//------------------------------// // Issue 1 ~ With One Step Begins Every Journey // Story: It's All A Little Strange To Me // by Essay Jay //------------------------------// “Are you absolutely sure about this, Starlight?” Twilight asked her friend. Starlight silently faced out the open door for another moment before turning to Twilight. She could feel her own self doubts on going on such a journey, but she felt it needed to be done. Ponies… she had always heard of how ponies changed when after they had gone somewhere. When they came back, they were always different, changed, better, maybe not just physically but mentally and emotionally stronger. “...Yes, Twilight,” Starlight nodded, “I- I need this. I know it’s going to be hard, and- and I know it might not heal me or anything, but it just feels right. I can’t explain it… I just…” Starlight turned around to look out the door of the castle once more. She watched the citizens of Ponyville milling around, going about their daily routine as morning had broken. She then looked beyond, at the rolling hills and the peaceful grasslands of Equestria. The places she’ll end up venturing into… The land she’ll journey and wade through to find the answers to her inner peace and physical healing… “I’m ready, Twilight. Whatever I find, whatever happens to me… I am glad I was able to be your friend in the time that you have helped teach me the values of friendship. When you next see me… I- I hope I’ll be a different pony.” Starlight hugged Twilight before taking a step out the door. “Starlight, wait,” Twilight called, and Starlight turned around once more. Approaching her slowly, Twilight levitated something over to Starlight. Starlight carefully took the piece of parchment within her hooves and looked at the word written on it. Before she could question it, she was given another item, a crystal that looked to be of the same property as the castle. “Twilight?” Starlight whispered quietly, looking at the two items Twilight had given her. “What is this? Kamare-taj? What’s this crystal supposed to be?” Twilight smiled at her soon-to-depart friendship student sadly, as she did not like the idea of seeing a good friend leave her side, especially one that seemed to be injured and broken. “That, that is what those letters you pointed at seemed to form. It might be an anagram for something else, but… And that crystal, I want you to keep it. So that if you ever encounter hard times wherever you are going to end up, you can always know you have a home to return to. It can be your reminder, a reminder that we are all still here for you. Just remember to be safe-” Starlight lunged out and hugged Twilight once more, taking Twilight by surprise. “Thank you, Twilight. For everything… thank you.” “Happy travels, then,” Twilight smiled sadly once more, pulling away with tears in her eyes. Starlight’s own composure had fallen, and she too had tears falling freely. Nodding, Starlight placed the items into her enchanted saddlebags and set out. Just as she left the stairs of the castle, she glanced one more grin that said many things at Twilight, before waving goodbye. “Say… say goodbye to the others for me, will you?” Starlight shouted once more, before seeing Twilight’s nod and smiling herself. Starlight nodded once more, before resignedly leaving her friends and home behind her. And it finally came all too soon. In no time, she found herself at the outskirts of Ponyville, and soon on a pleasant trot on a long and dusty road. For the first time in a long time, truly alone, she ventured along quietly and thoughtfully. She kept thinking about all the things that had happened in her life, the friends she had made, the enemies she had faced… and the mistakes she had made. She thought about how willing to forgive the ponies of Our Town were, and how accepting the citizens of Ponyville were to her. She hadn’t done much on the side of good for either town. She had garnered a grudge on a friend she didn’t know she still had, she had messed with a fixed point in time that led to catastrophic futures… ones that Twilight had had to experience. Yet those six ponies still accepted her, her ponies in Our Town still believed in her… Was she a leader? A hypocrite? A mage? A friend… or an enemy? These thoughts plagued her mind as she slowed to a soft pace, breathing it all in. The scenery around her passed by in a blur. Wavy grasslands and long empty fields, trees spotting the landscape ever so often. She looked around as she took in the beauty of it all. So often she had been with companions to pass the time, never truly paying attention to what was around her when she was travelling. Always talking, always looking, but never seeing. And now, here it was, the gift of nature that the world had given her, at her beck and call. Her ears swiveled and she could hear birds chirping. Honey and the scent of flowers and the grass graced her. A nice empty blue dominated the sky and Celestia’s sun shone down with it’s radiant warmth. Stopping at a small burrow for a snack, she looked at how far she had already come. Ponyville could still be seen in the distance, but it was now just a speck of houses in the horizon. Taking a drink of water, she looked over the Everfree and found a storm raging over the chaotic forest. A gust of wind blew through the field she was in and she smiled with her eyes closed at the feeling of the wind flowing through her fur. Solitude embraced her, yet she couldn’t help but think of all the friends she had left behind… All the things she could’ve done if she had just stayed… She brushed these thoughts away as she hoofed out the piece of paper Twilight had given her. In Twilight’s writing, Kamare-taj was scribbled. Why there was a hyphen there, she couldn’t tell, but she could remember Twilight hesitating when she suggested it might be an anagram. Maybe it’s a place… Maybe Twilight found something in her books and was being unnecessarily vague. Or it could even be a pony, but how would she know who it was? Putting the slip of paper away and her mind still electrified in thought, she pulled out the other thing Twilight had given her. A crystal. Chipped from the Castle of Friendship by Twilight, she held it close to her chest and could feel the warmth of home and her friends fill her being. She looked at it again and found it glowing softly, and she dolefully looked at it. Seeing a tiny hole in the top and an inscription on the side, she read it. Friendship is Magic, and you are our friend. Just remember that we will always be here, now and forever. Stay safe, Starlight. Feeling her vision beginning to blur, she carefully laced a line of twine through the hole before tying it and looping it around her neck. Getting back to all four hooves, she looked down at the reminder of home that now lay gently against her fur. Holding it in one hoof and looking forward, she took a deep breath before nodding to herself. Resigned and determined, Starlight continued forward, and Ponyville soon disappeared behind her. And little did she know, an astral projection watched her silently, her eyes following the mare for a distance before smiling to herself. Finding herself back in her body, she got to work, humming to herself. After all, she needed to prepare for visitors, and it wouldn’t do to be ill-prepared.