Broken and Rebuilt

When Starlight and Sunset arrived at the portal, Starlight was continuing to angrily blame her for everything that had happened to her. This was starting to anger her a bit but every time she wanted to scream and yell at her, she reminded herself that Starlight had snapped and was not herself. She reached her hand out and could tell that the portal was open. She attempted to grab Starlight's hand as they went through but had it swatted away again.

"Don't bucking touch me! This is all your fault, everything is all your fault!" With a louder scream Starlight continued, "I hate you, I bucking hate you!"

Starlight then stepped into the portal and found herself flying through a tunnel of swirling colors. When she finally got to the other side, she flared her horn up to teleport to the other side of Twilight's chambers. Sunset would soon follow. Starlight and Sunset were ponies once more.

While Sunset was attempting to walk upright, Starlight had teleported and landed on all fours. Twilight would be the first to notice that something wasn't quite with Starlight. While her magic seemed to be just fine, she saw that she had numerous cut marks all over her. She approached her and gasped, "Starlight, what happened to you?"

Starlight had a bad feeling that Twilight was going to touch her and yelled, "Don't touch me!"

Twilight was shocked by this. She looked over to Sunset and asked, "What in Equestria happened to her? She used to not be like this."

Sunset began to cry, "I don't know. She seemed to be down for the last couple weeks but last night she just snapped. It is like she just broke."

While they were talking Starlight took a look at the mirror and went into a panic, "No, no, no! Get that thing away from me! I'm never going back to that place, never!"

She then headed out of Twilight's chambers in a full gallop and soon Twilight and Sunset would hear a crash. They went to the source of the crash and discovered that Starlight had fallen down the stairs and knocked herself out cold. Twilight grabbed Starlight in her aura and said, "Well we better get her to the hospital. They should be able to help with those wounds."

While Starlight knocking herself out was clearly not a good thing, Twilight was a bit relieved. She knew that even her and Sunset using their combined magic to restrain Starlight, especially in the state she was in, would prove to be next to impossible.

When they got her to the hospital the attending nurse was in a state of shock. Nurse Redheart asked, "Twilight, what happened to her, why is she covered in cut marks and what happened to her? Why is she unresponsive?"

Twilight replied, "Well she fell down the stairs in my castle and as far as the cut marks go, I think it would be better if she spoke to a psychiatrist, or at least told a doctor herself."

The nurse replied, "Well we'll get these cut marks stitched up and we'll just have to wait for her to come to."

Redheart got to work on stitching Starlight's many cuts up. As she was doing so Twilight turned to Sunset and asked, "So about Starlight cutting herself, what do you think caused it?"

Sunset replied, "I don't know. She hadn't been right the past couple weeks. She was constantly wanting to wear two piece pajamas, she didn't want us to hold each other close in public, I don't know if I'm right or not but she seemed to treat our intimate moments like they were a chore. Regarding the cutting, she did it at night and after she cut herself, she was bleeding all over the place and screaming about how she hated her life." She began to sob quietly as she continued, "And then she started blaming me for everything and right before we went through the portal, she yelled at me that she hated me."

Twilight put her hoof around her and replied, "Sunset, I don't know what happened exactly but it sounds like she had a breakdown. Given what she said about getting the mirror away from her and never going back, I think being without her magic probably broke her."

Sunset asked, "But what about me? I've went a lot longer without my magic and I never broke!"

Twilight replied, "Sunset, magic is literally part of who she is. During her whole life, magic has defined her and she has used it to do a lot more than she should have and no I'm not talking about the mark theft or the time travel incident." She lowered her voice and continued, "I didn't want to say anything but I knew this would happen eventually. Taking her magic away for long enough would be like taking a Wonderbolt's wings away."

Sunset asked, "So maybe we should have just visited one another rather than her moving over with me?"

Twilight replied, "Yes and right now, I don't know what her future holds but I don't think she should be returning to the human world ever again, it could break her entirely if it isn't already too late."

Sunset looked down in sadness when she heard this. She knew that Twilight most likely knew what she was talking about but the thoughts of never having Starlight there with her again saddened her. She realized that if her and Starlight were to stay together, she would have to move back to Equestria.

Nurse Redheart finally got back to the two and said, "Well I have her cuts all stitched up but she is still out of it."

Sunset asked, "Can we come and see her?"

Nurse Redheart led the two back to Starlight's room and she was laying there, still unresponsive. Seeing a pony that was special to both of them in such a state did bother them. When she finally started to come to, Sunset had put her hoof on Starlight's and that didn't sit well with her. She pulled her hoof away and yelled, "Don't touch me! How many times to I have to say not to touch me?"

Her yell caused the doctor, Dr. Horse, to come running in. He looked at Starlight and asked, "What was all that about?"

Starlight went on a rant, "I told her not to touch me but she does it anyway. She has been doing it for hours, ever since before we left that bucking human world and went through the portal to come home."

Dr. Horse gave Starlight a curious look and asked, "Human world, portal?"

Starlight then went on a rant about everything that happened. She started out with everything involving Juniper, the premiere, her staying, everything her and Sunset did and angrily finished with the thoughts she had running through her mind while she was cutting herself.

The doctor could hardly believe what he was hearing. Everything Starlight went on about were things that he believed would only come from somepony with a serious mental health disorder. What bothered him most though was when she started another rant about how had Sunset not stopped her from that last cut, that she would have been out of her misery and not be in this mess anymore.

He gave Twilight and Sunset a look of concern and said, "Ladies, I don't know what to tell you but I think she needs mental health care that we can't provide."

When Starlight heard this, she became very angry. She struck him with a powerful bolt of energy and yelled, "You're not locking me up like I'm some crazy loon!"

She lit her horn up and was preparing to teleport when the doctor yelled, "Twilight, try and subdue her!"

Sunset knew that Twilight may not be able to stop Starlight from teleporting on her own so she joined Twilight in grabbing her. Starlight could tell they had a hold of her and began screaming, "You want them to lock me up? Why, because I don't want to go back to the bucking human world?"

Twilight replied, "That isn't it Starlight. The doctor is right, you do need mental help."

Starlight screamed, "No I don't! I'm perfectly fine."

Sunset began to cry, "You were about to slash your throat Starlight. I thought simply coming to Equestria would be enough but it isn't. You truly do need help."

While the two had Starlight held in a joint aura, Dr. Horse was able to get a horn cap put on her. Once he did, Twilight and Sunset let go of her but very quickly Starlight began trying to force the cap off. Sparks were shooting out from the base of her horn as she yelled, "That bucking human world stole my magic but you're not taking it too! When I blow this cap off, your marks are mine!"

Starlight began to get up and figured that if she couldn't simply teleport out of there, she would get out of there the old fashioned way. She got off the bed and tried to fight her way out but would be stopped by Twilight and Sunset. While they had her in their hold Dr. Horse ordered, "We have to restrain her! We can't rely on these two and their magic forever."

While they were holding her in their aura, the hospital personnel were able to get her strapped to the gurney. Once that was complete, Dr. Horse left the room and made a phone call to the mental hospital in Manehattan. After fifteen minutes he returned to talk to Starlight's friends, "Well I have had her admitted to the most advanced mental hospital in Equestria, in Manehattan."

Twilight asked, "So how long do you think they will be keeping her?"

Dr. Horse replied, "A lot of it will depend on her. If she remains in the state she is in right now, it might be a while. The whole human world thing will likely not bode well for her. They may very well think she has some sort of disconnect from reality."

Starlight heard them talking and yelled at Twilight, "You're doing this to punish me for not wanting to go back with Sunset, aren't you? You're having my freedoms stripped just because I wanted my magic back, aren't you?"

The accusations coming from Starlight were hurting Twilight deeply. She knew that her friend had broken emotionally but didn't think that those kind of accusations would come from her. She stood there in silence as she didn't know what to say.

Starlight yelled, "That's it......" The crew that was going to take her to a private train to Manehattan had finally arrived. Starlight began to struggle, trying her hardest to get free from the bounds that restrained her and continued to try and blow that horn cap off. Finally they knew that they were going to have to sedate her if they wanted to get her to the train so they sedated her.

Before the sedatives took affect Starlight began to sob, "Please don't lock me up, please don't! I'll be good, I won't cause any problems! Just please don't lock me......"

The sedative was a rather quick acting one and as they took Starlight off to go to Manehattan, both Twilight and Sunset felt partially responsible for this. As they were leaving the hospital Sunset began to cry, "She's right, it is my fault. Had I not pleaded with her to stay, she would have came home and wouldn't be in this state."

Twilight added, "It's partially my fault too. I'm the one that let her stay instead of making her come home. I guess we're both to blame."

As they got back to the castle Twilight began to wonder about Sunset's plans, "Sunset, so what do you want to do? Do you want to stay here with me in the event there is news on Starlight or do you want to go back to the human world and let me keep you informed?"

For Sunset, this was one of those options where neither one sounded appealing. She preferred the human world and wanted to go be with her friends but at the same time she wanted to stay in Equestria in the event that something was to happen and they could at least go visit Starlight, "Twilight, I think I might stay here with you. I don't think I could go back home to my apartment all alone with the only reminders of her being blood stains everywhere."

Twilight embraced her, "That is what I thought. Don't worry, I have plenty of bedrooms."

This was something that was going to be a different experience for Sunset. She had a feeling that she may be in Equestria for quite some time if she chose to stay. She had grown so accustomed to being a human that being a pony felt weird to her and one thing that did bother her a bit was that compared to Twilight, her magic wasn't all that good.