//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Twilight Tower 
// Story: Magic in the Stars 
// by Australian Chaos 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7

Twilight Tower


"So, what's it like, knowing you're going to be studying under one of the Royal Sisters?" Twilight Sparkle's voice managed to make it's way into Starfall's brain, snapping him out of his trance the events of the last hour seemed to have put him in. He return to the real world seemed to amuse Twilight, as she giggled softly. "Welcome back, Starfall," she added teasingly.

Starfall gave the unicorn a half-hearted glare, before deciding to answer her. "I don't know, really..." he said slowly. "I mean, it all feels so surreal, like this is happening to somepony else, and I'm just watching through their eyes. Or perhaps that this is all just a big dream, and that I'll wake up soon."

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I felt the same when Princess Celestia offered to teach me personally about magic. I was just a little filly at the time, and it happened to be the same day I found my cutie mark. I was in a daze for the rest of the day...and quite a bit of the next day, too," she added, sounding a little sheepish.

"I'm not surprised," Starfall responded sincerely. "That would have been a life-changing day by anypony's standards." He was briefly tempted to mention how life-changing this event was for him, considering he was going from a state of relative poverty and complete obscurity to being a student of Princess Luna. In the end, though, he kept his mouth shut...his old life was not something he really wanted to bring up again.

Twilight either did not notice his brief moment of indecision, or just ignored it. "Oh, it was, alright. Still rates as one of the best days of my life, along with the day I met all my friends...although I didn't think that day was terribly good back then," she added, sounding a little embarrassed.

Starfall didn't respond, letting a friendly silence develop between as they continued walking. As they made their way through Canterlot's bustling heart, Starfall accidentally bumped into a dull, dusty amber Earth Pony with a muddy-hued, short cut mane and tail. "Oh, sorry," he called over his shoulder, noticing the young stallion had turned back as well.

"No worries, good sir!" the stallion called, having an accent that sounded like he was from the area around Trottingham, before turning his gaze on Twilight, Starfall noting a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. "Good day to you, too, Twilight!" he called, waving, before wandering off, disappearing into the crowd almost as rapidly as he had appeared.

Starfall smiled softly, before turning back to Twilight, pausing as he noticed she had stopped, looking back at where the stallion had disappeared with a confused look on her face. "One of your friends?" he asked.

Twilight narrowed a single eye, which only enhanced her baffled look. "No. I have no idea who he was. I think I've seen him around Ponyville from time to time, but I've never actually met him face to face before..." she mused, seeming to think for a few moments, before shrugging it off. "Never mind. Come on, let's get you to my old tower so I can show you around before it gets too late," she added, nodding up to the night sky to remind them both of the late hour.

As they continued on their way, though, Starfall did notice Twilight looking back over her shoulder, clearly still confused, and possibly a little curious, as to who that stallion was. She seemed to set it aside soon after, though, looking around as their walk took them out of Canterlot's interior city centre, and out into the fields and gardens on the city's fringe, where the view of the night sky was spectacular, leaving Starfall with the urge to just find a comfy patchy of grass and lay back, stargazing for a little while.

A weary yawn changed his mind though, as he continued to follow Twilight down various streets, once more looking over his shoulder as cyan-coloured pony waved to Twilight as they passed her on a bridge, amber eyes seeming rather expressive to Starfall, seeming really cheery in complete defiance of the late hour. Starfall was able to catch a lyre cutie mark on her flank, before they disappeared around a corner.

Twilight smiled, offering a quick wave back, but not stopping as they continued on their way. "I recognise her from Ponyville," she explained, before Starfall could even think of asking about her. "I don't know her exactly, but I have seen her around...she must have family here in Canterlot or something, because she visits here a lot. She seems to be a very excitable filly, though. Every time I see her she seems to be bursting with energy"

Starfall nodded. "You seem to know quite a few ponies, it seems," he observed, looking up to see the road was taking them towards a small cluster of towers, slightly separated from the main city itself...it seemed Twilight's old home was among them.

Twilight nodded, though an amused smile graced her lips as she replied. "When you're friends with Pinkie Pie, you'll rapidly get to know everpony in Ponyville. She's friends with everypony in town, and that's not an exaggeration," she added as Starfall let out an amused chuckle. "I think she's even friends with half of Canterlot by this stage, actually..." she mused further, making Starfall stare at her disbelievingly.

"Wow..." he finally conceded once he realise Twilight was not joking or pulling his tail in any way. "She must be really sociable. Sounds like most would have a hard time just keeping up with her."

Twilight giggled. "That's true, though you get used to it after a while. She might seem annoying at first, but trust me, she'll make you smile every time you see her." He seemed to smile inwardly, probably recalled a few particular warm memories of the exuberant-sounding pony.

"What about you?" she said after another brief silence. "Got any friends back where you come from?"

Starfall stumbled slightly as the question distracted him, fighting to hide the dark look the question threatened to bring up on his face. "Well...no..." he admitted after a hesitant pause. "I've never been much of a social Pegasus," he added softly. The only reason he was speaking with Twilight was because she had befriended him over the course of the day. She was one of the only ponies who had ever said the first word to him, and stuck around for any length of time...though he figured time would tell the last part.

Twilight gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, if you ever get the chance, you should come down to Ponyville some time. I'm sure my friends would love to meet you," she said, Starfall nodding in quiet acceptance of the idea, before both of them looked up as they reached the base of a tall tower, the white structure impressive enough on its own, let alone when placed as part of the majestic wonder of Canterlot.

"Well, this is my place...or at least the top part of the tower is," Twilight said as she gestured towards the tower's peak. "I have no idea who lives underneath me on the tower's lower levels...back when I lived here, I was a lot like you, socially," she admitted. "Books were my only friends back then."

She pulled herself out of her sadly nostalgic moment, smiling again. "Come on up, I'll show you around," she said, before trotting off up a spiral staircase that wound its way around the outside of the tower, Starfall quickly following after her, somewhat eager to see where he would be staying. At the very least, he assured himself with the slight bit of optimism that it couldn't possibly be worse than the rough excuse for a bed he'd slept in last night.

Soon reaching the tower's peak, Twilight clearly having lived on the top two of three floors, Twilight smiled as she pushed open an ornate set of blue double doors, gesturing for him to go before him. "Well, here we are! Take a look around."

Starfall slowly walked inside, looking around as he stood in the entryway, having to consciously stop himself from letting his jaw drop. The lower level of the circular room was obvious Twilight's previous living space, and aside from the lack of any personal items, it looked like she had never left. The entryway itself doubled as a sort of lounge and recreation area, plush cushions scattered about, a small group of them arranged around a low table. A couch was pushed up against the wall, as well. Off to the side, behind a curtained doorway was what Starfall assumed was her bedroom and bathroom. On the far side of the room, though distinctly separate from the lounge area, was a kitchen, complete with all the usual appliances, curving along the circular far wall behind the kitchen, Starfall could see a staircase leading to the floor above him. The whole lower level was decked out in various shades of blue, aside from the kitchen, which maintained a grey-scale colour scheme. All in all, it seemed to be a very cosy place, one Starfall was not entirely sure he could stay in.

"It's a nice place, isn't it?" Twilight commented as she came up beside him. "I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch tonight, but I only have the one bed here. As you can see, though, the place has everything you could need, and there's a huge library and study upstairs, and I know I have a few things up there you could use for your astronomy studies. Telescopes, star charts, and of course, lots and lots of books on the subject," she added with a small smile, her last sentence making it plainly obvious she was a pony who delighted in reading and studying.

Starfall gave a half-smile, before ducking his head and speaking up rather softly. "This place is fantastic, Twilight, but I...I can't possibly stay here," he said, making the unicorn turn to face him questioningly. "I have no idea how I'm supposed to afford a place like this..." he said, letting that sentence trail off.

He absolutely hated admitting his relative poverty to anypony, Twilight even more so that that he knew her fairly well. It wasn't the lack of money and the strict adherence to a harsh budget that left little to money money for luxuries that hurt the most...it was the fact that his poor status was his own fault...

Twilight snapped him out of his glum thoughts before they could end up in really dark territory, though, giggling softly. "Oh, don't worry about that, Starfall. I would never have been able to afford to stay in a place like this, either. Princess Celestia provided it for my use, and I guess she's passing it on to you, know. You'll have to pay for food and other such things, but the Princesses will provide a small allowance for you to spend on that. Trust me, you'll be fine."

Starfall grimaced a little at that. He hated taking charity almost as much as he hated his poverty. He knew it was foolishly proud of him to think such a way, but he infinitely preferred living on his own merits than relying on somepony else to get by. At the same time, though, he realised studying under Princess Luna was not going to be a walk in the park. She would likely work his mind to within an inch of its life, meaning trying to take a small job to pay his way would likely exhaust him to the point where his studies suffered horribly. This time, he had little choice.

He nodded simply, before heading for the stairs, deciding to take a look upstairs. "It was very kind of you to offer this place for me to stay, especially since you only just met me," he added gratefully. "Thank you."

Twilight smiled and nodded back. "Well, I don't use it any more, and you seem like a nice enough pony, so I don't see why not. The place is just going to waste otherwise. You're welcome, all the same."

Starfall gave her a grateful smile as he ascended the stairs, before stopping at the top, looking at the room stretched out before him. Like below, the place was furnished in blue, but it was expansive. Row upon row of bookshelves, at least a dozen shelves high, took up well over a third of the available wall space, all of them packed to the brim with books and scrolls. A desk, complete with quills and blank parchment, was tucked away in a corner, and looked well-used, from what Starfall could see. A small, cosy fireplace also lay off to one side, and as Starfall quickly hopped back down the stairs, he noticed it was connected to another fireplace down in the lounge area, both sharing the same chimney. Trotting back up once more, he looked over to the far side of the room. Beyond a large hourglass, easily several times taller than him, was an expansive floor-to-ceiling window, that even followed the curvature of the tower's peak, meaning if he stood at the window sill, he would most likely be able to look straight up at the night sky directly above him...the perfect viewing window for his stargazing.

Laid out near the window was a small collection of astronomy gear, including telescopes of varying sizes and strengths, and a number of star charts and tools for reading and understanding them. Even if he was uneasy about living here because of the idea of it simply being offered to him, he knew he had to stay now, if only for the stargazing opportunities this place would allow that his old home never did.

He heard Twilight giggle from downstairs, obviously noticing his awe at the study area. "Yeah, most ponies seem to react that way when they see upstairs, although for a few different reasons," she commented as Starfall came back downstairs, before she yawned softly. "Anyway, it's late. Tomorrow morning, I'll show you the nearest shops to get some food and other essentials, and then I'll have to head back home to Ponyville."

Starfall nodded. "Sounds good to me," he said, heading over towards the couch, stopping as Twilight poked her head into her bedroom, and turned back around, levitating a thin, but fluffy blue blanket his way. He draped it over his shoulders, giving Twilight another appreciative smile. "Thank you for everything, Twilight...and goodnight."

"It's no problem at all, Starfall," Twilight replied. "And goodnight to you, too," she added, before wandering through the curtained doorway and disappearing from sight, a quick burst of magic turning out all the lights in the house as Starfall made his way blindly to the couch, his memory of the layout allowing him to get there with only a couple of minor stumbles.

As he settled down onto the couch, which he found surprisingly comfortable, Starfall allowed himself a small smile. Today was the start of something big, he knew it. But at the same time, his pessimistic side...despite having been hidden away most evening, refused to stay down quietly for long, giving him the feeling that despite the massive opportunity he'd been given today, it was not going to come without a heavy price...nothing good he did or received had ever come without karma getting back at him in some nasty way.