It felt good. Now that you were an actual hero. Now that you had your life in order. Now that you could fully accept that being human sucked. You could finally admit that being the Hero Colt was pretty damn awesome.
as for the trip to the lake. There was a bit of swapping on who hung with who. Fluttershy stood back with Starlight while you went ahead with Twilight. Twilight wanted to talk to you about something. "You know Anon, I'm impressed with you. And your Aunt Fluttershy? She's very proud of you"
Was it due to all this? Hrn? well, you were doing a good job, you thought. Minus what happened at Applejack's. "Do you mean with helping Starlight?"
Twilight nods with a smile and gives you a pat "Mhmm! I had a few doubts about it. But she seems to trust you more than any other pony she knows, this I can attest to as absolute fact. You've helped her the entire way. I think if it wasn't for you, she may have gone home before we reached Rarity's. It really shows how chaos can have just as much as an effect on friendship as harmony. All this wouldn't have happened if you didn't do what you did. And now, I think we really are going to get this done. Six for six. I feel pretty optimistic about it"
So she accepts it all as fact now. Heh, you wonder how'd she react if she knew you saved an entire other world. She'd probably want to expirem-...ya know...never mind.
"erm..What about Rainbow Dash though? Isn't she gonna be difficult about all this?"
"It's a good possibility. But we still have a good chance. Rainbow Dash, from my understanding. Was pretty adamant she'd never be friends with her old friend Gilda. But after meeting her back in Griffonstone due to a chance meeting. They put aside their differences and became friends again. I wish I was there to see that. It must have been so sweet"
It was super cute. At least in your opinion. You had nearly forgotten about it actually. "I guess that means we have a chance. But what if we fail? What then? Starlight said she could handle it now, and I believe she can. But it'd be weird to fail at Rainbow Dash simply because it'd mean that whenever Starlight came by or you all went to visit her that she'd be the odd pony out all the time. It just doesn't work too well, y'know?"
"I know, that's why we have to have the utmost confidence that this can all be worked out. Having your Aunt Fluttershy along is actually pretty helpful. Her and Rainbow Dash go way back, so she might listen to her when push comes to shove"
"..I hope so, that perfect record sounds really nice. And thanks Twilight. I almost thought you were going to..I dunno...try to correct me in some way"
Twilight shook her head as she smiled at you "Not at all, you're doing an excellent job! So, here's an idea I have, a perfect friendship strategy. I say you and Fluttershy take the lead on this one. Fluttershy due to familiarity and you because you're her nephew and Starlight's best friend. And I'll stand back with Starlight to be the voice of reason. What do you think?"
Hrn? She was actually asking? "You care about my opinion on this?"
"Of course I do. As I said, I'm impressed. But we need to work together if we want everypony to be friends."
Work together. Twilight looked dead certain on this. Despite this not what Discord had in mind. It'd be fine, as you already reasoned. This was one situation you couldn't give in to him.
You nod to her suggestion. "Ok, it sounds like a plan. I guess we'll improvise past that since we won't know exactly how Rainbow Dash will react."
"Well" Twilight's horn shines for a moment "it depends, worst case scenario is a fight. And I know I can stop that without hurting anypony. Other than that, we'll just have to figure out how to proceed as the situation goes on. It shouldn't be too bad, Rainbow Dash can be very reasonable if you know how to talk to her"
"Then I guess we just have to hope. But hey, friendship is magic right? so it should be no big"
"That's what I'd like to think. It's never failed before. So there's no reason for it to fail now." This, Twilight was sure of as long as the situation was properly approached.
And surprisingly enough, or maybe no surprise at all. Rainbow Dash was at the lake. A beach chair set in the sand as she rested on her back. She was wearing those comically huge sunglasses as she snored. Tank right on her belly. Dammit, why did topcunt have to look topcute sometimes?
With the plan decided. You and Fluttershy make the first approach as Twilight and Starlight hang back.
"....so...what do we do? She's asleep" You ask
"Umm...Well, I don't want to wake her really. But this is important." Fluttershy starts to gently rock Rainbow Dash as she whispers "Rainbow Dash, can you get up please, we have something important to tell you."
But her only answer was a snore.
"Hm...can you gently move Tank for a moment Aunt Fluttershy?"
"Ok, but what do you plan to do Anon?" Fluttershy asks as she gently moves the sleeping tortoise off her belly and to the sandy ground.
"Easy..." This was probably the closest you were ever gonna get to cumming inside Rainbow Dash.
You got up on your hind legs and put your face on her belly and blew a raspberry as hard as you could.
The reaction was almost immediate. Rainbow Dash woke up giggling and swung herself to the side as you balanced yourself backwards and got back on your four hooves.
"Gshehe...hey!" Rainbow Dash flew upwards to look down at her assailant....You. "What's the big idea?!" She looked pretty annoyed "Can't you s-..oh...Anon? Fluttershy? What are you both doing here? Did something happen?"
"Well...sort of. Rainbow Dash, how would you feel about making a new friend?" Fluttershy just straight out asks. Giving Rainbow Dash a wide and inviting smile
"A new friend huh?" Rainbow Dash shrugs "Sure, why not? Is this new friend cool?"
"You can say that, I mean. She's not only pretty cool. But she's got a lot of talent and is pretty strong in a few places." You pretty much copy Fluttershy's smile. Hoping that RD doesn't actually turn her head to notice Starlight.
Rainbow Dash finds that pleasing to hear. And grins at the both of you "Sounds pretty cool already. Sure, He can hang..or she. Or whoever this is. Anypony cool with you is cool with me."
"What if she's also "cool" with the rest of our friends?..also..it's a she." Fluttershy asks. Hoping to hear a "yes" of some sort
Rainbow Dash nods, getting a little agitated that there seems to be some sort of validation thing going on. "Yeah..duh...What's with you two? If I say she can hang then she can hang. Why all the questioning stuff?"
"Well...Rainbow Dash. The friend in question is somepony you already met before" Here we go
"Oooook." Rainbow Dash was really confused "So are you saying I didn't make friends with her before? Or that this is a pony I didn't like..or...what? Can't one of you just tell me already? This is getting weird."
"Well...erm..Rainbow Dash" Fluttershy started to get a little nervous. But if she faltered now, things may fall apart "About that, could you promise not to get angry when we tell you who this pony is?"
"Fine" Rainbow Dash crossed her front hooves as she hovered, getting impatient "Just get to a name already. You both are starting to creep me out."
"Well..it's not easy, Rainbow Dash. Because this pony also happens to be a friend of mine, and she really wants to apologize and be friends with you. But for that to happen. You need to say calm when you meet her. Can you do that?" You look up at her with sappy adorable eyes
"I just said fine. Look, I Pinkie Promise ok?" Rainbow Dash does the motions and starts to get really frustrated "Now can you just tell me who it is, please? Instead of just acting all secretive?"
You took a breath, because this...this was the moment. "Well....the pony we're talking about...is..."
"Starlight Glimmer" Both you and Fluttershy point to the side in the distance. Twilight waved to Rainbow Dash as Starlight stood beside her.
"......." Rainbow Dash was stunned enough to come down from her hovering and then look at the both of you as if you both went nuts. "Tell me you're both kidding. What is she even doing here?!"
"She came here because she wants to apologize for what she's done. Now you just Pinkie Promised that you'd remain calm. Remember?" You remind her
"...come on" Rainbow Dash was ready to toss out that clear bullshit of a promise. "This isn't just anypony, this is Starlight Glimmer. Fluttershy, how can you just be friends with her? Don't you remember what she did."
"I do..." Fluttershy started to feel a sense of bravery within her. She could sense her friend was going to try to get out of this somehow. And everyone has come so far already. She didn't want it to fall apart without giving it her best try. "And so does Applejack,Twilight,Pinkie Pie,Rarity, and myself. And we all forgave her and became friends with her. And we're not even asking you that much really. We just want you to talk to her and give her a chance."
Rainbow Dash was in doubt about that. Even Applejack? "You gotta be kidding me, are you really going to tell me Applejack was ok with all this?"
"Actually...she was the first pony we visited and it went fine. Pretty much forgave her straight away" You inform her
"You gotta be kidding me. Applejack was just...ok with this?" Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it. "She didn't call her a ornary snake or something?"
You shook your head "Nope. But like we said. We're not asking you to be her friend. We're asking you to just give her a chance"
"How can I? Fluttershy, come on. You know me, you know what happened. You can't just expect me to be ok with this." Rainbow Dash tries to subtly plea with her without seeming pathetic or whiny "Even if she is Anon's friend, that's between him and her. It has nothing to do with us! For all we know it can all just be some sort of evil diabolical plan or something. Y'know, real bad stuff can go down if we aren't careful."
Fluttershy raised her head to put up a brave front. She wasn't going to back down. "Rainbow Dash, I'm surprised at you. You know that we always try to give everypony another chance. We gave Discord another chance, and you gave Gilda another chance. Why, if Luna didn't have a second chance...well..she'd still be Nightmare Moon. I think you're just being stubborn. You have a Promise to keep, and by my ability to help and nurture cute critters. I'm going to make sure you keep it" Fluttershy gave a stubborn nod at her
"Fluttershy...." Rainbow Dash looks to you instead, hoping to convince you otherwise in some way. If she could do that, she could sway Fluttershy "Hey Squirt. I know you're Starlight's friend and all but hasn't she ever acted suspicious? Like, even a tiny bit? If she has, then you'd have to understand why I don't wanna talk to her ,right?
You raise an eyebrow at her. Was she really asking YOU that? "Uhh, Rainbow..She's my friend. And I'm her BEST friend. So no, I haven't noticed anything suspicious at all. And even if I did. It wouldn't mean I'd not understand. Just keep the promise, will you?"
"Rainbow Dash, he's right. So please..please keep your promise" Fluttershy pleads with her.
"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash groans as she hides her face in her hoof. "That was pretty dumb, huh? But come on, do you both think I should really keep my promise? Especially after everything she's done?"
You both say "yes" with a hard stare and a nod.
Rainbow Dash groaned and fell to her belly onto the sand as she snorted through her nose. Not wanting to really do it. But as she looked ahead. She could see her turtoise, Tank. Giving her a vacant stare. "....You too huh?"
Tank gave a very slow nod. As if he understood what was going on. Maybe he did, and just didn't want his master to be troubled by the task or to worry that she broke a promise.
Rainbow Dash slouched forward and let out a long winded "Fiiiiiinneeee". She then stood up and grumbled for a moment before looking towards Starlight and Twilight "I just need to give it all a chance, huh?"
"Yes, please. That's all we're asking" You say
"We know you can do it Rainbow Dash. We're not expecting a yes. We're only expecting you to hear her out and make your best judgement" Fluttershy says
"Yeah..sure...ok. Well, let's get this over with I guess" Rainbow Dash starts walking up towards the other duo. Not knowing exactly what to expect. But not willing to throw in acceptance at the drop of a hat either. Even if her friends seemed to have forgotten what Starlight did, she didn't. That was what was in her head at the moment anyway.
Both you and Fluttershy followed Rainbow Dash as she approached Starlight and Twilight. Rainbow Dash stopped in front of them, and then looked to Twilight. "Everypony forgave her huh?"
Twilight nodded "Yes, so..Rainbow Dash. I want you to think hard on this, nopony is forcing you into an apology."
"Sure seems like they are, but whatever. I promised to try, can't guarantee anything though. So..uh...Starlight" Rainbow then peered over to her, she didn't look at her with hostility, but it wasn't a friendly gaze either. "Why exactly are you doing this all of a sudden?"
"Well, that's a pretty straightforward question. But..here's a straightforward answer. " Starlight takes a moment to compose this thought into words "I want to apologize and make amends to the ponies I hurt. I want it to mean something. I actually was hoping it wouldn't be as easy as it has been because...well, I guess that's a self defeating way to think about it. I wanted to work for it. But, the way everypony has forgiven me, tt has made me feel like things weren't as bad as I thought and there's nothing to worry about. So at this point. I'd like to try to earn your trust and be friends. But if I can't, then it's ok. I've gotten to the point where I think I can comfortably say that I can face my life now without hiding"
"huh..." Rainbow Dash peers at her with distrust "That's pretty convincing. Is that what she got everypony else with?"
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snaps at her "How can you say that!?"
"Hey! Don't get mad at me!" Rainbow Dash gets defensive "She tricked us before, remember? How do you expect me to just believe her just like that? C'mon Twilight, just because you're the Princess of Friendship doesn't mean you can just be all like ‘Sure Starlight, let's be friends even though you nearly ruined Rainbow Dash's chances of being a Wonderbolt’. " She says in a mocking tone.
"Rainbow Dash, you said you would try. You don't need to be a meanie about it" Fluttershy states, in a rather harsh tone, harsher than what'd you expect.
"Fluttershy, I am trying. But I'm not just goi-" Rainbow Dash turns to face Fluttershy, but when she does, she gets startled by the fact Fluttershy was giving a hard stare, almost "The Stare". "W-what's with that look?"
"Because you keep being a bully. You keep treating her like she's a liar without even giving her a chance. You promised you'd try" Fluttershy was not standing down, scaringly so. She wouldn't back down until Rainbow Dash kept her promise. If she still didn't wish to be Starlight's friend. Then it'd have to be accepted. But that point hadn't been reached yet.
"Ugh..ok ok." Rainbow Dash turns back towards Starlight. "Ok, so..giving chances....giving...it a chance. Let's see." Rainbow Dash starts tapping her chin. "Ummm, so what have you been doing since you went back to town?"
Starlight sighed, and looked down. Even if Rainbow Dash promised,she felt that this was just pushing her. She wanted it to be natural. "Look, I know you made a promise...and I know you all are adamant about her keeping that promise. But I don't want to force this. Rainbow Dash, if you don't want to forgive me or be my friend. I can leave right now if you want. No hard feelings or anything"
Twilight, Fluttershy, nor yourself said anything about that. It was just disappointing to hear she'd just give up if Rainbow Dash didn't want to be more pleasant.
Rainbow Dash could see the despondent expressions on everyone's faces. She groaned and raised her head as she raised her eyes up in frustration. "OK! SHEESH! ALRIGHT! I'll try, I'll actually try! But how do I even do this? What do we even talk about?..no..you know what? I got an idea" Rainbow Dash looks towards Starlight with a burning question in her mind. "How did you even get into that whole creepy equalization thing? Like, what pony comes up with that?"
That's when Starlight tenses up "Y-you want to know about that?" She gulps
"Yeah, like what was the whole deal with that anyway? Maybe if I knew, I'd be able to understand you better..or something" Rainbow Dash...was utterly ignorant to Starlight's reaction.
"Actually, I am curious about that too. Starlight, you wouldn't mind telling us all. Would you?" Twilight asked
"U-ummm" Starlight started to slowly step back. And that's when you caught on. She was scared, she was scared of having to explain her past. She must have been scared of them reacting to the fact that it was all over a single guy. But, it was more than that.
"Oh yes, I'd actually like to hear that too." Fluttershy sits her butt down, smiling happily as she awaits for a story.
"...You...all don't want to hear that story. C-can't we all talk about something else?" Starlight, was fidgeting. Like, if the situation didn't take another direction then she would bolt. Probably through teleportation.
"I just said I wanted to hear it didn't I? So no worries there" Rainbow Dash says as she also plops her butt down to await the tale.
"B-b-" Starlight was reaching the point where'd she'd just leave. And send a letter later about why she left.
Nah, fuck this. Even if none of them meant any harm. It was clear to you that this was bothering her. Probably because of your own initial reaction when she told you her past. Maybe she thought their reactions would be worse? Or they'd just dismiss it as ridiculous and overreacting. Whatever the case, you had to help calm her down. Rainbow Dash's suggestion was fine, but you had to make sure Starlight was calm enough to tell it first.
You walked over to Starlight and reached up to give her a hug. Nobody else understood why at first, but as you spoke. It started to become clear. "Starlight, hey. Don't stress it ok? The past is the past. If you want them to get to know you better, you gotta tell them how it is. That's what you taught me, right?"
"..mnnn" Starlight gently wrapped a hoof around you to embrace you in the hug. She didn't cry, she didn't shed a single tear. She only realized you were right. And boy, were you glad she taught you a lesson you could boomerang back to her. Otherwise this could have gone sour. "You're right Anon..."
"..Oh goodness..." Fluttershy gasped as she put a hoof to her mouth as she realized the situation "I didn't realize that your past troubled you like that Starlight...I'm sorry"
"No..no.." Starlight's confidence begins to doubleback and return to her. "Anon is right, I shouldn't be scared of my past if I intend to make friends. Everypony, if you want to know my past. Well..." Starlight plops her butt down like everyone else and takes a breath "It may not be the most tragic past, or it may even sound ridiculous. But it's mine, and it's how I felt at the time. And how I feel about it now. Anyway..to begin.." And so Starlight explained her past detail by detail the same way she explained it to you.
"...And that's why I did what I did. I felt since a cutie mark took away everything that mattered away. Then it was best to get rid of cutie marks altogether so nopony else had to suffer from the inequality of everypony else. But I know now I was wrong. It only took a very special colt to show me the way" Starlight looks to you with a warm smile as she says that final bit.
"Aww shucks Starlight, I was just doing my thing" You couldn't help but feel humbled by that remark. you even blushed.
"Uhuh..." Rainbow Dash understood, she even felt for her, but not enough to fully consider it..due to one reason. "So why didn't you try to make any friends, exactly? I mean, it was just one guy. There's like a million ponies out there you could have made friends with, you could have even been friends with a griffon if you tried hard enough. Something about this doesn't add up to me"
"..." Starlight felt ashamed thinking about it, she did fail pretty hard in that regard "Nopony really wanted to be my friend beside Sunburst. And I guess I got so used to it that I didn't try being friends with other ponies ever again. I was used to just being on my own and planning my next move."
"And that too, going so far as to try to force equality down everyponys' throats. I dunno, that sounds super extreme to me. It didn't even pop into your head that what you were doing was wrong?" Rainbow Dash couldn't give into this so easily. To her, it was like she was looking for a reason to equalize everything.
"....no" Starlight's guilt was increasing from this line of questioning.
"Yeah, see. That's the thing. How do I know you're not just gonna go and do something like that again? And before I say this, yeah, I know, it sounds bad. Buuuuut. the way it seems to be, at least to me, is that if anything happens, you'll just get angry and go and try to doom everypony again" That's what Rainbow Dash concluded.
"W-what? No..I'd never do that.....not again,," Starlight while feeling slightly unsure, was sure enough that she wouldn't do that again.
"Rainbow Dash, I'm surprised at you!" Fluttershy found that accusation way too harsh "What happened to giving her a chance?"
"I AM giving her a chance, but straight out making her my friend. Nope, can't just do it without a better reason. What pony goes their entire life being angry and plotting to rule the world because of one single friend? I'm just going to need more than that." Rainbow Dash was sure on this. She wasn't going to give in that easily. "Look, if you want. I can be neutral about it. I won't snoop around, I won't get angry when she's with any of you. I'll just hang back and relax somewhere. So yeah, unless anypony can give me a good reason, I'm just gonna go back to getting some sleep before I do some flight exercises."
This troubled everyone. Rainbow Dash waited. But everyone seemed pretty stumped. Rainbow Dash seemed to have wanted a pretty damn good reason. You all needed an actual reason. And every moment without one was making Starlight uncomfortable despite saying she could handle it.
...a better reason. Maybe you were looking at this the wrong way.
Maybe you shouldn't be looking for a better reason. Perhaps what you needed was a good example of someone who could have gone through what Starlight went through under the same circumstances..or close to it.
And there were two you could think of. And while Fluttershy would never go evil without some outside force. There was another...one who would have been an angry and hateful mess without Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "Gilda...."
Everyone looked at you, confused and thinking they misheard you.
"Giwhatnow?" Rainbow Dash was deeply confused "...Did you say Gilda?"
You nod, you had this. She was the perfect example. "Yeah, Gilda. You said that Starlight doing what she did over a single pony was ridiculous. Or something like that. Well...what about Gilda? She was a griffon without a friend before she met you. And even when you first met, she was being bullied by everypony else. The whole reason you both became friends was because you protected her. Right?"
Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. She was wondering who the hell told you that. It wasn't secret, but who would bother? Still, she acknowledges you are right "...uh huh. Yeah, I guess that's right. But what does that have to do with anything?"
Time to tie it together. You were determined to get six for six. "Well, how about this? Gilda, when you both stopped being friends, became angrier and friendless. She was being mean to everypony. Even you, right? when you went to Griffonstone? What would have happened if you and Ponk didn't fix things? She would have remained angry and wouldn't care about anypony else. And it'd probably get worse every day. That's Starlight, Starlight is the pony who didn't have a Rainbow Dash in her life. Same with Aunt Fluttershy, she wouldn't have turned bad or anything. But she'd always be hiding and never have a friend if it wasn’t for you. And given how you all got your cutie marks. If that didn't happen, if you didn't defend her honor, she wouldn't even have her animal friends. She'd be alone. I guess what I'm saying is, when you're stuck in a situation like that, having a Rainbow Dash in your life can really turn things around. Right?"
"You know Anon..I never thought of that. It's true though. Without Rainbow Dash, we wouldn't have even gotten our cutie marks, become friends...mnn" Twilight gave a solemn smile "It's how Spike and me first met. I guess, in this case, Anon is right. You really are the pony who tied everything together Rainbow Dash"
"....huh..." Rainbow Dash deeply thought on this. Did she really do all that? Well, she did do the Sonic Rainboom, she did protect Gilda and Fluttershy, and she even got a little egotistical with Nightmare Moon by remembering that without her, they would have never found a proper way to the Sisters' old castle. "Y'know, I never thought of it that way either. I knew I was awesome, but that's like, mega super awesome. So what you're saying is, if Starlight had me for a friend, she'd be perfectly cool and never do anything bad again?"
Sure, whatever, yeah
You nod, this seemed to be the win right here. "That's exactly what I'm saying"
"Ha!" Rainbow Dash smirks as she starts to feel her self importance and ego rise beyond normal levels "Whaddya know? I'm the glue that holds the whole team together. Well, in that case, Starlight, you can officially be my trial friend. And if things work out, we go full on friendship. The trial thing is just so I can see that you're cool enough to hang. And if you promise not to go around taking Cutie Marks again, then yeah, we can totally be friends a little later on. What does everypony think?"
"That actually sounds alright. Anon, good job. I didn't even think of something like that" Twilight admits, that was a logical conclusion she hadn't come to yet.
"Oh, I agree. But it just goes to show that Anon really is smarter than the average colt" Fluttershy agrees, feeling a deep feeling of pride. She was proud of you for coming up with something even Twilight couldn’t of think of..
"Yeah, he's pretty smart. But still, this isn't an automatic friend thing. We're just gonna give it a trial run and see how things go. So Starlight, you ok with that?" Rainbow Dash was finally willing to give her a chance. But was actually proceeding with caution. She trusted her friends opinions, and your logic was sound, but still. a trial is better than going all out.
Starlight was so fucking relieved that she was happy to agree to anything that would lead to a total friendship. The words Rainbow Dash mentioned before, about staying neutral, it had made her feel uncomfortable knowing her presence would make her act distant to not only her, but her friends as well. "I'm totally ok with that, but..how exactly does a trial friendship work?" She seriously had no idea.
"Easy" Rainbow Dash gives her a smirk as she slowly moves her leg horizontally in confidence "Just do as I do and you'll do fine. And what I'm doing now? Chillaxing. If you can do that then you're well on your way of being cool with me"
"Chillaxing...right" Starlight was pretty determined to try that. Until she realized she had no idea what that meant. "...What exactly is chillaxing?"
Rainbow Dash smirks at the endearing question as she pats her back "Starlight,Starlight,Starlight. It isn't a "What", it's much cooler than that. Chillaxing just...is. You just pull up a chair, sit back, and soak in the rays until you're good and ready to do something else. In fact, why don't you all come and chill with me? You all had have been sweating it doing this whole apology thing."
"Well, I am a little tired." Fluttershy raises one of her front hooves and gives it a shake before giving a short flap of her wings. "All this excitement has been very good but very exhausting."
"I can "Chillax" for a little bit. I wouldn't want to miss this momentous occasion, it would especially give me some time to plan my very own kind of friendship party for Starlight in the future" Twilight found the whole thing endearing. Everyone participating in reforming a former foe, especially one so well learned in magic? She found it exciting.
"You?" Rainbow Dash snickers "Twilight, come on. You can't plan parties worth beans. If there has to be a party, leave it to Pinkie. Reading books all day isn't what I'd call a party"
Twilight takes offense to this, and stares at Rainbow Dash with an eyebrow raised in disbelief "...Rainbow Dash, you read Daring Do all the time"
"Yeah....but.." Rainbow Dash shifts her eyes a little as she comes up with a counter argument. She then sits on her butt and crosses her front hooves as she turns her head "Those aren't just books...those are epic adventures.The best epic adventures to ever exist."
"Daring Do?" Starlight had never even heard of that "...Is it that good?"
"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash shrieked in surprised, her eyes nearly bugging out as she grabs Starlight and starts to shake her "YOU NEVER HEARD OF DARING DO?!" She then looks to Twilight "SHE'S NEVER HEARD OF DARING DO!" She then looks back at Starlight and shakes her harder "HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! EVERYPONY HAS HEARD OF DARING DO!"
"a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a" Was all Starlight could say before Twilight giggled, rolled her eyes, and magically pulled Rainbow Dash away from Starlight.
"Calm down there Rainbow Dash. But.." Twilight smirked at her "That book party idea doesn't sound so bad now does it?"
"Yes! You gotta make that happen! This is almost like....the opposite of awesome..it's.." Rainbow Dash puts her front hooves to her cheeks as she looks in fright "Anti-Awesome!"
"Ok ok, I'll get on it after tomorrow. Looks like Starlight isn't the only one who needs to "Chillax" right now, huh?" Twilight found the whole thing exceedingly funny. Hell, so did Fluttershy and you. Glimmer was a little confused, so she just laughed awkwardly.
After that. Twilight used her magic to summon more chairs for everyone to sit on. Including a smaller one for you. Starlight had a little trouble adjusting. And you wanted to lay on Fluttershy's tummy. But....maybe that was a bit dorky. You accepted the chair.
"So...I just sit here?" Starlight asked as she made herself comfortable "What do we do after we sit?"
"Nothing, you just talk about chill things while chilling in front of this chillin' lake. But...before we all DO chillax" Rainbow Dash pats her belly for Tank to safely land ontop of it. Then lays back down as she puts her sunglasses back on as soon as he lands. "There we go, now everything is perfect."
"It is a nice sunny day for something like this. I think we should all plan for a day, all to ourselves, to just sit back and enjoy the day together" Fluttershy says as she made herself comfortable.
"Nope...book party has to happen. Starlight can't be my friend until she's read at least one Daring Do book. And that's final" Rainbow Dash was having nothing else.
"..o-ok...can't I just borrow the first book then? I-I promise to take good care of it.." Starlight stammered, she had no idea what to do or how to act.
"No..I mean yes...I mean, just relax ok?! Twilight, make sure she borrows...NO, you're to slow. And besides, since I am the glue that holds everypony together, She can borrow my copy.WAIT..no, something could happen to it. Yeah, Twilight, lend her your copy." Rainbow Dash still couldn't believe anyone had never heard of Daring Do. You wondered what would happen if she ran into someone who HATED Daring Do. It'd probably turn into an autist fest.
"Ok then" Twilight giggles "So...can we chillax now?"
"Yeah...we can chillax now." Rainbow Dash slumps down just a bit and looks up into the sky "Ahhhhhh, now this is the life"
"Y'know..." You turned your head towards Starlight and smiled "I'm really glad everything worked out. And this? This is the perfect ending to this tour. Huh?"
"Yeah...I...feel really good. I didn't think it'd go this well. I...well..Thank you, all of you. And thank you Anon. If it wasn't for you...Well. Y'know"
You giggle at that "I know, yeeeaaah...I'm feeling pretty "chillaxed" right now myself. Hey, Rainbow Dash. Can I tell you something?"
"Yeah?" She asks as she sits unmoving
"You're pretty cool"
"Yeah...I am pretty cool" She snickers at the thought "But, I guess you're pretty cool too. For a colt anyway"
Yeaaah, just feed her ego. You had this. You managed to help Starlight through this with only one issue. But then clenched it at the end by bringing up Gilda and Fluttershy. You felt that through all the time you watched the show that Rainbow Dash would bite into the ego bait if you tied it to a line that was similar to Starlight's situation.
Yeaaah. Super great.
Yeeeeeaahhhh.
You felt so great about everything that you....fell asleep. And time passed.
"Anon....Anon. Does he always sleep so hard?" Starlight says worringly
"oh yes, it's not a good habit. But just look how adorable he looks. Look, his ear is twitching. He must be having a good dream" Fluttershy informs her
"Huh, well..he is pretty cute. Erm, y'know. For a colt. But I do need to wake him up. I want to talk to him before I go." Starlight says
"Oh, Well. He needs to get up anyway or he might miss his sleepover with his marefriend. aww..Anon, Wakey wakey. It's not time to sleep yet"
You feel a gentle shaking that causes you to slowly open your eyes as your ear twitches. You find yourself laying on your belly, your face hidden between your legs. After a yawn, you look up to see Starlight and Fluttershy. And the yellow sky of the sun setting.
Which causes you to jolt up and off the chair as you look left and right "woah woah woah woah woah! What time is it?!"
Fluttershy giggles and gives you a pat to calm you down "Don't worry Anon, you haven't missed your sleepover yet. You still have plenty of time."
"A-aunt Fluttershy? Starlight?...uhh..where's Rainbow Dash and Twilight?"
"Oh, Twilight went back to her castle to write a letter to Princess Celestia and get her copy of Daring Do. And Rainbow Dash went home. We were going to go back to the train station and have a little chat while we wait. It'll be about an hour before the train actually arrives and I do want to get to know Starlight better. I can see why you get along with her so well. She's very nice" Fluttershy seemed to have found Starlight's company very enjoyable
oh...god...you were asleep for awhile then. OH SHIT! THE TASER! "O-oh, ummm. Do you want me to come along or...what?"
"Well of course I'd want you along. I think we both do, right Starlight? I can't imagine a reason for you not wanting Anon to see you off" Fluttershy surmised
"Actually...While I would definitely want Anon to see me off. There is something I'm interested in taking home with me before I go. That's why I want to talk to Anon in private" Starlight looked a little nervous as she said that.
"In private to ask for something? Whatever could it be?" Fluttershy wondered why it would have to be private
"Oh...um" Starlight was quickly thinking of a lie...man, she was lying? She was lying for you. Obviously she couldn't let Fluttershy know what it actually was or what it was about "It's a surprise apparently"
Oh shit, she was trying to signal you to follow along with her eyes "Oh right, yeah. it's top secret stuff. I just want to explain some details to Starlight before I go and get it. And just her. Sorry Aunt Fluttershy, I don't want anypony else knowing. It could spoil everything"
...that hurt....lying to her that blatantly. But she seemed to take it pretty well. She even smiled as she spoke. "Oh, alright. I'll just step over by that tree and wait for the two of you." Fluttershy gently lifted off into the air and hovered over to a far off tree to wait for the both of you.
Starlight then sighed as she looked at you "That's gonna get some getting used to. Lying to everypony about things like this. But, it's for the good of everypony, right?"
wut? "What the taser?"
"No..Anon." Starlight couldn't believe you forgot already "Remember? I got upset at you about it? The changeling thing?"
"Ohhhhhh!" She meant Scrappy "Yeah..yeah, I really should check up on that. Something about that isn't right. And I should be able to get the taser right then and there too."
Starlight was worried about Applebloom. She never formally met. But for a regular filly to be around a changeling? That isn't right "Is your friend going to be ok?"
You had no idea. Everything about it seemed so fucked. "Well, that's what I'm going to find out. Right? heh..I didn't think you'd get this worried."
"Anon, that's because it's a changeling hanging around foals. That's dangerous as is. This isn't about me getting worried. It's about making sure nothing bad happens. You can't take things like this lightly"
Eh, she didn't realize that it was just some stupid runt hanging around some kids. The only real danger was what he was actually capable of and what he reported to Chrysalis. "Trust me, I got this. You just go and make friendly with Fluttershy and I'll meet you back at the train station. It's no problem"
"Anon..." Starlight was really concerned for you "Remember what I said? Don't underestimate changelings. I may have never run into one myself. But I know the history, and it's rough stuff. Be careful"
...dammit...come on. You had this, it's simple. "Alright, don't underestimate. Got it, trust me. I got this. Seeya later"
"Anon..mnn..yeah...see you later. Don't take too long, ok?" Starlight was still concerned despite accepting your words. She felt you were being too confident.
"Ok, I won’t, Seeya later" You salute to her with a smile as you make off to the clubhouse as quick as you can.
It doesn't take too long to get to the clubhouse. You had plenty of time. You stop for a moment to take out your map and investigate. "Hmm, he's here. Which means either one, two, or all three of them are here too. Perfect."
You'd just go up. Question what the whole thing with Scrappy is about. Take the taser. Go back. Simple.
You go up the boards up to the clubhouse and knock on the door to be let in.
And as the door opens up, before you can even react, you are pounced by a puppy. THAT puppy.