In the Castle of Friendship, there sat a light purple unicorn at the Friendship Map with a tired expression on her face. In front of her was an open book, and she kept moving her eyes from side to side as she skimmed through the pages. Uttering a sigh of exhaustion, she closed the book with her magic and set it aside.
At that moment, an alicorn princess opened the doors while carrying a large stack of books with her magic. “So, Starlight, did you learn anything meaningful?”
“(Sigh) Not really,” she sadly replied, getting her face out of the table. “I just don’t know if I’m learning anything at all. If anything, I feel so...incomplete.”
“Hey, it’s nothing to worry about. I know how hard it must be for you to learn about friendship,” said Twilight. “I’m sure I can think of something that might help you.” As she started to think about it, she instantly came up with an idea. “(Gasp) That’s it!”
Twilight ran to Starlight and hugged her too tightly. “I know of a perfect place where you can learn more about friendship!”
“What...would...that place be?” Starlight muttered, struggling to breathe.
“Your own village!” Twilight smiled.
*glass shatters*
“You...you’re joking, right?” Starlight nervously grinned, right eye twitching.
“Joking?! I’m completely serious! You have friends down there who will show you everything you need to know! You did live with them after all.”
“Yeah, but that was when I manipulated all of them to do my bidding! Took away their cutie marks, made them so-called ‘equal’, and made their lives completely miserable! I can’t go back there!”
“But you apologized to them! They forgave you and accepted you, so there’s no reason to—.”
“You don’t understand, Twilight. For many years when I lived with them, I felt guilty in the inside for brainwashing them, dictating them, and taking away what really made them unique as ponies. But I kept pushing that guilt away and kept hurting them. They may have forgiven me......but I haven’t forgiven myself,” Starlight vented, tears falling from her eyes.
Twilight was silent for a moment even after Starlight was finished. Looking sadly at the ground, she nodded and lifted her head back up. “I understand now. If you don’t want to go there, that’s perfectly fine. Sorry if I was pushing you to go.”
Wiping her tears away, Starlight sadly smiled. “It’s alright. I appreciate you trying to help, but I just need some time alone for reflection.”
“Of course!” Twilight and Starlight hugged once again but softly this time. Then the former left the latter alone in the room.
She walked toward the open window and gazed at the town she was in. She saw Lyra and Bon Bon talking with each other and hugging each other, a foal hanging out with his best friends, and a mare having a meal with her coltfriend. Seeing all that made Starlight’s pupils shrink and a hopeful smile grew on her face.
“Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” She teleported off from the castle.
There was a wagon just outside the castle. The front door opened as a blue unicorn exited while she wore her magician cloak and a hat. “The great and powerful Trixie is now ready to start her day! Nothing will surprise Trixie or scare her, for there is nothing to fear!”
Starlight suddenly teleported right in front of her. “Morning, Trixie!”
“GAAAAH!” Trixie shrieked, jumping back to her wagon. “Don’t scare me like that again!”
“Sorry. Just thought I would talk to you,” said Starlight, sadly looking down.
“What’s wrong? Is there something you want to talk about?” Trixie asked, concerned.
“Well....(Sigh)....it’s just that I keep thinking about all the things I’ve done in the past when I—y’know—used to be evil and stuff. I even doubt myself if I have actually changed at all.”
“You’re thinking back at...those moments?”
Starlight nodded. Trixie wrapped her hoof around her with a tender smile. “Nopony is perfect, Starlight. We all have our moments of imperfection. Heck, even the great and powerful Trixie has made many mistakes before.” Then she leaned toward her ear. “Don’t tell anypony I said that.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Starlight giggled. “But thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. Trixie always knows how to make her friends better about themselves!” she proudly declared.
“Well, at least you can understand what I’m going through. Don’t get me wrong, I love our friends. But sometimes, I always get the feeling they don’t fully...ugh, how should I say it?....get me. Sometimes I would feel alone, and that no one actually likes me after what I did.”
“Trust me, Starlight, I know how that feels. Everypony here would often gossip about me despite the fact that I’ve changed. Oh, poor little old Trixie!” Trixie dramatically exclaimed.
Just as she said that, there were three random ponies behind them who cast looks of suspicion on Trixie. They murmured among themselves before they turned their backs on her and left. Trixie looked at them with an annoyed scowl. “See what I mean?”
Starlight then sat down next to Trixie on the wagon. “I really wish I had your confidence. You have no idea how much I want that.”
“Please, you’re very lucky nopony talks about you behind your back every chance they get. You shouldn’t doubt yourself, not after all the right things you did.”
“So...you’re saying I’m actually learning? I feel like I haven’t.”
“Of course you are! You’re a much better learner than I am! And if I can be completely honest, you are a changed pony. Any pony can see that!” Trixie comforted.
Starlight slightly smiled. “I’m very happy to hear that from you.”
“What are friends for?” Trixie and Starlight hugged.
In the middle of the Everfree Forest, Batgirl regained consciousness as she opened her eyes. “Hmmm...mmm...huh? What the? Batman?” She looked left and right and saw no Batman in sight.
She observed her new surroundings: large trees were blocking out the sun rays, insects crawled on the dirt, and birds were chirping on the tree branches. After a few seconds of registering where she was, she finally noticed something odd.
“Where’s the scepter? It must have disappeared somehow. But how did I get here though? In fact, where exactly is ‘here’?”
She grabbed her grappling hook and shot it right over a tall tree branch. She flew right up toward it and landed on the branch. She had a clearer view of the forest as well as the open landscape before her. “Wow. This is definitely not in America! I gotta check it out!” she determined.
However, she noticed a certain pegasus spiraling out of control and ended up crashing into her. They both fell on the ground.
As Batgirl tried to get back up, the grey pegasus shook her head and looked at her with derpy eyes. Amazed at the sight of a strange bipedal bat creature, the pony flew away as far as she could. Batgirl was left stunned.
“Was that....a pegasus pony?! I thought those creatures didn’t exist! I gotta find that scepter before things get any weirder!”
She pulled out her tracker to locate the Scepter of Healing. The device gave the results.
“Hmm, the scepter is about 15 miles from here. That should give me an idea where to go first.” She shot her grappling hook again and flew off from the forest.