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Reach

by ToixStory

Chapter 3: She's Leaving Home

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Rain beat against plate glass windows that encased a small diner wedged between two office buildings a half dozen blocks from Starlight's apartment. She sat in a red leather booth scooted against one of the windows and watched cars splash through the street outside. A cup of coffee sat on the table in front of her, steam rising from the brown liquid.

A bell above the diner's front door dinged and Starlight's head shot up. She let out a breath when she saw it was Staten walking in. He shook drops of rain off his pale aqua fur and walked across the polished tile floor to the booth. He sat down with a heavy sigh and leaned his hooves against the tabletop.

"We haven't been followed, as far as I can tell," he said. "We should still stay on our guard, however. We can't stay in one place too long. The IS has their hooves all over this part of town."

Starlight shook her head. "I just, I don't get it . . . why me?"

Staten reached across the table and took her untouched coffee. He drank half the cup in one gulp before sliding it back over. "Because the government decided you're a liability. If you hadn't escaped, you'd be in a spinner bound for Lupine right now."

"Because . . . why? What, do I have any unpaid parking tickets that I don't know about?" She shook her head. "And what was that in the alley about you needing my help? What gives?"

Staten tapped his hoof against the table and looked out the window. A bolt of lightning flashed over the city, illuminating the apartment blocks and office buildings in white light for a moment. Thunder pealed a second later, rumbling over the city blocks.

"I got a call from my daugher shortly after you left the museum today. I think I told you about her? She lives out in Sundown." He shook his head. "Anyway, I got a call from her today. She was worried, she thought someone was coming for her, but she didn't say who. What she did say, though, was what they were coming for: the crystal heart."

"Crystal heart?" Starlight asked.

"It's an artifact my daughter and her team found deep under the sands around Sundown. Your father and I had found inscriptions of the heart in our digs out in the Ayanmar Mountains, back in our heyday. Details and legends about its power, buried deep in ancient tombs and catacombs."

Starlight stared across the table at the older stallion. "So the government is trying to get to me because of some crystal at the bottom of a cave?"

"That crystal is an enigma, a legend . . . and nopony knows more about it in the entire world than your father and I. If the IS had taken you, they would have a bargaining chip if Noctilucent didn't want to comply."

"But if they couldn't catch me, then . . ." Her eyes widened. "The IS is going to come for my dad!"

She tried to shove her way out of the booth, but Staten held her back. His strong grip surprised her, and she was forced back down. She glared at him from across the table.

"Stop, there's no point to getting worked up," he chided. "They wouldn't be so foolish as to wait and see if they succeeded with you. Their agents were sent to his house at the same time, I'm sure."

"We can't just leave him there!"

"He. Is. Gone, Starlight," Staten said. "You would just add yourself to the list of prisoners if you tried to go save him, and then you wouldn't be useful to either of us."

"Useful?" Starlight snorted. "Since when have I been useful to you? We both know I got that job because of my dad. Why in Adana's name would you choose me over him?"

He sighed. "When I got back to my house, the IS was already swarming all over it. I got away unseen, but knew they would be coming after the both of you as well, so I had to make a choice . . . I chose you."

"But why? How am I useful to you?"

Lightning flashed outside, closer this time. The lights in the diner flickered overhead. Staten tapped his hoof the table and looked Starlight in the eyes. She felt like he was staring right through her, down into her mind.

"As long as you are free, your father still has hope. He'll stall and give misinformation to the IS for as long as he can, and buy time for me to get to Sundown. If I had saved him, he would have done nothing but try to save you from the IS, and we both would have wound up in the hooves of the government."

Starlight stared down at the even, brown surface of coffee inside the porcelain cup in front of her. Thunder boomed outside and the liquid rippled, sending tiny waves crashing against the sides.

"I just don't see the big problem here. So what if the government gets the crystal? How's it going to hurt anypony?"

"There are legends, dark legends, of events that transpire when the crystal is activated. A downward spiral of chaos and magic that can upturn the world. From what my daughter, Sunny, described, the process has already started."

He slammed his hoof on the table and a couple patrons across the diner stared. "We can't let the IS get to it. They'll seek it's power, and once they try to harness it, that will be end for all of us. Every last stallion, mare, and foal."

"And you want me to help."

"Like I said, as long as you're with me, we'll stay a step ahead of the government. We can do this, Starlight, but I need you."

Starlight took one more look at the older stallion, then sighed. "Beats rotting in a holding cell, I guess. Where do we go next?"

Staten slid out of the booth and stood up. "We go back to your parents' house. They'll already be taken, so the house should be clear. We'll get what we can for the journey, and figure out where to go from there."

"And how do you expect to get halfway across the city without being noticed?" Starlight asked, following him out the door and into the pouring rain.

Staten smiled. "The subway of course."

"Oh. Right."

She sighed and followed him toward a set of stairs that led down to the nearest station, gritting her teeth and wishing the whole night would turn out to be just another lousy dream.


Their silver subway train clicked down the tracks, sliding its way underneath the city. Starlight rested with her back against the back of a hard plastic bench seat. Staten sat beside her, his hooves on his lap. Besides them, there was only a single pony napping on the bench at the far end of the car.

Starlight stared out the window across the car from her and watched brick walls fly past as the subway trundled on. Her hooves rested at her side and her mane hung down over one eye. She didn't bother to blow it away, instead tucking herself further into her seat.

She had never liked the subway. Her parents had taken her on it when she was younger and it had frightened her. To be stuck underground in a train that was crowded with dozens of ponies would get her breathing hard if she thought about it too long. When it had come time to attend school, she had been more than willing to take the bus.

A light flickered overhead. Staten licked his lips and opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it and shut it again. Starlight did her best to ignore him. She could feel the questions welling up inside, but steeled herself from speaking. If she was going to focus on anything, it would be her parents.

The car hit a bump and Starlight knocked against Staten. She righted herself as quickly as he could and scooted away from him. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's alright," Staten replied. He took the opportunity and leaned a little closer to her. "You know, I'm sure your parents are alright."

"I don't remember asking about them," Starlight hissed. "And from the way you talked back in the diner, you didn't think that way, either."

Staten raised a hoof. "I'm just trying to reassure you—"

"Do I look like a little kid to you?" Starlight snapped. "I've been away from them for years. I don't need somepony to remind me my mommy and daddy are okay."

"Just trying to help." Staten sighed. "Your father and I were close, back in the day. I'm sure he told you about the digs we did out past Levan and elsewhere. Those trips were fruitful, but what we found were just . . . trinkets . . . at the time. A stone inscription of a dragon and a pony, things like that."

"So why'd you two ever drift apart?" Starlight asked.

"When my wife left and Sunny went off to college, I fell on hard times. I blamed everypony . . . including my friends. It wasn't a time I like to remember. I—"

Staten trailed off and looked down at his hooves. "I never went back. He offered me, I offered him, but . . . I just couldn't. Then this happened and I—."

"You came for me," Starlight whispered.

Staten nodded. "Your father would have gone to the ends of the world to find you and bring you home. If he couldn't do it, then I could."

Starlight looked away. "You should have saved him . . . I can take care of myself."

The train slid to a squealing stop at Fel Street Station. The granite station was lit by simmering fluorescent lights that cast it in a harsh glow. For all purposes, it was empty and devoid of life.

Starlight hopped off her seat and trotted out of the car onto the solid floor of the station. She made her way to the stairs leading back up to Gracia without a single look back at Staten.


Fel Street was like another world compared to the rainy morass that Starlight's apartment sat on. The street was straight and broad, and lined with wooden buildings that were three stories high at their tallest. The arched windows looked out on manicured grass lawns and trees that bloomed in the summer rains. Light came from bulbs burning in ornate lamp posts on the sidewalk rather than spinners flying overhead.

Starlight splashed through puddles on the sidewalk that still gathered in the same places that they had when she was a little foal. The gravel crunched comfortingly beneath her hooves and the air smelled fresh and clean. Despite the situation, she found herself smiling as she trotted down the street toward a blue house on the end.

She could hear Staten's clumsy hoof-falls echo behind her. He grunted as he tried to catch up to her, muttering curses under his breath. Starlight laughed to herself and kept ahead.

For a moment, it almost seemed like a silly little game she had played as a foal. Then she arrived at her house.

Starlight came skidding to a stop when she saw the front of her childhood home. The window that her father had fixed after a wayward ball had sailed through now lay on the ground, its frame broken and sagging. The mahogany door that she and her mother had painted together one cold November stood open, hanging on by its hinges.

Staten caught up to her and stood by her side, panting. When he saw what had been done, his breath caught and he tried to move toward Starlight. "I am so sorry," he began.

Starlight didn't hear him. Her eyes glazed over as she stepped up the front walk. She pushed open the door and found herself plodding through her own house like it was an alien planet. Everything was out of order. The furniture lay torn and on their sides. Vases were broken, pots were spilled, and her father's prized book collection lay on the floor like a pile of trash.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She stood in the middle of her living room, the one place she could call safe, and felt like a stranger. She fell in a heap beside the piles of books. Many had pages ripped out and spines bent. The ones under became a little more wet as tears ran down her face and dropped onto the pages.

She hadn't been on the best terms with her parents, not since dropping out of school, but to see the safest place in the world have its heart ripped out was too much for her. She stared into space and her ears started to ring.

Starlight was vaguely aware of somepony calling her name, but could only just make out the voice over the ringing. She didn't look up, however, until she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

"Starlight!" Staten was calling. "Are you okay?"

"What?" she asked.

"You zoned out," Staten said. "I know this is tough, and I'm sorry . . ."

Starlight shrugged off his hoof and stood up. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She wiped at her eyes and sniffed. "I'm not stupid; they just took my parents to jail or whatever. It's not like they're dead."

"Yes, but you looked like you were taking this pretty hard—"

"I said I'm fine!" Starlight snapped. "Besides, why do you care so much? You caused this."

"I did my best to find you before they got to you," Staten protested.

"I told you before, I'm not a little kid!" Starlight growled. "I can take care of myself. If you had gone to my Dad first, none of this would have happened."

"But you—"

"Save it. I'm going to go check out my room."

Before Staten could get in other word, Starlight turned, stomped up the stairs, and slammed the door to her room shut.


Staten watched her go and sighed. He would let her stew for as long as he could. She wouldn't be in any mood to help him at the moment.

He picked his way through some glass strewn about on the carpet and into Starlight's father's study lab. Noctilucent had been one to go to great lengths in keeping every damn surface that he had ever worked on spotless and in order, so to see the neat little office of his turned into a demolition zone pained Staten.

The modest chairs were upthrown, stuffing leaking out their sides, and the massive oak desk that he recognized from Radshapur had its drawers emptied and on the ground. The ancient tabletop was scuffed and chipped from hurried hooves that hadn't cared for its legacy.

Staten found what he was looking for in the middle of the room. It was an oil painting in a gold frame that Noctilucent had commissioned for his family. Even now, his steely blue eyes gazed up from the floor where the police had left it. It was, much to his relief, unharmed apart from being taken off the wall.

"I hope you'll understand, old friend," Staten said to the frozen relief of the square-jawed stallion. "You can take whatever the IS throws at you, but Starlight? No, she . . . she's not ready for that." He smiled a little. "Don't you worry now, I'll take good care of her."

Still smiling, he raised his hoof and brought it down against the glass. It shattered, allowing the aging stallion to rip a hole through the oil canvas and tear it out of the frame.

He grinned when he saw it. There, taped against the back of the frame, was a shiny compact disk. Staten wrenched it out and looked it over.

"Noctilucent," he said, "you were nothing but predictable. A good thing the police didn't bother to get to know you first."

He looked around and retrieved a small burlap sack from the corner. The police had emptied it out for him already, so Staten was able to place the CD inside without a problem. He grabbed some scarves and stuffed them in the sack for padding, then slung it around his neck.

Satisfied, he moved out of the room and closed the door behind him, as if to spare the carnage inside from the rest of the house. He heard nothing from downstairs, so he shook his head and started up toward Starlight's room. Under his breath, he rehearsed what he would say to her, an almost impossible task for what he needed her to know.


Starlight was laying on her old bed when the professor showed up again. Her room, like the others, had been ransacked. Unlike the others, it was hard to tell the difference from the state it had been in during her teenage years. The walls were still painted midnight blue and posters of bands and city fairs and shiny metal airframes stretched all over them.

Her bedspread was still the same tacky black rose spread that she had somehow convinced her mother to buy, but looked back on the decision with a small grimace. It was comfortable enough beneath her back, however, while she stared up at the spinning ceiling fan.

She had spent a lot of time in that position through the years. After a hard day at school or at her part-time job, she had lain there and let her thoughts slip away and carry her troubles with them. It had been where she'd laid the night after announcing to her parents that she was dropping out of Gracia U.

Staten knocked on the door. Starlight sat up and blinked a few times before settling her gaze on him.

He coughed. "May I come in?"

"Why not?" she said, laying back down. "It's not like nopony else has today."

Staten sighed as he stepped over an upturned CD rack, the discs scattered amongst the floor. He stood beside Starlight's bed. "We can't stay here for long. When the IS figures out you're not coming back to your apartment, they'll come back here."

"Let 'em." Starlight rolled over. "They've taken everypony else, so why not me too?"

Staten looked at her for a moment, then shook his head. In one swift motion, he grabbed the bed's comforter with his teeth and yanked back, flinging the blanket off the bed and spilling Starlight on the floor.

She yelped and held her head while she climbed back to her hooves. "What the heck did you do that for?" she growled.

"You don't get to make that decision," Staten snapped. "I let your father get captured so I could take care of you, like he would have wanted. It wasn't my choice, but his. So you don't get to lay here and be captured with the rest of my staff."

"It doesn't even matter," Starlight shot back.

Staten walked up to her until their noses were almost touching. "I didn't choose you over your father so that you could get captured too. If you're sitting in an IS jail cell with them, you aren't worth anything. But on the outside, you can fight back. You can free them, you understand?"

Starlight stared at him, at his eyes flaming in anger, and nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

He threw open her closet and tossed a bag laying on the ground to her. "Good. Now, pack up some things and make it quick; we're leaving as soon as we can."

Starlight gulped, then did as she was told. She hadn't seen this side of the professor before. His eyes were crazed in anger and desperation. He looked at her like she was his last hope, and he would be damned if she didn't comply.

She stuffed a couple stray rounder bills and whatever coins she could find into the pockets of a pink coat from her closet, along with a few other valuables. Even her old music player. Then, she took what clothes she could fit in the burlap bag and slung it over her shoulder. She wrapped the coat around herself

When she looked up, she saw Staten in the hall, looking out a window to the street in front of the house. "Is there another way out that's not as noticeable?" he asked, turning away.

Starlight nodded and beckoned for him to follow. She led him to the small bathroom down the hall from her own room. There was a large, fogged glass window on the other side of the toilet. She reached up and undid the bolts keeping it in place, letting it swing open to reveal nothing but the night air on the other side.

She looked one last time at her room, surrounded by her old sanctuary, before dropping down to the terrace below and onto the soft grass of her backyard. Staten followed, albeit at a slower pace, and soon joined her.

There was a tall wooden fence around the perimeter of her parents' spacious backyard, and a gate near the back, built out of the same wooden slats as the rest. Starlight trotted over to it and let it open, careful to peek out before letting it swing away. There was a small road behind all the houses for cars, and it was deserted.

Staten caught up with her. "Nopony's around. Good," he said. He walked past Starlight and started up the street. "We'll need to move fast, though."

"Uh, professor, where are we going?" Starlight asked.

"Just a quick stop-over in Horizon, then out of the city. We should be on the road in just a few hours."

Staten continued on ahead, but Starlight stopped and looked back one more time. Her parents were gone and her home trashed . . . but even on a night like this, there was a faint glimmer of hope. Like the professor had said, she could fight back. She could free them. And, better, get back at the IS and make them pay.

Starlight smiled and trotted after Staten.

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