//------------------------------// // An Awkward Dinner // Story: Starlight Glimmer Makes Many Mistakes // by MagicS //------------------------------// “Starlight, this is kidnapping.” “No it’s not. It’s “making friends’”, Spike.” The two of them sat on one side of the only table inside the room given to them by Princess Celestia while across from them sat an angrily pouting Sunset Shimmer. Who was giving Starlight as evil of a look as possible. Starlight had set up tea for all of them but Sunset adamantly refused to engage in any such pleasantries. “This seems like kind of the wrong way to start being friends with somepony.” Spike said. “So? Twilight and I started on an even worse hoof. So did Twilight and Sunset for that matter.” Starlight replied. “What?” Sunset finally spoke up, not understanding what Starlight just said. “It’s not important.” Starlight brushed her off. “What is important is now you know how others feel when you’re mean to them, right?” Sunset somehow glared even harder at Starlight. “I know that you’re a mean nutjob. What do you think Princess Celestia is going to say when I tell her about this?” Starlight grinned. “Oh? You’re going to admit to the Princess that another unicorn totally had you at her mercy and there was nothing you could do? I thought you were the best at magic, you’re saying you don’t mind if every single pony in the castle hears about this?” The haughty young student looked on in horror before she slammed her hooves down on the table. “You’re evil!” “Now, now. Is that any way to speak to your elders? Especially since by your own words you should be showing me respect.” Starlight took a sip of tea. “Grr!” Sunset growled and grew red in the face before sitting back in her chair and crossing her hooves over her chest. “Well it’s not fair! You’re an adult after all.” Starlight snorted. “Please, you’re going to try and use that weak excuse? You said there was no unicorn stronger than you when it came to magic. Now you’re eating those words. Admit it.” As Spike watched on pityingly, Sunset sniffled slightly and looked like she was about to cry again. “Oh don’t go on crying again.” Starlight said. “I’m here to help you, you know? This’ll be good for you down the road and you’ll thank me one day for teaching you some humility before you make too many wrong decisions.” “Speaking from experience?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow at the odd unicorn. Starlight narrowed her eyes at the impertinent student. “Yes. And before you get smart with me you should take that as a sign that I know what I’m talking about. You should listen to ponies more experienced and worldly than you.” “Should I also listen to bullies who publicly humiliate kids?” “That’s your first lesson! Don’t do what I just did!” Starlight leaned back and put her hooves behind her head while Spike groaned and put his head down on the table. “You’re awful.” Sunset said simply. Starlight dismissively waved her hoof. “Whatever. The point is that you know you shouldn’t be so rude and disrespectful to others. And don’t you want friends?” “Why?” Sunset was incredulous. “What do I need friends for? It’s a waste of time and it has nothing to do with getting better at magic.” Spike lazily turned his head to peek out at Sunset. “Something about this conversation is getting very familiar.” Starlight and Sunset both ignored him however and Starlight continued to lecture Sunset. “First off it’s just nice to have friends. Secondly friends can do things you can’t, they can also draw out more from you. You can become so much more than what you are now with the help of your friends. You’ll learn things about yourself you never knew. And I know it might sound a little cheesy or silly to you right now but there’s no magic more powerful than friendship. Don’t deny what can be accomplished with the bonds of friendship between ponies.” Spike had to admit that Starlight actually sounded pretty good there, it was definitely a speech Twilight would approve of at least. Unfortunately Sunset’s snide levels and annoyance at Starlight were still pretty high. “You’re kidding right?” “No, I’m not kidding.” Starlight said far less amicably. Sunset began to- “And don’t roll your eyes at me anymore!” Starlight stopped her. “Ugh, whatever. This is stupid.” Sunset pouted like the bratty teenager she was. Spike and Starlight both shared a look, now neither of them were liking how this conversation was going. Sunset was proving to be far more stubborn than Starlight had expected her to be at this point in her life. She must show only the best part of herself to Celestia for the Princess to not realize how bad Sunset’s attitude already was. And through Starlight’s own… extreme handling of the situation she was adamantly refusing to get along with her. But if they couldn’t be friends just yet maybe there was at least one other way Starlight could get Sunset to spend more time with her and at least begrudgingly get along. “Alright. The friendship lessons can wait, I know you can’t exactly force somepony to be your friend so we’ll let that naturally develop.” Starlight said. Sunset raised a questioning eyebrow, wondering where Starlight was going now. “For now how would you like it if I taught you magic?” Starlight asked. Sunset’s eyebrows shot up past her forehead. “You?” She quickly shook her head as if she didn’t just hear right, her expression turning skeptical and frowning at Starlight. “And what could you even teach me? I’m already Celestia’s private student.” “Yes, that’s true.” Starlight allowed. “But we both know how busy Celestia is. Are you saying you don’t wish she had more time to personally tutor you?” “Well… no.” Sunset couldn’t really deny it. “But still, do you even know how to teach magic?” Starlight and Spike smiled at each other. “I learned from the best.” She returned to looking at Sunset, extending a hoof across the table. “I’m sure you’d at least like to learn how to make a bubble shield as powerful as I can, right?” Sunset unsurprisingly glared at her. “Oh relax.” Starlight rolled her eyes. “Listen, I know how to fly, teleport, transform objects and a whole bunch of other even more complicated things. So what do you say?” Sunset stared down Starlight’s hoof for a moment. Finally she groaned in defeat and shook it in resignation. “I hope I don’t regret this.” “You won’t, and I’m sure Celestia will be thrilled to hear that you’re at least spending time with others.” Starlight said. She was. Almost immediately after Starlight and Sunset shook hooves an attendant of Celestia’s knocked on the door and poked their head in. They were quite surprised to see Sunset there as well but it turned out to be a good thing since the attendant was sent to Starlight and Spike to invite the both of them to dinner with Celestia and Sunset, now they didn’t even need to go looking for Sunset. So the three of them made their way to one of the castle’s dining rooms (Starlight wryly noted it was the same one where she ate breakfast with Celestia before switching her and Luna’s Cutie Marks, hopefully she wouldn’t do something so impulsive this time in here) and sat down with the awaiting Princess. Celestia had quite the meal prepared for them, and to Starlight and Spike’s amusement she also had a freshly baked cake that was the centerpiece of the entire meal. “It’s great to see you getting along with others Sunset, you’ve always done such a good job in your studies but I was concerned that you never made time for friends.” Celestia said, affectionately smiling at her student. “Y-Yeah, Princess.” Sunset ground out, an awkward forced smile on her face while she glared at Starlight out of the corner of her eye. Princess Celestia didn’t need to know how strained and coercive the relationship was at the moment. The other three wanted her to relax. She deserved it. “It’s not only that, I’ve decided to teach Sunset magic when we both have the time.” Starlight said happily. Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise. “I see. Well considering what you’ve told me and who you’re friends with I’m sure you’re well qualified. I just hope you won’t be teaching her certain things. If you know what I mean?” Celestia inquisitively gazed at Starlight. “Oh no, no, nothing of the sort. Just normal magic lessons.” Starlight quickly reassured the Princess. Sunset would most definitely not be learning any crazy time-travel spells, among the other things Starlight knew. “Um, what?” Sunset asked, confused. “It’s nothing.” Starlight told her. “Let’s just eat.” And eat they did. Celestia had even been thoughtful enough to bring in whole plates of gemstones for Spike to eat, something he was immensely grateful for as he chowed down on them with a complete lack of table manners. As Starlight daintily ate her salad she wondered if Twilight was responsible for the sloppy way Spike ate. Sunset played around with her food, grumbling to herself and shooting a dirty look at Starlight every now and then. Not having much of an appetite after the annoying day she’d been through. “How is it? I made it myself you know.” Celestia asked eagerly. Sunset took a big forkful of salad and stuffed it in her mouth, swallowing it down like a pig. “Great as always, Princess.” While Starlight chewed her food a thought came to her, swallowing she looked to Sunset. “Sunset? You were in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, right?” Both Sunset and Celestia turned to look at her, wondering what she was getting at. “Yes? Why?” Sunset answered. “Did you know another student named Sunburst? He should be studying there still if I’m right.” Celestia got a thoughtful look on her face, stroking her chin as if she was trying to remember if she knew any students at the school by that name. Sunset just scoffed though. “I don’t know. I never really paid any attention to the other students. I was always at the top of my class anyways.” Sunset said. Her haughty attitude out in full force again. “Sunset, you shouldn’t be so dismissive of your fellow students. They’re all trying their best.” Celestia admonished. “Yes, Princess.” Sunset grumpily replied. “He should be fairly easy to remember.” Starlight continued on. “Wears glasses? Yellow-orange coat similar to yours, white fetlocks, orange mane. Probably reads even more than you do?” Sunset paused for a second, actually thinking about it before realization suddenly struck her and a barking laugh emerged from her. “Hahaha! I know who you’re talking about! I can’t believe he even got into the school in the first place, for all the reading he does he can barely work any spells at all! He doesn’t have any talent for magic!” Sunset then yelped as Starlight stealthily kicked her shin under the table. “Ow!” “Sunset!” Celestia’s tone was warning as she frowned down at her student. “You shouldn’t speak of other ponies in such a manner, not all of them can be as blessed as you.” The teenager recoiled at Celestia’s disapproval but quickly went to pouting, folding her forelegs over her chest and staring down at her plate. “Hmph!” After a second she reached a hoof down to rub the spot Starlight kicked. Celestia sighed but turned her gaze to Starlight. “Why did you want to know about him?” “I… know him.” Starlight said, wiggling her eyebrows at Celestia to get the message across. “Oh. I see.” The Princess nodded in understanding. “Yeah. I may want to go see him at some point. Not totally sure.” Starlight rubbed the back of her head. Spike noticed that for some reason she didn’t seem as enthusiastic about that anymore. The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence, Spike still gorging himself while Sunset was too embarrassed by Celestia’s earlier rebuke to say anything. When it was finally time for the cake Starlight and Spike did note with some more amusement that Celestia’s slice was slightly larger than theirs. “Did you make the cake yourself too?” Starlight asked. Celestia shook her head. “No, I prefer others to make my cake. If you’d like to join me for breakfast tomorrow you can have my pancakes though.” She smiled, clearly hoping Starlight would say yes. “That sounds great, thanks for the invitation.” Starlight answered. Next to her, Sunset snorted. Obviously she’d be at that breakfast too and wasn’t happy to hear that Starlight was coming now. “Urp!” The sudden sound of Spike belching drew all eyes at the table to him. The dragon blushed in embarrassment and sunk down in his seat. “Um, excuse me...” Starlight took that as a sign. “Well that was a great meal but it’s getting late and the two of us have had a long day.” She stood out of her chair and pushed it back in, walking around the table to gather Spike. Celestia smiled. “Of course. I hope you enjoy your lodgings for your stay here. Have a nice evening.” “Yeah. Bye.” Sunset said far less amicably. With an exhausted groan Starlight threw herself face first onto the luxurious four-poster bed of her and Spike’s room. Spike flying over her onto a smaller bed nestled into the side of the room that had been specially brought there on Celestia’s orders for him. It really had been a long day for the two and they were happy to finally be able to get some sleep. “You know-” Spike said as he made himself comfortable. “I’m kind of surprised we haven’t had another huge shift in the timeline lately.” Starlight tiredly looked up at him from her position on top of her bed, mane raggedly hanging over her face now. “Maybe it’s waiting for something big. Or the past has settled down and now we’re stuck in one world forever.” “I… hope not.” Spike said worriedly. “It doesn’t matter.” Starlight turned over, shirking her responsibility at the same time. “Let’s just relax in Canterlot until Twilight fixes everything like always.”