Zack departed the train and made his way towards the platform where all the planks of wood and nails were already set out. He noticed blueprints on the drafting table of how the set was supposed to look. Zack began to plan out the wood to fit the blueprints. He was quietly working, lost in his thoughts, when he heard a voice behind him.
It was a light, kind “Excuse me.”
He turned around to see a mare with bright magenta eyes staring directly at him. He just stood there, being an introvert, he never knew what to say to ponies he’d never met before. She continued
“Are you a volunteer for the Summer Sun Festival?” Zack stood there for a minute, processing her question.
He replied with a soft “yes” then looked away.
“I’m sorry, I am so rude.” she began. “I’m Starshade, but you can call me Star for short .” She smiled at him with the kindest, nicest smile he had ever seen.
He blushed a little and replied “Zack”.
“Nice to meet you!” she said excitedly.
“Do you know where the volunteers are? I’m supposed to paint the sets for the festival.”
Zack explained he was currently building the sets and that they wouldn’t be done for a while. Star replied “Oh...well is there anything I can do to help?” Zack asked if she had any experience with building before, and she replied with a no.
“Well...without experience it’s kind of hard to just jump straight into a project for the Summer Sun Festival of all things…so not quite at the moment...sorry.”
Star understood and asked if Zack knew anything else she could do at the moment, and he replied simply by saying he didn’t know, and suggested she talk to manager and inform them that the sets had not been built yet.
After about twenty minutes, Star came back to tell Zack that the manager said she could design the banner for the event. Before he could reply, she ran off, excited that she could do something to help. He wondered to himself how one pony could have so much energy. He continued building the set. He had just began to nail the pieces together when he heard his name being called from behind him. he turned around quickly to see Star flying straight toward him. She came to a skidding stop right in front of his face.
“Sorry, not that good at stopping quickly.” she said apologetically.
He nodded, still a little surprised. She pulled a piece of paper from out of her brown pouch.
“I wanted to show you my design.” She unfolded the piece of paper and held it up so Zack could see it clearly. “So...what do you think?”
He looked at the paper, then at her, then at the paper again. When he looked at her again he saw the anxious look on her face. He smiled and said it looked very nice and that he knew everyone would like it. Her face lit up and she flew off back to where she was working. Star showed the manager her design of the banner for the festival, and the manager looked over the design, and approved.
Star flew off to start creating multiple full sized banners. Zack continued his work on the sets, eventually finishing the frames. Afterwards, Zack was taking a bit of a break, lost in thought about his past and how he’s become so paranoid about new ponies. This all got interrupted when he heard his name being called, he looked up and saw Star trotting towards him with her usual cheerful smile.
“I see you got the set ready for painting, and when I saw you napping i decided to come back later”.
Zack told her how he was just lost in his thoughts, like when they first met. Star asked what Zack was thinking about it, and he said with a wavering, quiet voice that he would rather not talk about it.
“Well i’m going to get started on painting the set.”She grabbed one of the sets and carried it in the air back to her work station.
He wanted to help so he levitated another set to her work station.
She looked at him as he passed her. “I wish I was a unicorn.” she sighed.
“Why’s that?” Zack asked, puzzled why a wonderful pegasus like her would want to give up flying free for a horn that can do little more than some party tricks.
“Don’t get me wrong,”She started “I love flying, it feels so free...like you could go anywhere you wanted in a third of the time! But I wish I had some sort of magic. Something that can really impress.” She paused. then sighed, “ But I won’t keep you here complaining about my problems.”
She lifted her paintbrush and dipped it in the yellow paint bucket by the table. Zack still couldn’t understand why she would want to be a unicorn instead.
He continued to build the remaining sets when he ran out of nails. He walked over to the supply closet to get some more. He bumped the door and almost had a heart attack when someone was staring him in the face when the door was opened. It was Star.
“I ran out of paint.”
“I ran out of nails” Zack replied.
They stood in awkward silence for a while before breaking eye contact and going back to their work stations.
After all the sets had been built and painted, it was time for the festival. The princesses were getting ready in the castle and the volunteers, including Zack and Star, were making their final touches on the decorations. Finally the gates opened and the ponies came pouring in. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood at the center of the stage with Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight by their sides. Zack stood in the audience, awed by the gracefulness and beauty of the princesses. He was so entranced by them that he didn’t notice Star standing next to him, her face lit up with excitement. As The Princesses took their places, everyone bowed. Zack was somewhat nervous, being in a big crowd of strange ponies, but he felt less nervous that he would have standing next to him Star. The Festival continued. After the festival, the princesses stayed behind to thank ponies for coming. Zack was about to leave when Twilight pulled him over and thanked him and Star for making the sets. They thanked her back and headed for the Friendship Express.
Before Zack could make it to the station, he heard his name being called from behind. He looked behind himself and saw Star trotting toward him. She stopped directly in front of him.She had a worried look on her face.
“Hey, what's wrong?” He asked.
Star replied with a question “Are you leaving already?”
“Yeah, But if you still need me I can stay a bit longer.”
“Well I’m staying here for the rest of the night and I don’t know anypony else except you.”
Zack looked up at the clock on the station wall.
“I have time.” He said with a smile
He asked Star if he could drop off his stuff at her place. They made it to her hotel. Zack dropped his stuff at the foot of the bed.
They walked out and Star asked “Wanna go for a walk?”
“Sure.”
They walked through the square at the center of Canterlot. They kept walking, enjoying Luna’s beautiful night. They walked in an awkward silence before Star decided to break it.
“Beautiful night...huh.”
“Yeah” Zack replied.
He glanced up at the clock for a moment and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Star worriedly asked.
“It’s getting late... I should be getting on the train before it leaves.”
“Okay, if you have to go, that’s fine.” Star sighed.
Zack looked at her and smiled “I hope to see you again soon.”
She smiled back.
Zack walked slowly toward the train station. Before he boarded the train he turned around and smiled at Star. She didn’t leave the station until the train was out of sight. She started to make her way to the hotel. When she made it to her room she flopped on the bed and sighed.
“I sure hope to see him again.”
