“Uh, all of them?” asked Sunburst, wincing at the alien eyes which watched him.

“All of them, yes,” the Peryton laughed, “And everycreature after that. And on, and on, and on still! On until the ending of the world!”

Sunburst looked over to Starlight, and gestured silently with one hoof towards the magical abomination.

She sighed, and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I get it,” she said, glumly, “I went overboard. I see that now.”

The Peryton huffed. “You’re not ignoring me, are you?”

“And what if I am?” Starlight sneered back. “What are you gonna do about it?”

The Peryton blinked. He opened his mouth to speak… and then stopped.

At last, he said, “Anyway… since I’m free, I think I’ll start by destroying you and your annoying coltfriend…”

He opened his maw wide, fire and fangs flashing as he prepared to lunge.

He didn’t get that far.

The air throbbed with the explosion of magical might that slapped him in the face, sending the Peryton sailing high, high into the air and over the near horizon. Sunburst hadn’t even had time to scream, or cry, or panic at all before it was over.

Sunburst looked over to Starlight, whose horn still glowed with arcane energies.

She blew off the smoke wafting up from her horn, and stared off into the distance, where the Peryton had fallen.

“Sunburst?” she asked, emotionlessly.

“Uh… yeah?”

“Go get Twilight and her friends,” she said, an angry snort blowing out her nostrils, “The situation has… escalated.”

“Uh…” Sunburst glanced towards the horizon, and noticed the way smoke and fire billowed up over there in a way that did not look comforting. “Can you defeat him?”

Starlight said nothing, for a moment. They both watched the horizon become a churning vortex of debris and smoke as the Peryton started to move again.

“No,” she said at last, “But I can buy you all time.”

Sunburst nodded, furiously, and began to gallop in the opposite direction as the demonic Peryton. But, only a few feet away, he stopped, and spun around.

“Wait a gosh darn minute!” he cried out, “You’re not fighting this thing alone!”

“Yes, I am,” Starlight sighed. “You were right. About all of it. I did this, and I have to pay the price. Go now, and our friends can at least figure out what to do about him.”

Sunburst bit down, hard, and grit his teeth. He took a few brave steps back towards his closest friend, and towards the maelstrom of dark magic now seething towards them both.

“No!” he shouted, horn frailly lighting up with what little offensive magic he could muster. “I’m not leaving you! That’s a thing about friendship, right? You stick with your friends, no matter what’s going on! And fighting a demon? That’s definitely something going on. I don’t…”

He found his words cut off, rather suddenly. It was hard to talk when your mouth was covered, and for a few blissful seconds, Sunburst could almost forget about the Peryton. The electric shock that ran up and down his spine caused him to melt into that one, solitary moment.

And then, too soon by half, Starlight broke the kiss. She leaned in, and pressed her head to Sunburst’s, till the base of their horns touched.

“I love you, Sunburst,” she whispered, so quietly that Sunburst could feel his own heart break.

But when she pulled back, he could see in Starlight’s eyes that it wasn’t just his.

Through the tears, and her own cracking voice, she said, “But I wasn’t asking.”

Sunburst’s breathing hitched, as the realization hit him.

“Starlight, wa--!”

He didn’t get that far. In a flash of turquoise light, he was gone.

Gone, but safe.

Starlight breathed in, slowly. She carefully wiped the tears away with a hoof, and shook herself.

Safe. Sunburst was safe.

“Are you quite done!?” that sinister, cloying voice growled from behind her. “I have a long list of lives to end today, and yours just got a bullet point next to it.”

Starlight turned around, and faced the Peryton. Its wings crackled with wild, hellish magicks. Its eyes burned with unyielding fury, and its teeth dripped venom.

She smirked.

“And… you think you’re the one to do it?” she said in a low voice. She chuckled, and said, “Do you have any idea how many creatures have tried?

“You don’t even know who you’re dealing with!” she cried out, and flared her magic. The ground cracked as turquoise fire bloomed from her horn.

Even the Peryton’s rage couldn’t blunt the worry in it’s eyes as a magical shield wrapped around Starlight’s form, nor as with another flash of magical light, two more Starlights walked out from her body.

“I took down Queen Chrysalis!” the one to the left taunted, before she moved off to the side in a blur of super speed.

The Starlight to the right took to the air, and charged her horn for battle. “I shattered Time itself, and battled Twilight Sparkle to a draw!”

Surrounded, the Peryton fell into a defensive stance, eyes wildly snapping between targets as they circled.

Starlight, the one in the center, glared at the beast before her, and stamped the ground with her forehoof.

“I may have made a mistake in summoning you,” she snarled, and bared her teeth, “But I aim to correct that. You’re nothing compared to what I’ve faced before. And you think you’re bad enough to take me? Do you know who I am?”

She drew herself up to her full height, and said, “I’m Starlight Glimmer…”

In Trixie-like fashion, she paused for effect.

Then…

“Starlight FUCKING Glimmer!”

All three Starlights charged, and they each let loose a warcry fueled by their loss, their self-hatred, and the burning desire to do just one thing right today.

Such a cry would have shattered the resolve of any mortal creature.

But the Peryton wasn’t just any creature. And he certainly wasn’t mortal.

“Good,” he snarled and grinned. Then, leaping towards the nearest Starlight, he cackled with glee, and cheered, “A worthy challenge…!”

Author's Note

Written by Ninjadeadbeard.