The Life in Ponyville series
By SeaBreeze173
Love: Reassessed
Part 1
9 years before the events of New Town, New Beginnings
“Come along, honey. We’re going to be late getting to the train station,” Starry Night called to her eight year old daughter. Starry was a sapphire blue unicorn with a light pastel purple and light sky blue mane and tail. Her eyes were a beautiful grayish-blue, her cutie mark being a simple five-pointed star.
Starry looked around her now empty pent house apartment in the heart of Manehatten. She felt a tear slip from her eyes and quickly wiped it away with a flick of her hoof. A year before, just after midnight, she had been in her bed, waiting for her husband to come home from a late night at his work. The next afternoon, they, along with their seven year old daughter, would be leaving for a three week vacation in the Hayman Islands, where she and her husband would also be celebrating their nine year wedding anniversary.
1 year ago
Starry laid awake in the king sized bed she usually shared with her husband, Constellation von Abastor. She smiled in the dark as she thought about her loving husband. His eyes that were always filled with fun and laughter, his kind smile that would turn anypony’s bad day into a day of happiness. Her little filly had the same smile.
Tonight Constellation was having another long work stay at his office. Starry was used to him being gone late into the night, but he almost always was home at the same time and she always worried when he was even half a minute late. It is not wise for one to be out in the Manehatten streets at night, she constantly told him. “Don’t worry about me, My Light. I’m a tough old colt,” he would respond, promptly pulling her into one of his bone crushing, yet equally tender hugs and laying a kiss on her lips. My Light. It had been his pet name for her for twelve years. It made Starry feel like a love struck teenager whenever Constellation would say it.
Starry glanced at the clock on her bedside table. 1:52 AM. It was twenty-two minutes past his usual arrival time.
~~~
Constellation trotted quickly along the sidewalk to the subway station. His hat dripped with the rain water drizzling down from the clouds above, his soggy rain jacket whipping against his fetlocks in the wind. “Starry is probably worrying her head off right now,” he said to himself. Constellation passed by a dark alley way, not noticing the three stallions standing in the shadows.
Constellation continued on his way, oblivious to the ponies following him, as the steady rain fall, in conjunction to his partial deafness, muted their hoof falls. As he passed under a street light, his blue eyes caught the shadows of his followers. Thinking they wanted to pass him, he stopped and stepped to the side. Nodding at each other, the three stallions took their opportunity and surrounded their next victim.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr. von Abastor, Manehatten’s most successful business pony,” the leader said. He was a pegasus and had a dark blue coat, brown mane and tail and brown eyes, his left eye having a scar above it. His two earth pony cohorts looked alike, both having green coats and blue eyes, with the taller having a darker green mane and tail, the shorter stallion’s being a light and dark brown.
“Uh, yes. I am Constellation von Abastor. What can I do for you three gents on this… soggy night?”
“For starters,” the leader began, “you can drop that brief case you’re holding.” Constellation glanced at his brief case. He had a surprise in it for Starry. A diamond necklace he hoped to give her on their anniversary.
“I’m sorry, but I have a gift for my wife in it. She never asks for anything and I wanted to surprise her,” Constellation tried to sway their interest.
“No can do, Mr. von Abastor. I happen to know that a surprise for your little wife is not all you have in it.”
Constellation looked at the pegasus as if he had grown another head. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know what your talking about,”
The taller earth pony opened his saddle bag and pulled out a small gun, hoofing it over to the pegasus. Constellation felt his heart stop as he laid eyes on the gun.
“Okay. We can do this the hard way or we can do it my way. Drop. The. Case.”
~~~
2:29 AM
Starry Night paced around the living room of the pent house apartment. It was almost an hour past Constellation’s usual arrival time. Sure, he had been late before. Many times in their almost nine years of marriage. Running the large corporate business took a lot of work and Constellation was dedicated to the business his grandfather established thirty-one years before. If only it had been based in another city other than the crime ridden Manehatten, Starry would have been much more comfortable.
2:35 AM
Starry had never been one to rush into things before thinking it out, but she always knew when something was wrong. It was a feeling of dread which built up in the pit of her stomach the longer time went on. She had that feeling now.
“Momma?” Starry turned to see her filly drowsily stumbling into the living room, her stuffed dog under one arm, the blanket Constellation’s mother had knitted for her being dragged along the floor.
“Honey Pie, don’t you know little fillies should be in bed this late at night?”
Starry picked Moon Glow up and sat down with her on the couch. The bluish-purple filly looked up into her mother’s face. “Is Poppa home yet?”
Those four little words tore at Starry’s heart. The little filly loved her poppa so much.
“I’m sure he’ll be home soon, Moonie.” Starry jumped at the loud knocks coming from the door. She sat Moon Glow down and ushered her back to her room. “Don’t come out until I say, understand?” Moon nodded and jumped on her bed.
More knocks echoed through the home as Starry practically galloped to the foyer. Slinging the door open, she came face to face with her worst nightmare come to life.
“Mrs. von Abastor?” the police stallion asked. Starry nodded her head looking from him to the two other police stallions and one police mare. .
“Yes, I’m Starry Night von Abastor. Where is my husband?”
“May we come in?” Starry nodded cautiously. She stepped aside and let them through. She led them to the living room and gestured them to sit. The police stallion, Officer Axel, cleared his throat.
“Do you have any knowledge of what your husband does?” he asked. Starry starred at him for several moments before saying, “Well, I used to work at the company as a receptionist before and a little after we were married, however I don’t know a lot about the inner dealings. He and I rarely talk about those things, since it always goes over my head ,” she chuckled lightly. “I do know that the company does a lot of industrial things, as well as charity work,”
“What about trade?” Axel inquired.
“Trade?”
“Yes, as in deals with other countries,”
“I know what trade is," Starry said. She continued. "I don't believe that the company does much in that aspect. Why? Constellation isn’t doing anything illegal, is he?” Starry began to panic. “I know he would do anything like that!”
“Please calm down, Mrs. von Abastor,” Axel tried to soothe. He continued, “There isn’t any solid evidence, but there does appear to be some illegal trade going on within your husband’s company. Now that doesn’t mean that Mr. von Abastor was involved in any way. In a company as large as Abastor Robotics, it is easy for things to slip by,”
Starry began to say something, but paused. She looked into the officer’s eyes. “Tell me something, Officer Axel. Why did you come here tonight? Especially with it being so late,”
The police ponies glanced at each other. The mare, Officer Ivy, spoke up.
“There is no easy way to tell you this, Mrs. Starry. There’s been a robbery. It appears to have been at gunpoint. Your husband did not make it out alive. I’m sorry,”
Starry looked at the ponies in her living room, her shock evident on her face.
2:52 AM
At first, she did not feel anything. It was as if time had stopped. This was all just a dream. A horrible, awful dream. She was going to wake up. Constellation was going to be in the bed right beside her. She would lightly punch him to get him to wake up, as she had done every morning since they were married. She would make breakfast as he chased their daughter around the kitchen and almost make her drop the platter of pancakes. Then they would finish their packing and be on their way to the Hayman Islands for their three week long vacation with his parents and her mother. There they would meet up with Constellation’s brother and his wife and kids and they would have the most memorable vacation ever. No, this was all a horrible dream.
3:00 AM
The police ponies were nervously glancing at one another. Starry had not yet said anything. It was as if she was frozen.
“Mrs. von Abastor, are you—” Ivy began, only to be cut off by Starry.
“NO!!” the mare shrieked, quickly standing up. “No. No. No. No. No. No!! This isn’t true! Constellation is going to come through that door and say this is all a mistake. There is no illegal trade and he’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s…not...dead...” She sank back down on the couch. “He’s not dead. No. He can’t be dead. He—”
“Momma?” The police ponies looked up at the little seven year old filly, holding her stuffed dog and dragging along a knitted blanket. Starry broke down, covering her tear streaming eyes with her hooves.
“Momma, is Poppa coming home?”
“Momma?” Starry blinked and shook her head. Looking down at her hooves, she saw her sweet little filly smiling curiously at her.
“Are you ready now, Honey Pie?”
“Yes, Momma, I’m ready,”
“Good, now let’s go. It’s a long way to Ponyville and we have to get to the train station on time.” She levitated three small travel cases beside her. Most of their larger luggage had been shipped the day before.
Starry had sold the majority of her things, keeping only Moon’s bed and dressers and her own dressers. She packed all of their clothes, keeping some and donating the rest to charity. The only things she didn’t dare sell or donate was her jewelry, all of which her husband had bought for her. She hadn’t worn any of it since his death, keeping it locked up in a chest. They only thing she kept with her at all times was her wedding ring, which was kept on a necklace around her neck.
Even now, that awful night was fresh in her mind as if it had happened hours before. It turned out that there were illegal dealings within the company, though nothing could point it to Constellation. His brother, Nadir, had taken over Abastor Robotics and got to the bottom of the operation which had robbed him of his older brother, resulting in many of the workers’ imprisonment. The three ponies who murdered Constellation were also caught and imprisoned.
Yet not even the capture and imprisonment of the evil that took her husband and the father of her child away could dull the pain Starry had in her heart. It just made it worse. She would have felt better if it had been an accident. This, this was cold blooded murder for something that Constellation had no idea was going on. At his funeral, Nadir told Starry that when she and Constellation were married, Constellation made Nadir promise to take care of her if anything happened to him. Nadir stayed true to his promise, financially caring for his sister-in-law and niece.
Starry wiped her eyes once more as she looked around the living room and out into the Manehatten skyline. Her home for twelve of her thirty-two years. No, for eleven of her thirty-two years. For the past year, she had felt like an outsider. Manehatten was no longer her home. It was time to find a new home. It was time to go back to her true home. Ponyville.
The train pulled into the station in Ponyville. Starry lifted her sleepy daughter onto her back, and, levitating her things, eased her way onto the platform. The unicorn caught sight of her mother, Bella Notte. Smiling, Starry rushed over as quickly and carefully as possible.
“Starry!”
“Mom!” The mares embraced each other lovingly.
“Momma, stop moving,” Moon groaned sleepily from Starry’s back. Starry pulled away from her mother’s grip and nuzzled Moon Glow.
“Wake up, Honey Pie. Your grandmother wants a hug from her favorite granddaughter.” Moon Glow instantly popped up on her mother’s back, her eyes widening at the sight of her grandmother.
“Nona!” Moon Glow squealed, flinging herself into her grandmother’s hooves.
“Hello, my beautiful nipote,” Bella said in her thick Bitalian accent, hugging the filly close.
"Nona, can't...breathe..." Moon choked out
“Sorry, my dear. Can’t blame your grandma for her enthusiasm, though, especially when she hasn’t seen her granddaughter in two years,” the old unicorn chuckled.
Starry smiled fondly as she watched her mother and daughter reunite. She only wished her father, and her husband, could be there as well.
“Starry, were you listening?” Starry shook her head and saw Bella and Moon looking at her quizzically. I need to stop doing that. Starry scolded herself for zoning out. She sauntered over to her mom and filly.
“What were you saying, Mom?” Starry asked.
“I said, are you ready to go to the house? Your things arrived this morning. Already got Moonie’s bedroom furniture arranged. Need to get you a bed though, unless you want to sleep on the floor?” the spry elder mare chuckled.
“I think I can share with Moonie for a little while, right, honey?” Starry looked to her filly. Moon Glow feigned annoyance.
“If you must.” Starry laughed and whisked Moon in the air with her hooves. Moon giggled and playfully struggled to get away.
“Okay, silly fillies, let’s get a move on,” Bella shook her head and gestured for her daughter and granddaughter to follow her.
Starry and Bella walked through Ponyville side by side, talking of times past. Starry kept a watchful eye on Moon Glow as the eight year old filly skipped along, soaking in all the sites. It wasn’t very much, but still amazing to a filly who had only seen tall skyscrapers for most of her life.
Moon Glow continued to skip through the streets several paces in front of her mom and grandmother, only to have her hoof catch on a raised rock, causing her to trip and fall directly into a passing colt.
“Oof!” The colt grunted as he felt the sudden weight of his “attacker”.
“Dude! Are you okay?” Four other colts and two fillies galloped up.
Moon shook her head to clear it from the fall, her eyes landing on the colt’s wings.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” the downed colt sighed. He glanced at the filly that had ran him over. “Uh, could you get off me, please?”
Moon pulled her eyes from the set of wings attached to the colt’s back. “Oh! Um, sorry,” Moon apologized quietly as she scrambled off the colt.
“It’s no problem,” the colt assured her. “I’m Glacier. These are my pals, Stone Brook, Skye Racer, Phoenix, Red Knight, Sweet Heart and Thunder Bolt,” Glacier gestured at each of the six foals standing around him, five being pegasi, Red Knight being the lone earth pony. “Stone and Racer are twins. Don’t worry about telling them apart. I still get them mixed up and I’ve known ‘em forever!”
“I’m Moon Glow,” Moon replied as she continued eyeing the colt’s wings.
Noticing her curious stare, Glacier said, “What, never seen a pegasus before?”
“Huh?” Moon brought her attention back to the colt, his ice blue eyes sparkling playfully. “Oh, sorry. I never saw many pegasusses back in Manehatten,”
Glacier, along with his friends, laughed knowingly. Phoenix spoke up. “It’s pegasi. Don’t worry, everyone messes up. Even those who are pegasi.”
“Hey, you said you’re from Manehatten?” Thunder Bolt asked. “I was born in Manehatten,”
Moon nodded. “Yup. But my Momma and I just moved here to live with my Nona,”
“Nona?” Skye Racer whispered to his brother, Stone Brook.
“It means grandmother in Bitalian, you dodo bird,” Stone Brook rolled his eyes. “You of all ponies should know that. Dad’s grandma is from Bitaly.”
“Oh, right.”
“Moon Glow! Are you okay, honey? I saw you fall. You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” The eight foals looked up to see a worried sapphire blue unicorn rushing over, a slightly older sapphire blue unicorn following behind her. Starry lifted Moon up, searching her for any cuts or bruises.
“Momma, I’m fine,” Moon groaned, her cheeks flushed from embarrassment. The other foals shuffled their hooves and looked extremely uncomfortable.
Starry continued her fussing. “I think we should get you to the house. Don’t want you getting badly hurt—” she stopped when she felt her mother’s hoof on her shoulder.
“Starry, set the filly down,” Bella said firmly.
“But Mother—”
“You cannot coddle the child forever, my daughter. Foals fall. They get hurt. She will live. Now set Moon Glow down. She will be fine.” Bella nodded and began to trot away. She new that Starry had always been an over-protective mother and her protectiveness tripled after Constellation’s death. Starry needed to relax. Ponyville was one of the safest towns in Equestria. Moon would be just fine by herself.
Starry Night held onto her daughter for several minutes. Finally she sighed and released her hold. She bent down to Moon’s height.
“You remember the way to Nona’s house, right?”
Moon smiled brightly. “Yes Momma!”
“Be there in two hours. No later. Okay?”
“Okay!” Moon squeaked.
“That’s my little girl. Have fun. Love you,” Starry pulled Moon in for a tight hug and smiled.
After waiting for her mother to be mostly out of sight, Moon released the breath she was holding in.
“Sorry about that. Momma gets worried easily.”
“All moms are like that. Ya get used to it,” Glacier smiled, the other foals nodding their heads.
“You wanna come hand with us?” Red asked. “We’re going to play some soccer,” Bolt finished.
“I’ve never played soccer,” Moon said.
“We’ll show ya, it’s pretty easy once you get the basics down,” Phoenix grinned, swinging her arm around the unicorn’s shoulders.
“Okay. Let’s go play some soccer!” Moon laughed, following after her new friends.
~~~
Starry and Bella walked into the older mare’s home. It was of the typical Ponyville style, which reminded Bella Notte of the home she grew up in back in Bitaly.
Bella paused as she noticed her daughter stopping at the doorway and looking back into the street.
“I’m sure the filly is fine,” Bella said, knowing that Starry was worried for Moon’s safety.
“Huh?” Starry looked back to her mother.
“Has living in the big city clouded your memory, dear? Ponyville is not like Manehatten. You should know that. You did grow up here, after all,”
“I know, Mother,” Starry sighed. “It’s just that, Moon is the only thing I have left of Constellation. If anything happened to my baby I would die. She’s the only thing keeping me from going crazy.”
Bella put a hoof on Starry’s back. “I know, dear. Constellation’s death was hard on us all. You loss a husband. Donar and Flora lost a son,” Bella said, referring to Constellation’s parents. She removed her hoof from Starry’s shoulder and began to walk to the kitchen.
“But Moon? The filly lost her father.”