//------------------------------//
// Chapter 124: Shining and Starlight's Dilemmas 
// Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Everyone was excited to go to the Crystal Empire, and take part in the Crystalling. Well, all except Starlight Glimmer, but she never bothered to raise an objection. In fact, she kept quiet for the enterity of the train ride to the empire, as she thought to herself. "How am I ever going to explain the things I've done to Sunburst? He's sure to think I'm a monster."

But a big surprise awaited the group when they left the train. For as soon as they had stepped onto the platform, there was Shining Armor himself. But between the bags under his eyes, and his messy mane and tail, it looked like he'd aged years since last anyone had seen him. "Oh, I'm so glad you could all make it!" He happily exclaimed, even as his tone of voice indicated he'd probably gone a couple of nights without sleep. "Sorry if this is last minute, but sometimes you can't help it when life throws you a curve ball."

"Uh, are you sure you're all right?" Twilight asked her brother.

Shining just laughed. "Of course, never better. how silly of you to ask! Being a father is amazing! And wonderful, and amazing, and confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you'd know. You wouldn't know, I know... You know?" After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the young prince apologized. "Sorry, things have been pretty crazy since the baby arrived. Neither Cadence or I have really slept much, we're still trying to decide on a name. Right now, the best we come up with is Flurry for the first name, but it needs something to really roll off the tongue."

"Oh, of course! What was I even thinking?!" Twilight exclaimed. "You two probably need all kinds of help with the baby, especially if you're gonna hold that Crystalling today! Guess Starlight's lesson will have to wait."

Shining nodded. "I'm gonna have to agree with you on that, sis. I just don't think it's gonna be possible to do the Crystalling and help Starlight reconnect with Sunburst. Sorry, Starlight, I didn't mean to make you come all this way for nothing."

Starlight just nervously laughed and tried to play it off. "Oh, don't be ridiculous. You couldn't have known."

"Maybe, but I just wish there was some way we could do both. I'd like to help, but something tells me my new niece is gonna be quite the hoofful." Twilight commented.

"Well, actually, maybe there is a way to tackle the lesson!" Spike suggested, holding up a scroll. "The details are already written down here on this list! So now all Starlight and I have to do is follow it! I can do that, no problem!"

Starlight put a hoof to her face, as Twilight smiled at the dragon and praised him. "Spike, you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that?!"

Starlight laughed nervously as she commented. "Yeah, Spike," Then, gritting her teeth, she muttered under her breath, "Genius." And in the back of her mind, she was thinking. "I wish you had a cutie mark, so I could take it away!"

"Good, then it's all settled," Shining smiled. "Spike and Starlight, you go to see Sunburst, and give him my regards. I'm sure he'll be quite happy to see you both. And for the rest of you, follow me if you want to get your first glance at baby Flurry." And with that, despite some hesitations from Starlight, the group split up.





Once he and Starlight were alone in the streets of the empire, Spike took the time to talk to the unicorn. "You should've spoken up back there, you know. I can tell you're not looking forward to this, but no way was I gonna let you weasel your way out of your lesson just because you don't wanna tell anypony what you're thinking," He then added. "I get it, Sunburst was a big part of your life. He's at least part of the reason why you became the mare you are today. But sooner or later, he's bound to hear the truth. Better if he hears it from you."

"You're sure you're not doing this just to spite me?" Starlight questioned.

"And why would I do that?" Spike innocently asked. "Come on, Starlight, have a little faith in others. That's what ponies mean by 'The Magic of Friendship'. Now then, according to the list, Sunburst's house is—"

But Starlight interrupted, pointing to what appeared to be a giant crystal statue of Spike, holding up some kind of heart (also made of crystal). "Hey, i-is that... you?"

Spike looked at the statue for a second, then nodded and said. "Yup, it sure is. Marvelous, isn't it? Now then, Sunburst's house should be-"

"Why is there a statue of you in the Crystal Empire?" Starlight asked, desperate for a distraction.

To Starlight's surprise, a ruby coated crystal earth pony cried out. "Because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved all of us from the wrath of King Sombra!"

"And then he saved us all again during the Equestria Games!" An amber coated crystal pegasus added.

Starlight was amazed by these revelations, and she knew right then and there that she'd found her distraction. "Spike, why didn't you tell me about this sooner?! I had no idea!" She asked.

Spike played it off. "Oh, it's no big deal, really."

"It most certainly is! You've saved us all, and we're forever in your debt!" The crystal ponies replied.

Taking full advantage of this situation, Starlight snatched up the scroll and announced quite clearly. "That's it! We're not going anywhere until I get the whole story!" She brought up a stool for Spike to sit on, then a lounge chair for her to relax in with a bucket of popcorn. Part of her felt pretty bad for tricking Spike like this, but she pushed it aside. "I just need to keep him distracted long enough for him to forget the lesson, that's all. It's not like I'm brainwashing him or anything, and what's wrong with a little knowledge?" She innocently thought to herself.





Meanwhile, Shining Armor had led his friends and his sister right to the castle, and now they were standing just outside the door of the castle nursery. It was now that Shining remembered something he'd meant to bring up sooner. "Wait a moment, guys!" He cautioned. "Uh, before you go in there and take a look at the baby, there's... something you should know about her. In fact, seeing Flurry might be a bit of a shock."

"I don't see how, it's just a baby. Just like when it happened with the Cakes," Rainbow Dash commented. "We were all there to see that, we've been down this road before."

"Even so, it's not going to be exactly like the last time. There's something you need to be aware of." Shining advised.

But Twilight and the others payed Shining's comments no mind, they merely trotted into the nursery of their own free will. "Relax, brother, I've met and dealt with babies before. You forget, I had to practically raise Spike from the day he was hatched, and that was when he was really a baby dragon. I don't think this one will be any different," Twilight smiled. "Now, where's Flurry? I just know she's gonna want to see her Auntie Twily."

However, when all gathered round the crib to look at the new baby, they were shocked at what they saw! Staring back at them, was a baby with a coat of almost snow white with only a faint tinge of light grayish-pink, a curly mane and tail consisting of two shades of purplish-pink and arctic blue highlights, and big, light opal colored eyes. But said baby had both a horn and wings!

"The baby's an alicorn?!" Twilight exclaimed with surprise.

"Well... I guess that makes sense if you think about it," Fancy Pants commented after a minute. "Both her parents were alicorns, so the odds were in favor of being one. I'd say it'd be more of a shock if she wasn't an alicorn."

"Maybe, but she's a natural born alicorn," Shining replied, bringing up a fact that most ponies hadn't yet considered. "Cadence and I weren't born alicorns, we had to ascend to that level. Cadence was a pegasus originally, and I a unicorn. A natural born alicorn though, that's power on an entirely different level!"





"...and that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the Empire." Spike narrated. By now, he'd attracted quite the crowd.

The crystal ponies clapped and cheered, shouting praises such as: "We love you, Spike!" and "Yeah. Tell us the one about the Equestria Games!"

But Spike just said to them. "Well, as much as I love reliving my heroic deeds, Starlight and I have an important lesson to do, by order of the very Prince of Friendship."

"Aw, come on, Spike!" Starlight complained, as the crowd dispersed. "I wanted to hear about the games too!"

"Plenty of time to ask about them after we do the lesson!" Spike protested, pushing Starlight along. "The more you put this off, the worse you're gonna make this for the both of us. You've gotta face your fears, not run from them. It even says so in the lesson plan."

"Figures, Shining Armor and his sister really do think of everything!" Starlight mentally groaned, as she tried in vain to resist Spike's shoves.

In a matter of mere minutes, Starlight arrived at Sunburst's house, which (unsurprisingly) was in the shape of a wizard's hat. And before Starlight could even think of trying to run away, Spike had already pushed her up to the front doorstep and knocked on it for her.

The door slowly creaked open just a bit, enough for Starlight to make out the familiar orange coat and dark blue eyes of Sunburst. And now, she could see that his mane and tail were a lot less styled than they'd been the last time she'd seen him. "Sunburst? Is that really you?" She asked, barely resisting the urge to facehoof at such a stupid question.

"Yes, it's me," Sunburst replied rather briefly. "Uh, what can I do for you? Oh wait, are you here because of Prince Shining Armor? He told me I should be expecting company."

Starlight nervously laughed. "Guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? Yes, I'm here. It's really me, Starlight. We used to be friends, remember?"

"Huh? Oh, of course, S-Starlight!" Sunburst realized. "I was about to say 'you seem familiar.' Well, it's certainly been a long time! What, uh, what have you been up to all these years?"

Starlight gulped, she hadn't expected Sunburst to put her on the spot like that! "Me? Oh! You know, just some of this, and some of that, different... stuff," She vaguely told him. "Right now though, I'm sort of Shining Armor's new pupil."

"Ah yes, I heard him that briefly," Sunburst nodded. "I guess if I'd been paying more attention, I'd have heard your name come up. So, why did he send you here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"He just sort of... thought I should stop by and say hi, and maybe we could reconnect a little," Starlight commented, scratching the back of her neck with a hoof. Technically, that was true, but it wasn't the whole truth. "I mean, I know you're probably very busy now, so I shan't be long."

"Busy? Whatever do you mean, Starlight?" Sunburst asked in confusion. Was it Starlight's imagination, or did Sunburst appear to be just as nervous about this meeting as she was?

"Well, I kind of figured that after magic school, you'd go on to do important wizard work, but..." Starlight began.

But Sunburst hastily interrupted. "Oh. Y-Yes! Uh, y-yes, that's me, yup. Mr. Big, Important Wizard! You know me, really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff. But um... it was nice to see you again, bye." And with that, Sunburst shut the door in Starlight's face.





Starlight found the whole thing odd, but she wasn't going to question this turn of events. Shining had wanted her to reconnect with Sunburst, but he'd never said a thing about if Sunburst was available to do so. "Well, I guess that's that! Let's go meet back up with the others!" She said rather enthusiastically.

Spike wouldn't let her. "Starlight, come on! We have to at least explain what Shining wants! Quit making this so difficult on the both of us! Just get in there and talk to him for a while!"

With a groan, Starlight obliged. She knocked on the door, and it opened once again, this time much wider. Taking that as an invitation to come inside, Starlight and Spike did so without much hesitation. All the same, Starlight was still very unsure of the whole situation. "I know he and Shining are friends now, but how much does he really know about me? Oh, I hope Shining hasn't already told him about my past!" She thought hopefully to herself.