Twisting Fate of a Star
Chapter 1: Curious Star
It was the dawn of yet another day for an dim orange earth pony with an blonde mane and blue eyes, as he woke from his long peacefull slumber and stretched his hooves and body. He felt like he had slept like an stone but still felt a little sleepy so he went towards his bathroom, splashed some water into his face and after drying it off with an towel, he checked himself in the mirror. He looked at his flank with his cutie mark on it, it was an yellow star with an white question mark inside. It kind of gave his name away this way he always thought. With an quick nod of appreaciation to himself he headed into his kitchen and made himself some salat, he always ate it as some quick breakfast and it was as always to his satisfaction when he devoured it. As always he made sure to buy the exact same salat with this rich and juicy tatse.
After a quick look at a clock onto the wall he decided to get ready to head off. He grabbed his saddlebags which had his cutie mark on them and put them onto himself. He got his cutie mark after he was stargazing one evening and discovering an new star that he called after himself, curious star. Even though this was his special talent, he worked at the post office and delivered all sort of mail to ponies in ponyville. He lived there too, but it was more like on one edge of ponyville if you were to be precise about the location of his house. Nontheless he didnt mind living that far off the center of the town because he thought where he lived was an sort of relaxing and nice location. You could say his life was normal and pretty boring but yet he always tried to find new things to catch interest in, and sometimes this brought him into some trouble thought he always insisted it was the trouble that found him and not the other way around.
Star went to the post office to get his post hat and the mail he had to deliver today. He entered the door and was inside the familiar post office he worked at, some ponies were at the counter checking in some mail they wanted to send of to someone. Star walked past the line of ponies as one of the ones in the line, a blue unicorn mare with an light blue coat and an blue mane with white stripes stopped him in his tracks. "Hey Good Morning Star!", she called out to him.
"Ah, Colgate nice meeting you here! How are you?" Star asked while facing her with an rather suprised expression on his face.
"Im good, just need to sent some letters to some relatives that live abroad. And you? Just checking in for work, right?"
"Yes and im fine too thanks.", he answered promtly. He knew Colgate for quite some time as he was occassionaly bumping into her on his schedule and also had to deliver some mail to her dentist office.
"Okay, im going now. Please take care Colgate!"
"Allright and you take care too, Star!", she yelled after him as he walked into the staff room. He took his ID card from his saddlebags and checked in for work before heading for his locker with his post hat inside. He opened it with his key, took his hat and put it onto his head.
"Good, lets see which route I have to take today.", he thought to himself. As Star trotted towards the counter the receptionist looked up from her papers and greeted him. Her name was Quick Quill an earth pony mare around his age and she had a yellow coat and an brown mane. Her cutie mark was a quill with some wavy lines behind it.
"Morning Miss Quill!", star replied with an smile on his face. Quick Quill reached into her desk and pulled out an paper that she handed to Star.
"Heres todays schedule, Mr. Star!" He took it and went to pick his mail up before leaving the building. As he trotted out of the door a grey pegasus mare with yellow cross eyed eyes and yellow mane came across him.
"Ah, hello Miss Hooves!", Star greeted her. She blinked for a second before noticing him.
"Uh, you were... Curious Star right?" He nodded.
"I told you before you can call me Derpy, silly."
Star smiled shyly. "Yeah, of course... so you are starting your shift, too?", he asked.
"Yes and when i get home this evening im gonna bake some muffins, oh i hardly can wait for it, they gonna be sooo delicious!", she answered with a big grin on her face.
"Well good for you Derpy, well im gonna go, see you later!" With that he headed off to start his shift.
As he delivered some mail to some houses he thought about some other stuff in the back of his head as usual. "Maybe i should visit my friend blues this afternoon and see if he has something i could be interested in." Blues Noteworthy was a blue earth pony stallion with an note as cutie mark and was not only very interested in music but also one of Stars best friends.
Stars shift went on and it became later and later. After he brought some mail to the house of Ms. Cheerilee a Teacher from the Ponyville Elementary School he had delivered all his mail for today and decided to head back to the post office. But when he turned around he saw a unicorn mare with an light red coat, beautiful green eyes and a red mane. Her cutie mark was a dark red rose. Star stopped for a second and watched her from across the street. He knew her name, oh yes how could he ever forget the name of the one pony he had a crush on since he was in Elementary School with her. Scarlet Rose, of yes what Star would give to be on a date with her, but he would never have enough courage to ask her out in fear of rejection. He watched till she was out of sight before he headed on.
The Sky was already turning scarlet when he arrived at the post office. He trotted inside, the office was of course very empty because all ponies usually went there to send their mail either in the morning or the afternoon. When he arrived inside the staff room he Quick Quill trotted up to him with an concerned look on her face and an clipboard levitating before her by using her magic. "Uh, Mister Star?", she asked nervously.
Star looked at her. "Yes, what is it?", he asked.
"Well, it seems a package that should have already been here this morning and was planed for you to be delivered arrived a few hours ago. Seems somepony named Bad Gateway made a mistake, so would you please be so kind to deliver it before you end your shift? Oh and dont worry i will write down your overtime."
"Yeah, of course.", Star replied. Since today wasnt that exhausting, delivering one package wouldnt be that much of a challenge this late for him he thought.
"Thanks, Sweetheart!", Quick Quill replied giving star a kiss on the cheek before heading back into her office with an wink towards him. Star blushed as he rubbed his cheek, he really wasnt used to such stuff when it came to mares and it made him feel very akward. He was standing there for a while thinking how it would feel if Scarlet Rose would kiss him before snapping out of it by shaking his head.
"Yeah... i better go now...", he mumbled to himself shaking his head. He took the package and put it into one of his saddlebags before heading off towards his final destination for todays shift. It seemed that the customer he had to deliver this package lived somewhere near some outskirts of ponyville, but star enjoyed walking through an nice evening with kinda warm weather. As he walked on he got into that area of ponyville where some of the richer ponies lived in mansions. His Customer must have ordered something very expensive or something very valuable and rare, he guessed. The road before him went a little uphill and on the left and right were some stonewalls that marked the property of the rich ponies. Star really wasnt often in this part of ponyville. Soon he arrived at the place he had to deliver his package to, above him some dark clouds were gathering.
"I just hope it doesnt come pouring down on me before im back home.", he thought to himself looking at the sky. Then his attention moved towards the golden gates in front of him. They were big and round and somehow looked like a giant upsidedown lyra when the gate was closed. "The pony living here must either have a liking of music or greek mythology or maybe even both.", star thought while staring at it. He moved an hoof towards the handle and opened them. As he went inside a huge area with an big green lawn, a lot of trees and statues and an path leading from the gates towards the entrance of an huge Mansion in front of him where some stairs led up towards two big wodden doors that had Manticorheads as door handles.
Star trotted towards the Doors and nervously stand there for a while. Somehow this big Mansion in front of him sent unsettling shivers down his neck. Well he better delivered the package and headed straight back home. He rang a doorbell and from inside he could hear noises, and soon a pony with an black mane, yellow eyes and grey coat opened the door. "This must be his buttler.", thought Star while mustering him.
"Yes, please?", he asked. Star took a step forward.
"I have to deliver a package to Mr Ancient Scroll!"
"Please wait here for a second." The Buttler bowed and went inside. After a while he came back accompied by an old brown unicorn Stallion that had brown eyes, an short grey mane and an scroll with some runes as cutie mark.
"My what a suprise here i thought my package wouldnt arrive in time today and i had to wait till tommorrow, yet here comes a young nice colt bringing me it, making me very happy.", the old stallion spoke full of excitement. It seems whatever was in that package he was really happy to finally get it, perhaps even had searched for it for an long time but this could be entirely pure speculation, because who wouldnt be excited about something that pony ordered and could hardly wait till it finally arrived and landed in their hooves, thus was into their possesion for whatever use they may had for it.
"Yes this is for you.", Star answered reaching into his saddlebag pulling out the quite medium package and handing it over to Mister Ancient Scroll who used his magic to let it levitate before him.
"Thank you young Fellow!", Ancient Scroll said with an expression of gratitude painted onto his face.
"Only doing my Job, Sir!" "Now ill be on my way now wish you a good evening, Sir!", Star added and turned around ready to start his way back home.
"Just a Moment, my young Friend!", the old pony called after him.
Star turned around with an suprised expression on his face. "How about i express my gratitude by letting you in for a cup of tea and you get to see why i was so excited about getting this package my young friend?"
"Only if you dont mind, that is!", he added with an cough. A nice cup of Tea and getting to see something probally very amazing and awesome inside the mansion of an rich old pony that seemed to have a fine art taste.
For Stars curious Nature this sounded like the oppurtunity of an lifetime. "Yeah, why not. I wouldnt mind joining you for a cup of Tea inside.", he answered happily.
A smile appeared on Ancient Scrolls face when he heard this. "Brilliant! Now inside, come along!", he said cheerfully while trotting inside his mansion. As Star followed him inside a wide Hall was extending in front of him, some pillars were left and right supporting the upper levels of the Mansion and there were some big stairs in the middle of the hall leading to the upper floor, a red carpet laid onto them.
He also noticed that on the cellar a huge chandelier was hanging down putting the whole hall into a kind of nice old fashioned light. Also there were some entrances to the left and right of the ground level and Star wondered were they might lead, well it probally didnt matter that much, not his mansion not his business.
"Kinda impressive my home isnt it, i can see it in your eyes young lad.", Scroll remarked looking at Star.
"Y-yes indeed, i mean it really isnt like i get to see such a fine mansion everyday, right?" Scroll laughed.
"Quite true, quite true." He then trotted towards the middle entrance on the right of the hall while levitating the package in front of him and Star followed along.
The Hall they were now in was also very spacey, though some of the place was occupied with some sculptures, mysterious objects standing on pedestals. Also on some walls hang some big paintings, and on some even some ancient weapons or other ornaments. Ancient Scroll seemed to have quite some collection.
"Welcome to my gallery!", Scroll marked extending his hoof to present the hall with all its greatness and value it seemed to had to him.
"This is an great collection you have here mister scroll!", Star stated while still looking around. He noticed that one pedestal Scroll was now standing right next to was still empty and he guessed whatever was inside the package probally would be placed right there.
Ancient Scroll opened the package with his magic and revealed an vase about as tall as an average ponys hoof. He let it levitate onto the pedestal and let it down.
"Voila, right where it belongs. Im so glad to finally have this in my collection. The vase of infinity, i dont know that much about it only that it belonged to an ancient clan of ponies that lived in an faraway land and it was quite one of their precious clan objects. But some rumors say it has a terrible curse on it, when you touch it three quick times in a row with the same hoof something terrible will happen. Nontheless I wanted to have it ever since i saw that picture of it in a book back then.", Scroll said while he and Star looked at the mysterious purple vase.
"So... we wanted to drink Tea right, while ill go get it you can admire this fine vase my young colt, just dont wreck anything okay?"
"Of course, Sir!", Star answered before Ancient Scroll trotted out of the room.
Star moved closer towards the pedestal to get a better view of the vase. It had a light purple shade, and had an red lying down eight as symbol onto it on the bottom while on the upper half there was a red cirle on the upper half with an cross going through the center of it and two half circles in the directions up, down, left and right. He must admit it really was a very nice object Ancient Scroll got his hands onto.
As Star waited for Ancient Scroll to come back, a thought crossed his mind, as he still stared at the vase. It seemed that it was made of some very special material not some regular stone or porcelain because it kind of gave of some sparkles as the lights in the room were shining onto it. What if he touched it just for a second? It wouldnt hurt, of course he would be careful he always knew to handle fragile stuff with a lot of precausion. He just wanted to feel what the surface was like one quick touch and then he would proceed to wait for Scroll. Would that be really so wrong?
Star extended his hoof slowly moving it closer towards the vase. His heart started to beat faster, he really didnt want to break that vase, Ancient Scroll would kill him on the spot for this he was pretty sure of that. His hoof was now right before the surface of the vase if he moved it any further it would touch it, no doubt about that. He gulped, could he really do that? For a second he remained like this overthinking everything.
He could wait for Ancient Scroll to come back and ask if he could touch it, but of course first of all there still was a fifty fifty chance that he wouldnt let him touch the vase and second he already almost touched it with his hoof right now, so why wait if he could touch it right now? It was decided he would touch the vase now no matter what. With that Star moved his hoof and it made contact with the vase.
It felt very nice and unusual and while his hoof rested on it an weird idea came to his mind. Maybe he should test this curse out after all what did he got to lose? He was a person who only believed in what he could see with his on eyes so some rumors or curses seemed rather far fetched for him might as well destroy this one right here and now. He moved his hoof away from the vase and stopped right before it. Should he really test this out? On the one hoof this could very well be the only chance for him to test it out and on the other maybe some things were better left undone. But he couldnt help and get the feeling this would bug him forever if he didnt take the chance now while he still had it.
So he touched the vase with his hoof three quick times in a row. At first nothing happened and he was almost sure he was right about this curse all along. But then suddenly the vase felt suprisingly warm and strangely somehow it felt like the part his hoof was touching was pulsating like an living creature full of life. How was that possible? In an attempt of panic he pulled his hoof away but the feeling from before was still right there in the tip of his hoof. He was just about to look at his hoof when suddenly an shudder went through Stars body and everything flashed in a bright white light that engulfed him before his vision went to black. Everything faded into black darkness while he slowly lost his conciousness.
