Headmare Starlight continued to invite Luster Dawn to each of Arceus’s interrogations. At first, it was easy to tell that Luster disliked Arceus. She seemed pretty excited to be the headmare’s right-hand mare, but overtime, Headmare Starlight grew more and more comfortable with Luster around.

Because of this, she became much less careful of the threats she made to Arceus in Luster's presence, and Arceus noticed that whenever the headmare said things like, ‘Would you rather I turn you into a toad again?’ or ‘I wouldn’t have to hurt you if you would just do what I say,” that Luster would become very uncomfortable.

When Headmare Starlight shot a magic blast towards Arceus and missed her face by only a hair, Luster was biting the side of her cheek with terrified eyes. All of that made it clear to Arceus that Luster was nothing like Headmare Starlight. Luster had true fear and sympathy for Arceus, but after giving it a bit of thought while in her room - since Arceus had nothing better to do in her spare time - she decided that it didn't matter if Luster cared about what the headmare was doing if she wasn't going to do anything to stop it.

Arceus had already lost all hope for her original idea of possibly getting Luster to help her escape. After all, she assumed that Luster would've already done something to help if she was ever going to.

A few days later, Arceus was proven wrong.

Up until now, Headmare Starlight had still been providing her shield to Arceus for the weekly Releasing. Even the headmare understood how important the Releasing was. When Arceus let out so many little microscopic amounts of her magic during it, it gave her a kind of freedom that she couldn't have without it. If she didn't do it, there was a large likelihood of Arceus losing control while sleeping or while feeling even the smallest bit of emotion, and Arceus assumed that Headmare Starlight knew that even a unicorn as powerful as herself couldn't hope to shield Arceus twenty-four seven.

However, one day, after a few more unanswered questions and an eye exam that clearly didn't help the headmare at all, Headmare Starlight finally gave in.

"That's it! I'm done with this! This is the last straw! We need to come up with a different plan," Headmare Starlight announced to Luster Dawn. Luster looked exhausted. Since she had classes during the day, Headmare Starlight had made Arceus's sessions at night so that Luster could be there. But, as a result, Luster was always exhausted by the end.

"What do you mean?" Luster asked sleepily.

"I've been too gentle with her. It's time to take extreme measures." At that, Luster's exhaustion suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a look of utter disbelief.

"Too gentle?! What more would you even do?" Luster asked.

Headmare Starlight turned towards Arceus.

"Your next Releasing is tommorow?" she asked. Arceus remained silent. She knew by now that saying anything at all would only encourage Headmare Starlight.

"We're skipping it," Headmare Starlight said casually.

"What?!" Arceus screamed, immediately forgetting her own 'no talking' rule. She tried to jump out of her chair, but was unable due to the ropes. Luster looked panicked as well, but on a much smaller scale.

"But Headmare Starlight, wouldn't the lack of release cause an unstable overload and quite possibly fester into an uncontrollable force which would destroy the whole school and everything in it as well as-" Headmare Starlight grabbed her head with her hoof as she interrupted Luster's babbling.

"Luster, please stop. You're giving me a headache."

Luster looked deeply annoyed.

"You do realize that you would die with me if I lost control, right?" Arceus asked angrily.

"At least I would die for a good cause." Arceus's eyebrows rose practically to the top of her head.

"Are you serious? What about your students?" Headmare Starlight looked down at the ground solemnly.

“It would be for the greater good.”

Arceus should’ve seen this coming. She should’ve known that it was only a matter of time. She had to get out of here now. She could probably find another unicorn with a strong enough shield to withstand the Releasing, but even if she couldn’t, she could at least find a secluded place to stay where she couldn’t hurt anypony. But how could she possibly escape? She couldn’t get past Headmare Starlight’s magical lock in her bedroom, and she didn’t see any way that she could escape while she was tied to this chair.

“Headmare, with all due respect, I really don’t think that skipping the Releasing is a good idea,” Luster said cautiously. Headmare Starlight looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Look, either you’re with me, or you’re against me. You’re a smart young mare, Luster. I trust you, and I’d like to have you with me, but don’t think for a moment that I need you for any of this. So, are you with me, or against me?”

Luster Dawn turned her eyes to the floor and bit her lip, looking conflicted. She flicked her eyes towards Arceus for a split second, then looked back to the carpet.

“I’m with you,” Luster finally answered. Headmare Starlight smiled.

“Good. Now, I think we’re done for tonight. You may go.” The headmare was about to teleport Arceus back to her room.

“Wait! Can I um… Talk to her for a moment alone please? I uh… I think I might be able to get through to her one on one. I know we already tried that, but I’ve had some time to… Think more about my persuasive strategies,” Luster said. Headmare Starlight narrowed her eyes at Luster for a moment, seemingly suspicious, before shrugging it off and nodding.

“Fine. I’ll be back to send her to her room in two minutes. I’ll be right outside the door.” The headmare then followed through with her statement, and left the room.

Arceus and Luster Dawn looked at each other for a moment, Luster looking embarrassed and Arceus looking very confused. Luster was seemingly waiting for Arceus to say something. Arceus did not oblige. A moment later, Luster sighed and gave up, walking towards Arceus’s chair until she was just a few feet away.

“Look, I don’t like you, and I don’t understand why you won’t just show us the full extent of your magic, but… No one deserves to be treated the way that Headmare Starlight has been treating you, and it’s not right of her to put the school at risk, so… I’m going to help you get out of here,” Luster Dawn announced. Arceus could barely believe her ears.

“But you… When did… How would you even do that?” Arceus asked, struggling to verbalize her thoughts. Luster visibly cringed.

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” Luster admitted. Arceus’s mouth dropped open.

“What do you mean, ‘you haven’t quite figured that out yet’?!”

“Hey! You’re in no position to judge me! I’m the one who’s risking my education to get you out of here!”

“How can you guarantee that if you don’t even have a plan?!”

Luster made a strangled, angry noise in her throat, and her face turned from pink to red.

“I’ll have you know that I-”

Headmare Starlight opened the door and walked back in. A moment of silence passed.

“Well?” the headmare inquired. Luster quickly regained her calm.

“It um… Didn’t work,” Luster answered. Headmare Starlight rolled her eyes.

“I’m shocked,” she said sarcastically. “Now this session is over. I have important things to attend to before bed.”

The headmare turned around and was walking towards the door as her horn lit up to indicate that she was using a teleportation spell. It was a statement that demonstrated what a powerful unicorn she was. Only incredibly elite unicorns could teleport somepony without looking at them.

Just as Arceus was fading out of the office, she lipped the words, ‘Thank you’ to Luster Dawn. As idiotic as Luster’s poor planning was, she didn’t want to go back to the isolation of her room without Luster knowing that she appreciated her effort. Arceus wasn’t in the headmare’s office long enough to know for sure, but she was pretty sure that Luster smiled in response.

A moment later, Arceus was back in the room that had been her prison for the past three and a half weeks. She walked over to her bed and practically fell onto it, staring up at the ceiling. Mew jumped up onto the bed as well and curled up a few inches from Arceus’s face.

“I hope Luster knows what she’s doing,” she said into her beloved cat’s big blue eyes.

“If whatever plan she comes up with doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’re going to do…”

Author's Note

Hi again! I know some of you are probably a little upset that Starlight is portrayed as such a strong antagonist, but I promise that she has an explanation for her behavior. It will be revealed in this story, but it might be a while before that happens. As usual, I hope you liked this chapter! If you did, please leave a thumbs up, and feel free to comment with your critiques, speculation, and whatever else you'd like to say. (As long as it's appropriate.) Thanks for reading!