Burdens Unkind

by Rattus and The Victor


Crescendo

"Twilight?" Starlight asked the darkness of the castle she made it inside. "Spike?" She was met with an overwhelming silence. Her hooves clicked against the cold, hard floor, looking around for some semblance of communication Twilight normally would have left telling her where she went. This too, turned up nothing.

She felt antsy from the train ride home, sitting down for that long was very uncomfortable for her. The time had passed by slightly faster with the company of Maud, the other two had waited to catch different trains. They briefly touched upon who MoonDancer was, though Maud was much more interested in detailing specifics about the creature.

Starlight was ashamed that she didn't share as much enthusiasm, and she knew she should as this was something that used to interest her. Recently she couldn't even muster the sensation of happiness while doing things she usually loved.

Before she could retreat to her room, she heard a knock at the door. Tempted to not answer whoever it was and pretend she had been in her room this entire time, she continued up a few steps, before the knocking became even more erratic. Starlight sighed, trudging back down the steps to at least look through the peep hole.

Not surprised to see a blue unicorn mare desperately pounding at the door with a sorrowful look on her face. You could walk away right now and just deal with this later. Though she knew that would only make things worse. What if you just stopped dealing with her? Starlight opened the door with reluctant shame.

"Starlight! Thank goodness! I thought you'd be too angry to open the door and I worried you had already turned in for the night!"

"Get to the point, please Trixie. I am already regretting this."

"Harsh but fair. Look, I did end up making it to the exhibit, but you had been gone for a long time according to whoever had seen you. I had just barely gotten off my show- you'll never believe who I ran into!"

"Trixie," Starlight sighed, "As curious as I am, I am still upset, you haven't been coming through-"

"Coming through?! Starlight, I thought you understood! It is difficult making money off what I do- living isn't exactly free. I get it, I made a promise, but you are only going to disappoint yourself if you expect all of them to come true! In a perfect world they would, and do you think I like breaking them? No! There are external factors Starlight. And I did at least try to make it for you."

Starlight was conflicted. She caught between understanding and disappointment. Groaning she asked, "Trixie, just, try a little harder, okay? I know life is tough but it is getting upsetting, you know?"

"I know Starlight. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. Why is the castle dark already? I know Twilight usually stays up later than this, is she alright?"

"Gone, taking care of the usual crisis."

"Again?"

"What do you mean, again?"

"Nothing," Trixie said, a queer expression flickered across her face.

"It better be. You'd tell me if you knew, right?"

"I brought you some apology apple pie," pixie pink magic griped the aforementioned dessert, nudging it Starlight's way.

"Trixie."

"Your favorite, obviously, and you can't have apple pie without a little sparkling water!" She began pushing her way inside. Starlight gave in, following the first friend she had made here. "So how was it?"

Starlight shuddered internally, knowing she would have to muster faux excitement once more as she relayed what was supposed to be an exciting day.


The moon had climbed high into the sky by the time Trixie went back to her wagon, causing Starlight to retire much later than usual. Tiredness clung, weighing her down like armor as she clamored out of bed. The first visit she made was by Twlight's room, the library, the kitchen, and her study. All of which held no avail to finding the lavender alicorn. The silence of the morning rose to a deafening crescendo as she sat in one of the chairs in the study.

Another series of knocks sounded at the door, prompting an angry snort and trot. Surprised whipped through her when she opened the door to find an impatient looking Ember. Buck me.

"Twilight's not back yet, is she?" the dragon gently growled.

"Sorry." Starlight cooed with a smile, "I am not sure when she will be back- hopefully soon."

"I still need to talk to you." Ember sighed, her tough disposition falling slightly.

"Oh, well, come in then." Starlight nervously said, eyeing the thunderstorm building over them.

Ember eyed the clouds too, before strutting inside, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Are you alright?" Starlight asked, noticing now how pale she appeared since their last meeting.

"I'm fine," she said, without her usual bombastic tone.

"You clearly aren't, but if you don't want to go into it, that is fine too. So what can I help you with?"

"Let's sit down first."

"Oh-okay."

Ember crawled into the larger armchair, sighing as she eyed Starlight. "In Twilight's absence I would defect to you, correct?"

"Me? Oh, I don't know. I am only a student- much less a Princess qualified to give important information. There are three other-"

Ember raised her clawed hand, "I'm going to stop you right there. The dragons only go to Twilight Sparkle for anything, not those who have betrayed us time and time again."

Starlight flinched a little in surprise, "Wait, what? Do you think betrayal is perhaps-"

"I assure you it is not an overstatement."

"Oh- well what did-"

"Not relevant or conducive to this conversation. Now can I rely on you to assist me to the best of your ability?"

Starlight felt like a stone had been dropped in her gut, followed by a battering ram aimed towards it. She attempted to regain control on her breathing and to unpin her ears from behind her head as to not arouse conflict. "Sure, I just have to do something real quick, you know, get some scrolls to document this."

She exploded from her seat and charged into her room. Anxiously alternating which hooves she was balancing on, she was indeed looking for scrolls, but aimed to alert another Princess for advice. The realization dawning on her that she did not have Spike to send the messages nor knew the spell made her sink into a deeper panic.

"Alright, Starlight, we will do our best, make it obvious and crystal clear our advice should be taken with a heap of salt, and find a way to alert Twilight."

Starlight gingerly walked back into the room, levitating scrolls and quills around her. "Sorry about the wait, we have had a shortage on these." she lied.

Ember took in a deep breath, "Alright, you are ready. Now, there has been a famine devastating our land, sickness is spreading quickly, followed by death. Black ra-"

They both heard the castle doors open, followed by Twilight's voice ringing out, "Starlight? You here?"

"In the study, Twilight!"

Relief flooded through Starlight- then was followed by disappointment as Ember abandoned her in pursuit of her mentor. "We still have more to talk about-just not this anymore."

Twilight greeted Ember, talking as if nothing was wrong and returning from frantically disappearing was among the tedious day-to-day cycle. Starlight felt foolish and useless as she sat amid her scrolls. The way Ember had numbly stated death and famine were ravaging her land filled her with sadness, and forced some perspective on her life.

She left the castle, her endevour now to find Trixie, apologize for how rude she had been and to listen to who she ran into. Trixie had mostly listened to Starlight the night before, and she felt selfish for it. She enthusiastically pounded on the door of her wagon, parked in its customary place beneath he window.

"Trixie, I am sorry, can we talk? Trixie?" Starlight peered inside, finding no sign she was in there. Where could she be? Starlight just about gave up before stepping on a crumpled looking piece of paper she hadn't noticed before.

Went to PonyVille Hospital if you were worried. The note said in elegant but sharp swirls. A splotch of rain fell down to attack the paper, followed by many others. Starlight shook herself, running back towards the castle. It was only when a drop landed on her muzzle did she noticed the rain was gray.