Starlight was listening; she was listening very carefully. Every word that left the princess’s lips seemed rational, but there was no way she could ever understand what Starlight was feeling. She had always wanted to have friends; it’s not as if she didn’t try, but that was the problem. She did try yet always ended up alone. How could any pony who tried as hard as she had to achieve the one thing she truly wanted still not have what this group so easily maintained and was always destined to have: friendship? How could anything be this unfair and cruel? That’s why Starlight had no other choice.
Star Swirl the Bearded’s scroll hung between the two mares in an azure light. With each forced syllable Starlight tore the scroll a little more. ”You just don’t get it do you? You and your friends have it so easy. All my life I’ve worked for something only to end up with nothing! I’m sure it’s so nice having such loyal friends isn’t it? Well, Twilight, your friends aren’t here to save you, and now they Never. Will. Be!” Twilight leapt forward, but it was too late. With a final smirk Starlight ripped the scroll in two.
As the scroll vanished the portal reappeared above Twilight and Spike, and they were sucked back into whatever dimension awaited them, but something was different this time. Starlight was being pulled along as well. It was a physically gut wrenching feeling; what may have only taken moments seemed to take a lifetime. A lifetime full of memories and lives altered. Misplaced. Erased… As she reached her final destination she couldn’t help but think of the alicorn once more, and wonder how she had traveled through the portal so many times without becoming sick as she had just managed to do. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly opened them to see .. darkness. It was the kind of darkness that had a weight to it. It feels heavy on your chest and you feel like your ears could pop at any moment. The darkness was thick, and the silence was deafening. Maybe she hadn’t actually opened her eyes yet? She rubbed them harder this time, she could see little celestial patterns dancing with each rotation of her hooves. When she removed them the sight was still the same: nothing. Startled, she stumbled backwards, nearly falling off of, well, something. She couldn’t quite be sure. Her mind began to race; was it a set of stairs, a cliff, a cloud …
Her legs were shaking, one wrong step could end everything, but how could she know what step was right and wrong when she couldn’t see? She tried to produce a small orb of light, but whether it had worked or not was uncertain for she was still cloaked in a sea of black. How can this be happening? She wanted to run off and find help, or light for that matter, but the fear of falling kept her hooves cemented to the ground. Then a sound pierced the silence like a sword; it was her name, or at least she thought it was. With little choice she called out into the darkness. “Twilight?” A small purple light appeared about a hundred yards away, and there stood the princess once more. “Twilight!” She cursed what she had said of the princess and her friends moments before, swallowed her pride in roughly three hearty gulps, and started to run towards the warm glow. She was only hooves away from the alicorn when it happened; her hoof came thundering down only to make contact with the dark empty air. She began falling at an alarming rate, or so it felt. She was flailing, screaming. Why wasn’t the princess flying down after her? Why should she? She could hear the ground coming rapidly. With one last shriek she opened her eyes to an alarming contrast, white. And soft?
Her pillow was soaked with sweat; she could hear the reverberations of what could only be her shrill cry echoing down the castle hallways. It was a dream. Again… But the hoof steps she heard coming down the hallway shortly after, to her dismay, were not a dream. She was feeling rather embarrassed as she heard a knock coming from her door. “Is everything alright in there? Can I come in?” Starlight answered sheepishly as Twilight walked through the door.
“May I?” Twilight asked, gesturing towards the bed.
“Go ahead.” Starlight responded as she sat up to make room for the princess to sit at the end of the bed trying hard not to make eye contact.
“So what did happen, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Starlight squirmed a little; she hated to keep reliving the past, but it was hard to avoid when the past kept rearing its ugly head in every facet of her life. Even her dreams weren’t safe anymore. Maybe I can talk to Princess Luna about that later…
“Um, Starlight?” Twilight was waiving a hoof in front of Starlight’s face. She jumped a little at being pulled out of her thoughts and once again felt embarrassed.
“I’m sorry Twilight, it’s just … Well, I had another bad dream is all.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said with a genuine level of sincerity. “What was it about? You know, I have plenty of books that talk about the dissection and meaning of dreams down to the smallest details, even the stuff you may deem minor or not useful. They really came to good use when I kept having this reoccurring dream about my teeth falling out, and…”
“I don’t think I need help dissecting this dream, Twilight.” Starlight cut in. She sighed, anticipating whatever backlash may came from digging up the past. “It was about the scroll. This time I really ripped it. The portal took you, and Spike. It even took me this time... Everything was dark, but I found you. I tried to run to you, but just before I could get to you I fell through the floor. I was falling so fast. You didn’t help me …” Starlight’s eyes began to water as her sentence trailed off. She knew how silly it must have sounded. Dreams never pack quite the same punch when you say them aloud, but it all just felt so real. They always do.
They both sat in silence for a moment until Starlight decided to follow up her thoughts.
“I know it was just a dream, and I know it didn’t actually happen, obviously. But what if it had? I kept sending you back through that portal having no idea what waited for you on the other side. I’m so sorry.” She looked down, hoping Twilight wouldn’t notice the pools forming in her eyes.
Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I know you are, Starlight. You’re right about one thing, it was just a dream. But dream or not, I know you wouldn’t have ripped that scroll. And do you know how I know that?”
Starlight continued to stare into the blankets, only responding with a slight huff.
Twilight struggled to form an answer, which was rather silly considering she was the one that posed the question. The answer seemed simple, but she wanted to word it in a way that would reassure her friend.
“You’re not an inherently bad pony. We haven’t known each other long, but I know that much is true. You feel passionately, and that may come off as aggressive to others, but that passion is not coming from a place of hate. You said it yourself; you were fighting over friendship. That’s what you wanted. Deep down your intentions were good, and are good. They always have been.”
Twilight paused for a moment more before finishing, “I have faith that given the choice a second time, or a hundred times the outcome would still be the same. Us sitting here in this castle, in our castle, as friends.”
Starlight was making eye contact with Twilight now. She comprehended everything that was said, and believed it all to be true, but there was still a larger looming issue. Why did Twilight believe in something, or in this case some pony, so wholeheartedly so quickly? For now that didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter is, for some reason, she did, and Starlight was forever grateful for it.
“Thank you, Twilight. I’m sorry if it seems that I am always searching for reassurance, but there’s no pony else I would rather hear it from. Thank you. For everything.” She pulled Twilight in to a hug; it was nice to have a pony there to do that for a change.
Twilight stood up from the bed, and turned to look out the window only to realize the sun had started to make its way into the sky.
She turned back towards Starlight. “Well, it looks like it’s a bit late to head back to bed. Why don’t we get an early start to our day?”
Starlight groaned ever so slightly. She was never much of an early morning pony, but considering the fact that Twilight stayed up with her all night just to comfort her, she could suck it up this time, for her.
“I suppose we could do that.” She said with a small grin.
“Great!” Twilight exclaimed with far too much enthusiasm for the time of day. “I’ll have Spike start some breakfast, and we can start preparing for our next friendship lesson this afternoon; I hope you’re just as excited as I am!”
“Maybe with a few more hours of sleep…” Starlight rolled her eyes as she said this more to herself than any pony else. Especially considering Twilight was already half way to the kitchen by now.
Author's Note
I'm not sure how many chapters will come of this, but it is most definitely ongoing. I apologize for the romance tag with no romance yet, but I promise it will come 
