"Are you ready to order, madame?" asked the waiter, levitating a small pad of paper, ready to take her order.

"Yes," said Starlight Glimmer, glancing up. "I'll take the rose petal soup with a side of tomatoes please"

"Right away, madame" said the waiter, walking away with the menu. Starlight picked up her glass of iced tea and was going to take a sip when something caught her eye. A certain purple alicorn had made her way into the restaurant.
'No! Why is she here!? Why!!!!' Thought Starlight. she gasped when she felt her glass slip out of her magic and shatter against the hard floor. Everybody, including Twilight, looked up. Luckily, just as she did, two waiters walked over to clean up the mess, blocking Starlight from Twilight's view. Just to be safe, she ducked down to make herself less visible. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Oh Celestia she had to get out of there! She poked her head up and saw that Twilight wasn't looking at her anymore. She stood and quickly made her way to the bathrooms, where she locked herself into a stall. She sat on the toilet and took deep breaths.
'Okay, Starlight. Calm down, she didn't notice you, calm down, just breathe. You're fine, you're fin-' she was thinking when the door opened.

"Starlight Glimmer?" came a familiar voice, echoing in the cold, quiet room. Starlight jumped up, only to slip back and hit her head on the toilet seat.

"Ow" she moaned, rubbing the swelling spot. The door opened quickly and Starlight looked up. And there she was. "What?" asked Starlight, trying and failing to glare at Twilight. "I didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted a nice dinner tonight"

"I know. I just wanted to talk" said Twilight gently, offering Starlight a hoof up, but was declined.

"About what?" Asked Starlight as she got up awkwardly and made her way to the sinks, shivering lightly when the cold water made contact with her hooves. She hadn't realized how warm she had gotten. The next thing to make her jump was Twilight's hoof, which was laid carefully on her back.

"Are you okay? You look pale" She asked Starlight, a concerned look on her face.

"I-I'm fine" said Starlight, silently cursing herself for stuttering.

"Okay. I'm going to go and finish dinner, but you should meet me outside in an hour. Please." Whispered Twilight before slipping out and back to her friends. Starlight stood there a minute more before also walking back to her table, staring at her hooves the entire time.

***
Starlight sat on the curb outside of the restaurant. She was shivering and looked up as snow began to fall. Where was Twilight? The clock tower in front of her told her that it had been an hour and fifteen minutes. Starlight waited five more minutes before standing up and turning to go back home. She bumped into another pony and stumbled backwards.

"Sorry" said Starlight.

"Sorry I was late, I had to get Spike home" said the pony in front of her. Starlight looked up, confused, before lighting her horn, revealing Twilight's face.

"It's okay. What did you want to talk about?" Asked Starlight, conjuring another heat spell on herself to keep warm.

"Follow me" Said Twilight, turning and trotting down the sidewalk. Starlight rolled her eyes and followed reluctantly. Twilight led her into Canterlot park, which had a giant, pink fire blazed in the shape of a heart. Starlight stopped, but Twilight kept walking. She followed and she and Twilight eventually made it to a small coffee shop. They opened and a small bell tinkled. The pair walked to the counter and got two hot chocolates. They took a seat at a corner table and Twilight sighed. "So, how are you?" asked Twilight calmly.

"Uh, I'm fine" said Starlight, blowing on her hot cocoa.

"Good. How did you get to Canterlot?"

"Train"

"Oh. Do you have a place to stay?"

"Um, no"

"Okay. If you need a place, my castle in Ponyville has plenty of room, and you're welcome to stay"

"I'm sorry Twilight, I can't" said Starlight, standing abruptly and turning to the door.

"Wait!" gasped Twilight, grabbing Starlight's hoof. Thank Celestia the cafe was empty. Starlight tugged lightly at her hoof, but Twilight was holding tight.

"I'm sorry" whispered Starlight, staring at the ground.

"For what?" Asked Twilight.

"For when I tricked you" She said, still staring at the ground.

"You didn't trick me. I pretended you did, because I wanted a reason to kiss you" Said Twilight. Starlight looked up quickly.

"Y-you weren't!?" she gasped.

"No. I'm sorry."

"Of course you weren't. I thought it was strange how easy you were to control"

"I'm sorry"

"Stop saying that!" shouted Starlight, whipping around. "You didn't do anything! I was the one who brainwashed all of those ponies!"

"Could you explain why you did?"

"Okay"

"Okay. Let's go sit down."

***
All Starlight Glimmer knew was that she was lonely. Her parents had left her out here, in the outskirts of Equestria, completely alone.

"Hey, is that a filly?" came a voice behind her. She whipped around and saw a mare and stallion, both dressed for hiking.

"Oh, where are your parents?" asked the mare, walking to Starlight.

"T-they left me here" She choked out.

"Okay, what's your name?"

"Will you leave me too?"

"Well, after we find your parents, yes"

"You'll never leave me!" said Starlight, eyes flashing green. At the same time, the pairs eyes also flashed white. The two ponies started wriggling in pain as their cutie marks were torn from their bodies, each replaced by a black equal sign. Starlight giggled and looked down only to see her own cutie mark appearing. A cutie mark in magic. How perfect. She went on doing this spell to any pony who would come across their little town. As Starlight grew, she knew that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn't just let them go! They would go straight to Celestia. Starlight would be banished to the badlands, or get 50 years in prison, or worse! One night, she promised herself that she wouldn't brainwash anybody ever again.

That was, until a group of six showed up, and one of them was a princess. Starlight saw something in her, something she had been missing for years. True happiness, in its purest form. An old hunger opened in Starlight, and she decided to brainwash one last pony. Flutter Shy. Flutter Shy could convince her friends, including Twilight Sparkle, to stay. Eventually, Starlight just resorted to brainwash Twilight into loving her back. But of course, all of her spells broke when they got their cutie marks back. Starlight had to escape into a northern cave system, where she was once again, Alone.

***
"Wow" said Twilight after a moments silence. Starlight looked away in shame.

"I'm sorry" she whispered again.

"No" said Twilight, standing to be right in front of Starlight. "I'm sorry, that I didn't ask you earlier" By now, Twilight was extremely close to Starlight, who was blushing, but not objecting. "Look up" whispered Twilight. They both looked up to see a large bundle of mistletoe hanging above them. Then, there was Twilight's lips, pressing against her own.

Author's Note

Hope you all liked! I just got this idea and started writing, so it might not be all that good. Thanks for reading!