I asked Valiant why he wanted to give me this tape recorder. He said he didn’t trust Libby and wanted to have a record in case she killed me. “Sunburst gets bursted,” as he put it.

Naturally, that led into a discussion about why he was sending her with me in the first place.

“It’s dangerous to go alone,” he said. “Take this.” That seemed to amuse him.

I didn’t think it was that dangerous to travel around Equestria, but Valiant refused to speak more on the topic and I was stuck with a flying robotic mental patient as a companion.

An untreated mental patient.

That was my diagnosis, anyway, though I didn’t have much experience with maladies of the synthetic nature. Valiant himself had expressed frustration regarding Libby’s personality.

He hadn’t said how the personality had been developed, but I knew enough about his work to suspect that I really didn’t want to know. But curse my nature, I wanted to know everything.

“So are you some kind of nerd or something?” Libby asked as we walked. As I walked. She was somewhere overhead, her cranked-kite body gliding in circles, just barely visible between the high, wispy clouds.

Valiant had given me an earpiece communicator, but it took me a moment to look up from the book I was reading.

“I suppose,” I replied in answer to her question. Being called a nerd didn’t bother me anymore. I supposed it was true, but Valiant’s verbal abuse was part of it. "What gave it away?"

“The wizard robe.”

“Well, maybe I'm a wizard.”

She laughed. After a moment, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“Sire’s Hollow, where I was born.” It had been a long time since I’d seen my family.

“That sounds boring.”

“That sounds perfect,” I corrected. “You may have noticed that Valiant, his family and associates, and his school are a nexus of chaos. I’m trying to get away from it all.”

“Are you still gay?”

“I was never gay.” Where had that come from?

“Because you hung around Thorax the Changeling King an awful lot. You could have been royalty! Not sure how that would have worked out with gay love. Would you have been the queen or also the king?”

“Thorax and I weren’t lovers.”

“What, don’t you know how to love?”

Being perfectly honest? I decided not to reply.

Libby began to play some music. What is love? Baby don’t hurt me…

I took the earpiece out.

We made it to the train station and I got on, going back to reading. I set the sealed envelope I was using as a bookmark beside me.

I had been reading for a few minutes when I became aware of a train conductor trying to get my attention.

“I don’t know what that thing is, but you might want to get away from the window, mister.”

I glanced outside to find Libby flying level with the train, rocking gently as she trimmed her flaps to stay there.

I grabbed the earpiece. “What are you doing!?”

“I was using my superzoom multispectral camera to read that letter from your mother.”

“That’s none of your business!”

“Have you finally decided to accept some responsibility and become the good son she always wanted?”

Knife to the heart. “For your information, I find her constant nagging annoying.”

“I could help you out, if you want.”

“How would you…” I paused. “Am I going to regret asking that?”

“I would murder them all,” said Libby.

“Don’t murder anyone!”

“Well, we’re a little late for that.”

“You know what I meant! Nopony from Sire’s Hollow needs to be murdered!”

“Well, if you really want to deal with your overbearing mom.”

I didn’t, but chances were good she would find me anyway, and I really didn’t want to deal with the fallout of her thinking I was trying to avoid her. I was, but that wasn’t the point.

“Just...leave me alone, okay? Be good. Don’t talk. Definitely don’t kill anypony.”

I looked around to find everypony in the train compartment staring at me. Fortunately, I had a book and went back to reading.

When we arrived in Sire’s Hollow, I got off the train and turned towards the village. While walking and reading, I slammed facefirst into a gate somepony had put up on the path.

“Wha-who put this here?” I said, rubbing my nose.

“Reviewing historical satellite imagery,” said Libby. After a moment, she said, “Your mother.”

“I told you that I didn’t want to hear from you.”

“But you asked a question.”

“I didn’t ask you!”

“But I knew the answer and there was no one else around to provide it.”

I sighed. She had me there. “My mother put this gate up?”

“That’s right.”

Something occurred to me. “How do you know what my mother looks like?”

“I have access to a database of biometric information. Certain ponies have already been recorded.”

“Why was my mother recorded?”

“Valiant wanted to cover anyone who might have had contact with Starlight Glimmer.”

“Starlight Glimmer?” I frowned. “My old playmate? What about her?”

“You...didn’t know?”

“No. Know what?”

“Oh boy.” Libby sounded gleeful. “You’re going to love this. So, Starlight Glimmer turned into a dictator of a miniature communist town. There was some drama and eventually Cordoba stabbed her to death.”

I shook my head. “What? That’s nothing like the Starlight I knew!”

“Well, better dead than red.”

“How did I not know any of this?”

“Well, Valiant never wrote it down. He didn’t want anyone to get any communist ideas.”

“Is communism that bad?”

A red light flicked on my face. I saw the glint in my glasses.

“You are currently being targeted by my visible light laser,” said a monotone robotic voice that lacked any of Libby’s personality. “This is a warning. You will not discuss communism again.”

“O-okay,” I said.

“Huh, so that’s what the personality override feels like,” said Libby, back to normal. “Valiant wasn’t willing to let me talk about that topic myself and installed a automatic cutout that wouldn’t let me think for myself when it came to that particular subject. It’s like he doesn’t trust me or something.”

I wanted to ask. I really, really did. But I also knew that threats around here usually weren’t idle.

Realizing I had been standing outside the gate for the past five minutes, I pushed it open.

“Welcome to Sire’s Hollow!” said a recording of a cheerful female voice. Huh, that was new.

Walking into town, I saw that there were a lot of things that were new.

“Essence?” asked a mare holding a spritz bottle.

“Essence of what?” I asked.

She smiled. “You tell me.” And shot me in the face with the liquid.

It was kind of like chocolate, so it wasn’t bad. At least not the part where I was coughing and my eyes were burning. I blinked rapidly, my eyes clearing well enough to notice a red dot on her head.

“Abort!” I shouted.

“Well if that’s how you feel,” muttered the essence pony.

“Why? She attacked you,” said Libby in my ear.

Touching as it was that Libby actually wanted to stand up for me, that was tempered by the fact that she was about to murder somepony just for trying to sell perfume. Not to mention I had no idea what kind of weapon she was going to use and I might be inside the blast radius.

I shook my head to clear it. “Didn’t this used to be a fruit stand?”

“I don’t know what it used to be,” said the mare selling perfume. “The Sire’s Hollow Development Committee determined what it is.”

“The Sire’s Hollow Development what? Where do ponies buy fruit?” I asked.

“You can get a fruit smoothie two doors down.”

I followed her pointing hoof. Just like her shop, the entire street seemed to be changed.

“The Sire’s Hollow Development Committee,” I repeated to myself.

“Founded by your mother,” Libby provided.

“She did? Has everything in town changed”

“No.”

I looked around and smiled as I saw the old bookstore was just the way it always was. I walked over.

However, just as I opened the door, a pair of ponies confronted me. “Sorry. Our bookstore’s been declared a site of historical significance by the Sire’s Hollow Preservation Society. You’ll have to experience the books from here. That’s why the windows are see-through.”

They slammed the door in my face. I blinked. “Who did this?”

“Reviewing historical satellite imagery,” said Libby. After a moment, she said, “Starlight Glimmer’s father.”

“I think I remember him,” I said. “I don’t know if he would remember me.”

“He argues with your mother a lot, so the likelihood is high.” Libby paused. “Speaking of which, your mother is coming down the street now.”

I ducked behind the bookstore.

“Don’t you want to meet her?” asked Libby.

“I…” I’d said that was why I was coming to town, but faced with the reality, the truth was, I’d left for a good reason. “Not right now. I know she’ll berate me. ‘You’re a grown-up pony, Sunburst! You need a plan for the future!’”

“But then why did you even come back to Sire’s Hollow?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I needed a change, but in hindsight going back to the way things always were wasn’t much of one. I’ll eventually have to go out and face my mom.”

“Wow, I’m kind of glad I don’t have parents or stuff,” said Libby.

“Do you think of Valiant as a parent?” I asked.

“Eh. It’s complicated.”

“Were you always a flying machine?”

Her voice suddenly turned automated again. “This topic will not be discussed.”

“Wow, what did Valiant do to you?”

“This topic will not be discussed.”

“So something was done.” I thought about it. “Which means you were something else before. Some...pony else?”

“I could keep letting the personality override kick in, or we could just change the subject,” said Libby, back to normal. As normal as a schizophrenic robotic flying machine could be.

I let it drop, but my interest had been piqued, and there was no way I could resist a chance to learn something new.

“You’re mother’s coming this way again,” Libby said, breaking my train of thought.

I scurried off. Yes, I was still running away, but I still needed time to think before talking to her. Yes, I knew that was an excuse. Where could I go? Where could I get advice from somepony who wasn’t a schizophrenic robotic flying machine?

“Do you know why the town is called Sire’s Hollow?” I said. “We have a cave back up in the hills. Rumors are it’s haunted, and you can meet your ancestors there.”

“Cool,” said Libby.

She followed me out of town. I’d been near the cave before, but I preferred reading about it to actually going there. Sure, rocks were interesting, but caves were also damp, dark, and maybe dangerous.

But this time, it made sense. Libby couldn’t follow me in.

The cave entrance was small but I pressed forward without hesitation. I lifted my cape to clear the dirt and rocks on the floor and lit my horn for illumination.

It was a cave. It had rock walls and a rock ceiling. Seen one, seen them all. The passage seemed to turn and get steeper just off the entrance. I took one step.

...and tripped.

I fell head over hocks all the way down what felt like a very large hill. One lens of my glasses cracked before I came to a stop.

Blinking blearily, I looked around. I was in a medium sized round chamber. There were a few rocks arranged in a circle. I had landed outside them.

Starburst…

“Huh?” I looked around. I checked my earpiece.

“Starburst.”

“What? Who’s there?”

I felt a slight breeze. A wisp of dust rose up in the center of the chamber. There was a flicker in the air.

My mouth dropped open as the transparent figure of an old unicorn stallion faded into view. He was blue and I could see the other cave wall through him, but I knew who it was.

“Grandpa!”

He smiled. “Nice of you to come to visit. I hope your mother hasn’t been too much.”

Beside him, my grandmother appeared. She smiled. A couple of others began to fade in behind them. I thought I recognized one from a picture. That must be a great grandparent.

“I...I didn’t know this cave could actually show you spirits,” I said.

Suddenly, there was a commotion from the back. Somepony pushed their way through the crowd. “Shit, with as much magical bullshit that’s packed into Equestria you don’t believe in ghosts?”

If anything, this only surprised me more. “Valiant? You’re dead?”

“No.”

“But you’re a spirit!”

“Do I need your permission to astral project?” He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I’m here because of your conversation with Libby.”

“What did you do to her?” I asked. “Who was she?”

He shook his head. “God, this is Braeburn all over again. Look, just drop it, okay? Trust me, you aren’t going to like what you find. That is, if you can even dig far enough into the programming to figure it out. She’s probably running COBOL or some shit.”

“‘Probably?’ You programmed her. Don’t you know?”

He waved a hoof. “There’s a very specific blood alcohol content at which I do my best coding.” He gestured at the spirits around him. “I don’t even know how I set these holograms up.”

“What-”

The whole crowd of them suddenly broke out in tapdancing to show tunes.

“Huh,” said Valiant. “Actually, this seems more like Trixie’s flair.” He shrugged. “Anyway, don’t sex the airplane. For the love of God, just forget you heard anything.”

The illusion clicked off and I was suddenly alone in the cave again.

I sat there for a couple of seconds before shaking my head and slowly getting up to climb back up to the entrance. I paused just inside and took off my glasses, screwing up my face in concentration to gather the magic to fix them.

I knew the spell pretty well, but it took a lot out of me. That was another thing I couldn’t stand about my mother. She was always bringing up how I’d failed magic school. I couldn’t help it if I just wasn’t powerful enough for Princess Celestia’s standards. It was a school for gifted unicorns, after all.

I finished with my glasses and put them back on, looking out of the cave into the afternoon sun. I would have to face my mother eventually.

Well, I didn’t have to do anything, but I should.

Should I? Why should I do something that gave me so much displeasure for no gain? Instead, I could be learning something new.

I took a step out of the cave and looked skyward to catch a glimpse of Libby surfing the clouds.

I made my choice.