//------------------------------// // Relax Yourself // Story: Scorching Day, Chilling Night // by The REAL Mister Pkmn //------------------------------// The world can often be a source of many forms of eustress and distress. Eustress is all of the positive things in life that make it worth living. Distress, however, is all of the things in life that attempt to drive you off the edge into insanity. Starlight, while not as vulnerable to distress as Sunset Shimmer, still had a breaking point. She was afraid that if she didn’t get a large dose of eustress soon that she’d go over the edge and hurt somebody. I can’t let myself lose it! If I do, I may never push away the increase in negative reputation! If that occurs, I’ll never be able to get a seat in the Court without always having to worry about somebody bringing up that black mark! It’s hard enough trying to erase the negative rep I got from the Blueblood incident… She sighed. Even though she’d managed to get herself to apologize to that dunderhead, she still couldn’t manage to shake off the repercussions of her slip into anger. She decided to go clear her head. She found herself wandering into the nearby Whitetail Woods. She breathed in the air. Ah, I love the woods. Certainly beats the smell of car exhaust. Cars were a recent invention in Equestria, and they used oil-based fuel to run, which when burned put some CO2 into the air. However, magic fueled cars were in production, but they were projected to be rather expensive. She was jolted out of her musings when she heard somebody coming up behind her. She turned around to see who it was. It was a muted red Crystal Pony mare with pale yellow mane and tail and hazel eyes. Her cutie mark was a piece of Cherry Cobbler. Starlight spoke. “You’re Cherry Cobbler, I presume?” The mare nodded. “Saw my cutie mark, eh? That’s right, I’m Cherry Cobbler.” She put out a hoof. “Pleasure to meet you, Starlight Glimmer.” Starlight took the hoof, and shook it uncertainly. “You’ve heard of me?” Cherry scoffed lightly. “Who hasn’t? By the way, I absolutely loved the way you stuck it to Prince Blueblood. That dunderhead deserved it.” Starlight looked slighted at that. “You liked that? I, personally, can’t forgive myself, even if I managed to apologize…” Cherry scoffed. “You shouldn’t have done that. But oh well. So, what brings you here to Ponyville?” They started to walk together, towards Town Hall. “Well, I was sent here to check up on the preparations for the Extravaganza. So, you ready for it?” Cherry brightened considerably. “You bet! All sorts of various confections will be ready and raring to go for the Extravaganza!” Starlight sighed with relief. “That’s good. It’s good to see that you’re on top of everything.” Then, a voice called out. “Cherry~! Where are you~?” Onto the scene came a aquamarine pegasus mare with purple eyes, light viridian mane and tail, and a perfume bottle cutie mark. She spoke again. “Ah! There you are~!” She smiled. “C’mon Cherry, I want to hear more about this Lucky Dice you’re so fond of~!” She then looked towards Starlight. “Hmm? You!” the mare was over in Starlight’s personal space in the blink of an eye. “Your presence is quite regal, dear. You must be the infamous Starlight Glimmer.” She then pointed a hoof to herself, and continued. “I’m Serenity; the head designer for the Extravaganza. I presume that you’ve been looking for me?” Starlight blinked in confusion. “How did you know that?” Serenity waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, I ran into TB and CD awhile back. They told me you might be lookin’ for me.” Starlight sighed with relief. “Oh, okay.” She then straightened up. “So, how are preparations on your end?” Serenity beamed. “Absolutely stupendous, dear. I’m ready to delegate some of the booths over to Maestro when he arrives in Ponyville. It’s certainly been awhile since his last visit.” Starlight nodded slightly. “That’s good. When do you think he’ll get here?” Serenity shrugged. “Don’t you know what they say? Nobody can predict Maestro Spectrum. What he does is absolutely random.” Starlight paused at this. “I… see…” Serenity then chuckled a bit. “Oh, don’t you worry. He’ll be here before the Extravaganza. You might even meet him today!” Starlight exchanged good-byes with those two, and went off back to town. This town… I think it’s… affecting me somehow… Starlight shook her head. She couldn’t worry about what Ponyville was doing to her just yet. After all, she had bigger priorities to attend to. She could worry about whatever was happening to her later. As she was travelling towards the center of town, her cell phone rang. Who could that be at a time like this? She levitated her phone out from her saddlebags, and pressed up to her ear after hitting the answer button. “Hello? Starlight Glimmer here. May I ask who’s calling?” A voice answered her from the other end. “Ah, Starlight. good thing I was able to catch you at this time. It’s me, Moondancer. So, you gonna go to my party or what?” Starlight facehoofed. “Ugh. You know I’m not big on parties, Moondancer. It doesn’t matter how many times you call; the answer will always be no.” Starlight could almost hear Moondancer pouting on the other end. “C’mon Starlight! It’ll be fun~! You might even get some frie-” "Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Moondancer. You know how I feel about that word.” “Ugh, you gotta leave the past behind, Starlight. It won’t hurt you to give friendship another chance, you know.” “Psh. That’s what you think. I’ll be just fine without friends, thanks.” “A ruby says that you’ll eat those words before long.” “You’re on, Moondancer. I’ll prove to you that I don’t need friends to be happy.” “Whatevs, Starlight. See ya.” *beep* After the call ended, Starlight put her phone away. She sighed. Equestria had changed so much in the last few decades- from cell phones to television, it all was quite the whirlwind of change. Starlight shook that thought out of her head, and instead decided to try and focus on preparing Ponyville for the Extravaganza. After all, she needed to prove to King Eclipse that she could handle it. She then went further into town.