"You zapped my pegasus!" Dinky pouted. I gave a smirk over my side of the Pegasus Battles board.

"Sorry about that kiddo. You turned my Flash Bees into goo!" I replied. It was a close game, we each had one piece left. "Your turn." Dinky grinned evilly at me.

"Cloud six," she said confidently.

"You zapped my pegasus this time!" I feigned disappointment and Dinky started cheering.

"I won!" She leaped over the board in one go to my amazement. She pushed me onto my back and stood on my chest, staring down at me accusingly. "You didn't let me win, did you?"

"Nah, you're just that good," I grinned as I ruffled her mane. I tapped my chin with a hoof. "Though if you don't get off me, I'll have to punish you."

"How so?" Dinky challenged and my grin turned evil.

"Like this," I said as I started tickling her exposed belly. She started laughing and I rolled her off me. The only downside of me being on top of her tickling her was she could easily reach my exposed underside. She started tickling me back and soon enough we were both on our backs laughing.

"I see you two reached a truce in the tickle war," Derpy stood above us with a grin. "Dinky, it's time for school. Can you walk there for me Starlight? It's gonna rain this morning and Dinky hates walking alone when it's raining." I quickly stood up.

"Yeah no problem," I smiled. "Ready to go?" Dinky shakily levitated her saddlebags I got her and put them on. "Nice job."

"Thanks!" Dinky beamed at me. I opened the front door with my magic and we stepped outside.

"So, what's your favorite part of school?" I asked as we trotted.

"Lunch time, recess. Oh and going home," Dinky replied as she strained to keep up with my longer stride. I slowed down a bit to let her catch up.

"No classes are you favorite?" She shrugged.

"I guess history is okay. I despise math though," she tapped a hoof against her chin. "Math was invented by evil ponies." I had to agree with that, I disliked math when I was her age too.

"I don't like math either. It's important unfortunately."

"I guess. To bank ponies or businessponies." I gave a laugh.

"Maybe you're right." A loud thundering sound shook me slightly and Dinky yelped. I looked around in confusion. Where on earth did that filly go? "Dinky? Where are you?"

"Back here," a voice behind me came and I turned around. "Now I'm in front of you." What? I turned around again and didn't see her. "I'm behind you again." Sighing, I turned my head and looked back. Dinky was holding onto my back leg, shaking.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Thunder scares me." I levitated her onto my back and made a shield above us with my so we didn't get any wetter.

"I personally enjoy the rain," I stated as I walked towards the school house.

"It gets my mane and coat wet," Dinky grumbled. She shook her mane and rain water splattered onto my already soaked fur.

"Thanks for the shower," I teased with a grin.

"You're welcome." I pushed open the door to school and trotted to her classroom.

"Hello Starlight," Cheerilee waved to me.

"Hello, Cheerilee," I knelt down so Dinky could hop off. "Here's your stop, kiddo." She hopped off and hugged me eagerly. I was certainly starting to become a fan of hugs. "Have fun with your friends, learn a lot." She trotted off into the classroom and started mingling.

"I'm sorry about taking you to the mountain," I apologized and Cheerilee sighed, rolling her eyes.

"It's fine, for like the nineteenth time."

"Okay, good." I opened my mouth to say something else and froze.

"Learn something new, sugarcube," Applejack told her younger sister sternly.

"You as well, Sweetie Belle," Rarity chided. The two froze as well and stared me in the eyes. Well shit. There's only one thing I could do now: run. I took a deep breath and bolted at them, jumping over the two. I was honestly amazed I made it. I don't normally get physical exercise often. Moving here changed that evidently. I glanced behind me and my eyes widened when I saw them chasing after me. There's no way in hell I can outrun Applejack, but I could at least outsmart her. I hope. She and Rarity could be some pretty sharp knives in the drawer when they wanted to be.

"Stop!" Applejack shouted as I pushed the doors open and continued running. I ran right in front a pink filly with a tiara on for some reason and she barely stopped in time to avoid hitting me.

"Sorry!" I called out as I continued running. I spared another quick glance behind me and my eyes widened even more if that's possible. Applejack was gaining on me and Rarity was slowing down. She didn't really get much physical exercise as Applejack did. Thank Celestia Rainbow wasn't here or I never would have made it out of the school. My only hope was I could outlast them. Rarity was an easy one, Applejack would be much harder.

"Quit running, darnit!" Applejack shouted out to me and I gritted my teeth. This mare was stubborn as hell. Under no circumstances was I gonna stop. Why is it so bad that I want to sort my thoughts out by myself without them trying to influence my decisions? I grinned as I saw a wagon starting to block the road. I sped up and darted in front of the pink earth pony. I kept grinning triumphantly. There's no way they could get around that. Yeah, I never was more wrong. Applejack just straight up jumped over it and landed perfectly on her hooves.

"Go away!" I shouted to her as I kept running.

"No!" She shouted back and I groaned. I was trying my hardest to ignore the staring ponies as we galloped throughout town. I couldn't afford any distractions. Where was Rarity? I only saw Applejack. I glanced down a side street and saw Rarity galloping, glancing at me every so often. I hated how smart these two were. My hooves were really starting to hurt. I quickly crossed the bridge into Sweet Apple Acres orchards. Most ponies would think of that as a bad idea since Applejack knew the lay of the land better than I did. I had a plan of course, I never would have came here if I didn't. I found a decently sized tree and ran towards it, Applejack right behind me. Most ponies would have stopped but instead I sped up when I got closer. With a faint smile, I teleported right before I was gonna hit it and heard Applejack slam into the tree hard.

"Bastard!" Applejack growled and I winced. It sounded really painful but they should just leave me be. I slowed down to catch my breath and a white blur tackled me. In my moment of victory, I entirely forgot about Rarity. We went tumbling as we rolled to a stop.

"Get away!" I shouted as I shoved her off me.

"Stop running! We just want to talk!" Rarity panted out. I took off running and she followed, barely keeping up.

"Well, I'm not in the mood to talk to you!" I shot back. I rolled my eyes as Applejack started chasing after us. I needed to get them off my flank and quick. I was getting tired and it was evident Applejack was pissed about getting caught in the tree. I was honestly scared of what she would do if she caught me. That thought spurred me to run faster. I ran through some trees, weaving back and forth between them. I glanced behind me and noticed Applejack and Rarity doing the same. Perfect, everything going to plan. I slowed down a bit as I continued my weaving and heard the sound of two ponies slamming into one another. I dug my hooves into the soil and grinned when I saw Applejack and Rarity tied up with their tails and manes to each other, both wearing dazed expressions.

"Ha! You can't outsmart me!" I panted. That whole chase exhausted me. Rarity glared at me.

"You got my mane tied up with hers! We just wanted to talk, Starlight!" She growled and I rolled my eyes.

"Stay away from me. I'm not in the mood to see any of you."

"Can ya at least untie us, please?" Applejack asked and I snorted.

"I'm not stupid. As soon as I do, you're gonna tackle me. Twilight or Rainbow will be here to help you soon I bet." I quickly teleported away and flopped onto the living room floor of Derpy's house, panting. The last thing I remember before I passed out was a young unicorn mare looking over me with a concerned expression written all over her face.

I groaned and pressed a hoof to my head. I recognized the familiar feel of the spare bed that was in Derpy's spare room. I tried to sit up and felt a force field push me back down.

"Sit," the same unicorn mare was in the chair in the corner of the room, staring at me. "You're exhausted."

"Who are you?" I demanded and the mare rolled her eyes.

"I'm Derpy's daughter. Amethyst Star. And you are?"

"Uh, Starlight Glimmer. I didn't know Derpy had two daughters." Amethyst gave a chuckle at that.

"I'm her adopted daughter, Dinky is her biological daughter. I'm here visiting because college just got out for the summer."

"Ah. I'm staying here for a bit too while I uh sort my personal life out," I decided being vague was the best option. I'm sure her mom would tell her all about it later.

"Ah, okay. I guess we're gonna be room buddies for a bit," Amethyst smiled at me. "I called the left side of the bed, and don't try to hook up with me. I'm fine with cuddling." I snorted at that.

"I can safely assure you, getting laid is the last thing on my mind right now," I told the younger mare. I decided to have a little fun with her. "Not that you aren't cute or anything." She turned a bright shade of red and I gave her a smirk.

"You're lucky I know you're joking, otherwise I'd have turned you into a stain on the sheets," she grumbled and hid her smile behind her hoof.

"Not the first time a stain has been on these sheets I bet," I continued my teasing with a grin. She rolled her eyes.

"You'll never know," she winked at me. I'm not gonna lie, the idea of not knowing made me not want to sleep in this bed. Maybe that was her master plan all along so she could have the bed to herself. I really should examine my opponent before opening my mouth.

"What were you even doing that caused you to get so tired?" She asked.

"Running away."

"From?" She prodded and I sighed, looking her in the eyes.

"My problems." She gave a sigh of her own.

"You know, the harder you run from your problems, the harder they're gonna try to keep up?" Why is everypony in this house so wise?

"I know," I admitted.

"Then why do it?" She asked and I shrugged.

"It's easier. I don't plan on running forever, just long enough to get my thoughts together." I didn't know if that was true or not, but it seemed appealing to keep running. Then again, I really didn't want to have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.

"If you say so," Amethyst said. "As long you plan to confront them."

"Aren't you younger than me?" I demanded.

"I'm in my twenties so probably. I'd guess you're about thirty five." I made a strangled gasp at that and glared at her.

"I'm twenty eight, for the record."

"Oh," she said simply as she stood up. "Sorry." I got out of the bed and groaned, stretching. It felt good to stretch out my tired joints after running that much today. My hooves were still sore but that's not important.

"Mom is downstairs, Dinky will be home soon." I sighed and trotted down the stairs.

"Hey Derpy," I greeted with a smile and noticed Raindrops drinking tea with her. "Hey Raindrops."

"Hey Starlight," they said in unison and giggled.

"You okay?" Raindrops questioned me. "Heard you had a little sprint around town." I frowned at that.

"You heard?" I asked softly.

"We all heard," Derpy piped in. "Half the town saw it. It's the talk of the town." She gave me a concerned look. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I completely forgot Dinky shared class with their sisters," I gave a drawn out sigh.

"Me too," Derpy admitted.

"Gotta admit, it was impressive to hear you outsmarted Applejack AND Rarity," Raindrops said with a grin. "Never thought that would happen to them."

"I just had to get them so focused on me that they didn't pay attention to anything else. I wasn't really expecting Rarity to tackle me like that," I admitted. "That was a mistake."

"We all make mistakes. Trust me, I know," Raindrops laughed. "From experience."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know how Ponyville got chosen for tornado duty a few years back?"

"Yeah, I've only heard that story from Rainbow a few thousand times," I rolled my eyes. It was true, once Rainbow Dash has a victory, she'll never shut up about it till her next one.

"That sounds like her. Anyway, on the first try to form the tornado, the wind got too strong for me and I lost control. It pushed me back into the funnel of water along with Dizzy Twister. Most embarrassing thing I've ever done," Raindrops shivered.

"At least you didn't brainwash a bunch of ponies into giving up their cutie mark, have Twilight and her friends come by, steal their cutie marks and then stage an insurrection against you. And then stalk said princess for a few months in a restaurant while she reconnected with her old friends and then use a spell to go back in time so she didn't meet her friends so none of them got their cutie marks and then be convinced by her to stop it," I countered. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"What did we say about self depreciation?" Derpy pointed out.

"Yeah. Like I said, everypony makes mistakes," Raindrops piped in. "And even though it indirectly affected us, we forgive you."

"Thanks," I sighed. "It does directly affect you though."

"How's that?" Amethyst asked. I didn't even know that mare had came downstairs to the table. She's a quiet one and you know what they about the quiet ones: watch out for them.

"One of the alternative futures Twilight dragged me to had nothing. Everypony was dead except me her and Spike. I could have killed all of Equestria just to get revenge. That future made me change and accept her offer of friendship," I gave a bitter laugh. "Look where that friendship got me. With none of my alleged friends here because they cared more about Twilight meeting her idol."

"We're your friends," Raindrops told me after a few moments of silence. I slightly jumped at that. I didn't even know we were friends to be honest.

"We are?" I asked in a whisper.

"Of course," Derpy agreed. "Why do you think I always stuck around the castle after delivering your mail? I wanted to be your friend."

"And Dinky adores you," Raindrops added.

"And if you hurt her, I get to hurt you," Amethyst piped in with a wicked grin.

"Sparkler," Derpy said in a warning tone with a frown. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"I thought your name was Amethyst?" I asked.

"It is," she admitted. "Sparkler is my middle name. My mom and friends sometimes call me it. Mom mainly does it when I'm in trouble or getting close to it."

"Not gonna lie, I only ever had two friends. Before you guys adopted me as a friend, I had one. Trixie," I grinned at the thought of my blue magical friend.

"Trixie Lulamoon?" Raindrops asked in shock. I nodded.

"Yeah. We got along because of our previous mistakes. Twilight hated us being friends," I grumbled. "She was very rude about it."

"I remember Trixie," Raindrops mumbled. "I wasn't the nicest to her when she came back." I glared at her as I remembered something.

"She told me that. You, Daisy, Bon Bon, Golden Harvest and Berry Punch ran her out of town. Berry and Golden Harvest vandalized her wagon if I remember correctly," I grumbled. "You're gonna apologize to her, by the way. All of you are."

"Berry and Golden Harvest didn't vandalize her wagon," Raindrops admitted sheepishly. "Snips and Snails did it for some stupid reason. I already punished Snails for his involvement."

"Okay. All you running her out of town hurt her feelings a lot. She tried to change and nopony gave her a chance," I mumbled.

"Me and Shoeshine will apologize," Raindrops promised. "Good luck getting the rest to do it."

"Wait, why did you punish Snails?" I asked suddenly.

"Because he's my younger brother and I raised him better than to run around vandalizing other ponies belongings. No matter how upset I am or he is."

"Have you always raised Snails?" I asked and she nodded.

"Mom and Dad ran off to Celestia knows where so I got custody of him," Raindrops sighed, sipping her tea. "Thank Luna he didn't get up to the stuff I did his age, then the town would be burnt to the ground. We already got the CMC to worry about." I gave a subtle shiver at that. I heard all about how crazy destructive they used to be.

"You guys are my friends too," I finally said. Derpy beamed at me and Raindrops patted my shoulder. Amethyst gave me a subtle nod. The door swung open and Dinky shot in the room, hugging Amethyst eagerly.

"Amy!" She shouted and I grinned at how happy she was. Amethyst eagerly hugged her back.

"Hey there Dinks!" She ruffled her mane and smiled. "Didja miss me?"

"Yeppers peppers!" Dinky let go and clambered onto my lap. I stared in shock at her, I wasn't expecting that. I honestly didn't expect any of this when Derpy gave me a safe haven. I started stroking Dinky's mane and smiled at her.

"How was school?" I asked. Dinky's face lit up.

"It was really good! I drew you something, Starry!" She screwed her face up in concentration and levitated a paper out of her saddlebags. The paper shakily levitated to me and sat down on the table in front of me. I leaned over her head and my heart melted again for the second time in a few days. The drawing was of me and Dinky in a red heart.

"I love it," I whispered as I wiped a tear away with a hoof. "I'm gonna frame it and cast a spell over it so it never gets destroyed." Dinky gave a gasp and twisted her head to look up at me with her adorable large eyes.

"You really like it?" She asked in awe. I eagerly nodded.

"Yeah. Nopony has ever given me anything as meaningful as this," I nuzzled her. She grinned and returned the gesture. I noticed Derpy beaming at us out of the corner of my and Amethyst giving me an approving smile.

"It's bed time, everypony," Derpy announced. I glanced at the clock. Holy shit, I didn't realize it was that late. Time really does fly. I poked Dinky with a hoof and smiled when I realized she was asleep. Raindrops hopped off her chair and waved.

"I'll see you all around. Nice hanging out with you again, Starlight."

"See ya around, Rainy." She shut the door and I saw her flying off to her house. I levitated Dinky in the air and stepped off the chair. I carefully levitated her onto my back and started walking up to her room. I pushed the door open with my head and admired her room. Her small bed was covered with different stuffed animals Derpy had told me she won for her. I rested her on the bed and pulled the blanket over her. I shut the light off and strode to the door.

"Sleep well, Dinky," I went to shut the door.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" She sleepily asked me and I jumped. I guess I wasn't as gentle as I wanted to be.

"Sure." I trotted back to her bed and carefully squeezed myself next to her. It was a tight fit, but I could manage. She forced her way between my hooves and sighed contently, starting to snore. Cautiously, I kissed her forehead. "Goodnight."

"What do you typically do on your days off?" I asked Derpy as we walked down the market, occasionally looking at stalls. She gave a shrug.

"Typically I rest or clean up the house," she smiled at me. "But you've been doing the cleaning, so might as well get some more berries." I smiled at that.

"Good reason as ant. It's nice to hang out with some pony new." Derpy frowned at me.

"What about Trixie?"

"She's out on her apology tour thing right now. Still. I typically go with her, but this time I had to stay behind to help save Stygian. Because remember, once a villain always a villian," I said in my best Starswirl impression and Derpy giggled.

"He sounds non intelligent," she commented and I stared at her in shock. She usually never says a bad thing about anypony.

"He isn't what I thought he would be," I admitted. "All the stories hyped him up so much and he's just a bitter old pony who's a jerk."

"I don't know much about unicorns, but even I heard about him. Shame he isn't as nice as we thought, we have no room for bullies in Equestria," Derpy announced.

"Agreed." Derpy stepped to a berry stall while hung back and watched the sky. I focused on a strange looking cloud. Weird, but this is Ponyville. Weird stuff happens here daily it seems. I shrugged it off and started walking alongside Derpy again.

"It's the town derp," a voice from behind me said and I slowly faced them. I recognized the pair instantly from Rainbow's stories.

"Hoops and Score," I growled. "What do you two want?"

"Nothing," Hoops(or was it Score?) said. "Just here to annoy her." He pointed a hoof to Derpy and my blood started to boil. She was a very sweet mare and they were insulting her. I took a deep breath in and released it like Raindrops had taught me. Apparently it helped with her anger issues and she thought it would help me. I always found it dumb when ponies said, "just breath!" What dumb advice. Oh, you mean the thing I've been doing since I was born and that I can't stop because I'll die? Gee, thanks. That's like telling me to keep eating. Getting off track, I have some bullies to deal with.

"I just don't know what went wrong," one said in a impression of Derpy that wasn't even close to how she actually sounded. That was my breaking point. I glared up at them.

"What's your guys favorite plant?" I asked with a smirk.

"Uh, a cactus. Why?" Idiot One asked. I decided it wasn't worth trying to figure out who was who.

"Cool," I batted my eyelashes and them and shot them both with a beam. Two cactus' sat down next to me. "Don't be mean to my friend, she's a good pony." I turned to Derpy and flinched at her disapproving look.

"Starlight, turn them back," she sighed.

"Fine," I mumbled and quickly returned the two back to their normal state. They were curled up in a ball, shaking. We left them like that and I was satisfied because I knew they wouldn't bully Derpy again. "All I did was turn them into some plants. It could have been worse." We started trotting home and I could see it down the street.

"Because it was wrong," Derpy chided.

"They were bullying you!" I exclaimed in surprise. Derpy inhaled.

"Yes, they were," she agreed. "The most important thing I've learned is to not care what other ponies think. I let it roll off my back because I know the hurtful things they can say aren't true. No pony defines me, I define myself." I never thought about that. I always did my best to get revenge on those I deemed rude to me. Maybe I could start living like Derpy and just not care what others think. That sounded pretty appealing to be honest. She opened the door, trotting in the house and I stepped inside. I paused and looked behind me. I had the feeling I was being watched. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I shrugged and shut the door. It's probably nothing. A pair of eyes poked out of a cloud.

"Found you," Rainbow muttered.

A loud knocking sound at the door made me freeze. Derpy peeped through the hole she had to see through it and froze herself. She glanced back at me nervously.

"It's Rainbow Dash," she whispered and I teleported to the nearby closet, cracking it open a bit and pressing an eye to the opening. Derpy opened the door and allowed Rainbow inside. "How can I help you, Rainbow?" She asked innocently. Rainbow's eyes flicked around the room.

"Where's Starlight?" She asked and Derpy maintained a neutral expression.

"Not here," she replied firmly. I had to thank her for that one.

"I saw you and her come in here earlier today and I didn't see her come out. Where is she?" I got mad at that. Can we not have peace for once? Derpy narrowed her eyes slightly.

"You're spying on me now? I can get a restraining order, you know. She was here but isn't anymore. She's a unicorn, she can teleport."

"Where did she go?" Rainbow demanded and I felt myself get a bit more angry. Who was she to talk to Derpy with that tone in her own home? Derpy glared at her and flared her wings out. I got slightly nervous at that. I didn't know much about pegasi, but I did know flared wings meant two things: anger and being turned on. Unless Derpy had a secret crush on Rainbow that I didn't know about, I was leaning towards the first option and she was getting mad. Which was scary, I've never seen her mad.

"Rainbow, get out of my house now," she snapped. "I will not tolerate that tone directed to me in my own house."

"Not without Starlight," she said adamantly. I was shocked when Amethyst put herself between Rainbow and her mom.

"Mom said it's time for you to go," she growled with their noses pressing against each other. "So get the hell out." I jumped at that. Derpy hated cussing in her house. She even washed my mouth out with soap after I accidentally said fuck. Amethyst levitated Rainbow by her tail and tossed her outside, shutting the door and locking it. That must have been difficult, given Rainbow being her godmother even though she wasn't religious.

"There's only option left, but it is in enemy territory. I'll be back soon, I won't let them bring anything sort of drama," I announced as I stepped out of the closet.

"Stay safe," Derpy announced as she hugged me. "Hurry back soon, Dinky needs her aunt." I smiled at that. Dinky had adopted me as her aunt the other night and I was super honored.

Sunset Shimmer sighed as she walked back and forth in front of the statue. She had gotten a message from Starlight asking to meet her. She was about go home when Starlight shot through the statue. Sunset jogged over to her and helped her up.

"Hey Starlight," she grinned. "How's it going?" I accepted her hand and she pulled me up.

"Been better. Can I spend the night for a bit? Need to get away from some drama?" Sunset's expression turned serious and she nodded.

"You can sleep at my apartment, but Pinkie lives there too." I shrugged and started to follow her to her motorcycle.

"I can't believe you, Rainbow!" Twilight fumed. "You insulted Derpy in her own home and now we are further from finding Starlight." Rainbow sunk into her chair.

"I didn't mean to get rude with Derpy. It was an accident!" Rainbow pointed a hoof at Applejack and Rarity. "What about them? They got lead on a chase by Starlight the other day and lost her."

"We didn't actually expect to find her darling," Rarity piped in. "It just happened." Applejack said nothing but nodded her agreement.

"We just need to double our efforts," Twilight decided. "And not fight with each other. We all have the same goal, Fluttershy should be back soon. She decided to go to Starlight's old village before we knew she was still in town. We need to sit down and come up with a better plan that doesn't involve us acting alone. We need Starlight back, she's our friend. This is our mess and we will fix it."

"What if she doesn't want anything to do with us?" Pinkie nervously asked. Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"She wouldn't just up and abandon us," Twilight reassured the depressed looking mare.

"Are you sure?" Pinkie asked softly. "We're a bunch of meanie pants."

"I'm certain of it."

Author's Note

I know I said Starlight wouldn't do anything rash, but I really wanted a scene were Derpy taught her something so yeah.