When Sunburst left the forest he didn’t expect things to have gone south so quickly, there in the middle of the town was Starlight.

Her horn was alight with powerful magic the same kind that the Peryton had in its eyes, the creature in the meantime was happily going around smacking ponies left and right.

Sunburst felt like his heart could simply fall off right there and there, those ponies were being hit so bad, yes they might have been bullies but this was too much. Someone had to stop Starlight and he was the only one who could do it.

“Starlight!” He shouted, he huffed and ran towards the city, determined to right the wrongs. “Starlight please stop!”

“Sunburst? You came back! Good good.” She said happily bobbing her head to herself. “See I Was teaching these idiots what happens when you mess with my friend. You learnt your lesson right?”

“Y-yes!” One of them replied hastily.

“LIE!” Starlight snarled, whipping her head, the Perytone immediately took the poor colt and catapulted it against the other prisoners, all of them groaning in pain.

“Starlight please stop!” Sunburst pleaded. “This has gone far enough, stop before you make any mistake.” He tried to convince her.

“Sunburst…” She said, looking at him right in the eyes. “You… I can’t believe it.” She looked shocked, almost dumbstruck.

“Good, looks like it worked.”

“You are a true heart of gold, I can’t believe you would forgive them so easily.” She said, giving a nuzzle to a now slack jawed Sunburst. “Don’t worry, I will make sure you don’t have to apologize to them ever again, you may be pure of heart but me? I’m already a villain.” She whispered in his ear.

“Perytone!”

“NO!”

This stopped Starlight for a bit. “Hmm, true, you can't see something like that. Perytone, bring them inside the house. We'll deal with them later.”

“YES! Yes, later is good, good.” Sunburst replied, his heart now beating a million times a minute.

“So what do you wanna do while we wait for a more fitting time to properly punish them?” Starlight asked sweetly.

“What about some game of… chess!” He said triumphantly.

“Chess uh? Fine, I'll play.” She ignited her horn and summoned a chessboard. “Celestials move first.” She said hoofing him the white side of the game.

“So, what are you gonna do to them?” He asked, trying to gain any kind of time.

“I don’t know honestly, I may let the Perytone decide, your turn.”

“Isn’t that a bit drastic Starlight?”

“Drastic? They tormented you for so long, and yet when I do the tormenting I’m drastic? Your move.”

“I’m not saying they are innocent, but they don’t deserve it, they don’t deserve…”

“Don’t be that down, they do deserve it, if I make the Perytone go away and apologize what will they do? They’ll go back to square one. Your move.”

“Even if that’s true, shouldn’t you, the one in power, I dunno use it for good?”

“What's good Sunburst? Your move.”

“Good is, not bad?”

“Good is the absence of evil, I am doing good can’t you see it? I am getting rid of evil. Check.”

“Even if you phrase it like that it doesn’t make you good.”

“Oh Sunburst, when did I say I was? Check again.”

“Won’t you be good? Not even…”

“Not even what?”

“Not even for me? Your move.”

“But I am! Can’t you see that I’m doing good?”

“You are doing what you THINK is good, it isn’t. Check.”

“It isn’t!? How can you tell!?”

“Because I can feel it, down in my heart and up in the sky. Celestia wouldn’t do it, and she has the power to do it. Yet she doesn’t. Check.”

“Celestia can’t go around whipping bullies!”

“Neither can you. Check.”

“I’m doing GOOD!”

“Please, stop. Before it is too late. Do it for me Please Starlight I beg you.”

Tears started to form in Starlight eyes. “Don’t do that, don’t give me hope, don’t you dare tell me that everything will be fine. Because it won’t,I did too much. I already am a monster, you said it yourself!”

Sunburst put a hoof under her chin and moved away a fallen tear. “I never did, I never will.”

“Why… Why must you be good? How can you tolerate being near me? I’m full of evil.” She said now hiccuping in her own words.

“The world isn’t as black and white as you seem to think.” He said moving a piece in the last place, Celestia's calm and almost anguished expression right in front of the angry, and yet oh so pained counterpart.

“Draw.” They both said at the same time.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“We will fix this, you just have to say sorry, they may punish you but I swear I will do anything to make any punishment a bearable one.” He said confident in his promise.

“Thank you… I really can’t believe you can stand around me.” She said, finally drying her tears away.

“I will never tell you to go away, and I will never betray the trust you put in me today. Never.”

“I-”

“Now that won’t do…” A chilling, unholy and nightmarish voice said. The body of the Perytone was now coiled around them staring like a predator ready for the pounce. Its eyes full of malice and disappointment, yet showing a hint of amusement.

“What are you doing? I didn’t tell you anything like this.” Starlight said with some of her previous will. At the sight of the beast's eyes though, she backpaled away in fear. “No… how?”

“A heart full of regret and hope is not one that can leash me. You are not worthy. You will now be destroyed and after you.” The beast looked around with a hungry look in its eyes. Gone was the amusement, now only pure unbridled viciousness oozed from them, like black tar.

“All of them.”

Author's Note

Written by Firefoxino.