Princess Twilight's Pupil

Starlight felt something poke her hoof. She opened her eyes and saw someone looking at her. “Twilight?” she hazily asked.

“Uh, no,” the figure answered. “I’m Spike. Twilight told me to get you out of bed and give you some time to have fun today.”

“Oh,” Starlight said, closing her eyes again. “Sounds great,” she responded sarcastically.

Spike tugged at her mane. “Come on, Starlight. If you’re not going to spend time with me, at least have breakfast.”

Starlight sat up. “With you?” she repeated.

“Yeah. Twilight’s putting together some friendship lessons, so I guess I’m going to spend time with you instead,” Spike explained.

Starlight smiled for a bit. Knowing that she wouldn’t be alone in Ponyville made her a lot happier. She hopped out of bed and smiled even more. “Come on, then, Spike.”

Spike followed Starlight outside and smiled as Starlight waved for him to come over to where she was, under a shady tree. She set up a blanket and teleported a daisy sandwich and a crystal cupcake onto the blanket. Spike laughed and dug in. “Wow, thanks, Starlight!” he said, his mouth stuffed.

Starlight tilted her head, happily closing her eyes. She opened them again and took a bite of her sandwich. She watched as three ponies walked past her and Spike. They were all earth ponies, and they all had flower cutie marks. Spike gaped as he watched what happened. Starlight tried to act oblivious to the fact that they were talking about her, pointing at her and hushing themselves.

“I heard she stole the cutie marks of her whole village!”

“I heard she traveled back in time and almost wrecked time and space and Equestria!”

“I heard she tried to kill Princess Twilight!”

“Imagine what she could do to us! Oh, the horror.”

“The horror!”

“The horror!”

Starlight’s eyes widened as she watched the three fall down, their legs twitching. She gaped and put a hoof to her mouth, her eyes watering. Spike looked at her, and put a claw on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Starlight. These three can get like this pretty easily. It’s not your fault.”

Starlight wasn’t convinced. She turned away from Spike, dabbing at her eyes which were squeezed shut. Spike sighed, not wanting to see his friend so hurt. “Just take it easy, Starlight.”

Starlight looked at Spike for a brief moment. “No!” she shouted at Spike and fled. Spike extended his arm, reaching for her, but didn’t bother to go after her.

Spike walked back to the castle, looking for Twilight. He opened the library door and walked up to her. “Starlight ran away,” he explained.

Twilight dropped her papers. “What? To where?” she demanded, pressing her muzzle against Spike’s nose, and then letting go, laughing sheepishly.

“I don’t know. I let her go because I know she needs space. But I have no idea whether she’s coming back or not,” Spike sadly answered.

“Well let’s pray to Celestia that she’s okay. Meanwhile, we need to look for her,” Twilight said, now determined to find her first-ever student and new friend.

“Yeah, well, she could be anywhere. She’s got magic, remember?” he said, folding his arms in frustration.

Twilight sighed. “But still, that won’t stop me. She’s my friend, and I’ll do anything to keep her from any danger.”

Spike looked at Twilight, only the faintest glimmer of hope left in him. “Let’s just hope she’s not already in trouble.”

Starlight laid down on the snow and buried everything but her head. She closed her eyes, shivering but accepting it. After a few minutes, though, the cold became too unbearable and she sat up, yawning. She looked at the broken glass and looked away, a sting in her heart.

She took the shards of glass and placed them where they belonged. She used her magic to bind the pieces together, but she didn’t feel any happier staring at the now unharmed cutie mark vault. If anything, it made her feel worse.

She thought of when she had been eviler, and sighed and walked to the edge of the cave, looking at the village that was once under her control. They seemed so happy, even happier than when she was the leader. Makes sense. I was a terrible leader, Starlight thought.

She felt tears form but wiped them away. “I just cause trouble for Twilight. I’m nothing but a bunch of overrated problems for her. I don’t deserve such praise. I deserve to live in this little cave and watch as my villagers have fun without me.” Even though she was trying to hold back tears, streams of them ran down her cheeks anyways. “Sorry, Twilight,” she whispered to the cold air around her. “Sorry for everything I did to you.”

Starlight laid down on the rocks instead of the snow and rolled into a ball, warming herself for the night. Her thoughts pushed at her all night.

I have to be perfect for her. It was too much pressure. And I can’t ask her for help. I’d be imperfect. I’d be seen as demanding. I’d be… hurting everypony else.

Starlight couldn’t convince herself that she deserved a better life than this, but her mind seemed a bit unsure. She just closed her eyes and tried to forget about everything. Nothing’s wrong, Starlight, she told herself. You belong here.

But something pulled her away from that statement.

“Thanks for coming, everypony,” Twilight said, taking slow, deep breaths.

Applejack caught on and nodded, a bit worried. “What’s wrong, sugarcube?”

“Well, it’s about Starlight,” she started.

“Did she stop eating?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Or maybe,” Pinkie suggested, “she’s stopped having fun.”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy said, running her hooves through her mane.

Spike shook his head. “We actually have no idea.”

Everyone looked confused as Spike said this. Rarity tilted her head, asking “Then why did you bring us here?”

Twilight took a deep breath as she and Spike exchanged nervous glances. “You see,” she started, “Starlight’s, well, she…”

“SHE RAN AWAY!” Spike yelled, clutching his ears. Everypony but Twilight gasped. She lowered her head and then looked into everypony’s eyes.

“We have to find her.”