Celestia and Luna awoke in their home at Silver Shoals. They shared a bedroom but they each had their own bed. Celestia had white sheets with suns all over it while Luna had black sheets with crescent moons. Luna was up first and stretched as she let out a yawn. As she hopped out of her bed, Celestia sat up in her own bed. "Well... back to monitoring?" The white alicorn asked with a yawn.

"Of course," Luna said with a smile. "I hope nothing's happened while we were asleep."

Luster Dawn stood in her doorway, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated as she stared at the red alicorn at her doorstep. "Uhhhhhh..." she said, her eyes darting left and right as she tried to see if any other ponies saw her.

Crimson looked around, too. "Oh, don't mind them. They're all seeing me as an orange unicorn about your height. May I come in?"

"Come in?" Luster asked. "You're... You're trying to..."

Crimson sighed heavily, interrupting the stammering mare. "I have no intentions of hurting you. Yet."

"Then why are you at my house?!"

"I wanted to get to know you. Simple."

"Simple?! You're the enemy!"

Crimson chuckled. "Doesn't mean I can't get to know my opponent. See what makes you tick. And what ticks you off."

"You're ticking me off."

"Shame, that," Crimson said, this time, her voice sounding like it was coming from behind.

Luster gasped and whipped around to see the alicorn standing in her kitchen, looking at a picture of Luster and her mom on the wall. She looked back outside to see no one. She groaned and closed the door. "Fine," she said in an irritated tone. "Please, come in."

"Oh, thank you so much," Crimson cooed as she turned to the pink mare.

"Shall I make you some eggs? Veggie bacon? Or do you prefer real bacon?"

Crimson smiled. "Cute. I actually wouldn't mind some bacon and eggs." Luster raised an eyebrow. "Veggie bacon."

"Please, have a seat," Luster said through gritted teeth.

Posey trotted through the school, heading to her Loyalty class. As she entered the classroom, she saw Violet stretching. When the purple mare spotted her, she waved. Posey sighed and trotted over to her. She didn't view her as a friend, of course, but she was the only pony she knew in this class.

"Violet," she greeted.

"Hiya, Posey. How ya doin' today?"

"Fine," Chrysalis replied plainly. "You seem... full of... energy."

"Thank you," Violet said with a nod. "I am. I'm a morning pony."

"I can see that."

"I know we just met, but... I really hope w can become friends."

Posey raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"You seem really cool. And nice. Do you... not want to be my friend?"

Posey opened her mouth to say something, but ended up closing it and looking away. When Violet was about to say something, Rainbow Dash, Smolder, and Scootaloo entered the room. When Smolder spotted Posey, she smiled and waved. Posey forced herself to smile and wave back.

"Alright, every creature," Rainbow announced. "Class is in session."

Luster dropped a plate in front of the alicorn. On it was the veggie bacon and eggs. She even slid a glass of orange juice next to the plate. "Please. Enjoy."

"You're too kind," Crimson said as she picked up her fork and knife with her magic. "It had been a while since I had a real meal." She cut some of her egg and ate it before she brought a piece of bacon to her mouth. After she swallowed her egg, she bit half of the bacon and chewed. "Mmm..." She swallowed. "You're a good cook, Luster."

"It's bacon and eggs," Luster said as she sat at the table across from the red alicorn. Aren't you at all worried that Celestia, Luna, and Celestia might know you're here?"

Crimson cut more of her egg and eyed her. "Oh, they fell asleep. That's when I snuck into town." She smiled and ate more of her egg.

"Of course they did," Luster muttered.

Crimson sipped some of her orange juice with a smile. She set the glass down with a sigh. "Hmm... You don't trust your mentors?"

"It's not that. It's just my luck."

"That's right," Crimson cooed as she picked up the other half of the bacon she started. "You always said you had bad luck."

"I never told you that."

The alicorn chuckled as she swallowed her bacon. "You didn't have to. I saw it when I was in your head." She said as she picked up her knife and pointed it at the unicorn. "You were always bad at making friends, weren't you? One, in particular, scarred you, didn't she? Made you put off friendship until you became Twilight's student."

Luster's eyes narrowed. "Shut up."

Crimson just smirked.

Rainbow had her class gathered outside near a somewhat tall stage. "Alright, class. Trust falls!"

"Gimme a break," Posey muttered.

"Aw, come on," Violet said with a smile. "This'll be fun."

"Who wants to go first?" Rainbow asked.

Violet nudged Posey. "You go. I'll catch."

The disguised changeling eyed the pegasus. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Go. Come on, don't be scared."

Posey's eyes narrowed. "I'm scared of nothing." She then raised her hoof.

"Great!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Come on up."

Posey left the group and made her way up on the stage. She then took her place at the edge of the stage and looked down. She was about five feet off the ground. Hitting the hard bottom would only slightly hurt. Nothing too dangerous. She sighed as she saw Violet raise her hoof.

"I wanna catch!" Violet announced.

"Go for it," Rainbow said with a chuckle.

The violet pegasus pranced up to the front of the stage and got ready. "Okay. Fall backwards."

Posey eyed her and looked down at the ground. She closed her eyes as she turned around. Memories of the past with her and her changeling siblings rushed through her head. Not wanting to look weak, or frightened, she quickly stood up on her hind legs and fell backwards. Instead of slamming into the ground, she felt someone catch her. Opening her eyes, she saw that Violet was hovering a foot off the ground. With a smile, the pegasus lowered her back down to the ground.

"Great work, girls!" Rainbow cheered.

Posey turned to Violet, who was just smiling at her.

Crimson finished her meal and washed the food down with the last of her juice. "That was a lovely meal." Her eyes then fell on the unicorn. "If you weren't fated to become a powerful unicorn, I may have taken you in as my personal chef."

"There are better options out there."

"Perhaps. But you're fun. Now, are you sure you don't wanna talk about... oh, what's her name?"

"I'd prefer not," Luster practically growled.

"Fine. Then, let's talk about you. And you're horrible grasp at friendship. From what I've seen, you are bad at understanding the core values of friendship."

"What do you know about friendship?" Luster snapped. "I bet you've never had any friends!"

Crimson's smile faded as her own eyes narrowed into a scowl. "You don't know anything about me," she said, her teeth appearing more sharp than before.

Luster gulped in fear as she leaned back in her chair.

Posey left the Loyalty classroom before Violet caught up to her. "I had fun today, Posey. See ya tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Sure," Posey said, before Violet pranced off. Posey stopped and stood there as Violet rounded a corner and disappeared. "See ya."

Eve walked up beside her with a smile. "Making friends, bug?"

Posey glared at her. "Of course not. And don't call me bug," she said as she continued walking.

"Fine," Eve cooed as she followed. "Getting any closer to Starlight?"

Posey sighed. "With her and her friends watching us, I need to play along. I'm not sure for how long, but if it takes any longer I may snap."

"Ooo, I hope I'm there to see it," Eve said with a chuckle. "Are you as powerful as you were before?"

Posey shook her head. "I need to feed. But I haven't had the time to."

"Well, get to it, Posey. We got work to do."

Posey watched the hippogriff walk off before she stopped in thought. She thought back to when she first met Violet and to just a moment ago when Violet caught her. The entire time they were together, she felt a surge of magic within her, as if she was being fed love. "Interesting."

Crimson stood up quickly, making Luster stumble backwards and knocking over her chair. The alicorn's eyes started to glow as the room was filled with a black smoke. Luster looked around as she lost sight of the alicorn. Her breathing intensified and she felt like she was hyperventilating.

"You know what?" Came Crimson's voice. "Let's take a look at that friend who ruined you."

"No!" Luster shouted. "Not that one!"

When she whipped around again, she saw a shy-looking brown pegasus filly with a long white mane. She was sitting in a puddle of mud as a sigh escaped her mouth. The bushes behind her rustled, making her gasp. Her sudden movements caused the mud to splash, dirtying her even more. A pink unicorn filly with a yellow mane stepped through the brush and gasped.

"W-What happened?" She asked, moving closer to the dirty filly. The brown pegasus averted her eyes and said nothing. "It's those bullies again, wasn't it?" She asked, getting a small nod. "Come on, Ginger. Let me help you out of there."

"You started off so well, didn't you?" Crimson cooed.

Luster clenched her teeth as she lit up her horn. She then remembered she was still in her home and a stray magic attack could hurt somepony outside. "Stop it."

The eerie figures changed and now depicted the brown and pink ponies talking.

"They usually attack me on my way to school," the brown filly said sadly.

The pink unicorn smiled and put a foreleg around her. "Don't worry. Tomorrow, I'll walk you to school, okay?"

The pegasus smiled. "Okay. Thank you, Luster."

Tears began to fill the pink mare's eyes. "Stop it!"

"But, why?" Asked Crimson. "The best part is yet to come."

The young Luster Dawn left her house late due to oversleeping and ran down the path towards school. She soon came across the bullies pushing her pegasus friend through a line of bushes, laughing.

"Hey!" Luster yelled, making the bullies scatter as she lit up her horn.

When she got to the bushes, she pushed her way through to see that they were hiding a steep hill. She could see the brown filly resting on her back at the bottom.

"Ginger!" Luster shouted down, before she checked the slope.

She knew she would slide right down. After taking a deep breath, she braced herself and stepped forward. Sure enough, she slid all the way down while she kicked with her forehooves to try and slow herself down. She failed and tripped at the bottom, falling on her face. She grunted and stood up to see her friend lying on the ground, staring up at the sky.

"Ginger?" Luster asked, running over to her.

Her friend looked at her, tears in her eyes. "I can't feel my wings."

Luster went wide-eyed. "W... What?"

"Where were you? You promised to walk me to school."

The young Luster fell on her flanks and stared at her injured friend. "I... I..."

The older Luster let out a yell of frustration. "STOP IT!!!"

"Oh, fine," Crimson sighed as the smoke cleared, leaving the two standing in the unicorn's kitchen. Luster fell on her flanks just as her younger self did. "You shut off all friends after that, didn't you? You were afraid to fail them just as you failed Ginger. What makes these new ponies any different?"

Luster just stared blankly ahead. "I'm a bad friend."

"The worst, apparently." Crimson trotted over to Luster and put a hoof on her back. "You were always bad at friendship. You will always be bad at friendship. So, I'll make you a deal, little Luster. Join me. Become my little assistant pony. Share your magic with me. And I won't destroy you like the others."

Luster looked up at her. "What?"

"I know. It surprises me, too, but you're just way too interesting to absorb. So, you can either join me and and share that potent magic of yours... or you can join the rest of your friends at the receiving end of my wrath. Think it over, Luster," Crimson said as she left the pink unicorn's home, casually trotting through the town towards the exit.

Luster just kept sitting there. "I'm a bad friend," she repeated.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note

This concludes the first half. The second half will continue here once I have enough written. Stay tuned to my blogs to be notified when the rest will be published.