A brown ear twitches to the sound of chirping outside the window. An annoyed mumble escapes a brown muzzle as a brown set of hooves grab a pillow to bury his head under it.
Seconds fly by.
As well as the pillow.
“I'm late!” the young, brown stallion yelps in surprise as he jumps off of his bed, “Darn it! How could—w-whoa!” and collapses on the wooden floor with a thud. “Oof!”
“Someone's awake,” he heard a feminine voice through his room's door.
“Mom,” the stallion grumbles as he stands back up on four hooves. “Why didn't you wake me up?!”
“I was about to, you lazy bum,” his mother replies from the other side of the door. “Breakfast is ready.”
Grabbing his saddlebags and hoping all his stuff are already in there, he runs out of his room, dashes down the stairs—passing by and ignoring his mom and her scolding words—turns and runs toward the bathroom.
“For Celestia's sake, Jay, slow down!” his mother yells as she turns to the kitchen, glancing at the news on their television, where the camera is focused on Princess Celestia standing in front of her castle in Canterlot. A nervous shudder runs through her body as she takes her seat at the dining table. “Here's to hoping those space beings won't harm us or anything...”
After washing and drying his face, Jay takes a quick look of himself on the mirror. “...Good enough,” he mutters to himself before dashing out the bathroom. Entering the kitchen, he steals a toast from her mother's plate, gives her a quick hug and turn around to the front door. “Gotta go bye!” he quickly says through the toast.
“At least eat the eggs—aaand he's gone.” His mother sighs, rolling her eyes as she stands up and walks towards the opened front door. Closing it, she turns around but the television catches her attention again. With a shrug, she returns to the kitchen, grabs her plate and sits on the couch in the living room, watching the news.
Outside, Jay is galloping through the waking streets of his neighborhood, greeting the ponies he recognizes with either a nod or a quick wave of a hoof without slowing down.
“Morning, kid!”
“What's the rush, kid? It's still early!”
“Slow down, kid!”
“Yo, Jay! Um...bye Jay?”
A shrill whistle erupts in the air. Joining the waiting crowd, Jay impatiently jogs in place as he chews on the toast. A minute later, the traffic pony turns the green sign to red, making the carriages and cyclists to stop. Jay dashes through the crowd of ponies, throwing a quick wave at the traffic enforcer who arches an eyebrow at him.
After a few more minutes of running, Jay finishes eating his toast just as soon as he sees the white gates of the town's high school. A few young ponies flash their identification cards at the guardponies stationed at the gate of the school.
He stops a few paces from the gate, sweating, panting for breath, and glaring at the trio of smirking students grouped together by the gate.
“Look who's early,” says one of the stallions with a black coat and white mane and tail. He looks at the tall clock tower in the distance. “...two minutes before the deadline. Nice.”
“I am so gonna kill you guys,” Jay wheezes out, making the group chuckle.
“Heh,” another said with a white coat and a yellow mane and tail. He fishes out an ID card from his saddlebag. “Your fault for losing that bet yesterday.” He throws it at the panting stallion.
Jay catches it with a brown hoof. “I am still going to murder all of you.”
“Right,” another one nodded, raising a blue hoof to his face to adjust his glasses and to wipe the dark-blue strands of his mane out of his face. “I do hope you won't smell the entire day.”
The four stallions then go inside the school, showing their IDs at the guards to let them in.
“I still can't believe you took that bet, Jay,” the white-coated stallion smirks.
“I can't fucking believe that he lost that one!” the black-coated stallion exclaims.
“Language, Gamma Hoof,” the blue-coated stallion says.
Gamma throws a glare at him. “Oh, sorry, mom.”
The blue stallion rolls his eyes.
“But seriously, Jay,” the white-coated stallion says. “All you had to do was ask for that cute filly's name, not her mom!”
Jay sighs. “...Remind me to never hang out with you guys ever again.”
“Indeed,” the blue stallion nods his head. “If it were me, I'd never talk to any of you stallions ever again.”
“Admit it, Blue, it was hilarious!” the white-coated stallion says.
A smirk flashes on Blue's muzzle. “Indeed it was, Zap.”
“I'm murdering all of you, I swear to Celestia,” Jay grumbles, wiping a few gray strands of his mane out of his face.
The four walks up the steps toward the school building.
“Oh, hey, guys!” Zap suddenly says, turning to his friends. “Those weird alien ships above Canterlot, you know about them, right?”
“No, Zap,” Blue frowns. “We don't.”
The others snicker as they turn to the cafeteria, led by Zap.
Said stallion rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, today's supposed to be the day the alien leader thing is going to announce something!”
“Oh?” Jay says.
“Mhmm,” Blue nods his head.
“Shame that we won't know what it is until later when we get home though,” Gamma says, frowning. He soon realizes where they are. “...Why are we here, anyway?”
Zap turns and points at the television screens hanging on the corners of the cafeteria, where a few students and staff are grouped together, watching and listening to the news.
Gamma blinks. “Oh.”
Blue smirks. “Nice thinking, Zap.”
“Heheh.” Zap quickly leads them to the nearest screen. Standing on the end of the crowd, he approaches a yellow-coated and black-maned mare and taps her shoulder. “Hey Fourths. Anything interesting we missed?”
“Morning, too, guys,” the young mare says with a smile. She shakes her head and returns her gaze on the screen. “You guys are just in time, actually! Princess Celestia's just about to introduce the alien!”
Just as she says those words, the round of applause from the speakers starts dying down. “Fillies and gentlecolts,” Princess Celestia says, “please let me welcome to all of you, the queen of the extraterrestrials, the Starling Queen.”
Jay notices how subdued the applause is as Celestia steps aside, completely vanishing from the screen, and then from the other side, a strange, golden creature stands in front of the microphone.
A few murmurs erupt from the students in front of Jay and his friends, about how weird the alien looks.
The said queen curiously taps the microphone. It turns to the direction where Celestia is, and a few seconds later, she leans her head towards it, and speaks: “Hello?”
“What a lovely voice,” Zap mutters under his breath, smiling.
“I am sorry...” the alien matriarch said. “There's just so...so many kinds of you, and I am really, really overwhelmed, and overjoyed that your rulers, your princesses, has allowed us, me and my beloved children, to live with you.”
Jay and his friends share a curious look with each other.
“I am Andromeda, the current queen of my Starlings.”
“Starlings...” Blue mutters.
“I have gathered my children and traveled the cosmos in search for a new home, after...a-after...” She sniffed, eliciting curious murmurs from the offscreen crowd that have gathered outside the palace. “I am sorry... I understand you all need to know the reason why we came here... Why we wish to live here with you all.” She takes a deep breath. “...For you see...our planet... Our home...has died.” As the murmurs erupt, the alien queen shivers. After shaking her pointed head, she takes another breath. “...Unlike your world, ours didn't have anyone who can...control the sun. Our sun was slowly dying, and our planet was getting cold. As the ruler of my children, it was my duty to save all of them.” A sob. “I wasn't able to save them all...”
Silence, other than the occasional static coming out from the speakers.
She takes a breath. “I am sorry. I did not mean to make you all feel sad.” Another breath. “Our days of sadness is over, all thanks to each and every one of you. I cannot thank you enough for allowing my children to live with you.” As a quiet murmur fills the silence, the alien matriarch looks to where Celestia took her exit. After a short pause, she nods before facing the audience again. “I am sorry. I should have explained why I kept on telling how happy I am for you all in allowing us to live with you.”
“Mhmm,” Blue nodded. “I was curious about that.”
“Isn't it obvious?” Zap asks. “They make an alien city and live there.”
“...Maybe.”
“We are Starlings,” the alien matriarch says, “and we live off emotions. Positive emotions.”
“Like Changelings?” Gamma asks.
“That is the sole reason my children and I were able to survive the decades-long journey through the cosmos.”
Jay whistles in awe. “I don't think Changelings can survive decades of nothing but love...” he says as the Starling Queen starts explaining what Starlings are.
“Nope,” Gamma shakes his head. “We certainly can't. At least...” he taps his chin with a hoof. “...that's what Princess Twilight's research says.”
“You need water, too, right?” Jay asks, looking at his friend.
“Yep.”
“Well,” Zap says, looking at them both. “There's always piss.”
“Do you want a hoof-hammer to the head?”
“I'd pay to see that,” Blue says, smirking.
“Of course you would,” Zap says, glaring at him.
Jay and Gamma chuckle before returning their attention to the screen.
“—basically, my children lives by the bond between them and you. We don't feed on you, but rather, the bond you share with us is what makes us live. My children shared a bond with each other, but it is not enough to achieve even simple flight...
Blue arches an eyebrow. “Flight?”
“If these ‘Starlings’ somewhat resemble their queen, then maybe they have wings hidden underneath their golden dress-shell things?” Zap offers.
“Probably.”
The alien matriarch then extends her arms wide.“Once again, thank you all so much for allowing my children to live a new tomorrow. Now... I have let my children wait long enough.” Returning her golden arms to her side, she turns to Celestia. With a nod, she turns back to the crowd. “As a mother, it saddens me to part with my children, and it worries me to let them go to the big unknown, but it makes me happy and proud to see them enjoy this new life you have offered us. Please, I beg of you, take good care of my children.”
“Huh...” Gamma says as the camera zooms out, revealing Celestia standing a few paces beside the alien leader and a huge crowd of ponies gathered in front of the castle. “So...that's it?”
Loud, collective gasps suddenly blasts from the speakers, and the camera turns up to the sky, where the four dark airships start glowing yellow.
Before anypony can further react, the shining airships quietly explode like fireworks, showering the sky like collective meteor showers.
“Pretty,” Zap mutters.
...and then some...no, many of those falling stars start falling down towards Canterlot.
“Holy shi—!” the cameraman can be heard saying as one of the many falling stars is directly falling towards the camera.
The cafeteria is suddenly filled with shrieks, some closing their eyes or looking away.
...but the falling rock stops and hovers inches in front of the screen. “Hi!” it says in a child-like voice. “I'm a Starling! What are you?”
“Uuuhhh...” A pause. “...I need a new pair of pants.”
The floating, yellow glowing rock slowly transforms into a star-like being, blinking curiously at the camera. “...What's a pants?”
A new set of gasps erupt in the cafeteria. Shooting stars phase through the walls and ceiling, and hovers in front of a few startled students.
“HI!” the stars greet their chosen ponies as they slowly transform.
“Aww... They're cute!”
As a few more stars appear before a student and staff, Jay and his group stare at the event in awe.
“Hm...” Blue hums in thought. “They live off of the bond between their chosen pony?”
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Zap asks.
Gamma glares at him. “Do you need help pulling your head out of the gutter?”
“Don't you mean ‘mind?’”
“I mean what I say.”
A space rock now hovers in front of Zap. “Hi!”
“Whoa!” the stallion whoa's.
Gamma rolls his eyes. “...Have fun with it.”
Blue and Jay shudders.
Zap quickly throws his hooves around the Starling as he squees. “I'm gonna call you Fluffy!”
“I am Fluffy!”
A rock then hovers in front of Gamma. “Hi!”
The stallion smiles awkwardly at the transforming star. “Erm... H-heh heh... Uh, likewise?”
Another rock phases through the ceiling and hovers in front of Blue. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hm...” Blue stares at it with a small smile. “You're polite.”
The Starling hovering in front of the stallion bows slightly. “I am Polite.”
Blue blinks. “No, I mean—”
Jay chuckles. As he turns, he notices a rock hovering a few inches in front of his muzzle. He blinks.
“...Hello,” the transforming star greets him with a smile.
Jay blinks once again. “...Hi?”
“Looks like Jay's a Starling, too,” Zap jokes, receiving a high-five from his Starling.
“Well, gee... I wonder why.” Gamma says, rolling his eyes.
“I'm serious,” Blue throws a soft glare at him.
The stallion's Starling tilts its head on the side. “...But I thought your name's Blue Harvest?”
A tired sigh. “...Not what I meant.”
His Starling blinks. “Oh.”
Beside them, one of their friends is throwing his Starling up in the air, catches the falling, giggling thing, and repeats the process. “I dunno about you guys,” Zap says, “but I like Fluffy already!”
“As clear as day,” Jay says, chuckling.
“Eh,” Gamma eh's, turning to his Starling floating beside him. “I dunno how to feel about it yet.”
His Starling blinks at him.
Jay nods his head. “Yeah, me too.” He looks at his Starling. “Er, no offence.”
His Starling smiles. “None taken.”
After flashing his Starling a small smile, Jay turns to the young blue stallion. “What about you, Blue?”
“Hm...” the stallion taps his chin. “...I think—”
“Hey guys!” the yellow-coated mare arrives, greeting them, with her Starling floating close behind. “Looks like you guys, well, most of you are still getting used to your new partners.”
Gamma shudders. “Please don't call them ‘partners,’ Fourths.”
Fourths blinks.
Zap looks at him. “...I'm starting to think that it's you who should get his mind out of the gutter.”
Gamma glares at him.
Blue sighs. “And I was really looking forward to my report in class.”
“You're still on that, huh?” Gamma asks.
The blue stallion adjusts his glasses. “Oh well. One more day to fully prepare myself and my report, I suppose.”
Zap holds Fluffy on his hooves and fully turns to his friend. “...You really need to relax some more, Blue.”
Gamma nods his head. “Yeah. I don't think studying too much is good for you.”
Blue adjusts his glasses again. “I shall think of those as opinions and will respect them.”
The two stallions sigh.
“W-well, it was nice talking to you guys,” the mare suddenly says. She turns around and leaves the group, her Starling following her.
“...I forgot she was with us,” Zap says.
“Must have been awkward for her,” Jay says.
“We should apologize,” Blue suggests.
“Maybe later,” Gamma says, pointing. “She's with her circle of gal pals now. Would be awkward for us weirdos to go there and apologize to her.”
Jay's ears droop. “...I can already hear the gossip they'll start.”
“Hm...” Blue considers. After a second or so, he nods his head. “Good point.” He stands up. “Well, I should head back home.”
“Already?” Zap asks.
Blue turns to him with a smile. “I have a report to prepare.”
Zap gives him a flat look.
The blue stallion adjusts his glasses before walking away. “I'll see you stallions tomorrow.” His Starling follows him. “...Oh right. I suppose you're coming with me, yes?”
The three stallions watch the duo leave.
“...So what now?” Jay asks before turning to his friends.
Zap shrugs. “I think I'll show Fluffy around town.” He smiles at his friends. “You guys want to come along?”
Jay smiles and nods. “Sure.”
Gamma shrugs. “Sounds good, but...”
Jay and Zap turn to him.
Gamma looks at his Starling. “...Maybe we should split ways?”
Zap arches an eyebrow. “...Why?”
Gamma shrugs once again. “I dunno.” He turns to them. “I feel like we should be alone with our...Starlings...?”
Zap blinks. And then a sly smile slowly appears on his muzzle.
The black-coated stallion glares at him. “Get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert.”
“Are you sure it's my mind who should get out of there?”
Gamma rolls his eyes. “Whatever. All I'm saying is that it's...awkward.”
Jay blinks at him. “Huh?”
Gamma explains: “Look, we all just got Starlings. Just like Fourths earlier, I feel like the Starlings would feel awkward if we go around town as a group, and we're already friends, so...you know...” He looks at his Starling. “We might not be able to fully...talk to them?”
“Nah,” Zap says, patting his Starling's head. “I don't think that's going to happen.”
“Not for you, you mean.”
Jay taps his chin with a hoof. “...I think Gamma is right.” He turns to his Starling, who quietly looks back at him as it hovers in the air. “...I still am trying to get used to having one.”
“Plus,” Gamma says, catching his friends' attentions. “Remember what their queen thing said? They live off of the bond we share with them. I just think it'll be a little difficult to bond with them if we're together.” He shrugs. “So maybe we should spend some time with them, you know?”
“Eh...” Zap shrugs in defeat. “If you guys want that, then oh well.” He smiles at them. “I'll be staying here for a while though. Since we're already here, I might as well show her about this boring old school.” He shrugs. “And then I'll show her the great places here in Hoofingtown!” Smiling, he lifts his Starling up. “What do you think, Fluffy?”
“I think it sounds good!”
“Her, huh?” Jay asks.
“Well, she sounds like a girl.”
“Aren't they all?” Gamma points out.
“Well,” Jay says, “if they're all females, then how do they—you know what? I'll stop right there and leave.” He turns around and walks toward the school's open gates, his Starling floating beside him.
The brown stallion passes by students and guardponies interacting with their Starlings, their excited and curious voices mixing in the air. Walking out of the campus premises, Jay notices the lack of traffic on the roads and the huge number of ponies and their Starlings on the streets. He watches in awe at how...strange the scene is.
“Then again...it's a big, sudden change,” he mutters under his breath as he starts walking down the street, his Starling floating after him. “I bet it's going to take a while for everypony to get used to this...” He glances at his Starling floating beside him. “...I know I'll take a while to get used to this...” He passes by a couple sitting under a waiting shed, having a lively discussion with their Starlings. “...Hm.” He looks ahead. “...So.”
“Hm?” his Starling responds, turning to him.
Standing in front of a fountain, he sits down and stares at the water reflecting the morning sun's rays. “...You're a Starling.”
“Yes I am,” his Starling happily replies as it slowly lands on the ground beside him, staring at him. “And you're a pony, right?” It has heard other ponies referring to themselves as so, but it wants to be sure.
“Mhmm...”
The Starling then stares at the fountain. “That looks pretty.”
Jay nods his head. “It's a fountain.”
“Fountain...” the Starling parrots.
A minute or two flies by. The stallion's ears twitch to the many sounds echoing all around, and his Starling busies itself by looking all around them.
A cool breeze passes by, and Jay closes his eyes, the cool air helping him feel a little more at east.
“This feels nice,” he hears his Starling say.
“Mmm,” Jay hums in agreement. “It's called the wind.”
“Wind...” his Starling murmurs. “I like it.”
Jay takes a breath, opening his eyes, his gaze landing on the rising and falling water. “...What's your name?”
His Starling looks at him with a blink. “...My name?”
The stallion nods his head. “Yeah.” He looks at the Starling sitting beside him. “Like...I'm Jay.”
“Hi Jay!” the Starling says, waving its arm at him.
Jay blinks. “Er, hello to you too?”
They stare at each other, the stallion feeling more and more awkward as the seconds pass by. He turns back to the fountain. “So yeah... What's your name?”
“...I don't think I have one,” his Starling sadly says.
Jay looks back at it. “Really?”
The Starling nods its head.
“...You've been traveling through...space...before you guys got here, right?”
A nod.
“So, you guys must have been talking to each other, right?”
A shake of a head.
A blink. “Wait... Really?”
A nod.
A confused look. “B-but... You guys shared your bonds with each other, right?” the stallion asks. “Surely there has been some kind of communication involved.”
A head tilts. “I don't really know, Jay.”
A blink.
His Starling continues: “I was asleep. I needed to, because I was one of the Starlings that carried the others.”
“...Huh?”
The Starling shakes its head. “I just woke up, so I don't really know much.”
“Oh,” the stallion says. “I see...”
The Starling hangs its head. “I'm sorry.”
Jay shakes his head. “Nah. Don't be.”
The two turn their gazes on the fountain once again.
“So you don't have a name?”
“No.”
“Does that mean I'm going to give you one?”
“If you want to.”
Jay sighs. “I kinda gotta need to.” He frowns. “I can't just call you a Starling or something anyway...” He turns to it. “What do you want me to call you?”
His Starling looks at him. “...Anything you want to call me.”
“We're not really going anywhere with this.” He sighs as he stands up on four hooves. “Let's go.”
“Alright.”
The duo continues going down the street, the alien looking at the many new sights around it while also following the brown stallion. They walk by a small shop, where a mare and her foal walks out of the establishment, a single Starling following them. Jay stops, blinks and stares at them walking past him, the child and the Starling talking lively about random stuff.
“...Huh.”
“What's the matter?” his Starling asks.
Jay turns to it and shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Oh, okay.”
Jay nods his head. He's about to continue walking when he notices his Starling is looking at the different displays through the shop's glass windows.
The Starling turns to him. “What's this place?” It turns back, looking at where the mare and her child went. “Those two ponies came from here.”
Jay looks at the shop's glass door and sees the salesponies inside are teaching their Starlings about stuff. He notices his Starling is looking at him. “Oh, uh...” He clears his throat. “This place is called a shop.”
“A shop.”
He nods his head. “There are others like this around town, too, but they look different from each other.”
“Like ponies?”
Jay blinks. “...Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, shops sell various items like food and stuff.”
The Starling nods. “Oh, okay.” It looks back at the shop.
Jay sighs a quiet sigh, wondering if he has the patience to teach his Starling about so many things. He blinks as a thought occurs to him. “Say, are you hungry?”
“Hm?” His Starling turns to him. “Hungry?”
Jay nods with a smile. “Yeah. If you're hungry, just let me know and I'll get you something to eat.”
“Oh,” his Starling nods. “Okay.” A blink. “...What's hungry? And food?”
Jay blinks.
“Here ya go, little fellah,” the ice cream pony says with a smile, handing Jay's floating Starling a small cone of ice cream.
The Starling curiously grabs the item with its arms, noticing how cold it is against its head.
“...” The salespony grabs a napkin from his stall and hands it to Jay. “They're like babies,” the stallion says after a chuckle. “We're going to need a lot of patience with them.” He turns to his Starling floating beside him. “Ain't that right, Snow Flake?”
“Mhmm!”
“Eh...” Jay gives him a few bits for the ice cream. “I'm still trying to get over the awkwardness of all of this...”
“The key is to keep on talking to them.”
Jay blinks.
The older stallion smiles at his Starling. “Just like any normal conversation, just start small and continue from there. If you guys hit a dead-end, well, start another one.”
“...Still need to cross over the awkward bridge...”
The older stallion shrugs. “Well, I'm sure you'll get over that sooner than later. As for me, well...” He smiles at his Starling again. “I've always wanted a kid. Never managed to catch a mare though, and I'm too busy and getting too old for that dating nonsense...”
“...Huh,” is all Jay can say to that. A customer and her Starling arrives, and Jay and his Starling quietly leaves. Sitting down on one of the unoccupied seats in the park, Jay takes the ice cream from his Starling and wipes it clean with a napkin.
“Ice cream is very cold,” his Starling says.
Jay notices the golden robe his Starling is wearing actually feels like...normal clothing. “...And here I thought it was some kind of metal armor or something?”
“Huh?”
Jay shakes his head. “It's nothing.” He throws the napkin in a trash bin sitting on the grass beside his seat. He then presents the ice cream to his Starling. “So this is an ice cream.”
The Starling nods its head.
“...And ice cream is food.”
“Food.”
Jay sighs through his nostrils. “...And we eat food. Or in this case, we lick them.” He licks the ice cream. “Mmm... There, see?”
A nod. “I see, I see.”
“Now you try,” Jay says, and watches his Starling floats closer to the cold food and...puts its small head on the ice cream. Jay frowns. “...You don't have mouths, huh?”
Floating away from the cold, the Starling shivers from the cold and shakes its head.
“You still haven't come up with a name for your Starling yet? Really?”
Jay closes his eyes and sighs. He and his three friends, along with their Starlings, have just gotten out of the school premises. “No, I haven't yet.”
“Wow Jay. It's been, like, three days since the Starlings...” Zap says, staring at his friend in disbelief. A smile then appears on his muzzle. “Oh, hey! I know! Why don't—”
“He'll come up with a name,” Blue cuts in. “Eventually.”
“Yeah? How long will that be?”
Jay sighs. “Guys, it's fine.” He gives them a small smile as his Starling lands on his back. “Tomorrow's the weekend, so I'll have enough time to think of one.”
“And it's not like the world depends on Jay giving his Starling a name anyway,” Gamma says. He stops and his friends follow suit. “Well, I'll be seeing you guys.”
“Bye,” the three stallions say in unison as the black-coated stallion walks down a different path, heading to his home.
The trio continue on their way, talking about various topics, but they eventually split ways, heading to their homes, except for Jay and his Starling who are heading to the marketplace.
“We're going to that market place your mom told us about, right?” his Starling asks, floating beside him. “To buy stuff?”
“Mhmm,” Jay says with a small smile, briefly remembering his disbelief that his mother easily got used to having her own Starling. She even taught it how to cook and do some household chores. “Mothers are weird...” he mutters under his breath.
Crossing a small bridge, his ears twitch to the sound of mixed and excited voices from the lower street below. Stopping, he looks over and sees a group of ponies—middle schoolers, he's guessing—shouting and cheering excitedly, and circled around two Starlings.
Two battling Starlings.
“The wind here is really nice,” he hears his Starling say, but he didn't pay it any mind.
One of the Starling floats back near the cheering crowd, and immediately zooms forward, about to tackle the other one.
“Dodge it!” one of the ponies yells.
But the attacker somehow anticipates where the other's about to go. It tackles the Starling hard, shoving the yelping creature to the ground.
Jay winces and leans back as the crowd below erupts in cheers.
“What's wrong?”
Jay jumps in surprise, suddenly remembering that he has a Starling, and it may have seen the battle below, too. “Nothing,” he says immediately and continues on his way, his curious Starling floating after him.
He has heard about ponies around his age making their Starlings fight, oftentimes in school. He even catching a few glimpses of them as he heads home after school.
“...That was the first time I've clearly seen one...” he mutters under his breath.
Reaching the marketplace, Jay turns and sees his Starling looking in awe at the various shops and stalls and the many colorful ponies walking around.
He frowns. “...Makes me wonder why they let them hurt each other.” He sighs, his ears drooping. “Or maybe I'm just boring like that. He shakes his head and puts on a small smile. “Let's go.”
“—so I believe these Starlings don't require to consume food in order to survive,” Blue finishes his explanation to his friends. He adjusts his glasses. “It also makes me believe that they really only rely on the bond they have with us ponies to survive.”
“Yeah,” Gamma says with a nod. “Even us changelings can't survive with just love alone. I don't know about the others, but I sometimes get sick of having just love all the time.” He shrugs before taking another bite from his apple.
“I still can't believe Jay haven't named his Starling yet!” Zap groans, lying his upper body on his desk.
“Eh,” Jay shrugs, smiling a small smile at his Starling who is floating by the open window, looking outside.
“It's almost a week now. You keep this up, you'll have no choice but to call her Anon or NoName. Brr...”
“At least he's not into those ‘Startles,’” Gamma says before taking another bite.
Blue nods his head. “I agree.” He shakes his head, his gaze falling on his Starling sitting on his desk, reading an opened book lying in front of it.
“You guys are so boring sometimes,” Zap groans again. “Sometimes I wonder why I'm best friends with you guys.”
“Sometimes I ask the same question,” Blue says.
Gamma rolls his eyes. “Well, some of us don't like violence, Zap.” He points at the window. “We already have a yearly crisis, and the Mane Six can barely even stop those!”
“Your kind included?”
Gamma glares at Zap. “Mother made the wrong choice. I'm just glad she finally made the right one.”
“That was a low blow, Zap,” Jay says.
“Eh,” the stallion shrugs. “You guys know I don't mean to offend.”
Gamma sighs. “Unfortunately.”
“So...these Startles,” Jay says. He blinks. “Am I even saying it right?”
“Yes, you are,” Zap replies as he rises from his desk. “When Starlings and battles love each other very much—”
“Skip the lovely details, I beg you,” Blue says before sighing a quiet sigh.
Zap frowns. “...fine. When the two loves each other very much, they name their lovechild Startles.” He blinks. “Man, you guys can even make my stories sound boring.”
Gamma rolls his eyes. “Aliens and ponies. Here's to hoping nopony actually reads anything you write.”
Zap waves a hoof at him. “So anyway, Startles are actually quite fun. They're like a test of how strong the bond you have with your Starling.”
Jay blinks. “That sounded like a video game I used to play when I was little.”
“But only better, and more real!” Zap adds with a big smile.
Jay shakes his head. “I'm not sure I want to be part of that.”
Zap shrugs. “Eh, suit yourself.”
“And while I do not like participating in these...Startles,” Blue says, a hoof on his chin. “I can see a good reason why other ponies do it.”
“Having fun watching violence?” Gamma asks.
Blue shakes his head. “No.” He stares at his friends. “I believe you are all aware of the violent creatures roaming around Equestria, yes?”
Gamma blinks. “Oh. That.”
Jay tilts his head to the side. “The Wild Beasts?”
Blue nods his head. “An unknown unicorn wanted power beyond imagination to defeat Princess Twilight. From what I've gathered, this unicorn harnessed the negative mana energies in Tartarus.
“Princess Twilight and her friends managed to defeat the unicorn, but in their weakened state, the unicorn was no longer able to hold that much power, and they accidentally unleashed it.
“To this very day, the princesses are unable to remove all of those negative energy. Normal creatures who get in touch with them of those energy turn into Wild Beasts, an evil and irreversible transformation that will attack anything they see.”
“So what you're saying is...” Gamma says, “...that us having Starlings is a blessing in disguise, that we should use them to defend ourselves if ever a Wild Beast suddenly attacks us?” He glares at the blue stallion. “Is that what you're saying?”
Blue nods his head. “...Unfortunately, not all of us are blesses with flight, magic, or transformation.”
Gamma huffs. “Whatever. That's why there are protection gems bordering every town and city, to repel Wild Beasts.” He shrugs. “As long as we stay inside, then no harm will happen to us.” He smiles at Jay. “Right?”
Jay blinks at him. He nods rapidly. “Er...right.”
“See?” Gamma turns to Blue. “Even Jay agrees!”
As his friends continue their debate, Jay turns and looks at his Starling floating by the window, enjoying the feeling of the cool breeze caressing its small, alien body.
