Why? That was the question that pounded in Star's head as he flew away from the spa. "Flew" probably wasn't the best word to describe what he was doing though, "careened" was a much more suitable verb. When he tried to reach a higher altitude, he would instead plummet down to the ground. When he tried to fly a straight path, he would serpentine instead. The end result of such erratic movements gave the impression that Star was performing a strange dance, rather than actual flight.
I just need to get to the clouds and then I'll be safe! He made another lunge for the far up clouds, but once again, he fell back to the earth."No!" He swatted a hoof at the air in frustration."Why does that keep happening? I knew I shouldn't have left my glasses! I can't fly without them! Argh!" He tugged at his mane in frustration. Star's frenzied mind wasn't helping his flight much either. But he was desperate at this point, uncaring that his spastic aerobatics might attract attention from anypony down below. Luckily, it was now getting late in the day, and most ponies were in their homes preparing supper for themselves.
Star tried once again to get into the clouds, this time he tried to build up speed by flying straight and then turning up rapidly. But, like before, his straight line became serpentine, yet he still tried to make the climb. He ascended higher and higher, the clouds were almost within his reach, when he once again plummeted back to the earth. He saw the homes below him getting closer and closer, but when he tried to veer out of the way it felt like walls were blocking him in on his crash course. As he zoomed closer and closer to the a house, a voice cried out, "Hey! Watch it!"
Just as he braced himself for the crash, he suddenly stopped mere inches away from the house's roof. For a few moments, he was dumbfounded as to how he came to a stop, but when he tried to fly away again he found the source of his rescue. Flying behind him was the silhouette of a pony. Star couldn't make out specific details though since the pony's coat almost perfectly blended in with the blue sky and its mane appeared to shift colors. The detail Star did notice though was that the pony was holding his tail in its mouth. "T-t-thanks." He uttered weakly, his nerves now completely shot from the near crash.
"What were you thinking?" The pony said after it spat out Star's tail. "I mean, I know I've pulled off some crazy stunts in the past, but what you were doing would have Derpy calling you stupid." The pony's voice also had a bit of vagueness to as well: it could have belonged to a teenage colt or…
Mare! Oh sweet Celestia, please tell me it's not another one! Star nervously flew backward away from the mystery pony, doomsday scenarios playing out in his head as he did. I should have grabbed my coat! I should have gotten my glasses! Stupid! Stupid!
Star's panic didn't get past the mystery pony. "Whoa-whoa, I didn't mean anything too personal. I just meant you could have hurt yourself flying around like that."
"I-I'm sorry, but I really should be going." Star made an attempt to run but the pony dashed in front of him, blocking his escape.
"Oh no, you're obviously not in the right state to fly." The pony seemed to lean closer, inspecting him.
No! Please don't tell me it's somepony I know and they recognize my mark! Star began sweating bullets.
"Hey you're not…"
"NO! I'm not! Y-y-you don't know me! I…I'm new here!" The words came out in one quick gasp from Star's mouth.
"Well that much in obvious, nopony would try such a stunt over Ponyville unless they were new in town." Ok, well at least they don't recognize me…yet. Star gulped. "Anyway, what I was going to say was that you're not one of those model ponies are you?"
"What?" Great! That spa probably made me look even girlier! But why does that even matter to whoever this is? The panic in Star's head was now being stymied by how much of a non sequitur the question was.
"Whoa-whoa…" The pony pushed its forelegs back and forth signaling for Star to calm down. "I just said it because I've heard that sometimes model mares go on these crazy diets. They loose weight so fast that it messes with their heads and their flight."
"Their flight?" The odd tidbit of information was enough to fully bring Star back from his breakdown. Hmm, maybe this pony knows something about what wrong with my flying.
"Yeah, their body structure changes so fast that they don't know how to compensate for the shift when they're flying. It's actually become a problem among some of the Wonderbolts. At least that's what Equestria Illustrated says." Star sensed a hint of concern in the last sentence. But he was more intrigued by how changes in body types might affect flying.
"So does this happen only to mares?"
"Well, I haven't heard of any Wonderbolt stallions having to deal with the problem. But, then again, pegasus stallions don't have to deal with aerodynamics as much."
"Aero-what?" The term sounded vaguely familiar, but Star couldn't exactly place where he'd heard it.
"I said the same thing when Twilight mentioned it. But she said it's the reason why mares can pull off more fluid movements in the air. Mares' bodies are better designed to let air currents flow off and around them. Stallions may have power, but mares have fluidity. I think they mentioned it a little in flight school also."
By now alarms should have been going off in Star's head about the pony's identity. But he was instead remembering why this sounded familiar: it had been one of the few times in flight school when the colts and fillies had been separated. He remembered how his instructor had taught all the colts about putting power behind their wings in order to get off the ground and stay off it. There had been a brief mention of aerodynamics, but the instructor had waved it off as something the colts need not concern themselves with. Whatever the fillies had discussed had been a mystery up until this point. That's why my flying has been so erratic! Guess it also explains why I bumped my head at Rarity's. But how do I fly like this? "So how do mares fly with this 'aerodynamics?'" Star didn't need his glasses to tell him that the mystery pony was giving him a very confused look.
"Um, I think you'd know. You went to flight school right? I mean, I know I didn't finish it, but even I was still there for the beginning lessons."
"Well, um, you see…well, I…" Star was quickly shifting back into panic mode, but then an idea struck him. "I… I hit my head! Yeah, nearly knocked all of my memory out, including most of flight school. I might have lost some weight in the hospital, so that's probably why my flying was so bad." Star prayed the pony would swallow the lie.
"Yet you were still flying?"
"I, um, had to get to my, uh, doctor! Oh, and I was running late! I still have recuperation to do. You know how hospitals are." Please just take the lie, please!
"Yeah, I hear ya. I may be an awesome flyer, but I still take a few falls every now in then… but you didn't hear that from me."
"I didn't hear anything." Star now decided to run with an idea. "Actually, I'm not supposed to be flying, doctor's orders, so maybe it'd be best if we both said this conversation never happened." Star made a turn to fly off again, but the pony still stood in his way.
"I'll agree with you on that, but now I'm definitely not letting you fly."
"Please!" Star desperately pleaded, he was so close to escape.
The pony raised a hoof to its mouth and thought for a second. "Ok, I'll let you go."
"Oh really, thank y-"
"But you have to at least learn the basics of flying before you go."
"But my, um, doctor probably has the covered." Why? Why aren't you letting me go?
"Heh, has your doctor won any awards in flying? No? Didn't think so. Besides, if he hasn't even taught you the basics then he's probably not that good of a doctor.
Star realized there was no chance of escape: his lack of glasses, the mystery pony's speed, and now even the air itself was apparently against him. He resolved to at least get rid of one of those problems and relented. "Fine." His tone echoed with defeat.
"Aw, come on, it's not that hard. Ok, first off, you gotta remember to keep your hooves parallel with your body, it streamlines your physique so that you're flowing with the air rather than against it." As the pony spoke, it assumed a position that Star mimicked. "Ok, good, you got the basics down. Now what's most important are your forelegs." The pony then did what looked like a stationary breaststroke, moving its forelegs around the front of its body. "Whatever direction your forelegs are facing will bend the air in front of them, so whatever direction your forelegs go is the way the air will steer you in. But you've got to be careful at really high speeds. When you're going fast you create some sort of 'wind tunnel' thing and it sets you on a path that you can't avoid unless you slow down. I'm not too sure on the exact mumbo-jumbo of it, but that's at least what Twilight said."
"Yeah, she's usually pretty knowledgeable about that kind of stuff." Star thought back to the numerous times he'd come to the library, and each time the purple mare seemed to be on some new studying adventure. One day her study area would be covered in books on history and the next day it'd be covered in books on magical physics. He hadn't realized that he'd let the thought slip past his tongue.
"Wait." the pony seemed to be giving him the inquisitive look again. "How do you know Twilight?"
Oh crapcrapcrap! Gotta think of something! Princesses he- Star then remembered the excuse Twilight had used at Rarity's. "I-I knew her back in Canterlot… before my accident... but the nearest hospital was closer to Ponyville when I got hurt, so that's how I wound up here." A nervous grin was stretched across Star's face. The story had more holes in it than swiss cheese.
"Geez, you really must have been in the hospital for a while. I can't imagine the stunt you pulled to get in that bad of a shape. Sucks that you lost most of your memory, I'd loved to have tried whatever you did." The pony's voice held both concern and determination. "But enough talk, you need some air time. Now don't try get away until you've passed my approval test, it's already bad enough with one clumsy pony in town."
Star nodded and let all the words the mystery pony had said process in his brain. He then assumed the proper flight position with his body straight yet still flexible enough to correct for any mistakes while in flight. His forelegs were pointed straight at the horizon when he slowly began to move his wings. He truly did feel like a little colt again, just learning the basics of flight.
However, as his flew, he noticed that his flight path was staying straight and not becoming serpentine. Regaining some of his confidence, he pushed his wings a little harder. As he flew faster, he began to feel the air currents around him. It was a feeling he had never felt before. Normally when he flew, he just felt the wind push against him. But now he felt like he was swimming in the air. He couldn't deny that the feeling was exhilarating and he wanted to test out his speed and steering more. With a bit of apprehension, he lightly shifted his forelegs up and he began to climb up the sky. He kept beating his wings fast to account for the rising elevation. Once he reached a certain height, he stopped for a moment and gazed around. He'd flown pretty high and now he could see all of Ponyville (even if was pretty much a colorful blob to Star without his glasses).
He was quite amazed with how much altitude he'd covered in such a short time. But then, he decided to be adventurous and turned his hooves down toward the town and began to make a much speedier decent. As he descended, he pulled his hooves up and managed to execute a perfect loop. He then hovered and admired the stunt he'd just accomplished. Outside of flight school, he never pulled such stunts.
As he pondered how fascinating this experience was, a voice broke his thoughts. "There, you got the basics of it and a nice loop to boot. I wish Scootaloo was that fast of a learner." Star got the feeling the mystery pony had a victorious smile on its face.
"Yeah, it's, um, been a while since I've flown so it feels like a new experience for me." Star flashed a giddy smile. "But it is pretty cool."
"Are you kidding? Flight is one of the best things there is!" Enthusiasm filled the pony's voice, whoever it was obviously had a true love of flight. "The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in your mane: I love it all."
"You really sound like you love flying. But I can see why, I've never flown like this before," Star said, quite high on his own adrenaline rush.
"You mean you don't remember… actually..." there was something mischievous in the pony's voice, "we should probably give you a speed test."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Star said with a smile on his face. By this point, Star was having so much fun that he'd actually managed to bury the trauma of the spa. "So what do you have in mind?"
"See where town hall is?" The pony gestured over to a blob off in the distance.
"Kind of." Star squinted as he tried to get his eyes focus but he had no such luck. "Sorry, I also forgot my glasses."
"Sheesh, you really do have problems with your memory. Well, whatever, the location doesn't need to be that specific we'll just have our 'speed test' over to that area."
"You know, this is sounding a lot like a race."
"Who said it wasn't?" The mysterious pony seemed to say that like it was a challenge.
"You're challenging a pony who's never flown like this to a race? Can't I at least get a handicap?" Star playfully begged, knowing that he needed some sort of advantage over his opponent.
"Well… I guess that's fair, you are dealing with the fastest flier in Ponyville." If Star hadn't been so excited to race, this would have been the biggest red flag to who he was dealing with. "I'll give you thirty seconds, sound fair?"
"Ok!" Star eagerly said as he got into a race position next to the other pony.
"On your marks." Star flapped his wings in anticipation. "Get set." He took a deep breath and for a second everything seemed to stand still, "Go!" In a flash, Star was off, he wasn't going full out, he remembered the key rule of racing was to pace yourself, even in a mad dash like this. He pumped his wings hard as he fully embraced the sea of air he felt he was swimming in. Truth be told, the "race" wasn't too much of a stretch and Star was still making good time at the thirty second mark. But as he felt he was leaving his opponent in the dust, a rainbow blur passed him on the left, leaving him stunned for a moment.
"C'mon!" The blur called back as it got further and further away, "You've got to be faster than that!"
Now Star threw the thought of pacing to the wind. He didn't care that he was outclassed, he wanted to prove to whomever this was that he could go fast. He strained his wings as hard as he could. As he did, flashbacks from Appleloosa flooded his mind: the numerous times his friends had held mock races, flight school speed training, and the actual race he participated in just before he moved to Ponyville. He remembered the feeling of pushing himself to the limit: his wings and lungs aching and begging for rest, with only the determination to win keeping him going. But most importantly, he remembered the joy of finishing a race and the intense desire he always got to reach the goal whenever he competed. The current race had helped him rediscovered just how much fun racing was and what a great stress relief it was as well. But the only thing that mattered right now was that he remembered how it felt. He was now in the zone and he wanted to win. Despite his body telling him to slow down, Star kept increasing the speed.
"Wow! You really do have it in you!" The mystery pony looked back as it spoke. In contrast to Star putting everything he had into the race, it didn't even seemed fazed by the speed it was going, it was still breathing easy and it didn't sound tired at all. But that didn't matter to Star because they had come upon the final stretch toward the goal. Star decided it was all or nothing and pushed forward with all the energy he had left and finally narrowed the gap between himself and the other pony. As town hall got closer and closer, Star finally reached up to where the mystery pony was. "Well you're definitely passing the speed test with flying colors!" The pony excitedly said.
"Huff! Who * huff * are you * huff * kidding?" Star rasped.
"No, no, no," the pony somehow managed to wave a hoof in Star's direction despite the speed both of them were going, "seriously, for a pony that just learned how to fly again, you really are good! Maybe in a few years you could be a good racing partner."
"Me? * huff * I think trying to * huff * being your race partner would *huff *kill me!" The mid-race conversation had distracted Star; he didn't notice that his hooves had begun tilting to the left, straight toward the other pony.
"You just need practice, I'm totally down for it whenever you a-OHMYGOSH!" The pony had also been distracted by the conversation and hadn't noticed Star making a straight beeline for it until it was too late. The two collided into each other and smashed through the top of town hall and then rolled into the dirt street.
~~~
Star was the first to awaken and the first thing that he noticed was that he was on top of the other pony and that he was very close to her face. If there had been any doubts before about the pony's gender then the rounded muzzle put them to rest. Just as she was coming to, Star leaped off her and backed away. "Ugh," she shook her head, "well now I know how you lost your memory. Ya know, you really could compete with Derpy for clumsiness."
"Sorry, sorry!" Star pleaded, his old instincts taking over again.
"What are you talking about? Sure we crashed, but that's just part of flying. Everypony crashes sometime. You're just one of the few that managed to crash into me. I'm sure there's an award for that somewhere." The pony, despite having just had a head-on collision, still had the same enthusiasm she had had both before and during the race.
"Y-y-you mean you're not mad?" Once more, he had hurt a mare, physically this time, but instead of getting mad at him, she instead seemed to be happy about Star crashing into her. Why? The question once more filled Star's mind.
"Why would I be mad? You put on a great race and even managed to keep up with my jogging pace, not a lot of ponies can say that. Actually, it's kind of boring in town, almost everypony thinks they're too slow to compete with me… not that they're wrong, but flying with a friend is more fun."
"I can see why… wait, what? That was really only your 'jogging' pace?!" Star was now even more shocked. Not only was the mare not mad at him, but she had only been jogging during a race where he had pulled out all the stops just to get close to her. "You really are a fast pony!"
"Well you're pretty good yourself, we should do this again. Actually, I don't think I ever got your name. It'd suck to lose a race trainee just because I don't know your name."
"Oh, it's, um… Cloudy Sky." For the first time in the day, Star felt bad about using the alias, the pony would never be able to find him if he ever got back to normal. Plus, he really did want to race with her again, it had been that much fun. He decided that if she couldn't find him he'd find her, "Can I ask what your name is?"
"Sure! Anything for a friend! I'm kind of surprised you haven't heard of me before." Her voice now had a quite the bravado to it, "I'm the one and only Rainbo-"
"Star!" A weak yell cut off the pony from revealing her name. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane quickly ran up to the two of them. Her back had a black pile on it and a misplaced pair of glasses was atop her head. "Oh, thank goodness I found you, I got so worried!" She stopped for a second to catch her breath, she looked absolutely flustered. "I am so sorry about the spa! I should have known it was a bad idea! Applejack is taking care of it right now. But I was so afraid they'd done something horrible to you that I rushed out with your stuff to find you as fast as I could." She picked the coat off her back and timidly handed it to Star who was dazed at this point by Fluttershy's sudden appearance.
He quickly took back his glasses and the coat, thankful that only one pony had seen his mark. "Thank you Ms. Fluttershy, and I should be the one apologizing. I ruined your spa day and probably made a few other ponies mad in the process." Star now had an apologetic smile on his face. "But you've been looking me this whole time?"
"It…it's nothing really, I just got so worried."
"Um, excuse me, but what the hay is going on here?" Both Fluttershy and Star now turned the third pony. It was at this point that Star's mouth gaped open in shock. Standing before him was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, the true fastest flyer in Ponyville: Rainbow Dash. "You're saying that Fluttershy, AJ, and Twilight all know you?" The question was directed toward Star. "Fluttershy, have you all been keeping a secret friend from me… did Pinkie already throw her a party?"
"It… it's not like that." Fluttershy nervously responded.
"Well, I don't think it's fair you've been keeping an awesome friend like this from me!" Suddenly, the speedy pony gave Star a friendly pat on the back. Star wasn't sure how to react; things were happening too fast again. But then, she turned to him and asked the question the caused Star's heart to leap into his mouth, "Why'd she call you 'Star?'" Just from the question alone, color began to drain for Star's face. He knew he was now on a very slippery slope.
"I-i-it's nothing, it's just a nickname my friends call me!" A cold sweat was developing on Star's brow now.
"Um, actually… I'm really sorry, but, well… I was so nervous that I was calling out to find you while I was running through town… I'm really really sorry." Fluttershy seemed to be crushed by the weight of her own words.
"S-So there may be ponies looking for a pony named Star?" Alarm was now rising in Star's voice. "Fluttershy! Did you tell anypony else anything about me? Anything at all?" He now felt like prying eyes were popping up from everywhere around him.
"Well… I…oh…" Fluttershy was now starting to back into herself.
"What? What?"
"Whoa, easy there Cloudy, not sure how long you've know Fluttershy, but she's kind of… delicate." Dash tried to put her friend's shyness in the best terms she could.
"I know that!" Hysteria was once more taking hold of Star's voice, "Please Fluttershy! Who did you tell?"
"It…it's my friend." Her voice was so small it was barely a whisper. "You haven't met her yet… probably, but she's really nice… just a little…hyper. I thought she'd be the best choice to help find you."
"A hyper mare? That's who's looking for me!? No, no, no! I have to get out of here, now!" He was getting fidgety and was now looking for the nearest cloud to escape to.
"Could somepony please tell me what's going on?" Dash's voice was filled with exasperation and confusion.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to! I just couldn't leave a friend alone!" Fluttershy desperately pleaded.
"I know Fluttershy. But you gotta understand, a hyper mare is my worst nightmare, especially like this!" Star once more tugged at his mane.
"Would somepony just please tell me what's going o-" Dash's yell was cut off by another voice.
"Rainbow Dash, is that you?" came a voice from behind a nearby building. The now-setting sun cast the pony's shadow across an adjacent wall. While the pony herself couldn't see the group, they could clearly see her shadow, most notably her fizzy mane. Anypony in Ponyville could recognize the voice and the shadow combined: they both belonged to Ponyville's resident party master.
"Yeah," Dash replied to the shadow. "But Pinkie, what are you doing out around here? I thought you were helping the Cakes with the foals."
"Well I was, but then Fluttershy came by and she sounded really worried. So I was like 'oh no Fluttershy must be in trouble!'" As the shadow talked at an incredibly fast rate, it moved closer and closer towards the group and its owner wasn't far behind. "So I asked the Cakes if it was okay to help her and they were like 'okay.' Apparently Fluttershy has been looking for somepony named Star and I was like 'Ooh, that sounds like a fun pony! I should totally find them and throw them an "I found Fluttershy's friend" party!' Although, I'm pretty sure I threw a party for another Star a while back. I wonder if they're related? Ooh! We should throw a Star party then! And we could do it at night and it'll be so much fun!"
Somehow that shadow had managed to say all that while its owner stayed behind the building. By now, any color that was left in Star's face had long since vanished. This was the apocalypse: a hyperactive mare who knew who Star was and was now looking for him. Star had never been on the best terms with Pinkie Pie. He still remembered how she had scared the living daylight out of him when he first arrived in Ponyville. It was bad enough with her alone, but the surprise party she had somehow managed to pull in his home was an absolute nightmare (he still didn't know how she'd built a floating solid floor so fast or how she'd gotten that many ponies up to his new cloud home in such a short amount of time).
Needless to say, she terrified Star, probably more than any other mare in Ponyville: she was hyperactive and unpredictable, two things that Star felt where recipes for disaster, especially when mixed with a mare. He sometimes suspected that she was one of the leading causes of his nervousness around mares. But now, the pink pony of randomness was coming for him and he was about ready to jump out of his skin. "I-I need to go!"
"Why? Pinkie's parties are the best!" Dash said, excited by the idea of another awesome party. She didn't seem to notice Star's sheer terror.
"Fluttershy, of all the ponies, why did you choose Pinkie!" Star yelled at Fluttershy.
"I… I didn't know what else to do and she was there by the Sugarcube Corner and I panicked!" Fluttershy was now almost as hysteric as Star.
"Oh! Is that you Fluttershy? Dashie, did she ask you to help find the pony as well?" Just as Pinkie's shadow was edging ever closer. she suddenly stopped. For a second, there was a pause, then Pinkie's shadow did something very odd: it appeared that her legs arched back to touch her spine while her head violently nodded up and down. After a moment of this bizarre ritual, she fell back to the ground. "Wow! I've never had a doozy like that before!"
Dash now joined Fluttershy and Star in their panicking, although her reason was completely different. "What do you mean you've never had a doozy like that before?" Her eyes were now scanning the sky, as if she were expecting something to fall from it.
"I dunno, it doesn't feel like something bad is gonna happen… it's more like I'm gonna see something I've never seen before!"
She knows! Oh sweet Celestia, she hasn't even seen me and she knows! Now she'll throw a party and then my life is over! No! Nooo! Star's thoughts were then stopped dead by the party pony's next words. "What was that other voice I heard by the way? I don't think I've ever heard it before…" The mare and her shadow paused for a second, but then she let out a loud gasp. "Is that the mystery pony? It is, isn't it?! She must be the reason for the doozy! Oh! I can't wait to throw her a party!"
"NOOOOO!" Star blasted off the ground just as a pink mane was appearing around the corner of the building. He flew faster than he had even during his race with Dash. He knew what awaited him if he stayed: a party where everypony would see him, somepony was bound to see his mark, they'd connect the dots and then everypony in town… no, everypony in Equestria would know. She didn't even see my mark and she knew! I have to get away! He pointed his hooves towards some far off clouds and pushed his wings as hard as he could. He didn't bother looking back to see what became of the three mares.
~~~
Fluttershy and Dash were still coughing on the dust cloud Star had left behind when Pinkie finally reached them. "Wow! What happened here? Oh no! Don't tell me the mystery pony exploded!" There seemed to be a mix of seriousness and silliness in Pinkie's voice.
"I think you could say something like that," the blue pegasus said as she used her wings to clear away the dust around them. "She just took off like she'd seen Nightmare Moon or something. I can't really blame her though, that Pinkie sense of yours is usually spot-on… not that I was about to run or anything."
"Ohhh." It seemed as if a part of Pinkie's energy was escaping with her words. "I wanted to throw her a party. It's no fun if there's a new pony in town and we don't throw them a party."
"Yeah, about that…" Dash was now had a pensive look on her face as she turned toward Fluttershy, "how is it that we don't know this pony but you, AJ, and Twilight do?"
"Wait! Applejack and Twilight know the mystery pony already? Did you throw a secret welcoming party behind my back?!" Pinkie seemed genuinely offended that she had been left out from a party.
"I said the same thing! Fluttershy, what the hay is going on?" Both ponies were now staring straight at the nervous pegasus.
"W-well you see…" Apprehension filled both Fluttershy's voice and her face.
~~~
Star gazed at the steadily rising moon. After he'd reached the clouds, he'd dived into them and had remained there until the sky was dark and moonlight covered Equestria. Much to his relief, nopony was following him. Once he was absolutly sure the coast was clear, he'd emerged on the top of the cloud, but he was still too scared to go anywhere near Ponyville. He decided he'd wait out the night on the cloud. Even though he was alone now, his mind was still swimming. He was still terrified of Pinkie and the repercussions of being dragged to one of her parties chilled him to the bone. But then there was Rainbow Dash.
Why did I agree to hang out with her more? The flying was fun, but she's a mare. I'm terrible with mares! But didn't she call me a friend? No, if she knew the truth she'd think I was a joke… then how come Fluttershy and Rarity didn't laugh? How come they'd been so willing to help? Star let the thoughts swirl around in his head, but no matter how hard he tried to answer the questions, he just couldn't make sense of any of it. He buried his head on the cloud. "Oh, what am I going to do? Celestia? Luna? Somepony? Anypony…help." After that, Star spent a long time looking at the moon and the stars before he fell asleep to troubled dreams.