//------------------------------//
// Goodbye 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Starlight was still as her vision slowly adjusted to the darkness. Dim, pulsating lights seemed to swirl around her, illuminating a flat stone floor that definitely wasn't anywhere near the docks. A wave of dizziness from her horn washed over her, making her shudder and cringe. It wasn't nearly as bad as what had happened when she fell off the waterfall, at least. But what had happened, and where was she? It was as if... she had teleported...

Her eyes finally focused, revealing the sluggish lights to be traces of energy worming their way down manaconduits in the ceiling. She gasped softly, and every further detail she took in only served to confirm it: somehow, she was in Arambai's basement. She had felt a powerful urge to flee, and her horn had activated... that she had performed new magic was the only reasonable answer. Besides, it wasn't like she hadn't done it before. The mountains had forced her to come up with all sorts of new uses for her horn, like encasing herself in crystal and scanning hollow things with telekinesis. But why here?

...She was laying on the central dais of Arambai's teleportation machine.

With a sickening feeling, the reality of why she had fled crashed into her at full force. Those ponies back on the docks, they probably adored her by now. She had saved their hero! Hadn't she? What if she had failed? She hadn't seen the aftermath. What if she had crushed someone when the crystal dispelled? What if Gerardo's boat would have just floated naturally to the surface? No matter what, the entire town knew about her and thought she was special... but they could just as easily consider her a villain as a hero. Not knowing only made it worse.

A sudden spark of determination dulling her emotions, Starlight realized why her horn had elected to bring her here, of all places. Her chances of living in Riverfall were ruined, so why not visit the one exit door the town possessed? With a pang of regret, she remembered that her saddlebags were still at Maple's: she hadn't thought to pack them under the poncho when they left.

There was nothing she could do about that now, though. Who knew how long she had to figure out how to turn the teleporter on and escape? She could have anywhere from hours, if Arambai helped with the cleanup, to minutes if he could track her teleportation spell. Hoisting herself to her hooves with an iron frown, Starlight began inspecting the equipment, trailing water from her brief time in the rain.

The controls were surprisingly easy to find. It looked like Arambai had hacked together some sort of splitter, a dial labeled with strips of tape sticking out of a box many cables were connected to, with room for several more. Not stopping to marvel at the fact that Riverfall used a script she could read, she quickly turned the thing to Teleporter, silently thanking the stallion for making things easy.

Something came to life in the machine behind her, though it still looked relatively dormant, the twisting rails overhead silver and cold. Of course, it needed power. The helmet-like apparatus wired to the main towers of the machine was still sitting on Arambai's desk from the demonstration the day before, so Starlight took it in her hooves, thinking. What had he said about it? The closer to a pony's cutie mark, the better? But that had implied it didn't need to be perfectly there to work... which suited her perfectly, since she neither possessed a mark nor was big enough to wear it where intended.

She investigated the machine further, but couldn't find any sort of on-switch. Digging in her memories through the haze of her horn, she didn't actually recall Arambai doing anything to activate the flight magic the day before... merely putting the helmet on Maple and letting it work. Or had she worn it before? She couldn't remember, but maybe that would work all by itself. Steeling herself just in case and pushing back a final tide of doubts and reservations, Starlight stepped onto the central pedestal, holding the helmet high. She wouldn't get to say goodbye... did it matter? It didn't. She lowered the device, ceremoniously allowing it to make contact with the top of her head.

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning surged through the rails above her, blinding her in a bluish haze. An instant later, or maybe before, it lashed through the helmet and her body in a surge of white pain. Her scalp seared where it made contact with the blazing metal of the helmet, and a concussive blast of thunder sent her flying, smashing into a high shelf of objects. She tumbled, hit the ground, and blacked out.





Silence.

Hoofsteps.

A thin beam of bright light across Starlight's face.

And then: "Woah! What in the seventh district happened here?"

Starlight blinked, seeing spots, her body somehow refusing to move. "Unnnnngh..."

"Starlight!" Arambai's yellow face loomed over her, his black beard appearing bigger than usual from below. "We've been looking all over for you. Well... me and your folks, at least. Figured you wouldn't want too much of a fuss made over you. I was coming down here to see if I could find a device I made a while ago for telling you when unicorns were near. Your new mum's been worried sick." He narrowed his eyes, and added, "Less importantly, what happened to this here machine?"

"I-I'm sorry," Starlight choked. "You said it could go to Ironridge, and I was trying to escape..."

"Ahh, never mind." Arambai shook his head. "I'll go find someone to let Maple know you're here. As long as you aren't dying of anything magical. But even if you were, here's the best place to be."

Starlight hiccupped, laying miserably in a pool of water that had seeped from her fur. She still felt the urge to run and hide, more overwhelming than ever... but her legs wouldn't respond, and even if they would she knew it was all over. Other ponies knew. They wouldn't let her leave. They would force her to be special... to be everything she despised. A coal of helpless anger burned in her heart, but there was nothing she could do. A moment later, Arambai returned.

"Someone'll get her," he casually explained. "So, then. You tried to use my machine, did you...?" Poking at the panels and instruments attached to the case, he asked, "What did you hook this thing up to?"

"Myself," Starlight shivered. "I thought, maybe, since it was powered by ponies, I could..."

"Weird..." Arambai growled thoughtfully. "This is mind-boggling..."

"I... didn't break it, did I?" Starlight asked glumly, deciding she needed another reason to feel bad about herself. Her reflection in the puddle on the floor sniffled back up at her, and she imagined it agreed.

"You? Nahhh." Arambai shook his head and gave a mysterious grin. "Not unless you swallowed some ancient artifact when you were an infant or are an entirely new species I've never seen before. We don't really power this, you see. Ponies are more like... catalysts, for energy that already naturally exists. But this looks more like some sort of energy surge, or short circuit... And don't worry about my machine, either. It's built to handle way more power than that. That wasn't even a percent of what it could take!"

He picked up the helmet, hefting it and inspecting it with one narrowed eye. "This thing, however, is completely fried. But they're easy to make, and I've got dozens of extra. What I'm more interested in..." He tossed the helmet away and leaned down towards Starlight again. "Is you, little filly. That back there was some skill in magic it takes a full-grown unicorn who specializes in wizardry to match. If you do that on a regular basis, I can see why you'd get your horn so roughed up."

Tensing, Starlight tightened her voice, making herself sound as fierce as she could muster. "I don't want to be special. So tell everyone to leave me alone!"

"You don't, huh?" Arambai asked bemusedly. "That's a pity. You'd be good at it. In all my years, I've seen a kid with talents like yours maybe once, and they already had their brand. Imagine what a sight you'll be if you ever get yours!"

"No!" Starlight hissed. "I don't want a cutie mark! And I'm not getting one!"

"Hmmm..." The corners of Arambai's mouth fell. "You know, I'm doing you an awful lot of favors here, kid. Giving you a tour of the place, offering to make you my student, telling you I'd spread around some story from where you were from... and now, I'm about to overlook the fact that you broke into my house and damaged a very rare experiment. I care about this town, but that's an awful lot to do for just one pony, you know?" He looked questioningly at her, as if permitting her to suggest otherwise.

Starlight shivered, finding the strength in her legs to back away.

"Now, I like respecting ponies and their pasts, but if you could give me an honest answer about just one thing, it would make me feel a lot better about doing all this for free." He raised a thick eyebrow, inviting more objection. Still, Starlight was silent.

"All right," Arambai sighed. "You came from across the mountains, didn't you?"

Mutely, Starlight nodded.

"Go figure," Arambai muttered. "Eventful days, these. Anyway, your secret's safe with me. I won't tell a soul... and I'll see if I can whip something up to take the eyes off you, too."

Maple chose that moment to barge down the stairs. "Starlight!" she yelled, eyes wide with concern and excitement. "You're here!"

"Good afternoon, Maple," Arambai greeted with a lazy wave. "Your timing is excellent. I just finished having a chat with her, myself! Anyhow, I've got to clean up after a little mishap, so have yourselves whatever talk you need to!"

"Starlight?" Maple stepped closer, face suddenly questioning when she saw the filly's state. "Are... you all right?"

Starlight sniffed once. For a second, the only noise in the room was water dripping against the stone floor from Maple's coat.

"You didn't hurt your horn, did you?" Crossing the distance and leaning down, Maple wrapped the filly in a watery hug. "You were amazing out there. You saved that griffon's boat! I couldn't see it from the bottom, but they told me..." Slowly, the excitement drained from her face, replaced by comprehension. "Oh. That's why you were hiding."

"Yeah. Oh." Starlight's voice was bitter and cold. "I was amazing. Right in front of the whole entire town!" She sniffed, burying her face in Maple's coat... which didn't have the effect she had hoped, partially because they were both soaking wet and partially because she still had every intention of leaving as soon as she was able. Maybe she'd stow away on Gerardo's boat, or something.

"I'm sorry," Maple sniffed back. "I was just so proud of you. I guess..." She sighed deeply. "That explains why Amber was grandstanding and trying to be an attention hog after the thing was over. I guess she just had a better grasp of what you were feeling than me. And instead, I come running in here, all happy for you..." She wiped back a tear, though it might have been water from her mane. "Some parent I'm turning out to be, huh?"

Something tore at Starlight's insides. Could she really tell Maple she wanted to leave? What would it do to the mare? Would it matter, if she wasn't there to feel it? She knew all too well what it felt like to lose a friend one had come to cherish above all else. How come upholding her values, which were designed to avoid pain, would wind up hurting others? She hung her head; it just didn't make sense.

Once, there was a time when Starlight didn't solve all her problems by running away. That was also the time when she could count on other ponies to solve them for her, and be fair in doing so. Ponies like her parents, and Sunburst's. That was before they had failed, and shown her how useless they were at being fair and protecting her from accidents. Before she had learned to do everything herself, with what limited power she had... even if that power was only to run, and hope there might be some corner of the world where things were better.

But what did better look like? Was it really a freedom from hardship, or change? Or could it just be that there were ponies who were there to fix things when they went wrong... or at least tried? She desperately hoped that could be true... so she pressed closer to Maple and did her part.

"I don't want to run away again," Starlight truthfully cried, eyes squeezed shut. "Can you fix it? Can you make them leave me alone?"

"I don't know," Maple answered back. "But I'll try, Starlight. I'll try."