Stars and Sparkles

"Uhhh... That'd be great, Mom!" Sparkler nervously flicked her eyes from side to side. "But I was just about to go find Twilight, if that's okay with you."

Derpy cocked her head, her gray ears flopping to one side curiously. Her good eye focused its bright yellow stare on Sparkler. "Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yeah, the purple unicorn who lives in the library. I...I recommended a book to her...um... a while ago. And I was going to see if she'd read it yet, and whether she liked it or not!" That wasn't a lie. Sparkler had asked Twilight if she wanted to read the book "I, Cyberpony," and discuss it with her. She'd hoped that they might get to know each other and become friends. It had seemed like a good plan, since both of them loved to read, although Twilight was probably much more advanced in magic than Sparkler was. But Sparkler didn't have many friends, and reading books together seemed like a fun way to make one. Especially if they both shared the same views on the book. Even if they didn't, debating their opinions back and forth could be exciting, too. Oh, this was going to be perfect!

Sparkler was snapped away from the prospect of starting a book club when she noticed her mother's crestfallen face. "Of course, I'd love to bake muffins later!" she added, trying to sound enthusiastic. "It's just...well, you know I'd like to get to know Twilight better, and-"

"Oh, it's fine!" Derpy cut her off, sounding more cheerful than usual. "I know you love to discuss books and things like that, and I can't always read very well..." She trailed off, staring at the ground forlornly. Snapping back to the present, Sparkler's mother beamed at her. "Go meet your friend, and have fun! But don't stay out too late, and don't talk to strange ponies, and you know your way around town, right? ...Am I being ridiculous?" She smiled at Sparkler guiltily.

Sparkler grinned back weakly and nodded. "Just a little." She turned towards the door. "See you later, Mom!"

"Bye, sweetie!" Derpy walked to the window and watched her daughter until she was out of sight.

"She'll be okay." The gray pegasus recognized the British accent and turned her head to see the Doctor sitting next to her.

Derpy sighed. "I know, but to me she'll always be my daughter. And are you saying Sparkler will be okay just because she's a unicorn, or are you trying to make me quit worrying?"

"Yes! No! Uh..." The Doctor tipped his head sideways and tugged on his green tie, considering. "Both?"

Derpy laughed. The Doctor nuzzled her ear and walked over to the kitchen. "I think I might be able to get somepony who will help us with that. In the meantime, let's get started on those muffins! They will have butter in them, right?"

"Of course." Derpy smiled at the Doctor's butter obsession, then rethought his statement. "Wait, how would somepony help?"

"Well..." The Doctor began pulling muffin ingredients out of the cupboard. "Jack could be convinced...if we bribe him with muffins...or something..."

Sparkler trotted through Ponyville, her hooves clicking on the cobblestones. Where was the library again? It'd been a while. She should have asked her mother, but Sparkler didn't want Derpy to worry that she couldn't find her way around town. Library...library...Oh! Now she remembered! The library was in that big tree over there. Yep, that was it.

As Sparkler approached the tree house, she felt nervous, like a swarm of parasprites was eating away at her stomach. Okay...that was a gross image. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

A purple and green dragon opened the door, burdened with a stack of thick, heavy-looking books. "Hi, Spike!" Sparkler greeted him nervously. "Is Twilight home?"

"Well, yes," Spike shifted the tower of books nervously. "Right now might not be the best time, though. You see-" A crash sounded from inside the library.

"Spike? SPIKE! Where are you? Do you have the books I asked you to pull? Spike!"

"Coming, Twilight! Follow me, Sparkler." Spike turned and padded into the library, his scaly feet making dull thuds against the floor. As the baby dragon navigated a sea of notecards, quills, parchment, and -of course- books, the column of old volumes swayed right and left. Sparkler watched them apprehensively.

"Do you need some help with those, Spike?"

"No, I've got it!" Just then, Spike tripped over a discarded thesaurus and fell forwards, the books tumbling from his short arms. "Whoa!"

Sparkler quickly leveled her horn at the books and concentrated. To her relief, the levitation spell worked, even though she hadn't tried it on more than one object yet. The heavy, leather bound monstrosities were caught in her glowing pink magic and gently lowered to the floor in a neat stack. But they weren't the only things falling. "Oh no! Spi-"

A pillow shot out of nowhere, surrounded by a purple aura, and slid in front of Spike just before he hit the ground. Twilight Sparkle cantered into the room, her navy, pink, and purple mane flying out behind her. "Hello Sparkler, it's great to see you again. Nice catch, thank you. Now, Spike, I need you to go find some parchment and-"

"Hi, Twilight!" Sparkler broke in nervously. "I was wondering if you read that book that I recommended to you a while back-"

"Hm? Oh yes, 'I, Cyberpony.' Good book. Interesting storyline. Spike, I'm going to need some more quills, too, and-"

"Did you like it?" Sparkler knew she might be pushing it a little, but she'd been waiting for so long to discuss one of her favorite books with somepony and-

"It was okay. Spike, find some ink while you're at it-"

"Just 'okay?'"

"Great. Sparkler, I'm kind of busy. It's not every day the Princess asks somepony to write a report."

"A report? Great! A report on what?" Sparkler wasn't feigning interest, she loved writing reports. Maybe she could help Twilight with hers.

"On the Crystal Empire."

"The Crystal Empire? What's that? Where is it? I've never heard about it-"

Twilight's temper snapped. "It's a thing, at a place, and I'm very busy! What do you want, Sparkler?"

"Oh. Um." Sparkler shrank into a bookshelf. "I was just wondering if...maybe I could help you...write it? Your report, I mean?"

"Obviously you can't help if you've never even heard of it! Come back later, I'm BUSY!" Twilight's last sentence ended in a shriek.

"Okay." Sparkler headed out.

Spike walked her to the door, whispering, "Don't worry, Sparkler, she's in one of her crazy 'deadline moods.' I'll talk to her once she finishes her report."

"Thanks, Spike. That's sweet of you, but..." Sparkler swallowed a lump in her throat. "It's okay." She walked out of the library, gently shutting the door behind her. Sitting on the doorstep for a few seconds, Sparkler heard Twilight yell "SPIKE!"

"Coming, Twilight!" came Spike's muffled voice from behind the door. "You know you weren't very nice to Sparkler just now, right? All she wanted to do was discuss a book with you, and you're always complaining about how no one else wants to talk about books-"

"Spike, that's not helping! I read the book she was trying to talk to me about, I just didn't like it! Come on, I have to write an introduction and a thesis and-" Sparkler's ears drooped and she turned away, her eyes brimming with tears. Slowly she plodded away from the library, her head down. Maybe her idea that she and Twilight could be friends was far-fetched. Twilight was obviously busier than her, and she didn't like Sparkler's favorite book! Why not? Maybe Sparkler just had no idea of what a good book was. Maybe she was weird, and that's why no one wanted to be friends with her. Twilight was older than she was, but having her for a friend, Sparkler had figured, would be like having a big sister. Yes, it was true that she loved having Dinky for a younger sister, and she loved babysitting the younger foals and being like a big sister, but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to have an older sister instead of just being one. But obviously no one wanted to be her big sister... Sparkler continued her plodding, not looking or caring where she was going. She had no idea that someone was following her, flapping as stealthily as he could from rooftop to rooftop, fueled by the desire of a muffin, loyalty to the Doctor, and pity for the forlorn unicorn who was trying as hard as she could not to cry.