Author's Notes:

Sorry this one took so long. I played too much World of Tanks.

I also added a new picture in CH35.

It's funny how this story and the MLP show accidentally paralleled each other. Once when the show had the campfire tales that's just like how Sage Brush tells his stories, there was even spiders in that one too, and just recently when they had the masks.

Starless felt the warmth of somepony pressing against her back. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep since she collapsed in the sickroom, but she figured it wasn’t for very long. The large room in the longhouse was still, with the only light coming from the fire-pit in the center of the room. The soft snores of sleeping ponies filled the room with the occasional snort of a pony who had been jabbed by a neighbor when their snoring grew too loud.

Looking over her shoulder, Starless saw Ground's little sister, Snap Dragon, curled up against her with her mother, Tiger Lily, lying just behind her. Being careful not to wake them, Starless quietly got up and slipped away. Taking care not to step on any of the other sleeping ponies that packed the room in long rows, Starless crossed over to the opening into the sickroom and ducked inside.

A small fire-pit set in the center of the floor, illuminated the room with its warm, flickering light as Starless slowly walked through the room. She didn't know why she had come back here; something within her had compelled her to come. Ground Pound was asleep beside his father, his large slumbering body was leaned up against the stone wall. She felt horrible for him. He didn't deserve to come home to something like this.

Gazing down at Hoof Strike, she could see Ground's resemblance to him. The same hard jaw, and the wider set ears that she found so adorable.

"Is there something I can help you with?" a soft voice asked. Stepping lightly over to her was a peach colored mare with a red feather tied into her mane. Despite the scar that marred the side of her muzzle, she was rather pretty. Coming closer, the mare’s eyes widened as she noticed Starless’ horn. "Oh. You're that unicorn Dark brought back."

"I ah... Yes," Starless said, keeping her voice down so she wouldn't wake Ground. "My name is Starless."

The mare curiously examined her for a short time, her eyes filled with speculation. "I'm pleased you meet you, Starless. My name is Dove Song," she greeted her. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Starless shook her head. "I don't know why I came here. I just feel... responsible for what has happened here."

Dove's eyes softened. "It's kind of you to feel this way, but from what I understand of it, you yourself had nothing to really do with the long night."

"When my Matriarch kept the sun from rising to show the world our power," Starless explained, "I felt pride that every creature would witness that the heavens were ours to do with as we wanted, and that they would see their proper place below us." Starless scowled and bitterly shook her head. "I was a fool! Not once did I ever think of the harm our actions were causing to others. All I was thinking of was how much greater we were over them. We have allowed ourselves to grow selfish, cruel, and uncaring of the other ponies."

Dove gazed at her thoughtfully. "Come with me. There is somepony I want to show you," she said, turning away to walk across to the other side of the room.

Following after, Starless was lead to a basket filled with straw. Looking inside, she saw a small lavender colored foal lying asleep on the straw. At first she was perplexed as to why she was showing her the foal when she suddenly noticed that it had a horn. "What the!? A Unicorn foal!?"

"This is Twilight Aurora. She is a unicorn foundling," Dove explained. "She was rejected and cast off by her family to die alone in the woods."

Starless had a sick feeling grow in her gut as she looked down at the filly.

"She was born blind," Dove continued. "You said that the Unicorns have allowed themselves to grow selfish, cruel, and uncaring of the other races. Well, I believe the truth of your statement extends a bit further than just other races."

It was true that foals born with disfigurements like blindness were seen as being below that of a low blood, often times being called an abomination. Such foals were often abandoned out in the wild or just killed outright by their mothers. Starless never bothered to consider the plight of those unfortunate foals. After all, it was seen as merciful to end their suffering.

A magical glow suddenly enveloped the sleeping foal's horn and several gourds were grabbed up by her power and floated up to drift around her basket. Starless blinked down at the foal in surprise. She was sleep-casting! Only the truly talented foals could do that, and never as young as this. Curious about the foal's strength, Starless lowered her horn down and touched it to the filly's.

There was a bright flash of light, and Starless suddenly found herself laying on the ground across the room with the wind knocked out of her lungs. Her back hurt where she had been slammed into the stone wall and Dove’s alarmed shout came to her as if from across a vast chasm. Curled up on the ground, Starless struggled to draw in a breath. The room around her was lit up with a bright light that was coming from the basket holding the unicorn foal.

Ground, having been awaken by the ruckus, rushed over to Starless and helped her to lean up. Starless was finally able to draw in a breath and fill her lungs with much needed air. Using Ground to help support her, Starless climbed back to her hooves and looked around in amazement, magic filled the room and the air glowed with colors. Her mind reeled with what was happening.

Dove, looking around with concern, began to reach into the filly's basket.

"No!" Starless shouted. "Don't touch her!" Rushing over, Starless looked in. The filly's eyes were open and glowing with power that matched her horn. Summoning her magic, Starless cast a shield around the filly, but it instantly shattered as the filly's magic overwhelmed it. Starless was at a loss as to what to do. She had never seen or even heard of a foal with this much magic!

Suddenly, she heard Dove start to sing. It was a simple melody, one meant to sing foals to sleep. Slowly, the filly's magic began to settle down, and as she watched in wonder, Dove reached in and picked the foal up and began to rock her. The red feather tied into Dove's mane glowed with a warm light. Amazed that she was somehow protected from the wild surge of magic from the filly, Starless looked more closely at the red feather and saw that it was a phoenix feather. Where did she get one of those?

With a final flicker, the filly's magic finally died out as her eyes fell closed in slumber.

"What happened?" Ground asked, looking around in confusion.

"I tried to delve her to see how much magic she had," Starless explained. "But somehow I caused her to surge out of control. It's absolutely terrifying how much magic is contained inside her!"

"Would you please keep it down? I'm trying to sleep," a voice called out in complaint.

Ground whirled about in surprise. Hoof Strike was sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. "Papa!" Ground shouted as he rushed over to throw his hooves around his father, hugging him tightly.

Dove and Starless looked around the room in amazement. More and more ponies were sitting up around the room as they woke up. Starless couldn't believe it. The foal revived them!?

"Mama?" a little filly’s voice called out. "Where are you? Does anypony know where my mama is? Mama?"

Dove gasped and quickly settled Aurora back into her basket before rushing over to the red colored filly in the corner. "Strawberry, dear. Don't fret, I'm here."

"Mama?" the filly asked, looking around. "Where am I? There was something at our door, trying to get in. Where's my mama? Mama?"

Starless covered her mouth as tears came to her eyes. She didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to hear what was about to come. She didn't have the courage. Rushing past Ground and his father, Starless headed for the door. Behind her, she continued to hear the filly's increasingly urgent cries for her mother as Dove tried to calm her. What had happened to that filly's family was her fault. She had been a part of it. Not once did she or the Unicorns think of the harm their actions would cause to others. In their arrogance, they believed that they stood above the other lower ponies like the Pegasi and dirt ponies.

Behind her, she heard the heartbreaking cry of a grief stricken filly as she learned the horrible truth that she would never see her mother again.

Rushing through the door, Starless heard Dark and Meadowlark asking what was happening as she heedlessly passed them. Other ponies, roused by the sudden activity, were looking over at her with curiosity. Unable to stand their eyes on her, Starless hurried to the exit. She didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she needed to get away. The sounds of the filly's grief-filled cries followed after her as she ran. They stabbed at her and drove themselves into her.

Bursting outside, Starless ran to the only place she knew she could be alone. Rushing into the nearby washroom, Starless flung a shield spell over the door to keep ponies out and collapsed to the stone ground behind the screen. She curled herself into a ball and wept as she clutched at the pain in her chest.

She hated herself. She was a loathsome creature that didn't deserve the kindness she was given. They should just toss her out and let the spiders take her. Huddled in her misery, she felt something strike her shield. A moment later, it came again, but much harder this time. Her shield quivered under the blow, but managed to hold firm. She didn't know who was trying to get in and she didn't care, just as long as she was left alone. Suddenly, there was a crashing sound as a section of the stone wall was bucked in.

Ground stepped through and looked over at her.

"Leave me alone!" Starless yelled as she pushed herself away from him along the stone ground until she met the far wall.

Ground ignored her as he began to walk toward her.

"No! Don't look at me!" she cried, hiding herself behind her hooves. "Please. I beg you, just go away."

She heard his hoofsteps stop next to her and she tightened herself into a ball. Why did he have to be so stubborn at the worst times! She felt his hooves encircle around her as he drew her in.

"No! Don't touch me!" Starless released a shock bolt into him.

Ground grunted as her spell struck him, but otherwise continued to draw her in.

"Stop! Please stop!" Starless struggled futilely in his grasp. "I'm a monster! I'm no more different than the spiders!" She pounded her hoof against his chest. "I'm a liar! I made that oath with Dark with the intention of breaking it! I'm selfish, prideful, and uncaring! It's my fault that ponies died! I was a part of it! I praised it, and now that poor filly will never... she'll never get to see..." Starless' struggles against him grew weaker. "She'll never..." Unable to finish, Starless buried her face into Ground's chest and began to bawl.

Ground didn't say a word as he held her against his chest, letting her sob into him.

Dark gazed into the basket and watched Aurora sleep. "She revived them? This little foal?"

"Starless seemed just as surprised," Dove answered. "Somehow, when her magic went wild, she cleansed the venom from their bodies."

"I can't believe you let that... mare touch her!" Strongbuck growled.

"Oh, stop your griping," Bell snapped at her surly mate. "She didn't hurt Aurora."

"But she could have!" Strongbuck scowled.

"Where did she go?" Meadowlark asked, looking around.

"She's somewhere private having a... moment." Tiger Lily answered, walking over to them. "My colt is with her right now helping her out."

"How long is she going to be?" Dark asked. "There's some important questions we need to ask her."

"She'll take as long as she needs," Tiger answered simply . "Until she is ready, I will not allow anypony to disturb her." Her eyes flashed at him in challenge.

Dark was smart enough to not press her further. Turning to look across the room, Dark's chest tightened at the sad sight of little Strawberry. "What about her? How is she doing Dove?"

Dove looked back and her eyes filled with grief. "She took the news just as well as you would expect. I gave her some Languorberry juice to get her back to sleep." Turning she looked to Meadowlark. "I would like Celestia to be with her when she wakes back up. It will help her if she has a friend with her."

"Of course," Meadowlark agreed, her voice filled with sadness. "I'll let her know."

Later, as the night sky thickened with heavy clouds that moved in from the south, Dark sat eating his morning meal of oats and dried fruit. Across from him, Hoof Strike looked like he was doing his best to make up for all the meals he missed out on. Sitting before him was a large pile of hay he was happily munching down in great heaping mouthfuls.

"Their raids are sporadic. Some days we don't see a single one, while others, they swarm out like a kicked anthill," Strongbuck explained. "Sentry and Chase have been extremely useful. They somehow sense when they are coming and give us warning."

"And whose idea was it to use rope to protect yourselves?" Dark asked, looking over at a stallion who was carefully wrapping his legs as he prepared to go out to join his watch.

"Interestingly enough, it was Brightstar's mate, Berry Shrub, who thought of the idea," Strongbuck said. "It was the day after the first attack and Brightstar was out working on the defenses, building the fire lines. Berry was here helping to care for the ponies that had been bitten by the spiders, and she began to wonder if there was a way to protect others from the same fate. I just happened to be there with Dove when she suddenly shouted that she had it, and before I knew it, she was dragging me off to the storage house where she began to wind ropes around me. When others asked what she was doing, they also began to help out with their own improvements like weaving the protective cover for the body. When it came to the mask, that one came from Cedar Chips. He had already carved a few to scare the colts and fillies for fun, and Bell, having heard about what was happening, had him make a wolf head for me."

Just then, Dark noticed a pair of older mares approaching him with a younger mare following just behind them. Dark let out a soft sigh, he'd been expecting this. "Excuse us, Herd Father," Morning Sky's mother, Pixie Wink, said coming to a stop. "We're sorry if we're disturbing you, but we wanted to ask you about our foals? We haven't seen them since they left, and we're eager to hear how they've been."

"They haven't been fighting too much have they?" Mustard Seeds mother, Clover Dance, asked, stepping around Pixie. "They do tend to bicker over much and I do hope they managed to keep themselves under control." Behind her, Dandelion Fluff, Mustard's sister, rolled her eyes.

Dark considered telling them what happened to Mustard and Morning, but decided to leave it to the two to break it to their mothers on their own. It was a family matter best left to them to work out. "They had some unexpected challenges along the way," Dark said, choosing his words carefully. "I believe that they discovered some important new things about themselves they never imagined they would find."

The two mothers both began to smile as they suddenly looked relieved. "When will they be coming back?" Clover Dance asked.

"As soon as it gets light enough, we'll be heading out to get them."

"I hope they're all okay out there," Pixie Wink said worriedly. "They must be so scared."

"Mustard knows what to do. If something happens, she can just send Sky back here for help."

"She? You’re talking about Mustard right?" Dandelion Fluff asked.

"Ah... Yes, sorry. A slip of the tongue." Dark confessed hurriedly. "Strongbuck, how about you help me get ready?"

The clouds that had been gathering during the night turned into a light rain by morning. Dark felt the rain soaking into the ropes wrappings that now protected his legs and the added weight dragged at his steps. He found Brightstar with a large group of ponies driving posts into the ground, inter spaced evenly from each other along the inner walls. After a post was driven down, ponies would use axes to cut the posts into sharpened points.

"It won't stop them from getting through, but it should hold the bigger ones back." Brightstar explained as he looked up at Dark. "Their weight is too much for them to climb over and they would only impale themselves if they try."

"Clever. Just like always."

"You going back out?" Brightstar asked.

"It was a risk leaving them out there last night, but there wasn't time before night set in to bring them down," Dark said. "This rain isn't going to help matters either." Dark paused and looked around. "There's going to be a lot more ponies when I return. Do we have room to house them?"

"We'll come up with something," Brightstar assured him with a smile.

Returning back to the longhouse, Dark found a dozen ponies already waiting for him. Standing right in the center was Strongbuck with Ground Pound and Starless by his side. Dark noticed that Starless was standing unusually close to Ground, with her side almost touching his. Did something happen between the two?

"Papa!" A white filly suddenly threw herself around his neck.

Smiling, Dark reached up and hugged his daughter. "Don't worry, sweetie. We'll be back before you know it."

"You promise!?" Celestia asked, still tightly clinging to his neck.

"I promise," Dark said, kissing Celestia before putting her down.

Running to her mother, Celestia grabbed something from her and ran back to Dark. "Here. This is for you!"

Taking the wooden mask she held out to him, Dark turned it over and saw that it was a rather good depiction of a hydra. Smiling at the gift. Dark slipped it over his head and playfully roared at Celestia who squealed and dashed, giggling, back to her mother.

Smiling at the scene, Strongbuck slipped his wolf head on and called out for Chase, who came loping over with his wagging tail to stand by him. "We're all ready to go."

Behind Strongbuck, Dark caught sight of a familiar looking dark blue stallion with a bluejay mask covering his face. Glancing out at the gathered onlookers, Dark saw both Morning's and Mustard's mothers watching from the crowd.

"You can't hide from them forever, you know," Dark quietly said to the stallion.

"There is no way I am facing them right now." Morning answered with a weary shake of his head. "I'll just toss Mustard at them when we get back and then find a good place to hide until it's all over."

Dark shook his head as he turned away. He couldn't tell if Morning was joking or not. "Okay. Let's stop standing around and get a move on!" Dark shouted as he lead the group out.

As they passed by ponies watching them leave, Morning spotted Dandelion Fluff. With a mischievous grin, he tipped his mask up and winked at her as he passed by her with a quick wave of his hoof. Dandelion Fluff blinked at him for a moment in confusion before recognition suddenly flashed across her face. Her eyes grew very wide as her jaw dropped in shock. Letting out a laugh, Morning flipped his mask back down and hurried on, leaving her to gape after him with a dazed look on her face.

The rain continued throughout their trip as they cautiously worked their way through the western woods. Hammers and axes were held ready as ponies warily kept their gaze up into the trees, looking out for any signs of spiders that may be lurking up in the branches. None were spotted as they cautiously crossed through the woods. Dark felt impatient at their slower pace but knew that recklessly rushing forward could mean running headlong into a trap set to ensnare them.

Tired and soaked through with the rain, they finally broke out onto the hilltop clearing. Ahead of them, they could see the hastily built barrier that encircled the top of the hill. As they approached, Dark started to get a sick feeling in his gut as he felt that things didn't seem right. It was too quiet and he didn't see any ponies standing watch for them. Coming closer, they saw that there were numerous holes that had been made through the barrier.

Feeling his gut lurch up to his throat, Dark broke into a run and dashed the rest of the way to the top. Looking like they had been torn to pieces, spider remains littered the ground everywhere. Working his way through the largest opening into the enclosure, Dark found piles of dead spiders strung out in a ring around a large clearing in the center. Broken spears and other weapons littered the ground.

"Mustard!" a panicked sounding Morning shouted, desperately searching around, kicking at the piles of spiders to look under them. "Mustard! Please answer me!"

Dark struggled to control his own rising dread. They were all gone. His sister. His mother. Ash. This was all his fault. He shouldn't have left them!

"Dark!" Strongbuck shouted from outside. "There's something here you need to see!"

Rushing back outside, Dark went around to the side of the enclosure. He found Strongbuck looking down at a row of stones that had been carefully set into a line with the end shaped like a spearhead, pointing off to the north-west.

"They're okay!" Strongbuck exclaimed. "They left this here to let us know where they went!"

"Why would they go that way instead of going south, or back to the herd?" Ground asked.

"Because," Dark said, looking out. "They went to the one place that gave them the best hope to survive."

Ash lay awake.

Mirage's head was curled around him as she had him tucked up close next to her. Her soft breaths came with a steady rhythm of sleep. It had only been half a day since Dark had left and Mirage was taking her task of watching over him very seriously.

The fire had been built up tall, its flickering light casting shadows onto the surrounding barricade as ponies stood watch through the night. Laying against Mirage, Ash hoped that everypony was okay back home. His thoughts dwelled on Celestia and on how much he missed her.

Suddenly, he noticed that something changed out in the night. For a while he felt a kind of anticipation hanging in the air, but now there was a sense of hungry excitement tinging the wind. Leaping up to his hooves, Ash snatched up his spear and dashed forward. "Wake up everypony! They're coming! Take up your weapons!"

The ponies standing at watch suddenly started to exclaim in alarm as the night began to crawl with spiders. Mustard yelled out orders and ponies quickly began to light torches as others gathered their weapons. Ash ignored Mirage’s frantic calls for him to come back and instead ran to the barricade's entrance.

Around him, Ash could hear fear in ponies voices as they readied themselves to fight for their lives. Within him, Ash could feel his magic rising up like a terrible storm. There were ponies he cared for that needed to be protected. A spider the size of a full grown stallion was the first to charge in.

Gripping his spear, Ash rushed forward to meet it.

"Ash!" Mustard shouted. "What are you doing!? Get back!"

The spider, seeing an easy meal, eagerly clicked its fangs together as it bore down on him.

Facing the spiders charge fearlessly, Ash raised his spear and gripped it tightly in his teeth. A light glow of blue light suddenly burned along his spear like a fire as his magic responded to his conviction to protect the ponies behind him. Thrusting his burning spear forward, it sank almost effortlessly into the spider's body with an angry hiss. With a slash, Ash tore his spear out, ripping the spider's body wide open, spilling its innards out onto the dirt. Collapsing to the ground, the spider kicked its legs into the soil as it died.

Behind him, ponies stared at him in wide-eyed shock as he stepped back from the spider's lifeless body. With his face set as hard stone, Ash readied himself to stand against the coming horde.

"Sky!" Mustard shouted. "I need you to fly out and find Dark! Tell him we need help!"

Sky hesitated and met Dusty's worried gaze for a quick moment, but after he nodded to her and waved for her to go, she reluctantly took off and flew off into the night, disappearing into the darkness.

Spiders began to swarm in through gaps in the barricade. Standing in the thickest part, Ash thrust and slashed as they came into his reach, each time he struck, spiders were torn apart by his burning spear. Broken from their surprise, ponies rushed forward and joined him in the fight.

"Tighten up the line! Don't let them slip through!" Mustard ordered. "Happy! I need you over there! They are trying to dig through the barricade! Dusty, watch your hooves! Mosswood, help Happy block up that hole!"

Bodies were starting to pile up around Ash as he furiously fought to keep them back. His flaming spear whirled about as he struck over and over again. There were so many! Thrusting his spear into a spider that was twice his size, Ash caught sight of another coming up on him from the side! Before he could react, a large branch knocked the spider away with a crack. Looking up, he was surprised to find Mirage standing over him with an angry look in her eyes.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she said down at him furiously. "I swear! Seeing you running right at that spider nearly stopped my heart!" Swinging her club again, she smashed another spider away, sending it sailing back into the barricade. "After all this is done. We are going to have a long talk."

Suddenly, an enormous spider, bigger than any they had seen before, appeared out of the night. Pausing just outside the barricade entrance, it let out a series of loud clicks to the attacking spiders. Immediately, they ceased their assault and scurried away, back into the darkness. The massive spider looked down at Ash with its multiple eyes and Ash saw an intelligence in them. This spider wasn't just some unthinking monster. It knew what it was doing. Swinging its great bulk around, it silently vanished back into the night.

Ponies gazed around in a daze. They had somehow survived and the idea of it was finally sinking in. Their victory had come at a price though. Dusty carefully lay an unconscious Tranquil Charm down next to Mosswood, a young mare named Prim Primrose, and Gravel Biter, who were all in the same state.

Worried ponies began to murmur fearfully to each other.

"What happened?" a confused Pebble Steam asked, looking around. "Why did they leave?"

"It doesn't matter why," Grass Stem answered gruffly. "Just be thankful they did."

"We have to get out of here!" a mare said fearfully.

"She's right! We can't stay!" another pony added.

"We should go down to the settlement! We'll be safe there!" a third pony shouted.

"No! Don't you get it! They're all gone! The spiders have taken them and now they're going to get us!

"Quiet everypony!" Mustard shouted glaring about. "Panicking is not going to help anything."

"But what are we going to do!?"

"Yeah!"

Mustard gazed around at all the scared faces that were looking back at her for her leadership. Quickly, she ran through her options. If they stayed, the spiders would just keep coming until they eventually overwhelmed them. And even when Sky gets the message back to Dark, he wouldn't be able to come back until after the morning. So that left where they should go. Trying for the settlement would be foolish. There was a lot of dark forest between here and there that the spiders could easily ambush them from. Even with torches to light their way, the spiders could still just rain down on them from the treetops. And if they were able to make it back, they may just find the settlement a worse place to be than here.

If they couldn't stay, and they couldn't go to the settlement, where could they go? Suddenly a thought came to her. "Happy. How far is it to that old wolf den?"

"Not terribly far," Happy answered. "It'll mean travel'n further from the settlement if you are think'n of us go'n there."

"As I remember it, there was a long clearing that ran almost to it."

"Aye. That there be," Happy said with a knowing nod. "It starts just to the north of here and runs up between the next two hills, pass'n right by the den."

"Everypony! Gather what you can. Especially food and water. We're leaving," Mustard ordered. "We don't have time to make litters so I need ponies to help carry the four bitten ponies on their backs." Reaching down, Mustard nipped little Acorn Shells' crest and lifted him onto his mother's back, then gave the adorable colt a quick nuzzle to help settle her nerves.

In quick order, everypony was ready to go. Dusty, with Tranquil Charm settled onto his back walked next to the litter that carried a worried looking Grand Vista, with Dark's mother being carried just behind on her litter. She had tried to volunteer to be left behind so that Tranquil could be carried on her litter, but Dusty had flat out refused to let her before carefully lifting the stricken unicorn mare onto his own back.

Mustard and Happy worked quickly to set marker stones to let Dark know where they are going. Once they were done, they took up their torches and joined the rest of the waiting ponies.

"Everypony stay together and keep a sharp eye out. We'll need to cross through a short section of trees to get to the clearing so we'll need to be careful walking through there," Morning explained. "We are heading to a wolf den where we should be safe. Once we're inside, we'll seal up the openings and wait until Sky brings Dark back."

After one last check to make sure they all understood, Mustard turned and lead them down the hill where they all disappeared into the trees. As their flickering torchlight faded away, the hilltop behind them began to crawl with shadows.

Celestia sat quietly next to Strawberry Zest.

Despite being awake, Strawberry showed no interest in anything around her. Laying on her mat, she stared off blankly at the wall, refusing to look at anypony who tried to talk to her nor to eat any of the food that sat next to her, untouched.

Celestia felt so helpless. Dove had told her that the best thing she could do for Strawberry right now was to be there for her, but Celestia wished that she could do more. What use is having magic if you couldn't use it to help others in pain? Closing her eyes she let her senses flow free. She could feel a cold desolation inside Strawberry. Her once brightly burning star was shrouded in shadow and pain.

Celestia recoiled from the vast sorrow that encompassed her friend and she fled away in tears, unable to bear it.