Prologue: Monster of Mine
Twilight ... would it be alright if I told you? What would you do? How would you handle it? Am I overthinking this?
It was a heavy downpour as Starlight raced through the currently muddied streets of Ponyville. Her trots padded and sunk deep with each landing, and perhaps to a pony like Rarity, this would be considered nightmare fuel. But Starlight didn't care, she only pressed forward as fast as she could as the world surrounding her became only a subtle blur. Each rain pellet smacked against her face yet to her, everything was defined by one goal, one destination ... Twilight's Castle. She had to get there as fast as she could, but she was limited. Within one hoof was a large blanket wrapped around an object completely hidden, one which she kept hugged to her chest. She couldn't stop, stopping wasn't an option. She couldn't allow anypony to see. Teleportation was also out of the question, all because of this ... thing, she had. So she raced.
Twilight, as your friend I'm going to protect you. I'm going to fix this problem without you even having to lay eyes on it.
"Starlight! Where ya off to in such a hurry? Ya seem pretty frantic!"
"Don't be silly Applejack! She may look frantic but she's just so excited by playing in the mud her own excitement scares her!"
Then she stopped ... and she knew she shouldn't have, but she was frozen. She couldn't differentiate between trembling and shivering currently, she didn't know what she was more defined by in this moment. How frightened she was, or how cold she was, another blur.
Standing some distance away outside Sugarcube Corner were both Applejack and Pinkie Pie, whom were previously holding a conversation prior. But they each became easily distracted by the sight of a racing rushing Starlight, Applejack in particular. "Why don't ya join us for a second and catch us up? Maybe we can help?" She soon eyed the stuffed blanket Starlight was holding. "And what's that there?"
Suddenly muffled feminine roars came from the blanket in what sounded like a muzzled, "Annihilate!"
But Starlight immediately coughed and hugged the blanket tighter to her chest, uttering a loud, "Delegate!"
Applejack looked at her inquisitively, pretty confused. "Uh ... what?" She tilted her head to the side, "Delegate?"
Thankfully the rain covered up most the noise as Starlight tried to hide her nervousness. "Why uh ... yes, delegate! Sorry you two, I'd looove to chit chat and all but I really gotta get going! There's still some delegation business I gotta take care of." She raised the wrapped blanket an inch, "And thiiiiiis? This is just some knick knacks! Some stuff from uh, i-in laws!" She stuttered, "A friend's in-laws! Not mine!"
Pinkie Pie gasped, "Knick knacks from in laws! That sounds so exciting! Can I see!? I wanna see!"
Starlight cringed as she immediately held out a hoof towards Pinkie, shaking her head. "N-No Pinkie! Can't you see how bad it's raining out here!? I don't want any of them getting wet, p-plus, I really gotta get going! I'll show you them later." She had to pause as she recalled it was Pinkie she was talking to. "Like very later so don't follow me. Also, neither of you saw me! Okay bye!" She rushed off.
Applejack tried to reply but was too slow, as Starlight already trotted off. "Wait Starlight I didn't even- ... Jeez, what in tarnation?"
Now unafraid of even risking teleportation, Starlight teleported as fast as she could to avoid running into anypony else. With mastery over her use of magic, she ended up landing in front of Twilight's Castle in no time. As she kept the blanket hugged to her chest, her grip tightened as whatever was inside wiggled and wriggled around causing her to grunt in frustration. "Stop that! We're almost inside!"
But a muffled "Aggravate!" came from within the blanket. The wriggling continued without delay. "Aggravate! Aggravate!"
Starlight snapped fiercely, looking down at the blanket. "You're aggravated!? I'm aggravated! Now sit still and be quiet!" Starlight then took a few trots back as her eyes scaled upward, looking for a particular window. Ah there it is, jeez I had no idea my room was up so high. She squinted in thought. I don't know if anypony's in there either so I can't do a one jump. I'll have to teleport a bit higher then usual to get a good look inside, a double port shouldn't be a problem. So she readied herself and lowered her frame, prepping her posture. Okay...
After a brief two crashes of thunder, Starlight opened her eyes wide and poofed away in an instant veil of magic dust. She reappeared high into the air as she landed right where she needed to be, a few spare feet and a distance away from the window of her room. It only took her a second to see that the room was empty just as she wanted, and in that instant she repeated the process and instantly poofed forward as she landed within the castle itself, drenched as her coat leaked rainwater. The sheer difference in temperature allowed her to notice immediately how cold she was, but despite this she still didn't take care of herself first, she immediately delicately set the blanket on the bed.
I owe you at least that much Twilight. This isn't your fault, nor was it your decision. I won't let you become troubled by this.
Starlight shivered as she slowly unwrapped the blanket, and cautiously held up both hooves. "S-Stay still ... are you alright?"
But first ... I need to truly confirm what *this** is in the first place. *And what in the hay else it can do....
And standing upon the blanket, curiously gazing around was a strange creature unlike anything Starlight could accurately describe. With its abnormally fluffed tail, dark violet wings and otherwise mimicked Twilight colors, it continued to eye its surroundings in plain interest. It sniffed, dropped to all fours and turned in circles a few times before pausing for a few seconds, then uttered. "Appropri-ate!"
And Starlight immediately bopped it on the nose as she glared at it. "No! Bad! Now sit while I figure out what to do with you!" Still shivering Starlight rushed over to grab a folded towel atop one of her drawers, drying herself off with haste as she then used telekinetic magic to open one of the many books upon her shelves. She flipped through the pages frantically. She stopped on a particular page, ripping it out and holding it in front of herself as she gulped. Starlight slowly proceeded forward as she eyed both the creature on the bed and the page consistently. Upon the page was an illustration of the cataclysmic battle between Twilight and Tirek, to which Starlight paid particular attention to each of their features. Starlight squinted and stared into Tirek's eyes upon the page, before frowning with a heavy sigh.
The creature upon the bed snarled and began tearing at Starlight's blankets, ripping it to shreds. "Violate!"
Twilight ... how can I tell you? She closed her eyes. How can I tell you you must be responsible for something from ... *him***?
How can I hope to tell you all that transpired today? And what aims to follow you afterwords. How can I tell you ... Twilight?
And standing out in between cascading rocks of a broken battlefield, a gold plated white hoof smacked against the surface of the mud. Alone out in the setting and drenched, Princess Celestia stood as she glanced around as if she were looking for something. Nothing? But how? Clues for months and suddenly today ... nothing. But as she stood there, Princess Celestia took notice of another hoofprint that looked a bit too small to be her own. She compared sizes then, confirming her suspicions as she exhaled. "I see..." So, I'm not the only one.
