//------------------------------//
// Chapter 143: Who Can You Trust? 
// Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Starlight and Sunburst returned to Ponyville, unaware of what was going on in the Crystal Empire. Starlight was still feeling glum about her early return from the village.

"I can't believe I did that," Starlight groaned, kicking up some dirt with a hoof. "I should've toughed it out and stayed."

"You clearly weren't ready to be back in that village so soon, Starlight," Sunburst reassured her. "You tried and you had a breakdown. I know Princess Luna told you to face your fears, but I'm sure even she would understand that you shouldn't force yourself into something before you're ready."

Starlight just sighed and shook her head. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Sunburst, but this doesn't make me feel any better. I'll just have to add it to the list of my personal failures, and face down whatever punishment Shining Armor's sure to place on me for bailing on the festival like that."

"You think he's already taken care of the changeling invasion?" Sunburst asked. "'Cause as long as it's still ongoing, I'm not gonna be able to get back to the Crystal Empire."

Just then, Starlight noticed Pinkie Pie bouncing along down the path. Perhaps she would know. Starlight called out to the pink party pony, halting her in her tracks. "Hey, Pinkie Pie."

"Oh, hey... you." Pinkie responded. Her momentary pause did not go unnoticed.

"Pinkie, you know who I am, I'm Starlight Glimmer. Remember?" Starlight corrected.

"Huh? Oh, yeah yeah, of course I remember," Pinkie corrected herself and then seemed to suspiciously ask. "What are you doing back here?"

"Well, I kind of live here, but I don't blame you for thinking I should be somewhere else right now," Starlight answered and then sighed. "The festival didn't go so well, I really don't wanna talk about it. So, Sunburst and I decided to come home early. That's all."

Pinkie surprisingly replied with. "Ooh, sounds terrible! Well, bye!" And then she bounced off somewhere else.

"Was that the Pinkie Pie you told me about? She seems kind of... distracted to me." Sunburst commented.

Starlight shook her head, not really thinking too deeply about it. "It's Pinkie Pie, she always tends to be weird. Sometimes she can be a bit scatterbrained. Just wish I'd have been able to get her to tell me about how Shining Armor's doing."

"Maybe somepony else will know?" Sunburst suggested. "Now how about we..." Then suddenly, his eyes fell upon a small wagon in the distance that appeared to double as a stage. "Hey, what's that?!"

"What is..." Starlight began, only to pause mid-sentence when she noticed a familiar light blue coated unicorn mare on said stage. Starlight knew at once who that was. "Trixie?"

Following Sunburst, Starlight ran down the road and rounded the hill. Sure enough, there was Trixie, all decked out in her magician's hat and cape.

When Trixie noticed Starlight, she was overjoyed! "Starlight Glimmer! Oh, how Trixie has longed to see you again!" She happily exclaimed. "Trixie would totally hug you right now, if that was something she did."

"It's good to see you too, Trixie," Starlight replied somewhat nervously. "But uh, what are you doing back in Ponyville? I thought you were on an Equestria wide apology tour?"

Trixie nodded and gave a wink. "Well, I was. But even the Great and Powerful Trixie needs a rest. And where better to get some time off than the hometown of her bestest friend in the whole wide world, Starlight Glimmer?" Then she turned to Sunburst. "And who are you?"

Sunburst stuck out a hoof. "Oh, I'm Sunburst. I'm sure Starlight's told you about me, no?"

"As a matter of fact she hasn't, I thought I was her only friend." Trixie commented, turning around to glare at Starlight.

Starlight gulped. "W-well, I meant to tell you but it completely slipped my mind, honest."

"Anything else you've been hiding from Trixie?" Trixie demanded. "You know The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't like being kept in the dark."

Meanwhile, Sunburst had made his way around to the back of the wagon and was currently peering inside. He was fascinated by all the props he could stored in there, magic cards, magic wands, hankerchiefs in a rainbow of colors, and even those boxes magicians used to saw themselves in half. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, before he noticed the window was open. Maybe just a quick look around the inside wouldn't hurt.

But before Sunburst had a chance, Trixie immediately rushed over and pulled him away before slamming the window shut. "Hey, hey, hey! Look but don't touch! You would not believe how expensive some of those props can be!" She lectured. "Besides, you're not supposed to see the tricks of the trade! As we magicians always say: 'A good magician never reveals her secrets'."

"Sorry," Sunburst apologized, turning to Trixie. "It's just, I've always been fascinated by stage magic ever since I was a foal. But my parents could never afford to take me to shows. There was something about it that drew my attention. Maybe it was the power of illusion, the hoof and eye coordination, or even just the atmosphere. I guess that's part of what got me into plain old magic to begin with, and part of what inspired me to be a big, important wizard."

"Always a joy to meet a fellow lover of the magical arts," Trixie beamed. "And any friend of Starlight Glimmer's is a friend of mine. Just don't go getting any ideas about Starlight Glimmer, the two of us have a special bond."

Starlight moved to break up the potential argument. "A girl can have multiple best friends, it's not like there's anything wrong with that," She commented, and then decided to ask. "Say, Trixie, have you maybe noticed anything 'different' going on here today?"

"You mean, aside from all of your friends acting distant and alone?" Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Trixie's having a hard time seeing what it is about them that makes them your friends. None of them could even remember my name, the nerve of it all!"

"Now, now, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for all of this," Sunburst cautioned. "Maybe they're all planning some kind of surprise party or something."

Starlight wasn't so convinced. "I don't know, it's not like my friends to forget names like mine or Trixie's. That settles it, something is definitely going on here. I need to get to the castle, Twilight or Shining have to know what's going on!"





Starlight raced up to the castle door, only to find it locked for some odd reason! "Hello? Twilight? Shining Armor? Anypony?" She called, frantically knocking on the door.

A small hatch opened up near the top, revealing the face of Spike who seemed anything but pleased. In fact he didn't seem to recognize Starlight at all. "What do you want?! Visitors are not allowed, Twilight and Shining Armor are very busy!"

"What could be so important that they can't speak to me?!" Starlight demanded. "Besides, I live here, I don't need an appointment!"

"Is there a part of 'Get lost' you don't understand?!" Spike coldly hissed! "Go ahead and come back another day, thank you!" And with that, he slammed the hatch shut.

"What is the meaning of this?! Why are you being so-" Starlight began, before the door suddenly opened. Twilight and Shining Armor were there, and they didn't seem happy at the way Spike had been acting.

"-Rude?" Twilight guessed. "Well, I think a certain baby dragon didn't get his nap today."

Spike stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just doing my job."

"I am so sorry about that," Shining apologized to Starlight. "He's been acting off all day, probably missed a meal or something."

"He's not the only one acting strange. What is going on?!" Starlight demanded. "I'm being locked out of my own home for crying out loud!"

"Sorry, extra security measures, you know how it is. Can't be too careful," Shining explained to Starlight. "So, what are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be halfway across Equestria by now?"

Starlight sighed and confessed. "Yeah, I should be, but things didn't go how I planned. The townsponies in my old village, they kept on asking me things, like they expected me to be in charge again. But being a leader is the last thing I should ever be. So we left. Very suddenly." She proceeded to hang her head in shame.

To Starlight's great surprise, Shining exclaimed. "Wow! You should definitely never go back to that village."

"Huh? Whatever do you mean? That's odd coming from the likes of you." Starlight commented.

"What, you want to go back to that village now?" Twilight asked, as if she were confused. "Can't you make up your mind?"

Shining payed no attention to Twilight's remark and simply explained his reasoning. "If you were worried about what they thought of you before, then it's probably way worse now. I'd cut my losses if I were you."

Starlight found herself put off by that comment. "That's not what Shining Armor would say. This guy must be an imposter. But I don't wanna let him know I'm onto him, there may be more." She thought, so she reluctantly put on the best acting face she could and pretend to be shocked. "That's... surprising advice, coming from you of all ponies."

The "imposter" puffed out his wings as he boasted. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I'm the Prince of Friendship, and if I say you don't need those ponies then you don't need those ponies, simple as that. You can always make more friends somewhere else," Just then, the throne room door creaked open and Soarin (or rather, what appeared to be Soarin) motioned for Shining to enter. "Ah! Speaking of friends, if you'll excuse me, I've important business to attend to!" And the "imposter" trotted off and slammed the throne room door shut.

"Something is definitely going on here, and I don't like it one bit. Can I trust anypony around here?" Starlight thought to herself. And those thoughts plagued her for the rest of the day.





Nightfall had come, and Starlight was surprised to find herself back in her old village. She could see all the villagers trotting about, but they didn't seem to acknowledge her presence. It was as if she was invisible. "Hey, I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier. Party Favor, can you hear me?" She called, but there was no reply.

Suddenly, however, an angry male voice sharply called out. "I thought I told you that you can never speak to them again!" And it soon revealed itself to be Shining Armor, his eyes narrowed in anger. And he was surrounded by all of his friends.

Starlight nearly jumped back in surprise! "What are you all doing here?"

"Making sure you do what I said! I'm your teacher, aren't I? Didn't I say to never come back here again?!" Shining scolded, as he approached Starlight.

Starlight gulped and retorted. "Y-you did, but that just doesn't seem right. You aren't acting like yourself," The next part of her speech echoed loudly, as if another voice were joining the chorus. "Something is wrong!" Then a gust of wind swept through the village, and Shining and the stallions faded away as if they'd never been there to begin with.

It took but a moment for Starlight to realize what this meant. "A dream? This is another dream! But, what does it mean?"

"Starlight Glimmer!" Princess Luna called out, emerging from the moon! "Thank goodness I've a chance to speak to you! I don't have much time, the changelings are more relentless than we anticipated!"

Starlight gasped! "Oh no, does that mean they've taken Canterlot and the Crystal Empire?!"

Luna shook her head. "No, we're still holding the line just fine in Canterlot. But we've received word from Flash Sentry about the Crystal Empire, Queen Chrysalis managed to make off with Flurry Heart and Shining Armor! And to make matters worse, it seems a few of Chrysalis' drones managed to capture Twilight Sparkle and the others in Ponyville!"

"W-what am I supposed to about that?! I'm just one pony!" Starlight protested.

"Be weary of who you trust, Starlight Glimmer! Thorax is on his way, but we're not sure of the extent of this little ruse Chrysalis devised!" Luna cautioned. "I'm afraid the princesses and I are going to be tied up for quite a while still, we'll be of no help to you!"

"Luna, wait, don't go!" Starlight pleaded, as the night princess started to walk back towards the moon. "Please, I need your help!"

"It's all up to you now, Starlight," Luna replied. "I must go now, we can't afford to lose Canterlot!" And then she faded away in a bright flash of light!

Starlight woke up in her bed in a cold sweat, panting furiously! "They're back!" She exclaimed in horror!