//------------------------------// // 272 - The Next Morning // Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat // by David Silver //------------------------------// "Mom?" Moonbeam called from the doorway as he swatted the door shut with a wing. "I'm home. Everything cool?" There was no answer, but that was no cause for alarm. His adopted mother often got distracted and absorbed into her work. He went to the fridge, grabbed a snack and nibbled at it as his wings went about making some coffee. "She'll be happy to have it," he spoke to himself as he watched the water warm. She never remembered to make herself any, but was always happy when it was provided. "I swear sometimes I forget who's the parent around here." He was smiling though. He had only grown fonder of his adopted mother, even with, or maybe because of her eccentricities. With the coffee loaded into one of her favorite mugs that looked like a smiling pony you were drinking out of the skull of, he trotted towards her room. "Ready or not, the caffeine train is pulling into the station. The hay's wrong with this light?" His wing flicked back and forth over the switch that should have summoned light into the hallway, but light refused to come. "Mom, you blow the fuse, again?" He pressed forward, grumbling. He expected light in her room, but it was fairly dark in there as well. "Mom?" He set the coffee down on her desk and walked past it carefully. His nightvision was keen, as befit a lunar pegasus. "Samantha?" She usually didn't like when he used her actual name, but that could be a good way to get a response. "Yo, you in here?" He nudged open another door into deeper darkness. There was a faint light. One little readout blinking a soft green. What did it mean? He had no idea. "Moooom?" He stopped, looking down at his hooves. The ground felt... odd... There was a burn mark. The floor was scorched as if something had just... exploded, boom, and left a big imprint. "Mom?" He took a step back, the first true bit of fear starting to rise. "This isn't funny! Come out here right now!" Moonboom clopped a hoof on the hardwood floor, scowling as if he could shame the situation into being better. "I got you coffee!" Samantha was seated on something that barely qualified as a surface. "Fascinating." All around her were stars, countless stars. They seemed to reach into infinity, but she knew better. There was a limit. There was always a limit. She rose to her hooves and looked around. "Moonbeam?" She twitched an ear, trying to tune into him, but her devices were unresponsive. "Concerning... Hmmm." Curiosity won out, and she began following the shimmering path she was on. "I just have to find the way back home." "You didn't wait for me?" A figure emerged from the stars, stepping out onto the path ahead of her. He looked old and grey. He had a long beard and a hat full of bells. "I can see how you two are related." "Star Swirl," identified Samantha out loud. "Silver would be so happy to meet you! I imagine you could answer many questions regarding thaumaturgic design." "We've met." Star raised a brow at Samantha. "And now his daughter comes, not bound by blood, but surely his all the same. Are you not even slightly scared?" "Why should I be?" Samantha leaned forward towards him. "I'm curious, and I wish to re-establish contact with the others, but I appear to be in no danger." "What a curious mare." He stroked his beard softly, looking her over. "You've done something you shouldn't do, and as your punishment, you are here." She gasped with alarm. "What'd I do wrong?! I knew I should have tipped better..." "This is not a matter of tipping. A life would have ended, should have ended, but you refused that destiny. You clutched it from the very jaws of destiny through sheer will, determination, love, and caring. You offended the fates, but also impressed them, so you are here." Samantha slowly tilted her head, trying to process that. "Aren't the fates mostly just a way for ponies to feel better when they don't take the needed actions to get something done and they want to blame something other than themselves?" "Usually," Star agreed easily. "Not this time." He turned away. "Follow me. Your life's accomplishments will be displayed on either side. Take this moment to consider how you got here, or just walk. Either way, keep up." Samantha's eyes were more on the pony in front of her rather than the floating images of her life. She already knew how her life went, she was there, duh... "Why are you here?" "I did a good thing, and a bad thing. Fate does love to punish ponies in ways for that. Me and my friends are quite trapped here, but we keep an evil at bay in the meanwhile... At least I get to see some things." He twisted an ear at her. "Are you truly not curious at all? This is a great moment for you." "Is it?" She trotted up to walk beside him. "Well I am happy to meet you. If you know so much, did it work? I was unable to verify before losing consciousness." "You can verify that after this, now, do you understand what comes next?" "We reach the end of this road and I go home? You can come with me if you like." "No I may not. Stepping away would bring great evil to Equestria and I will not have that." He glanced to the side at her. "You will change in a fundamental way, but I have a feeling you would rather just experience it and take take notes on the matter." Samantha gasped at Star Swirl. "You already know me so well. Will it hurt? A lot, a little? I can handle it, just want to know." "It is overwhelming, but not painful." He reached for her, pulling free a portion of her spirit into a swirling eddy of power. "At least you didn't ask for a song." "I could have had a song?!" "Too late." She began to lift into the air as he blew the energy towards her, changing it in the process. It flowed into it, bringing the change with it. Her form became nothing but energy, changed energy, controlled by the forces of destiny itself. Her vision of the astral plane they had been in faded away. "This can't be happening..." He danced from one hoof to the next. "This can't be happening, oh man, oh... Okay, okay, calm down, calm... down..." He took a slow uneven breath. "She has to be alright. She's crazy, wild, but always wins through, always, remember that... She has to be alright... Where did she get herself... Where..." He emerged from the back room to hear something shuffling around. "Who's there?!" "Moonbeam?" A soft thud announced Samantha bopping her head on the bottom of her desk. "Ow, one moment. I almost have this... there." The lights came on and machines hummed back into life. "There we are. Moonie!" She emerged from under the table, a little larger, and with great wings that flapped eagerly. "You're home! Good to see you. Oh, you got me coffee, thank you." She willed it up for a big sip, ignorant of Moonbeam's stunned expression.