There Will Always Be Light

Part III

"The Thin Layer Of Silence."

Thankfully, just like with everything else, Starry was a natural at flying. He was able mimic my movements and master the basics extremely quickly. It has gotten to the point where in only a few months he was able to go on flights with me and truly experience the outside world for the first time since the day that I found him. It made me feel great to know that I was able to give Starry at least a little bit more freedom. He also seemed a lot happier knowing that he didn't have to be cooped up in my room every second of every day.

The three of us struggled through the awkward years, but before I knew it Starry was eight years old. Since I had found him I hadn't done anything special for the anniversary. However this year I felt like I should at least do something to celebrate the special day that Starry came into my life.

So I decided to go all out; I decorated my room, bought Starry presents, and even went as far as to try to bake a cake.—As you can imagine that didn't go very well on the first try.—but even then, with a bit of help from Midnight and a whole lot of cookbooks, I was able to make something presentable. I then made sure my schedule was clear for that day, and with everything ready I was finally able to get my plan underway.

"Come on Mom!" pleaded Starry. "Just tell me what's going on already!"

"Be patient honey. I'll let you look soon," I assured him. "Just let me do one last thing,"

"But I wanna see now!" whined Starry as he tried to pry Midnight's hooves from in front of his eyes.

"Whoa! Hold on there buddy!" cried Midnight as he attempted to restrain the squirming colt. "Calm down. She's almost finished,"

"Okay..." Grumbled Starry, stopping his struggling.

"Alright," I said as I put up the last streamer. "he can look now."

Midnight then slowly removed his hooves from in front of Starry's face. Starry shook violently as he took in the bright colors of the room around him; his eyes darted around the room, a perplexed look on his face. I had forgotten that he had never actually had a party in his entire life, so his confusion at the brightly colored decorations was only natural. "We wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the day that I found you, so we threw you a surprise party! You know what that means right?"

"We get to play games?"

"That's right! We get to play games all day!" I said, beaming with excitement.

"This is awesome!" He said tackling me in a bear hug. "I love you!"

"I love you too Starry,"

After that, Starry, Midnight, and I started to unbox and play all the new board games that I had bought. We played for hours, and Starry had a great time. But eventually the time came for cake and presents.

"Alright Starry," I said as we finished up our last game of Monopony. "Are you ready for your presents?"

"You bet I am!" squealed Starry Night enthusiastically.

"Alright, because I've got your first one right here!" I exclaimed as I pulled a fluffy white mattress out of the closest." I know you've been waiting to get a real bed for a long time, but I finally went out and got you one!"

"Woah! Thanks Mom!" cried Starry as he threw himself onto the soft bed. "This is so cool!" he shouted as he jumped up and down on the bouncy surface.

"Don't get too excited kid; there's more where that came from," said Midnight grinning.

"Do you have a present for me Mr. Midnight?" asked Starry overflowing with anticipation.

"I sure do buddy! I have it right here," he said as he grabbed a neatly wrapped box with his teeth and dropped it in front of Starry. Starry looked at the gift blankly. "Go on, open it!" said Midnight warmly. Starry took a deep breath and proceeded to shred open the wrapping paper. When he had finally ripped open the brown box, his face glowed as he saw what lay inside. Starry slowly put his hooves in and pulled out a large gold helmet with a thin blue mohawk on top.

"That was mine back when I was a young stallion in the royal guard, but now that I'm the captain, I don't need it anymore. So I thought I'd be better if I gave it to you. I know it's super big on you now, but I'm sure I will fit someday..." admitted Midnight. Starry then tried to put on the bulky headgear causing it to hang awkwardly in front of his eyes. "So... Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding!" beamed Starry. "It's the best! Thanks Mr!"

Midnight Legacy smiled a soft smile. "That's great kid, that makes me happy. That's not the whole gift though,"

"There's more!?"

"Yup, my gift comes with a promise. Luna and I talked it over, and we decided that the day you can fit into that helmet I start training you in the ways of being a soldier, so when you grow up you can be a guard too."

"Really?!"

"On my honor, I promise."

After that, we opened up all of the other colorful presents I had wrapped for Starry, including a notebook for him to write and draw in, a poster with some soldiers on it, and a hoof-full of power ponies comics. When we were finally finished, it was past Starry's bedtime, so we decided that it was time for the cake.

"Happy birthday Starry," I said as I took a large wedge of of the cake and put it onto a plate.

"Yeah happy birthday, you little monster." mumbled Midnight, trying to hold back a smile. Starry grinned, took a deep breath, and began to dive into his cake face first.

"Hey! Take it down a notch!" cried Midnight as he got splattered with cake bits. However Starry ignored him and continued to dig into the dessert. "Luna, control your child!" He said, but I just giggled and watched the scene play out.

***

Deep in the night I heard a shriek, but it was not a normal shriek. It was a piercing shriek, one that smashed through the calmness of the night, shattering the thin layer of silence like a sledgehammer to porcelain.

I awoke with a start and looked around. It was all darkness save for a few thin rays of moonlight slipping through the curtains. "Who is it? Who's there?" I heard a soft whimper followed by a loud shuffling. "Starry honey, is that you?" A grave though stabbed into my mind and my heart sank. "Oh no, are you okay! Are you hurt!" I cried out into the dark.

"I'm not hurt," whispered Starry, his voice quivering.

"Oh baby, what happened? You sound terrible."

"I had a nightmare... Again."

Nightmares, Starry has been consistently having them for a long time now. I'm not sure why, but they're getting worse by the day. Sometimes I know when he's having them because I frequently visit his dream world. Other times I can feel the negative energy that oozes from his psyche and, hear his mumbling, like a quiet plea, slipping from his shivering jaw.

I sighed and asked, "What was the dream about?" I already knew the answer, but I knew letting him get it off his chest would help calm him down.

"It's the fire one again," he squeezed out reluctantly.

"Oh Starry, come here," I said hoisting the sniffling colt onto my bed. "You can sleep up here tonight, okay?" I then pulled Starry close to me and wrapped the covers around us.

"It was the same as all the other times except one thing..."

"What?"

"This time, instead of being swallowed by the fire, I wasn't. Just as it started to get close to me it all went out, and I was alone. After that, a huge black thing came over to me," Starry moaned becoming more and more fervent as his story went on. "It had sharp teeth and a gross blue mane, but worst of all it looked like cheese, all full of holes." Starry then closed his wide eyes and grabbed onto me, burying his muzzle in my shoulder.

"It's okay Starry," I comforted him. "It's all going to be okay. Trust me, nothing like that will EVER happen to you, not when I'm around."

" Okay." He smiled a bit. "Love you Mom."

"I love you too buddy."

Love is a strange thing. Sometimes it drags you up from the pit of despair, and makes you feel as if nothing else matters. Other times it's seemingly unbreakable bonds can crumble in an instant. Fighting with anypony hurts, but by far the deepest cuts come from those you trust. I believe we all have shields, not the kind of shields you take into battle, I mean the invisible kind. I mean the kind that we use to keep out the inevitable criticism of the world. And I think that we all have ponies that make us feel safe, safe enough to lower our shields. Unfortunately that makes it hurt all the more when they stab you through the heart.

***

*Clink* went my fork as it knocked agents the fine porcelain of my plate. I sighed as I looked at the huge banquet table that lay in front of me. Alone again, I thought as I gazed at all the empty chairs scattered around the room. She's been gone for a long time now. I just hope she's okay.

I dropped my fork and stood up no longer hungry. I dragged myself over to one of the many windows that looked out of the dining hall and sat down. It was raining again, but this time it wasn't light. This time, the rain was coming down like knives in heavy sheets, and the sky was an angry dark mass of gray. I put my muzzle on the glass. It was cold, but I didn't mind; It was soothing. I closed my eyes, but just as I started to drift off, the door to the banquet hall creaked open.

"Luna, are you okay?" chimed a familiar voice.

"Celestia!" I shouted surprised.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm finally done with the project! you wouldn't believe what we—"

"You idiot!" I cried, fury in my voice.

"What!? What did I do?!"

"What did you do!? You disappear for ages without a word and then show up one day like 'hey it's me!’ I mean, how did you expect me to react?"

"Not like this..."

"Where even were you?" I demanded

"I was doing work. Why does it even matter? I'm back now."

"Work?" I laughed. "What about meeting with Orion? What about filling out mountains of paperwork? What about that work huh?! Or was that stuff not important enough to you?"

"No it's not that I just thought that you could—"

"Oh I get it!" I yelled. "You just want to shove off all the unfun stuff on your little sister because you've got better things to do then stupid paperwork and boring meetings right?!"

"Hey! Let me speak for a second!" she snapped. "I'm sorry that I left you; I really am, but you have to understand that I have more important things in my life than you!" My jaw dropped wide open. More important than me, I thought, my heart on the edge of exploding.

"Woah! Excuse me!?" I screamed astonished.

"Oh come on Luna you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean." I retorted.

"I'm not saying I don't love you; I'm just saying you have to think about the greater good."

"What greater good?" I scoffed. "I'm your only family. You know; the ones you're supposed to love no matter what?"

Celestia shook her head." You don't get it. That's not how being a princess works. Oh, and I heard about what happened at that meeting, and frankly, I am disappointed with you. What you did was rude, disrespectful, and most of all embarrassing to all of Equestria."

"Oh, so what you did wasn't rude?! You left me totally unprepared for a meeting I didn't even know was happening!"

"That's different!" She shouted incredulously.

"How?!"

"I did it for good reason!"

"No, you did it for what you thought was a good reason and didn't even think for a second what other ponies would want. Besides, nopony wants to see me! They think I'm just your delinquent sister. It's always you they want."

"I want to see you."

"Then why did you leave?"

Celestia just went silent, and lowered her head.

After that, Celestia and I didn't talk, and as time went on she started disappearing more and more. It was almost like she was a ghost, gone, only to reappear at the worst possible times. I would love to say that Celestia was my only problem, but if I said that I would be lying.

Back then I was having fights with everypony, regardless of whether I was mad at them or not. However, by far what I regret the most were the fights with Starry. Starry was always a bit difficult, but never was that more evident than when he began to hit his teen years. He was still the cute pony that I had found fourteen years earlier, just more stubborn.

***

"Starry I'm home," I called out to an empty room. Strange, I thought as I trotted inside. Where did he gallop off to? After calling out his name a few more times, I began to grow worried, so I decided to look for him In all the usual places, In the closet, in the bathroom, and even under the bed. Of course he's not under the bed! I thought frustrated. He's fourteen not four!

I sat down on my bed pondering my next move, when I felt a draft of cold air. I stood up slowly following the breeze. It led me across the room and to my balcony door which had been left cracked open. Oh no! He didn't! I thought as I began to piece together what happened.

Hours past, and I grew more and more worried for Starry. I talked to Midnight about it, but he said he that he was training new recruits all day, so he didn't have a clue. He told me everything was going to be alright, but I was still worried. Midnight decided to go looking for Starry to calm me down, but he still wasn't able to find him no matter how hard he tried.

"The Everfree Forest is a big place.” said Midnight pacing around my room. “There's no way we would be able to search it all alone.”

"He might not be in the Everfree; he could just be hiding," I said hopefully.

"Come on Luna; who are you kidding? Where else could he have gone?"

"I don't know he could be in the castle somewhere..."

"We already checked the entire castle twice!" Midnight sighed and put his hoof on my shoulder. "Look I don't want to admit it either, but he flew away. I don't know why, but he did. And the only thing we can do now is wait for him. I'm sure If he's okay then he'll find his way back. It's not like the castle is exactly hard to find,"

"I know; you're right—”

"Now," he cut me off. "Get some rest. You look awful." I glanced in the mirror. He was right; I looked like a complete train wreck.

"Alright, thank you," I said as he trotted out of the room.

***

I sat down at my coffee table holding a cup of tea when the clock struck midnight. I tried to suppress my feelings of guilt and go to sleep, but it was proving to be a physical impossibility. I wish I could say that it was all because I was worried about Starry, but it wasn't. A piece of me, no matter how small it may have been, was just deathly afraid of being alone again.

I tried to take deep breaths and relieve the stress, but all that came out was a loud and uncontrollable moan. I then dropped my muzzle to the wooden table and closed my eyes. Why?! Why does everything I love fly away from Me?! I then raised my head ready to smack it against the table again when I heard a faint creaking sound.

"Mom?" Called out a familiar voice. I whipped my head around to see my son standing in front of the open window. "Are you alright? You look sick." He began to trot toward me concern in his soft blue eyes. I shook my head, tears running down down my face.

"No I'm not sick... But I am glad to see you!" I said gripping Starry Night in an intense bear hug.

"Woah!" he stammered. Calm down Mom; you're killing me!"

"Sorry... I was just worried about you," I admitted, ruffling his wild black mane. "Now, what is wrong with you?!"

"Huh?!" sputtered Starry.

"Where were you?!"

"Nowhere," said Starry casually "I went out okay? What's it to you?"

"You went out?! You mean you went out without asking ME, your mother, first?!"

"So what?"

"What if you had gotten yourself killed!? I wouldn't have even known!"

"It's cool that you want to protect me and stuff, but I'm not a baby anymore. You don't have to hold my hoof every step of the way!" groaned Starry.

"I'm not holding your hoof! Just because I expect you to follow the rules of common courtesy like everypony else,doesn't mean I'm holding your hoof!" I lectured.

"Oh yeah? And how do you expect me to tell you? I can't exactly go looking for you in the castle; can I?"

"You could tell me before I go to work. But of course you're not going to do that's because then that would require you to actually wake up at a reasonable hour."

"I've got a better plan! How about you stop being paranoid, and let me go out whenever I want?"

"No, how about instead I forbid you from ever leaving!"

"You know what?! Maybe I'm tired of you trying to dictate every step of my life!"

"Oh really?" I scoffed "Is that what this is about?!"

"Yes! That's ALWAYS been what it's about! Sometimes I feel like I'm the princess, locked up in a tower, having everything given to me on a silver platter," said Starry resentfully.

I sighed. "I know..."

"You what?!".

"I know! I'm just afraid somepony will find you." I looked up at Starry, tears returning to my eyes. "I don't want anypony to take you away from me… "You're all I have."

Starry looked at me again, his face growing softer and more understanding."I know," he whispered, pulling me in for another hug.

"Someday I'll be able to set you free, I promise

.

After that Starry Night always woke up early to ask if he could fly, and I never once said no.