//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Book 3 The Shadows [OUTDATED] // by Penelope Anne Ink //------------------------------// Most of their trips together weren’t unusual. Many ponies just wanted a few odds and ends and would take a look or two, or a very intense, critical look, and then pay her with just a few comments on it. Starry had organized her list of projects by location, then by presumed difficulty. Her eyes scanned over the section on Canterlot. There was a grand square in Canterlot with a beautiful fountain in the center. A statue of a pony elegantly doing ballet was on top of it, all hooves curved and outstretched. Water gushed deliciously from the pony’s mouth and sprayed the basin below, creating a small rainbow. Somepony that worked in city planning in Canterlot figured that it was stylish, but needed something more. Starry wanted to wait a bit before she got this one taken care of, though. The city planner also needed to go through several rounds of meetings and interviews before they could really get the project going. Bureaucracy in Canterlot was infamous throughout the rest of Equestria. With a sad sigh she opened another folder to look at the rest of the work she was going to do. Her mind wandered. A lot had been going on around Ponyville. This wasn’t new in itself. Ponyville always had something strange going on. Everywhere always had something strange going on. There was a new school that occasionally meant young havoc to deal with for the rest of the citizens. It wasn’t even all from the students, but it seemed like the teachers had forgotten the very thing they had been trying to teach: friendship. Starry glanced in front of her. They were all simple yet elegant designs for door knockers. Once you’ve designed one or two of those, it just took adding a few more lines and bits to make them “fancy.” The main task here was making ones that hooked into a system that would ring a bell at the farther ends of the house, where a simple knock on the door wouldn’t reach. Starry had been debating on if she really wanted to make these. After all, she had wanted to leave behind any painful reminders of her time in the factory. But still, she had freedom and could add all the flair she wanted to. She would make this an art. A pony’s home was her castle, and that’s just what these would be fit for. They wouldn’t take long to make and all she would need to do is make sure she brought enough equipment to set them up. She made sure to call to Bee, when Bee was passing by that morning, to get Edgy and to tell him they would need to make a train ride to Canterlot later. Edgy hadn’t exactly seen Starry in action at her shop before. As he walked there, he tried to think why he hadn’t and couldn’t come up with a reason. He went to push open the door and immediately felt uncomfortable. Starry’s shop seemed unbearably hot. There was only so much her magic could do, so she would melt down the various bits of gold and silver and cast them into the molds she kept. The heat would sometimes singe her coat brown if she wasn’t careful, even with an apron on, but she didn’t mind that too much. Sometimes she thought it suited her better than her light purple. She was in the middle of pouring some molten liquid into one such mold. Edgy could feel the heat off of it from where he stood at the door. Starry was holding onto a handle far enough away from the liquid and she still had heavy gloves on. Suddenly, both could see that she was losing her grip on the handle and the metal was about to spill when Starry’s magic aura appeared over the whole thing, preventing the spill and taking a hold of the handle. Both of them loudly sighed in relief. When she finished, Edgy thought it was finally safe to get her attention and went to knock at the door, but just barely stopped himself from falling forward when he heard Starry say his name. “Edgy. Don’t think I didn’t see you literally darkening my door. You almost made me burn us all alive,” and she stuck her tongue out at him as if it wasn’t a serious cause for concern. As if she didn’t want to seem too bold, she added, “Twilight taught me a protection spell anyway.” She tapped at the ground and the whole floor shimmered. “I have one on me, too. It protects against getting burned but it only lasts for a little while.” She turned back to her work and pretended not to hear him anymore. With a witness around she felt more self conscious and worried she’d have another near spill. It was only the last of the three she was making and she had made sure to complete the most challenging one first. Edgy spent a while trying to watch Starry at work with the metal. She waited until it had cooled down a bit and began etching the lines into it. She had some ability to bend metals, but it still helped to use a few pliers and drills. Magic auras are a muscle, like any other. She had some strength with hers but it would take some effort. She also liked seeing the designs come out as she was working on them rather than having to imagine them out fully and make them appear through magic. Eventually he got bored as she was reworking the same design for the fifth time and started going through the different shelves in her workshop. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and felt better not having an audience until she remembered what was over there. He was just about to open one of the boxes in the corner when Starry leapt over and landed on top of the box with a nervous smile. But then, worrying it would be more embarrassing now, she pulled out a few golden chains from it. “I keep fanmade copies of the Element necklaces,” Starry blushed. “Do they even use those anymore?” Edgy asked. News had spread all over Equestria about the way the Elements wiped out several villains with the necklaces, and tales were always retold among ponies whenever they thought about it. Still, it seemed like a while ago since the necklaces were ever mentioned. “Hmm, I can’t actually remember,” Starry said after trying to think. Edgy took one step back and Starry went back to finish up the last door knocker. This had only taken her until the afternoon, but Canterlot was a solid few hours away anyway, so they figured they could go overnight. With the three door knockers packed away in Starry and Edgy’s saddlebags, they bought two train tickets and hopped aboard. Edgy still made sure to watch out for a certain unicorn, but he was also happy Starry was enjoying herself, though he tried not to show it. Starry spent most of the afternoon and evening doodling in her notebook. She had a few orders that she hadn’t fully worked through yet and she was also preparing herself for a few potential ones. She looked outside the window of the train and noticed a bunch of empty hills. With a slight frown she looked back inside the train car. Nothing out there seemed too inspirational. She looked toward Edgy and glanced at his scars. They were in all sorts of weird shapes all over his front right hoof. She usually pretended not to notice them, in case he didn’t want to talk about it. She started trying to imagine what they looked like, and almost made herself dizzy thinking up what creatures they looked like they were, and what sort of things they were doing. Maybe they weren’t creatures at all but a map, and maybe the map led to a buried treasure that Edgy was destined to find, and maybe his name really was Edgy and it was because he has to find the edge of the map, or he’s always living on the edge, or maybe he discovered one day that whatever cut him had an unexpectedly very sharp edge. “Edgy, what’s your cutie mark in?” Edgy looked at Starry. He began hoping it was just a casual question that he could make her forget. “Why do you ask?” “Well, you always wear that outfit and I was a bit nervous about asking but I was thinking it’d be something cool,” Starry said and turned from the scars to Edgy’s face. “Well, knowing it’s on me I would say it would be.” Starry scrunched up her nose and turned back to her notebook, and Edgy was glad the conversation was over. Starry looked back outside the window. The train had sped past most of the open hills and fields and began rolling past a shimmering lake. The last light of day was shining across its obsidian depths. She could see the waves churning in the chilly evening breezes. It made her think about the creatures that must live below. She turned back to Edgy. “I read a story once about water fillies.” “Sea ponies, Star.” “No, water fillies. They are a bit different.” “Okay...” Edgy wasn’t sure what to say after that. “I guess most wouldn’t get it. But I think the story was cool. I used to read a lot of cool stories when I lived at the orphanage.” Edgy had a vague memory that she had mentioned the orphanage before. He wondered if it would have done him any good if Trot Town had one. There must have been one, but he usually kept to himself in the outskirts of town, so he wouldn’t have known. “I can’t remember much of the story anymore, but I think there was a kid that was misunderstood and abused. It’s kind of one of those stories where the characters do a lot of random adventures that are somehow metaphorical. I like reading those, although they also kind of lose me.” “Oh.” “I mean,” Starry scrunched her nose again, “I like stories where the author is imaginative and has a sense of humor. And I do enjoy stories with deeper meanings than on the surface. And-” “Maybe your cutie mark should have been in talking, Star,” Edgy said, and pointed out the other ponies that were trying to fall asleep as the light outside had nearly vanished. Edgy mentally snapped at himself for bringing up cutie marks again, after finally getting Starry off the topic. But he had been thinking about it and it just slipped out. Thankfully Starry took the hint and quit. [Cutie Mark Enthusiast’s Note: Starry Emerald’s cutie mark is a star, emerald, and another star going up diagonally. It’s to show her normal positivity and show that she’s always looking for the best in a pony. Bumble Bee’s is, of course, a bumble bee. She’s a bit chill. Cassiopeia’s is a warm island breeze swirling around. It’s to show her enthusiasm and hectic personality. As for Edgy...]