//------------------------------//
// S6 E1: The Crystalling, Part 1 (What If?) 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 13 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

It hadn't been long at all since Starlight Glimmer had become Twilight's new student and was set to undergo friendship lessons. In fact, the unicorn mare could hardly believe the rapid turn of events that had led to it all, and was still trying to process it for herself.

So it was that Starlight made a decision one day to stop at Carousel Boutique. There was somepony she needed to see to discuss something very important with.

Rarity was more than a little surprised to see Starlight Glimmer when she opened the door to her boutique. "Starlight Glimmer? What an unexpected but lovely surprise," The fashionista declared while gesturing her newest friend inside. "Please, do come in."

Starlight reluctantly did so, fidgeting with her mane and tail that were perfectly styled so that nothing about them stuck out at all. She absolutely hated that now, it reminded her too much of the pony she used to be. A pony whose obsession with equality had almost led her down a path of no return. And she shuddered to imagine what would've happened had she not been stopped when she was.

"So, darling, what is it that brings you to my humble boutique on a day like this?" Rarity inquired. "Are you perhaps in the mood for a new dress? I have a fine selection for you to choose from, though I'd be more than happy to make something special just for you. I will need your measurements if I do that, though."

But Starlight nervously replied. "That's not going to be necessary. I'm not here for a dress," She slowly pointed a hoof up towards her mane. "Can you do anything about... this?"

The fashionista paused. "Whatever is wrong with your mane, darling? I think it looks wonderful. Why, it's absolutely perfect in style."

"And that's the problem!" Starlight told her fellow unicorn! "I don't want anything that could be associated with equality, not after what I've been through!" And she sighed. "I still can't believe you and the others are willing to accept me. I did terrible things to you, things that I regret. And I can't take them back."

Rarity slowly nodded even while motioning for Starlight Glimmer to come trotting over to a small booth in a corner of the boutique. "I know. But if Twilight is willing to forgive you and give you a second chance, so am I. She obviously sees great potential in you or she wouldn't have taken you under her wing," Once her fellow unicorn had been seated in the booth stool, she asked. "Tell me, do you have any preferences on how you want me to adjust your mane?"

"I... thought about having you style it into the style I wore as a filly," The unicorn with a grayish-purple coat commented before shaking like a leaf. "The style I wore when I was with Sunburst and everything seemed so much simpler. But I don't want to live in the past. Living in the past is what turned me into the monster you saw me as back in the village."

The fashionista nodded. "Never would I have guessed that your hatred of cutie marks was so personal," She then donned her ruby red sewing glasses and inquired. "Tell me, what's it like living in the castle with Twilight? I hear you're officially Spike's big sister now."

"I was an only child and I don't like to remember my childhood. It always brings me back to the same place," Starlight glumly replied as the memories played in her mind. "Sunburst getting his cutie mark and leaving town to become that big, important wizard he always talked about being someday. But I get the feeling Twilight wants me to reconnect with him, wherever he is. And she seems to want to start on my first friendship lesson before we leave for the Crystal Empire."

Rarity nodded again. "Ah yes, and we were all planning to go there with Twilight once Cadence has her baby. I hear the arrival should be any day now. It's amazing to think how much time has passed. Seems like only yesterday we learned she was pregnant."

"I just hope my tampering with time didn't mess anything up," Starlight nervously proclaimed. "I feel like I should be rotting in a dungeon somewhere, not studying friendship with a princess."

The fashionista waved a hoof. "You worry too much, Starlight. It's not good to dwell so heavily on your past," Then she added. "I may not know all the details about what went on with you and Twilight, but I do know that Twilight wouldn't take just anypony on as a student. She must've seen something in you. Perhaps even something you can't see for yourself yet. And maybe this mane restyling will be just the thing to give you a fresh outlook on your life."

A short time later, the restyling was done. Starlight's mane now had a slight curl to it, though her tail remained the same. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing," She declared to herself as she got up from the stool. "At least it's a start. It beats trying to find my way around the castle. It looked so much smaller from the outside for some reason."

Rarity laughed. "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. You'll find your way around eventually, just as I'm sure you'll eventually get used to your new lot in life."

Starlight Glimmer was not so sure. And those lingering uncertainties were going to play a very big part in how her first official friendship lesson would turn out.



A few days later, the news everypony had been waiting for arrived! Most unexpectedly in fact, as it came to Twilight in the form of a snowflake. But the news contained within the snowflake was enough to make Twilight the most happy and excited she'd been in a long, long time! "Shining Armor's a father! I'm an aunt!" She happily announced!

"Oh, well congratulations." Starlight commented upon being told of this development.

Twilight smiled, wrapping a hoof around her new student. "Then I guess it's settled. Since there's no way I'm missing a chance to see my new nephew or niece and everypony else is gonna be coming along, you're going too. Your first friendship lesson will be reuniting with Sunburst, your old friend."

That information was far from the kind of news Starlight Glimmer had wanted to receive. But she forced herself to smile while replying. "Great."

"Hey, it's okay if you're a little nervous," Twilight reassured the unicorn. "But I don't think Sunburst has any idea what happened to you. Think of this as a chance to make a fresh start with somepony who doesn't know what you used to be. A chance to truly put your past behind you."

"And you think he'll want to see me or even remember me?" Starlight nervously inquired.

The young alicorn just answered. "That's not for me to say. But don't worry, I'll find some time to help you out, after I see the newest addition to the Sparkle family."

And so it was that Starlight reluctantly accompanied Twilight and the others on a train up to the Crystal Empire. She could already see how excited they were to meet the new baby pony, some of them even having had the foresight to bring along gifts to give.

"I hope the baby appreciates the rocker I made for 'em," Applejack declared with a smile, holding it off to one side. "Made it from genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple trees, only the finest ones to boot. We Apples make 'em for every member of the Apple family. And Twilight's practically family, so by extension so's the new foal."

Rainbow Dash grinned and boasted. "Yeah, it's okay... But it's no Cloudsdale mobile!" She dispayed a large mobile that had little clouds and rainbows dangling from it. "Cost me a fortune, but it was worth every bit!"

Applejack only smirked in reply. "I suppose that's nice, so long as you had somethin' you could lay in to look at it."

"And a fetching blanket to keep you warm, of course," Rarity added as she floated over a small, lushly decorated red blanket. "Just a little something I've been working on over the past few days."

Twilight simply smiled as she eyed the gifts from afar. "I'm sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will love all of our gifts. But I think they're going to be more happy we'll be attending the baby's crystalling. After all, it's to power up the Crystal Heart. Without the heart the Crystal Empire can't survive, it would be consumed by the Frozen North and its harsh blizzards."

"Wow!" Starlight seemed to sincerely exclaim! "I knew a crystalling was a big deal but I didn't think it'd be that big a deal," She then looked to her mentor. "Are you sure it's a good idea to have my first friendship lesson in addition to seeing the new foal and attending the Crystalling? It sounds like a lot to juggle."

"Which is why I planned ahead, never hurts to be prepared," Twilight declared before unfolding a large scroll that stretched down to the floor and across the train car. "I went ahead and broke down the friendship lesson for you into simple and easy steps. It's more for my sake than yours, once you meet up with Sunburst the lesson is more or less out of my hooves."

Gulping, Starlight intentionally whispered to herself. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Did you say something, Starlight?" The young alicorn questioned. "I thought I heard you talking to yourself."

The unicorn mare quickly played it off with a nervous laugh. "Oh, it's nothing. No need for you to worry yourself. It's just me being silly. I guess it's just hard for me to adjust to all of this so soon. It hasn't even been half a year since you took me in."

Twilight nodded. "Change can be difficult. It wasn't easy for me when I became an alicorn princess or when I had to move into a castle because my old home got destroyed," And she reassured her student. "If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm right here."

"I know, Twilight. I know." Was all Starlight could bring herself to say. In her mind she kept thinking. "I don't want to seem ungrateful. But how can she truly understand how I feel?" And she started thinking back to an earlier experience, from a time when she had learned about not just a crystalling but also what Twilight was intending to do for her student's first ever friendship lesson.





All Starlight knew for certain on that day was that Twilight had instructed her to "meet in the library". It had only been about a week or two since she'd officially become Twilight's student, and as such the mare was still finding it difficult to find her way around the castle. Some rooms were difficult to find, the library being one of them. It certainly didn't help that there were no labels on the doors and every door in every hallway looked exactly the same.

Starlight paused, taking a deep breath as she tried to figure out her surroundings and her general location. She'd just come back from having her mane restyled by Rarity, and had hastily styled her tail to reflect her new "de-equalized" mane. Her moderate persian blue eyes scanned the greenish-white hallways, trying to look for any details that were vaguely familiar. "Let's see," She said to herself. "Library... Library... Where's the library again? It's here somewhere."

The unicorn mare eventually opened a door that she thought looked promising. But what she ended up finding on the other side was not at all what she had been searching for. She instead found Spike brushing his teeth in one of the castle's many bathrooms, toothpaste surrounding his mouth like a beard. "Morning, Starlight," He called while only just looking at her for a second or two. "Love the new mane style. Much better than your old one."

Starlight replied by shutting the door tightly! "Sorry!" She quickly apologized, though also glad it hadn't been worse. "Note to self, knock before entering." She thought.

Spike just called from the other side of the door. "You lost, Starlight?"

"A little," The mare reluctantly confessed. "I'm trying to find the library so I can talk with Twilight. Do you know where it is?"

The little dragon replied. "Next door on the left, you can't miss it."

"Thanks!" Starlight called and rushed to the aforementioned door, pausing only briefly to knock on it in case the room on the other side wasn't what she hoped it would be.

But fortunately, it was indeed the library. And Twilight was already there, looking over a bunch of different scrolls and making notes to herself. Then she happened to look up and spot her new student. "Ah, Starlight. Come in, come in. Finding everything okay?"

The unicorn mare sighed. "Not really, I got lost again. Do you seriously not have any map besides that table one?"

Twilight chuckled a bit. "I guess I got so used to living here, it never occurred to me. Guess I can add a proper map to my to do list, alongside looking into the whole guard thing. At the least I need to upgrade the security around here. Although, you having trouble may mean a thief would have a hard time as well."

"Yeah, it did take me a long time to find that map when I broke in," Starlight admitted. "Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. About you taking me in and taking me on as your pupil. Are you really sure it's for the best after everything I did?"

Twilight firmly nodded. "We both went through a lot during your attempt to meddle with time. But you're not actually the first pony who tried to use time travel, I kind of did the same thing once and it didn't turn out well. Because of that and because of what we had to deal with because of you, I think it's best if we try not to dwell on the past too much. After all, that's what led you down that dark path in the first place. And I want to show you a better way."

"Still, I did a lot of horrible things. Can we really be sure I've changed in such a short amount of time?" Starlight nervously questioned.

"I guess we'll find out, seeing as I've already started planning your first friendship lesson," The alicorn explained as she held up one of the scrolls. "I'm trying to narrow down the options as we speak."

Starlight looked around, feeling overwhelmed by how many different scrolls there seemed to be. "I know I'm just learning about friendship, but I didn't think there were this many lessons for anything. How do we choose?"

Twilight sheepishly grinned. "That's what I'm trying to figure out right now, actually. Why don't you give me some time to work on it? After all, our friends should be here by now. They're in charge of planning our trip to the Crystal Empire once Shining Armor and Princess Cadence have their baby."

Starlight blinked upon hearing that sentence. One word in particular threw her off. "Our friends? I've only just gotten to know them. Calling us friends might be a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

"They all more or less agreed when we had our vote," The young alicorn explained. "And I can tell you've already been to Rarity's. You definitely didn't have that mane style when I saw you yesterday. Rarity always did say that a new style can be just the thing to bring out a new side in a pony. Maybe that'll be the case for you."

"And where would I find them all?" Starlight reluctantly asked.

"The throne room if I had to guess," Twilight responded. "And try to relax. If you're nervous it's only going to make things worse. Applejack and Rarity especially will notice."

So the unicorn mare reluctantly decided to leave the library and meet up with the five ponies that were more or less her "friends" now. "Okay, throne room it is," But then she stopped and turned back to her mentor while asking. "Um, which way is the throne room again? It has been a while since I... well, you know."





After receiving directions, Starlight made her way to the throne room where she could see the five mares all discussing something amongst themselves.

"Shouldn't we have heard by now?" Fluttershy could be heard asking. "It seems odd. You don't think something happened to them, right?"

Rarity just replied. "Honestly, I'm more concerned about that whole crystalling thing Twilight mentioned. Apparently, that's supposed to be held soon after the little one is born. It must be important to the empire somehow if they need to hold it that suddenly."

Starlight came trotting up at that very moment as she inquired. "What exactly is a crystalling? First I hear Twilight talking about it, and now all of you."

Rainbow Dash shrugged her hooves. "You've got us. We only know it's a thing because Twilight talked about it, and she says she heard about it from Princess Cadence. I guess when your whole empire is gone for a thousand years, a lot of stuff gets left behind."

"We do know it's got somethin' to do with the baby though." Applejack pointed out.

"And a party!" Pinkie Pie quickly added.

"And the Crystal Heart too." Fluttershy chimed in.

Again, Pinkie Pie declared. "And a party!"

Rainbow Dash then replied. "And apparently, some kind of cool energy or something."

Pinkie Pie then stood up on the table map and loudly proclaimed! "And... a party!" She promptly stretched out her hooves as confetti suddenly burst out from between said hooves!

Spike entered the room a moment later, carrying a scroll and a huge orange vase of some kind in his claws. "It's not that hard to understand, actually. A little bit of research can go a long way. There's a lot of things about the Crystal Empire that are easy to understand with a little bit of knowledge," He proceeded to unfold a scroll that depicted a giant crystal statue of himself. "Like how I'm a big hero there, for example."

"You? A hero? Since when?" Starlight questioned in disbelief.

"Since I helped bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence, and thus preventing King Sombra from reclaiming the empire for himself again," Spike explained. "I'll have to tell you the whole story some other time. Trust me, you will never believe it."

Rainbow Dash then grumbled. "Just tell us what a crystalling is already, Spike. We don't have all day! Some of us have places we'd like to be!"

The little dragon complied as he carefully set the orange vase down on the table. "This should explain it better than just me reading Twilight's notes. We took a trip to the Crystal Empire soon after Cadence announced her pregnancy, it's amazing what we were able to find," He quickly pointed a claw to a painting on the vase that depicted two crystal ponies and a baby, and it appeared to be some kind of ritual. "Whenever a new baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents are to 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."

"But what's the crystal shard for?" Fluttershy questioned.

Spike turned the urn, showing a painting of what looked like a crystalling from how he had described it. And it also showed the shard being inserted into the Crystal Heart. "Apparently, the crystal shard collects all the light and love everypony feels from seeing the new baby. And that shard joins with the Crystal Heart to power it up, enabling it to protect the empire. Any more questions?"

Starlight still had one question after Spike's presentation and reluctantly brought it up. "What does the Crystal Heart protect the empire from, and why does it need to be powered up?"

Spike shrugged his claws. "If I had to guess I'd say it has to do with the Frozen North that surrounds the Crystal Empire. But there aren't a lot of records on what the heart is supposed to do besides a vague description of 'protection'. What I do know though, is that this is going to be a royal crystalling. Something that hasn't happened in the empire since before King Sombra took over. That means the whole empire's probably gonna show up, and I'll bet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be there too seeing as the empire is part of Equestria now."

"A royal crystalling!" Rarity exclaimed with stars in her eyes! "We'll be witnessing a once in a lifetime event! How lucky are we?!"

"Very lucky, I'd say," Twilight declared as she entered the throne room. "Because that could work out nicely with Starlight's first friendship lesson."





Starlight Glimmer could hardly believe her ears when she heard those words, yet she knew she had heard them. "My first friendship lesson? So soon?"

Twilight sincerely nodded. "Yup. I mean, it's just one possibility I've considered but it's a very strong contender. I found out that that's where the first pony you ever cared about lives."

"You don't mean-" Starlight began.

A smile appeared on Twilight's face as she declared. "-That's right: Sunburst!" Then she added. "Although I had also considered a trip to Griffonstone, making friends with anygriffon can be a challenge in and of itself. And for something a bit closer to home, I thought about having you tag along with the CMC the next time they try to help somepony find their special talent. I've been meaning to study their cutie marks ever since they got them. Not even my friends and I got our cutie marks at exactly the same time, so those three fillies getting cutie marks at the same time and having them match is something that warrants further study."

But while the alicorn had been excitedly prattling on about "possible friendship lessons", Starlight found herself being struck with a sense of dread. It became so powerful that it drowned out everything else in the room, replacing it with a loud buzzing sound that made the unicorn very nervous. So nervous in fact that she didn't snap out of it until she felt a tap on her back courtesy of Twilight. "Is something wrong?" She asked with concern.

Starlight flashed a nervous smile. "N-no, it's just me. I guess I'm not particularly excited about any of those options. But I guess since you're the teacher, whatever you say goes."

"Well, I haven't officially decided on anything yet," Twilight replied. "And it's gonna be hard to choose. If there's anything you think you can't do though, let me know."

The unicorn reluctantly nodded. "Right, will do."

Twilight smiled. "Good. Oh, this is just so exciting. I've never actually been a teacher before, the closest I've come was tutoring the CMC when they wanted to learn new skills and even then they proved to be quick learners. But I remember how much I enjoyed my time as Celestia's student. I'm confident that you'll enjoy your time as my student, Starlight."

"I sure hope so." Was all Starlight could bring herself to say.





The days passed quickly after that, and on the very day when Starlight learned she would officially be tasked with reconnecting with Sunburst, she was still struggling to navigate the castle's many confusing hallways. She opened one door only to be bombarded by brooms, mops and other cleaning supplies that promptly buried her. She struggled to use her magic to put them all away and close the door.

Then the unicorn was unlucky enough to open another door and find Spike posing, flexing his muscles in front of a mirror with a smile on his face. "Ugh! I swear, I am never gonna find my way around this place! Never!"

Spike quickly hopped down from the stool he'd been standing on to use for his posing, rushing up to the distraught unicorn and comforting her to the best of his ability. "Come on now, Starlight. Don't be like that. I know this place can seem confusing, but you'll find your way around soon enough, I'm sure of it," Then he sensed that something else might be behind the mare's discomfort. "But that's not what you're really worried about, is it?"

"How'd you know?" Starlight unhappily sighed. "Well, since you asked, it's honestly all of this. Me being a student to the very pony who could've had me arrested for my crimes. It doesn't feel right."

"Hey, you're not that kind of pony anymore!" Spike protested! "You're my new big sister now! Twilight saw potential in you, and that's not something she sees in just anypony."

Starlight Glimmer only glumly replied. "Yeah, I've got potential. It's that potential that drove me to despise cutie marks in the first place, and try to get revenge against Twilight for opposing me on that belief. A part of me feels like Twilight was wrong, like she should've been much harsher on me than she actually has been up to now. And what's even worse is that she's extended her circle of friends to me. Now she wants me to be friends with her friends."

"Well if that's what bothers you so much, why not speak up? I'm sure Twilight would understand." Spike tried to encourage.

But Starlight just shook her head and hung it. "I don't wanna seem ungrateful. I'm sure there's lots of ponies who would give anything to be in my position. And many of those same ponies would say I don't deserve even half of what I've gotten since Twilight and her friends exposed me for the fraud I was."

Spike spoke up. "If there's anyone who knows what it feels like to not be happy with yourself, it's me. And something I learned from dealing with that is that it doesn't go away if you just ignore it or keep it to yourself. Even if you're the only one who thinks a certain way, if you don't tell anyone else then things are never going to get better," And he insisted. "You really should tell Twilight, especially if you're worried about what Sunburst will think of you."

At that Starlight began to flash back in her mind to memories she'd all but forgotten. Memories of her and Sunburst growing up together as foals in a small town, a time when she'd worn her mane in pigtails instead of its current style. "Sunburst meant everything to me. He was just so good at magic, or at least he seemed to be. He always knew what to do. Knew what spells to cast when. Whenever I tried to duplicate his success, it never worked out anywhere near as good. But he was still there to help me if I needed it."

One memory in particular that the unicorn had been trying in vain to suppress came flooding back to her in an instant, the day her life had changed forever. "Then of course, he got his cutie mark and I never saw him again. He went off to Canterlot to be that big, important wizard he always dreamed of being."

"And it was because of that that you blamed cutie marks, right?" Spike questioned.

"It'd be so easy to blame him for what I did, but he wasn't there when I chose to do the horrible things I did," Starlight protested. "But what would he think if he knew what kind of a monster I became in his absence? The kind of things I said and did solely because I thought cutie marks were evil? Do you honestly think he'd want anything to do with me just because I'm supposedly no longer that pony?"

The little dragon gulped. He hadn't thought about that. "Well... that's all the more reason why you should talk to Twilight," He tried to encourage. "She's not a mind reader, you know."

But before either pony or dragon could further debate the issue, Twilight excitedly called out! "It came! It finally came!" And soon she would reveal a special snowflake that contained the announcement of the birth of Shining Armor and Cadence's baby. Just like that, everything had been settled and it was off to the Crystal Empire to not only see the new baby pony but also attend a royal crystalling.





The memories ended for Starlight just as the train pulled into the station in the Crystal Empire. And before Starlight could even think of protesting, she was led off the platform by a very determined and eager Twilight. "Let's at least get you over to Sunburst's house so you two can start off on the right hoof," She declared. "That's step one in my plan, the rest is more or less up to you."

Just then, a rather exhausted looking Shining Armor with a very messy mane and tail and bloodshot eyes happened to appear on the platform (or perhaps he had always been there and Twilight just hadn't noticed until now). "Twilight." He called in an exhausted tone of voice.

"Oh, hey Shining Armor," Twilight greeted in surprise. "I... didn't expect you to meet us here."

"Oh but of course, why wouldn't I be here to see you?" Shining Armor proclaimed, appearing to ignore the snickering coming from Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they observed his current state of appearance. "I mean, even if we have met before."

Nervously, Twilight asked her brother. "Are you okay?"

Shining eagerly proclaimed! "Me?! Of course I am! Never better! Being a father is amazing! And wonderful, and amazing, and confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you'd know. You wouldn't know, I know... You know?" After realizing that his long and rambling sentence probably made no sense at all, he apologized. "Sorry. Things have been really crazy since the baby was born. Haven't really slept well. Come to think of it, neither has Cadence."

"Oh, of course!" Twilight realized! "Even with a full castle staff you've probably had your hooves full dealing with the new baby pony. I should've anticipated this."

Shining nodded. "Yeah, and there's something else too. Two somethings actually. Let's just say the baby's caused some.. problems. Problems we weren't expecting. That's why it took so long for us to contact you."

The young alicorn blinked. She was about to ask what her older brother meant by "problems" before a detail she hadn't noticed until now finally made itself known to her. "Say, is it my imagination or does it seem a bit colder than usual around here?"

Rarity added. "Come to think of it, it seemed like it took the train longer than usual to reach the station here. Almost as if something were delaying it."

Shining spoke up. "That's kind of one of the problems I was talking about. It's probably best if you all came with me and saw the baby, everything will make more sense then. We're already kind of pressed for time as it is."

Twilight reluctantly nodded. "I understand. If there's a problem, we should get it sorted out as soon as we can," Then she turned to Starlight and told her young student. "I'm sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn't such a good idea after all."

"Hey, you couldn't help it," Starlight replied as she tried to sound sympathetic. "Sunburst can wait for a better time. Besides, you're an aunt now! And that's way more important than some friendship lesson."

However, Spike then suggested. "Actually, who says we can't do both, Twilight?" And he picked up the scroll. "You already did a great job of planning everything out, and it's not like I was looking forward to seeing the new baby so soon anyway. You go on ahead and help Shining Armor and Cadence with whatever their problems are, and all Starlight and I have to do is follow your lesson plan. It can't hurt to at least try."

Starlight put a hoof to her face as Twilight declared. "Spike, you're a genius!"

Starlight laughed and then grit her teeth. "Yeah, Spike, a real genius!" In the back of her mind she even briefly thought. "If you had a cutie mark right now, I'd so take it away from you." Then she blinked, wondering where such a nasty thought had even come from even with how much she hated what Spike was proposing.

"You know what, that sounds like a good idea," Twilight nodded. "You two head over to Sunburst's house right away. The address should be on the lesson plan. I'll stop by if I can after the rest of us take care of whatever problems Shining Armor and Cadence need our help with." And so it was settled even if Starlight Glimmer would've liked it not to be.





It wasn't long before pony and dragon were making their way through the Crystal Empire, doing their best to ignore the cold that seemed to follow them everywhere they went. "Something definitely has to be up, no way should the empire be this cold." Spike commented with concern.

"I was about to wonder how anypony could ever live in such a place," Starlight shivered. "I shouldn't have turned down Rarity's offer for a new coat, or even just a scarf," Then she turned her attention to Spike. "Did you really need to do what you did back on the platform though? I was perfectly content not having to see Sunburst right now."

Spike only sternly replied. "No way was I gonna let you back out of this. It's only gonna get worse the longer you put it off. I know you're worried, but you have to have faith in Twilight and in yourself. If Twilight thinks you're worth being friends with, then so do I. She's my mother and my mother is never wrong on things like this. It's why she's the princess of friendship."

Starlight Glimmer slowly commented. "Right," Then she noticed something that caught her wandering eye. Namely the huge crystal statue of Spike that stood out in the center of the empire itself. "Say, you never did tell me all the details about how you became such a big hero here. I mean, it's not every day you see a statue of a dragon being built anywhere."

"That statue is there because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved us all from King Sombra's wrath!" A crystal earth pony with a yellow coat and reddish-violet eyes excitedly proclaimed!

Another crystal earth pony, this one with a bluish-purple coat and purple eyes exclaimed in an equally excited tone! "And then again during the Equestria Games! Twice he has saved our empire from certain doom! We owe everything to him!"

"Really?" Starlight questioned and turned to Spike. "When were you going to tell me about that?"

"Some other day when we weren't on an important friendship assignment," Spike humbly replied. "Now come on, we need to get to Sunburst's house! I know what you're trying to do and it ain't gonna work!"

"Sorry," Starlight protested as she conjured up a red and white folding chair with her magic and also produced a box of popcorn. "But if you're gonna make me go through with Twilight's lesson, I'm gonna need a little favor from you in return. I need to hear about your heroic exploits. The whole story."

Sensing that the unicorn wasn't going to be persuaded otherwise, Spike reluctantly sighed. "Oh, very well. But I'm only telling it once, so you'd better listen good," Then he cleared his throat and began to recall his first experience with the empire. "It all started when Princess Celestia sent an urgent letter to Twilight telling her to come to Canterlot right away."





Meanwhile, Shining Armor (who had yet to correct his very frazzled state of appearance) had led Twilight and her friends to the Crystal Castle and to the nursery where his recently born child currently resided. However, he stopped outside the nursery door as he tried to caution. "Before you go in, I think there's something you should know. Something Cadence and I should've told you earlier. Seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock when you see what she is."

"'She'? So it's a filly?!" Twilight excitedly asked!

Shining nodded. "Yup. She was born just a few days ago. And that's when the trouble began."

Pinkie Pie briefly shuddered. "I remember the first time I looked after the Cake Twins. I didn't think I was gonna survive it with how much they drove me crazy."

Twilight only replied. "You just had a bad experience, Pinkie. I've met plenty of baby ponies before, I don't think this one will be any different at all."

Shining could only ominously remark. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Then he reluctantly opened the nursery door, letting everypony venture inside.

The newly born filly was soon visible to everyone. She had a very light pinkish-gray coat that almost looked to be as white as snow. Her eyes were an innocent light opal in color. And what could be seen of her mane indicated colors of purple and light blue in varying streaks. A horn was clearly noticeable, yet for some reason she seemed to be wrapped up in some kind of blanket.

The reason was soon made clear as the blanket was unwrapped by a very reluctant Princess Cadence, exposing not just a horn but also a pair of wings! A series of shocking gasps filled the room from everypony that hadn't previously been in the know! Yet the filly just looked up at everypony and excitedly babbled.

"My new niece is an alicorn?!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief!

Princess Cadence (looking just as frazzled as her husband) reluctantly answered. "Yes, it would appear to be that way. So that means her surges have been twice as frequent and twice as much of a hoofful to deal with, even for an experienced foalsitter like me."

"Believe me, we were just as surprised as you all are now when we saw this for the first time," Shining Armor explained. "We're still not entirely sure why it happened, but we suspect it has something to do with the magic responsible for making Cadence an alicorn."

Pinkie Pie just nervously remarked! "So she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic?! No wonder you two haven't been sleeping well."

Princess Cadence then confessed. "It's not just her powers that have us worried, although that was a big concern of ours originally."

At that moment, as if to prove her parents' point, the little filly let out a powerful sneeze that caused an almost blinding bright yellow colored magic to shoot off from her horn! It shot straight up, blasting a hole in the ceiling!

"We haven't even had time to settle on a name," Shining Armor explained as he used his magic to float over a tissue for his daughter to use to blow her nose. "We were thinking of something along the lines of Flurry to go along with her coat, but we've been very busy. A blast similar to that accidentally shattered the Crystal Heart!"

"What?!" Twilight and the others gasped in disbelief!

Princess Celestia quickly spoke up as she and Princess Luna appeared, the two of them appearing to be almost completely covered with snow. "It's true. This new alicorn's magic has proven to be highly unstable and unpredictable. And it is because of that great power that the Crystal Heart has broken." She proceeded to gesture a hoof to a nearby window from the castle.

All gathered around it and could see quite clearly that several small crystal shards lay around the spot where the Crystal Heart used to be.

Princess Luna then explained while brushing off some of the snow from her coat. "And with the Crystal Heart out of commission, the Crystal Empire is now in danger of being overtaken and consumed by the Frozen North. It is the only thing that has kept the blizzards and the harsh cold at bay."

"But the Crystal Heart wasn't around when King Sombra was rulin' and the empire survived just fine," Applejack questioned. "How can the empire be in danger now?"

"Sombra hid the Crystal Heart away, but its magic was still at work repelling the blizzards. And it's entirely possible that that fiend used his own dark magic to keep the blizzards at bay," Cadence concluded. "I knew the Crystal Heart was important, but even I didn't know it was this important."

Shining Armor then stated. "We've already told most of the empire's residents to stay indoors. And at this rate, even with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna using their own alicorn magic, they've only just barely been able to hold off the Frozen North. And the longer they stay out there, the more they become exposed. Eventually, even their magic will no longer be effective. If that happens, we'll have no choice but to evacuate the empire."

"So why did you summon us here?" Fluttershy pondered. "It seems like there's not gonna be a crystalling of any sort at this rate."

Shining yawned a bit. "Cadence and I have been busy just keeping an eye on the baby. We haven't had much time to look into a way to fix the Crystal Heart or even find out if such a way exists. And Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are too busy fighting off the blizzards to be of much help anywhere else."

Twilight's eyes lit up! "A research mission, then?! I'll help however I can!"

Pinkie Pie declared. "Just please don't make me have to watch the baby. I'm not going through another Cake Twins ordeal!"





Miles and miles away, Spike had just finished telling the story of his first time saving the Crystal Empire. "And that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra and saved the empire. All in a day's work."

Several crystal ponies cheered and one even proclaimed! "We love you, Spike the Brave and Glorious! You're our hero for all time!"

And another crystal pony encouraged. "Tell us the one about the Equestria Games when you save us all again!"

"Yeah, I wanna hear about the games too!" Starlight encouraged. "I haven't heard it yet."

But Spike just stood up. "Sorry, that'll have to wait for another time. I've kept you all here long enough," Then he added. "Besides, as much as I love reliving my heroic deeds, Starlight and I have an important lesson to do by order of the Princess of Friendship herself! And orders are orders."

Reluctantly, Starlight Glimmer got up from her chair (spilling her box of popcorn in the process). "There's no convincing you otherwise, is there?"

Spike flashed a grin. "Nope. I know you're worried and nervous, but you can't run away from your problems. The meeting with Sunburst is important, and it's gonna happen one way or another," He held up the scroll. "It even says so in the lesson plan: Step Three: 'Deal with your fears by facing them, not by putting them off.'"

So it was that the two made their way through the Crystal Empire again (reluctantly in Starlight's case). And it wasn't long before they finally reached Sunburst's house, which stood out for having a greenish hue to it, and an orange hat like structure above it. It really did seem like the sort of place a wizard might choose to dwell.

Starlight steadied herself, reluctantly preparing to knock on the front door. "Here goes nothing." She reluctantly said to herself.

Yet at that very moment, Spike shouted out in protest! "Wait! I almost forgot something!"

The unicorn mare turned around and eyed the little dragon with uncertainty. "What is it now?!"

"Apparently, Twilight added in some extra steps before you knocked on the door," Spike explained as he read over the scroll. "It says here: 'Before they see each other, be sure to highlight the importance of the meeting.'"

Starlight shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we can skip that. I already know how much of a big deal this is."

"You sure that's a good idea? It's your first friendship lesson," Spike nervously replied. "If we skip over that step the whole lesson could go south, and then you might never be able to learn anything about friendship at all! Your whole future could depend on this very moment!" And he pulled the mare close, so close in fact that he could've been mistaken for trying to kiss her. "Okay, that takes care of 'Highlighting the importance of the meeting'." He said at last, crossing it off on the scroll.

Steadying herself again, the unicorn mare with a grayish-purple coat reluctantly reached out a hoof and knocked on the front door of Sunburst's house. A part of her hoped that maybe he wasn't home and therefore she could get away with not having to see him again right now.

Alas, the mare's hopes were dashed when the door swung open slowly and the face of a very familiar looking unicorn poked its head out from the darkness. The unicorn stallion had an orange coat (except for light green patches on his legs and a small similarly colored spot on his face). His mane and tail were a two toned orange in color that was styled into a loose curl, and his eyes were dark blue. He was just like Starlight remembered him looking as a colt, the only differences being that his mane and tail now looked a bit messy, he'd grown a bit of a goatee underneath his chin and he now had silver glasses in front of his eyes. And the stallion seemed to be wearing a bluish-green robe with lighter blueish-green trim and similarly colored stars on it, as well as a brooch of the same color.

"Sunburst? Is that you?" Starlight reluctantly and nervously asked.

Sunburst answered in an equally reluctant and nervous tone. "Yes, that's me. Who are you? You look familiar somehow."

Starlight gulped and swallowed hard. This was it, the moment she'd been dreading ever since learning Sunburst lived here. "It's me, Starlight Glimmer. You know, we used to be friends when we were younger?"

It seemed to take a moment for Sunburst to realize that fact, but once he did his eyes lit up and he happily exclaimed! "Oh yes, Starlight! My my, how nice to see you again! It's been so long. What have you been up to and what brings you here?"

Nervously, Starlight stepped back a bit. "Me? I haven't been up to much, nothing you'd really wanna hear about. Right now though, I'm sort of the new student of the princess of friendship. In fact, this is kind of my first lesson."

"Oh, that's nice," Sunburst sincerely commented. "I didn't know the princess was taking on students."

"I didn't either, so here I am," Starlight nervously chuckled. "I mean, I hope this isn't a bad time for you or anything. You must be very busy."

Sunburst blinked in surprise and apparent confusion. "What makes you say that?"

Starlight answered her fellow unicorn. "Well, you know, you always talked about being a big, important wizard. And why would you move all the way out here after magic school unless it was part of your wizard work?"

The unicorn stallion blinked again. "Me? A wizard? Er... I mean, yes, that's me alright! Mr. Big, Important Wizard. In fact, I'm so important I'm really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff," He then backed away from the door very slowly while saying. "Well... uh... it was... nice to see you again and all that. Bye." And then he closed the door right in Starlight's face.

Starlight let out an unhappy sigh. "That's just what I expected. He wants nothing to do with me. He's so important that he's forgotten all about me," And she turned and prepared to leave. "Come on, Spike. Let's get out of here."

Spike wasn't about to let Starlight give up on the lesson so easily! "Oh no you don't! I'm officially invoking my little brother privilege to annoy you into doing what's right!" He stubbornly declared! "You have to at least explain yourself to him and let him know what Twilight wants! And if you won't do it, I will!" He promptly knocked on the door again, and Sunburst soon answered it.

All Starlight could do was stand there and nervously smile. She wasn't looking forward to talking to Sunburst at all, but now there was no way of avoiding it.





Back at the Crystal Castle, Twilight was preparing to set off for the library while instructing to both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. "You two should rest. You're not gonna be of much help to anypony when you're this frazzled."

"Are you sure your friends are up to the task of keeping an eye on the baby?" Princess Cadence asked as she noticed her daughter clinging onto Pinkie's face.

Twilight firmly nodded. "I won't be gone for long, and the five of them should be more than enough to keep up with her if she tries anything. Just relax. This'll be just like when we organized the Crystal Fair."

Princess Celestia then declared. "We will do our part to hold the blizzards at bay for as long as possible. But be careful out there, temperatures will continue to drop despite our best efforts."

Rainbow Dash looked out a window, impatiently flapping her wings. "I could totally bust those clouds by myself!"

"That would not be wise," Princess Luna cautioned. "Those aren't ordinary clouds. They have a mind all their own and are resistant to all kinds of pony magic: Pegasus magic included. Why else do you think my sister and I have been unable to repel the blizzards?"

And Princess Celestia added. "Only the magic of the Crystal Heart can protect the empire forever. It's imperative that we find a way to restore the heart before there isn't an empire left to save."

"So we should stop talking and start taking action!" Twilight firmly declared before turning to the crystal couple. "Once you two are fully rested, you can take over watching the baby and my friends can join me in my research mission if I haven't already found a solution. I'll bet that somewhere in the library is a spell that can put the Crystal Heart back together!"

Shining Armor let out a yawn as he reluctantly replied. "Very well, Twily. We'll trust you for now. But our daughter isn't your average baby pony. Her surges are going to be ten times as powerful and unpredictable. Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."

As if to drive that very point home, at that very moment the little alicorn filly babbled as her horn started to light up. "Oh no!" Princess Cadence gasped in alarm and desperately rushed to the crib where her daughter was resting!

Unfortunately, the princess of love was too late! Her daughter teleported away in the blink of an eye!

Fluttershy nervously looked to Twilight as she asked. "What are we going to do now?!" And Twilight didn't know what to say in reply. Things were getting out of control very fast, perhaps too fast!