Starlight checked another square off her clipboard. The funnel cake stand would go beside the ice cream stand, but only if the crepe stand was across the road, so no sales were… funneled away.

She looked down her list and smiled. Twilight would be proud were she there, and of more than Starlight’s organization. Starlight looked around. Everywhere ponies were working together to erect signs, decorations, to clean and transport supplies, and all the other business of a street fair. The town’s cooperation warmed her inside. It was always a strange feeling, pride in others. Maybe Anon was right, her past leadership wasn’t a total disaster.

Starlight trotted down the road, to the main stage in front of town hall. Silver Bell stood atop it, giving direction for the order of events. Starlight walked up the wooden stairs and approached Silver Bell when the latter finished talking to one of the musicians about her performance schedule.

“The vendors are all set. Are we good on entertainment?”

Silver Bell nodded. “Your help has been invaluable, Starlight. All that remains is the fireworks display. If I could trouble you further, would you check the technicians’ safety measures. I am always fearful of fire hazards. We’ve even enchanted silver vessels with fire retardance for the final ceremony.”

“Wow, I bet it’ll be a blast. Sure, I’ll be back after I take a look.” Starlight hummed as she trotted off the platform. On her way down the road, she noticed Anon walking toward her. The human’s stature made him unmissable, even in a crowd of ponies.

Starlight approached him and raised her eyebrow. “What are you doing back so soon? We still have another two hours before things officially start.”

Anon looked down at her, then looked away. “They didn’t really need me.”

Starlight tilted her head. “Um, are you alright?”

Anon looked into her eyes like he was searching for something.

“Hey, you know all that shit you used to do?” Anon asked.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You know, that dictator stuff.”

Starlight pulled her ears back and looked down. “Oh, that. Yeah, I know about it, obviously.”

“You’re over all that, right? Like, you’re not doing it anymore?”

Starlight looked at him, a knot tightening in her chest. “Of-of course I am. Why would you even ask something like that?”

Anon looked away again. “There’s something up with this place.”

“What do you mean?”

Anon looked past the gathering crowds toward the main stage and the town hall behind it. “That parade. I don’t know, it’s pretty intense. The mare over it is running things like a drill sergeant. Just seems weird.”

Starlight felt the ball in her chest unwind. Was that what this was about? She laughed. But Anon’s “serious” face told her she’d better dial it back.

“You’re overreacting,” Starlight said. “Silver Bell told me about the mare she picked to run the parade. Apparently, she’s a former Wonderbolt. So yeah, I bet she’s a bit uptight.”

“Seriously, Starlight. I think something’s wacked out about this place. The way they shut down the market, how they practically worship you. Like, everything’s just starting to come together for me.”

“Oh, I know what this is,” Starlight said. “You’re just trying to get off the hook for doing setup.”

“What?”

“I know you don’t want to help out, but you don’t have to make up crazy theories.”

“You’re not listening,” Anon said. “Something’s seriously wrong with this place.”

“Okay, I’ll humor you. What’s the big scary secret this town is keeping? Is it that their funnel cakes are imported from a different town? Or, I know, maybe the burger stand is colluding with the waffle cart to destroy the hay dog vendor.”

“You’re not listening to me!” Anon yelled.

“Maybe that’s because you’re not making any sense. There’s nothing wrong with this town. Is it so hard to believe that something I started can succeed?”

“Well maybe if you weren’t so busy sniffing your own shit about this place, you’d see how totally fucked up it is!” Anon yelled. Ponies around them were turning in their direction.

Starlight reeled back, mouth agape. She felt magma welling in her chest, incinerating her patience, then it erupted.

“You don’t have to stay if you think it’s so bad,” she yelled. “The only reason you’re even here is because Twilight wanted me to foalsit! Because you’re such a bucking nuisance that even the princess of friendship couldn’t make you palatable to other ponies!”

It was Anon’s turn to be taken aback. He balled his fist, shaking. “Fine, screw you too, cunt. You can choke on this town and your friendship!”

He turned and stormed away, raising his middle digit in the air as he walked.

“Fine, bye! I hope you fall back into whatever hole spat you into our world!” Starlight turned too and marched off in the other direction, pushing through curious onlookers who, as soon as they saw she was coming their way, all pretended they hadn’t been listening. First her steps were quick, motored by the fire burning inside her, but as the fire was doused in ice, her steps slowed. She pulled her ears back, lowered her head, and looked at the ground. She looked over her shoulder, in the direction Anon was headed, but could no longer see him.

--

Starlight sat alone in an alleyway off the main thoroughfare, pressed against a building and staring at her hooves. She could hear the festivities gaining momentum. The first band was playing, the games had begun, and a cacophonous crowd had filled the streets. The smell of everything fried and sweet filled her nose, but instead of making her hungry, it made her sick.

She’d really messed up this time. What would Twilight say when told what she’d said to Anon? What would their friends say? What advice would they give?

Applejack would probably say be honest with him, tell him she lost her temper and didn’t mean what she said.

But didn’t she mean it? What she had told him was the truth, except the fall in a hole part.

Pinkie would tell her to share a laugh with him or throw a party for him.

But she didn’t know any jokes, and she doubted he’d come to a party.

She couldn’t think of what Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, or Rarity would offer to this situation. Give him a bunny and a new scarf and pull a prank on him?

Starlight sighed.

And Twilight. It had only been a day and already Starlight was doing a worse job with Anon than her mentor had.

She wrapped her tail around her legs and tried to melt into the wall.

“Starlight Glimmer?” Silver Bell’s voice cut through her brooding.

Starlight looked up and flashed a weak smile. “I guess this spot isn’t as secluded as I thought.”

“Is there something wrong? Everypony is waiting for you.”

“I…” Starlight looked at Silver Bell’s curious face, then at her hooves. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

Silver Bell nodded. “The pie competition will begin shortly. We would like you to judge. Please join me when you are ready.”

Silver Bell left the alley.

Starlight again sighed. She would have to handle this her way. When the fair was over, she would find Anon and apologize. That was the best she could do.

When Starlight left the alley, she was met by a cheer. Ponies surrounded the alleyway in a semicircle and stomped the ground for her. She pulled her ears back.

“H-hey, everypony. Are you ready for the competition?”

The crowd gave another cheer, and as Starlight walked to the judge’s table, they parted and followed her, as though she were the axis of a great, hooved vortex.

Starlight judged the pies, a blueberry one won; hit the bell of a high striker and won a Daring Do doll; and listened to a Coloratura cover band—they weren’t bad. It was a good day. It was a sad day.

When the sun crested, Silver Bell announced the final ceremony from atop the main stage. Starlight finished her hay burger, wiped the ketchup from her lips, and trotted up the stairs onto the stage. Silver Bell smiled at her, then turned toward the crowd.

“Please clear the road for the Presentation of Colors!” Silver Bell said.

The sea of fairgoers parted, save a few stallions brushing trash and debris from the cobblestone streets, and then they too were gone. Before the stage, five torch-bearing mares filed in beside five large, silver bowls.

“This is my favorite part,” Silver Bell said to Starlight.

Starlight smiled and watched the road. She hadn’t been told the details of this final ceremony, but there was a current through the crowd, anticipation on their faces, excited chattering flitting through their lines. And then she heard a distant drum beat, like the building rhythm of some great, horrible song. The streets carried it like water along an aqueduct. The sound grew from a steady rumble to a dull roar. Starlight recognized the melody.

“Here they come,” Silver Bell said, eyes glinting.

A hundred-hundred eyes turned together toward the sound. It was steady hoofbeats, like the rumble of thunder. And then they were visible. A long column of ponies, marching in lockstep, advanced down the thoroughfare.

Starlight elevated her posture, but she wasn’t sure why. A sensation niggled at her neck, like a centipede crawling up her spine. She looked to Silver Bell, but the lanky mare wasn’t paying attention to her. Starlight swallowed.

The column spread out in front of town hall. Five squares of ponies in uniform, a sea of color wrapped in grey. Each group positioned itself in front of one of the silver bowls, a flag bearer per block. From between them came a single mare, blue with a black mane and wearing silver armor. She looked up at Starlight and Silver Bell and saluted.

“Um…” Starlight looked to the new mare, and to the uniformed ponies. “Uh oh…”

The crowd erupted, neighs and stomps filled the town center. Then Rainy Days began to speak and the crowd fell silent.

“Head Mare,” Rainy looked to Starlight as she spoke, “I present your honor guard!”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no.” Starlight pulled her ears back and ground her teeth. Not again, this was not happening again. Anon was right.

A Stallion emerged from the crowd carrying a lit torch. He stopped before Rainy Days, bowed his head, then gave it to her.

“Today we mark the end of the old order and the dawn of the New Sun,” Silver Bell said. “Begin the burning of the old order.”

Rainy nodded her head. She approached each pony standing beside a silver bowl and presented her torch. Each in turn joined their torch to hers when she approached them, until all five torches were lit.

Starlight’s breaths were ragged. Wait, was she breathing? Yes, she was. Probably. Right? She heard a loud rasp. Was that her? Oh, it was. A panic attack, she was having a panic attack.

Nopony seemed to notice. The crowd was cheering again. Silver Bell’s attention was trained on the ceremony. Starlight saw the flames’ reflection in her eyes.

Each of the flag bearers stepped forward, their flags levitated above a bowl.

Silver Bell stepped forward. “Today we mark an end to the tyranny of the sun.”

Celestia’s flag was burned.

“Of the moon.”

Luna’s flag was burned.

“Of crystal.”

Cadance’s flag was burned.

“Of magic.”

Twilight’s flag was burned.

“Of the old Equestria!”

The Equestrian flag was burned.

“From today forward we decide our fates!”

The flags crumbled and sparked as fire devoured them. Their smoldering ashes dropped into the aligned silver vessels.

Starlight was trembling. She repeated her refrain under her breath, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no…”

The crowd was manic. A chant was growing. Starlight couldn’t understand it at first, but as more voices joined it built to a crescendo. It became clear.

“New Sun!”

“New Sun!”

“New Sun!”

Starlight wanted to vomit up that hay burger.

Then Silver Bell raised her hoof, and they fell silent.

“As you all know, this year’s Festival of the New Sun is very special. For this year our leader, Starlight Glimmer, has returned!”

The crowd roared again. Starlight’s jaw was a vice grip.

Silver Bell turned to Starlight and bowed her head. “The stage is yours, Starlight.”

Starlight felt every eye on her. She was still shaking, her breathing still harsh. The crowd might have been silent again. They had to be for her to hear Silver Bell, right? She couldn’t tell. All she could hear now was her own breathing. She lifted a hoof, then put it down. A new feeling was being born in her chest. It was warm, but it wasn’t anger. It tingled, but it wasn’t anxiety. It froze her body, but it wasn’t fear.

The word, what was it? She knew she’d heard it before. It was… ineffable. But it pushed her to act.

She took a step forward, face unreadable, and scanned the crowd.

“What…” she began, then stopped.

The crowd seemed to lean into her.

“What…”

Silver Bell raised her head, her face strained with anticipation.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU?”

Confused murmuring arose from the crowd. Rainy Days looked shocked and dropped her torch. Silver Bell was a statue. Even the honor guard’s stoic composure cracked. Several of them shifted and cast around furtive looks.

“I’ve seen some messed up places before, but what in Tartarus is this? Oh, but who am I to talk? I’m the messed-up pony who made you all like this. And now look at you. Torchlight ceremonies? Burning flags? A new sun? How can any of you think this is okay?”

“We— I…” Silver Bell stammered. “I-I don’t understand. Is this not what you wanted?”

“No! A thousand times no, I don’t want any of this! I mean, I did, but I don’t anymore!”

Starlight closed her eyes and exhaled. She furrowed her brow when she opened them again.

“Equestria isn’t perfect, I get it. That’s why I set off in the first place to change it.”

She turned her gaze to Silver Bell.

“But I learned that this wasn’t the way to change it. And you know who taught me that? Princess Twilight Sparkle, one of the very ponies you want to get rid of!” Starlight’s look softened. “Twilight has changed Equestria far more than I could ever have dreamed, and she did it by building friendships. By repairing bridges, not incinerating them in torch fire.”

Starlight smiled.

“Twilight and her friends have taught me so much. They’ve changed me, made me a better pony. Because of them I feel like I can change Equestria, too, in a much more significant way than I ever felt before. Like I can teach ponies, like they’ve taught me.”

Starlight looked down, guilt filled her. “And I had a chance to do that. But I chased him away… No, I ran from him. I’ve been running this whole time...”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle is your… Teacher?” Silver Bell asked, shock still plastered across her face.

Starlight looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah, she’s the best teacher I’ve ever had.

“I see.” Silver Bell’s face shifted to sorrow. She looked down and away. “How can I have been so foalish? How can I not have seen my mistake?”

Starlight’s features lightened, hope sparking in her eyes.

“Seize her!”

“Wait, what?” Starlight yelled.

A detachment broke from each square and charged up the stairs on either side of the main stage.

Starlight backed up, eyes darting between directions.

“W-wait I!”

“Enough of your prattle! I was a foal to think you were still the pony who led us so long ago. Not after such an absence!” Silver Bell said.

Starlight flinched backward, horn alight as the guards closed in. She charged her spell and gritted her teeth. But before she could fire, her vision was engulfed in black, like a great raven landing before her.

The guards all froze in their place.

“What is the meaning of this?” Silver Bell yelled. But whatever it was ignored all of them, its cloak fluttered as it turned to Starlight. She looked up, shock threatening to tear her jaw apart.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late.” Anon said.