the forgotten one

With the slamming and bolting of doors, they were ready to begin. Starlight was concerned about Twilight, she had accepted this course of action way to quickly, for her likening. Even now as she watched the purple mare manipulate a trio of chairs into a circle, she could tell Twilight was off in some way, maybe what had gone on in that jungle really had change her thought process. Possibly a shift towards being more upfront seeing as she had seen death and was scared that life was to short for all the paper work, or she could just be extremely curious about what rattled around in the scruffy stallion’s mind.

“Are you sure about this” said Starlight, moving over and placing a hoof on Twilights shoulder, letting her know it would be okay if she wanted to back out.

“I am positive, it’s the only way to be sure” she replied, her voice tinged with a layer of uncertainty, to Starlight’s relief, as it told her she was still uncomfortable with this somewhat excessive strategy.

“Are you ready to begin” asked Twilight turning to the unkempt stallion who had entrenched himself in one of the armchairs. After having casually placed his body harness of pouches over the left-hand arm.

“As ready as I will ever be, little dove” he replied, shuffling his ass slightly to better find comfort in the overly spongey chair, his body still not used to the luxuries of civilisation, after his long excursion.

“Before we start wandering my mind, I want to warn you, some of the stuff in ere isn’t the sort of things, two fine mares like your self should be seeing” he said blushing slightly but showing the edge of seriousness.

“it cannot be that bad”, said Starlight, intent on quashing his doubts, as if he was comfortable the mind link would go of smoother.

“We will see when we get there then” he said with an awkward chuckle, clearly beginning to get second thoughts the longer this anticipation built up.

“Shall we begin” asked twilight eager to get the ball rolling, as she took a seat to the left of Ratway, Starlight taking her lead, slotting into the chair to his right.

“Yes” he said confidently, and with that consent Twilights horn illuminated, casting a lavender glow.
For a second Starlight’s horn failed to illuminate, her mind casting back to the last time she had utilised this spell, and what had happened. But that wasn’t her any more she was a good pony know, and with that self-doubt banished her horn sprang to life. Her horn casting a turquoise glow, and for a couple of seconds both the mares just sat their channelling magic into their spiralled wands, the auras increasing in size before with a zapping sound both mares projected a beam directly at Ratway’s head.

In an instant Starlight’s vision went from seeing the face of the stallion in front of her, to the white glow of pure magic. The rolling waves of power casting different intensities of light as she penetrated the mental blocks the stallion had in place, the walls yielding easily as he let them in.

As fast as the pulses had started they yielded and Starlight found herself in an empty hovel, the humble abode lit buy a solitary candle sitting on a worn wooden table. A small collection of brass pots and pans sitting on the mantle. above a burnt-out fire the cheap metal casting the glow of gold in these limited light conditions.
For now, Starlight found herself alone, her two companions not yet reaching this point in the memory, so she pulled up a chair and waited for them to arrive. Trying to grasp the chair with her magic she got no response, the grotty stool remining solidly planted on the ground not budging a inch.

“Your magic won’t work in ere” said Ratway casually, making his presence known, from the dark corner of the room he sat in, cleaning his boom stick in the most therapeutic manner. The metal barrel, now polished and reflecting the dim light of the candle, the smooth surface contrasting with the dark engravings to make the weapon appear most beautiful.

“What do you mean wont work in here” quizzed Starlight, this problem not presenting its self the previous times she had done this.

“I ad said I ave done this before” he answered not giving away what he meant by that, before he rolled off the bed, with a loud thump as his hooves contacted the ground, before limping over to Starlight. Starlight found this odd as most ponies were fully capable in their own head, almost as if this retardation was both mental and physical.
Once he was within whispering distance, the large stallion towered over the mare in the darkness, his back blocking out most of the candle light as he leered in front of her, He began to whisper. “I don’t trust you Starlight, something smells off about ye, and I cannot place it yet.” He rasped in a calm and intimidating manner.

“If you try anything, I will trap you here, and your body will wither like fruit in the sun, your body just a usk, soul stuck in limbo for ever” he continued, his voice remained deadly serious.

“Wait what!” stammered Starlight, terrified that they had let a monster into their mists.

“Nah I am just pulling yer leg, mah brains calcified, means my mental processes are stilted and inflexible” he said chuckling to himself, his tone shifting entirely when he realised he had gotten her good.

“You shouldn’t joke about things like that, you scared me for a moment” snapped Starlight, angry at the dark joke he had pulled. The joke its self, raising further questions, as he had accurately described would happen if he had mentally dominated her.

“But in seriousness, I don’t trust you” he said, cementing the main point he was trying to convey.

“Why?” questioned Starlight, she knew she had baggage in her past, but she didn’t think the stallion knew about it. This sent her mentally panicking, the stress causing her magic to flicker of a moment as the scene of her in the library and the hovel began to meld into one. Before with a deep breath she calmed herself and the hovel scene stabilised.
“Don’t take it personal but is because you’re a unicorn” he admitted.

“But why have that bigotry?” she asked, somewhat relived that it wasn’t her past that was defining his reaction to her, and more simple racism.

“Your going to see, I aven’t had the best runs with unicorns, to much power not enough accountability, it’s a policy that as saved my life countless times, so I stick to it” he answered, getting straight to the point.

“Then why don’t you have a problem with Twilight, she has magic as well” said Starlight, confused by his logic.

“Because I know Twilight, I don’t know you” he answered bluntly, his tone coming out like a seawall.

“You met her less then a week ago, how can you trust her so readily”, blurted Starlight, confused at his easy of trust towards the princess of friendship. Not like it was unfounded, but it wasn’t normal to cast one’s chips in so soon into meeting somepony.

“two reasons, firstly she had ample opportunity to kill me, a simple flick of her glow stick and my ed is replaced by a blood mist, instead she tried to talk things out when she really shouldn’t ave.” he said scratching the back of his neck as if something there made him uncomfortable.
“The second reason is she talks in her sleep, no one with a doll called Mr Smarty pants can be too bad a pony” he said with a laugh, clearly eager to change the topic, without giving away his real reasons. Before as if answering his prayers, with a purple flash Twilight fell from the sky landing on the table with a loud crash, knocking the haphazardly placed items on top to the floor, to a crescendo of smashes and clanks.

“Ow!!!” Twilight exclaimed, before raising off the beech table with a few flaps of her feathered wings, coming to rest on her feet on the other side of the table.

“Where are we?” asked twilight immediately after regaining her bearings.

“You’re in the first night I spent in my own ome” said Ratway, happy to answer her question, giving her a smile to let her know everything was okay.

“Why did you pick to show us this memory in particular?” said Starlight, her goals now set back on getting to the bottom of this stallion’s past.

“Because the last few times I have done this they ask you to focus on a strong memory, they say it keeps your brain from melting or something”, he said before plucking a lemon that twilight had knocked to the floor up and giving it a hearty bite.

“Wait you have done this before” exclaimed Twilight, as she like Starlight was clearly confused as to what kind of context that could occur.

“Aye, they used it in the Equestrian militia to catch out spies and moles, and to guarantee loyalty, those that failed went to a certain ospital” Said Ratway, his body visibly cringing as he made mention to the hospital, as if he had had a bad experience there.

“I could show you if you want or is there some other memory you would prefer to see first, me ladies” he said almost with the flare of a showman, hinting at the former option over the latter being the more desirable option.
“Why don’t you show us from the beginning, so we can fully understand the context of later memory’s” answered Twilight, her scientific mind clearly still at play, as Starlight knew that she was mentally taking notes of everything.

“Aye, I can do that” he said, before visibly straining, as his mind tried to focus on a particular memory. As his mind located the memory Starlight suddenly felt a massive head ache storm in, based on twilights expression the same was happening to her. All three winching in pain for a second before the hovels door swang open with a glowing wall of white light filling the precipice.

“Ladies first” said Ratway, before Starlight watched Twilight take the plunge as she walked through the portal.