//------------------------------//
// Plans For Starlight 
// Story: My Little Mages: Seraphic Guidance 
// by Foxhelm 
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As Twilight paced back and forth, Celestia got up and walked up to Twilight and placed her hand on Twilight's shoulders. Celestia gave a soft sigh, "That decision is one that only you can make." Celestia than made Twilight look at her, "I know that it's not an easy one, but even as it hurts, your heart knows what's right."

"So where are you gonna send her?" Spike asked as he was still seated on his throne. As he saw Twilight freeze and then start to look around in a panic. Celestia turned to Spike with a slight frown. "Too soon?" Spike asked with a weak laugh.

Twilight gave a sigh as she walked to the table in the center of the throne room and looked down at it for a second. She then looked back up at Spike, "No, it's not." She took another breath as she sat down on her throne. "I have to do this." She then looked the map as Celestia took the throne the next closest throne to Twilight. "Oh, boy," Twilight said as she looked from one place on the map to another.





Back in the party at the same time, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were at a table with Discord. "Oh, boy!" Fluttershy cheered.

"This is so exciting!" Discord said as he drank some punch. "Twilight must have a great plan for Starlight. I can't wait to find out."

Applejack gave Discord a slight scowl after she looked around the room, "You're the cause of her absence because you trolled her?"

Discord fanned hurt with a gasp, “Applejack, after the oranges you still don’t trust me.”

Rarity then spoke up, “You’ll have to forgive us, but you’re notoriously an incredible source for information.”

Pinkie Pie hopped to be in between the rest, “Discord’s track record aside,” Pinkie pointed out as Discord was shown in a white robe, white avian wings and a halo over his head, “This is really surprising in…” Pinkie then trailed off slightly as she held her chin in confusion. “well it’s not a good way but not a bad way either, sorta a neutral way. I am the party planner, one would think Twilight would tell me all the plans for the party.”

Everyone shook their heads and had a small laugh. Rainbow laughed a little longer as she flew up to Pinkie, "Pinkie, this is Twilight we're talking about. When does she not have a plan?”

“Oh speaking of plans," Discord chimed in as he thought of something "Any ideas when Big Mac will tie the note and with whom?" he asked as he leaned towards Applejack.

"He makes a few deliveries to Starlight's old village and Sugar Belle offers him a room for him to stay the night and everyone and their mother can only hear wedding bells." Applejack groaned at first, "Ah don't know. There's still the whole thing with Marble Pie."

Fluttershy then tapped Applejack on her shoulder and pointed, "Um, not that I'm judging but I don't think that will be an issue." Every one of them turned to see Sugar Belle, and two other people otherwise successfully sneak away from the party. One was a young woman about Pinkie Pie's age, she was dressed in a long simple black dress, with a white long sleeve shirt. She had long hair that while most went back, some of it was styled to bangs that covered the right side of her face. She had a pin with three smooth stones, she was Marble Pie. The other was a man over seven feet tall and built like a tank, he had orange hair and wore a red shirt and blue pants, this was Big Mac in very casual attire. Everyone's mouths were agape as the process the site, sans Pinkie.

The jester scratched her head, "Well, Gosh, I don't know..."Pinkie trailed off.





Back in the throne room, Twilight muttered to herself, "Gosh, I don't know..."  She got up from her throne and walked around the table with her focus on the map. "I don't want to send her to the wrong place..." She then sighed as she looked away from the table for a second. She then saw the edge of the map, specifically the mound of Caer Sith. Twilight then gasped, "I got it! With Chrysalis defeated, the Changelings-Elves are going through a paradigm shift in their society, if I send her there, she can help them through the shift sooner  with less toll on them." Twilight then placed her hand on the map, her, eyes, focus gem and hand glowed as the map projected the mound itself, and made the whole throne room look like it was Caer Sith.  Twilight, Celestia, and Spike began to walk as they saw a group of elves looked to see Thorax and Starlight on a stage. 

Starlight cleared her throat and then spoke to the crowd, "Okay everyone, today's lesson in Friendship 101 is called 'How to Compromise'." Starlight turned to Thorax and Thorax nodded before she turned back to the crowd, "Now before we cover the theoretical approach and such, King Thorax and I are going to show you a very simple practical example."

Thorax then spoke to begin the lesson, "Hey Starlight, I am hungry, I think it's time for lunch," as he spoke it was clear in his stilted voice that he was unsure.

Starlight then continued the lesson, "Alright, I am feeling hungry too,", her voice was just as stilted.

"How does honeysuckle nectar sound?" Thorax asked as he gave the idea of what to eat.

Starlight then gave her reply, "Personally I would go for a sandwich." Starlight then turned to the elves in the audience, "Oh, no." She said in a fake panic, "We have come to a disagreement. Does anyone know what Thorax and I can do?" She asked the elves in the audience.

The elves began to chatter among each other. Then one spoke up, "FIGHT! To the victor goes the spoils!" and the elves all cheered.

"My money is on the king, Honeysuckle nectar is so good.” one of the elves shouted.

"Please, the human can kick his arse every day of the week and twice of the Sun's day, Sandwiches for all!" another elf shouted in reply and the elves started to break into shouting-fests.

Starlight and Thorax then cast a spell that made a boom that got all the elves to look back at Starlight and Thorax, "That's an option, but," Starlight said as she took charge again, "Or... King Thorax and I can talk about it and come up with a solution that works for both of us." Starlight suggested which caused the elves to mutter and clatter among themselves.

Thorax then continued the exercise he and Starlight were demonstrating, "Starlight, how do you feel about honeysuckle and peanut butter sandwiches?"

Starlight smiled at that and completed the little play, "Why, that sounds delicious!" Starlight cheered. She and Thorax then turned to the others and with closed-eyed big open mouth smile, they said, "Compromise," together. The elves then started to clamor in response.

Spike could not help but gag a little, "that's not something Starlight and Thorax would do." Spike commented as he was able to keep his lunch.

Celestia covered her mouth and had a little giggle, "As you know this is Twilight's fantasy, Spike." Celestia elected to inform the dragon, not unlike a mother. Celestia then closed her eyes and nodded, "And there is no wrong way to fantasize."

"Thank you," Twilight said as she too closed her eyes and nodded.

A random elf then spoke up, "Starlight Glimmer is a perspicacious and most apt person!"

Spike rolled his eyes and groaned before he gaged. While this earned a glare from Twilight, Celestia had a slight laugh, like a mother watching her children attempt to bicker but both lacked the want to actually get into a fight. This stopped Twilight and Spike, as they watched Celestia walk among the projected elves, "This seems to be a good path for Starlight. There is much she can teach and learn." Celestia then turned back to Twilight and Spike, "Starlight would be in  Caer Sith for quite some time, but her work would be rewarding.

Twilight's eyes then widen as she took a second to think and made a realization that she didn't before, "Or dangerous. It would only take one elf to deviate." The scene then changed to be inside of the mound. The three watched as an elf saw Starlight pass by and then transform into Starlight.

The fake Starlight gave an evil laugh before she walked up to a group of three elves that were not in their more human-like form but a form that had their clothes replace their skin and from their backs were wings that were the shawls or open sleeves in their other form, this made them looked more like fairies, "Hi, I'm Starlight Glimmer! What's your name?" the fake asked one of the three.

One whose's body was mostly a light blue in color, "Um don't you remember, Starlight, it's me, Cornicle?" he answered utterly baffled.

The fake Starlight then gave a short laugh, "What kind of name is that?" She asked mockingly as  Ah, your wings are so, um... see-through. I'm so glad I'm a human." Are you, like, fairies, or what?" the fake then conjured a large fly swatter and swatter the three elves three times and ran.

As the three recovered they saw the real Starlight walk upon the scene. "Get her!" he yelled and the three chased after Starlight.

The scene then ended as Spike, Twilight and Celestia were back in the throne room as it normally was. Spike walked to be in front of Twilight, "That probably won't happen." Spike pointed out

"But it could!" Twilight shouted as she when back to the map and looked all over it before she looked at the ceiling. "I can't just send her off to Celestia-knows-where without thinking it through!"

Celestia giggled, "I forget I ruled this nation for almost a thousand years by myself, I shouldn't be surprised that I've become an expression." Celestia then closed her eyes and walked to be right next to Twilight, "Although well sounding, not as appropriate as you might think, Twilight. For as I said to you before, Not even the very wise can see all ends." Celestia looked at the map for a second before she turned back to Twilight, "This is a momentous decision. You must consider all the possibilities."

Twilight  took a step back from the map and walked around it, as she said, "Rethink, rethink, rethink!" She then spotted the peninsula where Spike competed in the Dragon Lord's succession ritual of 'the Gauntlet of Fire', the dragons of this part of the world's homeland. "What about the dragons? I can send Starlight to the Dragon Lands!" Twilight then repeated the spell as she placed her hand on the part of the map where the Dragon Lands were.  Celestia, Twilight, and Spike looked around and saw many reptiles, of various different structures, some walked on two hind-legs and had two wings to fly, some had forelegs and a more serpentine bodies, some had four legs and walked like dogs, some also walked on four legs and two massive wings for flight, just to list a few of the many forms that dragons took, "She and Dragon Lady Ember would totally hit it off!" The three turned to see a dragon that stood up and walked much like how Spike did, but her scales were blue with two horns that went parallel to her jawline. Unlike Spike, she stood at an Amazonian height of six and a half feet and had wings, this was the Dragon Lady Ember that Twilight just mentioned. 

Just then Starlight teleported in and turn to greet Ember, "Ember!" Starlight shouted not unlike how Double Diamond speaks. 

"Starlight!" Ember shouted in greetings to Starlight, very much like how Starlight did in this project. The two then body slammed and grunted as if part of a ritual to greet each other. "You ready to do some death-defying dragon stuff?"

"Ah, totally!" Starlight agreed.

Spike facepalmed himself and groaned, "That doesn't sound at all like either of them, Twilight."

Twilight seemed to brush that aside, "They haven't interacted with each other before, Spike." Twilight pointed out. Spike could only groan in response, "Who knows what their dynamic would be?"

Spike leaned towards Celestia and Celestia lowered her ear for Spike to whisper into it, "Someone that actually spent time with both and communicated with both,"

Celestia then whispered in Spike's ear, "I must agree, you would know, but let Twilight have this." Spike sighed but elected to go along.

As Celestia and Spike whispered, Twilight continued, "And Starlight is going to love it there. Ember writes about many fun events," as Twilight spoke, the three floated in the sky as they saw Starlight and Ember intermingling with various dragons, "There's the Feast of Fire, the Dragon Bowl, Claw-chella." Twilight listed off before they landed again to see Starlight 'chatting' with Ember not far from a volcano's mouth. "Starlight could be there for a long time." Twilight then looked around the dragons and recalled that there were dragons older than Spike that didn't like humans or any non-dragons. This all came to mind when she spotted a dragon that stood on his hind legs, his scales were dark red and had a yellowish underbelly.  "But not all dragons like humans... Like Garble..." Twilight stopped as she covered her mouth in fright and pointed to the red dragon that she spotted. 

Garble walked up to Starlight and Ember, "Hey, Twinkle Star!" he said greeting her.

"It's, Starlight Glimmer." Starlight said as she turned to greet the dragon.

Garble seemed to struggle to repeat the name he was given, "Star-kle Light-star?" he asked.

Starlight's expression was a deadpan as she repeated her name for the seemingly dimwitted drake, "Starlight. Glimmer."

Garble then shrugged his shoulders, "What've all you humans look alike." he said rather dismissively, "But hey, wanna hang?" He didn't wait for an answer as he grabbed her and ran towards the nearby edge and jumped as if he was diving in with her.

Starlight was able to register what had just happened and saw the liquid they were diving into, "What are we diving into?" she asked.

"Lava!" Garble answered as if it was nothing, and while lava is nothing to a dragon, the same cannot be said for humans.

"What?!" Starlight asked in a panic just as they were about to make contact with the molten rock.

Spike slapped Twilight in the face, and ended the spell, "That was crazy, Twilight!" Spike scolded Twilight, "Starlight's a powerful binder and knows a lot of spells, she know levitation that is so good it might as well be flying. You know she could just stop herself from falling into a pit of lava."

"What if she didn't realize it was happening?! You just never know, Spike! I just need to think of someplace safe to send her!" Twilight then started to look at the map another time, "Someplace safe, someplace safe, someplace safe..." She then saw the castle of Krystalopolies, "I could send her to Krystalopolies and have her continue her magical studies with Sunburst!" Twilight once again cast the spell, this time they were in the Krystalopolies library looking from a gangway down at Starlight and Sunburst as they were in a section of the library set aside for magical experiments. "It'll be perfect! Sunburst's knowledge of magic and Starlight's abilities in magic are a perfect match." Twilight cheered as she clapped her hands with a closed-eyed smile.

Sunburst had finished reading a spell book, "Okay, now place your hand on the log and visualize the clock." Sunburst said and Starlight followed the instructions and the log was transmuted into a fully functional cuckoo-cuckoo clock.

Twilight turned to Celestia, "They could challenge each other and maybe become the most skilled magic-users in Mystican history since Star Swirl the Great!!!" Twilight turned back before she could see both Celestia and Spike facepalm themselves.

Down below the projected Starlight went placed the clock aside, "What's next?" she asked as Sunburst started to look through the tomes again.

Twilight then looked at the books in the library, "Of course, the study of magic is a lifelong pursuit, and Starlight could be there for a while, especially once they start attempting the really complicated stuff!"

Spike raised his right hand so that Celestia could see it and held out three claws, "Three, two, one…" he counted down and point to Twilight just as she realized a problem.

"What if they become too ambitious?!" She asked in fright just as the scene changed.

Starlight and Sunburst were on the top floor of his house, and had finished reading a few of his personal spell books, "I never would've thought to combine Star Swirl's apparition spell with Spacium Flexibus!" Starlight said as she looked at the open pages from two tomes, she then pulled up a scroll of papyrus that was written in hieroglyphs, "But what would happen if we added Somnambula's Tempus Objectus?"

Sunburst took all three sources and looked them over as he jotted down a few notes in another spell book, "If we do it just right, it should allow us to materialize an object that was lost in the past." Within a few seconds, they had cleared the floor of the room and had started to draw an elaborate chalk circle.

"No! Don't do it!" Twilight shouted as Sunburst finished drawing the circle, with all the runes and hieroglyphs and other symbols to perform the spell. But it was to no avail as Starlight placed her right hand in the center and her focus gem started to glow. As the spell started it seemed to go well as a hole formed where Starlight's hand was, but then the hole started to grow and pull both Starlight and Sunburst, which caused them to scream. As they screamed the whole expanded and pulled Starlight in. Desperately Sunburst reached in and he along with Twilight shouted, "Starlight, noooooo!" only for Sunburst too to be sucked in and everything faded to black. 

Twilight was about to break down into tears as the spell she cast end. Spike pulled her into a hug, "Shshsh, it's okay, it was just a projection, it wasn't real." he whispered in his attempts to comfort her.

Twilight broke out the hold, "But it could! " She turned to the map and the turned from it. "I just don't think I can send her anywhere." Twilight then started to pace back and forth, "What am I gonna do?" Celestia then started to give a hearty laugh as she fell on to the floor holding her sides with her arms and wings. Twilight and Spike were both shocked at this, was Celestia... laughing at Twilight?