//------------------------------//
// Reunion 
// Story: Legacy 
// by Sleep Sonata 
//------------------------------//

	The hike to San Franciscolt was much more relaxing now that there were no secrets between to ponies. Compass Rose was flying around constantly. It seemed as though she never took a breath, she was so excited about going over the mountains. It actually helped Starry see her journey less as a grasp for memory, and more as an adventure.
“What do you guys think is over the mountains?” Rose inquired. “I can only imagine if the legends are true. I wonder what the thestrals did to deserve banishment.”
“I can’t imagine Princess Celestia getting angry enough to banish a whole race of ponies.” Buttercup gave a worried look to Starry. “Who knows what she would do if she found out one came back.”
As Buttercup was talking. Starry started to hear a high pitched whine. She didn’t remember much, but she knew this wasn’t normal.”Hey girls.” She cried out, but it felt meek. “Does anypony else hear that?” Her speech was becoming slurred.
“Hear what dear?” Honey’s question was the last thing she heard. After that, everything melted into a sea of white noise. She couldn’t even hear her own voice, anymore. She started to develop tunnel vision, but she just kept walking. Everything was out of her control. 

In a snap, it all went away, but Starry was not where she was before. Honey Suckle, Buttercup, and Compass Rose were all gone. She was left alone, in nothing. She could plainly see that there was no ground, yet she could still stand. No light, yet she could still see. Strangely, she wasn’t frightened. More curious. “What is this place?” She said to nopony in particular.
“A safe place, if only for a while.” A voice came out of the void. Starry whipped her head around, to find, of all things, a pony just like her, sans wings. “It’s good to see you again. I was starting to think you were gone for good.”
“What do you mean again?” Starry retorted. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything beyond a couple days ago.”
The thestral was taken aback by this. “Quit kidding around Starry. Don’t tell me you don’t remember me, Harvest Moon.”
Starry shook her head. “I’m sorry. As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you.”
“Oh no. He used something different on you.” Cracks suddenly started to appear in the black void, allowing rays of light to slip through. “I can’t sustain this for long. You have to make it over the mountains. Do you understand?” Starry nodded as she looked at the crumbling space around her. The other pony gave her a smile. “It’s good to see you’re alright, Princess.” 

“Starry! Starry wake up!” All was still black, but Starry could hear the voices of her friends. When she opened her eyes, she was on her back, they three had formed a circle over her. Rose was talking to her. “Starry, what happened? One minute you’re talking about a whining noise, the next you’re about to walk off a cliff!”
Honey helped her back on her hooves. “You don’t seem to have good luck with gorges. Do you think you can walk?” Starry gave her a nod, and began taking steps forward. “What happened to you?”
“A thestral spoke with me.” She spoke in a very monotonic voice. “Another thestral. A unicorn. She told me I had to get over the mountains as quickly as possible.”
“Did she say why?” Butter cup asked.
Starry shook her head. “She told me her name was Harvest Moon, and that we had met before.” 
Honey was actually happy at the news. “Well that’s just dandy! Somepony cares enough about you to come find you, even if it is just in a trance.” Honey still saw the silver lining.
Compass Rose strapped her rucksack back on. “That’s great and all, but we lost a lot of Starry’s supplies when she tumbled of the cliff. We’re gonna have to move quickly to resupply in San Franciscolt.” 
The other ponies agreed and they resumed their hike towards the city. Starry was still distracted by the things Harvest Moon had said. “Princess?”

As they approached the city limits, Starry was looking forward to a well needed rest. Rose though, stopped her just before she could get onto the ring-road around the city. Starry was a little concerned. “What is it?”
Rose’s eyes were shifting from left to right. She quickly backed up, and pulled the rest of the group behind a shrub with her. Starry couldn’t understand for the life of her what Rose was doing. “Rose, what’s the matter?”
“Didn’t you all notice that?” She surveyed the other three, but they all shrugged their shoulders. 
Starry peeked out again to double check. “Theres nothing out there.”
“Exactly.” Rose pointed out. “San Franciscolt is a big city. I could see the west gate from where we were. Don’t you think it’s strange that nopony is going in or our out, or even using the ring-road?” 
She did have a point. It ought to have been packed with carts. “Buttercup, you’ve lived in the city most your life.” Rose looked over to the nervous pony. “Why would nopony be out here on the roads?”
Buttercup stuck her head out, and began pondering. “Well, it could be a number of things, but none of the seem very likely right now.”
“Well which one is the least unlikely?” Starry could tell from her tone that Rose was starting to get anxious, but she managed to keep her bearing in spite of it.
“Ruling out natural disasters, it’s probably a military emergency.” Even Rose was visibly unsettled by this news. 
“What’s the military doing here?” She asked. “It’s only been 2 days since we left Maresailles. What could have happened in that time?”
“I think we just got an answer” Buttercup pointed across the road.  There were soldiers putting up posters along. Once they were gone. They rushed over to inspect the poster. What the three saw made their hearts sink. Starry was especially devastated. “Who, where, when? How did this happen.” It was a wanted poster; with Starry’s face on it.