//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 (Edited by: Moonriseoversunset) // Story: You Will Never be Alone : 7 Part Harmony // by Leo Luce //------------------------------// "…-t… -nset… Sunset," a voice called to Sunset, who was in deep thought. Sunset was jolted from her thoughts as she finally heard someone calling her name. Looking to the side, she saw her sister and friends looking at her in concern as they walked along the road that led into town from the castle. "Oh um... Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. You know, just kinda lost in thought for a moment. What did you say?" She asked. "Whacha thinking 'bout?" Ari asked as she flew overhead lazily. "Oh- um… it's nothing," Sunset said, attempting to deflect the conversation away from her. "Is this about the Princess and your mom?" Twilight asked. "Um… yeah. I suppose. I don't know if I imagined it or not, but… I just feel weird about leaving them behind. I felt like there was a lot of tension between the two," Sunset said uncertainly. "Yeah, I felt that too," Twilight said as her eyes narrowed, falling alongside Sunset. "Weren't you looking at them?" Ari asked. "I bet they are fighting at your castle even now." "Fighting!?" Twilight and Sunset gasped "Well… Principal Celestia did look kind of mad," Fluttershy said, making Sunset's frown grow. "Let's just not think about that for now. I don't think they will do anything like that. The Princess is always very professional. So let's just relax for a bit," Twilight said in confidence, though her flicking ear showed her nervousness about the situation. However, Twilight was one that held the Princess's command to heart even if she held misgivings about her orders, so she began to lead the group through town. "Where are we going anyway?" Sunset asked as she noticed them starting to leave town. "Well… My friends and I planned a get-together near Fluttershy's cottage before everything with the Elements' happened. I didn't want to worry them before sorting all this, so I told them to meet up without me. They should be there now." Twilight began to tell Fluttershy and Snowdrop the facts of Whitetail Woods which Twilight said they could visit if they have time. Sunset lagged behind with Ari. Ari flapped small beats before landing on Sunset's flaming hair. While Sunset was certainly worried about the Celestia situation, she could help but become lost as they walked along the path to Twilight's friends. The clean unpolluted air filled her lungs, and all the smells that normally would be nearly impossible to smell with her human body rushed to her. The smell of the dirt and grass was especially strong, and she could only guess that it was scheduled to rain last night. The faint smells of ozone and rain were subtly hidden underneath the grassy smells. She could smell the sap and wood—the earthy smell of the leaves and a slightly sweet smell from an apple farm off to her left. And the flowers were heavenly smelling. Sunset closed her eyes as she pulled in a deep breath, just relishing the smells around her. The slight breeze was cool and moved her fur and mane, causing a sigh of bliss to escape. It was like slipping into her favorite pair of pajamas. To be back into her pony form was truly amazing. It felt like when she was taken to the spa by Rarity and Fluttershy. She felt light and relaxed like she had been sleeping on her back forever, and now she flipped over onto her stomach. Her eyes opened slowly and fell on a flower that was spinning in the air. The familiar feeling of magic surging through her horn bloomed as she reacher for it with her magic. Bringing the flower closer, she inhaled deeply. She frowned slightly at the flower before her horn flared again, transforming the flower into her favorite flower. She discovered it in the human world and was curious as to what it would smell like here. The flower glowed brightly before it became a gorgeous fire lily. She stuck her nose in the flower and was overwhelmed by the flower's smell. The subtle citrusy smell combined with the more pronounced sweet smell made her do a little canter from the joy smelling the flower brought her. Sunset tucked the flower behind her ear, determined to give it to Fluttershy when she got a moment with her mare-girlfriend. The moment was interrupted by a feathery slap from Ari, who pointed ahead with her wing, showed that the group was getting further away while Sunset was having her moment. Sunset panicked slightly before she teleported a few feet behind the group and sped slightly up, so she was just behind them. Which was a good thing too as they had just arrived at their destination. Just like Twilight said, Applejack was already there setting up the picnic. She looked up at them when she heard the group walking up to her. "Oh hey, Twilight. Ah thought you wouldn't be able to make it. Everything okay?" She asked. "Uh… kind of. Princess Celestia and… well Celestia are talking at the castle, so we came here to relax for a bit," Twilight said. “Celestia and Celestia? Okay…" Applejack looked at Sunset. "So uh… you are… Sunset right? So ar- wait, are… are you-" "Yes, yes, I'm an alicorn. And yes, I'm Sunset," Sunset said uncomfortably. "And this little filly is my little sister, Snowdrop. And-" They then heard someone bouncing at them and looked to the side to see Pinkie bouncing towards them with a basket of cupcakes in her mouth and two more baskets balancing on her nose… somehow. "Hey Twi, hey Sunset, hey Ari, hey Snowdrop, hey Human Fluttershy," Pinkie called all of them. "It sure was a good thing that I got an itchy nose with a leg twitch. Otherwise, we wouldn't have enough cupcakes. That would be almost as bad as breaking a pinkie promise." "Hu- what?" Applejack asked. "Fluttershy, from the human world," Pinkie said. "What are you on about Pinkie?" "Um… yeah, this is Fluttershy from the human world," Sunset said. Fluttershy shyly looked at them. "H-hi," She said. "Okay… um Ah suppose weirder things have happened, especially with discord running around," Applejack said. "Um… what's going on here?" They heard Rainbow Dash say as she along with the rest of the girls right behind her. "Why are there two Fluttershy's? *gasp* There's a changeling. Which one of you is the changeling?" She asked threateningly, pointing at human Fluttershy. "Hey, back off. She's not a changeling," Sunset growled before she moved forward, pushing Rainbow as she flared her wings out, and a light red aura surrounded her horn, showing her anger. "You! I knew you are bad news-" "Rainbow! It's okay. No one is a changeling. Girls, this is Fluttershy from the human world," Twilight said, standing in between the two. "Human world?" Rarity asked. "Yes. Um, you remember the mirror world? And as you can probably see, Sunset is a little different now, I mean, literally. She's an Alicorn. She even has her own chair at the cutie map." "She- what? When did that happen?" "Why don't I explain it to you girls? We have time, so I can explain everything. First of all, this is Sunset you all met briefly, and this is Fluttershy from that other world. We need to think of a different name so we all don't get confused, and Snowdrop, Sunset's sister," Twilight gestured to them as she Sunsets released her hold on her magic. "I don't know. If she says you are a friend, I will give you a chance, but I will keep my eyes on you," Rainbow said, pointing at her eyes. "Fair enough," Sunset said as she finally allowed her wings to rest at her side. "Oh, you are so cute, darling," Rarity said, cupping Snowdrop's face. "I simply must make you a couple of dresses for you, any color you like?" "Um… I don't really have a favorite color," Snowdrop said, looking down. "I'm sure you have one, darling," Rarity persisted. "Not really. I can't see color or anything really because I'm blind." "Oh- I-" Rarity got interrupted as Ari flew right into her face. "You apologize now!" Ari squawked while flying around Rarity. "It's okay, Ari. She didn't know." Snowdrop said as Ari flew back onto Snowdrop. "Oh, she can talk?" Fluttershy asked, standing next to her counterpart. "What are you? You are like Philomena but blue." "Of course. I'm a snow phoenix. But back home, I'm a cockatoo. Our Fluttershy looked after me before she showed me to Snowdrop," Ari said, pointing at one of the Fluttershy's Ari paused for a moment before she cocked her head. "I'm confused. Who is who again?" "Oh, it's simple," Sunset said, walking up to one of the Fluttershy's. "This is my Fluttershy," She said, flinging a hoof across one of the Fluttershy's neck, earning a blush. Sunset's horn flared as it pulled the flower out of her mane and placed it into Fluttershy's mane. "Of course you would know," Ari deadpanned. "Wait, how do you know? They look exactly the same," Applejack asked. "I can tell by looking at her eyes. Right Flutterby," Sunset asked, nuzzling into Fluttershy. Fluttershy, for her part, looked very embarrassed and tried to hide in her mane more. "Sunset stop…" "Wait, are they? OH! This is wonderful. You two are the cutest thing I've ever possibly seen," Rarity said, pausing at each word for dramatic effect before flopping on her fainting couch. "And Flutterby? Do Sunset have a nickname too?" Rainbow gaged at them. "Um… F-Firefox," human Fluttershy said. "Firefox? That's an interesting name. Why do you call her that?" "Well… um… her theme matches with a red fox. And they are cunning and smart, just like… Sunset. Also, foxes symbolize creativity and wisdom. A-and Sunset is very creative, and she can bend fire. So I call her that." "Oh man, now I feel bad. I just literally gave you a name from a video game, and you thought about that a lot. Maybe I should come up with something like that too," Sunset said. "No, it's okay. I like that name. And that monster is really cute. It's so fluffy!" Just like that, the girls fell into an animated conversation as Sunset explained what video games were. While Twilight and the other girls explained things about Equestria and what they did for fun. Sunset and the girls all enjoyed their time together as they relaxed. While doing so, Twilight and Sunset both explained to the girls about their situation. Meanwhile, at the castle of friendship… Principal Celestia and Princess Celestia kept their gazes locked with each other as they waited to be completely alone. Both Luna and Princess Luna had wandered off, leaving the two alone in the map room. After what seemed like an eternity, the Principal began the conversation. "So you are the Princess I heard so much about, huh. I must say I'm not that impressed," the Principal said. The Princess narrowed her eyes slightly. "She talked a lot about you when I took her in. I could tell she was worried that I would be like you. It took a while before she accepted that I wanted her as much as she wanted me. She told me how different we were despite us being counterparts." "Why don't we get straight to the point?" Princess asked. "This is about Sunset, right?" "Of course. I just need to set things straight. First of all, Sunset told me her part of the story. I want to know your part in it too. Why do you think Sunset acted the way she did all those years ago?" "Well, Sunset was a very smart filly much like Twilight. But she was so much more… stubborn. When she wanted to learn something, she would learn it in a matter of days no matter how hard, advanced, or dangerous it was," Princess said. "This led her to study things that I forbid her to learn, like the mirror portal." "I see. And what about your relationship with her?" "... In the beginning I couldn't be happier, we had such a good relationship. When I first took her from the orphanage, she was so happy. I remember we would spend any free time I had." The Princess remembers fondly. "But that changed. What happened?" "Well… she became too attached to me. Even looked at me as a mother figure. But that simply cannot happen between us. It was better for the of us both. I'm royalty. She was an orphan. If I took her in, it was going to raise too many questions, especially from the so-called nobles. So I had to refuse. I kept our relationship purely teacher and student. To make up for this, I tried to help her make friends, something she neglected for so long. But she didn't want friends. She wanted a family, not realizing that she would gain that if only she made friends. However, her stubbornness and pain kept that from happening. She became too stubborn. She refused to make friends, and this eventually spread throughout the school due to gossip making it impossible for her to make friends. When she put in an effort, she always claimed that it was too hard for her." "See, that's where you failed. You played a major part in Sunset's downfall." "What?" "Let me explain. I know you are a ruler, so I can't judge you for that, but you forgot who you are to Sunset. For her, you were her mentor, but you were so much more than just her mentor. You were supposed to treat her like your student. You made her your responsibility when you took her from the orphanage. It's hard to make friends for anyone, especially for one that has no parental figure to rely on. Yet you looked at her like you do everyone else, just a loyal subject. When you were supposed to advise her, teach her, help her with her problem, you just ordered her like you would a soldier." "I did no such thing." "When she said it is hard, what did you told her?" "I told her she wasn't trying hard enough. She just wanted to make it seem like it is hard so she can spend more time with me. I knew what she was trying to do. I had a kingdom to run; I couldn't spend all my time with her. She needed to learn, and she could only do that on her own." "See, that's what I'm talking about. You know nothing about Sunset. For her whole life, she thought she is the one that betrayed you. But she's not. When Twilight told her friend's counterparts to befriend her, do you think they welcomed her open-armed? No, they didn't. Fluttershy was the one that opened up to her. She befriended her and helped her to make friends." Principal Celestia began to ramble. "At first, she was so confused as to why Fluttershy, of all people, would help her. She didn't understand why; it didn't make sense to her. She thought she needed to buy friendship, and I can imagine where she got that idea from growing up within a castle filled with ponies that had their own agendas. I wouldn't be surprised if she learned that by watching the nobles become 'friends' by gifting others to further themselves to their own selfish goals. 'If you help me, I'll help you in return'." The Principal mocked in a snobbish tone. "So when Applejack offered her to help at the farm, she thought it was the cost to pay for her friendship. So even when she was weakened by the elements, she helped at the farm until she collapsed from exhaustion. She thought she didn't do enough to earn that friendship. When all along, Applejack just wanted to test her, to see if she is actually changed. Even after she befriended everyone, she didn't spend much time with them even when they asked her to because Sunset thought she didn't deserve them. She- she-" Celestia finally stopped as she felt a wing wrapped around her and looked up to see the Princess at her side. "I'm sorry I was rambling like a crazy woman," Principal Celestia said as she fought to regain her composure. "No, no, you are right. I was too indifferent towards Sunset and her lack of understanding. I'm to blame for that when she was young, she would never leave my side. It wasn't until she called me mum that I realized my mistake, that I became something to her that I couldn't be. I tried to fill the hole of my rejection with friendships, but I did little to help her fill it. Maybe if I actually talked to her instead of assuming things…," Princess sighed. "But why did she want to be an alicorn if not for power?" "Cadence." "Cadence? What- … oh… I see," "She assumed that if becoming royalty as Cadence did, then-" "I would adopt her. Oh, Sunset…" A long silence fell upon the inter-dimensional twins. After what felt like forever, Principal Celestia asked the very question that has been bothering her since yesterday. "So what happens to Sunset now?" She asked. "I… I'd actually like it if she stayed here. But it's her choice. I can't force her to do anything. The past is evidence of that." "I see. Well… she's a grown woman. Whatever happens, I will support her," Principal Celestia said. The time flew fast as the two felt into a much friendlier conversation. Before anyone knew it, Sunset and the group returned to the castle as night drew closer. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna excused themselves to bring forth the night. Principal Celestia was reading a book about Equestrian history when she heard the girls arrive back at the castle. She looked up from the book to address them as they pranced into the room, talking happily with each other. "The castle isn't on fire. So I think things are fine," Ari said, circling the room and perching on top of a chair. "What's that supposed to mean?" Celestia asked with narrowed eyes. "N-nothing," Ari quickly said before he flew off across the room to look at the books lining the room. "How was the day?" Celestia asked as she slowly stood, keeping in mind her new body and how it operated. "It was… good. I met this world's counterparts of my friends, and they are pretty different and at the same time not. Rainbow's favorite subject is still herself and Daring Do. Rarity still loves fashion. Applejack is still as honest as ever. Pinkie will always be Pinkie. And Fluttershy is... well, I didn't spend much time with her, but she's still quiet and shy. I mean, they're grown mares here while my friends are only teenagers back at home. So they are a little more mature than them, except for Flutterby," Sunset said. "Hm, I see," "So, where's the princesses?" Twilight asked. "They went to bring the night or something. I can't still believe that my and Luna's counterparts control the sun and moon. How does that even work?" Celestia said. "What do you mean?" "Well, Twilight, I thought about that once when I learned about astronomy in the human world, and it makes no sense as to what's happening here," Sunset said. "I think there's some kind of magical stuff going on here that no one knows of. I prefer not to think about it for the sake of me keeping my sanity and look forward to having it well into the future." When Sunset looked back at Twilight, she saw Twilight was mumbling to herself about something. "And there she goes." "At least we have you to replace her when she goes to the mental ward," Ari said. "Hey! That's not nice… even if it's true," Sunset defended the Princess but silently muttered the last part to herself. "Ah, I see everyone is here?" They heard Princess Celestia walking up to them with both Luna's. "Now that everyone is here, we have one more thing to discuss before we call it a day." Everyone knew what she was talking about, and Sunset was not looking forwards to this. "Sunset? Now that you are an Alicorn, we have so much to do. We have to hold a ceremony to officially name you a princess with a title." Princess Celestia said. Sunset felt her heart drop at what she said as she knew what this meant. "However, Sunset, it is solely up to you to answer this next question. I don't want to force you to answer. If you like, I will give you time. But I like to know whether you wish to stay in this world." 'She is giving me a choice?' Sunset thought to herself. 'What do I do?' Sunset looked at her Aunt, Snowdrop, then at Fluttershy, and finally at her mom as she walked up to her. "Sunset, I like you to know that whatever you choose, we will support you. You are a grown woman Sunset. You have the freedom to choose what you want to do with your life," Celestia said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Sunset? You don't have to answer me now. You can think about-" "I'm not staying," Sunset said, interrupting the Princess. Sunset looked back at her former mentor and walked up to her. "I'm sorry, Princess, but… I never wanted this," she gestured to her wings. "I mean… I kind of did, but not for this a-and I have a home back in the human world. My family, my friends… they are all there. I don't want to leave them. I'm sorry if I disappoint you, Princess, but-" "It's okay, Sunset." Princess Celestia stopped Sunset as she placed her hoof on Sunset's withers. "You are not disappointing anyone. We… we might have had some problems in the past... and I hope you would forgive me for not helping you when I should have," Sunset tried to talk, but Princess Celestia stopped her as she continued. "And I'm not lying if I said I was hoping you'd stay. But I understand why you don't want to stay. Family is everything. But Sunset… just know that you will always have a place here," Princess Celestia said. "Also, we are having the ceremony anyways," Sunset giggled at the way she said the last part. "You know, I missed this," Sunset said with tears rolling down her eyes. Princess Celestia smiled with her. "Oh, Sunset, before you go, I have something to give to you," Princess Celestia said before levitating a pair of books that Princess Luna had with her. "I kind of knew you wouldn't stay. So I enchanted these books." "Are these?" "Yes, they are. Sunset, I… I actually don't know much about you. I was so afraid about the future I didn't take the time to know you. So when you return to the hum- your home… I'd like it if we can stay in touch with each other," Princess Celestia said. "I might not be your mentor anymore. Twilight took that position when she helped you that night and has done so much more for you than I ever could. But, if you'll allow it, we can still be friends. Or maybe even… family?" Sunset couldn't take it anymore as she let tears fall freely over her eyes. Without thinking, she launched herself up to Celestia and hugged her as tight as she could. Later that night, Sunset couldn't sleep. Being in a human body for so long, she found it difficult to sleep while she was in her pony form. Originally the plan was to be gone for a day at most and leaving in the evening. This changed, though, when they spent so long airing out suppressed emotions. By the time everyone calmed down, it was hours past the time they were supposed to leave, but Snowdrop had already fallen asleep with Ari nested in her hair. It surprised all but Princess Celestia that Princess Luna offered to move Snowdrop to one of the guest rooms, and with Luna and Celestia not know how to move the sleeping Snowdrop, they accepted the offer. Celestia followed after Princess Luna planning on sleeping with Snowdrop. Fluttershy and Luna went off somewhere to talk. She wasn't sure what that was about. With that, everyone else began heading home with Princess Celestia, leaving for Canterlot. She nuzzled Sunset before she left and promised to get in touch with Sunset through the journals. Twilight being Twilight was trying to find out the difference between the celestial bodies of Equestria and the human. Thus leaving Sunset to be lead by Spike to her room. That is where she found herself now. In her guest room, sleepless. Grumbling, Sunset got up as she made her way out of her room. It wasn't until now that she realized that she was in a castle. With her technically being a princess and friend of Twilights, that allowed her to explore the grounds, right? As she wandered around, she couldn't help but notice how empty the castle was. Sure the map room had a tree with Twilight's memories of her adventures with her friends, but other than that, there was nothing here. She really needed to talk to Twilight about getting some guards assigned to her castle. She may be the Princess of Friendship, but she had a lot of items that could be used to endanger Equestria and the human world, considering the portal was located here too. It was that line of thought that caused her to pause. She definitely needed to talk to Twilight about that now. The last thing she needed was some villain jumping through the portal and ending up in her world. The thought was scary to consider that a villain and artifact could end up in her world if they got to the portal. Luckily, the sirens were the only beings and artifacts that got sent through the portal by Starswirl. As she kept thinking of how to convince Twilight to appoint guards, she kept looking in rooms. She continued down the hall, finding more empty rooms with the exception of the kitchen, which had her help herself with a slice or two of apple pie, and a small lab-like setup. It was near the end of the hall that she entered an open balcony overlooking Ponyville. She walked out onto the balcony and enjoyed the quiet sounds of the night. She looked around to see a stool off to the side. Smiling, she brought the stool over to her and sat down. She stargazed while she ate her apple pie. It was truly amazing. She could barely remember the last time she saw the stars like this. Every star was so clear, and the sky was filled with them. The moon and the stars had her unconsciously relaxing. They were so soothing, and yet they didn't make her want to sleep from the pure beauty of the scene. She wanted to burn this into her mind. There was a clearing of a throat, and Sunset looked behind her to see Luna. However, it wasn't her Luna. Startled, Sunset jumped out of the seat, but in her hurry to address the princess, she stood like a human before losing balance and falling. She watched her plate of apple pie fall before the plate and pie were wrapped in blue arura, keeping them from falling. Sunset quickly got back to her hoofs and rubbed the back of her head. "Princess Luna, sorry, I thought you had already left," Sunset said as formerly as she could. "No, we decided that we would remain here until tomorrow. We wish to say goodbye to Snowdrop personally," Princess Luna said as she looked at the pie. She moved the pie towards Sunset and waited for it to be engulfed in Sunset's aura before allowing hers to slip away. "I see. You like being by her, huh?" "As I said before, we knew her counterpart. It was this past winter that I had to get rid of the last memento from her. I miss her dearly and feel as though this is a second chance to reconnect with her. Even if she is not the same pony I knew, I feel more connected to her than any pony besides my sister," Princess Luna revealed as she stared at the sky. "I'm sure she would be happy to have more friends. She struggles to make them because of her blindness," Sunset responded as she processed what Princess Luna told her. "Indeed, most don't want to go out of their way to accommodate those that are so different from themselves," Princess Luna said sagely. A moment of quiet passed between them, and Sunset suddenly felt awkward by the random silence that had settled between them. "So, what are you doing up?" Princess Luna looked over at Sunset with a questioning look, and Sunset suddenly felt so stupid for asking that question. "We wouldn't be a very good Princess of the Moon and night if we slept through them and didn't keep watch on the moon and dreams of Equestria. The real question is, what are you doing up?" "Oh me? I just couldn't sleep and decided to wander around the castle. I found this in the kitchen if you'd like it," Sunset said as she gestured to the second untouched piece of apple pie. "No, thank you, we are not hungry," Princess Luna said as her stomach gurgled. A light dusting of red found its way to the princess' cheeks. Sunset giggled as she held her apple pie towards Princess Luna, "It's fine. I already had a piece." "We thank you then," Princess Luna said as she began to eat the apple pie. A more comfortable silence settled between the two as Sunset gazed at the stars and Princess Luna ate her pie. Sunset sighed as she looked at the sky above. This caught Luna's attention as she looked up at the sky as well. "A bit for your thoughts?" Luna asked. "Hmm? Oh, it's nothing," Sunset said as she looked at Luna. She was going to go back to stargazing when a small frown form on Luna's face. She felt bad about shutting down Luna's attempt at conversation, so she decided to expand on her thoughts. "It's just I know what I said about not staying here. But..." "But what?" Luna asked attentively. "I just forgot, you know. I forgot about how beautiful Equestria is. Everything about it is like a breath of fresh air. I enjoy seeing all the nature. The smells are so much fragrant and clean here. Back home, you cant see stars like this unless you go in the middle of nowhere," Sunset finished saying. "We know how the feeling you are expressing well. I could not describe the joy I felt when I returned to Equestria both as myself and as Nightmare Moon. Despite popular belief, I remember my time as Nightmare Moon quite well. I remember being imprisoned on a lifeless rock for a thousand years. To see something green after so long up close was a feeling I think very few can experience in their lifetime." "I had no idea how much I would miss being a pony, how much I would miss this place I leave." "Does that make you regret choosing not to stay?" Luna asked "No, I don't. As I said, I have friends and family over there that I could never leave. I'm just going to miss coming here, is all." "Sunset, what is stopping you from visiting every now and again?" "...Well, nothing, I suppose. But I can tell that Twilight can get stress easily. I wouldn't want to bother her by making her open the portal so I can pop in for a few hours." "I don't believe Twilight will find that troublesome at all. I think she will enjoy her student visiting every now and again." "This is nice." "What is?" "Just talking with another pony that understands what it's like for two former exiles," Sunset answered as she looked upon the stars again. Luna stayed quiet for a moment as she too stared at the stars before saying, "It is nice." The two stayed there in quiet company with only small clicks of Luna's fork as she finished off the apple pie. It was enjoyable and something that Sunset never realized she needed. She would have to see if Twilight would enjoy nights where they just stargazed as friends and talked about being turned into monsters. The night has fallen back in the human world as a cool breeze swept through trees along the road. A single leaf was caught in the wind, and it traveled through the air. It passed a certain pedestal in front of a school. A small ball of light came out of the pedestal, escaping the eyes of all the night critters littering the area. It emerged from a small crack where a statue once stood and traveled slowly behind the school.