Chapters Starlight Glimmer had just moved from Canterlot to a place called “Sire’s Hollow.” Sire’s Hollow was a small village with very few buildings. Starlight decided to explore her new home while her dad unpacked all the boxes. There was a fruit shop that just opened near their house. I guess I’m not the only new one in this town. Starlight decided to look inside. There were lots of fruits, but she asked the cashier to get her peaches. As she sat down, she decided to observe some fillies and foals outside; maybe she could get to know them better and have friends before she started attending school tomorrow.
Unfortunately, every filly she saw came in groups. She wanted to spend time with someone who didn’t have a friend. That way, no one would steal attention from each other. She wanted everyone to be fair. She sighed and finished her peach. Then she walked home, alone.
Starlight opened the door. “There you are, Pumpkie Wumpkin!” Firelight turned to his daughter. “Did you meet anypony?”
“Ugh! At least don't say Pumpkie Wumpkin in public!” Starlight grunted.
“Of course, cutie pie. Now did you meet anypony new?” He asked.
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“Ooh!” Firelight cheered. “What was her name?”
“Peach Blossom,” she quietly answered. What she didn’t tell her dad was that Peach Blossom was a welcoming cashier who gave her a few apples and peaches to take home. “Can I go to bed? I want enough sleep before my first day of school.”
“Without dinner?” He asked. “Won’t you be hungry? Have a snack, at least.”
Starlight took an apple up to her room and closed the door behind her. “If only Peach Blossom was a filly, I’d be able to make friends with her.” She took a bite of her apple and smiled. Apples were her new favorite fruit. She threw out the apple core and tucked herself in.
Starlight walked into her classroom. She stayed by the door, even when the teacher called everyone to their seats. She then looked straight at Starlight. “Welcome! You must be Starlight Glimmer,” she greeted. Starlight nodded. “My name is Ms. Bloom.” Ms. Bloom walked over to her desk and wrote something down on a piece of paper. “Everypony, please welcome Starlight Glimmer to our class. Starlight, would you like to tell us about yourself?”
“No, thank you,” Starlight replied. “Where should I find my desk?” she asked.
Ms. Bloom pointed to an empty desk next to a little foal who was reading. “You’ll be sitting next to Sunburst, in the back. He’s pretty nice. Sunburst, please raise your hoof so Starlight knows where to sit.”
Starlight walked over to her desk and sat down her bookbag. Ms. Bloom gave everypony a test, since it was Friday, test day. She said Starlight could pick a book to read while the others tested. Starlight grabbed a beginner’s book about spells. She tried to do the levitation spell, the simplest one, but failed. She always had trouble doing even the simplest of spells.
While attempting a simple light spell, she caught a glimpse of her deskmate looking at her book. She noticed he was done with the test, so she motioned for him to follow her over to the book corner, where they could whisper without disturbing the others. “Can you cast these spells?” She asked him.
“Yeah, they’re hard at first, but they get easier as you familiarize yourself with the concepts.” He walked Starlight through a levitation spell.
Starlight didn’t know what to think. Did she really want Sunburn’s help? She obviously wanted to learn magic, but she wasn’t so sure about letting him do everything. Starlight turned her attention back to the lesson. She tried hard to lift the book off of the ground, and it worked! Three seconds was a great improvement!
“I can’t believe you can do the spell!” she whisper-shouts. Sunburst smiles.
As a one-room school, the schoolponies ate lunch in the classroom. “Ms. Bloom?” Starlight asks. “Can I eat outside?”
Ms. Bloom nods. “Of course, dear. If you want, you can eat out every day, unless the weather’s bad.”
“Thank you!” She says, and rushes outside. Most ponies ate lunch and then got onto the playground. Starlight sat down on a picnic table and opened her lunch bag. A turkey sandwich with mustard, which she immediately put back, and an apple. She lifted the apple with her magic and brought it close enough to her mouth to bite. Maybe she was getting the hang of her magic, after all.
She looked through the window and saw Sunbird, or whatever his name was, eating his lunch. She wanted to thank him, but Starlight didn't feel like talking. She decided to draw him a card instead.
Once everypony burst outside, Starlight gave her card to her first friend, feeling suddenly shy. Sunburst looked at the card with a drawing of a unicorn horn. He turned the card over and saw the word “Thank you for your friendliness” written on it in sloppy hornwriting.
“Thank you!” he said.
Starlight noticed he didn’t say anything else. It was her lucky day. Conversations weren’t her thing, and neither were they Sunburst’s.
Starlight chose a seat in the back of the carriage. She set down her bookbag and flipped through the pages of the magic book with her new magic. She didn’t even notice that Sunburst sat down next to her until he got off and tripped over her bookbag. She helped him get up and waved goodbye to him.
Starlight packed up and got off at the next stop. A few other ponies got off too. There were three foals, and an older girl. Starlight just tried avoiding them, but one of the foals tripped her, and then the girl pushed her. Starlight looked at her scratched hooves and ran away, but it was no use. They had cornered her. She cowered in fear until she realized they weren’t coming any closer. She was protected by a force-field. Her force field. She walked home, using the force field to stay safe from the bullies until she was inside, where her dad could see if anypony tried to hurt her.
“You’re home, sugar plum!” Firelight exclaimed. “How was your first day? Did you learn anything?”
Starlight rolled her eyes. She learned that some ponies are good, and other ponies are bad. “It was good,” she answered, walking off to the bathroom, being careful so that her dad wouldn’t see her hooves. She could deal with the bleeding herself. After she washed her hooves and bandaged them, she snuck into her room.
She laid down on her bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. 5 stars, representing each of her feelings: proud, scared, excited, anxious, and unknowing. The last one was challenging her.
It had been a while since Starlight and Sunburst met each other. Now that they were best friends, everyone agreed that Starlight could stay at Sunburst’s house after school.
Starlight got off where Sunburst usually did. She was reminded of her first day of school, when a few bullies hurt her. She cast a really powerful spell, one she didn’t even try to cast. She decided to tell Sunburst about that today.
Once they were in his room, they decided to have fun. “What do you want to do, Starlight?”
“Can I tell you about something?” Starlight asked.
“Of course!”
“So you remember my second day of school, right?” Starlight questioned. He nodded. “You asked me about the scars on my hooves, but I didn’t answer,” she explained. “I just decided I can tell you about what happened now.”
Sunburst nodded for confirmation. He wanted to find out what happened, and now was his chance.
“On my way home, there were some ponies who got off at my stop. They pushed me and my hooves got scratched. There’s also one thing I was wondering about,” she said.
“What?”
“How hard is it to do a forcefield spell?” she inquired.
“Pretty hard. Why do you ask?” he wondered.
“Because when they cornered me I did a forcefield spell. I don’t know how I did it. I was hoping you might know,” she responded.
Sunburst gaped. “That’s like a grown pony’s spell. I don’t know how to do it, let alone how you did it.”
“Let’s keep this to ourselves,” said Starlight. “Do you know how to play Dragon Pit?”
“Are you kidding? I love that game!” Sunburst exclaimed.
Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. She was happy to change the subject.
Sunburst walked to the dining table, Starlight following behind. She looked down at her food and ate her tomatoes. It wasn’t like she could refuse a meal on her first day at Sunburst’s house.
“How’s school going?” Stellar Flare asked Starlight, who shrugged.
“I like learning magic with Sunburst,” she glumly replied.
Sunburst looked from Starlight to Stellar. “Starlight and I have learned to express ourselves with words better,” he said. Starlight nodded in agreement.
“That’s great!” she responded. Stellar looked at the two foals and asked, “Why don’t I leave you on your own for now?”
After Stellar Flare left, Starlight looked at Sunburst. “I love learning magic with you, but sometimes it’s so hard. It really frustrates me,” she vented, slamming her hoof down on the table and knocking her glass of juice down.
She looked embarrassed until Sunburst said, “Don’t worry,” cleaning up the spill with a cloth. He showed his scroll to Starlight, who read it and quickly cleaned the kitchen up with soap and water. Sunburst beamed at his friend. “That was amazing!” he said.
“That was hard,” Starlight replied. She put her plate in the sink and asked, “Do you want to go to the park?”
They ran outside and set up a picnic blanket. Starlight set up a few blocks while Sunburst read books. Starlight tried to lift a blue one off of the ground, but she struggled with it. It lifted off the ground for a moment, but Starlight couldn’t hold it any longer, and let go. “Why is magic so confusing sometimes?” she complained.
Sunburst floated his book over to Starlight for her to see. She was confused at first, but after glancing at the book, she levitated the blocks easily, spinning them around. “Wow, thanks!” she said.
Sunburst looked up from his book. “No problem,” he said, pointing to the book. “Look, I found something for forcefield spells.”
Starlight looked over his shoulder and read aloud, “Forcfields are tricky feats of magic, and come in different forms. From health bubbles to bursting shields, every forcefield takes time to master.”
“Usually,” Sunburst added, which got a nod from Starlight.
Starlight flipped through the forcefield section and pointed to the one she had cast the other day. “The shell forcefield is one of the simplest. It wraps around a pony and follows them everywhere they go until they stop casting the spell. If you cast it in the air, it will be a sphere instead of a dome.” Starlight glared at the book.
“Does that mean anything to you?” Sunburst asked, concerned.
“No,” Starlight looked at her friend. “And I don’t want it to,” she said, looking away again.
Starlight picked up an aqua gem that matched the color of her magic aura. She definitely wasn’t mad at Sunburst, and she hoped he wasn’t mad at her either. Slipping the gem into her bag, she slipped into the sleeping bag.
Starlight listened as she heard voices coming from the dinner table. “I was concerned for her,” she heard Sunburst say.
“She’s been going through a lot,” said a voice that sounded like Firelight. “She hasn’t skipped dinner for a while. I just hope she’s safe.”
Starlight covered her ears. She couldn’t listen to this anymore. Maybe her life was bad, but she didn’t want to make it so that her friends would have to feel sorry for her as well. Hopefully everything would be better in school the next day. Hopefully.
Starlight sat her bookbag down next to her desk. Sunburst looked at his friend, who’s eyes were now torn. “Are you okay?” He asked.
Starlight nodded. “I’m fine,” she responded, looking away. If Sunburst hadn’t known better, he would’ve swore he heard a bit of anger and sadness in her voice.
Ms. Bloom clapped her hooves. “Okay, class, settle down. Since it’s almost the end of the year, it’s time to put on our neighborhood play.”
Starlight looked back at Sunburst with inquiry. “Play?” she asked him.
Sunburst nodded. “Every year, we do a play for everypony else in town. This year, we’re going to do the play of the Sire’s Hollow foundation.”
“What if I don’t want to be in the play?” she wondered.
“Well,” he replied. “You have to. You don’t have to act, but you have to be a stagehoof or a set designer or narrator. They’ll go over the script, and then we pick our roles.”
Like Sunburst said, the class went over the script and all the actors had their roles.
“Our only parts left are stagehoof, props, and set,” Ms. Bloom told the four remaining fillies.
Nightbird raised her hoof. “Can Whirlwind and I be the set and prop designers?” Ms. Bloom nodded.
“That leaves Starlight and Sunburst on stagehoof duties.” Starlight and Sunburst hoof-bumped. Not only would they get to work together, they wouldn’t have to worry about messing up lines! Sunburst was mostly happy because Starlight was. He didn’t want to see Starlight look like she did this morning.
The school bell rang. “Alright, everyone. First thing tomorrow, we’ll practice scene one. Have a great day!”
Starlight and Sunburst walked out in silence. They sat on their seats in the back of the carriage. “It’ll be easy for us to be stagehooves because we can control it with our magic.” Starlight nodded, avoiding conversation. Sunburst watched as Starlight covered her face. She was really shaky.
“Are you crying?” asked Sunburst.
Starlight shook her head as obvious tears began to roll down her cheeks. Sunburst could only hope that his best friend was okay.
Today was Starlight’s birthday, and Sunburst decided to let Starlight spend it at a water park in Rainbow Falls. Starlight dove into the deep end of the pool and floated to the surface, letting her troubles drift off into the water.
Later, they went on a rapid river ride. Since it was just Starlight and Sunburst, he decided to ask her something. “Starlight? Ever since we looked in that book with the forcefields, you’ve been feeling worse and worse. Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Starlight said. “This water park is amazing. I think I like the water as much as I like magic!”
Sunburst looked unimpressed. “You know what I mean, Starlight.”
Starlight sighed. “Well, I guess those bullies might’ve been hurting me again. And in more ways than one, this time.”
Sunburst and Starlight got hit by a jet of water, but that didn’t stop Sunburst from listening. “I didn’t want to tell anyone because they were my problems. I don’t want anyone else solving them for me.”
Sunburst shook his head. “If you never tell anyone else, you might have to suffer for really long. Knowing that will make me suffer, too.”
“I’d never hurt you on purpose, Sunburst,” Starlight swore.
“Me neither.”
Starlight looked past Sunburst, ahead at the waterfall they would be hit by. “I’ll tell someone tomorrow,” she said as she and Sunburst were drenched.
They arrived at Starlight’s home completely dry, other than their manes. They walked to Starlight’s room. Sunburst looked around while Starlight tucked herself in. “I didn’t think your room would have skulls and a guitar and gemstones. You’re usually more of a kite pony.”
Starlight laughed nervously. “Yeah, I like a lot of things. The skulls are because of this rock band I like,” she explained.
Sunburst nodded and slipped into his sleeping bag. Soon enough, he fell asleep, leaving Starlight staring at the stars on her wall.
“Now, remember, Starlight,” said Mrs. Bloom. “If you witness bullying again, just know you can always tell me.”
Starlight nodded and rushed over to the back of the stage. “Once upon a time,” said Book Worm, giving Starlight the cue to open the curtains. They went on, rehearsing the play until it was time for lunch.
Starlight ate inside today. She needed a break from everything, and so she chose to sit in a corner of the room where no one could bother her, except Sunburst and Mrs. Bloom if they really needed her. Starlight went the rest of the school day without saying anything, until they walked out of the school.
“You’ve been quiet today, Starlight. I know you’re shy, but not usually this much,” said Sunburst.
Starlight sighed. “I’m fine. Can I just… catch up with you?”
“Okay…” he responded, allowing Starlight to sit down in the grass while he walked to the bus. Starlight rushed onto the bus carriage right before it started to depart. She chose the seat near Sunburst and pulled out a book. She flipped through the pages, avoiding any eye contact for the whole ride.
“Are you… mad?” Sunburst had to push himself to ask.
“No,” Starlight said, still looking at the book. “Why would I be?”
“Because you’ve been avoiding talking to me, being with me, and now even looking at me. I feel like you’re avoiding me .”
Starlight dropped her book into her bag and stared at Sunburst. Not an angry stare, but not an apologetic one, either. More like mixed and troubled. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way, but…” She struggled to put her feelings into words.
Sunburst rested a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder and nodded. “Just promise me you’ll practice magic with me later.”
“What are best friends for?”
Author's Note
Sorry if I've been inconsistent lately. I'm busy with my other stories and I'll be going back and forth, adding to whatever stories whenever I get the chance. I hope you enjoy this story! Thanks for reading!
It was Sunday, and Starlight remembered her promise to Sunburst from the bus ride on Friday. Just promise me you’ll practice magic with me later. Well, now was later, and she decided to go over to Sunburst’s house so they could practice their magic.
“Dad! I’m going to Sunburst’s house!” Starlight called.
She heard Firelight’s footsteps coming closer, until he was right next to her. He put a hoof in her hair and ruffled it, and then he tied her hair in two pigtails. “See you home by dinnertime. And don’t talk to strangers!” he added.
Starlight rolled her eyes and walked a few blocks over to Sunburst house.
When she arrived at Sunburst’s doorstep, she didn’t even need to knock. They were close friends. She walked into the living room, where she found him reading books. “Are you ready to do some spells?” she asked.
“Of course I am!” Sunburst grinned. “I have been since the last time we had fun with magic.”
Starlight giggled. “Then let’s get started!”
“Okay,” he agreed. “I found this spell, called the ascender spell. It’s pretty much a levitation spell, but it allows you to easily lift more things.” Sunburst showed Starlight the page in the book, allowing her to study it while he demonstrated. He slowly lifted all the books off of the bookshelf, and was soon joined by Starlight. They dropped all the books on the floor and sighed.
“That was probably one of the hardest spells I’ve ever done,” Starlight breathed.
“Yeah, it’s pretty hard, but if you tried to lift all those books with a simple levitation spell, it would be even harder.” Sunburst tried a levitation spell and struggled to lift the books off the ground, even when Starlight helped him.
They dropped the books, and they fell down. “You’re right, that is so much harder,” Starlight admitted.
They practiced the ascender over and over again, until they sat down, sweating and breathing heavily. They walked to the kitchen for a snack, which they ate very quickly in hopes of having more fun with magic.
“Hey, we can make this into a game!” Starlight suggested.
“What do you mean?” Sunburst wondered.
“Jenga!” Starlight squealed.
Sunburst rubbed his chin. “I’ve never heard of that game before. How do you play?”
“Usually, we use blocks to play, but since we’re practicing magic, we can use those instead,” Starlight started, pointing at the books. Sunburst nodded, following along so far. “We can use the ascender spell to set up the game.”
“How?”
“It’s like a tower, but made of books. Just put 2 books for each floor, and make each floor face the opposite direction. If you know what I mean.”
Sunburst nodded, and they started to lift the books off of the ground, though Sunburst thought it was a bit easier this time. Starlight beamed and took the first move of the game, removing a book that was near the middle and placing it on top. “That’s basically how you play, and the pony who makes the tower fall loses,” Starlight explained.
“Easy enough,” Sunburst scoffed, taking out the book that was on the bottom of the one Starlight removed. Starlight and Sunburst went on for a while, betting each other that they would be the one to win.
Starlight took a risky move that made the tower shake, but only temporarily. She giggled. “Think you can beat that?”
Sunburst made a nervous face as he wiggled a blue book out of its spot and placed it on top. He sighed a breath of relief and sat down, satisfied with the game. The tower was as high as the tallest window in the house! Starlight clapped her hooves, with a cheerful face on.
She made a smug face, standing up and changing her look to a determined one. She stuck her tongue out in an effortful way, pulling out a book, making the tower unstable. She heard a bit of creaking and looked up, dropping the book when she saw that their tower was falling. Not only that, but it was going to fall on her !
Starlight backed away and cowered, covering her face, shaking in fear. But, just when the books were about to hit her, they stopped, surrounded by a yellow magic aura. Starlight opened her eyes, to see that the books were backing away from her, Sunburst lifting them towards himself. He started floating in the air, the books orbiting him as he started glowing.
Starlight blocked her eyes from the light and squinted, but could still see that the books were being placed back on the shelf. Starlight slightly gaped as Sunburst landed back on the ground, only his flank glowing. Both of them saw what was on his flank when the light had faded away: his cutie mark. It was a sun, bursting and letting out rays of light, and it glimmered, too.
Starlight was too in awe to say anything, to do anything but Sunburst was really excited. He jumped, a big smile on his face, and ran outside to show everypony. Everypony but Starlight.
Starlight walked to the door, slightly frowning, watching as Sunburst’s dad lifted him off the ground, walking away and laughing, cheering, making plans for magic school. Her frown became bigger, and she bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes. Starlight blinked and let the tears drop. She sadly walked into Sunburst’s house, knowing that Canterlot was far from Sire’s Hollow. Which meant, her best friend was far from her.
Starlight buried her face in her pillow, tears still heavily flowing. She tried to cry as quietly as possible, so that her Dad wouldn’t hear her and find out how she was feeling. If he did, he’d probably keep her home from school tomorrow, comfort her in her old “blankie,” bake cookies for her, and read her a bedtime story. She was old enough to handle little things like emotions on her own.
Starlight wiped her tears and sat up in bed, angry with herself. “It’s time to get over this, Starlight,” she said, slapping herself, though it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the pain Sunburst gave her did. “Don’t be a big baby. Just accept that he’s gone, and that friendship just isn’t worth it.” Starlight almost cried at that last sentence, but stopped herself. She was done with sadness. She laid down on her pillow, which was soaked. Starlight rolled her eyes and flipped her pillow over.
Starlight squeezed her eyes, trying to forget all of the sadness she felt when Sunburst left her. Surprisingly, it worked. Her sadness turned to anger at cutie marks, at friendship, at Sunburst. She would never make another friend again, in case they left her with as much pain as Sunburst did. Starlight fell asleep, thoughts swirling around her head like storm clouds in a tornado, her breath so heavy, it was as strong as a storm.
Author's Note
Sorry for the sudden change. It was rated everyone until this chapter, which includes a bit of violence. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. I appreciate you reading this note, and the story, too. Thanks!
Overwhelming
Today, Ms. Bloom’s friend talked to all the unicorns about spells. Ms. Bloom was an earth pony, and she had to teach her own race their special talent. While the earth ponies learned about farming and plants, the pegasi learned to fly and control weather, and the unicorns learned about spells and controlling their magic. It was, apparently, a Sire’s Hollow tradition to go with other fillies and foals from all over Sire’s Hollow. Three teachers, three races, teaching about your specialties. Every school year, near the end of the year, it was a week-long learning process.
“My name is Sugar Swirl,” the teacher introduced herself. “I’d like to know all of your names, and we’ll see if I can remember them by the end of this week. I know I’ve seen some of you before, but I suspect a few of you are new.” Sugar Swirl seems nice , Starlight thought.
Sugar arranged the class in two groups. One group had all of the unicorns from past years, and the other group had the new unicorns. Starlight went with the second group, only to discover that she was the oldest one there. Most of the new ones had lived in Sire’s Hollow their whole life, but this was their first school year. But there were barely any students, being such a small town.
Starlight watched as Sugar Swirl tried to remember the names of the experienced unicorns. She heard that Sugar had only made one mistake. Then, her ears dropped when Sugar came closer to their group. Her ears perked back up, though, when she learned just how fun her teacher was. Sugar tried to guess everyone’s names, based on their coats, manes, or cutie marks. She got most of them correct, and she only had trouble with one pony’s name. Starlight’s.
“Let’s see… Lilac Sky?” she guessed. Starlight shook her head. Sugar tried to look at her cutie mark for a hint, before she saw that Starlight didn’t have a cutie mark. The oldest one, and still no cutie mark? she thought. “I give up,” she said, throwing up her hooves. “What’s your name?”
“Starlight Glimmer,” she answered, looking at the ground instead of her teacher. Sunburst’s name would’ve been hard to guess, too. Unless anyone saw his cutie mark. His bursting sun, giving way to his name. She knew her cutie mark couldn’t be rushed, but she was one of the only ponies without one. The oldest pony without one. Besides Sunburst. Though, he got his cutie mark, already. A bit late, but he had it. It had destroyed their friendship.
“Ah,” Sugar nodded, a smile on her face. “It really fits, doesn’t it?” She walked to the center of the room and got everyone's attention. “Well, let’s move onto spells, shall we?”
Starlight normally would have been interested in this, but the first rules were simple. The stronger your emotions were, the stronger your magic was. Don’t use magic when your emotions are too strong. Don’t use your magic for evil. As if she’d forget rules like those. But she didn’t care right now. All she remembered was that her friend was gone. Her friend who would have loved learning information like this. Not that she didn’t, but Sunburst would’ve cared more. Besides, Sunburst would’ve made her love it even more than she already did.
Starlight went through the day of basic spells, she honestly didn’t care about anything that happened. She stood outside the building and focused on teleporting herself into her room, or at least somewhere close to her house. And she succeeded. She landed on the roof of her house, now worried and scared.
She pounded on the roof, yelling for help. Soon enough, Firelight came outside, lifting his daughter down to the ground. Come to think of it, Sunburst’s magic aura was yellow, while her dad’s was orange. They were pretty similar, and Starlight couldn’t help but think about her (ex)-best friend. Once Starlight’s hooves touched the ground, she ran to her Dad and hugged his hoof. If Sunburst were here , she thought, he would have saved me. Starlight walked into her room, her hooves and legs shaking.
Starlight finished the week with three new spells learned. She decided to rush home so that she could continue practicing spells. She lit up her horn, ready to teleport herself, when she felt a hoof tap her on the shoulder. It was a foal, with three other friends behind him. She felt like she recognized them, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it, not until she heard their voices. Their tough, taunting voices.
“Now, you don’t want to teleport yourself onto the roof again, do you?” the boy said.
Everypony snickered at this, everypony except Starlight. And the girl. She walked up to Starlight, a deep frown on her face. “May bad luck be cast upon you,” she said, untying Starlight’s hair ties, and then ruffling her hair, maybe a bit too hard. So hard that Starlight fell on the ground, a deep cut running against her hoof. It started to bleed, but that wasn’t her main problem right now.
Another foal was a pegasus, and she struck her with a storm cloud. Soon enough, her hair was standing on edge and the area near the back of her neck was burned.
The foals came in all different races, Starlight noted to herself. There was a strong-looking earth pony, a tough pegasus, and a small unicorn, who was probably the nicest. And then there was the girl. Starlight couldn’t tell what she was, other than that she was the clear leader of the group. It looked like she was a unicorn, but her horn was kind of, well, sliced. Starlight backed away as the girl lit her horn, as it fritzed. Starlight didn’t have time to think, so she did the first thing she could think of. She lit her horn, gnashing her teeth, collecting enough energy for a teleportation spell.
The bullies all watched as their leader struck Starlight with her magic. Starlight cried out in pain, and everyone, other than the leader, looked shocked. Cuts surrounded Starlight everywhere, and she even had a slight black eye. The unicorn leader motioned for their group to leave the scene, to leave Starlight alone in the field, where she was in too much pain to move, in too much pain to even do magic. “Help,” she croaked, closing her eyes, falling asleep.
The world looked so blurry, Starlight could barely understand what was happening. All she could tell was that there were a few ponies in front of her, but the most distinguishable one was probably her dad, whose face was right in front of hers.
“Dad?” she squeaked. “Wha-what happened?”
Hearing this, Firelight picked his daughter up and swung her around, hugging her tightly afterwards. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” he shouted, jumping up and down like a foal opening a great gift on Hearth’s Warming. He set Starlight back down on her hospital bed where she could rest.
Trembling, Starlight lifted her left hoof up to where she could see it. It had a terrible scar, a bit of a burn and was kind of ashy. She lifted her other hoof to touch it, but she couldn’t. Mostly because it was numb, but also because it was wrapped in a bandage. “What happened?” Starlight asked again, more shocked and curious than before.
“You got, how should I put this, struck. By magic, force and weather,” a pony with a white coat on explained.
Starlight looked to her right and, surprisingly, saw Ms. Bloom, who was drying her eyes. “I’ve really missed you, Starlight. I’m glad you’re okay,” she added.
“Is there anything I’ve missed? That I might need my hooves for?” Starlight demanded.
“Well, there’s the school play. Lucky that you’re only the stagehoof.”
Starlight sighed and laid her head back on the pillow. She didn’t want to think about anything. But she couldn’t help it. She thought about what might have happened if Sunburst were still in Sire’s Hollow. Then she shook her head. I have to stop thinking about Sunburst. And cutie marks, too. He’s caused me enough pain, I don’t need him in my brain anymore.
Starlight closed her eyes and fell asleep, avoiding anything related to cutie-marks or Sunburst. She was done with that.
Starlight closed the curtains and walked to the front of the stage, with everypony else, bowing in front of the crowd. She followed as her class walked backstage, hoping that no one noticed her bandage-wrapped leg and her limping.
“That was perfect!” Ms. Bloom cheered. “We’re having a celebration tonight, but if you’re a bit exhausted, then it’s fine by me if you go home.” Starlight limped off stage, looking for her father. He was sitting in the first row, right next to the stage.
“Congratulations, sweetheart! That was a beautiful play, and the special effects were great! Are you staying for the party, cutie?”
Starlight looked at the fillies motioning for her to come over. She nodded and walked over to them. As she drew nearer, she was embarrassed to realize that she barely knew anypony’s names. All she’d ever focused on was spending time with Sunburst, or talking with Ms. Bloom. She never bothered to learn about anypony else. “Hey, Starlight!” a green and blue earth pony called. She nervously waved back, biting her lip so hard it started bleeding.
A yellow and white pegasus flew up to her, offering her a cupcake. Starlight reluctantly took it, taking a bite out of it. “So, I heard you were managing the effects, lighting, movements, all the boring stuff, right?” Starlight nodded, looking down. “Gotta say, it was really impressive. And all by yourself, too?”
Starlight had forgotten about that. She had been so busy trying not to mess up, she’d forgotten that Sunburst was supposed to help her with it. She felt a sharp pang in her heart, but quickly pushed it away and replaced it with bitter anger. “I didn’t really… want to… backstage is… I mean…” she dismissed, trying to be rude, but failing. She was usually a sweet girl, kind and helpful. But being mean was what she needed to do, all she needed to do to push anypony away from her. Because if she made friends with them, and they abandoned her, then sadness would come quickly upon her like it once had.
The pegasus, called Sunshine, was really confused. “Uhh, but you were so excited when you found out you were getting a behind-the-scenes part. Now you’re saying you didn’t-”
“Well, too bad. Ponies can change, you know,” she snapped, interrupting Sunshine and walking away. She almost smiled, and she probably would have if she wasn’t incredibly angry. Her anger took advantage of her, and for whatever weird reason, she liked it.
Starlight put an ice pack on her hoof and laid down in bed, taking a book from her shelf and flipping through the pages. But, quickly losing interest, she closed the book and set it aside. And her eyes closed as well. And she drifted off to sleep with a memory as her lullaby.
Starlight paced back and forth. She hoped she wasn’t in trouble. All she saw was her dad going into the schoolhouse while she and her classmates went to recess, and after that she went to investigate. The door opened, and Starlight’s ears perked up. Out walked Ms. Bloom and her dad, and they didn’t notice her, not until they bumped into her.
“Starlight! Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?” Ms. Bloom asked. Starlight nervously nodded, following Ms. Bloom into the classroom. Starlight sat down on a chair next to Firelight, and Ms. Bloom started to interrogate her. “What happened to you that caused your leg…”
Starlight didn’t want to tell Ms. Bloom the truth, because without Sunburst she didn’t have enough courage. So instead, she thought up a little fib. “I was practicing a spell, and I accidentally hit my leg.”
Ms. Bloom still wasn’t convinced. “Your wounds looked like more than just magic beam hits, and they were all over you, not just on your leg. You know you can tell me the honest truth,” she responded.
Starlight’s ears sank. She now knew Ms. Bloom had seen the whole thing, by the way she was acting patient and clueless, and at the same time not. So she took a deep breath and got ready to answer. The honest truth.
Starlight went home early that day. The other ponies were watching her every move, and it was even worse now that she had to walk. “You want to ride on my back, instead?” Firelight asked.
Starlight considered it for a moment, but then shook her head vigorously. If her classmates saw her acting like a baby, riding on her father’s back, well, then that was that. So she impressively limped all the way home. And when she got home, what did she do? Sit down on her bed and fall asleep right away.
Starlight’s ears dropped as she watched Ms. Bloom talked to the fillies that had bullied her. She saw the girl glaring at her, and the others were too embarrassed to look at her. They kept their heads down and avoided eye contact with anybody. She thought she even saw the unicorn crying. When Starlight couldn’t take the negative energy anymore, she cried tears of her own and hid behind the schoolhouse. Even when the bell rang, she stayed away from anypony else, hidden.
“Starlight?” she heard a voice call out. She covered her eyes, tears somehow still flowing. She lifted her hooves of her eyes and peeked to see who it was, though she was pretty sure she knew.
She groaned, “Yes?”
“Starlight, we’ve been worried about you,” the voice said.
Another voice joined in with Firelight’s. “If you need the time, you can take a break from school today. But I expect to see you back tomorrow,” Ms. Bloom added.
Starlight shook her head. She’d already skipped enough of school; she needed to be tougher, like she used to be when Sunburst was here.
Sunburst. The name brought back fond memories of her friend, her best friend, who had helped her with so much. Without Sunburst, she was just the lonely introvert she had been in Canterlot. She was the shy girl who didn’t know how to speak up for herself, or even how to speak in general. She was Starlight Glimmer, the most awkward filly in all of Sire’s Hollow. Again.
She stood up and shook her feelings off. If she wanted to live a life, she would have to get up time after time. She would have to stand up for herself, and not let other ponies interfere with anything she dreamed of. Anything. And right now, all she was dreaming of was not getting a cutie mark.
But when she walked into the classroom, she was oblivious to the fact that today was the day, the life-changing moment, the chance that most fillies wanted, the moment that she despised. She would finally learn her destiny. On the day her class was learning about destinies.
“Today we’re going to be learning about cutie marks,” Ms. Bloom started. Starlight slightly jumped. Normally, she would’ve been eager to learn about cutie marks, maybe even how to earn one, but ever since last week, she hated cutie marks.
Ms. Bloom pointed to a picture of a little pink filly with a curly green mane. More specifically, she pointed to the filly’s flank. “See this?” she asked, getting a nod from the class. “This was me before I got my cutie mark. Nopony is born with a cutie mark, these things come naturally. When you find out what makes your sparkle shine, a cutie mark appears on your flank, showing the world just who you are meant to be.”
Starlight’s frown got bigger by the moment. Who cared about cutie marks? And just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it, of course, did. “Who doesn’t have their cutie mark yet?” Ms. Bloom asked. Starlight, along with two other ponies, raised their hoof. She motioned for the three to step forward. Starlight noticed that one of the two others was Sunshine, and that she was trying her best to distance from Starlight as much as possible.
Ms. Bloom welcomed them and introduced them to the class, since she knew all three were quiet. “Starlight,” she asked, “what do you really like to do? What do you think your destiny will be?”
Starlight tilted her head. She’d never thought about her hobby as her destiny. To her, they were two separate things. Was it normal for fillies to plan out destinies for themselves? Was she just weird? “Well,” she thought, “I guess I like… magic?”
“That’s great!” Ms. Bloom said.
“Can you do blasting spells?” a foal called out from the class.
Starlight shrugged as Ms. Bloom placed an apple on her desk. Starlight knew the whole class was watching, and she knew she had to focus and concentrate to make sure she didn’t mess up in front of them. Her brain shaking from the effort, her magic turned into thin strands. They surrounded her horn and turned into an orb, which shot at the apple, blasting it open. The other ponies winced, covering their eyes, and Starlight sat down, exhausted from the work.
“Um… Starlight?” Sunshine asked, her hoof trembling, pointing to Starlight’s body. Starlight looked back and gaped at what she saw. Her cutie mark. The thing she had been avoiding, the thing she had been hating, right on her flank. Why? she thought. Why?
Ms. Bloom’s class was reading a story and trying to find out the theme. Starlight didn’t care about the “lesson” of the story. She had just learned a lesson in life. In the blink of an eye, the world can change. A lot.
“Starlight?” Ms. Bloom asked, pulling Starlight out of her daydream. “What’s the theme of this story?”
“Uh…” Starlight looked down at the text, but her hair covered her eyes. “Um… In the blink of an eye, the world can change.”
Ms. Bloom looked at her book and nodded. “I didn’t even think of that one, but it’s perfect! Anyone else?” Starlight silently sighed a big breath of relief. She had just gotten really lucky that time. Next time, she might not be as fortunate. If Sunburst were here, he would have-
No. Starlight didn’t care about Sunburst anymore. She hated friends. And she hated him for making her hate friends. And for causing her all that sadness. If that was what a friend was, she didn’t want anything to do with friendship.
Just then, the dismissal bell rang. “Remember, everypony! Tomorrow is your graduation! Make sure to look your best, since there’ll probably be lots of pictures. After tomorrow, you’ll be moving onto the next grade, meet new friends, and have fun with old ones!” Ms. Bloom reminded the class.
“Yeah right. I don’t want any more friends. And I certainly don’t have any right now,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Starlight Glimmer!” Ms. Bloom announced, and Starlight walked forward, her hair done in a bun. She heard applause from the entire room, and she winced. She didn’t want to be in front of everyone. With all this trouble in her life, did she really need to be introduced to even more?
She was handed a scroll and a graduation hat, and she noticed her dad taking a picture of her. She rolled her eyes and walked off stage, and Ms. Bloom continued with calling out names.
Firelight hadn’t seen Starlight at all since they went home from the graduation. He went to check on her. “Starlight?” Firelight pressed his face against Starlight’s bedroom door while knocking repeatedly at it. “Chipmunk Cheeks? Why don’t you come out and we can play a game together?” he offered. He jumped at a magical spark behind him.
“No! I’m older now. I can manage just fine without anypony,” Starlight snapped, stomping and marching closer and closer to her father, who was slowly backing away. “I don’t want any comfort. I don’t want my cutie mark! I don’t want friends! I DON’T WANT THIS LIFE!”
“Starlight, you-”
Starlight groaned. “I hate my life! I hate everything!”
“Come here, silly filly. Calm down, have some cookies. I have your blankie-wankie waiting for you on the couch!” he offered.
“BUT I DON’T WANT THAT ANYMORE!” she screamed, pushing her dad away.
Firelight gaped as Starlight ran out of the door. He chased after her, but when he finally got close enough, she teleported away. Far, far, away.
Author's Note
Yes, I know, this chapter was incredibly short. The next chapter will be longer, I promise. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it!
Epilogue: Timeline of My Life
9 years old
“As long as you practice magic with something you don’t want to lose control over, you will have control.”
Starlight looked at Sunburst. “You. I don’t ever want to hurt you. I don’t ever want to lose you, or control you. I just want you as my best friend.”
Sunburst laughed, sticking his tongue out in effort and teleporting a kite over to fly it with Starlight.
12 years old
“Come here, silly filly. Calm down, have some cookies. I have your blankie-wankie waiting for you on the couch!”
“BUT I DON’T WANT THAT ANYMORE!”
12 years old
“We’ve arrived at Neighagra Falls!”
“Good.” Starlight walked past the big mountains, past the beautiful waterfall, past the fresh flowers and grass. Terribly exhausted, she laid down in a big abandoned house in a desert. “Forget about friends. Forget about cutie marks,” she mumbled, falling asleep. She didn’t even notice that she was tightly hugging a fancy-looking wooden stick.
16 years old
She walked into the building that had been her home for years. She teleported a powder that matched her coat color and wiped some onto her flank, covering her cutie mark. Then, she got black powder and used an equal sign cutout to make a perfect equal sign appear. Her smirk got even bigger.
16 years old
“Yes,” the mare answered blandly, picking up a stone and examining it.
Starlight consciously looked around, deciding to take her chances. “Have you ever come across some kind of super powerful stone that can store the cutie mark magic of, I don’t know, an entire village?” she asked, stressing that last part.
“Yup,” the mare answered, setting down the stone and surprising, but more intriguing, Starlight. “In the big cave,” she continued, pointing past the place Starlight had decided to set up her village. Starlight grinned and quickly sped to the village to get everything she needed ready. She could probably set up a cutie mark vault in a few days, with the needed materials, of course.
17 years old
“Uh… hello? Why were you here?” she demanded.
“My friend and I were here to have fun in the snow,” the stallion answered, taking his helmet off, revealing an earth pony with blue eyes and white hair. He motioned for another pony to come over. A blue-coated unicorn, with blue eyes and a blue mane, walked out from behind a snowpony. Noticing her cutie mark, the earth pony asked, “What’s your name?”
“Starlight Glimmer,” she hesitated to answer. “Why? What’s yours?”
“I’m Double Diamond,” the white one responded. “And this is Party Favor. Your name isn’t as… equality-related as I expected.”
“Well, no, I used this staff,” she said, pointing to a twisted piece of wood that she was levitating. “It rips off my cutie mark and replaces it with this equal sign here. It really is a beautiful experience.” She rubbed her chin, a wide smile across her face. “Would you two like to try?”
19 years old
She showed everypony their place to stay, and grinned to herself as she walked into her own cottage. “You really have created the perfect paradise, Starlight.”
24 years old
She placed the mark in her vault, and sure enough, and equal sign appeared where the princess's cutie mark should have been.
Earlier today
Princess Twilight ran forward, looking around at the map, then clenching her teeth at Starlight. “What are you doing, Starlight?”
Starlight cackled in response. “I’d tell you, but I don’t wanna ruin the surprise!” She grinned, crumpling the scroll up into a ball. “Won’t be needing that anymore,” she spoke with a fakely soft voice, throwing the scroll away. Twilight activated her horn, but Starlight beat her to it. She laughed maniacally and shot magic up into the air, creating a portal of time and space. She gave one last smirk to Twilight, and levitated herself into the portal.
Starlight opened her eyes, breathing heavily. All those memories, so overwhelming. She stuck her fork into her carrot. She twirled it around a few times, a cold expression on her face. She didn’t want to take a bite of it. After everything that had happened, she knew she didn’t deserve it.
“Starlight?” a voice said, and Starlight felt a hoof on her shoulder. In shock, she dropped the fork.
“Sorry, Princess. I’ll just go now,” Starlight said, backing away from the table.
“No, no, it’s fine. I was just wondering why you were staring for an hour without eating. Also, I think I’d prefer it if you called me just ‘Twilight.’”
Starlight took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I know I don’t deserve it, not after everything I’ve done.”
Twilight shook her head. “But you’re in a much better place now. You have friends, a home-”
“But I shouldn’t! I don’t deserve any!” Starlight argued. “I’d like friends, yes, but I don’t deserve a home. Especially not a castle.”
“Listen, Starlight. To me, it doesn’t matter if you were evil or not. As long as you’re willing to be friendly now, that’s enough for me to let you stay here.”
“But what if I’m not? What if…” Starlight trailed off, looking back at the carrot. It reminded her so much of Sunburst’s unicorn horn. “What if I lose another friend?” she asked incredibly quietly.
“You were thinking about Sunburst, weren’t you?” Twilight asked, receiving a nod from Starlight. “Listen, I want you two to be friends again. And I want you to make even more friends. Anything that happens, I just want you to know that I’ll be there for you. But for now, I’ll give you some space. I’ll give you about a week to adjust, and by then, I should have some friendship lessons set up for you. My student deserves great things like this.”
“Me? Your student?”
“My pupil,” Twilight corrected.
“No! I was terrible! I can’t! I don’t want to risk hurting you, or your friends! If I stay here, I might hurt you!” Starlight protested.
“Listen, you saying that is all the proof I need that you won’t hurt me. I trust you, Starlight,” Twilight advised.
Starlight burst into tears, quiet tears like she cried when she’d first lost Sunburst. “I want to stay, Princess. I do, but…”
Twilight wrapped her wing around Starlight, finishing the sentence for her. “But you don’t think you’re worthy. You think you need to be perfect. And after everything that’s happened…” Starlight nodded without Twilight finishing her sentence, her hooves covering her eyes, her back turned to Twilight. “Well, I know for a fact that no one is perfect. Not even me. So as long as you are willing to stay…”
Starlight turned around to face Twilight. “I’ll do it.” They smiled in unison, and Starlight closed her eyes, thinking of her memories with Sunburst. Her last tears fell, and she stood up. “See you in the morning, Twilight .”
As Starlight stood up, Twilight noticed a slight scar on Starlight’s left hoof. “Where’d you get that scar?” Twilight asked before Starlight could leave.
Starlight lifted her hoof up to her eye level, and then set it down, a gloomy look on her face. One that reminded Twilight of a timeline in Equestria where Starlight had come close to destroying it. “I… had my reasons for a lot of things, didn’t I?” she finally answered, walking away.
Starlight sheepishly chuckled and turned around. “Which one is my room?”
Twilight rolled her eyes, giggling. She walked over to where Starlight was, wrapping her wing around her. “Anywhere you want. This is your home now, too.”
Starlight smiled. With freedom, friends, and a nice place to call home, who could ask for anything more?
Author's Note
Finally done with the story! It took a while to finish, but I finally made it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Maybe even more. Thanks to all of those who stayed tuned until the very end! I really appreciate your patience with my inconsistency!
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