With a beep of the timer, Martha pulled out some of the delicious treats from the oven. Martha and Dante both were pretty happy for their son, and as some bit of commemoration (and possibly because Pinkie Pie insisted it), them, Steven, Sadie, Pinkie, Rarity, and even the Cool Kids decided to give Lars Barriga a little bit of a surprise. And since he wasn't home yet, they got more than enough time to get this all worked out.
"Oh, they smell simply divine, Mrs. Barriga. I know Lars would love these," Rarity said, sniffing the freshly baked pineapple upside-down cake.
"It's Lars's favorite. Oh, I can't wait to see his face when he sees his surprise," Martha said, very excited herself. Suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped into frame.
"Me neither! Oh, I feel so nervexcited! It's like you wanna jump up and down and yell "YAY ME!!" But you also wanna curl up in a teeny-tiny ball and hide at the same time!" Pinkie said, acting out the motions as she explained them. They weren't sure if that was the right word, but excitement surely was there.
"I know! I've heard he's been doing a lot better since we got back," Steven said.
"Yeah, it's like he's a completely new person. Well, technically he kinda is, but he showed me his report card just yesterday: all classes Bs and Cs," Sadie explained.
"And he's been killin' it with us too. Before he's been hiding in a shell all the time. But now here he is playing basketball with us," Sour Cream said, adding some icing on the cake for them.
"REALLY?! Pinkie Pie's psyched!" Pinkie beamed, hardly able to stay still.
"Buck is pleased," Buck simply smiled. And in a way, they all were with Lars. Hard to believe that weeks ago he wouldn't remotely bother with any of this. It really did sound like he had changed into someone completely new. Steven took a glance off outside the front window, and soon he too got a bit excited.
"He's coming!" Steven called.
What good timing to get this all planned. With the cake ready to go, everyone quickly hid off out of sight for Lars to come on inside. Everyone was quiet and waited for Lars to come in. Not a word was said, and the only sound was Pinkie Pie's hooves tapping the ground in anticipation. They waited for a bit, and they started to hear the door creaking open ...
"SURPRI - uhhh."
"Wooooow," said Buck.
"Oh my," added Rarity.
Off guard. Lars did get home, yes, but he looked worn out. His hair was messy, his backpack a bit heavy, and it looked like he ran a marathon or something. It was to the point where he wasn't even fazed by seeing everyone there, and he just walked into the kitchen, had a seat by the table, and slammed his head down, groaning.
... Well that happened.
"... Surprise?" Pinkie asked. Lars just groaned again. Rarity went over to him.
"Eh, Lars, darling. Hehehe ... is everything okay?" Rarity asked. Lars did speak, but with his head still on the counter, it just came out a grumbles and mumbles, something many of them couldn't get. Rarity used her magic to get Lars's head aimed up, his chin now resting on the table. He looked just tired, if anything.
"Uh, one more time?" Rarity asked.
"I said I don't want to talk about it," Lars groaned again, not even looking up to the unicorn.
"You look a bit worn out, son. You sure everything okay?" Dante asked.
"It's just been a long day. ... Is that cake?" Lars asked after the smell caught up to him.
"It's Pineapple upside-down cake, you're super-duper-special favorite! We even added some super yummy strawberry icing on top," Pinkie Pie explained, cheery and happy as ever. The smell of it did perk him up a little bit, but even with his favorite cake now in front of him, it didn't really help his situation all much.
"What's the occasion? It's not my birthday," Lars questioned.
"We just wanted to congratulate you on how much you've out into everything lately. We were told you've done so much better at school, and been making new friends," Martha said. Lars just sighed.
"SO we decided - Well, I've decided - to throw you think super surprise party!" Pinkie added in.
"That's nice. Thanks," Lars sighed, taking his fork and starting to eat the cake given to him. Sadie and Steven glanced to eachother before they went over to him.
"Anything new at school?" Steven asked.
"Hmm ... well, not much. It's calmed down finally. I can go through the halls without feeling like a celebrity," Lars stated, taking bites out of his slice of cake. Sure it tasted great, but he was just a bit tired from today, and it clearly showed. This really wasn't what they've been seeing lately, and more closer to what they saw before his big adventure. What triggered this to come back? Lars stretched a little bit, almost like he was sore from something.
"Thanks for the cake. Now, I need to take a nap," Lars said, as he walked off with his half-eaten cake on the table, as he went on upstairs. Ok, NOW something was wrong.
Lars didn't really say much word when he got up to his room. He didn't want to bug anyone yet, but then again, he had gone through quite a day already. First thing he did was toss his backpack onto his bed and sit on his bed. Being pink was quite a change for him, sure, but all the same, as he looked to his arm, he knew it was a very big one. He pressed his fingers onto his arm, letting the pressure push into his skin, but as it faded, it just faded back to pink. He simply laid there on his bed for a bit, and by the time they got to him he was sprawled out, his pillow over his face as if trying to make the day pass by quicker. It was just Steven, Sadie, and Pinkie for the moment, and the three went on in, Sadie knocking on the door.
"What now?" Lars groaned from under the pillow.
"Lars, it's us, you can tell us what's wrong if there's something bothering you," Sadie reassured him. Steven nodded in agreement on the statement, but Lars didn't pull the pillow off his head. That privilege was done by Pinkie Pie, tossing it off towards his TV.
"Come on, Mr. grumpy! turn that frown upside-down, like this," Pinkie insisted, her frown being turned upside down by her hooves because Pinkie logic. Oh if only it were that simple. Lars simply sat up.
"You really want to know?" Lars asked. They all nodded and waited for him to speak. For Lars, he got up to his feet, took a deep breath, and ...
"Hey there Twinkle toes, nice statement your doing! Hey, the cotton candy machine's down the hall! I heard some clowns need a backup, why don't you go down and give em a laugh?!" Lars kept saying these things with a big smile on his face, pointing one way or acting like some surprised boy. Then the smile dropped. "... Getting it yet?"
"Eh, sorry, but there's no clowns around here. Maybe if you try -" Pinkie Pie stopped when Lars groaned again.
"I got mocked all day! There, you happy?" Lars snapped, before falling back onto his bed again.
"What?! Lars, that's awful!" Steven gasped.
"You're telling me. And the worst part of it: I can't change this."
"Your super pink skin? Being pink isn't that bad! Look at me! I'm pink as the pinkiest pink pale pink rose, and everypony loves me for it! ... Oh, that and my super party skills," Pinkie insisted. Lars then went on to take off his shirt to present his pink torso to them.
"Guys, look at me: my skin is pink from head to toe, my hair looks like cotton candy, and I got a cut over my eye since we last left that Space Station. Only one of those things no one can make fun of. How am I supposed to go through school everyday dealing with that?" Lars explained.
"It can't be that bad. Sure they've made some funny comments about you, but words can't hurt that much," Steven said.
"First of all, they weren't funny. And second," he said as he went into his backpack, "Look what I found in my locker after lunch!" And what Lars did pull out was actually a large pair of clown shoes. That, accompanied by a clown nose. Sure mockery was something that, let's be honest, was gonna happen, but this was stretching it. Pinkie though was fascinated by those shoes, and plucked them out of Lars's hand.
"OOOOOO! Clown shoes! I always wanted a pair of clown shoes!" Pinkie said, quickly getting them on, and doing a few tap-dance steps before getting into a pose with them. Well, it made one pony happy.
"Eh, you can keep them. I don't need anymore reminders sitting by my bed," Lars said.
"Don't worry Lars, we'll work this out. Now, who's bothering you?" Steven asked.
"Steven, Sadie, Pinkie. I know it matters to you, but really, I don't know how many of your friendship lectures and lessons are gonna get around this one. Human beings just aren't bred to be pink - I stand out too much. ... Unless ..." Lars paused and took a look to Steven, the gears working in his head. However, Steven knew where this was going and shook his head.
"Eh, I barely know how this "bringing you back to life" thing even works. Sorry," Steven said meekly. Lars snapped his finger at his idea being shot down.
"Dang it. But yeah, it would probably kill me anyway," Lars admitted, resting his chin on his hand as he tried to think.
"Lars, you can handle this. You just went through a Gem Space Station to save your friend for crying out loud!" Sadie said.
"AND I got killed by White Diamond. Remember?" Lars reminded dryly.
"Oh. Well besides that, you did great!" Sadie replied, two thumbs up for effort. Lars laid back down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"I know, but the rest of the world's not Beach city. Or Equestria. You all like it because you're fine with it. I mean, Steven, you've been jumping back and forth between us and Ponies for years now. I mean, come on!"
"Touché."
"I don't know guys. Maybe I just need a break from all this ... attention," Lars said, looking down to his feet.
Three. Two. One.
"GAAAAAAHHHHH?!"
"... Uh. Yes, Pinkie? What's up?" Steven asked. Pinkie gave a smug grin and nudged Steven.
"I think you know what's up," Pinkie said with a wink. Steven tried to think but when Pinkie stood up on her hind legs, front hooves wide open in presentation, Steven suddenly got it, fist landing in his palm on realization.
"Got it! Lars, you should take a vacation in Equestria!"
"Well, I was gonna say have us play apart of a circus group, but that's even better!" Pinkie said.
"WHAT?!" Lars gasped, stumbling off the bed. He popped back up, looking across the bed to them. "Equestria?! But that's a world away, I got school to do, I can't just jump out like that!"
"Really? Because I recall a Lars who'd be willing to take a break anytime," Sadie said with a smirk, thinking about it.
"Well that Lars didn't turn pink and actually had a second chance at life, Sadie!"
"It'll just be a few days, Lars. Come on, think about it. Equestria: A land of magic and wonder, magic as far as the eye could see. Nopony's gonna judge you for looking pink, far from it. I can't think of anywhere better!" Steven said. Well after that explanation, it sure sounded like a pretty snazzy idea at the end of the day.
"... Well, when you put it that way ... Ah, alright. I didn't plan anything for this weekend anyway."
"YES!" Pinkie and Steven said, both giving a high-five to eachother. Well, it was a plan: Lars getting a vacation in the land of ponies.
Course, they had to find Peridot first.
.......
"Ok, ok ... So uh Twilight. I know we've been working on this friendship thing for a long time. Er, well, ok, a little bit, but I don't think I should meet Sunburst ... at all? ... UGH, no, that's too blunt. Ahem ... Twilight, I don't know if
Sunburst will appreciate my wickedness ... NO, that's just stupid. True, but stupid."
"Uh, Starlight? You know you're talking to a mirror, right?"
Back at Twilight's tower, things had been a little bit edgy as of late. Since she had been told about Sunburst, and chat from Jasper, Starlight had been trying to figure out how to get this problem out properly. Spike had caught her in her room, basically talking to herself through a mirror.
"Oh, hi Spike."
"Still worried over Sunburst huh?" Spike assumed. The dragon was right on the nose with that one, Starlight recoiling a little.
"Well ... can you blame me? I mean, it's been so long, and we've both changed so much. ... Well, I've changed for the worse," Starlight admitted sadly, glancing back to her Cutie Mark.
"You don't know that really. I mean, for all we know, he could've turned evil and started turning Ponies into some Cutie-Markless horses too," Spike said. However, Starlight's shock and worry only grew on that.
"Eh ... Wrong thing?"
"Wrong thing."
"Oh, oops. Ok, look, you should talk to Twilight about it. I'm sure she'd want to hear what you have to say."
"I know, and I know she wants me to see him but, that's the problem: I don't feel like I should meet him again, but I don't want Twilight to think I'm ditching out on any of her lessons, or not appreciate what she's doing." Starlight turned back to the mirror. She wanted to figure this out, but she didn't want to say it like she was being selfish and only selfish ... though that was exactly how she was feeling right now.
"Spike! Spike, where're you?!"
"Oh, for Celestia's sake," Starlight groaned, and before she even knew it, Twilight found Spike in Starlight's room. The alicorn princess looked pretty excited about something, though neither of them knew exactly what.
"Oh, hi Twilight. What's up?" Starlight asked.
"Great Starlight, you're here too! Listen: I just got an invitation from the Crystal Empire this morning, and they want me to come by for a visit," Twilight explained, as she levitated the invitation for them both to see. Spike held the letter, which was shaped like a pink snowflake, with the written out message right on the item itself. Spike and Starlight knew this was purely Crystal Empire messaging with this sort of thing. After some thinking, this could only mean one thing ...
"Well, this settles it! Since we're going to the Crystal Empire, your next friendship lesson is going to be... reuniting with Sunburst!"
And he just so happened to be living at the Crystal Empire ...
"Great ..."
~~~~~~
Oh, what fate can do to get the group together, huh? As Twilight, Starlight, and spike were off on their own way towards to the Crystal Empire, one group had already arrived: Pinkie, Rarity, Sadie, Steven, and Lars (with Peridot's help), decided to check out the Crystal Empire too. Steven himself hadn't seen much of the place since he last visited it years ago, and as before, it was just as pretty and lively as ever.
"Wow, talk about a impression. Do the other Gems know about this?" Lars asked, looking around with amazement.
"They've took some time to stop by a long time ago. Oh, doesn't this place look beautiful?" Rarity said, sounding almost giddy. It'd been a while since the unicorn had stopped by herself. For Lars though, looking around, he did see plenty of the Crystal Ponies going about their day, though many of them in their own way didn't bother with Lars as much as the humans did back home. Sure some ponies did see him, but they mainly just did a hello with a smile, and nothing too extravagant beyond that. As they went along, Lars actually began to relax a bit.
"It kinda does actually. Didn't know ponies came in uh ... crystal," Lars stated, seeing a few fillies galloping by.
"It's only the Crystal Ponies, but this one time we became very sparkly after we defeated King Sombra and renewed the Crystal Heart. Everything looked so sparkly and pretty," Pinkie explained, hopping next to Lars.
"A part of me still wishes it wasn't temporary," Rarity added, remembering just how extravagant she looked with a crystalline shine to her mane, tail, and fur.
"Eh, I think I'm good the way I am thanks. I'm already pink, I don't think I need to turn into crystals," Lars commented, imagining a similar texture to his own skin. If being pink gave him a ton of attention, he could only wonder just how big he would be if his skin shined off the sun like the most expensive diamond.
"So, let's see where we can go first. Any suggestions?" Sadie asked. Steven thought it over a little bit, looking around the Crystal Empire. It was memory lane for him, but he wasn't too familiar with the place. As they kept going, then they began to take sight of a particular crystalline building off down the road. colored a lovely sapphire blue, the building was decorated with plenty of hearts on it to specify it from other buildings. Rarity perked up on seeing the building in question, and trotted on ahead to it.
"Oh, the Crystal Spa! It's been far too long."
"A spa, Rarity?" Steven asked. Rarity nodded.
"Absolutely. You want to feel relaxed, don't you? Nothing better than a spa treatment, if I do say so myself," Rarity said. she had a point. That, and Lars did want to try and relax a bit, so it was a trip into the spa for them. So, the group began to head on inside, and sure enough they got a good taste of this Crystal Spa just from view alone. The spa had its necessities much like the spa back in Ponyville, but everything had a sort of crystal flair to it. This included a skylight at the center, held by two crystalline arches, along with a few diamond lights hung from the ceiling. Rarity felt all giddy for being here.
"Just look at all of this: doesn't it just look as divine as ever?" Rarity gasped, eyes sparkling. One of the crystal ponies working there went over to them.
"We just got it shined up just yesterday. So, this is a five-pony party?" the pony asked.
"Two pony and three human please," Pinkie corrected. The crystal pony took a look to the trio of humans off nearby, a little perplexed but not too much.
"Humans, huh? I've heard rumors of such creatures from Princess Cadance during her monthly visits. Is it true you three are from another world?" the Crystal Pony asked. Lars began to feel that it might end up being a ton of questions again, but Steven and Sadie had it covered.
"Yeah, that's right, we're here on holiday," Sadie said. The Crystal Pony nodded.
"You've all came to the right place for relaxation. So what'll it be? Crystalline massage? Hot towel treatment? Our Crystal mud bath perhaps?" the third option actually had a presentation, the Crystal Pony raising a hoof to present one of the baths. The bath itself didn't look like mud, and more like green bubbling goo, a Crystal Pony already walking out with her coat glistening in the light. Lars and Sadie glanced to eachother and blushed slightly.
"Eh, maybe a crystalline massage," Sadie suggested. Pinkie though already had a option in mind.
"GERONIMO!" Pinkie shouted, finding a rope from ... well, nowhere, and doing a Tarzan swing right into the bubbling goo. It was surely not mud, the whole thing jiggling more like Jello as Pinkie sank into it, enjoying the comforting "mud" on her fur.
"Guess she found what she wanted," Steven said.
.......
"Oh, that's nice."
For the next few minutes, it was relaxation for all of them in their own way. Lars decided to try the Crystalline massage treatment, and he had to say, these Crystal Ponies knew what they were doing. Sure they were using hooves instead of fingers, but he had felt more relaxed than he had in a while. The others had a bit of a mix of mud path and hot towel treatment, which at the moment included a steam bath in the next room.
"Feeling better?"
"Oh yeah. You Ponies are top notch," Lars complimented, a thumbs up as they continued. Eventually, the massage ended and it was on to the next thing. Lars felt so relaxed in his muscles, and he took a moment and flipped over onto the table, fully relaxed. It wasn't exactly a seat for the heat lamps off nearby, but Lars needed a minute to fully appreciate this relaxation.
"Anything else you want to experience with, Barriga?" asked a Crystal Pony. Lars felt pretty good with it though, going to get his clothes and ready to change his attire.
"I'm all set, thanks. Oh, that's the best massage I got ever," Lars said, getting himself dressed.
"We appreciate your stay. Do come again," the Crystal Pony said. If they were this good, odds were he would come back if he needed to chillax. It'll still be a while for the others to get finished with their own little bit of relaxation, so he decided to take a step outside to cool off. The relaxation was nice and all, but it got hot in their after a while, and he wanted to take in the sights around them anyway. Lars rested his back against the spa wall, much of the crystalline beauty pretty captivating for him.
"Boy, and here I thought they did a lot back home. Did the Gems make this place? It would explain the "crystal" theme everywhere," Lars thought. With that in mind though, he started to see the various Crystal Ponies going around. Were they another type of pony? They sure looked like it, but still -
"EEEE! OH MY STARS!"
"What the - AH!"
It kinda happened out of nowhere, but all of a sudden Lars Barriga found himself in the grip of someone else. Lars needed a minute to contemplate what the heck happened to him, finding that he was actually being lifted off the ground, hands gripping him by the sides as the newcomer looked to him with a twinkle in her eye and a very eager grin on her face. Not exactly Pinkie Pie levels of excitement, but a pretty close second, and just like the pink mare, this girl caught Lars completely by surprise, as not only did he not meet her before, but she wasn't a pony either.
"Uh ..."
"A human? In PINK?! This is so sweet, I didn't know Humans came in pink! My very own pink human being!" she beamed, hugging him tightly. Lars cringed on the hug, feeling like he would pop if she hugged any tighter.
"Uh, yeah, who're you?"
"This is HUGE! ... I gotta show everybody," she said in a hushed yet excited voice. Excited, she suddenly lifted Lars over her head, Lars at first thinking she was gonna throw him, but instead she took off running with him, giggling all the while as Lars was powerless to stop her.
What a time for the rest to come back out.
"Okie-dokie-lokie Lars, where do you wanna go off to now? ... Lars? ..."
~~~~~~
While they were at the spa, Starlight and Spike had just got themselves around another street corner of the Crystal empire. them and Twilight had arrived not too long ago, literally a few minutes ago, and with Twilight already gone and flying off to the Crystal Empire for the main visit, Starlight and Spike were going along through the empire to find Sunburst. Spike had a full list at the ready for her, it so big it was dragging on the ground behind them, and Starlight was a bit more humbled than anything. Seeing her old friend again, after so long too.
"I know you're a little worried about this reunion, but I'm sure Twilight's got everything covered," Spike said, presenting the list.
"Everything except how I'd rather do absolutely anything else," Starlight sighed.
"Oh, I bet she's taken that into account too. It's all part of the lesson. Trust the lesson."
"Right ..."
"Besides, this isn't new for you that much. I mean, what about Bill Dewey? I heard you two hit it off."
"First off, he's a human from a completely different world, and two, he didn't know me from when he was a kid like ... well, you know."
"What's the difference? Everything will be fine, just give it a chance," Spike insisted. Oh, if only it were that simple. Starlight needed to think of something to do, something to get her mind off of one little thing and do something else. In their walk, she was so distracted by her thoughts, she ended up walking into one of the statues around the empire. THIS one in particular showed a specific dragon holding a Crystal Heart on one claw, in a hero's position as if presenting the heart in claw.
"Wait ... Is that ... you?" Starlight questioned, a little more than confused. Looking at this and comparing it though, the unicorn then got an idea.
"Oh yep, it sure is. now let's see, Sunburst's house is -"
"Why is there a statue of you in the Crystal Empire?"
"Because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved all of us from King Sombra!" a Crystal Pony suddenly said, overhearing the conversation. Starlight stepped back, but it was something that could help her out here. She trotted on over to the dragon in question.
"Um, when were you going to tell me about this?" Starlight questioned. Spike though was a little bit humble about this, brushing it off.
"Eh, it's no big deal."
"It certainly is!" a Crystal Pony said. Starlight reached her conclusion, her magic pulling in both a recliner chair and a bit of popcorn (from where, who knows?)
"That's it! We're not going anywhere until I get the whole story!"
.......
"And that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the Empire!"
At the end of Spike's story, the crowd of Crystal Ponies clapped and cheered for their hero, Starlight Glimmer pretty happy with the deal herself, mainly because it was keeping her away from the problem, and getting some information to both, either way, Spike knew his role today when he took another look at the list by his side.
"As much as I like reliving my heroic deeds, me and Starlight have a very important lesson to do, by orders of the Princess Twilight," Spike then said. This did bump out some of the more younger ponies of the crowd, but they knew when a hero was needed, so they didn't bug him further. Well, with the exception of an autograph-wanting young filly, with his picture.
"Come on, Spike, there's got to be more to that. Sure you got every detail?" Starlight asked. Spike was a bit smarter than that.
"I know you're nervous, and so does Twilight, but it says right in step 3, to, uh, "Deal with your fears by facing them, not by putting it off."
Spike was as ready as he'll ever be, and Starlight reluctantly had to agree. She tossed the popcorn aside and got off her chair.
"Let's get this over with," she sighed.
not the most enthusiastic agreement, but Starlight really couldn't get out of this one no matter how long she stalled it for. So, she and Spike started to go along their way to their destination, as much as Starlight didn't want to. It took a few minutes to figure out where the house was, but eventually they began to see a particular place of interest. A more sea green crystalline house, with an orange crystalline rooftop. Considering many of the houses were the same, this would be the place whether she missed it or not. Spike kept close behind, and Starlight began to go right up to the door. Starlight gulped, and took one more look back to Spike, who was giving her a double thumbs up and a smile.
"Here it goes," Starlight sighed. biting her lip and keeping quiet, Starlight went up and gave three small knocks to the door. ... and ... nothing. Starlight waited a few more seconds, but still no one answered.
"Whelp, guess that's that. Guess he's not home. Well, we can go and meet Twilight and -"
"Come on Starlight, At least see if he's home first," Spike said.
"W-Well I mean clearly he's not home, so let's see what the others are up to. I-I mean, maybe we can try some other day when he's us ... stopping ... by?" The statement followed by a nervous grin on her face.
"I don't know... I mean if we skip it, the whole lesson could go south! And then you might end up taking a giant step backwards instead of forwards! Maybe you'll never be able to learn anything about friendship at all! It's almost like your whole future depends on this moment," Spike explained, looking the unicorn eye to eye. For good measure he pushed the reluctant unicorn right back to the door, much to her dismay. Starlight really wasn't enjoying this at all, but for spike's sake (and the scary scenario he presented to her) she tried again, this time a bit more prominently, and five times instead of three.
And this time she got it, the door creaking open. Starlight swallowed her fear and tried to remain calm.
"Yes? ... What can I do for you?" he asked. It took him a bit to peer out the door himself, and there was Sunburst. He had orange fur and dark orange mane and tail, both actually looking a little but scruffy. He also had a sort of goat beard on his chin, matching the colors to the mane and tail. He wore a large cape with cyan blue stars, and meeting at a gemstone at the neck much like a wizard would, accompanied by a pair of glasses on is muzzle. While orange overall, his hooves and bridge of his muzzle were a sort of creamy-orange.
"Uh ... I-It's me. Starlight? W-We used to be friends," Starlight said. Sunburst took a bit before he started to come out himself, actually appearing as nervous as she was.
"Oh! S-Starlight! My goodness, I-it's been a long time. Soooo, what have you been up to?"
Oh Luna, what a question to start with.
"Oh, you know. A bit of this, a bit of that, other ... stuff. I-I'm sorta Twilight's new pupil."
"Twilight Sparkle? The princess of friendship?" Sunburst asked. The idea of Twilight being the princess of friendship wasn't exactly tossed around too much, but still was an idea being put around regardless. Seemingly Sunburst got that side of things.
"Eh y-yeah. ... That's kinda why I'm here. I-I mean, if you can't that's okay, I-I mean you're probably really busy."
"What do you mean?" Sunburst asked, not understanding. Starlight paused, but continued anyway.
"Well, I figured after magic school, you'd go on to do important wizard work, but...
"Oh. Uh, no - Y-Yes! Yes, that's me, Important wizard, hehehe. really busy with lots of uh ... wi-wizarding ... stuff."
...
"So ... uh ... Good to see you." and with that remark, Sunburst went right back into his house, leaving Starlight and Spike at the door. Spike took another look at the list in front of him.
"Huh. Maybe we should've skipped that part after all," Spike shrugged. Starlight began to go off away, but Spike wasn't ready to give up on this just yet, and neither would Twilight if she were here.
"Starlight, come on! We have to at least explain what Twilight wants!" Spike insisted.
"Oh fine ..."
~~~~~~
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"
Some traditions never cease, including Twilight and Cadance's own personal saying. With Starlight and Spike off and handling their friendship lesson, Twilight was right at the Crystal Castle, with Princess Cadance there at greeting with Shining Armor. It would be informal if in front of the royal guard, or in front of the crowds outside, but both Alicorns could be more like themselves when it's just them.
"Glad to see you've made it, Twilight. It's been such a long time," Cadance said.
"Yeah, I know. But you know how it is when there's so much going on, time flies by," Twilight joked.
"Know what you mean; especially with both Equestria and Earth to handle. Glad to see my sister-in-law's alright after everything," Cadance stated with a smile. Twilight could understand where she was coming from though, but she was just as glad to see her okay too.
"It's great to see you too, Twily," Shining said with a smile, playfully giving Twilight a noogie to the head. It had been a very long time, too much time since she saw either one of them.
"Thanks. So has anything new happened here?" Twilight asked.
"Well actually that's what we wanted to call you here for. We ... kinda need some help," Shining armor admitted.
"Sure, I can help you. What's the problem?"
"HEEEYYY!"
And their answer came in almost like a blur, charging right through the front doors of the palace, and skidding to a stop over right by Shining, Cadance, and Twilight. and she was still holding Lars above her head by the time she arrived.
"Look what I found!" she beamed.
...
"PINK DIAMOND?!"
They finally got a name for her. Pink diamond. Of course, she didn't look anything like the other diamonds Twilight had seen. She wasn't as tall as a diamond first of all, with her about as tall as Garnet. Her outfit looked less like a queen and more of a flair complexion: very big shoulder pads, a slightly flail around her hips, pants similar to a court jester, and white socks ending in ballerina shoes. The color pink was evident all over her body, with much of the outfit (with the exception of the socks, rims on her flails, and a spot on the shoulder pads) a shade of pink. Her hair was pale pink and poofed out like a pink cloud, ending in a point like Spinel or Lapis Lazuli. Her eyes were hot pink, and for the moment wide and full of excitement for what she had found. Lars of course was not as enthused for being carried all the way here.
"Look, it's a pink human! And here I thought Equus never had humans before," Pink Diamond said.
"Can you put me down? Please?" Lars asked meekly.
"You see Twilight, some of the Diamond Authority came by a few days ago. Yellow Diamond I think. And she wanted us to show Pink Diamond around Equestria to help catch her up on what she missed, and keep an eye on her. She'd do it herself but being a diamond meant she didn't had much time for it," Shining Armor explained, as Pink Diamond hugged Lars as if he was her own plush toy.
"Really? I'd thought Blue Diamond would've wanted to take care of her."
"They still do, but they thought it would be safer to keep her here. Something about another diamond trying to find her?" Cadance explained, working off memory. Twilight felt a shiver run through her on that kind of answer, knowing too well which Diamond that would be.
"While you're talking over there *ACK* maybe you can get her to drop me before I *URK!* crack in half?" Lars managed to say, being held tightly in Pink Diamond's grip again. Twilight got her magic around Lars, and yanked him out of her grip. Pink diamond of course tried to get her prize back, but Twilight wasn't having it.
"Hey!" Pink Diamond complained. Lars was placed down by Shining Armor, a bit weak but fine, before Twilight cleared her throat and confronted Pink Diamond.
"Sorry. Uh, welcome your clarity, to Equestria," Twilight said, trying to keep formal. Pink Diamond paused and took a closer look to the alicorn.
"... Do I know you from somewhere?" Pink diamond asked, scratching her head.
"W-Well me and my friends were close to your Diamonds, so I guess she told you about us. Uh, y-your clarity," Twilight explained, quickly correcting herself. Though admittedly she wasn't too sure about her. Sure, she was a member of the diamond Authority, but seeing her fly in like a giddy filly, and acting so young made that ideal a little blurry. At first, Pink diamond looked over Twilight with a rather judging expression, circling her for a minute. ... Then she snapped her fingers, the idea popping in her head.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she exclaimed.
"That's right," Twilight said in a nod. Pink felt good in figuring it out, but suddenly she realized who she was standing in front of, and in a suddenly jump and flip, she was on the ground in a sort of bowing position.
"You're one of those ponies that saved Blue and Yellow. I'm so happy to see you," Pink Diamond said. To say Twilight was humbled was an understatement. A diamond bowing to her? She had enough trouble when normal ponies bow to her.
"I'm glad to see you're alright too, Pink Diamond. So, they said you're going to be staying around in Equestria?" Twilight asked. Pink Diamond perked up, sitting on her knees so she was more eye-to-eye with Alicorn Twilight, nodding her head.
"Of course I am! I've been gone for thousands of years, and so much has changed, no way am I going to pass up how much happened while I was away. I wanna see my own colony, but Blue won't let me go back there yet, so she had me stay here instead," Pink explained, sounding a bit more innocent than she Twilight honestly expected.
"And where have you been?" Twilight asked. she knew the answer, but she just wanted to test it.
"You tell me, one minute I was in my Palanquin back on my colony, the next minute I'm on a Gem Warship going to here. Blue already told me how long I've been out, so you don't have to worry about that. I know things changed a lot," Pink Diamond said. But Twilight felt a little bit concerned over something else. Apparently the details of White diamond weren't told to her, especially her shattering. Then again, no one wanted to be told how they died, so Twilight could see the logic of it.
"W-Well, you're not wrong. ... So, how's the Crystal Empire?" Twilight then asked.
"It's so pretty! A entire city made in our honor - how neighborly of them all," Pink Diamond said, hands clasped together and eyes sparkling (diamonds instead of stars). Clearly she still had a thing or two to learn, and if she was going to be sticking around.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Starlight was having her own little issues at the moment. Stuck with Sunburst in the same room, she and him were left pretty ... quiet. There was a cup of tea with a kettle off on said table, and the room itself was covered with varying books on both the shelves and some over in piles. Not much word spoke in between them at first, their eyes finding more interesting things away from them rather than face to face.
"... So ... The princess of friendship wants you and I to be ... friends again?"
"I-I know, weird right?" Starlight joked, though it wasn't really a funny one. Sunburst stroke his beard.
"Uh, I don't understand. Did something happen to you after I left for magic school?"
"Huh? N-NO!" Starlight shouted, front hooves slamming the table as her magic began to pour more tea. "No! I-I don't see what that has to do with anything. W-Why would you even ask that?" She was so distracted she didn't notice that the tea poured out of the cup, or at least didn't notice until too late. She quickly placed it down and then asked "I mean, what happened to you when you left for Magic school?"
"What? Um, no. L-Like you said, I'm a, *ahem* I-important wizard!"
Spike meanwhile looked in from the other room, seeing what he thought was gonna be a good friendship lesson, turned into a complete fest of awkwardness.
"This is painful to watch. Come on, there's gotta be something in this list that can help here," Spike quietly told himself, as he skimmed through the list. However, as Spike went through that, keen-eye Sunburst and Starlight overheard him doing that, and Sunburst rubbed the back of his head.
"I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but... it's been so long. I don't see how anything on that list is going to help," Sunburst admitted.
"I know, right? It's not like there's some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off," Starlight agreed. That was probably the calmest she was throughout this whole visit so far. Sunburst thought it over a minute and actually ended up levitating a few of the books around the place.
"Actually there's several," he stated, presenting one book after another as he explained. "Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Prance's Fellow... ship... *ahem* But I-I get the feeling the princess isn't looking for a spell."
"Definitely not," Starlight said. Well, good thing they cut corners on that before it could go down that road. Easy as it may seem, Starlight wasn't gonna cheat on this. Spike then began to figure out another little something in this list.
"Got it! "And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!""
WHY?! Starlight and Sunburst both felt even more uncomfortable now than they had already. It was hard enough just to talk to eachother, how could they share something like that? Stroking his beard, Sunburst came to the same conclusion as Starlight did.
"Uh, I don't see how that would help," Sunburst said.
"Uh, yeah! We should just get out of your mane. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped, and I'm sure you have plenty of important work to do..."
"What? Oh! Right, yes, heh-heh! Uh, no rest for the wizardly," Sunburst insisted. Spike, who was entangled in his list, was being levitated out of the door.
"Come on, Spike."
Boy this wasn't going well for them. Starlight and Spike kept going along down the road, away from Sunburst's home. Sunburst himself simply looked out the window and watched them go, Spike the only one seeing him do so as Starlight kept walking, her head lowered and her ears back. Spike got himself out of his little bind, and he clearly could see that both sides were having a bit of trouble with all of this.
"Starlight, what're you doing?" Spike asked.
"I'm going back home. ... Or what home I can find now. Twilight'll probably give up on me entirely once she hears this," Starlight sighed. Spike rushed up in front of her to make her stop.
"Whoa, no she won't! Stop being so hard on yourself."
"Spike, be serious! It's been too long, I've changed, he changed. too much for him to want to be friends with me anymore."
"I am being serious! Starlight, didn't you become friends with Bill Dewey already? Why can't you do it here?"
"I told you, it's not the same thing! Yes, Bill Dewey and I are ... well, fine with eachother, but I helped him because he was going through the same problems I did. Sunburst clearly is far better off than I ever had. He didn't say it, but I know he doesn't want to be friends with me," Starlight admitted. Spike still had his view in sight of Sunburst's house, and then the baby dragon got a little idea of his own.
"Oh, you think you've got it bad? When I turned evil, it went WAY worse than you did!" Spike stated. That was something Starlight was confused on.
"Wait, what? You turned evil? When did that happen?" Starlight asked, legitimately dumbfounded.
"Well it was during my birthday WAY far back, long before I even seen the Crystal Empire. Everyone kept giving me all sorts of things: a sweet hat, some treats from Sugarcube Corner, you know. After a bit though, I began to feel more and more greedy. Next thing I knew, I ended up growing fifty-feet tall and was attacking everypony in Ponyville! My friends, the Wonderbolts, and I kidnapped Rarity the whole time. Well as you can see I'm back to normal now, but they had to do a LOT of clean-up for the next week to fix what I did." And none of this was really lies either. While Spike didn't have the memory Lapis Lazuli had, Spike still remembered vividly of the day Spikezilla rampaged through town.
"Are you kidding me?"
"No, it's really happened, and -"
"NO, I mean are you kidding me? Spike, that's a cakewalk compared to what I've gone through, and by the sound of it you did only one day of damage!" Starlight retorted. Spike then got defensive.
"Hey, you didn't end up turning into a monster and tried to steal everything in your hometown."
"Well, you don't know what it was like to be left behind! And then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village and then get defeated by Twilight and her friends, so you join White Diamond to get even and then get beaten by both her AND Steven and his friend, and then you travel through time to get back at them, but they beat you again and teach you about friendship, but you're so terrified ponies will find out what you did that you can't make any friends!!!"
...
"Did you really travel through time?"
Starlight froze up, beginning to feel tears going down her face on what had just happened. She wasn't too far from Sunburst's home when she started yelling, and when she turned around to see her old friend standing there. By the looks of it, he was there long enough to hear everything. Starlight felt her heart stop when she realized what Sunburst had heard out of her, and all she could do was waited for the blow. Some insult, or something of the sort.
"... I'm sorry, Sunburst."
"S-Starlight, wait. I should be sorry," Sunburst insisted. Starlight though lowered her gaze, feeling the tears fall.
"I know it's hard for you to understand, but not all of us end up achieving greatness," Starlight sighed.
"What? Why wouldn't I understand that?" asked Sunburst.
"Really? You're an important wizard within the Crystal Empire! I'm lucky to find out where my teacher's room is at her own tower," Starlight retorted.
"Um ... about that. S-Starlight, I ... I'm not as great as you think I am.
"Of course you are! I thought you were an important wizard!"
"Well, you were wrong, okay?! I'm not an important wizard! I'm not even a wizard at all!" Sunburst yelled. Now Starlight stepped back on the response. Sunburst looked away, adjusting his glasses before they could fall off his muzzle.
"Starlight, if anything, you're the one achieving greatness. I mean, you're the protégé to Twilight Sparkle!"
"Eh, she's more of a student than a protégé," Spike corrected.
"Whatever. I'm sorry I'm not the big important wizard you were expecting," Sunburst said sadly, as he started to head back to his house. After a bit though, Starlight Glimmer trotted over to him.
"Sunburst, I don't care if you're a wizard or not. I'm just surprised. You always knew so much about magic. I mean, look at all the books you've got in there!" Starlight insisted.
"Yeah, well, reading about magic is one thing, but to know so much and not be able to do any of it, I just -" Sunburst stopped himself before he could lose it, and just sighed before turning back to his old friend.
"I'm sorry we lost touch. Maybe if I had reached out, you could have helped me at magic school, and I could have helped you to..."
"Not become totally evil?" Starlight finished. Sunburst just nodded as the two faced eachother. "Let's just say I know what it's like to have something you're not exactly proud of."
"When you showed up thinking I was some big wizard... I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth."
"It's fine. At least we worked it all out. I think Twilight would be proud of us," Starlight said. Both she and Sunburst shared a hug with eachother after that, Starlight cleaning up the rest of her tears. Spike felt pretty good about things, and looking at the list one more time, he went down to the last one.
"Starlight and Sunburst reunite as friends. Check."
~~~~~~
"LARS! Lars?!"
"Here Lars, come here boy!"
"Lars isn't a dog, Pinkie," Sadie stated. After not finding him at the spa, the group was kinda stuck going around looking for Lars for a pretty good while. Not really the best time to actually get a vacation going for their friend. They got to one part of the train station at this point, wondering if Lars would've ended up there.
"Well this is a fine kettle of fish: we try giving him a holiday, and he disappears on us," Rarity said, pacing back and forth.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't be the first time," sighed Sadie, remembering her previous experiences way back when. It would be a bit difficult for some habits to die, though she did find it a bit surprising with how good he had been lately.
Lucky for them though, they soon started to hear something else going on, Pinkie Pie the first to hear it as someone began to head off towards the station. Not somepony, but somebody.
"Hey Lars, where have you been?!" Pinkie called, as Lars caught up with them. He actually wasn't alone this time, joined by Starlight Glimmer and Spike actually, the two heading over to the station themselves. He wasn't alone though; Twilight, Spike, and a now much better Starlight Glimmer had got to the train now.
"Yeah, sorry about that, got a bit caught up," Lars said, a bit embarrassed over what happened.
"What happened to you anyway?"
"Well, actually, that's something I wanna tell you about ... see -" before Lars could finish, his newcoming guest was right behind him, and looked over him to the other ponies and humans standing right in front of them.
"Whoa, so many colors! Are they the friends you keep telling me to bring you to?" asked Pink Diamond.
Everyone was kinda silent. Except for Twilight.
"Eh, the diamonds wanted her to stay in Equestria for a while. And I thought we can help her learn the world a bit better," Twilight admitted. They were still silent, especially Steven who looked up to Pink. He was as flabbergasted about this as Twilight was when she first saw her, and seeing her so happy, as if nothing happened at all.
"Hehehe ... oh boy. ..."