Dear Starlight Glimmer,
Your assistance is required immediately in the royal city of Canterlot by order of the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle.
P.S. Bring Rarity.
—————
Starlight held the brief letter in her hooves and reread it several times. Something about the way it was written made her feel strange, but she couldn’t quite put a hoof to it. She found herself focusing on the final words ‘Bring Rarity’. She furrowed her eyebrow as she brought the letter closer to her examining eye.
Suddenly, she felt the paper being ripped out of her hooves and looked up to see Rarity behind it. “Oh dear, why do you keep reading that silly thing?”
Starlight blinked for moment. “Sorry, just something about the way it’s written I guess.”
Rarity held it up to her own face, pretending to analyze it with the same level of scrutiny. “Everything looks in order to me.”
“I’m just not sure, I hope everything is okay in Canterlot.”
Rarity repositioned herself and sat next to Starlight, carefully crumpling the letter in her magic clutch and stuffing it in her bag without being noticed. “Darling, I’m sure everything is going to be just fine in Canterlot.”
“But what if things aren’t fine?”
“You’re too worried about these things, I’m sure it’ll all work out,” Rarity assured her.
“But what if you’re wrong and the place is in ruins?”
“Then we'll help them fix it.”
“Fix it? There’s no way they’ll want my help,” Starlight said.
Rarity gave a perplexed look. “Wait, are we still talking about Canterlot?”
Starlight looked back at Rarity, surprised at the question. “Of course we’re still talking about Canterlot. Why, what are you talking about?”
Rarity snapped back into reality. “Oh nevermind, it was nothing. I’m sure Twilight just needs our help finding a book or something,” Rarity lied.
Starlight nodded. “You’re probably right.” She sighed, and allowed herself to lean back against the bench seat of the train.
—————
The rhythmic jostling of the train car relaxed Starlight Glimmer as she leaned her head against one of the large windows and stared at the scenery which passed by, while Rarity was reading a copy of Fashionista Monthly that she had brought with her.
After a few minutes, Rarity let the magazine fall beside her and spoke up. “You know I didn’t get to finish my tea from earlier, I think I’m going to look around for a snack cart pony. Who knows, maybe they’ll have some actual tea.” Rarity stood up. “Is there anything I can get for you?”
Starlight turned to face the white unicorn breaking her gaze from the scenery just outside the window. “No thanks,” she replied politely.
Rarity walked down the train car and Starlight rested her head back against the window, allowing her focus to fall on the individual trees which raced by. She then peered at the mountains in the background which barely seemed to move at all despite the train’s high speed.
‘These mountains sure are beautiful,’ she thought to herself. There weren’t any mountain ranges really visible from Ponyville and the sight brought her back to her time in her old town, surrounded by snow capped mountains. Except this time, sitting on the train, she was able to truly appreciate their beauty.
She allowed her thoughts to wander into the memory of her old town, a notion she’d fought so hard against for the past few months.
The truth was, she had been ashamed at what she had done, and there was no one to blame but herself. This wasn’t a maddening condition brought on by some sorcerer, or a spell gone wrong. She wasn’t being used by some higher, more fiendish power. It was her fault. The town which she proclaimed to be the happiest place, where no one ever complained, was a town filled with misery and fear which was brought upon by her.
For over a year she grew her town, and any pony unlucky enough to wander through was subjected to a vile brainwashing which told them being unique and special was wrong. She ruined their lives and she stole them away from their friends and families.
And when she was finally defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her friends she ran away, cowering in the mountains, waiting for the time to strike back for some petty revenge.
Starlight Glimmer was the bad guy. But at least she could admit that now. As silly as it sounded, it took the power of friendship to make her see the error of her ways.
Starlight sat there thinking about her past as tears began streaking down her cheeks. She did not wipe them, instead she stared aimlessly at the ground outside the train which flew by. This wasn’t the first time she had teared up since being accepted by Twilight and her friends, but for the first time Starlight felt she made real friends who cared about her.
It was a feeling she had worked tirelessly for after feeling abandoned as a filly, but could never achieve. So she sat there and allowed the tears to roll down her face for a moment.
About a minute later, Rarity came trotting back down aisle of the train. “I couldn’t seem to find that snack cart pony for the life of me,” she announced before noticing her friend’s face stained with tears.
“Oh no dear, what’s wrong?” she asked in a concerned tone as she sat next to Starlight and wrapped a hoof around her.
Starlight brought a hoof to her eyes and wiped away the remainder of her tears. “Oh, nothing’s wrong. I’ve just been thinking about how lucky I am to have made such wonderful friends.”
Rarity’s only response was to wrap herself around the unicorn in a tight hug.
———
“So are we almost there yet?” Starlight broke the silence as Rarity perked up and lower her magazine. “I mean, I haven’t been to Canterlot since I was a filly, but I thought we’d be there by now.”
Rarity chuckled nervously about the impending revelation she’d have to make. “Yes well, uhm…we’re almost there now I believe. Yes, not too much longer.”
“Okay, I was just wondering.” Starlight returned to the window before remembering something she wanted to ask. “Oh, by the way, I was wondering if this is a different route to Canterlot?”
“Why ever would you ask that?”
“Well it’s just, I don’t remember this many mountains being around the city.”
Rarity anxiously cleared her throat. “Yes well this IS a detour,” she lied. “There was a section of track out and this is just a big detour around the mountains to go into the city.” The lie was going perfectly, no-one could argue against the infallible reasoning.
Starlight stared confused at the white unicorn, and Rarity feeling the pressure of the gaze continued to spew the perfectly crafted fabrication. “Maybe it has something to do why you’re needed…WE’RE needed in Canterlot.”
Rarity smiled as the strength of her tale began to crackle and shake, threatening to collapse at any moment. “I know what you’re thinking, oh ho I know what you’re thinking. Why wouldn’t the letter say anything about Applejack or Pinkie or Rainbow, right?” She posed the question knowing she had no answer.
She hoped one would come as she opened her mouth yet again. “I…I don’t know why it said nothing about them, haha.” Rarity had gone off the deep end.
“Rarity, what’s going on?” Starlight asked plainly.
Rarity’s phony smile fell and she took in a deep breath. “I lied.”
“You did?”
“That wasn’t a letter from Canterlot, I wrote it.” She paused. “I handed it to the mail pony to deliver to you.” She still couldn’t believe that part of the plan worked.
Starlight recalled the letter and brought a hoof to her face. “P.S. Bring Rarity, I should’ve known. But why? Where are we headed, Manehatten?”
“Not quite,” Rarity embarrassingly admitted.
Suddenly Starlight’s eyes went wide as she realized all along where they’d been heading. “My old town?”
Rarity nodded nervously, afraid of how her friend would respond.
To Rarity’s surprise, Starlight simply sighed. Rarity sat confused at her friend’s lack of any drastic response “You’re not mad?”
“No, I don’t think so. I guess deep down I kinda knew that’s where we were headed, but I just didn’t want to believe it.” Starlight looked up with a small smile on her face. “You really think they’ll forgive me?”
Rarity smiled. “I’m sure of it.”
————————-
“End of the line everypony!” the conductor announced through the tinny speaker which hung in the corner of the train car. A moment later, the train began to squeal as it came to a halt at the end of the tracks.
Starlight and Rarity picked up their bags and hopped off the train car. The first thing that hit Starlight was the smell, the wide open air filled her nostrils with the subtle scent of the clean mountain air. She had never thought about, but the familiar scent was one she had taken for granted.
She was reminded about the early days of her town, before all the brainwashing, where every day she’d take in the wonderful clean smell as she handed out good mornings to her few residents.
She and Rarity began the trek back to her old town, even after an hour on the train they still had some distance to travel. After all, there was never any effort on her part to get a train going through her town.
Suddenly, Rarity broke the anxious silence. “I don’t want to seem intrusive, but I was wondering if you could tell me how you came about starting your own town?” Rarity asked. “If that’s not too nosy.”
Starlight chuckled honestly. She had never really spoken to any pony about starting the town, so the idea of opening up now about her past was intriguing. “Sure, not like it’s too much of a secret anymore,” she said as the two walked side by side.
“It all started after Sunburst had gotten his cutie mark and left, after that I’d never made another friend because I was too afraid they would leave me as well.”
“Aww.” Rarity couldn’t help extend her sympathies.
Starlight smiled. “It’s okay, it all worked out in the end,” she said, reassuring her friend.
“Well, after seeing some ponies in my old village get cutie marks in simple tasks, you know, baking, sewing, farming, I began to talk to them individually about how limiting their cutie marks really were. I told them that it didn’t matter that they were happy at that moment, because their cutie mark determined the rest of their lives. I began to put regret in their minds and I didn’t know it yet, but I was starting a small resistance.”
Rarity chimed in. “But what about you, isn’t that around the time when you got your cutie mark?”
“Well yes, I had gotten my mark earlier because of my magical talent, but I would actually use that in my favor. I’d tell ponies about how restrictive a mark in baking was, while my mark in magic was something that made us unequal. How unfair it was that, in the world of Equestria, I was more valued than they were. I lied and told them I was offered to attend magic school, but rejected it because I found the whole system unfair.”
“After a few weeks I had about 4 or 5 ponies come to hear me preach from the plaza about how their cutie marks forced them into a boring life of menial labor. One of them was that pastry chef Sugar Belle, I believe you know her,” she said as Rarity nodded in response.
“Well, she was there when I began preaching about cutie marks. She was sweet and kind, so of course it was easy for me to convince her that she and the others were beneath ponies like me, but it was okay because I sympathized with them and I wouldn’t stand for it anymore.”
“Soon, after a few times where I preached about the inequality of cutie marks, I started to gain a reputation around my home village. Sure, I had Sugar Belle and a few others who liked what I said, but the rest of the ponies had me pegged as a troublemaker, and I was often told by store owners that I wasn’t welcome in their stores because of the ‘garbage I was filling ponies heads with.’ I only used that to further convince my small following that the world was against them. The final straw came when one of my followers, a tailor, told me about a client who refused to do business with her because she believed in what I was saying.”
Rarity's eyes opened wide with intrigue. “Oh my Celestia.”
Starlight smiled at her friends bemusement. “At that point I had enough and stood in the plaza. My followers gathered around me and I declared that I was renouncing my cutie mark. After that, the mayor got up and told me that she was sick of what I was preaching and she banished me from the village. I asked my followers who would join me and one by one they renounced their cutie marks and stood by my side. The mayor tried convincing them to stay, but at that point myself and five of my followers packed our things and left our village.”
Starlight stopped suddenly and Rarity turned to look at her. “Well, what happened next?”
Starlight just stood staring off into the distance. “I think we’re almost to the old town.” She drew in a sharp breath.
“Oh, right…” Rarity desperately wanted to the rest about how Starlight started her town, but she knew she’d have to wait. “…but you have to tell me the rest later.” Starlight nodded.
They stood just a short walk from the cliff which overlooked the town. Starlight began to feel more and more anxious as she approached the edge of hill side and was about to get her first look at the town in months.
With Rarity by her side, she walked up to the cliff and looked off at the town she once led.
It had grown. It was about twice the size as when she had left it, with two more rows of houses sitting parallel to the original rows.
But that wasn’t the first thing Starlight Glimmer had noticed, the first thing she noticed was the ten foot brick wall which split the town in two.