Starlight screamed. She couldn't do this whole friendship thing. She just couldn't. Being allowed to stay in the castle of the pony she just tried to almost, well, kill was one thing, whether it was accidental or not. She'd had quite a few days to get used to that. She still hadn't gotten used to it, though. She was faking enjoying it. But now that she was being accepted, Twilight was teaching her friendship. Didn't she know about friendship?
Apparently not.
If she had known, she wouldn't have done what she did. So apparently that meant she was to take lessons. On friendship. Ewww. She was bored, to sum it up. Very, very bored. Maybe a bit lazy, too, but mostly bored. She needed to do something.
She was guilty for time traveling, for destroyying Equestria, for creating a village and making it a dystopia. She was sorry, she really was. But that didn't mean she didn't feel stupid for having a stupid thought and wanting to go along with it so badly. Well, okay, what could time traveling do this time? If she went to the future instead of the past, that couldn't change things in modern-day Equestria. No way.
So, feeling even worse by the second, no idea why she was torturing herself with more guilt to explain to Twilight later, she opened a blank scroll and wrote up a time spell. And then she cast it.
She landed in a strange place where ponies looked... somehow different. A cutie mark on only one side? Earth ponies using magic? Ponies with seemingly magical objects like many, many artifacts? It was unexplainable. But she had an excuse as to why she didn't understand it: she came from the "past."
She was approached by a cream-coated pony, maybe orange, with a purple mane and a rainbow streak down it. Her saddlebag was stylish and had three pins on it. One pin had Twilight's cutie mark, another with Fluttershy's, and the last was Rainbow Dash's. Why she wore these pins, Starlight did not know. What she did know was that these ponies were weird.
"Hey, you look new in Maretime Bay!" she chirped. "I'm Sunny, and I'll be here if you ever need a friend." As she said this, wings and a horn started to form, which was surprising. Even more surprisingly was that they never fully formed. They were just glowing streaks of light forming shapes. She must've been gaping, because Sunny added, "Sorry, this may be new to you, but I do this when friendship is established."
Starlight nodded. "I... That's nice. You must be special. I'm Starlight, and I guess I'll be seeing you around?"
She left that last part a question because it was one. Was she going to see Sunny around? Was she even going to talk to her if that happened? She really didn't know. Because she didn't understand friendship yet.
She walked around the new place, guilty and confused. Eventually, she just sat down at a tree, unsure of what to do now that she was away from her troubles. Well, she wasn't really away from them. She could never escape herself. And she was the big problem, really.
"Hey," a voice broke her out of her trance. Starlight took one glance at the pony who had spoken. His coat was red, his eyes green, and his voice harsh. He might have been glaring, but Starlight didn't dare look at him for any longer. She stared off into the distance where she didn't have to face any ponies.
Starlight didn't know what to say. She was trying to contain her breath so she wasn't hyperventilating. She probably was anyways. "Um, hi. What do you need?"
The voice came again after a few moments of silence, this time gentle and similar to hers. "I- Sorry, could you move? I have to rake this place up by the evening."
Starlight didn't want to face him. But the change in tone made her curious. She took another peek at him. He wasn't glaring at her. At least not now. She squeezed her eyes shut and blinked a few times before staring away again. She stood up to walk away before getting stopped. She faced him one last time and kept her gaze on his eyes. Emerald.
"Sorry," he said, biting his lip.
Starlight blinked. "What? Why?"
Sprout shared the blank, confused expression with Starlight for a few moments. "I, um... I'm sorry. For uh- well, um... Is there a reason you're avoiding looking at me?"
Starlight felt her eyes begin to water. "I- uh..." She was empty on answers. Was she supposed to look at ponies when she talked? "I'm just not great at making friends... I barely know how to make friends after... uh..."
Sprout smiled. "I think I know how to make friends. I just can't because nopony wants to be my friend."
"Oh," was all Starlight said. She felt sorry for him. The uncertainty between the two was glaring. But neither of them minded. "I guess we could be friends. If you want. I know I could use more friends."
"And so could I. Trust would be nice." Starlight nodded in response to this. Neither of them said a thing after that. Sprout bit his lip, wanting to break the tension between the two. "Would you like a drink? I think I have a bit of time before I have to get back to work."
"Sure," Starlight said, keeping her answer simple and short. The two arrived at the smoothie stand soon after, greeted by Sunny.
"Hey, you two! Sprout, are you taking a break from work?" she asked with a little hint of playfulness to it.
Starlight watched as Sprout looked away sheepishly. "I made a new friend. I think. I'm taking a break for just a bit..."
"Sprout, it was a joke," Sunny said, regretting saying what she did. Sprout nodded. "Any specific flavors that you guys would like?" Neither of them answered, so she just handed them strawberry shakes. Starlight thanked her and the two walked back to where they were before, under the shade of the tree.
"Sorry," Sprout apologized, looking back at Sunny. "We barely got along when we were foals, which makes me so sorry that I was ever her friend. Or that I deserved her second chances. It's tense, our friendship, but it's not evil."
Starlight choked over the smoothie at the sound of the word evil. "I, well," she finally said after she managed to stop coughing, "I've experienced similar things."
Sprout laughed a bit at this. He could tell she was holding back on information. He wanted more, but was unsure if she wanted to tell him anything. Not all ponies were willing to share information so quickly like he wished. "So, um, what's your name? And what happened that made it so you can't make friends anymore?"
"Starlight." She shook her head. "I was just so lonely when I was young, so I started a cult."
Sprout grinned. "I'm Sprout. You may not believe this, but I did, too. I destroyed a building in the process, but my old friend, if you can even call her that, restored friendship between the three tribes. She's an alicorn now because of that."
Starlight smiled. Oh, her. The alicornhood makes more sense now. "Well, after someone tried to tell me my cult was wrong, I went on to accidentally destroy time and the future. But the pony who tried to stop me earlier finally succeeded in preventing me from..."
Sprout saw her trailing off and suddenly jumped in, "Everypony deserves a friend."
"And a second chance," she quickly added, which Sprout responded to with a smile.
"Yes."
Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this was what friendship felt like. Someone to bond with, someone to understand you and just laugh around. To agree with. But also, she realized, there were times of silence and discomfort. But a friend was still nice to have.
"So, do you think you could make more friends? Maybe help those who are lost like we were?" She felt like Twilight for daring to even say such things.
Sprout looked up at the tree and stomped, making the tree grow taller, pleasing Starlight. "Just like this tree, I will make friendships grow. And I hope we can be friends. Are you still lost?"
She sucked in a breath, looking back up at the tree, away from Sprout's face again. "Admittedly, yes. But not as much as before. Thanks for this. But I have to go now. There's somepony who can guide me even more back at home who will be probably angry if I stay here. Can you be that pony here? In Maretime Bay?"
"Yes. Yes, I can."
Starlight smiled. "Maybe you can start with her," she said, motioning to a blue-coated unicorn with a butterflly cutie mark and a lot of curly hair."
"I will," Sprout assured his friend. Well, he had to make sure they were friends first. "But we're friends, right?"
"Yes," Starlight whispered, "although I may not ever see you again. You were a great friend for the few minutes I was ever here." The two embraced, and Starlight glanced towards the unicorn from before.
Sprout took a deep breath. "I've seen her before. But she's usually alone. I promise I'll make a good friend for her, like you were to me."
And with that, he walked towards her and started to talk. Starlight smiled. This was probably how Twilight felt with her when she finally decided not to destroy time. As Starlight walked to the outskirts of Maretime Bay, casting the portal to return back home, she glanced back at where Sprout and Misty were.
"You were a great friend too, Sprout. You taught me a lot in a few minutes. May your friendships sprout like you will," she chuckled to herself. She was sure she heard a voice accompanying her home.
Twilight groaned. "Fine. I forgive you, Starlight. But you have to STOP!"
Starlight winced. Her eyes were teary. "I'm sorry! It was so much pressure to make friends in time for the dinner you were talking about, though. But I think I understand how great it can be now."
"You do?"
"I made a friend," Starlight said, biting her lip. "But he's in the future. I'll try to find one here, I guess."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Okay. Good. I hope you didn't alter anything in the future."
Starlight blinked. "Oh, I-"
She caught herself before she could say anything stupid. "Yeah, no. Nothing bad. Thanks for everything you've done, again." She took a deep breath when she was out of Twilight's range. Maybe talking with another pony from the future was wrong. It could have been bad for sure. She just hoped the future wasn't messed up.
No, it couldn't be. Surely, everything was better.
And sure enough, though she didn't know it, everything was better.
Author's Note
Thanks to Draco Dei for giving me extra tips and making this story better!
I think I'll write a sequel to this but on Sprout's side.
