the forgotten one

Starlight was knackered, Twilight being her normal neurotic self, had arrived back from her trip in the middle of the night, and immediately convened a friendship meeting. In about half an hour all her inner circle had assembled at the castle, and were now packed around the magic table that served as the centrepiece of the room, all clearly confused as to why they had been roused from their sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Making her way to her seat, Starlight could not help but listen in to the murmuring of the gathered mares, trying to discern if any had any idea why they had been assembled. Reaching her chair, Starlight was grateful to just be here, seeing as the first time she had sat at this table she had almost destroyed Equestria.

Looking around the small circle, she noted who was in attendance, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow dash, Pinkie pie and Fluttershy. The reliability and dedication of each mare rewarded with a personal throne, identical to Twilight's own, the only difference between them being the cutie-mark emblazed upon them, a permanent marker reserving the seats for the mares now occupying them.

Starlight's chair was a not as grandiose as the others that surrounded the table, not that it bothered her, the recliner she had borrowed from the extensive library complex, was infinitely comfier then the thrones the others had been gifted. But it did make her seem like the black sheep, as even Spike had a mini throne to the right of Twilight, which was currently empty as he no doubt assisted her with whatever this meeting had been called about.

As if thinking about him would summon him, Twilight's shadow made his entrance, standing at her side as she hobbled in, clearly worse for wear from her journey. Twilight's entrance stopping any conversation, as all attention was on her as she slotted into her throne.

"So how was the trip", said pinkie, breaking the silence with her preppy voice, the lack of sleep clearly not affecting her in the slightest.

Twilight paused, her mind clearly revisiting something unpleasant, her body language going off like flares in the night sky, as her ears fell flat to her head.

"Is something wrong sugar cube", came applejack's concerned voice, clearly picking up that something was bothering Twilight. This statement was met by sounds of agreement ringing out around the table.

"It was a mixed bag", said Twilight, even from her position across the table, Starlight could see tears welling in her eyes.

"How so, darling" enquired Rarity, the level of concern at the table growing.

"It started quite well, then I .....", said Twilight, before she just stopped and broke down crying, the revisiting of the memory's triggering a breakdown.

"Twilight, it’s okay you don’t have to tell us if you don't want to" came the calming voice of Fluttershy, the element of compassion almost teleporting to Twilight side, to provide a shoulder to lean on, which Twilight immediately accepted, latching onto the yellow mare like a lamprey. One by one the rest of the members at the table made their way over, Starlight didn't know when see stood up, but next thing she knew she was in the compassion huddle that was this group hug.

After what felt like an age, somewhere in this friend cocoon she heard Twilight stop crying, and one by one they peeled off Twilight like the layers on a friendship onion, as they returned to their seats.

After regaining her composure Twilight relayed her the details of her excursion, all Starlight could do was listen transfixed with every word, as the group were enlightened on what had transpired to their friend over the last 2 weeks, and then she got to the task at hoof.

"So, I set him up in the guest suite, and I don't know what to do with him", said Twilight concluding her story, and bringing up the point this meeting had been called, clearly wanting their opinions on this issue.

"why are you worried about letting him back into society", asked Starlight, confused at the reasoning about keeping this Ratway in quarantine.

"He seems a little unhinged, and I don't know what will happen if we just throw him off the deep end after 20 years of isolation, he might do something and hurt himself or others" said Twilight, her mind clearly set on this issue.

"Well does he have kin, as if he does we can send them a letter and they can come collect him, it always helps to see a familiar face”, said Applejack, offering a solution to the problem.

"I don't know, but the way he talked about his home-life I don't think it was the best", came Twilight's response, shutting down that idea, at least for now.

"Well if he survived 20 years, in the same jungle you have described he must be pretty tough, he will probably be fine, you worry too much Twi" came the tomboyish voice of Rainbow dash, the Pegasus clearly thinking that she had been over thinking this.

"I agree, I think your overthinking this Twilight, maybe someone should talk to him and see what he wants to do", came the reasoning voice of applejack.

"I will do it, I always like to make new friends", Pinkie butted in almost jumping down Applejack's throat at the opportunity.

This idea was met with a resounding no from every other pony in the room.

"No offence Pinkie, but if I just came out of the jungle and met some pony with your ....", said rainbow stumbling for a moment to find a word that wouldn't find offence.

"Intensity", came the luscious voice of rarity, finishing the sentence for her struggling friend.

"Yea, intensity, if it was the first thing I encountered, I might find it a bit off putting", said rainbow, clearly trying to lessen the possible blow to Pinkies feelings.

"I will do it", volunteered Starlight assertively, trying to pre-emptively stop an argument, but immediately regretting her rash choice, as there were much better choices.

"That sounds like a great idea, my favourite pupil" said Twilight in agreement, before turning to Fluttershy.

" What do you think Fluttershy, you have been your usual quite self" asked Twilight, trying to get a holistic read on the room, and undoubtedly chuffed that her student was taking the initiative.

"I agree with Applejack, Starlight should talk to him", said Fluttershy in her normal shy tone.

"Are we in agreement", Twilight asked the other members to a series of resounding ayes.

"Then we agree, tomorrow Starlight will talk to Ratway, and we can discuss it over friendship pancakes during a Bruch here, now let’s all turn in and try and salvage a bit of sleep before morning", said Twilight as the meeting concluded. One by one they left on their own accord, AJ and Rainbow helping Twilight to bed, well the rest shuffled out of the room, leaving Starlight alone with her thoughts.

It was these same thoughts that had her panicking, as she stood at the guest suites entrance door the following morning.

"What if I say something wrong, or reveal my past, or offend him somehow", Starlight mumbled to herself as she tried to work up the courage to knock on the door, having been stood there a solid 10 minutes, stuck on a hill of indecisiveness.

"What would Twilight do", continued Starlight as she tried to call herself down.

"The breathing trick", splurged Starlight, as the idea leapt into her head. Taking a series of deep breaths and long exhales, Starlight slowed her mind, and with niggling doubts gave the mahogany door three resounding knocks, the blows echoing down the deserted castle corridor.

After a few slow seconds of silence, Starlight's hopes increased, maybe he was asleep and someone else could have this conversation, then she heard a gruff reply, dashing these hopes.

"Aye, who is it" came the reply from behind the door, the firm wood absorbing much of the voices reverberation.

"Starlight glimmer, Twilight sent me to talk to you", she said as she pressed her ear to the door, to more easily hear the response. From her listening position she heard a slight rustling and then he replied.

"Ait come on in then, its open", he said begrudgingly, clearly as thrilled about this as she was.

Pushing open the door cautiously, Starlight entered the dim room. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spotted her charge, he sat on the edge of the bed a blanket wrapped over his shoulders, only visible as a silhouette as the single lamp cast long shadows across the polished floor. Nestled upon his lap was a metallic object, which he looked to be in the source of the strange sound she had heard earlier, as he was in the process of cleaning the metal pipe, as Starlight drew closer she could see it was heavily engraved.

"I wos expecting you", he said breaking the silence, not looking up as he continued to rub the length of cloth back and forth across the pipe.

"Why did Twilight mention me" asked Starlight clearly confused, as to her knowledge this meeting had not been memoed to him.

"No love, you just mumble quite loud, heard you talking to yerself for about 10 minutes", he said, having a quick chuckle at her expense, causing starlight to blush.

"So, you know why I am here", asked Starlight, wanting to cut to the chase.

"Aye, yer here to check I am not mad as a badger", he replied, his voice calm and collected, before with a click he snapped something shut on the item he was cleaning.

" And are you?”, asked Starlight bluntly, not knowing if he was still joking.

"I don't think so", he said finally meeting her eyes, as he without looking slapped a piece of wood upon the end of the pipe, before giving a few twists of a screwdriver locking it in place.

"What is that your messing with anyway?", Starlight said, finally wondering what was so important, that he would be fiddling with it during such an important conversation.

For a moment he just sat there looking confused, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and she was messing with him, then you could see the exact moment he realised she wasn't pulling his leg.

"you never seen a boomstick before?", he exclaimed clearly surprised by this revelation.

"No, what is it?", she asked, now quite interested in this peculiar item.

"How to explain it", he said getting to his hooves, a slightly off smelling scent coming off him in the movement, as the blanket fell to the floor. Grasping the Boomstick in his hoof he began to gesture to each part listing its function, from left to right.

"This is the stock you place it against yer shoulder to absorb the recoil and steady yer aim".

" This is the hammer, it strikes the flint causing a spark that triggers the shell".

"This is the breech, this is where you place the shell you want to fire, from a small selection".

"This is the trigger it activates the hammer"

" And finally, this is the barrel, you point it in the direction of yer problems", he said concluding his little lecture.

"So, it’s a weapon", questioned Starlight, having picked up on some of its intricacies from this little crash course.

"Aye, it is and a pretty good one, makes a lot of noise, so you know it’s working", said Ratway clearly quite happy with the device.

"So what kind of "SHELLS" does it fire" she enquired, curious what that word meant, as it was unfamiliar to her.

"A couple" he replied before fishing around in one of his many pockets, before pulling out 3 different cylindrical objects the lower part a shiny brass with the upper cones differing in appearance, apart from that they were all uniform in diameter sitting about 2 and a half inches at a guess, as he began to place them on his bed. Pondering for a moment he picked up the first shell, it had a slightly orange glow to it, clearly visible in the dim room, that Ratway identified as a high explosive cartridge.

"Igh explosive, this is the one you shoot at soft things, I can tell you this much it’s not pleasant"

Returning it to his pocket, he then picked up the second shell, its exterior a dark obsidian, the end clearly heat tempered to increase its hardness.

"This is armour piercin, you shoot it at tough things like dragons and their ilk", he said and like with the first shell returned it to his pocket.

This left the final shell, its appearance dull and the end blunt lacking anything protruding from the brass casing.

"This is a blank, you fire it to make a loud noise and that's about it, wouldn't want to stand in front of it though, as it still flings some wax paper pretty fast. there are a few more types, but they are in the APC out back, stuff like flairs and the like”, he said coming to a casual conclusion.

"APC?" asked Starlight confused at the anagram.

"Armoured pony carrier", he informed her.

"you mean that big metal box outside", she said not having given it much thought, as it just seemed like a strange wagon.

"Aye"

"And you invented all this" she said returning his confirmation with another question.

"Nope, this stuff is way to advanced for a pleb like me" he replied with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Then who did?”, asked Starlight.

"Onestly I don't know, but it happened during the first contact war", he replied giving more questions than answers.

"First contact war?", this new event just adding to the confusion, as she had just thought she had figured out what he was talking about.

"Aye you know, the war that happened about 50 years ago between earth pony settlers and the dragons on the south eastern frontier, the day of ash that created the Badlands, any of this ringing any bells", said Ratway, his tone growing slightly annoyed as he went on.

"But there wasn't a war with the dragons 50 years ago", informed Starlight, now growing concerned that this pony might actually be insane.

"Next thing you will be telling me is that Princess Luna isn't Nightmare moon", he said condescendingly, as if it was a god given fact.

"Wait what, rewind for a second" said Starlight suddenly realising, this pony was completely off his rocker.

"Why did you go to the lost city?", she asked to see if he was at-least consistent with his story, and to see if it matched what twilight had said.

"Same reason as the princess, to retrieve a lost weapon, of course when we went for it, it was to defeat nightmare moon, were as with Twilight it was just to bolster the royal armour if it were azard a guess", he replied now getting as confused as Starlight.

"But that's not possible, that happened over a 1000 years ago", stated Starlight, now sure this pony was bullshitting her.

"I got the papers to prove it", rebutted Ratway, before plunging his hoof into yet another bag this one a large satchel on his waist before presenting a wad of yellowed papers.

Sceptically Starlight grasped the mass with her magic and brought them to her face, flicking through them everything seemed to check out, even the royal seals were perfect albeit it a bit weathered, and the papers had the musty smell that such aged documents should have.

"This cannot be true, this is impossible", the facts contradicting reality, these documents had to be fake there was no way they were authenticate. But the more she looked at them the more real they seemed, they were written in old Ponish a dead language, very few ponies could even read it, let alone write it.

"Ratway, I will send Spike down with pancakes in a few hours, please stay put and we will get this sorted as soon as possible", said Starlight in the most cordial way possible, before backing up and no sooner was the door closed, she broke into a gallop, with the documents in tow.

As she ran through the long winding corridors, Starlight’s mind was racing a mile a minute, this pony couldn't really be a thousand years old, Twilight would clear this all up and this crazy pony would be out of their mists come supper.

and then Starlight skidded and slid on her belly straight towards the throne room doors, closing her eyes just before she impacted them.