Starlight powered up her horn. One blast. Just one blast and she would be the victor. It had been a long struggle against Twilight Sparkle and her band of misfits but finally she was the…wait what was going on?
An insignia of bright teal had appeared beneath her, radiating an aura of blinding light. Startled, her spell fizzled out and her horn stopped glowing. She glanced swiftly at Twilight, had she done this? Was this another trick? No. Twilight lay unconscious on the cloud she had fallen upon. But then what? The insignia grew brighter and brighter still, until it completely obscured her vision. The last thought she had before she knew nothing more was, is this summoning magic?
Starlight’s eyes flickered open. She was laying on a polished wooden floor. Where am I? No sooner had she thought these words while trying to rise to all fours, had a strange blue window appeared. Startled, she let out a gasp, only to jump in surprise. What came out was not her voice. She placed her hoof to her mouth and froze. Her eyes grew wide. It was not her hoof. She stared at it, trying to figure out what it was.
It’s got five claws, like that of a dragon, only it’s fleshy instead of scaly. This doesn’t make sense. And speaking of making sense, what in Celestia’s name are these things? Starlight had managed to sit up and glanced down at her body, only to be greeted by two mounds of jiggly flesh. She poked at them in curiosity, watching as they jiggled before wincing. Whatever these are, they are pretty sensitive to touch. Wait, what are those? Starlight stared at her hind hooves only to see similar appendages to her fleshy dragon claws. What am I?
Once again, that strange blue window popped up in front of her eyes. She blinked as she stared at it: You need to get dressed. Okay, I can do that. Clearly these appendages she possessed were proof of walking on two legs. All she had to do was use her tail for balance since she was some sort of fleshy Dragon. There was just one problem.
Where is my tail?
Tail? Starlight read the strange prompt in confusion. Surely, she had a tail, right? Well yeah, Dragons have tails don’t they? She anxiously waited as the prompt took a moment to display the words But you are now a Human. Starlight mentally ran through a list of the thousands of various races she had encountered as the Disciple of Clover the Clever; the vast many civilizations she had spent time with over the course of hundreds of years of life. What is a Human? The prompt changed to an ellipsis, causing Starlight to roll the eyes of her new body. Very helpful.
While waiting for a response from the magic message box, Starlight placed what she had thought to be a Dragon's hand between her legs, flat on the floor and felt something strange. The polished floor felt grainy, almost sandy. Lifting the hand back up to her face, she noticed a white dust almost like…Salt?
Noticing no reply from the message box, Starlight looked more carefully at her surroundings. The room was barely lit, but her keen eyes picked up the stumps of candles, dwindling incense burners, and the beheaded corpse of a chicken. Her eyes widened as she rose instinctively in shock. She looked at where she had been sitting and barely made out the telltale circle of salt, with an insignia crudely drawn in fresh blood. And then she saw the book laying open on the ground. Starlight leaned down and after a few tries picked up the book, glancing at the ritual it described.
It was black magic. Necromancy. Starlight felt angry, there were some lines that you just don’t cross in magic and the owner of the body she was now in had paid the highest price. The worst part was, they hadn’t even performed the right ritual.
What an idiot. Instantly, the text prompt reappeared. Who? The owner of this body. This is a ritual sealing circle not a ritual summoning circle. Huh? A sealing circle forces a soul into a body, permanently binding it to its host. The cost for doing this is the caster’s own soul. Whereas a summoning circle uses a sacrifice to summon an immaterial being in order to strike a bargain.
How do you know it is a sealing circle? Starlight gestured at various lines, The markings here and here as well as there, the insignia is backwards as well. As a result, this idiot paid their soul and in turn gave me this strange body. Stop saying that! I am not an idiot!
Starlight felt the blood in her veins turn to ice as she stared at the prompt. She had assumed the original soul of this body had created the prompt using magic, but as she stared at it, she now realized it had been talking to her the entire time. You did this? Yes. Why would you do such a thing? Because…
Starlight waited, but the soul seemed to be thinking. It didn’t make any sense to her that any creature would risk non-existence for any reason. What could this person possibly have needed so bad, they would attempt a bargain with Tartarus? Starlight’s eyes had grown more accustomed to the darkened room, and she noticed the bed in the corner was broken, with a mold-covered blood-stained rice sack for a mattress. Her eyes scanned the room, spotting what looked to be a floor mirror, though the surface was cracked, with a broken shard upon the ground next to it.
Struggling slightly, Starlight stumbled over to the mirror to look at herself, noticing the ellipses were still in the prompt. Shivering slightly, as she wobbled trying to keep her balance, Starlight gazed upon her new body. And was instantly mortified.
It was a female, and though Starlight didn’t know what a Human was, she judged from its height to be a young one, possibly no more than a school-aged filly who had just gotten a cutie mark. Her skin was covered in heavy bruises and cuts, while certain areas showed the horrible disfigurement of abuse. Her frame was gaunt and bony, and her ribs could be seen through her tight skin, a sign of severe malnourishment. Starlight noticed clumps of a ragged, frayed head of autumn colored hair were missing. A new prompt finally appeared.
Starlight looked at it and instantly she understood why the girl had done this. Why someone had been driven so far as to sacrifice their soul to call forth another. She just silently stared at the single world that the box showed, feeling all the pain and anguish behind it. Just one word: Revenge.
Starlight’s eye twitched in annoyance. This was not okay. She stood in the darkened room, flipping through the grimoire her ire only growing with each page turn.
She had lived many lifetimes, witnessing everything from the rise of Discord, lord of Chaos to the Fall of Equestria at the hooves of her student, Twilight Sparkle. She wasn’t particularly annoyed at the use of Black Magic, in this case, or even being sealed within a new body. She could easily handle the squalor surroundings and the terminal state of her new body. She had seen far worse, after all. But this…This was simply unacceptable.
Taking a deep breath, she roared into the darkness.
“What idiot wrote this thing? This rune is backwards, no that is not how fire elementals work. Why is there a spell to change eye color in a grimoire? Could they not even spell the incantation for summoning water? Was this written by an initiate or…Seriously who wrote this preschool grade magic tome!”
Angrily, she closed the grimoire and analyzed the front cover. She would find whatever being that had made this and strangle them for selling such a bastardization of the realm of magic. Who would be so brazen… She scanned the cover for the author’s name. And when she saw it, the color drained from her face. It couldn’t be.
Where exactly did you get this?
A green female unicorn suddenly appeared and gave it to me. Starlight stared dumbfounded at the prompt. It wasn’t possible and yet the proof was in her now-human hands. Quick, describe what she looked like. She wore a witch's hat and had a golden mane and tail, oh and a tattoo of a clover on her flank. She had watched her die. Starlight directed a question at the young soul. Anything else? Anything at all? Cold cruel eyes, that sparkled like rubies but her smile was tender and warm. It isn’t her. It isn’t her, it’s just wishful thinking. Wait! Wishful thinking? I wonder.
Closing her eyes, Starlight attempted to search the memories of her new body. Maybe since my soul is tethered to this form I can…There! Starlight watched as the scene played out in her mind.
“A terrible fate, is it not?”
In the middle of the floor, the young girl slowly turned towards the sound of the voice behind her. Standing there in the air, looking rather amused, was a green Unicorn mare with a witch's hat. On her back was what looked to be a staff made of blessed holy wood, topped with a rather large and glowing blue moonstone. And next to her floated a book.
“W-who are you?”
The Unicorn placed a hoof against her chin in thought for a moment before replying.
“I suppose that depends on who you were to ask. To most, I am an embodiment of sin incarnate. To a few, a holy saintess that gave magic unto many worlds, yet others would say I’m a witch who made bargains with the devil, and to one, I am a guardian angel. Perhaps by day's end, another shall see me in that light, as well.”
The little girl stared dumbfounded at the Unicorn. The ruby eyes were shining with a demonic malice, but her smile was as gentle as the summer’s sun.
“A Demon? What do you want with me? I have no value.”
While the little girl looked down in despair, the Unicorn hopped off her invisible mount and landed without a sound.
“True. You are absolutely worthless.”
The Unicorn slowly walked towards her, continuing on, as the girl collapsed to her knees.
“You are nothing. You have no abilities; your strength is less than none, your looks are completely grotesque, your virtue has been stolen by your own father. Your potential is such that even the Gods you pray to have turned away. Not to mention I am fairly certain your soul would fetch maybe one percent of one hundredth of one millionth of the least denomination of this world on a good day. You have literally 0% chance to have even the most miniscule impact in this world. Completely worthless.”
The girl's eyes went dark, as her heart and mind completely shattered. She continued to stare blankly, even as her head was lifted and those sparkling ruby eyes dominated her vision.
“Even so, those are the kind of odds I love to invest in.”
A golden parchment appeared before the young girl, as the Unicorn gave a little bow.
“You can call me Clover, Child. Because today is your lucky day.”
Starlight choked back her tears, as a lump formed in the throat of her new body. It’s really her. How long has it been since Starlight last saw her? Unbidden tears slowly trailed down her face, before she broke down sobbing. Mo-.
“Starlight, if you keep crying like that, you’re going to make it rain.”
Starlight’s eyes flew open. This voice, is it- Before her eyes could even comprehend what she was seeing, Starlight began running. She cried out, like a filly just waking up after a long nightmare.
“Mom-my!”
Starlight didn’t realize it yet, but she was now in the middle of a pitch-black void. And in front of her, in the middle of that void sitting there smiling at her with tender warmth, was none other than Clover, herself.
She was sitting at a rather large and ornate table, around which various silhouettes of strange beasts that radiated immense pressure, sat. Rising swiftly, Clover made her way to Starlight, calling out.
“Yeah, Yeah, relax I’m not doing anything, Baal. I’m just giving my daughter some comfort.”
Clover knelt down and hugged Starlight, whispering just barely audibly within her ear in a long forgotten runic language.
“Find the others. Kill them all.”
Then, as if nothing happened, Clover leaned back and wiped a hoof across Starlight’s eyes to dry her tears. She smiled cheerfully.
“Can you do that for mommy?”
Starlight blinked in confusion, what had she just said? But looking into Clover’s eyes, those radiant ruby eyes shined with a murderous intent. Starlight, still not sure what was going on, nodded slowly.
“Uh-huh.”
Clover laughed, before standing back up and stating loudly.
“Good girl, why don’t you go back and enjoy your game, while mommy plays.”
Starlight’s eyes suddenly felt heavier than normal. What’s going on? Her eyelids flickered as Clover turned to head back towards the table. I can’t seem to… Clover looked back at her and spoke lovingly.
“Remember, just because it’s impossible, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Now show them what mommy’s little disciple is capable of.”
Starlight’s eyes fell closed once more and the strange scene before her vanished into the Aether as everything fell into darkness.
Starlight’s eyes flew open. She quickly took stock of her circumstances. She was standing in front of a large mirror, covered from head to toe in lacerations and many bruises. She could hardly feel the body she had been sealed into, most likely, she surmised, due to a slow acting neurotoxin if the purple rash on her nethers was anything to go by. She had no food. She had no water. The body had clearly been starved for weeks before being put in the small room. The room itself was sealed with magic. There was no possible way for her to survive this.
And then she looked down at the grimoire in her hand. None of the spells were usable, yet she smiled. A truly wicked smile as she clutched it to her chest.
“You said you wanted revenge, right?”
The blue prompt immediately replied with yes.
Starlight laughed, as the dim lighting hit the grimoire’s front cover, revealing the name of its creator: Starlight Glimmer, written in silver glitter. How long has it been since I made this for her? Starlight’s now-green irises danced like diamonds in the darkened room. Impossible, huh?
“I like our odds.”
