//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Seeing the Light // Story: Rebuilding // by JD McGregor //------------------------------// In retrospect, publishing the journal hadn’t been a good idea. Twilight Sparkle’s friendship journal had begun its life as an assortment of diary entries written by she and her friends. There was no overall plot or structure, just a series of episodic observations about lessons learned in the course of their various adventures together. Twilight had been inspired to start writing it after having discovered the childhood journal of her mentor Princess Celestia. In a way, it was a continuation of the letters she used to send her teacher weekly, after she’d been formally tasked with moving to Ponyville to learn the ins and outs of relationships with others. The journal gradually seemed less and less important, and had nearly been destroyed in her battle with the centaur Tirek when he’d blasted Golden Oak library. Twilight had rescued it from the wreckage — singed and battered, but still intact — shelved it in the library of her new castle, and then promptly forgot about it for almost a year. Upon its rediscovery, she’d decided that what she and her friends had learned might be useful to others, and so naively published it. It was an instant sensation, partly out of genuine interest in her experiences, but mostly out of base curiosity over Equestria’s newest and most accessible princess. Royalty did not normally write advice books, let alone ones that offered such an intimate look at their personal lives. Sales went through the roof, and Twilight was able to make a generous charitable donation with her share of the profits. It seemed that their lessons about the importance of friendship had reached a far larger audience than she’d ever hoped possible. And then it all went horribly, horribly wrong. True, Twilight and the others did receive letters from readers sharing what the book had meant to them, but it soon became apparent that an actual fandom had grown up around it. And rather than simply taking their entries at face value, the fans began treating it as if it were mere entertainment. Lines were drawn, sides were taken, and discussions blazed into shouting matches over who was “best pony” and how unsatisfying some found the “story.” Ponyville became almost unlivable for weeks as crowds of tourists descended upon it to meet “the characters” and demand answers to the most picayune questions. Twilight had tried to explain things to them, had even sung a song to them on the spot, but it didn’t matter. In the end, she and the others had to simply wait it out until things gradually quieted down. Fans grew bored, found new targets for their outrage, and life regained a semblance of normalcy. There were still some of them keeping the flame alive, gathered together in so-called “amateur pony press associations” to write articles of dubious logic and original stories of even more dubious literary value. Twilight once anonymously ordered one of these APPAs to see what sort of things they were writing, and sat down to read it. She awoke an hour later at her desk, the newsletter burned to ashes and a note in her own writing imploring her to never try undoing the amnesia spell she’d cast upon herself. No, in retrospect, publishing the journal hadn’t been a good idea. And the whole thing started because Twilight walked into the middle of an argument between two young school fillies… “I thought you just said you don’t socialize with school kids,” said Lulamoon as she and Starlight approached the two young ponies. “They’re an exception,” Starlight explained. “We have a little history.” The fillies in question were gossipping and giggling together at the center of the Cherry Team waiting area. They noticed the two new girls approaching and paused to have a look. The pink one waved them over, greeting them as they arrived. “Hi there,” she said, her round face breaking into an easy smile. “Are you on our team, too?” The pink earth pony had eyes of light opal and a mane she wore neck length, striped in rose, amber and scarlet, cut in bangs in front. She had a cutie mark on her flank of a paintbrush drawing a spiral, but her most remarkable feature was her tail. The mane and tail colors of most ponies tend to match exactly, but hers were wildly different, showing broad stripes of indigo and opal to match her eyes. She looked as though some artist had dipped each end of her in a different jar of paint when she was born. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen you girls around,” added her companion. The other earth pony had a pearly-white coat, amber eyes, and a mane striped with pink and shades of green. She wore her hair a bit longer and more stylishly wavy than her friend’s, her mane and tail tied with elastics. On the scale of cute to pretty, she fell further toward the pretty end than did the pink one. “Did you just move here?” she asked. “Not exactly,” Starlight replied. “Toola Roola, right?” she asked, looking at the pink one. “And you’re Coconut Cream,” she said to the other. “Do you both remember a few moons back, when everyone was reading Princess Twilight’s journal?” “You mean when everyone in town started acting like big jerks?” Toola answered with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, we remember. Poor Princess Twilight.” “Well, do you remember going to her castle to talk to her?” Starlight continued. “Do we?” Coconut replied, excitement in her voice. “We’ll never forget it! Her student Starlight Glimmer took us there to tell her how much her book meant to us. She looked so happy when we did, and then Starlight hugged us, and then…” Coconut trailed off, staring at Starlight. First her face, then at her cutie mark. Toola Roola looked confused, then Coconut quickly whispered something into her friend’s ear. The two fell into an urgent, secretive conversation, marked by Coconut pointing at Starlight’s flank. Here it comes, Starlight thought. Now to see how they react. Toola stared hard at Starlight’s face before finally asking what was obviously on her mind. “Starlight Glimmer? Is that you?” Starlight smiled awkwardly as she waved a foreleg at them. “Hi,” she said with a nervous laugh. The two earth pony fillies looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to make of the newcomers. “Why are you a little kid?” Coconut finally asked. Funny story, Starlight thought. I grew up convinced everyone hated me and was never able to make any friends, except for one. Then he got his cutie mark and left me for magic school, and I didn’t hear from him again, so I got bitter and blamed getting cutie marks on my problems, and so I grew up and started a village where I took everyone’s cutie marks away to make them all equal, except nopony was really happy and then Twilight and her friends came to stop me, so I decided to punish her by going back in time to keep her from ever meeting her friends, except she and her friends save Equestria practically every other week, so I ended up destroying everything in, like, ten different ways until Twilight finally talked me down, and brought me home to live with her, and I’ve learned a lot and done a lot, but still have lots of unresolved issues with making friends with others, so here I am pretending to be a little kid again so I can try and work out my problems from childhood. But enough about me, what’s fourth grade like? Starlight thought it over and decided that, no, that probably wasn’t the best explanation to give a couple of nine-year-olds. As she stood there, trying to figure out how to answer Coconut’s question without scaring the two girls to death, Lulamoon suddenly piped up. “A friendship lesson!” she blurted out. She stepped forward as the two other girls turned to look at the little blue unicorn accompanying this adult in child’s clothing. “You know Princess Twilight and her crazy friendship lessons,” she laughed. “Making friends with monsters, turning into little kids for the weekend…” Lula stopped and extended a foreleg. “Hi, I’m Lulamoon, Starlight’s best friend and number one wing pony! Call me Lula!” Toola and Coconut looked at each other before Toola extended her own foreleg to shake Lula’s hoof. “Are you that magician who camps out on the edge of town?” she asked hesitantly. “On most days of the week, yes!” Lula replied, her natural bravado at full force. “Do you like my shows?” “I like the trick where you fly out of the cannon into the manticore’s mouth,” Coconut said. “And I like your fireworks. They’re really loud!” “I thought your name was Trixie,” Toola Roola said as she released Lula’s hoof. “Why are you Lula now?” Lulamoon considered her answer. “So I could rhyme with your name, obviously,” she replied, hoping her joke didn’t sound as lame to them as it did to her the instant it left her lips. The two young earth ponies were silent a moment, then began to laugh. Starlight breathed a sigh of relief, joining in the laughter as she silently thanked Lula for getting her through the crisis. The worst part of being a new kid was past them: they weren’t strangers anymore. “So, you’re both going to be on our team?” asked Toola Roola. “That’s great!” “Yeah,” Coconut added. “We’ll be sure to win now!” “Why would you think that?” Starlight asked, tilting her head curiously. “Well…” Toola lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You’re grown ups! And you’re Princess Twilight’s student! You must know all sorts of things!” “Yeah, I do,” said Starlight, growing nervous again. “But I don’t think any of them will let me run faster or jump higher.” She nodded her head toward Lulamoon. “The two of us are just here to play games and make friends, that’s all. We’re just a couple of regular kids today, like you two.” “Oh.” Toola sounded disappointed, then perked up. “Well, I’m glad we can be friends. We’ll have lots of fun today!” “Yeah, there’s going to be all sorts of games. And you can meet the other kids, too!” Coconut exclaimed. “Well, why don’t you two introduce us?” Lulamoon suggested. “Who else is on this team?” The two fillies looked at each other and giggled. “One of them’s standing right next to you, Lula,” Coconut laughed. “They are?” Lulamoon glancing up to her side. “Where are they?” “Right here, Miss,” piped up an oddly-accented voice from just below her eye-level. Lulamoon looked down at her side, wondering where the voice had come from, then suddenly stepped back in shock. “Whoa!” she blurted out. Standing beside her was the smallest earth pony colt she’d ever seen outside of a baby carriage. He had pinto pony markings of white and brown, with a dark spot over one eye like half a bandit-mask and a thick thatch of brown hair to match his brown eyes. He looked up at Lulamoon with an impish grin. “Hope I didn’t scare you, Miss.” As Lula regained her composure, Starlight stepped forward to greet their diminutive companion. “Hi there,” she began. “I can’t help but notice your accent. Are you from Trottingham?” “Well spotted, Miss. Yes, I am!” the colt replied proudly with a smile. “My mum and dad and me came here from the island a while back.” “How old are you?” Lula asked, finally finding her voice again. “Should you be playing with kids our age?” “I’ll be 10 next month,” the colt replied, his smile never wavering. “You’re our age?” Lula said, almost to herself. “Something wrong, Miss?” “It’s just…” Lula struggled to find the right words. “I’ve never met anyone who was smaller than I was— Am! Than I am.” “Well, I’ll try not to hold it against you,” the colt replied. “And I quite fancy tall girls, anyway.” “Tall girls…” Lulamoon repeated the words to herself, a smile coming to her lips. “What’s your name, kid?” she asked. “Pipsqueak,” the colt replied. “Pip to my friends, and I’d very much like if you both called me that.” Lulamoon glanced at Starlight. “This is Starlight. I’m Lulamoon. We’d be happy to call you Pip.” “A pleasure!” Pip held out a forehoof, which Starlight and then Lulamoon both shook. Starlight couldn’t help but notice the glint of happiness in her companion’s eye. She wouldn’t be the smallest kid on the team. And like Lula, Starlight also couldn’t help but be won over by the tiny colt’s charm. “Anyway,” Starlight said as she turned back to Toola Roola. “Do you know what sort of stuff we’ll be doing today? Lula and I didn’t really have much time to find out about that.” “Oh, all sorts of things!” Toola replied, her excitement obvious. “We play a lot of these games in school, so they’re easy. Like, we’re having a group jump rope battle!” “You mean where you’ve got whole teams of kids jumping rope and the first one who gets tripped up is out?” “Right!” Toola looked a little worried. “Except most of the time, the teams I’m on get tripped up first. I hope we can all jump high.” She glanced over at Pip and Lulamoon, who were chatting with Coconut. “Well, Lula can jump as high as I can,” Starlight confided. “That, I can promise you. Anyway, you just have to be careful how you line your team up.” Toola cocked her head to one side. “Line them up how?” she asked. “You know, weak jumpers in the middle and the strong ones one the ends,” Starlight replied. Seeing Toola’s confusion, she scratched a diagram in the dust at their feet with her hoof. “Look, a jump rope’s lowest in the middle and curves up at the ends, where it’s held, right?” she explained. “So, you just figure out who your best jumpers are and put them at the end, where it counts. The weak jumpers stay in the middle, where the rope’s practically touching the ground.” A look of comprehension dawned on Toola Roola’s face as she saw what Starlight was getting at. “That’s a great idea!” she exclaimed. “No kid I know ever thought of it like that. We all just lined up and jumped as high as we could. You must have been really good at this when you played with your friends back home.” “Um…” Starlight stammered. “I didn’t play much with other kids where I came from. But I would watch them all doing it from the side, so I figured it out.” “Oh,” Toola replied quietly. She looked at Starlight carefully, finally understanding why she was there. Then she smiled and poked her playfully in the shoulder. “Well, you’ll be playing with a lot of kids today, okay?” Starlight chuckled and nodded. “Thanks,” she said. “I’d really like that.” She looked around. “There’s supposed to be nine of us, right? Where are the others?” Toola looked around, and then pointed to the sky. Three small winged shapes were flapping their way. “I think the pegasus kids are all coming together,” she said. She began waving to them as they dove down and alighted at the edge of the waiting area. “Cotton! Chip! Rumble! Come meet the new girls!” Two colts and a little filly scampered over as Lula and the other two earth ponies rejoined them. Toola Roola waved a foreleg at the unicorns. “This is Starlight Glimmer and her friend Lulamoon. They’re going to be on our team today.” The pegasi peered at them curiously until the little white filly with the light blue mane stepped forward and pointed at Starlight. “That’s not Starlight Glimmer,” she said with absolute assurance. “I’m not?” She’d gone into this half-expecting to need some sort of cover story for herself and Lula, but being called a liar by some little filly? Part of her just wanted to yell “Am, too!” and stick out her tongue. “No,” the little girl replied. “I know all about Starlight Glimmer, and I know that she’s a grown up, not a little kid.” She nodded her head with the knowing air of an expert. “Oh, you know all about Starlight Glimmer?” asked Lulamoon, giving a playful wink to Starlight and the others before turning back to the little pegasus. “And why is that?” “Because, she’s Princess Twilight’s student, and I know everything about Princess Twilight,” she replied. “And why do you know all about the princess?” Starlight asked, now genuinely curious. “Because,” the filly said confidently as she paused to open her saddlebag and withdraw a book with one wing, “I’m in the Princess Twilight fan club, and I know everything from the book!” “And what book would that be?” Lulamoon asked. “The book! The source book!” the little filly replied with breathless wonder. “The book of everything known about Princess Twilight and her friends.” She held it up, her eyes shining. “The Twipedia,” she said, a note of awe in her voice. “The ‘Twipedia’?” Starlight repeated, looking at the others. Lulamoon was struggling to contain her laughter while Toola and Coconut exchanged a worried glance. Toola then leaned over to whisper in Starlight’s ear. “Careful,” she said. “Cotton will go on for hours if you get her started.” Starlight nodded, smiling. This might actually simplify things. “So, why don’t you tell me about Starlight Glimmer?” she said. “You can tell me why I’m not her.” “Oh, that’s easy!” the little white pegasus exclaimed as she opened the book and flipped through it. She began to read: “Starlight Glimmer is Princess Twilight’s first and, thus far, only student. Not much is known about her past, except that she did something bad in a village somewhere, but Princess Twilight forgave her and taught her the magic of friendship. She now lives with the princess and helped to save Equestria from the changelings.” If that’s all the fan club knows about me, maybe my reputation isn’t so bad, Starlight thought. “Does it say what Starlight looks like?” she asked. “Of course it does,” the filly replied, rolling her eyes. She continued to read. “Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn with a pinkish-purple coat.” She looked up at Starlight. “Kind of like yours, and she has a dark purple mane with light purple and teal stripes, like yours. And she has a cutie mark that looks like a magical shimmer next to a double starburst, like yours, and…” The little filly trailed off, glancing from her book to Starlight’s cutie mark and back again, then slowly looked at Starlight’s face, her eyes wide. “Does it really not say what I did in that village?” Starlight asked. “Because I’ve been walking around assuming that everypony knew at this point.” “You’re Starlight Glimmer,” the pegasus said, entranced. “I am.” “And you’re little,” she continued. “For today, at least,” Starlight replied with a smile. “Is this, like, a secret friendship mission?” the pegasus whispered, glancing around. “Is there a friendship problem you need to solve?” Starlight leaned in and motioned her to come closer. The pegasus nervously approached as Starlight whispered in her ear. “Yes, and the problem’s with me. I came here with my friend to play games and make friends with you all today.” “Your friend?” She looked over toward Lulamoon. “Is that the Great and Powerful Trixie?” “Today she’s just Lulamoon,” Starlight replied. “So, you want to help solve my friendship problem?” The pegasus nodded her head furiously, a squeal of excitement escaping her lips as she did. Starlight extended her foreleg. “Starlight Glimmer, as seen in the book,” she laughed. “And you are…?” “Cotton!” the little pegasus replied, shaking her hoof furiously. “Cotton Cloudy! This is so great! I’m on a friendship mission!” She suddenly turned to Toola and the other earth ponies. “She’s on a friendship mission!” she squealed. “We know,” Coconut replied. “And we didn’t need the book to figure out who she was, either.” As Cotton blushed, Toola Roola indicated the two colts who’d arrived with her. “Starlight, Lulamoon, these are Chip and Rumble. Guys, were you paying attention just now, or do we have to explain who they are to you, too?” “Well, I heard,” the gray pegasus with the lighter gray mane replied. “But I don’t really understand. You’re a grown up?” “Both of us are, usually,” said Lulamoon, offering a hoof. “Today we’re kids. I’m Lula. What’s your name?” “Chip,” the gray colt replied. “Glad to meet you.” “Likewise,” Lula said and then turned to his companion. “I guess that makes you Rumble?” “Yeah…” the other colt replied suspiciously. His coat was a lighter gray than his friend’s, his mane darker, his attitude not nearly as friendly. He eyed Lula and Starlight warily. “What are you two really doing here?” “What do you mean?” Lula asked. “We’re just doing what we said we’re doing. It’s a friendship lesson for Starlight.” “And you turned into little kids to play games? That’s your mission?” Starlight began to answer, but Lula shushed her and motioned for Rumble to follow her. They walked off a few paces, then Lulamoon waved him closer. He dubiously approached. “Between you and me, I thought this was a silly idea, too,” she whispered. “But Princess Twilight and Starlight can get some weird ideas sometimes, and I got roped into it. So, do me a favor and just go along with it, okay? If you do, I’ll give you free tickets to one of my shows.” Rumble stared at her. “And who are you?” he asked, looking completely baffled. Lula’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I’m… I’m Trixie,” she said. Rumble simply shrugged, his face still a mask of bewilderment. “The magician who camps out on the edge of town?” she pressed hopefully. Still nothing. Lula sighed. “I’m her best friend and just want to get through this day without any disasters, okay? Please, just play along?” Rumble rolled his eyes and groaned. “Fine!” he said, fed up with the whole thing. “Do whatever you want, just don’t mess it up for the rest of us!” He trotted back to Chip’s side, muttering about crazy unicorn grown ups butting in on kid’s games. Lulamoon returned to the others, looking shaken. She motioned to Cotton and the two moved away from the others. “Does your book have anything on the Great and Powerful Trixie?” she asked. “I think so,” Cotton replied, flipping pages as she searched. “Ah, ha! There it is!” “Read it. I want to hear what you all think of me.” “All right.” Cotton cleared her throat. “The Great and Powerful Trixie: Pest.” She paused and then looked at Lula. “That’s it.” “That’s it?!” Lulamoon exclaimed. “One word? Pest? Seriously?!” “That’s what it says.” “But I helped save Equestria! I’m a hero!” Lula protested. “Oh!” Cotton smacked herself in the forehead with one hoof while holding the book with her wings. “This is the old entry! I didn’t check the updated section!” She began flipping pages to the back of the book. “The book gets updates?” Lulamoon asked, trying to read some of it as the pages turned. “Yeah,” Cotton replied. “Everypony in the club sends in stuff as we learn it. It all gets added eventually. Your main entry just didn’t get updated yet.” She finally spotted the page she sought. “There we go! Here’s your latest entry.” She paused nervously, looked at Lulamoon, and then gulped. “Well? What’s it say?” Lula demanded. Cotton took a deep breath. “Former pest.” There was a long silence, as Lula waited for more. “That’s it.” Cotton bit her lower lip nervously. “Sorry.” Lulamoon opened her mouth, as though ready to begin a long and loud protest, then closed it as she sighed. “It’s all right. It’s not your fault,” she said quietly. “I just thought I rated something more than ‘former pest.’ I shouldn’t be surprised.” She walked slowly back toward Starlight and Toola Roola, looking dejected. “What’s with you?” Starlight asked. “Apparently the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t rate more than two words in the Twipedia.” “Oh, come on!” Starlight replied, poking her shoulder. “You didn’t even know that thing existed till about 10 minutes ago. Who cares?” Lulamoon replied with sad, puppy dog eyes. Starlight sighed. “Okay, I guess you care. So, maybe we can do something today that’ll get both our entries updated. Cheer up!” Lulamoon smiled wanly. “I suppose I’m being silly,” she said. “There are much worse things than not being mentioned in a book.” “Exactly!” Starlight laughed. “I mean, we lucked out with the kids on this team. There were a couple I was really scared we’d be stuck with,” Lula continued, her good cheer returning. “If either one of them showed up here, I think I might have run screaming back to the castle.” “Hello, ladies!” came a scratchy voice from behind her. Lulamoon froze as her right ear began to twitch. Starlight and the other fillies turned to see who had joined them, but Lulamoon already knew. With a keening whimper she slowly took cover behind Starlight. “What’s with you?” Starlight asked, confused. “It’s them,” Lula hissed, trying to somehow make herself even smaller. “Them?” “Them!” Lulamoon replied, as she peered out from behind Starlight to behold her nightmare. As a rule, unicorns tend to be among the handsomest of ponies. A bit more graceful than earth ponies, a bit more refined than pegasi. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, and two of them had just trotted into Cherry Team’s area. Snipsy Snap, known to one and all as Snips, was short, bucktoothed, and chubby, with a mane full of unruly brown hair and a mind full of unruly thoughts. He was only a little taller than Lulamoon, making him the second shortest colt in school after Pip. Unlike his classmate, Snips lacked any degree of charm. He was a hyperactive goofball, whose cutie mark was a pair of scissors. He claimed that it marked his special talent as being good at cutting almost anything, although he seemed to concentrate more on being a cut-up in class. And next to him stood his partner in pranks, Snailsquirm, more commonly known by his nickname Snails. Snips and Snails were a comically mismatched duo. Where Snips was short and chubby, Snails was tall and gangly. Where Snips was excitable and prone to rush into trouble, Snails was laid back, his mind seemingly on another planet at times. Even their colors seemed to be reversals of each other. Where Snips had a bluish-green coat and brown mane, Snails had a blue-green mane and golden-brown coat. Snails had a snail for a cutie mark, although no one really seemed to know what sort of talent that implied beyond his general slowness. The two colts had been nothing but trouble for Trixie when she’d first come to Ponyville years earlier. Thanks to their having led a baby ursa into town for her to battle, she’d ended up publically humiliated and unable to put on any shows for nearly a year. If any one thing had been the cause of the enmity she’d formed for Twilight Sparkle, it’d been that asinine prank that these two had perpetrated. They were the last kids Lulamoon wanted to see at that moment. Not because she was afraid of them pestering her, but because she was now smaller than them. When she’d returned for her magic duel with Twilight, Trixie had taken special sadistic pleasure in bedeviling Snips and Snails, culminating with her having turned them into babies. She could only imagine the sort of revenge they’d exact once they figured out who she was. “Hi, guys,” said Toola, before a look of puzzlement fell over her face. “Wait, there’s already eight of us. You both can’t be on this team.” “We aren’t,” Snails replied, blinking his heavy-lidded eyes. “Just me. Miss Cheerilee says we both shouldn’t be on the same team. Yah.” “It’s not fair!” Snips whined. “They shouldn’t split us up! We’re insep… Um, insep…” He paused, trying to remember the rest of the word. “Inseparable?” Starlight suggested. “Yeah, that! Un-split-up-able!” Snips declared, further plumbing the depths of malapropism. “Yah, un-split-up-able,” Snails agreed, nodding. He blinked again, seeming to notice the unfamiliar fillies standing with Toola and Coconut for the first time. “Um, do we know you? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” He peered around Starlight, catching a glimpse of Lula, who retreated back behind cover with a tiny shriek. “They’re kind of new,” Toola said as she waved a hoof toward Starlight. “Snips, Snails, this is Starlight, and behind her is—” “Lulamoon!” Lula said, suddenly jumping out and extending her hoof to shake. “I’m Lulamoon, and we’ve never, ever met before! So pleased to meet you for the first time, ever!” Snails reflexively extended his own hoof, and Lula began shaking it heartily as Snips studied her face. “Are you sure we’ve never met?” he asked, squinting one eye as he stared at her intently. “Because you look awfully familiar.” “Positive! Never seen you before in my life!” Lula replied, releasing Snails’ hoof as a bead of nervous sweat began to form on her forehead. “Really?” Snails said as he looked her over. “Because you look a lot like the Great and Powerful Trixie.” “The who now?” Lula replied, smiling nervously as she wiped her forehead. “No, no, you must be mistaken. I’m a new little filly, just here to make friends!” “Yeah…” Snips continued, peering closer. “You’ve got the same blue coat as Trixie.” “Blue? Well, I’ve always thought of it more as an azure, myself…” “Yah, and she’s got the same white mane with the the little blue streaks in it, just like Trixie,” Snails added. “And it’s brushed just like Trixie brushes hers.” “Oh, well, this is a very common hairstyle,” Lula stammered, terror now plain on her face. “And your cutie mark looks just like Trixie’s,” Snips said, eyeing her flank. He nodded his head sagely. “You can’t fool us. We know who you are!” “Now, boys,” Lula began nervously. “I know mistakes were made, but…” “You’re Trixie’s twin sister!” Snips declared. “...we just need to move past that, and—Wait, what?” Lulamoon stood dumbfounded for a moment. “No, but that’s… I’m not her twin sister.” “You look just like Trixie,” said Snips. “Yes, true,” Lula replied nervously. “And you have the same cutie mark as Trixie,” said Snails. “Also true.” “So, you must be her twin sister!” concluded Snips, pleased with his logical prowess. “But, that’s not how twins work…” Lulamoon trailed off as she wondered why she was even arguing the point. “You know what? Yes. You are absolutely right! I am Trixie’s identical twin sister who is fifteen years younger than her, for some reason!” She raised a hoof and side-punched the air. “Boy, oh, boy. I couldn’t fool you two.” “Well, we won’t hold it against you,” Snips replied. “You look like you’re a lot nicer than she is.” “Yah, and prettier, too.” Snails’ cheeks reddened as he turned shyly away. “Anyway, I’ve gotta get over to my team,” said Snips. He stopped, then turned to Snails. “Which team am I on again?” “I’ll show you,” Snails replied. He glanced again at Lulamoon, blushed, then the two trotted away toward the Peach Team area. In their wake stood Starlight, Toola, and Coconut, mouths agape. “Those two are…” Starlight trailed off, unsure of how to even describe what she’d just witnessed. “...really dumb,” Coconut whispered. “Yeah,” said Toola Roola, nodding her head. The three girls turned to look at Lulamoon, who stood petrified with horror. “Did he just say I was pretty and then blush?” she whispered. The three other girls nodded their heads silently. “Oh, no…” she moaned. Starlight could only pat her shoulder in sympathy. “Um, Lulamoon?” Lula turned to see Cotton, her copy of the Twipedia out and a pencil already in her mouth. “Should I update your entry to say that Snails is your boyfriend now?” With a long groan, Lula sank to the ground, hugging her forelegs over her head, as though waiting for the sky to fall onto her, as well. Cotton looked at her, then to Starlight. “Is this a bad time?” “Maybe save the updates for later, Cotton,” Starlight replied as she sat down on her haunches in front of her despondent friend. “C’mon, Lula. It doesn’t mean anything. Tomorrow, you’ll be a grown up again.” “Why him?” Lula moaned, peeking out from under her forelegs. “Why does the first boy in ages to show any interest in me have to be Snails?” “Maybe he thinks short girls are really cute,” Coconut suggested. “Well…” Starlight stroked her chin with a hoof as she considered the problem. “Maybe we can tell him you’ve got cooties or something.” “Oh, come on!” Toola protested. “We’re not babies!” “And Snails is older than us,” Cotton added. “That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t fall for it,” mused Coconut. “He is really dumb.” “It wouldn’t work anyway. He’d still be in love with me,” Lula grumbled. “Why not?” Starlight asked. “Because I’m adorable!” Lula wailed, retreating back under her forelegs. Starlight and the others looked at each other and then began to laugh as they helped Lulamoon to her feet. While they did, Toola noticed Snails returning from his escort of Snips to Peach Team and poked Starlight to get her attention. Starlight motioned to Lula and the other girls to come closer. “I think I’ve got a plan,” she said softly. “Is there something really interesting you all could be doing for the next few minutes?” Toola thought for a moment, then her face lit up. “Would you like to see my sketchbook? It’s right over there,” she said, pointing to a saddlebag lying on the ground nearby. “You definitely want to see her drawings,” Coconut said, nodding. “They’re great.” “I would love to see your sketchbook. Right now!” Lulamoon replied as she nervously watched Snails approaching. As the others made a hasty exit, Starlight squared her shoulders, preparing to meet the lovestruck colt. There he was, gazing dreamily at Lulamoon. Or, possibly, he was half-asleep.  It was a little hard to tell with this kid, Starlight thought. His eyes seemed to be only half-open most of the time. If this were a comic strip, Starlight thought, he’d probably have little hearts floating around his head. As he trotted toward Lula and the others, Starlight prepared to make her move, then noticed Cotton still standing shyly to her side. “Is this part of your mission?” she asked, tail tipping excitedly. “Do you need backup?” “Thanks, but I think I can handle one Snails on my own,” Starlight chuckled. “Why don’t you go look at the sketches with the others?” “Okay...” Cotton’s ears flattened as she moped away, crestfallen. Starlight trotted forward, intercepting the young unicorn before he could close in on the others. With the brightest smile she could muster, she extended a hoof to him. “Hi there!” she said brightly, hoping she sounded sincere. “I didn’t really get a chance to say hello before. I’m Starlight!” “Yah, hi…” Snails replied, peering around her for a clear path toward Lula and the others as he shook her foreleg. “Sorry, but could you maybe—” “I see Pip isn’t the only boy on this team with an accent,” Starlight continued, cutting him off. “What are the odds? Let me guess… Whinnipeg?” Snails turned his gaze fully onto Starlight, his eyes opening all the way for the first time. It was probably the closest he came to looking surprised, she thought. “Yah, that’s where my family’s from,” he said as he released her hoof. “Well, near there, anyways. How did you know?” “Vanhoover,” Starlight replied, tapping her chest. “Or, Sire's Hollow, anyway. Close enough.” A smile spread across Snails’ face. “Well, all right!” he nodded. “Northern girl! Nice to have someone else from back home.” “So, have you been down here long?” Starlight pressed, maneuvering herself to turn Snails’ gaze from Lula and the others. “Oh, yah,” Snails nodded. “We came here back when I was still in kindergarten. That’s where I met Snips.” “That’s your friend?” Starlight asked. “Wow, you’ve known each other a long time, then, huh?” “Yah, he’s my buddy. We do everything together.” Snails paused a moment, then blinked slowly. “Except this, I guess. How long have you been down south?” “A couple of years,” Starlight replied. “Just not here in Ponyville.” Her mind raced, trying to think of anything to keep him distracted. “Do you ever get back up there to visit?” “Yah, every year, to visit my gram,” he nodded. “You?” “No, not for a long time.” There was a note of genuine wistfulness in her voice. “You know what I miss the most from back home? Donuts from Horsetons.” Snails reflexively licked his lips. “Horsetons! I love Horsetons! What’s your favorite flavor?” “Honey crullers!” she replied, without a moment’s hesitation. I’m really enjoying this, she thought. It’s been ages since I’ve talked to anyone from back home like this. Even the few times she’d seen Sunburst recently, they never seemed to just talk about ordinary things from back home. Snails closed his eyes, his smile returning as he imagined eating the sugary delight. “Oh, yah… Honey crullers. Those are so good. They’re so light.” He opened his eyes. “My gram sends us down a box of Horsetons every couple of moons.” “You’re lucky!” Donuts from Horsetons were practically their own food group up north, and it’d been a long time since she’d last had one. “Hey, next time she sends us one, I’ll come find you,” Snails said. “I’ll save a honey cruller, just for you.” “That’s really sweet. Thanks.” Starlight looked the gangly colt up and down. He was actually very nice, she thought. Maybe Lula wasn’t being fair. Starlight shook her head. No, she still had a job to do, despite his show of hospitality. Snails glanced over at the Lula and the others, who seemed to be laughing at some drawing in Toola Roola’s sketchbook. Starlight’s eyes followed his gaze. “You’re friends with the other girl, aren’t you?” He turned to face Starlight, and she nodded. He looked back at the others. “Do you think she likes me?” Starlight gulped. He’s just a kid, she thought. A kid with a crush. Treat him gently, Starlight. What’s the nicest way to warn him off? She quickly considered the problem. What would get a young boy to leave a girl he liked alone? Something nagged at the back of her mind. Something Cotton had said only a few minutes before. “Snails is older than us.” Starlight’s eyes widened as she realized what she needed to do. This was going to be easier than she’d thought. “I think you made her a little nervous before,” Starlight replied. “You’re the first boy in town who’s ever said she was pretty.” Which was true, Starlight thought to herself. Trixie’s romantic life was about as great and powerful as her common sense. “How old are you, Snails?” “I turned eleven only a couple moons ago,” he answered proudly. “Oh…” Starlight nodded knowingly. “That’s the problem.” She turned and waved a hoof in Lula’s general direction. “We’re only nine. I think you might be a little too old for us.” “Yah think?” He glanced over at the girls again. Lulamoon caught his gaze and immediately took cover behind Coconut Cream. “Yeah,” Starlight sighed. “I don’t think she’s ready for such a mature boy to say stuff like that to her.” She motioned for Snails to come close, and she whispered in his ear. “I think she’s scared of you.” His eyes widened in horror. “Oh, no!” He looked back at Lulamoon, who peeked out from behind Coconut and then retreated with a yelp when she saw him still looking at her. “I don’t want to scare her or anything.” “Maybe keep your distance for now,” Starlight suggested. “Till she warms up to you.” Snails held his gaze on the others for a moment longer, blinked slowly, then turned back to Starlight. After a long moment, he nodded his head. “Yah,” he said. “I shouldn’t scare her, should I? Okay.” “Thank you!” Starlight replied, her gratitude genuine. “I’ll go tell her.” “Sure thing,” Snails nodded. “And don’t forget, I owe you a honey cruller sometime.” Starlight nodded with a smile, then trotted over to the other girls. They were back to giggling at the sketches. Toola had a pencil in her mouth, and seemed to be drawing something that was sending the others into hysterics. As Starlight drew near, Lulamoon waved her closer as she nearly convulsed with laughter. “Starlight, come see this! It’s amazing!” she gasped. Starlight drew closer and then guffawed as she saw the picture. Toola Roola had drawn a quick cartoon showing Snails, Lula, and Starlight. The sketch was rushed and rough, but she’d captured them perfectly. There was Snails, his eyes replaced with hearts. Lulamoon was cowering behind Starlight, her face twisted in fear, while Starlight glanced back at her, a large question mark over her head. “These are great!” Starlight exclaimed, turning to Toola. “Can I see some more?” “Sure!” Toola replied, dropping the pencil back into her bag. Starlight’s horn glowed as she levitated the book and began turning the pages. There were sketches of all kinds filling them, from quick cartoons to intricate landscapes and still lifes. “This is so much better than anything I could do,” Starlight murmured to herself. She closed the book and floated it back into the earth pony’s bag. “I wish I could draw like that.” “Maybe I can teach you sometime,” Toola suggested. She paused and blushed. “As long as you’re little, like this. I’d be a little embarrassed teaching a grown up.” “Well, maybe we’ll see,”Starlight replied. The thought of Toola coming over to visit and teach her how to draw felt appealing, somehow. Starlight brushed the thought aside. What they were doing today was therapeutic. Making herself like this just for fun, though… Would that be healthy? “So, how did it go?” Lula asked, glancing over at Snails. He’d trotted over to talk to the other boys. Starlight laid a sympathetic hoof upon her friend’s shoulder. “How do you feel about a late summer wedding?” “What?!” Lula squeaked. Starlight laughed. “Relax, he’ll leave you alone. I told him you were too young and innocent to have such a mature eleven-year-old for your boyfriend.” Lulamoon’s mouth dropped open, then she shook her head in amazement. “You told him that he’s too old for me?!” Starlight nodded. “Seemed like the easiest way out of it.” She glanced back at Snails and the others. “You know, he’s actually very nice.” A bemused smile spread across Lula’s face. “Fine,” she said. “You’re welcome to him.” Starlight whipped her gaze back to her friend and narrowed her eyes. “No, thank you,” she said, her tone deadly serious. She held the look for a few seconds before they both began to laugh. Starlight turned to Toola. “Well, that’s nine kids, so the team’s all here. Aren’t we supposed to have a coach, too?” “Yeah,” Lula piped in. “Where’s our coach?” “Right behind you,” drawled a familiar voice. Starlight and the others turned, and she immediately took a step back in shock. “Applejack?!” she blurted out. “Hey, there, young‘uns,” the orange farmpony called out, trotting into the center of the waiting area. “Gather round, now. We got some business that needs tendin’ to afore these games can start.” As the other children drew closer, Starlight’s mind raced. What was one of Twilight’s closest friends doing here? Why was she the coach? Did she know about her and Lulamoon. As if reading her mind, Applejack glanced over at Starlight. “Hey there, little filly,” she said with a wink. “You look like a friend of mine.” Well, Starlight thought, that answers that question. Lulamoon sidled up next to her. “What’s Farmer Applesauce doing here?” she whispered. Applejack’s ears twitched. Suddenly, she turned and strode over to Lulamoon, lowering her face to within inches of the tiny unicorn’s. “Farmer Applesauce has been lendin’ a hoof organizing this little shindig for the past couple of weeks,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “And Farmer Applesauce has better hearing than a bat in an echo chamber. So, be nice, afore I swat your backside.” The two glared at each other in silence, until AJ snorted. “You are just a bitty little thing, ain’t you?” she said. “Like a little half-pint of vinegar!” She ruffled Lula’s mane with a laugh and walked back to the center of the gathering children. Lulamoon huffed in indignation. “How dare she!” she sputtered. “How dare she… She…!” “Treat you like a little kid?” Starlight asked. “I think we both have to put up with that today, Lula.” “But…!” Lula trailed off, unable to muster any sort of counterargument. All she could do was pout, grumbling to herself how kids got no respect and how unfair it all was. Starlight turned her attention back toward the others. “All right,” Applejack began, pushing her trademark stetson hat back higher on her head. “Now, y’all know who I am, and I take it y’all have had a chance to get to know each other.” The children looked around and nodded. Starlight couldn’t help but notice Rumble’s scowl when he looked at her and Lulamoon. “I’m your coach,” Applejack continued. “My job’s to keep y’all in line and tell you what’s what. I can tell you where to go and what to do, and maybe even give some advice. But…” She paused and looked around at the nine foals that comprised Cherry Team. “I ain’t here to lead you. That’s the job for your captain, and choosin’ who that’s gonna be is your first activity for today. So, think hard afore you decide.” A few of the children began whispering to each other, no doubt discussing which of them they’d name to the position. Starlight looked to her right and saw Toola, Coconut, and Cotton conferring with each other, while opposite them, the boys seemed to be having a heated argument. Lulamoon tapped her on the shoulder and whispered into her ear. “Who do you think the captain should be?” “I don’t know,” Starlight whispered back. “We don’t know anyone well enough to nominate. Let’s just see who the others pick and then go along with it.” Lulamoon nodded, and the two of them waited for the caucusing to conclude. Eventually, Toola raised a hoof. “Toola Roola?” Applejack called out. “Do you have a nomination?” “Yes,” Toola replied. She glanced at Coconut and Cotton, who both nodded, before pointing at Starlight. “We think that Starlight Glimmer should be captain!” The words seemed to hang there in the air, frozen in time. Starlight looked from one child to another, her mouth open in shock. This wasn’t part of the deal, she thought. She was here to play and make friends. It was all a game. There weren’t supposed to be any stakes. But now… She looked helplessly at Applejack. Surely, she thought, AJ could see there was no way she could be their team captain. Surely she’d laugh and offer some sort of homespun, apple-themed wisdom why they should choose from one of the friends that they knew and not the imposter who’d only walked into their midst not even a half hour ago. Instead, Applejack simply raised an eyebrow as she silently studied the girls’ faces. “Interesting choice,” she finally said, quietly. “Why her, Toola?” Yeah, why me? Starlight wondered desperately. Because you know I’m a grown up and think that’ll help you win? Because I’m Twilight’s student and you think I have some sort of secret plan to dominate playground sports? “Because she’s really smart and has good ideas,” Toola replied. “She told me before about how to win at the jump rope game, and I never would have thought of that by myself.” She looked over at Snails, who seemed to be daydreaming as he looked in Lulamoon’s direction. “And she can get you to do things without bossing you around or making you feel bad.” Toola Roola turned back to face Applejack. “That’s why we think she’d make a good captain.” Coconut and Cloudy both nodded. Starlight felt a knot forming in her stomach. Those sounded like good reasons, but these girls didn’t really know her. To Toola and Coconut, she was the nice unicorn who’d brought them to see Princess Twilight that one time, and Cotton… Well, she was some starstruck little filly who probably just saw her as a ticket to a personal introduction to the princess, as well. Was that their plan? To pretend to like her, just so they could meet the pony they actually admired? Were they going to turn on her, the way every child had when she was younger? Starlight turned helplessly to Lulamoon, who had raised her hoof. A momentary hope flashed through her mind. Maybe her best friend would offer some clever way out. “Somethin’ on your mind, Half-Pint?” Applejack asked. Lulamoon puffed her cheeks in annoyance. “Yes,” she said, looking at Starlight. “I also think Starlight would make a good captain.” Starlight smacked her forehead. Lula had been doing so well all morning, but now it felt like the Great and Powerful Trixie had made a sudden reappearance. “Excuse us a second!” she said as she took her friend’s tail in her mouth and dragged her a few paces away from the others. “Stop that!” Trixie hissed. “I already had my tail yanked once this week! Don’t you start doing it, too!” “Why would you agree with them?!” Starlight shot back. “I can’t captain this team!” “And why can’t you?” the little blue unicorn retorted with a roll of her eyes. She gingerly rubbed the base of her tail, wondering how many hairs she’d lost this time. “Because the last thing I need right now is that kind of responsibility!” Starlight looked back at the kids, who were all staring at them. Rumble’s scowl had only grown darker. “Oh, please!” Lula scoffed. “You led me and a couple of other oddballs into a changeling hive and came out a hero. You can certainly lead a bunch of kids playing hopscotch or whatever.” “Yeah, I led us in there and ended up having all of you getting captured while my great plan was to find the queen’s throne and hit it with a small rock. We only got out of that by pure luck!” Starlight paused and swallowed. “These kids don’t know who they’re dealing with.” “Or maybe they do. Did you ever think of that?” Lula motioned her to walk back toward the others. “Come on. They’re waiting.” Her eyes narrowed. “And don’t pull my tail again!” As they rejoined the group, Rumble raised a hoof. Applejack nodded toward him. ‘Yes, Rumble? Do you have something to add?” “Yeah.” The pegasus colt ruffled his wings in irritation as he pointed at Starlight. “She can’t be our captain!” Finally! A voice of reason! Starlight thought. “Oh? And why not?” Applejack replied. “Because…” Rumble glared at Starlight. “Because she doesn’t belong here. Not really.” He pointed at Pip. “Pipsqueak should be captain. He’s our class president. We all know him.” Rumble’s words hit Starlight like a kick to the stomach. He’s right, she thought. I don’t belong here. The others don’t see it, but he does. Applejack nodded. “Pretty good reason. What do you think, Pip?” The tiny colt seemed to study Starlight’s face, then turned to Rumble. “Here’s the thing, mate,” he said. “I appreciate it, but the truth is, I’m not that good at sport.” He turned to the other children. “You all know I can’t run as fast or jump as high as the rest of you, and I don’t have any really good ideas on how to play.” He pointed at Starlight. “I only met her a little while ago, but I like what I see. I say we give her a chance.” Rumble scowled at Pipsqueak. “Well, then I’ll be captain!” he sputtered. He turned to the others. “Who’s with me?! Chip?” Chip bit his lip nervously. “I don’t really care that much who’s captain,” he replied. “If most of us want Starlight, then I guess I’m okay with her, too.” Rumble loosed an exasperated groan. “What about you, Snails?!” There was no answer, as Snails looked dreamily at Lulamoon. “Snails! Wake up!” Rumble snapped. Snails blinked his eyes slowly. “I think Starlight should be captain.” Rumble’s face reddened with anger. “Why?!” Snails fixed Rumble with a placid gaze. “Because she was nicer to me than you’re being.” He then blushed a bit as he glanced shyly toward Lula. “And because Lulamoon wants her to be, too.” “Well,” said Applejack, as Rumble muttered darkly to himself, “That’s seven to one. The only pony here we haven’t heard from yet is the nominee herself.” She turned toward Starlight. “What do you say? Will you do it?” The others all looked at her, expectantly. What a wonderful situation, Starlight thought. So many ways she can disappoint them. She could say no, and reject the trust that Toola and the others had placed in her. She could say yes and then lead them to defeat. She could say no and then watch as someone else led them to defeat, where she might have helped. It’d end the same as it always had when she was this age: they would turn their backs on her. The knot in her stomach grew tighter, and she felt the monsters at the bottom of her brain begin to stir. Why would they ever choose her for this, they whispered. Rumble was right. She didn’t belong there. There was something wrong with her. Why couldn’t they see that? Why couldn’t they just let her be a face in the crowd? Starlight opened her mouth, but no words came. She looked from one child to the next, then helplessly at Applejack. Maybe it’s not too late to run home and hide in bed, she thought. Suddenly, Applejack smacked herself in the forehead. “Hang on a sec afore you answer, Starlight,” she said. “Been so busy around here, I, uh…” She coughed nervously. “I, uh, might have forgotten to check some of the equipment. You mind lendin’ a hoof?” Starlight shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Do we really need to do that right now?” she asked. Applejack bobbed her head. “Eeyup, right now. C’mon, let’s go stretch our legs.” She motioned for her to come and began trotting toward the schoolhouse. Starlight looked around at the other children, then turned to follow. “Wait!” Rumble yelled. “We haven’t settled this yet!” “And we will. Just settle down a spell,” Applejack called back. Starlight caught up and fell in at her side. They walked on in silence for a moment before Starlight looked up at her. “You gonna start, or do we gotta talk about the weather first?” Applejack asked, her eyes still fixed ahead. Starlight blushed. “How’d you get roped into this?” Applejack snorted.“Ain’t nopony telling me to be here now.” “Oh, come on!” Starlight exclaimed. “You’re coaching Cherry Team? Who’s taking care of Apple Team, then?” “My big brother’s coaching Apple Team,” Applejack replied. She turned and looked down at Starlight. “And I’ve a history with cherries, believe it or not,” she said with a grin. “Best to ask Twilight about that. It’s one doozy of a yarn.” “So, Twilight didn’t send you here to make sure I didn’t do anything bad?” Applejack snorted and shook her head. “Sugarcube, believe it or not, we don’t stand around all day waiting for you to do something wrong.” “Maybe you should,” Starlight mumbled, half to herself. “Then why are you here?” “Because I was here yesterday, helping Cheerilee with some last minute things, when Twilight came barging in asking the strangest darn favor I ever heard.” Applejack nodded her head toward the schoolhouse. “Head around back with me.” The two made a turn around the corner, where piles of game equipment stood ready. Applejack headed for a group of bushel baskets which were filled with what appeared to be bean bags, sitting on the ground next to wooden stands. She motioned for Starlight to stop, then turned to face her. The equipment yard was set a short distance away from the main field, and only a few workers were there with them. It was, Starlight realized, a good place for a little privacy. "Don’t be offended or nothin’, but when Twilight came to me with this tale about you and Trixie lookin' to turn yourselves into fillies, well, I wasn't too keen on the idea. The notion of the thing, it didn't sit well with me. You understand?" Starlight coughed up a small laugh. "Believe me, I don't blame you for a second." Applejack's smile widened slightly, as though relieved to hear that. "I had to take Twilight aside, get her to start at the beginnin'. After realizing what this meant to you, why you were doin' this, well, I'd be a bad friend if I didn’t volunteer." “To do what?” Applejack chuckled softly. "Why, to lend a hoof in case things got hairy, of course. Like what happened with that little Rumble feller." She sighed. "Don't be gettin' defensive now, Starlight, but I'm here 'cause Twilight wanted me to watch your flank. I thought she was bein' a worrywart, mind you. Figured she meant in case you got in a scrap with one of the young’uns. But from what I just saw..." She shook her head. "Now I know why I'm here." Starlight heaved a sigh. "To protect them from me?" She could hardly blame Twilight for worrying. Starlight could be an unpredictable mess at the best of times. Applejack gently brought her hoof down with indignation. "Shoot, no! Twilight'd gone and asked me to protect you from them, and I think you can gather why yourself." Starlight tilted her head. She and Applejack were friendly, but it was more a polite “friend of a friend” relationship than anything close. The truth was, Applejack and the others were like gifts that Twilight had given her when she’d taken Starlight on as her student. “Why would you care that much?” "Shoot, I didn't give it much thought." Not until that moment, it seemed, as Applejack gazed out, her face shadowed by her stetson in the low morning sun. "Maybe it's cuz I know what it's like to be a sad little kid." A strange, fond smile crossed her lips. "Maybe I know what it's like to want a do-over, make peace with the past. I dunno. What I'm tryin' and failin' to say is... I get it." Starlight knew immediately what she meant. The topic of Applejack’s missing parents was one that she’d learned about early on. Their absence was acknowledged by all, but never spoken of. It was as if everyone in town had agreed the subject was just too painful, and so everyone kept a respectful silence on the matter. But it didn’t take a genius to figure out what must have happened to them when she was still a child. Starlight felt ashamed. The farmer was there as a friend because she recognized a sort of kinship between them, and Starlight’s first thought had been to suspect her of spying. “Thanks,” she said softly. “I’m glad you were here.” “So,” Applejack said as she sat down on her haunches and motioned to Starlight to do the same. “Mind tellin’ me where that cat’s run off to?” “Sorry, what?” “The one who took your tongue,” she chuckled. “What’s got you so darn scared of bein’ captain? You’re a born leader, Starlight!” “Because I came here to just play, not lead!” she snapped. “Because I don’t want that kind of pressure!” “Now that’s just plum silly,” Applejack laughed. “Come on, now, you’ve led worse than this, and under worse circumstances to boot!” “I don’t see why they have to pick me!” Starlight groused. “They don’t know anything about me! They’d never have chosen me if they knew about the stuff I’ve done!” She sighed and looked down at her feet. “What are they seeing that would make them trust someone they don’t know? I’m just going to end up disappointing them.” Applejack chuckled. “They see your light, sugarcube. You might cover it up, or try and run from it, but folks still see it. They’ve seen it ever since you moved to town. I reckon those kids can see it even clearer than most.” “Light? What light?” Applejack was silent a moment. “Can I tell you a story?” She looked to see Starlight give a nod. “A few years back, Ponyville got the honor of hosting the annual Summer Sun Celebration. It’s a huge deal—Princess Celestia was gonna be here in the flesh, to see us. After a night of partyin’, she was to raise the first sunrise of summer in front o’ the whole darn town. We spent weeks getting ready, my family chief among them. We were in charge of supplying the vittles.” Starlight blinked slowly. “What does any of this have to do with…?” “Whoa there.” Applejack held up a hoof. “Lemme finish now. So anyways, the day of the celebration, we got us a visitor from Canterlot: a little purple unicorn, and her dragon assistant. She was sent by the princess herself to make sure everything was running ship-shape. ‘Cept I didn’t realize that ‘till later. See, she was the first new face I’d seen in ages, and I just had to introduce her to every Apple. We give her the lowdown of what we made, and she gives it the okay. But just as she’s about to leave, little Apple Bloom asks her to stay for brunch.” Starlight shrugged, still wondering what the point of the story was. “Part of me could tell this mare was a might busy. Another part, though, just wanted her to stay. Get to know her! And I could see we might’ve overwhelmed her a bit. But the unicorn looks to my sister for a moment and then says sure, she’ll stay.” Applejack smiled at the memory. “We stuffed her so full of food, she practically rolled out the front gate. And you know what I learned from all that?” So far, Starlight hadn’t learned anything. “That some unicorns should know when to stop eating?” Applejack shook her head. “No, consarnit. Not long after, I learned that we’d played host to an important pony, the student of the ruler of Equestria. In a way, she was the second-most important pony in all the land. And yet, she cared about the feelin’s of a little filly she’d only just met. I liked that about her. Now skip to later that night, when all of us stayed up to watch the princess arrive and raise the sun. ‘Cept she never came.” Applejack’s voice fell gravely quiet. “No princess, no sun, nothing. The night remained, and the only visitor we got was a fierce-lookin’ alicorn with snake eyes, callin’ us her ‘loyal subjects.’” Starlight nodded. “That was the night Nightmare Moon returned.” “Eeyup. Everypony flies into a panic, runnin’ around like scared chickens. ‘Cept for that little unicorn. See, she knew who that black pony was, and she was set on doing something about it. When I saw her face that creature in town hall, it was like there was a light around her. Completely unafraid of a bona fide nightmare! And from that moment, I knew she was a pony worth following. Know why?” “Because that was Twilight, and you knew the princess sent someone powerful to deal with the problem?” Again, Applejack shook her head. “I didn’t know her any better then than I did after she left my farm.” Her expression turned serious. “All I knew was that she was someone who cared, and that I liked that. I liked her. That was good enough for me, and I reckon everypony else felt the same. We followed Twilight into the forest because we each saw that light around her. We knew we liked her ‘cuz… Well, just ‘cuz.” Applejack placed a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Can I be totally honest with you?” Starlight snorted. “Are you capable of not being totally honest?” Applejack grinned. “I s’pose not.” Her expression hardened again. “The problem with you, Starlight, is that you’re always looking for a problem with you.” “What do you mean?” “Those kids you met today? They want you to be their team captain, Starlight. Don’t you understand that? But all you’ve done is ask ‘why.’ Like there’s something actually wrong with you, and you have to keep looking for something obvious you can put your nose on and say ‘This! This is why they like me!’ And unless you find that, all other possibilities are out the window. Did it never occur to you that, I dunno, they just like you? The same way we liked Twilight? Nopony can explain why friendships start, hon. They just do.” Applejack paused a moment, searching for the right words. “We saw somethin’ special in Twilight that night. I reckon those kids see the same in you. They don’t need anything more than that, and neither should you.” Was it really that simple, Starlight wondered. Did they like her because… Because she was just likable? But, then why was she never able to make more than one friend as a child before? Why were the kids here different from the ones back home? “Rumble doesn’t seem to think I should be captain,” Starlight ventured. “Why is it that when seven kids say they want you, you listen to the one who don’t?” Applejack shot back, exasperated. “Maybe he’s in a bad mood. Maybe he had a fight with his brother this morning, and he’s taking it out on you. Maybe he just likes boys more than girls.” “Maybe he sees something in me that isn’t worth trusting,” Starlight retorted. “And maybe you should have a talk with him. And have a little more faith in yourself while you’re at it. You might be surprised.” Applejack glanced at the sun. “It’s almost 9 o’clock. I think we’ve been here long enough. So…” She looked around at the baskets surrounding them. “You see anything wrong with this here equipment, ‘cuz I don’t.” Starlight shrugged and shook her head. “Then we should get back and settle this whole captain thing.” Applejack pushed her hat back on her head and stood up. Starlight followed suit. “We didn’t actually have to check anything here, did we?” she asked. “I’m a coach, and you looked like you needed some coaching.” Applejack smiled. “I sure hope it helped.” Starlight and Applejack returned to find the rest of Cherry Team gathered around Rumble and Toola Roola. Both looked furious with each other, and the rancorous atmosphere threatened to erupt into a full-scale schoolyard fight. Muttering a word that she’d normally guard against using around children, Applejack dashed forward and began separating the two. “Stop being such a jerk, Grumble!” Toola shouted as Coconut pulled her back by her tail. “Stop calling me that!” Rumble shouted back. “Grumble! Grumble! Grumble!” Toola taunted, struggling against her friend’s efforts. Applejack fixed them both with a glare that could likely peel the paint from her barn, quieting them instantly. As the boys and girls separated the feuding foals, Starlight walked up to Lulamoon. “Great, I leave for ten minutes, and the team’s ready to declare civil war.” Starlight sighed. “I take it Toola Roola was defending my honor?” “Not just her. I helped, too,” Lulamoon protested. “And the team’s not ready to declare war. It’s just Rumble versus everyone else. I say we tell him to get lost. He’ll be nothing but trouble.” Starlight looked over at Rumble. She considered Lula’s suggestion, then shook her head. Pipsqueak and Chip seemed to be trying to calm him down, but something was clearly bothering him. Something important, at least to him. “No, if I’m going to be captain, then I better start acting like one.” She squared her shoulders. Lulamoon fell in beside her, a gleam in her eyes and wicked grin on her face. “All right! You kick him in the shins, and I’ll hit him in the nose!” Starlight swiveled her head slowly towards Lula, and the smaller unicorn’s grin wilted under her scowling glare. “I mean, you’ll go and have a reasonable discussion with him, right?” Lula’s nervous laugh died away as she gulped. “We’re not going to have to sing a song with him, are we?” she asked. “Because I just can’t make those up on the spot the way Twilight does.” Shaking her head with a sigh, Starlight turned back toward the truculent colt. “Just stand back and let me handle it.” Starlight marched forward a few steps. “Rumble!” she called out. Rumble looked around, then his face darkened again when he saw her. “What do you want?!” he shouted back. Starlight tried to sound as calm as she could. “Just to talk. Please.” He turned away, but Starlight could see Pipsqueak pleading with him, his voice just a little too low to make out. Eventually, Rumble sighed and nodded. He pointed to a neutral corner of the waiting area. “We can talk there.” Starlight nodded, and the two of them approached each other warily. She glanced back and saw Applejack motioning for the others to stand back and give them some privacy, winking and mouthing “Good luck” to her. She and Rumble reached the corner, and silently looked each other over. His dark mane was brushed back, making him look as though he’d just flown there straight through a hurricane. But it was the darkness of his expression that gave her pause. There was real anger in his eyes, the sort you see when you’re convinced that someone has done you wrong. Starlight knew that look well; she’d seen it in her own eyes every morning in the mirror for half a year after Twilight had driven her from her town. He wasn’t just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Whatever his problem with her was, it was real to him. Okay, Starlight, she thought. Just play it cool and be friendly. It’s like Applejack said. For once in your life, don’t automatically assume that the kid doesn’t like you. Starlight took a deep breath held out her hoof. “Hi. We never actually talked before. I’m Starlight. How do you do?” Rumble frowned at her hoof, then looked her straight in the eye. “I don’t like you,” he growled. Kid, you are not making this easy. Lulamoon’s suggestion about kicking him in the shins was growing more appealing by the minute. Starlight tried again. “Do you always act like this to ponies trying to be friendly?” “No,” he replied. “Just to liars who come here to mess things up for us.” Starlight’s patience was beginning to wear thin as she lowered her hoof. “What do mean ‘liar?’ I haven’t lied about anything! I never tried to hide who I was!” Rumble rolled his eyes. “You’re pretending to be a kid.” “Yeah! So I could play with you!” “But this day isn’t for you! It’s for us!” He glowered at her before pressing on. “Field Day’s for us kids! I don’t care if you did some weird magic to make yourself look like a kid, because you’re still a grown up! You’re just going to mess things up for us, like what happened with the Applewood Derby!” Starlight vaguely recalled there being a soapbox derby held in town shortly after she came to live in Ponyville. But that was also around the time she’d first befriended Trixie, and she’d been more interested in spending time with her than watching a bunch of foals racing around the town center. “What happened at the derby? I never saw it.” Rumble scowled in Applejack’s direction. “Ask the coach about it. She and her friends butted in and ended up ruining the race for the rest of us. I’ve been looking forward to Field Day, and I don’t want any stupid grown ups playing around and messing this up for us, too!” Starlight tilted her head. “But isn’t that why we’re all here? To play games? Even you, right?” Rumble scoffed. “Not play! Play around!” He turned away from her. “I was right, you don’t understand,” he grumbled to himself. Starlight stepped closer. “Rumble, please. I want to understand. I’m trying to understand. Just explain it to me, straight out.” He began to answer, then bit his lip nervously. “You’re a grown up. I don’t want to get in trouble.” “Does this look like a grown up?” Starlight laughed, pointing to herself. “Because I don’t think any grown ups wear their hair like this. C’mon, this is your big chance. Tell me off, like any other kid. I’m just like Toola Roola, only I won’t call you names.” For just a moment, his scowl lightened, and she could see the hint of a smile. That sealed the deal, she thought. This was a good kid. She could get through to him. “Okay.” Rumble squared his shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You’re just here to fool around and not really try to win.” “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to fool around. I’m here to play and have fun, just like the rest of you.” “See?” he retorted. “That’s what I mean! You probably woke up and thought we’re all really cute and you want to play baby games with the little kids. Well, games are important!” The anger had returned to his eyes. “It’s bad enough a couple of grown ups want to butt in on something for us, but you can’t be captain! It’s not fair!” “Why not?” “Because you won’t take it seriously!” he shouted. He fell silent a moment, squeezing his eyes shut as he took a breath. And hard as he tried, he couldn’t hide the hint of a tear. “I want us to win,” he said, his voice quieter. “I don’t want a captain who doesn’t see this is important to us.” He gazed at her. “It isn’t fair. If we lose, you get to go home and forget about us, like it doesn’t matter. But we go home feeling like we let our friends down.” And just like that, Starlight understood. He was afraid. Afraid of putting his trust in someone who wouldn’t understand his feelings. Afraid she’d sacrifice the team’s chances and then abandon them in the end. Afraid she’d just end up turning her back on them. He was afraid the same way she was afraid. Starlight placed a hoof on his shoulder, and he looked up at her, his scowl softening slightly. “Rumble,” she said. “I’m not here to play around. This is serious for me.” “Why?” She sighed. “When I was little…” He arched one eyebrow. “The first time I was little, I was never able to make many friends. I couldn’t trust anyone, so no one trusted me. I didn’t get to play in any Field Days with other kids. All I did was watch everypony else from the side of the playground. Just me, scared to be alone, and scared of trying to make friends.” She withdrew her hoof and turned away. “I wasn’t good at being a kid, and when I grew up, I wasn’t that good at being an adult, either. It’s like I got stuck somewhere along the way, always just a little bit scared.” She looked back at him. “I don’t want to be scared anymore, and I think this will help. I think that if I get another try at being a kid, I can maybe be a better grown up. She looked into his eyes, wondering if this little colt understood. Finally, he nodded hesitantly. “So, this isn’t all fun and games for me, Rumble. It’s serious. What I’m doing, why I’m here, meeting all of you, playing with you… It’s all serious. And don’t tell me I can’t understand, because I know how important games are to us— I mean, to kids.” “Why?” he asked. For the first time, the scowl disappeared and he seemed genuinely interested. She smiled. “I had one friend when I was your age. We did everything together, but the thing I loved most was when we played Dragon Pit.” “What’s Dragon Pit?” Starlight scoffed, her eyes lighting up. “Oh, only coolest board game ever! You get to be a dragon trying to grab treasure, and the board looks like a volcano! There’s traps you fall into, and dice, and sometimes, the volcano erupts!” Rumble looked dubious. “You’re making that up!” Starlight placed a hoof over her heart. “I swear! It’s like this little marble that pops out of the volcano, and then it rolls down and if it hits your guy, you have to go to the bottom and start over!” The colt was silent a moment. “Okay, that does sound like a pretty cool game,” he admitted. Starlight nodded. “We played lots of games together, but that one was the best. Playing that game with my friend was… It was precious to me. It still is.” She gazed plaintively at him. “So I do understand, Rumble. I feel the same way you do about it. Games are…” What was the best way to put it? “Games are how kids learn things. They learn about each other. How to win and how to lose. I know why this is important to you.” Starlight realized that Twilight had been wrong. She'd thought doing this would be safe, and that there were no real stakes. But that was because she was a grown up. She’d forgotten what it was like for children, how serious these things could feel. But thanks to this colt, Starlight remembered. And she resolved not to let him down. She would do as Twilight asked. She would help her team as best she could. Starlight reached out toward him. “Rumble, I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I came here today. I was scared to meet you all, and I was scared when the rest of the team wanted me to be captain. But I want to do this. I want to be your captain. I want to prove to you that I care. Will you give me a chance? And I promise...” She made an X over her heart. “I promise, I’ll play these games like a kid.” Rumble gazed at her silently, until his expression softened. He took her hoof in his and shook it. “One condition,” he said with a hint of grin. “Can you show me that Dragon Pit game sometime?” Starlight snorted. “Sure. As long as you do your best today, Grumble. Deal?” Rumble nodded. “Deal...Captain.” Suddenly, there was a round of cheers and stomping. Starlight and Rumble turned to see the rest of Cherry Team applauding their truce. The two of them withdrew their hooves, blushing at the sudden attention. Applejack trotted over, a smile on her face and gleam in her eye. “If y’all are done with the gabbin’ and hoof holdin’,” she said, “then it’s high time we got ourselves lined up out on the field. The mayor’s got some gabbin’ of her own to do before the fun can start.” Starlight looked from Applejack to the children waiting for her. Her team. Her friends. She nodded to herself. She was ready. She and Rumble walked back to the others as they lined up, with Starlight in the lead. She looked left, and then right. “We’re Cherry Team,” she called out. “Win or lose, we’ll do our best.” The children nodded, and Starlight looked ahead, seeing the other teams assembling on the main field. “Who are we?!” she shouted. “CHERRY TEAM!” they answered in unison. “And what do we do?!” “OUR BEST!” Starlight narrowed her eyes and smiled. “All right team,” she said, stepping forward. “Let’s play.”