> Starlight Glimmer and Friends:  Adventures in Equestria (Season 1)
>  by StormLuna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prelude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thirteen years ago, at the age of five, Starlight Glimmer received  all of her magical abilities, knowledge and her time travel scroll from  her previous time line.  It was not long after that that her parents  took her up to Canterlot for an entrance exam, which turned out to go  better than she expected.  Not only did she pass, but she became  Celestia's protege as well. 

Thirteen years have passed since then  and Starlight has grown not only physically, but psychologically as  well.  She has learned to keep her once volatile temper in check, has  learned the true meaning of friendship and has made five very close  friends.  Now that she is turning eighteen, Celestia will expect a whole  lot more from her but what will wind up being thrown her way will not  only affect her significantly, but the lives of her friends as well.

To  completely understand this story the following stories must be read or  you may find yourself wondering how certain things happened. 

-- "An Unlikely Love:  The Tale of Two Friendship Students,"  especially with the alternate ending. 

-- "Resetting Her Destiny" 

-- "Celestia's Protege"
> Saving the Sun (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Beginning

Another day arrived in Canterlot and like she often does on weekday mornings in the late spring, Starlight Glimmer, Celestia's protege, would study outside.  The Summer Sun Celebration was fast approaching so she decided to do some reading on what the origins of the event were.  Doing this frustrated her though because so little information is actually in the books about it.  She grunted, "I know Celestia had to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon using the Elements of Harmony for trying to force eternal night on the ponies but what exactly are her origins?"





Moondancer's Party

Soon it was nearing lunchtime so Starlight knew that it was time to get back to her tower to fix some lunch.  As she was heading there she ran into four of her friends.  Minuette began, "Starlight, we've been looking everywhere for you!"

Starlight replied, "Well I was out on the balcony studying."

Lyra added, "No wonder you weren't in the library."

Twinkleshine continued, "I told you that she always studies outside on days like that."

Lemon Hearts finished, "Girls, never mind that."  She cast her gaze towards Starlight and continued, "Moondancer is having a get together in the west castle courtyard, want to come?"

While Starlight and Moondancer were the closest of friends, Starlight had completely forgot that the get together was that day."  She banged her hoof up against her forehead and said, "How could I have forgot that was today?"  She turned towards her tower and continued, "Look, I have to get up and get Spike and my present for her.  Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes."

Before any of them could reply, Starlight took off towards her tower.  When she got there she almost flew into the door she had become so frantic.  When she got in she began saying, "How could I forget that?  How could I forget that my best friend was having her party today?"

Spike was already carrying the present and heading towards the door when he heard Starlight.  When he saw her in the nervous state she was in he asked, "Starlight, what's wrong?"

Starlight began to panic, "No time Spike, we have to get to Moondancer's party!"  

She levitated him onto her back, grabbed the present in her aura and took flight.  If there is one thing that Starlight couldn't stand, it was being tardy and she was tardy.  Yes it was just for a party but to her, any kind of tardiness was bad.  As she continued to increase her speed, despite having been flying for years, she began to lose control.  As she headed down into the courtyard it looked like she was going to crash straight into the cake.  Spike yelled, "Look out Starlight!"

In her state of panic Starlight teleported well beyond the table but Spike and the present hit the ground, narrowly missing the table and just missed destroying the cake.  As soon as Starlight got up she found herself in Moondancer's tight embrace.  "Thank you for coming Starlight!"

Starlight returned the embrace and replied, "You know I wouldn't miss a party that my best friend is throwing!"

Eventually Moondancer broke the rather tight embrace and they began their party.  Like it is with most parties, there was cake, punch, ice cream, music and presents.  After filling up on the food Moondancer began to open her presents.  While she was impressed with most of them, it was Starlight's gift that she loved the most.  When she saw the picture of them at the donut shop, feasting on sweets all with smiles on their faces her eyes began to tear up.  She gave Starlight an embrace and cried, "Thank you Starlight, I love it!"

Starlight replied, "I'll admit, I was getting frantic over what to give you but I ran across this picture and remembered how happy you were that day so I had the picture blown up and framed it for you."

Moondancer tightened her embrace and continued, "I am happy with everypony's gifts but yours means the most Starlight because I know it came from the heart."

Starlight was beginning to become a little uncomfortable being held so tight but did not wish to make her friend feel bad so she allowed it to continue.  Luckily for her, Spike would cough up a message." 

*BELCH*

This caused Starlight to immediately break the embrace and read the scroll.  What was a cheerful smile turned into a annoyed scowl and this brought out a lot of concern from her friends.  Minuette asked, "What's wrong Starlight?  Does Celestia want to see you?"

Starlight replied, "She wants to see ALL of us."

Moondancer looked around and sighed, "Well I guess we better get this cleaned up."

Everypony nodded and began to clean up the party.  While Moondancer was happy that all of her friends showed up to her first party, she was visibly annoyed that Celestia would send a message and interrupt it.  Once the party was cleaned up they headed to the castle to see what Celestia wanted. 

Celestia's Request 

Celestia was impatiently pacing back and forth when Starlight and her friends arrived.  She asked, "What took all of you so long?  Normally Starlight would make sure you're here within minutes of getting a scroll."  She paused and sighed, "It took you almost an hour to get here!"

Before Starlight could reply Minuette said, "We're sorry but we were having a party."

Lemon Hearts added, "And we couldn't just leave a mess in the courtyard!  We had to clean it up."

Celestia smiled and replied, "Thank you for being considerate but now for why I have summoned all of you."

Before she could continue Starlight asked, "What is it your Majesty?"

Celestia giggled, "Starlight, I've been telling you for thirteen years you don't have to call me that!"  She became more serious as she continued, "Ok, as all of you know the Summer Sun Celebration is coming up here shortly and I want all of you to help prepare for it."

Starlight asked, "Where is it this year?"

Celestia replied, "It is in Ponyville."

Four of the six frowned while Starlight thought it would be nice to travel to a smaller town and Lemon Hearts was thrilled because she had family there.  Celestia saw the disapproval coming from most of them and continued, "Look, it won't be for that long and this has to be done."

Starlight asked, "So what all do you want us to do to get ready for this?"

Celestia replied, "Well I need all of you to make sure the food is ready for this, I want you to make sure that the local pegasi have the skies clear, I want you to make sure the town hall is properly decorated and I want you to make sure that the music will be ready."

Starlight asked, "So who all do we have to talk to to make sure everything is ready."

Celestia replied, "First you need to talk to an earth pony named Applejack about the food...."

Lemon Hearts interrupted, "Applejack, as in Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres?"

Celestia replied, "Yes, that is her."

Lemon Hearts began to jump up and down, "Yes, yes, yes!  I'll get to see my cousin!"

Celestia smiled, "Yes and perhaps you can really help her out with this."  She paused and continued, "Then I need you to talk to one of the pegasi down there, Rainbow Dash, about the skies.  After that I need you to talk to a white unicorn named Rarity who will be handling the decorations in the town hall and finally there will be a yellow pegasus named Fluttershy you need to talk to as she is the one who will handle the music."

It sounded simple enough to the six although a nagging voice in Starlight's head was telling her that this would not be a simple trip of making sure things would go ok.  She had a feeling that some sort of disaster would arise that would cause not just her friends, but herself a major inconvenience but did her best to hide these feelings.  She asked, "So when do you want us to get going?"

Celestia replied, "Now.  The next train to Ponyville leaves in thirty minutes."

Celestia pointed her wing towards the door and they all headed towards the train station.  Once they boarded the train they began to talk among themselves about who would handle what.  Lemon Hearts immediately said, "I'll take care of checking on the food since Applejack is my cousin."

Starlight replied, "Sounds good.  Now who wants to join me in making sure that pegasus is doing her job?"

Moondancer immediately raised her hoof and yelled, "I will!"

Starlight asked, "Ok, who wants to check on the decorations?"

Minuette and Lyra replied, "We will!"

Starlight asked, "Twinkleshine, will you be ok checking on the music?"

Twinkleshine replied, "Yes, I will."

Spike's stomach began to growl and while he would normally accompany Starlight, he decided to see if he could do something else.  He asked, "Starlight, if it is ok with her, could I go with Lemon Hearts to check on the food?"

Starlight replied, "If it is ok with her, yes you can."

Lemon Hearts added, "I don't mind at all, maybe if we're lucky my cousin will let us eat something."

Spike immediately hopped over by Lemon Hearts as the train continued its journey to Ponyville.  While she was glad that someone wanted to join her on her duty, she knew that he only wanted to because of the prospect of getting fed.  

Checking on the Preparations

Making Sure the Sky is Clear

Forty minutes later the train arrived in Ponyville and they all disembarked.  Before they parted ways Starlight asked, "Ok, does everypony know what they are supposed to do?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Yep, check on the food."

Minuette and Lyra added, "Check on the decorations."

Twinkleshine added, "Yes, go and check on the music."

Starlight replied, "Good, now let's get going."  Starlight and Moondancer headed off to try and find Rainbow Dash.  Starlight looked around and couldn't help but scowl as the sky was full of clouds.  She grunted, "Where is that pegasus and why isn't she doing her job?"

Just as soon as she got finished asking that a pegasus came crashing into her.  The pegasus asked, "Excuse me?"

Starlight had been knocked into a mud puddle and was obviously not one bit pleased over this and the pegasus could sense her displeasure so she took a cloud and soaked her with water, washing away the mud.  The pegasus saw this and immediately began to encircle Starlight to dry her off but Starlight knew that her mane would get ruined if she allowed this so she teleported out of the mini-tornado before it was too late. 

The pegasus saw this and said, "Come on, I just wanted to get you dried off."

Before Starlight could say anything Moondancer interrupted, "I think she knows you meant well but I don't think she wants her mane messed up."

Starlight looked more closely at the pegasus and asked, "I take it you are Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow replied, "Yep that's me!  Why, have you heard of me?"

Starlight looked around at all the clouds and said, "Yeah, I've heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear."  Just as Rainbow was going to reply, Starlight continued, "Look at this sky!  It is a complete mess and Princess Celestia needs it clear for the Summer Sun Celebration."

Rainbow laughed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I'm done practicing."

Starlight asked, "Practicing for what?"

Rainbow replied, "Practicing for the Wonderbolts!  They're going to perform at the show tomorrow and I'm going to........"

Starlight interrupted, "That's nice Rainbow but could you just clear the sky?  You can go showboating later, just do your job for now, ok?"

Rainbow replied, "But....."

Starlight yelled, "No buts!  Do I have to do this myself?"

Starlight took flight and began zapping the clouds with her magic.  Rainbow's jaw dropped open when she saw Starlight flying around like that.  Rainbow asked Moondancer, "How can she fly?  She's a unicorn for pony's sake!"

Moondancer replied, "I don't know how she does it but she's had that ability for as long as I've known her."

Rainbow asked, "And is she always this impatient?  Does she always have to take matters into her own hooves to get it done on time?"

Moondancer laughed, "Yes, she does.  Now if you don't want her to replace you, I think it would be best if you focus on your job first."

Once the sky was clear Starlight landed and continued, "Now you can go practice for your precious Wonderbolts."  Her voice became more intense as she continued, "Don't make a habit of ignoring your job because I can have Celestia replace you easily."

Rainbow grunted and flew off.  Moondancer could tell that her friend was irritated and wanted to try and calm her down.  She said, "Starlight, I know you want things done in a hurry but there is no need to go doing a pegasus's job for her."

Starlight snapped, "Well it had to be done and she seems to care more about the Wonderbolts than she does her job."  Her stomach began to growl as she continued, "Now that we have this taken care of, let's go get something to eat.  I don't know about you but I'm hungry."

Checking on the Food

While the other ponies were headed off to take care of their duties, Lemon Hearts and Spike were both headed to Sweet Apple Acres where they would immediately find Applejack apple bucking.  While she would normally address a pony first before interacting with them, she rushed to Applejack and hugged her, "Cousin Applejack, it is good to see you!"

At first Applejack was unsure as to who this was because she had only met Lemon Hearts once but then realized who it was she asked, "Cousin Lemon Hearts, is that you?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Yep, it is!" 

Applejack asked, "So what brings you by?  You've never come to visit before."

This brought a nervous smile to Lemon Hearts face as she replied, "I'm sorry I don't come to visit more but my friends and I have been sent here by Princess Celestia to check on the food situation for the Summer Sun Celebration."

Applejack sighed, "Well the food situation is coming along fine."  Given that the Apple Family reunion was going on she continued, "Why don't y'all come and meet all of our relatives."  She then noticed Spike and asked, "And who is this?"

As they headed towards the barn Spike replied, "I'm Spike and I am accompanying Lemon Hearts to check on the food."

Applejack smiled, "Ah'm going to admit, Ah've never even seen a dragon before and Ah've certainly never known of having them accompany ponies for any reason."

Lemon Hearts replied, "Well he is the assistant of a friend of mine, one who is here checking on other preparations but he wanted to come with me because he is hungry."

Applejack smiled and laughed, "Well Spike, we don't have any shortage of food around here."

Soon they reached the barn where there were many, many ponies gathered.  She continued, "Lemon Hearts, Ah want to introduce y'all to the Apple Family."  She then looked towards everypony and continued, "And Apples, this is Lemon Hearts, she is a cousin of mine so she is likely related to most of us."

After getting to know all the relatives she has never met, Lemon Hearts returned to Applejack and asked, "So, what all do you have food wise?"

Applejack pointed towards a table with food on it and replied, "Lemon Hearts, y'all are family so feel free to dig in on anything you want!"

Lemon Hearts saw that Applejack had prepared a large amount of food for the reunion and immediately began to dig in on the fritters.  Applejack noticed Spike eyeballing the food and continued, "And Spike, feel free to dig in as well.  Like Ah said earlier, we don't have any shortage of food around here."

After getting her fill of fritters Lemon Hearts commented, "Well it looks like the food situation is handled so Celestia won't have to worry about that."

Applejack asked, "So do y'all have to be someplace else or would you want to stay and mingle some more."

Lemon Hearts replied, "I'd love to stay and mingle!  Besides, my other friends are handling other preparations so I don't have anywhere to be until after sundown at least."

Applejack said, "Well alright, Ah do hope that we can stay in better touch from now on."

Lemon Hearts replied, "Don't worry, we will." 

Checking on the Decorations 

After parting ways with the other ponies, Minuette and Lyra headed to the town hall to check on the preparations.  While Lyra seemed rather carefree, Minuette was a bit more concerned as to whether they would meet what she would consider acceptable.  Lyra could sense this and asked, "Minuette, you seem so stressed right now.  What's wrong?"

Minuette replied, "I'm just hoping that these decorations will be up to Celestia's standards." 

Lyra knew that Celestia didn't demand perfection out of decorations for a party, she knew that it was Minuette that demanded perfection.  She laughed, "Yeah uh-huh.  It is YOUR standards that have to be met, not Celestia's, huh?"

Before she could reply they entered the town hall and immediately Lyra was impressed by the job that had been done.  Minuette began to inspect the decor closely, making sure that everything looked perfect.  She soon saw the pony who was decorating, a white unicorn.  She motioned for Lyra to join her and in unison they said, "Hello."

The unicorn replied, "Just a moment, let me get this one thing taken care of."

Once she finished she turned to the two unicorns.  Minuette began, "Hello, my name is Minuette and this is Lyra Heartstrings."

Lyra continued, "And we are here to check on the decorations for The Summer Sun Celebration and they look spectacular!"

The unicorn replied, "Thanks and I am Rarity!"  She then realized that the said that they were there to check on the preparations and continued, "You said you are here to check on the decorations.  Where are you two from anyway?"

Minuette replied, "We are from Canterlot."

Rarity immediately grabbed the two and shouted, "Canterlot?  Oh the glamor and sophistication!  I've always dreamed of living there!"

Lyra replied, "Well....."

Rarity interrupted, "We're going to be the best of friends!"

Lyra replied, "Well we are only here until tomorrow and then we're heading back home."

Minuette added, "Yeah and we don't even know you so how could we be the best of friends?"

Rarity sighed, "Oh, well I just thought with you being from Canterlot we would be."

Minuette wanted to get down to business so she began to look around, "Hmmm....well this looks good.  Yeah I'd probably have streamers and balloons but this isn't a birthday party so this will do."

Rarity looked at Lyra and asked, "Is she always like this with decorations?"

Lyra laughed, "Yeah, you have to understand.  With her, parties and decorations are serious business."  Lyra was getting hungry and was not in any mood to wait around any longer.  She asked, "Well Minuette, shall we get going?  I'm getting hungry and I'm sure Starlight will likely have more for us to do later anyway."

Minuette replied, "I'm getting hungry as well.  I saw this sweets shop on the way over there and some cake sounds so good to me."

Lyra laughed, "You're as bad as Celestia, you have to have your cake!"

Before Rarity could add anything, Lyra and Minuette had left the town hall to go and get some food.  Rarity stood in there for a minute and sighed, "They aren't very sociable!"

Checking on the Music 

While other ponies were checking on things, Twinkleshine headed off to check on the music.  She thought to herself, "Hmmm....I need to find a pegasus named Fluttershy."

As she headed towards the edge of town she saw a yellow pegasus floating in front of a tree with birds singing, in tune.  She remembered the description that was given to her and realized that this was indeed her.  She walked up and said, "Hello!"

The pegasus shrieked, causing all of her birds to fly away.  Twinkleshine continued, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare your birds but I'm here to check on the music, and it sounds beautiful."

The pegasus landed and hid behind her mane, which created a rather awkward situation.  Twinkleshine continued, "My name is Twinkleshine, I take it you are Fluttershy."

The pegasus replied, "Yes my name, my name is Fluttershy."

The fact that a complete stranger knew her name really bothered her.  She continued, "How, how did you know my name?"

Twinkleshine replied, "Princess Celestia gave detailed descriptions and the names of the ponies we are supposed to talk to."

This caused Fluttershy to crawl into a bawl and squeak quietly.  Very soon the birds would return and Twinkleshine finished, "Well it looks like your birds are back so I'll let you get back to work."

Evening Meeting 

Shortly before Sunset the six gathered outside of the town hall to discuss how everything went.  Starlight asked, "So ladies, is everything ready to go?"

Lemon Hearts happily replied, "Yep, you bet it is.  Applejack fixed more than enough food and her fritters are so good!"

Spike added, "Yeah and her pie is delicious!" 

Minuette continued, "The town hall's decorations are acceptable."

Starlight sighed, "Let me guess, they didn't meet your requirements?"

Lyra laughed, "Nope, they didn't but then again impressing her is impossible!" 

Twinkleshine continued, "I'll tell you, the music was good but Fluttershy is horribly shy.  She would hardly even talk and curled up in a ball when she found out that Celestia gave us their names and descriptions."

Moondancer replied, "Well at least none of you got agitated."  She began to laugh, "I swear, I think Starlight should apply for the weather job down here!"

Lemon Hearts asked, "Seriously?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, seriously."  She took a deep breath before continuing, "As you all probably noticed when we first got here the skies were full of clouds.  Well this pegasus, Rainbow Dash, was just lazing around on a cloud and when she found out who we were, she said she would clear the skies after she finished practicing for the Wonderbolts."

Everypony but Moondancer broke down laughing as they knew that they just didn't accept anypony.  Starlight continued, "Yep, she thought she could get into the Wonderbolts by just flying around and neglecting her job so I did her job for her."

Moondancer sighed, "Yeah, she took flight and began zapping those clouds away on her own."  

Starlight grunted, "Well it had to be done and she was ignoring her job.  Personally I think Celestia needs to replace her but we'll see how she continues to do things."

After their meeting, Starlight looked around and saw a bit of light coming from behind the horizon, "Well ladies, we have a long night ahead of us.  I don't know about you but I think that we should take a quick nap so we'll be awake in time for Celestia to raise the sun."

Moondancer asked, "Where?  Celestia never provided us with any lodging!"

Starlight sighed, "Well we may just have to sleep on the floor in the town hall, that way we won't have to worry about not being awake on time."

Everypony nodded in agreement as they headed into the town hall to take their naps.  Most of them were able to get to sleep but Starlight just couldn't.  A voice in the back of her mind kept on telling her that something bad was going to happen and that neither her nor her friends would like it.
> Saving the Sun (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the preparations were complete and we were ready.  All they had to do now was wait for the right time.  While everypony thought that this would be a regular summer sun celebration, Starlight began to become more and more paranoid about what might happen.  Finally fatigue would win over and she would fall asleep.





A Nightmarish Arrival

Several hours passed when ponies began to gather in the town hall, trying hard not to wake Starlight and her friends but eventually Applejack would wake one of them up, "Lemon Hearts, get up.  It won't be long until the princess raises the sun."

Lemon Hearts wiped the sleep from her eyes and saw that her friends were still asleep.  She began to shake them, waking them one at a time.  While most of them were thankful that she woke them up, one would not be.  Starlight growled, "Lemon Hearts, do you know what time it is?  I'm trying to......"  She then realized where she was and what was going on.  She continued, "Sorry about my reaction Lemon Hearts, I'm just still tired."

Starlight stood up and saw that many, many ponies had gathered for the event and immediately she began to become nervous.  She shrank into herself a bit and sighed, "I-I never expected so many ponies to be here."

Rainbow Dash, who was standing nearby interrupted, "Well of course there's going to be a lot of ponies here!  It is the Summer Sun Celebration after all."

Moondancer could tell that Rainbow's tone of voice was not sitting well with Starlight, "Rainbow, large crowds and confined spaces make her nervous so just quiet down."

Rainbow grunted and headed the other way.  Soon they saw Fluttershy off to their left with her birds.  As if on cue they began to sing and the mayor walked out to the front to speak.  The mayor walked out and said, "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

While most ponies were cheering, Starlight couldn't help but look out the window and notice four stars move behind the moon and the silhouette of the Mare in the Moon disappear.  It was at this moment that she realized that her worst fears were going to come true, that this would not be a simple trip and that she likely would not just be returning home without her and her friends having to deal with something unpleasant. 

Once the ponies stopped cheering the mayor continued, "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria......Princess Celestia!"

When everypony saw that Celestia was not standing behind the curtain, they all gasped in shock, except for one.  Starlight grunted in frustration until she saw a purple mist appearing up on the balcony.  She sighed, "Could it be, could this be the Mare in the Moon returning?"

When Nightmare Moon materialized it caused the ponies to gasp in shock further while Starlight stood there irritated at the Alicorn in front of them.  While she knew that she had ill intentions and was the reason for her being inconvenienced, rather than fearing her, she felt a sense of disgust as she knew that this pony was likely what had been causing her to think that this would be no short trip.

Very soon Nightmare Moon began,  "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces." 

Rainbow asked, "What did you do with our Princess?" 

Applejack could sense that Rainbow was going to cause more problems than anything else, "Whoa there, Nelly..."

*Nightmare chuckled, "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" 

Minuette replied, "Black Beauty, Black Beauty!"

Starlight could only put her hoof over her forehead in frustration when she heard this.  Nightmare Moon continued, "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

Finally Starlight had had it with this scenario.  While she didn't know as much about the situation as she would like, had done some studying regarding Celestia having to banish Nightmare Moon.  She replied, "I have and I know who you are."

Nightmare Moon asked, "Then I suppose you know who I am?"

Starlight replied, "You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon."

Nightmare continued, "And I suppose you know why I am here?"

Starlight could sense the sarcasm coming from the black Alicorn and was not thrilled with it.  Without even thinking she snapped, "Yeah, you came to inconvenience my friends and I."  She even went as far as to fire energy at Nightmare but missed.

Nightmare knew that the energy of a lone unicorn would do no harm to her so rather than retaliating she transformed into her purple mist form and headed out the door.  Starlight's friends rushed to her to see what all that was about.  Minuette asked, "Starlight, how did you know that was the Mare in the Moon?  I thought she was just an old mare's tale!"

Moondancer added, "And why did you fire energy at her?  You do know she could have fired back and hurt you, right?"

Starlight grunted, "I know, I know.  Now we need to figure out how to handle this.  It was just today that I was studying the Elements of Harmony and how those are what Celestia used to defeat Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago."

Despite being one of the most well-read ponies in Celestia's school, even Moondancer wasn't overly familiar with them.  She asked, "So what are the elements of harmony anyway?"

Starlight replied, "They are what Celestia used to defeat Nightmare Moon so long ago."  While Starlight had learned quite a bit about them while she was Twilight's student, even she never learned where they were when Twilight and her friends transformed her back into Luna.  She continued, "Unfortunately, I have no idea where they are.  Luckily this town has a library that may provide us with some answers."  She headed towards the exit and finished, "Come on, let's go." 

They all rushed to the library, Starlight unlocked the door and they headed in.  While they all knew that Ponyville was a small town and probably wouldn't have a large library, none of them expected it to be so small.  Starlight sighed, "Well, let's get looking.  It probably won't take us long and we likely won't find anything but it is worth a shot, right?"

They all began searching through the books and it would not take long for somepony to find something.  Minuette grabbed a book and said, "I think I found something!" 

She took the book to Starlight and she began to read through it.  Most of the information in the book she already knew but would be pleasantly surprised once she got to the back.  She said, "Ladies, I have some good news, this book tells where the last known location of the Elements were.  They were last known to be in Celestia and Luna's old castle in the Everfree Forest." 

Six of them were very happy over this while one was a bit unnerved, Spike.  Spike asked, "The Everfree Forest?  It looks kind of scary."

Starlight sighed, "Oh it will be fine but perhaps you should stay here"  Twilight had told Starlight about how they faced off against Nightmare Moon and that Spike stayed in the library so she decided that she would do the same "because we may run into something in there that will require magic to deal with."

Spike breathed a sigh of relief but did have his concerns about them going into the forest.  He said, "You six be careful.  I've always heard the Everfree is kind of dangerous."

Most of them just took him as being overly paranoid but Moondancer was appreciative of his concern, "Oh we will Spike."  She looked at her friends and continued, "Well let's get going."

They headed out of the library and into the forest.  While five of them had no clue what was going to happen, Starlight figured that if things went the way they did with Twilight, that they may be a challenge but she knew she had one advantage.  She was already friends with these five and given that Twilight had told her about their journey, she knew what to expect.  She did know one thing though, that she simply couldn't tell her friends that she knew in advance what was going to happen so she would just have to go with the flow as good as she could.

At first it seemed like a peaceful walk through the forest until they reached a clearing where the path ended with a cliff.  Lemon Hearts threw her hooves up in the air and said, "Now what?"

Just as she said this a purple mist flew out of the rocks, causing there to be a landslide.  This sent most of the ponies into a panic, Moondancer being in the worst of a panic given that she had fallen to where she was hanging off a cliff.  Lemon Hearts was quick to rush to her aid and grabbed her by the hooves. 

Moondancer, who was just about to slip asked, "Lemon Hearts, what am I going to do?  I think I'm going to slip."

Lemon Hearts looked behind Moondancer and saw Starlight self-levitating, ready to catch her.  Lemon Hearts replied, "Let go and everything will be fine."

Moondancer snapped, "Are you nuts?  If I let go I'll wind up going splat!"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Trust me, I'm being honest.  Just let go and everything will be fine."

Moondancer knew of Lemon Hearts' honest nature so she let go.  While she thought she would certainly plummet to either her death or at least a ton of injuries, she was caught by Starlight who levitated the two down.

When they got to the ground Moondancer hugged her and said, "Thank you Starlight!  You saved me!"

Starlight replied, "Don't worry about it Moondancer."  She looked at all her friends and continued, "Well let's get going, shall we?"

Starlight knew it was Nightmare that had caused that but wasn't about to say anything.  She thought to herself, "That's it?  That's all you've got?"

As they headed through the forest they next encountered a Chimera, a three headed beast that would have absolutely no problems turning them into its next meal.  Starlight thought to herself, "What the hay?  Twilight never told me about this thing." 

The six began to huddle together wondering what to do in this situation.  Starlight knew that her and Moondancer would have no problems getting past this thing but seeing how unnerved their friends were by it, they had their concerns.  Before they knew it the creature had pounced on them.  Luckily they were able to teleport out of its hold but that wouldn't stop the beast.  In a state of panic Lyra began to run around in circles until one pony would come to her rescue, Twinkleshine. 

Twinkleshine began to talk to the creature and there was something about her voice that calmed it down and luckily for all of them, she was able to convince it to go and eat some plants.  Starlight cast her gaze at Twinkleshine and asked, "How did you do that?  How did you convince that thing to eat plants?"

Twinkleshine replied, "You know, I'm not really sure.  I just suggested it and it went and ate them." 

Starlight said, "Well however you did it, you just saved us all."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Well since we got past that thing, shall we continue?"

Starlight replied, "Yeah.  Come on ladies, let's get going."

As they continued their way through the forest they couldn't help but notice that it was getting darker.  Minuette looked around and saw that the sky was pitch dark.  She commented, "I know this forest was already dark but now I can't even tell if my eyes....."

Her statement was interrupted when a nasty thunderstorm began.  Most of them were in a panic knowing that you're not supposed to be around trees in a thunderstorm.  Starlight yelled, "Ladies, we've got to find a cave or something!  We can't just be under these trees with this lightning."

They began to search in earnest for a cave and in about a half an hour, they were finally able to find one.  Once they got inside they were sopping wet and freezing cold.  They couldn't see anything at first until they lit up their horns to create some light.  What they would see would be almost as frightening as the lightning.  It appeared as though the rocks had scary faces on them.  This terrified some of them but Minuette seemed to find it funny. 

She began laughing at them and making her own silly faces back at them.  All of them knew that some dark force was behind it and worried that Minuette's behavior may cause it to retaliate.  Starlight yelled, "Minuette, stop it!  You don't know what these things are capable of!"

Minuette laughed, "Come on now, they're just faces!  Whenever I see something like this, I just laugh and suddenly it isn't scary anymore!"

While it didn't seem to make much sense to them nor did they find this funny, they tried her laughing technique and much to their surprise, the frowny faces disappeared and they saw a purple mist exit the cave.   Starlight said, "Well shall we see if the rain has let up?"

They headed to the exit of the cave and much to their delight, just as quickly as the storm moved in, the storm moved out and they continued their journey to find the elements. 

The next obstacle they would come across was a river with dangerous rapids.  When they saw this Lyra said, "How are we going to cross this?"

For Starlight this was a no brainer and she quickly teleported across the river but for the others, it wouldn't be so easy.  Soon they heard the yells of something.  They headed towards the direction of the yells and discovered a river monster creating all the rapids.  Starlight thought that it may be a threat to her friends and teleported back across  When it appeared that the river monster meant no harm Starlight asked, "Excuse me, why are you crying."

The creature pointed at his mustache and cried, "Because I was just sitting here when this cloud of purple smoke flew by and tore half of my mustache off!"

Starlight asked, "Seriously?  You're crying over that?"

Before he could reply Lyra interrupted, "Of course he is."  She turned to Starlight and asked, "Wouldn't you be upset if something just ripped half your tail off?"

Starlight replied, "Well, yeah."

Before anypony could say anything Lyra walked to the creature and bit one of his scales off, prompting to scream out, "Ouch!  What did you do that for?"

Being the generous pony she was, Lyra took the scale and cut a majority of her tail off before fusing it into the side of the creature's face that lost its mustache.  When he saw this he exclaimed, "Woo-hoo!  My mustache, how wonderful!"

Lyra replied, "You look absolutely amazing!"

Minuette saw her severed tail and said, "Lyra, your tail!"

Lyra replied, "It's just a tail.  I wanted to help our friend here out and besides, it will grow back."

Suddenly the river was calm and with there being no dangers, Starlight again teleported across while the others found some stones to use to cross.

After another hour of walking they finally saw what they were looking for, Celestia and Luna's old castle.  They would not be the only ones there though.  They were met by an old unicorn.  Many of them thought that this pony was likely just out for a walk but one thought otherwise, Moondancer.  When she first approached him and said hello, he replied, "I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the smartest unicorn in all of Equestria."

Moondancer asked, "Who, me?"

The unicorn replied, "Yes, you."  He looked over towards her friends and continued, "I know about your situation Moondancer.  I know you're the oldest in your group but I know you'll never be Celestia's protege" he then pointed directly at Starlight and continued, "because of her."

Moondancer became a bit flustered.  She never really thought about that before given her close friendship with Starlight.  She replied, "Well I might someday."

The unicorn laughed, "Come on Moondancer, you know Celestia will never take in a second protege.  You know that Celestia loves Starlight like she is her own daughter."  He got a more serious look on his face and continued, "But if you come with me, I'll make you my protege and together, we can rule all of Equestria!"

Moondancer was unsure about this but she did want to know one thing.  She asked, "Who are you anyway and why do you want me as your protege?"

The unicorn replied, "I am Starswirl the Second.  I want you as my protege because you are a genius and like I said, together we could overthrow Celestia and rule together."

Before he could say anything further Starlight yelled, "Moondancer, don't listen to him.  He isn't Starswirl the Second!  He is...."

Before she could finish her statement the unicorn cast a sound bubble around them and asked, "Well, what will it be?  Will you come with me and we can rule Equestria or will you always be playing second fiddle to Starlight?"

Moondancer fired energy skywards to break the bubble.  She replied, "While I appreciate the offer, I must respectfully decline your offer."

The unicorn became angry and transformed into a purple mist.  Starlight ran to her and said, "I knew you wouldn't go off with him."

Moondancer replied, "Well Starlight, all six of us have been friends for over a decade and I'd never betray my friends."

Her friends nodded, crossed a bridge and were right in front of the old castle.  Starlight said, "Alright ladies, let's go in, find the Elements, defeat Nightmare Moon and get home."

Moondancer asked, "But Starlight, how do you know that we will confront her in here?  Do you know something that the rest of us don't?"

Starlight replied, "Haven't you guys seen all the strange things we've encountered.  The purple mist with the cliff, the chimera, the frown face rocks, the river monster with the torn mustache and the old unicorn?  I'm certain Nightmare Moon is following us and will strike in that castle."

Lemon Hearts commented, "Well that would make sense." 

When they headed into the castle they immediately saw a stand with five stones sitting on it but on the top, was a larger sixth stone.  Starlight said, "Well I think we found them."  She looked at them and saw markings on them, ones that resembled their cutie marks.  She continued, "Alright ladies, you need to levitate the one with your mark down to yourself."

They all did as instructed and they looked at them with curiosity.  Minuette asked, "So now what?"

Starlight replied, "I think we're going to have to pump our energy into them to get them to take on their gem form."

The six began to pump their energy into the stones but would be interrupted when a purple mist flew in and not only broke their holds on the stones, but threw them up against the walls.  Five of them were terrified when they saw Nightmare Moon laughing before them but one was angry, Starlight.

Nightmare Moon saw Starlight and her scowl and laughed, "Well, well, well, so I see my sister's protege and her group of friends have come to try and defeat me."

Starlight was not enthused that she would know who they were.  She asked, "How do you know who we are?"

Nightmare Moon laughed, "Being imprisoned on the moon does not mean that I can't monitor or hear everything that is going on."

Starlight looked around at her friends, gave them a quick nod, turned back to Nightmare Moon and replied, "Well that is rather interesting.  Tell me, how can you hear what's happening when sound can't travel through space?"

Nightmare Moon was not amused by her question.  She laughed, "When you have powerful magic like me, anything is possible." 

One thing Nightmare Moon did not notice is that once they resumed their conversation that Starlight's friends had began to pump energy into their stones again.  Starlight saw this out of the corner of her eyes and quickly began to pump energy into her stone while Nightmare was laughing.  

Finally the six pumped enough energy into their stones that they took the form of gems in gold necklaces, except for Starlight's which took its form in a crown.  Nightmare saw them begin to self levitate and when she saw the Elements take on their form, she began screaming, "Nooooooo!"

Once all six Elements had powered up entirely, Starlight and her friends' eyes began to glow white and from the Elements shot a rainbow, engulfing the screaming Nightmare Moon.  Soon the rainbow dissipated and Starlight and her friends found themselves laying on the castle floor, ok but a bit disoriented.

As they got themselves up to their hooves the sun began to rise and with it appeared Princess Celestia.  Starlight ran up to her and the first thing she said was, "Princess Celestia, I'm so glad you're ok.  We were so worried about you!"

The first thing Celestia did was chuckle, "Starlight, how many times have I told you that you don't have to address me that way!"

Starlight replied, "I know, I know."  She then became more curious and continued, "You always told us that the Mare in the Moon was an old mares' tale.  Why would you lie about that?"

Celestia looked to the other side of the room and replied, "Follow me, I have my reasons for that."

The seven headed to the other end of the room where a very disoriented Princess Luna was laying.  Celestia looked down and continued, "My reasoning was that I didn't want anypony knowing I banished my own sister to the moon."

As soon as she said this Princess Luna got herself up on all fours and ran to her sister, "Big Sister, is it really you?"

Celestia wrapped her hoof around her and replied, "I missed you so much little sister."

Luna embraced her sister and said, "I missed you too big sister."

Starlight and her friends were shocked that Nightmare Moon was actually Celestia's sister.  Starlight asked, "Your sister?  Your sister was Nightmare Moon?"

Celestia pointed her hoof towards Luna and replied, "She WAS.  Thanks to the six of you, my sister, Princess Luna, has been freed of her madness."

While most of her friends were still a bit scared of Luna, despite her having been restored, Starlight approached her.  She said, "Princess Luna, I'm Starlight Glimmer, Celestia's protege.  It is nice to meet you."

Luna replied, "It is nice to meet you too Starlight."

Most everypony was relieved that this was all over but one was in a bit of a hurry to get going, Minuette.  She raised her voice and said, "You know what this calls for, A PARTY!"

Everypony gave Minuette a curious look, especially Luna.  Luna asked, "Really, thou wishes to throw a party for us?"

Minuette replied, "Of course!  We'll throw you a I just returned from the moon and I was reunited with my big sister party!"

Luna gave her a look of displeasure.  Starlight saw this and said, "Princess Luna, don't mind her.  She loves parties and is glad that you have returned."

Luna gave her a smile and Celestia said, "Well everypony, shall we get going back to Ponyville so we can get Spike and catch the train back to Canterlot?"

Luna replied, "Yes, we should.  We would find that most pleasant."

Starlight added, "Sounds great.  Besides, all six of us have to get back to our studies."

Celestia replied, "Starlight, actually I have different plans for you six."

Starlight gasped, "What?  What sort of plans?"

Celestia replied, "Well I'm thinking that I will move the six of you to Ponyville in the event that Equestria needs you."

Lemon Hearts was thrilled, "Really?  Maybe I'll be able to spend more time with Applejack!"

Minuette added, "This is a chance for us to make even more friends!"

Twinkleshine continued, "Maybe I can get Fluttershy to be more sociable.  She does seem really kind, shy but kind."

Lyra was a bit more skeptical but accepted it, "Ok, I guess this will be alright."

While those four seemed to be ok with the princess's decision, two were less than thrilled.  Moondancer asked, "Seriously, you want us to stay in Ponyville in the event that 'Equestria needs us?'"

Starlight was more than less than thrilled, she was angry.  She snapped, "What?  You want us staying in Ponyville?"  Her voice became more intense as she continued, "Princess Celestia, you know I respect you more than any other pony but what about our studies, especially mine?  I'm your protege for pony's sake!"

Celestia could understand her protege's anger over her decision.  She replied, "Starlight, you have learned more than any other protege I have ever had.  To be honest, there are even some things that you know that I don't!"  She calmed down, pulled Starlight close and continued, "Starlight, I know you're upset but I think you six have done as much as you can up in Canterlot.  Also, I know how you six are.  You are very close friends but you don't associate with anypony else and I think moving to Ponyville will help you all break out of your shells."

It took more persuading both Moondancer and Starlight but when they finally realized that their other friends were accepting of this, they finally were ok with it.  Moondancer said, "Alright Celestia, you know what is best."

Starlight was still less than thrilled.  She grudgingly replied, "Alright, but I'm only doing this so I can be with my friends."

Lyra asked, "So where are we going to live?  We don't have houses there!"

Celestia replied, "Well there is an empty apartment that should be able to accommodate four of you, maybe Lemon Hearts could see if she could move to Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack and Starlight, since I own the library there, you and Spike will call it home."

The six pretty much knew that what Celestia's plan for them was would come to pass and despite still being against it, Starlight agreed to the plan.  

Since their new destinies had been determined, one pony wanted to get going.  Minuette shouted, "Enough of this now, let's get back to Ponyville, we have a party to throw!"
> Gimmie that Ticket!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another day had arrived in Ponyville and Starlight had decided to take the day off and help Lemon Hearts and Applejack out on the farm.  That day Applejack was helping Lemon Hearts more easily grasp apple bucking since she had legs that were stronger like those of earth ponies.  While she had yet to try apple bucking, Starlight was helping by holding the basket to catch the apples.

Just as some apples were falling from a tree Spike coughed up a message, straight into Starlight's face.  Starlight was clearly frustrated that she had dropped some of the apples but began to read the message and was pleased with it.  

She said, "Guess what, Princess Celestia has invited me to the Canterlot Baked Goods Festival in a few months."

Spike then coughed up another message along with a couple of tickets.  The message read, "Starlight, I'm inviting you and one guest."

The first one to say anything was Applejack, "The Canterlot Baked Goods Festival?  I always have a booth up there so it looks like I'll be seeing you up there."  

Lemon Hearts was immediately drawn to the ticket.  She asked, "So Starlight, I'm wondering if you'd take me to the Festival since vendors don't get additional tickets?"

Starlight replied, "Well...."

Before she could finish her sentence Minuette and the rest of their friends found them after searching for a while.  They were all immediately drawn to the ticket.  Lemon Hearts immediately said, "Hi ladies.  Guess what, Starlight is taking me to the Canterlot Baked Goods Festival!"

Starlight interrupted, "Lemon Hearts, I didn't exactly say I was taking you."

Minuette hugged Starlight and asked, "Would you take me?  You know how much I love my sweets!"

Twinkleshine added, "I would love to go!"

Lyra continued, "I've never been to it but I've always wanted to go!"

Moondancer finished, "Starlight, I'd love to go and then we could always go to the library afterwards."

Starlight was flustered by all her friends asking her for the ticket at once.  She sighed, "Ladies, I know you all want to go but this decision is going to be hard.  Give me some time to think about it, alright?"

They all sighed, "Oh alright."

Starlight's stomach began to rumble and it was nearing noon so she asked, "Well Spike, shall we head home to get some food?"

Spike asked, "Starlight, I'm really hungry.  Do you think we could go to the cafe for lunch?"

Starlight sighed, "Well I don't want to spend too much money but yeah, we'll go to the cafe."





When the two arrived they were immediately seated and given their menus.  While Starlight had already made her decision on what she was going to have Spike looked over the menu with a disgusted look on his face.  He asked, "Can't this place offer any gemstones?"

When the waiter arrived Starlight immediately gave the waiter her order and when he cast his gaze towards Spike, he asked, "Do you have any gemstones?"

The waiter gave him a glare and replied, "I'm sorry but we cater to ponies, not dragons."

Spike sighed, "Well I'll have what Starlight's having, the hay steak with cider."

The waiter took their order to the kitchen and Starlight laid her head down on the table in frustration.  Spike saw this and asked, "Starlight, what's wrong?"

Starlight sat up and replied, "I don't know who to take.  They're all my friends and I don't like the idea of having to disappoint any of them."

Spike suggested, "Well you could always write Celestia and see if she would at least send Lemon Hearts one since she is Applejack's cousin." 

Starlight replied, "Spike, that's a great idea."  As she said this the waiter arrived with their meals and this gave Starlight an idea.  She asked, "Excuse me, could I borrow a sheet of paper and a pen from you.  I need to write something down right quick."

The waiter nodded and handed Starlight a sheet of paper and a pen.  She wrote down, 

"Princess Celestia, 

First I would like to thank you for the invite to the Festival but my friend Lemon Hearts is also Applejack's cousin.  Since Applejack will have a stand up at the Festival, Applejack was wondering if Lemon Hearts could have a ticket.  Let me know as soon as you can.

Sincerely, 

Starlight Glimmer"

Starlight had Spike send the message right in front of the waiter and he was stunned but didn't say anything.  It was not even a minute later that they received a letter and a ticket for Lemon Hearts.  Starlight sighed, "Well there's one less pony I have to worry about disappointing."

Spike added, "That just leaves Moondancer, Minuette, Lyra and Twinkleshine."





Twenty minutes later the waiter brought their bill to them and this would not go unnoticed by one of Starlight's friends.  Lyra saw this and ran over to the two, "Hi Starlight, hi Spike!"

Starlight asked, "Oh hi Lyra, what are you doing today?"

Lyra replied, "Nothing much."  She looked down and saw the bill, grabbed it and ran to the waiter.  She had some bits with her and said, "Here you go!  Starlight's lunch is on me."

Before she could hand him the bits Starlight grabbed her in her aura and said, "Lyra, I appreciate you wanting to pay my bill but you're just doing it for the ticket aren't you?"

Lyra gave her a cheesy grin, "Well...."

Starlight gave the waiter some bits for their bill, released Lyra and said, "Lyra, you are my friend and I don't feel comfortable with you just trying to pay my bill!"

Lyra sighed, "Oh alright."

Given that Starlight paid their bill early Spike asked, "So do you think we should head over to the farm and give Lemon Hearts her ticket?"

Starlight replied, "That sounds like a good idea, let's get going."

The two headed towards the farm but would be stopped right before they arrived by Lemon Hearts.  Lemon Hearts was holding a pie in her aura when she said, "Oh hi Starlight, I was coming to see you!"

Starlight asked, "What's up with the pie?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Well I know you like apple pie and I wasn't sure if you had ate yet so I thought I'd bring you something."

Starlight replied, "Well thanks."  She levitated the pie to Spike to hold and she pulled the ticket out of her saddle bags.  She continued, "Well Lemon Hearts, I got a hold of Celestia and since Applejack will have a stand up at the Festival and since you are her cousin, I was able to get her to give you a ticket."

Starlight levitated the ticket to her and she immediately embraced her, "Oh thank you Starlight!  You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Starlight replied, "Well it only seemed right that you would get a ticket given that you are related to Applejack."  Starlight looked down at Spike and continued, "Well shall we go home and have some of this pie for desert?"

Spike replied, "Of course!"

They said their goodbyes to Lemon Hearts and headed back to the library.  When they arrived Starlight would be less than thrilled when she found not only Moondancer, but also Twinkleshine in the library doing things for her.  Twinkleshine was cleaning the place while Moondancer was rearranging the books.   Starlight asked, "Twinkleshine, Moondancer, you two too?"

Twinkleshine turned around and said, "Oh hi Starlight, I just thought I'd do some cleaning for you."

Moondancer added, "And I thought I would reorganize the books for you!"

Starlight asked, "Why?"  She turned to Moondancer, "Moondancer, you know I left the books the way they were here because it is easier to find them!"  She turned to Twinkleshine and continued, "And you don't have to clean the place for me."

In unison the two said, "But...."

Starlight interrupted, "Listen, I don't know who I'm giving the ticket to and doing me special favors is only making it worse!"  She pointed towards the door and continued, "Now go!  I have to fix the books back the way they were and I can clean my own home!"

The two held their heads down knowing that they may have seriously jeopardized their chances of getting the ticket when Starlight felt herself being pulled out her door.  Before she could even respond, Minuette had grabbed her and started singing, 

"Starlight is my best friend, best friend
She's the smartest all around pony
I bet if I throw her an amazing party
That she'll give the extra ticket to the Festival to me!"

Starlight yelled, "Minuette!"

Minuette smiled and replied, "Yes Starlight?"

Starlight sighed, "Minuette, at least my other friends tried to be subtle about the ticket."

One pony asked, "Ticket, what ticket?"

Minuette laughed, "Starlight has an extra ticket to the Canterlot Baked Goods Festival!"

Everypony shouted, "The Canterlot Baked Goods Festival?"

All the ponies were beginning to surround her and began to compliment her and offer to do things for her.  All the offers were making her feel uncomfortable but being crowded only made things worse for her and she had to get out of there.

Starlight yelled, "Spike, RUN!"





The two took off and were being chased by a whole mob of ponies.  Regardless of where they tried to hide, the mob would find them.  Finally Starlight decided they'd go to Sweet Apple Acres where ponies knew better than to trespass onto.  They rushed into the barn where they were immediately greeted by Applejack and Lemon Hearts.

Applejack saw the fatigued state they were in and asked, "Are you alright sugar cube?"

Lemon Hearts added, "You look exhausted."

Starlight replied, "Well thanks to Minuette, everypony in town knows about that extra ticket and suddenly think I'm their best friend because they want it."

Before she could say anything else her other friends bolted into the barn and surrounded Starlight.  Finally she had enough.  She yelled, "I can't decide, I can't decide ok?"  She became more frantic as she continued, "Look, I know you all want to go but you doing special favors for me and trying to pay for my meals isn't helping."

Seeing their friend go into the panicked state she did finally caused the four to realize the error of their ways.  The first one to say anything was Moondancer, "I'm sorry Starlight.  I guess I wanted to go to the Festival so bad I lost all rational thought."

Minuette added, "I'm sorry too, I feel horrible seeing how much stress I put on you."

Lyra continued, "Me too, I shouldn't have tried to force you to give me the ticket."

Twinkleshine finished, "I'm sorry as well Starlight.  I never imagined how awful I would make you feel."

In unison they all said, "We're sorry Starlight."

Starlight cast her gaze at Spike and ordered, "Spike, take a note."

Spike replied, "Okey-dokey."

Starlight said, 

"Princess Celestia, 

Over the years my friends and I have learned how truly wonderful friendship is but when there isn't enough of things to go around, somepony is going to have to be left out.  While I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both of the tickets to the Canterlot Baked Goods Festival."

Her friends looked at her in shock realizing that she was serious.  Minuette said, "Starlight, you don't have to do that!"

Starlight replied, "Ladies, if I can't take all my friends with me, then I don't want to go."  She looked at Spike and said, "Send the note."

Spike sent the note and despite having her own ticket, Lemon Hearts felt a little bad about the situation.  She asked, "Starlight, you won't feel bad about me going and you not going will you?"

Starlight replied, "Of course not!  That is your ticket and besides, Applejack is your cousin and she may need your help at the stand."

Applejack replied, "I might and I just know you're going to want to sell some lemon pies along with my apple treats."

Before Lemon Hearts could reply Spike belched up a message.  Starlight opened it and read it out loud, 

"Starlight, 

Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

P.S.  Tsk, tsk.  What am I going to do with you?  You don't have to address me as princess all the time!"

After reading it Starlight pulled out the tickets and exclaimed, "Six tickets to the Canterlot Baked Goods Festival!"

Minuette added, "Now we can all go!"

They all knew that Lemon Hearts already had her own ticket so Twinkleshine asked, "Six?  Doesn't Lemon Hearts already have one?"

Starlight replied, "The sixth must be for Spike here.  Celestia knows how much he loves his treats."

Spike added, "Yesss!"

After what had been an extremely hectic day, especially for Starlight and Spike, their friends decided to treat them to supper at the cafe and this time, Starlight didn't feel bad about allowing one of her friends to pay for her meal.
> The Annoying Showmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another day had arrived in Ponyville and Starlight and Spike were at the cafe enjoying some lunch when a loud ruckus interrupted their meal.  There by their table were two colts, Snips and Snails trying to get their attention.  This did not sit well with Starlight.  She glared at the two and asked, "What's going on?  What's up with the ruckus?"

Snails excitedly said, "Haven't you heard, there's a new unicorn in town."

Snips added, "Yeah and they say that she has more magical talent than anypony ever!"

Starlight rolled her eyes and asked, "Where is this unicorn anyway?"

Snips exclaimed, "Follow us, she's over in the town square!"

Starlight sighed, "Look, we need to finish our lunch and then we'll go see this unicorn." 





Ten minutes later Starlight and Spike finished their meal and headed over to the town square and Starlight would cringe at what she saw.  There was Trixie, up on her stage doing the same street magic that she did during her entrance exam.  She walked up next to Lemon Hearts and asked, "So this is the unicorn everypony is making such a big deal out of?"

Lemon Hearts sighed, "Yes and I don't see what is so great about her."  

Snips, who was standing right next to them said, "Look at all the stuff she can do!  She can make fireworks appear out of nowhere and look at all the other stuff she is doing!"

Starlight laughed, "Oh that's nothing."  She pointed at Lemon Hearts and continued, "That may seem impressive to you but for us unicorns who can do REAL magic, it is nothing."

Before they could continue their discussion, Trixie began the main part of her show.  She exclaimed, "Come one, come all, come and see the magical powers of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Minuette, who had joined them scoffed, "The Great and Powerful Trixie?"  She turned to Starlight and laughed, "Hey, isn't that the one who failed her remedial magic exam?"

Starlight laughed, "Yes, it is."

Lemon Hearts added, "For a pony who can't teleport she sure is full of herself."

Trixie heard them talking and decided not to just issue them a challenge, but the whole town.  She boasted, "I challenge you Ponyvillians, anything you can do, I can do better."

By this time the rest of Starlight's friends had arrived and all six began to laugh at Trixie's claim.  She pointed them out and scoffed, "Oh, I see it is Celestia's little pets!  You may be able to do fancy stuff but you'll never have the showstopping abilities of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

One of the ponies in the crowd shouted, "So Trixie, what is it you think you can do better than us?"

None of Starlight's friends wanted to stoop to the level of street magic but Applejack would accept the challenge.  There were a couple of apple trees nearby so she got an idea.  She headed to the trees and asked, "So, can your fancy magic do this?"

Applejack kicked the tree, clearing it with one kick.  She said, "Top that missy!"

Trixie laughed, "Oh you're so funny."  She grabbed the tree in her aura and easily removed the apples.  This caused the crowd to go wild thinking that Trixie had bested Applejack.  She continued, "You see, Trixie is better because she doesn't have to use her legs!"

This naturally irritated one of the local pegasus ponies, Rainbow Dash.  She laughed, "Here Trixie, beat this!"

There were a few clouds in the sky so despite not having the sky cleared in her plans, she took off and began clearing the sky entirely.  She landed on Trixie's stage and exclaimed, "Let's see you do that!"

Trixie laughed, "Oh that's nothing!"  She grabbed Rainbow in her aura and began spinning her around, making her very dizzy, dizzy to the point where she was laying on the stage unable to stand.  When she finally was able to get up, Trixie made a small thundercloud that hit her with lightning.

Trixie laughed, Ha, you see, Trixie can make weather too!"

Spike suggested, "What we need is another unicorn to show her up."

Applejack added, "A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss."

While Starlight had no desire to show off her advanced magic at that moment, she figured that if she could shut Trixie up, she would but first she wanted to expose her.  She shouted, "Hey Trixie, want to tell all these ponies how you failed your remedial magic exam in front of Princess Celestia?"

The whole crowd gasped when Starlight brought this up, causing Trixie to stand there on stage with her mouth hanging open.  It would not take long for Trixie to regain her composure and yell, "She lied.  The Great and Powerful Trixie has never failed any exams!"

Starlight sighed, "Well then Trixie, since you seem so confident in your abilities, let's see you do this!"

Starlight levitated herself into the air and began to fly around.  The crowd looked at her in awe seeing a unicorn flying around.  Applejack turned to Rainbow and said, "You know Rainbow, if you focus more on the Wonderbolts than doing your job, Celestia could have her replace you!"

Rainbow grunted, "That's what Moondancer said the day she cleared the skies for me."

Finally Starlight landed on the stage next to Trixie and shouted to the crowd, "And that isn't it!  I'll show you another thing this showboat can't do!"

Starlight grabbed hold of Trixie and began teleporting the two all over the place.  After six different teleportations, Starlight finally returned to the stage and laughed, "Alright Ponyville, let's see if she can put her money where her mouth is."  Starlight teleported back into the crowd and continued, "Alright Trixie, fly and teleport on your own!"

Trixie knew that there was no way she could do it.  She yelled, "Trixie would but The Great and Powerful Trixie can't with Celestia's little pet watching her!  Having her watch anypony would make them fail!"

Lyra shouted, "That's not true.  It was her who helped me levitate things.  I did it perfectly fine with her watching me."

Trixie became flustered and projected an image of herself and a bear for all to see.  She boasted, "Starlight may have all these weird powers but only The Great and Powerful Trixie has vanquished an Ursa Major!"

Starlight and her friends broke down laughing.  Twinkleshine laughed, "Yeah right, sure you have!"

Moondancer added, "Prove it Trixie.  Prove that you can vanquish an Ursa Major!"

Trixie's pupils shrank and she replied, "Well Trixie doesn't know where one is or she would!"

Soon the whole crowd began to laugh at Trixie calling her a fraud and a charlatan.  Once this happened she left the stage and hid in her trailer.  The whole crowd surrounded Starlight and one pony asked, "Wow Starlight, how did you learn to fly?  You're a unicorn for pony's sake!"

Starlight, who hates crowds and confined spaces replied, "I just woke up with the ability one day."  She became more paranoid and continued, "I'd love to stay and chat but I really have to get going."

She teleported her and Spike back into the library and when they arrived, Starlight appeared to be hyperventilating.  Spike asked, "Starlight, are you ok?"

Starlight replied, "Yeah, I am now.  You know how crowds freak me out."





After Starlight had teleported away and the crowd had dispersed, two young colts were having a discussion over Trixie and her claims.  Snips said, "Wow, I never knew she was that powerful.  I bet Starlight's never done that!"

Snails replied, "Well maybe we ought to go find one and bring it here so Trixie can show her superiority."

It wouldn't be long until they had entered the Everfree Forest searching for the Ursa's cave.  They saw numerous pairs of eyes watching them from behind the trees but decided to ignore them so they could find the Ursa and take it home with them.

Finally they found the cave and headed in.  It was so dark that neither one of them could see where they were headed so Snails, despite having a hard time doing so, lit his horn up to discover they were right under the Ursa's nose.  Even worse for them, they woke it up and it let out a great roar which then caused a much louder second roar to sound.

The two ran out of the cave screaming and yelling for their lives running from the Ursa.  Snips yelled, "I never imagined it was that big or that vicious!"

Snails added, "I didn't either and I didn't know there were two of them."

While the two colts were rushing home Starlight was in the library reading a book and Spike was talking about Trixie's claims, "Can you believe Trixie claimed that she vanquished an Ursa Major?"

Starlight scoffed, "You don't actually believe her, do you?"

Spike replied, "Well no, I'm just shocked that somepony would make such a ridiculous claim."

Starlight knew that he did believe what Trixie said a little but kept her composure.  Soon that composure would be rattled when she heard two very loud roars coming from outside and felt the ground shake beneath her.  She gasped, "What is that?"





While Starlight was in the library Snips and Snails were banging on Trixie's wagon which did not sit well with her.  She opened her window and yelled, "What do you two want?  Don't you see what time it is?"

Snips replied, "Well you see, we have a problem."

Snails added, "Well actually, we have two problems."

Trixie snapped, "What could be so important that you two couldn't wait till morning to disturb Trixie?"

Trixie heard two roars and felt the earth beneath her shake.  When she saw the two Ursas she shrieked in terror and took off.  She fled off in the direction of the library when Starlight rushed out to see what was going on.  She would not be thrilled when she saw an Ursa Minor prowling through town and a much, much larger Ursa major beginning to smash ponies' homes. 

She saw the two colts standing outside the library with sheepish grins on their faces and had a good idea of what happened.  She yelled, "Did you two do this?  Did you bring them into town?"

Snails replied, "Yeah" he then pointed at Trixie and continued, "but don't worry, Trixie will vanquish them!"

Trixie had a stunned look on her face, realizing that these two colts would be responsible for exposing her as a fraud.  She held her head down and sighed, "I can't.  Nopony can, I just made it up to try and show up Starlight."

The two gasped, "Made it up?"

Starlight saw this and while the whole town had gathered outside to see what was going on, she rushed up to her friends.  Moondancer was the first to say anything, "Starlight, what are we going to do?"

Lyra added, "I know you have powerful magic but I don't know if you'll be able to handle these things or not."

Lemon Hearts continued, "Twinkleshine, you calmed down that chimera and convinced it not to eat us, maybe you could do the same with them?"

Twinkleshine protested, "Are you nuts?  That chimera wasn't much bigger than us, these two things are huge!"

Before anypony else could say anything they saw a yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, fly up to the larger Ursa and land on it's nose.  Fluttershy stared it straight in the eyes and began, "You, just who do you think you are going around destroying other ponies' property.  You may be huge, have sharp teeth and shake the ground when you walk but you do not, I repeat, you do not destroy Ponyville!"

The larger Ursa cowered down and whimpered, causing the smaller one to go silent.  The larger Ursa began to growl a bit and Fluttershy could make out what it said.  She continued, "I'm sorry they woke you two up but they're tiny compared to you."

The Ursa growled again and Fluttershy again continued, "Now come on, let's get you two home.  You've had a rough night and you need some rest." 

Fluttershy began to lead the Ursas back into the forest and to their cave, leaving everypony shocked.  Starlight gasped, "Wow, can you believe that?  The timid pony with the songbird choir calmed them down and led them home?"

Applejack added, "I know she's good with animals but this is unbelievable.  She defeated two Ursas with kindness!  Who would have imagined that?"

Trixie laughed, "Ha!  You see Starlight, even you can't vanquish them!"

Starlight replied, "Trixie, some things simply can't be defeated with magic.  Just like the chimera in the Everfree Forest, kindness was way more effective."

Trixie, despite being outdone by Starlight earlier in the day boasted, "Well, you may be able to fly and teleport but you'll never have the showstopping abilities of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Trixie took off and all Starlight could do was sigh in frustration.  She walked around town and looked at the damage in disgust.  Lemon Hearts joined her and said, "Well I guess tomorrow ponies will have to start rebuilding."

Starlight realized that this would be yet another chance to show off her amazing magic.  She grabbed the shattered houses in her aura and reconstructed them almost immediately.  The whole town gasped over her feat.  The unicorn Lyra and Minuette first met, Rarity gasped, "Wow, you truly are magical!  It is no wonder you are 'Celestia's little pet' as Trixie put it."

That term did not sit well with Starlight.  She growled, "Well the proper term is protege and I still am her protege."

Rarity apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I just didn't know what the proper term was."

Applejack put her hoof around Starlight and asked, "Starlight, I'm wondering, if we need it would you be willing to help fix things up on the farm?"

Starlight replied, "Of course I will.  Any relative of Lemon Hearts is a friend of mine!"  She yawned and continued, "Well it's been a long day for us all.  How about we all turn in for the night?"

Everypony agreed and headed home.  Starlight thought to herself, "I knew the day Trixie failed her remedial magic exam that I would run into her someday and wow, she hasn't improved a bit!"
> Spring Comes How?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was still dark when Starlight and Spike were woken up by a knock on their door.  Naturally this did not sit well with the two.  Starlight headed to the door and was greeted by Applejack and Lemon Hearts.  She wiped her eyes and asked, "Don't you know what time it is?  Why are you waking me up so early?"

Applejack replied, "Well today is Winter Wrap Up day and everypony gets up early so they can help clean up winter and bring in spring."

This was a completely foreign concept to Starlight as in not just Canterlot, but her hometown, magic was used.  She grumbled, "Clean up winter?  How the hay do you do that?"

Spike had woken up by this time and joined in on the conversation, "Don't you just use magic to change the seasons like everypony else does?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "No, Ponyville was founded by earth ponies and it has never needed magic to change the seasons."

Starlight got a scowl on her face and snapped, "Look, whatever it is you do to 'clean up winter', if you want me to be at my best you'll let me sleep until dawn, alright?"

Starlight slammed the door and headed back to bed.  She grumbled, "Change the seasons without magic?  How the hay do you do that and WHY would you want to do it that way?"

Spiked sighed, "I don't know."





Three hours had passed and everypony was gathered outside the town hall, except for two.  Starlight and Spike were finishing eating and realized that they were late.  While Starlight loathed tardiness, she dreaded heading to this meeting.  After a minute of hesitation her and Spike headed to this meeting and joined their friends.  While most of them seemed enthusiastic about the activity, one did not.  Starlight stepped up by Moondancer and saw a scowl on her face.  She asked, "Were you woke up early too?"

Moondancer replied, "Unfortunately yes.  Lemon Hearts should know that neither one of us likes being woke up early and this whole cleaning up winter thing, it makes no sense!"

Starlight added, "Tell me about it.  I haven't heard anything about how they clean up winter but all I know is that they don't use magic."

A pony nearby said, "Shhhh" as the mayor began her speech.

The mayor began, "Hello everypony and good morning.  I want to thank you in advance for helping us clean up winter and bring in spring!"

Most of the ponies cheered while Starlight grumbled, "Well I guess we're about to see what this is all about."

Moondancer added, "Why is it I have a bad feeling about this?"

The mayor continued, "Now in previous years we have fallen behind and spring has always been late but this year let's do our best to bring spring in on time."

Again most of the ponies cheered and the mayor finished, "Now find your teams everypony and let's get working."

Most all of the ponies had team vests on except for three, Starlight, Moondancer and the mayor.  This caused Moondancer to grunt, "What about the mayor?  Does she take part in this or does she sit in her office and do nothing?"

Starlight looked around and said, "Well I guess we better get going."  Moondancer began to follow her and Starlight continued, "I'm thinking we better check on separate things and see if we can help."

Moondancer sighed, "Yeah, you're right."  She pointed her hoof to her left and said, "I'll go see if anypony needs help this way" she pointed her hoof to her right and continued, "and you see if anypony needs help that way."





The two parted ways and it would not be long until Starlight ran into Rarity making nests.  She approached her and asked, "Rarity is it?"

Rarity replied, "Yes, I'm Rarity."

Starlight asked, "Rarity, what are you doing?"  She took a closer look and continued, "Are you making birds nests?"

Rarity proudly held up the nest she had made and replied, "Why yes darling.  You see when the birds come home they'll need somewhere to lay their eggs."  Rarity saw Starlight glaring at the elegance of the nest and continued, "And I want to make sure they have the finest nests."

Starlight did a facehoof and asked, "Why in Equestria are you making birds nests?  Don't they make their own?"

Spike, who had been mostly quiet added, "Are they really that lazy that they have to have ponies make them for them?"

Rarity sighed, "Well we want them to be comfortable when they arrive.  We certainly can't have the poor dears with no place to live."

Starlight narrowed her eyes and saw that she was alone.  She continued, "And why are you doing this alone?  Shouldn't somepony be helping you?"

Rarity looked around and asked, "Well would you like to try it?  You could always help!"

Despite thinking this was ridiculous agreed, "Oh alright, I'll help you.  Mine may not be fancy but they'll be sufficient."

Before Rarity could say anything Starlight began grabbing hay and started making nests left and right.  Rarity was shocked and not pleased about this.  She smacked Starlight's horn and asked, "Starlight, what are you doing?  You're supposed to do this by hoof!  We don't use magic for this!"

Starlight looked at her pile of fifty nests and suggested, "Well maybe you should.  You just barely finished one and I made fifty of them in nothing flat!"

Rarity added, "And look at your nests, they are hideous!  They are so plain."

Spike chimed in, "They may not be elegant but they are practical."

Rarity sighed, "I'm thinking maybe nest making isn't your thing.  I'm sure somepony else could use your help, WITHOUT USING MAGIC!"





Starlight and Spike headed off, neither one of them happy.  Spike said, "I don't get it.  You made fifty great nests and she doesn't even thank you!"

Starlight grunted, "Well perhaps somepony else will be more appreciative of my help."

Soon they would run into Twinkleshine and Fluttershy trying to wake up animals.  When she saw the two simply ringing a bell outside of their nests, sticking their heads in telling them to get up and ringing the bell again, she couldn't help but sigh over the inefficiency.

She walked up to Twinkleshine and asked, "Twinkleshine, what are you two doing?"  She saw some animals come out of a burrow that Fluttershy just handled and asked, "Are you waking up animals?"

Twinkleshine replied, "Yes."  She pointed over towards Fluttershy and continued, "Fluttershy is teaching me how.  She said that if you don't wake them up slowly that it may startle them and we don't want them to be scared."

Starlight glared at all the burrows in the hillside and sighed, "You know, the method you two are using is horribly inefficient."  She raised her voice and continued, "At the rate you're going, you won't get them all woke up until The Summer Sun Festival!"

Fluttershy heard Starlight's comment and yelled, "Starlight, I get most of them woke up on time every year and with Twinkleshine's help, we'll have them awake on time!"

Starlight couldn't help but laugh over the comment and then something came to her mind.  She said, "You know, I know exactly how to get these little beasts up on time!"

Spike asked, "How will you do it."

Starlight, without responding, began firing bolts of energy at the hill.  While this did cause all the animals to go rushing out of their burrows, it also caused the hillside to collapse and destroy all the burrows.  Starlight had a sheepish grin on her face and said, "Uh, well maybe it wasn't the best way but it did wake them up!"

While Twinkleshine gave her a look of disgust, Fluttershy, who is usually calm, went into a rage, "Starlight Glimmer, that is not how we do it around here!"  She pointed her hoof at the hill and yelled, "And thanks to you, all my poor critter friends are going to have to rebuild their burrows!"

Starlight gave her a smile and replied, "Well I could use my magic to fix the hill and dig their burrows for them!"

Twinkleshine gave her a glare, "Starlight, I know this Winter Wrap Up thing is foreign to all of us, but we have to do things the earth pony way.  They have never used magic for this and we need to stick to tradition."

Starlight sighed, "Well Spike, shall we go see if anypony else, somepony who will actually appreciate us, needs our help."

Spike replied, "Yeah, we should."

As they were leaving Fluttershy yelled, "Maybe you just aren't cut out for doing things without magic.  Maybe you need to just leave everypony alone."

Starlight grunted in frustration and sighed, "You know something, maybe she's right.  Maybe we should just let them bungle their way through this and be late like they are every year."





Spike nodded and they headed back towards the library where they would be met by Moondancer, who had a less than thrilled look on her face.  In unison they asked, "I take it they didn't appreciate your help?"

The two began to laugh in unison, "No they didn't!"

Starlight headed into the library and suggested, "Come in Moondancer, let's get out of the cold."

Moondancer followed her in and they began to discuss how things went.  Moondancer began, "You know, I just don't get these ponies!  Get this, they had ONE pony trying to score all the lakes and there are a lot of lakes here!"

Starlight gasped, "Seriously, one pony?  Who was this pony?"

Moondancer replied, "It was that one that Minuette gets along with so well, Pinkie Pie."

Starlight asked, "So how well was she doing?"

Moondancer snapped, "Horrible!  She was out there acting like a figure skater so I used my magic to start melting the ice and she got mad at me!  She told me that I was only making matters worse and I melted the ice of four of the lakes!  She should be thanking me instead of yelling at me!"

Starlight said, "And you don't even want to know what happened with me."

Moondancer replied, "Actually I would.  What happened?"

Starlight said, "Get this, they had ONE pony making birds nests!  For some odd reason, they don't think the birds should have to make their own nests!  To make matters worse, I tried helping Rarity make these nests and she got mad at me!  I made fifty of them in nothing flat and it took her hours just to make one fancy nest!  She ran me off and didn't even thank me for making those nests!"

Moondancer was shocked.  She asked, "You made fifty of them in nothing flat and Rarity got mad?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, she did.  She claimed that not only should I have made them by hoof, but that my nests looked hideous!"

Spike added, "Yeah, Starlight's nests were practical and well made but she insults her like that."

Moondancer added, "And you don't even want to know what happened on the farm."  She took a breath and continued, "Ok, they have stallions plowing the snow away and good grief, if it hadn't been for me, they'd never get it done!  I started using my magic to melt the snow and both Lemon Hearts and Applejack yelled at me for making things more efficient!"

Starlight replied, "You know, I thought Applejack would appreciate you trying to speed things up.  She always reminded me of the type that would want things done on time."

Moondancer said, "Well the Apple Family is very traditional and I can tell Lemon Hearts is part of that family, she is suddenly big on sticking to the earth pony way with things like this."

Starlight finished, "Well after angering Rarity I thought I would go over and see if Twinkleshine and Fluttershy needed help."  She rolled her eyes and continued, "Get this, they were ringing a bell outside individual burrows, sticking their heads in telling them it was time to get up and then rang the bell again.  At that rate, it would have been time for The Summer Sun Celebration before they got all those little beasts woke up!"

Moondancer couldn't help but laugh, "Seriously?  They were using that time consuming method?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, they were.  I figured I would help out by speeding up the process so I fired some energy at the hill and I'll tell you something, that got those little beasts awake and out of their burrows in nothing flat!"  She got a sheepish grin on her face and continued, "Unfortunately, that caused the hill to collapse and all their burrows were destroyed."

Moondancer asked, "Did that upset those two?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, Twinkleshine is really mad at me and I've probably made a mortal enemy out of Fluttershy."  She threw her hooves up in frustration, "You know, I really think we need to talk to Celestia.  I have a feeling that even some of our friends are mad at us."

Moondancer asked, "Are you suggesting we go up to Canterlot?"

Starlight replied, "Yes and besides, this would be a great chance for me to get my lock box since we had to leave on such short notice when we came here."

Moondancer said, "Well, I'll join you."

Spike suggested, "I think it would be great for you."  He yawned and continued, "But could I stay here?  I'm really tired."

Starlight replied, "Yes, you stay here and get some rest."  She headed towards the door and continued, "Well Moondancer, shall we?"

Moondancer nodded and they headed off towards the train station. 





As soon as they disembarked from the train they headed immediately to the palace to talk to Celestia.  When they arrived Celestia asked, "Starlight, Moondancer, shouldn't you be helping out with Winter Wrap Up down in Ponyville?"

Starlight replied, "Yeah, about that.  We did help them but they yelled at us and they didn't even say thank you for the help."

Moondancer added, "We just did what any unicorn would do and tried to speed things up!"

Celestia gave them a half smile, "Let me guess, you two used magic to try and speed things up?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, we did.  I will admit, I can make great nests and do it in nothing flat but apparently that isn't good enough....."

Celestia interrupted, "Look, I know you two meant well and simply wanted to help, but most small towns don't take kindly to magic being used in things like this."

Starlight said, "Well back home that's how we did it!  We used magic!"

Celestia giggled, "Starlight, that's how it is in Unicornville.  Your hometown was founded by unicorns so of course it will be that way.  Ponyville was founded by earth ponies so for hundreds of years they've never used magic or needed to."

Moondancer said, "But their mayor said they are always late and we wanted to help fix that!  We wanted to help them get it done on time."

Celestia's look became more stern as she continued, "Like I said, I know you meant well but when you live in an earth pony community, you need to follow their customs for things like this."

Both her students finally realized that what they did was wrong prompting Starlight to ask, "What are we going to do?  I know Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts are mad at us and I have a feeling the whole town is not pleased with us."

Moondancer asked, "What do we do to make it to where they won't want to run us out of town?"

Celestia replied, "Well the first thing I would do is try and help them with this their way and then apologize to the whole town and let them know that you're sorry for everything you did."

The idea of doing things the earth pony way made both of them cringe given the slow nature of it but knew it had to be done.  Starlight said, "Well then, that's what we'll do."  She looked at Moondancer and suggested, "Well shall we get going?"

Moondancer nodded and they headed out of the palace.  Before leaving town they headed up to Starlight's study tower to retrieve her lock box.  When they got in Starlight looked around and said, "You know, I really wish we still lived up here.  I miss this place so much."

Moondancer replied, "I can only imagine.  You had such a wealth of knowledge up here and the library down there is so small."

Starlight said, "Well this is what Celestia had in store for us."  Her voice became more intense as she continued, "I'll admit, I don't like what Celestia did, making us all leave everything we had up here behind but I suppose it beats getting tossed from being her protege."

Moondancer nodded in agreement as Starlight headed into her old bedroom and retrieved her lock box.  Moondancer saw that Starlight was holding it in a stronger than normal aura.  She asked, "Starlight, I don't mean to pry or anything but why are you so protective of that thing?  What's in it?"

This caused Starlight to intensify her hold on it and reply, "What is in it is classified.  Nopony but me knows and can ever know what is in it."

Moondancer asked, "Not even Celestia or Spike?"

Starlight, despite knowing Moondancer had no bad intentions snapped, "Like I said, NOPONY can know.  I will guard this thing with my life if I have to."

Moondancer replied, "I'm sorry Starlight, I didn't mean to upset you."

Starlight realized that perhaps she shouldn't have been so snappy in her response.  She calmed down and replied, "It's alright Moondancer."  She headed towards the door and sighed, "Well, as much as I would love to just stay here for a few decades, oops, I mean hours, think we better get going?"

Moondancer replied, "Yeah we probably better."

Despite not being in the best of moods, the two returned to Ponyville hoping that they could make amends with the town so they would not only be forced out of town, but potentially upset Celestia as well. 





When they arrived back in Ponyville the ponies were arguing over things not being done and the fact that the sun was lowering towards the horizon only made matters worse.  Moondancer saw this and asked, "Starlight, don't you think we better go over and try to calm them down?"

Starlight replied, "Not until I get my lock box locked up in my safe."

Moondancer asked, "You have a safe?"

Starlight replied, "Yes, I do and nopony but me knows how to get into it."

Moondancer knew that that was Starlight's way of saying that she didn't want her knowing about anything that was in there.  When they headed into the library Starlight said, "Moondancer, you wait up here?  I'm going downstairs." 

Despite knowing that she had to hurry up and get out there so she could help, as she was locking her box up, she held it in her hooves, kissed it and said, "Oh it is so good to have you back with me again!"  She lowered her voice and continued, "Don't worry, I'm never leaving you alone like that ever again!"

Moondancer heard her talking and asked, "Starlight, are you alright?  I heard you talking to somepony."

Starlight locked her box up and rushed back upstairs.  She replied, "Oh, I'm alright.  Well we better get back to trying to help them."  





Once they left the library they rushed over to the town hall to find that the yelling between ponies had become much more intense and that Rainbow Dash was on the receiving end of all the yelling.  While Starlight was there trying to figure out what to do, Moondancer knew what they needed.  She yelled, "Stop with the arguing, that won't get anything done!"

The crowd went silent and turned to her.  Moondancer continued, "Look, I know you want to get your jobs done on time but arguing ain't going to get it done."  She got a smile on her face and continued, "What you need is organization and Starlight and I can help you out with that!"

Everypony headed back to do their jobs and Starlight would aid one group and Moondancer would aid the other.  Despite her still thinking it was an antiquated way of doing things, Starlight had gathered multiple ponies to work on the nests so that it would get done on time. 

Moondancer headed over to join Pinkie in the lake scoring.  While she couldn't stand on skates to save her soul, she was able to convince many, many ponies to join Pinkie in this endeavor.  Much to Moondancer's delight, her plan worked perfectly and the lakes were scored. 

Lemon Hearts, while she was doing things the Apple Family way, had her own way of speeding things up.  She suggested that the seeds be planted right behind the snow plow and much to Applejack's delight, it worked and sped things up significantly.  

After a full night of non-stop work the ponies of Ponyville were able to get winter cleaned up on time.  As the mayor announced this and stated that if it weren't for Starlight and Moondancer, that they would not have got it done.  The ponies began to cheer the two and this was the time the two knew they needed to follow Celestia's advice. 

Starlight began, "Well thank you everypony but there is something I need to say."  The crowd gave her a curious look as she continued, "For those I tried to help yesterday, I'm very sorry.  I know I shouldn't have used magic to help with the nests and Fluttershy, I'm very sorry I ruined the burrows of your critter friends."

While Fluttershy was unsure as to whether she should accept the apology or not, Twinkleshine nudged her prompting her to say, "It's alright Starlight, I know you meant well."

Moondancer added, "I too am sorry for using magic when I tried to help."  She cast her gaze towards Applejack and continued, "And especially you, I shouldn't have done what I did on your farm.  I know now that I was wrong in doing so.  I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Applejack walked up to her, hugged her and replied, "Alright, I forgive you.  I can tell you're sorry."





After all the ponies had dispersed and headed home to relax after cleaning up winter, Starlight, Moondancer and Spike were meeting in the library.  Starlight said, "You know, this may surprise you but I actually feel good that we were able to help them get this done without using magic."

Moondancer added, "Yeah, I as well.  I always thought that to do something like this that magic was necessary but I guess the ponies here proved us wrong."

Spike asked, "So, are you two going to get them organized at the very beginning next year?"

Despite feeling good about helping them get it done, neither one of the two were exactly looking forward to any further Winter Wrap Ups.  Starlight replied, "You know, I think I have some sort of festival I need to be at in Las Pegasus during the next Winter Wrap Up."

Moondancer added, "You know something Starlight, I think I'm planning on going to the same festival."  She turned towards Spike and continued, "You know, maybe you could get them organized since we won't be available."

Spike shook his head knowing the two were already planning ways to get out of this next year.  He replied, "Oh you two, what am I going to do with you?"

The three began to laugh knowing that what they were talking about likely wouldn't come to pass, although Starlight was planning ways for her and Moondancer to get out of this in the future.
> Closer than She Thinks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was morning at Sweet Apple Acres and like every morning, the rooster's crow woke most everypony up.  While she had lived on the farm for a while now, Lemon Hearts was still adjusting to waking up right at sunrise.  Unfortunately for Lemon Hearts, the rooster's crow did not wake her early that morning.  When she got downstairs to eat she discovered that everypony else had already sat down to eat.

When everypony gave her a slight glare she said, "I'm sorry everypony, I know I've lived here for a while now but I still wind up sleeping in every now and then."

Applejack replied, "It's alright sugar cube but if you don't want to miss out on breakfast, you'll have to wake up when the rooster crows."

Granny Smith added, "Well you better not make a habit of it or you'll miss out on your breakfast."

Just as Lemon Hearts was sitting down to eat what was left of breakfast, there was a knock on the door.  Applejack opened it and she was immediately greeted by Cousin Golden Delicious.  None of the Apples were expecting company that day so they were a bit shocked.  Applejack asked, "Hi Goldie, what brings you by?"

Goldie replied, "Well I just thought I'd drop by to visit."  She looked at Lemon Hearts and asked, "Who is this?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "I'm Lemon Hearts, Applejack's cousin."

Out of all the ponies in the Apple Family, Golden Delicious knew more about the family's lineage than anypony else.  She said, "Hmmm....well I think we had a unicorn in the family way, way back but I don't remember of any being in the family here recently."  She cast her gaze at Applejack and asked, "Where did you hear that she was your cousin?"

Applejack replied, "Well...."  She headed into the front room and grabbed their copy of the Apple Family lineage and brought it into the kitchen.  She continued, "I saw it in here.  Let me open it to the right page."

Applejack opened the book to where it mentioned Lemon Hearts and what part of the family she came from.  When she reached the page, it came out of the book, like it was not even secured in there.  Underneath it lied the true page, which had no mention of Lemon Hearts.  Goldie looked at this and said, "Hmmm....I'm not sure if Lemon Hearts is family or not."

Applejack gasped, "I can see that here but Goldie, I thought you knew everything there was to know about our family's history."

Goldie was hoping to stay for a few days, she did not want to have to go right back home.  She said, "I just got here and I really don't want to go back home to check on this but I'm thinking we should go somewhere where there may be some record on this."

Lemon Hearts suggested, "Well we could always go up to Canterlot.  Princess Celestia has the most extensive genealogy records in all of Equestria."

Applejack replied, "Hmmm....I don't know."

Both Goldie and Lemon Hearts gave Applejack a look that said, "Please, I want to know this."  When she saw this she continued, "Oh alright, we'll go up to Canterlot.  I just hope that Celestia will let us in there."

Lemon Hearts said, "Well since I was one of her students and I know her personally, I'm sure she'll let us in there to take a look."

Goldie headed towards the door and replied, "Well then, let's get going."





The ride up to Canterlot was full of nervousness and anxiety.  Lemon Hearts couldn't help but wonder, "What if she isn't related to the Apples, where would she live?"  She knew that the apartment her friends lived in was only large enough to house four ponies and knew that the library only had room for Starlight and Spike.

When the train pulled into the station not only was Lemon Hearts quick to disembark, so was Goldie.  Applejack more leisurely got off the train and said, "Hey you two, I know you want to find this out but there's no need to rush."

Both simply nodded and they headed to the palace.  Given that Lemon Hearts was a student of Celestia's, despite her not having been in Canterlot for a while, the guards let her in easily and they headed to the throne room.  When she arrived Celestia was surprised to see her, "Lemon Hearts, how are you doing?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "I'm doing alright, how about yourself?"

Celestia gave her a smile, "I'm doing alright."  She cast her gaze at the ponies accompanying her and asked, "And who are these two?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "This is my cousin Applejack and cousin Golden Delicious...."

Applejack interrupted, "Well we think she's my cousin.  We found some information in one of our family history books that puts whether she is related to us in doubt."

Goldie added, "We were wondering, since Lemon Hearts is a student of yours, if we could look in the genealogy records you have here?"

Celestia replied, "Of course you can!"  She got off her throne and continued, "Follow me.  All the birth records are in Canterlot tower."

Despite having been a student of Celestia's, even Lemon Hearts had never been up there.  As they headed to the tower, all three of them had nervous looks on their faces.  When they finally arrived, Celestia led them in and they were shocked by the size of the genealogy wing.  Celestia turned back and asked, "Would you three want any help finding your family records?"

Applejack replied, "Well...."

Goldie interrupted, "Well we certainly would appreciate it your Majesty."

Celestia gave her a smile and helped them find their family records.  Once they found them Lemon Hearts asked, "So how often are these updated anyway?"

Celestia replied, "Well when a pony is born, not only are records regarding that pony's parents, birth date, siblings and location of birth kept in the local records, but they are also sent up here so family trees can be created and inquiries like this can be handled."  

Once Celestia grabbed all the necessary material she led them to a table and asked, "Would you like some help going through this?"

Again Goldie replied, "We would appreciate that your Majesty, there are a lot of records here."

Celestia said, "Very well then, I'll help you go through this and hopefully we can find out if Lemon Hearts here really is part of your family or not."

While Applejack seemed a bit uneasy having the princess helping with this, both Goldie and Lemon Hearts were thrilled.  After over an hour of pouring over the materials, Applejack came across something she did not expect.  She screamed, "What?"

Everypony turned to her and asked, "What?  Did you find something?"

Applejack sat their for a minute with a stunned look on her face and replied, "I did."  She took a deep breath and continued, "Lemon Hearts, you're not my cousin."

Lemon Hearts' face dropped and the mood seemed to dim in the room.  She replied, "Oh, ok."

Applejack walked up to her, hugged her and exclaimed, "I love you big sis!"

Everypony gasped, "Big sis?"

Applejack led everypony over to the records she was looking over and sure enough, in the records of the ponies that were born to Applejack's parents, there was Big Mac, Lemon Hearts, Applejack and Apple Bloom.  Lemon Hearts said, "I don't understand.  If I'm your big sister, why wasn't I raised on the farm?  Why didn't I know I was your sister?"

There was something that Goldie had been hiding for quite some time from everypony.  She sighed, "Applejack, Lemon Hearts, there has been something that has been kept a secret."

Applejack became angry and asked, "Goldie, what have you been hiding from us?"

Goldie began, "Well this is something that your parents never wanted anypony to find out about.  When Lemon Hearts was born, outside of the doctor, the nurses, your parents and myself, nopony else was present."  

Lemon Hearts asked, "Alright but what does this have to do with me not being raised by my real parents?"

Goldie continued, "When you were born and they saw you were a unicorn, they went into a panic.  They worried that the rest of the family would accuse your mother of infidelity and worried that Lemon Hearts would not be well received by the rest of the family so they did some research and found a well off family of unicorns up in Canterlot who couldn't have their own foals so they adopted you."

The fact that her parents would just put her up for adoption like that devastated Lemon Hearts.  She broke down crying, "Really, they just pawned me off like that on somepony else?"

Goldie hugged her and replied, "Lemon Hearts, you have to understand that they did that for your benefit.  Like I said, they worried you wouldn't be well received and your parents worried about what they would think of them."

Lemon Hearts turned to Applejack and asked, "What happened to mom and dad?  Why don't they live on the farm with you, our siblings and Granny?"

Applejack held her head low and replied, "Granny has never told any of us much about it except that they were killed by timberwolves." 

Despite never knowing them and being disappointed knowing about how they put her up for adoption, Lemon Hearts had tears running down her face.  She sobbed, "That's terrible."

Applejack continued, "I know.  It happened not too long after Apple Bloom was born so for her, Granny has basically been her mother figure." 

Despite Lemon Hearts being disappointed over the adoption situation, Celestia couldn't help but smile over what they had discovered.  She asked, "I take it you are happy over what you found?"

Applejack replied, "Happy, Happy?"

In unison her and Lemon Hearts continued, "We're more than happy, we're ecstatic!"

Goldie added, "I'm just happy I don't have to hide this any more."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What about the whole cousin thing though?  Why was it mentioned that I was her cousin?"

Goldie replied, "Well there was a unicorn way, way back on your father's side of the family.  Your great-great-great aunt Apple Tart's father, Lemon Tart was a unicorn so that is what led to the cousin thing."

Applejack suggested, "Well now that we know the truth about Lemon Hearts, what do you say sis, shall we go home and celebrate?"

Lemon Hearts hugged her and replied, "You bet we should!"  She began to laugh, "I can only imagine what Minuette would think about this.  She'd probably talk to Pinkie and throw us a 'I just found out I have another sister party.'"

Applejack replied, "Probably but I think this celebration should just stay within the family.  It would be more special that way."

Lemon Hearts agreed, "I agree with you there.  I'm sure once the others find out about this though, Minuette will insist on throwing some sort of celebration later on."

Applejack sighed, "I know, I know but before any of your friends find out, we're throwing our own family exclusive party."  

Goldie turned to Celestia and said, "Well thank you your Majesty for letting us do this."

Celestia replied, "Of course."  She realized that it had been two hours since she had led them back and figured that she had better get back to doing her duties.  She began to head towards the door and continued, "Well I suppose I better get back to doing my duties and I'm sure the three of you need to get home so you can celebrate."

Lemon Hearts replied, "Yep your Majesty, we need to get going."

As they left the castle and headed to the train station, all three of them were the happiest they had ever been.  Golden Delicious was happy that she no longer had to hide this from the whole family.  Applejack and Lemon Hearts were both happy that they knew how they were truly related and Lemon Hearts knew that judging by how she was received at the family reunion when she first arrived in Ponyville, that she would be received as Applejack's sister just fine.
> A Celestial Visit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was well before dawn in Ponyville and Starlight seemed to be more frantic than normal, much more frantic.  She was already up, pacing around the library, checking every little thing to make sure it was perfect.  Her frantic pacing finally woke Spike up.  He headed downstairs to find Starlight straightening the books and dusting the library.  He asked, "Starlight, what are you doing up already?"

Starlight was shocked that he didn't know.  She gasped, "Spike, don't you know what today is?  Don't you know who is visiting Ponyville today?"

Spike stood there with an absent look on his face until Starlight continued, "Princess Celestia is coming to check on my friends and I today!  She wants to make sure we're doing alright and" she gulped, "check to see if we've made any friends!" 

Spike shook his head, "And I'm assuming she's not going to be happy with you?"

Starlight replied, "Not me or Moondancer!  The rest of my friends have made other friends but she hasn't and with the exception of me getting to know Applejack, I haven't either!  What am I going to do?  What if she drops me as her protege?" 

Spike replied, "She's not going to drop you as her protege!  She knows you and Moondancer are less likely to expand outside your own social circle, she'll understand." 

Starlight sighed, "I certainly hope so."





After trying to get a little bit of rest and breakfast, Starlight and Spike headed over to the apartment that her friends shared.  She began to pound on the door, "Moondancer, Lyra, Minuette, Twinkleshine, come on, we've got stuff to do!" 

Lyra answered the door and was visibly tired.  She sighed, "What's wrong Starlight?  Why were you pounding so frantically on the door?"

Starlight became frantic, "Princess Celestia is coming today to check on us!  We need to make sure that everything is perfect!"  She leaned her head in and shouted, "Minuette, you need to bake......"

Lyra used her magic to quiet Starlight down.  She said, "Starlight, the princess won't be here for another five hours and you know Celestia likes her cake.  She likes it fresh!" 

She let go of Starlight and continued, "Starlight, don't get so worked up over this.  I know you want to impress her....."

Starlight interrupted, "I know, I know, she likes her cake fresh and I shouldn't get so worked up."  She cast her gaze towards Sweet Apple Acres and continued, "Well I might go see if Lemon Hearts is getting anything ready, she should already be up by now." 

Starlight rushed over to the farm and like she did with her friends, she pounded on the door more loudly than normal.  Luckily for her Lemon Hearts was the one to answer the door.  When she saw that Starlight had a frantic look on her face she couldn't help but be concerned, "Starlight, what's wrong?  You look like you're going into panic mode."

Starlight asked, "Lemon Hearts, do you have anything ready for when the princess arrives?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Starlight, you need to calm down.  I'll be sure and bring enough cider for all of us, alright?"

Starlight couldn't believe how relaxed her friends were being about this, it made her wonder if they even cared that Celestia was coming that day.  She gasped, "You are being just as nonchalant as our other friends are!  It seems like nopony but me wants to impress her!" 

Lemon Hearts sighed, "Starlight, you should know that she isn't going to be upset if we don't have a five course meal waiting for her.  I'm sure that as long as I bring some cider and Minuette has a good sized cake ready for her, she'll be fine." 

Starlight cast her gaze back towards town and replied, "Oh alright, I'm going to go talk to the mayor about getting picnic tables ready to set up in the park."

Starlight galloped off towards town and Lemon Hearts couldn't help but shake her head.  She knew that out of the six of them that Celestia was closest with Starlight and knew that out of all of them, Starlight would have to do the least to impress her given their closeness. 

When Starlight arrived at the town hall her mane and tail had become a bit messy and the mayor, despite not seeing her a ton or knowing her overly well noticed.  Before saying anything else she asked, "Starlight, are you ok?  Your mane and tail are usually so well kept, you usually don't look so frazzled." 

Starlight had no time to talk about her appearance.  She replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."  She tried to calm down and continued, "I'm wondering if I could borrow a few of the town's picnic tables because Princess Celestia is coming to town today to visit my friends and I." 

The mayor gave her a curious look and asked, "Really?  Celestia is coming to town just to see you and your friends and not the whole town?"

Starlight replied, "Yes and I don't want us all to be crammed in the library or in the apartment my friends live in."

The mayor asked, "What about Sweet Apple Acres.  I know Lemon Hearts lives......."

Starlight was becoming frustrated with all her questioning.  She grabbed the mayor in her aura and frantically yelled, "Her family is doing applebucking today and I don't think they want any distractions!"  She saw a look of disapproval coming from the mayor so she sat her down.  She calmed down a bit and asked, "I'm sorry for grabbing you in my aura but I really need to use the park and the picnic tables." 

With what Starlight did the mayor was unsure at first but given that it was Princess Celestia who was coming to visit, she realized that it may be best if she did.  She replied, "Alright Starlight, you can use the picnic tables and the park but I think you may want to comb your mane and tail....."

Before Starlight even heard her mention her mane and tail, Starlight immediately took off towards the park to start setting things up.  She knew that the city storage unit was likely locked but she had always had a knack for unlocking doors so she simply broke in.  When she got in she was pleased with what she saw.  There were several picnic tables in there along with a somewhat larger table.  She said to herself, "Excellent, I'll grab a couple picnic tables for us to sit at and that larger table can be used for the food and the cider." 

She grabbed everything she thought she would need and levitated it out into the center of the park.  Some ponies were watching her set things up with curious looks on their faces but did not say anything.  Once she got everything sat up she looked at the clock tower and noticed that it was only nine.  This did relieve her a bit but then a thought ran through her head, "What if Celestia was to decide to come early?  What if she caught them off guard to test them?"





Starlight rushed home to find Spike still asleep.  She yelled, "Spike, wake up!  I need you to send a message to Celestia!"

Spike jumped out of his bed and screamed as Starlight's yell scared him, it scared him so much that he didn't even know what Starlight asked.  He asked, "What is it Starlight?"

Starlight was frustrated that he didn't hear what she had asked him to do.  She ordered, "Spike, didn't you hear me?  I need you to send a letter to Celestia." 

Spike grabbed a quill and scroll and said, "Alright, whenever your ready." 

Starlight said, 

"Dear Princess Celestia, 

I know you are coming down to Ponyville today and I am curious as to whether you are still coming at 1300 like you were planning or if you were coming sooner?  Also, I have reserved the town park for our meeting, I hope that is ok.

Sincerely,

Starlight Glimmer"

Spike wrote everything down and sent the message.  Starlight began to pace back and forth frantically waiting for her reply.  Spike saw this and suggested, "Starlight, I really think you need to calm down.  Your mane and tail are a mess and stressing yourself out like this certainly *BELCH*." 

Starlight immediately grabbed the scroll and read it, 

"Starlight, 

I will be arriving in Ponyville at 1300 and I think it is splendid that you reserved the park for this since it is a nice day.  I will see you and your friends then.

Sincerely, 

Celestia

P.S.  I've been telling you this since the day of your entrance exam, you do not have to be formal with me!" 

Despite her not going to be arriving for nearly four hours, Starlight was still a bit antsy.  She knew that she simply could not leave the picnic equipment set up in the park unattended for so long.  She levitated Spike onto her back and said, "Come on Spike, we can't leave the park unattended for so long." 

Before Spike could say anything, Starlight had already broke into a full gallop and headed straight to the park where fortunately, everything was as it should be and nopony was in the park.  She looked up at the clock tower and saw that it was just 0930.  She sighed, "Ok Spike, still three and a half hours until she gets here.  Hopefully noponies will want to be playing any games or anything until after Celestia comes and goes." 

Spike had seen Starlight get paranoid before but had not seen her in as bad of a state as she was that day, especially once she began to pace frantically back and forth.  He suggested, "Starlight, I don't know why you're so worried.  You know that Celestia isn't going to be upset if every single thing isn't perfect." 

She continued to pace and continued, "I know but still, what if everything isn't up to her standards?"

Spike knew that there would be no getting through to her as she continued to pace back and forth and her mane and tail continued to get messier and messier.  Finally a little bit after noon and after Starlight had paced a brown spot into the grass Lemon Hearts arrived with an entire barrel of cider.  She looked at the state she was in and couldn't help but snicker, "You know Starlight, you might want to give the pacing a rest." 

Spike added, "Yeah, you paced a brown spot in the grass." 

Starlight gave the two a glare, "Not now, ok?  Our other friends have yet to arrive and Celestia will be here in less than an hour!" 

Lemon Hearts took a closer look at Starlight and asked, "I know it is important that everything is perfect but don't you think you better brush your mane and tail?  I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be impressed with you looking like that!" 

Starlight realized that she was right so she teleported into the library and while she was gone, their other friends arrived.  Minuette was holding a huge cake in her aura and Lyra had plates, cups and plastic ware with her.  Once they got everything sat down they looked around.  Moondancer asked, "Lemon Hearts, where is Starlight?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "She is at the library brushing her mane and tail.  When I got here, it was a complete mess!  I had never seen a pony so unkempt in my life." 

Most of Starlight's other friends couldn't help but chuckle, except for Moondancer.  She gave the four a glare and said, "Look, you know how she gets.  You know that even if she doesn't have to do much to impress Celestia, that she is going to go overboard, it is just part of who she is." 

As she finished saying this Starlight teleported back, looking like her normal self.  When she saw that all of her friends were there she breathed a sigh of relief.  She looked around and commented, "Large cake, check.  Plastic ware, cups and plates, check.  Cider, check."  She gave her friends all a smile and continued, "Everything looks great ladies, now for Celestia to arrive." 





Most of them were patiently waiting for Celestia but Starlight would continue to stare at the clock and then look off to the west.  Minuette saw this and suggested, "Starlight, I think you should calm down.  We're all here and the goodies are here so there is nothing to worry about." 

Starlight sighed, "I know, I know...."  She again cast her gaze to the west and saw Celestia coming.  She continued, "Oh good, she's finally getting here." 

The moment Celestia landed the clock tower rang signifying that it was one in the afternoon.  The six ran to her prompting Celestia to ask, "My faithful students, how are all of you?"

Starlight immediately replied, "I'm doing alright." 

Moondancer added, "I'm doing pretty good." 

Minuette added, "I'm doing great!" 

Lyra continued, "I'm doing good as well." 

Twinkleshine added, "I'm also doing pretty good." 

Lemon Hearts continued, "Well I've been working hard on the farm but other than that, I'm doing rather well." 

Spike, despite not being right up by the princess, finished, "I'm doing great, how about you?"

Celestia replied, "I'm doing great but....."

Before she could finish her statement Minuette interrupted, "Princess, I made you your favorite, chocolate cake with strawberry frosting!" 

Celestia cast her gaze at the cake and licked her chops.  She seemed drawn to it as she replied, "Wow, it is so big!  It looks so tasty!" 

Celestia grabbed herself a plate and immediately cut herself a large slice of cake, one larger than what her fair share would be but her students didn't mind.  Once she got sat down and took a couple of bites she asked, "So ladies, how has the friend making been going?"

Minuette replied, "Well I've made good friends with this pony named Pinkie, she loves cake, likes to bake and likes to throw parties!" 

Twinkleshine added, "I've become pretty close with Fluttershy, the pony who provided the music for the Summer Sun Festival." 

Lyra continued, "I've become pretty close with Rarity, the unicorn who decorated the town hall."

Lemon Hearts gave her a nervous look and added, "Well not as well as it could be.  I've been working on the farm a lot and ever since I discovered that I'm an Apple sibling, I've been working harder but I do have some good news." 

Celestia gave her a curious look and asked, "What is that?"

Lemon Hearts became more excited as she replied, "Applejack is going to let me plant some lemon trees at Sweet Apple Acres!  Once I get them planted and they are ready for harvest, I can make some lemon bars to sell at the Baked Goods Festival." 

Celestia gave her a smile, "Well I'm glad to hear that, I'm sure they'll be delicious."  She then turned to Moondancer and asked, "What about you?  Have you made any new friends down here?"

Moondancer held her head low and replied, "Well....you know how shy I am.  I've been spending most of my time with Starlight." 

Celestia then turned to her protege and asked, "And what about you?"

Starlight too had been avoiding most ponies outside of her social circle.  She replied, "Well I've spent most of my time with my friends but I have helped carry baskets over at Sweet Apple Acres a few times and Applejack is quite friendly." 

She turned to Lemon Hearts who confirmed, "She does come over and help every now and then.  Yeah she doesn't do any apple bucking but with her using her magic to hold the baskets to catch the apples, that does speed things up a lot." 

Celestia gave four of them a smile and said, "I'm glad to see you have made some friends, ones that seem to mirror you."  She then turned to Moondancer and Starlight and continued, "Moondancer, I know you're the shiest of all of you but I really wish you would try and make some friends and Starlight, I'm sure you're probably growing close with Lemon Hearts' family but I'd like to see you set an example for everypony and make a lot of friends." 

Starlight's pupils shrank upon hearing Celestia's requests.  She had always been very close with her friends but outside of them, she never had much desire to get to know a lot of other ponies.  She replied, "Alright, I'll do my best." 

Celestia gave her a smile and said, "I'm sure you will."  She then turned to her cake and continued, "And now back to my cake!"  

Throughout the whole day Starlight had been worried that Celestia would be angry that she had not done much in the way of friend making.  While Celestia was a bit disappointed, Starlight was relieved that she was not angry or didn't make any threats of making her come back up to Canterlot.  For the rest of their visit, they began to talk about more lighthearted things and of course, Celestia ate plenty of cake.