//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Book 3 The Shadows [OUTDATED] // by Penelope Anne Ink //------------------------------// Starry was reaching out of her window to wave at Rochester and his babies. They were so cute, she just had to lean in even further as Jane beckoned her. She could just see the litter when she felt herself starting to fall headlong onto the ground below. She shut her eyes, already bracing herself for the crash. But just as she would have hit the ground, she felt hooves around her and turned to see the pony that had caught her. With a start, Starry woke up. She tried remembering what it was that woke her, but she couldn’t remember. She was already too busy thinking about what she had going on today. Whatever it was that woke her, there was no hint of it now. Trotting up to her dresser mirror, she could see her mane in a tangled mess, nothing like Rarity’s mane at all. Bracing herself for the amount of knots she’d have to go through, she picked up her metal comb with a levitation spell. As she combed through the tangles, her mind wandered. She looked around her room. It didn’t seem all that different from the night before. Her house would be pretty empty except for her occasional bouts of hoarding. Sometimes, she’d make copies of her works that she sold just because she liked them so much, and would keep them in piles around her floor. It meant having to clean them out every few months or so, but she couldn’t help herself keeping them all the same. Trotting down the stairs, she could see into her living room and see how empty it was, with a simple couch and a rug in front of it. It was her spot to sit down with a notebook and think up ideas to later build in real life. She didn’t want any clutter in the room to distract her so she could fully focus. Starry felt like Granny Angel had helped her so much. After the party, she had been asked to make several other kinetic sculptures for different events and displays by ponies that lived all across Equestria. It felt good to have so much to do. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought, if also feel a little apprehension and anxiety. If anything, she knew her friends would be willing to help her. Cass and Bee were welcome distractions when they were around, and Postage Stamp always encouraged her work. And Edgy helped her a lot on her last adventure. Maybe he’d love to help her out on future ones. “Like that stallion loves anypony but himself, if that,” she mockingly muttered. But she remembered back to how Edgy had saved her from the invasion in Canterlot. And how they had gotten lost but eventually found themselves back in Ponyville, a little bruised but alright. Without Edgy’s help, she would have been eaten or enslaved long ago. And he even helped me get back on my hooves. I suppose... *** *** *** *** *** *** Edgy heard a knock on his door. He was still living at the Ponyville Inn. Cass and Bee agreed the night of the party that they would continue to fund his stay, and he felt a bit relieved that he wouldn’t have to take a guest room with them anyway. Too much unnecessary risk there. Maybe they’d starve him to death, or frame him for murder. The odds were really endless. He had woken up earlier with a fresh anxiety about the news that Tempest was coming, and for a second, he worried that it was already Tempest at the door. But peering through the keyhole, he could see a soft blonde mane over a light purple pony and knew it had to be Star. With a bit of an exasperated sigh, but still a concerned expression on his face, he opened the door. Starry slightly bounced up with a “Good morning, Edgy!” and Edgy returned the greeting less enthusiastically. “I have to go on a run to Zecora’s to pick up some potion for Jane’s babies and you’re coming with me!” Starry said and used her magic aura to shut the door behind her as she skipped back down the hall. He had planned on staying in until Tempest had come and gone, but he also wanted to take another look at the Everfree Forest. It had a wild air about it that he kind of liked. He was worried he would start getting bored and lonely, anyway. Starry waited at the front lobby for Edgy to finish getting ready, but she was a little anxious herself. This’ll be fun, right? We’ll have a quick trip and I’ll show him I’ve returned to normal and everything! That turned into a conversation with herself on how dumb it was to just spring it on him like that... The two had quarreled plenty before, but she still wasn’t too happy about dismissing him earlier. Having a trip they could do together would be good for them, and that’s what she decided she’d do. As soon as Edgy came downstairs, Starry ran up to greet him once again and they both trotted out toward Zecora’s: Edgy, occasionally darting his eyes searching for signs of a certain orchid colored unicorn, and Starry, a bit self consciously. The path to Zecora’s had long since become well worn. The princess’s friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders go there often enough that Zecora’s once single zebra path turned into a path nearly suitable for Ponyville’s main streets. It only made Starry more uncomfortable. She couldn’t think of anything to talk about at first and just near scurried. Edgy appreciated how fast Starry was moving and equally tried to speed up the trip. He wasn’t happy about being an errand boy, but it was fine just to be with Star. As they approached the tree, she finally got around to telling him all about the babies and he nodded along. It helped take his mind off Tempest for a bit. “She had three babies! Rochester’s got his paws full. Jane’s always telling him to do this or that around the house. It’s funny. I woke up twice last night hearing them through my window, chirping away.” She didn’t say it aloud, but she added, at least, I thought that’s what woke me up. Zecora’s place was always such an oddity to Starry. She thought she’d try to make a mechanism that would imitate its look but have interactive pieces. She thought it would make a cute little game for Jane’s sons. It would still have some issues to work out, making sure it was safe enough, and she still felt stuck for ideas. But the more she got a chance to see the tree itself, the more ideas she thought she would have. The tree was impressive. It looked small on the outside, but the inside had a large open room. And it contained all sorts of bizarre stuff on shelves and hung up on the walls. And there was a large cauldron that always seemed to be brewing something. Masks in all sorts of expressions were hung up for decoration on the inside and outside. Edgy was also impressed by the inside of the tree. Though he made sure not to make it too obvious, Starry could read him better and better, and Zecora was almost always an accurate reader of ponies. It didn’t take long for Zecora to find the potion Jane needed, and Starry asked her how much she needed for it. “For this potion, there is one price, you must say something sweet and nice.” “Oh,” Starry called out, “Thanks Zecora!” And with a nod from Zecora, Starry and Edgy trotted back home. Starry held the potion bottle up with her magic aura. She thought she was getting a bit better over nonmetal objects and slightly congratulated herself. “I think I might even try to add something more real to my next sculpture. Like having it surrounded by a real moat or something.” Edgy looked up at her curiously, “Are you sure...?” “With fish in it!” Edgy hung his head with an exasperated sigh. Starry looked back at her companion. Edgy was letting his mind wander. Zecora had a few potions with images of monsters. He could imagine himself taking down each one. He’d give a hydra three black eyes! There was a giant snake that Edgy would string up to hang his laundry on. And even though dragons were starting up diplomatic relations with ponies, he still imagined punching one in the gut, making them spew flames that he would swiftly dodge. “Edgy?” “Huh?” Edgy saw Starry looking up at him. “You were doing that mumbling thing you do again.” “And you just dropped the potion bottle.” Starry looked around to see that she had indeed lost it. She hadn’t noticed when she stopped concentrating on the bottle and started trying to listen to Edgy. She looked back a few yards and couldn’t see the bottle on the path behind them. She worried it rolled off to the side somewhere and maybe they’d never find it. She didn’t have any tracking and finding abilities like Rarity did. As Starry started combing back through the foliage on the edges of the paths and started working her way backwards, Edgy felt relieved. The trip would take longer now, and the farther back Starry had to search the longer it would take. He started making it look like he was searching too. About ten feet back she found it had fallen just on the edge where the trodden dirt met the regular forest floor. It seemed perfectly intact. Starry sighed in relief, but this time she wasn’t going to take any chances. She took a bit of the chain from her mercury vial necklace and reformed it to make a loop to hold the bottle and held it there the rest of the way back. Back in town, she waved goodbye to Edgy and made it back home. Starry opened her window and began reaching out to see Rochester and Jane. Jane noticed her and waved and chirped for her kids to see Starry. They were still tiny infants in Jane’s arms, only a few days old. Starry carefully levitated the cough syrup over and explained what it was to Jane. The squirrel mom looked at it curiously and then stashed it away into the depths of their home.