"Okay! Library, library..." Starlight wandered the castle hallways, searching for her destination, "Where did they put the library?"
Checking through one door, she saw it was just another hallway with no indication as to what was where, causing her to sigh, "This castle looked a lot smaller from the outside..."
It'd been a few weeks since she'd become Princess Twilight's new student. After the whole time-travel-related revenge thing fell through and she'd given up her vendetta to finally learn about true friendship, and was put on a probation status by Prince Midnight, Twilight had decided to let Starlight get used to her new life in Ponyville before they actually got started on anything other then a few conversations about friendship, among other things.
It'd been a transition, to say the least. She went out to town to lend a helping hoof to the locals, doing her best to fit in, to be accepted. She was allowed to go anywhere she liked in Ponyville... as long as she didn't try to leave, which was one of Midnight's conditions to her probation. That, and the Inhibitor Ring on her horn limiting her magic to basic Levitation and Illumination. She would have to earn her right to magic back, and was forbidden to cast a spell or even try to remove the ring until then. Not unless she wanted her magic to be nullified completely and have her probation extended.
She'd slowly become used to life in Ponyville. In the morning, she'd have breakfast in the castle, then she'd go out and enjoy the day, help somepony out, such as make some deliveries for the Cakes, lend a hoof to the Apples over at Sweet Apple Acres, help Rarity or Fluttershy with a new dress or taking care of some critters, or even assist Blueblood and his workers over at his airship warehouse. At Midnight's... suggestion, she'd also started seeing his mother, Faerie Tail, to talk about herself, her past, anything really.
Faerie Tail was there to listen, and though it had been a little awkward at first Starlight found it easier to talk to the older mare, who somehow made her feel at ease and comfortable during their sessions. In their last session, Faerie Tail had suggested Starlight go to Big Mac and Fluttershy's house to help them out. When she'd asked 'With what?" Faerie Tail had simply smiled and said 'You'll see'. When she got there, it turned out that Macintosh and Fluttershy were busy finishing up the nursery for their foal, as Fluttershy was due soon. Somehow, the three of them got to talking, with Starlight asking if they were nervous about their impending parenthood. Mac had responded he himself wasn't nervous... he was terrified! Fluttershy on the other hoof admitted she was indeed nervous, but her anxiety was outweighed by her overwhelming joy of meeting her baby when it came.
Seeing them cuddle so lovingly as the stallion touched his mare's baby bump, Starlight found herself suddenly feeling awful by the realization that she'd almost ruined this. She didn't say anything, though she did her best to help out finishing the nursery before Mac and `Shy thanked her once it was done and invited her to stay for dinner. She'd politely turned them down by saying Twilight was expecting her back soon, but truthfully she just didn't have the heart to face them any longer.
Bringing herself back to the present moment, she continued her search for the library, and tried another door... only to find it was a bathroom, where Spike was brushing his teeth after a nice shower. Noticing her in the mirror, Spike turned and gave a friendly wave, "Morning, Starlight."
"Whoops!" She quickly closed the doors while covering her eyes (not that she actually saw anything), wishing she'd knocked first. "Sorry, Spike! I guess I'm still trying to find my way around. You don't happen to know where the library is, do you?"
Spike poked his head and hand out to point out, "Next door on the left."
Starlight turned to see said door, realizing how close she'd been to avoiding that awkward moment, "Oh. Thanks!"
Inside the library, Twilight was going over a list in her plans to mentor Starlight, while Midnight was prepping his own list, planning to organize his and Twilight's own personal guard. After what happened, he'd finally gotten Twilight to cave and so, the Friendship Guard, Dawn and Dusk Divisions, were a go. All he had to do was figure out some requirements, get the word out, and hope he'd get some volunteers.
"Starlight, good morning! Come in!"
And there goes my good morning... Midnight grumbled mentally as he looked to see Starlight walk in.
"Sorry I'm late, I got a little turned around," she apologized. "I know it's already been over three weeks, but... I still can't believe you're letting me stay here! As your pupil. After... everything I did."
"Keep your friends close, your enemies closer," Midnight responded dryly without taking so much as a glance in Starlight's direction.
"Midnight!" Twilight snapped before seeing the slight grimace on Starlight's face, "Uh- Let's not dwell on the past. This castle is your home now, and as far as being my pupils goes..."
Twilight led Starlight over to the table where her list lay, "I was just trying to figure out what your first friendship lesson should be!"
"Oh! Well, it looks like you're really narrowing it down," Starlight commented, seeing it was a rather long list.
"Oh those are just the A's," Midnight pointed out with a slight horseapple-eating grin.
"That they are," Twilight confirmed as she pointed behind her before saying, "After this, I move onto the B's."
Starlight looked and grimaced to see a whole table covered with stacks of papers and scrolls, some were even on the floor next to the table, taking up considerable space around it.
"I know I'm just learning about friendship," Starlight said as she began to look at some of the stacks of paper, "but I didn't think there were this many lessons for anything!"
Feeling for Starlight, Midnight spoke up, "Take it from me, Twly's a bit of a compulsive list and chore maker. She'll invent chores when she can't find real ones."
"Maybe I should pare things down a bit before we go through them," Twilight admitted, in hind sight, this was overkill on her part. She was just so excited to be the teacher having been the student most of her life. Then she threw a raised brow to her husband, "And I do not invent new chores."
"Then why did you have me sweep the trees around the castle last week?" he reminded her with a raised brow back, Starlight stifling a laugh at the marital banter.
Not liking the example she was setting, Twilight zipped over to Starlight and said, "Why don't you join the others in the Throne Room? They're planning our trip to the Crystal Empire when Shining Armor and Cadance have their baby."
"Throne room, got it!" Starlight galloped out the door... and came back a few seconds later, "Which way is the throne room?"
Twilight sighed good-naturedly while Midnight answered, "Down the hall to the left, make a right at the first intersection of hallways, you'll find your way back to the Entry Hall and the Throne Room is to the right of the grand staircase."
"Thank you!" Starlight took off, leaving Midnight and Twilight to share a chuckle.
Then there was a silent moment before Twilight looked to her husband and saw a troubled look on his face.
"Midnight, are you okay?"
"Uh... Yeah, I'm..." Midnight cleared his throat and returned to his planning, "Just trying to decide the right requirements for the Friendship Guard."
"Okay, well... I'll leave you to it," Twilight gave him a kiss and trotted out of the library, while Midnight looked at some papers he'd had hidden under his notes.
Weather reports, to be exact, detailing strange weather patterns up in the Frozen North. Granted, the Crystal Empire was safe as long as its Thermal Barrier stood, the reports were making this development out to be perhaps the most disturbing weather movements the Frozen Empire had seen in ages.
Taking a deep breath, he thought, Goddess watch over us...
"Well, I think we should leave ASAP. I don't wanna miss the Crystalling!"
Starlight had just walked in, and apparently the others were already meeting to discuss the coming events.
"Dash, the baby hasn't arrived yet," Thunderlane pointed out, "We all can't just drop everything to go to an event before the... guest of honor has even been born."
"Frankly, Ah'm not quite clear on all these customs an' traditions th' Crystal Empire's got," Applejack commented, "`Specially when it comes to a Crystallin'."
"What's a Crystalling?" asked Starlight after working up the nerve to join the conversation.
"Well that's the thing, Starlight," Blueblood responded, "Cady and Shining Armor's foal is due any day now, and... we're still not sure. The Crystal Empire was gone for a whole millennium, after all, so... Many of their customs are a mystery to us ponies nowadays."
"We know it's got sumpin' t' do wit' th' new baby," Applejack started- "And a party!"
Starlight was still getting used to the randomness of the party ponies.
"And the Crystal Heart," added Fluttershy- "And a party!!"
"And some kind of crazy magic," Soarin added, when the two party ponies stepped onto the Map.
"And... A PARTY!!!" They declared with an explosion of confetti and streamers.
Starlight gave Soarin a look, and he just shrugged when they heard, "It's not hard to understand."
In walked Spike, carrying a rolled-up paper," Most things in the Crystal Empire aren't!"
He hopped into his throne and unrolled the paper, revealing it was a picture of himself striking a pose while breathing fire, "Like how I'm kind of a favorite hero there, for example!"
in response, he was given an awkward silence, along with a mixed result of different looks from the others, before he sheepishly admitted, "Plus I helped Twilight do a lot of research on Crystallings."
He reached under the table to pulled out a Crystal Empire vase, covered with intricate images that helped him explain, "Whenever a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents bring it before the Crystal Heart. They get the purest shard of crystal they can find, then pick a Crystaller to present the baby to everypony who comes. Then they share all the light and joy they feel, feeding it into the crystal that joins with the Heart and increases its power.
"And this is gonna be a Royal Crystalling, so pretty much the whole Empire will show up. That hasn't happened in a millennia!"
"What do you mean, it increases the Crystal Heart's power?" asked Starlight.
"The energy it uses to protect the Crystal Empire, I guess," shrugged Spike.
"Protect it from what...?" Starlight was honestly afraid to ask.
"I... didn't help Twilight with that part," Spike admitted lamely.
The next morning, Big Macintosh and Applejack came by the Castle to share some important news with Midnight and Twilight.
"Fluttershy went into labor?!" Twilight cried out in alarm, only for Applejack to raised her hooves in a calm-down gesture.
"Now hold on there, sugarcube!" Applejack raised her voice a little, "It was a false alarm, right, big brother?"
"Eeyup..." Macintosh looked a little tired and bedraggled, "`Shy thought sumpin' was wrong before we wer' `bout t' hit th' hay, an' Ah took her straight t' Ponyville General. Doctor Stable assured us th' foal's fine an' it weren't comin' just yet. But..."
Big Mac trailed off, reluctant to finish so Applejack did it for him, "He's sayin' tha' the doc recommended tha' Fluttershy check int' th' hospital's maternity ward since she's gettin' close t' her due date as well."
"Which means..." Big Mac sighed, "tha' `Shy an' Ah can't come wit' y'all t' see th' Crystallin'."
"Rainbow Dash sure bellyached when she found out," Applejack rolled her eyes, "Who tells an expectin' mother t' jus' hold it in?!"
"An idiot," Midnight remarked, getting a slight slap on the shoulder from Twilight, though she had to roll her eyes at Rainbow Dash's insensitivity as well.
"Well, it won't be the same," Twilight accepted, "but the health of Fluttershy's foal is more important."
"Thanks fer understandin', Twlight," Big Mac smiled a little sadly, "Give them up there at th' Empire our best."
Big Macintosh turned to leave when Midnight asked, "What about you, Applejack? You gonna stay too?"
"Ah was thinkin' about it," Applejack shook her head with a weary smile, "but th' big lug there put his hoof down."
"At least one of th' Apples oughta go an' show our support, AJ," Big Mac responded without looking back before he disappeared out of the Throne Room.
"Ah guess tha' is a good point," Applejack shrugged, "Well, Ah'm gonna go see Thunderlane, let him know about Mac n' `Shy."
Watching their friends leave, Midnight sighed, sounding a little disappointed.
"What's wrong, Midnight?"
"Oh it's... Well, I was planning a surprise for Shining Armor," Midnight explained, "and it's just not gonna be the same without Big Macintosh there."
"What's the surprise?" Twilight was interested, and Midnight never got tired of seeing that sparkle of interest in her eyes.
Chuckling, he replied, "You'll see when we get there. Now, I'm gonna get back to my research for our guard."
Making his way through the halls, Midnight heard a distant CRASH and a few seconds later, "Ugh, I am never going to find my way around this place!"
"Starlight...?" He heard approaching steps and quickly collapsed into his shadow, slipping up onto the ceiling, and just in time to see Starlight come by, Spike hurrying up to walk beside her.
"Gee, Starlight, what's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I don't know, Spike," Starlight answered, sounding weary and reluctant, "Twilight's figuring out what my first friendship lesson is, and... I guess I'm not exactly thrilled with the options. Well... with one of them."
"Which one?" Spike asked, but Midnight already had an idea what that option was, given Twilight's request to him to find a certain somepony's location a few days ago.
"Reuniting me with my first friend," Starlight replied, which caused Spike to pause mid-step.
"What's so terrible about that?" he asked, bewildered.
Sighing as she remembered the good ol' days, Starlight explained, "When we were foals, Sunburst knew everything there was to know about magic. He always knew just what to do, and... he was always there to help me. I guess it's not surprising that Sunburst got his cutie-mark in magic and... went off to Princess Celestia's school. But when he left..."
"You blamed cutie-marks and stripped a whole village of theirs, and when Twilight and the others put a stop to it you went back in time and almost destroyed Equestria," Spike wrapped it up, feeling no need to skirt along edges.
"Not stuff I'm super eager to tell Sunburst about," Starlight nodded nervously. "I mean, he's probably some big, important wizard now and- I can't even find my way around Twilight and Midnight's castle..."
"Well if Sunburst is that good at magic, maybe he'd appreciate your..." Spike cleared his throat as he tried to put them light, "exploits."
But seeing the despondent look on Starlight's face, Spike spoke gingerly, "You should talk to Twilight about it. I'm sure she'd want to hear what you have to say."
"I know, but... i don't want her to think I'm not ready to learn," Starlight replied, "or that I'm not grateful for everything she's doing!"
"SPIKE! MIDNIGHT! COME QUICK!!!"
Spike and Starlight hurried down the hall they'd heard Twilight's voice, Midnight running up behind them, as they came out to the castle balcony, finding Twilight there, the wind blowing through her mane as she looked outwards. That's when they saw it, riding on the breeze, a large crystalline snowflake flit and float their way until Twilight caught it in her wing.... and six triangular folds opened up to reveal a message in its center.
"It's a crystalling invitation!" Spike smiled.
"Shining Armor, Cadance, they're parents now!" Midnight gasped with a smile as he pulled Twilight into a hug.
"Which means we're an aunt and uncle!" Twilight added before she pulled herself free of Midnight's embrace and faced Starlight, "Well, this settles it. Since we're going to the Crystal Empire, your first friendship lesson is going to be... reuniting with Sunburst!"
"Great..." Starlight forced a smile as Twilight, Midnight, and Spike went back inside, leaving her on the balcony to fret.