Across Ponyville, the entire town was mostly silent. The night sky was hovering over the town, but some pony were going around and tossing newspapers on the stoops of houses, while other ponies were still asleep in their beds. It all quickly changed though as the night sky slowly turned orange and the first beams of sunlight were popping up over the horizon. Slowly, but surely, the sun crept over the hills and mountains and soon shined upon Ponyville. Inside the large Golden Oaks Library, an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane along with pink and lavender highlights, was already hard at work.
“ . . . 17, . . . 18, . . . 19, . . .20,” she said as she grunted. Her wings were against the floor, pushing her up and down steadily. She placed her hooves on the ground and panted a little as she straightened up. “Well that was good. I just hope that rainstorm that’s scheduled for later today holds off until I finish my training.”
A knock then came from the pegasus’ room. “Come on in,” she said.
The door opened to a tall, slender lilac alicorn with a mane very similar to that of the pegasus’, except she had a darker lavender streak. She looked around the room to see a large bed near the window was made, then the bookshelf and writing desk nearby, and then some workout equipment such as dumbbells and a mat. She then directed her attention to the pegasus.
“Another workout routine, huh Starburst?” She asked with a small smile.
“Oh, good morning mom,” she said in a rather stern tone. “What are you doing here? I thought you would’ve been busy doing some morning reading.”
“Starburst, don’t you know what time it is?”
“Time for another day of training. How else am I going to make you and dad proud by getting into the Royal Guard?”
Twilight shook her head. “Sweetie, it’s only seven in the morning. You’re going to wake up your brother, Night Light.”
Starburst pondered for a moment. “You know what mom? You got a point.” Twilight smiled at this. “Go wake him up and I can possibly help him train.” Her smile drooped.
“Star, you don’t need to train every day. If you’re going to be a part of the Royal Guard, you need to have the knowledge of past conflicts from border skirmishes to civil wars.”
The orange pegasus let out a small groan. “Mom, I don’t need to stay inside and read,” she whined. “I’m not stupid, I know my history and have good marks in school.”
“I never said you were stupid,” she shot back. “I’m just trying to help you prepare mentally for the challenges ahead.”
“And why would I need to stay inside and read nothing but war tomes?”
“Because knowing is half the battle.”
Star slapped her face against her hoof. “That was cornier than one of Prism’s jokes, mom.”
Twilight let out a small sigh and shook her head. “Well, since we’re up now, we might as well get breakfast going. After all, it is the most important meal of the day, especially for my little filly who needs her energy.”
“Mom!” Star yelled with a small blush on her face.
Twilight laughed a little. “Alright, alright, just come on down and we’ll make yours and Night’s favorite, blueberry pancakes.”
A rare, small smile formed on Starburst’s face. “Okay mom, be right down there to help.”
Twilight used her magic to levitate a stack of crispy brown pancakes, with some blue spots in it. She placed the plate down in the middle and said, “Good job helping me Starburst. You’re getting better at cooking. Maybe you could become an assistant chef at Sugarcube Corner.”
The orange pegasus rolled her eyes at this. “No offense mom, but I don’t see myself in a kitchen. I don’t think I could really handle myself working there with how crazy Cotton Candy is.”
Twilight let out a small chuckle. “Well why don’t you go wake up Night Light?” She asked. “I don’t want his breakfast to get cold.”
Starburst pushed her chair out, but she and her mother heard a loud yawn and turned around. A small lavender unicorn colt, with a dark blue mane and a grayish blue streak in it.
“Good morning, Nighty,” said Twilight.
“Morning, mom,” he said in a small squeaky voice. He took a deep breath and a smile formed on his face. “Is that blueberry pancakes I smell?”
“Yes, but you better hurry up and eat some before they get cold.” Twilight’s ear perked as she heard the sound of a knife grating against a plate. She looked to see Starburst was wolfing down her pancakes, along with some eggs. “Star, slow down!” She scolded.
Star placed her utensils down and drank her apple juice rather fast. “Sorry about that mom, but training for the Royal Guard can’t wait too long. There’s a storm coming today and I want to get as much training done as possible.”
“That’s no excuse to be sloppy though,” she argued. “I told you already that training is good for you physically, but you need to be ready mentally as well. Why don’t you stay behind today and I’ll show you some war books?”
“I can’t take a day off mom. How else am I going to become Captain of the Guard by just reading some books? Why don’t you come with me instead and fly with me? It’ll be like old times again.”
Twilight shook her head and said, “Sweetie, as much as I would love to, I got some work to do and I need to keep an eye on Junior here.”
“Mom, you forgot what I told you last night,” he said with a huff. “I was going to go over to Apple Bloom’s house and play with Api.”
Twilight frowned a little and said, “Sorry about that Night, you can still go over and play with Api if you want.” She then turned back to Starburst. “Star, you could really benefit from doing some reading. Some of the things you learn from them could be useful to you in the future.”
The orange pegasus scoffed and said, “Yeah, like learning about hot tar dumping is really going to help me. That method hasn’t been used in hundreds of years.”
“728 years, to be precise,” said Twilight.
“Whatever, I don’t need to stick around here and do some reading.” Star turned around and trotted over to the door. “I’ve wasted enough time as it is and I need to get started on my training.”
“Star, wait!” Twilight called out. “At least tell me when you’ll be home. Maybe we can do some reading together then.”
She turned around to face her mother and said, “I’ll be back around three, but don’t expect me to just curl up with a book. I can continue my training when I get back home with my weights.”
Twilight tried to get out a word, but it was too late. Starburst ran out the front door and took off into the sky. The lilac alicorn frowned and looked down. Star . . . sometimes I really wish you wouldn’t be so reckless, she thought to herself. Whatever happened to the old days of us spending time together?
“Um . . . mom?”
Twilight turned around to see Night Light looking at her curiously. “What is it, son?”
“Are you going to be okay?”
She nodded and said, “Yeah, I just wish your big sister would wait and listen to me. Why don’t we go back to the table and finish breakfast? You can go to Api’s house after you help me clean up.”
“Okay, mom!” He said with a smile and trotted back into the kitchen.
Twilight let out a sigh, but put on a smile before joining her son.
As quickly as her and Starburst made breakfast, Twilight and Night finished their pancakes and cleaned up the mess. After they were finished, Night Light gave his mom a hug goodbye and promised to be back before the storm arrived. With her other child gone, Twilight was left alone again. The entire library fell into complete silence, with the exception of the sound of a page turning from a book Twilight was reading.
But as she tried to read the book, she couldn’t help but think back to how her daughter acted earlier. It was like no matter what she told her, Starburst just ignored her or mocked her. She tried to be patient with her, but it was a never ending battle from the look of things. Twilight turned her attention to a large portrait, with four ponies that were smiling. Twilight and her husband, Flash Sentry, who had grown a beard now, were smiling and holding their kids. Night Light was still a small foal at the time and being held by Flash. Starburst was smiling softly while being held by Twilight.
The lilac alicorn frowned and said to herself, “Oh Flash, if only you were here right now to talk some sense into our daughter. It’s like we’re pushing apart with each day, not getting closer.”
A knock then came from the library door, breaking Twilight out of it. She got up, trotted over to the door, and opened it. In front of her was a yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane covering part of her face. Next to her was a small, pinkish unicorn filly with a light green mane in a ponytail and blueish eyes.
“Hi Fluttershy and Anthea,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Good morning, Twilight, Annie here wanted to get a book on some of the flora and fauna of Equestria,” said Fluttershy. “Do you have a book on that?”
“Of course, wait right here and I’ll get you the blind edition of it!” She said.
As Twilight went over to the F-Section of the library, Anthea trotted in slowly and looked around. “Hey Twilight,” she said in a soft voice. “Where’s Starburst and Night Light? I was hoping to play with them after I was done reading.”
“Sorry Anthea, but Night is playing with Api at her house. Star is doing some training, again,” she said the last word with some venom in it.
“Oh my, I’m sorry, Twilight,” said Fluttershy. “I know she can be brash sometimes, but I’m sure that once the storm hits, she’ll be happy to be with you.”
“That’s just it, Fluttershy. It’s like no matter what happens, she’ll find a way to avoid spending time with me. I’m proud of her for wanting to be Captain of the Royal Guard, but she needs to know what to expect when she joins. I’ve offered her several times to read with me and for me to teach her some things, but it’s in one ear and out the other. It makes me just so frustrated.”
Twilight slammed her hoof onto the desk at the last word, causing a vase to shake and fall off the desk. Although Anthea was blind, she could hear the sound of the vase falling to the ground. In a panic, her horn glowed a green aura in an attempt to catch it. Instead though, a small electrical bolt shot out, catching Fluttershy and Twilight off guard. The sound of ceramic material breaking made Anthea realize that she messed up.
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Twilight!” She cried out in terror. “I . . . I was trying to catch it, but I messed up again! I’ll buy you a new one!”
“It’s okay, Annie,” said Fluttershy. “It was an accident and you were only trying to help.”
Twilight used her magic to bring out a small broom and dustpan. “Your mom’s right, Anthea,” she said. “I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up over Starburst’s attitude.”
“Still, I wish my magic wouldn’t be so unpredictable,” Anthea said with a frown. “When I use it, I try to concentrate, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out for me.”
The lilac alicorn did a double take and trotted over to her. “You mean you never learned to use magic? Not even the basics?” She wondered.
The pinkish unicorn shook her head and looked down, feeling ashamed. Twilight put a hoof under her chin though and raised her head up.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Anthea,” she said with a smile on her face. “Learning magic is never easy at all. Why, even I messed up several times while I was still under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. But since you seem to have so much trouble with magic, how about I make you an offer?”
“What kind of offer?” Anthea asked nervously.
“How about I teach you how to do magic? There’s a lot of potential for you and you could use your magic for many things. Helping plants grow, getting animals free from traps, and maybe even use it to see better.”
Anthea’s eyes shot wide open and a smile formed on her face. “Really? I could do all that?” She asked with glee in her voice.
Twilight nodded. “Of course you can. Who knows? Maybe your special talent involves using magic in some way.”
The pinkish unicorn turned to Fluttershy. “Oh, mom, can I please get some lessons from her? I’ll work hard, I promise!”
“Um . . . I’m not sure about that,” she said with hesitation in her voice. “What about Night Light? Won’t he feel upset that you’re not teaching him magic as well, Twilight?”
“Oh, no Fluttershy, he’s too young to use magic. He won’t be ready until next year.”
“What about Starburst?”
Twilight opened her mouth, but something inside her made her feel empty. It was hard to describe, but it kind of bugged her. However, images of how her daughter acted and shrugged her off went through her head. From shrugging off her advice to running off and ignoring her, it made Twilight feel a little upset.
She sighed and said, “She’ll be fine. She’s too busy training anyway to get into the Royal Guard. I don’t think she’ll care that I got some company over. Besides, I don’t want Athena to go around forever unable to use magic.”
Fluttershy looked a little unsure, but she looked at her daughter to see her with a hopeful smile. She smiled softly and said, “Okay Twilight, Annie can learn magic from you.”
Anthea screamed in joy and hopped around excitedly. “Oh yes, yes, yes!” She shouted. “Thank you, mom!”
Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle as the way Anthea was acting made her remember of something similar she did. “Okay Anthea, settle down,” she said. She levitated her book over to Fluttershy, who took it and placed it into a brown saddlebag. “Come on back to see me tomorrow at eight and we’ll get started, okay?”
“Yes, Twilight!” She trotted out the door, with Fluttershy waving goodbye.
Twilight shut the door and smiled to herself. For the first time in a while, she felt content instead of loneliness. It almost felt like that she finally found some purpose in her life again instead of being shrugged off. With a skip in her step, she trotted back to her book.
Nightfall soon came and the rainstorm outside raged on as heavy pellets of water pounded against the window. Twilight, Starburst, and Night Light were sitting at the table again, eating spaghetti and a salad as a side. For the most part, dinner was mostly silent, with the exception of the sound of food being chewed and utensils being used. Twilight looked over to Starburst, who was eating moderately fast, but not like earlier at breakfast. Just as she was finishing up though, Twilight decided it was time to break the news.
“Star, wait a minute before you leave,” she called out. “I got an announcement to make to both of you.”
The orange pegasus rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway. “Alright, I need to let the food digest a little before doing my nightly routine anyway.” Starburst sat back down, while Night Light looked at her mom, looking curious.
“Alright, while you were both away today, I got a visitor today.”
“No offense, mom, but this is a library,” said Starburst. “Ponies come to libraries all the time.”
Twilight bit her tongue, but continued. “Well, this visitor was a unicorn who has no idea on how to use magic. So I made a proposal to teach the unicorn and the mom agreed to it.”
“Who is this unicorn, mom?” Wondered Night. “Is it somepony we know?”
The lilac alicorn smiled and said, “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see. Now, head to bed Nighty. I’ll be waking you and your sister up before our guest arrives.”
The lavender colt nodded and gave Twilight a hug. “Good night, mom,” he said before turning around and trotting off to his room.
Twilight looked over to Starburst, who seemed to be nonchalant about the news and her expression was her usual serious look. “Stary?” She asked. “Aren’t you excited to see who the unicorn is tomorrow?”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Mom, I really don’t care,” she said. “So what if you’re taking on some unicorn to teach magic? It’s not like it really concerns me, does it?”
“Well, I was thinking that maybe tomorrow, I could help you learn some of the great conflicts in Equestria, including some books on defending yourself. I also found something I read in the newspaper that I believe will interest you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, mom,” she said. “The weather will be clear all day tomorrow, and I need to make up for it by going on a long jog.”
“Sweetie, don’t you think you’ve done enough training for now?” Wondered Twilight. “Your body does need rest, or else you’ll get hurt. What part of being prepared mentally for the Guard are you not understanding?”
“I can do reading later when school starts again, mom. There’s a whole summer I need to spend by training and pushing myself. If I wanted to go to summer school so badly, I’d intentionally flunk school. If I did that though, I know you’d probably ignite on fire again.”
“Star, I’m not trying to make you feel like you’re in school. I just want you to-”
“-Be prepared mentally, I know,” finished Starburst. “Look mom, I understand your intentions, but school will teach me plenty of things that’ll be covered more than these books here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go do some sit ups before going to bed.” She turned around and with a huff, trotted to her room.
Twilight shook her head and said to herself, “Star, I hope you learn one day that training isn’t everything.”
Starburst woke up the next morning feeling energized and confident. She went over to open the curtains covering her window, but as she did, her mood suddenly soured. The sky wasn’t bright and sunny like the forecast said it’d be, it was dark and cloudy. Frustrated, she stomped out of her room and snorted a little. On her way downstairs, she saw Twilight closing the front door.
“Mom,I need to go out!” She shouted. “I need to talk to Rainbow about this sudden change in weather. She said it’d be clear today, not more rain.”
“I just spoke to her now,” said the lilac alicorn. “She said the reason for it was because Ponyville is in a bit of a drought right now, so the weather team was ordered to do another downpour.”
Starburst let out a groan and slammed her head against the wall. “Well that’s just great. What else am I supposed to do now?” She looked around and noticed something strange. “Hey, where’s Night Light anyway? It’s almost eight and he’s not up yet.”
“He actually left a little early,” said Twilight. “Apparently Api offered him to spend the night over with her, along with Pixel Bit and Echo. He didn’t tell me until this morning because he thought I would say no, but I allowed him to. I already let him in on who I’m teaching before he left, so he won’t feel left out on who it is.”
“Who is it anyway?”
The door suddenly knocked, making Twilight smile. “You’re about to find out.”
She opened the door, allowing Starburst to catch a full view of who it was. When she saw who was standing there, her eyes widened and her jaw nearly dropped.
“Good morning, Twilight,” said a joyful Anthea. She looked over and waved to Starburst. “Oh, hi there, Star! I’m going to be learning from your mom about magic! Isn’t that great?”
Star just stared dumbfounded.
“Sweetie, are you okay?” Asked Twilight.
The orange pegasus shook her head and said, “Yeah . . . I’m fine. It’s just that I’m shocked that of all ponies, it was you Anthea.”
“Starburst, that’s no way to talk to your friend,” scolded Twilight.
She let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Sorry mom, but it’s kind of hard for me to think Anthea will learn magic. I mean she needs to do lots of reading and she’s pretty much blind.” She looked over to her friend. “No offense, Annie.”
“Oh, none taken at all,” she said with a smile.
“I already thought of that Star,” said Twilight. “I plan to teach her not through visuals or reading, but verbally and using descriptions on what she needs to do.”
Starburst shrugged and said, “Well, while you guys are having fun hitting the books, I’ll just have myself some Hay-O! cereal and then go do some of home workouts.”
“Aww, come on Star,” said Anthea in a sad voice. “Don’t you want to at least be here to support me?”
The orange pegasus saw her friend’s lips quivering. The guilt inside her quickly built up inside her and caved in almost instantly. “Well . . . I suppose I could watch you all.”
Anthea smiled and gave Starburst a hug. “Oh, thank you Star.”
“Yeah . . . sure,” she said hesitantly. “Now before you squeeze the life out of me, I would like to have some breakfast.” She broke off the embrace and trotted towards the kitchen.
Anthea turned to Twilight and said, “She can be such a buzzkill sometimes.”
You don’t know the half of it, thought Twilight to herself.
Shortly after Starburst finished her breakfast and cleaned her dishes, she went out into the main room of the library. There, she saw Anthea sitting in front of a table, with a large silver ball on it and her mom sitting across.
“Ah, you’re just in time, Starburst,” said Twilight. “We’re about to start on the first lesson. Why don’t you come closer and watch?”
The orange pegasus shook her head and said, “Nah, I’ll just do a few wing-ups to keep myself busy. I’ll get my training in and be able to be there for Annie at the same time.” She lied down on the floor and positioned her wings to begin.
“Star, I don’t think Anthea here would appreciate that,” warned Twilight. “She said she wanted you to support her, not watch you do more training. You can do wing-ups later when Fluttershy comes to get Annie.”
Starburst sighed and grumbled to herself as she got up and went over to join the others. She planted herself onto the ground near Anthea and pouted. Suddenly, a book appeared right in front of her with the title, Letters from a Soldier: Historic Notes of Equestria’s Greatest Conflicts, on it.
“That book should keep you occupied for a while,” said Twilight. “There’s some great details about some of the biggest wars such as the Equestrian Revolution against Discord’s rule and the Draconic Wars.”
“Yeah . . . this book will great alright,” said Star in a sarcastic tone. It’ll make a good pillow from how bored I’ll get.
Twilight, ignoring the sarcasm, turned back to Anthea. “Okay now, Annie. Since you’re mostly blind, I will guide you through step by step. Judging from how you used your magic before, it seems you have the basic idea on how your horn works. It’s just now making sure you can use it and your magic for the right situation. Now then, when you tried to levitate the vase yesterday to saved it, what went through your mind?”
Anthea rubbed her head and said, “Um . . . I heard it falling, so I was trying to use my magic. I wanted to save it, but I panicked a little and accidentally shot out that bolt.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow and said, “Well, I think I can already see the problem. You didn’t keep a clear mind.”
“Excuse me?”
“You lost control of your magic because you didn’t keep a calm mind over what you wanted to do. While your intentions were good, you inadvertently allowed your magic to get out of hoof. Instead of a levitation spell, your mind panicked and chose the first spell it could think of. Just be glad it was a small electrical bolt and not something worse.”
“Magic sounds scary, Twilight,” said Anthea with apprehension in her voice. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.”
The lilac alicorn smiled and said, “Magic can be a bit intimidating, but with the proper training, you can do almost anything with it.” She pointed to the ball on the table. “We’re going to start off small today, Annie. There’s a rather large, silver metal ball here on the table. The goal is for you to levitate it off the desk for a short period of time.”
“But how can I do it?” Inquired Anthea. “If my mind is unstable and I panic on what spell to use, then I could do something similar to yesterday.”
“Just follow what I say. Now, since you can partially see, I want you to first visualize the ball in front of you.”
Anthea took a deep breath and tried to focus her vision on what was in front of her. Although she could make out part of the library, the silver ball looked more like a big blob that was waving around. “I . . . can kinda see it,” she said.
“Good, next, we’ll try to help you see better. Your magic can be used as an aid, but it’s a bit tricky. First, close your eyes.” Annie responded by doing so. “Next, I want you to let your horn light up, but don’t do a spell. Instead, I want you to channel that magic into your eyesight by remaining calm and drown out all distractions.”
The peachish unicorn nodded and took a deep breath. Her horn faintly glowed a green light, but instead of thinking of a spell to use, she concentrated on clearing her mind. The sound of the rain pounding against the window slowly started to fade out and the huffing from Starburst soon died out.
All of a sudden, everything became swirly, blobby, and colorful in Anthea’s eyes. Part of her flinched a little in panic, but she held her ground and remained focus. The blobs and swirls around her started to become clearer with each passing minute. They all soon took on shapes from the tannish blobs becoming a floor, to the dark brown swirl taking the form of a desk. Soon though, the last blob slowly, but surely, took the shape of a large, silver metal ball.
In her excitement, Anthea cried out, “I did it! I did it!” However, her reaction caused her concentration to break and her vision went nearly black. Her smile drooped into a frown. “Well, I nearly had it.”
“It’s okay, Anthea,” said Twilight. “You just got excited. Now why don’t you try that again and then I’ll tell you what to do next?”
She nodded and repeated the process again. When she got to the point where she could see, she said, in a quiet voice, “What do I do now?”
“This is going to sound hard, but I want you to extend your magic beyond your vision,” she responded. “In other words, keep using your magic to see, but focus on using part of it on something you want to interact with. In the case of the silver ball, you want to encase some of your magic around it.”
Anthea nodded and focused on the ball. Her horn glowed a bit brighter and the ball started to glow a green aura, but it kept on flickering. Sweat started to build up on Anthea’s forehead as she valiantly tried to grasp the ball, but she was struggling.
Twilight noticed this and said, “Annie, don’t use too much of your magic to levitate the ball. The more you struggle with it, the harder it gets. Keep your mind focused and calm and try again.”
The peachish unicorn took a deep breath and let go of her grasp over the ball. She took a few deep breaths again before concentrating on her target again. This time, when her horn glowed, her sight focused solely on the metal ball. Everything around her became black, except for the metallic ball. She could feel herself mentally extending a hoof around it, but instead the ball glowed a steady green aura.
Inside her mind, Anthea said, Levitate. Almost immediately after she said that word, the ball slowly ascended into the air and hovered above the table.
Twilight smiled with glee and said, “Annie, you’re doing it!”
Part of the unicorn wanted to jump for joy, but she remembered what happened last time she got excited and just smiled to herself proudly. After a minute or two, she said, Descend. Like last time, immediately after she said the word, the ball dropped back down to the table with a bit of a loud clang.
“That was really good, Annie,” said Twilight in a proud voice. “You made really good progress so fast. Didn’t she do a good job, Starburst?” She heard no response from her daughter. “Starburst?”
She turned around to see the orange pegasus was resting her head against the book and snoring softly.
“Starburst!” She shouted in a disapproving tone. “Wake up, right now!”
She shot up and mumbled, “I’m ready, Sergeant!” She looked around the room and saw her mom glaring at her. “Uh . . . what’d I miss?”
“You missed your friend doing magic,” chasitized Twilight. “Instead, you used a perfectly good book I gave you to read as a pillow instead.”
“Because it was so boring,” she whined. “If I want to learn about the wars in Equestria, I’d go to school instead.”
“If you’d look in there, you would learn so much more than what they teach you in school.”
Star scoffed. “I don’t need this. I’m going to the basement to look for some of those Power Ponies comics Uncle Spike left behind.”
In her haste to get moving, Starburst turned around and accidentally hit a nearby table with another vase on it. Anthea heard the vase rumbling and fall over the table. She remembered how she levitated the ball and decided to follow the same methods she was taught. She focused her magic on her sight again and saw the vase falling. Like her attempt at the metal ball, she focused part of her magic on the vase and hoped for the best.
No crashing sound came at all. Anthea saw that her magic succeeded, the vase levitated just an inch off the ground. Carefully, she used her magic to raise it back up to the desk and put it back. Twilight’s jaw dropped, Starburst stared at Athena with wonder, and the peachish unicorn smiled sheepishly.
“That . . . was amazing!” Cried out the lilac alicorn. “You did that levitation spell practically flawless! How did you do it?”
“I just did what you told me to do,” said Anthea. “After I heard the vase fall, I kept a clear mind and used my magic to levitate it.”
“Annie, you’re only on the first lesson and already you’re quickly working your way up. Why if you continue to make good progress, you’ll master magic in no time.”
The unicorn blushed a little and said, “Oh, well . . . thank you, Twilight.”
Twilight looked at the clock and saw only a half hour passed. “Come on Annie, we’ve got a lot of work to do and little time to spare.” She then turned to Starburst, who was still staring in disbelief. “Star, stop staring or your eyes will dry up. Why don’t you go over to the M-Section and pull out the other books on magic? I want to see what else Annie can do.”
The orange pegasus broke out of her trance and gave a curt nod. “Yeah mom, I’ll get to it.”
She turned to head over to the M-Section, but glanced back to see Twilight continuing to smile and praise Anthea for her effort. The sight of it made her stomach twist up and feel empty. She quickly turned around to do her task.
“Beginner’s luck,” she muttered to herself.
For the next hour, Twilight continued to teach Anthea more about levitation and test her skills. She moved up from tiny objects such as balls and slowly made her way to larger items such as books, plates, and cups. Eventually, Anthea moved up to levitating more than just one object, much to the delight of Twilight. All the while, Starburst just watched in both awe and, for some reason unknown to her, irritation. Just watching her friend do all those magic tricks made her feel uneasy.
I don’t know why I’m so worked up over this, she thought to herself. Anthea’s just learning some magic tricks . . . from my mom . . . who is constantly going on about her skills. She shook her head and turned her attention to the Power Ponies comic in front of her. Meh, this is not my concern. She’ll probably be the same way when she teaches Nighty how to use magic.
“Hey Star!”
The orange pegasus broke out of her thoughts and looked up to see a smiling Anthea. “What is it?”
“Twilight is about to teach me about teleportation,” she said. “Come on and watch me do it!”
Starburst looked at the lilac alicorn with a raised eyebrow. “Mom, I’m not a unicorn, but isn’t it a little early to be doing something as complicated as teleportation? What if she accidentally teleports us to the moon?”
Twilight shook her head. “I really wish you’d stop believing that rumor of Princess Celestia,” she said. “But anyway, Anthea may have just started to learn magic, but because of her fast progress, I wanted to do something a little more challenging.”
Star shrugged and stretched as she got up. “Alright, but what’s she teleporting?”
“That,” said Twilight as she pointed to an apple on the desk. “Her goal is to try to teleport it to the other desk nearby.” She pointed to a desk just five feet away before turning to her student. “Are you ready, Anthea?”
“Yes Twilight,” she said with determination in her voice.
“Okay, now use your magic to see.” Anthea did the same process again and nodded when she finished. “Next, I want you to grasp the apple with your magic, but do not levitate it.” Twilight heard a humming noise and saw the apple encased in a green aura.
“Here’s the tricky part, Anthea. Now while you have control of the apple, you’re going to do something different. Rather than lift the apple, you’re going to focus on getting it from one location to the other. Now you see the desk nearby?” Anthea nodded. “I want you to use your magic to move it from where the apple is now, to over on the other desk.”
“What do I need to do if I can’t use my levitation spell?” Wondered Anthea.
“You need to see the apple on the other side,” said Twilight. “Try to see the apple disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It sounds complicated at first, but give it a shot anyway.”
The peachish unicorn nodded and, with her magical eyesight, looked at the apple, and then the desk on the other side. She visioned seeing the apple appear on the other side, but yet she didn’t feel her magical power get any stronger. Not wanting to mess up when she made it so far, Anthea’s brows furrowed as the glow on her horn brightened. As her horn glowed, the apple rumbled violently, like it was experiencing an earthquake. Twilight was too busy paying attention to Anthea though to see it.
Starburst did notice it though. “Anthea, stop!” She called out. “You’re going to make the apple-”
SPLAT!
The apple exploded into a gooey mess, covering the desk in chunks.
“-Explode,” sighed Starburst as she shook her head.
Twilight saw the discouraged look of Anthea and put a wing over her. “It’s okay, Annie,” she said in a reassuring voice. “This was my fault for making you learn something so complicated, so early. Why don’t we take a break and I’ll see if we can do something like writing with magic?”
The peachish unicorn’s expression changed to one of determination. She looked up to her mentor and said, “Twilight, I really want to try again.”
“I’m not sure about that,” she responded in an apprehensive tone. “I don’t want you to strain yourself in doing something too advanced for you.”
“I can do it,” said Anthea.
The lilac alicorn took a look at her student, who still looked determined to make her proud. Reminds me a lot of my days learning under Princess Celestia, she thought to herself. Smiling slightly, she said, “Alright, but only one more chance. If you can’t do it, we’ll take a small break and prepare your next lesson.”
Twilight’s horn glowed and brought out another apple from a nearby basket. “Now try to do it again, but don’t overwork yourself. Just remember to remain calm and keep a steady flow of magic going. You don’t want to use too much or it’ll explode, and you don’t want to use too little or the apple won’t do anything.”
“Got it.”
Anthea turned to the apple on the desk and encased it in magic again. She envisioned seeing the apple disappear and reappear on the other side, but she didn’t put more energy into her horn. The peachish unicorn took a few deep breaths and lifted the apple into the air.
“Annie, you’re not supposed to-”
“Shh!” Scolded Twilight. “She may be onto something.” The orange pegasus huffed and crossed her hooves.
Anthea kept her concentration on the apple, but soon moved her sights to the other desk. She looked back at the apple and then the empty desk, but as she continued to move her eyes, something appeared before her; a beam of light pointing to the empty desk. She almost wanted to cry out in panic, but at the same time, she felt that nothing was wrong at all. Instead, she looked back at the apple one more time before she felt something build up in her horn. The sensation wasn’t painful, but it felt more like a numb feeling. As quickly as it came though, the feeling went away and Anthea felt worn out.
“Annie, I think you better take a look at what you’ve done,” said Twilight.
The peachish unicorn regained her bearings and looked to see something to her delight. The apple that was on the right side of the room was no longer there. She looked to the left to see it appeared on the other desk.
“I really did it!” Cried out Anthea.
“I’m very proud of you for doing it,” said Twilight as she hugged her student. “But I think it’s time we took a break. You definitely look worn out from your first successful teleportation spell.”
“Can we do another lesson afterwards?”
“I think we better stop for the day, Annie. You’ve had quite a day as it is. Besides, it’s important that beginners in magic don’t go overboard. It’s easy for most to use up too much magic and become fatigued as a result. Why don’t we spend the rest of the afternoon talking to each other?”
Anthea nodded and replied, “I’d love to do that.”
Twilight turned to Starburst. “Sweetie, could you please clean up this mess? I’m going to go get Annie something to drink.”
The orange pegasus grinded her teeth a little and muttered, “Sure . . . I’ll get on it.”
Both the alicorn and Anthea walked into the kitchen, both of them chatting with each other. Starburst felt that feeling of irritation again, only it was much stronger than before. She never acted like that when I started to fly, she thought. Now all of a sudden, it’s like she can’t get over her. Just because Annie’s doing so well with magic so fast doesn’t mean she’s perfect.
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I want to say this is how mom will probably act around Night Light when he learns magic, but it feels different. It’s almost like she treats Annie more like a . . .” She shook her head violently. “Ah, it’s just my imagination running wild. I got to stop thinking like that. A mindset like that won’t get me into the guard. Sure Annie’s doing great and all, but I’m sure my mom will get over this soon.” With that, she went to clean up the splattered apple.
For the remainder of the morning, Starburst avoided her mom and Anthea all together. She shut herself in her own room, not daring to leave it in case Anthea was doing another lesson and she’d be forced to watch it. The feeling inside her still ached in her body like a stomach bug that wouldn’t go away. Despite her attempts at trying to calm herself down, Starburst still felt irritated and frustrated. She figured that the only way to get rid of it was by doing something that she wanted to do all day, train for the Royal Guard.
She only did some light stuff, so as not to disturb her friend’s lessons, such as wing-ups, sit-ups, and some squats. She wanted to do some more exercises, but decided against it in case she made too much noise. The orange pegasus decided to instead take a nap. She lied down on her bed for a little bit, but sleep never came to her. All the moments of how Twilight acted around Anthea swirled around in her head. The way she acted so proud and happy for her friend not only made her feel uneasy, but her eye twitched slightly.
She pounded her hoof into the pillow and said, “I’m just overthinking this is all. So what if mom thinks Annie is such a great unicorn? I could be just as good at magic if I was born as a unicorn.”
Oh? With the way you turn your nose up at books and her advice, you wouldn’t make it far, a soft voice said in her head.
Shut up in there, she thought to herself. I know my mom would do everything she can to make sure I was a great unicorn like her. Now all of a sudden, she’s pretty much oblivious to me and acting like Anthea is the best thing since sliced bread.
Yet when she wants to help you get into the Royal Guard, you turn her down.
That’s different! I need to be in top physical form, not spend my time reading about something that happened hundreds of years ago. I even offered her to come fly with me, she could’ve taught me some more moves she read up on.
Do you realize how much of a hypocrite you sound? If you want to learn more about flying, you should read a book then. Mom has been offering you several books to read and there may be one on flying moves. It’s pretty ignorant of you to turn her down so coldly.
SHUT UP!
Star threw her head back against the pillow and held back a loud scream. She panted like as if she did a long run around Ponyville and tried to clear her head. She was so out of it, she jumped when she heard the door to her room knock.
“Starburst?” Asked Twilight. “Are you okay in there, sweetie?”
The orange pegasus clutched her chest and gave a nod. “Yeah . . . what do you need? Do I need to help Annie with her next lesson?”
The lilac alicorn opened the door and looked at her daughter. “You must’ve been asleep longer than you though. Annie left hours ago and it’s time for dinner.”
Starburst looked out the window to see nighttime had fallen, but the rain was still coming down. “My bad mom, I didn’t want to interrupt you and Anthea.”
“You could’ve stayed around.” Twilight noticed her daughter was still clutching her chest. “Are you sure you’re okay? You're acting like you just ran for your life.”
“I’m fine mom, honestly. So, how’d the lesson go with Annie? I know she was doing pretty good when I saw her.”
“Pretty good?” Inquired Twilight. “Starburst, you should’ve seen how well she did. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony learn so quickly. You should’ve seen what she did after our break. We went back to levitation and I allowed her to choose what to levitate. She chose me of all ponies because of how confident she was. I only allowed her to do it once, but she did do it! Granted it was only for a few seconds, but she still did a great job. I mean really Star, you should . . .”
As Twilight went on and on about Anthea, there was a burning anger building up inside the pegasus. The more her mom went on about the peachish pegasus, the angrier Star felt about it. She grinded her teeth and almost felt like her blood was boiling. All the while, she saw her mom still go on about her friend, completely oblivious to her. The sight of it almost made her want to vomit in disgust and scream in a rage.
“. . . So I gave Annie a homework assignment that she could bring something in tomorrow to practice magic on. She said she’d bring in a-”
“MOM!” Cried out Starburst.
The lilac alicorn looked at her daughter with a concerned expression. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
The orange pegasus took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking again. “Look . . . I’m really hungry right now. Could we please stop talking about Annie and go eat? I want to go to bed early so I can get up and make up for my missed training time tomorrow. It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, right?”
“Rainbow told me it’d be clear tomorrow, but don’t think you’re going to run around freely. You need to go pick up your brother tomorrow morning and bring him home. Afterwards, you’ll have to watch over him while I teach Anthea.”
Starburst sighed and crossed her hooves. “Fine, as long as I can just stay away . . . um, I mean, stay out of the way of Annie, I’ll be fine.” She got up and headed for the door.
“Starburst,” Twilight called out in a sympathetic voice. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
She looked down to the floor and almost wanted to shout at her about how much she was going on about Annie, but she couldn’t bring herself to it. “No mom . . . I’m fine.” With that, she walked out the door, leaving a confused Twilight behind.
The sun’s rays crept into Starburst's room early the next morning. Normally, she’d be up and do her morning exercises, but she lied in the bed, feeling fatigued from the sleepless night she had. The events of what happened yesterday still played in her mind like a broken record that could never be turned off. Even though she felt very sluggish, Starburst got out of bed and prepared to go get her little brother.
The door to her room was tapped lightly before Twilight opened it. “Good morning, sweetie.” She looked at the bleary eyed pegasus and raised an eyebrow. “Are you feeling okay?”
Starburst looked at her mom and gave a nod. “Yeah . . . just had a rough night sleeping. I can still go get Night Light.”
“Does your trouble with sleeping have anything to do with our conversation last night?”
There was no response from Starburst.
“Star, if there’s something wrong, you can always come to me.”
Starburst looked into her mom’s caring eyes and felt a little more at ease, but still felt some anger towards her. “Thank you, mom, but I told you last night that I was hungry and tired. I just had a rough time falling asleep is all.”
Twilight looked at her daughter with an uneasy expression before giving a small nod. “I’ll tell you what. After I’m done with Annie’s lesson for the day, I’ll let you take a nap while I keep an eye on Nighty. Okay?”
The orange pegasus said, wearily, “Yeah . . . that sounds good.”
By the time Starburst picked up her brother and he said goodbye to his friends, the sun was shining down upon the two of them. While Night Light went on about his sleepover last night, Star felt dreadful about the thought of going back to her home and seeing Twilight teaching Anthea again. Already, she could hear the sounds of her mother encouraging and praising the peachish unicorn like yesterday. The thought of it only made Starburst’s face turn red with anger and grind her teeth.
“Hey, Star! We’re home now!” Shouted Night Light.
The orange pegasus shook her head and looked up to see the library. “Oh . . . I guess we are now,” she mumbled.
“Are you okay?” Asked the lavender colt. “Your face looked like as if you accidentally drank a whole bottle of hot sauce.”
Starburst scoffed at her brother. “Don’t worry about me, squirt,” she said. “I’m just feeling tired is all. Come on, let’s get in and I’ll keep an eye on you in your room.”
“Don’t call me squirt!” He huffed. “I don’t need you to look over me.”
“Let’s just go in already. Mom wanted me to keep an eye on you, and I don’t have time to argue with you.”
As the two siblings entered the library, they saw Twilight, Anthea, and Fluttershy talking to each other.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Annie?” Asked Fluttershy. “This sounds very hard, even for you.”
“I’m sure of it, mom,” she said with confidence in her voice. “I’ve been doing so well with magic so far and I want to try to give this a try. Twilight tried it once and I want to do it as well.”
“I will warn you this, Annie,” warned Twilight. “This spell is very hard to learn, even for me. It took me almost a month to get it down and I don’t want you to struggle so much with this.”
“I’m sure of it Twilight. I’ve always had some connection to nature, so maybe I can combine magic with my love of nature.”
Twilight smiled at this and said, “Very well, but don’t get discouraged if you don’t do it the first few times. It takes a lot of practice after all.”
“Ahem.”
The group turned around to see Starburst with a deadpanned expression and Night Light with a smile on his face.
“Oh, hello Starburst and Nighty,” said Twilight. “We were just discussing about the next lesson for Annie here.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Why don’t you go ahead and get going, Fluttershy? Didn’t you say that you had to meet up with Bulk Biceps after you dropped off Anthea?”
“Are you nervous of meeting Mr. Biceps on your date?” Wondered Anthea. “He seems like a really nice guy.”
“Oh . . . um, it’s not a date, Annie,” said Fluttershy, her cheeks slightly blushing. “We’re just going to do some shopping together.” She hugged her daughter. “I’ll be back around noon, sweetie. Don’t hurt yourself now.” She gave a wave to Twilight before walking out the door and closing it.
“Mom, I mean no offense or anything, but can I please go now?” Asked Starburst. “The sooner you get your lesson with Annie out of the way, the sooner I can get a nap in.”
“Um . . . actually Starburst, could you stick around and watch me?” Inquired Anthea. “I’m trying out a spell that I’m sure will make even your grumpy self smile in delight.”
“Do I have to?” Whined the orange pegasus.
“Star, that’s no way to treat your friend,” scolded Twilight. “She wants you to be there for her and I think it’s only right that you do that for her.” She looked over to Night Light. “Junior, why don’t you go play upstairs?”
The lavender colt smiled at this. “Okay mom.” He galloped up the stairs.
Starburst sighed and sat down. “Fine . . . what’s this spell you’re doing?” She saw her friend extend her hoof and open it to reveal a small, brown oval object. “Is that a seed? What are you going to do with that?”
“I’m going to grow it with magic.”
The pegasus did a double take as her eyes shot open. “Excuse me?” She turned to her mom. “Isn’t this a bit much, even for Annie?”
“I know this is a bit out there, Star, but Anthea insisted she’d try to do it. I have warned her about how hard it is, but she seems really determined. I’m going to only give her three tries at it before we go onto something else.”
“Alright, so do I need to do something, or am I just watching?”
“You’re just here to support your friend.” Twilight took the seed from Anthea’s hoof and placed it in a nearby pot of dirt, burying it in the process. “Annie, it’s time to get started.”
“What do I do first?” She wondered.
“Don’t get too excited yet, Annie,” warned Twilight. “There’s something you must know before you try this spell.”
“What is it?”
“Princess Celestia has said that all life across Equestria has magic in it. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, every living being has magic in them. She even told me that the flora, fauna, and wildlife have magic in them as well.”
“Where are you going with this, Twilight?”
“The point here is that this seed in the pot is brimming with life and magic. You’ve got to be careful that you don’t use too much magic, or else it’ll either grow really big or it may explode.”
“Can a plant really explode?”
Twilight snickered and said, “Just ask Spike, he had to help me clean up so many of my attempts at growing plants. By the time I got it down, he never wanted anything to do with flowers again.”
Anthea nodded and said, “I’ll do my best, Twilight.” She closed her eyes in concentration, allowing her magic to help her see better. “What do I do now?”
“You want to concentrate a bit of your magic into your horn as you lower your head,” said the lilac alicorn. “You’ll feel the pulsing magic aura around the seed as you get closer to it. It could throw you off though, so be careful. You want to just barely have your horn on the dirt, so that once your magic hits it, Just remember to not use too much magic, or else the results could be really messy.”
The peachish unicorn nodded and looked at the pot. She took a deep breath and concentrated a bit of her aura into her horn. She lowered her head close to the dirt as she kept a constant stream of magic flowing through her. As she got closer to the dirt, she could feel a powerful surge of magic nearby, making her grunt and groan a little. Her head started to hurt as she got closer, making her sweat and become disoriented.”
Twilight noticed this. “Anthea, maybe you should stop now,” she said in a concerned tone. “You don’t need to push yourself so hard in doing this one spell.”
She shook her head in defiance. “I . . . I got this,” she grunted. “I just need to remained focus.”
Anthea ignored the pain in her head and was only a few inches away from the dirt. She slowed down and carefully leaned forward to allow her horn to touch the dirt. As she did so, Twilight and Starburst watched in both awe and anticipation. The lilac alicorn bit her lip as some beads of sweat rolled down her face. Starburst, on the other hoof, tried to maintain a stoic look, but she did feel nervous for her friend about pulling off this spell, despite everything that’s happened in the past few days. The very tip of her horn tapped against the dirt, but as she did, Anthea felt a sudden surge jolt through her body.
“AARRGGHH!” Screamed the peachish unicorn as she staggered back.
Twilight and Starburst hurried over and caught her before she fell to the ground. “Are you okay, Annie?” Asked a worried Twilight. “Oh my, I knew I shouldn’t have allowed you to do this! I’m so sorry about this! We’ll get you all patched up and-”
“Um . . . mom?” Interrupted Starburst. “I think you may have a bigger problem.”
“What do you mean by that?” Her daughter replied by pointing. The lilac alicorn turned around to see the pot was shaking violently.
“Hey, what’s going on here?”
Twilight turned to see Night Light coming downstairs. She grabbed him using her magic and pulled him in closely. She then put up a dome around her children and Anthea.
“Hold on everypony,” she warned.
As the pot’s shaking intensified, the ponies felt more nervous with each passing second. A bright flash went out across the room, blinding everypony and encasing the room in a white light. As quickly as it came though, the light died out, as well as the sound of the pot shaking. Everypony looked with anticipation at the pot, but saw nothing in it.
Twilight let down her barrier and breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that was too close.”
Anthea looked at the pot and felt disappointed. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “I thought I did everything right this time.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Anthea,” said Twilight. “That spell is very tricky to learn and takes a lot of practice. Now are you-”
“Mom, look!” Called out Night.
The group turned back to the pot. A green vine was slowly growing out of the dirt, twisting and turning as it did so. Suddenly, more vines appeared and went off in different directions, with each one sprouting a red colored flower and thorns. Everypony watched in amazement as the plant grew more flowers with each passing second. Eventually though, the red flowers stopped sprouting and the once pot of dirt was now a fully blossomed flower bush.
Twilight stepped forward carefully and looked at the bush in complete awe. She took a deep breath and smelled a beautiful aroma in her nostrils. “Oh my,” she said in amazement. “Annie . . . you didn’t just grow a flower, you grew a whole rose bush!”
The peachish unicorn blushed a little and smiled to herself. “T-Thank you, Twilight,” she said. “I always liked the smell of roses, so I wanted to try to grow one.”
“But you grew a whole bush,” said Night Light in awe. “How did you do that?”
“I guess I must’ve accidentally grabbed a rose bush seed instead.”
“Anthea, do you realize what this means?” Inquired Twilight. “You did something that would normally take a month to learn. If you can do something like this on your first try, imagine what you can do with other plants and vegetation. You could probably grow trees where it’s impossible to grow. There are crops that are dying, but your skills could save them. The possibilities are pretty much limitless!”
Anthea took all this in and felt good about herself. “Yeah . . . you’re right, Twilight. I’ve always had a love for nature, so I could spread its joy across Equestria and possibly do everything you just said. I mean, I’ve never really felt this good about myself before. It’s almost like . . . like . . . it was meant to be.”
Twilight let out a gasp. “Forget almost meant to be, I think it is meant to be! Look at your flank!”
The peachish unicorn turned her head to see a small white light was glowing on her flank. She gasped in anticipation as she realized what was happening and tried to contain her excitement. In a matter of seconds, the glowing died out and on the unicorn’s side was now a green starfish shaped flower with some white dots in it.
“I . . . I got m-my cutie mark,” she whispered. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!” Twilight and Night Light ran over and hugged her, which she returned.
“Cool! I should try growing flowers,” said Night. “I bet I’d get a cutie mark like Annie’s!”
“Oh, Anthea, I’m so proud of you!” Cried out a tearful Twilight. “You may be my only student to learn from me, but you’re one of my best pupils! Just wait until your mom hears about this!” She took Anthea’s hoof and pulled her. “Come on now! We got to get ready to plan out your Cutie Mark cute-ceañera. When Pinkie and Pokey come back from their trip, we’ll have it all ready to go for you!”
Twilight, Night Light, and Anthea left the room, with each pony chatting about the party, but Starburst didn’t follow them. She was standing there in shock the whole time, with her eyes wide at the sight she just saw. She couldn’t believe what she heard from her own mom about Anthea.
“Only student?” She asked in a small voice. “I . . . I learned how to fly from her though. She taught me the basics of flying, like I was her pupil.”
She felt tears form in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and looked down in anguish. “She’s treating her more like a daughter than me.”
Author's Note
EDIT: Split the story into two parts to make it easier for other readers.
Twilight and Anthea were looking at Fluttershy in disbelief. She was jumping up and down, crying in joy about how her daughter got her cutie mark. It was something that the lilac alicorn hadn’t seen since the Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale.
“Oh my goodness! I’m so happy for you, Annie!” Shouted a jubilant Fluttershy. “You got your cutie mark! Oh, wait until everypony else hears about this!” She opened her eyes and saw the dumbfounded look of her friend and daughter. She quickly stopped and covered her face in embarrassment. “Um . . . too much?” She whispered.
Anthea laughed and shook her head. “It’s fine, mom. I’m very happy myself and can’t wait to show everypony my cutie mark.”
“Hey mom, I got you more parchment for the party,” said Night Light as he pushed in a stack of paper.
“Twilight, you don’t need to go to so much trouble,” said Fluttershy. “I’d appreciate just having a party with our friends and their children.”
While everypony was talking about the upcoming cute-ceañera, Starburst was sulking in the corner of the room, trying to ignore the distraction near her. She let out a sigh and grinded her teeth.
“Hey, Star!”
The orange pegasus jumped and yelped in surprise. She turned to see her little brother nearby. “What do you want, squirt?” She huffed.
“I’m not a squirt,” he argued. “I was just going to ask if you had any ideas about Annie’s cute-ceañera.”
“Yeah, I actually got an idea. It’s called ‘go away’, I want to be left alone.”
“Sheesh, alright already.” He walked away from his sister.
She sighed to herself and turned away, but her ears caught the sound of her mother’s voice.
“I have to hand it to you, Annie,” she said. “You’ve learned so much, so quickly, that I really should consider having you maybe learn magic from Princess Celestia. Well, that would mean putting up with Discord, but she’d probably take you on if you want.”
Anthea pondered for a moment before shaking her head. “No thank you, Twilight. I’d like to learn more from you. You were the one who helped teach me about magic and get my cutie mark.”
Twilight smiled and pulled her in for a hug. “You’re way too modest. Why Annie, with the way you act and how quickly you learn from me, it’s like having a second daughter around here!”
Second daughter . . . second daughter . . . second daughter . . . Those words echoed inside Starburst’s head continuously.
Her entire mind went into a blur as she felt uncontrollable anger coursing through her body. It was too much to handle now, the praising, the caring, the way her own mother said Annie was like a daughter to her; it was all too much. Her blood literally felt like it was boiling, her teeth were grinding, and her eyes became narrow.
“THAT’S IT!” She cried and stomped her hoof.
Everypony stopped chatting and looked at Starburst, who was snorting in anger.
“Star, what’s wrong with-” Twilight tried to call out.
“What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG!?” She screamed. She stomped towards Anthea, who, in turn, backed away from her in fear. “It’s you that’s what’s wrong here!”
“M-me?” She asked in a nervous tone. “But what did I do?”
“You ruined everything, that’s what! You think you can just walk in here, impress my mom with your magical abilities, and then be like another daughter to her? Well I got new for you, that’s not happening!”
“But . . . I . . . you see . . .” Anthea felt tears build up in her eyes.
“You think you’re some big shot now, don’t you? Now that you’re supposed to be my mom’s first student, that makes you famous? Well guess what? My mom taught me everything she knew before you! She taught me how to fly and be the best I could be! Now you’re parading around here like as if you are a member of this family! What gives you the right to come in here and steal my mom?!”
“Starburst, that’s enough!” Called out an angry Twilight. “Anthea hasn’t done anything wrong!”
“Oh, yes she has!” Argued the orange pegasus. She turned back to the peachish unicorn, who was cowering in the corner. “All my life I’ve been learning to fly from my mom and now she pushes me aside for you! I don’t care how good you are at magic, I won’t let you kick me out of my mom’s life! Since you’re suddenly so good at growing plants and flowers, why don’t you just go off to some part of Equestria to use your magic, and leave me alone!”
Starburst stared at Anthea in anger, who was whimpering and shivering with fear. A stream of tears poured down her face as she looked at her furious friend. She finally broke down and started crying uncontrollably. The peachish unicorn got up and ran out the room and the library, sobbing hysterically all the way.
The orange pegasus wheezily gasped for air as she felt her anger slowly subside. While she was catching her breath, a looming shadow shrouded her and turned to see who it was. Any feeling of anger in Starburst was instantly replaced by fear and terror as she looked upon the livid expression of Twilight.
“STARBURST SUNRISE SPARKLE!” She boomed, with a fraction of the Royal Canterlot Voice in it. “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU’RE IN?!”
The pegasus stepped back and felt beads of sweat roll down her face. “Mom, you don’t understand!” She shouted. “I was just-”
“You hurt one of your best friends, for no reason!” She shot back. “How could you act like that to not only one of your friends, but to my first student?!”
Starburst’s fear was replaced by anger as she heard those last words. “Your first student?! Oh, so suddenly all those flying lessons I took from you don’t count? Wasn’t I your first student? Or do you just favor unicorns like Annie over me?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Yeah right! Ever since Anthea started taking lessons from you, you’ve been talking about her nonstop! Had I known you wanted a unicorn daughter, I would’ve gladly left this place and go live with Rainbow and Soarin! They would’ve been glad to help me train, which is more than I can say for you!”
“You’re not listening to me, Star!” Argued Twilight. “I always supported you going into the Royal Guard, but you keep pushing me away to do more exercises when I offer you a chance to learn more about the Guard’s history! So yes, maybe I did go a little too far when I called Annie my first student, but she was willing to work hard and study!”
“I told you already! I don’t need to constantly read stuff that happened hundreds of years ago! The Guard doesn’t care if you’re a bookworm or not!”
“They don’t look for just brawn alone! They want the sharpest minds and ponies in top physical condition! You’ve been doing nothing but ignoring me from the very beginning, and I’ve offered you more than enough chances for you to prepare for the Royal Guard. Instead, you constantly think that training is the way to go. If Anthea was going into the Guard, she surely would’ve understood that.”
“Annie, Annie, Annie! That’s all I hear from you now! I don’t need to hear anymore of this!” She turned around and stomped out the room.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Demanded Twilight.
The orange pegasus turned back around, with a furious expression on her. “Away from here! You wanted a daughter like Anthea?! Well I don’t want a mom who abandons her own daughter so willingly!” She felt a few tears run down her face, but quickly wiped them away. Not wanting to waste another second, she turned around and ran out the library, taking off into the air.
Twilight quickly followed behind her. “Starburst, wait!” She called back, but to no avail, for she was long gone already. “I need to-”
“Mom, wait!”
The lilac alicorn turned back to see Night Light standing behind her. “What is it, Junior?”
“What about Annie? We don’t know where she ran off to.”
Twilight pondered for a moment before something clicked inside her. “Fluttershy, you go find Anthea,” she ordered. “Once I find Starburst, I’ll have her brought over to your place so she can apologize for what she did.”
“But Twilight, I-”
“There’s no time to lose, Fluttershy.” She then turned to her son. “Nighty, go with Fluttershy and help her out. I’ll meet both of you at Fluttershy’s house later.” The lilac alicorn galloped out of the library and took off into the sky.
Night Light, who looked a little scared, turned to the yellow pegasus. “Fluttershy, why did my sister yell at Annie like that?”
Fluttershy said nothing, for she was lost in thought about what just happened.
“Fluttershy?”
The yellow pegasus broke out of her trance to see the rather upset Night Light standing in front of her. She gave him a hug and said, “Don’t worry Nighty, I think I know what’s wrong here.”
“What is it then?”
“I just need to speak to your mom when she comes to see me. Now come on, I believe we’ll find Annie in her room. Then, I’ll have a talk with your mother.”
“About what?”
“Her problem with Starburst.”
“My cabbages!” A stallion cried in horror.
Starburst turned around to see an elderly pony was overlooking the damages to his stand that had fallen over, thanks to her.
“Sorry about that!” She called back before turning back around.
She was flying around town, desperate to find someplace to hide from Twilight. She looked in the sky to only see a few clouds overhead and then around town to see several ponies trotting around, doing their own business. The orange pegasus flew off into the sky again as she thought about where to go now.
I can’t go back now, she thought to herself. After everything we’ve done together, she was willing to replace Annie over me? It was like as if I didn’t matter anymore.
She could feel some tears build up in her eyes, but quickly wiped them away as she furrowed her eyebrows. I don’t need her anyway, I can go to Rainbow’s house and continue my training with her help. But maybe I should hide somewhere that mom wouldn’t think to look for me at. Somewhere she’d never expect me to be at. Someplace like-
Her train of thought quickly came a halt as she saw in the corner of her eye a familiar, elegant, tall building nearby. Starburst smiled to herself since she recognized the building immediately.
“Carousel Boutique, of course,” she said to herself. “Mom knows I’m don’t like fashion, so she wouldn’t think twice to look for me there.” Not wasting time, she flew down to the main entrance and knocked on the door for a couple of seconds.
“Just a second, darling,” came a mare’s voice.
The door to the boutique opened to reveal a white unicorn with part of her curly purple mane in a bun. The unicorn smiled at the guest in front of her.
“Oh, hello there, Starburst,” she said. “Whatever can I do for y-AHH!” The white unicorn had no time to finish her sentence as she was pushed by Starburst so suddenly.
The orange pegasus slammed the door and looked out the window carefully.
“Starburst, that’s no way to act like a guest in somepony’s home,” scolded Rarity. “What was that all about?”
“Um . . . nothing really, Aunt Rarity. I just wanted to see you and Uncle Spike,” she said, apprehensively.
The white unicorn noticed how Starburst’s eyes kept darting towards the window. “Star, why do you keep looking out the window?”
“Because it’s such a nice day?” She guessed.
Rarity raised an eyebrow and moved towards the window.
“No wait, don’t look out!”
The unicorn ignored her and peeked out the window to see Twilight flying around frantically, with an angry expression on her face. Rarity watched her friend fly around a little bit before taking off again. She backed up and looked down to Starburst, who was now smiling nervously.
“Starburst, I think you owe me an explanation,” she said in a stern tone. “It’s pretty obvious from the way Twilight looked that you’re hiding from her. Might I ask why you are?”
The orange pegasus looked down and kicked one of her legs. “It’s a bit complicated, Aunt Rarity.”
“Try me, sweetie.”
“Hey Rarity, what’s all the commotion?”
Both ponies turned their heads to see a tall, purple dragon with green spines and wings come through a doorway. The drake saw Starburst standing nearby and smiled warmly.
“Hey there, Starry,” he said. “What brings you here?”
“Oh, just wanting to visit you and Aunt Rarity,” she said. “What do you say we all go-”
“Not so fast there, young filly,” said Rarity. She looked over to her husband. “Spikey, our niece here seems to be having some problems with Twilight.”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Is that so now?” He walked over and placed a claw on Starburst’s head. “Hey, what’s going on between you and Twilight?”
“I . . . I can’t tell you. It’s really complicated to explain.”
“You know, I can always go outside, find Twilight, and tell her you’re here,” chimed Rarity. “Now why don’t you go ahead and tell us what’s wrong? Whatever’s happening between you and Twilight, we’re sure we can help.”
Starburst looked at both Spike and Rarity, with each of them having small smiles on their faces. She sighed in defeat and nodded slowly in agreement. The orange pegasus spent the next ten minutes about how Annie was learning from Twilight, the way her own mother praised and treated the peachish unicorn, and the breakdown she had when Twilight considered Anthea a second daughter. Then she went into detail about the argument between her and her mom, like how she felt that she was being abandoned.
By the time Starburst was done with her explanation, the orange pegasus felt a bit winded, but somewhat better. Rarity and Spike looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces. Spike furrowed his brow and took a deep breath as he was deep in thought about the conversation.
He looked over to Rarity and asked, “Hey, why don’t you let me talk to her?”
The white unicorn frowned a little. “Spike, I appreciate your efforts in helping Starburst, but I too can give some advice to Starburst.”
The drake leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek. “I’m not saying you’re useless at all.” His expression changed to one of sternness. “I just know though what it feels like to be replaced, more than any of you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Wondered Rarity.
“Let’s just say that what happened to me really ruffled my feathers.”
“I still don’t-” Rarity stopped talking as the realization dawned on her. “Oh . . . that incident, I remember now.” She looked at Spike with a bit of a painful look on her face. “Very well Spike, I’ll let you deal with this.” She got up and went up the stairs to her room.
After the sound of her hoofsteps faded away, Spike looked back to Starburst and said, “Let me tell you a story, Starry. It happened in the first year me and Twilight lived in Ponyville.”
“What does this have to do with my problem though?”
Spike chuckled and rubbed her head. “Patience there, you’ll understand once I’m done.”
Star looked up to the drake and nodded. “Alright, I got nothing to lose now anyway, so fire away.”
“When I was still a young drake, and had no wings, I was really committed to assisting Twilight in every way I can,” he said. “Organize the library, reshelve books, help do some grocery shopping, and so much more. I felt proud to be an assistant to her.”
“No offense Uncle Spike, but this doesn’t sound similar to what’s going on between me and mom.”
“Shh. . .” he whispered. “Now where was I? Oh, you see, I was called her number one assistant and your aunt and everypony appreciated what I did so much. I felt happy and proud of myself for my hard work.” His small smile gave way to a frown. “Then . . . he appeared.”
“Who?”
Spike chuckled again. “That’s something he would say all the time. Twilight found an owl and called him Owlowiscious, who quickly took over my position as assistant to Twilight. She would endlessly praise and talk about him, the others quickly abandoned me and adored him, and I was left alone.”
Starburst looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Hey . . . this sounds a lot like-”
“Let me finish,” the drake interrupted. Star nodded and closed her mouth. “I was angry at how my world was coming down and wanted to get rid of Owlowiscious in any way possible. However, I only angered Twilight as I did, so much so in fact that she gave off the impression that she didn’t need me anymore.”
“So what happened then?”
“I ran away from home that night, taking only the essentials such as food and water, but I quickly ran into trouble in the form of a greedy dragon. I tried to get away, but it caught me in a corner and was about to kill me. That’s when Twilight and Owlowiscious came in to save me by distracting the dragon and all of us escaping back to town.”
Starburst had a bit of an awed expression on her face. “Whoa . . . my mom took on a fully grown dragon? She never told me this.”
“Well she probably didn’t want you to practice your fighting skills on a fully grown drake. Need I remind you of when you constantly made me help you train? I had bruises on me for days.”
The orange pegasus blushed in embarrassment. “I said I was sorry.”
“Getting back on subject though,” said Spike. “The point is that after me, Twilight, and Owlowiscious escaped, she asked me about why I ran away. I told her the truth about how I felt I wasn’t needed anymore and that I was being replaced. Do you know what she told me?”
Starburst shook her head.
“She told me about how much she meant to me and that nothing in all of Equestria could replace me. Twilight apologized to me about the way she acted and said she should’ve taken my feelings into account as well. True to her word, Twilight never let me get replaced, never sent me away, and is still the best friend a dragon could ask for.”
“One question though, Uncle Spike. Whatever happened to that owl? I’ve never seen him before in the house.”
Spike’s expression changed to a remorseful frown. “He died shortly after you were born. Twilight found him dead in his cage from old age. She was really attached to him, and was devastated by the news. She never tried to find another pet after that, most likely because she didn’t want to replace Owlowiscious.”
Starburst had a bit of a pained expression on her. “I’m sorry to hear that. He sounded pretty nice.”
“He would’ve liked you, I’m sure of it. But, once again, I’m getting off topic here. Do you understand what I was trying to tell you though?”
Starburst looked a little unsure as she shifted around. “I . . . think so. It sounded just like what’s going on between me and mom.”
“Exactly.”
“But Uncle Spike, I can’t just go back to mom like that,” she said. “This is way different from what happened to you. Not only did I yell at mom, but I also made Anthea cry.” She sighed and looked away. “Besides, after everything Twilight said about her, it’s like as if she always wanted somepony like Anthea as a daughter. I’m probably the black sheep of the family.”
Spike frowned upon hearing this. “Starburst, you should know that Twilight does get carried away with stuff like that. Most of the time, she doesn’t realize how she acted until it’s too late.”
“Yeah, well it seems she has no problems when it comes to replacing family as well,” she huffed.
“She’s still your mother though, and she loves you.”
“Well what kind of mother just ditches one of her own for somepony else?!” She shot, with her voice slightly cracked. “When it comes to me, she wants me to do nothing but read to prepare myself. I offered her a few times to come fly with me, but she didn’t want to. It’s like she doesn’t care anymore what I do. If I could do something like a Sonic Rainboom, I doubt she’d notice.”
Starburst looked down with some tears running down her face, but she didn’t care anymore. “She doesn’t care about me anymore . . .” she weeped. “She wanted somepony like her, and now that Annie entered the picture, she got her ‘perfect daughter’ at last. Now . . . I’m just a scapegoat to her.”
The orange pegasus felt a claw touch her chin and raise her head up. She wiped away the tears to see Spike smiling softly at her. “What are you happy about? A new niece for you now?”
“No Starburst, I just want to tell you that you’re thinking things the wrong way. Twilight does care about you and always will love you.”
“You’re just-”
“Let me finish,” warned Spike. “You may think that Twilight has abandoned you, but she talks about you a lot.”
Star sniffled and said, “Really?”
The drake nodded. “Do you remember last week when Twilight came over to see me and Aunt Rarity?” The pegasus nodded. “Well Twilight talked about your training progress. She said your speed getting better and you can sprint for two minutes without getting winded. She was so happy for you about how much progress you’ve made. Why, she even said that maybe you should recommend some exercises to Flash to prepare him for his next physical test.”
Starburst’s eyes widened. “You really mean she said all that?”
“Hey, would I lie to you?” Spike asked as he rubbed his niece’s head.
The orange pegasus felt that angry feeling fading away, but something still gnawed at her. “Uncle Spike, even if my mom was proud of me, I’m still just a pegasus and Annie is-”
“Not Twilight’s daughter,” interrupted Spike. “Anthea might be a unicorn and good from magic, at least that’s what you told me, but she can never replace you as a daughter to Twilight.”
“But-”
“But, nothing. Twilight may’ve gone overboard with Annie, but she will always be there for you, and will never abandon you. You, along with Nighty, are her pride and joy, and she would never give you both up. It doesn’t matter if you’re a unicorn, pegasus, or Earth pony, she is, and always will be, proud of you. As she told me after the Owlowiscious incident, nopony will ever take your place.”
Starburst took all the words in and felt the last bits of anger against Twilight fade away. She smiled softly and walked over to Spike, giving the drake a hug. He returned the hug for a few seconds before breaking it off.
“Aunt Rarity was right, Uncle Spike,” said Starburst. “You do have a way with words.”
The dragon chuckled and said, “What can I say? I’m a natural when it comes to stuff like this.”
“What do I do now? I’m afraid to go back to see mom on my own. She’d probably yell at me and then ground me before I get a word out.”
Spike placed a claw on her shoulder. “I think it’s best you do go do this alone. She’ll want to hear this straight from you. Tell her about how you felt that you were being replaced. I’m sure once you tell her the whole story, she’ll understand.”
“I’m still not sure.”
“Hey, where’s that tough, nerves of steel niece of mine? Come on Starburst, I know you can do this.”
The orange pegasus looked up to the dragon and gave a firm nod. “You’re right, Uncle Spike, I can do this.”
“Just don’t forget one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“To apologize to Annie for what you did.”
Starburst nodded and turned around. “Alright, I’ll be sure to do that as well.” She gave a wave and galloped out of the boutique.
Spike sighed and smiled to himself as he watched her leave. He heard hoofsteps coming from the stair and turned to see Rarity, who was levitating a red box.
“Is she gone, Spikey Wikey?” She wondered.
The drake nodded. “Yeah . . . I think things between Twilight and her will be okay.” He noticed the box and raised an eyebrow. “What’s in that? An early birthday gift for Twilight?”
“It’s a gift indeed, but this one is for you.” She levitated it over to him. “Open it, darling.”
Spike grabbed the box and took the top off. He gasped and nearly dropped the gift from the sight before him. He slowly pulled out an elegant, silk white bow, covered in little bits of green and purple gems. He felt how smooth and soft it was, and then looked over to Rarity, who was blushing and smiling.
“I take it you like it?” She asked.
“Like it? I love it!” He exclaimed joyfully. “What’s the occasion for anyway? My birthday isn’t until next month.”
“Let’s just say that gift is a long overdue apology gift for the way I acted around Owlowiscious so callously. I should never have treated you like that at all.”
“Don’t worry Rarity, it’s all in the past now.”
The white unicorn walked over and gave the drake a brief kiss on the lips. “Well then consider that an early birthday present if you want.”
Spike snuggled up to Rarity and said, “I already have the best gift here.” He gave her a kiss as the unicorn laughed.
“Ugh! Where could she be?!” Twilight yelled in an exasperated tone.
She scanned the Ponyville streets in the sky, seeing only a few ponies go about their business, and then back to the air, but there was nothing but a few clouds.
“I’ve searched this whole town, but not a sign of Starburst anywhere! She couldn’t have gotten that far!”
Twilight desperately looked around town again for her daughter, but to no avail. Out of the corner of her eye though, she saw a thick, ominous forest, with a cottage not too far from it.
The lilac alicorn smiled to herself. “Maybe Fluttershy already found Annie, and see Starburst go into the forest.” She flew off in the direction to the cottage. “I can only hope I’m not too late.”
As she reached the edge of the forest, Twilight could faintly see a shadowy figure in one of the windows. “Great, she is home after all,” she said. The alicorn approached the door and knocked on it.
The door slowly opened after a few seconds, but she didn’t see Fluttershy.
“Down here, mom.”
Twilight looked down to see her son standing there. “Oh, Junior, I nearly forgot I sent you with Fluttershy to look for Annie. Where is she anyway? I want to ask her something really quick.”
“She’s upstairs and tending to Anthea,” he said. “Fluttershy told me to wait down here and keep an eye out on the forest.”
“For what reason? To keep an eye out for Starburst?” The lilac colt nodded. “Did you see her come by?” This time, he shook his head.
Twilight sighed and said, “Well, I guess I better go back and look around town. Maybe Star is hiding somewhere I didn’t think to-”
“Oh, Twilight, there you are,” said a voice.
The alicorn looked up to see Fluttershy was coming downstairs.
“Hey there. Fluttershy,” she said. “I was going to ask if you saw Starburst go into the forest, but Nighty already told me.”
“I would’ve seen her enter the forest from Annie’s room anyway,” the yellow pegasus responded. “All this time, I’ve been comforting her and trying to reassure her that Star meant no harm.”
“How is she at the moment?”
“Anthea is doing alright at the moment. She was crying hysterically in her pillow when I found her, and was shaking in fear. I calmed her down, but she told me she didn’t want to come see you anymore. She was afraid that Starburst would yell at her again and maybe even hurt her. I tried to tell her that Star meant no harm and that she wouldn’t hurt her, but she wasn’t convinced.”
Twilight’s eyes furrowed. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Once I find Starburst, I’ll send her over here to make her apologize. I’ll make sure she never pulls something like this ever again.” She turned around and began to walk out the door.
“Um . . . Twilight, could I actually talk to you please?” Asked Fluttershy.
The alicorn turned around and raised an eyebrow. “No offense, Fluttershy, but can this wait?” She wondered. “I really need to find Star before she gets any further.”
“Actually, it is about Starburst. Well, actually, the fight between you and her.”
“What’s there to say about it, really? She yelled at Anthea for no reason and hurt her feelings.”
“Well, I noticed she said some things to you before she left. I really want to talk to you about it.”
“But I-”
“Twilight . . . please, this is important,” said Fluttershy in a rather somber tone.
Noticing the change in tone from her friend, Twilight reluctantly nodded and looked over to her son. “Night, why don’t you go play outside? I think this may take a while.”
“But I want to hear what’s going on,” he whined.
“Don’t worry Nighty,” said Fluttershy. “You’re not missing anything, really. You can play with my animal friends if you want. They’re very friendly, but don’t be too rough on them.”
The lilac colt frowned and said, in a disappointing tone, “Alright, I guess. I’ll try and keep an eye out for Starburst though.”
“Thanks, Junior,” said Twilight. “After this is over, tonight, I’ll let you have some of your favorite ice cream for helping out Fluttershy so much.”
“You mean cherry vanilla?” He wondered with a smile on his face. “Alright!” He quickly hugged his mom before running out the door, closing it in the process.
Twilight smiled and shook her head before turning back to Fluttershy. “Okay, so what’s this whole thing you want to talk about?”
“Well Twilight, when I listened to you and Starburst argue with each other, I noticed some words she said to you.”
“Like what?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow. “She kept going on about how Annie was my first student, but yet she was. I tried to calm her down by telling her that I was offering to study alongside Annie with reading and learning about past wars. Instead, she blows things way out of proportion.”
“She did bring up something though.”
“What’s that?”
“Starburst said she felt like she was being replaced.”
Twilight winced slightly at that, and said nothing.
“She also said that she felt that Annie was replacing her as your daughter.”
The lilac alicorn raised an eyebrow before a fit of laughter erupted from her. She chuckled to herself for a couple of seconds before regaining her composure.
“No offense Fluttershy, but that is absolutely ridiculous,” she said.
“I was being serious,” the yellow pegasus said in a rather stern tone.
Twilight quickly stopped laughing as she saw the stoic face of her friend. The sight of it made her feel a little uneasy. “Fluttershy, I’m sure Starburst was just exaggerating about that. She knows that she would never be replaced.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Twilight. She sounded really serious about it, and looked like she was going to cry.”
“It was probably your imagination. Starburst knows I’d never let anypony take her place. She’s my daughter after all.”
“Then what was all that talk about Annie being a ‘second daughter’ to you?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find anything to counter the argument.
“After you said to me that Anthea was like a ‘second daughter’ to you, Starburst started yelling at you and Annie.”
“Even if that was the case, that gives her no excuse to yell at your daughter,” shot Twilight. “Starburst was just overreacting is all.”
“Twilight, you have to admit one thing,” said Fluttershy. “You did go on about how good Annie was. How she was so hard working, so serious in her studies, and how devoted she was to you. If anything, it did sound like you were treating Anthea like she was your daughter.”
The alicorn’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous, even for you, Fluttershy,” she said with a bit of irritation in her voice. “I wasn’t treating your daughter like as if she was mine, I was praising and rewarding her for what she’s accomplished.”
“But you did say she was like a ‘second daughter’ to you, so that does mean you were treating her like family.”
“Now just hold a minute there. You, Annie, and all my friends are family to me anyway. How is this so different?”
Fluttershy took a deep breath, and crossed her hooves. “Twilight, how would you describe Annie?”
“Well she’s a very hard working filly who’s devoted to her studies, a fast learner, and is a very talented unicorn. Why, I’d say she could be an apprentice to Princess Celestia like me if she keeps it up.”
Twilight waited for a response, but she never got one. She looked at Fluttershy, who was frowning and shaking her head.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight wondered.
“Did you listen to yourself as you spoke?” Asked the yellow pegasus.
“Of course I did. I said that Anthea could be an apprentice to Princess Celestia like . . .” Twilight stopped talking as everything clicked in her head. She slammed her hooves onto the table, narrowing her eyes again. “That doesn’t count! You tricked me into saying that!”
“I wasn’t tricking you into saying that,” responded Fluttershy, cooly. “You were speaking about how you felt about Anthea on your own. It seems you’ve taken quite a liking to her, more than you think.”
Twilight said nothing and tapped her hoof.
“I think I can understand why you’ve become so close to her. It’s because she’s very similar to you, isn’t it?”
Twilight’s eyes widen. “That . . . that’s absurd!” She blurted out. “So what if Anthea is kind of like me as a filly? That doesn’t mean I was trying to replace Starburst.”
“Twilight, I’ve listened to you about your disagreements with Star. How she refuses to read with you. The fact that she is always busy doing training. You two never really see eye to eye.”
Twilight fell silent again as she looked down.
“Think about it,” said Fluttershy. “You two are almost always at each other’s throats. She’s really nothing like you at all, and I think part of you didn’t like that. So when Anthea became your student, you saw somepony like you in her.”
Again, the alicorn said nothing to her friend.
“You really did see Annie like you, didn’t you?” Wondered Fluttershy.
This time, Twilight nodded slowly and said, “She was a lot like me . . . in many ways. It was like looking at a reflection of myself.”
“Go on,” urged Fluttershy.
“Anthea was, in many ways, like me. I’ve never seen anypony so much like me. Every time I try to bond or help out Starburst, she always turns away from me and doesn’t want anything to do with me. She claims I was abandoning her, but she was the one who was leaving me alone.”
The yellow pegasus just nodded as she listened.
“Whenever I offered Star some books to read on old wars, or even some flying books, she’d turn me down. She would say that if she wanted to study so badly, she’d flunk school and go to summer school instead. It hurt me and made me wish she could see training wasn’t everything in the Royal Guard.”
“I understand that she wanted to be the first mare in the Royal Guard to be captain, but I was only doing my best to help her along the way. When she was learning to fly, I showed her the basics and taught her some moves that Rainbow Dash showed me. She was so eager to learn from me so many moves, and I felt so proud about it.”
“If Starburst was so willing to learn from you, then what happened?” Inquired Fluttershy.
Twilight looked down, frowning to herself. “Well . . . after I told Star that I taught her pretty much everything I knew, she became a little distant.”
“Distant?”
“Yeah . . . I can remember seeing the disappointment in her face when I told her that. I offered to show her some books to read on old wars, and even some books on flying. She turned away from it though, telling me that she didn’t need to study, only to train her body. She’s been like that ever since.”
Fluttershy said nothing as she thought about everything Twilight just told her. After a minute of thinking, she asked, “Twilight, how exactly did you teach Starburst how to fly?”
The lilac alicorn scratched her head for a few seconds. “I told you that I showed her the basics of flying and taught her the moves that Rainbow Dash showed me. She mimicked what I did and although she messed up on her first few tries, she got the hang of it. Once I taught her everything, she didn’t seem so interested in learning anything else from me.”
“She never made an attempt to have you go flying with her?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Starburst's voice suddenly echoed in her head.
I can’t take a day off mom. How else am I going to become Captain of the Guard by just reading some books? Why don’t you come with me instead and fly with me? It’ll be like old times again.
The lilac alicorn gasped as she felt a wave of emotions come over her. “She . . . she did . . .” whispered Twilight.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Asked Fluttershy.
“She did . . .”
“What?”
“SHE DID!” Cried out Twilight.
Her eyes slowly swelled with tears as those last words played in her head. She leaned her head against the table, and faintly cried to herself. Fluttershy put a hoof on her friend’s head and stroked it.
Twilight sniffled as she raised her head up, with tears rolling down her face. “She . . . she did offer to fly with me,” she said in a cracked voice. “My own daughter wanted to spend time with me, and I turned her away.”
“Twilight, it’s okay,” said the yellow pegasus. “It was an honest mistake that-”
“Cost me the relationship I had with my daughter!” Wailed the alicorn. “Who knows how many other times she’s offered me to go flying with her, and I ignore it?! I could’ve shown her some of the things I read in books! We could’ve bonded together like when she was younger! We could have . . .” Twilight couldn’t finish the last sentence as she broke down crying, with Fluttershy doing her best to comfort her.
“Shh . . . let it all out, Twilight,” cooed the pegasus.
“What kind of mother am I?” Inquired Twilight. “How could I have been so blind to my own daughter?”
“I’m sure you didn’t mean to, Twilight,” assured Fluttershy. “Maybe she didn’t really ask you that many times.”
“But I always came up with reasons for not going with her! I told her I had to look after Nighty. I would have to do some research. I even told her that I wasn’t up to it. I don’t know how many times she’s offered me to come fly with her, but I always turned my nose up at her.”
The alicorn buried her head in her hooves again, sobbing quietly to herself. She continued doing so for a minute, until she felt a hoof pat her on the head. She slowly looked up to see Fluttershy, and was expecting to see disappointment on her. Instead, she looked peaceful and smiled softly.
“Twilight, I know you messed up, but if Starburst wants to spend time with you, there’s always a chance to do so,” she said. “She doesn’t need to be punished, or scolded by you. She needs a mother’s love. Your love, to be precise.”
“But she yelled at Annie,” whimpered Twilight. “She does need to-”
“I’m not saying what she did to Anthea was completely right,” interrupted the pegasus. “But I can understand her frustrations of being left alone and forgotten. Star needs you more than ever. You and her may not see eye to eye all the time, but she does need you to be there for her. She may not show it, but I believe she’s lost and scared about what to do.”
“I can’t just make up with her right there though,” said Twilight in a weak voice. “She hates me, and would probably push me away like I pushed her away.”
“Now you stop that nonsense,” said Fluttershy in a stern tone. “Both of you made big mistakes, but that’s no excuse to give up now. Starburst is somewhere right now waiting for you, and it’s not too late to make amends with her. Now you go out there, find Star, and patch things up with her. She deserves to know that her mother still loves her.”
Twilight looked down for a few seconds, slowly ceasing her crying. She took the words spoken by her friend in her as she wiped the tears from her face. She could feel something build up inside her, but it didn’t make her feel sick or anything. It made her feel almost like she could take on anything that Equestria would throw at her.
She looked up to her friend and said, “Thanks Fluttershy, I needed that.” She leaned in a gave the pegasus a hug, which was returned as well. After a few seconds, they broke it.
“How did you become so good at this kind of stuff anyway?” Wondered the alicorn. “I never exactly seen you as the stern motivational speaker.”
The yellow pegasus blushed slightly. “Well . . . I’ve been learning how to be more stern over the years. I don’t really do it too often, but when it comes to my friends, I’ll put my hoof down if I have to.”
Twilight just stared at her. “Wow . . . is this like that whole Iron Will incident again?”
“Oh, goodness, no,” said the pegasus. “I’m nothing like that at all. I’m still myself, but I’ve been learning how to be strict, but fair as well.”
“Well I think that training has paid off then.”
Just as Fluttershy was about to speak up, the door to the cottage quickly opened.
“Mom!” Called of Night Light. “Uncle Spike is here!”
“Spike?” Asked Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “What’s he doing here? I thought he and Rarity were busy doing an order for Fancy Pants.”
“We finished early,” came the voice of the drake.
Both Spike and Rarity walked in, with the dragon wearing the bow his wife made for him.
“What’s going on here, Spike?” Wondered Twilight. “And why do you have that bow on?”
“There’s no time to explain, darling,” said Rarity. “We’ve heard about what’s happened to Anthea and came over to check to see if Fluttershy found her yet. Nighty here told us that she’s okay and that you were here as well.”
“What do you want from me anyway?”
“We wanted to tell you that we found Starburst,” said Spike. “I talked to her about-”
“You found her?!” Twilight interrupted. She galloped over and looked behind the drake and white unicorn. “Where is she now? Is she outside?”
“Twilight, calm yourself,” chastised Rarity as she pushed the alicorn away. “She’s back at the library, waiting for you to see her.”
Twilight shook her head. “What?! Why would she go back to the library?”
“It’s a long story, Twilight,” said Spike. The drake explained about what happened and how he convinced Starburst to go back to the library, and talk things over with Twilight.
After the explanation, Twilight nodded to herself and said, “Well Spike, thank you for talking some sense into her. I got to say, that incident with Owlowiscious really did help in more ways than one.” She gave her assistant a brief hug before releasing it. “Now, I need to make sure this never happens again.”
“Twilight, don’t be too hard on her,” said Rarity. “She was upset about what happened after all.”
“I’m not going to yell at her, or scold her.” She looked back at her friends, with a frown on her face. “I’ve made my mistakes as well, more than I thought.”
“What mistakes?” Ask Spike.
“Let’s just say, I have some bonding to do with my daughter.” Twilight turned back around and galloped off back to Ponyville.
Spike and Rarity were left speechless, and looked at each other.
“Should we go after her, Uncle Spike?” Asked Night.
The drake shook his head slowly. “No . . . something tells me that Twilight knows what she’s doing.” He pulled in Rarity and the lavender colt. “All we can do is wait and see.”
Fluttershy heard something that sounded like a creaking noise nearby. She turned her head to see only the stairs, but nopony was on them. The yellow pegasus shrugged it off and turned back around, smiling to herself.
I know you can do this, Twilight, she thought to herself.
As much as Twilight loved reading and going to libraries, as she came up to her home, she felt a bit nervous. She knew what she had to do, but yet feared that things wouldn’t go so well. She slapped herself in the face and her expression changed to one of determination.
“You can do this, Twilight,” she whispered. “You’ve faced greater dangers before, so this should be a cakewalk.” Despite the words of encouragement, she continued to stand there. “Except this cake is hard, crumbling, and could possibly ruin things between me and Star forever.”
Again, she slapped herself and shook her head. “Focus Twilight, don’t get cold hooves now. Star needs me, and I can’t let her down now.”
Taking a deep breath, the alicorn trotted towards the door and slowly opened it. When she got inside, she saw nopony inside the lobby. She hesitantly entered the library, looking around for any sign of her daughter.
“Maybe she isn’t here,” said Twilight. “Maybe she got scared and hid somewhere else. I think I should. . .”
The alicorn stopped speaking as the corner of her left eye caught what looked like a shadow. She looked over to see it was the shape of a pony, and was coming from the kitchen.
“Or maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough.”
Twilight walked slowly to the doorway and peeked her head in. Her suspicions were true as she saw Starburst sitting at the table, looking forlorn. Taking one more deep breath, she walked into the kitchen.
“Starburst?” She asked.
The orange pegasus jumped in surprise and nearly fell out of her chair. She caught herself and turned to see her mom, who was trying to hold back a laugh. Star quickly changed her expression of shock to a stoic expression.
“Oh . . . it’s just you,” she said in a deadpanned voice. “Looks like you found me at last.”
“Well yes, but we got a lot to talk about,” said Twilight.
“I know what you’re already going to say, mom,” said Starburst in a pessimistic tone. “You’re going to tell me how I acted was wrong, make me go apologize to Anthea, and then ground me until I’ve graduated high school.”
“That’s not what I-”
“Well I can tell you this. I talked to Uncle Spike about what happened between us, and how he brought up an incident involving your old pet, Owlowiscious.”
The alicorn winced at the sound of the name. “I see then . . .” she whispered.
“Well I’m here to say that I know you think what I did was wrong, but you were doing the same thing you did to Uncle Spike with Owlowiscious. I know making Anthea cry was wrong, but you were abandoning me. You never stopped talking about her, and seemed to forget that I was here.”
“I can tell you that I have something to say.”
“I do too,” said Starburst. She turned to her mom, looking a bit remorseful. “I’m really sorry for what I did, but I just needed to say something. I know the way I acted wasn’t the best thing to do, but you forgot that I even existed at all.” She sighed to herself and looked down in defeat. “So go ahead and ground me. You can lecture me all you want on what a big mistake I made.”
Twilight frowned at this. “Well I made a mistake as well. Something bigger than what you’ve done.”
The orange pegasus looked up at her mom, and raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Mom, you didn’t do anything.”
“Yes I did, Star. I did something that no mother should ever do to their child. You weren’t the one pushing me away, I pushed you away from me.”
Silence fell upon them for a minute.
Starburst said, “I’ll say it again. Excuse me?”
The alicorn sighed to herself and sat down at the table, which the orange pegasus did in return.
“Do you remember what you asked me the other day?”
“Can you be a little more specific? What day was it?”
“It was the day I offered Annie to be my student. You asked me something at breakfast that day.”
A switch went off inside the pegasus’ head. “Wait . . . I asked you if you wanted to go flying with me.”
Twilight nodded.
“What’s so important about that? You told me that you were busy with work and taking care of Nighty.”
Even though her daughter probably didn’t mean to, Twilight could detect a bit of bitterness and sorrow in her voice.
“You don’t need to lie to me, Star,” said the purple alicorn. “You wanted me to come fly with you, and I turned you down. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you asked me though.”
Star fell silent and looked down.
“How many times, Star? Did you offer me to spend time with you more than once?”
Again, Twilight was met with silence.
“Tell me!” She shouted, sounding a little worried. “How many times did you offer me to come fly with you? You said you wanted to do it like old times.”
Star was shaking violently.
“Sweetie, I only want to know because-”
“I lost count!” Screamed the pegasus, her voice cracking. “I asked you so many times, that I forgot, okay?!”
The room fell silent as Starburst buried her head in her hooves.Twilight tried to comfort her by placing a hoof on her head, but it was swatted away the moment it touched her.
“Star . . . why didn’t you say anything?” Wondered Twilight. “You know you can always come to me for anything.”
The orange pegasus looked up at her mom, tears rolling down her eyes. “Because . . . you were always busy. Every time I offered you to come fly with me, you always told me you had to do something.”
The lilac alicorn looked down in shame. “I wasn’t busy all the time. Besides, I offered you chances to read some books with me, but you turned your nose up at it.”
“It wasn’t the same though,” she sniffled.
“What do you mean?” Inquired Twilight, sounding a bit frustrated. “I’ve been turning you away, but when I offer you to come read with me, you never accept it. What’s your problem with doing some reading?”
“Everything I learned about flying and so much more, was because you taught me!”
Twilight’s frustration turned into confusion. “. . . What?”
“You were better than any book, mom!” Yelled Star. “I learned more things from you than any old, dusty book!”
“Hey!” Scolded the alicorn.
“Well it’s true,” said the pegasus, sheepishly. “You taught me so much about flying, tips about leadership, and confidence in myself. I looked up to you more than you thought.”
Twilight stayed silent, dumbfounded from what she was hearing.
“Those books that you keep trying to make me read are nothing compared to what you’ve taught me. From the very moment I wanted to fly, you were there to help me. It’s not that I hate reading or anything, it’s just that you were the one who taught me so much.”
“But I pretty much taught you everything there is to know. I could’ve gladly help teach you teach other things like fighting.”
Starburst couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that statement. “Mom . . . no offense, but you? A fighter? That’s as likely as Rainbow Dash playing dress up. If I wanted to learn about fighting, I’d go to dad.” Her smile drooped into a frown. “If he wasn’t on deployment so much.”
Twilight placed a hoof on her daughter’s head. “Sweetie, I know I taught you so much, and I appreciate that you looked up to me so much. The thing is that I’ve got nothing else to teach you in flying or anything else I can think of.”
The orange pegasus looked down in defeat. “But I don’t want some musty old book to replace you.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “A book replacing me? What makes you think that?”
“Well . . . after you told me that you taught me everything you knew, you started insisting that I read books. I kept on insisting I didn’t need books, but you kept shoving them on me. I wanted you to come with me to help train, but you kept on saying that you were busy or something.”
“What are you getting at, Star?”
“What I’m saying is that once you were done with me, it was like I didn’t matter to you. As soon as we finished our lessons together, you just gave me some books to read, and never bothered to spend any real time with me.”
Twilight felt a surge of emotions rage on in her, but remained silent.
“So in a way . . . it was like you were already abandoning me. When Anthea became your student, you were acting like a filly in a candy store. Not only did you treat her like a second daughter, but you made me feel forgotten. The only time you seemed to really acknowledge me is when I mess up something. I know Annie’s your student and you want to teach her, but let me ask you this, mom. Are you going to do the same thing to her and, later on, Nighty?”
Twilight remained silent, but tears were slowly building in her eyes.
“Are you just going to give them books as well once you’ve taught them everything you know? Then, when they want to spend time with you, are you going to tell them that you’re busy? Or is it because I’m a pegasus, not a unicorn like Annie or Nighty? Am I just some disappointment to you because I’m not the daughter you wanted me to be?”
By the time she was done ranting, Star could feel her heart race and her blood nearly boiling in anger.
“ . . .*sniff*”
The sound caught Star’s attention, and looked up to see something that made her anger quickly melt away. Twilight was on the verge of crying, tears running down her face. The sight of it made Starburst feel guilty about what she said.
“Mom, I didn’t really mean for it to come out like that,” she said in a panic. “I was just speaking what was on my mind.”
The alicorn held up a hoof, shaking her head. “No Star . . . you were right,” she said, sorrowly. “I’ve asked myself many times when you’ll realize that brawn isn’t everything. Instead, I’ve been pushing you aside, thinking that books and knowledge will help further your training. If anything, I should be the one apologizing.”
“Mom, listen, it’s not that-”
“Don’t say another word, Star,” said Twilight. “There is truth in what you say. Ever since we stopped our lessons together, I have been encouraging you to read a book while I do other things. Instead of spending time with you, I’ve been the one pushing you away. But there is one thing I do need to tell you, sweetie.”
“What’s that?”
“I know you want to bond with me, teach you, and be right by your side, but I just can’t.” Twilight put a hoof on her daughter’s head. “You’ve grown into a strong, confident mare, with dreams of becoming the first mare to be Captain of the Royal Guard. I can’t be by your side forever.”
“I know, mom,” sighed Starburst. “But when you started took in Annie as your student, I felt like you were done with me. You seemed to ignore me, except for only a few things. I know I’m growing up, but I don’t want to let you forget me.”
At that moment, Twilight got up and leaned in to embrace Starburst. The orange pegasus was taken aback by this, unsure of what to do or how to react. She slowly wrapped her hooves around the alicorn and returned the hug as well, albeit a bit softly.
“What . . . what’s this all about, mom?” Star wondered.
The lilac alicorn pulled away and looked at her daughter with a smile, with tears running down her face. “Star, I know it feels like I’ve abandoned you, and what you said about me is true,” she said in a gentle voice. “I know we don’t always see things completely the same, but there’s one thing you can always count on from me. I’ll never abandon you, not now, not ever.”
“But . . .”
“No buts, Star. I know I’ve let you down recently and I can’t change it, but I promise you that no matter what happens, no matter who my student is, or what you do with your life, I will never abandon you for anypony else.”
“What about Annie though?”
“Anthea might be a talented unicorn, but she’ll never take your place as my pride and joy. Star, you and Nighty mean so much to me, that I wouldn’t give you both up for all the knowledge in Equestria. If I ever stopped caring, or loving you, I could never forgive myself.”
“Are you sure?”
Twilight smiled. “If I ever allow myself to abandon you, or make you feel forgotten, then I’ll strip myself of princess duties, remove my wings, and spend as much time with you as possible.”
Starburst cracked a smile, chuckling to herself. “Isn’t that a bit overboard?”
The alicorn shrugged and said, “As long as I show you how much I do love you, I’d do anything.”
Starburst’s lips quivered as a smile formed on her face. All the anger, angst, and sadness in her quickly washed away, and was replaced with hope and happiness. This time, she leaned in to hug Twilight, which the alicorn quickly returned. Both ponies let a few tears roll down their eyes as they held onto one another.
A minute later, Star broke the embrace and looked at Twilight. “Mom . . . I’m sorry for how I acted before,” she said in a remorseful tone. “I shouldn’t have kept my emotions bottled up like that.”
The lilac alicorn nuzzled her daughter. “It’s okay, Star,” she said in a motherly tone. “I brought all this on myself when I didn’t realize I was treating Anthea like she was really a daughter to me. I nearly tore us apart because of that.”
Star’s face faltered to a frown. “Um . . . that reminds me,” she said. “Is Annie okay? I know I really hurt her feelings with my outburst, and I’d like to go talk to her.”
“She’s doing alright, but she-”
TAP, TAP, TAP
The sound of the library’s door brought the conversation to a halt. Twilight let go of Starburst and trotted over to the door, with the orange pegasus following behind. The alicorn opened the door, but was shocked to see none other than Anthea and Fluttershy. The former was looking down in shame, while the yellow pegasus held onto her.
“Fluttershy, what are you doing here?” Wondered Twilight. “What’s wrong with Annie?”
“Oh, she wanted to come talk to you right away,” she said. “I tried to tell her to just rest from what happened, but she insisted about coming to talk to you.”
Starburst looked at her friend, but she didn’t look back, making her feel more guilty.
“What’s wrong, Annie?”
“Twilight, I heard you and my mom talking to each other earlier,” she said in a somber tone. “I was listening from upstairs and heard everything you said about Starburst. I can understand now why she was so upset with me. She was angry that you weren’t spending time with her, and I was taking you away from her.”
“Anthea, it’s not that-” Twilight tried to get out.
“Let me finish, please,” urged the unicorn. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said, and what happened earlier, and I’ve come to a decision.”
“Decision?” Wondered Fluttershy.
“Yes, mom. I’ve decided that since I’m being such a burden and hurting Star, I no longer want to be Mrs. Twilight’s student.”
“What?!” Everypony cried out.
“Annie, you can’t be serious,” said Twilight in a worried voice. “You’ve made such good progress, that it’d be a mistake to stop now. Star and I have talked things over and patched things up.”
“I know I’ve done so well, but after hearing about Star, I can’t do it anymore. I’d be only getting in the way and making her upset again.”
“But Annie . . .” pleaded Fluttershy.
“No buts, mom,” she said. “I’m sure I can continue my lessons with somepony else. Maybe I can talk to Rarity about it, or Sweetie Belle. As long as I’m not getting in the way of anypony, I’ll be happy to continue my lessons elsewhere.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but suddenly heard another voice speak up.
“Annie, stop this nonsense, now.”
Everypony turned their attention towards Starburst, who had a rather stern expression on her.
“What do you mean, Star?” Inquired Anthea. “You told me to go away, and Twilight said that she neglected to be with you. I don’t want to take away any time you want with her.”
“You got this all wrong,” reprimanded the orange pegasus. “I blew things way out of proportion and wasn’t thinking straight. You didn’t do anything wrong, both mom and I messed things up for you.”
The peach unicorn gawked at that statement. “. . . What?” She asked.
“Star’s right, Annie,” said Twilight. “I got so wrapped up with your growing skills and how much you amazed me, that I saw you like a daughter to me. I didn’t realize I was hurting Starburst’s feelings until today. If anything, I shouldn’t have made my own daughter feel inferior to you.”
“I should’ve said something earlier,” replied Star. “I kept my feelings bottled up and pretended everything was fine. Instead, I snapped and hurt you when I should’ve told mom how I really felt about this. You didn’t do anything wrong, Annie.”
Anthea looked unsure of herself. “But . . . what about telling me to go away? You said you didn’t want me stealing your mom away.”
“Again, I overreacted when I snapped,” said Starburst.
She trotted over and placed a hoof on her friend’s back. “Look . . . you didn’t do anything wrong to make me upset, nor did you mean to make my mom get so wound up about you. We both made big mistakes that you shouldn’t be blaming yourself for at all. If it helps, I was impressed with your talents.”
Anthea looked at her friend in awe. “Really? But what about the-”
“Forget the argument I had with you,” interrupted the orange pegasus. “I am amazed by what you can do, but I was letting my frustrations with mom get the better of me. You really are a talented unicorn who could do a lot of amazing things. You shouldn’t let something like this make you want to stop what you can do. If anything, you should continue to pursue what you want to do.”
“You really think so?” Anthea asked, sounding hopeful.
“Think so? You made a flower bush grow in seconds, teleport something with little trouble, and learned levitation in no time. The pace you’re going at now and the way things are going, I believe you’ll become a great unicorn one day.”
Anthea looked a little unsure at first, but she looked at Starburst to see her giving a rare smile. Whatever fear she had in the unicorn melted away as her frown turned into a smile. She leaned in and gave the pegasus a hug, which Star returned. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, smiles on their faces.
Anthea was the first to break the embrace, and turned to the alicorn. “Twilight, I would like to take back what I said earlier. I do want to continue being your student.”
Twilight smiled to herself. “I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she said, proudly. “With Starburst, I’ll teach both of you about magic, history, and so much more.”
“Really?” Both ponies asked in wonder.
“Pinkie Promise, you two.”
“FOREVER!” Pinkie’s voice echoed in the library. Everypony jumped a little in surprise and looked for her, but to no avail.
Twilight was the first to speak after the sudden interruption. “Star, since you want to spend time with me and learn more from me, I can probably teach you some of the things about the Royal Guard and its history.”
“I thought dad knew everything about the Guard.”
“He does, but I’ve studied what they do. Your dad told me that there’s a lot of stuff in the books they don’t teach you in basic training.”
Starburst raised an eyebrow. “I never knew that.”
Twilight smiled and said, “Well with me, you’ll be more than prepared for when you enter the Royal Guard.”
The orange pegasus smiled and said, “It’ll be way better than spending hours on end reading a book.”
“Hey!” Scolded Twilight.
“Sorry, mom,” Starburst said, sheepishly. “But I’ll take whatever you can teach me.”
“I’ll be glad to help.”
Fluttershy then spoke up. “Um . . . excuse me, Twilight. How are you going to teach both magic to Annie, and history to Starburst? If you tried to do it both at the same time, you’d be in over your head.”
The lilac alicorn pondered to herself. “I can think of something to do. Maybe have some days alternating between Starburst and then Annie.”
“But Star doesn’t really like to read a lot, nor study,” said Fluttershy. “How can you show her the history of the Royal Guard?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe some visuals could-” An idea suddenly clicked inside Twilight’s head, making her gasp. “I think I got it.”
“What do you mean, got it?” Asked Starburst.
Twilight turned to her pegasus friend. “Fluttershy, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to take Annie on a trip with me and Star.”
Fluttershy looked at her friend in surprise, but Anthea let out a jubilant cry.
“Oh, I’d love to! Where are we going?” She asked, excitedly.
“Hold on, Anthea,” said Fluttershy. She looked to Twilight. “Where exactly are you going to take her and Star?”
“Canterlot.”
“Canterlot?” The others asked, curiously.
“But why Canterlot?”
“You said that I needed to teach Star history a different way, and I know just the place for it,” said Twilight, confidently.
Fluttershy looked a little wary, but when she saw the hopeful look of her daughter's face, she immediately caved in. “Well . . . I don’t see why not,” she said. The yellow pegasus was hugged by Annie, which she returned before turning back to the alicorn.
“But where are you planning to take them?”
“That’s a surprise for them. What I can tell you is that I was wondering if you could watch over Nighty tomorrow. He usually hates going to this place because of how bored he gets.”
“Are you sure he won’t be upset?” Twilight nodded. “Well, I’ll do it then. Just be sure to talk to him about where you’re going.”
Twilight gave another nod, and then turned to the two kids. “Alright, you two, I want you to go get ready for tomorrow’s ride to Canterlot. I’m sure once you see where we’re going, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Both Star and Anthea cheered happily.
Starburst and Anthea looked at each other in confusion. The building they were standing in front of was a large, elegant, white marble building with Equestrian flags hanging between the marble columns, and a name on it.
Equestrian Museum of Might and Magic
From the first spells to be discovered, to some of the greatest wars, learn about how this country came to be!
Starburst looked at Twilight, who was smiling in delight. “This is our big surprise?” She asked incredulously. “Mom, no offense, but this isn’t exactly how I saw my trip to Canterlot. I feel like I’m on a school field trip.”
“If you want, I could always take you to the library and we could do some reading,” said the lilac alicorn.
“Ugh! No thanks,” gagged the orange pegasus. “But why bring us here in the first place?”
“Look over there.”
Twilight pointed towards a sign near the entrance. Starburst trotted over to read it.
New to the museum!
Ancient books recently discovered about the first guidelines for the Royal Guard!
See the first fighting moves that they were trained in!
Learn about the first Code of Honor in the Guard!
Discover some of the first letters of war from Equestria’s first conflict with Discord!
Starburst looked back at her mom. “When did this happen?” She asked.
“Remember what I read in the newspaper?” She asked. “I said I found something that could interest you, but you left before I could tell you. They had an article about the new tomes found about the Guard.”
The pegasus looked down in shame. “Oops. . . “
Twilight gave her daughter a hug. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’re here now to see some of the earliest history of the Royal Guard.”
“What about me?” Inquired Anthea.
“I’ll show you some of the first spells discovered in Equestria,” said Twilight. “There’s also a small section about vegetation spells. I figured that was suited for you since you’re so talented in growing plants. I think this’ll be a good learning experience for you, and you can possibly learn some of the spells on display.”
Anthea smiled and jumped for joy. “That sounds great! Come on, Twilight and Star! I want to go see them!” She galloped up the steps and ran inside.
“Wait for us, Annie!” Star called out. She began to ran up the stairs to catch up.
Twilight watched her daughter run up, but noticed something strange about her wings. “Star, wait a minute,” she called out.
The orange pegasus stopped and turned around. “What is it?”
“It’s your wings, sweetie. They don’t look so good.”
Starburst looked to her sides to see her mom was right. Her feathers were ruffled up and sticking out. There was some mud on them that seemed to stick some of the feathers together. She opened them, like she was about to take off, but felt a tinge of pain as she did.
Twilight shook her head in disapproval. “Star, what have I told you about neglecting your wings? You know you have to do them weekly, or they’ll get messed up.”
“Sorry, mom,” Star said.
“It’s okay. I actually have an idea though.”
“What is it?”
“After our trip today and Annie goes home, I can help you preen them. While we’re doing that, we can do some talking about what else you want to learn about from the Guard.”
Starburst smiled and said, “Now there’s something I think we will both like.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The two nuzzled one another in affection for a quick moment.
“Hey! Come on you two!”
Twilight and Star looked up to see Anthea was looking impatient.
“We got to go now, or we’ll never see everything!”
The two ponies nodded and galloped up the steps, entering the museum with the eager unicorn.
Author's Note
Whew! This certainly took a while to write! Now I know some of you are probably wondering one thing. Do I ship FlashLight?
No.
I'm very neutral to the pairing and this is probably a one time deal only. The only reason this is FlashLight is because this is the stallion kilala97 chose to be with Twilight.
But thanks to kilala97 for the picture as the inspiration for the fic. Thanks to everypony who helped me in getting this out. Finally, thank you all for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed it.
P.S. Don't worry, I'll be going back to Spike centric stories very soon.
