Outside the large, green, crystalline double doors, waiting as patiently as she could, Starlight Glimmer fearfully thought to herself in silence. What sort of punishment could they possibly be considering in there? Very few sounds could be heard, the room beyond almost soundproof. Again, she breathed to try and calm herself down, but it was just so hard for Starlight to do this.
She walked away from the door for a second, and just as she did, it opened. Spike stepped out, but his expression wasn’t at all comforting to her. He appeared shallow, and without the strength to look at her very much save for a glance or two. Spike motioned with a claw for her to enter. Starlight did so after a tough gulp, and then a morose sigh.
"I know there’s no excuse for what I did," she said after everyone came into her sight. "But I want you all to know that I'm ready for whatever punishment you think is fair."
She looked at Twilight to her right, but before the princess could speak on her friend's behalf, Applejack to the left of Starlight spoke up first. "Well, y’see, that’s what we can’t decide on."
Rainbow, sitting next to Spike explained while leveraging her torso over the table with her front hooves provocatively, "Pinkie Pie pointed out already that you’re, like, ultra powerful. In my own personal opinion, that sounds downright dangerous for everypony!"
Starlight backed away. "Y-yes, I understand. I can see how that might be discomforting..."
Twilight spoke finally. "Yes, it is dangerous. There’s no denying that, but just because somepony has a gift doesn’t mean you should punish her so severely for it. I’m…" She folded her hooves. "I’m still not so sure about this. I get that we’re not necessarily punishing her for having such wonderful, magical abilities, but instead because she might’ve known she was using them to put Equestria in harm’s way. This is just… hard."
Now, it was Rarity’s turn. "Look, I’m with Rainbow Dash and Applejack on this. I’d like to point out that, for me, it’s hard to try and cope with thinking Starlight didn’t know what she was doing."
Spike looked at Starlight, shaking, and began fidgeting with his claws in hard thought. "Umm…"
Rarity closed her eyes seriously before she resumed, "I believe that if she’s as powerful as you say she is, Twilight, then we need to be precautious."
Starlight asked nervously, "What’s my punishment going to be exactly?"
Twilight looked at her, and all the others did, too, before everyone looked away except for Twilight. "We’re…" She blinked, a look of discomfort on her face. "We’re trying to decide whether or not we should take away your magic… That is, your horn."
Starlight grimaced, backing away. "You… can’t be serious!" Thoughts rushed through her mind.
"Oh, but we are!" Applejack eyed her down, but Starlight wasn’t about to take this.
"You think I’ll be friends with any of you if you do that? I thought…" She gritted her teeth, looking at the princess specifically. "I was supposed to come in here, and be banished for a while, or… anything but that! Take away my magic? Can you even truthfully do that?"
"Well, yes, actually," she said while looking down, wishing she didn’t. "Discord’s turned me into an earth pony once before, so I should be able to… with the help from my alicorn magic... replicate what he did in the form of a spell. The worst part is, it would likely be irreversible."
For a minute or two, the others’ voices became like white noise to Starlight after hearing that. She could only stand there, considering an escape plan in the back of her troubled mind, but there would be no place for her to go. Twilight and her friends had her cornered.
"Girls," Pinkie cheered. "It’s not right! Look, I know I’m the one who said that she was powerful, but if we take away her magic… It’s just…" She groaned. "Ugh! Rainbow Dash, what if you lost your wings? Huh???"
The cerulean pegasus merely became more animated about this while answering Pinkie’s question. "If I ever lost my wings… I’d be devastated… However, at the same time, if my wings were used with that kind of evil intent, that’s different! Yes, I would like my wings, and the ability to fly to be taken away from me if it almost ruined Equestria!"
Pinkie lowered her head down and hid it under her hooves. "There’s gotta be another way!"
Fluttershy, too, defended Starlight by pointing out, "Please… Everypony, Discord reformed, and now he’s on our side. We didn’t have to take away his powers to convert him."
Rarity regarded this shrewdly with, "As if we could. Also, I’d like to mention, Discord betrayed us only a few months ago. It hasn’t really been that long since he was buddying up with... who again?" She looked around the room, her eyebrow raised provocatively. "That’s right, everypony. He was siding with Tirek!"
Twilight looked down at Spike. "How do you feel about this?"
The young dragon glanced at Rarity before looking at the defendant, and boldly sided, "After getting to know her, and what she’s been through, I think the last thing she deserves is her magic being taken away. Although, at the same time, it’s definitely not the safest feeling, knowing she can alter spells like that, or whatever she did..."
Rarity looked at him, surprised. "Well then, be that way! It’s three to three!"
Applejack looked across the table to her highness, and said, "Which leaves only you. If we’re gonna do this by voting, then your vote… hate to say it, will determine Starlight’s fate."
Twilight placed both her hooves on the table, looked at Starlight in the eyes, then back at her friends, and asked, "Do you all feel so strongly about this?"
She could see that even Pinkie, Spike and Fluttershy couldn’t help but to be a little worried about what could happen if they didn’t go through with removing Starlight’s magic. In Twilight’s mind, too, with the way things had gone in recent events, it might be best to just get this over with.
"T-Twilight…?" Starlight Glimmer spoke with a breaking voice, her knees knocking together in terror of what looked to be coming her way.
Starlight grieved the way Twilight stood up, too. She looked strong, the way a princess was supposed to look, but at the same time, Starlight had never expected an alicorn to appear so frightening. "Just… I know what I’m about to do isn’t what you thought was going to happen when you entered, but… They’re right."
Twilight Sparkle's mane changed suddenly, from regular streaks of purple and violet to more starry waves. Her glowing horn just kept getting brighter, the brightest at the tip, and her eyes blinked in and out of sheer, blinding light. Electricity surged all around her body, and while she rose, Starlight’s breathing became hasted.
"I know you said you were ready when you walked in the door, but I need to make sure before I do this…" Twilight huffed before asking Starlight, "Are you ready for your punishment?"
"No… I’m not! Don’t…! You’re making a huge mistake!" Twilight didn’t speak, but rather, just floated there, inches above the ground. The look on her face was absolutely filled with indecision. "I promise not to use my magic for evil," Starlight strained to say more clearly while ferocious winds picked up around her. She tried desperately to calm herself down enough so that she could speak more understandable words. "You don’t need to be so conclusive!"
All the others looked over Twilight’s shoulders to watch curiously, all their faces changing to unsureness. However, Twilight’s position stayed ever powerful, and surging with alicorn might. Was this really to be Starlight’s fate, the Princess of Friendship wondered.
"I know I’ve done wrong," Starlight said with a headache. "I know that my influence thus far has been nothing but negative, and I know I came in here saying that I was ready for my punishment… but not this, though!" She gulped, her throat burning, fighting back tears. "Anything but that! My magic means everything to me!"
As the room became noisier, Rainbow asked with a yell, "You mean it?" Twilight glanced around her shoulder towards Rainbow. "You promise not to purposefully put Equestria in harm’s way? Even if you didn’t mean to this time around, do you promise not to do anything like this ever again?"
Starlight answered not to the pony behind Twilight, but to the princess herself. "I promise, but only if you spare me this punishment. Anything else…" She looked away, still trembling, and finished, "I’ll endure any other treatment… but not this." She looked at Twilight, a tear shedding. "I promise."
The statement even made Rainbow Dash feel a little guilty for wanting to go through with this course of action, but she’d already made her vote, and this was Twilight’s decision now. The princess made the call by darkly whispering underneath her breath, "I don’t believe you..."
All that came after that was light. No sound, no screams. Just utter silence, and the brightest light anypony had ever seen. Once it faded, Starlight Glimmer could be seen first, bending down and glowing in the fog. Then, the table the others circled around, and Twilight in front of them appeared through the haze.
To everypony’s guilty shock, Twilight had done the deed that apparently needed to be carried out, and Starlight Glimmer stood without a horn, and without her magic. She was no longer a unicorn. She was now nothing more than a regular earth pony. Her hoof felt her forehead swiftly, a weird sensation coursing through her veins as the realization sank in.
"You… monster…"
She collapsed, shielding her sobbing face, trying not to show her hornless forehead. Twilight opened her eyes, refusing to look. "I’m… sorry that it has to be this way, but please, consider being my-"
"NEVER!!!" Starlight bolstered up, her anger reaching new heights. "I will never, ever be your f-..." She sobbed again before screaming even louder, "FRIEND!"
Twilight made a move to comfort her by holding her shoulder, but Starlight quickly bounded back, slapping the hoof away. "Starlight, please!"
"Don’t touch me!" Even more tears came trickling down her damp cheeks. "I hate you!" She pointed a hoof, her voice cutting into coughs at the end of each cry. "I Trusted you! This is how you make friends?!"
As much as Twilight wanted to use a calming spell, her ears stinging, she resisted knowing good and well just how fragile this situation really was. "I… know how you must feel. Please, just try and calm down!"
"No!" Starlight turned for the door. "I can’t! Just let me out of here NOW!"
She bursted out of the room and ran down the hall, right for the front exit with Twilight following close behind. She flew right above Starlight, saying down to her, "I won’t force you into being my friend, but I can at least try to talk you into settling down before you do something dangerous."
The earth pony galloped down a fleet of stairs, just a few more moments away from the door, and as she left with sunlight shining up above the land, she asked Twilight, "Isn’t that why you took away my horn? So that I don’t do anything dangerous?" She sped up, headed along the side of town. "Just leave me alone!"
Starlight wasn't sure when Twilight had stopped following her, only that she was gone for the time being. Time seemed to slow down as she came to a slow halt underneath a tree by a lake, out of breath. Once again, she felt her forehead, a surreal sensation washing over her. In desperation, Starlight tried to cast a spell despite knowing it would be useless. Predictably, nothing happened. Clouds up above began forming quickly, and as it began to rain, Starlight strained onward to try and bring forth a handkerchief to wipe away her tears, her eyes closed tightly while her face turned red. Her efforts did her no good. It just wouldn't come. She sobbed even more after that, and gave up. By now, all hope was lost. Caught up in everything that had just happened, life seemed meaningless without her horn.
She began to refuse the acceptance of the reality she found herself in, and in a desperate attempt to wake herself up, she dunked her head in the water that was close by. As everything melted away in her eyes, and vivid pictures dangling from Starlight's new mirror came into view, she bounded out of bed only to hit the hard floor with a thud. Her ghastly dream had come to an end, and getting up, she stared at the pictures of Twilight, and all the others. Tears began to come more frequently than they did in her dream.
"It... didn't really happen?" Starlight asked herself in disbelief. "But, that can't be..." She held her chest, her heart still pounding. "It... seemed so real."
She came around the end of her bed, and making sure her magic still worked, she took a picture of Twilight by her aura, and brought it up to her. Starlight slightly bit her bottom lip, her head hurting. She then put it down on her desk. Trickles of tears landed both on the picture and the painted wood. She just couldn't stop herself from crying, because even though Starlight knew it was all only a dream, the idea alone was able to bother her that much.
She soon left her room, the noises of her distress echoing throughout the castle corridors. She trotted, sobbing the whole way, headed for the room she'd just dreamed about. Little did Starligt know, she was being silently followed. After entering, she huffed, and looked around at the thrones surrounding the round table, and whispered, "I was just here."
She then turned around to briefly close the door behind her. As she faced the other way, however, and wiping her watery eyes with a hoof, Starlight hadn't noticed the sound of Twilight's teleportation spell just behind a pillar by the entryway. She was too preoccupied with what was on her mind at the time. She stood right where she did in the dream itself, and pointed to where Twilight had been.
"I could..." Starlight said. "I could reach out, and touch Twilight..."
Starlight's voice was pained, and as she continued talking to herself, the mare behind her was coming closer to confront her, but still maintained a good distance for a while longer.
"It's tough," Starlight resumed, "knowing that had somepony made the suggestion, then that's what might've happened. It just... played out so perfectly in my mind. It's as if this is the dream, and that's what really happened." She began backing further away from the table, and fearfully suggested, "What if that's it? What if this whole time, I've been dreaming, and Twilight really did remove my horn as punishment for putting Equestria through such an ordeal?" She held her head with one hoof, and frantically asked, "What if I'm dreaming right now? What'll I do without my magic? I'm no earth pony! I don't know how to cultivate..."
Twilight reached her hoof out to grace the back of her friend, but was stopped one last time by Starlight saying, "I mean... I know that I'm not really dreaming, but the concept is just so unsettling. I hadn't ever thought of it before, losing my horn... Let alone, it being taken away like that."
Finally, Twilight interrupted, and felt Starlight's side with her hoof. Upon Twilight doing so, Starlight gasped quickly, and turned to face her mentor. Things became quiet for a second or two, Twilight's facial expression being one of both surprise and guilt. Despite her having done nothing, Her Highness still looked at Starlight as if she'd done something terrible. At one point, Twilight even looked away, her lip quivering. To break the silence, Starlight asked, "H-how long have you been listening?"
Twilight didn't answer at first, but just stared, and she then looked at Starlight Glimmer's horn. Closing her eyes, she said, "Long enough. Something about me removing your horn in a dream? Sounds more like you had a nightmare."
Starlight scoffed, but not to sound rude or ungrateful. She just couldn't help herself. Why, just yesterday, she was considering inviting Twilight to go kite flying with her, and now, Twilight hardly seemed like a friend to her. "Well..." Starlight approached Twilight despite her feelings. "Do you remember when I entered this room, and I told you that I was ready for whatever punishment you thought was fair?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes, of course."
"I guess..." She sobbed a little, but did her best to compose herself. "I guess I really wasn't ready for just any punishment, because in my nightmare, our friends voted on whether or not I should be stripped of my magic. When it came down to it, and when I promised you that I would never use my magic for evil again, you told me that you didn't believe me. It was your call, and you chose to take it away."
Twilight felt Starlight's hoof, and sighed, "Oh, starlight... No wonder. Was it that bad?"
All Starlight could do was nod, and mumble, "It was, Twilight. It was absolutely terrifying."
Twilight then slowly embraced Starlight, and held her tightly. "Well, it's all over now," Twilight assured her student while she felt Starlight tremble. Tears had started cascading again, down Starlight's cheeks, and some of it landed on Twilight's coat while most of it fell to the floor. "If it's any consolation," Twilight offered. "I'd never do that to you. You know that, right?"
Starlight blinked away a few drops in her eyes, and asked Twilight, "You wouldn't? How do you know? What if it meant protecting Equestria?"
Releasing her if only for a brief second, Twilight placed her hoof on Starlight's chest to settle her down somewhat, and revealed, "because, I've already been forced to make that very same decision just before we brought you in. Rainbow and Applejack were frightful that you'd betray us like Discord had done when he sided with Tirek, and they eventually got Rarity in on it, too, but I assured everypony that there was no way I'd be removing your horn. I told everypony that to do so just wasn't the answer. After all, the point was to make friends with you." Twilight looked at Starlight with worried eyes, and finished, "It was only a dream, and I'd never remove your horn. If it ever came down to it, I'd find another way."
Starlight again hugged Twilight, content with hearing this. "Twilight... Thank you." The tears that came off her face were now ones of happiness. "It'll still take awhile for me to get over this, but at least I know that I have nothing to worry about."
Twilight nodded, and offered, "It's late. Why don't we go to bed, and in the morning, we'll find something to help take your mind off of that nightmare you had."
Starlight began walking back to her room with Twilight at her side. She was still busy with clearing her vision of any leftover tears, and with a shy tone, she remarked to the princess, "Well, I like to fly kites..."
As they both departed from one another for the time being, Twilight chuckled, and said, "We can go kite flying tomorrow, if that's what you want."
"Sounds like a plan," Starlight said, coming up to her own door. "I'll see you in the morning, Twilight."
The princess nodded, and replied, "You too, Starlight."
The following day, Twilight and Starlight would wake up rather late in the morning, but almost immediately headed out to fly their kites together. They had found themselves a nice, open field with very little trees and everything. It was near the middle of the day that Starlight had finally brought up the subject about last night's instance. "You know," she said as her kite swiveled high above ground. "I keep thinking about that dream I just had."
Twilight's smile soon enough turned into a frown. "Try not to. I already told you, Starlight. I won't remove your magic no matter what happens. You have my word on that"
The student shook her head, and said, "It's not like that at all." She smiled, and returned her sight to her kite. "I realized when I went back to bed yesterday evening that having my horn removed, and not being able to use magic isn't my absolute worst fear after all."
Twilight looked away from her kite for just a second, but upon returning some attention to it, she asked Starlight, "Is that so? Then if you don't mind if I ask, what might be your worst fear, Starlight?"
"Believe if or not, Twilight, it's losing all the new friends that I've made since I met you. I thought about losing that... all these precious memories, and all of these wonderful friends, and it truly scares me. That's because, even if I don't have magic, I'll always have you, and everypony else."
Twilight's smile had returned, and she found herself more relaxed when it came to controlling her kite after hearing that. "You've been thinking a lot lately, huh?"
Starlight didn't speak right away. She was far too busy with her kite flying, and was having too much fun to really think about anything else. Eventually, she responded to Twilight by asking a question of her own. "Do you think we could make this a weekly thing?"
"Sure," Twilight answered. "I don't see why not."
Starlight stayed concentrated on her kite, smiling while it soared high above her. "That's good... This helps me take my mind off of things."
