Out of the Darkness

by SergeantShenanigans

Ch 8: A Regular Day

Star woke that morning in a really good mood, he didn't know why because yesterday had been emotionally exhausting. "Maybe I am just happy that I finally found something towards revealing my past?" he thought that whatever the reason, he was really happy.

Looking to see if Zecora was awake yet it turned out she was gone looking for herbs again. He walked over to the window to see where the sun was to see when he had to leave for work. The sun was still low on the horizon so it was still early in the morning "Looks like I have a while" he concluded

Walking over to where he had placed his saddlebag on the bedside table he opened it again and found himself looking at the book again "Why can't I read this book?" he asked himself. He spent the next hour or so just looking through the pages hoping that he could decipher something in it, to give him a clue as to what it contained, to his disappointment he could not find anything in the whole book that made any sense "I should go ask Twilight about this book" he mentally decided

Grabbing his saddlebag he departed towards ponyville. He had been walking for about ten minutes before he reached the edge of the forest. The sight he saw still amazed him, the lush green hills, the birds chirping happily, and the beautiful blue sky.

He began to walk towards ponyville when something in the distance caught his attention, over in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage there seemed to be a pegasus flying back and forth franticly. Upon closer inspection it was Fluttershy who was flying back and forth "Oh no oh no oh no where could he have gone?" Fluttershy continued to fly back and forth frantically

Star approached her to find out what was wrong "What is wrong Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy squeaked and flew into a tree in surprise. Looking to what had startled her, she saw Star looking up at her "Oh, it is just you Star, you scared me."

"Sorry about that, but again what is wrong?" he asked, still curious as to what Fluttershy was worrying about.

Her eyes widened remembering what she had been worrying about "I woke up this morning and I can't find Angel and I have been looking everywhere!"

"I will help you look if you want" Star said trying to reassure her

"I would appreciate it" Fluttershy said in a still very worried tone

"Alright, where have you looked for him so far?" he asked trying to narrow down places to look

"I have looked in the chicken coop, and in and around the house" she said confirming that he was nowhere around the house

"Have you checked in town yet? Or in the forest?" he asked

"No I haven't, but Angel knows not to go into the forest, at least I hope he knows not to go into the forest by now" she said quietly, as if she were remembering something

"Alright then let's check in town and see if he went there for something" Star said motioning for her to follow

Star walked in silence as Fluttershy voiced her worries "What if something happened to him? What if he got hurt? What if-"

"Fluttershy, he is fine and we will find him" he interrupted trying to calm her "I bet he went into town to look for something or to do something."

After a few more minutes they arrived in ponyville "How are we going to find Angel there are so many places he could be!" Fluttershy said starting to panic again

"It is fine we will just have to ask around, maybe we can ask your friends if they have seen Angel?" he asked

"Alright we can go ask Twilight first, the Library is the closest place from here" she agreed

A few minutes later they arrived at the library. Star knocked on the door and heard from inside "This is a PUBLIC LIBRARY you don't need to knock!"

Shrugging, Star walked inside to see Spike dusting the floor and Twilight reading a book and looking very serious, she looked up to see Fluttershy and Star "Oh, hey guys what are you doing here?" she seemed very distracted by what she was doing

"Fluttershy can't find Angel and we were wondering if you have seen him?" Star asked trying to read the title of the book Twilight was reading

"Nope, sorry I haven't seen him, why don't you try Rarity maybe she has seen him." She didn't even look up from her book to respond

"What are you reading anyway?" he wondered what she could be reading that was so interesting that she didn't even want to put the book down to talk

"This book is about Equestrian history, I am trying to find out the last time platinum was used as currency because it hasn't been for a long time." She said turning a page and putting her face back into the book

"Alright then I will stop by later, I have to talk to you about something" Star finished walking out the door with Fluttershy "Okay Fluttershy let's go to Rarity's place then"

A few minutes and reassurances later they arrived at Carousel Boutique where a surprised looking Rarity answered the door "You are still wearing that… that… THING?" she said indicating to Stars tattered cloak

"Yeah, it is kind of the only thing I have to wear" Star said simply, thinking that it didn't matter what condition the cloak was in

"No no this will not do" Rarity shook her head "What are you two here for anyway?"

We were wondering if you have seen Angel, I woke up this morning and he was gone" Fluttershy responded

"I am terribly sorry but I haven't seen him, now if you will excuse me I have something to attend to" she said closing the door on them

"Alright, let's check Sweet Apple acres then, maybe he was hungry and wanted something to eat?" Star said hopefully

"Okay let's go check" Fluttershy responded in a hopeless tone

When they arrived at the farm what they saw made them laugh both in relief and the comedy of what they saw. They found Angel, but he was hopping around wearing a bonnet and diaper and being chased by the Cutiemark crusaders. Behind them was a very dazed looking Applejack in a barrel and Big Macintosh laughing heartily at the scene before him.

After fifteen minutes a broken crate and a rabbit paw to Stars face they finally stopped the Cutiemark Crusaders and Angel "What happened?" asked a very curious Fluttershy

Angel made a few angry gestures and pointed to each of the Cutiemark Crusaders then to the bonnet and the diaper "Will you girls please tell me what happened?" Fluttershy asked again

It was Applebloom who spoke up "This morning we saw a buncha bunny rabbits hoppin around on the outside of town and one of them had a hurt paw and was being carried around by another bunny so Sweetiebelle thought that it would be a good idea to try and get our Cutiemarks in takin care of bunnies so we went to see if we could take care of Angel and we tried to take care of him and he didn't want us to take care of him so we went to ask Applejack about it and Angel got out and we chased him around till Applejack came out to try and stop us and we accidentally ran into her and knocked her into a barrel and we kept chasin him and that's when you two showed up" Applebloom finished taking in a huge breath

"Well there was nothing wrong with Angel and even if there was you should have asked me" Fluttershy scolded them in a motherly tone

"We're sorry" they all said lowering their heads ashamed at what they had done

"It's alright, come on Angel let's go home I still have other animals to take care of." She said motioning for the bunny to follow her

Star sighed in relief and looked up to see what time it was. The sun was just past the middle of the sky "Crud! I'm going to be late for my first day on the job!" Star exclaimed taking off at full speed towards town

He arrived at the shop out of breath with his legs in pain from pushing himself so hard; he walked in to see a very uninterested looking Davenport once again reading a book

"I made it" he said breathing heavily

"What happened to you kid, you sound like you just ran the running of the leaves" Davenport said looking at Star curiously

"I'm sorry I am late, I was helping a friend and I was at Sweet Apple acres when I saw what time it was and-"

"Kid, It's alright, you are actually 10 minutes early"

"What? The sun is exactly where it should be at one twenty what do you mean I am early?" Star asked incredulously

"What do you mean the sun? You don't use a clock like a normal pony?" Davenport responded looking at him strangely

"Clock?" Star asked curiously "What's that?"

"You don't know what a clock is? What were you raised under a rock?" he asked as if he were talking to a crazy pony

"Well, actually I can't remember anything about my past and I am here trying to find out who I am." Star said bluntly tired of explaining his story

"Oh, well that's a shame" Davenport said in an understanding tone "A clock is an easier way to tell time it is a lot more convenient and simpler than telling time by the sun" he gesturing over at the clock on the opposite wall of him

"Alright let's get started" he said putting down his book and looking over to Star "You don't actually have to work here every day, I don't usually either. Because most ponies don't need sofas or quills on a regular basis I don't usually work here. I usually have a notepad out front where ponies write down what they want or how much they want of it. I only come into work when somepony wants a sofa and they want to see what we have in stock" Davenport summed up

"So, what will I be doing here exactly then? If you don't come in that often what will I be doing here for a job?" Star asked

"I decided that it is boring when I do have to come in here because I have to wait all day for the ponies to come by so, since you wanted a job, whenever a pony wants some quills or a sofa you can deliver it for them, I prefer making them better than selling them anyway. I will pay you five bits an hour for eight hours a day Monday to Friday that's a great deal for not having to do absolutely anything, but the catch is that you have to be available to come in and sell a sofa or some quills whenever anypony wants them at any time. If you ever sell a sofa I will give you a twenty five percent profit off of the price of the sofa." Davenport summed up

"What about people who want board games?" Star asked remembering the only other things he sold

"If anypony ever wants one of them then just sell it to them just like you would a quill or a sofa though I doubt that will ever happen" Davenport sighed "why did I agree to sell those things anyway?" he said to himself more than Star

"Alright so I guess that means that a pony wanted to buy a sofa but they haven't come by yet?" Star assumed

"Yep, I wish that they would give a specific time they wanted to come in instead of just Tuesday or Wednesday" he walked towards the door "you don't actually have to stay until nine, just until the pony decides to stop by and buy one. If you have any problems consult the list I left behind the counter, see you later" he said leaving Star alone in the store

He understood why Davenport had wanted to get away from this place, there was absolutely nothing to do, he had been standing behind the counter for 3 hours and nothing had happened. He was starting to regret not bringing a book or something to entertain himself while he waited, when Rarity walked through the door

"There you are! I have been looking for you everywhere!" Rarity exclaimed

"Why were you looking for me?” Star asked questioningly

"Well when I saw you earlier today and you were still wearing that horrid thing I couldn't let such a crime to fashion continue to walk the streets" she said in a dramatic voice "so because you insist on wearing a cloak and hiding your face and body I made you another cloak that isn't so…. Destroyed" she said pulling out a dark grey cloak from her saddlebag

"Wow! Thanks Rarity! I can't pay you right now but I will once I get paid" Star said feeling bad that he couldn't pay her

"Oh no it is quite alright, the cloak is free. But you said you have to wait until you get paid? What happened to those platinum bits?" she asked wondering where that many bits could go

"I don't feel like I should spend that, I had it for a reason and until I find that out I don't feel comfortable spending it on anything" he answered

"Well, why don't you try it on?" she said putting the cloak on the counter

"Sure, let me just go to the back room and change, I still don't feel comfortable letting other ponies see what I look like" he said taking the cloak and walking into the back room

"I was kind of hoping he would forget and change in front of me so I could at least see his face" Rarity thought as he walked away

As he walked into the back room Star noticed that it was full of empty crates. Walking over to an empty space. He then, for the first time since he could remember, took off his cloak which surprisingly didn't smell rotten even though he had neglected to wash it. While he was taking off his cloak it got caught on something, he looked down to see that he was wearing a necklace of some sort. Upon closer inspection he could see that it was an amulet, it was bright golden amulet with an emerald in the middle leading from a spiral covering the rest of it "I wonder where I got this from” he thought with furrowed brows

After admiring the amulet for a few minutes he finally decided to put on the cloak which to his surprise was very comfortable.

Walking back into the main room he saw that Rarity was pleased with her work "I knew the cloak would look good!" she clapped at the sight "Well this was nice, but I have other things to attend to. I will see you later" she said walking out the door

Once again Star was plagued with something that was the worst possible thing that could happen to a pony, he was bored, again. It had been 2 hours since Rarity had left and he only had two hours left until he could leave. He was about to fall asleep when he heard the door open looking up he saw the large red earth pony he had seen at Applejacks farm earlier that day.

"Excuse me, do you know where ah could find Mister Davenport?" he asked in a southern accent like Applejacks but much deeper

"I got hired by him to sell quills and sofas to anypony who wants them, apparently he likes making them more than selling them." Star answered with a shrug

"Well, ah came here for a sofa, ah woulda come earlier but ah had ta do work down at the farm." He responded looking over at the sofas on the wall to his left

"So I guess Applejack had you come down here to get a new sofa for the house?" Star guessed

"How do ya know mah sister and how did ya know she was mah sister?" he asked curiously

"I met her when I first came into town and I saw you when Fluttershy and I were at your farm earlier today looking for Angel." Star answered holding out his hoof to the red pony "nice to meet you my name is Midnight Star"

Taking it he answered "Mah names Big Macintosh, it's a pleasure to make yer acquaintance"

"So, which sofa did you want to buy?" Star asked getting right to business

"Ah was lookin at that one over there" Macintosh answered pointing his hoof to a simple small wooden sofa with brown cushions

"Alright, do you need help moving it?" Star asked

"Nah it's fine, how much'll it be?" Macintosh asked

Walking over to the sofa he read the price sticker "That will be two hundred bits" Star responded walking back to Macintosh who pulled a pouch out of his saddlebag and gave it to Star who took it and put it behind the counter

"Aren't ya gonna count it?" Macintosh questioned

"I don't think I need to, I trust you, you seem like an honest pony" Star responded

"Alright then, thank ya kindly" He said as he pushed the small sofa out the door

Happy that he could finally get out of there he walked out the door closing and locking the door behind him with the keys that Davenport had left behind and decided to make his way to the library and ask Twilight about the book.

He arrived quickly and knocked on the door and was once again responded with "When will you ponies understand that this is a PUBLIC LIBRARY you don't need to knock!"

Opening the door Star walked inside to see Twilight in the same spot as hours before but reading a new book and surrounded by many others "Still no luck huh?" he asked closing the door and walking over to Twilight

"Actually, I found out that nopony has used platinum bits as currency in the past six hundred years, so while they would still be rare they would not be impossible to come by even with the five hundred you have." Twilight answered "So what is it you wanted to show me?" she asked remembering what Star had said when he was their earlier that day

"I was hoping you could help me interpret the book that I found in my saddlebag" he said getting right to the point and pulling out the book

Twilight took the book in a magic purple glow and inspected it "What is this?" Twilight asked wondering if he knew anything about the book

"That is just it, I don't know. I don't understand anything in the book and I was wondering if you could" Star said once again staring at the cover of the book

"This symbol seems familiar" she said pointing her hoof to one of the symbols on the cover "I don't remember where, but I have seen this somewhere before"

"What do you think it is?" Star said excitedly

"I don't know, will you leave this book here with me tonight so I can study it?" Twilight said more than asked

"Sure, I guess I will talk to you tomorrow about it" Star said leaving disappointed that she didn't know anything about the book

He arrived at Zecoras hut pretty quickly and found that Zecora was in her room asleep "I never see Zecora anymore" Star realized "I will have a chance to talk to her tomorrow" he thought reassuring himself.

He found himself lying in Zecoras makeshift bed that she had made for him when she had found him. His mind wandered over the events of that day, from finding Angel to getting the new cloak to the strange amulet that was hanging around his neck "I forgot about that" he realized. Pulling the amulet from around his neck he once again admired it but instead of admiring the color and the design he admired the gem itself.

As he looked at the emerald he found himself getting lost in the spiral surrounding it as his mind suddenly went blank.

The next thing he knew he was looking at a pony in a cloak reading a scroll. He soon realized that this pony was him, he was merely a spectator so he assumed that this was a memory that his mind had pushed forward.

He saw himself staring at the scroll for a few more seconds before he rolled it up, threw it, the pouch, and the book into his saddle bag. While he was doing this he was muttering "No, no this can't be happening, this can't be happening, I can't let this happen!" he said in panic his voice finally raising to a shout and ran out the door.