Starlight

Chapter 2-Sunny

13 years later.

Jacob: "Celestia's rule was a terrible one. She demanded heavy taxes, and only those who worked for her had riches. Now, the originally prospering land of Galactia, transformed into a well, not so prospering land. But the citizens still remained hopeful."

A woman stood inside a pleasant bakery, her blonde hair tied up in a bun. "Here you go Starlight." She spoke to a girl, 13, with straight black hair and an ombré blue purple dress, who was standing behind the counter, and handed her a wooden box filled with baked treats. "Be careful, Mrs. Hathaway's butter cookies are in there, and they're very delicate." "Don't worry! I just installed springs on the pie cart, so they should be fine." Starlight called as she walked out the door with "Betty's Bakery" painted on it in light pink. She set the box onto a scooter, but with two wheels on the back. A platform was in between the two back wheels, with newly installed springs underneath. The entire thing was made out of scrap metal and wood. A brake pedal (well, a flattened can) sat behind the front wheel. The box fit perfectly on the platform, which Starlight latched down. She checked the tag on the first pastry. "Mr. Morgan, I remember where he lives. Wait, where'd Moon go? Moon? You there?" A white owl flew down from the top of the bakery, and landed on her shoulder. She pet Moon, then jumped on her scooter and let off the brake. 

Then, she rolled down the slightly cracked cobblestone road. Most of the houses were made of wood or brick, and some even had little flowerbeds or gardens. The sun was shining brightly, as usual, in it's 12 o-clock position in the blue sky, even though it was around 8. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could have night? I heard it was really pretty, with little glowing white dots called stars, and the Moon, which changed shape!" "Hoo!" Moon responded. "Yup! That is your na-" "Hey, there's the weirdo!" a boy interrupted her daydreaming. "Making any more explosions?" Starlight continued on, fidgeting her opal moon necklace. Jacob: "She could never live down the one time, back when she was in school. She had brought her latest science project to show and tell, but when she used it, it exploded. Since then, almost all the kids made fun of her, and it got so bad she had to be home schooled." "Hoo." Owl stated. "Yeah, I do need some friends. But I got you!" "Hoo!" "Well, yeah, human friends might be a little better." Starlight said with a halfhearted smile.

Eventually, Starlight came to the last package. "Hmm. That's odd, I usually don't get deliveries this close to the castle." "Hoo." "Yeah, let's hope they don't yell at me, like last time." she shuddered. As she rode along, the cottages turned to almost mansions as she neared the castle. The people who Celestia favored (and were rewarded with the best wages), preferred to live close by, so there was basically a ring of mansions around the castle. Soon, she neared a mansion larger than the rest. It was so close to the castle, you could see the castle spires in the distance. The house was pretty, with a large yard and delicate white flowers. The house was painted in Galactia's colors, gold trim with white paint. In the yard, a girl and a boy were talking.

 The girl was wearing a white dress, with pale pink edging and an orange belt. The boy was wearing gold armor, with a sun emblazoned on it, Galactia's crest. "I don't think a suit of armor will admit you into Galactia's guard." the girl stated doubtfully. "Hey! I've been working on my skills! Just you wait." the boy retorted. "Okkk, just don't say I didn't warn you. Oh! Hello there!" the girl exclaimed, noticing Starlight. "Umm, hi. I have a dutch apple pie for a, uh Mr. Jesmand." Starlight said quietly. "Thank you! I'll make sure to take it to him once he returns home." the girl said cheerfully. "Why are you talking to a peasant?" the boy asked haughtily. "If you don't want to be here, you can leave." the girl stated. "Maybe I will." the boy said haughtily, then turned and left. "Sorry, that's my brother. He's all uppity because our dad is the Queens' advisor, and mom is her lady in waiting. Oh! I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself. I'm Sarah, but you can call me Sunny." 

"I'm S-Starlight." "That's a really pretty name! Wait a sec, is that an owl?!" Sunny asked. "Oh yes, this is Moon." "Wow. How did you get an owl as a pet? I thought they all disappeared with the moon." "A while ago we found her in the bakery looking for food, so I started feeding her and we became best friends!" Starlight explained. "That's so cute!" "Sarah!" a voice called stiffly. "Oh! It's time for my lessons. It was nice meeting you, Starlight!" Sunny said before making her way towards the house. Jacob: "Starlight smiled. Maybe there was hope for a friend in the world. Eventually, Starlight made it home. She left her scooter outside, then gave the profits to Betty. Then she brought her scooter into her dads' Blacksmith shop, since he let her store it there. The blacksmiths shop had a furnace and tools in the back. A barrel of water sat by a table to cool metal objects from the furnace. In the front, bins held spare parts, and a large assortment of metal items lined the walls, and were placed on shelves." "Hello Starlight!" A man called in a deep voice from behind the counter. He had dark hair, brown pants, a green shirt with rolled up sleeves and leather gloves. "Come for more parts?" "Yup!" "Here you go." he said as he lifted down a full bin of defective parts. "Thanks!" Starlight said brightly as she sifted through the parts. Her eyes lit up as she saw a bent bolt. "Perfect!" she thought as she took it up to her room. 

Jacob: "Her room was actually the finished attic of the house. A ladder came up out of the floor in the back, and to the left of the ladder was a bookshelf filled with books on many different topics; from Inventing 101 to The Adventures of Oliver. To the right was a bed with a comfy looking quilt in shades of deep purple, and in the front, a wood desk sat under a window. The desk was littered with different parts, and a journal was mapping out the inner mechanisms of a weird machine that was on the desk. Starlight sat at the desk and worked till her clock said it was late. Because obviously, the sun couldn't do it's job of telling time since it was always at it's 12 o-clock position. Wow, now the sun is pretty pointless-" "Jacob." "Yeah yeah, I was supposed to stop at the clock part. Oh well."