The castle had grown even darker when the sky had changed, and Rarity now shivered against the cold. The light in the sky outside was hot and strange, but out here, clouds had begun to form. There was no Chaos to keep them under control. They swirled over the EverFree in vast storms, bringing a strange chill air along with their dreary rain and distant lightning. To Rarity, the world had taken on a very different guise: no longer was it awash with clashing and shifting colors, but instead dark and ominous subtlety. Strangely, she was not sure which she had liked better.

It had been time to sleep, but she had been unable to. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the fire and her face, and if she listened she thought that she could still hear the echo of Pinkamena’s final scream- -or the sound of Rainbow Dash sobbing when she thought no one was listening.

Darknight had been able to sleep, but not well. He lay still on the floor, but always almost be on the verge of waking up. Sometimes he would shake and twist, or speak partial or strange words. Rarity had considered laying down next to him, but she did not want to snuggle a pony without his consent. That would simply be uncouth. It was quite apparent, though, that both of them needed it.

Instead, Rarity had taken to wandering the halls of Twilight’s castle. They had been scary to her before, and they still were- -but all of it seemed less relevant now. Rarity’s mind felt numb and strange, and the thought of monsters lurking in the darkness or strange and perverse experiments had little bearing on her.

There was not much to see within the castle. There were remnants of things that once were: architectural features that had likely once held fountains or statues, or rooms that had once had purpose but now stood empty. While it was apparent that Twilight had retained the things she valued- -the laboratories and the library- -she had allowed everything else to fall into extreme disrepair. Paintings sat faded and mildewed or taken out completely, and elegant tapestries had rotted to nothing. Even the suits of ancient pony armor had rusted nearly to oblivion. To Rarity, this was tragic, but also sad in a different way. It seemed that Twilight had allowed any reference to her family or her ancient noble lineage to fade and die, and then kept the unrecognizable remains around as though she thought of it as art.

It was in this environment that Rarity spent what felt like hours walking alone while the others did what they chose to. She became increasingly lost, but did not care. Then she heard a noise.

A door opened, and Rainbow Dash stepped out. Twilight followed her from behind, adjusting the long glove that she had just placed over her hoof. Rarity was confused as to what they had been doing togather, although she knew it was nothing romantic. The look on Rainbow Dash’s face was not one of regret, but one of pure resolve. The look on Twilight’s face was more complicated, but seemed almost as though she was trying not to smile.

Rarity took a step forward, hoping to speak with them- -or at least to Rainbow Dash- -but then froze. She winced and nearly collapsed as a wave of vertigo and head pain engulfed her. This was followed immediately by a strange and largely indescribable feeling that progressed to mild nausea.

“Ow,” she whined. “My head.”

She looked up at Rainbow Dash and Twilight. They had not noticed her, but they had stopped moving. Looking closer, though, Rarity began to realize that something was horribly wrong. They had not simply gone from walking to standing: they were still walking, but had frozen in place mid-step. Even their facial expressions were fixed, as though they were strange statues.

Rarity looked on at this odd sight with growing apprehension. Eventually she decided to try to approach. Doing so seemed like a horrible mistake when she took the first step. The world seemed to move out of synch, as if motion did not behave by normal rules and physics. The second step hardly went better, but by the third Rarity was able to walk with reasonable balance.

“Rainbow Dash?” she said. “Twilight?”

She leaned in close to them and saw that they were not breathing. What that meant, though, was unclear. If they were frozen in place, it stood to reason that they would not be breathing. It would only be natural- -but there was nothing natural about this situation.

Rarity contemplated this for a moment, but it only made her head hurt more. She winced again and took a step back- -only to see Starlight standing over Twilight.

She had not been there before, and Rarity jumped. As she watched, though, Starlight slowly turned. Like Rarity, she was able to move freely. She stared at Rarity wordlessly for a long moment with her strange, broken eyes. Rarity realized that they had changed since the two of them had first met; although they were still blank, the irises were no longer circular. It was as if they had been slit in half and reconnected unevenly with scar tissue.

“Starlight?” said Rarity.

Starlight, of course, did not respond. She instead walked past Rarity, leaving a trail of strange blue magic in her wake. Rarity looked back once to Rainbow Dash and Twilight, and then followed Starlight to wherever it was she was going.

Her path was slow and strangely silent- -and yet Rarity always found herself behind the other pony. It was a strange sensation, one that defied logical explanation. Starlight was moving so slow, and yet Rarity nearly needed to sprint at some points just to keep pace with her.

Then, without warning, Starlight stopped. She was standing at a large window, or what might have been the medevial equivalent of a window. It was a gap that opened to the outside through several large slits. Outside, the rain had started. It smelled bizarre, not at all like the rain of chocolate milk that Rarity was accustomed to. Yet, as Rarity watched, she saw that none of the droplets were coming through the window. They had in fact all frozen mid-fall, suspended in the darkened air.

Lightning flashed outside- -or had been flashing. The bolt was trapped halfway to the ground, its white glow illuminating the Forest below. In the light of that incomplete lightning bolt, Starlight seemed strange. It was as though she were pale and somehow so very tall.

“Starlight,” said Rarity, putting her hoof on the pale unicorn’s shoulder. “Is everything alright?”

Starlight slowly turned her head toward Rarity, and her blind eyes stared for a long moment. “No,” she said.

Rarity nearly jumped in surprise, but for some reason she instead seemed to freeze, staring in awe and fear. She had never heard Starlight speak before. She had been told- -and assumed- -that being lobotomized had left her mute.

Starlight seemed just as surprised. She moved her mouth as if trying to say something else, but seemed to have some difficulty forming words.

“Starlight,” said Rarity. “You…you spoke!”

“I did,” she said after a moment. Her voice was hoarse and raspy, a result of having not spoken in so long.

“Were you…but I thought- -how long have you been able to talk?!”

“That was the first since…since then.” Starlight shook her head and looked away, out the window. “It…not the only thing I can do, it seems.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “You’re doing this? You’ve frozen time!”

Starlight paused, and then nodded. “Yes.”

“How?”

“I don’t…not…I don’t have the words to explain yet.”

“Oh, of course! Take your time! Here, do you need to sit down? I’m sure I can find a comfortable chair around here somewhere…well, if this was anypony ELSE’S castle I would be able to find serviceable furniture. But there has to be a sofa or divan or somesuch…”

“Rar…ity. No. I don’t need to sit.”

“Oh. Well, I certainly feel a need to. This is so surprising I might faint. I mean, I would if the floor weren’t simply so filthy!” She turned to Starlight excitedly. “This is just so unexpected! Just wait until the others find out!”

“They won’t.”

Rarity’s excitement collapsed into confusion. “Excuse me, darling? But the others, they have to know! You can’t simply go around pretending to be…well…”

“Broken,” said Starlight, darkly. “No. I’m not going back. Her…she will break me again.”

“You mean Twilight.”

Starlight shuddered when she heard the name. “Yes. HER.”

“Well, I admit that Twilight is cruel and…unpleasant…but- -”

“Do you know what she- -did to- -me!” screamed Starlight, her volume making it difficult for her to produce the entire sentence without pausing to think. “She made me- -like- -as- -THAT!”

“Starlight- -”

Starlight’s voice dropped. “She didn’t tell you. No reason to. Why would it matter, what she did to us? What she took from us?”

“Us?” asked Rarity, hoping that Starlight was using the royal we.

Starlight paused, and she looked as though she were about to cry. “It hurts.”

“Starlight, we can help you.”

“It hurts,” she repeated with the exact same town and inflection as before. “It...hurts. To think. To remember. So much pain. So much still…broken. But I see HER and I see THEM.”

“Slow down,” said Rarity, speaking with the most calming voice she could summon. “You don’t have to remember anything now. It’s safe here.”

“And yet…seven are now six, here,” she snapped. Seeing- -or perceiving- -Rarity’s expression, however, she took a breath and tried to calm herself. “I have to remember. Have to, forever. Have to tell you. Before I am gone.”

Rarity felt a wave of concern, but she also knew that this was important to Starlight. Every word seemed to pain her, as though she had to search for them from deep inside. So Rarity decided that the only polite course of action would be to listen.

“If you need to tell me something, tell it.”

Starlight looked somewhat surprised, but then nodded. “Us…we. My village. I founded a village, in the distant Madlands. For ponies like me. Who were tired of pain, danger, Chaos. Where we would be safe. Equal. New government.”

“And…and Discord must have sent the Watchers.”

Starlight nodded solemnly. “He can’t have that. Governments beyond his control, that support peace, order, harmony. One Watcher came. Twilight Sparkle. She…pretended to be my friend. Pretended to be equal…and then…needle…my eye…broken…”

“Starlight,” said Rarity. “Please. We need to find a place for you to sit. This stress, it’s too much for you in your present state.”

Starlight shook her head. “She took me. She only wanted ME. The rest…she killed them. My friends. No, family. Ponies I promised to help, to give a better life. She killed them all. And all I could do was watch. But I couldn’t think. Couldn’t understand. But now I do…”

“That’s…that’s terrible.”

“But not unexpected.”

Rarity was somewhat taken aback, but she knew what Starlight meant. “No,” she admitted. “No it isn’t.”

Starlight stood in silence for a long moment. “What Luna did to me…it wasn’t an attack. Not really. She went into my mind…and I saw her. Felt her. And whatever she did…she fixed me. Or started to.” She looked out the window. “And now look at me.” She raised her horn, and the rain and lightning outside began to slowly move- -in reverse. The lightning slowly retracted upward, and the raindrops rose lazily upward. This seemed to strain Starlight somewhat, and she stopped after a moment. Outside, the change in the length of the lightning bolt had changed its brightness. It was now dim, but somehow Starlight’s body only seemed to be lit brighter.

“Everything taken from me,” she said, softly, “but what have I been given?”

Rarity looked out the window. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“For what? There is nothing you could have done to help us. And you…I don’t think you are like the others. That is why you are here now. The only one I cared enough to talk to.”

“Well, I’m certainly here. Unless I’m dreaming.” Rarity looked up at the tiny frozen lightning bolt. “Which at this point seems to be a distinct possibility.”

“You’re not.”

“Then why me?”

“A murderer, a soldier, a machine, and something far worse. Where does that leave you? What are you, Rarity? Why are you here?”

“I have my reasons.”

“But I do not.” Starlight turned to Rarity. “Twilight tortured me. Endlessly. But I obeyed her, because I could understand how not to. But not I know. And I am no longer going to fight her war.”

Rarity was silent for a moment. “I see,” she said at last. “And I understand. But…”

“But?”

“But you are the strongest one here. Certainly stronger than me, but even stronger than Twilight. By far. You’re the only one here strong enough to challenge the Princesses.”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On if having a mind makes me stronger, or weaker. I think weaker.”

“But you can still help us win.”

“Win what, exactly? You can feel it. Discord is dead. The government has fallen. There is nothing left. Defeat Luna and Celestia, and what is left?” Rarity did not have a good answer. Starlight seemed to take notice. “This is not my war. It never was” she said. “I have no love for Discord, and no hate for the Princesses. I am neutral.”

“But how do you know the world will be safe? If they take control, what will they do to us? To Equestria!”

“It does not matter to me,” said Starlight. “I have no stake in this anymore.”

“But I do. I have my sister. And I need to keep her safe.”

“Rarity. You do not need to fight this war either. You are no longer bound as a Watcher. If you stay here, with them, you may never see your sister again.”

“You’re asking me to come with you.”

Starlight shook her head. “I’m asking you to leave with me. But where I am going, you cannot follow. No one can.”

Rarity looked up at Starlight and then smiled. She reached into one of her pockets, digging for a moment before producing a large red gem.

“Here,” she said, giving it to Starlight.

Starlight did not see the gem, but clearly perceived it. She seemed confused. “What is this?”

“I made it for you. As a gift. Take it with you. I have to stay, but I understand. I’m just sorry I couldn’t give you any more.”

Starlight took the gem, and held it in her magic. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, Rarity.”

With that, there was a final flash of light. Outside, the roar of the rain suddenly became deafening. The lightning struck downward and vanished. Rarity watched the empty spot where Starlight had been, feeling the splatter of rain against her face, and listened to the sound of the thunder.