Starlight Glimmer, angry yet scared, crossed her front hooves as I watched her slowly lower herself down onto my couch, a nervous expression clearly drawn across her face. She laid down on her side and stared at me. I stared back at her, catchin' the tons of regret in her eyes. It was just earlier in which I found 'her. Again.
I was in my orchard, pickin' apples as always, when I suddenly heard a sound. I can't exactly explain what kind of sound, but there was some sound, one that hinted at the presence of somepony. I explored the fields and crops both for the source of the sound, but I couldn't find anythin'. Just as I decided to go round up my crops and bring them home, I found the sound. It came from a pony. A lilac unicorn. And more specifically, Starlight Glimmer.
"What are you doin'?" I had asked her.
She was surprised that I could see her, but she felt her head and touched the apple that surrounded her horn. A waste of a perfectly good apple, if you ask me. "Oh, shoot. Uh." She never answered my question, but I had suspected that she was in Sweet Apple Acres for spyin' purposes. I'd asked her if that were the right answer, and she just clammed up even more. That's why I'm assumin' that I'm right, that she was in Ponyville today to spy on us.
She's currently on my couch, though, rubbin' her horn to get rid of any excess apple left on her. It presumably fell on her head while she was usin' her invisibility spell, hidin' from me. But I managed to buck the apple right onto her horn, deactivatin' the spell and allowin' me to see her. She finishes cleanin' off her horn, and with nothin' to do, she fidgets with her hooves.
I toss her an apple, which she catches with her magic, throwin' it back at me. I shrug then decide to eat it myself. After a few bites, she eyes me impatiently. So I quickly swallow the lump of apple and ask, "So tell me once more. What were you doin' in Ponyville?"
"Techincally, I can't tell you 'once more' because I haven't answered that question yet." She thinks she can play it smart, huh? I glare at her until she gives in and, very surprisingly, tells me that she was here to spy mostly on Twilight because she wanted some sort of revenge on Twilight. She sighs and waits for my response.
I see that she looks regretful, so I decide to give her a chance. In my head, I consider it. The possibility of Starlight bein' a great friend ain't too high, so she may not be the best friend to have. Surely, she's good with magic. I watched Twilight practice the invisibility spell for almost two years before she could perfect it the way Starlight did. Not only that, but I see that she's willin' to change, that she's not completely evil. She herself is a pony, scared and helpless, like everypony is at one point of their life. But from what I see, maybe Starlight's been hurt in more than one point of her life. So I'll help her change. I'll provide the first step she needs. And if that doesn't work, well, at least I tried.
"Can ya tell me what led ya to leadin' the village as you did?"
She shakes her head. "Not right now. No."
I sadly watch her do this thing again, messin' with her hooves and activatin' her horn, off and on like a flickerin' lightbulb. It must be her way to deal with stress or somethin', because she soon starts takin' deep breaths. That one usually doesn't work for me, but it does for most ponies. I guess Starlight ain't one of them, because she soon returns to violently lightin' up her horn. It soon heats up to the point where I can see the smoke comin' out of it. "Stop," I tell her. She sees it as a command, and instantly stops messin' around, worried. She doesn't seem to want to make a run for it, like she did the last time we saw her. Instead, she lays down on her back with a sigh, starin' at the ceiling, empty-minded.
"You don't have to act as if I'm the bad captain," I inform her. She takes it as another command. "Nor do you have to think of me as a good captain, either. I'm fine just bein' Applejack, your friend."
She's shocked to hear friend, I can see it in her face. She shakes her head and covers her face with her hooves, her horn flickerin' like crazy now. "Stop," I 'command' her, makin' her stop. "Look up at me." For once, she refuses to listen to me. "Fine, you don't have to look. Just listen. I'm not here to call you out on your past flaws. Of course, I'm angry 'bout what you did. But I now see that you're regretful." I hand her a cup of apple cider, which she takes with her magic. She relucantly takes it, revealin' her tear-stained face and taking a sip of the cider. I bring myself a cup, too, and drink it right next to her, like friends would do.
"So," I ask her again. "What was your motive for creatin' and leadin' the town the way you did?"
"Past trauma," is all she has to say. It honestly sounds sad, the way she words it. "A friend I had got his cutie mark long before I got mine. I was a late bloomer. But because of that, he got his cutie mark first. He was the one who got sent to magic school, whether he was the best in his class or not. The inequality hurt me, left me isolated for so long. So I always stuck with equality, and that was my whole life for basically two years, at least until you and your friends took the equality away from that place."
I rest a hoof on her shoulder. "That's awful. I guess I can kinda see why you did all of those things back when we first met. It's like the sayin' goes: The bully was bullied first." Tears well up in her eyes, and I consider what it could've been. Oh. "Well, I'm not sayin' you were the bully. You just had a different point of view than the rest of us did. And I now understand why. Come on, I'm sure all my friends would be willin' to forgive you."
"Your turn, Starlight," Fluttershy says. We're playin' a game with Starlight now, because Rainbow Dash couldn't get over the fact that Starlight was reformed. She thought I was tellin' a lie. But Rainbow never seems to trust me, so we're playin' a game two truths and a lie. One of the hardest games to play ever.
Starlight takes a deep breath and starts. "I want to change. I regret my actions. I hate you."
"That sounds more like two lies and a truth," comes Rainbow's voice. I want to scold her, but Starlight is already breakin' down.
"It isn't!" she says through tears. "Was this a trick on me? Was this originally meant just to make me feel humiliated? To make fun of me?"
"You mean the way you tricked us and removed our cutie marks? The way-"
"Rainbow Dash!" I yell at her, angry. The rest of my friends seem angry, as well. But none of us are as hurt as Starlight is. "Come on, y'all. Let's go check on her."
They all follow me back to the barn, where Starlight is sittin' on the couch once more. I hand everypony a cup of cider, includin' her. "Sorry 'bout that. Rainbow tends to be sharp sometimes. Especially when it comes to me."
She nods and wipes her tears, sippin' some cider. "It's fine. I forgive her. I just wish she would forgive me."
"She will," I assure her. "It'll take time, but she will. Just know that I trust you. I believe that you told the truth." And then she embraces me. I return the hug as the rest of my friends join in.
Author's Note
Listen, listen:
This was really messy and barely interesting. But that's what happens when I'm rushed
*cough* *cough* someone *cough*
