//------------------------------//
// Everything That There Ever Was 
// Story: Glow 
// by Regidar 
//------------------------------//

Today was the best day Starlight Glimmer had ever seen.

That was the nice thing about days like this. They didn’t have to be remarkable. They could just be. She didn’t have to think about specifics to make it beautiful. It was all that it ever was. It was all that ever will be. It was all that ever has been.

She’d gotten off the train in Manehattan. The late afternoon sun bathed her in a warm blanket, aglow all around her. She smiled at the ponies who she passed. She was glad they were there. She was glad they were alive.

Starlight had never been to this particular apartment building. It held no sentimental value to her. It held no special importance in her memory. It didn’t have to. The fact that it was here, and that so many ponies lived inside of it, passing through their lives like hippocampi through water—that was enough. That’s all it had to be.

She entered the building and went straight for the stairwell. She waved to the mare at the front desk.

“Hello there, Miss.” The mare at the front desk had a nice smile. Starlight briefly wondered what her life was like. Where her favorite diner in the city was. What she liked to do at the park. What she thought of the impressive skyline. Her opinion on Equestrian politics. How well she liked her job. What book she was currently reading. “Are you here to see somepony?”

Starlight didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. There was an awful noise from outside like a sack full of wet flour hitting the pavement, and the mare at the front desk recoiled in shock. Starlight caught the beginning of a gasp as she opened the door to the stairs.

The building had an elevator. Starlight didn’t want to take it. She wanted her limbs to ache, she wanted the muscles to burn, she wanted to feel the effort of climbing all 24 flights of steps.

It had always seemed odd to her that the convention of Equestrian buildings was that the  actual “first” floor was instead referred to as the “ground floor”. Floor Zero.

The thought left as fast as it had come. She was once again focused on nothing but the act of climbing the stairs. Sweat had begun to bead down her forehead, streaking down her cheek. She could have easily used her magic to brush it away, but she didn’t. She wanted to savor the sensation. She wanted to savor every sensation that the effort and exertion brought to her.

The stairwell was sparse. It was clear this was mostly used for maintenance. The walls and stairs alike were an eggshell-white concrete. The clack of her hooves echoed about her in the empty ascension.

Starlight closed her eyes.

Still walking along, putting one hoof in front of the other, step after step, she climbed with eyes screwed shut. She wasn’t here in the stairwell. She wasn’t here in the building. She wasn’t here in Manehattan. She was there in Ponyville. She was there in the castle. She was there before Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Applejack. She was there in the crowd, she was there surrounded by everypony. She had been forgiven by them all. She could feel herself wrapped in the warm glow of acceptance, so light on her hooves she could float away.

Starlight opened her eyes.

She had reached the top. She flung herself against the door to the roof, nearly tripping over her own hooves as she burst out into the late afternoon sunlight. She felt as if the glow were still around her, as if she were in danger of being carried off the rooftop by the breeze blowing about her.

Starlight giggled. Spun around, trotted gleefully to the edge of the building.

Took a deep breath. Her stomach fluttered, and she felt a shiver run through her.

She leaned forward over the edge.

Let the wind kiss her face.

Took her hooves from the stone.

Took one last look at the Manehattan skyline.

Took control of her life.

Lept out into the open air.