You have got to be kidding me, a loathsome feeling of disgust flooded me as I stared at the lilac unicorn standing before me.
Following the satisfying meal shared with my mistress, I was ready to relax. After the intense training I'd put my body through, a nice soothing bath sounded divine.
Once I'd returned to my room and took said bath, the exhaustion from the day finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I was exceptionally tired, both mentally and physically, from my exercise regimen and getting my flank kicked by Starlight.
I decided to take a short nap to help prep myself for the long night ahead... well, what I originally intended to be a short nap. I woke up well after midnight and although it was obviously very late, it was a fairly normal hour to be awake for the apprentice of the Princess of the Night. Since becoming Her Majesty's pupil, I'd come to adore the earlier hours of the day and as such frequented the castle gardens at those times.
I'd just gotten to a particularly interesting part of the book I was currently enamored with when who else should appear but the arrogant dictator herself.
"Oh... you're here," Starlight Glimmer gawked at me with just as much disdain as I had when I'd first noticed her walking about. "Can this day possibly get any better?" she rolled her eyes.
Such an annoyance.
"It's a pleasure to see you too, Starlight," I went right back to reading my book, not willing to even look at the unicorn for a second longer. I wasn't about to fall prey to one of her manipulative little games, she was far too skilled at them.
I was sitting on a wool blanket I'd brought with me outside, a small thermos of coffee to my left and my book resting comfortably in my lap. Her Highnesses night was, as always, peaceful and cool, so much better than the unbearably hot and sticky humidity of her sister's day.
Her moon rested directly above us in the sky, illuminating everything underneath it. As I admired the crown jewel of her night sky, I could swear a pony plopped down on their rump right next to me. My mind insisted that it couldn't be her, but the most obvious of logic told me otherwise. At this hour, there'd be nopony else around except for the two of us.
"So what are you reading?" she poked at my book with a hoof, her indifferent expression unchanging. I gaped at the unicorn in disbelief, her look of utter boredom seriously making me consider committing a crime.
"Are you SERIOUS?" I growled, jerking my book away from her. What kind of audacity did it take to do something like she had to me and Sunset and then act like everything was okay.
"What?!" she glared at me as if I'd been the one who'd done something wrong to her.
What audacity...
"You've got some nerve, Starlight Glimmer," I slammed my book shut. I had no idea what she could be thinking, but it was infuriating none the less.
"I do, don't I?" she grinned triumphantly, her cockiness reaching new heights.
GET HER!
The utter arrogance that emanated from her would've normally set me off, but I could see we were already playing one of her games, despite my wishes not to. I just had to remain calm and everything would be okay.
Please give me strength, Your Highness.
"Congratulations, you're really good at being annoying! What do you want, a cookie?" I said in a flat tone, staring deadpan at her. She tapped her chin with a hoof for a second, actually contemplating my question as if it wasn't completely rhetorical.
"I could eat," she shrugged, eliciting a long exasperated groan from me. I rubbed my head with a hoof, a swiftly developing headache already pulsing within my cranium.
"Why are you here, Starlight?" I shut my eyes causing the pain to be a bit more bearable.
"Didn't you hear? I'm stuck here. I'm not allowed to leave," I could hear her smile grow as she spoke. "Anyway, what's this?" I lifted my eyelids to find her now poking at my thermos.
"Would you- it's coffee, OKAY!?" I lifted the drink with my telekinesis, taking a long swig before setting it back down on my blanket further away from her. The hot beverage helped to soothe my frazzled nerves to a degree, but I still had to fight to keep what little composure I had left. "And you know very well that's not what I meant."
"I do," she looked up into the sky. Her admittance lacked the hubris of her previous comments so my indignation lessened a little bit. The sudden expression of sadness on her face might've made me feel something for the mare if she hadn't tried to enslave me just a few hours earlier. "I like to come outside at night. It makes thinking easier, y'know?" she sighed. "Honestly... I had no idea you'd be out here too."
"Her Highness' time is truly wonderful," I mirrored her posture, looking high into the night sky. If she wished to offer my mistress adulation, I was all for it. "I feel a lot more at ease under the watch of her beautiful moon too." Starlight looked at me with a raised brow, curiosity painted all over her face.
"You know you don't have to call her "Highness" when she's not around, right?" Her question had no malice or disrespect behind it, yet it still managed to irritate me.
"I would never be so brazen," I narrowed my eyes on her, my horn sparkling with magenta light. "and while you're around me, neither will you."
"Wow, Twilight, dark much?" she smiled, though this one seemed to be from a place of genuine awe rather than amusement. "Fine, fine," she waved a hoof in front of her face dismissively when I didn't relent. "I'll be good," she chuckled. "I mean, I do owe her that much."
"Thank you," I let out a relieved breath. I didn't want to have to turn things physical, but I would've done so in a heartbeat to defend Her Majesty's honor.
"Do you know why she... did it? Intercede on my behalf, I mean?" she clarified, obviously not wanting a misunderstanding to occur.
"I'm not sure it's my place to say anything on the subject," I thought about my mistress and whether or not she'd want to keep her motives... hidden from the lilac unicorn. If she was anything, the Princess of the Night was honest, so I didn't think she'd have a problem with me being the same. "But she did say she thought you were promising." The surprise on her face was vivid and I easily noticed it, even though she tried her best to hide it. "She also said she didn't want to see you... you know..."
"Well at least there's one pony out there who doesn't want to see me dead," she said under her breath, but I managed to hear that too. "So I'm promising, huh?" She spoke after a moment, looking back up at the sky, but this time her expression was a bit brighter than it had been a second ago.
"You should be happy," I joined her in stargazing.
"Hm?" she asked without looking my way.
"If Her Majesty sees something worthwhile inside of you, you must really be special." I smiled. "Not many ponies are capable of catching her eye."
"What does that make you then, to be chosen as her personal apprentice?" she asked.
A charity case.
I winced, but tried not to let the horrible thought fester.
"I'm just blessed to even be here," I chuckled. "Eeeeven if I'm not so exceptional."
"Oh please," she scoffed. "Stop being so modest. You broke out of one of my binding spells," she glared at me, though it wasn't so much a malicious look as it was a disappointed one. "I've been using that spell for years and nopony has ever escaped from it before."
"You sound just like Her Highness," I smirked, the irony too much for me to take. I took another sip of my drink. "I told her the same thing: I don't know how I did it."
"So?" she took my thermos into her telekinesis. "Do you mind?"
"Uhm, what?" I tilted my head, absolutely baffled by her sudden thievery.
"Can I have a drink?" she asked, not a hint of her question being a joke on her face.
"Uhm, sure," I allowed her, but as she lifted the drink to her lips I couldn't help but blush. With a satisfied sigh she moved the drink back to me. I grasped it within my own spell, staring down at the rim where she'd taken her drink.
"Thanks," she wiped her mouth with a foreleg. "As I was saying, it doesn't really matter if you know how it happened. You did it, and that's what really matters, because for whatever reason, it means you're capable of doing it."
It was sound logic, the kind that I functioned on and hearing it twice now, once from the mare I looked up to more than anypony else and again from an enemy, I couldn't help but take it to heart. Maybe I wasn't so-
Pathetic
I lifted the thermos back up to my mouth and took another sip. I'm not sure if it was my imagination, my soaring spirit, or something else entirely, but I swear the coffee tasted so much sweeter than it had before. The two of us stared into the sky in silence.
Out of nowhere, a shooting star flew across the sky above us, more vivid and shiny than all the other celestial bodies around it. "Make a wish," Starlight pointed at the flaming meteor lazily.
"Uhm... Huh?"
Make a wish? I wasn't sure what she was talking about.
"Really?" she looked at me as if I'd just asked the dumbest question she'd ever heard.
"Sorry?" Her disbelief wouldn't suddenly help me understand what she meant.
"Geez," she pointed up at where the star had passed. "My m-" she stopped herself, thinking better of it. "When you see a shooting star you're supposed to make a wish."
"You..." I couldn't believe it. "You actually believe that?"
What a fool.
"I do," she narrowed her eyes on me, a look of mild annoyance coming to her face. "You got a problem with that?"
"No, of course not," I lifted my hooves in front of myself apologetically. "I've just... never heard such an outlandish thing before. It's very... illogical." She didn't say anything else, instead looking back up. We were quiet for a moment, the extended silence so awkward I felt compelled to break it. "Well, what about you?"
"Hm?" she didn't look my way. For some reason, the possibility that I might've offended her really bothered me. It felt like if I had, it was like I was picking on a bullied foal. She grew quiet again.
"Starlight?" I stared at her.
"I stopped making wishes a long time ago." Her gaze remained locked north, her eyes betraying none of her internal feelings.
"Why is that?"
"Because my wishes never came true." An uncomfortable air dominated the atmosphere.
Foolishness
I wish I could get rid of these negative thoughts.
I found myself making a wish, despite my doubt. It really couldn't hurt. When Starlight spoke again she sounded more sincere than I thought possible for the pompous mare.
"Sometimes... logic can be your greatest enemy," Starlight finally spoke. "It gave me the confidence to oppose Celestia and Luna," she sighed before turning toward me. "I mean, logically speaking, how could any creature be as strong as they are?" I had no answer for that question. I'd only witnessed a speck of Her Majesty's endless strength. It made no sense whatsoever. "I'm sure you thought you were defeated once I'd captured the two of you and by all means, logic would have agreed with you."
"I suppose you're right." What she said was true. I had given up before the fight had even started, too afraid to try anything. Logically speaking Sunset and I should've given up and prostrated ourselves to the much more powerful mare. Thank Her Highness we hadn't.
The lilac unicorn stood to her hooves before stifling a quiet yawn with her hoof. "I think I'm gonna turn in for tonight," she began trotting back to the castle interior. "Don't forget to make your wish."
"Thanks, Starlight," I said, opening my book to the page I'd last been on.
"For?" she paused.
"Even if you don't mean to be, you're a really kind mare." I kept my eyes locked on the page. She stood still for a couple minutes in what I assumed was deep thought.
"Whatever you say," she finally conceded before her hoofsteps began carrying her back to the castle. "Have a good night... Twilight Sparkle."
It was only about two a.m. so my night was just getting started. Her Highness might even decide to pay me a visit if she completed her duties early enough. I loved our early morning gatherings. As I contemplated returning to my room or even going to search for my mistress, I couldn't help but think of Starlight.
I looked back down at my thermos, a deep blush heating up my cheeks again. Maybe the mare wasn't as bad as I'd first thought.