When the sun began to shine through Time Skipper’s window after a shortened and sleepless night, she grudgingly got out of bed and trudged into Starlight’s room. She knocked on the open door as she entered. “Morning,” she mumbled.
“Hmm? Oh, hey, Time,” Starlight replied, her back turned to the door. “I thought you were going to be in Cloudsdale all night.”
“I was.”
“What happened? Did they cancel?”
“No, ‘I was’ as in ‘I was in Cloudsdale all night.’”
Starlight turned from the mirror, a brush in her magic and her hair half in one style and half in another. She frowned. “You look tired. When’d you get in last night?”
“More like this morning.”
“You sure you don’t want to go back to sleep?”
Starlight shook her head. “Can’t. Princess Twilight called me back.”
“She did? Why?”
“Twilight is my mentor. She—she said I’m remedial. She wants me to meet with her back in our world.” Time levitated her journal out from behind her. “I’ve got something I want you to keep for me until I get back.”
“What’s that?
“It’s a magic journal that Twilight and I have been using to send messages back and forth. I want it here with you so that Twilight or I can still communicate with somepony in this timeline.”
“Well, ok.” Time watched the aura around the journal shift from cyan to—still cyan. “But I thought the portal you used was in Ponyville. That's central Equestria. How are you going to get there like—like that?” she asked, gesturing towards Time with her hoof turned sideways.
“I can sleep on the train. Rainbow Dash arranged transportation for me.”
“You'd better get going then. I'd hate to be the reason you miss your train. I'll just be here, trying to figure out what to do with—this,” she said as she hovered a hoof over her half-styled mane. Starlight frowned as she turned and walked back to the mirror.
Time turned to leave, but a thought came into her mind. I should help her.
She sighed. Really? Now?
Yes. This is important to her. She’s vulnerable right now.
Time Skipper went to stand next to her other self. “What look are you going for?”
“Not sure. Other than ‘different.’ I want it to reflect who I am.”
“Well, who do you want to be now? How do you want to be different?”
“Is this cheating? Walking me through the same steps you took when you redefined yourself?”
“Not if I ask the questions and let you answer them.”
Starlight turned her attention back to the mirror. “I want—I want to distance myself from the pony I used to be. That pony felt she had to lie to her friends in order to do what was best for them—and for her. You were right. ‘Equality’ is a word that’s easy to rally behind. That’s why I—she—used it. But really, she only did all those things so she would never be hurt again.
“You want to stop being that pony—the one who lied to herself and her friends about her motives for equality, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to put all that behind you.”
“Yeah, exactly!”
Time reached out with her magic and enveloped Starlight’s brush. She turned her head across the room and levitated a pair of hair ties off the nightstand with her magic. She brushed Starlight’s mane through a few times, then set an aura around all but her bangs. She took the hair and divided it into two parts, right and left. She pulled the hair through the hair ties, then moved the hair ties up the hair as far as they would go. She left the hair ties low on Starlight’s head, so that they formed two low ponytails. While she doubled the ponytails through the hair ties again, she brushed Starlight’s bangs together, filling the gap between the two sides.
“There. Your past is behind you, and your new look mirrors that,” she said. “No pun intended.”
Starlight chuckled as she turned her head to one side and pushed the naturally curled end of her ponytail up with the bottom of her hoof. “I kind of like it. I might tweak it a little bit, but yeah.” She turned to face Time Skipper. “Thanks. But seriously, don’t miss your train.” Starlight leaned in to hug Time.
“I won’t. I’ll be back soon. I hope. I mean—‘I hope soon.’ Not ‘I hope I’ll be back.’ I will be back.”
Starlight smiled. “And get some sleep on the train.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“That looks like everypony,”
Shining Armor said as he nodded to Rainbow Dash. “Let's begin.”
“First order of business: Cloudsdale. What’re we calling it?”
“New Equestrian victory, Green Changeling defeat, Blue Changeling pyrrhic victory and successful proof-of-concept,” Bon Bon said.
“It was also a successful proof-of-concept for the alchemic horn,” said Sunburst.
“The Wonderbolts are currently conducting an investigation into what took down that blimp,” Spitfire said. Her voice was drained of its usual confidence, a hint of timidity in its place.
“I request that the Blue Changelings be allowed to aid in the investigation,” Bon Bon said.
Rainbow glanced at Spitfire just in time to see her glance back. “Y—yes. I grant your request.”
“I think I speak for us all when I say that we’re all a bit curious to hear your report,” Shining Armor added.
“Until that happens,” Rainbow said, “we need to start planning our next moves. With the renewed support of the Wonderbolts and their blimps, we can reassert our superiority in the sky, and provide better cover for our troops on the ground.”
“I say we wait until this whole thing blows over,” said Bon Bon. “Chrysalis likely isn’t going to take this too well. We need to prepare for whatever she’s going to do in retaliation.”
“It’s going to take some time to train the pegasi and earth ponies to use the alchemic horns anyways,” said Sunburst. “We can use the time to train.”
“I suppose,” said Rainbow. “Bon Bon, tell us what you find out about Chrysalis’s plans as soon as you find out.”
“That was the plan,” she replied.
“Now, we can talk about the alchemic horn. Sunburst?”
“Yes. I put forth the motion to allocate funds for the first production run of the alchemic horn Mk. 1000.”
“I second that motion,” said Rainbow.
“All in favor,” said Shining Armor.
A unanimous “Aye” resounded from the Council members.
“All opposed.” Nopony spoke up.
“Then the Council moves to allocate the necessary funds from the treasury to the Weapons Development and Testing department.
"Short meeting today," she continued. "Unless anypony has anything else, that about wraps things up." Nopony else said anything. "Great. Dismissed."
As the ponies around the table began to rise, Rainbow approached Bon Bon. "So, what are you doing after this?"
"Zecora and I are going to go talk to some of the Green Changelings we captured in Cloudsdale."
"Mind if I tag along?"
"Have you made amends with Spitfire yet?" she asked.
Rainbow sighed. "No, I haven't."
Bon Bon winked at her. "You've got this."
Rainbow drew a deep breath and approached Spitfire, who had by now migrated to the other end of the table by Shining Armor. She coughed politely to get Spitfire's attention.
"Rainbow Dash," she said, unsure of Rainbow's motives judging by her tone.
"Spitfire," Rainbow replied.
"Look, I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry we drifted apart and didn't make things right when we had the chance."
"I'm sorry I laughed at you in Cloudsdale when we had to go rescue you," Rainbow said. "And when you got stuck in your own locker." Spitfire bit her lip and glanced over at Shining Armor. "And when Bon Bon pulled you out and you had to—"
"Ok, I get it," she interrupted, a hint of embarrassment on her face. "I accept your apology."
"Likewise." Before she realized what she was doing, Rainbow stretched her hoof out. Spitfire hesitated, but only for a moment before shaking Rainbow's hoof. "Truce?"
"Truce."
"No enemies here," said Shining Armor. "From now on, let's focus on fighting Chrysalis and Sombra."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," said Rainbow.
Princess Twilight looked at the clock on the wall, then to the other ponies sitting in their thrones. “It’s time, girls!”
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Let’s bring ‘er home!” said Applejack.
“Eeee! I’m so excited!”
“Yes, Pinkie, we gathered that," Rarity said with a smile.
“Then let’s do it!” said Fluttershy. The cutie marks on the six thrones began to glow brightly, and a portal opened above the map.
Starlight seemed startled when she appeared. She backpedaled in the air as she floated down towards the table. She seemed to relax the closer she got to the table. She had barely lain down before Pinkie Pie jumped on her. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash approached her next.
“Now now, y’all give her some space,” Applejack called.
“It’s fine,” Starlight said weakly, a small smile on her face.
“Are you ok?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m—tired. I had to pull an all-nighter in Cloudsdale last night. The only sleep I’ve had is the sleep I got on the train—” she paused for a yawn, “—and I think I fell asleep on top of the map just now.”
“Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, I want you to get Starlight to her room.”
“On it!”
“Starlight, is there anything you need?”
“Aside from sleep, not really,” said Starlight as she was hoisted up by the pegasi.
“Ya hungry?”
“Maybe later, Applejack. When I wake up.”
“Well, alright. Don’t be afraid to ask, y’hear?”
“Will do. Er—won’t? As in 'won't be afraid.' You know.”
“Starlight needs her beauty sleep,” Rarity said. “Let’s not make the poor thing wait any longer than she has to.”
“C’mon, ‘poor thing,’” Rainbow said as she and Fluttershy carried her off.
“Now,” Twilight began after Starlight had left the room, “I want to set up some friendship lessons for Starlight. I need each of you to write down one activity you can do with her tomorrow,” she said as she distributed paper, quills, and ink. “I’ve got a lot of things planned for Starlight over the next few days.”
Bon Bon nodded at the guard, and he opened the jail cell for her. She entered the cell, Zecora right behind her. Neither was unarmed; Bon Bon had her magic, and Zecora a crossbow.
Across the room, a Green Changeling lay with his rear hooves stuck to the floor by a blue-grey substance. His horn was covered in a similar substance, and his front hooves were shackled together.
The changeling raised his head and ears as Bon Bon approached. When he felt she was getting too close, he hissed. Bon Bon heeded the warning and kept her distance.
Bon Bon lit her horn and set an aura around the changeling’s shackles. He rose to his hooves as they became enveloped in the same substance that stuck his hooves to the floor . The shackles hissed for a moment, then broke into several pieces and fell to the ground as the magic dissolved them. The astonished changeling looked first at his hooves, then at Bon Bon.
“W—Why are you doing this?” He leaned in and lowered his tone. “Are you Green Changelings here to free me?”
“No. I’m a Blue Changeling here to free you. From Chrysalis.” The changeling scowled. Bon Bon lay down on the ground in front of him. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t have one,” he said, turning his head away.
“Don’t have a name?” Bon Bon asked, smiling as if it were a joke.
The changeling sighed and sat back down. “Pronotum.”
“I’m Bon Bon.”
“That’s a weird name.”
“I know. I used to be an earth pony,” she said, as dismissively as if she had told him her favorite color.
“Why did you spare me? I could understand killing me, or interrogating and torturing me for information. But this—it’s almost worse. It feels like it’s all just a setup.”
“This is called being nice,” Bon Bon said. “It’s something you wouldn’t learn from Chrysalis. Chrysalis doesn’t love you; she uses you. Without her drones, Chrysalis wouldn’t have an army. If she kept her army well-fed, they wouldn’t have any motive to fight. Chrysalis is holding out on you.”
“She—she would never,” he said, though he sounded unsure of himself.
“You have a hard shell, Pronotum; you must learn to let love in.”
“I do that all the time.”
“Not stolen love,” Bon Bon said as a hint of frustration crept into her voice. She recovered her composure a moment later. “These ponies will willingly give you love if you reach out to them and befriend them.”
“How do you know that?”
Bon Bon raised a hoof to her chin. “You were one of the ones guarding the front door last night, weren’t you.”
“Yeah.”
So he was unconscious most of the night.
“Zecora and I are friends,” she said as she rose to her hooves. “Although I mainly draw love from Rainbow Dash, I draw lesser amounts of a different type of love from others.” She hugged Zecora from the side, and the pair began to glow faintly.
Pronotum seemed to be staring harder at Zecora’s crossbow than the two figures before him. “We don’t want to fight you. We want to help you.”
Bon Bon relieved Zecora of her crossbow, and the mare approached the Green Changeling. “Wh—What are you doing?”
“It’s a hug,
Silly bug.”
Zecora put one foreleg around Pronotum, and he mirrored her. He made eye contact with Bon Bon, and she smiled at him. He smiled a little too, and closed his eyes as he and Zecora glowed with a faint green glow.
“I want you to renounce Chrysalis.”
“But—but I’ve never known any other leader besides her.”
“In time, you will. Pledge yourself to the Order of the Blue Changelings. Swear allegiance to King Chitin.”
The changeling lowered his head, then gently pushed Zecora’s foreleg aside. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I—I want some time to think about this.”
“I understand,” Bon Bon said as she knocked on the door. It opened, and Zecora exited. “I’ll be back again later,” she said as she followed Zecora out of the room.
“As you know, speed spells like accelero are not easy,” Starlight began. “But if done correctly, they can allow you to be much more efficient with your day.” Starlight cast the spell and reshelved all the books in the castle library—a few thousand of them of them—within seconds.
“Way to go, Starlight!”
“Oh, I’m not finished,” she said. “I’ve discovered a very old spell—similo duplexis. When combined with accelero in just the right way—” the grooves of Starlight’s horn began to glow, and a tiny ball of cyan energy appeared at the tip of her horn. Light radiated from her horn, and a moment later, she had finished casting the spell. An identical version of herself appeared next to her. “—you can literally be in two places at once!” she said in stereo. She smiled as Twilight’s eyes widened briefly. A moment later she lit her horn and dispelled the spell dividing herself in half, and her second half merged with her first. “Now I’m finished.”
Twilight smiled. “I have to admit, your skill with magic is nothing short of impressive. I’m very impressed.”
Starlight smiled. “I’ve always been something of a natural.” Her eyes lit up a moment later. “Oh! I've been meaning to ask: Do you know of a way to give my second half the ability to act on its own? So far, I’ve only been able to get it to do whatever I do. If I can get it to act on its own, I can be in two worlds at once. I could leave one half of me here while the other half fixes the other timeline!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Starlight, when I gave you your assignment to fix the world we saw together, I did so because you hurt the ponies living there, and you tried to hurt the ponies living here.”
Starlight hung her head. “I never meant to hurt anypony other than you here in this timeline. I know this is supposed to be punishment for my actions, at least in part, but does that mean I have to leave you?” Starlight spoke up again before Twilight could respond. “Wait, what if I could fix two timelines at once? I could be done in half the time!”
Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. “Well, do you know what the long-term effects of using this spell are?”
Starlight stepped backwards. “Well no, not yet. I—”
“Do you know if it works on two sides of a portal?”
“Accelero isn’t a true speed spell. It slows down time rather than speeding up the caster. Such a bending of time allows me to control both halves of myself when casting it in combination with similo duplexis. Theoretically, it should work.”
“What if—Celestia forbid—half of you should die in another timeline? Do you know what effect that would have on you or your magic?”
Starlight sighed. “Ok, so maybe it’s still more of an idea than an option. But can’t we still give it a try?”
Twilight approached Starlight from the side and stood next to her. “That’s not the goal, Starlight. The goal is to make friends and fix the world by using the magic of friendship.” Twilight lit her horn and levitated over a clipboard. “Speaking of which, it doesn’t look like you’ve tackled any friendship lessons since you met Trixie, and that was before we fixed the map.”
Starlight took the clipboard in her magic. “Are you sure? I could have sworn there were a couple in there somewhere.”
The paper on the clipboard detailed every activity pertaining to friendship that she’d done since she became Twilight’s pupil. There was the time she’d reconnected with Sunburst and the time she’d helped Trixie with her magic show, each with a detailed explanation of the event. Below, there were two more sentences, notably shorter than the rest. They read, “Talked with Rainbow Dash,” and “Met Lightning Dust,” respectively.
Twilight took the clipboard back in her magic and lowered her eyebrows. “I’m sure.”
Starlight’s ears dropped. “It’s just—I was finally beginning to see progress in that new world. We went on a mission to free the Wonderbolts from Chrysalis in Cloudsdale, and now Spitfire is back with the New Equestrians, and—” she trailed off.
“And what about your friends?” asked Twilight.
“My—friends?”
“I know what you’re going through. You’re not the first one who was sent away from her home city by her mentor to a world that was threatened by an ancient evil.”
“I’m not?”
“Nope!” Twilight said with a grin. “I was the same way! And come to think of it, I had a similar attitude towards friendship as you do. I was so consumed with making sure the prophecy of Nightmare Moon didn’t come true that I almost neglected to make friends. But in the end, it was those very friends who helped stop Nightmare Moon.”
“I—didn’t know all that,” Starlight admitted as she hung her head.
“Maybe if you had, you wouldn’t have tried to stop the Rainboom,” Spike added.
Starlight looked up to see Twilight glaring at Spike. “He’s right,” she said in a defeated tone. “I clearly have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to friendship.”
Twilight smiled. “That’s why I made you my pupil.” She turned and began walking towards the door. “Spike and I are headed to Canterlot. Princess Celestia wanted me to give her students a quick overview on the history of enchanted objects in Equestria. We’ll be back when we’re done with the presentation, which should be—”
“Twenty moons from now?” Spike asked from behind a stack of books which was nearly as tall as he was.
“Tonight,” Twilight corrected. “It’s a quick presentation.”
“Sure. Keep telling yourself that,” Spike muttered.
“You can tackle a friendship lesson today and we can review your progress when I get back later this evening.”
“Of course!,” Starlight said nervously. “No problem! Friendship lesson… On it!”
“Great! Can’t wait!”
Starlight turned to leave. Twilight was too busy telling Spike how she wanted her cue cards organized to see Starlight’s countenance fall. I hope they don’t need me too soon in the other world.
Queen Chrysalis lay on Celestia’s throne, Princess Pupa asleep on her forelegs. She smiled as she stared down at her daughter, watching the rising and falling of her tiny body.
A green aura enveloped the throne room’s massive double doors, and they were opened from the outside a moment later.
“My Queen—”
“Shhhhh. You’ll wake the Princess,” she said just above a whisper.
“My Queen,” the armored changeling began again, quieter this time, “I bring news of our infiltration in Cloudsdale.”
“What news?”
The changeling removed his helmet. “We—we were attacked. The blimp caught fire, and many of our changelings—couldn’t—” he sighed, “I’m sorry, your Highness. We’ve failed.”
Chrysalis shifted her hind legs and barrel as she closed her eyes and exhaled. “What of the Wonderbolts?”
“Gone down with the blimp, we think. The zones of control have shifted, and we were unable in our retreat to scour the wreckage for any sign of them.”
“Your retreat?” Chrysalis asked, daggers in her words.
“The soldiers fled, your Highness. I could not rally more than a few of them. The blimp’s destruction was sudden; we lost almost all the crew within the ship, and many forming the disguise for the hull and balloon were—consumed by the fire. Morale fled even more quickly than my drones.”
Chrysalis lowered her head thoughtfully for a moment. “How many of your soldiers were lost?”
“At least half, your Highness. Mostly trapped within the burning hull. It—” He grit his teeth, folded his ears, and rested his helmet on the ground. He made a low bow in an attempt to cover for his collapse. “Forgive me, my Queen.”
Chrysalis sighed and closed her eyes briefly. “I will suspend further questioning for now. Go. Be with your troops.”
“Thank you, your Highness.”
Once he turned to leave, and once Chrysalis was sure he wasn’t going to look back, she laid her head on her forelegs and nuzzled her daughter as her mind began to wander.
Starlight threw open the doors to Twilight’s library and took several deep breaths back to back. “Ok, Starlight, you’ve got this. A hoofful of friendship lessons is nothing compared to the spells you’ve mastered,” she said with a nervous chuckle.
“But,” she offered as a counterpoint, “you’ve also got five of these things to do, and a world that’s falling apart just as fast as you can put it back together. Approaching this problem in the traditional way isn’t working.”
She approached one of the shelves and levitated a spellbook off of it. “Maybe if I case a little spell to help things along—something simple and safe. Leduchia compellus? That’s not bad. They would barely notice it, but… is it enough?”
She walked over to another shelf and picked another book. “Maybe cogerius so they’re more… open to suggestions.” She put one book on top of the other. “Or maybe cogeria combined with leduchia compellus! Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “That could work nicely! Oh! With a hint of persuadere to be sure it sticks.” She lit her horn, and magic flashed onto the page before her.
Casting all three spells in unison, Starlight’s magic formed a ball of energy that floated above her. Without a target, it formed a sphere of purple, magenta, and cyan which pulsated in her magic grip.
“There. When I complete all five friendship lessons at once, I’ll have them all done in a single day! And Twilight will be thrilled I completed so many lessons. Everypony wins!” she said as she levitated the orb of energy out the door and down the hall. Light flooded her vision for a brief moment as the spell cast in the other room.
“Congratulations, Starlight. You’re a genius.” She began walking towards the castle’s main foyer. “With five friendship lessons complete, Twilight will no longer be able to say I’m remedial, and I’ll be back to fixing the other world.”
Starlight gasped when she reached the balcony and looked down into the foyer. All five ponies stood rigidly at the bottom of the stairs, ethereal energy flowing around them. “Maybe the congratulations were a little premature.”
Imperial Governor of Las Pegasus wasn’t a particularly glamorous or prestigious title, but it did give Imperial Topaz a chance to take her mind off the war. She’d been transferred from the eastern to the western theater after the battle of Fillydelphia, and secretly, she couldn’t have been happier. It had been months since the city had seen changelings, and even then it had seen their backs as they called for a full retreat in the face of the Crystal Empire’s advance.
A night on the town every week or so to hit up the local casinos with her compatriots was exactly the kind of life every officer of the Imperial Army was promised. It was a life Topaz lived as often as she could; and when she couldn’t, she’d crash a local bar with her officer friends instead.
But her job was still a job, regardless of how cushy it was; and a military job far from the front lines came with what Topaz believed to be more than her fair share of paperwork. But when her underlings were struggling and dying across half Equestria, she found it hard to complain, accepting her job with the understanding that she was the envy of the Imperial Army.
It came as no surprise when her secretary delivered a newspaper to her that morning, though the title of the paper caught her attention. “Manehattan?” she asked as her secretary stood on the opposite side of her desk.
“Yes, ma’am. News of the war—the Equestrian rebels.”
Topaz skimmed the title, image, and first few lines of the cover article about a downed airship in Cloudsdale. “Not a good day to be a rebel,” she said with a chuckle.
“You might read a little further, ma’am.”
She did, and her smile widened. “Not a good day to be a changeling, either! Ha!” She leaned back and put her rear hooves on her desk. “Good. Fight each other. You’ll just be weaker when the Imperial Army marches in.”
She looked up from the paper to her smiling secretary. “Milk?” she asked as she returned to the cart she had brought over.
“Please,” she answered, as she returned her eyes to the paper. She laid the paper aside once she heard the sound of the tea being poured into the teacup. “Thank you,” she said with a smile as her secretary turned to leave with the cart.
Topaz raised the teacup to her lips and took a sip. She swished the liquid around in her mouth. Gone a thousand years… she shook her head. They just don’t make it like they used to.
Starlight paced back and forth along the side balcony of Twilight’s castle, mentally running through her checklist one last time. “Sun, check. Chairs, check. And thanks to a simple catidupo levitonis spell, we’ve got water. Is that everything we need to chillax?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Nope.”
Starlight frowned. “No? What did I miss?”
“Quiet,” Rainbow replied.
“Ah, right,” Starlight said as she settled into her chair.
Twilight, seated next to her, looked up from her book. “Great job, Starlight. Looks like you’ve completed another friendship lesson!” She put the book in her hooves and leaned back into her chair with a sigh.
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted. “She completes the lesson when I say she completes it. So less learning and more chillaxing.”
Lesson learned. I’m done here, right? Starlight thought to herself.
“Sooo… how long do we sit here quietly?”
Her friends all laughed, and Starlight found herself laughing nervously with them.
Longer than I’d hoped, it looks like, she answered herself.
“Try it now,” called Carapace from beneath the vehicle.
Centipede pulled on the gear lever for the left tread, but it wouldn’t budge. “Nope. Still stuck.”
“Bugger. You jammed her real good.”
“S—sorry.
“First assignment. First chance to take the fight to the ponies’ doorsteps, and we’re stuck on the side of the road?” asked Bombardier.
“Not that we’re in a hurry,” Hot Shot said. “Our ‘objective’ is the Canterlot train yard. We’re not driving this thing all the way to our destination. We're taking a train.”
“Where the other vehicles are probably already waiting by now,” Carapace muttered. Centipede doubted anyone else heard him.
“Good thing,” said Bombardier.
“You talk like you’re the one driving it,” said Millipede. “It’s not a drain on your magic to keep the thing moving.”
“A little unity goes a long way. Hear that down there?” asked Hot Shot, his head and upper barrel sticking out the top hatch. “We’re likely to be stuck in here for quite a while with each other. Might as well learn to get along.”
“Wooo. Teambuilding exercises,” said Bombardier.
“Try it now,” said Carapace.
Centipede pulled the lever again. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“Darn. Hold on. Let me look at Millipede’s.” Carapace shifted underneath them. “Give yours a pull.” Millipede pulled his lever. “Now pull it back.” Millipede pulled it back. Carapace shifted back. “Hold on.” There was a sound of metal scraping against metal. “Try that.”
Centipede pulled his lever. This time, it actually moved. “I got it!”
“Carapace got it. You had the easy part,” said Bombardier.
“Good work, Carapace,” said Hot Shot. “Hop back in and we’ll be off.”
Millipede lit his horn, prompting Centipede to do the same. Carapace clambered down the hatch to his station in the rear of the vehicle. “Ugh. He’s covered in grease,” said Millipede.
“There’ll be a lot worse than grease where we’re headed,” said Hot Shot. “Let’s get this thing moving.” Centipede and Millipede threw both levers forward, and the vehicle lurched forward before climbing back out onto the road.
When the door to her private library opened, Princess Twilight set her book on the table between her couch and the chair across from her. “You wanted to see me, Twilight?” Starlight called from the door.
“Come in! Have a seat,” she said invitingly as she gestured to the chair. Starlight hopped up and sat down.
“I don’t suppose this has anything to do with hypnotizing my friends, does it?”
“Starlight, I didn’t call you here to throw your mistakes back in your face. Besides, I’d be a hypocrite if I did. Remind me sometime to tell you the story of the time I hypnotized all of Ponyville!” Starlight blinked as she sat up in her chair. “I called you because what you’re demonstrating runs deeper than just a mistake. Ever since you left, you’ve been avoiding your friendship lessons.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Starlight said as she dropped her gaze. “And then when I messed up today—I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“I only know what you tell me. If you don’t tell me anything, it looks like you’re avoiding these lessons. I understand that you’re busy with a lot of things in that world and in your personal life. Have you tried talking out what’s bothering you?”
“Well, no. It still—kind of hurts.”
“Starlight, you know I’m here for you. I’m a Princess. I could have called you into my throne room, but I called you here instead. You’re not just my student; you’re my friend.”
Starlight looked up and offered Twilight a small but genuine smile. “Thanks. It means a lot.”
“I know we’re together right now, but that won’t always be the case. If I can teach you to seek help and stability from your friends, then you’ll be able to find healing just about anywhere. What about alternate Rainbow Dash?”
“She—tries too hard to be tough. It might take a lot of work to form a meaningful connection with her.”
“The other Starlight?”
“There isn’t much about each other we don’t already know.”
“Sunburst?”
“I think I’ll leave him for the other Starlight.”
Twilight turned her head to the side. “What do you mean by that?”
“She—Oh, you know.” Starlight shifted uneasily in her chair.
Twilight leaned forward slightly. “I don’t mean to pry, but do you think there’s something between those two?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure.” She sighed. “I’m probably just projecting myself onto—my other self. She—I—”
Twilight raised a hoof. “If you’re not comfortable talking about it, I understand. There’s got to be more friends you can talk to. What about—” she paused and tried not to groan as she said the mare’s name, “what about Lightning Dust?”
“Lightning Dust?” Starlight’s ears flattened, and suddenly all the energy disappeared from her voice. “I don’t think Lightning Dust is going to be an option.”
Twilight was secretly happy to hear this. Good. She’s an even worse influence than Trixie.
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked, forcing false curiosity into her tone.
Starlight’s words came slowly and laboriously. “Lightning—did something we didn’t expect her to do. The day we planned to rescue Spitfire, I got a letter saying that she was going to Cloudsdale on her own. We ended up in Cloudsdale at the same time, and—
“Well, I guess I need to back up. Chrysalis brought in a blimp, and that’s how the changelings were going to get the Wonderbolts back to Canterlot. We got the Wonderbolts off the blimp, but when we got back to the Academy, Lightning Dust was gone. We rushed back outside and—the blimp was on fire.”
Starlight sniffed and raised a hoof to her face. “Lightning Dust—never showed up—the rest of the night. We can only assume—she went down with the blimp. I—I felt like we really had something, like we really understood each other. But now—”
Twilight’s gut wrenched. I compared her Lightning Dust to the real Lightning Dust. Of course hers would be different.
“Starlight, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Twilight stood up and walked over to Starlight. “Here,” she said, extending a foreleg as if to offer a hug. Starlight readily accepted, pressing her neck tight against Twilight’s, her forelegs wrapped around her upper barrel.
Several moments passed in silence. The only noise Twilight heard was Starlight’s sniffling; the only movement she felt was Starlight’s breathing.
How long should I keep hugging her? she asked herself.
As long as she needs, I guess.
Twilight raised her ears, but still kept them pointed backwards. “I’m here for you, Starlight. I’ll always be here for you, your mentor and your friend.”
“Thank you,” she mumbled, her face turned away from Twilight.
“Do you feel any better now?”
Starlight drew out of the embrace and leaned off to one side in the chair. “I feel—exhausted. Physically, emotionally, magically—”
“It’s getting late. Maybe you should turn in early,” she said as she offered her a hoof.
Starlight took her hoof as she got out of the chair. “You’re right. Sleep sounds amazing right now.”