Chapters A young stallion slept amongst the gentle glow of sunlight. His golden-yellow mane rested lazily atop his alabaster head, parted by his horn. He turned over, facing away from the light in a fruitless attempt to sleep a few minutes longer. His room sat on the second floor of his small house. There were pieces of parchment that lay scattered all across the floor which danced in a waltz from the breeze of his open window. Birds chirped merrily in the trees outside. All was peaceful...
Asterian roused himself and opened his eyes. He sat upright in his bed, stretching and yawning. "What a day this'll be," he said to himself. As the drowsiness of his slumber began to wear off, he found the pieces of loose leaves laying scattered across the floor. He threw his hooves against the bed, groaning at the sight. "How'd I let this place get so cluttered?" he thought out loud. Frustrated, he tossed his bed-sheets off of him and began to sort through the pages. As he picked up the scribes of his work, he made no effort to avoid making a great deal of noise, accidentally disturbing his owl, who was sleeping on her perch. The snowy-feathered bird shook her head and hooted at him, alerting him to her presence. He stopped what he was doing and turned around to face her, asking, "Oh Merri, did I wake you up?" She nodded lazily in response, clearly upset that he was so inconsiderate. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just need to get these picked up..." he explained. Merriweather, despite her slight anger with her master, swooped down and began to help him organize the pages into piles.
Together they worked, making quick progress of the ordeal in both sorting and stacking the pages. One by one, the pages vanished from the floor until they cleared the last page from the wooden boards. "Thanks, Merri." The stallion's companion nodded, with a gaze as if to say, You're welcome.
"Well, I think that is the last time I sleep with the windows open." He let out a snicker at his own ignorance. What was he thinking? Opening the window with nearly three hundred sheets of loose paper lying around was begging for trouble. He looked back at Merriweather, holding out his hoof for her to climb onto. She happily joined him, spreading her wings and gilding over to Starfall's shoulder. Not quite where he wanted her to be, but it was close enough. Her talons held onto her master just tight enough to stay on him, but not enough to injure him. With that, Asterian lead out of his room and down the staircase.
Downstairs, there was all the comforts of home a pony could ever need. To the right of the staircase was a living room with a velvet sofa and chair, complete with a mahogany-stained oak coffee table and cobblestone fireplace. To the left was a small kitchen, which consisted of a cooking range, a refrigerator, and cabinets that held virtually every spice, tea, or culinary-relevant item known to pony-kind. A small dining table sat in the corner, adorned with china plates, silver-ware, and a crystalline center-piece. Located off-set from the two was a small bathroom, with just enough fixtures for accommodation. the entire house, by day, was light by the sun, courtesy of many windows and a skylight in each room. By night, the house seemed even more lively as concealed crystals -- souvenirs from Asterian's many adventures -- irradiated the interior of the house with every color of light imaginable.
Asterian walked into the miniature kitchen and began to help him and his feathered friend to freshly made pancakes. As was usual, he made them from scratch, following in his own hoof-steps and recipes. He ignited his horn and opened several cabinets, extracting some of the ingredients he knew he would need. "Two cups of flour... an egg... a half a cup of milk... and... Ah!" Crushed vanilla bean, just for a little extra sweetness. He levitated the ingredients into a mixing bowl one after the other. He floated a spoon over to the bowl and began to whip the components together, forming a thick, homogeneous batter in no time at all. His horn flashed briefly as he lit a small piece of wood in the range magically. The wood caught, and a blaze began to roar. He hastily emptied out the contents of the bowl into a cast-iron skillet, placing it over one of the hot plates. "This should be tasty," he mused, thinking about how good they might be if he did not burn this batch.
Within just ten minutes, the batter had solidified into three golden-brown pancakes, two for Asterian and one for his snowy friend. He magically removed the skillet from the hot plate and floated the pancakes over to two awaiting plates. His horn sparked again, only this time, the flame was extinguished without water. He hovered the plates behind him, drizzling maple syrup over both of them as he sat down. He passed Merriweather's plate to her -- she looked at him as if to say, Thank you! -- and began to eat from his own dish. Setting aside the fact that Merriweather was an owl, she ate in an almost lady-like manner, only taking small nibbles from her cake and every so often wiping her beak off on the table-cloth. Her master laughed a little at her mannerisms, not out of mocking but out of how cute it was to him.
Without warning, the Ponyville clock tower chimed. One... Two... Three... Starfall sat there and counted off the dings that seemed to reverberate throughout the house. Seven... Eight... NINE?! His face grew from one of composed relaxation to one of intense worry. "Oh, banish it, I'm late!"
Starfall scrambled from his seat in a heated frenzy. Dashing across the room, he strapped his saddle bag to himself and gathered what little he needed. He forgot to give his customary farewell as he burst out the front door and took off galloping as fast as he could towards the town market. He worked and slalomed his way through the streets and alleys, passing by pony after pony. After sprinted flat-out for just five minutes, his breathing grew heavy as he muttered to himself, "I just hope Miss Bark isn't mad..." The good news was that she wouldn't be mad because he was late. The bad news was that she couldn't be mad because he was late.
Upon arriving at the store, he saw that there were boards nailed across the windows and that the usual open/closed sign was missing from the door. He pondered, What's going on? but the facts were all there. He was all but certain Miss Pine was "remodeling," as she called it, but in truth, what she did was go away on vacation for weeks at a time. He did not want to jump to conclusion, no matter how obvious any of the signs were. Regardless, he believe he was the first one of the two to reach the store. Even though his boss was probably in Los Pegasus by now, he couldn't sit by at his house without purpose. He figured the only thing to do would be to open the shop up again. He concentrated, and his horn began to glow. He drew a key-chain out of his bags, flipping through each of the keys in turn before finding the correct one. He inserted the brass one and unlocked the door, but this only raised more questions than it answered. The store shelves were completely empty, the usual decorations were missing, and there was no sign of his boss, Miss Pine Bark. It was as if somepony had either robbed the store, or something much worse had happened here. Even though she closed down the shop when she left for rest and relaxation, she didn't strip the place to its foundation. As he stared into the barren shop, he felt lost for words. Had something happened here?
At that moment, he heard a rattling noise coming from the back room. He wheeled around and realized it was his superior, who was carrying a saddlebag stuffed with what seemed to be merchandise from the store. Her brown mane flowed down her shoulders, but it was not long enough to conceal her face. She looked as though she was a thief trying to make away with the princess's crown. Come to think of it, thought Asterian, those * are** probably stolen, if what I think is going on is going on.*
The mare gasped, noticing him for the first time. "Oh my dear, Starfall... You nearly gave me a heart attack." Upon her unnaturally informal greeting, he sighed heavily, still a bit breathless from his run. "I nearly gave you a heart attack?" He nudged his head down towards her saddlebags, "Tell me, what are you doing with all that stuff? Restocking? Remodeling?" The pegasus hoarsely responded with words that shook Asterian to his core. "I'm... clearing this place out... We're closing down."
"What?! Bu-bu-but this can't just happen!"
"Asterian, there's nothing I can do," she said. "Unless you've got thirty-two hundred bits you can pay by the end of the mon-"
"Thirty-two hundred bits?! Miss Pine, please tell me you didn't invest the company!" Miss Pine had always had a problem with money. She would go off these wild sprees, investing every bit she had into the most ridiculous of market schemes, only to lose it all. Asterian dreaded the answer he knew was coming. Miss Pine inhaled sharply, swallowing her pride. "Yes... I did. It's going back to the bank in ninety days."
"Miss Pine, how could you?! You know that never works!"
"You know well that it did work once, Starfall, but I guess I should have listened to you for a change. I'm sorry."
Asterian's frustration had nearly reached its peak. He wanted to yell at her, Of course you should have listened to me, you imbecile! but as much as every fiber of his being screamed yes, his heart and head said no. After a few seconds to calm down, he asked her, "Do you need anything? Like a loan or something?"
"I can get myself out of debt. I've done it before. How old are you? Fifteen?"
"Sixteen." he replied.
Miss Pine tried to change the subject onto a more cheerful one. "A young stallion like you should be out looking for love! I hear tha-" She was stopped dead at Asterian's infuriated expression. He always loathed it whenever somepony tried to play Cadence with him. Now he had had enough. Diffusing the situation, she waved a hoof to him, ending the awkward silence, "Anyway, you should get out and enjoy your life."
Enjoy life? How could Asterian do that when his place of business had been shut down? His only source of income was his managerial position at the Art Supply Shoppe, how could he truly enjoy life?
After some more pointless talk about the shop and Miss Pine giving Asterian his last pay-check, he left the shop. Defeated, he roamed about the town square, pondering what he would do. His life as he knew it was over. With the store closing down, and with no published works, what would he do for a living? He continued to mope in his own self-pity, unable to ignore that his life seemed to be collapsing around this one aspect that had been abruptly taken out of the equation. He slumped down by the park fountain and took out his journal, as well as a quill and a bottle of ink. He levitated the quill to the paper and began to write...
This day is one of disappointment and confusion. The shop is closing down, only this time it's not one of Pine's silly vacations. The place is being repossessed altogether. I don't know what to do anymore... How will I find work? How can I take care of myself, much less Merriweather now? I do not know what to do. I only pray that Celestia might help me get through this.
A single tear appeared from his topaz eyes. His fortune could not have been worse. Having lost the will to move, he sat there motionless for what seemed like hours, not writing a single word or letter into his book. He closed his eyes, crestfallen and paralyzed by anxiety. Morning turned to afternoon as the day dragged on... Time seemed to dissolve from existence... But, as fate would have it, the day still had far more in store than he would have bargained for.
Having wallowed in his own self-pity long enough, the young unicorn returned to his home. Just because he was in a sorrowful mood did not mean he should dampen other ponies' days.
He had set writing out his feelings aside momentarily to try his hoof at alchemy. If writing wasn't such a passion for him, his cutie mark would have likely been a test tube. He ran his hoof through his mane, mumbling to himself as he began to dissolve the needed ingredients for an invisibility potion. A complicated brew, but one he had confidence in. There were random items scattered across the table, ranging from bottled poison joke extract and rose petals to giggle-mint and cockatrice tears. As an added bonus to his potion, he knew that he could likely sell it for a handsome sum, if only he could get it right for once. He always failed somewhere around the half-way point, and that was about where he was at... "Okay... 'Pour in a bright rainbow's glow...' Then... 'Heat to 200 degre-'"
*BANG!* The beaker had exploded, showing Asterian and the desk in its contents. He jumped back from the work area in fright. It had been a while since a flask had actually exploded on him, and even though this was not the first, or even the eleventh time, he would never get used to that sudden release of energy. His ears continued to ring as he gathered his nerve. "Euagh," he groaned in disgust as he looked at the mess. "Just perfect." Acting quickly, he magically vaporized the chemical from the floor, walls, and ceiling areas. Once he picked up the loose shards of glass, he began to rake the grey-ish solution off of him. Despite his downcast mood, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, let's hope this doesn't stain." Once all was restored and he had rid every last speck of potion from him and the area he could, he was ready for a reset, when unexpectedly, there was a knock at the door. "Huh?" he blurted out to himself. He slowly craned his head towards the door as the pony on the other side knocked again, this time with a little more emphasis. Inquisitively, he looked to Merriweather, shrugging as if to say, "Are we having company?" The owl simply blinked in response, implying, No. Wonder who that is... Asterian cautiously walked up to the door and grabbed the knob with his magic. He opened the door slowly to reveal a cloaked unicorn mare standing before him. By what Asterian could see, she could have been no older than seventeen years of age. Her blue-mint colored tail whipped in the breeze, and her face remained hidden behind the cloak as she asked, "May I come in?"
Starfall wasn't partial to trusting complete strangers, especially ones as shady a character as this one, and yet, something in the back of his skull whispered to him. Something about this mare put him at ease, despite her veiled identity and anonymous behavior. Well, if I do let her in and she turns out to be a robber... Then again, something tells me she's not. The stallion weighed out the odds carefully. If she was a bandit, wouldn't she have just come back when he was sleeping to steal from him? He had every right not to let her in and every reason, but on the other hoof, he hadn't given him a reason to do so.
After a few moments, he sighed, "I suppose so," and stepped aside to let her in.
The mare nodded slowly as she entered, thankful for Asterian's quick acceptance into his home. The least that could be said was that she was relatively polite, but her courtesy did not defuse the situation. The writer was having an inner conflict between trusting heart and logical instinct. They argued psychically back and forth inside of him, debating the issue.
How could you let her in, you idiot?!
Well, she can't really be here to hurt me, can she?
Oh, but she can! You still have a chance! Run!
Can't we just see where this goes first?
With the last words from his heart, he decided she probably wasn't here for ill-intent, and even if she was, she had not given him a reason to suspect it.
"So make yourself at home," he said, "even though what I have isn't much." The mare laughed at his comment, rebutting, "This isn't much? Starfall, you have a nice house." The stallion's ears twitched slightly after being called by name. How did she know who he was? He began to grow slightly nervous, although still visibly concealing his anxiety. "If you don't mind me asking," he pried, "Who are you?" Without apparent response, the veiled mare asked, "May I sit here?" He motioned for her to, and as she was sitting, she began to explain herself to him. "You're probably wondering how I know you..."
No kidding.
"... but I had gone to the market today to get some new quills, and... the store was boarded up. Nothing was there, so..."
So how do you know who I am, and why are you here?
"... and she told me who you were and where I could find you."
"... Oh. Well that answers one question, but... Who are you?"
The mare magically lowered her hood to reveal her white coat and aquamarine eyes, which shown brilliantly in the light of the room. Was she familiar? Asterian raised an eyebrow to her, "Do I know you?" The mare laughed again and introduced herself, "I wouldn't think so. My name is Octavia Winters." Asterian blinked his eyes at her, his fear dissipating quickly just by knowing her name. The name sounded familiar. Octavia, as in the musician? "Well, nice to meet you, Tav-" he began, but she had cut him off. Her nostrils flared up and there was a definitive spark of anger in her eyes. "Please don't call me Tavi. Not only is it weird, it reminds me of that... earth pony musician." One question had just been solved: she clearly wasn't the same Octavia that Starfall recalled. His eyes shot her an unspoken apology, but upon recognizing the look on his guest's face, he tried to re-route the conversation best he could. He still had one question that he needed answered. "So Octavia, what're you doing here?" She replied simply, "Well, since the shop's closed down, Miss Pine said I should talk to you about supplies."
Asterian raised his eyebrow again, only this time, he began to fill with intrigue rather than defensive curiosity. It seemed that with a few words, she had his full attention now. "Are you a writer?" he asked. She shrugged nonchalantly at his inquiry, somewhat annoyed that Starfall was asking so many questions. Then again, she thought, I did just invite myself in here. I guess he's entitled to.
"Not really. I'm an artist."
"Ah. Maybe that's where I've heard your name."
"I doubt it. I'm hardly an artist anyhow. Haven't sold a painting in weeks." This time, it was his turn to titter. "Forget fame. If you can paint or draw or sketch or carve, you're an artist in my book." Octavia tried not to laugh from the flattery, but despite her efforts, a soft giggle escaped her lips. Asterian's ears flicked gently against his head as soon as the noise had reached them. Her laugh sounded... cute. The mare went on, "You've probably heard my name from the other Octavia, the famous one..." There was a definite tone that hinted contempt towards the renowned cellist.
"That would explain."
"She's always showing off to those nobles, like she's their pet or something."
Once a few seconds of awkward silence had passed, he tried to pick up the conversational ball. "So, you needed supplies?" With a small rakish smile, he opened up a hatch in the floor-boards, revealing a small basement. Inside was nearly every luxury item he had, from wines to small yet precious gems he had acquired from his trips. The same light-venting crystals that were upstairs were also present in the hiding hole, dimly revealing the shape of the shadows to allow navigation. In addition to the small cellar area, there was a bookshelf much like the one in his bedroom, except this one housed a cache of art and writing supplies that could have well lasted him through a one-way ticket to the moon. Of course being assistant manager -- or at least, having been -- had to have some perks, one of which was working for supplies. As he began to descend into the hole, he asked Octavia, "Anything in particular you need?" She looked to him, levitating a short list of items over. "If you have any of these, Starfall, I'd appreciate it." The host seized the list in his mana grasp, and ten minutes later, he emerged from the room with several bottles of various colors of ink, several quills, and some sketching pencils. "So, uh... is this everything?"
She looked through the pile of items, every so often double-checking the list to ensure everything was there. Some few minutes had passed, and Asterian voiced a curosity that had lingered on his mind. "Why are you wearing a cloak?" he asked her. She looked up from her task with a clueless look about her complexion. "What? Oh, I thought it was going to rain." The writer snickered. He did not mean to, but he did. It was too funny. There isn't a cloud in the sky, he thought. Apparently, she did not entirely share in his humor, taking slight offense to his laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just... There's no clouds in-"
*Chasoom! * A deafeningly loud thunderclap sounded outside, cutting the quill-waver off mid-way in his statement. His eyelids drooped, but he retained his debonair accent as he said in joke, "Okay, so I retract that statement." The artist giggled again, causing Asterian to blush a soft pink color. There was something about her laugh that he found charming. He could not place his hoof on it. Was it cute? Was it relaxing to him?
She suddenly spoke up, "Well, thanks for everything. How much do I owe you?" She had evidently broken some sort of trance that had overcome him, his eyes having glazed over. Despite the fuzzy feeling in his brain, he gathered himself enough to voice, "No charge. Anything for a friend."
"No no, please. Let me pay."
"Really, I insist. There's no need... But it's pouring out there, you might want to stay here for a bit until it dies down."
He mentally slapped himself for his invitation, but he didn't have long to punish himself before his new friend spoke up. "Oh, I don't want to impose... I've sort of overstayed my welcome, haven't I?" The stallion looked to the ceiling, pouting slightly. "Not that I'm aware of." Maybe it was the dim light from the illuminating crystals, but he thought he saw Octavia blush pink at his gesture. "Okay then." Perhaps now they could get to know each other in a more friendly setting. "I'm sorry," he said with a regretful voice, "I'm such a terrible host. May I offer you something to drink?" Although Octavia shook her head as if saying, No, thank you, Asterian wasn't looking. He walked back down into the basement and came up thirty seconds later with an unopened bottle of Canterlot's Pride wine. After replacing the hatch on the basement, he went over into the kitchen, extracting two wine glasses from one of the many cabinets. It was only on occasion that he would drink, but what better occasion than to toast to good friends and great health?
The quill-waver brought the two glasses over to the coffee table and set them down with a soft clink. He magically uncorked the wine and filled both glasses half-way, smiling a little as he did so. Once the wine had been poured and the bottle re-corked, he floated one of the glasses over to Octavia, and although she accepted it, she did not drink from it. The mare silently stared into it, her mirror image staring back at her through the dark liquid. As Starfall took his seat, he laughed softly at his company's expression. "I haven't done anything to that wine, Octavia," he teased. She laughed half-heartedly, continuing to look at it with caution. "So Starfall, what do you do in your spare time?"
The question seemed to catch him slightly off guard. He lowered his eyes, mulling the question over. What did he do in his spare time that would possibly be relevant to the conversation? "Well, I mostly just write as part of work. I've always found it to be so releasing. To be able to just take a quill and write out your thoughts... it helps me to relax. Let go of reality a little. Other than that, just a little meditation, and occasionally I'll practice spells." Her eyes shot open to face him instead of the wine, and she began to devote all her attention to what Starfall was saying.
"What kind of spells?"
The stallion smiled at her, answering her question with one of his own. "Are you afraid of fire?" Octavia's eyelids, if possible, extended even more so. She stammered nervously, "Uh- Um... Sort of... This won't- This isn't going to do anything, i- is it?" Asterian shrugged at the question, taking slight humor in the situation. He took some advantage of her fear and shrugged at her question. "We'll see, now won't we?" At that point, his horn glowed brilliantly, and a golden wisp of flame appeared to separate from the burning logs of the fireplace. Octavia was terrified by its sudden appearance, seizing up at the sight of it and gasping. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." With her friend's assuring words that she would not burn to death, her breathing began to calm, and her initial reaction faded, beginning to give way to slight impression at the spell. The blaze-mancer focused himself, and two more fireballs cloned themselves from the first, matching its form perfectly. They shimmered in flawless unison, rising as he inhaled and shrinking as he exhaled. "I didn't even know unicorns could do that."
"Oh, it gets better than that. Watch..."
He began to rotate the fireballs around themselves. With each revolution, they gradually picked up momentum as they continued their waltz around each other. Eventually, they got to moving so fast that, to both Starfall and Octavia, they formed a single ring of fire, but maybe that was because they had formed a ring. The stallion jostled the blazing band around the room, allowing it to ricochet off of several of the walls before landing into the fireplace with a hiss.
Although the ring had been made of sheer heat, it left no burn markings anywhere. Thermal control also involves thermal barriers. As Octavia looked at him dumb-founded, he said, "It's really nothing. It's just something I do to pass time." Octavia had a mixed look of both awe-stricken impression and complete fear. She retorted, "B-b-but that's not nothing! That was amazing!" Starfall just sat down with his same debonair tone in his voice. "I don't like the spotlight, but I don't like being backstage either... Somewhere in the middle is where I prefer."
Octavia began to trust Starfall a little bit more. True to his word, he did know what he was doing. She looked back down at her crystal glass and took a sip from the wine. The taste of the sweet liquid was exquisite, and the texture was like satin that freely flowed down her tongue. "This wine is delicious, Starfall. Where'd you get it?" She then looked over to the bottle, and once she had read the label to its fullest, she burst out laughing at her own mistake. The two continued on, sharing stories and joking like old friends.
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The sun shown brightly through the windows as Asterian began to wake. As soon as his sensory receptors came back online, he felt himself bombarded by a splitting headache. He opened his eyes to find that his vision had been blurred, but through the fog, he could see a half empty bottle of Applejack Daniel's sitting on his bed-side table, and it dawned on him the cause of his migraine and impaired visuals. He felt a warmth coming from behind him, and almost on cue, he heard a "Mmm..." from that direction. Oh dear Celestia, he thought. Please tell me that's not who I think it is... Sure enough, after a dreadful period of not wanting to look, Octavia Winters lay beside him, smelling of the same exact aroma as that of the whiskey beside the bed. Asterian turned to stone at the sight of his more-than-friend as she lay peacefully on the bed. How could things possibly escalate that quickly between them?
Starfall tried to rouse himself and bring about an escape. Maybe he could sneak into the guest bedroom, pretend he was asleep, and then, using his writing prowess, work up a story. From the stench of alcohol on the both of them, his lie might even convince himself into that story. He crept his way out of the bed, making as little noise and shifting his weight as little as he possibly could. He tip-hoofed his way towards the door, but he had forgotten something. A loud creaking noise sounded as he hit a spot in the floorboards. Buck.
Octavia began to stir, and Asterian sighed in defeat. He knew he had been caught. The mare rose from the bed, and once she opened her eyes, she gasped at the stallion standing in front of her. "Starfall?! Wha- H- WHAT?!
"How did this happen?! What am I doing in your bed?!"
These were just some of the many different phrases that Octavia spluttered out of her mouth. Clearly, the liquor wasn't having the same effect on her as it was him, but that did not silence her yelling, which unfortunately for Starfall only amplified his headache, and by extension his confusion. He gripped at his head, trying to massage his tired, pain-wracked brain back into working order. "Calm down, Octavia. Ju-"
"Calm down?! "
"Just hang on and look at yourself."
"Well, you sure got a decent look at me!"
"No, I mean literally, look."
Octavia looked down with an exasperated groan, but... something about the situational puzzle was missing. There weren't any stains on the bed sheets, and they were still tucked in underneath the mattress at the corners. In addition, neither of their coats, manes, or tails were messy. As Octavia looked up confusedly at Starfall, he voiced what they both were thinking. "I don't think anything happened between us. I think we slept together, but we didn't... sleep together." The writer tried to spin his words into a comforting manner, mostly because he thought his head would burst open if Octavia started screaming again. To his surprise, Octavia didn't seem to have any sort of aggression in her. She just sat there, her breathing heavily thanks to her outburst.
Octavia's mind was swimming in an sea of incertitude. For one, it seemed they both indulged in more drinks than they both would have normally cared for and they did awaken in the same bed. However, all the other signs were non-existent. There was only two things that suggested the possibility of them having slept together in the metaphorical sense, but everything else indicated the contrary in that they may have just cuddled together... while they were drunk... at night... in the same bed... But surely that never happened?
After a few minutes for composure, Starfall spoke once more. "Octavia, I'm certain that -" he pointed towards the bed "-never happened."
The mare looked at him quizzically, "But... if we never... then what did happen?"
What had happened?
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"... so you could imagine the look on Lunar's face when he came in! He squeed and fainted the second I turned on the lights!"
Both Octavia and Starfall burst out laughing. He had just been recalling the story of his dear friend, Lunar Flame, and the stallion's fascination of rare artifacts. Lunar had always been a good friend of Starfall's; ever since the two met, they studied together, played together, and fought together at one time or another. They even learned the same magic abilities, and the fact that they both could control thermal elements made friendly duels only that much more interesting.
As the two's laughter died down, Asterian hung his head over his wine glass, staring down into it in a rather depressed manner. "That was the last time I saw him. We've been out of contact for two years, and I haven't heard anything of his whereabouts anywhere since he left." Octavia looked to her host for the first time since she had drank from her wine glass. She said in a caressing tone, "You mean he just... vanished? Just like that, and you never heard from him?" Starfall shook his head in response, keeping his eye on the velvet red substance in his glass.
Ever since Lunar's sudden disappearance, Starfall had felt a sort of hallow feeling inside. Lunar was the only pony that he could genuinely call a friend. Even now, two years after his vanishment, having heard no word and not knowing whether he was alive or not, he still felt sorrow at the memory of his one true friend. Sadness. Maybe one more glass of wine was in order. After all, one wouldn't hurt, so what could two possibly do?
He levitated the bottle skywards, motioning to Octavia. "More wine, Octavia?" She, in turn, floated her glass forward towards the bottle. It had been ages since she last indulged herself, and if Starfall had asked, who was she to turn down hospitality? "Thank you, Starfall." The wine bottle tipped over and refilled both of the unicorns' glasses back to the half-way mark. Asterian raised his to his lips and began to drink from his, caring a little less about the flavor and focusing more on taking his mind off of what ailed him. Octavia did not even sip from hers. It did not take a psychologist to conclude that something was wrong. "Starfall, is there something troubling you? If I'm overstaying my welcome, then I can just go."
The stallion lowered the goblet in haste, leaving a small drip of wine to splash down back into his drink. "No, Octavia, it's not that. I just... I miss Lunar. We were practically brothers, and it's not like him to leave without warning. I just wish... that our last meeting could have been spent with him conscious." Octavia let out a soft "Aww..." under her breath and sat back down. The poor stallion... I can only imagine what it would be like to lose somepony as close to you as a brother. She took another sip from her wine and mulled over the story that she had been told.
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"What happened?"
Asterian jerked his head back, snapping out of his trance. His memories of last night had begun to return to him, or at least, what he thought were memories. Was that what happened? No, there had to be something else, but what? Try as he might to return to his mindscape, his aching brain kept him from returning to discover the answer. "What happened?" Octavia repeated, this time with a little annoyance in her speech. Asterian took a breath, then tried his best to relay his vision back to her.
"Well, me being myself, I pulled out a bottle of wine for us to have a glass in toast to friendship. You and me talked around for a little while, then... I got caught on the whole story about Lunar Flame... I remember I was moping over him for a little bit, then... there was something about how you thought you had overstayed your welcome, and... I can't remember anything past that..." He let out a small, stifled grunt before adding, "Maybe I'll remember more when I've woken up and... cleared my head."
Octavia stared cluelessly at Asterian for a few seconds, but her mood quickly changed to one of content nature as she took in the data. "Well, I know I don't remember anything right now," she said with a giggle. That laugh of hers... It was music to Starfall's ears. He smiled at her before offering, "Would you... care to stay for breakfast? I mean, I understand if you don't, but seeing as how it's at that time of day..." The writer could have slapped himself for his own bumbling stupidity. You take advantage of her pity, get her drunk, sleep with her, and then you think there is even a chance she'll-
"Oh, why not?" she said with a shrug of her shoulders and a smirk. "Then again, that's probably what I said about the wine, and look where that got us. Maybe you could join me in another drink." Starfall could not stifle the welling of laughter from his stomach, and he let out a throaty chuckle at Octavia's jest. She had joked with him, only now to return the favor. He put on as charming of a face as he could before speaking in a lousy British accent, "My my, do ya think we'll both fit?" The mare smiled coyly at him and batted her eyelashes. Whatever confusion and agitation that had risen from their waking was evidently gone, but... was Octavia actually flirting with him?
The two unicorns walked down the narrow staircase and into the the living room once more. There sat the glasses and bottle from last night. The bottle, much to Asterian's relief, still had a measurable amount of the expensive wine remaining in it. He levitated the glasses into the air towards the kitchen sink to be washed. He then floated the bottle skywards, but as he was half-way towards the cellar, his hangover caught up with him and his magic failed. The wine bottle dropped to the floor with a crash, spilling the red liquid over the oak floors. After a splitting head-ache, Asterian rubbed his horn, "Oh... What a waste of good wine..."
Octavia ran over with a concerned look. "Are you okay, Starfall?" she gasped. Asterian nodded his head, still rubbing his horn to try and relieve him of his head-ache. As he sat there on the ground, the puddle of red slowly grew around the two of them, soaking Asterian's haunches and staining Octavia's hooves. Winters heaved Starfall to his hooves, which proved to be difficult through the shroud of her own hangover, but she managed to get Starfall upright. A few blurry seconds later, the stallion looked down to his wine-soaked backside and sighed in disgust. "Now this is a waste of good wine." The bottle had fragmented into the tiniest bits of glass, and the wine had spread outwards in an explosion of sorts.
Octavia came back over bearing two dark red bath towels, held aloft in her aura. She passed one of them to Starfall, who still seemed to be a little dazed from the mishap. He took the towel in hoof and began to scrub at his flank vigorously, trying his best to remove the wine before it could stain. After he had removed the red substance from him, he bent down to join Octavia, who had been vigorously cleaning the floor. "I'm sorry about this, Winters. My-My magic... It just- It just stopped working." Octavia shrugged at him with a hint of annoyance in her gesture. "It's fine, Starfall." Within just a few minutes the floor had been dried adequately, the glass had been removed from the area, and Starfall mentally declared the path safe to walk upon once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The house was quiet once more. There was not a sound throughout the house, save the ambient crack of a fire burning in the chimney. Starfall lay in his antique fainting couch, which was just off-set from the fireplace. He always had wondered how the name of the furniture stuck. Why would ponies need to use a couch for the sole purpose of fainting upon it? Maybe it's a misnomer of some sort... Hmm... He let his head sink deeper into the rounded pillow, him being surprisingly cured from his earlier malady.
Octavia had already left his company, saying she had an errand to run. Her farewell had left Starfall's mind in disarray more so than his alcoholic haze. She said she hated to leave so early, but given the circumstances it was surprising she did not leave the second she woke up. She gave her goodbye to Starfall and then turned around to leave, but as she did so, her tail brushed against his cheek. To further confound matters, Starfall could have sworn she was swaying her hips. It couldn't have been mere coincidence that she would do that. Octavia was a respectable and modest young mare, so why would she happily jaunt her flank around in Asterian's face like that?
It didn't make sense. Then again, nothing makes sense when one is sleeping on a fainting couch and they are not asleep. Starfall was about to give up on his paradox when a vision flashed before him. His eyes went wide as another sliver of his memory returned to him. The world around him seemed to dissolve as he entered the realm of his own recollection...
Recollection and Reconcile
"So... What did you do after he went away?"
Starfall broke from his trance and looked to Octavia, having been staring off blankly at the wall, measuring every last grain in the logs. He had only barely registered Octavia talking to him. She was looking at him with the same blank stare he was giving the wooden planks not ten seconds ago. The mare reiterated her question, "What happened after that?" After some thinking, Starfall's face turned to an expression of deep melancholy. The memory of Lunar's departure was coming back, along with the emotions it drew from him. Asterian may have been fourteen -- and living on his own -- when his friend vanished, but it still struck a nerve that never needed to be struck. Lunar was the one pony that truly understood Starfall and his problems, and with him gone, the unicorn slipped into a period of deep depression that seemed endless. He felt himself fading into the same feeling as he responded with a hint of malice. "I did what anypony else would have done," he said. "I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and moved on. Never saw him again, and I hope it stays that way."
The stallion definitely held disdain towards Lunar, and what came next only solidified Octavia's thoughts. "I mean, he just packed his bags and left. Never wrote, never said where he was going, never came back... So I just ignored him. Removed him from my life the way he removed me."
"Well come on, Starfall. Don't you think you're being a little hard on him?"
"I don't know, it's possible..." Starfall rose from his seat and began to walk towards a small liquor cabinet lying in the corner of the room. He magically opened the door and began to browse through the shelves. He needed something stronger.
"I guess if I was... I don't know, offered a job in Canterlot writing Celestia's biography, I might leave too... but I could never do that. I have too many friends here that I care about." Starfall stopped at a particular bottle -- Applejack Daniel's. How long had it been since he had had a dram of hard alcohol like this? Starfall never was a drinker; only in moderation would he ever even have a taste of wine... Forget standards. He wanted to forget that betrayal once and for all, and he was entitled to forget.
He extracted the bottle, closed the door to the cabinet, and levitated the bottle behind him as he walked back into the living room. He encapsulated his aura around two whiskey glasses on top of the cabinet and floated them to the table. With a sullen face, he opened the bottle and began to pour himself a glass. "Starfall?" said Octavia. She sounded gravely concerned about something. The stallion stopped pouring and looked up at her. "Yes?"
"Are you a drinker?" she asked with apprehension.
Asterian let out a half-hearted laugh, his face unrelenting in its frustration. "No. More of a collector of gifts. I'll call myself a connoisseur, but I don't drink." His voice sounded sincere, but the cabinet suggested that Starfall may have been lying. Octavia frowned at him with pity, lowering herself from the sofa to get a better look at Starfall. She said in a caressing voice to him, "Asterian, drinking never solves anything. It only puts you in a hole." Maybe it was the wine's effect, but the writer felt another surge of annoyance run through him. Leave me alone. I want to drink until I forget everything. "Octavia, please. I've just relived losing somepony like a brother to me, I've lost my job, and I have nothing else to show for. I just want to... forget about it, even if it's for one night. Do you understand?"
Winters did not change her expression of concern, but she nodded nonetheless. Every now and again, you had to reset and reconfigure everything so that you can make progress, and while drinking may be a little extreme, she understood why. Indeed, she had problems of her own she wanted to forget. She looked thoughtfully at the glass of whiskey in Starfall's magical grasp as the stallion raised it to his muzzle. "Starfall?" Octavia asked as Starfall's glass touched his lips. Octavia floated the empty glass on the table in a posh manner. "Would you mind if I have a little?" she asked. Starfall chuckled at her question. Just a minute ago, you say drinking is bad. Now you want a glass? Asterian responded with a question of his own. "What happened to 'drinking only puts you in a hole'?" Octavia shrugged at his question as her concern and worry seemed to dissolve from her face. "To Tartarus with it," she said indifferently as Starfall poured a generous amount of the amber-colored drink into both of the glasses. Octavia took the glass in kind, but instead of sitting back on the sofa, she walked over to Asterian and sat down with him in his chair.
Octavia sat close to him, getting as comfortable as she could next to him. Asterian felt her fur mixing with the fibers in his coat, forming a seamless bond of white between the two. He felt a swelling of heat in his face as Octavia settled cozily beside him. She looked deeply into his eyes, and as he returned the stare, he found that she was within mere inches of him. Once again, it could have been the wine clouding judgement, but the two felt something between them. Asterian wanted somepony that he could be honest and close to, and Octavia wanted the same. Asterian's heart pounded in his chest. Without looking, he lowered his glass back down to the table and leaned in slowly. Octavia chortled as she did the same with her glass, but instead of leaning in, she held out a hoof over Asterian's lips, which were merely two inches from her muzzle. Starfall's eyes snapped open as Octavia said in as coy a manner as she could, "Slow down, dear. We'll get there."
Asterian drew away from Octavia, resuming the distance they were previously at as he levitated his glass back up to him. Octavia did the same as she lifted her hoof for Asterian to hold. With a soft smile, the stallion took his new partner's hoof in his own as they clinked their glasses together, saying in unison, "To Tartarus with it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Asterian broke from his abstraction. The world came back into focus, along with a familiar feeling: regret. How could I have done that to her? Forget that, why did she join me? It doesn't add up. Octavia's respectable, isn't she? Maybe I missed something... He closed his eyes, hoping to return to reclaim shards of his memory, yet nothing came. Try as he might, his mind worked against him, almost as if it was punishing him for his mistakes. Feathers, he thought. Nothing... You should find her. You owe her an apology, Asterian. It's the least you can do... But where could sh- Right... Ask Pine, you idiot.
He got up off of the couch, stretching his legs as he began to walk towards the door. He looked over to Merriweather, and she looked back at him, dismayed that her beloved master was leaving. Much to her surprise, Starfall grinned and reached out a hoof to her. "You coming, Merri?" he asked. The owl hooted with glee and flew over to Starfall, nesting herself on his shoulder. Asterian grinned a little more broadly as he surrounded the door handle with his magic and twisted it open. "Well, let's see where she is... She can't be that far off, right, Merri?" The owl twittered in his ear as her master locked the door and set off east -- the same direction that Winters had taken just two hours ago.
Face it, you're lost. Asterian had been wandering aimlessly through the streets and alleyways, desperately trying to track down where Octavia could be, but it was clear that he was going nowhere fast. Miss Pine appeared to have genuinely gone on vacation this time, and he found himself at the front entrance to Sugarcube Corner for the third time in an hour, still without a sign of his mark. He felt like it was something like one of those spy chases that he had read about in so many books. He needed to find her without letting her know she was being tailed... Starfall, stop over-dramatizing things and just find the mare, he mentally scolded. Just then, he heard a loud grumble and felt a void inside him. "Huh... Are you getting hungry, Merriweather?" In response, the owl nodded lazily to him. It seemed that their search would have to wait for now, as sustenance had become first priority.
As Starfall entered the establishment, the soft scent of vanilla, chocolate, and other confections gently probed his senses. The place was rather quiet for this time of day, assuming "quiet" meant ignoring the occasional flickering glimpse of a barely-understandable pink mare bouncing in and out of existence across the shop. Asterian always had a personal fascination with the way that she managed to simply vanish and reappear from out of nowhere. Take into the account she is an earth-pony, he mused, and she probably has discovered some long-lost type of magic...
"Then again," he snickered to himself, "there was that time when there were fifty of her. Who's to say that one or two were forgotten?" The stallion laughed quietly in his booth as he waited the inevitable appearance of the bubbly mare. What was her name again? She said it once... Kina... Pinka... Pika-
"HI THERE!"
"Whoa!" Asterian flung himself back as far as the window of his booth would permit him, and Merriweather let out a shriek that turned half of the heads in the eatery towards the scene. "I'm Pinkie Pie! What can I get for you today?" Once the perceived threat had passed by, Asterian began to recompose himself. "Uh, yes. I suppose a small salad would do for me." Asterian had barely finished his sentence when the waitress darted out of sight, only to pop up once more with a salad bowl. She placed it down on the table and said cheerfully, "Anything else?" Starfall shook his head in rejection before she wound up melting away into oblivion and cropping up again two booths away. Asterian ignited his horn, levitating the fork towards his mouth and calming gnawing on the lettuce leaves.
After some time of alternating between eating, looking out the window, and further musing over the baker-mare's odd skill, he paid for his meal and stepped out of the faux gingerbread structure. He looked towards the clock tower, noticing it was still early in the day. 12:37, still enough time to... Something caught his eye. A glimpse of some sort of blue mist whipped around the corner just as quickly as it had appeared. "What the... Merri, did you see something?" Merriweather looked up to Asterian with a slightly tilted head. You saw it too? There was no doubt that whatever it was could not have been natural. Something or somepony made that mist, but what?
With the sudden appearance of the fog, Asterian curiously walked away from Sugarcube Corner and into one of the many back-alleys of Ponyville's residential area. There was the same blue mist, floating there in a sphere. Starfall held out his hoof and began to approach it, but before his hoof met the orb, a voice called out. "You were showing off all night. It's only fair I show the same hospitality." Asterian did not need to turn around to know who it was. Standing before him was Octavia, her horn lit and apparently manipulating the orb of smoke.
"Octavia? What are you doing? Spying on me?"
... No.
"You could say that," Octavia giggled softly.
I could say you are stalking me...
"There's not many ponies who can sneak up on me," said he.
It's easy when your target is wearing a hat that can pick up cable.
"It comes with practice. How'd you know it was me though?" asked Octavia.
The color of the orb.
"The color of the orb," Starfall admitted.
Right...
"Oh. Very observant."
"Well, I did get a good look at you." The two burst out into laughter at the comment, losing all sense of self-control. Even Merriweather found herself hooting with glee. Once they had finally found their wits and recovered from their bout of hysterics, Asterian waved his hoof towards the alley's outlet, asking, "Can we talk, but in someplace less... dismal?" Octavia nodded, "I'd like that." She smiled to him, and he smiled back.
The two rounded back into the bakery, where after a lengthy yet fruitless conversation by the bouncing pink mare, they found their way to a small corner table and sat down together. Pinkie trailed them all the way to the table and after a little while, Starfall finally caved and ordered a mint shake. At least she is off of us, he thought. Despite the fact that Octavia did not want any of the milkshake, Pinkie wound up giving them two straws, giggling even more uncontrollably than was usual for her. "What do you think is up with her?" asked Octavia. Asterian shrugged, "I don't know."
"Maybe she thinks we're a couple."
"Maybe..." Starfall levitated the straws into the air -- pointed straight down at the drink -- before letting them fall back down to the glass, plunging into the shake like darts. Why did he feel nervous? This was supposed to be a simple apology, so why was he so nervous about it?
He said shakily to Winters, "Octavia, I... I w-want to say I'm sorry about the way I acted last night. It... It was wrong of me to act that way, es... especially in front of a guest." Octavia looked at him with surprise. She knew that apologizing after something like that could not have been easy for anypony. "Starfall, it's okay. You had every right to be angry with your friend."
"But not in front of you," Asterian retorted.
"Starfall, it's okay-"
"No, it really isn't, Octavia... Look..." Asterian could feel himself growing fainter and fainter by the minute. The pressure of the thing was getting to him. "As a host, I'm supposed to uphold a moral code... I'm supposed to uphold that code anyhow, but... last night... something cracked. I-I thought that I could forget everything bad in my life... There's something else."
Octavia looked at Asterian as she waited for him to compose himself. It seemed like hours passed by as she waited for him to speak and he waited for him to be able to. Once he did open his mouth, he voiced his memory. "I can remember a little more about last night. I remember that I felt hatred towards Lunar. You asked me what I did after he left, and I told you that 'I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and moved on'. After that, I went over to my liquor cabinet and took out the bottle of Applejack Daniel's. I began pouring myself some, but you stopped me. You said that I was only hurting myself by doing this. I told you that I had no friends, no job, and no way to ignore everything, so you let me go... You even asked if you could have a pinch. I poured you some, and then..." His voice trailed off. He felt his lower body shaking in alarm, too fearful of what could happen next should he say what happened.
"Then what?" Octavia asked. "What happened after you poured me a glass?"
You had better run. She's onto you!
"I... I don't remember..." Asterian lied.
"Starfall, please tell me. I promise I won't be angry with you, no matter what it is. I just want to know the truth."
Don't. You. Dare.
"Well... You got up from the sofa and... sat down next to me in my chair." Asterian could feel the same heat rising in his cheeks as he explained the story as best he could in between giggles. "You got comfortable... and then... ehe, I... drew in close to you... Then you... you- you put your hoof over my muzzle. Said..." He burst out into another fit of chuckles, but he managed to finish his sentence. "...that we'll get there. So I- ahem- I backed away, we... held each other's hoof, raised our glasses, and... and... I can't remember past that."
Octavia sat dumb-founded by the story Starfall had told. She wasn't even entirely certain she should trust him, but it all made sense. She absorbed the story, trying to remember for herself what had happened, and after a few minutes of thought, she had it. The whiskey, the cuddling, the near-kiss. Octavia gawked at Asterian, who was uncomfortably sitting beside her with a worried look on his face. He withdrew his arms from the table and began to leave. "Well," he said. "I suppose I should... I should just leave." As he and Merriweather were just about to open the door to exit, Octavia called out, "Wait." Asterian glanced back at Winters, waiting for her to finish. "Thank you for being honest..." This time, it was Octavia who felt a rising heat in her head, and she blushed a light pink as she asked her next question. "Why don't you stay?"
Asterian, completely taken aback by Octavia's sudden request, responded with a small nod and grin. He whispered to Merriweather, "Merri, could you- uh..." As if she knew the answer, the owl took off from his shoulder and hovered in the air. Asterian opened the door in front of him, and his feathered friend darted out of Sugarcube Corner and into the open air. With Merriweather gone, Asterian turned back, still grinning, and walked back to his booth. He took his seat next to Octavia a little closer than he had before, and she beamed at him. He looked at the milkshake with a hinting glance, "Care to share this with me, Octavia?" Winters slid closer to Asterian and brushed against him. Was this affection? Most likely, considering Octavia's response. "Of course, Starfall," she teased.
Over in the opposite corner of the shop, a pink mare observed the new couple with a close interest. Behind her, a particular cyan pegasus huffed in frustration as she gave Pinkie Pie a small sack of bits. "Okay, so you're right this time, but I will get the next one!" Rainbow Dash hissed. Pinkie Pie was too busy sighing passionately at Asterian and Octavia to notice much. "Oh, Dashie... Aren't they just so cute together?"
"Yeah, really... How'd you know they were together like that, though?"
"Because they're adorable, just like you..." Pinkie Pie sashayed her hips past Rainbow, flicking her muzzle with her soft tail as she walked upstairs. Rainbow smiled slyly as she followed her mare-friend. "I'm not adorable, Pinks. I'm the fastest, most radical-est pony in Equestria!"
"I know you are..." Pinkie snickered. "Come show me how fast..."