Ponyville came into view as the train neared it’s destination.
Starlight turned to look at Twilight. The two mares hadn’t said anything to each other since leaving Canterlot castle. Starlight had started to feel guilty about her earlier outburst and was worried that she may have made Twilight mad. She performed the breathing exercise Twilight had shown her to calm herself down before saying anything to her.
“Hey, Twilight?”
Twilight turned her attention to Starlight. “Yes, Starlight?”
“I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, you didn’t do anything wrong and I let myself get upset at you for no reason. I hope you’re not mad me.”
A moment later, Starlight found herself wrapped in Twilight’s forelegs as she pulled her into a comforting hug.
“Of course I’m not mad at you.” Twilight assured in a comforting voice.
Relieved to hear that Twilight wasn’t mad, Starlight returned the embrace.
The rest of the train ride was spent in silence.
Once the train arrived at Ponyville station Twilight and Starlight went straight to the castle that they called home. They were greeted by various ponies along the way and while Twilight happily returned the greetings, Starlight remained silent. Upon reaching the castle, they found Spike waiting for them inside.
“Hey, Starlight, how’d your friendship mission go?”
“Hi, Spike.” She replied as she walked past.
“What’s with her?” He asked, confused by Starlight’s behavior.
“First we need to bring everypony here. This is something I need to tell all of you.” Twilight answered.
“Oh, okay. Hey, have you seen my toothbrush anywhere?”
Two hours later, the Mane 6 and Spike were gathered in the throne room at Twilight’s request, each of them sitting in their respective throne.
“Thanks for coming, everypony.” Twilight said. “There’s something important I need to tell you.”
“Oh oh! Do you have a super special surprise for us?”
“No, it’s—“
“Are Cadance and Shining Armor coming to visit?”
“No it’s—“
“Are you—“
“Pinkie!”
“Sorry.”
Twilight gave an annoyed sigh. “As I was saying, it’s about Starlight.”
“She’s not leaving is she?” Fluttershy asked.
“No, she’s not.”
“Then what is it about?” Applejack asked.
Twilight sighed. “A couple days ago, the map called Starlight to solve a friendship problem at the royal palace. It turned out that Celestia and Luna were having problems with each other, so Starlight switched their cutie marks to allow them to experience each other’s duties. It worked and Starlight successfully solved the friendship problem, but she had a stress induced nightmare while Celestia was performing Luna’s duties.”
“Oh, the poor thing. That must have been awful for her.”
“That’s just it, Fluttershy. The nightmare was too much for Celestia to handle, and Starlight was under so much stress that it caused psychological damage.”
“Uh, what does that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight groaned and explained what psychological damage is.
“Whoa. That sounds bad.”
“We should throw her a party!”
“No, Pinkie. Starlight is in a delicate state right now. The last thing she needs is all the excitement from one of your parties.” Twilight said sternly.
“But parties make everyone feel better!”
“No!”
Pinkie’s ears flattened against her head. “Aww…”
“How’d Starlight end up getting that stressed anyway?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, I know Starlight gets nervous under pressure, but I’ve never seen her that stressed.” Rainbow Dash added.
“That’s actually my fault.”
“What do you mean, darling?”
Twilight sighed. “When Starlight was called by the map she was excited about getting to solve a friendship problem, but I freaked out about the map only calling one pony and I just made her nervous. After she went to Canterlot I used a spell so I could talk to her, but I just put more pressure on her and made her more stressed. And this happened to her as a result.” She slammed her head down on the table. “Why couldn’t I just let her handle things by herself?”
“Don’t feel bad, sugarcube. There’s gotta be something we can do to help her, right?”
Twilight lifted her head off the table. “Luna said that all we have to do is be there for her. I’m sure it won’t be as simple as it sounds though.”
“Well then, we’ll be sure to do whatever we can to help.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Thanks, everypony, I knew I could count on you. But for now, let’s just give Starlight some time alone.”
Five days had passed since Starlight returned from Canterlot.
The unicorn mostly kept to herself and hardly left her room. Whenever anypony Invited her to do something she would turn them down, eventually everyone just stopped trying to get her to spend time with them.
Twilight was in her library thinking of a way to get Starlight to come out of her room when she heard a knock on the front door. When she answered the door she found Trixie Lulamoon standing on the other side.
“Hi, Trixie. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to see Starlight. She was supposed to help me with my show last night, but she never showed up and I want to know why.”
“Oh.” A sad expression formed on Twilight’s face. “Come with me, there’s something you need to know.”
Twilight lead Trixie to the library so she could tell her everything about what happened to Starlight. She was worried about how the showmare would react, but she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.
“So that’s why she didn’t show up last night.” Trixie said, sadly.
“Yes. The only times she comes out of her room are to eat and go to the bathroom. I asked her why she was doing this and she said it was so she wouldn’t get in anypony’s way and mess up.”
“Poor Starlight.”
“I’m sorry. If I had let Starlight handle things on her own this wouldn’t have happened.”
“I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Twilight sighed. “I just hope I can fix this.”
“You really care about her, huh?”
“Of course I do, she’s one of my best friends. But the way she is now… she’s not the Starlight I know. The Starlight I know is always happy, loves using magic, and is ready to help her friends. Her heart is always in the right place and it always has been. Honestly, just being around her makes me happy.”
“Oooo, sounds like you’re in love.”
Twilight’s face became as red as one of Sweet Apple Acres’ apples. “What?! That’s ridiculous! I am not in love with her!”
“Sure you aren’t.”
“I don’t love Starlight! Not like that anyway.”
“If you say so.”
Twilight grumbled and got up to leave the library.
“Where are you going?” Trixie asked.
“To Starlight’s room. I’m not going to let her just sit in there any longer.” She left the library and made her way to Starlight’s room with Trixie following behind her.
Starlight was laying on her bed messing with a few wooden blocks. She had spent most of her time there and didn’t leave unless absolutely necessary. She didn’t even bother to bathe. She figured this would be the best way to avoid messing things up for other ponies.
She heard knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
Twilight walked in followed by Trixie.
“Starlight, I’m not going to let you stay in your room all day anymore. You need to spend some time with your friends.” Twilight said.
“No thanks.”
“C’mon, Starlight. I’ll show you the new trick I’ve been working on.” Trixie offered.
“I said no.” She said in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Starlight this is ridiculous.” Twilight grabbed Starlight with her magic and began dragging her towards the bathroom. “You’re going to take a bath and then you’re going to come with me to spend time with our friends.”
Starlight let out a defeated sigh. “Fine.”