Backstory: A Mare in the Wilderness, plus bonus scene · 12:46am Jul 8th, 2021
This'll be a short one...
As I noted in my previous blog post, I'm a bit of a Starlight Glimmer fan. So it's natural I'd want to have Quicksilver and Misty run into her in some story. Adding to that is that I've always wondered what happened to Starlight after she escaped into the cave at the end of The Cutie Map part 2 (S05E02). Put those together, shaken, not stirred, and you get the most recent story: A Mare in the Wilderness.
I also have a short deleted scene for the story. The original ending had a small tag that got removed as the editor said it weakened the end of the story. So, here ya go...
Misty reached out and set her hoof on Starlight’s. Starlight used her other foreleg to wipe her eyes and allowed a small smile to brighten her face.
“Thank you. This means a lot to me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find Twilight. I have a friendship report to give her about the value of friends you don’t even know you have.”
They all three stood up. Starlight gave Misty a long hug. Then she turned and gave the slightly startled Quicksilver a hug.
With a big smile, Starlight turned and trotted off down the street. Quicksilver and Misty sat down again. They relaxed and chatted for over an hour until it was time to head to the train station. As they walked down the street they saw a pink pony bounding along beside an orange pony wearing a hat. As they passed each other, they could overhear part of the conversation.
“Ah reckon I don’t rightly know. I just know Spike said that Starlight had a friendship report to give, and that Twilight wanted us all to be there.”
“Ohhh, I should bring cupcakes!”
Quicksilver and Misty gave each other a knowing smile and continued towards the train station.
I'm ambivalent on this one.
On one hand, I see where your editor was coming from. This section does not bring anything new, instead providing modest amplification after a setup that feels longer than it really is.
On the other hand, we get 1) a smile-generating comment from Pinkie, 2) further deepening the story a bit by letting the reader know that Starlight has truly taken the lessons of friendship to heart.