A tale of Starlight

by redspark

02. Information and the Journey ahead

Chapter 2

Information and a journey ahead

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“…the reconstruction of the…” flash and a humph as the guard collapsed under the weight of two mares.

“Oh! Sorry!” Starlight said stepping off. Trixie took a second to realize, smirked for a second and got off as well. “There’s usually no creature standing in this…” she looked around, seeing the sky and a wall that was supposed to be there… gone… “…corner.” Trixie chuckled.

“No worries ma’am.” The guard stood up and looked at a large pony next to them.

Princess Celestia stood there, a slight smirk at what had just happened. Starlight and Trixie both bowed rapidly with Celestia laughing out loud after failing to contain herself at their surprise. “No need for that, Starlight, Trixie,” she said as she composed herself. Her face turned sour as she followed up with “I believe you are both here due to the letter that was sent?”

Starlight nodded and retrieved it from her saddlebags. “Yes princess.” Celestia smiled sadly as she gestured for the guard to leave them for the time being. “We came as soon as we could.” Trixie shook her head.

“Starlight had a breakdown and it took me, the great and powerful Trixie, to bring her to her senses.” Starlight blushed slightly. “What would she do without me,” Trixie said teasingly, but a clear and true smile as she poked her friend playfully.

“Har har… what would I do without you indeed,” Starlight replied whilst rolling her eyes. “But yeah, we came to see what we could analyze from the magical residue left by the magical discharge.” Celestia nodded and gestured for them to follow. As the moved down what was usually the royal quarters of the palace (now reduced to a ceiling-less walkway with the windows broken and half the tower gone with the other half perilously hanging by what seemed like an impossible angle and the bare minimum of hurriedly put together building material to keep it from collapsing.

They stopped in front of what was Twilight’s room, now a void that led down to the abyss under Canterlot. “Twilight had been researching a spell that would allow ponies to transport goods halfway across Equestria without the need for extremely long journeys or ridiculous amounts of mana. I believe you suggested the idea at some point, Starlight?”

Starlight scratched her chin momentarily before nodding. “Yes, I remember now. But it was simply implied on a purely theoretical basis. The possibility of said spell is too ridiculous to even consider seriously.” Trixie peaked down the abyss, seeming to dare herself to see how far she could stretch before retreating and whistling in boredom. Starlight and Celestia ignored it. “To think that she actually began to research that… Why didn’t she consult me?”

02. The letter and a journey Ahead

Celestia sighed. “I’m sure she had her reasons. Maybe in her mind this was simply a side project, and nothing important that required to distract you from your duties as headmare. She mentioned this little project to me once or twice, which is how I know of it and of the possibility of this being related to that. It was only but two days ago when she mentioned she was close to developing a spell that could allow large amounts of matter to be transported. The largest indication to this is the lack of debris from the tower. It appears the magic didn’t just break the tower, but disappeared it.”

“Which would explain the possibility of Twilight trying out the spell…” She peaked down the abyss and closed her eyes. Her magic reached out to the environment and she almost felt herself go dizzy at the sudden assault of magical residue. She opened her eyes, her spell dissipating; not having expected so much she had been taken by surprise. Celestia looked worriedly at her.

“Are you alright?”

With a nod, the purple mare nodded. “Yeah… I just…” she inhaled and exhaled slowly to compose herself. “I just was not expecting this much magical residue. Only an extremely powerful spell would leave so much…” She closed her eyes again.

Prepared for it now, she slowly unfurled her magical reach, feeling the magic around her as her mind began to analyze the feelings it gave her. It felt extremely similar to when she teleported, and possessed a similar smell, faint charcoal and a metallic sort of flavor in the mouth. It was amplified, however. It definitely implied the spell had been much more powerful than a simple teleportation spell, and the spell seemed to contain many more feelings that indicated it wasn’t just a teleportation spell. Maybe Twilight had misinterpreted it and the spell she had uncovered or developed had more than just teleportation purposes?

She was about to retract her magic when she felt it. Her magical signature.

“T-Twilight?” she muttered; her eyes still closed, her magic reached towards that familiar feeling.

“Star…light…” Faint whisper.

Suddenly, her mind went blank and just as sudden fast flashed crossed her thoughts. An ocean. Mountains. Griffons. Ponies but… larger. Horse, yes, they were horses. And there, at the end, a familiar purple pony. Before she could do anything with that information, she was kicked backwards by a sudden magical flow. Her body was sent flying, a loud thud as she hit the wall on the other side of the ruined hallway.

“Starlight!” Trixie shouted as she rushed towards her friend. Celestia also went, concern written clearly across her face. Starlight’s eyes were moving fast underneath her eyelids until she suddenly opened her eyes. She stared blankly as Trixie moved her hoof in front of her friend’s face. “Hello? Equus to Starlight?”

“I saw her!” Starlight rapidly stood up, feeling her body disbalance for a second as she regained her senses.

Celestia leaned a wing to keep her stable. “Are you alright?” her motherly voice asked with deep concern.

Nodding, starlight replied “Yes, being pulled out violently like that from a magical scanning spell is… not pleasant. It will take a few minutes for my senses and my body to readjust but apart from that I’ll be fine. However, that’s not important!” She looked at Celestia. “I saw Twilight. And she needs help.”

“Where is she?” Celestia’s voice still sounded concerned, but now excitement seemed to be filling in as well.

“She’s…” Starlight closed her eyes. The final picture she had received had been the map in Twilight’s castle. Maybe the map would help? “I have to get to Twilight’s castle. Maybe the map has some clues we could use.”

“And how do you know?” Trixie asked, unsure.

“I just feel it.” Convinced, Starlight looked at the two. “I’m going to be heading there. Where are the rest of our friends?” She hadn’t gotten to speak with the other five about this and they were by now most likely notified.

Celestia unfurled her wings. “I’ll gather them there. My sister will join us as well.” Starlight nodded as Celestia took off.

Starlight approached Trixie. “Ready?”

Trixie looked worriedly at Starlight. “You know… those teleportation spells aren’t good for you. You should use them long distance so much.” Starlight rolled her eyes.

“It’s an emergency! Come on. No time to lose!”

Flash. They’re gone.

---

Arriving to the castle, Starlight took a few moments as she gasped for air, half collapsing onto her friend. Trixie looked worriedly as her friend finally stood back up again, resolve on her face.

“Let’s go.” Her voice was resolute. Sure of herself. They would find out from the map and get Twilight back. Trixie, who had been previously smug and sure of herself (as always) did not seem as convinced.

“Err… Starlight, I really don’t want to be the party pooper here but,” they crossed the hallways and reached the door to the map room. “…are you certain the map will tell us? Maybe it’s not something you want to hear. What if she’s too far away from our reach, or worse?”

Opening the door, she stopped to look at Trixie. “Trixie, you don’t understand.” She looked down. “Twilight is not just my friend. She’s my mentor, she taught me friendship and I grew thanks to her. I cannot let her be gone. She could be in danger, alone, lost… and I cannot let that be. Not when there’s a chance, even if small, of saving her.” Starlight resumed her trot and stopped on the map next to Twilight’s chair. “Now… What will this table tell me now.” She scanned the map. It seemed as normal as always. Having not called them in years for friendship problems, it had sat there, abandoned except for the occasional meeting held there instead of Canterlot. It was, truthfully, sad in some ways. Reminding her of the past, and how much things had changed now. Twilight’s vanishing had only brought her memories from the times where they used to have more adventures and things would be happening all over the time.

In a guilty way, she felt excitement for the first time in many, many years…

Flash!

Pulling her from her thoughts, she stared at the map, which was doing something on the very edge, to the northeast. She ran to that side of the map and stared. The map was shining faintly there, but it seemed as if the map wanted to go…

“Further…” Trixie muttered. “The map wants us to go further…”

Starlight nodded. The map was telling them about it, but it was unable to give them the exact location. That meant they were meant to go further than the reaches of Equestria. Trixie was looking at her flank, to which Starlight finally noticed a faint shining on her cutie mark. She slowly turned and saw the same on her own. It wasn’t a vibrant shine and movement as when friendship problems used to happen, but rather… as if it were having soft heartbeats, barely managing to show themselves. It was similar to the light. It wasn’t showing them their cutie marks on the map, but rather a faint light.

“What do you think this means?” Trixie asked uncertain. “The map doesn’t work like this, does it? It hasn’t even worked properly in years!”

With a curious glare and some uncertainty on her mind, she thought of what to reply for a second. Starlight hadn’t seen that happen before. “I think it means we’re going far.” She looked at Trixie after looking at the map. “Very far.”

As she finished her thoughts, the doors sounded loudly as familiar ponies walked into the room. The two mares looked at the door as Celestia walked in, Luna in tow. The lack of five other mares was immediately noticed by Starlight.

“W-where are…?”

“They’re off.” Celestia said as Luna nodded solemnly.

Trixie almost shouted “They’re off?!” Everypony looked at her. “No, don’t look at me like I’m exaggerating. We have the map here telling US where to go! And they just LEFT?!”

“Trixie!” Starlight said. “Calm down!”

The showmare noticed her horn glowing, sparks coming out as she had lost her temper. She looked apologetically, having realized her outburst.

“Why didn’t they come here first?” Starlight asked, confused. “The map!” She pointed. “It’s telling us where to go!”

Celestia shook her head. “Discord.”

Both mares looked confused. “Dis…cord?” Starlight asked.

“Yes, Discord. He appeared as I was rounding them all up and said he would help. He claimed he had received a message of help from Twilight and that he needed them all for that. They all agreed and left with him. They can be in Yakyakistan by now for all I know.” Luna replied to Starlight’s question, taking a step forward. The displeasure in both was evident, as well as their confusion at the fact that that had happened.

“Well…” Trixie pointed at the map. “It’s telling us to go there… Should we gooooo or…”

Celestia nodded. She looked at Starlight. “Starlight.” she then turned to Trixie. “Trixie.” She unfurled her wings, determination on her face. “I want you to find Twilight, protect her friends and come back. I don’t know if Discord is being truthful about this, but this is all too suspicious to me. I trust you both to get this done and find her. Luna and I will remain in Canterlot and resume our duties until Twilight’s return. I can only hope it won’t be a long journey, but I have total confidence in you both.” She smiled warmly as she closed her wings once again.

Starlight bowed and nodded as she looked between the two princesses. “We will do this. We will find her!” Trixie nodded.

“The grrreat and powerrrful Trrrixie won’t let the princesses of Equestria down. She’s too great for letting down others.” She winked at Stalight who chuckled. The two princesses joined in the chuckle.

“Be safe, you two. Please keep in touch, don’t lose faith and trust in friendship. I’m sure we will see each other again soon.” The two princesses hugged the two mares, who were surprised at first but replied in kind. Once they broke the hug, Starlight nodded.

She inhaled and exhaled, feeling the pressure of the task build up. She had hoped to do this with the others, but it appears they were going to be alone for this. “We’ll go pack and head to the station. There’s a train that leaves in an hour to the crystal empire. I’m sure We can continue our journey north from there. And I can say hi to a dear friend.”

With that, the two left the room. They felt as the princesses teleported away, probably back to the palace in Canterlot to resume their duties.

“Starlight…” came Trixie’s voice. Starlight had been so inside her head that she hadn’t noticed Trixie behind her stagger for a bit.

She stopped and looked at her friend. “What is it, Trixie? We can’t wait longer. We’ve got to pack quick!”

The light blue mare nodded. “I know, I know, but shouldn’t we think about this further? It’ll be far. It won’t be like the time we went together to fix a friendship problem. We may not…” she stopped and sighed. “We may not come back,” she said weakly.

Noticing her friend, Starlight hugged her. “We will come back! It’s going to be an adventure, and once we find Twilight it’ll be even easier to return. You and me together, we’re unstoppable!” Trixie smiled and nodded.

“Well,” she said, hiding her fears once again. “with me on the team we cannot go wrong.” Starlight smiled as her friend returned to normal. Trixie had resumed walking, leaving Starlight slightly behind. “Well, What are you waiting for! Let’s go! No time to lose and all that.”

Starlight chuckled and followed her friend. A journey remained ahead of them, and they were about to take the first step…

Comments

[redspark]

10370638
Thank you!! Hope you enjoy

[redspark]

10370696
Yaaay! Thank you!

[Xanni]

An exciting start!

"Trixie peaked down the abyss" is a typo for "peeked", and you also have one lowercase "starlight".

[redspark]

10374462
Thank you so much for pointing that out!