A hooded figure stood atop one of the homes in the upper class residential neighborhood of Canterlot, staring at the crystal monstrosity that was now on a tirade of property damage. The figure’s cloak was a deep, rich purple with a gold trim. Upon the flank was a symbol resembling a sun with a blue circle and red rays.

A device of some sort sat in the pink ear of the hooded figure, a wire disappearing into their hood.

“Target in sight.” the hooded figure said quietly, almost serenely, devoid of any emotion. Complete monotone.

“What do you see?” a voice asked from the ear piece.

“I see several royal guards engaged with the target. They appear to be losing. Target is a unicorn, corrupted by dark magic. Property damage extends to seven homes.” the hooded figure replied without hesitation.

“Engage target. Bring it down.” the voice commanded. “Use lethal force if necessary, but avoid any loss of life if at all possible. Am I clear, agent Morning Star?”

“Yes, ma’am.” the hooded figure replied before leaping from the roof top. As Morning Star reached the apex of their jump, their horn briefly flashed with a green aura, creating a glowing platform for their hooves. They landed upon the platform and jumped again, dispelling it in the process.

Morning Star made three more of these jumps before allowing themselves to fall, their horn shimmering again as their fall slowed so that they could touch down to the ground almost silently. They looked up to the unicorn trapped within crystal appraisingly.

“Who… are you?” a red maned, black alicorn questioned upon landing. His armor had a few dents from various impacts.

“Requesting status report.” Morning Star said softly, ignoring the alicorn.

“Creature appears invulnerable to direct magic attacks, attempt something indirect. Dodge to your left now!” the voice in her ear commanded.

Morning Star leapt to the left, narrowly dodging a crystal that struck the ground and stuck into it like a javelin. Their horn flared and the crystal was torn from the ground. They spun around and launched it backat the source, the floating blue unicorn trapped under a layer of crystal.

The floating unicorn in response was surprised, not having expected their own attack to be turned back against them. It struck true and part of the crystal surrounding her shattered like glass.

“Surrender peacefully!” Morning Star shouted, though somehow retained her monotone. “This is your one and only warning! Ponies have been harmed by your actions and they will not be tolerated!”

Crimson Tail and Fire Dancer stared up at the new arrival. Crimson was the first to speak. “What the heck? There aren’t supposed to be any others here!”

“That’s not just any other.” Fire commented. “Somepony called in the big guns.”

“That’s… an Eclipse agent!” Starlight called as she disentangled herself from a rose bush she’d been thrown into.

Morning Star avoided another attack before leaping into the air again. “Attempting Purification Spell Number Two O’ Nine.” she stated. Her horn shined brightly as she prepared her spell.

“Cease! Do not att-” the voice in her ear warned.

Morning Star’s horn dimmed in obedience. “Spell canceled.”

“You don’t have enough time to cast Two O’ Nine. The target is too fast for you.” the voice cautioned. “Reflect as before!”

Morning Star used another one of her magically conjured platforms to dodge another shard of crystal before catching, slowing, and launching it back the direction it came from.

Once more the floating unicorn’s crystal armor was struck. “Sssstop it! Stop it! STOP IT!”

“You must part with the artifact.” Morning Star said in the same monotone she’d held, whilst standing upon one of her green platforms. “Your thoughts have been altered. You are not thinking clearly.”

“I-I’m thinking more clearly than I ever have! All these ponies… th-they’re the reason…! They’re the cause of it all!” the blue unicorn howled.

“Your mother’s illness has nothing to do with these ponies.” Morning Star stated calmly. “You cannot help your mother in the state you are in, Radiant Jewel. You will only bring her further harm.”

“Don’t talk about her! Don’t talk about my mother! U-unless… it was you!” Radiant hissed. “Y-you’re one of them!”

“Your mother’s condition was brought on by handling things she should not have… much like you are now. Do not make two members of your family victims of these things. You can still be saved. Please separate yourself from the crystal at once.” Morning Star replied.

A small volley of crystal shards shot for the hooded figure. Morning Star went to summon a shield but was too late… several shards struck and stabbed into her legs. The hooded unicorn didn’t seem to respond to the injury in the slightest. “You don’t know anything!”

“I know that you are hurting. That you have been promised things that cannot be delivered to you. False promises are common from the whispers in your mind.” Morning Star cautioned.

“I said… you don’t… know… anything!” Radiant roared. Another volley of crystal jetted forth.

This time Morning Star vanished in a green flash before appearing on the ground. “Subject Radiant Jewel is unresponsive to attempts to sway her… advice requested.”

“Have the guard presence distract her while you prepare Two O’ Nine.” the voice in her ear commanded.

Morning Star glanced to the others. They were not in ideal shape, but she supposed she didn’t have much choice. She caught a glimpse of information she needed from their armor. “Independent Operations Team 77, distract Radiant Jewel.” she said in her same monotone. “Do not let her attack me.”

“Great.” Crimson said, then turned to the others. “How exactly do we do that?”

“I guess we’ll think of something…” Silver noted. It seemed that Morning Star practically became Radiant’s new target, seemingly drawing a significant amount of the unicorn’s fire. Silver threw a shield up between Radiant and Morning, and winced as he was forced to pour more magic into the shield to mend cracks that spidered along it with each impact. Was there no end to the number of projectiles this unicorn had?! “W-where is she getting all of these… crystals!?”

“They’re magical constructs, they’re not real.” answered Starlight as she poured some of her own magic into the shield. “I think she’s drawing on a Dark Nexus… it can keep fueling her as long as she has access to it…”

“In other words… we’re going to run out of power long before she does.” Silver worriedly realized.

“There’s gotta be another way. I can’t just rush in and tackle her, or I would.” Crimson noted.

“We don’t need to overpower her. We just need to last long enough.” Fire suggested, then added his own magic to the shield.

Morning Star’s horn flared brighter and a circumscribed hexagram of golden light appeared before her. “Purification Spell Two o’ Nine.” she declared in her monotone.

Radiant Jewel immediately froze up as a golden aura surrounded her and the constant storm of sharp, shiny, projectiles stopped. She shuddered and let out a scream, sounding as if in agony…

Suddenly, Morning Star flinched back, a violent shower of sparks exploding from her horn before she fell on her haunches. “S-spell fizzled… we will have to attempt a different approach…” she winced before getting up.

Starlight glanced at the hooded unicorn’s horn and frowned seeing the tip ever so slightly blackened. That magical backfire was nasty… if that happened again, she would be at serious risk for some kind of horn injury. She didn’t know much about Eclipse’s purification spells, but she doubted the next one would be any weaker than the last. “I… I’m going to try something risky. Something dangerous and stupid.”

This caught the Eclipse agent’s attention. “Starlight Glimmer… do not. The situation is dangerous enough as it is.” Morning Star cautioned, again in her same monotone.

“Stop me later… this ends now.” Starlight hissed, gritting her teeth. “Silver, Fire… I’m going to stop supporting the shield, you’ll need to pick up my slack while I prepare.”

Fire was already pouring more into it. “I don’t like where this is going…” he said with a strained voice.

Starlight cut off the flow of magic to the shield and shifted her attention to forming her own spell… she stared up at Radiant Jewel as she was beginning to recover from Morning’s attempt at stopping her and… lashed out with an attack of her own.

“Starlight Glimmer you are not authorized or licensed to use that spell.” Morning Star said, approaching.

“S-so sue me! It’s this or nothing!” Starlight howled. “Don’t interrupt my concentration or I might hurt her!”

Starlight opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness. She could feel things watching her in the dark… but she couldn’t focus on them. She galloped forward, deeper and deeper. She had cast herself into Radiant’s mind. Several warped images occasionally flitted by like little projected images on walls that didn’t exist. Each showing some kind of dark, twisted fate for ponies Starlight didn’t recognize. She didn’t know them, but she could feel the mare’s care for them.

“I-is this what dark magic does to a pony’s head?” Starlight pondered aloud as she finally spotted what she was after.

A blue unicorn sitting alone in the dark, tear tracks evident on her face. A shadowy figure paced around her in an almost predatory manner. “They’ll leave you just like they left your mother…” it whispered in a tone that one might believe was concern.

“Don’t listen to it!” Starlight shouted.

The unicorn flinched and looked up at the intruder. “W-who… y-you’re that pony that was… h-how are you in my head?!”

“Let’s just say you’re not the only pony capable of using magic they shouldn’t… Radiant Jewel, I don’t know what’s happened to you… but you have to stop.” Starlight pleaded. “Ponies have gotten hurt…”

“They’re trying to hurt me!” Radiant whimpered.

“No… we just wanted to get back what you stole.” Starlight said pleadingly. “I… I know you don’t have any reason to trust me… but I know where this road leads. I’ve been desperate before. I’ve done stupid and dangerous things before b-because I thought I was doing the right thing… thought I was saving them… I-I’d just deluded myself because I didn’t want to accept reality…”

“I-I know what you did! E-Everpony knows what you did, Starlight!” Radiant shouted. “What you did to that town!”

Starlight shook her head. “You don’t know anything about it other than what’s been out there… and I’m not that pony anymore… I made a mistake, Radiant Jewel… a mistake that hurt a lot of ponies, myself included… I don’t wanna see you make that same mistake. Don’t listen to what it tells you… you need to put the crystal down.”

“How do I know this isn’t some kind of trick? That I won’t be left like my mother?! It’s all those stupid ponies’ faults! They took her away from me!” Radiant cried shakily.

“Because… I-I’m just as vulnerable as you right now. In your head… I can’t move my body. At any point I could be killed and I’d be powerless to stop it. You have control and I don’t.” Starlight explained. “I’ve left myself wide open for this…”

“I-I could k-kill you. I could do it right now…” Radiant said weakly.

“You could… but you don’t really want to do that… do you?” Starlight asked.

“...I-I do… I want to… w-want to… s-see you…” Radiant trailed off, holding her hooves to her head. “W-why does it hurt? I-I don’t understand…”

“That drive to kill doesn’t belong to you, Radiant. You aren’t that kind of pony. You never were… Don’t you see the shadows? Hear the things they’re whispering…?” Starlight pleaded. “It’s not us, or Eclipse that wants to leave you like your mother… it’s them.”

“Don’t listen to her, little pony…” the shadowy figure said calmly. “It’s a trick… why else would a pony waltz into your head?”

“Bold talk coming from the one who did it first.” Starlight snarked.

“Shut up! SHUT UP!” Radiant screamed. “I-I need… need to… to think…”

The shadow turned its attention to Starlight. “Thank you for the tidbit about your body being vulnerable… Starlight Glimmer. I could come after you right now, you know… I have many friends…”

“Do your worst.” Starlight sneered. “I’m not about to fall for your crap. I’ve manipulated enough ponies to know when someone’s trying to do it to me.”

“...w-what will happen to me… if I put down… the cr-crystal?” Radiant finally asked.

“You don’t want to put down the crystal…” the shadow whispered. “The crystal is yours… it is your power… your safety… your salvation… justice…”

“I-I don’t… want… no! That’s… that’s not me!” Radiant shrilled.

Starlight swallowed hard. Good… Radiant was starting to question it… That was a good sign. She debated on saying anything else or letting Radiant continue on her own. Anything she said or did could be critical right now.

“Tell me, Starlight! What happens if I put it down!?” Radiant demanded.

“Y-your body’s likely been damaged by the magic… y-you will be hurt. Your mind has been affected badly…” Starlight answered.

“...I-I could end up like my mother if I put it down…” Radiant realized.

Starlight didn’t answer. That was a possibility, if what had happened to her mother was what Starlight thought.

“...what’s happening… to me? T-to everypony out there? It’s all so… fuzzy…” Radiant whimpered.

“...you’ve destroyed your home… and six others. Ten ponies have been injured, minor lacerations. Three more have suffered severe injury. All have been taken to the hospital by now… nopony has died… but if you don’t stop this now, somepony could get hurt a lot worse…” Starlight answered. Though there had been few ponies left in the neighborhood prior to the fight breaking out, a few stragglers had found themselves caught in the crossfire regardless. “You have the power to save them… and it’s not a power anyone has promised to you. It’s a power all of your own.”

“S-save… save them…” Radiant said shakily.

“...those ponies could be mothers and daughters too, Radiant… you’d never want to take away anypony else’s… would you?” Starlight asked.

“This is ridiculous… you’re not actually going to listen to this little monster, are you, Radiant?” the shadow questioned.

“I’ve made up my mind…” Radiant Jewel replied.

Starlight’s eyes shot open and she fell to the ground, breathing hard. It was a spell she’d used only three times before… and those times she didn’t have things constantly pounding at her own mental defenses. This time it had taken every ounce of fortitude she had to keep those things in Radiant’s head out of her own. “O-oh Celestia…”

The crystals surrounding the floating blue unicorn’s body retreated and both her and the crystal fell.

“C-cast your… purification spell… again…” Starlight panted.

Morning Star’s horn erupted again with her emerald aura. Again the circumscribed golden hexagram appeared… and this time Radiant Jewel’s falling form flashed a bright golden before the spell faded away in a much calmer manner.

The unconscious unicorn was caught by a green pegasus who struggled to slow the two of them before eventually flying her over and setting her down before the group. “G-got her!”

“Nice catch, Spearmint!” Silver cheered.

Fire Dancer panted heavily. “Haven’t expelled that much magic in a while for a shield…”

“And I did nothing. Again.” Crimson deadpanned.

After a moment of silence the hooded figure reached up with her hooves and removed her hood, shaking out her golden mane before wincing. “Well… I can think of something I could perhaps use your help with… y-you’re a medic, right?” she asked, a lot more emotion now evident in her voice. She held up a bleeding foreleg with many shards of crystal still embedded in it. “I-it would appear I could use one.”

“Now that’s something I can do.” Crimson said, flying down. “You seem to know a lot about us.”

“As soon as I was briefed about this case, I was informed that Indie Ops Team 77 was already on it… so I was briefed about you as well.” the pink unicorn admitted as she sat on her haunches. “...admittedly I know far more about Miss Glimmer, over there… who I will be having a very lengthy discussion with…”

“Do whatever you have to… I understand what I did.” Starlight said before pulling herself to her hooves. “I won’t apologize for it either… but I will accept whatever consequences I’ve earned. I’m not a pony who runs from her problems anymore. I’ve already seen where that gets me.”

“Gonna need to practically burn up my whole kit on you.” Crimson commented. “You look like you got in a fight with a window and lost.” He pulled out disinfectant and materials needed to stitch up the wounds. “It’s gonna hurt, but you’ll be fine.”

“I can handle a little pain.” she chuckled. She glanced over to Starlight. “You’re an interesting pony, Miss Glimmer… I can see Princess Twilight’s worked wonders on you.”

“If by interesting you mean a walking disaster.” Starlight said with a sigh.

“You knew what you did was illegal, and yet you did it anyway. By all rights you shouldn’t even know that spell, let alone be using it… and yet you so boldly chose to do so right in front of exactly the pony that would have you arrested for it…” the pink unicorn said with a tone of surprise. “...why?”

“Look around us.” Starlight said, gesturing with a hoof. “If this had kept up… it could’ve gotten so much worse… I doubt that was anything more than the beginning of the destruction that thing could’ve caused.”

“...you chose to put the needs of Canterlot above your own.” the pink unicorn said with a smile. “You chose to put Radiant Jewel’s needs above your own… you risked both your life and freedom for Equestria.”

“Yes and I- wait what?” Starlight questioned.

The pink unicorn winced at the stinging sensation of the needle. “What you did was bold… dangerous… perhaps a bit reckless and stupid… but you did it for the right reasons.”

“Keep talking, but move less. Movement makes it easier for me to hurt you.” Crimson said, not taking his eyes off of his work.

“Sorry.” she said sheepishly. “...I’ll be honest with you, Starlight Glimmer. We’ve had Eclipse agents watching you pretty much twenty-four seven since that incident with Twilight Sparkle. We believed you to be dangerous and a threat to the safety of Equestria… and I can see that we were right… and wrong at the same time.”

“I… is that supposed to make me feel better? I had no idea…” Starlight said, her ears folding back.

“We were right. You have the kind of knowledge to do a lot of damage, if you wanted to… but I can see that’s not the kind of thing you would do if you could help it. Princess Twilight was right to put her faith in you. I think it’s time we closed our case on you.” the pink unicorn said simply. “My name is Morning Star, by the way.”

“...I-I guess I could say I’m honored… and more than a little happy I’m not going to some kind of facility.” Starlight admitted, blushing. “I don’t think I deserve that kind of trust, to be honest…”

“Starlight… it isn’t for you to decide whether you deserve it. You have earned that trust… the one who trusts you the least… is you. You’re a brilliant mare, you have some regrets and you’ve made terrible mistakes… but you also seek to make up for them everywhere you go.” Morning Star countered. “...come to Eclipse HQ tonight at seven. I think High Mage Moon Shadow would like to have a few words with you.”

“I… and this isn’t just some kind of setup, right?” Starlight questioned.

“Not at all… if anything, it’s a congratulations… and perhaps a job offer.” Morning Star suggested. “...that being said, I can’t protect you again… do not cast that spell again, or next time somepony may be forced to subdue you.”

“Before today I’d never thought about or planned on casting it again.” Starlight admitted. “...I don’t like using that kind of magic… it was a means to an end that I once thought was justified… but like a lot of the rest of the stuff I’ve done in my life, it was a mistake.”

“A mistake that saved lives today, Starlight. There’s good and bad that can come from everything. Do not forget that.” Morning Star replied.

“Something to think about, I guess.” Starlight sighed. “I’m… going to go get something to drink… I’ve had a long day. I’ll catch up with you all later, alright?”

“Don’t drink too heavily, you’ll want to be sober for that meeting.” Morning cautioned.

“I’m not out to get drunk, I just want something to take the edge off my nerves.” Starlight said before glancing to Radiant Jewel. “Will… she recover?”

“...I can’t say. I don’t know.” Morning Star admitted with a sad expression. “Perhaps in time she will.”

“I guess that’s the best answer I could hope for…” Starlight replied. She tried not to imagine herself laying on the ground in the mare’s place. It was all too familiar. She could’ve gone down that road herself. What kind of things would the great and terrible Starlight Glimmer have been able to have done? In another world, perhaps ponies remembered her as a dark sorceress, bringer of suffering, corrupter of minds. She was all the more thankful in that moment that Twilight had managed to stop her. That Twilight was the merciful and loving pony she was. She’d be remembered as the mare that made a mistake instead of the monster she could’ve become. It wasn’t perfect… but it was probably the best outcome she could’ve gotten. “I… need to tell Twilight thank you more often…”

During the conversation, Crimson had efficiently stitched up everything that he could see on the surface. “Try to take it easy. How about your underbelly? Anything there?” he asked.

Morning Star moved her cloak out of the way. “I… don’t think so? I don’t feel anything off.” she said unsurely.

“How in the world were you still standing there?” Silver questioned, looking to all the bloodied crystal shards on the ground around her.

“Oh! I can’t really feel pain in the traditional sense when I’m in trance like that… I-I’m dimly aware that I’ve been hurt, but… it’s hard to explain.” Morning Star admitted.

“Dr. Crimbo says you should be on the sidelines until these wounds heal. I stitched them up, but if you strain they could pull.” Crimson said. “You’re good to go otherwise. Maybe see a more… doctor doctor when you get a chance, just to make sure there aren’t any infections or anything.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll be sure to.” Morning Star nodded. “You’re very gentle with a needle, Crimson, I’m really impressed. Much better than the pony who usually patches me up!”

Crimson blinked. “Well that’s a new one. Still though, glad I could make it as painless as possible.”

“Give yourself some credit, you’re better than you think.” Fire said. Crimson said nothing, looking away.

“I’ve got to ask, you seem like a really powerful mage… surely you know a healing spell or two?” Midnight asked curiously as she approached. She eyed the crystal nearby warily. It’s influence was already corrupting the spiritual flora in a way she didn’t like.

“Oh I know several.” Morning Star admitted. “But with my line of work, things can get pretty dangerous pretty quickly… its best if I avoid magical healing at all costs, unless it’s absolutely necessary to keep me alive. It keeps my risk of complications low in the event I actually need it. If I healed every cut, scrape, and broken bone with magic, I might be put in a very bad situation, should I need fast magical healing for say… a damaged organ or something.”

“Makes sense.” Fire said. “I wouldn’t have thought of it.”

Several flashes of light announced the arrival of several more ponies clad in the same cloaks as Morning Star, most unicorns, although a couple of pegasi were in the mix as well. Most immediately went over to the crystal, though three hung back.

A royal blue coated unicorn with a lilac mane approached, a crescent shaped ear ring hanging from either ear. “You did good today, Morning Star…” she announced warmly.

“It was Starlight and 77 that did the majority of the work.” Morning Star admitted, her ears folding back.

“They’ll get their dues, sugar.” the royal blue mare said with a grin. “I want to thank all of you for your work here today, truly. It could’ve been a much greater disaster if it weren’t for everypony’s efforts… and you, Morning Star, need to stop selling yourself short… they gave you the opening you needed, but you were just as instrumental in this as anypony. We all have our parts to play, hun.”

“Oh stop… I don’t need my ego inflated, High Mage Moon Shadow…” Morning Star huffed.

“We’ve got things here for now, why don’cha go and take care of the final things? Check everypony out and make sure they’re alright… including Princess Twilight’s ‘future pony’. She may have been exposed as well.” Moon Shadow said simply. “We’ll clean up and have Princess Twilight’s artifact returned to her ASAP. And get this one some help. She’s gonna need it…” she said, looking to the unconscious Radiant Jewel. “Poor dear…”

“Yes ma’am. Of course.” Morning Star agreed. She stood carefully. “I uh… you all don’t mind keeping your pace a little slow for me, do you? I’m afraid I shouldn’t strain myself… doctor’s orders.” she said, winking at Crimson.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay! It's been a crazy month and I kept forgetting to edit the chapter.

I am admittedly a bit conflicted about this chapter. I like it, the events I feel are important, but some information was just... suddenly there. I asked my co-author to help me clarify it a bit. It's not fantastic but I am hoping it smoothed it out a bit.