//------------------------------//
// Silence, The Easy Road 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Starlight stared in silence as her friends said their pieces around her. Everyone was talking, but it was hard to listen. No matter how much she tried, their words went in one ear and out the other, Harshwater's mouth moving without the intent ever making it across.

She couldn't hear because the fact was, it didn't matter what any of these ponies had to say. They were leaving. She was leaving them, and there was nothing she could do to change that beyond simply changing her mind. It wasn't a fight she could win, an obstacle she could be more stubborn than, or any other type of challenge she had overcome in her life. She couldn't change the factors her decision was based on. It had to stand, and that meant she had to stay, and lose her friends all over again.

This couldn't be another Sunburst. She wouldn't let it. She couldn't survive a thing like that again.

Harshwater kept talking, and Starlight got the feeling she was addressing Maple more than her. How much did Harshwater have to say to her, anyway? They had been shipmates, sure, but not especially close. Harshwater was friends with Valey, and Slipstream, and probably others too. But just because they lived a few cabins away for a few months didn't have to mean they depended on each other for friendship. In fact, Harshwater could probably go along her way and Starlight wouldn't feel like she had lost much at all.

Right? Because they weren't that close. Right.

It still hurt to imagine a soul leaving. This was the same way she felt while gray and looking at ponies' light: it didn't matter how much they cared about her, it mattered how much they could care. Because a pony who could care was a pony who could care about her, and thus a bright spot who was better in her life than outside it. But that was just the Nightmare Modules. Starlight couldn't think like that all the time. She had to see this for what it was: a goodbye that didn't need to destroy her, because she'd still have what really mattered.

She'd still have Maple. And Valey and Amber would be trying their hardest to get everyone back together again.

Starlight wondered what it would feel like to be reunited with someone she had been missing for a long time. Maybe it would feel like returning to Sires Hollow. Would she find pieces of herself shattered and scattered around them she didn't even know she had lost? Why couldn't a reunion feel like a piece of her life was back where it belonged? If goodbyes were to be dreaded, hellos should be the opposite, brightness to make life worth living and balance out the bad.

Maybe they were. Meeting Fluffy again hadn't been so bad. Maybe if she met enough new ponies, it would start to help. She'd give that a try, she resolved, once the next phase of her life began. It sounded vaguely like advice Glimmer had once given her, but the last time she saw the filly, Glimmer was helping her and the students against Gazelle. Maybe her advice was worth something after all.

"...And I hope life treats you well," Harshwater finished, bowing and stepping back. However many down, however many to go.





On the deck above, Jamjars was lavishly hugging a very uncomfortable Fluffy Fleece, nuzzling and fawning over her mane.

"Err..." Gerardo shuffled, also uncomfortable with his role of designated chaperone.

"I'm sort of used to it? A little?" Fluffy pushed experimentally at Jamjars, and couldn't dislodge her. "I know my mane is unique, but is she alright? This is getting pretty weird."

"Whatever, I'm weird, I admit it," Jamjars giggled. "I've never felt anything like this! How can you live day to day walking around and doing normal things when you have a national treasure on your head? If not being weird means not appreciating it, then no thank you. This filly has had too much heartache worrying about that already."

Gerardo scratched his head, looking for a way to intervene but not finding one short of picking Jamjars up. "I... suppose perhaps she is not alright, no. Jamjars, could you treat this filly with a little more dignity, please?"

"Impossible," Jamjars happily sang. "I'm already lavishing her mane with as much adoration as I cannn..."

Fluffy fidgeted. "Maybe you could lavish it with a little less adoration? Most ponies at least ask before playing with it. You don't even care if I'd say no."

"Or, you could give me the name of your stylist," Jamjars unsubtly hinted, "and both be rid of me and become my best friend in the same sentence. Come on, be a chum..."

"I style it myself." Fluffy frowned harder. "And it's not like this because of anything I do! Now please stop making me tell you to stay out of trouble? You're making me feel like a grown-up."

"Jamjars, you have been asked," Gerardo pointed out.

"But it's fluffyyyyyy and smoooooth at the saaaame tiiiiiiime..."

Fluffy sat there with a consternated look.

"Jamjars," Gerardo sighed, "I am fully capable of lifting you."

"Do what you must," Jamjars whined, hanging onto her stolen treasure. "It's not like I get to stay here, or anything. I wish I had more incentive to play the long game. I like it here so much already..."

"Um, are you saying you're being rude to me because you're leaving and don't care about being my friend?" Fluffy blinked in surprise, then annoyance. "I'm sorry for your loss, but that's rude. Please let me go."

Gerardo stepped in, using his talons to deftly separate the two and pull away a limp, pouting Jamjars. "And that's two times too many. I believe Miss Fleece is owed an apology."

"Sorry..." Jamjars' ears were flat. "You'd be clingy too if your only friend was leaving you for someone with such a gorgeous mane. At least I'll have my memories..."

Fluffy dusted herself off, mostly concerned with fixing her mane. "That's no excuse to be rude when I was trying to help. Starlight did that too, a year ago. Hmmph. You got this bit all tangled..."

"Too bad Starlight's staying here," Jamjars sighed. "Maybe you could talk her out of it? We'd probably get along great if I didn't have an impending crisis over my head. I'll be so lonely without her..."

Fluffy's mouth hung open, and she looked up at Gerardo. "Maybe I should just go home? This is weird, and I don't know what to do."

"I wouldn't blame you," Gerardo replied with a shrug. "Are you alright, first and foremost?"

"Oh, yeah." Fluffy was still fixing her mane. "Ponies do that sometimes. It just happens. But this time was definitely the weirdest." She glanced at the captive Jamjars, who looked ready to cry. "Is Starlight really her only friend?"

"She's the first one I ever was close to," Jamjars sniffled. "She rescued me from my family m-months ago, and is the only one I can talk about my interests and hobbies with! L-Like gorgeous manes... Waaaah!"

Gerardo waggled a talon before Fluffy could respond. "The only times I've ever seen you shed tears are on purpose when you fail to get what you want. What's all this about?"

"I just said!" Jamjars blubbered. "Starlight is leaving! You should make her stay... or at least give me a consolation prize..."

"I don't think that's my decision..." Fluffy shuffled. "Is he saying you're fake-crying? Why would you do that?"

Jamjars curled her lip and adopted a deadpan expression. "Starlight is strong. So strong, she's a freak. You wouldn't want her in your town. But we need her here, since she can keep this crew together and keep us safe from bad guys and monsters. We both win! Are you happier with it put that way than giving a favor to an ardent admirer or a distraught filly? Because I really do like your mane."

Fluffy blanched in utter confusion, and Gerardo closed Jamjars' mouth by pinning a talon around her muzzle, not giving her the option to go on. "I think, ah..." He fumbled for words. "I think someone will need to have a talk with her, and it's probably best not to put much stock in this..."

"What?" Fluffy was staring. "Strong? A freak? Don't insult her just because you want to keep your friend." She briefly made eye contact with Gerardo. "I-It's alright. She's probably upset about losing her friend..." She sighed. "I really think I should go home. This is all weird. And just so you know, if you'd been nice and patient, maybe I would have let you touch my mane on purpose."

Jamjars slumped in Gerardo's talons. "Argh. I hate wasting chances like that on gambits that don't pay off. Your mane really is fantastic. I don't suppose there are any secrets you could leave me as a peace offering, are there?"

"Eat your vegetables and be nice to everyone." Fluffy shrugged. "And get lucky. Um, so what are we doing?"

"Ditching me," Jamjars grumbled. "Why did the one pony I needed to convince to do something have to be someone I wanted to be friends with...?"

"Right, then..." Gerardo stretched. "I'll just find a place for her down below, if you need an escort home..."





"There's not much for me to say that hasn't already been said," Slipstream finished, the last of Starlight's non-immediate friend group to speak. Was it just her, or were all the ponies she'd miss most saving their speeches for the end? "I'm with Gerardo and everyone who's flying on, looking for writs for us. We'll miss you, and it's been fun."

As she sat back down, Maple finally checked on Starlight. "How are you doing up there?"

Starlight's expression stayed neutral. "What about Valey, Shinespark and Amber?"

"Nyaah." Valey stuck out her tongue and ruffled Starlight's mane. "Pretty sure we're not quite at the goodbye yet. Some of us have to stay and hold down the ship, but if Sparky thinks we can delay for a night longer, we're gonna spend that with you."

"You're getting a place in town, right?" Amber pointed out, tilting her head. "Some friends we'd be if we didn't come help decorate it and break it in with a housewarming party."

"A house? As long as you've decided you want Starlight's old one," Fishy added with a shrug. "Shouldn't take more than an hour to get it completely signed over, and that's only of my time."

Amber raised an eyebrow. "Should we get the party started, then? Get in as much time as possible?"

"Agreed," Maple said with a smile. "I saw it once, but let's go take a look at this new old home."

On their way up the stairs, there was a faint commotion, and they ran straight into Gerardo, who was burdened with a dejected Jamjars. Valey blinked. "They didn't hit it off, or they hit it off way too well?"

Gerardo shrugged, holding out Jamjars to anyone who wanted her. "They had differing opinions over whether they didn't hit it off or hit it off all too well."

"Yup." Valey nodded knowingly, leaning against a wall of the staircase and making no move to claim the filly. "Sounds about right."

"She didn't like my appreciation of her mane," Jamjars mumbled. "And I couldn't even get a small favor. It was such a wonderful mane..."

Starlight stared at her, snapped out of her spiral of unfeeling denial. "What did you do to Fluffy's mane?"

Jamjars pointed an aggressive hoof. "Sacrificed the chance at a glorious relationship to try to guilt her into telling you to make the smart choice with your life and stick with us. We're all better off together, Starlight. And if you come with us, we'd have the writ left over and could even invite her too!"

Starlight blinked hard. "Invite who?"

Jamjars rolled her eyes. "Who else has an amazing mane? Do you know how much I'm kicking myself right now?"

"Probably not as much as you're kicking me," Gerardo muttered, "every time you struggle..."

Starlight shook her head. "I think she likes it here. She doesn't have a family or home she wants to run away from. And even if I went north, I'd need the writ myself."

"No you don't." Jamjars blew a raspberry. "You didn't the first time you came up there."

"That doesn't count," Starlight grunted. "I've made my choice, and I can't second-guess it. Please just let me be..."

"I'm just trying to look out for you."

"I think that's more than enough," Maple interrupted, pushing past Gerardo with Starlight and making for the deck. "Jamjars, it'll be okay. Could someone who's staying please talk to her? Slipstream? You're on good terms with her, aren't you?"

"On it!" Slipstream called from below.

They proceeded onto the deck, where Fluffy was waiting all by herself. She perked cautiously the moment ponies appeared, and a little more once they were ones she recognized.

"Starlight?" Fluffy got up, stepping forward. "Is Jamjars your friend?"

Starlight hesitated. "...Sometimes. Both of us need it. She's a little weird and not very nice."

Fluffy nodded. "Um... okay. She said, um... Never mind. Where are you going?"

"We're going to Starlight's old house," Fishy announced. "Which is now her new house, once I get a few things in order. Don't see why you can't tag along."

"Yes!" Fluffy was instantly in the air, wings buzzing. "Seeing the airship was cool, but it's kind of awkward here. Let's go somewhere else. Yes, please."

"Heh." Valey chuckled, matching Maple's stride and Shinespark matching hers. "Good to see some enthusiasm around here. And I'm glad the local kids are resilient goofballs who don't get put out by getting mane-mauled by Jamjars, or whatever happened up here."

Maple nodded, breathing deeply of the marine air. "It will be a good place. The transition might be a little rocky, but I think we'll be happy here for as long as we need to be."