//------------------------------//
// Wandering 
// Story: Stars in the Sky 
// by Book_Wyrm 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 3 
“I’m just trying to process this,” Amethyst Mirror said as they sat under the trees. In the few hours since their escape the purple mare had spent most of her time in a haze of thought. “You’re a wanted murderer and who knows what else.” 
“Yes,” Starry Sparks replied evenly. She knew that the younger unicorn was going through a period of shock and wanted to avoid upsetting her. 
“Do you do this everywhere you go?” 
“I try not to. I’ve only been banished from Kludgetown so far.” 
“How the hell did you manage that?” 
“I um... I may have burned down Verko’s favorite mansion. He's the big crime boss that runs the place.” 
“You did what?” 
“It was an accident! Sort of.” 
“how have you even managed to survive this long uncaught?” Amethyst asked. 
“I haven’t.” Starry didn’t elaborate. She really didn’t want to explain what happened the times she had been caught.  Amethyst began to inquire further, and Starry replied simply, “You don’t want to know.” 
Amethyst shut up, but she still did look inquisitive. Starry knew that if she didn’t do something soon, the unicorn would start probing again. It seemed to the gray mare that her companion had a rather curious and chattery nature and she had to distract her. An idea suddenly hit her brain like a chariot crash.  
“What’s your family like, Amethyst?” Starry asked. 
“Oh,” Amethyst replied, “They're okay, I guess. My parents are two of the more upscale Ponyville ponies, Ivory Pearl and High Step. I think they expected me to be high society like them. You can see how that turned out.” She pointed at herself. “I never was one for their upper-class life.”  
“why not?”  
“Because I’m not good enough at being a snob.” She pointed her nose up to the sky and sniffed haughtily. They both grinned. High society ponies were often obnoxious and rude, in an ever so mannered fasion. 
When they had calmed down, Amethyst continued. “I was always obsessed with jewlery, staring into my mother's jewel box and trying things on. Then came bead necklaces, and flower garlands, and things like that. One day one of my mother’s necklaces broke, and I fixed it. I also made it prettier, if I do say so myself. Then boom, I got my cutie mark.” she finished, brandishing the string going through a gem on her flank. “I grew up, started my shop, and not much else. My parents are okay with it. What about you?” 
“There’s not much to tell of my childhood,” Starry lied. “That's why I left home, to get away.” the second part was true, but she did not want to escape boredom. Everian was never boring. It was just too much for her, too much beauty and vanity and perfection. When every crystal place was glimmering and spotless, and everything from the streets to the ponies was immaculate, anything that dared to be flawed was looked down upon. This, of course, included everything outside their kingdom. The ponies of Everian considered other nations, including Equestria, inferior to them. 
Amethyst looked at the sky. “It’s getting near sunset.” 
“We’ll get on the road soon.” Starry said. She got up and wandered into the patch of trees. As the moon crested the horizon and the sun sank beneath it, she lit her horn. Stars began to appear twinkling in the sky. When the moon was finally in place, Starry wandered back over to Amethyst.  
“What were you doing?” Amethyst asked, rising. 
“Nothing of much importance.” 





The two mares traveled under the light of the waxing moon. Starry watched the land around them. Amethyst walked along, staring at nearly everything she saw, jumping at every sound. Once, a bush rustled and she leaped behind Starry. Moments later, a mouse appeared out of the bush. Starry rolled her blue eyes. Amethyst resettled, keeping pace with the taller mare. Each ominous hoot of an owl or sound of a wolf howling in the distance terrified the young pony. She had rarely left Ponyville before, and had certainly never traveled by night, in open terrain. 
Starry groaned at each of their frequent stops. On her own, she could have covered forty or more miles in a night.  At the rate they were going, Starry approximated they would maybe make twenty, if they were lucky. Amethyst was clearly not used to anything but a luxurious lifestyle. 
Is this how I would have ended up if I stayed at home, Starry thought? Sitting around on my ass, tired after a few miles. Spending all day making jewelry? What kind of life is that? She looked behind her. Amethyst was beginning to lag behind again. The purple unicorn was losing energy quickly. Starry sighed as Amethyst called for another rest. “Okay,” Starry said, “But this one has to be short.” 
“I know I’m slowing us down. Where are we going, anyway?” 
“a village that’s so tiny, it's not even on the map.” 
Amethyst looked at her. “Why would we go there?” 
“We need somewhere to lie low. A tiny little nowhere town is just that. And Amberhill is just that.” 
“Okay. How far is it?” 
“Still another fifty miles yet.” 
“Oh.” 
Amethyst quieted down, and the pair walked along in silence. Even while keeping and ear and an eye on her surroundings, Starry let her mind wander.  For the first time in longer than she cared to admit, she thought about Everian, about her family, and about her youth. She thought about her mother, her long golden mane and disapproving glare. Her mother had never liked her odd, imperfect daughter. Starry’s love for the world outside, reading and exploring alike, had given her, and in extension her family, a bad reputation.  So Shimmery Dawn made sure to publicly rebuke her daughter, dismissing any and all ideas she came up with as foolish. When Starry had finally received her cutie mark, at age fifty-three, it only displeased her mother further. Shimmery Dawn certainly did not want her only foal to take after her missing father. So Starry had left the place she had been born in, searched for something new.  
So lost in thought was she, that Starry did not realize that the gray dawn was beginning to peek over the horizon. She only came out of her stupor when Amethyst tapped her shoulder. Looking up and seeing the sun starting its daily course, she veered into a gathering of bushes. Before Amethyst reached them, she had already cast her magic. Adding a spell of protection once Amethyst was inside the bushes, Starry settled in for another day’s rest.