//------------------------------//
// The Wisdom of Bakers 
// Story: The Princess of Equality 
// by Summer Knight 
//------------------------------//

The bell above the door of Sugarcube Corner tinkled happily as Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Night Glider walked in. Rainbow Dash leaned in toward Night Glider. 
"Brace yourself," she warned.
"For wha—" Night Glider cut off as she was nearly knocked off her hooves by a pink blur, which soon resolved itself in Pinkie Pie hugging her tightly around the neck. 
"For that," Rainbow answered.
"Long time no see!" Pinkie exclaimed as she half-led, half-dragged Night Glider and the others to a table. "It was perfect timing too, we've got a fresh batch of blueberry muffins. They're your favorite, right?"
"Uh. Yes, actually," Night Glider answered. "How'd you know?"
"It's better not to ask," Rainbow Dash advised. "Hey Pinkie, can I get an ursa claw?" 
"Sure! How 'bout you, Twilight?"
"Just a cup of tea, please,” Twilight answered.
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie chirped. She trotted back behind the counter to prepare their orders.
Once the three were settled, Twilight turned to Night Glider.
“How have you been?” she asked. “How have things been up in the town? You know, besides... the obvious.”
“Pretty good, really,” Night Glider said. “Party Favor runs things well enough, not that there’s all that much to run. Starlight got us pretty much self-sufficient back when she was in charge, and things have been going great ever since we got our talents back.”
“Good!” Twilight replied distractedly. “That’s great to hear.”
Night Glider sighed. “Come on, Twilight, I know that’s not what you want to ask.”
Twilight pressed her face into her hooves. What did she want to ask? She already knew the answers to all of the obvious questions.
“I’m just looking for some insight,” Twilight said. “I need to get inside Starlight’s head a little, figure out what she’s thinking and how I can make this right.” 
“That’s a pretty tall—”
“Order!” Pinkie called from next to her. Pinkie set down a tray containing a blueberry muffin, an ursa claw, and a cup of strong-smelling tea with cream and sugar. “Need anything else?” 
The three ponies shook their heads.
“Great! If you need anything at all, just give a call!” With that, Pinkie pronked away to help her other customers. 
Night Glider cleared her throat. “That’s a pretty tall order, Twilight,” she continued. “It’s like I said, Starlight’s barely talked to anypony since she came back. Even when she does talk, it’s never about anything important. I mean, she was gone for a year and she’ll hardly say a word about what happened while she was away. 
“She hasn’t let anypony get close to her?” Twilight pressed. “There’s no one that she talks to, confides in?”
Night Glider shrugged. “If she has, I don’t know about it. She’s been to visit Party Favor a couple of times, and she goes to Sugar Belle’s place to eat, but otherwise she mostly stays in her house.”
Twilight sighed. She took a deep breath and a long sip of her tea to help center her thoughts. "I just don't understand—"
"Well that's your problem right there," Pinkie interrupted. Night Glider did a double-take at her sudden appearance. 
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"I just don't understand," Pinkie parroted Twilght's words back to her. "How can you fix a problem when you don't know what the problem is?"
"I... huh." Twilight was taken aback. Did she know what the problem was? In one sense it was obvious: Starlight was an alicorn, by rights a princess, and she didn't want to be. Was that really the root of the problem, though? Ascension was supposed to be the ultimate proof that a pony had fulfilled his or her destiny, but Starlight didn't want to ascend. Was it like Princess Celestia said, and Starlight had a fundamental misunderstanding of what the transformation meant? Did Twilight misunderstand what the transformation meant? Had Harmony itself made a mistake? Was that even possible?
"Hello? Equestria to Twilight," Rainbow Dash called to her. 
Twilight blinked and came back to the present. "Pinkie, you're a genius!" she exclaimed.
Pinkie giggled. "Yeah, I get that a lot."
"I thought that Starlight and I were just having a misunderstanding, and I felt terrible about it," Twilight said. "I've been trying to figure how to get her to listen to me and understand what I'm saying, but it never even occurred to me that she might be right. That's the problem I need to solve!" She stood up and held up her head for the first time in days. "Not how to bring Starlight around to my side, but to figure out why she's acting the way she is. If there's a deeper issue here, then the two of us will need to fix it together!"
Twilight's stomach growled, causing her to blush. Now that she was suddenly feeling better, the days of no appetite had caught up. "Hey, Pinkie?" she said sheepishly, "I think I'm hungry after all. May I have a daisy sandwich, please?"
While Pinkie went to get Twilight's sandwich ready, Rainbow Dash leaned across the table.
"So," she said, "I guess you'll be going up to the town after all?"
"Soon, yes," Twilight confirmed. "I plan to take the next train north."
"That was your plan before," Rainbow pointed out.
Twilight flushed again. "True, but this time there's a better... well, plan, behind the plan. Now I've got a better idea of what to do when I get there."
"The next train leaves in about two hours," Night Glider informed her. "I know because I'm planning to be on it."
"You're leaving already?" Rainbow Dash asked disappointedly. "You just got here!"
"Yeah," Night Glider answered. "I was supposed to be on my way back already, but I was glad to make this little side trip. 
"We're glad you did, too," Twilight said. 
"So, without getting into specifics," Night Glider continued, "you know what you're going to say to Starlight now?"	
"Yes," Twilight answered. "I'm going to say nothing."
"Say what?" Rainbow asked.
"Nothing, that's what she just said," Pinkie replied for Twilight. She handed Twilight a plate with a fresh daisy sandwich on it and a fresh cup of tea, though Twilight hadn't asked for it. 
"That's right," Twilight confirmed. "Talking more than I listened was how I got Starlight, and myself, into this mess in the first place. So I'm not going to say anything. Instead, I'm going to hear what Starlight Glimmer has to say."
"I think that's a way better plan than hayburgers," Night Glider said.
"Me too," Twilight agreed.




Starlight Glimmer was, if possible, even more nervous than usual as she picked her way across to Sugar Belle's bakery. Nopony seemed to be looking at her any differently than usual, so maybe her secret was still safe. Then again, everypony tended to look at her strangely anyway, so it was hard to tell. Were there more whispers following her than the day before?  
Starlight nudged open the bakery's door and stepped inside. It was late for lunch—Starlight had been too afraid to leave her house, until hunger had finally overwhelmed her nerves—and she and Sugar Belle were the only ones there. 
"Starlight! Hi!" Sugar Belle's bubbly attitude, at least, didn't seem to have changed. 
"Hi," Starlight muttered. "I'll just take my usual, please."
"Coming right up," Sugar Belle answered. As she was gathering Starlight's usual order of a cranberry muffin and tea to go, she looked around furtively. She leaned over closer to Starlight and whispered, "Aren't they uncomfortable? You know, under the vest?"
Starlight grit her teeth. "They are, yes," she grumbled. "So the sooner I get back home, the better."
"I've got a better idea," Sugar Belle replied. "Follow me." She walked toward the back of the shop.
What is this about? Starlight wondered anxiously if Sugar Belle had planned some grand reveal of her wings. Her fears only grew when Sugar Belle opened the door to her basement and light came up through it. No doubt she had every pony in the town down there, ready to spring a surprise party. Starlight nearly turned and bolted right then, but Sugar Belle beckoned her forward instead.
"It's alright," she said gently. "Come on down." 
With great trepidation, Starlight went to the top of the stairs and looked down them. To her immense relief, there was nopony down there. There was no cold, dark basement either. Sugar Belle had transformed it into a warmly lit private dining room, with a single table set in amongst the shelves of ingredients and baking supplies. 
"No one except me comes down here," Sugar Belle told her. "You can eat here anytime you like."
Starlight was stunned. "Wait, really?" she asked. "You did all this for me?"
"Of course!" Sugar Belle answered. "I'd hate to think that you have to spend all your time cooped up in that little house, or wearing that vest. Now you'll have at least one more place you can be yourself." 
"I," Starlight's voice caught in her throat, "I don't know what to say. Thank you. Thank you!" She threw her forelegs around Sugar Belle's neck. 
"You're welcome," Sugar Belle choked out. Starlight held her for a few moments longer until she awkwardly tapped Starlight's shoulder. "Uh, Starlight? I can't breathe."
"Oh! Sorry," Starlight said sheepishly. She cleared her throat and picked up her bag of food. "So I can really use this room?"
"Whenever you want!" Sugar Belle answered. "Go on, go and eat," she insisted. 
"Thank you," Starlight said again. "This... this really means a lot to me." She descended the stairs, shrugged off her vest, and sat down to the best meal she'd had in days.