21 Harvest Moon

‘’So how are you?’’ Star asked.

Skystreak shrugged. ‘’I’ve been worse, I guess.’’

They were walking through one of Manebourne’s many parks; Star had once heard the city be called ‘’Tall Tale of the East’’, and by all appearances that moniker appeared to hold up. It was quite a lovely park too. If he lived nearby, he would probably spend time in it, but oh well.

‘’That’s something, at least,’’ he remarked after a moment of silence. The conversation certainly wasn’t very natural, in fact it was probably the most unnatural thing in this entire park. Any communication between the mare that was going to be the mother of his child was better than no communication, however, and so they continued their casual stroll through the park.

Eventually, they came upon an empty bench that looked out over a pond. A few duck families were happily swimming through the waters, and the sun coated the bench and most of the pond in warm light. How enchanting.

‘’Shall we?’’ Star suggested, gesturing with one hoof at the bench.

‘’Sure.’’

Once they were seated on the bench, a comfortable silence descended between them. A part of Star didn’t mind, for stilted conversations were not something he enjoyed, but a larger part of him did mind, because damn it all, they needed to at least be able to talk with each other, if nothing else.

But nothing wise to say came to mind, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Perhaps… no, she’d never go for it. Even if I could convince her it’s safer, she has a job, friends - she has a life here in Manebourne. And the mansion doesn’t have room for one, soon-to-be two more, I’d need to remodel or expand- maybe have an extra wing built? But I can’t hire contractors, I’d need to do it myself, although I could ask the village for help-

‘’Star?’’

‘’Hm?’’ He jerked up to see Skystreak had turned . ‘’Yes?’’

‘’We should tell my parents.’’

Oh for the love of-

‘’I’d thought you’d told them already,’’ he admitted.

Skystreak blinked. ‘’Without you? I’d rather get through the awkwardness in one single go, if you don’t mind.’’

‘’That’s fair,’’ Star allowed. ‘’So, we should go and visit them then, I take it?’’

‘’Yeah. They live in a village about an hour out from Manebourne with the train,’’ Skystreak said. ‘’I can send them a letter, see if we can’t plan a date.’’

‘’Sure thing. I’ll clear my schedule.’’

‘’Don’t you have work for MAC?’’

‘’Bah,’’ he dismissed. ‘’They can do without me for a week, if need be. Don’t you worry about me, just make sure it’s convenient with your job too.’’

‘’About that…’’

This keeps getting better.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’I’m thinking of working less,’’ Skystreak admitted, ‘’maybe even quitting altogether. For a time, of course. But I want to have the foal with as little stress as possible.’’

‘’Can you manage?’’ He could always provide money, of course; Tartarus, he could provide housing too if necessary. But Skystreak seemed like a mare who liked her independence, and in any case he didn’t want to make her dependent on him. That would be unfair to her.

‘’I’ve got some savings,’’ Skystreak replied, ‘’and I’m not going to quit tomorrow. Maybe in a few months, when this little colt or filly gets more uppity, but I’m fine for now.’’

He nodded, refusing his instinct to glance at her barrel to see if the pregnancy was noticeable yet. It wasn’t - not really, unless you looked for it - but it would only become more and more noticeable over time, of course. ‘’Alright.’’

Skystreak smiled at him, and scooted a little closer. ‘’We’ll be okay,’’ she said softly. ‘’I’m sure my parents will be happy to get a grandchild, if nothing else.’’

‘’Mhm.’’ Star didn’t fail to notice how she was almost curled up against his side. ‘’I don’t think you’ve told me a lot about them.’’

‘’Mum’s a Pegasus, dad’s an Earth Pony. They’re cooks, if you can believe it. Run their own restaurant. Great food, but not the life I wanted to live. Noble Springs is a nice little village, though. Just… not for me.’’

Star nodded. ‘’I can relate to that. Although I wouldn’t say Canterlot was necessarily the worst place for me, it certainly didn’t fit me in my early twenties.’’

‘’Yeah, didn’t you travel all over the place? I thought you said something like that on our date.’’

‘’I did,’’ Star confirmed. ‘’Went to a few places in Equestria and saw a lot of Griffonia. Even visited Porto Alto in Macawia once. So yes, I’ve been around the world.’’

‘’How was it?’’

He considered that question for a moment. ‘’Well, it was a journey of about seven years. It was an experience, for sure. I can’t summarise it any better than that, I’m afraid.’’

‘’Then don’t summarise, and tell me about it in as much or little detail as you want.’’

Star raised an eyebrow. ‘’That’ll take a while.’’

‘’I’ve got the time.’’

‘’Suit yourself then.’’ Star cleared his throat, recollected his thoughts, and began to speak. ‘’So, to get to the heart of the story, we have to go back to the beginning…’’

|-x-X-x-|

26 Harvest Moon 1008

Slowly, piece by piece, her resistance was coming together. They’d set up their headquarters good and proper now, safe from any Lunarist spies or soldiers. It would take time for true resistance to begin, of course, but the seeds were being sown.

Twilight gave the map of Equus a good once-over. It was a new one, updated to include the most recent political developments.

And so, where once would have been Equestria was now written ‘’Changeling-Lunar Empire’’, spread across all of Equestria - even Stalliongrad, though as far as Twilight knew it hadn’t yet been invaded - and also including the Changeling Lands. The Crystal Empire had also been marked, shown as the ‘’Crystal Governorate’’.

It was horrible.

How has it come to this? How in Caepasia’s name did Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon ever ally with each other, much less marry? There’s no reasonable way that could have happened!

She’d already pondered over this for many nights, but no answer had ever presented itself. At least, no answer that satisfied her. The facts just didn’t add up!

‘’Twilight?’’ She looked up from the map to see Rarity approaching. ‘’Do you have a moment, darling?’’

‘’Of course, Rarity.’’

‘’Thank you.’’ Rarity came to stand next to her. ‘’I’ve been meaning to ask you something, if you don’t mind.’’

‘’Go ahead.’’

Rarity hesitated, then asked: ‘’So, what do you think of Spike and Sweetie?’’

Twilight furrowed her brow. ‘’If they like dating each other, I’m not going to interfere with their happiness. We could all use a little more of that right now.’’

‘’True, true,’’ Rarity agreed, ‘’but I do worry for them. We are not exactly in the safe position I’d want them to be in.’’

‘’We’re as safe as we can be, Rarity,’’ Twilight pointed out. ‘’They’re both adults, they know the risks. Besides, they’ve been on plenty of adventures themselves. And don’t forget; Spike’s a dragon and Sweetie’s definitely more powerful than your average unicorn. They can take care of themselves.’’

‘’And yet they remain inside.’’

‘’Because I haven’t found a good mission for either of them yet,’’ Twilight rebutted. ‘’Until I do, it’s better for them to continue training here.’’

‘’And when will that be?’’

‘’Do you want to send them out there? You’ve seen the same reports I have, Rarity. Entire villages have been destroyed by the Lunarists. Anyone who disagrees with the new regime vanishes. There’s propaganda everywhere, and it won’t be long until Ponies start believing it.’’

‘’I know that, Twilight.’’

‘’Then you should realise why I’m not sending out anyone that’s not trained properly yet. First you were worried, and now this? What’s going on?’’

‘’I don’t know, Twilight, I really don’t,’’ Rarity admitted. ‘’I’m just… I’ve not the words to properly describe it. Not defeated, not afraid, but…’’

Twilight sighed. ‘’I understand, Rarity. We’ve all lost so much in the past months - Tartarus, it’s almost been a year! - but we’ve got to keep going. We’re the last remnants of Equestria that haven’t fled to New Mareland or somewhere else yet, and we’re going to stay here and keep the light of harmony alive.’’

‘’And how will we do that? We have no armies, no cities aiding us, no wealth! We have nothing, Twilight!’’

‘’We have each other!’’ Twilight snapped back. ‘’And you’re right, we don’t have much right now, but that will change! Mark my words, I will restore Equestria if it is the last thing I do, and for that, I will…’’

Rarity looked at her intensely. ‘’You will what, darling?’’

Distantly, a part of Twilight’s moment noted that this felt like a deciding moment. Just how far was she willing to go to bring back harmony? How much was she willing to sacrifice?

‘’I will fight,’’ she said in a soft voice.

Rarity nodded, as if she had expected that answer all the time. ‘’Then I’ll fight with you, darling.’’ She gave a little smile. ‘’Now come, let’s go see what the lovebirds are up to, hm?’’

Author's Note

Here we are again. Sporadic updates ftw.