The New Problem

Luster Dawn wandered the halls of the Canterlot Castle, she had one thing in mind on this day, she was going to find her teacher and figure out how to get something to help Moonlight feel more at home here. She quietly walked into the throne room where her teacher was sitting in her throne with Spike next to her. The purple dragon took one look at her and smiled, "Hey, what are you doing here, Luster?" he asked curious.

Twilight Sparkle looked at her student and stood up from her throne. She walked down and hugged the pink unicorn with a smile. "I thought I told you to try and make friends in Ponyville, what brings you here?" she asked, happy to see her student, but concerned that she might be giving up.

"Moonlight seems very distant and she can be a jerk sometimes. She's very rude to everyone and last night, she ran away from us. I'm very concerned about her and I thought that if we could get something from her world, it'd make her feel more at home. I was wondering if you would let me go through the mirror, Princess," Luster answered honestly.

The purple alicorn broke the hug and backed off a bit, she had a serious look on her face. "Luster, we do not know if the mirror is still connected to that world and we know that world is dangerous. The day Moonlight came to us, a strange bat pony came through the portal. His power reminded me of Tirek and seemed to have the same limitations, but he put my friends to sleep as he drained them of their powers. Curiously enough, they weren't harmed and their magic replenished itself. Who knows what could be lurking on the other side of the mirror that has the same kind of powers or worse. You could be very badly hurt, Luster. I won't allow it to happen, I'm sorry. It is heartwarming to see you care so deeply about someone I told you to help, however," she stated firmly.

The pink unicorn looked down, she was dejected by her teacher telling her that she couldn't help her friend. But a hoof on her shoulder made her look up. "Luster, I know that you want to help her, but do you know what she likes? You might end up getting her something she doesn't like and that might make things worse," the Princess of Equestria said with a frown.

This frown bothered the student, but Spike quickly spoke up, "Don't worry about Twilight's frown, Luster. She's just bothered by the fact that the aberration was Moonlight put it is still unaccounted for. There hasn't been any reports of any wrongdoing, she's not upset at you," he said reassuringly.

"Thanks, Spike. And thank you, my teacher," the unicorn said with a smile and a bow.

Floral Blossom watched as the dark blue unicorn she had welcomed into her house sat on roof of it. The Kirin was confused as to what this pony wanted to do other than seemingly be alone. A yak walked over to the Kirin and looked up at the pony on the roof, "Floral, why is Pony on roof?" he asked.

The Kirin shook her head, no closer to an answer than she was before, but at least the unicorn was quiet. Her attitude towards the family who took her in out of the goodness of their heart annoyed green maned Kirin, but she wanted to be compassionate like she had been taught in the school of friendship. "Moonlight, my friend and I are going to go get something to eat, would you like to come with us?" she offered.

The unicorn on the roof looked down at the two of them and was about to protest when the sound of her stomach rumbling reached the ears of everyone who was present. She looked down at the two before her, the look on her face wasn't a comforting one, but this didn't confuse the Yak, instead he became excited. "You look like you want to smash! Yak love smash! Yak smash best!" he excitedly exclaimed.

The investigator looked down at the Yak specifically and only uttered two words, "Be quiet," her tone was sharp. It was obvious that she didn't take kindly to the antics of the Kirin's friend.

The Yak's expression turned to anger, "Pony no tell Yak be quiet!" he yelled.

"Hmph."

"Pony come down!"

"When you calm down."

"Yak will smash pony down!"

Floral Blossom's horn lit up and both the unicorn and the yak floated in the air, with the unicorn being brought off the roof. "Both of you, stop fighting!" she yelled at them, annoyed at the childishness of the two.

"Yarwood sorry for fighting, Floral," the Yak said sadly, upset that his friend was upset.

Moonlight started gesturing with her hoof. This confused the two, but the unicorn also started to mutter something under her breath. Suddenly she thrust her hoof forward and both the Kirin and Yak recoiled, but nothing happened. The investigator looked at her hoof, surprised at this. "But something was supposed to happen, that spell was a telekinetic spell to try to counter your own!" she protested.

"It would seem that your magic doesn't work here. Moonlight, we don't want you to be angry, we just want to be your friends. Why won't you let us be your friends?" Floral Blossom asked.

The Kirin lowered the unicorn to the ground, but the investigator started to walk towards her. This was a first and the green-maned student of friendship had no idea what to do. She backed up a few steps, but the unicorn kept moving towards her. Yarwood stomped a hoof, but this didn't bother the investigator. Floral found herself pressed against a wall, the neutral expression of Moonlight bothering her to no end. She felt anxious and upset, anger started to bubble up inside of her. She knew what would happen if she allowed it to consume her, she would transform into a Nirik.

The unicorn's hoof reached out and touched her on the shoulder, "You offered to get some lunch, I'll go with. But I need to learn how to use my magic, do you think there is someone who can teach me?" she asked in a very calm voice.

The Kirin was surprised, Moonlight wasn't angry by what she had did. "I don't think you should learn magic until you get your temper under control," she said, nervously.

"Meh, whatever. Let's get a bite to eat, I'm starving," the unicorn replied.

The three of them walked to a place in Ponyville that sold food. Yarwoof and Floral Blossom spoke with each other on the entire way there, but Moonlight didn't find and of the conversation amusing. All that the two talked about was homework from their professors and how a group project was coming along. A twinge of sadness pulled at her heart though. She missed her high school days, back when she had friends that she hung out with and went to places with.

That changed after high school though. She started keeping to herself, she slowly became more and more distant towards others. More standoffish. She started to wonder exactly when and where everything had changed so much. The thought of her speaking to the other two entered her mind, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out of it.

She was ashamed of herself and instead of following the other two, she broke away. It wasn't like her to let this kind of thing to get to her. She was confused and she needed a break from all of these ponies to understand what was going on.

Luster Dawn arrived back in Ponyville without any answers to her predicament. She was a little annoyed, but she figured that if she couldn't get something from Moonlight's world, she'd get her a gift from here. She walked into a shop and a yellow earth pony mare looked at her with a smile. "I know you, you're the student of our Princess, what are ya lookin for?", she asked.

"I want to find something to give to someone so that they'll feel more comfortable around others instead of being emotionally distant all of the time," the student replied.

"Hmm, I don't know much about that, but I'm sure if you got them a gift, they'd find it heartwarming," the earth pony merchant said with a smile.

Luster looked around the shop, looking for something special. Nothing really caught her eye as she looked along the shelves. She wanted to find something that really was special. Her hopes started to dwindle when the bell to the door rang and when she looked back, Moonlight Gleam was standing there. The two locked eyes, but the dark blue unicorn broke eye contact and she started to look around the store. She turned around to face the door and Luster's heart sank further. "If you want to get something nice for yourself, I recommend the snow globe," the investigator stated.

The dark blue unicorn left the building, the last that Luster saw of her was the pale yellow tail. But what she said gave the pink unicorn an idea, she picked up the snow globe and walked to the counter. The yellow mare smiled down at her and said, "I see what you mean, Luster. I'll give it to you for free, just go put a smile on that mare's face."

Luster nodded, but still placed the number of bits that it was priced at on the counter. She gripped the trinket in a telekinesis spell and ran out the door. Fortunately for her, Moonlight hadn't gotten far. She galloped over to the other unicorn and held out the snow globe in the telekinetic field, "I got you this!" she yelled.

The investigator stopped in her tracks and turned around to see the student of the princess barreling towards her. A simple side step allowed her to get out of the way of the student, but this action left her off balance. She struggled to stop herself from stumbling, but was able to right herself. Luster was able to stop in front of her regardless of this maneuver. The two unicorns locked eyes again, but while the pink one had a look of hope in her eyes, her dark blue counterpart looked visibly annoyed. "Is there some reason you yelled in my direction and insist on bothering me?" she asked.

The pink unicorn held up the snow globe and immediately Moonlight's eyes softened. "How did you know that I like snow globes?" she asked.

"You mentioned that I should get one if I wanted a gift for myself. It was easy to figure out that you like them from that comment alone," the other unicorn replied.

Moonlight reached out to touch the snow globe and Luster let go of it. This of course was a mistake as it started to drop. A quick telekinesis spell allowed the pink unicorn to catch it. "I guess I'll have to teach you how to use your hooves to grip things one day. That was a close call, you know," she said with a sigh of relief.

The investigator stepped closer to the student and nodded a little bit, "That would be helpful yes. But, I want you to understand that I'm not interested in friends. Not as long as he is out there," she said flatly.

"It doesn't mean that I won't still try, how about you and I find the others and get some lunch?", Luster offered.

"Okay," was the only response from Moonlight.

Floral Blossom and Yarwood were upset that they had been ditched by their guest. The rudeness briefly caused Floral to undergo the transformation into a Nirik, but her Yak friend was able to calm her down. The bell to the establishment that they were eating at rang as the door opened and two unicorns walked through. The pink one led the dark blue one to the table and the three friends started chatting about how their day went. The dark blue unicorn's gaze was fixated on the snow globe that had been placed on the table. Though she wouldn't say it aloud, she had to admit that she felt less lonely now, and that being around others felt nice.