//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Assured // by Fantastic Tales //------------------------------// "It's f-f-f-f-f-ine!" Spike said, brushing off the worried advice Twilight sent his way. Despite the inclement weather, Spike was not one to abandon his characteristic jubilance so easily. Even as howling snow drifts ran painfully over his scales, Spike pressed belly first into the ground, repeatedly kissing it and all the while attempting to embrace the earth as if it were an old friend. Twilight withheld her own sheepish expression at the sight, sending apologetic looks to the abandoned drake even as she hid from the curious looks of passing townsfolk. "Maybe you should celebrate later, Spike," Twillight suggested, adding, "...and indoors." "Hey, you didn't spend three hours trapped on a cloud island!" Spike retorted, looking up with a defensive glare, storking his claws over the stone in a familiar manner. "Plus, this rock is sweet," Spike said, quickly regaining his carefree attitude as he noted the sunbaked stonework which covered the road. Twilight, rolling her eyes and on the verge of responding, found her words dying as another wave of laughter interrupted her. "Yeah, it is pretty 'sweet'" Starlight agreed at the trailing end of her chuckles. "It's not too fun in the summer, though," - she said, adding, with a thoughtful look - "unless you're a dragon, I suppose." "Why did you bring us here, anyway?" Spike asked, withholding for once the increasingly suspicious looks he'd been sending to Twilight whenever he thought Starlight wasn't looking. "Yeah," Twilight agreed, "I've been meaning to ask you that too. Why did you bring us here." Twilight gestured to the polished stonework and marbled alleyways that lined both sides of the street. "Well, I, uh," here Starlight became quiet, taking a moment to overcame the sudden bashfulness that overtook her before continuing, "I had a vision," her voice barely over a whisper. "Oh, what kind?" Twilight asked, tilting her head? "No, I really did... wait, what do you mean 'what kind?'" Starlight asked. "Oh, was it a vision of the past or did you just have to talk to someone...?" Twilight said, unperturbed. "Are you saying visions are normal? Are you ok?" "I really only have them when the world's in danger, really," Twilight clarified, "or when I'm drinking... drinking potions, that is," thinking it strange how gradually her life had gotten to the point where that had become a normal sentence. "Well, ah, anyway, I had one," Starlight said, "and I made a promise to someone that I'd do something when we got to this timeline. And, I think this is where that journey starts," Starlight said, looking meaningfully over at the aging wooden door that made up the entrance of the curiosity shop embedded deep in the alleyway they stood at the entrance of. "Ok," Twilight nodded, "what's our first step?" Starlight paused, expression turning as if struggling with a difficult concept before, finally, she managed to spit out the question, "'our?'" she asked. "Well, yeah," Twilight said naturally, "we've come this far together, haven't we? And friends should stick together, right?" As she spoke a subtle smile took over her demeanor, one which seemed rapidly to spread to her eyes. "Starlight?" Twilight asked, opening her smiling eyes after the awkward interlude of silence that followed, doing so just in time to see Starlight choke back a sob, looking askance as she fanned a hoof over her tearing eyes. "You guys... " Starlight broke with a quivering voice, speaking in broken, chipped sentences that belayed her normally eloquent speech patterns. "After everything..." she managed to say, now running the for of her leg across her tear streaked eyes. "It's ok, Starlight," Twilight said, holding her familiar smile. "I know you haven't always made the right choices, but I know that you're a good person, and a better friend than you think." "How can you even know that?" Starlight asked, sounding angry even as she laughed through her tears. "Because you're my friend," Twilight said, putting a hoof on the other mare's shoulder in a familiar gesture, "I just have to believe you are. Even if you don't." "Well, thanks," Starlight said after a while, finally putting away her hoof after having cooled down. "And, I accept your friendship," she said, chuckling. "Pfft, like you had a choice." Spike rolled his eyes in the background, looking all the more comical for not having moved from the sunbathing position he'd taken. "But," Starlight said, raising her head up, "this is still something I need to do alone. It's my promise, after all." "Ok, I understand," Twilight nodded, "just don't hesitate to let us know-" "Wait," Spike interrupted, rising partially from his perch on the streetside. "If you thought we wouldn't help you, why did you bring us all the way out here?" he said, gesturing to the foreign town square they all stood in. "Oh," Starlight was once again sheepish. "Well, I could really only set the portal to one location, and, since I was going to start of here, it was more... convinient," Starlight trailed, on occasion dipping into shameful mumbling. "You guys have money for train tickets, though right?" Starlight perked back up, attempting to switch the topic of conversation. "Yeah we've got some money at our castle, you know, in Ponyville," Spike deadpanned, shooting judgemental looks over at starlight. "Oh, darn it," Starlight exclaimed in awkward exasperation, "If only I'd dropped us off at a bank." "Or at our castle, in Ponyville," Spike, again, shooting annoyed glares as another slash of wind burst over the street. "It's alright, we would have had to go to one of these places anyway," Twilight said, diplomatically. "Do you have any ticket money we could borrow?" She asked, turning her head to Starlight. Starlight sucked in a breath, "well, I do, but, I really need it to buy something for my mission," she said, gesturing to the alley door. "It's a 'destinies are converging moment'." "Oh," Twilight nodded, "ok, we'll just call for a carriage transport, I guess." "Yeah," Starlight agreed, "It'll probably be faster if you do that, anyway," she said, putting on a positive tone. "Not really," Twilight answered. "It takes them a while to get here. Flying in this weather isn't too fun." "...well! I guess that's good bye!" Starlight smiled, quickly walking into the alleyway as she waved over at the receding portrait of cold at the edge of the alleyway/ "Good bye." Twilight and Spike responded, less enthusiastically. "We're still freinds, right?" "Yes." "Are you sure?" "Yes, we're sure." "You'd tell me if we weren't freinds, right!" "Trust me, Starlight, we're still freinds." "Well... great!" Starlight turned back, walking forward in the alley as she repeatedly whispered "stupid, stupid, stupid, why didn't I just drop them off in ponyville, why am I so terrible at this!" Soon, however, these thoughts dissipated as she entered the comforting warmth of the oddity shop. Heated air, blew across the boundary between the warm orange wood of the shop, crowded in every corner with a veritable rainbow of aged antiques and dreary objects, and the cool blue atmosphere of the outside world, one which flickered off and widespread as the aged door slammed shut behind her. "Welcome," an ancient Gryphon greeted in a hoary voice, looking up from the counter top he stood behind to observe her with dazzlingly golden eyes. "What brings you to my mystical shop of wonders." And Starlight, in a first for the old crow, actually gave a reason. "I'm here for that shard of Hope," she said, eyes moving with certainty to an unassuming shard of crystal lined up n the back shelves. The old gryphons eyes shot up in surprise. "You know of the Shards of Hope?" he asked. "Yes, yes," Starlight said impatiently, already removing the shard from it's plaque. "They were the shattered remnants of the former queen of the Crystal Empire, Radiant hope. It's said if they were brought back together, she would return to life and bring about miracles, even redeem S-" Starlight paused. "Well, the first one was supposed to be around here, anyway." "You seem... uncommonly knowledgeable," the gryphon pronounced. "Well, you see," Starlight said, a funny smile coming over her features, "I'm a historian."