//------------------------------//
// Busted 
// Story: Stargaze with Twinky 
// by MidnightTwinkle 
//------------------------------//

'Haha, although I foresaw a lot of possible situations when I told Twinkleshine about the pool, there was no way I could have expected my big sis and I to take the train to Horseshoe bay after Starry's father suggested we stay with them for a night or two,' I thought as I laid out my things in Starry's room and explored where I would sleep for the next one or two nights.

'Hey Twinky, what are you standing around dreaming about? Let's go to bed soon, we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow!" said Starry.

"Oh right, you're right," I said and lay down in my sleeping bag, Starry turned off the light and we fell asleep.

Starry suggested I sleep in the same bed with her as there's plenty of room and it's cosier than a sleeping bag, but I politely declined as it seemed a bit odd to me.





"Hey, are you kidding me?" said Starry.

"How much longer can you sleep? I wanted to wake you up earlier, but your sister wouldn't let me." she said as well.

Starry tried to push me out of my sleeping bag. "Get up," she said as well.

"Wait, wait, I'm getting up," I said.

"You left me no choice," Starry said playfully.

"If you woke me up, tell me what time it is," I asked.

"It's almost noon! We're going to miss the whole day like this!" exclaimed Starry.

"Hehe, I'm sorry," I said guiltily.

"No time to apologise, it's time to eat," said Starry, pushing me out of the room.

We got to the kitchen and Twinkleshine and Starry's father Hopelight were already there.

When we got there they were talking about something, but when they saw us they interrupted their conversation and then took turns saying, "Good morning," from Hopelight, and "Morning little sis," from Twinkleshine.

I found my portion of food and proceeded to eat. At this time Father Starry said to us, "I have work for the day, so unfortunately I will have to miss today with you all. I have already made arrangements with Twinkleshine, she will be with you two."

Twinkleshine nodded in confirmation of his words, whereupon Hopelight left.

"Hey, how much time can be lost to eat?" asked Starry annoyedly.

I wanted to reply that I was just getting started, but Twinkleshine intervened quicker than I did.

"Starry, I realise you're getting impatient, but it's not polite to her, let Twinkie eat in peace."

"Sorry Twinkleshine, I got carried away. And sorry Twinky." said Starry guiltily.

"It's all right," we replied together.





We walked a bit away from Horseshoe bay, towards Baltimare and found a great beach there that connected with The Celestial Sea. We had just arrived and laid out our things, but Starry was the fastest of us and so was already ready to go swimming.

"Twinky! Hurry up! Over here!" she called out.

I looked at Twinkleshine, waiting for permission, and got a nod from her as my permission to swim.

I headed off towards Starry and heard an admonition from Twinkleshine, "Be careful and don't swim too far, I'll join you soon."

"Okay," I replied and as I caught up with Starry I relayed the words from Twinkleshine to her.

"Now run for the water!" shouted Starry cheerfully and rushed into the sea.

I followed her, but as soon as I touched the water, I stood in a stupor.

I thought, 'Wait, I'm an excellent swimmer, and I even won swimming competitions at my school, but that was all while I was human, but... now... for now... the situation is, um... a bit different, and I'm a pony now, and... hehe, I have no idea how a pony swims.'

'I need to think of something urgently, otherwise I might be suspicious, for according to those around me, not only can Twinky swim, but it's also her favourite thing to do,' I pondered.

'Hey! Did you fall asleep there? Hurry up," Starry rushed me.

An ingenious plan matured in my mind and I set about executing it.

'Starry, come here, I have something to tell you,' I said.

'I hope this works,' I thought.

As soon as Starry came up to me she asked, "What?"

"Get down," I said.

Starry looked at me in surprise, "Why?" she asked.

"I warned you," I said and splashed her with seawater from head to toe.

Starry shrieked in surprise and ran backwards, away into the water, then swam.

I watched her carefully, and after she had done what I needed her to do, I followed her deeper into the water. 

As soon as my hooves were barely touching the bottom, I said very quietly, so that no one but me could hear, "Well, there's the most important part left - repeating all the moves after Starry."

Taking a step forward, I clumsily tried to paddle, but the more effort I made, the faster I sank into the water.

Starry, who swam up beside me said, "What are you doing? Just relax," after which she held me back a little with her hoof.

I did as she said, and surprisingly it worked. You just had to repeat the movements, but be as relaxed as possible.





We continued our aquatic activities, but at one point, Twinkleshine told us it was time to get out.

'When I was human, I loved swimming, but in the last few years of my life, I stopped loving it for some reason, I don't know why,' I pondered.

Now, being a pony, I still didn't like it. I was having fun with Starry and Twinkleshine, but I still didn't like swimming in the sea, so as soon as big sis called, I was the first one out of the sea and headed for our things, followed by Starry and then Twinkleshine came ashore.

We dried off, tidied up, packed up our things and headed for Starry's house, Horseshoe bay. We needed to get back there before dinner, as Starry's father had asked us to be there before then so he would not be disturbed.





We got home and Hopelight was already there and he was starting to cook dinner. Twinkleshine volunteered to help him and Starry and I were sent to entertain ourselves and wait for dinner.

We went to her room, her room was the furthest one in the house. As we walked, Starry pointed to her parents' room and asked, "Remember when we rattled that room when we were left alone at home and we decided to play catch-up hide-and-seek."

"Um... Yeah, right, I remember!" I said not quite sure, I had to lie to her not to look suspicious.

When we entered her room she went to her wardrobe and opened it, then pulled out a dress that was decorated as if it were an extension of Starry herself.

"Remember when we picked this out together?" she asked.

"Of course," I said immediately.

"We had fun then," Starry said.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

Next Starry went to the other nightstand, opened it and took out a scrapbook from there.

We looked at the pictures for a long time, laughing a lot and a lot embarrassed by some of the pictures and memories. But after a while, we heard Twinkleshine calling out to us.

Starry put the album away and we went into the kitchen, but near the door to Starry's room, she stopped and asked me, "remember when you gave this album to me? It's my favourite present."

"Yeah, it's my favourite present too," I told.

Next we came to the kitchen and proceeded to eat.

"Hopelight, you really are a good cook," I remarked.

"Thanks but I had help," he said and nodded towards Twinkleshine.

"I only helped, you did all the work," Twinkleshine excused herself.

I didn't listen to their exchange of thanks any further, I was engrossed in my food as I had hardly eaten all day.





After dinner, we cleared the table and went back to Starry's room, but before we left, I asked Twinkleshine, "Can we go to the bookshop tomorrow, before we leave, I want to choose some books."

"Of course," she replied.

When we got to the bedroom Starry climbed in and sat on her bed, then said, "Come here, we need to talk."

I didn't hesitate to go to her, expecting that another conversation was about to take place and I could get even more information about myself and my memories.

"Remember I asked you some questions after the pool?" queried Starry.

"Yes, of course," I replied, but for some reason a bad feeling ran down my spine.

“You've been acting weird the last few days, like you've been studying my appearance, but we've seen each other most of your life, it's very strange and suspicious,” Starry said.

My bad feeling escalated to the max.

“You or should I say Twinky never gets out of the water first, she always sits until last and needs to be pulled out of the water all the time. Twinky clearly knows how to swim, and does it better than anypony I know, but you were terrible at it today,” She continued.

“Also, I did a little checking today, you remember my questions today, don't you? Did you answer all of them honestly?” Starry asked.

I tensed up.

“Yep,” I said tensely.

“Then… First of all, you didn't give me the album, we made it together,” Starry begins to tell.

"Secondly, with the dress it's the opposite situation, we didn't choose it together, it was your present, for my last birthday, and you couldn't have forgotten it," Starry continued.

"Thirdly, we never rattled my parents' room in this house, because I moved here a few days ago, which means you lied to me today," Starry said. 

Cold sweat began to break out on my forehead.

"And even turning a blind eye to all that suspicious stuff today, Twinky is my best friend, we grew up together and she has NEVER lied to me,” She rebuked.

“Do you still think you're being honest with me?” Starry asked.

I only opened my mouth to try to answer, but she wouldn't let me and asked, “Who are you? And what happened with Midnight Twinkle?” ...