//------------------------------// // In search of starlight // Story: Starlight // by Mr Tinkertrain //------------------------------// Moonshine lifted the book with his magic and put it back into its place and pulled another one out of the shelf and sighed. The local library wasn’t as useful as he thought. Since they arrived in Skygate, he was searching for that artifact, but he didn’t even find a trace of it. It was hard enough for him to return to the library each day since this town was made for pegasi and not for unicorns or earth ponies. So he had a hard time to get around in the town. This town was like a labyrinth, if he didn’t watch out for a moment he would get lost immediately. Moonshine thought that this was the main reason that almost only pegasi were living here, they were just flying above the maze of the town. Sometimes when he was searching for somepony to ask about that artifact, he got lost while trying to figure out a way to his destination in this maze. Sadly, Cloudfeather still didn’t recover from the journey through the cold mountains. The nurse said that she caught a bad cold and should stay in for a few days. And those few days turned into weeks. After some time, Moonshine didn’t know what he should think about it. He started to suspect that the nurse was wrong, though he was hoping otherwise. He didn’t really want that she got injured because of him. That was when he realized that he forgot where he was headed. The thought about Cloudfeather distracted him too much. The best would be to return to the library and start from scratch again, so he turned around – and faced a wall. He sighed. He really started to hate this town and wondered what ponies who built that city thought – that there would only live pegasi there and that nopony else would come up here? Moonshine wished for a pair of wings as he began to walk ahead again. The sun was suspiciously low as the hospital of the city came in sight. Moonshine had long forgotten where he actually wanted to go, and was surprised that he ended up at the hospital. After a short thought he decided to drop in to look after Cloudfeather. It was the least he could do for her. He stepped inside the hospital. His steps were echoing from the walls of the building. It was completely silent. The entrance was absolutely empty. Nopony was around, not even a nurse at the desk to welcome eventual visitors. “Hello?” His voice echoed in the empty hall – and without the answer he hoped for. He became nervous, standing alone in an apparently empty hospital. That was, until he hear a distant echo of steps. He had no idea if this were still the echoes of his own steps or if this was somepony else. Also, he couldn’t imagine a reason why a hospital should be empty. “Oh, hello there. We haven’t expected visitors today … Can I help you?” He turned around as somepony entered the hall and spoke to him. It was just a nurse, a pegasus like the other population of Skygate, and the nametag on her jacket stated that her name was Hope. Moonshine shrugged. “I’m looking for a pegasus who came in a few days ago. Her name is Cloudfeather. She arrived with me in this town.” The nurse put her hoof at her chin and she seemed to look through him. “Hm … We have many pegasi here. You know, crashes and accidents … I don’t know if this will help you much, but we have only one pegasus in here who doesn’t live here in Skygate. She is in intensive care.” Moonshine just stood there for a while, as if he was waiting for the nurse to continue speaking. It took a few moments before he processed what the nurse told him. He felt like icy claws were grasping at his intestines. “… In intensive care? Would you please tell me why she is in intensive care?” He gulped as he noticed that his voice was fading. He didn’t know why, but he somehow felt … guilty. “Oh, the doctor just said something about pneumonia, if you know what this is. I don’t even pretend to have understood what he said, but I think he mentioned ‘frozen starlight’ or something like that.” The nurse smiled. “I’m sure your friend will be better soon!” But the last part of what the nurse said woke Moonshine out of his trance. This ‘frozen starlight’ would fit into his research! But why would a doctor, a man of medicine, know something about it? Maybe his way was completely wrong … “Do you know something about that ‘frozen starlight’ the doctor mentioned? Please tell me what you know about it.” He pledged the nurse. “Well … There is an old tale about a piece of pure, frozen starlight. I don’t know it completely, but it is said that it is an alchemic product created by one of the greatest scientists of all history! It is also said, that it could cure any sickness or disability if you heat it up and breathe it in. Duh, that’s something everypony in the hospital knows.” Moonshine was just dumbfounded. He always expected a treasure or something valuable; he would have never guessed that he was looking for a medicine. And that especially Cloudfeather would cause the revelation … He would have to thank her later. And this nurse lived up to her name. “Does the story tell where this … medicine for everything can be found?” He asked the nurse. But to his dismay she shook the head. “From all I remember it says that the alchemist went to the top of the mountain to hide it there. That is where the story ends. Oh, I’m late already! I can stay here and talk all day, gotta go!” The nurse just rushed out of the entrance into one of the hallways next to it and left Moonshine alone again. The unicorn looked a while after her, as she disappeared and thought about what she had told him. He stepped to the window and looked outside. It faced the mountain. The top was covered in snow; he already heard that the snow on the top of this mountain never melts. “To the top of the mountain …” He said to himself. The thoughts about Cloudfeather vanished and there was only one thing on his mind again: The artifact, which turned out to be actually a medicine, and how he would get it into his hooves. He left the hospital without checking on Cloudfeather as he had planned and went to the Inn he rented a room in – where he prepared a journey to the top of the mountain, into the eternal ice … and to his goal.