Starlight Glimmer sighed. She had been given a choice in assignments, and so she chose the one that sounded easiest: do an activity with a friend. She chose that one because she was absolutely sure it was the easiest. All she thought would come to it was a small picnic with one of Twilight's friends and a few moments of herself trying to act as at ease as possible. The friend she chose would've given a report to Twilight, except she didn't have a friend to picnic with.
She had reconciled with Sunburst just yesterday, and so Twilight thought, much to her agitation, she was ready to tackle yet another friendship lesson. Starlight tearfully hyperventilated for about a straight two hours until Twilight saw her and decided she could have a choice in the lessons. When Spike saw her stress over the lessons, he said, "And I thought Twilight was the master of freak-outs." That got a concerned stare from Starlight and a glare from Twilight. He decided to help Starlight in the evalutation, and they eventually decided the best choice was the easiest one: having a conversation with any of her friends.
At least, Starlight thought it would've been easy. She'd expected to just have a lunch with somepony nice, possibly Fluttershy or Spike. She'd never realized that everyone was acting so strange whenever she came near. If so, she would've probably gone with making a gift for a friend. That way, she could isolate herself while also being productive and avoid the awkward smiles whenever she walked near somepony.
Too late for that now. She'd made her decision clear to Twilight, so she would stick with her promise. She decided she would need to find out why everypony was acting so weird. Or maybe they were always this way? No, probably not, because they were all really nice and accepting to her just yesterday. Can that much change in one day?
It was all just a bit too suspicious. She had to investigate even further.
Starlight secretly walked towards Twilight and Fluttershy, approaching them from behind the fountain. Ponyville was somehow even easier to navigate than Twilight's castle. One reason why she'd rather be having a picnic than being in that confining yet humongous castle. Twilight was whispering something to Fluttershy, who nodded soon after Twilight had finished speaking. She quickly grabbed something from Fluttershy with her wing and slipped it into her blue-white saddlebag, and took off with a quick and quiet "Thanks! Make sure to keep this a secret from Starlight."
Shocked, Starlight looked up to see Twilight soar above her, to somewhere else.
She put a hoof to her forehead and shook her head. She wasn't hearing things, was she? She couldn't be hallucinating; she currently had perfect health. She cast a location spell on Twilight and teleported away from the fountain to the next destination: Sweet Apple Acres. The faint light from the spells caught Fluttershy's attention for a moment, but Starlight was quick enough not to be discovered.
At the farm, she arrived in a tree, which was right above where Twilight and Applejack were standing. They laughed before Twilight went over a few things. "Anyways, Pinkie's going to do that, so you should probably not. We don't want to have too many."
Applejack laughed along with Twilight again. "Alright, Twi. Did you need some of these?" she asked, pointing to something beyond Starlight's capable vision at the moment.
Twilight seemingly did a slight nod. "You can bring them since I already have Fluttershy's and Rainbow's things." She departed, and Starlight followed, as well. It was apparently her last stop for today, before doing something to Starlight that was a secret. What would she do, torture her with friendship lessons? Or maybe she would go further and prank her as a punishment for her past deeds. Starlight supposed she would be fine if that happened, but it didn't really seem too much like the something the Princess of Friendship would do.
Starlight couldn't follow Twilight into Sugarcube Corner, so she sat down right by the window and listened. When it was mostly silence, she triggered a listening spell to increase her hearing proficiency.
"...but I can still catch up with you in a few minutes. Just go on ahead," came Pinkie's voice.
Starlight resisted the urge to just peer through the window and see what was happening, as she knew Pinkie Pie would easily spot her. "Alright, to the Town Hall, right?"
Pinkie laughed. "Silly Twilight. I'd never forget."
"Right. You do have a knack for this kind of thing. Unlike me."
"Twilight, you're good with this too! I'm just... better?"
That made Twilight giggle. "Alright. See you at Town Hall in a few! Now I just have to find Starlight." Starlight heard her name, alerted. She ducked down behind the building, wishing there were more surrounding buildings to hide her. Unfortunately, Twilight was headed the direction she was in, behind the sign, so she would most likely be spotted.
Twilight locked her gaze with Starlight, who blushed the way Twilight did. "Oh, umm, hi!" Twilight said, a bit too bubbly.
"Uhhh," was all Starlight could manage.
Twilight kept walking, motioning for Starlight to follow her. "I'm glad I ran into you, Starlight. We needed you for something."
But the question is, what? she thought to herself as she walked with Twilight. "Is it a bad thing?" she managed.
Twilight sighed. "You'll see. You know, I'd rather you have maintained a patient and peaceful state than commit espionage and follow me around all day, desperate for an answer."
Starlight's face flushed even more. "I... I didn't... I was... I was just curious," she stammered.
All that came from Twilight was a slight giggle. "Of course you were. Now, I hope you like what was planned for you."
Starlight closed her eyes, scared for what was going to come next. She was surprised by what she heard: "Surprise!" yelled seven voices in unison. Opening her eyes, she saw a small celebration set up. And on the banner, it said, "Welcome to Ponyville!"
"For me?" she asked, completely shocked.
Rainbow snickered. "Who else?"
"But... why?"
"Well," Twilight explained, "you were freaking out yesterday, and so we all wanted to make the friendship assignment easier on you. Like inviting you to spend time with a friend at a celebration, perhaps?" Starlight listened intently as the pieces of the puzzle finally lined themselves up.
"I see. And I also see what I did wrong. It's wrong to just assume one thing without knowing what it is in reality. Like you said, it's better to maintain a peaceful state than stress out, taking action over random, farfetched assumptions."
Twilight beamed. "I see you've learned an important friendship lesson from this whole ordeal."
Starlight nodded and smiled back.
"Wait, assumptions?"
Starlight, with a sheepish face, summarized it, "They were negative thoughts on what you would probably do to me."
A chuckle came from Twilight. "Yeah, that sounds pretty implausible from what I can hear. So, I think you deserve a good grade on this assignment, as you've taught yourself a great lesson," she informed her student with a wink. "Now, who wants to celebrate?"
Everyone cheered, especially Starlight, because she would be getting a good grade. What could be better than that?
