Anger. That was the one thing that went through the mind of Starlight Glimmer as she wandered the vast snowy westlands. Not to long ago, she was the leader of a perfect society, free from cutie marks and individualities. Free from marks that automatically make you something special. She had it all, until six visitors came in to her town and ruined everything with their talents and friendship. She tried to stop them but was foiled by her own followers as they stabbed her in the back for something as meaningless as Cutie marks.
In her last ditched effort to escape she ran off into the mountains to avoid the ponies and their friendships for as long as she could manage. Through the snow she trekked for miles, high and low in a vain attempt at forgetting her errors and mistakes in that town. The only thing that was keeping her going was her burning desire for revenge on the six that ruined everything. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash…..Twilight.
Those names continued to run through her head every time she remembered that town and the lecture Twilight tried to put on her. She continued her way through the snow with memories of her followers, Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, Party Favor and Night Glider and how they made her look ridiculous as they chased her.
“The nerve. I gave them the friendship that no other pony can give and THIS is how they repay me!?” Starlight slammed her hoof onto the ground. “All that hard work and years of training for it to fail in just a day! Unbelievable!!!”
Even in the middle of her rage she didn't feel the ripple of pain that went through her hoof as she then spotted a near by boulder and trained all of her magic on it and and fired, blasted the bouldered into a million of pieces. But even then her anger was not quenched, she wanted the same effects to happen to her former followers and she wanted it now.
The weather began to change in her area. The once cold air was becoming colder, too cold for even her magic to block. She ran through the snowy terrain as the air turned ice cold, looking for a place to protect herself. After minutes of running she found what she was looking for. A cave that seemed hollowed out except for a few rocks. She ran in and used her barrier spell to keep out the incoming snow.
“*Phew*…. thats better.” Starlight said as she scanned the inner cave “Well its not a house but it’ll do.”
Starlight trotted over near a pile of sticks that was laying on the ground and gathered them into one pile as she then used her magic to start a small camp fire. “This should keep my warm, if not then at least my magic barrier will stop any snow from coming in.”
She sat down on the pile of rocks and looked into the fire, raising her hooves near the fire to warm them. “Stupid friendship, stupid followers, stupid Twilight…...Twilight.” The name rang in her head over and over again much to her chagrin. She wanted it gone and she had tried everything. She bashed her head against rocks, she tried to think of happier times and she even tried erasing the memories but nothing worked, she was forever stuck with that name in her head. It got to the point where she gave up and started to break down into tears.
“I just don't get it. I did everything to protective them from the threat of being a nopony, I worked so hard to make a perfect community where we are all equal and happy, and this is what I get?”
Starlight levitated a boulder and flung it across the cave with relative ease. “All those months of preaching about equality only to be undone by Twilight and her mismatched friends. And now I have nothing!”
Starlight roared in rage as she then levitated another boulder and blasted it into pieces. She did this for four more boulders before growing tired and resting back down on the ground. “There must be way I can undo this. Some way I can make that Twilight and her mismatched friends pay for what they have done to me...But how?”
Starlight began to ponder on this for a few minutes. Out of all Equestria magic only three ponies knew of more stronger magic. The first was Starswirl the Bearded but he was out of the question, due to him being dead. The only two left would be Princess Luna and her old mentor herself, Princess Celestia.
“Oh whats the use, besides that there is no other possible way I can obtain pow-” Starlight stopped mid-sentence as old memories come rushing back, fresh as she recalled when she was a filly being taught by the Princess herself. She remembers the princess telling her that there is a secret vault in Canterlot that has unimaginable power inside. Power that would be even greater than an Alicorn itself.
Starlight then sighed in frustration “Oh whats the use, the only way I can get even remotely close to the vault is if I break into the castle. Celestia must have that entire place guarded by soldiers and my magic isn’t as strong enough to simply teleport in. UGH I need to think!”
Starlight scratched at her head for minutes as she tried to find the best scenario to help her get inside “There must be a way I can get in without drawing any attention, but how?” Starlight thought long and hard, calling upon all her memories in Canterlot. At first there was nothing she could think of but then, one idea came to her mind. And idea that made her cringe. “If I can't get into Canterlot from the outside walls,then that only leaves….The sewers.”
Even the very thought of crawling through sewers was enough to make Starlight gag but she knew she couldn’t waltz in and just go to the vault. The guards wouldn’t allow her and Celestia would most likely not tolerate it considering their past encounter was not well dealt. “So… it’s settled then… This power better be worth smelling like -” Starlight covered her muzzle as if she was ready to throw up. She slowly removed her hoof when she realized that she wasn’t “- It just better be worth it.”
With her mind now settled, she decided that she better get some rest “I need all my energy making it through this snowy hell.” Starlight removed the barrier from the entrance and rested her head upon the cold ground. Her thoughts of getting revenge slowly drifting her off to sleep as the fire started to dim in the blissful darkness.
Semoc Dne Eht
Twilight and her friends were just finishing up on the cleaning of the town after their celebration of the returning cutie marks. It took a lot of work of fixing up the village from Starlight’s leadership as everypony worked hard to remove all the equal signs that plagued the town. Of course Pinkie added her own flare to the small community by painting the houses bright colors.
“Now all the houses will really bring a smile to your faces!” Pinkie said in her usual happy tone. She looked around to see the other ponies happy at their new homes. Sugar Belle and Double Diamond showing the most happiness from it.
“At least its better then seeing that ugly equal symbol everywhere.” Rarity said as she used her magic to paint over another equal symbol. “This place is going to look so beautiful.”
“Yeah it looks a whole lot better than it was before.” Rainbow dash stated while she painted the roofs at nearly mach speed. Her painting never missed a step and no drops landed on the ground as she colored each roof in vibrant colors.
Twilight used her magic to teleport potted flowers onto the window sills of each home while Applejack planted seeds into the ground while some of the town fillies and colts watered them.
“Hopefully with the new look, this place can start getting tourists and maybe some new faces.” Twilight said as she just finished putting the last flower pot on the windowsill. “There, that should help make things better.”
“Ooh ooh I can’t wait to see new ponies around here. It’ll be so awesome and amazing!” Party Favor shouted loudly as he bounced through the streets, nearly rivaling Pinkie Pie’s antics.
Double Diamond reached out and grabbed hold of Party Favor to stop his bouncing. “Easy there. It’s yet to happen yet so no need to be bouncing around.” He said in his chilled voice but automatically noticed the saddened look that was on Party Favors face “What's wrong?”
“You think Starlight will be alright?” Party Favour asked as she sat down at the newly refurbished table. “I mean despite the mess she caused us.”
“She’ll be fine. She’s probably spreading her equalization somewhere else.” Double Diamond stated.
“All it just means is that we’ll have to stop her all over again and this time she ain’t getting away.” Rainbow Dash proclaimed while performing air kicks and karate chops. “Who needs Elements of Harmony when you have sweet moves like mine!”
“Easy there Dash there won't be any need for that.” Twilight said as she walked towards the rest of the group “It's going to take awhile for her to gain any followers again. So we don't have to worry about her for awhile.”
Double Diamond looked at the rest of the group with an uncertain look. “I don’t know guys. It didn’t take her long to collect us all. She can be very persuasive and I should know.”
“Yeah but unless she finds another town in the middle of nowhere, I think we're fine.” Dash said sarcastically.
“Dash this is serious.” Twilight said with a stern tone. “Since we just kicked her out of her own town, she could be capable of anything.”
“Relax Twi, there’s nothing she can do that we didn’t already see. She’s not that good at fighting back from what we saw.” Rainbow scoffed.
“True, but she’s not all there.” Twilight said as she pointed to her head. “ That makes her dangerous and unpredictable.”
Applejack took off her hat and wiped away the bead of sweat on her forehead. “Does it matter right now sugarcube? She may be dangerous but she’s also a one trick pony. Your magic alone could best her in magic.”
“Humph….Maybe, Double Diamond you know Starlight long enough. What is she like, besides the obvious?”
Double Diamond rubbed his chin as tried to remember. “Well aside from the obvious she did have moments of being paranoid or talking to herself whenever no pony was ever around.”
“Talking to herself?”
“Yeah. I sometimes overhear her say things like: “I hate Cute Marks”, Princess Celestia should have chosen me...Blah Blah Blah. Stuff like that.”
“Wow… Princess Celestia sure has a lot of former students. Is it like a seasonal thing with her?” Pinkie Pie blatantly asked the group as she tried to think of many former students Celestia could have had.
“Uh Pinkie Pie. That’s not a good time to ask that…” Applejack said with a worried look on her face. “Besides we should be worried about whether she’s still up in those mountains or not.”
“Perhaps the princesses have answers about her -” Twilight took a few steps away from her friends and turned her head to face them “- and besides we need to head back to Canterlot and let the princesses know about the cutie map.”
“What about Starlight? Because like you said, she’s still out there and who knows on what she’s capable of.”
“Our best bet is to just wait and see what she plans next. Even she can’t try anything too dangerous on her own.”
“Fingers crossed.” Pinkie said as everypony gazed at her. “What?”
“Uh… right. Anyway let’s finish this up and head back home. I’m sure Big Mac is tired of doing chores on his own.” Applejack said as she adjusted her hat.
“Good idea. Tank is probably missing me now.” Rainbow Dash said.
“And gummy must be missing my tail by now!” Pinkie said while swishing her fluffy tail back and forth. “He thinks it’s cotton candy.”
“Plus I need to feed Opal before she starves to death!” Rarity dramatically stated while some of the ponies looked at her with confused looks and cocked heads.
“Well thanks anyways.” Double Diamond said, ignoring the dramatic mare “And don't worry, we’ll keep an eye out for Starlight.”
“Thanks Diamond.”
“Don't mention it, just keep Equestria safe for us to live in and that will make us even.”
“Will do!” Rainbow Dash said with a stern smile and salute before turning with the others to the direction of the train station.
?detsurt eb nac