//------------------------------// // Starlight Glimmer // Story: Little Choices // by Skijarama //------------------------------// “Welcome to ‘Tinder’s Bits and Bobs,’ home of just about every knick-knack, thingamajig and MacGuffin under the sun, at one point or another!” An older looking earth pony mare with a silvery coat and orange mane and tail called out from behind the store’s counter when Twilight, Applejack and Rarity walked in. “I’m Tinder Lighter, I own this shop. If you need any help finding anything, just ask me or my assistant. She’s right over there.” “Thanks! We’re just browsing.” Twilight replied with a large, friendly smile. Her eyes spotted Starlight almost immediately. The mare in question shot them all a friendly smile and wave, definitely practiced, before returning her attention to the shelf in front of her, a clipboard and pen held in her magic. Okay, let’s see here… something magic related. Something magic related… Twilight thought to herself while looking around the shop. It was definitely a thrift store. Just about everything mundane was in here. There was a small bookshelf in the back which looked like it had one or two books about magic on it. There we go. As casually as possible, Twilight worked her way in that direction. Applejack and Rarity kept a constant distance, though they did look around a bit while they were at it. Finally, Twilight reached the shelf and began to inspect the books it had. Some really old and worn-out novels, an encyclopedia, two different dictionaries, and a few guide-books for mundane things like cooking or things like that. She made a show of looking over the shelves with a critical eye, waiting for Starlight to reach her. Finally, Twilight plucked one of the books on magic from the shelf. It was one she had read years ago. ‘From Salt-Shaker to Teacup: A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration Principles and Spells.’ “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somepony look at that particular book with such interest,” came a voice to Twilight’s left. She jumped slightly and looked over to see Starlight Glimmer smiling back. “Most ponies get kinda thrown off by the title.” Twilight blinked, not quite sure how to process this development. She composed herself quickly, though, and smiled. “I can see that,” she began. “It is kind of a silly title. But, to be fair, it has some great stuff in it.” “Oh? You’ve read it?” Starlight asked curiously, raising an eyebrow in Twilight’s direction. “Uh-huh,” Twilight nodded while idly flipping through the pages. “Transfiguration magic is a pretty crucial thing to study if you want to be any good with a lot of the more complicated varieties magic. It was one of the first things they taught us at in magic school.” She explained before glancing over at the other unicorn, studying what she could without being overly conspicuous. “You study magic? Nice. I do, too. More of a hobby, really. Just something I do on the sidelines,” Starlight commented while rolling her hoof. She then took on a somewhat more curious expression, flinching back slightly. “Uh, I hope this doesn’t sound too weird or anything but, uh, where did you go for magic school?” Twilight’s brow furrowed a bit. “Uh…” she hesitated, not sure if it was safe to answer this question. After a moment of consideration, she relented. “Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns.” There was a sudden spark in Starlight’s eyes, one of eagerness and excitement that she visibly twitched to contain. Twilight took a mental note of this response immediately, but otherwise made no reaction. “Oh, wow! That’s a pretty high profile place to learn magic from.” Starlight exclaimed, sounding impressed and interested. “Yeah, it is,” Twilight nodded with a fond smile appearing on her face as she thought back on her time there. “But it’s high-profile because it’s the best place to go if somepony is trying to get a formal education in magic. I studied the other schools once just out of curiosity. None of them even hold a candle to Celestia’s school.” “Well, Princess Celestia does run the place. It makes sense that other schools cant compare to the pony that raises the sun.” Starlight replied brightly, gesturing to nothing in particular. Twilight couldn’t help but actually chuckle at that insightful remark. The more she talked to her, the more she began to feel like there wasn’t anything wrong here. It was just a regular conversation with another mare who had an interest in magic. “One of my fillyhood friends went to school there…” Starlight said quietly after a few moments. Her ears drooped a bit and her eyes darted to look at something else.“Did you ever meet or see him, by chance? His name is Sunburst.” Twilight shuffled uneasily, caught somewhat off-guard by the very sudden shift in Starlight’s demeanor. She thought back, trying to recall a colt by that name. She found that she couldn’t recall ever meeting him, but she did recall the words of the original Starlight Glimmer from a flash she had had years ago. One which she had shared with Rainbow Dash, and which had put her into a many-months-long coma. “I thought Sunburst and I were the same… but we turned out different, and it TORE OUR FRIENDSHIP APART!” With the words echoing in Twilight’s ears, she closed her eyes in thought before opening them again. “...Sorry, but no. I don't think so.” she said regretfully, shaking her head. “Oh…” Starlight sagged considerably, her ears drooping and a deep frown spreading on her muzzle. For a moment there was an awkward silence before she perked back up. “Well, it was real nice chatting with you, but I have to get back to work. So, uh, have a good day.” “Okay. I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Starlight.” Twilight said. Her blood suddenly ran cold and she felt her heart rate spike severely. The conversation had been feeling so natural that she had forgotten for a moment that Starlight had never even introduced herself. Starlight paused in the middle of moving past Twilight. She turned and raised an eyebrow, looking surprised and a little unnerved. “Huh…?” Twilight’s eyes darted around, looking desperately for something, anything she could use to save her situation. It was then that she spotted something hanging around Starlight’s neck and pointed to it. ‘Your nametag.” she said simply, maintaining her friendly smile, even if it was now horribly forced. Starlight glanced down at the small plastic card with her name written on it and made an ‘o’ with her mouth. “You know, sometimes I forget I have that,” she chuckled before smiling back up at Twilight. “See you around.” she waved, turned and departed, continuing to go about her job. Twilight watched her go, then turned her attention back to Rarity and Applejack, who had been listening in subtly from among the shelves and tables of miscellaneous merchandise. They shared thoughtful looks and then nodded to Twilight. It was time to go and discuss what they thought. To save face, Twilight purchased the book on transfiguration. Might as well brush up on the fundamentals, she figured. “Awww, shoot.” Pinkie Pie wined when Rainbow Dash slapped the last of her cards down into the pile. They were still in the hotel room, making use of the admittedly small table for their efforts to pass the time. Spike simply watched them from a little ways away, deciding to ‘not challenge Pinkie’s winning streak.’ Rainbow grinned quite widely, her wings snapping open with joy at the realization that she had just won. “Ha! I knew I would beat you at a card game someday!” she declared triumphantly, puffing out her chest and swelling with pride. Fluttershy set down her own cards and smiled warmly at Rainbow, glad to see her displaying some of her trademarked enthusiasm and confidence again. “I guess Pinkie Pie got a bad deal. She’s usually so good at these kinds of games,” she said, looking over at the pink mare in question. “Yeah, I guess,” Pinkie replied morosely while putting away her cards. “That plus-four wild card can really screw you up if you aren’t prepared.” “And now you know the pain of everypony who has ever been dumb enough to challenge you to a game of Uno!” Rainbow furthered, her grin never leaving her face. “So HA! Take that!” Pinkie smiled widely, looking up at Rainbow with a small, mischievous glint working its way into her eyes. “Well, maybe. But card games like Uno are based on luck just as much as skill.” she leaned forward, a challenging smirk replacing her pleased smile. She had Rainbow’s attention. The cyan pegasus gave a cocky grin of her own. “Oh? You got another game in mind?” she asked, resting her elbows on the table’s surface and then resting her chin on her hooves. “Yeah… something that doesn’t rely on random shuffles or anything like that…” Pinkie practically cooed, mimicking Rainbow’s pose and wiggling her eyebrows. “Wanna know what it is?” “I’m all ears,” Rainbow replied, her grin widening. “Oh, dear…” Fluttershy whispered while shrinking back a bit. “It’s called… TICKLE WAR!” Pinkie Pie suddenly squealed before launching across the table into Rainbow Dash’s gut, knocking her backward to the floor with a crash. “OW! HEY! NO FAIR!” Rainbow squawked out before bursting into uncontrollable giggles and laughs when Pinkie’s hooves set to work on her ribs. Pinkie Pie was an expert, clearly, her hooves mercilessly dancing all across Rainbow’s most ticklish zones. Her sides, her hooves, the fronts of her shoulders and along her lower back. All the while, Rainbow laughed and struggled, trying to get away from the pink demon. “No f-fair!” she tried again, feebly squirming away. “All is fair in love and war~” Pinkie Pie loudly bellowed like some kind of corny action-comic hero. Rainbow turned over, now pinned to the ground with Pinkie straddling her back and continuing her relentless assault. Struggling for breath and with tears in her eyes, Rainbow reached out to Fluttershy, who was hiding her delighted smile and giggled behind a hoof. “Fl-Fluttershy! He-h-help me!” Rainbow cried out before her words crumpled into another fit of laughter. “Oh, uh, okay-” “Nope! Don’t do it! I’m already winning!” Pinkie added with a small wink. “Join me, Fluttershy! Side with the victor! Otherwise I’ll have to tickle you into submission, too!” Fluttershy dropped her hoof and looked between the two, unsure. “Uh… I mean, I want to, uh… oh dear… please don’t make me choose.” she whimpered, shrinking back and hiding behind her mane a little bit. “Hey!” A new voice snapped, drawing everypony’s attention. Pinkie Pie swiveled her head around to the newcomer, only for a pillow to slam into her face at a high velocity, sending her sprawling back onto the carpet, dazed. “That’s mine!” The pillow then dropped to the floor, the lavender magical glow around it fading away. Twilight stood in the doorway of the room, a large smirk on her face while Rarity looked on in shock. Applejack closed the door behind them, snickering quietly to herself. Twilight then stepped forward and loomed over Pinkie Pie, her evil little smile daring the pink pony to try again. “Eheheh… I yield?” Pinkie squeaked with an enormous, pleading grin. Twilight’s smile softened. “Good choice. Besides,” she then turned and helped a still gasping Rainbow Dash back to her hooves. “We have some news for all of you.” Rainbow Dash took one more deep breath to calm herself before looking at Twilight intently. “What’s the situation?” she asked simply, shaking herself a little to get the residual shudders out of her system. Twilight turned to Applejack and Rarity. “Well, I wound up talking with Starlight for a little bit. Not as long as I would have liked, but she was on the clock and I didn’t want to do anything to raise suspicions. And honestly,” she then looked back to Rainbow Dash with a warm smile. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” “I concur, Twilight,” Rarity added with a smile of her own. “She appeared to be just another mare going about her life. I know I didn’t catch anything ominous or malevolent about her.” “Yeah, ah’m kinda shocked, to be blunt,” Applejack chimed in, adjusting her hat. “The way Y'all went on about her back in Ponyville, ah was kinda expecting her to be somethin’ like a monster outta Tartarus. But nah, she wasn’t tryin’ to mislead us or nothin’, near as Ah could tell.” Rainbow looked between the two for a few seconds before visibly relaxing. “Oh, thank goodness…” she then reached out and suddenly pulled Twilight in for a tight hug, eliciting a startled ‘yip’ from the unicorn. “Thank you, all of you.” Twilight bit her lip, then smiled and returned the embrace. “You’re welcome, Rainbow. We should probably start thinking about going home soon.” “Yeah, let’s take the train tomorrow morning.” Rainbow nodded while removing herself from the hug. “Huh? Why tomorrow?” Spike asked while walking up to Rainbow and Twilight. Rainbow flinched back a bit. “Er… I still gotta get my present for me… eh heh…” she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head a bit. “Hey, with how crummy you’ve been feeling all week,” Pinkie began cheerfully before playfully smacking Rainbow on the back. “You deserve to treat yourself.” Nopony seemed against that point, and Rainbow smiled even more widely. “Thanks, Pinkie. But before we go to do any of that…” she then locked eyes with Twilight. “What was it you said? ‘Hey, that’s mine?’ What the hay does that mean?” Twilight blushed.