The aroma of good, freshly brewed tea filled the kitchen. It was quite fragrant, a rather strong and distinct mint.
Starlight breathed in deeply, giving a satisfied sigh. “Lovely, just lovely,” she smiled, setting down the teapot on the tea tray. Arrayed around it was a selection of interesting teacups, a plate of assorted cookies, creamer, sugar, honey, five different varieties of milk, teaspoons—just about everything you could reasonably need for a nice cup of tea, really. Or two. Or more likely, the entire pot of tea.
Today, she was hard at work preparing for her guest. A very special guest at that, somepony who she had once been best friends with. Somepony named Sunburst. And, ignoring the period of time they’d both agreed not to talk about without a damned good reason, they were friends once more. She’d invited him over for tea today, hoping to make good use of his very limited vacation time. He’d been rather busy of late, what with all his duties up north. And how better to spend your vacation time than by relaxing and catching up with an old friend?
“Starlight, you keep it up, and today is going to be perfect!” Starlight muttered to herself cheerily as she took the tray into the sitting room.
In a few moments, Sunburst would be here, meeting their appointed time of exactly 15:00. He’d always been the punctual sort. And, she’d remembered his favourite tea! Peppermint, nice and strong. It was an acquired taste, one of those hold-overs from the long study sessions that the two had once shared, so engrossed by their books that they’d lost track of time and taken the tea bags out just a few minutes too late. Starlight liked thinking about the good old days, made her feel—
Thump thump thump thump! Her head shot up at the sound of a hoof knocking on the front door. She trotted over happily, a bit of spring creeping into her step. “Just a moment, I’ll be right there,” she called out. Then, she took a passing glance at the large grandfather clock, which had just begun to ring the hour. 15:00 on the dot.
Was she nervous? Yeah, she was. Very nervous. Once, she might’ve tried to hide that, but she had become wiser under Twilight’s tutelage. And even the wisest of beings would become nervous. She felt hadn’t spent enough time with Sunburst recently, and she was slightly worried that she might put him off, somehow. The two of them had come a long way in mending their lost friendship, but there was still a bit of a rift. Not an insurmountable rift, of course, though its existence did bother her more than she’d ever admit casually.
At this point, worrying was just going to ruin their time together. So, Starlight took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and tentatively opened the door.
“Hey Sunburst,” she greeted him. “Right on time, just like always.”
“Well, you know me, I hate being late.” Sunburst smiled, but it went away just a bit too quickly for Starlight’s liking. She made a mental note of that for later, citing an odd gut feeling. Her guess? Hard to say. For now, she chalked it up to his own nervousness. He’d always been a bit of a wreck in that department, despite his deep reserves of knowledge.
Solution? Try and put him at ease. Starlight decided to simply fake confidence until she felt confident.
“What are you waiting for, come on in!” Starlight gave him a goofy smile, gesturing inside.
With his characteristic nervousness, Sunburst stepped inside, wiping his hooves on the doormat. He took a curious sniff as he set his saddlebags down by the door. “Do I smell peppermint?” he asked.
“It is, because that’s what I made,” Starlight said with a chuckle. She brought him into the sitting room, pulling out the tea bags and levitating them to the nearest trash can, which was in the next room over. “I remembered that it was your favourite, after all. Which cup would you like? I-I don’t have a matching set, makes Twilight nutty; when I first moved here I spent a while looking for a set but it was just about impossible. So, I settled for ones that were… nice.”
“I like this one,” he shrugged, indicating one with droopy, dark blue flowers. “It's, well, um… nice, I suppose.”
“What do you take in your tea these days? You used to like it plain, but I couldn’t remember if when you sat in on the board meeting during your last visit you’d had sugar or cream in your tea. So I put out everything!” she rambled, letting a bit of her nerves slip as she poured their tea. For herself, she chose a cup that had a bundle of rather vibrant flowers, ones that seemed to burst like stars. They were that same vivid, light blue that filled the skies above the seas. The flowers reminded her of somepony special, in a way.
Sunburst nodded sheepishly as he sat down on the couch. “Yep, I still like it plain. And that wasn’t, ah, tea, at the board meeting.”
“I can’t believe you’d do that, Sunburst,” Starlight said, shaking her head with mock disgust and disapproval, seating herself in her favourite chair. It was the rounded one, white and blue stripes with that nice home-made cushion that had been a moving-in gift from the Apples. “Coffee? What self-respecting scholar drinks coffee?”
“It’s actually one of my more recent vices. Picked it up while I was up north. Some days I couldn’t just keep my eyes open without a cup of it. Neither can Cadance or Shining Armour,” he replied with a hesitant smile.
“I can imagine,” chuckled Starlight. She thought back to all the times she’d been roped into helping out with the Cake twins as part of one of Pinkie’s many, many schemes. Not the malicious kind of schemes, of course, but the kind where Pinkie was planning some sort of party underneath somepony else’s nose. Those foals were ‘a hoof-full of headache plus 20 pounds of trouble’, to borrow an old Apple family expression.
“Well, whatever you’re imagining, just… triple it!” Sunburst exclaimed, a look of absolute exasperation on his face. “Flurry Heart, a-aside from being a statistical anomaly, has incredibly powerful magic! And, well, since foals aren’t exactly great at controlling their magic surges…”
Starlight nodded solemnly, rubbing her forehead as she remembered those many headaches. “Don’t worry, I get the picture.”
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Both of them jumped in their seats, startled by the sudden knocking of a firm hoof at the front door. Sunburst, mid sip, just barely avoided spilling tea all over himself. “Mmpfff— did you invite somepony else over?”
Starlight, already up on her hooves, tossed the tea towel at Sunburst. “Uhh, no?” she frowned, sifting through her well-crafted plans for the day. “I don’t… think so. Just a moment.” With a concerned frown, she made her way to the door. Who could it be? She wracked her brain, trying to think. No, from what she could remember, she had rescheduled as much as possible to keep today as open as she could. So who could possibly be at the door? A delivery of some kind? A visitor, perhaps?
Only one way for her to find out. Starlight pulled open the door.
“Ah, greetings!”
“Oh? H-hello,” she replied, more than a little astounded. Before her was a familiar grey stallion, wearing that ratty old brown cloak of his. The burlap one which was probably about as old as he was. As in, well over 1000 years old. She smiled, trying to appear genial. “It’s, uhm, been a while, Stygian.”
“Likewise! Starlight, you… did receive my letter, yes?” he asked.
Starlight frowned. She had not received any letters from him or anypony else. Unless… unless it had gotten lost in that massive pile of paperwork that was still sitting on her desk at the school.
Her reaction told Stygian all he needed to know. “I see. Well, if you are not sufficiently prepared, I can return in the morning before I catch my train.”
“No, no, you can come in! You’re here now and that’s what matters.” Starlight put on a reassuring smile for him, but internally she was panicking. Why was he here? What did he want? What was in that letter? Where was that letter?
“Ah, thank you Starlight. I must assume then, that you are not aware of why I’m here.” Stygian said thoughtfully, wiping his hooves before stepping through the door. He looked around the entry room, taking note of how everything linked together.
“Erm, no.”
Stygian gave her a small smile. “Well, Twilight offered to lend me use of her library, which I’m told is rather substantial. And, as she is out of town for the time being, you are the one in charge of said library. Thusly, I am here.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Twilight always likes nurturing young minds. I— not that you’re young, uh, you’re at least a thousand years older than me,” Starlight sputtered, trying to find something, anything to pivot to. “Do you like peppermint tea?”
“I do indeed.” Stygian nodded.
“Good! I just made a fresh pot. Oh, by the way, you’re not my only visitor. Sunburst is here too,” she replied, gesturing towards the sitting room
“Sunburst? Is he the orange one?”
Around the corner, Sunburst peeked his head out. “Y-yes, uh, I’m orange. I’m the orange one. Sunburst.” he said awkwardly. The last time the two of them had met hadn’t exactly been… pleasant.
Stygian blinked. “You’re… yes, you’re the one who broke the spell, correct? Starswirl’s spell?”
“G-guilty as charged!” he smiled.
“Guilty? Are you a criminal of some sort?” Stygian asked with a frown.
“No, he’s not, at least not that I know of,” Starlight chuckled. “I’m pretty sure he’s never committed any crimes, at least nothing more serious than petty thievery. Right?”
Tellingly, Sunburst said nothing, he merely looked away awkwardly. Starlight chose to interpret that as remorse, rather than guilt.
“Oooo-kay then. Let’s sit down, shall we?” she suggested, standing in front of her favourite chair.
Stygian nodded, picking the only remaining seat, which was on the far end of the couch from Sunburst, and selected a cup at random. Starlight wordlessly poured him a cup of tea, leaving enough for him to put in a splash of milk or cream or whatever. To his credit, he added nothing, breathing deeply to enjoy the minty scent, before setting the teacup down on the side table.
“I didn’t know you were coming, Stygian,” Sunburst commented. He seemed a little uncomfortable. But why?
She needed to know more, but it would be impolite for Starlight to pry so quickly. If she did that, it might just make things worse. Then their day would become much, much messier.
“Ah, I sent a letter well in advance, though I fear it did not arrive as anticipated. I hope I’m not intruding on anything,” apologised Stygian.
“Oh, nonsense! You’re not intruding, you’re a guest. An unexpected one, yeah, but I’m flexible like that.” Starlight did her best to stay calm, but inside she was significantly stressed out. Her well planned evening was falling apart, and she was this close to tempting fate by asking if things could get any worse.
“Excellent! As soon as we finish tea, I intend to browse the library. I’ve been searching for a particular volume, and Twilight mentioned that she herself was a collector of rare books. Based on the description I gave, she thought that the volume might be among her collection, though… uh… without her… organisation scheme close at hoof, she couldn’t give me a more accurate reference.” Stygian explained. His eyes darted around, not meeting Sunburst’s nor her own. Starlight’s trained and experienced mind highlighted his hesitation. It was not unexpected for somepony to grasp for the right words to describe something, but that did not seem to be the case here.
Oh yes, he was almost certainly hiding something. Twilight’s ‘organisation scheme’ was not unique to her. In fact, it was the same, standard scheme that all libraries in Equestria used, by agreement. The shelves were divided by subject, and then alphabetically by the author’s name.
Regardless of her doubts, Starlight waved him off reassuringly. “Of course, I can give you a point in the right—”
Just then, a letter poofed into existence right above the coffee table. It fell, narrowly avoiding one of the many pitchers on the tray, the corner poking into the jelly centre of a cookie. Strangely, the air around it smelled of… smoke?
She plucked the letter from the table and opened it, noting how the paper had slight charing along the edges.
Dear Starlight,
I need help.
Love,
The Great and Powerful Trixie
“Trixie, you moron…” Starlight muttered under her breath. “I don’t have the time for this.”
“Is something burning?” asked Stygian.
“I, uh, think it’s the letter,” Sunburst replied.
Moments later, another letter poofed into existence, this one looking far more charred. One corner had been entirely eaten away by flames. Starlight immediately opened it.
Dear Starlight,
You didn’t want me to bother you, but this is an actual emergency, I was staying late to make my smoke bombs, those six troublemakers wanted to help, and then they set their changeling on fire. I don’t know if it’s actually hurting her, I can’t tell. It’s green, she’s screaming and running around, and I don’t know what to do about it.
Love,
The Great and Powerful Trixie
P.S.
There might be some other stuff too, I’m not sure, I can’t understand the yak
“Motherf—” Starlight clamped her mouth down tight, cutting off her own curse. She’d promised Twilight that she was going to swear less. Unfortunately, Trixie was not making it any easier. No matter how hard Starlight tried, Trixie had a way of eking out more, and more swears.
“Those burn marks are a little worrying,” Sunburst commented.
“Indeed, perhaps it’s an emergency?” said Stygian.
With a sigh, Starlight nodded. It was mostly one of disappointment. “Emergency at the school. Trixie wants me.”
She did not have time before another letter appeared. This one was barely a scrap, with a few words scratched onto it.
Starlight,
Please don’t tell Sunburst
-Love,Trixie
Starlight groaned and rested her face in her hoof. Whatever was going on there, it was a mess. A gosh diddly-darned mess.
“Do… do you need me to go with you?” Sunburst asked, concerned.
“No, no,” she immediately responded. “You stay here and enjoy yourself, this shouldn’t take long. Besides, you’ve been in the library, if Stygian needs help, you can help him. I’ll be back as soon as I can, alright?”
Not wanting to waste any more time, she teleported away in a flash of her trademark turquoise magic, leaving the two nerds alone in her sitting room.