The following takes place during Episode 01 after Twilight’s bedtime and Atha’s talk
“S-so, you want to, um, send this letter to… Bloodmist? Err, okay, where is…”
Maho was grunting in frustration and pinching the skin between her eyebrows. This clerk was either a new hire or an idiot she thought, oblivious or apathetic to his unease to the presence of this taloned monster monarch, whom he was quite aware had assaulted Princess Twilight. “Grr, on the other side of the world, located in the Bloodmist Valley, off the coast of some bigass land called… Wait, Bonsai, what was it called again?”
Bonsai approached the clerk, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, and removed his cone hat. “My love, allow me. Sir, what is your name?”
“Errm… P-Post Haste, s-sir.”
“My apologies, Mr. Haste, I understand our homeland is rather far and rather remote from Equestria. Would you instead consider sending to Silver Shoals Community Office, our Tia and Lulu live there and the staff there have instructions to redirect mail to the staff aboard our ship stationed there. Once they have it, they’ll know what to do with the letter.”
“Oh… Well, I suppose that would be easier. Very well, I just need some postage and I will send it, um... post haste.”
“Very good. How much is priority postage?”
Maho retracted her talons back into hooves and leaned against her husband, pouty but satisfied with the outcome. Once the transaction was finished, she tugged on his robe sleeve and directed him to the hallway. “Bonsai, I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes.”
“It was nothing, my love,” Bonsai smiled nonchalantly as he placed his hat back atop its pedestal.
“Nonsense, you’re more adept at these diplomatic things than me.”
“I just didn’t wish to take up more of the young man’s time than necessary, especially when there is a party waiting for you.”
“Yes, speaking of which.” The couple passed into halls and met with the sisters. “Alrighty darlings, that’s done. Now, why don’t we go back to that ball, I’m itching to try out that buffet.”
“Mother,” Luna frowned, “You just ate a fridge worth of food and you’re still hungry?”
“Well of course, you should know mommy’s appetite by now,” Mommy replied with a cutesy giggle.
“Let’s just… mind our manners this time, mother,” Celestia sighed.
Maho scoffed in feigned offense. “My my, Tia, it was just a little snack, you can’t blame little old me for wanting to get my fill-”
“That’s not what I meant, mother. I just don’t want you to cause more of a scene. The guests are already on edge with that stunt you pulled with Twilight back in the foyer. I just… I just don’t want it to end up like last time…. Or like what happened a long time back.”
The queen stopped in her tracks, her proud grin fading. “Tia… That was… I lost my temper at the bastard, he should not have opened his mouth.”
Luna, getting mood whiplash from the stark change in tone, blank stared and exchanged glances at both her sister and mother. “I feel like I’m being left in the dark here, what happened?”
“Sister,” Celestia faintly smiled. “Remember when you came back from your Nightmare Moon episode and you went home to recuperate? And I told you the story of what happened with Mother?”
“Yeah…?”
“Look, darlings.” Maho interrupted. “I won’t do it again, alright. What happened occurred out of grief. I won’t do anything that will lose either of you again, I promise. That being said, please… Just have more faith in me. I like to believe I’ve moved on from that dark part in my life.”
Bonsai enveloped his wife and younger daughter in his leathery wings. “We are all together now in the present. If you only have eyes on the past, you’ll never see your future, my loves.”
Seeing her family back in one piece again, Celestia could not deny it made her feel warm inside. Even if they’re hard to work with sometimes, they were her anchor in life. “If we can put this aside for the time being, let’s go enjoy what’s left of the Gala. I have a few new people I’d like you to meet Mother. You too, Father.”
The following takes place during Episode 02 immediately following the encounter with the Ursa
The airship wasn’t particularly large, nor particularly small. It was moderately armed yet on the inside it was quite well furnished and as Starlight found upon entering one of the lounges, quite comfy. Plopping herself onto a soft sofa, she sunk into the fluffy padding.
“Maaaan, I could just fall asleep in this.”
Trixie sat on the sofa opposite to her. “Between the hard train ride and the Ursa, The Great and Powerful Trixie could use a little TLC.”
“Not to mention the stress of teaching. Though this isn’t exactly a vacation.”
“Eh, still. We don’t have to work for a while at least.”
Sunburst stumbled in, placing his bag on the floor, and sitting next to Starlight. “You hardly work as it is.”
“Whaaat? Don’t be silly, my brain is always working even when my body isn’t.”
“I’m just thankful for Professor Atha’s barrier. A rather ingenious use of Fortificus and Reflection.” v
Atha walked in, blowing a smoke ring from her pipe. “My experience with the 1st Magic Combat Division has taught me many things, even if I don’t serve much in the field nowadays.” She placed her rucksack on the floor next to an armchair next to Glimmer’s sofa, placing herself at the head of the coffee table between their seats. “I must say, if the queen’s timing hadn't been so fortuitous, the guns aboard this frigate appear adequate for such threats. At least, I believe it to be a frigate given its size, it’s difficult to tell with airships at times.”
“A tough soldier like you is good enough to have around I guess,” Trixie shrugged. “But shouldn’t you have been able to take that thing down? I thought your unit was, like, elite special forces.”
“Starbeast like Ursa aren’t so easy to bring down, even for those in the SOF community, but a little knowledge makes them easy to keep at bay. And you are certainly acting quite highly considering you retreated to the rear almost immediately, Ms. Lulamoon,” Atha said with a condescending frown. “If you were half as skilled at magic as you claim, you would know that even a novice with proper training could defend themselves against such threats.” She took another puff of her pipe. “Oh, and for the record, I am not a soldier, I am a marine.”
Trixie shrugged again, ignoring the facehoof from Starlight. “What’s the difference?”
The younger unicorn instantly regretted her words as Atha leaned in with a deeply unamused glare that made Trixie shrink in her seat. “The difference is a doggie will fight you to the death. A devil dog will not even give you the chance to fight back. As a fellow educator, I would suggest you learn this lesson before your next ass whooping goes beyond a verbal beatdown.”
The Great and Powerful Soup Sandwich smiled awkwardly as she placed her hooves in front of her face in a defensive manner. “L-lesson learned, won’t happen again.”
Atha leaned back in her chair and took an irritated puff. Never mess with a marine. “The youth these days have no respect…”
The tension was lifted pretty quickly as the laughter of Starlight’s other friends provided a distraction, Sugar Belle entering the room with the other three from the village. “I guess some things never change.”
Night Glider and Party Favor rolled in behind her, with Double Diamond trudging in from the rear. “Yo, Glimmy! Been a while eh?” Night Glider exclaimed. “That big bad bear kinda put a damper on things, but here we are now.”
“Thanks for inviting us, Starlight,” Party Favor said with a big smile. “Oh, and hello Professor. Happy to see you again.”
Atha hummed in acknowledgement, exhaling another perfect smoke ring. Starlight stood to hug her old friends. “Thanks for being here, I know it was a lot to ask.”
“Well hey, the gang’s back together again and we’re going to some faraway land we know nothing about, you’d think I’d miss out on this?” Night Glider grinned. “For real though, I was looking for something to break up the monotony.”
“Oh, I need to introduce you.” She let go of the pegasus and gestured to the seated unicorns. “So, that one over there is Trixie, she was--”
“Is.” Trixie interrupted.
“She is a showmare, but she’s also the guidance counselor at the school I direct. I met her in Ponyville while I was studying under Twilight.”
Party Favor waved with vigor. “The Great and Powerful Trixie! I was at one of your shows!”
“We can save the autographs for later,” Trixie winked.
“I’m Party Favor, big fan!”
Starlight chuckled. “Anyway, this over here is Sunburst, he’s my--”
“Boyfriend?” Night Glider interjected, grinning wide.
“Yes,” Trixie answered with an equally wide grin.
“N-no!” Starlight blushed. “Why does everyone keep saying that? It’s not even official- wait no, that’s not what I meant!”
“Because it’s true.”
“C-colleague,” Sunburst blurted with a sheepish blush of his own. “I’m, uh, her colleague. F-for the moment, anyway.”
“By that logic, that makes me Favor’s colleague,” Night Glider said with a wink and a nudge in pouty Starlight’s direction. “Right, man?”
“I’d be happy to attend the wedding, I had so much fun at Sugar Belle’s.” Party said with a goofy, if genuine smile.
“Okay okay, let’s not be too hasty!” Starlight flailed.
“Just spit it out and be done with it, cripes,” Atha deadpanned as she stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I must find a washroom. I will catch up later, this has been fun.”
Double Diamond, who had been rather silent this whole time, stepped aside to let his old professor out.
“Oh, and this is Double Diamond,” Starlight said, taking the opportunity to change the embarrassing subject. “He… Hey, you okay? You’re looking kinda out of it.”
Double Diamond perked up slightly, looking her in the eye for a moment like a deer in the headlights before adopting a pained smile. “Y-yeah, I’m just kinda… reeling from what happened back there. And, uh, I might be dealing with a stomach bug, too.”
“I’ve got some antacids if you need some…”
“Maybe later. If it’s alright, I’d like to turn in and let my stomach settle.”
The white stallion bumped into the doorframe before making his leave. Usually the boisterous one of the group, but perhaps it was understandable. After all, a dangerous experience like a rampaging beast could sap the energy out of someone, especially if you were already sapped in the first place. Starlight could see it in his green eyes just how much fatigue he was going through--
(“Wait, did he always have green eyes?...”)
The following takes place immediately following the ending of Episode 02
“Mother? That mare?”
There are few times when Trixie is left without words. Between the tears in Starlight’s eyes and the dejected look of uncertainty in Sunburst’s, she had a difficult time processing this bomb that was just dropped on her. How does one even respond to that?
“I have… so many questions right now. I don’t mean to sound rude, but you’re gonna have to give me a little context.”
Starlight took a deep breath as she wiped her moist eyes.
“Sorry for not saying anything before. It was kind of personal and I thought I moved on from it.” Starlight sat on the bed, Sunburst sitting next to her and Trixie across from them.
“So… when I was growing up, before I got my cutie mark, my mom, who I and dad loved very much, suddenly vanished during a really bad storm. It was a severe thunderstorm and there was a tornado spotted in the countryside that I think formed when the Cloudsdale weather factory suffered a major malfunction. Mom was helping coordinate the effort to get everyone into shelter and instruct the weather patrol to control the storm.”
Sunburst pulled Starlight close. “I was over playing with her when the sirens went off. Her dad told us to get our bags and rushed us to the community storm shelter while her mom bolted to help the patrol. Mrs. Skylight was a particularly talented unicorn so I think she was called to use her array of spells to help with the efforts. I don’t remember what happened that night, we were so scared and my mind has long since blocked the details of that night, it was kind of traumatic.”
“The next day, there was nothing to suggest she died, but she was just gone. Without a trace. I never saw her again after that and I remember dad searching endlessly for a week while I was being babysat by Sunburst’s parents. I think he had a hard time accepting she was gone in spite of everyone suggesting it… Neither of us really recovered from it. He grew overprotective and - especially after Sunburst left for magic school - I started acting out well into my teens. As an adult now, I know he did it out of love and didn’t want to lose me either, but at the time it felt smothering to me and at fifteen, I reached my limit and ran away from home. I met Atha not long after that when I ran into the digsite she was teaching her students in. She took me in when I was starved and feverish and… Well, rest is history.”
Trixie sat in silence, taking in all this new information. Patiently absorbing everything, no interruption. This was important to her friend and, well, it sorta struck some chords with her own childhood. “I had no idea… I’m sorry for being insensitive, had I known…”
“Don’t worry, I’m sorry for never talking about this before, Trixie. It was just… Well, when I met you I was still in a phase in my life when I was trying to move past those dark times. Even after meeting Twilight, I was still suppressing my emotions… Even Sunburst was talking about his own dad.”
“What happened with that, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Trixie, I don’t think--”
Sunburst cleared his throat. “No, it’s fine. Trixie the guidance counselor. And honestly, a decent therapist. I think talking about our emotions is the best way to sort through them.” He leaned forward and took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Well, there isn’t really much to talk about. You know already that when Starlight and I were foals, I got my cutie mark and an acceptance letter to the school for gifted unicorns. I still hate myself for just leaving and damaging Starlight like that.”
“It’s not your fault, Sunburst. Back then I used it as an excuse, but really I was volatile. Don’t blame yourself for it.”
“I know, I know. It’s just hard to let go of an old shame. Anyway, about a year after moving to go to school, I got news from mom that dad had died. I was never told the details, the investigation never found anything conclusive, but there was a possibility he may have been murdered while he was out visiting grandpa. I never got to say goodbye and it destroyed me. It was one of the many things that led to my subpar performance in school. It took reconnecting with Starlight for me to really start to regain my confidence.”
“Sunburst… What happened was out of your control. It was tragic, and I’m sorry.”
“Hey, things worked out in the end. I miss him, I really do. But I made peace with it. You… You have the opportunity to make peace too, Starlight. It’s gonna be hard, but what you decide to do next is up to you. And you won’t have to do it alone.”
Starlight wiped the tears from her eyes again and smiled. “Yeah. Thank you.”
The two shared a particularly lengthy glance into each other's eyes. That was until an abrupt giggle from the Great and Powerful third wheel. “No wonder you love each other, you’re kindred spirits.”
“T-Trixie! Read the mood!”
“Starlight,” Trixie smiled, “I’m not making fun of you. In fact, I’m actually kind of jealous. You’ve been through so much grief, both of you. The fact that you pour your heart out and both of you comfort each other just proves you belong together. You’ve achieved great things, I mean look at you Miss Headmare. Not everyone can say they’ve been the princess’s protege.”
Trixie stood from her seat and brought both of her friends into a tight hug.
“Just be honest with each other. It’s painfully obvious you two belong with each other. Starlight, you helped Sunburst rebuild his life and he in turn is your shoulder to cry on. This thing with your mom, I don’t know what to expect but I agree with Sunburst. Get some closure, even if it doesn’t lead anywhere. And Sunburst… Be there to love and support her.”
Now it was the two lovebird’s turn to be speechless. But perhaps she was right. There are a lot of unknowns going forward. There was no point in tackling them alone.
“Oh, uh, sorry for turning this therapy session into something else.”
“No no,” Starlight returned the hug with a teary smile. “I think this is just what I wanted. Thank you.”
“I’m glad I could help. Now… Can we go to breakfast? I’m starving.”
Starlight giggled and nodded. “Yeah, go ahead, I’ll catch up. I just wanna have a word with Sunburst in private first.”
Trixie winked at the both of them before walking out the door of the cabin. At that, the two remaining unicorns blushed and awkwardly rubbed the backs of their necks.
“So…” Sunburst gulped. “Trixie isn’t very subtle about it, is she?”
“To be fair, neither are we.” Starlight fidgeted about as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. “Listen, Sunburst… I want to say thank you for everything. I’m not very good with these things, but I do feel better for… Kinda getting this out in the open.”
“M-me too. So, um…” Sunburst cleared his throat again and took a deep breath. Both knew what he wanted to say. “I-if you’re not opposed to the idea, would you… Maybe like to… Um…” He gulped. “W-when you have some free time, would you like to sightsee the city together?”
Starlight giggled and blushed. “I’d like that. I don’t know how far this thing will go between us, but at the very least I’d like to try.”
“A-and if it doesn’t work out… Friends?”
“Friends. But let’s go slow, I have a few things I need to work through.”
“Of course. I’m not too good at this either so easing into it would probably be a better idea.”
“Alright… Let’s go join the others, I’d like to eat too.”
With the air now cleared and tension lifted, the two left the cabin to catch up with Trixie. Starlight made it only a couple feet around the corner to the topside deck when she nearly collided into Atha who was leaning against the guard rail and smoking her pipe.
“Oh, good morning Professor. Sorry about that.”
“Do not fuss over it. I was just thinking. I’ll be along shortly, don’t wait up.”
Complying with the general’s order, the mare and stallion disembarked from the ship.
Atha watched these kids meet their friends, exhaling a heavy plume of smoke and turning her face as the maid Rafflesia stepped down herself. The latter smiled and waved. Atha didn’t and merely turned away dismissively, leaving the staff to do her job.
“Mother… Father… Family is important to them all. If only I knew where mine was….”