//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Light of Starlight // by Vixie //------------------------------// Starlight Glimmer was sitting with Sunburst when it happened. She thought nothing could stand in the way of their friendship. But apparently, she was wrong. Sunburst was gone. It was a nightmare. Now she was a loner. And without her friend to stand up for her, she was bullied even more. Usually, her and Sunburst would both be teased by being blank flanks. They were two little misfits and they wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes, the bullies took it to far and Sunburst would step in. Now, Starlight was forced to watch teary-eyed as her friend simply trotted out the door. She was ignited by rage, but she was more overcome by sadness. There wasn't any way to get him back now, to turn things the way they used to be. "Sunburst, why did you leave me?" Starlight would ask. "I thought we were inseparable..." She had no pony now, she was all alone. She thought she had lost her heart, all she could feel was numbness. Every day was monotonous. Her daily routine was set ever since Sunburst had left to that School For Gifted Unicorns. A few days after he had left, however, Starlight had been working very hard to increase her magical abilities, so that she could prove she was just as good as Sunburst. Then she would earn her cutiemark, get sent to the School For Gifted Unicorns with her friend, so that they would always be together. But Sunburst had set the bar far too high and Starlight couldn't meet the school's standards. Sunburst was being carried off to who knows where while what seemed like the entire town was following him. Starlight was about to run after them to see his voyage when a sound got her attention. There was something between her house and her neighbors'. It was about the size of herself, but it had no muzzle. Well, it seemed smaller than the usual pony's. It looked like an Earth pony, but with some stick-like things sticking out of its hooves. She noticed that the thing had different ears and no tail. It was nestled next to a dragon about the same height, but with wings. It was a rare type of dragon, that could barely be found in these parts of Equestria. She then saw that the thing was staring at her too, examining her. She took a step forward, which seemed to alert the dragon of her presence. She backed away, afraid it would lash out and attack, but instead, it nudged the creature with its tail. Starlight stayed still and silent. The thing got up on its hind legs and strode towards her, it seemed comfortable doing so. Is this even a pony? Starlight asked herself, the town was deserted, no pony else seemed to have seen this thing. "Hi." The thing said. Starlight was frozen. It can talk?! She mentally screamed, but responded shakily. "Hi... I-I'm Starlight." She introduced herself, hiding her amazement. The thing thought for a moment, trying to remember something. "I'm Leo. And this is Axel." It pointed to the dragon which was still curled in the alley. "Nice to meet you, Leo. And you too Axel." Starlight was seeming to relax as she found that the thing called Leo wasn't hostile, and its dragon wasn't as well. Starlight smiled, Leo smiled back. This was the beginning of a new friendship. *** 5 Years Later *** "Come on, you slow poke! We need to find this Ponyville library!" Starlight called out over her shoulder to Leo running behind her. "Why couldn't we go to the one in our town?!" He panted, having a hard time catching up to the enthusiastic unicorn, Axel flying overhead with ease. Some ponies stared and gasped at the sight of him, but quickly recovered from the shock. In Starlight's village, it had become normal to see Leo and Starlight walking around. "We've been studying that one for years! I've been told that there's better information in this library than in our own!" She replied, sprinting forward. "Information about what?" Leo gasped for air as Starlight finally slowed her pace, they were almost at the library. "Information on your species! Of course you've noticed all your differences from the rest of Equestria!" Starlight explained. "You are a human, I believe." "I guess so." Leo shrugged. "I never paid much attention to it, I mean, Equestria is my home, right?" "Well, yes. Of course it is. But I need to make sure you are being taken care of right, humans function differently than ponies." Starlight was like a sister to Leo, and very protective. If anyone wanted to get close to him, they'd have to go through Starlight. They stopped in front of the Golden Oaks library, which was also Twilight's home. Starlight threw the door open and entered, Leo followed close behind. Starlight wasted no time and browsed the shelves. Leo aided her in her search while Axel sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. "Umm... Starlight, you're looking in the fiction section." He said, which was correct. "Oh, and I found a book. It's called The Anatomy of Humans, by Lyra Heartstrings." He added. "So I guess we're done here." Starlight turned to leave when Twilight descended the stairs. Her eyes widened in shock, she had never seen a human before. She pushed past Starlight, almost knocking her to the ground. "Hey!" She yelped, barely regaining her balance. "A human? I've been reading up on these but I have never had the honor of seeing one so up close... So it is true! They stand on only two things that are called feet! And they have hands!" Twilight studied Leo closely, taking a look at his ears and face. Starlight intervened. "Sorry to get in the way of your research, but you need to back off!" She didn't even know Twilight, which gave her yet another reason to keep Twilight away from Leo. She stepped in front of him, holding out a hoof to block the lilac overexcited mare from Leo. "We'll be leaving now!" She cast a spell on Twilight levitated her to the other side of the room before taking off, Axel flying after them. "Who was she?" Leo asked when Starlight had ensured that the temporary freezing spell had worked. "The librarian. She's a bit of a bookworm, or so I've been told. But we better leave before the spell wears off." With that, Starlight sped ahead. "Wait up!" Leo shouted, still holding the book and running after her. There were more gasps as he darted past, following Starlight as they were about to begin the tiring trip back to their own village.