Herdsday, Nay 23rd
11:26 CT
Glimmer, Twilight, and Spike finally arrived at the Ponyville train station, where the gleeful and excited Trixie has been waiting for her friend! As the trio stepped out from the train, she immediately ran up to the toothpaste-maned mare, and hugged her.
"Starlight!! I haven't seen you in, well, FOREVER!" She blurted out, embracing her tightly.
"Eghh...yep-! N-not so tight, though!" She pleaded to her. Trixie stopped as she realized her mistake, and backed off. "Isn't the Strong and Kind Trrrixe so good at hugging?~"
"Hehe...yup! You...sure are..." She smiled and blushed. "Anyways, I'm going to be in bed. Lunas about to raise the moon."
"WHAT!?!" The illusionist jumped and yelled out. "You can't go to bed YET! I had a sleepover planned at my trailer! We were going to make friendship bracelets and macaroni picture frames and then maybe fool around a bit...you know...~" She said the last part very quietly as she held her head down, flushed. Starlight raised an eyebrow at it, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Trixe, but we spend a lot of time together. I just need some time for myself...you know?"
The light blue mare grumbled annoyingly. "Fiiinnneee..."
"Thanks Trixie, I owe you one!" Starlight smiled and waved as she hurried to catch up with Twilight and Spike, who were discussing Thorax and his arrangements at the Crystal Empire...
"Oh, yeah...you REALLY owe me won, Starlight Glimmer...the Vengeful and Wise Trrrixe NEVER forgets!" She commanded out to nopony.
"Uhhhh...who are you talking to, Trixie...?" A googly eyed pegasus asked behind her.
"...You didn't see anything."
00:07 LT
Glimmer sighed as she stared at the moon. She was on the library balcony with Twilight, as they looked up into the night sky, together. The purple alicorn cut the mares stargazing short, "Why are staring into the moon, Starlight?"
"...Can I tell you a secret?" She looked at her with blue eyes.
"Of course! Thats what friends are for!"
"Well...after I got my cutie mark, I ran away from my home. I wasn't really losing much...I mostly stayed up in my own room while my dad did his best to shower me with love. I just grew sick of it all and went off to roam...by myself. The only things that were really with me were the sun and moon...but I felt less lonely during the night." She paused before looking back up. "All those twinkling stars, the glorious shine of Lunas creation, and the endless void that houses endless secrets-oh! It's just beautiful...~" She held herself as she smiled...before frowning once more. "...Of course, after I settled in and built my house - the first one in my future village - I got more and more lonely..."
"And that's when you stole those ponies cutie marks?" The princess looked at her with serious eyes.
"...Yes." Her head hung down in sadness. "Maybe...they can forgive me one day." She looked up to the moon.
"I hope so too, Starlight...now lets get going to bed. I have a whole day of friendship lessons planned tomorrow!" Twilight turned around as she started to trot happily pass the bookshelves.
"Actually, if it's alright, I'm going to stay up a little bit later, I want to catch up on something else other than friendship..." She blushed, looking away. Twilight turned around. "Say what?"
"Yeah, you see, I never really got a proper education beyond the school I went to when I was a filly, and when you stay isolated in village for a good amount of years, you start to lag behind in the world of knowledge...I didn't even graduated from that school!" Twilight looked at her with retained shock, keeping herself from gasping. "You never GRATUATED!? Well, of course you can look around, Starlight!! Please, help yourself!" Books started to be pulled out, all of them in a royal purple aura. They were put down on a table with a circle of chairs to sit on. Starlight walked up to see what she picked out, to see a variety of educational non-fiction.
"...Harmony Era Of Equestria, Chemistry 101, How To Train Your Rabbit...wow, there's a lot I missed out on!" The light purple mare sorted through the different books the princess picked out.
"Yup! You can pick more out, but I am tired after the day we had. I'll see you tomorrow!" The alicorn trotted out, the doors closing.
"Goodnight, Twi-" The doors shut. "-light...right." She looked around. Alone again...naturally.
The Princess of Friendship entered her private quarters, bags under her eyes as she yawned. It woke her faithful assistant up in an instant, who looked at her with worry. "Everything okay with Starlight?" The drake said.
"Yeah...she had a talk with me on the balcony. It was very nice..." She plopped her plot on the bed, as Spike got snuggled up once more.
"Did she say anything important?" The alicorn shook her head. "Not particularly...except that she needs to go back to SCHOOL!" Her demeanor changed to one of worry. "She dropped out in the middle of school when she was a filly, and she never finished! She's in the library now, reading up on some educational material, but that may not be enough...I think we have to send her to..."
"N-no...you don't mean..." Spike looked on with fear.
"...Cheerliees classes."
Spike gulped. "Are you kidding?! That would be too embarrassing for an adult mare like her to be taught in a school full of little fillies and colts!"
"Its not like we have a choice! She HAS to finish school, otherwise these friendship lessons may all be for nothing!!" She tucked herself in. "I'll need to think about a plan overnight...I suggest you get some sleep too, Spike."
"Will do, Twilight...sweet dreams...~"
And with a small spark of magic, the lamp was turned off, and the two fell into a deep sleep. As for Starlight...
...She was having a pretty boring time with the books. She already read through most of Twilights selection, and she was on Villainy: The History Of Evil In Equestria. Good thing she's not in it...yet. As she read through it, she went back to the balcony, so that the moon and stars may accompany her once more. She really needed somepony to talk to...
"Moony...? I know we don't, well...talk much anymore...but I want you to know that I still care about you, even if I got a princess and narcist up my plot." She looked back at her haunches, and blushed. "A-and I don't mean it in...you know...that way. Its just...maybe its time for me to be on my own again..." Starlight looked down, and saw her book was on a chapter dealing with a dark mare known as, "...Nightmare Moon?"
In her curiosity, she picked up the book once more, and looked through it. Nightmare Moon was an evil alicorn who had taken over the body of Princess Luna, who was deeply troubled back then. When the princess was in her broken state, Nightmare controlled her body, and made her more powerful than Celestia...until she used the Elements of Harmony against her! With them, Celestia trapped her on the moon, and all of Equestria was safe, for at least 1000 moons. It said that on the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, Nightmare Moon returned to bring eternal night to Equestria, one that was truly beautiful...until Twilight and her friends used the elements once more, this time to free Luna of her possessing darkness...
...She stopped herself from reading more. "They...stopped that beautiful night? I-I...no, I don't really...think that! Maybe I'm just tired!" She scoffed, shaking her head. She really didn't want to admit she was agreeing with an evil mare, one who had a pretty nice body and structure. Of all of the ponies in the book, Nightmare had to be the most well-built. Her hair reflected the eternal night which she so beloved, and the armor...oh, the armor! Goddess, it was hotter than leather!!
Starlight stopped herself again. She looked at herself and breathed. She was getting herself worked up over someone who threatened harmony. If this was how she was going to relapse into villainy, she was not going to have it...but she couldn't take her mind off of Nightmare...
She looked back at the moon. It shined in all its glory, and she breathed. "Oh, Moony...what do I do...?"
Starlight, on that cold, bright night, felt that somehow, the moon was staring back at her. The unicorns heart skipped a beat. She fell in love, and she couldn't deny it any longer.