Starskater

"Wow!" Sugar Crystal exclaimed, "You could build a spaceship with all this stuff!"

"I tried my hoof at the spaceship thing," Vicona said, gesturing to a large covered machine behind him, "It's harder than it sounds."

Vicona Artray was rather new to town. He was a tinkerer and former engineer, but his primary focus now was music. Nopony knew why he quit or why he moved here, but he set his shop by the towncenter and started selling his old stuff.

"What's this?" a purple pegasus asked. Summer Lilly was also new, she had moved in just weeks before Vicona had.

"That's a radio," Vicona answered.

"Oh," Summer said with dampened interest.

"I used to use it to listen to stuff in space."

"Do they have music in space?" Crystal asked.

"No, it's actually very boring."

Quietly in the back, another filly just listened as she examined the odds and ends with no apparent interest. While she was zoned out on a random what-not, Vicona came to see what she was staring at.

"That controls the radio," he said.

She jumped as her mind snapped back into focus.

"I can turn it on if you like," he continued.

Crystal bounced over. "Do it!" she exclaimed.

Vicona adjusted the dial with his wing and activated it.

The radio blared to life behind Summer, who jumped to turn it down.

The ponies gathered in front of the radio, listening to the static noise it made.

"I can't hear anything," Summer said, rubbing her ears.

"I hear voices," said Crystal.

Everypony leaned in as words faintly became audible.

"Can y-... hear?... We nee- help... Stre-..." then it quit.

"Well..." said Crystal, "That's not music. Oh well, I've gotta bounce."

"I still didn't hear anything," said Summer, who followed crystal out of the shop.

The only pony who seemed concerned was Starskater- the quiet filly. Not only did she appear concerned, but she went completely pale, which was easy to tell despite her silver-white coat.

"Are you okay?" Vicona asked, "What's Streey?"

"I... don't really like to think about it," she whispered- the first words he had heard from her all day, mavbe even all week.

Vicona had known her the longest. He had actually met her prior to his moving here.

"Is Streey why you're so... quiet?" he asked, "Come on, we're friends, you can tell me."

Starskater sat silently for a minute and inhaled deeply.

"Streey-," she began, "First, I'm gonna have to be completely honest- my name isn't actually Starskater. I changed it so he wouldn't be able to find me."

"Streey?"

"Yes- Streey. He was a pony who was obsessed with magic. He took me along with hundreds of other unicorns to experiment on. I don't even remember how I got away."

"That must have been them on the radio. We have to help them."

"I can't go back there. I don't want to go back there."

"But they asked for help, if anyone can help them, it's you. You escaped, surely we can help."

Starskater sighed, "It's a long way off, but I can show you."