Shrinking Lavender

by Yinglung

Chapter 11

Woah, that’s really good.

“I’m glad you seem to like it, Twilight. I used a signal lamp to tell my coworker in Trottingham to bring me a freshly-made one on the very next train. It’s reheated, so…”

“No, no, it’s fine! What a tasty dish, this bubble and squeak! Now I don’t understand why mainlanders always gave such a bad rap to Griffish cuisine. It’s simple, but it’s excellent!”

“Glad you think so!”

Night Tide grinned. “Maybe because the Prench had such a great name as good chefs, ponies tend to ignore our unique mix of cooking styles brought by years of us living in a pony-griffon melting pot.”

“They should really advertise about that. Maybe it could even boost the Griffish economy.”

I then leaned forward and said. “But more importantly, did you find…”

“Twi- light! I-”

I immediately turned to the source of unusually bubbly voice. Starlight trotted in from the corridor with light steps. Seriously, I’ve never seen her being so happy and light-hearted before.

Though, once she saw Night Tide next to me, her smile immediately evaporated.

“… Why are you still here? Go back to hug your trains already!”

She then looked away from him with a pout. However, she immediately noticed the bag of bubble and squeak I was chomping on, and gasped aloud.

“Oh my goodness, I’ve totally forgotten about… Where did you get it from? There shouldn’t be any bubble and squeak vendor in the Ville!”

I grinned and pointed at Night Tide, who waved at Starlight Glimmer awkwardly.

“I heard that you two had a competition, and you owed Twilight a good ol’ bubble and squeak. So I signaled my colleagues to bring me a fresh one from Trottingham on the next train. This way you don’t have to go all the way back just to buy one.”

Starlight Glimmer narrowed her eyes and huffed. “… Who need your help now, huh?”

She magicked a few bits from her saddlebag, and was about to throw them to his face.

I quickly jabbed his backside and whispered hurriedly. “Go already!”

He swiftly inhaled, sprang forward and tackled the light purple unicorn.

“Eeep!”

When Starlight’s sight refocused in front of her, she gasped to find that Night Tide was face-to-face with her, with her back pinned against a wall.

“W- W- W- What are you t- t- trying to do, you stupid-head?!”

Night Tide drew in a breath and almost yelled. “I’m sorry!”

“… What?”

“I never had a chance to say that to you. I always told myself that I couldn’t go find you because you told me not to. But after hearing what Twilight said, I understand that I was just a coward, finding excuses for myself not to fulfill my obligation towards you.”

Starlight began to look really bitter. She bit her lips and growled sarcastically. “Obligation…? Oh my, what obligation? The only reason you’re with me was money, and that was it! Don’t make me laugh now-”

“Starlight, stop.”

The light purple mare widened her eyes.

“We’ve been with each other for so long. I should’ve understood how deeply my departure would affect you. I could’ve dealt with it better, but I didn’t. Now you’ve grown up, I can’t give you your happy and carefree foalhood back… I can’t even describe how deeply I regret it. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive my cowardice, Starlight?”

Starlight Glimmer inhaled sharply. Tremor filled her body, and she began to lightly sniffle, which then developed into a sad and bitter sob. Her hooves rained down on Night Tide’s chest.

And she certainly didn’t do filly pushes, each smack actually produced a loud pounding sound. Night Tide’s face was clearly showing discomfort, but he just let her anger flow out and onto himself.

After a good while, Starlight was calming down by a bit. Night Tide gently sighed. “You often said that I was obsessed with trains and serving on trains. But it was, after all, simply my hobby, my ‘talent’. On the trains, I saw and met thousands of ponies each year, and I recognize quite a few of them by face. Yours, Starlight, remains the most memorable face for me. The years we spent in Sire's Hollow are joyous, unforgettable, and above all, irreplaceable. I don’t want you to discard them simply because of my untimely departure, for I have always kept you in my heart.”

“Y…You do?” Starlight blinked.

“Every now and then, I would actually return to Sire's Hollow to visit family and friends. Every time I ask them your whereabouts and avoid you, for fear that I would upset you. But I still ask around about your status… just to do nothing with it until now.”

“Y- You stupid do-do…” Starlight sniffled, and punched the stallion some more. The punches this time, though, were weak.

I tried to suppress my wide grin into a simple polite smile. Starlight Glimmer might be brash, cynical and even down-right aggressive at times, but deep down she was incredibly soft-hearted.

It was obvious that she had all but forgiven him. I was right – there was only one thing that she was waiting for so long, and that thing was his heartfelt confession of his feelings.

************

“Stupid stallion! We’ve just formally reunited, and he immediately had to go back to his post! How can somepony be such a train-hugging idiot, huh, am I right, Twilight?”

“Ha, ha…”

I scratched my cheek and chuckled politely. I had not pictured Starlight to be such a clingy… and punchy type like this.

Starlight then bit her lips and looked a bit embarrassed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Twilight, you’ve again helped me through another big old issue that has been troubling me since I was a filly. It’s really my blessing to have known you. I don’t know how to ever repay you.”

“Saying silly things again, Starlight? Friendship isn’t loans, you don’t have to repay me in anything material other than continuing to be my friend.”

She gulped and gingerly nodded. “… Thank you, regardless.”

I decided to shift the topic to make her less flustered. “I saw you being quite happy when you came in. Did anything good happen?”

She immediately brightened and grinned. “Sure do, Twilight!”

She magicked a whole bag of bits from her saddlebag and shoved it in front of me. I immediately shook my head vigorously.

“W- What’s the matter? I can’t possibly accept that! I told you-”

“But Twilight, I couldn’t have gained these bits if I didn’t come to the Ville. So this is technically yours.”

“… Huh?”

Starlight grinned. “You see, since my family is reasonably affluent, many ponies would come to us and borrow money. Most of them are just our local neighbors who needed a small amount of bits to grease the wheels, but there are big borrowers as well. One time, two travelling salesponies came to Sire's Hollow. They’ve definitely heard of my dad, since they went straight to him for bits. Usually, we won’t lend to just anyone, but only ponies and griffons that we trust. But these two ponies were willing to put down their permanent-motion cabbage-harvesting machine as a collateral, so my dad nodded.”

She then mumbled with some indignation. “I knew from their shifty looks that they couldn’t be trusted, and lo, they escaped with our money and disappeared. Still, my dad thought the machine was worth it – Until it turns out that the salespony brothers have put some small animals inside each time to make it move by itself, and it was not self-moving at all! Sadly I was too young and inexperienced to call out their tricks. This put a great dent on our finance, and it compelled my parents to leave home all the time to earn those bits back. It’s a mixed blessing, I guess, since I couldn’t have met the stupid do-do if they didn’t need a foalsitter.”

“I presume you’ve caught sight of the thieves in the Ville?”

Starlight laughed aloud. “Ha, ha! See, that’s why it’s so much easier to talk to someone smart, instead of…”

She grumbled briefly, and then put her tongue out. “Yeah, so after I went out of the ward, I saw the two brothers peddling their snake oils to the out-patients in front of the hospital. Somepony’s nerves! I immediately confronted them, and when they tried to sneak away, I made them stop, and I made them go to the police by themselves instead. Although our bits are long spent by the two thieving brother, the chief was quite happy that another unicorn brought them in. The brothers were apparently involved in multiple scams apparently before that, and some generous soul had put up a bounty, which I claimed for you!”

Facing a brightly grinning Starlight, I smiled as well. But something in what she said unsettled me.

“I- I’m very glad, and I can’t thank you enough… I don’t think I deserve your bits still, but we can talk about it later. But first, I want to know… what do you mean by ‘making them go’? By themselves?”

Starlight looked surprised that I didn’t get it. “Huh? Of course I used a spell to psych them into giving up themselves using a reasonably strong mind magic spell. I’m not going over the trouble of tying them up with a rope and dragged them along on the street.”

I shifted uncomfortably. Although I had met few highly magical unicorns besides Twilight, I didn’t feel that magic should be the way to solve any and every problem.

I was keenly aware that this set me apart from what the bona-fide Twilight would say and do, but it was a truly visceral reaction, especially given what I’ve been through… When free will was suspended and minds were held captive, it just chilled my conscience off.

Problem was, unicorns like Starlight had little sense of severity as to what their powers could bring. Even I, as a dragon, must learn to control my flame, or else I would risk burning down a house just by burping after a meal.

However, they cared more about how to cast complicated spells than why. She thought messing with someone’s mind was as trivial as turning an apple into an orange. Minds were a bit more complicated than fruits, as I grimly discovered.

Even now, there was a small part inside me telling me to just shrug it off, but I couldn’t for my good heart do that.

Outwardly though, I still said quietly with a diplomatic tone. “Well, they might be scammers, but I think even the worst of criminals have the most basic right to be treated as ponies and not just objects to cast spells on.”

Starlight’s smile faltered, and she pouted. “They deserve it for swindling so much money from my family! And you should know better, Twilight, being such a magical unicorn yourself. Magic is a wonderful, wonderful skill, an art in of itself. It is also our special talent, and it’s only right that we use our talent to solve problems.”

“Yes, we are good at magic. But just as somepony who are good at sword-fighting can’t solve everything by shoving the blade into every problem, we can’t just throw magic at problems, especially when it concerns other ponies or sentient creatures… especially their minds.”

“Twilight, I didn’t know you’re the moralizing type.” Starlight crossed her hooves and huffed.

I lowered my head hearing her implied repudiation. “… I’m sorry you felt like that. I just think that when it comes to the mind and the sense of self, it should be the last line to cross. Messing with it, and making somepony not themselves was to me one of the worst things you could’ve done to them, worse than physically hurting them, worse than banishing them to the moon.”

Starlight knitted her brows and said dubiously. “… Worse than taking their lives?”

I slightly widened my eyes, and cautiously shook my head. With some hesitation, I took in a slow breath and said. “I won’t go that far. But I’d still say though – we feel that we’re awake and aware, but it’s the unfettered stream of mind and thoughts that make us us. If we just mess with one’s mind, we’re cutting this stream. We’re, in other words, trampling on his or her very self, even rewriting them according to our liking. If their mind is forever altered, then it’s like putting out a mind and replacing it with a new one, laughably trying to fool ourselves and the others. Even in the case that such intervention reverts by itself, there will still be a gaping hole in their personal history, and their selves are still compromised.”

Starlight looked at me with wide eyes, but stayed quiet.

“Physical wounds are straightforward; they heal with time. You can even bring somepony back from the moon, just like Princess Luna. But minds are much murkier matters. If we allow us to go for the easier, but also more callous route, then we’re opening ourselves to see others as objects of comfort or discomfort, rather than walking, breathing and thinking fellow creatures. This neglect for empathy makes many a villain in the history of Equestria and beyond.”

Starlight’s face was tumultuous. She seemed to take it as me hinting at her being a villain-in-waiting. I hurriedly added. “Um, I’m saying that not because I think that you’ll fall for it… You’re a smart mare. I worry for… myself, and I always remind myself not to do so.”

“… You kid, Twilight. You’re easily the most thoughtful pony I’ve ever met… Not that I met many ponies, but it does not diminish my judgment.”

Starlight then sighed. “I guess I never thought of it this way.”

“If not because of…”

I bit my lips abruptly. I couldn’t tell her yet. My heart almost leapt out of my chest, and I again felt the intense desire for disclosure. But I bit it back bitterly.

Starlight looked at me quizzically, but she looked down to the floor and said. “I suppose I would try to limit my use of such magic if this means so much to you. I’ll give it what you’ve said some thoughts as well.”

“Thanks, Starlight, it really means a lot to me.”

I smiled. “Your appraisal of me is too generous too. I was a bookworm, I’m still a bookworm. I was one step away from becoming a total shut-in if Princess Celestia had not sent me to Ponyville on a mission to learn friendship.”

“Bookworm, need to learn friendship, you? Bah! Are you kidd… Wait, did you say the Princess herself send you on a royal assignment?!”

I opened and closed my mouth. I realized I had not really explained my background to Starlight.

“… Um, yes. I am a student of magic under the tutelage of Princess Celestia.”

“Student of magic… Twilight Spark- Wait, I saw you in the papers!”

I widened my eyes. “In the papers?”

“You’re the bearer of the Element of Magic!”

I was first shocked by her mentioning of the offending object that caused my current conundrum, and only then realized that she only meant she heard of Twilight and her friends’ exploits, which cleansed Princess Luna and saved Equestria from eternal night.

“I… uh, yeah, I’m.”

Starlight began to snicker, which turned into a loud laughter, causing me to frown in confusion. “W- What’s wrong?”

“You, Twilight Sparkle, royal student of the Princess, have to go to as far as the Griffish Isles, a place so destitute that even griffons won’t lay eggs nowadays, just to find bits to repair a hole in the wall? You make my belly ache from laughter!”

I pouted. Making money was not the primary reason of my journey. If I was really only looking for bits, I could have found some extra work in Ponyville or Canterlot, or if I was really desperate – explain the situation to either my parents or the Princess and beg for some emergency allowance or loan.

But I couldn’t tell Starlight the whole thing, could I?

So I made a face and tutted. “I just did what I like.”

“Really? You are far from the most random pony I’ve met.”

“That honor belongs to one of my friends in Ponyville. You might find her hiding in a flower pot inside your own house for no real reason. No real comprehensible reason, by the way.”

“Hey, got to check them out when we got there, hah? If they’re as least half as interesting as you, then it would be quite worth the trip already.”

I grinned wryly. But in my mind, what she had said reminded me that I had to resolve my current ambiguous status. I couldn’t just lecture others on the sanctity of the mind, and then just casually violate Twilight’s. That would make me history’s biggest hypocrite ever.

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

Early Starlight is a cool twist... and the mind control stuff that we know Starlight doesn't worry about too much forms an interesting thematic link.

[honeyhoneyhoney]

The last fourth was good.

Too much forced dialog for mah taste. But ah'm glad it ended on a positive note.