//------------------------------// // Complete The Circle // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// "Think she's gone back to sleep?" Valey whispered, careful not to disturb Starlight in Maple's arms. "She has," Maple murmured back, reaching for another rag from her bucket of ice water to apply to Starlight's horn. "Her breathing is slower. Oh, Starlight..." "So. Spooky stuff." Valey looked away and shuddered. Maple hesitated. "There was something you wanted to say, but didn't. Something that wasn't good?" "...I'm gonna need to talk about this eventually," Valey sighed. Trembling, she curled forward and looked at her hind legs. "I, uhh... might have lied about something kinda important." Maple's ears folded. "About this? About something that's happening to Starlight?" Valey swallowed. "Yeah. She mentioned the stuff in Riverfall with Hemlock. I dunno how lucid she is right now, or how well she remembers it, but she, uhh, hallucinated some stuff about being more cornered than she actually was, and him fighting her and there being a weird magic crystal sword thingy and stuff. And I was the only one there to see it. Thing is... Hemlock survived that and got taken back to Ironridge, and according to Amber his insane fearful gibbering or whatever account of events kinda lines up with Starlight's. And mine..." She sagged. "I made it up. I figured he was gone and it was my word against Starlight's and she knew there was magic involved and she was terrified and... yeah. I didn't want that on her hooves. The river was overflowing. She was stuck on the crane platform alone with him, and they tried grappling each other or whatever and she crystalled her leg and turned it into a sword, except it was darker than usual and looked weird and wrong. All that actually happened." "...Why?" Maple's eyes wavered, growing glassy in the dim light. "I mean... Okay. I understand why you wouldn't want her with something like that on her chest. She told me about it when it first happened. We were all there, you and me and Amber too. And... I understand. But what does that have to do with this, though?" Valey looked down. "One? Because she brought it up. I dunno what she was just talking about right then, but she thinks it's got something to do with it. And two... because when it was happening, her eyes were gray. I don't know if she remembers that. She just said right now that she forgot what colors were while she was out, right? But it... yeah." She hugged herself. "Kind of brought back some bad memories for me and I suppose I wanted to pretend it hadn't happened either. There was also the fact that she was setting off my cutie mark when she was like that, by the river. Really not cool to feel that from your friends." "Oh." Maple was silent for a moment. "...Do you think there was a Nightmare Module in Riverfall?" "I dunno." Valey shook her head. "Sparky's the scientist, not me. But she'd probably say we don't have enough data points. Like, the events were really different, right? I don't recall her exploding like she did now to get back to normal, then, and now she was shivering and cold and weak and stuff instead of trying to murder an old dude who had just blown up her house." "No, she didn't," Maple murmured. "You brought her back and I held her for a while until she awakened." Valey closed her eyes and thought. "Did you do anything to her while she was out, then? Anything at all? That could have made a difference?" Maple thought for a long moment. "I just held her and hugged her. All I wanted was..." Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. "I used the harmonic flame. Remember, I had kept some of its energy in my cutie mark, because having it made me feel nice. And it rebuilt her earlier, right? I brought a little bit of it out for her several times while she was out, and maybe after she was awake, as well!" "Bananas," Valey whispered, brow furrowing in concentration. "And Starlight does harmony stuff with the harmony extractor, right? Or, and we know the flame did spooky stuff to moon glass. It slowly melted it, remember? The setup the yaks had? So if that's how Starlight snapped herself out of it now, with that flashy thing she did..." She rubbed her forehead, thinking as hard as she could. "You know what I'm saying. There's totally a connection here." "Harmony breaks moon glass." Maple nodded along. "And turns Starlight back when she gets glassed, probably for the same reason. And Starlight is somehow harmonic and can do that without a flame, but doing it hurts her. But does that mean since using her horn normally hurts her like this, her normal magic is harmonic too?" Valey shrugged. "That's a question for Sparky. She'd know for sure. Either way, doesn't the harmony extractor, like, fix this problem but also push her too far in the other direction? I don't get it. She's using harmony in both directions somehow, right? What am I missing, here?" Maple squeezed her eyes shut, trying to envision it in a simpler way. "Using it in one direction breaks one thing, and using it in the other fixes that and breaks another thing. But I don't know what the directions are. What's the difference between using her horn or a machine? It clearly matters..." "I mean... keep in mind that according to Dorable, she's a machine too," Valey mused. "So it's like using one machine with another? Maybe it's broken by itself, but we're not fixing it in the right way, or whatever? She said something about something saying she was broken, even, remember?" "Broken..." Maple hummed to herself. "What if it's... a broken circle? Like there's a back-and-forth that's supposed to happen and stops somewhere? Like maybe how she is now, there's too much pressure, and when she uses the harmony extractor, there's too little?" "Huh." Valey stared for a moment. "It's really weird thinking of ponies this way, but maybe you're onto something." She tilted her head, running herself over the possibilities. "We could be completely wrong," Maple continued, whispering, "but if that's the right way to think about it... do you think Starlight could be somehow fixed? By... completing the circle, somehow? Like she has some sort of missing part or component she could wear..." "...Maple?" Valey gave her a slightly scared look. "Do you at all get the feeling we're guessing about and trying to understand stuff mortals really aren't supposed to know? Like, correct me if I'm wrong, but world history vanishes completely about two thousand years ago, nobody knows where normal ponies or people came from, and now that we're finding out about batponies..." Maple nodded, unable to banish her curiosity for Starlight's sake. "It sounds like batponies might have been made with a purpose that wasn't very good," she agreed, whispering. "And now Starlight, too. You're worried we could discover something about other kinds of ponies as well, and we wouldn't like what we found?" "Where they came from. What they're here for." Valey shuddered. "I dunno. I've still only gotten looks and hints about batpony bodies and my weird space soul. But... it's been pretty much the most unpleasant thing ever. And I don't even know for sure that there isn't a miraculously benevolent reason I'm here, just that every sign points to there being the opposite. It's not... not really something I'd like for anyone else to find out about themselves, you know?" Maple leaned over and hugged her tightly. "You're still a person with your own ability to decide what you do, even if you were made with the ability to do terrible things, Valey. It'll be alright." Valey leaned into it for a moment. "Yeah. Thanks. Bananas, I'm starting to get addicted to this hug therapy stuff. Gonna have to work on my image." She chuckled and pulled back with a daredevil grin. "Anyway. Starlight. Back to your theory that she's missing a piece, or something. She did say she heard from the Nightmare Module she was broken, or something, right? Wish we could hear the exact words. I wonder if whatever's missing is something Sparky would be able to make, or if it's something that already somehow exists and we'd just have to get ahold of for her. My bet is, it's something weird like a concept or other thing you wouldn't even normally think of as a thing, or something that all ponies have already and would be too obvious to guess. I wonder if she's, like, missing an organ or some stuff?" "What if it's a cutie mark?" Maple whispered, barely audible. "Those are the most harmonic part of a pony. They're where the harmony extractor is supposed to connect." "Oh bananas." Valey's eyes traced Starlight's flank, completely clean without any trace of a mark whatsoever. "That's, uhh... Uhh." She swallowed. "Normal ponies sometimes go their whole lives without getting cutie marks, though. And they never have issues like hers." "They don't react to harmony magic the same, either," Maple answered, also examining Starlight's lack of a mark. "You said she acted more like a batpony." "Yeah." Valey nodded. "And you know that batponies have cutie marks from birth, right? Probably before they're born, even." Maple slowly nodded too. "But she's not a batpony, either. And you said batponies without cutie marks transform into something else. She isn't transformed, is she? Unless she is, and would turn into something else if she got one..." Her eyes widened at the idea, and she held Starlight a little closer. "Nah, that's a good point," Valey mused. "But, like, that mare up top? She got that weird smoky thing that happened when she used the Nightmare Module, and then when she got forced out of it, she turned back partially-transformed, or something. All Starlight did was turn gray. So maybe she's different enough that that doesn't happen to her." Maple closed her eyes. "So it could be her cutie mark? Unless... do you think all ponies in Equestria are like this?" Valey shrugged. "Have you ever heard her say that other ponies back across the mountains had the same deal with magic as her?" "I... haven't, no," Maple murmured. "But she doesn't talk about it very often. It's not a happy subject for her." "Yep." Valey nodded. "So it's not because she's from down there. There's something else special about her relating to batponies." She frowned for a moment, tonguing her fangs. "Bananas. She hates being special." Maple just sighed, hugging Starlight to her chest. "I know. It makes all of this so hard. Maybe we don't have to figure out, and she doesn't have to know? We can just forget we ever had this conversation?" Valey shook her head. "Nah. We can't, for two reasons. First, if we're actually getting somewhere... I mean, you wanna help her, right? And it's not like we're at a dead end, especially not if we get Sparky in on this. And you know who else could help? Grapejuice. Probably has a ton of weird pirate cultist lore, or whatever. Could certainly tell us more about batponies than I know. And second, it's not enough to tell her to just avoid Nightmare Modules and moon glass. Because... the stuff with Hemlock happened. And I'm pretty sure there was no moon glass to trigger her there, or she would have known." "Oh." Maple looked down. "You're right, aren't you...?" "Yeah, even though I don't want to be." Valey let out a long sigh, brushing back her emerald mane and flopping on her back in the bed. "Look, I just... I... You know what I'd rather do? Something that would for sure help us as opposed to maybe get something we want while also sticking our noses into potentially hot water?" "What's that?" Maple asked. "Teach you all to fight." Valey exhaled, relaxing into the bed. "Bananas, if you all could defend yourselves, that would make so much of what we do so much easier. Ironflanks, I know you like being nice, but have you even looked at your cutie mark? Do you realize how strong you could be in a fight if your opponent thought you were a plain old unarmed earth pony and then suddenly you threw punches from twice your weight class or grappled them and then materialized a knife in their gut? You could do a sand attack and keep all your ammunition stored in there, you could drop ball bearings or marbles on the floor to cover an escape..." She turned to make eye contact. "You'd be seriously strong. And don't even get me started on what Starlight could do with her crystals. I've gotta start spending more time with Nyala, too, and that armor's built for combat. I feel really bad about bringing her back right before a big thing that would prevent me from spending time with her..." "That does sound helpful," Maple murmured. "Maybe we could help you practice for the tournament, if you're still going to be in that?" Valey hesitated. "I... don't know. I suppose I've got a lot of time to think about it, still. On the one hoof, Wallace thinks I stand a chance, and just imagine what I could do with a wish from a goddess. We could get that pass thingy to the Plains of Harmony... or I could go bigger. I could ask her to give Nyala's body and the original Valey's soul back. I could ask her what the deal with moon glass is and where the souls inside actually came from, assuming she knows. I could even ask her to demand that her empire treat batponies better. Maple..." "But at the same time, it would put us in danger," Maple continued. "You'd be drawing so much attention to yourself as you climbed the ranks. Wallace said you would." "Yeah." Valey nodded. "I'd need allies. Really good ones, enough to keep all of you safe, since you'd likely get targeted instead. Either way, that hopefully wouldn't start until I made a name for myself by making it to the third round, so we'd have time. But I bet Wallace would help, and who knows? Maybe Gazelle will turn out to be decent too. Meltdown seriously scares me after all that, but she'd helped us before. I kinda... want to learn what her deal is. You saw her out of her armor, didn't you?" Maple nodded. "It was surprising. She didn't look at all well-built. Almost weak, even." Valey slowly sighed. "Can't believe it. She looked super young, too. Definitely in her late teens at best. Yet somehow, she's got scary armor that has to be backed by magic powers and has one of the strongest jobs in the Empire. She gets to control everyone's supply and pricing of mana power, while also being some kind of super-strong vigilante hunter. It's so weird." "Everything here is," Maple murmured. "I miss things being simple and making sense in Riverfall. Everything was peaceful and friendly, it wasn't hard to recognize ponies in the streets. The only weather was raining and not raining. You grew up with your friends, and everything had its own, simple way of working... until it didn't. I wonder how White Chocolate is doing. And Willow, and Amber." Valey shrugged. "I mean, we've got the sound stone right here. You wanna give Amber a call?" "Maybe later." Maple rolled over in place, humming a soft song in Starlight's little ears. "Is that what we'll do, then? Go to Stormhoof? Not worry about what can or can't be done for Starlight for now, and just focus on ourselves instead of poking anywhere that might have unpleasant answers?" "Yeah. That's what we'll do." Valey scooted a little closer, laying with her chin on her neck and her wings folded atop her barrel. "I'll start counting today. Let's see if we can set a record for how many days we stay out of trouble."