Starlight Glimmer: The Mane One

"Today's friendship lesson is about boundaries," Twilight Sparkle announced to Starlight in the castle library.

"Like a shield spell?" Starlight asked, ready to cast the spell, "I can do that easily."

Twilight shook her head. "No no, that's not what I meant, but I understand why you're confused. A boundary is a kind of social limitation that ponies make with other ponies they don't know, or even trust. There's always different boundaries with different ponies. It's like... privacy."

"I-I don't follow," Starlight admitted shyly, "How can I make new friends if I don't know what these....'boundaries'...are?"

"I'll show you what I mean," Twilight explained, "let's do a little roleplay." Twilight's horn glowed as she levitated an old grey hat and coat around her. "I'll pretend to be a pony you don't know by wearing this hat and coat. I'll take it off when the roleplay is over. Now, show me how you would introduce yourself to a random pony." Twilight levitated the old hat around her head, covering her ears and upper mane, while the coat wrapped gently around her body, dragging along the floor. Starlight started to panic, she wasn't prepared for this. She moved forwards carefully, nudging the 'stranger' on the shoulder. "H-Hi, erm, hello there, I'm-"

"What do you want, random pony?" the 'stranger' replied slowly her low voice. Starlight gulped, putting on her best smile. Twilgiht was definitely not going easy.

"I'm uh, I'm Starlight Glimmer, it's nice to meet you. I like magic. I'm really good at it. Do you like magic?"

"No." The 'stranger's voice sounded as cold as ever.

"Oh, well, uhm-" Starlight's eyes darted left to right, coming uncomfortably close to the 'stranger's' face, "Pinkie Pie makes nice cakes, have you ever tried any?"

A colder reply came this time. "Why are you talking to me? I don't even know you." Starlight got extremely flustered at this point. What kind of lesson was Twilight trying to teach her? Friendship was the answer to everything, wasn't it? Suddenly, it clicked. That's right! She thought to herself. Twilight's teaching me to keep trying no matter what! "Oh, don't worry about me, I'd like to know SOMETHING about you, stranger. I like kites, do you like kites? Reading? Anything?"

Twilight sighed, taking off her disguise to stop the session. "Okay, that was good, Starlight, you kept your cool and you stayed friendly and positive."

Starlight was relieved that it was over, but was still confused. "What..What did I do wrong then? I tried everything you've thought me, it always works when I meet one of your friend's friends!"

"I know, Starlight. Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong, I was roleplaying a pretty harsh pony. Well, this all goes back to boundaries. The pony didn't really know you, and you were being a little too close. Being too close to ponies that don't know you actually makes them uncomfortable. Sometimes, respecting a pony means giving them some space until they want to get to know you better too. You can't just go up to a random pony and reveal your deepest secrets to them. They might feel overwhelmed or weirded out. Do you want to try again?" Twilight smiled as she finished her speech, resting her hoof on Starlight's back encouragingly. She knew this wasn't easy for her.

Startlight rubbed her hooves together nervously. She still didn't get it entirely. "Could we have a break? I'd like to uhm, read up, on the topic, before trying again. If that's okay?"

"Sure! This is a pretty difficult friendship lesson, so take all the time you need. Let me know when you want to continue. I'll be reading in the map room." Twilight waved goodbye as she walked out of the library, leaving Starlight alone.
Starlight instantly started looking through different book covers in the library, really curious about these boundaries. She remembered how cold and reclusive she was when she first started living in the castle. Twilight taught her how to be more open with her friends, but now she was teaching her how to be closed and distant all over again. It didn't make much sense to her. The fact that every pony had their own boundaries confused her even more. How could she learn and memorize every single one? Surely this was impossible, you can't just read other ponies minds.
...
Or can you?