20 Flower Moon 1008

‘’So, how do you like being sisters?’’ Berry asked.

Flurry turned around to look at her. ‘’It’s nice,’’ she replied. ‘’Magic and I see each other a lot now. Daygleam’s house has a lot of toys, which we always play with.’’

‘’Sounds nice,’’ Lily said. ‘’What about you, Magic?’’

All three fillies looked at Magic with curious eyes. I wonder what she will say, Flurry thought.

‘’It’s very nice,’’ Magic finally said after a few seconds of silence. ‘’I get to have a lot of sleepovers, and Flurry is a very nice friend.’’

‘’You’re very nice too,’’ Flurry immediately said. She took a step towards the other filly and nuzzled her cheek.

Magic turned her head slightly and nuzzled Flurry back. ‘’Thanks,’’ she whispered softly, so softly that Berry and Lily probably didn’t hear it.

Magic pulled her face away and looked back at the drawings on the floor. She had drawn a couple of houses from Sunville, which honestly looked better than Flurry’s own drawings of her family.

‘’Hey,’’ Berry suddenly said, ‘’let’s go play tag.’’

‘’Wha-’’

Berry almost punched her sister, shouting, ‘’You’re it!’’ as she galloped away.

For a moment, the other three were silent. Then Magic and Flurry both galloped in different directions, away from Lily.

Flurry went right, heading for the fruit trees of Berry and Lily’s home. She knew where to go there; she’d hid there a couple times before. She could fly up and hide in the tree branches, and no one ever found her.

She reached the trees, but didn’t fly up to their branches. They were too close to the edges. She needed a higher tree, with a little less light. By now, her friends knew she would hide in the trees.

But the whole point of Tag was to tag her, which they couldn’t do if Flurry was up in the tree. She wasn’t allowed to fly away, but nobody had said anything about flying up to a place.

Smiling, Flurry slowed as she went a little deeper into the forest. It was a little darker too, but everything was still clearly seeable, so that wasn’t a problem.

She found a good tree, with lots of thick branches, and flew up to them. She settled herself between the leaves, careful to not let too many of them snap off and fall down. That would make it easier for Lily to figure out she was up here, and that was bad.

It wasn’t really comfortable, between the branches and the leaves, but it was hidden, and there was something comforting about being surrounded on all sides. It gave Flurry a sense of safety she didn’t often feel when she was away from Mom and Dad.

And that was getting confusing. What was she going to call Daygleam? Just her name didn’t seem right, but she already had a mommy, and calling both Mom and Daygleam mommy would get very confusing very quickly.

Something else, but what? Auntie? But-

She fell before she knew what was happening. There was no time or space to spread her wings, and she hit the ground with force. ‘’Oof!’’

What just happened?

Flurry was dizzy, she realized, and her barrel and legs hurt. She looked up, but there wasn’t anything she could see that would explain why the branches had suddenly broken.

‘’Flurry!’’

Lily appeared from behind a tree, staring in shock. ‘’What happened?’’

Good question. ‘’I fell,’’ was all she answered.

‘’Are you alright?’’

‘’No.’’ She tried to stand up, and failed.

Lily’s look of shock became determined. ‘’Stay here,’’ she ordered, ‘’I’ll go get Dad.’’

Like Flurry could move right now. She could fly, probably, but flying in the forest wasn’t very smart.

Just to test though, she lifted her wings and flapped them. They still worked.

At that moment, Ground appeared, with Lily behind him. ‘’That looks nasty,’’ was the first thing the stallion said as he moved over to her. ‘’How do you feel?’’

Flurry looked up at him. ‘’Everything hurts.’’

Ground frowned, then grabbed her with his foreleg and lifted her on his back. ‘’Then let’s go see a doctor. Lily, can you get Flurry’s parents and tell them to come to Doctor Light’s house, please?’’

‘’You got it, daddy!’’ Lily chirped, before galloping away.

‘’You comfortable?’’ Ground asked her.

‘’Yeah.’’ Flurry laid her head down against Ground’s coat. It was thick and warm, and soothing to her hurting body.

Ground nodded, then galloped out of the forest. Flurry didn’t know where this Doctor Light’s house was, but hopefully it wasn’t very far. It hurt a lot. She wanted it to stop.

‘’We’re here,’’ Ground said suddenly. Flurry lifted her head to see they were on the edge of the village.

‘’Doctor!’’ Ground shouted as he knocked on the door.

Flurry thought she heard someone walking inside, then the door opened. ‘’What is it, Ground?’’ a stallion’s rough voice asked.

‘’Flurry fell down a tree,’’ Ground explains. ‘’She says everything hurts.’’

‘’It does,’’ Flurry quietly added.

A sand-brown head with a white and grey mane appeared next to her, golden eyes looking kindly at her. ‘’Everything is a lot,’’ he said. The roughness sounded teasing, which didn’t make sense. ‘’Can you point out where it hurts the most?’’

‘’My legs and my barrel. I couldn’t move my legs at first.’’ She jiggled them a little. ‘’Now I can.’’

The stallion hummed. ‘’And you can still use your wings and horn?’’

‘’Yes.’’

After a moment, the stallion nodded. ‘’I’m going to have to take a look at this inside. Do her parents know?”

‘’I sent Lily to tell them,’’ Ground answered.

‘’Smart,’’ the doctor said. ‘’Now come.’’

|-x-X-x-|

20 Flower Moon 1008

‘’Miss Emerald!’’

Emerald looked up from her flowers at Lily. ‘’Hello Lily,’’ she greeted. ‘’How are you?’’

‘’I’m good, but there’s a problem!’’ Lily replied.

‘’Problem?’’

‘’Flurry fell out of a tree, and now she’s with the doctor. Dad said I should tell you and take you there.’’

Fell?

‘’What happened?’’ Emerald asked, trying very hard not to panic.

‘’Well…’’ Lily looked away. ‘’I dunno. We were playing tag and I was looking in the trees of our home, and suddenly I hear someone falling. Turns out it’s Flurry, and she can’t move. So I go get my dad, and then my dad says he’s taking her to the doctor and that I had to get you or Mr Star.’’

Couldn’t move?! Please, let her be alright.

‘’Take me to the doctor,’’ Emerald commanded, and Lily did so.

The first thing Emerald saw when she entered the doctor’s house was Flurry, sitting on the couch while the doctor talked with Ground. ‘’Flurry!’’ she cried.

‘’Mommy!’’

Emerald gave her daughter a well-measured hug. ‘’Are you alright?’’ she whispered.

‘’It hurts a lot,’’ Flurry replied as she leaned into the hug, ‘’but I’m fine.’’

‘’Are you sure?’’ Emerald pressed. ‘’What happened?”

‘’I was hiding in a tree during tag,’’ Flurry explained, ‘’but the branches broke and I fell down.’’

‘’Oh you poor thing.’’ Emerald placed a kiss on Flurry’s forehead. ‘’Let the doctor take a look at you.’’

Emerald let go of Flurry and they both turned towards the stallion, who gave a reassuring smile. ‘’Don’t worry, I’m just going to see what exactly is going on here,’’ he said.

‘’Okay,’’ Flurry agreed. Emerald smiled at her, and rubbed her hoof over the filly’s back.

The doctor, over the course of approximately half an hour, determined that there would be no lasting damage, but that Flurry should be more careful next time. He gave her a pill for the pain, and now it was Emerald’s duty to make sure Flurry took those pills once a day for the coming week.

Emerald carried Flurry home on her back, after assuring her three worried friends that everything was going to be fine.

And it will be.

|-x-X-x-|

20 Flower Moon 1008

‘’Everything is ready, your Majesty,’’ the guard reported.

Nightmare Moon dismissed him with the flick of a wing. The guard fell back in line with the other guards, following behind her as good guards should.

Spellweaver Mansion was admittedly a beautiful building. Tall, stately, and drenched in nearly a millennium of magical protections, it was no wonder that it had survived Discord’s return, the Changeling Invasion and Nightmare’s own conquest of Canterlot unscathed.

It was almost a shame to destroy it.

Chrysalis had decided to not accompany her today. Instead, she was in Vesalipolis, dealing with Changeling business. Nightmare didn’t mind it overly much: this was her fight, not her lover’s.

‘’Begin,’’ she commanded as she came to a halt in front of the mansion’s gates.

The unicorn and changeling mages that had taken up positions around the mansion began their work. They poured their magic together in an effort to strip the old building of its protection.

Nightmare did not aid them, merely watching as the tug of war between the building and the attackers began. She could help them, but she wanted to save her power for later. No doubt there was more than one layer of defence.

After all, even Celestia would not have chosen someone who could not defend himself and his home as her Royal Magician.

There was a shimmer in front of her.

‘’Your majesty,’’ one of the mages called out, ‘’we have broken the defences.’’

‘’Already?’’ Nightmare questioned. ‘’It’s a trap,’’ she decided without waiting for an answer from the mage. ‘’Step away from the mansion, now.’’

The commanding tone in her voice was enough to make everyone pull back from the building. Nightmare approached it, horn lit with a protection spell.

She reached out with her armoured hoof, touching the metal gate. Nothing happened.

What is your game, Star?

The answer came to her, in his voice. Death.

And the mansion exploded in a brilliant display of rainbow light.

Nightmare immediately reeled back and extended her shield, but the force of the explosion stopped at the boundary of the wards, which contained the magic that was currently erasing the house, while also being part of said magic.

It was a paradox, and it was a token of extreme skill on Star’s part. He had, somehow, made the kill-switch of his home in a way that the explosion of magic would be kept from damaging the rest of the city - it would have taken out the block otherwise, Nightmare quickly calculated - and then drawing on the power of the wards when the initial magic had run out.

Thirty seconds later, the house was gone, and all it’s magic with it.

Nightmare, despite herself, laughed.

That trap had never been meant for her to die in. It had been meant to stop anyone from taking the house’s secrets for themselves. And with that much magic used in it’s destruction, there was no possibility of restoring or recognizing anything that might have been in there.

Clever, Star. Very clever.

|-x-X-x-|

20 Flower Moon 1008

Death.

Star didn’t think that hearing his own voice could be so unnerving.

With a loud sigh, he put his fork down. ‘’I’ve lost my appetite,’’ he announced.

Of course, that made all eyes look at him. ‘’And why’s that?’’ Daygleam asked. ‘’Is something wrong with the food?’’

Star shook his head. ‘’It is delicious,’’ he assured her. ‘’But… Well, I suppose I might as well tell you.’’

‘’Tell us what?’’ Flurry asked besides him.

‘’If you’re silent, Star’ll tell you,’’ Emerald gently reprimanded the filly.

‘’Sorry, mommy.’’

‘’It’s alright,’’ Star said, taking a moment to smile at his daughter. Then he took a deep breath. ‘’My ancestral home in Canterlot just activated it’s self-destruct matrix. It’s gone.’’

Emerald gasped, while Flurry and Daygleam both frowned. ‘’What happened?’’ the white unicorn asked.

Star liked her bluntness. ‘’Nightmare Moon, most likely. I don’t have details, obviously, but I imagine something will be in the news.’’

‘’You knew this was going to happen,’’ Emerald realized.

Star inclined his head to her. ‘’I prepared. Spellweaver Mansion is - was - nearly a thousand years old, and all of my ancestors with some talent in magic added their own protections and enchantments to it. I created a way to pull on all of those, and have them destroy the house, without damaging anything beyond it’s property.’’

No one in the room would get the more technical explanation, so he parked that for when he met with the MAC again. They would appreciate it.

Flurry reached out with her wings - she was under doctor’s orders to not use her legs too much, of course - and gave Star a hug with them. ‘’I’m sorry you lost your home, daddy.’’

Star slipped a leg around her and hugged her back. ‘’Thank you, sweetheart.’’

Emerald and Daygleam exchanged a look. ‘’I’m sorry for your loss, Star,’’ Daygleam said.

‘’So am I,’’ Emerald added.

Just as Star wanted to reply, he felt a warmth press into his other side. He glanced down to see Magic was hugging him from the other side, looking up at him with grey eyes. ‘’I’m sorry you lost your home, Mr Star.’’

‘’Thank you all,’’ Star replied after a moment of silently marvelling at the unicorn foal that was hugging him. Never would he have expected it from Magic of all ponies, shy as she was. ‘’It means a lot to me.’’

And the loss of Spellweaver Mansion wasn’t unovercomable, after all. Family mattered more than the house ever had, and while Star would mourn it’s loss, everything truly important had been secured before he left.

Author's Note

Well, this chapter was a bitch both to write and to name. Star and Nightmare's POVs were easier, but I'm not really happy with how Flurry and Emerald's sections turned out. Oh well.

(Edited on 9-10-2021)