Aegis

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Vengeance

“What are you doing here at night?” The question rang through Corn Pops' head again. He could not see who asked it, his vision was blurry. Corn Pops looked to the right. As the milky-white fog disappeared and his sight cleared, he could see Fast Bun. A mare kneeled in front of her. Carefully, she helped her up and back on her hooves. Fast Bun leaned forward and retched, gripping her stomach with both hooves. “Fast.....” Corn Pops whispered, then the fog in front of his eyes returned. His eyes rolled over, revealing the white of his eyeballs, then closed.

The stallion who was holding him felt his body go limp as he passed out.

The mare noticed it and looked over. “What's with him?”

“He is just unconscious.” The stallion lifted Corn Pops and rested him on the nearest table.

The mare approached the table, supporting Fast Bun while they trotted. As she was in front of it, she moved a hoof over the colt's short mane, sunken in thoughts and eyes lowered. “Do you think she did this?” Her voice sounded broken.

“She, who?” Fast Bun asked. The filly patted her head, checking it for any injuries.

Before she could get an answer, a piercing scream cut through the air. In front of the diner's exit, Babs had woken up.

Startled, the three of them shot their heads at her. At the same time, Curtain Call woke up. In contrast to Babs, he just stood there, shaking and tears leaking from his eyes. “Mommy,” he whimpered.

“You check up on the other filly!” the stallion shouted and turned around. Hasty steps carried him at Curtain Call's side.

To his right, the mare who had come with him approached Babs, who was still screaming, in the same way. She reached for her shoulders. “Whatever happened, you need to calm down! Everything is–”

“DON'T TOUCH HER!” A shriek suddenly made her stop in her movement. A second later, Babs got lifted up by an invisible force and thrown against a shelf behind the counter. Glass shattered and her screaming immediately stopped. Babs fell down and she left the mare's view before she hit the floor behind the counter with a thud.

The mare shot her head at the entrance of the diner, dread building up inside of her. She saw exactly what she suspected.

In the door stood Starlet Radiance, her mouth sputtering with rage and her eyes bloodshot, the air around her flickering. Her face was so distorted, that the mare did not recognize her own daughter anymore.

Behind her, Starlet's dad took position in front of Curtain Call and pushed the colt behind him. “Does this answer your question, dear?” He gritted his teeth as his own eyes fell on Starlet.

Pushing Curtain along, he trotted backwards to the table Corn Pops was lying on. More instinctively than planned, Curtain Call slipped behind the chair at the far end of the table.

Fast Bun reached for Corn Pops and pulled him off the table and into their hideout. Her eyes brushed over Starlet Radiance only for a brief moment, but it was long enough to count 1 and 1 together.

“Why is Starlet doin' dis?” she shouted. “And how?” She cowered behind the table and lowered her head as a large bottle hit the table's surface and broke into pieces.

Neither of Starlet's parents answered the question. “Starlet, sunshine, stop!” her mother pleaded, trotting into her direction. “You have to leave, you can't stay here anymore!” Her voice shivered, ripe with desperation and fear.

The eyes of Starlet flared up as the words washed over her, suddenly adorned with an otherworldly fire. She shoved her mother out of the way and closed the distance between her and the table. She didn't hesitate and in the blink of an eye, the table caught fire and burnt to ashes. Yelping, Fast Bun grabbed Corn Pops and pulled him away from the flames that reached for his legs.

Now they had free view of Starlet. She came closer, until her face almost touched Fast Bun's. “How was the feeling of starving to death? Did you know it was similar with me?”

“What?” Fast Bun gasped, but her face was full of confusion.

Starlet came closer, pressing her face so hard against the one of her friend that Fast Bun felt forced to retreat. “I want dat you feel the same as I do,” her voice hissed. “Now you will burn.”

As fire began to shoot from her eyes, something pushed her out of Fast Bun's view. To her left, Starlet's mother was holding her down. Her dad left the side of the three foals. Following his wife's example, they held their daughter in place.

“Dis won't save dem.” Starlet closed her eyes. She didn't try to fight herself free.

Feeling that there was a moment to breathe, Fast Bun and Curtain Call moved into a more relaxed position. Tears glistened in the eyes of both foals. Their faces asked the questions that were on their minds.

“We know that Starlet is your friend. But she shouldn't be here,” her mother began to explain.

It deepened the confusion of the foals. “All of us shouldn't be here anymore. It's night,” Fast Bun spoke.

Starlet's dad shook his head,slowly. His face was grief-strucken. “Not in this world.”

The faces of Fast Bun and Curtain Call gave the parents another confused look, then the confusion slowly vanished from their faces as they began to realize. They lowered their eyes and fixated them on their trapped friend.

Starlet's mom looked down on her daughter, as well, and her hoof moved over the strains of her mane, gently. A gesture in stark contrast to the violent incapacitation, yet fitting at the same time.

“Starlet was always allergic to peanuts, but we didn't know about it until this day. She died here,” Starlet's dad completed for his wife.

Shivers went through Fast Bun and Curtain Call, who now knew the truth about their friend.

“Dis won't save dem,” Starlet repeated. “Dey will die, too. I've been alone here for so lawng, but not for much longer.” She opened her eyes and instantly, the hooves of her parents grasped air. Her body became nebulous and she was free of her parents' grip.

Starlet grinned as she approached her friends. “Now you know how it feels when dere are no parents who care for you. And you will die with dis feeling.” She began to laugh, wickedly.

“Why? Awll awf dis because you're jealous?” Curtain Call asked as they retreated. The grin in Starlet's face was enough answer for the colt.

“You can't do dis!” Fast Bun shouted, dragging Corn Pops with her. “Should we end up here, too? Do you want da same for us? I thawght we're friends!”

“SILENCE! BE SILENT!” Starlet shouted her down. She was gripping her head, like she was in pain all of a sudden. “You just stumbled intaw my trap and now you will feel the same as I do, forever!” She forced them further back, until a wall blocked their escape route.

“And now you can't get away anymore.” She began to close the last distance.

“B-But.....” Curtain Call's eyes shifted around, looking for a way out. “But I awlways liked youh actin', Starlet!”

The vengeful filly stopped in her tracks, but only for a moment.

“E-Even youh last performance! You tricked us awll by pretendin' to be ouh friend and you were great at it!”

Starlet stopped again. Only the hint of a smile appeared on her face, before her expression turned cold again. “I know what you're trying. It's not working.” She sat herself into motion again, but the short pause in her movement was exactly what her parents needed.

Starlet had just taken on a more physical form again, as she suddenly felt a ribbon getting wrapped around her body. It ignited, hit by a burst of magic from behind, just as she turned around in surprise.

Her parents looked at her with grieving expressions, yet with a small smile of relief on their faces.

As she looked down, Starlet noticed that her body dissolved quickly. She shot her parents a hateful glare. “You betrayed me!” she hissed.

Their expressions resisted her glare. “Keep waiting for us, Starlet. We'll see us again one day.” Then their daughter vanished completely, nothing but smoke remaining at the place she stood.

Curtain Call and Fast Bun eased up. “Will she be okay?” Curtain Call asked.

“Now she will be,” Starlet's mother said while she draped Corn Pops over her back.

Her husband did the same with Babs, who was thankfully just unconscious and the wound on the back of her head wasn't too bad.
Starlet's parents cast a last glance into the diner, joined by Curtain Call and Fast Bun, then they closed the door and left the fateful place behind them.