The next knock at the door to Starlight's old house came from Fishy. "Watch your step and move aside!" she called, and Starlight looked out a window to see a team of five burly ponies laden with crates, a table, and a jumbo three-seater couch. "Cargo team's here! We've got some stuff to get you started!"
Amber, Shinespark and Valey jumped to help. Maple had departed to visit her new neighbor's house and borrow from her pantry and cooking supplies, but Gerardo was present and helping the cargo ponies, and the house suddenly felt packed even though it was empty.
"Hey!" A stallion with a crate spotted Starlight on the stair landing and smiled, his beard massive yet impeccably groomed. "I remember you! You really are back! Welcome!"
"Yeah," a raspy-voiced mare who was built like a stallion grunted, shouldering a crate that was still bigger than she was. "I helped lug this stuff into the mayor's basement when your parents left this place. Never thought I'd be bringing it back! You want it in the upstairs room, right?"
Starlight blinked. "Those crates are mine?"
"That's what the labels say..." The stallion shrugged, somehow doing so despite the colossal box weighing down his shoulders. "Better to move them while you've got movers, aye?"
Starlight stared a little longer. "Um, okay," she invited, moving up the stairs to get out of their way. "Yes, it's up here..."
She stood in the former reading alcove, watching as the two ponies carried her crates and somehow maneuvered them through the turn into her doorway and left them, backing out and wiping their brows.
"Happy unpacking!" the stallion called, waving as he descended. "Time to see what else Mayor Fillet wants lifted, aye?"
"Hope we got the right things," the mare added, panting. "Whatever's in there is heavy."
Starlight watched them go, feeling a little shell-shocked from the cheer and activity. Had things been like this before she left? For all the scattered memories she was picking up and putting back together, she couldn't remember at all. The time between when Sunburst left and when she did felt like a gray stain on her memories, and could have been days or years. Had ponies been cheerful to her then, and it just bounced right off her isolation and enforced boredom? Or was this somehow new, and the town was treating her better because she was back?
And if it was the latter, was it because they missed her? Or had the town itself improved while she was gone?
...At least she felt like this was an improvement. Starlight stayed there in the empty reading alcove for a long moment, thinking about that. Ponies being meticulously nice and cheerful... It would be so easy to feel like they weren't being genuine, or that their happiness didn't count when she didn't feel the same inside. And she definitely didn't. But after all she had been through, friendly faces were faces that weren't trying to exploit or murder her and her friends, and those were faces she was relieved to be around.
A thumping on her window got her attention, and she stepped into her room to see Fluffy Fleece, wearing a satchel and hovering outside the window with her face pressed against the glass. Starlight quickly stepped over and let her in.
"Where'd you get these boxes?" Fluffy immediately pressed, zooming around.
Starlight left the window open, since the breeze was nice. "Apparently they're all my old things. Someone packed them up after my parents left and put them in Fishy's basement."
Fluffy landed, surveying the boxes with an impressed look. "They put your things in boxes like these? These are quality wood panels!" She knocked on the side of a crate, which Starlight thought was sturdy enough to be functional but not really that impressive. "We could disassemble these and get twelve whole box sides from them. Do you even know what we could do with those?"
Starlight blinked. They were wooden crates. She had seen hundreds of them on her travels... "Why would we take them apart? Aren't they for putting things in?"
"But there won't be anything in them once we take your stuff out," Fluffy pointed out. "So then we won't have anything to put in them. And they're sturdy and perfectly square, and we could sand them if you're really afraid of splinters... They make a great building material for decorating your room. Or building other things in your room, like a cave or partition. Hey, if you don't want them, I'll take them gladly!"
On the one hand, if they would make her friend this happy, Starlight would happily turn them over. On the other, Fluffy wanted to use them to decorate her room, and while she couldn't imagine how that would work, she was sort of enjoying the other filly's company... "Well, we can use them to decorate."
Fluffy beamed; this was clearly the right answer. "Yes! Oh, I love moving. It's a perfect chance to rearrange everything! Now how do we take them apart?"
Starlight blinked. "You don't know? Probably with a crowbar."
"Oh. Right. I don't have a crowbar..." Fluffy sagged for a moment. "Well, we can borrow one if we need it, but I'm actually thirsty. I wonder if they have lemonade downstairs for everyone who's working."
"Lemonade?" That did sound good, but Starlight was thrown by how far out of left field it came from. "I suppose we could ask..."
"Or anything to drink." Fluffy sat back against a wall, straightening her mane and glancing at Starlight. Several times, she looked about to speak, but never quite got her words out. "I'm thirsty," she eventually said.
Starlight tilted her head. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Umm..." Fluffy fiddled with her hooves. "It might be a little rude to say."
Starlight shrugged. "I have a thick skin."
Fluffy blinked, but eventually obliged. "It's, um... your magic. Jamjars... That filly on the airship said you were incredibly strong. She called you a freak." Her ears fell. "But you never use magic for anything. Like, you opened the window both times for me with your hooves. And I sort of just expected you to be able to pop the crates open, or something."
"Oh." Starlight nodded. "I probably can. My horn is stronger than usual. It just hurts me to use."
Was that all there was to it? Starlight's horn was about the least-normal thing she knew of. After months of exploring its ins and outs, her unusual reactions to batponies and Nightmare Modules and the harmony extractor and who knew what else, after everything strange or different about her and her unique magical properties, saying her horn was strong yet hurt to use was... mundane, yet perfectly true. It left out the complexity, but it covered everything anyway.
The house's mood and her prospective future were wearing on her. She had stuffed her terror of her friends' imminent departure far, far away, but this was actually making her almost feel normal.
"Huh," Fluffy said, not taking nearly as long as Starlight did to think. "That's weird. How does it work? Do you know why?" She blinked, backpedaling. "I mean, if you want to talk about it."
Starlight shrugged. If saying that much didn't make her feel bad... "I can do telekinesis, and some stronger spells like telekinesis and teleportation. And it's fine for-"
Fluffy interrupted her with a slack jaw. "You can teleport!?"
Starlight paused, tilting her head. "Um, yes."
"But that's like the most advanced spell!" Fluffy said, agape. "I thought only magicians can learn that, and it's hard and takes practice and study! My uncle said he met a unicorn who could teleport while on caravan duty to the east, and he said that unicorn said it was really difficult!"
Starlight shrugged. "I didn't study or practice. I just..." She tried to remember back to her first teleport. It hadn't been when she snuck into the crate to follow Maple in the Defense Force base, had it? That was so long ago... No, it had been in Riverfall. Something to do with Arambai's house? No, he just had a teleporter. Maybe she had gotten pressured by ponies and used it to run away?
"I was stressed and wanted to run away," Starlight explained, going with that. "And I just figured it out on the spot."
"That's nuts." Fluffy shook her head, looking away. "Do your friends know you can... I mean, probably a stupid question. I hope they're proud of you."
Starlight folded her ears. This wasn't so much something to be proud of as something to use when the situation demanded it... though she hoped that would be never again. The whole point of staying here was so she could get some stability in her life, not carry on fighting tyrants and maniacs to keep the things in her life safe.
"Even adults can't do that," Fluffy mumbled in awe. "That's really cool. I wish it wouldn't hurt for you to show it off a little."
"It wouldn't." Starlight shook her head. "When I use my magic, I'm fine for a while, but then it gives me a headache that gets worse and worse when I keep using it, and takes days or weeks to go away if it gets too bad. Sometimes I even pass out or go blind for a while. But that's only if I do things with it I really shouldn't." She hesitated. "I don't really want to show off either, though. I don't want to be special. I'm tired of special things happening to me. I just wish I was normal."
"...Wow," Fluffy said after a while. "It's like the complete opposite of how you were before you left, but so far opposite it wraps around again and you're exactly the same."
"Yeah," Starlight agreed. "I didn't want to be special then, either. But now I am, and I don't really enjoy it."
"That sounds rough," Fluffy acknowledged. "I get that, though. Popularity is fun, but sometimes it gets annoying, like when ponies try to touch your mane without asking. But don't worry. I won't ask to see it if you don't want to show."
Starlight blinked. On the one hoof, that was... actually exactly how she wished ponies would treat her. It was so nice, she was tempted to just give Fluffy what she wanted in thanks, and teleport so she could see. Her horn had recovered slowly after her brawl with Gazelle, but two weeks of shipbuilding and a month of flying had left her about as close to good as she could get. But on the other hoof, if she was just going to flaunt it anyway, what was the point of having friends who would respect her boundaries?
"Thanks," she said, deciding not to show off. "I appreciate it."
Before they could continue, Maple poked her head in through the door, looking around and spotting the fillies. "How are you two doing in here?" she asked. "I see Starlight's things got brought over?"
"What's happening downstairs?" Fluffy perked up. "I'm thirsty. Is it time for lunch?"
Maple nodded. "I'm back from Rose's and am starting to prepare something. It's work food, since we'll be setting this place up for most of the afternoon, but I think you'll like it. At least, I hope you do. Are sandwiches and lemonade good enough?"
"Mind reader!" Fluffy leapt to her hooves. "Come on, Starlight, let's go! And maybe somepony will have a crowbar so we can get to work on this room of yours! I brought my notebook and have all sorts of ideas. And if not, we can always watch everyone else work too."
"Okay," Starlight said, deciding to follow. "Let's go get lunch, I guess."
"You guess?" Maple shook her head. "Well, it'll be just a few minutes before it's ready. But give me just a moment, and I'll have something definitely worth coming down for."
She departed, leaving Starlight and Fluffy standing in the room. Starlight didn't think anything in particular, but Fluffy had a silly smile on her face. "What?"
"Isn't this fun?" Fluffy tilted her head. "It's fun for me, at least. You've probably forgotten, since you haven't had to go to Miss Nickel's class for months, but this is a whole entire day off. And we get to spend it moving! And you're, well, a lot cooler than you used to be! Your friends are cool, too. What's not to like?"
"I don't know." Starlight shrugged, more honestly this time. "I don't get very excited about things. But don't let me ruin your mood. It's... nice, having friends my age again."
Fluffy beamed. "Happy to help! Now, let's go watch what they're doing downstairs..."