But as Fizzlepop finally got a chance to chat with her old friends, she realized she couldn’t help but remember that grey stallion. These two fillies had been her friends, but they weren’t there for her during her darkest times. Not the way he had been.
She sat at the tea table as they chatted. They had never known the pain she had. Their lives were filled with other ponies, fun, and laughter. Some struggles, but nothing like what Tempest had known. None of the battles, the adventures, the training. None of it.
Fizzlepop smiled and nodded, but Tempest was a few hundred miles away.
Down the street, Starry Emerald’s mind was also a few miles away. She had spent the whole day planning on what she and Edgy could go see and remembered that the mines that Rarity occasionally visited would be just the thing.
They were dark and scary but peculiar, so it’d be something she and Edgy would both enjoy.
Starry continued thinking about it as she finished up closing up her forge and started giddily trotting toward her house. Edgy and her friends were supposed to be having dinner there tonight, and tomorrow, her plan would go into action.
Starry waited until her friends left before she would tell Edgy. This was going to be another special trip for just her and Edgy, and all to find out what was going on with him. Her friends didn’t need to know about it.
“So Edgy...”
“Star.”
“We’re going on a trip tomorrow. It’s a surprise where it’ll be, so don’t ask,” Starry said, as she lifted up her hooves exaggeratedly. She didn’t think he would ask to begin with.
“But you’re going to enjoy it,” she finished.
Edgy was a bit worried about where she would take him, and he hadn’t felt in the mood to do anything tomorrow with Starry. But he didn’t want to disappoint her.
“Not as much as you’re going to enjoy it because you get to spend time with me,” he said, with a wink.
Starry ignored the remark.
She could barely sleep that night. Maybe it was the excitement of spending time with Edgy again? Life was always more exciting when he was around.
She did feel a little worried about her friends, though. She had practically shoved them out the door at the end of dinner. She couldn’t remember the last time she truly hung out with them other than her little pity party a while ago.
She had to make it up to them somehow.
Edgy was also having trouble falling asleep. He had been so worried about seeing Tempest again, and now she really was here. His past started nagging at his mind again. But then he thought about Starry. Looking at Starry’s face, he felt safe.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
“I used to come into these caves sometimes, just to see what Rarity was using,” Starry said and pointed to the gems around them.
They had found their way into the gem caves underneath and a little to the side of Ponyville. Most ponies probably didn’t even know it existed. Rarity had told Starry of them just in case Starry needed some and it was a dream come true for Starry to be near Rarity. There weren’t many ponies going off into these caves, but these caves were quite a sight.
Edgy looked, and he was a little amazed at what he saw. The caves were misshapen, with piles of rock lumped around the walls and gems spotting everything randomly. The gems were bulky and glowed back in Starry’s light as if they were claiming her light for their own. He looked into one and saw his reflection split into nine different faces. He wondered how other ponies saw him when they looked at his face.
The bobbing light ahead of him had stopped. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Starry had stopped to look back at him. He quickly struck a pose as if he was admiring himself all along.
Starry rolled her eyes and continued trotting.
The two wandered around a bit in the caves. It was nice to be able to see how beautiful they were. Starry kept her horn lit, and it shone across all the gems on the walls and ceilings.
“I heard one of Twilight’s friends has a sister that lives down here. I can’t imagine how lonely and eerie it must be down here for her,” Starry was saying.
Edgy couldn’t imagine a pony that would live here. There was nothing comfortable or comforting about it. A few clumps from the ceiling broke off and landed on his shoulder just as Starry was going around another corner. Starry heard him yelp and turned around to check on it.
“Nothing but a bruise.”
“We’ve had to deal with worse, huh, Star?”
Starry turned back ahead and said a word or two of agreement. She had felt so worried about him but he was right, they had even nearly gotten a few broken bones several times.
She was completely lost in thought and her horn light began to dim as she lost focus on it.
“So, do you forgive me?” she softly said.
Edgy stopped in his tracks. Starry slowed down to a halt herself. She didn’t look around toward him.
“For what?”
Starry realized after she said it that it was ridiculous to ask. This whole time, the past few weeks, she hadn’t said a word about it, and he had been there for her even though their trips were dull and awkward.
“I don’t know. I wanted to prove to you that we could still go on adventures together. I was worried you would still be mad at me about what happened before, and you’ve seemed so distracted all this time.”
Edgy looked toward Starry. He had no idea she was still hung up on that.
“Star, I’ve been worried about stuff myself.”
She said nothing, so he continued.
“I’ve been trying to avoid telling you about my past, but it seems like it’s just one of those very, very few,” he emphasized this, “things that I find it hard to fight.”
At that moment, a figure began shuffling around in the dark in front of them. Starry jumped and would have gasped if she hadn’t lost her breath. A tall, imposing pony was in front of her. Starry’s horn glow flared up to reveal the dark, orchid colored unicorn.
“I didn’t think there’d be so much traffic down here,” Edgy mumbled.
Tempest Shadow looked around nervously. She hadn’t been sure if Edgy would recognize her at all, and had hoped he wouldn’t.
“I...I followed you two down here.”
“Aren’t you...?” Starry began just as Edgy responded himself.
“I know I’m a goodlooking stallion but really this is too much.”
Starry and Tempest could have both slapped him.
With a sigh, Fizzlepop, or rather, Tempest Shadow, looked back at Edgy.