It had been a long day for everypony, Twilight and Starlight specifically as they were the only two that actually remembered or knew about what happened. It was also a day the two would never forget. Starlight Glimmer made some new friends and made up with Night Glider and the others. Twilight even welcomed Starlight into the castle to stay until she figured out where she wanted to go and do with herself.
Starlight gladly accepted and moved in with Twilight for the time being. It had been years since she had a friend and that’s what bugged her. She had new friends and hoped to keep them as such. It was a worry she wasn’t sure she would ever get over. The minute Starlight was alone in her new room, the thoughts of losing friends she had just received became clear in her mind and it made her upset. She had more friends than she had ever had and yet, it worried her.
She knew she had been wrong for what she did and she did feel bad about it. She didn’t want to go back to that same feeling of loneliness, anger, and hatred. What’s worse is would the feeling be amplified by losing so many friends at once? “No, don’t think that way Starlight. Twilight is the princess of friendship for pony’s sake; she wouldn’t let me be lonely again. I need to keep my head up.” Despite her best efforts to calm herself, the worry still lingered even in her dreams.
Starlight woke outside the castle and in the rain no less. She ran up to the door and knocked over and over until Twilight finally answered the door. Starlight smiled for only a moment. “Starlight, what are you doing here? I kicked you out remember.” Starlight moved closer to Twilight but was blocked by a force field. “I told you to go make some new friends remember. My friends and I aren’t getting along with you. It’s no fault of your own of course but it’s not working. Go make some new friends Starlight.” Twilight shut the door slowly and left Starlight in the rain.
“No Twilight, please, I don’t want to be alone again.” Starlight said as the castle got further and further away from her. “Come back, please come back.” The castle disappeared and Starlight found herself in her old home and Sunburst was at the door and so was she. The two were talking about something. Starlight moved closer and then she heard him mocking her. “Ha ha, I have a cutie mark and you don’t. I get to go to Canterlot and be a student in Princess Celestia’s school and yooou dooon’t. I got my cutie mark first, I’m so much better than you.” Starlight stood, frozen in place as she watched herself run off crying. Sunburst then turned to her and glared at her. “What do you want blank flank?” Starlight looked at her flank and noticed her Cutie mark was gone. Starlight fell to the ground and tried to cover her ears but it was no use. Even the sound of her crying wasn’t loud enough to block out the insults being thrown at her. Sunburst continued to mock her until a magical blast blew him away. Starlight slowly looked up and saw Princess Luna standing before her.
“Princess Luna, what are you doing here?” Starlight lowered her head.
“This is quiet the nightmare Starlight, how awful.” Luna said
Starlight looked up in shock and a bit of relief. “What, a nightmare; but it feels so real.”
“Yes, a nightmare can feel very real. In fact, I have had a similar experience with a few filly’s who have told me the same thing. Tell me Starlight, what is your fear?”
“I don’t want to feel small, like I’m not worth anything to anypony.”
“Starlight, is that truly what scares you?” Luna asked as she wrapped a wing around the mare before her and feeling a touch of Deja vu.
Starlight thought about it a bit and then shook her head. “I don’t want to lose my friends, I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want to feel the anger, hate, and loneliness again.”
Luna nodded and smiled. “It’s true that you don’t like feeling unimportant, believe me, I know how that feels but the true fear goes a little deeper doesn’t it?”
“Yes Princess Luna, what do I do?” Starlight asked with tears in her eyes.
“Who was that stallion mocking you?”
“That was Starburst, my friend before he got sent to your sisters stupid school.” Starlights eyes widened and quickly apologized. “I’m so sorry Princess Luna, I didn’t mean”
“It’s alright, I understand. Now is Sunburst where it all started?” Starlight nodded. “Then perhaps he is who you need to speak to.” Luna started drifting away into the sky. “Speak to him and lose that fear Starlight.”
Starlight woke with a start and screamed. Twilight burst into the room with worry. “Starlight, what happened, are you ok?”
“I don’t know, it was a nightmare I think. Luna she came and spoke to me.”
“Thank goodness, Princess Luna is very good at that sort of thing. Now are you alright?” Starlight nodded. “Spike is making breakfast, I would be happy to bring it to you.” Twilight offered.
“What, no, thank you, I’ll come get it. I could use a minute if that’s alright?” Starlight asked and received a nod from Twilight. “I’ll be down in a minute.” Twilight left Starlight to think. “What a dream or nightmare, whatever it was.” Starlight stood up and walked over to the dresser mirror and looked in it. She fixed her mane and thought about the event she had. If it was Luna trying to help her, then why not take the advice. She fixed herself up and then looked at her flank happy to see that her Cutie Mark was still there and then chuckled. “Me, happy to see a Cutie Mark, that’s new.” Starlight walked out of her room and made her way to the kitchen all while admiring the castle. She hadn’t actually taken time to look around before she almost ruined everypony’s lives. Starlight shivered out of disgust. She had only wanted to teach Twilight a lesson and ruin her life, not destroy Equeastria, not that it went well. Twilight managed to turn her around and she was grateful for it.
Soon Starlight arrived in the kitchen. “I made pancakes.” Spike said and then Pinkie appeared.
“They’re good but they aren’t like mine.” Pinkie grabbed a pancake in her mouth. “Mmm, yummy.” Pinkie then disappeared.
Starlight turned to Twilight. “I thought it was just Spike making breakfast?”
“It was, that’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled.
“Oh, I guess I still have a few things to learn about them huh?” Starlight sat down and grabbed a pancake.
“You’ll get there, maybe. I gave up trying to figure Pinkie out. It’s less work to just go with it. I hurt myself trying to figure her out, never again.” Twilight chuckled and then took a bite of pancake. She noticed Starlight rubbing her foreleg uncomfortably. “You ok?”
“Yeah, it’s just I was wondering, never mind.”
“Come on Starlight, don’t shut me out, something is bothering you.” Twilight said and received a shocked look from Starlight. “I know, shocking that I actually care right?”
“I’ll be honest; I didn’t think you really did care. I thought it was just for the sake of saving Equestria.” Starlight inhaled and exhaled. “Ok so I was wondering” A knock came to the door cutting off Starlight. “Go on, I’ll just ask you later.”
“Are you sure, whoever it is can wait I’m sure.”
“Really, go on.” Starlight insisted and watched as Twilight stood up. “Actually, could I come with you.” Twilight gave a happy nod. Starlight stood up and walked over to Twilight. “So I wanted to go see Sunburst.”
“Oh good, I was hoping you would go see him and make things right.” Starlight turned away. “That is what you want to do right?”
Starlight rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. “I really just wanted to go yell at him.”
“Starlight, don’t you dare. Yelling at him won’t help you feel better. Sure at the time it will but in the long run, you’ll just feel empty and or sad. You need to tell him how you feel, not yell at him for a mistake. Remember, Starlight, fighting with you didn’t get us anywhere and it won’t get you anywhere with him. Share how you feel with him and talk it out.”
“I know, you’re right but can’t I do both?” Twilight shook her head. “I thought not.”
“You can be stern with him without yelling, try it.” Starlight nodded as Twilight opened the door. The pony at the door was none other than Sunburst. “Well, this is awkward.” Sunburst was older but twilight could tell it was him. Twilight backed up behind Starlight who looked as if she was going to scream at the top of her lungs but to Twilight’s surprise, Starlight kept cool.
“What are you doing here Sunburst?” Starlight asked.
“I came to see you, I heard you were here in Ponyville. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you Starlight.” Sunburst said and then saw the look on Starlight’s face. She was mad, very mad and sad.
Starlight let her tears run down her cheeks as she spoke loud but not yelling. “Missed me, are you kidding me? If you missed me so much, why didn’t you come to find me when we were kids huh? Why didn’t you write me letters or visit or something?” Starlight stomped her hoof and began to yell. “You left me alone. You were my only friend and you left me alone. Don’t you dare say you missed me when you didn’t even try to keep in contact with me!”
“Starlight, remember what I said.” Twilight quickly took a few steps back when Starlight turned around. “Right, this is a matter between you two, good luck.” Twilight then teleported down the hall.
Starlight turned back to Sunburst and glared. “Where were you all this time huh? Why did you abandon me. Just because you got a Cutie Mark first doesn’t make you better than me. What did I do to make you hate me?” Starlight finally broke down and cried.
“Star I never thought myself better than you and I definitely didn’t hate you. When I left, at first I was so excited but it started growing old. I began to miss you but I thought that if I let myself get distracted, I would disappoint everypony who helped me get into the school. “Sunburst sighed. “I was only a colt at the time Star.” He paused for a moment before he continued. “I assure you Starlight, I never once stopped thinking about you.” Sunburst stood next to Starlight but was pushed away. “Star, as I got older, as my studies started coming to a close, I wrote to you but no pony knew where you went. I searched for you everywhere and then I got a lead. I heard you went to a small town. I went there but you weren’t there. The last I heard, you ran into a cave and disappeared.”
“Guess whose fault that was?” Starlight snapped.
“I know you’re mad at me but please Starlight, I have missed you. For the record, I failed a lot of tests and classes because of you. It’s like I said, I never stopped thinking about you.”
“It doesn’t matter, you still put me through so much pain and all this time I blamed your Cutie Mark. I still do but at least now I blame you too. I was only a Filly and my only friend left me.” Starlight wiped tears from her eyes.
“I know and I’m so sorry. If I could redo it I would.” Starlight turned away. “Please Star, I’m so sorry for everything that happened. Please, I don’t know what else to say.”
“There isn’t anything you can say but perhaps you can do something for me.” Starlight stood up and wiped more tears from her eyes.
“Anything, I will do anything to help you forgive me.”
Starlight thought for a few minutes leaving Sunburst in suspense. Starlight spoke calmly. “You want to make up for everything, be my best friend again. Don’t leave me alone and if you absolutely have to leave, take me with you. Don’t let your Cutie Mark take you away from me again. Last but not least, stay here in Ponyville and meet my new friends. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m still mad at you.”
“Of course Star, anything for you and I expect you to be.” Sunburst gave Starlight a hug. “If it makes you feel any better, I never had a friend as great as you.”
In the distance, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “I taught her so well.”
“Twilight, she still yelled at him. Sure she started off calm but lets face it Twilight, it was bound to happen that way with or without you. So you didn’t teach her anything.” Spike said with a small smile as he walked off.
“I so did teach her a few things Spike. I learned from the best.”
“You mean the teacher that likes to mess with you, think about it. The Grand Galloping gala is a great example.” Spike then ran off.
Twilight took a few moments to think and realized that Spike wasn’t wrong. “Celestia is so getting pranked.” Twilight turned and saw Sunburst and Starlight talking and laughing. “I’m so a better teacher than Celestia.” Twilight looked around. “I’m so glad Celestia didn’t hear that.” Twilight teleported away leaving both Sunburst and Starlight alone.