//------------------------------// // The reconnection // Story: Romantic Meetings // by TheHardie-Boy //------------------------------// Twilight slowly poked her head into the Map Room, where her friends were all hanging out. When she walked in, they instantly surrounded her. “Twilight! It’s great to see you out of your room!” exclaimed Spike. “Yeah, Jake told me I should be taking care of myself instead of just crying in my room all day,” Twilight responded with a tiny smile. “That’s great to hear. How are things going between you two?” asked Applejack. “Better. He said he would find a way where no one gets hurt, even though I told him just to go with Starlight. Either way, we’re doing just fine,” Twilight answered. “I feel I should apologize for leading you on like I did,” Rarity confessed. “Don’t. You had no way of knowing.” “Well...Ah feel ya’ should know that we kinda knew that ya’ had a thing for Jake,” admitted Applejack. “What? How?” All heads in the room turned to Rarity, who’s face took on a bright shade of red. “Oh, right. Anyhow, has anypony seen Starlight?” Twilight asked with a sigh. “We haven’t seen her all day, sorry,” said Fluttershy. Twilight let out a breath of relief. “Well, I guess that’s okay. There’s no doubt she’s gonna be avoiding me for a while if she also knew about me and Jake, which I’m assuming she does.” She paused and got a nod from Rarity. “Right. Anyhow, if any of you see her, please don’t make her feel...uncomfortable. We’re gonna have to clear the air eventually, but I don’t think either one of us are looking forward to that.” “Twilight, darling, you’re not...mad at her are you?” asked Rarity. Twilight grimaced a little. “Well...I guess not, but it’s hard not to be jealous. In fact, I think it’s better if we don’t run into each other for a while, at least until I’m positive there’s no chance of me getting angry at her.” Applejack looked at all her friends, and they all nodded to each other. “That’s probably a good idea. We’ll be here if you need us, but Rainbow Dash here needs to go apologize to her,” she said, glaring at Rainbow Dash. Twilight was confused. “Why would Rainbow Dash need to apologize?” Rainbow had a nervous smile on her face. “Well, you see...I may have-“ “She said a few things she really shouldn’t have,” Rarity said, matching Applejack’s glare. It took Twilight a moment to figure out what that meant. When she did, she glared at Rainbow as well. “Are you serious, Rainbow? How could you say something like that?” “How do you know what she’s talking about?” Rainbow asked in shock. “When it comes to saying things you shouldn’t about Starlight, it’s all pretty much the same. Applejack’s right, you need to go find her and apologize,” deadpanned Twilight. “I know, I know,” said Rainbow, flying out of the room. “See, that’s good, what you just did,” said Spike, giving Twilight a nudge in the side. “What do you mean, Spike?” “Standing up for Starlight like that. It shows that you’re still her friend,” explained Spike. “I guess you’re right. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get cleaned up. Jake says I stink.” Rarity, ever so curious, leaned in and took a whiff of Twilight’s scent, only to flinch in slight disgust. “Well, no offense, darling, but he’s not exactly wrong.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright, I’m going.” With that, she left the room as well. “I’m gonna go get lunch started. You girls want anything?” Spike offered. He was simply met by a few murmurs of agreement and a few rumbling tummies. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Starlight looked through the hallways before running to the kitchen. Once there, she opened the door just enough to fit her head inside. “Psst, Spike. Is Twilight around?” she quietly asked. “No, Starlight. Twilight’s taking a shower. Why are you sneaking around?” Spike asked. Starlight walked all the way into the kitchen. “Isn’t it obvious?” “I guess, but you don’t need to avoid Twilight. She’s still your friend, even if you...you know,” Spike replied. Starlight sighed. “That doesn’t mean she won’t be mad. Spike, don’t you know what it’s like to have a crush on somepony really close, only for them to fall for somepony else, a close friend at that?” “I don’t know about that last part, but I know what it’s like to love somepony without them noticing. Look, we all talked with Twilight, and she said you two are gonna have to talk about it at some point. And besides, Twilight wouldn’t get mad at you for falling in love, even if it just happened to be with the one she had a thing for.” “It wouldn’t be that big a problem, but the thing is, I knew Twilight liked Jake when I fell for him!” countered Starlight. Spike rolled his eyes. “You’re over thinking this. Sure, Twilight is a little jealous-“ “Understatement of the century,” Starlight interrupted. “-But she’s made it pretty clear that she’s not gonna stop being your friend over this. Seriously, you don’t need to avoid her,” Spike finished. “I know...it’s just hard, knowing you broke your friend’s heart.” “Twilight’ll be fine. In fact, she tried to tell Jake to forget about her to be with you.” “Yeah, I did the same. But Jake just told me not to worry about it. He said he’d-“ “Find a way to solve this himself,” Spike cut in. Starlight chuckled. “Exactly.” Spike laughed a little as well. “Jake’s like that. He always tries to make sure his friends are okay, sometimes without regard for himself. I just hope he finds a way out of this quick. I’m not sure how long you can avoid Twilight.” “Yeah.” Starlight paused to make sure no one was listening. “Can I get your opinion on something?” “Of course,” Spike responded. “I told myself I’d be okay if Jake just went with Twilight...but part of me still hopes he goes with me. Is that a bad thing?” Spike thought for a moment before our he responded. “I don’t think so. But just out of curiosity, what made you fall in love with Jake in the first place?” Starlight gave Spike a deadpan look. “What? I’m curious,” Spike defended. Starlight rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll tell you. I guess it sorta started the second day he was here. Twilight assigned me to get to know him, so we went on a little picnic. It took a while, but I started to feel really comfortable around him. He opened up about his childhood, how he lost his parents when he was four-“ “What?!” Spike exclaimed. “Y-You didn’t know?” “I didn’t. I guess Jake took a bit of a liking to you too,” Spike replied, nudging Starlight in the side. “Anyhow, please continue.” “Okay. So after he told me about his childhood and how he moved on from that...I don’t know...hearing talk about his past like that just made me think I didn’t deserve him as a friend. But he reassured me...he told me I could always call him a friend. I just felt so...warm, a-and...safe with him. He...makes me feel safe...from my past, from my mistakes...from judgement,” Starlight finished. Spike simply stared at her, his expression well hidden. “What?” Starlight asked. “Nothing. Just...nothing,” Spike replied. Twilight backed off from the door. She had no idea Starlight felt this way. Now, Twilight felt bad about being jealous. Starlight obviously needed Jake a lot more than she did. “Thanks for the chat, Spike. I’m gonna be in the library if you need me for some reason,” Starlight said, exiting the kitchen. Twilight panicked. She looked around as fast as she could, but there was nowhere to go. This was gonna be very uncomfortable. Starlight looked down the hallway and locked eyes with Twilight. She froze, not sure what to say or do. Twilight simply froze as well. After a moment, Starlight dipped her head and quickly moved past Twilight, trying her hardest to avoid eye contact, mumbling, “Sorry,” as she passed. Twilight felt a chill go up her spine. She looked back at her student. Starlight still had her head down and was shaking as she moved. Twilight felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. She may have been jealous, but she still felt bad that she was responsible for causing her student distress. “Starlight,” Twilight called out. Starlight froze, mid-stride. Her head shot straight up, and her body was shaking. “We’re gonna have to talk about this eventually, you know,” Twilight said. “Y-Yeah, I-I know that,” Starlight said, not facing Twilight. Twilight paused a moment. “Well...we may as well get it over with now.” Starlight’s neck scrunched up. She slowly turned her head to face Twilight. “S-Sure, w-why not.” “To the library then, I guess,” Twilight suggested. Starlight nodded and slowly made her way to the library, Twilight close behind. The walk there was slow, quiet, and uncomfortable. One would easily be able feel the tension between the two. Once they finally arrived at the library, Twilight closed the door. She thought about locking it, but she didn’t really want to scare Starlight anymore than she had already. The two mares took seats and faced each other. “You wanna-“ Starlight began. “You go ahead,” Twilight interrupted. “A-Alright.” Starlight closed her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could without passing out, although that might’ve actually helped her at the moment. “I-I’m sorry I took Jake from you,” Starlight said. She waited in case Twilight was gonna say something, but the other mare stayed silent. “I-I knew how you felt about him, but...I still *sniff* fell in love with him before you had a chance to tell him. I-I don’t deserve to be your friend.” Starlight’s eyes were filled with tears, and she was unable to face Twilight. Twilight, for her part, stayed silent, her face not showing any emotion. “Well?” Starlight asked. Twilight looked away from her student, still not saying anything. “C-Can you say something? Something that can at least give me a clue as to how mad you are?!” Starlight yelled, her voice trembling. Twilight got up and moved toward her student. Starlight stayed silent. Twilight stopped and looked up at Starlight. Then, all of the sudden, Twilight wrapped her forelegs and wings around Starlight. Starlight’s eyes became wide as her mentor hugged her. “You have absolutely no reason to be sorry. If anything, I should telling you I’m sorry,” Twilight whispered into Starlight’s ear. “Y-You’re sorry?” Starlight asked. Twilight nodded. “I shouldn’t have been acting like you should avoid me. I caused you so much sorrow over something so little, and I’m sorry for that.” “S-So you aren’t mad?” Twilight actually chuckled. “Well, jealous sure, but I could never get mad at you for simply falling in love.” Starlight brought her hoof up to Twilight’s back and returned the hug. “Just promise me one thing. No matter what happens, no matter what Jake decides to do, we will always be friends,” Twilight said. “O-Of course!” Starlight said, almost on the verge of laughing. The two of them stayed like that...until a familiar sound roared through the library. Twilight’s and Starlight’s stomachs rumbled in unison. Twilight and Starlight looked each other in the eye...until Starlight broke into laughter. It took a moment, but Twilight joined in as well. “I was even in the kitchen a few minutes ago to get something to eat, but I never did,” Starlight said in between giggles. “You wanna go see what’s Spike’s making for lunch?” asked Twilight, wiping a tear from her eye. “S-Sure,” replied Starlight. With that, the two friends made their way to the kitchen, still laughing and holding each other close.