Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle get Stuck in a cave.by NihiChaptersThe FallMy Leg is Fine.Our DifferencesThe Fall“She’s getting away!” “We’ll never find her in there!” Twilight took a moment to ponder what she should do, after a moment; she had her answer. “Come on girls, we can’t let her escape!” She quickly started running inside the cave where Starlight Glimmer, ex leader of Our Town, had escaped too. As she ran, she heard her friends catch up to her, giving her confidence that they would come out with Starlight and ensure that she would not take anypony’s cutie mark again. She was not planning on imprisoning her, unless her hooves were forced of course, she had been intrigued by the other’s ideals and wanted to know where that deep rooted hate for cutie marks came from. She wanted to try something that she had been working on and Starlight was the perfect candidate to do just that. She just hoped that catching Starlight would not be too much trouble… But hoping sometimes gets you nowhere as she would soon realize. As for Starlight she felt her heart thumping wildly against her chest, she thought that those fools would not give her any chase but here she was getting tailed by the six elements of harmony. To say that she was terrified of what they would do to her once captured was an understatement. Would they banish her to Tartarus? Freeze her in Stone? Her mind kept playing more and more scenarios which made her come to the conclusion that she had to escape by any means necessary. She could hear the clops of hooves getting louder, meaning that she was running out of time, she needed to think of something and do it fast or her life was over and everything she had worked towards would have been for nothing. Starlight charged her horn as much as she physically could and released a beam of magic towards the roof of the tunnel. As soon as this happened, the whole cave started to shake, and the roof started to collapse behind the lilac unicorn. “Everypony, look out!” Said Applejack as she dodged and weaved so as not to get crushed by the falling rock. Twilight looked behind her and noticed that she was a bit ahead than she had thought and had not noticed that she was leaving them behind. The lavender mare turned around to help but suddenly a sizable part of the ceiling fell, all but separating twilight and the others. “Girls!” She shouted to the other side in panic; she quickly got a response, to her relief. “We are fine darling; we’ll try and find another way, don’t let that mare escape!” Shouted Rarity from the other side. “But-” “No buts! Keep going and remember to use your wings and what I taught you!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. Knowing that there was no point in arguing she continued her chase. … Starlight looked back and realized that she was not being chased anymore, she must have gotten them, while she did feel a tinge of remorse over injuring them, they should have known not to mess with her or her things. Though thinking back maybe she should have been less greedy, she should have just tried to get them out of her village as soon as possible but when she saw the princes, she knew that if she succeeded in taking her and her friend’s cutie marks, she could have made a bigger impact on the world, spreading equality everywhere and getting rid of those stupid marks for good. She should have stuck to her original plan, she should have stayed complaisant, but she could not, she always wanted more, but every time she just felt emptier. ‘And now look at you, you have no village, your old friends ditched you for some idiots that don’t know what they’re talking about and now you’re in a stupid cave all on your own.’ She kept slowly trotting as she kept thinking over the events that had transpired. Starlight noted that the path was now nothing more than a thin bridge that extended further than her vision allowed her to see, and the drop looked to be extremely far if she had to guess. ‘Great, I’ve never gone this far in, who knows how long it's going to take me to get out…’ She could feel her anger rising as she thought about her situation, on the ponies that had usurped her and especially Princess Twilight. Who was she to lecture her on friendship? She didn’t care if she was the so-called ‘Princess of friendship’, she did not know anything about her or how harmful those dreaded marks are. If anything, she should agree with her, she was smart, she even replicated her spell quite easily just by watching her do it. How could someone as smart as her be so naive? ‘Ugh, if only I hadn’t left that Pegasus leave, the princess would have been under my control… wait, what’s that sound?’ She could hear the fast-approaching clopping of hooves from behind, which caused her to turn around in a panic. To make matters worse it was none other than the princess herself! Life could not be more against her if it tried. ‘Fantastic.’ Starlight quickly charged up her horn, stacking as much magic as she could and quickly released all of it in hopes of getting rid of her at once. To her surprise, Twilight jumped over her beam and spread her wings to glide above. Starlight tried to aim upwards, but preemptively Twilight used her teleportation spell and appeared behind her. Starlight tried to do the same but before she could she was tackled before her teleportation spell went off. Before either of them touched the ground both were teleported, the speed of the tackle carried over and Starlight smacked her back against the wall, leaving her gasping for air. As for Twilight her face hit the wall so hard it made a crack on it, making her lose consciousness. But that was not even the worst part, her teleportation spell had ditched them to the side of the bridge, above the infinite looking drop. They both started to fall, Starlight tried to teleport her and Twilight back on the bridge, but she realized that she was burnt out. “No, no, no, Twilight wake up!” She tried to wake her but to no avail. Suddenly, Starlight felt a sharp pain in her back, she must have hit something protruding out of the wall, then soon after she felt her horn crack. She felt as if her head had split in two. Then it all went dark. … Twilight opened her eyes to find nothing but darkness, she stayed put for a few moments, trying to remember where she was, and soon enough it all came back to her. ‘Starlight… the cave… I tried to catch her and…’ before she could finish her train of thought she felt something steer below her. Somehow she had not noticed that she had been lying on top of something. Quickly she stood up but quickly fell on her rump, she then realized how much her body ached. Twilight lit up her horn to see if she had broken anything and sure enough, one of her wings was broken. Yet before she could panic, she heard a pained groan from where she had been. Quickly, the lavender unicorn made her light brighter to see where the sound had come from and what she saw shocked her. “Starlight?!” She called out but the lilac pony remained silent. Twilight got closer to see in what type of condition she was in, it was not good to say the least. One of her hind legs was twisted, her nose was bloodied, she was shaking, and worst of all, half of her horn seemed to be missing its upper half. ‘Oh buck.’ Twilight quickly made her way towards Starlight and checked her more thoroughly and upon closer inspection her back had deep gashes and the blood had matted out most of her fur. Quickly the princess charged her horn and released a thin magical beam and started to cauterize the wounds, Starlight did not move during the procedure, but Twilight was sure she was going to feel that once she woke up. ‘Hopefully she does wake up…’ Twilight moved towards her bent leg; she had no supplies for this so she decided that for the time being she should try to make a fire. The question was how will she make a fire when they are surrounded by rocks? She could pluck a few of her feathers but it wouldn’t work plus she was pretty sure that could mean destroying her lungs with toxins (apparently, they cause air pollution, so she really did not want to risk it.) That left her with one option, which would be to cut off part of her mane and half of her tail, it wouldn’t last long but it was better than nothing. Before cutting her mane, she glanced briefly at Starlight and sighed. “Hopefully this will be worth it…” … Starlight awoke, startled. She tried to move but quickly closed her eyes and winced from the pain in her back and leg. “Hey, don’t move! You are too injured to get up.” She heard a voice call out to her, but it felt so distant. The lilac mage decided to listen and lay down once more. She could feel somepony was very close to her, she could feel their fur against her, for the time being she wouldn’t complain, it was freezing. Then she realized something, something was off about her magic. She raised her hoof and went to touch her horn and as soon as she did her heart dropped. “W-Wha- Where is my horn?! What happened to my horn?!” “Starlight rela-” Now more awake than before, she quickly got up and looked at her surroundings and spotted Twilight giving her a nervous smile. “What. Did. You. Do?!” She asked more terrified than angry, Twilight quickly arose from her spot near the fire and tried to get closer to Starlight, but she reflexively took a step back. “Hey, I didn’t do anything… If I remember correctly, we both fell after you teleported us and I got knocked out in the process, you must have broken it when you hit the floor…” The ex-leader thought about it for a few moments and she does remember hitting her back and… “Wait, my back is…” She looked back and it seemed as if her wounds had been closed. ‘Did she heal my wounds?’ “Sorry I did what I could, I don’t really know much healing magic and didn’t have any medical supplies so I had to improvise, also you should probably lay down before you pass out, you look a bit… wobbly.” She was about to protest but the three Twilights made a good point, she did feel dizzy still. As she started to lay back down, she hissed in pain as she remembered that her leg was twisted. “Do you need any-” “No!” Starlight quickly replied, making Twilight lower her head slightly, but still held her gaze on the other. ‘I don’t need this… Why is everything going so wrong? What else is going to be taken away from me?!’ Before she could continue her train of thought Twilight started to walk over to her cautiously, which made every hair in Starlight’s body stand up. ‘W-what is she doing?’ Twilight noticed this and gave a small smile. “Relax, I just thought I’d give you this, you won’t be able to use it until its fully healed since it might cause a miniature explosion in your head, and I don’t think I have to explain why that would be a bad thing.” Starlight fixed her eyes on what Twilight had been levitating and it caught her by surprise. “You really are going to give me my horn back? Just like that? After everything I did?” The princess pondered over the question for a few seconds, it wasn’t the smartest idea, she knew that, but she was curious of where this could go and like she said it’ll take a while, so Starlight won’t be a real threat for at least a few days. “I don’t see why not. A horn it’s a very Important part of a unicorn’s identity, I don’t think it would be fair to deprive you of that.” Starlight looked towards the levitating horn and then back to twilight, trying to scan any dishonesty in her features but there were none. “You are a fool princess, didn’t take you for the reckless type.” Starlight grabbed the horn with her hooves and connected it to the other half. Twilight did respond to her comment which irked the lilac mare, instead she went to her original spot and looked at the now dwindling fire that she had made. Starlight then noticed something, how had the princess made a fire in here, there was nothing but rocks and a few crystals around? She glanced at Twilight who hadn’t taken her eyes off the fire and noticed that her mane seemed shorter. ‘She must have used her mane to make the fire…’ This surprised her to say the least, she could have just cut out her mane instead, she was her enemy after all. ‘She’s even more of an idiot than I thought…’ With that last thought she laid down once more to rest her eyes for a bit. She knew Twilight was probably making some plan in her head on where to go from here, so she decided to let her do it, she just wanted some silence for a bit. After a few seconds she dozed off. Author's Note First story i've written for MLP, hopefully its ok. Hopefully I can finish this. My Leg is Fine.“Starlight, wake up!” Called Twilight for the third time, yet Starlight would not move. ‘Maybe I should shake her awake.’ With her magic, Twilight grabbed Starlight and shook her bit. The lilac mage’s eyes instantly opened as she franticly sprung to her hooves to look around at whatever had awakened her from her slumber. Then it hit her, she was not in her house, was she? Getting usurped had not just been a dream? Her gaze landed on the princess who looked at her with curious eyes, it was uncomfortable to say the least. ‘Why does my mouth taste like copper?’ “What!”She snapped at the mare on the other side of where the fire had previously been. Twilight just stood there silently watching, then she got closer, a little too close. “Seems your horn hasn’t made much progress but it’s definitely healing…” She said as she put a hoof on her shin, while an orb of light floated just above her head, giving her a better view of the other. ”Why do you care…” Twilight’s attention then moved to the other’s broken leg; she was about to inspect it before Starlight moved back. “What are you doing?” she asked, confused at the other’s actions. “Just checking on you, we do need to start moving. You clearly can’t walk properly yet, though I did manage to remember a spell that might speed up the process of healing. For now, I’m going to help you walk.” Said Twilight as she moved to the others side. Starlight was not too thrilled by this, how on earth is she going to manage that? Plus, she wasn’t looking forward to being so close to the mare that had chased her in here. “Um, no, no thanks, I can manage just fine on my own.” Starlight said as she quickly got up to show the other how well her leg was. As soon as she put pressure on the hindleg, she felt a rising heat crawl from her hoof up to her back which instantly made her fall face first. Now, any other normal pony would have given up, but she wasn’t ordinary, far from it in fact. So, she tried again and again, then once more before staying still on the floor, face squished on the floor. “Are you done?” Twilight asked calmly yet there was a bit of an edge behind her words. Starlight got her face out of the floor and looked up at the other with pure fury, which only lasted for a few seconds before she looked down in what Twilight could describe as horrific embarrassment. “Ugh, how are you even going to help me? I doubt that your mana is even close to being fully regenerated.” Starlight replied. It was meant to be an insult at first, but her wit had failed her. It was hard to come out with insults when you were lying on the floor after making a fool of yourself in front of your mortal enemy from a day ago. “Curse you, Twilight Sparkle.” She thought. Twilight smiled at her lame attempt at an insult, in fact it seemed that she didn’t even register it as one. “You know…” she started as she got closer to the lilac mare. “It’s interesting now that I think about it.” For a moment Starlight waited for a follow-up but after a few seconds she decided to ask. “What’s interesting?” She asked through gritted teeth. “How you seemed to have taken most of the hits while we fell. I only broke a wing; you were barely alive.” Starlight raised an eyebrow, not really sure where she was going with that. “Sooo?” she asked, though she felt almost nervous at whatever conclusion the other might have landed on. Starlight wasn’t a killer, obviously, and if Twilight was trying to highlight her maybe- potentially-saving her while falling, then she wasn’t havi- “Nothing, I just thought it was interesting how lucky I got.” Twilight had a neutral expression, yet Starlight could see the ghost of a smile. “… Just… whatever, are you going to help me or not?” “Of course, now, hold still.” Twilight made her way towards Starlight and with surprising strength she lifted her with her left wing, surrounding body. “P-Princess?!” Starlight squeaked, she could feel the warmness of the other’s coat to her right side and how cozy it felt being wrapped up, how the feathers where so smooth as they danced above her coat, how firm their hold was over her, how her wings reached all the way towards her barrel, where she definitely hated being touched. “Ble-Course you, Twilight Sparkle!” Starlight was hot, which was strange since they were in a cave, made of ice… maybe, yet she thought that if she were to make direct contact with any ice, it would melt instantly. “What, O-Oh.” To make it worse, Twilight seemingly had made the decision to carry her in earnest and her realization only made Straight feel more ashamed or whatever the feeling was. Both stood, or rather both looked at each other for a brief period of time before turning away. “I-I think we should start moving...” “Y-yeah” *** Twilight Sparkle was thinking, thinking about many things, in fact there were so many that she felt overwhelmed. Of course, her thoughts were not of the embarrassed cult lieder that she had awkwardly picked up with her wing. She definitely wasn’t embarrassed herself, not in the slightest. Why would she be? Is not like they were super close or anything, not that she would complain necessary if they were, because it would not be a big deal of course! ”Oh for Celestia's sake... Ok, so maybe she is thinking about it and it might be even distracting her, a lot. I mean, could anyone blame her? Starlight was beautiful, and that was an understatement in Twilight’s opinion. She had noticed from the very beginning how stunning the other was, but what really made her stand out to her was her personality. Twilight really liked how smug she was, even if she would never admit it. Ok, calm down... Twilight looked over her shoulder to peak at the other and found Starlight looking straight at her. As soon as their eyes locked, they once again turned the other way. “So... won’t you get tired eventually?” “No, my alicorn magic enhances my overall strength and stamina...” “Oh.” ”WHY ARE WE BEING WEIRD NOW!?” Calmly thought Starlight Glimmer. Starlight was about to try to speak again, however, the ground started shaking violently, almost causing Twilight to lose her balance. “What’s happening!?” She asked Twilight, but before she could respond the shaking stopped fully. Both stayed put without moving a muscle for what felt like an eternity as they waited for something else to happen. Both looked at each other for a moment before Starlight spoke up again. “What do you think that was?” “I have no idea, hopefully nothing dangerous. ” Twilight looked forward to continuing their path, though Starlight’s gaze lingered a bit longer. *** Starlight wondered what her inevitable fate would be. Would she die here? In this cave system that probably went on for miles and miles, would she? Would it be out of dehydration? Out of hunger? Because of her injuries? She thought about her injuries. She had taken a beating, though that might have been an understatement. She was making calculations in her mind and there was no way she should be alive, or at least she should have died by now. She should be bleeding internally, yet she isn’t. Her mouth tasted like copper the second time she woke up after the fall, yet she knew that she wasn’t bleeding. The blood wasn’t hers. But it was, it had to be. She is just over thinking things. She was just tired, and she should probably try an rest for a bit. Starlight’s mind then wondered to the alicorn beside her. Princess Twilight had shown her compassion that she didn’t deserve, not because she was wrong in her pursuit of getting rid of cutie marks but because they are supposed to be enemies. And Starlight didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand why the other was like this, she didn’t know whether the other was an idiot or where they were truly this delusional, thinking that just because she had saved her, that she owed her something. That must have been it, Twilight must want something in return, if not now, then surely in the future. No one does things for no reason. For a few moments she thought of nothing and decided to sneak a glance at the other and to her surprise Twilight was staring back. Her beautiful deep purple eyes showed concern. Concern for someone that no one should be concerned about, not because she didn’t deserve it of course, but because she was fine. She didn’t need anyone's pity. Yet she could not stare away from those purple orbs that shined even in the darkness. “I think we should rest for a while, it been a few hours already.” ”Hours?” Had Starlight been that deep in thought that she didn’t notice the passage of time? Something like that had never happened to her, everything was very odd, but she attributed it to Twilight being right, she was tired. Starlight simply nodded and looked away before she could get enraptured by her eyes. Gently, Twilight put her down on the ground next to the never-ending wall, then she herself laid down beside the other. Starlight immediately felt cold, she didn’t know if it was because of the low temperature or if it was because after so many years of being touch starved... “No, just, don’t think about it. This won’t matter when she puts you in Tartarus.” After a few minutes she went to sleep as Twilight looked over her, waiting for the right moment. Author's Note I had already written half of this months ago apparently . So here it is! This was kinda filler but the next chapter is going to be longer and a new threat for our duo. See ya relatively soon! Also Starlight may not look like she is, but she is terrified of Twilight but also drawn to her, especially after carrying her for hours and “curing” her, that will be explored further as we go along Our DifferencesStarlight woke up, once again the taste of copper making her briefly gag before getting up on shaky hooves. At this point she might have to resort to speaking about it with Twilight, who seemed to be resting, but she really didn’t want to. Before she could wake up Twilight she noticed that she felt... fine. She was still sore from the fall and she still couldn’t put pressure on her leg without falling over, but she felt much better, and it was bugging her. There was no feasible way she could have recovered this fast. It had only been about a day and Twilight had said she was near death when she first saw her. Starlight hobbled over to the Princess with some difficulty, and laid beside her. “Princess...” She called out towards her rival while gently shoving her. The alicorn shifted a bit before rubbing her eyes and opening them. To Starlight she looked tired, granted she hadcaried her for hours, but she looked drained. She had bags under her eyes and she could have sworn the princess’ coat was a bit darker than it currently was. “What is it?” Twilight spoke in a husky tone, while she looked directly at Starlight. For a moment Starlight just stared at the alicorn until finally she spoke up. “I... Every time I’ve woken up, I’ve had the taste of blood in my mouth and I know for a fact that it is not my own..." Starlight gave Twilight a once over. "Also, you look like you got ran over by a train. Care to explain?” “...” For a moment Twilight stayed silent and glared at Starlight briefly before her expression settled down into a more neutral one. Then she looked to the side and briefly shifted awkwardly, before meeting the others gaze once more. “Well... remember that “healing spell” I casted on you?” She said while her wings slightly twitched. “Yes?” Starlight said raising a brown. “Well the spell... it needs alicorn blood...” Starlight face went pale. She tried to stutter something out but the words just would not come out. Twilight was about to say something but Starlight put a hoof up, silently asking for a moment. After taking a few deep breaths she finally spoke up. “Why have you been feeding me your blood?” She felt like she should be mad, furious even, yet she felt more conflicted than anything else. She had never heard of such a spell and why did it need alicorn blood? “Because it wasn’t a healing spell it was...” She trailed off, once again avoiding the others gaze, this only made Starlight irritated. “Tell me now.” She said through gritted teeth, Twilight flinched but kept her composure. “It was a resurrection spell, Starlight.” If Starlight had gone pale before now she was cosplaying as Rarity. What did she mean by resurrection? She couldn’t have possibly died, right? She had survived the fall, she must have! But her previous observations resurfaced to the forefront of her mind. Quite frankly the odds of surviving the fall where pretty low, especially when Twilight probably landed on her. But then... Why did Twilight kept giving her blood? Was she... “Did you... I-” She didn’t know what to say, she truly didn't. “Starlight, It’ll be-” “Shut it.” She spat, then quickly regretted her tone. “I-Sorry... we should keep moving.” Starlight looked away in shame, shame over many thing, so many that she couldn’t make them out and differentiate them. She just wanted to not think about it, at least for now. Twilight seemed like she wanted to object but opted to nod instead and went to the other's side. “You still can’t walk right?” Starlight simply shook her head. “Alright...” Twilight picked her up once more, though with some difficulty this time. Starlight hated to admit but the feelings of the princess’ wing on her were soothing and made her goal to not think of anything a little bit easier. She yawned as she got comfortable and unknowingly dossed off. ”Well... she took it much better than I expected.” Thought Twilight as she slowly made her way forward through the tunnel. She had noted that the presence of ice was slowly dwindling, being replaced with rocky surfaces and dirt. Hopefully they could find a food source or water, water would be splendid right now especially with her current state. ”Now back on topic.” Starlight. She occupied most of her mind right now. She felt guilty for not telling her, it was probably very dreadful to think about it for her. Twilight had planned on telling her later on, maybe when they were out of this hole mess and at least on better terms. Now she wasn’t sure if this mess had set them back on what little progress they had made, hopefully Starlight wasn’t beyond reasoning with. “Hey, Princess...” Twilight jumped a little, not expecting Starlight to speak to her. “Please, call me Twilight.” Starlight hummed at that, debating if she should go along with the request. For once she was feeling generous. “Alright, Twilight.” for some reason she liked the sound of it coming from her. “I want to... No, I need to know why would you keep me alive after what I did? Not only that, I want to know why after you did... whatever it was, you kept doing it and how did you do it?” It seemed Starlight wasn’t pulling any punches, just how Twilight expected. “Alright, why I kept you alive should be pretty obvious why.” Starlight quickly cut her off. “No, no it’s not! It would have been easier to let me... you know. You wouldn’t have to deal with carrying somepony around. Plus I think I showed I was pretty dangerous, so why?” “Like I said, it’s obvious. Like it or not you are one of my subjects and I wasn’t going to stand by and let you pass...” She waited for a moment to see if Starlight would respond, none came so Twilight continued. “As for why I kept giving you my blood, well, I might have botched the spell... Maybe? I don’t know. You were supposed to be almost fully healed once I casted the spell, but you weren’t. So I kept doing it until you where better.” “But why? I was going to get better eventually... Probably! I think it’s a bit much to give blood to the point where your as pale as a ghost!” She argued, not really angry but mostly agitated. “Starlight, after I woke up you were barely breathing. You were battered and bleeding. You had cuts everywhere and you're leg... It’s not even healed yet... After I closed your wounds, I left you for a moment to make a fire and when I returned to your side, you were cold and you weren’t breathing and I panicked and I had recently read about the spell but I had no experience with it and- and.” Twilight took a moment and fought back a sob. Starlight looked at her but Twilight kept her gaze forward. “I casted the spell and you started to breath again. I was so relived, so relieved that I didn’t fail, that I didn’t fail you. But then I realized that the healing process was taking too long. I realized that even if I didn’t fail, I had not really succeeded either. I knew I had to make it better, to be better, I wasn’t going to let you suffer for days or weeks until you eventually...” Twilight trailed off, still unable to meet the others gaze. Starlight was simply dumbfounded. Twilight had been essentially sacrificing herself for someone she barely knew. All because she cared. But how could she care? She was supposed to be her enemy! Starlight didn’t know if she would do something so... selfless. It was admirable whether she wanted to admit it or not. But now what did she say to all that? She had to say something. Shouldn’t she? “I Think you did enough, more than enough... You were basically giving me a part of you, just so I could survive. I think... that’s pretty admirable.” The words naturally came from her mouth, no need for thinking her words over for it was the truth. Though as soon as she processed what she had said, she felt her heart rate skyrocket. Twilight stopped and quickly gazed at her. They looked at each other for a brief moment, until Twilight gave her a grin. “I... T-Thank you, Starlight!” She said happily. Starlight felt her cheeks ablaze, caused by the sight of the purple alicorn stupidly grinning at her. ”Curse you Twilight!” Calmly thought Starlight Glimmer. She was still conflicted over how to feel about the princess. She was still bitter about her village and she would do something about it! Probably. Yet... the fact that Twilight was willing to risk her well being for her was...conflicting to say the least. But for now she was going to enjoy a nice nap. After awakening from an all too short nap, Starlight thought about herself. What should she do after this? She was not escaping from the law, even if she wanted to. Starting over was going to be impossible, especially growing a new community from scratch. Plus... she wasn't feeling too confident in herself. The revelation that she had died was a definite blow on her pride and confidence. Not only had she been beaten, she was beaten by gravity. Gravity! She felt absolutely pathetic. Not only that, but she now depended on the pony who had driven her away from her village to simply move around. She had been absolutely useless ever since the fall and it was getting to her. And Twilight was driving her insane as well, though, not in the way one would expect. Twilight's stupid decision to keep her alive and help her even though they were supposed to be enemies was stirring up feelings that she did not want to acknowledge. Not now anyways. "So..." Twilight trailed off. "Hmm?" Starlight wasn't really in the mood to speak, yet she could make an exception she supposed. "Hm... I'm curious about you're stance on cutie marks." Twilight simply asked. "Huh? W-Why would you want to know?" Starlight responded defensively. "Like I said, I'm curious. I also think it might be a good way to understand each other." Starlight took a moment... she couldn't possible be serious? She had admit, the alicorn kept surprising her. She didn’t know if she hated it or not. "Uhm, sure? What do you want to know specifically. Also, we should probably lay down for a while." Starlight would never say it out loud but she was more than a little concerned about the princess. She looked better than before but they yet had to find food or water and it was probably for the best if she got to rest for a while. Twilight nodded but instead of laying Starlight and leaving to another spot she laid beside her, a wing still wrapped around her. “I think... I think I'd like to now why you hate them so much. Cutie marks that is.” Twilight said barely above a whisper. They both looked at each other, getting lost in each others gaze before Starlight spoke up. “Well...” She took a moment, It was kind of hard to think when you had a pretty purple alicorn by your side wrapping their wing around you, though Starlight would say that it was definitely not because of Twilight, she was just- ”IT’S BECAUSE OF THE COLD! YES THAT’S IT!” She composedly thought. ”Come on Starlight, get a grip, this could be you're chance to convince her that you are right.” “Cutie marks cause inequality, ponies with better talents are often revered more than those who may have more... lackluster talents. Not only that but those who have better talents might be favored and have better opportunities to grow said talents, leaving those with worst talents to be further behind than what they where initially. That’s not even to mention those rare instances where someone may not have cutie marks...” Starlight looked towards Twilight to see if she was paying attention to her rant and what she saw stunned her. Twilight was not only paying attention, she was looking at Starlight with such intensity, that she could feel her eyes boring into her very soul. And she was close, much closer than before. “Uh- I-I cutie flanks I m-mean- Ugh.” Starlight put her hooves on her face, covering her shame. Twilight was now very confused. ”Did I do something?” Well whatever Starlight was going through, she needed to snap out of it, because Twilight was now invested. “Uhm, could you continue? I don’t know what happened but, even if I where to disagree, I still want to hear it fully!” Starlight’s head snapped out of her hooves in an instant. She looked at her companion for a moment before nodding. “Sorry, I got cold hooves... can I take a moment to gather my thought?” “Of course!” Twilight grinned at her while swishing her tail, quite frankly she looked adorable. “She’s going to be the death of me...” Author's Note Don’t worry, their debate/conversation while be continued in the next chapter. Hopefully what little I gave of Starlight’s thoughts on cutie marks is alright, idk I kind of just winged it. Plus I saw that a StarTwi Story came out and I’m gonna read that so I needed to get this chapter done LMAO.
The Fall“She’s getting away!” “We’ll never find her in there!” Twilight took a moment to ponder what she should do, after a moment; she had her answer. “Come on girls, we can’t let her escape!” She quickly started running inside the cave where Starlight Glimmer, ex leader of Our Town, had escaped too. As she ran, she heard her friends catch up to her, giving her confidence that they would come out with Starlight and ensure that she would not take anypony’s cutie mark again. She was not planning on imprisoning her, unless her hooves were forced of course, she had been intrigued by the other’s ideals and wanted to know where that deep rooted hate for cutie marks came from. She wanted to try something that she had been working on and Starlight was the perfect candidate to do just that. She just hoped that catching Starlight would not be too much trouble… But hoping sometimes gets you nowhere as she would soon realize. As for Starlight she felt her heart thumping wildly against her chest, she thought that those fools would not give her any chase but here she was getting tailed by the six elements of harmony. To say that she was terrified of what they would do to her once captured was an understatement. Would they banish her to Tartarus? Freeze her in Stone? Her mind kept playing more and more scenarios which made her come to the conclusion that she had to escape by any means necessary. She could hear the clops of hooves getting louder, meaning that she was running out of time, she needed to think of something and do it fast or her life was over and everything she had worked towards would have been for nothing. Starlight charged her horn as much as she physically could and released a beam of magic towards the roof of the tunnel. As soon as this happened, the whole cave started to shake, and the roof started to collapse behind the lilac unicorn. “Everypony, look out!” Said Applejack as she dodged and weaved so as not to get crushed by the falling rock. Twilight looked behind her and noticed that she was a bit ahead than she had thought and had not noticed that she was leaving them behind. The lavender mare turned around to help but suddenly a sizable part of the ceiling fell, all but separating twilight and the others. “Girls!” She shouted to the other side in panic; she quickly got a response, to her relief. “We are fine darling; we’ll try and find another way, don’t let that mare escape!” Shouted Rarity from the other side. “But-” “No buts! Keep going and remember to use your wings and what I taught you!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. Knowing that there was no point in arguing she continued her chase. … Starlight looked back and realized that she was not being chased anymore, she must have gotten them, while she did feel a tinge of remorse over injuring them, they should have known not to mess with her or her things. Though thinking back maybe she should have been less greedy, she should have just tried to get them out of her village as soon as possible but when she saw the princes, she knew that if she succeeded in taking her and her friend’s cutie marks, she could have made a bigger impact on the world, spreading equality everywhere and getting rid of those stupid marks for good. She should have stuck to her original plan, she should have stayed complaisant, but she could not, she always wanted more, but every time she just felt emptier. ‘And now look at you, you have no village, your old friends ditched you for some idiots that don’t know what they’re talking about and now you’re in a stupid cave all on your own.’ She kept slowly trotting as she kept thinking over the events that had transpired. Starlight noted that the path was now nothing more than a thin bridge that extended further than her vision allowed her to see, and the drop looked to be extremely far if she had to guess. ‘Great, I’ve never gone this far in, who knows how long it's going to take me to get out…’ She could feel her anger rising as she thought about her situation, on the ponies that had usurped her and especially Princess Twilight. Who was she to lecture her on friendship? She didn’t care if she was the so-called ‘Princess of friendship’, she did not know anything about her or how harmful those dreaded marks are. If anything, she should agree with her, she was smart, she even replicated her spell quite easily just by watching her do it. How could someone as smart as her be so naive? ‘Ugh, if only I hadn’t left that Pegasus leave, the princess would have been under my control… wait, what’s that sound?’ She could hear the fast-approaching clopping of hooves from behind, which caused her to turn around in a panic. To make matters worse it was none other than the princess herself! Life could not be more against her if it tried. ‘Fantastic.’ Starlight quickly charged up her horn, stacking as much magic as she could and quickly released all of it in hopes of getting rid of her at once. To her surprise, Twilight jumped over her beam and spread her wings to glide above. Starlight tried to aim upwards, but preemptively Twilight used her teleportation spell and appeared behind her. Starlight tried to do the same but before she could she was tackled before her teleportation spell went off. Before either of them touched the ground both were teleported, the speed of the tackle carried over and Starlight smacked her back against the wall, leaving her gasping for air. As for Twilight her face hit the wall so hard it made a crack on it, making her lose consciousness. But that was not even the worst part, her teleportation spell had ditched them to the side of the bridge, above the infinite looking drop. They both started to fall, Starlight tried to teleport her and Twilight back on the bridge, but she realized that she was burnt out. “No, no, no, Twilight wake up!” She tried to wake her but to no avail. Suddenly, Starlight felt a sharp pain in her back, she must have hit something protruding out of the wall, then soon after she felt her horn crack. She felt as if her head had split in two. Then it all went dark. … Twilight opened her eyes to find nothing but darkness, she stayed put for a few moments, trying to remember where she was, and soon enough it all came back to her. ‘Starlight… the cave… I tried to catch her and…’ before she could finish her train of thought she felt something steer below her. Somehow she had not noticed that she had been lying on top of something. Quickly she stood up but quickly fell on her rump, she then realized how much her body ached. Twilight lit up her horn to see if she had broken anything and sure enough, one of her wings was broken. Yet before she could panic, she heard a pained groan from where she had been. Quickly, the lavender unicorn made her light brighter to see where the sound had come from and what she saw shocked her. “Starlight?!” She called out but the lilac pony remained silent. Twilight got closer to see in what type of condition she was in, it was not good to say the least. One of her hind legs was twisted, her nose was bloodied, she was shaking, and worst of all, half of her horn seemed to be missing its upper half. ‘Oh buck.’ Twilight quickly made her way towards Starlight and checked her more thoroughly and upon closer inspection her back had deep gashes and the blood had matted out most of her fur. Quickly the princess charged her horn and released a thin magical beam and started to cauterize the wounds, Starlight did not move during the procedure, but Twilight was sure she was going to feel that once she woke up. ‘Hopefully she does wake up…’ Twilight moved towards her bent leg; she had no supplies for this so she decided that for the time being she should try to make a fire. The question was how will she make a fire when they are surrounded by rocks? She could pluck a few of her feathers but it wouldn’t work plus she was pretty sure that could mean destroying her lungs with toxins (apparently, they cause air pollution, so she really did not want to risk it.) That left her with one option, which would be to cut off part of her mane and half of her tail, it wouldn’t last long but it was better than nothing. Before cutting her mane, she glanced briefly at Starlight and sighed. “Hopefully this will be worth it…” … Starlight awoke, startled. She tried to move but quickly closed her eyes and winced from the pain in her back and leg. “Hey, don’t move! You are too injured to get up.” She heard a voice call out to her, but it felt so distant. The lilac mage decided to listen and lay down once more. She could feel somepony was very close to her, she could feel their fur against her, for the time being she wouldn’t complain, it was freezing. Then she realized something, something was off about her magic. She raised her hoof and went to touch her horn and as soon as she did her heart dropped. “W-Wha- Where is my horn?! What happened to my horn?!” “Starlight rela-” Now more awake than before, she quickly got up and looked at her surroundings and spotted Twilight giving her a nervous smile. “What. Did. You. Do?!” She asked more terrified than angry, Twilight quickly arose from her spot near the fire and tried to get closer to Starlight, but she reflexively took a step back. “Hey, I didn’t do anything… If I remember correctly, we both fell after you teleported us and I got knocked out in the process, you must have broken it when you hit the floor…” The ex-leader thought about it for a few moments and she does remember hitting her back and… “Wait, my back is…” She looked back and it seemed as if her wounds had been closed. ‘Did she heal my wounds?’ “Sorry I did what I could, I don’t really know much healing magic and didn’t have any medical supplies so I had to improvise, also you should probably lay down before you pass out, you look a bit… wobbly.” She was about to protest but the three Twilights made a good point, she did feel dizzy still. As she started to lay back down, she hissed in pain as she remembered that her leg was twisted. “Do you need any-” “No!” Starlight quickly replied, making Twilight lower her head slightly, but still held her gaze on the other. ‘I don’t need this… Why is everything going so wrong? What else is going to be taken away from me?!’ Before she could continue her train of thought Twilight started to walk over to her cautiously, which made every hair in Starlight’s body stand up. ‘W-what is she doing?’ Twilight noticed this and gave a small smile. “Relax, I just thought I’d give you this, you won’t be able to use it until its fully healed since it might cause a miniature explosion in your head, and I don’t think I have to explain why that would be a bad thing.” Starlight fixed her eyes on what Twilight had been levitating and it caught her by surprise. “You really are going to give me my horn back? Just like that? After everything I did?” The princess pondered over the question for a few seconds, it wasn’t the smartest idea, she knew that, but she was curious of where this could go and like she said it’ll take a while, so Starlight won’t be a real threat for at least a few days. “I don’t see why not. A horn it’s a very Important part of a unicorn’s identity, I don’t think it would be fair to deprive you of that.” Starlight looked towards the levitating horn and then back to twilight, trying to scan any dishonesty in her features but there were none. “You are a fool princess, didn’t take you for the reckless type.” Starlight grabbed the horn with her hooves and connected it to the other half. Twilight did respond to her comment which irked the lilac mare, instead she went to her original spot and looked at the now dwindling fire that she had made. Starlight then noticed something, how had the princess made a fire in here, there was nothing but rocks and a few crystals around? She glanced at Twilight who hadn’t taken her eyes off the fire and noticed that her mane seemed shorter. ‘She must have used her mane to make the fire…’ This surprised her to say the least, she could have just cut out her mane instead, she was her enemy after all. ‘She’s even more of an idiot than I thought…’ With that last thought she laid down once more to rest her eyes for a bit. She knew Twilight was probably making some plan in her head on where to go from here, so she decided to let her do it, she just wanted some silence for a bit. After a few seconds she dozed off. Author's Note First story i've written for MLP, hopefully its ok. Hopefully I can finish this.
My Leg is Fine.“Starlight, wake up!” Called Twilight for the third time, yet Starlight would not move. ‘Maybe I should shake her awake.’ With her magic, Twilight grabbed Starlight and shook her bit. The lilac mage’s eyes instantly opened as she franticly sprung to her hooves to look around at whatever had awakened her from her slumber. Then it hit her, she was not in her house, was she? Getting usurped had not just been a dream? Her gaze landed on the princess who looked at her with curious eyes, it was uncomfortable to say the least. ‘Why does my mouth taste like copper?’ “What!”She snapped at the mare on the other side of where the fire had previously been. Twilight just stood there silently watching, then she got closer, a little too close. “Seems your horn hasn’t made much progress but it’s definitely healing…” She said as she put a hoof on her shin, while an orb of light floated just above her head, giving her a better view of the other. ”Why do you care…” Twilight’s attention then moved to the other’s broken leg; she was about to inspect it before Starlight moved back. “What are you doing?” she asked, confused at the other’s actions. “Just checking on you, we do need to start moving. You clearly can’t walk properly yet, though I did manage to remember a spell that might speed up the process of healing. For now, I’m going to help you walk.” Said Twilight as she moved to the others side. Starlight was not too thrilled by this, how on earth is she going to manage that? Plus, she wasn’t looking forward to being so close to the mare that had chased her in here. “Um, no, no thanks, I can manage just fine on my own.” Starlight said as she quickly got up to show the other how well her leg was. As soon as she put pressure on the hindleg, she felt a rising heat crawl from her hoof up to her back which instantly made her fall face first. Now, any other normal pony would have given up, but she wasn’t ordinary, far from it in fact. So, she tried again and again, then once more before staying still on the floor, face squished on the floor. “Are you done?” Twilight asked calmly yet there was a bit of an edge behind her words. Starlight got her face out of the floor and looked up at the other with pure fury, which only lasted for a few seconds before she looked down in what Twilight could describe as horrific embarrassment. “Ugh, how are you even going to help me? I doubt that your mana is even close to being fully regenerated.” Starlight replied. It was meant to be an insult at first, but her wit had failed her. It was hard to come out with insults when you were lying on the floor after making a fool of yourself in front of your mortal enemy from a day ago. “Curse you, Twilight Sparkle.” She thought. Twilight smiled at her lame attempt at an insult, in fact it seemed that she didn’t even register it as one. “You know…” she started as she got closer to the lilac mare. “It’s interesting now that I think about it.” For a moment Starlight waited for a follow-up but after a few seconds she decided to ask. “What’s interesting?” She asked through gritted teeth. “How you seemed to have taken most of the hits while we fell. I only broke a wing; you were barely alive.” Starlight raised an eyebrow, not really sure where she was going with that. “Sooo?” she asked, though she felt almost nervous at whatever conclusion the other might have landed on. Starlight wasn’t a killer, obviously, and if Twilight was trying to highlight her maybe- potentially-saving her while falling, then she wasn’t havi- “Nothing, I just thought it was interesting how lucky I got.” Twilight had a neutral expression, yet Starlight could see the ghost of a smile. “… Just… whatever, are you going to help me or not?” “Of course, now, hold still.” Twilight made her way towards Starlight and with surprising strength she lifted her with her left wing, surrounding body. “P-Princess?!” Starlight squeaked, she could feel the warmness of the other’s coat to her right side and how cozy it felt being wrapped up, how the feathers where so smooth as they danced above her coat, how firm their hold was over her, how her wings reached all the way towards her barrel, where she definitely hated being touched. “Ble-Course you, Twilight Sparkle!” Starlight was hot, which was strange since they were in a cave, made of ice… maybe, yet she thought that if she were to make direct contact with any ice, it would melt instantly. “What, O-Oh.” To make it worse, Twilight seemingly had made the decision to carry her in earnest and her realization only made Straight feel more ashamed or whatever the feeling was. Both stood, or rather both looked at each other for a brief period of time before turning away. “I-I think we should start moving...” “Y-yeah” *** Twilight Sparkle was thinking, thinking about many things, in fact there were so many that she felt overwhelmed. Of course, her thoughts were not of the embarrassed cult lieder that she had awkwardly picked up with her wing. She definitely wasn’t embarrassed herself, not in the slightest. Why would she be? Is not like they were super close or anything, not that she would complain necessary if they were, because it would not be a big deal of course! ”Oh for Celestia's sake... Ok, so maybe she is thinking about it and it might be even distracting her, a lot. I mean, could anyone blame her? Starlight was beautiful, and that was an understatement in Twilight’s opinion. She had noticed from the very beginning how stunning the other was, but what really made her stand out to her was her personality. Twilight really liked how smug she was, even if she would never admit it. Ok, calm down... Twilight looked over her shoulder to peak at the other and found Starlight looking straight at her. As soon as their eyes locked, they once again turned the other way. “So... won’t you get tired eventually?” “No, my alicorn magic enhances my overall strength and stamina...” “Oh.” ”WHY ARE WE BEING WEIRD NOW!?” Calmly thought Starlight Glimmer. Starlight was about to try to speak again, however, the ground started shaking violently, almost causing Twilight to lose her balance. “What’s happening!?” She asked Twilight, but before she could respond the shaking stopped fully. Both stayed put without moving a muscle for what felt like an eternity as they waited for something else to happen. Both looked at each other for a moment before Starlight spoke up again. “What do you think that was?” “I have no idea, hopefully nothing dangerous. ” Twilight looked forward to continuing their path, though Starlight’s gaze lingered a bit longer. *** Starlight wondered what her inevitable fate would be. Would she die here? In this cave system that probably went on for miles and miles, would she? Would it be out of dehydration? Out of hunger? Because of her injuries? She thought about her injuries. She had taken a beating, though that might have been an understatement. She was making calculations in her mind and there was no way she should be alive, or at least she should have died by now. She should be bleeding internally, yet she isn’t. Her mouth tasted like copper the second time she woke up after the fall, yet she knew that she wasn’t bleeding. The blood wasn’t hers. But it was, it had to be. She is just over thinking things. She was just tired, and she should probably try an rest for a bit. Starlight’s mind then wondered to the alicorn beside her. Princess Twilight had shown her compassion that she didn’t deserve, not because she was wrong in her pursuit of getting rid of cutie marks but because they are supposed to be enemies. And Starlight didn’t understand. She couldn’t understand why the other was like this, she didn’t know whether the other was an idiot or where they were truly this delusional, thinking that just because she had saved her, that she owed her something. That must have been it, Twilight must want something in return, if not now, then surely in the future. No one does things for no reason. For a few moments she thought of nothing and decided to sneak a glance at the other and to her surprise Twilight was staring back. Her beautiful deep purple eyes showed concern. Concern for someone that no one should be concerned about, not because she didn’t deserve it of course, but because she was fine. She didn’t need anyone's pity. Yet she could not stare away from those purple orbs that shined even in the darkness. “I think we should rest for a while, it been a few hours already.” ”Hours?” Had Starlight been that deep in thought that she didn’t notice the passage of time? Something like that had never happened to her, everything was very odd, but she attributed it to Twilight being right, she was tired. Starlight simply nodded and looked away before she could get enraptured by her eyes. Gently, Twilight put her down on the ground next to the never-ending wall, then she herself laid down beside the other. Starlight immediately felt cold, she didn’t know if it was because of the low temperature or if it was because after so many years of being touch starved... “No, just, don’t think about it. This won’t matter when she puts you in Tartarus.” After a few minutes she went to sleep as Twilight looked over her, waiting for the right moment. Author's Note I had already written half of this months ago apparently . So here it is! This was kinda filler but the next chapter is going to be longer and a new threat for our duo. See ya relatively soon! Also Starlight may not look like she is, but she is terrified of Twilight but also drawn to her, especially after carrying her for hours and “curing” her, that will be explored further as we go along
Our DifferencesStarlight woke up, once again the taste of copper making her briefly gag before getting up on shaky hooves. At this point she might have to resort to speaking about it with Twilight, who seemed to be resting, but she really didn’t want to. Before she could wake up Twilight she noticed that she felt... fine. She was still sore from the fall and she still couldn’t put pressure on her leg without falling over, but she felt much better, and it was bugging her. There was no feasible way she could have recovered this fast. It had only been about a day and Twilight had said she was near death when she first saw her. Starlight hobbled over to the Princess with some difficulty, and laid beside her. “Princess...” She called out towards her rival while gently shoving her. The alicorn shifted a bit before rubbing her eyes and opening them. To Starlight she looked tired, granted she hadcaried her for hours, but she looked drained. She had bags under her eyes and she could have sworn the princess’ coat was a bit darker than it currently was. “What is it?” Twilight spoke in a husky tone, while she looked directly at Starlight. For a moment Starlight just stared at the alicorn until finally she spoke up. “I... Every time I’ve woken up, I’ve had the taste of blood in my mouth and I know for a fact that it is not my own..." Starlight gave Twilight a once over. "Also, you look like you got ran over by a train. Care to explain?” “...” For a moment Twilight stayed silent and glared at Starlight briefly before her expression settled down into a more neutral one. Then she looked to the side and briefly shifted awkwardly, before meeting the others gaze once more. “Well... remember that “healing spell” I casted on you?” She said while her wings slightly twitched. “Yes?” Starlight said raising a brown. “Well the spell... it needs alicorn blood...” Starlight face went pale. She tried to stutter something out but the words just would not come out. Twilight was about to say something but Starlight put a hoof up, silently asking for a moment. After taking a few deep breaths she finally spoke up. “Why have you been feeding me your blood?” She felt like she should be mad, furious even, yet she felt more conflicted than anything else. She had never heard of such a spell and why did it need alicorn blood? “Because it wasn’t a healing spell it was...” She trailed off, once again avoiding the others gaze, this only made Starlight irritated. “Tell me now.” She said through gritted teeth, Twilight flinched but kept her composure. “It was a resurrection spell, Starlight.” If Starlight had gone pale before now she was cosplaying as Rarity. What did she mean by resurrection? She couldn’t have possibly died, right? She had survived the fall, she must have! But her previous observations resurfaced to the forefront of her mind. Quite frankly the odds of surviving the fall where pretty low, especially when Twilight probably landed on her. But then... Why did Twilight kept giving her blood? Was she... “Did you... I-” She didn’t know what to say, she truly didn't. “Starlight, It’ll be-” “Shut it.” She spat, then quickly regretted her tone. “I-Sorry... we should keep moving.” Starlight looked away in shame, shame over many thing, so many that she couldn’t make them out and differentiate them. She just wanted to not think about it, at least for now. Twilight seemed like she wanted to object but opted to nod instead and went to the other's side. “You still can’t walk right?” Starlight simply shook her head. “Alright...” Twilight picked her up once more, though with some difficulty this time. Starlight hated to admit but the feelings of the princess’ wing on her were soothing and made her goal to not think of anything a little bit easier. She yawned as she got comfortable and unknowingly dossed off. ”Well... she took it much better than I expected.” Thought Twilight as she slowly made her way forward through the tunnel. She had noted that the presence of ice was slowly dwindling, being replaced with rocky surfaces and dirt. Hopefully they could find a food source or water, water would be splendid right now especially with her current state. ”Now back on topic.” Starlight. She occupied most of her mind right now. She felt guilty for not telling her, it was probably very dreadful to think about it for her. Twilight had planned on telling her later on, maybe when they were out of this hole mess and at least on better terms. Now she wasn’t sure if this mess had set them back on what little progress they had made, hopefully Starlight wasn’t beyond reasoning with. “Hey, Princess...” Twilight jumped a little, not expecting Starlight to speak to her. “Please, call me Twilight.” Starlight hummed at that, debating if she should go along with the request. For once she was feeling generous. “Alright, Twilight.” for some reason she liked the sound of it coming from her. “I want to... No, I need to know why would you keep me alive after what I did? Not only that, I want to know why after you did... whatever it was, you kept doing it and how did you do it?” It seemed Starlight wasn’t pulling any punches, just how Twilight expected. “Alright, why I kept you alive should be pretty obvious why.” Starlight quickly cut her off. “No, no it’s not! It would have been easier to let me... you know. You wouldn’t have to deal with carrying somepony around. Plus I think I showed I was pretty dangerous, so why?” “Like I said, it’s obvious. Like it or not you are one of my subjects and I wasn’t going to stand by and let you pass...” She waited for a moment to see if Starlight would respond, none came so Twilight continued. “As for why I kept giving you my blood, well, I might have botched the spell... Maybe? I don’t know. You were supposed to be almost fully healed once I casted the spell, but you weren’t. So I kept doing it until you where better.” “But why? I was going to get better eventually... Probably! I think it’s a bit much to give blood to the point where your as pale as a ghost!” She argued, not really angry but mostly agitated. “Starlight, after I woke up you were barely breathing. You were battered and bleeding. You had cuts everywhere and you're leg... It’s not even healed yet... After I closed your wounds, I left you for a moment to make a fire and when I returned to your side, you were cold and you weren’t breathing and I panicked and I had recently read about the spell but I had no experience with it and- and.” Twilight took a moment and fought back a sob. Starlight looked at her but Twilight kept her gaze forward. “I casted the spell and you started to breath again. I was so relived, so relieved that I didn’t fail, that I didn’t fail you. But then I realized that the healing process was taking too long. I realized that even if I didn’t fail, I had not really succeeded either. I knew I had to make it better, to be better, I wasn’t going to let you suffer for days or weeks until you eventually...” Twilight trailed off, still unable to meet the others gaze. Starlight was simply dumbfounded. Twilight had been essentially sacrificing herself for someone she barely knew. All because she cared. But how could she care? She was supposed to be her enemy! Starlight didn’t know if she would do something so... selfless. It was admirable whether she wanted to admit it or not. But now what did she say to all that? She had to say something. Shouldn’t she? “I Think you did enough, more than enough... You were basically giving me a part of you, just so I could survive. I think... that’s pretty admirable.” The words naturally came from her mouth, no need for thinking her words over for it was the truth. Though as soon as she processed what she had said, she felt her heart rate skyrocket. Twilight stopped and quickly gazed at her. They looked at each other for a brief moment, until Twilight gave her a grin. “I... T-Thank you, Starlight!” She said happily. Starlight felt her cheeks ablaze, caused by the sight of the purple alicorn stupidly grinning at her. ”Curse you Twilight!” Calmly thought Starlight Glimmer. She was still conflicted over how to feel about the princess. She was still bitter about her village and she would do something about it! Probably. Yet... the fact that Twilight was willing to risk her well being for her was...conflicting to say the least. But for now she was going to enjoy a nice nap. After awakening from an all too short nap, Starlight thought about herself. What should she do after this? She was not escaping from the law, even if she wanted to. Starting over was going to be impossible, especially growing a new community from scratch. Plus... she wasn't feeling too confident in herself. The revelation that she had died was a definite blow on her pride and confidence. Not only had she been beaten, she was beaten by gravity. Gravity! She felt absolutely pathetic. Not only that, but she now depended on the pony who had driven her away from her village to simply move around. She had been absolutely useless ever since the fall and it was getting to her. And Twilight was driving her insane as well, though, not in the way one would expect. Twilight's stupid decision to keep her alive and help her even though they were supposed to be enemies was stirring up feelings that she did not want to acknowledge. Not now anyways. "So..." Twilight trailed off. "Hmm?" Starlight wasn't really in the mood to speak, yet she could make an exception she supposed. "Hm... I'm curious about you're stance on cutie marks." Twilight simply asked. "Huh? W-Why would you want to know?" Starlight responded defensively. "Like I said, I'm curious. I also think it might be a good way to understand each other." Starlight took a moment... she couldn't possible be serious? She had admit, the alicorn kept surprising her. She didn’t know if she hated it or not. "Uhm, sure? What do you want to know specifically. Also, we should probably lay down for a while." Starlight would never say it out loud but she was more than a little concerned about the princess. She looked better than before but they yet had to find food or water and it was probably for the best if she got to rest for a while. Twilight nodded but instead of laying Starlight and leaving to another spot she laid beside her, a wing still wrapped around her. “I think... I think I'd like to now why you hate them so much. Cutie marks that is.” Twilight said barely above a whisper. They both looked at each other, getting lost in each others gaze before Starlight spoke up. “Well...” She took a moment, It was kind of hard to think when you had a pretty purple alicorn by your side wrapping their wing around you, though Starlight would say that it was definitely not because of Twilight, she was just- ”IT’S BECAUSE OF THE COLD! YES THAT’S IT!” She composedly thought. ”Come on Starlight, get a grip, this could be you're chance to convince her that you are right.” “Cutie marks cause inequality, ponies with better talents are often revered more than those who may have more... lackluster talents. Not only that but those who have better talents might be favored and have better opportunities to grow said talents, leaving those with worst talents to be further behind than what they where initially. That’s not even to mention those rare instances where someone may not have cutie marks...” Starlight looked towards Twilight to see if she was paying attention to her rant and what she saw stunned her. Twilight was not only paying attention, she was looking at Starlight with such intensity, that she could feel her eyes boring into her very soul. And she was close, much closer than before. “Uh- I-I cutie flanks I m-mean- Ugh.” Starlight put her hooves on her face, covering her shame. Twilight was now very confused. ”Did I do something?” Well whatever Starlight was going through, she needed to snap out of it, because Twilight was now invested. “Uhm, could you continue? I don’t know what happened but, even if I where to disagree, I still want to hear it fully!” Starlight’s head snapped out of her hooves in an instant. She looked at her companion for a moment before nodding. “Sorry, I got cold hooves... can I take a moment to gather my thought?” “Of course!” Twilight grinned at her while swishing her tail, quite frankly she looked adorable. “She’s going to be the death of me...” Author's Note Don’t worry, their debate/conversation while be continued in the next chapter. Hopefully what little I gave of Starlight’s thoughts on cutie marks is alright, idk I kind of just winged it. Plus I saw that a StarTwi Story came out and I’m gonna read that so I needed to get this chapter done LMAO.
