"You know, for what it's worth, I respected North a great deal." Sigma said as they walked out the front door of the house.
"You did?" Theta asked as the cold, night air surrounded him.
"Indeed." Sigma said, pausing until a few seconds later when they were under a blanket of stars. "He was always the first one to go to somebodies side when they needed it. Well, perhaps not to Carolina. York was always the one at her side first, but I believe North knew why so he let York do his thing. But for the others; Wyoming, Washington, South, all of them. Even Texas. As brash as she was with the others, she respected North a great deal as well. She was one of the only ones she felt she could confide in. That says more about him than most words ever could."
Theta nodded and perked his ears when he heard another eight hooves walk out the door. He and Sigma turned around to see Applebloom and Scootaloo staring at them.
"It appears we were followed." Sigma said, almost in anger.
"Sorry, we were just, uh..." Applebloom stuttered, almost ready to turn around and walk back inside.
"Following you." Scootaloo said, and Applebloom headbutted her lightly. "Hey! I was just telling them the truth..."
"And I thank you for it. Lying is something best left to professionals." Sigma said, staring at the barn where Gary and the others were currently residing. He then stared at Scootaloo, then to Theta, then to Applebloom. With a quick idea, he gave Applebloom an equally quick nod to accompany it. "I believe I need to speak to you."
"About what?" Applebloom asked curiously as Sigma came to her side.
"Oh, just things concerning family." Sigma said, not stopping to escort her. "It will not take long. Scootaloo, may you stay out here?"
"Okay." Applebloom and Scootaloo said reluctantly.
Scootaloo walked up to Theta and sat by his side as Applebloom and Sigma went inside to talk. Scootaloo stared up at the sky and looked at the stars, waiting for Sigma to come back. After a few minutes of quiet, Scootaloo decided to go the empathetic route and talk to Theta.
"Nice night, isn't it?" Scootaloo said awkwardly.
"It's kind of cold." Theta said quietly.
"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Scootaloo stirred.
"Is it too cold for you?"
"No, it's..." Scootaloo stopped. "Nevermind."
"It's okay, you can ask me anything. North always said it's good to be open about things, but I could never do it to anyone but him since he was the one I spent all my time with."
"That's what I wanted to ask you about. Was North your dad?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, but he might as well have been." Theta sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just the way he used to talk about me, I guess." Theta shrugged, not knowing what he wanted to say. "Whenever he was around others, he would always tell them about all the neat things I had done since the last time he talked to them. He tried to make me out to be some sort of big deal, when the others like Sigma and Epsilon were way more unique than I ever was. I mean, how can I-"
"Epsilon is Church's nickname, right?" Scootaloo blurted, then coughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you story."
"That's okay, that was pretty much it. But to answer your question, yeah." Theta nodded.
"I think Church is kind of a weird nickname. Do you have one?"
"I'm not sure." Theta said weakly, staring at the moon that lingered above him. "Some of the people I've met call me T, but North used to call me his star."
"So you were North's star? That's a pretty cool nickname. How'd you get it?"
"I think he called me it because I rarely came out when others were around, and I would mostly come out at night when it was just North and I, usually at night when I could really be myself."
"Why couldn't you have been yourself when others were around? Because you're shy?"
"I don't know, maybe a little bit of that." Theta said jokingly in an attempt to make light of the situation. "But it also had to... I don't know, it's pretty hard to explain when I'm not allowed to tell you most things."
"What, do you have a secret past or something?" Scootaloo chuckled, lightly prodding him in his side. "Are you a secret agent or something like that?"
"Sorta."
"Wait, sorta?" Scootaloo asked with a small laugh. "You can't be a secret agent, you're way too young for that."
"Says who?"
"Well..." Scootaloo started slowly, then saw him staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Good point. So what, you used to go on top secret missions and stuff like that? Sneaking into other people's bases and capturing their flag sort of thing like Sarge did?"
"No, nothing like that. North and I were best at getting information, and I... I don't think I can say anything other than that." Theta said, then paused. "Sorry."
"It's okay, ponies are allowed to have one or two secrets. I have a few myself."
"Really? Like what?"
"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you, now would it?" Scootaloo asked as she scrunched her nose impishly.
"I guess." Theta mumbled sadly.
"Tell ya what. I have three secrets I can tell you, but you can only choose one, okay?"
"Okay." Theta said brightly.
"The first one is about me, the second one is about Sarge..." Scootaloo paused and rubbed her chin playfully, almost as if she had to search deep in her mind to recall the final one. "The third one is about you."
"You know a secret about me?" Theta asked nervously.
"Yup. Quick! Which one do you want me to tell you?"
"Well... I kind of want to hear the secret about you, but..."
"But you want to know what sort of thing I know about you." Scootaloo smirked.
"Yeah, that." Theta laughed. "I choose that one."
"I think that you put yourself down a lot, but you're pretty cool from what I've seen so far."
"Yeah, because crying is totally cool." Theta grumbled and rolled his eyes, feeling as if he had just been duped out of knowing her secret.
"Ms. Cheerilee says eveypony is allowed to cry every now and then, and you shouldn't feel bad if you do."
"All adults say things like that..."
"Not Cheerilee." Scootaloo disagreed. "She only says stuff that she believes in."
"Okay, crying might not be uncool, but it isn't cool either. So why do you think I'm cool?"
"You have a pair of neato eyes." Scootaloo said, closing her eyes as hard as she could. "You know when you close your eyes really hard and then you open them, you see some weird squiggly lines floating around everywhere?"
"No..."
"Then try it. Close your eyes." Scootaloo said, and Theta played along. "Close them as hard as you can until it almost hurts."
"Okay." Theta grunted as he did all he could, and Scootaloo giggled when she saw his face shake. "What's so funny?"
"You look like you have to go to the bathroom!" Scootaloo whooped.
"What are you- woah!" Theta choked as he opened his eyes, seeing strange lights appear in the corners of his eyes. He tried to focus on them, but every time he did they moved back to the corner of his eyes.
"Yeah, your eyes kinda remind me of that." Scootaloo smiled. "Only a lot more... you know?"
"You're strange, do you know that?" Theta chuckled.
"You're one to talk." Scootaloo quipped, joining his snicker, when something caught her eye. "Look!"
Theta glanced over to her and saw her staring at the sky, eyes wide with excitement. He looked up to the sky and instantly saw a shooting star falling from the sky.
"Quick, make a wish and it will come true!" Scootaloo said, instantly snapping her eyes shut.
"Okay." Theta said, copying her. After three seconds he opened his eyes and began to watch as the star disappeared. "Do you really think that-"
Theta stopped when looked at Scootaloo and saw that her eyes were still closed. Her wings then opened and she began flapping softly, making the grass underneath her flick around. She opened her eyes and looked around her with a bright smile, but then stopped and let out a sad sigh.
"Are you okay?" Theta asked.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, totally." Scootaloo laughed weakly as she got up and stretched her back. She looked back at the moon, then to her wings. She sighed again and began walking away. "It's getting late so I should probably get going."
"Okay." Theta said, eyes feeling a lot more heavy as he got to his hooves. "Hey, Scootaloo?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Theta whispered.
"For what?"
"Listening."
"Heh, anytime." Scootaloo said, waving to him as she walked away. "Maybe some day you can tell me all about you being a secret agent, then I'll tell you another one of my secrets."
Theta let out a heavy breath through his mouth as Scootaloo disappeared, then looked up at the sky and watched as the shooting star vanished over the horizon.
"Sorry I took so long." Sigma uttered innocently, appearing next to Theta out of thin air.
"That's okay."
"Do you still wish to go for a walk?"'
"Maybe tomorrow night. I think I'm tired enough." Theta yawned as he walked towards the barn.
"You know, I believe Applebloom is still allowing you to sleep in there while she sleeps in Granny Smith's bed."
"You can tell Applebloom thanks, but no thanks." Theta said, not stopping his tired walk. "I'm feeling a lot better now."
Sigma watched as he Theta opened the barn door and walked inside to fall onto a pile of hay. He then turned his head to where Scootaloo had gone and smiled at it.
"That's nice to hear." Sigma said quietly, before walking towards the farm house to tell Applebloom she could have her bed back.