Apropos of the Sinners

by SpitFlame

Part II – Chapter VII – No Good Reputation

At the library she was greeted by Olva, who had run up to her in the foyer.

"Airglow, your brother is here!" she began quickly, slightly nervous.

"Who? Cluster?" exclaimed Airglow. All secondary thoughts left her for a moment.

"Yes, Cluster."

Airglow was momentarily stunned.

"Wait, wait, first thing, did you read Nova's letter to Misty?" Olva asked at once. "Oh, Misty is here, too; she and Cluster are together in the back room, talking."

"Never mind that, Olva. Why's Cluster here with Misty?"

"They're talking about Nova. It's awfully strange. I wish she would marry some other pony instead of that Nova character—why not Cluster? He's so much more suited for her. Oh, and I wish Dr. Tubercuhoofis were here; he could piece some things together. And with him, Twinkie is getting better."

"Enough, mama, enough about Dr. Tubercuhoofis," laughed Twinkie; she was sitting in a corner by the table. "Give me the lotion quickly, mama. I'll be better soon, just you wait. Hi, Airglow!"

"Hey there," she responded quickly, but walked by Twinkie towards the back room.

"Where are you going?" asked Olva.

"Where?" Airglow paused. "To see Misty. They're in there, in that room, aren't they?"

"Oh, mama!" called Twinkie. "Go and see Misty yourself. She can't go. She must be so unhappy!"

"I'm quite able to go, actually..." said Airglow.

"What? You're leaving?"

"It's okay, Twinkie. When I come back we can talk as much as you'd like. But I really want to see Misty now, because in any event... but, uh, never mind."

"Mama, give Airglow a pillow for comfort. She'll need it! And I want to sleep, I didn't sleep all night."

"Oh, Twinkie, you're making jokes again, but I wish you really would go to sleep!" exclaimed Olva. "Go on, Airglow. She's too capricious today. I don't want to suggest anything, or lift the veil, but go see for yourself, it's terrible! She's convinced herself that she loves your brother Nova. I'll go with you, and if they don't send me away, I'll stay to the end."

But in the back room the supposed conversation was already nearing its end. Misty Gem was greatly excited, though she had a determined look. At the moment when both Airglow and Olva entered, Cluster looked like he was getting ready to leave. His face was completely tireless and straight, though one could sense hints of annoyance inclined on it; Airglow looked at him anxiously. She had known that Misty had come to him for relationship advice, considering he was related to Nova, but it devolved to a certain point where Misty was beginning to bother him. In what way could he help? He told her to "drop it" with Nova and find somepony else, but, strangely enough, such a suggestion seemed to almost hurt Misty—not emotionally, but in some way intellectually, like this were all just a calculation.

Would Nova actually marry Bouquet as a sort of self-punishment? This step Airglow considered a desperate one. Up until that morning she truly and unquestionably believed that Misty loved Nova. But now? Now a new idea began to stir in the air, namely, that Misty was deceiving and tormenting herself with her strained and dubious love for Nova, out of some kind of supposed gratitude—even out of wounded pride.

Cluster recognized this very clearly, which is why he told her to leave Nova. In the long run, let's say that Nova might finally submit to her for his own happiness—what was Cluster's say in that? "Serpent will eat serpent," Cluster had said, speaking with irritation about their father and brother. That meant Nova was a serpent, but was he, in the eyes of Cluster, a serpent for very long? Did that exclamation have anything to do with how he viewed Misty? Cluster was a practical and extraordinarily reliable pony; he would help, but only if irrevocably convinced in something beyond himself, something external, very much like some higher purpose.

And so all these hesitations and considerations flashed through Airglow's mind now as she entered the back room. Seeing Airglow, Misty quickly and joyfully said to Cluster, who was already near the door ready to leave, "Hold on, just one minute! One more minute, because I need the opinion of a fellow sister."

Airglow sat down next to Misty; Olva opposite to them, but silently, acting as a spectator, as it were.

"I declare to you, Airglow, that Cluster here—my constant and generous adviser and profound reader of hearts, my amazing friend—he very much approves my decision," said Misty.

"You could say that," said Cluster in a quiet but firm voice.

"Listen, Airglow," Misty continued, grabbing Airglow's hoof; the former blushed, and her eyes flashed. "I can't reconcile with anything anymore. Listen, I don't know whether I love Nova now. He's become pitiful to me, which is a poor sign of love. If I loved him, and still love him, then it's probably out of pity, except I shouldn't pity him. That's why I've decided to break off the engagement, but"— she emphasized very strongly —"I'll still love him as a friend, and I want to save him."

"That's right! Right!" Olva exclaimed.

"I don't know how you'll react to this," Airglow spoke out, her face burning, "only, I mean, I wish you could be happy, and everypony could be happy. Only, uh, I don't know a lot about these affairs..." she hastened to add for some reason. She really doesn't love Nova, does she?

"In these affairs, sister, the main thing is honour, and maybe something else, something higher than the honour itself. I've already made up my mind: even if he marries that... creature," she said bitterly, alluding to Bouquet Rose, "whom I can never forgive for seducing Nova, I still refuse to leave him!" She spoke this with a sort of forced ecstasy, pale in the face. "I don't mean to drag myself to his level, but I'll watch over him, and even if I marry somepony else, he can come to me and see me as his friend. Only a friend, of course. This is the whole of my decision. Cluster 'approves' of it—well, as much as he can approve."

Misty was almost panting from talking so much so quickly. She might have wished to express her decision in a more dignified and natural way, but her words were too out of style. There was too much youthful, uncontrolled energy, too much of an obstinate and vexed need to show her pride. Behind that display of friendliness Airglow could sense a level of irritation. In some weird way, this irritation was seemingly directed at Cluster, like he only half-approved of her decision but she sought the whole of it.

"By the way," she added as a side-note, feeling inspired to speak more familiarly, "I think that book you gave me was the wrong one. It was the book I ordered, but there was a weird card inside, completely blank except for the words 'elixir sixty-six.' It even had a series of random numbers on the other side. Might have been somepony else's. Weird, huh?"

With all that said, Airglow suddenly frowned, and a sad look came to her eyes.

"We can look into that later. But right now, I came to tell you," she began in a low voice, "that Nova, told me, to tell you, that... he bows out, Misty. That you may never see him again."

"What did I tell you?" said Cluster at once, as if not wishing to conceal any solemnity. "If it was any other mare she should have gotten the memo, but you're trying too hard, Misty. Nova can't be contained that easily. He wants nothing to do with your kind anyway. Let it go. If not for him then for me, because I only came here to pick up a book."

Cluster spoke decidedly, with a sort of confident malice almost, evidently deliberate. He was speaking as if in mockery.

Misty's face suddenly darkened, and an ominous look passed over her.

"That's just like Nova," she said with bitter, burning reproach. "He saves my friend, I eventually pay him back, and just like that he thinks we're even. No, he squandered those bits, but it's fine. Why can't he see that? Is he really that selfish?"

Right in that moment Airglow reluctantly came to many conclusions, and she looked at Misty and felt almost angry. Cluster had nothing to do with this after all, and now, after how she spoke with Nova not even an hour ago, Misty thought she had him all figured out.

"I never thought you'd act like this," Airglow suddenly exclaimed ruefully.

"What?" Misty stared at her.

"He's going away, to who knows where, because he wants to do you that favour, because you... you never loved him. You're only sorry for yourself, sorry that you're losing a friend, but even this feels like an act."

"An act? Why? What do you mean?" exclaimed Misty, incredibly astonished, frowning, and blushing all over.

"No matter how much you say that you miss him as a friend, you keep insisting that he'd be happy, and..." Airglow spoke quite breathlessly now, almost as if she were in dispossession of herself.

"Airglow!" said Misty, feeling insulted. "What are you even saying?"

"I don't know. I know I'm not putting it well; I'm not Cluster," Airglow continued in the same trembling and faltering voice. She felt like she made a grave mistake to say all this, but at this point she was plunging forth with the hope that it'd pay off. Even Cluster waited to see the outcome. She continued, "As far as I know it, you don't love my brother Nova, and Nova never loved you... but he only honoured you... I really don't know why I'm saying all this. I'm way in over my head. But I have to speak the truth."

Airglow suddenly broke off and fell silent; her face was a bright red from embarrassment.

"You... you..." Misty clenched her teeth. "You're just a naive little filly, that's what you are!"

"You're right on the money, Airglow," interrupted Cluster, and the edge of his mouth flickered into a small, sardonic smirk. "I came to that conclusion myself. There's no love in the air—only empty passions. But in any case it's largely nonsense. I didn't want to get to Town Hall too early, so I stopped by here first. Now it feels like I'm being imprisoned, not being allowed to leave."

"But Cluster," cried Misty, "surely you can't believe that. What about Nova?"

"Misty"— he turned to her as he opened the door to leave —"It won't be worth it. My advice again: let it go. What's it all good for anyway? Pfft! Some ponies just can't take a hint. Well, whatever. Take care." And he walked out without even saying goodbye. Olva immediately got up and went after him, stammering and calling back to him, but to no avail.

"Cluster," said Misty desperately, "come back! Oh, is that all you have to say!" She, too, took off, with the vague notion to stop him. By the time she reached the front door Cluster had already left the library and was trotting down the road at a brisk pace, completely ignoring her. Misty stamped on the ground, giving up her efforts, and trotted back to her house.

"No, no, this is all my fault!" exclaimed Airglow in a rueful illumination. "Cluster was way too hard on her, but he only said that because of what I said to Misty. I spoke so ignorantly. Oh..." Airglow kept exclaiming in sorrow.

Olva came back into the room, and apparently had heard everything Airglow said just now.

"You did nothing wrong, dear," she whispered quickly and consolingly to Airglow.

She smiled, much to Airglow's chagrin. Airglow pouted and walked back into the foyer.

"We're all in this together," said Olva after her. "Here, why don't you have some chocolate pudding? You love chocolate pudding."

"But I insulted her!" said Airglow.

"Don't believe in any of that, dear. Come now..."

"Mama, you're spoiling her," said Twinkie in her thin little voice.

"No," sighed Airglow, in an access of agonizing shame for her escapade; she sat down at the table where Twinkie was seated and even covered her face with her hooves. "I'm the cause of it. It's all because of me."

"It's okay, Airglow," said Twinkie, softly brushing her mane. "You're a good pony."

Unfortunately there was very little that could cheer up our Airglow. She felt terribly foolish, and far too grieved to go outside, so for the rest of the day she stayed in the library. Besides, the Summer Sun Celebration was coming up, and nearly everypony in town was attending.

* * *

Even by midnight she was still in real grief, of a rare kind. She had gone and tried to interfere with an "affair of the heart." But what did she know? Misty was right: she was just a naive filly.

"I'll think about it later," she said glumly to herself. She was walking towards Town Hall, and could already make out the bustle of a crowd of ponies. "Cluster will be there, and with the Princess at that! Maybe I could talk to him."

Every light in Ponyville was out, save for Town Hall, which was alight like a bright candle in the dark. Most ponies were already inside, with something like a dozen still lounging around in the outdoors, chatting away, rightly in anticipation of Princess Celestia.

Speaking of which, Princess Celestia had arrived that evening with a whole battalion of guards—though, I suppose "battalion" is a bit of an exaggeration. Nevertheless she greeted the mayor and some other important ponies, and headed inside to the banquet prepared for her. The decorations were all set up in her name.

The Summer Sun Celebration, thought Airglow, going up the steps. Legend says she banished her sister to the moon, but it's just that: a legend. No way there existed another alicorn like the Princess.

She made her way through the ponies and found a pair of guards standing like sentinels by a door to the right side of the stage. She assumed that Princess Celestia was in there, and by extension Cluster would be with her. She tried to ask for permission to enter, saying that she was his sister, but the guards instantly refused her, much to her disappointment.

"Cluster should show up eventually," she told herself, finding an empty seat among every other pony.

In the guarded room, if one came close enough, they could make out the faint patters of two voices conversing in rhythm with each other. Back there sat Cluster and the Princess, as well as Spender Spent and two more guards.

To note briefly, Spender Spent had been in charge of much of the budget planning for that night, and as the most experienced and recognized pony in that field (in Ponyville, that is), he managed to stay close to the Princess, and as expected, greeted her eagerly and reverently, making sure she was comfortable. He paid the same courtesies to Cluster, calling him "my young friend" as a means of conveying a certain universal ceremony, but he was slightly taken aback with how casually Cluster approached the Princess. He still spoke with her respectfully, but compared to every other pony, it almost seemed like the two were ordinary friends. In the meantime he was holding a checklist and going over much of the financial details, of which we need not get into.

The room had two lamps, a long table filled with sweets, several chairs, and a bench against the wall. Cluster had led Celestia through the backdoor, so as to avoid any attention. He had already run several errands, fortifying the celebration so that it went smoothly—and with very little help, if I may add.

Now, however, he was in the waiting room with her, and the two appeared to be going back and forth. Spender, incidentally, had caught them mid-conversation, and listened in with great curiosity.

"So you don't want me to investigate this?" said Cluster.

"I would wait a bit longer, Cluster," said Celestia. She took a sip of her tea, which somepony had poured for her almost instantly upon entering the room, much to her amusement.

"It isn't a decided matter," he went on. "This is a unique case. I don't know much about it."

"That always did frustrate you," tittered Celestia.

Cluster arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Not knowing things. It's a feature characteristic of only the most tenacious unicorns," she replied, inclining her head at him. "Remember when you obtained your cutie mark?"

"Yeah, I do."

Celestia unhurriedly sipped another mouthful of tea.

"Your overcharged your horn, and as a result brought an entire two-story building down," she said, not without a familiar smile. "Good thing the place was empty. You put out nearly one million joules of energy."

"You know the magical output?" asked Cluster, impressed. "Eh, forget it. There have been reports of unicorns losing their magic from all over Equestria, but just last month we've picked up patterns. Unicorns are mysteriously losing their ability to cast spells in less populated regions. That's not a coincidence."

"This concerns me as much as it concerns you," she said and, striding over to Cluster, placed her hoof on his shoulder. "My student, the reason I don't want you to look into this—yet, anyway—is because we don't have all the pieces realized and connected, giving us an incomplete picture; and to jump into something incomplete could possibly lead to recklessness. I have a team of mages looking into such a case as we speak. You shouldn't worry yourself with it right now."

"I was only saying," said Cluster distractedly, glancing past her. "Fine. We'll do this your way, but if anything about this case bumps into me, I... am not making any promises. Just so you know that."

"Your Highness!" Spender Spent approached Celestia. He was holding his checklist.

"Yes?"

"You're due in the next hour. Please, if there's anything you need in the meantime..."

"That won't be necessary, my little pony," she remarked amiably. "Do what you must."

Spender's face brightened. He bowed low before her, exclaiming, "As you wish, Your Highness." He left the room.

"One more thing," put in Cluster slowly, as if in hesitation. He stared directly at her. "May I ask your permission to leave for Baltimare?"

"Baltimare?" Celestia blinked at first, then her expression softened. "Cluster, why ever do you need my permission for something like that?"

"Because I want to go tonight—right now, that is."

She looked at him in surprise.

"You mean," she started, "during the Summer Sun Celebration, while I'm raising the sun?"

"That's right," he said, not breaking eye contact.

She nodded slightly, as it to herself in contemplation; she pursed her lips.

"Well," she said again, and again that same smile returned to her, "it's entirely your call. I'm not forcing you to do anything. Why do you need to go now?"

"I have a friend who's waiting for me. In short, she's down in the dumps about a private matter, and asked for my help. I don't want to delay."

Celestia's ears perked, and she began examining Cluster's face as though searching for familiar traits therein.

"You've changed a good deal, haven't you, Cluster?" she suddenly threw in, after a stretch of silence had settled in.

Cluster gave her an avid glance and pondered for a moment, sincerely wondering what she wanted to talk about. "How so?" he asked, not without a hint of apprehension in his voice.

"It's hard to say, really," said Celestia with a sigh. "You were... different last year. Not unrecognizably different, but you've grown more..." She paused, looking around the room. "More gentle, I would say."

Cluster involuntarily cocked his head back slightly. "So you think I'm turning nice. Is that it, Celestia?"

"Oh, no, no," she chuckled, turning to him. "Your temperament hasn't changed. But I remember a year ago, you were so reserved, so asocial, without any propensity to make friends. Now, however, I've noticed that you're going out of your way to help others. You donate money to anypony who asks, even at your own expense. Just now serves as a good example—you're leaving the Summer Sun Celebration just so you can meet up with a friend in need as soon as possible."

Cluster nodded, to show that he understood, but he did not say anything in reply. Instead he felt some very strange and, as it were, ancient feeling when looking at her, a feeling that, for whatever reason, felt like it came from thousands of years ago. Princess Celestia was indeed a very ancient pony, or so he reasoned.

"I remember when I first met you," continued Celestia, slowly, as if she were talking to herself, "you told me that you aspired to become a famous wizard, so that you could help everypony in need and save the world. But those aspirations died away, and you began to recluse yourself. In the books, in the labs—but are your former ideals resurfacing? At times I sense that you're putting yourself in harm's way, as if you owe your life to this world. Has anything like that stirred something in you, my student?"

"No, I'm still the same Cluster," he replied openly and even offhandedly. Perhaps Celestia was expecting to see some heavy burden weighing down his emotions, and she was helping him in lifting it; but he spoke with the same reserve, in the same composure, without any sign of interest. "The past has nothing to do with my aims, certainly nothing to do with resurfaced ideals either. Anyway, Celestia, I only came to inform you that I was leaving. So..."

"Hmm, I see. Very well. If you leave now I won't fault you for anything."

"That's all I needed to hear." Cluster began making his way to the door. "Farewell and take good care, Celestia."

"Oh, and Cluster...?"

He turned around.

"Make sure to say hi to your sister for me."

Cluster did not say a word, merely nodding in silence and leaving the room.

"He's an undecided soul, that one," said Celestia suddenly.

"Huh?" One of the guards looked at her. "Were you talking to me, Your Highness?"

"Oh, no, just thinking out loud," she chuckled, and finished off her tea.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

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Well, if you do think of anything, could you please PM me? Knowing who'd voice what character helps my reading experience.