//------------------------------// // Skimming Through The Stars // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// An hour into the night, Shinespark had fallen all the way asleep, still sharing shoulders with Valey as the stars scrolled on by. The temperature hadn't dropped much since midnight, and was right on the line where Valey couldn't decide whether to stay there and keep staring or carry her friend down to test the new cabins. But the night sky didn't disappoint, so she stayed where she was. One of the most interesting properties of the harmony comet that powered the Dream was that its light didn't flood the area. It was bright, and visible from a distance away, like a shooting star. But compared to Ironridge, where half the city was aglow at night, the skies looked more like Icereach, where there were few light sources aboveground to wash out the stars. In fact, she could almost see the stars directly through the comet, even though it was far and away brighter than they were. For the first time in forever, Valey was flying away, at the start of a new journey under that sky with a lot that was undesirable being left behind, flush with resolve and a new relationship at her side. At least, it felt that way... even though she had been here as well only half a year ago. And she remembered all too well where that led. She looked at Shinespark on her shoulder, quietly rising and falling against her as she breathed. What was she going to do different? Shinespark didn't deserve her to mess this up again... and by mess it up, she meant worry too hard about playing it straight and ruin her own state of mind when everyone else was cool. So far, not caring and playing it exactly the way she usually would had worked wonders. Look how happy Shinespark was! But as the night wore on and Valey kept watching her friend, she slowly started remembering just how she had gotten stuck caring too hard last time, the first step in a long spiral of burnout... She wanted to care. How happy was she with herself? How happy was she, really? Because there was a difference between feeling like you were royalty and treating yourself like it anyway. She had all her old mojo back, but did that mean she herself had changed? Or just the way she treated herself? For Shinespark, it didn't really matter. She was fine being a lazy fruit-eater for her own sake, but what about when someone else she cared about got involved? Shinespark liked the way she was, she knew that. But being likable wasn't the same as being perfect. And while perfection was definitely unattainable, she could still get closer to it. But trying to better herself, even for a good cause, would throw away her entire current mechanism of just not caring... the mechanism that had gotten her this far compared to the Empire. If deliberately not trying to improve herself was what actually made her better, was she justified in ignoring her urge to do something with herself when she knew it was for a good cause? Valey scratched her head. It wasn't a distressing problem, not even close. Because this was just a matter of her goals for the future, and where she was at right then and there was very good. But it was certainly confounding, and part of her warned that it would be very smart not to waste her emotional energy going in circles. If there was one thing she was going to learn from last time, it was to talk things like this over early. It could even be fun. Hey, Shinespark, she could ask. So I'm feeling kinda good about things and honestly, now that I have more in my life, it makes me feel like I wanna be a better pony. But I've got no clue how to actually do that. But I want to. What do you think? The more she ran over it in her head, the more it sounded like it would work. Shinespark wouldn't tell her to do anything that didn't matter, and it wouldn't be a lonely slog where she was accountable only to her own unreasonable expectations. This could work, right? But it kind of required Shinespark to be awake, and Shinespark was kind of enjoying a well-earned sleep. Which meant she could rest easy tonight, with nothing that needed to be done. ...It was a pretty great feeling. Valey snuggled Shinespark and stared into the sky, figuring it wouldn't hurt to revel in it. Enough time passed that she almost dozed off, even though she had just woken up and wasn't tired. Right before that could happen, her vigil was broken by the sound of little hooves against the deck surface, coming up behind them. Jamjars? No, Jamjars would have loudly announced something already about the cuddling. "Hi," Starlight said, coming to a stop a few paces away. "...What are you doing?" Valey turned back and winked at her. "Having a teenage moment. Which, you've got good odds of being at least ten, so come on over here." She patted her free side with her free wing. "What's up?" "I was looking for Shinespark," Starlight said, trotting up and sitting in the offered spot. "I've been reading this book. But if she's sleeping, it's not important." "Book?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, though, she's pretty beat. Got up early to deal with meetings, and I think she's been running herself low during the whole boat renovation thing. Probably gonna carry her to bed soon." "Oh." Starlight nodded. "Well, it's the book Gazelle was reading when he... you know." Valey squinted. "So I heard a little something about that from Jamjars, but you haven't been extremely talkative about what went on that night. Recap?" "He was reading this when we found him." Starlight shrugged. "He said it told him how Garsheeva eats cutie marks for her immortality, and then he started eating moon glass and getting stronger from the marks inside. I wanted to see what it was." "And it pertains to Sparky, huh?" Valey stretched a little, staring out at the star-strewn horizon. "What's in it?" Starlight folded her ears. "It's a diary by a mare called Seraphim. She used to have Meltdown's job almost eight hundred years ago. Then she left the Empire and retired to Equestria somehow. She hasn't written a lot about how so far, but I don't think she likes Garsheeva. I haven't gotten to the end yet. It's mostly a normal diary about what she does with her days. Her friends and her town and things." Valey raised an eyebrow. "So what does it have to do with Sparky?" "Seraphim was a unicorn," Starlight said. "Her cutie mark sounds exactly the same as Shinespark's." Valey sat down hard. "Woah. Wait, really? Like, how exactly the same?" Starlight shrugged. "She doesn't talk about it like it's special. She just mentions flying a lot, like she would if she was a pegasus. But there's one day when she says it's her cutie mark, and another day where she hit her horn on something and it was hurting so she was staying off it by not flying. Shinespark needs her horn too." "Yeah..." Valey rubbed her chin with a hoof. "But, like, why? I mean, if they lived hundreds of years apart... If this Seraphim came to Equestria, they're probably not related, though it's certainly possible? But cutie marks aren't hereditary. At least, you could probably follow in your parents' hoofsteps, but you don't literally get their exact cutie mark. And if Seraphim's was modified by Garsheeva, I dunno if that kind of thing can even naturally..." She shook her head. "You know? Bananas, I don't know anything. That's bizarre. Maybe it's just luck." Starlight watched her carefully. "Shinespark's cutie mark is much more harmonic than usual, isn't it? Maybe there was an old version of moon glass and it got stuck there for centuries and Shinespark literally has the same one." "Nah, I doubt it." Valey shook her head. "Between you and me, I was there when Sparky got her mark. And aside from the fact that her magic surge was big enough to send me flying, it just appeared like a normal cutie mark. There wasn't any moon glass or inheriting it from someone else like there was for me. It just appeared." "So you think it's a coincidence?" Starlight looked back at the folded book in her hooves. "That Garsheeva modified a mark to do what Shinespark's does, and that Shinespark's is unusually harmonic?" "I dunno!" Valey shrugged heavily. "And I dunno what it would mean if there was a connection. It's a cool find, though. I'll totally ask her in the morning and see if she has any ideas." "Okay." Starlight relaxed, putting the book back in her bags. Valey slowly exhaled, going back to watching the stars. "Speaking of mornings, is this a morning or evening for you, kiddo?" "Not really," Starlight replied. Valey chuckled. "No clue how to take that, but cool. How's being back in the air treating you? You holding up alright?" Starlight stared up at her. "It's not very different from usual." "Yeah... Bananas." Valey put a hoof on her shoulders. "For what it's worth, I'm real sorry we didn't just bag those writs when we had the chance and go settle down in Equestria. 'Cuz your usual isn't a very great way for anyone to live. But whatever comes next, we're gonna make it work. Just you watch. Arambai will have whipped Ironridge into such shape, maybe it'll be a cool place for us to settle down. I'll be famous enough that ponies will be cool to us, but infamous enough that we won't get mobbed like Kinmari... We've already unearthed and toppled every shady foreign invasion and science program, so no need to worry about evil politicians and eldritch monsters. And there's gonna be a whole lot of very bored, very average ponies we could totally wind up being friends with. Besides, it'll be the Dream's refueling stop in the north, so even if some of us do wander, you won't have to go anywhere to be guaranteed to see us again. You can settle down right where you are without a single goodbye, even if we do go our separate ways." "Are you planning on leaving?" Starlight asked. "Whew. Big question." Valey nodded. "I've got a promise to Felicity to keep, getting all of us back together again. I've also got some stuff going on with Sparky, and good reasons to stay where she is. At the end of the day, I may have to wander off once or twice for a month or two, yeah. Going to Varsidel or Yakyakistan and hunting writs, you know. But the whole point of it would be getting us all back together, so I solemnly swear I wouldn't dawdle in getting back home." Starlight slowly, slowly bowed her head. "That sounds... okay." "You think?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Not really what I expected you to say. You don't have to be cool with it." Starlight shook her head. "Okay doesn't mean good. It means I'll be okay. I know it's not reasonable to want my family to stay together, but if you promise to come back, that's a lot better than it could be." Valey bit her lip hard. "Okay, uh, first off? It's totally reasonable to want your family to stay together. That's what families are supposed to, like, do." "Yeah." Starlight scuffed at the deck with a hoof. "Supposed to. It doesn't mean it always happens." "I know." Valey gave her a shoulder squeeze. "Believe me, I've had that weighing on my mind for years after I lost my sister in Icereach, and ever since she got back, we've been more distant than we should be. But I'm not talking about how things can be, or how they are. This is how they should be." "What does it matter if something should be some way if nothing makes it be that way in the first place?" Starlight grumbled. Valey raised an eyebrow. "Uh, we make it that way? Anyone who says friendship is easy is trying to bump you off. Sure, we have to try together to stay together. If we didn't make an effort, didn't prioritize each other over all the other stuff we might wander off and do, we'd wander off and do that stuff instead. We stick together because we want to and we make the effort." She leaned in close, staring Starlight in the eyes. "But here's the thing: it's not gonna be you who needs to make the effort, here. Sure, I might have to go do some errands to get us back with Felicity, but I got this. You can stay off your hooves and let me do the fighting. Because you've had to pull way more than your share of this team's load for forever now, and that's dumb and you deserve a break. Get me? You don't need to worry about fighting for our friendships, here. I got you." Starlight's eyes watered vaguely, and she looked away. "Thanks." "Yeah..." Valey stretched again. "But that's tomorrow's problem, anyway. We've got like a month to fly to Ironridge, still, and I'm not charging off from there to go writ hunting until I at least get a lead on what direction to start in. Don't wanna leave you guys hanging while I bumble around without a clue. And speaking of tomorrow, you mind helping me lug Sparky to bed?" Starlight squinted at the mare sleeping on Valey's shoulder. "...She looks like she already thinks you're her bed." "Heh... yeah... funny story." Valey flicked at an errant lock of her bangs. "Like I said, teenager stuff."