//------------------------------// // Enemies become friends // Story: Caught and punished // by TheHardie-Boy //------------------------------// I skipped down the stairs...and immediately landed on the couch. ’Why did I do that? Twilight’s probably not coming over for a while.’ I sigh and look over to the kitchen, remembering what I got for breakfast. ’Let’s see; I got eggs, cereal, bread, butter, syrup...’ My thoughts are interrupted by the sudden sound of a door closing. I look over to see Starlight entered the room from the bathroom. “Thanks for letting me have my own room. That bed was really comfortable,” she said. I, however, was staring at the huge difference in Starlight this morning, and I’m not just talking about her attitude. Her mane was completely different than it was before. Instead of a ponytail on the back and one, wide bang that flowed down her forehead, her mane was now done in one long bang that curled over from one end of her head to the other, and ended in a small curl. Her entire forehead was now exposed, and I took notice of its perfect...roundness. It was a slight improvement over her old manestyle. “Sam? Y-You okay there?” she asked, snapping me out of my daze. “Y-Yeah, it’s just that...you changed your mane. How come?” I asked. “Oh, well, I guess since I’m getting a fresh start, I should have a fresh look to go with it, you know?” “I guess, but you really didn’t have to,” I countered. “Do you not like it?” she asked. “Well...yeah, of course. I guess it is slightly better than your old mane-“ I started. “And besides, I looked like a nerd with old style,” she cut off. I raised an eyebrow. “You kinda looked like Twilight.” There was a very brief moment of silence between us. “Oh yeah,” I chuckled. Starlight chuckled as well, and I noticed that her new style kind of went with her eyes and complimented her laugh. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I got breakfast started for us,” she told me. “Really? What?” “Since I don’t have my magic,” she mumbled before speaking up. “I made us toast!” I suddenly smelt a new scent and heard a new noise coming from the kitchen. A scent of warm bread, and a sound of...low humming? “What bread did you use exactly? And how are you toasting it?” “I used the wheat bread you bought yesterday. I put it in the microwave,” she replied. I looked at her to see if she was serious. As far as I could tell, she was. I went around her and into the kitchen, and sure enough, there was in fact bread in the microwave. I tried to hold it back, but I broke out into a laugh. “What’s wrong?” Starlight asked, appearing beside me. I calmed down and sighed. I looked down at her, and I couldn’t resist rubbing her mane. The new style was thicker than the old one, but it felt better to rub. “What exactly did you eat at your old village?” I asked. “Well, the only things we had easy access to were bread and muffins,” she answered. I shook my head playfully and rested my hand on her shoulder. “You don’t make toast with a microwave. See that device there?” I said, pointing to the toaster. Starlight nodded. “What you do is put two slices of bread in there and pull down on the lever, and it makes toast.” Starlight blushed with embarrassment. “S-Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a modern kitchen.” “It’s fine,” I said, putting two slices of bread in the toaster and turning off the microwave. I then got an idea. “You’ve heard music before, right?” “Yeah, the town I grew up in held music festivals every now and then,” Starlight answered. I walked into the living room, and she followed me. I opened the cabinet next to my DVD player and started looking through the cases. ’Slippery When Wet, Frontiers, Use Your Illusion II, Adrenalize...here it is; Joshua Tree.’ I opened the case and popped the CD into the player. I pressed the button labeled Track 2, and let the song play. As the song played out, Starlight stared at the device with wide eyes. “You like the song?” I asked. She slowly nodded. “Y-Yeah. How does this...thing do that? I-Is it magic or something?” I chuckled. I had a feeling she would enjoy that song. “No. It’s called electricity. I’d explain it to you, but I don’t really know the full mechanics of this.” “Th-The song was just...amazing,” she said. “Thanks. I thought it was appropriate for a time like this,” I responded. She looked at me, the curiosity in her eyes slightly fading. “Why’s that?” I smiled. “With your ‘fresh start’ as you called it, I thought this song would kind of...help, you know?” “Well, it was definitely...inspiring,” Starlight admitted, looking back to the player. “Do you have anymore?” “Of course. In fact, feel free to listen to anything you want. Just try not to break any of the disks; they’re very fragile,” I warned. Just then, there was a *ding* from the kitchen. “Let’s go eat first.” After we ate, I was laying and reading on the couch, glancing at Starlight every so often. She was sitting on her haunches in front of the player, adorably swaying side to side to the music. I couldn’t help but chuckle. She looked like she was having the time of her life. Right now, the album titled ‘The Circle’ was in the player, and Starlight had enjoyed every song so far. ’Girl’s got good taste.’ As I watched Starlight, I couldn’t help but wonder; her attitude changed fast. I supposed I didn’t make the best first impression, carrying her from the castle to my house like a pet. And I didn’t really make things better the next morning when I yelled at her like a...pet. There was also the whole deal with the collar, which she really didn’t like. ’I swear to God, she’s not my pet!’ But then, when we had a heart-to-heart conversation, and I, for lack of a better term, offered her my friendship, she became...well, great. We spent most of yesterday just hanging out and sharing interests. It felt nice, talking to her like an equal. I was drawn out of my thoughts by a knock at the door. “That’s probably Twilight. Remember, behave and you just might get that collar off,” I said, petting her mane as I walked by. ’I have really gotta stop doing that.’ I opened the door to see not only Twilight, but Spike with her. Out of all my friends, I enjoyed hanging out with Spike the most. I don’t know if it was just that he was a guy, or the fact that we were both just kids at heart, but I always found Spike to be the easiest to talk to, closely followed by Twilight. “Hey, Twilight. Hey, Spike, I didn’t know you were coming too,” I greeted. “He really wanted to come too, for some reason,” Twilight replied. “Mind if we come in?” “Of course. Starlight and I are in here, just listening to music,” I said. Twilight and Spike walked into my house, and Starlight just kept swaying to the music. “I still don’t understand how that thing works,” said Twilight. “And I still don’t know how to explain it to you,” I said. Spike just stared, his face seemingly glowing. “So...I’ll go ahead and get lunch started, and you guys can just chat or something,” I said, walking into the kitchen. Twilight silently followed me in. “So?” “So...what?” I asked. “How’s the whole...friendship thing going with her?” Twilight asked again. “Oh, right, duh. Good, she admits she’s wrong, and she wants to start over,” I explained. “Oh, wow, that fast?” Twilight was shocked. “Yeah. All she needed was a little...friendship,” I said. I was gonna say “love”, but that would’ve probably sounded weird. “Speaking of which, I told her that if she behaved well enough for you today, she might be able to get the collar off?” “Well...not that I don’t trust you, but I’d kind of like to see for myself just to make sure she isn’t saying we wanna hear,” Twilight responded. “Be my guest,” I offered. Twilight back in the living, and noticed Spike was simply looking at Starlight with a...rather familiar expression. She walked up next to Starlight, whose eyes were closed and was gently swaying back and forth. “H-Hey, Starlight,” Twilight said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. Starlight stopped swaying, opened her eyes, and looked at Twilight. “Oh, hi.” “Good song, huh?” Twilight asked, hoping to make conversation. “Y-Yeah, Sam said this things play all kinds of music,” Starlight responded with a warm smile. ’So far, so good,’ Twilight thought to herself. “So...Sam tells me you admit what you did was wrong,” said Twilight. Starlight sighed. “Yeah...sorry about that. It was just something that happened in my fillyhood, and I...” “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel ready,” Twilight interrupted. Starlight slumped her head a little. “I really am sorry about that, though.” “I can tell you are,” Twilight said. There was a small pause before she continued. “You know, you weren’t completely wrong. Ponies should be treated equally, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be unique at the same time.” “I-I guess you’re right,” Starlight admitted. Twilight smiled. This was going great. Although, she did kind of wanna change the subject. “I see you changed your mane.” Starlight looked up at her mane. “Yeah, I just thought it was time for a new style.” “I think it looks nice. Did Sam help you, or did you do it yourself?” Twilight asked. “I did it myself. Sam spent most of yesterday denying I was his pet, so I thought he wouldn’t want to help brush my mane,” Starlight replied with a small chuckle. “Who called you his pet?” Twilight asked, chuckling a little herself. “Let’s see; a few ponies in town, Rainbow Dash, oh, and Discord made a huge deal about it.” “Oh you and Sam met Dis- Wait, you’re saying that Rainbow Dash called you Sam’s pet?” Twilight asked with an annoyed tone. “Yeah, but I didn’t think much of it. It’s pretty obvious she’s still harboring some hard feelings for what happened. I should probably apologize to the rest of your friends too,” Starlight said. Twilight was focused on what Starlight claimed. “Umm, you okay?” Starlight asked, regaining Twilight’s attention. “Oh, yeah,” Twilight said. “Hmm, Sam told me he told you that he thought you should get the collar off.” Starlight’s face lit up. “Yeeeaaaah?” “Aaand,” Twilight smirked. “I think he was right.” Starlight turned her entire body toward Twilight with excitement. “Really?” Twilight could only hold back a laugh and nod. She then lit up her horn and used magic to unclip the collar around Starlight’s neck and take it off. “Sorry you had to wear it in the first place.” Twilight’s words went completely unnoticed as Starlight watched the collar come off of her with pure joy. When it finally fell to the floor, she couldn’t contain herself. She threw herself at Twilight and wrapped her forelegs around the alicorn. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” Twilight laughed and wrapped her own hooves around Starlight. “You’re welcome. You can definitely call me a friend.” Starlight backed away and started pacing back and forth. “I promise you won’t regret this. I’m gonna make up for everything I did back at the village, and-“ “It’s okay, Starlight, I believe you,” Twilight said, still laughing. ’She’s just like a filly when she gets excited.’ A few moments later, Sam came back into the room. “Hey, lunch is ready. And I see you took off the collar off. How about the suppression ring?” Twilight looked at Sam and rubbed the back of her head. “I would love to...but I kind of need the consent of all my friends to do that.” “That’s okay. I’m just glad you’re starting to trust me,” said Starlight. “You know, if you do want to get that ring off, which I just know you do, your best bet in doing so is to make friends with my friends. I suggest starting with Fluttershy,” Twilight suggested. “O-Of course, I’ll get right on it!” Starlight exclaimed. “Why don’t we have some lunch first?” Sam said, feeling a bit ignored. Twilight looked over at him and chuckled. “Right, thanks for having us. Come on, Spike.” Spike did nothing to react. He was just looking at Starlight with a goofy smile. “Spike? You alright?” Twilight asked. Spike still did nothing. “Spike~” Not even a blink from the dragon. Starlight chuckled as Twilight smiled nervously and moved toward her assistant. She cleared her throat. “Spike!” Spike shook his head. “W-What was that?” Spike asked. “Sam was just offering to serve us lunch,” Twilight answered, trying her best to sound polite. “Oh, okay. Let’s eat!” Spike cheered as he walked into the kitchen. Twilight blushed with embarrassment as Starlight and Sam shared a laugh.