Starlight Glimmer breathed slowly, trying to calm her nerves. The exercise was not really accomplishing much, given that her nerves had not really been calm since the time travel incident she started back at Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle a few days ago. She was tense, constantly waiting for some other horseshoe to drop or for her sudden, and, admittedly, completely undeserved, fortune to blow up in her face.
Twilight and her friends had been a great help and, while her nerves had never calmed, spending time with them had given her a sense of ease though Applejack was still wary around her. Still she was tense and her nerves were a jittering up a storm right now. She had not felt like this since she visited the village she had once run to apologize for her actions. They had forgiven her quickly and offered to let spend time in the town, especially Double Diamond, the first pony to follow her.
Sitting next to Starlight Glimmer was her new teacher, mentor and probation officer, Princess Twilight Sparkle, her muzzle in a yearbook and her head bobbing a little as the train went along the track that ran from Ponyville to Canterlot. It seemed like something out of a dream, that she was the student of a pony she had plotted against for so long yet had welcomed her in friendship with nary a reservation. Starlight had wondered what friendship could be, even plotted to force her own twisted version of it on Equestria, but Twilight of all ponies decided to share its magic with her.
She only hoped that she could live up to the princess’ expectations. Twilight made it clear that she believed that Starlight Glimmer could be capable of great things. If not for Twilight’s support she would be in imprisoned or banished right now, probably even should be despite that. So Starlight promised herself that she would try her hardest to learn from her teacher and learn how to forge true friendships.
She just had to repair an old one first.
Cue more nervous panic.
“Any luck?” Starlight asked.
“A little…” Twilight replied, flipping through the yearbook. “It seems that Sunburst did attend Celestia’s School, but I don’t know any of the ponies he went to class with.” With a sigh, she shut the book and returned it to her saddle bag. “But now I know to check the office for his last place of residence and then it’ll just be a simple matter of tracking down the places he’s lived over the years. Hopefully he’s still in Canterlot.” She also made a note to meet with headmaster to start making stronger efforts at scouting potential students outside of Canterlot. There was no way they could have missed a unicorn like Starlight Glimmer otherwise.
“So what will I do?”
Twilight Sparkle glanced towards her student. She had thought about bringing Starlight along to the school to help her search through the records, but she was a grown mare and capable of taking care of herself. Spending some time around the school on her own might do her some good.
But then again, considering it was Starlight Glimmer…
“Would you like to help me go through the records?”
“Okay.”
She was not surprised by the answer. Starlight Glimmer agreed to take part in just about any activity presented to her. A habit that Twilight hoped would not continue for much longer, even if her student did end up enjoying herself in the end.
The search through the school records took longer than expected, due only in part to Twilight taking time to have a rather lengthy and heated discussion with headmaster about how the school went about scouting for students.
However, even though they found the information that they were looking for, Starlight Glimmer quickly decided that she wished they had not.
“I don’t think I can do this…” She mumbled as her hoof was raised halfway from being at rest and knocking against the door in front of her.
“Of course you can.” Twilight reassured her. “You’ve come so far, now all you need is to knock on that door.”
‘So far?’ It was not that long ago that she had been trading blows with the pony next, bent on causing a future that would end up ruining Equestria. She would have doomed everypony to a fate worse than Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra and Tirek combined. But Twilight assured her that she was different now, even if Starlight Glimmer had her own doubts.
“What if he doesn’t remember me?” It was Starlight’s biggest fear. When he got his cutie mark, Sunburst passed right by her and left for Canterlot the next day, seemingly without giving her a second thought. They had not seen or heard from each other since and that had been years ago when they were just foals. Younger than the Cutie Mark Crusaders were now.
Younger than Twilight and her friends had been when they got their cutie marks.
“I’m sure he will.” Twilight said, smiling. “And if he doesn’t, then you can still make a new bond of friendship with him. If not, then we’re still friends.” She remembered her own experience with that in regards her old Canterlot friends, an experience Starlight Glimmer had witnessed herself. But she and Sunburst had been apart for much longer than they were.
But if she never knocked, she would never find out… Part of her was okay with that actually, now that she thought about it. But Twilight would never approve and she did not think it would be a good idea to disappoint her teacher so early into her tutelage.
Twilight was off to the side, so that Starlight Glimmer would be the first thing Sunburst saw when he opened the door. This moment was between them, after all. Reluctantly, Starlight Glimmer brought her hoof to the door and rapped against its polished wood surface three times.
There was a short pause before the sounds of moving hooves and the opening of a door came from inside the home. The door before them opened, and a light orange unicorn stallion sporting a darker orange mane poked his head out with an expression that conveyed pure annoyance. It was clear that they had either interrupted something or he had a really bad day.
A third option was possible, but Starlight did not want to think of it.
Just as planned, Starlight was the first thing Sunburst noticed. “Who is it and what do you want?”
Starlight Glimmer opened her mouth to speak, but she found that she did not know what to say. What should she say? ‘Hi, I’m the friend you haven’t seen or heard from in years and I ALMOST DESTROYED EQUESTRIA BECAUSE I FELT LIKE YOU ABANDONED ME!’ Yeah, she had a feeling that would not be a good way to start off a conversation.
“If you have no business with me, please leave. I’m rather busy and have no time to entertain guests.”
After a prolonged time spent just standing there, Sunburst’s voice snapped her attention away from her thoughts and back to the real world. That when she realized the thing she dreaded. There was no recognition as his hard, irritated gaze scrutinized her. There was no hint of a smile or a hug to embrace a lost friend.
He had forgotten her.
Just like the day he had gotten his cutie mark, he had forgotten her. Her oldest, dearest friend, who had shaped practically her whole life up to now, did not even remember her! Had it truly been so long? Did he ever really care?
“Are you deaf or something?” He growled, his voice sounding even more irritated. “I’m busy! I’ve got research papers due and a conference to attend!”
“Please… it’s Starlight. Starlight Glimmer. Don’t you remember me?”
Sunburst looked at her, hard. His gaze became even more scrutinizing than it was before but all he gained from his efforts was a look of confusion. “Should I?”
“N-no.” Starlight whispered, a tear streaking down her face. This was not like the Sunburst she knew at all. Not the fact that he did not remember her. That she could understand, since they had been separated for so long. But this Sunburst was so irritable, not like the friend she knew at all.
Time had changed him, but, then again, time had changed her as well.
Twilight moved, looking determined, angered and ready to intercede. She stopped when Starlight Glimmer raised her hoof to her before the unicorn spoke to the stallion before them. “Sorry, I guess I had the wrong pony.”
“Come back during break, when I’m not busy.” Sunburst sighed, as he turned and shut the door.
Starlight felt a hoof on her shoulder and saw Twilight trying to comfort her. Strangely, she looked just as sad, if not more so, than Starlight did. “Starlight, I’m so sorry. He had no right to treat you like that-“
“Let’s go.” Starlight Glimmer said, her voice trying not to crack from dejection. All of that effort, wasted. She knew she had wasted her life away before, but this just hammered it in further. She and her friend turned, walking away from the house.
There was nothing for them here.
It both amazed and terrified Starlight Glimmer how she was now the voice of reason in all of this. Twilight had been in a fury since the moment they left Sunburst’s house. She could actually feel the magic crackling from the alicorn and it took everything Starlight knew, which was little more than asking “Please don’t”, to convince her friend not to go back and break down the door to demand an apology. Could princesses break down other ponies’ doors for that sort of thing?
“Twilight, it’s not worth it!”
Twilight Sparkle turned on her, wings almost flaring out in aggravation. “Yes, yes it is Starlight! Not remembering you is one thing, but how he acted was just rude!”
“Well, he did say he was busy.” Starlight said, recalling when she was the mayor of a town. Even if it was a town that bended to her whims, literally, there was still a lot of work that frustrated her to no end, like settling disputes and keeping everypony civil with one another. There was also when she prepared for her conflict with Twilight, where she researched numerous difficult spells (admittedly not her strongest suit), such as self-levitation and modifying Star Swirl’s time travel spell. Would scholars have a heavier workload than that? She would have to ask Twilight later.
“That’s not an excuse!”
“It’s okay.” Starlight Glimmer said, not relenting. “It was too much to ask for. Been too long. But that’s okay.” She smiled, looking towards her teacher. “Maye someday I’ll come back, when he’s not busy and he’ll e my friend then. For now, I have plenty of friends to spend time with.”
Twilight Sparkle returned her smile, proud of how far her student had come in such a short time. Side by side they trotted back to the castle where they would spend the rest of the day reading and talking.
