7 years later Canterlot Castle, an early morning in spring
The sun had barely crossed the edge of the mountain range, but in the little clean cottage beneath the Royal Castle was already much ado about nothing.
Cygna, Princess Fluttershy's prime student and royal unicorn scholar, had never been accused of laziness, but today's restlessness was owing less to her disclipine and more to her incredible vanity.
Since the early hours after midnight, the baby blue unicorn had been prancing up and down in front of the mirror, switching between multiple different sorts of shampoo and trying at least twenty indivdual types of eyeliners.
Now, every down-to-earth pony would have told her there was no reason to improve, that she already had a regal stance and fairly enough beauty to boast... but this was Canterlot, and Cygna's standards of beauty were even higher than that would imply. She sold herself as a "pony of precision", therefor she would not allow herself to take ONE step out of the house until every detail of her look was in the right place and in the right shape.
When she finally decided on just adding some "extra-volume" to her cobalt blue ringlets, it was already eight o'clock - only one hour left until her appointment with the Princess, a fact that Cygna tried her best to ignore.
With her magic, she lifted a long, rubishly glowing piece of iron.
Surely her skills with the curling staff would have improved over last time... at least so far to make her curls roughly drop-shaped... it couldn't take THAT long!
However, half an hour later, the drops were still looking more like a marbler's nest, and Cygna was about to snap.
"By the grease on Starswirl's eye brow... RAGNO! Ragno - can you help me, PLEASE!"
The answer was a rustling and squeeking from the shadow near the wardrobe.
The next moment, a star spider in the size of a large mouse let itself down on a spindling silk thread.
It only needed one short look, then burried its hairy appendages into the blue unicorn's mane.
Cygna let out a big sigh of relief, when she felt Ragno's sensitive feet scuttling over her scalp.
It were moments like this one when she could actually let herself loose without having to worry about her self image.
People had always found it silly that she was living in this little hay-covered hut, with the loud noises and heavy smells of the royal menagerie all around her, instead of the real castle.
And though it indeed WAS silly sometimes, it provided some benefits.
Outside of the mating season, the animals always behaved themselves, and had never done anything to bother her.
On the contrary, they often had taken care of her washings, had repaired her roof after vicious storms, or given her a quick ride down the town if they had no other business.
So there was nothing wrong about them. In fact, their unusual intelligence and helpfulness had become one of the town wonders and had remained a popular topic in Canterlot's high society chit-chat for years.
Some ponies, taught in the highest circles had speculated that the Everfree Forest (which had overgrown most of the city's surrounding landscape) was causing magical mutations and therefor had made the animals become sentient as a response to their more vicious neighbors.
Others had insisted that Princess Fluttershy herself was responsible, as she understood the tongue of wild creatures and probably had bewitched them to do her every bidding.
And then there was also a third story - one that Cygna had brought up herself, back when she was a humble filly of ten and went to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns...
It had been roughly one week after Winter Wrap Up.
Other than usual, Cygna had spent her afternoon break alone, on the south end of the school grounds, in a field of daisies near the Canterlot stream. In her hooves she held a book from the School Library.
Outsiders probably would have thought she was studying, and in some rare second she even believed it herself.
In reality, she hadn't even bothered to learn the title of the book, so the weird poems and cryptic prose didn't mean anything to her.
She knew very well that it was only a charade.
Were they even looking for her? She really hoped so - right now, she was in the mood for detention.
Just then, she was hearing the sound of hooves on grass, the hissing of a magic glow and the excited twitter of blackbirds. By all accounts, that should have been Miss Glimmer.
But then she realized the trotting was much slower than usual, and the steps were somehow heavier and accompanied by a clunk.
She also heard... feathers... and wings unfolding, big wings...
When she turned around, she beheld a tall, meager-looking alicorn of yellow grey colour and a sad outline. She didn't wear much jewelry, but on her high bun rested a golden-blue crown, and she wore a bright blue toga around her body which merely underlined the overall bleakness of her appearance.
Yet, Cygna recognized her immediately. Her mane might have been darker, and the rest of her barely resembled the Fluttershy she had seen in so many picture books.
But there was still a strong aura around her that excelled kindness and mercy, even though it was buried under many years of hardship.
"Do you mind if we have a talk, little Cygna?"
Cygna felt the book gliding from her hooves, when she stood up.
She hesitantly nodded even though she wasn't sure if she actually DID or DIDN'T mind it - her ability to make decisions seemed temporarily out of order.
"I have heard of some interesting stories you were telling, Cygna. Miss Glimmer says you had been sharing them with your classmates - during her lectures, I suppose - and now they're somehow all over Canterlot."
Her voice remained rather monotone, but her eyes suddenly got a very stern shimmer to them.
"I was admittedly shocked when I heard what horrible things they said, but I am willing to assume that wasn't your original intent. You surely told a different story, didn't you...?"
Cygna looked up into these big, weary blue eyes, and not found it in her heart to repeat what she once had repeated so easily.
Fluttershy must had sensed that, for she bowed down her long neck and looked directly into Cygna's eyes.
"I'm afraid I have to demand an answer.... Please don't censor it! I want to hear the exact words... even the ones I'm too young for."
Suddenly Cygna fell into panic. She accidentally kicked the book into the river behind her and started to grovel before the Princess.
She begged the Princess to forget her pathetic existence. To forgive he ignorance. To transform her into a rabbit, if she wished so...
But Fluttershy had coldly declined: "I have enough rabbits already. Fifty-seven, in fact, and they're all named Angel. Now back to my question: How do you think I got my animal friends?"
Finally, Cygna had given in and began stuttering her way through a cavalcade of dirty vocabulary:
That the animals in the royal menagerie, these highly intelligent little critters, hanging on Fluttershy's every word... were no one else than her lovers - cursed to a life of everlasting servitude!
The alicorn princess waited a minute in silence. Whatever went through her mind was a complete mystery.
Then she put her front hoof into a nearby bush and pulled out a tiny black ball, who curled into the bulge of her horseshoe.
"I guess that's YOUR new lover then," she stated calmly, holding it before Cygna's nose.
It turned out to be... a little newborn spider.
Its eight scrawny legs were still soft and dripping of ooze, and when it tried to crawl away, it rolled over on its back and couldn't get up again.
With the most gentle touch of her long, lorn horn, Princess Fluttershy prodded it back on its legs, and when it fell over once more, she showed it to Cygna.
Following her instinct, Cygna lowered her horn, and - as careful as she could be - she did some prodding on her own.
It was then, when Ragno opened its seven blue eyes, all staring up to her.
Cygna had looked back, not sure what to make of that. Most ponys found spiders scary, but for Cygna they weren't that big a deal.
After all, they were only sitting in their net all day, somewhere in a dark attic... weaving and waiting... weaving and waiting...
Cygna could not figure how someone could actually bear that! What would ever come from such monotony?
Nothing! Especially not for this little fellow!
A weird, but fierce compassion came over her, she stretched out her hoof and let Fluttershy lay the baby spider on the bottom.
"I guess you changed your mind then?", the Princess asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes", Cygna answered while she watched with a growing anticipation how Ragno unfolded on her horseshoe.
...
"... It's the moon - right? You banish your lovers to the moon."
... The Princess stared at Cygna in silent disbelieve, lowering one eyebrow just to raise the other.
Cygna grinned innocently, and as she held back outright laughter, Fluttershy's mouth crooked into a smile.
"Oh myyyyy... what gave it away?"
"It's really just a theory," Cygna explained, unaware of the irony in the Princess's voice. "You want to get rid of them, but they don't deserve to die. And even though you want them to be punished, you'd still want to feel circled - as if you're the center of the universe! So naturally, you put them on a planet!"
Fluttershy chuckled. "What a delightful idea, I must say! You know me better than I thought you would!"
And as she laughed - louder and clearer than she ever had - the Princess started circling around the filly, observing her with now open curiousity. "I'd never do it, of course. But the mere thought of it..."
"Thought? But didn't you say..."
The Princess shushed her, stopping in front of her. "You must know... as a princess, you have to CONTROL yourself at any time. You can't always do what comes to your mind... like having lovers... or stuffing Pearetta's head into a lampshade..."
"That's not what happened!", Cygna rushed to say, but stopped half-way through over what a pathetic a lie it was. "I mean... I wanted to turn her INTO a lamp. But I had trouble with the lightning bulb... her filament's just too thick..."
"I see", Fluttershy said mischievously. "You wanted her to be a little brighter, didn't you?"
"She really needs it, I swear!", Cygna sputtered out. "I had this wonderful custom-made shirt, you know... she called it a napkin!... I just had to do something...it was such a masterpiece-!"
"I'm sure it's breathtaking", the Princess interrupted her friendly, but firm, "but you could have just told her how good it is. You didn't have to show off your magic in front of your boyfriend!"
That was it! Before she could even turn her head away, Cygna's cheeks had already become crimson red.
"He isn't my boyfriend!", she yelled, forgetting for a moment where she stood. "And I won't talk to Pearetta Spin ever again!!! I mean - what's the point of it??? Talking is for superficial no-goods who have the vocabulary of a parrot and the character of a cucumber!!! And she - SHE is the queen of cucumbers!"
Coming short of breath, she was awaiting the usual lectures, like Miss Glimmer used to give her.
It had become clear as daylight that the princess had taken a look into her file, so she probably knew all about her terrible past... and her long line of wrongdoings.
Surely, she would put out some more ridicule, just like the others, or a stern punishment...
But the only thing she got was once again silence... and those big blue eyes!
Cygna wasn't comfortable with that at all. The silence made her words seem so much bigger... like she was the center of the universe now.
It wasn't as nice as she had expected.
"I... I suppose it's more practical, though", she expanded hesitantly. "To... talk to her, I mean. Better than screwing up another transformation spell..."
"I suppose", Fluttershy friendly responded, ignoring the outburst from before. "It's very difficult standing up for yourself", she then said, "especially if you think no pony will take you for serious. But you know what - I believe a little pony such intelligent as you... can do it", she added with a very broad smile.
Now Cygna felt REALLY uncomfortable.
What was she supposed to answer?
"I... I guess I should apologize to her", she mumbled.
Fluttershy was still smiling at her, as broad as before.
"And to Ironclad... and to Miss Glimmer for yelling at her..."
Still smiling.
"... and for all the other 235 things I did last year... probably..."
Now Fluttershy nodded. "That's a very smart idea... I'll leave it to your new spider friend to remind you once in a while..."
When Cygna realized the range of that decision, she almost burst into tears. In a sudden rush of emotion Cygna kneeled down and bowed her neck in front of the Princess, the little pet spider still in her hoof.
But the Princess soon made her raise up again and - with a little nod towards the school building - suggested her to go back to class.
Before they parted, Fluttershy took a last good look at the filly, and she sighed.
"As you probably guessed, I've seen your file, Cygna. Your grades are as brilliant as your behaviour is horrendous. But just like this spider in your hoof, you're a being of great worth, and there is a silver line on which you can pull yourself out of this misery... and come to much brighter grounds. If you can better yourself... if you give it your very best shot... maybe you'll get the recognition you so sorely desire."
That had been roughly ten years ago.
Soon thereafter, Cygna had a serious word with practically everyone in the school, including Miss Glimmer, the housekeeper, several cooks from the cafetaria, some laboratory mice, Pearetta Spin, the colour green, and - finally - her supposed "boyfriend" whom she gave a thorough hit with a chalkboard and in return received three weeks of detention she enthusiastically accepted.
At the last day of the arrest, Fluttershy returned to give her an application form - apparently, Cygna had been proposed as her personal student by none other than Starlight Glimmer herself!
At first, Cygna couldn't believe her ears. Even as Fluttershy explained her decision, Cygna remained in deep distrust for that pale and frail alicorn with the meek voice and the mischievous attitude.
But then life had moved on, and rather quickly by that.
It came to ... complications, and for a moment in time, Cygna found her heart broken by those she had trusted most... and yet, still felt its beat, strong and steady and ready to rewind.
Ragno had been there for her in that moment, silent and dark and dilligent, and Fluttershy was there, too, proving herself to be a kind and understanding teacher... and the most loyal of friends.
Even though things remained difficult, Cygna had kept her head above water and continued, and after a while, she was back to form, yet ultimately calmer and - for the lack of a better word - wiser.
She realized there was no way back to her old life, and as such, she chose that new one the princess had offered her.
Today, on the day of her tenth anniversary, it was time to repay her for that incredible life.
When Ragno finally signaled her to open her eyes, there was no loose strand of hair left, and her ringlets dangled around her face like school bells.
"You've out-done yourself this time, my belovd", she laughed, while arranging the drops around her long pointy ears. "If now you would reach me the ribbons over there... excellent!"
Her eyes quickly swooped to the clock. Time was short, but she was able to bear it now.
Remembering the old days had given her the perfect idea what to wear!
After another fifteen minutes of careful arrangements, she took one last look at herself.
The inspiration had come to her from the fashions of the Crystal Empire - one of Cygna's favourite subject of study - and its famous philosophers.
The foundation was a delicately embroidered white tunic composed of expertly-spun linum; over that a simple magenta cloak, adorned with rolling sea waves, and finally: her cobalt blue hair crowned with two braids in royal purple.
It was expressing both sophistication and humbleness - style and substance in wonderful harmony - poetry in motion...
Well... something like that, Cygna shrugged. The sophistication was no doubt there, and the humbleness... she worked on it.
After having Ragno fix some minor loose threads, she finally left the cottage and trotted over to the castle, greeting the hippogriff guards as she entered through the servant's door.
There wasn't enough time for breakfast, but she made sure to step by the kitchen, ordering an extra large bucket of fresh vermin for Ragno.
Ignoring the cook's frustrated moaning, she grabbed a hay sandwich from the next platter and moved on to the throne room, taking her time to chew and preparing a little acceptance speech for any congratulations she might get.
She had just entered the west wing when she spotted someone down the hallway: a grey unicorn stallion of burly stature, with rubiginous hair and black spots around his eyes.
His movements were slow, but powerful, and the cutie mark on his mighty flank consisted of three copper helmets, engulfed in violet magic.
Cygna felt her heartbeat rising. She had invited him, of course - she had invited all her former classmates, as it was expected - but to see him here, waiting for her...
"Ironclad!", she exhaled, and when he noticed her she had already rushed towards him and thrown her forelegs around his strong neck.
"Glad to see you, sweetie", he mumbled, positively overwhelmed by his girlfriend's enthusiastic welcome. He pulled her back and gave her muzzle a quick peck, followed by a juicy kiss the fiery unicorn lady loved to return.
When they eventually broke up, Cygna hold on to him, rubbing her head into his leathern west. "I'm so glad you've made it", she whispered. "Coming all the way down from Neighara Falls... you can't imagine how much this day means to me."
"Oh, the invitation put it quite nicely", Ironclad proclaimed, putting one hoof gently around her neck while he pointed away with the other. "Ahead the TIME, to end the PEARLESS many / and let the FEATS of FUTURE now DEFY our FATE!"
Cygna laughed out loud. "It's perils, not pearless, silly!!! You really can't expect a blacksmith to perform high art, I guess!"
"Not really", Ironclad admitted, looking over her attire with a thougtful eye.
"That's the shirt you wore when you turned Pearetta into that lampshade, isn't it", he remarked gently. "It's beautiful! ... You haven't worn it for years."
A large bubble of pride arose in Cygna's chest, making her heart beat even faster. "Actually it's an exact replica! I have woven it myself, you know. It's all a matter of-"
"Your mother would probably like to see it, too", Ironclad interrupted. "She made the original, didn't she?"
Suddenly, the air around them seemed a lot colder. Cygna felt as if the breath was violently drawn from her lungs, allowing the cold to crawl into her every fiber.
The fact that Ironclad looked at her with such unclouded innocence even made her temporarily wish for a chalkboard again.
"I don't need this woman's approval anymore", she proclaimed as calmly as possible. "I didn't invite her, and she would have never come anyway."
"Of course she'd have come", Ironclad replied slightly bemused. "You're her only child. On a day like this - how could she reject?"
But Cygna shook her head in sadness. "Trust me - there are multiple reasons. I don't have time to go over all of them." She hesitated a moment, then raised her horn and gently rubbed it against Ironclad's. "Maybe later... when we're alone?", she said softly.
It was a daring move on her part. Ironclad and her had dated maybe four times over the last year - whenever she had visited the Neighara-Falls -Academy for a class in battle magic.
But he wasn't the first to last that long. And although she knew him much longer than any of his predecessors, there was no telling how he would proceed.
She would have to trust him in that matter...
To her surprise, Ironclad didn't raise a muscle. Sure, he was shaking in arousel, but that was to be expected with that sun-eyed beauty in front of him.
"I think I can bear it for now..."
They went the rest of the way quietly, passing the Royal Maze where the statue of Discord used to stand and the Gala chamber, before finally reaching the hallway to the throne room.
Cygna's heart was pounding more with every step. What position would she get? General on the Southern front? Ambassador in the Baltimare regions? Junior teacher in the academy? She was ready for everything...
In that moment, the wings of the throne room door were smashed wide open, and four unicorn mares came marching out in a long line: they were (in order) Ironclad's and her's former class mates Pearetta Spin, Opac Beryll, Marbleline the Tall and the chubby Flamyra - all of them dressed in their finest party gowns and even louder than usual.
"Do you believe her?", Marbleline cried. "Do you think she did that on purpose? I certainly do! Does she think that's funny?"
"She'd better not", Beryll grumped. "I thought we were friends now..."
"It's certainly a mistake", Flamyra insisted. "No way she's still peeved!"
"What do you mean I'd be peeved?", Cygna shouted in irritation. "What are you even talking about?"
She turned to Pearetta, who had been silent, but had glanced down on her with glistening eyes.
"Believe it or not", Pearetta said with steaming nostrils, "there's this slimy old peacock who said the ceremony has been cancelled! And that these letters", she held up hers, "were only passed out as a joke, and that you were never even allowed to let us in the throne room... because apparently we are too LOW-BORN for this punk!"
"B-but I WAS allowed", Cygna stuttered. "I asked the princess and all - I can ask her, if you-"
"Don't bother!", Marbleline jumped in. "She isn't even in there.... She's probably in another castle", she added with a bitter smirk.
Cygna tried her best to overhear the snark, while also surpressing the urge to repeat the words "Not in there?" as if she was deaf.
Alright... she could handle it. The situation might have become unclear, but there was a protocol for everything.
"You all stay here! I'll handle this", she said, pushed Ironclad aside and squashed herself through her friends into the chapel-like chamber.
The noise was immediately overlaunching here.
At first, there were only the usual nature sounds: the plunching of the waterfall, the rustling grass, and the mating animals. But soon, the shouting and moaning of several ponies came rushing in, too.
On the fish pond to her left, she could spot the ducks fighting with Earth pony servants over a row of bathing towels dripped on the beach.
To her right, a swarm of birds was pushing down a tablet that several unicorn butlers had intended to lift.
Over them, pegasi were flying around a towering rock formation, removing the banners that had displayed Cygna's Cutie mark (a blue swan and a cloud under a blue, white and orange shooting star) while avoiding the spider monkeys that bombarded them with pebbles and nuts.
Meanwhile in the midst of the room, another servant was rolling in a broad blue carpet, while two peacocks and a bobcat were pulling on his tail.
Between that, the rest of the catering team was carrying away wooden tables and porcelain plates filled with sandwiches, big mugs with cider and orange juice, and fruit bowls in every form and colour, all with the utmost dilligence and equanimity that the constantly sizzling snakes on their backsides would allow.
Never before had Cygna witnessed such an onslaught of chaos, and despite going through all logical assumptions this very second, she couldn't quite get a grasp on it.
Usually, the Princess was there to put a stop to such a riot and conduct the animals to whatever she asked for. But as she wasn't there, the critters interpreted executive order in their own little way.
Hopefully Arch Chancellor Angel Bunny wasn't around...
"What is going on here?", she finally yelled. "I'm demanding the pony (or bunny) in charge!"
The animals and ponies became silent right away. Only the birds kept fluttering a second before sinking to the ground.
Eventually, a tall, baby blue unicorn stallion rose. His wavy pink mane and curled goatee stuck full of feathers, but despite that, a very ugly smile sprung from his lips.
"That would be me... the pony, as it is!"
Cygna kept her mouth closed while he came trotting over to her, to mask the viral disgust she had for this man.
His official title was "Master Blitherskite". His shimmering midnight blue robe signified him as a Secretary of Foreign Affairs, while his red saddle painted him as Vice-Secretary of Inner Security.
But Cygna was in the certainly unique position to just call him "Father".
Her parents had gone through a messy divorce when Cygna had only been five.
Even back then, when she only lived for her books and an occasional game of soccer in the streets, she had noticed the often deadly silence during the meals - it was always the first thunder before the storm.
At first, the tone was light, jovial, in a way that Cygna later learned was fake. But as soon as her father delivered the first straight-out complaint, her mother had sent her to her room, in the vain hope to "protect her innocence" (as Miss Glimmer, her teacher, had called it).
But unfortunately, her innocence had good hearing, and the walls of Pear Butter Row 15 were ungodly thin...
Cygna did not remember the exact moment when it all broke into pieces, but she could still recall the day when her mother had come into her room and emptied one of her dressers without any word of explaination.
The next afternoon, a bunch of Earth Ponies came into their apartment and removed (one after another) Cygna's dresser, the couch, one of the living room chairs, two of the kitchen chairs, two of their three only cupboards, some boxes with smaller stuff... and her mother's bunk, as they never had a two-side bed.
But Cygna's mother had shed no tears for that one in particular.
She had just sat on one of the two remaining chairs (a big comfy wing chair) and written some numbers onto a wide sheet of paper.
When the Earth Ponies were finally gone, she had risen up and (wordlessly) made a two-pony dish for herself and her small one.
It was their only meal that day.
While Cygna had readily gorged her own share, still disturbed by the event, her mother had barely touched hers, only staring at the place where the other chairs had been - sometimes sighing, sometimes singing to herself. When the meal was finished, she started to explain...
Strangely enough, despite not being able to forget that day, Cygna had had no stronge feelings about her father. Her mother had asked her not to talk about their divorce (to avoid rumors and dickish remarks), and Cygna had followed her with that, for she trusted her mother in pretty much everything.
Still... after years of forced silence, she had been curious how her father would act with his daughter around, and if he even recognized her. So as soon as she had moved to the castle, she had tried to talk to him.
She had been kind of dumb back then...
"When did you become Master of Ceremony?", she asked with a dismissive look on his new yellow muffler.
"Just yesterday", Blitherskite answered with the biggest smile. His bass sounded even more priggish than usual. "The Princess called me right away when she got that message from Baltimare. Important business, you know - Dragon Lord Garble and Captain Cattlelana called for her immediate presence in the issue of Fillydelphia, which is, as you know..."
"The hottest issue on our priority list - I know!", Cygna threw in to spare herself the lecture.
Fillydelphia in the Baltimare regions had indeed been the number-one talking point for ten years now - Garble, the vicious Dragon Lord had conquered the town barely one week after Cygna's ordination.
But he hadn't been the only one interested in that town: Captain Cattlelana (second-in-command of the Minotaur hordes) had come at the same time and with major forces.
The clash of their armies could have very well been the end of the Baltimare regions, but Fluttershy had intervened and made a bargain that secured the town's neutrality to this day.
Fluttershy had to make some ridiculous compromises to get this far, and the conditions were modified every other year, but for the moment she really had no other choice, and Cygna was very understanding of that.
"But that's no reason to cancel a simple inauguration... nonetheless of your own daughter!"
Blitherskite raised an eye brow. His smile was dropping a few notches.
"Well, if it isn't obvious", he loudly proclaimed, "the court hasn't quite the fundings to finance your little ego trip. Especially not when we might very well be on the edge of destruction!"
"Besides", he added more to her than to public, "my own generous payments should be far enough to spent on your behalf... don't you think?"
Cygna sighed. There it was - the passive-aggressive insults again...
"I have NO idea!", she growled.
"Well, then go out and ask your MOTHER!"
"Ask her yourself - I'm not your secretary!"
"She was supposed to fund your education with my share. But then she just drops you here - with scholarship money! AT - TEN! Without saying me!!! Did it not occur to her that I'd like to have been part of that decision?... You know what? I bet she set something aside for her personal gain! Celestia's school isn't nearly as expensive as it used to be."
"It's still expensive though!", Cygna snapped. "She had to take three jobs at some point - I've barely seen her for years!"
This answer seemed to irritate her father, as he hesitated with his comeback. But then a little, bitter smile crooked his cheeks.
"I see!", he whispered. "She's really tricky, I must say: abusing your loyality that way... And yet, you feel obligated to show her all you have accomplished - to make her proud! I reckon that's why you set her on the guest list and not me. ... It seems as if she doesn't care all that much, doesn't she?"
That was too much!
Cygna had to pull herself out just for minute - otherwise she risked everyone seeing her breakdown.
Contrary to what she had told Ironclad, she had indeed considered inviting her mother to the ceremony.
She had gone so far to personally hand her the invitation - two weeks in advance! Had gone all the way down to the Earth Pony District of Canterlot, where the tailor shop of her mother was situated in the cliff houses on Pear Butter Row.
It had been an eternity since she had set hoof into this district, with all its rustic workshops, shaggy bars and crowded market halls.
More than once she saw a former neighbour passing by, a favourite shopkeeper from long ago...
And then, as it was to be expected, a thin, green unicorn mare with a permanently sour expression on her face.
Her mother had come down the pass below the cliffs, heading into her direction.
Immediately, Cygna had felt the urge to run back into town. To just leave the things as they were. Why'd she even care? What had she to gain?
But then she imagined Fluttershy's disappointment, the rumoring at the court, and the shrieky complains from her mother's side.
She had fought it... surpressed it... weighed it down with the wish of finally making amends...
It HAD to be done - what else was there to say?
She had raised her eyes... watched her mother approaching... closer... and closer... and finally...
... turned around toward a nearby fruit stand, gracing a bundle of deep-green cucumbers with her unparted attention.
While she examined the fruits (deliberatedly hiding behind other customers) her mother passed by - not looking back.
Cygna had waited another moment. Then she backed out and looked around.
Everything was clear... yet, she suddenly felt strange.
As if two long, crooked claws had pinched into her heart, pulling out some of its fibers like a loose thread of yarn.
A sudden irresistable urge forced her into trot, leading her up Pear Butter Row and towards the door of her mother's tailor shop.
A white sign in the door glass - CLOSED FOR INDEFINITE TIME, it said.
Atropos had never closed down for anything... she wasn't the type to do so. And she was far too afraid to lose any customers.
So many questions had sprung to her mind... so many complex feelings and wild emotions.
She wondered if she should wait. Or if she'd rather follow her mother into town and talk everything out.
It really wasn't hard... everything was better than putting it off again...
But as she stood there... remembering everything she had gone through... she soon realized that she had not the guts to face her mother. Not after what had happened between them.
And so she just tossed the letter into the mail box... in the small hope that it would be read and that they would rekindle their family bonds at the ceremony.
Now, two weeks later, Cygna had already buried that hope for good.
So maybe it was time to break up family bonds all together...
She stared fiercely into Blitherskite's miserably grinning face, her eyes a mirror of disdain.
"It was not me who set her on the guest list", she lied. "Somepony else might have done that. However, I have no time to satisfy your petty spite", she added. "I've promised my friends a snack, and - by Celestia - they shall get it.
And since the court is apparently too clim-fisted to spare a few bits, I'll have to carry the costs on my own.
So", she leaned in with a squinted face, whispering the following word, "how much for a sandwich plate and some orange juice, Mister 'Spite?"
Blitherskite's look of irritation was priceless. "How much for... Who do you think I am - a puny huckster?"
Cygna was close to say "indeed", but a new voice interrupted her.
"May I ask whose featherbrain is responsible for this?"
Starlight Glimmer, Sorceress of the court, stepped in and took a good look at both of them and on Blitherskite and his goatee especially.
"Or should I rather say 'feather chin'?", she added with an amused smile.
Blitherskite surprisingly blushed. Then his hoof went over his beard and tried to shake the feathers out. "My dear Lady Glimmer", he squeaked, "back from your mission, I see?"
"Yes - just popped in, and still in a hurry!", Starlight confirmed with pretend tiredness, gracefully took off her green cape and her heavy saddle bag and threw both over Blitherskite's back. "I have a very important status report for the Princess - could you be so nice to make us an appointment in the next few days?"
Blitherskite found himself barely able to give an answer - the heavy saddle bag pressed him dangerously close to the ground. "The... Princess... Is... Currently... *huff-huff* Giving... A... Visit... to..."
"Is it politics again?" Starlight sighed dramatically. "Typical... but sadly unavoidable."
She went over to a nearby servant with a snake around his head. "I'll just get my former students and me some breakfast, if you don't mind. Let's say, the equivalent of... sixty bits. AND I'll make these animals pesker you no more!"
The heavily-burdened Master of Ceremony still resisted, but under the silent insiduation of the annoyed servant, he eventually relented.
Soon the old school class moved away from the throne room, loaded with bottles of cider, orange juice and hay rolls.
Their new goal was Starlight's laboratory in the north wing, which turned out quite spacey and clean, for Starlight had spent the whole last month out of the castle.
A work bench with various tools served as their bar table, and just a little time later, Starlight brought some ancient wing chairs for them to sit in.
"I'm afraid they are a little dusty. But you remember our practices, right? Vakuum Sakarius? - Cygna - how about you?"
Cygna hardly listened. She looked out the window, grinding her teeth, her thoughts still in the throne room.
Her friends nonetheless had decided to move on from past grudges and get the party started.
Marbleline did not hesitate to look for Starlight's hidden supplies on popcorn, and soon they were chattering and drinking as if Blitherskite had never existed.
Cygna tried her best to engage and keep close to Ironclad, but she didn't loose up as usual. There was an aching in her chest that just wouldn't disappear and was shaped like a cobbler's needle.
She eventually contemplated - it was already running up to lunch hour - to drown her sorrow in a glass champagne, when her eyes met Starlight Glimmer's: They suggested her to follow.
Silently, Cygna pulled herself away from her classmates and went after Starlight into the neighbouring room.
"First, I have to apologize for the cancellation", her teacher said after closing the door. "I would have organized the celebration myself if I had the chance, but then there was this postal order that allowed no delay... the Equestrian mail system just isn't as good as in my time..."
Cygna merely nodded - right now, she didn't care about the postal service.
In fact, she suddenly realized how much she had always hated small-talk, and all that petty, shallow ponies that engaged in it and delved themselves in irony and hidden jests, carefully designed to save a failing system...
"You're angry again", Starlight stated upon her silence. "And you might as well be - that was no way to treat a daughter..."
"I am NOT his daughter" , Cygna spat out, the eyes fiercely fixated on the empty table next to her.
She was aware her voice was cracking like a walnut right now, revealing the raw, uncultivated bitterness within her bosom.
To state it bluntly: She sounded like a little girl, broken and hurt! No representative of the court would have ever shown themselves in such a vulnerable position!
And so - to keep up appearances - she went back to what had served her so well in the past: picturesque language!
"What is in blood but crimson plates of a crimson air!
A heartless feast - a tie of slavery!
And if a cook detests the pepper's savory,
they'll spoil with salt the unreceptive heir.
And every tasteful feast they ever share
might only come with act of foolish bravery!"
She turned back to Starlight, who only showed a tiny, insecure smile. "You don't have to pity me", she added in prose. "I'm still ready to serve her Majesty... with my life, if it's needed. "
Despite the clear sincerity of that proposal, Starlight chuckled. "Cygna, there's more to life than service to your country. And considering the pity-part-"
"So what is it the Princess wants me to do?"
Starlight sighed noisily.
Nevertheless, she went to a nearby cupboard and unlocked it.
A rectangular chest with three lockets at the top thrusted forward as she opened the door.
"You might help me with that", she said. "It's rather delicate."
Cygna nodded fiercely, sending out a buzzing, yet surprisingly sleek blue cloud of magic.
She carefully pulled the object to herself and lowered it to the nearby desk, placing it right in the center, then allowing Starlight to make the lockets snap open.
Inside the chest, on a bed of red silk, there lay what looked like the miniature version of a castle at first, with high walls and needle-like towers and small windows.
As a whole, it seemed like massive dark crystal, but with nearer examination one could see thin specks of glass that loosened its rigidity. At one of its ends top sat a long, asymmetrical obelisk.
"This is something I've worked on for seven years", Starlight declared, the eyes full of sparkle. "I call it 'The Pillar of Dreams'. Pretty fancy, isn't it?"
'Fancy' wasn't exactly the word Cygna would have used.
The thing had a simple beauty to it, admittedly, but there was nothing particularly well-crafted about it. The only interesting thing about it was the golden ring on the bottom, that bore the seal of Princess Luna - Starlight Glimmer was widely known as her protégé.
"But what is it?", she asked cautiously. "It looks a little... abstract."
Starlight chuckled again. "Well, that's because it IS rather abstract. You won't believe how long it took me to figure out the key components. Fortunately, I got a little help by Ironclad's family."
She used her magic to raise the object up in the air, while at the same time turning on a desk lamp besides them.
Suddenly, the whole crystal seemed to wake up - its darkest parts now shimmered in a wonderful dreamy blue, while the edges took on a radiant purple. At some spots, it had tints of green and sky blue, elevating it to a representation of the galaxy.
But the most remarkable view were the holes that now appeared all over its surfaces - they were merely the outer endings for a system of long, black-cladded tunnels that led all over the crystal to a central chamber, where - if Cygna could trust her eyes - a tiny black sail was spinning freely in the air.
Cygna had to blink. "Is that supposed to be one of these reactors I've heard so much about...?"
Starlight gave her an irritated look.
"Most certainly not", she clarified, "those are actually stable in comparison to this one. ... Though they both need a very strong mind and high-level magic to keep them in function." She contemplated for a minute, then turned to Cygna. "We'll better give it a test run."
With this, the Pillar sank down to the table and landed in front of Cygna's doubtful face.
"It's basically like building a connection line", her teacher lectured.
"See - at first, you create a very concentrated magic channel, the so-called transistor line and pull it to the center the crystal via the Transitere-spell.
Meanwhile, you must also hold the outer body with Continui and keep its energy on a constant 3.4-level.
Don't let it intertwine with the transition magic or ever touch the walls, or everything will go up in flames.
You're done, when the magic has reached the Oneirian Sail in the middle - then, you only have to speak Imprimendum and let the magic do the rest. You got it?"
Cygna nodded immidiately. "Transitere, Continui, Imprimendum... anything else?"
Starlight hesitated. Then she shook her head. "Let's stick with the basics! We'll get to the rest once we are done here! Ready?"
Cygna had already spread her legs and stemmed her hooves in the carpet. Now she bowed her head.
"I'm on fire!"
"Ooookay... Just don't rush it - keep steady! ... Slow and steady... Ready?... Then - GO!"
Taking in one last breath, Cygna pointed her glowing white horn on the crystal body.
In her mind, she had already sampled a list of what to do next.
The first step was to create a sufficient amount of magic to draw from.
Then - to extract a tiny drop while keeping the rest of it still.
It was a pretty advanced technique, but Cygna had practiced it often enough to handle the process in her sleep.
However, stretching that portion into a line proved to be a literal "pain in the neck".
Cygna twisted her head back and forth in every possible direction, until her neck muscles were overstrained, to form that pebble-sized fraction into the shape of a satin thread.
A single drop of sweat ran over her brow, while she took a small break and rooted her mind in the moment.
She swapped out a little bit from the rest magic to compensate for lost energy, then went back to work and enveloped her pile around the crystal.
3.4 mana per minute and pound, Starlight had said.
While that was not TOO HIGH a number, it was already in the "advanced"-area of magic, where thaumatic energy became very sensitive and hard to balance.
And even though Starlight had suggested to stay with the basics, Cygna found it not too far off to cast an additional Concentrare-spell. It was just to keep the fluctuations down...
Then she turned back and lifted the white energy thread.
She had seen Transitere often enough with her mother, when she was stitching by hoof in the tailor shop.
The tricky thing was maneuvering on a decent pace in a miniscule space.
But Cygna felt confident.
Whatever her mother did, she could do better.
Smoothly like a worm, the shimmering strand slithered down the hole, making only minimal thrusts while rushing through the tunnels.
The first three curves she maneuvered easily. The tunnel went in curves and bows instead of a straight line, but that was probably just due to the mineral structures, and those were quite generous here.
Then there came long stretches of nothing, where she took the time to collect herself and stabilize the energy level... before slap-bang, a sudden row of sharp slops and turns dragged her away.
Cygna squinted her eyes. It was kinda hard to recognize the lines under the crystal surface.
The lamp next to her was helpful, but almost too weak to make the lines visible, so she often had to rely on the vibrations she felt through her magic: The thin space of compressed air between the thread and the crystal wall was stabilizing the flow, but also put a lot of extra pressure on her, as the tunnel grew closer and closer and the track became more than a little bumpy.
Eventually, she had to slow down and pull herself up a hill by force.
But that was okay... slow and steady, as permitted.
Finally, she was over the edge... and suddenly, the ride broke loose.
The air got decompressed, and the walls grew wider again... and the tunnel turned into a maelstrom.
Suddenly, the magical gravitation towards the center grew threefold, and Cygna's vessel had no chance to ecape it.
It was as if her magic had become a rollercoaster, and her horn was the rail that kept it on track. The once harmonically shaped channels got quite uneven, and cracks and splits and stones rushed by the vessel, disturbing its hold.
And as Cygna's attention lingered more and more towards stearing the magic twine, her grasp on the Continui-cloud became dangerously weak.
But even now, Cygna didn't even think of giving up.
Instead, she decided to press the magic twine even thinner, to better her grip on the lanky vessel.
Last curve now... one last push... throw, beat, treadle - REST!...
And then... she was there. The thread slipped around the sail and tied the knot.
Cygna felt the wave of relief coming in, but she couldn't give in yet. Not until the last spell...
...Imprimendum!
--To be continued--
Author's Note
Even though I did my best to finish this chapter in the best possible quality, it just kept going longer and longer. So I had to cut it off a bit early.
Turn in soon for the conclusion!
Chapter 1: The Order of Nightmares
Ponyville, Equestria
The Year 17 after the Day of Shadow
Seventeen years of war.
Seventeen years after the Elements of Harmony disappeared.
Princess Twilight's Castle - empty. The Council of Friendship - abandoned. The Map of Harmony - silent.
The streets of Ponyville lie in darkness, under a moon that's rising on its own, in the shadow of a wall that shouldn't be there.
It - the wall - has been built for war, like many of recent constructions, and is circling the town like an overgrown circus arena, descending on the inside.
In the little spaces that remain, countless refugees have built their little shelters - usually three stores worth of two-room-apartements with tight little racks and a tiny oven, the reef raising upwards like a bunch of uniformed pine trees.
In one of the dark backyards buried behind these shelters, there was a small vegetable garden, surrounded by a park, enclosed with high iron fences. It formed the front of a tall, dark terrace of bizarre format - three different buildings from different time periods, poorly shoved into one another with a single, barely lit portal as entrance.
Usually, it was very quiet and lonely there, but tonight, a hooded pony in a dark green robe was emerging from the shadow and trotted across the pebble-stone path towards the little round portal.
A doorbell was rung - three times and a half - and a little peephole in the door opened. Two gloomy blue eyes looked outside.
"Which is your heart's desire, thee who enters here?", a gruff voice declared in a pompous tone. "What mission doth thou put upon yourself?"
The hooded figure gave a short sigh, but then exclaimed in a (slightly less pompous) voice: "To grow the plant of rest and contemplation, for all of those who seek the hidden garden."
"Have gracious spirits smoothed thy path to us," the doorkeeper continued, "or tethered countless ills the hooves beneath thy crown?"
The hooded mare made a pause, pawing the pebble-stones beneath her hoof: "I... had a fairly good journey, all things considered! Dry. Unbothered by criminals. Too many flickering lanterns for my taste..."
"Then entrance you will find inside our chambers, and gratitude may find your every doing!"
"That's nice, I guess... wait, wasn't that a syllable too much? And what's about the widow's foal?"
Now the doorkeeper hesitated.
"What's about him?", he asked.
"Does he need help?", the hooded mare repeated. "You know: Is there no help for the poor widow's foal?... Secret hoofshakes, hidden amuletts, ugly tattoos on your foreleg... anything else we need to do?"
A minute of agonizing silence.
Then the doorkeeper released a little, desperate cry: "... I... I've botched it up, haven't I?"
"It's no big deal-", the hooded mare tried to say, before a series of angry punches loudly overshadowed her voice.
"My. First. Day. On. Duty. And. I. Blow it!!!"
"Oh, for pony's sake!"
The visitor lifted her hood and ignited the long mauve horn on her forehead.
A cloud of purple magic flew up the door and inside, lifting the doorkeeper - a short hazelnut pony with auburn curls - up to the peephole, forcing him to gaze into two dark blue rings wrinkled by age.
"Look - I have said the words, you see who I am... would you just announce me to your higher ups already?"
The stallion, though nodding, gave a very disappointed glance sideways.
"Oh, alright... So chase with haste upon your master's chamber, and make it known to all who care to listen, that Starlight Glimmer, Sorceress of the court, will come with service and with good advice. "
A happy tear ran over the earth pony's cheek, and as soon as she let him fall, he was galloping up the stairs... leaving Starlight behind, the door still closed.
The unicorn tapped three more times against the dark wood, then retreated. "Alas, dear doorkeeper, I knew thee not!"
A little time later, Starlight was trotting down a spacious hallway, decorated with plenty of comfy chairs and dark blue curtains. Once in a while, those were interrupted by a violet banner, showing a round yellow emblem. On it, a dark blue alicorn with flowing mane and tail was holding a black and white crystal, forever symbolizing the duality of good and evil.
The Poor Fellow-Ponies of the Night and the Selenic Temple, Starlight thought. Also known as "the Nightmares".
She couldn't help but feel massively impressed, despite the awkward show back at the portal.
Before her, the short and stocky doorkeeper (which had introduced himself as Brother Nutcrack) still tried to look dignified while pushing a dolly with dirty blankets around.
On Starlight's question to the why he only answered: "To be among my kin."
Eventually, they reached the other end of the hallway, where a tall, slender mare stepped out of the neighbouring corridor.
Wearing a long, blueberry cowl and a bright blue cloak over it, a tightly knit hood covering the head, she seemed strong and ageless at first - only a little older than Starlight herself.
But when they came closer, her weariness showed itself, from the bleak ashen face to the lethargic-looking purple eyes, that wouldn't quite fit the bright pink mane under her hood. And if she hadn't shook her big wings, Starlight would not even have taken her for a pegasus - so earth-bound and depressing was her overall demeanor, when she looked at Starlight with these melancholic eyes.
"Most Marvellous Miss Glimmer", Brother Nutcrack loudly declared, "Might I introduce thee to our dear preceptor and abbess: Tirania of Ponydad, who wished your presence in these sacred halls of dream... Now if thee excuse me... I have to do a ritual washing or two..."
And off he went with shrieking wheels.
Even though her visit had been requested, Starlight felt a little intimidated right now, if just by the cold welcome she had gotten. After a short exchange of formalities, Tirania then wordlessly pointed towards the staircase and asked her to follow upstairs.
Their goal was at the south wing, a slanting tower of several square blocks. They went up as high as they could, before taking a small door out on a balcony. There, they turned to the right and followed another row of wooden stairs around the building up to its top, where there was an ungarnished cube of bricks with a single steel door to the south.
Starlight could grasp a short glimpse of some darkened windows right next to it, when they were already stepping in.
They entered a quadratic chamber, barely lit with glowing crystals. Most of the corner was filled by a giant old oven, heating up the room to tropical temperatures. Spread over the shadowy floor were flower buckets as big as a pony, filled to the brim with dark rich earth and light splinters of wood.
A light-blue Zebra stallion (wearing the same cowl as Tirania) leaned over them, pouring out bright blue gravel into each of the pots.
Noticing the visitors, he glanced up and stopped in his tracks. He gave a brief bow to Starlight, before he turned to Tirania, the hooves clapping in excitement.
"Do the stars for once stand in our favour, Sister? Can it really be?"
"Indeed, Brother Quaggas", Sister Tirania exclaimed. "Miss Glimmer is honouring us with a sample of Luna's famous moon lavender."
The stallion gasped, and Starlight hurried up to untie the small sac on her waist, then levitating it right into Brother Quaggas' hoof.
The Zebra opened the bundle with his teeth: A volumious heap of little grey seeds and bright violet blossoms popped out and spread a gentle, sweet odor through the stuffy warm air.
Brother Quaggas took a good breath of that smell, then carefully put the sac on a nearby desk and reached out for a band right next to the wall.
Blinds on the outside of the building unfolded, and suddenly, the floor and the flower pots on it were covered by the most beautiful colours. The garish, pale moonlight fell through a row of stain glass windows and was taking the form of an endless grey mountain range, varied only by small tints of green and blue. As on the tapestry back in the hallway, a dark blue alicorn stood front and center, behind her the emptiness of space, speckled with stars and planets and sprinkling nebulas.
The sheer amount of details and nuances left Starlight in pure paralysis. "I... I don't think even the Royal Palace has windows quite like these", she finally uttered, stepping closer just to catch a look at Jupiter far on the eastern firnament.
Sister Tirania gave a mischievous little smile - the sort of smile usually not expected on bony faces. "Our enchanters have only followed the instructions in your book, Lady Glimmer. Even they would have been helpless without the knowledge you passed on."
"I did very little", Starlight responded in all sincerity. "Most of that came from Luna. Even if I tried, I could never craft such glasses. Or such colours..."
Her glance went over the blank spaces... long stretches of nothing between subtle tints of cyan and mulberry.
Every other artist would have used a substitute colour of matching darkness. Even master craftsponies could not create a consistent black field or let it flow seemlessly into lighter colours.
But here, she found a jet black that remained translucent.
That should have been impossible, and it went beyond anything she had found in Luna's notes.
And therefore, even though she could not hide her amazement, Starlight still felt a nasty sense of doubt nagging at her brain:
Someone ambitious was at work in these halls... someone with an immense power or an insane talent for chemistry, that was able to trump an alicorn princess. It was absolutely insane.
Well, at least the light seemingly had no immediate negative effects. On the contrary, Starlight felt her spirits being softly uplifted. As if the idea of the giant vaccuum outside the planet were actually an assuasive thing...
"They'll answer their purpose either way", she finally said. "They're going to dissolve the moonbeams into their individual magical particles. That way, the moon lavender can absorb them, reconnect them..."
"... and spread them as pollen all across the room, to better the dreams of all who sleep in it", Brother Quaggas closed in gleeful expectation. "A true miracle of modern medicine. Some say it even gives you entry into unknown parts of your mind."
"I don't know about that, but they are very relaxing for sure."
"And they'll hopefully bring our mission to the next level", Sister Tirania stated in an anxious tone, when she took some of the seeds with her wing feathers and carefully put them into the dark soil. Brother Quaggas, using a wooden dibble, went on to do the same with the pots at the other side of the room.
Starlight watched them for a time, once in a while glimpsing back to the stain glass window.
"I must say... your arrival here in Ponyville was really unexpected", she eventually revealed. "Princess Fluttershy and I weren't aware that Princess Luna had... a cult following, so to speak. She wasn't as out-going as her sister, after all."
"Indeed", Tirana replied calmly. "But the Order of the Nightmares is far older than you think.
We formed more than two hundred years ago, in a time when Luna was still trapped on the moon. We came from the backlands of Horspaña far in the west, in the Selenic Mountains where the moon ends his run. Back then, we were only a small order of simple scientists and philosophers, and our domain were sleep and all aspects of astronomy. We were preparing for the return of Nightmare Moon, which had been foretold a long time ago."
"But Nightmare Moon was defeated by somepony else!", Starlight exclaimed. "Why are you still here?"
Starlight could see a shadow form on Tirania's face. "To persevere", the abess stated.
"To persevere? For what?"
"For everything!" Tirania sharply declared , her purple eyes creepily reflecting the dim light of the crystals. "The night may be peaceful now, but Luna has never forgotten what she was capable of. She was always aware of the evils out there in the world...", her voice came down to a whisper, "... and within oneself."
"... I know", Starlight answered after a while. She disliked the abrupt mood shift and felt not inclined to deepen that particular subject, especially with a religious person.
After silence had stretched the time just a little bit more, Tirania continued, more reserved this time.
"It was my tenth year in the order when she first came to St. Selena and talked with us about our research. I still remember how enthused she was about our studies, and all the papers about sleep we had written and collected in her absence. As a sign of her appreciation, she taught us about the art of enchantement and led us to studies we had never even considered before, like the secrets of the mind and the effect of meditation. For fourteen years, we flourished under her guidance.
Then, seventeen years ago, it was all put up to a test. The dreaded sleeping sickness had infested the lands around our monastery. Princess Luna approached us and offered her famous lavender - and other of her artifacts - as material for a very complex treatment. When it showed positive results, she gave us more and more samples of the lavender, and said that when we had cured the plague and found its source, she would return ... and help us to wipe it out."
Tirania for a moment kept staring in the air, as if her soul had left that old body and had gone back to brighter and more youthful days.
Then she sighed. "But ... as you can imagine... she never came back. The lavender would eventually run out, as we never learned how to cultivate it, and we had to rely on our other methods... until today."
Her gaze went back to Starlight, slowly turning from ecstatic mystical heat to simple curiosity. "I see you surprised. Has she really never told you about us?"
"No, she hasn't," Starlight replied offhand. "It was probably too soon. I'd only been her protégé for three years before she... vanished."
She did her best to rid her voice of the bitterness and envy she felt. It wasn't her right to distrust her mentor, but in this moment she really couldn't grasp why Luna had kept this a secret...
"Maybe she felt she could handle it on her own."
"A likely assumption", Tirania remarked empathically. "She was rather independent. And after all: No pony would have expected the impending danger." She suddenly swallowed. "Were you..."
"I wasn't there at the time", Starlight interrupted her, more harshly this time. "And I have no idea what happened to my friends or Luna or Celestia. And before you go silent and all - you're not the first one to ask, and yes, you are apologized. But could we now please move on? We haven't all evening after all, and you did not just request me to deliver some plants, didn't you?"
"... Right!", Tirania answered after a moment of surprise." Well, we did cure the plague and followed it into other regions, building several branches and winning new members in the process. The sleeping sickness was mostly gone, but we discovered another plague: disturbing nightmares, spreading alongside the war and haunting the days and nights of ponies everywhere. The dragons didn't bother us when we moved eastwards, but more and more we got the feeling that we had to leave Horspaña and get to the source of the problem. When we heard how severe it had gotten even in Equestria, we asked the Princess for permission to build our preceptory."
Tirania made a pause, biting her lips. "And here we are, still in the process of build-up, but already with a very... strange case under our care."
"But if I ain't mistaking, it's not exactly nightmares that are the problem here", Starlight asked, drawing the invitation letter from her pocket. "You've described it as 'heavy panic attacks, combined with visual hallucinations and gradual paranoia, causing sleeplessness and severe hopelessness."
Tirania nodded in grieve. "Yes. And she's young, Lady Glimmer - so young! Too young for such insanity. We've done our best to calm her down, but there is something that might be out of our depths... something only you can help with."
"I will do what I can", Starlight answered immediately. "If my magic can right it, I won't give it a second thought."
Tirania sighed in response and, shaking her head, poured out another sweep of seeds.
"Your boldness is admirable, and I do, in fact, believe your magic could help her. " She made a short pause, longer this time. "If you're still taking cutie marks away, that is."
A little while later, the two went down a quiet corridor and followed a chain of numbered doors until they finally reached a single room on the far end.
Gently, Tirania pushed Starlight towards the handle.
"She's probably sleeping... We had her talk with some psychiatrists earlier, so she might still be tired. You better approach her more carefully in that case," she added cautiously. "No hasty movements. Act confident and without fear..."
"Now that's gonna be easy!" Starlight murmured.
"... and you better don't touch her - she's not ready for that!"
Neither am I, Starlight added in her head. If only Twilight were here. Or Fluttershy... But princesses nowadays don't get invested with the crowds anymore.
So, as usual, she held back her instincts and jumped right into the fire, opening the door with a soft swift of her magic.
The room was almost pitch-black - only a small block of luminescent crystal threw some light over the small wooden bed on its side.
There, tightly bound under a glistening blanket, was Starry Eye - a slender little Earth Pony with ill-looking white fur and boney ankles. Her leaf-green hair sat on her head like a helmet, but it wasn't thick enough to hide the signs of pain in her face.
Besides the bed sat what was presumably her mother - an Eastern Unicorn mare, big and stocky, the mane tied to a bun, but in everything else the very picture of the girl. Her hoof rested on Starry Eye's forehead, and deep shadows surrounded the almond shape of her eyes.
She half-jumped when Starlight entered, and at first she made a very hostile impression. Though she was clearly not a Ponyville native, Kelly Stern apparently had heard rumors about some of Starlight's more controversial deeds, and was afraid the court magician would try something potentially dangerous on her daughter. Only when Starlight swore to not take action without verbal permission, Kelly Stern reluctantly stepped back.
She lifted the blanket with her hoof and ignited her horn to light things up.
"There it is - that blast'd thing! ", she growled in her broad accent, pointing in a dark corner deep under the wool.
Starlight followed her light, and at first she was a little confused. The "blasted thing" looked more like a six-angled starfish.
But the more and more she looked, the more uneasy she felt.
Were it the arms, stiff as needles and sharp as knifes?
Were it the colors, a shriekish purple and the white of fletched teeth?
Or were it, that the little dots on its surface seemed to be... MOVING?
That couldn't be! Starlight had to close her eyes and blink.
When she opened them again, the dots were perfectly still... or weren't they?
Starlight couldn't quite tell. Sure, the light could play tricks on her, but whenever she moved her eyes a little, the little dots seemed to be... shaking... shuffling...
A little disturbed already, Starlight let wander her magic higher up on the flank. She recked her neck and looked on the other side of the Cutie Mark.
As a whole, it didn't resemble a starfish as much as a sun clock, or a cobblestone picture on a plaza... if it weren't for the big black point in the center.
It - and this time Starlight wasn't mistaken - reflected the light Starlight threw at it, as if it were a three-dimensional hill on the skin!
For a moment, Starlight couldn't breath. She felt, as if she had looked in the eye of darkness itself - a wild, beastly presence that would wipe out life itself without even acknowledging its existence.
Starlight suddenly felt the urge to destroy it. To beat it in the gut and throw it back to where it came from.
She could not recall to have had such emotions ever before... and yet, it seemed familiar: something that had always been there, and rightfully so. It was a raw, physical reaction, removed from any empathy or sentient decision - nothing but brute animalism, tempting in its simplicity.
This has to be dark magic of a very special kind, Starlight thought, when she had finally managed to shove it away.
Taking another deep breath, she went on to scan the body, while Kelly Stern in her back kept the eyes on every move.
The signs became more and more obvious...
"What does happen when you touch the mark?" Starlight suddenly asked.
For a time, she had contemplated not asking that question, but it had interested her ever since Tirania brought it up.
Kelly Stern's ears instantly grew red as she heard it.
"What - what do ya think of me... Ah could never..."
"You are her mother!", Starlight rebuked her in a sharp whisper. "Don't tell me you never touched it at least by accident... when you tried to comfort her... or kept her up when she fainted..."
Too late Starlight realized that she had make a big mistake.
"Never mind."
While Kelly Stern turned away to hide her tears, Starlight nervously continued.
Her magic slowly hovered above the flank and - besides the remains of dark magic - revealed some other, even more disturbing details: little scars on her ankle, red bruises on her thigh, dirty little spots of dust and grain, as if some pony had attempted to rub it off on the street, and a thick blue effusion on the knee cap which (to Starlight's horror) was shaped like a horseshoe...
"D-did she...?"
"Yes, " a very light voice answered.
... Starlight slowly raised her head and looked into some of the most lifeless, flat eyes she had ever seen: long, sharp eye lashes, two solid circles of purple, one about the other, and a pupil as tiny as the hole in a camera obscura. As they pierced her, they reminded Starlight of a puppet: emotionless and glassy.
However, when Starlight's horror flew by, she noticed the deep wrinkles contorting the face into a sad frown, and her disgust was exchanged with pity.
What a shame to judge a little girl by her looks, when she was so afraid...
"We didn't intend to wake you up", she stated gentle and pushed herself carefully on the edge of the bed. "I'm Starlight Glimmer, Sorceress of the Court in Canterlot."
Starry Eye slowly nodded, but also gave a scared glance to her mother.
Kelly Stern returned the glance and approached the magician.
"Ma'am - Ah must insist that ya just give us the diagnosis and then leave us alone! My daughter hadn't had a good sleep for four days, and Ah am not going to waste her bed time for another psycho-talk."
But Starlight ignored her, forcing herself into a broad smile that hopefully would find a welcome.
"I want to help you, Starry Eye. I'm very experienced with cutie marks and all ways of pony magic. I've already took a look on your cutie mark from the outside, but I also need to know about your perspective. How are you feeling?"
Starry sank a little deeper into her sheets, giving no response at all.
"Have Ya even heard me, Miss Glimmer?"
"It's okay", Starlight continued. "You don't have to fear me! I just want your best."
"... but that's the problem", Starry Eye finally whispered.
"What?"
"THAT is the problem. That... That you want my best - THAT's the problem."
"I don't quite understand", Starlight stated in mild puzzlement. "What do you mean by that?"
Starry stared at her emptily, but her breathing was getting notably heavier. When Starlight was coming closer, she finally pressed her eyes together and said:
"It's because I am a bucking mental! There - you get it?"
...
The words kept hanging in the air like a mic drop. While Kelly Stern was groaning in the background, all Starlight could think was: Teenager.
Strangely enough, it didn't repel her - rather the opposite.
She cleared her throat.
"Well, if you mean 'mental' as in 'mentally disturbed' - you're absolutely right. But in my opinion, that's not quite the same." She let her words sink for a moment.
"Let's start over, shall we? I need to know when and how you got your Cutie Mark. Can you tell me the whole story?"
Starry - not as good with words and possibly a little ashamed of her outburst - gave an unsure look to her mother again, who - after an approving gaze by Starlight - reluctantly resigned.
"She got it nearly three weeks ago", she answered. "Stars had just come back from playing with her friend. Pretty tired, like she'd always been. So Ah asked her to lay down for a bit.
Ah went to the oven to make some tea for us, when Ah suddenly heard that darn rumbling from the living room. And that screaming... Sweet Celestia, Ah haven't heard her screaming like that since... ever!
Ah dropped everything and came back to find her on the floor - shoving herself around like fish in a pool of quicksand. She was yelling for something to 'get away'. Something in her dreams, Ah think.
It was around that time my husband came home, and together we helped her back on the couch. Then..."
She swallowed for a moment.
"... Then Ah touched her flank by accident. Ya can't imagine how loud she got! She went really hard on us. Kicking around like a buckball champ... all sobbing and crying... hit me right in the muzzle, and Ah useless thing was crying, too. It was a nightmare!
And then, the neighbors come swarming in through the open door, like a herd of locusts, and suddenly, we can barely move a flank. All that noise, and that constant mumbling and rumbling, and Starry Eye between all of that, crying even more...
Ah swear - Ah was losing it! Made them all shut up right that instance. Asked them to wait outside 'til the dust had settled. Some won't come to dinner anymore", she added with a slight smile, "but I don't care that much. When the last one of them was gone, my dear Parcel Post had finally tugged Stars in that blanket and she was calming down.
And then... then we saw that mark, and... well, Ah'm sure we had the same thought: It wasn't going to get better.
Soon, we could barely get her out of bed. She would not take visitors anymore, and her friends would stay away to give her some space... but she still felt this bucking pain. Sometimes, she'd start crying out of the blue, but couldn't tell why, and other times, she suddenly stopped her meal and would not finish for the rest of the day, because she felt so sick..."
Her voice broke for a moment, as her throat released a sharp, raspy sound and she had to brace herself once more.
"We should have come here weeks ago! If Ah just hadn't been such a balky mule..."
Starlight gave a soft nod, signaling her to stop.
She herself had to keep her emotions from overwhelming her, as it reminded her of a very dark time in her life.
For others, three weeks didn't seem long, but it was more than enough to screw you up completely - she had learned that the hard way.
She looked at Starry Eye again, who - during her mother's tale - had slowly moved towards the darkest corner of her bed, tugging the blanket into her hooves.
"You were fighting with something?", Starlight went on. " Something your mother couldn't see?"
"... I saw nothing", Starry Eye slowly replied. " 'Twas just a dream."
She was obviously lying - Starlight felt it. "Well, even if it's just a dream - you HAVE TO tell me. If you can remember it, of course."
Starry Eye turned away, her small forehead wrinkled in fear. After a while she said: "I'd like to... but I can't."
"Are you serious?"
"I haven't seen it yet. It's just... a brute. Like a massive wall. A big dark something. I can't hear what it's saying... but I can feel it. Every move is like a cut in my head."
"And it is saying something? How does it sound like?"
No answer again, but it was clear that she at least was looking for an answer now - slowly licking her lips while she sought for words.
Starlight chose to try a new direction, as she wanted to bring that interigation to a quick end. "You were a late bloomer, weren't you?"
Starry Eye listened up, then hesitantly nodded. "My friends had their cutie marks two years ago, at least", she whimpered, a far too familiar tone in her voice. "Sunny and Mani and Guina..."
"But apparently they're still playing with you", Starlight reminded her, as she felt that would cheer her up. "And they came for you when you were in pain. They didn't abandon you. That's something, right?... Right?"
... Starry Eye did not hear her anymore.
Her quivering limbs suddenly paralized, and her throat let out a dark, unarticulated sound, half whining, half coughing. The broken mirror of her eye - clear and sharp before - now blurred and ran over like a cup of wine, emptied on the floor, the purple flickering and splashing from the inside.
Then Starry Eye screamed, and it was like a howling hydra in Starlight's ears.
One for one they rose from the abyss - her childhood in Sire's Hollow, her lonely days all by herself in the valley, her wicked speeches to what would soon become her minions... pictures, sounds, feelings... long rows of overlapping pictures, turning into a hopeless cry, a vengeful laughter... never ending... never...
"No... NO!!!"
Her horn literally blew up, and as it did, a white wave of magic dipped over their heads and then splashed out again, filling the room with a pool of sizzling sparkles.
For one trippling moment they rotated like a carousel, then burst into little flashes and blinked out of existence.
After the last of them had popped that way, there was no other sound left in the room than Starlight, rubbing her forehead from the sudden shock.
Glimpsing around, she saw Starry Eye in the bed, Kelly Stern on the ground and Tirania at the door - all staring emptily in Starlight's direction who slowly realized what had happened.
"Oh... it's Fiducia Compellus again, isn't it?", she uttered. "O-okay, don't worry - I got that! Just a minute..."
She let out another wave of magic, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw Starry Eye coming back into motion.
The little filly was severly blinking at first, but when her eyes fell on Starlight, her face turned a dark shade of grimson.
"What the buck were you doing? First you do that... that thing to me and then you just put me under mind control? How dare you!"
"That wasn't my intend", Starlight apologized. "I just wanted to calm you down, but... this was the first spell that came to my mind, and... it somehow worked."
"It worked, alright! It totally worked!" Starry's body was shaking again, but with anger this time. "I-I can't stand this anymore! All that whining and caring and cheering me up... it's driving me crazy! Why can't you just... leave me alone or something."
Starlight could almost not bear to look at her. She looked to Kelly Stern, who rubbed her forehead like Starlight had done, and Tirania, whose slit eyes conveyed a merciful, but still stern disapproval.
As she had every right to - Starlight had botched it up.
And yet - as she looked over all the facts she had garnered - the answer seemingly lay only one question away from her.
She turned to Starry Eye. "I'm very, very sorry! ", she emphasized. "And I understand that you are frustrated - I would be, too. But I have to ask you one more thing before we part ways. That bruises on your flank... that terrible pain... can you feel any of it right now?"
Starry Eye seemed confused, looking down on herself as she pondered. "Erm... no..."
"But you felt it, when we talked about your friends, didn't you? Or when your neighbors came to see you."
"... yeah ..." Starry's eye brows curled up, as she remembered. "...think so... doesn't make any sense, now you're mentioning it..."
"I wouldn't say so... in fact, you've given me a very definitive answer. Thanks for your endurance!"
Starlight stood up and turned to Kelly Stern, whose face wore the signs of a heavy migraine. "I think I can tell now what's going on here!"
She expected the bulky unicorn to decline any further dialogue, being instantly repulsed or disgusted by her methods. But the expression on her face was none of that - just the unrepressed care of a mother.
"... Ah don't know if ya're a genius, or a madmare, or anything else. But please tell me ya can fix her! Ah... ah can't stand seeing her like that!"
Starlight braced herself, as she put the vague pieces together into what had to be a legitimate diagnosis.
"I'm afraid your daughter is infected by some sort of curse - a very, very dark one, I believe. It has ingrained over her actual cutie mark and now feeds on it, like a parasite. That means, whenever your daughter will use her special talent, that curse will be there, biting into her flesh and causing her the same pain you witnessed right now. It'll never consume her completely, I think (as a pony's talent isn't something you can just swallow up). But it will destroy her enjoyment of it, and over time, might repel her from ever using it again. This way, she'll never live up to her full potential and will be even worse off than a blank flank."
Silence.
Kelly Stern's athletic body remained frozen in place, but the heart behind these muscles was shaken to the core.
"My daughter has been with the Cutie Mark Crusaders for four years now", she remarked in a tone of devastation. "She's the last of her class that hasn't gotten her mark yet. Ah've heard her crying to sleep sometimes. Ah haven't been the most friendly to ya, but... if ya can do anything... just rip it off - please!"
"I can't."
"But ya sure did so before - an entire village no less!"
"I didn't really rip them off", Starlight yelled. "I just switched them with a curse mark that numbed their special talent to a point where they almost forgot what it was. Do you really want me to do the same to Starry Eye - DO YOU?"
Kelly Stern looked to her daughter in the bed, than back to Starlight. "Then switch between us - my marks for hers!", she suggested.
"What?"
"Ah'm dead-serious!"
"Don't do that, Mom!", Starry Eye shouted.
"Will ya don't tell me what to do, young lady!"
"I won't let you do this!"
"We're talking about your damn future here!"
"And what's about Dad?", Starry Eye yelled. "And the twins? What will become of them? You want to give all of that up just for me? I'd rather die!"
Kelly Stern pressed her eyes shut, the tears running over again. Sister Tirania offered a wing, and she buried her muzzle into it, sniffling like a child.
The real child watched her - the cheeks red of heat, yet seemingly convinced of her point, that no personal pain would ever be as important as her family.
She looked back at Starlight again, and her face expressed a gentle, but firm determination that bordered on trust. "You really can't do anything else, can you?"
"I'm afraid not", Starlight answered sincerely, "not for now. But I'll keep my eyes open. And you... you'll just make the best of it."
Starry Eye nodded, now suddenly emanating an aura of allevation that seemed rather curious to Starlight. Apparently, now as her deepest fears had been confirmed, there was no doubt holding her back anymore.
"You said, that thing is eating on my special talent", she said. "What does that even mean? How can it know my special talent if even I had no clue?"
"Now that's a question for the ages," Starlight replied weary, "but considering your reactions today, it could be something along the lines of... friendship. Social interactions harm you, but only when you receive kindness. When you're yelling at me... feeling justified anger... it doesn't seem to bother you that much."
"Now that's a relief", Starry Eye snorted. "Am I supposed to be yelling at ponies from now on?"
"No - but it sounds fun, doesn't it?", Starlight answered, a light smile in her cheeks before she turned serious again. "Unfortunately, I'm not really a doctor. We're probably far away from any solution in this matter. But maybe we can stall for time... better your condition again... I'm sure, Sister Tirania can offer you some of her methods. She has studied the pony mind for quite some time now."
The abbess, still holding Starry Eye's mother, seemed to notice the light mockery tone in her voice.
However, she nodded in agreement. "We're going with breath control for a start. Then some meditation... physical training... a good nutrition plan... lavender tea... basic lesson in good manners..."
"My manners aren't that bad...", Starry murmured into her blanket.
"As your colourful language definitely shows! But I thought of a little bit more... formality."
To Starlight's surprise, Starry gave a little chuckle to this, and when Kelly Stern eventually tugged her back into her blankets, the wrinkles in her face had nearly disappeared.
It was not too long after that, when Starlight Glimmer and Kelly Stern slowly trotted down the staircase to the entrance hall - both tired and numbed by the late hour and the rough events of the day.
"I really must apologize for that Fiducia again", Starlight said. "I haven't done that in a while. Didn't thought that through."
"Don't sweat!", Kelly Stern replied. "It calmed us down, and that's all what counts. If things go down, yowl... I mean: y'all do... what ya do... when ya do it." A big yawn interrupted her speech, which she followed up by taking all the last steps at once and elegantly curving into a candelholder.
After she had more carefully backed away from that menace, her head turned one last time up the staircase, thinking back to her daughter.
"Ya're sure that's the right place here? Gonna be quite boring with all those vooha-luna-shama-lama-ding-dong - no offense!"
"None taken! - She's gonna be alright! There's a little more to that vooha than you think."
"She'll still have a hard time here! No friends, no Buckball, no family... not a single pony to be nice to her!"
"That doesn't mean she'll have no friends ever again", Starlight said, laying a hoof on her shoulder. "It's just gonna be... different. You have to treat her like an adult now. Let her sort out her problems on her own! We have enough for ourselves."
"Sure do!" She let out another sigh - probably the up-billionth this evening - and began her way back home.
Out the door and through the garden to the music of a nightingale. Illuminated only by the full moon, giving the illusion that Luna herself were present that night.
But in reality, this moon was only about as sacred as the crystal on Starry's bedside table, where now Sister Tirania sat, slowly reading to a sleeping filly from a small yellowed book:
"... Now stir the air into your chest! Feel, like your chestbones rise and sink in the same, regular rhythm. Be a wave on the ocean, carrying a ship! Let it flow... up... and down... Carry it with you to the sacred lands... whose shores were made for you... Think of the sound of crystal flutes... and join into their choir..."
And despite all the emotional strains and physical pains of the day pressing her into the sheets, Starry Eye couldn't resist to give a little "Peeeep!", before she went off into the land of dreams, a smile on her face.
---- To be continued ----
Author's Note
For everyone that's a little confused: This chapter is only supposed to be an introduction to Starry Eye in her childhood. The real plot will be kicking off in the next chapter, which is currently in production.
