Stars In The Day

by NightInk

Crazy Dead Guys and Starswirl the Bearded (?)

“So, what does cheese have to do with gluing my spiritual self back into a physical form?” I asked again, desperately trying to figure out what Legba was talking about.

“I never told you about cheese,” he said, sounding confused. “How did you know it was needed?”

“All, right, you know what? This is ridiculous. I’m going to get anywhere with a crazy old man who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I’ll figure it out on my own,” I cried, throwing up my hands in defeat. “I have to get back to my wife, and I can’t get that done standing here!”

He squinted at me like he was trying to figure out what I was saying. “Why are you so worked up?” he asked. “Everything works out in the end, doesn’t it? The worlds keep turning and the Crossroads stay whole. Think now. What did it take for you to come back to life last time?”

Finally, some sensible thought from this guy. “Last time it took compassion, forgiveness, and love for every creature ever born. But I have that now, and I can only travel between worlds. I can’t repossess myself.”

“Huh. That’s interesting. Did you try the cornmeal? I think it was a little dry.”

So much for coherence. “Seriously, what’s with all the food? Is the spell with food or in a restaurant or something?”

“Oh, no nothing as simple as that. It’s said that the spell is buried here, in the Crossroads somewhere. Starswirl left it here after he left. Said it was too powerful to carry around and risk it falling into the wrong hands. Not sure what it could have done in the mortal world.”

“Ok, good, this is progress.” And just in time, too. This wasn’t even really funny anymore. “Where did he bury it? Did he leave a map or something?”

He laughed a little bit. It was weird, more of a coughing laugh. “It doesn’t work like that in real death. He wouldn’t have left something like that around. He would have left clues around the Crossroads. Smart fellow, so he may have been able to leave them with important places or figures to whoever he believed would be next. And he could have figured that out by recalibrating the configurement of time and space and folding the past up to connect directly with the present and skipping all those years in between. Yeah. Smart fellow…” He kind of just trailed off muttering after that.

“So, do you know were a good place I could start?” He didn’t seem to hear me and just kept muttering to himself. His moment of intelligence was over, I guess. He wasn’t going to be any more help until he finished whatever thoughts were going through his head, and that would have been too much wasted time.

Turning back to the road, I began to head back to the center. He had said that important people and figures could have the clues. The only figures and people I knew down here were Ben, John, and Nightmare Moon, and Nightmare Moon had only been dead for a year and a half. There weren’t going to be any clues with her. Ben was my best chance.

He was in the same place as he was when I left. He had finished his fish and was working on what was already looking like some kind of monkey. Unlike all the other carvings he had finished while I was gone, this one sat on the bench next to him. All the others were just gone. I sat back down on the bench next to him and sighed. “Dude, that guy is insane.”

He laughed a little bit. “Yeah, he’s a bit off. Nice enough, though. Good intentions and all that.”

I pulled a block of wood out from under the bench where he hid it. I started to carve without really shaping a specific object. “Yeah. He said something about clues to where the spell I need being hidden around the Crossroads. Hidden by Starswirl the Bearded. You remember him passing through? Or leaving?”

He stopped his work and sighed. “Yeah. I remember him. Haven’t talked about him in a long time. Real long time.” He sounded sad and regretful, like it was a painful thought for him. “I haven’t thought about anything related to him in a long time. I’ve really tried to push it all out of my mind.”

I stopped working too. I was just wasting the wood anyways. “Thought about what?”

He let out a shuddering sigh and continued. “It’s a bit of a stretch for me to say I remember him coming down here. Not because it’s a fuzzy memory. It’s very clear, now that I’m letting myself recall it. Remember when you first died, and I told you I was like you in that I was a human that stumbled into Equestria by accident? And that I was a tremendously powerful unicorn? Well, I was Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Whoa.” I didn’t know what to say. Why wouldn’t he want to remember that? He was an Equestrian hero, as far as I knew. “Dude, why wouldn’t you want to remember being someone like that? I mean, weren’t you some kind of great guy, made incredible spells, saved lives and stuff?”

He somehow blew a raspberry. “Yeah, right. You’re still a young hero. The worlds haven’t beaten you down yet. Trust me; your fame gets the better of you. You’re enjoying it now, but soon people ask for favors that they can do, expecting you to put down every quarrel. Hell, I had one guy attack Canterlot single-hoofed just because he thought I would take him out myself. I welcomed death when it finally came by old age, and I took this job so that I could sit alone for a while. Granted, it got old pretty quick, but it was still kind of nice. To be ignored as just the figure of Death. I got so used to being called Death that I pushed Starswirl out of my mind, and just knew that I used to be Ben. I hid the spell when I died and just totally ignored it. And even if I had remembered it, I wouldn't talk about it to anyone. And I still won't.”

So my best chance, despite being Equestria’s greatest unicorn, was a dud. “Man,” I said, leaning back in my seat and putting my hands on my face. “So, you don’t have anything to offer in this situation? You, a hero and Death incarnate, can’t recall where you hid your own spell?”

“Yep!” he said, sounding a bit too cheerful for my tastes. “Don’t even remember where the clues are. I think the old man had one. That’s about it. He ought to be able to tell you where the other ones are.”

He wasn’t being very helpful that day. “All right man, if you can’t help, then I’m off.” I stood up and got ready to go, brushing wood shavings out of my lap.”

“Oh! I may have put one in the handle of that knife I have you!” he exclaimed.

“Un. Believable.” I just stared at him blankly for a second. “What other important info do you want to spring on me last second? Is my body being torn apart up there, making it necessary to create a whole new one?”

“Don’t bitch, just unscrew the pommel and shut it,” he muttered sourly.

I did, and I found a small roll of paper. On it was a strange poem.

Your spirit has been torn from your body.
The answer to your troubles may be a bit gaudy.
A fisherman can catch a bit of help.
You just have to untangle it from the armies of kelp.
Your greatest foe will be your greatest friend.
Last is the woman who will be with you until the end.

“You wrote this?” I asked after I was done reading it.

“Yeah, after I hid the clues. And completed the time traveling necessary to do that to its completion,” he answered, taking and reading it himself. “Wow. What was I talking about?”

“Yeah, no kidding. A fisherman, a foe who’s a friend, gaudy. This doesn’t make even a vague semblance of sense.” I took the paper back. Looking it over, I tried to think about each piece on its own. “The obvious one is the “Woman with me until the end”, but I’ll try to have everything done before I go back to Luna. Gaudy doesn’t make sense at all, I don’t know fashion. Are there any good fishing holes around here?”

“Not really,” he shrugged. “The lake, I guess.”

“Aw, crap. That means I have to see the old man again.”

“Hey, he’s nice enough. You just have to take him with a grain of salt.”

“Yeah, well, still, I’d rather figure something else out before I went there.”

“Nonsense, I’ll think about this while you talk to him.” I could hear him trying not to laugh at my discomfort.

“Man, you suck.” I turned back to walk down the creepy road to the creepy man and the creepy lake.

...

As I reapproached the lake, I could see Legba sitting on the dock with his fishing pole in hand again. As I approached, he reeled in a large rubber boot. He stood and threw it into a pile of clichés. “He, he, so you found the scroll already? My, my, Ben was feeling generous with the advice.”

Honestly, I was a little surprised he was speaking like he was intelligent right off the bat. “Wait, you really knew about the scroll? Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Some things are best found for yourself. You need to discover who you are for yourself. Did you bring any funny cheese?”

Oh, good, he’s back to normal. I was beginning to think he was sick. “There is no cheese, just a confusing riddle that I need to figure out so I can get back to my wife.”

He looked disappointed. “Oh, that’s too bad. I like cheese. I had some here for a while. It ought to be aged just right by now. I wonder where I put it…” he was lost in his own thoughts again, just like when I left him last time. At least this time I could understand his ramblings. “No, it wasn’t near any pudding. Pudding is good too. Not kelp pudding… Kelp is gross. I catch too much of it. Tangles up the line… Lines in the dirt, leads to truth, leads to lies, leads to funny ducks… Don’t like ducks either… they eat my pudding. Shouldn’t there be a pony down here?”

Right on cue, Nightmare Moon seemed to float down from the pitch blackness. For the record, she’s a much nicer pony now. After being killed, she went through a changing experience that would take too long to explain here. “Hello, Adam,” she said sweetly. I’ll admit, though, it’s still weird seeing her so nice all the time. “I was told you needed help with something?”

“Who told you that I needed help?” I asked. Ben didn’t leave his bench, and I didn’t even think she knew John.

“Well, a little while back, Ben approached me and told me about some kind of riddle you found. He said you were having issues figuring it out and that you needed some help.” She said it like it was no big deal.

“Wait, he actually left his spot?” I asked, amazed. “He never leaves that spot!”

“Oh, no, he can call any dead being to him by using that whistle, remember? The same way he called John.”

Oh. Right. He did have that. “Damn it. I forgot about that,” I admitted. “Well, here’s the riddle.” I gave it to her and waited for her to read it. “You understand it? Any of it?”

“Wow.” She mused. “This is an impressively written riddle. Things are confusing, but they still make sense in a roundabout way. A fisherman, ok, it makes sense to be here. Gaudy, I don’t know. Maybe Rarity could help us out with that. We’ll have to see her when we go to see Luna, like this last line says.”

I put up my hands in protest. “Woah, woah, I really appreciate the help, but I’m not sure that going back into the mortal world is going to be the best idea we toss around during this story. I mean, you’d only come back as a ghost since it’s my Element of life that we use to travel between worlds, so you wouldn’t be able to cause any damage… No offense! But the others may be a bit thrown off. I mean, I’m the only one who really realizes that you’re down here, much less that you’ve changed… Of course, it would be nice for them to realize that you’re a good pony now… Damn it… I don’t know. Let’s work on the rest of the riddle. When I go back, I may bring you with me. Let’s see, ok?”

She smiled, something else I was still getting used to seeing from her. I didn’t talk to her much since I had killed her. I smiled weakly back as she began to talk. “Yeah, I get it. It’s ok. All right, so the rest of the riddle. Skip gaudy, we’re at the lake for the fisherman. “Your greatest foe will be your greatest friend”. Hmm… Who was a greater foe, me or Discord?”

She had a point. She had been my greatest foe. “Well, you were. Discord is a prankster. Granted, his jokes are super messed up, but that’s what they really are. It’s not real evil like you were, and I’m glad you aren’t anymore. But yeah, I guess you were my greatest foe.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet!” she cooed. “Well, since I’m your greatest foe, I get to give you something for this riddle. Stay here, I’ll be right back!” Without another word of warning or advice, she leapt into the air and flew away.

“Wait! Hey! Damn it.” I had no idea where she was going, and I didn’t really feel like flying. It’s kind of a weird feeling when you’re a ghost, from what I hear. Besides, the lake was here. I just turned to Legba and made a pathetic gesture with my hands. “Have you had a coherent thought during that time?”

He sighed and picked his walking stick back up. “You know, you’re kind of an ass.” He walked over and looked me straight in the eye. “You’ve lost the kittens that brought you this far. You must find them again. These tasks are intended to allow you to regain sight of what was important to you before you began your Equestrian journeys. Each item you find will mean something. While we wait for the funny pony lady who I don’t know the name of anymore, you need to find the first item. Wait…no, the second item. Yeah, the second. The one that talks about veggies. Veggies are good… You know, I think that kelp is a vegetable. I catch a lot of that. It settles at the bottom of the lake… lots of kelp down there. Come to think of it, my best pole is down there too. Forget how that happened.”

“Damn it!” I cried, suddenly figuring out one part. “Whatever I need is in the bottom of the lake!”

Comments

[SpikeDark]

poor poor Adam

[Rubae]

If this lake is anything like the river Styx, then he's in trouble