//------------------------------//
// S6 E21: Every Little Thing She Does (What If?) 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 4 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

It was early in the morning in Ponyville, and inside the familiar confines of Twilight's castle, Twilight and Starlight were preparing for another one of their teacher/student sessions.

Starlight let out a yawn, as she and Twilight entered the castle library. "Are you sure we should be doing this so early?" She asked Twilight.

Twilight yawned but nodded. "When we fought in the past, I was shocked by how well you could match my power," She explained to Starlight. "I realized that, even if you're my student, I can't afford to start slacking off. I need somepony like you to help whip me into shape and keep me firmly on my hooves. Now then, I've prepared a full day of spells for the two of us. You've been doing great, but now it's time for a real challenge!"

Starlight felt a surge of energy wash over her as she exclaimed. "Oh-ho-ho! It is on! So, where do we begin?"

"We'll start with something relatively simple," Twilight announced. "Teleportation! Multiple locations! Try to keep up!" And she and Starlight lit up their horns! They teleported to all sorts of locations, including under water, the balcony of the castle, and even a cave full of bats.

Once the two were back in the castle library, Twilight decided it was time to move on. "Transfiguration! Keep up with me if you can!" She instructed, and she and Starlight focused their horns on a bunch of random objects, turning them into things like fruit and insects. The hard work was already proving to be a little bit taxing on Starlight, as she had to blow the smoke off her horn.

"Hope you're not slowing down already, 'cause I can still go for more!" Twilight said to Starlight. "Shields!" She effortlessly deflected a blast from Starlight, then fired off a powerful blast from her own horn, pushing hard against the shield Starlight had thrown up at the last minute. Suddenly, there was a huge magical explosion, and a blinding flash of light!

Starlight panted a little and wiped the sweat from her brows. "Whoo! I am on fire! What's next?" She asked, trying to hide how tired she was becoming. As skilled as she was at magic, she could only do so much.

"Well, maybe there is such a thing as too much studying." Twilight admitted, as a bunch of books fell down from their shelves and littered the floor.



"I guess that means practice is over, huh?" Starlight asked her teacher.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I think next time we'll need to find some place with a little less delicate materials," She then sighed. "But I guess we'd better clean up the mess we made."

"No problem, I've been working on some new spells in my spare time," Starlight smiled. "Just watch!" She lit up her horn as she said to Twilight (and Spike, who had just entered the room). "Now, speed spells like Accelero are not easy. But if done correctly, they can allow you to be much more efficient with your day." Casting the spell, Starlight zoomed around the library, quickly putting the books back on their proper shelves.

"Way to go, Starlight!" Spike cheered. "That kind of learning rivals even Twilight when she was just a unicorn!"

Starlight smiled and even laughed a bit. "Oh, but I'm not done yet. I've got something I just discovered a short while ago, and I've been itching for a chance to try it out! I've discovered a very old spell, Similo Duplexis. And when combined with Accelero in just the right way," She then split into two equal versions of herself as she said. "You can literally be in two places at once!" She returned to normal and sighed as she then said. "Now I'm finished. I must admit, I wasn't too sure that was gonna work, but it looks like I had nothing to worry about."

"Combining speed and duplication spells is quite impressive, Starlight," Twilight smiled. "I have to agree with Spike, your skills with magic really are nothing short of amazing."

"Well, I've always been something of a natural I guess." Starlight laughed, trying not to boast.

Twilight then commented. "However, it doesn't look like you've tackled any friendship lessons since you met Trixie."

That comment caused Starlight's happy mood to fade, replaced by one of worry and concern. "Are you sure? I could've sworn there were a couple in there somewhere."

"I'm absolutely sure," Twilight replied. "I know you've been busy, between Rainbow Dash's big debut as a Wonderbolt, keeping an eye on Spike while Rarity needed help with her Manehattan boutique, helping with Applejack's chores, fixing the table map, broadcasting the Applewood Derby, the changeling scare at the Crystal Empire, and of course getting turned into a damsel in distress during Guy's Night, you've been through a lot. But even so, I took you on specifically so you could learn the magic of friendship."

"Of course, how could I forget?" Starlight frowned. "Look, I'm really sorry, Twilight. I meant to schedule some friendship lessons, really I did. It's just.... well...."

"Well, what?" Twilight asked Starlight. "Is there something I should know about it?"

Starlight seemed to hesitate, as if she suddenly regretted having said anything. But she quickly shook her head and protested. "It's nothing, never mind," Quickly changing the subject she added. "So, friendship lessons huh? I'll uh... get to them soon enough. But I'm really quite busy this week. So many commitments. I'll try and find some time in my—"

Twilight teleported in front of Starlight and said to her. "No time like the present! You'll have the castle all to yourself today, because Spike and I are headed to Canterlot. Princess Celestia has asked me to give her students a quick overview on the history of enchanted objects in Equestria. We'll be back after the presentation, which should be..."

Spike looked up at the cards and notes and remarked. "A week from now?"

"Tonight," Twilight replied, pretending she hadn't heard Spike's comment. "It's going to be a quick presentation."

Spike simply muttered under his breath. "Sure, keep telling yourself that."

Twilight turned her attention to Starlight and said to her. "So it's simple, you can tackle a friendship lesson or two today, and we can review your progress when I get back later this evening. How's that sound?"

Nervously Starlight replied. "Of course! No problem! Friendship lesson... On it..."

"There's no need to be anxious, it's not like it's a pop quiz or anything," Twilight chuckled. "Think of this as a progress report so we can see how you're coming along." But Starlight didn't hear a word, she'd already left the library.





Starlight lay upon her bed in her bedroom, absent mindedly levitating some blocks with her magic while she stared up at the sky. "Should I really tell Twilight why I've so reluctant to try and do any friendship assignments on my own?" She thought to herself. "What would she say if she found out? She's the princess of friendship, and she has plenty of friends, I don't think she's ever experienced anything quite like this. Maybe I could tell Sunburst or Trixie? But Sunburst is too busy babysitting, and Trixie, well I don't really know where she is or what she's gotten up to. Would they even care, or just laugh at me for such a stupid fear?"

Just then, Starlight's thoughts were interrupted, as there came a knock on her bedroom door. This caused her to drop her blocks, and zoom over to her little desk, absent mindedly muttering to herself as she looked over a couple of hypothetical friendship assignments she could tackle.

"Hey! Twilight and I are about to head to Canterlot," Spike called, as he opened the door and entered Starlight's room. "Just checking to see if you need anything before we leave."

"Nope, not at all! I'm good here. Oh, not good – great!" Starlight protested. "Besides, shouldn't you be helping Twilight instead of fussing about your big sister?"

"Twilight can handle things on her own for a little while," Spike replied. "It's not some major crisis or dangerous mission. And I just wanted to be sure you're okay, Twilight may not always notice these things but I do. I know when someone's worried about something but doesn't want to talk about. So, what's got you acting so nervous?"

"What?! Nervous?! Me?!" Starlight insisted, and began to laugh. "Oh Spike, you truly are hilarious. You honestly think I'm worried about some friendship assignments? If I wanted to, I could probably combine five into one and get them all done at the same time."

Spike only shook his head. "You must be crazy if you think that'll work," Then he added. "Look, if you're worried about your friendship lessons, it's perfectly okay to say so. No one can help you if you won't tell anyone what's wrong, trust me I've been where you've been and I've made the same mistakes."

"Somehow I doubt you and I are on the same page," Starlight replied. "Besides, it's fine. I'll just schedule one quick friendship lesson and be done with it in plenty of time to impress Twilight. Then I'll start trying to get a pace going of one a week, assuming no big events are coming up like a town wide prank or a buckball game. Though it seems like there's always something going on in this town."

Spike sighed, he sensed that there was noway he could get through to Starlight. "Well, if you change your mind, just let me know," He said to her, and left her bedroom while he thought outloud. "And I thought Twilight was the master of the freak-out. Why do I get the feeling Starlight's going to do something crazy while my mom and I are away?"





Starlight just sat at her desk and looked over the possible friendship assignments she could tackle, even after Twilight and Spike had left. She had a really hard time deciding what she would be comfortable with, especially since most of the assignments revolved around not using magic. "Is it really such a bad thing to use what I'm good at?" Starlight thought to herself.

Suddenly, Starlight heard a bunch of noise and commotion coming from the main entrance of the castle. Curious, she left her desk and her room, and went to investigate. Much to her surprise, she saw Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and each of them were bringing something with them. Whether it be baking supplies, fabrics, or a bunch of animals.

"What are you all doing here?" Starlight asked them.

"Don't you remember, Starlight?" Rarity replied. "You invited us here to work on our friendship assignments. Though, from the looks of things, it seems you ended up scheduling too many appointments for the same day."

Starlight facehoofed upon realizing this. "Oh of course, I knew I was forgetting something!" She groaned as she said outloud. "I never meant to have all five of you meet me here on the same day at the same time!"

"Well, we're here now, sugarcube," Applejack said to Starlight. "And after all the trouble I went through gettin' all these old photographs to put in the scrapbook, I ain't about to just turn around and put 'em back. I reckon there's a good three days worth of memories to sort through."

"And many of my animal friends are really impatient," Fluttershy commented. "It wasn't easy to round them all up so you could have the best selection possible. Some of them shouldn't need too much help, Harry for example probably just needs a good neck message. But some of the others need perhaps a day's worth of attention."

"Don't forget about the cake baking!" Pinkie exclaimed, revving her legs in excitement. "We're gonna need time to get all set up since we're not going to use magic. But trust me, baking a cake is.... well, a piece of cake. I even wrote a song about it."

But before Pinkie could even utter a single syllable of her song, Starlight interrupted. "Uh, we're on something of a schedule here, no time for a song."

"Oh, but a song is hardly the least of your troubles if you're going to bake with Pinkie," Rarity replied and whispered to Starlight. "She can be a bit messy I'm afraid." As if to prove Rarity's point, Pinkie sprayed a bunch of decorative frosting into her mouth and made a face.

"I see," Starlight frowned, and asked Rarity. "So, what about you?"

"Well, since I very well can't just bring over my sewing machine and ponyquins, dress making's gonna take some time," Rarity said to Starlight. "Plus, we need to agree on what exactly we're going to design, and that could take a while."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Rainbow Dash spoke up. "You invited me here so we could learn to chillax together, but I'm gonna need to know when you're gonna have time to do it! Then I can find a proper place to set up for the most ideal chillaxing conditions."

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but it seems like you ended up taking on more friendship problems than you were prepared to handle," Fluttershy said to Starlight. "Perhaps you should send some of us home and save our problems for another day? That's what I would do."

"But who to send away?" Starlight asked. "I mean, all of you already came all this way and brought all your things. Can I really just send even one of you home? Maybe we could work something out together so that everypony benefits?"

"Perhaps," Applejack pondered. "You have somethin' in mind though? 'Cause I don't exactly think you're gonna have time to do things like chillax if you're focused on bakin' a cake or helpin' an animal."

Starlight looked around and scratched her head while trying not to hyperventilate (and failing miserably). Then suddenly an idea came to her, albiet one she wasn't entirely thrilled with. "Well, there is one way we could maybe get all this done in time for Twilight's return tonight," She then added. "But, it's very risky."

"Can't be anymore dangerous than all the threats we've faced down over the years," Rainbow Dash said boldly. "Let's hear it."

Starlight sighed. "Okay. Basically, it's a combination of spells I recently learned about. It combines Fiducia Compelus which can speed things along a little, with Cogeria so that you're more open to suggestion, and then I aid in a hint of Persuadere just to make sure it sticks," But she added. "However, I haven't had a chance to even practice this combination, let alone test it. So I don't know what will happen, in fact maybe we should just scrap the idea and try to work on each friendship lesson as best we can?"

But the five mares only said all once. "We trust you, Starlight."

"Really? You sure this is a good idea?" Starlight asked with concern.

"Heh, Twilight nearly afflicted a whole town with one of her spells once. The results were not pretty to say the least," Rarity explained. "As long as it's not a 'Want It, Need It' spell, I think we'll be okay."

"As long as that cake gets baked and all the lessons are completed, I say give it a shot!" Pinkie encouraged.

Starlight sighed and reluctantly obliged. "Alright, here goes nothing. Oh, I hope this works!" Starlight's horn began to glow, and several spirals of magic seeped out from it, forming a giant magic ball that grew and grew. Once Starlight felt it was big enough, she held it up and dove for cover as the ball burst open, casting a blinding white flash of light!





When Starlight emerged from her hiding spot, she noticed that nothing had appeared to happen. Her friends all just stood there, looking straight ahead. But a closer inspection revealed that their eyes were narrow, and swirls of magic flowed all around them. "Odd, that should've produced some kind of reaction, not total paralysis," She commented, examining each of her friends. "Hello, anypony in there?" She asked, hoping for a response, there was none.

Now Starlight began to panic! "Oh no! I should've known this was a bad idea! What I was even thinking casting a spell combination I'd never tried before?!" She zipped away to the library as she said to herself. "Oh please let there be some way to reverse this, please!"

Starlight looked through every book she could find on the three spells she'd cast, hoping to find something that could at least explain a possible way to reverse them. But she found nothing, there was no information she could find that detailed how to undo any one of the spells, let alone all three of them combined! "Oh this is bad, this is bad, this is just SO bad!" She exclaimed. "Oh, I wish Twilight was here! She'd probably know how to undo this, and probably give me a lecture for being so careless!"

Reluctantly, Starlight left the library while thinking to herself. "Well, maybe I can still find a way to make this work out somehow. Twilight's not coming back until this evening at the earliest, and hopefully she won't be delayed. But in the meantime, perhaps I can at least get my friends to start moving. I certainly can't just leave them standing there like statues, those looks they're giving freak me out."

Starlight looked at her friends again, while trying to think of how to get them to snap out of their catatonic state. "Perhaps it has something do with the way the spells were combined?" She pondered, and began to think of each spell in its individual component state. "Cogeria... Persuadere... Fiducia...Hmm," She said outloud, and a few seconds passed before it dawned on her what the problem was. "Ah! Of course! How could I forget?! Fiducia Compelus needs a trigger," Lighting up her horn and causing her eyes to glow white Starlight said in an amplified voice. "Ponies! Hear my voice and listen! You will obey my commands!" There was a magical zap, and the magical auras surrounding her friends vanished. Starlight then went to each of her friends and instructed them as follows: "Pinkie, kitchen. Rarity, Applejack, library. Fluttershy, stay here. Rainbow Dash, find somewhere inside the castle and set up a place where we can chillax. Got it?"

All five ponies nodded and set off for their respective areas. Starlight smiled a little. "Okay, maybe this won't be so bad," She thought to herself. "I'll probably get some of the friendship lessons done before Twilight gets back, and she'll be so impressed she probably won't be too upset about having to undo the spells I cast. Or who knows, maybe the spells will wear off before Twilight gets back?"





Starlight first decided to work on the cake baking with Pinkie in the kitchen, figuring that assignment would take very little actual work. "Alright, let's get to work, Pinkie!" She declared.

"Okie-dokie! What would you like to do first?" Pinkie asked, her tone sounding uninterested and void of any real emotion.

Starlight was a bit confused by this, perhaps the combination of spells was more complex than she thought. But she couldn't worry about that now, there was nothing she could to fix it. "Uh, what are we supposed to do first?" She asked Pinkie, hoping for some kind of proper response.

But Pinkie just said in the same tone as before. "Whatever you want to do first, Starlight Glimmer."

Starlight sighed, but decided it would best to just continue as planned. She opened up the book and said aloud. "Get a medium sized mixing bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and two teaspoons of vanilla," As she spoke she could've sworn she heard the sounds of Pinkie's hooves doing the assigned tasks. "Mix in flour," She added, and this time she was certain she could see Pinkie mixing the batter together in the bowl. Deciding to test her theory, Starlight memorized the next lines in the book and quickly said. "Add baking soda, salt and cinnamon!" She found that Pinkie obeyed without question, and so she shoved the cookbook in front of Pinkie and said with a smile. "Well, I think you can take it from here, Pinkie."

"Take what from where, Starlight?" Pinkie asked in that same emotionless and uninterested tone,.

"Why, the baking of course," Starlight replied, before she uncertainly added. "Uh, just keep following the instructions in the book until I get back. Okay?"

"Abso-tively, Starlight Glimmer!" Pinkie obliged. "Instruction following starting... now!" And her hooves began to perform all the tasks in the cook book at an incredibly fast pace.

"Okay, baking a cake is taken care of," Starlight said to herself as she left the kitchen. "Now let's see if sewing will be just as easy."





Starlight was on her way to the library to meet with Rarity and Applejack, but as she passed through the castle foyer, she noticed Fluttershy just standing there without any animals beside her. "Fluttershy, where are all your animal friends?" She inquired.

"They ran away." Fluttershy replied, speaking in the same emotionless tone as Pinkie Pie.

"Uh-huh, and why didn't you stop them?" Starlight asked Fluttershy.

"Because you didn't ask me to do so." Fluttershy simply replied.

Starlight sighed and groaned a bit. "Can these ponies do anything without me telling them to do so?! The spells were supposed to make them more efficient and open to suggestion, not totally compliant with my words and nothing else!" She thought, but she quickly regained her composure and said to Fluttershy. "Can you please go round up all of the animals in the castle and bring them back here to the foyer for me?"

"All of the animals. Got it." Fluttershy obeyed in her emotionless tone, and flew off.

Just then, Rainbow Dash came swooping in, which gave Starlight a chance to ask. "So, did you find a good place to chillax, Rainbow Dash?"

"Sure thing, Starlight." Rainbow replied, speaking in the same tone as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

"Great! Let me know when it's ready, okay?" Starlight asked, and under her breath she muttered. "I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

"Of course, Starlight Glimmer." Rainbow Dash obliged, zooming away before Starlight could ask for any details.





Starlight arrived in the library, and was a bit surprised to see that neither Rarity or Applejack had made any sort of progress with their expected tasks. Deciding to focus on Rarity first, Starlight approached the unicorn and asked her. "So, what did you have in mind, Rarity?"

Rarity replied in the same emotionless tone as the others. "Why, whatever you want me to have in my mind, Starlight Glimmer. I await your command."

Starlight eyed a simple checkered dress in one of Rarity's books, in her mind it seemed like it would be simple enough to do in a short amount of time. So she presented the page to Rarity and asked her. "Can you make a dress exactly like that one?"

"Just like this one?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, just like it. And let me know when it's done." Starlight instructed.

"Absolutely. It will look perfectly divine." Rarity replied in the emotionless tone, and went to get her sewing supplies.

Starlight then went over to Applejack and her collection of photos, deciding it would be best to stay in the library until Rarity was done with the dress. Looking over the photographs, Starlight exclaimed. "That's a whole lot of photos," And to Applejack she asked. "So, how do you usually organize them?"

"However you want me to organize them, Starlight." Applejack replied, her tone of voice matching that of the others afflicted by the spell combination.

"Okay," Starlight commented in an unsure tone. She pointed to a picture of Granny Smith shrugging, while a pig floated on what looked like a make-shift inner tube, and instructed to Applejack. "Tell me about this one."

Applejack began to narrate as she said. "Sweet Apple Acres, a few days ago. Granny Smith was lookin' for her favorite pie tin. She looked in the kitchen, but it wasn't there. She looked in the barn, but it wasn't there."

Starlight groaned as she protested. "I don't need every little detail, Applejack," She then instructed. "Just sum up the story in one sentence, okay?"

Applejack nodded and simply said. "Huh. Turns out that Granny Smith didn't really know how to make a pig do the backstroke."

Starlight sighed, she tried her hardest but she just couldn't feign interest in such a thing. "Uh, just put them in chronological order and you can keep giving me highlights as necessary." Starlight instructed, hoping one of the next stories might be more interesting.

Applejack nodded, and narrated while pointing from picture to picture. "Granny Smith knew she was gonna need a bigger boat," She said as she pointed to the one depicting Granny Smith appearing to be shipwrecked on a pond. "So Goldie Delicious says, 'If you can't say anythin' nice about anypony, come sit by me!'," She commented, pointing to the picture of Goldie Delicious surrounded by cats. "Big Mac knew if he just covered himself in mud, the creature wouldn't be able to see him!" She narrated, pointing to the picture of Big Macintosh coating himself in mud and hiding in the pig pen.

Starlight was quite thrilled when she heard Rarity call out. "Starlight Glimmer. I have finished the dress," But Starlight's happy mood soon faded when she saw it was just a copy of the page in the book and not an actual dress. "Isn't it gorgeous?" Rarity asked.

"What is that?" Starlight questioned, even though she knew the answer.

"You wanted me to make a dress exactly like the one in the book, and that's what I did," Rarity replied with a nod. "I await your next instructions."

Starlight sighed as she said to Rarity. "Go make a real dress out of fabric, exactly like the one in the book."

"Ah. I see. Yes, of course, Starlight Glimmer." Rarity agreed, and got out her sewing materials.

Starlight quickly added (upon seeing Rarity was making a dress for a mouse and not a pony). "Rarity! Make it bigger than the one in the book. Got it?"

"Oh, of course, darling. Bigger it is." Rarity obliged, as Starlight walked away.

"She was just a pony standin' in front of another pony askin' him to love her." Applejack narrated, not seeming to notice that Starlight was nowhere near her.





Starlight went back to the kitchen to check on Pinkie Pie, and was quite surprised to find that when she opened the door, an entire stack of cakes came crashing down on her! Forcing them aside with her magic, Starlight looked upon Pinkie, who was still making cakes, and demanded! "Pinkie, what are you doing?!"

"Following all of the instructions in the cookbook in order, Starlight Glimmer!" Pinkie replied, not taking her eyes off the cookbook.

"I meant just the one cake!" Starlight protested in frustation! "I was only gone for a couple of minutes at best!  How in Equestria did you get all of this done so fast?"

"First, I combined three eggs," Pinkie replied. "Then I-" But the rest of her sentence was reduced to random mumblings, as Starlight used her magic to silence Pinkie.

"Okay, I think the baking lesson is done," Starlight commented, before she heard a growl coming from the foyer. "Oh, what now?" She wondered outloud, and left the kitchen while still levitating Pinkie in the air. Unknowingly, she left the ovens still in the process of cooking cake!

"They can take our farm, but they can't take our freedom!" Applejack shouted in her emotionless tone of voice, as Starlight raced back to the foyer.

"What's going on?!" Starlight asked, as she saw all the animals Fluttershy had come in with huddled together and looking quite frightened.

Harry growled and pointed to Fluttershy, who was covered in bugs and spiders of all sorts. "I have gathered all of the animals like you asked to me, Starlight Glimmer." She said, not appearing to be bothered at all by any of the six and eight legged creatures crawling all over her.

This statement actually caused Starlight to drop Pinkie on the floor, at the very same moment that Rarity came into the foyer and enveloped the rug the animals were on with her magic. "Oh, yes, this will do nicely," She said to herself. "A much bigger dress, just as Starlight instructed!"

From the library Applejack cried out. "It was the best of apples, it was the worst of apples."

Starlight sighed. "Well, this isn't going at all how I hoped. And what's even worse, I think Twilight's going to be back soon. Dare I ask what else could go wrong today?"

As if to answer Starlight's question, smoke began to envelope the castle! Horrified, she asked outloud! "What's that?!" The answer to her question seemed to be a muffled response from Pinkie. Curious, Starlight brought her close and unmuffled her as she asked. "What did you just say?"

In the same emotionless tone that had been at the forefront of all her statements since being placed under the spell combination, Pinkie said to Starlight. "The cakes are burning. You left the ovens on."

Starlight shook Pinkie and dropped her back on the floor as she shouted! "We need water, now!"

"Yes, Starlight Glimmer." Rainbow replied and zipped away, she returned shortly with a bunch of dark clouds.

"Storm clouds?!" Starlight exclaimed. "That's not what I meant by water!" But she was too late to prevent the downpour! With a clap of thunder from the storm clouds, it began to rain! The rain water quickly extinguished the fire, but it also flooded the entire castle from top to bottom, until at last some of it poured out of the castle windows! The entire castle was now completely a mess!

"Big Mac always told me, 'With a whole lot of power comes a heck of a lot of responsibility.'" Applejack called, as she remarkably drifted past on a table, holding onto one of the photos (the rest of which remained on the table and had not gotten wet).

Starlight groaned. "I just had to open my big mouth!" She complained. "Twilight is going to kill me when she sees this!"

And Starlight was right, at that very moment Twilight came trotting up to the castle foyer and was completely shocked by what she saw! "What is going on here, Starlight?!" She demanded. "I leave you here for not even a day, and I come back to a disaster!"





For the rest of the day and on into the next day, Starlight said and did nothing. All the while, Spike and Twilight tried their best to at least begin to clean up the mess in the castle.

"I had no idea we had spiders in the castle!" Spike commented, as he brushed aside a spiderweb with his broom stick. "I'm never sleeping again!"

Starlight didn't react even a little to Spike's statement, she just continued to sit there with that blank look on her face, as if she'd been hit by the very spell combination she'd used on her friends.

"Hello, Starlight? You there?" Spike called, only for Starlight to remain silent and unexpressive. "Equestria to Starlight, come in!" Starlight still didn't react even a little, which made Spike very worried. "Come on, Starlight! Say something, you're really freaking me out here! Please, say something, anything, just don't sit there looking like that!" But alas, despite his best efforts Spike could not get Starlight to respond to him, so he reluctantly went back to sweeping and hoped that the unicorn would snap out of whatever state she was in soon.

Just then, Twilight entered the library, sighing as she said to herself. "I finally untangled that mess of a spell and got everypony home. It was really powerful stuff. They're sure gonna feel that in the morning," Turning to Starlight she then asked. "Now please try to explain to me how in the name of Celestia things got this out of control. I wasn't even gone for a day, and yet you nearly burned down the castle! I shouldn't need to have to foalsit you, Starlight! I should be able to trust you to manage things on your own! So just what happened?"

All Starlight could bring herself to say was. "Well, it was the first time I cast that particular spell, and I didn't fully think it through, let alone have time to practice and perfect it. It was all just a stupid mistake, and all because I didn't double check my calendar before making arrangements for all of the friendship problems."

"Ah, so that explains why you had everypony meeting you at the castle all at the same time," Twilight realized, and then seriously she added. "What made you think that casting an untested spell on your friends to make them do your bidding was even remotely a good idea? Tell me, I really need to know. Just what were you thinking?!"

Starlight sighed. "Look, I know what I did was bad. I really messed up."

"That's putting it mildly," Twilight commented, and then she added quite seriously. "Despite what you might think, Starlight, I'm not mad at you, but I am disappointed. Disappointed that I apparently couldn't trust you to manage on your own for not even a day. I thought it would be best to give you space to be yourself, especially after what happened with Trixie. And you were doing so well, I just don't understand how a friendship lesson turned into all of this. Especially not when you've managed to do so many other things on your own already."

Starlight seemed to hesitate at Twilight's remarks, it was clear her teacher was looking for an explanation into how things had gone so far south. But was it really worth telling her about the reason behind all of this? Would Twilight even believe Starlight's "excuse" made sense? 

"Well, I'm waiting. I want an explanation and I would like it sometime within the next hour or so." Twilight commented, trying not to sound too impatient.

Reluctantly, Starlight decided that she had no choice. She would have to confess, and hope that Twilight wouldn't believe she was completely lying. "Alright, I suppose I can't get away with not telling you anymore," She said to Twilight, and then sadly confessed. "The truth is, I just wasn't comfortable trying to schedule any of those friendship assignments on my own. I kept putting them off until I could find time to ask you what you wanted me to do and how should I go about it. I don't think I'm ready to be a leader on that level just yet."

Twilight seemed to be surprised at Starlight's statement. "And why is that such a problem?" She asked her student. "It's not like you haven't tackled friendship assignments on your own before, or did you forget about Sunburst and Trixie?"

"That was different, both of them were at least started under your guidance and instruction," Starlight explained. "Same goes for helping Applejack with her chores and looking after Spike, I did both of those according to your instructions. When you asked for my help I agreed to lend it. And unlike with my magic, which I can control, I don't know if I'm ready to take charge and tackle friendship lessons without your help. I mean, do we really know for sure I won't slide back into my old control freak ways? You saw how the entire conflict with Trixie happened because I never bothered to leave a note telling you where I'd be, or tell her about the dinner until the day of. And it was really Spike who encouraged me to go back to Sunburst and confess my past. If it had been up to me, I'd have probably just sulked to myself and the Crystal Empire would've frozen over completely. Both times, when it was up to me to take charge and do the right thing, I completely failed. So that's why I did what I did, because I was afraid of going back to my old ways if I was allowed to take charge of my own free will. Well, go ahead, have your laugh. Tell me how pathetic I am for having such a fear."

But Twilight only replied. "Starlight, I'm not going to laugh at you. And I wish you had told me sooner that you felt this way," She added in a soft tone. "Look, everypony makes mistakes. There things even I've done in the past that I wish I could take back that go far beyond just casting a spell on friends. But I can't take them back, I can't undo them. What's important is that you don't dwell on your mistakes and your past, it never does you any good. During that time travel fiasco, we both saw what happens when you cling to the past too hard. But not everypony has to be a leader all the time, many of us go through our lives without truly having to make important decisions affecting anyone but ourselves. But when we are faced with those exceptions, all we can do is examine our options and try to pick the best one. You may not always get it right, but it never hurts to try. Had you just told me sooner how you were feeling, we could've avoided all this trouble."

Starlight sighed. "Well, assuming there's still someway I can salvage what's left of the assignments, what should I do?" She asked Twilight.

"Well, right now, it's time for a pretty advanced friendship lesson. It's called apologizing." Twilight encouraged.

"Do you really think that after everything I did they'll be willing to forgive me?" Starlight asked Twilight. "I wouldn't blame them if they never want to speak to me again for taking advantage of them at a vulnerable moment."

Twilight simply said in a serious tone. "I'm not a mind reader, it's not my place to say whether or not they should forgive you. It's up to them to decide if you deserve forgiveness or not, all you can do is try to make the best case for yourself as to why you think you deserve to be forgiven. This is something you have to do by yourself, it's part of what friendship is all about."





Starlight reluctantly set off to find her friends, and as luck would have it they were not too far from the castle. They were at a few outside tables of a local restaurant, most of them having their manes and tails disshelved and disfigured, as they were still recovering from the events of the prior day.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of ya'll, but after that whammy Starlight put on us, I feel like I got shoved straight through the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000." Applejack groaned.

"Ugh, tell me about it," Rainbow Dash remarked. "I am so out of it, I don't think even my usual sports pampering could get me back to one hundred percent."

Rarity (who was dressed in a yellow hat and had sunglasses similar in color to her sewing glasses) commented in a hushed tone of voice. "If everypony could just speak in a whisper for the next few days, that would be most delightful. My head is thumping!"

"I was up all night calming the animals down." Fluttershy spoke up, her voice sounding tired and exhausted.

"Fluttershy, please! Not so loud." Rarity complained.

Pinkie Pie, though fairly exhausted too, was quite furious. "Starlight's spell made me burn perfectly good cake! I never burn cake!" She complained, before her face ended up impacting the table (luckly she wasn't hurt).

"Yeah, about that... Things got a little out of hoof last night." Starlight nervously commented, approaching the five mares.

"Well, ain't that the understatement of the day." Applejack remarked, glaring at Starlight.

Pinkie pounded the table as she shouted. "Tell it to the cake, sister!"

"Can we all please argue at a lower volume?" Rarity pleaded. "My poor head can't take much more of this."

Starlight tried her best to sound as sincere as possible as she said to the five mares. "I really messed up back there. I know you ultimately agreed to let me try out that spell combination on you girls, but I think you all deserve to know why I cast it. Well, as stupid as it sounds, I did it because I was afraid of trying to manage friendship lessons on my own."

"Oh is that so?! Well then, here's a little friendship for ya," Rainbow glared and then angrily shouted. "Next time, don't cast untested spells on your friends! And then don't turn around and try to make them do your biding when they can't say 'No'!"

Starlight sighed, she had expected a reaction like that. "Believe me, I know. What I did was wrong, a-and I can't take it back. You're right to be upset, and I hope one day I can make it up to you," She apologized. "I'm not asking you to forgive me or anything, I wouldn't expect you to anyway. I wish I could say more, but all I can really say is: 'I'm sorry'. Yes, I know that's not going to fix anything or magically make it all better, and if you don't ever want to hang out with me again, that's fine. For now though, I have to go clean up the castle that's still covered in wet cake batter and spider webs." And she turned to leave.

The five mares were silent for a little bit, as they considered what Starlight had said to them. After a few minutes of silent pondering, Rainbow Dash broke the silence as she commented. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that was a good apology."

"But can we truly just forgive her after all of that?" Rarity wondered. "What she made us do can't just be forgotten, even if it was unintentional on her part."

"Forgivin' her might be a bit much at the moment, but at the least we should help her clean up the mess. We're kind of responsible for it, and besides we do have some stuff we left behind last night," Applejack replied, then rushed to catch-up with Starlight as she called. "Hey, Starlight! Most of the Apple family photos are still layin' around in the wreckage. I think I'll come along and help ya hunt 'em down. With any luck, maybe I can still salvage some of 'em."

"And it's my fault those spiders and bats showed up, I was the one who disturbed their nests per your instructions," Fluttershy added, as she joined Applejack in approaching Starlight. "The least I can do is help you put them back where they belong, that way you'll know for next time."

Rarity commented. "Ah, yes, and I left some lovely fabric lying about. I should come and move it to that nice quiet library before it gets damaged anymore. Plus there's the issue of the rugs and tapestries that need repair."

Rainbow Dash sighed as she sheepishly said to Starlight. "Uh, I'll come and get those storm clouds out of the bathroom. Since you're not a pegasi you probably can't use them for showers, to say nothing of the damage the lightning might cause. Although, the lightning could be helpful with another thing, if you know what I mean."

Pinkie Pie was the last one to join, and she did so very reluctantly. "Fine! I guess somepony was technically responsible for that fire. And all the poor cakes that sacrificed their batter last night need something to honor them." She said to Starlight.

"Uh, thanks," Starlight replied to all of the mares. "So, does this mean you forgive me?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, sugarcube," Applejack cautioned in a somber tone. "For now, let's just focus on cleanin' up the castle, and see where we go from there."





Thanks to the help of all her friends, Starlight was able to clean up the castle relatively easily and in the span of just a few hours. But she could sense that even after that was accomplished, things were hardly back to normal.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused everypony," Starlight said to Twilight, as she finished sweeping the dust away with a broom. "I'd understand if you wanted to break off our teacher-student relationship and send me away. I don't think anypony's going to really trust me again anytime soon, not that I'd blame them."

Twilight sighed, as she said to Starlight. "I'm not just going to end our agreement because of one mistake on your part. We've already been through too much to let this be the end of it," However, she then added. "But, the girls and I are going to have to have a discussion about your behavior. They seem to think there's cause for concern, and after what happened last night I think I agree with them. I'll try my best to put in a good word or two for you, but I can't gurantee the girls will be willing to let me keep teaching you about friendship."

"Well, whatever they decide, I just want to say that it's been an honor to have you as a teacher. And I'm sorry if I didn't live up to the potential you probably saw in me." Starlight replied, and slipped away to her bedroom without another word.

"Are we really going to have to get rid of Starlight?" Spike asked Twilight, as the two made their way to the throne room.

"I don't know, Spike. I really don't know." Twilight commented, as she pushed open the doors to the throne room, and she and Spike took their respective seats.

"Well, no sense beatin' around the bush," Applejack bluntly said to Twilight. "You know what we need to talk about. Starlight Glimmer, and what's really best for everypony."

With a sigh, Twilight replied. "Look, I'm not going to try and defend her decision to cast that combination of ancient spells on you all. But all I can say is, are we really fit to judge her when we've all done things just as bad or even worse?"

"That's not what has us concerned, Twilight," Rarity said in a hushed tone of voice. "Even if she was somewhat reluctant to cast the spell, she still didn't hesitate to take advantage of us once the spell was cast. Rather than try to contact you for advice or even possibly send Princess Celestia or Princess Luna a letter, she tried to work the situation to benefit her. And I'm not entirely sure it was wise of you to have magic practice lessons with her, surely any of the princesses or even your brother would be better suited to the task."

"Maybe you see something we don't, Twilight," Rainbow said seriously. "We weren't there to see this 'change of heart' from her. But the fact of the matter is, she's still got issues. Issues that perhaps can't just be solved with friendship."

"It was nice of you to try, and I know you really wanted a student to teach, so that your role as a princess would have a greater purpose," Fluttershy commented. "However, maybe Starlight wasn't the right pony to take on and teach. Maybe it would've been better to turn her over to Princess Celestia. Despite what you claim, I'm sure the princess would've given Starlight a chance to make her case be heard."

"I know," Twilight said, and sighed. "But Princess Celestia took me under her wing without a second's hesitation, even when nopony would've blamed her after what happened with her previous student. I though that, perhaps I could do for Starlight what Princess Celestia ultimately did for me. Got me to move past my limitations, open up, and see the benefits of the magic of friendship that I would've been too blind to see if I still had my nose in the books all the time. After I almost couldn't solve that friendship problem with you, Fluttershy, I was starting to wonder if maybe I was truly worthy of being the Princess of Friendship. Starlight was my chance to prove that Princess Celestia's judgement wasn't misplaced. Perhaps that blinded me to seeing Starlight for who she was, and not what I wanted her to be."

"We're not saying you have to get rid of her, Twilight," Pinkie spoke up. "We're not so mean as to just turn on a pony for one mistake, even one as serious as that spell casting. But even you have to admit, Starlight's a bit more loco in the coco than the rest of us. All of us were lucky to grow up in life with at least one pony who cared about us, somepony we could consider a friend. Starlight lost her only friend at a young age, and I think it's easy to see that it drove her crazy. That's not something you can just get over. It's just like moving into a new home after you've gotten so used to your old one, the pain never truly goes away for good. Some wounds never heal no matter how much time you allow to pass. Is it really possible that friendship can fix a broken heart, or do you suppose that even friendship has its limits?"

"Since this was the first time such a problem happened, we'll let it slide with a warnin'," Applejack cautioned. "But should it happen again, or should it look like Starlight truly hasn't changed, we're probably gonna have to be forced to take action. So the only question is, are you willin' to take that risk? If not, then perhaps it might be best to get Starlight some professional help, somepony can truly decide what's best for her."

"Trust me when I say, it's not something we're comfortable with," Rarity added. "We really do hope it will never have to come to that. But we've had too many close calls already to not have a plan in case the worst case scenario does occur. In the end, it's up to you. Do you still see something in Starlight that we don't? Or do you think that maybe you're not the kind of pony who can truly give Starlight what she needs most?"

The five mares left the throne room and castle just a few seconds later, giving Twilight time to think it over. "Do you think the girls are right, Spike?" She asked. "Do you think it was wrong of me to take Starlight under my wing? Did I truly have her best interests at heart, or was I just trying to feel better about myself?"

Spike really didn't know what to say, but he had a way of sensing when Twilight was getting worked up. So he reached out a claw and lightly stroked her back as he said to his mother. "You were the one who was willing to take her even after everything she did to you and your friends. You said it yourself, you'd never seen much magical potential in a unicorn."

"I know, and that's what has me worried," Twilight explained. "I thought maybe if I just took Starlight in and trained her, I could help her learn to use that magic for good instead of evil. And I felt that just like me, all she really needed was to make some friends to learn what she'd been missing in her life. Perhaps I was wrong though, perhaps Starlight truly would've been better off turned over to the likes of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, ponies more qualified and experienced in judging if somepony is truly sorry for what they did."

"Twilight, your friends are right to be concerned, but you can't take that as a sign that what you did was wrong," Spike encouraged. "Starlight's only been living here for just over a year, and this is the first time she's truly messed up. You made an effort to reach out to her and redeem her, you have to be the one to decide if you made the right choice. For better or for worse, you have to stick by your decision, at least for now. Give it a chance, see where things go from here. You're the only one who's seen both the good and the bad of Starlight, so you're really the only one qualified to determine whether friendship is what Starlight needs."





Starlight was resting in her room, feeling quite sorry for herself, when she heard a knock on the door. "It's open." She called, not particularly caring about who might come in.

To Starlight's surprise, it was Twilight who entered the room. The expression on her face was hard to read, but she didn't seem to be very upset or angry. "Well, Starlight, I've been thinking it over," She immediately said, attracting Starlight's attention. "I know you really messed up last night, but I also know that you really are sorry for what you did. As it stands, I'm not going to revoke our teacher student relationship just yet."

Starlight was quite relieved at such a statement. "Oh, thank you, Twilight!" She happily exclaimed.

"But," Twilight added. "I can tell that perhaps I've been putting too much pressure on you. Between our magical training sessions and everything that's been happening since you moved to Ponyville, it's only natural that adding friendship assignments to the list would complicate things. So for now, I think it's best if we put your friendship studies on hold. What you need most right now, is a change of scenery. So, I've made arrangements with Princess Cadence, and you can stay in the Crystal Empire with Sunburst for a while. Then, when you are rested, refreshed, and ready, you can come back to Ponyville and we can pick up where we left off."

"I.... guess I can deal with that," Starlight nervously replied. "At least now I don't have to put up with Spike's constant teasing and jabbing, and I'm sure Sunburst will be glad to see me again."

"If he's not too busy babysitting of course." Spike teased, prompting Starlight to roll her eyes,

"So, when do I leave?" Starlight asked Twilight.

"They're not expecting you until tomorrow, you're booked on the first train to the Crystal Empire from Ponyville," Twilight explained to Starlight. "So if I were you, I'd start packing. And don't worry, we'll keep in touch through letters. Do give Princess Cadence and Shining Armor my regards when you meet them, and make sure to tell them I'll try to visit them again soon. Oh, and be sure to let me know how my favorite niece is doing, it's amazing how quickly she's growing."

"Can do, Twilight," Starlight replied with a firm nod. "And this time, I promise I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you won't, Starlight," Twilight smiled. "Now get to packing, and the girls and I will see you off at the station tomorrow." And with that, she left the room and closed the door.

Starlight sighed, and began to pack a suitcase to take with her on the train. "Never thought I'd be sad to leave this place, even just for a little while," She thought to herself. "But at least now I'll probably get a break from all the crazy things that seem to happen in this town on a weekly basis."