//------------------------------// // Amethyst Star and the Cultist // Story: Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This // by MagicS //------------------------------// A bright new day greeted Amethyst Star as she woke up in the back of a covered wagon. The other day she had come across a traveling caravan heading in the same direction as her, and since she had been walking for ages she figured she might as well give herself some rest. The caravan ponies were friendly enough to give her a ride as long as she occasionally helped out with things and Amethyst Star was more than happy to oblige. This was also something she wouldn’t normally do back in Equestria, it wasn’t anything particularly adventurous but it was different and that was fine to her. She was still doing something instead of just walking around and a big caravan like this probably had an important destination in mind where Amethyst Star could find other stuff to do. With a yawn, Amethyst Star tossed her blanket off and sat up. The wagon had been rolling for hours by now but the journey was surprisingly smooth enough to not wake her up early. The unicorn rubbed her eyes and sat there for a moment longer to get all the sleep out of her system, exercising her jaw to get the creaks out and stretching her neck. The wagon she was in was one of many used to carry crates full of grain and her little bed area was placed right between four large crates, two stacked up on each other. She was thankful they hadn’t hit a bump or that might’ve been the end to her adventure right there but they didn’t really have any other free room. No matter where she slept it would’ve been nestled between a bunch of heavy crates. Amethyst Star stood up and stretched like a cat, feeling ready enough to take on the day she trotted through the back of the wagon towards the front, the heavy wood boards reverberating beneath her hooves with each step. She walked up a ramp that led to the driver’s seat and pulled open the wagon tent’s flap to say good morning to the caravan workers. “Heya, good morning!” Amethyst Star called out to them as she hopped from the back onto the driver’s seat. Four large stallions were busy pulling the wagon while a mare with a large hat sat right next to the tent flap that Amethyst Star had opened, now the two of them sharing the same bench. “Morning!” The four stallions politely said in unison as they looked back at her for a second before continuing their duty. A lot of ground needed to be covered every day. “And a good morning to you too,” the bright white hat-wearing mare said. She went by the name of Aquamarine, a name that Amethyst Star silently attempted to make sense of since her mane was made up of curly red locks and her Cutie Mark was that of a fountain pen. She didn’t want to be rude so it seemed it would just be left as a mystery for the ages. “Guess you’ve been up for a lot longer than me?” Amethyst Star asked Aquamarine. “Quite so, rising early is just part and parcel when it comes to our way of life. I hope the wagon was comfortable enough for you?” Aquamarine smiled at her guest. “Yep! I’m actually kind of surprised but I feel great.” “That’s good to hear, I don’t know how long you’ll be with us but it would be terrible if things were uncomfortable for you.” Amethyst Star smiled and leaned back against the bench, enjoying the hospitality of the caravan ponies. She was on the fifth wagon in a line of twelve, with every last one of them either carrying grain, grain, and more grain, or the tools and supplies needed to harvest and plant grain. Amethyst Star figured they were either associated with some great farm itself or were well known enough that their services were trusted with transporting enough grain to feed a whole town. Taking a gander at the scenery, Amethyst Star was able to enjoy the rolling green hills in the distance and the small sprouts of forests that dotted the landscape. They were up on top of a flat and decent sized hill themselves so thanks to that elevation bonus Amethyst Star could see a wide and lazy river flowing to the south. A bunch of moving dots on the river must’ve been boats. More than anywhere else she’d been so far in the Undiscovered West this reminded her of Equestria. A green and temperate land that was well forested with friendly ponies to boot. Of course this wasn’t a vacation she was on, this was an adventure she was on, and if the rest of the west was like this that would kind of put a damper on her journey for an epic quest. But considering everything else she had been through it would be dumb to take this great thing for granted. Amethyst Star wasn’t sure what kind of work she’d have to do today, if any, but she was making sure she wouldn’t exhaust herself before that. She’d generally only helped move some stuff or temporarily take over for one of the stallions pulling a wagon. Nothing too extreme. Amethyst Star liked to think they were just polite and didn’t want to put too much of a burden on their guest. The reality was they probably didn’t think she could handle anything too straining but didn’t want to be impolite and tell her as such. She blinked a few times and put her hooves behind her head, looking up at the sky now and the puffy white clouds drifting by. Blue and sunny. You couldn’t ask for a better day. A hawk flew past her vision from one part of the sky to the other. On the hunt? Just flying for fun? Amethyst Star occasionally liked to think about what it would be like if she was a pegasus, or even an earth pony. But she was a bit too close to her magic to want to give it up, even if she wasn’t supremely gifted at it. “Would you like to go for a walk?” The sudden question from Aquamarine snapped her out of her thoughts. Amethyst Star looked over at the mare sitting next to her. “Huh?” “Be kind of boring to just sit up here watching the boys pull the wagon all day, let’s go for a bit of a walk. We can check on the trail up ahead. Least be something to do,” Aquamarine suggested. “Hm, alright,” Amethyst Star shrugged. She hadn’t planned to do anything but just walking wasn’t going to make her tired. This trip on the wagon was supposed to be her break from walking as a means of travel, not walking as a means of killing time. Aquamarine told the stallions pulling the wagon that they were taking a walk and the two mares hopped off onto the ground, walking down the trail on their own hooves. Thanks to the size and weight of the wagons it was actually faster for a single pony to just walk unless the stallions were really running or putting their all into pulling. So Amethyst and Aquamarine were able to get ahead of the caravan in just a minute or two, saying hi to the other ponies with each one they passed. When they made it to the front of the whole caravan and started walking on open trail, Amethyst Star decided to strike up a conversation. “So how long have you been doing this? Working the caravan, I mean.” “My whole life,” Aquamarine grinned at her. “I was born on the wagon trail, same as my parents. Same as my kids one day. What about you? Know you’re traveling but you don’t seem to have much of a destination in mind, if you don’t mind me saying.” “Yeah I come from a small town out east. Like way out east. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this,” Amethyst Star said. “What made you come out here?” “A… lot of things,” Amethyst Star didn’t particularly want to get into all her insecurities or the silly reasoning she had for taking this trip so she stayed vague. She didn’t realize the irony that she was talking to someone who had much the simple life that she did back in Ponyville, where she’d done the same thing her entire life, only Aquamarine didn’t seem to have any problem with it. “I wanted a change of pace to put it simply.” “Guess I can understand that. I’d never leave the caravan though. Course it’s a little different since leave it or not I get to travel all over,” she chuckled. “You said a small town? I figured as much, you seemed a bit country to me, reminded me a bit of myself.” “Oh yeah?” “Yep. I said I’d never leave the caravan but that doesn’t mean I’ve never had fantasies or never thought about it. Mostly when I was a kid though, before I got my Cutie Mark.” “Hm,” Amethyst Star noncommittally grunted. She knew Aquamarine probably didn’t mean anything by it but the implication that she was living out a childish fantasy kind of got to her. And her being so firm that she’d never leave the caravan must mean she was pretty darn content in her life here and didn’t have the issues that Amethyst Star had back home. It made her a little envious. The two went along the hill trail just enjoying the sights and the sounds of the wilderness for a few minutes longer. The wagons created a steady rumble behind them until they crested a small bump and couldn’t see them anymore if they were to look back. Now it was just a grassy slope to their left and a sparse forest to their right that had a shoddy wooden rail fence bordering it. She wondered if someone owned the forest or if there was a farm somewhere close by because of it. She was so caught up in those big details that she didn’t notice one very peculiar thing that stuck out like a sore thumb. “Well now, who’s that up there?” Aquamarine said as her eyes looked dead ahead down the trail. Amethyst Star perked up and followed her gaze to see a pony on the side of the trail up ahead, standing right by the fence. Whoever they were they wore a long hooded brown cloak that hid all but the bottoms of their yellow hooves. Amethyst Star frowned, they looked suspicious, that was for sure. Who would be out here all alone wearing something like that? Aquamarine didn’t seem to share her suspicions though, with a friendly smile she waved to the pony up ahead. “Hey there!” The cloaked pony turned their head to Aquamarine and Amethyst, face obscured by the shadows from her hood, she didn’t say anything back or wave just yet but she took a couple steps closer to the trail and waited for Aquamarine and Amethyst Star to reach her. By the time they got close enough to shake hooves, Amethyst Star was giving her an unsure look, her brow furrowed and eyes searching up and down the cloaked pony in case they were hiding anything. It might not have been the Ponyville way to be so pessimistic when it came to strangers nowadays but Amethyst Star didn’t want to take any chances out in the west. Aquamarine was still smiling all friendly to the cloaked pony though. “Howdy! Whatcha doing out here all alone?” The cloaked pony regarded the two mares for a second before slowly responding. “I was… just traveling through I suppose.” She said in the light voice of a young mare. “Well then you’re just like Miss Amethyst Star here!” Aquamarine threw a hoof around Amethyst’s shoulders. “She’s traveling with me and my caravan right now. My name’s Aquamarine by the by.” The cloaked mare was silent again for a second before she reached up and pulled down her hood, revealing a bright pink mane and the horn of a unicorn underneath. Amethyst Star was right about the voice too, she was definitely at least a couple years younger than her. “I’m Solar Streak. Can I ask where it is your caravan is heading?” “Course you can!” Aquamarine cordially answered, sticking out her hoof for Solar Streak to shake, which the young unicorn did. “Well for right now we’re heading northwest to Fire Vent, that’s our next big stop, but eventually we’ll be going all the way out to the Al-Karamaretel Citadel before coming back this way.” Amethyst Star had no idea what either of those things were but they sounded kind of adventurous. Maybe she should stick with the caravan for a little longer? But then she’d have to go at their pace. And it wouldn’t exactly just be her adventure if she was tagging along with these ponies the whole way. She’d have to think about it. “Is it all right if I join you? I don’t know if I’ll travel with you all the way but I was going this direction to begin with as well. You can put me to work on anything if need be, I can carry my own weight,” Solar Streak asked. “I’ve been traveling on my own for a while now. It can get kind of lonely.” Aquamarine gave her a bittersweet smile. “Aw, don’t you worry none about being alone anymore, sugar. We’re fine with letting anyone come along with us so long as we have room.” Aquamarine glanced over at Amethyst. “Do we have any more room back in the wagon you’re staying in.” “A little,” Amethyst Star nodded. “She’ll have to sleep between boxes just like me though.” “That’s fine with me, I’m used to spartan conditions,” Solar Streak shrugged. “Great!” Aquamarine hugged the new unicorn, who winced slightly at the contact. “And carrying your own weight aint such a big deal either, so long as you help out sometimes and don’t just sleep all day we’re glad to have another set of hooves around.” Solar Streak blushed in embarrassment as she pulled away from the hug. “Thank you.” She then turned her gaze to Amethyst Star, who was staring at the ground lost in her own thoughts now after having completely forgotten to be suspicious. “I guess we’re wagonmates for the time being?” “Huh?” Amethyst Star looked up at her. “Oh, right. Yeah.” She looked over the cloaked mare for a second before smiling. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her. She came off as normal enough after they talked and it wasn’t really any stranger for her to be out here alone than how Amethyst Star had been traveling alone. “Pleased to meet you.” Thanks to them stopping to have this conversation the wagons had begun to catch up with them and Aquamarine decided to cut their walk short and show Solar Streak around. So Amethyst Star gladly went trotting back to her wagon to rest and watch the world go by for the rest of the day, like she had intended in the first place. It turned out to be a slow day for the caravan and Amethyst Star ended up never being asked for her help with anything. By the time everyone was beginning to go to sleep, Amethyst Star was already so well-rested that all she could do was lie down between her crates and stare up at the roof of the wagon. It would take some time before she felt tired enough to go to sleep. They had stopped on the trail and there wasn’t even the steady sound of the wagon wheels turning or any chirping of crickets outside to lull her to sleep. Her head rested on her pillow, quietly alone with her thoughts. “Excuse me? Are you still awake?” Well, not quite alone. Solar Streak was put up in another gap between crates right next to Amethyst Star. They couldn’t see each other sleeping like this but they could hear each other just fine. “Yes?” Amethyst Star answered. There was another pause from the young unicorn before she spoke again. “I’m sorry if this is too familiar of me to ask, but why are you traveling? Aquamarine said you were doing the same thing as me.” Before Amethyst Star could respond she quickly followed up. “Actually, never mind, I know it’s rude of me to ask about your personal life like that when we don’t even know each other, I just haven’t spoken to any other pony in a long time and-” “Woah, relax!” Amethyst Star interrupted to calm her down. “I don’t mind.” It wasn’t just about not minding, since this pony didn’t know her she could talk herself up all she wanted and Solar Streak would be none the wiser to her exaggerations. “Sorry...” was the quiet response from Solar Streak. “You don’t need to apologize,” Amethyst Star smirked even though the other mare couldn’t see it. “Anyways I just wanted to go on an adventure. I come from a town where a lot of really special and amazing ponies live and I always knew on the inside that I could do just as amazing stuff as they did, but I never got the chance to and no one really believed that I could. So finally I just got fed up with it all and came out here to prove that I was made of the same stuff.” There was only silence from the other side of the crates. “Er, why did you want to know?” Amethyst Star asked. “So you want to be special?” Amethyst Star propped herself up from her blanket, raising an eyebrow at the crate right next to her and the pony beyond. “Uh, yeah? Who doesn’t want to be special?” She could hear Solar Streak turning over in her blanket. “I guess it’s normal to want that, huh?” Amethyst Star didn’t know how to respond to that. Her whole journey started because of ponies outdoing her at what she used to be the best at. Taking her place, making her irrelevant, making no one ask for her help or advice on anything. So it seemed normal enough to her to want to be special and seen by others as capable. To want to be someone ponies looked to when they were in trouble or came to when they needed advice. She had that confidence in herself and saw herself that way but others weren’t convinced because ponies like Twilight Sparkle and the others overshadowed her. So she just had to go on the same kind of adventures they did. Seemed logical enough to her. “For a long time I thought the complete opposite of that. I hated the idea of special,” Solar Streak spoke up again. “Really?” Now that was something Amethyst Star couldn’t believe. “Everyone in my old village did. We were a… community of like minded ponies. We came together under a certain belief system. I’m not sure how it started, but I remember being unhappy with my life, and disappointed. My Cutie Mark never gave me the sort of happiness or purpose I expected.” She paused again as Amethyst Star intently listened in. “But then I met other ponies like me. And they said it was okay. They said I only felt that way because I was indoctrinated by “this world that celebrates specialness and breeds conflict between ponies”. Well that was just what I wanted to hear, it made me feel better about not being special.” “So what happened?” Amethyst Star was now fully sitting up and listening in. “We had our own village like I said, and it grew and grew as we spread our beliefs and found more wayward ponies. I thought it was really great back then. But looking back now I can see how crazy some of the stuff was even before it all began to fall apart for me. Like, you had to keep your Cutie Mark covered at all times, unicorns weren’t allowed to use magic, and pegasi weren’t allowed to fly. Cause all of those things just showed off special attributes that not every pony had when we were supposed to all be equal and not dwelling on the differences.” “That uh, sounds pretty crazy,” Amethyst Star said. She was grimacing at the thought of living in a village like that. “It was. And it wasn’t just that that was extreme. We couldn’t take criticism or allow anyone to insult our ways, so we occasionally did some really bad things to other ponies. I know we just got worse and worse over time but back when I was still involved with it I don’t think I cared or even realized that we were wrong.” Solar Streak sighed deeply as she thought about it. “Well I at last realized how awful we had become, how wrong we always were, and I just up and left it all. Been traveling alone ever since. I’m still not used to using my magic...” “Sorry to hear that you had to go through all of that. Oh, now I’m the one saying sorry.” “I’m getting over it. I more feel bad about what some of the others who ran into us had to go through than my own personal experiences,” Solar Streak shrugged. “I can’t even imagine living in a village like that,” Amethyst Star frowned. “I got annoyed and angry at ponies who got to do things I didn’t and got everyone’s respect but it just made me want to get everyone else to see me as just as amazing as them.” “Sounds like you had a lot more pride and belief in yourself than we did.” Amethyst Star smiled at that. If she had a little more self-awareness and thought about how this adventure of hers had gone so far she might not have. “Still, there was one good thing about living in that village. Something I don’t regret,” Solar Streak said. “Huh? What?” That made Amethyst Star curious. “It gave me perspective. Living in an extreme way like that for so long got me to appreciate what being a normal pony was like after I chose to leave. I stopped caring about how I wasn’t special, I didn’t want to be special anymore but it wasn’t because of the way I used to follow it was because I realized there was nothing wrong with not being special and I didn’t have to wallow in self-pity or try to change the world or deny reality. For the first time in my life I was really happy the way I was. I was, I still am, content. Now I’m just trying to find my place in the world as a normal pony, that’s why I’m out here.” Amethyst Star heard her yawn after she finished up. “Sorry for going on kind of a rant there,” Solar Streak said. “Good night. I hope you have a good time on your travels.” The pink and purple unicorn lied back down and blinked up a few times at the canvas of the wagon, thinking about the young mare and what she had just said. Obviously she had been through a lot and there were some similarities to herself Amethyst Star could see in the mare. She was happy for Solar Streak. Really. But not wanting to be special? Well that was just crazy talk to Amethyst Star. She was going to continue being as incredible, heroic, and special as she knew she was and make sure others knew it too.