The North Star
“Oh Celestia, he’s coming today.”
Andromeda was getting ready in a hurry. She’d already done her makeup, and was now straightening out her mane out as best she could with a brush as fast as possible. She had to do this. No time for a shower, she’d never had time for a shower.
Her older brother, Almach, was coming to her house today. She hadn’t seen that stallion in years. They still corresponded sometimes, though Andromeda had a feeling he wasn’t trying to message her. One day, she just got a message, sent by mail, that he’d be visiting the house about three weeks after the correspondence was mailed out.
Of course, mail being mail, it had taken a week and a half to arrive, so Andromeda had very little time to come up with ideas for her and her brother to be doing. She hadn’t thought of any.
So, not only was she woefully underprepared, but to top it all off, she had slept in as well. No time was mentioned, but she couldn’t be too careful.
After pulling herself out of her thoughts, panicked ones as they were, Andromeda looked in the mirror. Her midnight blue coat and two-tone, disheveled mane that alternated between contrasting shades of sky blue and navy stared back at her, and she once again realized how unprepared she was for this.
“He’s family, it’s not like you’re inviting a stranger into your house for tea or something,” she told herself.
Wait! She should brew tea! Hosts did that, right? That’d make her feel more like a host to Almach when he arrived. She released her magical grip on the brush, which unceremoniously crashed to the floor with a thud, and started dashing into the kitchen. However, as she was hoofing it through her foyer, she heard her doorbell ring.
That was probably him. Andromeda knew her brother, and she assumed he wouldn’t want to wait.
So, nervously, she opened the door to face her brother.
He was pretty much how she remembered, a coat with a rich shade of violet, and an army green mane, though a really long one that she vaguely remembered. Andromeda stood in the doorway as Almach looked past her to something that Andromeda couldn’t bother to look at with him.
“So, uh, hello, Andromeda. Didn’t expect to see you here,” Almach said.
“Well, here I am, feel free to come in,” Andromeda said weakly.
Almach obliged, and Andromeda carefully shut the door behind him, with a pace so hesitant an onlooker would think she was trying too hard to not knock something over.
“Sorry about the mess,” Andromeda mentioned. “I woke up late, and didn’t have much time to do anything.”
Almach chuckled a bit, looking around at the quaint house. It sure was more impressive than his Manehatten studio apartment, but it wasn’t really a mansion either. The house hadn’t changed much in the past 5 years, but still, it didn’t feel quite the same as it had.
“It’s fine,” he stated. “You should see my apartment.”
“But still, I should’ve been more accommodating—“
“You’re my sister. You needn’t go through all the effort.”
Andromeda sighed as she made her way to the kitchen to heat up the tea she meant to make earlier on the old stove. It was probably time to get that patched up. If only she had the finances.
“I know, but sleeping in until 11 AM is something my boss would have my head for,” Andromeda said. “And I should be better to my own kin than to my boss.”
“But I mean, you’re off today, I’d presume. You can sleep in, I do it on my days off.” Almach responded with a light smile, pushing his hair out of his face. He took a seat near the old wooden table in Andromeda’s kitchen.
Andromeda murmured more muffled apologies under her breath. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a job. She never had one, at least not seriously. She was entirely living on her and Almach’s parents’ savings.
Dumping the water in the teapot, as well as the tea leaves, of course, Andromeda bucked the stove on. She then turned to Almach. “So, what have you been up to?”
“Been working shops in Manehatten,” Almach said. He examined all the homely decorations Andromeda had hung. Not quite works of perfection, but she’d tried her best. “Sometimes wish I could be a stay at home dad or something. But, well, yeah.”
“I suppose you could be. But I suppose you’d need foals first,” Andromeda said, taking a seat as well.
Almach nodded, and the two sat in awkward silence, until the tea kettle went off with its shrill whistle. Andromeda switched the stove off, and started pouring two cups.
Passing one of them to her brother sitting across the table, she started drinking.
“Wait, you really don’t have any foals, correct?” Andromeda asked.
“Me?” Almach responded, perking up for a quick second. “No, no, it’s unlikely. Unless my boyfriend wants to adopt or something…” he trailed off.
“You… never mentioned that,” Andromeda responded.
“Well, we hardly talk ever, and the mail I’m going to send, you, it seems, isn’t going to be, ‘hey I’m gay’, it’s going to be more useful life updates.”
“Yeah, but still, it’s crazy to think that your brother’s all grown up. It’s hard thinking of you that way.”
“It’s hard thinking that my little sister is, too.”
Andromeda chuckled painfully.
Almach looked about the room again. It was certainly his parents’ house, so where were they?
“What happened to Mom and Dad?” he asked, innocuously.
Andromeda wanted nothing more than to sink down into the floor and become one with the tea. Were those little leaf flecks always in there?
She laughed for a bit. A sort of lopsided, sad laugh.
“Have anything to do around Ponyville?” Andromeda asked, trying to divert the topic as quick as possible.
“Well, not really, but I was figuring we could just hang out. Apparently, the stars are out tonight. I remember how much you loved those.”
Andromeda nodded, it was true that she loved the stars. Maybe it’d help her feel better hanging around her brother.
“But we still have like 5 hours to do things until then,” Andromeda said.
Almach put his hoof up to his chin. “Sugarcube Corner is around here, right, would we still want to go there? The library, is that still around? That’s… really all I got. It’s been far too long.”
“Sugarcube Corner, yes, the library, kinda. The original got burned down, so the library’s in Twilight’s castle now; however, it still has all the books you could ask for.”
“Burned down? A lot can change in five years.”
Andromeda nodded, she knew that all too well.
“Want to get Sugarcube Corner treats and read some books on the night sky or something?” she asked.
“That sounds good. Though, I mean, Andromeda, you’re what, 20 now? Do you still want sugary Sugarcube Corner snacks?”
“You brought it up.”
“Fair. Guess I didn’t think that through.”
“But yes, yes is the answer.”
Andromeda put her glass next to the sink, she’d wash that later when she felt like it.
“Come on, Almach, let’s do something,” Andromeda prodded, trying to get her brother to come outside with her.
Almach put his cup next to Andromeda’s and followed her lead.
After the two had finished with their activities, with Andromeda refusing to elaborate on the parents issue, the two found themselves under a night sky. When exiting the library, Andromeda looked directly up and looked at the twinkling, beautiful stars.
“I need to go out more. The stars are beautiful. Aren’t they, Almach?”
Almach, slightly disinterested, nodded in response. Sure, he’d loved these stars when he was a colt, but now, there wasn’t much new under the sun. Besides, when you’re working around the clock to barely make a living, and the entire city is nothing but skyscrapers and smoke, then the night sky didn’t mean much.
He had to admit that it was nice, seeing the stars in a more rural area. It was something he hadn’t seen for a long time.
“I sometimes wonder, if I can see—“ Andromeda continued, cutting herself off. She stared blankly at the sky, and looked down at the ground.
“What can you see, Andromeda?”
“Just, the North Star, you know, directly above us,” Andromeda covered.
Almach looked quizzically at Andromeda, who was staring at the ground. “The North Star isn’t something that’s particularly hard to see, our parents would point it out every time because it was pretty simple to see, and if you were looking for it, you probably wouldn’t look at the ground.”
Andromeda’s lips twisted into a pained expression, and she jolted her head up, and started crying. It wasn’t much, but she very clearly was crying.
“I can’t take it,” Andromeda sobbed.
“What?”
“I can’t—“
Andromeda started picking up her pace to a complete gallop, but Almach, having worked in stores standing all day, quickly caught up, only to see Andromeda’s tear-stained face.
“They’re gone Almach! They’re gone!”
Strengthening his resolve, shouted out, “Slow down!”
Andromeda obeyed almost mechanically, quickly sliding to a stop and falling down onto her haunches. Almach did the same and sat down next to her.
“Mom, Dad, they’re— they’re dead. They died coming home o-one day. Cause of death was unknown, though, though it could have something to do with that, that m-magical fight of epic proportions that day. Twilight and T-Tirek they say. Shortly after you left— I was 16…” Andromeda sobbed.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this?” Almach accused.
“Because letting, letting feelings slip through the cracks i-isn’t something grown mares do.”
Almach raised an eyebrow, not really, no. Regardless, he continued, “Surely you found someone to take care of you?”
“Not at all. I was all alone. I mean, t-technically the house is yours. When you never came, I was forced to take possession of it. They had no, no way of knowing you were alive. Nothing except the letters, which I g-got rid of almost i-immediately. Besides, I paid for it. A loan payment. With savings. I, was panicked, Almach. Didn’t know what to do. N-not ready for responsibility, and I’ve never been ready.
“A-Almach, I didn’t want to grow up.”
Almach put his hoof around his crying sister, brushing his hair away and turning her face so that he was looking into her emerald eyes.
“I know you never were ready for all that. Equestrian law’s funny with those rules. You could’ve just sent me a letter, and I would’ve dealt with it. But well, you have to grow up sometime. You were forced early, yeah, but look, getting through that is what family’s for.
“Andromeda, you mentioned the North Star before. Another thing Mom and Dad used to tell us, was that it leads sailors home. Sometimes, you have to have a guide to get there. And well, it’s about time you started following it. I’m sorry I can’t be here more, but I’ll try to see how you’re getting along, ok?”
Andromeda looked at Almach with a smile, the tears having worn a path in her dirty cheeks. “I know what you mean, I suppose I figured I’d have to grow up sometime. I just wasn’t ready.”
“Seldom anypony is. Hay, I’m 23 and still trying to figure out how this all works. You’re not alone, Andromeda, just follow the path, the guidance to your home, and it’ll be alright,” Almach responded with a smile of his own.
The two siblings shared a hug, and two stars shined above the pair, twinkling in the night sky.