//------------------------------// // 8. Starlight Doesn't Panic // Story: Starlight Over the Forest // by DwarvishPony //------------------------------// "Sunshine, sunshine. Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Starlight entered the entry hall of the castle to the sounds of giggling, having just missed Twilight and Cadence's greeting ritual. "Cadence! It's good to see you." Starlight smiled widely. "And look at Flurry, she's getting so big!" Flurry Heart had decided to entertain herself by flying just above her mother, cooing at anything that caught her attention. This of course being pretty much anything that moved, resulting in the foal looking about the room in constant wonder. "It's good to see you too, Starlight." Cadence hugged Starlight tightly with her greeting, who returned the hug with equal measure. "It's been too long. I haven't seen either of you since Flurry's Crystalling. How have you been?" For a fraction of a second, Starlight thought she caught an expression of curiosity upon the princess' face. It was gone in the blink of an eye, however, if it had been there at all. "Great!" Twilight chimed in. "Come in, make yourself comfortable. Ooh, I'm so happy you're here!" Twilight lead everypony further into the castle, wearing an excited grin. Starlight sat quietly as she listened to Twilight and Cadence catching up. They'd spent the last hour or so catching up, trading stories about Ponyville and the Crystal Empire and the goings-on of the two. She spent her time keeping Flurry Heart busy, entertaining the foal with a raggedy stuffed doll. "-so then Shining flings the door open to the barracks, wearing a towel like it's some sort of new armor, and yells 'That's no changeling, that's a kitten!'" Cadence finished her story, causing Twilight to burst into laughter. Starlight hadn't realized it, but at some point she'd tuned out the story. She forced a weak chuckle to try and make it seem like she had been listening. "So, Starlight, Twilight's been telling me you've made some new friends?" Cadence asked. "The lessons are going well?" Starlight's mouth went dry. Thankfully Twilight interjected, allowing Starlight to collect her thoughts. "The lessons are going exceedingly well. Starlight's magical training has been going even better than I expected, and in the friendship department she's been doing well, too. She's even managed to kind of win over Discord, believe it or not. Well, as well as anypony who isn't Fluttershy can." Cadence smiled brightly. "I'm glad to hear that." She said. Flurry Heart took the slight lull in conversation to start fussing, wiggling in Starlight's forelegs as she complained in her baby language. "Uh-oh," Cadence adopted her 'mom voice' as she addressed Flurry. "looks like somepony is getting sleepy." Cadence looked to Twilight. "Twilight, would you mind putting Flurry down for her nap?" Twilight leapt on the opportunity to go into 'Aunty Twilight mode' and grinned widely. "Of course!" Twilight gently levitated Flurry heart over to her and stood, walking from the dining room to go lay the foal down for her nap. Cadence watched Twilight leave, waiting a few extra moments to make sure she was gone before speaking. "So," She smiled coyly. "who is it?" "Who's what?" Starlight tilted her head in confusion. "No need to hide it, Starlight. I'm the Princess of Love. I have a sixth sense for these things." "Sixth sense for what?" "Is it Sunburst? I always thought there could be a spark there if one of you thought about it." "I don't-" "Oh, it's Big McIntosh, isn't it!?" Cadence sounded excited, though Starlight was clearly not following the line of thinking that the princess was. Cadence let out a gasp and leaned forward. "Is it Twilight?" She whispered. "Cadence, before we go further down this conversation, can you please tell me what you're talking about so we're on the same page?" Cadence blinked in surprise. She opened her mouth, only to close it again. This repeated a few times before the pink alicorn found the words she seemed to be looking for. "You really don't know what I'm talking about?" She asked, genuinely surprised. Starlight shook her head. Cadence sighed before continuing. "How should I put this?" She tapped a hoof to her chin. "You like somepony." Cadence's reveal was surprisingly blunt. Starlight snorted in laughter, covering her muzzle with a hoof. "You had me thinking it was something serious." Starlight giggled. "Although I have to say, you had me going at first. I was lost for a good moment." Cadence's face remained surprisingly serious. "You are joking, right?" Starlight's laughter died away, leaving her blinking in silence as Cadence's words worked their way back through the 'take this seriously' section of her brain. "No. No, no, nope. Nuh-uh. Wrong." "Starlight-" Cadence began. "I mean, I'm the pupil of the Princess of Friendship. I could understand falling in love with somepony if I were your student, Cadence. No offense. But I don't even think I'd be allowed to fall in love even if it were possible." "I didn't say you were in love, I said that-" Cadence's brow creased in worry. She'd seen Twilight spiral into freak-outs before, and this was how they'd all started. "I mean, sure I had fun spending time with Tree Hugger yesterday, but that was just me spending time with a friend. I mean sure, she's fun to spend time with. And she smells nice. But that doesn't mean I'm in love!" Starlight cried defiantly. "I'm not trying to say you're-" "But she does make me smile. And we're going to go watch the Agogo migration tomorrow. And she does smell nice." Starlight's pupils shrank to pinpricks. "Are we going on a date!?" Starlight struggled to catch her breath as she began to hyperventilate. "No. Nononono! I can't be- I mean, that's ridiculous! I-I have to go!" Before Cadence could get another word in edgewise, Starlight had magicked herself from the room. "I think I made a mistake." Cadence flattened her ears against her head as she bolted from the room. 'I need to find her before she pulls a Twilight-level freak-out.' "Oh, Twilight's not going to like this. I was supposed to make friends with Tree Hugger, not fall in love with her!" Starlight trotted briskly through the castle, headed nowhere in particular. "What if she gets mad? What if she says I can't be her student!?" Starlight brushed past Spike, who was currently sweeping the hallway clad in a small pink apron. "Hey, Starlight. You okay?" He called after the mare, jogging to catch up to her. "Hmm? I'm, uh, fine. Just fine. Nothing wrong here." Starlight laughed nervously. "Are you sure? You have that same face Twilight makes when she's about to freak out." Spike pointed out. "Fine! Just fine. No freaking out here. No freaking in, either. Just Starlight Glimmer going for a walk through the castle." Starlight continued, keeping her pace as she turned down another hallway. She passed by a series of doors, ignoring them as she tried thinking of a way to fix her problem. "You look like there's a problem, though. You wanna talk about it?" "Nope! Nothing to talk about as there is no problems here. Nothing at all." Starlight had a manic grin that said otherwise. Starlight froze mid-step before backing up to a particular doorway. There were books on the other side. Books organized in a way that could be called a library. Books with spells. Magic spells, at that. Magic fixed everything, right? Of course it did! Without thinking, Starlight found herself standing at a desk levitating all manner of spellbooks past her, scanning their contents frantically as she searched for something, anything, to help her. "Let's see here... Apathos would work. Maybe some Ennuimus for some extra power... And a dash of Sokolov and Piero just to be sure." Starlight's horn began to glow with magical energy as she charged the spells she read off. "Uh, Starlight. I don't think this is a good idea..." Spike warned with more than a little fear creeping into his voice. "Remember the last time you tried using magic to control things around you?" "I know what I'm doing, Spike. Besides, I'm not using magic on somepony else." A second overlay of magic engulfed Starlight's horn. "I promise this won't affect anypony who isn't willing." A third magical overlay appeared, causing Spike to squint to avoid being blinded. "I'm just gonna go get Twilight..." Spike pointed a claw out the doorway as he backed away slowly. Finally he turned and bolted away from the library. "Twilight!?" Spike yelled with urgency as the patter of his feet faded away. Starlight, in the meantime, had finished her spell. Without hesitation, she cast it. The resulting force of the spell shook the entirety of the castle.