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i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle · 4 years

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Chapter 25: Starlight’s Mother, Part 1 - Who Was She?

The Elements of Harmony and the CMC are on their way to town to search for Starlight. While there, they walk by Trixie’s wagon. Trixie opens up the side and sees the group walking by.

Trixie: Heeeeeeeeey! Twilight and Friends!

The group stops and turns toward Trixie who’s waving to them, they decide to go see her in case maybe Trixie knows where Starlight is.

Twilight: Hi Trixie! Good to see you.

Trixie: Same to all of you, did you enjoy Trixie’s performance last night?

Trixie grins smugly, hoping for some more praise

Sweetie: That was pretty cool how you got yourself and Starlight to fit into that lamp without being a genie. And your horn didn’t even glow! I can’t even imagine how that worked out...

Scootaloo: Maybe there was a secret escape under the bottom of the lamp?

Apple Bloom: But even then, Trixie would o’ still had t’ squeeze her and Starlight though such ah tight space!

Scootaloo: True, but didn’t Big Mac once accidentally squish you so hard you went down the berry squish drain during the Sisterhooves Social?

Apple Bloom: Well yeah… though this was certainly still ah different method then the sheer force o’ weight…

Sweetie: Are we more liquid then we thought?

The CMC continue to ponder more on how Trixie did what she did. While the rest giggle knowing it was just something Trixie wished for from Twilight’s genie magic.

Twilight: You had a good show, Trixie. Though while we’re stopping by, I don’t suppose you know where Starlight is right now? I know you told me last night that Starlight wanted to see me when I was available today.

Trixie: Well... coincidentally she’s probably looking for you right now! I think she headed to Saddle Arabia using the portal gum expecting you to be back at the palace.

Twilight: Uh oh, I don’t know if I should go to Saddle Arabia in case she happens to gum portal back to town, and we just end up traveling in circles. I feel like she’ll come across Princess Celestia, Malakhar, Kubuya, or the Sultan. She’ll ask them where I am and they’ll say I’m likely at…

Twilight widens eyes briefly

Twilight: Sweet… Apple… Acres… Oh no! We better go back… We should of just stayed at the farm!

Trixie: Oh Twilight, is it ok if I come with?

Twilight: Of course, Trixie! Come with us!

Trixie opens the exit of her wagon and starts galloping along with the group back to Sweet Apple Acres. They quickly get back to the gates of the farm, but then they hear a scream.

Twilight: That sounds like Starlight! Come on, she might be in trouble!

They get closer to the farm house before they hear Starlight’s voice again

Starlight: APPPPLLLLLEEEEEEJAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKK!

Starlight is then seen running from the other side of the house straight to the other side where the Elements, the CMC, and Trixie are. Starlight heads straight over to Applejack. She’s shaking, and terrified.

Applejack: Starlight, what’s wrong?!

Starlight: Applejack! I think your house is haunted!

Applejack: Haunted?! What do ya mean?

Starlight: You’re probably going to think I went insane… but when I got here looking for Twilight after Princess Celestia informed me at the palace that she’d likely be here… I came by the backdoor of your house and peeked into the windows… and I saw these transparent, glowing ghosts of your parents!

Applejack chuckles as she’s aware that this would have made her an emotional wreck just hours ago, and also expresses relief that Starlight is ok.

Applejack: Oh? Is that all? Ya’ll had me worried fo’ ah moment!

Starlight goes wide-eyed, she thought Applejack was going to be surprised that somepony has seen ghosts of her parents.

Starlight: WHAT?! How can you respond like this isn’t a big deal?!

Applejack: Well… ah mean… it would o’ been ah big deal just ah few hours ago… and it even took ah little while t’ convince me even after they appeared… But Twilight and Spike summoned mah parents’ spirits using Spike’s Dragon Tear. It’s capable o’ bringing down the deceased souls all the way down from space!

Starlight flails her hooves as she looks absolutely incredulous

Starlight: Since when could it do that?! Since when have we found out the dead go to space?!

Twilight: Ohohoho… Believe me, Starlight… it has been an absolutely crazy day…

Twilight and the others proceed to recap to Starlight what they talked about around Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s spirits. Starlight just holding her fore hooves on the sides of her head hearing everything that’s been learned in just the past few hours.

Starlight: So let me get this straight… we can bring back the dead as spirits with the Dragon’s Tear… the sun and moon wouldn’t be able to move without our magic… plus our planet doesn’t rotate… the souls of the deceased join some big shield invisible to us orbiting around our planet and moon… said souls protect us from outside threats in space… Life is magic… Genies and thus Twilight is at least PART spirit… and the planet is alive?!

The rest of the group nods, though Trixie herself is also kind of freaking out since she hasn’t heard all this either.

Trixie: And all of you are taking this calmly like it’s already some common knowledge?!

Twilight: Oh we freaked out alright. We just kind of already got most of it out of the way. It’s still kind of all swirling in my head to be honest… *Twilight spins her eyes*

Starlight: This is just insane… the fact that Applejack is calm during this means it is true… she’s the element of Honesty. She couldn’t lie, or at the very least… wouldn’t be able to hold a straight face very easily if any of this was not real…

Applejack: Like ah said, it did take some time fo’ me t’ acknowledge much o’ this as the truth. But considering just moments before ah was told all this, mah parent’s spirits were summoned… there’s just about no way ah could really object. It’d have t’ be one heck o’ ah conspiracy t’ say both ponies that are living AND dead have conspired together including mah own parents t’ peddle ah lie… especially since there’s really only been one time before all this that ah Dragon’s Tear has brought spirits down. And that was ah long time ago when Jinn was still around…

Starlight: Just let me take some deep breaths, then I can finally be calm and proceed to tell you what I wanted to see you about.

Starlight takes a few moments to do a breathing exercise as all the things she was just told swirl in her head. She still kinda shakes a little or her ear twitches thinking about all the crazy but true facts about their world as well as life and death. But eventually, she gets back to a relatively normal state with a determined look on her face.

Starlight: Ok… Twilight… it’s time.

Twilight walks on over to the front of Starlight with a determined look of her own.

Twilight: Yes, it is…

Starlight / Twilight: Please, help me find my mother! / I’m gonna help you find your mother!

Starlight & Twilight: Wait… How did you know?!

Starlight / Twilight: Applejack must of told you! / Applejack told me!

Starlight & Twilight: Maybe we should stop talking simultaneously?

The two giggle a little bit before ultimately the subject matter of finding Starlight’s mother puts a rather heavy air around the area.

Twilight: Before we go to try finding your mother. Is it alright if we get an explanation from you? I know you’ve already told the CMC, at least a big part of it considering you’ve told them how you got your Cutie Mark. We’ve already got the gist from Applejack that you don’t know who your mother is, and your father refuses to tell you. Maybe start with… why haven’t you shared this years ago?

Starlight lowers her head solemnly

Starlight: I guess… it just never occurred to me to bring it up at the time…

Applejack: It’s ok Starlight, after all… Twilight went almost 2 years without telling us she had ah brother that she loves so much. *winks*

Twilight smiles sheepishly, putting a hoof behind your back

Twilight: Well… you girls never asked!

But er… ahem… how about we get the little that you do know about your mother?

Starlight: There’s only a few facts I know. One of which I just learned recently, thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all beam a grin.

Starlight: Just to narrow it down so not too many questions are asked. My father actually doesn’t know what happened to her after she disappeared either, he really only just refuses to tell me her name. Because otherwise he’s just as much in the dark as I am, the birth certificates in Sire’s Hollow conveniently leave off Parent’s names, and this wasn’t a case where she died from complications of childbirth. She gave birth to me in my old home rather then a hospital, but she survived my birth for certain. And even if she had died from child birth, then my father would of most certainly known.

And the only other big fact I know is something the Cutie Mark Crusaders already know...

Twilight: I did overhear Apple Bloom mention that you told them how you got your mark, and that your mother might be related somehow. I suppose that’s a good time as any for you to finally tell us, too?

The other elements pay really close attention as they themselves have always been curious about how Staright got her mark.

Starlight: Certainly, I also gave a little bit of the gist of it to Applejack at the ball. But I’ll certainly provide at least a little more detail then the summary I gave her…

Starlight takes a deep breath

Starlight: First of all, I was a latchkey filly. I never even had one babysitter, when my father went to work I was always alone in the house by myself. When Sunburst was still in town, he at least tended to come over from time to time. But once he got his cutie mark and left, that was it. Which added to why him leaving was the beginning of such a dark part of my life... As I was left alone for most hours of any days my father had to work.

One day, I was playing with a ball in the basement and when I accidentally supercharged it into a wall. A hole broke through, and when I looked into it... I found two books, and read them both. The first one I read…. ehehhehheh… isn’t exactly relevant right now… but the 2nd one absolutely was. It was a spell book for some of the more advanced unicorns, and I mean like super advanced. As in probably most students aside from you at Celestia’s gifted students school may have had trouble performing the kind of things in that book. And yet, even as young as I was… I somewhat understood the nuances in the book.

I found a spell in the book of self-levitation AKA flight with just magic. Surprisingly, it was one of the more simpler ones in the book. I decided to give it a try, and soon I was having some fun flying all around the basement. But then things went wrong when I tried picking up the ball at the same time. Because it was such an advanced spell, and I was inexperienced with controlling that kind of power, it led to me unable to control what I was picking up and soon all the toys on the basement floor were orbiting around me. A magic aura appeared, and at least my father has told me he remembers that my eyes were glowing then.

Twilight: *gasp* This sounds quite similar to my magic freakout after I had hatched Spike…

Starlight: It probably was pretty much just like that. Though speaking of my father, he came home at the time and I screamed to call for him to help me. He came down, and eventually tackled me down. I may have a complicated relationship with my father, but I was thankful to him for saving me. I became scared of what might have happened if say… I had that same magical freakout but in the kitchen, with a lot more dangerous materials like knives swirling around me…

Once we recovered from the shock, I told my father what happened. Naturally, leading to him keeping that spellbook as far away as possible from me. But amid my father looking if I had any injuries, that’s when he noticed that I had gotten my Cutie Mark. He pointed it out to me, and I immediately looked at my flank. Now obviously that magic outburst was what gave me my cutie mark. But what an outburst like that doesn’t exactly do is really explain what it means. Perhaps, naturally it just means I have a lot of raw magic power. But the problem is, it makes it quite vague.

Twilight, your cutie mark is somewhat similar in that way, but you knew it meant your skill in magic because you had read for hours upon hours about magic, plus you received the mark just as you were about to become Celestia’s protege. I didn’t have that, it just simply happened as I used an advanced spell for the first time. So I didn’t understand what sort of future I was destined for, not to mention of course that I hated cutie marks because of Sunburst leaving. So even if I kind of knew what it meant, I would of grumbled about it regardless.

So… the only explanation for my raw magic power… as deduced by the Cutie Mark Crusaders… is I had to have inherited it. Somepony in my family has a bloodline of strong magic power. And my father’s bloodline I’m pretty sure has no signs of that. So that means… it has to be related to my mother somehow…

Twilight: I see… then this isn’t just a matter of family-related strife... The identity of your mother holds the keys to the very pony that you are destined to be!

Starlight: Also, Twilight… I think it’s about time I confess something to you… Do you remember when I finally turned around while we were traveling through time after all you did was just softly speak to me?

Twilight gasps, as she’s long wanted to hear this

Twilight: Yes…?

Starlight starts streaming down tears

Starlight: I think I gave in… because hearing your voice then… was almost like having the mother I never had… you’re the closest to a mother figure I’ve ever had… *sniff*

Twilight: Oh Starlight… come here…

Twilight calls Starlight in for a hug. Starlight hugs Twilight and Twilight wraps both of her wings around her, as Starlight’s tears stream down her face and onto Twilight’s shoulders. The rest of the group with sympathetic tears and smiles as they watch the long hug Twilight gives Starlight. Twilight softly speaks to Starlight in the middle of the hug.

Twilight: Let’s go solve this, together… We’ll go to Sire’s Hollow right now… You and your father are going to be reuniting with your mother, one way or another…

Starlight lets go of the hug and wipes the tears away from her eyes

Starlight: Thank you, Twilight… Allow me to get us there.

Starlight pulls out another piece of gum back to Starlight’s old hometown. Once the portal is open, Starlight enters first, as Twilight and the others follow.

((Story continues after the break))

Before they bring Firelight out of his home. They discuss the game plan on setting out to find Starlight’s mother.

Twilight: Ok… so if I recall correctly... you said you have no idea what happened to your mother, ergo, you don’t even know if she’s alive or not. Correct?

Starlight nods

Starlight: Correct

Twilight: Well… then there’s 2 ways we can go about this first. Either you wish you knew where your mother was on the planet to check if she’s alive, or… we use Spike’s dragon tear to check if she’s among the deceased.

Starlight taps her hooves together with a bit of a sinister grin

Starlight: What if… I wished I could read my father’s mind?

Twilight scowls

Twilight: Sorry Starlight, but I’d rather not grant the ability to read a pony’s mind. Everypony should have a right to their private thoughts. Even if it’s a secret that your father has selfishly kept from you. Besides, the two ways I told you about will do it just as well.

Starlight: Ok… I guess I understand. Guess this is why Malakhar genified you, you’re responsible with your wishes. But I suppose it’s time to get my father out. I’ll be right back out with him.

Starlight walks into her old home again, this time Firelight is drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Firelight turns to see her daughter’s back.

Firelight: Hey there Pumpky-wu-WHAAAA

Starlight grabs her father by the collar with her magic, the sudden jerk makes him drop his coffee, the cup breaking on the kitchen floor, a big coffee spill now on the floor, and Starlight brings his face close to her’s

Starlight: No childish nicknames right now. We are ending this… right. now.

Firelight: Agggh! Starlight, what are you talking about?!

Starlight: We are reuniting with my mother, one way or another. I have Princess Twilight and her friends outside the house. I’m going to get a wish from her that will let me find her. And you’re just going to stand there and watch!

Firelight: B…b..bu….but I thought you said you could wait for years at the ball!

Starlight rolls her eyes

Starlight: Oh Father, you’ve always been soooooo naive, when I was very clearly being sarcastic!

Firelight: Wait, Starlight you don’t have to do this!

Starlight drops her father’s collar and raises an eyebrow as he drops to his floor his chin hitting the floor.

Starlight: Oh? Are you willing to say who she was yourself right now?

Firelight just sweats nervously and keeps quiet. Seems like he’s still not willing to say it himself. Starlight raising an eyebrow. Giving him time to answer, but Firelight still says nothing.

Starlight: *sigh* I guess I’ll take that as a no…

Starlight now grabs her father by the tail with her magic and starts dragging him out of the house.

Firelight: Agh! Starlight! Wait! There’s going to be a storm any second now! The weather patrol told us to stay inside!

Starlight ignores her father’s pleads and has soon brought him out to the group outside their home. Starlight let’s go of his tail. And he stands back up, looking at a group of displeased mares, fillies, and one dragon given they know he’s been the one who’s hidden Starlight’s mother’s identity for so long.

Applejack: Ya’ll should count ya self lucky we have other methods t’ finding Starlight’s Mom. Otherwise, ya would o’ had t’ deal with me!

Rainbow: And me!

Firelight: But I do have a reason for not telling her!

Applejack: Then maybe at least try t’ tell us?

Firelight: I… can’t without revealing the identity…

Applejack: Well then, ya’ll pleading is useless, we’re finding Starlight’s mother whether ya like it or not!

Firelight just droops his head. Twilight and Starlight then get set to preparing to do either of the two methods Twilight mentioned.

Twilight: So, do you want to check if your mother is alive or dead first?

Starlight: I suppose we should check if she’s alive first… So… Twilight… I wish I knew where my mother was on the planet!

Twilight takes a deep breath closes her eyes, and makes her horn glow. Suddenly, overhead the storm that Firelight warned about approaches, Firelight tries to use the coming storm to try to delay things further.

Firelight: Hey uh… the storm from the weather team I told you about is here… you think we can try this another time... when the weather’s more clear…?

Starlight: NO! You are not weaseling out of this, just because you might get a little wet!

The group carefully watches Twilight still trying to use her magic to locate Starlight’s mother. Rain starts falling over Sire’s Hollow. Starlight stands there watching Twilight, she’s shaking a little in anticipation for finally finding the location of her mother.

A few moments later…

…

……

………

…………

Twilight opens her eyes and frowns

Twilight: Starlight… Firelight… I’m sorry… but… I can’t find her…

I’m… afraid... That likely means that the worst has happened to her…

The entire rest of the group gasps, especially Starlight and her father. Because of this one try… the possibility of Starlight’s Mother is dead is still out there, and in fact… is probably more likely then not.

Firelight: No… no… nonononono… s-s-sh-she can’t b-b-be… there must be some sort of explanation for this…!

Starlight glares at her father.

Starlight: LIKE WHAT?! That she’s such a powerful unicorn that not even SOUL MAGIC can find her?! Twilight’s magic is quite capable of looking across the entire world for one pony in the time she tried granting that wish!

Rain starts falling faster, and the rumbles of thunder can be heard as the sky gets darker.

Firelight: I… mean… maybe… but wait, how did you…

Starlight: Find out she was a powerful unicorn? That’s thanks to these 3 fillies over here who know how to read a cutie mark story *Pointing to the Cutie Mark Crusaders*

Firelight: Well uh… I guess while you know… you at least brought up a good optimistic possibility of why Twilight didn’t find her?

Starlight: There’s only one way to find out now… Spike, please come on over here.

Spike: Right!

Spike gives a determined face as he heads up to where Starlight is standing.

Starlight: So Twilight, if I recall correctly from you girls telling me how spirits are summoned. If my mother is indeed deceased, I just touch Spike’s Dragon Tear and send a message to my mother mentally, right?

Twilight: Yes… As for you Firelight, you can also say something. I know you don’t want to believe she’s dead, but you also don’t know what happened to her since she disappeared. Even if you’d rather be blissfully unaware of your wife’s fate… wouldn’t you at least like to try to speak to her? And if for some reason, nothing happens, then you will be proved right that she was still alive despite my magic being unable to find her.

Firelight: Wait, even if she is dead… which I hope she’s not… you expect me to believe we can talk to her simply by touching the gem on the dragon’s necklace?!

Applejack uses her status as the element of honesty to her advantage, looking at Firelight with a smug face and just replying with a very blunt…

Applejack: Yes!

The reputation of the Elements of Harmony is pretty much known world-wide by now. So Applejack saying this in a straight face, reassures anypony that it’s the truth. Firelight just going wide-eyed, and bites his lip. Before heaving a long sigh and giving in

Firelight: Does it require more then one pony to work?

Twilight: No, Starlight could do it solo if necessary

That sort of entraps Firelight since regardless if he touches it or not, they’re going to find out. The storm also picks up intensity. Rain falling harder and lightning can be seen in the distance.

Firelight: I guess I have no choice then… I’ll try… but I hope to Celestia that somehow she’s still alive… I don’t know why your magic couldn’t find her… but I hope, hope, hope, hope she is somewhere on the world… that just can’t be found by magic means… maybe Starlight is right that she’s using her own magic to hide herself…

Starlight: But then that’d mean she’s been neglecting us AND refusing to let anypony find her under any circumstances… to the point SOUL MAGIC can’t find her! Would that really be a good thing…?

Firelight closes his eyes, droops his head, and sighs

Firelight: It would be to me… because at least she’s still alive and safe… even if she no longer wants to be a part of our family… knowing she’s ok would be good enough for me... and quite frankly today’s conversation almost makes me want to remain blissfully unaware... but... I know Starlight’s about to find out either way... so I can’t...

Starlight: A part of me hopes she’s still alive too… just so there’s a chance that even if I never had her for my childhood. I can have her around for however long she will be alive. I guess thanks to learning of the existence of the soul shield, even if she is dead, I will be lucky enough to still get to talk to her, but we won’t exactly be able to do a lot of things together, if she’s part of the trillions of souls protecting our planet…

Twilight: I hope that by some miracle she’s fine too… for both of your sakes. But we also shouldn’t try to deny reality and face the truth. Starlight’s agonized long enough not knowing, she needs to know what happened to her mother. She’ll never understand who she truly is, if we don’t do this. If you have any basic decency as a father, you’ll want her to find out...

Firelight lowers his head

Firelight: y-y-Yeah… l-l-let’s d-do it….

*THUNDER BOOM*

Firelight: …p-p-Preferably before we get struck by lightning!

Starlight and Firelight touch Spike’s Dragon Tear. And proceed to take deep breaths, then close their eyes to focus on a message inside their head.

Starlight: (Hello? Mother? This is your daughter… Starlight… you disappeared 2 weeks after i was born… I don’t know for sure if you’re really up there… but I really wish to see you for the first time in my life… I wish to know who you were… I’m gone my entire life without knowing, I can’t even be sure how I’m supposed to feel about you… I suppose that if you are up there, there’s a good chance that I’ll like you because only those who lived normal or better lives are up there… But even if for some reason I don’t, I’ll at least get answers… Please! Open up the keys to who I truly am!)

Firelight: (I really hope that I’m doing this for nothing… please, I plead for nothing to happen. I hope that my wife’s actually ok… I’d like to see her… I don’t care if she suddenly decided she never wants to anything to do with me or Starlight ever again. I don’t even care if it turns out she just abandoned us for an unknown reason without telling us… I’ll just he happy that she’s fine… I beg of the many souls that are apparently surrounding this planet… please don’t tell me she is among you! Please! I just won’t be able to take it…)

*THUNDER BOOM*

Starlight and her Father finish, and open their eyes. Starlight shivers, partly because of nervousness but also because of the cold rain now making her mane and tail soaked. Her father on the other hand is a complete wreck just shaking a whole ton of nervousness. He’s mentally praying that nothing comes down, proving once and for all his wife is still alive. The rest of the group keeps an eye on Spike’s Dragon Tear.

…

……

………

…………

*THUNDER BOOM*

Just as more thunder is heard, Spike’s Dragon tear starts glowing. Firelight freaks out, and wonders what’s happening

Firelight: w-w-wh-wh-Wha…? What’s happening…?!

The rest of the group including Starlight lower their heads, they know what this means: A spirit is being summoned. But Starlight remains determined as she picks her head back up and puts on a brave face. Watching the sky to witness her first spirit summoning, and it’ll be none other then her long, lost mother.

Firelight: Somepony! Please... tell me this doesn’t mean…

Out in the distance a bright white light from the sky starts approaching fast towards Sire’s Hollow. Twilight whispers to herself.

Twilight: Here she is…

Firelight: Is that… a comet? Shouldn’t we try to evacuate, before it hits?!

Spike: Don’t worry, her spirit isn’t going to impact the planet.

Firelight: Don’t you dare say her spirit! This has to be something else! Couldn’t it?!

The rest of the group just shakes their head at Firelight’s attempts to deny the reality of what’s happening.

*THUNDER BOOM*

The white comet comes down closer and eventually stops just in front of a nearby house near the group and forms into a white sphere. It starts to turn into a pony shape, it’s at this point where Firelight’s heart finally starts to sink. He’s been able to deny as hard as possible until now, but the silhouette is starting to look unmistakable. A unicorn with a curvy mane and tail, that’s slightly spiky on top, the outline of what might just be one small bang next to the horn.

Then the color starts fading in, the coat revealing to be a golden yellow/amber…

A mane and tail that is a mix of red and yellow that evokes similarity to a fire, The spirit opens up it’s eyes showing a color of greenish-cyan, and the cutie mark in the shape of… a sun.

Just looking at the cutie mark was when Twilight knew… they didn’t just find Starlight’s mother… they had found…

*THUNDER BOOM*

Twilight: *gasp* Sunset Shimmer…!

The spirit looks at her daughter and her husband with a sad look on her face. At last, the identity of Starlight’s mother has been revealed. She’s none other then Celestia’s missing former protege prior to Twilight… Sunset Shimmer

The rest of the Elements of Harmony, and Spike all gasp, Starlight who has never heard a thing about Sunset Shimmer is confused.

Starlight: What’s this about a sunset’s shimmer? This storm is blocking the sun right now…

Twilight: No, Starlight.. Sunset Shimmer is your mother’s name!

Starlight: Huh?! How in the hay do you know that?!

Twilight: I’ll explain soon…

Sunset stands quietly for a moment, before finally speaking herself. She first turns toward Starlight

Sunset Shimmer: Hello… my lovely daughter… I… am so pleased, I get to see you again...

Then she sadly turns over to her distraught husband

Sunset: But… as for my darling Fi-Fi… I am so sorry… but…

Sunset lowers her head and closes her eyes about to give her husband the harsh truth

Sunset: I… was murdered a long time ago…

Firelight falls to his knees. Tears welling up in his eyes, even though he can actually see her, hear her, and even talk to her again. This is the moment it finally dawned on him that his wife was dead, and even worse… she just said she was murdered. So acting as if she had been killed right in front of him, he lays his front hooves on the ground in a puddle that’s a mix between his own tears and the rain from the storm. And yells out a long…

Firelight: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

His screams of grief echo throughout the entire valley.

UP NEXT: Chapter 26 - Starlight’s Mother, Part 2 - Why Did Firelight Keep Her A Secret?

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taiblogcomics · 5 years

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Star-Crossed

Hey there, applewood-smoked bacon jerky. Oh boy, we're getting into the really cool Pony comics now. Let's do this one first, mostly because it's so big. Last week was issue 74, and this week would logically be issue 75. Wow, can you imagine 75 whole issues? That's a milestone for sure, and the comic agrees. That's why the issue is an absolutely huge prestige format book. And being IDW's 20th anniversary, too, that makes it really a milestone to celebrate~

Here's the cover. Well, part of it:

Yeah, this is only the front cover. It's actually a wrap-around cover, with the other characters on the back cover. I chose to put only the front half for a couple reasons. One, because putting the back cover on the left while the logo is on the right just didn't look right. Two, you're still not going to see the back cover when it's on the shelf or in a collection. The front cover is the selling point, so that's what we'll look at. And it's a very nice stained-glass look. Rather than betray the story, the cover opts to just celebrate the main characters for its milestone, and that's respectable~

The comic opens with a long-ago battle with Discord. Princesses Celestia and Luna are in resplendant armour, and joined by Queen Novo of the hippogriffs, the cat queen of the Abyssinians, and even that deer king of the Everfree that I don't remember the name of. Everything's going nuts, and the wonderful combination of Andy Price's art and Discord's magic is a treat to look at. However, when confronted, Discord bleats out that "It's not me this time!", and indeed some other being appears on the horizon. Discord and the five monarchs team up and combine their magic (in a display vaguely reminiscent of the Elements of Harmony) to banish this mysterious intruder. The magic and the creature dissipate. When Celestia then demands an explanation from Discord, he puts them all to sleep, saying he can't let anyone remember what happened here. He leaves them an apology cake as well, which is nice.

Cut over to the present day, where the mane six are out at a bazaar or rummage sale of some kind. Rarity's found some sort of necklace, with a stone that not even she nor Twilight can identify. Rarity offers it to Twilight, since the purple matches with her colour scheme, and that's when things get weird. No sooner is it around Twilight's neck does a mysterious voice boom out "FIND THE REST". A voice only she can hear, no less. After a quick reconvening back at the castle, it seems only Twilight can hear the voice, no matter who wears it. Fluttershy is the voice of reason here, suggesting that maybe wearing jewelry that talks to you in a voice nopony else can hear is a bad idea. But that's when the necklace suddenly starts projecting a map. Not just any map, though: it's a star map.

The star map interacts with the Cutie Map in Twilight's castle, showing a projection of the sky and then several objects falling from said sky and impacting with the map of Equestria. There are also a bunch of space-related shout-outs in the star map, and if you recognise them all, you're a bigger nerd than I. Also, the display of the celestial objects impacting Equestria is one of those two-page spreads you have to turn on its side, which is especially difficult with the stiffer prestige-format cover. Anyway, all that aside, Twilight identifies the celestial objects not making Star Trek references as the Andalusian Constellation, a lost constellation that appeared from the sky centuries ago (gonna go out on a limb and guess probably "a thousand years ago"), and then disappeared just as quickly. The origins of both its appearance and disappearance are one of the greatest mysteries in Equestrian astronomy, so Twilight is eager to solve it.

Now, I should note that every time the necklace starts whispering to Twilight, her eyes go a bit... weird. Wobbly and bright pink. So I'm sorry to tell you that everypony's hopes that this will just be a nice, safe adventure about astronomical research are probably going to be dashed rather spectacularly. And indeed, after the rest of her friends depart to make travel plans, Twilight ends up snapping at Spike for daring too close to the necklace, unleashing one of Andy Price's legendary Scary Character Faces, a fan favourite of this blog that we haven't talked about in some time. Once Spike clears out, it is indeed revealed that something's not quite right here. Twilight is being possessed through the necklace by some sort of malevolent entity, one sharing a silhouette and name with the creature banished in the prologue...

Speaking of said prologue, we get another brief scene of probably a thousand years ago, with the same spooky silhouette rampaging. It seems that Discord could even have been in a relationship with this mysterious Cosmos, and now he's looking to break up with her the only way he can think of: by bringing it before Celestia and making it her problem. Real mature, Discord. Anyway, back in the present, the teams and travel plans have all been... planned. Since it's such a big undertaking (both the quest and the milestone comic), there's gonna be some cameo teamups. Pinkie Pie and Big Macintosh will go to Klugetown. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike are off to the Crystal Empire. Zecora and the Crusaders are headed to Griffonstone, while Fluttershy and Angel Bunny are going to scour the Everfree Forest. And finally Twilight herself will take Applejack with her to Canterlot. And when they each recover the fallen stars, bring them back to Twilight. She literally demands it.

We follow that latter team first. Twilight and Applejack ride the train to Canterlot, and Twilight begins to report that her necklace is detecting where the next nearest star fragment is. Despite AJ's concerns, Twilight leads her to the castle. Without even telling the princesses they're there, they head into a secret basement. This is apparently where Celestia stores all the dangerous things she doesn't want lying around the castle, and there's a few more cameos littered in the backgrounds here. The nature of some of this stuff starts to make Applejack even more suspicious, and when she reaches for the necklace, Cosmos drops the facade of being Twilight and attacks AJ. After a short (but really cool) fight, AJ ends up locked in a cage while Cosmos claims her prize.

Since the Everfree Forest is not too far from Fluttershy's place, she has time to stop at home and prepare there, unlike the rest of the teams. Discord's already visiting, and he tries to tempt Fluttershy off to some fantastical adventure. When she explains she's already on one, to find a fallen star, he suddenly begins to panic--especially when he finds out Twilight's already found one of the others. Rather than the Everfree, he warps the both of them to his realm. To Discord's credit, he then tells her exactly what's going on: Cosmos was a magical being like himself, but much more actively malicious. She was imprisoned in the stars, which fell to Equestria to keep them apart. He found the one in the Everfree and hid it himself, to keep it away from anyone else. Fluttershy is understanding, but reasons with him that perhaps they'd better bring the matter to Celestia.

Discord agrees, and the pair retrieve the star from the Everfree, just to further ensure it doesn't fall into the hands of some villain later on. They then warp to Canterlot--Discord's powers really cut down on travel time--where Celestia is waiting for them. Failing their spot check, Twilight grabs the star from them and tosses it to Luna. Now there's three stars, each possessing one of the princesses with a piece of Cosmos' consciousness. Yes, Twilight, Celestia, and Luna are all speaking in unison and getting flirty with Discord. Half of Cosmos being reunited has begun to bring back enough power to start warping the area around them, and Cosmos begins discussing her new takeover with Discord. Discord, however, declines, having reformed since they were last together. Cosmos is deeply displeased to hear he plans to oppose her. So, to distract him, she zaps Fluttershy with some sort of spell to give him something else to worry about, while Cosmos waits for her remaining fragments to return to her...

First of all, congratulations to My Little Pony for reaching 75 issues! It’s very rare to see a comic book reach such a high number nowadays, especially one based on a licensed property. Everyone who’s worked on this series to get it here should be very proud! I’m pretty sure I said the same sort of sentiment fir the 50th issue, and now it’s even more true~

Now then: here’s yet another villain of ages past come to wreak havoc on modern day Equestria, as they so often do. If it was anyone other than Discord, I’m not sure I’d buy the whole memory spell that he used to make them forget the incident, but Discord’s powers can suspend any disbelief. Either way, Cosmos is scary. I know Nightmare Knights just introduced Eris as another sort of “malevolent counterpart to Discord”, but Cosmos sells it way better in her flashback scenes. Additionally, when you finally get to see her in full glory at the end of the issue, she’s way scarier than a big pink anthro bird. And her being able to take over the princesses so easily is highly chilling. Of course, this is also all helped by Andy Price’s art, which continues to knock it out of the park as always~

Whatever she’s up to, we’ll just have to see if the heroes can handle it next issue. I know I’m looking forward to it, and hopefully another 75 more~

#comics #reviews #My Little Pony Friendship is Magic IDW #Taiblog #Cosmos

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tricks-up-my-sleeve · 6 years

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((okay so spoilers for s8 ep 18 aka on the road to friendship under the cut w/ a bunch of spoiler tags just in case))

So uhhh this episode was everything I wanted? A lot of it’s subtle things, but, I’m ghkjlhgfd I’m not crying you are. I don’t do horse analysis or reviews or anything like that I grew tired of those types of things ages ago bc it personally gets to a point where it sucks out the fun for me but I’m just gonna make bullet points of all of my thoughts. Mainly involving Trixie and how this episode ties into my portrayal of her. Probably others too, though.

The little magic show at the beginning? Wonderful. I love these two performing together.. and together in general. Twi & Caddy even agree on how they’re such a good duo.

Speaking of which, Twi complimenting Trixie with a huge smile? HERE. FOR. IT.

Flurry Heart watching the show was adorable. Also the inclusion of Granny Smith was of course great.

“Doing a show with you is almost as much fun as counseling students at Twilight’s school.” Almost? I’m disappointed. It’s not the first time I’ll be disappointed in Glim this episode, but we’ll get there. She’s still loved.. but it gets rough.

Loved how Hoo’far called Trixie “Miss Powerful” and her reaction to it. Just cute and silly.

TRIXIE’S. LOVE. FOR. HER. WAGON. I didn’t expect this to be a big plot point in the ep or really ever brought up, but I was so thrilled because that’s always been a small part of my Trixie. She loves her wagon. It may be small and cramped (and also, it apparently has a pretty fucked up doorknob) but it has sentimental value. It means a lot to her. I loved this so much. Not once did she stop and consider trading it for something that a lot would look at and assume was superior.

Moonwalking Trixie.

Trixie bringing up how traveling gets pretty lonely a few times in this ep. Pretty much something that’s easy to guess or assume, but that’s also something my Trixie hasn’t been too shy of admitting, either.

Trixie!!! Levitating!!! Herself!!! She obviously learned that from Starlight. Although we didn’t see it much, I’m so fucking thrilled that we see that Trixie’s been improving her magic. An issue I had with To Change A Changeling (which is just a nitpick) is that they really don’t bring that up. Personally, ever since All Bottled Up, I’ve definitely been convinced that Trixie actually has strong potential for magic, given the right teacher. Glim Glam succeeds there. I could go more into detail to why I think this is but I’ll spare you.

Trixie on the couch in Starlight’s office. I don’t even have to say anything. Just perfect.

I love how Trixie painstakingly made room for the both of them in the wagon. To it’s credit, looking at it paused, it at least isn’t as small on the inside as it is the outside. It has an entire cannon in there. It seemed like she set up two beds for them? Perhaps at least one of them was makeshift? It’s hard to tell, since Star brought stuff and then she set up hammocks. It did look slightly cozier in there before the extra luggage, though. What I guess I’m getting at, is that although it’s a tight squeeze, it’s good to see that it can at least fit two ponies, although it’s not entirely ideal.

Seeing the inside of the wagon’s been a thing I’ve wanted for ages. I could sit and look at every little thing in there and just smile for a while. Super cute.

Trixie really is sweet and considerate, you know. Seriously. Asking if Starlight is sure she doesn’t want to ride instead of walking with her, and giving her more than one chance to back out on the trip if she wants to.

THE SONG. Tell me I’m biased, I don’t care. This is my favorite horse song. I’ve waited patiently for pony Trix to sing... and it’s just.. all so fucking cute. Too much to take in.

More of Trixie’s magic shown in her shielding Starlight. Love it.

“For untold seasons yet to come, our friendship will be here!” “For nine, at least.” FUCKING. WOW. That’s clever but it also hurt my heart. Especially since my favorite friendship duo has only known each other for three of those seasons thus far, and ultimately it’ll only be four. Too soon, Glimmy.

Trixie talking about how she learned the hard way about life on the road and saving bits and all that. I like that. It shows her more mature side, and that she’s a little street smart from experience. Usually she’s kinda shown as less mature than Starlight, and this episode shows the flip side, which I really like.

I love how she’s adamant on buying hay cakes (Haycakes? They’ve used the word pancake before, though. What’s the difference?) from her preferred stand. Like.. me too, Trix. Clearly there’s a higher quality in the line that’s actually got ponies in it.

This is where Trixie and Starlight really start to argue like a married couple. Here I thought Applejack and Rainbow Dash took the prize for that. This is so domestic tho.

The first argument, at least, is short lived. I really liked that. Trixie sighs, presumably not wanting to push farther to where she hurts Starlight’s feelings. Love how she says “No, of course not.” and continues to apologize for getting snippy. She’s really improved on being.. to put it lightly, less bitchy. It’s what I love about watching her, and while To Change A Changeling was hilarious, that was my other nitpick. She had an attitude almost the entire time.. but it was funny, and I wouldn’t go as far as to call it OOC, so I wasn’t mad. The reason Trixie appeals to me so much is that she’s definitely a much nicer pony, but she’s still her. She hasn’t seemingly changed overnight from the first time we saw her, but she’s definitely made an effort. She’s quite the sweetheart when she wants to be.

I love how Trixie states that it’s taken her years to collect all of her magical items. I just think it’s neat. Also, rightfully getting offended when her stuff is called junk.

Coward Trixie returns. This is definitely me looking too deep into it but personally I’d like to think that yeah, after the Ursa event, I’d be scared of animals outside, too.

Starlight snoring and Trixie outright performing in her sleep. Lmfao. I’ve said this like fifteen times already about other things but I love it.

I relate to these tired and grumpy girls, but even I would have made sure to save some food / juice for my pal. Well.. maybe the juice was definitely out of spite. Wish I could scold her, but I would’ve done the same thing.

The grouchy magic show hurt me to watch. It was still funny though. Again, definitely arguing like a married couple. Two tired, angry friends trying to work together is just never gonna turn out right.

I love their voices in the “Practice makes perfect.” “Not today it didn’t.” exchange. So sassy. So higher pitched. Those faces, too. Lol.

Starlight throwing all of Trixie’s shit out followed by Trix yelling “You can HAVE IT ALL!” Oof. Almost like I’m watching a breakup right before my very eyes. Also the way she runs off. These poor hopeless gays.

STARLIGHT GLIMMER CONFIRMED WORST GIRLFRIEND. I’mjustkidding. Naturally I saw this coming from a mile away, but still. Wow. Ouch. I do like though how it seems to be consistent that she can be defensive of her bad decisions. Not really realizing that what she’s doing is wrong.

TRIXIE FREAKING OUT, THEN BEING BROUGHT TO TEARS BECAUSE STARLIGHT TRADED HER WAGON. This hurt me more than you could imagine, but what hurt me even more is that Starlight didn’t even flinch, and was completely insensitive about it for a while. Yikes. I already went into how much I love Trixie’s attachment to her wagon, but this killed me.

Also, pretty sure that selling or trading somebody else’s stuff is illegal, Star. Trixie shouldn’t have beef with Hoo’far. She should just be planning a lawsuit against Glimmer instead.

Am I just crazy or stupid? When Trixie tells Starlight that at least the wagon wouldn’t have traded her away, I was like, yEAH, you’re valid. Tell her. It made total sense to me. Then Starlight just responds with “That’s ridiculous.” Like?? It wasn’t to me? I sound silly now bc I get the joke, it’s an inanimate object, but what I’m trying to get at is that Trixie was pretty much trying to say that if Starlight really was her best friend she wouldn’t have done that.

I love how Trixie doesn’t accept the flattery from Hoo’far like she normally would bc she’s real pissed. To be fair, though, it’s really not his fault. I mean.. okay, a little, considering he should have known that it didn’t belong to Starlight, and that the trade needed to be given the okay by Trixie. He’s not a bad guy, though.

TRIXIE LYING IN FRONT OF THE CART FOR HOURS BC NO WAY IN HELL IS SHE LETTING THIS GUY TAKE IT. AMAZING. Give it up for his patience, too.

Starlight finds out that you win some and you lose some with the bigger caravan. Also, I love how she didn’t realize how fucked up stuff was when she was with Trixie and having a good time. Her regret sinking in seems about right. You can see her start to miss her.

“Sometimes travelling together is hard.” “But you reminded us that you can also make it fun!” Definite lesson that these two needed. Obviously Starlight was breaking before hearing that, but those big sad eyes she gets after. Regret.

“What are you two doing?” “Taking a stand! By lying down!” Lmao. Never change, Trixie.

“Best friends who share a deep bond but weren’t prepared for the emotional challenges of traveling.” Oh, definitely. Really feel like their first trip should have been a short one. Possibly with more planning ahead of time.

Best. Friendship. Chant.

“Only true friends would be willing to act so ridiculous for one another.” Aww. True.

“At a certain point, I don’t even like travelling with myself.” Line I really liked. Also Starlight saying that it’s harder than she thought.

Despite their exchange about knowing not to do it again, eh, still not wanting to completely rule out the thought of them travelling together in the future. Like I said, with more precautions taken, pretty sure they could’ve been just fine. Mainly reserving a room at an inn, since the big issue really just seemed to be them getting crabby sleeping in the wagon. Would’ve preferred it if it kinda gave that lesson and had Trixie say that they’ll know how to handle it next time, with both of them saying yeah, but let’s not make that anytime soon.

Trixie and Starlight almost killed an old man.

That’s it, if anyone even read through all of that. Can’t really say much more. This may or may not be my favorite Trixie episode. I’ll have to give it some time, but I loved almost everything about it. (No Second Prances is my current favorite I suppose, due to it also validating a lot of how I viewed Trixie at the time, and still do.)

Like I said.. it’s just really refreshing to see her take on a more mature stance than Starlight for the most part, since other episodes usually show the exact opposite. Not that Starlight is incredibly mature in her own right, but she does usually take that role when it comes to her dynamic with Trixie. I love any chance we get to see Trixie, but in episodes like To Change A Changeling, sometimes I worry that they don’t give her enough credit. She’s not a complete incompetent bitch, and to be fair, I don’t think she ever really has been. I won’t go into how I personally view her flaws, though. Guess that could be another post.

Until next time. Hopefully there is another next time. Starlight’s line in the song about nine seasons still has me all fucked up and I need help. Maybe one day I could go back and do these for past Trix episodes.

#mlp spoilers #s8 spoilers #mlp s8 spoilers #spoilers #mlp s8 e18 #on the road to friendship #🎆 || out of peanut butter crackers. { ooc }#🎆 || a good magician never reveals her secrets. { musings }#🎆 || unbeknownst to the public. { headcanons }#wasn't sure what to tag this as but i felt at least one of them fit

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peculiar-bonds · 6 years

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Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind - Chapter 5: The Unexpected Companion

Synopsis: While Mane 6 are on a research mission in a small town from another world called 'Earth', they learn about an old myth among the inhabitants: the Slender Man. What is the ugly truth of this haunted town? Will they survive the monster's deadly grasps?

It had almost been one hour since the last encounter with Slender Man. Meanwhile, Mane 6 finally reunited, and it was quiet and peaceful in the woods of terror, for now…

The girls could finally catch their breath and get some rest until the next attack. Not even Rarity cared, the dirt felt like the best place to sit on; anything is better than Slender Man after your tail. On the other hand, Twilight was still asleep, and Applejack sat by her side, with a worried expression on her freckled face.

“How come she isn’t awake yet?” Rainbow Dash asked while approaching her elder friend.

“It ain’t the first time she behaved weirdly tonight. Before we even got into this cursed forest, she was almost paralyzed, if ya remember…And this time, it was a nosebleed and a fainting spell! What’s next?”

Applejack didn’t even get to finish expressing her worries, because Twilight suddenly woke up, feeling a lump in her throat. The other girls were looking at her with wide eyes, totally startled by this abrupt awakening. Even if she was still weak, the petite girl rose up to her feet and went to the nearest bush to throw up out of nowhere.

“Sweet Celestia, sugarcube, are ya alright?” Applejack exclaimed, extremely concerned about her friend’s illness.

As if it wasn’t enough, there was a noise coming from the other side of the landmark. It was accompanied by a few light steps. The panic reinstalled among Mane 6.

“He’s back!” Fluttershy muttered, scared to the bones.

“Fetch me a stick! This is gonna turn out reaaallly bad!” Pinkie Pie requested, determined to defend her beloved friends. They didn’t take her seriously, so the energetic teenager grabbed a stick from the ground and approached the area.

“Pinkie, are you crazy???” Rainbow Dash exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

But the pink-haired girl didn’t listen. Without any hesitation, she was ready to hit the intruder in the head, while suddenly:

“WAIT, DON’T HIT ME!”

When she heard these words, Pinkie Pie stumbled into the stranger, causing both of them to fall on the ground. When she looked closer, it was actually a young girl, just like them, but still different. The youngster had long and dark hair complimented by icy blue eyes, a very thin body, and an extremely tired expression.

“Would you please get off me? I assure you that I’m not who you think I am,” the girl asked, almost begging to be released from Pinkie’s “paranoia trap”.

“Oh, sure thing! I’m sorry!” Pinkie giggled, rising back on her feet. “I honestly thought, you were, um…Slender Man! You would not believe…”

“…How horrible this monster is? Yes, I do, because I have to confront him almost every night,” the newcomer complained. “And, by the way, who are you and what are you doing here at this hour?”

“Oh, I’m with my friends over there. We were trying to find Slender and see if he’s real, but apparently, he found us and…”

“I KNOW. Everybody is coming here like they’re doing a funny ghost hunt on Halloween, but it’s more than that, I tell you! It’s a true nightmare!” The girl confessed in desperation, while tightly gripping Pinkie’s shoulders.

“Oooookayyy…I’m Penny Pie, by the way! But you can also call me Pinkie! What about you?”

“I’m Kate. Kate Milens. And I have a feeling I’m going to die tonight…”

“Oh, don’t be so silly! We’ll get out of here soon! Come, let me show you to my friends!”

Kate seemed hesitant at the beginning, but she had no choice. Any human seemed like a better alternative than the faceless eldritch monster, who had been haunting her since childhood.

“Hey, everybody, look who I found!” Pinkie exclaimed in utter happiness.

“Shh, the freak might hear you!” Rainbow Dash aggressively whispered, while scowling at the friend in front of her.

“Anyway, as I was saying…” Pinkie continued, quite annoyed by the obvious remark. “This is Kate Milens! It seems that our ol’ friend Slendy is after her as well. Kate, these are my best friends of all time: Rachael, Rebecca, Anne-Jay, Florence and Tara” she presented as she pointed to each of her companions.

“Hello, Kate!” the others greeted the new one simultaneously.

“Nice to meet you all! Glad I can finally meet someone who’s a human around here…and alive,” Kate replied with a faint voice.

Meanwhile, she glanced at Twilight, who clearly felt ill. Her face was paler than usual, dark circles started appearing under her eyes, her expression signaled fatigue, and her vest was stained with remnants of her vomit. Kate knew what the problem was, since she experienced the same symptoms anytime she encountered Slender Man.

“I see you’re also suffering from the Slender Sickness. Don’t worry, it’ll pass once we’re out of here”

“Slender Sickness? Wow, I should have known it’s his fault for all of this” Twilight stated with deep worry in her tone. “We just want to go home, Kate. Do you know the way?”

“Yes, I know every inch of this forest since I was little. Come on, pack your things and follow me, we don’t have much time left to stand still…”

“Say no more!” Rainbow replied with excitement.

“You said you’ve been coming to this forest since you were a child. What were you doing here at that age?” Fluttershy asked Kate all of a sudden, while they were heading to the next landmark.

“He always called me. Almost every night. At the beginning, I didn’t even know where that voice was coming from, so I blindly followed what it said. I was too scared to ask questions, to be honest. But despite all of this fuss, he always let me live, I don’t know why.”

“Wait, Slender Man CAN TALK??? That’s it, we’re doomed,” Rainbow intervened in the conversation, this detail being the only one that she picked up from Kate’s confession.

“I’m sorry for everything that’s happening to you, darling,” Rarity comforted the genuine human among the group. “I hope you’ll find your peace away from this horrible creature soon”

“Me too, Rachael. Me too…”

Suddenly, the wind started getting louder, along with the low droning sound from the beginning.

“Oh, no, he’s back! The page must be in that tunnel. We have to be quick!” Kate warned with panic.

“I’ll go first this time! Fetch me the stick!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while grabbing another thick wooden branch from the ground. “Be right back! Slendy won’t stand a chance against me and my new friend, Tim! Come after me if I scream, by the way!” she boasted with excitement, then ran away to the tunnel.

“Damn, I swear she’s so crazy sometimes…She even named that stick ‘Tim’??? What the heck? Please excuse us, Kate, we’re a special group here,” Rainbow Dash apologized in her utter disappointment.

“Truth be told, I actually admire her enthusiasm and bravery…but for how long will it last?” Kate admitted, gulping in distress.

Before entering the eerie tunnel, Pinkie Pie looked all over the surroundings for anyhting out of order.

“Ha! Easy peasy! Though Slendy’s middle name is ‘unpleasant surprise’, if you ask me…Am I right, Tim?” Pinkie asked her imaginary wooden friend, then made it ‘nod’ by swinging her wrists. Still, she held her new weapon tight, because it was time to enter the dark enclosed area. The girl started shivering out of nowhere: it was the Pinkie Sense.

“Didn’t know I’d still have this as a skill here…” she muttered to herself.

In order to calm herself down, Pinkie started humming “Giggle at the ghosties”, the song that confirmed she’s the Element of Laughter, in almost the same circumstances.

“When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooown…”

Suddenly, something slimy grabbed her ankle. Uh-oh…” she thought to herself. The feeling of it made her startle in an instant.

“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown...” she continued singing, this time trembling.

But Pinkie stopped before she could finish her cheerful song. Her heart was racing faster than ever, and cold sweat was dripping down her round face.

“I shouldn’t have come by myself, that’s for sure…”

*Meanwhile, outside the tunnel*

“It’s been a while…shouldn’t we call after her?” Kate asked with a frightened expression.

“PINKIE PIE!” Twilight screamed.

“PIIIIIIINKIIIIIEEEE PIEEEEE!” the others screamed as well in unison.

They realized it was no fun game with Slenderman, so headed straight to the tunnel.

*Back in the tunnel*

“You know what’s weird, Tim? I’m pointing my flashlight everywhere, but no sight of him. It’s like he’s a shadow…”

But at last, she found the page; it was at the end of the tunnel. This time, the message was ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’, scribbled in the same manner.

“Gotcha! And oh yes, I can totally relate to this one…”

It also didn’t take long for Slender Man to appear right in front of her, with the same unmoving, but menacing posture he had got in front of his victims. Pinkie Pie didn’t hesitate at all to let out a piercing scream, and due to the adrenaline, she reacted by throwing ‘Tim’ right at the eldritch horror. Right after a few blinks, the creature disappeared, and right on time, because the other girls arrived.

“Pinkie, are you ok?” Twilight asked with concern.

“How can I be okay when I just saw him in front of me?” she replied with panic in her tone, and it didn’t take long for her to burst in tears, and hug Applejack in search of protection.

“Easy, sugarcube…he’s gone, we’re here now…” Applejack comforted Pinkie while hugging her tightly.

“You should have learned this lesson by now!” Kate started scolding the group. “If we’re together, he gets discouraged and attacks less. I learned that when I was with another friend…NEVER go alone into his woods, I’m telling you!”

“You’re right, we’ll have to stay together from now on…” Twilight agreed. “And that means no heroic acts, okay? We have no power to do something here.”

The others also agreed in unison.

“Let’s go, we have no time to lose!” Kate concluded.

The next landmark was an abandoned truck with a tank. The girls looked around the vehicle, but there was no page.

“Have you found anyhting? Because he’s right behind us!” Rainbow screamed in fear. “Go, go, GO!”

Without any hesitation, the girls ran away as fast as they could, even if their stamina was decreasing dramatically with each step.

“I can run faster than this, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked, while panting all the way to the next stop.

“This is also Slenderman’s fault…” Kate replied.

“AH! WONDERFUL!” the other screamed in pure annoyance.

The following landmark was a portable cabin made of metal. The door was locked, so the only way they could find the page was on the exterior of the building. Kate was vigilant this time.

“Found the page! One more left!”

This time, the paper only contained doodles of trees and a simplified sketch of Slender Man in the middle. But that was the least thing to be concerned about. After taking the page, Kate could feel it in her bones: an unnerving beeping sound, that started getting louder and louder. The Equestrian girls were also affected, and they couldn’t move their limbs because of the sound’s high-pitched frequency.

“WHAT IS GOING ON???” Rainbow screamed again.

“This is the last stand, it’s now or never!” Kate replied ambigously. “No victim has ever reached this stage by far!”

But it was too late to contemplate about anything anymore. This time, Slender Man’s appearance was by far more terrifying than the others. The moment he appeared, several thick black tentacles sprouted from his back. It was clear that he was enraged by the girls’ presence at this point. As much as he enjoyed a good ‘challenge’, humans always drove him crazy when they were alive on his territory for too long. Thus, he went berserk in a short time and started coiling his tentacles around the girls’ waists and necks, lifting them up to his level. Suddenly, the whole forest was filled with bloodcurdling screams. It was a frightening sight for Twilight, the only one that wasn’t ensnared in the faceless being’s tendrils; she was right behind the cabin, too afraid to make any move.

“The end is near…” she mumbled to herself, a tear falling down her cheek.

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askredrage · 7 years

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Open up your EYE (Thoughts on MLP Movie)

Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat? Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media? Spoilers down below. Haven't seen the movie? Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh? Well it was.........something... Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again). And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative. I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years. So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation. Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation. It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show. They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas. So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area. I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully. Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past. Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom. An interesting way to segue into this next part. Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it. Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators. They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one. But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER! Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement. See if I can sequence this a bit. Let's start with the story. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show. Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know. Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses. Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital. Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets. I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I? From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown. You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster. Get to that part in a second. Songs? As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one: The Villain Song. And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song". The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all. I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher. Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow. I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with. I haven't a clue what the problem with it was. Finally, how about the characters. We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits. I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair. Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat. Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end. Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions. Loved that guy. Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax. Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind. This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain. Even his own funny moments couldn't save him. And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti. Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn. Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list. Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?). Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown. Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down. The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do. I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom. Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across. Side-note: She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned. We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself. Getting there soon, promise. Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long. Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight. Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier. Honestly want to know what became of those guys now. Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon. The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool? TF2 Workshop! Make a mod! NOW! Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks. That's uh....that's about it. ....you all hate me now for this: Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace. Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions. Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie: When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them. Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit. And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect. Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie. But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco. It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains. I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10. Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."

#review #opinion #my little pony #my little pony the movie #tempest shadow #west coast psycho #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp:fim #other

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