12 Young Moon 1008

Hooves clicked against the crystal floor as Star Tower made his way through the Crystal Palace. The unicorn passed by harried-looking administrators, grim-faced soldiers and occasionally, exhausted servants. The fact that it was past dinner time did nothing to change that.

And of course, most of them still spent time looking at him, even for a few seconds. Looks of awe mixed with surprise. Star Tower would be flattered, he really would, if it was any other time but now.

What chaos, he observed grimly. No one has any idea what they’re doing. Great.

As he got closer to the room he’d been summoned to, the number of ponies present went lower and lower, until the hallway was empty except for Star and a couple of stone-faced guards.

Have to appreciate the contrast between old armour and new rifles, Star noted with dry amusement.

‘’Sir,’’ one of the guards saluted as Star approached the door, ‘’the Princess said you were coming.’’ He turned and knocked on the door. ‘’Your Highness, Archmage Star Tower is here.’’

‘’Send him in!’’ Cadence’s voice requested from inside.

‘’Yes, your Highness.’’ The guard opened the door, then stepped aside to allow Star in.

Before he did so, Star glanced at his reflection in the wall.

Tired green eyes looked back. His blue coat and darker blue golden-streaked mane were both raffled. Maybe I should have brushed them, he admitted to himself. His horn lit up golden, and a quick spell made his mane look somewhat presentable. Nodding to himself and then to the guards, he stepped into the room.

Cadence sat on the bed, her three-year old daughter huddled under her left wing as the older mare read her a story from a book. Both of them looked up at him as he entered.

‘’Starry!’’ Flurry squealed. She slipped from under Cadence’s wing onto the bed and flew over to him.

‘’Hello, Flurry,’’ he greeted her with a smile and a hug that the foal eagerly returned. ‘’How are you?’’

‘’I’m fine!’’ Flurry chirped. ‘’But there’s a lot of ponies in the Palace now. It’s kind of scary.’’

‘’Don’t worry, they’ll be gone soon.’’ Cadence assured her. ‘’They’re just here for a few days.’’

‘’Okay, mommy.’’ Flurry jumped back on the bed again and crept under Cadence’s wing again. It really was an adorable sight.

‘’Star, it’s good to see you’re up again,’’ Cadence said to him with a warm smile.

‘’It’s good to be up,’’ he replied with a smile of his own. ‘’What did you want to talk about, Cadence?’’ No sense in delaying.

Cadence glanced between him and Flurry for a moment. ‘’Flurry, why don’t you go play in your room? Star and I need to discuss grown-up things.’’

‘’Sure, mommy!’’

On queue, a side door opened and one of Cadence’s hoofmaidens took Flurry away to her room. Star watched them go with a smile. Flurry waved at him and he gave her a wave back.

Once the door was closed again, Cadence turned to face Star.

‘’You look terrible,’’ Star said dryly. And she really did. Make-up and styling only went so far, after all. Her eyes were red, presumably from lack of sleep and intense crying. Her mane was droopy and unkept, and her whole body seemed ready to fall over any minute now.

Even during the exams, I never saw her look so damn tired. Then again, war is harder than an exam.

‘’You don’t look much better,’’ Cadence shot back. And that was a fair point which he would graciously yield to her, and did with a tip of his head.

‘’What do you want from me?’’ he pressed. ‘’And speaking of, what is the situation? I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to check up on that.’’ Because he’d been unconscious for the better part of a week, but that was hardly Cadence’s fault.

Cadence let out a long sigh. ‘’We have roughly four hours before Nightmare Moon’s army reaches the city limits. We’ve got nowhere to retreat to.’’ She looked at him. ‘’I need you to take Flurry and run.’’

Very, very slowly, Star blinked. He raised his hoof to his forehead and pinched, hard. ‘’What.’’

‘’Flurry’s not safe here,’’ Cadence continued. ‘’Shining and I can’t leave, or the morale will plummet, and we’ll be found easily. But if we distract Nightmare and Chrysalis, you and Flurry can sneak away without being found.’’

It made a very twisted sort of sense, Star’d already recognized that. That didn’t mean he was going to agree with her on this.

‘’Cadence, I can’t- I won’t leave you here to die,’’ Star protested. He had promised Celestia he would keep them safe. He’d promised himself he’d keep them safe.

But he knew that Cadence was right. If she tried to run, Nightmare would notice and capture her and Flurry both. And then they would be even more fucked than they already were.

‘’I don’t want to do it either,’’ Cadence said - as if it wasn’t obvious - ‘’but it’s the only way for Flurry to be safe. And you’re the only one that can do so.’’

He didn’t want it to be true. But it was true.

Cadence must have seen the acceptance in his eyes, because she nodded sadly. ‘’Star, I’m sorry for your sister,’’ she said softly, ‘’but you must go on. Please. For Flurry, if for no one else.’’

Sundamnit. ‘’I didn’t train you for this,’’ Star said quietly. ‘’You’re good, very good, and so is Shining, but…’’ He let it hang in the air.

‘’I know.’’ Cadence bowed her head. ‘’I know,’’ she whispered. ‘’I-’’

Star moved to sit on the bed beside her. ‘’I can hold her off,’’ he said, desperately. ‘’Buy you the time you need to escape. You can teleport away, run off to New Mareland, hide in my house there.’’

‘’Star, I can’t,’’ Cadence replied. ‘’If I disappear, there won’t be any resistance by the time Nightmare arrives, and then there won’t be time to escape.’’

Silence.

She’s right, she’s right. They’re hopeless already, if their leaders vanish without warning everything will fall apart. But-

‘’Stars fucking take every single one of those evil bloody bastards.’’

Cadence giggled. ‘’Language.’’

Star snorted. ‘’Noted.’’ He shifted on the bed.

Cadence put her wing on his back. ‘’Please, Star,’’ she begged. ‘’Take Flurry, and go. Let her grow up happy and safe. Please.’’

I never had a choice.

‘’Okay, Cadence. I’ll do it.’’

|-x-X-x-|

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!

Calm, he ordered to himself. Don’t panic. Not in front of Flurry.

He took a deep breath, and smiled.

Flurry Heart sat on the bed, nuzzling her father, Shining Armour, while he whispered things to her meant only for them. The foal was wearing a snow-white parka, with the hood up. Cadence watched the scene with a smile, and next to her stood a emerald-green crystal pony mare with a red mane, who Cadence had introduced as Emerald Gleam, one of her hoofmaidens. He’d seen her before a couple of times, but why she had been picked out of all the hoofmaidens, he had no idea.

In the hoofmaiden’s hooves was a clear crystal vial, filled with a purple-pink liquid, and just like Flurry she wore a snow-white parka, and she carried two saddlebags on her back, which probably contained Flurry’s stuff. And some of her own, hopefully. There was an expansion enchantment on the pack, Star could tell that much. But the vial was much more interesting.

De-aging potion. Cadence had said it was for him, but Star could guess who it had been meant for: Shining, of course.

‘’Is it safe to take now?’’ he asked.

Cadence nodded, and motioned for Emerald to give it to him. Star took the vial from her, lifted it in his magic, looked at it for a moment to analyse its contents, and then knocked it back in one tug.

Immediately, it took effect. The few wrinkles and grey hairs that had been forming disappeared; while Star was only forty-two, he was already feeling the effects of his adventures on his body, and raising a foal hadn’t helped his stress levels. ‘’One moment.’’

He walked into the bathroom and took a look at his face in the mirror. He really did look like twenty-two. Excellent.

That ought to surprise anyone looking for me.

‘’It works perfectly,’’ he stated as he trotted back into the main room, tipping his head at Cadence. ‘’Thank you.’’

Shining looked up from the bed at him. ‘’Thank you, for doing this,’’ he said softly.

Star tipped his head in silent acknowledgement. Shining hadn’t been his student like Cadence had, but he was a good friend.

He glanced at himself. Cloak, check. Saddlebags, check. He ran his checklist of things he should be taking with him, and concluded he had everything.

Star took a final look around his room. The books against the wall could be replaced, there were no expensive or rare materials left in his laboratory, and anything he didn’t want to fall into Nightmare’s hooves he had taken with him or destroyed.

‘’I’m ready,’’ he announced.

Cadence nodded. ‘’Emerald?’’

‘’Ready, your Highness,’’ the mare replied.

Cadence nodded again. ‘’Flurry, it’s time to go.’’

‘’Okay, mommy.’’ Flurry turned to Cadence. ‘’You’re coming with us, right?’’

Cadence smiled. ‘’Of course, sweetheart. We’re coming tomorrow.’’

Star had to look away. Fuck, this hurts to watch. He had never been very good at saying goodbyes, and he could only imagine what Flurry would feel like when she realized her parents weren’t coming. Were never coming.

He quickly blinked, wiping his hoof across his face.

‘’Starry?’’

He turned around to see Flurry was looking up at him, her parents standing behind her. ‘’Can I be on your back?’’

‘’Of course,’’ he replied, and with his telekinesis he lifted her on his back. She snuggled into the cloak he wore.

‘’Goodbye, Star,’’ Shining said. ‘’Take care of Flurry.’’

‘’Of course.’’ Star gave him and then Cadence a hug, before gesturing to Emerald to step closer to him. He had a destination already in mind.

Right then. Here goes nothing.

And with a flash, they vanished.

Author's Note

Here's to hoping people like this.

(Edited on 23-8-2021)