Star awoke the next morning bright and early; her soft terrestrial bed and the fluffy wool blanket on her almost keeping her in bed. When she remembered that she had to get all her gear from the club today as well as pack her bags for the road, she willingly got up and out of bed. A smile upon her face she really looked forward to the day ahead.
The house she lived in was small and cluttered but at least she knew where things were. Papers strewn about, mechanical gears, electronic boards, and repair items specifically for her gear littered her room; clustered about her workbench. Looking at the repair equipment reminded her that she would have to do some maintenance and upgrades on the train ride to Baltimare. She went to the kitchen which was actually spotless and clean, and commenced getting her breakfast while turning on the coffee pot.
After a short time, the coffee brewed, she poured herself a mug, and took it over to the table to sit it down. She then got out a bowl and some various fruits taking them over to a cutting board, and commenced chopping them up for a makeshift fruit salad. She wouldn't admit it but she did actually enjoy eating healthy even if it wasn't how she carried herself most times. The way she carried herself in public was very open and borderline coltish, but she was secretly feminine at least in her own mind. Though she didn't mind eating like a rebel in public, she took better care of herself in private loathing the split lifestyle.
It took some doing but she managed to put together a fruit bowl full of sliced peaches, apples, strawberries, and grapes. It wasn't perfect but it would suffice her grumbling tummy. She took her creation over to the table and sat down picking up her mug of coffee taking a hearty drink. She was just finishing that drink when she heard a knock at her front door; looking to the clock she saw it was a little before 9 in the morning. She knew it could only be one fool of a stallion.
"Leverage that you?" She hollered
The stallion replied an edge of humor to his voice,"Of course who else would dare knock on your door at this hour?"
Star just put her hoof gently to her eyes before calling, "Okay fine you can come in, I'm at least decent...enough."
Leverage had a key for mornings like these so she knew he was coming in by the sound of the tumblers on her locked door releasing. The eventual knob turning to open the door as Leverage entered his hoofsteps echoing on the wooden floor as he came to the kitchen. Only him or mister angry bear could wake her up at these hours and survive, and since her door wasn't broken down she knew it wasn't the bear.
"Only just getting going I see, even with what's ahead of you you still aren't a morning pony." the brown stallion chuckled.
"You would dare to mock me at this hour of the morning?" She cocked an eyebrow at him in challenge. "How would you like to die this morning, quickly or served on the rocks?"
The two stared at one another seriously for just a moment before breaking out in laughter.
"I'd like to live, but thank you for the offer Star." Leverage managed after stifling his laughter. "I wouldn't mind some coffee though, if you could spare it that is?"
Star took another drink of her own coffee before extending a hoof toward the coffee pot and saying, "It's right there help yourself you fool."
He went to do so and she began to rapidly devour her fruit bowl. Leverage's arrival meant he had a time frame planned in his head so they could get on their way as soon as possible. It made Star smile to know that at least she could count on him when it came to certain matters, but she had no intent of following along a guided route. Leverage sat down drinking his coffee slowly as Star tilted her mug back till hers was gone. She got up and cleaned her dishes off before heading back towards her room.
"Leverage, I know you wanna walk me through the day, but would ja mind letting me go get in a shower and stuff first?" Star asked politely facing away from the stallion. "The paper is probably in the mailbox if that can keep you busy for a bit?"
He just waved his hoof shooing her off to her task. She headed quickly back to her room, closed the door, got what she needed for her shower, got the hot shower running and hopped in. She let the hot water run over her coat for a moment just enjoying the heat it brought her and relaxing her tense muscles. Her mane now soaked, was flowing out down her chest freely. It was actually quite long and silky when she straightened it, but more times than she would have liked she had to style it to be a bit shorter. "I should just cut it short." She thought to herself quietly wondering what that would do for her looks.
One hundred other thoughts passed through her mind before she finished her shower and dried off moving on to brush her teeth before she put her most evil plan in motion. It only took a second before she was done brushing her teeth and charging her way out of her front door. Leverage wouldn't see it coming a mile away, and the mare enjoyed ruining his perfect plans.
"H-Hey, Star wait!" Leverage called in surprise, but she didn't listen.
No today she was going to go about things her way, and the first stop for her in that respect was the club she played last night, The Sparkling Cherry. She trotted along at a happy brisk pace, the sun warming her still damp coat and mane slowly drying it as she went. Passing ponies said hello to her and occasionally would stop her for small talk. She realized that somepony wasn't chasing her, and thought it was odd Leverage hadn't caught up yet. She had to admit it was possible that he had just gone off on his own, to tasks that were more up his alley than hers.
Within a short time she arrived back at the club it was a simple red building but the paint had glitter in it which gave the building its 'sparkle'. It was closed during morning and day hours, but they still had someone on watch so DJ's could collect their gear if they left any gear or forgot to collect their pay. Star usually left her stuff there as collateral goodwill, and because the owner knew her personally as well.
She came up to the door and knocked on the heavy oaken doors. One of the day shift bouncers answered the door his look going from stony to warm. He said nothing and just opened the door ushering Star inside. Clearly knowing what her reason for being there was it seemed.
"Thanks Silent Storm, do you know where miss Cherry would be right about now?" The dark maned mare asked inquisitively.
Miss Cherry was the manager, head bartender, and scariest head bouncer when she needed to be. The Sparkling Cherry was her pride and joy so she could be anywhere around the establishment, not just in her office. Storm just shrugged looking like he was genuinely unsure of where she was, and he usually had the most accurate guess where that mare was.
"You don't know, or she hasn't come in for work yet?" she questioned.
Storm seemed to think a moment before saying,"Not in yet. Is kinda odd."
Storm really wasn't a stallion of prolific speech but he got to the point still. He was right though, Miss Cherry was usually in at the crack of dawn to make sure the club would be running at one hundred percent for the next evening. She didn't do late. Star supposed that she could go get her gear all together and removed from the DJ sound booth while she waited. So the mauve earth pony headed over to the booth and what she saw she couldn't believe. All of her gear was taken out already, and had been placed back in her saddlebags carefully. As Star looked more closely she noticed something out of place, something that was not hers. It was a small wooden box.
It was then she heard hoof steps approaching her and she looked over the DJ turntable to see Miss Cherry walking over to the stage smiling, a teary glaze over her magenta eyes. Miss Cherry had always viewed Star as a daughter, and with the knowledge of where the mauve DJ was going, she was most likely experiencing great rush of pride and sadness. She made a motion with her hoof to proceed, and Star knew the box was the cherry red mare's doing.
She turned back to the wooden box and unlatched it to find an odd looking piece of electrical equipment within. It was small and looked like a square speaker, but she had a feeling this was more like a microphone. She almost felt that this piece of equipment was familiar to her. It was then miss Cherry's hooves sounded behind her, and she turned to face her wanting to know the story of this piece of equipment.
"I assume ya wanna know what that be?" Miss Cherry said with her slight accent. "T'was yer father's voice modifier."
"N-No way how did you get this from him?" Star asked jaw agape in disbelief.
"Lectric Scream, was famous for 'is talent at screaming into the microphone loudly, clearly, melodically, or whatever he pleased durin' his rock concerts." She replied a tear finally breaking away from her eyes. "He gave it ta me as a memento years back, but I get ta feelin' you will need it more hun."
In all truths Miss Cherry was actually her aunt, sister to her rock and rolling father. Her father, the memories flooded back to her all at once holding that device in her hoof. Her father had died a year ago from a disease that no pony had ever seen before, but some began to call it Cancer because of what it did within the body. He had fought it with all he had but he couldn't beat it, and just as her memories of the past tried to slip back in, she cut them off.
"No." She thought. "I can't think about that now. F-Father wouldn't want it..."
Even with the disease sapping him of all his strength he wouldn't give up his music, and it was his farewell to his daughter as well. A tear trickled down her face and landed on the voice modifier as one thing her father said trickled in despite her defense.
Music is the soul, and the soul breathes life into the music. My heart couldn't have been ruled more justly.
As the thought broke she looked down into the box again and saw a small pouch tucked underneath the voice modifier as well. It couldn't be what she thought it was, could it?
"Miss Cherry is this..." Star reached down and removed the little pouch from under the voice modifier. "...A pouch of extra bits?"
"Why of course it is hunnie, yer gonna be needing that little 'tip' where the winds are takin' ya. Yer father wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't do, at least one, biased thing for my adopted daughter!" Cherry laughed warmly wiping a tear away from her eyes.
Star looked at the cherry red mare with a smile for a moment before opening the pouch and emptying it into the box. Her expression changed instantly to one of utter amazement as she realized how many bits had fallen into the box.
"Auntie, how-how did you?" Star stared at her aunt eyes practically popping out of her head. "You are aware that there is about three hundred bits here right?"
The mare stared back smiling and just nodded approval to indicate she knew, and that there were no words to be said beyond that. Star jumped toward her aunt flinging her forelegs around her neck embracing her in a tight hug. Considering how fiscal and tight hooved her aunt was with money, it touched the mauve mare that she had found a way to spare three hundred bits for her coming road trip. She had employed Star as one of the DJ's at her club, but she never treated her like a daughter when it came to business. So this was a welcome change, and in that moment Star managed to let out some of the tears she had held back.
As they separated her aunt could not have looked more proud of her, and she even felt like her dad was looking through her aunt as well. The mauve mare would have never expected that leaving home would feel like this, and it almost made her feel conflicted--almost.
"Give 'em hell in the big time." miss Cherry said with conviction. "Fer me and yer dad!"
"Yes mam!" Star answered with a bright smile.
After the gifts were given the DJ turned to put the box away again, and picked up her saddlebags. It only took her a short moment to get all of her stuff arranged comfortably. She turned back to her aunt and hugged her one last time as they said their goodbyes. She hopped off of the stage and stopped to spin around once on the dance floor taking in the club one more time.
"Bye every-pony I'll miss you all!" She announced to everyone in the club before she headed out the door.
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She trotted along her way to the bank noticing how heavy her gear actually was. It didn't matter in the long run to her though; with all that she had to do still she had to stay positive. The mauve mare was trying to remember how much she had saved in her bank account up till now. Shooting Star was sure she had saved at least one thousand one hundred and twenty five bits through her hard work, add in the three hundred from her aunt and she was feeling hopeful about the road ahead.
As she came upon the bank she saw Leverage sitting on a bench outside of it casually reading a newspaper. He didn't look all that pleased, and Star silently wondered how long he had been waiting for her. The second he put the paper down the stallion locked onto the mauve mare, here came her scolding she thought. To her surprise he just waved her over, and she nearly had a stroke from her worries as she walked over.
"So took you long enough, what had you distracted?" The stallion asked with mild discontent.
"Had to say goodbye to Aunt Cherry, she had gifts for me so I had to stay for a few." Star replied genuinely. "You know how hard it must be on her right?"
"Hmm well okay then." he said ignoring her question. "Anyhow you need to hurry to get the rest of your things together. The train we need to catch is coming from Ponyville in about..." The stallion paused to look at a nearby clock,"...an hour and a half. Wow time is flying by today if its already 12:30!"
"Fine MOM, I'm going!" Star replied loudly charging into the bank.
She was lucky there wasn't a line within the simple wooden walled lobby. Plants and paintings lining the edges of the room save for one side which was divided by the teller booths. The back wall that lead into the vaults was made of gorgeous white marble, and was engraved with writings. Being on a tight schedule Star quickly got in line and waited for the only available teller to call on her. The only available teller was a simple white mare with a brown curly mane that she had known for quite a long time now.
The teller smiled happily and waving me over inquired, "Hello there, how may I help you today?"
"Well I would like to withdraw all funds from my account today Surecount, I'm sure you've already heard where I'm off to?" Star replied energetically.
"All the funds you've saved?" Surecount sounded quite startled, maybe she hadn't heard yet. "Where in Celestia's name are you off to?"
"Lev finally landed me a tour contract!" the dark maned mare replied practically hopping in place. "I'm getting my stuff together right now. I head out for Baltimare this afternoon!"
Surecount screamed out in joy and clopped her hooves together,"Oh-my-gosh-no-way-no-way-no-way!"
"Yes way Sure, now could I please get that withdrawal, MOM out there is rushing me!" Star said melodramatically.
"Hmm, well that shouldn't be a problem. Even with MOM rushing you!" Sure pulled open a drawer and skimmed the records giggling to herself. "Ah here we are, Shooting Star vault two twenty six. Full account worth, one thousand one hundred and twenty five bits. Is this correct Star?"
It was always mildly funny to hear her friend Surecount say things in the professional way she did. The white mare had always taken her work so seriously, and had single hoofidly reformed this bank upon being hired. She had reorganized every record and straightened out every single mistaken counts of bit flow for the ponies of this town.
"Yes that is correct Surecount." she answered her friend with a smile. "How long of a wait do I expect of you?"
"For you darling, twenty minutes maximum including accuracy of my count." Sure said with a light giggle as she finished her thought. "I'll be back, just have a seat outside with your...Mom."
As Surecount turned and headed back into the vaults Star headed back outside to sit next to Leverage who was combing through paperwork now. From the looks of it, and what she could guess, it contained details on the tour she was about to be playing in. The stallion always made sure all paperwork was done well before it was actually needed, just in case of emergency.
He didn't look away from the papers and asked flatly, "So how long of a wait do we have Star?"
"Surecount said twenty minutes max." she answered lounging back on the bench.
The stallion stopped reading and turned to face her, "We have an hour and a half. Is that really enough time for you to get all of your stuff packed and to the station Star?"
She realized then the stallion had a good point, an hour and ten minutes was not enough time. She still had to pack a lot of things, a look of frantic worry creeping onto her face her hoof starting to tap. It looked like Leverage had an idea sparking in his eyes though and she waited for him to act. He reached for his briefcase, and hopefully the answer was within.
"Here sign this really quick." The stallion said as he pulled out a document. "It's a proof of relation document, I had them printed up in case this ever happened. I'll need it to pick up your withdrawal for you. Even if Surecount knows us she still needs the paperwork."
She grabbed the document and pen from him, scanned the document to be sure, and signed it. She kissed him on the cheek as she bolted off yelling, "Thank you Leverage!"
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She raced home the weight in her saddlebags meaning nothing to her. She had to get her things together and she in hindsight had only an hour to do it. She got to her door within ten minutes, and had it unlocked in far less a time. She unpacked her gear from her saddlebags and got into her closet to get out her roller suitcase and began to toss things in it she would need. Gear, repair tools, music records, some clothes for nights she felt the need to be different, her trusty blue black headphones, a few snacks, the picture of her father and mother she kept at her bedside, and some cleaning products. She looked around the room, was there anything else she might need she wondered to herself.
She looked around and her eyes rested on her father's voice modifier. Star wondered just how to use it, but she didn't have time to play with it just yet so she packed it as well. "Hmm should I bring spare parts in case mine burn out?" she thought to herself for a moment before declaring aloud,"Nah It'll be fine, my equipment can handle this easy peasey."
She walked into the kitchen to check the time to see if she could get in a snack. The clock read 1:20.
"Gah, not even enough time for food!" She said as her stomach protested loudly. "I'll just wait for the train's food car."
She ran back into the room, got the basic things she needed to carry at all times into her saddlebags, and grabbed her suitcase rolling it out the door. She set it down then turned and locked the door to her house. She would have to admit, she was gonna miss the place. She turned around grabbed her suitcase and galloped at full throttle back to the bank. This rush would all be worth it in the end though, her dreams were finally coming true!
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After collecting Leverage and her money from the bank the two ponies were galloping fast through town for the train station. The town she grew up in was fully alive at this point in the day and she took it all in once more as she sped past the scenery. She realized that she was going to miss her hometown so much that it hurt. The markets, cafes, clubs, the ponies that lived here, the nature that grew wildly around the town, each and every bit of it.
After slowing to a brisk walk they had managed to arrive at the station by 2:00; the train having just pulled in was still letting passengers off. They purchased their tickets, which actually came out to be one thousand one hundred bits. This was another something she would kill Leverage for later, since it looked like he was enjoying this new tallying system without his knowledge. When he finally earned enough man was she going to surprise him! Tickets in hoof they headed for the train, and if lucky they would still be able to get a good seat.
It took some time to find a place they could sit, but with time they found a comfortable private cabin to sit in. It was rare to find these compartments unoccupied, but it looked as if they had lucked out this time around. Star took one side while Leverage took the other; both unpacking their things. Star's main preoccupation while opening up her luggage was getting her tools out and tinkering with her equipment to make sure it was perfect. While Leverage once again dived muzzle deep into paperwork.
Shortly after they had settled in the train whistle sounded, and at long last they were finally on their way to Baltimare. It had only been about fifteen minutes of tinkering when all of a sudden Star's stomach growled loudly enough that Leverage could hear it. Her stomach had decided to remind her how hungry she really was, and exactly why it had stayed silent till the train.
"Okay tummy I'll feed you." The mare said looking at her stomach.
As Star got up she realized that Leverage might be hungry as well. The mare turned to ask the stallion if he wanted anything as she walked out the door, assuming it would be a quick and simple request. Her question was cut short though as another weight slammed into her, and caused the both of them to tumble to the ground.
"Whoa did anypony get the number of that horse cart that just hit me?" Star asked sitting back up still mildly stunned.
"Hey. Yo, you alright there?" A white mare began to check on her.
"J-Just lemme get my head on straight again and I'll be cool." the mauve mare answered shaking her head to clear it.
"Wow, you totally just popped up there I didn't even get a second to stop!" the mare said with a tomboyish tone. "Sorry 'bout runnin' into ya, but when the tummy gets a rumbling there isn't enough time to silence it!"
Now that Star had collected herself she looked up and noticed she was talking, not with an earth pony, but with a white unicorn. Her mane was two shades of electric blue and her eyes were bright rubies glowing softly. For some reason the unicorn mare looked so familiar, but she shrugged it off for the time being. Her stomach decided to speak instead, rumbling out loud enough for the other mare to hear.
"Guess you were hungry too!" the white unicorn replied in an invigorated tone. "That's cool. Now I get why we collided."
The mare offered a hoof to Star, as she was already back on her hooves.
"You know where the dinning car is on this train?" the black maned mare inquired taking the other's hoof.
"Of course I do!" the hungry stranger replied pulling her back onto her own hooves. "I mean its only like my favorite car on the train!"
As Star looked at this pony standing in front of her a crazy feeling stirred in her for a moment, and the idea that went with it was just as odd for her. She figured she may as well go with the flow right now, as her tummy would soon rebel against her.
"Hey I got an idea, wanna get a bite to eat together then?" she suggested with a bright smile. "We are both heading the same way after all."
The unicorn standing across from her was about to reply, but was cut short by her own stomach,"Heh, yeah why not? Follow me!"
The unicorn moved around her and started off again. Leverage had been entirely ignored as Star followed after the electric blue mane that streaked away from her. The mauve earth pony couldn't help herself, and for some reason the world around her was entirely focused on this one white unicorn.
"B-But, I wanted a sandwich..." Leverage said sticking his head out the doorway watching Star disappear into the next car.