Chapters Starlight Glimmer walked towards the castle doors. She was hoping for a day where she could relax. Maybe fly kites, or practice magic. But in Ponyville, you should always expect the unexpected.
The doors flew open right as she was about to knock. “Starlight!” squealed Twilight, who was a bit more energetic than usual. “I know you already graduated, but I was hoping you would accept a little assignment.”
Starlight didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t had a friendship assignment from Twilight in a while, especially since she was now the headmare of the School of Friendship. “Um…” she thought for a moment.
“Oh, don’t worry, Starlight. It’s not anything too big. I just want you to give a little speech about what you have learned about the Magic of Friendship.”
After looking into Twilight’s pleading eyes, she knew she couldn’t say no. “Alright,” she sighed. “Just tell me where and when to go.”
“Yes! It’s in a week, in my classroom. I am just so thrilled you could give the speech! Well, I guess I might have already notified a lot of ponies about it. I mean, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be there, as well as some other ponies who don’t know much about friendship, and it’s just going to be a great experience for everypony!” Twilight was jumping up and down by then.
“What?” Yelled Starlight. “The PRINCESSES? Listening to MY speech? I can’t do this, Twilight!” Starlight gripped on to her mentor, who was surprised by this reaction.
“Sorry for throwing this upon you so suddenly, but Princess Celestia wanted to hear from you, and I decided a friendship speech might be nice.” Twilight blushed.
She took a deep breath. “It’s okay. I can prepare the speech by next week, as long as you set up the room for everypony. And explain to Sunburst why I can’t run the school on Wednesday. And maybe help me practice my speech? And help me feel less nervous?” Starlight was really embarrassed to ask all of that from Twilight, especially after everything else she’s done for her.
Twilight softly giggled. “Consider it done. But you might want to ask Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to help set up, and Fluttershy, Spike, and I could definitely help you practice your speech and calmness.”
Starlight grinned. “Alright, Twilight. Thank you.” She started to walk to her room before looking back. “And, let’s talk to Sunburst first thing in the morning.”
“Sure thing.”
“Thanks again Twilight. I don’t know how I’d survive without you.”
“So, as you can see, Starlight needs a few days off.” Twilight explained.
“Well, of course!” Sunburst shouted. “I’d be delighted to run the school while she is busy. Just show me a recording of the speech. I want to see how well Starlight is doing.”
“Thanks, Sunburst.” Twilight opened her mouth to say more but she was interrupted by loud screams in the halls. They both peeked through the door to see Trixie ushering everycreature to class while Starlight talked to a few foals.
Once everyone was in class, Twilight told Starlight, “Sunburst says you can have the whole week off. You can come back on Thursday, once your speech is finished.”
“Okay, thanks. To both of you. I’m glad I have such wonderful friends.”
“Starlight!” Trixie called. “The Great and Powerful Trixie needs some advice on advice. Can you come help?”
Starlight giggled. “Well, it looks like Trixie needs some help. I better go. See you later!”
Twilight turned to Sunburst. “I just had a thought. Do you think we can have the students come to Starlight’s speech? It might help them learn more about friendship.”
“That would be perfect,” Sunburst observes, other than the fact that we would need a lot more seats.”
“You’re right. I’ll tell Starlight that we have a change of plans. We’ll be having speech night in the Ponyville Park.”
Fluttershy shows Starlight some breathing exercises to calm her down. Then she flies over to get the speech Starlight wrote and then hands it to her. “Now you can practice the speech in front of just me.” Fluttershy says, before there is a knock at the door and Spike walks into the library.
“Sorry I’m late. I had to go help Pinkie and Rainbow find enough seats to fill the park,” he says.
“I thought I was saying my speech in the classroom? Twilight never told me about this,” Starlight worries. “Why did we move to the park? Ugh. This whole thing is more like a party now.”
“Oh! Twilight didn’t get to tell you because you left the school early to practice your speech. So she told me to help Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack and tell you about the whole park thing. I think it’s because there’s not enough space in the classroom,” Spike reasons.
“Shh. Starlight’s going to present us with her speech,” Fluttershy explains. Spike sets up a podium out of books for Starlight before joining Fluttershy on the ground.
Starlight takes a deep breath and then clears her throat. “As you were probably told, I am here to give a speech tonight. I will be sharing the wonders I have learned about friendship over the past couple years. I am delighted to say I have learned a lot of things. Friendship is important because…” Starlight pauses at that.
Spike blinks a couple times. “Why, exactly, is friendship important?”
“Um…” Starlight blushes. “I haven’t thought about that part yet.” She takes another deep breath and attempts to continue. “...because having friends makes things easier. A friend is someone you can rely on to always be there for you. Friends can make your life happier and kinder. But friendship takes a lot of responsibility. You should give as much as you take, almost always return what a friend has given to you, and don’t be shy. Friendship is an important part of our lives, and everypony still has lots to learn about friendships. But if you work hard, you can learn to make friends as easily as you learn to walk! Thank you, everycreature, for listening.”
Spike and Fluttershy applaud her. “That was amazing improvisation, and we’re lucky Spike took notes on what you said so you can have a written copy of your script.”
“Well, I wasn’t that great. I mean, I stuttered and paused, and-”
“And, you had the perfect words for it,” Spike reassured her. “Just write a final copy of your speech, set up the park, and you are on your way! What else could stop you?” At hearing this, Starlight giggles nervously.
Fluttershy, Starlight, and Spike went to the park to find the rest of the Mane 6 already there, setting up decorations, seats, and snacks. “So, you all think this is a big thing as well, don’t you?” she asked. They all nodded, except Rainbow Dash.
“Honestly, I don’t know what’s so special about some boring ol-”
“Rainbow Dash!” shouted Applejack. “Could you be more considerate of your friend’s feelings?”
“No, no, Applejack, it’s okay. I don’t think it’s that big a deal either. To be honest, I’m actually not into this whole thing,” Starlight says, but immediately regrets it after seeing Twilight. She gazes down at her hooves, not wanting to hurt her mentor’s feelings again. “But, well, I am kind of excited?”
Twilight’s face lit up as she heard this. “I knew you would be up to the challenge!”
“Challenge?” Starlight scoffs. “It’s just a few ponies. What’s so challenging about that?” she asks, trying more to convince herself than Twilight.
“Oh, I thought I told you. It’s not just a few ponies. The whole school is going to see it! Plus all the ponies I mentioned before, and your friends.” Twilight told Starlight. “You might not want something like this, but I know it’s perfect for you.”
Twilight went on explaining a few concepts, but Starlight wasn’t paying attention anymore. How could she? It’s not like she had stage fright, but she didn’t want to be imperfect in front of all those ponies, and even creatures, from all over Equestria! Starlight felt like she already carried the weight of stress and pressure around everywhere, but now, her friends were giving her even more weight to hold.
“Starlight?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay? You seem stressed.” Starlight just shook her head as calmly as possible. “If you aren’t, I could always-”
There was a bright burst of teal magic as Starlight disappeared from the park, leaving Spike and the girls on their own.
4:00 already? My speech starts in 10 minutes! Starlight thought. She stepped up onto the stage Applejack had prepared for her. She took a few deep breaths, like Fluttershy taught her to do. “My name is Starlight Glimmer. As you were-” Starlight says, right before her speech is blown away. No!
Starlight tried to think of what she wrote down, but she hadn’t memorized her speech. “As you were told, I am h-h-here to g-g-give a speech about…” She stutters. She didn’t have a plan for if her speech was lost!
Starlight was frozen in front of everycreature, until someone yelled, “Hey! You gonna tell us what you’re giving a speech about?” Everyone was now criticizing her, even her friends. Having nothing to say, she burst into tears and stormed off stage, bumping into somepony. Standing up, she noticed that she had bumped into Princess Luna, who was smiling.
“Your nightmare does not speak the truth, Starlight Glimmer. Though your feelings are real, this dream is not,” she consoled her.
“Oh, thank Celestia, it's not real,” she sighs. “But how should I cope with my nerves?”
“Sometimes, what you expect you need is not really what you need. Maybe you should talk to a friend?”
Starlight shakes her head. “No way. If I tell anypony, word will get to Twilight and she’ll be disappointed in me. I don’t want that to happen.”
Luna nods. “I understand. But your future is in your hooves,” she reminds Starlight before vanishing into the moon.
Starlight sat up in her bed with a start. It’s only a dream, she reminded herself. But she knew that the feelings were 100 percent real. She took deep breaths until she was calm enough to lay down and fall asleep again.
Starlight walked over to the park in the morning, and found Twilight and Spike already up. “Hey, Starlight!” Twilight called. “Come help us?”
Starlight walked over, remembering last night’s conversation with Luna. She still didn’t want to bring it up, but the more she heard Luna’s words, the more convincing they were. Starlight did a duplication spell on the risers so that there were just about enough seats. “Do you want to practice your speech again?” Spike asked.
Starlight nodded and put on a friendly face. “Good afternoon, everycreature. My name is Starlight Glimmer. As you probably know, I am here to give a speech about what I’ve learned about the Magic of Friendship. I am delighted… to share with you that I have learned many things. First of all, friendship is important because having friends makes… things a lot easier. In my experience, you can rely on your friends to help you, so long as you help them back. You should give… as much as you take, almost always return what a friend has given you, and don’t be shy to make new friends… Everypony still has a lot to learn about friendship, but if you work hard, you can start making friends… as easily as you start walking. Thank you, everycreature!”
“That was beautiful, Starlight! You just made this yesterday?” Twilight was astounded that her student had come so far.
“Yeah,” Spike laughed. “It sounds similar to the one you said yesterday. I should know. I took notes.”
Twilight glared at him. “You were amazing! I hope you do as well as you did today as you do on the night of the real performance.”
Me and you both, Starlight thought. “See you at home in an hour, Twilight. I’m going to go check on the school for a little while.” Twilight waved back. They parted ways, and while Twilight was walking towards Sugarcube Corners, Starlight decided she might be able to tell one pony what she was feeling. “Spike?”
“Yeah?” He answered.
“I’m actually really nervous about the speech. I’m starting to feel sort of reluctant to do it, too.”
He chuckled. “I could tell. You were starting to act… differently.”
Starlight looked around cautiously. “Can you not tell anyone how I’m feeling? I don’t want Twilight to know about my anxiety.”
“Okay,” Spike agreed. “But why not? She could help you with it.”
“Luna said the same thing. Well, I guess I just don’t want her feeling sorry for me, or feeling bad that she threw this on me. I want her to know that she’s a good mentor.”
Spike nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll see you later, Starlight. Remember, tomorrow’s speech night!” He called, and ran off towards the castle.
Starlight stared at the doors of the school. “How could I forget?”
Author's Note
Just so you know, the "..." was when Starlight was flipping through her index cards.
Starlight tossed and turned in her bed. She was restless. Tomorrow was speech night, and she still couldn’t seem to get over her nerves. Maybe she should’ve talked to Twilight. She thought of what happened at dinnertime.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t be in Ponyville for most of the day. I’ll be back from princess training at around 3:00, though, so I’ll be there for the speech.”
“Great, another pony I’ll be letting down when I can’t find my voice on stage.”
“Don’t worry, Starlight, you’ve been doing great!”
“Spike’s right. Just remember, your friends will be there to cheer you on!”
She gulped down a big ball of emotions. Starlight didn’t know how to feel. Her friends had helped her come so far, she didn’t want to disappoint them. But she also didn’t want to make herself feel this jittery.
Starlight paced back and forth. She stared at herself in her mirror and saw how shaky she was. Her eyes darted to the pictures of her friends. She thought she saw them laughing. Laughing at her. Her breath became heavy and she could no longer stand up. She lay down on the floor until she heard a knock at the door. “Come in,” she said.
It was Spike. He looked at Starlight and then dragged her along. “Come with me. I know just what you need.”
Starlight bit her lip. “I doubt it.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Ponyville Spa. Spike left Starlight on her own to calm down. “I’ll be at the park if you need me!” He called as he waved goodbye.
Starlight took an hour at the spa, but Spike was right. She didn’t feel too bad now. The spa reminded her of Trixie, of all her friends, and how they would be there to cheer her on, just like Twilight said.
Starlight walked to the School of Friendship. The walk was just what she needed to plan tonight out. She opened her office door, expecting to see Sunburst. He wasn’t there, but Starlight heard his voice next door, in Trixie’s office.
Sunburst was on the couch, facing Trixie. “All we need to do now-”
“Hey, guys!” Starlight said, walking into the room, like nothing was wrong. She hoped Sunburst and Trixie couldn’t see past her act.
“Hey, Starlight!” Sunburst said with hesitation. “I wasn’t expecting you at the school today. Are you excited for tonight?” He asked.
Starlight nervously laughed. “Yeah, um, excited.” She looked down.
“Is something wrong? Because if there is, The Great and Powerful Trixie can always give good advice.” Trixie added.
“Actually, yeah. I’m actually pretty nervous about tonight. What if I lose my voice? Or I trip on stage? Or-”
“That won’t happen, Starlight. We’ll be there for you,” reassures Sunburst.
“I know you can do it!” exclaims Trixie.
Starlight nods and puts on a determined face.
“My name is Starlight Glimmer. No, no. Thank you for coming to the special event. No! Thank you… kindly? UGH!” Starlight groans. She hears a knock on her door. “Come in!”
It was Spike, checking in on her. “Were you…”
Starlight blushed. “Just memorizing my speech. You can’t really be too prepared with that, can you?”
“Now who’s been hanging around Twilight too long?” Spike responds.
Starlight laughs her first real laugh of the day. “Good one, Spike,” she admits. Looking past Spike, she notices her alarm clock. 3:55! Oh no! She runs out of her room, running as fast as Rainbow Dash in a race. She arrives at 4:00, breathless. She sits behind the curtains, sitting down. She knew she couldn’t go back in time, but that’s what she was wishing for right then and there.
Starlight felt like she had forgotten something. In the rush, that was very likely. She probably just forgot to shut the door. It couldn’t be too important, right? Right?
The stands were full. 4:10 already. Her heart wouldn’t stop beating. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking. She couldn’t stop worrying.
Twilight grabbed a glass and a spoon and beat them against each other. “If I could have everypony’s attention?” She glances around to make sure everyone is listening, which they are. “Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts, to tonight’s special event. As you know, my student, Starlight Glimmer, has come a long way in her friendship studies. Today, we celebrate the anniversary of her graduation day with a speech about friendship!” Twilight announced. She waited for the cheering to die down before continuing. “Please welcome… Starlight Glimmer!”
Starlight just ignored all the cheers and looked for her friends. She couldn’t find them, and she worried, even though she knew they were there somewhere. The spotlight turned on, and it shone on her. “Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Starlight Glimmer, and I’ll be sharing with you my knowledge of friendship,” she spoke. She looked down at the podium to find her index cards were missing. She couldn’t go on without them! She tried remembering what was next. “I, um…” she mumbled. She felt like her whole life depended on this one moment. And she was about to fail it!
There was no way she could go on. She decided to run off stage, like she did in her dream the other night, until she felt someone’s hoof on her back. It was Trixie, who didn’t look worried at all. “Tonight, The Great and Powerful Trixie and her best friend, Starlight Glimmer, will share with you what we have learned about the Magic of Friendship!”
Starlight smiled at Trixie. A big smile. Then she took a deep breath and faced the crowd. “I used to be really bad. But ever since Twilight and her friends extended their hooves in friendship, I have become a better, stronger pony.”
“I used to be like that, too,” says Trixie. “But Twilight and her friends also helped me see that friendship was something I needed in my life.”
“Because of her, I’ve learned that friendships last forever.”
“That friends will always be there for you.”
“That friendship is an important part of our life, even for those who don’t realize it,” Starlight says, tears of joy streaming down her cheek. “So tonight, everycreature, is not just my night. It’s a night to celebrate the ponies who brought me up to this amazing place today. Huge shout-out to Twilight Sparkle and her friends!” Starlight’s gaze drifts towards Twilight’s shocked eyes. She motions for her and her friends to come on stage. After a pink burst of magic brings them all on stage, Starlight yells her last words of the speech. “Give it up for Twilight Sparkle and her friends!”
It sounded more like a rock and roll concert because of all the cheering.
Twilight smiles, and starts crying, too. She pulls Starlight in a hug and whispers, “I had no idea your speech would be so great.”
“Me neither,” Starlight agrees.
“Let’s throw a party!” Pinkie suggests.
“Actually Pinke, I’ve had enough excitement for now. Maybe tomorrow.” Starlight ran over to Trixie’s home and knocked on the door. Trixie’s head appeared through the window. “Thanks for everything, Trixie.”
“What are friends for?” She responds.
“Friends are for having your back,” Starlight says, pulling her into a hug.
