Stars in the Sky

by Book_Wyrm

Magic

Chapter 9

Starry’s horn fizzled out with a ‘pop’, the spell leaving her. She frowned up at the magical extremity. “why isn’t the spell working?” She complained, “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be working.”

“Perhaps it's because he’s teleporting?” Amethyst asked, “I'm sure he could.”

“Amethyst, you can track a teleporter using where they appear,” Mystic butted in, “It's like connect the dots.”

Amethyst stared at her, mouth agape.

“Remember, you don’t have any university education.”

Shadow, looking up from where he was setting up the sleeping bags, they had bought in, “Yes, I suppose you do know better, being so high and mighty.”

Mystic looked at him apologetically, “It's just that I’m used to dealing with creatures who question my knowledge at every opportunity. I have to pull the university card a lot.”

“Of course,” muttered Shadow before turning back to his work.

---

Luna paced across the floor of her bedroom again. Then she looked up at the map pinned on her wall. There were a few locations marked on it in gray wax. Ponyville, Amberhill, Randhoof, Vanhoover. There was another dot in Amberhill though, this one in black.

Officially, Luna was in charge of tracking Starry Sparks, and relaying information to the Elements. What she was really doing was seeing where Starry went and preparing to give her backup if necessary. She was also tracking Tharykk, trying to locate him. The black alicorn was staying under the radar. In her free time, Luna had been borrowing every book her sister had brought with her about their homeland. A few had mentioned some great evil at the founding of Evern, but all knowledge of the event was shrouded in vague hints and legends.

Luna looked at the book lying on her bed. Magic of the Highest, it was called. She would need to hide it, before the cleaning staff came in. She had never allowed anypony to patch the loose stone in her mantel for that reason. The maids were specifically instructed not to touch it, because she had put up several powerful warding spells. It would take an extremely strong alicorn magic breaker hours of preparation to shatter them. Luna had spent the days of magical set up necessary to ensure that.

She slipped the text in there with a few other objects. One of them lay blue and gleaming. Luna took it out. It was a shard. A shard of her old armor, from when she had been blown out of her nightmare form. She had kept just one piece, as a reminder. Since she had stopped torturing herself in her dreams, she had looked at it nearly every day. The shard of blue metal had been caught in her mane, making it unnoticed for the first little while after her return.

Luna touched the hole in the mantel, reshaping the stone. She turned back to the map on the wall. Where are you, Starry.

---

Twilight strolled down a street in Vanhoover. She looked at a fountain, one with a statue of Princess Celestia. She was here, she thought. Starry Sparks had been spotted at the fountain three days ago, as reported a young guard on patrol. The mare was accompanied by the purple unicorn who had ended up with her in Ponyville. They had been joined, she was told, by a gray stallion, also a unicorn.

“Hey Twi, found anything yet?” Rainbow Dash asked. The cyan pegasus was flying above, looking down at her friend.

Twilight shook her head. There was nothing to show. All she saw was normal street life. Heading across to an alley, she looked down it. Then she felt something pulling on her hooves uncomfortably. Twilight looked down, caught on one of her hooves was a purple hair. Purple, in the shade of Starry Spark’s hair. Twilight read the magical signature. It was the same as that of the mare she had run into.

“I think,” she told Rainbow Dash, “I’ve got something.”

---

Wave Dancer was reading. This was quite the feat, because she was flying. Starry wished she wouldn’t. The oblivious hippogriff had nearly run into a tree. Twice.

Mystic had assured Starry that this was completely normal. Wave Dancer, it seemed, often ended up in near death situations through complete oblivion. As of the moment, it seemed fairly likely that the female would die of The Pony of Shadows: Dark Legends of the Equestrian Continent.

It was one of the times that Starry hated traveling. They’d been on the road for days. Nothing exciting had happened, and even the countryside seemed the same. eastward was always boring, because the climate was similar. Only a few places in Equestria were fantastic and interesting.

Of course, Starry handled the boredom the way she always had. She experimented with new spells as she went. It was impressive that there were enough spells in the universe, much less that she could remember them all. Starry had decided long ago that alicorn minds were designed to hold more, so that they could retain the sheer amount of information pouring in over thousands of years.

Of course, this magic spell, one that involved warning the caster when life forms approached, evidently did not work quite as planned. Starry could tell because it did not warn her about the approaching chupacabra. In fact, she was so preoccupied that she didn’t even see it until it was on top of them and Amethyst screamed.

“What is that?” The unicorn gasped.

“What is what?” Starry asked, looking up. “Oh, shit!”

The chupacabra leapt, coming straight for them. “Behind me!” Starry yelled as she brought a shield up to meet the beast’s charge. Amethyst and Mystic dove behind it at the last moment. The light blue shield repelled the creature. It struck again, again bouncing off. The chupacabra kept smashing itself against the shield. Starry could see what it was doing. It was attempting to break through it. She could feel her defenses weaken, slowly.

She held onto the shield, fueling it with her deep pool of mana. Starry watched the chupacabra, silently cursing herself. Why wasn’t I paying attention. I should have noticed it coming. Suddenly, she had an idea. With it came a plan. It was a desperate ploy, but Chupacabra’s were not highly intelligent. It attempts to shatter her shield were more that it was not giving up rather than a planned attack.

“Mystic, can you hold the shield?” Starry asked.

“For a short while,” The unicorn replied.

“Okay,” Starry said. “Just hold it. I’ve got a plan. ”

“What kind of plan?” Mystic inquired. Starry shook her head. “Oh, That sort of plan. Shooting Star?” when Starry nodded the unicorn mare grinned. “Good luck.” She lit her horn, her light green magic adding a second layer of shield to Starry’s. Then It became just one, blazing green shield, which Starry jumped through. Amethyst, Shadow and Wave Dancer gasped.

Mystic smiled, even though her face was covered in sweat, her teeth gritted. Starry smirked back before dashing away. The chupacabra looked up. Here was easier prey, running and unprotected. It chased after her.

Starry kept running. “Come on,” she muttered as she led the creature on a chase, “Just a little further.” The beast was closing the distance. Across the road she led t, putting more and more distance between her and her companions. Starry slid to a stop before an outcropping of rock, leaned forward, hooves dragging her to a halt. They were out of range of the shield now. With a grim smile, she lit her horn. It did not glow its usual blue, but instead a blazing, fiery white.

The chupacabra hesitated for a moment. Holding onto the burning sea of magic with all her might, Starry shot a giant white beam with her horn. The blast when it hit the beast was deafening, exploding outwards in white fire. It shook the ground with the sheer force of the explosion, dirt flying. When the dust finally settled, all that was left of the chupacabra was a blasted and scorched spot of the ground.

Mystic lowered the shield at last, and all four came galloping over. “Are you alright?” Amethyst asked.

“I’m fine,” Starry assured her. The gray alicorn was covered in dust, and there was a little dirt and dark gray ash splattered on her coat. “I’ve pulled something like that before.”

“What was that?” Shadow studied the scorched earth. “I’ve never seen anything like that?”

Starry gave him her small smile, “I told you I was good with explosions.” She dusted herself off as best she could. “we should get moving. Who knows what we attracted with something that loud?”

The others nodded. They all began to move again. Starry was very conscious of Shadow watching her. The gray stallion’s eyes followed her as she walked next to Mystic. I wonder how much he knows, or at least guesses, she thought. Mystic had figured it out with the first week. But she was probably one of the smartest mares Starry had ever met. With precognition, she was adept at discovering secrets. Shadow, it seemed, was of a similar nature, if with less magic and experience.

Starry kept a mental watch on the prickling sensation. When it subsided, she finally sighed a breath of relief, hearing Shadow begin a conversation with Amethyst. She did note, however, that Mystic was rather attentive to the conversation, casting glances at Shadow, a small frown on her face.

The alicorn groaned. Well, that relationship is off to a bad start. Let's hope it doesn’t get worse. After all, travelers fighting are travelers lost.

She tried the tracking spell one more time. They needed to know where Tharykk was. But once again her magic was broken, this time by Shadow’s voice. He was right near her. “Starry,” he asked quietly, “How did Mystic know what you were going to do.”

Starry sighed. “Shadow, we’ve done that before. Similar situation. With a chimera. And a wild type manticore. She saw my plan. It was a traditional escape, well thought out.”

He nodded, still looking skeptical. Starry looked to him. “And now, will you stop interrupting me. I’m trying to work this spell.” She filled herself with magic one more time. Her eyes began to glow slightly. She saw a map in her mind’s eye. She was flying above the landscape of Equestria. There was a spot of white, glowing in a little wood. Amberhill. Then a city, in the North East. He was in Vanhoover? Finally, the glow showed another spot. Manehattan.

Starry faded out of the vision, panting. She smiled broadly. She had done it. She had seen were Tharykk was. Now, of course was the long journey to get there.

“I know where he is,” She announced proudly. The others grinned.

“Where?” Wave Dancer asked.

“Manehattan.” Starry acknowledged their gasps and groans. “We have a long way to go.” I only hope it will be worth it. That he won’t leave before we get there. That we don’t die out here. We’re balancing a lot on hope. But that’s how it is on adventures. We've got to trust that we’ll survive, and then do anything in our power to pull through.

Author's Note:

And a new arc begins

Two more books. Please please please leave your own recommendations
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Furyborn by Claire Legend