No FREAKING WAY!
I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of my room staring right back down at me. The chirping of birds and the bright sunlight cascading in through the windows confirmed my suspicion that I'd somehow overslept AGAIN.
After the day we'd spent together, Twilight, Starlight, and I agreed to get some studying done first thing in the morning. That had sounded like an AMAZING idea to me. The pair of unicorns were both insanely talented at all things related to magic. The only creatures I could think of more adept than them were Celestia and Luna.
Learning from the pair would put me on another level. I needed to get stronger and there weren't many better suited to help me get to my goal.
Of course, I somehow managed to screw things up again and slept in. I don't even know how I'd stayed in bed for so long. And to top it all off, I was still a little tired!
Is it really that hard to be on time for once in your life, Sunset?
It's not like I'd even had a late night or anything like that. We all got home at a decent hour and I'd gotten to bed long before midnight.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes before throwing myself off my bed and heading to the restroom.
First things first, a cool shower.
That should fully wake me up and being clean felt really good. As I stood under the downpour of water I began to wonder about the girls.
Knowing Twilight for so long, I could safely say she was already in the lab practicing some sort of difficult spell. I wasn't so sure about Starlight, though.
Is she an early bird like Twilight or a lazy bones like me?
I honestly had no clue, but if I had to guess I'd say she was far closer to Twilight's camp than mine.
Guess I'll find out soon.
After my shower I washed up as quickly as I could, growing even more excited to join the others and find out what exactly we were gonna be doing today. I could swing by the kitchen and grab a bite to eat, but I was running way too late as it is, so I decided against it.
Sorry, Starlight. Looks like breakfast will have to be another one of these. I grabbed one of the chocolate bars from my desk and unwrapped it as I picked up my saddlebags and headed out. If Celestia was aware I'd skipped another meal I'd be in for a big lecture, but I was doing what she'd asked, so I gave myself a pass.
As I made my way through the halls of the castle to the lab, I couldn't help but think about the girls yet again. Starlight was actually trying. Like actually ACTUALLY trying.
I can't believe it.
Still, it was difficult to accept. I wanted to believe she was changing for the better, I really did... but a zebra couldn't just change its stripes cause it wanted to... or in Starlight's case, was forced to.
She'd done some horrible things, and that was only the stuff we were aware of. Who knows all of the baggage she was carrying that we didn't know about. On top of that, she was a master of manipulation. This could all just be one big ploy to get us off balance...
Do I really believe that?
I couldn't believe that. I had to believe in her. It's what she needed the most. A friend. A real friend.
Regardless of all that, I'd do everything I could to help her change her mentality. Seeing her listening to the music at the store... the cavalcade of emotions she'd seemingly gone through from the experience, was surprising. I genuinely believe something changed inside of her. Maybe she felt guilty for her transgressions. Maybe her conscience was eating away at her. Or maybe she'd remembered a memory she'd tried to bury deep down inside herself.
Whatever had affected her so, it was easy to see just how distraught the unicorn had become. Something was
really troubling her, and it obviously had nothing to do with being forced to remain in Canterlot. I wanted to help her with it, to listen, to be there for her, but we just weren't that close yet.
This friendship stuff is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
If it were up to me, Starlight and I would just hammer out her issues as soon as possible. Y'know, sit down and talk it out like a couple of grown mares. Keeping stuff bottled up inside never worked out as far as I could tell, but I guess it was naive of me to think conversation could fix any problem.
Who knows what kind of travesties Starlight might have gone through in her life. Everpony's upbringing was different, I couldn't judge her too harshly for what she'd done, especially since she was still such a... mystery. That's probably why I cared so much. Nopony could possibly have done such terrible things to other creatures without experiencing some really heavy stuff themself... right?
"Are you alright, Miss Shimmer?" a guard asked as I passed him by. The severity of my thoughts must've been showing on my face, and so, I had drawn some unwanted attention.
"I'm fine," I gave him a sweet smile. "Thanks for asking." I finished up the candy bar and continued on my way.
Twilight...
I had no idea what to think about the lavender mare. Since returning from Starlight's village she'd been... different. Much different. From helping me with developing my barrier spell, to buying me ice cream, her whole demeanor toward me seemed to have changed.
This was the pony that no more than a week ago had told me to my face that I wasn't worth her time and didn't deserve to be Celestia's student. The same pony who would get up and leave a room as soon as I entered. The same pony who made me feel absolutely awful about myself day in and day out...
The same pony
that I admired more than anypony else. Since the first second I'd met her, it was so easy to see how smart she was, how skilled at magic she was. The same pony I thought could be my first real friend. After all, we were both going down similar paths, me with Celestia and her with Luna. Eventually, she'd become the mare that I... slowly started to...
I'd finally made some progress... we'd finally made some progress, but there was one big problem, a question that scared me more than anything else. Was it all just due to her dedication to the assignment? Her sudden change toward me could've been solely due to our mentors pushing us to become closer to one another.
If that really was the case, if she were only doing what she was, acting friendly toward me, because she felt obligated to, I'd be truly devastated. I only ever really wanted one thing from her. Her acknowledge ment... for her to care... and then maybe, somewhere down the line... for her to feel the same way I had for all these years.
Twilight...
I stood at the door to our laboratory, a very real sense of doubt and fear billowing around me. I wanted to see her... I didn't want to see her. With a shaking hoof, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Look, just keep your back straight a- Oh! Hey Sunny!" Starlight was draped all over Twilight, their faces centimeters from each other. They were standing awkwardly on their hind legs, Starlight directly behind Twilight.
The lavender unicorn's horn was pulsing with bright magenta light. The lilac unicorn behind her had one foreleg tightly wrapped around the pony in front of her while her other foreleg was pressing a hoof into Twilight's lower back.
What. The. HECK!
"Whaaaat's going on?" I closed the door behind myself, not taking my eyes off of Starlight for a second. She looked like she'd just been caught with her hoof in a cookie jar and with how... annoyed I felt right now, she had been caught doing something much worse.
Twilight looked like she was done with the world, her own irritated face almost drawing a laugh from me. She looked so incredibly... cute, I couldn't help but simmer down immediately.
"You okay, Twilight?" I asked, a grin on my face as I tossed my saddlebags onto a desk and trotted over to the duo.
"I'm just peachy, Sunset," Twilight said through gritted teeth as she continued to concentrate on the object she was hovering in front of herself.
"You're still hunching over!" Starlight pushed her hoof harder into Twilight's back, forcing better posture on the lavender unicorn. Twilight responded with a sharp gasp followed by a growl and glare that looked to kill her instructor's enthusiasm.
"I'm TRYING!" she barked, a flash of energy blasting out of her already fiery horn. She was drenched in sweat, the magical effort obviously putting an intense strain on her. "Do you know how hard it is to keep the stupid tea away from the stupid napkin while standing like a stupid idiot? WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR OVER AN HOUR!"
"And you're making fantastic progress, Sparkles," Starlight's position of guidance behind Twilight turned into a gentle embrace, her head laying on Twilight's shoulder.
Uhm, excuse me?
When had they found the time to get so close to one another?
"H-how am I supposed to c-concentrate when you're hanging all o-over me, Starlight??" Twilight's blush was so fierce, I swear I could see smoke billowing from the top of her head.
"What's wrong, Sparkles?" Starlight's smile had become so devious, so full of mischief, It was blatantly obvious she was doing this on purpose. "Can't handle a beautiful mare giving you her attention?" Starlight looked at me with a playfully raised eyebrow. "I didn't even know you swung that way," she whispered into the frazzled unicorn's ear.
"I- wh- I nev-" Twilight was literally about to explode from embarrassment, but to her credit, she still held the strange object in her telekinetic spell. Yep, Starlight was definitely doing it on purpose.
It's not like I was jealous of the lilac mare or anything lame like that... I was, in fact, exceptionally jealous of the lilac mare. That very ugly feeling drove me to break up their little cuddle session.
"What's that?" I grabbed Starlight and pulled her away from her current plaything, pointing at the object Twilight was trying her hardest to concentrate on. Surprisingly, Starlight didn't get mad, she simply rolled her eyes and chuckled before replying.
"So this," she grabbed the object out of Twilight's magical field with one of her own. "Is a little something I whipped up to help out our dear Twilight." Finally allowed to rest, Twilight fell forward onto her forelegs, her normal stance, clearly relieved to be free from having to use any more mana or standing so awkwardly.
"What does it do?" I asked as Twilight took a breather. It looked like a pretty rudimentary bowl made of glass.
"It's not what it does, it's what you have to do with it." She lowered the bowl a bit to let me see inside of it. Within laid a napkin that was surrounded by a light green liquid. "Get it?" she asked me.
"I think so," I tapped my chin with a hoof. "Is that tea?"
"Yes," Starlight smiled.
"So, what you're supposed to do is keep the tea away from the napkin, right?" I looked up at her.
"That's correct! Do ya wanna try?" she asked giddily.
"Sure." I wasn't opposed to a challenge.
"Okay. To start, I'll hold the bowl, you just keep the tea on the perimeter," she lifted the bowl closer to me.
"Okay!" I used a simple telekinesis spell to keep the tea away from the napkin inside of the bowl. It was... unbelievably easy. "Starlight, this is really-"
"Easy, I know. So now it's gonna get a little bit harder," she smirked. "Now, hold the bowl as well."
"Right!" As her magical aura faded away from the bowl I took it into my telekinesis and it immediately fell to pieces. The shards of glass, tea, and the napkin all fell to the floor with a wet crash.
"It's harder than before, huh?" Twilight had caught her breath as she stood next to Starlight. The lilac mare was grinning as she rebuilt the bowl and placed the napkin and more tea back inside of it.
"So you have to hold the bowl together too..." I whispered to myself. That would be a lot more difficult than the first task. Holding it too tightly could shatter the glass, but holding it too softly could cause the tea to seep through the cracks. You had to precisely control the flow of mana to keep the bowl held together while also keeping the tea on the outer rim of the bowl.
"Wanna try again?" Starlight asked with an entertained smile. She was getting a real kick out of this, probably because she could do it with such little effort.
I nodded, carefully taking the bowl into my mana again. Knowing it was in pieces made it a bit easier to handle, but controlling the ebb and flow of the tea, coupled with holding each shard of glass together, was beyond difficult. The strain forced my eyes closed, that I might concentrate on only my task and nothing else.
"You're doing great, Sunset!" Twilight's enthusiastic cheer threw me off a little, my eyes springing open as Starlight quickly took the items into her own mana yet again. I gave my rival a thankful glance as she returned a knowing one to me.
"That was good, Sunny, but now you have to try the real deal." Starlight flicked her hoof at me twice.
"Uhm, what?" I tilted my head.
"Hind legs only," she flicked again.
"Oh! Right." I tried to stand to my back legs and almost stumbled backwards. It wasn't exactly the way a pony stood and doing so took a lot of effort.
"It's a lot harder than it looks," Twilight said once she'd noticed how much trouble I was having. I placed a hoof on one of the desks to steady myself before removing it and standing under my own power.
"Okay I'm-" I fell forward onto my hooves. "Ready," I sighed. There was just no way, not yet, at least. I already had to focus to do the telekinesis, standing like that during would make things so much more complicated. "I... can't do it."
"It's really hard, Sunset," Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Being able to admit what you can and can't do is admirable,' her sympathetic smile lifted my heart. "Besides, It'll just take you some practice, yeah?" I looked at the lavender mare, completely stunned by her unexpected kindness. The sting of my failure was instantly lessened by her. I nodded and offered her a smile back, though I'm sure I was still tearing up.
"Thanks, Twilight," I wiped a tear from my eye.
"This was specially catered to push Twilight anyway," Starlight placed the items back onto one of the tables. "I'll cook something up for you too, Sunny. Don't worry about it."
"Thanks, Starlight." I appreciated it so much... but it still felt a little painful. I was lagging behind them, and it felt like there was no way I'd ever be able to catch up. They were so... amazing and I just... wasn't.
"Lot of good it did," Twilight scoffed. "I'm not even sure I managed to accomplish anything."
Starlight's laughter exploded with such gusto it caused me and Twilight to exchange confused glances.
"What's so funny?" I asked the giggling mare. She trotted over to the sink and filled a cup with water before bringing it back over to us.
"I'm surprised you didn't put two and two together, Sparkles," Starlight hovered the cup in front of the two of us, her confident grin growing wider. "Go ahead, Twilight."
I looked at the mare who was quite clearly as confused as I was. "Go ahead and what?" she asked, shoving the cup away as Starlight tried to move it closer and closer to her face. "WOULD YOU QUIT IT!?" she finally blew up at the lilac unicorn.
"Don't you remember what you were doing yesterday?" Starlight's smile was somehow still growing, the pleasure she was getting from this off the charts. "Try doing it now."
Twilight looked at me with a frown. "Why not? It couldn't hurt," I shrugged.
"Fine," Twilight pulled a little bit of water from the cup and coated herself with it. As her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, the shock on her face as she examined various parts of her body grew with each passing second.
"Easier, huh?" Starlight chuckled.
"I can..." Twilight trotted around the room, the magic still coating her the entire time. "Starlight... I can move!" she gaped at the lilac mare.
"It'll get even easier as you practice more diff-" the lavender mare didn't even let the unicorn finish speaking. Twilight leapt at Starlight, wrapping her neck in her forelegs and laughing gleefully.
"Thank you, Starlight! I can't believe it!" she nuzzled deeper into the stunned unicorn. "It was so much harder yesterday!"
I lifted a hoof toward them slightly before it fell back down to the floor, Starlight noticing my movement. She looked at me with remorseful eyes, a pained expression coming to her face.
"Sure thing, Sparkles," she sighed and gently tapped her back with a hoof. "It's-"
Why?
I hated the horrible piercing feeling growing deep within my heart. The sight of them holding each other like that... it was too much.
It's not fair.
"S-Sunset?" Starlight could see the pain in me. Twilight turned her head to look at me as well, not letting go of the lilac mare she held so tenderly.
"Sun-"
"I gotta...
go. I can't be around this.
...use the restroom. I'll be right back," I said quickly. Before the tears could fall from my face, I fled from the room.