There was something missing.
Star knew the contents of her office intimately. Every knick-knack, every artefact, every photograph and poster and certificate and book was carefully placed, and its placement carefully stored in the folds of her mind. If something moved more than a fraction, she knew. If something was interfered with, she knew. And if something was missing, she definitely knew.
There was something missing, and it left her with only a single, very important question.
"How in the name of Celestia did they get into my drinks cabinet?"
Star turned to Penny Candy, the poor, put-upon colt of a secretary who had somehow stuck with her despite her best efforts, but all he could offer was a narrow shrug and a toss of his head.
"There's no possible way they could have unlocked it," she persisted, in the face of all evidence to the contrary. "The lock is warded against picks and magic. I have the only key."
"They could have teleported it in," Penny offered. Then he shrugged again.
"The only people precise enough to do that work over in Arcane Sciences..." Star tapped her chin. "I won't stand for it."
"Professor, it might be wise not to raise too much—"
Star flourished a slender glass bottle from the cabinet as she turned to her secretary. "They replaced it all with water, Candy! Water! What the name of Celestia am I supposed to do with that?"
With a loud crunch Star slammed the bottle down on her desk, narrowly avoiding a trio of age-worn scrolls. A quiet creak from the bottle announced its protest at the rough treatment, but fortunately its glass remained unbroken, perhaps saving Star from yet further frustration.
"I would suggest drinking it, Professor. Perhaps we could look at your schedule now?"
"It's not even sparkling," Star grumbled. Behind her, Penny Candy sighed. She could almost hear his eyes rolling.
"You have a meeting with Doctors Kinstrong and Cox-Apple at nine thirty, an appointment with the vice chancellor at eleven, and lunch with your d—"
"They're getting petty again," she said, tapping a hoof against the water bottle. She lifted it up and glared at it. "I've spent the last fifteen years around some of the most self-absorbed, stupid, ignorant creatures this planet has to offer. I'll show them what petty really means. Cancel it. All of it."
"Professor," Penny Candy began, but Star cut him off with a swipe of her tail. She settled the water back into her drinks cabinet, then turned to Penny Candy.
"Well, what are you waiting for," she asked when he didn't immediately react. "Send a memo or something, tell them I can't be there."
"But—"
"Don't care, I'm going home," Star replied airily as she trotted to the door. She paused to grab a cloak in case it rained before skipping from the room.
"But you told me this was important!"
Penny Candy's plaintive call was cut off by the closing door. Star trotted across the reception and out into the corridors of the university, where the occasional student wandered in contemplative silence or, as was often the case, rushed in frantically between review sessions, their backs laden with overstuffed folders of notes and books barely touched the entire year.
Reading Week, the the short period between the end of formal lectures and the start of exams, was an odd time for Star. As head of department she was, in theory, responsible for the administration and organisation of the entire thing, but she had long since farmed that out to a half-dozen associates, and it wasn't as if students really did much revising during the week anyway.
That is to say, Star never had.
The tapping of hooves reached Star's ears as she approached the next junction. She slowed, just moments before a trio of ponies rounded the corner, bouncing and dancing and laughing to one another in the wordless way close friends always did. Star stepped back to let them pass, and caught a brief, careless smile for her troubles. The closeness of their walk and the twining of their tails was a story that didn't need words, and by the time they reached the far end of the corridor their heads had fallen close, and their laughter had fallen to intimate silence.
Shaking her head, Star wheeled back to her path. Thoughts of how to fill the now-open day rolled through her mind as she trotted through the building that grown to encompass so much of her life. She thought of home, and Lucent's bed, but he was probably out at some society gathering or other, putting on a show for the good of the Duchy.
She was out of the building before she even realised it. The quad opened up before Star, thronged with ponies from end to end as the denizens of the campus enjoyed their few days of relative freedom. Most were gathered in knots and herds, picnicking and playing. Others basked in the bright sun, wrapped in tender embrace, or lay curled in sated peace in corners and edges and the shade of the trees.
A crack of a mallet against a ball shook Star from her contemplation. She glanced at a group of students at the end of the quad, where a polo match had sprung up, apparently from nowhere. Most of the players were male, which made the day a little more interesting. She was tempted to stay and watch, but that would have risked a collision with whoever had meddled with her drinks, and Star wasn't entirely certain she'd be able to resist the temptation to apply a polo mallet to her mystery mare's skull.
Nevertheless, she eyed a few of the perkier rumps as she passed by. Polo had always been her favourite sport; there was none of the padded nonsense of college hoofball, nor any the pretentious diva-diving of its more sedate cousin. Just a little ball, eight vicious weapons and a pile of sweaty, beautiful bodies. It was almost like sex. Though perhaps with a little less shouting.
On the tail of a loud thwack, the ball sailed into one of the saddlebags set up as an impromptu goal. A smattering of applause followed from the crowd as the players danced back to their starting positions, panting and foaming in the heady, still air of the quad. Star was already well on her way to the gates, but couldn't resist one last look back at the game. Maybe she could convince Lucent to take it up again.
With just a few more steps, Star reached the main road. For such a prestigious university, the central Canterlot campus was remarkably small, but given its location, perhaps that prestige required a certain sacrifice of dimension. The core campus – four buildings and the quad between – was nestled just a short distance from the walls of the palace, though the winding roads that threaded Canterlot ensured it would take at least half an hour for Star to walk to the palace gate, assuming she were interested in going there. Other ponies might be – Lucent certainly was these days – but there was precious little to draw Star up that particular hill again.
The road past the university was always crowded with ponies travelling to and from the palace. Despite the popular image of an endless stream of petitioners seeking audience with the Princess, the majority of those travellers were tourists, and when they weren't crowding the palace gardens or posing for pictures with the statuesque guards, they were stomping back and forth around the ancient buildings of the university and playing merry hell with the traffic.
Tourists were the one thing Star truly hated about Canterlot. She could tolerate the snotty bureaucrats and self-regarding nobles, the high prices and city's general low opinions of 'lesser ponies', but her mind recoiled at the thought of her university, the highest seat of learning and study in Equestria, being little more than a curiosity to a bunch of ignorants and fools.
A mare jostled Star as she walked and was gone before she could even think of a suitable insult. Star grumbled under her breath and continued on her way. Perhaps she should have stayed behind and put up with the dull ramblings of—
"Doctor Kinstrong." She halted at the foot of a lamppost and stared up at it. "And then lunch with Twilight. No wonder Penny was so insistent."
It was probably too late to keep her appointment with the griffon, not that she particularly minded. Horrible creatures at the best of times, all claws and sharp things, though they certainly knew how to put their tongues to good use. The lunch date might still be salvageable though, if she headed back now. Then again that would mean going back to face Penny Candy. He'd probably pout.
While Star was pondering how best to overcome an assault of grumps from her secretary, a coach drew up alongside the lamp. Star just barely noted the royal crest stamped on the side when the door creaked open and a mare leaned out to peer at her. Eyes that shone just a little too bright and glassy examined Star in minute detail, before the mare turned to peer into to the shadowy interior.
"It appears you were correct, my lord Prince," the mare intoned. She withdrew to the coach as another pony moved toward the door. A scruffy blue mane hung over his enormous, limpid eyes and a smile that could melt ice in the middle of winter.
"Shining?"
"Hi mom," said Shining Armor. "What are you doing out on the street?"
"Earning an honest wage."
"So you're getting paid for it now, huh," Shining shot back. Star's head swung around to look at her son's gleeful face.
"You've spent too long around that walking hormone factory you call a wife," she muttered. Shining winked at Star and burst out laughing, and she found herself sharing a look with the severely nonplussed crystal mare who was once again peering out of the coach at her. "Speaking of whom, where's she got to? It's unusual to see you out by yourself these days. You two are normally so tightly harnessed."
"Cadance is back at the palace. Don't try dodging the question, mom. I know you were supposed to be working all morning."
"I felt like some fresh air," said Star.
The coach rocked as Shining moved closer to the door. Though he still bore a smile on his face, the humour had left his expression. Star looked up at the face of her son and frowned. Just like that, the reason why she had left so abruptly seemed rather silly.
"I'm on my way to pick up Twilight from the rail station," Shining said. Then he moved away from the door and patted the seat beside him. "We were going to spend a little time together, but if you're taking the morning off I'm sure she won't mind eating a little earlier."
"I'd rather walk."
"And I'd rather you didn't," Shining replied. He tipped his head to one side, so uncannily mimicking his father that Star had to take a moment to steady herself.
"Fine, if that's how you want to be."
Rolling her eyes, Star stepped up into the coach. There was a hesitant moment as Shining and the mare that was presumably his seneschal arranged themselves to accommodate her, and then she was sat down next to the mare and opposite Shining. The coach swayed as they resumed their journey.
At first the three were silent. Shining watched Star with a faint grin that was far too similar to Celestia's for her comfort, while the seneschal at her side regarded Star down the entire length of her snout, with nothing but a tiny pout to give away any hint of her emotional state.
"You didn't answer my question, you know," said Star.
"You didn't answer mine," Shining replied with a glance at his seneschal. "You're not just out for a walk. I've seen that look before, mom."
"What look?"
"That one right there." Shining poked a hoof between Star's eyebrows, only to laugh quietly when she flinched away from the touch. "You get a little dimple right in the middle of your brow when you're annoyed about something, and then spend all your time glaring at the world as if you hate the fact it exists."
"That's hardly fair." Star rubbed her hoof against her brow. Was it true? She was going to be obsessing over that for days now. "If I hated the world do you think I'd spend so much time studying it? I've probably spent more time digging holes in it than you've spent bedding that oversexed pint-size alicorn you call your 'wife'."
"Mom..."
"And what have you got to show for it, hmm?" Star kicked at her seat and frowned. She ran her hoof across the upholstery and then across the wooden face beneath it. "No foals and a herd that's barely even worth the name. Why, she wouldn't even look at another mare when you two were courting."
Shining rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh, either oblivious to or carefully ignore Star's continued digging around beneath her seat. At Star's side, the seneschal remained dutifully silent, though Star could swear she felt the mare's icy-cold disapproval cutting across her withers.
"You mean she wouldn't look at you, mom."
"I'm a mare, aren't I?" She paused, glared at Shining and then at the boxwork beneath him. Star leaned forward, a smile slowly working its way onto her face, and tugged at one of the cushions. "It's perfectly natural for a young filly to show a little interest in a stallion's mother when the hormones are flying, but I didn't get so much as a peek under the tail from that one. It's not natural."
"Did I tell you about my mother, Pearl? She's got this incredible way with ponies." Shining flinched as Star's hooves shot under his seat. "Celestia alone knows why. And mom? There's no mini bar in here."
For a moment Star froze, not quite able to process what she'd just heard. She drew her hooves close to her barrel and looked up at her son's face. He was still smiling. She shook her head and sighed.
"I'm disappointed, Shiney."
"Well now, there's a change," said Shining Armor. His eyebrow lifted slightly, as if challenging Star to respond. She merely huffed and sat back in her seat.
"What's the point of swanning around like some sort of prince if you aren't going to enjoy a few perks?"
"It's not a good idea to turn up to important functions half in the bag. The risk of impaired judgement—" Shining's jaw snapped shut and he frowned. "Anyway I don't swan about! I have a lot of important work to do on behalf of Equestria."
"Oh yes, the very important work of standing around with your tail in the air while Princess Fucks-a-lot eyeballs your rear end. Still, at least now you aren't waving around a poorly-disguised excuse for being royal eye-candy."
Shining Armor leaned back in his seat, while his gaze moved slowly back and forth across Star's face.
"You're right," he said after some time. Star's ears perked up at the tenor of Shining's voice.
"I am?"
"Yes. You would have been better walking."
"Shining..." Star closed her eyes and pressed a hoof against each temple. She sighed and shook her head. "Don't pay me any mind, dear. I've had a pretty dire few days and this morning rather capped it off."
Shining raised an eyebrow. "Given you're sweating like a tongue-chewing salt addict, I'd guess the university took away your drinks cabinet again."
"Just the contents this time. They replaced it all with water."
"Maybe they don't want you lecturing in a cloud of alcoholic vapour any more."
"Oh please, I haven't lectured drunk in months!"
Shining raised an eyebrow. "That isn't what I heard."
"One large brandy is not drunk! Just because I spilled some on my lecture notes—"
"It doesn't matter," Shining Cut in. "If you talk to Twiley the way you've been talking to me it'll be on your back. I'm tired of playing mediator between you two, and so is dad. She's getting enough minotaur shit from the press. She doesn't need it from you as well."
"Whatever you say, dear," Star replied.
The coach fell silent as they rounded a sharp corner. Star peered out of the window at passing traffic and wondered what it would be like to travel this way all the time. Probably quite boring after a while.
"You know, you're being very assertive all of a sudden," she said. Shining looked up at her with a frown and then shrugged.
"You raised me to think for myself, mom."
"And this is what you call thinking for yourself?"
"Yeah," Shining replied as the coach shuddered to a halt. He leaned over to push the door open. "It is."
Ignoring Star's glare, Shining Armor squeezed out of the coach and landed on the broad paving stones of a large square that served as the forecourt for Canterlot's central train station. The station building hunkered at the far side, squat and low, as if trying to hide its role in the city's life. The preponderance of guards around the square gave the game away. None broke their disciplined stance to observe their former captain, but as Star clambered from the coach she noted that one or two stallions nearby briefly glanced in her direction.
"I think he was in one of my lectures," she muttered as Shining leaned into the coach to converse with his seneschal. It took her a moment to register the door slam and the coach clatter away behind them; she turned to Shining as he watched it leave.
"We're eating at a café in the park," he said, when he noticed Star's interrogating glare. "Pearl will be around with the coach to pick us up later."
"And when did you plan on telling me this?"
"Last week, when I arranged everything with your secretary."
"Oh." Star rubbed her ear and grinned. "That would rely on my ever listening to him."
"Or anypony," Shining shot back, before turning to trot across the square. Star set her jaw and followed after him, all the while wondering just where he had picked up that stubborn streak and why he was displaying it now of all times.
Canterlot Central Station had become a regular fixture of Star's life in the years since she had surrendered to her occasional government service. Normally it would be the first step on her journey to some distant part of the world, at least when she wasn't being carted back and forth on high-speed pegasus courier carriages. She much preferred the sedate luxury of a long-distance airship, especially when she was paid for time spent away from her department. Unlike the trains, the airship lines always found space to stock a decent selection of drinks.
An empty waiting hall greeted Star as she sauntered through the door. For a moment she felt a strange sense of isolation. She never travelled alone. At times she was accompanied by entire herds of staff and students, though most often she travelled with an aide or an eager young assistant who would be thoroughly ruined by the time the journey was over. Even if it was just Lucent coming to see her off, or Crystal pretending to wish her a pleasant journey, there was usually someone by her side.
Instead, Shining had forged off ahead of her and was far across the echoing, cavernous hall, trotting between the seats to where Twilight was already waiting. With a snort she wondered why she was even here. It wasn't as if Twilight wanted to spend time with her any more, especially if she'd been remotely involved in Star's last less-than-successful visit to the palace.
As she approached the chattering pair, Star saw Twilight was smiling, which was unusual enough when they were anywhere near one another. Even when she looked across the hall toward Star, the smile remained.
"Someone got laid," Star muttered as she sidled up to the pair. Shining's ears twisted toward her; a moment later his eyes turned to join them.
"What was that?"
Star turned from her son's penetrating gaze. "Oh, nothing dear."
Shining snorted, while Twilight rolled her eyes. Of course they would know what she said. There was little point in pretending otherwise. While the pair talked, Star perched herself on a nearby seat and wondered whether she should complain about how uncomfortable it was.
Before she could fully form the thought, she found Shining and Twilight marching past her, back toward the entrance.
"Aren't you going to wait for me?" She hopped from the seat, taking care not to appear too eager to follow her children. Twilight glanced back, rolling her eyes.
"Haven't you always said you prefer to make your own path?"
"With a machete," Shining added, to Twilight's incomprehensible amusement. They both laughed as they trotted away, trailing Star in their wake.
"Well aren't you at least going to say hello?"
Twilight's step faltered and she slowed, looking back at Star again with a frown. "I did," she grunted. "But I guess you were too busy looking for a seat."
"Oh," said Star, as she watched her daughter stomp away. Gone was the cheery smile and the lightness in her step, replaced with muttered complaints to Shining and a rigid tension in her neck.
Five minutes from cheerful to chilly. It was like Twilight Velvet all over again. Star jogged to catch up, settling into a pace alongside the pair.
"How about I pay for lunch," she said, with what she hoped was a friendly smile. Twilight glanced at Shining briefly. Some message must have passed between them, as a moment later she gave Star a curt nod.
Together, the three exited the station in silence.
* * *
"I should have known there was a catch when you said you were paying."
Feigning surprise, Star looked across a stout wooden table at Twilight's scowling face. "Oh Twilight, don't be so negative. This—" and here she waved her hoof about to take in the dimly lit, smoky interior of a low-ceilinged room "—is the most expensive Impala deli in Canterlot."
"It's the only Impala deli in Canterlot," Twilight shot back. She leaned forward across the table, glancing at Shining Armor briefly while dropping her voice to a whisper. "And it's a complete dive! The floor is made of sawdust and the whole place smells like the Everfree Forest in the middle of summer!"
"Oh don't be silly, Twilight, that's just for atmosphere! Besides." Star leaned back and took a deep breath, savouring the pungent aroma and the subtler scents of familiar foods beneath it. "I like it. And you will too, once you've tasted the food they make here. I was so excited when they opened up last month, it was like a tiny piece of home had come to find me!"
Star's voice trailed away as she looked around the room. Unsure of how to continue the thought, she settled for a shrug and a non-committal snort, before waving at a slender Impala buck who had just emerged from a dimly lit corridor to the rear of the deli. The buck flared his nostrils as he sidled toward the trio.
"Dumela, Star Sparkle," he said, granting Star a brief and perfunctory smile, before turning a broader and much friendlier smile to the others. "Le Amogetswe my friends, it is not often we are graced with so many noble guests. I am Kenosi, who owns this place, and you are Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor of the same house, if I am not mistaken?"
Shining hesitated before nodding. "That's us, yeah."
"Well well! Star has spoken fondly of you. It is good to finally meet the two of you." Kenosi tugged a notebook from a pocket within his tunic, holding it between the two toes of his cloven foot. "I look forward to seeing how much of what she said is true. Now. Have you chosen what you wish to eat? I have just moments ago prepared a fresh batch of magwinya. Delicious with beans and morogo!"
Star gave Kenosi a wink and pointed at her two offspring. "They'll have that. I'll have the matemekwane stew. And some of that ginger beer you keep making in the back. The good stuff, not the muddy water you sell to the tourists."
"Oh Star, for a pony so learned you seem to display terrible manners. It is all good!" Kenosi tugged a pencil from the notebook's spine with his teeth and quickly noticed down their orders. "I shall return in but a few minutes, my friends. Boipelo!" He turned briefly to the rear of the restaurant. "Dinwa! Please, as noble guests, enjoy a drink with my compliments. "
After flashing them a cheery grin, Kenosi turned and walked away. Not even half way from their table he was bawling orders toward the kitchen in his native tongue, prompting a timid mare – doe, Star corrected herself – to tumble into the restaurant a moment later with a tray of drinks hooked across her slender shoulders.
She didn't speak as she set the drinks down before the trio, though she did shoot a shy smile toward Shining before she trotted away. Star watched her go, shaking her head.
"Such a shame, you know," she said as she reached for her drink. The touch of her hoof on the glass kicked a busy shower of bubbles form the bottom of the drink, raising a brief, foamy head atop it. She held the glass up to drink, but the bouncing fizz caught in her nose. She sneezed and put the drink down again.
Twilight poked at her drink, watching the same effect from a distance. "What is?"
"How little ponies know about the world. Even I didn't know about that 'boar bon' your human likes to drink and I've been all over Bokswana." Star raised her glass and took a taste. The sharp burn of ginger and alcohol cut across her tongue to the back of her throat and she had to swallow back a cough.
"Just because you've taken a few expeditions—"
Star snorted. She put her drink down and turned fully to face Twilight. "I have. What I learned out there is that we don't know a damn thing about this planet or its inhabitants. We look at ourselves and think that's the normal way for things to be. We pick out species that are like us, like the zebra with their split tribes that look like a matriarchy, or some obscure Hindi sect that locks up its males in temples and bedrooms, and say that proves how normal we are. But then we have a species like these Impala... they contradict everything we ponies believe to be right and true, you know? Their males run everything, their females speak practically a separate dialect that they consider childish if a male uses it. They barely have sex out of season."
"Funny you'd notice that," Shining said. He smiled at Star and raised his cup when she glared at him. Star rolled her eyes and took a long draught of her drink.
"Enough of your lip," she declared.
A stuffy silence fell across the table, punctuated by the rattle of pans and a muffled conversation from the kitchen. Twilight was staring at her drink, seemingly unwilling to actually drink it. By contrast, Shining had already downed most of his and looked quite perky, with just the first hint of pink cheeks glowing beneath the white of his coat.
Finally Twilight risked a tiny sip of her drink. She stayed silent for a while longer, smacking her lips at what was likely an entirely unfamiliar taste, but then pushed the drink aside and turned her attention back to Star. "Why are you telling us this?"
Star swirled her glass and stared into its cloudy depths. "I thought it might help with that book you were talking about writing. Give you a different perspective." She set her drink down and looked across at Twilight. "Imagine if your human had turned up next to an Impala village. He'd fit right in, wouldn't he?"
"His name is Lero," Twilight replied. "And I for one am glad he didn't."
"I'll bet you are," Star said, just as a waitress trotted into the restaurant. She bore a heavy black pot on her back, on a thick wooden yoke. Steam clouded from the pot like a billowing grassland storm, carrying the scent of stewed vegetables and alien spices, rich and heady. Another waitress, who had brought their drinks earlier, followed with two platters laden with rice and greens. Together the pair arranged their burdens across the table with competent ease.
The pair left without a word, and this time not even a glance in Shining Armor's direction. He didn't seem particularly worried by the fact, having already turned his attention to the meal before him with considerable enthusiasm. His drink was empty as well, Star noted. So much for the risk of impaired judgement.
"So." Star lifted a fat wooden spoon and swirled it around her bowl until it bumped against a dumpling. "We're here. What did you want to talk about?"
"The wedding," Twilight replied, while absently picking at her meal. She took another sip of her drink and frowned. "There are a few details to work out, mostly how many guests we're going to be inviting. Dad is pretty convinced all of Canterlot will want a seat there by the time it rolls around."
Star paused with a spoonful of stew halfway to her mouth. She set it back in the bowl. "You've already spoken to your father? When?"
"The other week, after you walked out on us. I thought he would have told you."
"How could he? I've spent the last few weeks at my university apartment getting ready for—the only time I saw your father was when I went with him to see Princess Luna."
"Which didn't go well," Shining Armor added around a mouthful of beans. Star glared briefly at her son, but he had already lost himself to the sight of his food.
"Are they not feeding you at the palace, dear?"
"Missed breakfast," Shining said. He swallowed. "It helps this tastes good. I'll have to introduce Cadie to it."
"Speaking of her pinkness—"
"Forget about Cadance," Twilight cut in. She waited a moment for Star's attention. "You went with dad to see Princess Luna, but you didn't talk to him about the wedding?"
"Oh, no, I imagine he didn't have time," Star said, retrieving her spoon. "Considering we'd barely had a chance to talk before Luna threw me out."
"Threw you out."
Star nodded as she dipped her spoon into the stew again. "Yes."
Twilight put both hooves over her face and let out a long breath. "Mom, why do you keep doing this? What did you say to her?"
"I merely asked her about the possibility that she might have some knowledge of the location of Great Tswana." She bit down on a dumpling, watched by Twilight, who had dropped her hooves to the table again.
"And then what?" Twilight growled. Star shrugged, but her daughter seemed undeterred. "You don't get thrown out of the palace for asking questions, mom."
"I might have implied that Luna was being less than forthright in order to prevent embarrassing her sister." Star took another gulp of her drink, while idly stirring the stew with her spoon.
Shining laughed and shook his head. "According to dad you told her to stop trying to cover up for 'that overbearing, cake-guzzling cow' and the started throwing old scrolls at her and demanding to know why she would willing collude in the suppression of thousands of years of history."
"It's possible I was a little caught up in the moment," Star murmured.
"And when you demanded to know if Twilight had told her to keep it secret?"
"Well..." The sound of Twilight's teeth grating against one another was not something Star had ever heard before. "That really doesn't sound healthy, dear."
Twilight closed her eyes and worked her jaw back and forth a few times. She leaned across her food, pushing aside her drink, to glare at Star. "You actually believed I would try and convince Princess Luna to keep secrets from you? What in the name of heaven made you think I'd be so vindictive?"
"And why not," Star replied, before taking another spoonful of stew. "I am."
Twilight's bench let out a very quiet creak as she leaned back. She glanced at Shining, who smiled back at her as he chewed contentedly on a magwinya.
"You did ask," Star said, once she had taken a few more bites of her stew. She waved the spoon at Twilight. "Never ask a question if you don't want to know the answer."
Twilight toyed with her food again, before turning to the drink. She took down a good third of it in a single swallow, gasped, cleared her throat and then carefully set the glass down again.
"Right now," she said, "I'm not sure if I even want to invite you any more."
"Oh you can't leave your old mare out of something like this," Star replied. She snorted and turned her attention back to her food. "When is it anyway?"
"The middle of April."
Star paused, then slowly lowered her spoon into the bowl. After a moment's thought she pushed it aside and looked over at Twilight. "That's going to cut things rather tight. I join my expedition on the seventeenth of April."
Something happened to Twilight then that Star had never seen before. She froze, falling so silent that it seemed she had even stopped breathing. Her gaze dropped to a point just below Star's chin and held there, as if by a compulsion. As if looking at Star's face was an impossible task.
"The wedding is on the seventeenth," she said quietly.
"Sweetie—"
"Don't—" Twilight looked up. Her eyes glittered in the restaurant's low light. "Don't call me that."
"Okay," Star said. She pushed her food aside, no longer interested in it. "Twilight. I can imagine you're upset."
"Upset?" Twilight pushed her food aside in turn, before laying both hooves on the table. "Upset? What makes you think I'm upset? Just because my own mother decides to schedule a camping holiday on the most important day of my life? Just because she didn't have the decency to talk to me for five minutes about her plans for the future so that maybe we could make sure there'd be no conflicts? I'm only bonding myself to the beings I love more than anything on this earth, in a ceremony that my own mother apparently believes isn't worth her time to attend! What in heaven's name makes you think I'd be upset, mom?"
"Twilight—"
The table rattled as Twilight's hoof slammed against it. "You planned this!"
"I did nothing of the sort!"
"Oh really? The mare who freely admits how vindictive she can be is somehow entirely innocent when her work oh so conveniently clashes with my wedding, right after I refused your stupid treasure-hunting trip?" Breathing hard, Twilight kicked back her chair and stepped away from the table. She grabbed her drink and finished off the rest, before tossing the empty cup against her untouched food. "Well if you don't want to come then that's just fine with me!"
"Twilight, please just listen to yourself."
"This whole trip was a waste of time," Twilight muttered. She tugged a few coins from a purse around her neck and tossed them on the table. "That should cover my share of this exercise in futility."
Before Star could reply, Twilight had stormed from the restaurant. With an exasperated sigh Star hauled herself from her seat and trotted around the table, pausing a moment to pick up the money Twilight had dropped.
The sun was blinding as Star stepped out in the street. She looked around, expecting Twilight to be some distance away already, but to her surprise Star found her daughter standing on the path just to the side of the door. Twilight was leaning heavily against a metal pillar that held up a marquee over the main entrance. She had her eyes closed and was taking deep, ragged breaths, and didn't seem to notice Star as she sidled up alongside.
After a minute, Twilight finally noticed Star. "What do you want?"
"You dropped this."
Star held out Twilight's coins with her hoof. Twilight frowned at them, then grudgingly scooped them up in her magic and dropped them back in her purse.
"I honestly didn't plan to miss anything, Twilight. I wanted to be at your wedding, even if it is to this... human of yours." Star shook her head, smiling just a little. "I'll grant I've never been one to shy away from bonding with other species, if I can put it that way, and unlike some ponies I could name you're at least forming a proper herd, even if it is a little unorthodox."
She moved a fraction closer to her daughter and put a hoof on Twilight's unresisting shoulders. "I promise, if there was any way to be there, I'd take it."
"You say that, mom..." Twilight shrugged Star's hoof off and moved slowly from her spot by the pillar, circling it until she faced Star. "You always said it. You wanted to be there. You wanted to take part. You wanted... well I wanted my mom to be in my life for more than just a few days every month. I wanted her to hug me, read to me, I wanted mommy to see me get my cutie mark. You always promised dad that next time you'd stay, next time you'd come home for good. All my life, I waited for you to keep that promise." Shaking her head, Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, not caring how she pulled it into a ragged mess. "If you wanted to be part of my life, you'd already have been there."
Twilight waited, perhaps hoping for Star to answer. But Star didn't have any answer. No way to respond that wouldn't cement the image Twilight had painted of her. All she could do was stare at her daughter, pursing her lips, while all the instinctive responses flitted around her mind like particularly ferocious bats exposed to the light of a torch.
With no answer forthcoming, Twilight reluctantly pulled herself away from the pole and from Star, and turned to walk slowly down the street. Star could do nothing but watch as she left, and wonder how she had brought herself to this rotten mess.
The sound of hooves exiting the restaurant caught Star's ear. She listened as Shining rolled up beside her without a word. He was chewing on the remains of his lunch; a fresh drink floated at his side, fizzing and foaming as it reacted to the arcane pressure of his magic. For a few minutes he watched Twilight in silence, until she turned the corner at the end of the street. Then he swallowed his food, took a sip of his drink, and let out a quiet sigh.
"Dad's going to be pissed," he said. Star snorted and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't disagree.
"She's too stubborn for her own good."
"Family trait," said Shining. He finished his drink in just a few swallows and set the glass down by the restaurant door. "I'd better go and find my ride home."
"You're not staying?"
"Matters of state, mom." Shining leaned down to snuffle at Star's cheek. He smiled briefly when he straightened up. "Plus I have to find Cadance before Twilight so I can explain how badly you blew it this time." He turned, then paused to look down at Star again. "Oh, and I paid for the meal. Just so you know."
And with that he left, whistling a jaunty song, leaving Star entirely alone. She watched as Shining followed Twilight's path to the end of the street until he was swallowed in the crowd.