Revenge

Chapters

Fear
Cruelty
Misery
Foreshadowing
Failure
Intentions
Escape
Regrouping
Retreat
Epilogue: Acceptance

Fear

Twilight pulled her, shook her, teleported her, but Starlight was just too strong. She was holding onto the castle walls too tightly, with both her magic and her hooves, and if Twilight used magic, Starlight just used the counterspell.

“Come on, Starlight!” Twilight grunted as she pulled one more time.

“Yeah, ugh, you should just, ugh, face your FEARS!” Spike shouted through clenched teeth.

Starlight felt the tears streaming down her cheek and yelled, “NO!” She continued to bail as Spike rolled his eyes. She wanted to wipe away her tears, bury her head in her hooves, but that would allow Twilight to get Starlight away from the castle and into the school.

Twilight finally let go. “I’m sorry, Starlight. You don’t have to be headmare just yet if you don’t want to.” Starlight’s face was covered, but Twilight saw a slight nod. “But, in the week that I’m in charge, I want you to follow me around and see how I run the school. That way, you’ll be better prepared.”

Starlight sighed. “You know, I wasn’t ready to be a leader again. But I guess a week to prepare is better than one day.”

“Then let’s get going!” ushered Spike. “We don’t want to be late!” Twilight nodded and teleported all three of them into the School of Friendship.

Starlight followed Twilight to her office, which would soon be hers. Starlight sat down and helped Twilight with some paperwork. “Starlight,” Twilight said, causing Starlight to look up. “When I leave, either you or Sunburst will be in charge of magic class. If it’s you, I suggest you get somepony else to help you with headmare duties,” Twilight explained.

“Shouldn’t you be teaching magic class right now?” Starlight asked.

Twilight chuckled. “I should, but sometimes I make arrangements with my friends and have my class merge with theirs. But you have a vice headmare, or should I say, headstallion, so it will be easier for you.”

Starlight thought about this for a moment. “Can I go see how your friends teach?” she asked.

“Sure,” Twilight agreed, now busy grading papers.

Starlight walked to Rainbow Dash’s classroom. They were playing a game that Starlight didn’t know of. “What are you playing?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash pointed to a ball. The ball that was about to hit Starlight! She ducked down in time to save herself, then the ball was caught into a bucket that was held by a unicorn. Rainbow Dash then looked at Starlight in surprise, but not as much surprise as she had when she first learned that Starlight didn’t know what a Wonderbolt was. “Buckball,” she answered.

Starlight nodded and watched how Rainbow taught her class. She went back and forth between classes and student counseling duties for the rest of the school day. One place she avoided, though, was Twilight’s office, the one that would soon become hers. And everyone noticed.

Twilight heard a scream coming from Starlight’s room, and she immediately flew out of bed to investigate. She thought about their conversation earlier.

“I know it was wrong to avoid the office… but…”

“You need to take charge, Starlight. I thought you’d conquered your fear of leading. I thought you were excited to run the school!”

“I was! Or at least I thought I was. I was until I wasn’t.”

“Starlight, I have a lot of important duties, and you need to help me by becoming headmare of the school.”

“But… but… It’s hard!”

“I know! It’s even harder, though, when you are the ruler of Equestria and the ruler of a school!”

“Yeah, sure, but you want me to take care of the school and the castle, while still managing everything else. How? You’re being too hard on me.”

“And if I went any softer, it would be too hard on me! I have to do just about as much as you do, plus a hundred other things! I’m stressed, Starlight. Not that you would care.”

“Ugh! You always twist things to make it sound like you’re right!” And with that, Starlight stormed out of the office.

Twilight opened Starlight’s door and saw her standing up, facing her window. Starlight turned, a nervous look on her face. “Are you okay, Starlight?” Twilight asked, now concerned for her friend.

Starlight quickly nodded. “Just a nightmare,” she explained.

“About leading the school?”

Starlight gaped for about a minute, and then broke out laughing. “Afraid? Of leading the school? Seriously?” she asked, her laughs calmer than they were earlier.

“Well if you are, you can talk to me about it,” Twilight offered, bewildered. Starlight already knew that Twilight knew that she was nervous of becoming the headmare. So why would she try to hide her feelings now?

Starlight shook her head and then laid down on her bed, signifying that she wanted to sleep. A confused Twilight walked out of the room, unsure about what had just happened.

Starlight sat inside Twilight’s office while Trixie took to her duties as student counselor. She tried walking away a few times, but Twilight kept dragging her back to her seat. Starlight eventually gave up and just teleported out of the room, much to Twilight’s dismay.

Spike came in a short while after Starlight left, then he turned his head back and forth. “Where’s Starlight?” he asked.

“How would I know? She just left. I honestly think she hates me now,” Twilight said with a tone of disappointment.

Spike flew up to Twilight’s chair and put a hoof on her shoulder. “I don’t think she hates you.”

“She might as well,” Twilight snapped, “because she seems to be avoiding me. Yelling at me and staying as far away from what I have planned for her as she can.” Spike’s eyes widened as Twilight continued. “She doesn’t seem to appreciate me, she doesn’t want to do anything with me, so why would I even think she likes me anymore? Why would she like me anymore?” she vented.

Spike sat down on her table and crossed his legs, content. “Why don’t you talk to her and find out?”

Author's Note

I hope you liked it; thanks for reading it! Sorry I have so many unfinished stories, but I just couldn't wait to write this one! After this I'm going to work on my other stories. Once I finish Unbreakable, Princess Twilight's Pupil, or both, I'll start working on this again.

Cruelty

Twilight bit her lip. “Well,” she finally said, “I hope you don’t hate me.”

“Whatever,” Starlight dully responded, walking away.

“Wait, Starlight, what’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight called back, but to no avail. Starlight just walked away, not saying anything more. She turned to Spike. “See, Spike? She hates me!”

“No she doesn’t!” Spike argued. “She just hates being a leader, that’s all.”

“I hope so,” Twilight whispered.

Twilight dropped her quill at the sound of Rainbow Dash yelling. She and Spike eyed each other and ran next door, to where Rainbow, Starlight, and Trixie were. “You can’t-” Rainbow started to say.

“What do I care?” Starlight interrupted, pointing to Trixie. Twilight gaped when she saw Trixie in the corner of the room, angry, but sad. Mostly sad. “It’s not like she’s-”

“Starlight, what did you do?” Twilight confronted Starlight. It took everything she had not to yell at her.

“Oh, I was just telling her how wrong she was when she told somepony that the best way to get over your problems is to ignore them,” she explained in an almost taunting voice.

“Screamed at her is more like it,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, crossing her arms.

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “Starlight, what’s gotten into you? You’ve gone from stressed to annoyed to downright cruel!”

“And? She was wrong, and that’s that, right?” Starlight rolled her eyes, walking away from the whole scene. Everyone eyed her in shock, knowing that something was definitely wrong.

“I’m starting to regret that we made her the new headmare,” Spike noted, and almost everyone nodded in agreement. Twilight was too confused to nod, or do anything, for that matter. And anyways, she didn't agree with what Spike had said. Why would Starlight do this? she asked herself.

“I’m going to go talk to her,” Twilight declared.

“You’d better,” Rainbow Dash told her, and Twilight flew out of the room, looking for Starlight.

“Now, you can get back to counseling duties,” Spike told Trixie, who shook her head.

“I don’t think I can,” she said with a shaking voice. “Trixie’s best friend has just stopped being Trixie’s best friend.” Rainbow Dash and Spike watched as she walked out of the room, heartbroken, a tear dropping.

“Starlight!” Twilight called out. I only left a few seconds after her, she thought to herself. Then she heard voices from Pinkie Pie’s laughter class. Loud, angry voices. “Please don’t be Starlight,” she whispered, opening the door. And, of course, Starlight was in the room. But it wasn’t Starlight screaming, but instead two students.

Pinkie Pie tried to push Gallus away from Smolder, but she wasn’t strong enough. Twilight levitated the two away from each other, and set them on the ground on different sides of the room. Ocellus, who was currently disguised as a party canon, morphed back into her true form, breathing a sigh of relief. Twilight eyed Starlight, who had a smug smile on her face. “Really?” she asked, forming hundreds of suspicions.

“What?” Starlight shrugged, the same wicked look on her face. Twilight hated it.

Twilight turned away from Starlight, avoiding the question. “Pinkie Pie,” she asked, “what happened here?”

“Well, I went to go get cupcakes for our next activity, and I let Starlight watch over the students. But when I came back, those two were fighting,” Pinkie almost cried, leaving out the death of her cupcakes.

Twilight turned back to Starlight with the same look of suspicion. “And you didn’t try to stop them?”

“Why would I have? It was perfect in the room already,” she gleefully said, trotting away.

Pinkie gaped. “Did Starlight just say-”

“Yeah,” Twilight nodded, her ears bent down. “She did.”

Starlight stacked a few wooden blocks on her desk, taping a drawing of a target on it. Then, she took the kite that was near her hoof and folded it into an airplane. Then, she flew the airplane straight towards the block tower, destroying it. “Bullseye!” she beamed, hopping onto her bed.

She heard a knock on her door, and when she opened it, it was none other than Twilight herself. “Starlight, I wanted to talk,” she said. Starlight rolled her eyes but moved over on the bed, making room for Twilight. “Listen, about what you’ve been doing at the school…”

“It’s unacceptable, I know,” she mocked. “I don’t care about the rules. Just know that I’m ready to strike whenever I want, okay, Twilight?”

Twilight’s jaw touched the ground. “Are you saying you want to… hurt ponies?”

Starlight shrugged and laid down on her bed, faking a yawn. “Why not?”

Twilight gasped, walking out of the room. “Gosh, Spike,” she told Spike when she had closed the door behind her. “Starlight is acting really different.”

Spike still doubted Twilight, even after the incident with Trixie. “How so?”

“She wants to hurt ponies. She destroyed her kites and ripped pieces of paper. If you don’t believe me, just go ask Starlight yourself,” she said, marching away.

And Spike took that advice. He opened the door to her room and gaped. Twilight was right. Starlight had become the pony she used to be. He looked around at her room, at the ripped kite that was dangling from the ceiling. He looked down at the ground to see a shredded piece of paper. “Starlight?” he asked, now afraid.

“Yes, Spike?” she groaned from her bed.

“Are you… feeling okay?”

Starlight rolled over to face him. Spike winced at what he saw. An evil grin spread across her face, one that looked far worse than earlier this morning. In fact, it was oddly close to the smirk she had been wearing before she cast the spell that sent them to the alternate worlds where Twilight and her friends never met. “Why wouldn’t I be?” she responded after an eternity of silence. “I have what I want.”

“And what is that, exactly?” Spike anxiously asked, afraid to learn the answer.

“Why would I tell you?” she rhetorically asked.

Spike backed out of the room, as if Starlight was Garble 2.0. “Okay, goodbye!” he quickly shouted, closing the door behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief and caught up to Twilight in her room. “You were right,” he said. “I wonder what’s going to happen, now.”

Twilight was too concerned to congratulate herself on being correct. “Oh, I just hope she’s okay.”

Author's Note

It's so hard for me to write about Starlight being so cruel, but that's the whole point of this story. The pain of writing this! I hope you read all the way through this chapter, and if you did, than thank you very much. Don't worry, the next chapter will be based off of Starlight's intentions, so there won't be as much confusion and pain. :trollestia:

Misery

Starlight opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred, but she could still tell that something was definitely not right. She would have rubbed her eyes if her hooves weren’t glued to the ground. She pulled and pulled, but it was really hard. Eventually, she just gave up and decided to teleport out of the glue. But, surprise, her magic didn’t work either. Starlight almost cried at the thought of not being able to use magic. She couldn’t even see anything in the darkness.

She jumped, or would have jumped, at the sound of a taunting voice. “Welcome, Starlight Glimmer! I hope you’re ready for my feast!”

Starlight’s ears dropped at the sound of the voice. It was the voice she dreaded to hear the most, the voice of the pony, or creature, she hoped would never be back for her. And just as she opened her mouth to respond, the lights turned on, blinding her and making her scream. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then blinked them open, squinting, but still not being able to see. “What do you want?” she asked, her vision slowly becoming clearer.

“It’s the same as I’ve always wanted since the day I ruled Equestria. Since the day you stopped me,” the voice answered.

Starlight gritted her teeth. “Listen, Chrysalis. I know you want revenge on me. I wanted revenge on Twilight when she first defeated me. And when I went back for it, Twilight showed me that friendship is better than revenge.”

Queen Chrysalis laughed. “Oh, but you are so terribly wrong. It’s so fun to get revenge, and so fun to watch as the pony you are getting revenge on is helpless. It’s especially fun to watch what happens while the pony you get revenge on is stuck.”

Starlight gasped. Being stranded, stuck in a cage without magic, she hadn’t even thought about Twilight and her friends. “What if my friends notice I’m missing?” she asked.

“Oh, they haven’t,” Chrysalis seethed.

“What? How? It’s been… well… I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but it’s been a while,” she argued.

“How pathetic,” she mocked. “Well, I guess I have to tell you that your friends are in danger right now, but they don’t notice you’re missing. Maybe that’s because they don’t care about you,” she grinned, keeping the truth from Starlight.

“That’s a lie! I don’t believe you!” Starlight tried to shoot a laser beam at Chrysalis, but then realized her magic didn’t work. “How did you even stop my magic from working?” she wondered.

Chrysalis laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. Someone had the brains behind using magic crystals that soak up magic.”

“But I thought the hive was destroyed, and the last of the Changeling Crystals were, too,” she thought out loud.

“It soaks up all kinds of magic. Changeling crystals are rare, you know,” she said, flying off the top of the cage and hovering in front where Starlight would have to face her. “Anyways, why don’t we see what I’ve done back in your sweet hometown, Ponyville?” Chrysalis activated her horn, bringing up a screen of what was happening at the School of Friendship. “I have big, big plans to destroy you!”

“Wait a minute, I thought you were the only evil changeling left,” she noted, amazed, but nervous.

“Oh please. You act as if I can’t do things in the time it takes you to gain consciousness again.”

Starlight looked at the screen, realizing Chrysalis was right. Her ears dropped as she saw her replacement and the things that had happened.

“Ugh!” the changeling disguised as Starlight, Chrysalis, groaned. “Please. Everything I’ve done here isn’t the problem.”

“Yes it is!” Twilight and all her friends, except Fluttershy, shouted.

“Um… Maybe?” Fluttershy squeaked, causing Rainbow to facehoof.

Starlight stormed out of the school, and walked into the castle, and fortunately, the camera changeling followed. When they arrived in her room, Starlight (the real one), screamed and soon cried at the sight she saw. One of her blocks was split in two, a plant on her windowsill was wilting, and worst of all, her kites were ripped, and thrown carelessly all over the place. Chrysalis smirked when she saw Starlight’s terror. She stopped showing the events from Ponyville and flew away, only to look back. “I’ll carry out my full plan for you once you fall asleep. Once you lose consciousness again.”

Starlight bit her lip. “Why? What is it?” she asked.

“Again, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Just bear with me, okay?”

“No! I can’t bear with the thought that you might hurt my friends! I’m not going to sleep tonight!” she argued.

Chrysalis just cackled. “That makes it easier for me. The more you stay up, the more tired you’ll be. When you don’t have the energy in you anymore, you’ll fall asleep on your own. Then I can finish you.”

Starlight sat down in an uncomfortable position, where her hooves were flat against the bottom of the cage, positioned as if she were standing. Then, a changeling flew into the room to keep an eye on her. Starlight gaped at the sight of it. It was one lone changeling, and she hadn’t seen any evil-looking changelings since the time she and her friends defeated Chrysalis. She wondered who it could be, since it obviously wasn’t a baby. She sighed as the changeling placed a glass of water near her. She didn’t want to drink it, in case it was poison or something else incredibly dangerous.

She wasn’t in the mood to solve a mystery, so, with nothing to do, she stood up, looking for a way out of the whole situation. But then, something caught her eye. A window to the small room next door, and inside were four rock-like objects that displayed a screen of the events in Ponyville. Starlight couldn’t take her eyes off of the screen.

“Please! Please!” Rarity begged, crying. “Not the dress, NOT THE DRESS!”

Starlight ignored the comment and continued pouring Pinkie Pie’s jug of chocolate milk on Rarity’s dress. Luckily, Rarity wasn’t wearing it. But still, it was terrible. Soon enough, Pinkie’s cries were heard too.

“That’s a big waste of chocolate milk!” she screamed, heavy tears flowing down her cheek. “My chocolate milk!”

Twilight walked into the room, and seeing the whole scene, she grew incredibly angry. “ENOUGH!” she grunted, giving the jug of chocolate milk back to Pinkie Pie, and pulling Starlight out of the room. “You aren’t worthy of running the school, Starlight. I honestly didn’t believe you for a minute there. I still don’t. I have no idea why you’re acting like this, but it has got to stop!” Twilight set Starlight down on the ground, where Starlight just shrugged it off and walked away.

Starlight watched as Twilight dropped tears. She could hardly hear anymore, but Twilight’s voice was still slightly audible. “She just doesn’t like me,” Twilight said. Starlight’s ears dropped, and she remembered the last things she had done and said to Twilight.

“Ugh! You always twist things to make it sound like you’re right!” And then she stormed off.

Starlight cried tears of her own, knowing that her angry words were wrong to say. She knew that she couldn’t make it up to Twilight, and that she might never be able to.

Starlight sat down to take a nap, because she had nothing better to do, when she realized she couldn’t sleep. She stood up quietly and sang to herself.

“I have to find a way
To make this all okay.
I can’t believe this small mistake
Could have caused so much heartache

Oh why? Oh why?

Something is wrong it’s plain to see
This isn’t how it’s meant to be.
And you can’t see it like I do,
It’s not the life that’s meant for you.

Oh why? Oh why?

Losing promise
I don’t know what to do
Seeking answers
I fear I won’t get through to you

I’ll try, and I’ll try.”

She eyed the screen again, wondering what her friends were going through.

Twilight sat on her throne, alone, crying to herself. Spike opened the door and rushed over to Twilight. He lifted her head up and pushed her to sit up straight. “I know Starlight’s been bothering us all, but-”

“Bothering us?” Twilight shouted. “That’s not even close to what she’s doing! I thought I had helped her change!” She buried her head into her hooves again.

“And I think I just found out why,” he said, patting Twilight’s head. She looked up at him, waiting for the answer. “She’s not actually Starlight.”

Author's Note

Yay! Another chapter finished, and I'm glad it's not just Starlight being cruel. She still has to figure a few things out, but she knows a lot more now. Also, I added Twilight's "I've Got to Find a Way" because I thought it fit the situation perfectly, and 'cause it's a beautiful song I thought we should revisit. Thanks for staying tuned!

Edit - 9/29:
I have edited the chapter based off of a comment showing me how off I was. :rainbowlaugh: Anyways, I hope you check out the new version, and if there's still a bit of confusion, that's the point. Hope you enjoyed it!

Foreshadowing

In the throne room, Twilight paced back and forth. Meanwhile, Spike was sitting on his throne watching Twilight hyperventilate. "Starlight... gone... taken... Chrysalis?" Spike pet Twilight's head. "It can't be true. Chrysalis is gone."

"Actually, it is true. I saw Chrysalis behind the school after I went to look for Starlight. You know, after she ran off," he explained.

Twilight sat up. "I'm just glad Starlight isn't a menace. But now we have to locate her, alongside stopping Chrysalis." Spike nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we should go get our friends to help," he suggested.

She smiled. "Spike, you're a genius!" So, Twilight and Spike ran out of the castle to go gather their friends for an important meeting. A really important meeting.

"Chrysalis!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Oh, I wonder what she wants."

"Probably just to get revenge on Starlight for reforming the changelings," Spike supplied.

"She's a dastardly beast, that's for sure," Rarity jumped in.

"Yeah! And whatever we do, we need to stop her!" Pinkie continued.

"Well, that sure explains it," Applejack responded. "Starlight would never act like that!"

"Once we find her, I'll be sure to kick her sorry butt out of here!" Rainbow added, kicking the air for good measure.

"That's just it. I have no idea where to find her, let alone how we're going to stop Chrysalis!" Twilight vented. "I know Starlight is an amazing pony, and I'll do anything to help her, and Equestria, but I don't know how! What if I fail?" Twilight started to pant again, and Spike went over to comfort her.

Once she was calm again, Twilight was ready to take charge. "Okay, everypony. Our first step is to make a plan. First, we-"

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash groaned, pulling her hair. "Can we get onto the action already? Plans make every fun thing boring."

Twilight, along with Spike, shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we really need to be organized and plan ahead of time if we want to have anything close to a chance of saving Starlight."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and yawned as Twilight explained the gameplan.

Starlight's eyes were heavy with sleep. Too heavy. She felt around for the glass of water. If she wasn't going to drink it, she might as well put it to good use. Finally, she found it. But after not getting any rest at all, she didn't have enough energy left to levitate the glass with her magic. She would've groaned but she was too tired even for that.

Within the next couple minutes, she fell asleep despite the effort she put into staying awake. You know, that effort probably took up some of her energy as well.

The changeling drone went to notify Chrysalis. Chrysalis stepped into the room with a look of satisfaction on her face, making sure Starlight was really asleep. She was, lying against a bar of the cage. So tired, she didn't even have time to sit down before sleeping peacefully. Or, sleeping warily, since Chrysalis was now a threat to everyone. Nodding, she morphed into Starlight's form and teleported to Ponyville.

She appeared behind the School of Friendship. The girls were all looking at some piece of paper. Chrysalis was sure they didn't notice her. She took the form of a bush and snuck even closer, hoping to catch bits of the conversation.

"I think it would be more of an abandoned place," Twilight noted, pointing to a point on the paper. It was a map! "The Everfree Forest doesn't have much of a civilization. Other than wild creatures and Zecora, I don't think anyone lives there. Maybe she brought Starlight there to be alone?"

"Or maybe she went to Mount Fillymanjaro. The weather there's so plumb crazy, you couldn't find an blossoming orchard of apple trees through all the snow. Then a few feet farther, you couldn't find a single snowflake in all the apple trees," Applejack suggested.

"Nah, 'Out of Control' seems more like a Discord thing. Besides, we'd totally expect stuff like that," Rainbow argued. "She'd go for something we'd never expect. Something more civilized."

"Canterlot! Ooh, or Manehattan!" Rarity exclaimed.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, of course not. Too many ponies who could call her out if they saw her. There are even royals in Canterlot."

Chrysalis smirked, though as a bush, it was hard to tell. Those pathetic wannabe heroes will never find out where I've hidden their "friend!"

Spike rubbed his chin. "I've got it!" he shouted, snapping his claws. "It's not too populated, but it's not to empty either. It's got the perfect weather, and it's the perfect place to unexpectedly hide Starlight!"

"Where?" all six girls demanded in unison. Chrysalis might have, too, if she wasn't trying to disguise herself.

"Ponyville!" Spike said, motioning to the rest of the town. Chrysalis was shocked. Spike had, indeed, found the city that Starlight Glimmer was in. The rest were shocked, too. How could they have overlooked such a simple problem? Of course Starlight would be right where she started. The problem was, Ponyville wasn't too small of a city. It still had many crannies and nooks for Chrysalis to hide Starlight in.

"Looks like we gotta spread out," Twilight announced, directing everyone to their areas. Once she finished, she started heading on her own path.

Starlight Glimmer was in Ponyville. She saw it, she felt it, she was sure of it. She looked down at her hooves. No sticky, green slime. She activated her horn. No magic-banning crystals. She was free. But how? And why?

It didn't really matter though, did it? Not if she was taken home, not if she was granted freedom. Now she could finally talk to her friends. Have fun and just relax. Maybe even start working at the School of Friendship...

Starlight shook her head. No need to jump too far into the future, she thought. First, she would have to explain everything to Twilight and her friends. Luckily, Twilight was right at the castle door when Starlight opened it. "Twilight!" she greeted, hugging her. "It's so good to see you in person again!"

"Err... Starlight," Twilight muttered akwardly. "So... strange seeing you again."

"Uh... really?" Starlight asked. Was it strange that she was home? Okay, maybe unexpected, but strange had a negative connotation.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yeah, after everything you've done, and then you show up at my castle, hugging me and greeting me like we're... friends."

Starlight was confused. "But, we're friends! Aren't we?"

Twilight's gaze was very serious, and gave Starlight a bit of a fright. "No, really. What I'm saying is true. You don't deserve to be my friend."

Starlight's ears sank as she bit her lip and tried to hold back heavy streams of tears.

Starlight opened her eyes with a start. Her breath was choppy and heavy. Was that a dream? No, a nightmare? It had to have been; Twilight would never treat her like that. Plus, if it were real, how had she ended up here again, with slimy hooves and blocked magic and bars-

Wait. She wasn't behind bars. But she was still a prisoner. She was wrapped up in a cocoon, and her bangs were... flowing in the wind? She was moving! But how? She couldn't even move her own limbs.

Looking up, she saw Chrysalis carrying her. She must be taking me somewhere new, Starlight thought. But where would that be?

Author's Note

So sorry to keep you waiting for like 2 weeks. I had writer's block for a long time, even while I was writing this. So I'm sorry if it sounds super rushed or lazily written.

Failure

Starlight Glimmer opened her eyes, visibly irritated. She couldn't remember what had happened. Her hooves were stuck to the ground, once again. Her magic was blocked, once again. If she had to be honest, she would've picked being held in a cocoon, where she couldn't move anything but her eyes, over being chained to the ground. Maybe it was seeing a change of things. Maybe it was the wind in her mane. Whatever it was, she preferred it by a landslide.

Starlight sighed, wanting to curl up in a ball. She knew she had fallen asleep earlier, and that only made her wonder what Chrysalis had done in that time. She didn't even know how long "that time" was. Maybe she was better off not knowing. Starlight turned her head back and forth, to observe her new location, though it was harder this time since her horn was glued to the top of the cage with the slimy green substance.

Thinking about her new place made her even more curious than before. Where had she been put the first time? Where were her friends right now? Were they safe? Did Chrysalis already pull out her plan?

The questions made her more light-headed than before, and she decided just to stop thinking about it. Though somewhere, deep in her mind, she couldn't stop wondering about her friends. Especially Twilight, who she'd had an agrument with. Who she had shouted at. Who had showed her what friendship was. Who had been hurt by her. I hope they're okay, she thought.

"Oh, don't worry. They're fine," whispered a taunting voice. It was (obviously) Chrysalis. Okay, so maybe she had said that last part out loud.

Starlight doubted every word that came out of Chrysalis's mouth. "What did you do with them?" she asked, about to get into a fighting stance and light up her horn. But then she realized she couldn't do either.

"I let them suffer," Chrysalis answered. Starlight opened her mouth to say something, but she interrupted. "Suffer from your disappearance."

Starlight closed her eyes in sadness. All that came back were the memories of her friends. They were so happy, yet they made her so sad, longing for them. She had depended on them to help her, and she tried to help them too. Wait. Did she? Maybe not. She wished she could make it up to them somehow, but at the moment, she was just a shadow.

When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with nostalgia and desire. But she realized Chrysalis wasn't here anymore. No one was, not even a changeling drone.

Starlight might not have been able to get into a fighting position, but her face definitely showed it. It was time to stop waiting for help. It was time to break free. She tried as hard as she could to escape the sticky green substance. She lifted her hooves up, she bent her legs and tilted her head down, groaning in agony. But she failed.

Twilight opened her eyes, completely confused. She couldn't remember what had happened. She couldn't see anything. She couldn't see anything but darkness. She tried to cast a spell to light up her horn, but failed. Her magic, or her horn in general, was blocked by a sticky green substance. She decided to walk around, to see if she could find an exit or anything like that. But her hooves were stuck to the ground with a sticky green substance. There was one last choice: flying. But of course, her hooves and horn being stuck, she couldn't muster enough windpower to move herself anywhere. She was stuck. She failed.

She closed her eyes, memories flooding back in like a hurricane. Befriending Starlight Glimmer, having fun with her. And of course, there were the bad memories, too. Her fights, her arguments. Her last argument. She hadn't supported her when she needed it. She hadn't comforted her when she needed it. She tried to show her the true meaning of friendship, what a good friend was. But she failed.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, really angry. She couldn't remember what had happened. Wait, no. She could remember a tiny bit. Something with fighting; she wasn't a coward, after all. Something about Starlight Glimmer missing. Something about everyone missing. Thinking of her friends and how they weren't here made her sad, and she closed her eyes. Wait, no. She couldn't be sad. She was tough.

Rainbow opened her eyes again, squinting. It was hard to see, but not impossible. Impossible wasn't a word that Rainbow Dash knew. Rainbow Dash realized her hooves were glued to the ground with some disgusting, sticky green stuff. "Ha!" she laughed. Was glue really going to stop her? She had wings.

She spread out her wings. But really, she couldn't. They were glued, too. She couldn't use her wings, couldn't use her hooves. But that wasn't a problem. She had guts. She had strength. She had bravery. She was awesome. But she couldn't really move around, and moving was the only way to escape, right? She was tough. And awesome. But she failed.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, extremely scared. She couldn't remember what had happened. All she knew was that her friends were gone. No, she was the one who was gone. The coward who had gone from her home, her animals, her friends. She failed. She kept thinking about them, missing them more and more. Memories of their bonds with each other came to her mind.

She longed for a laugh from Pinkie Pie, a compliment from Rarity. For Rainbow Dash to defend her, for Applejack to comfort her. For Angel Bunny's cuddles and just a sense of Twilight being there. And of course, Starlight. How could she forget about the one who had saved Equestria from Chrysalis, the one who had gone missing a few days ago? She longed for her to be here. She longed for everyone to be here.

Fluttershy put on her bravest face and filled herself with the courage of Rainbow Dash. She flipped her wings as hard as she could, but her hooves were stuck to the ground. 2.3 wingpower wasn't going to get her anywhere. She couldn't do anything. She had tried her hardest to succeed. But she failed.

Applejack opened her eyes, concerned. She couldn't remember what had happened. Why was she anxious, again? Right. Starlight had been taken by Chrysalis, and now she was missing. She lowered her ears and eyelids. Apples are tough on the outside, sure, but sometimes they can be torn on the inside.

She missed her friends. They were all gone. Why she was alone, she had no idea. It probably had something to do with Chrysalis. She tried to buck the air in frustration, but her hooves were stuck to the ground. Sticky stuff, probably changeling stuff. She wanted so badly to kick that darn Chrysalis. Wait. She'd probably tried, hadn't she? But she failed.

Rarity opened her eyes, worried. She couldn't remember what had happened. Was she okay? She looked down, and even in the darkness, she could tell. Her hooves were in slimy, sticky green stuff. Yuck! She screamed while trying to escape it. It was no use. No one else was here, and she couldn't move. She was stuck in globs of muck. If only there were some ice cream, it might've helped to calm her down.

She missed her friends. She couldn't remember much, but she knew everything had to do with Queen Chrysalis. Pinkie Pie was probably somehow so cheerful right now, Rainbow Dash so ready to fight. Applejack was probably standing strong, Fluttershy trying to talk her out of it. Twilight and Starlight were probably activating their horns, ready to attack. Spike was probably ferociously breathing fire. And what was she doing? Sitting around here, waiting for someone to free her.

Wait. She had magic too. But unfortunately, not right now, since her horn was stuck in icky changeling stuff. She wanted to save her friends, to save herself. But she failed.

Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, filled with glee. She remembered a great deal about what had happened today. Oh, wasn't it fun to blow confetti at Queen Chrysalis? Wasn't it fun to leap into action, to be the hero again? Wasn't it fun to try and save Starlight Glimmer? Wasn't it fun to save her and her friends? Cheerfully, she attempted to hop, then realized she couldn't. Her hooves were stuck to the ground, and there was no way she could get out of the glue that had stuck her. Bummer.

Oh well, she thought. Maybe I can just drill my way through! And she spun her hair, drilling through the substance. Only it didn't work. Her hair got stuck, but at least she managed to pull it out. There was no way she could do the same with her hooves. Thinking about the green substance, she remembered some other things that had happened.

She and her friends arrived at the castle, since they'd already checked everywhere else in Ponyville. Starlight had to be in the castle. She might have been, but now they would never know. Chrysalis stood, front and center, in the castle. Her face had a smirk on it. The girls started to fight. But something happened. They failed.

Right. She and her friends tried to stop Chrysalis. She even assaulted her with cake. But she failed.

Spike crossed his arms, irritated. His eyes were closed, so he didn't know if anyone was watching him right now. He had overheard Chrysalis talking about capturing his friends and taking them to seperate places they would hate. Of course. Now, instead of just finding and saving Starlight, he had to do that for six other ponies. Of course he wanted to, and he would have, if his feet and claws weren't glued to the cage he was stuck in. There was even a sticky strand of dew around his mouth so that he couldn't open it and breath fire. Chrysalis was smart, wasn't she?

Not smart enough, though. She wanted to give everyone a potion that made them forget what had happened, along with putting them to sleep for a while. Luckily, it only worked on ponies. Being a dragon, he was immune to this particular spell. But he kept his eyes closed, just in case. It's better to be safe than sorry. But maybe, sometimes, you had to take a leap of faith and not be safe. He'd tried that. But he failed.

Intentions

Chrysalis morphed into her Starlight form and was about to trot into the school, when she decided to change her disguise last-minute. She switched to Twilight, knowing it would be safer to play as the do-gooder, the former Headmare of the School, than the former guidance counsler, who was ruining everything as for right now. Ruining Starlight's good reputation was pretty simple.

Everyone thought she was cold-blooded, and maybe some of that came from her being a changeling, not a trustworthy creature like a pony of some sort. But she had good intentions. She had a good perspective. She did care for others, love them, miss them. Her hive. She loved her hive, and they were good enough for her. They cared for her, served her, and now they were gone. She truly did miss them. It was too bad they were gone.

Starlight Glimmer! That stupid Starlight Glimmer! How could she forget? Starlight Glimmer was the one who had turned her hive against her, who had changed their opinions on love. And most of all, she made everyone betray her. Was she really the hero? And what about her accomplices. If she had to be honest, Chrysalis didn't think the blue unicorn pony did much at all. Neither did the draconequus. They were just there for moral support and distractions. Why bother to bring them along if they just get in the way? Starlight Glimmer would have succeeded without them just fine.

In short, Starlight Glimmer, the evil mastermind who took away other's utopias without even caring. Though, she did have one other partner with her. He was a very... well... disturbing associate. His name? Thorax.

Thorax was a changeling like her and the rest of her hive, but something felt off about him since the day he was born. He was actually more like a puny pony than a changeling. He was always the one who sided with what the ponies had to say about love and friendship. He was the one who was set apart from the others. His fate was set in stone, and that was just about the opposite of what he wanted. And he would've been unhappy, maybe even when he ran away from the hive, if it weren't for Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight Glimmer turned his life around. She made him colorful, brilliant, kinder, just like she did with the other changelings. But luckily, Chrysalis managed to get revenge on them, both of them. In these past few days, Chrysalis had gotten really lucky.

Getting revenge on Thorax was easy; she managed to do that in a day without thorough planning. But still, there was no doubt it was going to be hard for Starlight Glimmer's revenge. But finally, after relentless weeks of espionage, she had come to a crystal clear conclusion: you could easily get under Starlight Glimmer's skin. Just make her emotional. And so, she did. Not that she wasn't already. She sat down on Twilight's seat, which she considered a throne, and thought back to that one night where she started her long run for vengeance.

Chrysalis levitated herself into Starlight's room through the window. It was literally midnight. Starlight Glimmer was peacefully sleeping, though not too peacefully, as there she was frowning. Chrysalis hadn't expected an easy catch, but tranquility or not, she would do anything to get her revenge on Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight was in bed, attempting to forget about the troubles that had arised today. But not for long. She snuck up to her bed, then levitated Starlight, who shreiked. You fool! Chrysalis thought. You'll get us caught! She shook her head and threw her out the window. She then took Starlight's form and went to the window to see what was happening, though, it was very dark, making it impossible to see anything.

She honestly didn't care if Starlight died. One less enemy to worry about. But she knew that Starlight wasn't going to be dying anytime soon. She would be saved by the changeling drone waiting outside. The spell would work eventually, but just not right now. Whatever. Just more pain for Starlight Glimmer to experience before she took the final blow.

Chrysalis heard the door open and turned around to see Princess Twilight standing there, a shocked and concerned face on. Queen Chrysalis was nervous, in the chance that she might be caught, but she tried her best not to show it. "Are you okay, Starlight?" the princess asked. A wave of relief washed over her. She now knew that Twilight wasn't suspicious of her.

She quickly nodded and came up with a fib. "Just a nightmare."

"About leading the school?" Twilight questioned, something school-related clearly on her mind.

Chrysalis gaped. Her? Afraid of leading the school? Then, she realized she was taking the role of Starlight Glimmer. Was Starlight Glimmer, a powerful unicorn who could reform a whole hive, afraid of leading a school? Chrysalis broke into laughter just at the thought of it. "Afraid? Of leading the school? Seriously?”

"Well if you are, you can talk to me about it,” she offered, seemingly confused. Chrysalis shook her head and climbed onto her bed. Seeing this, Twilight probably suspected she wanted to sleep, and left Starlight's room. Chrysalis sighed a big breath of relief and waited until she heard Twilight's footsteps heading away from the door. Then, she rushed over to the window to see what was happening. It was no good, though, still too dark. So, she flew out of the window, making sure to close it behind her.

Chrysalis sighed, filled with nostalgia, flipping through Twilight's papers. After what seemed like an eternity of searching, she found what she was looking for: the changeling file.

Hopefully, the file would have some information on colorful changelings, or at least how to handle it. She looked at the name: Ocellus. She recalled a changeling named Ocellus, but she was very low-ranking. She was just a drone, not a guard or anything special. If she recalled correctly, she was almost as bad as Thorax. Almost, since she didn't play with little dollies or stand up for friendship. But she did have trouble following the changeling ways sometimes. As for now, she couldn't blame her, since it was all Starlight Glimmer's fault that her hive was friendlier. Her, of course, and Thorax.

Chrysalis rushed back to her lair and went into the planning room, dropping her papers on the ground. She looked back at the dragon, unmoving, but arms crossed. She then saw him flinch, but just a tiny bit. If she wasn't paying attention, she would've missed it entirely. She almost groaned, knowing that her potion didn't work, but then knew that she would be given away.

She thought of her battle with Princess Twilight's friends earlier, wondering if something had happened to trigger a failure in the potion.

Chrysalis came back to the castle, after she'd just finished transferring Starlight's cocoon, now ready for the hard part: waiting. Luckily, Twilight and her friends were approaching just as she had finished sneaking in. The best part was that Twilight had no locks on her doors, no security, meaning her castle was open to all intruders, big and small. Including Chrysalis.

Through the crack in the door, she could faintly hear the chatter of Starlight's friends. "Alright girls," came Twilight's voice. "I already checked all of my portions of Ponyville. What about you?" The others cross-talked, but it was enough to confirm that they had finished covering their grounds, as well. Chrysalis grinned, as she predicted they were going to walk into the castle any moment now, allowing her the chance to defeat, or at least weaken, them.

As if on cue, the doors to the Castle of Friendship opened, and Chrysalis attacked right as she was spotted, aiming for the most powerful in the group - you guessed it, Twilight. She shrieked as Chrysalis knocked her down, and soon, her body went limp. She smiled as the other's faces showed fear, anger, basically anything negative.

Chrysalis dodged a buck from Applejack, almost being driven into a blow by Rainbow. Luckily, she managed to swerve just in time to avoid the hit. Unfortunately, the two had collided with each other, and they were now in as bad a state as Twilight was. She looked around at the three remaining ponies with an intimidating face, not that she would need to.

One of them, Fluttershy, she thought, was stunned into silence and barely even made a move to stop her. She threw her into a pile with the others, thinking it was too easy. A cannon shot out confetti at her, which she coughed out, throwing the last two, who barely threatened her at all. She turned around, seeing a dragon breathing fire at her.

Now, he was a threat. Though he didn't make much of a difference. She fought him for a good few minutes, before giving in and deciding to use the potion she'd brought along. Spike's arms unfolded when he saw it, and he looked as if he was going to back away for a moment, but then, he decided to thrust himself towards Chrysalis, who just shook her head.

"Foolish move, little dragon," she said aloud, before placing the potion bottle in his mouth, and forcing him to drink it. He kept his eyes open for a few minutes, and then dropped down with his friends. She smirked and compelled the others to do the same. Then, she picked them all up, getting ready to bring them to her lair so that she could lock them up. The best part was, they would all be in the same place, with Starlight, without even knowing it.

Chrysalis grinned one last time before finally taking them away.

Escape

One word: escape.

That was what Starlight wanted to do. Escape. If anypony else was stuck in her situation, who wouldn't? But wishes don't get granted that easily. You have to work for what you want. Starlight had tried that, and it hadn't worked. Though, obviously, doing nothing wasn't going to get her anywhere. She was stuck, and she couldn't do anything about it.

But surprisingly, escaping wasn't her priority. More than anything, she just wanted to see her friends. Maybe apologize to them, maybe make up for some mistakes, but mostly just to see them again. She didn't care how, she just wanted to be back home where she thought the rest of her friends were. She tried to escape, but it was incredibly difficult, not too far off from impossible.

To be honest, she'd worn herself down after a while. She barely had any energy left, and even the non-poisoned water she drank a few hours ago didn't help her feel any better. She hung her head, both out of despair and weariness, seeing that her legs were incredibly shaky. They didn't have the strength to hold her up for any longer, and she couldn't even sit down or fall to the ground. That's how restricting the changeling glue was.

Luckily, Starlight didn't have to stay in this position forever. Just as she felt she was about to give in and fall down despite the restrictions, Chrysalis came into the room and removed the sticky substance. Starlight tried to put on a brave face and grin, but she was too weak, even for a few facial expressions. She fell down on the ground, landing on her side. She didn't even let out a groan of pain. She could barely do anything.

"Oh, Starlight," Chrysalis taunted to the motionless pony on the floor. "You were always the hard one. But I think this is going pretty well, don't you?" she asked rhetorically, knowing that Starlight was unable to answer. She grabbed Starlight and forcefully took her out of the cage, lifting her up and building up enough energy to do something she hadn't been able to do in a while: feed.

Chrysalis continued to drain Starlight's love, and after finishing, Starlight barely had anything left. And she certainly didn't feel much for her friends anymore. Chrysalis cackled. "You know that ever since you took my hive away, I've desperately waited for my revenge. I've finally gotten it, Starlight Glimmer, and I'm no longer starving. Just hungry. It turns out leaving your love untouched has made it grow. I haven't feasted like that in so long!"

As Chrysalis continued to digress, Starlight gathered all the strength she had and picked herself up with wobbly legs. She put the rest of her energy into her horn and lit it up, her magic aura flickering off and on. After she finally seemed steadfast enough, she teleported herself out of the room, leaving an angry and shocked Chrysalis.

The changeling drone was on guard duty, walking his rounds. He heard a strange sound, and turned around to figure out the source of it. He gaped at what he saw. It was the queen's prisoner, and her horn seemed to be burnt out. Her eyes were dull and her body unstable. She wasn't well, and he could tell that. But she seemed to have enough power in her to escape.

It was very probable that she could see the other pony in the room, which was the Princess of Friendship. That certainly wasn't good, since Starlight cared a lot about her. And doing his rounds, the changeling had noticed that the potion had weared off on everypony. That wasn't good, either. It meant they were now trying to escape. And if Starlight could do it, the others most likely could, too. Especially with her help.

Starlight turned and her eyes locked with the changeling's. The changeling's eyes were a mix of turquoise and purple, and its wings were brilliant but faded. She could see, in his eyes, fear and anger both. Then, in a moment of realization, she saw what was hidden from her the whole time. "Thorax?" she managed to say in a muted, shaky voice.

The changeling felt the good side coming through. The good side, named Thorax, who Chrysalis had deliberately sealed from anyone else. Of course, until now. "S..." he started to say, hissing and fighting. Both sides were fighting each other, as Starlight could clearly see. She snuck a glance at Twilight, who had noticed what was going on. Looking back at Thorax, she called out his name over and over again. She was convinced that this would help him fight the urge to serve Chrysalis.

Thorax heard his name called again. Starlight was trying to reach him. It was working. Kind of. He got his sense of kindness back, but his darkside was still there. "Fight the darkness, Thorax! You don't need it anymore!" Starlight whisper-yelled. Then, with pleading eyes and extreme quietness, she said, "I know you're still my friend."

Thorax had had enough. Why was he even serving Queen Chrysalis in the first place? Because she'd mind controlled him? That wouldn't stop him from fighting for friendship, no matter how timid he was. His eyes closed, and he started glistening. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, and Starlight shielded her eyes, walking closer to him. He was in a cocoon, which Starlight touched, remembering Thorax's transformation from a few years back.

The pupa burst open, and Thorax stepped out, his normal bright colors replacing the black drone look Chrysalis had given him. He hugged Starlight, unintentionally catching her before she fell from weakness. She moved her mouth, and if she hadn't been right next to him, Thorax wouldn't have been able to hear. "Let's free our friends."

Thorax nodded and walked over to Twilight's cage, removing the adhesive, something only a changeling could do. Twilight smiled and teleported out of the cage. The two glanced back at Starlight, who seemed immensely tired. They nodded at each other, and Twilight stored some of her magic in a ball. Then, she moved it over to Starlight's horn, where it went in and gave her energy. Well, not much, but enough. "Come on," Twilight declared, getting ready to teleport all three of them. "Let's go save our friends!"

"And stop Chrysalis," Starlight added, receiving assertive nods from the others. They smiled as Twilight started to transfer them to a few more destinations.

Author's Note

*Just a side note, the changeling residue blocks magic, which explains why Starlight was never able to teleport before.
Sorry if this sounds rushed or unreasonable. I appreciate your patience and understanding; thanks for reading the whole way through!

Regrouping

Fluttershy wanted to cry, so she covered her eyes with her wings in preperation for a few tears that never came. She missed her friends, and she was barely trying to escape. Maybe she should've tried harder. She could flap harder than 2.3 wingpower. Though it was hard, it was definitely possible.

So she tried again. And again. Obiviously, it didn't work. And failing was getting pretty old, too. She hung her head just as something in the room appeared, emitting a bright magenta light. Fluttershy looked up to see three figures standing in front of her: Twilight, Starlight, and even Thorax. She smiled upon seeing them, knowing that she would be safe with her friends besides her.

As they approached her, they looked extremely cautious, especially Starlight. When they reached her, Thorax removed the majority of the residue, and Twilight managed to teleported her out of the cage. She smiled. "Thank you," she told them both, turning to Starlight to check on her. But she noticed Starlight seemed extremely on-edge. "Starlight?" Fluttershy asked, startling her. It seemed as though she was pretty jumpy. "Are you alright?"

Starlight blinked a few times, then quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad you're alright," she blandly replied, receiving concerned looks from the others.

"Actually, I meant to ask if you were feeling okay?" Fluttershy worriedly replied, getting a nod from Starlight.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me," Starlight said, lowering her ears and voice, mumbling something that no one else could hear.

Twilight nervously laughed and said, "Well then, we should probably find the others as soon as possible so that we can stop Chrysalis." Thorax and Fluttershy nodded, and they all turned to Starlight, whose horn was glowing and whose eyes were closed. And she slightly nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes," Twilight said, concerned for her friend but at the same time curious as to what Starlight was doing with her magic. She teleported them to retrieve the rest of their friends.

Chrysalis groaned in frustration. Starlight had escaped and was now probably hunting down all her friends. She knew that if she had her friends with her, she was mostly invincible. She rubbed her chin and thought up a plan for a final blow. Though, it was a bit complex. She would require Thorax's assistance if she wanted to be able to pull it off.

She rushed into the room in which the princess was being kept, or was supposed to be kept in. The gate to the cage she was in was hanging open, and the glue had vanished from its roof and ground. She scowled seeing that both Twilight and Thorax had fled. Now she would need a simpler plan.

Pacing, she soon decided she would do a simple changeling disguise trick. Morphing into Starlight, she put on her most genuine face and made it seem as if she were worried.

Spike shook off the few remnants of the adhesive that Thorax had just removed. "Thanks, guys," he said, embracing everyone, which included Twilight, Starlight, Thorax, and the rest of the girls. "And I'm glad you're back, Starlight. We missed you," he told her, getting a slight smile and a nod from Starlight, which was a much better response than earlier.

"Now all we have to do is," Applejack noted.

"Stop Chrysalis," came the response. They expected Applejack to say that, but it also came from Starlight. And while Applejack's voice was full of fear and annoyance, Starlight's had more sadness. Which confused everypony, since they all knew she'd wanted to stop Chrysalis, probably more than anyone else.

A groan erupted from Rainbow Dash. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" she asked boisterously and impatiently. The rest of them smiled at each other, getting ready to find Chrysalis, when somepony else walked into the room.

"Don't trust her," the figure fearfully said, pointing at Starlight, revealing herself to be, none other than, Starlight. Everyone soon had a sense of distrust and fear, as either one of the two could be the real Starlight. The other would be Chrysalis, the one that they were supposed to defeat. And if they chose the wrong Starlight, they would actually be hurting the real Starlight!

Everyone stepped back, unsure of what to do. They could easily just rid the second one, but what if that was the real Starlight, and Chrysalis had just been with them the whole time? They could do the same for the first one, but with the same risk. There was no way they were going to hurt their friend, whether unintentional or not.

Twilight bit her lip, conjuring up a spell that would reveal all changelings. She hadn't cast it in a while, not needing to since most changelings were reformed already. Come to think of it, she'd only last cast it at Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding, and that was back when she was a unicorn!

She released the magic, hoping it would be enough to reveal the truth.

Retreat

With a smirk, she watched as everyone stepped back from her. Including Starlight. The real one. Chrysalis had just revealed herself and changed her appearance so she looked like Starlight Glimmer. She put on an authentic-looking face of fear.

Her attention shifted to Twilight, whose horn was glowing. She was biting her lip, clearly struggling to remember the spell she was casting. And with a disguised changeling—Chrysalis—right by them, she was guessing Twilight was going to cast an identity spell. She released the magic she had been holding in, aiming it first at Chrysalis, who jumped closer to the actual Starlight, dodging the beam.

Twilight gritted her teeth, her horn glowing. She looked at both Starlight and Chrysalis, who were right next to each other. She seized the opportunity and aimed the beam at both of them at once. One Starlight, out of instinct and reflex, created a magic barrier and sheilded herself, shaking.

The other Starlight jumped and cowered behind the barrier her duplicate, or vice versa, had created. Twilight raised an eyebrow, suspicious of both Starlights, but mostly the one who had hid. Then, she'd gotten an idea. She and her friends put their heads together, literally, and Twilight whispered to them her plan.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis tried to slip away, but Starlight noticed and caught her tail with her magic, pulling her back. She lowered her forcefield, but was still on-edge. Chrysalis secretely glared at Starlight.

They turned back to face Chrysalis and Starlight, and Twilight nodded. She closed her eyes, lit up her horn, and stayed in that still stance. From the outside, they could only see her standing there. But from the inside, Twilight could see a lot. And Starlight—the real one, that is—knew that stance, since it was an after effect of a spell she had cast before. She braced herself for what she knew came next.

Twilight, in her mind, opened her eyes. She saw sweet memories, dark memories, and sad ones, too. She saw visions and dreams, too. It was everything Starlight had remembered and thought of. It was incredible.

She walked over to one screen, which displayed a memory, thinking to herself that a world in somepony else's mind was incredibly alike to being in the area of the sky in which she had earned her alicorn wings. In the screen was an image of pitch black. But then, the world showed itself. Twilight saw a big stack of books floating in the air, surrounded by a yellow magic aura. The books arranged themself to orbit and float around an already floating orange-yellow colt, glowing alongside him. The books were placed on the shelf, and the colt stood back down on the ground, a mark appearing on his flank. Then, he whizzed past the host of the memory, who had walked closer to the doorway. The world blurred.

Twilight lowered her ears. This was the moment Sunburst had left Starlight. Meaning the mind she was in was Starlight's, not Chrysalis's. Twilight knew whose mind she had chosen to inspect, but she wanted to see more of Starlight's memories. She heard a familiar voice and turned in the direction of the sound. Walking closer, she looked at the image of herself, knowing that she was hearing her own voice.

"...changes things, work through it together! That's what friendship is!" Twilight said while flying. "And it's not just my friendships that are important to Equestria, everypony's are," she continued, becoming out of sight. Now all she saw were foggy swirls of white and blue, and blurred lavender hooves. "When yours ended, it led us hear, but imagine all the other friendships that are out there waiting for you if you just give them a chance!"

Twilight came into view again, though the mist was worse than before. A new voice jumped in, "How do I know they won't all end the same way?"

"I guess it's up to you to make sure they don't," Twilight assured, extending her hoof. The screen turned, allowing Twilight to see a filly Rainbow Dash racing with the boys. The host looked back and forth, tears fading away, then eventually her eyes closed. Opening them, a smiling Twilight and Spike greeted her. A hoof placed itself on Twilight's, and a rainbow-colored boom filled the sky, blowing Twilight's hair around. A rainbow arc formed above them, a portal opening up right through it. The host moved closer to Twilight, and the world blacked out.

Twilight smiled; looking back at one of her most precious memories, even through another pony's eyes, was sweet and comforting. She cast the spell and faded out of Starlight's mind, opening her eyes to the real world again.

Twilight opened her eyes, and everypony watched as she walked up to the two Starlights, giving one a silent hug that she returned. Releasing the embrace, Twilight, along with everyone else, turned to Chrysalis and got ready for a fight.

Chrysalis didn't know what Twilight had done to reveal her true identity, but she knew that she was exposed and could no longer hide. She took her original form and fled the scene, shouting "Revenge on you, Starlight Glimmer, is something I've wanted for a while. And it still is." She left everyone else to run to the edge of the cliff she had flew off to watch her as she flew away. Starlight remembered defeating Chrysalis like this a while back. She sank her ears, wishing it had turned out better. Twilight pulled her wing around Starlight, similar to how she had last time, somehow knowing what she felt.

"You did what you had to," Twilight consoled softly.

Starlight pulled away, quietly retorting, "But I could've done even more." Everyone stood in silence for a while, even when Thorax decided to return to his hive. He didn't even say anything, afraid to break the silence or wound Starlight's spirits even further.

After a while, Twilight put her hoof on Starlight, saying, "Let's go home." Everyone else nodded in agreement and they walked home quietly.

Epilogue: Acceptance

Author's Note

Edit on 11-20-22 based on a comment by Doctor Den

Epilogue: Acceptance

As Starlight walked back to the castle with Twilight and the rest of her friends, she felt something she hadn't felt in a while: joy. The joy of beeing free, of not having to be Chrysalis's prisoner for any longer. And she was especially joyful since she was with her friends. She, after all, had been seperated from them for a few days. It was good to be back.

But even the joy couldn't stop her from feeling sadness deep down inside of her. She wanted to teach Chrysalis friendship, despite all her wrongdoings. It was what Twilight had done for her; she should've been able to do it for Chrysalis. But maybe Chrysalis really was a lost cause. It was hard for her to believe; she'd seen multiple times that there was potential in everycreature such as Pharynx, Discord, and even herself. Even the dirtiest piece of coal can be turned into a diamond with enough pressure. But Starlight had a lot of trouble getting enough pressure for it to work. She promised to herself that she would try to apply even more pressure the next time she was given a chance.

She felt a hoof on her cheek. Twilight wiped away tears she didn't even know were there. Starlight and Twilight walked into the castle, saying their goodbyes to the rest of their friends. Starlight opened the door to her room, wincing at what she saw. Pictures and memories were destroyed, the mirror was cracked, and things were strewn all over the floor. Worst of all, her kites were bent and ripped.

Starlight gasped and her ears sank. Twilight wore a sheepish expression on her face. "Sorry, I forgot about that..." she trailed off. Starlight just shook her head and smiled reassuringly.

"It's alright. It's not your fault. And anyways, mess or no mess, it's good to be home," she told her, her gaze aimed towards the ground. "And," she continued, thinking about what she had done before the whole Chrysalis incident, "I'm really sorry about everything I said and did earlier."

"What did you say earlier?" Twilight queried, not quite remembering what Starlight had done to make her apologize about it.

Starlight bit her lip. "You know, how I said you weren't fair when you made me the leader of the school. Then I slammed the door while storming out of the room," she said, bringing back memories for Twilight to think about. "I... didn't mean to do those things. I was just stressed, and I guess I wasn't considering your point of view very much. I'm sorry I was so ignorant."

Twilight smiled. "I know you didn't mean it. You're sweet and loving and, yeah, things can get under your nerves pretty easily. And you make many mistakes, like we all do. But what's special about you is that you accept your faults, not deny them, and no matter what, you try to make up for them. It makes you the amazing pony you are."

Starlight blushed, grinning. "You're amazing too. And you definitely don't deserve to be treated the way I treated you."

"Oh, be quiet," Twilight playfully responed. "I already forgave you."

Chuckling, Starlight continued, "You transformed an hasty unicorn like me into the 'amazing pony' I am today. I'd say that's pretty impressive and amazing. I'm incredibly grateful for everything you've done, and I'm just really glad you're a part of my life."

"Aww, thanks," Twilight said, flushing as well. She embraced Starlight and, with her magic, turned her room back to normal.

Warily smiling, Starlight could feel her eyelids dropping. Twilight smiled too, laid Starlight on her bed, and quietly backed out of the room to let Starlight doze peacefully.

Starlight anxiously walked towards The School Of Friendship. Twilight silently followed right behind her. Opening the door, Starlight was greeted by the loud buzz of chattering students. A few students eyed her and crept away, putting her at unease. "Chrysalis didn't exactly leave the best stain on your reputation," Twilight explained with a sigh.

Starlight nodded. "Then I guess they won't really trust me as the Headmare?"

Twilight had a sneaking suspiscion that this was just an excuse to get out of becoming the headmare of the school, but her words sounded genuine. "I guess they won't. You can stay as the counselor for a while, but as soon as you're once again trusted, you'll become headmare."

Starlight nodded slowly, taking her words into consideration. "You know, I've been pretty worried about taking it over all on my own. But I just realized you never did it alone."

Twilight nodded as well, smiling. "Mhm, having a friend help out is pretty great! Especially when you really need it."

"Exactly! So, what do you think about me hiring a vice headmare to help run things? I mean, you never did it, but it should be alright either way, right? And I guess we'll need a new student counselor, too," Starlight said with a nervous grin, hoping she didn't sound too desperate or demanding.

Twilight chuckled. "I trust you to run the school any way you want. And if that means getting a few other ponies to help you, I think it's a great idea!"

"Really?" Starlight asked, her hopes rising.

Nodding, Twilight answered, "It's like you said—I've always had ponies around to help. And don't worry. You can always call on me to help you if you need it. That's what friends are for, after all."

Starlight took the words into consideration. "Alright. Thanks, Twilight!" she said, walking to her office. She sat down on her desk and poured water on an almost-dead plant. "Do you think I can do this, Phyllis?" she asked the plant.

As if the plant had answered, she responded with, "Oh, really? Thanks! Although it's probably not going to work out, at least I'll have you and the rest of my friends to help me out." And in her office, Starlight thought about her life both in the future and present and decided it was perfect already. She smiled and opened the door to see a little colt.

"Hey, Woodchipper! Did you want to see me?"

He nodded. "Actually, I have a few questions for you. If that's alright, of course."

"Aww, you're so considerate. It's fine by me. Why don't you come take a seat and I can answer some of those questions?" she replied sweetly. In her mind, she knew it was all going to work out no matter what.