Starlight

Starlight

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fan Fiction

By Anthony Bova

Chapter 1: Star Shooting

    The life of a reporter is not a tale of glamour. Nor is it a tale of heroes or knights in shining armor coming to rescue a mare in distress. I live this life one day at a time, dealing with financial struggles like everypony else in Cloudsdale. Of course, there are advantages to being a Pegasus News Pony. I get to avoid the worry about not knowing what is going on in Equestria, aside from the typical and very dull stories about when Princess Celestia travels somewhere, which happens a lot more often than you’d think.

     My name is Grass Marks. I’m a reporter. I just joined up not too long ago, and now that I’m 17 years of age, they’ve moved me up from junior reporter to a full-fledged reporter. That means I get bigger wages, bigger stories, and a lot more mares and colts saying I’m a terrible pony for intruding and reporting on the lives of other ponies. If only I had a bit for everypony who told me that.

     Anyway, so this is my life. I wake up, put on my proper attire, get over to the office, get my assignment, go to work, come back, go home, eat, go to sleep, and repeat. There’s rarely any days off and it’s not like everypony wants to become a reporter. It’s not exactly an exciting job compared to working the weather or running a shop or even racing. Those are the glamour jobs. I just report on their exciting jobs. You could say I get the scraps of what they leave behind.

     I stretch my forelegs out, feeling my way to my blanket and roll it off, really hesitating getting up. I slowly move out of my bed, putting my hooves on the ground and making my bed. This was just another day. I don’t have time to eat breakfast because I was stupid enough to decide to play the “just five more minutes!” card with myself, being fully aware that it was a terrible idea despite what I told myself. I walk downstairs, letting a yawn slip from my mouth. My room shaded with white wallpaper and pictures of Ponyville, Canterlot, and points of interest in Cloudsdale hanging around my walls. I walk over to my small closet, which is just an indent in the wall of my house. Inside, there are several vests, all looking the same. It’s a green vest with many pockets for things such as a notepad and pencil. It wasn’t a long vest. Not a trench coat, but just a plain vest that covered about a fourth of my body. I know what you’re thinking; about how my fashion is terrible.

     Sliding the vest on and putting my appropriate corresponding reporter gear in the small pockets, I head for the door, gently opening the door and closing it softly behind me. The sun glares on my forehead, making me cringe and regret having to go today. It’s not that I hate my job; far from it in fact! My only issue with it is that the boss is giving me what he called a, “huge story involving fallen stars.” Yeah, that’s quite a story all right. Excuse me if I withhold my enthusiasm.

     I hesitantly take my first steps, feeling the typical cloud beneath my hooves. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that the only way I could get through the day is to find a way to make this “fallen star” story more interesting. Maybe think of it as an alien invasion! That’d sure be something to report on. And Equestria would have to praise me as a hero for delivering the news. Although, I know how things work around here. The news would get to Princess Celestia and she’d get all the credit instead. Okay, maybe that isn’t such a good idea. Well, at least it’d still be interesting for my 15 minutes of fame.

     I walk along the clouds, following my ordinary path to an office building, not too noticeable or tall, and look at the building. It’s not a long walk, maybe only a few minutes. Cloudsdale itself really isn’t a maze or metropolis like a lot of the Earth ponies seem to think it is. It’s really just like their village of Ponyville… just, well, floating.

     Regretting I didn’t call in faking a cold, I opened the door. The quiet atmosphere was pleasant considering it’s usually hectic. There were only a couple other reporters in the field where I was at in my career. But my boss, who we call “Money Bags”, seems to think we’re all below him and are just his tools for getting more money. That’s the only reason he wanted me to do this story, anyway!

     It didn’t take long for me to get noticed by him in such a small room, either.

     “Grass Marks!” Money Bags called out to me. I closed my eyes tightly, wishing he hadn’t seen me and praying with all of my might that when I opened my eyes, he’d be gone. Sadly, this wasn’t the case.

     “Yes sir?” I asked, trying hard not to seem disrespectful.

     “Why aren’t you out reporting on the fallen stars?” Money Bags said, eating an apple on his desk.

     “Sir, I just got in the office. For that matter, I just woke up!”

     “Watch your tone. Get your sorry flank to the crash site right now!” This is where my boss always makes me regret taking the job under his control. See, Money Bags is a green pegasus, just like myself, but he’s chubbier. Your typical fat, lazy, money craving corporate type.

     “Yes, sir.” I finished, ignoring my want to explain to him that I don’t even know where the crash site even is! I went into the other room, the only other room in the building, and looked at the pinned marks on a map hanging on the wall. They were color coordinated. Red for Flare Skates, yellow for Golden Dusk, and green for Grass Marks. We’re the only reporters Cloudsdale has at our expertise of the reporting career.

     It’s a map of Equestria, and there are two yellow marks in Cloudsdale. Meaning Golden Dusk is probably somewhere in town. Part of me considered going to him so I wouldn’t have to immediately go to the site of the fallen star. I did start to feel bad for Flare Skates now, seeing what I counted as five or six other markers for her. I only had one. That one green mark somewhere about five minutes from the Everfree Forests’ eastern barrier. Grabbing my notepad and pencil, I write down the information. Five Minutes from East Everfree is exactly what I wrote. It didn’t need to be clear. I knew what it meant. Quickly walking back out and avoiding the attention of Money Bags, I shut the door behind me and flew off into the skies, looking around the city for any sight of Golden Dusk, but not seeing even a hint as to where he could be. I mean, it was early in the morning still. Everypony is heading off to work and continuing their daily lives.

     It’ll be about a seven minute flight. My wings open and spread to jump into the sky, soaring high into the sky and feeling the ever so cold air brush harshly against my face. I follow my intended trail, still looking for any sign of something interesting to get off track and away from the job. I pass by faded clouds. That is, clouds with very small amounts of rain inside them. The Everfree Forest is within sight, and it won’t be long to get there. Maybe if I was a faster pegasus during flight school, I’d have been able to get there in a shorter amount of time. However, that’s Flare Skates’ job. She’s the fast one in our trio of Pegasus News Ponies.

     The Everfree Forest was in viewing distance now. It’s dark, almost chilling nature, always making me wonder about its origins, given that it’s day. It seems like there’s only night in that forest. The trees were almost bound together, creating a barricade around the Everfree Forest in all spots but the main entrance. That is the only way in and out of the forest itself.

     A crater could be seen right where they said the star landed. It’s not often a star falls out of the sky here in Equestria. There’s an old ponies tale of a land where shooting stars are quite common. A blue-tinted land where stars fall almost like rain falls. I’ve never been one to believe in these tales, but they’re fun to read about nonetheless.

     I made my way to the crater. It was just a large hole in the ground. About 40-feet in diameter if I had to estimate using my eyes. There was no smoke, no nothing. Just a hole in the ground from the impact. Peering my eyes over the crater, I saw a small blue orb in the crater.  Maybe about 10 feet tall; spherical of course. I flew lower, my hooves touching the ground, and my flapping wings coming to a halt.

     Now I was inside the crater, looking at the strange orb. I marked it down in my notepad quickly. No star in crash site. Blue orb. As I put my pencil away, I had a strange feeling. I knocked my hoof against the blue orb, and much to my surprise, it cracked. At first, I had a sense of shock as if I just did something I would regret terribly. My next sense was that of confusion and curiosity as to what was in this orb. Knocking on the orb again, it cracked. What happened next seems difficult to recollect.

     There was a flash. A white shine that came from the orb, leaving me stunned and blinded. It lasted a few moments before it died down. It took me a moment to open my eyes again. They stung and felt like they were going to bleed from just how bright the light was. But now that I think about it, that also could have been from my killer headache that didn’t help at all with whatever it was that just came from that orb.

     Finally, I came to. I rubbed my eyes and rattled my head, baffled by what had just occurred. Slowly, my dizzy vision came to a halt and I started seeing single as opposed to triple. For whatever reason, it took me a while to notice that the blue orb I had tampered with a moment ago was gone. That thing could have held a dragon for all I know and I could have died!

     I stood in the same spot, hoping my headache would dissipate. The weird feeling I felt earlier grew. It wasn’t weird as in “super powers” weird, it was weird as in I felt like something was unnerving me. I looked around, scouring the edges of the crater until my eyes locked on to something charging at me. For a moment, everything stood still and time stopped as my eyes observed this character.

     A blue mare with a yellow mane and tail. It was safe to assume, at the time, that she had long hair just held up. A bow was also in her hair, giving her somewhat of a sweet and innocent appearance accompanied by the red outfit she wore. Her expression was that of anger, making me immediately feel like I disturbed some sort of ancient burial grounds. Then it hit me. Literally.

     I flew backwards, landing on my back after being head butted by the blue mare whom I knew nothing about. I groaned and looked at her as she stood in a battle stance on all four hooves, looking ready to kill me. She yelled and charged once more. This time, I wanted to take the defensive approach and flew to the air to avoid her. I believed I was safe in the air and maybe I could talk her down from here. That is, until she revealed to have wings and took to the sky. Just what I needed on the job. A battle crazy female pegasus wanting to kill me for Celestia knows what!

     She charged at me, faster than any pegasus I’ve seen before. I dodged out of the way, but the way she stopped in mid-air and bolted at an angle towards me was seemingly impossible in my mind. Being tackled, she flew me towards the ground and gravity did not appear to be on my side, keeping me firmly in her hooves as she slammed me against the ground. I couldn’t move. She had me.

     “Who are you?” she asked angrily, pinning me to the ground. I couldn’t speak at first, still groaning in pain. “Well?” she grew impatient.

     “G- Grass Marks.” I said, feeling like I really shouldn’t be cooperating. I’m the one who should be asking all of the questions! Who is she? Where did she come from? What does she want? Why did she attack me? What was that blue orb?

     “Why are you here?” she asked, her attitude making it seem more like a demand than a question. No sense in arguing it… it’s not like I can get out of here without cooperating now.

     “Investigation.” I replied, trying to be vague.

     “Of what?”

     “A crashed star.” Her angry look shifted, her eyes growing wide and her livid expression turning blank.

     “A… star?”

     “Yeah. You know, those things in the sky at night.” I said. Talk about having to point out the obvious.

     “I know what a star is, you dolt!” she snapped. Talk about an attitude.

     “Great. Then maybe you can tell me who you are?” I asked, hoping to get at least some answers to what was going on around here.

     “That’s none of your business! What did you want here?” she snapped again. Forget having an attitude. She’s touchy and makes Money Bags seem like a saint.

     “I already told you!” I accidently snapped back. “I was investigating the crash site!”

     “Why?”

     “It’s my job!”

     “As what?”

     “A reporter… I’m a Pegasus News Pony.” I said. From there, her expression seemed confused, her head tilted.

     “A… what?” she asked.

     “A news pony. I go around and gather information to send to the citizens of Equestria.” I explained. I think that upset her, because she pushed down harder on me now.

     “You’re not telling anypony about me!” she said, still sounding as demanding as ever with her somewhat rattled voice.

     “I’m investigating a star, not you.” I said, trying to keep myself from dying.

     “How do I know I can trust you?” she asked. I sighed.

     “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I went to go do the movements to put my hoof to my eye, but the moment I made a motion she pushed me down again. She didn’t say anything for a while. She just sat there and looked at me, looking like she was in deep thought.

     “Alright!” she said, perking right up for some reason. Her angry nature went to that of extreme happiness as she let go of me and bounced right back up to her hooves, releasing all tension. This is usually the part of the story where everything gets weird and the hero finds himself waking up from a bad dream. I hoped this was that kind of story.

     I stood up, brushing myself off and looking at the blue mare with an incredibly wide smile. After a brief moment of awkwardness and silence, I cleared my throat.

     “So, what’s your name?” I asked. She took to the sky, flying in circles and doing what looked like a routine from the Wonderbolts, but with less speed than them. She flew through the circle she made and flew straight up to the sky, angling herself down towards the ground and bolting in a dashing speed towards the ground. When she hit the ground, she met it still standing on her hooves and flipping her hair at me.

     “I’m Star Chaser!”