Starlight stretched, yawned... and stretched harder, throwing back her head and folding her ears and holding open her mouth until finally she had had enough. "Well..." She massaged her eyebrows with a hoof. "I think that's plenty for today..." She yawned again. "Until tomorrow, Twilight?"
"...What?" Twilight Sparkle took several seconds to realize that the story had ended, and to appropriately respond. "Starlight, what!?" She pointed a hoof, increasing incredulity in her voice. "It hasn't been eight hours. You said eight hours! Starlight, it's barely evening! That's not fair!"
Starlight leaned back on her library couch, red evening sunlight touching her mane through the holes in the clouds, and gave a cheeky smirk. "I said no more than eight hours, not no less than. Besides, I think that's a wonderful place to stop."
"Starlight...!" Twilight sprang from her couch, flapped her wings, and landed standing directly over her student, knocking aside an empty teacup and leaning straight into the unicorn's face. "You can't just tell me you died fighting windigoes and expect me to wait all night without an explanation! You know how much stories mean to me! That's just evil!"
"Evil?" Starlight raised an eyebrow, not flinching despite the alicorn leering down at her. "Good thing I'm not a cruel and capable supervillain, then."
Twilight started to object... and then wilted. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you? There weren't actually any windigoes, were there? Did I just fall for that?"
"Huh? N-No!" Starlight suddenly flailed, realizing she had just cost herself her audience's suspension of disbelief. "No. Sorry, Twilight. Whoo..." She exhaled, wiping her brow with a forehoof. "I've had to reconstruct parts of the story I wasn't there for myself, and it is being told from memory, but I've never outright made anything up. There really were windigoes, and I really did disappear."
"You died," Twilight said flatly. "And now you're here telling me about it."
"I said I disappeared," Starlight replied as Twilight settled down onto the couch next to her. "Not died. It was still terrifying. I guess I shouldn't have tried to tease you with a cliffhanger right after so much hard-to-swallow stuff?"
"Does that mean you'll keep going?" Twilight asked, slightly hopeful but mostly calmed down.
Starlight rubbed her throat with a hoof. "Well... let's put it this way. If I take a break now, I might be able to make it to the end of Ironridge tonight and still keep my voice tomorrow."
Blinking, Twilight stared at her. "Ironridge keeps going? That's not the end? How much more is there?"
"Not much, but more than you think." Leaning back, Starlight sighed, her head toward the ceiling. "Also, I stopped you earlier when you wanted to ask about the Tree of Harmony we found beneath Ironridge, and again about Maple using the heart, and again, and again... and I'm pretty sure I should give you a chance to get those questions answered before I go any further and you get way too many new ones."
"...Fair enough," Twilight admitted. "I... might not have them at the front of my mind, though..."
"If you need to clear your mind..." Starlight glanced to the window, then flashed Twilight a grin. "The snow has stopped. Didn't Rainbow Dash invite us to go sledding once that happened? We've been talking for two solid days, and some fresh air would probably do us good."
Twilight stood up, arching her own back in a stretch. "Fine. I probably do need to reset my brain after that, anyway. But bundle up, because it looks cold out there."
Fifteen minutes later, Twilight and Starlight stood outside the doors of Ponyville's resident castle, adjusting their eyes to the bright snow and evening colors. The princess was decked out in a set of cute purple galoshes, a slim striped scarf wrapped thrice around her neck, and a pair of giant fluffy earmuffs, a thin smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes as she pranced forward into Ponyville.
Starlight, meanwhile, wore nothing.
"You're going to get cold, you know," Twilight remarked, the slightest touch of concern in her voice as her hooves crunched down prints in the freshly-fallen snow. "If you really were telling the truth, I'm sort of surprised you're not traumatized by the mere sight of winter."
"Eh. I've been through much worse." Starlight shrugged, matching her pace. "This isn't that cold. There's not even any wind. And besides, we won't be out here for long, and have a warm home to get back to whenever we need it. It's different from being crippled and stranded in a magical blizzard capable of physically targeting you."
Twilight shrugged. "I guess? Still, that's not how post-traumatic stress disorder works, or a lot of related afflictions. Logic has nothing to do with it. Supposedly, you just get triggered."
"Well, it's a good thing I don't have those, then." Starlight grinned mischievously. "Otherwise I'd also have a phobia of rain, heights, and a lot of other things. Watch, Twilight. Just because it's snowing and bad things have happened to me in the snow doesn't mean we'll be attacked, freeze to death, or have anything bad happen now whatsoever. See? Try me, world. Bring it on." She sat upright, spreading her forelimbs like a target.
PAFF!
An impact came from close beside her, and she whirled to see Twilight hit the ground, a toilet plunger stuck to her face. "Mmmmmph! Nnnnnnngh!" Twilight grunted and flailed, grabbing the thing and prying it off with a loud pop. "Hey! You don't just...! These things are unsanitary!"
Rounding a corner, disappearing from sight, was a two-pony sled carrying a laughing, cackling pink-and-cyan duo.
Starlight picked up the plunger in her aura, looking at Twilight with a bemused expression. "Okay, I guess I take that back. Maybe we'll be attacked after all."
Twilight was back on her hooves, two galoshes and the earmuffs gone, and her wings shot out with a focused grunt. "Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, it is on."
With Pinkie steering and Rainbow buzzing her wings for propulsion, a havoc-causing sled careened around a corner, its occupants both on the lookout for incoming revenge.
"Telekinetic snow pile at ten o'clock!" Rainbow hollered, eyes fixed on the sky as Twilight soared closer, revenge in horn. "Pinkie, watch it!"
"On it!" Pinkie threw the sled into an epic drift, leaning and sending a spray of snow across a nearby hedge. "Wheeeeeeeeeee!"
"Hah! Missed!" Rainbow pumped a hoof, readying another plunger. "Oh boy, it's our turn-"
Fwoomp!
Their momentum instantly ended, sending both tricksters flying headfirst into a snow bank levitated by a nearby Starlight. "Gotcha!" she sang, depositing them on the ground and letting them burrow their way out. "Me two, you one, Twilight zero." She blinked up at the sky. "Hey, Twilight! I stole your-!"
Soon, there were three ponies shaking snow from their manes, a slightly-triumphant Twilight touching down nearby and wincing slightly from her bare hooves. "Hah!" she spat, imperiously twirling the plunger next to her head.
"Ooog..." Pinkie violently shook her head, restoring her mane to its usual poofiness. "Oh, hey, Twilight! Hi, Starlight! Dashie said she invited you earlier, and we were taking bets on whether or not you'd show up!"
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, removing a clump of snow with a hoof. "Hey, girls. Decided to stop nerding around in the castle and join us for some quality hanging out?"
"Yes, we..." Twilight blinked. "Wait, you were betting on whether we'd show up? Really?"
"Yepperoonie!" Pinkie slapped a hoof to her chest. "And now I get to do this! Watch, watch!"
Opening her mouth even wider than her head, she lowered it to the ground and pushed forward, devouring snow at an alarming rate... for all of two seconds. She quickly sat back up, hugging herself and sweating. "Ooh! Brain freeze! Not my best idea..."
Starlight gave her a quick look of concern. "Oookay, then. I take it she lost?"
"Nah," Pinkie mumbled, climbing back to her hooves. "That was my privilege for winning."
No one bothered to comment. Instead, Rainbow shrugged, and offered, "So, we've got another sled. Wanna race?"
Twilight and Starlight glanced at each other and shrugged, Twilight's enthusiasm for vengeance having been cooled significantly both by nailing Starlight and the cold snow.
"Cool." Rainbow got up, righted her own sled, and left Pinkie racing off to fetch the other. "So we should probably split me and Pinkie up," she mused, "since we're both grand champions and it's gotta stay fair. Dibs on Starlight for my team, because you need wings for propulsion and Twilight already has those. That means you steer." She kicked the sled down in front of Starlight.
"I'm on your team? Okay." Shrugging, Starlight boarded the sled.
"Propulsion?" Twilight frowned as Pinkie came darting back. "Couldn't we just go downhill?"
Rainbow Dash grinned coolly. "Oh, we'll be doing that too. The point is to go fast. Wanna hear the rules?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Rules?"
"Sure." Rainbow shrugged. "One: get there first. Two: cheat as much as possible. Starting in three..."
"Wait!" Twilight raised her voice. "Where are we racing to?"
Rainbow gave her a 'wouldn't you like to know' look, then suddenly sped up. "Two one gogogo!" Her wings buzzed like a hummingbird, pure pegasus power firing her sled forward. "Nyaa ha ha ha-" Whud!
Starlight had been completely unprepared for the rapid start, hadn't steered at all, and they had crashed into the hedge, the sled half-stuck inside and both her and Rainbow flung into a tangled, disoriented mess. "Ow, hey!" Rainbow complained. "Starlight, that's sabotage!"
"Hey, you heard her!" Pinkie slapped the sled behind her, already locking the handlebar in a death grip. "C'mon, Twilight, let's go while they're crashed!"
Twilight barely had time to step onto the sled when Pinkie kicked at the ground, offering her own propulsion and steering them out into the open.
Swishhhh!
Barely ten seconds of Twilight flapping and Pinkie kicking had passed when Rainbow and Starlight sped past them, the pegasus cackling at the top of her lungs. "Booyah! You guys are so slow! We're gonna win this by a mile!"
"Oh yeah!?" Pinkie's face split in a snarl, and she whipped another plunger out of absolutely nowhere, hurling it like a missile at Rainbow's sled. It would have struck Starlight cleanly in the face had she not pulled a last-second dodge, but the maneuver still cost Rainbow speed, and Pinkie and Twilight pulled back ahead.
"Not so fast!" As Rainbow and Starlight regained speed, Rainbow angled one wing downwards, scraping the surface of the snow and lifting a sheet of white that curled in on itself, rolling and compacting into a giant snowball. "Take... this!"
She flung it at Pinkie's sled. Twilight was already panting from exertion, flapping her wings as fast as she could, and didn't have time to extend her telekinesis and catch the missile... but Pinkie was on it. Jerking the sled violently to the side, she lifted them off the ground and tilted ninety degrees, blocking the snowball with the bottom of the sled before yanking it back into place just in time for the landing. "Nailed it!" she crowed. "Go team us!"
Rainbow's sled was still ahead, though. Pinkie leaned forward in determination, kicking the ground for speed along with Twilight's flapping. "Harder, Twilight, harder! We've still got this in the bag! We're... huh?" She blinked. "Hey, where'd Dashie go?"
The leading sled was just Starlight, and rapidly losing speed... before Rainbow dropped out of the sky, landing squarely in front of Twilight and Pinkie. "Surprise!" Grinning like a lunatic, she spread her wings, completely blocking the view of the terrain.
"Aaack!" Pinkie batted at her, trying to shove her off. "Dashie, move, I can't see-!"
Shwump!
With a hiss of falling snow, the overloaded sled hit a leafless bush, catapulting all three equines off and into another snow drift. Pinkie and Rainbow lay laughing helplessly, and Twilight soon couldn't stop herself from joining in.
"Hello?" Starlight called, drifting with her magic back along the sled trails, Rainbow's sled held alongside her. "Everyone? Where are...?" She noticed the three laying near the bush, Pinkie's sled still caught in its branches, and frowned. "Are you all right?"
"Oh yeah!" Rainbow burst into the air, pounding the forehoof Starlight hadn't been trying to extend. "You see that, slowpokes? Who won? We won! Aww yeah..."
"Laugh it up, Dashie!" Pinkie growled, but there was a broad grin on her face. "So, up for another round?"
Twilight slowly got to her hooves, touching her chest and trying to stop panting. "I think... that's enough exhilaration... for today..." She wiped her brow, shaking snow from her wings. "I'm a bookworm, not an athlete. And it's cold out! Oof..."
"Heh heh heh..." Giggling, Rainbow Dash floated down and punched her on the shoulder. "That's fine, too. Glad you could join us."
"Thanks for inviting us," Starlight replied, touching down herself. "After all that, I needed a break."
"Well, come out for breaks more often!" Rainbow sidled over and sat next to Starlight. "Seriously, me and Pinkie do this stuff all the time. And, uhh..." She glanced at her, carefully weighing her words. "It's cool to see you enjoying spending time with us. To be honest, I'm still maybe just a little freaked out by all that stuff from before you were our friend... even though we make a pretty awesome team now."
Starlight sighed wistfully, hanging her head.
"Too soon?" Rainbow lifted an eyebrow. "Sorry."
"Huh?" Starlight blinked. "Oh, it's not that. You just remind me a lot of someone I used to know."
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Really, now? Were they awesome?"
Starlight stared off into the late evening sky, crowded by occasional clouds and leafless treetips. "You could say that."
"What are you doing in there, anyway?" Rainbow asked. "Some kind of science experiment?"
Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin. "Mmmm... The Pinkie Sense says Glimmy was trolling Twilight about almost dying in conjunction some transdimensional holiday celebrating really bad jokes. Huh. I wonder what that means."
Everyone looked curiously at her. Eventually, Twilight glanced to Starlight, a request for permission in her eyes. It was a request Starlight happily obliged.
"Actually," she began, "I've been telling Twilight my life's story." She grinned, then hesitated. "Well... mostly three days of my life, so far, with a few weeks before that, but I've got a lot more before I'm done. Mostly I've just been talking straight for two days."
"Wow, really?" Rainbow blinked. "You spent two whole days telling Twilight about things that took three days to occur in real life?" She stared, gears spinning in her brain. "I can't tell if that must have been hideously boring or really, really exciting."
"It's definitely the latter!" Twilight lunged forward, clutching Rainbow's shoulders and staring deep into her friend's eyes. "Rainbow, there's a city-state called Ironridge, and it has this amazing economical system and twenty years of intrigue and there are these warring factions called the Spirit and the Defense Force, and ever since the invention of airships-"
"Woah there, Twilight." Pinkie gently patted Twilight on the shoulder, trying to break her away from the stupefied-looking Rainbow Dash. "Pretty sure you just turned Dashie's brain into overload city. The important part for her is, does it have epic kung fu fighting?"
Twilight backed away, blushing. "Well, yes, it did. Sorry, I've just been way too invested in hearing this, and..."
Rainbow finally spoke, retaining her flabbergasted expression... and when she did, it was to Starlight. "Ironridge is real?"
Four mares sat in Twilight Sparkle's first-floor kitchen, a couch having been thoughtfully dragged in front of the roaring oven so the friends could warm themselves in comfort. Twilight sat on the far left, with Starlight at her side, then Rainbow, and finally Pinkie Pie, all four sipping mugs and pointing their hooves at the open flame.
"You're saying Ironridge is real?" Rainbow Dash murmured in rapt attention, completely focused on Starlight. "And you've been there? Wow. That's crazy."
"What's crazy is that you've heard of it," Starlight replied. "It's separated from Equestria by an uncrossable mountain range, and even travel in Equestria is set up so that for most of the nation, places where you actually might hear about the northern world are just names on a map, where only other ponies go. Even Twilight never knew the north half of the world existed, and she's a government official. How did you find out?"
"Bedtime stories my parents told me when I was little," Rainbow replied. "They used to travel Equestria a lot. A lot, a lot. My dad would tell me how they would always meet other ponies on the go, and swap stories, directions or supplies. Just for fun, or because they could. Eventually, they settled down in Cloudsdale to raise me, but..."
She stared up at the ceiling. "Every time I asked where the stories came from, they always said they picked them up from other travelers, or heard them thirdhoof, or even fourth. My parents are kinda straightforward, so I never really figured they made them up, but whoever they heard them from? Who knows? I didn't. Maybe they were actually real. Eventually, I got old enough to be more interested in what I could do instead of what other ponies had done... heh... and started getting stories about all the races I won or the time I got my cutie mark or stuff instead. But, wow. I hadn't heard that name for ages."
Starlight sighed, an almost giddy smile crossing her face. "See, Twilight?" She winked. "I told you I was telling the truth."
Twilight was likewise impressed. "I know. That's pretty convincing evidence that at least something happened."
"So, uhh..." Rainbow spun her forehooves. "Not to be rude, but would you guys mind if I listened too? This is, like... almost making me want to fly back home right now and ask my folks how much of that stuff they still remember."
Starlight smirked. "Maybe. We just cut off at a pretty big cliffhanger, and you'd be extremely confused if you started listening right now, but tomorrow we'll start on a new part of the story, and it probably won't take too much explaining if you want to pick up from there. How's that sound?"
Rainbow raised a wing in a salute. "You got yourself a deal. I'll be by, uhh... How bright and early is bright and early for you?"
"Follow the smell of breakfast from the kitchen," Twilight cut in, rolling her eyes. "You're unnervingly good at it already."
"Oh! Yeah! Heh heh..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, leaning against the couch and grinning. "Yeah, I can just do that. Come on, Pinkie. Think we should bail so these two can get to the right place in the story?"
Pinkie bounced to her hooves. "Okie dokie lokie!"
"Oh... Rainbow Dash?" Starlight leaned after her, grinning nervously. "If you're going to ask your parents about the north... could you do me a favor and not mention me? At all?"
Rainbow blinked. "I guess? Why not?"
"Well..." Starlight chewed her lip. "If you mentioned me, and it turned out they had heard of me... because I did a really bad job keeping a low profile in the north... and they told you anything that would come up in my story, and you knew the wrong question to ask that might accidentally spoil Twilight..." At that, Twilight grew alarmed, violently shaking her head. "Just in case?" Starlight finished hopefully.
"Oh. Yeah. That's actually a good idea." Rainbow stared for a moment, then jumped back into action. "Yeah, that actually totally sounds like something my parents would do. Tell me everything they could if they recognized your name, and stuff. You know, maybe I'll just skip the visit home tonight and just chillax in a tree at Sweet Apple Acres or... No, that's for summertime. Meh. I'll just try to remember stuff on my own. See ya! Bye!"
Rainbow zoomed away, and when Starlight next looked, Pinkie Pie was gone as well. It was just her and Twilight, sitting on a couch in front of the oven, mugs in hoof and the crackle of sparks in their ears. The tick of a baking clock echoed from a wall behind them.
"Well?" Starlight asked, turning to Twilight. "I think I'm feeling okay to continue. Any questions before I start?"
"I honestly don't remember." Twilight shook her head. "All the adrenaline, both from the story and that sled fight, and... wow. You said you were keeping track, or something?"
"Sort of." Starlight shrugged, the fire emitting a particularly loud pop in front of them. "First off, speaking of fires... that place we found was a Tree of Harmony, just like the one that makes up this castle. I'm pretty sure the underground palace was even the same type of building as this one. The gorge in Everfree runs deep enough that you can find the tip of the tree itself, but if you found a cave that went deep enough, you'd probably find another flame just like that one."
"Huh." Twilight stared into the flames. "I always thought the tree was special. I mean, Celestia told me she and Luna got the Elements of Harmony from it in the first place. I never figured there might be multiples."
Starlight shrugged again, feeling the red velvet of the couch against her back. "Actually, they probably did. The trees are just attuned to different elements. This one is yours, while the one in Ironridge is Kindness."
Twilight's eyes widened. "Really? So would that mean there are...?"
"Four more of them?" Starlight finished. "That's what I assume."
"Huh," Twilight repeated, and the silence ticked on. Eventually, she said, "So. Windigoes."
"Windigoes," Starlight repeated. "Real monsters. At least, I think so. Remember, I technically never saw them for myself. So much of Ironridge... especially the last night is based on what I learned, talking with my friends afterward. It's not the only time we split up, either. But I don't think you have to worry about them attacking Equestria."
Twilight exhaled. "Yeah..."
"One of the few things you don't have to worry about, at that," Starlight added, voice slightly drier. "When major villains are practically a weekly occurrence. But ponies here seem happy enough that monsters who feed on strife will probably look elsewhere."
"...Starlight?" Twilight swallowed. "This is a little hard for me to ask, but... you made it sound like the presence of the windigoes influenced your thinking, or your feelings. Did you... With the dam, and destroying Sosa, did you ever...?"
"Feel bad for it?" Starlight's voice was carefully measured. "I... never did. I felt bad for not feeling bad for it, but that's not the same thing. That wasn't the windigoes, if they even had an effect. I felt mad at the city for making me destroy it, maybe. But... Twilight... remember who you're talking to. I'm not a role model for emotional or moral stability. All I know about is taking impossible goals, giving them one hundred and ten percent, and achieving them no matter the cost. I don't lose, and that's it."
Twilight raised her head, warily proceeding. "Because you lost Sunburst?"
"That was what started it, but we've covered that." Starlight looked away. "With the dam... It happened. I know I'd do it again, if I had to. I could do it again, even if I didn't. But you shouldn't need a lecture on what I'm capable of to get my way."
"Starlight..." Twilight scooted closer. "Are you sure you want to keep going now? We're already taking a break. We could just stop here for the night, if you want."
Starlight sipped from her mug, swallowing loudly. "No. We can continue. It's felt better than you can imagine talking about this from start to finish, actually. Maybe it'll even help me sort out my issues and feelings on things that are still bothering me. A lot of what's happened so far, I've had time to process... but especially later on, there are things I've never, ever told another pony. Even Maple."
Twilight smiled softly. "I'm ready when you are."
"...Right." Starlight drained the last of her mug and sat back, leaning into the cushions. "Just a warning, though... if we're starting when I'm emotionally compromised, I'm almost definitely going to cry before this is over. I didn't die, but there's a difference between surviving physically and not being broken."
"What did you used to do when you were stressed or sad?" Twilight asked without thinking.
"Usually?" Starlight snorted. "There's no time for psychiatry when you're fighting for your life, Twilight. In Ironridge, I just pushed everything aside in the name of survival. After that, and before it in Riverfall, it was mostly friends, hugs, crying and sleeping it off... and you can probably guess which of those were out by the time I was making my village." She beamed, eyes already watering. "Which is why I need to tell this and am glad you're listening, I guess. But come on. We need to get started before I start, or else this story is never going to get told."
"...Hmm." Twilight shifted slightly, aligning herself. "Well, if you need it, my shoulder is always free."
"...Thanks, Twilight."