Equal Equestria Enlightenment

by stupidhand14

Chapter 10: Guest

Starlight Glimmer's Diary Day 398

I woke up to the sound of knocking. I stumbled out of bed, sleep still filling my eyes. After getting to the door, I noticed that the visitors were already in my house. Looking to my right, I saw the council members waiting for me to join them. It appeared that they had already gotten breakfast at the bakery. They hadn't eaten any of their food yet, but were drinking some water.

"Good morning, Starlight," Double Diamond greeted me.

"Hello... what are you all doing here?" I inquired. I did not know why they were in my house. Most ponies never entered my house unless they wanted something.

"We're just here to speak with Twilight Sparkle," Forest Embers answered. "We just want to make sure she's doing okay under your... care."

"Yes, I suppose that is reasonable. She's in the back," I told them. "I'll go see if she's awake."

I walked to Twilight's temporary room and knocked. There was no answer, but I doubted there would be one for some time. Instead of leaving her be, as was my intention, something overtook me and forced me to open the door. Inside was Twilight, as quiet and still as a statue. Her eyes were empty.

"Twilight, are you okay?" I asked, worried. Sometimes, I knew, ponies go into shock after being brought out of the reeducation houses. At least, that was what happened with the old one.

Twilight said nothing in response. She had a far away look in her eyes, as if she were thinking some profound thoughts that nopony else would share. I went over to her and tried to put my hoof on her shoulder to jolt her back into reality. When my hoof touched her fur, however, she pushed it away.

"What do you want now?" she asked in a defeated tone.

"Some nice ponies are here to see you... they want to know how you are," I answered her honestly.

"I take it you want me to tell them lies? Tell them how much I LOVE it here? Tell them how much I believe in equality? Want me to leave out the facts about the necklaces? Am I right?!" She asked, getting angry at the end.

"Tell them whatever you wish concerning how you like this house. Tell them comforting half truths about your opinions. I don't care about those... The necklaces are a necessity though. You couldn't be trusted otherwise. I will apologize for using them, but that won't stop me from doing what I must to protect our town."

Twilight Sparkle went back to her gazing at nothing. After a few moments, she got up.

"Let's go. I wouldn't want to keep my new 'friends' waiting," she sarcastically said.

We walked back out to the common room. After some pleasantries, the council members started to ask their intended questions.

"So, do you like it here at Starlight's cottage?" Forest Embers asked.

"It's okay. I do want my own place, though," Twilight said.

"Let me be blunt," Fire Hammer started. "Can you stay in this house for about a week?"

I was as surprised as Twilight was at this question. "Why do I have to stay for a week?" Twilight asked.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to build your house until after the festival, and it will take a few days to build."

I admit, I probably should have thought of that, but there was just too much to keep up on. I decided to have the council handle the menial tasks like that so that I could focus on the much more important details of the town.

"Can I just stay at another friend's house until it is done?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I suppose you could stay at one of our houses," Double Diamond said. "After all, we're all friends now. We don't want to break tradition more than we have to." I would have put an end to this talk, but I had no backing for it. Only tradition held that the new friends stayed at my house, where I could keep an eye on them. If anypony found out about the backroom, it would be dismantled immediately.

"Then I would prefer to stay here," Twilight said after half a minute of thought. I was absolutely shocked.

"Now the next issue," Forest Embers announced. "Her job. We don't have any more job openings available for somepony with her... unique skills."

"Don't worry about that," I assured them. "I have plans for a job for her. Until then, I will pay her with some of my own bits."

"Alright. With that done, I have to go about my own business," Fire Hammer said. "Good day."

After about 20 minutes of idle chat and socializing, the only ones left in the living room were Twilight and I. She had barely touched her muffins.

"Don't worry," I assured her, "it's an acquired taste." My guest said nothing in response.

"So, do you want to go anywhere today?" I asked Twilight. I usually let my guests come and leave whenever they wanted while they stayed with me, but this pony was... unique.

"Do you have a library here?" Twilight inquired.

"Yes... and no. We only have non-fiction here."

"Can we go there?" Twilight excitedly asked.

"We're already there," I informed her, pointing to a bookshelf in the back. Only 5 books lined the shelves.

"You only have five books here?" Twilight asked, dumfounded.

I laughed at this. "We have more, of course, but some fillies and colts are using them for reports. We have about 20 books here in our town. We don't get any merchants here, so its mostly what ponies had on them."

After a few minutes of silent thought, Twilight said, "Then I don't really want to go anywhere until my friends get back."

"That's your choice, but you really should meet some of your new friends. It'll be the first true friendship you'll have."

"No, thank you."

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house, mostly. There was no life threatening emergency, nothing that needed my attention. Every few hours or so somepony would arrive to socialize, but those didn't last long. Twilight did not want to socialize, or so it seemed. I can only hope that her friends will be able to convince her to be more outgoing.

Author's Note:

Sorry this update took so long. A lot of problems in time... and homework. But, hey, it's here. Let the enlightenment of everypony continue... eventually... I swear, I'll get to that point in the story some day.

Remember, Criticism is always welcomed.

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[Dawn Shadow]