It had been a week since that night, Twilight hadn't come to see him yet and he still wanted to know how she had figured that out about Starswirl the bearded. He may have wanted to, but he couldn't between working on his house and waiting for somepony to come in and pick up a sofa from Quills and Sofas he hadn't really had time to see Twilight. Well, it isn't as much that he hadn't had time to; it is that he didn't want to confront the matter of what had been revealed that night.
Nothing really interesting had happened that week, except the fact that Star was nearly done with his house, the house it's self was done. It wasn't a very large house; it had two rooms, a main room and his bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen. To say the house was completely done would be an overstatement, all that was done was the main mechanics for the house, like the outlining of the rooms, the floor was built and in place, and it had a roof and walls.
Strangely enough, he never asked anypony about what he was doing except when he asked the hardware store clerk how to use the drill, for some reason he knew basically how to put the house together. He still had to put up an actual wall instead of the wood that was being used as a wall right now, and then he had to actually decorate the house and put in furniture of sorts. But that would have to wait because he wasn't paid until Friday of each week, and that brings us to where he was currently.
Star was sitting in Quills and Sofas playing a game that Davenport had showed him how to play when he had come in to sell some quills a few days before, Solitaire. He may not have been good at it but it kept him occupied while he waited. He had been waiting for somepony to come in and pick up a sofa for about 2 hours and he was starting to get bored of Solitaire.
Eventually a green unicorn walked into the door and asked "Excuse me, is mister Davenport here?"
The mare had a light green coat with a light blue mane "No, I am working for him though, I am actually waiting for somepony to come in and buy a sofa"
"I guess that would be me" the green pony answered with a shrug
"That's good, I have been here for two hours playing Solitaire" Star said relieved
"That sounds tedious" was all she responded before walking over to the sofas and inspecting them
"It is, so any sofa in particular that you were looking to buy?" he asked walking over to her
The sofa she pointed at was a decently large sofa that was blue-green in coloring "I think that one looks nice, how much is it?"
Walking over to check the price he announced "It is three hundred and fifty bits"
Her eyes widened "Really? I thought it would be around four hundred and fifty or five hundred!"
"Nope, only three hundred and fifty, would you like to keep looking or do you want this one?" he asked with a raised eyebrow
"I want this one" she said walking over to the sofa "And to think that Bon-Bon thought that this sofa would be around seven hundred bits! That's ridiculous!"
"Sofas aren't really as expensive as that, I think that the most expensive sofa in here is about four hundred and twenty" Star answered thinking of the prices he had seen on them
"That's good to know" she said taking out a pouch and counting out the bits "Here you go, three hundred and fifty bits" she put them in a bag that Star was holding out to her so that she didn't have to just leave him the pouch like a few ponies before her had done
"Do you need any help taking out the sofa?" Star offered
"Oh yeah, I didn't really think about getting it back home, I would appreciate it" she said in realization
"Do you have a cart outside to carry it?" Star asked
"…no" she said facehoofing "I really didn't think this through"
"It's alright, I will just bring the cart that Davenport uses for deliveries around from the back and I will help you load it into that" he said walking towards the door
After pulling the cart around to the front door he walked inside to see the mare in the exact spot she was in when he walked out "Alright, let's get moving it"
"Okay" she said simply
They both walked over towards the sofa and pushed it to the cart, and then they awkwardly lifted it into the cart. As they walked they made small talk and he found out that her name was Lyra, and that she spent almost every day with her friend Bon-Bon in the park. They finally arrived at her home which was just a few houses away from Sugarcube Corner.
After about 20 minutes of trying they finally succeeded in getting the sofa into Lyra's house "Thanks for the help Star" she said happily
"You're welcome, I will see you another time" Star said walking out the door
He eventually made his way back to Quills and Sofas with the cart; he put away the cart and locked up for the night. As he was walking back to his makeshift house he was run into by an obliviously bouncing Pinkie Pie causing them both to tumble to the ground.
"Oh, hey Star!" Pinkie exclaimed as she got off of him "You were just the pony I was looking for!"
"Why were you looking for me?" Star questioned
"Well, I have tried to make you that apology cake at least a HUNDRED times now, but whenever I am about to bring it to you, I take a taste, and then another, and then it is gone and I have to bake another one. So I decided that if you were there when I bake it that I wouldn't eat it all" Pinkie said grabbing Stars hoof and dragging him towards Sugarcube Corner.
When they arrived Pinkie quickly dragged him into the kitchen and began baking immediately. Star watched as Pinkie went around the kitchen in a blur adding and mixing ingredients then finally putting the pan into the oven "So Star what have you been up to?" Pinkie asked setting a timer on the oven
"I have been working on building a house. What has happened with you since I last saw you?" Star asked back
"Nothing really interesting, except a few days ago Twilight had a mental breakdown when she couldn't figure anything out to write down for her weekly friendship report to the princess so she put a spell on her old Smarty Pants doll that would make everypony want it and the princess had to come and save the day! Now we all send her friendship reports whenever we learn something about friendship" Pinkie explained in one breath
"Twilight had a mental breakdown? I really wish I hadn't decided to spend all of my time working on the house now" Star said enviously "That would have been hilarious!"
"It was more creepy than funny" Pinkie said simply
Suddenly Pinkies eyes widened as if she remembered something then she ran out of the kitchen then came back in with some sort of stereo. Before Star could say anything Pinkie pressed a button on the stereo and music started to play. She took Stars hoof and she dragged him through a dance as dramatic music played in the background.
When the song ended Pinkie twirled Star and bowed him down backwards before letting him go "What was that?" Star asked quizzically
"That was a tango! Remember, I said I was going to teach you how to dance the next time we spent time together?" she asked
"That was a strange dance though" was Stars only response
A few seconds later the timer buzzed and Pinkie rushed over and took the cake out of the oven then proceeded to put frosting over it. When she was finished with the cake it looked delicious, it was a vanilla white cake with pink and blue frosting with the words "Apology Cake" written on it.
Star sat down and took a bite out of it "This cake is amazing!" Star exclaimed while eating the rest of his slice of cake in nearly one bite "You are an amazing cook!" Star said gratefully before grabbing another piece of the cake and eating it. In the end of it both he and Pinkie had consumed half of the cake each, while Star laid on the ground rubbing at his stomach, Pinkie seemed completely unaffected by eating that much cake.
For the next few hours Pinkie taught Star how to bake a cupcake, which most of the time didn't end well and once resulted in a small fire, but eventually he made a half decent cupcake that didn't look as if it were about to burst into flames "I guess that my specialty isn't cooking" he said in mock disappointment
"Don't worry, your cupcakes only caught on fire most of the time not all of it" Pinkie said playing along
They both shared a laugh before Star decided that it was time that he left "It was nice spending time with you Pinkie, but I better head out"
Just as he was leaving he bumped into Twilight at the door "I really need to start watching where I'm going" Star thought while getting up "Sorry for running into you Twilight"
"It's alright, actually I came here looking for you. I went to your house that is still under construction, Fluttershy's cottage, Zecora's hut, and Rainbow Dash's castle before I finally decided to check here" Twilight listed
"What did you want me for" Star asked experiencing Déjà vu from earlier that day
"I never got to talk to you about Starswirl the bearded, you said you realized something and you would tell me about it the next day, but I was busy up until now" Twilight explained
"Oh, right, that" Star said in a disappointed tone
"What's wrong? You seem as though you don't want to talk about it" Twilight said a little concerned
"No, it is alright, let's head back to the library and you can show me how you found out about Starswirl the bearded and I will tell you what I realized" he said walking out the door
Star didn't want to be in public when he said this, he didn't like thinking about this subject too much but he would have to confront it eventually. They soon arrived at the library and Twilight walked over to some books that had been left on the ground and motioned Star over to her.
"I found this book in the Royal library about Starswirl the bearded, it chronicles his life and tells of his achievements. It also mentions that he had an apprentice, that everpony already knows about, but in one of his entries he mentions something about BOTH his apprentices. I figured out that he had a secret library somewhere around here because I found a note shoved into the book that you gave me that says, "Meet me in front of the cave to the library" and it is signed by S.S. the B which was Starswirl the bearded's signature, I figured out that it was somewhere around here because he lived in a time when the castle in the Everfree forest was once inhabited by ponies" Twilight finished pleased "Now, what did you conclude that is bothering you so much?"
"Twilight, I am not one hundred percent sure about this but, I think that I may have been Starswirl the bearded's apprentice" Star admitted reluctantly
Twilight chuckled "That isn't possible, because Starswirl the bearded lived over a thousand years ago and you live right now"
"I have been having occasional flashbacks about a few things in my past, one of them was a pony telling me that I was going to be his apprentice, and that he was going to teach me in his library. Also I have seen the castle surrounded by a forest that I suspect was the Everfree forest before something happened to it, also I have seen the cave entrance more than once in my flashbacks, also that note falling out of the book further confirms it" Star said finally getting his thoughts out of his mind
"That isn't possible! A pony can only live so long, not for over a thousand years! You would have had to have been put in stasis or magically imprisoned by something like-"
"Discord" Star finished her train of thought
She suddenly stared at him like he was a diamond "You were Starswirl the bearded's apprentice! I could learn so much from you! You could help decode his works and get back all of his lost work too!" she said excitedly
"But, I still don't know who I am and what happened to me" Star said killing her mood
She slumped down but then perked up again "You could still identify the cave if you saw it! We could go looking in the Everfree forest for it until we find it! It might help you remember your past!" Twilight said once again really excited by the thought of all that lost knowledge in one place
"I'll tell you what, we can go looking for it tomorrow and we will see if we can find it, until then I am going to go home and get some sleep" he said looking out the window at the now dark sky
"I will be over first thing in the morning, and don't think I will get distracted for a week this time!" she said defiantly as he left
Star went back to his home to see that there was a pouch with a note pinned to it, he picked it up and read the note.
Here is your pay for the week, the 120 that you earned and the extra 85 you earned from selling that sofa, see you next week
Davenport
Star set the bag aside and walked over to a comfortable spot in the grass and lay down to sleep. He had taken a liking to sleeping outside it was peaceful, he liked the nice cool night air and how peaceful it was.
Star woke the next morning to being nudged in the side by something, he slowly opened his eyes to see Twilight, along with Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and an almost asleep looking Rainbow Dash.
"What time is it?" was all that Star asked
"It is about eight in the morning" Twilight responded
"Too early to be awake" Star responded
"I think so too" Rainbow Dash agreed
"Why are you all here this early?" Star asked
"I told you, first thing in the morning, also I brought everypony else along to help the search" Twilight explained
"I forgot to explain that I am the only one who can actually find the cave" Star said remembering his amulet and his flashback
"What do you mean by that?" Rainbow asked competitively, now looking more awake than before
"It is hidden from sight and it deceives anyone who finds it, there is a dead end at the end of the cave that only I can open" Star said answered with a yawn
"Why are you the only one who can open it?" Twilight questioned
"This," he said while taking the amulet off from around his neck "is the key that opens the dead end" Star explained
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" she asked
"I didn't think it was relevant" Star said simply
"This is relevant to everything in your past!" Twilight exclaimed
"Which I didn't know until last night" Star answered
"Do you know where the cave is?" Twilight said finally giving in
"Well….." Star hesitated "yes, and no"
"Is it yes or no because if it is both then it is maybe" Pinkie interjected
"No, maybe means it could or couldn't be" Twilight explained "now, what do you mean yes and no?"
"I know where it is from the castle that I saw in my flashbacks, I don't know where this castle is though"
"There was a castle in the forest?" Rainbow Dash asked "I have flown over the forest a lot of times but I have never seen a castle"
"I guess we will have to look for one then, won't we?" Star answered walking towards the forest
"Now wait just one second" Applejack stopped them "that forest's pretty big, how're we gonna find anythin in a forest like that?"
"We don't have any way to find it" Star answered "unless we look we won't find it, if any of you don't want to look for it, you can leave. I don't want to feel like you are helping because you feel obligated to help me" he said looking at the group of ponies
"We don't feel obligated, well I don't, but I feel that we should help you because we are your friends" Rarity responded
"Friends? I have never considered them as friends, or at least I never thought that they considered me their friends" "Friends?" Star said repeating his thoughts out loud
"Why, of course dear, what would make you think otherwise?" Rarity questioned
"I just thought that you girls were pitying me because I was some helpless pony who had no idea who he was or where he came from" Star said honestly
"Why in Equestria would you think that we would pity you?" Twilight responded "We haven't really helped you in any way, you have taken care of yourself and you haven't even needed any help to get along. You were dropped into someplace you didn't know where was and you didn't remember anything, and the first thing you did when you were able to move was go out, look for clues as to who you were, get a job, and begin making a home"
"You make me sound a lot more intuitive, brave and awesome than I really am" Star said thankful that nopony could see the blush he felt on his face "besides, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it weren't for all of you. You have all been kind to me and you don't even know who I am or what I look like. So I just wanted to say thank you all."
"As much as I enjoy the ego stroking" Rainbow intruded "I think that the sooner that we start looking the sooner we will find the castle"
"You are right, let's get going" Twilight said walking towards the Everfree forest
They walked in silence for a while, staying to the path so that they didn't find anything that they would regret finding. "If there is going to be a castle anywhere, we have to stay along the paths, look for really old trails leading from this one" Twilight explained
They had been walking along the path for 2 hours and they had only found a few stray paths, gone around a steep cliff, walked through a stream, and walked across a bridge until they came upon what looked like the remnants of an old castle "Isn't that…" Rainbow asked leaving the question hanging
"Yes it is" Twilight answered
"Isn't it what?" Star asked
"Ah didn't think ah'd ever come back here" Applejack said
"I really hoped I would never have to come back here" Fluttershy said in a near whisper
"This place still gives me the creeps!" Pinkie said in a happier tone than the other ponies
"Will somepony tell me what this is?" Star said getting impatient
"This is the castle where we discovered the elements of harmony and defeated Nightmare moon. Nightmare moon was really Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's sister, who was overcome by jealousy of how ponies loved the daytime more than the nighttime so something inside her manifested itself into Nighmare moon. Princess Celestia didn't want to slay the monster because she would also be slaying her sister, so she used the elements of harmony to banish her to the moon for one thousand years. When she finally made her return we had to make our way here through her trials and use the elements of harmony to cleanse Princess Luna of that monster" Twilight explained
"This place seems…. familiar somehow" Star said walking towards the ruins
The inside of the ruins looked just like the outside, destroyed beyond repair. Walking through the hallway reminded him of the hallway in his flashback "This is the same castle, I remember the doors and this hallway" Star said walking back to the door "we will explore the castle another time, let's go see if the cave is still there"
They all followed Star along a path that they couldn't see until they were on it. The trees along the path were so narrow that they had to walk single-file the whole way. They finally came into a clearing, on the other end of the clearing there was a wall of rocks "I don't see a cave here" Rainbow pointed out
"Of course not" Star said "you are looking at it the wrong way" he walked over to the rock wall and disappeared behind one of the larger rocks "are you coming or not?"
They followed just to see that there was a large rock covering the entrance from being seen. On the inside the cave was smooth and unnatural as if somepony had carved it out. The top of the cavern was about 20 feet up and it was completely dark inside.
"Star? Where are you? I can't see a thing in this cavern!" Twilight exclaimed
"What do you mean? I can see perfectly fine" Star said looking around the cavern
"How? It is pitch dark in here!" Rainbow exclaimed
"I don't know what you are all talking about, I can see everything perfectly fine" Star repeated
"Maybe you can see in the dark?" Fluttershy suggested just outside the cave
"What are you doing out there Fluttershy?" Star asked
"Oh, ummm, it is dark and scary in there, I will just wait out here" she said quietly
"It's fine darling, just come in" Rarity said "it is surprisingly clean in here, the floor seems polished"
"o-o-okay" Fluttershy stammered before joining them in the cavern-room
"Here" Twilight said making her horn shine bright purple "Now we can all see"
"Alright, I see the dead end, now how do we get past it?" Twilight asked
"Ah could try ta buck it down" Applejack suggested
"The only way past is with the amulet" Star answered
"Now or never" Star thought taking amulet from around his neck and holing it above his head.
Suddenly the amulet began shining bright green.