//------------------------------// // Issue 2.2 ~ Of Course Not! // Story: It's All A Little Strange To Me // by Essay Jay //------------------------------// Starlight was cast out onto the streets outside. Though she was technically in Kamare-taj, she had just been rejected by the highest authority, meaning she would not get taught. Starlight began to feel tears in her eyes as she looked at her surroundings, students, mages, wizards, and witches of all kinds looked at her curiously while she began to bang on the door. Starlight hadn’t come all this way just to be cast out. She hadn’t sacrificed her time to find such a place only to be denied. “No, please!” Starlight cried, beginning to knock on the wood. “Open the door! Teach me! Please! I’ll believe! I’ll comply!” The door shook and rattled, but it remained firm. Starlight continued to hit it, hoping for results. “Please!” Starlight whimpered, “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or rude! Let me in!” Starlight’s pleadings fell on the door, her cries falling upon deaf ears. “Even after all this time, Starlight continues to wear away the door with her cries,” Jade commented, her ears flicking intently. “I didn’t think she had it in her.” “She has the ambition, but does she have the heart?” the Ancient One murmured, cross legged in a meditating position. Her eyes were closed, her mind’s eye focused elsewhere. “I’ve taught students like her before. Powerful, amazing, all falling short of their true potential. Succumbing to dark magicks and different paths.” “You and I both know her relations to the Princesses,” Jade said, “It would be out of the question to think she does not have it-” “And you and I both know I do not mean friendship,” the Ancient One interrupted, “Does she have the strength to overcome her failings? The mentality to push through trial and error? The heart to remain firm and not be moved?” “She has the potential,” Jade remarked. “She has the spirit. However hilariously weak she may be.” “I’d dare say her magic was better than mine while her horn was still intact,” the Ancient One implored. “Of all your many useful attributes, pride is not one of them.” “I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t a little,” Jade smirked. There was a small moment of silence before the Ancient One smiled. “Yes, quite.” As Jade circled a pedestal with an artifact set upon it, she glanced up at the large spinning globe. Three large sets of double-doors surrounded the circular room, each with a large inset graving of a consistent symbol. Spinning the discs that were in the pedestal, the globe changed position, and Jade frowned. “She reminds you of him. Of Baron.” “Mordo is irrelevant to this situation-” “But she does, doesn’t she.” Silence. “Yes. Yes she does.” “She’s nothing like him,” Jade said. Wincing at the look the Ancient One was giving her, she sighed, “Okay, maybe a little.” The raise of an eyebrow, and Jade had to look away. “Okay, maybe a lot.” The Ancient One sighed, finally opening her eyes. “And that, Jade, is why I am afraid.” Jade made an about face, looking at the Ancient One once more. “Of her motives?” “Of where she may eventually end up. With a similar fate to Mordo’s, or a more righteous path; I cannot lead another to go astray. As I did with him.” “Well, look at me, I turned out fine,” Jade smiled. “You still have a ways to go, my friend,” the Ancient One murmured with a smile, getting up. “But I still do not think it wise for me to take in Starlight.” Jade frowned. “You’ve been watching her for a while, now. You know who and what she is. She can do a lot of good. She already has, saving the rulers of Equestria. With Mordo’s whereabouts unknown, Kamare-taj may face dark times. We can use a mare like Starlight.” “It may be true that Starlight’s path has diverged to meet with ours, but something about that doesn’t sit right with me. It’s as if…” The Ancient One looked off into the distance, lost in thought, before shaking her head. “I do not know anymore, Jade.” “Then there is only one option,” Jade grinned, and the Ancient One sighed. “Ple-he-hease!” Starlight begged, her forelegs tired from hitting the door. “I want to learn! I won’t think it’s all unrealistic and stupid! Please!” Sore from her efforts, Starlight sat with her back to the door, leaning onto it for support. “Don’t shut me out… This is… I have nowhere else to go, and…” As if the door responded by sympathetic response, the door clicked open. Surprised, and with her precarious position as she leaned against the door, she fell backwards, onto her back and nearly hitting her horn. Yelping as she did so, she stared up at the ceiling with a growing sense of happiness and relief. “Thank you.” “Don’t thank me yet, Princess,” Jade smirked, “I need to show you to your room.” Starlight was helped up by Jade before she began to follow her around. They followed the same hallways, until just a corridor away from the main room she had been in, they went a different path. Following Jade down new territory, they eventually stopped at a door. Opening the doors, Jade walked in, and Starlight followed. “This is quite nice,” Starlight commented, “Better than I’ve had in the past few weeks.” “So it would seem,” Jade replied mysteriously. The room was a little on the small side, with room for a small closet and a mattress. A side table was present with a candle on top and a drawer to store things. There was also a window, open to the breeze and a bronze artistic cover to decorate it. At the foot of the bed was a desk and a stool. With walls of ancient wood and an air of books, Starlight couldn’t feel more at home. “So for initiation tomorrow, you’ll be running stairs,” Jade smiled. Starlight froze. With a face of suspicion, Starlight narrowed her eyes at Jade. “I’m just kidding!” Jade finally laughed, causing Starlight to sigh very deeply. “You should’ve seen the look on your face!” “I’m going to kill you,” Starlight facehoofed. “You can try.” “I’ll find a way.” “Suuure you will,” Jade grinned, “Have a good night.” “You too,” Starlight replied, albeit half-heartedly. Jade closed the doors, and Starlight waited as she listened to her dying gales of laughter. Now having successfully found Kamare-taj and made it in, Starlight collapsed onto the bed beside her. Starlight groaned painfully. “Why is it always me?”