//------------------------------// // Home Again // Story: Student of Friendship // by zalla661 //------------------------------// *Ponyville One week Later* Starlight roamed the castle feeling down. Ever since the rescue she’d felt terrible. As a result of that she hadn’t spoken to anypony since. That was over a week ago. Now, she simply walked around the castle not doing anything except eating, bathing, and reading. Twilight had kept an eye on her ever since they got back and noticed how reclusive Starlight had become. Worried her student was going down a path of self destruction she called in a few friends to help cheer the pony up, but to no avail. Even Trixie was turned away, although it was mostly due to the fact Starlight responded to Trixie in a very childish manner making the blue unicorn storm off with a huff. Desperate to solve this dilemma, Twilight called in every favor she could to get help for Starlight. In the end not even a world famous Pinkie pie Party was able to lift the mares spirits. Desperate times call for desperate measures. As one last ditch effort, Twilight sent Thunderclap on a very important mission. She gave the mare instructions to find a particular pony and bring them back to the castle as soon as possible. She also made it very clear Thunderclap wasn’t to return without this particular pony. Without hesitation, and filled with determination to serve her Princess, Thunderclap dutifully left the castle after gathering all the supplies she needed and a little info to begin her search and left for Canterlot. That was two days ago. Now Twilight was watching Starlight, more like stalking her through the corridors as she went back to her room and locked herself inside. Sighing she turned back and went to the library to wait for Thunderclap to return. *Starlights Room* Starlight threw herself clumsily on her bed. She landed with a soft *pomf* and rubbed her nose against the covers. She rolled over on her back and levitated her Ponystation controller to herself and powered it up. She thought a good game would help calm her. Loading her console she put in Pony Gear Solid: Twin Snakes and loaded a new game and waited for the intro to finish. As she waited she thought back to earlier in the week when she helped Sunset save Adagio with Twilight. *One week Earlier Canterlot City* Outside the factory a small car pulled up to the factory behind the elusive mclaren. As the engine died down the doors opened and out came three figures in black spy style gear with all the stereotypical gadgets. Black body suits, ski masks, gloves with suction sole boots and grips, grappling hooks, night vision goggles, stun grenades, tear gas, smoke bombs, and cupcakes with little sprinkles on top. The lead figure pulled off her mask revealing Sunset with a determined look as she pulled out one cupcake and ate it with one bite, never losing the fire in her eyes. She crumpled up the wrapper and threw it on the ground which one other figure picked it up and threw it in a nearby trash can that was next to Sunset. “Really? Really Twilight? You’re going to be OCD about that?” Sunset asked glaring back at twilight who pulled off her mask along with Starlight. “Come on Sunset,” Twilight complained at her friend. “You shouldn't liter. Even if this place is in the dumps.” “Augh, yes mom.” Sunset groaned slouching. Twilight scoffed indignantly while Starlight chuckled behind her. “Whatever, let’s get in there and find Adagio.” The other two nodded slipping back on their masks and made a silent run towards the building. They ran without much trouble, stopping with their backs to the wall. Sterilight poked her head up and peered through a broken window to see several young teens walking around with bat and other types of weapons in their hands. It was clear that they were the two gangs Sunset warned them about, the Griffon and Diamond Dog gangs. Starlight made a quick count, assessing their arms and location. Once she had her count she slid down under the cover of the building and whisper to Twilight and Sunset. “I count twenty so far. Not including Rainbow and the other girl she was with,” Starlight said to them peeking once more. “What’s the plan?” Twilight asked looking around. Sunset looked back at an old pipe that ran through a wall nearby. She then noticed there were no doors, and suggested they scout around to find an entry point. The three broke apart and searched every face of the building joining up on the same spot they started. “Did you guys find anything?” Sunset knelt down beside Twilight and Starlight. “No, the whole place is sealed with one exception.” Starlight said pointing behind her. “At the opposite side of the building is a doorway but it’s being guarded.” “Guess we do this the hard way,” Sunset said grabbing her grappling hook. Twilight and Starlight both grabbed theirs. They fired the hooks up over the roof of the building and attached the lines to harnesses and began to climb the building. Once they reached the roof the three sipped into an old air vent sliding down as quickly and quietly as possible. S they slid down to the bottom they had to go head first so they could crawl at the bottom without having to go backwards in the vents. Contrary to popular belief air vents aren’t big like they are in movies is what Sunset warned them about, should air vents become part of the equation. Their gear gently ground against the uneven metal vents as they snuck through the facility and came to an opening. Starlight Who was leading peeked her head out, she loved this kind of thing in her games with Button, and scanned the area for any of the gang members. Seeing they were clear for now she slid out of the vent and onto a catwalk. She waited for Sunset and twilight, the last being rather clumsy and fell with a loud thud alerting the gang members to their presence. As the thugs gathered around them Sunset and Starlight took defensive postures while Twilight tried her best to look as intimidating as possible, and failing. The fight was intense and short lived. Sunset and Starlight quickly punched out the first two thugs that charged them. The two gang members collapsed on the ground next to twilight, who promptly kicked them in the face while they were down. When she finished she gave a smile like she was proud of herself. Sunset then rushed a group of thugs over the catwalk and rammed herself into the lead one and caused a domino effect for the others to topple over. Starlight, finally finding mastery of her body, ran for two and roundhouse kicked the first and gave a quick jab at the others throat. To her surprise this thug was competent. He easily blocked her strike with his arms, giving her a cocky grin in the process. He pushed Starlight back without much effort. Starlight scoffed glaring at her opponent. This was going to be tough, but she wasn’t about to give up. She jumped off the side of the railing, keeping a firm grip on the handlebars. As the gang member looked over she pulled up swinging her legs and brought them up into the thug's face. Following this contact there was as snapping noise making him back over the rail and fall to the ground below. Aside from his broken nose and a sore back he was fine. Starlight was then pulled up by Twilight as three more gang members rushed them but were stopped by Sunset who uppercut the first one and spun into a whirlwind kick, sending the last two over the railing with loud screams. Starlight and Sunset stood around Twilight ready to defend her at all cost as they fought their way through the tugs and deeper into the facility, until finally they were forced to separate and flee to hide. As they split apart Starlight happened to find Gilda who was running to join the other gang members. Starlight looked around to make sure she was clear and ran to the door and looked through the hole. Inside she saw Rainbow Dash, the blonde girl, and Adagio all inside a large furnace that was heating up fast. Looking around Starlight tried to pull the door open and quickly helped everyone out of the burning heat. As she helped Adagio out, while Rainbow was helping Lightning Dust the sound of Sunset calling out made her look up. She saw Twilight and Sunset running towards her with the gang right behind them with Gilda chasing them. She was so fixated on them she didn’t noticed the bar that hit her in the back of the head and blacked out as Twilight called out to her. *Ponyville Present Time* Thunderclap was searching the castle until she found Princess Twilight deep in her personal archives. She saw the alicorn through an open door and peered through. She saw twilight busy with another book when she made a soft cough, getting the alicorns attention. Twilight put her book down and looked up to see Thunderclap entering the study with a weary look on her face. “What happened out there? You look tired, Clappy.” Thunderclap sighed, knowing she’d never get the Princess to call her by her real name anymore. Months have passed and she still didn’t call her, Thunderclap on a regular basis. Letting out a weary sigh Thunderclap replied, “I found the ponies you wanted me to find, Princess. I’m not sure how this will help Starlight though.” Twilight grinned and walked over to Thunderclap and wrapped her arm around the guardsmare. “Don’t worry so much, Clappy,” Twilight said walking out with the mare. “After today Starlight will be back to her old self. I Pinkie Promise!” “Your funeral.” Twilight scoffed at Thunderclap’s sarcasm sticking her nose up and walking past the unicron. “Well! We’ll just have to see now won’t we? Where are they?” She asked Thunderclap. “Just outside, Princess.” “Good. Let’s take them to Starlight,” Twilight said trotting out of the study with Thunderclap at her heels. *Starlight’s Room* Starlight’s character was running down a hall when there was a loud gunshot as another character with red hair fell after getting shot. Starlight watched as her character dodged to the side and hid from the shooter who remained hidden. As soon as the cutscene was over she pulled out her binoculars and scanned the hallway. Seeing the distinct flash from a sniper barrel she ducked back as the shot fire barely missing her character. She pulled out a sniper rifle from her inventory and set it to her primary weapon, and activated her binoculars once more scanning where she saw the flash. There, in that spot, was a white unicorn pony with dark blonde hair with a white coat on aiming at her and firing once more. Again Starlight ducked under the cover for her character and armed her sniper rifle. She quickly ran out into the open with her character and rolled just in time to miss being shot. She made her character pull out and aimed down the scope seeing the enemy character in the middle of reloading. She adjusted the controller, setting the aim reticle for a perfect head shot. She felt a rush of stress and anxiety that came with a gamers high. She rarely felt it, but this game always made her heart rush when things didn’t go as planned. Gently she squeezed her trigger button, a soft click rang in her ear signaling the moment when her enemy would suffer greatly for shooting her AI comrade, when suddenly- *Knock knock knock!* “Huh?” Starlight looked away as the sound of a gunshot came from her TV. Then she heard a horrible sound of failure as she cringed, her face contorting between frustration, anger, and gamer sorrow for not saving earlier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4agDHw4NuLk “GAHH! WHY!?!” Starlight cried throwing her controller at the ground. The poor Ponystation controller bounce off the ground as it flopped over next to the console and fell silent as a voice called over the game over theme, “What happened? Snake respond. Snake? Snaaaaaaaaake!!” Starlight sighed and walked over to the door as another series of knocks were heard. Starlight groaned, hoping whatever this was would be quick so she could get back to her game. When she approached the door she used her magic to open it as she stuck her head out without having to stop. “Yes? Who is it?” She glanced around seeing nopony in sight. She shrugged and closed the door and returned to her bed. She leaped on to her pillows. She then levitated her controller back towards herself and paused. She looked around her room with a curious glance. Something felt off. She glanced around her room. Nothing seemed out of place. Her TV was on her oak entertainment center. Her console was grounded beside it with the wires running up to it, her posters were over her wall, curtains drawn to keep the natural light out, her bed, pillows, that random box she never knew she had in the corner. She looked around and thought all was in place where it should be. With shrug she went back to playing. About five minutes later she paused in the middle of taking down another enemy in a choke hold. She paused her game, to make sure she didn't lose any data this time, and looked over at the corner where the box was only to see it was gone. “Did I imagine that box?” She asked to herself aloud. “I’m sure I saw it there.” Setting the controller down she jumped off the bed and landed on the floor. Her hooves clopped against the uncovered crystal ground as she looked around the room for the mysterious box. She then found it on the opposite side of her bed. She looked it over and saw nothing particularly impressive about it. She looked at it closely as if expecting Pinkie to pop out of it at any moment. Finally done with observing she lifted the box with her hooves and put it to the side. There she saw the most adorable thing ever. Curled up into a little ball was Button Mash. The little colt was hugging his own tail, his little propeller hat tilted on its own mysterious force as he snored away. Starlight felt her heart race and ace as she looked at the adorable little colt. “Oh, Button…” She cooed at his sleeping form. She levitated him into her arms and used her own magic to lift herself up and onto the bed. She set the colt down on a fluffy pillow and watched him smile as he rolled over in his sleep exposing his belly to her. Starlight blushed, as she reached for him instinctively and rubbed his belly. His little legs kicked, his mouth curled into a blissful smile, and he purred at her touch. Starlight felt her heart melt at the adorable sight of the colt acting catlike in his sleep. She fondly remembered when she discovered this about him. Back when she revealed her true adult form to him she slept with Button once when he visited the castle with his mom, during a terrible storm. She was separated from him while they slept but she snuck into his room to spend the night with Button. She nuzzled his sleeping form, accidentally awakening him from his slumber. Button’s tired eyes looked up at her, as he scooted closer to Starlight. She wrapped her body around him and cover his rear with her tail. Button then rested his chin on her neck and nuzzled her. “Hey.” he said softly to her. Starlight kissed the colt on the cheek and nuzzled him back. “Hey yourself, you plebeian casual.” She playfully nudged him. “Hey, you bully,” Button whined rolling on his back and feigning to be hurt. Starlight rolled her eyes and pulled the young colt to her and nestled him beside her. Starlight powered down her console and put her controller on its pedestal to charge. Button watched as she did wondering if a day would ever come to where a earth pony like him could ever use magic. He was cut from this thought when he fell Starlight's tongue run against his cheek. He blushed once her realized she was grooming him. To his embarrassment she kept going despite his constant pushing, which seemed to only provoke her more. Finally he gave in and allowed her to groom him. When she finished he returned the favor and groomed her back. She ran his tongue against the inner part of her chin and then slowly he worked his way down her neck. This made the mare moan softly, purring like a kitten, as she allowed him to continued. For several minutes they exchanged grooming until finally they both grew tired and allowed themselves a moment to rest. Staying close together they laid on each other as pillows as they slowly lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep together. From outside Twilight and Button’s mom were watching the exchange along with Princess Luna and Cadence. Luna had a smug look on her face as the other two Princesses sighed along with Button’s mother. “See? We told you nothing unsavory would befall young, Mash,” Luna gloated at the other two Princesses. “Ugh, we know auntie, but we’re doing this for Starlight. I’m just glad he was able to make her feel better.” Cadence said, a hint of relief wrapped in her voice. Twilight nodded in agreement and looked at Milano, who was grinning at the two sleeping ponies beyond the door. Twilight stepped beside the mare and looked in at the sight of Button laying on Starlight rump. “They’re so cute aren’t they?” Twilight asked. “Yes, they are a match made in heaven,” Milano agreed. Her smile then hardened with worry. “I’m just worried about how society will see them. How it will see my son.” Twilight gave a reassuring rub to her back. Milano thanked her silently by grabbing the hoof and holding it. Twilight then said to her, “Don’t worry, Milano. Nothing is going to happen to your son. Starlight won’t let that happen. Trust me.” Milano sighed looking back one more time before closing the door. “It’s not that I’m worried about.” She said walking with the others down the hall. Once they were gone a ghostly figure of a pony floated out of a room with a pair of lacy pink panties with white polka dots on its head. The filly ghost giggled floating into Starlight’s room not bothering to pick up the panties that phased through her as she went through the door. A few minutes later Golden Claw, Twilight resident Griffon Guard, came upon the girly undergarment by the door while doing his rounds. He thought about the last time he dare touch the dreaded underwear of doom, and wasn’t fond of going through that again. Then again, as a guard it was his duty to report all missing objects to lost and found. Surely Thunderclap wouldn’t miss one pair of panties? He figured as he picked them up and walked off.