Slave Starlight - Chapter 1, by TitanticTime2

 

Chapter 1:

Sometime after the party started (which Pinkie was absolutely devastated she couldn’t stay till the end of and started crying), the mane six and a now bound Starlight Glimmer (who still had the magic dampening ring on her horn, the gag and now a spell covering her ears to prevent her from hearing) sat on the train which was chugging along back to Ponyville. It was fairly awkward for everyone, with quite a few of the ponies shooting Starlight constant glares. Namely Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was just sitting there with her head down and hair covering most of her face, Pinkie was bouncing around like her usual self and shouting random shit about how Starlight was going to have so much fun and how she will get to experience ‘the true magic of friendship’. Twilight was staring out the window watching the scenery go past with a worried look on her face.

 

“What’s troubling you darling?” Rarity says to Twilight from just across from her while leaning forward, giving her a concerned look.

 

Twilight doesn’t answer immediately, and just continues to stare at the surroundings as they fly by. “I’m just worried about what’s going to happen about Starlight. I don’t want to just hoof her over to Princess Celestia so she can throw her in a dungeon, but she’s too dangerous to just let her roam free, especially with her very high-level magic. Even with that magic suppression ring.” She nodded over to Starlight, who was currently sitting on the opposite side of the train car and was bound by rope with said ring on her horn, just looking out at the passing scenery. “I can’t allow her to stay around anypony, for risk of her managing to get it off. And she can’t stay in the castle because I am exceptionally busy now that I’m a princess. I would also like to try teaching her about friendship, maybe convince her to try and make an effort to improve herself.”

 

Rarity gave her an understanding look, before moving to sit next to her and putting her hoof around Twilight’s shoulders. “I’m sure we can figure something out. There are plenty of options available.”

 

It was at that moment that Pinkie bounced over with her usual face-splitting grin and perched herself in front of Twilight. “OH, OH, I HAVE AN IDEA!” She practically shouted, making Fluttershy jump. “Why don’t we ask Nonny if he can take her and look after her and teach her about friendship! They can become the bestest of friends, and you don’t need to worry about her causing trouble with her magic if she gets the ring off because Nonny’s magic resistant!”

 

Twilight gave Pinkie a startled expression at first, which turned into one of contemplation, then realisation as Pinkie spoke. When the mare was finished, she was silent for a few seconds before reaching forward and hugging Pinkie. “Pinkie, you’re a genius! That’s actually a really good idea, and it can kill two birds with one stone, as it will allow Anon to socialise more and make another friend, and he can help Starlight learn the value of friendship! It’s fool-proof!” Upon saying ‘kill two birds with one stone’, Fluttershy flinched, and by the end of her little outburst, everyone, including Starlight was looking at her with varying expressions, although Starlight probably just noticed the commotion out of the corner of her eye.

 

As soon as she looked around her cheeks went red and she laughed nervously. “Heh, sorry. I just thought it was a really good idea.”

 

Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the one to speak up. “A-are you sure? I mean, Anon is kind of… different himself. N-not that that’s a bad thing of course…” She trailed off and hid behind her mane again, looking down.

 

Rainbow Dash then decided to speak up, trying to clarify what her Pegasus friend was saying. “I think what she means is are you sure it’s a good idea to put Starlight under Anon’s supervision. I mean, I like Anon as much as the next pony, but they might not be the best influences on each-other. Not only that, but how is her staying with him going to prevent her from using magic if she gets the ring off?”

 

“Y-yes, that’s what I meant” Fluttershy stammered out, confirming Rainbow’s explanation.

 

“Nonsense, Darlings, I think it’s an absolutely marvellous idea as well. I’m almost certain that Anon will be able to knock some sense into that mare. He won’t do anything to rash I’m sure.” Rarity replied for Twilight, also voicing her own opinion on the matter.

 

“And as for her not being able to cast magic, its due to the nature of Anon’s magic resistance: I haven’t been able to tell why it happens, but I’ve determined through vigorous testing that Anon has some kind of field that surrounds him that negates any unicorn operated magic within. It’s only about 20 feet or so wide, so it’ll probably only be effective when he’s in his house.” Twilight explained in her usual scientific tone that she uses when explaining anything. “So I guess it might work. I trust Anon to keep her in check. I just hope she doesn’t get too out of hoof for him.”

 

All the ponies were now staring at her with looks of contemplation. Finally Applejack spoke up: “Well, it sounds like it might work. But she would almost always have to be around Anon. What about Anon himself? How will you convince him? He has his own life as well, albeit a strange one.” She asked in her usual southern drawl. All the others nodded in agreement.

 

“I’ll tell him the seriousness of the matter, and hopefully he will accept. I’ll probably need to give him some money to make up for asking him to quit his job, which I’ll also need to do, and for him to pay for the extra stuff he’s going to need to look after her, because this will be just like a full time job as it is. Do you girls think one thousand bits a week will be enough?” Twilight directed at all of her friends. At that last point, all her friends started gaping at her. “What?” She innocently asked.

 

“One thousand bits?! A week?! That’s more than I get in two normal weeks without special customers like Sapphire Shores, and I own my own shop darling!” Rarity exclaimed, looking as though she might faint. The others weren’t in much of a better state.

 

“That would be more than enough to pay for everything. In fact, fifty bits would probably cover it. Why are you giving him so much Sugarcube?” Applejack pipes in.

 

“I’ve got to give him some extra money to do this, and I will be asking him to quit, or at least ask if he can postpone his job for this, because as you said he’ll need to always be there with Starlight to make sure she doesn’t do anything out of Anon’s control while he’s at work. Plus, now that I’m a princess I don’t need to worry about money because I have access to the royal treasury.” Twilight said while trying to keep her voice even to make it look like she wasn’t bragging. “If this doesn’t persuade him to do it, I don’t know what will…” She said at the end.

 

-

 

The train was currently nearing Ponyville: you could tell by the majestic city of Canterlot that was coming into view in the distance on top of it’s mountain, with the moon above casting a magnificent glow on it. The ponies on the train had now fallen into an awkward silence, most opting to just look out the window and think. Starlight was looking at the great city with a look of boredom and slight awe. She couldn’t help but think internally about how majestic the city looked: it had been years since she had laid eyes upon it. So many things were currently going through Starlight’s head.

 

How could I have let myself get captured! This was the most prominent of those thoughts. She kept replaying the events of her capture over and over again in her mind. She also couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen to her now. I’m probably gonna get thrown into Canterlot’s dungeon, where I’ll end up spending the rest of my life. She dismally thought. She wished she could hear what the others were saying about her. Well, she assumed it was about her anyway. She decided not to think about what she couldn’t hear, because it wasn’t helping her either way. Instead she tried to focus on other, more pleasant things. Like her childhood before Sunburst got his cutie mark. Ok no, that’s just gonna make things worse.

 

Just as she was contemplating the next thing to try and think about, she felt the train shutter, then begin to slow down. She looked away from Canterlot, which was now nearly directly above them, and through the window on the opposite side of the train, to what she assumed was Ponyville. It was a quaint little town, she thought. Though not as quaint as mine was. Ugh, stop thinking about that.

 

As the train slowed to a stop, she did happen to notice something quite odd in the distance the other side of the town. Is that a crystal tree? And why does it look like it’s got some weird crystal tree-house in it? She was brought out of her musing though by someone tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked at Twilight, who was giving her what seemed like a genuine smile. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of them. Well, one directed at me at least. She thought sarcastically.

 

“Welcome to Ponyville, Starlight.” Twilight said, completely forgetting the spell she cast over Starlight to prevent her from hearing. She realised her error at the confused look on Starlight’s face that she could see through the barely suppressed annoyance. She lifted the spell, finally allowing Starlight to hear again, to which her ears started wildly twitching, unaccustomed to the sounds of ponies piling off the train now assaulting her.

 

“Sorry, I forgot about that.” She said, then repeated he previous statement. By that point, the other ponies were leaving the carriage. “If you’re wondering, I’m going to be making some arrangements for where you’re going to be staying. I’m going to leave you with the girls for now while I go and sort this out. They’ll take you back to my castle, where you’ll stay until I come get you. I’m sorry it’s got to be this way, but you are too dangerous to allow to simply roam free and I don’t like putting ponies in prison unless they’ve done something as serious as murder.”

 

Starlight gave Twilight a bewildered look, half expecting her to say something like they were just dropping the others off before going to Canterlot where she would face a trial, then the dungeons. To say she was surprised when Twilight didn’t even mention a trial was an understatement.

 

“I try to treat everypony very fairly, despite what they might have done in the past. I believe everypony should have a second chance. This is your second chance. If you don’t want to take it, and understand why what you did was wrong on so many levels, then I may just take this up with Princess Celestia, and a trial can be arranged.” Twilight responded to Starlight’s bewildered expression. She couldn’t talk, as she still had the gag in her mouth. “I really hope it doesn’t come down to that though. If you manage to put your past experiences, whatever they were, behind you, I believe you could become a very nice pony.”

 

“I’m going to take your bindings off now, except for your magic inhibiting ring. And please don’t try to escape because it just makes things more awkward for both of us.” She started to remove the bindings that were covering her legs with magic, then proceeded to remove the gag. The bindings dropped to the ground with a thump as they were released from Twilight’s magic. Starlight just sat there, working her jaw to try and get feeling back into it. She still had a bit of a scowl on though.

 

“Alright, let’s go. Oh, and one last thing: I’ve cast a tracking spell on you that can tell me exactly where you are at any given time.” She decided to leave out that it had a limited range that would only cover an area about the size of Ponyville and that it would wear off after a few days. Either way, she turned around and started making her way out of the carriage through the doors, constantly checking behind her to see if Starlight was following. After a few seconds, she started following at a slower pace.

 

As they approached the other girls who were standing on the platform, Twilight started talking again. “Alight girls. I’m going to head on over to Anon’s right now to have what could be a very long talk. Could you all do me a favour and take Starlight back to the castle and wait there for me?” All the others said their affirmations and nodded, although only Pinkie had a smile on her face. Twilight smiled somewhat awkwardly back. “Thanks. I’ll try to be as fast as I can with this. I only hope that Anon is in a good mood today… Wish me luck.”

 

“Good luck Twi!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down like her usual self. The others just nodded as well.

 

I’m gonna need it, She thought. At that, she turned tail and made her way off the platform, heading for Anon’s house while the other’s headed towards the castle.

 

-

 

*Knock knock*

 

After about a minute, the door to Anon’s house slammed open, revealing Anon with a towel haphazardously slung around his waist and an annoyed look on his face. After seeing who was at the door, his look softened a bit.

 

“Oh, hey Twi.” He said in a neutral tone while adjusting the towel around his waist so it would hold, and to try and better protect his body from the cold night air that was currently assaulting him, making him shiver.

 

“Oh, uh, h-hey Anon. Sorry, was I interrupting something?” She innocently asked, gesturing towards the towel and blushing at getting a direct look at Anon’s completely naked chest, at which she stared for a good few seconds before averting her gaze.

 

“Oh this? Nah, I always go around wearing a shitty towel around my waist while at home. I also go around sopping wet, making the whole house damp just so that I have to clean it up when I can be assed.” He replied with no small amount of sarcasm and an expression that just said ‘seriously’.

 

“W-well, um, sorry. I-I can always come back tomorrow-” She said and started to turn away.

 

He smiled at that. “I’m fucking with you Twiggles. I’m always happy to see you, although it was a bit of an awkward time.” He said, reaching an arm forward, booping her on the nose, making it scrunch up in a cute manner. “Come in. I’ll just go shove something decent on.” He turned around and sprinted up the stairs, taking two at a time, and nearly bumping his head on the bit of ceiling which stuck out towards the stairs. “And shut the door! It’s freezing!” He shouted back down from presumably his room.

 

Twilight just stood there for a second, looking at where Anon was a couple of seconds ago. Well, I guess that was a good start. At least he’s in a good mood, despite me interrupting his shower or bath. Must’ve had a good day at work or something.

 

She made her way in, turning around and closing the front door with her hoof. It felt kinda odd, seeing as she was so used to using magic to shut doors. She then went into the living room to the left, and over to the couch, resolving to just collapse backwards onto it, letting her legs fly upwards, where she just waited for Anon to come back down.

 

It only took Anon a couple of minutes or so to get dried and dressed, noisily making his way back down the stairs. He wandered into the living room, and proceeded to collapse into his favourite armchair similarly to Twilight. Once settled, he reached over and flipped a switch on the lantern that was next to him, turning it on and illuminating the room.

 

“So Twiggles, what could possibly be bothering you that you come round at ten at night, disturbing my shower?” He started with a slight grin and taking a glance up at the clock, making Twilight blush and try to hide behind her mane a bit, somewhat like Fluttershy. He always liked to see Twilight flustered: it was incredibly cute.

 

“W-well, I’ve just got back from the place that the map sent us, as you might have guessed.”

 

“Oh I completely forgot about that thing. I mean I only heard about it briefly yesterday as you came rushing into my house yelling at me what had just happened, making me think that your new freaky castle had been destroyed with the level of excitement you had about going on some ‘adventure’, before rushing back out and towards the station.” Twilight blushed some more, trying to hide behind her mane a bit more and failing. “Yea how did that go?”

 

“It went reasonably well in the end. Well, it was quite weird at first: there was this town that had nothing but two rows of houses and one at the end that was populated by a bunch of ponies that had been brainwashed and had their cutie marks replaced with black equal signs, and went around with the biggest fake smile that even made Pinkie nervous.”

 

“Wow, that takes some doing to make that pony nervous.”

 

“Yeah I know right, well either way the whole town was run by a pony called Starlight Glimmer, a pink and purple unicorn who was using her magic to replace the ponies cutie marks and brainwash them. She even did so to us.”

 

“Sounds like you ran into Equestria’s version of Stalin. So go on, how did you kick her ass?” Anon asked with a bit of a laugh.

 

Twilight also smiled a bit. “Well, there happened to be a couple of ponies who were already looking for a way to escape the village. They managed to get us alone and asked us to help them, and explained that there was some weird ‘cutie mark vault’ up in a cave that had all their cutie marks in, which she took us to, and managed to take our cutie marks because we were oblivious to her intentions at that time.” Anon just snorted and rolled his eyes.

 

“After that, we managed to expose Starlight’s cutie mark, which she still had, but had the Equal cutie mark painted over it, and caused the town to turn on her. They all went up to the vault and got their cutie marks back, but at that time Starlight was in her house, and she had all our cutie marks in there with her. She escaped through some trap door in her house. We managed to chase her down with the help of the other townsponies, captured her in a cave in the mountains, then bought her back here.” Twilight finished her very abridged version of the story, just wanting to get onto asking Anon about taking Starlight.

 

After a few seconds, Anon spoke “Well, that’s quite some story, but that still doesn’t really explain why you came to me tonight instead of just going back to your castle to get some sleep and telling me tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah… About that…” Twilight started, “As it turns out, Starlight is a very powerful magic user, probably just as powerful as myself. As such, she is quite a danger to the population if not kept in check…”

 

“That’s what the dungeons in Canterlot are for.” Anon pointed out.

 

“Yeah you see, I don’t really want to throw her in a dungeon. I’ve never been a fan of doing that to anypony, I believe everypony deserves to have a second chance at least, unless they are truly irredeemable. I think Starlight is redeemable. I think she’s got some past experiences which are causing her behaviour.”

 

Anon raised an eyebrow at Twilight, unsure of where she was going with this. “As the Princess of Friendship I can tell these kinds of things. It’s just a feeling in my gut.”

 

Still unsatisfied, Anon just decided to ask. “Ok, so why are you telling me all this, surely this is your domain.”

 

“Well, what I’m asking is if you could possibly take and look after Starlight, and try to find out what’s wrong with her, and try to teach her the magic of friendship.”

 

Twilight sat there looking at Anon with a hopeful expression. Anon just sat there looking back at Twilight with a neutral expression. Slowly, the mask of neutrality slipped, and Anon just burst out laughing a few seconds later.

 

“HAHAHAAHAAA! M-ME?! LOOK AFTER THE PONY EQUIVALENT OF STALIN?! AND TEACH HER THE ‘MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP’?! FUCK ME THAT’S A GOOD ONE! HAHAHAHA! YOU REALLY GOT ME THERE!” Anon shouted out, actually falling forwards out of his chair in laughter. Twilight just looked on, her expression unchanged, waiting for Anon to finish his laughing fit. Yep. Expected that reaction. Now for the most difficult bit…

 

“Anon, I’m actually being serious.”

 

“Fuck me.” He said as he climbed back into his chair, tears still rolling down his face. “Wait, you’re being serious? Have you looked at who you’re talking to?” He gestured towards himself with his hands. “I’m not a pony. I don’t believe in all that shit. I mean sure, it works for you guys, and I respect that, but I can’t teach an evil pony dictator about the magic of friendship, especially seeing as I’m magic resistant myself.”

 

“That’s a big part of the reason I’m asking you to do this. You emit a magic resistant field that prevents unicorn magic from working. She won’t be able to do anything while she’s around you. It’s completely up to you how you look after her though. The main point in this is to reform her so she can live among us without the need to worry about her causing harm. You would need to keep her close to you at all times though, to prevent her from using magic.”

 

“Twilight, I have a job. I have other responsibilities, although fuck knows what they are. I gotta go shopping and shit. How am I supposed to do all those things if I have to stay at home and look after a pony?”

 

“Well, as for your job, I am willing to pay you for this, as well as for any kind of extra stuff you’d need for her. This would essentially become your new job. I’m not quite sure what you’re going to do about going out anywhere else, like shopping. I guess you’d just have to figure it out.”

 

Anon sat there for a minute contemplating it. Well, on one hand, I hate my job. Working at Sugarcube corner sucks, and I have to put up with those fucking babies whining in my ear half the time, and Pinkie yelling in my ear the other half. But looking after and trying to befriend another pony, especially an evil one is gonna be a job and a half…

 

“How much would you pay me for doing this?”

 

Twilight smiled at that, knowing that she had won already, especially with this offer. “One thousand bits a week.”

 

Anon’s jaw dropped, practically going through the floor. “ONE THOUSAND BITS! A WEEK! I barely get fifty a week, and that’s on a good week!”

 

“Yep, One thousand bits.” Twilight smiled, giggling a bit at Anon’s reaction.

 

“When do I start?!”

 

Twilight giggled even more. “You can start tonight. If you come back with me to the castle, she is currently there with the rest of the girls. I can also give you your first payment while there. I’m sure there’s a few thousand bits lying around somewhere…” She said, practically making Anon drool at the thought.

 

Anon shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his stupor. “Alright, in all seriousness, why, and how, are you willing to pay me so much money?”

 

“Well, as for the how, I’m now a princess, which means I get access to the royal treasury in Canterlot. As for the why, you’re my friend, and I want to pay you a substantial amount for this. I feel like I’m dumping one of my problems off on you, which is almost literally what I’m doing, and I feel really guilty for it. I know that money doesn’t really fix issues, but I don’t have another option unless I want to send her to Princess Celestia who would probably throw her in the dungeon.”

 

“Well, I must say I’m touched that you think that highly of me.” Anon said while pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “But it’s fine. Money may not solve everything, but it certainly helps. I’ll at least give it a try, even if it ends up being too much for me. This also won’t be permanent I take it?”

 

Twilight shook her head. “Not unless you want it to be, and if she’s sufficiently reformed. And of course you can also ask me to find someone else or find another way to do this if you can’t handle it by yourself. Although, I’m not sure what I’d do if you do…”

 

“Well, I guess I’ll put my coat and shoes on and follow you. Am I gonna need anything?”

 

“I don’t think so. I take it you’ve got food in the house?” Anon nodded. “Then no. Well, at least not for tonight. You can always go and get some things tomorrow. Although, you’d need to take her with you…”

 

“I’ll figure something out.”

 

“Alright then, let’s go.”

 

Anon went over to the door where his coats and shoes were, slapped on a pair of trainers and a trench coat, and opened the door.

 

“It’s a bit chilly out here. Fuck, why doesn’t Luna make the nights warmer.” Anon said as Twilight trotted up beside him, looking out over Ponyville.

 

“Princess Luna doesn’t control the temperature, silly. The pegasi do. And its nearing winter, so cold nights are to be expected.” She giggled at Anon’s mix-up.

 

“Man I don’t know how you ponies work this shit. It’s weird as fuck to me. Although, everything here is weird as fuck to me. Whatever. Let’s just go so I can get back into my warm house as fast as possible.”

 

And with that, the both of them set off towards Twilight’s castle.