The Last Light of the Evening Star

Trixie disappeared in a puff of blue magic, just as Evening Star’s attention was drawn to the sound of the front door of the boutique, slamming into the side of Trixie’s abandoned caravan. Jumping off the stage Evening Star used her magic to shove the caravan out of the way, allowing Hondo Flanks, Cookie Crumble and Sweetie Belle to race outside.

“We have to get out of here!” Evening Star yelled, as the three of them paused to take in the towering monstrosity above. The shadow of the Ursa Major's raised foot had fallen across the four of them.

Hondo Flanks, pulled out of his shock by his instincts nodded and as Evening Star reached the group, the two of them wove their magic together, transporting the entire group down the block, just in time to avoid being crushed.

When they re-appeared, Evening Star stumbled with exhaustion. Even when they'd first found her, she'd been proficient in magic, one of the few facts she could take pride in. However, she was unaccustomed to channeling so much thaumic energy in such a short span of time and the combined teleportation had left her more than a little discombobulated. When she finally steadied herself, she saw the tears in Sweetie Belle and Cookie Crumble’s eyes and turned to see what they were staring at. The Carousel Boutique was now a multicolored pile of splinters, mixed with the pieces of Trixie’s stage and caravan.

Then a shadow fell across her again and she looked up to see that the Ursa Major had leaned down to swipe at them. The red pupils of its eyes swelled and in that moment Evening Star knew that this immense creature wanted to dash her to pieces, with everything it had.

Her body tensed. But when nothing came, she opened her eyes to see that the Ursa Major’s claw had slammed into a transparent blue dome encasing her and the family. She looked at her fellow unicorns, surprised that any of them possessed the magical ability to produce such a powerful barrier. But none of their horns were glowing...

“Rainbow and Fluttershy, now!” Yelled a voice from behind.

Evening Star turned to see Starlight Glimmer, the Bearer of Magic, and the Princess of Friendship herself. She flew a few feet off the ground, her pink wings extended, and her purple and blue mane made flapping in the wind. Her own horn crackled with turquoise energy as she maintained the shield spell, but Evening Star could see sweat forming on her coat, as the Ursa Major swatted at the force field twice more, testing its limitations. Then the creature snarled and reared back to come down with both claws.

As it did, there was a flash of blue and yellow to either side of the dome. Evening Star watched in awe as two more Bearers of the Elements wove through the air and approached the snarling maw of the immense bear. Although she'd never shared a conversation with them, she'd seen their pictures time and time again in the Ponyville Express. The faster of the two was Rainbow Dash, a member of the Wonderbolts renown for being the fastest flier in the nation. She curled up around the face of the Ursa Major, drawing its attention away from the protective field it had been about to break. It swatted at her, but like a pony trying to strike a gnat she flew circles around its head, while her companion neared one of its ears.

The less bold of the two was Fluttershy. The only thing she was known for was for probably being the most pacifistic of all the Bearers (that and the time she'd been a world-famous fashion icon). Nonetheless, she wore an expression of rigid determination as she approached the Ursa’s big bushy ear. Her face screwed up and she yelled to be heard over the growling of the creature and the rushing of the quickly growing storm.

“You have to stop! Whatever’s made you angry, we can fix it, but you have to stop destroying our home!!” She commanded. Her big blue eyes were filled with tears.

The creature snarled and looking away from Rainbow Dash's expert aeronautics, it swung a paw at Fluttershy. Not being as an accomplished flier as Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t able to move quickly enough to avoid the hit. There was a sickening crunch, and she was sent spinning end over end toward the roofs of Ponyville. Evening Star was sure for a moment she was going to see the legendary pegasi fall through a rooftop, or worse, collide with a chimney or spire.

Then she saw Applejack, one of the few bearers she'd seen in person, racing out from behind a building, whirling a lasso above her head. The earth pony was far from the genial salespony that Evening had seen from a distance, selling apples out of the back of a wagon. Now she used the abandoned carts and stalls along Ponyville's main street to parkour onto the rooftop of Quills and Sofas. She scrambled across its rolling roof and leaped into the air, intercepting Fluttershy’s fatal descent with her lasso. The rope cinched around Fluttershy's hindleg and Applejack skidded across the roof, digging her hooves into the tiles to avoid being pulled off by Fluttershy's momentum. Instead of smacking into the cobblestone, the yellow pegasi dangled a few feet above the ground by her ankle.

“Ah gottya!" Applejack said, through the rope in her teeth, as she slowly hoisted her dazed friend onto the safety of the rooftop.

“That’s it!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. She had descended, hoping to save Fluttershy herself (a move which, according to Evening Star's understanding of the laws of aerodynamics, would probably have killed one or both of them). Now she used her downward momentum to fuel her ascent, rocketing back up to the Ursa and punching it in the jowl. The creature seemed more shocked than pained, but as it bellowed with rage, Rainbow Dash used her wings to propel herself backwards, kicking the bear in the eye and eliciting another bone-shuddering roar.

Then she began to circle its head, increasing her speed until the Ursa Major's unswollen eye was lolling with dizziness, and it had begun to teeter.

“Quickly, get inside!” Starlight Glimmer yelled as she dropped the force field. Then her wings beat and she twirled up into the air, landing next to Applejack and Fluttershy on the nearby rooftop.

Evening Star watched as Hondo and his family took refuge in the nearby town-hall, which a number of unicorns were now using their magic to shield. But she stopped herself from following and peeled away, racing down the street the way she'd originally came.

With just a few steps, the Ursa Major could flatten the whole town. She had to get to the books tasked to her care into the basement before the creature destroyed them.

She galloped back in the direction of the library, still carrying the book which had started this whole mess. Looking back on the argument, she wasn’t sure what had come over her. It seemed so much more important now that Trixie was safe. When compared to the invasion of the Ursa Major, her concerns over one old book weren't just minuscule. They were microscopic.

Evening Star had been petty and when Trixie ignored her pettiness, she had said things that she wasn’t sure she could take back. She’d have to apologize when this was all over, assuming they both survived. But she couldn’t blame her roommate if she decided to move out (not that she had much of anywhere to go, now that her caravan had been destroyed).

She had just turned the corner and seen the library, when the Ursa Major staggered forward. Its paw crushed the Cafe Hay, sending splinters the size of Evening Star flying through the air and filling the street with a cloud of dust. Evening Star skidded to a halt to avoid being crushed in the explosion of rubble and fell to one ankle from the vibrations in the cobblestones.

A drop of slobber the size of a foal-pool splashed to the ground in front of her, as the Ursa Major snapped its terrible jaws at the pegasus currently harassing its face.

Just as she was about to dart beneath the creature, she saw something else. A smiling pink earth pony wrapping the twenty-foot-wide paw beside her in rolls and rolls of ribbon and streamers. She was even humming, as she did the job.

She stopped as she tied a big red bow on the Ursa Major’s pinkie claw and smiled over at Evening Star. “Hey, you’re the cranky librarian pony who can’t remember anything! You want to help me tie up an Ursa Major?”

It was Pinkie Pie. The pony who'd tried to give Evening Star a party when she'd gotten out of Ponyville hospital. Evening Star shook the memory out of her head. She was too busy racing in the direction of the library.

“I’ll take a raincheck!” Pinkie Pie called as Evening Star threw open the door and dove into the safety and protection of her home. Quickly, she began focusing all her remaining magical stores on removing books from their placement on the shelves and throwing them into the basement down below.

She heard more ground-rumbling growls and saw flashes of blue and turquoise light as the Bearers of the Elements continued to do battle with the immense bear. She was even half-way done with her hasty rearranging, when the roof of the library was ripped off in a shuddering groan.

There was the Ursa Major again, bruised, slightly bloody, but still very much alive and very angry. And it was growling down at her, a few strands of slobber dripping from its tree-sized canines. The constellations across its body were now glowing so brightly it hurt her eyes. As it opened its maw to devour her whole, a blast of blue energy struck its red tongue and a white unicorn with a seemingly immaculate mane leaped down into the library center.

“Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it, you big brute!” The unicorn declared as she galloped in front of Evening Star, her horn buzzing with the kind of deep-rooted magic that only protectiveness can awaken.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie appeared on the now exposed perimeter wall of the library, taking advantage of the Ursa Major’s pain to leap up onto its snout. Soon they were wrapping tape and rope around its jaws, while high up above, bolts of lightning slamming into the creature’s fur, scorching it with each blinding flash. They were both forced to leap off the snout of the creature as it reached up, tearing away the restraints over its mouth and getting them all over its paws in the process.

There was a flash of blue energy and Princess Starlight teleported into view, a still shaken looking Fluttershy leaning on her. As she did, Pinkie and Applejack leaped down from their perch, skidding to a halt on either side of their friends. The somehow still immaculate unicorn, whom Evening had now identified as Rarity, the local seamstress, joined them, as Rainbow Dash dived down from the swirling clouds above.

“Now!" Starlight ordered, and as she said it, the crown atop her head began to glow with purple radiance. Instantaneously, a white aura had surrounded the six friends and Evening Star looked away to avoid being blinded, as a beam of pure magic cascaded upwards.

Evening Star felt the tingle of that power, like static, crackling across her muddy coat and piercing the layers of stratified bone protecting her cornual nerve, deep within her horn. It was at once the most wonderful and terrible thing she'd ever experienced, so immensely energizing as to be addictive, but simultaneously filling her with profound insignificance. The sensation was strangely familiar, even more so than the occasional moments of deja vu that occasionally haunted her when she left the safety of her home.

The shuddering of reality warping and folding around this moment finally ended, leaving behind smoke of disintegrated rubble and the eye-watering scent of burnt fur. The Ursa Major was walling and even through the sunspots dancing across her vision, Evening Star could see that the Bearers had left the thing deformed, not just searing off much of its purple fur but leaving the translucent skin beneath partially melted, the once vibrant constellations on its body now warped and dim.

It fled, as loudly as possible, destroying another half a dozen buildings on its way back to the safety of the Everfree Forest. When the dust settled and the creature was far from sight, all six the champions slumped with exhaustion. Then they slowly gathered around Fluttershy, as Evening Star saw the look of determination fade from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Rainbow asked, staring at Fluttershy's still slightly bent wing.

Fluttershy smiled. "Thanks to you, Applejack."

"Aw, shucks...Ah'm sure you woulda done the same for me. Ah'm just sorry you couldn't make that thing listen to ya."

Fluttershy looked at the ground. "That's not important...I'm just glad that Rarity's family is alright."

"Oh, I almost forgot about your shop!" Pinkie said, turning to Rarity with an expression of horror.

“It’s alright, girls,” The unicorn said with a half-hearted smile as they all pressed themselves to her coat and gently wrapped their hooves around her withers. “I didn’t really like that last line I was working on anyway...”

“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “You and your family can stay with me for as long as you need. As long as you don’t mind all the animals.”

“And we've always got space for guests at Sweet Apple Acres.” Applejack said.

“I’ll help you put up a new carousel. Even better than the last one!” Rainbow Dash declared. "There'll be twice as much space for ridiculous dresses!"

“You’ll finally have a chance to put up those gem furnishings you wanted at the Castle of Friendship.” Starlight said with a smile.

Rarity teared up and then closed her eyes, letting herself be held and nuzzled by her five friends. “Oh, thank you girls. You-you are the best friends a gorgeous up and coming young designer could ask for.”

The rest all rolled their eyes lovingly.

“Th-thank you…for saving my life.” Evening Star said, her vision blurry and stinging from the ash in the air. She was not sure if she should be bowing in the presence of these ponies, who she knew worked so closely with Celestia herself. But even if she had, it still seemed inadequate thanks for what they'd just done for her.

Rarity opened her eyes and stepped forward, her friends all crowding around Evening Star. “Of course, darling. What else were we supposed to do?”

“That was a right good thing you done, protecting Rarity's family when everypony was ducking for cover.” Applejack said. “But why in tarnation did ya come here instead of the town hall, where you woulda been safe?”

Evening Star looked down at the ground. “This-this is my home…I had to protect the books.”

“Seems pretty silly to me!” Said Pinkie Pie, popping up out of nowhere right next to Evening Star.

“Pinkie Pie…” Starlight Glimmer sighed.

“What? You can always print more books, but if you get squished, who’ll print a new you?” Pinkie asked, wrapping her hooves lovingly around Evening Star’s neck and patting her on the head like she was a newborn.

“I appreciate your concern,” Evening Star said, respectfully drawing her head out of Pinkie’s grasp with a *POP!*. “But I need to clean this place up.”

“You don't mean to say that you intend to spend the night here, do you?” Rarity asked, suddenly concerned.

Evening Star nodded, no longer looking at the brave ponies who’d saved her life. She was too busy slowly picking up each and every book which had come free of the shelves when the canopy of the tree had been torn free.

“Umm, there’s no roof.” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“And it looks like it's going to rain.” Fluttershy pointed out.

“Ooh, this game is fun! I want to point out an inane detail next!” Pinkie Pie said, throwing her forelegs up. “There are books...all over the floor!!”

“What did you say your name was?” Starlight Glimmer asked, stepping forward.

Evening Star looked up, a book on pottery between her teeth. “Evening Shtar.”

“Well, Miss Shtar, why don’t you come stay with me and my family? At least until you get a new roof.” Rarity said, putting a hoof on Evening’s shoulder kindly.

Evening lowered the book onto a pile of them. “But I have to clean up this mess…if I don't everything will be destroyed.”

Starlight smirked. “Don’t worry. The five of us will put all the books away safe and sound. You go with Rarity and get a good night’s rest, okay?”

Evening Star looked up to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all nodding. They all looked absolutely wiped out from what they’d just experienced. But they were still willing to help her.

She felt something inside melt a little. “Thank you…thank you so much…” She realized she was crying and wiped her face with her leg.

“Our pleasure, neighbor.” Applejack said, stepping forward. "Just as long as ya promise not to go doin' anything reckless like ya did again."

Evening Star nodded, sheepishly.

Rarity’s family had opted to stay the night at the Castle of Friendship, for although they did not live at the Carousel Boutique their actual house was half-buried in rubble from the attack. Not only that, but the magical protections of the castle, ensured by Princess Starlight, offered more security.

The building was not what Evening Star had expected. When she'd first seen the castle, after all that nonsense with the centaur, she'd been overwhelmed by its beauty. But there was something about its sleek and almost transparent surfaces, to create a feeling of being exposed and trapped all at once.

She'd been glad when Rarity had gotten her and the others out of its cavernous halls and into a circular chamber with six beds. Evening Star guessed that the Princess and her friends used the place to house visiting dignitaries, but the stash of board games under her bed indicated that it might have also been home to a number of sleep overs in the past.

As she hung up her cloak and readied herself for bed, Evening Star watched as Hondo and Cookie and Rarity all fussed over Sweetie Belle, calming the nervous filly with a mixture of verbal reassurance, physical affection and eventually an almost heartbreaking lullaby. It felt wrong, watching them enjoy such an intimate moment, and Evening Star turned away and tried to pretend not to be listening.

There was something so touching about the scene, that it felt wrong just sharing the room with the four of them. They had something she’d never known, some deeper connection that made her presence almost sacrilegious, even after they’d thanked her so thoroughly for her assistance. So, deciding that just looking away was not enough, Evening Star took advantage of the distraction to slip out of bed and make her way into the hall.

As she stood outside the bedroom, Evening Star closed her eyes, in hopes that the tune of the lullaby might awaken memories of what her own parents had hummed to her as a babe. Perhaps there was something from her elusive past, which hadn’t been torn away from her so completely. Some shred of her inner essence that might take her away from this place, to one of belonging.

But not only did the melody fail to elicit the profound reaction she'd been hoping for, it did not awaken any emotion that could be described as familial.

If her parents were dead, she could have mourned them. But the closest thing Evening Star had ever had to a parent was maybe the mayor, who had done so much for her, or maybe Zecora, who by finding her had saved her life. Neither of which, she knew, viewed her the way she wished they would.

“Yer the mare Zecora found in the woods mutterin’ hocus-pocus, ain’t ya?”

She opened her eyes and nearly jumped to see how quickly Applejack had approached her. Then she nodded slowly, ashamed.

The taller mare gave a bittersweet smile as she sidled up alongside Evening Star, peeking into the bedroom through the slit in the door. “Cookie Crumble sure knows how to take care of a filly, don’t she?”

Evening Star nodded, her eyes on the ground.

“Ya know, ah think Rarity is just about the most generous pony ah've ever met, but ah reckon sometimes she don’t appreciate ‘er family as much as she oughta.” Applejack said.

Evening Star lifted her head. “Really?”

Applejack turned to her. “Ah reckon she will after all this...nothin' like a major disaster to get ponies thankful for what matters...but ah can remember when she'd get embarrassed just from them sayin' how much they loved 'er…”

She took off her hat and held it to her chest. “Still, it can be just about Tartarus on the rest of us, seeing somepony tossing away what we wish we had.”

Evening Star’s eyes widened. “I…I’m sorry…I didn’t know…”

“Aw shoot, it ain’t yer fault.” She said, putting her hat back on and smiling like they were discussing daisies. “Like my granny always says, there ain't no use in cryin' over spilt applesauce."

“That doesn’t make it any easier.” Evening answered, without trying to hide the bitterness in her voice.

“At least ah still got mah brother and mah granny to look after me.” Applejack said, searching Evening’s down-turned face.

There was a moment as Evening tried not to burst into tears again.

"But if ya ever want to talk…orphan to orphan, ah'm always happy to lend an ear.”

Evening Star looked up in surprise then recoiled. “Th-thank you, Miss Applejack.”

Applejack wrinkled at the honorific. “Ya helped one of my friends, ah help you. Simple as pie.” Applejack turned away. “Now, let’s get ya someplace else to sleep.”

Evening Star shook her head. “Oh, that’s not necessary…I don’t want to impose…I-I’ll be fine.”

“Horsefeathers! This here castle is big enough to hold the whole dang town come to it.” Applejack said, as she trotted in the direction of the staircase. She paused at the base of the stairs to glance back at Evening Star. “Unless ya wanna stay.”

Evening Star pawed at her reflection on the floor with her hoof. “I-I don’t want to be alone, Miss Applejack.”

“Right! Now ya can do away with callin' me, 'Miss', right this instant, ya hear?” Said Applejack marching back up to her. “But if ya don’t want to be on your lonesome, ah can sure as heck understand.”

“Thank you. For everything.” Evening Star said.

“That's just what neighbors do.” Applejack said, proudly.

But it wasn’t. Evening Star had never been treated this kindly in all her time in Ponyville. Admittedly, she hadn’t exited Golden Oaks more than a few times since getting the job. But still, it was all a world of a difference from the condescension and annoyance she’d received from Trixie.

Give it time, a part of her said. These ponies will get just as sick of you as all the rest. They don’t know what a pain in the rump you are yet.

She watched as Sweetie Belle drifted off with her parents on either side and her big sister at her hooves. The sight was sweet enough to put a smile on her face as she climbed onto her own bed and drifted off, too tired to be bothered by the normal worries.

She was in the Castle of Friendship. But it wasn’t cold and unfamiliar anymore. It was hers and it was rich with mementos from her and her friends’ travels.

She was sitting in the throne room, curled up under a blanket, warmed by the sunlight that dazzled through the gem-studded windows. A mug of hot cocoa sat on the crystalline table in front of her, its heat creating condensation on the normally transparent surface.

Then she heard a voice, echoing from the hallway behind her. It was soft voice. The voice of someone familiar, whose name she couldn’t quite remember off the top of her head. But what was stranger, was that the voice had called her something besides “Evening Star” and she had remembered it as if it had always been her name.

When Evening Star came to, she spent considerable time trying and failing to remember what that second name, which had felt so right, was. But although the process was beyond frustrating, it caused her to slowly realize something. Something very, very important.

She had just dreamed, for the first time since waking up in the Ponyville Hospital.