going pinky-up.
She found herself speechless once more. Hydia's hands clapped noiselessly together. "wE aRe OnE iN tHe SaMe - RoOtEd In ThE lAnD, TiEd To sHaCkLeS oF fAtE. dEsTiNy Is MaGiC, yOu SeE…"
"aNd FrIeNdShIp Is MaGiC!" Reeka's hands shot up.
A chuckle rumbled in the air like distant thunder. "fRiEnDsHiP iS dEsTiNy, StArLiGhT - a BoOk, WrItTeN aNd PrEdEtErMiNeD, nO mAtTeR wHeRe YoUr FanTaSiEs LiE," Hydia cryptically explained. "tHaT iS lAw. We MaY nOt Be ThE aUtHoRs…"
"BuT wE aRe ThE rEaDeRs," Draggle finished. "AnD wE kNoW tHe EnDiNg Of EvErY sToRy ThAt WiLl EvEr Be." She held the last syllable in a long, smoky hiss.
The fact that they are one with the land itself carried a slew of implications that chilled her to the bone.
That's how they do it. That's how they know everything… Unease had festered within her bosom like a disease, corroding her innards with every word that echoed in her brain.
No matter what happens here, they won't be surprised, because they already know—
"Then tell me how Princess Twilight's ends, now!" Starlight snapped. She hated the shakiness of her demand, it screamed of the facade she wore.
Draggle answered with a delighted coo. "OoH, sHe'S sNiPpIeR tHaN yOuR aVeRaGe PoNy!"
"I am not your average pony," Starlight threatened, forgetting she had no way to access her powerful magic without feeling pain. What is that, anyway? She had no plans asking the matrons of this land. Starlight surmised it was a hex, cast upon these woods by the Witches in anticipation of her arrival.
"HmM… nO, yOu ArE cErTaInLy NoT," Hydia pondered, and Starlight wondered if maybe she had a way of reading her mind, as well. Her skeletal hand stroked whatever hid beneath her face-cloth. Starlight's eyes aimed there instead of her rotten eye sockets. "dEsTiNy HaS bRoUgHt YoU tO oUr AbOdE tHiS dAy, StArLiGhT gLiMmEr. AlL tHaT yOu HaVe EvEr SuFfErEd WaS bUt A 'nOtHeR sToNe CoMpRiSiNg ThE pAtH hErE." She huffed in amusement. "aNd YoU'vE gOt QuItE tHe StOrY tO TeLl, HaVeN't YoU? A fOaLhOoD cHaRaCtErIzEd By A bRoKeN hEaRt, WhIcH lEd To ThE cReAtIoN oF a CuTe LiTtLe CuLt! AnD tHaT… iNeViTaBlY rEsUlTeD iN yOuR tUtElAgE uNdErNeAtH tHe PrInCeSs oF EqUeStRiA."
"You mean of Friendship? That's Twilight. Who you described was Princess Celestia."
"oF cOuRsE, oF cOuRsE."
Starlight didn't like what they were implying, but preferred not to pursue this rabbit down its hole, and ignored it. They're just trying to mess with you Starlight. They said it themselves. But then, what was a lie? What was fact?
Hydia continued before she could decide on anything. "FuNnY hOw It AlL fElL iNtO pLaCe, Is iT nOt? YoU wErE a VeRy NaUgHtY pOnY, aFtEr AlL." Her finger waved in a scolding manner. "GoOd InTeNtIoNs Be CuRsEd, I sAy! YoU oUgHtA hAvE bEeN pUt To DeAtH fOr AlMoSt DeStRoYiNg EqUeStRiA."
Starlight blinked, eyes at half-mast. Once upon a time, those words would have sent her into a tailspin of guilt.
"Uh-huh, you're point?" she asked, beckoning them with a hoof. "I know I was horrible. I know I hurt a lot of ponies - ponies that, yes, I did care about, despite all the lies and deceptions. And although I will never forget that, I've forgiven myself a long time ago."
There was a beat.
Reeka started clapping her hands in joy. "sO iNsPiRiNg."
"ShE's CoMe SuCh A lOnG wAy!" Draggle wept. Her hands went up, and Starlight presumed it was to wipe fake tears away from those oily-black lights in her mane. "dO yOu ReMeMbEr ThAt SoNg, GiRlS? DoEs It NoT fIt ThIs OnE lIkE a GlOvE?"
"We Do AnD iT dOeS, dRaGgLe! ShE cErTaInLy HaS," Hydia hissed. "YoU'vE pLaYeD yOuR pArT qUiTe WeLl iN sHaPiNg ThE fUtUrE oF eQuEsTrIa, StArLiGhT gLiMmEr. AnD sO hAs ThE pRiNcEsS. A cRyInG sHaMe ShE wOn'T kEeP yOu On A lEaSh FoR mUcH lOnGeR. wHo KnOwS wHaT yOu'Ll Do AfTeR sHe'S pErIsHeD?"
"TWILIGHT'S-!" Starlight froze, her body rigid. She exhaled everything within her, all the pain and fear that had built since before meeting the Witches. This is it. "...She's not going to die. I won't let that happen!" Her voice muffled in the gloom around her, and the ensuing silence lasted just long enough for Starlight to process her spike in anger.
It was not solely grief which colored her exclamation, nor the perpetual terror she felt for her friend's life. But the idea that Twilight befriended Starlight to "leash" her cut deep into personal doubts not even the princess knew about. It took Starlight a year to overcome such horrible thoughts, and she refused to allow these evil creatures to manipulate her with them.
"nO," Reeka mumbled after the pause, for once in conflict with her petrified glee. "sHe IsN't. YeT. yOu'Re HeRe To MaKe SuRe ThAt DoEsN't HaPpEn."
"Yes," sighed the mare, head dropping.
"aNd WhY dO yOu WiSh FoR tHaT, pOnY?" Hydia asked. "yOuR hUnCh WaS coRrEcT, aNd NoT sPiKe'S: wE tRuLy CaN gIvE wHaT-eVeR yOuR hEaRt DeSiReS. tHe WoRdS oF a BoOk CaN bE rEwRItTeN, aFtEr AlL! yOu CoUlD bE tHe NeW pRiNcEsS oF fRiEnDsHiP! pOwEr'S aLwAyS aLlUrReD yOu, AfTeR aLl. JuSt sAy ThE wOrD aNd We CaN rEwRiTe FaTe LiKe ThAt."
Liars. They know exactly how this ends. And even if they were being honest... Starlight opened her mouth to protest.
Hydia knew her frighteningly well though: "BuT yOu WoN'T." The witch's hands folded behind her back. "yOu NeVeR wIlL. aNd So I wILl RePeAt My QuEsTiOn: WhY iS tHiS pOnY wOrTh SaViNg? WhY iS sHe WoRtH oUr PriCeS - yOuR pRiCe?"
Starlight scoffed. "As if you don't know already!" A beat passed - they didn't plan on responding.
Groaning, she shot back, "Okay, well, why the hoof not!? If there's a pony whose worth it, it's Twilight - a thousand times over!"
With a hoof to her heart, and her eyes shut, Starlight was in her own little word: "...Twilight's one of my closest friends... sometimes I even think she's my best friend... She gave me a chance when she didn't have to! She's an amazing pony with a big heart, and I would never, ever forgive myself if there was a chance that I could return the favor, and didn't take it."
"I'm not afraid of what'll come after!" Starlight Glimmers eyes flared open with a stomp forward, her chest puffed out. "I'll sacrifice anything to save her! Whatever it takes, whatever your price, whatever you demand of me,I will meet it! Just so long as you save Twilight and restore her to full health - without anything different from how she was before getting sick."
There was a beat before Draggle pointed a Spike-sized finger at her. "YoU sUrE aRe BrAvE, sTaRlIgHt. I hOpE, fOr BoTh YoUr SaKeS, tHaT tHeSe BoAsTs HoLd A lOt mOrE tHaN mErE wEIgHt. WhAdDa Ya ThInK, hYdIa?"
Silently the fog rolled between them. Hydia and Reeka turned their heads to one another, neither speaking, nor able to look into one another's eyes. Two huge, black rats scurried past one another, in and out of the mother's eye sockets.
Starlight dry-heaved as Hydia purred, "YoU'lL fOrFeIt AnYtHiNg?"with a deliberate turn of the head.
"Yeah," she gasped.
"EvEn ThAt WhIcH iS mOsT pReCiOuS tO yOu?" Reeka's "grin" deepened.
Strength fled her legs, but Starlight fought not to tremble in place. "You mean, my life," she guessed haltingly. Although she anticipated this to be the ultimate offer, and she was indeed prepared to give it up for Twilight, the thought of dying here, alone, terrified Starlight to no end, but no more than the idea of what would happen after the exchange:
Would Twilight be okay? What would she do to Spike, after he revealed the secret behind her miraculous recovery?
These worries encircled her heart like a python, but they all whisked away before she could truly dwell upon them once Reeka snapped, "No, NoT yOuR mIsErAbLe LiFe." Starlight sighed internally with relief. "oF tHiS yOu CaN bE aSsUrEd: YoU'lL lIvE, aNd PrInCeSs TwIlIgHt ShAlL rEtUrN tO fUlL hEaLtH. sHe'Ll ThAnK yOu FoR tHe NoBlE sAcRiFiCe YoU mAdE." She sounded on the verge of laughter.
Starlight demanded, "So what is it you want, exactly?"
"oH, iT's NoT wHaT wE wAnT, lItTlE pOnY! tHiS Is AlL aBoUt YoU, aNd WhAt YoU aRe WiLlInG tO sUfFeR aNd SaCrIfIcE fOr ThE pOnY wHo ChAnGeD yOuR lIfE. iN tRuTh, ThErE's ReAlLy No ReAsOn YoU sHoUlD eVeN wAnT tO kNoW! yOu'Ve AlReAdY tOlD uS wHaT yOu'Re WiLlInG tO dO fOr HeR, wHy ShOuLd ThE 'wHaT' mAtTeR iN tHiS cAsE?"
Starlight gulped her sudden inability to find words. "W-Well," she started, "I'd like to know… what exactly I'm giving up, for one!"
"nO. tHeSe ArE tHe PaRaMeTeRs YoU eStAbLiShEd," said Draggle.
Reeka tittered. "bIg WoRdS, sIsTeR oF mInE."
"SI-LENCE," Hydia boomed, an explosion of thunder tearing through the foggy realm. Starlight and the other Witches shied in defense, but when nothing came, emerged - the pony much slower and hesitant to meet Hydia's eye-holes again.
"mY mIsErAbLe DaUgHtEr SpEaKs TrUe," she said. "YoU DiD nOt SpEcIfY, tHuS wE aReN't ObLiGeD tO fUlFilL a ReQuEsT oUtSiDe Of OuR aRrAnGeMeNt."
"I didn't even know I was making it!"
Hydia tsk'd. "yOu ShOuLd LeArN tO tHiNk BeFoRe AcTiNg, FoR oNcE."
Starlight cursed her passionate heart. She said 'anything,' and the witches were abusing that loophole in a way that'd make Iron Will's eyes fill with liquid pride.
"I suppose you're right," she admitted. Starlight's eyes fell, lingering aside to the sunshine stone on the rock. She met Hydia's eye sockets with steely determination - assuming those rats didn't come up again.
"Ok..." she breathed, "Alright, I'll do it! I'll give whatever you ask of me. Just as long as you save Twilight."
With a wave of the hand, Hydia informed her, "iT iS dOnE."
"Wait, that's it?" Starlight expected more of a light show. Given how today went, this really should have been the least of her worries.
"YeS. yOuR eNd Of ThE bArGaIn WiLl bE fUlFilLeD oNcE yOu SeE tHe EnD rEsUlT fOr YoUrSeLf. EvEn ThOuGh YoU dIdN't SpEcIfY tHaT, wElL, wE'rE jUsT fEeLiNg GeNeRoUs ToDaY…"
Starlight doubted that was the reason, but she did not wish to look a gift-horse in the mouth. "And you'll keep your word?" she asked threateningly. "I'm not gonna wake up and find Twilight turned into a skateboard, am I? Or watch her turn to sand before my eyes as soon as I see she's better?"
"My, My, YoU aRe MiStRuStFuL," Draggle teased. "wE'rE wIsH gRaNtErS! iS tHaT nOt WhAT yOu SaId?"
"Um…" After this meeting, Starlight had little idea of what these creatures were. She didn't even know if the bargain struck was anything like a contract, or part of some sadistic mind game.
"'a WoRd OnCe GiVeN, wE nEvEr BrEaK.' tHaT hAs AlWaYs BeEn OuR pHiLoSoPhy," Hydia explained.
"I just want Twilight to be alright," Starlight moaned, feeling more and more like she'd made a horrible mistake.
"fEaR nOt, StArLiGhT gLiMmEr, ShE wIlL bE," said Hydia, to which Starlight's entire body sagged with relief.
That is until Reeka added, "bUt NoT fOr LoNg," and made her go rigid. Reeka stepped back, as did her mother.
They're just leaving. The pony gaped and stammered. "Hey, w-wait! Whadda you-?!"
"EvErYpOnY wIlL kNoW wHaT yOu DiD," the mother said with sinister intonations, as if casting a curse, "aNd EvErYpOnY wIlL lOvE yOu FoR iT. eVeRyPoNy, ExCePt ThE oNe WhO mAtTeRs MoSt."
The two Witches crept back, melting into the foggy treeline as a screen of white obscured them.
Draggle, who caught up in a single pace, added, "AnD wHeN yOu LoSe AlL yOu HoLd DeAr…"
'WhEn,' AnD nOt 'If!'" Reeka chirped.
"...tHeN yOu WiLl KnOw HeArTbReAk, AnD oNlY hEaRtBrEaK, tO tHe EnD oF yOuR dAyS."
"bUt It WiLl Be WoRtH iT!" Hydia whipped a finger in Starlight's direction. "BeCaUsE yOu SuFfErEd It AlL, tO sAvE pRiNceSs. tWiLiGhT. sPaRkLe."
Run, Starlight. Her hooves remained rooted in place, peering through the fog to watch their vanishing silhouettes.
Reeka's waved one hand, "M'WHA!" while "blowing" a kiss with the other. "SwEeT dReAmS, cUtE LiTtLe pOnY!"
"KeEp YoUr FrIeNdS cLoSe, StArLiGhT!" Draggle added, with Hydia shouting in a sing-song voice, "iF yOu CaN! sEe YoU vErY sOoN!"
And together, they cackled - all six of their voices: "K'YEH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEEEH! D'OH-H'OH-H'OH-H'OH-H'OH-H'OOH!"
Their laughter followed Starlight out of the clearing. It trailed after her all throughout the fabled tunnel of "Flutter Valley;" ringing in her ears.
Gotta see Twilight, threw her hooves forward upon exiting the bog. Please be okay, please, please, please, pumped her glutes toward the anchored balloon.
Inside the basket, the mare growled in frustration in fear. "Why won't you go!?" Her eyes, then her person, flung toward the rope looped around the pine tree. Starlight did not revel in the feeling of her magic returned as it sliced through the rope, sending her careening toward the civilized world.
"'When,' and not 'if!'"
"Everypony will know what you did...
"...except the one who matters most."
"And when you lose all you hold dear... then you will know heartbreak, and only heartbreak, to the end of your days."
"'When,' and not 'if!'"
"But it will be worth it! Because you suffered it all, to save Princess. Twilight. Sparkle."
"When… and not… if…" Starlight murmured.
The Witches lingered in her brain, goading Starlight, mocking her with the painfully obvious. She was cursed now, incapable of straying far from thoughts of what transpired. Although she had always suffered in such a way, a terrible record of over-analyzing would testify. From a perspective, it's what brought her to the Witches of Flutter Valley in the first place.
What could they possibly want, if not my life? There was nothing tangible that was so important to Starlight. Nothing but her friendships, but those were eternal, powerful even. Twilight, Sunburst, Trixie and everyone else, they wouldn't just up and abandon her based upon the whims of the Witches.
There was so much about them she didn't know. Questions sprang relentlessly from their existence alone, not to mention everything they had said. Starlight may never know about them, forever a curiosity, and she made peace with that easily. The farther from their abode, the better.
For that and much more, Starlight was prepared before marching toward the utter unknown with but a foal's book and copious, bordering on naive, levels of faith.
But one thing she could be certain of: they had absolutely no control over ponies themselves. Otherwise, the world would be a much sadder, sadistic place. Their power implies a rooting to the physical properties of the world - subtle things, as inconspicuous as a breeze in the air, or the heat on a particularly sunny day. Expelling a virus from somepony's bloodstream was foal's play to them. They probably enhanced Twilight's next glass of water with some disease-killing magic, if Starlight had to guess.
She couldn't stop thinking of how simple it all was. When every one of their books failed, their medicines, and their magic, too, Hydia needed only to wave her hand to save one of the most important ponies in Equestria.
The price, however? Completely, frighteningly unknown.
Starlight couldn't deny it: hard times lay ahead, and they knew it, literally. They gloated about it, because they knew this would torment a worrisome pony like Starlight Glimmer the entire trip back.
But if they didn't want me to give up my life, then what else is there? Unless all that talk was just some sadistic game... Yeah, that's it!
They know me - they took pleasure in making me uncomfortable. They must've known what would make the journey home some of the most grueling hours of my life! ...Right!?
It was torture, guessing their motives - as unknown as whatever awaited Starlight back home.
Once Canterlot Mountain's prideful silhouette faded into view, and the big, blocky character of Twilight's castle steadily grew in size, Starlight was jittering her hooves, wondering what awaited her beyond its crystalline doors. "UGH! Can't this thing go any faster?!" she moaned.
Despite their assurances, Starlight didn't trust a word of these Witches for a second. Deciphering the truths and the lies made up a better part of the return trip, and Starlight remained where she was before leaving Flutter Valley.
They could have been lying about everything!Or Twilight, even...
Tragedy could be what awaited her in Ponyville. Starlight, perched upon the basket's edge, watched the unassuming village crowned in a lazy, warm afternoon grow expand before her.
What if this is one of those deals where I engineer my own destruction, in an attempt to stop it, and I ruin EVERYTHING I worked so hard to build here!?
Starlight Glimmer's heart jumped and leaped and writhed in simultaneous agony. Moaning, she ducked into the basket, curled in an embrace with her tail silky, wavy tail.
"Can I eat her liver, Momma? That was always my favorite."
Her chest ached, swelling with too much fear. "Just stop stressing, Starlight," she consoled herself.
"And when you lose all you hold dear..."
"Stop... Stressing..." She started grooming her tail in frenetic strokes.
"Do we horrify you?"
"JUST STOP STRESSING FOR PONY'S SAKE!"
In an instant, Starlight Glimmer had her eyes closed, her horn crackling with emotion, and detailed images of the Witches. Their words gripped her heart with deathly constriction. But amidst the fog, Starlight visualized home, her friends, and Princess Twilight alive and well.
Her dark world flashed momentarily, at the same time as a sharp cork-pop rattled her teeth. Tingles shot from her head to the very ends of her hooves, then dissipated quick as they came.
One eye popped open, then the other: she was at the castle threshold. A small smile of relief was all Starlight could muster before dread choked her, and rendered her stiff in the neck.
Starlight whipped her head around, her forelock flouncing with the motion. In the horizon, she caught sight of a purple speck against a cloudless blue sky.
"Whups," she blushed.
Although, Starlight rationalized, I did conjure an anchoring charm on the basket when I saw Ponyville. If I did my calculations right (and I always do my calculations right), Cherry Berry should have her balloon back right where she left it.
Still, Starlight couldn't help but feel guilty for taking it, even if for just a day. Once, she would argue that it was all for Twilight's sake, that she needed to fly there when some force didn't allow her to teleport to the place in the storybook's picture. As if that excused her from taking responsibility?
It was stealing... I didn't even think about what I was doing until I was already high up in the air! Ugh, guilt stinks...
"Twilight'll probably make a write an apology letter," mused Starlight, rolling her eyes. But she accepted her fate. Twilight's teachings seemed to finally ingrain themselves in her, however, for she was compelled to make one for Cherry anyhow.
A beat passed, and Starlight Glimmer felt dread plummet to the pit of her stomach.
"Twilight..."
Starlight's magic punched through the castle's front doors, slamming them into the walls and sending a mighty boom throughout its maze of corridors. "TWILIGHT!?" she cried, galloping up the stairs and taking the right-leading set.
Another emotion-fueled teleport brought Starlight's pounding heart before the Princess of Friendship's bedroom, signified by the starburst cutie mark blazoned upon it. Before she could push the door open herself it did so for her, and Starlight met with the surprised disposition of Fluttershy.
Her wings shot up on the spot, rocketing the bedding which sat upon her back up into the air. Before Starlight could get a word in, she was being gently hugged by her pegasus friend.
"Starlight Glimmer!" she cooed.
"Fl-!"
"Oh, my," she pulled away swiftly, pink in her cheeks. "I'm sorry for attacking you like that! But, I, just couldn't help myself!"
"Flutter-" She was being hugged once more. With a blink, Starlight resumed, "Fluttershy, mind telling me what you're so... forward about?"
Deep down, Starlight sensed it already. She felt it rise, gentle and welcome like her own smile as both ponies pulled away from one another.
Excitement made Starlight ask waveringly, "Is Twilight okay?"
Although every one of her friends tended to her, it was Fluttershy and a gaggle of animal friends who served as Twilight's 24/7 bedside serviceponies. They kept up with the chores on Spike's behalf, who, too, seldom left his lifelong companion's side.
"Oh, she's more than okay, Starlight!" the pegasus happily announced. "She's better than ever. I dropped her daffodil sandwich and made a mess when she came flying into the kitchen. She was wearing the biggest, most happiest smile I'd ever seen on anypony!" Her face fell for a spell, scrunched with thought, before bashfully adding, "I mean, on a pony who isn't Pinkie Pie, that is."
Starlight grinned hard enough for her cheeks to hurt. "She's okay!?"
Fluttershy pushed against Starlight's chest gently, beaming warmly as she answered, "Yes. You did it, Starlight. Twilight is saved, and it's all thanks to you!"
Most ponies would cry with joy upon hearing such appraisal. But Starlight, as she affirmed herself to the Witches, wasn't like most ponies.
Her friend's appraisal hit like a buck to the gut, forcing the wind out of her.
"...and everypony will love you for it."
"F-F-F-Fluttershy?"
Concern wiped away her joy. "Oh dear, Starlight!" she cried in dismay. "What in Equestria's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Starlight backed away on tremulous legs. The weight of it all came in full. She felt lightheaded. "Sp-Spike, h-h-he..." It was an effort to even think of words to say.
Spike told them all. They all know, and they all love me for it, just like the Witches said!
Her legs wobbled backwards. Fluttershy advanced, forcing herself to sound soothing despite her evident discomfort: "It's alright, Starlight. Yes, Spike told us everything right after you left. We were all very worried about you, you know. But we knew you needed to give your plan a try! There's nothing you should worry about, though - Twilight doesn't even know where you'd gone, or what you did."
Fluttershy elbowed Starlight playfully, saying, "We thought about leaving that for you when she returns from Canterlot. She was really excited to show the Princesses how much better she'd gotten!" The Pegasus giggled.
Her words were obviously meant to comfort the increasing-panic within Starlight Glimmer. All she heard was that Twilight didn't know, and the prophecy Hydia foretold, setting a chill in her very bones:
"...except the one who matters most."
"Where's Twilight?" Starlight asked, but her voice was too quiet and too broken for even softspoken Fluttershy to understand. She knows. She knows and she hates me, just like Hydia promised!
"I'm sorry?"
"I'm asking you where-"
"AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH! Starlight, BEHIND YOU!"
Starlight flinched before whipping her head around, having sensed the dark presence behind her half a heartbeat prior.
She didn't even get to fully turn before one enormous, boiled hand latched around her throat, and the other clenched her horn tight, cutting off her magic. Starlight strangled on a scream as she was lifted, only faintly hearing Fluttershy cry out her name in horror. She was thrust into hollowed-out stare of Hydia, Matriarch of Flutter Valley, with two sets of beady, green eyes watching her from the darkness.
The hand upon Starlight's horn squeezed it in a death-grip, making her cry out.
"TiMe To PaY uP, sTaRlIgHt GlImMeR!" Hydia squealed in delight.
An appendage as familiar as her own horn, in its exact place to be precise, was pressed to the right.
The pain, her scream, was instantaneous.
"Starlight!"
Her howls rose in intensity, as did the pressure Hydia exerted, as did Fluttershy's ragged cries: "You let her go, NOW!"
Half a heartbeat later, with but a sudden, mighty turn of the wrist...
"Star-ligh-high-hight! No! No, Starlight!"
...the sound of a thousand twigs being snapped in half boomed thunderously in her ears.
Fluttershy's scream was bloodcurdling.
It in Starlight's dreams as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, unable to fully process the horrible pain before her entire world went dark. Hydia's hysteria overpowered Fluttershy's shrieking and name-shouting and crying, long after the Witch dissipated from existence and let the Broken Student's unconscious body fall to the ground.
End of Loyalty - The Broken Student