//------------------------------// // Blossoming love // Story: Nightmare Remnant // by Starlight Glimmer1 //------------------------------// Once Starlight had finished taking a bath, she left the bathroom and went to where Twilight and Trixie were waiting. She voiced her concerns to Twilight about how she’d likely end up messing things up, but Twilight assured her that wouldn’t happen, though Starlight remained unconvinced. The three then went into town where Twilight planned to have Starlight spend time with their friends. Twilight was going over a checklist that she had, unsurprisingly, written for the occasion while Starlight and Trixie walked next to her. Twilight was hoping that spending the day helping her friends would be just the thing to bring Starlight back to normal. The first thing on the list was helping Rarity with her dressmaking, so the three of them headed to the boutique where the fashionista both worked and lived. Upon entering the shop they found Rarity putting her new designs on display. “Hi, Rarity.” Twilight said. “Twilight, darling, what a pleasant surprise. Oh, I see you finally got Starlight to come out of her room.” Rarity said upon noticing them. “That’s why we’re here, actually. I was hoping that Starlight could help you out in some way.” “Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ve been waiting for her to come by so she could do just that.” “Really?” Starlight asked. “Really. Now come with me, darling.” Upon being taken to Rarity’s work area, Starlight was put into an unfinished dress that Rarity was currently working on. “Rarity, are you sure want me to help you with this?” “Well of course, darling. After all, this gown is for you.” Rarity said as she stitched different pieces of the dress into place. “It is?” “Indeed. I know you haven’t been quite yourself lately, so I decided to make you a new dress to help you feel better.” Rarity said as she adjusting the dress so that it fit Starlight comfortably. A small smile appeared on Starlight’s face as she was touched by her friend’s generosity. “Wow. Thank you, Rarity.” “Oh it’s nothing, darling. Now hold still while I finish up.” Rarity carefully went over the various stitches and pleats, making any adjustments she deemed necessary. Once she was satisfied she levitated over a few gems and placed them carefully specific areas on the dress. “Perfect! There’s just one more thing.” Rarity pulled out a hair brush from a small drawer. “Terribly sorry, darling, but I’m going to have to change you’re mane style for this.” “Oh, um… Okay.” Starlight replied with a bit of uncertainty. “Don’t worry, darling, I assure you that you are going to love the results.” Back in the main area of the boutique, Trixie and Twilight were arguing over Twilight’s feelings for Starlight. While Trixie insisted that she was in love Twilight assured her that she wasn’t. “Please. The way you were talking about her earlier makes it clear how you really feel.” Trixie said. “Trixie, I already told you, I only like her as a friend.” Twilight shot back, growing increasingly agitated at Trixie. “Even if you don’t realize it now that doesn’t change anything.” “For the last time, I am not in love with—“ “Starlight?!” “Huh?” Twilight looked to see what caught Trixie’s attention and what she saw amazed her. Standing before her was Starlight wearing a light blue frilled dress decorated with emeralds. Her hair had been tied into a ponytail while the front had been combed into the same bangs she had when Twilight first met her. On top of her head sat a small silver tiara that went with the dress she wore. “So what do you think?” Starlight asked. “You look… amazing.” Twilight answered. Starlight blushed upon hearing the compliment. “Really?” “Definitely.” Trixie said before giving Twilight a look that said ‘I was right’. Twilight simply blushed and shot Trixie a look that said ‘shut up’. “You really do look divine, darling.” Rarity said as she came up from behind Starlight. “Thank you.” “Well we better get going. We still have some other places we need to visit.” Twilight said as she exited the store with her friends. Once they were done at Rarity’s boutique they took the dress Rarity had made for Starlight back to the castle before heading to Fluttershy’s cottage. Starlight had thought about putting her hair back to the way she had it before Rarity changed it, but she decided to leave it the way it was for now just to try something different. And because Twilight said she looked cute. At Fluttershy’s cottage they offered to help Fluttershy with her animals, and she gladly accepted. The first thing on the list was feeding them. Starlight put the food into the bowl and checked to make sure she hadn’t put in too much. Since she was working with Fluttershy’s animals she was doing everything she could to avoid messing up. Starlight didn’t want Fluttershy to get upset because she screwed up, and given the number of mistakes she made in the past she figured that was likely to happen. Not sure if she put in too much or not, she turned to Fluttershy and asked. “Is this too much?” “It’s just right.” Fluttershy said as she took the bowl to give to the animals. Once Fluttershy was out of hearing range Starlight let out a small sigh of relief, glad that she hadn’t made some sort of mistake. Noticing Starlight’s apprehension, Twilight went over and wrapped a wing around her. “Calm down, you’re doing a great job so far. You aren’t going to mess anything up, I promise.” “That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one who always messes stuff up with your magic.” Starlight moved out from under Twilight’s wing and walked off with her head hung in sadness. Twilight couldn’t stand to see her friend like this, especially since she was the one responsible for Starlight’s current condition. The Starlight she saw now wasn’t the one she knew and she was determined to get the Starlight she loves back. Love. Twilight was beginning to wonder if what she meant by it was how she really felt. Her mind kept going back to what Trixie had been telling her. She had told Trixie that she didn’t like Starlight that way, but maybe Trixie was right. Thinking back, she had always felt something she couldn’t explain when she was around Starlight. She had always just assumed it was because of how proud she was of Starlight, but now she wasn’t so sure. After feeding the animals the next thing Fluttershy had them do was bathe them. Once again, Starlight had handled it a bit more cautiously then was necessary. After they finished giving the animals a bath it was time for them to leave. There were still some other stops they needed to make. After finishing at Fluttershy’s cottage, the trio headed off to Sweet Apple Acres. The next thing on Twilight’s list was helping Applejack with her work on the farm. “Okay, this one may require a bit of physical labor, but I think helping AJ on her farm will be good for you.” Twilight told Starlight in an optimistic tone. Starlight wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to perform physical labor, all the exertion, sweating, and potential sore muscles just wasn’t for her. But she knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to talk Twilight out of it so she reluctantly decided to just go with it. “If you say so, Twilight.” Upon reaching the farm they found Applejack hauling apples as usual. They approached the farm pony and Twilight asked if they could help with anything. “Sure thing, Twilight. Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith are all out on a delivery and I could use some help harvesting the apples.” Applejack gestured towards the orchard which contained dozens of trees that had yet to be bucked. “That’s a lot of apple bucking.” Although this wasn’t the first time Starlight had helped Applejack with the apple bucking it was the first time she would be bucking more than just a few trees. Her legs weren’t as strong as Applejack’s and she wasn’t sure if they’d be up to the task. “Don’t worry, Starlight, Trixie and I will be helping too.” Twilight assured her. “No no no. The Great and powerful Trrrrixie does not do farm work.” “It’s for Starlight.” “Ugh. Fine.” The next few hours were spent bucking apples out of the rest of the trees. During that time Twilight and Starlight found themselves alone with each other numerous times. Each time Twilight found herself thinking about her feelings for Starlight and if they really were what she thought. At one point Twilight tripped and sent both of them rolling down a hill where she found herself next to Starlight with their muzzles just inches apart. Looking into Starlight’s persian blue eyes, Twilight realized that she really was in love with her. Eventually the last of the apples had been taken to the barn and Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie headed back into town. “Ugh, my legs are killing me.” A visibly exhausted Starlight said. “The Great and powerful Trixie does not want to see another apple tree for as long as she lives.” “How about we do something more relaxing next?” Twilight asked. “Maybe we could fly kites.” Starlight shyly suggested. “If that’s what you want to do.” The three returned to the castle. Since Twilight and Trixie didn’t have kites of their own Starlight decided to let them borrow hers. She went to her room to retrieve the kites, leaving Trixie and Twilight by themselves. The two didn’t say anything at first, but after a few seconds Twilight choose to break the silence. “Hey, Trixie listen… It turns out you were right, I am in love with Starlight. I didn’t realize it at first, but after thinking about it I now know that’s how I really feel.” Trixie simply stood there with a smug look on her face and asked. “So are you going to tell her?” Twilight sighed. “Probably. But first I want to fix my mistake and get Starlight back to normal. My plan to do that doesn’t seem to be working though. I’m going to have to try something else.” “Well do you have any ideas?” “I do have one, but I’m not sure how effective it will be.” Before Trixie could ask for more details about what Twilight was thinking Starlight returned carrying three kites. The kites in question were one box shaped SLK and two diamond shaped kites. Starlight herself appeared to be a bit happier than she had been since solving the friendship problem in Canterlot. There was no doubt that this was because they were going to fly kites. Starlight walked over to her two friends to give them their kites. “Okay, now that we have the kites we just need a good spot to fly them, and I already know the perfect place for it. So let’s get going.” “You two go on ahead, I have something I need to take care of first.” Before either of her friends could ask what she was talking about, Twilight teleported away to Celestia knows where, leaving behind a confused Starlight and Trixie.