Friendship and magic

by Starlight Glimmer1

Prologue: Date night

Starlight Glimmer trudged through the hallways of the castle to the dining room so she could have breakfast with Twilight and Spike.

One look at the unicorn was enough to tell that she was very tired. Bags hung under her eyes, her hair was an uncombed mess, her eyes were half-closed, and overall she looked exhausted.

Although Twilight had been able to return Starlight to her normal self after a particularly nasty nightmare left her psychologically scarred, Starlight suffered from recurring nightmares as a result of said scarring. The nightmares often involved the things she experienced in her original nightmare in Canterlot and often left Starlight with a sleepless night.

As Starlight entered the dining room she was greeted by the sight of her marefriend, Twilight Sparkle, and her number one assistant, Spike. The two each had a stack of pancakes in front of them and had been having some sort of conversation but stopped upon seeing Starlight enter.

“Good morning, Starlight.” Twilight said as she offered Starlight the seat next to her.

“Good morning,—” Starlight raised a hoof to her mouth as a yawn escaped her “—Twilight.” She trudged over to the table and sat in the chair Twilight offered her, something Starlight’s tired mind thanked her for.

“You look exhausted. Did you have another nightmare last night?” Twilight asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

Starlight yawned again before answering. “Yeah, and it was just as bad as the others.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Spike can you go get some coffee for Starlight?”

“You got it.” Spike said as he exited the dining room.

Twilight turned back to Starlight and wrapped a foreleg around her. “I wish I could help you, Starlight, but these nightmares have been going on for so long that I’m not sure what to do. And the fact that I’m part of the reason why you’re having these nightmares in the first place makes me feel terrible.”

“That’s okay, Twilight. Just knowing that you care so much is enough for me. And please, don’t beat yourself up over this. I already forgave you for that and I’m not going to hold anything against you.” Starlight leaned in and gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, Starlight, that means a lot to me.” Twilight replied.

Spike soon returned with Starlight’s coffee, which she gladly accepted. “Thanks, Spike.” Starlight took a sip of the bitter liquid before saying “I hope this will be enough to keep me awake today. Trixie wants me to help her set up for a magic show she’s going to be doing and I doubt she’ll be happy if I fall asleep.”

“I didn’t know Trixie had a show coming up.” Twilight replied.

“Yeah, she’s been making a big deal about it. Something about a never before witnessed magical marvel.”

“And what would that be?” Spike asked.

Starlight took another sip of her coffee before answering. “She hasn’t told anypony what it is. She said she doesn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“Huh. Well just make sure you’re back in time for our date tonight.” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry, I doubt it will take that long. Oh, did you remember to check the reservations?”

“Yep, everything is set for tonight.”

“That’s good.” Starlight finished the last of her coffee before saying, “Well, I better get going so I can help Trixie.” Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten yet this morning. “Right after I eat some breakfast.”

---

Starlight hung a pair of curtains onto the stage. She and Trixie had been working on setting up for Trixie’s magic show later and they were just finishing up. It had taken several hours and it was already past noon.

“Wow, you’re really going all-out with this show.” Starlight said as she looked over the magic props Trixie had brought which included a magician’s hat, a box for sawing a pony in half, cards, and various others. “Why is that anyway?”

“The Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie plans on having this be the biggest night of her career. I need to make sure everypony is amazed by my performance.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Oh, it will be. And that’s why I need my great and powerful assistant there to help me.”

“I’d be happy to help, Trixie. When’s the show?”

“Tonight.”

“Oh, sorry, but I can’t do it tonight. Twilight and I are going out to dinner.”

“Can’t you just cancel it or something?”

“Trixie, I’m not going to cancel my date with Twilight just so I can help you with a magic show.” Starlight wasn’t one to cancel her plans just because her friend asked her for help with something, especially not after the last time she did it. Long story short, Twilight ended up spending three days apologizing to Princess Celestia.

“Fine! Go on your silly date, see if I care.”

“What has gotten in to you?”

Trixie sighed. “Sorry. It’s just that you’ve been spending so much time with Twilight it feels like you don’t have any time to spend with me.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me how you were feeling?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Tell you what. Tomorrow we can spend the whole day hanging out, just the two of us.”

“Really?”

“Sure. I’m not doing anything tomorrow, so as long as you’re free I don’t see why not.”

“Sounds good.”

“Good.” Starlight put a hoof to her mouth as she yawned. Her morning coffee had worn off at this point and the effects of her sleepless night had returned. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head home and get some sleep before my date tonight.”

---

Starlight awoke from her nap a few hours later. Thankfully she didn’t have any nightmares so she was well rested and felt more awake then she had earlier.

As Starlight got out of bed she heard knocking on her bedroom door. She went over to open the door and was greeted by Twilight.

“Hey, Starlight. I came by to make sure you were awake.”

“Yeah I just woke up. Is there something you needed?”

“Well it’s almost time for our date so I figured I should make sure you don’t sleep so long that you end up missing it.”

“It is? Have I really been asleep that long?” Starlight hadn’t expected her nap to last that long but considering the amount of sleep she had gotten the past few nights, she wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, but you haven’t gotten much sleep these past few days so I would’ve been surprised if you hadn’t slept that long.”

“Good point. Well I better go get ready so that we can leave.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.”

So Starlight went to prepare for her date. She took a shower, brushed her mane, and various other things. Once she was done with all that she returned to her room to decide what to wear. Starlight and Twilight were going to a fancy restaurant that required its customers to dress in formalwear which meant she needed to pick out a nice dress. In the end she decided to wear the dress that Rarity had made for her a couple of months ago. Once she was finished getting ready, Starlight went to the castle entrance where Twilight was waiting for her.

Twilight was currently wearing one of her old Grand Galloping Gala dresses along with a pair of light blue shoes and, to Starlight’s surprise, her crown.

“You look great, Twilight, but why are you wearing your crown? That’s not like you.” Starlight knew that Twilight only wore her crown when performing royal duties so seeing her wear it for any other reason was unusual.

“Well since we’re going to a fancy restaurant I figured I should do something special for the occasion.”

“That’s sweet of you, Twilight.” Starlight said before giving Twilight a short kiss. “Well we better get going so we don’t miss the train to Canterlot.”

“Let’s go.” Twilight said as she pulled Starlight into an embrace with her wing.

---

After a short train ride and walk through Canterlot, Twilight and Starlight arrived at the restaurant where they were having their date. Usually it was hard to get a reservation at this particular restaurant but Twilight’s royal status made it easier for her than most ponies.

After Twilight and Starlight were taken to their table they looked over the menu and ordered. The two decided to talk while they waited for their waiter to return with their orders.

“So how’d it go with Trixie today? Did you get everything set up?” Twilight asked.

“Yep, we got everything ready for her show tonight.”

“Her show is tonight?”

“Yeah, it’s probably started by now. She wanted me to be her assistant but I told her we had a date tonight.”

“I’m sure she’ll do fine on her own.”

“Speaking of our date, I still can’t believe you were able to get us reservations here.”

“Well they tend to prioritize nobles here and since I’m a princess they were happy to reserve a table for us.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’m lucky enough to have a princess as a marefriend then.”

“And I’m lucky to have a pony like you as my marefriend.” Twilight said before sharing a short kiss with Starlight.

“You know when I was a filly I actually wanted to be a princess myself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah it was just one of those silly foalhood dreams and I ended up losing interest in it when I got older. I doubt a pony like me could become a princess anyway.”

Twilight put her hoof over Starlight’s. “Well I think you would be a wonderful princess.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Starlight said with a warm smile.

After several more minutes the waiter returned with their orders and Twilight and Starlight spent the rest of their date enjoying their food and each other’s company. After their date was finished the two returned to the castle where they spent some time relaxing with each other before going to bed.

---

Starlight tossed and turned in her sleep, tears in her eyes and a look of discomfort on her face. It was past midnight and Starlight’s sleep was once again being plagued by a nightmare. Even though she was used to this happening by now the experience never got any easier for her to deal with.

Eventually Starlight awoke from her nightmare with a scream before looking around her room and realizing what happened. “Just another bad dream.” She gave a relieved sigh then looked over at the wall mirror Twilight had given her after she graduated from her pupil status. Looking at the pictures of her friends always brought her comfort after having one of her nightmares.

Starlight wiped the tears from her eyes and was about to try to go back to sleep when she heard a knock on her door. “Starlight, are you ok?” It was Twilight. No doubt she heard Starlight scream and wanted to make sure nothing had happened.

“Yeah I’m fine. You can come in if you want.”

The doorknob was surrounded by a magenta aura as Twilight entered Starlight’s room. She had a look of concern on her face and was clearly worried about Starlight. “I got up to get a drink and was going back to my room when I heard you scream.” Twilight said as she walked up to the side of her marefriend’s bed.

“I just had another bad dream, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it?”

Figuring she might be able to get back to sleep if she told Twilight about her nightmare Starlight nodded and began to talk about it. “Well, she was there again and just like the other times she had taken over everything. She captured you and the rest of our friends, then she… she…” Starlight began crying as the memories of what happened plagued her mind.

Twilight pulled Starlight into a comforting hug and began running a hoof through her mane to help her calm down. “It’s okay, Starlight. You don’t have to tell me if it’s too hard to talk about.” Twilight continued to comfort Starlight until her sobs eventually subsided. “Are you okay now?”

“Yeah. I doubt I’ll be able to get back to sleep though.”

“Would it help if I stayed here with you?”

“It might.”

“Okay.”

Starlight moved over so Twilight could get in bed with her. Once she was under the covers the two said goodnight to each other. As she rolled over to go to sleep, Starlight felt the soft touch of feathers against her body as Twilight wrapped a wing around her and a small smile appeared on her face as she drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note:

This chapter doesn’t have much to do with the main plot but having Twilight and Starlight called by the map right off the bat felt rushed to me, so I decided to put in a chapter covering what they were doing beforehand. Plus it let me introduce something that’s been going on with Starlight between the first story and this one. Which brings me to the second thing I want to talk about.

As you recall (assuming you’ve read the first story and if you haven’t then go read it right now), Starlight suffered psychological trauma which Twilight was able to fix. Well this time I decided to explore possible remaining effects it might’ve had on Starlight’s mind and I ended up going with something you could describe as similar to ptsd.

Comments

[the book keeper]

Great start I hope you will be able to update again soon

[Starlight Fan]

Am I right to assume that that the ¨she¨ Starlight was talking about was Chrysalis?

[Starlight Glimmer1]

10553521
Nope, it’s not Chrysalis.

I know the comment is a couple months old but better late than never