Nightmare Remnant

by Starlight Glimmer1

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Trixie, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer, Romance
Length: 7913

What if Princess Celestia was unable to end Starlight Glimmer's nightmare?

Celestia and Luna have made up and Starlight Glimmer's first friendship mission was a success! However, not everything has turned out okay. Despite her best efforts and Luna's reassuring, Princess Celestia was unable to defeat Daybreaker in Starlight's nightmare and Starlight's psyche was damaged as a result.

Twilight, who blames herself, works to undo the damage and in the process, her true feelings make themselves known.

This is based off Luna’s statement about Starlight’s nightmare potentially harming her psyche. No idea why I’m writing this since I really didn’t like seeing Starlight suffer like that, especially when she broke down crying. And yet despite that I’m using it as the cover image. …Welp.

Note: Out of character behavior.

Published 2017-09-28 23:30:05 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-11 05:10:39 UTC

Broken Day

"Don't do this to each other!" Starlight screamed in despair as the two corrupted alicorns prepared to destroy each other.

"In order to defeat Daybreaker, you need only to trust in your strength as I do," Luna gave her sister a warm smile.

Daybreaker moved toward Nightmare Moon and the two alicorns fired beams of magic at each other. Before they could collide, Princess Celestia teleported between the beams and blocked them with her wings.

"You can't destroy me! I'm everything you want to be!" Daybreaker yelled at the interfering alicorn.

"No, you're not! You are not real, and you will never exist ag-aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Princess Celestia screamed as she was knocked into a wall by Daybreaker.

"Sister!" Luna exclaimed as she rushed over to Princess Celestia.

After dealing with Princess Celestia, Daybreaker returned her attention to Nightmare Moon and the two alicorns once again fired beams of magic at each other. The two beams collided creating an explosion that resulted in the destruction of the two evil alicorns.

"Nooooo!"

Starlight's scream echoed across the dreamscape just as its boundaries were shattered by the two sisters' death throes. Blinding light filled Starlight's vision as the shock stirred her from her nightmare.

Celestia found herself back in the waking world with a concerned Luna standing beside her.

"Sister, are you okay?" Luna asked.

"I'm fine. How is Starlight Glimmmer?"

Just then the two heard quiet sobbing coming from the bedroom. They entered the room to find Starlight crying into the pillow she had been using.

"I shouldn't have come on this mission. All I've done is mess everything up," She said between sobs.

"Starlight, what's wrong?" Celestia asked the weeping unicorn.

"I’m so sorry,” Starlight turned to Princess Celestia, tears streaming down her face. “I shouldn’t have cast that spell, it’s just messed everything up.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Celestia said in a comforting voice. “Your spell allowed me and Luna to experience each other’s duties first hoof and it has helped us tremendously.”

“The map was wise to send you, Starlight. Nopony else would have been so bold as to do what you did,” Luna added.

“I’m sure the two of you would have worked things out just fine without me,” Starlight wiped away her tears as she sat up and gazed sadly at the floor.

The three of them remained silent for a moment before Luna spoke.

“It’s just as I feared. The nightmare has had negative effects on Starlight’s psyche. Fortunately it’s not as bad as I had expected.”

“I’m sorry, Luna. I failed to protect Starlight from her nightmare and now—“

“It isn’t your fault, you are not used to working in the dream realm. You did your best and that’s all I could ask of you.”

Princess Celestia smiled at her sister. She always knew what to say to make her feel better. “I love you, sister,” She said, pulling Luna into a hug.

“I love you too,” Luna replied as she returned the hug.

A faint glowing appeared and the princesses looked at their flanks as their cutie marks returned to their rightful owners. They then noticed that Starlight’s own cutie mark had begun to pulsate.

Princess Celestia smiled at Starlight. “It would appear that your mission is complete.”

Starlight turned her attention to her flank and sighed. “Yeah, looks that way,” A small smile appeared on her face. The fact that her mission wasn’t a failure cheered her up a bit.

A sudden flash of light caught everyone’s attention as Twilight Sparkle excitedly teleported into the room.

“Starlight, I know that you solved the friendship problem! I mean, I don't know everything. I just got here to bring you your toothbrush!” She teleported what was clearly Spike’s toothbrush in front of Starlight before turning to the princesses. “So this is just a friendly visit! Not interfering because I was worried! I wasn't!” - She pulled Starlight into a tight hug. - “I knew you could do it, and I'm so, so, so, so, so proud of you!” - She let go of Starlight. - “Tell me everything! Start from after I hyperventilated, and don't leave out any details!” Twilight pulled out a quill and scroll so she could write everything down and eagerly awaited Starlight’s response.

Starlight remained silent for several moments before speaking. “Listen, Twilight… I… um…” She struggled to put her thoughts into words.

Twilight was confused by her friend’s response. Starlight normally wouldn’t hesitate to tell Twilight about her new experiences in friendship so why wasn’t she saying anything now? Twilight looked into Starlight’s eyes and realized that they lacked the cheerful spark that was usually present. It was as if something inside of her had broken.

“Starlight, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked in a worried tone as she put away the quill and scroll. “Did something happen?”

Starlight sighed. “I’ll tell you everything later,” She got down off the bed “I’m going to get my stuff so we can head back to Ponyville,” With that she exited Celestia’s bedroom to get her things from the guest suite she had been staying in.

Twilight could tell that something was seriously wrong with Starlight so she turned to Celestia and Luna and asked, “What happened to her?”

“Twilight… Last night Starlight Glimmer suffered a terrible nightmare,” Celestia said, a saddened expression on her face.

“A nightmare?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, one that was no doubt stress induced,” Luna explained “Starlight was afraid of what would happen if Celestia and I continued to fight.”

“I tried to stop it but it was too powerful and it resulted in Starlight’s psyche being damaged,” Celestia further explained.

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she realized the severity of the situation.

A gentle smile then appeared on Celestia’s face. “Don’t worry, Twilight. As long as you and your friends are there to—“

The rest of Celestia’s words were lost on Twilight as her mind went through all the previous interactions she had had with Starlight the past couple of days. She remembered how Starlight appeared only slightly nervous when she first spoke to her in Canterlot and how her own fears and worries only added to it. It was then that she realized that she had unintentionally put more pressure on her every time they spoke. Finally, she went back to when Starlight was first called by the map and what Starlight had told her after she freaked out.

“I also wasn’t nervous before, but now…”

Twilight then came to a horrific conclusion.

“It’s all my fault,” She said in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

“What was that?” Celestia asked.

“It’s all my fault! I’m the one who caused this!”

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Twilight. This was Starlight’s first friendship problem, there’s no doubt that—“

“You don’t understand!” Twilight snapped. “Starlight was excited when the map called her, she wasn’t nervous until I opened my big mouth and started worrying!” - Tears began to form in her eyes - “I used a spell so I could talk to her during this mission, but I just ended up putting more pressure on her and made her more stressed out every time I talked to her! And now…” The fact that she had unintentionally hurt her best friend in such a serious way finally became too much for her and she fell onto her rear as she began crying, her face buried in her hooves.

Celestia put her wing around Twilight to comfort her. “We all make mistakes, Twilight. But dwelling on them does not make up for it, and it certainly isn’t going to help Starlight.”

Twilight looked up at the princesses, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Will she ever go back to being her normal self?” She asked, sniffling.

“It won’t be easy, but as long as you and your friends provide the support she needs, she will recover. But right now she is in a delicate state and it would be best not to overwhelm her,” Luna answered.

“I understand,” Twilight replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m going to check on her before we head back to Ponyville,” After being informed of which room Starlight had been staying in she left.

Starlight gathered her things from her temporary room and put them in her saddlebags.

Although her mission was a success she couldn’t help but think about how things would’ve worked out better if she hadn’t used that spell. This wasn’t the first time she made a mistake with her magic but she knew it would be the last.

A knock on the door alerted her to the presence of somepony on the other side of it.

“Come in,” She said to whoever it was.

The door opened and Twilight Sparkle walked in.

“Hey, Starlight are you doing okay?”

“I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay. Maybe later then.”

“Maybe,” Starlight put her saddlebags on. “We better get going so we can catch the train back to Ponyville,” She exited the room and started towards the castle’s entrance, Twilight walking beside her.

“Hey, when we get back I can show you that spell I used earlier like I said I would. How does that sound?” Twilight offered, hoping to improve Starlight’s mood.

“No thanks,” Starlight replied.

“But you’re always so eager to try out new spells.”

“Not anymore. I’m done using magic.”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth hanging wide open. That was the one thing she never thought she’d hear from Starlight.

“WHAT?!” She shouted, unable to believe what she had just heard. She caught up to Starlight and said, “But you love using magic. And you’re really good at it. Why would you want to—“

“Don’t you get it?!” Starlight snapped as she turned to face her best friend, “Whenever I use my magic I end up causing trouble for everypony! I removed the cutie marks of an entire village, used mind control magic on our friends, caused three ponies to be possessed by my anger, and almost caused Equestria to be destroyed multiple times! It’s better for me to give up using it entirely,” With that she continued towards the castle entrance leaving Twilight visibly stunned.

“Starlight…” Twilight whispered, having fully realized what kind of state her friend was in.

After Starlight’s outburst they continued out of the castle in silence and the two mares were only stopped once by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Starlight didn’t pay any attention to what the three of them were saying but she was sure it was important. After Twilight finished her quick conversation with the princesses they continued to the train station where they boarded the train back to Ponyville.

Starlight stared out the window as the train left the station. She had decided that she would take some time for herself once they got home.

Author's Note

The negative perspective Starlight has on her own magic as a result of her psychological state does not reflect my opinion of it.

Fun fact: The chapter name is a Daybreaker reference.

Back in Ponyville

Ponyville came into view as the train neared it’s destination.

Starlight turned to look at Twilight. The two mares hadn’t said anything to each other since leaving Canterlot castle. Starlight had started to feel guilty about her earlier outburst and was worried that she may have made Twilight mad. She performed the breathing exercise Twilight had shown her to calm herself down before saying anything to her.

“Hey, Twilight?”

Twilight turned her attention to Starlight. “Yes, Starlight?”

“I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, you didn’t do anything wrong and I let myself get upset at you for no reason. I hope you’re not mad me.”

A moment later, Starlight found herself wrapped in Twilight’s forelegs as she pulled her into a comforting hug.

“Of course I’m not mad at you.” Twilight assured in a comforting voice.

Relieved to hear that Twilight wasn’t mad, Starlight returned the embrace.

The rest of the train ride was spent in silence.

Once the train arrived at Ponyville station Twilight and Starlight went straight to the castle that they called home. They were greeted by various ponies along the way and while Twilight happily returned the greetings, Starlight remained silent. Upon reaching the castle, they found Spike waiting for them inside.

“Hey, Starlight, how’d your friendship mission go?”

“Hi, Spike.” She replied as she walked past.

“What’s with her?” He asked, confused by Starlight’s behavior.

“First we need to bring everypony here. This is something I need to tell all of you.” Twilight answered.

“Oh, okay. Hey, have you seen my toothbrush anywhere?”

Two hours later, the Mane 6 and Spike were gathered in the throne room at Twilight’s request, each of them sitting in their respective throne.

“Thanks for coming, everypony.” Twilight said. “There’s something important I need to tell you.”

“Oh oh! Do you have a super special surprise for us?”

“No, it’s—“

“Are Cadance and Shining Armor coming to visit?”

“No it’s—“

“Are you—“

“Pinkie!”

“Sorry.”

Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “As I was saying, it’s about Starlight.”

“She’s not leaving is she?” Fluttershy asked.

“No, she’s not.”

“Then what is it about?” Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. “A couple days ago, the map called Starlight to solve a friendship problem at the royal palace. It turned out that Celestia and Luna were having problems with each other, so Starlight switched their cutie marks to allow them to experience each other’s duties. It worked and Starlight successfully solved the friendship problem, but she had a stress induced nightmare while Celestia was performing Luna’s duties.”

“Oh, the poor thing. That must have been awful for her.”

“That’s just it, Fluttershy. The nightmare was too much for Celestia to handle, and Starlight was under so much stress that it caused psychological damage.”

“Uh, what does that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight groaned and explained what psychological damage is.

“Whoa. That sounds bad.”

“We should throw her a party!”

“No, Pinkie. Starlight is in a delicate state right now. The last thing she needs is all the excitement from one of your parties.” Twilight said sternly.

“But parties make everyone feel better!”

“No!”

Pinkie’s ears flattened against her head. “Aww…”

“How’d Starlight end up getting that stressed anyway?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, I know Starlight gets nervous under pressure, but I’ve never seen her that stressed.” Rainbow Dash added.

“That’s actually my fault.”

“What do you mean, darling?”

Twilight sighed. “When Starlight was called by the map she was excited about getting to solve a friendship problem, but I freaked out about the map only calling one pony and I just made her nervous. After she went to Canterlot I used a spell so I could talk to her, but I just put more pressure on her and made her more stressed. And this happened to her as a result.” She slammed her head down on the table. “Why couldn’t I just let her handle things by herself?”

“Don’t feel bad, sugarcube. There’s gotta be something we can do to help her, right?”

Twilight lifted her head off the table. “Luna said that all we have to do is be there for her. I’m sure it won’t be as simple as it sounds though.”

“Well then, we’ll be sure to do whatever we can to help.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, everypony, I knew I could count on you. But for now, let’s just give Starlight some time alone.”

Five days had passed since Starlight returned from Canterlot.

The unicorn mostly kept to herself and hardly left her room. Whenever anypony Invited her to do something she would turn them down, eventually everyone just stopped trying to get her to spend time with them.

Twilight was in her library thinking of a way to get Starlight to come out of her room when she heard a knock on the front door. When she answered the door she found Trixie Lulamoon standing on the other side.

“Hi, Trixie. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see Starlight. She was supposed to help me with my show last night, but she never showed up and I want to know why.”

“Oh.” A sad expression formed on Twilight’s face. “Come with me, there’s something you need to know.”

Twilight lead Trixie to the library so she could tell her everything about what happened to Starlight. She was worried about how the showmare would react, but she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.

“So that’s why she didn’t show up last night.” Trixie said, sadly.

“Yes. The only times she comes out of her room are to eat and go to the bathroom. I asked her why she was doing this and she said it was so she wouldn’t get in anypony’s way and mess up.”

“Poor Starlight.”

“I’m sorry. If I had let Starlight handle things on her own this wouldn’t have happened.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Twilight sighed. “I just hope I can fix this.”

“You really care about her, huh?”

“Of course I do, she’s one of my best friends. But the way she is now… she’s not the Starlight I know. The Starlight I know is always happy, loves using magic, and is ready to help her friends. Her heart is always in the right place and it always has been. Honestly, just being around her makes me happy.”

“Oooo, sounds like you’re in love.”

Twilight’s face became as red as one of Sweet Apple Acres’ apples. “What?! That’s ridiculous! I am not in love with her!”

“Sure you aren’t.”

“I don’t love Starlight! Not like that anyway.”

“If you say so.”

Twilight grumbled and got up to leave the library.

“Where are you going?” Trixie asked.

“To Starlight’s room. I’m not going to let her just sit in there any longer.” She left the library and made her way to Starlight’s room with Trixie following behind her.

Starlight was laying on her bed messing with a few wooden blocks. She had spent most of her time there and didn’t leave unless absolutely necessary. She didn’t even bother to bathe. She figured this would be the best way to avoid messing things up for other ponies.

She heard knocking on the door.

“Come in.”

Twilight walked in followed by Trixie.

“Starlight, I’m not going to let you stay in your room all day anymore. You need to spend some time with your friends.” Twilight said.

“No thanks.”

“C’mon, Starlight. I’ll show you the new trick I’ve been working on.” Trixie offered.

“I said no.” She said in a slightly annoyed tone.

“Starlight this is ridiculous.” Twilight grabbed Starlight with her magic and began dragging her towards the bathroom. “You’re going to take a bath and then you’re going to come with me to spend time with our friends.”

Starlight let out a defeated sigh. “Fine.”

Author's Note

Second chapter is finished.

I didn’t plan on having Trixie appear but after thinking about it for a bit I realized she was the best character for the role.

I hope I have met everyone’s expectations.

Blossoming love

Once Starlight had finished taking a bath, she left the bathroom and went to where Twilight and Trixie were waiting. She voiced her concerns to Twilight about how she’d likely end up messing things up, but Twilight assured her that wouldn’t happen, though Starlight remained unconvinced. The three then went into town where Twilight planned to have Starlight spend time with their friends.

Twilight was going over a checklist that she had, unsurprisingly, written for the occasion while Starlight and Trixie walked next to her. Twilight was hoping that spending the day helping her friends would be just the thing to bring Starlight back to normal. The first thing on the list was helping Rarity with her dressmaking, so the three of them headed to the boutique where the fashionista both worked and lived.

Upon entering the shop they found Rarity putting her new designs on display.

“Hi, Rarity.” Twilight said.

“Twilight, darling, what a pleasant surprise. Oh, I see you finally got Starlight to come out of her room.” Rarity said upon noticing them.

“That’s why we’re here, actually. I was hoping that Starlight could help you out in some way.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ve been waiting for her to come by so she could do just that.”

“Really?” Starlight asked.

“Really. Now come with me, darling.”

Upon being taken to Rarity’s work area, Starlight was put into an unfinished dress that Rarity was currently working on.

“Rarity, are you sure want me to help you with this?”

“Well of course, darling. After all, this gown is for you.” Rarity said as she stitched different pieces of the dress into place.

“It is?”

“Indeed. I know you haven’t been quite yourself lately, so I decided to make you a new dress to help you feel better.” Rarity said as she adjusting the dress so that it fit Starlight comfortably.

A small smile appeared on Starlight’s face as she was touched by her friend’s generosity. “Wow. Thank you, Rarity.”

“Oh it’s nothing, darling. Now hold still while I finish up.”

Rarity carefully went over the various stitches and pleats, making any adjustments she deemed necessary. Once she was satisfied she levitated over a few gems and placed them carefully specific areas on the dress.

“Perfect! There’s just one more thing.” Rarity pulled out a hair brush from a small drawer. “Terribly sorry, darling, but I’m going to have to change you’re mane style for this.”

“Oh, um… Okay.” Starlight replied with a bit of uncertainty.

“Don’t worry, darling, I assure you that you are going to love the results.”

Back in the main area of the boutique, Trixie and Twilight were arguing over Twilight’s feelings for Starlight. While Trixie insisted that she was in love Twilight assured her that she wasn’t.

“Please. The way you were talking about her earlier makes it clear how you really feel.” Trixie said.

“Trixie, I already told you, I only like her as a friend.” Twilight shot back, growing increasingly agitated at Trixie.

“Even if you don’t realize it now that doesn’t change anything.”

“For the last time, I am not in love with—“

“Starlight?!”

“Huh?” Twilight looked to see what caught Trixie’s attention and what she saw amazed her.

Standing before her was Starlight wearing a light blue frilled dress decorated with emeralds. Her hair had been tied into a ponytail while the front had been combed into the same bangs she had when Twilight first met her. On top of her head sat a small silver tiara that went with the dress she wore.

“So what do you think?” Starlight asked.

“You look… amazing.” Twilight answered.

Starlight blushed upon hearing the compliment. “Really?”

“Definitely.” Trixie said before giving Twilight a look that said ‘I was right’.

Twilight simply blushed and shot Trixie a look that said ‘shut up’.

“You really do look divine, darling.” Rarity said as she came up from behind Starlight.

“Thank you.”

“Well we better get going. We still have some other places we need to visit.” Twilight said as she exited the store with her friends.

Once they were done at Rarity’s boutique they took the dress Rarity had made for Starlight back to the castle before heading to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Starlight had thought about putting her hair back to the way she had it before Rarity changed it, but she decided to leave it the way it was for now just to try something different. And because Twilight said she looked cute.

At Fluttershy’s cottage they offered to help Fluttershy with her animals, and she gladly accepted. The first thing on the list was feeding them.

Starlight put the food into the bowl and checked to make sure she hadn’t put in too much. Since she was working with Fluttershy’s animals she was doing everything she could to avoid messing up. Starlight didn’t want Fluttershy to get upset because she screwed up, and given the number of mistakes she made in the past she figured that was likely to happen.

Not sure if she put in too much or not, she turned to Fluttershy and asked. “Is this too much?”

“It’s just right.” Fluttershy said as she took the bowl to give to the animals.

Once Fluttershy was out of hearing range Starlight let out a small sigh of relief, glad that she hadn’t made some sort of mistake.

Noticing Starlight’s apprehension, Twilight went over and wrapped a wing around her. “Calm down, you’re doing a great job so far. You aren’t going to mess anything up, I promise.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one who always messes stuff up with your magic.” Starlight moved out from under Twilight’s wing and walked off with her head hung in sadness.

Twilight couldn’t stand to see her friend like this, especially since she was the one responsible for Starlight’s current condition. The Starlight she saw now wasn’t the one she knew and she was determined to get the Starlight she loves back.

Love. Twilight was beginning to wonder if what she meant by it was how she really felt. Her mind kept going back to what Trixie had been telling her. She had told Trixie that she didn’t like Starlight that way, but maybe Trixie was right. Thinking back, she had always felt something she couldn’t explain when she was around Starlight. She had always just assumed it was because of how proud she was of Starlight, but now she wasn’t so sure.

After feeding the animals the next thing Fluttershy had them do was bathe them. Once again, Starlight had handled it a bit more cautiously then was necessary.

After they finished giving the animals a bath it was time for them to leave. There were still some other stops they needed to make.

After finishing at Fluttershy’s cottage, the trio headed off to Sweet Apple Acres. The next thing on Twilight’s list was helping Applejack with her work on the farm.

“Okay, this one may require a bit of physical labor, but I think helping AJ on her farm will be good for you.” Twilight told Starlight in an optimistic tone.

Starlight wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to perform physical labor, all the exertion, sweating, and potential sore muscles just wasn’t for her. But she knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to talk Twilight out of it so she reluctantly decided to just go with it. “If you say so, Twilight.”

Upon reaching the farm they found Applejack hauling apples as usual. They approached the farm pony and Twilight asked if they could help with anything.

“Sure thing, Twilight. Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith are all out on a delivery and I could use some help harvesting the apples.” Applejack gestured towards the orchard which contained dozens of trees that had yet to be bucked.

“That’s a lot of apple bucking.” Although this wasn’t the first time Starlight had helped Applejack with the apple bucking it was the first time she would be bucking more than just a few trees. Her legs weren’t as strong as Applejack’s and she wasn’t sure if they’d be up to the task.

“Don’t worry, Starlight, Trixie and I will be helping too.” Twilight assured her.

“No no no. The Great and powerful Trrrrixie does not do farm work.”

“It’s for Starlight.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

The next few hours were spent bucking apples out of the rest of the trees. During that time Twilight and Starlight found themselves alone with each other numerous times. Each time Twilight found herself thinking about her feelings for Starlight and if they really were what she thought. At one point Twilight tripped and sent both of them rolling down a hill where she found herself next to Starlight with their muzzles just inches apart.

Looking into Starlight’s persian blue eyes, Twilight realized that she really was in love with her.

Eventually the last of the apples had been taken to the barn and Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie headed back into town.

“Ugh, my legs are killing me.” A visibly exhausted Starlight said.

“The Great and powerful Trixie does not want to see another apple tree for as long as she lives.”

“How about we do something more relaxing next?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe we could fly kites.” Starlight shyly suggested.

“If that’s what you want to do.”

The three returned to the castle. Since Twilight and Trixie didn’t have kites of their own Starlight decided to let them borrow hers. She went to her room to retrieve the kites, leaving Trixie and Twilight by themselves.

The two didn’t say anything at first, but after a few seconds Twilight choose to break the silence.

“Hey, Trixie listen… It turns out you were right, I am in love with Starlight. I didn’t realize it at first, but after thinking about it I now know that’s how I really feel.”

Trixie simply stood there with a smug look on her face and asked. “So are you going to tell her?”

Twilight sighed. “Probably. But first I want to fix my mistake and get Starlight back to normal. My plan to do that doesn’t seem to be working though. I’m going to have to try something else.”

“Well do you have any ideas?”

“I do have one, but I’m not sure how effective it will be.”

Before Trixie could ask for more details about what Twilight was thinking Starlight returned carrying three kites. The kites in question were one box shaped SLK and two diamond shaped kites. Starlight herself appeared to be a bit happier than she had been since solving the friendship problem in Canterlot. There was no doubt that this was because they were going to fly kites.

Starlight walked over to her two friends to give them their kites. “Okay, now that we have the kites we just need a good spot to fly them, and I already know the perfect place for it. So let’s get going.”

“You two go on ahead, I have something I need to take care of first.” Before either of her friends could ask what she was talking about, Twilight teleported away to Celestia knows where, leaving behind a confused Starlight and Trixie.

Author's Note

Not sure how well I did with the whole Twilight realizing her feelings for Starlight thing, but it shows what’s going on regardless.

Also, I am like Rainbow Dash when it comes to fashion (not literally but still) so keep that in mind with the dress scene. Because I’m not sure how well I did with coming up with a dress design either.

To heal a broken mind

Twilight appeared outside of a cave in the Everfree Forest. She entered the cave and found herself standing before the Tree of Harmony. The tree was the one that had given her the means to defeat Tirek as well as the castle she, Spike, and Starlight called home and with it, a way for her and her friends to spread friendship across Equestria. And now she was going to ask it to help her return Starlight to her normal self.

Twilight had been studying a spell used by doctors to communicate with unconscious patients through a mental link. The effect didn’t last long and it had never been used for this sort of thing, but it was the best she had.

“I hope this spell works.” Twilight’s horn lit up and a beam of magic shot at the tree. Twilight felt her mind come into contact with something, so she decided to call out with her thoughts. “Tree of Harmony, can you hear me?”

The tree glowed briefly as it responded to her thoughts. Twilight gasped as she heard the tree in her mind. It was clear that the spell had worked and she would now be able to make her request.

“I came here today to ask for something.”

The Elements of Harmony each lit up one at a time as the tree gave its response.

“Yes. I believe she’s earned it. And I think it will help her recover from her current condition.”

The tree glowed softly for a moment before fading.

“I’m glad you agree.”

All six of the elements glowed with a blinding light for several seconds before fading as the tree used their magic to fulfill Twilight’s request. When the light faded it appeared as though nothing had happened, but Twilight knew that wasn’t the case.

“Thank you. I am truly grateful for this and for everything else you’ve done as well.” Twilight prepared to leave but was stopped by another response from the tree. “Something that I need to know? What is it?” Rather than receiving a direct response from the tree, Twilight was instead shown a vision.

She found herself standing in front of the castle. She looked around for anything out of the ordinary but found nothing. Then a bright light caught her attention and she turned to find it’s source. Sitting in front of the castle was a bright ball of light. Twilight could tell there was something at the center of the light but it was too bright for her to make out what it was. After a moment the light began to fade and Twilight could make out the shape of a pony standing in the center. Before Twilight could make out any distinguishing features, the vision ended and Twilight found herself standing in front of the tree as she had been before.

Although the vision ended before Twilight could see the pony clearly she knew who it was and what the vision meant. “I understand.” The effects of the spell wore off and Twilight’s mental link with the tree disappeared. Twilight charged up her horn and teleported back to Starlight and Trixie.

Starlight and Trixie were standing in an open field not far from the castle, their kites flying high above them.

Trixie stood with a bored expression on her face, unable to find any enjoyment in the activity. “Why do you enjoy this so much?”

“Something about watching the kites fly up high like this just interests me.” Starlight explained. ”I wonder where Twilight is. I didn’t think she’d take this long.”

“After being dragged all over Ponyville, I’d expect you to be happy to have time away from her.”

“Trixie, she only did that because she cares about me. I probably would’ve done something like that too, honestly.”

“You care about her that much huh?”

“Of course I do. She showed me what true friendship is and gave me a chance despite everything I did to her and everypony else. She’s done more for me than anypony else and I’ll always be grateful for it. The truth is, I’m-“ Before Starlight could say anything else, a blinding flash of light caught her attention. After several seconds the light died down and Starlight turned to see that the light had come from the Castle of Friendship. “What was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s go check it out.” The two pulled in their kites and immediately set off for the castle.

Upon reaching the crystalline structure, Trixie and Starlight went inside to see what had happened. But before they could look around, another flash of light appeared as Twilight teleported in front of them.

“There you are, Starlight. I looked for you at the field nearby, but when I didn’t find you there I thought maybe you came back here and here you are.” Twilight said in cheerful tone.

“Um… Yeah. We came back here because we saw a really bright light come from here, and we figured we should find out what caused it.” Starlight said.

“Oh, right. That was probably because of me. Sorry.”

“Really? What did you do?”

“I’ll show you.” Twilight’s horn lit up as she teleported both herself and Starlight to the throne room, leaving a slightly annoyed Trixie by herself. Once they appeared in the throne room Twilight immediately asked. “Notice anything different?”

Starlight looked around the room for anything that changed but everything looked the same. Same tree chandelier, same magical map, same crystal thrones. Then she noticed it, each of the thrones had moved and sitting between Twilight’s throne and Applejack’s throne was a brand new throne. “A new throne?” Starlight approached it to take closer look.

Twilight walked up next to Starlight. “Yep, I went to the Tree of Harmony and had a new throne added for you.”

Starlight looked up and was surprised to see her cutie mark emblazoned on the throne’s back. “You really did this just for me?”

“Yes, you’ve earned it. You’ve come so far since I first took you in as my student and you’ve shown that friendship is one of the most important things to you. Plus you’re the only one of us who’s been called by the map that doesn’t have her own throne.” Twilight put her hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “You’re one of my best friends, Starlight and I wanted to prove to you that you haven’t messed up as badly as you think. Everypony makes mistakes and that’s okay, the important thing is that we learn from them.”

Starlight found herself tearing up at how much Twilight cared about her. “Twilight… I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” Starlight gave a genuinely happy smile for the first time in days.

“There’s one more thing.” Twilight said in a somewhat more serious tone.

“What is it?”

“Starlight, in the time since you’ve started living here I’ve come to realize just how great a pony you really are. You’re great at magic, your heart is always in the right place, you’re always willing to help your friends, and lots of other things.” Twilight could feel her heart racing inside her chest and she could feel herself growing nervous but she kept her composure. “When I’m around you I feel something that I can’t explain.”

Starlight simply looked at her friend incredulously and asked. “What are you saying?”

“Starlight… I love you.” Twilight leaned in and kissed Starlight. To her surprise, Starlight didn’t try to stop her or end the kiss prematurely, rather she seemed to welcome it. After a few moments she ended the kiss and looked away, fearful of Starlight’s response.

“Wow. I knew you cared about me, but I didn’t think you felt that way.”

“I didn’t realize it myself until earlier today, but I do. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way. I just want you to know that—“ Twilight felt a pair of forelegs wrap around her as Starlight pulled her into an unexpected hug.

“Twilight… I love you too.”

Caught off guard by Starlight’s statement Twilight simply asked. “You do?”

Starlight let go of Twilight and nodded. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time, but I never said anything because I was afraid you didn’t feel the same way. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to leave after I graduated, because I didn’t want to leave you.”

“That explains why you always wanted to spend so much time with me.”

Starlight’s face turned a deep shade of red and she gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah. I’m surprised you never asked about that actually.”

“I didn’t really think anything of it.”

“So does this mean you’ll be my special somepony?”

“Of course it does. And listen, I’m sorry I put you under so much stress while you were in Canterlot. I just wanted to make sure you did okay an—” Before Twilight could finish, a pinkish-purple hoof was planted on her mouth.

Starlight giggled and said. “It’s okay, Twilight. I forgive you.” The two once again locked lips for what felt like an eternity.

During the new couple’s embrace, the throne room doors opened revealing the Mane 5, Spike, and Trixie standing on the other side. The group stared at Twilight and Starlight for a few moments before Applejack broke the silence.

“What the hay is going on here?”

Pinkie Pie randomly popped up next to Twilight and Starlight, who had stopped kissing by this point. “Are you having a kissing party? I wanna join!” Pinkie then grabbed Rainbow Dash and pulled her into a passionate kiss despite the mare’s protest. Rainbow Dash attempted to pry herself away from Pinkie but she had a tight hold on her.

Eventually Rainbow Dash managed to break free from the party pony’s grasp and immediately flew up out of her reach. ”Ack! Pinkie!” She said as she began wiping her mouth.

“What? Twilight and Starlight were doing it.”

“Pinkie Pie, darling, I’m certain Twilight and Starlight’s display of affection was for an entirely different reason.” Rarity said as she sat down in her throne.

“Yeah, what was up with that anyway? And why is there a throne with Starlight’s cutie mark?” Rainbow Dash asked as she and the others also sat in their thrones, except for Trixie who’s lack of a throne forced her to stand.

“Looks like we better tell them huh?” Twilight asked her new marefriend as she approached her own throne.

“Yeah, we should.” Starlight replied as she sat in her throne for the first time. Although she had sat in one of the thrones before she hadn’t paid attention to what it felt like until now and was surprised at how comfortable it was to sit in despite being made of crystal. “This throne is more comfortable than I expected.”

“Then let’s start by telling them about us.” Twilight looked into Starlight’s eyes and saw that the cheerful spark had returned. It was at that moment that Twilight knew that Starlight was back to her normal self.

Author's Note

And we finally get to stuff I was looking forward to writing the most. I probably could’ve gotten this out sooner but Super Mario Odyssey has taken most of my attention. At the time of writing I am up to 778 Power Moons.

Initially this was going to be two separate chapters but I decided to put them together to avoid ending up with short chapters

I want to make it clear that the vision Twilight had is included for a reason.

And I hope everyone got as much of a kick out of the part with Pinkie kissing Rainbow as I did when I thought of it.

Only the epilogue remains now.

Epilogue: Letter to the princess

After Twilight and Starlight had told everyone that they’re dating Pinkie Pie started talking about what kind of party she was going to throw for them, but Twilight and Starlight made it clear that they didn’t want to make a huge deal about it. Although the two made it clear that they didn’t want to make a big deal out it, that didn’t stop Pinkie from setting off her party cannon and throwing them a small party (as small as it gets with Pinkie anyway) right then and there. Knowing there was nothing they could do about it, Twilight and Starlight decided to just enjoy the party.

By the time everypony left the sun had begun to set and Twilight and Starlight were left by themselves while Spike did whatever it is he does when he’s alone. Since they just started their relationship they decided to plan out their first date.

Twilight walked into her bedroom, ready to call it a night. She and Starlight had just finished planning their first date and night had fallen.

Before going to bed, Twilight pulled out a quill and parchment and began writing a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia

I am happy to say that I was able to successfully bring Starlight back to her normal self. At first I thought that spending time with her friends was the key to helping her, but in the end what she really needed was to be shown that she has done more good for both them and other ponies than she thought.

Starlight now has her own throne and the two of us even learned more about how we feel about each other.

Yours truly, Twilight Sparkle

P.S.

You’re suspicions turned out to be correct. I will let you know when the time comes.

As soon as she finished writing the letter she rolled it up and sealed it before setting it aside so she could send it out tomorrow.

When she was finished with the letter she approached her bed ready to turn in for the night but was stopped by knocking on her bedroom door. Twilight walked over to her door and opened it, revealing Starlight standing on the other side.

Starlight had changed her mane style back to what it was before Rarity changed it. Although Starlight did like what Rarity did, she preferred the wavy style she had been wearing since not long after she had started living in the castle. “Hi, Twilight.”

“Hi. What are you doing here, Starlight? I thought you would have gone to bed by now.”

“I just wanted to thank you for everything. I really am grateful.”

“You’re welcome, Starlight. And I’m glad you’re back to your normal self.”

“So am I.” Starlight let out a yawn as her sleepiness began to catch up to her. “Well I’m going to turn in. Good night, Twilight.” As she began to leave she was stopped by a hoof placed gently on her shoulder.

“Hey, Starlight. Since you’re already here, how about you sleep with me tonight?”

A light blush made its way across Starlight’s face. Even though she and Twilight were dating now she wasn’t sure if she was ready to share a bed with her. Starlight thought about it for a moment before making her decision. “Sure. That sounds nice, Twilight.” Starlight followed Twilight over to the bed, closing the door behind her. Twilight pulled back the covers and the two crawled in. Starlight gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek before saying “Goodnight, Twilight.”

Twilight gave Starlight her own kiss on the cheek before replying “Goodnight, Starlight.”

“Hey, Twilight?”

“Yes, Starlight?”

“Do you think you could show me that spell you used to talk to me in Canterlot tomorrow?”

“Sure thing.”

And with that, the two of them drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

The Story is now complete.

I originally didn’t plan on having this be a shipfic but while thinking about what the best way to end the story would be the scene between Twilight and Starlight in the previous chapter came to me and the story became what it is now.

When I first came up with this story I planned on having it focus on Starlight spending time with her friends with each chapter focusing on her and one of the Mane 6, but I wasn’t able to come up with a satisfying ending.

As you can see there is one thing I left unaddressed in this story. That is because I do have an idea for a sequel, but we’ll see if that actually goes anywhere. I’ll likely end up doing it.