Starlight drifted through the increasing crowds along side her companions. Sunburst and Maud and taken up babbling on about the beast they would be witnessing hopefully shortly, though the denseness of bodies takeing over the streets as they neared that direction told her they would be there for a while.
"-Is it?" Fluttershy's voice rang in her mind. Not knowing what it could possibly be gnawed at her. She felt an anger directed at Twilight for not allowing her to even know about a potential danger or whatever this was. Her ears pinned back in guilt as she knew it wasn't right to resent Twilight for this. She herself had been a danger to the entirety of Equestria and she couldn't blame her for not unveiling what it may be to someone whose reformation was questionable, even to herself. Punishment is what she should have gotten- the burden of knowing she didn't deserve any of what she had cut deep into her.
Perhaps it was a cruel psychological punishment- Twilight knew how she felt and this was all deliberate. Her heart, heavy as a stone, beating ice through her, gave those around her a disingenuous smile and put on a happy face- for their sake. It would be cruel to them to ruin the day because of the way she was. And she knew she could never tell them how she really was. Believe me, you've spent plenty of time with yourself, nopony would like that mare.
"-I know what you mean," TreeHugger's calm voice drawled. An attentive Maud now ensnared with interest looked at the pony beside her with admiration. Sunburst had taken charge in front of them, weaving a way for all of them with his politeness and eager disposition.
TreeHugger continued. "Sometimes I feel like my life, too, is just loosely related, wacky adventures that spring onto me- but that does make me feel alive. To be given the chance to adapt and overcome certain situations isn't always a bad thing."
Starlight willed herself not to groan. It was easy for ponies who haven't gone on perilous journeys and who were tugged into uncomfortable adventures regularly. The road beneath their hooves had been replaced by lush grass and specks of wild flowers. The sky began to morph into a gentle coral pink, a few stars littered the sky coyly, undeterred by the fact that the sun had not fully set. Their bodies so small in the sky as they calmly gleamed, Starlight stared with a hallow longing for something, though what that was escaped her.
"Sooo," Sunburst began, slinking behind the two mares engaged in conversation in front of them. Starlight knew she had allowed herself to slip again and offered him a look of blissfully unaware questioning. "You haven't been all that talkative."
"Sorry," she breathed, wracking her brain for an excuse.
"I know crowds can really take it out of you," he said, "An a big event like this, I know it is overwhelming." Starlight's face became expressionless- for she didn't know how to respond or feel. She didn't realize he had taken notice that crowds drained her, though perhaps it was something he assumed was true for everypony as she knew this was something that happened to him. Most ponies assumed you've been through the same beats in your life, and therefore had similar things that made you nervous.
"Yeah, crowds," she said, leaving it at that. Sunburst droned on about recent events in the Crystal Empire. She listened attentively, though flinched a little when another pony would unexpectedly brush beside her, as now they formed an enormous cluster of bodies.
"Maud and TreeHugger seem to be hitting it off." she said once silence had grown between them, raising her voice to speak over the murmur of the crowd. Sunburst however didn't pick up on the sound of her speaking and she fell back into a tired waiting.
"Hey, Twilight!" a voice rang out- an impressive feat as it competed with the drone of the entire crowd.
Starlight pinned back her ears and closed her eyes. Perhaps if she didn't engage in noticing her then she wouldn't have to yell over the crowd, defending her identity.
Sunburst picked up on the disturbance and looked in the direction of the shouting voice in confusion. "Did Twilight actually leave or is she still meandering here in the middle of a crisis?!" he said this in such an unbothered way it irritated her; it was always somepony else's job to put the world back into place, and one would complain about it without tackling the problem themselves.
A booming roar caused many in the crowd to run away in cowardice, while many others observed Ember with fascination and no detectable sign of fear. Starlight gathered her composure, taking in a deep breath and turning to face her. She was the student to the Princess of Friendship after all, not kindly engaging with foreign allies could start something, so it was better to grit her teeth and get it over with.
"Ember! It St-"
"Oh hey, sorry Starlight, the dusk light really makes you look like Twilight." The sapphire blue dragon said, her wings outstretched boldly and aggressively. "Speaking of which, where is she? We were going to meet up here to discuss expanding on some policies-" Ember did have the grace of knowing when she was becoming a bore and thankfully stopped.
"We aren't sure exactly. She and pursumably the gang took off and left somewhere to fix the odd crisis." Starlight said matter of factually.
""What?! What crisis?!" Ember exclaimed, worry etched on her face. "And you didn't go with her? We have to go find her and-"
"Crisis may have been a strong word," Sunburst butted in, "More like small problem. We know how Starlight can get over exaggerative!"
Starlight was grateful and impressed by Sunbusrt's cool diffusion of the situation, even if a little of it was at her expense. She imagined many ponies viewed her as over exaggerative actually- something she had been working on fixing recently.
"No, I didn't actually know that." Ember said with suspicion and unintrest. She scanned around before becoming agitated, taking flight, mumbling about having to find Thorax and other foreign leaders for a common meetup that had been happening between them now.
"Oh and, catch you later Starlight, I wanna talk to you too."
"Me?" Starlight could help but shout back in surprise, "I me-an, alright then! See you later Ember!"
"Who was that? I mean I got her name is Ember and she is high up in the political chain of dragons but-" Sunburst said, struggling.
Starlight giggled, getting a litter closer to him so he could hear. "I would say so, remember when I told you how Spike was the Dragon Lord onc-"
"Oh! Of course! I can't believe I didn't pick up on that! I wonder what she wants to talk about? I mean, wow Starlight, talking to a leader of a foreign land. Don't forget about us little guys!" he said, accompanied by a nervous laugh.
"Nah, pfft." Starlight got out, exhaustion had already begun to take over her from the day. She unconsciously moved closed to Sunburst, realizing how much she like how he smelled. Sunburst was a very attractive pony in her opinion, a fact she knew he must know somehow. And he was such a kind, genuine and intelligence colt- No, stop it. This only hurts you as you know he wouldn't choose you. Though she continued to admire his natural charm for a few moments more, wishing she could bury her head into his neck- but it was a hopeless fantasy she made herself abandon.
"This is it Starlight!" Sunburst beamed excitedly, we are next!"
"Whoope!" Starlight said, chuckling a little.
"We only have four people in our group though, including myself," Sunburst noticed, "Too bad Ember couldn't have joined us, I would have loved to speak to a real dragon."
"Spike's a real dragon." Starlight reminded him.
"You know that doesn't count." he retorted playfully.
The grass they had previously stood on now had turned to a grayish blue stone, a tunnel before them leading underground. Starlight marveled at just how expansive it was, the amount of horse power it must have taken to make this- it was beyond her. Two ponies had stepped closer towards the entrance, realizing they too, were next. Most of he foals had already come and gone for the day, though she just now realized how pleasant it was to not hear the cacophony of spoiled children wailing.
They trudged down into the cavernous tunnel. Lamps with gentle light were scattered along their walk, changing from blues to pinks and purples in correspondence to the kinds of gems being showcased there. Maud had already been here countless times, though her eyes still hungrily looked at them as they passed. TreeHugger informed the crowd to be quiet moments before their guide did- as the creature was sound sensitive. The guide pleasantly surprised and amused to know he wouldn't have to repeat the same instructions he had over the course of the entire day.
"Now everypony, remember, the Threstlehyde Swamberon may look intimidating, but looking it directly in the eye will result it it cowering in its cave." TreeHugger whispered, "Voices low, and no piercing glares."
As they entered the deepest portion of the cave, the exhibit for the creature came into view. Starlight looked around curiously, her child-like wonder resparking as she craned her neck to see what was in front of the others. Sunburst beside her look like he was about to pop as he bated his breath in excitement. Maud and TreeHugger, who had been through this song and dance before walked with a unbearably slow calm, causing Starlight's agitation to flare up slightly. The ponies behind them were thankfully silent.
"Do you see it?" Sunburst whispered with wonderment. Clearly not looking for an answer as they all saw it.
The creature was enormous. Their eyes had first gone to it's thick, long tail; covered in thousands gem like scales, all which gleamed different shades of blue, yellow, green and pink. Traveling up onto it's back were hundreds of jagged spines, swirls of browns, grays, and red not unlike the cave walls were found there. It's arms themselves were equivalent in size to a full grown stallion, they were broad and had thick claws in front for tearing through even the toughest of ground.
It was its face that Starlight found the most intriguing. It had a floppy neck littered with spines like the ones on its back, she knew it could inflate it when threatened like a pufferfish, dissuading any predator from thinking about attacking something so thick and spiky. The narrow face conveyed an innate innocence, it's white, colorless eyes scanning around its enclosure both confused and adventurous. The scale colors dulled the farther they traveled up him, however the muted tones also held their own unmatched beauty.
Sunburst nudged her in excitement, his luminous magic glowing gently at his horn as he scribbled something down in a notebook. "I didn't realize we would be getting to look at the moon stone variety!" he bombastically whispered, "These are easily one of the rarest variants!"
TreeHugger looked his way, both in warning and with an impressed look on her face. Maud's eyes sparkled with excitement every time it would stretch out, extenuating it's spines and opening its mouth to yawn, revealing a kaleidoscopic row of topaz teeth. Which each step it took, dust clouds sprung up, the particles gravitating to its underbelly in a curious way.
Starlight envied how content this creature could be with access to dirt rocks, and a comfortable underground home. Knowing in a few days he would mostly be left alone was just another bonus, being left to his own devices. Not having to answer a question or be expected to have a care in the world, Starlight wished that she had been born into this species family as she watched it.
"Alright," the guide said, realizing suddenly that they had been allowed to view over the usual allotted time, "Let's keep moving." He then went on to mention the gift shop, as well as the usual professional parting semantics that stung to say hundreds of times a day. To keep up a happy facade like that all day was impressive.
Starlight gave the creature one last look of melancholy jealousy. She wished she could still feel charged and excited still after the encounter as the ponies in front of her, but the affect was already wearing off. They glided further in mostly silence. Sunburst had skipped ahead of her to prod TreeHugger with even more questions about the creature, promising to be right back.
Starlight heard a pony clear their throat behind her. Oh great, now what? She couldn't muster up enough bravado to turn around and confront the pony who was being rudely indirect. When it happened again she pinned her ears back in annoyance, reluctantly turning her head to give whoever it was a scathing, questioning look.
The pony behind appeared to be shocked that she attracted her attention. Her purple eyes full of confusion and suspicion, she gave Starlight the same look back.
"Were you trying to get my attention?" Starlight asked, barely above a whisper.
The mare continued to stare at her for a moment, the confused look in her eyes suddenly turning into excitement. "No, sorry, I have been feeling under the weather recently," the unicorn said, her voice snuffed with mucus. "I didn't mean to bother you- but, are you Starlight...?"
Starlight couldn't help but sigh. "Yep, that'd be me." Wondering also why they would let a sick pony view such a rare creature.
"I'm MoonDancer- one of Twilight's old friends."
Starlight failed to see how this was of much importance. The cream colored mare began to slip beside her, continuing to speak with growing interest.
"I have heard a little bit about you, not much, just that you are her student mostly."
"Mm-hm." Starlight said, prodding her to just get to the point already.
"I am sorry, you must get this a lot, I didn't mean to bother you, Twilight made you sound like a pony worth knowing."
Starlight scoffed a little, MoonDancer looked both surprised and mildly insulted at this.
"Sorry, but I think Twilight may be a little biased and would make her student sound better than she actually is."
MoonDancer wrinkled her nose, "For Celestia's-sake, who hurt you?"
The two stared at each other for a moment, before Starlight couldn't help but chuckle. "Myself I guess."
"I know how that goes, you should maybe stop doing that though."
"It's that easy, is it?"
MoonDancer let out a laugh, "Ha, no, not at all, it will be one of the hardest things you'll ever do. I think you are strong enough though- or you can choose to be."
Starlight had mixed feelings towards those last few words. Though she couldn't help but be interested in a little more of what she had to say.
"As Twilight's protege I am sure there isn't much I could show you that you didn't know- but I do happen to have a few copies of Hoovishier's books that I know she doesn't have." She slid Starlight a coy grin. She knew she had gotten her.
"That sounds great," Starlight breathed, "Perhaps next time I am in Canterlot we can get together sometime...?"
"Of course," MoonDancer replied as the stone walls faded away to the night sky and a grassy field. "Whenever you are free- I get being a student of a Princess doesn't give you much free time, but if you ever get any time-" from her saddle bag she produced a small slip of paper, which she scribbled her address on. "Mail me and we can set a date."