My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Starlight, Starbright

Chapter 10

Gonna Get Starlight Back

After a pleasant nights sleep which she sorely missed, Starlight woke up and opened her eyes to see a 7-year old Diamond Dog standing over her, looking into her eyes.

“YEOW!” Starlight exclaimed, reacting as if she saw something scary.

“hi there.” the kid said as cheerful as ever.

Starlight took a deep breath and calmed down. “Sorry. I never met a Diamond Dog before. And my aunt Rarity didn’t play you guys as the… emm…. Most charming of species.”

The kid didn’t hear her. He had something else on his mind. “Come on. Bass wants to speak to you.” she grabbed and slid down a rope.

Starlight watched her zip down. “Bass?” she wondered. She thought for a moment, trying to place the name to the face and body. “Oh, that pony that saved me yesterday.” she headed on down, using her magic to levitate. “why does he want to see me?”

She reached the bottom to see Bass talking to his more mature friends. She remembers them as the gryphon Meryl and the dragon Cliff, as well as another Gryphon. Once she touched down, she got the attention of Bass. “Ah. Starlight. Good. Listen… we need your help with something.”

“help?” Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow. “What kind of help?”

“well…” Bass paused, not sure how to word this.

“we’re stealing something.” the other Gryphon said up front.

“Rita!”

“Steal!?” Starlight exclaimed. “no no no. I am not going to help you steal.”

Bass angrily looked at the gryphon and smacked her upside the head. “Starlight, what you don’t know is that everyone in this city is forced to steal. That’s what the city has come to now.”

Starlight stuck to her word. “I’m still not going to help you steal! It’s illegal.”

Bass turned to his friends and shrugged. “listen, Star. Everyone here is very hungry and at the prices the merchants are selling their products, we can’t buy anything.” Starlight didn’t want to hear a part of it. “Starlight… think of the kids. You want them to go hungry?”

Starlight hasn’t considered that. She looked back to the kids. Most of them were playing, some were still asleep. And a couple of them, including the Diamond Dog from before, were giving her puppy-dog eyes. She doesn’t want them to go hungry. And that Diamond Dog reminded her of Goldie. She sighed as she gave in.

“Fine. I’ll help. But only for today.”

“Great!” Bass said. “you’ll come with me. Gotta see how well you can work.”

Star shrugged. Doesn’t matter one way or the other. She’s still going to help. She deeply sighed as she sat back on a chair. “(Mom would kill me if she found out I was going to steal.)” she looked up to the sky though the bell towers top. “(I wonder what she and Goldie are doing now?)”

Ever since Starlight left, Twilight has never gotten out of bed. She was crying non-stop on the first day she was gone and quickly fell into a depression. Starlight left before they had a chance to make up for what happened that night and that note, saying all of that stuff; why can she use time? Is Twilight really her mother? Why was she born? Those kinds of questions would make any mother worried and scared.

Goldie couldn’t stand to see her mother like this. It was heart-breaking. Hoping to break her mother out of her rut, she headed over to her. “Mom?” Twilight didn’t reply. Goldie sighed and scratched her neck.

“Mom… it’s been 3 days. Don’t you think you should get out of that bed? Mopping around isn’t going to bring Starlight back. You know that, right?” Twilight rolled away from her daughter. She just wants to be alone. “Mom… please…”

Twilight didn’t answer, leaving Goldie to sigh. She gave up and walked back to the door.

“Well, I gave it my best.” Goldie said to her family who were down in the main room. “she’s just… given up.”

Halo, who had bandages on his chest, depressingly sighed. He doesn’t blame her for being all depressed. He read the letter Starlight left behind when she ran away and felt as bad as Twi.

“*sigh* poor Twilight.” Trixie said. She was feeling loads better so she came with Luna to Ponyville. That doesn‘t mean she escaped the flu entirely. “I can only imagine what she’s going though.” everyone begrudgingly nodded and agreed with her. None of them have had something like this happen to them.

Goldie whimpered and closed her eyes. She felt like this was just some horrible dream she couldn’t wake up from. Cadence saw her lightly cry and felt bad for her. Her sister ran away, her dad is injured, and her mother is in a deep depression. This would make any kid feel bad. “are you okay, Goldie?” she asked.

“no.” she sniffled. “no I’m not.”

Luna sighed. Only thing that remotely comes close to what they are all feeling is thinking Trixie didn’t love her back when they were dating. She didn’t want Goldie to feel depressed like Twilight. “Marian. Woona. Think you can take Goldie outside? We have some things we need to talk about in private.”

The two nodded and headed over to the filly. “You want to play Hide-and-Seek, Goldie? We can get the others and have them play.”

Goldie sniffled and wiped her eyes. “o-okay.” she hoarsely said. Marian put the depressed Filly on her back and headed on out with Woona, Peppy, Filigree, and Fire Ruby not far behind.

Goldie sniffled and wiped her eyes again. She looked up to the sky and shakingly sighed. “Sis… I can only imagine what horrors you’re going though right now.”

“I don’t know about this.” Starlight nervously said.

She and Bass were relocated to the south end of the city. It was the lightest in terms of crowds so Starlight won’t feel bad for stealing.

“Come on, Star. This is going to be easy.” the pony said with a snicker.

“Bass…”

The pony jumped onto a box. “come on. What’s the worse that can happen? Also, remember that everyone in this city is broke and are forced to steal. Well, everyone except the cops and the merchants, as well as a couple rich folks.”

Starlight looked down at the markets and still wasn’t sure. But she was doing this for the kids Bass and the others were caring for. She was still hesitant, but, “So… how do we begin?”

Bass chuckled. “with a very… elaborate distraction.”

Starlight’s picture appeared on a blackboard inside Canterlot Guard HQ in Canterlot. “This… is our target. Starlight Sparkle.” Glade said to his division. His troops looked at the picture oddly. She looks a lot like a Alicorn. “she is very dangerous.”

One of the guards raised her hooves. “un, sir. I think I remember her from the Grand Galloping Gala last year.”

Glade sighed. He hoped nobody would remember. “yeah. Um… Starlight Sparkle is my cousin. But that doesn’t excuse her crimes.”

“Crimes? What crimes?” another soldier asked.

Glade used his magic to make a magic screen appear with events of what had lead up to this playing. “Starlight Sparkle is guilty of attacking and destroying the Canterlot Museum, injuring the guards, and stealing valuable objects.” one guard raised his hand but Glade knew what he was going to ask. “and if she turns out to be the unfortunate victim of circumstance, she’s still guilty of assaulting her father, Halo’s Light, and running away.”

“um… how is running away a crime?” a very stupid guard asked.

Glade looked at him wondering ‘was he serious?’ “Well, Starlight is a Alicorn, and as a Alicorn, she is very powerful. Add that Starlight has a power Nopony on Equestria has ever SEEN before and she’s basically a walking magic bomb.”

The screen went away. Glade sighed as he leaned back on his desk. “I won’t lie to you all. I never thought I would go after a member of my family. This… is very hard on me.” he steeled himself and looked up at them sternly. “so do not be shocked if I falter in my duty. Got that?”

The 7 ponies that comprised his small but reliable squad all stiffened and saluted. “Yes, Sir!”

Glade confidently nodded and stood up straight. “good. Now. Princess Celestia is sending us to Baltimare, not just to look for Starlight, but to investigate the cities police force. Apparently, the captain has taken a dictator rule and put the city under his rule.”

“how do you know that?”

“a couple of ponies informed us about this a few weeks ago. Apparently, the captain’s got the city on lock-down and barely anyone is allowed to leave for fear they’ll tell someone.” he used his magic to grab his captain’s medal and placed it on his armor’s chest. “but when we arrive, we won’t let on we were sent by Celestia. We’ll get him to confess to his crimes. Is that understood?”

The ponies saluted him again. “Sir! Yes, Sir!”

Glade nodded to them. “good. Now let’s move out!”

All her friends were playing and having fun but Goldie didn’t want anything to do with it. She was just as depressed as her mother. Her friends sensed this but didn’t know what to do. Nobody in their family ever ran away. Well, Dinky did but she left with Daring so Derpy knows where she is. Starlight just up and left without even saying goodbye.

“Are you okay, Goldie?” Fire Ruby asked as she sat down next to her.

The filly shook her head ‘no’. “No, I’m not Ruby. My sister is gone, my mom has never left her bed, my dad is injured. My entire family is falling apart and I don’t know what to do. I just want things to go back to the way they were.”

Her friends all looked to each other, not sure what to tell her. Even Cotton had nothing and she’s usually the most cheerful one.

Well, Soarin’ had an idea but he wasn’t sure if they were going to like it. “well… there is one thing we can do. But I’m not sure if you’ll all like it.”

Goldie didn’t care. Her family was falling apart so what’s the worst that could happen now? “what?” she asked.

“Yeah. What?” the rest asked.

A Diamond Dog picked up a apple and sniffed it. It smelled ripe but…

“AHH!!”

Somepony fell into a pyramid of boxes, causing them to break apart and splinter. The Diamond Dog, along with a bunch of other shoppers and merchants, went on over to see what was going on.

Turns out a oversized pink Unicorn had tripped while training with her magic and fell into the boxes.

Starlight hates doing this to these people but she promised Bass she’d help. Plus, she knew how to sell pain. She didn’t spend a majority of middle school in acting class for nothing.

“Ah. Oh. Ow! Oh, this hurts!” then she started to ham it on. “Oh Pain. Oh Agonyyyyyy!”

With this clever and ham-filled distraction, Bass, Rita, Cliff, and Meryl snuck to the merchant stalls and began filling up a bag with all the goodies they could pilfer.

Starlight kept on acting, pretending to be badly wounded. “Oh. Oh no! oh, I see the light.” she pretended to lose her breath at the ‘sight’. “Grandmama? Is that you?” she shook her head. “Mr. Sanchez? What are you doing here? You weren’t a wonderful person.”

“oh, you poor creature.” a fellow thespian said, feeling sympathetic. “Someone, call 9-1-1.” Starlight gagged and pretended to pass out.

With their stealing done, Rita and Meryl carried the heavy bag of food away. Cliff ran down the street as Bass slowly back away. He looked to Starlight and did a sigh, telling her to stop. Starlight, who had her eyes cracked open, saw it.

She instantly got better and ran away. “Well, thank you so much for your time. You’ve all been a wonderful audience.” Bass ran away from the area as Starlight ran up to catch him. “Hope you enjoyed the show.” Starlight said as she disappeared.

It didn’t take long for them all to realize they have just been duped.

The group of 5 laughed as they walked into the tower.

“Oh, that was perfect!” Meryl laughed. She mimicked Starlight’s voice for a moment, “Oh Pain. Oh Agonyyyy!”

Starlight laughed, then calmed down. “thank 3 years of acting classes for that.”

“We will.” a calmed down Bass said. They set the bag down and it opened by itself, revealing their trove. “we scored big. I think we have enough to last a couple days.” he looked to the Unicorn. “not bad, Star. Very good acting. Almost as good as Maera Faucett.”

Her face blushed at the compliment. Maera was very cute, in male’s eyes. “it was nothing.”

The dragon, Cliff, grabbed a orange and peeled it. “say, Star. I’ve been meaning to ask; what kind of Cutie Mark is that?”

Starlight paused for a moment. She knew that someone she met would ask her about her Cutie Mark and she prepared a story for it, but she still wasn’t prepared for the full question. “um… my parents worked in a clock shop. In fact, I was planning to take over the family business when I found out… what I found out.”

“oh.” Bass grabbed a banana and tossed it to her. Starlight caught it with her magic and magically peeled it. She put it her mouth when, “so why are you bigger then a average Unicorn?”

Starlight chocked on her banana and coughed. “w-why do you ask?”

“just curious.”

Starlight quickly thought of a story to tell them. “w-w-well, I had a… a growth spurt that… didn’t really stop.”

“oh.” Bass said.

Starlight was glad to put that behind them and went to take a bite of her banana again when Rita asked, “why are you still wearing those saddle-bags?” she walked over to take them off. “Don’t you think you should take them off?”

“NO!” Starlight burst out, surprising the 4 of them. Her cutie mark lightly glowed, getting Bass’ attention. Starlight calmed down and cleared her throat. “un… no. these are the only reminder I have of my life back home. I could never part with these, even for a day.”

Rita felt like a idiot. “oh. Sorry. I didn’t know.”

Starlight sighed. “It--it’s okay. I’m just… stressing out right now.”

The group of 4 looked at each other for a moment, feeling sorry for the girl. “why don’t you go and get some sleep?” Bass suggested. “it’s gonna be awhile till the kids all come back and make a lot of noise. You’ll have some time to get a nap in.”

Starlight nodded. That sounded like a good idea. She used her magic to levitate and head up to her ‘bed’.

His friends may have bought that growth spurt and cutie mark story but Bass knew something was off and he believes he figured it out. “(she’s a Alicorn.)” he concluded. “(but she’s trying to hide it. But why?)”

The next day came as it did before to Twilight; painful. Her heart was still aching at her daughter’s sudden departure. One of the things she didn’t take was a ring Twilight gave her when she was little. A ring which Twilight was holding tight.

Suddenly, without warning, a letter magically appeared in front of her, much to her surprise. For the first time in 5 days, she sat up and read it over. Her eyes went wide and she neared the end.

“HALO!!!” she yelled out.

He ran in almost immediately. “what? What is it?” she quickly passed the letter to her husband, who quickly read it. “oh, my…” he and Twi looked at each other with very worried expressions.

The door burst open and Rainbow Dash came flying in. she saw the letter and concluded they got the same thing. “did you read this?” she asked, holding hers up.

“Yes.” a worried Twilight said. “I just hope they don’t do anything stupid.”

The letter, which was sent to every one of their parents, all read the same thing.

‘dear Mom’s and Dad’s

Sorry for the sudden departure and the abruptness of this letter but we had no other idea of what to do. We all talked it over and, after much debate, we decided to go and get Starlight back.

It wasn’t just Twilight who was feeling miserable since her departure, it was all of us too; you all included. She was our friend and we at least deserve a chance to get her back.

We’re gonna follow Glade’s route and head to Baltimare first. We’re also going to try and convince Glade that Starlight didn’t destroy that museum but since he’s so stubborn, it may not work. Still, can’t hurt to try, right?

“again, we are very, very, very sorry for the departure. We just had no other idea. We’ll keep up letters regularly with Filigree’s little insta-letter that she got from her father.

You’ll be in the fore-front of our thoughts and our hearts. And please forgive us for what we did.

With love from all our hearts,

Marian, Woona, Goldie, Filigree, Fire Ruby, Windancer, Electronic Symphony, Golden Day, Season’s Edge, Cotton Candy, Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Soarin’ Cloud, Eris Shine, Sweet Song, and Peppy.’

Author's Notes:

i think we all know what the parents are going to do.

Freak Out!!