Twilight smiled at the filly across the table from her. Stardust had come in an hour ago and had not stopped talking since.
“Scootaloo is so cool!” she said for what felt like the hundredth time. “The tricks she can do on her scooter are incredible. Half of them should be impossible but she does them with no problem. She invited me to go crusading with them tomorrow if you say I can. Can I? Please?”
Twilight simply nodded, taking a bite of her pasta. Stardust was so talkative she didn’t even realize Spike had made her dinner.
“You’ve talked a lot about Scootaloo, but what do you think of the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Stardust fell silent and stared at her plate.
“Um… they were nice. Sweetie Belle seems very sweet but…” she fell silent again. Twilight looked up, surprised.
“It’s probably nothing. Her older sister Rarity almost strangled me when I told her I was Celestia’s student. They probably just don’t know how to act around you.”
Stardust picked up her fork and nudged her food around the plate. She tried to appear casual but Twilight could see she was hiding something. She sighed, stood up, and walked around the table and sat down next to Stardust.
“Ok. What happened?”
Stardust’s ears flicked and her wings froze. “I… I kinda didn’t tell them I was Luna’s student? And I may have told them I was your cousin?”
With some effort, Twilight held back a gasp. “May have or did?”
“Did? I… I didn’t want them to know.” Stardust bit her lip and her eyes watered. Twilight started to wrap a wing around her but she shrugged it off her.
“Why?”
Stardust gulped. “Foals… ponies don’t like Princess Luna very much. When she first started talking to me, I was so excited and told everyone. But they all thought she was a monster and I… and I was also one for liking her.” Stardust sat up and stared at Twilight. Twilight flinched back from the ice in the filly’s eyes. “It’s not true though. Luna is amazing. She was there when… nevermind.”
Twilight was going to ask what Luna was there for but decided not to push it. Instead, she said “ok. That doesn’t explain why you lied to Scootaloo and her friends though.” Twilight was alarmed and slightly surprised to see Stardust smile.
“Oh, that. You see, ponies are more willing to believe someone they like than a stranger. If they get to know me and trust that I am a nice pony, they will believe me when I say Luna is good. It’s like this, if a random stranger came up and said Tirek was kind, caring, loving, and simply misunderstood, would you believe them?” she paused for a moment to let Twilight think. “But if Pinkie or Applejack told you, you would be more likely to believe them right?”
Twilight had to admit, it did make logical sense. “Did you check to see what they thought of Luna before you lied?”
Stardust frowned. “They were the main fillies running and screaming on Nightmare Night. I know it was all fake, but it really hurt Luna and they never apologized.”
Twilight groaned. It was too late for this. “Ok. Stardust, tomorrow I want you to go to the CMC clubhouse and tell them the truth and apologize. Don’t try to explain, just apologize. You may have had a good reason, but that doesn’t excuse lying. Understand?”
Stardust pouted but she nodded. Twilight stood up. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to your room. I’ll also get you a map of the castle, I forgot to give you one earlier.”
Stardust chuckled. “Thanks. It took me almost 15 minutes to find you. The castle looks a lot smaller from the outside.”