Where Do We Go From Here?
A Chaotic Trial/Inverted Start part 1
The sun was at its zenith, illuminating down at Canterlot, which usually was filled with activity all around the city. Yet today was a peculiar day. Today most streets were empty, most except for one. This particular street was swarming with ponies from all around Canterlot and beyond, all fixated on one single building.
The courthouse.
Everypony wanted a peek inside, even if just to see the accused, even for a glimpse. It’s not every day that a murderous Alicorn appears out of nowhere.
Though things were different inside.
Inside the courtroom, there was utter silence. No one dared speak, at least not yet, not until Luna or Cadence—who had taken Celestia's place in the courtroom for the time being—Initiated the trial. The atmosphere was palpable as the audience looked directly from behind at the Alicorn chained to the ground by magical bindings that had an ethereal glow to them, and in front of her where Luna and Cadence, who stared down from their large seats.
Opaline herself had her head downcast, though not in shame but out of fear. She knew that they already had a verdict in mind, but her punishment was what scared her the most. Especially with Luna being the judge. All was known as the colder of the two sisters, yet at this moment, all Opaline could feel from the mare was burning hatred, hotter than even Celestia’s sun.
After a few moments of silence Luna was finally about to speak, until a flash of yellow lighting came through the ground quickly followed by what could be perceived by a portal on the ground that swirled with chaos magic. Suddenly a dark figure immerged, taller than any in the room, its silhouette familiar to all, yet their usual aloofness was nowhere to be seen. Instead, onlookers were met by two red dots for eyes.
Discord the draconequus had arrived.
Everyone gasped, the alicorn princesses stood up in surprise and Opaline shrunk upon Discord’s deadly gaze. Silence reined once more for a couple of seconds until Luna spoke.
“Ah, Discord... We did not expect you to arrive.” She said with a neutral expression.
No one had heard of the Spirit ever since before the passing of the element wielders. No one tried to reach him, not because they did not want to but because they could not. Only he himself could access his dimension, everyone had assumed he had just disappeared at a bad time, like he usually did.
Which was partially true, but he was oh so very much aware of what happened.
“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He said in a sickly-sweet voice directed at Opaline.
The alicorn simply gulped. She had heard of this so-called Discord, apparently, he had been defeated by the two sisters and the ones she had put to rest. So why was he here?
“Now you may be wandering why I’m here.” He said while putting his hand on his chest in a dramatic fashion. “Well, I heard of someone who managed to pull the impossible! A feat that not even I could accomplish!” Quickly he bent down and slammed both his fists on the ground, making everyone gasp while he made direct eye contact with the Alicorn, who, to her credit, did not flinch, at least on the outside.
“Discord! Stop this at onc-”
“Oh, no, no, no. ¡No! I can’t just simply stop, not now!” he said as he turned around briefly, before turning right back. Cadence was about to interject in whatever Discord had planned but was stopped by Luna, who simply raised her hoof at her.
“I’m curious.” Luna simply said.
“As I was saying, you have accomplished something monumental and I think a little gift is in order.” Discord pulled out a small box out of thin air, a gift to be more precise. Quickly, he shoved it in her face, so that she could open it with her muzzle.
“Open it.” He says with a devilish smirk as Opaline tries to get her muzzle as far away as possible. She was very confused at this very moment; she couldn’t understand why Luna or Cadence had not stopped this by now.
Slowly, she grabs one end of the ribbon with her teeth and pulls, making the box open revealing…
“A bracelet?”
***
Starlight slowly made her way through the halls of the castle, taking in how truly gigantic the whole building was. It was something that she routinely made note of back in the earlier days of her stay there.
Back when she felt alone.
Though the feeling fully went away after a few weeks in the castle, there were still times when she wondered if she even deserved this. Usually, Twilight would shut her thoughts down before they could properly manifest. But she wasn't here right now.
Well, she was, but to Starlight it felt like she wasn’t.
After the defeat of Opaline, Twilight barricaded herself in her room and has not come out since. Starlight tried, trust her when she says she tried anything to get in, but even though she was very knowledgeable when it came to magic, she still could not find a way to break the many spells that protected the room.
She sighed as she finally got to her destination, the kitchen.
It was late, already past midnight, she probably shouldn't be eating at this time, but it’s not like she did it often, plus who was going to stop her? Maybe Spike would make a comment or two about stuffing herself full of food before sleeping, but she really couldn’t care less.
Starlight makes her way towards the door of the fridge and looks around; nothing particularly catches her attention or at least until her eyes fell onto the bottle syrup. Now usually she would make herself something to add syrup to it, but it was rather late, and she was feeling a bit lazy at that moment, so she decided to just drink it straight from the bottle.
Of course, without touching it with her muzzle, she wasn’t a savage.
With her magic she hoovered the bottle above her head and...
“Uhm...” a voice came from just outside the kitchen door, making Starlight almost break her neck at how fast she spun her head around.
”Please be Spike for once.”
It was not Spike but the one pony she had been wanting to see for a few days now... well expect for right at this moment.
“Twilight.” She said a bit too dryly, making her internally grimace.
“Starlight... Wh- What were you doing?” She asked, intrigued. She had not expected to find her friend doing... whatever this was.
“O-Oh!” She fallowed Twilight’s gaze, which was directed at the bottle of syrup that had slowly spilled some of its contents on the floor. Quickly, Starlight straightened up the bottle to its correct position and offered an embarrassed smile. “I was just... Looking if it was... not past it’s due date?” She said with absolute zero confidence.
Twilight looked at her for what felt like an eternity, though it had probably only been about 6 seconds.
“The bottle has a date on the side that tells you that.” Twilight said simply with a tone of amusement. Starlight rotated the bottle and saw it, making her blush from embarrassment.
”Nice one, Starlight. Change the subject!”
“Yes, you’re right! So! May I ask what finally brought you out of your room? Hopefully it wasn’t just to scold me about having late night snacks.” Starlight said as she forced a smirk.
“N-No, I mean you probably shouldn’t but I doubt it would harm your impressive figu-... I mean uhm.” She looked at Starlight who was now flustered, her gaze locked on the floor, which made Twilight feel embarrassed herself. “Look it doesn't matter, though maybe use a glass next time... Anyways, I came here to talk to you about something but not here. I need to show you something.”
Starlight quickly put the bottle of syrup in the fridge and turned back to her, rising an eyebrow.
“You know I am still pretty mad at you, you know?” She said frowning while Twilight lowered her head. She knew this was coming, yet she had hoped that maybe things would go smoothly.
But alas, it was inevitable.
“I’m so-”
“No, stop! I already know what you’re going to say. You think I’m mad because of what happened with Opaline, don’t you?”
Twilight nodded, of course it was because of that. What else could it be? She had lost her temper, which had caused Starlight to get injured, getting herself partially corrupted by a space rock, almost sent a pony to the afterlife—Which even if they deserved it wasn’t exactly something she should be doing—and ultimately failed even though she could have had her way, making every decision she had made up to that point rather pointless.
She wasn’t strong enough to do something like that, she supposed.
“Well, it’s not!” Starlight said shaking her head.
“What? Then what could you possibly be upset about!?” Twilight was now very confused; she hadn’t done anything like that since. She had been prepared to apologize for everything that had happened three or four days ago, but this truly caught her by surprise.
“I’m upset because you shut me out!” Starlight shouted, which she immediately regrated after witnessing Twilight visibly flinch.
“B-but I was just... UGH, alright look, I thought... Well after witnessing me at my lowest, I thought that you guys wanted some space... Maybe. I don’t know what I was thinking, okay? I’m sorry if I upset you and Spike...” She said holding back tears.
“...You should really talk to Spike. He blames himself for not putting a stop to what we were doing... And I’m sorry for screaming, I do forgive you, I already had, it’s just... complicated.” Starlight walked closer to Twilight who was rubbing her eyes, which Starlight noted had reverted back to their normal color.
“Yeah, I understand... though I wouldn’t forgive me just yet... I don’t know how you’re going to feel about what I want to do.”
“I’m guessing this is about our friends?” Starlight sighed as soon as the words left her mouth. “Twilight, you know that something like this was bound to happen, you need to le-”
“Don’t! Please, don't say it. It won’t be like last time, I promise. No sacrificing, no dubious experiments, just please come with me.” she said as she took on of Starlight’s hooves onto her own. Starlight wanted to say no, but she couldn’t, she just couldn’t say no to her. Hopefully whatever Twilight had in mind was better than their last attempt.
***
Twilight and Starlight walked side by side, separated by only a few inches, yet neither dared to close or widen the gap that laid in-between them. Both looked at anything but each other, more interested in the castle columns. They did want to speak, not about what laid ahead in the room, no, but about things unsaid between both. However, none dared to open their mouths about their individual feelings for each other, they didn’t know if it was the right time to do so, but when could they?
For the time being, that question would have to suffice for both.
Both silently continued until reaching Twilight’s room, where she gave Starlight an unsure gaze, while Starlight simply raised a brow. Twilight looked forward again and pushed opened the door to her massive bedroom. In the middle of it was a table, with papers scattered all over the place, some even on the floor.
Yet one took Starlight’s attention from the mess.
It was familiar, the scroll that lay in the middle of the mountain of paper looked as if it did not belong. And it didn’t, because once she got close enough, she knew it did not belong there but rather in the secrete archives.
Her heart sank at the realization.
“Twilight?”
“It’s Star Swirl’s modified spell that you used... I think you already know what I have planned.” Twilight said as she stood to the side of Starlight.
“It’s quite obvious. Twilight, we swore we wouldn’t ever touch it again! You know what a simple change could do! Something as simple as stomping a flower or moving a rock could have disastrous consequences, you told me that yourself!”
“That's why I need your help, I think we could rework the spell! Rework it in a way that the change we make is stand alone and does not affect anything else.”
“Twilight, have you gone mad!? That’s literally impossible.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, we don’t know unless we try.”
“Twilight, you need to let this go. Sooner or later, they were going to-”
“I know they were going to die eventually! But not now! Not so... soon. They still had so much to live for, and I will do everything I can to give them that chance.”
“I can’t let you do that; you’d be risking everything that not only you have accomplished but what they have as well.”
“UGH, okay then, it seems that I’m the only one that cares!”
“I do care, I am willing to help you find a way, but not this. I can’t believe someone like you would even consider this.”
“Why wouldn't I? They were my friends; they changed my life, Starlight! I know you’d do the same.”
“Maybe I would, but you wouldn’t. Twilight, please stop this... I know deep inside you that you know this is wrong.”
Twilight winced but quickly put on a scowl, before dragging her gaze towards the scroll. Starlight instinctively put herself between Twilight and the Spell. Twilight glared at her, but she was panicking on the inside, she truly did not want to hurt her any more than she already had. She needed to find a way around her.
Honestly what did she think would happen? Obviously, Starlight would be apprehensive about this, but she needed her. Or did she? It would have certainly been easier, yet she couldn’t help but feel there was more to it. Things that she would rather not admit, especially now.
Maybe she wanted reassurance that she wasn’t going insane.
“Okay Twilight, concentrate. Just telep-”
Before Twilight could act, Starlight grabbed the scroll and teleported away.
“Starlight.” She hissed out before teleporting away herself.
To be continued