Heat Week! Sanctuary

The small town of Ponyville is calm today. Birds fill the air with lovely songs, the skies are clears as can be, and Twilight is on an adventure with most of her friends. Leaving only two beings to occupy her castle: Starlight Glimmer and Justin by themselves. What could possibly go wrong? The answer would be not much. So one might think given Justin's penchant to stay out of danger as much as possible.

One of the castle's door flies open with the two skidding to a halt and dashing down the hall. What follows them through the doorway is mass of darkness hellbent on chasing them down.

"I can't believe you even have that book!" Justin exclaims with little disappointment, coming off as more excited than anything else. "Where'd you get it?"

"Antiquing with Twilight and Sunburst!" Starlight answers while looking over her shoulder. "I just didn't think it had enough magic to summon a literal cloud of fear!"

"Reminds me of Sombra when we went to the Frozen North." The man reminisces with an obvious smile.

"Can you NOT fondly remember adventures while we're in danger?" She yells at him.

"What? Can you blame a- Whoa!" Justin is suddenly tripped by something and his face plants right into the floor. Seeing that a smokey tendril has wrapped itself around his ankle. "Star, run!"

Starlight looks on for a moment before the words register and she bolts down the hall without looking back. Only hearing him yell some obscenities before going silent. At this point, the panic was starting to set in and she's wishing Twilight would return soon. Starlight runs into the library, locking herself in before going and hiding behind a sofa. The starts to feel just a little bit colder now.

"I really wish I hadn't found that stupid book..." Starlight mutters to herself.

Then a whisper in the familiar voice of Twilight calls out to her. "Starlight..."

The unicorn cautiously peeks over the couch to spot her friend. Except something seems off about her. Twilight isn't alone and the rest of her friends are glaring at her while subtle dark smoke surrounds them. Their coats seem more dull in color than they usually do and it unnerves her. Then a hand touches her shoulder and she squeaks, looking u to see a copy of the human looking the exact same.

"We should have banished you." They all said, sounding like the alicorn mare over their normal voices.

"You aren't worthy of being a friend to." The copy of Justin states.

Starlight is starting to have a breakdown as their words continue to cut her soul. At least that's what it feels like to her. She starts to hide again, curling up in a fetal position as tears well up. She's loses track of her surroundings as the wispy entity is moving it's puppets in. All are unaware of the doors being forced wide open behind them. Someone stepping thought with an audible crunch of an apple.

"Hey shit for brains!" A voice booms across the library. Pulling the attention away from Starlight when the fruit knocks against the human clone's head and falls to the floor. "Noone talks to her like that, and if they do, they answer to moi."

All eyes are on the intruder, the man that dares to have defied such innate terror. Starlight gets a little curious to see just what exactly causes the creature's ire. Much to her relief, it's Justin but he looks pissed. Then she notices the pair of gauntlets on his hands and arms that shine a bright gold. How long has he had those and just where has he been keeping those. She didn't get a good look at them as he charges the smokey fear beast to start pummeling it. Staring down his foe with determination in his eyes and a fire burning in his soul.

The room starts to suddenly shift around. Forms of friends and allies alike start to darken and change. Where eight turned into one large mass of shadow before taking on a real form. A towering beast of crimson tainted by the darkness stands tall in the library; a gross imitation of Tirek now stands before him, eyes alight with a green so dire, it could kill. Justin doesn't falter, instead deciding to bring out a stance rarely used by the human. A fist rolls back just past his mid while the other it slowly pushed out front of his body like a claw. He inhales.

"Starlight." He speaks in a low tone, something the unicorn hasn't experienced yet. "Go get the book."

Starlight looks between the imitation Tirek and the human. "I'm not leaving you here to face this!"

"Starlight!" Justin barks, his eyes finally snapping to her. "Go get the book! I will be fine."

She stares just for few moments. He's being serious. Trusting his words Starlight gets up and scrambles out of the room with a haste so fast, she could be mistaken for a mere blur.

Justin's eyes then rest back on his fear made manifest once more. "I refuse to be scared."

Starlight is breathing hard while running through the darkened halls. She heard a grunt behind her before she left and a glance over her shoulder produced the sight of him being flung out of the library. He isn't going to last, they both know this, so she needs to find the book. The unicorn comes to a screeching halt in front of her room with the door still wide open and book in the middle. No time to waste, the book is scooped up into her arms and back out she went. The fight had somehow moved its way to the castle's foyer.

A few seconds too late it seems.

Justin's body slams against the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. She hears the breath leave him when she arrives. Starlight looks from him to the shadow Tirek winding for what could be a final blow. Thinking as quickly as she can, the unicorn jumps in front of the human and opens the book towards the attacker. Arcane energy fills the air, making it crisp as the book lights up like the sun when the oversized fist collides with its pages. The monstrous foes lets out a pitiful cry as the book starts to reclaim what was lost. It lasted all of a minute as the creature is consumed by it's own book. Starlight drops the book to the floor and to her knees as soon as she turns towards the unconscious man.

"I'm... I'm so sorry." Starlight whimpers with tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Sorry for what?" She hears his voice call from beside her.

Starlight shoots her eyes in the source of his voice to see him standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal. No gauntlets, no bruises, just him with food. She's now confused as her head turns to look at the copy and back to him. The gears turning but nothing coming of it.

"How... you?" She asks with plenty of confusion.

"Here and there?" He asks. To which she nods her head. "That isn't me."

Starlight looks back and the copy is awake with a grin, eyes glowing green as the color fades into darkness.

"Funny thing is that this creature really isn't evil. Just helps ponies get over their fears."

"But.. I saw you..." She stumbles out.

"Get dragged away?" He smiles. "Y'know what, how 'bout I explain everything over some ice cream, yeah?"