The Purple Mare.
Chapter Eight.
Starlight (Part 2).
Crystal tilted the crate, allowing the Minirenna's to climb out of the wooden box. One of them fell into a puddle, causing the other three to laugh hysterically. The animatronic alicorn rolled her eyes.
''So, why were you in a crate?'' Crystal asked as she helped up the one that fell in the water, it wiped the muddy liquid from its face.
''We were meant to be heading to... um.. what was it called again?'' One Minirenna said, trying to remember where they were going, ''Emerald City. No. That's not it.''
''Redstone maybe.'' Said the second Minirenna, also trying to remember where they were heading, ''Or was it Rubyberg?'' It added, tapping its left foot will in deep thought.
''Diamond County?'' The third one suggested, scratching her head in the process.
''Wait, i think it was The Crystal Kingdom.'' The fourth one spoke up, finally wiping the mud from her face.
''You mean the Crystal Empire?'' Crystal Said, they all nodded their heads.
''Yes! That's the place!'' The first Minirenna replied, ''We were meant to be heading there but our crate was never put aboard the train it seems.'' She added, looking up at the sky, seeing Canterlot Castle towering over most of the city.
''Well, i have a friend who lives in the Crystal Empire, i'm sure they can help you, i'll take you there if you'd like?'' Crystal held out her hoof to the tiny ballerinas, her gears clicked as the four animatronics shook her hoof.
''Thank miss Crystal.'' One of the others said, Crystal lowers herself down, allowing the Minirenna's to sit on her back.
Crystal Sky trotted out of the alley way, heading towards the castle, she looked back at the four humanoid robots perched on her back, she noticed that each one had a different coloured tutu.
''Now, tell me little ones, do you have a name? Or are you all just called Minirenna's?'' She trotted through the castle gates.
''No, were don't have a name,'' This caused Crystal to stop in her tracks, her CPU hummed as the cooling fans whizzed around, she thought for a second and looked back.
''I'll call you Anna-Belle.'' She pointed to the one with a light blue tutu, ''You'll be Mary-Anne.'' Her hoof pointing at the one with the yellow tutu, she looked at the one with a violet tutu, ''you can be Jubilee'', her sights fixed on the last one, it had a rose pink tutu colour, ''And you can be Rose.'' They all smiled.
''Rose, i look it.'' Rose said, hugging Crystal's neck, Anna-Belle, Mary-Anne and Jubilee followed suit, hugging the animatronic mare, causing her to crack a small.
''Your welcome my dears'' She said, trotting into the castle.
Tangle burst out through the hole in the roof, into the pouring rain, lightning flashing behind her, ''Starlight! Wait up!'' She shouted, jumping off the crumbling building as thunder roared above her. She landed on the ground, the mud squelched as her metal parts dug into the dirt. She picked herself off the ground, mud covering part of her cracked plastic shell, the brown substance trickling down her blue eye, she brought a hoof to her face, wiping away the dirt from her vision. Her metallic spine clicked as she adjusted her parts, allowing herself to stand up without hanging off of something, poised like a normal pony. She looked at her adjusted form and sighed, wires hanging down from her core and hips.
''I'll never be normal, i'll never be normal again... Fucking trespassers...'' She growled under her voice, looking down at hoof prints in the mud, they were heading towards the town square, she took off following the prints, lightning striking behind her again.
The town square had been empty for sometime, the only sounds were the pitter patter of the rain drops. The thunder and lightning had began to back off but leaving howling winds in their wake. The broken animatronic walked into the square, rain drops running down her face and back, the second endo head was taking cover in what would of been her chest. Tangle's hoof sunk into a mud puddle as she saw Starlight sitting in the middle of the town, the rain pelting the old felt, the droplets running down the eye sockets in a tear like fashion, the rotting alicorn's ear twitched as the broken animatronic slowly approached from behind.
''What do you want?'' Starlight said through her tears, the rain water dripping through the holes in the suit before leaking out through lower down, drawing the blood out with it. The withered alicorn didn't even turn around, not wanting to lock eyes with the broken toy animatronic as it slow trotted up to her. Tangle's fizzling wires could be heard as she was now within touching distance of the killer animatronic, holding her hoof out and planting it on the shoulder of the pony before her, only for it to be brushed away by Starlight. The rain had began to lighten up, the wind becoming no more than a whimper, Tangle looked at the reflection of herself in a puddle before jerking her head up after hearing Starlight sniffling slightly, the mangled being looked down at the rotting pony inside an iron maiden of a suit with a mixture of fear and sorrow.
Tangle wrapped her foreleg around Starlight, bringing the mare into a calm embrace. Starlight couldn't hold it in any longer, she broke down in tears, screaming into Tangle's chest who simply patted her back.
''Sssh. It's ok. Just let it out.'' Tangle spoke in a calming tone, rubbing Starlight's back.
''It's all my fault.'' Starlight wheezed into Tangle's rotting chest, the twisted one's core plates shifting with every movement the mare made as she cried her eyes out, ''I couldn't save him.'' She sobbed, Tangle held the mare close to herself.
''I wasn't your fault.'' Tangle said, wiping a tear from Starlight's eye, ''You couldn't of known that Fredbear's jaw would fail.'' The mess of parts cuddled her companion, wrapping part of her remaining wing around the crying pony, shielding her from the rain.
''I could of saved him..'' Tears mixed with oil and blood leaked from Starlight's eyes, falling into a puddle of water below, ''I never got to tell him how much he meant to me.'' She added, wiping her nose on her hoof.
Tangle pulled out a tissue from seemingly nowhere, passing it to Starlight to blow her nose on. Despite being an animatronic, Starlight still had the urge to blow her nose. That was a given, seeing as she was once a real pony, now inside a animatronic shell. She lifted her mask, opening it just enough to be able to wipe what remained of her muzzle, her real muzzle.
''I'm just a monster... That's all i am.'' Starlight said, breaking away from her companion's embrace. She looked down at her reflection in the puddle, closing her eyes after a while. She thought back to what Bryan had said, or rather, what he didn't say. Starlight placed her metallic hooves on her face, slowly lifting the mask concealing her true form. She felt all the gears that were lodged inside her shredded mouth. Oil mixed with her own blood began to seep out of the opening, she felt the ice cold liquid trickling down parts of her exposed chin.
''This is my life now, I'm a monster, inside and out.'' She thought to herself. The gears in her head clicked as the joints in the neck popped. She slammed the mask shut, the spring locks that ran through her body jerked around with the sudden shock. Her eyes snapped open, the red lights inside burning like the fires of Tartarus ''And that's all i'll ever be!'' She slammed her hoof the puddle. The hatred she now had for herself outshone the anger she had for the children. The mare looked back at the puddle, she sighed at the imaged it reflected, a single tear left her eye.
''Tangle, can I ask you a question?'' The haunted Spring-Lock asked her broken compadre who simply nodded, ''It it worth it? Me being reformed? Me being forgiven for my sins.'' Starlight questioned, scraping the mud with a hoof, ''My father once said 'Once you start going down the path of darkness. There is no coming back'. I used to think it was complete bullshit... I guess he was right.'' She added, sighing deeply, ''He was always right. I can never change from this path now, I'm a cold blooded killer, that's all I am and that's all I am condemned to be.'' The mare sighed once more.
Tangle trotted over to Starlight and looked at the spring-lock suit that the mare was now doomed to wear for all eternity.
''You can change dear. You already have changed in a sense. It may not be the kind of change you'd actually hoped for, but it's a change nonetheless.'' Tangle placed a hoof under Starlight's chin, making the walking corpse looked up at her.
''What are you talking about?'' Starlight looked at the toy animatronic, confusion and anger began to fill her eyes, ''Weren't you listening? I can't change.'' She retorted, swiping the metal hoof away from her chin
''Just look for yourself.'' Tangle sighed and shook her head, pointing a hoof at a nearby puddle. Starlight groaned as she trotted over to the puddle, her head twitching every few steps. The wet ground squelching under her as she stood next to the puddle, the rippling water lapping against her left front leg like it was a cliff face in an ocean.
Starlight was surprised at the reflection she saw. The once olive green suit had changed colour, all the dirt and mud had been washed away by the rain, leaving the coat a now wet sand colour. There were spots on the legs where the original butter yellow colours were once again shining through. She looked up at her mane, it was hanging low, partly sticking to the side of her face. Her tail was drooping down, being dragged along the ground when she walked. Starlight looked at the puddle, Tangle appearing next to her.
''The rain is letting up.'' The broken alicorn said, holding a hoof up to the sky with the sole facing up, only a few droplets fell onto the hoof. The slight sound of thunder rumbled overhead.
Starlight nodded, breaking eye contact with her reflection. She looked up at the slowly clearing sky, the sun slowly dipped below horizon of the Great Western Plains. She looked over at Tangle and gestured her to follow.
''Right, we best be moving.'' Starlight said, trotting through the darkened streets. The street lamps flickered to life as Luna's full moon began to rise from behind Canterlot Mountain. The cloud cover parted with a strong breeze, exposing the million upon millions of stars in the night sky.
''So, where are you heading?'' Tangle asked, easily keeping up with Starlight despite she being broken, ''Or a better question is, where are we heading?'' She added, putting emphasis on the 'we' part of the last statement.
''We are heading to Twilight's Castle.'' Starlight spoke out mid trot, ''Or palace, or manor, or whatever the fuck it's called.'' She grumbled, her body creaking and she continued walking. She stopped when she stopped hearing the sound of Tangle's hoof steps. Starlight turned around and found a lack of toy animatronic.
''Tangle?'' She said, looking around, ''Tangle? Where did you disappear of too?'' She added, she silenced herself as the sound of metal contacting with brick filled her ears. The mare turned her head where she gathered the sound was coming from. She gasped in horror at what she saw before her soulless eyes.
End of Chapter Eight.