Frozen Moon

Chapter 2: On the run

You wake underneath a tree in a snow covered land, the silence of your surroundings makes the hairs on your neck stand up straight; it’s one of those moments when it is ‘too’ quite. You lift up your wing and see Star still sleeping underneath, curled up like a ball. ‘At least she had a good sleep’ you thought. The whole night you have been thinking about your deed and the lack of guilt that should come with it; this caused you to have practically no rest… and the cold didn’t help either.

You nuzzle the small white filly underneath your wing. ‘’Star, wake up.’’ you whisper, no response. ‘’psst, Star!’’ you hiss quietly and poke her with your nose, causing her to groan, with irritation.

‘’Just five minutes more.’’ she mutters.

‘’Come on, Star, wake up. Now!’’ you say and begin to get irritated.

‘’…fine…’’ she mumbles and yawns. ‘’Morning’’ she says with a small smile and rubs a hoof in her eyes, ‘’You look horrible…’’ she states with a hint of concern and a clear giggle.

‘’…yes, my looks are super important right now…’’ you reply, sarcastically.

‘’You just look silly,’’ she giggles. ‘’Your mane is frozen… straight up.’’

‘’W-what!’’ you blurt, very shocked, and reach a hoof up to your head. As soon as you reach your mane you feel a hard piece of it and start to poke it gently. *snap* A frozen cluster of hair lands in front of you; you stare at it with wide eyes. ‘’MY MANE!’’ You wail, ‘’MY BEAUTIFUL MANE!”

Your outburst, as a stallion, was somewhat comical for practically everypony. Heck, even you would have laughed your haunches off if you saw somepony react like this. Star was doing just that, right now, while you desperately try to reattach the broken piece of hair.

After a few minutes you give up, as did Star, well… at least for a little while. She cracks up again when you give your lost piece of beauty a proper burial.

‘’Seriously, I have never seen somepony react like that because of his mane!’’ Star says between the gasps of breath she toakes between laughs.

You turn your head to her and glare into her, ‘’That piece of beauty will be lost forever! And I look hideous right now!’’

‘’Take it easy, sis!’’ she giggles, ‘’Let me just…’’ *snap* ‘’um… oops?’’ She regretfully holds another piece of your mane in front of you.

‘’After all I do for you…’’ you snort.

‘’Well… it doesn’t look that bad’’ she says, looking at your mane, ‘’and since when do you care about your looks that much? A-are you a coltcuddler?’’ she asks in shock.

You give her another glare, ‘’I am not busy with my looks!’’ you say angrily, ‘’…just with my mane…’’ you admit. ‘’and I am most certainly NOT gay!’’

She levitates a mirror in front of you with her magic, ‘’See... it isn’t that bad...’’ she grins.

You look in the mirror and sigh, ‘’Whatever...’’ you mutter and push the mirror away, ‘’Let’s eat something!’’ you say and start rummaging in the bag with your groceries.

‘’Well, all the vegetables and apples are frozen... so let’s eat this partially frozen bread…’’ you sigh with a very fake smile.

‘’Oh, jolly! I love frozen bread!’’ Star jokes, ‘’You do know that I know a heating spell right? I used it almost all night on the ground underneath us’’ she laughs.

‘’Uhm… yeah, of course I know that’’ you lie.

Her horn begins to glow and several apples float from the bag with food, her horn started to glow more intensely and the apples started to steam.

‘’Star! Just thaw them, not cook them!’’ You say loudly.

Star opens her eyes and stops her spell, ‘’It’s hard you know!’’ She snaps back.

After heating up three more apples, you take two of them, both slightly burned and still frozen in the core, but edible. She also warms up a canteen you had filled with snow, until it was boiling. You add some tea leaves that Star had taken with her and after a few minutes you two share the warm liquid and savor the feeling of the tea warming your insides up.

‘’uhm, Star… I was thinking a lot last night’’ You say with a hint of sadness in your tone.

She looks suspiciously at you, ‘’...about what?’’ She asks.

‘’You remember Mister and Misses Shine right?’’ You ask.

She glares at you, ‘’Yes… what about them?’’ she asks while still looking deep in your eyes.

‘’I don’t think that these circumstances are good for you. I think you should go…’’ You started when she interrupts you.

‘’NO!’’ she yells, ‘’I will stay with you! You are all I have left!’’ tears start to form in her eyes, ‘’I will stay with you!’’ She finishes.

‘’Star, listen to me… you are still a filly. You shouldn’t live like this, and I am sure Mister and Misses Shine are more than willing to take you in. I promise that we will see each other again, just give me the opportunity to settle down in a town. And besides, if the cops are looking for us, we are way more suspicious when together.’’ you explain to her.

She looks at you with tear-filled eyes, ‘’Y-you… you’re right’’ She admits, ‘’b-but don’t you think will be suspicious when I suddenly go back to school unharmed, while you are gone?’’

‘’You will go disguised, and hide with them.'' You say, ‘’and Misses Shine used to be a teacher, so she will be able to teach you.''

She wipes the tears out of her eyes, ‘’and how am I going to get there?’’ She asks.

You reach again in your bag and take out your wallet, ‘’I have about 200 bits left…’’ that is more than enough for a train ticket to Detrot. ‘’As soon as we find a town, we will go to an inn, I will write to Misses Shine about your arrival and then we’ll wait for a response.’’ you reply.

‘’And then?’’ She asks while looking downcast.

‘’Then you will go back with the train. You know the way from the station to the Shine's house right?’’ You ask, concerned.

She gives you a simple glance and a nod, ‘’And what will you do?’’ she asks.

‘’I will find a nice quite town, find a job and start a new life.’’ You say simply, already having everything planned out in your head. You look at Star, who looks quite sad. ‘’I promise that I will write you about everything that happens, at least once a week.’’ you say and pull her to you with your wing.

She begins to sob quietly into your coat, ‘'It is better this way.’’ she whispers.

You nuzzle her mane and give her a peck on the forehead. You sit like that for a couple of minutes until she stops crying. You rise to your hooves and arch your back like a cat, which causes your spine to make multiple popping sounds; you also twist your head which causes your neck to make the same sounds. You stretch your front legs, back legs, and wings and discover that your left wing is aching. After your morning routine of body stretching you look back at Star, who is looking at you with disgust.

You shrug, ‘’What?’’ you ask. She shakes her head and starts to pack the bags.

After she is finished packing, she places two saddlebags over your flank, she carries two saddlebags and a backpack. After securing everything she climbs onto your back and holds onto you tightly, ready for takeoff.

You stretch your stiff wing muscles and wince, ‘’Everything okay?’’ Star asks in a concerned tone.

‘’Yeah… just a bit cramped...’’ You say and stretch your wing again.

‘’Isn’t that the wing you had that injury on?’’ She asks.

‘’…yeah…’’ you say and wince again.

‘’I think we should walk, you shouldn’t strain an old injury’’ she says and tries to hop off your back.

You hold her in place with your right wing, ‘'Just give me a minute, normally after a few stretches it’s okay to go. It just feels stiff, don’t worry,’’ you say while looking over your shoulder and giving her a smile.

After a few more stretches you feel the pain reduce with each stretch. After about twenty stretches, the pain is almost completely gone… at least for now. ‘’Okay, I’m good to go.’’ You say and start to gallop out of the tree line, ‘’Hold on tight!’’

You start to flap your wings and the pressure underneath your hoofs reduce with each wing beat. The wind is flowing between your feathers; the well-known feeling which is very comforting. After five more beats of your wings you take off into the cold morning air. You have no idea what time it is, but the sun is still climbing and only half past the horizon. The few solar rays that it is emitting warm you a little and give you an energetic feeling. You always loved flying in the winter, the cold air over your body, the little heat that the sun gives and the beautiful white landscape.

After what only felt like minutes you look over your shoulder and see that Star is already fast asleep. The sight of the small filly sleeping peacefully warms your heart and causes you to smile, it also brings a small feeling of sadness with it. You are sure that sending her to a stable and trust worthy home is the best choice, but still you are sure that you are going to miss her. The longest time you two were apart from each other was a week, and that was only once when you were on a flight camp.

After a few hours of flying you feel yourself growing tired and want to take a small break, also a storm was starting to brew. ‘’Star!’’ you shouted through the howling winds, ‘’wake up Star!’’

You felt three taps on your neck, which indicated that she was awake. ‘’we are going to land’’ you yell, ‘’hold on!’’.

She grabs herself tight against you. You make a nose dive which increases your speed dramatically, ten feet above the ground you pull up again. You level out at an altitude of only a foot to spare between your hooves and the ground, ‘ooh yeah, I’m good’ you think to yourself.

While zipping between trees and looking for a small patch of clear ground you don't notice a hill of snow and fly into it head first. Luckily it is only powder snow and doesn't hurt you, but Star finds it incredibly funny.

After brushing of your snow beard you continue on hoof. All the snow in this area is very loose and very easy to move with a few wing beats. You walk to a tree with a small path of snow underneath it and you start to flap your wings, all the snow is blown away very easily and the brown frozen dead grass underneath it appears very fast.

Star's horn started to glow and the patch of grass and dirt started to steam, after only a minute all the left over snow and all the ice was gone, and Star was exhausted. You stepped on the warm ground and let Star jump off your back. As she stood, she wobbled a bit on her hooves from exertion.

‘’Star, are you okay?’’ you ask and support her with your wing.

She nods her head, ‘’cold air makes using magic a lot harder’’ she says and shakes her head, trying to regain focus.

She sits down on the warm ground, staring in front of her. You pull out the blanket and wrap it around her; you also warm her with your wing. But this leaves you open for the freezing winds that are howling through the trees, not that it bothered you. You always preferred cold above warmth, actually you like the cold winds rushing and blowing through your mane and coat.

You pull out the flask with the tea in it. The flask was isolated so the tea stayed hot in it. The flask is half full with the warm liquid; you unscrew the cap from it and hold it in front of her. She eagerly drinks it and you see an immediate change of awareness in the filly.

‘’ooh yeah’’ she gasps after taking another gulp from it, she offers you the tea and you accept it, drinking the last bit out of it.

You stand up and do a few wing stretches, also brushing off the small forming of ice that had formed during the flight. ‘’after half an hour we go again. Okay?’’ you ask.

She nods, ‘’where are we going anyway?’’ she asks and pulls out a map from the bags.

‘’you had a map…’’ you groan in irritation.

‘’yeah… didn’t you know?’’ she asks and looks confused at you.

‘’I was all this time flying with my feeling and sense of direction’’ you mutter.

She giggles and unrolls the map, ‘’okay, what was your target?’’ she asks while looking at the map.

‘’Trottingham’’ you answer.

‘’okay’’ she says and rubs her chin, ‘’ I have no idea where we are’’ she admits.

‘’girls and maps’’ you say with a chuckle and take the map from her. You sit next to her, ‘’look’’ you say and point at the map, ‘’here is Detrot and here is Trottingham. This is probably where we will have our first night’’ you point at the far edge of the first of the two forests of the route, ‘’we are just past these mountains after approximately six hours of flying. That means that we are around here’’ you point at the forest next to the mountain, ‘’which means that if I fly for four hours more we will reach Trottingham already’’ you say.

Star looks wide-eyed at the map, ‘’So, what are we waiting for?’’ she asks.

‘’Well, last night I didn’t sleep that much and I have flown a lot today…’’ you say and rub the back of your head, ‘’and you said that I shouldn’t strain my wing’’ you say with a smile and flap your left wing softly.

‘’...Whoops’’ she mutters.

‘’I can walk for a few more hours’’ you state, ‘’only my wings aren’t built for a snow storm…’’ You glare at her.

‘’Okay, so we rest up for a bit now and then we walk until nightfall?’’ she asks.

‘’Fine with me.’’ you say and shrug.

After half an hour of resting  and both eating another apple you continue on your way, only this time on hoof. It is much slower and more exhausting to fly through the snow than to fly through the cold air. The winds picked up and made it impossible for you to fly above the tree line with Star on your back, alone would be possible but still very challenging. Sometimes you would fly up and look if there was any sign of civilization in sight, but every time was to no avail. You could only see a few feet away, due to the snow that was flying around blocking your line of sight.

After a few hours Star is exhausted, and you take her on your back again. You still have enough energy for at least an hour or two. By the time the sun starts sinking behind the horizon, you are getting pretty tired and decide to call it a day. You clear another patch of snow underneath a big tree and Star uses her magic to melt and heat it. Even though her horn was warmer now because she had wrapped herself in the blanket when she lay on my back, it was still a challenge for her, probably due to her fatigue.

After clearing the snow and warming the ground, you lower her on it and cover both of you with the blanket. Under the blanket you pull her close with your wing and let her cuddle up against you. Her horn glows faintly to keep the ground on the temperature as it was now; this spell probably didn’t take much energy or focus from her, because she was able to maintain it while sleeping. You made sure to pull your head underneath the blanket completely this time, making sure that there was not a single part of your mane sticking out from underneath it.

After finding a comfortable position, and making sure Star was. You feel at peace and let the sensation of sleep consume you and take you away into the dark void of dreams.

You wake up and slowly open your eyes; you are still under the blanket… alone. You shoot up and look around desperately for your little sister. ‘’Star!’’ you shout in panic, ‘’Star, where are you!?’’

You run to the edge of the snow and saw hoof steps; you follow them at a running pace. After a minute you hear a stream of water, ‘’Oh no...’’ you gasp and pickeup your pace even faster. You reach the source of the sound and see Star sitting at the edge of a small creek. You sigh in relieve and pant from your sprint.

Star turns around and looks questioning at you, ‘’What are you doing?’’ she asks confused.

‘’Why are you here!’’ you say angrily.

She points to the creek, ‘’Water…’’ she points out simply.

‘’Couldn’t you melt snow or something?’’ you ask harshly.

‘’Melting and heating stuff takes energy, maintaining the heat is nothing’’ she explaines, ‘’and I had to pee so I walked away from the camp site and then I heard this creek, and why melt and warm something when I can take it here and only have to heat it’’

You sigh in relief, ‘’I’m sorry Star. I was just worried’’ you say.

‘’It’s okay, I understand, I shouldn’t have wandered off’’ she admits.

‘’Come on, let’s eat something. I want to reach Trottingham before noon’’ you say.

She screws the cap off of the canteen and follows you, ‘’How much food do we have left?’’ she asked after putting the flask in her saddlebag.

‘’About ten apples and a lot of vegetables’’ you respond with a smile.

After two minutes of walking, you reach the camp site and discover that the bag with food was torn up , the other bags were all opened and the blanket was moved: dragged through the dirt.

‘’What the hay!?’’ you exclaim when you see the chaos.

‘’What the hay happened here?’’ Star asked when she notices the torn bag and scattered belongings.

You look around to see who could have done this. You walk around looking for clues. You walk towards the edge of the circle and see the tracks of an animal… a big animal.

‘’Uhm Star… take a look at this’’ you say and gulp, ‘’Are these what I think they are?’’

‘’B-bear…’’ she stutters in fear.

‘’I was afraid for that…’’ you sigh and glance over at Star, who is looking off into the distance.

You follow her gaze and in the distance you see a big black figure staring in your direction, standing on its hind legs. ‘’Star… grab the bags’’ you whisper.

Star steps back and starts repacking the things that have fallen from the bag while you kept your gaze on the huge beast in the distance. ‘’Okay, I’m done. Let’s go’’ Star wined quietly before placing your saddlebags on you back.

In the distance, the black form lowered itself to the ground and sat on its rear. The beast opened its huge mouth and let out an astonishing… yawn. You felt Star climb on your back as you start to run. As soon as you were in the air, you use the sun to guide you where you need to go. You flew west with the sun to your back.

‘’Uhm, Star… I don't think that the bear was aggressive’’ you say once you had reached flying altitude.

‘’Sure… so you want to go back and have a nice chat with it’’ she sarcastically responds.

‘’No! Of course not, hell, didn’t you see how fast I took off?’’ you ask, ‘’I didn’t even stretch my wings!’’

‘’I know, just don’t take any risks!’’ she said as she nuzzles you.

The first few minutes of flying strained your left wing, especially the first few wing beats. But after a little while the pain starts to fade away, but the hunger didn’t… you had only eaten three apples in the past three days, and you didn’t eat at home right before you left. ‘Home’ you thought, what a silly thing to think. That was never our real home, we moved in with that stinking, fat fuck after our mother died. But now he is gone and that place is gone too.

The thoughts make you somewhat smile, ‘’no regrets’’ you say softly.

Star pricks her ears up, ‘’Hmm? What?’’ she mutters.

You turn your head and look at her, ‘’What?’’ you ask as if there was nothing.

‘’I thought you said something’’ she yawned.

‘’I didn’t say anything,’’ you lie.

‘’Ooh… okay,’’ she says as she placed her head again on your back, ‘’How much longer?’’ she asks.

‘’Well…’’ you look up at the position of the sun to see how long you have been flying, ‘’I think about an hour and a half’’ you say, unsure.

‘’Okay’’ she yawned again before cuddling up in her blanket once more.

‘’I’ll wake you when we get there’’ you say and feel her nod in response.

After a few minutes you look back and see that she had fallen asleep. It surprises you that she could sleep this much when she lie on your back, but you did have a comfortable back.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours and hours into hunger. You have never been so hungry, your belly is constantly grumbling, at some points even so much that it woke Star. You were starting to feel noxious from hunger; you have to eat something soon. Due to your old lifestyle you don’t particularly have a real energy reserve, so you had to do with what you had… while flying day after day.

At some point your vision became blurry, the hunger was getting to be too much. You even start to hallucinate buildings in the distance… wait a minute. ‘’Star! We are here!’’ You cheered, ‘’We can eat!’’.

Star lifts her head and looks confusedly over your shoulder, ‘’Finally!’’ she said with a yawn, ‘’I’m tired of sleeping on the floor… and I have to pee… and I’m hungry!’’ She whines.

‘’That is all over now sis.’’ You say gleefully, ‘’Except for that pee part… that’s something you have to do alone.’’ you chuckle.

The city is getting ever closer, you could almost smell the food already, when you suddenly realize that it is very possible that they are looking for you. You descende in the outskirts of town and walk into an alleyway.

‘’Aren’t we going to eat?’’ Star complains.

‘’Not yet,’’ you state. ‘’We have to get a disguise’’ You rub your chin.

‘’Ooh ooh, I have an idea’’ Star says, suddenly awake. She pulls off the blanket and uses her magic to tear it into pieces.

‘’...and what is the point of that…’’ you say, confused.

She unfolds the pieces and reveals two white cloaks, ‘’The color isn’t right…’’ she mutters.

‘’Yeah, with these we will stick out like sore hooves’’ you point out.

She focuses intensely, her horn starts to glow brightly and sweat began to drip of off her forehead. The color of the larger cloak changes slowly to a much darker one before your eyes, and became a very dark tint of purple. The smaller one is next, first it turned red and then it turned… pink. Star drops both cloaks looking a little bit fatigued.

‘’Uhm, Star… yours is pink...’’ you complain.

‘’No it isn’t!’’ she says with a smile.

‘’Uhm, yes it is’’ you respond.

‘’No, it is very light red’’ she giggles.

You sigh and pull on your own cloak. Somehow she knew managed to stitch the ends and make it look neatly. ‘’These are nice, Star.’’ You praise, ‘’good work!’’

She thanks you with a smile, ‘’So, now the disguises are done…’’ She says with an even wider smile.

You grin, ‘’Let’s feast!’’ you dart off towards wherever your nose leads with Star following, giggling.

After having stuffed yourself like a gentle colt with the fine cuisine in Trottingham, you feel a lot heavier and your wallet a lot lighter, ‘’Worth it’’ you smile while lying on a bed in the local inn and let out a loud belch.

‘’Eew! That’s gross!’’ Star complains.

‘’Don’t care’’ you say with a smile, as the taste of the food returned in your mouth with the belch. You liked your lips, ‘’hmmm, apple-pie’’ you almost moan.

‘’Dude! What’s wrong with you!’’ Star yells in disgust.

‘’Nothing, what’s wrong with enjoying a belly full with great food?’’ you ask to the grimacing filly.

‘’I swear to Celestia… if you are going to fart tonight, you’ll sleep in the bathtub!’’ she threatens.

You laughed and rolled on your back, ‘’Don’t worry, you won’t hear them!’’ You evilly grin.

‘’Ugh! What is wrong with you colts!’’ She asks herself and lets herself slump on her own bed.

Her horn started to glow and a small protective bubble shapes around her head, ‘’Now I can’t smell or taste your farts.’’ she says with a smile, ‘’and they won’t burn my eyes.’’

You look confused at her, before shooting into a burst of laughter. Star rolls her eyes and lay down onto her pillow; her horn glows once more, making the bubble around her head sound proof.

‘’Kill joy...’’ you mutter before lying down comfortably on your own bed.

You yawn and close your eyes. Finally, you have a warm comfortable bed, which is the reason why sleep didn’t wait long before taking you away into the land of nightmares…

‘’Thunder! Give me my dolly!’’ the young Star wines.

‘’Thunder give your sister her doll back!’’ your mother ordered you.

‘’…okay…’’ you say with a sigh and release the doll. Star stuck out her tongue at you and skipped away gleefully with her doll.

You slump towards your mother and sit down next to her and look over the lake, ‘’Thunder… how much do you care about your sister?’’ she asks out of nothing.

‘’w-what?’’ you ask confused, ‘’she is my little sister… she means the world to me’’ you answer.

‘’good’’ she says and smiles, ‘’and never forget that’’ she pulles you in a tight hug.

‘’m-mom? What’s wrong?’’ you ask concerned.

‘’nothing dear, mommy is just a bit tired’’ she lied.

You blink and suddenly you are in a hospital, but only one or two years older. Nothing seems strange to you; you are too concerned about the sick mare in front of you.

‘’m-mom, what’s wrong?’’ you asked and feel tears well up in your eyes.

She coughed, ‘’mommy won’t be around much longer dear’’ she says with a weak smile.

‘’w-where are you going?’’ you ask as tears started to roll over your cheeks.

‘’m-mommy don’t go away, I’ll miss you’’ the foal Star said, also crying.

‘’don’t worry my dears, just remember that you will always have each other’’ she says and pulls you both in a weak hug. ‘’mommy is just very tired’’ she whispers.

‘’Star, remember what I told you. Always be prepared’’ she says and gives the filly a kiss on the forehead. ‘’Thunder, you have to take care of your little sister from now on’’ she finishes with another weak smile.

‘’…b-but… mom! Don’t die! We love you! We need you!’’ you shout and hug your mother.

‘’don’t worry dear, I’m sure that you will be just fine’’ she says weakly, ‘’mommy is just going to sleep for a little while’’ she coughs again.

A nurse walks into the room and sees the heart breaking scene, ‘’excuse me…’’ she says softly, ‘’It’s time for your medicine ma’am’’ she says to the dying mare.

‘’I don’t need any more medicine, thank you’’ she responds with a smile.

The nurse looks a bit shocked, but eventually nods and waits in the door opening.

‘’my dears, never forget that I love you two very much, never forget that you two have each other and remember that everything will be alright’’ she says right before closing her eyes.

‘’mom!’’ you scream and shoot up in your bed. You are panting heavily and looking around the dark room. ‘’fuck that was real…’’ you exhale and get up from your bed. You walk to the bathroom to throw a splash of water in your face, after that you look in the mirror. Your face is covered in blood…

You jump back and shake your head. You look in the mirror again; your face is back to normal. You throw multiple splashes of water in your face, ‘’what are you doing?’’ a voice asks from the door arch. You look at the source and see Star, who is looking confused at you.

‘’nothing… just a nightmare’’ you say and dry off your face with a towel.

‘’me too…’’ she says and rubs her hooves together, ‘’what was yours about?’’ she asks.

‘’…mom…’’ you say and look downcast, ‘’yours?’’

‘’…you…’’ she says with the same look on her face.

‘’about me?’’ you ask confused.

‘’yeah… what you have done with… you know’’ she admits.

‘’ooh…’’ you say and feel guilt building up in your guts.

‘’b-but to be honest… I think you did the right thing’’ she says and rubs her hooves together again, ‘’I don’t know the exact details, but he was a bad pony and needed to be punished’’ she confesses.

You walk up to her and hug her, ‘’c-can I sleep with you?’’ she asks quietly.

‘’sure thing’’ you answer.

You walk back to the bedroom and lie down on your bed, you pull her close against you again with your wing and she snuggles up to you. You give her a kiss on the head, ‘’goodnight Star’’ you say and yawn, ‘’goodnight Thunder’’ she mumbles. In no time you fall asleep, this time not being tormented by nightmares.

You wake up by the first rays of the sun shining through the curtains directly into your face; you let out an irritated groan and cover your face with your wing. You hear that the shower is running, and you don't feel Star anymore in the bed. Your stomach is rumbling and begging to release some surplus pressure, and it seems you are all alone in the room so you let out a very loud fart.

With a smile you turn away from the window and its wretched light in try to get some sleep again. Tasting a rancid taste in your mouth, you snuff as the smell of your monster fart fills your nostrils. You open your eyes and they instantly started to burn and you start to gag. ‘’dear Celestia’’ you yelp, jump up, out from your bed and sprint to the window. You open it and use your wings to get fresh air inside of the small room.

After a few minutes there is only a slight smell left of your released daemon noticeable in the room. Right before Star got out of the shower the smell was gone.

She steps out of the bathroom, ‘’ooh, did I wake you?’’ she asks and sniffs, ‘’what is that smell’’ she says and grimaces.

You give a simple grin, ‘’I’m gonna take a shower now’’ you say and shoot past her into the bathroom and close the door behind you.

‘’ah dude… come on!’’ you hear her complain.

After you are done showering you fix your mane up as good as possible, to your surprise it doesn't look that bad. You step into the bedroom and see that Star has already packed all her stuff and yours too. She is staring out of the window to nothing particular. She sighs, ‘’are you sure this is the best thing we can do’’ she mumbles.

You walk up to her and place a hoof on her shoulder, ‘’what do you think?’’ you ask and sit down next to her on the bed.

She turns to you and hugs you, ‘’I want to stay with you’’ she says and starts to sob.

‘’you know that I have no other choice. I promise it will be no more than one year’’ you say and return the hug.

‘’but misses Shine is so old and boring!’’ she wines.

‘’do you have a better idea then?’’ you ask.

‘’well…’’ she stops to think.

‘’I thought so’’ you say and pull her closer to you, ‘’I promise that everything will be alright’’ you say and nuzzle her head.  You glanced at the clock ‘’come on, we have to go’’ you say and stand up.

Star nods and puts on her cloak and backpack, ‘’I’m ready…’’ she sighs.

You do the same and open the door of the room, you let Star past first, and after her you walk out and walk through the corridor towards the checkout counter and return the key. After that you walk out of the inn towards the train station.

Every step towards it increases a pressure inside you. You look at Star, who is walking with her head lowered. She turns her head to you and looks at you with watery eyes.

‘’did you write her that I was coming?’’ she asks suddenly.

You face hoofed, ‘’damn it, I forgot’’ you muttered.

‘’what a pity, now I can’t go…’’ she says and smiles at you.

‘’ yes you can’’ you say silently.

‘’ooh…’’ she says and lowers her head again.

‘’I only wanted to write her to give her a heads up about your arrival… and we don’t have time to wait any longer’’ you add.

‘’fine…’’ she sighs.

The rest of the walk is in silence, both of you feeling sad. Every step towards your destination becomes harder, at some point you are even struggling to keep on walking. You don’t want this, she doesn’t want this… but it has to be done for her sake. The train station is in sight, only one street more to pass.

You walk into the building, ‘’this is it…’’ you sigh and feel Star leaning against you. You walk towards the ticket window with Star close next to you.

‘’yes, can I help you’’ a small old grumpy earthpony asks.

‘’one ticket to Detrot please’’ you ask with a small smile.

He gives you a contemptuous stare, and turns to the register. He hits a few buttons and turns back to you, ‘’that will be thirty bits’’ he hisses.

You reach in your saddlebag and take out the bits. You place them on the counter, were he eagerly swipes them away. He places the ticket in front of you, ‘’thank you for using Equestrian Rail company’’ he mutters and turns away.

You pick up the ticket and hoof it to Star. She hesitates to take it first, but eventually takes it and tucks it away. You look at the train schedule and see that the next train to Detrot will arrive in five minutes. You walk to the platform where the train will arrive, with Star close at your side.

You sit down on one of the benches, ‘’Star, promise me that you will behave’’ you sat with a small smile.

She sits next to you and hugs your front leg, ‘’promise that you will be safe first’’ she says quietly.

‘’I promise’’ you say and hug her back.

‘’then I will behave’’ she says with a forced giggle.

You sit like that until the train arrives. It stops in front of you and the doors open, you get up and walk towards it. ‘’well… this is it’’ Star sighs and gives you another hug, ‘’I love you big brother’’ she whispers.

‘’I love you too lil sis’’ you respond.

She steps on the train and looks at you with a smile and tear filled eyes. ‘’promise to write me as soon as you can’’ she demands.

‘’I promise’’ you say with a reassuring smile.

The doors of the train close and it starts to move. You look to your left and see Star taking place on one on the seats in the train. She looks at you and waves a hoof, you respond with the same gesture. You watch the train as it rolls out of the platform and towards the snow covered open fields, taking away your little sister for a long time.