Interlude - The Paths We Take
Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky
Interlude - The Paths We Take
* * *
Starlit awoke the following morning with a combination of sensations. On the one hoof, she felt satisfaction that Cadance had been made to see reason, especially given that Starlit's plan had seemed to be less than satisfactory. On the other, she was now staring down the impending dread of having to discuss all that she had learned from Spike, Flurry Heart, and Cadance with Twilight, if Starlit even intended to go back to her tree.
Starlit felt the soft weight of her necklace against her chest as she sat up in bed. She could feel it thrum with magical energy like it always had, always prepared to resurrect her from the dead should she require it. It was only now, after everything Cadance had told her, that she was really starting to appreciate the weight of what she actually carried with her.
"Why give this to me if you knew what it was?" Starlit thought to herself. "Why send me on this journey if you were going to litter the task with half-truths?"
"One hoof at a time, Starlit," she reminded herself. "First, something to eat that isn't old rations. A good meal always helps."
Starlit made her way downstairs to Cherry Blossom's bar, where she found that Sun was already tucking in to some kind of apple based breakfast dish. Starlit felt her stomach grumble just from the smell, and went to go join him at his table.
"Mornin'," Sun greeted through a full mouth.
"Morning," Starlit answered as she settled in. "Care to share?"
"Sure," Sun answered, sliding the baking pan over. The delightfully sweet taste of the apples combined with the flaky crust that it was baked into immediately lightened Starlit's mood, although it couldn't dispel the disquiet that had settled onto her mind.
"It's really good, right?" Sun commented, taking another bite. "I am so glad that they can grow good food here again, this is the single best thing I've ever eaten."
"It is really good," Starlit admitted. "The flavors compliment each other very well."
"Never had you figured for a pony with a discerning palate," Sun mentioned.
"I had to cook back at home when my husband would go out on patrol, and trying to make a decent meal out of root vegetables, some basic seasonings, and some oil and vinegar was a feat I grew quite good at."
"No kidding," Sun replied. "I sure couldn't do that, I had to get all of my meals here."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the table as the two ate together, disrupted every so often by another pony coming in for a drink or just to get out of the sun. While Celestia's curse no longer held sway over the town, it was still quite warm for the time of year.
Starlit felt herself thinking back to her farm, locked in time as it was. Just now she would be bringing in the last of the harvest, normally enough to barely last the winter and then have enough left over to sell in the spring to last into the summer.
"Sun, I need to tell you something," Starlit began.
"Oh thank goodness, I was worried that I was going to have to ask," Sun replied with a big sigh of relief.
"What? You have something to say too?" Starlit asked, a little blindsided by Sun's proclamation.
"Well, yes, but what do you have to say?" Sun asked back.
"It's about something Spike told me, back in the Empire, and it kind of concerns where we're going as far as this… partnership is concerned."
"I really hope that nopony has stumbled on Spike while we've been here, that would not be a good time for anypony," Sun commented.
"When I first found him, the real him," Starlit continued, "he told me that he could take me to Canterlot if need be, but no farther. He has this sort of weird future sight that can let him see the paths that ponies will take in the future or something, he was really vague about it, but he said that when the time comes for me to go to Canterlot I will have to go alone."
Sun cocked his eyebrow as she spoke, then furrowed his brow in concentration.
"Well this is going to be a bit of fortuitous news for you," Sun replied. "When we separated in the Empire so you could go to the Conservatory, Silence got back in touch with me."
"How?" Starlit asked. "I thought she had to leave when we entered the Empire, something about the anti-magic wards around it."
"You mean the ones that Flurry Heart told us we're only confined to the walls of the Empire, not the actual place itself?" Sun replied.
"It's been a rough few days, cut me a break," Starlit countered as she took another bite of breakfast.
"Anyway, she managed to get in touch with me and had a pretty dire warning," Sun continued. "She said that the problems that are plaguing Equestria are about to reach their breaking point, and she needs to see me in the Glowing Wastes to help rectify it."
"Did she explain why, or even how to get there?" Starlit asked with a skeptical tone.
"Like you said, it's been a rough few days," Sun countered, "but now that I'm reconnected to her I figured that I could ask her the way. And since you need Spike to get to Canterlot, by his own admission, I could probably ask her for a teleportation sigil to get me there so you and Spike could get to Canterlot and try to head Twilight off."
"And you're… okay with splitting up?" Starlit asked.
Sun stared down at his nearly finished breakfast for a moment, wearing an expression that Starlit couldn't discern. He didn't seem upset at the prospect, but there was a twinge or upset all the same.
"Silence told me the same thing when we reconnected, you know," Sun said, looking back up at Starlit. "She said that whatever you have to do in Canterlot you have to do alone. I guess I can't really be upset about it since you apparently have this grand mystic destiny to uphold, and I'm just the stallion that's been tagging along."
"Sun, you are far more than just a tagalong," Starlit retorted. "I couldn't have made it to Celestia without you, I wouldn't have made gotten to Luna without you, and your quick thinking destroyed the barrier surrounding Cadance's palace. Compared to that, I've just been bumbling my way through all of this, learning as I go and getting in way over my head with things I can't possibly comprehend. Hell, the only reason I'm not dead right now is because of the necklace, and that was even with your help."
"Then why did Twilight even pick you for this?" Sun countered. "If you're so mundane, then why go through the trouble of recruiting you and sending you on this mission. There has to be something more to this."
Starlit felt the strap of her necklace pull ever so gently downward as Starlit too cast her gaze to the table.
"I don't know, and believe me I've been asking myself that question for a while now. Maybe I was just the closest pony to her; my house is only five miles or so away from her tree."
"It can't have been that petty of a reason," Sun said back.
"It's the only one I can come up with," Starlit replied. "Ultimately, both of us are nopony special. We aren't Princesses, we aren't dragons, we aren't even thestrals. We're just the ponies that got picked. Does there need to be a greater reason than that?"
"It would certainly make me feel better about the whole situation if there were, but I'll cede to your point. Either way, that doesn't change the situation that we're in now; we have two places that we need to get to, and both of them require immediate attention. Where are we going?"
Starlit took in a deep breath as she thought. Both of their destinations were mutually exclusive, but they could potentially stem from one place. Starlit felt a small weight lift off of her chest as her decision, it would seem, would be made for her.
"We have to go back to Twilight's tree, first and foremost," Starlit stated. "Either she's there and we pump her for all the answers that she can give, or she isn't and our suspicions are confirmed."
"Or she immolates you with magic fire for stealing Spike from her," Sun added.
"She knows she can't kill me, and she's too inquisitive of a pony to lose out on the opportunity to learn something," Starlit countered. "She'll want to know why I did it, and we can press her for information that way."
Sun tapped his hooves on the table, letting Starlit's suggestion rattle in his brain for a moment before he pushed the tray away and stood up.
"You seem to have thought this out well enough. Let me just say goodbye to Applejack, I'll meet you past the orchard."
* * *
Sun rapped on the door to Applejack's office, lugging a bag with some of his possessions over his shoulder. He'd taken a quick pit stop to his house to pick up a few things, including some more food that the arid desert air had helped to preserve.
With a creak the door opened and Applejack's orange face peered out from it, immediately lit up with a smile.
"Well howdy," Applejack greeted. "Didn't expect y'all to come by today, I figured you'd still be dealing with all of your 'saving the world' business."
"It's actually just me this time," Sun said, walking past the threshold as Applejack let him in. "I just wanted to stop by and say goodbye before I actually took off. You know, trying to be polite and all, especially since we dropped in on you so unexpectedly yesterday."
"So, Starlit and Cadance are getting all the stuff together?"
"Just Starlit, Cadance went back home last night. She seemed to be in a better mood, so that's got to count for something."
"I'm sure it does," Applejack affirmed. "You want something to drink, it's pretty hot out today."
"Just some water, if it's all the same," Sun answered, sitting down at the jail's lone desk.
"Water nothin', you're getting some cider and that's that," Applejack countered as she filled up a pair of tin mugs with a golden drink. "It hasn't had much time to ferment yet so it won't get you loopy, but it has just the right balance between sweetness and bite."
Applejack set the mugs down on the table and took her seat across from Sun, putting her hat onto the table as she did. Sun gingerly lifted the mug with Silence's magic, and Applejack cocked an eyebrow as she took a long swig of hers.
"Wasn't your magic green before?" Applejack asked.
"It was," Sun admitted, smacking his lips at the taste of the drink. It was sweet like an apple, but had a tinge of something like vinegar in the aftertaste that stung his throat.
"So, you just gonna leave me hanging here, or…?"
"Consider it a casualty of what I've been doing since I've been gone," Sun replied. "Starlit and I have been encountering a lot of magical nonsense, and part of that nonsense is that my magic has been changed a bit."
"That doesn't sound like something that should be able to just 'change', Sun," Applejack said, taking another drink. "Are you doing alright, what with saving the world and all that?"
Sun swirled the drink in its magical field until he felt a twinge of a headache come on and he was forced to set it down lest he spill it.
"I don't know," Sun answered. "Remember when you were kidnapped and taken to Sunspire?"
"Clear as crystal," Applejack answered with a bite to her tone. "Why?"
"It's just that, after helping Starlit deal with all of that, helping to save you and uncover Celestia's lies, I thought I'd be ready for this sort of thing. I thought that that had been my trial by fire, so to speak."
"And now you're worried that the trial hadn't even begun and you got in over your head due to the heat of the moment," Applejack replied, neatly finishing off what Sun was trying to find the words for.
"Exactly!" Sun answered. "How are you so good at just saying what everypony else is thinking?"
"It comes from a life spent trying to play mediator to ponies that don't want to get along, whether it be family, friends, or ne'er-do-wells that roll into town looking to cause a fuss. I've found that everything gets easier if you're just honest with each other."
Sun took another drink from the mug, draining it down before dropping it back onto the table.
"Applejack, can I be honest with you?" Sun asked, tipping his mug back and forth with his hoof.
"I wish that you would," Applejack answered, pushing her cup to the side and propping her chin on her hooves.
Sun took a deep breath, hoping it would calm his nerves. All it did was bring into focus the slight throbbing at the back of his head.
"I'm scared of what's going to come after this," Sun said. "No matter how this whole situation shakes out, it's going to alter the course of Equestria's future, and I don't know where or even if I'm going to find a place to fit into that future."
Applejack stared Sun down for a long, tense moment, and for a second he worried that he had said the wrong thing before she sat up straight, reached across the table and placed both of her hooves on Sun's shoulders.
"Setting Sun, you listen to me and you listen well," Applejack said, keeping her vibrant green eyes locked on his own. "No matter what happens, if you live through this, you will always have a place here. I swear on my life that you saved and my family that you made whole, nothing will happen to you here as long as I can still draw breath into my lungs. You hear?"
All Sun could do was give a nod, shocked as he was by Applejack proclamation. The only time he had ever seen her that intense was during their shared experiences in Sunspire, and her words of encouragement certainly didn't match her demeanor.
"Good, glad we have that settled," Applejack said, leaning back into her seat and taking another swig of her drink. "Sorry to get all serious on you there, but I didn't want you to misunderstand me."
"I don't think there'd be a lot to misconstrue in that," Sun replied.
"You'd be surprised the types of ways that ponies will take something when they don't hear exactly what they want to hear. I remember Apple Bloom once insisting that I had promised to build her two swings out in front of the house, even though I had only promised her one."
Applejack chuckled into her cup as she recalled the memory, and Sun felt some of his tension ease away.
"So how'd you resolve that one?" Sun asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Oh, I built both swings, hung them from the tree out front," Applejack answered. "She was just pleased as punch when I unveiled them for her birthday that year. You need more cider?"
Sun looked down at his cup, and then held it up in his grey magic, his worries settling down even as the thumping in his brain increased its pace. He could ignore it for now.
* * *
Starlit found Spike basking out on a stretch open grass beyond Applejack's orchard, sunning his stomach and soaking up the rays of the sun. If there were an expression Spike's face could make that would equate with a smile, he was making it.
"I see that I'm not the only one appreciating the change in climate," Starlit said. One of Spike's great, green eyes slid open and focused onto her. "Has anypony seen you?"
"NO," Spike answered, his rumbling voice echoing inside Starlit's head. "ARE WE GOING TO BE LEAVING SOON?"
"In a short while. Sun wanted to say goodbye to a few ponies before we took off."
"HIS HOME IS WARM AND PLEASANT," Spike replied. "IT IS A SHAME TO LEAVE IT SO SOON AFTER ARRIVING. WHAT IS OUR DESTINATION?"
"Why do you keep asking me that?" Starlit asked back. "I thought you could see the weave of my fate or something. Can't you tell from that?"
"I CAN," Spike answered, "BUT I FIND THAT IT IS SIMPLER AND MORE COURTEOUS TO ASK FIRST. IMPERMANENT BEINGS SUCH AS YOURSELF REQUIRE ASSURANCE THAT YOU COMMAND YOUR OWN DESTINIES, AND I WOULD NOT WISH TO DEPRIVE YOU OF YOUR PEACE OF MIND."
"That is… oddly considerate," Starlit replied. "All the stories I was ever told of dragons described them as brutal, prideful beasts that didn't care a whit for the concerns of those they considered their lessers."
"I WAS RAISED BY PONIES, TAUGHT THE WAYS OF DIPLOMACY AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING," Spike explained. "I AM AN ANOMALY AMONG MY KIN, THOUGH I KNOW NOT WHAT HAS BECOME OF THEM."
"I remember Twilight once telling me that your egg was given as gift to Equestria to broker a peace with the dragons," Starlit replied, sitting down next to Spike's head. "Was that the truth, or just another of her lies to placate me?"
"I FEAR I DO NOT HOLD THAT ANSWER," Spike answered. "MY ABILITIES OF FORESIGHT AND HINDSIGHT ONLY EXTEND TO THE MOMENT OF MY BIRTH. I KNOW NO MORE OF THOSE TIMES THAN YOU WOULD."
"Makes sense I suppose," Starlit replied, feeling a little disappointed regardless.
"SOMETHING TROUBLES YOUR MIND, STIRS THE THOUGHTS TOWARDS DARK MATTERS," Spike said as he shifted over, rising to a sitting position and lowering his head back down until he was eye level with Starlit. "I WOULD CARE TO KNOW THEM, IF YOU WOULD ALLOW ME."
Starlit cast her gaze towards Spike's massive, cat-slit pupil, now widened until it was practically circular. Gazing deep within she could barely make out the sparkles of light reflecting off the inside of his eye, like stars in an infinite sea of pitch; It was inviting despite the ominous vision it cast.
"Many things trouble my mind these days," Starlit answered. "Wondering if I'm doing the right thing, worrying that I'm leading Sun to his doom by fostering his desire to follow me into peril, feeling betrayed by Twilight who was my one constant in all of this."
"YOUR THOUGHTS TURN TOWARDS HOME," Spike said, a speck of light igniting in his eye before it faded just as quickly. "YOU WISH TO SEE PROOF OF YOUR ASSUMPTIONS, CONFIRMATION THAT YOUR WORRIES ARE UNFOUNDED."
"I do," Starlit answered. "Is that wrong? To want to be proven wrong so desperately? To want to see my family and know that they're safe and cared for, just like Twilight promised they would be?"
"IT IS NOT, BUT JUST BECAUSE YOUR ASSUMPTIONS ARE WRONG DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEIR OPPOSITE IS CORRECT," Spike replied with a blink of his eye. "THE MURK OF TIME BENDS AND WEAVES, FLOWS AS WATER DOES. EVEN I CAN ONLY SEE THE PATHS IT MAY TAKE, NOT THE ONE THAT IT WILL."
"Then is there a path where all of this works out?" Starlit asked, trying not to let desperation creep into her voice. "Is there anything you can see where I can go home and live a quiet life with my family after all of this is over."
With a moist sliding noise Spike closed his eye, and even through the thick scales Starlit could see his pupil scanning about underneath the lid. It flittered to and fro at a rapid pace like he was dreaming, until he opened back up and looked back to Starlit. His eyes were alight with innumerable tiny sparks of light until all of them blinked out but one.
"I SEE ONE ENDING FOR YOU THAT YOU DESIRE, BUT THE PATH THERE IS MURKY AND DISTORTED. CANTERLOT IS THE NEXUS OF YOUR FUTURE, AND ALL OF YOUR PATHS WILL CONVERGE THERE. I APOLOGIZE IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WISHED FOR, BUT THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER."
Starlit leaned her head onto Spike's snout, feeling the weight of her necklace pull a bit more forcefully downward. She could ignore it for now.
"It'll have to do," Starlit answered.
* * *
The flight back to Twilight's tree took three additional days, mostly because the strain of flying on Spike's back proved too much to handle for extended trips. They would have to stop every two hours or so to rest and let Starlit rebuild her magical reserve so she could keep herself and Sun anchored on, which wasn't doing her any wonders in regards to her mounting stress.
Once Starlit started to recognize certain terrain features she asked Spike to set them down and let them both walk while Spike flew by overhead so he wouldn't be seen. It would be a quite a distance to walk, but she wanted to maintain secrecy for as long as they could manage.
"We're going to be passing by my home again," Starlit mentioned to Sun, "so keep your head on a swivel. There could be thestrals about."
"Right," Sun answered as he finished clipping his cloak back on. "Are you going to want a minute to be there again?"
"As much as I would, we simply don't have the time for it. Every minute we delay is another that Twilight could be using to leave us in the dust."
Starlit and Sun set off together at a brisk pace, keeping the sun to their backs as they headed east. Starlit navigated down the trails that she knew as they walked, keeping her horn primed to draw her sword and glancing skyward to keep track of Spike. The dragon was doing his best to hide in the overcast clouds, but every now and again a wing or his tail would peek through.
The sun lowered through the sky until dusk started to settle as Starlit saw the road that led past her farm. With a jerk of the head she and Sun quickened their pace, and Starlit felt her necklace weighing further and further down the closer she got to home.
"Starlit, is your necklace doing anything weird?" Sun asked through heavy breaths.
"It feels heavy, more than usual," Starlit answered. "It does that on occasion, why?"
"Because that thumping in my head that normally happens when Silence is trying to talk to me is acting up," Sun answered back.
"What is she saying?"
"Nothing," Sun answered. "She's in there, but she's not talking to me."
"Is there any reason why she won't answer you?" Starlit asked, her heartbeat quickening as her canter turned into a gallop. Sun sped up to match her as they crested the hill and saw the silvery dome of light encasing her farm, still intact.
"Not that I can tell, no," Sun answered with a wince of pain.
Starlit felt her necklace tug towards the dome, at first a soft pull until the necklace held straight out that nearly pulled her off her hooves.
"Now what?" Starlit asked to nopony as she tried to resist the necklace's pull. The more she resisted the stronger the pull until finally the leather strap gave out and snapped off of her neck. The stone rocketed out of reach, even faster than Starlit's magic could grab, until it collided with the foggy dome encasing her home.
With a soft popping noise the dome exploded into a soft silvery light, slowly dappling away like light caught in rain, and on the other side was Stalwart Warden, hind legs reared back and primed for a strong kick.
Starlit slid to a grinding halt at the edge of her warding lines, which were now completely dead. Warden put his hooves back down and turned, a look of satisfaction on his face before it turned to shock at seeing his wife again.
"Starlit!" Warden cried, galloping down the dirt path until he swept her up in a big, strong hug.
"Warden!" Starlit replied in kind, reciprocating the hug before pushing him back. "What were you doing, trying to kick that wall down?"
"What was I… honey, we were trapped in there for nearly a month, White Eclipse and I both!" Warden answered.
A wave of terror and rage washed over Starlit's mind until it was disrupted by a booming voice echoing in her mind. She looked to the sky to see Spike rushing down out of the clouds, and Warden screamed as he saw a creature of nightmares land with a thunderous impact not thirty feet from him.
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS GONE, AND HER TREE BURNS THIS NIGHT," Spike intoned, his telepathic voice grave and serious.
* * *
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...I don't like this. Wasn't Starlit's family supposed to be frozen in time?
That was from chapter 2. And yet, there Warden is, saying he and Eclipse have been trapped for over a month. Just what didn't Twilight lie about? I think Twilight realized Starlit was onto her and started to cut her losses. I really don't like any of this that's going on...
9964115
Been cooking this reveal for a while now, nice to see it finally get to pay off!
Well, Twilight told her that she WAS special, with her magical potential at the very least. With her heritage too, although I might be confusing that part. Starlit WAS the most capable, even if the bar might have been by nessesity low.
Well, they survived somehow, so it wasn't all bad. Although it comes back, again, to Twilight... not able or not willing to actually do what she promised. Maybe not able, after all.
9964320
This moment was mostly Starlit trying to come to grips with the fact that she's been manipulated this far, so she's trying to suss out all theother things Twilight might have deceived her about. Self-doubt, especially for such a driven and self-assured character, is a hell of thing to grapple with.
Hmm, for my part something still doesn't seem quite right about even though it seems the Alicorns seemed to have gone off their rockers some degree or another.
My suspicion are still leaning towards its been Chrysalis that Starlit has been dealing with all this time and that Starlit is either Twilight's daughter or is unknowingly twilight herself.
9964999
Oooooooh I'm jumping the gun!
And so she’s lied about the time dilation, too. Sparkles, you’re gonna get one heck of a talking to, the way this is going.