Forgotten

Twilight and the newly minted Flame Mane walked into the prison and went up to the guard at the desk. Here was their first obstacle. They had to find a way to ensure their entrance into the correctional facility, but she wasn't sure just how to do it. She had noticed the sign toting the prison's visiting hours outside, but they weren't lucky enough to get there in time and they couldn't wait for the next day. After all, if they didn't undo Flame Mane's mistake soon, then Equestria would be lost forever.

So Twilight decided to work a certain disguise. She signaled to Flame to follow her lead, and he nodded at her that he understood. She just hoped that his unfortunate talent didn't come into play here. They needed to break Starlight out and attain her help in their fight to restore friendship in Equestria. Such a mission was quite a monumental task, and Twilight wanted everything to go perfectly.

"Hey," she said as she walked up to the desk. She adopted a gruff tone of voice, trying to pretend to be one of Sombra's guards.

"Hey," the desk guard responded, "what's your business here?"

"I'm one of Sombra's elite soldiers, and this is my apprentice." She pointed a hoof at Flame, who grunted and nodded. Twilight smiled to herself. He was playing the part very well, and she couldn't help but think that his performance was rather cute. "We're here to check on the prisoner," she finished.

"Which one? We have more than one, you know!"

"The one that matters to Sombra, you dolt!" Twilight shouted, "Starlight Glimmer! The one that could ruin all the boss's plans! So let us through."

She gave the desk guard the most evil sneer she could muster, and she swore she saw the other unicorn's face go pale as he tripped over his own hooves in an effort to make a quick getaway. Wow, I didn't know I could strike fear into ponies like that, Twilight said to herself before twisting her face up in disgust, ugh, I don't like that. I don't wanna strike fear, I wanna strike friendship! She realized how cheesy her internal one-liner sounded and contorted her face further. I've gotta stop hanging out with Rainbow Dash so much.

By that time, the desk guard had returned with an escort for the new "soldiers," who were immediately escorted into Starlight's quarters. When the door shut behind them, they turned and noticed that they were in an incredibly dimly lit environment. So Twilight lit a small guiding light off the tip of her horn and they looked around. What they saw sent them into a state of panic.

The stench was horrendous. It smelled as if somepony had taken all the contents of their sewer and dumped it into a gigantic pit filled with the rotting corpses of a thousand rats before mixing the whole thing together and throwing it into the local landfill. Twilight quickly threw up a spell to protect their noses, and they stepped forward through the musty air.

The walls were covered in stones and chains, and dried blood was the paint of choice. It seemed as if many ponies had been tortured, or even killed down here. Their descent furthered their suspicions as they noticed bones sticking out of the walls. But then they saw two fresh bodies, and all of their nightmares became reality. One was being devoured by maggots, and the other was in a state of decomposition. That certainly doesn't help the smell, Twilight thought as she gagged in repulsion.

But they pressed on, and finally found themselves emerging into a small holding cell, with one window that looked out into complete nothingness. The stench seemed to be worst of all in this room, and even with all of Twilight's magic, their noses still caught horrible whiffs of it. They turned and noticed an emaciated light purple pony huddled in a corner. "Please…" the poor mare whispered, "…kill me. Please, just end it all. I can't take it anymore. I'm so hungry and thirsty. I've taken to eating the rats in my cell, but even they don't stop the starvation. I beg of you…kill me."

Twilight immediately recognized Starlight and felt great compassion for her friend. She stepped over and bent down towards her. "Starlight," she said softly, "do you remember me?" She held onto a small threadbare pin of hope that her school's guidance counselor would remember her.

"Twilight?" Starlight asked, "Princess Twilight? Is that really you?"

Twilight could have leapt for joy. Somepony remembered her! That means…Flame Mane's spell didn't reach everypony! Starlight must have been somewhere safe from it! She quickly pulled the surprised prisoner into a hug and wept tears of joy. "Thank you," she whispered, "you…remember me!"

"Of course I remember you! We were just in class the other day…before that weird white wave hit and everything in Equestria went to hell in a hoof basket. By the way, who's the new pony?"

"This is Flame Mane, my newest friend," Twilight said proudly, "he's gonna help put Equestria back to the way it's supposed to be."

"It's wonderful to meet you, Flame Mane," Starlight said as she attempted to get up. But her hooves were weak from a long time without food or water, so she just sat there.

"I don't get it, Starlight," Twilight said, "how on Earth could you be the only pony who remembers me?"

Starlight took a rather deep breath, paused to make sure her facts were in order, and then told her story…