//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four 
// Story: Book 2 The Light: by the flickering light 
// by Penelope Anne Ink 
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Finding Starry still resting on the park bench, he put on a smirk and said, “so the hoodlum is finally taking a break. Haven’t you ever heard that there’s no rest for the wicked?”

“Well I think you’d know that better than anypony,” Starry remarked without looking up.

Edgy wasn’t going to be defeated so easily, especially not with the past few days of grief he had to put up with. So he went and grabbed Starry and tossed her horizontally over his shoulder like a sack of flour, leaving her to sulk as he carried her all the way back into Ponyville.

Knocking on Granny Angel’s door, he bounced her off onto the welcome mat and she brushed herself off with a huff and a “Why in Equestria would you visit somepony’s house in the middle of the night?” before the door behind her opened.

“My! this is a surprise. One of my favorites came back to visit me again for the second time in a month!”

Starry could only halfheartedly smile back, but she let Granny Angel walk her in and Edgy let himself in too before shutting the door behind them.

Granny Angel sat herself down on one side of a sofa while letting Starry take the other side. Edgy didn’t want to sit on any of the doilies on the furniture and stood awkwardly in the large doorway.

“I know you offered to help me earlier, darling, so I thought I would let you know about a party I’m putting on for some of my old friends,” Granny Angel began.

“It isn’t anything big, but if you helped I’d really appreciate it.”

Starry bit her lip and looked like she wanted to think about it for a minute, but she said, “Of course, Granny Angel, what did you want me to do?”

It didn’t take too long before Edgy felt that he was miserably underfoot.

Granny Angel had Starry fix the lightbulb in the basement so they could pull up some old preserves and soon Granny Angel had the kitchen filled with the smell of fruit and bread. Starry was then directed upstairs to fix a rusty door hinge. And before long, Starry had even gone into the attic and pulled up some spare metal parts that she was constructing into a centerpiece display.

Granny Angel had given her some pointers on how she wanted it to look, so Starry took notes and drew a rough sketch of it.

It looked like a pony riding a bicycle, which wasn’t totally unheard of but wasn’t normal.

Starry thought it’d be fun to make though, especially since she had plans for it to move on its own and for the pony to be able to do a flip off the bicycle and back into its seat.

She had spent all morning working on it in the living room before she finally came back into the kitchen to see how Granny Angel was doing.

The sight that met her made her start laughing until tears streamed down her face.

Granny Angel had needed some help with her baking. Edgy agreed to help, but Granny Angel insisted he wear her spare apron. It was purple with a flowery design and had a pink front pocket and a pink frill around the edges. But it was also hard to tell because it was already covered in flour dust, Edgy included. A large patch of flour had somehow found a way to cover his muzzle in a spot that reminded Starry of the spotted pattern on cows.

Edgy noticed Starry walked in and cringed a bit before taking the apron off with feigned dignity and setting it on the counter.

But both were in better spirits all the same.

Granny Angel told them both she was finished with everything and told them they could both go home, but not before seeing Starry’s newest creation.

With a little bit of pride, Starry made them both sit on the doilied sofa as she started up her machine. There was a small switch on the side of the track that she flipped with her magic aura. Soon, the bicycle started rolling along the oval track with a smiling pony rolling along on it. Most of it was just a flat wire sculpture with a few exceptions. The pony’s legs were attached in another layer that rotated as if it was moving the bicycle pedals. The pony’s arms were also on joints that could spin, and the wheels were held up by a thin but firm triangle of wires that sped it around the track.

At one point, the track was made out of a reverse magnet, and it launched the pony into the air as much as the wires holding its hooves onto the handlebars would allow, before the bicycle and pony rolled safely toward the beginning of the loop again.

Granny Angel applauded and even Edgy clapped twice, before saying a proper unicorn would probably be able to do that whole show with just their magic alone.

But Starry didn’t care. Especially not when Granny Angel came over to hug her.

“I have one last request, Starry dear,” Granny Angel said. She pulled out a folded slip of paper from one of her apron pockets and held it out to Starry.

“There’s one special guest I want to invite to my party. He’s a mean old thing, but if you can get him it’d be much appreciated. If not, I’ll have to go and grab a hold of him myself. The directions are all on the paper. I want to start the party off by tomorrow evening so, whether you can get him or not, don’t forget to come by! I’ll be waiting for you.”