//------------------------------// // Issue 1.2 ~ Clue Me In! // Story: It's All A Little Strange To Me // by Essay Jay //------------------------------// When Starlight woke up the next morning relatively dry and a bit cold, the rain had fallen back to a more pleasant drizzle. With dew and rainwater covering everything, soaking the path and making everything wet, she moved slowly through the rest of the forest. The sky was a pleasant grey, with only the faint touch of droplets of water to remind you it was raining. The wind blew and the smell of green filled the world around her. Breathing it all in, she sighed. Thinking over what she had read from passages of the book she had lost (surely Twilight would forgive a friend… right?), she winced. Something was off… to Starlight, it seemed as if the book had something important to say to her. She just couldn’t piece it together. Like a puzzle, some things just wouldn’t click in her mind, yet from an outside point of view it seemed to make a picture. Kamaretaj… Starlight thought as she walked forward. It sounds like something I should know… Could it be a pony? A place? An item? She soon found herself walking out of the forest and into some grassy lands. As if by some miracle, she could see a large body of water in the near distance and she smiled. With an area of water that big, there was bound to be a settlement near it. It made sense, after all. Now looking forward to replenishing her rations, she increased her pace to a brisk trot. As she now moved a bit more giddily, the Celestia’s sun finally broke through the clouds that the weather ponies had so meticulously crafted and warmed her very being right up, filling her with determination. This was the day. She could feel it. Something was going to happen, and she only hoped she could be prepared for it. Stumbling onto an oft-trodden path, she now grinned. With well walked roads came civilization! She then began to follow the path it made towards the body of water, and began to recite what she might say to new ponies. She then paused, as she realized she would have to talk to ponies… looking and smelling as she was at the moment. She also began to panic as she did not like the idea of having to talk to new ponies, now that she thought. Knowing that the latter problem was unsolvable and irrational at best, she thought of how to deal with the former. As she entered a clearing and saw the edge of a village, she glanced to her left and saw a river that flowed out of the small sea. Sighing to herself, she stealthily made her way to the river banks before casting off her saddlebags and cloak behind some bushes. Testing the waters with a hoof, she reeled back in alarm. “Whoo!” she whispered, shaking her hoof. It was freezing! She didn’t want to go into freezing water… but what choice did she have? She hadn’t brought perfume or scented spray with her. Now she kind of wished she had. Holding back her tongue and whimpering, she splashed into the river. “Eek!” she gasped out as the full force of the river met her and she was carried a little bit downstream. With a bit of maneuvering, she quickly regained control of herself and pushed against the current. Holding her breath, she counted down and bobbed her head before submerging her full form into the waters. … “Wagh!” Starlight shouted as she threw her head back. “Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!” Stepping back onto some stable riverbed that wasn’t submerged, she panted. Shivering from the cold, she whipped her mane a bit, getting a lot of water out. Finally sitting on her haunches and squeezing the rest of the water out before hugging herself, she closed her eyes. “Idiot,” she muttered to herself. At least it numbed some of the pain emanating from her skull. Once she could finally feel pin pricks poking at her body from all sides, she painfully got back to all four hooves, pain relatively speaking. As she moved through the greenery, she whimpered. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow,” she winced with every step. A shiver went up her back as she continued to walk forward and she shook. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.” Feeling was returning to her legs and body thanks to the torrential cleansing, but at a cost. It hurt. Somewhat. But when it’s freezing water and you have to go back to walking… yeah. “Ow,” Starlight finally said, happy she could just fall over until she felt better. After some time, she brushed off any dirt that was left on her coat from lying on the ground, and donned her saddlebags and cloak once more. Grabbing a brush from her bags, she quickly worked through her mane, biting her cheek as she unravelled some knots, and sighed as it was fixed to the best of her ability. Just as she was about to make it back onto the main path, she heard hooves nearing and she promptly jumped into the bush next to her, poking her eyes out comically as she watched to see who it was. Two stallions were walking, hauling a load of berries and miscellaneous foods. They talked amongst each other, but didn’t notice the presence of Starlight in the bushes ahead of them. “So why are we getting all this stuff again?” the one on the left asked, only slightly farther back than the pony on the right. The right pony groaned in annoyance and disbelief. “How many times do I have to say? Somepony name ‘The Ancient One’ or something stupid like that wanted some of our monthly earnings. Today is that day. It seems you have so much fluff in your brain that not even us pulling this food could clue you into what we’re doing.” The left pony made an O with his mouth before smirking evilly and once more looking confused. “Why are we doing this again?” “Oh for the love of-!” the right pony began before the left pony shushed him. “Okay, okay, geez!” the left pony snickered as he watched the right pony’s face turn red from anger. “It was just a joke, I’m sorry!” Evidently, that was not true. “It wasn’t a very funny joke,” the right pony muttered and they walked right past Starlight. “So who is this ‘Ancient One’ anyways?” the left pony asked, now on the right from Starlight’s perspective and a short ways away. “No clue. I don’t think anypony really does. I’ve heard she’s not even a physical being, but I know that’s bull. I mean why would she even…” the right pony said, and their chatter died away as they left Starlight’s presence, becoming blobs that entered the grace of the town ahead of her. For some reason, that name rang a bell in Starlight’s mind. Hearing it felt the same as when she read the book. Could this possibly be what the book was leading her too? “The Ancient One, huh?...” Starlight muttered as she stepped out of her cover. Maybe this Ancient One could help her find Kamaretaj… Whatever the case, Starlight knew she needed to find out more. One thing was very clear, however. Those two stallions were morons.