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// A Long Awaited Change 
// Story: A Star Pony Tale 
// by BlondeSky 
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Chapter 2



A Long Awaited Change


Six months had passed since the day when she had found North and he had accepted her as his shadow. Over the past while she had learned much and grown accustomed to her new life and name. There was a lot of office work to it, but it still managed to be interesting to her. Also there was the fact that North had become more her family than her own. Unlike the others he seemed to process emotion the same way that she could. At this point all of the other foals had already melded into the hive like society. He managed to be unique despite the overall uniformity of their entire species. It was a pleasant and more than welcome change in pace from everypony and everything else.

It was almost dusk so she was preparing to leave as he in turn was preparing to leave for the Night Field, seen as the night sky from below. Everything had been put away neatly except for a scroll that was unrolled on the desk before him. He was pouring over it carefully as she waited by the door to be dismissed. Even if it wasn’t really necessary she always waited to leave before being told to. He, however, was too absorbed in whatever it was that he was reading to notice her waiting for his command. She sat politely by the door not wanting to interrupt and not wanting to leave without permission either.

“What do you know of the surface world?” he asked her rather suddenly after what felt like an eon of silence.

“Surface world?” she inquired not entirely sure of what he was talking about.

“Yes. Where ponies live.” he answered simply and finally taking his eyes off of the scroll.

“But we are ponies.” she argued cocking her head in confusion.

“I suppose so.” he agreed after a moment’s thought, “You are dismissed. I will see you tomorrow.” he finished turning back to the paper before him. She waited for a moment to be sure that there was nothing else before exiting.

She had been practicing for a while and focused on the look of the inside of her home and willing herself to move there. She heard a zing noise and opened her eyes to find herself in her room. She took a few clumsy steps grinning stupidly from her success. She collapsed on her bed rather contended with her current situation, but pondering the final cryptic question that he had asked her. It was a singular anomaly in the average day that had existed before. It confused her, but didn’t necessarily worry her.

She pulled out the multiple papers and quill ink that she kept nearby her bed. She had been doing a lot of writing and whenever she was bothered, or having problems sleeping she would draw the letters in different forms and shapes. It had an almost calming effect and allowed her to devote her attention to something else. It was now a subconscious action, but still managed to distract her. Just moving from one letter to the next in no particular order or pattern. She had already filled multiple pages front and back and was down to the last of her ink. Before long she had to get up to grab a new bottle of ink.

Now though the mundane action reassured her slight doubt and helped her mind to shut down for the quietness of the hours of sleep that were getting progressively shorter as the weeks passed. It wasn’t long before she had managed to fill another page with a random assortment and amount of the alphabet. Soon enough though she started to slip into unconsciousness with the page still in front of her. That night sleep came to her on the paper with the quill and nearly full bottle of ink lying next to her.


-/|\-


When she woke up just as every day she brushed her mane and tail and went about cleaning herself up for the day ahead. She picked up the empty ink pot that she had used and the other one which appeared to have spilled over the night. Still she dismissed it and headed straight for the office like building that was still of the same white crystalline structure as all of the other buildings that there were. When she entered he was again pouring over a scroll and looked almost as if he’d never even moved from that spot. He looked up as she walked in and his eyes widened in shock as he saw her. “Polaris, how are you feeling this morning?” he asked as he always did when she arrived.

“Of course. Why would I not be?” she replied the same way she always did.

“Naturally. Now, for the days work, I’m afraid we are going to be looking at something slightly different today.” he told her in cautious tone.

“What?” she asked now slightly worried.

He exited the room and returned with a bucket full of a pitch black liquid. She looked down at it wondering what it was as she had never seen anything like it before. “What is this?” she asked curiously. 

“I will explain in a moment. Yesterday I mentioned to you the surface world.” He told her moving the bucket away so she could no longer see its contents. “There they know nothing of our own existence as we do nothing to interfere with their affairs. To them we are simply lights in the sky. Of course to the majority of our own population they are nonexistent as well. I also wish to keep it as such, when you go down there you will be disguised as one of them. As the current heir to my own position I believe that it is important for you to have this knowledge and at least a conceptual image of the surface world. I would like for you to visit there. Of course if you do not wish to go down yet I will not force you.”

“Why go down there if we want to remain hidden from them?” she queried.

“As I said before you are to lead the star ponies one day it is important that you know of and understand them. You will only be down there for a short time. Just enough to gain an impression of how they operate. Yes we are ponies, but we are very different ponies from them. So, what do you wish to do?” he explained.

“I would like to go now.” she replied barely masking her excitement. 

“If you are sure.” he finished with a nod. “Still, while a simple coat could keep you hidden in their world it is better to be thorough.” he grabbed the bucket turned and walked towards a door leading further into the building with her in tow. 

She followed as he pulled out a jar with a white substance in it. “This is designed to be used as paint on the body.” he explained, “You can use it to camouflage the stars on your shoulders.” He then handed it to her after taking the top off so that she could reach the substance inside. She dipped her hoof in and used it to coat both of her shoulders and continued to apply it until the stars that had once been there were completely hidden. She felt incredibly different as she looked her rather altered appearance. North screwed the cap back onto the jar and put the container away where he had gotten it from. “Now, there is the matter of your mane and tail. While their current colors are not conspicuous I would rather be overly careful in this situation.” he finished before moving the bucket towards her, “This can be used to change the color of your mane and tail” he informed her before helping her to apply it. Once it was done her hair looked to be completely black. “Finally, we must get you to the surface.” he finished before leading her out onto the streets.

She was ecstatic at what she had just been told. The fact that there was indeed something different, a concept she much enjoyed, out there was wondrous. She wasn’t going to waste this chance to break the routine that grew ever more stale as time went on. Despite the fact that the job could’ve been a great deal less interesting it still wasn’t quite exciting. The prospect of a completely new world that was out there delighted her beyond belief. She followed behind him at an energetic trot as she tried to imagine what it might be like. She was practically bounding with joy as they entered the long and low warehouse like structure that he had led her to.

Inside there were several unicorns walking and trotting about the almost completely barren building. The only thing worth noting was the numerous large platforms all over the floor. Each one was round, at least four feet in diameter, raised up to a height of about 6 inches, and made of a bright blue stone. As they entered one of the unicorns tending to the stone platforms nodded acknowledging their presence before continuing her work. The filly shadowing her did the same before following after the mare. “These are the teleports that are used to move between the two worlds. They were set up a very long while ago and haven’t been in use for a rather long time Of course they have been kept in good condition simply because that is what we do. They do come in use from time to time due to that fact that it is rather difficult to travel between the two plains. They’re made of astral stone which conducts magic well enough for them to be used to teleport between them without nearly as many problems.” he explained to her.

“So what happens now?” she asked slightly nervous.

“You may go down to the surface world. It is still not too far after dawn so you will have the entirety of the day to explore. Your coat will start to glow however as night falls, just as the stars do. It is best to be up here and out of sight by the time that happens.” he answered. 
“Unisus Isle.” he told the unicorn who had acknowledged them earlier.

She nodded and the filly shadowing her came up to Polaris and led her up to one of the platforms. After reaching it she gestured for her to get onto the blue dais and so she stepped nervously onto the platform. She looked over at the unicorn who would be teleporting her down feeling significantly less confident. Her attention however was drawn back to North as he spoke, “Down there you will see a blue rock in the ground, it will be a great deal smaller than this, but it serves the same purpose. Once you are done all you have to do is touch that stone and teleport back.” She nodded and the unicorn managing the teleport fired a beam of magic into it.