My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Starlight, Starbright

Chapter 34

Meanwhile, Back in Ponyville V

Today is the 18th anniversary of the end of the Winter War, the horrid conflict between the Ponies and the Changelings.

Instigated by Queen Chrysalis, the Changelings, with the aid of Oscurita and his monsters made out of shadow, were able to take Canterlot and oust the royalty, effective taking Equestria over. After countless retreats, the ponies ended up in the Gryphon Kingdom, getting their aid when the Gryphon capital was attacked by the Changelings. Together, along with the Humans, they were able to take the fight back to Canterlot, taking it back and making Oscurita run. Not wanting to lose their queen, and because time as a prisoner with certain ponies helped melt her cold heart, Jax cast her Personality Shift spell and split Chrysalis into 2 parts; Good and Evil. After a long battle, they destroyed the evil half and the good half ended the war by signing a treaty, ending the war and leaving the Ponies and Changelings on good terms, something that was great for Fluttershy and Mirror’s Edge, who hooked up just hours after the end. And those two felt the treaty should be cemented with a wedding, which they did. With theirs.

As they have done every year since the end of the war, the ponies of Ponyville hold a vigil for all those lost, including Rainbow Dash’s brother Soarin’, and hold a vibrant wake in their honor. The wake includes dances, good food, great friends, and ends with a movie night, where they play a flick in the sky using a special projector. But this one was… different.

“your arrival was… unexpected, Queen Chrysalis.” Princess Celestia said to the visiting queen.

“well, I like the throw a good surprise.” Chrysalis, or rather her good half, said.

“that you do. So… to what to we own the pleasure?”

“well… I wanted to talk.”

Talk? Might as well hear what she has to say. Celestia used her magic to summon a few chairs to them. They both sat down in them. “Talk about what?”

“there have been reports of… unrest in my country.”

“Unrest?”

Chrysalis used her magic to summon up a few motion pictures of her country, and what is happening. “we’re not sure how but all of the shadows belonging to Changelings are… moving.”

“Moving?”

“all on their own, like from one of the humans horror movies. They don’t do the same motions and sometimes attack other shadows, normally of buildings and trees and animals. Some have just… gone entirely.”

“entirely?” that has never happened before.

“Yes. And those whose shadows have gone are feeling… strange. Ill, even. We don’t know how to explain it.”

And neither does Celestia. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of Equestria. Shadows moving on their own, some devouring other shadows while others just disappeared. This is a mystery that can’t be explained simply.

“well… we’re not sure how but we’ll figure something out.” Celestia vowed.

The queen felt thankful for that. At the least, they can care for the ill. She doubts they’ll find a answer for this shadow business soon. “thank you, Celestia.” she nodded and got up. As did the princess. “So… where’s Luna and Cadence? Why aren’t they here?”

“they’re down in Ponyville, taking part in a celebration ending the Winter War.”

“Ah. I heard about those. Vibrant parties honoring the dead, right?”

“yes. They’re quite lavish.”

“ha ha ha. I heard that as well.” Chrysalis’ vibrant mood quickly turned to sorrow. she looked up at the mural representing the end of the Winter War, with Requiem, Jax, and Lina casting a joint spell that destroyed Dark Chrysalis. “that was such a needless and bloody war. Why did I ever start it?”

Celestia shook her head. “that wasn’t you. That was your evil half. She started it. And you ended it. And she started it to care for her people.”

Celestia didn’t say or do anything for a moment. She walked next to her and patted her on the back. “it’s okay, Chrysalis.” the queen smiled to her friend. “Come on. We got a party to get to.”

the party celebrating the end of the war down in Ponyville was already in full swing, with dancing, games, great food, good friends, and a lively atmosphere. They already had their moment of silence for the fallen warriors of the war; that was half a hour ago.

Derpy flew overhead, carrying her niece and nephew Ditzy and Oscurita on her back. “you and your brother are lucky to have been born close to the best times of the year.” she lovingly said to the baby Pegasus. Ditzy giggled like a baby, her eyes filled with the vibrant colors. “Hearth’s Warming Eve, Hearts and Hoove’s day, the celebration of the end of the War. Face it, you two are lucky to be born at this time of the year.”

“MOM!” Dinky yelled from below. “Ditzy and Oscurita’s not supposed to be that high yet.” Derpy chuckled nervously and flew down. She carefully landed and handed her niece and nephew back to their mother. The babies laughed as they were handed back. “seems they had a good time.” Dinky commented.

“yeah. You might think they’re not ready for such heights but I flew higher with you.” Derpy said.

Dinky shivered in fear. “yeah. I remember.”

“oh, it wasn’t that bad.”

Dinky gave her mother a little bit of a sneer. “Mom. I have nightmares about me falling. What does that tell you?”

Derpy went ‘un…’

Being the monster that aided Dark Chrysalis during the war, eTu`nes didn’t feel much like partying. He’s been like this ever since he integrated back into society. Derpy tried celebration after celebration to get her husband to join in, but no results. It also doesn’t help that every time it rolls around, the ponies are reminded that eTu`nes WAS Oscurita. Except for Derpy’s friends, they avoid him during the celebration.

“Come on! Give it back!”

The squeak of a little filly reached the drake’s ears. He turned to see a little filly, no more then 4, be bullied by a couple of colts. The filly got pushed into a puddle of mud and the colt’s laughed. eTu`nes took charge and went over. “Hey! Stop it!” he said in a scary tone. The colt’s yelped at the sight of him and ran for it. He helped the filly up and helped her scrape the mud off. “You okay” he asked.

“yeah.” the filly replied.

“Why were they bullying you?”

“well, I… I have a bit of a reputation for being a klutz.” she replied.

“a klutz?” that sounds a lot like Derpy.

“Yeah… I’m always tripping and causing things to crash.” she looked at up the drake with curious eyes. “thanks for getting rid of them.” eTu`nes was surprised by the girl’s appearance. She looks a lot like Derpy when they first met 30 years ago; same hair, same eyes, same calm voice. “You okay?” the filly asked.

The dragon shook his head, snapping out of it. “un… yeah.” he stood there in silence for a moment, something the filly found odd. He shook his head and helped her up. “think you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. My mom and dad aren’t far.” she turned to leave but didn’t leave. She looked back to him. “why did you help me?”

eTu`nes lightly chuckled. “well… you remind me of someone I met when I was your age. Plus, nobody likes bullies.”

“Agreed.” she turned to leave again but didn’t. again. “My name is Wind Surfer. And thanks for the help, Mr. eTu`nes.” the filly ran off to find her parents.

The drake warmly chuckled. Guess someone’s not afraid of him on this day.

Twilight sat at a picnic table, depressing flicking a hay-dog up and down her paper plate. Fluttershy saw her and went over to talk. “are you okay, Twilight?”

Twi glanced up to her, then back down to her plate. “not really, Fluttershy.”

“And why not, darling?” Rarity asked, sitting down with them with Lyra.

Twi sighed as she flicked her hay-dog again. “Starlight always used to love this. She loved the dunk tank.”

“I remember she liked to dunk me in it.” Rarity chuckled.

Twilight lightly chuckled. She did remember that. Rarity was so angry, it was borderline funny. “yeah… I do remember. But…”

“but what?” Lyra asked.

Twilight sighed again. “I… I found out that I’m pregnant.”

The 3 mares looked at each other with slack jaws. This would be her 3rd one. “Really!?” Fluttershy happily exclaimed. “Well, that’s a happy thing, right?”

“I found out… the day Starlight ran away…”

That killed the mood. “Oh.”

“oh, dear.” Lyra gasped.

“yeah. I was planning on revealing it at Glade’s party but… but Starlight changed that.” They remember. They remember that she had quite a breakdown when she found out about Halo not being her real dad. Even nearly killed him.

“Does Halo know?” Rarity asked.

“not yet. You two were the first I told about it. I just didn’t want to tell him with both our children gone, right?”

Rarity nodded in agreement. she knew the feeling. She remembers Filigree running away when she found out she was going to be a big sister, saying she was never gonna come back. Never made it pass Zecora’s when she turned back, pleading to come back home. “but you have to tell him sometime, right? And being a depressive isn’t healthy for the baby.”

“I know that. I’m not dumb. And I wasn’t… up till Hearth’s Warming Eve. I was reminded that Starlight and Goldie aren’t here. I got happy again when Dinky had her twins but… with this festival…”

“it has been a hard couple of weeks, hasn’t it?” Lyra said. “Our children leaving… it’s like the town’s half empty.”

“Yeah… it’s been dreary.” Rarity, Lyra, and Fluttershy said in agreement.

And it’s about to get even more dreary.

The carriage carrying Celestia and Chrysalis arrived at the edge of Ponyville. They both walked off and headed for town.

“also, don’t be surprised if any of the elements seem… depressed. They’re going though a tough time.” Celestia explained.

“I heard.” Chrysalis said. “having your child run away is never a pleasant feeling. But having a whole group leave… just to help someone find her father…”

“You never met Starlight. She’s not like most ponies. And she knows how to make great friends… friends willing to help her with a personal task.”

A sudden pluff of green fire got in their faces, lightly singing their faces. They looked to their right to see Spike standing there, holding his mouth. “sorry. One too many bean burritos.”

The two rulers gave each other a garbed look. They started into town again when another green fire came. “Again!?” they both exclaimed.

Spike fanned his mouth and licked his chops. “Sorry, but that wasn’t me…” the fire spiraled and transformed into a envelope. Spike grabbed it and looked at the header. “From Starlight…”

A much more cheerful Twilight squealed in excitement as she hit the bull’s-eye of a dunk tank, sending Edge into the warm water. “YES! 3 for 3!”

Edge pulled himself out and squirted the water out like a fountain. “Yeah. Fun…” he listlessly said.

“seems like you in quite the hometown mood.” Friction said as she and Leon walked to the tank.

“Yep.” Edge happily said. “and I’m surprised to see you two here.”

“we came with Queen Chrysalis. She’s currently up at Canterlot visiting with Celestia.” Leon explained.

“why?”

The two advisors looked at each other with somber expressions. “Something bad is happening to our people, Edge. Something very, very bad. We’re slowly dying.”

“What? How?”

“We don’t know how he or she or it is doing it but someone is taking our shadows and manipulating them. And Changelings who had their shadows taken were reported sick within days.”

That’s not good news. Who can manipulate shadows that well? He heard running feet and thought that the owner of the tank got the balls and headed back to the table. He didn’t expect to see Spike come running up.

“Twilight!” he called out. He got her attention.

“Spike? What’s wrong?”

He ran up to her and panted. Once he caught his breath, he show her the envelope. “it’s from Starlight…”

“Starlight?” she gasped. Twilight took the letter and looked at it. The envelope was sealed, so Spike didn’t read it. She has a bad feeling about this. She just sent Starlight her letter. Could she have…

The lights at the library came on as Twilight quickly walked in. she had gotten the envelope open and pulled out the letter just as her friends followed her in, most of them wondering what got her in such a frenzy. Twi threw the envelope onto a table and started to look at the letter when, “what did she say?” Vinyl asked.

“Give her a moment, Vinyl.” Zilver said. “It’s her daughter.”

Truth be told, she’s a little nervous to read it. She’s worried about what her daughter would say. Did she find her father? Is Goldie okay? So many things could be written in it. And… there’s only one way to find out what. With a heavy and worried heart, Twi opened it up and read it out loud.

“hey, Mom. It’s me… Starlight…

“hehe… I’m not sure what to write here. I left things on such bad terms with you that I was worried I wouldn’t write to you again. But… I worked up the courage so… here goes.

“first off, Goldie. She’s alive and unaffected by Nightmare Moon. We found someone who exorcised Nightmare out of Goldie and the Alicorn Amulet and took her out of existence fully. Unless she was able to find a way to hide a part of herself in other objects, Nightmare Moon is gone completely. Goldie is better as well… except her wings are broken beyond repair. Is it possible for Shadow to make a special device for her to help her fly? I know he makes them for adults but, if he can make one for Goldie, it would help ease that part of Marians soul.

“Oh, and about Marian, she still feels bad about what happened but is slowly getting past it, thanks to her new marefriend Windancer. That’s right, Trixie, Luna, eTu`nes, and Derpy, your daughters shacked up. And it wasn’t just them. Glade fell in love with the pony who helped him find me, Screw Loose. It was gradual, though, and I don’t think they’re at ‘that point’ yet, but they did hook up. And I think I see a romance blossoming between Season’s Edge and Filigree. They’ve been giving each other googliy eyes across the room. They think we don’t see it but we see it.

“now to the more… somber stuff. Mom… thanks for sending me that letter. I really needed that. Knowing that Halo loved me… it helped me out a lot. Halo… Dad… if you’re the one reading this, I’m sorry for what I did to you. I never expected for that to happen and I apologize. But it’s nice to know who your family is.

“speaking of family… I found him, mom. I found my real dad. And he’s not… who I expected him to be.

“that Necromancer I went to search for to help me point in his direction? He IS my father. We didn’t believe it at first but… his eyes. We have the same eyes. You know that thing that happens every time I get mad; when they go red and green with purple fire out the sides? He does it too. And it’s genetic only in his family. There’s no question about it. He’s my father.

“his name is Sombra and he’s been living out in this castle for Faust knows how many years. His special talent is in the manipulation of shadows and though some bad instances, he had to make himself scarce for fear that Aunt Celestia might kill him. And he only leaves whenever ‘the call of nature’ kicks in… which lead to the… incident in Feather Top that… lead to my conception. He doesn’t know why I’m a Alicorn myself or why I have power over time but… better some answers then no answers, right?

“I sent a picture of him with this letter. I wish you could see him in person. He has this certain… aura that I can’t describe. He’s just someone you have to meet to know.

“he’s allowed us to stay for as long as we like but, for reasons I explained, I’m afraid this’ll be the last letter we send. He has a barrier that prevents any magical from leaving or entering his residence. I don’t blame him. Aunt Celestia can be scary at times. And I just met him. I don’t want him to die.

“and Mom… I miss you. And Halo. I miss you both.

“Love…

Starlight Sparkle Sombra.

“P.S.. tell Rainbow Dash that we have a surprise for her. I don’t want to spoil it but it’s something she’ll like.”

“She did it…” Twilight gasped. She dropped the letter as she looked on in shock. “She found her real father.” Halo walked over and comforted her.

Cadence took the letter away from her distrat and shocked sister-in-law. “Sombra… quite a scary name.”

Very. And Starlight’s description of him… that made the Changeling’s nervous. “Didn’t she say she sent a picture?” Armor said.

“Oh, right. She did.” Halo went to grab it.

Shadow walked over to Twi and patted her on the back. “I’ll do what I can for Goldie but don’t expect much. The design just wouldn’t work for colts and fillies.”

Twi looked to him with somber eyes and sighed. “Yeah. I know. But try your best, Shadow. Please?”

“I will.”

Dash chuckled and rubbed her hooves together. “I wonder what surprise they got me.” she chuckled. “maybe it’s a cool rug, or a new Daring Do book. OH! Maybe that Sombra fella has a book with aerial moves that haven’t been seen in years!”

Halo grabbed the envelope and shook the picture out. He grabbed it and whistled. “guy looks scary. Hard to believe Starlight came from him.” he gave the picture to Twilight.

She took it and gave a good long look at it. Very foreboding looking. And scary. “Well… don’t keep us in the dark.” Trixie said. “who is he?” Twilight memorized the picture and used her magic to create a 3D projection of the pony in the picture.

Curious to who he was, Chrysalis grabbed the picture and looked at it. What she saw made her gasp in fear. “no… it can’t be him…”

“Huh?” Marble asked.

“it’s him!”

“him who!?” Luna added.

Twilight finished making the image so the Changelings and everyone could see it.

Begin Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO1FdPXlsWw

From Shadow Unto Crystal - King Sombra’s Theme by Youtuber Carbon Maestro

The image of a large, black, foreboding Unicorn appeared in front of them. The Changelings know who it was to heart.

“IT’S HIM!” the Changelings exclaimed.

“Who!?” the ponies all yelled.

“He’s the one who forced us to invade Equestria both times!” Chrysalis said, looking as angry and as scary as Dark Chrysalis. “he’s the one who corrupted out kingdom and nearly wiped us all out!” her horn glowed. “or did you forget?”

Using her magic, Chrysalis summoned up the history of the Changeling Empire as a large 3D projection. Sure enough, that dark Unicorn was there, corrupting their land and spreading chaos and war.

“It is him!” the ponies all exclaimed.

Chrysalis stopped playing it and brought up the image of the pony in her projection and put it next to Twilight’s. they are an exact match.

“the manipulation of shadows…” Celestia muttered. She gasped when she figured it out. “of course!”

“of course what, my sister?” Luna asked.

“long before you came back, I was asked by a small village located near the outskirts to rout out a madman. Apparently, he had the ability to use shadows. He had built up a army made out of shadows and nearly destroyed the place. By the time I arrived, I saw who it was.” she turned her attention to the projections. “A black Unicorn who’s heart was as black as the night, spreading destruction as pleasure. But… at the time, he was no more then 5. When he saw me, he fled into the mountains. It took me weeks but I couldn’t find him. I figured he’d gone into hiding.”

“and not long after that, he attacked my kingdom…” Chrysalis muttered. “Sending this whole motion of events into action that lead to the Winter War!”

Twilight couldn’t believe this. The father of her daughter was a madman who could use shadows for evil intent. There must be some mistake. There’s just no way.

Fluttershy gasped out of fear. “our children are with him.”

They are. They forgot that. Knowing she would be stepping out of her bounds, Celestia turned to the Changelings. “Leon. Friction. Starlight’s first letter said she was heading north. Go after her and warn her and her friends about Sombra.”

The two of them stood still because this was a pony and not their queen.

“Do it!” Chrysalis ordered. Fearing her response, the two of them nodded.

“hold on.” Derpy said. She grabbed a pen and paper. “My sister Daring Do is in Baltimare with her husband Silverbolt.” she quickly wrote down the situation and gave it to Friction. “they should be investigating the Wyrm Pass located near there. They should be of help; Daring is a decent marital artist and Bolt’s a Gryphon.” the two Changelings nodded and flew out the door.

“we should at least try to send them a warning!” Marble said.

“Didn’t you hear? Sombra’s residence has a magical barrier around it, preventing any magic going in and coming out.” Octavia said.

The group looked to the two images of the evil unicorn; one showing him as a regal ruler, another as a genocidal madman. As much as they hate to hate it, their children are on their own with him.

“Starlight…” Twilight said with worry. How can this monster be her father? Why? “please be safe…”

Author's Notes:

ho, boy. this is gonna get tense.